Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year

This year we are bringing the New Year in with a boy with a broken nose, a girl with a hair cut (finally after 8 years) and a scheduled day and time for closing on the house we're trying to buy. 2 out of 3 positives is about as good as we get nowadays.


The boy *technically* broke his nose yesterday, but I took him to the doctor for it today. I was NOT going to take him to the ER during peak flu season for them to tell me something I already knew and to not DO anything. So I took him to the pediatrician and have to recount the story of how C and I went to lunch and were gone 45 minutes only to come back to bloody Armageddon. The Boy was launching himself at Gigi's belly and smashed his knee into his face. Now, originally I was told he was launching himself at the sofa, but then the kids corrected me and told on themselves and admitted they had been SUPER naughty and that he was launching his head at HER. Yeah. He broke his own nose on his knee. It's really hard to not repeatedly smack him upside the head and call him a dumbass. But I figure the broken nose is enough.

The Girl FINALLY let me cut her hair. The bottom of her hair was super whispy and gross since she'd only let it get trimmed a TINY, tiny bit once before. I convinced her that the hair was left over baby hair and gross and needed to be cut off so her other hair can grow. Yes, a little bit of a lie, but that bottom part was getting nasty. It was forever dangling in her food, glue, bowl, toothpaste, and tangled beyond repair.  She was freaking out until I told my wee little fib, then she was very content and happy with it. She did refuse to go to the haircut place though, so *I* had to do it. Good thing I can cut fairly straight.. :P






And the ever loving house saga. The closing got postponed  last week because of a lien on the title issue with a neighbor. Something about the neighbor 2 houses down holds the tax lien on the neighbor just to the other side of the house but the legal description was written incorrectly and encroached on like 4 feet of the property we are trying to buy? So.. I appears that the sellers went over and had a chat with the reluctant neighbor 2 houses down and got them to sign whatever paper it is we needed them to sign to get this moving again. Hopefully, this means we can finally close on this stupid this. It's already 3 weeks later than originally planned. *sigh*  The amount of lying BS that has been going on is just obscene.

Ahh a new year will hopefully bring this all to an end.


Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Our Tree

So, in between all the soap opera drama of the house buying, mother moving and surgery, puppy parvo having fun, we DID put up our Christmas Tree. It was a fairly low key event and we let the kids do most of it while *I* tried to not say anything. It's a tree with no rhyme or reason and they LOVE it. The bottom third has hardly no decorations with the logic from the 6 year old that the cat would play with them. The top third is also bare because they are still too short. But that middle section. WOW. It is festive.






We're going to do our traditional gingerbread house this week or weekend sometime - which is good since Christmas is less than a week away!


We also too the kids to Bass Pro because they offer free pictures with Santa. I have yet to get a GOOD picture of the kids with Santa. Never ever has this happen. The Boy has been particularly reluctant the last few years and before that This Girl was animatedly resistant. This is the picture (after 4 tries in 5 minutes at that) they managed to get of them this year. Yes, this is the *good* one.

The world may be falling apart around them, but it's still Christmas Time for them and we have to play along despite the want to roll around and ignore it. They don't know about the rest of the dramatic sagas and they shouldn't have a craptastic Christmas because the Hag of Hecktosville can't figure out how to file paperwork or the accountant's assistant is a nimrod. So.

Enjoy the kids joy of the simple things like decorating a 1/3 of a tree and putting icing on dried out crusty gingerbread and licking it.  There are many who won't this year.


Thursday, December 13, 2012

Aggravation

You know what I hate? Stupid Snits. People who send you an email or voice mail or txt or something that indicates communications and just flat out demand something. Aggravation is really all it causes me. It doesn't cause me the desire to help you out. It makes me want to go all Hulk Smash and beat you.

 So we're doing the whole house buying thing. The paper work may kill us all still. (NEVER use Arvest for your mortgage BTW.) Our loan lady has sent us saying we have to have this CDIB card because everything is on hold until we have it. Well, I'm getting ready to head to Talequah today to GET it when C calls me because there's an issue with underwriting. We don't qualify for the Indian Loan thing because we haven't sold the current house we own yet. Now the awesome thing? The loan girl KNEW THIS when she said it would work. She wasted 2 weeks of our time with this and has been complaining everyday about this stupid card, which we now don't need, on something we can't even use! Pissed I am. Now, it gets better. She then sends a list of things she wants within 24 hours if we want to close on the contracted time. WTF?? Ok you screw around for 2 weeks chasing donkeys and now try to blame it on us?? Part of the things she wants - she's demanding be prepared by a CPA. Our CPA is off on professional development and is super pissed because he has to change his entire schedule now. Yeah. Clusterville. All because this chick is stupid.


Then, we have the text at 2:30 while I'm trying to convince the kids that they DO want to move by showing them that Sand Springs has most of the stores and stuff they like. The text is my mother saying "So, my doctor said he wants me to go to the ER.." Really? (Sorry, mom.. It's true..)

Or perhaps the 4 1/2 hours IN the ER with no doctor, no nurse.. Nothing. No one came in to check on her, to see if she was alive, to see if she was even there. Even when I disconnected her leads and oxygen and heart monitors so she could go to the bathroom.. Nothing. It's screwed up.

Then there's just stupidity.

 Let's take the lady at The Girl's OT. The receptionist calls and says she can't possibly ever make an appt for a re-eval before the end of this year. She has been told to not do it under any circumstance. (Yeah, like I believe that.) I tell her fine, make one for next year. Whatever. How about January 3rd. Really? Can't do this year but January 3rd? Ok. Sure whatever. Then get a voice mail the next day saying she has an appointment scheduled for December 21st. Huh? What? I call to see what's going on. "Oh, well. I talked with the therapist and she cleared it up, she meant any NEW patients." Right. Sure. It only got more special from there.

