Kelliloo's Place

More fun with fundraising!

2007-11-15T16:44:00.000-06:00

Oh my lord! It's the PTA job that doesn't die! The fundraising orders were delivered yesterday, on five pallets. That wouldn't fit through the doors at the school. So they were delivered to the dock next to the cafeteria kitchen. My lucky volunteers and I had to unpack all of them, load them on handcarts and wheel them through the cafeteria and out into the hall. Thankfully the principal got a large flatbed cart and helped us out. Things went much more quickly after that.

We got the dry goods orders delivered to the classrooms but all the cookie dough orders had to be picked up in the main hall as the kids were leaving school. Yeah, not so much with the picking up. Over half of the orders didn't get picked up so we had to start calling parents and leaving messages. By the time I left, there were still about 10 boxes that I had to put in the cafeteria freezer.

Then, this morning, the phone calls started because people got the wrong thing. And they can't be bothered to read the packing slip which gives the toll free customer service number to call with problems! Thankfully the lovely ladies in the school office took down the number and started giving it to people when they called the school. I owe J, B, and A big time!

The one good thing? I had exactly one order out of hundreds that had bounced checks. And the mom paid cash yesterday when she picked up the cookie dough so that's all resolved. Yay!

I don't know if I have the strength to do this again next year. Although, it is the best we've ever done dollarwise. I know that's all because of me. ;-)

Fundraising is not fun!

2007-10-25T20:52:00.000-05:00

Somehow I let myself be talked into the position of chairing the Fall Fundraiser for the Girl's school. And chairing in this case means doing most of it myself. Maybe I would have been better off doing the school newsletter every month.

The Fall Fundraiser kicked off Oct 3, ended Oct 18, and I finally turned in the orders today. Now I just have to wait for the delivery on Nov 14. Oh, and worry if any checks are going to bounce. And then track down those people. Like I had to track down the parents of the kids who turned in orders with money missing. So not fun.

But, we did sell a lot! The Girl is going to get "the sizzlers, the pufferball, the FM scan radio, and the party pack". So she's over the moon. And I'm ready for a stiff drink.

Back to school

2007-08-27T20:31:00.000-05:00

Was there ever a lovelier phrase to grace a mom's ears? I think not! Really, I love the Girl and spending time with her, but trying to work this summer with her in the house was hard. Because the state moved the start of school to Aug 27 for everyone, school started almost three weeks later this year. Summer was really, really long.

But now, she's back in school as a big first grader and raring to go. She's already informed me that she knows the way to her classroom so I can just drop her off in the morning. I guess I should be thrilled that she's so independent.

And now, the obligatory first day of school pictures.

I bet you wish your shoes were this shiny.

Let's get to work!

The Lord's name in pain!

2007-08-03T22:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, the Girl and I were out running errands. As I was pulling out of a parking lot, a woman in an SUV was driving in holding an infant in her lap. I'm a bit of a carseat freak so I yelled out "Oh My God! That woman is driving holding a baby!" The Girl is also a carseat freak but she didn't key in on the woman holding the baby. No, she yelled at me: "Mom! You aren't supposed to speak the Lord's name in pain!"

After I stopped laughing and wiped the tears from my eyes, I told her it was in vain, not pain. Then I had to try and explain what taking the Lord's name in vain means. I think she understood. But for now, I'm not taking the Lord's name in vain or pain.

Six year olds are sweet and funny

2007-07-17T20:46:00.000-05:00

The Girl really is a sweetie, even when she's driving me crazy. At random moments throughout the day she'll say (or holler if she's in another room), Mommy, I love you. It's enough to make you melt.

She can also make me laugh. She was reading a book to me called The Fat Cat Sat On The Mat. Gripping, I tell you. Anyway, at one point in the book, the cat says to these other animals, Do you think I'm stupid? She didn't recognize the word so she spelled it out so I could tell her what it was. I told her that word is stupid. She said, well, I can't say that word! And I had to tell her it's okay to say it if it's in a story. She said, I just don't know if I could ever read that aloud at school. It was all I could do not laugh.

Finally, yesterday, sweet and funny at the same time. We took my 88 year old grandmother to the dentist. She was switching from her dentist to ours and the Girl was excited that Granny would get to see her dentist.

So we drive 45 minutes to pick up Granny and then drive over to the dentist (yes, I drive this far to the dentist, he's wonderful and I've been going to him for about 20 years). They call Granny back and the Girl and I stay in the waiting room. She looks at me and says, aren't we going back with Granny? I told her no, the rooms are small, no room for two extra people. She said, well I want to go back with Granny. Again, I told her no. She looks at me, getting a little a teary, and says, I want to be with Granny. I didn't come all this way just to sit in the waiting room!

I was really good and just bit my lip.

One Lost Tooth, Two Lost Teeth

2007-06-16T14:26:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know it's been forever. Sue me.

Anyway, to the subject at hand. The Girl is 6 1/2 and has been dying to lose teeth. She's insisted for months that she had loose teeth and would try to wiggle them. The two bottom teeth finally started to loosen up in late April but they have taken their time coming out. And the new teeth were coming in behind so she looked like a shark.

But when those teeth decided to come out, they didn't wait around. The first one came out Tuesday evening while we were eating at ChickFilA. The Tooth Fairy visited that night and left two Sacajawea dollars. Thursday night, we were having dinner at my inlaws' house with some old friends of theirs. I don't know what it is about dinner, but she lost the second tooth. This time the Tooth Fairy left one Sacajawea dollar.

I'm not sure which teeth will be next, although, those new teeth are pretty big so the lower incisors might have to come next.

It's a little hard to see where the teeth came out because of the new teeth behind them.

Sometimes they surprise you

2006-12-16T17:38:00.000-06:00

I always wonder if I'm doing a good job as a mother with the Girl. I think most parents feel the same way. You wonder if you're instilling good values and a sense of caring in them. You hope they're not too materialistic, especially when they keep adding to their list to Santa.

Today was one of the days where I got to see what a caring daughter the Aggie and I are raising.

This morning the Girl and I met my mom and stepfather at the downtown Neiman Marcus store to see Santa. After that, she had a birthday party to attend. On our way to the birthday party, we saw a homeless man on a street corner holding a sign. She asked if he was homeless and I said yes. Then she wanted to know what his sign said, so I told her: Homeless. Need a Bible, food, and clothes. God bless you.

The Girl said, that just breaks my heart. Then she got quiet. After about five minutes she said, I said a prayer for that man.

It was all I could do not to cry.

The Girl is in big kid school!

