Did Someone Say Chocolate?

Another birthday boy

Justin turned 15 today. Uff. A lot has happened to me in those 15 years. Basically it means I've been an adult for that long or at least had to pretend to be one. I had just turned 17 when Justin was born. His due date was June 14th I believe. I was scheduled for induction on the day he was born. I went into labor on June 28. I had a pretty traumatic birthing experience that ended in 7 hours of pushing with a baby's head crowned most of that time which resulted in a spinal and a forceps delivery at another hospital. Turns out his hand was up beside his head, so his arm was stuck. I'm surprised I didn't end up with a C-section. Oh by the way, where I come from, epidurals were not given unless you had a complication. Those two days were all natural. I thought I'd die. You'd think after something like that, a woman wouldn't do it again, let alone three more times eh! heh

We had cake and ice-cream and presents tonight for Justin's birthday. Doug was trying to get a picture of Justin and he was being a smart ass by putting his fingers up behind his head. I was walking by so I teasingly whapped him in the head just as Doug snapped the photo. It was pretty funny.



I told him he could cry abuse with that photo when he gets older. ha ha Here's the birthday boy sporting in the haul he got in new Yu-Gi-Oh cards.



Doug got his first summer paycheck today. He got quite a bit more than he was anticipating. Oh joy! We'll definitely be able to pay off the dang credit card bill now. He's even teasing me about maybe getting something else new next month for the house and perhaps some paint. Oh joy! I might have to doghouse him until then just to make sure he follows through. *wink*

Here's Daniel in one of his favorite spots. Under our spare desk:


He's just such a hoot lately. Fast though. Into absolutely everything in the blink of an eye. He's getting such a great personality, happy baby. We've seen a hint of toddler tantrums here and there. Tonight in the tub Doug was pouring a container of water down on him from way up high so it splashes everywhere. He thought it was just hilarious. Then Daddy stopped. Boo Hoo. We distracted him with something else though quickly. It was just funny, I've never seen him cry like that for more of something. Imagine what we'll get in a store when he sees something he wants. Hmmm...yes yes his birthday is coming all too soon. Boo Hoo.

It got worse

Let me finish telling you about our day...So as I mentioned it turned out that our old washer was just fine. Plumbing problem with the drain. So... we decided to return the new machine and bring the old one back inside. I couldn't lift the machine, neither could Doug and Justin. I had to leave for work, so I covered it with a blanket in hopes no one would take off with it. We ended up having to call the plumber for the drain problem...while waiting for the plumber, Doug decides to go to his work to get a dolley (sp?) so he and Justin can move the washer back by the garage. I was complaining at work about having to shell out delivery charges both ways to get Sears to take back the washer...

Then Doug calls. Guess what? Yup, someone took off with the fucking washer. SO now no matter what we just spent 750 on a machine we didn't even need. PLUS another 200 getting the drain unclogged. Can you say fucking stupidity. Sigh. There's nothing worse than being pissed off over spilled milk. A thousand dollars worth of spilled milk.

I hearby name June our bullshit cursed month. The very first June we were together, we weren't. That was the problem. We were dealing with being apart, counting the days...Our second June, I had a miscarriage. Our third cost us over $4200.00 when the boys got into all that trouble and now this shit. Oh lord my guts hurt. sigh.

Holy sweet fuck

You are not going to believe this! We just spent $750 on a new fucking washer for nothing. It wasn't our washer that was leaking. I just ran the first load in the new machine and my god damn floor is soaked. It HAS to be the drain. I could just fucking die right now. We could have had a new fridge for our garage and instead we've just spent a small fortune on the ugly beast, our perfectly good washer is now out on the curb for someone to steal and my floor is STILL soaked! GHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. SHOOT ME.

Convince me that I should be excited...

So about a week ago or so, my washer leaked out on the floor. We checked it again and nothing. Then yesterday during my many loads as usual, it REALLY started leaking soaking our whole laundry room floor. Yikes. It's old and a cheaper model (so we discovered today). We went shopping over my lunch hour today to pick out a new washer. It really sucks too because we wanted to buy a second fridge for our garage and now once again that'll wait.

We first went to Home Depot. The service sucked and the selection was even worse. After wasting our time with the guy, he tells us he's actually a kitchen designer and if he had of said "to be honest with you" one more time I would have throttled him. We ended up at Sears.

To make a long story short...there were many models to choose from. Doug knew he wanted a stainless steel tub and he knew he didn't want a GE, so that limited us in our choices pretty quickly (like three models and one of them was over a thousand dollars). We also decided pretty quickly that we didn’t want one of the newer models with the calypso (sp?) type agitators. They are too new and he'd rather wait until all the bugs are ironed out.

He attracted himself to a Maytag model for $700. Yeah it had all the features we wanted, but can you ladies say with me "UGLY". Thank you. Yes it's ugly. It has big ugly gold knobs on it. Has some burgundy and blue or something like that on it too. Ick. I hummed and hawed, we were in there for probably 45 minutes talking with a sales lady trying to make up our (my) minds. So, finally I said fine, get it (curling up my nose). The lady starts ringing it up to discover "oh I'm so sorry, we are out of stock on this color, our next order will be in around July 9th and there is a long waiting list for it". Oh fucking surprise there.

