The Flip Side or Daddy got a little Junk in his Trunk (specifically a Chevy S-10)

So the flip side of last Friday's post is that we are down a car now.

Friday was a really weird day.

Thursday night was one of Little's all nighters. Where she gets up every couple hours & wants to come to bed w/us & throws tantrums, All. Night. Long. I got about 2 hours of sleep (I wish that was an exaggeration) and not all at one shot. So Friday morning started out a bit less than stellar. I was so tired I was nauseous. Big, after her first full week of school, was understandably ready for the weekend, and less than helpful that morning. Grumpy was the the keyword that morning. Little, was of course, chipper and on her game. I was dreading my day. Oh yeah, our toilet was broken & I had "Lake Speak" going on in the girls bathroom too. Five beach towels later... In the middle of the morning chaos Daddy called. He wanted me to get online & find out what was going on by his work. The exits were all closed from the freeway. Gah! Really dude? I'm kinda in the middle of something. Hearing the screaming & fusing in my background he told me, no rush, but he was considering coming home. *Que sound of tires screeching* Umm, what do I have to do to get you home? Found out there was a hazmat situation near his work and the whole area was closed for the day. Woo! (Obviously not Woo! for the company & people this affected negatively. But Woo for a nap for me, OK?) Three day weekend for him! And zomg! I can get a nap in to make up for the night before.

So he got home not too long after I got Big off to school. And he and Little set off an a Daddy/Daughter day. They went to the library & then to a posh outdoor mall, where they had lunch together. It sounded like they both had a blast. AND I took a 3 hour nap! Obviously I needed it. It was hotter than hot here on Friday & while the girls wanted to spend the afternoon swimming I vetoed in favor of laying low till Big's soccer practice. (100 degree heat does not result in a canceled practice.) About an hour before practice Daddy declared he needed another part for the bathroom (he'd been working on it all afternoon) and would be right back. Normally, Little is ALWAYS on any trip to the hardware store. To say the child loves Home Depot would not begin to describe her feelings. But Daddy was going to a local store instead of Home Depot for a change. She debated, but ended up deciding to hang w/Mommy & Sissy for one more episode of Wonder Pets.
Thank God for Wonder Pets.

About 20 minutes later the phone rings.
Daddy: "I'm OK, but I've been in a bit of a fender bender."
Mommy: "OoooK"
Daddy: "Cops are making a report, so probably not going to make it back in time for Big to get to practice & I have Little's car seat." (Meaning I can't drive, because I don't have a car seat for Little.)
Mommy: "Crap! OK, let me go so I can find a carpool for Big."

No problem. Got a ride for Big. Another hour and Daddy walks in. I go out to see the car.
OH. MY. GOD!

"That is not what I would call a fender bender. Are you OK?"

He's fine. But THANK GOD Little didn't go with him.

It was a 3 car accident. Car in front of him stopped suddenly, so he had to slam on his breaks. No problem, for him. Not so much for car behind him. Suddenly the Chevy S-10 behind him had joined him in his back seat. The truck pushed him into the car in front of him. No obvious damage to the front of his car, but sometimes you can't tell. The back of the car was a different story. The Chevy smashed the trunk of our car, popping and pushing the lid into the back window. It hit hard enough to shatter it. That's why it was good that Little wasn't with him. She would've been showered in glass if she'd been with him. Definitely would've involved a hospital visit, at the least. Fortunately, it (so far) has only involved car-seat replacement, rental car, towing, police reports & lots of calls w/the insurance company. Oddly, the truck was a company truck for the hardware store Daddy was headed to, the manager was driving by a few minutes after it happened & stopped to help. He insisted on a police report for his company. The upside of all of that is that everyone had insurance, there's lots of documentation, we should be completely covered and no one was hurt.

How was your weekend? ;)

Addendum: As of Monday evening, the cost is over $9k. "BUT, it's worse then they thought and are still pulling the car apart to figure out what all needs to be fixed." Also, while the front end isn't obviously damaged, they may have to remove the batteries (it's a hybrid, but Nissan, not Toyota) to weld as the rear axis frame needs to be replaced. If they have to do that, it will have to go to the dealer for that part of the repair (cha-ching). Will know more later. Keep you posted.

Ford You--Product Review

So last Friday I was invited to attend a blog event.

I know, it's like I have credibility or something. Who knew???

The sponsor was Ford & the product was the Taurus SHO. No, I'm serious. Really. They were interested in what someone like myself (a regular Jane,) thought of their new car.

Stop laughing!