Monday, December 10, 2012

House, Holiday, and a Puppy!

It's been very busy here for the last month since I've posted last. Since Timmy found his perfect new home we accidentally stumbled into a new puppy.

We hadn't been planning on a new puppy right now. But. Joking around it was said - repeatedly - wouldn't it be great if we found a puppy just like Bear because he's such an ideal dog for us right now? Well, I was on Craiglist and saw this guy and got information about him and stopped by where he was. We were going to think about it for a while UNTIL the guy said he was going to take him to Henryetta the next day to euthanize him. WHAT? Yep. They couldn't find anyone to take him, so they were just going to put him down and he wasn't even 3 months old. He's got a great temperament, he's fairly calm most of the time, he's easy to train, but they were just done with him. Awesome rescue shelter. So we took him home.

Well. We get him home and settle and he's doing really well with the house training and all. 4 or 5 days into him being here, he stops eating and gets very lethargic. I get worried and take him into our vet, thinking he's got a virus or needs a different food or something benign. Nope. He's got Parvo. The vet is fantastic and spends 45 minutes with us explaining our options from as simple as sending us home with antibiotics and hoping for the best and bringing him back if he gets super bad and we can't stand it. Putting him down because we don't want to spend the money on him. And letting them keep him in vet hospital with an IV and medications and seeing if they can keep him alive. They gave him about a 50% chance of living with the in hospital option since he is a Rottweiler/Great Pyrenees mix (Rottweilers apparently get parvo worse than some other breeds?).

We went ahead and opted to leave him in vet care. After several days, the vet called and said he was looking MUCH better and we could come get him! Since then, the little guy has only gotten bigger. He still hasn't regained all his weight from when he originally got sick, but we're working on plumping him back up. The little guy has more energy than before - but since he has Parvo when we got him, that only makes since.

Rupert, the Parvo Puppy

To go along with the theme of "Unplanned Events", we are in the process of buying a new house too! It's taking longer than we had hopped, but the house is exactly what we had been looking for. It's just a little bit outside of town, but not so far you can't easily get to stores, coffee, gas, emergency care, etc. It's got 2 acres and is unplatted so we can have whatever we want on it - goats, dogs, chickens (*shudder*), buildings - whatever without anyone complaining. The plan is to have my mom move out there with us too. The house is plenty big enough and with the land we're going to build her a little building of her own.  The nice thing with the building is that once she no longer needs it, it will be available for an extra office space for C, an apartment type thing should one of the kids need it later like a step before they are ready to *move out* to learn how to be on their own, we could always rent it too. Options are always nice. Unfortunately, the paper work is dragggggging out.

We had hoped to be moved before Christmas, but since it's the 10th of December it's not looking like that will happen. Also, the Realtor came by to get something initialed because the Sellers are stingy fools and had the tenacity to ask if the Sellers could "rent" the house for a week or 2 after closing to move. Umm. NO. That would move this show past New Years and. No. C opened his mouth before his brain caught up and agreed way too eagerly, but the Sellers have made NO concessions whatsoever to us and I am simply NOT that generous. He did correctly that in a very appropriate and kind way, but cheap hookers not making a single concession to us then dare ask that?

Anyhow, Christmas is coming soon and in the car after swim lessons #2 was chatting about how we had gone to Bass Pro yesterday and we saw Santa. He HATES Santa and I asked him why. He explained that Santa wasn't real. I asked him to explain why he thought that Santa wasn't real. He backtracked and tried to explain that the Bass Pro Santa wasn't real. I *think* the Boy knows that Santa isn't actually real, but was smart enough to keep him big trap shut for his sister. Plus, we've had the chat about how if you don't believe you don't receive. This applies to Fairies, Santa, Easter Bunny.. Any and all mystical creatures. It could also be that I gave him the master of all stink eyes when he started to say that he didn't think Santa was real. The Girl thinks Santa is very much real. Though The Girl believes whatever I tell her and is denser than a fruitcake. But if she believes in Santa Clause at 8 still, *I* am not spoiling it for her and I will not let her 6 year old brother either. He may be a little more cautious about things than she is.

Best Santa Picture EVER

We did take a picture with Santa. It took them 4 tries and 5 minutes to get this *Good* picture. Yes. This IS the good one. I don't have a single picture of The Boy sitting with Santa or near him really. He's always several feet away. Ahhh well.



Sunday, November 11, 2012

New Home for Timmy!

Timmy found a new home within about 2 hours of actually *trying* to find him one! I placed a posting on Craigslist and a guy sent me an email, a very excited email, that he was interested. I asked him if he wanted to meet. He said of course. And with in an hour Timmy was at his new house! The guy said that as soon as he saw the picture (which happened to have been the same one I posted here) he KNEW he had to meet him and that it was a perfect match for his family. It really did melt some of the guilt of rehoming him away. I haven't heard anything else from them, nor do I expect to. But I'm going to assume that all is happy in his new home.


Now if everything else were just that simple! We've been slooowly looking at houses (ok, we've looked at maybe 6 houses total..) for about a month now. We've compiled a list of things we *don't* like. And a smaller list of things we DO like. But it's seemingly rather difficult to find a house, in a location we can settle upon, with a reasonable amount of features we can settle with, for a price we can live with, with enough but not TOOOOO much space. It's really just a huge mess. We came across one really nice house today that is almost perfect. But it is REALLY pretty far outside of town. I mean. Really. really. far. But is is so almost exactly what we're looking for. But it's just so. Far. Sooo. We're already scheduled to go look at a slew of houses with the realtor guy on Friday and there's another one we found that has some feature that seem pretty cool, soooo ya never know.

