April vacation is breathing down my neck and things being what they are...

My girl is home sick with a fever, sore throat and mildly stuffy nose. Which, hopefully it will go away all on its own but, again, with things being what they are - it will morph into strep throat, but not until Saturday night after the doctor's office has closed for the weekend.

Plus, because I swore I'd never have another birthday party for my son after last year's lord of the flies behavior... he invited his three good friends from school to sleep over that night.
But, because my husband has a soft spot for my boy and his hockey friends there was a dilemma....because I? Wasn't having an eight boy sleep over.

So, in a stroke of extreme stupidity coupled with spinelessness genius we suggested two separate sleepovers...one for school buddies, one for hockey. Because the two? Do not mix well in groups. They take sides, they argue, they are passively agressively possessive of my boy, each trying to prove that THEY are the best friends the boy could have.

Two weekends in a row with sleepovers. Have I mentioned how much I hate sleepovers? Well, I totally do. Our house is small and there is just nowhere to go to escape. I rented some war games for the Wii and we're having pizza and....that's it so far. No other plans have been made, no party favors (save some gum) have been purchased. I need to do something about cake/ice cream/dessert.



In other news I went up the stairs two nights ago...my son had some horrific music blaring in his room and I figured I'd find him drawing or daydreaming. Instead he was totally engrossed....he was reading his social studies book about the Revolutionary War and the Jamestown settlement.

For this boy I would suffer any amount of sleepovers.

So, I was tagged by the Fairly Odd Mother...For five random things and five place I'd like to go. Personally, I think she was just sick of seeing the whole wounded knee photo, which, okay I totally agree.

The Rules:

Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
Share five random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog. Then,share the five top places on your “want to see or want to see again” list.
Tag a minimum of five random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment in their blog.

1. I cannot type 'blogspot' without screwing up. It's always 'blogsopt'. After almost four years you'd think I'd have gotten the hang of it by now, but nope. Plus I hate to type and even though it's partly my job - I'm not even good at it. And don't even care. I'll count it as a bonus that my bosses don't care either.

2. I used to cheat at the speed reading tests in seventh grade. Why? I have no idea. I read plenty fast enough but I wanted to beat everyone else and not just by five words. Or even worse, come in second. Oh, the horror.


3. Once, I called in sick to work and totally went to Martha's Vinyard for the day. By myself - with a beach towel, book and some sunblock. It was great until I couldn't start the rented moped, then I almost panicked and cried. Somehow, lord knows how, but I got it going again and cruised around Oaks Bluffs, half afraid to shut it off. I got over it quickly enough and spent the day reading and trying not to get a too obvious sunburn.

4. I love to plan trips. Or even just look at where we might go...someday. I'm totally a list maker when I'm getting ready... I cannot imagine how much I'd forget if I wasn't. Probably because I truly am a scatterbrain in real life but a smart scatterbrain that knows without a list we'd be bumming without toothpaste, socks and the cell phone. I love the whole process, well, except the packing.


5. My house needs to be vacuumed.

Five places I'd like to visit or visit again:


1. I guess I'd have to go with Alaska. I've been there, but don't remember it...And no, NOT a druken weekend gone wrong...I was born there and we moved before I turned three. I must've said this all before.


2. Game four of a Red Sox World Series...well...only if the Sox have won games 1-3. As an aside, Timlin isn't helping to make this dream location any sort of possibility with his ERA of 27.


3. What I really want to do in the next few years? Drive cross country. With the kids. Sick, I know...and there's no way my barely employed husband could ever take the summer off to come with us . Still, I want to do it.

4. I'd like to spend a few weeks on the Cape, in a house on the beach. Totally full of sand and smelling like sunblock and summer.

5. We'd like to take the kids out to some or one of the National Parks out west - Yellowstone, Glacier, Zion - I should start planning.

And tagging? I would and maybe I will edit this later on to include some random tagging but this post has sat in my drafts folder, half finished, for days now. Time to publish.

Why is it

that when the kids are watching a movie without me it goes by in the blink of an eye but when I'm sitting there with them, the movie drags on and on? Of course this is true for only crappy movies like Cars and such, but still. And no, I didn't like Cars. And yes, I do realize I'm in the minority.

My husband's team lost on Saturday, so the hockey season is done. Well, games are done...there's still ice time. I organized a big party for the team at a local camp/rec hall type of place and then I officially retired as team mom. *cue choir of angels*

On Thursday my boy accidentally tapped a water bottle against one of his teeth and if you have any idea of how our luck goes you'll be able to at least partly guess what happened next.

The composite part of his tooth? The fakey bottom half? Broke off and fell out of his mouth.

So, today? He got his stitches taken out of his leg and a new front tooth built. Plus he got a permanent filling where the root canal had been done. He's some kinda lucky ain't he?

And just in case you're curious, this is what the knee looked like the day after it happened:Click it to make it large...because gruesome details are much better when zoomed up big!

I haven't taken a photo yet of the stitchless knee...rest assured - I will. And then it will take me two weeks to post it.

How entertaining!

So. Having my husband home, while it weighs heavily on my mind (read: full blown panic hits the week after April vacation), it has been kind of handy. He gets the kids on the bus, folds laundry, vacuums, cooks - basically whatever needs doing. (Okay, so I have a wife??) Pluse he's available to take the kids to appointments and friends houses - so that I don't have to miss work. So, moneywise - sucks. Convenience wise? Awesome.

And lookey. We went from this:
Not bad, basic entertainment center type of thing. I hate the curvy scalloped thing on the bottom molding piece but otherwise, it fit the room exactly where we needed it to go. But then Christmas day, the TV goes kerflooey and they just aren't making 32", 150 pound televisions anymore. For shame. (Note the glowing Wii controllers on top? Love that Wii.)


And then, some graph paper drawings and measuring tape magic later..... I got this:

Handmade, exactly to my notpickyatall design requests (yes, the depth of the dentil molding really DOES matter.) by my guy.

We were pricing custom maple trim boards and I , I mean, WE decided that it would be cheaper to just buy the router pieces and design our own. I can't picture in my head the type of cut each bit will make so I have to draw the profiles myself. And to the fella that buys the box of whatever in front of the router bits at Lowe's? I didn't copyright those pencil sketches you're seeing all over your box of whatever, so feel free to duplicate.


My husband never, ever reads this. But if he did? He'd be all fired up because he'd find major flaws in each of these photos. Flaws I didn't and don't even notice. Well, except for the bottom, tiny picture. Because those puttied up nail holes? They make him crazy. And I posted that one on purpose.

So, if I were any kind of blogger I'd be posting about my son's injury (healing well, minor swelling, stitches out next monday)

or the impending hockey playoff season that has my husband making a promise that makes me cringe (if they win it all - he shaves his head. Or rather, my boy does it for him)

or the fact that his team finished in first place (first year coaching, very happy man, big BIG trophies for the kids).

Or maybe I'd post some pictures.

The newly constructed entertainment center. Note that I didn't say FINISHED entertainment center. *sigh*

or

My girlie's new toothless mouth. That has her looking more like a jucket than anything.

Or maybe I could do a meme.

Like the movie one I have in drafts

or the

4 x 4 meme that I've been seeing in a few places.


But sadly, I've been the worst kind of blogger. Lurking, barely commenting and never posting. There's been a lot of working seeing as I'm flying solo in my office now and a lot of sleeping (think 8:30ish p.m.). Lame excuses, I know. I KNOW.

