The Power of Color

This is what my family room looks like now. So, what do you think?

Those of you who have been in my family room know that this is a HUGE improvement, at least as far as space goes. Basically, we got rid of the over-sized coffee table my mother gave us when our smaller table broke, moved the chair to another room, and moved the ottoman over to where the coffee table had been.

But, the change that really makes the difference here is the color I added to the room. I went out this evening and bought some new throw pillows, chenille throw, and table cloth, all in deep red. Just adding that pop of color to the room makes it look like a whole new room.

Now, I just need some new window treatments to complete the room. Oh, well... Another day, another project.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

There are big changes going on in my house this weekend. Although we haven't gotten as much done as I would have liked, there is definitely progress being made here. There is significantly less furniture in my family room today than there was yesterday, which is definitely a good thing.

Prior to these changes, there was only about 20% of the floor than wasn't covered with a piece of furniture. That number has now risen to about 60-70%. Now, Katie has plenty of room to dance.

We still have a lot more cleaning and organizing to do, but I feel so good about what we've accomplished so far. And I'm really motivated to keep on going with the purge. I may have to throw together a yard sale next weekend to get rid of all of this stuff. I'd donate it all to charity if we didn't need the money so much.

Anyhow, I have to get back to work now.

Hold On to Your Hats

Dear Louisiana,

The time has come for you, yes ALL of you, to pack up your stuff and get the heck out of Dodge. Gustav is out to get y'all. And he doesn't seem to be in a very good mood either.


Tennessee looks like a nice, safe place to go. How about Memphis? Go visit Graceland, or take a walk down Beale Street. Maybe Nashville is more your style? Try to see if you can run into some of your favorite country music stars.

I really don't care what you do, just get the hell out of there. The economy is in the crapper right now, so people aren't going to be as likely to donate money to you like we did when Katrina paid you a visit. And your government has already warned you that if you don't get out, there will be NO ONE left behind to help your dumb ass out this time.

Do yourselves a favor and go. NOW. Thanks.

Alive & Kickin'

We're home from the hospital now, and Katie is just fine. We ended up not having to stay for the full eight hours because Katie's vital signs were holding steady and if she was going to have any effects from the meds, it would have started at least an hour or so before she was released. The doctor said it was unlikely that she had taken any pills, or that they just didn't have any effect on her. Either way, she was good to go.

It was a good thing that the doctor released her when he did, too, because both Katie and Phil were getting very antsy at that point. It was close to bedtime and Katie always gets a bit whiny around then.

Oh, and I forgot to mention in my earlier post that my mother had also neglected to feed Katie any lunch while she was at her house, so the poor baby was absolutely starving. Luckily, the doctor had told us that Katie could eat or drink anything she wanted while we were there, so I went to the cafeteria to get us all something to eat. I got us each a hot dog, and some milk, yogurt, and a Nutrigrain bar for Katie. Sadly, that wasn't enough to satisfy her hunger, so Phil ended up having to go to a vending machine to get her some cookies, too. The kid is like a bottomless pit sometimes.

Anyhow, long story short, we're home, Katie's fine, and now I must try to get some sleep. I have a big day of cleaning and purging ahead of me tomorrow.

Not My Idea of Fun

This morning, I had the bright idea to ask my mother to watch Katie for me so I could get a head start on my big weekend of cleaning. So, I took Katie to her and went back home to get started on my cleaning project. About three hours later, my mother called to tell me that Katie had gotten into her pills and that she was missing her Coreg.

I asked her if she had called Poison Control, and of course she hadn't. So, I hung up the phone and called Poison Control myself. They said that the medication wasn't as toxic as some other heart meds, but that because we didn't know exactly how many she had taken, she needed to go to the emergency room to be evaluated.

So, I called my mother back and told her to get Katie ready to go to the hospital and I headed over to pick her up. On my way, I called Phil to let him know what was going on, and I called my aunt to have her meet the other girls when they got off of the bus.

I picked Katie up and sped the entire way to the hospital, but I still got there too late. By the time they got Katie triaged and into a room (which was very quickly) it had been an hour since my mother found her with the pills. The doctor said that after an hour, the medication would no longer be in her stomach and would be into her blood stream. Since the Coreg takes a little while to start working, and peaks between 4-6 hours after ingestion, they wanted to keep her for eight hours for monitoring.

We are at the hospital now (thank God for Phil's wireless Sprint card) waiting for something to hopefully not happen. It's been more than three hours now, and Katie is not showing any signs of a reaction, so she probably didn't actually swallow any pills. But, they'll probably still make us stay for another 5-6 hours anyway. Just how we like to spend our Friday nights.

