Must Be Doing Something Right

Me & the Beebs just got back from a parent-teacher conference. Bad mommy that I am, I managed to miss the one in the fall. (Bad mommy! Bad mommy!) I wasn't going to miss this one, so even though I had totally forgotten about it until I was reminded by the school marquee, I hauled the boy-child back to school (after a snack at Sonic), hoping to find an open time slot. Turns out PT conferences are more of a come-and-go sort of thing, so I walked right in.

As the parent of an only child who spent very little time in daycare and none in preschool, I had my worries at the start of the school year. I really didn't know what to expect, and I imagined all sorts of scenarios, from him being the class clown to the class reject to the troublemaker to the quiet one... well, you get the idea.

Turns out I was worried about nothing. He got a glowing review from his teacher. The whole class has moved on to first-grade math, but it's addition and subtraction, and he was doing that on his own at the beginning of the school year. They split into reading groups, and she put him with some kids that don't read as well - not because he's not reading well, but so that he can help the others learn. He reads the story to his partner, then his partner reads it back, and Bebo has to correct him if necessary. His handwriting has improved drastically since the start of the year, and academically, he's just doing a great job.

She also told me that he practically never complains, is always well-behaved, and plays very well with the other kids. I was highly amused to hear that he's also the funniest kid in the class - she writes down the cute things the kids say, and apparently he keeps her busy. :)

So yeah, I'm tickled to death. Sometimes I wonder that God saw fit to bless me with such a precious little boy.

I Have a Boo-Boo

I picked a fight with a chair and lost. Now my left leg from knee to ankle is blue, and my left side, while not as visibly bruised, hurts just as much. I hardly ever get visible bruises, so if there's something you can actually see, you know it was bad. :(

In case you're wondering how I managed this, it's actually quite simple. Jeff brought me these really cool (and large) bamboo windchimes from Florida. Since it was supposed to storm Saturday, I decided to take them down. Dummy me tried to stand on a wet patio chair in my Crocs to get the chimes down. 'Nuff said.

Braeden's birthday went pretty well - we had one miniature crisis, but avoided complete meltdown. I'll tell more and post pictures as soon as I can, but first I have a microbiology test to deal with. Lots and lots of meds I have to memorize. Ick.

Ciao!

Good News!

Remember Rosco from Dukes of Hazzard? Of course you do. I loved the way he talked, especially when he was excited about the latest scheme Boss Hogg was cooking up. So imagine Rosco hollering "Good news! Good news!"

Got it?

Okay. My turn.

Good news! Good news!!!

Jeff got a phone call today - and will soon be employed as a nurse tech in the cardiac ICU unit! Woot! Not only is it an awesome opportunity, cardiac is very much what he's interested in right now. I'm soooo excited!

Now if that silly acceptance letter will just get here...

Feeling Better

... and maybe not so invisible.

Thanks to those of you who commented yesterday - I guess the insanity of the last few months is getting to me. I'm too isolated and sometimes the loneliness is overwhelming.

Maybe, just maybe, my mailbox will soon harbor an acceptance letter for the nursing program. The social contact will do me good.

And in other news...

Jeff had an interview at Memorial yesterday. He really felt good about it, and is so excited at the prospect of working in ICU or Cardiac. (I'm really excited about the extra income!) He's expecting to hear back from them soon.

Braeden's birthday is Friday - wah!!! I scored a great deal on a Leapster 2 last night - Wal-Mart had them marked down $10 plus I had a $10 coupon - and I think it will be better for Bebo than his current video game obsession. I'm still threatening to kill Jeff for getting him started in the first place!

Anyhoo, I'm going to make cupcakes for his class. He's been inviting everyone to his birthday (he leaves out the word party, making me laugh everytime). But we just couldn't afford a party this year, so I'm taking the party to school. Saturday we're going to take him to ride the Incline Railway, and if it's warm enough, we might go down to Coolidge Park and splash in the water a bit.

Of course, somewhere amidst all that, I have to study for two tests and complete two massive study guides. :)

And life just goes on....

Invisible

I'm having one of those days... the kind where I feel lonely and isolated. I have so much to be thankful for, and I am - but today (like many, many others) I just feel invisible. Irrelevant. Unnecessary.

