Head East Young Man...errr South East, errr Middle aged couple....Whatever, Get Going Before You Change Your Mind!

I just finished putting together a power of attorney document for my kids while we’re gone. We’re headed to Miami for a week on Saturday.

No kids.

I’m not sure how I feel about it now that it’s so close to happening.

When I was making reservations I was still breastfeeding, so the thought of being able to be away from the kids for that length of time was beyond exciting. Originally, I was planning on flying out on Wednesday, DS is going for a conference and will be attending functions Monday – Wednesday. Once I started researching flights I realized it was actually cheaper for me if I fly on the weekends, even though I’m staying longer. Go Figure. Since the hotel room is the same either way we decided to go for it. We haven’t had more then an overnight alone in 5 years! Since before DD1 was born. The thought of having that much free time was intoxicating.

OMG, I can lay by the pool and read a book! Not a short article in a
magazine, but an honest-to-goodness book. I can get a pedicure and not
have to schedule around naps and babysitting availability. We can go out
to dinner at EIGHT PM and no one will freak out.

Ok, DS might freak out, but if I get him a beer and some chips he’ll be fine.

The idea of that much freedom seemed like such a pipedream!

The plan is to hang in Miami until Thursday and then we’re going to drive down to Key West for a couple days. I’m sure we’ll take our time getting there. I’m excited because I’ve never even been to Florida before and I’ve always wanted to visit The Keys. I’m excited to get to spend some alone time with my husband, to be a couple for a little while again, instead of a “family” all the time, to travel without a hard plan, to relax without an end time to it, to be able to decide I want to go do something and just be able to get up and go do it. Oh, and to drive in the car without anyone saying anything, just enjoying the sound of each other's silence.

Don’t get me wrong I’m still nervous about this trip. For some reason, I tend to get very fatalistic about flying. I’m not really scared to fly and dude, I used to be a premier member for years on United so it’s not like I haven’t done more then my fair share of travel. But I do get nervous about the flying thing. I guess it would be more accurate to say I’m nervous about the not-flying thing. You know, crashing or something equally awful. Ok, I said it, so now it won’t happen right?

I’m also nervous about leaving the girls. I know I’m going to miss them like heck. As lovely as a pedicure on my own time and lounging by the pool with a book sounds, it ultimately pales in comparison to the giggles and hugs of my kids. I know they’ll be fine and the G’parents have some big plans for them, so they’re going to have lots of fun. But it still doesn’t make this easier. I am going to miss them soooo much. There’s a reason we haven’t had more then an overnight alone in 5 years and it’s not the babysitting issue. It’s that we really love being with our girls. In most situations, we’d rather have them with us than not. There have been opportunities to do things for a weekend here and there without them, and we’ve opted not do that. If possible, we take them with us. We don’t just love them, we like them too. Most of all we love being around them and I’m so very glad for that.

My mom acts put out that I’m going to leave them for 7 days instead of 4. Apparently 4 is ok in her book, but 7 is ridiculous. Personally, I think I’ll miss them equally 2 days or 2 weeks, that’s part of why I decided it was ok to go earlier. I know I can use a recharge, so ultimately it’ll be good for all of us. Doesn’t mean it’ll be easy, but it will be good.

In case things get so busy I can’t get back on here in the next couple days, pray for really good weather in So FL for me. I totally want to lie by the pool/on the beach and get a tan. When it rains I plan on shopping, spa treatments and sitting in coffee shops while reading. All those things I never get to do anymore because I have kids. I’m bringing my laptop, so assuming I can pick up some WiFi I’ll post when I can, which with no kids around may be more then I have things to write about. Of, course I can always bore you with the details of how much I miss them. And if you have any suggestions for things we need to do/see in the Miami/Keys area by all means please post it, I would love to hear your suggestions.

So here's my Sept. scrap book pages to hold you over in the meantime (names have been changed to protect the cute) :

Did anyone see any pigs flying around today?

OMG! I have actual work to do today! At work! No, I’m not joking.

That’s why I haven’t posted anything yet. I’ve had an hour long (training) meeting, and converted several files for various people here today. Converting the files; not really all that hard, but for some reason it falls into the area of things only I can do for them (now that I think about it, it might be that I’m the only one who has all the software required for such converting; ahh, government work). But that’s ok, things to do. It's not that I don’t thoroughly enjoy getting paid for blogging and updating my scrapbook, but things to do that are actual work related things = job security or at least less job insecurity.

So now I get to go update some web pages. Yes, they do want me to work on something I was actually hired to do! I know, I know, pace myself. Don’t want to burn myself out by doing something that takes longer then 10 minutes. I could be laid out for a week if I try to tackle it all before noon. Might pull a muscle in my eye or something.

So more later today!

No Matter What You Call It, It's Still A Monday.

I had the weirdest day today.

It’s Columbus Day & being a government worker I had the day off. Being in a private preschool (although I did notice our public school was in too) DD1 did not. So it was a Friday again for me. Got her off to school and

• hit the Safeway (Trader Joe’s doesn’t carry low sugar drinkable yogurt or low carb ice cream, Rat Bastards!)
• Picked up my contacts at the eye doctor.
• Stopped by a local bakery & picked up these spice bar cookies I covet from my youth and
• dropped them off at H’s (Baby Girl has been home for a couple days now, Baby Boy is supposed to come home today sometime.) You know, nothing helps with sleep deprivation and milk production like a good home made cookie. DD2 got to see Baby Girl which was so damn cute (her little eyes & nose peeking over the top of the bassinet as she stood on tippy toes to see! Gawd! How come I never have my camera when I really need it! But that’s another post at another time.

