Elf!
Sprite!
Elf's amazing ninja tail!
And now, Esperanza's fabulous giraffe designs for Mini Baboo's party!
THE pinata!
And also, the cake.
And now, for the snow, from Liz.
Snow outside.
Snow from the inside out,
which looks EXACTLY like a famous painting of a dancer.
And the award for a fabulous neighbor,
who used his snowblower on sidewalks and driveways up and down the street,
for the betterment of mankind.
This is a pretty happy start to the week! What's new out your way?
68 comments:
What a great way to start the week!!! Thanks kathy a!!
I'm off to do a few errands, then an appointment, but will check in later.
Fun pictures, Sue and Esperanza! Esperanza, you are SUPER CRAFTY!!
Loving all the pictures! Liz, the amount of snow is simply incomprehensible.
W: so. tired. Took forever to get off the couch this morning.
AW: have started the millionth load of laundry, cleaned up birthday party detritus, tidied the kitchen and taken a very short walk around the block.
W: still have many things on my list. Some of them will get done. Some will not. I'm ok with that.
W: my cough got so persistent and my chest so tight, that I fired up Betty the Pig nebulizer and helped myself to some of Sweet's Albut3r0l for the past couple of days. It really does help, but man it is like drinking ten cups of coffee in ten minutes. The jitters last for about 30 minutes after it's done. I don't feel bad otherwise, so I'm not inclined to head to the doctor at this point.
AW: I lazed around in bed all afternoon yesterday, and Mr. E took over with the Baboos. He even oversaw a painting project.
Oh, and don't be too impressed with the cake. It involved a google search for "giraffe coloring page," printing it out, cutting around it. Tracing it on the cake and filling in the icing. Not very crafty. I will take credit for that pinata, though :)
Esperanza, you get full credit for both. Smart idea about the coloring book giraffe; but you had to do it in the cake/frosting medium. Yay for Daddy E!
That nebulizer med really does work! And yeah, about the jitters. (I remember a couple times with my son when the ER pumped him so full of the stuff that HE DIDN'T EVER WANT TO SLEEP AGAIN!)
Running an errand at the pharmacy, a neatly dressed but poor older man in a wheelchair asked for money for food. And then I noticed his new hospital bracelet, and it turned out he needed $7 to refill his inhaler. Maybe I'm a chump, but he wheeled directly into the pharmacy, and maybe a few bucks made somebody's bad day more decent.
I figure I'd rather err on the side of helping someone, rather than not. Well done.
My daughter's off on Mondays, and today -- major loads of laundry, plus I hear her moving stuff around her room, cleaning things up and organizing. Yay! She's on the road out of teh blues.
Well done on coming down on the side of generosity.
Our school system called yesterday to cancel school for today and tomorrow. Called today to cancel school for Wednesday. There's an information session at the local HS scheduled for Wednesday evening for rising 9th graders(!!), no word on the re-scheduling of that.
Hard to get your ducks
in a row, while shoveling
snow. This too will pass.
Muffin Man made a wee little snowman. You can see a picture of it on the book of visages.
Lovely pictures, everyone! And I'm glad you are all getting dug out after Snowzilla, Liz.
Esperanza, that idea for using a colouring page to trace a picture for a cake is brilliant! That would not have occurred to me.
W: potty training stubbornness. We've gone from dry diapers all day (more than half a year ago) to diapers all the time. I know we're still half a year away from preschool, but I'm getting nervous. (The only requirement for preschool entrance is that they're potty trained. And I need to apply/register right away!)
Brilliant cake idea, esperanza!! You are amazing. Sorry you're feeling tired - not surprising I suppose after the week you had. I'm glad you got a bit of a break on Sunday afternoon.
That's a lot of snow, Liz. And a lot of snow days. Wow.
kathy a - good call helping the gentleman at the pharmacy. You're good people.
QWP - sorry about the potty woes. :(
QWP, register now. Give your sweetie a couple of weeks more to settle down at your new home. There's been a lot of upheaval! Then buy 4 huge boxes of diapers and the book potty training in less than a day and before they arrive from Amazon, you will have a potty trained child. Why? Because that's how it works.