2006-10-18T12:23:00.000-05:00

I'm the mom of a kindergartner. In some ways it's easier because she's in school from 8-3 five days a week. It certainly makes the part time job easier. However, she's in school at 8! That means we have to get up at 6:30. The Girl and I, not so much morning people. Thankfully I don't work in an office so I don't have to have my makeup on and hair done before dropping her off at school.

The Girl is loving kindergarten. I'm so happy about that. She's made lots of friends, which has its ups and downs. The Girl is very friendly and nice so she makes friends easily. Some of her friends have had a little trouble with that. At least one friend, E, has been in tears because The Girl was talking more to S than to B. It's a drama.

So, they're two months late but here are some first day of school pics.

New outfit, check. New sneakers, check. Huge new Tinkerbell backpack, check.

Headed to Mrs. S's room.

Enough pictures. Weren't you leaving, Mom?

Bad, bad, sucky blogger!

2006-10-18T12:17:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's been over four months since I blogged. I'm very, very bad. In my defense, I have a job now! I'm working as an administrative assistant. The cool thing is I get to work from home. And I've done gone on two business trips since I started in June.

One of them was a regional sales meeting in Breckenridge, CO. Yeah, if you have to go on a trip, that's not a bad choice of places. Unless your luggage doesn't make it from Dallas to Denver with you. It finally got to the hotel at 11 p.m. However, since the big boss gave everyone at the meeting a new Ipod Nano so he could do podcasts, the good outweighed the bad.

Next week, I'm going to Connecticut again for another training class. I'm excited because I have never been in New England in the fall. Yes, I'm a geek and will be taking my camera. Our headquarters there has a beautifully wooded campus and there better be some good foliage.

So, to sum up, bad, bad blogger, yet with an excuse.

Pre-K graduate

2006-05-30T17:27:00.000-05:00

I know it's silly but yes, the Girl's preschool had a graduation for the Pre-Kindergarten class. I remember having a graduation from kindergarten but that was way back when kindergarten wasn't part of the public schools.

The Girl's teacher, Mrs. B, got quite emotional over this class graduating. Of course, we parents knew that we had the special kids. So now, my little baby girl is going to be a big kindergartener. Somebody hold me.

The Graduate

The Girl and Mrs. B

A good man

2006-05-30T12:20:00.000-05:00

My grandad passed away earlier this month. He was in the end stages of Alzheimer's so it was the best thing for him. But that doesn't make it any easier for the rest of us.

Grandad wasn't the type to brag so I learned some things about him after his death that surprised me. I knew he was smart. He could fix anything electronic. Because of that, when he joined the Coast Guard during WWII, they sent him, a Texas farm boy who hadn't graduated from high school, to MIT for electronics training. He ended up serving on a secret radio base in the Aleutians and working for the OSS during that time.

Not only was he smart, he was creative. He and Granny got tired of waking up to an alarm clock every day, so he wired the clock to a radio and presto, the first clock radio. Too bad he didn't patent the idea.

He had loved his time as a radio operator and set up a ham radio in his workshop. He used to let my brother and I listen as he talked to people all across the country and the world. We were fascinated and loved to spend time with Grandad in his "room". About the only thing we enjoyed more was going to the "milk store", really it was just the grocery store, to pick up milk because it meant we could talk him into buying us a toy.

My grandad wasn't rich or famous, but he loved his family and we loved him. He was a good man.

Distract with pictures

2006-04-23T20:52:00.000-05:00

Yes, I've been very, very bad about blogging lately. So, to try and get back in the swing of things, I'm sharing some pictures from Easter.

The Easter Girl

Meme (my mom), Great-Granny (her mom) and the Girl

The Girl and Pop (my step-dad)

Easter Aggie, Girl, and me

The Girl and cousin Jack

Sweet nothings

2006-02-22T17:06:00.000-06:00

This showed up in my inbox this morning.

Just sitting here for a minute before a meetings starts and my mind
wandered to you! I love you! I am so lucky to have you in my life. Have
a great day!

He's a great guy, isn't he?

And now for something really uncomfortable!

2006-02-20T17:41:00.000-06:00

As a woman over a certain age (yeah, that would be 40), I get to experience the pain that is the mammogram. I'm sure you've heard the joke about slamming your breast in the fridge door to approximate the pain. I think that would actually hurt more. Really, to me, the actual boob squishing is not so bad. It's the corner of the top plate digging into the flesh above my boob that hurts.

Thankfully, if you're lucky, this is only required once a year. My first year, I had to go back for another set! Now that was not fun. But, I figure it's much better to endure pain for a few minutes than the alternative.

So, do your self exam each month and, if you're over a certain age, go get squished once a year.

This has been a Kelliloo Public Service Announcement.

Remember the Good Times

2006-01-30T10:49:00.000-06:00

"Remember the good times, they're smaller in number and easier to recall.
Don't spend too much time on the bad times.
They're staggering in number and will be heavy as lead on your mind."

Willie Nelson knew what he was talking about.

Happy Birthday, Dad. I miss you.

As long as she needs meme

2006-01-28T16:55:00.000-06:00

HG tagged me. Actually, I asked to be tagged. I always get tagged at the end of meme rounds so I never have anyone to tag.
Anyway, here's my meme.

Four jobs I've had in my life:

1. Copier Service Technician
2. Customer Care Representative
3. Accounts Payable & Receivable clerk
4. Ice cream store clerk

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. Mister Roberts
2. Rear Window
3. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
4. Notting Hill

Four places I have lived:

1. Dallas, TX
2. Houston, TX
3. Miami, FL
4. Shreveport, LA

Four tv shows I love to watch:

1. Lost
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. West Wing
4. Battlestar Galactica

Four places I have been on vacation:

1. Breckenridge, CO
2. Destin, FL
3. San Francisco, CA
4. The Bahamas, St Maarten & St Thomas on a cruise

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. crab rangoons/wontons
2. Cheesecake Factory's Jamaican Black Pepper Shrimp
3. My friend Heidi's spaghetti sauce
4. Chili, specifically my family's chili recipe

Four websites I visit daily:

1. Delphi
2. Gmail
3. Rude Cactus
4. Google

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. On vacation
2. With friends
3. London
4. Having dinner out with the Aggie

Four bloggers I'm tagging:

1. Chris
2. Beth
3. Lauren (I'll help you with linking.)
4. Chem Mom Because my name is not Kelliloo.

Stupid home ownership

2006-01-26T15:19:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I really miss my apartment dwelling days. No, I don't miss loud neighbors or not having my car parked in a garage. I miss being able to call maintenance when I had a problem. Toilet not working? Call the office. A/C on the fritz? Call the office. You get the picture.

Then, there's home ownership. You buy a home. You get to paint the walls, knock out walls, plant pretty flowers, do what you want to the house. Everything's fine and fun until someone gets their eye poked out. Wait, that's running with a stick. Until an appliance breaks down. Yeah, that's it.

