Athletes...and the NEWS!

Mary has been moved up to the next level in her swim club.  She has moved up two levels in two months!  She had her first swim meet just over a week ago, and did most excellent with her breast stroke and crawl (well, except for a mysterious disqualification on her breast stroke that no one apparently noted the reasoning for).  She did NOT do quite as well with her backstroke, but that was the last heat in which she participated, and she was tired, and she said she just felt like throwing up.  So!  Despite that, she IS doing excellent with her swimming.  Now John and I are playing an interesting balance game with getting her to her two hour practices that are now taking place four nights a week.  Who's idea WAS this?

Keith went to a pitching clinic last week and totally impressed his baseball dad.  He was throwing hard AND accurate at the 60'6" mound.  He was the only boy to manage to knock off the softball that was placed on a tee for a drill.  Apparently idolizing Tim Lincecum is having some good effects.

I cleaned the house most of the day yesterday (trying to take breaks here and there to not get too worn out), and I managed to induce one mother of an allergy attack.  I finally had to give in and get out the inhaler.  Then I woke up in the middle of the night sweating from the jershey knit sheets I'd just put on the bed (hello!  running my own oven now!  jersey knit was DUMB!), and had to suck on the inhaler again to get the 10 million pound elephant off my chest.  And I just CAN'T stop sniveling/sneezing.  Ugh.

And...in other news...the answer to the question, "Is it a hamburger, or is it a hot dog?" is UP at the baby blog!

Teeth and stuff

The kids and I had our six month dentist exam, and I'm happy to report that NONE of us had cavities this time!  Yay!  The hygenist was impressed with the kids' behavior and my own immensly clean gums.  Um...thanks.  I do try. 

The dentist still wants to re-do a couple of my crowns, but we're going to wait until after the baby comes.  But I have been warned--especially since I'm pregnant, one of those teeth may crumble.  Wouldn't be the first time.  I first met this dentist when a tooth broke when I was pregnant with Mary.  Let's hope the crowns hold out.

I'm settling into the temp job.  Really, they've been loading me down with enough work that I could probably work more than the four hours a day they've requested.  I can't possibly get everything done.  I'm happy.  Last year it got to the point where I didn't have enough to to do.  I hope the work load keeps up.  I hate twiddling thumbs while I'm on the job.

And once again, I'm proving to myself that when I'm gainfully employed out of the home, I actually get more done IN the home.  It's been a really busy week this week, and I am amazed I kept all the balls in the air as well as I have. And despite working part-time and all the appointments and meetings and swimming and music lessons, I actually got more housework done this week than normal PLUS I'm basically caught up on laundry (um...at least until 5:00 today, anyway).  The kids and I are doing pretty well keeping the dishes mostly done on most evenings.  I even have most of Izzy's Brownie meeting on next Tuesday planned. That's a RECORD for me!  (Let's see how well I do in a couple of months when the no-sleep third trimester begins!)

Which reminds me...there are a few new posts up on the baby blog.

Later!

Names!

Possible baby names post up at the baby blog!

Oh...and I guess I should take a minute to mention that the Phantom Fever has now hit Mary--and apparently a good chunk of the whole school system.  Mary is now on day three out of school.  I guess it took her longer to get it out of her system.  Now she's all fine and happy and playing on the Wii--and I sit here grateful that I'm not working this week and have to be all annoyed about taking unpaid time for her to do that.  I wish I could afford to ALWAYS be a stay-at-home mom. 

The Phantom Fever

Saturday was a super-busy day (the first of many crazy Saturdays about to come!  yay!).  John and I had to do that divide-and-conquer thing due to simultaneous events, but we got through it pretty smoothly.

The minute John brought Izzy and Keith home from their activities and Izzy saw me, the WHINING started.  We figured she was tired from soccer and general Saturday malaise.  But later that evening I got a funny suspicion and checked--sure enough, the poor child was burning up!

We got some meds in her and got her to bed.  She was out like a light.  Every time I checked her Saturday night, the fever was down.  Sunday morning she woke up all bright and sunny and fever (and medicine) free.  Huh.  THAT was weird.