Liz on iPhone
My kids both completely turned the corner on pullups / potty issues by the time they turned 3. It helped that they were in a home day care situation, and seeing progress of other kids. But I think they also decided that 3 was so grown up, and they were ready. ymmv. I agree about registering for preschool -- and also that this big move, while happy, is also the kind of stress that can put a routine back a bit.
Pixies, we have sunshine!
W: still so tired. Neither Baboo slept well last night, so neither did I.
AW: bloggy meetup today, which was great fun
W: obviously still tired, because I forgot we were supposed to go for Mini's well child checkup after school. The little sneak remembered but didn't tell me, because she was afraid she would get a shot. I remembered in time that we were only 15 minutes late, and they said come anyway.
AW: No shots after all. All is well. 50-75% on both height and weight.
So happy about your bloggy meet-up today. So fun!
I'm glad Mini's check up went well too, despite her efforts to avoid the whole thing. :)
W: Meeting tonight.
AW: As I was leaving for said meeting, the garage door in our building decided to give up the ghost, so I couldn't get my car out. First time in 8 years it's not been in working order. I had to stay home (the meeting was at another church, too far to walk). It wasn't an important meeting, so it's no big loss.
AW: Said door is now fixed so I can go to work tomorrow.
Yay, for the bloggy meetup!
Darn about missing the meeting, Sue. ;)
I guess I knew vaguely of genetic testing available to the public, although I never knew why anybody would want to do that. This is an area where professional guidance is needed, and there are a lot of factors weighing in when X anomaly turns up. And if there aren't problems, why worry? IMO.
Well. Somebody turned up in a different sector of my online life who got her whole family tested, and there's an anomaly, and she doesn't want to see doctors or a genetic counselor because apparently getting long term care insurance is the priority. But she is grilling everybody endlessly about this disease that might happen, in lieu of seeking professional advice. DON'T DO THAT. That is all.
Or, to put it another way: Dr. Google is not a good substitute for professional care.
Dr. Facebook is even worse.
Dr. Facebook tries to sell me miracle diets, super cures, how to be a millionaire, and sexy new incontinence garments. Pffffttttthhhhh.
AW: My payment got approved! No this-n-that about the request not quite measuring up! This is not big fat happy news in many sectors, but I work in the land of harrumph, where anything can happen.
AW: Ms. Polly the very shy elder cat continues to sleep with me at night, all snuggly-like. (As long as I keep the face and hands at a safe distance. A girl's gotta have standards, I guess.)
Agreed - Dr. Go@gle is unreliable, as is the book of faces.
Yay for getting paid, kathy a!! Aw, happy Polly :)
AW: So proud of our Prime Minister (again). On the Canadian version of the Vi#w (only with nice hosts you don't want to punch in the neck) - the whole hour was devoted to discussion on mental health. The PM was on the show for ENTIRE hour, speaking candidly and honestly about work that needs to be done in workplaces regarding support for employees with mental health issues.
Sue! That is so wonderful about the PM. I like your guy!
I like your guy, too, Sue. Wishing we had a person I liked as well.
W: It is 9:30 pm local time. Mini is still not asleep; in fact, she is still going strong.
AW: at least I got a nap this morning. I also had a lovely day of doing not very much while the Baboos were at school.
W: math homework.
AW: special ed teacher for Sweet is the most wonderfulest person ever.
Re: math homework. This was nothing complicated. Straight up addition, 8+5 for example. She can't do it without getting out the beans and literally counting them. And then she miscounts probably a third of the time. Subtraction is somewhat easier, conceptually. I'm kind of at a loss.
If she needs the beans today, one day she won't. Very interesting that she's quicker at subtraction! In any event, it's getting internalized. One.Day.At.A.Time.
Yay for Sweet's fab teacher!