The summer I was pregnant with the Girl, the A/C went out while we were still under our home warranty. Summer. In Dallas, TX. Pregnant woman. A/C out. For five days. The only good thing was that it was under the warranty so we weren't paying for the $350 board that went out.

Two summers ago, the breaker that the A/C is on kept popping. We ended up having it replaced plus had the compressor replaced.

We need new siding on the small part of the house that isn't brick. We need windows to replace the 29 year old original windows. It's always something.

This time the something was the water heater. I pulled into the garage last week after picking up the Girl from school and noticed water coming from the hot water heater closet. All I have to say is thank goodness it's in the garage and not the house! I guess I should be grateful it lasted 10 years. But not only did we have to get a new water heater, the piping for the temp/pressure relief valve had to be brought up to code. Yay! More money for us to spend!

Knock on wood this is our house problem for the year.

De-lurking week

2006-01-10T15:18:00.000-06:00

Only a day late, but hey, it's a week so I can start when I want. And, I need some comments.

So, thanks to Sheryl for the week and graphic!

Shut my mouth

2006-01-09T16:23:00.000-06:00

I've really got to watch what I say when I'm driving and the Girl's in the car. I did overcome the usage of profane language (that sounds nicer than cussing, doesn't it?) when she was little. She heard me say shit one time and kept saying oh shit, oh shit. After that I started concentrating on what I was saying in the car.

So, you'd think I'd be fine now that my language is nicer, right? Not at all! The Girl still picks up on phrases I use in the car. I realized this today when I was taking her to school. We were about to turn into the parking lot and another mom made a really wide, fast turn out and came rather close to us. From the back seat I hear: She was not watching!

Maybe I could put headphones on her when I'm driving.

Open the floodgates

2005-12-17T13:22:00.000-06:00

It's Christmas time which was one of my dad's favorite times of the year. I miss the things we used to do together like watching Holiday Inn on Christmas Eve, decorating the tree, or putting out the lemon oreos. What, you don't know what lemon oreos are? That's what you get when you say luminarias and your aunt thinks you're saying lemon oreos. She wanted to know why we were putting them in the yard. Yeah, my dad gave his little sis grief about that for years.

So where am I going with this anyway? Well, I was working around the house and listening to the 24/7 Christmas station when that damn Christmas Shoes song came on. Yes, it's a sweet song but it is damn depressing! I burst into tears while putting clean sheets on the bed. I finally stopped crying, dried my tears, then walked outside where the Aggie and the Girl are putting lights on our second tree. I started telling him about the song and burst into tears again. This is my 11th Christmas without my dad and normally I'm fine but then something out of the blue will just hit me.

I think I'll be switching the station quickly from now on when that song comes on. Or maybe I'll just stick to cds.

Toys for Tots

2005-12-12T13:44:00.000-06:00

Every Christmas the Marines collect toys and money to buy toys for children who would otherwise have a very bleak Christmas. My father-in-law is a retired Marine and he spends a weekend standing on a street corner collecting. He is joined by Marine Reserves, Marine ROTCs and Marine Junior ROTCs.

This last Friday I took the Girl over to see her Papa at the toy drive. She helped pick out a toy at the store to donate. After we dropped it in the box, Papa took her on a tour of their set-up. They had warming tents to get out of the cold wind, a humvee, and a giant, inflatable Marine.

The Girl then asked to help collect money. Papa gave her a bucket and they went to the corner. She waved at all the cars, smiled, and held out her bucket for money. She was a big hit. There were people stopping while the light was green to give her money. In about 15 minutes she had collected over $20.

We went back Saturday too with another toy and she just had to collect money again. My mother-in-law went along so she could get pictures of the Girl and Papa working together. You can see them here. Oh, and if you're wondering why Papa is in a red jacket, that's what the Marine Corps League (the retired guys) wears.

Adventures in eating

2005-12-09T22:56:00.000-06:00

As with most five year olds, the Girl can tend to be a little picky when it comes to eating. However, her pickiness can be a little, shall we say, peculiar. For instance, she doesn't like pizza. She used to, all her friends do, but no, she won't eat it anymore. She won't eat hamburgers, but will eat chicken, pork, steak, fish. She loves many fresh vegetables but doesn't like them cooked.

Sometimes the Girl doesn't tend to be a risk taker when she's eating. She doesn't want to try new things. The Aggie and I use the standard, you must take X bites before you can say you don't like it. So, imagine my surprise when we went out to our favorite little Italian restaurant the other night and the Girl devoured two strips of calamari. I'm not sure she would have tried it if it had been the calamari you see at most restaurants. But Carlos, the owner, fixes the calamari in about finger sized strips and they're delicious. I'm sure the Girl thought it was going to be chicken. But she continued eating even after discovering it wasn't chicken.

Maybe there's hope for pizza yet.

A full hand

2005-11-15T16:27:00.000-06:00

The Girl informed me today that she is now a full hand. Yes, she's five today and quite proud of it. Her birthday blessing and snack at school were postponed til tomorrow due to a field trip today. But what could be better than a field trip on your birthday?

Happy Birthday, sweet Girl!

No Peter Pan

2005-11-03T17:45:00.000-06:00

But we did have Tinker Bell and her friends, Wendy and Captain Hook. The Girl had a blast being Tinker Bell all weekend. She went to a carnival Friday night in costume, then a birthday party and Halloween party on Saturday in costume. Then the neighborhood picnic and trick or treating on Halloween. She had a lot of fun trick or treating but her feet did get tired in the Tink shoes.

Improvisation

2005-10-28T11:30:00.000-05:00

The Girl has a very vivid imagination. One minute she's a cat, the next she's a fairy. You never know if you're talking to the Girl or a princess cat.

But it's not just in play that she uses this imagination. She loves to help the Aggie with things around the house and comes up with her own unique way of doing it. When he vacuums, she gets out her old bubble popper and follows him around "vacuuming". Last Saturday, the Aggie was mowing and she decided she needed to mow. So the "vacuum cleaner" suddenly became a "lawn mower". She was quite proud of the job she and Daddy did on the backyard.

Musical theater or sporting event?

2005-10-24T10:07:00.000-05:00

"When did attending live theatre become an athletic event?" These were the first words out of my friend J's mouth when we walked out of the theater Saturday. Four of us went to see Wicked Saturday afternoon. We were all very excited about it but, evidently, not as excited as some of the other theater patrons.

When the lights came up on the stage, people were whooping. And when Elphaba came on stage for the first time, before she even sang a note, people were whistling and yelling, "woo, woo". It was bizarre! I mean, the actress was great, really, but it's a musical, not a football game.