By the way, when we were getting settled into Katie's room here in the ER, one of the nurses was asking me about what happened and she quizzed me about Poison Control's phone number. I told her to let me think about it for a minute because I keep it posted on my refrigerator so it's always handy. Then I remembered it and told her. She said that I was a good mom for keeping it handy and that I wouldn't believe how many parents come into the hospital and have no clue about it.

If you don't already have the Poison Control phone number handy, please take this as a lesson and make sure you get it handy. Post it in a place where everyone can easily find it. Even if you have it programmed into your telephone, you should still post it in case you have a babysitter who doesn't know that or how to access it. In case you don't know the phone number, it's 1-800-222-1222.

Bella Update

As of this morning, Bella is no longer limping and the swelling in her foot has gone down considerably. There is still some residual swelling left, but at the rate her foot seems to be healing, I think she'll be as good as new before the weekend's over.

Poor Kitty

My cat, Bella, has an injured front paw. I have no idea what happened to her, but she's limping and her paw is swollen. This happened yesterday and hasn't gotten any better yet. She doesn't look like she was in any sort of fight, because she has no other injuries or scratches. I've looked at the pads on her foot and can't see anything unusual there either. It doesn't appear to be broken, and I can't imagine a scenario in which she could have gotten it broken.

So, for now, I am keeping her inside and giving her lots of love. Hopefully, I'll see some improvement soon. If not, I'm going to have to figure out a way to get her in to see the vet next week. Please pray that Bella gets better without me having to take her to the vet. I just can't afford a vet bill right now.

Scary Stuff

Bus Woes

I had to go in to see the Assistant Principal at Sarah and Emily's school this morning to complain about their bus driver. The girls came home from school yesterday complaining that they had not only been forced to sit four to a seat on the way home yesterday, but that there were some kids without seats standing in the aisle, too. They also told me that their bus driver talks on her cell phone almost non-stop while driving their bus route.

Since I had to take Sarah to the dentist to have a problem with her braces fixed this morning, I had her accompany me to the Assistant Principal's office when I made the complaint. I figured it would be best for her to be there since she was the one who was actually on the bus.

According to the Assistant Principal, Sarah and Emily's bus route is one of their larger route, therefore they have a larger bus than most routes. Yesterday afternoon, they had a substitute bus which was not as large and could not accommodate all of the kids who were on the route. However, according to the Assistant Principal, it is against policy for the students to sit more than three to a seat or to stand while the bus is moving. He said that the bus driver should have taken two trips, and that he would look into who it was that was driving that bus to have them reprimanded.

As for the regular bus driver constantly being on the cell phone, he was in total agreement with me that she should not be doing that. He said it was completely unsafe and that if the bus driver can't stay off of her cell phone for the 20 minutes it takes her to drive the bus route, then she has a real problem. As I was sitting there talking to him, he was composing an email to someone in the transportation department to have the bus driver talked to about her cell phone habits.

I also made sure to mention to the Assistant Principal that other than those two complaints, I have been very happy with the bus situation this year. My girls have made it to school on time every day, and have arrived home on time everyday, too. The Assistant Principal, as well as all of the staff I have had to deal with over the past two years there, have been just wonderfully helpful with any and every problem that has come up, and I am so happy to have my girls at a school with people like that. I think I'll have to write a letter or send a thank you card to them.

By the way, someone must have spoken to the bus driver today about her cell phone habits, because according to Sarah, the bus driver was not on the phone at all for the entire trip home from school. Yay!

Venting

I try my hardest to keep this blog of mine upbeat and positive. But this post is not going to fit into that category. So, I am giving you fair warning that if you don't want read my vent, please stop right here.

The air conditioning in my 14+ year old car has gone out again. Which makes any sort of outing in the heat of the day practically unbearable. Ordinarily, this would not be a problem. We would just take the car in to be serviced and everything would be just fine.

Unfortunately, we are broke right now. B-R-O-K-E, broke. Why are we broke? Anyone want to make any guesses? No, it's not the price of gas or the rising cost of groceries. And we didn't overspend on school clothes and supplies (despite that $20 binder).

We are broke because my ex-husband is a DEADBEAT DAD. Plain and simple, he's the classic example. Only out for himself, not giving a damn about how his children are being taken care of. I haven't seen a DIME in child support for nearly two months, and when I was receiving child support, it was sporadic at best. He was already well over $20K behind on his payments, but since March, he has gotten another $3275 behind.