W: This is a whine that is a little before its time, but: daughter has participated in a choir for the last seven years, whose mission is using music to unite singers from all different racial, ethnic, income etc. backgrounds. a very social justice kind of group, which I love very much. However, they practice in downtown nearby city (takes us 40 minutes minimum to drive there, in rush hours times) and rehearse twice a week. I get it-- needs to be accessible by public transportation to kids who live in the city. BUT, they are moving their location of rehearsals, and now are likely going to be in a place that will probably take at least 1 1/2 hours to reach, each way. plus two hours of rehearsal. Twice a week if she reaches most advanced choir (which has been her goal since she was 7, and which she is hoping and thinking will happen next year.). Location, due to rush hour traffic is a nightmare for us (we live out in suburbs), and is also not a very safe area. Maybe I should say: I don't feel very safe in the proposed location. Have waited for her during rehearsals in that area before, as one concert a year is held in that area, and while I sat in my car in the public lot (parking is also an issue), there were groups of men drinking a case of beer and smashing throwing bottles on the ground nearby. Concerned about teen daughter being able to walk safely after dark there. Concerned about *me* being able to walk after dark safely. But, also, it's a very suburb-centric view, as many people in the choir navigate streets and areas like this *every day*. But, combined with the added commute time, it makes me dread this whole thing now.
Decision not final yet-- we just did a survey. But feels like it is kinda already final, in reality, based on way the survey was written. I think that there are good organizational reasons (money savings) for the move, and the fact that my daughter will be devastated if we are just not able to continue this is not going to factor in. So, now, do I devote many many (more) hours each week to getting her there, to not feel safe while I am there waiting for her, or say it's too much (and crush her dreams)
?
wah
--Neighbor Lady
p.s. sorry for hogging the airspace with such a long whine. I am feeling very discouraged about not only this, but work and...and...
Ugh, NL. The extra time alone is not nothing. (Sorry for the abundance of negatives in that poorly constructed sentence). Hugs for this and the work whines and whatever else.
(((NL))) are any other choir members coming from your neck of the woods? Can you carpool?
Oh, NL. That's a righteous whine -- and you aren't hogging anything.
I hope they do not go there. But if they do, also wondering about whether a car pool could be arranged? Going that distance twice a week really sounds like a handful.
Alternatively, is there public transportation to a station in the city where a carpool can be arranged to pick your daughter up and drop her off? I realize this doesn't help with your anxiety about the area, but a crowd is a good thing, right?
*Written by a New Yawkuh who was taking the subway by herself in 5th grade, which isn't something I'd recommend, but y'know, many kids in NY ride the subway by the time they're your daughter's age because they go to high schools that are far-flung.
My daughter took public transit to a 2-week summer thing running most of the day, way the heck at the far side of The City across The Bay. (I was confident about the train part; we rode the bus part together beforehand, to gauge comfort levels.)
Today is 30 years since the Challenger explosion. Think that is one of those events where people remember where they were when they heard -- though that may be more true for someone like me, who wanted to be an astronaut (elementary school dream, shot down by my mom, who said only men could be astronauts). I was so thrilled that a school teacher was going! Kids across the country were watching in their classrooms.
On that day, I was in court for basically a cattle call, for the court to check in on the status of many many cases. While I was waiting for my next one to come up, I went out to the hallway. One office had pulled a TV out into the hall, and it was showing the explosion over and over. Really shocking. I went up to the judge between cases, and told him. His eyes shot open, and he said, "the one with the teacher?" And then he just slogged through the rest of the docket, which seemed kind of cold, but I guess that stuff still needed to be done.
(((NL))) You're not hogging the whines at all - that's a totally legit concern. Carpool might be a possibility. I wish I had more wisdom, but it's pretty far from my experience. :(
kathy a - the day of the Challenger explosion I was at my parents' house with the boys, who were 3 and 1. Mom made soup for them, something they always loved - so, happy day. I was in the kitchen and Mom was in the living room watching the launch. Then I heard Mom gasp and say "Oh no!" We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the news while the boys napped.
NL: that is a pretty major whine to me! Three total hours in the car, twice a week? I really hope that you guys figure something out.
Apparently it helps to whine about things: E is now very keen about the potty. It helps that I'm doing all the "Oh, those spoiled kids these days" things, and letting her play on my old tablet (and mostly watch videos) when she's on the potty. The prospect of Unlimited Screen Time, and rewards for potty successes (and juice and fun snacks while she's sitting), mean that she spent several hours sitting on the potty yesterday.
It helped when I realised that we're trying to banish the pain associations from her ankle sprain, since the injury made it painful for her to sit anywhere, and she initially insisted on continuing to use the potty (but stopped because it was excruciating). So: new home, new fun stuff, and clean slate. (But it is so much harder to re-train an older kid after a setback than it is to train an excited tiny kid.)
