Catdog

I swear the dog thinks she's a cat.

Monkey Humor

I took the little kid to Six Flags and did one of those Guess My.....and let them guess her weight. We won a monkey because the gal guessed wrong. So excited.
Of course, my "mature" husband surprise attacked us with it when we were sitting in my chair reading something.
Then, the next thing I know, the monkey is sitting on the kitchen counter (actual pic above) just waiting for a giggle.
It got three.

I should get the Good Sport Award for today. I woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. I hate throwing up with a passion.
Today I was with the daredevil, running or skipping from ride to ride kid that never has a fear of anything. Her sister....shy-ish, quiet, scared, laid back, never in a hurry.
I still have a bit of a headache from some of those rides.
I told her just before we left that I was up in the middle of the night and the sweet girl told me we should stay home, but I couldn't do it. Her sister had "Fish Camp" today at the high school and got to get her schedule.  This was supposed to be a Mommy and Little Sister day. I sucked it up.

I'm glad I did. She's such a cheerful, giggly, happy gal with a very contagious carefree demeanor. This was the best sick day ever.

I love my little family.

(And, yes, Mr. Bag Of Nothing, I caught your comment.....no way! That would give Mr. BSG a heart attack! Lol)

Lazy cat

I'm not sure I've ever seen a cat that can sleep while balancing on top of a chair.
Of course, I've stopped thinking we had a normal cat a long time ago.

I'm slowing getting back to blogging. Kinda.

Definitely

This has got to be the ugliest car I have ever seen.

Did I do that?

I cleaned so many clothes yesterday that I almost broke the house! 

Fromm Hubbie's Blog:

"Had a "oh, no, the air conditioning at the house isn't working" moment last night. Fortunately I got lucky and diagnosed the issue after only two hours of rising heat. "

One of the comments in response:

 Anonymous said...

"Barry, you have to change your a/c filter. Best every two weeks during July and August. Dirty filter = iced up unit. SEER rating of a unit is only with a new filter in the system. As dust builds up it gradually blocks air flow and the efficiency of the system goes downhill.

Energy tip of the day: Don't run your clothes dryer when it is 100 degrees outside. A clothes dryer pumps cool 70-degree air out of your house. The resulting low pressure sucks 100-degree air into your house. 100% of the cool air in an average 1200 square foot house is sucked out every hour the dryer is running. So dry your clothes early in the morning or move you dryer into your garage."

I might have washed, dried, folded, hung and put away about 7 loads of clothes yesterday. 

I'm not surprised.

38383

8 minutes ago

38383: Hi guys! My name's Marah from DoSomething.org & I send these weekly texts. What are you interested in hearing about? Txt SCHOLARSHIPS or VOLUNTEERING or QUOTES

Me: How can I be removed from the text mailing list?

38383: Thanks for letting us know! If you'd like to opt-out of our messaging please text STOP. Have a great week!

38383

6 minutes ago

Me: stop

38383: Error: this message was not successfully delivered.

Me: STOP

38383: Error: this message was not successfully delivered.

I finally did manage to get removed from their list - but it kind of gave me tired head to get there.

A Moment Like This

It's very possible I would consider selling my soul to the devil for this house. 

No, I wasn't house hunting - it's Kelly Clarkson's house that she just put up for sell for only 1.495 million.

It has two pools - one for diving and another just for lap swimming! When's the next American Idol auditions? I wanna sign up.

If the property listing boasts dual master bedrooms - does that mean I get one and Mr. LL gets the other? I'm not sure what I would do without being woken up with his sleep talking, sleep yelling and sleep singing. Oh, and the latest -- he slammed his pillow on the floor by his side of the bed and yelled out "Sic' Em"! (Baylor Bears)

Similar

Last night while throwing the softball around, my older girl and I realized we had the same type of shoe.
Both purchased at separate times and different places. It seems as though we have the same taste in shoes.
Made me giggle.

It's Thursday...

... and today I find myself in the library waiting patiently for my little kid to pick out stone books. Alas! We arrive arrived just in time for story hour which just happen to begin with everyone morning in a song of "If You're Happy And You Know It...."

....I think I need to investigate how to turn the picture right side up using the blogger app.
I'll report back.

