Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Bad Dream!

Miss K had a bad dream last night. She woke up crying sometime in the four o'clock hour.... I went down to check on her. Know what her bad dream was? She lost a pair of black ballet shoes. She is such a shoe-girl!

(Read about another bad dream of K's here.)

Brain hurts...

My brain hurts. I don't think it's because my friend made me a zombie on facebook...

I think it's because of the work that I'm having to do. I'm being asked to become quant-girl ... super analyzer of data again. By 2 projects... At the same time... It will be good for me, but it's going to hurt a little as I re-remember all this stuff that I haven't done for 2 years. TWO. YEARS!

The last time I did this stuff, T wasn't even born. Is that crazy or what??????

Monday, July 30, 2007

Food fun

Miss T (almost 2!!!) likes to eat guacamole with a fork instead of chips.

She decided to eat salsa with a spoon tonight.

K (3) decided to try the salsa with a spoon thing. T likes spicy food. K does not. K's face turned very red. Poor girl!

Documenting

Boring documentation post...

I haven't mentioned it, but I had some weirdness at work last week. Basically it came about because another person and I were each talking to a third person, and not talking to each other.

I had discussed a problem with the third person, given a lot of context, and then 3rd person came up with a plan. I liked the plan. However, the third person didn't do a good job communicating the whole story when talking with the other person. The third person summarized things into "bottom line" and left out all the context.

Without the context, what the 3rd person said to the other person made me look very bad. The 3rd person didn't do it on purpose and I sure thought that everything was fine. I am sure the third person didn't even realize what the implications were. The other person is really busy and kind of freaked when the third person said the bottom line.

I didn't realize it, but the third person also hadn't checked with the other person about the solution. The other person should have been consulted. I didn't realize that the other person wasn't aware of the solution so I was a little shocked by other person's initial reaction. Other person thought I had dropped the ball. I didn't want the ball, but I also didn't want to drop it.

The other person and I had a chance to talk today and while it's not perfect--it never is between us--it's much much much better. I have the ball again and we'll work to pass the ball to someone else, but do it a little more slowly than how 3rd person had suggested.

Last week I was pretty much ready to quit my job. Today, I'm okay.

Remember, communication is a necessary and good thing.


How much do you hate it when I do these very vague things?

My shoulder...

For the past 4 Mondays, this one included, I've woken up and had a really sore left shoulder. I don't know why exactly. I do more lifting of little girls over the weekends because I'm with them all weekend. But it seems like it would take more than just lifting, but maybe not. It's really sore and goes up into my neck. It hurts sometimes in this same location and way after we do this one type of weight exercise in class. (I should go look up and see what muscle I think it is, but I'll do that later.) I just take it really easy when we do that one and then it doesn't hurt.


We're not going to speak of it just yet, but my lower back seems to be a teeny bit less sore. I'm trying to do more abdominal work and core strengthening exercises. As much as I like the person who is my chiropractor, I'm probably not going to go see her any more. I am never sure whether chiropractic helps*. I don't really have the time to go (haven't really gone since January), so it's not that hard of a decision.

At some point, I need to test whether my back is getting better or not by going to my dance class. I want to give myself a little more time to heal. (And, the time of my class sucks.) It's at 7:45 pm on a Monday night and I don't get home from it until 9:20 ish.


*If my back starts to spasm, I reserve the right to change my mind.

A moment of quiet...

They are rare around here.

Last night, after a long, fun day, the little girls asked for ice cream. After their bath, I dished up three bowls and sprinkled a few m&ms on top. When I handed them the ice cream, the girls all became completely silent. It was very nice.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Quote of the day

Scene: The fountains (as we do every Saturday it seems)

Me: Sitting and holding the iphone.

N: Are you taking pictures of us?

Me: No.

N: You could.

.....

N: Why aren't you?

Bean counter...

Actually pea counter would be more accurate...

Last night, Miss K, of she who won't eat peas fame, ate ~10 peas. She asked for them. I almost fell over. Tonight she asked for 4 peas. She ate them again. Then she asked for a vitamin and ate it.

And she wore pants several times this week. The girl hasn't worn pants since last spring (2006). Wowza. Talk about significant changes!

It is love...

