Christmas 2012
We had such a wonderful Christmas this year! One of the easiest, stress free, happiest Christmases we've had in years! We had planned to stay here at home, and just celebrate quietly here. My mom and dad planned to drive down during the night and surprise us at 6am on Christmas morning! It was so wonderful!! Everyone was so excited to see them! Nobody even cared that we didn't get hardly any sleep! Gabriel, Annalise, and I had gone to midnight Mass and didn't get home until 2am. We didn't get settled and in bed asleep until about 3am, then back up at 6am with our surprise visitors!! Like I said, nobody even cared about not getting any sleep! It was so nice!! We visited. We played games. We laughed. We watched movies. We danced. We ate. We relaxed. We had fun.
Pictures are posted on flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/animagusthree/
Click on the Christmas set to see them in order.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Monday, December 17, 2012
Pool Trouble
The house we live in, (are renting until we can buy), has an in-ground pool. I have ALWAYS wanted to have a pool of my very own. I was SO excited to move to Florida and FINALLY have my own pool!! The kids, of course, loved the pool too, at first. It seems familiarity breeds contempt as far as pools are concerned. I lost my love for the pool the first time there was a major problem. This pool is, as far as pools in Florida go, old. That means that bad things are constantly happening. Holes in the liner, pipes cracking, impellers breaking... and every time something happens, the water gets yucky. The last thing that broke was the impeller, which meant there was no water being sucked through he filtration system. The water got SUPER yucky in the time it took us to figure out what the problem was, and get around to fixing it. The entire pool was covered in green slime. It's amazing what happens to stagnant water. We finally fixed it this past weekend. There is nothing more satisfying than fixing a problem!! I was SOOOO happy when we turned the pump on, and it started to make the familiar noise of priming! And the first water that was sucked into the system made me do the happy dance all over the back yard! :-D
It took less time to replace the impeller than it did to get the green slime out of the pool, but it's all done now, and the pool is sparkly and clean, (and freezing cold, so it doesn't matter if it's clean or not, nobody will be in it until at least April). There's just one thing that concerns me. After the pump ran for a couple of hours, I turned it off to empty out the baskets before back washing the system, and there were live earth worms in the basket by the filter. I've noticed that the system is sucking a little air with the water, and there's a slow water leak. There are more air bubbles than normal coming out of the jets, and the water level goes down a little faster than normal evaporation. I have a sinking feeling that there is a crack in one of the underground pipes. *sigh* That means much expense, and digging. I'm not looking forward to that problem getting bad enough to need fixing. I'm not going to lie, I really do think that this pool is more trouble than it's worth.
Here's a picture of Nathan helping daddy fix the impeller.
It took less time to replace the impeller than it did to get the green slime out of the pool, but it's all done now, and the pool is sparkly and clean, (and freezing cold, so it doesn't matter if it's clean or not, nobody will be in it until at least April). There's just one thing that concerns me. After the pump ran for a couple of hours, I turned it off to empty out the baskets before back washing the system, and there were live earth worms in the basket by the filter. I've noticed that the system is sucking a little air with the water, and there's a slow water leak. There are more air bubbles than normal coming out of the jets, and the water level goes down a little faster than normal evaporation. I have a sinking feeling that there is a crack in one of the underground pipes. *sigh* That means much expense, and digging. I'm not looking forward to that problem getting bad enough to need fixing. I'm not going to lie, I really do think that this pool is more trouble than it's worth.
Here's a picture of Nathan helping daddy fix the impeller.
Long or Short??
We have always kept Gabriel's hair buzzed very short. He's attempted to grow it out, but never gets too far because he starts to look like he's wearing a hair helmet. I decided to let Nathan's hair grow out so we could see what it looks like to have a boy with hair, instead of a fuzzy buzz. The last time Nathan had his hair buzzed was in June. Finally, Steve and I couldn't stand it anymore. Steve buzzed Nathan's head last night. It probably wouldn't have been too bad long, except that it wouldn't do anything as far as holding any kind of style. It always looked like a hay stack!
You decide. Do you like it better long, or short?
Personally, I like his haystack better. Last night I thought his fuzzy head was super cute, but in the day light, he looks ill. Like a child who is in and out of the hospital all the time. Of course, he doesn't look terribly healthy with more hair either. Probably because of the dark circles under his eyes, and his tiny skinniness. Ah well, there isn't anything I can do about that, believe me, I've tried.
You decide. Do you like it better long, or short?
Personally, I like his haystack better. Last night I thought his fuzzy head was super cute, but in the day light, he looks ill. Like a child who is in and out of the hospital all the time. Of course, he doesn't look terribly healthy with more hair either. Probably because of the dark circles under his eyes, and his tiny skinniness. Ah well, there isn't anything I can do about that, believe me, I've tried.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Gone To The Dogs
How many of you have pets? How did you go about obtaining those pets? Breeder? Pet store? Ad in the paper? Walmart parking lot? Shelter? There are so many ways for us to find our furry family members. Or for our furry family members to find us.
When Steve and I got together, more than 18 years ago, we quickly found that one of the things we had in common was our love of animals. I already had three cats, which I brought to the relationship. He had never had a cat in his life. I had never had a dog. Well, that's only partially true. When I was too young to remember, my parents had a basset hound named Claudia for a little while. When I was a little older, they had a German shepherd named King for a little while. Other than that, we had a couple of cats.
Steve and I decided that we were going to have pets instead of kids. We weren't terribly fond of kids, but we knew we wanted a lot of pets. (HA!! Three kids later...) We talked about our favorite breeds of dogs, and cats. We looked at pet store puppies and kitties. Our first dog, Chaz, didn't come from a pet store. He didn't come from a breeder. He didn't even come from a shelter, or the Walmart parking lot. He came from one of Steve's co-workers. This co-worker came to work one day and asked everyone if they wanted a five month old lab mix puppy. She had to find a new home for him, or take him to the pound, because her room mate was beating him.
I consider Chaz to be my first dog. He was a spaz, and had some sever psychological problems, but he was the sweetest dog in the world! When he died, six years ago, we were all devastated. He was Gabriel's first sibling. Gabriel still mourns him.
I could write story after story about Chaz. I could post a thousand pictures of him too. He was our first child. We got him before we got married. For all his anxiety, and spazziness, he was the best dog ever. (There are quite a few people who would beg to differ on that statement!)
About four months after Chaz died, Steve brought home a little 10 week old mixed breed puppy. A guy he worked with, and his girlfriend, had just rescued this baby from a guy who was keeping her locked in a crate in the basement, but they couldn't keep her. This co-worker asked around at work to see if anyone wanted her before he took her to the shelter. Steve brought her home the day before Valentines day. We named her Valentina, and called her Val. Apart from Steve and Gabriel, Val hates men. We had rescued two kittens about six months prior to Val coming to live with us. They were about nine months old when this 10 week old puppy entered their lives. They raised her as best they could, therefore, this dog thinks she's a 60 lb cat. She doesn't lick. She doesn't pant. She doesn't eat food off the floor, unless it's meat or cheese. She is a great dog, and we love her dearly. It goes without saying that she loves us right back!
Once again, I could write countless stories, and post countless pictures of this dog with our family. Gabriel and Annalise are her litter mates. We've had her in our lives a little less than six years, but it's hard to imagine life without her.
Two days ago, one of Steve's co-workers came in to work and asked if anyone wanted a two year old Australian shepherd. He and his wife split up, and when she left, she took the kids, but left him the dog. He loves the dog, but like all the guys at Steve's company, he's away from home half the year, two months at a time. That's not a good life for a dog, so he thought he'd ask around before he took her to the shelter. We now have two dogs. I've never had two dogs at the same time before. I've never had a long haired dog before. I've never had a full breed dog before. I've never had a dog who came from another family, a good situation. Chaz and Val had been abused, so they were very happy to be out of their old situations and with us. This poor dog is not happy to be with us. She wants her family back. She is very sad and nervous to be here.
This is Khalua. She is a beautiful girl. She is bunking with Gabriel until she gets used to being here with us, and she and Val figure out who's who in the pack. I know it will take some time for her to come to think of us as her family, but we are willing to love her even though she doesn't want us right now. She's only been here a day and a half, so it's still very, very early. She is a very good dog. For as nervous and sad as she is to be here, she's still very sweet. She has only growled at Val, and that's when Val was too close by when she was checking out the kids.
When Steve and I got together, more than 18 years ago, we quickly found that one of the things we had in common was our love of animals. I already had three cats, which I brought to the relationship. He had never had a cat in his life. I had never had a dog. Well, that's only partially true. When I was too young to remember, my parents had a basset hound named Claudia for a little while. When I was a little older, they had a German shepherd named King for a little while. Other than that, we had a couple of cats.
Steve and I decided that we were going to have pets instead of kids. We weren't terribly fond of kids, but we knew we wanted a lot of pets. (HA!! Three kids later...) We talked about our favorite breeds of dogs, and cats. We looked at pet store puppies and kitties. Our first dog, Chaz, didn't come from a pet store. He didn't come from a breeder. He didn't even come from a shelter, or the Walmart parking lot. He came from one of Steve's co-workers. This co-worker came to work one day and asked everyone if they wanted a five month old lab mix puppy. She had to find a new home for him, or take him to the pound, because her room mate was beating him.
I consider Chaz to be my first dog. He was a spaz, and had some sever psychological problems, but he was the sweetest dog in the world! When he died, six years ago, we were all devastated. He was Gabriel's first sibling. Gabriel still mourns him.
I could write story after story about Chaz. I could post a thousand pictures of him too. He was our first child. We got him before we got married. For all his anxiety, and spazziness, he was the best dog ever. (There are quite a few people who would beg to differ on that statement!)
About four months after Chaz died, Steve brought home a little 10 week old mixed breed puppy. A guy he worked with, and his girlfriend, had just rescued this baby from a guy who was keeping her locked in a crate in the basement, but they couldn't keep her. This co-worker asked around at work to see if anyone wanted her before he took her to the shelter. Steve brought her home the day before Valentines day. We named her Valentina, and called her Val. Apart from Steve and Gabriel, Val hates men. We had rescued two kittens about six months prior to Val coming to live with us. They were about nine months old when this 10 week old puppy entered their lives. They raised her as best they could, therefore, this dog thinks she's a 60 lb cat. She doesn't lick. She doesn't pant. She doesn't eat food off the floor, unless it's meat or cheese. She is a great dog, and we love her dearly. It goes without saying that she loves us right back!