She offers us "bisque", that particular color is only $20 more. Sigh. I don't want YELLOW. Oh we won't charge you any more on the color...::read blah blah blah:: Then I get the story on how she herself couldn't imagine that color in her kitchen until her sister-in-law did her entire kitchen in it and OH WHAT BEAUTY...blah blah blah bullshit from a sales lady. I moaned and groaned about the color and how we should go somewhere else. I moaned and groaned about having difficulty in getting a dryer to match and how our current dryer is white etc. I moaned and groaned at probably having to pay more for that dryer all because of the stupid color she was trying to sell me now. She softly says to me "Listen, I can tell you are a woman with GREAT CONCERN..." hesitation..."we'll take good care of you". Was that a nice way of calling me a difficult bitch?

Anyway, our new ugly BISKE washer is being delivered tomorrow morning and I'm going to pretend that color is the color we had chosen all along, so I don't have to tell that whole story ever again! I'll be sure to post a picture, after all I'm sure at that price, it'll be like having a pet dog, part of the family for many many years. At least for that sales lady's sake, it wants to be around for many many years!

Okay update: delivery guys came and went very quickly 'tis morning. Our old machine is sitting on the curb (dibs on it taking a few hours before someone stops and picks it up. Our last garbage pile was picked through like no tomorrow). I haven't tested it yet, but I got about 6 loads lurking just waiting! Oh Joy!

Here's what $750 buys you:


Beautiful stainless steel drum:


A close up of the lovely big gold knobs:


The darker gold color around the top of the machine is just a shrink wrap protection cover that I haven't taken off yet. It's nasty eh? lol Well Sears reassures me that it is a lovely machine and that I will love it. It's a Maytag and I'm sure it will work great! Now to get off my lazy butt and test it.

Our little Pro

Well I mailed out Daniel's party invitations today. No changing my mind about a party now eh. We decided to invite both sides of the family. I hope that goes well and doesn't become awkward in any way. A birthday should be a happy time, but I just feel sad when I think of Daniel being one. One year ago this Wednesday, I started my maternity leave. He was born two weeks later, just two days after my due date. My sweet baby. He just didn't stay little long enough! Sigh.

Leaving work earlier with Doug, he walks by this little girl and casually says to me "maybe we should have one of those". "HUH?" "A little girl," he says, "they ARE cute". Yeah baby, let's just get right at it, I'm sure we could pop out a girl next. ha ha. Wouldn't that be something to actually control the sex of a baby! How would you decide?

We've noticed Daniel uses his left hand a LOT. He favors it over his right. Now I know this is common with a lot of babies and doesn't necessarily mean anything, but my hubby is already dreaming of his pro left handed pitcher that he may have here!



It was so funny yesterday...I could hear Justin and Cody cheering out in the living room. They wanted us to come see what Daniel was doing. They had handed him their baseball and he immediately picked it up (with his left) and threw it. We were pretty amazed he could even hold it with one hand. They are heavy, but he had no hesitation at all. The little pro! Imagine the shot we have IF he ever did play baseball! Ha ha. Now we just need to record his "singing voice" ::read "yelling/screeching":: and we'd have all our bases covered for TV interviews. lol You never know!

Manly chores *grunt grunt*

soccer camp starts for Cody tomorrow. Oh Joy. I hate packing lunches. That's why the kids always buy their lunch at school. Bag lunches suck.

Doug's not feeling well today. Poor guy decided today was the day to baby proof the cupboards. I was in the computer room and I heard this god awful noise. I yelled out "what the heck was that?" He yells back "I'm doing my manly duties. It's my drill!" I yelled back "Oh, I didn't recognize that!" *snicker* Truth be told, my hubby doesn't use his drill very often. He has soft pansy hands that haven't seen a day of hard labor in their lives. LOL Poor man even drilled his thumb. I don't know, but I think I need to find more drilling chores around the house for him so he doesn't hurt himself anymore. (I'm so dead).

He's getting ready to head out with the kids for a bit. I need to find a way to convince one of them to go with me instead. I need someone to watch Daniel while I get my eyebrows waxed LOL. If you were a kid where would you rather go? ToysRus or the Nail Salon? Ha ha. I know I'm doomed to waiting until he gets back because there is no way in hell any of them are going to jump at the chance to watch me get my brows waxed. Sigh.

Maybe I'll just run to get party invitations for Daniel's party and clean the stupid house up. Have I ever mentioned that cleaning sucks too? Well cleaning this place sucks. It's always the same dirt everywhere. and OH.MY.GOD. the pugs need a bath. I've sooo neglected their sorry dirty arses for the past month. Bella smells like she's bathed in Dexter's piss. Ok, nuff said.

To do:
eyebrows
party supplies
send out invitations
sweep/mop floors
clean bathrooms (yuck)
wash pug butts
pick out b-day presents for J and D

Buns and forts!

Eww what awful neglect I have for my blogs this week! I find the days go by quickly now. Doug works the mornings, I work afternoons or full days and the evenings are filled with supper, cleaning and bedtimes.