Poolside Blogging

It's kinda hot out here. The rain over the last couple of days has been really really nice.
I think I got out of the habit of blogging since I had surgery on my wrists for the carpal tunnel.
The wrists are better but I never gained complete strength back. I think the surgeon might have messed up my left one.
I have a major softball tan going on.  My feet are blinding white.
The Older Kid In The House is officially the High School Kid Of The House. It's disturbing to realize she'll be taking drivers ed next summer. I may need counseling. I'm already a wreck sending her to that gigantic school full of hormonal boys.
There's some whiny kids at this pool. Would it be wrong to dunk kids that you don't know? If I hear that mom say, "you need to stop that or I'll make you get out" one more time, I might dunk her instead.
I'm listening to This American Life episode 460. It's a retraction podcast they did over one man's false reporting of Apple's factories in China. The guy that originally did the reporting and lied was interviewed again by Ira Glass. Ira Glass is an incredible interviewer.
The High School Kid Of The House is going to band camp next week. She actually said, "This one time... at band camp....." I told her not to repeat that phrase again and when she's 30 I might allow her to watch that movie so she'll understand why!

Monday Schooling

• Who was the last person to wake up this morning? This gal!!! Yep, both of my alarms were turned off by my sleepily self. Thankfully, both kids got up on time, got themselves ready, and my sweet husband decided he should make sure I was alert and oriented before he left for work. 
• That could have been a disaster. But it all worked out well, thanks to an evening of preparation yesterday. School supplies and back packs were all ready in the car. Clothes were already laid out and ready to slip on. ANNND The 3rd Grader even had the time to brush her teeth. (I can't wait until the age when she is self aware and doesn't require constant nagging from me. The 8th Grader spends a good hour in the morning perfecting her look.)
• We even continued our tradition of donuts for the first day of school.   
• Big kid delivered to her 1st day of 8th grade 40 minutes early. She's very particular about her school mornings. She requires early arrival so she can sit around with her little group of bff's and check out the cute boys. 
• The 3rd grader might have had to sweat a little because the traffic around the middle school and the intermediate school directly across the street from each other had a horrible traffic jam that resulted in cops showing up to direct traffic. We didn't see that last year. It took us a good 30 minutes to drive the 1-1/2 mile (round-trip) to drop off The 8th Grader. 
• We are Keller ISD - which is the school district that has been all over the news for cutting the bus service out of the budget and now only offering paid bus service regardless of distance from the school. 
• There were six buses that pulled into the middle school -- all filled up with only 1/3 of students. Those same buses used to be completely packed last year. 
• Thankfully, we are within walking distance - and normally do walk (with puppies) but -- the fashion diva didn't want to walk and carry all the school supplies. I don't blame her. But man, that bus conflict sure has created a horrible mess of traffic. It was already bad considering their are two schools directly across from each other. I can't imagine how bad it got after we dropped off The 8th Grader way early. 
• In my head I said "We are ..... Keller" just like they did in the movie "We Are.....Marshall!" 
• Uh oh. Left hand is getting all numb and I haven't typed very much at all. I have a suspicion that the doctor that performed a carpal tunnel release on on my left wrist earlier this year may have done something wrong. 
• I should let my wrist rest. In bed. While Napping. 
• Go ahead...hate on me whilst I enjoy me some sweet slumber during your working hours. 
• Next post today will be my Hot Sports Opinion on the Cowboys football game that I watched last night. 

Friday Morning

• It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday. Everyone's lookin' forward to the weekend weekend. 
• And I didn't even have to look up the lyrics. (because I can still hear my husband singing that word for word)
• I've paused the soap operas, pushed aside the bon-bons' and have decided to allow my blogging talents to return for your reading pleasure. 
• Life has been good. Yep, marriage with The Great Blogger has been good. Very good. You wouldn't believe how sweet and caring that man is. Yea, yea, yea - I know he has his haters. But he is an incredible guy. 
• Speaking of sweet, he bought me a new dryer yesterday and amazingly, it was here at 8am this morning after I called Lowe's to pay over the phone last night around 8pm. I heart the Lowe's. (Home Depot and Best Buy just didn't seem interested in our money.) 
• Husband will finally have clean under-roos when he gets home, just in time for date night. I wouldn't blog how many days with clean unders he went would I? Pfft, of course not. 
• Today a visit to the doctor for the yearly school medical paperwork for the asthmatic kid and maybe I'll splurge on a little shot of happy estrogen for me while we're there. 
• Then it's off to chase down some composition notebooks and we're hoping to end the hunt for the pocket folders with brads. Fingers crossed.
• I should mention The 3rd Grader begged me to sign up for "Room Mom" since I am now a stay at home mom. Eek! 
• Partyin', partying' yeah! Partyin', partying' yeah! Fun fun Fun Fun. Lookin' forward to the weekend.

Stay at Home Mom Overloaded

OK, I'll admit it...this stay at home bit is waaaaay harder than I thought it would be. There are so many projects, things to fix, kids activities, the laundry never stops piling up, yard work .....

