Congratulations! You unlocked a new truck!

Guess what? I do not care!

The husband is playing Excite Truck on the Wii. It has gorish amounts of Butt-Rock music and annoying European cop car sounds when you hit some certain star.

He is getting upset when he is not getting a passing grade on certain levels. He asks if I want to play. I'd rather make fun of him and enjoy my gin. (Please excuse the typos)

He complained of calf pain last night and pinned it back on tensing up whilst playing the above-mentioned game. Boy! I am glad we bought this thing. The lovely Wii also lets you keep track of how long you played on the contraption throughout the day. The husband has clocked in at least two hours today. This is between test-driving new Tacoma's and 4-Runners. Now THAT was fun. I am not buying a 2008 vehicle. I am not going to buy a brand new vehicle for that matter.

So instead of buying a new car and balking at the prices of them...we turned towards home and went and bought a brand new LCD flat screen T.V. After seeing the prices of a new car and comparing them to a new T.V.....the T.V. is like a damn STEAL.
We robbed that appliance place of their television. Bwaaahahahahaa! Take that overpriced appliance store!

I had to remind el husbando not to drift while driving this evening as he does not get stars for doing so...unlike his game on the Wii. (Picture me holding on to the dashboard in fear of flipping the truck while taking a corner going 40 in the slick snow) (Over-paranoid? I'd like to think not!)

Well thank our lucky stars, he just got 1st place and got his new truck....along with SUPER AIR which gives you FIVE STARS!!
(So does a SUPER TREE RUN and a SUPER TRUCK SMASH...which I am very good at thankyouverymuch)
Christmas lives on when we make super air over a rock bridge in the middle of Fiji in the rain.

Feeling the Love

We finally found something to give to the parental units.

Mwaaaaaaah! Photo collages. (now if I can ever get this to upload is another story)

That's what crackheads are made of

Sugar and spice and everything nice.

If I hadn't been so busy at work today, I may have been able to enjoy the tomfoolery of those around me.

I wanted to participate, I wanted to laugh at others shortcomings, but dammit, I was busy.
No one else seemed to be busy, what the hell? This happened to me last Friday too.

I now get the weekend to balance my checkbook and pay bills online when I could have been doing this at my desk and gotten paid whilst doing it......I was even going to take a lunch...something that doesn't come easily as of late. It's a combination of wanting a little extra something when I get a paycheck and not wanting to go drive in the snow. And, of course, the never-ending fight-for-a-parking-spot at my workplace.

Well, the husband is home and it's time to pack two kids off to Switzerland, I mean, bed.

Not feeling the love

I swear, I can not do anything to please anyone. Either that, or I'm around a lot of people who absolutely can not be pleased.
It's getting a little old.
Let's just say that an overload of hormones wrapped up in one non-pleasable person is not a good combination. And my nosy side doesn't help when I see what this person says behind my back. Gets my blood boiling.

I may be worked up because I spent an hour-plus driving home in the worst conditions I have ever encountered. It took me 50 minutes to just go 8 miles. Sigh. I was shaking and white-knuckling it most of the way too. Snow is not my friend tonight.

I'm just bugged that I am an easy-going person, who works with people with any possible scenario they can throw at me, and I STILL can't get a good word for doing so.

Screw em. (I'm really dropping the F-bomb inside my head) (But I'm trying to get better at not dropping that much any more) ( I don't need a three-year old dropping that for anybody)

Crying over crackers

This is the start of a great evening.

B is in the kitchen, howling, crying, over crackers. She wanted a snack, I pulled out a little bowl and some Wheat Thins that were deemed appropriate by her, and apparently there were not enough in the bowl to please her. As I'm not in the mood to fight, I put in a few more whereas she erupts in tears and sobs and is still up there crying. Just when you think she might stop, I'm thinking she glances down at the bowl she is clutching and probably sees some tears that have made it in the bowl on top of the Wheat Thins and the whole episode re-plays itself in her head and the crying starts again. She cried before this over not being able to put the Ritz (ha ha) back in to the pantry. Geez already. I tell you, if it's not one kid, then it's the other. S has had time outs within 5 minutes of being home the past two nights. We'll see how long her attitude can hold out.
Wait, we have silence from the crying and B is down with us, pouting. Huffing a little *Mmmufffhhh* every here and then, and damn anyone who looks at her.

It's slower at work this week due to the impending holiday and my motivation to work is non-existent. My brain is so tired that I can't even remember what I got on here to write about.

I guess this means I should go work on dinner for my starving child who won't eat now that she has crackers to fill her up.

**Sidenote**
Instead of cooking, I went to add to my profile, and apparently I am the only one who likes to call animal control on stray dogs.
Strike that, I like to call animal control on any dog not on a leash and hightailing it around the neighborhood.

Disabled cookies

How painful that sounds. My cookies are disabled. The poor things. As they should be disabled, I need nothing of the type around here.