All of that was before 10 AM. I was so productive. In fact, I was going to take DD2 for a very much needed haircut and the car for a much needed car wash, but she fell asleep before the end of the block at H’s house, so we went home for her to nap. I know, not weird yet, really good up till that point.

Some back story: At the grocery store I purchased some midol, as I’m having some major cramping and thought it might help. It was about the time we left H’s house that these drugs kicked in. OMG! I’m pretty sure what happened is that my blood pressure dropped. Basically midol is Tylenol and caffeine, so I think the caffeine may have caused the drop. In most people it would probably raise your pulse & BP, but I tend to do the opposite (if the situation would raise your BP, it would lower mine.) And everything was spinning. It was like being drunk, but without the fun drinking part. I put DD2 down for her nap & laid down, which DID. NOT. STOP. THE SPINNING. I tried calling a couple neighbors to see if they could pick up DD1 in an hour if this didn’t stop, but no one was around (of course.) I tried sleeping for that hour, and was successful, but it was a weird kind of sleep and I woke up still lightheaded, dizzy and spacey. Since I had to wake DD2 to pick up DD1 I decided I take them both for hair cuts. I was spinning, but not quite as bad at that point. I’d brought some snacks (cheese, granola bars, water…) figuring I needed to eat and/or drink something and that would take care of it. The salon is in a strip mall which also contains a teacher supply store. So first we went there & got DD1 a pack of alphabet flashcards. (She knows about half of her letters by sight & I think the others, she just doesn’t come in contact enough with, so figured we could make it into a game to help her move along on this topic.) They were also having a two books for one sale so I got suckered into a couple books for her because they had her coveted “Magic School Bus” ones. (I know the theme song to that show. Sad, very, very sad.) Then took them to get their hair cut, which was mostly uneventful. Except that they cut DD2’s hair short! I mean, I guess she needed it, but, oh man, I really hope they didn’t end up cutting out all her curls. During their cuts I noticed that the salon seemed really, really hot & stuffy to me. I had to sit while they were getting done cause I was afraid I'd start passing out. By the time we were done I was getting super lightheaded again . (In fact, I was a little nervous about driving, but figured it had more to do with the place then me.) We skipped the car wash & went strait home. By the time I got home I was in full spin mode. I set the girls up w/a Wiggles movie (2 glorious hours) in the playroom & laid down on the couch in the family room. I informed them to play & get along because mommy was not feeling good. And miraculously they mostly did. At one point, DD2 came over to me & asked for a nap (I know! I couldn’t believe it either, but I think she sensed something was really wrong with me & not to screw around.) I carefully walked her up the stairs (I knew better then to risk carrying her the way I was). DD1 watched her movie and then played w/her magnetic paper dolls. I literally laid on the couch for like 4 hours, other then getting up to put DD2 to bed and then later to get her up. The room Never. Stopped. Spinning.

FINALLY, DS got home! Thank God! We were supposed to go to some friends’ house for dinner & he asked if I wanted him to take the girls so I could actually rest! Yes, yes! Please!

So I’m home alone now, which is weird.

About 7 I realized that I still feel groggy, but not so dizzy suddenly. I decided, after something like 7 bottles of water, (I’m not kidding) that I needed to pee. I got up and found that the room had indeed decided to stay still. My mid-back is killing me because I’ve been laying on the couch all day, but at least I’m not falling over while lying down anymore. I feel shaky, like after you’ve been sick for a couple days & haven’t had anything to eat. Only, I’ve been eating and drinking all day.
Needless, I’ll be staying away from the midol from now on. In fact, I believe Red Bull and Monster are off limits too. It’s so weird; I take a vicodin for pain & need a half a glass of wine to really kick it in so that it helps, otherwise nothing. But dude, extra strong coffee; puts me on my ass!
That’s what I get for drinking decaf.

Testing, testing...