But I am making progress, I mean, look at this lame post :)

Plus I uploaded a bunch of pictures yesterday...so maybe, just maybe I'll have something new here tomorrow.

But don't hold your breath.

In Stitches

The boy: Dad, can you throw the football to me and L. ?

My husband: In a little while...

The boy, grinning: Dad, it's Easter, don't you want to spend some quality time with us?

MH: Fine, but for TEN minutes only. And I'm only throwing...not playing.

TB: Awesome!

Two throws later....

Screams of pain coming from the backyard - my husband cradling my boy on the ground yelling at me to start the car and we need to go to the hospital.

Apparently, in diving for the ball my son landed on his knee square on a rock in the yard. Guys, let me tell you - I've NEVER seen a flesh wound quite like what he got. Gaping. From one side of his knee cap to the other. And so deep, it didn't even bleed.

Dudes. I saw flesh or tissue or something that SKIN is supposed to be covering.

My heart stopped for about five seconds, we covered his leg in a damp cloth and drove him right to the E.R. The boy was remarkably brave crying one minute and joking the next. He handled himself well until they started working...it wasn't pretty but he got it done. I think I will be haunted for awhile with a memory of my son, tears streaming down his face while he hangs on to his dad...and then he turns to me, eyes wide and says "Mom, I'm just so scared" Me too, baby.

Thirteen stitches in all. A huge dose of antibiotics being pumped into him daily (hello, MERSA) and he's got strict instructions not to run, bike or skate for the next four weeks. Which, the no skating thing? He cried and he cried. I'm sure he's not done crying about it but he's coming around.

So, that was our easter.

Honestly, I would've preferred boring but I'm sure in ten years, when he's showing us his scar we'll all have our own memories of this - his father with the guilt: "It was a bad throw" Me: "I can't believe his pants didn't even rip!" The girlie: "Mom and dad totally spoiled you that week" And the boy: "Dude, I saw INSIDE my body"

Easter, eh?

It's not exactly a favorite of mine - it seems like Thanksgiving. With a basket.


I don't even mind hiding the eggs or making the baskets. I just want to stop with the bunny already. But I can't - I worry that the rabbit and Mr. Claus are firmly linked in the psyche of my kids and to give up one would expose the other as a fraud. So. The bunny will come.

That being said - the tooth fairy really should've remembered to visit my daughter last night. She's sabotaging the whole damned thing.




We're trying to determine if my husband's/son's hockey team finished the season in first place. In doing so I find myself rooting against another team of ten year olds - hoping they'll lose(and lose badly...so we can get a lock on the goals against average too). There's a special place in the bad parenting hall of fame for moments like this.

Giant Time Suck

Click here.

And don't say I didn't warn you.

High score?

Thank you guys so, so much for your kind comments yesterday. I just want to spend my days on the couch with his big fuzzy head on my lap, scratching his velvet ears.

But I cannot.

And I cannot even think about it another moment because I'm liable to burst into tears.

So, then.


I signed my husband up to chaperone the gym activites at the yearly luau. The luau, that LAST year, had me crazy with the talk of dates and gifts and other nutso crap.

So, I sign my guy up thinking he'll just be watching the dodge ball game to make sure no one's pegging balls at the other kid's heads and as the guy who is most likely coaching the Middle School Hockey Team next year, we kind of agreed it would be nice for him to be known to some of the parents in town. (Our current hockey league is a mish-mosh of kids from six or seven different towns)

And then the emails start.

They need a chairman for the gym committee. Some guy steps up. Now, this guy is married to that lady. You know the one. Her name is in every school publication as having volunteered for this and that and she's also spearheading this committee and that fundraising effort and she's single handedly knitting book covers for all the curriculum books for first through third grade. Okay, that last one is a lie but she's that type - that kind of makes you gag.

Well, her husband? IS THE EXACT SAME WAY.

Oh, sure there'll be dodgeball but now there'll be volleyball too. In half of the gym. Two games.

But wait! There's more!

It's Survivor! There's going to be all these little mini challenges set up. And there's rules LOTS and LOTS of rules. About single round eliminations! And who to report the winners to! And the value of the prizes! And it's a surprise! Kids must NOT find out! And the adults ---hawaiian clothes, please! He has extras (of course he does!) to share with strangers! And come early! But don't bring your kids! It's a surprise!

Now, I realize that the vast majority of you don't know my long suffering husband. He's a good man and a great father. But. This may just push him over the edge.

Baxter went in for surgery this morning.

It turns out there's nothing they can really do for him.

The tumor is too large to remove, it's invaded the tissues.

He has, hopefully, a few months left.

4:45 a.m.

And I'm up. Actually we're all up.

Let's hear it for youth hockey!

Important Decisions

The Container Store? Or not?

Pancakes for dinner? Or French Toast?

Season Two of Big Love? Or My Sims on the Wii?


See? Ice fishing CAN be fun. For me.

When You've Got Snow Envy

Stay away from all of those Mainer blogs. Jiminy, they've hit the jackpot this year. We've had a lot, LOT of rain. Bore-ing.

My husband is headed up there this weekend and while they might normally snowmobile in to this particular camp...this year they've got to take the SnowCat in first.

So they don't sink or whatever. Who knows...they're men.

I'm taking the kids bowling. Where, last time we went, I scored a whopping sixty freaking four. And sadly...that was with the bumpers. The woman next to me was stinking just as badly and we both looked at each other and said "How can we be pro bowlers on the Wii and this is the best we can do?"

So, the Spiderwick movie? Stunk. I think the high point of the day for the kids was picking up the tickets at a real, live radio station . They had the kids record a little promo message so they could use it on the air...they're practically famous. I mean, there's got to be at least 250 listeners...

Anyway, free tickets to a crappy movie? Still not a bad deal.

But my lucky streak has apparently ended. We went to a parent's night for the hockey league and won NOTHING. We especially didn't win the $1,000.00 cash grand prize or the free year of hockey tuition prize. Oh no. My husband even left every dollar he had in his own truck (which, we drove mine) so he had to borrow money for drinks. So lame. But he didn't have to use the money because everyone bought his drinks all night - I told him that everyone loves a winner (we're currently tied for first place). We did go home with a tray of baked ziti though, so that's something, I guess.

My fuzzy son, Baxter, has yet another tumor. And because of his otherwise seemingly stellar health the vet has recommended that we have it removed. Needless to say, that grand stinking prize would've come in really handy right about now but it wasn't to be and so regardless my pup goes in for surgery on the 11th of March.

Tonight my boy goes to a checking clinic for hockey where he will bounce off the bigger kids (which, since he weighs a whopping 65 pounds - is basically ALL of them) like a little pinball, ricocheting all over the ice. He can't wait, the weirdo.

We have a winner!

So the other day I'm at work and the other employee (there are two of us, total) is listening to some local radio station. And by local radio station I mean small enough that it provides updates on what happened at the Board and Committee meetings of some nearby towns.

They ask some trivia question regarding Garth Brooks and Javelin throwing and I decide that we MUST win the tickets to see The Spiderwick Chronicles (even though both kids have expressly told me that they do NOT want to see it).

I google and have the answer even before the DJ has told us the phone number.

I call and being the obnoxiously fast and correct first caller...I win.

He calls me out on the google. Thankfully NOT on the air, because then I would've felt all kinds of guilty. But he laughs and tells me when I can pick up the tickets.

And so we're going tonight. The four of us have never been to the movies together. It's usually me and either both or one of the kids.