He obviously doesn't care how our bills get paid around here, but I certainly am interested to know how his bills are being paid. Supposedly, neither he nor his little wife are working, but they sure are sitting pretty, and his wife's child certainly isn't starving (from the looks of her, I'd say far from it). You'd think that one of them could get off their ass and get a job to support these girls, but apparently being responsible is beneath them.

The sad thing about all of this is that my husband earns a decent living. But, unlike some LOSERS, Phil actually pays to support his child from his first marriage. Unfortunately, my JACKASS of an ex's irresponsible behavior is hurting Phil's relationship with his son, too. We've actually had to cancel visits on a few occasions because we just didn't have enough food in the house to feed an extra person and we couldn't afford the gas money to drive all the way to and from his home two times (pick-up and return, and he lives an hour away). It hurts Katie, too, because she really loves her brother and loves having him around.

So, to all of you deadbeat dads out there (not that there are many who read moms' blogs), try to get this through your pathetic little heads: When you don't pay your child support, you're not just hurting the mother. You are hurting YOUR OWN CHILDREN. You are not only depriving them of their basic needs, but you are depriving them of the pride a child feels when they have a dad who they can count on.

Luckily for my girls, they do have one dad who they can count on, and his name is Phil.

Success

My search is over. I finally found it. I've searched far and wide (okay, so it was only Super Target and two Walmarts) and at long last I have it. What is it? Why, it's that darn elusive fifth composition book Emily needs for her Language Arts class.

Can you believe her teacher is requiring FIVE composition books for this one class? Sarah never needed more than one or two composition books in sixth and seventh grades, so I assumed that when I purchased four of them before school started that they would be enough for both girls. Boy, was I wrong! Wrong - The opposite of right!

So, now I am officially finished with my back-to-school shopping. Oh, I'm sure that there will be more supplies needed throughout the year, but the official BTS shopping is complete.

Naked

Do you want to know an easy way to tell if there is someone taking a bath or shower in my house? Just look at Katie. If she's naked, then the answer is "Yes." Katie loves the water, and she loves taking baths and showers. So naturally, whenever anyone else in the house is bathing or showering, she thinks she must join them and strips naked. This happens at least once a day.

My Desk

My desk has become the catch-all for just about every piece of paperwork that comes into my house. Everyone in the house seems to think that their stuff belongs on my desk along with my own stuff.

So, I started cleaning off my desk, along with the area around my desk since my desk was overflowing, last night. I'm still working on it, too. I'm hoping to have it all finished by tonight when I go to sleep. Wish me luck!

Cool For School

I finished getting all of Sarah and Emily's school supplies, minus that one elusive composition book, ready for them today. All of their pens, pencils, calculators, folders, notebooks, papers, book covers, and binders are ready to go. And speaking of binders, I decided to decorate them with scrapbook papers to make them personalized for the girls.

This first binder is for Sarah's Honors Algebra class. (I edited out anything that could have been used to identify her.) Sarah's favorite color is purple, so she just loves how I decorated it for her.


The next binder is also Sarah's and is for her U.S. History class. The only thing I really did for this one is print the titles and such on the pink scrapbook paper to insert into the designated spots.


And last, but not least, is Emily's big three inch binder for all of her basic classes (non-electives). This binder is the reason that I was inspired to do all of this personalization. Why? Because it cost me more than $20 (after tax) to purchase, and for that price, plain white just wasn't going to cut it.


Both girls are thrilled with my work and can't wait to take their stuff to school to show it all off to their friends.

Scott Weiland Off the Wagon???

So, I just returned from the Stone Temple Pilots concert. Guess who didn't perform? Yeah, STP.

The concert was due to start at 7:00 pm, and the opening act started late, closer to 7:15-7:20. Then they played forever. When they were finally finished, just after 9:00 pm, the roadies came on stage and changed out the set and got everything all set up for STP, did all of the sound checks, and then left the stage.

Then we waited. 9:30, No STP. 9:45, No STP. 10:00, No STP. Around 10:20, they finally made the announcement that the concert was canceled. The "reason" for the cancellation was that the band couldn't make it to Tampa from Ft. Lauderdale "due to inclement weather."

Yeah, right! The opening band was able to get there. The roadies and all of STP's equipment was able to get there. AND, if they weren't able to make it out of Ft. Lauderdale, why did they have to wait until nearly 10:30 to tell the crowd that they weren't there? Sounds awfully like it wasn't the weather keeping STP from performing tonight.

On the bright side of things, though, I should be able to get my money back for the tickets.

Phil Came Home

Last night. Katie stayed up to go to the airport with me to pick him up. She also refused to take a decent nap yesterday. She was wide awake for the entire drive to the airport, too.