Once again, I could write countless stories, and post countless pictures of this dog with our family. Gabriel and Annalise are her litter mates. We've had her in our lives a little less than six years, but it's hard to imagine life without her.Two days ago, one of Steve's co-workers came in to work and asked if anyone wanted a two year old Australian shepherd. He and his wife split up, and when she left, she took the kids, but left him the dog. He loves the dog, but like all the guys at Steve's company, he's away from home half the year, two months at a time. That's not a good life for a dog, so he thought he'd ask around before he took her to the shelter. We now have two dogs. I've never had two dogs at the same time before. I've never had a long haired dog before. I've never had a full breed dog before. I've never had a dog who came from another family, a good situation. Chaz and Val had been abused, so they were very happy to be out of their old situations and with us. This poor dog is not happy to be with us. She wants her family back. She is very sad and nervous to be here.
This is Khalua. She is a beautiful girl. She is bunking with Gabriel until she gets used to being here with us, and she and Val figure out who's who in the pack. I know it will take some time for her to come to think of us as her family, but we are willing to love her even though she doesn't want us right now. She's only been here a day and a half, so it's still very, very early. She is a very good dog. For as nervous and sad as she is to be here, she's still very sweet. She has only growled at Val, and that's when Val was too close by when she was checking out the kids.Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Potty Training
For the past nine months, I have been attempting to get Nathan out of diapers. He is now three years and about three months old, and is still in diapers. I've done this potty training thing twice before. This is not my first rodeo, so to speak. Between my experiences with Gabriel and Annalise, and my experience with two years of preschool children, I've got quite an arsenal of techniques and tricks built up. The bottom line on potty training is this: It takes 20% skill, 80% will to be successfully trained. Obviously, going potty in the potty isn't a process that takes years of education and training. It's pretty straight forward. Five easy steps, really.
1. Sit on the potty
2. Put your potty in the potty
3. Wipe
4. Flush
5. Wash hands
There are some getting undressed and dressed issues that the adult in charge takes care of at first, but those are the "going potty in the potty" steps. That's why skill only gets 20% of the training allowance.
Nathan has four of the five steps down. He can do them with, or without prompting. He can do them by himself, or with an adult (or sibling) in charge. He can do them anytime, anywhere. He can even get out of the bathtub, dripping wet and covered in bubbles, and do them. He's a master! The one step that he has never accomplished is... you guessed it, step two.
Step two shouldn't even be part of the skill steps. Step two is all will. Will gets 80% of the training allowance because without the will, it doesn't matter how much you know, and master the skill. Nathan is living proof of this statement. He has not ever, not even once, pottied in the potty. Not even a drop!
All potty training experts, and just plain ol' moms, know that every potty training technique and trick speaks to the problem of the child's will, not learning the skill. Put cheerios, or fruit loops in the toilet so they can make a game out of aiming for, and hitting hitting them with the stream of urine, (obviously for boys only); give them rewards, (there are too many reward examples to list, and some of them are quite extravagant); put them in underpants so they know what it feels like, and how uncomfortable it is to be wet, or dirty; let them run around naked so they can see and feel what really happens when they potty. The list goes on and on.
When I tell you that Nathan doesn't care about ANY reward, I mean it very literally. I believe that the only thing he would care about as a reward would be oxygen, and if I deprived him of that until he went potty in the potty, well, we wouldn't have to worry about potty training anymore because he'd be dead. I've let him run naked. Worst idea ever! He thought it was the best thing in the world to "mark his territory" all over the place. I've let him run around in just underpants. Again, he thought it was great fun to see how many places in the house he could produce a puddle of pee. He doesn't care about getting his underpants with his favorite characters on them wet or dirty. He doesn't even care about staying in clothing that is soaking wet, or dirty. He just doesn't care.
Last week, I started a fresh attack. One morning, I put him in Lightening McQueen underpants right after he got up, and put a diaper over them. (I thought it would cut down on the amount of laundry, and floor clean up I would have, but still give him an idea of how uncomfortable wet and dirty underpants are.) I told him several times, very sternly NOT to poop or pee in his underpants! I told him that if he had to poop or pee, to tell me and I would sit him on the potty. "Ok, mommy." My plan was to give him a half hour, then put him on the potty. In that half hour, he had breakfast. When you are trying to housebreak puppies, you take them outside 15 minutes or so after they eat, so I applied the same strategy here. When I took him in to sit on the potty, he started resiting, and saying no, no, no.
"Did you pee in your underpants already?" I asked.
"No! Brown!" He cried.
"Brown? Do you have poops in your underpants?" I asked, dismayed.
"Brown!" He said louder.
I laid him on his bed and took off his pants and diaper, leaving just the underpants on. Yep, they were wet AND dirty! What the heck???
(Keep in mind, as you read this, that I've been trying to get this boy to use the potty for nine months already. This is not new material here!)
I proceeded to take off the nasty underpants, and clean him up. As I was doing this, he and I had a conversation.
"Why did you poop and pee in your underpants?!" I said in a not very pleasant tone.
"I want dinosaur story!" He yelled. I don't even know what that means! We don't have a book about dinosaurs. I said, "Look at my face. Does my face look happy?" He had a big smile on his face and nodded yes.
"NO!" I nearly yelled, "My face does not look happy! I am not happy! You have poops and pee in your underpants, and that makes me very unhappy!"
"I want dinosaur story!" He yelled again.
I gave him a pair of underpants with Mater on them.
"DO NOT!! DO NOT!! DO NOT get Mater dirty! Do not poop in Mater! Do not pee in Mater! Tell me if you have to go potty, and I will take you to the potty! Do you understand??" I ordered.
"No poops in Mater." He repeated.
In half an hour, I took him to the potty. He was dry and clean! YAY!!!! He had had an extra cup of milk at he beginning of this second half hour, so I was afraid he'd be wet again. I sat him on the potty. A lot of people read to their kids, or let them look at books while they sit on the potty. We did that with Gabriel and Annalise. Nathan doesn't want books in the bathroom. Instead, he played Leesie's Nintendo DS while he sat there. He sat there for a full 30 minutes before I gave up and got him down. I put his Mater underpants back on him with the same strict orders as before. Within 10 minutes, Mater was wet and dirty. I was FURIOUS!!! I let him stew in his grossness for 45 minutes while I picked up and vacuumed the house. He didn't care. He never once came to me and asked to be changed. When I finished vacuuming, and had calmed down a bit, I took him in to change him. He was oblivious to the fact that he was wearing soaking wet and dirty underpants, and that his skin was wet and dirty and cold. If he doesn't care that he's wet and dirty, there is no incentive to go potty on the potty. I don't know what else to do.
I feel I have been bested. His is truly the iron will. I am no match. He can stay in diapers until he can start changing them himself. I am finished.
1. Sit on the potty
2. Put your potty in the potty
3. Wipe
4. Flush
5. Wash hands
There are some getting undressed and dressed issues that the adult in charge takes care of at first, but those are the "going potty in the potty" steps. That's why skill only gets 20% of the training allowance.
Nathan has four of the five steps down. He can do them with, or without prompting. He can do them by himself, or with an adult (or sibling) in charge. He can do them anytime, anywhere. He can even get out of the bathtub, dripping wet and covered in bubbles, and do them. He's a master! The one step that he has never accomplished is... you guessed it, step two.
Step two shouldn't even be part of the skill steps. Step two is all will. Will gets 80% of the training allowance because without the will, it doesn't matter how much you know, and master the skill. Nathan is living proof of this statement. He has not ever, not even once, pottied in the potty. Not even a drop!
All potty training experts, and just plain ol' moms, know that every potty training technique and trick speaks to the problem of the child's will, not learning the skill. Put cheerios, or fruit loops in the toilet so they can make a game out of aiming for, and hitting hitting them with the stream of urine, (obviously for boys only); give them rewards, (there are too many reward examples to list, and some of them are quite extravagant); put them in underpants so they know what it feels like, and how uncomfortable it is to be wet, or dirty; let them run around naked so they can see and feel what really happens when they potty. The list goes on and on.
When I tell you that Nathan doesn't care about ANY reward, I mean it very literally. I believe that the only thing he would care about as a reward would be oxygen, and if I deprived him of that until he went potty in the potty, well, we wouldn't have to worry about potty training anymore because he'd be dead. I've let him run naked. Worst idea ever! He thought it was the best thing in the world to "mark his territory" all over the place. I've let him run around in just underpants. Again, he thought it was great fun to see how many places in the house he could produce a puddle of pee. He doesn't care about getting his underpants with his favorite characters on them wet or dirty. He doesn't even care about staying in clothing that is soaking wet, or dirty. He just doesn't care.
Last week, I started a fresh attack. One morning, I put him in Lightening McQueen underpants right after he got up, and put a diaper over them. (I thought it would cut down on the amount of laundry, and floor clean up I would have, but still give him an idea of how uncomfortable wet and dirty underpants are.) I told him several times, very sternly NOT to poop or pee in his underpants! I told him that if he had to poop or pee, to tell me and I would sit him on the potty. "Ok, mommy." My plan was to give him a half hour, then put him on the potty. In that half hour, he had breakfast. When you are trying to housebreak puppies, you take them outside 15 minutes or so after they eat, so I applied the same strategy here. When I took him in to sit on the potty, he started resiting, and saying no, no, no.
"Did you pee in your underpants already?" I asked.
"No! Brown!" He cried.
"Brown? Do you have poops in your underpants?" I asked, dismayed.
"Brown!" He said louder.
I laid him on his bed and took off his pants and diaper, leaving just the underpants on. Yep, they were wet AND dirty! What the heck???
(Keep in mind, as you read this, that I've been trying to get this boy to use the potty for nine months already. This is not new material here!)
I proceeded to take off the nasty underpants, and clean him up. As I was doing this, he and I had a conversation.
"Why did you poop and pee in your underpants?!" I said in a not very pleasant tone.
"I want dinosaur story!" He yelled. I don't even know what that means! We don't have a book about dinosaurs. I said, "Look at my face. Does my face look happy?" He had a big smile on his face and nodded yes.
"NO!" I nearly yelled, "My face does not look happy! I am not happy! You have poops and pee in your underpants, and that makes me very unhappy!"