Fire bad

2005-10-17T22:12:00.000-05:00

Since the Aggie was running late this evening, I thought I'd fire up the grill and get the pork chops going. Unfortunately, I forgot that when we replaced the gas element the ignitor didn't fit so well on the new element. I pushed and pushed on the start button but no fire.

I thought it wouldn't be any big deal to light it with the trusty Aim 'n Flame. Boy, was I wrong! First, I didn't realize there was a hole in the side of the grill for lighting the gas with a match or lighter. So I'm lighting it from underneath the grill. Big mistake! It lit quickly, in a big whoosh and I jumped back.

Since I wasn't flaming I thought I was safe. But when I walked in the house I noticed a funny smell. I put my hand up to my hair and it was crunchy! Yes, I had managed to singe the tips of my hair on the right side. Guess I'll be calling Renee for a trim, tout de suite!

Our State Fair is a great state fair!

2005-10-17T20:37:00.000-05:00

At least, that's what the Girl thinks. And really, so do I. I love to go to the Fair and it's even more fun going with the Girl. This year she was a lot braver and wanted to ride more rides. She wasn't even afraid when the plane ride or balloon ride went up.

And now, the Midway in pictures:

www.flickr.com

The Aggie rocks!

2005-10-03T15:26:00.000-05:00

Seriously! This last weekend I headed out to San Antonio to party with friends. This is the fourth time since the Girl was born that I've left the Aggie to fend for himself and the Girl. And he always urges me to go and the two of them have a great time.

This weekend, though, he outdid himself. Granted, he didn't have the Girl on Friday night. She went to my mom's house because it was the night of my mom's school carnival. But he picked her up Saturday morning and took her to a birthday party. That afternoon, he took her to the YMCA to swim. They came home and did some picking up around the house, including emptying all the trash cans and bagging up the newspapers for recycling. He bathed her with hair washing and combing afterwards. Sunday morning they had to be at the church at 8:15 for security duty. Right after church service was over they attended the church neighborhood block party. Then it was off to another birthday party for one of the Girl's school friends.

I was surprised that he wasn't just totally worn out by the time I got home at 6:45 yesterday. I really do think he is one kick-ass dad and husband.

It's all about Popular for the Girl. And it is all my fault. You see, I'm going with three friends to see this year's State Fair Musical, Wicked, on the 22nd. In preparation, I bought the soundtrack and have been listening to it in the car. It's really good and, yes, I do sing along with a number of songs. And the Girl is right there with me.

She loves the song Popular. We usually end up listening to it, and singing, three or more times in a row. She has most of words down pat and the little extra laughs and phrases that go along with it. The funniest thing is to hear a "puh-leeze" come out of her mouth at the appropriate spot. Or maybe it's her fake Kristen Chenoweth falsetto.

Whichever it is, I'm proud to have started her off in the showtune sing along at an early age.

No shots!

2005-08-15T18:19:00.000-05:00

That is phrase heard frequently in the Kelliloo house now. Unfortunately, the Girl has bad allergies. She's been getting three or four sinus infections a year since she was about two. So I talked to my allergist about having her tested. He said it wouldn't be a problem since she's four.

I knew the testing would be absolutely terrible because she detests shots and cries just thinking about them. We made it through the 19 skin pricks on the back after much crying. Then we went back two weeks later with the Aggie in tow for moral support for more sensitive testing on the arm. Oh, that was a bad scene! And now we know that the Girl is very, very badly allergic to oak and some molds.

Now that we know what she's allergic to, she can have shots to help with her allergies. So we've been driving to the allergist twice a week for a shot in each arm. She is not a happy camper. Tomorrow, I will start giving her the shots at the doctor's office and then we'll only have to go down there two more times before I can give her the shots at home. I'm really hoping that giving the shots at home will be less traumatic because she really is pitiful. Oh, and to add insult to injury, she has to have a new vaccination for the start of school. She's really an unhappy camper this week.

Breaking my heart

2005-05-14T11:59:00.000-05:00

Good friends of ours from church are moving away to Georgia. I'll miss them a lot but The Girl is really taking it hard. Their oldest daughter, CA, is a very good friend of The Girl. Not only do they see each other at church but they go to the same preschool, plus playdates at our houses.

The Girl has gotten very sad every time she's talked about CA moving so far away. And the closer it gets, the sadder she gets. The other day she told me that a piece of her heart was going away with CA.

Just about broke my heart.

Foreign object in left nare

2005-05-08T22:29:00.000-05:00

To be precise, it was an itty bitty orange ball, or bead, or pellet. And why did my child decide to stick this up her nose when she's avoided this for four years? And why on Mother's Day?! I have no idea. She found it at the playground and at some point in the car ride home, she tells the Aggie it's stuck in her nose. When asked why she did it, The Girl replied, I was trying to smell it but I couldn't so I held it closer to my nose and still couldn't smell it so I stuck it in there. The logic of four year olds amazes me.

Like any good parents, the Aggie and I tried to get the ball out of her nose. She did plenty of blowing but no success. We even hauled out the old baby snot sucker. Then the Aggie asked if I could use my tweezers to get it out. I told him no way was I sticking tweezers up her nose. So, off we went to the ER. It really wasn't too bad of a wait, thank goodness. We saw a doctor within 30 minutes. He checked her out and went out for what looked like a pair of really long tweezers. As he got ready to remove the ball, he said it was a good thing it was orange so he could see it through all the snot. Gotta love those seasonal allergies.

The Girl was very brave during the removal; no flinching, no crying. We asked her several times what she had learned from this experience. She told us she would never put anything in except a tissue. We'll see if this keeps her fingers out of her nose.

Revenge with friends. Or how to get your brother picked up by the police without really trying.

2005-05-06T17:12:00.000-05:00

I promised Rachael a story of high school and I'm here to deliver. Let me just say up front, I did not intend for my brother to get picked up by the police. He just had the misfortune to follow in my footsteps and get busted. So, without any further ado, Revenge with friends!

The summer before my senior year of high school, my best friend, Pam, and I worked at an ice cream store. Also working at the store were Carolyn S, hereafter known as the Boyfriend Stealing Bitch, and my brother's friend, Andy.

The BSB put the moves on Pam's boyfriend, Mike the Jerk, as well as putting out for him. This pissed off Pam to no end. So, we decided there was a need for revenge. We got together our group of friends and all of us piled into my mom's Buick to go toilet paper the BSB's house. Now, if we had just toilet papered her house, I'm sure that Scott and Andy would never have gotten in trouble. However, we were out for revenge, so we were not nice at all.