Katie was thrilled to see her Daddy, and he was thrilled to see her. No hug or kiss for me. All I got was "Let's go get my bag," and "Carry/Hold this for me."

And the craziest thing happened on the way home, too. Katie finally fell asleep but then woke up crying. But her cry wasn't her normal cry. She sounded like she did back when she was a little baby. Phil said so, too, so it wasn't just me that thought so. It really freaked me out.

A Conversation with Phil

Last night Phil and I chatted briefly via online instant message. The chat went something like this:

Phil: John Tesh and Gwar are coming.

Me: Together?

Phil: Not together.

Me: That's too bad.

Phil: That would be really cool.

Me: Totally.

Busy Day with eBay

I've been pretty busy today with my eBay auctions. Two of my items didn't sell, but I'm not disappointed because my items that did sell went for a good bit of money. I knew that the shoes were going to get big numbers, but they weren't my best sellers. Amazingly, I earned the most money from Sarah and Emily's old Girl Scout books and uniforms.

So, I've been sending invoices, printing packing slips and postage labels, and packaging up my items for shipping. All.Day.Long. Now, I need to schedule my carrier pick-up for tomorrow and I'll be all set until I receive more payments. Hopefully, these guys will pay soon and I won't have to send them payment reminder messages. I hate to do that.

Oh, and speaking of eBay, I received a couple of cute outfits I won on eBay in the mail today. Katie absolutely LOVED them. She couldn't wait to try them on. And after she had tried them all on, she kept taking off her clothes and putting the new outfits back on.

I took some photos of her in the new outfits to send to Phil since he's still out of town. He was skeptical about them when he saw the words "purple fur" on the invoices. But, once he saw the photos, he agreed that they are definitely cute on Katie. What's your opinion?




And, yes, I do know that Katie will not have many opportunities to wear the coat down here in south Florida, but for the $5 I paid for it, if she only wears it once or twice, it's still worth it.

Where are the Parents?

Katie's watching Max & Ruby right now. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's a kids' show on Noggin about two little bunnies, brother and sister, Max and Ruby. Ruby is the older sister of Max. For some reason, Ruby is always taking care of Max. In all of the episodes I've seen of this show, I have never once seen their parents. They have a grandmother that they visit occasionally, but that's the only relative they seem to have.

So, where are their parents? And why do they expect Ruby to always take care of Max? Why doesn't Ruby ever get any time without Max? This kid is totally exasperating with all of the trouble he gets into. I think Ruby could really use a break. I'm surprised Ruby hasn't run away yet!

And what about their grandmother? If their parents are so neglectful that they are never around for their children and make Ruby take care of Max all by herself, why hasn't the grandmother stepped in and done something about it? She's got to see how bad the situation in their home is. Doesn't she care?

Back to School... Again

All of the evacuations have been lifted for our area and the school board has announced that the schools will reopen for classes tomorrow. So, Sarah and Emily will be going back to school again tomorrow morning. And I've got this song stuck in my head.

One Week

Yesterday morning marked one week since Katie has had a pacifier. She's done so well without it, too. The first couple of days without her pacifier, she asked for it a few times a day and we would just tell her that the dentist said she couldn't have it anymore. Of course, she got a new baby doll for her birthday that came with its own pacifier. When she mentioned the baby doll's pacifier, I told her that the baby doll has a pacifier because it's a baby, but she's a big girl now so she doesn't have one anymore. And that was that.

The last time we tried to ween her from her pacifier, we decided to take it from her during the day, but let her have it for naps and bedtime. But then she got sick, and well, that was the end of that. This time, we decided to just quit the pacifier "cold turkey" and not give it to her at all. She must have been ready for the change because she didn't put up much of a fight about it, and now she doesn't ask about it at all.

Coast is (Almost) Clear

I've been up all night watching Tropical Storm Fay's every move. The most recent official update came in at 11:00 pm. According to that forecast track, it looks like we are going to be spared the brunt of Fay's fury. We're practically out of the "cone of uncertainty" now.

Of course, now I have to worry about all of my friends and family down in the Fort Myers/Naples area. Good luck guys!

Back From School

When it was about time for the school bus to return Sarah and Emily to us, Katie and I walked down to the bus stop to wait for the girls. Katie got so excited when we finally saw the bus round the corner of our street.

So, how did the first day of school go? Well, if the look on Emily's face here is any indication, I'd say it went quite well.


Katie was happy to have her sissies, and their friend Eryn, back home from school. I tried to get a photo of all four girls together, but Sarah decided not to cooperate... as usual.