I hate invisible.

Making Progress (Part 2)

I am trying to catch up on Braeden's kindergarten book. I've missed the little guy this week. It's his spring break, so we had planned for him to spend the night at Grannie & Peepop's, but then I got sick. Thankfully, they were able to keep him from Sunday until Wednesday - keeping him away from my germs and giving me a chance to recover. He came home last night and first thing gave me this huge bear hug. :)

Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky - for some reason, he came home with a box of Lucky Charms (don't ask). Anyway, I decided I wanted some for a snack, but couldn't figure out what he did with them. "Oh, I'll show you, Mommy!" he said, and proudly took me to the pantry. The little turkey - without asking - had put the box exactly where it belonged!

I love this kid! :)

Recovery

Ugh... I am recovering from one of the worst stomach bugs I've ever had. I won't go into the gory details, but it's been a long, long time since I was that sick. I didn't even work yesterday - and I work from home!

Today I am finally starting to feel a bit more normal, although certainly not 100%. Now I have to crack down on the books. It's very difficult to study for a microbiology test over how viruses make you sick when you're puking your guts out, ya know? (insert wry smile here)

Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggety Dog

I have a weird kid. Shocking, I know, considering his parentage. :) He doesn't eat meat, except for the occasional chicken nugget. I could never get him to eat hot dogs, hamburgers, and most pizza (unless we take off all the "good stuff" - aka, toppings). When he puts meat in his mouth, he instantly starts to gag. Gross.

For reasons that I don't quite understand (though I suspect his Handy Manny lunchbox may be embarrassing him), he has lately wanted to eat in the cafeteria at school almost every day. There were several days that I knew hamburgers, hot dogs, chili, fish, etc. were on the menu, and I couldn't quite believe him when he insisted that he ate all his lunch. He would always tell me that he only liked those things at school, not at home.

Yeah, right.

So I put him to the test. We had hot dogs for supper one night, and I informed him that he wasn't eating anything else until at least half the hot dog was gone. It took a bit of coaxing, but he actually ate the thing, and without gagging! I was so shocked I had to take a picture. Jeff laughed at me, but I couldn't have cared less. Now that I know he will eat meat, he is just going to have to deal with occasionally having it on his plate!

(So much for the vegetarian spell, huh?)

The Cat Won

Yes, the cat won. Jeff insisted that the cat would be an outdoor pet. I'd been begging for a cat for months, and was repeatedly denied. Then this skinny little furball gets stuck under the house, and everything goes downhill (at least for my staunchly-opposed-to-cats husband).

We moved into the new house, and after a series of traumatic events that involved multiple trips to the vet's office, Sizzle finally moved to the house with us - but Jeff still wouldn't let him inside.

Then it got cold. Really cold.

And that's when Braeden started laying it on thick.

"Daddy, it's too cold outside for Sizzle. He might freeze!" "Daddy, is the kitty dead?" "Daddy, can Sizzle sleep with me tonight?"

Naturally, Jeff could not withstand the wiles of his five-year-old, so he relented and rigged up a temporary litterbox. After all, the temperatures were dropping well below zero. Of course, he maintained his stance, saying "the cat is going to be an outside cat with indoor privileges."

So the cat spent a few nights inside. No accidents, no destroyed furniture. A few nights turned into a few days, and yesterday Jeff formally announced his defeat.

Sizzle is now an inside cat with occasional outdoor privileges. :)

Pot, Meet Kettle

I'm not sure I've ever heard anything so absurd as this:

"Obama to States: Spend stimulus wisely or else"

Somebody please tell me he was kidding. The man just signed two enormous stimulus bills (the numbers are so big that the "professionals" say we average Americans cannot even comprehend the amount), including spending as follows:

$1.7 million for pig odor research
$2.1 million for grape genetics
$650,000 for beaver management
$1.7 million for honeybee insurance
$2 million to promote astronomy in Hawaii

And the list goes on... now will somebody please tell me how somebody who could throw money at pigs (literally and figuratively) has any right to tell the states to "spend their money wisely?"

Just when I think I've heard it all....

