It's Late at Night and I Should Be Sleeping

Of course, that means that I must get on the computer and blog.

Well, the headaches aren't going away. I have an appointment on Monday with the doctor to see if we can come up with a regimen or something because I cannot live with the effects of daily migraines. It greatly cuts into the little things in life, such as quality time with the kids, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, a Tammy that isn't grumpy and biting off everybody's heads. I really hope that we can figure out what is going on.

The kids today were unbearable. They did nothing but fight all day long. They were at each other's throats. They fought over where to sit, what toys to play with, what to watch on TV, what music to listen to, you name it, they fought over it. Reece hit Alicia, Alicia hit him back. She kicked him, he hit her. He hit her, she chased him and he fell, hitting the computer desk and cutting the inside of his mouth while scratching the outside of his cheek. He got one of the cats riled up while she held it and she got scratched on the neck. Add to all of this a bunch of yelling and screaming and you have a day that is guaranteed to make you miserable. It did make me miserable. I have this to look forward to all summer, I guess. Maybe I shouldn't have pulled her out of preschool. At least that was a few hours a week with no fighting.

Alicia's graduation was the cutest thing!! All of the graduates got little black caps to wear. They sang "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "Slippery Fish". There was a slide show with pictures of all of the kids. The principal told a cute story and illustration about watching what we say. Each child got a diploma. Afterward, everyone got together for cake and the graduates all said goodbye to each other. The next day was Ali's very last day at school. It was so empty! Most of the graduates were gone for the summer. I actually did get a little misty-eyed when she had to hug everybody goodbye for the last time.

I do want to brag a little bit here. Just a little, because I know it's not nice to boast. I signed up to sell BeautiControl and I am really doing well with it!! I didn't know that selling skin care and makeup products could be so big! I have gotten calls from my director, who is 3 people above me, and she is telling me what a great job I'm doing. They seem to be really happy with how I'm starting off. I have 5 bookings in June and one in July so far. I am really jazzed!!

Okay, I'm done with the bragging now. I think I'll go get some sleep.

Is it too much to ask

that I have one, just one, headache-free day? I mean, really, this is getting a little tiring.

I was fine yesterday. I went and did a Spa at my friend Danielle's house, where we all had fun and ate her delicious homemade spinach dip...yum!!! Then, when I left and got out into the heat and started the 40 minute drive home, it hit. Another migraine. I had Anayla with me, but she had stayed the night and gone with me to the Spa, so I really needed to get her home before my brother thought I kidnapped his daughter.

I dropped her off and picked up my own kids (conveniently at the same house) and went home. I pulled the curtains closed, effectively darkening the house and tried to get some rest. Unfortunately, the kids had another idea. They decided that it was the perfect time to fight over - what else? - a spot on the couch. It seats 3 adults, but these two little bodies gravitate to the same spot with such force that they must physically push and kick each other from that spot.

I went to the bedroom and lay down. It was brighter in there, but nice and cool. Reece followed me. I thought I could get him to sleep with me, and I almost did, until Alicia came in and caused more trouble by being loud and setting off an argument on - hold onto your socks - which side of Mommy to lie on. Apparently one side of me is more appealing than the other, because they both wanted that side.

At this point, the nausea had set in. Not only did I have the light sensitivity, sound sensitivity (with two fighting children) and - don't forget - head pain, now I had the upset stomach to go with it. I dragged myself to the kitchen and took a Frova. That is a wonder drug. I would willingly kiss the person that came up with Frova. I may even offer to have their babies, and we all know I've sworn off of any more pregnancies!

Back to today. This morning, while getting Ali ready for school, another migraine hit. My old standby of caffeine did not help. I got it anyway, since the blended mochas I so love are on sale AND it's double punch Monday for the coffee card, but it didn't help my headache any. I think I'll have to take another Frova. So much for hoarding them.

On to Ali and preschool. Today is her next to last day in preschool. I am feeling kind of bittersweet. She has a little graduation ceremony on Wednesday at 6:30 and her last day of school is on Thursday. We are pulling her out for the summer so that she can have a break before starting Kindergarten, which will be every day instead of two days a week. I know that she is ready for Kindergarten; that she is getting bored with preschool, but I cannot believe that my baby girl is so grown up. I'm feeling a bit sad.

Also, she has had another growth spurt. She was standing next to a friend who is 3 weeks younger than Ali, and Ali is about 3 inches taller. I am going to have to start adding ruffles and lace to the bottom of all of her skirts so they don't look so obscene!! Her legs are so long and thin, she looks like a miniature supermodel. We are in for some trouble.

A new installment. About time, right?

Everybody in the house is asleep but me. This isn't unusual. It's the bane of insomnia. I am tired, though, I really am. I haven't had much sleep the past few days. I'm so tired, my stomach is upset. When I lie down, however, my mind doesn't shut off. It races and races, thinking of all that I need to get done, what I've gotten done, what may come up tomorrow, remembering what I had forgotten earlier, making mental lists to store in the back of my memory, only to have them pop up while I'm doing something mundane and an utter obstacle to accomplishing things on the mental list; while I'm doing things such as showering or driving somewhere. It's very hard to write down my thoughts while I have shampoo lathered between my fingers.

Reece is three now. For such a small number it's so big. For such a small boy, he's so big. He is wanting to do more and more by himself these days. Half of the time, his Spiderman sandals (he calls them flip-flops) are on the wrong feet because he had to put them on by himself. "I wanna do it, Mom!" At some point, I'm not quite sure when, I became Mom. Sure, sometimes he'll still call me Mommy, but more and more often I'm Mom. He's so big.

He had a birthday party on Sunday. We had it at my friend Dawn's house; his best friend David's house. He and David are 4 days apart so we combined their parties this year. Reece wanted Spiderman. First, David wanted Star Wars. Then he changed it to Batman. As a result, we had a superhero party with Batman and Spiderman. They get along swimmingly, you know, both Batman and Spiderman and David and Reece. The party was nice; not too many people, not too big, not too stressful. The kids hit a pinata David had picked out that stood head and shoulders taller than both boys. Some of the children swam. They jumped in the Spiderman bounce house. Okay, okay, Dawn and I jumped in the bounce house, too. It was fun. I think it would have been more fun without kids in there. Then we could have really bounced.

The week before, Dawn and myself, and a bunch of our mommy friends from our playgroup took all of the kids to the Sacramento Zoo. The kids all thought it was great! I wasn't as impressed. For the state capitol, I expected a larger zoo. It was small and not very well....stocked, for lack of a better word. The kids had fun, though, and that's what really counts. They are still talking about it.

I got the privilege of taking my kids to another zoo yesterday. This time it was the zoo and playpark at Kelley Park in San Jose. This zoo made the Sacramento Zoo look like a wildlife preserve!! The San Jose zoo is very small. However, they had a petting zoo. While we can find pygmy goats, donkeys and miniature horses in our neck of the woods, how often do you get the chance to pet and feed a Zebu? By the way, Zebu is a fancy name for "African cow". Of course, the kids loved it. I was so exhausted by the time it was done, I just wanted to sleep all the way home. However, I had driven so sleep was not an option.

This visit to San Jose was a celebration of sorts for the graduating preschool class of 2006 at Helping Hands Preschool. Alicia and her classmates who are all moving on to Kindergarten next school year were treated to a trip to the zoo.