Being the experienced tp'ers we were, we parked in the next block and walked down in the dark after 10. We quickly wrapped the house, then commenced with the meanness. I was in charge of stringing the yard - take a roll of thread, tie it to a post, tree, or something, then wrap the yard in string. We dumped confetti in the flowerbeds, wrote very rude things on the sidewalk with shoe polish and Prell (it foams up very nicely when you try to wash it off). In short, we left a major mess and got away with no one the wiser.

Enter our two hapless victims, Scott and Andy. The BSB and Andy were working a shift together and she moved the clock ahead an hour so she could leave early. So Andy was stuck working two hours by himself. He and Scott decided to pay back the BSB by, you guessed it, toilet papering her house. Being the innocent babes they were, they had never wrapped a house so they showed up with two rolls of toilet paper and even parked in the same block. Because we had done such a job on the house, the BSB's parents were watching for someone to show up again and called the police when they saw the boys.

My brother was so rattled that when my dad got home with him, he finally realized he didn't have the car. My parents had to go back for it. My dad took Scott and Andy to apologize to the BSB's parents and they didn't press any charges since it was obvious that they were not the ones who had done the previous wrapping.

Needless to say, I didn't tell my parents that my friends and I were the ones that had trashed the BSB's yard for many years.

Captured!

2005-05-05T10:54:00.000-05:00

We live in the city so you'd think the most we'd see in the way of wild animals would be stray cats and squirrels. Not so, my friends! I've seen the occasional opossum running across the top of the fence. So glad that they haven't come down from the fence. What has come over the fence and on to my back porch are raccoons.

We have a cat we have to keep in the backyard because she is not good about using the litterbox. The raccoons have been attracted to her food. What's not to like about free food, right? Unfortunately, one of them visited us at about 2 one morning and decided to move into Py's house! Poor thing got beat up and was pretty sick for awhile. After that, we got smart and brought the food bowl in at night.

Once the food bowl was gone, we stopped seeing raccoons. At least, they weren't around til this last weekend. So we decided this wasn't going to continue. We had a trap we had borrowed and set it Monday night after two of the rascals had visited. Sure enough, they came back and we caught one! He worked and worked on the trap to get out but to no avail. His buddy even came back and tried to help. We plan on catching him next!

Animal control came right out the next morning to pick up the raccoon. I'm very glad they had to deal with getting him out of the trap and not me.

Oh, and here's our prisoner.

The answers

2005-05-01T22:26:00.000-05:00

I read your blog, every day...just not creative enough to come up with questions for you. London, I bet it's been pretty boring for you lately! ;-)

How come your hair is so shiny and perfect and mine is not?
MWAH! I love you, HG! I'm very, very fortunate to have inherited the shiny hair.

What's the weather like right now in Texas? I am hoping you say muggy and hot with swarms of weird birds that poop on everyone's heads... not because I wish that upon you. But because my group is on their every 6 months trek to San Antonio on Sunday and I wish that upon them.
April, sorry to disappoint you but the weather has been quite cool and pleasant here the last few days.

How did you and the Aggie Meet?
Now Ang, that's a story! ;-) An online friend from England, Isabelle (aka Izzy), came to Dallas for a week for her birthday. She stayed with some other online friends for a few days then I got her and took her to a baseball game and a They Might Be Giants concert on Friday night.

Saturday I was supposed to go to a company picnic and our friends, Marian and Steve, wants to show Izzy downtown Dallas. But they hadn't lived here that long so they wanted a guide. The Aggie had worked with Marian, who's also an Aggie, and was currently working downtown so she recruited him. They showed up at my apartment around 11 on Saturday. Izzy and I had been up maybe 30 minutes; just long enough to put on clothes, brush our hair, and have some coffee. They ended up talking me into going with them and skipping the picnic. The Aggie and I just clicked within about two hours and that was it.

Are you going to have any more kids? Does Lilli want a little bro/sis?
Rachael, sigh. I want to have more kids, but the body, she's not cooperating. You can look back in the archives if you want to know more. Lilli very much wants me to have a baby. She keeps talking about me having a baby.

Any good stories from when you were in hs or college?
Good stories from high school, yes, I do. I will share some in a few days. I have to work tomorrow and Tuesday so I'll try to post something Wednesday after the Aggie and I get back from my birthday outing.

Whole bunch of nothing

2005-04-28T15:43:00.000-05:00

My life has been quite boring lately. I have absolutely nothing of substance about which to blog. So, I'm borrowing from people like HG, the DQM, and others and opening myself up to questions. Ask away and I'll try to answer.

Now we're really see if I have any readers. ;-)

An Easter dress shopping trip - in pictures

2005-03-30T11:44:00.000-06:00

In two shopping trips, one to narrow down the field and one to actually purchase the dress, Lilli tried on 20 dresses. Yes, she's a fashionista. And, I'm proud to say, she picked out her own dress and it wasn't overly shiny or froofy. And now, a shopping trip.

The winner!

Plus, we took the navy blue dress.

Did you get your license on the Home Shopping Network?

2005-03-23T18:04:00.000-06:00

I haven't used that phrase or "Where'd you learn how to drive? KMart?" in ages. However, I was using both on Friday in lieu of cursing since the Girl was right behind me. These idiots just didn't seem to understand that when you're over on a mountain pass that's over 10,000 feet above sea level and it's snowing like crazy, you're not supposed to drive fast! You're not supposed to tailgate. Idiots!

In case you've missed me, I was on vacation, following a four week sinus infection. We went to Crested Butte with the inlaws and stayed at Club Med. It was very nice and relaxing, although I definitely recommend a suite when you have a small child. I was not ready to go to sleep at 8:30 or 9 every night. Of course, it decided not to snow the whole time we were there. Instead, snow arrived the night before we left and continued into the morning.

I made sure that I was driving because I'm a better driver than the Aggie in bad weather. There was much white knuckled, sweaty palmed driving for me. Nothing like having a double-trailered 18-wheeler go zooming around you into the other lane when you're sure he can't see if anyone's coming. Then the Rodeo that was in front of me spun out and ended up in the opposite lane. I hope he started driving before those two cars got to him.

My favorite thing, though, had to be the stupid driver of the Suburban who was tailgating me. Yes, I was only going 20 mph, but I really didn't want to go off in the ravine! At some point he disappeared from my rearview mirror, along with the five or six cars behind him. I hope he wasn't hurt. But he better have been scared.

Intrigue at my house!

2005-02-14T11:24:00.000-06:00

We live in an older home, circa 1977, so we're obviously not the first owners. I'm not sure how many people have owned this house. I do know of at least one couple plus they rented out the house a few times. I don't know anything about these people but there was something going on with at least one couple.

When we first moved in, my father-in-law was kind enough to floor our attic for us. In the process he noticed some of the insulation was dirty and found some holes in the a/c returns. While digging around in the insulation to fix the holes, he found two home-recorded cassette tapes. They had been up in the heat so long they couldn't be played but I always wondered about them.