"I want dinosaur story!" He yelled again.
I gave him a pair of underpants with Mater on them.
"DO NOT!! DO NOT!! DO NOT get Mater dirty! Do not poop in Mater! Do not pee in Mater! Tell me if you have to go potty, and I will take you to the potty! Do you understand??" I ordered.
"No poops in Mater." He repeated.
In half an hour, I took him to the potty. He was dry and clean! YAY!!!! He had had an extra cup of milk at he beginning of this second half hour, so I was afraid he'd be wet again. I sat him on the potty. A lot of people read to their kids, or let them look at books while they sit on the potty. We did that with Gabriel and Annalise. Nathan doesn't want books in the bathroom. Instead, he played Leesie's Nintendo DS while he sat there. He sat there for a full 30 minutes before I gave up and got him down. I put his Mater underpants back on him with the same strict orders as before. Within 10 minutes, Mater was wet and dirty. I was FURIOUS!!! I let him stew in his grossness for 45 minutes while I picked up and vacuumed the house. He didn't care. He never once came to me and asked to be changed. When I finished vacuuming, and had calmed down a bit, I took him in to change him. He was oblivious to the fact that he was wearing soaking wet and dirty underpants, and that his skin was wet and dirty and cold. If he doesn't care that he's wet and dirty, there is no incentive to go potty on the potty. I don't know what else to do.
I feel I have been bested. His is truly the iron will. I am no match. He can stay in diapers until he can start changing them himself. I am finished.
Putting Insanity To Rest
I haven't written for a few weeks because of my sister visiting, and Thanksgiving, and a general disgust of what I had to report. As you can guess from the title, Steve and I have discontinued our Insanity competition. He did really well in his second week. I still only managed one work out. He was out of town for week three, and my sister was visiting. He didn't do any work outs while he was gone. I did one. Week four was the week of Thanksgiving. Steve was back that week, but neither one of us did any work outs. We haven't even discussed Insanity, or the competition since then. It's over. Insanity won. Steve and I both lost. Ah well, there's always the new year's resolution in a few weeks!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Halloween 2012
With all this Insanity insanity, I completely forgot about posting Halloween pictures!
When I was little, my dad made me a robot costume. It was the coolest costume ever. This year, I got the idea to make one for Leesie. I told Steve my idea, and he ran with it. I got the supplies, and he put it all together. Everyone we passed while we were trick or treating commented on how great her costume was. A couple of people even told her that she had the best costume of the night! What do you think?
When I was little, my dad made me a robot costume. It was the coolest costume ever. This year, I got the idea to make one for Leesie. I told Steve my idea, and he ran with it. I got the supplies, and he put it all together. Everyone we passed while we were trick or treating commented on how great her costume was. A couple of people even told her that she had the best costume of the night! What do you think?
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| Nathan wore the bumble bee costume that Gabriel and Annalise wore years and years ago. |
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| My robot and bumble bee in the coolest yard in the neighborhood! |
Insanity Challenge, Week Two
Week one of our Insanity challenge is over. We did very poorly indeed. Steve got two work outs in. I only got one. The planets just weren't properly aligned for Insanity, I suppose. I also suppose that Steve and I are not good motivators for one another. I suppose further, that Steve and I are not competitive enough to make this work. Perhaps. Or, perhaps not.
We have a new week ahead of us now. Steve got up at 4:45 this morning, like the good doobie he is, and did his first work out this week. I am determined to get my first work out of the week started after Gabriel leaves for school in a half hour.
I was thinking of starting the whole first week over, but that made me feel like not doing anything at all. I then thought that we've got eight more weeks to go, so if we need another week, to make up for the abysmal first week, we can add it to the end, or the middle, but not here at the beginning.
Now I need to get up and get going. I've got preparations to make before I push the play button. Here's hoping for a great work out, and a productive week!!
We have a new week ahead of us now. Steve got up at 4:45 this morning, like the good doobie he is, and did his first work out this week. I am determined to get my first work out of the week started after Gabriel leaves for school in a half hour.
I was thinking of starting the whole first week over, but that made me feel like not doing anything at all. I then thought that we've got eight more weeks to go, so if we need another week, to make up for the abysmal first week, we can add it to the end, or the middle, but not here at the beginning.
Now I need to get up and get going. I've got preparations to make before I push the play button. Here's hoping for a great work out, and a productive week!!
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Day Two Success
Working out with Steve when he got home last night was fantastic! We both did very well for as out of shape as we both are. Neither one of us has done anything physical, (snorkeling in the Caribbean aside), in the last three months. It's truly disgusting how quickly the human body reverts back to Jabba the Hutt form. We really were created to be extremely active beings. I'd estimate that there were a total of 10 minutes in the 38 minute work out that we just couldn't do. Those 10 minutes were peppered throughout the entire work out. Insanity is interval training, so there are regular 30 second rest breaks. Old, fat people like us need more than 30 seconds of rest to get our heart rates back down. I feel like we did well though, and it was so much better to work with someone else. The one drawback was that Steve was grumpy as all get out for the rest of the night. He was tired. I get that. I'm super grumpy when I'm tired too.
My quandary now is this. Do I put up with Steve being nasty grumpy for a few hours every night in order to have a work out partner? Or do I just suck it up and work out on my own, and let him work out at his preferred time, before work? I guess we will have to discuss it together. I really need to find some friends here! Some friends who don't work all the time, so they can work out with me.
Tonight is going to be interesting. Steve and a few other guys from work are going to help another guy from work move some furniture after work. So he will be home late. Then, there's trick or treating to be done. We are going to have to plan carefully in order to fit Insanity in there somewhere. I have faith in us, though!
My quandary now is this. Do I put up with Steve being nasty grumpy for a few hours every night in order to have a work out partner? Or do I just suck it up and work out on my own, and let him work out at his preferred time, before work? I guess we will have to discuss it together. I really need to find some friends here! Some friends who don't work all the time, so they can work out with me.
Tonight is going to be interesting. Steve and a few other guys from work are going to help another guy from work move some furniture after work. So he will be home late. Then, there's trick or treating to be done. We are going to have to plan carefully in order to fit Insanity in there somewhere. I have faith in us, though!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
First Day Fail - Bad Attitude
As the title of this post suggests, I completely failed my first day of the Insanity Challenge. Steve got up at 4:45 in the morning, like a good doobie, and did his very first ever Insanity work out. I couldn't get myself up at any time of the morning, afternoon, or evening to do my umpteenth Insanity work out. I concluded that I needed more motivation than just an obscure prize that's nine weeks away. Nine weeks. That's more than two months. I can't be motivated by something that's going to happen that far in the future! I need immediate motivation! I'm a here and now kind of gal! I asked Steve if he would try being my work out partner, and wait until he got home from work to do his work out. He was reluctant, because he is tired when he gets home from work. I pointed out to him that he was most likely tired when he got up at 4:45 in the morning, but he still did it. He loves me, loves me, loves me, so he acquiesced. Today I will do my first work out while he does his second. On the bright side, my extreme laziness has given him the leg up, and therefore extra motivation to out do me. At the rate my attitude toward Insanity, and weight loss in general, is going, he won't have to put forth much effort at all to out do me. *sigh* But he does love me, love me, love me, so he is going to help me today. I don't know about tomorrow, but today he will help.
My mental attitude toward weight loss is not surprising. My mental attitude is the same as countless others who have previously tried, in vain, to loose weight. If you read any weight loss books, or go through any weight loss program, they all begin with the same words.
"The reason you failed before is that you didn't make a lifestyle change. Our program is a lifestyle, and therefore guarantees success! Just change a few parameters of your existing lifestyle, and you will be thin and healthy in no time!"
Even though you already know what these parameters of your existing lifestyle are that you must change, I'm going to list them here the way they would be listed in any weight loss book, or program if they were being completely honest.
1. Do not eat or drink anything that gives you joy or pleasure. If you derive joy or pleasure out of something you've put in your mouth, for the love of Fred, SPIT IT OUT!!! Keep in mind that the word "palatable" is a word only fat people value. Food is fuel, and fuel is not tasty, it's a tool. You must fuel your body with joyless food and beverage at least six times a day. Eating this many times a day won't at all hinder you from getting any work done. You need to learn to multi task anyway.
2. Embrace hunger! Hunger is your friend! Yes, I know you are eating constantly, but if you ever fill up on any of those "fueling sessions" then you're doing it wrong.
3. Exercise until you vomit, and do it every day. It doesn't matter what you do, or how long you do it, as long as the end result is puke. Do you need to join a gym? That's completely up to you. Can you drive yourself hard enough to vomit on your own, or do you need a fitness nazi to help drive you that hard? The choice is yours. Can't fit this into your schedule? Change your schedule to work around your fitness. Your boss won't mind a bit. In fact, he/she will admire your tenacity.
4. Sleep at least 8-10 hours within a 24 hour period. Preferably all at once. If you need to go to bed before the kids do, and get up after they are already at school in order to get in all 8-10 hours, go ahead. Your family, and job, will understand.
5. Drink water until you are urinating every 15 minutes. Once you have achieved this urinary goal, keep drinking water so that you can keep up the urinary pace. Your co-workers won't mind your constant trips to the bathroom one bit.
See? Easy weight loss plan! Go ahead, make this your lifestyle. Your family, friends, and job will love you for your efforts!
And I wonder why I'm still fat!
My mental attitude toward weight loss is not surprising. My mental attitude is the same as countless others who have previously tried, in vain, to loose weight. If you read any weight loss books, or go through any weight loss program, they all begin with the same words.
"The reason you failed before is that you didn't make a lifestyle change. Our program is a lifestyle, and therefore guarantees success! Just change a few parameters of your existing lifestyle, and you will be thin and healthy in no time!"
Even though you already know what these parameters of your existing lifestyle are that you must change, I'm going to list them here the way they would be listed in any weight loss book, or program if they were being completely honest.
1. Do not eat or drink anything that gives you joy or pleasure. If you derive joy or pleasure out of something you've put in your mouth, for the love of Fred, SPIT IT OUT!!! Keep in mind that the word "palatable" is a word only fat people value. Food is fuel, and fuel is not tasty, it's a tool. You must fuel your body with joyless food and beverage at least six times a day. Eating this many times a day won't at all hinder you from getting any work done. You need to learn to multi task anyway.