As parents were invited, too, I packed up Reece and drove so that we wouldn't have to spend extra for the gas in the school vans. I really wish I had left him home. As if running around after a five year old isn't enough, I had a newly-turned three year old who did not want to stay with mom and was resorting to using the old "sit-in" tactic so perfected by protesting hippies in the 60's. Hey, when in the Bay Area, do as the Bay Areans do, right? If he couldn't run ahead, then he would just sit down in the middle of the walkway and block traffic. I spent a lot of time exercising my biceps yesterday.

Why do they call it rush hour traffic when all we did was inch forward? No one was rushing anywhere. Lucky us, we hit it going there AND coming back. I take it back, there was one point where we were rushing along on I-880. I had to do a hard braking because there was a fawn (yes, a FAWN) crossing the 4 North-bound lanes and I really did not want to hit it. However, the idiot in the Mercedes convertible next to me did not seem to have the same amount of conscience. He braked, but not very earnestly, in my opinion, and clipped that poor baby! I saw the fawn go skidding across the shoulder and into the bushes at the side of the road. I have no idea whether or not he survived. I do know, however, that the Mercedes jerk, as he will forever be known to me, sped up even more and didn't look the least bit shaken.

I finally made it home, two and a half hours after I started my purported hour and a half trip and just wanted to fall into bed for a nap. Well, I did climb into bed, but I didn't get the nap. Mike is not very good at keeping the kids out of the room. I locked the door. That just resulted in Reece lying outside of the door, saying, "Why you lock the door? Let me in, Mom!" repeatedly. It wasn't very inducive to sleep and I finally gave up and got up. At that point, Mike went and lay down and fell asleep. In the process, he lost a few points.

I had the kids all bathed and ready for bed. Alicia was already asleep. Reece was, as usual, fighting sleep. All of a sudden he came up to me saying that he had hurt his finger, his little lip quivering as he fought back tears. Mike had drank a green tea earlier and left the can on the end table. Reece had grabbed it and somehow cut his left pinky finger on the opening. I took him into the bathroom and ran some cold water over it so I could see the damage. It wouldn't stop bleeding enough for me to see.

I went into the bedroom and yelled a couple of times to wake Mike up. I swear, it would be easier to wake King Tut at times. He finally came back to the land of the living and got up to look at Reece's finger. We mutually decided that he needed to go to the doctor. Of course, as luck would have it, the clinic was closed so that meant I needed to go to the E.R. I got Reece into some clothes that I had handy (meaning Spiderman swim trunks and a dinosaur shirt, but, hey, they were both red and didn't clash) and had a washcloth on his hand. By this time, he was crying unabashedly and saying that his finger hurt. He is such a trooper, though, and kept pressure on it and kept it elevated for the ride to the hospital.

Once there, we were "fast tracked". An hour later, while still sitting in the back waiting room with other "fast tracked" people, it was decided through general consensus that "fast track" merely meant "get these people out of the main E.R. room so no one has to see them bleed". The 35 year old woman sitting next to me (yes, that is her true age, it was confirmed) had cut her finger and was crying off and on. Reece sat quietly on my lap and fell asleep at about 10:30. She went to the bathroom and her husband discovered that we were there for a cut finger as well. He proceeded to give her a hard time about 3 year old Reece handling his cut so much better - he could even fall asleep!

What a bonding process sitting in the waiting room can be.

Reece ended up without stitches (the woman was getting 4). The cut was on the inside knuckle so the PA glued it and stuck steri-strips and a bandage on it with instructions to keep it dry for 3 days so that the glue would stay on. I'm guessing she's never had a 3 year old boy living with her.

That glue came off this afternoon.

I'm tired. Why am I still on the computer?

I am still helping my mom and sister move into their new home. Saturday, we went up and just hung out with her. Shawn and his kids went also, and we played board games and had dinner.

Sunday, I helped Karnette move lots of things. We almost got everything out of her former house. Today she came down and we took mom's mattress and part of her bed frame to the house. We couldn't easily get to the rest of it. Then Karnette and I went and got two more loads from the old house. Mom went with her to get the last load. I was too tired and achy to do any more. I also managed to get a migraine today.

Lindsay came down Sunday with the dreaded virus that my family had. Today Lachelle had it. Luckily, it appears to be a 24 hour sort of sickness and they are doing so much better the next day. I'm hoping that Karnette doesn't get it.

Okay. I think I've done enough whining for the day. I hope that everyone can stay well enough, long enough, that I can get some of my housework done this week. This poor house is so neglected, it looks as if it's been ransacked.

I'm going to bed now. I have to work on Mt. Washmore again and do some sweeping and mopping in the morning.

Alright, already. I'll get caught up!!

Thank you, Toni, for reminding me that I'm a slacker. I love ya!

Things have been hectic in the Luccketta household the last couple of weeks. It's been a roller-coaster ride, mostly with a lot of downturns and corkscrews. The worst of it started when I got a phone call from my best friend. I could tell right away from her voice that it wasn't our usual type of phone call. She was calling to let me know that two of our friends from church had died that morning in a car accident.

Cathy was 50 and Kandice was only 22. They were mother and daughter-in-law. Kandice was 7 months pregnant with her first child. Kandice and Luke were moving from Bakersfield to Michigan and Cathy and her husband Mark were helping them with the move. They ran into very bad weather, a snowstorm with very bad visibility, and the car that Cathy and Kandice was in was rear-ended by a pickup that did not see them in time. They were both killed instantly, as was Luke and Kandice's baby girl, Katrina. It was quite a blow for the entire church family. Mark and his son Luke are very strong Christians, however, and this loss has only affirmed their faith. They are truly men to look up to.

Less than a week later, I had my own personal issue to deal with. I had gone out into the backyard on a day that was rare in March, one without rain. The kids had left the lid off of their sandbox and it was full of water. I didn't want it to sit too long and breed a lot of bacteria (not to mention mosquitos), so I attempted to lift and tip it to pour off some of the water. I struggled with it for a few minutes and then called over my nephew Khori for help. As soon as we lifted it, I saw at least 5 black widow spiders go scurrying underneath it. We carefully tipped out the water and set it down, trying not to disturb them too much, while I made a mental note to call the exterminator service.

A little later that evening, while at a Tupperware party, my ankles began itching badly. They itched more and more and I was getting pretty uncomfortable. I left the party and went home. When I looked at my ankles, they had swollen red patches all over them. Concerned and suspicious, I looked up black widow spider bites on the computer. I found this site: http://www.calpoison.org/public/spiders.html#1 I had classic symptoms of a mild bite. No muscle cramping or any of the scary stuff, just the red-ringed bite marks on both ankles and extreme itchiness. I washed off my legs as instructed and put some calamine lotion on them and went to bed.

Luckily, Mike wasn't working all night long that night, because I woke up scratching my thighs and hips at about 1:30 in the morning. I decided to take a shower to see if the itching would stop and that's when I noticed them....hives. I'd never had hives before. I don't care to experience them again. My thighs and hips were solid red welts, inflamed and itching like crazy. My legs were covered in bumps from the ankles upward. They were starting to go up my torso.

I'm allergic to black widow venom, apparently.

Mike gave me 50 mg of Benadryl and the hives didn't stop. I was ready to rip my skin to shreds. He then gave me another 25 mg and, oh, blessed relief!!!! Of course, that much Benadryl not only took away the itchies, it also knocked me out. I woke up at 7, briefly, when the alarm went off, again at 8 when Mike needed sleep and I needed to get up with the kids, and then dozed on the sofa until around 10 am when Reece decided he was going to make himself some strawberry flavored milk and left a trail of strawberry syrup from the kitchen to the living room.

That sufficiently woke me up.