There's just something to be said about cute baby bottoms!



We were dancin' and hummin' to 'Rockin' Robin'. Tweet Tweet! My cutie bum!

We took Justin to Dallas today. Weather was wet and crappy, lots of traffic delays due to accidents and stupid drivers, but all in all, he had fun I'm sure. The Cheesecake was Awesome as usual! Yum! Daniel sat in a restaurant highchair for the first time today. Only mishap was when the waiter brought us all our drinks, Daniel thought they were for him and reached out and yanked one tipping over some water. I think he thought it was funny, all it really did was give three adults mini heart attacks. We all went for the glass at once! lol!

Justin's cake and presents will be done on his birthday (the 30th). We are also in the midst if planning Daniel's first birthday party. I think we've decided to hold it in Denton. It's easier for family because they all live up there. I'm doubting anyone from work would come, so I guess we'll all just go up there instead. Doug's step mom volunteered to get the cake, so that's one thing off my list. I need to come up with a cute theme. We'll hold it at a park up there and have a picnic lunch. Now to come up with a menu that's park/heat friendly. I'll be so glad when our family birthdays are over. What a pain in the rear.

I talk some about issues I have with the kids, but I don't mention it really often. If I did, this whole blog would be about their behavior issues. It's a much longer story than I feel like getting into tonight with this entry, but I had a recent chat with the kids. I have a doctor's conference appt. with our Ped. on July 6th. I have high hopes for the outcome of that appointment and I hope he can point us in the right direction for some help. We mostly want help for Sarah, but at this point they all really need help. The appt. is mostly going to be a referral for Sarah to be evaluated and tested (I hope). We've had her tested once by the school two years ago for Asberger's and came up with nothing.

I hope by making our doctor more aware of our concerns with her social development, he can get us some much needed help. The conversation I had with the kids came from mostly desperation (because we've had those talks before), but it was worth another try. I shook up some rules on them (again) and told them I'd have zero tolerance for their bickering from this point forward. We talked about everything for about an hour and a half. I felt good coming out of the conversation and they seemed to as well. I will be censoring everything they watch from now on. No more trash talking cartoons, no more shows like Simpsons, very limited gamecube play (actually no electronic games until further notice). It’s not a punishment. It’s a change in lifestyle for them. It’s more parent control to what they are exposed to. They can watch family movies WITH us or movies we give them permission to watch or TV programs that we have watched and approve of. I think they spend too much time playing those damn games and watching trashy TV programs. They never spend time in their rooms doing other things or time outside getting exercise. They need to learn to play without electronic stimulation AND they need to learn how to respect every family member in this house.

So far so good. Sarah has spent thirty minutes in her room once for fighting with her brother. Other than that, we've kept them busy with crafts, painting, cards and family movies. Justin and Cody even built a fort in his room yesterday.



It's been very peaceful for a couple of days, I can only hope it lasts for awhile. This is a much longer story/history though. Maybe it sounds mean to take their games and TV away, but they easily spend almost all of their waking hours hooked up to either or. In between all that noise, they do nothing but yell at one another, trash talk and bicker. It's so bad lately, we can't even take them anywhere without being totally embarrassed. Most days I feel like just knocking their heads together they are so annoying. Isn't that awful? Well that's why I'm seeking help. Keep your fingers crossed for happier family times ahead!

Finally a moment to update

Sarah's birthday went okay. She had two girls over. One girl from her soccer team and another girl that used to be in her class a year ago (she moved away). She got lots of presents and she seemed to have enjoyed herself. We had bought some craft supplies at Michael's so they all could paint/decorate little, wooden chests. Aside from the kids all picking at each other as usual and our guests pointing that out, things were fine. Tomorrow is actually Sarah's birthday. She'll be 12!



I'm trying to think of something little I can do for her tomorrow. This was the first year I've ever had to celebrate their birthdays on a different day. Nice track record eh?! It'll feel weird having a birthday in the house and not doing anything.

Daniel continues to motor around. He's fast now and wants to touch everything. Whenever he touches something he shouldn't I say "Ah Ah Ah". He thinks it's funny. Sometimes I think he touches the VCR just to make me make that sound. Ha ha. Doug caught a picture of him today climbing up the chair to reach Dexter.



I've warned the kids though to keep that recliner closed up. I see pinched fingers in the future if they don't listen. Oh and then I'll see heads knocked together. Heh.

Something else that happened this weekend was this:



Do you see that ugly thing in my garden? Look closely! YUCK! Unfortunately it's not the snake itself, just the skin which means that S.O.B. is still lurking around, probably living in my garden waiting to attack me. Bastard.

Our neighbor's place has crepe myrtles growing around their property. Two of the larger ones outline our property as well. They are finally starting to bloom! I love this flowering tree. It's beautiful and they are found all over the place around here and stay in bloom most of the summer. I snapped a picture of the lighter pink one earlier this week. This one is in their yard only, but it's still really pretty to look at! I can't wait until the ones that hang over our property bloom too!



Jeepers, Daniel is still in his crib making noise. Oddly enough this week he's had trouble falling right to sleep at bedtime. Maybe it's another tooth trying to pop through. He's not fussy though, just awake when he should be falling asleep. Well gotta go check on him. Night.