2. Embrace hunger! Hunger is your friend! Yes, I know you are eating constantly, but if you ever fill up on any of those "fueling sessions" then you're doing it wrong.
3. Exercise until you vomit, and do it every day. It doesn't matter what you do, or how long you do it, as long as the end result is puke. Do you need to join a gym? That's completely up to you. Can you drive yourself hard enough to vomit on your own, or do you need a fitness nazi to help drive you that hard? The choice is yours. Can't fit this into your schedule? Change your schedule to work around your fitness. Your boss won't mind a bit. In fact, he/she will admire your tenacity.
4. Sleep at least 8-10 hours within a 24 hour period. Preferably all at once. If you need to go to bed before the kids do, and get up after they are already at school in order to get in all 8-10 hours, go ahead. Your family, and job, will understand.
5. Drink water until you are urinating every 15 minutes. Once you have achieved this urinary goal, keep drinking water so that you can keep up the urinary pace. Your co-workers won't mind your constant trips to the bathroom one bit.
See? Easy weight loss plan! Go ahead, make this your lifestyle. Your family, friends, and job will love you for your efforts!
And I wonder why I'm still fat!
Monday, October 29, 2012
New Insanity Challenge
The first title of this post was, "What Have We Done???" but I decided to be more positive this cold Monday morning. As the current title suggests, I am starting Insanity back up. This time, I am not alone in my efforts. Steve and I have decided to do Insanity together. Together but separately, actually. We have made it a competition. We will be competing to see who can loose more inches, more bulk, more clothing sizes. We will do this by percentage, of course, since we are nowhere near the same size to begin with.
As you may, or may not, have noticed, I didn't do very well with Insanity last summer. The program is six days a week, for nine weeks straight. I never made it to six days a week. The closest I ever came was five days the first week. After that, it was four, if I was really good, but mostly just two and three days here and there for a few weeks before I quit altogether. Results? Not really.
It's not that the program is overly difficult, it's more that it's not fun. It's not Krav Maga, which is the most fun I've ever had with a physical activity. Not being fun, mixed with 45 - 60 minutes a session, six days a week for nine weeks is a formula for failure, right out of the box. Unless, of course, you have something, or someone to keep you accountable for your work out sessions. That's what Steve and I are hoping to do/be for each other with our competition. We've never had a competition for anything before. This should be interesting. I'm not going to tell you about the prize for the winner. It's personal. I will say this about it; if it doesn't motivate us, there is NOTHING in the world that will!
We have two huge obstacles in our way during the program. Week four happens to be the week of Thanksgiving, and week nine, the last week of the program, is the week of Christmas. Can we do it?? Can we work through Thanksgiving week and Christmas week?? I guess we will find out!
Today is day one, week one. Steve got up at 4:45 this morning and did his work out before he went to work. I stayed cozy and warm in bed. Now it's my turn. As soon as Gabriel leaves for school, in about 25 minutes, I'll get my work out on. I will banish all thoughts of going back to bed, since Nathan isn't up yet, and concentrate on the prize at the end. Here I go...
As you may, or may not, have noticed, I didn't do very well with Insanity last summer. The program is six days a week, for nine weeks straight. I never made it to six days a week. The closest I ever came was five days the first week. After that, it was four, if I was really good, but mostly just two and three days here and there for a few weeks before I quit altogether. Results? Not really.
It's not that the program is overly difficult, it's more that it's not fun. It's not Krav Maga, which is the most fun I've ever had with a physical activity. Not being fun, mixed with 45 - 60 minutes a session, six days a week for nine weeks is a formula for failure, right out of the box. Unless, of course, you have something, or someone to keep you accountable for your work out sessions. That's what Steve and I are hoping to do/be for each other with our competition. We've never had a competition for anything before. This should be interesting. I'm not going to tell you about the prize for the winner. It's personal. I will say this about it; if it doesn't motivate us, there is NOTHING in the world that will!
We have two huge obstacles in our way during the program. Week four happens to be the week of Thanksgiving, and week nine, the last week of the program, is the week of Christmas. Can we do it?? Can we work through Thanksgiving week and Christmas week?? I guess we will find out!
Today is day one, week one. Steve got up at 4:45 this morning and did his work out before he went to work. I stayed cozy and warm in bed. Now it's my turn. As soon as Gabriel leaves for school, in about 25 minutes, I'll get my work out on. I will banish all thoughts of going back to bed, since Nathan isn't up yet, and concentrate on the prize at the end. Here I go...
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Double Digit Diva
It's hard to believe it, but this baby turned 10 years old this month. I really don't know how it happened, but it did. I sure don't remember authorizing that!
Plaster Palace is a craft shop that has shelves and shelves of plain figures made out of plaster. You can pick whatever figure you want, and sit down at a table and paint it however you want to paint it. They provide everything you need, including smocks. Once you are finished painting, you have the option of having glitter put on your piece, then the ladies at Plaster Palace spray your piece with a sealant. Since it's plaster, and not ceramic, you can take your piece home with you that day. Annalise and her friends love creating things, so they really loved that they could pick out something and paint it. When you have a birthday party at Plaster Palace, you get to eat pizza and cake after you are finished painting your piece. The birthday child also gets to put their hand print on the wall in the party room. It's a pretty sweet deal! No fuss or clean up or anything for the parents of the birthday child!
Pictures from both parties are at www.flickr.com/photos/animagusthree/
So now I've got two children in double digits, and one who refuses to get out of diapers. I just can't believe my first two babies are so grown up. On the other hand, I don't think Nathan will ever grow up at all!!!
Friday, October 19, 2012
First Experience With Marching Band
This year, Gabriel is in 8th grade. He was in band last year, and is in band again this year. He plays the bassoon. He was the only bassoon in the whole band last year. This year, there is another bassoon in beginning band. Anyway, this year the LAJH 8th grade band was invited to play with two different high school bands during their schools football game. Last Friday, they played with the Clay High School marching band. Next Friday, they will play with the Middleburg High School marching band. I hope to god that Middleburg has a better band than Clay does! Clay High School has the worst marching band I've ever seen in my life! Their band director is pathetic!! I can't even go into everything that was wrong with this band, and the experience the 8th graders had with them. I will say this, though, Gabriel will NOT be going to Clay High next year. Like I said before, I hope the Middleburg High experience is better.
Here are some pictures from the Clay High marching experience.
Here are some pictures from the Clay High marching experience.
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| Here they come! |
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| This is the only time you will ever see a bassoon in a marching band. Well, except for next week, when he will be with a different marching band. |
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| Yes, this marching band took off their jackets and played half dressed until half time. |
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| They got dressed again for half time. |
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| I LOVE this picture! |
New Floors, Second Installment
In my last post, I told you that we had new flooring put in most of the house. I also said that the floors were JUST put in, and that the pictures reflected that. Here are some pictures of the floors after we've lived with them a few weeks, and cleaned them a few times. I also want to mention that we LOVE this tile!!! Its wonderful! It's easy to clean, and it looks spectacular, and it's so much quieter than the laminate was. It's fantastic!! If you live in the south, because having tile all through your house in the north is just plain freezing, I highly recommend tile throughout the entire house! As soon as it's financially possible, all the kids' rooms and their bathroom will be tiled. (Our bathroom already has tile.)
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| Imaging this room painted in Valspar's Blue Haze. Pretty, eh? |
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| My dream is to repaint our bedroom the blue and gray that is in the bedspread. |
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| The two remaining rooms with carpet, Gabriel and Annalise's rooms. Their bathroom, to the left, is one of two rooms left that have laminate. Nathan's room is the other room with laminate. |
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Things Going On, and On, and On
From the middle of August, to the middle of October is a very busy and exciting time of the year at our house. The beginning of a new school year, and all the activities and social interactions that come with that. Nathan's birthday, in mid September. Finally, Annalise's birthday, at the beginning of October. Planning birthday parties, even small ones, three weeks apart, makes a mom busy.
This year, we added some other events to our busy time of the year. First, after being over seas all summer, Steve came home the day after school started, in the middle of August. Very exciting!! In September, Steve and I went on an incredible cruise vacation to celebrate our 15th Anniversary. Nathan's third birthday was the day after we got home from our cruise. Two weeks after that, We had new floors put in the house. One week after that, we will celebrate Annalise's 10th birthday! Double digits for my baby girl! I can't even believe it!
Right now, we are at the "new floors" stage of this busy and exciting time of the year. This stage started last week. We had to pack up everything in our bedroom, and on the floors of our closets. We also had to pack up everything in the office area, living room area, and dining room. For the kitchen, we just had to get things off the floors in the pantries, and take things off the stove, and top of the refrigerator. The floor guys moved the big furniture, we just had to have everything off it.
We were scheduled to stay with our friends around the corner, in an in-law apartment they had built on to the back of their house when her mother came to live with them several years ago. Her mother has since married, and has left their apartment fully furnished. it was a perfect place for our family to camp out while our floors were being torn up and re-laid.
Steve and I picked out this beautiful porcelain tile, that looks like hardwood planks. I was excited that he liked the tile enough to want it not only in the living room/kitchen/dining room/office area, but also in our bedroom. I really dislike carpet, and didn't want to replace old carpet with new carpet. Until he saw the tile that looked like hardwood planks, he was dead set against having tile in the bedroom.