With my luck it's only two tickets as karma has a way of rewarding me swiftly and without mercy.

Have I mentioned my Blingo win? It's nothing too major but as a girl who just cheated to win tickets to a movie no one wanted to see, let's just say I like to win, shall we?

I've always seen the Blingo linkie on other people's sights and thought it was some online bingo thing. And since I've never been wanting to play online bingo - it went unclicked. And then Dawn. She won and she won big. I think she had a choice between a laptop or $750.00 cash. Come to find out the girl that she signed up from, well she won the same prize.

The blingo folks are all about the matchy matchy apparently. So I break down and click and find out it's a google powered search engine. Oh.

So I sign up and within a week I hit it small. A $5.00 Amazon gift card or a free movie ticket. I was way more excited than I needed to be. And if you want to make me happy? You'll all go click that little green button, sign up, win and shower me with prizes.

Sounds good, eh?

*knocks on microphone*

Anyone out there?

Yeah, so I've been not so much with the posting lately. And not so much with the commenting either.

Updates...

There's been a lot measuring and hammering and sanding going on around here. The husband is up to his ears on his yearly unemployment project. Last year it was a bed for the girl, this year it's an entertainment center. We hung the t.v. on the wall like some sort of hipster types and decided to just make something for all of the associated shit (hd box, dvd player, wii).

Dudes, that t.v. freaking wobbled every time the kids ran by and it was giving me a heart attack. Now it's totally attached to the very frame of the house and an earthquake would have a hard time shaking it down. Which is precisely the idea I was going for.

Oh, remember how it was just valentines day? And I mentioned a few posts ago about the son having a crush? Well.

The night before valentines day he asks me to take him out to get a card and/or some candy.

For her? I ask.

Yes, he says, for her.

Um, did you not just hear your father and sister leaving the house to go get valentines for school not two minutes before? And last week when I asked you if he needed anything? You told me no.

Yeah, but I just found out on the bus she's giving me something...can you take me?

Um, no. You'll have to come up with something from the house.

*Look of horror*

I tell him that he can just write happy valentines day on some card stock and wrap up a Reese's peanut butter heart with some ribbon. And he can leave it in his backpack so if she really does give him something, he doesn't hurt her feelings and he can reciprocate.

*look of horror* (because I suggested giving up the precious Reese's)

The boy complies. I cringe because, ugh.


He comes home the next day... and pulls a gift bag out of his backpack. It's red and valentiney looking. And then he pulls candy and more candy and MORE candy from the bag. All from K. And then a card. A grown up card with two people who've just made a footprint heart in the snow... that says "I'm so glad we found each other" on the inside. And says, Love K. And has her school picture inside.

*Gags* (that would be me)

I go down to the cellar/workshop to talk to my husband, to find out if he's seen the gift.

The first thing he asks me is if I've seen the bag.

The bag? I say...

The BAG he says. It's from Victoria's Secret.

*jaw drops to floor*

Really, what's her mother thinking?

Top o' the mornin' to yeh

Scene: My girl getting off the school bus.

Me: Hey there, how was your day?

Girlie: gooood.

Me: What's that near your eye? Were you crying? (Ready to scratch out eyes of girl whose been recently very mean to my beloved)

Girlie, feeling eyebrow... : Oh, that....

Me: Glue???

She proceeds to show me her clothes, covered with whitish spots and streaks...

Girlie: You'll never guess. Can you guess? Okay, I'll tell you. We did....(she inserts a dramatic pause here)

Paper McShea!


Love her.

So the last post pretty much summed up the Super Bowl. The Patriots going down in flames.

I'm going on record here as saying that I did my part. I wore the grey hoodie. I held the World Series popsicle stick. Which, as a testament to my illness, has held a place of honor in my kitchen since October.

Okay, maybe not a place of honor - being thrown into a little basket on top of the fridge with a ton of boxtops, sunglasses and Sox tops - but still.

It was all for naught as the defense let the game slip right out of their fingers, much like Eli slipped out of their fingers during that last drive. But at least the defense played 3.75 solid quarters of football, unlike the offensive line.

And who exactly was calling the offensive plays during the game? Because I'm hoping that they're losing sleep over their poor decisions.

This guy has a great bit on getting over the depression...

And this...my son had this on HEAVY rotation all of last week. Embed it on my blog??? It's embeded in my BRAIN. And it's all irrelevant now, so thanks for that, Flo Rida.




And to Blackbird - because I cannot reply to comments via email (is there a setting for that? It always gives me a bogus 'no reply' message...) - sorry. *hangs head in shame* I'm guessing you're not alone though and that you're not a compulsive gambler betting your mortgage payment or Middle's college tuition. At least I'm hoping your not. *crosses fingers*

Well. That Sucked.

At least baseball starts soon.

In which my son gets a phone call

A few weeks ago, the phone rang.

Private name, Private number.

We've got a friend who's unlisted, I thought it might be them so I answered.

Hi, is R. there?

Who's calling? I asked.

Kaitlyn.

Seeing the goof ball grin that my son got when I handed him the phone would've been infinitely more priceless if he was, say, 13 years old instead of 10.

Keeping my fingers crossed that she was just calling for spelling words or a home work assignment, I totally eavesdropped from outside his door. A lot of monosyllable replies on his end, but he had that same goof ball grin on the entire time.

After about two minutes he gets off the phone.

She had to go, but she's calling back, he told me.

Is she in your class? Was this about homework? (Insert silent prayer here)

Nope, I just know her - she's just calling to talk.

Again, the phone rings - this time he answers. The conversation centers around dogs and after four minutes (yes, I did TOO time it) I do the old 'drag a finger across the throat' motion so that he'll cut it short.

I've got to go and clean my room, he tells her (ahahahahahaha, as if) and says goodbye.

I ask him if he likes her, he says he does - that she's nice and she likes him.

I ask a few more questions and he answers me: she got our phone number from my nephew (which annoys me and will have to be dealt with), she's from another town, she's a good student - he thinks and her parents know that she called - he thinks.*

So, with little tiny birds singing cuckoo as they circle my head I lay some very general ground rules about the phone. I figure if the calling becomes an issue then I'll deal with it, if not - better to have not made a huge issue out of the whole thing.

She called one other time and left a message with her phone number. I told my son she called and that he should apologize for not being able to return her call until he gets into the eighth grade. He laughed and I have no idea what he ended up telling her.

There's a luau coming up at school. Last year the fifth graders had 'dates' to this thing. Ugh. Not happening. He can pretend, in his own mind, that he's got a date but there will be no shared rides, no corsages or little trinkety gifts (and yes, some parents let their children go down that road last year - in 4th grade). My husband will probably be chaperoning (they play a giant dodge ball game in the gym), which is great because he's a dad and it's good for him to see the boy in action at school. On the other hand, I'm pretty curious about this girl and want to go catch a glimpse of her. What to do, what to do.




*Red Flag: I can't decide what alarms me more...that her parents would allow her to call or that, if she's lying and her parents didn't know...well, then, the fact that she's LYING.

I guess then, on the alarm scale I'm going with lying.

We've returned from the land of ice rinks and zambonis. And we are still recuperating.