I do love the iPhone. I have liked the way everything works, how beautiful it is, and how well the phone works. The only leeeetle complaint I have is that it appears you can only have one signature file for your email. Since I have 3 accounts on the iPhone, I want at least 3 signatures. I'm sure they can fix this with a slight software upgrade. It's not bothering me that much though. I'm still using the iPhone every chance I get!

MWH took it with him this afternoon... I miss them!

I have a crackberry for sale.... Any one interested?

From the back seat....

Miss T (23 months) is a back seat driver. If I stop quickly, she'll say, "Whoa!"

Miss N (5.5) said to me yesterday, "I'm going to watch the numbers while you drive. I want to make sure you don't go too fast."

Miss K (3) looked out the window as I was driving her to ballet this morning and said, "I don't think you're going the right way Mommy."

Thursday, July 26, 2007

iPhone

This post was created on our new iPhone.

I'm still learning how to use it, but I think it's swell so far. Thank you MWH!

The crackberry just doesn't compare. The iPhone is so cool.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Dangerous.


Today I worked from home... Around 3 or so I was dragging a little.... I was almost ready to go get another cup of coffee when I remembered I had this in the freezer. I ate half. It was yummy. Apparently it does have real coffee in it. It was listed as one of the ingredients, but I didn't know if it would give me enough caffeine. It's almost 11 pm now and I feel as if I had almost enough coffee today.

I think knowing that I can substitute ice cream for a cup of coffee in the afternoon is a little dangerous.

Best stalling tactic....

And the winner is K!

Tonight, K (3) was "telling Daddy about my day," as she does every night and she was stalling. All the girls stalled tonight in a BIG way. I can't blame them entirely as I wasn't doing too good of a job motivating bedtime. MWH was driving and I was co-pilot... Anyway, back to the point...

After a looooong evening of stallling, K was going into great detail about the things she had done... She was ending with and then I put on my Jammies and then I..... MWH finished for her and said, "And then you kissed Daddy good night and he went to bed." She said, without missing a beat, "No Daddy, and then I telldid (told) Daddy my day."

I was busting up laughing. She did have a point.

I haven't done this in a while.... (edited)

Maybe I just need a list to guide me.... Maybe that will help. It helps that I have 6! Hours! Straight! to work today! (I haven't had that much time uninterupted in YEARS!) (2 hours in so far.)

1. Seminar (work on it for a few hours a day, but don't let it overtake my life!) (C project)
2. Podcast (start editing) (C project)
3. Finish I-Scan for work (almost waiting to hear from S_____!!)
Email S_____
Write-up M stuff
Write-up N stuff
Incorporate S_____'s info.
4. Look at the groups data. (T project)
5. Get ready for the R project tomorrow and be prepared to say NO
6. Email the B-guy about stats for CN project.
7. Get appointments figured out for 8/21.
8. Fill out forms from [local state] university and send back.
9. Arrange time to meet with [local state] university instructor.
10. Read more from book for class at [local state] university.
11. Look at evaluation spreadsheet C project.
12. Set up time to talk with C-S_____ C project.

It's feeling good to go through things and cross them off! Right now, I feel under control. I NEEDED today. I needed to work at home uninterupted by anything (no preschool pick-ups or anything!). We'll see if I can maintain calm when I go back to work tomorrow.

My list keeps growing... and for any bloglines / google-reader readers, I'm sorry I'm updating and editing and editing.... it's good for me to have it all down in one place. Note that I have all 5 projects I am currently working on up there.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Too much

Too much going on this week with the seminar. I. Am. Tired. I had funny and good things to tell you about the weekend, but I can barely keep my eyes open. I do want to record (before I forget) that we took the girls out for Pizza on Saturday night. It was fun. Mmmm Pizza. (We went to a place MWH and I used to go all the time pre-kids... very fun!)

Sunday, July 22, 2007

It's very quiet in the blogosphere....

I think EVERYONE is reading Harry Potter...

I'm not. I want to be, but I need to get a little more work done first. I also want to re-read at least book 6 before I pick up the new one. Again, I need to get a little more work done first.

If you've read Harry Potter #7, please don't talk about it on your blog. Say, "I loved it." "Better than I ever expected." and then be quiet! No spoilers please!

Candle... two ends...