The husband's work Christmas party was last night. It was fun too. He won the first-ever employee of the year award. Wow. I'm not suprised really that he would win it, but suprised they did it. He came home with a load of gifts and cash....yay! You can't beat unexpected gifts of cash and American Express gift cards.

Not much going on around here today. S has a friend over and they are bouncing around like hooligans. That's okay though, her friend's mom has wicked prego-sickness and doesn't feel good. It also leaves me free to do the things I need to do without any entertaining of the 6 year old who is house-bound because it's f-ing freezing outside.

We need to get to our picking photos for the annual Apple photobooks for grandparents so hopefully the will be here before Christmas. Because once again, we are the ultimate slackers. (The kids are done and bought for, inventoried, X-mas eve jammies washed though, so I haven't slacked out terribly)

Why bother

I was in the front room, all comfy cosy with the laptop and the christmas tree...checking on packages yet to come...and I hear a little rustling and darn right quiet that you know is wrong; and in the kitchen, my wonderous eyes did perceive an innocent stinker on the 'fridge with glee....for what on the 'fridge would make a three year old climb, but a gingerbread house that is far past its prime.

Sorry, the moment of trees and christmas just got to me for a moment. I will stop that immediately and hopefully will not re-visit it any time soon.

Why do I bother? To do fun projects ie: gingerbread houses, for the kids? Why!? So it becomes contant contension between my not wanting more sugar in their bellies and the possibility of a broken neck now that I have to put it on the fridge so they won't eat the entire thing? Do I need to lighten up and just let them at it? I can't! I just can't. I know there are those laid back, easygoing mothering types out there. I am not one of them. I want it my way and... I want it my way.

I can't believe I just said that. Ugh.

There are some things I have no problem letting them do. And I just sat here pondering for a few minutes to see if I could find one of those moments, and I can't, so maybe I am wrong in saying that. Hmmmm, okay, so I'm impeccably anal.

At least I have savings accounts for them that have automatic drafts into a college account. And if they so desire not to go to college, heaven forbid, than at least they will have some money to pay for the therapy they most likely will need after being raised by this helluva mom. So there.

Like that is supposed to make me feel any better.

Little stinker, on the top of the fridge, B had a school program last night. Mind you, she is only three and in a room packed full of strangers. And when I say packed, boy do I mean sandwiched in. Luckily I was able to find a seat in front because they were the kids' chairs, ha ha, and when I saw her tears brewing and the rubbing of eyes, I was able to motion her over to me and she came and clutched me tight for a good three songs before she lightened up her grip seeing that I wasn't going to march her back up there to be petrified. Poor kid. She gets the shyness from me. I was a shy kid. Some people are probably wondering what the hell happened to that.

Well ANTM is on and it's the finale. Hooray! I like them all now that Bianca the Beast is gone.

I heart Mondays

I also love other people's pregnancy hormones. They are wicked cool.
I've been told I was mean when I was pregnant....I'd like to say I was more vocal than normal...but I do not ever recall being a plain ol bitch. Maybe I'm delusional. Okay, nevermind maybe, I am and I will admit I tend to tuck certain memories into the vast realms of my brain and save them for times when I like to remind my mom about all the bad things she did to me as a kid, but I don't think I was a bitch.
Amber knew me as a prego person, maybe she will comment...hint hint....and let me know the evil of my past ways and now my prego employee(s) are the future "I hope you have prego people JUST LIKE YOU" sassiness coming back to bite me in the butt.

Oh joy! I have how many more months of this? And how many other female employees that can and most likely will get pregnant? I just got rid of two! Save me from the insanity.

Out of spite of wanting at least one person who could not possibly defy all humanity and get pregnant, I hired a male. This male has more emotional hormones that ALL of the women in my group. He is probably the combination of five females who are having their period.....Save me from the insanity.

I had one heartfelt employee meltdown in progress today and she asked if she could take vacation for the remainder of the week. She has the vacation time she can take. It is a slow time of the year for us. I am actually impressed (just a tiny bit though) that she asked to take vacation instead of her normal calling in sick tales which she is known to do on a regular basis. I said okay. Knock yourself out, give yourself some you time...come back refreshed. If you think this will help you out, go right ahead.

So my prego employee who I have gone out on a huge freaking limb to get her some added perks to her job totally undermines my decision and pretty-much tells me I'm an idiot for making the gotakevacation deal. SCREW HER. Is what I say. When you get to sit in my chair and deal with trying to please every person in this team (including you) and actually take on the responsibilities that I gave you with your new *job* ie: raise. Then, maybe, you can make a decision like this. In fact, it's darnright tempting to call you out on telling me I made a mistake in letting her take this vacation. She said "You realize that I am not that dependable right now" Why? Because you are prego and feeling nauseous? I'm sorry, I feel bad for the girl, she doesn't feel well...but being a mom and personally had two children of my own, I don't find pregnancy as an excuse to be sick. Maybe I'm being callous and mean, maybe *I* am pregnant and that's why I'm feeling the bitch-mode come out that supposedly I may have been?