So, of course, I was game to go check it out. It involved a MNO (Mom's Night Out) in The City (San Francisco) after we were done. When does that happen? Like never. And yes, I'll admit my first priority was not driving the Ford Taurus. It was more toward getting out of the house. Gasp! Having been in PR, yes, I do realize I just committed a cardinal sin. Know what? I'm not a PR/MarCom person anymore. I'm a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom). While I know the "rules" of PR & events, I think part of the point was the the people reviewing the product didn't necessarily know those rules, and therefore, gave you an honest review. So, that being said, I went w/small expectations at best.

I was floored.

I guess when you start w/the bar low (as I did) it isn't too hard to impress, but I have a couple things I should declare before I continue. Bar probably wasn't actually as "low" as I'd like to think.

My dad worked for the Ford company, (in it's various shapes, sizes and names,) while I was growing up. He wasn't in the car business, and was, in fact, one of those Silicon Valley workers who never changes their desk/location, but works for 7 different companies in 4 years. Eventually, his division became part of Loral, but for most of my life it was Ford. As a result of that, I happen to have driven a lot of Ford cars. (Go Figure.) You know those used cars that are like new? Yeah, we were one of the families who put the miles on them to make them used. Deal worked like this; we paid a monthly lease fee and Ford paid all maintenance & insurance. Go ahead and mull that one over for a minute. Yes, they paid the car insurance of a family w/two teenagers. During that time I got to drive; a convertible Mustang, (it was fire engine red too), a Capri (punishment for something I did w/the mustang), a (turbo) Taurus, (which I bent the frame on, don't ask, just don't get your teenager a turbo boost engine), an Escort & a Mustang. There may have been a few more, but those are the ones I specifically remember driving. Additionally, my folks have always owned a Ford, including a Taurus, for a long period of time. So, yeah, I probably have more than your average experience driving Ford cars.

I have to say, this was one of the nicest cars I've ever driven. (And, they didn't pay me to say that.) It's extremely posh, and has all kinds of bells and whistles. The one we drove wasn't stock, but it wasn't totally pimped out either. We were driving in San Francisco, so the fact that I enjoyed my experience is saying something. The City can be a bit stressful to drive in, one-way streets, lots of traffic, oh and those famous hills. The car drove like a charm & honestly I felt like I was in a Mercedes or a Lexus. It was smooooooth. In addition to the fact that the car was super nice, drove really smoothly and very comfortable, it was super quiet too. My family currently owns a hybrid, (not a Ford, sorry) and I thought it was one to be honest. It's not, it's got "EcoBoost™ Twin-Turbocharged Power". Ok, whatever that is. Actually, the way it was described to me is that it drives like a v8, but w/a v6 engine. (Now that I understood.) What I also understood is that it handles really well.

If you want a well researched and more complete review you might want to check out Glenna, who actually got some facts about the car and wrote things down and such. I was excited to get out of the house, so next time I'll do more than reference Glenna, (maybe, she does such a nice job, why compete?)

Bottom line, it's not a car I would've considered prior to having the opportunity to drive it. If I were in the market for a car, I'd give it more than a once over.

And driving my mini-van kinda sucks now.

First Day Follow Up

Of course, everything was fine. She was excited (we were FIRST in line, on her FIRST day of FIRST grade!) The G'parents came & walked to school w/us. This made her extra happy, made her day seem special.

Wisteria Lane lives on, but things have mellowed. She's already griping about the homework (we had to read for 20 mins tonight.) I've already started setting the "homework" schedule; you get to watch a TV show, while having a snack, then homework. I'm sure she'll complain about getting up tomorrow and it'll be like summer never happened.

First Day of First

Sigh.

Tomorrow (or more likely today, cause I writing this close to midnight) my preshus baabee is starting FIRST GRADE!!!!

She'll be in the big kid classrooms & have lunch at school, with more BIG kids. (Some of those girls are as tall as me!!!) She'll have recess and lunch at school, on the BIG playground! And she'll be gone for most of the day!...

Maybe this doesn't sound so bad.

Like most parents, I have mixed feelings over this whole thing. Sad to see summer over. Sad to mark another year older. But excited for summer to be over, so I can get some mom time occasionally. I'm excited for her to start a new year w/new experiences. I'm excited for her excitement.

The usual stuff.

It's sort of ironic that I refer to her as my baby. She's a tall kid. She's easily the height of most 2nd, if not 3rd & 4th graders. I refer to them as the BIG kids, but she actually towers over many of them. In many respects Big is still very much a little girl. That's the thing I worry about. I love that she's not growing up too fast, but I worry about her being teased or left out because of it. That has the potential to become more and more of an issue the older she gets.

I know, I know, she's 6, leave her alone, stop creating issues where there aren't any. I'm trying!