Yesterday, the Aggie and his dad were working on another hole found in a return, this one behind the Aggie's bathroom sink. When they pulled off the return cover to work on it, they found three folded sheets of notebook paper. There was no signature and I have no idea who it was to, but in reading it, I figured out that at some point, some male in the house had had numerous affairs. And evidently, this pushed the woman to have an affair with the writer of the letter. I really wish there had been names so I could figure out who was involved.

Yeah, I'm nosy, but it's so intriguing!

Baby, you can drive my car

2005-02-07T17:31:00.000-06:00

We watched the Super Bowl yesterday. Okay, I watched it and the Aggie and the Girl endured it. I love sports and enjoying watching even when I'm not rooting for a particular team. I'm working on indoctrinating the Girl.

While she might not have liked the football much, she did enjoy the half time show. She loved the singing and the fireworks. I wasn't sure she was really listening to the music until she got this shocked look on her face and said, that's unsafe! We asked what she was talking about. She said, that man's singing about his baby driving a car. It's not safe for a baby to drive!

After we stopped laughing, we explained he was using baby as a term of endearment for a grown woman, not a real baby. She was relieved to hear a real baby wasn't driving.

63

2005-02-04T18:51:00.000-06:00

That's how old my dad would have been last Sunday, the 30th. The Girl and I have been sick since Saturday so it just kind of passed in a blur. I didn't really think about the date until I actually turned the calendar to February yesterday.

This May will be 11 years since he passed away, so it is easier than it's been in the past. But it still hurts to look at the calendar and not see "Dad's b-day" written in the little block just like everyone else's. Dang, I miss him.

Black house, chartreuse trim

2005-01-18T10:59:00.000-06:00

While reading Tish's post about her uncle, LuLu, it struck me that maybe her uncle and my great-uncle are related. Or maybe just both a little off-the-wall.

Let me tell you a little about my great-uncle, J. He's my granny's baby brother and can annoy her like all get-out. He used to live in a small frame house on my grandparents' property. It was actually a nice little house. My parents lived there when they were first married. But it kept J and Granny a little too close together so they would get into big fights.

Once they had such a big to-do that while Granny and Grandad were away on vacation, Uncle J painted the house black. Then to make it even more unattractive, he painted the trim chartreuse. My granny had a conniption when she saw that house. Gradually the colors faded (Uncle J refused to repaint the house) so it wasn't so obnoxious.

Uncle J had a thing about saving beer cans. He always said he was saving them to take them to the recycler, but they just kept stacking up in his house. When kids would come to his house at Halloween, he'd give them grocery bags full of beer cans to recycle for their treat. My granny was mortified and told him to leave his porch light off the next year.

Then, there were the dogs. For some reason, he loved to name his dogs after presidents. I particularly remember Herbert Hoover, the rescued greyhound. Granny always wanted to know why he couldn't name his dogs normal dog names.

Uncle J lives up in Oklahoma now so I rarely see him. But Granny says he hasn't changed a bit, except to get a little ornerier.

Want to know how to make my day

2005-01-16T17:05:00.000-06:00

and ensure you receive a big tip? When I order my mango margarita, make sure you tell me you need to see my id.

I think I surprised Jeremy the waiter when I thanked him for carding me. But dang if it doesn't make you feel good to be carded when you're 41.

Help a little

2005-01-11T17:46:00.000-06:00

I just read about this over at Billy's. At California Hammonds Greg is raising money for breastcancer prevention. He's donating a dollar for each comment posted up to 500 and others have joined him. Please go and comment. At 5:50 CST, he's at 436 comments and this is going on til 11:59 PST.

There's nothing worse...

2005-01-05T22:39:00.000-06:00

than waiting four weeks for a new episode of Lost, recording it, waiting til after West Wing, hitting rewind, and there are no rewinding sounds! Yes, the Aggie messed up and I am not happy with him! He just had to skip bible study tonight, didn't he?

Normally I'm the one doing the taping of Lost since he's at bible study and I just hit the record button so I don't have to mess with the switch-over to West Wing at 8:01. But he had to get all cutesy and program it with the DirecTV which means the DirecTV turns on the vcr to start the recording. However, if the vcr is not off, then the DirecTV turns it off, which means, you guessed it, no recording of Lost!

I'm seriously considering a DVR now.

And your words will come back to you

2004-12-18T11:45:00.000-06:00

The Girl has a new favorite doll. She got this doll for her birthday and absolutely loves it. "Sparkle" is now her daughter and goes everywhere with the Girl, even to visit Santa yesterday.

Now, Sparkle is not always the most obedient daughter, according to the Girl. I sometimes hear her telling Sparkle to act nicer. But yesterday was something else. As we were leaving the mall, we walked out through Dillard's passing by all the nice breakable ornaments. I warned the Girl to make sure to only look with her eyes and not her hands.

As we're negotiating our way through the trees and displays full of ornaments, these words waft up to me: "Sparkle! No ma'am! You do not touch those! No ma'am! You're going in timeout when we get home!"

Guess those "no ma'ams" have really stuck with the Girl the times I've used them on her.

On trying to get a photo for the Christmas card

2004-12-10T11:09:00.000-06:00

First things first, yes, I know I'm pushing it by just ordering my photo cards today. Sue me for being busy! Anyway, the Girl and I loaded up the pretty Christmas dress and went to my mom's for a photo op. Yes, I have a pretty Christmas tree but my mom's living room looks like it should be in a magazine so off we went.

For future reference, if you're planning on taking pictures and making sure you get a good one for your card, make sure your camera's batteries are fully charged. Otherwise, your camera will die after only seven pictures and you'll be biting your tongue to keep from cursing in front of your child. On the other hand, if you're dealing with a four year old, fewer pictures can be better.

We start with the Girl on a stool, hoping for cuteness. Unfortunately, we're in four year old "cheese" hell.

Let's look grouchy about standing on the stairs because we really want our picture taken with Frosty.

Picture with said Frosty to pacify the Girl. That's my step-dad's Frosty. You should see the giant Santa in the foyer. Yes, he's a hoot!

Can't believe that the very first pic, which I thought would be horrible, turns out to be the Christmas card photo. Sometimes you just get lucky.

Ruminations on God, by the Girl

2004-12-10T11:00:00.000-06:00

Driving home yesterday the Girl was complaining about the sun shining in her window. Her: "The sun's shining on me, I don't want that."
Me: "Well, I'm just Mommy, I can't move the sun."
Her: "God could move it."

We then moved on to a discussion of Santa and where he came from.
Her: "God made Santa."

And I think that says it all.

Want to do a good deed for Christmas?