Ah! The rant. The rave. I actually talked with her and gave her this look like I was going to tackle her right out the front door for saying anything back to me. She said "I wasn't trying to be rude or anything. I hope it didn't come out that way!" All innocent in her IM'ing tactics when she knew damn well what she was doing....as she frantically typed to others within the group. Boy oh boy. I'm not really that reilled up about it anymore, but thought, hey, I'm online, I have even made and ate dinner already and homework is done, the kids are occupied with their crazy play, husband is on his way home...let's blog.

Had a talk with my attorney today too. Totally worthless.
I am also finished with Christmas for the girls. I also found out that I bought two pair of pants for the husband thinking he wore a 35 waist...and he wears a 33? When did this happen? ha ha ha! Well, I am priceless that way.. Merry Christmas! Nothing will fit, so let's go to Banana Republic and exchange them...and pick something up for me while we are there.....
I swear I did not do this on purpose. It sounds like a wonderful plan though.

Operation: Thumb Crackdown!

After speaking with a fellow cubicle-mate, and might I say, a sure heck of a gal (You know who you are),
I have decided it is time for the thumb sucking from Missy B to cease and desist.
I guess you can get a dentist to put some sort of appliance in to discourage the sucking. I'm going to try the other, ie: less expensive, measures first and see what happens.
B is *very* stubborn...nothing like her mother at all.....and is already fighting with me about this.
During the summer, I had no qualms with her thumb-loving and was actually highly annoyed with my then babysitter because she constantly hounded her for sucking her thumb. Like she should care. They are my teeth and sickies to worry about. And now it's gotten to the point where I have had it with the sickies. B broke out of her higher fever, downgraded to a lower fever and then broke out in a rash on most of her trunk area. That went mostly away yesterday, but then I noticed little pustules (I'm not sure how else to describe that) around her mouth last night, so I put tea tree oil on those and they were little scabs this morning. I have NO idea what those are or were. I tell you though, it's getting old.
So, once again, I am off to meet with my google-friend for a while to see what sources are out there to stop this raisiny-thumb-habit.
It was a fiesty day for me at work. I'm not sure what got in to me. I was teasing people, something I rarely do...Bwaaahahahaha and it was just full of busy-we-need-proof-now and nutty questions.
It's time to get S to finish up her reading since they want to watch one of the many Christmas TV programs on around this time of the year, oh joy!

Sick again!

B.....is sick...again...

Honestly, she has not been healthy, not-snot-fever-cough-free, in months. Really, it's been months.
She was sick before and during the time we were in Vegas...finally got rid of the thick nasal drip..and yesterday and today were the first times in months that she had zero nasal drip and BAM, tonight, has a 103* fever.

We were decorating yet another tree, and she was laying on the floor with her blanket and her thumb. And there we have the largest culprit...it's that damn thumb! By the time S was this age, we had talked her out of it unless she was going to sleep. B has it in her mouth all the time. It used to be only when she had a soft blanket or stuffie, but she's taken to feeling her hair and sucking her thumb now. She also licks and tastes various non-food items on a very regular basis. She is also stubborn as hell and lies about wiping and washing her hands after going to the bathroom. It's a recipe for disaster ie: non-stop sick child.

Sigh.

Unless I get a settlement soon and can quit my job, I'll probably end up in trouble at work for calling in *because my kid is sick again*.....but then again, I have an employee who has called in sick more than anyone I've even known and has no children, and she's never been in trouble....so who knows.

Sigh.

She wanted to go to bed and wasn't teasing around...so you know they're sick when they aren't bugging you and want to cuddle. I knew even before I felt her head that she didn't feel good since she wasn't running around and sass-mouthing and all that.

Sigh.

Here's to the beginning of another week.

First snow!

We woke up to over 6 inches of snow this morning...and it continues coming down. It's beautiful.
So we've spent the morning sitting around reading and drinking the morning coffee. I took some photos, got some motivation and downloaded them and sent them to grandparents. Let's see how long this wild hair lasts. Maybe I can get on top of my mountains of laundry this weekend. (Bwaaahaahaa)

The Brady's are naughty

Ever since I had to change our evening television viewing routine due to Fox putting the Family Guy on when there are little eyes to watch it. We've been watching the Brady Bunch. Ah, memories of ultra short skirts which I, swear the god, caught a glimpse of Jan's undies a few weeks ago, and polyester-gingham pants.
The thing is, in the majority of episodes at the end, you will find Mike and Carol Brady in their bed. They read, they do leg bends, they get the random child popping in their room for parently advise, and then they end with some smoochy-kissy-lead-you-to-believe-they-want-to-get-randy-after-they-turn-the-lights-off-closing.
I suppose they would be getting it on since there is never wary a fight amongst the parents. No, "You spent HOW much money on lotion?" and my favorite, since it's me asking it, "You bought $90.00 bike shorts?" (Should one's butt be that precious that they need a $90.00 chamios?)
And I would like to know why there aren't the episodes where the child comes in the room in the middle of the night with a nightmare about someone trying to take her out of her room so she then ends up on the floor on top of a heater vent, sucking the warmth away from me. Or the better middle of the night episodes full of vomit and crying. That makes for great televison.
Well, I suppose I should provide some nourishing dinner for these darling children since one just found a snack leftover from the other's lunch bag and threw a fit that I won't let her eat it.
Also, before I forget my complete grace, I would like to let you know I chipped a front tooth last night because I find it highly difficult to raise a glass of water to my lips. D'oh!