And then of course as we look at houses to potentially BUY, we're starting to do projects around this house because we know we'll need to fix this house up to sell, but can't sell it until we move because of the animals and kids.. SO. On the weekends (with the exception of these last 2 because of the Girl's birthday and party..) we've been doing random fix its. Filling holes, taking loads of crap to the dump, sorting just from the house (because all this crap isn't moving to become boxes of unopened crap somewhere else.) I just want to flush it all down the great big toilet of life and start all over again with a great big never ending supply of free money. Wouldn't that be totally great? Eh, I'm tired of ALL this stuff! Let's throw it ALLLLL away! Shovel it all into a dumpster and start all again. Yeah, I know, it's not happening here either.


Anyone else had the "Where Did The Year Go" or the "Oh Crap Christmas is Almost Here" freak out yet? Yeah. I did tonight. Did online Christmas shopping earlier. Should almost be done for the kids. I *think* our plan for this year is have each kid get 1 big present and have that be just about it. The Girl has decided she REALLY really wants an American Girl doll. Don't know why, but has her little wee heart set on it. So. That can be her big 1 present. And the Boy has been wanting Skylanders for at LEAST a full year now. Soooo he can have that for his (not the new Giants one but the now cheaper "old" ones) and a couple of those figures and call it done. If that's what they want to the exclusion of anything else, why not. They'll get a few smaller things from relatives and what not. And if they aren't pleased with the idea of only getting 1 BIG item on Christmas, then they can stop asking for them. Their Santa isn't rich and they're gonna have to realize that as they start to get older. Santa has a budget.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Timmy :(

So, we've decided that we need to rehome the Beagle. Ever since the dog biting incident Timmy has been on the to rehome or not edge. Well. This week he broke out of his crate, chased down the hall while we were out playing, and tackled the bunny cage. He chewed the bunnies blanket and pretty much terrorized the wee creatures. They aren't any worse for wear, but ever since, the dog has been baying constantly so he can go get them and try again. CONSTANTLY. It's special. It's tipped the balance not in his favor. He's a high stung little dog. I think all littler dogs may be high strung. 

And honestly, if he was out somewhere, safe for him to hunt stuff, he'd be a LOT happier. Our yard simply isn't big enough for that. Nor am I going to take him out to the woods and then try to find him again. I feel kinda bad, because he's bonded to us and what not, BUT if the new people (whomever they happen to end up being) take good care of him and give him treats, he'll like them just as much.



Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Long Week

It's been a long week and it's just now Tuesday afternoon. Mostly, I had a meeting with the folks who did the girl's testing earlier this month. I'm not sure I *entirely* agree with it, but it's not entirely wrong either. They've now got her classified as Non-verbal Learning Disorder instead of aspergers even though it is exactly the same as aspergers. Gotta love the change in fancy names. It also means we've made a good amount of progress teaching her how to interact - or how to pretend to interact - with people vs how she was previously. Anyhow, they've also got her listed as ADHD. That's the one I tend to disagree with. But I guess she doesn't ever sit still, though by that standard, I would be to.

Next, they've listed her with dysgraphia. THAT is true. Her handwriting is bad. Barely legible still, even though we work on it almost daily. She knows how to form the letters, but it just doesn't get better. They did an IQ test - to see where she was able to function and she's brilliant, until you add in writing of any form. Then a drastic drop happens simply because of the issue of having to convey the answer to a written form. So, she's brilliant, but you won't know it if you saw her write or asked her to write the answer down.

They kept the OCD and Sensory Integration Disorder from previous diagnosis. They've referred us back to OT. So getting discharged from OT in June may have been only a temporary thing. Apparently there are some therapy things for dysgraphia.. I dunno. If it helps to teach her better, we'll try it. I don't know what to do with the rest of it really.

Both kids are acting up some this week. Both are overly excited about Halloween tomorrow and then a few days after that is the Girl's Birthday. Then the weekend after THAT is her actual party. Then Thanksgiving. We've restarted all of her previous therapies, brushing and listening therapy. Which is a giant pain in the rear, to be honest. The sibling jealousy has already started for the Boy. It's irritating to watch them cry a week before the others birthday.  They really do think they should be twins.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Meltdown Schmeltdown..

We had a long week, there's no way around it. The girl had a session of 3 hours of educational and developmental and psychological testing on Tuesday. She did well - as in she didn't bite anyone or scream at them. She was her usual obstinate, stubborn, repetitive self. Which, for testing sake, is good because it will give them an accurate view of who she is. Unfortunately, it also made her "done". So over "done" that she lost it for the next 3 days. I particularly enjoyed the crying fit over ice cream. Well, more accurately, the fit was over the lack of ice cream. 

On Wednesday, The Boy had a dentist appointment. They pulled 6 teeth. *6* They were supposed to sedate him, but there was SOOO no sedation going on. He doesn't remember the actual event accurately - which is good. But he bit the dentist at least 6 times and screamed bloody freaking murder. At one point, he was biting the dentist so hard I had to help pry his mouth open. Yeah. Good times. Admittedly 4 of the 6 teeth were SO not loose and had their entire root attached and it HAD to hurt to get them just yanked out, but biting the person while he's doing it isn't the most helpful thing.


So now the boy is running around shouting "I'm Toothless, The Dinosaur. RRRRAAAARRR". It's hilariously wrong.


The kids have both decided what they want to be for Halloween:


 The Girl is Pikachu


The Boy is Quicksilver - Magneto's Son. 

Those two love costumes. A lot.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Fruit Flies!

We have a cool tank of frogs. They're awesome. The kids LOVE watching them (ok, so do I..) We quickly discovered that they get hungry and have to eat but are can't eat regular size crickets yet. Upon some research, flightless fruit flies are what these cute little froggies eat. We get some. THAT is fun to watch!