Hockey tournament (häk'ē tŏŏr'nə mənt) n. Spending the weekend with fifty people, some being your closest friends others being those you can just barely tolerate. Long hours at the rink, longer hours at the hotel pool. Dinner reservations for sixty. Bonding over your hatred of the cowbell mom or the airhorn dad on the opposing team. Spending how much on an emergency replacement stick at the pro shop?? Little rink rat sisters discovering, after four months of shyness, that they totally like each other. Too little sleep. Seeing the other team's parents at the hotel and trying to be civil because, just an hour before, they were cheering when one of their boy's tripped or cross-checked your son. Kids collapsing in laughter and chasing each other through the halls, the pool, the rink, everywhere.

It was a good time. The kids were great, the team played so, SO well. We went 3-0 and were the team to beat before losing 1-0, with only two minutes left, in the semi-final game. A heartbreaker to be sure.

In other news, um, there is no other news. I've spent the past two nights watching the first season of Veronica Mars and I've probably got two more nights to go...the library has me on a deadline. I'm totally hooked on the show, if you get a chance...watch it.

So, it's a few weeks past Christmas. Too late for the recap?

This year my husband and I agreed to forego any gifts between us. If the kids had a few things in mind for either one of us, we'd take them shopping. My husband ended up with work gloves and I?

Got this.
It's the same sweatshirt my man Bill is wearing up there in the header.

Except mine has sleeves.

Don't think I haven't been tempted to cut them off, though.








My mom on the sly. She must've snooped through my amazon wish list.

It's perfect for how I'm feeling right about now.

I just sketched some swirls the other day on a bag the other day and have been embroidering them ever since. Great inspiration, as I was feeling rather uninspired.





And this? A surprise gift from the country to the North. I REALLY want to try my hand at mittens but I'm such a novice...

A hat, maybe....

It also came packed with tons of candy canes, some patterns and a few other goodies.

So thoughtful Jen, thank you.



I was given this blanket by a dear friend about a week before Christmas.

She stuffed it into my hands as we walked out the door..."It's NOT a Christmas gift", she said, "Because it's not wrapped."

Um, okay.

Still, it goes on record as being the most used NONChristmas present I received. I love it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.



And with that, I'm off. There's a hockey tournament that awaits.

True Confessions

Last night was probably the highlight of this week. And what this says about me, I'm not sure I want to know...

I took girlie to High School Musical - On Ice. Because, hey - ice rinks - it's where we live.

It was *hangs head in shame* kind of awesome.

My kiddo loves these movies, she knows most every song and I'm totally on the HSM bandwagon with her. I find myself listening to the soundtrack in the car AFTER I drop her off at school. I know, I KNOW.

So last night it was all about ten dollar snow cones in souvenier cups (yes) and eleven dollar coloring books and twenty dollar programs (no and NO). But the songs, so catchy. And the cute little dances, so eff'in cute.

Even cuter was my girl who hugged me tight when they started their countdown and said "Thank you so much for bringing me here" and she clapped and sang at the top of her lungs and screamed like crazy when the skaters came out. Oh wait, that was me.

I'm kidding.

I didn't scream.

I have Pocklock to thank for wasting way too much of my time last week. I mean,

At start, no has lyte. An Ceiling Cat sayz, i can haz lite? An lite wuz.

and

An Ceiling Cat gotted all teh waterz in ur base, An Ceiling Cat hadz dry placez cuz kittehs DO NOT WANT get wet. An Ceiling Cat called no waterz urth and waters oshun. Iz good.

How could I resist?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I've been looking at the list of Oscar nominees and have just discovered that I want to see every single Best Picture nominee. Mr. Tumnus was excellent in The Last King of Scotland, I'm thinking Atonement will be good.

And I've heard nothing but good about Juno, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Haven't heard much great about Michael Clayton but I thought it looked watchable from the trailers.

I can't feel my hands....I'm Freezing At PeeWee Hockey

Tom Brady in a cast? You know what they say about the boy who cried wolf...or the coach that cried shoulder injury for the past three years, right? Even if it's true, who would believe him? But. You never know. And that's the whole point.

The son actually had a hockey game at 3:10 on Sunday so we missed most of the football game. Which, I have to say, youth hockey? Probably more exciting than the Pats game.

The other team was winning and with :55 left one of our boys broke through their both of their defensemen deked the goalie and tied it up. And with half a second left? Another one of our kids took the puck out of our zone on a breakaway but was caught and tripped by someone on the other team just as he was about to shoot - the buzzer was still going off and the other team was celebrating the tie (?) like they had just won the Stanley Cup - when the ref called the penalty shot.

The other team, in a move that shows how important coaching and parenting can be, threw up their arms, yelled at the refs and started slamming their sticks. Nice. They're nine and ten. Coach let the tripee take the penalty shot...he skated, stick handled and shot. Stuffed by the goalie. Ah well, a tie isn't a loss and there was no better way to end a game between two teams that are in a four way hunt for first place.

In other, more embarrassing news:

I've started watching October Road. I don't think it's going to stick but it's been three weeks in a row now and I actually waited to see what next week preview was before I left the room last night. Next thing you know I'll be tuning in to see Grey's Anatomy. Okay, no I won't be.

In General

I am pleasantly surprised by the fact that


1. The file cabinet that I assumed, for the last year, was locked? Is not.


2. I can do the split stitch, and it doesn't look half bad.


3. My husband's company just got word that, come March, they will be able to work for the federal and state governments again. Wheee! (The owner and VP are still in prison but the show must go on...)


4. After 35 years of hating tunafish...I actually like it. Solid white in water, only. With lettuce and Hellmans. Better on toast.


5. There are cute worker men right outside my window at work. Which is some feat, as I'm on the second floor.


6. I am better at not spending money than previously thought.

7. My four favorite christmas presents were things I didn't even ask for. There may be photos.

8. It's going to be eight degrees this weekend. Skating on Monday, possibly?

9. The Colts lost and the Chargers are crying and whining all the way to Foxboro. Again, it is going to be eight degrees this weekend. Cold enough to freeze Ladanien's tears?

10. I have tickets for High School Musical on Ice and totally forgot about them until yesterday. My girlie is going to flip.

I am so glad my work week is winding down. Yesterday was one of the WORST days I've had there.

Imagine, getting to watch a tape of a televised meeting while someone stands next to you, defending what she said and in defending it is heavy handidly trying to get you to agree and absolve her

See? That wasn't bad was it? I only said xxx because, wait, listen to what C. says now.

All the while we're watching this meeting and C. is getting the bum's rush from this lady...guess who's in the office next door? C.'s WIFE. Who I happen to like. Alot.

Plus, a co-worker quit as a result of that meeting. Leaving the number of office staff cut squarely in half. From 2 to 1. That one being me.

But I'm not going back there until next week and the hubub should've died down by then. There is much drama in the hockey group too but we are distancing ourselves from it all. Duck and cover. It doesn't involve us but we are being reported to by both bickering parties. Not fun.

BUT.

Somehow, with all this drama (we're not even mentioning the household finance dramafest of 2008) - none of it positive - I am positively okay. Chipper, even.

I'm trolling for a new crafty project, I've got a few ideas in mind but need to be able to get motiviated after the kids bedtime, which is proving difficult.

Not that I'm blaming Cesar Milan or anything but could that show be any MORE watchable?

Good thing I didn't resolve to post more in 2008, eh?

Things I am Enjoying:

These mints.

Inspector Jury mysteries by Martha Grimes.

Still watching this, season two has taken longer to reel me in. But! My husband, who never watches anything I do....he finally sat down and caught one episode. And then two and then four and then he said "Now I know why you don't bother with regular tv."