I do a lot. Way more than I probably should, but usually I'm having fun so I keep going. Right now, I'm overloaded. My game plan is to work this week and M and T of the next (through July) and then try to take off the next 2 weeks. I need to get my course for the fall planned. I have planned some things, but I need to have a roadmap for the entire semester. I think if I can actually plan I'll feel a lot better.

The new mantra is, "just 9 more days." I also need to practice telling people, "I'm not available until the end of August."

Friday, July 20, 2007

Oh the things that they say...

And the things that they do...

Tonight, right before bed, K (3) went to the bathroom as she always does. As MWH and I were waiting for her to come back to bed so we could finish up the nightly ritual, we heard her cry out from the bathroom, in a voice very similar to the one that says, "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!" She cried out and said, "I swallowed toliet paper!"

After MWH and I laughed pretty hard, he went to investigate. She was holding the roll of toliet paper and walking out of the bathroom with her pants around her ankles. Somehow she had gotten some in, on or around her mouth, and some stuck to her lips. MWH had her rinse her mouth out. I doubt she ate / swallowed much...

Is it awful of us to laugh?

Lessons from today

When someone you care about is stressed, it is worse if you don't know why than if you do know why. I am a "solutions" kind of person.* I can't just worry.... IT EATS ME UP. I need to know what the problem is and then figure out how/if we can fix it.

When you are feeling inadequate when comparing yourself to someone else, find out why they are so successful and chances are they will reveal to you the fact that they don't feel successful.

In all cases, don't make assumptions or let things go unsaid. Good communication makes everything so much better.


*None of these items are about my "personal" life... The first is about someone who is dear. The second was me comparing myself to a colleague, and the third is just general good advice.

You pick the title

It could be...

And that my dear friends is how I ended up with a coffee stain on my underwere

Or

Other than that Mrs JK how was your morning

Or

Little things just take a little time, but sometimes there are JUST TOO MANY LITTLE THINGS

Or

Really, there is no reason to complain... Stop your whining.

Or

ARRRRRGGGHHHH!

Or

I wish I were higher maintenance.


Yea, it's a cryptic post. Yes, a lot is going on. The thing that bugs me is that it's a problem that isn't even mine. It's the trickle down stress from someone else that is pretty much causing all my stress. I pick up on other people's stress and problems. I internalize them. I worry. I worry much more about other people than myself. It can really be a problem.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

only 1 month....

Until my last baby is 2. How did that happen? I need to do a T post soon. Where did my baby go??????

Big bowl of pasta

MWH* made two plates of spaghetti the other night. One was small and one was large. He handed me the large one. When I said that I didn't want that much pasta he looked surprised and said, "But you usually eat more than me."

Okay, I am embarrassed, but I have to admit, I often consume more food than my husband. It's true.

In my defense, I'm still a nursing Mom. Despite being the hearty eater in our house, I've lost between 6 and 9** pounds in the last year. So what if I'm eating more than he eats. I am still LOSING weight. I don't diet so it is slow going, but I can't complain because it is going.

I am excited about my weight because now, I am changing my focus... Exercise is no longer just about jumping up and down or fighting vampires, it's about toning. I currently workout (REALLY HARD) 2 times a week. I am very active the rest of the time (chasing little girls, going to the park, doing cartwheels, etc.) but I really want to start getting in 3 official workouts a week and doing more strength training/weights.



*Are you shocked that I'm still calling him MWH after he said that?

**Depending on the exact day you start counting... At the end of last July I recorded 1X5.5 as the official weight. I know I bounced up to 1X7 at least one time before I lost any weight, but I was generally 1X5.5 until K started to wean (and I lost some more then). My weight jumps up and down quite a bit. We'll record the "official" weight for July '07 as 1(x-1)9.

Association....

It's 3:30 pm... I haven't eaten breakfast... or lunch... I've been meaning to for the last 2 hours, but I keep seeing one more thing to do.

I just got an email about an old project (KF) I used to work on... I replied to it and then went to make my lunch.

For lunch, I chose an Amy's Broccoli Pot Pie. As I popped it into the microwave, I realized I used to ALWAYS eat pot pies when I worked on the KF project. HOW BIZARRE. I have a strong association between KF and Pot Pies. Heh.