Now, most people figure out how to provide food for their new pets before they start down that path, but not us. So we have this big tank of an entire gaggle, herd, marsh.. (whatever) of frogs and have to figure out how to feed them a regular, steady diet of flightless fruit flies. Enter the jars of flies:





Each of these 5 containers has fruit flies and maggots. No, they can't get out - that would be gross. There is a food medium on the bottom and the sprout stuff is a filler so they have more room to climb about in the tub.

So, over the past few weeks we've been working on the life cycle of fruit flies. Because honestly, how many people study that? We do butterflies, frogs, and other pretty things. But flies? They're nasty little things, but have an interesting life cycle that is very, very similar to that of a butterfly. Well if you count *maggot* the same as caterpillar.  


If you look super duper close you should see tiny little specks. Those little specks are the fruit flies. They are surprisingly hard to photograph.




This was our first trial vial of fruit flies. They are just hatching out of their little cocoons from maggot to flies. Soon they will all be snack-a-doos for frogs.  And yes, it does sort of look like I have a few extra fingers, but I don't. It's just the awkward way I'm holding the vial so I don't drop it.





Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Terrible Tuesday..

I figured Terrible Tuesday was an apt name for a follow up to Bloody Sunday. I should have learned my lesson by now that *if* you take a kid to urgent care you WILL get sick. And TA DA.. Guess what has happened? The Sore Throat of Doom has descended upon me (as well as the facet nose, oozing eyes, and mucusy cough, but whatever). I should know better than to go into an Urgent Care well and come out well. Oy.

On Sunday afternoon I got bored (well not *bored* exactly, but close enough) and started clicker training the dogs. I must admit the theory sounds kind of bizarre, but oh my goodness! It's working! It's like lazy super fast dog training cool stuff. The dogs have always been fairly well mannered, but ever since Timmy (Yes, Killer the Beagle -  the thumb eater) I've been a bit afraid of the dog's mouth. It probably doesn't help the issue that I have to go to the hand specialist tomorrow to get the thumb looked at since I still can't grip with it.


This has led to a good amount of just flat out ignoring the dog. Not really on purpose, just... One of those things that happens when you have your thumb crunched by a dog and then you get paranoid of the dog, ignoring happens. So subsequently, some minor bad behaviors started creeping in - more outside barking, not coming as quickly when called. Things you might expect when you ignore a dog. (Go figure right?) Anyhow. Instead of just getting rid of the poor Beagle (who is really blameless in the thumb eating incident) figured I should just get over the paranoia instead. The Beagle, especially, LOVES it. He bolts to attention when he's called now. He can *almost* bark on command. (It's about 70% there, with the theory that if he does it on command he won't do it as much other times.) He pounces to the ground to down.He dives into his crate when asked to. But best, he's lost that *crazy* look he's been having, probably from being ignored too much. Not as much crazy look, not as much paranoia = more time out.

Bear, the actual puppy, is a bit more lazy about his approach than Beagle. He has picked a few things up, but he kinda sorta lopes places like a giant, black polar bear with nothing in particular to do. He *may* come hastily if the treat is super good, but mostly he'll amble over when he's ready. He's the laziest 7 month old puppy I have ever seen.

Hopefully I can get some pictures soon of them both doing something cool. We're working on Speak (barking on command), Leave It (ignoring whatever it is they are sniffing), Down (mostly for Bear because he's lazy and won't do it on purpose) and whatever other random things we can come up with. Maybe something like get your bowl or something useful.

As a follow up from Sunday, the Boy is no longer breathing like a Helicopter, but is instead a moody ball of steroid crying mess. He's not eating yet either (ie today he's had a cut up apple, half a banana, and 1/4 of a small slushee from Sonic - it's 3 pm.), which has me concerned because usually steroids make people eat like raving loons.


 The kids want to clicker train the cats, but we're tried a few treats and can't find anything they really want which is the first step of the battle so once we do it'll be easier. May try hot dogs next time we have some or something like that, but since we have so many cats, it may be a little harder.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Bloody Sunday..

Ok, it's not really all that bloody, but it IS Sunday. I am currently sitting on the edge of the bathtub with my foot in a roasting pan of soapy water soaking a bloody toe nail-less big toe while I use the new toilet paper roll stack as a laptop holder as I listen to the wee boy wheeze like a helicopter getting ready to crash. So I guess technically blood is involved.  As I sit here (bathrooms are really boring if you are sitting there for 15 minutes randomly) I ponder a vast number of completely none related things. Surprising, I know.

1. 3 cats DO NOT fit comfortable in my cupboard.  They tried. They failed.

2. The edge of the bathtub, really uncomfortable.

3. The tile in this bathroom is hideous. It's even worse when it's dirty.

4. The boy really does sound like a helicopter even after his breathing treatment. I know where *I* am gonna be later.. And it's not in my bed asleep..

5. I really need to reculk the tub. Eww.

6. People get really freaky about their dogs. Almost more so than their kids. It's a dog, there is no *right* or *wrong* (as long as you aren't actually beating it) way like kids so get over it and don't be so darn weird about it. (This is about some odd interaction I saw at PetsMart where someone was talking to a lady about adopting a dog and then walked off because they weren't *doing something right*. The lady was pissed.)  It's a dog. If you want to spoil it, go for it. *I* treat mine like dogs, but I have plenty of ALL day issues to work around and don't pander around to a dog too much.

7. Don't get toenails removed. It is very effective torture.



Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Assessments

     I'm always at a loss at what testing I should do, if any, (school wise this is) for the kids since it isn't required by the state. The curiosity finally killed the cat and I found some free printable "previous years" tests - mostly for the girly - because I want to know where she is and what we still need to focus on and what her weaker points on before she moves on. While I was printing these 9000 pages, Boy is watching the printer (because it does that nifty pull the paper back in and print on the back thing) and starts getting mad. He explains that HE wants one too. The boy is mad because I wasn't going to make him take a several subject assessment test. Guess who is now..?? Eh.. It's really all the same, I just don't understand the desire. He's still over eying the one I've already printed.