2004-12-08T17:53:00.000-06:00

Support the troops by helping the wounded talk to their families.

The number ONE request at Walter Reed hospital is phone cards. The government doesn't pay long distance phone charges and these wounded soldiers are rationing their calls home.

Many will be there throughout the holidays. Really support our troops - send phone cards of any amount to:

Medical Family Assistance Center
Walter Reed Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20307-5001

They say they need an "endless" supply of these. Any amount, even $5, is greatly appreciated. Walmart has good prices on AT&T cards, Sams Club is even better, if you are a member.

Girl with a Capital G!

2004-12-07T18:04:00.000-06:00

My Girl loves to wear jeans and wash the car with her Papa Ray. Or help him plant things, help the Aggie rake leaves, or pick up roly-polies and snails to keep in a jar. But she's also a girly-girl who likes a cute dress and painted toenails.

Her girly-girlness was majorly reinforced for me the other day. My mom and granny had found a beautiful dress for the Girl for the Christmas season. It's kind of a candy apple reddish/pink in a taffeta type material with a thin line of rhinestones at the waist. Yes, it's very girly. But it was a little big so we went to exchange it. We found the right size and were walking to the counter when she noticed all the other beautiful dresses. She immediately ooohed and ahhhed over them, then turned to me and said: Mommy, can I please try on all the dresses?

She's definitely a Girl.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

2004-11-15T11:07:00.000-06:00

Four years ago at 10:13 p.m., via c-section, the Girl was born. I seriously can't believe it's already been four years. I love the Girl so much. And yes, I know I'm biased, but she is dang smart! She can say the Pledge of Allegiance, including indivisible. I don't think I could say that at four.

Anyway, she's cute, funny, annoying, whiny, sweet, loving. And now she's four. But she'll always be my sweet baby.

Can it be over now? Please?!

2004-11-03T22:36:00.000-06:00

I'm so glad the election is over. Now that it's over maybe we can go back to being nice to each other; maybe stop belittling each other for our political leanings.

Thanks to Holly, I ended up reading Megan's pledge. And dang if I'm not ready for all of us to take it. I particularly like this: "I will assume, until proven otherwise, that the president, like most politicians, is making stupid laws because he wants to appease key interest groups (a.k.a. The American People), not because He Is Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil." And you know what? Not only is he not evil, I'm not stupid or a Nazi or a bigot.

Know what else? I don't think you are either; even if you did vote for the other guy.

My kitty cat

2004-11-02T14:39:00.000-06:00

The makeup lasted about 30 minutes before she had it smeared everywhere. I cleaned her up before sending her out trick or treating.

Five years ago this weekend...

2004-10-29T17:22:00.000-05:00

Kelley and the Aggie got married. We've never wasted much time in our relationship. We met in Sept 1998. I met his family one week later, he met my mom and step-dad the week after that. We got engaged four months after we met and were married nine months later. The following is inspired by A.K.

I know that the Aggie spent a lot of his day hanging out with family. His only real duty was getting the car over to the hotel. Me, I got to sit at Renee's for two plus hours getting my hair done.

Thankfully, those hours plus the time spent at Neiman's for makeup resulted in me looking like this:

The ceremony was just wonderful.

But I was ready for some peace and quiet with just the Aggie. Yes, I did change into sneakers after all the photos.

The reception was great. But I was so happy we had a little time to eat by ourselves before going upstairs. The cake was even more beautiful than I imagined.

But I was a little ticked off that the kids had eaten all the tuxedo strawberries off the groom's cake. Of course, it was chocolate so it still tasted delicious.

And no, we were no Slacker and the BWB but we did have fun dancing with all the kids.

And since we got married right before Halloween, the dj threw in the Time Warp just for the fun of it. Yes, I loves me some Time Warp.

We left in a shower of bubbles with a basket full of food, cake, and champagne.

When it was all said and done, it was an absolutely wonderful day and I was married to the love of my life.

Happy Anniversary, hon. I love you so much!

Girls just want to have fun

2004-10-07T21:40:00.000-05:00

And starting tomorrow, 22 of us will be having loads of fun! I cannot wait to meet these women. Some I already know, like Holly, Nance, and Veeg. But all the others, like HG, A.K., Martha, and Jane, I'm all aflutter about meeting.

I plan on snuggling Nance's Runt and maybe sneaking in a hug on her if I can. ;-) Oh, and I plan on availing myself of A.K.'s hugs that induce pregnancy. And there will be plenty of pics and lots of drinking.

And nope, absolutely no guilt about going off and leaving the Girl alone with the Aggie. Heck, she's going to the Aquarium with her grandparents tomorrow, to the country Saturday, and who knows what on Sunday. So she'll be having a ball this weekend too.

Must say, I love the Aggie very much for always being so amenable to my trips to visit friends.

2004-09-29T17:02:00.000-05:00

The bully

My daughter, the bully

2004-09-29T16:58:00.000-05:00

Yes, that sweet little face you see has become the class hitter. She's hit the same boy twice in a week's time. I hope this is a phase that passes very quickly. In the meantime, I guess I'll be reminding her not to hit on our ride to school.

Oh, yeah, I took her up on the roof

2004-09-20T22:22:00.000-05:00

On the way home from school today, the Girl mentioned that she had been up on Papa's roof with him. Since she's prone to wildly imaginative stories, I just said, oh really. She said, yes, it was a long, long time ago, I helped Papa work on on the roof. I asked if she was using her imagination. She insisted she had really been up there.

So I told the Aggie about this when he got home and he promptly called his dad. Of course, he was off working at the Republican Victory Center. So the Aggie asked his mom to have him call as soon as he got home.

I talked to my father-in-law at about 9:45 and told him the Girl's story. There was a long silence and then he said, oh yeah, I did take her up on the roof but that's been about six months ago. Yes, you read that right. He took my three-year-old baby up the ladder and onto the roof. He let her walk around on his roof!

I'm letting the Aggie handle this one tomorrow when he's awake because I love my inlaws and really don't want to scream at my father-in-law. Excuse me while I go color all the extra gray hairs that just sprung up.

Put down the damn cell phone!

2004-09-17T23:08:00.000-05:00

I was reading this at Tavia's today and it reminded me of something that happened to me last week. I meant to blog about it last week but that damn kid brain struck again.

Anyway, I hate when people talk on their cell phones in the bathroom! It's bad enough when they're standing by the sinks or mirrors but in the stalls? That's just gross. I walked into a restroom last Friday and heard someone talking in a stall. I figured she was talking to a friend in another stall. Then I realized only no other stalls were occupied. Yep, she was sitting on a toilet talking on her cell phone.