Ding. Microwave's done. Lunch time!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Inexplicable

Right after our trip/vacation, T (22 months) decided she DID NOT WANT TO TAKE A BATH. There was much screaming. She'd take a shower with me, but NO BATH. This was odd because she's always been a bath girl. Before this little episode she'd play for HOURS in the tub. It was also odd because even while she was on her bath strike, she loved to go swimming and even go under water in the pool.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that tonight, after 3 weeks, and as inexplicably as the NO BATH stage started, it ended. Tonight, T wanted to take a bath. She wanted to play and play and play.

One other thing about the end of this strike is that she said she wanted to take a bath because she wanted to play with a bath-toy version of Thomas the Train. That's not so odd, but for the last week or so she's been saying she doesn't like Thomas or any choo-choos. If either of her sisters watch a train video she cries. She was crying at 5:30 pm tonight when I put on a Thomas video for N (5.5).

I've said ti before and I'm sure I'll say it again....kids are weird! They are cute, but weird!

Monday, July 16, 2007

I do too much

I do too much. We all know it and we all agree. (If you disagree, let me know in the comments.) I am trying to find a way to cut back, but I really don't know what I don't want to give up. I am NOT going to think about it now. I am going to go work on the seminar and get some more things accomplished.

On a related note, I just had a fabulous meeting with another instructor at [local state] University who teaches the same course as I'm getting ready to teach. I am very hopeful that we can help each other in positive ways. We seem to be complementary to each other. She has one set of skills and I have another. That's what makes the best collaborations I've found. If you both are good at the SAME things, then you keep re-doing each other's work and never get the product out. If you've got complementary skills, then when something is "done" the other person tends not to mess with it.

I'll let you know how it goes.

new word

nhuggie. I think I got the spelling correct... It might be nuggy or nhuggy. Anyway, it's what T (22 months) was saying last night before bed. I want to nhuggie. To translate, she was saying, "I want to snuggle." I melted into a big mommy puddle. My little one!

Seminar

In addition to trying to get a jump on my class for the fall, I'm working on getting a seminar ready to launch on Tuesday. It's pretty crazy busy. I have a lot of information to sort and organize for the seminar. I'll be back with little girl cuteness or my own whining soon. Vote in the comments for which you prefer. Heh.

Oh, did I tell you? My camera is (mostly) okay* after the water incident. I've been taking tons of pictures to make up for being without it for 3 days. (It felt like forever.) I wanted to take pictures at the swimming pool, but it seemed like begging for trouble to take the camera so near so much water.




*I had a little bit of weirdness with it when I connected it to the computer to download the photos. I'm not sure if it was the camera giving me troubles or my computer in need of a restart. I'll let you know.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Playing around...

I'm still not recovered from last week, though it's getting better.

I spent time last night playing with Twitter*.

I also got to spend about 2 hours working on my class for fall. I feel a little better though I still have a long way to go!

After Twitting last night, I got an invite from Nino to be her friend in Facebook**. I was already a member, but I haven't used it much.

I'm trying NOT to get stressed that I'm not working right now.

Look, I'm writing in 140 or less character streams.




*I have mixed feelings about Twitter. I can definitely see how it can become addictive. I'm not sure I have time for it. If you want to be my friend on Twitter, leave a comment.

**Again, let me know if you want to be friends.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Whee! Weekend!

I haven't been this happy to have a weekend in a long time.

The week in review... Tuesday night...awful! Wednesday night wasn't so bad... Thursday was very bad again...

I'm trying to pull it together. It's just me being stressed at work. Everything else is fine. I could write more about it, but frankly, I'm kind of tired of thinking about it. I came up with a plan and a back-up plan... Now I have to execute one. I'm hoping that I can just go with the "plan" and that I don't have to turn to the back-up plan. More as it gets clearer.



This morning, N (5) and K (3) cleaned windows, dusted and did all sorts of other stuff. MWH supervised. Excellent! (T (22 months) and I went to gymnastics.)

Tonight after dinner, I took the jogging stroller out for a walk. Just for the record, there is pretty much NO CHANCE that I will be jogging behind it. I don't jog. I am impressed by people who do. I love to exercise, but I hate to run. I really hate to run outside on pavement. I can kind of tolerate it on a treadmill in a climate controlled room every few months. I think it would be great IF I liked to run, but since I love aerobics I don't see the need to make myself do it, so I don't.

