Archive for June, 2009
Doctor, Doctor, Give Me The News
Posted by: | CommentsHave I mentioned the pool? I don’t believe I’ve really discussed the pool. A friend of ours bought us an easy set pool a couple of years ago. Becca had just turned four and Chloe had just turned two. We didn’t put the pool up that year. Chloe would have required ME actually GETTING IN the pool with her, and Tony was a little bit protective of his lawn. Last year? Well, life was a little too crazy for the pool. Downey’s House had just opened and I was there three days a week. This year? Well, I decided that this year was the year. The kids love to swim, and they’re pretty good at it. The pool itself is only three feet deep, but perfect for them. On Memorial Day weekend we decided to put it up.
The instructions for this pool say that it needs to be on a completely level surface. So, I eyeballed the yard and thought I found a couple of level spots. We tried the first one. Ummmmm…..notsomuch. It’s really amazing that once you bring water into the picture you can really see how UN-level something is. We emptied the water. We moved the pool. We started filling it up. Ummmmm…NOT LEVEL!! We emptied the water. We moved the pool. We started filling it up. Still, not level. But this last one was only an inch or so off, and at this point we had decided that it was good enough. And if the pool collapsed and water went streaming through the yard, so be it. We were done.
Here’s a picture of the kids (along with their cousin) in the pool:
We put the pool right outside one of our windows. This window has a huge window seat up against it. I can sit there with the laptop and the window open and watch them. I don’t even have to bake outside. So, I’ve really enjoyed having the pool. And, the kids have really enjoyed the pool this summer. Bunches. Quite possibly too much. Which leads me to my title…
Last week Becca was complaining that her ear hurt. I have some non-prescription drops for ear pain, so I have her drops for a couple of days, but it just hur worse. So, I figured she had swimmers ear. I called the pediatrician, and luckily they just called a prescription in for me. One week of ear drops twice a day. Strike one for the pool. I’m going to take some advice from my dad and my online friends, and start putting a drop or two of rubbing alcohol in her ears on the days she swims.
Yesterday was a whole new bunch of problems. The kids started their summer rec in the morning, and came home with Tony. The were in the pool the rest of the afternoon. That morning, I notice that Chloe had to pee three times before we left the house. Odd. My radar went up and she was on watch. Later that night, we got a bath and Chloe peed a few more times. Radar up more. We laid down to go to bed. She got up to pee again, and this time it ‘tickled.’ Well, I figured I would get her some water and take her to the pediatrician the next morning. An hour later she woke up crying. She peed again. More crying. I sent Tony out to get some cranberry juice. While he was gone she peed again. A bit of blood.
So, off to the ER we went. We got there at 9:30, and it was busy. Chloe was great at first. They had a play room, and there were other kids there. We made it back to our own little room about twenty til eleven. She peed for the doctor. We waited, and waited. Yes, it was a bladder infection. They brought us some antibiotics about 1:10 am. She can’t swim for a few days.
They still love the pool. I still love the pool. The nurse said the UTI could quite possibly be from the chlorine irritating her. She also always seems to have to pee AS SOON as she gets in the pool. So then we’re dealing with a wet bathing suit (and wet house). I’m sure that’s not helping matters. We’ll be keeping the pool, but I think we’ve learned our lesson.
Oh, and we’ve started a trend in the neighborhood…two more easy set pools have gone up in the past two weeks 
Lightening and Thunder and Rain, Oh My!
Posted by: | CommentsMy last post was on Wednesday afternoon. The kids were playing at the neighbors and the house was quiet. They came home, we had dinner, and then the storm came. (I’ll preface the story by saying that everybody and everything was fine – there wasn’t any damage).
There we were, watching iCarly, when my friend and neighbor called.
C: “Are you in the basement?”
Me: “No. Should I be in the basement?”
C: “Look out front.”
Well, I looked out front and said “Um, yeah. Maybe the basement wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Now, if I were a seasoned and dedicated blogger, I would have taken pictures. I didn’t. There were some crazy dark clouds out there, and they were swirling. Granted, it was a pretty big swirl, but they were swirling none the less. It was eerie, too. It wasn’t raining, it wasn’t really windy and it was creepy quiet. So, to the basement we went. As we got to the basement, the power went out. Me, two chicks and a dark basement. We found some candles and a flashlight and listened to the rain. A few minutes later, the power came back on. We watched the last couple minutes of iCarly, and then the power went back out again. The storm wasn’t really bad by this time. Our power has gone out plenty of times before, but never for more than an hour. The girls were a little freaked out. I told them that the power would probably be back on shortly. We went upstairs, and tried to figure out what to do to entertain ourselves in the almost-dark.