Draw that line Mommy

The husband and I are trying not to get Christmas present wacky.
We've made a list. We've added things to the list. We look through the Sunday ads. We see things we think are adorable. Things that two little girls would *love*. A Collector's Set of 15 Around the World unique Littlest Pets.
They are truly adorable. A little seal, a penguin, a chiuahua! With a Sombrero! The humanity of it all! The lure of parent's looking at the ads everywhere!
Target has probably ten per store and we get there and they are sold out! Imagine that! You can't buy them online, they are unique, collector's items that have no rainchecks given out.

Truth be told. All the ebay bastards bought them and they are on ebay for twice the price they were in store.
BOO!
So I'm trying to get over it. But I keep seeing the sweet, large, doe eyes of the 15 littlest pet shop pets looking at me from the ad, wanting to come to my house to get lost and spend countless days in my purse and at various restaurants to pass the time whilst waiting for food to arrive.
I'm sure there are a handful of them, magnetized to the posts under the seats in my car. I should go check and see.

Better yet, I should get my butt to bed as I promised myself that I would go to bed early since I am quite certain I slept through most of my drive to work this morning and spent the remainder of the day in a complete fog of tiredness.

Aren't they just darling?

I was just on my friend's blog looking at photos of her kids and her recent wedding...beautiful, all of them.
And I'm sitting here on the couch with my kids, who, can be quite darling, and we can capture those moments in photos sometimes....and thank goodness. Because S is sitting here elbowing B in the head and then just pushed her off onto the floor.
Darling!
We had parent-teacher conferences on Wednesday and I found out that S is functioning at a third grade level on most everything she is doing. She is going to an advanced-enrichment class once a week to further her learning so she doesn't get bored. I am amazed. Truly floored at her abilities. So I've started researching on what I can do to help her desire to continue learning and not squash her in any way.
It's Friday night, halleguiah, the husband is on his way home from work, he's off all next week. I'm just working Monday and we leave for Las Vegas Tuesday morning to spend the holiday at the in-laws. At least it'll be warmer than it is here.
I also spoke with my big boss today, had a real conversation, let him know what is keeping me from coming in and subjecting myself to my fears. Asked about that raise he promised a few months ago, end of year bonuses...a real conversation. AND, I did not blotch out and get the over-anxious fear that I usually get. Thank goodness for drugs that work. :)
It was a good day. It was a good week. It started out shakey due to the new seating arrangements, but we've started warming up to each other and we're on speaking terms, so that is good.
I also had a little motivation and got some much needed paperwork done. Wow!
Well, I am out for now.

Her name was Yoshimi...

...she had a blackbelt in karate.

I can't seem to get that song out of my head. The Flaming Lips, if anyone is curious.

I am sitting upstairs on the bed with my sicko B next to me. She has two hollow legs this morning and keeps eating and asking for something more.
She's got the croup, it's so sad. She seems to have a non-stop cold, and it will get nasty for a day or two then back down for a few and then flare up again. Poor kid. But she came in our room about one o'clock this morning, just barking, it sounded horrible. So I started a humidifier in her room, put some warm clothes on, wrapped her in a blanket and we went outside for awhile to breathe in the cold night air. I've always heard that helps. She wasn't too thrilled with being outside so I told her to look at all the stars. It was pretty, and quiet, except for the freeway which can get so loud at night.
I then got to sleep (okay, there was no sleeping involved for me) in her toddler bed with her for an hour while she tossed and turned and I got elbowed and kicked all while trying to stay on the bed.
So the husband and I are swapping work, at least I think that is the plan. He left around 5:30 as he has a deadline this morning...something that needs to go to press before noon. I really don't have any deadlines at work, but we all just swapped desks and I would like to be there to make sure that my more wienie-employees don't have a meltdown due to change.
I went from a large desk to a much smaller desk and you don't see me complaining...when I very well could since I don't have room to do anything. Oh well. Honestly, I don't plan to be there much longer, so kae-sera-sera...how ever you spell that.
I'm giving it to the end the year...blah blah. I also spoke to new boss about two months ago where he said I could get the raise I was asking for...and do you think I've even SPOKEN with him since then? NO! He totally goes out of his way to not speak with me. It is so irritating.
The other irritating thing is is that I have extreme anxiety issues and any sort of confrontation just kills me. Spins me into a red, blotchy mess.
I started Zoloft about three weeks ago, got pulled in to an impromptu meeting a few days ago, and handled it well. Whew.
My newest boss knows about what I'm going through, so that is good. He also knows that I'm ready to get out.
I don't want to sound like I'm a super person, but if I leave, I really don't know what they'd do. I mean, if I were them, I'd be doing whatever in my power to make sure I'm at least a little bit happy. We are very understaffed to begin with, which is okay, it gives us a better change for keeping the bottom line in sync...less money being spent on extras in essence should mean more money to give to me and that raise I was promised. Oh HA HA HA. Blah!
I do know of a few people who are actively in the searching and interviewing for new jobs too, and that will leave them shorthanded in a different area which I told my new boss a few weeks ago that I don't even want to go to that area because of the bitches that work there. No thank you.
Well, this is becoming the once a month bitch fest via me and I should probably go do laundry and clean up the kitchen...since, if I remember correctly, the last time the husband and I swapped work shifts due to a sick child, he had cleaned up the house pretty spiffy.
I should probably do a little of the same since some sick kid is lacking in clean pajamas.

