Wednesday, July 29, 2009

anybody notice?

that i've posted more this week than just about the whole calendar year of 2009 combined? weird!

well, i was struggling with depression and colds for most of the spring up until this week. so i guess it makes sense. can we say i've done my time and refuse to be sick for the next 2 years? wouldn't it be nice?!

karma

a few months ago, my precious darling princess got hold of a dry-erase marker. and what did she ruin with it? none of her winter clothes, outgrown clothes, hand-me-downs, or even nice things someone else bought. no. nothing i bought ON SALE, even (which is the majority of my spending).

she drew on the front of her BEAUTIFUL pink shirt i bought at FULL PRICE. the second time she wore it.

i tried hair spray (takes out most inks), OxyClean (takes out most everything else), spray-n-wash, multiple washings with the above, combining every cleaning product in my arsenal. just about any other marker would have been gone or mostly gone by now.

but no. DRY-ERASE markers apparently are the most tenacious things around. we should all mark our personal property with them in case of burglary! black marks on this adorable blouse. every time i see it i kind of want to scream.

but all i can do is thank karma, because i did worse than that to my mother (and sister's hand-me-downs, for which she has yet to forgive me). and save the blouse for a quilt-to-be-named-later.

*sigh*

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

full-time feelings (day 2)

#1 son: i have to do too much helping
#2 son: what?
princess: WHERE IS MY MOMMY? I WANT MY MOMMY!!!!!
DH: why are you so tired?
me: i can do this. i just wish i could do it better.

healthcare

everybody go read this article:

Universal Health Care is neither Universal nor understood

seriously. i've heard so many people who don't know anything about it who TALK as if they DO. i didn't know much about it, but i figured why worry about something unless i'm willing to do the research and find out what it's about?

so somebody else did that and i read their information. and it's good.

comments encouraged!

zac efron

what GIVES? i don't see any appeal in him at ALL. he's not cute, he has bad hair, he dresses like a throwback (and NOT a good one like MY era was).

i have no trouble with sharkboy or harry potter being young enough to be my SONS and still thinking they're awful damn cute, but zaccy is just a flash in the pan that needs to be OVER already.

that is all.

Monday, July 27, 2009

and an update

we have a new car! it's a beautiful new mazda5, just what i wanted only MORE, b/c inventories are disappearing rapidly with the government money available. got great discounts b/c i took delivery from dealer stock.

we have a new (old) house, too! we'll be moving late september (must put in 60-day notice at apartment complex), and i'm super excited for it. i daydream about where i'll put what all the time.

one wonderful feature is that there is a daycare ACROSS THE STREET from the new/old house. i talked to them before we put down the deposit about the neighborhood and their rates, and they are much more affordable than anyone i've found previously, PLUS they will do part-time, PRO-rated, not some 75% for half-time deal. serendipity again!

and i'm sposta be werkin but had to take a break to update my internet buddies!

my little omnivore

DH made a "light supper" last night: pasta salad with olives and onions, and some grated cheese, and a green salad. (i mention this primarily because it's not a combination i would have come up with.)

LaLa ate my cucumber, which she has tried once before and didn't like. i removed the rind so she could get a good first bite, and that was the last i was allowed to touch the thing. then she wanted to try the olives. and that was the last anyone else saw of OLIVES. she ate all of mine, then DH's, then foraged through the boys' dinners and ate them all. meanwhile, she tried green onions (liked taste, and they were STRONG, but not the texture, gave back some slippery layers), and Pepperoncini off DH's plate. kept going back for more tastes until all the interesting food was gone.

she ate 2 noodles and one lettuce leaf, as well. i told her to eat more pasta intermittently during the olive expedition, but was told No, I eating OLIVES! last new food was a tomato (also in a salad), which she similarly loved.

i could have worse troubles than a kid who will only eat vegetables. she is SO 2!

we did have a similar experience with #2 son when he first encountered olives, but he didn't do the 2-year-old thing and accepted other foods. we just had to order a side dish of olives for him at restaurants if we wanted him to eat for a while...

Saturday, July 18, 2009

some good luck

and now for NEW news, lol.

on the job front, my supervisor called me yesterday and asked if i was still interested in first shift. YES! i can move to first shift if i'll work full-time, she said. what a dilemma!

child care is the first hurdle. and my fervent desire to finally get a degree is another.

since traveling, and pondering life choices and goals, my Far Eastern brother had mentioned some of his dreams and goals (online). and that provoked some thought, and i had decided to go after a teaching degree. i'll never get rich, but i'll never be out of work - because my best skills are math and science, and there has been a shortage of such teachers since before I was a kid. so.

because of the way the community college teaches anatomy and physiology, i have to take both at the same school in order to transfer them. knew this going in. finished A but not P. so i need to take P, but chemistry would make it lots easier. so i had realized i wanted to take chemistry fall '09 and physiology spring '10, and do my damndest to find a way to get to school full-time in fall '10.

and on reflection, full-time employment shouldn't preclude those courses, b/c they're available online and i'll only have to travel for exams, if that (we moved 80 miles east of that comm. college last august).

the housing luck makes the employment full-time more possible. we have spent a year living on each others limbs in a nice apartment, but with 3 kids AND a work-at-home me, way too small. viewed a house for rent (SAME PRICE) this week with 4 bedrooms, only 1-1/2 baths, but an office, a dining room, an unfinished basement (storage), and a sunroom. DH will be viewing Mon. and i'll be transferring the deposit to my checkbook so we can apply. can't beat it, can live in it until we can buy (probably after degree obtained).

i am SO excited about the house! i can't really describe it here. but it would make our lives so much easier. especially the working!

and car news: who hasn't heard about the Cash for Clunkers program? i have wanted a Mazda5 since its introduction. now it's a possibility. especially with the increased work hours, we can afford it.
so many things are coming together for us, it's just bound to work out. (we haven't quite qualified yet, and i probably can't get a manual transmission which i'd really rather have, but i'll take a new car over an old and about-to-break-down van any day!)

fabulous vaca


We had a wonderful trip, nearly 2 weeks away from home. It was GREAT to get out of our routine. LaLa shared her cold with all of us except #2 son, which WASN'T great, but i'll take a vacation + sick over no vacation and no sick any day!

visited the family, saw everyone except my Far Eastern brother, his wife, and their halflings (in Japan they call mixed-race kids "halfs" so this is my term for them). it's several months' salary to travel to the U.S. so it's a rare event. *sigh* our trip was less than 1 month for DH, and we spent his bonus to do it. woohoo!

not much exciting other than visits. #1 sister's dog had to make emergency trips to the vet twice for an allergic reaction and a chocolate disaster. LaLa fed the 8-pound dog a mini Dove bar, but 1 ounce of chocolate is toxic in a mini daschund, so off she went for purging. and not one, but TWO nephews broke their arms the first day we were together.

my craft project above (a reunion shirt) was very popular and consumed mass quantities of time, energy, and space. i'm so proud. but it provoked some neat creativity and originality, and was lots of fun. (the toes are just extra; it's a camera phone and not the best resolution, but gives you the concept.) the tree has one branch for each of my parents' children, and one leaf for each member of the respective families.

got to meet one of my e-BFFs, and sadly i was ill and couldn't love on her baby (super-preemie, age 8 months/5 months adjusted). but still awesome to meet up and be able to put a FACE to the person i know so well!

been home 5 days and life has upheaved and rearranged itself and put a new pudding in the middle - eclipsing some of the nonsense i would otherwise have posted about the trip. DH and I are doing lots better since having a break from routine and each other (he only stayed 7 days). we even had a DATE last night, the first in well over a year! woohoo!