Guess what I’m doing right now? Yup I’m blogging from my couch!!! Isn ‘t it lovely? We finally got the wireless network up and running (again). Keep your fingers crossed that it lasts. Later today I will be attempting to get the CPU we’ve hooked up to the TV going so we can download our movies from netflix; then all will be right with the world.
Sorry, that’s just me geeking out a bit.
So anyway…..
Dutch listed a post about their recent prenatal screening test and boy has it lit up the wires.
It’s interesting to me how differently each of us will take something when we read it. Our personal experiences and the resulting prejudices that shape our opinions on a subjects define our reaction. All he really did was describe his experience and the conflicting emotions he had over the news he would get as a result of this test, good or bad. But many took offence at his perceived lack of empathy toward families with special needs kids. Then the comments started to get heated with the debate regarding “choice.” Poor Dutch, he was just writing about his experience and the internet attacked him. But that is how it goes with the internet, you think you’re writing about this amazing dinner you made and then suddenly PETA is sending you hate mail because you were eating animals. Your most mundane topics take on a life of their own because of the way people perceive you’re writing.
His post was intended to talk about the ethics of the way in which the test is presented to parents. In his case the test was not really treated as optional. It wouldn’t have mattered to them, but that’s not his point. He also discussed the ethics of having this information, in that we are potentially creating a world in which all babies that are born are “disability free”. Is this a world we really want to live in? And while he didn’t even get to this part, my mind went the direction of the ethics of things like choosing your child’s gender, height, hair & eye color. If you’re choosing for your child to be disability free when does that move into things like we only want blue eyed, blonde haired kids? (Personally I prefer my children to have very deep blue eyes, dark brown hair and olive colored skin, but that’s me & I didn’t really get a vote on the subject. Just got to buy the lottery ticket.) Do we circle back to certain hair, eye & skin colors becoming a “disability”?
Eventually, the topic turned back to his intended subject: our medical system. Maybe that’s not exactly what he meant, but that’s where it headed. Much of his concern related to the way in which the test is presented to parents as a standard test, when really it’s a screening. There’s a big difference, I know because I came back high risk for Down’s in a screening. But it isn’t presented that way. In fact, because it is a screening and not a true test of potential issues (a screening to determine if you need the actual test) the information you are provided with is really not complete. And the doctors who are delivering the news don’t really get any training in how to deliver less then great news, which is a large part of what he was driving at. How ethical is it for a doctor to tell you you’re high risk for Down’s or other chromosomal abnormalities when they really don’t know? How ethical is it for a doctor to tell you you’re high risk, but not inform you that what they are giving you is a score based on many factors including external ones (like your age) that existed before you ever walked through the door? How ethical is it for parents to make life changing decisions about their unborn child without being given all the information? Because that’s really what’s going on.

I know this post got a bit heavy, but when I have a few minutes I will write about our “scare” during my first pregnancy. It was pretty awful. Then I think you’ll understand why I feel compelled to comment in the first place.

It's BOMBASTIC!!!

So did you know today was "the great mofo delurk" day? No one told me either. Yeah, my feelings were hurt too. And since the day is mostly over for about (or aboot if you're Canadian) half of the country I'm pretty sure most of you will not be delurking, but by all means knock yourself out. I don't mind if you're a day or two late. In fact that would be entirely appropriate for me. And now onto your regularly scheduled post...




Ever make a trip to the local cable office? Me neither, till yesterday.

We get our internet from cable & our wireless router wasn’t working with our modem. After much trial and tribulation and many phone calls to customer service it was determined that we should exchange our modem. I’ve had good intentions to do this for several weeks now. I HATE that I can’t access our internet from downstairs!

It’s the reason why I generally don’t post on non-work days. Rotten kids think I should actually pay attention to them. Jeez! They’re so demanding! They want to be fed and stuff too!

I was trying to run this little errand while DD1 was in school so I’d only have one child to torture myself (and the CSR) during my visit. It just wasn’t working out, so yesterday, with both kids in tow, I went to the Customer Service office for our cable company. (Rhymes with Bombast.)

The office isn’t far from us, so we head over there and try to find parking. Uh oh. Not off to a good start, the very large parking lot is full. Apparently the majority of the building is used for training, so I assumed (wrongly) that the majority of the cars were probably for that. Oh yeah, and the stroller never got put back in the car after our Costco trip this weekend. This was not starting off all that well. After about 10 minutes I found a random parking space, it was in their parking lot, so I guess I should consider that a plus. I carry DD2 while holding DD1’s hand through the parking lot. DD2 is getting pretty heavy these days, seems that she’s at least 20 lbs now. My point is that my back (which hasn’t been so hot lately) was not doing so hot by the time we got to the sidewalk and I could put her down, and I was starting to break a sweat (ewww). We got to the building and open the door and….the line! OMG the line! Think DMV, but with only 4 service windows. One window is only taking cash transactions and only one window has a Spanish speaker in it. Luckily those were not the same window. It did not look hopeful. The line wound around the office twice and was at the door. We go in it. It was lunch time, DD2 had not had a nap yet today. Wow, this was as pushing it as we could get.

Guess what!

Totally uneventful. Most people couldn’t use the cash only window and/or needed the Spanish speaking guy, so we only waited about 10 minutes. AMAZING! I was able to switch out our modem without incident. The lady who helped us was nice and helpful and it was just so ODD!

In fact it was BOMBASTIC! If you know what I mean.

Happy October!

Actually has been pretty happy. I had a rough weekend with my back; actually broke down & took a vicodin yesterday. That was after I was completely useless for most of the day. I think I’m feeling the after affects of it today as my blood pressure (I think) is low. I started randomly having a dizzy spell, and I got hot and then I got a headache. Bah! Very reminiscent of my pregnancy. No I’m not pregnant, don’t go there. I wouldn’t exactly be sad if I were to get pregnant, but this isn’t how I’d tell you either. DS says we’re done, so unless he changes his mind I guess we’re done. Kinda a two person thing you know.

On the other hand, Auntie H & Uncle A are now Mommy H & Daddy A! Yeah!!!! The twins were born on Saturday and are doing very well. Baby Boy was 6 lbs. 3 oz. (bigger then DD2, who was a full term single birth) and Baby Girl was 5 lbs 8 oz. Baby Boy has had a few issues that are somewhat typical (I think) of multiple births, but some have already ironed themselves out, so I’m sure it will all be happy chaos by the end of the week.