So, Monday I sent her to school.  She came home fine and happy and did her homework with no complaints.  (Actually, THAT should have been my first clue that not all was right was when she came home off the bus Friday afternoon throwing a full-blown temper tantrum and crying that she HATED STUPID HOMEWORK!  Quite unexpected!)  Monday evening Mary and I had a GS meeting.  When we got home around 8:30, John says, "Fever's back."  Um...really?

Yep, back and even higher than it was on Saturday night.  Huh.

So, yesterday we spent the day hanging out and coloring (Izzy) and watching movies (Izzy--while I dozed on the coach) and sharing some tomato soup.

She seems better now (although I'm nervous that the Phantom Fever will come back right when my back is turned again), but I still have to keep her home today due to the 24-hour rule--which I GET, really, honestly I DO!  But if schools are now also going to enforce the 24-hour rule along with day care centers, then I think we all need to STAND UP and force employers to give more time off WITHOUT GRIEF to those mothers/fathers forced to take extra days off so that germs aren't carried to school forcing OTHER employees to take extra days off.  Just sayin'--employers REALLY need to take some chill pills.

Of course, I'm still unemployed, so even though I didn't have to put up with angering my boss, I'm broke and that only PARTLY makes up for it!

So, how DID they take the news?

Post up at the baby blog!

Letting the Cat out of the Bag

So...I've kept a pretty big secret from most of you this summer.  It was hard to do.  And even when I did tell a few people I kept thinking of more people to tell...but I kept my fingers still and did NOT type those strange, shocking little words.....  I guess I was testing my ability to actually KEEP the secret.

So, yeah, John and I got a HUGE surprise this summer, and...we're expecting our fourth child in March.

!

I know, right?!

Don't ask us how it happened, because despite having learned about and EXPERIENCED the birds and the bees a few times, we have NO CLUE. 

So now that most of the panic has left our faces, and I'm 12 weeks and popped out so much that random strangers are noticing, I guess it's time to share the news.  We're planning on finally telling the kids tomorrow (we decided to spare them until their first week of school was finished) and others that have been kept out of the loop.  And then...I guess it's time to start getting ready for the baby.  Several pieces of baby equipment are either too old or have simply left the building.  95% of the baby clothes were handed down.  99.9% of the maternity clothes were also handed down (!).  (I guess we need to take care of THAT little fashion emergency first!)  So while I troll some consignment and good will stores, I guess John better finish cleaning out the computer/junk room so that we actually have a place to PUT the new little bundle of joy.

Really, this whole thing is just soooooo surreal.

If anyone is interested, I did start a super-secret baby blog to record my first few weeks of panic and angst.  I don't know if I'll continue to keep a separate baby journal there or just super-impose it onto this blog (I'm having problems editing/posting over there for some strange reason). 

So!  That's the news!  Freaky, but Fun!  Right?  RIGHT?

The Vacation That Almost Never Was and...First Day!

Hey!  Let's put every nickel we earn this summer towards our now-annual trip to the beach. At the end of the summer.  In Ocean City.  The New Jersey one.  The same week a blasted hurricane hits.  AGAIN.

Ugh.  I know.  I shouldn't complain.  It really did work out mostly well.  The hurricane didn't hit that part of the shore too badly (no worse than the typical Noreasterner! we were told).  But we did have a few hair-pulling days there of WHY do we wait until the last week of summer for vacation?  WHY?  And what are we going to do NOW?????

No, it all worked out pretty well at the end.  We didn't get to leave the Saturday of Hurricane Scary.  We bided our time and checked with the landlord, and we got to head out on Monday.  And the rest of the week was...sublime.  It was in the 80s and sunny and beautiful.  Only on our last beach day, did it get a little too chilly for MY blood (I spent the day sitting directly in the sun as under the shade of the umbrella gave me goosebumps!).

We did the beach thing and we went to a park (also with a beach--hey!) and we went to the Cape May Zoo again (really nice place).  And I ended up not cooking in even once.  I dunno.  We just never felt like eating the hotdogs/hamburgers I was going to make. 

John got burnt to a crisp our second day there and spent the rest of the week huddled in that umbrella shade with a shirt on and NOT getting in the ocean (I am now affectionately calling him "Snake Skin Man."  The PEELING is really something to see.).  He also forgot to pack:  shampoo, soap, shaving cream, his swimming suit.  I know, right???? 