And of course, as usual here on Wisteria Lane, the cliques are already in action. This is part of why I have the fears that I do, I guess. Some of my actions this summer may have already affected her standing in social circles at school. Yes, the drama is that much in this neighborhood. I try to avoid it, but I worry that maybe my attempts at avoiding it have already not worked favorably for her. Of course, I have no way of knowing either way, so I should just move on, umm...yeah, good luck with that. I'm a mom. We worry, it's in the job description, and I'm really, really good at that part of my job. ;)

I guess as long as she's excited and doesn't know I'm worried it's all good, right?

All right, guess I should make those lunches before it's time to get up for school already.

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday--vacation version

Yes, I know you're onto me. My wordless Wednesday is just a half-assed attempt at posting. I know you see right thru it.

But you keep coming back, don't you? ;-) Well, interwebs I'm to you too! I know you think my girls are beautiful & can't get enough of them. Oh wait, that's me. Well, whatever, it's getting me back into the swing of things and that is something.
Besides, in case you haven't noticed, I can't keep my mouth shut. So once again, it's my version of (Not so) Wordless Wednesday.

I'm pretty sure I haven't posted these yet. Once again, in trying to keep up w/our travels this summer, I missed posting while we were on vacation in Disneyland. 10 days & nights in the LA area, half of which where spent at the DL Hotel & parks. This is a special gift my parents give to us whenever a grandchild turns 3. This was our 4th trip in 12 years (every 3 years, we plan so well). They take my brother's family, our family & get a suite (3 bedrooms & living room) for us all, and they get our 5 day passes too. No, they are not taking applications for adoptions, and if you're past age 3 you're out of luck anyway. So this one was Little's big trip.

Because my folks treat us to all of that, we are able to do a lot of the extra's. This time the big extra was Bibbidi, Bobbiti Boutique, aka-"Pimp my Princess". The Girls LOVED it. They do make up, hair & nails. You can do much, much more (all w/Disney prices, of course). But we brought our own dresses, crowns, shoes, etc.... (FYI--they do boys too; not as princesses, although who knows, I didn't ask. The packages we saw were for "knights" & they gelled up their hair into faux-hawks and added color & confetti. Very cute). These are pix of the girls seeing their images for the first time (they have a "reveal" at the end, of course they do).

And this third pix is of them dressed in their full princess regalia. The "castmembers" at Disney address all girls as "princess" in the park, but they really pull out the stops when the girls get done up like this; opening doors w/a flourish, bowing to them, etc...The girls eat it up. (And obviously, so do their folks.) It wasn't cheap (it was Disney, that's a given, right?) But I did feel like I got my money's worth. My girls loved the attention & I got enough pix for a scrapbook just on this subject. --Not so wordless Wednesday

Electronically Addicted

Hello, my name is Mama (No last names here).
Crowd: Hello Mama
And I'm an iphone-ic (like an alcoholic, get it?)

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. And I am addicted to my iphone. There is no doubt about that one. My family has declared that the thing has become merged into my left hand. And it's true, I pretty much go nowhere w/out it now. I even sleep w/it next to me at night. I know I have a problem, I just admitted it to you. But if you think about it, is it my iphone I'm addicted to or is it my ability to be connected 24/7? It's a gray area in my book. Part of my addiction has it's ties in Twitter. I'm also addicted to that and Facebook. (Of course, I am) So, which is it? Twitter or iphone? And I do love being able to check my email at any given time. Not to mention my web access, Facebook, and real time traffic updates....You're getting the scope of my problem here now aren't you. I love that I can snap a quick pix of something cute the girls are doing, add the caption and upload it right then to my Facebook page. Then I shoot it off via email to the grandparents. It's so much less involved than doing that w/my regular camera (although, nothing replaces my DSLR, but that's another addiction to post about). When we're waiting in line somewhere I have downloaded free games for Little (and Big) to play, so it's become a bit of a babysitter for me (what's not to love about that?). And I've loaded some big kid games too, I like to play solitaire in bed to put myself to sleep. (What? That's pathetic? Oh, hey anything that gets me to sleep is good in my book.) We've avoided numerous traffic jams because of it; not only do I see the traffic on a Google map, but I can see a way around the traffic because it's a Google map! And I have the most awesome music app, Pandora. You type in an artist & it creates a radio station w/music based on that. And it's been spot on for me. I love it. Trust me, I could go on and on and on (obviously!)

I pink puffy heart my iphone there is no doubt about it. It is worth every penny we pay for it. And while I agree I do probably have an addiction, I'm not giving it up. (Wish I knew how to quit you. Not really.) Nope, I might have a problem, but I'm no quitter! I'm sticking w/my iphone.