And thanks to Tropical Storm Fay (that bitch!), the girls get to stay home with Katie and me tomorrow.

Back to School

Well, Sarah and Emily got off to school without a major production this morning. Neither of them seemed very nervous this morning. Emily had been feeling nervous over the weekend, and even Sarah kept acting nervous, but all of that was gone today. Either that, or they covered it up really well.

Katie and I walked the girls to the bus stop this morning, but first we stopped in the front yard to take some photos.

Emily

Sarah

Sarah & Emily pretending they like each other

Katie gets in on the action
Surprisingly, Katie wasn't upset at all when her sisters got on the bus and left for school. She just waved bye-bye and walked home with me. And she's been the sweetest little thing all day, too.

Hopefully, the buses won't be running too late this afternoon and the girls will make it home in time for dinner. Of course, if we have to eat dinner a little late, it'll be okay, since school has been canceled for tomorrow because of Tropical Storm Fay.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Tomorrow
I love ya, Tomorrow
You're only a day away!

Sarah and Emily go back to school tomorrow! That's less than a day away. Woo-hoo!

The only thing I'm not looking forward to is having to get up early in the morning to make sure they get out the door in one piece and on time. Oh, and I also have to get up early to take Phil to work because he's flying to Missouri for the week.

With Phil out of town, and Sarah and Emily at school all day long, I guess Katie and I will be having quite a bit of one-on-one time together. I wonder what we'll do.

Amazing

Congratulations Michael Phelps on winning your eighth gold medal of the 2008 Olympics.

Dear Fay

I know that you think it's a good time for a visit, but I'm just not so sure about that. You see, Phil is going to be out of town next week, and Sarah and Emily are starting back to school on Monday. I'm already going to be stressed out, and I really don't think that a visit from you, and the chaos that you bring, is what I really need.


Think about Emily. It's going to be her first week at a new school. Her first week in middle school. She's going to have a hard enough time adjusting without having to miss the second day of school because of you.

Now I realize that gas prices have been going down here recently, but I still can't afford to have to pay for evacuation gas. And what if I stay home and lose power? Phil won't be here to take care of that for me. I don't even know how to work his grill to cook food for my girls.

So, please Fay, just stay away. A visit from you now is not good for me.

Sincerely,
Melodie

Attention Target Shoppers

Would it really be all that difficult for you to remove your garbage from your shopping cart before leaving it behind in the parking lot? I know it's not difficult for me, and I'm no super hero. Do you think that someone else really wants to carry your trash around the store with them, or throw it away for you? Trust me, they don't.


So, I just returned from Super Target. Every single time I go there (or to the regular Target) I am shocked at just how many shopping carts I have to go through to find one that doesn't have someone else's garbage still in it. It's disgusting. I had to pull THREE shopping carts out before getting to one that didn't have garbage in it.

After I was finished shopping, and had put my purchases in my Jeep, I went to put my cart in the corral. The shopping cart in the corral in front of my cart had two HUGE Starbucks cups just sitting there in the front. You can't tell me that the person who left the cart there didn't see those cups. Would it have been that horrible to have taken the trash with them and thrown it in their home garbage can? Or toss it in the garbage can in the store on your way out? I don't think so.

Next Olympian

Apparently, Katie has been watching quite a bit of the Olympics, too. Last night when they were showing a recap of Nastia Liukin's and Shawn Johnson's gymnastics performances, Katie said she wanted to "do dat" and proceeded to start tumbling and jumping around the family room. This morning while taking a bath, Katie started swimming laps in the bathtub. She's "swim" to one end of the bathtub, then turn around and "swim" to the other end. 2020 Olympics, here we come!

Nap Time

I don't know why, I don't know how, but I've been sucked into the Olympics this year. I usually only watch the women's gymnastics in the summer and the figure skating in the winter. I really have no interest in any of the other sports at all. This year, however, I've been watching not only the women's gymnastics, but the men's gymnastics, both men's and women's beach volleyball, and swimming. And so, I've been up until at least 1:30 every.single.night.

Needless to say, I've been running on empty (please don't sue me Jackson Browne). I've been like the walking dead. Seriously, it was all I could do to not fall asleep while standing.

Today, after Sarah's violin lesson, I took Sarah and Emily to their grandparents' house so they could take them to see the new Star Wars movie and shopping for school shoes. My mother was watching Katie for me at my house while I was doing all of this. When I got home around 2:00, Katie still hadn't taken her nap, so I sent her in to take a nap with Phil, who had been sleeping all day after working all night.