I finally joined the realm of the living and ate something, then called my doctor who got me in that day. Turns out that even though the spiders didn't exactly inject venom into me, I had some sort of reaction to it on my skin. The doctor prescribed me Prednisone, the one medicine guaranteed to change a person ENTIRELY.

From here on out, Prednisone will be known as the anti-Tammy drug. It is awful!! I became Road-rage Woman. Woman-who-can't-eat-enough-junk-food. Puffy belly woman, my personal favorite. It really does make you angry. I hope I never have to take it again. I am done with it now, and must work on losing the few pounds I gained from it. Gaaaah!!!

During the lovely period of my life that will forever be known as Angry Tammy, my mom and sister started moving into a different home, one with two stories. My mom was goofing around and somehow stumbled down the step or something and across the 5 foot expanse of floor and fell against the door jamb and outer sharp piece of wood frame. She hit her shoulder and ear and when I came around the corner, she was sitting in the doorway, looking a little stunned.

Her friend, Dan, whom I had just met that day was trying to be very calm and not get anyone worried and said, "Your mom needs to go to the hospital for stitches on her ear."

I'm not the type to get worried, and she was laughing, so I was a bit confused and asked him what he meant. He described, as well as he could, her fall. She asked me to clean it up so she could finish helping with the move.

I went out to the van and got my first-aid kit. I pulled her hair back and got a good look at her ear for the first time. It was cut from the outside edge, above the lobe, all the way to the hard cartilage of the inner part of the ear. It was dangling, back and forth, with about a 1/4 inch gap. I told her, "You are going to the ER, and you'll need at least 10 stitches." I put a Teflon bandage on her ear and sent her on her merry way.

The doctor said it was the worst he'd ever seen.

It took 11 stitches, a tetanus shot and 2 different antibiotics. She had to wear a turban for a couple of days to keep it in place. I wish I'd had my camera.

That was last Sunday. On Monday, Reece woke up sick. Very sick. He threw up 13 times in all. I took him to the doctor and got a prescription to stop the vomiting. Poor baby wanted nothing but water all day. On Tuesday, he had the cha-chas. Early Wednesday morning, Mike caught it. He is still sick today. Late Wednesday night, Alicia got it. She is feeling much better now. Luckily, I did not get it.

I have made my way through Mount Washmore at least 6 times this week. I should have invested in laundry detergent stock.

God is Everywhere

Last Thursday, as I was hurtling onto the freeway to get Alicia to school in some semblance of "on time", it was really dark and cloudy. The clouds were so low and heavy; they were a gray that resembled gun metal. The sun shot through and a bright shaft of light shone down on the valley. From our vantage point on the raised freeway, it was truly beautiful.

I had left Reece at home, asleep with Daddy, so it was just Alicia and me in the van. I heard her gasp from the back of the van and she pointed and exclaimed, "Look, Mommy! I see the light of God and He's watching over you while you drive me to school!"

I love our time driving to school. Those fifteen minutes or so are so precious to me. Lots of it is spent with Alicia asking questions about God or just talking about Him in general. With all of the recent rain, she's been looking for rainbows, because they are God's promise that He won't flood the whole world. She is learning that God waters the plants and trees with the rain and it provides drinking water for animals and us and that that is where our bathing water comes from, also.

She talks about what she learned in Sabbath School and what she is learning in preschool. She is a sponge; she's soaking up all of the information she can about this wonderful Being she has met named God.

Alicia will be going to Kindergarten in August. I worry about this, my first baby making such a big step. I know that at five years old she should be ready, but am I ready? The current Kindergarten teacher is retiring this year. I have heard on good authority that one of Ali's preschool teachers has applied for the job and it appears that she may have it. However, I haven't heard anything concrete yet. I hope that it is true, as I feel that the transition would be much easier for Ali to move on with a teacher she has already had for two years.

Then there is Reece. He is going to be three in May. Ali was three when she started preschool, but she seemed so much older than Reece at three. He is still such a baby. His speech isn't that good yet, he isn't really counting above three (which, by no coincidence, is about as high as he hears Mommy count), he doesn't seem to know his colors. True, Ali was closer to the other end of three, but there is still a huge difference in maturation between the two. I think we are going to hold him out one more year and perhaps while she is at school I can dedicate more time to his learning.

On another topic, I am very glad that I have found my friend Dawn. She has three beautiful children ages 5, nearly 3 and so close to 1 you can feel it. Her two year old, David, is four days younger than Reece. I can honestly say that he is probably the only other child that Reece can play with without it ending in tears. Dawn has noticed the same. They are the same size. They both have dark brown hair and beautiful brown eyes. I joked yesterday that they are twins, separated by birth to different mothers. I believe that I can honestly say Reece has a best friend.

Alicia, however, does not. She has little friends that she will play with at playdates and at school, but not a best friend. Normally, I wouldn't be too concerned at this age as they are very fickle. However, it hurts when my little girl says that no one wanted to play with her at school and she has no friends. Or when she cries that she doesn't want to go to school because no one is nice.

Sometimes I wonder if she is the one who isn't being nice.

She will say little things, snarky, petty little things, that make me think that maybe she is the bully or the not-so-nice kid. Sadly, she has her daddy believing every word she says and treating her like the princess he calls her. I have tried to let him know that he cannot be making excuses for her and letting her get away with everything. I refuse to be THAT parent.

You know what I mean, the parent who acts as if their child can do no wrong and it's always someone else's fault: the other child, other parents, the school system. I want my children to take responsibility for their actions, to own up to their wrongs, to think over their options and to exercise the right ones.

I think I have my work cut out for me. Please pray for me for guidance in bringing these children up in the way that God wants.

It's Been a Long Time, Miss Me Much?

I guess I didn't realize just how long it had been since I have posted on here. I'm always surprised when I see it. This should be a habit for me, but again, just how much can I listen to myself?

Reece, Mike and I are sick. Mike just got sick yesterday, but you'd think he'd been miserable the longest. Reece and I have been fighting it for about a month now. I think I'm just going to give in, be sick and be done with it!

Let's see. Last month, the 27th through the 29th, I went on women's retreat to the Tenaya Lodge in Yosemite. http://www.tenayalodge.com/ It is an incredible place, and our church conference reserves the weekend every year so that we can get together and listen to speakers and be completely blessed. This year was one speaker, Shelly Quinn. She is an amazing, God-filled woman who inspired each of us there to walk closer with God.

When we were driving out of the lot to come home on Sunday afternoon, Mike called my cell. The coverage out there is very spotty and my battery was just about dead from everyone trying to call me over the weekend. I answered the phone and said, "My battery is about dead, so talk fast!" He kept asking if I wanted to hear a miracle and then the phone went dead.

Once I finally got home, I was in for a shock. While Mike had been giving the kids a bath that afternoon, Reece grabbed and pulled the shower door. It fell off the track and into the tub, shattering into thousands of little, tiny pieces. Both kids had minor cuts all over them, and Mike had some on his hands. God was watching over them. This house is over 20 years old; it is possible that the glass wouldn't have been the safety glass. It was, though, and saved them from worse damage. It took me 3 days to get all the glass completely cleaned from the floor and tub. I took the other door down and plan to use a curtain until the kids are maybe in their teens.

Alicia is learning so much at preschool. She has been learning to write her name and does quite well at it. She still writes, draws and colors with both hands, so she may yet be ambidextrous. There are worse things she could be.

Reece is speaking better and more clearly by the day it seems. He learned 'library' last week. It is so cute to hear him say it. He has also learned his name is Reece. He says it kind of funny, pulling his mouth back in a sort of grimace on the "eece".