Neverending home projects

When will it stop? We get one thing half-assed finished or figured out, and then it's something else.
Tom, the before mentioned, hamster, was not in the furnace cooking. The husband said that he would never reach the furnace because the airconditioning unit/coils are located on top of the furnace. So he took all sorts of items apart and found the hamster in the airconditioning coils.
The smell is taking us a bit of work to get fully rid of.
We got our new, special sized-to-order, refrigerator this morning...which got dented somewhere in transit, but we got a whopping 10% off for (and you can't see it once it's in place)...and the DAMN thing is about 2 millimeters too tall to get under our cabinets!
So we tried to stick whatever perishable back in to it, went to a soccer game, went to Lowes to find something to trim some wood off the bottom of the cabinets and the husband is up there now, whittling away some wood.
No. We would not be lucky enough to get something that fits in there right the first time. I guess the specs they have for appliances don't include the damn wheels they are sitting on. (?) That only makes sense doesn't it? Why bother about measuring everything attached to the appliance. Oh my hell.
It's so aggravating that I'm in the computer room with a rice krispie treat. They are so good and tasty. If they weren't so soft and delicious, I wouldn't want one. So why can't they get stale already so I'll quit gnawing on them.
I've been going to the chiropractor for terrible lower back and sciatic pain too, and it hurts SO bad right now, and I went to go find my ice pack to numb some pain....and it looks like I left in in the old fridge! That Lowes took with them!!
sssccrrrreeeeeeeaaaaaammmmmmmmm
Life is Grand!
Oh great, I can hear two monsters in my bed upstairs...who are supposed to be *resting* watching a movie.....and it sounds like there is some jumping. I'd better hobble up the stairs and take care of that. Maybe sneak in a nap. Right.

Explaining death.

So I ended up not going to work today, since I could not talk. I could whisper, and boy could I hack up a lung, but I could not talk.
I stayed home and thought that a drugged-up, blissful sleep would be just the thing to get one to feel better. BUT, how can one do that when their house smells of rancid death and the gruesome cleaner would be here doing a bang-up job of sucking mysterious items out of the vents in the house?
It wasn't as loud as I thought it would be. But it was not the picture of quiet calm, the background of good dreams and sleep. Oh no it was not.
The cleaner got here at 10:30 and left a little after 2:30. My poor little S, instead of staying out and playing, came home and woke me out of the nap I had just slipped in to.
I guess she wanted to know if the cleaner had found Tom. I guess what I didn't realize is that she really, figuratively thought that "finding Tom" meant, an alive Tom. A sparkling, beady eyed, gosh give him some sliced almonds Tom. Oh dear. So I buttered her up with a store bought rice krispie treat, and told her that Tom was dead. (In a very nice, I'm so sorry mom type of way.) I thought for sure she had figured that since the stupid thing was down the vents...somewhere...that he was not frolicking and having fun finding old moldy things to feast on! The dirty vents don't seem to picture of some club med type of vacation away from the pleasure-dome of hamster homes. I don't think you could have paid me to stick my bare hand past the light of day of the vent due to the pure disgustingness of it all.
So she broke in to tears and I consoled with a big hug and my cracking sick voice.
She asked if we could get mice.
I have no comment for that.
What she has been spared of is that the smell is still out there. And why, would my house still reek after four hours of sucking, blowing and antibacterializing?
Well folks, not only did the hairy little ball of fur go down in to the vents, he also, most likely, went all the way to the actual furnace and his little body is frying right there where you can not get to him.
I guess you can't get IN the furnace. Unless you do those things for a living and know how to dismantle and re-assemble a furnace. The cleaner seems to think that he probably fell right on the burner plates and it cooking a little bit more and more each time the furnace turns on.
So he sprayed the fogger-antibacterial solution down into the furnance (where you can see) and told me to just crank that ol furnace up and cook that bugger out of there.
OHHHHHHHH GRROOOOOSSSSSS
I'm trying not to visualize it, but it is really hard not to.
Well, I'm going to get child #2 and take them out to play since the weather is not snowing or freezing. So that means we need to get out of the death hole.

Damn hamster!