On the short walk, I did push the stroller up a very steep hill. T (22 months) was in the stroller. I was panting when I got to the top. It's a steep hill that's probably ~2 blocks long. Pushing 28 pounds (T) in a stroller up a steep hill is a workout! I would have Buns o' Steel if I did it often. After T had an inaugural ride, I took K (3) for a little walk. K was much more content to ride than T. T kept saying, "I wanna walk it! I wanna push strol!" I didn't push K (37 pounds) up the steep hill. Maybe I'll try the hill with K tomorrow.




The rest of the weekend

Ballet for K
Park play date for the kindergartners at N's school
Gymnastics for N
Swimming (all 3 want to go!)
Who knows what else!

What's on your weekend calendar?

'cause I don't feel like writing about my own life

Today, at the coffee shop, a woman greeted another woman very enthusiastically, "Cindy!"

The greeted woman looked a little confused and said, "Cindy? No my name is Sarah."

The first woman said, "Right, Sarah! How are you?" Then first woman turns to the person with her and says, "You should meet Sarah. Sarah is Mike's old girlfriend.... You know..... old bald Mike?!"

Is it just me, or does the whole first part of the conversation seem a little offensive?

I didn't get to stick around for the rest of it. I imagine it was just more fun.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Thank goodness it's Friday (in 20 minutes)!

Long week. Much still to do. T woke up early and so did K this morning. I think exhaustion has contributed to my overwhelmed state. I find if I can start the day accomplishing one thing I need to accomplish, the rest of it feels much better.

Bleh. I don't even feel like typing tonight.

I'm hopeful I'll be back to normal soon.

Nitey-nite.

Quote of the day

Tonight at dinner N said, "My teeth itch."

When I asked her what she meant, she couldn't explain it.

Tell me, have your teeth ever itched? What does it mean?

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Whoa.

Blowing my mind.....

I'm still a little overwhelmed. Today was a MUCH better day than yesterday. More soon.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Deep Sigh

Remember yesterday, when I said something about not knowing how I'd be able to do it teaching a class and working... That's how I'm really feeling today... I'm feelin like there's no way I can do this... I'm feeling OVERWHELMED.

Part of what prompted this feelins is that something I've had planned for weeks, on my calendar for WEEKS, literally weeks, needs to be shifted because a very important meeting may need to be scheduled at that EXACT MOMENT that the other meeting was scheduled for. I am a victim. I have no control over my own destiny... At least that's how I feel at the moment*. Sigh.

More when I dig myself out from this horrible place I'm in.






*I realize it's not that bad, it just feels like it at this moment. I am being overly dramatic. But I am feeling completely overwhelmed... We can poke fun at me later when I recover... right now I'm fragile.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Could have gone in many different directions...

As I go through my day, I often think of many great blog posts, but by then end, when I'm tired, who knows what I'll remember.

K (3) and N (5) are doing great at swim lessons.

I ran into a friend at Target.

Work is good. I'm enjoying only working on 3-4 projects this summer and not teaching a class. I don't know how I'll do it this fall when I am teaching.

We had ice cream at the "ice cream store" tonight... The little girls are cute!

However, I have something on my mind.... My camera... That's all I can really think about right now... I spilled water on it. I am hopeful that it will dry and work okay. Right now, it's not in such good shape.

Sigh.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

There's an octopus in my garden...

/Start Random Post

If it hadn't have been for MWH, the blitle would have been, there's an octopus in my front yard. I had a dream last night that we had landscaped and put an aquarium in our front yard. It started to rain, and after the rain stopped, I went outside and found an octopus swimming in the aquarium.

I was so excited to find an octopus in our front yard.

I also had a dream that the librarians at [local state] university told me I was wasting tax payer money by asking them to help me look stuff up.

Who knows what it all means. Feel free to analyze in the comments if you want.



In other news... I am much less tired today. (I was starting to worry about me.)

I got about 10 hours of sleep last night. MWH got up with the little girls for a while so I could sleep late this morning. It was while he was with them that I had both of the above dreams. He also made me tea this morning... He often makes me tea, but this morning, it was especially nice.

After yesterday's festivities (great party that I didn't yet tell you about), we had exhausted little girls. We took the little girls to our favorite Mexican Restaurant (yea the A one DM) and then went to the Mue-z-EM today.