They are both getting big. Alicia is tall for her age, and as a new 5 year old, is wearing a size 6, for height. They hang on her and everything needs to be belted or pinned, but 4's and 5's are way too short. Reece is going into 3's for the same reason. My children look a bit sorry; all of their clothes are ill-fitting. They either fit in the waist and are high-waters, or they are long enough but sagging and bagging everywhere.

I've been losing weight, slow and steady. I am down 25 pounds. I want to lose 5 more, but am having a really hard time with the last few. I have been yo-yoing since Thanksgiving. I really want to be healthy and a good example to the children. Who are they going to look to first - the school system or their mom? What I model to them now will affect how they are in the future.

I'd better get off of here and get some rest so that I can get better. I am supposed to teach the little ones in Sabbath School Saturday, but there is no way that I will do it if I am still sick. I hate to expose them unnecessarily to my germs.

A little catching up to do

Things have, of course, been as crazy as ever around this household. We have had Alicia's birthday, Thanksgiving, illness, 3 cats have died, craziness, the usual. I'm going to copy and paste some things that I have posted on various sites that I frequent; mainly because I'm so tired. I'm going to try to post some pictures on the photo blog as well, but it hasn't worked so well for me the last few times. I want to point out that the first cat gone was a very small kitten we rescued from our backyard. She was really too young to be separated from her mother and didn't stand much chance.

Nov. 21, 2005
We have old cats. I mean, really old cats. Not a one of them is younger than 11. Mike and I have always known that the end would be coming for them, sooner or later, and probably sooner. We used to say to each other, "Once the first one goes, it probably won't be long before the others follow."

I wish we hadn't said that.

Perla died early Friday morning. Okay, she was my mother-in-law's cat that we inherited. She was a full-blooded Persian, with the face that looked as if someone had whacked her with a flat shovel. They have a lot of problems and aren't expected to live a really long time. Basically, about 12 years was a long life for her. We knew it was coming for awhile. I was sad for Mike as that was his mom's favorite cat, but I wasn't really attached to her.

This morning, at 1 am, Target died. I'm so silly; I feel like crying even now. Mike woke me up and I went out into the living room and pet my cat and said goodbye. For some reason, Alicia wandered out into the living room. She never wakes up in the middle of the night. I told her that Target was dying and asked if she wanted to say goodbye. She said yes and walked over, pet him and said she loved him and goodbye. Then, he died. He took his last faltering breath and was gone. Mike and I were both crying and Alicia said to me, "Daddy told me that sometimes cats get old and sick and they die so they don't suffer anymore." Then she went back to bed. This morning, she asked if he was gone and I said yes and she said, "I thought so."

Target was my cat. He adopted me when he was a kitten and I was only 22. Mike and I were moving into a new place and he walked in on the first night as if he owned the place and he never left. When Mike and I were going through difficult times 8 years ago, Target cuddled with me and watched, "While You Were Sleeping" about 40 times. When my children were born and brought home, Target was there, sniffing them out and watching. For an old cat, he was so gentle and patient with them. He endured endless hair pulling, kids laying on him because he was so cuddly and being carried around by Alicia as if he were one of her stuffed animals.

I miss you already, Target.

Nov. 29, 2005
So, for the second time in about a week's span, Reece has locked himself into the master bath. Of course, Mike sleeps right through any ruckus that occurs in the bathroom/bedroom area. I think a freight train could come screaming through and he'd only mumble, "Five more minutes, please, I'm sooooo tired."
We have the safety doorknob covers on the bedroom door, but Alicia has known for quite sometime how to circumvent those. She left the bedroom door wide open for the little man to get in. I am, of course, in the living room, blissfully unaware of the goings-on in the other room because I'm doing things like folding laundry, rinsing dishes and picking things up.

Then, I hear water running. I hit the first bathroom and find Alicia trying to refill a bottle of bubbles. I usher her out but still hear water. I head for my bathroom. The door was locked. Knocking on the door and yelling threats did, naturally, nothing. Why would he be scared when mom can't even get in the room?

To the front yard I went. Luckily (for me, not him), I left the window cracked open a bit this morning. I had to heft myself up and through the window. I swear, my old neighbors would have called the cops. Thank goodness they've moved and the new neighbors have kids. I figure they'll be much more understanding of my breaking and entering skills used on my own home.
It's not a large window and I have long legs. While the length of my legs makes it easier to get to the window, it doesn't help in getting through the window. I kind of end up doing the splits with one foot on the brickwork and the other dangling through to the bathroom, hoping to find the countertop.
I finally managed to hoist myself through without falling to certain injury on either side of the wall and get the door unlocked and Reece all dried. All I can say is, there is a doorknob cover going on that door now and I am glad I have lost weight, because hefting an extra 25 pounds through there wouldn't be easy. Oh yeah, it doesn't help that the cold weather made the arthritis in my back flare up this morning. I'm too old for this stuff.

Dec. 2, 2005
I realized today that there are only 3 weekends until Christmas weekend!! Man, time has flown!! I was going to order my dad a gift online, but they are backordered until Jan. 6, so now I have to come up with something else. I think I may go drag in the tree and decorations today as it isn't raining. It's actually sunny and pretty outside.

My van is hurt. The check engine light came on and I took it in. The intake manifold is cracked. It's a very expensive and time-consuming job. Luckily, my good friend Dawn has a wonderful husband who works on cars and is much cheaper than the dealership. It's still a blow before Christmas, however. Dawn, you should have a great Christmas!!!

It has to be fixed, though, especially if we are going to Oregon the day after Christmas, which we are. I need to go out and buy some snowboots and long
johns for the family. Guess what they're getting for Christmas!!

Dec. 7, 2005
My best friend Donna and I went to tea today. One of the shops in town was having a tea/fashion show. We know the woman who was putting on the fashion show and when she found out that we were booked for the first tea, she strongly hinted that she needed models for the afternoon.

It was the most fun that I have had in a long time. The tea was very yummy. I ordered a cherry vanilla tea, which was perfect. We ate a fruit salad with a yogurt dressing, tea sandwiches (the salmon was delicious!) and scones with scrumptious lemon spread. I got a completely decadent chocolate cake for dessert, and of course, Donna did as well.

The models circulated among the tables during the meal and showed off their outfits, describing everything as they went. Once we were finished eating, it was our turn.

Cindy's Doodads, the shop for which we modeled, is a higher end store. Most of her customers are 40 and up. My theory is that they are the ones who can afford it because their kids are more likely to be grown and gone. I got to try on such beautiful clothes, and wear them around. Altogether I think I modeled 8 different outfits; every one of them was gorgeous. I also got to wear sparkly watches, beautiful jewelry and an awesome hat. I wish we had taken pictures of each other!! Cindy did take a picture of me in what I called my "opera outfit" so I'll try to get a copy of it. As a thank you to us, she let us pick one item at half price. I bought a cool black crocheted skirt that was originally $70. I'm always amazed at the ladies who look at the prices and say, "Oh, that jacket is $135.00? That's not bad at all." I'm thinking, my goodness, it's thin and just an accessory! $68.00 for the awesome black purse with tiny sparkly stars? Oh, that's nothing to these women.

The last thing I modeled (we got to pick out our own clothes) was a red Christmas T-shirt that had "Dear Santa, I want everything!" spelled out in rhinestones and a black slinky skirt, red beaded ring, red and rhinestone watch and the black starry purse. I picked the top because I wanted everything I wore today.