The only real new news is that I have been cropping like crazy these days and actually been approached to do someone’s baby book for them. I know! At first I was like, I don’t know, cause that feels like such a responsibility, but then I looked into what a commercial license entails, etc… and I feel more comfortable about it now. So I emailed her today to see if she’s still interested. We’ll see. I think I’m going to leave it at that so I can go crop some more AND because I still have this raging headache. I’ll leave you with one of my recent layouts to fill the usually lengthy (wordy) void.

Layout credits: All layout paper and elements are from the express yourself kit by Ronna Penner of Scrapadelic.com. Grunge mask from J. Sprague.

She's a smart one, that 4YO

Zoot was talking about how they deal with punishing their kids today and I had a lengthy comment on the topic.

I know, me, a lot to say? Who knew?

It reminded me of something funny from the other day.

Well, I think it's funny. My mom, maybe not so much.

I believe I’ve mentioned that DD2 is a bit loud at times. What I mean to say is that it isn’t uncommon for us (or complete strangers) to refer to her a baby pterodactyl on occasion. Seriously, this kid can screech! She’s especially fond of practicing this talent while in the car; she seems to feel that any ride longer then say out the driveway should be protested. LOUDLY.

I was going to insert appropriate example in video here, but it seems that upon transferring my media files to my portable drive I somehow transferred a jpeg of the first frame of the video, but not the actual video footage. WTF? So I will have to give you an example at some later date. Don’t worry, there are plenty of opportunities for examples of the Baby Pterodactyl. Just get in the car. Hmmm……Halloween costume idea…

So the other day G’ma & DD2 are picking up DD1 from pre-school and DD2 is screeching her head off. G’ma’s ears are bleeding and her head is about to explode so she yells at DD2 trying to get her attention enough to make her stop. To which DD1 replies, “But G’ma you’re yelling loudly too.”

heh, heh

The Last of MOO-hicans (I've got a million of them!)

It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it; it’s more like it just kinda makes me feel sad.

My baby is growing up.

I know, I am happy for her, but every day they both need me a little less and that can make a girl feel melancholy. (If you talk to me on Friday night after hanging with both of them ALL. DAY. LONG. I believe you will get a different kind of answer, but I digress…)

So week before last DD2 stopped breastfeeding.

Sigh.

When DD1 was done with breastfeeding (BF) it was my decision. She kept biting me, by 12 months she had 12 teeth and she wasn’t afraid to use them. (I am still a resource to a couple moms’ groups on how to heal nerve damage and cuts while still BFing the baby. There's a visual for you. You're welcome.) On her first birthday DD1 started getting sippy cups only (we ditched the bottle at the same time too). DD1 did not care. As long as she was getting the food she was happy. Actually, she was pretty happy no matter what, so there you go, a very easy going kid. Five days later I back into a full blown Fibro episode. Bah! So my b00bs no longer hurt, but everything else did.

This go around I decided I was going to continue with the BFing until DD2 weaned herself. Ok, if she was starting kindergarten I would’ve probably drawn the line. But I don’t know, being pain free is a pretty magical thing. You might be willing to BF your 8 year old too if it meant no pain. (God, I’m kidding. That would gross me out too.) My point is that I was going to let DD2 self-wean.

And she did.

She just did it a lot sooner then I thought she would.

DD2's a snuggly kid and she likes BFing. She was constantly feeling me up & asking for it. Much like a druggie needing a fix. I’m not a big fan of the “on demand” thing so she had a general schedule

(please don’t email me about what an awful mom I am because I don’t propagate the “on demand” philosophy, if it works for you great then do it. I know it wouldn’t work for me or my family. ‘nuf said.)

The last hold out feeding was the going to bed one.

It was nice. The last quiet moments of her day, rocking in the chair in her room in the dusk, watching her eyelids get heavy and her little baby hands reaching for my face to try and entice me into a game. I knew she wasn’t getting much milk anymore; if anyone else was around she would totally pop off to see what was happening (something she would never do if she were getting a lot of milk.) A couple weeks ago I went out to dinner with some mom’s from the neighborhood. I told DS to give her a bottle & she should be fine. When I got home he said she really didn’t drink it, she just played with it. So the next night I had him put her to bed again (I figured it was less likely to fly if I was around) this time without anything but a story and a kiss goodnight.

She cried and cried and cried. And then she cried some more.

Finally, it became apparent she was winding up, not down, so I went up to her room (about 30 minutes had passed). I picked her up and she stopped crying (go figure). She laid her head on my shoulder and calmed her hiccup-y cries and sniffles. (She does pathetic really well.) I sat down in the rocker & she pulled on my shirt. I told her, “No you’re a big girl now and we don’t do that anymore.” She laid her head on my shoulder and hugged me as she went to sleep. And my heart broke a little.

Sigh

I didn’t expect her to listen to me!

She’s asked for it at various times since then, (not like I would've thought) usually because she’s upset. A hug and a bink will usually suffice in those cases. If she's being a little more insistant I tell her she’s a big girl and we don't do that anymore. She just kind of shrugs her shoulders and moves on.

I’d say she’s taking it way better then I am.