   Oh, the other day when I turned the frogs light on, several were out just playing in the water!




Because some days we sit around and watch frogs all day. *shrug* What can I say..

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Sunday, Sunday...Oh what a daaaaay...

    Anyhow. Turns out we have a grand total of 12 to 13 frogs from our tadpoles! Considering they arrived via USPS in a tiny little box, sealed tight in a baggie, with 2 already eaten, we think this is a HUGE success! I'll see if I can get some pictures of the cute little buggers this week. They are surprisingly agile. The other day we got them some tiny little crickets when we went to the local pet store (no, not the kind that sell the mill puppies.. The kind that just sell dog food you silly people. We just buy frogs in zip lock bags, not dogs too.) Several of these eensy tiny little frogs ate these crickets the same size as themselves. It was awesomely hilarious, especially the one that laid wedged down in the rocks and you could almost hear him grunting the *I'm so fullllll I'm soooo fuuuuuulllll* Um.. not that we sat and watched this on a Saturday as our primary entertainment. Nope. NEVER. Next time, I'll get the wingless fruit-flies the guy said they also have sometimes so hopefully Hoppy won't be so bloaty.

So this Co-op thing. Turns out if you put more than 10 women is 1 place all havoc breaks out. So. Instead of 1 big group, it's splitting into what appears to be 3. The original group, a group of slightly older kids, and a group branch that the gal described as "unschoolers". Since the original group was a little too original for me and we are SO not "unschoolers" in any fashion, I got in touch with the gal who is going to be doing the organization for the older kids. (Not teenagers, but not so young they aren't even in school yet. You know, kids of homeschool age.) Anyhow, I talked with her and while there are many details to be worked out yet (small details like: times, places, people, events.. You know.. Small tiny details..) these items aren't fixed like they are with the "original" group which is nice in some ways too. I'm honestly not sure what kind of odd Drama broke out after that first meeting the other day. But I do want to point out *I* had nothing to do with it! Nothing AT ALL. Ok. Probably anyhow.  Most likely. Yeah. I was quiet the WHOLE meeting for the most part. See I can behave myself!


I don't think I've posted since the Dog Bite. (It's such an even it gets capitol letters even!) Last Friday the 2 stupidest puppies ever, were out playing and the Great Pyrenees got it's lower jaw caught on the Beagle's collar.  Beagle got stuck. Very, Very stuck. As I was trying to unclip his collar, he bit my thumb. HARD. Clamp down, not let go, hard. C is there and he starts to pry the dog's jaw open (and his fingers got a wee bit nipped) so I can get it out and as soon as he does the stupid Beagle grabs on to my other arm and start biting it repeatedly.  I get the now bleeding hand around his mouth enough to pull it shut and hold it while C works on getting the collar unclipped (it was a buckle collar). Yeah. So a trip to the Urgent Care, 10 days of antibiotics, a Tetnus shot, and what now appears to be long term nerve damage in that thumb. Not to mention the nail is starting to get gross and shred because it's still bleeding underneath it (yes, still 9 days later). So the nail may still fall off. *sigh*

It's never boring here I tell ya, NEVER.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Back to School Time

    For public school anyhow. We do year round school. Back to school time means friends that go to "Big School" (public or private schools) are going to be sadly missing from weekday playdates. 1 & 2 are sad because we have a few staple friends we see regularly they adore and see less of and there's a lot less of the "Hey wanna play?" going on. The good news is Back to School clearance Sales in about a week. They LOVE those because I let them pick out pretty much as much art supplies, writing implements, markers, notebooks, clearance clothes and whatnots they want. 75% off! WOOT.. We also get the added benefit of having an Back to School party with them because we're all down with any reason to party.

This year I've found a new homeschool group. I'm also going to look into a new co-op I've found that meets 2 times per week and is free of fees except supplies when *I*  would be leading (which is - from my understanding 4 times per year with another person so.. 2 times a year? ) and parental involvement is wanted on the days you aren't leading which is more ideal that some other co-op setups (for these 2)  I've seen. I'm going to a "Mom's Planning Meeting" next week where I'll hopefully find more out about it, but the consistency of a group like that with the same people, a familiar routine but with new people teaching the kids new things *I* would never think of is somewhat appealing. People like that tend to do crafts and stuff that I abhor. I don't know if it's going to work out, but it has potential so I'm gonna give it a whirl. Plus, it may be a good way to find wee boy some more "boy" friends. He's a little too comfortable answering to the term "Hey, Girls! Stop!" whenever we go out with friends.

Girl Scouts starts again soon too. It wee girl has really enjoyed it so far. I think she's finally settling in with this group of girls even though she is by far the youngest and smallest. She's on par with reading, writing, and other academic skills and at the end of last year she told the girls she's got Aspergers - though I don't think any of them get it. (And really, why would they? The oldest girls are 9.) This year one of our *goals* is to ask for help. When she gets confused by what people say - which happens a lot - she tends to just stand there and be confused. So we've talked about how when she is confused about a game, a phrase, what's going on - to just ask. Maybe pick a friend or 2 (she's got a couple of good ones in there that are just fantastic girls) what something means. The other girls won't care, they're beginning to realize she's a little different and like most little girls when they've been around someone for a while, just ignore it.


The boy working on typing!



We turned the fish tank into a frog/tadpole tank. I ordered 15 tadpoles from Ebay (yeah, who would have thought??) and they arrived via Fedex a few days later. Oddly, only a couple got eaten and the rest have been turning into successful little frogs!

Our tadpole turning into a frog.