Spending too much time here. Go ahead, try to make just one.

We got a brochure in the mail for a hockey tournament in Canada. Not that we would go but I spent some time thinking that this place, with a group of 13 10-year old boys? Heaven. Just looking at the website - ICE SKATING TRAILS!- makes me grin.

2008 is the new 2007

I meant to do one of those year in review posts on New Year's Eve. And then, seeing as that didn't happen, I meant to do it yesterday. And seeing as THAT didn't happen:

2007.

I posted more than I did in 06 - so that was something.

January, was cold. Damn cold. Which, funnily enough - I love. And so do our friends. Also, I think this is when the mono started, reason number 765 why I love this blog.

February came and made me shiver, with every paper I delivered. Bad news on the doorstep...
Sorry, that's not me. But this is.

In March we were all about the hockey. When aren't I all about the hockey?

Probably when I'm all about the dog. April also saw the end of the daisy scout year. If you've been reading and wondering if the girlie signed on for Brownie scouts? That'd be a no.

May was fun - I had a birthday AND did a meme, multitasking at its finest and my husband's boss was on trial for federal highway fraud and conspiracy. See? Fun.

In June I unveiled my neuroses. Or neurosi? Never you mind, it's just one of many. I also tried my hand at embroidery. Embroidery with profanity.

I had some trouble with math in July. Well, actually that happens way more often than that but I was crafty enough to work it into the title of a post in July. And even though there was a slight delay, I was able to read my beloved Harry Potter in one sitting.

2007 was also the year of the root canal. Soon to be found on chinese restaurant placemats everywhere. In August he had his teeth rebuilt and looked like my boy again. I also met a very nice mamabear that month.

September brings school and more importantly football and even more importantly PATRIOTS football. And it turns out I needn't have worried about the MFY and my football wish, it freaking came true. Oh, plus we got a new addition to the family. I still can't believe I bought that thing in September.

October was the month of sleep deprivation and Red Sox obsesssion.

NaBloPoMo was fun, then it wasn't - I'm not a fan of commitments, even self imposed blog style commitments. It was easy and then not. There was a bit more Sox and a more than a few skimpy posts.

Do I need to recap a month that just ended two days ago? Yeah, I didn't think so.

The problem with working two part time jobs?

Sometimes you might forget that you didn't take New Year's Eve off and you might, y'know, forget to go in.

I was only fifteen minutes late - but still, it was hell getting out of those jammies.

I found my second batch of christmas cards, tucked away in the midst of various christmasy things. What do you think - too late to send them? Make out new ones that say "Happy New Year"?

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We have NO plans for this evening, other than a fundraiser/family skate. Well, we do have plans...games, popcorn and such - just us and the kiddos. I can't wait. I'm almost dreading the skating thing because it'll be hard to duck and weave the 'what are you doing tonight - are you going to the S. party? or the other S. party? or You'll be home? Mind if we stop by?

My husband has a hard time with the graceful declining of invitations and we sometimes end up exactly where we do NOT want to be.

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I have Wii-itis. My arm is aching. Tennis, golf, tennis, tennis, golf, tennis. We're loving it and my girlie? Who sobbed and sobbed on Christmas morning because she hated the Wii? She kicks our asses at bowling each and every time.


Oh and a public service announcement:

The HD thing, I can't find ANYTHING about it online, anywhere. The digital cable thing for 2009 is a definite - but as far as all HD in 2010? Nothing. I'm thinking Joe Q. Cableinstaller was misinformed.

More Meet the Family

The digital picture frame for my mom?

Huge, HUGE hit. Just in case, y'know, maybe you wanted to try it yourselves or something *looking in SP's direction*- total tearjerker, best gift of the night type of gift.


Here's my other grampy. My grandmother's second (third?) husband. Yes, there's a question mark because it's quite possible he was the fourth, one never really knows. Well, one sort of knows (first one: C from Maine, Second: G from the Cape, Third: C from Maine - again, Fourth: V from CT - there could possibly be another in the mix, identity unknown as my gram was in California for awhile and we have some pictures with a mystery man and I'm not totally sure she ever married G from the Cape, I'd have to double check) His reputation as a step-father to my mom is still in question but as a grandfather? He was everything you could want in a grampy - kind and snuggly and he would've spoiled me rotten if my mom would've let him, he used to call me his little plum.

I only remember bits and pieces...tons of phone calls during football games, a handkerchief full of diamonds in his shirt pocket, a different car every few months - always big cars, driven entirely too fast, the stuffed dog he bought me that I treasured for years, how he would go out to buy me vanilla ice cream when my grammy used to open her freezer and offer me the maple walnut that she always had on hand.

Funny, how when you're growing up you can think that EVERY grampy would have a trunk full of watches and jewelry and would let you sit on his lap and pick which teams you thought would be the big winners on Sunday. A bookie and small time fence, apparently. Maybe a little bigger than small time during some parts of his life...

If there's any chance there's a heaven I'm hoping he's there, I cannot wait to hear his stories...

Time sure does fly, doesn't it?


I can't believe it's already been a week since the attack of the kidney stone...


Without getting into too much detail, I will say this: After the initial excruitiating back/kidney pain...it felt like a shard of glass traveling through my system. And a shard of glass? It fucking hurts.


Okay, moving on.


There were many christmasy activities over the past weekend - a family party complete with the return of a favorite cousin (home from Iraq), a pajama party at my mom's where instead of a big dinner we opted for breakfast and pj's at five p.m. - very fun, christmas eve was spent alternating between fits of cleaning and cooking and totally vegging on the couch with the kids and a movie or two and then serving up dinner for eleven.

And then christmas....ah, christmas. Wii totally enjoyed it all. They opened their goods and were playing contently when we asked them, post breakfast, to start cleaning up or at least make some neat PILES of things. The Wii was in a regular cardboard box and I asked the boy to bring it downstairs as it must be full of rubbish.

Of course, it wasn't empty and when he checked inside he said as if he were discussing the weather "oh, it's not rubbish it's a wii." And then he screamed "A Wii!!" and started to bounce around. The girlie in the meantime, bursts into tears and is so sure it can't be for her too because she HATES the Wii (?? huh ??).


Super.


So, we cajole her into making the first Mii and she is hooked. We play a quick game of tennis and then start to bowl and guess what??


Can you guess?


The TV dies. Dead. Kaput. Kablam.


No amount of shaking it or banging it (I know, I know but it worked last time) helped and so wii were wiiless.

Until yesterday when we spent entirely too much money on a TV but seeing as the options are limited to expensive and MORE expensive we did alright.

Side note: All TVs will have to be HD by 2010 and guess how many nonHD tv's they sold? Four. Two in the clearance section and two in the 15-19" section. Not exactly great options. And one of those silly bundled packages from the cable company actually saved us ten dollars a month...

And the dreaded comcast guy came this morning (two hours EARLY) and set us all up so now I'm able to watch Mike Rowe in HiDef. Not to mention the Patriots.

Other places I've been

The local E.R.

The couch.

Some people get slippers for Christmas, some people get iPods.

I got a kidney stone and a vicodin prescription.

Yesterday, as I was leaving work I went from slight nausea to full blown excruciating pain in about fifteen minutes flat. Not a fun ride home. Apparently I was gripping the steering wheel a leeetle tightly because when I got out of the car my hands were tingling and going numb.

