road rage

i was talking to someone on the phone while driving the other day, and stopped the conversation to rant about people who DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE TRAFFIC CIRCLES. we took our honeymoon in england so we learned very quickly how to use traffic circles. well, as i approached the circle, someone who was ALREADY IN THE CIRCLE stopped DEAD to let me in. very very big mistake. but she was smoking and i was on the phone so you know neither of us had our full attention on the road. (that's tongue-in-cheek, btw.)

and let me just put in an aside here - i have a headset, and if i'm on the phone in the car, i use it. there's still a risk, but one i'm willing to incur, as i truly believe an experienced driver is in no more danger talking on the phone than they are talking to a passenger, which is still legal, i believe.

the situation reminded me of our expedition to West Point last year for nephew's graduation. (nephew was recently deployed to the Iraq/Afghanistan zone, can't tell us where exactly! so please keep him in your prayers.) while in New York State, and WP is only an hour from NYC, give or take, we witnessed extreme road rage. we pulled up to a red light at a big intersection; there were 2 left turn lanes and 3 continuing lanes. we were in the left-hand continuing lane, when someone pulled up in the far left turn lane, GOT OUT OF HIS CAR, and proceeded to run to the car in front of him, and began CURSING the driver and HITTING the driver because he'd "nearly killed him back there."

fortunately at this point the light turned green and we were able to get the heck outta there. i'm a good samaritan and would like to help but not if it puts me or my kids in danger. and i didn't know the area well enough to call the cops and get them out there. this man was freaking nuts! and the little guy in the car in front of him was in such shock he couldn't even defend himself! the weather was nice and his window was down, and he was suddenly accosted and beaten right through the driver's window!

this reminiscence reminds me WHY I LOVE LIVING IN THE SOUTH. there were many fine things about the philadelphia area that i loved and i do miss sometimes. but people tend to be more laid-back and calm instead of aggressive and violent in such situations. i would beep the horn (in an appropriate situation) in philadelphia and my friends would panic and tell me someone was liable to shoot me for honking the horn! and i replied i refuse to live my life in fear of some idiot. but at least that's rarer here!

moving

sucks. that is all.

grace

A "There but for the Grace of God go I" post.

i type medical reports for a living. some make me laugh, some make me swear, and every now and then, they will make me cry.

A 3-month-old baby hospitalized with seizures, brain bleed, broken ribs, broken leg, and diagnosed with "nonaccidental trauma" will make me cry.

hug your kids and be glad they're healthy. i'm fierce about protecting my kids, but we can't protect them 24/7/365 for life. and this breaks my heart.

tastykake!

LaLa just discovered butterscotch krimpets. we found them at the store last night, and she went nuts on them.

this morning, i let her have them for breakfast because i'm the best mommy (also she's not feeling well). inhaled the first one, then ate JUST THE FROSTING off the second. because that's just how she rolls.

she makes me smile.

25 firsts

1. Who was your first prom date?
didn't go to prom. did later go to a frat formal, which i decided was as close as i was getting so it was good enough. and that was kent.

2. Do you still talk to your first love?
no

3. What was your first alcoholic drink?
jungle juice probably

4. What was your first job?
paper carrier

5. What was your first car?
1978 Datsun F10, which i lurved

6. Who was the first person to text you today?
no texts. :( but most of my texts are between #1 son and me

7. Who was the first person you thought of this morning?
the last person who made me smile

8. Who was your first grade teacher?
Mrs. Lott

9. Where did you go on your first flight in a plane?
Washington DC

10. Who was your first best friend and do you still talk?
it took me a long time to have a BFF and i don't talk to my first one but i talk to lanalana all the time now!

11. Where was your first sleepover?
my aunt Tam's house

12. Who was the first person you talked to today?
DH? or #2 son?

13. Whose wedding were you in for the first time?
my own, lol

14. What was the first thing you did this morning?
hit the snooze for 30 extra minutes

15. What was the first concert you went to?
u2 with ryan!

16. First tattoo?
i'm planning a pixie

17. First piercing?
ears, age 8

18. First foreign country you went to?
France, Feb. 1992

19. First movie you remember seeing?
Mary Poppins, and i always fell asleep during the STUPID lullaby in the middle!

20. What state did you first live in?
Arizona

21. Who was your first room mate?
my big sister

22. When was your first detention?
middle school, for not getting something signed (so many people didn't that they told us we'd get detention the next day if it wasn't signed, and a lot of us then went to detention) - but that was my ONLY detention. ever.

24. What is one thing you would learn, given the chance?
i love learning languages, i'd love to study italian, or german, or japanese, or all of those and then some. and i really want to sky dive before i die, it's the first thing i put on my bucket list

25. Who will be the next person to post this?
Lana!

ahem

excuse me. had to take a break to COLOR tinkerbell in the color wonder coloring book.