And more birthdays

Sarah comes home later today from her three day trip with Doug's mom. His mom took her best friend and their four granddaughters to some cottage inn about 3+ hours away for some girlie fun. Things like that are great for Sarah and if she's anything like me (ha), she'll come home cranky and tired. We'll see though. We spoke with her the first night she was there and she was pretty hyper on the phone and she's swimming 'tis morning. It's probably safe to bet she'll be tired.

I really hate the stress of birthdays this time of year for us. We have Sarah's coming up on the 23rd (her party is tomorrow), Father's day tomorrow, Justin's birthday the week after and Daniel's two weeks later. Sigh. What do you all spend on kiddo's birthdays? I never really know how much is appropriate. I don't buy them a lot of stuff through the year, so Christmas and birthdays are when they rack in. We normally spend a hundred bucks give or take on gifts alone. Then we have party supplies/toys/things to do, cake/ice-cream/treat bags/food items...trip to the movies usually...it all adds up. I'm just curious about what other people spend and do for birthdays.

Ideally I'd like to cut back so Daniel doesn't grow up expecting more than one thing on his birthday. Being his first birthday this year, I know he's going to be bombarded with gifts! The kids normally get 6-8 gifts each from us on their birthdays, plus all the cash and gifts others give and I just think it's too much, but it's hard not to get them stuff on their list. I think we should be making them pick something for themselves and something for their rooms. I like that idea better.

My stupid free bra finally showed up in the mail yesterday. Three months ago or longer I bought two new bras and the mail in rebate said buy two, get one free. So I sent the $3 check in for my $25 bra and finally got the stupid thing. Of course Cody, as usual, gets all excited over a package being delivered and starts yelping out "I want it I want it". I said I tell you what, I'll give you it if you promise to put it on. He eyed me and I cracked up pulling out the bra. He takes off running. ha ha. Crazy shit.

On to better things...

So, Happy 11th month to my little man! I can't believe we are now on the count down to his first birthday! What's up with time flying so fast?! Geesh. Here's a couple of shots from the other day that I never got around to posting!

Happy boy with a good toofers' shot:


For the past few weeks, he's been making this "vroom" type noise, almost likes he's a little boy making car and truck noises when they play. It's really cute and he can keep it going for so long and sometimes the noise is very high pitch. I finally caught a picture of him doing it!


I found Daniel's tenth month to be the most productive for him. He's learned so much in those four weeks it just amazes me. He went from pushing around backwards, to pulling forward, to rocking up on his hands and knees to actually zooming all over the place at great speed. Now he's even pulling up things, only to his knees, but still he gets up there! He also learned how to go from a laying down position to sitting up. He crawls under and over things with ease.

To top the day off he finally said "Da Da Da" very clearly. Of course I missed the first time he did it because I was at work, but he did it for me at supper time, so that was cool. He's such a happy baby these days. He's still at two naps a day, three meals a day and three bottles a day. It's a wonderful schedule and hardly ever changes. He goes to bed by 8 pm, we see him up by 7 am with a big grin on his face!

After feeding him supper, I always wet some paper towel to wash his face off. Tonight I got about half way to him and he squinted his eyes really tight and kept peeking at me. It was comical. He was waiting for me to get to him to wipe him down with that nasty wet towel! lol After I wiped him down, he just hauled his own bib right off and started tugging at his buckle to his high chair.



It was such a glimpse of a big boy. He knows his routines so well now. I just love him so much! My smart boy!

My immature moment

Below is a direct quote from Chuck's Blog that demonstrates perfectly why private blogs suck. I got some great advice from someone on my other blog and I am pretty close to just doing it. I quoted this particular rant because it's just absolutely amazing to me. Of course my husband shoots off an email right away to defend our decision that we had made. All that did in the end was give Chuck the floor to shoot off childish insults about Doug's beliefs and his teaching ability.

I had decided not to give Chuck or Lauren (his wife, link in sidebar) access to my private blog. As I explained to Lauren in what I thought was a friendly, thoughtful email was that it wasn't them that I didn’t' trust. It truly isn't. If there was anyone at all that I felt most comfortable with giving access to, it would be her. It really bothered me a lot to say no. I explained it to her that because of their friendship with "Doc" (more on him later), I wasn't comfortable handing them a password. I didn't want to put the risk of him discovering the password through them in their hands. Just for history, Doc is Chuck's friend in real life, but he's also the guy that has harassed us many times on his blog, on Chuck's blog, Doug's blog, my blog and heck probably even Lauren's blog. He drinks a lot and has made death threats against our family. Politically, him and Doug are completely on different pages and it's caused many heated arguments. I don't want someone like that to ever get anywhere near my private blog.

I thought I was pretty clear with my concerns, Lauren was very understanding about it. Then I come home and read this:

I hate it when my wife tells me not to blog about things, so of course I am going to., heheh.
But then again this is a matter of personal opinion.