Saturday, July 7, 2012

Ohhh Gerbils!

Well, Karma's going to make me eat my hat. I go and ponder stuffed gerbils and then the little fellas go and up and die! *I* didn't make them die - just to qualify. They seem to have just died of either old age or an unfortunate cleaning accident for a very eager cleaning 6 year old. We have switched to an all natural, completely nontoxic cleaner for the said enthusiastic child just in case. (He really REALLY likes to clean.) We said some nice kind words about their nice long life - because they HAD been alive for over 2 years - and gave them a semi - proper disposal. Well, at least they won't be dug up by the dogs and eaten. *Shudder*


Anyhow. Sorry Karma, I've learned my lesson. No more pondering stuffed rodents.

We have, however, filled their voided space with 2 tiny, cute hamsters. The hyper active cleaning boy is NOT allowed to clean anything near them - just in case.




The kids have named them Thing 1 and Thing 2 ironically enough. And while they aren't identical, they've agreed that the names can refer to either hamster. I'm frequently confused at the logic loops in this house.



R.I.P. Snow White and whatever the little Grey Gerbil was named.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Geriatric Gerbils!

I saw this:

 It's from https://www.facebook.com/debbieerey1 a lady that takes pretty and cutsie pictures for a living. Great! It IS really adorable. A lot of her pictures are absolutely Adorable! But on this picture, particularly, all I can think of is: I wonder if our geriatric gerbils would hold on to a swing if I made them one.

Now the thought went ever further than that. I even envisioned how to create a simplistic swing from a craft stick and yarn. Thought of the perfect place to hang it. Thought of the amusing things the cats would/could do with a geriatric gerbil dangling from a string. I really now just have this compulsion to *try* to put a geriatric gerbil on a swing, but for the life of me I can't figure out how the darn thing would hold still.

See, then my mind went to The Bloggess. I mean, she gets HERS to pose. The caveat?? Hers aren't alive. I don't want to HARM the poor buggers. (Love her BTW!)



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Summertime Ice Cream

Today we made a new (to us anyhow) ice cream treat. Because of my allergies, the kids don't get to have a lot of commercially prepared novelty food items because 90% of them have something I'm allergic to in them - usually nuts. We are a nut free household so when we were watching How It's Made I started to realize just how many junk food items my kids have never heard of. Today, we tackled the ever popular summertime treat Drumsticks.


Magic Shell, sugar cones, Braums Mint Cholocate Chip ice cream and we were good to go! 


Coat the inside of the cones with Magic Shell. After the first tasting, it's been decided that this layer isn't thick enough, so go heavy here if you like a nice thick chocolatey cone. I must admit I totally stole the egg carton holder idea from someone's Pintrest post and I'll post that as soon as I can remember where I saw that. 


I lapsed on the photos for the wrapping of the cones in wax paper and the cramming of ice cream, it was getting melty. But, this is what it looks like AFTER it's been in the freezer for a while and it no longer oozing all over the kitchen counter. 


And after the Magic Shell as been poured on top and allowed to freeze for a while and been unwrapped. 


The boy enjoys it. He particularly likes that it's Mint Chocolate Chip and not that "plain ol' vanilla".


Now they're just being hams.





The weather has been really nice in the mornings too. They gather a giant (and I mean GIANT) laundry basket of stuffies and go outside and play hide and seek. Or make them slide. Or throw them at each other. Or just snuggle them.




Monday, June 18, 2012

Schmogasborg of Hash

I've been lazy about a number of things lately. I could claim "busy", but really, I got lazy the last little bit and have been prioritizing the To-Do list.

Things that haven't made it to the top lately:
Grocery Shopping (more out of lack of funds than "lazy" but that's an entire story on it's own)
Taking pictures
Updating the blog
Folding laundry (it's been getting washed then stashed it random places ;p  )
De-cluttering the massive piles of crap piling up in HUGE ginormous clumps all over the house.

I have gotten several, non essential, things done that have been on the forever list done though. I baked a rather fantastic looking cake for a very good friend. She is one of the best friends ever and has done so much for me over the years. I would do anything she would ever ask. She's reaching a GIANT life milestone and needed chocolate cake. I'm very proud of her for making her life choices that she needed to make because sometimes, they suck.



I actually ended up making this same cake for C for Father's Day. The kids thought he would like it because C really, really LOVES chocolate. It's a chocolate cake with chocolate icing, chocolate ganache, with chocolate chunks on top. It was good, but I already have plans for my next cake. I have to find someone to pawn it off on who doesn't mind me stealing 1 try-it piece to see if my experiment worked. I want to make a chocolate cake, with whipped cream or chocolate (I haven't fully decided yet) and cherry filling in the middle, chocolate icing on the outside with the same ganache and then instead of the chocolate chunks - globs (decorative of course) of whipped cream with cherries on it about an inch or so apart. Not that I've thought about it.


We've gotten a Slip-N-Slide for the first time ever this year. The kids LOVE it. I do know why we waited until they were older to get one though. They hurl themselves at the most grotesque angles at the ground and half the time they fail to slide anywhere. And yet, they love it and keep doing it. It's really special when they face plant.



Anyhow, I'm going to attempt to take more pictures of our summer time adventures, because we really HAVE been doing a decent amount of relatively fun kid type stuff and I just need to pull the ol' camera out more. I took a couple this morning when they were talking their "pets", I'll try to add those tomorrow - it was A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.  I just don't know where the days go sometimes.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Procrastination.