LaLa wants ALL the pens open, all the time, so she can color when the whim strikes her with whichever color she likes, without having to go to the bother of uncapping/capping them.

i got tired of fighting the battle after weeks on end, and left the damn things open. today she tried to color with the dried-up one, and i said, "THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T PUT THE LIDS ON YOUR PENS!" so she hopped up and found the box and got out a new one.

does she get it? i don't know. but those things take a LONG time to dry up - as they should, given their high cost.

tinkerbell

somebody is wearing panties without any diapers for the first time today. they have tinkerbell on them, so that's a motive. also i was painting my nails saturday and when LaLa wanted some, i told her only big girls who don't wear diapers get their nails painted. she has been using the potty (except naps and at night) since then.

yes, i'm excited!

cake wrecks

ALWAYS a joy to read, highlighting stupid mistakes "wreck-erators" make (usually look like grocery store bakery level cakes). BUT - on Sundays, they show gorgeous cakes, like the food network level stuff.

today's spotlight: wedding cakes with string work. you will plotz.

the best story

how could i have forgotten this one?

i went in my room and locked the door 2 days ago, then headed to the bathroom to do my business. LaLa HATES when we go in another room without her, and started yelling. a minute later, a little red head peeked around the corner with the BIGGEST smile you ever saw! "i DID it!"

my 2-year-old has learned to UNLOCK doors. they're the kind of locks you can undo with a penny or a thumbnail. she used a craft popsicle stick/tongue depressor.

when i came out, she showed me how to _lock_ the door with the popsicle stick, too.

i'm doomed.

princess diaries

since i have THE CUTEST 2-year-old on earth, i've been saving up a list of LaLa-isms to share.

*******

can you guess what "teenabudr" is? (peanut butter) her loves herm teenabudr.

*******

Diego came on TV yesterday. she started shouting EGGO!

*******

woke up just in a great mood yesterday. changed the diaper and she hopped up, headed for the kitchen, saying "i get chippies!" i said WHAT? sure i hadn't heard her right. and she said, "i have some chippies PLEASE?" who could tell that child no? i usually only prompt her manners, but she's learning this from how i correct her brothers!

*******

she was taking a nap in the car not long ago, woke up, blinked, and said "i happy!"

*******

last road trip we took, she asked what are you doing mommy? and i said, I'm Driving, What Are YOU Doing? reply: "I Happy!"

*******

i took princess to the grocery store a couple of days ago. she always insists on pushing the bitty carts, and she always has to open the bread to get a snack. so she was pushing her cart and eating her bread - which wasn't easy for her - i'm training her to multi-task early!

*******

the stubborn thing has potty-trained herself twice since 16 months of age, looked around and decided this wasn't enough fun for the fuss, and quit. she's starting again to be interested in using the potty. hoping this time sticks! won't wear pull-ups, only wants diapers - she can get them off more easily. i'm going to invest in some sticker rewards, since she's mad for stickers lately.

*******

we went early to carpool line one day because we were already out and about. she did NOT like the wait and begged to get brother NOW and go swinging. for 15 minutes straight, she wanted to get OUT and go SWING. we will NOT be going to carpool early in future.

*******

and a newish thing she does ALL THE TIME - that's (brother), ALL RIGHT! that's my purse, all right! etc. only it comes out ah-wight.

*******

and a mom-ism: i've been using my spray gel again because my hair looks better, and i was thinking of this as a styling product exclusively. then i'd get up the next day and be astonished at how nice my hair looked in the morning.

that might be because it's GEL and it's meant to HOLD the style, not just create it. i don't want to tell you how long it took me to catch on. *blush*

on white shirts and orange juice

I no longer buy white shirts. I only seldom drink Orange Juice. But it seems, if I'm in the mood to wear a white shirt, I'm also in the mood to drink OJ. and the twain shall ALWAYS meet with me in the middle! OJ does NOT like to come out of white shirts; thus the reason I no longer buy them.

Being nearly 40, it's nice to know a few things about yourself. and you don't BUY the stupid white shirts anymore. (My wonderful mum gave me one a couple of years ago. which I promptly stained. I just stenciled over the stain so I could wear it again, and I'm enjoying wearing it. It doesn't provoke the OJ response like a clean white shirt would.)

So. Last month, I bought a WHITE CAR.

Yes, you can guess where this is going. I can hear the groans.

I parked at the curb at Trader Joe's, and returned my cart to the corral. Before I even got INTO the car, I heard a thud. The stupid RED cart had fallen off the curb and onto my bumper.

Good news: NO DAMAGE.
Bad news: BIG RED STRIPE down the bumper of my BRAND-NEW car (3 weeks old then).

I grumbled and cussed for a few minutes, and tried to decide if I needed to be distraught over this. Then I remembered the WHITE-SHIRT phenomenon. And I decided I'm GLAD the car is stained. Because NOW it won't ATTRACT ORANGE JUICE!

Band-Aids

My precious darling LaLa fell and got several large scrapes on Sunday. We didn't even see the one on her back (she was wearing a dress, which flipped up) until that evening.

So I went into my first-aid kit and got out my giant Band-Aids with Neosporin built in. I LOVE Neo Band-Aids because I don't have to find the stupid ointment. And I said, as I got them laid out to put on her poor swollen scrapes, "This is why I keep these on hand."

and the 2-year-old immediately told me "No, mom, on my back!"

It's only funny until someone gets hurt.

No, no, that's not what I meant to say. I meant it's funny the first time they say something like that; around about the 100th you want to go Homer on them. Fortunately it will take a while before I'm that frustrated with her know-it-all-ness. I know this because my 9-year-old is presently smarter than any living thing.

2-year-old know-it-all: CUTE.
9-year-old know-it-all: MADDENING!

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*

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.

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...

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!)