And as usual I have an opinion. A person we mutually read decided we were not trust worthy enough to have access to their private blog.
Ok that’s fine, I can not fault someone for that, it is their private area. But I guess what put a hair across my ass was not just the way it was phrased but what was implied. It was not that we were going to read things and do anything, it was that we might pass it around to other people. And that pisses me off. I have my faults and being a blabber mouth is definitely one of them, but if I am asked to keep something private I do. I talk a lot, mostly in the car and I rarely hold things back on here, but I am not a moron. I do not show a red flag to a bull just for the amusement of watching him explode. I have many friends in my life but one has done more than any other in times of need (well 2 actually, but anyways) and he does things expecting nothing in return. He does have a few minor faults and one of them is letting things go way to far at times and needs to be sat down and told to cut it out. But he does listen when he is told and usually regrets things he says. Point is he is a teddy bear and would not hurt a fly but he looses his temper with people online at times. Fine, I deal with it and when he makes a comment that is slanderous or to far out there I erase them and we move on. I guess what I am trying to say is I get really pissed when I get friends held against me.

Hmm ok well this makes no sense to more than 3 people but they get the point. And since two of them are indebted to me for past things I feel it very insulting when they decide I am not trust worthy. Not that I am one to hold favors against a person, oh wait, yes I am.

Oh and to hold my friends against Lauren is just wrong. Forgetting the fact you consistently post comments that piss me off cause they are so narrow minded, and that I think you can be/are a complete whack job. I still read you and enjoy reading you. I try to allow people to be themselves, and not hold associations against them, you should try it. Oh and that part was directed at just one person, and you know who you are.

End of my rant, consider the issue closed.

The email exchange is much worse. I won't share that at this point because it's between Chuck and Doug, but holy shit...some of it was just OUT THERE. His comments are turned off for obvious reasons. So I'm bringing it up here. If I'm such a narrow minded whack job, then what the fuck do you even want to read my blog for anyway? I sadly hold your friends against Lauren because she is your wife. I would never want to put her in an awkward situation. Teddy Bears do not make death threats. Nut cases do. (You MT gals may remember an entry a long time ago about this situation from me) Oh and far as being indebted to you? Oh please. You offered countless times to host me because you couldn't stand my lack of comment system on my old blog. I took you up on it finally and said thank you. You should have made it clear than that I owe you some sort of life long gratitude for it and I wouldn't have bothered. My only comment I have about your email reply - Notice where you are on my blog roll? Get over it. No one comes before Doug. I thought second was just fine. Sigh.

Can someone please explain to me how I could have done this differently to avoid such hurt feelings? Am I wrong to worry about their wacko friend obtaining access somehow? No matter how much Chuck tries to reassure us that Doc isn't like that...it means nothing. Doc just doesn't let it go, he threatened to kill us and still continues to make rude and harassing comments our way every chance he gets...why should I even risk it? WHY? Would you?

Trash Talkin' - take two!

Well, this little side project of mine has turned in to way more work than what I thought. Some of the people that I thought would ask me for access haven't yet and quite a few people that I really don't even know have asked. I have more lurkers than what I dreamed. Which is perfectly A-OKAY, I lurk on lots of sites too, but what it does is make me paranoid. Anyone can pretend to be whoever they want to on the Internet. We all know that, right? So really aside from knowing someone and/or following their blog weekly for months and months, how do you really know and trust someone on the Internet?

I've let some people in, I've struggled with denying some others and I'm still sitting on the fence with a few more. It's really tougher than what I imagined. I just want to say that I'm glad that people are so understanding, especially one in particular. It's really tough because I certainly don't want to seem "exclusive" because I'm not. I just want to know who the heck you are. That doesn't necessarily mean telling me your name, it means as soon as I see your comment, my mind clicks that you are so and so from *here* because I've been reading your blog or I know you from the other avenues I mentioned before.

As soon as I start letting people in that I barely know or have never heard of, then I've compromised the privacy in the blog. So what's the point, right? I've turned comments off for this entry because I don't want people to feel like they have to comment to defend my choice or disagree or what have you. I really just wanted a chance to say this has turned out to be more difficult than what was initially thought.

Also don't be discouraged from leaving a comment in the earlier entry for access. I'm still expecting a few of my regulars to be asking. I'm really not being harsh! Honest! =)

Garden progress

Let's see, we started this garden project back in April. Finished planting around May 5th, so it's just over a month's growth now. I've moved some things, I've added a couple of new things, some stuff is in bloom while others is finishing up...I'm still sorting out what needs to be yanked or replaced, so it's still a work in progress, but I thought I'd share some pictures I took tonight so you all can see how it's growing.

BEFORE:


AFTER


BEFORE:


AFTER


BEFORE:


AFTER


You can really see how big the Shasta Daisy got. It's actually in bloom now, so it's lookin' nice.

BEFORE:


AFTER


Notice how huge the Coleus got? Doug's father tells us they yanked all theirs up out of their garden because it grew too damn fast. I will eventually move or divide up this plant, but for now it's doing fine. See that pink impatient just in front of it? That's the little tiny plant that I got from Daniel for mother's day.



That little pot and plant was TINY and just look at it grow! I'm tempted to get more of them just like it. They seem to grow really well!

We also added a new plant beside the garden from Doug's Mom.