If there was a way to sing an ode to this word, I would. It is a great plague of doom around my house. My spouse is the leader of The Procrastinators. There are 2 wee minion followers that obligingly follow his postponement teachings to a T. Oddly, C complains they "never listen to what he says", but they sure mimic his less desirable procrastination techniques. My personal favorite is the: I'll do it here in a little bit. A little bit NEVER COMES.(Or comes with a giant fit, sobbing, screaming, crying, kicking, biting, etc.) So.... We we are in Boot Camp of Time Management. I must admit that this first week has been an epic failure, but the misery that poor time management has brought may have made my point for me. No video games, no movies, no actual really *fun* stuff until the mandatory items (IE school and chores) were completed. I have each a detailed list on Monday morning of what had to be completed before Sunday at bedtime.

Neither started until Friday morning. They had to cram their entire weeks worth of school into 3 days (and I planned enough for each for 5 reasonable days), their laundry, errands, and other mandatory items into Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (today).  I think they wanted to see if I was *actually* going to make them do it. Hahhaahaha Yep. Sure did. Gonna do it next week too (and the week after that, and that.. and that..). I am happy and very proud of them that they managed to get it ALL DONE by noonish. I DID add in an extra bribe if they managed to get it all done before late today. Especially since T2 had a new concept with his math that he found very hard at first. But, once they gave up procrastination and set a timer (Ok, well T1 did anyhow) she got it done remarkably quickly. If an ice cream bribe teaches them the correct way to NOT procrastinate, ice cream it is. I think they actually got a lot more done with their school with this list method than they had been previously as well. I know there are some with the "What? School, in the summer?" But, realistically, it does work better for us. There is no refresher time with restarting, no re-gearing time, no resettling into schedules and routines. I want them to enjoy the summer, but I don't want to have to strangle them either. Plus, if we decide to go somewhere or someone gets sick, we can just push it back a few days without a concern. And there are several times in the summer the weather just is too hot to do anything. But, in the spring this year, there have been several days the weather was gorgeous and we just felt like playing - so it all works out eventually. Well, mostly. They end up ahead on the mandatory 180 days per year, but too many is better than not enough.







Here, lately, 1 & 2 have been into dress up a lot. This is one of my recent favorites.



Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Occupational Therapy and Ear Surgery

T1 is officially being phased off of occupational therapy! She has 2 sessions left - assuming all goes well. We've been going to see Mrs. Chan for over 2 years. Every Monday at 11 for over 2 years and we won't be there any more. We will continue to do listening therapy, brushing, her visual schedule and all of the other things we've learned there, we just won't be physically going to see the therapist every week. Our insurance company will be extremely happy. The next phase will be getting her set up with educational delay tested and in get that set up. We've been waiting for our insurance to change and that should happen within a month or so.

Tomorrow is another surgery for T2. This time he is getting a hole in his ear patched. I've convinced him that all they are going to do is sedate him and look at it. But. Well. They aren't. Ahh well.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Love For Big Kids

There are a lot of people having babies around here. Ok, women having babies, but sometimes I need to remember why having bigger kids are SO much better than babies. There really are a quite a few reasons they a super cool. Babies are cute, cuddly, have that just hatched smell, stay where you put them, don't sass talk, and are basically blank slates to be taught. But, the slightly older kid has some true advantages.

1. They can ASK for what they want instead of screaming like a banshee (most of the time anyhow).
2. They can pour their own drinks and *mostly* not spill.
3. They can drink from real cups, eat from real plates, and use real utensils.
4. Nap time is gone and you don't have to rush home at 1 to get them in bed just to be thwarted when they dose off in the car and will never fall back asleep once you get home. (No nap is also a con, BTW.)
5. They come up with some of the most bizarre stories which is more amusing that most shows on T.V. now.
6. They aren't a drowning risk in the bathtub any more. (Unless they get rowdy and need to be clubbed like baby goats.)
7. Logic starts to work as a reason why things must or must not be done. 
8. Each kid is developing their own personality and it is fun to figure out each new person as they grown.
9. Free Slave Labor!
10. They can swallow pills! You no longer have to try to get Motrin in them like they are a feral cat.
11. No more formula. That stuff is expensive and stinks!
12. They remember things from day to day, week to week, holiday to holiday. While for *cough* some of us this is a detriment, it's kinda fun to have traditions and habits with them.
13. They can amuse themselves outside in the fenced in yard by themselves. Not having to sit outside when it's 103 in the summer or -3 in the winter when they want to go out to play is HUGE.
14. They can dress, undress, and go to the bathroom by themselves (mostly).
15. They can buckle their own seat belts.


There's more. I'll make more of a list when I can think of them all!

Monday, April 23, 2012

T2 Is 6!

My little boy is 6!! (Ok, technically he will be on Wed., but this is close enough because I have a few minutes now.)  We had a cute little party for him on Sunday and while it was smaller than usual, it went very well. The kids all got along. There were no giant fits, fights, squabbles, yelling.. It was actually pleasant! We missed a few dear friends, but hopefully we can get together with them in a few days for a play date and see them to say hi (HI!).  I can't believe how big my wee boy has gotten. He was SO tiny and now is reading, writing, adding 2 digit numbers.. He's turned into a whole little person.


This year T2 went for a "Zelda" theme at his party. I must admit this made the cake a little *special*. I was aiming for a Triforce cake. It was a little lopsided and lumpy, but it tasted SO good! It was humid the day I was making it and the cake was just too moist it couldn't stay together.


Mostly, the kids just ran around outside and played together. But they did SO well. They really are just the best kids. They have a fantastic bunch of parents.





Just a few of our friends that came, I wasn't able to get everyone - kids tend to run at the slightest thing you know!!

And of course T1 was the Most Fantastic Sister Helper. She even made T2 one of his favorite breakfasts of blueberry muffins all by herself (except the oven part of course). They were absolutely delicious! So proud of that wee girl of mine too!