I gave them a bath, got them ready for bed and read a few books. OK…it was nearly 8:00. The power went out for good at 6:30. My kids NEED to sleep with a fan. It’s strictly for the white noise. If they’re totally exhausted, they can sleep without it. But they were nowhere near exhausted. I searched my brain. I remembered that about 10 or so years ago, I bought a little noise machine. (This was because the hubby also needs to sleep with a fan. We were going on a cruise, and there was NO WAY I was going to let him bring a box fan on the ship.) I dug out this machine (in the dark), hoping that it took batteries. Yippee for me, it took batteries and I set it up for the girls. No night light, but Chloe is the only one that really needs it.
So, the kids went to sleep and I took myself downstairs. I just laid myself down on the couch and relaxed. And if you’re a mom, you know that if you lay down and relax, chances are you’ll be sleeping soon enough. Chloe woke up a few times looking for me, so each time I would take her back into bed. I kept telling her that the electricity would be back on soon. It wasn’t. At about 1:00 a.m. (I think) I climbed into bed with Chloe and fell asleep. Hard. Tony came home. Turns out, he doesn’t have a key to our front door. He always uses the garage door opener. Which, of course, won’t open without power. He knocked and knocked. But I was in the room with the sound machine. Knocking? Yeah…didn’t hear it.
I did wake up and see a light flashing in the hallway. I walk out and look down at the front door. I saw Tony holding his cell phone up to the glass. I opened the door, apologized, and asked how long he was there. About twenty minutes. I sat up and chatted with Tony for a bit, in the dark. Chloe woke up. We all went to bed in our room about 4:00 a.m. Still no electricity. No fan for Tony, and I asked him to please not die while he was sleeping, because he wouldn’t be able to use his CPAP machine (he has sleep apnea) without electricity.
At 5:10 a.m. the electricity came back on. Chloe immediately wanted to go back to her room with HER fan and HER night light. Becca slept through the whole darn thing.
So now, every time it rains, the kids ask if we have to go into the basement. There weren’t any more storms on Thursday, but there were supposed to be some big storms yesterday.
Yesterday.
The day I had tickets to a VIP pre-concert party for Dave Matthews. The day I had a chance to win one of four cruises. The day I could see one of my favorite bands in concert.
Well, I’ve got to have a cliff hanger. I’ll write about the party and concert later today. I’ve gotta head out
Have a great Saturday!
Two Stories – Same Characters
Posted by: | CommentsI don’t think that I’ve mentioned that True Blood is back. The first episode of the second season aired this past Sunday on HBO. Last season I hadn’t read any of the Charlaine Harris
As I sat and watched Sunday’s episode, I got a little ticked off. I think that because I really submerged myself in the books for a while there, I felt like I ‘knew’ Sookie and the other characters. So, when I saw that Jason was starting to dance with the Fellowship of the Sun, it really got under my skin. Granted, there were some HUGE differences in the first season compared to the first book. The whole V (vampire blood being used as a drug) aspect was really a gigantic part of the tv show. But it didn’t have much of a role in the books. I have no idea who the woman is that has a past with Sam and Tara is living with. She wasn’t in any of the books. And what was with that dungeon in the first episode? At first I thought it was the dungeon in the bottom of the Texas church from the Fellowship of the Sun that was in the second book. But towards the end of the show, it was revealed that it was run by vampires. Hmmmmm. ::::::::OK, no more spoilers after this:::::::
So, I am very interested to see what direction Alan Ball takes the characters. It seems like he’s touching on some things that happen in the second book, with the Fellowship of the Sun and Texas. And yes, there are some times when I talk to the tv while the show is on.
I think that I will enjoy the series more if I treat it as two different stories. That’s pretty hard to do, though, because I feel like I know these characters so well. I’m still gonna watch every darn episode, though.
Oh, one side note. I saw a clip from the Jimmy Fallon show where Stephen Moyer (who plays Bill Compton) was on. I really didn’t know anything about him, as an actor. I was surprised that he had this HUGE English accent! He’s doing a super fantastic job playing Bill. I didn’t find the clip from Jimmy Fallon, but here’s a little snippet with Stephen Moyer. He’s at about the one minute mark:
(Attempting To) Work at Home
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Kids Back To School Women’s Light T-Shirt
I have probably mentioned this before. Probably more than once. But, I’m feeling a big ol’ rant coming on, and you get to hear it
I basically work at home. I have about five hours every Monday when I go to the restaurant and work. Other than that, I’m getting all of the paperwork and such done here. Plus, I’m working on my online ventures while I’m at home. We’re exactly one week into summer vacation, and my patience is wearing thin.