After the Mue-z-EM, we came home, T (22 months) napped, we hung out, and then went outside to do a little yard clean up / car clean up. T napped for about 3 hours. I saw our jogging stroller in the garage... Since Nino posted this I decided I should clean ours up. I've been wanting to get a bit more exercise and perhaps I'll be more inspired to take walks with one of the girls now. I figure, if nothing else, cleaning the stroller was good exercise. Then I worked on cleaning out my car. It's still dirty, but I think now I won't be embarrassed to take it in to get it cleaned. (It really was bad!)

After a baths and a quick dinner, we did movie night. We watched Kiki's Delivery Service. The girls loved My neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service was made by the same filmmaker. It too was a hit. We'll see if they watch it as many times as they've watched Totoro... or Toto as T calls it. T (22 months) LOVES Toto. She LOVES it.

T also loves to crunch on ice... It's hilarious. She'll get a cup and ask for ice. I give her the crushed ice and she eats it. None of the other girls have wanted ice to eat. T stopped sucking her thumb when she was around six months, but lately she's been experimenting with sucking on it. K (3) is still a big thumb sucker and N (5.5) still does it occasionally. I hope T doesn't start up again... There are worse things, but I'm not sure why now.

/End Random Post!

Saturday, July 07, 2007

exhaustedly exhausted

I've been waking up each morning at ~7:45. I don't know why. I get up because I'm stressed and can't go back to sleep. It's caught up to me. I'm so tired. I was in a pool for about 2 hours today too... I am WIPED. It was a great day, but I can barely type right now so recording it will have to wait. Nitey-night.

Friday, July 06, 2007

beds, peanut butter, blueberries, black beans and Chop chop!

No, it's not a store list, but all of the random things I've been meaning to talk about. I figure if I put them in the blitle* then at least I have a reminder of what I wanted to talk about when I started. A roadmap of sorts.

Beds

When N (now 5.5) was around 3 (K's age now), we noticed strange scratch marks on the footboard of her bed. It was odd... I figured she was somehow scratching the footboard with her trains as she played with them. Over the course of two or three weeks, there were more and more scratch marks. I watched her playing and I couldn't figure it out. One day I saw her slide off her bed in her jeans and I realized it must have been the rivets on her jeans scratching the bed...

Then I noticed the same kind of scratches were on the headboard.... there was no way it was from the rivets on her jeans because she couldn't slide on the headboard... Then I noticed that the scratches were in pairs... two close together.... Then I noticed that they actually looked like teeth marks....

When I asked her about it, she told me she had been biting her bed. She couldn't give me a good reason for why. We covered the footboard and headboard of her bed with towels (and taped them down) and she soon outgrew the little beaver stage. Recently she told me she did it because she thought her bed was a cookie....

Kids are odd!

Now K (3) (same age as N was when she was biting her bed) keeps trying to unscrew a screw on her bed at night. She'll get up and tell us, "I unscrewed the screw," ... or, "I almost unscrewed the screw again."

I'm starting to think that at age 3, it's part of development to do something weird to your bed**. We'll see what T (22 months) does in about a year and one-half.

Peanut Butter, Blueberries and Black Beans

N likes "peanut butter, no peanuts" aka "smooth peanut butter." N also likes "Blueberry jelly, no blueberries..." meaning no whole blueberries. K was eating refried black beans last night (all smashed up), but she didn't want to eat the few recognizable beans that were left... I asked her if she wanted refried beans, no beans.... She said yes. Heh.

Chop-Chop!

I'm always telling the little girls to hurry... I say "chop-chop" or "choppity-chop-chop" a lot. T, K and I went to Target the other day. Before we got out of the car, I decided to take a peek at the crackberry and check my email. I had a message I wanted to read. T got impatient while I was reading and said, "Chop-chop Mommy!"

Heh.


*MWH says when blitle is written, it doesn't look like he expects it to ... blitle rhymes with title and means blog title.
**Not really. I think it's because they are bored and aren't ready to fall asleep so they look for something fun to do. N still napped at 3, but then at night it took her a long time to fall asleep, but if she didn't nap, the evenings were so unpleasant. Same with K. It's tough to be 3!

Dentist Visit...

Today, I got my teeth cleaned. Believe it or not, I love going to my appointments because I love the hygienist. She's about my age and she has 3 kids that are about the age of my kids. We have much to talk about. Actuallly, she does most of the talking since my mouth is the one that getting cleaned, but I learn so much listening to her talk. Plus, she's vibrant, and just fun!