So much fodder, so little blogging…

I have had lots of topics I should’ve been blogging about this weekend. None of which happened, of course.

Right this second my topic du jour is related to my health; specifically my fibromyalgia. In June, I started to notice that some of my symptoms were returning. As the baby was dropping feedings, I was starting to have some pain, sleeplessness, IBS, migraines…the list goes on. This happened with my last pregnancy/nursing, so I knew what was happening. I was coming out of remission.

It’s been close to two years since I’ve had to deal with my Fibro so I asked DS to get on some of his medical/drug boards (online) while I perused the public ones to see if there were any new studies/treatments that were being touted as the next big thing. As it turns out we found one. It’s not really new, but there’s a new aspect to it that we didn’t notice before. This study summary said something that caught my attention:

Many fibromyalgic patient, especially women, are carbohydrate intolerant ("hypoglycemic") and must restrict their intake of sugar and starches. These overlapping syndromes have distinguishing symptoms that must both be recognized and treated for successful therapy.

Hmmmm…in order to treat hypoglycemia all one has to do is go on a low-carb diet.

In late June I did just that. Since July I’ve lost about 10 lbs and at least 4 inches off my waist. (Maybe more, I haven’t weighed or measured myself in over a week and the skirt I have on today is looser then it’s been so…) The weight loss in itself is a big plus as far as I’m concerned, but the real benefit has been what I would tout as a HUGE reduction in symptoms.

1. IBS: Within two days of starting this diet my IBS was gone. GONE! Even when pregnant & nursing, my IBS never went totally away. That makes sense, my intestinal tract is happier when I changed my diet.

2. Muscle Spasms/Pain: For the first time in at least 5 years I am not sleeping with a neck brace on (I know I’m totally bringing back the sexy.) In the past if I didn’t wear a brace to support my neck muscles during sleep I would wake to find that my neck was in a complete spasm and it would take a couple of hours before I could move it. Meaning it would take a couple hours to get out of bed. Seriously.

3. Sleep: (always the worst part of it) Sleep has always been my biggest issue, while I can’t say every night has been super relaxing, I can say that even the nights I wake up tired I have had dreams that I remember, which means I’m hitting REM. Getting to REM has always been the problem for me, so that’s a huge deal.

There are other less intrusive symptoms some are hanging around here and there; some have not seemed to come back at all. I am on Paxil still for Post Partum Depression. (I see my doctor next week and I’m going to ask how long you’re considered Post Partum. Considering my “baby” is 17 months old on Thursday and walking and talking I’m not so sure I still qualify.) But the big deal is that I stopped nursing week before last (I’ll be writing about this soon, but right now I don’t want to turn into a blubbering mess) and all of this is still the case. Last time I quit nursing I had a full blown case of Fibro going within 5 days. ; could hardly get out of bed, pretty much not sleeping, suddenly couldn’t eat all kinds of foods (i.e. leafy greens & diary) without getting violently ill.

I do believe we may have stumbled on something here.

I still have carbs I’m just limiting them. I’m treating myself as if I’m pre-diabetic, if I have something (like my Starbucks) then I really, really try to watch my carbs for the rest of the day. If I skip that mocha my carb intake is usually between 20-40 a day, if not I’m usually around 60. Before doing this I had no idea how many carbs were in my diet, but now that I’m paying attention I can’t believe it. I would easily consume 100 carbs in one meal! (Consider the evil pasta.) I’ve really started to pay attention to not just my diet, but my kids diet too. They probably aren’t as happy about it as me, but I refuse to let them eat a kid-sized yogurt that has more carbs in it then I will eat all day (43). (Don’t worry, I found a kid themed one with only 13 grams of carbs in it. A number I can live with.) Maybe we can avoid some of these types of issues for them.

For me the diet hasn’t been hard because I can eat as much as I want as long as I keep my carbs limited. I munch on nuts all day; I eat eggs all the time, my favorite snack is really good string cheese and I can eat salami and mayo at lunch. We’re drinking whole milk and eating whole milk cheeses. Since the food tastes better (then “light” or “non-fat”) it’s more enjoyable. I guess it doesn’t make me feel like I’m missing out. Lately, I’m even allowing myself a “bite” of pasta, rice or bread if I really want it with dinner.

I’m keeping my figures crossed, but we may have a found a “treatment” that doesn’t involve pregnancy.

Pirate Speak... to help you blige rats out!

I can't take credit for these, "borrowed" them from a mate who posted them on Yahoo Answers.