It was really fun, but my feet are killing me now. I guess I shouldn't walk around for 3 hours in 3-inch heeled boots. I know Cindy made a killing, because almost every woman that I saw at the tea ended up buying something at the boutique. Wish she had given me more......haha.

Dec. 9, 2005
I woke up feeling pretty good this morning. It was a bit of a lazy day; I didn't get showered until 9 am. Highly unusual, but I recovered.

The rest of the day hasn't been as great. Hmmmmm....where to begin......I took the kids to the store with me. I had to exchange some boots I bought for my niece Anayla and of course Reece wouldn't exactly behave in the store. At some point, while I was driving or getting out of the van or something, I got a kink in my neck. There's good kink and there's bad kink. This is bad kink. So, I'm half carrying a two and half year old by the straps of his overalls and begging him to put his feet down and walk and trying not to move my neck because sharp, shooting pains occur when I do.

That errand was accomplished and we headed to the grocery store. I took longer than I wanted, due to the fact that I had to twist my entire upper body to look at anything. I got an iced mocha for me and a latte for Mike. Reece managed to spill half the latte on the floor while trying to pick up the drink carrier.

Later, we're at home, and Reece has managed to make it a naked day. He has figured out how to get out of his overalls, somehow. He came up to me in his shirt and nothing else and let me know that he had pooped. Of course, the diaper was in the hall, and the contents weren't all contained. Yuck! I hate that. While I'm cleaning him (and the floor) up, I notice that he has a big hole in the front of his shirt, with suspiciously clean edges. I surmise that it was done by scissors. He tries to distract me, "Ew Mama!! Stinky!!" I keep asking him how it happened, but he's pleading innocent. I give up and punish him for totally ruining his shirt.

Later, I ask again what happened to the shirt. He says, "Sheesha did it." I hear from the bathroom, "Reece!! I was just cutting a string!" He had a string hanging from his shirt and she decided to cut it and in the process sliced the shirt to ribbons. She got in trouble and he got an apology. Haha!! He tells on her now!! She isn't getting away with as much now. She'll say, "Reece started it." and he'll say, "No, you start it!"

Speaking of Alicia, she is now dubbed the "Punk Rock Princess". I took pictures of her outfit, for posterity. She wants to dress herself and the result is kind of funny. I think she'll be the next Betsey Johnson and make a fortune dressing other people in ill-conceived get-ups.

Here is the punk rock princess, in all her glory. What you can't see is the tulle veil she attached to her hairband....(**note - the picture will be in the picture blog)

Dec. 10, 2005
As you can see, this has been a hectic time. I didn't even post about Thanksgiving, Ali's birthday on Thanksgiving or her party the following Sunday. I will, however, post some pictures in the other blog.

SSDD - Still Sick, Different Day

Okay, so my recovery wasn't so great after all. I did fine on Tuesday, save one allergic reaction in Ross with a coughing fit and runny eyes that ended as soon as I walked outside. Wednesday dawned and I couldn't talk. That is paramount to catastrophic. I dragged my rear into the doctor's office to discover I had acute pharyngitis and laryingitis. Basically, a sore throat and hoarse voice. Medication ensued. As of this writing, Friday night, I'm still not better. Oh, I can speak alright (Mike only got a one day reprieve, doctor ordered), but I still feel kind of fuzzy. Now my mom is getting it. Only, I think she has it worse. Poor woman. Luckily the kids and Mike still seem to be okay.

The other day Alicia wanted to take some pictures. Ah, the wonders of the digital world. With actual film, I would have been hesitant over the waste of money on film and developing. With my Cyber-shot, I was pretty willing. I handed her the camera and she snapped away. I deleted all shots of plain white walls, but I kept many others. The perspective of a nearly five year old is fascinating. I was going to post them here instead of the photo blog, but it wouldn't work. With the pictures of me, keep in mind that she kept asking me to smile, even though my mouth was nowhere in one of the shots. Unfortunately, my chins are.

What a bunch of sickies....

We've been sick in our household this week. It started with Alicia, who wasn't feeling good a little over a week ago. She recovered and Mike said he wasn't feeling great, but he was still able to go about his normal life. It hit me Friday night. All day Saturday I was achy and tired. I was on a steady diet of Tylenol Flu. Now it's Monday and I still don't feel great, but I can live with it. I feel much better than I did. All I have left is a cloudy head.

Of course, Alicia's left eye started looking a bit blood-shot last night. This morning it wasn't as bad, but still a little red. I kept her out of school, just in case she has pink eye. Naturally, about an hour or so later, it started to clear up. I got her some medicine and wrestled her to the floor to administer it, just in case. Always fun, wrestling the kids down for medication purposes.

Reece doesn't appear to be sick - yet. He is coughing off and on, but nothing to really write about (and yet, I'm still writing about it...).

A couple of my friends came over yesterday and we did some scrapbooking. Now that I am getting together with friends, I am finally making some headway on the books. Is it wrong to be proud of them? I love seeing what kind of artistic work I can put into them. Now I need to get started on making my Christmas cards so that I can get them sent off in a decent amount of time.

Reece is really into naked time right now. I can't keep clothes on him for anything, it seems. I definitely get some exercise trying to get him dressed for the day. Lately, unless we have to be somewhere, I just let him run around in his diaper. It just isn't worth the fight.

Well, there's not much else going on right now. I guess I'll make it short. I am going to post some pictures on the other blog. Check them out!

Yadda, yadda, yadda

There's still not much going on here......

Alicia had a sore throat for a few days. She lost her voice on Friday and walked around croaking, "I miss my voice." So cute. None of the rest of us got anything so I don't know what she had. It appears to be gone for now.

Reece started telling me, "You knock it off!" I never realize how much I say something until they repeat it back to me. So.....yeah. I'm putting an end to that one real quick.

Alicia is completely uncognizant of the fact that it is only 52 degrees outside and is wanting to wear a short little skort that is actually getting a bit small for her. She is wearing a long sleeved shirt with it, as if that makes up for it. She wants to wear flip-flops.

Reece, on the other hand, still wants to wear nothing. Not even a diaper. I spend way more time than I want picking diapers up off of the floor and putting a clean one on him.

I have gotten a start on my Christmas shopping!! Woohoo!!! There are so many birthdays before Christmas, it's ridiculous. I'm working on those now. I have Alicia's birthday shopping done, and Lindsay's just passed yesterday (she's 10!! How can that be?) so that's 2 down, 3 to go.

Guess I'll go do some laundry now. Not that it will make a difference to my kids.

Sometimes, I Just Feel Like Running Away....

but when I say that to the kids, they just yell, "No you aren't, Mommy!" and laugh evilly. Little boogers.

There hasn't been a whole lot of interest going on in our home these days. Alicia started getting a sore throat last night. She doesn't seem to have any other problems. I kind of wonder if it's just allergies. Who knows.

Reece is the ultimate 2 year old lately. Alicia was never this bad. I know I say that all the time, but it is the complete truth. He throws fits all day long over every little thing. He's taking a nap right now, and if someone were to wake him up, they would have to run because I might just shoot them. He has been whining and attached to me all day. He screamed for about half an hour when I got him dressed this morning. All I did was put pants on him, for crying out loud! He got angry with me the other day for, oh my goodness, KISSING him on the top of his head!! The horrors!!