And thanks for the reminder of the Challenger explosion anniversary, you guys. We were only five, but it was a very big deal in Mr. Q's life. (He spent most of his childhood aspiring to become an astronaut, and collecting NASA and Canadian Space Agency stuff.)
Thirty years ago I was in sixth grade and watched the custodian come out and lower the flag to half staff while we were outside after lunch. When we came back inside, the teachers told us what had happened.
QWP hooray for potty progress! Elmo bought lots and lots of potty time, especially for Sweet. She still prefers to sit on the potty with the ipad, or with a book.
AW: the special ed teacher, may I repeat, is the best ever. She's going to talk with the diagnostician (her boss) to see if we can change Sweet's paperwork so that she can redo work she has failed, with the special ed teacher's help. Sometimes she is already allowed to do this, but for some reason she was not, on the spelling test from last week, on which she scored 10%.
I know nothing of public transportation, as I grew up in the largest city in the country without any.
Thanks you guys!
We actually carpool now, but I am not so sure how it would work next year-- we have to wait to see who makes it into what choir. Unfortunately, the public transit from out here is not often, and involves commuter rail, to then get to a "metro" type subway thing, probably then to a bus. And the times are somewhat irregular.
I was trying to think about back ways to drive today, that would avoid traffic but not figured out yet.
Guess I'll just breathe for now, and wait and see.
30 years ago I was in calculus class in my senior year of high school. We wheeled in a tv on a cart to watch the coverage. I remember that so clearly!
--Neighbor Lady
I was in my junior year of high school. Taking a physics midterm.
AW: My sister has been cancer-free for about 7 years, after a very aggressive type of breast cancer. W: there's a possible something going on in the other breast, and with an ovary. She's really scared and depressed. The treatment for her cancer was a dismal, onerous, frightening time.
At this point, they just want to do things like blood work and ultrasound, check back on the breast in a while -- so, I'm thinking this is "abundance of caution" rather than anything more definitive. I'm trying to strike the right note with her -- not dismissing her feelings, but also not going straight to panic mode. Please think good thoughts for her.
Thinking good and calming thoughts. Of course they are extra vigilant, and of course it is extra easy to panic.
W: last night's homework session was a big bummer. Sweet couldn't do her spelling words at all. Couldn't seem to learn anything new (side whine: I am not a teacher. I don't mind *reviewing* things with her, but why does it seem so much of the time that I am *teaching* her something completely new??). I am tracing this recurring problem to mostly Thursday afternoons. End of the week. She's tired.
AW: so we worked on her spelling words again this morning (so hopefully she'll score something considerably better than last week's 10). She had three of the words correct that she couldn't do last night! Let's hope she remembers them when it comes to the test.
AW: the special ed teacher is going to give her the test, so she has plenty of time and doesn't feel rushed. I heart the special ed teacher, a whole lot.
Sending good thoughts to your sister. I recommend hugs and baked goods.
Thanks, Pixies! Sis seems calmer today; has the ultrasound scheduled for Wed. for the ovary. The breast is just some thickening on manual exam -- benign fibrocystic changes are really common, so they'll just recheck in a month.
Esperanza, really great Sweet is re-taking the test with the wonderful special ed teacher! It does sound like she was tired and overwhelmed last night. Maybe the special ed teacher will have some ideas, or be able to work with her a little extra? xoxo
True confession: Kids learned to read in 1st grade, back in the olden days, and I did very badly at reading that year. Which became very hard to believe within a few years, because once I turned that corner, there was no turning back. I was that kid plowing through everything in the children's section at the library, reading under teh blanket with a flashlight. I read cereal boxes, the encyclopedia, reader's digest, anything I could get my tiny hands on. Sweet might turn out that very same way.
Oh, reading is definitely not the particular issue. She's pretty much at the "reading the cereal box" stage, which I also experienced. I'm hoping something will click, and click soon, with the math.
Special ed teacher texted me (also: give me good communication and I'm a happy mama. Ahem, regular teacher) to say she thought Sweet got 80% on the spelling test, which actually astounds me in terms of improvement and what she didn't know/couldn't do yesterday. Math test got half finished; they'll do the rest on Monday.
