Return of better weather

Just thought I'd do my part to spread a little more Halloween cheer. A couple pictures I got in another email from Jenny! Thanks, you were right. I loved them!

I'd hate to be that kid...


I really thought I was ready for fall and the cold weather that came with it. But then it came and I wasn't too impressed, so I'm glad it's warmed up a little. Tomorrow is the big day. I hope Matthew doesn't get too hot in his costume. It's a little on the warm side.

The last 2 days my boss's kids have been sick, so it's been up to me to run things. Which is fine, but yesterday Matthew had a rough time. He kept crying and refused to let anyone else have him. It was ok because there was only 7 kids there, but it wore me out. Luckily, he pulled it together and was cheerful for his grandpa's birthday celebration. Today we ran errands and voted. Not real exciting stuff the last couple days. Which is good considering the pack rat was too much excitement. Bailey said she thinks I sent all the pack rats to their house. Her little brother catches one a night lately. I say they can keep them!

Encouraging news

Today I as I was driving home, I got a phone call from a nurse at the hospital letting me know the results of Matthew's allergy test. He was only a trance positive for an egg white allergy. Otherwise they were all negative. The doctor wants me to take him off eggs for a week and see if that helps. I can tell you right now that it won't because unless he can't eat foods with eggs in them, he only has a bite of an egg here and there. If that doesn't work then I'm supposed to take him off milk and eggs for another week and see if that helps. If that doesn't help him, then I'm to call back so she can formulate a new plan. So I guess that I should just skip to week 2 as of tomorrow. I am only going to take him off milk. I will still give him yogurt. Maybe that will blow the test, but they didn't say milk products just milk. Perhaps now that I'm home, and not in the car, I should call and get a more detailed report. At least he doesn't have a billion food allergies.

We had a good weekend with Phil. We picked out a door and a new back plate to go on it. We are hoping to send it to a place up there that takes old doors and reseals them so that they are like a new door only better. If they are as cheap as stated then we'll have a new old door for less then a new one and it will be so much more beautiful. It has beautiful carving on it. We were at the store for 2 hours talking to one of the guys that works there. Matthew got so bored he decided to try slapping me. (He wasn't allowed to get down and play since there was many heavy and expensive things to break.) After deflecting several shots and telling him no, he got in a really good one that hurt. I wanted to spank him hard in front of the entire store of people, but I calmly stated I was going to the car and told him how bad he was the whole way. I then buckled him in and hoped Phil was about ready to go. I was proud of my self control.

Sunday both Phil and I tried to find costumes and bombed. I found a cute one, but my fanny showed. Phil's was sold out. So much for dressing up. We also bought a lamp for Phil's living room, just to find it was defective.

Today we all got up to go to work and home respectively. We thought all was well till they called to see why Phil wasn't at work yet. His self setting alarm clock decided this weekend was fall back weekend and reset in the middle of the night. Instead of being 8:20 am it was really 9:20 am and we were all late. Phil rushed off to work while I urged Matthew to eat faster. By time I got everything in the car it was about 10 am. I opened the door to go, through which Matthew and Missy shot. Normally Missy waits for us, but not today. I heard neighbors upstairs screaming profanities about this dog in their apartment. Great. I got greeted with "Girl we have a pit bull in here." Great. After saying "I'm so sorry" about a gazillon times I trudged back down to collect my son on the stairs. We left and when we hit the gas station, no purse. So I had to go back and collect that. Now it's closer to 10:15 am. I wanted to be almost home by then. We got gas, returned stuff to Walmart and left the area at 10:50. Translation: I didn't hit my parents till around 1 pm. Work in 2 hours. We stopped to eat our McD's at my parents and entertain my dad. Matthew wouldn't eat anything but fries. Same tonight, only it was like about 2 slices of cooked carrots instead of fries. Talk about picky at the moment. I made it home in time to be there about 20 mins and Matthew snatched about 30 minutes of nap at the last minute in the car. Whew. Now we are home and he decided he had to go to bed by 7. It was a long day for all of us.

The weekend is here

Well another Lights on Afterschool program is finally over. It was pretty successful I think. Matthew got sprung from daycare and got to watch the play. He yelled "MOM!" with gusto as we walked on the stage. After the play, we all eat together as a group. Matthew refused to eat his sub sandwich, preferring to eat his grandpa's 2 cookies instead (as well as grandma's brownie) and mom's chips. He even tried to steal a little girl's cookie. She graciously gave him a bite. I then sent another girl to fetch him his own. What can you do?

Tomorrow Matthew and I are going to go visit his dad and hopefully buy ourselves a front door. Finally. Ours is just about shot. Every month that goes by it's looking worse and worse. It's time for change.

Sorry it's short but I'm tired and in need of some rest. With any luck Matthew will sleep through the night tonight so I can too.