The House

Obviously, we aren't finished yet. There is nothing on the walls, save a calendar in my office. Boxes are still laying around, waiting to be unpacked. Even so, it's quite livable and has reached the not-finished-but-comfortably-livable stage. Since I was getting fussed at for not posting pictures, here are a few.

You've seen the front yard; here is the back. All of the furniture belongs to the owner, so we'll have to get our own stuff eventually. Doesn't it look delightfully pleasant?


My wonderful kitchen. Please ignore the mess - I was in the middle of cooking supper when I took a break to take pictures.


Braeden's room - and I'm not going to apologize for the mess. :) The fact that you can even see the floor is impressive.


The next three are all of my office - by far, the room needing the most work. I had a bit of a furniture crisis - it didn't quite fit like I'd expected it to, so I had to completely rethink my storage options for my scrapbook stuff.




Braeden's bathroom - isn't that a cute shower curtain? I love that there are two functional bathrooms! LOL


The living room looking into the dining area:


The dining room looking into the living area:



I'll post pictures of our bedroom and bathroom later - they were in use at the time. :)

Creativity

It sometimes amazes me what Braeden can come up with on a rainy day! Case in point:

DaVinci

I'm not a product-pusher, I swear. But when you find something you love, it's only fair that you tell others, right? Right.... :)

Anyway - during one of my Weight Watchers stints, I heard about DaVinci syrups. Someone mentioned that they used them in coffee. Wal-Mart actually carries a few flavors (hazelnut, kahlua, vanilla, caramel, and sometimes Irish cream), so I tried it - and fell in love. Hazelnut was my standby, until I decided to try a new flavor...or two or three or four or five.

The DaVinci website has tons and tons of flavors - in sugar-free, original, and all-natural varieties. The bottles are large (750 mL) and will last quite a while (at least they will if you don't use them a thousand times a day like we do!). The berry flavors are delicious in tea. Several of the others are wonderful in coffee - but don't stop there. They can mixed with alcoholic drinks (gasp - did I say that?!), desserts, etc. In fact, there are quite a few recipes on the website.

So I decided to place an order. Right now I'm drinking blackberry tea - absolutely divine! The glass bottles are nice and heavy, and I think when they're empty I'll use them to make "custom" flavored oils.

Shipping is a flat rate per box, but I would suggest you order in box quantities of 6 - you can mix flavors. I placed the order and received it in less than a week - the bottles are very well-packaged and I am quite pleased with both the price and the service.

Okay, enough of the infomercial. Since I am a goober and couldn't decide which pic I liked better, I just decided to post both. See ya!

Sewage, Explained

"Hey, Mommy! Do you know what happens when you flush?"

"Tell me..." (thinking this could be interesting)

"Well, the poop goes in the toilet, and when you flush, it goes down the toilet. Do you know where it goes next?"

"Nope."

"The poop goes into the ocean. It does!"

"Uh-huh... and how do you know that?"

"Oh, I just made it up."

Wow. I am sure am glad I have him to clear that up for me!

A Whole Lotta Not Much

Yeah, I know... the title doesn't make any sense. Neither do I. I'm mentally and physically exhausted. There's another test to take this weekend, and then I get a semi-break. I say "semi" because I still have to get ready for a Micro test in a week and a half.

I got behind from the very beginning and I'm not sure I'm going to catch up. The good news is that I only have to pass these two classes - my acceptance into the nursing program doesn't hinge on having a spectacular grade, and at this point, I am trying to look at that as a very good thing. ;\

Just Stuff

Sorry - I can't get enough of this silly cat these days! He really knows how to push the right buttons. After all, how many kitties will curl up with five-year-old boys?


Like our new-to-us truck? It's a 2001, but in practically pristine condition. I love love love the truck - too bad I still can't drive a stick shift! LOL We convinced Jeff's dad to sell it to us (finally), and it really came in handy with the move.



I will admit to being incredibly tired. I have an A&P midterm and a Microbiology lab test in the next two days. Ugh. My brain is just not wanting to absorb the material, and I'm almost at the point that I just don't care. I only have to pass these classes, not make straight A's. I know good and well that a B will tick me off, but I might just have to deal with it - there's an awful lot on my plate and only so many hours in the day, ya know?