I had my cleaning appointment back in April, but I was late and we had to reschedule. Because I wanted HER to clean my teeth, today was the first day since April that it worked in our respective crazy schedules. When I got called back, it was someone else....My fav hygienist wasn't there today. I was bummed. I was told she had a conflict. Sigh. Life's too crazy I thought.

When the dentist came in after the appointment, he told me she was diagnosed with breast cancer. OH NO! She's young. She's nice. She's got 3 young kids. Life is too crazy and isn't fair. Please think good thoughts for her. I know I am.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

p.s. about Firefly

If you don't know about Firefly the TV series by Joss Whedon, I highly recommend it! Highly! It's a "space western" kind of show. It's an interesting view of the future that is very different from the Star Trek view.

Someday, in my copious* spare time, I need to do some book reviews, and tv show reviews. I like it a lot when my favorite bloggers write about books they like and shows they watch.





*sarcastic, in case you couldn't tell

Firefly

I saw this on Ruth's blog. MWH and I are both big Joss Whedon fans. I told him about the quiz and he was curious, so we did it together.

(Sidebar: While we were taking the quiz, we ignored the 3 little girls. In the five minutes it took to take the quiz, T (22 months) spilled liquid hand soap all over the bathroom counter and N (5) and K (3) started screaming at each other. Good times!)

Here's who MWH and I combine to be.

Your results:
You are Wash (Ship Pilot)

You are a pilot with a good if not silly sense of humor. You take pride in your collection of toys. You love your significant other.


Wash (Ship Pilot) 80%
Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 75%
River (Stowaway) 75%
Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 70%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 60%
Inara Serra (Companion) 55%
Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 55%
Alliance 20%
Derrial Book (Shepherd) 20%
A Reaver (Cannibal 20%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 10%


Click here to take the "Which Serenity character are you?" quiz...



(I took out the HTML table that didn't work at all with Blogspot.)

Head all explody

I was going for "something like Buffy would say" in the blitle*.

We had a great meeting today... (around T to G!) And then we had lunch and it was okay, but kind of intense (with CC), and then I had another great meeting with a summer intern, one of my favorite colleagues, and another new colleague. If I'd have had any one of the meetings, it would have been a great day. Having all 3 happen in one day does make your head feel like exploding... in a good way.

In related news, I am trying to figure out a schedule that will allow me to spend more time with the girls.... I'm toying around with the idea of getting up and going into work EARLY one day a week (starting in the fall when I'm going to be busier). I try to work as much as possible when the girls are asleep. They sleep in most days so I could theoretically get a lot of work done early in the morning. Stay tuned for more scheduling discussion!


*blitle=blog title (MWH calls them that.)

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Do cry over spilled coffee

I mentioned before that I was very tired today.... Before we went swimming, we stopped and I got a coffee. I was leisurely sipping my iced coffee in the locker room and my friend DK was eyeing it.

All of a sudden, K (3) somehow knocked it off the bench in the locker room. It bounced... One bounce and it was okay... I'm not sure what happened next... I'm not sure if I grabbed it and knocked it over or if it bounced again on its own, all I know is that in that instant there was coffee EVERYWHERE. Both my friend D and I were very sad. She wanted some. I wanted it. I'm sure it would have helped my demeanor.

Fourth things...

When I was a kid, we would have HUGE parties on the Fourth of July. It was a great day. All of the aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors and friends would come. Some would even travel great distances to come. There were horsehoe tournaments, BBQ ribs, firecrackers during the day, and a fireworks show we put on ourselves at night. We lived far away from the city back then and it was GREAT. It all ended when I was about 13 or so. All of the cousins were grown up, married and with kids. We no longer lived far away from the city. They city had grown and was part of our backyard. It was the end of an era.

My parents let me light firecrackers myself.... I know I was doing it at 5.5 and I think I was doing it at 3.5 and 4.5. I sure hope I was well supervised. I have no idea why my parents let me. There is NO way I'd let N (5) or K (3) touch them, let alone light them. The only thing I can come up with is that they must not have loved me very much. I also have memories of running around outside by myself for hours on end when I was 3 and 4 so this helps advance the "no love" theory.