And then, a six hour stint in the ER complete with a Xrays and CT scans. Dudes, I have not EVER been in pain like this. I'm not a good vicodin taker...painkillers leave me queasy. The alternative though is sharp stabbing pain in my kidneys and a horrible ache in my lower back, so queasy it is.

I spent most of today sleeping, broken up with a bit of reading here and there. Mostly, figuring out how best to take the painkillers so my stomach doesn't flip every time I move my head too fast.

Naturally, being the weekend before christmas we've got family parties to attend and I'm supposed to be hostessing on Christmas Eve. Now we're just playing it all by ear...not committing to anything really. We can't. And you know what? I'm sort of liking it.

I did miss out on doing a few things, though. Returning the movie rentals, mailing the second batch of christmas cards, forgetting to pick up cinnamon hearts for the girlie's class...nothing too huge but my apologies to those of you who will be getting their cards after the big day and to my girl's class who had one less candy for their gingerbread houses today.

Well, I'm off to the couch. Or maybe the bed. Hmmm, the chair looks comfy.

Decisions, decisions.

Where I've been

The boy - who, it must be noted, tied his own skates. Cue the singing angels.

The girlie. Loving her step, step, lean on the stick and glide style.

I didn't think it'd be safe but somehow there's seven inches of ice in the cove and four to five where they're skating. It's kind of bumpy but my husband was the only one complaining. He was busy mapping out his week, trying to figure the weather forecast out - if there'll be enough cold weather to flood an area and have it freeze so that it's smooth during christmas vacation.

So he can hold practice for the team out there.

Sounds like he has too much time on his hands? Well, guess what....he totally does.

He got laid off this week. Sort of. It was the whole, maybe we'll shut the job sites down. Maybe we'll still need you next week, maybe maybe maybe.

And so, because he's not good with the leisure time, he was all pissed because he needed to call the dreaded unemployment office at 7:30 a.m. and not, and I repeat NOT at 7:36 a.m.

Apparently there is a glut of unemployed slackers waiting until 7:36 to call but if you are motiviated and make the call earlier - less hold time.

Why was he pissed? Because I assumed he would take the son to the bus stop (he was dressed, shoes and all) and could make his phone call six minutes late. God forbid he spends forty minutes of his day on the phone when that is the ONLY FREAKING THING he has to do in the six hours the kids are at school. Oh, and plus while he was trying to call I got a little snarky and may have said something like this while he was dialing:

If you're a control freak with too much time on your hands, press one.

If you think calling six minutes late will dent your free six hours, press two.

Can I still pretend I don't know why he got mad?

And so he calls. And the office doesn't open until 8:30 a.m.

*jenny marks her invisible tally board*

score one for me.

Rest assured, we squabble, we forgive and forget. We don't dwell. Well, most of the time anyway. Plus, last night, when we ran out of pretzels during our chocolate covered pretzel making frenzy...he went out to get us more. See? Nice guy. Really, he is.

Wednesday

I didn't want to post about it before it happened...I didn't want to jinx us.

The root canal fiasco of 2007 is done. Over. Finis.

We finally found the perfect endodonist. Perfect, in that he scheduled a two hour appointment so that he could administer the Novocaine well timed shot by well timed shot. All the while the son was so relaxed on his valium/nitrous cocktail - but never once was he even a little bit 'out of it'.

No palatte Novocaine shots. No, at this point, unnecessary root canal on the other front tooth.

Things are good.

Good but hectic.



I found a pie plate in my purse after I got into work today.



Empty. But still...wtf?



And I found the perfect little gift for my plant loving boss.

Which, I would totally thank bb for the link but it's from a store that doesn't ship to the U.S. and why is she teasing us like this? Nevermind that I am totally and completely ignoring the fact that they're sold out of this item.

And Em, blogless Em...with her Brookstone slide to digital machiney mention. You are killing me. THAT is what I want for Christmas.

I bought my parents a digital photo frame for Christmas. Usually, before I buy anything electronical I google the heck out of it, reading reviews and such.

This time, I got up at three thirty in the morning, stood in line at Kohl's and Target and came away with this frame. Kind of a waste, but funds being what they are this year, not entirely bad either.

Anyway, my bright idea was to load a bunch of kid photos into an SD card (a SD card?) and have at it. But the loading? To the card? Not as easy as I thought. At least for the first hour.

*sigh*

Then I remembered the trouble I had with the iPod last Christmas and I tried the supersecret USB port on the back of the computer and whammo. Instant success that only required a restart of this dinosaur.

But by last night my grand plan had changed. Why not scan a few (or maybe a hundred) photos and load those onto the card too? So without further ado...meet my family.

My grampy

Grammy

Their wedding photo. You'd never guess he was a lumberjack with a second grade education would you?

My mom and my aunt, her little sister. With my grandmother's pets - a mean ass chihuahua and a monkey. A monkey that she dressed in Ken (or some other male doll) clothes. As a kid I had all these hand me down ken clothes with holes in the butt. For the monkey's tail.

Me. With my momma.

I have to say, I only quickly went through my mom's albums when she wasn't at home and grabbed what I thought would be good. Now I want to go back and grab them all. There are tons of photos of my gram especially. I haven't gone through my kids baby albums yet (which I'm going to start off scanning just what I want for the frame) or the ones of my dad but this is like an addiction. A worthwhile addiction.

Like chocolate. And Peggle.

Good Morning

My morning so far:

Breakfast for three (five if you include the pets)

Get one boy off to school. He's easy peasy in the morning - hardly a complaint and does alot of it without my nagging reminding. O

Feel slightly guilty because he's feeling kind of crummy but he's got my cell phone number so we'll see how it goes.

Get the girlie's clothes together

(why doesn't someone ANYONE put the laundry away?) rhetorical question. no one is here to listen to me whine.

Look in the eaves for gifts that are going back to the store (wrong size)
Look in the cellar for gifts that are going back to the store (the boy's too young for The Golden Compass)
Repeat both steps, as the Barbie I bought on a whim is so not needed and where the hell is it?

Give up hope of finding Barbie and move on to making sure the girlie is brushing her hair.

Remember where Barbie is. Move half the cellar to access the Barbie.

Curse.

Bring all returnables out to the car. It's teeth chattering cold out there, why am I barefoot???

Return to cellar, where woodstove is cranking out the BTUs by the gazillion. Oh, yeah this is why.

Listen to one last run through of Cat in the Hat book report. Nice work, girlie.

Run upstairs, get a stray receipt, check a blog or two.

Is she brushing her teeth?

Will she want to buy the mystery lunch? (only a mystery because I lost the lunch menu)

Post.

8:43 a.m.

Y'know what I hate? Those ridiculous political commercials where, say, Mitt Romney is blabbing all these wonderful things about how he can improve America and how, basically - he's awesome and then he says "I'm Mitt Romney and I approved this message."

I mean, no shit. You were the one talking during the entire commercial, fool. Is your opponent going to spend their precious dollars to make you look good? Um, no.

Idiots.

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I got an eighty dollar AMEX gift card for switching the office phones to Verizon. Actually, it came to the business but my name was printed on it so the boss gave it to me. And this time? No groceries.

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I'm totally tired of the kids wanting to buy each other gifts with my money. I told them they could spend some of their own (as if!) or make things. So now, obviously, there is making going on. The boy is going to build a Webkinz bed and is repainting his old treasure chest and the girl has made a pencil cup, so far. There is much whispering and hiding of key things. Am loving it.