Looks a bit like dope to me, but trust me, it's NOT. She called it a Texas Star plant. apparently if not trimmed it'll grow really tall. Hers is pretty huge now and she cuts it back all the time.

Well that's my garden update for now. I hope you weren't bored to death. LOL.

Trash Talkin'

My new private blog is up and running. If you want access, you'll need to leave a comment here with your email address. Just emailing me directly won't work. I'm sorry if it seems like jumping through hoops, but I need to be sure of who's asking for access. As you know people I know in RL are reading this blog and I want this new blog to be my private area for just me and my online friends. This blog (Did Someone Say Chocolate?) will not be going away. I will still update as often as I do now with pictures, family chat and day to day going ons. This new place is for all the stuff I CAN'T talk about in a public forum. My first entry is a bit of an intro as to what to expect.

Once you leave me a comment, If I recognize you as a regular reader, an author of a blog I read or a MT friend, then I will email you back requesting for you to submit to me a user name and password and I'll set you up. You should only ever have to log in the once, I promise. It won't be one of those annoying private blogs that continually ask you to log in.

If you know me in real life, please don't bother asking for access, it'll be a no. I'll also be deleting comments from this entry as they are made so I can ensure privacy for everyone.

Helloooo?

Hey where is everyone this weekend? Whatcha all doing? I've got lunch cooking (sweet and sour stir-fry), Doug's got the kids out of the house for the afternoon, Daniel's done eating and is now running around in his walker and I'm trying to get motivated to tear this computer room apart. I have so much clutter everywhere and it's driving me batty. Boy child has discovered the water cooler and thinks it's pretty cool to push the tap and have his favorite thing, water, come pouring out. I wonder if you can child proof a water cooler. geesh.

Oh I also need some help coming up with an idea for Sarah's birthday. Here's what we know...she wants four kids, two girls, two boys, all of the age of 12. We don't want to spend a hundred bucks lugging them all to some arcade or movie. We'd prefer it if we could just spend a couple of hours here at home, eating and opening gifts. Cody's was easy because we knew they'd all want to get wet. Doug doesn't think it's such a great idea to have boys and girls at that age getting wet together, so that's where we're lost. I searched online for ideas and their party ideas seem to cost quite a bit. Is there anything simple that can keep 12 year olds amused for an hour?

Ooo wait, maybe they could each paint their own piece of pottery or something to take home with them. Hmmmm. I dont' know. Come on folks, don't let me down...ideas please.

Okay

Scratch that request. I found something that works. I did use that site you recommended Kirk, but I changed around some colors and what not. It was hard not to just stick with the same kind of template as I've been using. To be honest, this one that I just worked on isn't much better, but let's face it, I'm no web designer. My new site is a very basic blog, but it'll serve it's purpose for now and I'll change things up as I go. Now to see if I have anything worth bitching about! *snicker*

Ideas

Where do you find your MT templates? I started on a new one tonight to discover that they actually expect you to cut and paste all over the place...blah blah. I'm good, but crap I don't have THAT much spare time on my hands. Is that my only option if I'm not going to use MT's? Any URL's to share folks that I can check out? TIA!

Squirt!

I'm tired, but what's new. Daniel started his summer class this week. He's the oldest baby in class this time, not the youngest as before. He's also cruising all around the playroom thoroughly enjoying all the stuff he couldn't get to before. He's also pulling up on more and more things in the house!



Yesterday I picked up a spout cover for the bath tub and a few new tub toys for Daniel. Bath time is one of his favorite times of day! It's so much fun watching him splash and laugh. I've posted pictures before of Daniel in the tub, but you've got to see this one! I bought little "squirters" for bath time and he absolutely loves them. He waves his arms up in the air, screeches and laughs and just gets this crazy, excited look in his eyes when we squirt him! Check it out!



Tell me that's not a happy baby!!

Cody hated his first day of camp on Monday. Sarah didn’t' mind it so much because little kids play with her. Their field trip got cancelled today, so Doug told them he'd pick them up at lunch time. He gets there and Cody doesn't want to come home. I guess he's finally made a few friends. They are only going to camp two mornings a week while Daniel is at school. Other than those days, I'll be home with them or Doug will be.

Hubby earned big brownie points today. Completely on his own, the man brings home a big case of Mike's hard lemonade and low carb coconut bars. Hello! You know your man wants some when...

I'm sorry I don't have anything interesting to talk about. I've seriously been considering adding a private area to this blog for all the juicy stuff I want to rant about. Password protected blogs lately have sort of got on my nerves. I don't mind the ones that once you log in, they just always remember you are logged in, it's the ones that constantly require you to fill out passwords. Gah. I've given up on most of them. Don't be upset about that any of you that have passwords, I totally understand why you have them. There isn't any need to defend your choice. It's just a pain in my rear to have to remember my log in name/password plus enter it in every time I want to read.

I'll never password protect this blog, but I am considering a private one that will require a password. Sometimes I just have things I want to rant on about or things from my past that I want to talk about or heck even things in my present. I certainly don't feel free enough on a public blog to do that. What do you think? If you made a private blog, would you even tell anyone about it or would you just write things out for yourself? I feel there is so much more to me than most people get to read on here and I think I'd let my regular visitors in. Oh whatever eh, I'm just rambling on and on now. I'm tired. Night.