Friday, April 13, 2012

Born On Date

So I've been a little delayed posting, but eh I'd say it's because I'm busy, but mostly I've become slightly absorbed with my new Ipad and it's hard to type long things on it. You know, new toys and all. But, T2 was working on his school work this am and one of his questions was "When were you born?" He comes up and asks me. I KNOW he knows his birthday so I ask him what his birthday is and he says "April 25th". We go back and forth for about 3 rounds because apparently "born on" and "birthday" are NOT the same.  I then had to spend about 5 minutes explaining that BIRTH meant BORN hence BIRTHday. Apparently both 1 and 2 never made that connection before.

This is Bear now at 11-ish weeks sitting with T1 about 3 days ago. He's gonna be a big boy!

I'm also going to be posting pictures of the newly painted bathroom. It was hideous. I'm not sure why we hadn't painted before now. It's been 7 years of hideousness. But a day and a half of effort and it looks SO much better. We are planning, at some point, to do something with the pink-ness of the tile, but that's a much bigger project - and expense than just some paint. But we fixed the plumbing for the shower (which has apparently been broken the entire time we've lived here) and that left a giant hole in the wall. So I fixed that and then it needed to be painted. Sad, I know, that the plumber duct taping part of the wall together is what it takes to get something in my house painted. But I got enough paint to get the back bathroom done too.


Friday, March 23, 2012

Knee Surgery

Just avoid it. Knee surgery is evil - a necessary evil in some cases - but evil none the less. I had surgery on my left knee last Friday. Today the thing is still swollen and looks like someone took a bat to it.

And this it looking *better*.  And yes, it DOES look like it has chicken pox. Those are hives. I have hives all over the front and back of that leg. Just THAT leg. The kids have been remarkably good about letting me rest it. They've stayed on task, for the most part, with school. They've not watched excessive amounts of T.V.  They've helped out a ton with puppies by letting them outside and feeding them and the kittens. They can get their own smaller snacks and drinks with only minor spillage which they attempted to clean up by themselves.

So for the most part the kids are doing fantastic with it. *I* am exhausted from it hurting constantly. And I admit I've been impatient and probably doing more than I should with the darn thing since it still won't bend well because of swelling. Buuuuuut you know there are certain things around the house that won't do themselves and after a week I get a little antsy. I have read 6 books. Seriously. 6. I stole C's nook that I got him for Christmas because I kept running out of library books and started downloading free ones. Today, I borrowed some from my friend N because she had the last book in a serious I've been reading and well.. I wanted it like Gollum wants that darned ring. So I sit with some Lipton Diet Iced Green Tea and some Caramel Rice Cakes and a giant ice pack on my knee and some painkillers and read. I've done this for 7 days straight now.

The one positive thing from this is both kids curl up near me (although they do have a healthy respect for *away from the leg*) and read chapter books too. T1 has gone through 2 Babysitters Club books and T2 has gone through almost every single boy book we have in the house. We need to get him some harder Boy books. I just didn't expect my 5 year old to be on a 2-3rd grade reading level so I figured we'd have more time. Guess I was wrong. Although of all the horrible, tragic things to be wrong about, I'll take it.


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

OKC

A couple of weeks ago we took a short weekend trip to Oklahoma City. It was mostly a "let's do something fun before the suckfest of knee surgery" trip. Now that we are fully in the Suckfest that IS knee surgery recovery and I don't have a lot of things better to do than sit here on my behind and elevate the knee that won't stop swelling, I figured I'd go ahead and share the pictures from OKC.

We stayed at a fairly cute little hotel with a nice little pool for little kids. Unfortunately, several of the other guests thought this meant that they could just let their kids do whatever they wanted. It drove me absolutely insane. C was nice and took 1 & 2 to the pool and let me go to the fitness center instead after that first time. The pool wasn't very deep either, since it was targeted for littler kids. The kids liked it though - I think *I* may have been the only one not in love with the pool. But they had LOTS of amply sized towels, a little slide, little water falls. It was very well maintained, I just have a thing with pools. And being cold and wet.

The first day we went to G.W. Exotic Animal Memorial Park. It's about 45 minutes out of OKC, but very much worth the drive AND price. We took their tour and got to pet and play with a baby tiger, a baby bear, a snake, a giant tortoise, camels, goats, baby alligator and 2 hour informative tour where they fed the big cats and bears and stuff. VERY, VERY much recommend it. The guy who runs and owns the place is apparently getting ready to have his own nationally run show about building zoos or something like that.





This is a mean monkey BTW..

And for as much as everyone *Hates* Walmart, they donate all of their meat they can't sell. Which apparently is A LOT.

Anyhow. Go there if you can. It's cool. There is nothing to seperate you from the animals but a thin chain link fence. Literally. Soooo. Hold on to your meandering kids. .. Like T2 who actually leaned against the tiger cage and shoved a hand in and leaned just absent mindedly because he does that and gave the keepers a coronary as a jerked him 10 feet back so that the tiger didn't eat him.  (They train them to take meat from the keepers from between the chain link slats. It's a big bad no no to touch the cages.. Tigers will eat you..)


 We also went to the Museum of Osteology on our way back to the hotel that day. It was really pretty cool and presented MUCH nicer than I had anticipated. 1 and 2 both thought it was really neat!



Because if there's something to stick his head into, he's gonna do it.

Anything he can do, she can do better..



We headed back to the hotel after that, we all got tired. Well, not too tired to swim of course. They went and swam, I did not. It was cold. We ended up having cheetos and chocolate milk to go with the traditional Family Movie Night for dinner that night because we couldn't figure out what else to have and we were all tired after swimming. 

The next morning (Sunday) we all got up, had breakfast, they went swimming and we loaded the car and went to the Science Museum a.k.a the Omniplex. I don't have pictures of that because we've been there a couple of times and I was feeling lazy. We stayed a few hours there and headed home to play with the puppies and kittens that were played with all weekend by my mom.