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Remember how he found the whole Christmas List, with the Wii? Well, we must've convinced him that what he saw was actually MY wish list - for things that they've mentioned or things that've crossed my mind this past year. Because now that I've already bought the Wii? He asked for XBox 360. Freaking perfect. Although, I could probably sell it on Ebay and earn more than enough to buy the XBox...

I'm so not doing that.

I guess I like to think of myself as a motivated slacker. And no, it is not an oxymoron. I tend to rush around, get everything done so that the thing I have to look forward too?

Slacking off.

Precisely the reason 99% of the presents have been purchased, the tree is up and decorated, the cards are in their envelopes awaiting labels and all 250 pictures I ordered from Shutterfly were put neatly into their photo albums within an hour or two of delivery.

I anxiously await the evenings where there are no commitments and my biggest decisions cover topics like

The Patriot's blanket or Snowflake blanket?

Cloud pajama pants or Plaid?

Knitting or Gameboy?

Reading or a movie?

Vanilla Chai or Hot Chocolate?

Basically my game plan is to do as much as I can early on so that the majority of my evenings are spent making those big decisions.

In other news:
What do I get my boss for Christmas? I can't afford to spend too much but I hateHATE baking so cookies are out. He has a wicked green thumb and likes tractors and farmish stuff. Please, suggest away....

I know how most of you feel about Rachel Ray and I have just jumped on the bandwagon. Gawd, those Dunkin' Donuts commercials make me want to pull her flat ironed hair. But, her Italian Sub Stoup? Yumm-o.

Heh.

Really though, it is good. And it's my lunch today. Although, I'm sure none of you care.

y'know I did plan on REALLY posting tonight, but the son had a meltdown because my husband asked him for help unloading some firewood and I was just plain tired so I fell asleep and when I awoke?

11:52.

So, in a nutshell? Did I love NaBloPoMo? Hard to say. I mean, it lit a fire under my ass and made me post - which some days I totally needed. Other times posting when I've got nothing much to say? Not easy. And sometimes I just plain forgot until - quite literally - the eleventh hour.

So - we'll see you in December. Which is in like, two minutes.

I am skimping on the posting again for today. Our friend keeps hoisting his war movies on me and for whatever reason I am compelled to watch them. Also, it gives me an excuse to stay still and knit, so there's that too.

See you all tomorrow, where we will celebrate the end of the BloPo with much fanfare.

or not.

A random household meme.

From Pocklock.

What kind of soap is in your bathtub right now? A blueberry/vanilla mix from Sundrop Soaps. And some dial for the other people in the family.

Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? Nope, although I probably should check.

What would you change about your living room? I'd make it a little bigger if I could. I'm sort of limited when it comes to switching furiture around. The TV/Entertainment center thing can only go in one place.

Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty? Clean, I turned it on this morning before work.

What is in your fridge? Hopefully not watermelon. Otherwise the typical: milk, eggs, cheese, cool whip, ketchup...the usual suspects.

White or wheat bread? Wheat. Not split top - yuck. And white only if it's 'sandwich' bread. I don't like that flaky top crust on regular white bread.

What is on top of your refrigerator? Box Tops, Sox Tops and quarters for milk money. And a basket with sunglasses, winning scratch tickets and walkie talkies.

What color or design is on your shower curtain? It's purple, green and off white plaid.

How many plants are in your home? Live? NONE. I'm not a fan of live plants. I do not want one more living thing counting on me for survival. Fake? Four. Three small pots and one fakey ficus. Oh, this weekend there'll be the christmas tree but I'll have that dead in less than a week probably.

Is your bed made right now? Halfway, the covers are all pulled up but since the dog sleeps on it sometimes while I'm at work I'll neaten it up when I get home.

Comet or Soft Scrub? Soft Scrub with Bleach!

Is your closet organized? I just redid my linen closet. So I'll say yes.

Can you describe your flashlight? We have, um, a TON of flashlites. Drab green coleman styles, a black grippy one, two blue ones with a folding gizmo so they can stand up...and yes there is more but I'm not bothering...

Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home? Glass. My favorite McDonalds Disney glasses to be exact. I'm not a particular fan of either Disney or McDonalds but too bad, my answers don't have to make sense.

Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now? No, pink lemonade.

If you have a garage, is it cluttered? No garage. A shed. A very neat shed that will soon be home to all of the wrapped christmas presents.

Curtains or blinds? Both but wooden blinds in the kitchen and bathroom and lineny type of things in the living room. And pull down, room darkening shades in all of the bedrooms.

How many pillows do you sleep with? Two.

Do you sleep with any lights on at night? Just one downstairs in the kitchen. I hate light when I'm trying to sleep.

How often do you vacuum? A few times a week.

Standard toothbrush or electric? Standard. But I keep two or three in rotation.

What color is your toothbrush? Toothbrushes, plural. Blue and Purple.

Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch? Yep.

What is in your oven right now? The cast iron pans.

Is there anything under your bed? Clothes and two duffel bags.

Chore you hate doing the most? All of them. But if I have to pick I'd say putting away the laundry.

What retro items are in your home? Retro is just another word for old, right? Or is it new but an oldish thing? Let me know.

Do you have a separate room that you use as an office? Hah. Um, no.

How many mirrors are in your home?4.

Accidentally deleted this question...too lazy to go back and look it up...

What color are your walls? Living room? I can't remember but the trim is potter's clay. The kitchen has some rusty gate, I think. The boys room is blue and red, the girl's room is a light purplish blue, our room is a light drab green....

Do you keep any kind of protection weapons in your home? Why do you ask? Wanta take your chances?

What does your home smell like right now? Woodstove.

Favorite candle scent? Buttercream

What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now? Probably sweet gherkins. Not for me though, I rarely eat pickles but when I do...zesty dill.

What color is your favorite Bible? Huh?

Ever been on your roof? Yes.

Do you own a stereo? yep, two.

How many TVs do you have? 3 but only two are connected to cable, the third is gamecube only.

How many house phones? 2

Do you have a housekeeper? Sure, I do. ME.

What style do you decorate in? Whatever I like.

Do you like solid colors in furniture or prints? Solid, most definitely.

Is there a smoke detector in your home? Of course, and they all work - why take chances.

In case of fire, what are the items in your house which you’d grab if you only could make one quick trip? We'll just assume the kids, husband and pets are already safe. Then I'd go for the portable hard drive and baby books.

I'm tagging blackbird because she loves to be tagged *cough*weirdo*cough* and I don't know if I've ever tagged her for anything, ever.

Dudes, i am out of material so all you get is hockey and a movie review

Alternate title? Think long and hard about signing your kiddo up for hockey, a week in pictures.

Saturday: An evening hockey game, where our team fought their way back to a tie. The other team's website called my son's team a powerhouse. It makes me giggle, I mean...they're ten.

Sunday: Eight a.m. practice. I stay home with the girlie, enjoying the sleep-in. Photoless.

Monday: My mom runs a big fund raiser dinner for her employer and the guest speaker? None other than Cam Neely.
So the boy got to enjoy a dinner out and hob nob with a hockey VIP. Are those meat hooks or hands? My son said he seemed like a really nice guy and felt bad that he had to answer questions from people who were more concerned with the health of Patrice Bergeron than Cam's Neely House. Oh, and there was a practice that night that my son missed.

Wednesday: Skate with the Bruins. What I thought would be just a quick free skate with a few rookies turned into a super crowded event that featured one rookie and one superstar.

Meet Phil Kessel. Cancer survivor, excellent hockey player and hero of my boy. Damn, he's cute too.