Someone mentioned the other day that when kids hit 40 pounds, they need to be taken out of the 5-point restraint car seat and put into the regular booster seat. They were talking about their 2 year old!! So, I checked my kids, and Reece is only 28 pounds. Alicia just hit the 40 pound mark. She'll be 5 on Thanksgiving. I must have skinny kids compared to some of these people. My little girl is graduating to a booster seat!! I can't believe it.

Since her birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year, we're having our family here for the holiday. We'll be having a cake for her. I think I'm going to do a separate party for her and her little play friends so that she can have the Strawberry Shortcake party that she wants. I'm trying to find the cake pan. Apparently, there are several little girls out there who want a Strawberry Shortcake party, because the pans are sold out. Oh well, I have a while yet.

How's your Christmas shopping going?

Crazy Days

It's been almost a month since I've posted on here. What a busy month it's been!! Actually, the last week has been crazy-busy and I don't think I would like a repeat of it. Where do I start?

We had our carpet ripped out and beautiful new Pergo floors put in the living room, dining room, kitchen and laundry room. While the end result is gorgeous, the process of getting the floors was horrible. Basically, we lived in the master bedroom for the week. The flooring guy showed up on Monday and started in on the dining room. Mike and I moved all the furniture into the living room so that it could be done. The kids wanted to see what was going on and ask a hundred and one questions so I spent a lot of time either trying to keep them in the bedroom or taking them out of the house - anywhere out of the house. I couldn't get to the stove and half the time I couldn't reach the refrigerator so we ended up eating fast food almost the whole week.

In the process of ripping out old carpet, a lot of icky stuff is released into the air. Just thinking about the pet dander, dust and whatever else might be in it gives me the creeps. It gave Reece more than the creeps.

The floors were done on Wednesday, but the house was incredibly dusty. I spent all day Thursday trying to get on top of some of it. I Swiffered (love the new Swiffer vac!), I dusted, I wiped...I sneezed. Reece had developed a cough on Tuesday. It definitely sounded like croup. I was keeping an eye on him to make sure it didn't get any worse. Thursday night he fell asleep at about 7:00, and woke up coughing at 9:00. Only it wasn't the same cough he had had for the last couple of days. He was panicking a bit, so I put him in his pajamas (he hates to wear them) and drove him to the ER. When we got there and he was triaged, his 02 sats were around 85-89 (I couldn't pin them down on a number) and they took him right back. They were prepared to do a breathing treatment in the hall as there were no rooms available, but one opened up and we went in. He was given 4 treatments in all, consisting of albuterol and epinephrine. He also was given liquid prednisone. Reece hated the breathing treatments; he said they scared him; and he screamed through the whole procedure. The good thing about that is that he got good, deep breaths of the medication while screaming bloody murder.

Michael was supposed to be working a double shift that night, but was sent home after the first shift as they were over-staffed. When he didn't see the van in the driveway, he guessed that we were at the hospital. He rushed over and made it after all the treatments, medicine and, oh yeah, the 2-view chest x-rays. We were discharged at 4:00 am Friday morning.

All day Friday I felt pretty crummy due to lack of sleep, even though Mike did let me sleep in until around 9:30. I tried my hardest to get some of the stuff put away and cleaned up in the house. We were all pretty tired, and Alicia was confused. She hadn't even known that we took Reece to the hospital!

Saturday I loaded up the kids, along with 4 of my nieces and we caravaned to Salinas (sorry, Tracy, I promise I'll call next time!) with Shawn, Karnette and Mom to go to Joshua's house for Mary's birthday party. We met Dad and Carol there, too. Reece wasn't feeling 100%, but he had fun while we were there. The kids played outside as the weather was beautiful and Reece and Ali even took their (much-needed) naps. When we left, we decided to stop for dinner before going home. Keep reading for more excitement....

We stopped at Wendy's for dinner. While we were there, there was a guy and 2 or 3 girls making a huge mess behind this giant fishtank in the restaurant. They were smearing food all over the floor and the tables and pouring salt on all the surfaces. We told the workers and they didn't do anything. As the group left, Shelly yelled out to the employees that they had left a huge mess. The guy leaving was none too happy about this and called her a snitch, preceded by a colorful word. They proceeded to go out into the parking lot and toss over shopping carts. That is, until WalMart security stopped them.

At some point, the Wendy's manager and a bunch of workers all ran outside quickly. We figured it was odd, considering they hadn't done anything while the people were in the restaurant, but we were also trying to finish eating as we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us. The guy and a completely different girl came back into the restaurant and the staff ushered them into the back.

Then the cops came.

We were ready to go, but now everyone had to make a statement to the cops. Well, I didn't, but I didn't see too much as I was busy taking care of my kids. It turns out, according to the police, that there was quite a back story to the whole situation. The manager is in a gang, doesn't like the guy that was in there because he practices an "alternative lifestyle", spit in the food, etc, etc, etc. Close to an hour later, we finally got to go on our merry little way back to Turlock. Mike let me sleep in again.

Today, Denny, his wife Felicia, and her daughter Merisa stopped by for a quick visit. They were in the area picking up a few things to take back to LA with them to their new house, including an old table that has been sitting in our garage for way too long. It was a nice visit. It's always nice to see family. Needless to say, I haven't left the house today except to walk outside the front door. I went no farther than the sidewalk!!

Be sure to check out the pictures on the photoblog.

What we did this weekend

First, my loyal reader pointed out that I didn't post some pictures she requested. I did try; the program wasn't working for some reason, so I will try again today. Hopefully it will work because there are some pictures I definitely want to get in there.

Saturday was a beautiful day here. Lindsay and Lachelle did get baptized during church. We also had Communion that day so it was a very special day all around. My dad and stepmom came out for it, and Mary drove out from Salinas with Johnnie. We all went out to eat afterwards at a wonderful Italian restaurant across from the university called Vito's. Their food is so heavenly, and they give you way too much. Dad ordered a house salad and they brought out this humongous salad. He says, "Is that the house salad?" Sure enough. It was big enough for 3 people, easy.

That afternoon we were sitting around talking, and getting a little silly as families tend to do. Well, Dad was saying how he wondered what his bald head would look like with a spider web tattoo on it. Apparently, he keeps joking to his co-workers that he is going to have it done someday. So, he asked me to draw one on his head with a Sharpie marker. It is really something, drawing with a Sharpie on someone's head! He said next time we'll use henna as it should last longer. Upon seeing this, all the kids wanted "tattoos" put on them as well. They got theirs on their hands, except for Anayla, who had a tiara and "Princess" drawn on her waist.

Yesterday, Sunday, I had a childless day. It is so nice to recharge without the kids every now and then!! I went to an all-day crop that I planned with a couple of my friends. I did not get a ton of cropping done, but I did do 4 full pages, journaling I had been putting off on another page and a cover page for a small book that I finished a few months ago. I did spend a bit of time showing my friends some techniques that they had not used before, such as dry embossing, which is very beautiful. There were only 4 of us, but we had so much fun just chatting, eating and working on our books. We will be doing another one in October and are hoping many more people come. I was so relaxed when I got home and saw my kids. I missed them by the end of the day and it was great to see them while feeling no stress.

Just a little bit about what's been happening this week

I get some flack from loyal readers (even if they don't comment on here and e-mail me instead; you know who you are!) if I don't post very often, so I will make more of a concerted effort to post in here.

This week has been a bit different. I had Karnette's girls, Lachelle and Lindsay, from Wednesday through today as Karnette had to go to a mandatory seminar or classes or something in San Francisco. Lachelle has been sick for the last 3 weeks and has only attended a few days of school since it started. So, I got to keep sick Lachelle here at the house. I made her wear a mask so that she could at least be in the main rooms with the rest of us and not infect my kids. Today she was feeling much better and being quite stubborn. I was almost wishing that she weren't feeling quite so good so that she wouldn't be so hard to deal with. I got a glimpse of having an eleven-year-old, and it wasn't a pretty sight.