Once Katie was settled in with Phil, I took advantage of the peace and quiet in the house, and laid down on the couch for a little nap myself. I slept so well. It was wonderful! When Phil woke me up at 5:30, I really wasn't ready to wake up, but I did feel so much better than I had before my nap.

My uncle is taking Sarah and Emily to Busch Gardens tomorrow, so it'll just be me, Phil, and Katie once again. I'm hoping to squeeze in another good nap tomorrow, too.

Sneak Peak - Part 2

The Sneak Peak went well this evening. For the first time since Sarah began attending this school two years ago they gave the students their class schedule on the Sneak Peak night. So, we were able to meet all of the girls' teachers tonight, and they were able to compare schedules with their friends, too.

Unfortunately for Emily, neither her friend from last year, nor her friend from her fourth grade class, are in any of her classes with her this year. And unfortunately for me, none of the girls' teachers had any supply lists ready for us. So, I guess I'll either be fighting the crowds Monday night, going to Walmart at 2 am, or waiting until Tuesday morning to go to Super Target.

Sneak Peak

This evening is the Sneak Preview night at Sarah's and Emily's school. It's not exactly a "Meet the Teacher" or "Open House", but more of a "here's where your homeroom is and this is how the school is set up" for the new students. Even though this will be Sarah's third year at this school, and she knows her way around it like the back of her hand, we are still going to go for the 7th & 8th grade's portion of the Sneak Preview so I can at least meet her homeroom teacher and she can see if any of her friends are in her homeroom.

Since this will be Emily first year at the school, I am hoping that I can get some idea of what classes she'll be taking and who her teachers are. Emily only has one friend from her school last year who will be attending this school with her, so hopefully she'll have some classes with him. Emily did attend our local school for fourth grade, so she is hoping that she'll have at least a couple of students from her class then in some of her classes this year, too. Of course, whether or not she knows anyone in her classes on day one, I know that by day two she'll have more friends than she can count. She's just that type of girl.

I am also hoping to get some sort of supplies list from the girls' teachers so I don't have to go out Monday night and fight the crowds to buy a ton of school supplies. That is just hell. Of course, I could always wait until the crowds go to sleep and shop at Walmart at 2 in the morning.

Liquidation Sale Update

Well, I spent all day working on it, and as of right now, I have 15 items up for bid on eBay. And, no, they're not all shoes! LOL.

Bing Bang

No, she's not Britney Spears. This is Katie dressed as her favorite character from Lazy Town, Stephanie.

And the Liquidation Sale Continues

Now that I finally have a free day, I'm back to posting everything I can on eBay. So far, I've got four pairs of Katie's old shoes up for auction. I'll be listing more stuff as the day goes on. Here's what I've got listed so far:

Ruby Red Crocs

Stride Rite Brown Emily T-Straps

Stride Rite Black Emily T-Straps

Stride Rite White Cozumel Sandals

Feel free to bid on anything you might like.

Good Guy

Just when I thought there were no more decent people out there, I came across this sweet story.

Doctor, Doctor

I took Emily and Katie to the doctor this morning for their annual check-ups. Both girls are wonderfully healthy, as usual. They both had to get pricked to check their iron levels. Emily's finger was pricked, and Katie's toe was pricked. They also both had to give a urine sample. Since it would probably be impossible to get Katie to pee in a cup, the nurse put one of those urine bags on her for the sample.

While we were in the exam room waiting to be seen, Katie announced that she had to "poop potty." Since she had that urine collection bag attached to her, I ran her to the bathroom as quickly as possible to keep her from getting poop on the collection bag. Luckily, she had already urinated a little bit, so I was able to just take the bag off of her so she could poop.

When we got back to the exam room, Emily was at the tail end of her exam. Dr. Bob informed me that Emily told him she wanted to go ahead and get her tetanus booster instead of waiting until next year. He also remarked at how tall she is now. She's five foot one now, which is basically 95th percentile for girls her age. She does tower over most of her friends, and even some of Sarah's friends.

When it was Katie's turn for her exam, she was extremely cooperative. Dr. Bob went to look in her ears, and when Katie saw him coming at her with the instrument, she thought he wanted to look in her throat, so she opened her mouth wide and said, "Aaahh." Dr. Bob was impressed and looked at her throat and nose before moving on to her ears.

After giving Katie a clean bill of health, Dr. Bob said he could hardly believe that she was already two years old since it seems like she was just born yesterday. I know exactly what he means about that. It's hard to believe that my tiny little baby is growing up so quickly. Katie's already 34.25 inches tall, and she weighed in at 24 pounds today, too.