The man at the flooring store told us that we would have to be out of our house from Thursday, until Tuesday. He said that the floor guys would spend all day Thursday ripping out the old floor, then spend Friday and Saturday laying the tile, and Monday and Tuesday grouting. We weren't happy about that, but were very grateful that our friends were willing to let us stay in their in-law apartment that long. I finished up the packing on Wednesday night, and put Nathan to bed at his usual time. I had planned on getting the five of us packed up for our five day "vacation" away from home after I got Nathan in bed. A little while after I put Nathan to bed, he started crying. The kind of crying that says, "I'm not messing around because I don't want to go to bed, there is something VERY wrong here!" I rushed to his room, thinking he'd gotten out of bed, and gotten hurt somehow. I WISH he had gotten hurt! In reality, he had thrown up all over this bed, and was still throwing up when I got in there. Long, disgusting story short, he threw up until a little after 1am. I did load after load after load of vomited on laundry in those hours, while everyone else slept. At a quarter to eight Thursday morning, the floor guys showed up. As prepared as I thought I was going to be, I was completely unprepared!!! Annalise was just about ready to walk out the door to school. Nathan was still laying on the couch, with a trash can at his side. I had gotten dressed, but was still trying to scarf down my breakfast. Gabriel was in the shower. Those guys came in, and got right to work. Right in the middle of me trying to clean up a sick bed, and a child who was still not well. Right in the middle of me trying to finish my breakfast. Right in the middle of Gabriel trying to get ready for school. Chaos and disarray!!! I don't handle that kind of pressure well. I started freaking out. I started just grabbing things I could think of that I knew we needed, but my brain was stuck. I couldn't think! (and in case you are wondering, I got NOTHING packed up for the five of us after Nathan went to bed, or after he started throwing up.) By the time the last of us left the house, presumably for the next five days, what we had was woefully inadequate. I managed to grab a package of diapers, and a package of wipes. I also managed to grab a change of clothes for Nathan, and a shoe. Yes, just one shoe. I couldn't find the other one, and the floor guys were moving furniture into his room, so I couldn't look for the other one. Other than that, we all had the clothes on our backs, and the phones in our pockets, and the kids and Steve had backpacks. I had my purse, of course. That's it. Nothing else. No shower stuff. No hair brushes. No tooth brushes. No medicines. No contacts (for Steve). No jammies. No other clothes. No food.
As I was getting into my car, the head floor guy, a guy named C.W., came to talk to me. He said that they would rip out the old flooring that morning. He said it shouldn't take more than an hour. He said that they would lay most, if not all of the tile that day. He said they would finish laying the rest of the tile (if there was any left to lay) on Friday, and then start grouting. He said that the grouting would be finished on Saturday at the latest. He said that the worst case scenario, if things go wrong, and bad things happen, the last of the grouting will be done on Monday. Ok, that's a heck of a lot better time table than the man at the store gave us! I was excited about that! Then C.W. said, "You aren't coming back here today, are you? Because you can't walk on anything we lay today. You can't walk on it for 24 hours, so you wont be able to come back into the house until tomorrow morning at the earliest." My addled brain held this information so it could examine it at its leisure once it found a place that was not riddled with chaos. So I nodded, and left. Nathan and I got to the in-law apartment and I started to take inventory of the situation. No other way to say it. I had totally dropped the ball! Man was I going to be in trouble when everyone found out that they had to wear the same clothes to sleep in, and go to school/work in the next day. Plus, Steve was going to have to go to work blind, because he not only didn't have contacts for the next day, but he also didn't have his glasses! And I don't even want to get into what I was thinking about with my medications being missed a day.
Suffice it to say, we walked on newly laid tile that night. We crept into the house, and walked carefully on the tiles and gathered up everything we needed. All was well. I'd spent all day stressing about it, and about Nathan being ill, and about Val being stuck in the back yard...
One thing we noticed when we stole into the house Thursday night, was that C.W. was right. They laid all but 7-8 tiles that day! Woo Hoo!!!! On Friday, they grouted, and put the 1/4 round in. By dinner time on Friday, they were moving the furniture back!! Yesterday morning, we moved back into our house, with new floors!! The grout still has to cure completely, so the tiles still have that dusty, dirty look. Tomorrow I will be able to properly mop and clean up the tiles. After I do that, I'll put all the rugs and stuff back down.
Nathan was very ill on Friday, and I was worried we would have to take him to the hospital. He had gotten very dehydrated, (he had only peed one time in 24 hours), and was running a fever. I couldn't get him to drink anything either. Luckily, once Steve got home from work, he was able to get Nathan to drink some pedialyte, and then gatorade. By yesterday, Nathan was very much better. Today, he's back to normal. Tomorrow he will be happy to help me clean the floors, I'm sure!
I estimate having everything unpacked and put away by Wednesday. After that, we just have Leesie's birthday, which is a week from Tuesday. Steve has missed her last two birthdays, and he's going to miss this one too. He has been scheduled for continuing education. He asked if he could go at a later date, told his boss that he will miss his daughter's 10th birthday, and his boss just doesn't care. He wants Steve to go now. Fine. I spit in his general direction! Poor Leesie. This will be her third birthday without daddy. At least this time he'll be back the following week, instead of the following month, like the last couple of years. We will have something little here at the house, with just her brothers, and me, on her actual birthday. The weekend after daddy gets home, we will have her big party. We only do big birthday parties on the 5's. That's what you get when you have a mom with social anxiety! She will be able to invite friends from school, and we are going to have it at a place called Plaster Palace. She and her friends will be able to pick a plaster craft, and paint it however they want, then have pizza, drinks, and cake. Gabriel had his 10th birthday party at the bowling ally by our house in GA. They both thought that was the best party in the whole world! They got to bowl, play video games in the arcade, and eat pizza and cake. Up until I pointed Plaster Palace out to her a few months ago, she's been sure she wanted the same kind of bowling party for her 10th birthday party. Plaster Palace wowed her away from the bowling party! It should be fun for a gaggle of girls to paint plaster crafts. I'll be sure to bring the camera.
I am including a few pictures of the floors, the way they looked when we walked in yesterday morning. They still look like this now, but will look better after tomorrow. I'll probably have to mop them a few times to get all the grout dust and stuff off. That should be fun for just the first few minutes!
This year, we added some other events to our busy time of the year. First, after being over seas all summer, Steve came home the day after school started, in the middle of August. Very exciting!! In September, Steve and I went on an incredible cruise vacation to celebrate our 15th Anniversary. Nathan's third birthday was the day after we got home from our cruise. Two weeks after that, We had new floors put in the house. One week after that, we will celebrate Annalise's 10th birthday! Double digits for my baby girl! I can't even believe it!
Right now, we are at the "new floors" stage of this busy and exciting time of the year. This stage started last week. We had to pack up everything in our bedroom, and on the floors of our closets. We also had to pack up everything in the office area, living room area, and dining room. For the kitchen, we just had to get things off the floors in the pantries, and take things off the stove, and top of the refrigerator. The floor guys moved the big furniture, we just had to have everything off it.
We were scheduled to stay with our friends around the corner, in an in-law apartment they had built on to the back of their house when her mother came to live with them several years ago. Her mother has since married, and has left their apartment fully furnished. it was a perfect place for our family to camp out while our floors were being torn up and re-laid.
Steve and I picked out this beautiful porcelain tile, that looks like hardwood planks. I was excited that he liked the tile enough to want it not only in the living room/kitchen/dining room/office area, but also in our bedroom. I really dislike carpet, and didn't want to replace old carpet with new carpet. Until he saw the tile that looked like hardwood planks, he was dead set against having tile in the bedroom.
The man at the flooring store told us that we would have to be out of our house from Thursday, until Tuesday. He said that the floor guys would spend all day Thursday ripping out the old floor, then spend Friday and Saturday laying the tile, and Monday and Tuesday grouting. We weren't happy about that, but were very grateful that our friends were willing to let us stay in their in-law apartment that long. I finished up the packing on Wednesday night, and put Nathan to bed at his usual time. I had planned on getting the five of us packed up for our five day "vacation" away from home after I got Nathan in bed. A little while after I put Nathan to bed, he started crying. The kind of crying that says, "I'm not messing around because I don't want to go to bed, there is something VERY wrong here!" I rushed to his room, thinking he'd gotten out of bed, and gotten hurt somehow. I WISH he had gotten hurt! In reality, he had thrown up all over this bed, and was still throwing up when I got in there. Long, disgusting story short, he threw up until a little after 1am. I did load after load after load of vomited on laundry in those hours, while everyone else slept. At a quarter to eight Thursday morning, the floor guys showed up. As prepared as I thought I was going to be, I was completely unprepared!!! Annalise was just about ready to walk out the door to school. Nathan was still laying on the couch, with a trash can at his side. I had gotten dressed, but was still trying to scarf down my breakfast. Gabriel was in the shower. Those guys came in, and got right to work. Right in the middle of me trying to clean up a sick bed, and a child who was still not well. Right in the middle of me trying to finish my breakfast. Right in the middle of Gabriel trying to get ready for school. Chaos and disarray!!! I don't handle that kind of pressure well. I started freaking out. I started just grabbing things I could think of that I knew we needed, but my brain was stuck. I couldn't think! (and in case you are wondering, I got NOTHING packed up for the five of us after Nathan went to bed, or after he started throwing up.) By the time the last of us left the house, presumably for the next five days, what we had was woefully inadequate. I managed to grab a package of diapers, and a package of wipes. I also managed to grab a change of clothes for Nathan, and a shoe. Yes, just one shoe. I couldn't find the other one, and the floor guys were moving furniture into his room, so I couldn't look for the other one. Other than that, we all had the clothes on our backs, and the phones in our pockets, and the kids and Steve had backpacks. I had my purse, of course. That's it. Nothing else. No shower stuff. No hair brushes. No tooth brushes. No medicines. No contacts (for Steve). No jammies. No other clothes. No food.
As I was getting into my car, the head floor guy, a guy named C.W., came to talk to me. He said that they would rip out the old flooring that morning. He said it shouldn't take more than an hour. He said that they would lay most, if not all of the tile that day. He said they would finish laying the rest of the tile (if there was any left to lay) on Friday, and then start grouting. He said that the grouting would be finished on Saturday at the latest. He said that the worst case scenario, if things go wrong, and bad things happen, the last of the grouting will be done on Monday. Ok, that's a heck of a lot better time table than the man at the store gave us! I was excited about that! Then C.W. said, "You aren't coming back here today, are you? Because you can't walk on anything we lay today. You can't walk on it for 24 hours, so you wont be able to come back into the house until tomorrow morning at the earliest." My addled brain held this information so it could examine it at its leisure once it found a place that was not riddled with chaos. So I nodded, and left. Nathan and I got to the in-law apartment and I started to take inventory of the situation. No other way to say it. I had totally dropped the ball! Man was I going to be in trouble when everyone found out that they had to wear the same clothes to sleep in, and go to school/work in the next day. Plus, Steve was going to have to go to work blind, because he not only didn't have contacts for the next day, but he also didn't have his glasses! And I don't even want to get into what I was thinking about with my medications being missed a day.
Suffice it to say, we walked on newly laid tile that night. We crept into the house, and walked carefully on the tiles and gathered up everything we needed. All was well. I'd spent all day stressing about it, and about Nathan being ill, and about Val being stuck in the back yard...