You know the precious little hamster, Tom, that I mentioned had gotten loose in our house?
Little Tom, we are quite certain, has met his demise in the AIR VENTS in the house.
Let me tell you something gross. It is NOT a nice smell. It is like sitting in a small room with a heavily used catpan that has not been changed in at least four weeks. It is awful.
We sent out many emergency calls to air duct cleaners yesterday in hopes someone would hear the panic and dread in our voices.
Someone is coming in tomorrow. It is not cheap. To clean and fog the vents is going to cost just shy of $500.00.
I am very pissed off at hamsters right now.
It is COLD and we need the heater to come on, and we've set it so low that we are freezing the other members of the house.
And we wake up this morning...still dark outside mind you, to this weird opera-meets-elephant like noise coming from our refrigerator. Like it's trying to tell us in a very loud, and somewhat disturbing way that it is going to most likely die soon. *So replace me! Before I die! Before all the new yogurt and cottage cheese you bought goes rancid on account of me!*
What is next? Don't ask, because I'm superstitious like that. Knock on wood or knock on the body of a dead hamster, if you could find him that is!
AK!
I also have a cold, that I was dealing with just fine yesterday, and late last night turned in to me, talking like a frog. Nice!
I'm going to work though. I can not sit here at home in the stench of decay.
I am going to post a photo of the escape route the hamster took. Now I just need to go find the bubble he gnawed through since I think the cage has already been put in the garage. We don't need any more reminders, like you can't get past the smell, that a hamster has been here.

go ahead, stick a crayon in it

B has a cold which turned into infections of both ears and her eyes....she woke up yesterday AM with her eye completely gooped shut. I stayed home with her. Tonight, she is so pesty and she's in the computer room sticking a crayon in her eye.
Good hell child.
S is getting it too.
S also gets a little brag as her teacher called last week and told us that she is reading at a third-grade level...she is in first grade..she is also in here right now analyzing the keyboard and telling me the difference between our keyboard and the ones at school. ie: a Mac keyboard and a PC keyboard. So observant.
B is now making the poor cuckoo *cuck* involuntarily. The nice, Austrian. cuckoo clock that was my grandmother's...that somehow lost a few screws in transit from her home after she passed away, and we don't know what to do with it.
Our hamster is also loose in the house. We haven't seen him since Tuesday morning. I wonder how long he can go without water? I'm sure he's good on food, he has a few layers of fat that could pull him through a small famine, but I worry about lack of water. Unless he is sneaking water out of the cat bowl. I'm pretty sure she hasn't terrorized him yet either. In fact, I'll bet she would be deathly afraid of little Tom.

Not much

I picked up B from school and she was lying on the floor off to the side with her blanket, shoes kicked off, thumb in her mouth, tears brewing. They had called me just before I had had enough of my work day anyway, so I headed off to get her. I guess her left ear starting hurting her. She's been stuffed up all weekend, but colds usually slide at school. This is the kid who had double ear infections and fluid build-up that caused temporary hearing loss, and didn't once complain about pain. So if she's telling me her ear hurts. Then is has really got to hurt.
So I stopped at the health store, got some goods, the daycare where S is at, she is into my type of homepathic stuff too, gave me some ear drops, which I had just lent to a co-worker. So she is upstairs with Lilo and Stitch and drugged up to some degree and says her ear doesn't hurt anymore. So that is good.
(I really wouldn't mind a calling-in-because-my-kid-is-sick day though)
The day flew by. It was busy.
And now laundry, dinner, homework completion and reading, and getting people feeling better and to bed are in my future. So I'd better get off of here and get to work.

Ow!

The stupid jaw hurts again.
The procedure I had done @ 3 weeks ago took the non-stop pain away, but now it's eardrum and lower jaw pain...not really sure how to explain it, but it's a little depressing.
I guess I'm trying to come to grips with the thought that I will most likely experience some level of pain for the remainder of my physical-being. Yay! How terribly exciting!
I have an appointment with hot doctor in three-weeks, after he has a short talk with my attorney (oh yes, there is a settlement/law-suit in process for this lovely accident) and I guess we'll see what happens. I'm really wanting to settle this sometime soon, as long as hot doctor can put in words (for the insurance company's sake) that I get to deal with this for a life-time, and go forward. Husband did mention that I have been grinding feroshishly the past few nights. (how the crap do you spell that? My widget is not working!)
I've paid a ridiculous amount of money out of pocket during the past year + and the bills now have got to be close to $25k. So figure in deductibles and no coverage towards hot doctor....and he is one expensive hotty. ha. So much for saving money the past year.
I was just thinking that I say almost every night that I want to go to bed early. And then 8:30 passes, and now it's 9:30, and my alarm goes off at 5:45-ish...so, unless I'm *asleep* in fifteen minutes, I'm not even getting 8 hours tonight. Well hell, I can't help it, I've got some Pinot Grigio, Husband on the desktop doing work he brought home, me on the laptop and Globe Trekker is on. I can't go now.
It's supposed to be a cool weekend. Saturday we have plans for mountain-fall leaf family photos. If it doesn't rain. And I'm in Utah, rain is not the normal thing we see much of, but it's in the forecast. We shall see. I'm excited for cooler weather. I am more apt to turn the oven on and cook something worthwhile.
Until next time. Read Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series....it's great reading.