After the exams were over, the nurse came back in to give Emily her vaccine. Emily was very brave about it and even said that she didn't even feel the shot. Granted, the nurse used the numbing spray on her arm before poking her, but I was still proud of her.

Once we were finished at the doctor's office, we went to lunch at Chick-fil-A, and then stopped by Super Target to return some unused party supplies. Now that we're out of the "birthday season" around here, I don't think we have any use for them anymore.

Good Taste

After yesterday's lesson on how not to dress, I bring you the exact opposite. When we were at Old Navy yesterday, Katie was full of energy and not happy to just sit and watch her sisters pick out clothes. So, we took a little walk around the store. She said she wanted to look at the baby clothes, so I took her to the toddler section.

Katie was so adorable as she walked around looking at everything and saying things like "pretty," "nice," and "cute." After a few minutes, she found this one dress that she grabbed onto and said, "Try it," which meant she wanted to try it on. She also wanted to try on the matching shoes, too.

Let me just tell you that this kid has good taste in clothes. Not only did it fit her perfectly, but it was just too cute on her. She insisted on wearing it to her dentist appointment this morning, so I took some photos of her in it before we ate lunch. Doesn't she look fabulous?


As for her dentist visit this morning, she did great. Less tears than her last two visits, and still no cavities. The dentist again said that we need to take her pacifier away from her, so we are working on that again. So far, so good.

Inappropriate

We decided to drive out to Old Navy this afternoon to use my gift card and let the girls spend their birthday money on some new clothes for school. They were having a great sale on their kids' clothes. Just about everything was 40% off, so the girls loaded up and headed to the fitting rooms.

Since the girls had so much to try on, we ended up spending a lot of time in the fitting rooms. While I was waiting for them to try everything thing on, I noticed a very inappropriately dressed woman.


Did you see it? Let's take a closer look.


Yeah, that's her ass cheek. It's not like she was a young woman, either. She had to be in her mid to late forties. And that ass cheek there was the least of what I saw. Her son was in the fitting room trying on clothes, and she kept bending over to check the fit on him. Not a very pretty picture, in my opinion.

When I snapped the photo, the woman didn't notice, but one of the girls working in the fitting room did. Later, when Sarah asked me what I had taken a photo of, I responded, "Inappropriateness." That same girl was standing close enough to hear our conversation and couldn't keep from laughing when I said that. I told her it was going on my blog, and she said that she wished she had her camera with her, too. Obviously, I wasn't the only person who thought the woman looked ridiculous.

More Free Stuff

Back in December, I joined My Points after receiving an invitation from Karlise. Yesterday, I received my very first reward from them.


I got a $25 gift card to Old Navy! I've been putting off going school shopping for my girls in part because I was waiting for this to arrive. $25 may not seem like much, but with Old Navy's current sale on girls' jeans, I can get two pairs with it. So, basically, I'm getting two pairs of jeans for FREE! Yeah, that's nice.

If you don't know about My Points, it's a company that sends you email offers and surveys several times a day. You earn points by reading the emails and taking the surveys. You earn even more points if you take advantage of any of the offers in the emails. You can also earn points by shopping with their retail partners.

Once you earn enough points, you can use them to purchase rewards. Different rewards cost different amounts of points. I chose the Old Navy gift card because it's one of our favorite places to shop for the girls. Basically, I earned $25 to shop at one of my favorite stores, simply by reading emails. How easy is that?!

If you're not already a member of My Points, and you'd like to try it out, please email me (look in my sidebar for my email address) your contact info (first & last name and email address), and I'll send you an invitation to join. When you join and earn 250 points (which is pretty easy since you earn points by filling out your profile), I'll also earn 250 points for referring you. Pretty cool, huh?

Thank You, Mother Nature

For a while there, I thought I was going to have to write you a nasty letter about ruining my daughter's birthday party. When it was pouring outside, I had pretty much given up all hope of a successful party. But at the last minute, you came through for me. So, thanks for cooperating with me, Mother Nature.








Even though there were a few minor issues, Katie's party was a smashing success this afternoon. All of the children had fun playing in the backyard. There were ZERO meltdowns from any of them. Katie absolutely LOVED all of her gifts. And the cake was delicious.

Dear Mother Nature

Please don't rain on Katie's party today. Pretty please? Feel free to rain all day, every day for the next week if you want to. Just not this afternoon, please. Thanks.


We're having Katie's birthday party in our backyard this afternoon. I just checked my personal forecast on my local weather station's website. According to my personal forecast, it is supposed to rain here in the four o'clock hour, and there is a chance of rain here ALL DAY until nine o'clock. Hence, my little request for Mother Nature.