(OK, I admit.  I forgot stuff, too.  I forgot razors--on a beach vacation, seriously??  And then a small bag of toilettries got left behind.  Oh well.  Someone else will benefit from my NEW razors and shaving cream and lotion.  *sigh*)

We left OC on Saturday and stopped at Hershey World on the way back.  After the silly ride, and the cute 3-D movie, we bought some drool-worthy cupcakes (oh, my lands, the Almond Joy one!) and didn't make it home until almost 10:00. 

And now I've spent the time since then in a state of denial.  I do NOT have laundry or housework to do.  I do NOT have a million emails pending in my inbox about GS stuff that has to be addressed.  School is NOT going to start.  Izzy and Keith do NOT quite suddenly need new jeans....

Well, at least I got the kids off to school yesterday no problem.  Which was amusing in and of itself since the bus schedules arrived in the mail the week we were gone and had our mail stopped.  And my vacation brain never once thought, "Hey, I should call the transportation office to get the pick up times since Mary now starts school a whole hour earlier than her siblings, and oh! now the elementary school has announced that they are starting 15 minutes earlier!!!"  Ugh.  Anyway, they did get onto the bus with mostly no problems.  I took a good stab at a guess at Mary's pick up time.  And Keith/Izzy...well, I was wrong, but it ended up being OK because I got the kids out there 15 minutes early, and the bus ended up being 15 minutes LATE.  Yeah, we were out there waiting a LOOOOOONG time.

All three reported enjoying their days.  Well, except for the part where Mary kept getting lost in her new building (where 90% of her classes are in the same hall), losing where her locker was located (even once finally asking an eighth grader in desperation only to be shown it was RIGHT NEXT TO HER), never once making it to a class on time, and even losing her schedule 20 minutes after they handed it to her.  Ah...sixth grade!  Gotta love it!  (At least she was laughing when she was telling us about it!)

School stuff

After discovering that Mary's school supply list was actually ONLINE (and why didn't anyone at the school think to let us newbie sixth grade parents know that?), I consolidated the list, and we all headed out for the Big Spend last night.

$219 later, we're still in need of a specific size post-it notes, 3 yellow highlighters, and a box of colored pencils (mistakenly wrote down a box of crayons instead, so we have one too many of those!).  I am trying to keep in mind it's a bit more pricy this year since all three kids needed new backpacks, and two of them needed new lunchboxes.  Still....

Mary has her sixth grade orientation tomorrow.  She's nervous but also excited.  I keep telling her, "You know what?  I'll bet you're gonna LOVE middle school!"  Let's hope THAT doesn't bite me in the butt later!

In other news, I actually got out of the house--for a WHOLE night!--sans children!  Our GS Service Team had its first meeting out at a team member's lake cottage.  Ahhh...heaven.  Swimming and kayaking and food and well, business, too, unfortunately....  It was great--looks as if it'll be an annual event!

Other GS planning needs to get underway, but I'm still in denial that summer is almost over.    :-(

 

Back to basics

A couple of years ago, I instated this lovely chore chart system with the kids to try to get them to help with all the work around the house.  It worked pretty well.  And then...spring sports hit.  And we never got it going back up again!  And that was TWO YEARS ago. 

Well, the kids have been doing SOME chores.  Every weekend Mary and Keith have to clean their pet cages.  Izzy, owning a pet which doesn't need a cage cleaned, has to make sure all the dirty clothes are out of her/Mary's room and the bathroom.  All three kids have to pick up the den and their rooms.  Frankly, I call it a successful weekend when the critter cages get cleaned.  Everything else gets filed in the "we'll get it next weekend" file. 

Then I saw that article in Family Fun about the Five Minute clean-up.  Did you read that?  Where this mom has everyone clean like the dickens for five minutes--and at least the clutter gets off the floor?  Well, I started having the kids do that with the den.  Only I'm meaner--I give them fifteen minutes to get it all picked up.  I've used this system twice, and it's mostly helped with the "She's not helping!" arguments we get around here.  And the "It's been an hour, WHAT ON EARTH HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?" yelling matches from ME.