Chunk monster

Here is a shot of Daniel engrossed in his video.



I got the biggest kick out of watching him from behind. Doesn't he look just like a chunk?

We had lunch with Doug's family and took the older kiddos to go see Harry Potter. All in all, another good movie, but I couldn't help coming away a little disappointed. So much good plot was missing for obvious time issues, but oh well. Worth going to see.

My hubby is avoiding me because I'm starting to itch and plan for a new home project that requires manual labor and money. Worse two combinations. Poor man. Do pity him. Oh and speaking of hubby...he actually slept in until 9'ish 'tis morning. I think it's probably the second time he's done that since we were married. I actually got to make him breakfast! Woot! Mind you I love having an early riser for a husband, it usually means I always get to sleep in.

First day of summer class for Daniel tomorrow. I can't wait to show off his new skill of crawling to everyone!! He actually pulled himself up and damn near out of the tub tonight! I was like crap Daniel, slow down dude. One milestone at a time please! We also caught him standing up on all fours with his butt in the air. That's also new for him. I also have noticed him watching me more and more as I speak or sing to him. I can tell he's working on his speech. Gosh, his birthday is next month...where does time go and why does it make me sad to have him grow up so fast?!

No good title today

We're heading to Doug's mother's place tomorrow for lunch and so she can babysit Daniel for us. We're taking the kids to see Harry Potter. We both enjoy the Potter series and have read all the books so far. Sarah is a huge fan. She's been watching the calendar and the Harry Potter website counting down the days for the movie to open. We were going to wait until Sarah's birthday on the 23rd, but I guess we're just as anxious as she is to see it (or more likely that I caved in because my husband bugged to go..blahblahblah).

I made macaroni salad and deviled eggs for lunch tomorrow. I'm hoping to pick up some chicken on the way and his mom is making sandwiches. It'll be a good chance to visit and we've timed it so Daniel should be awake. Last time we had the grandparents babysit, he was asleep, so we just put him in his stroller to finish out his nap. Well he woke up to a strange house and strange people. He was not a happy camper! Poor little guy.

Daniel has been so much fun lately. Just really happy and content. He's discovering a whole new world up on his hands and knees. It's so cute to watch him go from room to room (I know, I know...cute for now!) like a big boy! I got some baby proofing stuff today. Home Depot recommended a piece of carpet glued to the brick fireplace. Any weather stripping they have wouldn't stick to brick anyway and the stuff on websites is way too expensive. I really only want to protect him from it for a few months. I'm hoping whatever we stick on there will eventually come off. Problem with sticky adhesives, is they are usually meant to be permanent, so I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about it.

Anyone use a good chicken/turkey tetrazzini recipe? I found one that doesn't sound half bad, but it calls for dry sherry. I've looked in two different grocery stores for it and can't find it. I assume there is cooking sherry? I wouldn't really have to go to the liquor store would I? Anyway, share if you've got one you like. thanks.

Baby proofing

See the fireplace pictured below? It's the brick Daniel is pulling himself up on. I want to protect him from the edge of that brick...Any ideas as to how to baby proof it? He's definitely in explore mode, is there something that you use in your house to keep your baby safe that you highly recommend to everyone? Let me know. It's been a very long time since I've had to baby proof things. We plan on going out this weekend to get some stuff we need, so any thoughts and ideas you have would be helpful!

Big boy!

Not only is he crawling good now, but look what big boy did today...


He loves cords and cables (eek!) and he spotted his monitor cord up on the brick ledge in our living room, so up he went for it. That's the first time he's ever pulled up on anything. Once he realizes what he did, there will be no stopping that boy child! I'm so proud of him and am so relieved that he's finally moving around more!

I didn't even tell you all what happened to me day before yesterday. I had just gotten out of the shower. I had my robe on and was putting on makeup getting ready for work. This was about 11:30. Doorbell rings. Sigh! I ignored it, but the dang kids started yelling for me, peeking out the window telling me it's some workman. Well then the guy knocks on the door, so I knew he KNEW we were inside. Annoying. So I rushed through the living room and hopped the gate. Big mistake. My foot got caught on the gate and the spring action door released itself and I fell over it really hard. The pain in my foot was so incredible, all I could do was yell.

I was hurt pretty bad; I had Cody open the door. The telephone guy was pretty alarmed to see this woman sprawled out on the floor in incredible pain. I explained to him I just fell over the baby gate trying to answer the door. He was concerned and wanted to know if I needed him to call anyone. I reassured him that the kids would call someone if I need them to, for now I just needed to stay put and moan with the pain. I gave him the permission he needed to go into our yard for our neighbor's phone line and Cody shut the door. Then I cried.

If you've ever hit your funny bone (elbow) and had that painful tingling up your arm, well magnify that feeling and rush it up your entire body because that is what the pain from this fall caused me. I sat up and looked at my foot reluctantly. It was scraped a little, but bruising and swelling was happening immediately. I figured I broke it. I hobbled to the bedroom, told the kids I just needed to be alone for a few minutes. Daniel was still in his crib from his nap (obviously awake now from all the hollering in the house). Thank god I wasn't carrying him when I fell. The pain was so awful, I couldn't even stop or catch myself from falling. It just literally knocked me over.