One thing we noticed when we stole into the house Thursday night, was that C.W. was right. They laid all but 7-8 tiles that day! Woo Hoo!!!! On Friday, they grouted, and put the 1/4 round in. By dinner time on Friday, they were moving the furniture back!! Yesterday morning, we moved back into our house, with new floors!! The grout still has to cure completely, so the tiles still have that dusty, dirty look. Tomorrow I will be able to properly mop and clean up the tiles. After I do that, I'll put all the rugs and stuff back down.
Nathan was very ill on Friday, and I was worried we would have to take him to the hospital. He had gotten very dehydrated, (he had only peed one time in 24 hours), and was running a fever. I couldn't get him to drink anything either. Luckily, once Steve got home from work, he was able to get Nathan to drink some pedialyte, and then gatorade. By yesterday, Nathan was very much better. Today, he's back to normal. Tomorrow he will be happy to help me clean the floors, I'm sure!
I estimate having everything unpacked and put away by Wednesday. After that, we just have Leesie's birthday, which is a week from Tuesday. Steve has missed her last two birthdays, and he's going to miss this one too. He has been scheduled for continuing education. He asked if he could go at a later date, told his boss that he will miss his daughter's 10th birthday, and his boss just doesn't care. He wants Steve to go now. Fine. I spit in his general direction! Poor Leesie. This will be her third birthday without daddy. At least this time he'll be back the following week, instead of the following month, like the last couple of years. We will have something little here at the house, with just her brothers, and me, on her actual birthday. The weekend after daddy gets home, we will have her big party. We only do big birthday parties on the 5's. That's what you get when you have a mom with social anxiety! She will be able to invite friends from school, and we are going to have it at a place called Plaster Palace. She and her friends will be able to pick a plaster craft, and paint it however they want, then have pizza, drinks, and cake. Gabriel had his 10th birthday party at the bowling ally by our house in GA. They both thought that was the best party in the whole world! They got to bowl, play video games in the arcade, and eat pizza and cake. Up until I pointed Plaster Palace out to her a few months ago, she's been sure she wanted the same kind of bowling party for her 10th birthday party. Plaster Palace wowed her away from the bowling party! It should be fun for a gaggle of girls to paint plaster crafts. I'll be sure to bring the camera.
I am including a few pictures of the floors, the way they looked when we walked in yesterday morning. They still look like this now, but will look better after tomorrow. I'll probably have to mop them a few times to get all the grout dust and stuff off. That should be fun for just the first few minutes!
Friday, September 21, 2012
The Cruise Edition
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean International
Ship: Oasis of the Seas
Sail Date: September 8, 2012
Return Date: September 15, 2012
Ports: Ft. Lauderdale, Nassau, St. Thomas USVI, St. Maarten
Statistics for Oasis of the Seas:
225,282 gross tons
1,187 feet long
208 feet wide
213 feet high, from the water line
30 foot draft
6,296 guest capacity
2,165 crew members, from over 71 countries
8,461 people aboard a full ship
2,706 staterooms
24 dining options
24 elevators
21 pools and hot tubs
16 guest decks
7 neighborhoods
3 theaters
2 rock climbing walls
2 flow riders
1 zip line
1 carousel
1 casino
Uncountable bars, nightclubs, activities, parades, shows, classes, and things you can't even guess.
Two things you need to know about me, if you don't already, are that I have social anxiety, (bordering on agoraphobia.), and I have an unbelievable fear of deep, dark water. I know what you're saying. Why in the world would we choose to go on vacation on the worlds biggest cruise ship, over deep, dark water, and with over 8,000 people??? You're partially right. It was a pretty stupid idea. I spent the week in varying degrees of fear, and nervousness. Beyond that, (and in my 39 years of dealing with excessive fear and nervousness I have become pretty good at looking beyond it to experience other things), it was a BRILLIANT idea to go on a cruise! The problem I had was that it took me three days to calm down enough to really start enjoying everything. Therefore, it would have been nice to have an extra three days on the ship! We missed quite a bit of what that ship had to offer, because we didn't start paying attention to what it had to offer right from the beginning. That had less to do with my phobias, and more to do with us being novices with this type of thing. For example, we were unaware of all of the classes, seminars, games, sports, parades, and other activities always going on in various parts of the ship until the last couple of days! I now understand why they have people on board to book your next cruise even before you're finished with your first one! I also understand why people choose to extend their cruise an extra week, instead of disembarking with the rest of us at the end! If we had had the freedom and funds to do that, we would have.
We saw the most fantastic shows that week! The first night we were on board, we saw comedians Al Romas, and John Campanaro on stage at Comedy Live, in the Entertainment Place neighborhood. That was a great way to end the first day on the ship. Laughing our heads off! When we left that show, my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much!
We saw the ice show, Frozen in Time, the next evening. We were awed by the skaters and by the sets and costumes! We left that show feeling like we were little kids again! So much excitement!
The following day, we were at sea all day, so we saw two shows. In the afternoon, we saw Hairspray in the Opal Theater. Steve doesn't like Hairspray. He's seen it on stage, and on screen, and he just doesn't like it. He wasn't looking forward to seeing it on the ship. Well guess what?? He LOVED it!! He had such a good time at that show! It was fabulous!!! And again, the sets and costumes were amazing as well as the acting, singing, and dancing! That evening, we headed to the aqua theater to watch Oasis of Dreams. The diving, dancing, acrobatics, and synchronized swimming in that show were phenomenal!!! (And of course, so were the costumes!)
On our fifth day, we saw Scott Record in the Headliner Showtime. I'd never heard of Scott Record before that day. I'll tell you what, that man is EXTREMELY talented!! Another incredible show! You know a show is good when it ends, and you are sad that it's over! All of these shows were like that! We didn't want them to end! They were so good!
Our sixth night was our formal night. I spent all afternoon in the spa, getting gorgeous, and Steve put on his tux, and we had a three course meal in the main dining room. Then we walked around the Royal Promenade, and Central Park, and got our picture professionally taken in several locations. We rode the Rising Tide bar up and down a couple of times, while sipping on drinks. Then we saw our final show, Come Fly With Me. It had acrobatics, dancing, trapeze artists, flying, and singing. The singing was done by the same performers that were in Hairspray, the ones we loved so much. They just didn't nail this show like they nailed Hairspray. Come Fly With Me would have been so much better if it had just been the acrobats and trapeze artists! They were incredible!!
The Rising Tide bar was the only bar we went to all week. We never went to any of the night clubs on board either. Next time, we will check those places out. We feel like we were busy, busy, busy the entire time we were on board, and we didn't even do half the stuff the ship has to offer! It wouldn't be over doing it to say that you really need two full weeks on this ship in order to experience everything on it!
Below is the link to the pictures on Flickr. I didn't talk about the shore excursions, because the pictures talk about them better than I can. Click on the link, and choose the sets at the right hand side, instead of looking at the pictures in the photostream, or slideshow. To get from one set to the other, click on my name, next to my little face, in the upper right of the screen. That will take you back to the photostream, and you can then choose the next set to look at.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/animagusthree/
Even if you have hang ups about boats, or water, sea sickness, or whatever, I would encourage you to take a cruise, if you have the opportunity. There is just so much to do and experience that you don't get with any other type of vacation. Steve and I will definitely do it again, the first chance we have! Yes, it was that good!!
Ship: Oasis of the Seas
Sail Date: September 8, 2012
Return Date: September 15, 2012
Ports: Ft. Lauderdale, Nassau, St. Thomas USVI, St. Maarten
Statistics for Oasis of the Seas:
225,282 gross tons
1,187 feet long
208 feet wide
213 feet high, from the water line
30 foot draft
6,296 guest capacity
2,165 crew members, from over 71 countries
8,461 people aboard a full ship
2,706 staterooms
24 dining options
24 elevators
21 pools and hot tubs
16 guest decks
7 neighborhoods
3 theaters
2 rock climbing walls
2 flow riders
1 zip line
1 carousel
1 casino
Uncountable bars, nightclubs, activities, parades, shows, classes, and things you can't even guess.
Two things you need to know about me, if you don't already, are that I have social anxiety, (bordering on agoraphobia.), and I have an unbelievable fear of deep, dark water. I know what you're saying. Why in the world would we choose to go on vacation on the worlds biggest cruise ship, over deep, dark water, and with over 8,000 people??? You're partially right. It was a pretty stupid idea. I spent the week in varying degrees of fear, and nervousness. Beyond that, (and in my 39 years of dealing with excessive fear and nervousness I have become pretty good at looking beyond it to experience other things), it was a BRILLIANT idea to go on a cruise! The problem I had was that it took me three days to calm down enough to really start enjoying everything. Therefore, it would have been nice to have an extra three days on the ship! We missed quite a bit of what that ship had to offer, because we didn't start paying attention to what it had to offer right from the beginning. That had less to do with my phobias, and more to do with us being novices with this type of thing. For example, we were unaware of all of the classes, seminars, games, sports, parades, and other activities always going on in various parts of the ship until the last couple of days! I now understand why they have people on board to book your next cruise even before you're finished with your first one! I also understand why people choose to extend their cruise an extra week, instead of disembarking with the rest of us at the end! If we had had the freedom and funds to do that, we would have.
We saw the most fantastic shows that week! The first night we were on board, we saw comedians Al Romas, and John Campanaro on stage at Comedy Live, in the Entertainment Place neighborhood. That was a great way to end the first day on the ship. Laughing our heads off! When we left that show, my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much!
We saw the ice show, Frozen in Time, the next evening. We were awed by the skaters and by the sets and costumes! We left that show feeling like we were little kids again! So much excitement!
The following day, we were at sea all day, so we saw two shows. In the afternoon, we saw Hairspray in the Opal Theater. Steve doesn't like Hairspray. He's seen it on stage, and on screen, and he just doesn't like it. He wasn't looking forward to seeing it on the ship. Well guess what?? He LOVED it!! He had such a good time at that show! It was fabulous!!! And again, the sets and costumes were amazing as well as the acting, singing, and dancing! That evening, we headed to the aqua theater to watch Oasis of Dreams. The diving, dancing, acrobatics, and synchronized swimming in that show were phenomenal!!! (And of course, so were the costumes!)