Woot! 80%!!
son's iphone 6 bricked
verizon shipped a new one
it's a lemon too
i've been talking with
verizon support for hours
they're patient. i'm not.
Boo on ver1zon. Kudos for haiku!
Whine of Bodily Weirdness: throughout both pregnancies and especially throughout breastfeeding, peanut butter was my snack of choice. Easy to grab with one hand, densely populated with much-needed calories, and I liked it. Shortly after weaning Mini, I noticed that peanut butter was upsetting my tummy. Bummer. So, after trying natural peanut butter to the same results, I quit it and switched to almond butter, which is yummy in its own way, but it's no peanut butter. And you can't buy it in crunchy form. (I've heard you can make it but have never tried to do so). Yesterday at the grocery store, I decided that it had been plenty long enough since I'd had peanut butter and I could try it again. My mouth was watering. So I had it for supper tonight. Still delicious. Still upsets my tummy. Rats.
Esperanza, the exact thing happened to me with eggs! They were my go-to protein, when I was trying to build up my iron levels during pregnancy and postpartum. And then suddenly they stopped agreeing with my tummy.
Cheering for Sweet, and for her wonderful Special Education teacher!
Liz, I hope the phone situation gets worked out quickly.
And Kathy, I'm really hoping that your sister's ultrasound goes well.
AW: we seem to have turned a corner with potty training. E earned herself a chocolate coin (saved from her Christmas stocking), by staying dry and using the potty all morning. And she and I are strategizing how to make this work: what pull-ups Mr. Q bought this evening (only to be worn if she's already used the potty), and which seat to take for her day at Grammy's house.
Also AW: my husband, my mother, ava my cousin (who is in town for a month and a half, while he finishes carpenter training) brought over a bed for our spare room today, and then after we fed him supper, my cousin fixed all the crooked cupboard doors in my kitchen.
And our expected house guest isn't coming until tomorrow night (I misread her message), and so I'm ahead of schedule!
W: busy day tomorrow. We're cleaning our old basement suite, and there's a lot to be done. (And we're stopping in the middle, to go be the entertainment at a kid birthday party!) I really hope to be done this weekend. I'm so tired of living in two places.
Clarification: Verizon has been pretty decent, iPhone 6, iOS 9.2.1 sucks dingo dingus.
Sorry about no more peanut butter. For me, it's hot pepper.
Yay for carpenter cousins!
Well, this is a weird phenomenon, the post-partum food no-no's. There are things I've kind of lost my taste for (yogurt, hot peppers).
Sorry about the iphone suckage, Liz.
QWP, the carpenter cousin sounds very handy! I hope you can get the two places down to one this weekend. And HOORAY for potty progress!
kathy a, so sorry about the worry regarding your sister's cancer. I'm glad she's feeling a bit better about it, but certainly understand her anxiety. All appendages crossed that it's an abundance of caution and nothing more.
Yay Sweet! 80%!!! All Hail the Special Ed teacher and you, esperanza, for being such an amazing Mama.
Liz, I hope the phone troubles are sorted quickly. :(
QWP - yay on potty progress and your resident family carpenter! Carpentry is such an amazing trade - it's creative and practical at the same time.
I guess everyone has their tummy thing. I discovered a few years ago that I cannot eat yogurt in any formulation. Not just the "keep things moving" yogurt - any yogurt. Unfortunate, because I enjoyed it.
I became lactose intolerant while pregnant.
weird
sorry for cell phone woes!
yay for 80% and the special ed teacher!
QWP, I hope your cleaning goes smoothly. Did you say "be the entertainment" at a birthday party? What are you planning to entertain the kiddos?
Kathya, good thoughts for your sister...
--Neighbor Lady
QWP, how great your handy cousin fixed things up! I'm also curious about the kid entertainment. Hope you are finally clear of the old place this weekend. And have a happy visit with company!
Thanks for all the good thoughts for my sister! Hopefully, this scare will be cleared up in a few days. I try not to jump right to panic, because just looking at a possible problem doesn't mean the worst will happen. xoxo
AW: I took Sweet to a real, honest-to-goodness, old fashioned shoe store, where they measure your feet and bring pairs of shoes out for you to try. And they know whether they fit you or not.