Addled/ addlepate - foolish, foolish person
Ahoy! - hello
Avast! - Hey
Begad! - By God!
Belay! - Stop that! Shut up!
Bilge/ bilge rat - nonsense talking, insult
Deadlights - yer "eyes", matey!
Dog - insult (e.g., scurvy dog!)
Fair winds! - Good bye, good luck!
Gangway! - out of my way!
Grub - food!
Jack tar/ tar - A sailor.
Lad, lass(ie) - person younger than you
(Land)lubber - insult to someone who is NOT a pirate, arr! Someone who is not a sailor.
Me hearties! - Friends!
Pillage - to rob or raid.
Poxed - insult that someone looks deathly sick.
Rum - drink, or someone acting peculiar. "Ye be a rum fellow for not talking like a Pirate on Pirate's Day!"
Scupper that! - Expression of anger -- I don't know what it means exactly. :)
Scurvy - diseased, insult.
Sea dog - An experienced sea man.
Ship-shape - organized, under control.
Loaded to the Gunwales - drunk :)
Messdeck lawyer - A know-it-all.
Squiffy - buffoon.
Waister - an incompetent sailor.
Shiver me timbers! - Surprise or way to lure someone for sex. "Wanna shiver *me* timbers, mate?"
Sink me! - Surprise.
Swab - A disrespectful term for a seaman. (e.g., "Ye cowardly swabs!")
Walk the plank - fictional term actually from story books. You know what it means...
Wench - female. (e.g., "Ye be a saucy wench!") One who may be promiscuous.
Yo-ho-ho - meaningless, but fun to say!
Aye! - Yes, I agree with all you said and did just now!
Aye aye! - Right away, sir!, when my break is over...
Black Spot - To "place the Black Spot" on another pirate is to sentence him/her to death or warn him of such.
Booty - loot! Gold! Treasure!
Buckaneer, bucko - friend. "Ay, ye be a good bucko!"
Cap'n - Captain.
Doubloon - Spanish gold coin.
Feed the fish - to throw someone overboard dead or alive.
Grog - An alcoholic drink.
Gun - cannon.
Hands - crew of a ship, sailors.
Shark bait - a lazy/worthless sailor.
Splice the mainbrace - To have a drink, or several drinks.
Swag - loot.
Nipperkin - A small drink.

It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

`Tis International Talk Like a Shipmate Tide!! I`ll be aft wi' more later!

More here: http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

and translater (for all you blige rats!) here: http://www.syddware.com/cgi-bin/pirate.pl

Did you feel that?

So tell me did you feel the earth move yesterday? ‘round 9:30. Yeah, that was us.

We went to church.

Opps! Sorry about that, didn’t realize you were drinking something. I hate it when I shoot soda out of my nose too. Next time I’ll try to remember to tell you sit down or something before I hit you with news like that.

So yeah, we went to church yesterday. I don’t remember if I mentioned that I signed up DD#1 for the Sunday School (it’s a regular class, that costs money, not just a show up & we’ll put your kids in front of Veggie Tails kind of thing). We even signed up at our neighborhood church. I know big move there. But I figured it was time.

I’ve gone to the same church since before I’d met DS. It was my neighborhood church and I loved it. It had a young congregation and it was a very welcoming place to go. Plus it was in the middle of our downtown, so after we’d walk to get beers or coffees or something. And let’s face it, what’s a mass celebration w/out a beer chaser? As a result my old church ended up being where DS and I got married and where both girls were baptized. So, we have lots of history there, but we don’t live that close to it any more. When you’re big on sleeping in on weekends, not being that close to your church can have a major impact on your attendance. I’m just saying. We’d tried going to churches closer to us after we’d moved from that area, but never found a place we felt as comfortable at. Plus, you know, that sleep thing. When DD#2 was born I decided we ought to look into having her baptized at our Big Neighborhood Church (BNC) and become members there. (Remember we just moved during my pregnancy.) BNC is very large, very popular (big by my standards, it’s no crystal cathedral or anything) and has a very good reputation (associated school and classes etc…have waiting lists). When I called BNC about having the baptism I found that it was a 6 month process. Being an overwhelmed mom w/two small kids, I wasn’t exactly doing this at the time when she was just born, it was a little closer to when she was 6 months old, which was right around the time I wanted to have her baptized. So I called our old church (which was still our current church) and they were all friendly and happy to hear from me. “Oh no! We don’t have anything like that (6 month wait). In fact, since you took that class w/your first child you don’t have to do it again, just pick a date.! And you’re pretty and smell good too!” (Ok, I may have embellished the last bit a little.)

DD#2's baptism (a year ago) was really the last time we went to church. Durning the last year we’ve considered going, but quickly thought better of it. Having two small kids means that one of us sits w/one kid and feeds child toys and snacks, while the other takes the other kid outside because of boredom screaming. So it’s more of a child management scenario and honestly no one is really getting anything out of the service. Plus that sleep thing again.

So I called to see about signing DD#1 up for Sunday School and talked to a super friendly, super nice admin who told me she’d put us on the waiting list and send us the information. She wasn’t sure where we’d be on the waiting list, but they do usually get some cancellations around the time school starts. Funny thing, the very NEXT day she called back to say they’d had a cancellation and if we were still interested they’d put us in it. I’m pretty sure we jumped up on the list, not that we were the list. I think Miss Nicey Nice thought I was nice too and decided to move us to the top. So never underestimate the power of the gatekeeper.

The Sunday School classes start the first weekend of October, but since we hadn’t really gone to this church I figured we should go for a couple of weeks to get the lowdown on the whole deal. Of course, DS made faces the night before when we discussed it, and I have to agree that wasn’t really looking forward to setting the alarm on a Sunday, and in the end I didn’t. As it worked out we were all up by 7:30, so we really didn’t have an excuse. Turns out we like sleep, our kids, not so much.

Let me just say the girls were absolutely perfect! If I had told them they needed to behave they wouldn’t have, but since it was something new (and I plied them w/quiet toys and snacks) they were super good. It wasn't the most attention I've ever paid in church, but no one had to leave the building in the middle of the service, that's a win in my chart. I’m sure it was because it was new and next week DD#2 will be screeching her head off cause it sounds so cool in a big hall like that.