On our fifth day, we saw Scott Record in the Headliner Showtime. I'd never heard of Scott Record before that day. I'll tell you what, that man is EXTREMELY talented!! Another incredible show! You know a show is good when it ends, and you are sad that it's over! All of these shows were like that! We didn't want them to end! They were so good!
Our sixth night was our formal night. I spent all afternoon in the spa, getting gorgeous, and Steve put on his tux, and we had a three course meal in the main dining room. Then we walked around the Royal Promenade, and Central Park, and got our picture professionally taken in several locations. We rode the Rising Tide bar up and down a couple of times, while sipping on drinks. Then we saw our final show, Come Fly With Me. It had acrobatics, dancing, trapeze artists, flying, and singing. The singing was done by the same performers that were in Hairspray, the ones we loved so much. They just didn't nail this show like they nailed Hairspray. Come Fly With Me would have been so much better if it had just been the acrobats and trapeze artists! They were incredible!!
The Rising Tide bar was the only bar we went to all week. We never went to any of the night clubs on board either. Next time, we will check those places out. We feel like we were busy, busy, busy the entire time we were on board, and we didn't even do half the stuff the ship has to offer! It wouldn't be over doing it to say that you really need two full weeks on this ship in order to experience everything on it!
Below is the link to the pictures on Flickr. I didn't talk about the shore excursions, because the pictures talk about them better than I can. Click on the link, and choose the sets at the right hand side, instead of looking at the pictures in the photostream, or slideshow. To get from one set to the other, click on my name, next to my little face, in the upper right of the screen. That will take you back to the photostream, and you can then choose the next set to look at.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/animagusthree/
Even if you have hang ups about boats, or water, sea sickness, or whatever, I would encourage you to take a cruise, if you have the opportunity. There is just so much to do and experience that you don't get with any other type of vacation. Steve and I will definitely do it again, the first chance we have! Yes, it was that good!!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
First Day Of Preschool
Nathan started preschool yesterday. He is in the same class this year as last year. It's the 2yr old class. The reason I didn't move him up to the 3yr old class this year with all of his classmates from last year, is because he doesn't turn three until the middle of September. Follow me here... His birthday is in the middle of September, so when he starts Kindergarten they will require him to be five years old on or before September first. By keeping him in the 2 year old class one more year, he will be on track to enter Kindergarten after PK4. ( Another good reason to hold him back is that he is not even remotely potty trained. Not for lack of trying on my part, either! This boy thinks it's great fun to pee in underpants. We went through four pairs of underpants within an hour the last time we tried to potty train. He thought it was a game, and the object was to pee in as many places in the house as possible. So, we will try again in another month or so.) Since he is in the same class as last year, he has the same teachers, and is in the same class room, so he's right at home. He LOVES school! He walked right in yesterday like he owned the place! He acted like he hadn't just had an entire summer off, like it was just another day at school! I'm so grateful for that!! I LOVE him to be in school!! He got to wear his two favorite characters to school, which made him very happy. Lightening McQueen, and Mario! Can't get much better than that! Thursday, August 23, 2012
Education Snob
We are just finishing the second week of this school year, so it is probably premature to say that everyone is doing well in school. The kids seem happy, so that's good. I have some issues, though. I don't think my children are getting a very good education.
There are things that have been bothering me, from Annalise not being able to preform basic addition without counting on her fingers, and not knowing place value, but still getting straight A's all year last year; To Gabriel not being able to write complete sentences, or know how to spell his brother's name, but being recommended for advanced language arts. Or how about Gabriel not knowing the difference between a state and a country, and not knowing the names of all 50 states in the country he lives in, but making it to advanced Geography this year? Then, of course, there was the beginning of the year welcome letter from Gabriel's "advanced" language arts teacher that was riddled with grammatical errors.
I've been concerned with Annalise's lack of understanding, and memorization, in math for the past two years. I've spoken with her teachers for the past two years about getting her extra help, and they've both said that she is doing fine. It irritates me to no end to know that the problems and frustrations she will have this year, in fourth grade, could have been addressed in the second and third grades if her teachers hadn't blown me off. I know, I should have trusted my instinct and gotten her extra help anyway. At the beginning of 3rd grade, her teacher announced that the students are no longer made to memorize multiplication facts. At the beginning of 4th grade, the same teacher, (who moved up with the class from last year), announced that the students will be responsible for memorizing their multiplication facts, as it will help them to complete the type of problems they will be doing this year. Oh, do you really think so??? Don't get me wrong, I really like this teacher. I was happy to hear he was going to move up with the class. Annalise loves him! He is very charismatic and does a wonderful job with the kids. However, he is a product of the system, and the system says, "teach the big bad test, so the kids do well on it, and we get funding." I am so over FCAT, or CRCT, or MEAP, or TAAS, or whatever the 'big bad test' is in your state. It's not helping anyone.
I haven't been overly happy with the junior high that Gabriel goes to, as a whole. The administration has never impressed me, and as I indicated previously, the language arts and geography teachers are idiots. I do, however, like his band teacher. I think she is a phenomenal gem in the dung heap that is that school. His science teacher this year, and the two math teachers he's had have also been very good.
The question that has been on my mind for the past two weeks is this: What can I do to give my children a better education than the one they are currently getting? There are a few options. Private school, homeschool, virtual school.
Private school is expensive, especially with two kids. A good private school is also quite a drive from where we are. I know that with tuition assistance, we could probably scrape by and send them both. I would also drive across town if it meant my kids were getting a rock solid education.
Homeschool is a non-option for us. I know homeschooling works very well for some, but we just don't work together the way children and parents need to work together in order for homeschooling to be successful.
Virtual school is a whole new thing to me. Florida has a program called Florida Virtual School. http://melearning.flvs.net/?gclid=CPiHztSq_rECFQSEnQodtkYA4A
I looked at this as an option for Annalise's math class, but much to my chagrin, they only offer classes for middle school and high school students. I did, however, find a few classes that I believe would greatly benefit Gabriel if he were to take one at a time as a supplement to his normal schooling.
http://issuu.com/fdgcreative/docs/flvs-course-catalog?mode=embed&layout=http://skin.issuu.com/v/light/layout.xml&showFlipBtn=true
Using the link above, find the course entitled, "M/J Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Learning" on the right hand side. If you click on that page, it will zoom in so it's easier to read. Read the course description. That is the first class I would love Gabriel to take. All of the language arts and social studies type classes look like great classes for him to take as well, but I'm pretty sure I can't "a la carte" his normal school, and fill in the blanks with this virtual school. If I could, I'd keep him at LAJH half the day for band, math, and science, and have him home doing virtual school for language arts, and social studies. In a perfect world, that would work! Since this isn't a perfect world, I think we will just supplement the crappy education he is getting with these on line courses.
None of this fixes Annalise's math woes, though. For the time being, Steve and I are going to have a meeting with her teacher and tell him that we want her to have extra help. If that doesn't work, plan B is to look into private schools.
What would you do? I would LOVE suggestions!!
There are things that have been bothering me, from Annalise not being able to preform basic addition without counting on her fingers, and not knowing place value, but still getting straight A's all year last year; To Gabriel not being able to write complete sentences, or know how to spell his brother's name, but being recommended for advanced language arts. Or how about Gabriel not knowing the difference between a state and a country, and not knowing the names of all 50 states in the country he lives in, but making it to advanced Geography this year? Then, of course, there was the beginning of the year welcome letter from Gabriel's "advanced" language arts teacher that was riddled with grammatical errors.
I've been concerned with Annalise's lack of understanding, and memorization, in math for the past two years. I've spoken with her teachers for the past two years about getting her extra help, and they've both said that she is doing fine. It irritates me to no end to know that the problems and frustrations she will have this year, in fourth grade, could have been addressed in the second and third grades if her teachers hadn't blown me off. I know, I should have trusted my instinct and gotten her extra help anyway. At the beginning of 3rd grade, her teacher announced that the students are no longer made to memorize multiplication facts. At the beginning of 4th grade, the same teacher, (who moved up with the class from last year), announced that the students will be responsible for memorizing their multiplication facts, as it will help them to complete the type of problems they will be doing this year. Oh, do you really think so??? Don't get me wrong, I really like this teacher. I was happy to hear he was going to move up with the class. Annalise loves him! He is very charismatic and does a wonderful job with the kids. However, he is a product of the system, and the system says, "teach the big bad test, so the kids do well on it, and we get funding." I am so over FCAT, or CRCT, or MEAP, or TAAS, or whatever the 'big bad test' is in your state. It's not helping anyone.
I haven't been overly happy with the junior high that Gabriel goes to, as a whole. The administration has never impressed me, and as I indicated previously, the language arts and geography teachers are idiots. I do, however, like his band teacher. I think she is a phenomenal gem in the dung heap that is that school. His science teacher this year, and the two math teachers he's had have also been very good.
The question that has been on my mind for the past two weeks is this: What can I do to give my children a better education than the one they are currently getting? There are a few options. Private school, homeschool, virtual school.
Private school is expensive, especially with two kids. A good private school is also quite a drive from where we are. I know that with tuition assistance, we could probably scrape by and send them both. I would also drive across town if it meant my kids were getting a rock solid education.
Homeschool is a non-option for us. I know homeschooling works very well for some, but we just don't work together the way children and parents need to work together in order for homeschooling to be successful.
Virtual school is a whole new thing to me. Florida has a program called Florida Virtual School. http://melearning.flvs.net/?gclid=CPiHztSq_rECFQSEnQodtkYA4A
I looked at this as an option for Annalise's math class, but much to my chagrin, they only offer classes for middle school and high school students. I did, however, find a few classes that I believe would greatly benefit Gabriel if he were to take one at a time as a supplement to his normal schooling.
http://issuu.com/fdgcreative/docs/flvs-course-catalog?mode=embed&layout=http://skin.issuu.com/v/light/layout.xml&showFlipBtn=true
Using the link above, find the course entitled, "M/J Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Learning" on the right hand side. If you click on that page, it will zoom in so it's easier to read. Read the course description. That is the first class I would love Gabriel to take. All of the language arts and social studies type classes look like great classes for him to take as well, but I'm pretty sure I can't "a la carte" his normal school, and fill in the blanks with this virtual school. If I could, I'd keep him at LAJH half the day for band, math, and science, and have him home doing virtual school for language arts, and social studies. In a perfect world, that would work! Since this isn't a perfect world, I think we will just supplement the crappy education he is getting with these on line courses.