But, really.  The kids do need to be doing MORE than that.  I want them to have fun and be kids, but I honestly can't keep up with everything (and the farther I get behind, the more I put it off and the FARTHER I get behind).  Really, if Laura Ingalls Wilder and Anne of Green Gables and all those girls and boys way back then could bake bread from scratch and build a fencepost or whatever by 12, then SURELY my kids can do more and LEARN to do more.  I'm a GS leader, for crying out loud, I know kids are pretty darn capable.  Why am I stressing myself out and doing EVERYTHING when I've got a pretty solid workforce of three living right with me?

So!  New(ish) chart!  And new rules!  I had a discussion with the kids how they get to start helping me in the kitchen on a more regular basis.  Not only are they going to help with the dishes every night, they are also going to help cook.  And since I hated all those "whose turn is it to do the dishes?" arguments I had with my own brother, I gave them a CHOICE:  alternate days or alternate WEEKS.  Oh, they ALL went for alternate weeks.

We drew straws, and this first week Izzy gets to be the helper.  Izzy is usually fun to have helping you, but I have noticed that I get more temper tantrums and "But I don't WANT tos" lately than I used to.  But this was all new, and she is totally into it.  Izzy has helped me cook every day this week and has been just way beyond excited about doing the dishes.  The DISHES.  It's been lovely.  And showing her how to do these things is helping motivate me to actually get them done.  Cuz I have a tendency to be just too tired after sitting down to dinner to get back up again to finish all the dishes.  But every day this week, I've gotten up to a (mostly) spotless kitchen (since, you know, midnight snacks do tend to happen). 

Next week is Keith's week, and actually I think he's the most excited of the three.  He does love helping me in the kitchen, and I've been kicking myself for not getting him in there to help me more often.  (One of the million reasons why I finally kicked myself in the pants to get this going.)

Mary's week will be interesting since we're on vacation that week.  And for some reason Miss Thing seems to think it's UNFAIR that she has to cook or do dishes during vacation.  REALLY?  YOU THINK?  Well!  Guess what, honey, we ALL do!  (This is the same kid who was angry that I made them clean their critter cages and rooms on Mother's Day.  "It's a HOLIDAY!  Why do we have to work?"  Why, indeed, Mary?  Why, indeed?)

Hopefully this won't peter out as the crazy school schedule starts.  ...Or the crazy spring sports start.  I think keeping it weekly will help since I won't have to keep track of "Well, Mary has Scouts tonight, so Keith will do the dishes, which means that Mary will have to take his night, but then Izzy doesn't go for five days because of HER Scout night and that's not fair...."  And I'll just have to keep looking for those 9-3 jobs so that dinner and dishes get done before the after school activities, anyway.  IF there were any of those jobs out there!  (Or any jobs of ANY kind--*sigh*.) 

Sweet Summer

It's been a mostly hot and muggy summer, and it's draining all my energy away.  But!  Just three and a half more weeks until school starts, and we'll all be whining about WHY didn't we do X,Y,Z???--Forgetting about the heat and humidity and how we were all too hot/tired/migrained to get off the couch.  Ah well.

We are now currently enjoying just a bit of rain (which is causing barometric pressure changes, resulting in Mary's migraine/vomiting spell the other day), and the grass is loving it, and John actually had to mow for the first time in about a month.  Wow. 

And...we are enjoying a visit from one of my childhood friends.  She emailed me just to see what part of NY we lived in, as her husband was performing, and wouldn't ya know it?  He's performing in OUR town!  So, we've spent the last couple of days showing her around the town, taking her to our favorite (free!) places, and swimming in her hotel's swimming pool. 

I have deduced that I have not seen my friend for at least 16 years, but we've carried on just as if we haven't missed a day.  And her husband has just the perfect sort of dry humor that fits in well in the Q clan. 

So, here's to FB for connecting friends who had unwillingly lost touch!  And making it so that we could reconnect after 16 years' absence!

Aw, man!

The boys had faced a tough team yesterday and ended up losing by two runs.  Despite playing out in intense heat every other night, the boys (and I) are quite bummed.  And then I had to listen to John deconstruct the whole game over and over again.  But this is how he deals with things like that--he just has to talk it out of his system.  He totally enjoyed coaching these teams this year, and he is really looking forward to coaching again next year. 