This was the conversation on the way to the church:

DD#1: Are we going to a party.

MS: No, we're going to church.

DD#1: Are they having a party at church?

MS: Um, no, why?

DD#1: Then why are we all dressed up?

Note to self: Take the kids to church a little more often so these conversations don't have to take place in front of the G'parents.

The Reason I Blog (aka--my 2nd child's baby book)

Guess who said "I love you" to me this morning?

Ok, ok I kissed her good-bye and said, "I love you" and she waved, made a kissing noise and said, "I wuv" (couldn't quite get the you in there,) but close enough to make my heart melt.

You know you've hit bottom when the topic is Dino Porn...

We had such a fun weekend, but man am I exhausted. It’s always so good to go see the M’s. Every time we visit I remember how much fun it was when they lived next door and I’m always so sad when we have to separate. (So you hear that J?! Move the hell back up here!!! We could be having SO. MUCH. FUN. if you were living next door to us RIGHT NOW!) BAH!

Anyway here’s our Saturday……

Us girls lazed by the pool. Spent so much time out there that I finally felt fried & made the girls come in for a while. (Got great tans though.) The boy’s went to watch R’s first football game(American style, of course). He totally rocked!; recovered a fumble and scored even! I think it was good that DS ended up going so he could explain the finer points of the game to M. When they came back DD#1 & DD#2 went back in the pool w/the boys & I got some rocking pix of them.

We also played on the computer A LOT; had THREE laptops going at any given time, sharing funnies, photos, movies, etc… on line with each other. In the process we enlightened them to the ways of Pastafarians and reminded them that TLAPD (Talk Like a Pirate Day) is coming up very soon. They loved it and I think we’re all getting FSM emblems for our cars. (We believe we are among chosen; my high school mascot was a Pirate, if that’s not a sign I don’t know what is.) Being Welsh they are appropriately torn between FSM and Fish n’Chips.

Later that afternoon we went to church together (youth mass) and at the end during general announcements:

Woman at Podium: “A woman’s guild is finally forming; 15 years in the making. We’ve sent invites to all 3000+ women in the church and you’re welcome to sign up outside tonight after mass or at our first event September 19.”

Me: OHMYGAWD!!! That’s TLAPD! Do you think it’s a coincidence? I don’t think so! I fully expect you to go and send me pix of you and your brethren of wenches dressed in your do-rags and eye patches!”

That was it. J COMPLETELY lost it. Then I lost it.

Like two school girls in the back of the classroom passing notes, trying to make the other laugh. We’re both totally cracking up and trying not to LOL cause that would be kinda rude in church, don’t you think? We totally had tears streaming down our faces, bodies shaking, the full deal. I’m sure the people behind us must’ve thought we were crazy. They wouldn’t be far from wrong.

The rest of the night included many jokes in Pirate Speak and we all just laughed and laughed. We hit our low point when the topic evolved into Dino Porn (don’t ask, you’d just think we’re lame, and I guess we are, but by then we were all in hysterics). My stomach hurt from laughing so much. Best work out I’ve had in a long, long time.

So I’ll tell you about Sunday tomorrow.

Going Back to Cali…

Yeah, yeah, I know we’re already in Cali. But we’re going to SoCal which, let’s face it, is really what people think of when you think of California. So we’re leaving in like 15 minutes to head down to see DD#1’s GodMum (She’s Welsh you know--makes her a Godmum, not a Godmom) and family. It might even be a religious experience seeing as she already told me she’s got a bottle of Mudslides chilling for us. WooHoo! (Qoooh we could made some of those too! Woohoos; quite popular when I was in college.)

Anyway DD#1 came in the other day and asked me:

DD#1: Mama, how come this wand doesn’t do any magic?

MS: Maybe it’s broken.

DD#1: I think you need to be a fairy godmudder to make it work.

MS: You might be right. That’s probably the trick to making it work.
DD#1: I’m going to take it wid us so Auntie J can fix it and do magic for me.

MS: That’s a great idea DD#1!

I called Auntie J yesterday & let her know her magic was expected to procured this weekend. Auntie J is totally stressed out. Hee, hee! She doesn’t want to let her down. Lucky for her we’re leaving strait from picking DD#1 from school & I’m “forgetting” the wand.

Happy Weekend!

Forecast: Gloomy & HOT

Bah! The weather here is matching my mood & that’s not good. It looks cloudy here, almost like a medium foggy (not down the ground fog so much, more like marine layer, but hanging lower). Anyway, it’s not fog or clouds even. It’s smoke. There’s a couple of fires that aren’t too far away and we’re in a weather pattern that is causing the smoke to just sit over us. Luckily, (so far) no one has lost a home or gotten injured (or worse), but we’re really not that close to either of the fires and our day is totally affected by them. Needless, I won’t be walking outside today. whine, whine, whine

Work is sucking still, BIG TIME.