Saturday: An evening game after spending the day in your pajamas. Ugh, how the poor kid got motivated I'll never know. He's the one in the white helmet. Oh, we won and are *whispers* still undefeated .

Sunday: There was a seven a.m. practice. And hell would have to just about freeze over for me to go to one of those just for the fun of it, so no pictures.

The team was signed up to play the other Squirt B team in our organization. The game was in Providence at the Dunk (where the Providence Bruins play and right before one of their games). It was only for bragging rights but still my husband was glad to see his team pull off the win. Seeing these pictures makes me realize just how bad the lighting is in virtually every other rink.

Providence Bruins game. Where the kids sit together and act like typical nine and ten year old boys, i.e. stealing each other's hats, sharing popcorn and screaming like lunatics every time the players threw down their gloves for a fight.

Monday:
Hockey skills. I don't usually go as it turns to social hour after the kids are off the ice and we get home entirely too late for a school night.

And done. Granted, there were some extras in there that usually aren't (Cam, Phil Kessel) but it's a slippery slope people....

Movie Review:
Ratatouille. Meh. Started off pretty good and then got way boring. Don't bother.

I do not have long here...my laptop is a dinosaur and it's battery is on the verge of extinction.

I was so looking forward to a quiet night with the girl (the boys had hockey skills) and I found myself with one of those 'it hurts to blink' type of headaches. Sweet girl that she is, she made me a card and used about four tons of stickers on some other project while I curled up on the chair and tried to sleep. And then she rubbed my back.

I love that child.

A knitting question: I'm making a scarf (stockinette stitch)...I want to add stripes. Does it matter if I start the next color on a knit row or a purl row? Anyone?

And no, the fire place wasn't lit. No roasted duck. Apparently, though, it was dark when they came home and the man approached the fireplace with a flashlight and was nearly scared to death when the duck hissed and pecked his beak hard at the glass doors. They called the neighbors and got some crab nets and somehow managed to get a hissing, flapping, pissed off duck into one net, cover it with another one and run it outside. I still laugh when I picture it...

The boy's recent YouTube history:







and no, he does NOT know what "orgasmic" means.

Okay, so when you fall asleep snuggled and warm in bed with your little girl and then you wake with a start and think...I've gotta post. That's exactly when NaBloPoMo sucks the worst.

Some random for y'all:

Do you put those single clear bulb candles in your windows during the holidays? Electric or Battery? And how do the cords look on the INSIDE of your house? My outlets are not anywhere near my windows in most cases and while I'd love to quit with the batteries I worry about how much more I'd hate the cords.

Am loving the Thomas' Cranberry English muffins, with homemade blueberry/raspberry jelly.

I'm reading The Subtle Knife (a sequel to The Golden Compass) and while I'm enjoying it, a line about cutting off children's sexual organs kind of makes me wonder about finding it in the 'independent reader' children's section at Borders.

We've spent the vast majority of the last two days in pajamas and sweatpants alternating between gameboys (pokemon ruby for me and emerald for the boy), movies (transformers), barbies, knitting and reading. Perfection.

Not cooking on Thanksgiving leaves you with no leftovers. And dinner time hockey leaves you with no opportunity to cook a smallish version. I'm jonesing for some soup.

Getting out the door to go Christmas shopping at 3:20 a.m. is just way sick. On the other hand, I only have four things left to buy and I know exactly what they are.

I always wonder what I'm missing when I meet those people that everyone says, "Oh, you'll love A. she is SO nice" and then I don't really like them at all. And don't find them particularly nice either.

We bought the kids those winter jackets that zip apart so that there's a fleece liner and a windproof shell. My daughter lost her fleece liner part the first week she had the jacket. *sigh*

My son sat on my lap during his friend's hockey game today. He's ten and is sometimes allergic to me, so it was doubly nice. He also explained the term 'odd man rush' and showed me some examples during the game. He then rolled my eyes at my newly coined 'even man rush' and told me to pipe down before a hockey dad heard me.

A friend of ours had a duck fall down their chimney and into their fireplace.

I've been up for nearly twenty four hours.

I shouldn't have had two glasses of coke at ten p.m.

So many good suggestions about the teeth.

A few things -

He pretty much has a full on panic attack. I really believe that he thinks he can go through with it and according to my husband he WAS going through with it until he saw the needles. He doesn't just have us get all the way up there and refuse to cooperate, it's deeper than that. He knows he has to do it. But he's ten year old very healthy child and the whole serious infection thing? He can't wrap his brain around it. He may need pharmaceutical assistance. Which brings me to this...

We have been warned away, repeatedly, from having his root canals done by an oral surgeon. Apparently it's not a procedure they perform regularly and it would be a hell of a thing to go through all this and have what's left of his teeth even more damaged. And so goes the general anesthesia. Endodontists do not, at least not around here, do that. The last guy told me that it's risky to have them under, with the tube going down their throat while they are doing so much work in their mouth and so it's not something that's generally practiced in the U.S. (He's from South Africa, where it IS something they practice and this guy was telling me how unwise it is)

So. No sleepy.

And they don't do that contious sedation for anyone under the age of 18. So none of that either.

And strapping him to a chair? My stomach turns at the thought. Plus, for a root canal - stillness is key. And you can bet he wouldn't be still. And the mental picture of all of this raises my mamabear hackles.

The mean route? Honestly, I'm so apathetic at this point I don't know if I have the wherewithall (sp?) to even be mean. Well, I do but the problem is this...he knows, now, that he has the power to just rip that spit thing off his neck and get out of the chair and the endodontist won't touch him. Which sucks.

I haven't done the bribery thing, really yet. I may. Oh, wait. I did tell him if he did the root canal thing I'd let him buy a certain song for his iPod. Cheesy? Yes. Will I up the stakes? Probably, but not yet.

The latest and greatest guy, who we will see on Tuesday, can give him valium in a pill form first. He's gone this route before, with liquid valium, it didn't work but maybe this time we can up the dosage or hell, I don't know...our options are so limited and the finances of it all looms large. Children's Hospital in Boston may be able to help us but last I checked there was a three month waiting period and no one was even willing to give us a referral to get us in earlier. Maybe with the abcess...

I am sick of teeth.

As, I bet, are you.

This is what you get when I do NaBloPoMo.

Anyway, happy thanksgiving! hope you all enjoyed your turkey, your families and your football.

Day Twenty.

Done and done.

Be back later, if we're in by midnight.

So the root canal thing? A complete bust.

I leave work an hour early, my husband two hours early we drive forty minutes....

Only to have the boy jump out of the chair and throw the little spit catcher cloth from around his neck and onto the floor at the first sign of the novacaine needle.

Which, actually isn't true. Not the first sign. First they did the topical on his gums, let it set, explained the whole numbing procedure, answered his questions and THEN he freaked.

Can I tell you how long it took me to find an endodontist that uses nitrous oxide? There are only a handful in the entire state. And now, how it's an emergency because the nerves are dead and one has abcessed. And how much reassuring and discussing and hand holding and hugging we've done for the boy this past year. And how none of it worked. And how I have literally NO idea what to do next and how the doctor had NO suggestions for us except to stress how important it was to get it done? And how, even though I know, I KNOW this is a huge deal for him I'm not really feeling all that sympathetic right now? And how I'm kind of embarrassed by the way he carried on? And how we are totally out of dental insurance? Can I tell you all of that?

Please?

It just snowed!

Hurray!