(Right now Keith is showing off his newest Lego creations--which take up the whole of his bedroom floor and make it impossible to even walk in there.  I gave him a bin large enough to store them all [and may even NOT make the creations fall apart], but he refuses to use it.)

I was bummed to discover this morning that I needed to clean the refrigerator--again.  I just cleaned it two weeks ago when it had got to Condition: Too Scary To Open.  But my sun tea jar has a spigot on it.  And SOMEONE had pushed the milk jug right ONTO the spigot--and a whole gallon of tea was sloshed into the crisper drawers and had pooled into a Tea Lake at the bottom of the fridge.  *sigh*  And NOW I need to mop the kitchen floor as it's nearly impossible to clean out a whole gallon of sweet tea from the bottom of the fridge without leaving a mess on the floor.  (At least the floor already needed to be done and wasn't just mopped two days ago.)

And so now I'm cleaning out the TOP of the refrigerator--which is full of "collectable" school papers/art projects from the kids from this last school year.  This has now become a huge pile on my dining room table, which I have no desire to tackle now that I'm all worn out from cleaning out the refrigerator and am testy about being forced to mop my kitchen floor.  ONE house-cleaning task a day is usually all my patience will take. 

So, my patience is taking a bloggy break here and trying to catch up on the last several months' posts from all of YOU, and wow--a lot has happened that I've completely missed.  Sorry about that.  I don't even feel right commenting on anyone else's blogs since I've been absent for so long.

So!  In other news, Izzy finally lost her first tooth a few weeks ago! But she was so scared about the whole process and didn't "work" the tooth and waited so long, it's more accurate for me to say that she was robbed of the tooth--by her horrible, mean mother.  The adult tooth was more than half-way grown in, and it got to the point where John and I felt we couldn't just "let it go" any longer, so after much begging and pleading and cajoling, I finally had to manhandle the poor child and just yank the tooth out.  I did it to Mary and swore I'd never do it again, but here I am!  Doing it again!  And then she and Keith finally got some sorely needed fillings done on Friday, and when I asked her to open her mouth to show me, doesn't she have ANOTHER adult tooth growing in right behind a baby tooth I had just checked ("just in case") and seemed hardly loose?   (And why didn't the dentist say anything?)  Poor Izzy.  She's still tramatized by the last one, and now it's starting up all over again.  I'll give her some time...but I have a feeling Mean Mama may have to make her presence known again.

Well, I guess I'd better get that kitchen floor mopped.  And may as well do the bathroom floors while I'm at it.  And of course laundry needs to be washed/folded/put away, and I'd better make sure the critter cages get cleaned.  But first, maybe I should go make some phone calls that need to be made.  Hmmm....

Steam

Keith and John's team had their first tournament game last night.  With their record, they were tied and seeded for first place, so last night our team played the last place team.  This team actually gave them a little trouble the first time they played them.  But last night...our boys beat them 24-0.  Ouch.  Next game on Saturday....

The heat/mugginess is really doing me in this summer.  I am not kicking the kids outside as often as I should because *I* am getting overcome by the heat.  I was huffing and puffing just walking around in it the other day.  I feel sorry for those boys playing baseball in this.  Yich.

Bedtime has been non-existant this summer.  With late-running games and practices (of the baseball and swimming kind) we are out almost every night and then come home with wired/hungry kids.  Everyone is exhausted (and the heat isn't helping).  Everyone needs naps (and refuses to take them). 

Really, is it any surprise that the kids and I are spending most of our summer holed up with books and legos in the air conditioning?

Disappearing Act

So, I had this temp job with some very nice people (just wish it had paid more), and was on the computer all day doing brain-numbing, eye-crossing things that made me reject any other computer usage.  And THEN there is the fact that my baby laptop does not hold a charge for more than five minutes now, and the PC downstairs is just waaaaaaaaaay messed up and confused and doesn't even turn on properly.  The only computer left in the house is John's laptop--and I'm strictly forbidden to use it (Shhhh!  I'm being disobedient RIGHT NOW!)

Those are my excuses.  Lame, I know.

Anyway, I'm back for the moment.  And here is a quick list of stuff you've missed.