I had a job once (in a previous life) that was very political and very negative. Everyone there was out to screw someone else to help themselves look good and get ahead. When something good happened, the managers’ took credit without acknowledging others’ efforts and when something went poorly…we’ll lets just say the manager’s and everyone who could would take a large step backward. Being in the thick of it, I took it all very personally. I had never worked in an environment like that before and I couldn’t understand why these people would treat each other (especially me, who hadn't done anything, but be a large target) so poorly. It became a practice in CYA, "Cover Your Ass": meaning I would document and print any and all communication I had with anyone on any topic so they couldn’t deny their involvement. Finally I started to make myself physically ill over it; with the support of DS I quit. After I was out of the environment for a while I was able to be more objective about it and realize it wasn’t about “me”. Have you ever heard the term “shite rolls downhill”? That was the problem. The CEO ruled through fear and intimidation and so everyone fell in line. It was awful.

Where I at right now is being very much like that.

Yeah, it sucks that much.

I’ve been spending my morning looking at “work at home sites”, which really improved my mood.

Hopefully a good sea breeze will pick up this afternoon and clear the smoke along w/my mood.

Hopefully.

Milestones

No, my baby does not start kindergarten this year. She’s starting Pre-K at a new school. I ended up switching her schools because this one feeds into our elementary and all the kids in the neighborhood go there. Since it’s a good school I was waitlisted and after many phone calls this summer I lucked into the director answering the phone last month. I dropped some neighborhood names and schmoozed my bum off; two days later we had apparently been bumped to the top of the list (name dropping did the trick, not smoozing). Even here in Silicon Valley, it’s all about who you know.

Tomorrow is her first day. I’m pretty sure she’s nervous. She acts really excited, but at lunch we had a MAJOR meltdown today over nothing, LITERALY. When I asked her why she was so upset she finally said cause she was so tired. I gave her the option to skip swimming, which she took so we took it easy and laid low the rest of the day. (Sort of, I got antsy and ended up cleaning out all the toys and rearranging all the furniture in the play room; good thing I was taking it easy, or maybe I would've rewired the house or something.)

This is totally one of those times I so wish I could do it for her. Or, at least, some how find the words to help her really understand that this is so not a big deal and she’ll do great. But even if I said that to her she wouldn’t believe me. All I can do is give her lots of hugs and attention and hope that kind of reassurance will somehow suffice. sigh

On a sort of similar note, she got moved up in gymnastics today! My mom had come to watch so that made it a bit extra cool. She doesn’t really understand what “moving up” means, but my mom and I did our best to make a big deal out of it, so she understands that it’s good and that it has something to do with being older. I was able to keep her same teacher so I’m not changing everything on her this month.

I’ll let you know how tomorrow goes. Hopefully she and I will be able to sleep tonight.

TGIF

Work has been sucking more then usual. I make an effort not to talk about it, you know the whole dooce thing and all, but man it’s driving me KRAAAAZEEEE.

I guess that’s all I can/should really say about it right now. Other then that I met w/the new financial advisor this week, and even prior to meeting w/him, sat down w/DS to discuss short and long term goals financially. Having that conversation made me realize it’s not realistic for me to quit right now. But man would I LOVE to!!! I have dreams about telling my current boss to shove it up her ARCE! I can not wait for the day when I can fill you in on all the total Dilbert like details of it. CAN. NOT. WAIT.

In the meantime, getting together additional info for financial advisor, need to sell two cars so we can buy a newer one (not necessarily new. Anyone want to buy a used Del Sol or Impreza?) Get the dishwasher fixed, get the window screens on the back side of the house fixed, blah, blah, blah…my life is boring and HOT! But then I hear pretty much everyone’s life it hot right now, so on the upside; at least we aren’t in Kansas!

Today is DD#1’s last day at her old school. Got the teachers gift cards from Starbucks and Jamba Juice, I know, not very personal or original, but I bet they like those better some of the “personal” gifts they’ll get. Also brought bagel’s from Noah’s for all the staff (and I’m sure the kids) and finger jello for the kids (cause it’s too damn hot for cupcakes!) That’s about it.

I’m in an office pool of 20 for the lottery tonight. Please, please let us win!!! Wouldn’t that be wonderful! That right there would pretty much solve the majority of my issues. Seriously. That’s how pathetic I am. But damn wouldn’t it be nice.

Have a good LONG weekend!

Likes to eat sand....

told you my kids eat EVERYTHING















and then this one because lately I feel like kid #1 has been getting the shaft when it comes to photos and such.

Do you do that? Do you feel like you favor one kid over the other? I mean I don't do it on purpose, but sometime I feel guilty because I think one's getting more positive attention then the other. I know, one more thing for mom guilt. The honest truth is that sometimes my kids are not the funnest people to be around. I know *shocking* that I would write something so negative about my perfect, adorable, brillant childrent. But consider who their mother is? I mean really they've got that working against them to start. Then there's the whole almost being two and 4 going on 14 thing. (yes, we've been getting the hand on the hip accompanied by the eye roll--OMG, this was not supposed to start this early!) So usually they are annoying at different times, which is good I suppose or I might completely lose my mind. But it does still make me feel guilty when kid #1 is going to the "question athority/test boundries" phase (again) and kid #2 is being super cute/giving kisses and hugs,not to mention that her tantrums are actually kinda funny still.

And So It Begins…..

Driving to the beach this weekend:

Mommy she’s looking at me! I don’t want her looking at me!

OMG!
Slit my wrists now!