If you’ve never tried to work at home with children, count your lucky stars. If you have (or had) young children, you most likely know that you cannot start ANY project without getting interrupted. Seems like it happens about once every 2.2 minutes. Well, imagine trying NEEDING to get something done and then getting interuppted every 2.2 minutes. Slightly stressful, to say the least. I’ve been interrupted this morning for lots of reasons.
“Mom, Chloe went out front!”
“Mom, can we have some snacks?”
“Mom! <insert screaming and tears> Becca got water in my dump truck!”
“Mom, Can you put the roll-y thing in the pool?”
“I have to go potty.”
“Can we have some fruit punch?”
And that’s been in the last HOUR. One stinkin’ hour! They’ve finally settled down and are playing on the swings. <– As I was typing that, I had to get up and rescue a large pool toy that was blowing away.
So, if you’re experiencing the same problems, please know that you’re not alone. I am officially starting the countdown to when they will both be in school. I love them dearly. And I wish I had the time (and patience) to just play with them all day. But, I don’t. I am who I am.
City Girl Gone Suburban
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’ve read this blog for a while, you know that I grew up in the city. I walked across the street to my grade school. I walked one block to my high school. There was a grocery store across the street from the high school. The homes were close together, and the only REAL wildlife I ever saw was 1) a robin that made a nest outside my bedroom window and 2) the ONE groundhog we had in my small yard.
Fast forward twenty or so years. The housing plan I live in used to be a pasture for the cows. Our back yard is up against a small patch of woods. I’ve had oh so many animals hangin’ out back there. The first thing we noticed were the deer. We consistently have about eleven doe out on the back hill. We don’t see them as often in the summer, but in the winter, they’re around every morning, and usually every evening. Towards the end of winter, when there’s not many food options for them, they venture a little closer. We have a fire pit that is lined with these evergreen hedges. Word on the street was that deer won’t eat them. Wrong. The deer eat them every winter. They are (supposed to be) cone shaped. However, there is a big ol’ dent right about deer mouth level. But, I still like my deer.
Throughout the spring, we’ve seen much more wildlife. This year we’ve had a few animals that are worth talking about. First, there was the robin. This robin decided to build a nest in our yard. No big deal. But WHERE she decided to build it was kind of funny. We have a bar that we use for parties sitting along the back of the house. She went INSIDE this bar (simply made with two by fours, lattice, and a stainless steel top) to create a good home for her eggs to hatch. Here’s a picture:
That was three or four weeks ago. Mama bird’s babies hatched (well, two of them did). she was VERY protective.
Next, there was our momma turkey. Now, I don’t really know too much about turkeys, but I noticed that right around the same time (11:30-12:30 in the afternoon) every day, a turkey would come down off the hill and walk through our yard. I said something to Tony, and he ended up asking his brother about it. Turns out, when a mother turkey has a nest, the father comes by once a day so the mother can go and look for food. Go figure. Ya learn something new every day.
Now, I’ll let you know about the bunnies. Last year we had two bunnies. And here’s how this happened. Right after Easter last year, the kids were convinced that they had to put carrots out to feed the Easter Bunny. After a couple of weeks of putting carrots out, I was just about to convince them to stop putting those carrots outside. I look out the window on our patio, and what to I see? A damn bunny eating the carrots. I literally laughed out loud. So, we kept feeding the bunnies. They got so used to us last year that we could sit right on the steps while they ate at our feet. Well, they’re back this year, along with two babies. I think the adults must remember us, because they’re still letting us sit and watch them eat. The babies? Not so comfortable with us. But they’re still eating. Here’s a little snippet:
So…where are we? Deer, turkey, bunnies….then there’s our crazy squirrel. I mean a squirrel’s a squirrel. Usually not a big deal. But this one is pretty small, and exudes all the same qualities as the squirrel-type-thingie from Ice Age.
He completely cracks me up. Runs around like a crazy little thing, with no rhyme or reason. Now, he’s eaten the grapes the we’ve left out. He looks at us standing at the patio door, and runs right up the screen door. Yup, he’s crazy.
So, our newest addition to the zoo is living in our grill. Tony went out to make himself some dinner tonight, opened up the grill and sees a momma mouse with four or five babies. He felt too bad to do anything about it (and ended up making his dinner on the stove).
Tonight, as we were watching the bunnies, Chloe said “Mom, our back yard is like a zoo. Maybe we’ll get an elephant next!”
I told her that if there’s an elephant in our backyard, we have some serious problems!