Prima dona

As happens with all prima dona's, they eventually get kicked out of the production they are in. This remains the same with whiny prima dona's, even if they are 16 months old. Yes, after only 2 days of play practice, the night before the play, Matthew got the boot. He even got booted out of being able to watch it, "unless your mom really wants to hold him..." So Matthew's promising start has gone up in smoke. I have a feeling he won't be invited to have a part in the Christmas play either. Good thing his Dad didn't take vacation time.

Yesterday Missy went to the groomer to have her hair cut and what a difference. She came home spunkier and I had to question if it was actually my dog. She just looks so different. But since Pan is comfortable with her, I think it is her.

I also got the boot today. While my boss got a plate of cookies and cake from one of our ASP kids b-day, I got nothing because, "I forgot about you." Thanks alot. I guess I'm not important...

I'll get some pictures up tomorrow hopefully. I have to get some new batteries in my camera so I can turn it on!

Political laughs

For some time I've wanted to write about the upcoming election because it's going to be historic no matter which way it goes. If it goes one way we get our first black president. If it goes the other way we have our first woman as vice president. But I hate letting people know which way I'm going (especially after working at the hospital; I got jumped the minute I walked in on election day and asked if I voted for the right candidate. Of course I did, the one I liked, duh! And this was after a month of avoiding the nurses station because of the intense political banter, which allowed no other opinions...), so this forwarded email made it just too easy to say something and pass on a snicker or two. Thanks so much Jenny! You get really good ones.

WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for
change! The chicken wanted change!

JOHN MCCAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he
recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the
chickens on the other side of the road.

SARAH PALIN: You betcha', that chicken crossed the road ;)

HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little
chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified
to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the
chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about
me.

GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road.
We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not.
The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground
here.

DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?

COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the
satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your
definition of chicken?

AL GORE: I invented the chicken.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now
against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the
chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black
chickens.

DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize
that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before
it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to
do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his
current problems before adding new problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is
why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken
learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm
going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the
road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but
we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the
road.

NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's guilty! You can
see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was
going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs
when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any
insider information.

DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad?
Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been
told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.

JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the
plain truth? That's why they call it the 'other side.' If you eat that
chicken, you will become gay, too. I say we boycott all chickens until
we sort out this abomination that the liberal media whitewashes with
seemingly harmless phrases like 'the other side.' That chicken should
not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as simple as that.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road.
Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be
listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming
story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to
accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads
together, in peace.

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2008, which will not only cross
roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance
your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken2008.
This new platform is much more stable and will never reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road
move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

In memoriam

Our dear loving dog Foxy passed peacefully away this morning. She was almost 12 years old, 6 of those spent bringing joy to our lives. We'll forever hold the good memories of her playing with Phil and of her wonderful doggy smile. I adopted her, but she adopted Phil as her person. I'll never forget when I went to meet her she ignored her family and jumped up on me. She looked deep into my eyes and I swear she said, "Well, when are we going home?" And that was that. I had a dog. I just can't help but be relieved that I didn't have to make the decision to put her to sleep. She was able to live with dignity and without to much pain to the very end.

Matthew and I had a pretty normal day. Matthew added to the bruises on his face. He now has one on his forehead where he wasn't paying attention, tripped over his dad's foot and crashed into shelves at the store. Monday he didn't pay attention, tripped over my foot and crashed into the baby gate at my parents, which left a vertical bruise on the check. Then today he decided climb into his highchair, so he could yell more effectively at me that I was making supper way to slow. This time something went wrong and crashed, leaving what I can only imagine will be another bruise again on the cheek. I would like to point out it's all on the left hand side. Boys will be boys and he has no fear. It's not funny, and a little distressing to me, but I had to laugh today. My son collects bruises like other boys collect baseball cards. I think I need to buy him a football helmet. His Grandma Sharon told me the sooner I learn "Boys are an accident looking for a place to happen" the better I'll feel. She's probably right!

Another long strange weekend

Matthew crawling around in one of our barns.

Matthew and the little boy playing in an old cattle squeeze shoot.


Last time I spoke with everyone it was Thursday and I had to hold down the program by myself. Well, later that night a mom of one of our kids called and was desperate to have someone watch her son. I agreed to do it, so Matthew and I had company all day Friday. Matthew was so excited that he could only manage to make himself eat 3 bites of breakfast. We spent the next 10 hours baking pumpkin bread, playing games on the computer, stripping wallpaper, tossing balls, yoyo-ing, kicking the soccer ball, coloring, playing in the barn, taking pictures and watching Shrek and The Wizard of Oz. We had lots of fun. But it really wore me out. I have some sinus thing going on that has drainage that makes my throat irritated, which makes my voice not so good. It also makes me extra tired, I think.