• All three kids did super with their report cards.  And now I have a second-grader, fourth-grader, and SIXTH-GRADER in my house.  Hold me!
• About a month after we lost our beloved dog, Mary's matronly guinea pig Hazel left for the great pet heavens.  She was such a great pet.  We replaced her with another tiny baby guinea pig who has been christened Cinnamon (and whom we now suspect is a boy).  Cinn-o-MAN is such a doll.  He coos and coos and coos.  Something that old codger Hazel never did.  And now he's already all big and grown.  *sigh*
• John coached Keith's baseball team this year.  And an icky, nasty beginning of season it was with the torrential downpours we were receiving every day.  Games got postponed and moved so much that the season went on after school ended--and the end of year tournament got totally skipped.  They had a losing season (about a third of the team had never played baseball previously), but John thoroughly enjoyed coaching, and the kids still all had a good time.
• John must have impressed as he was voted to coach/manage the travel tournament team, and Keith also got voted to play.  So baseball season is STILL not done.  They have played five games, and they are now 4-0-1.  The actual tournament starts Tuesday....
• Mary decided not to play softball this year, but we told her she had to do SOMETHING.  We talked her into joining a swim club.  She's been going for about three months now.  She swims and gets coaching three times a week.  There is NO whining about going to swim practice (Well, except now that they moved one of her nights to Fridays at 6:30.  Really, swim club?  REALLY?).  And she is just happy as a lark.  She is already improving greatly and will probably move up a level by the fall.
• Izzy has been wanting a pet, so we finally promised her one as a "good report card" reward.  We coached her into something STURDY that would not need a lot of maintenance or more cage cleaning.  So!  We now have a pet turtle in the house!  Skippy may not be cuddly, but he is cute--and very, very low maintenance.
• We took our annual trip back to Indiana over the week of the fourth, but due to the travel team practices/games John and Keith had to come back early.  That left the girls and me hanging out with my father, step-mother, and grandmother (and great aunt!) for the rest of the week.  I took the girls to all of my old favorite haunts, and we had a great time.  The girls didn't want to come back!
 

The rest of our summer will be mostly boring as we are poor-ish and are trying to keep costs down.  But, we will enjoy it to the best of our abilities.  Hello, sprinkler!

Day 24--A travel story

Oh dear.  I guess I used my good travel story four "days" ago.

Well, I guess I'll just direct you over to a vacation story from a while back.  When Mary had what we later figured was one of her first migraines.  And our first, very short, visit to Ocean City.....

Day 23--A video

I'm not even going to attempt to download a family video off the dinosaur computer downstairs. So, let me just try to find something else fun .for you
I know! Another Weird Al video! Cuz I just can't get enough Weird Al!

The kids always request this one. I don't play it often since it's soooooooo long that it's quite a committment. Still hilarious, though.  So, if you've got 11 mminutes....

Day 22--A favorite joke

I'm not much of a joke-teller. I can appreciate a good joke, but my own delivery is pretty horrible.  So I usally don't tell them.


But one of my favorite comedy concerts to watch is Bill Cosby, Himself. I'm sorry, that's some funny stuff there. And it's even funnier once you have kids.


 

Day 21--A Favorite Recipe

Well, if you look over to the right, you will see a link to my favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  And Monster Cookies, if you are really feeling brave...

But I'm going to post my favorite meatloaf recipe.  I think I've posted this recipe previously, but I'm not going to take the time to look it up (it's not as if the "search" function ever WORKS on blogger, huh?).  I just made this the other day for a friend who had just got out of the hospital.  The whole family loved it.  (And I had to take out all the dairy due to a resident lactose intolerant.)

Mozzarella Meatloaf
2 eggs
1 C buttery cracker crumbs
1 C milk
1/2 C parmesean cheese
1/2 C chopped onion
1 1/2 t salt
1 t dried oregano
2 lbs lean ground beef
8 oz spaghetti sauce
1 c grated mozzarella cheese

Combine the eggs, cracker crumbs, milk, parmesean cheese, onion, salt, oregano, milk.  Mix well.  Shape into a loaf pan.  Bake @ 350* for about 1 hour.  Drain any liquid off.  Spoon the spaghetti sauce over the meatloaf, then top with grated mozzarella cheese.  Bake another ten minutes, until cheese is melted.


For my lactose intolerant family, I cut out the cheeses, and I only put about a quarter cup of water instead of the milk--they liked it just fine.  (I'm pretty sure I've made this without any milk/water at all, and it tasted fine.) 