I know my parents loved me.... I know it was just a different time back then.... For fun, leave me a comment and share stories of things you remember doing when you were a kid that you wouldn't EVER let your kids do now!

One time when I was about 11, I had strep throat on the 4th. I was so sad. I was old enough to be inside by myself while the party went on outside. Sigh. At the end of the day, my Mom let me get up and watch some of the fireworks. I was so happy.




Today, for the 4th, we took the little girls swimming at the Y with a friend (Hi DK!). T (22 months) really likes swimming. At one point, T was walking on the steps and threw herself in the deeper water and went under. It startled her a little, but I pulled her up and made it "fun" and she was okay with it. She went under a few more times because she was pretty fearless about bouncing around in the shallow end.

We ate lunch with DK and her daughter and then came back to our house and played. I was very grumpy today... I guess I'm just tired. I got a little nap this afternoon, and then had more coffee around 5. I feel much more like a human being. (Sorry MWH for being so grumpy today! I rarely am as grumpy as I was today... I was a bear or some other b word!)

Now, we're going to attempt to take the 3 little girls to see fireworks at the city event. I hope the girls aren't scared of the noise. Wish us luck. We'll be out way past bedtime.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

My sister, my friend.

K (3) and N (5) are really really really enjoying playing together right now. They will play for hours by themselves.

K told me that N taught her to like dinosaurs and N says K taught her to like fairies.

At preschool, they get to see each other at recess and according to the teachers, when they re-unite, there is much hugging.

At swim lessons, they walked in the pool holding hands.

They still scream and fight some, but usually they are really good friends.

Monday, July 02, 2007

The coolest google that ended up here yet....

Someone got to this site by searching for "MWH"...

They were from http://mwhglobal.com/.

The weekend

It was a fun and good one!

Saturday
K (3) started a ballet class.
N (5) started a more advanced gymnastics class.
We played at the Fountains hence the quote. (The other blog will soon have pictures!)

Sunday
Took the little girls (T and K) to the grocery store by myself. Neither one likes to sit in the cart. It's a good workout for me!
Hung out with MWH (we had a babysitter Sunday afternoon).
Ordered an entertainment center for our living room. (It won't be here until September!)
Took the little girls to the park and did lots of cartwheels. N is getting very good at them.
Worked until far too late (~1:30 am).

Vacation's over

Wowza.... It's July. My father says, "First it's the Fouth of July and then it's Christmas." He's so right. Time is going too fast.

I was still fairly calm when I made this post. Last night, I realized that I have a lot of work to do! I'm not in high stress mode, but I've got to work a bit harder!

Here's a long-shot question... Anyone know where I can get a podcast safe version of Hawaii Five-O?

I decided that song would be perfect to open a Podcast I'm doing for work. I can't seem to find a version I'm for sure is podcast safe. I've spent way too many hours (about 2) looking for this. I have learned a bit more about using music in a Podcast, but I'm still a little worried about it. I've made podcast recordings before, but I typically don't put in music. I'm a researcher, and I don't feel it adds that much to them, but another person I am working with believes it does, so I'm going to try.

Help?

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Cause--Effect

I love my K girl (3). She's my sweet snuggly girl. She's also SGR girl and that's hard. She's smart and she's got opinions--very definite opinions. She doesn't like to sleep much. She doesn't eat very well. I often lose my patience with her.

I was talking with my boss about K, and the challenges she brings, and he raised an interesting point. He didn't say this exactly, but after thinking about our conversation, this is what I've gleaned from it. If I view her as difficult, I may turn her into a more difficult child.

He's a wise man.

It must be getting easier...

On our recent trip/vacation, both MWH and I managed to read a novel (different ones). A book! For fun! It's been years since we've done that on a trip...Almost 5.5 years and N is almost 5.5 years... coincidence?

A friend had given me a trashy novel to read and I meant to bring it on the trip and I forgot it. In addition to the trashy novel, I have a huge pile of books I want to read. I didn't even think about packing one. I was so sad.

I went to the airport bookstore and was worried that 1) I wouldn't find anything I wanted to read, and 2) I would have to spend $75 on book if I did find one I wanted to read. I found they had a clearance table. I got this book for $3.98. It wasn't a great book, but it was 422 pages long and kept me entertained. I finished it exactly as we got home. I couldn't have asked for more from a $3.98 book.