If I could just get a little help around here.......

......not a bad idea!

Good Friday? We'll see.

Here's how it happened.....

I may have had an incident yesterday. The entire day I was focused and on track with household duties. 

When the kids got home from school I even had them doing really well and ready for the evening softball game. 

With an extra 30 minutes to spare I decide to put my research on the baby weeping willow cherry tree infestation problem to work . 

Warning: If you can't handle spiders then don't read the rest of this. 

Hubbie and kids saw a spider on the tree, I found a cluster of tiny bright green egg sacs and there was webbing on the tree. 

I destroyed  the eggs sacs (odd: they were empty), cut back the dead part of the limbs, removed as much webbing as I could and felt a little freakish about dealing with a spider issue - even though I killed it.

I kept feeling as if I had something on me, BUT knew I didn't and just tried to remain calm. 

While hosing down the tree I find an itty bitty something on my right arm. I flick it off and do a ewwww dance. 

I look closer and realize there was more than one. 

Starting to lose it. 

They are all over my arms....on my skin....they can be seen on my white shirt. 

Now. I'm. Freaking. Out. 

My first instinct is to declothe and spray myself down right there in the back yard. I had my belt and shoes off before I got inside. I had mostly everything else off before I got to the washing machine. I make a dash for the shower and toss my underoos and brazier in the sink with the water running. 

I might be on the verge of hyperventilating and crying at this point. Ok. I was crying. I can't stand spiders and I can NOT handle that many on me. Ewwww....on me!!! 

After scrubbing all my 3000 body parts - I hear the dog whining outside the bathroom door. I shush her. She starts again. I shush her. She starts again and this time I can hear the 2nd grader's voice with some alarm in her tone coming towards my bedroom. 

I opened the shower door to see lots of water and realize the sink drain was clogged by the garments and caused overflowing. It only took half a second to realize that the 2nd grader was going to tell me that the water was going through the ceiling downstairs in the kitchen. 

Now I am extremely close to a mental breakdown....... it was pretty bad. Thankfully we had the worst of it cleaned up (using EVERY towel in the house) before hubbie walked in the door. I will say the ceiling could have been WAAAY worse. 

So, apparently the shower isn't the only thing that needed grout work or recaulking. Ugh - add that and ceiling repainting to my project list. 

Somehow we made it to the softball game and the girls won. The 7th grader in the house, walked up to me at the game and said mom - stop. there's something on your.....then she proceeds to remove something from my neck. I freeze (and fight back tears from fear that the shower didn't take) and ask with a very shaky voice if there are more. 

"Nope, you're good."When we got home I looked at the white shirt - there were still some on there - but were not alive. 

I worked on an ambulance and have seen some horrible things, I don't scare easy, I remain calm in emergency situations ...but I can NOT do spiders. 

I still have the heebie jeebies. I may need therapy. 

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Baby Monkey

......riding backwards On a Pig.



Yay! I finally got that I Whip My Hair Back and Forth Song replaced in my head.

Song available On itunes

Wednesday Random Thoughts

• Well here we go. I guess today would be the first official day as a SAHM (that's the abbreviation for Stay At Home Mom's that we give ourselves).
• For an incredibly long time (since early November) I have been off work with bilateral carpal tunnel. After anti-inflammatory, steroids, physical therapy all failed to help - I ended up having bilateral open carpal tunnel release surgery to relieve pressure off the median nerve.
• No, I did not go with the Brown Method.
• For anyone that truly believes that the surgery is a quick fix is incredibly ill informed. (I mention this because I read a comment someone posted about me.)
• The recovery for this takes about a year to be back to normal --- and there is a good chance that 100% flexibility and strength may not be possible.
• I loved the company I was working for and had full respect for management - but maybe the job that demanded so much typing wasn't meant for my skinny little wrists.
• My right wrist is still swollen and painful at time - but it is getting better. I'm on the path to recovery.
• So, after much discussions - hubbie and I decided to attempt to manage to live without my income.
• (Please, please, PLULEEZE someone buy the ole house. FAST.)
• So here we are. Day 1 of At Home Me.
• I need to get some organization to my daily schedule. Any suggestions? There's gotta be some tricks to keep me on track.
• Oh yea, my laptop hard drive crashed over the weekend.
• I just dropped the Family Cat off at the Vet. She is really curious what it means to "get fixed". The vet tech LOVES her and thinks she is adorable!! hahahaha!
• Younger daughter turns out to be quite the softball player. Older daughter - takes after me - she tried out for every sport in athletics to only make the cross country team (which lets everyone run). 
• Hubbie hasn't been committed yet. yet. 
• Keeping plants alive may no longer be my special talent in life. Apparently. 