I like em really hot, I like em really flat!

I love that Carl's Jr. commercial for the flat bunned burger....love it.
Oh my, Big Brother finale is on, must go.
The only thing I can think to talk about any way is the fact that I *finally* cleaned and vacuumed my car, and for the past two days, B has emptied her shoes after school and I swear to you she had half the sandbox in them.....grrrrr.
It's a good thing that I am the ultimate procrastinator as the vacuum is still sitting in the garage, ready to suck up that sand.
Byee

I don't think I am doing this right

It might be the pain meds, but this photo thing has got me stumped...I've got them hosted or linked right from my computer and they are showing up as question marks??
Let's check and see
After checking, I see they show up as actual photos.
Amber, they are for you. ha ha!
The ones on the beach are at Lincoln City Oregon on our vacation this summer and the others are from a few days ago.
It makes me sad to see how grown up my kids are getting.

Eating like it's going out of style

I'm preparing myself for my jaw work on Thursday by eating like a wild person.
Really. Think of all the things you eat every day, and take them all away.
My meals will again consist of liquified whatever. (Whatever you can liquify and have it still taste of something palatable)
By-the-way, I would not suggest cooking a hotdog and mashed potatoes and liquifying it...it's horrid...especially when it gets cold. Bluch. Fruits are the way to go for sure.
I will get to rest my jaw of all sorts of rambuncheous chewing, so I'm chowing on big sandwiches, that I can't open wide enough to get in my mouth, chips, hamburgers...anything fattening, ha ha. I had sushi last night and have requested that Rich gets me a Gyro from my fav Greek restaraunt in the city. Amber, we used to eat there :) I'm dying for one!
I'm so excited for my above mentioned friend. All engaged and such. I can't wait to meet her hubby-to-be.
Work is relatively stupid as of late. I dread going. I'm pretty burned out. I keep getting this story from my boss that we will "meet and talk about it" about many things that I need to talk about...and I have been constantly blown off. It's really starting to get on my nerves. He said today, that we will meet either later today (which I knew wouldn't happen) or tomorrow, which, really, will it or won't it? I'm betting on not meeting tomorrow. I'll be shocked if we do.
The bad thing is, I'm ready to blow, so this will not be a fun meeting. I NEED to hire another person, and when I went to make sure that was still okay in his book (which he has never questioned it before) he said "Let's talk" Okay...what the hell?
I am not in the mood...and may get snippy, so I'm going over what I may be saying tomorrow...in a nice-girl sort of way.
I need to not be a bitch. Eek.
The husband is not home again. I spoke to him at six, when he said he'd be at work for another hour. It's now after nine...yeah.
Took the girls for a walk, came back and painted toenails and I swear!!! I should not even bother to paint B's toenails. She immediately falls UP the stairs, seriously every time I paint them, and rubs them off on the carpet....uuuuggghhh.
She told me tonight she is my *big girl, not a baby*....I told her she will ALWAYS be my baby. Even if I do have to dodge the door jams so I don't bonk her head when I carry her, baby-style, in the morning when she is snuggly and warm.
Babies. They grow up way too fast.
Well, Monday is over, thank goodness, and here's to a fabulous Tuesday. Wish me luck.

I choose to use the power of veto on...

I am a closet Big Brother watcher. I usually only get to watch about 30 minutes a week....so out of three episodes, I still get the gist. It's kindof like watching Days of our Lives. One only needs to watch it once or twice a year, that's how long it takes them to get through one TV day, so you know exactly what is going on.
I am doing remarkably well today, considering that one of my employees called in *sick* again, I was conducting interviews, had a small rant with my boss, there is no husband in sight, dealt with ultra-tired-sassy children all night...and there is not even a drink in my hand at 9:00 at night. And the children were not hurt physically or verbally. They even got fed and showered all while there was crying and whining etc. I'm quite proud of myself....it's very much unlike me to be calm in any way.
Wait! I just changed the channel and there is some guy with a hand puppet, singing without any lip moment...and people are clapping and there is confetti. What has this world come to? Did this man just win America's got talent?
Oh gee.
Well, I have nothing fabulous to speak of. No amazing, earth-shattering revelations. So I am going to pick up an old David Sedaris book and laugh my arse off.

All night long she did this..