Saturday I finally got to go pick up my car. Yea! I can go where I want, when I want, again. I got to meet Phil on post for lunch since he happened to be there. Then Matthew and I went home and packed the car. We took off for KC and ran a few errands before Phil got off work. When we were settling in, and waiting to go to supper with another couple, I noticed Matthew was really warm. He is a very warm little guy, but this was really warm. Sure enough, he had a 102 fever. So that shot all dinner plans and I had to have Phil pick up meds. The little guy was so miserable he got up several times that night.

The next morning I was so exhausted I felt sick, so Phil let me sleep in. When I got up, Matthew had a rash around his neck and shoulders. By evening he'd shaken off the fever, but the rash had shaken everywhere on him.

This morning I called and got him an appointment. We went and she determined that he had a interviral virus in the same family as hand, foot, and mouth disease. She also didn't think he was infectious anymore and cleared him to go to daycare tomorrow. I think he got what all the other daycare kids got last Monday. So I then talked about his horrible diaper rash situation and she thought my suspicion that he has a food allergy was probably on target. So we had to go to the hospital and have his blood drawn. He was so good. They stuck the needle in and he didn't flinch or cry or anything. I was so proud of him. We should know what to do next in about a week. Depending on what they find out we may have to go to a specialist. I learned that 1 in 3 kids who have excema have food allergies. And the most common one is milk. That would tragic because Matthew loves his yogart and icecream, as well as milk. I also learned he now is about 23 1/2lbs. I thought he'd gained weight! So that's about all the news I have. Just a long strange weekend. Not at all how I planned for it to go.

Pictures!

Working at his table that Grandma Sharon gave him.

I told you paparazzi NO MORE PICTURES!

"I wear my sunglasses at night..." I couldn't get one with them on. He's just too quick.


I realized last night I hadn't posted any pictures in a few days so here is your picture fix.

I called Toyota today and it doesn't look good for the home team. They think they found more chewed wires last night and are working on it today. The guy I talked to didn't know if they'd given it an oil change as well, so...it could be a couple more days. At least I would guess tomorrow considering at this point in the day I can't go get it. I am the only one working tonight so I have to be there on time. I've called Bailey and she is graciously going to take me again.

Other then that, we have no news. I've been house cleaning. Matthew has been playing and refusing to take a nap. He finally had to give in so he'll get a late lunch. Which is good because the meatloaf I made is about done. He'll have a hot meal when he wakes up!

Crazy days

Alas, Toyota did not call us today, so Matthew and I packed up in the Green Streak and took off for school. But, we didn't get far. It's not a good sign when your car's speedometer goes to 120 and you can't get it to go above 30 mph. So we turned around and I called my neighbor. Luckily Bailey was just leaving her house so she whipped over and picked us up. Matthew wasn't sure what to think about being pulled out the car, in his carseat, and being plopped in Bailey's truck. I was flustered enough I let her drive off with my keys and Matthew's sippy cup still on the truck of my car. Nothing screams "Rob me" like leaving your house keys on your car. I don't particularly care if someone tried to steal my car at this point. After having it died backing up about 3 times and then not picking up speed, my guess is they'd leave it behind after all.

Luckily the rest of our day went better then that. Matthew and I came home and watched some of the Wizard of Oz. He was completely fascinated by it. It was the first time he really watched something on tv for more then seconds or 2 minutes. I think it's the singing. I don't think I've written to let everyone know that if you sing Ring around the Rosey to him, he will go in a circle. He will giggle and do it until he gets so dizzy he falls down some days. He does more and more cute stuff every day and unfortunely I'm about the only one who sees it.

I would like to mention that he is about to make his first theatrical appearance next Friday. We are having a Lights on Afterschool program with a "Night Before Halloween" play. All the kids and my boss wanted him to participate and be a frog. So he'll get to perform with the rest of us. Your's truly gets to play the mom and eat a cupcake. That's the stuff Oscars are made of. If I was shy, I sure have to lose it fast in this job! PS Mom, I keep forgetting to ask if you'd attend and help me with my potentially crabby child. And you may have to pick up sandwiches if you agree to attend. Love you!

Ding dong the rat is dead

Everyone sing with me now: Ding dong the rat is dead, the which old rat? the crazy rat, ding dong the crazy rat is dead, it's gone where the goblins go, below, below yo ho, so open up and sing...

It was official yesterday. The service department finally got it. 2 weeks of terror are over. It looks like it didn't do much damage, just mostly trashed the car with poop and pee, so they have in the detail shop right now. (I hope they remember to give it an oil change too.) So tomorrow or Thursday I will be able to pick it up. And I only have to pay around $400 for this fun event. I think everyone should install a crazy rat, just to kick it up a notch.

I forgot to mention yesterday, because I was tired, how well Matthew did getting his hair cut. He studied what she did to Phil's hair and then it was like he knew what to do. He held very, very still and only turned his head a couple times and when he did, he did it slowly. No crying, no screaming. Even smiled as she did it. I was so proud of the little guy!