Wordless Wednesday - Soccer Mom

You can call it wordless Wednesday, but I can't keep my mouth shut, so there you go.
I believe I officially have fulfilled my demographic now:

*kids - check
*minivan - check
*soccer player -check

Now, just gotta get Daddy to start watching Nascar...like that's gonna happen.

Sleep, it turns out, not so overrated

When you first have a child you expect to have many sleepless nights. It's one of those things everyone tells you about. Even though most of us are astounded at how much sleep you don't get, you do have a sense of what's coming. Later, depending on your "sleeping philosophy" (yes, there is too such a thing) when you finally decide your child needs to sleep in their own bed, in their own room, you will usually experience a similar bout of sleeplessness in your efforts. Also, sort of understood that you're going to go thru this when you choose to co-sleep. I hear the teenage years also give you a new reason to lose sleep, but we aren't at that juncture yet. I guess the point is that, I get it, when you have kids you lose out on your sleep. I just didn't expect it now.

Little background:
I have FM (Fibromyalgia). One of the major components of FM is not sleeping. I look like I'm sleeping, I just never get to any REM sleep. To say it SUCKS would not begin to do it justice. So, I am familiar with lack of sleep. I also have been very lucky in finding protocols that have been affective in treating my symptoms. I guard my sleep very closely as you might imagine.

When the girls were born, they slept in their own rooms from the first night home. I know, I'm an evil, evil woman and they will require years of therapy for it, I'm sure. Both girls, BTW, slept thru the night from day 1. Ducks Ok, so before you get your panties in a bunch over it, we still had our share of lost sleep. Both girls were also very small (for full term) and had trouble gaining weight. They fed well, they just couldn't get much in them in the beginning. Trust me I had my full share of stressful newborn stuff, and we had to set alarms so as not to miss feedings. No, the baby didn't wake us to be fed, but if we didn't wake her & missed a feeding, it was a pretty big deal. (With Big, we had to go to the doc to have her weighed every other day. She should've been back in the hospital for failure to thrive, but the doc knew I was doing everything possible to rectify it, so he gave us a pass, as long as we came in for weighs every other day to show we weren't slipping backward with her.) That being said, both my girls have been excellent sleepers from the day 1.

Little has always been an early bird, which SUCKS, cause I'm a night owl , but otherwise on the sleep front our girls have been amazing. Until....the last six months. When it comes to Little, everything is about control. So when she started giving us a hard time w/bedtime, we knew it wasn't really about being tired or not. We've gone thru the: lay w/me, need water, one more book, have to go to the bathroom, phases...it doesn't matter, she'll find an excuse to delay. Then we went thru a long, drawn out period of her getting up & us putting her back to bed. (The record was 80x in one night. Nanny Joe would've been proud.) We've gotten past all that, finally, and now she's started w/middle of the night stuff. She gets up in the middle of the night (2/3 AM,) goes to the bathroom & climbs into bed with us! At first, she'd come to my side & try to get me to pick her up. That didn't fly. Now she's sneaky and climbs in, in between us so we won't wake right up. But, Mama is a lousy sleeper, and she usually wants to snuggle up with (or kick) me. Both of those are more than enough to wake me & try to get her back into her own bed. (I won't sleep more or less, once she's in our bed.) Putting her back in her bed results in tantrum throwing; ear piercing screams, throwing herself on the ground, face as a wall of snot, the full deal. It's a minimum 1 hour deal on a good night. Most nights it goes on till it's time to get up. We put a lock on her door (so we could lock her in) but that resulted in her starting out w/the tantrum because she couldn't get out of her room to pee. We still think that's part of hte answer for now, but I sure wish she'd stop screaming.

She's deceptively cute.

On top of it, she's been running a fever off and on all week, so she's not sleeping all that great anyway. Now I have the fever (big surprise). I'm averageing 2-3 hours per night right now, and I have two very active girls, who don't nap, during the day.
I don't really expect any great solutions (other than putting some whisky in her juice at dinner). I know we're doing what we should do to resolve this and it's just a matter of being consistent. I just wanted to vent.

And to tell you, "Damn, I'm tired."

Wordless Wednesday

Not completely Wordless Wednesday....

So I dropped a bomb & disappeared for while. Your welcome. I am going to address the bomb I dropped BTW, just not today. And when I do, it'll be quick, so don't blink, you might miss it.

So, where have I been? Gonna use "wordless Wednesday" to show you:








Spent a week and a half in July at the beach!







Yes, they are only 6 & 3. And yes, they are Boogie Boarding already. I'm doomed.