Breaking news

I'm back to blogging.

Thank you all that sent little encouraging messages while I was on the injured list. More later that fun.
This morning I went back to the doc and was given a full release.
Then I quit my job.
Oh boy. This outta be a journey.

As a gift to you, I bring you a pic of Hot CNN reporter who is covering the situation in the gulf.

I'm not really sure what the situation was or is.

Not a bad idea....

Change from the everyday stoplight to an LED light that shows you how much time is left.

There's a slight chance you can click the pic for the link. Maybe.

Car Derby Friday

I have never participated in a car derby before,, much less an edible car derby.
#1) That is waaay harder than it seems.

Our sweet second grader went with limes for the wheels, two garlic bread sticks for the body, hello kitty pencils for the axles (axles were allowed to be non food parts), orange peels to connect the bread sticks to the pencils, tostito chips with sparkly sprinkles for the headlights, rolos in red wrappers for break lights, macaroni colored black for the door handles and one peanut butter cracker with a smiley face poked into it for the driver.
Front View:

Back View:

#2) I have never been so entertained over kid's creations. You can only imagine what a bunch of second graders could come up with.

(Psst--BG - look at the one with the lucky charms cereal on it....they put their lasagna noodles together like a sandwich. Why didn't we think of that?)

#3) Hers didn't win first (or second, third...etc...) but this one with the green apples for wheels traveled 20 feet and did win:

#4) Hers might have fallen apart when it hit the floor after going down the ramp.

Oh well....
She said she had fun and didn't mind it falling apart. That made me happy and proud.

Good times.

Wednesday Thoughts

I don't generally feel anything until noon; then it's time for my nap. -Bob Hope

• I woke up in pain all night last night. When I finally decided to get out of bed, I realized I couldn't get out of bed. Literally....or physically. Hubbie had to help me out. I couldn't put pressure on my hands down without a jolt of pain throughout my arms.
• So, like any good husband would do for his wife, my hubbie cut up a pain pill in itty bitty pieces for me, got the kittens off to school and put me back in bed.
• I was feeling a little better the last two or three days. I think the moments of using my hands/arms when I probably shouldn't have are catching up with me.
• Yep, I have The Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I've been moping around the house for a week and in pain.
• I am on restrictions by the doctor's office and can't work until the doc fixes my wrists.
• Right now I am waiting for the insurance company to approve an EMG study ordered by the the ortho doctor and then I go back to the ortho doc to see what he recommends for treatment.
• I'm up for anything at the moment....just.get.them.fixed. 
• I did the steroids. Nothing. I've taken pain pills. Thrown them up. There's one that semi works....it makes me super sleepy - although does nothing for the pain. But I sleep a little better.
• I have splints that are supposed to stay on all the time. They look goofy. 
• I watched Dancing With The Stars last night for the first time this season (and for the first time in a long time). I was disgusted to see Brandy get voted out and Bristol still standing there. Maybe that's why I don't watch that show.
• Could the jawbone found in Arubia be Natalie Holloway? Or could there be a chance that she isn't the only female that has died in the last five years? I'm betting it belongs to someone else.
• Glee....now that was some good stuff. I love that show.....except for the awkward parts. ......like any kissing scenes while the kittens are watching.
• I'm gonna go insane sitting at home all day. Really really soon.
• I went on a road trip yesterday after walking the older kitten to school. The pup and I made it all the way to the Sonic for a cup of Java. My oh my was that good. 
• I figured out on day one of staying home that i can tether the pup to my belt loop, wear a jacket or long sleeve shirt, and walk around the neighborhood forever. 
• This wouldn't be so bad if I had more use of my hands (without pain). 
• And to answer the age old question: would you rather go without your hands or your feet? That's still up for debate. I'm not sure I would be particularly pleasant without my feet. I love to walk and run way too much. It's frustrating without the hands...but at least I can use them a tiny bit here and a tiny bit there.
• Good grief the kittens and hubbie have been getting onto me...."put that down!" "leave that alone!" "wait-wait let me do that!" They constantly hollar at me. 
• Yes, yes...I know, I know.....be thankful for what I have. There are plenty of others out there that don't have the luxury of dealing with a loving sweet family to take care of them.
• But still.....I just wanna be able to help out around here.
• I've figured out I can continue my daily blogging without pain by taking the entire day to write them....a little at a time. 
• Now off to bed. I gotta get some no-rest so I can wake up exhausted and still in pain in the morning so I can call an insurance company to find out what a gal has to do to get an EMG study approved and schedule already. 
• Did I mention they consider this workman's comp? Ugh.