The good thing is, since Lachelle is feeling so much better, she and Lindsay are going ahead with their plans for tomorrow. Those plans are to get baptized during the church service!! I am so happy for them. It is such a big thing to make that decision for Christ and get up in front of everyone to boldly announce it and publicly go through that rite of passage.

Reece is still working on potty-training himself, some days more than others. Today was not a strong training day, but yesterday was. I have taken to reading while in the bathroom with him as he won't hurry, but rather take his time on the throne. He's such a boy!!! (I mean no offense to the males reading this, I am merely speaking on the observances I have made with the males in my life.)

I should mention an update on Reece and his obsession with shooting people using inanimate objects. He discovered that he can create a credible facsimile of a gun using Megablocks. So now we have half a dozen "guns" lying around the house. I remind you that we have never bought a toy gun for him, or had one around for him to play with and are very strict about what he watches on TV. I swear, it's something inherent in the boy's psyche. Problem is, he wants to holster the guns, but since we don't buy any guns for him, we certainly don't have any holsters available. So, he's been stuffing them down the front of his diaper. My mom thought he had a rash and I said, "No, he's holstering things in the waistband of his diapers" and he stuffed a Megablocks gun down there directly after I said it.

Alicia is drawing things more and more precisely. She puts makeup on me now. I look as if I have really rosy cheeks in all her pictures. It's just too cute. My cheeks aren't nearly as rosy in real life. She is also trying to write her name now. It's so funny, she's writing it backward and the A's are huge, but it is a great effort!! I didn't even know she was capable of doing so! They must be working with her on it at preschool....

I read somewhere that most 4-year-olds know their phone number and address. I thought, 'What is wrong with me? I have not worked with her on this at all! I must be some kind of bad mother!' As a result, I began to teach her our information. She has it down pat! Now I need to instill in her that we don't tell it to everyone we meet. Strangers don't need to know where we live or how to reach us on the phone.

Just a Quickie...and It's All About Poop

Today Reece kept coming up to me saying, "Poo-poo, Mama, poo-poo." I would check his diaper and nothing would be there. He was even handing me a diaper wipe while he was talking to me. I guessed he was having gas, but decided to ask him if he had to go. He said yes, so I asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty. Again, he said yes. He said, "Take a bath?" because that's the only time he sits on the potty, right before his bath. I said no, we'll just put you on the potty.

So we went into the bathroom and put the potty seat on the toilet and he sat down. After a couple of minutes, he WENT POTTY!! He actually did have to go and was telling me ahead of time for a change. It was so funny because he kept leaning to the side so he could look and saying, "Ew, yucky Mama!"

So, we have successful pooping on the potty. I'm not going to take this as an indicator that he is going to be trained any time soon, especially since he still wakes up wet and doesn't tell me if he has to pee, and this is the first time for this. But, I had to brag a little bit.

It's Been Quite a Week

First off, I hope that everyone is praying for the hurricane survivors and evacuees in the Gulf states. I feel so badly for all of the displaced people who have lost everything; I can't begin to imagine what they are experiencing. I feel so lucky to have my kids and my home, my belongings, fresh food and water. I even feel lucky to have all of my stupid cats.

This week has been a bit crazy for me. I babysat on Thursday for my niece. Usually she is the babysitter, but she was having her wisdom teeth pulled so I babysat Mia, the little girl that Whitney watches. Mia has just turned four. I've watched her several times, so this in itself isn't what is difficult.

I had to go weigh in at Weight Watchers. No way was I staying for the meeting with three kids!! I lost 2 POUNDS!!!! That went well.

Then I had to go to the grocery store. Luckily, they have childcare onsite, so that was a breeze. I kept Ali out of preschool because she has a rash on one side of her mouth, on the outside, near her lip. I was pretty sure it was from sucking her thumb, but you know how preschools are. I got her an appt. with the Dr. at 11:15. I took all 3 kids and called from outside when I got there as they won't let you come in with a rash without permission (roll eyes here). Of course, you get sent to a switchboard that isn't even in the same town. So, I stood with 3 kids outside of the building for 15 minutes before they finally put the nurse on the phone, who is, of course, rolling her own eyes and says, "Just bring her in and tell them I said to." Because we were squeezed in between what must have been a large portion of the city, we waited and waited. We played Simon Says, the Quiet Game (which Reece won more than once!), find the baby in the magazines and colored with the crayon stub I found in my purse and the receipt issued to me. An hour later, I asked if we could be put into a room as we were just a tad disruptive. An hour after that, I asked if the doctor was almost ready to see us!! Finally, we got put into the exam room and he came in about 5 minutes later. About 10 minutes after that I was told that it is dermatitis (duh!) and to use hydrocortisone cream. I got the note for school so I don't have to pay for the full day and we left, suckers in mouths.

By the time I got home from the 11:15 appointment, it was way past lunch time so I sat all three kids down with PB&J sandwiches and bananas. It was nice to be done.

Just when I thought that was a tough day, Friday hit me full force. Little tip: if your 4 year old is in the laundry room giggling a lot, get up and check as quickly as possible!! I got to vacuum the white persian cat, and then Mike went to wash the white persian cat - so that it could once again be a black persian cat. Alicia had dumped about 1/2 a box of laundry detergent on the cat and rubbed it in real well. We thought we were going to have to take Sheba to the vet, but we got it all out before she got sick.

I got to: vacuum the carpets to get up all the soap, sweep the laundry room floor, move the full dryer and the washer to sweep the floor, change the litter boxes (which I just changed yesterday afternoon) as there was soap in them, wash the laundry room and kitchen floors, wash them again, wash the entry way tiles, wash the bathroom floor, wash the black hair out of the bathroom sink, off the outside of the tub, off the inside of the tub and wash a bunch of sopping wet towels and bathroom rugs. That took care of the laundry soap. The floors probably could have used another rinsing.

Well, then I was just on a roll, so I went into the kids' room and started to purge. I snuck out broken toys. I cleared out my things from the closet and lined up big toys. It looked so nice, and it only took me 3 1/2 hours to do all this!! I should have taken pictures for proof that the house looked that good.

Then, Mike was BBQ'ing and the kids were outside. They were supposed to be playing in the sandbox, but discovered a dripping faucet. It was dripping into dirt, creating a wonderful amount of mud. We stripped 2 kids outside and Mike carried them in one by one to the tub so they could have baths before eating.

Today was a much better day. Mike was able to sleep all night last night, so he got up and went to church with us. I cannot remember the last time that he attended church. It was so nice, even though I was stuck in the nursery the whole time and listened to the sermon over a speaker. Mike got a blessing out of it, and I would say that he has needed it lately.

Karnette and her girls came over after church, as usual. We all had lunch and discussed going on a walk to Donnelly Park so that the kids could play and we could get in a walk. After we left the house (Mike was just leaving for work), we decided to walk toward Raleys instead. So, to Raleys we headed, Mom, Karnette, all the kids and myself. We rewarded ourselves with Javalanches and smoothies. Then we walked back toward home. We stopped at the school around the block from us and let the kids play for quite awhile, ensuring that they would be pretty tired by the time we got back to the house. We walked back and started to rest up from our walk.