I got into the bedroom, then the dizzy spells hit. I got really nauseous and tried throwing up, I crawled over on the floor to the bathroom, then I got really bad and had to yell for Sarah to come in. I managed to get up on the bed and I had Sarah write down my work number and told her if she couldn't wake me up to call that number. I was pretty scared. I really thought I was going to pass out. I was sooooooo sick to my stomach and dizzy from the pain, it was unreal. All I kept thinking about was if the kids call 911, they are going to find me here naked! That terrified me, so I crawled around on my floor to get panties and that made me even more dizzy. UGH just a bad scene for awhile.

After about thirty minutes I managed to call Doug and left him a message and after another thirty minutes, I was able to get out of bed. I went that night for x-rays and thankfully nothing was broke, but holy god that hurt like hell. To answer mom's question about "how's the foot?"...it's much better now, it has a pretty funky looking bruise on it, but the swelling has went down and now it's just sore. However, I think if someone was to step on my foot, it'd bring tears to my eyes. LOL.

Going, going....gone!

The boy child is officially crawling now. He started a couple of weeks ago scooting forwards by pulling himself, then he started pulling himself up on his hands and knees more and more and now for the past 3-4 days, he's consistently crawling up on all fours now. I'm so happy and proud of him! It's so cute watching him get around and it's about freakin' time too!









He loves getting into the gaming area and under our computer desks. Out in the living room area, he seems to attract to dog dishes and TV area. Go figure eh!

Maricar delivered her baby four weeks early last night via C-section. I'm so happy for her and her family. You can check her story out on her webpage in the side bar. It's been such an emotional roller coaster for them, I'm so relieved everything has worked out. It's hard to imagine just a few short months ago, her doctors were advising her to terminate the pregnancy due to complications and bleak looking future for baby...and just look at her now...holding her sweet little baby girl! I can only imagine how thankful they are that they made the right decision! Congrats Maricar and Jerry! You'll make wonderful parents!

Summer shit and movies

Doug says last night in bed "My vacation is over baby". Boo Hoo. He whines as if three weeks off isn't enough. Shithead. LOL My hours at work change starting today. I'll be mostly off every morning while he teaches, then I go to work in the afternoons. We talked for awhile last night about alternative options for childcare. I'm just not happy about the YMCA camp this year. Our original plan was Daniel will go to his school for two mornings a week for five consecutive weeks. Cody and Sarah will attend YMCA camp for two weeks starting out, then probably two more weeks pending on how the first two weeks went. We'd call on grandparents as needed and Justin would stay home alone (for two mornings only).

Well all in all, the camp option sucks. Sarah is too old this year for regular day camp, so we thought she'd attend Teen camp, same as Justin did last year. As it turns out, they aren't holding teen camp this year, so they are making all the older kids that sign up "camp leaders" to help out with the day camp. Well I'm sorry, there's something that bugs me about paying a hundred dollars a week for Sarah to be the gopher to lazy camp leaders.

She's not mature enough, nor responsible enough and it won't be long before she stands out as being different. The last thing Sarah needed was to be playing with six year olds. She needs to be around kids her own age. We have this problem with Sarah with everything she attends like this, she always flocks to young kids, never learning how to interact with girls her own age.

Anyway, I thought of asking someone I know to look after the three kids two mornings a week as opposed to day camp, then I realized this person also works the summers where Daniel will be, so that was out. What it boils down to is we only need help two mornings a week, so we're thinking about the City camp for $20/day. This camp sucks more than YMCA, but it's cheaper and has the option of paying by the day. So instead of $200/week + supply fees of $70 and monthly fees of $50, we'd pay $80/week. Even eighty dollars for just two mornings is pretty costly, but compared to the alternative option, we'll take it.

Summer childcare and lack of family around sucks. Back home in NS, I didn't realize how fortunate I was to have a neighbor friend who needed extra money and didn't mind looking after my kids while I worked full time at the law office. I sure don't have that now.

We watched the last Matrix and a movie called "In America". Well I had heard pretty good things about In America and it got pretty good ratings on imdb.com, so we thought "hey why not". I was horribly disappointed in this movie. I kept waiting for it to go somewhere, something to happen, instead it just trotted along with next to nothing for character development. Matrix was well?... the Matrix. Predictable and sucky.

What I did have to laugh at were the ratings for these two movies. Rated R for Matrix for some sexuality, you half expect some slim, but all you got was a cheesy bar scene that was over pretty quickly. In America was rated PG-13 for some sexuality and you get a three minute love scene that doesn’t leave much to the imagination and shows more flesh than matrix ever did. I guess the real difference is the violence, but geesh nowadays, why bother even rating that. I struggle between letting Justin watch Matrix or not for it's rating and cheesiness and I get up 'tis morning and he's watching In America. He say's "Dad said I can watch it". Oooookay. *scratches head*

Any good movie recommendations?