None of this fixes Annalise's math woes, though. For the time being, Steve and I are going to have a meeting with her teacher and tell him that we want her to have extra help. If that doesn't work, plan B is to look into private schools.
What would you do? I would LOVE suggestions!!
Saturday, August 18, 2012
First Day of School 2012-13
Gabriel and Annalise started back to school last Tuesday. Gabriel is now in 8th grade. Annalise is now in 4th grade. So far, each of them like their new classes. I can only hope it stays that way all year!!
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| Sleepy Leesie, trying to get ready. |
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| All ready to head off to 4th grade! |
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| My big 8th grader. He was really irritated that I wanted to take a picture of him on his way to the bus stop. |
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| He was even more irritated when I wouldn't stop taking pictures! I live to irritate my children. :-D |
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Logbook for Houston Trip
Vanity, Oh Vanity
The kids and I went to Houston the last week of July to visit family and friends. We left on a Tuesday, and came back on a Tuesday because for some reason, it's cheaper to fly on Tuesday than any other day of the week. More about the nuttiness of air travel later. The week and weekend before we left, I did what I do best. I procrastinated. The Monday morning before we left, I decided that I didn't want to go visit family and friends with my roots showing, so I went to Fantastic Sam's to get my roots colored, and to get a trim. I should add here that at this point, on this Monday morning, less than 24 hours before we are scheduled to leave town, I still had three loads of laundry waiting to be done, and the suit cases hadn't even been pulled out of the closet yet. Naturally, instead of staying home and doing laundry and packing, I headed out to Fantastic Sam's to get my hair did.I've been to Fantastic Sam's four times in the last 8 months, and I really like how they do my color and how they cut my hair. It always looks nice when they are finished. The draw back to this is that it takes a LONG time. I'm usually there for a little over two hours. Another thing they do at Fantastic Sam's is waxing. The last couple of times I've gone, I've also had my eyebrows waxed, and they do a really great job! It's barely even red where they had the wax, and they follow my instructions to just clean up my brows, not make them pencil thin. On this Monday morning, less than 24 hours before we are scheduled to leave town, I decide that my eyebrows could look better, and since I'm getting my hair done, I'll go ahead and get my eyebrows done too. I'm going to look FABULOUS for all the family and friends that we are going to see!
I can't say what the problem was, if the wax was too hot, or if the technician just put it down too low, but something bad happened. I think the technician put the wax too low, but my friend, Lynn, thinks the wax was too hot. Whatever the reason, a couple of layers of skin was torn from my eyelids that morning. I am here to tell you that that is one of the most painful things that has ever happened to me! And I've had three babies, and two surgeries! I think it's so painful because of where it is. There is no way to keep your eyelids still while they are healing.
It took a little over three hours, instead of a little over two, for my hair and eyebrows to be finished on this particular day. My hair looked good, like it always does, when I walked out of there. My eyebrows looked nice and clean. My eyelids were bleeding. Now that's attractive!! I wanted to look good for the trip to Houston, and all the visiting. What I looked like was a bloody eyed crazy person! I couldn't wear any make up the whole week we were there, and my eyelids scabbed right over.
At this point, on this Monday afternoon, less than 17 hours before we are supposed to be leaving town, I STILL had three loads of laundry to do, and the suit cases had STILL not been taken out of the closet. I returned home in full blown panic mode, with throbbing eyelids. Don't worry, I got the laundry finished, and I got us all packed up and ready to go. We even made it to the airport ahead of schedule!
The moral of the story is this: If you insist on primping and preening before you go to see people you haven't seen in a while, do it the week before you leave, not the day before! Vanity will bite you in the tookus if you procrastinate.
Irritations of Air Travel
I love to fly! I took my first airline flight when I was 20 years old, and it was a trans Atlantic flight. I loved it! I have loved every flight I've ever taken. Even the bumpy, scary flights are great! I just love to fly! I would prefer to fly rather than drive anywhere that's more than a 4 hour drive away. When Steve worked for Delta Airlines, we would fly to places all the time. Well, much more frequently than we do now, which is only about once or twice a year, depending on who's willing to kick in for the outrageous prices of the tickets. I have only been on four flights in my entire life without any children in tow. What I mean is, I'm very used to flying with children. We've got the security thing down. We've got the boarding thing down. We've got the potty thing down. The kids and I are well versed in flying together.
I noticed a few things on the four flights, (two flights to get there, two flights to get back), required for our Houston trip. These are things that I haven't noticed before. These are things that have either just started in the past few years, or I've been oblivious to them in the past. These things are extremely irritating. The first thing I noticed is that passengers are awful people. In the movie, Men In Black, Tommy Lee Jones has this line: "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it."
This sentiment can be applied directly to airline passengers as well. One passenger is kind, and has a soul. The entire plane of passengers has no sense of right or wrong, are selfish to the point of absurdity, and collectively think the rules don't apply to them. People! I know that it's ridiculous that the airlines charge you to check your bags. I know this! I ALWAYS have two checked bags, and a car seat to check. I am well aware of the fees. No, I don't agree with them either, but they are there, and there isn't anything we can do to change it while we are a passenger. BRINGING SIX OVER SIZED CARRY ONS WILL NOT FIX THE PROBLEM!!! All that does is piss everyone else off, which is funny because 90% of the people you're pissing off are doing EXACTLY the same thing! So the first 20 people on board take up all of the carry on space, and everyone else's six over sized carry ons have to be gate checked, after looking up and down the plane several times in the over head compartments to make extra sure there isn't more space hiding in there somewhere. WAY TO GO! Let's hold the entire plane up because we are dingo turds and the rules don't apply to us! So that's the carry on issue. The kids and I always have carry ons that we can stow under the seat in front of us, so we can get at our stuff while in the air. Thank goodness the carry on dingo turds haven't started taking up those spaces too.
It may seem extreme to pick on the carry on dingo turds this much, but this problem runs into other areas too. Getting on and off the plane is a huge pain in the neck with all of this luggage stowing going on. Which brings me to the next thing I noticed. I noticed that it doesn't matter where a person is sitting on the plane when it's time to get off. They don't go in order. People from the back are eager to be in the isle, cutting in front of anyone and everyone in front of them, instead of waiting their turn. This is something I've always noticed, it just seems more irritating now. I'm telling my kids, "Wait, it's not our turn yet." and the people behind us are jumping past us. Are you that much more important than we are?? Then, and this puts the icing on the cake, they hold up the line getting their carry ons out of the over head bins at the front of the plane!
The last thing I'm going to complain about is leaning your seat back. Unless you are in first class, please don't do this!! The person behind you has precious little space, and by leaning your seat back just that little bit, you've successfully eaten up a good portion of it. Do those two inches really make you that much more comfortable? I mean, come on!
Ok, I'm finish ranting about my fellow passengers.
Houston At Last
We made it to Houston around lunch time on Tuesday, July 24th. Bleeding eyelids, and irritating air travelers aside, we were very, very happy, and excited to be there! We had such a great week with everyone we visited with.
There were two highlights of the week. The first was going to Johnson Space Center with our dear friends, the Scalia's. Of all the times we've been to Houston, we've never gone to the Space Center, this was a first! The kids LOVED it!! I LOVED it!! How could you not love it?? I took a LOT of pictures at the Space Center. Steve has been in love with the idea of space travel, and NASA since 1981 when the first space shuttle was launched. He was born and raised in Houston, so NASA was always a BIG part of his life. His grandparents lived a stones throw from the NASA facility in the 50's and 60's. His dad and uncle were kids when the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo Projects were going on, and the astronauts would drive down their road to get to the training facility, which was at the end of the street. When the neighborhood kids, Mike and Parks included, were playing ball in the street and the astronauts drove by, they would stop and talk to the kids a little, instead of just driving by when the kids cleared the road. NASA is a big part of this family! It was so sad that Steve wasn't with us for this first time the kids went. That's why I took so many pictures. I wanted him to be able to see everything we saw. I have them all posted on flickr,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/animagusthree/,
if anyone is interested in seeing them. (Click on the word "Collections" next to my big fat face at the top left of the photostream page. Then click on the "Houston Trip" collection.) The kids and I agreed that the next time we go to Houston, Steve has to be with us, and we have to go back to JSC!
The second highlight of the week was visiting with Steve's dad, step mom, and brother with his family. We had such a great time, and the food was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! I was unaware that my brother in law was such an awesome cook!! Again, everyone missed having Steve there. He HAS to come with us next time!
In between those two highlights, we had a really nice, relaxing time with Steve's aunt and uncle, and even some cousins that had come from Austin. It was a great trip. As I said earlier, I have not only the JSC pictures on flickr, but all the pictures we took while we were in Houston.
Epilogue: House of Horrors
As great as our trip to Houston was, it was nice to get home. It was nice, that is, until we walked in the door. Three things greeted us when we walked in the door.
1. The laminate flooring in the kitchen was buckled and warped, as if it had been water damaged. But it was completely dry.
2. There was a horrible smell in the pantry.
3. There was a gash in the pool liner, above the water line, that was about four inches long.
What in the world happened while we were gone??
I was able to figure out what was going on with the smell in the pantry. A bag of potatoes was rotting, and stinking it all up in there. I've never had a bag of potatoes rot before. WOW! What a horrible smell!!
It took me another day and a half to figure out what was going on with the floor. The A/C unit is in a closet near the entry of the kitchen. It was leaking. It had been leaking the whole time we were gone, and all the water was going under the flooring. That's why the laminate tiles were warped and buckled, but completely dry on top. Thank God we have American Home Shield! I called them, and they sent a technician out and he fixed the problem. We had a colossal algae clog that was caused by the pipes there at the unit going up, instead of down. The technician took the old pipes off and put new ones in, going down, instead of up. That also took care of the clog problem. Our land lord is still working on replacing the damaged flooring.
I still have no idea how the gash in the pool liner happened, but it's gotten exponentially bigger over the last couple of weeks. The bottom line on that is that we need a new liner, this one is just too old and falling apart. Our land lord is taking care of that as well. Have I mentioned that we have the best land lord in the history of land lords?? He's actually a good friend of ours. He and Steve have worked together for years, both here, and in Atlanta. He and Steve were over seas together while all of this madness was going on, as a matter of fact. I told them both that they can't be gone at the same time anymore! One of them has to be here at all times! They both agreed.
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