At about 5:30 my friend Donna called me. We have been trying for a few months to remember, between the two of us, to go to Pet Extreme at 6:00 pm on Saturday evening. Sadly, pitifully, we haven't been able to remember. However, today Donna remembered!! So, we both loaded up some kids and drove to Pet Extreme. The reason for our desire to be at the pet store? Why, for the shark feeding, of course!! Ever since I learned about the public shark feedings, I wondered what they ate. Turns out, it's dead squid. The kids lost interest pretty quickly and wandered off to look at bunnies and hamsters, but we adults found it to be kind of neat.

It was nice to have a beautiful Sabbath day on which to unwind from the hectic week.

Hot, hot, hot!

It gets way too hot in this valley. I'm sure that you all know that, but I just wanted to put it out there. You know, for those of you who have moved away and possibly forgotten the long stretches of 100+ degree weather, going on for day after day after day. If I get a little loony from the heat and actually go somewhere mid-afternoon, the streets look like a ghost town. There is NO ONE on the road. No kids playing on the sidewalks. No mothers taking walks while pushing strollers. Nothing, not even a breeze. Of course, if there is a breeze, it's usually about 100 degrees itself, so it's not very refreshing.

Even so, my kids still want to go play at the park. Which means I get the pleasure of sitting in the sun or chasing them around or pushing swings in the heat. There's a song by the rock group Garbage called "This Is Not My Idea (Of a Good Time)" that runs through my head at times like that. The line repeats a few times in the song, but runs through my head several times while we're in the heat.

So I took the kids to the park the other day to meet some of our friends for a playdate. We agreed to meet at Donnelly Park as it has a lot of mature trees and shade. We met at 9:30, you know, to beat some of the heat. (I'm rolling my eyes right now.) Well, my friend Jessika, who had a hand in setting up the playdate, didn't show at 9:30. She didn't show at 10:00. She didn't show at 10:30. I was starting to get a little sick of this particular park. Finally, at about 20 minutes to noon, Jessika showed up. Meanwhile, the rest of us were about to call it a day. So at around 12:15 we left the park and headed to Raleys because I wanted a mocha. Unfortunately, the woman working the coffee counter doesn't make the mochas the way I like them, so I didn't get one.

We went back home and had some down time. I had bought the kids some paper mache' letters for them to paint. So we broke out the old tablecloth, a bunch of paint and some foam brushes and the kids got to work painting on their initials. They were so proud of their work!!

I have decided that I can no longer stand the sink and vanity in the master bathroom. The sink is in the corner of the vanity and is very difficult to stand over and do anything, such as brush your teeth, wash your face, floss, you know, the little things we take for granted in life. So I broke down and bought a new sink and vanity at Costco. It is so pretty! Of course, I will now have to paint the bathroom and replace the flooring because the new vanity is a completely different size than the old one. But it is going to be so pretty when it's done! I don't know how I am going to take out the old one yet. It has tile that goes up onto the wall. At first I thought I would just take a sledgehammer to it as a cheap form of therapy, but then I realized I would have to cart out all the debris. So now I think I'll have to chisel off the tile from the wall and do it the nice way. I'm open to assistance. Just give me a call!

Busy, busy, busy

We've been a very busy bunch lately. Just go, go, go!!! But isn't that what summer is all about?

Hmmmm........Last weekend we decided to skip church (gasp!) and get out of town - and the heat!! So Mom, Shawn, Khori, Anayla, Reece, Ali and I all loaded into the van and headed for the coast. We stopped in Salinas and got Mary then drove to Santa Cruz. It was gorgeous there! It was warm, but not too much and crowded, but not so that you couldn't move. We just walked along the pier and the boardwalk and looked at everything. Well, Khori and Anayla gawked at various people, but they're at that age. I have never seen so many navel piercings in one place, nor have I seen so many bikinis being punished at once! Some women should just be banned from wearing them. I was in better shape than half of them and you will not find me in one of those things!! Anyways....

On Tuesday Mike and I loaded up our kids and headed back over Pacheco Pass, but this time our destination was Gilroy. We took them to Bonfante Gardens for the day. They had so much fun!! That is just the cutest place for kids. We met my friend Shawn and her two kids there. Her youngest is the same age as Reece. Her older daughter turns four in a couple of weeks. The kids all did remarkably well considering it was very hot. It was a great day. Pictures will be on the photo blog.

Reece is not interested in potty training. I just thought I would clear that up as my last post seemed so promising. But that's okay. I don't know if I am up for the challenge anyway. It's hard enough finding a bathroom everywhere we go for one child, let alone two. I can only be in one stall at a time!

Speaking of Reece....yesterday he was taking a nice nap on the couch and his dear sister decided he had been sleeping long enough (which wasn't anywhere near being fact). So Alicia walked over to him and screamed in his ear while tickling him. This resulted in Reece startling and falling off the couch, hitting his head on the table in the process. Well, he was screaming, and rightfully so, so I picked him up and was shushing him. He kept rubbing his head so I ran my hand over it. I didn't know he had hit it until that point, although Ali did tell me after the screams commenced. When I pulled my hand away from a lump about the size of a walnut, I saw blood.

Now, I know that head wounds bleed alot. So I took him into the bathroom to clean it up and he wouldn't let me touch it. At that point I called my sister-in-law Shelly and asked her to come over and watch Ali so I could take Reece to Urgent Care. When she got here, he had stopped crying but I decided to take him anyways and get it checked since the knot was so big and the bleeding hadn't stopped.

When we got to Urgent Care, there were two people ahead of us. Okay, that shouldn't be too long a wait. Yeah, right. One of them was a woman with a migraine. You cannot keep a 2 year old quiet enough for a person with a migraine. I felt so sorry for her! I gave Reece a pen and the receipt from the office and let him color. About an hour later I had let him scribble on every piece of paper in my purse and had drawn about 15 cartoon characters for him to "color". He seemed to be doing fine. Oh, did I mention that neither of the other patients had been called back yet?

I decided to take him home as the bleeding had stopped and there were no symptoms of a concussion. So off to the receptionist we went. She wasn't very bright.

Me: "I'm just going to take him home as he seems to be doing alright now."

Her: "Are you sure? There are only two people ahead of him." (DUH!)

Me: "Yeah, those are the same two people who have been here since we arrived! I'll bring him back if he starts puking or passes out or something."

And home we went. Today he is acting as if nothing has ever happened. What a waste of an hour!! I hope the woman with the migraine is okay....

Wow! Another Thing to Post!

Reece went pee on the toilet!!! Every night before his bath he sets the seat to the potty-chair on the big toilet and sits on it. Nothing ever happens; he just wants to sit on it. So tonight, after his bath, Reece set the seat on the toilet and I put him on. And he sat and sat and sat and sat and sat. It was beginning to feel like that potty-training book, "Once Upon a Potty" by Alona Frankel where the little girl (or boy, depending on the version) sits and sits for an entire page of print and no one wants to read the book because of it. We all just say, "She sat a long time". That is, if one of the kids can actually con someone into reading the book in the first place.

Anyways, I keep asking Reece if he is ready to get off the toilet and get dressed for bed. And he keeps saying, "No, wanna go poo-poo." And he strains a bit and nothing comes out but a little gas and he gets all excited. I know, too much information, but this is a huge deal, really!! So finally we decide that he has been on it long enough and when I get him down I discover pee under the rim of the potty seat. He needs practice, apparently, getting it actually into the toilet. But really, isn't that kind of a guy thing anyway? And that is our big brag for the day. Maybe in the next several months we can actually get rid of the diapers. Won't that be a day to brag about?