Lately, I've been splitting the recipe into two loaves and baking at 400*--it usually cooks up in around 40-50 minutes.

What day was I on? 20? Oh yeah. A hobby.

I have lots of hobbies, but I don't have lots of time for the hobbies.  My interest waxes and wanes with the time/moon. 

I used to love to crosstitch.  LOVE it.  I enjoyed making baby announcements for my expectant friends.  Then *I* had a baby, and I just couldn't put the time/interest into it anymore.  It took me almost two years to finish the last one I did.  I'm teaching Mary how to crosstitch/embroider (again--we haven't visited this craft in a while), so I may just get out that pattern that I bought like 10 years ago and start working on it again.  Maybe.

A couple of years ago I decided to try to teach myself how to knit.  I got a book and with that and constantly checking youtube, I've done pretty well.  I like knitting because I can still do it while keeping an eye on the kids or the TV (sort of).  The results are usually much quicker than crosstitching!  I love the challenge of trying a new stitch/pattern.  I love how I can now knit socks!  With double pointed needles!  And I brag about it to EVERYONE!  But...I don't do it all the time.  I go months without knitting and then I will suddenly get on a knitting spree and crank out inches of blankets (or SOCKS!).  Right now I'm trying to get myself motivated to finish knitting the second sock to a pair because I have a NEW sock pattern that I want to try.

The one hobby that I rarely lose interest in is reading.  I read entirely too much for a mother of three.  I have to force limits on myself.  If I don't, homework doesn't get checked, housework doesn't get done, dinner doesn't get cooked in a timely manner, kid miss the bus (whoops!), notes from the teacher get missed....  And I've discussed here previously that if I'm feeling a bit blue (like I do ALL WINTER), then I have a tendency to get wrapped up in a book--which then causes me to get more "out of focus" and MORE blue.  Yeah, limits have to be set--and followed!--with the reading hobby.  I'm still working on that.

I...don't even know how to title this.

So Saturday started out great.  Sunny but cold.  The girls and I had two Scouting events (one of which I was in charge, and it went really well).  We went out to lunch.  We did a little shopping. 

John took Keith to his basketball game (his team is still undefeated).  John then took him when he went to switch cell phone carriers--and took MY phone with him (but I'm not switching yet as it appears I still have time on the original contract). 

I got home from our shopping errands (crafts and doggie treats) to a strange message on our answering machine from John.  And...it was not good.

To keep it short, our beloved dog Zuko got loose and ran after a neighborhood dog--across the street.  And got hit by a car.  It was...terrible.  Expecially since Keith saw the whole thing.  The poor puppy!  After hours of vet exams and x-rays at two different hospitals (the first vet stabilized him so that John could move him to the emergency vet center across town) and lots of discussions of injuries and surgeries and "minimum eight-month recovery time" and scary spinal injury possibilities and what-was-what...we finally decided to put our sweet Zuko to sleep.

I stayed with Zuko while the doctor put him down. Even through all the meds and pain, he still tried to get up to greet me. And after he was gone, he let out the sweetest little snore--like he was just all content now....




It's been just terrible around here, let me tell you.  We're all moping and the house is way, way too quiet, and we are simply all suffering from broken hearts.  Zuko was a great dog.  Great personality.  Great with the kids.  So friendly (although aggressive to other dogs, obviously).  He was most definitely a member of the family. 

Oh, Zuko, your time here was way too short, and you've got a special family here that is really hurting and missing you right now.  We'll save your favorite ball for you, buddy.

Tupperware, anyone?

My neighbor invited me to a Tupperware party.  And then she and the consulant (who is a friend-by-acquaintance) guilt-tripped me into having a party.  I said I'd only host an ONLINE party.  I have NO desire to spiff up my house like crazy to have a party and end up only having TWO people show up!  (Actually, the last party I had about 10 years ago, only ONE person showed.  I did try to get the consultant to cancel it, but she wouldn't.  Silly woman--what a waste of her time!)

OK.  So, Tupperware does have a lot of nice stuff on sale right now.  Go check it out.  And go buy if you want.  NO OBLIGATIONS.

http://order.tupperware.com/pls/htprod_www/home