Pissed!

Phil took the day off from work today for Katie's birthday. So, I got to drive the Jeep. I drove Sarah to her violin lesson, and then ran a few errands while she was having her lesson. After Sarah's lesson, I drove directly home and parked in my driveway, as usual.

So, when Phil and I went to get in the Jeep this evening to go to Publix, we were shocked to find this.


Did you see what I'm talking about? No? Take another look.


Can you believe this crap? I thought back to where I had driven and where I had parked while I was out earlier in the day. I parked twice for Sarah's violin lesson and once at the library. All of my other errands took place in drive-thrus, so there was no way anyone could have hit me there, not to mention that I would have known about it if it had happened while I was in the vehicle. Since the space that I parked in at the library was next to a tree on the side that was hit, it couldn't have happened there either.

Obviously, the person who hit my car, did it in the parking lot of the music school where Sarah has her lessons. And I'm pretty sure that I recall parking next to a white minivan during one of my stops there.

I'm really pissed off that someone would just hit my Jeep and keep on driving. If they were parked at the music school, they were most likely a parent, someone who is supposed to be responsible. I wonder if they had their child in the van with them when they hit my Jeep. What kind of lesson does that teach their child to see their parent just hit another vehicle and drive off like nothing happened? From the damage and paint on my Jeep, they have to have some kind of damage to their vehicle, too.

I really hope that their child has another class next Friday, too. I plan to get there early for Sarah's lesson and stake out the parking lot to try to catch the person responsible for the damage to my Jeep. We haven't even had her two months yet, you know.

You've Come a Long Way, Baby

August 8, 2006:



August 8, 2007:



August 8, 2008:



Happy 2nd Birthday, Katie! I love you, Big Girl!

Busy Day

I've had such a busy day today. I haven't been sleeping well due to stress, so I've been trying to sleep in as late as possible. Katie has been wonderful about it, too, because she just gets in bed with me and watches PBS Kids while I continue to sleep.

Of course, while I was getting some much needed sleep this morning, I was rudely awakened by a solicitor at my door at 8:25 am. Not only did I have to get up and answer my door when he rang the door bell, but he was standing there smoking a cigarette, so when I opened my front door, I giant cloud of smoke wafted into my face. Yeah, that's just what a cranky asthmatic wants first thing in the morning! I am definitely getting that "No Soliciting" sign this weekend. I may pick up a "No Smoking" sign while I'm at it.

After that guy left, the girls and I had breakfast (cold cereal), I checked my email, my bank accounts, and my eBay account. A payment I had been waiting on finally cleared, so I was finally able to pack up the item, purchase the postage, and schedule a pick up, so it could go out in the mail tomorrow morning.

Then, I had to go meet with my attorney at his office regarding the situation with my deadbeat ex. The meeting didn't really take all that long, but I got there a bit late, so I didn't get out of there as early as I had hoped. I had to rush home as soon as I was finished there so I could pick up the girls and take Sarah to work* by 1:00.

Next, I had some errands to run. Basically, I needed to make some deposits at two different banks. I was planning to go to Super Target, too, but my mother called me and told me she wanted me to come over to her house (the one in my town, not Ocala). So, I went there instead. While there, I decided to leave Emily and Katie with her for a while, so I could run to Walmart without them.

On my way to Walmart, my car started acting funny. It's bad enough that my air-conditioner isn't working all that well right now, but this latest behavior is really getting me worried that she may need some major work done soon. She is nearly fifteen years old already, but I'm just not ready to give her up yet. Please say a little prayer for me that my car stays well for a while longer.

Eventually, I made it home with my girls (at least the younger two) and groceries. After putting all of the groceries away, I went back to work on my purging project. I'm currently in the "organizing what's going" stage. Basically, I've boxed up some of the girls' old clothes that we are getting rid of, and now I'm sorting through them and separating them into stuff to list on eBay and stuff to give to charity.

Right now, I'm taking a break from my project, and trying to figure out what's for dinner. Sarah made some chocolate chip cookie dough when she got home from work*. Maybe I should just have her go ahead and bake them and we can have cookies for dinner. I know it's not very nutritious, but I doubt any of the girls would complain about it.


*Sarah has a job as a Mother's Helper for a friend of mine. As Sarah puts it, she gets paid to play.

Off to Gabbaland

I took these photos of Katie a few days ago as she was watching Yo Gabba Gabba.




I'm not sure if she was just resting her foot on the television screen or if she was trying to join the gang in Gabbaland. What do you think?