S was up most of the night, doing sick-kid things. 9:30, just after we had finally got B to bed, I hear a "Mom" upstairs and a rush to the toilet and lots of barfing. Yes, I know, it's not pretty, it's not fun to write about, but, it is the life of having kids. She threw up again at 10, 11, 12, 1 and the final spewing out of both ends at 2:00. I was cleaning various articles of clothing at 2 am. And got up at 5:30 to go to the delightful workplace.
Needless to say, I had a lot of work that needed some finalization and so did the husband, so we swaped work shifts...I got home at noon and he left. He also cleaned. I was honestly floored. I expected to come home to see it in the same state, if not worse, than when I had left. But, he had done laundry, sprayed for bugs, kept the sick kid in good spirits in front of the TV and had picked up the family room....now, I just need to vacuum that clean room.
I had just gotten on top of my camping laundry, and then this. Aurgh. I did go through S's closet which was overrun with too-small clothes, and organized a few things. She starts first grade on the 29th. I'm trying not to freak out, mommy-style.
I also went to get myself some homeopathic stress pills...I'm a stress-case. Work, kids, pending jaw work, work, kids, pain. = stress, and lots of it. I'm sure this is the case with most people these days. I don't know how you could *not* be stressed.
Well, it is Friday evening, the kids and I are watching an old Brady Bunch episode waiting for the husband to get home and we'll most likely eat in shifts. S is not hungry, B is picky and everyone is tired.
I guess I'd better go find out what to feed these people. I sound like a broken record.

The worst pain ever....a year ago

I went to see the hot jaw doctor today to talk about the results of recent MRI.
I had a bicycling accident last year that resulted in two fractures of the jaw, double layers of chin stitches, a torn rotator cuff and various bloodied spots and scars to my body. This was because of a dog chasing me and a brief, but memorable, encounter with a mailbox which got me in to this predicament.
I had to have my jaw wired shut and all sorts of other goodies that involved monumental pain, physical therapy, too much weight loss, dentist and oral surgeon appointments just to have continuing pain and annoyance a year later.
The latest news is that the disc in my left jaw joint is displaced and is going to require some sort of invasive procedure to try and coax it back to where it was originally.
When speaking to the hot doctor (that's how I refer to him at work, never at home with the husband) he asked me level of pain I am at right now....compared to the worst pain I've ever experienced. I said about a five, I've been told I have a high tolerance for pain...but it's a constant pain...and where the disc is, it actually hurts when my mouth is closed...sitting on nerves and such. And as I don't go around with my mouth wide open too often...I am in constant pain.
We reminised about a year ago being wired shut, and he asked "how bad was it?" Because last year, whilst shut, he knew I'd say "The worst shit ever". Well, memory serves me well, and it really has been the worst thing to happen to me ever. I would rather go through non-medicated child birth than to ever have my jaw wired shut again. Seriously. I have had two kids, the last without any pain meds...when I had my jaw wired shut, the pain was unbearable and that was the first time I had Morphine. It was the only thing that would take the first, 24 hour pain away.
Well, I've gotten into a rant session and now am going to set up a Friday to get this procedure done. I guess it's called a Lavage. They insert needles into the joint and *wash* away any stray tissue and trapped blood cells, etc. I guess! I'm clueless..but Googling. Google is my informative friend.
Well, I'm starving and the husband will be late, so I've got to call a 6 year old home and find out what drive-thru they would like to visit for dinner.

The aftermath of Camping

It took me forever to sign into my account that I have now wasted the precious moments between the husband being in the shower, the kids watching the Simpsons and the time between clothes in the washer not ready to go in the dryer as it is still occupied....that now I have to actually go get something done.
Long story short...as husband just told me I re-washed a pair of shorts that were not indeed dirty, thankyouverymuch...we went camping with some friends, it was fun, the campfire ban has been momentarially lifted in certain counties so we were able to have a fire with our beer and the chill in the mountains. And it requires you to wash everything that can seep in the smell of smoke...so I am washing everything that went with us.
Last time we went, we got to sit around a citronella candle we brought; hence, the campfire ban. So I only had to wash what was worn and dirtied.
And it is Sunday night, so I have the Monday-morning-drag already so I need to get a glass of wine. And I have a damn cold. Annoyance! Not enough to make the normal, non-booby. people call in sick to work, but enough to make the left side of your head congested and sneeze at the sight of the sun.
Maybe I'll be able to keep up in here if I have something interesting happening in my life. Ha.
We are camping at the "Lake" next weekend...which drives us into Idaho, where we can buy "higher percentage alcohol content" beer and sit at the beach all day and watch the kids play.
That is the life.
Fat Tire Ale....mmmmmmmmm
Do you see a pattern here?

The beginning

It's late, I'm watching Supernanny in hopes of sponging some ways to discipline my children by osmosis, finishing the last sip of wine (boo!) feeling the muscle relaxer kick in for my jaw and setting up a new blog.
What a great introduction all wrapped up into a run-on sentence.
Throw me some slack. I had people call in sick at work. Okay, one person, but I'm already down two so that put a strain on my already short-staffed personnel and it's Monday. Need I say more?
And you create a new blog and they want you to choose your template from small, thumbnail size photos? Ha!
I am going to bed now as I can not type on this laptop any more. I go from Apple at home to some hideous PC with an ergonomic keyboard at work, so my already lacking-in typing skills sucketh even more.
G-night