W: they cost approximately 3 times what we normally pay for shoes. But her feet grow very slowly and there's some toe room, so oh well.
W: total, total meltdown when she finally realized that Mini had gone to a birthday party to which she (Sweet) had not been invited. I had tried to explain and explain. This was the reason we went for new shoes--a special outing for her. It didn't get through. I think she is so very tired that she just can't handle much of anything. She's getting enough sleep, but her days are clearly draining.
And I forgot what I came over here to whine about: Complication Man is not keeping his fireplacing mouth shut, but blabbing about his complication-causing ways all over the place. Grrr.
Cluesticks to Complication Man. Well, he got his say; there were other considerations; the Posse thinks he should pull up his big-boy pantaloons and move along.
Very sorry about the meltdown. We tried to minimize that kind of thing by inviting parents and sibs of classmate friends to all the birthday parties, hoping for reciprocity. But it is also a fact of life that as sibs grow, they will have different friends, different interests, different opportunities. It's an adjustment. Glad that Sweet got her own special thing today!
We always invite the whole family to our parties. In this case, it was understandable, somewhat, but the first time it's happened to our Baboos. It will happen again, I'm sure. I think "shoe shopping" was not sufficiently fun/special to make up for birthday party at the movie theater. Her shoes were literally falling apart. It needed doing. Oh well. It happens.
This recipe is my new favorite forever -- lemon chicken piccata. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/214488/lemon-chicken-piccata/
I left out the capers because we are not a caper-friendly family. And I used a smaller amount of chicken. But it turned out to be easy; would work well with fish, I suspect; maybe meat substitutes also. And the sauce is *really* good -- perks plain old veggies right up, too.
W: I am the only person in my family who likes lemon, in either savory or sweet applications. I love lemon chicken piccata (also sans capers), but no one else would eat it. I may make it anyway.
With this recipe, the sauce is poured over the chicken at serving, on individual plates -- and the chicken pieces are delish by themselves. Win-win -- more sauce for you!
So many hugs for poor Sweet. And I'm booing at Complication Man!
Party entertainment! That was really Mr. Q. He's the entertaining variety of science teacher (with explosions and other types of demonstrations), and he has a special lab coat and everything, and occasionally does interesting things for little kid birthday parties. We made the time for this one today: our goddaughter (and her family) had a rough year, and she's at a new school, and none of her classmates were willing to come to her party. And so all the friends pulled together (and fortunately several of our friends have kids the same age as her, who have been her friends since birth; they just don't go to her school). It all ended up being really nice.
AW/W: we're so close to being finished with the old place. But it took all day, and Mr.Q had to go back and finish, after E went to bed. We're both so tired. (But we also wanted to clean really carefully, both because our landlord is the cleanest person I know, and because we can't do anything about all the dents, scratches, and paint chips.)
AW addendum: I just got a text from Mr. Q, and he's almost completely done! We don't have to go back tomorrow!
Oh, gosh -- very sad about how hard it is to adjust to a new school. But the party sounds GREAT! How fun that Dr. Science could appear!
So good about finally being done with the old place.
Now I want Mr. Q to come for my birthday party. That sounds fun, and so wonderful that you could all join together to make it special.
W: it's really fun when you realize the church you're supposed to preach at starts 30 minutes earlier than you thought.
AW: Both Baboos and I ate breakfast, got showered (me only) and dressed and I was dropping them off in 40 minutes, which shatters any old record.
Go, speed racers! Very good on the quick out of house time, Esperanza.
I forgot to A/W -- my daughter's best friend from college has a baby, and she wants me to make a quilt of clothes from his first year! We've been talking here and there, which is very sweet. I can't start for a while, which is fine with her. She offered to pay me, which is plain silly. She's fine with it being a crazy quilt. So there it is -- the first post-Albatross project. :)
It is my every-Sunday panic, that I am going to the wrong place, or I am going at the wrong time, or both. Soooo glad I checked this morning. And I am hereby changing my system and writing the times on the calendar rather than trusting my memory (duh. I'm smart like that).
Tonight's combing session yielded only one nit! If tomorrow's is clean, I'm calling it a success. And looking at her hair obsessively anyway.
To the conquering of the nits!
Post a Comment