I couldn't wait for her to finish talking so I went about my business and hoped the person on the other end of her call could hear the toilet flushing. I'd love to know how she explained that to her friend.

Ick!

2004-09-15T17:08:00.000-05:00

I've been having trouble with my lower front teeth chipping recently. Then my tongue gets all torn up on the end because it hits the ragged edges. Awhile back, one of the techs smoothed out the worst one but that left me with a dip in my tooth. It looked funky. My dentist fixed that today so I look normal again.

But that's not the icky part. My dentist decided to make some models of my teeth so he can figure out why they're chipping and if a mouth guard would help. So now we get to the icky part. To make the models, you have to make molds of the teeth. This involves a metal tray that's filled with putty. The dentist sticks the tray in your mouth and you bite down into the putty which then squishes everywhere. After about a minute, it hardens slightly, so that Dr M had to really pull to get it out. The bottom teeth weren't so bad, but the top teeth, ugh. All that extra putty oozed up into the top of my mouth and was threatening to make my gag reflex kick in.

I never want to have to do that again. Yuck!

Just one more

2004-09-15T17:02:00.000-05:00

It's not that I'm not grateful I have the Girl. I love her dearly. But I really always thought I would have two kids. So far (two and a half years to be exact) the old body, she's not cooperating.

My friends, locally and online, are having their second, third, or fourth child and I'm thrilled for them. Then there are others pregnant with their third or fourth child that have me thinking, what the hell? What did I do that the whacks are procreating like bunnies but I can't provide the Girl with a brother or sister? It gets rather depressing sometimes.

So, when my friends announce their pregnancies and I'm about to try my last round of Clomid, I congratulate them. But I wish it was me.

That's embarrassing!

2004-09-08T15:47:00.000-05:00

You know, I knew I suffered from pregnancy brain big time with the Girl. And then, when I was nursing her, I always said she was sucking out my brain cells. But really, I thought it was getting better. That is, until yesterday.

The Girl and I had to run errands so I set the alarm and we ran out to the garage. Got the Girl buckled in her carseat and got in the car. Then I reached in my purse for my keys. They weren't there. I started panicking when I realized I must have locked them in the house. No spare key in the garage and my in-laws, who have a key and live up the street, were at work. I thought I was going to have to call the Aggie.

I was about to bang my head on the steering wheel when I noticed the keys. In the ignition. Yep. At least I could laugh at myself.

Did he not notice the minivan?

2004-08-31T16:16:00.000-05:00

I was driving to the Girl's school this morning for Meet the Teacher day. I'm sitting at a red light, in my minivan, putting on lipstick, when I hear a horn. I look over and the guy in the car next to me is motioning for me to roll down my window.

Now, I have to say, I must normally look pretty friendly, because people do tend to ask me for directions. So I figured that's why he wanted to talk to me.

I roll down my window and he leans out and says, "you've got some great looking lips". I almost laughed but managed to say thank you as the light turned green and I drove off.

Guess it's a good thing the Girl wasn't with me. She'd have asked if he had noticed her lips.

My value's rising!

2004-08-26T12:24:00.000-05:00

First it was A.K., and my level was low. Then it was HG, and now, my value is rising! I think I better thank Fluffy and Billy for raising the value of my incoming links.

The Girl's perspective

2004-08-24T22:16:00.000-05:00

Last Friday the Girl and I met a friend and her husband for lunch. We took the train down to Mockingbird Station where you have not just the rail station, but a theater, lofts, restaurants, and shopping. We took the elevator up from the platform level because the Girl loves to push the buttons and not take the slow escalator.

While we're on the elevator, the Girl looks down and notices the tiles have bird footprints drawn on them. She asks what birds were doing in there and I explained it's just decoration because it's Mockingbird Station. She said okay and I thought nothing more of it.

That night as the Aggie was getting her ready for bed, she told him we had taken the train to meet Liesl and Jon for lunch. She then proceeded to tell him about the elevator and the bird footprints. He asked if she knew why there were footprints. She said, of course, I do. It's because it's Walkingbird Station.

Dallas Morning News spoilsports!

2004-08-19T17:49:00.000-05:00

You would think I would have learned to be careful after Tavia's experience with Yahoo. But I blithely whipped onto the Dallas Morning News website to look up something. Plastered right there on the entrance page were the results for the women's all-around scheduled to be shown tonight.

I am SO not happy that they have ruined this for me. I hate that the Olympics have to be shown on tape delay anyway but you'd think major media outlets could think of the fans who want to experience it "live". Thankfully, the DMN at least has an easy way to lodge a complaint so I fired off a terse little missive to them. Maybe they'll think twice before spoiling my fun again.

Families should all be in the same political party

2004-08-19T12:38:00.000-05:00

I've decided this after seeing some political arguments between the Aggie's dad and his twin brother. And then the twin's son weighed in saying he was being censored on the family's group email and so he removed himself from the email group. That's right, I'm playing Big Brother and censoring all messages that I don't agree with! And, if you believe that, you'll believe I'm changing who's getting my vote.

Really, I try not to get to bent out of shape over politics because some of my fave people are liberal. They pretty much let me go my moderate way and try not to insult me too much. But when it comes to family, I guess people feel safer in blasting each other for their beliefs. And I don't get that, because, you'd think people would be nicer to the people they love, wouldn't you?

Anyway, that's my thought for the day. I think I'll go lay down the law to the Aggie's family now.

You know I'm kidding, right?

My Meme

2004-08-16T16:35:00.000-05:00

I got it from Lisa. Get yours here. Pick your birth month and cross (strike) out what doesn't apply to you. To strike out you use the S tag. So for the cross out you would surround the "strike out" with it. Then post the whole list for the next person or link back to here.

MAY:Stubborn ~~and hard-hearted~~. Strong-willed ~~and highly motivated~~. Sharp thoughts. ~~Easily angered.~~ Attracts others and loves attention. Deep feelings. Beautiful ~~physically and~~ mentally. Firm Standpoint. Needs no motivation. Easily consoled. ~~Systematic (left brain)~~. Loves to dream. ~~Strong clairvoyance.~~ Understanding. ~~Sickness usually in the ear and neck.~~ Good imagination. ~~Good physical~~. ~~Weak breathing~~. Loves literature and the arts. Loves traveling. ~~Dislike being at home~~. ~~Restless~~. Not having many children. Hardworking. High spirited. Spendthrift.

2004-08-09T12:40:00.000-05:00

The Girl loves cotton candy.

2004-08-09T12:39:00.000-05:00

The Girl dancing with Daddy at the Wiggles.

Wigglerific!

2004-08-09T12:25:00.000-05:00

The Wiggles came to town this weekend and we attended a show. The Girl absolutely loves the Wiggles. We took her last year too but she got into the show more this year. She was up dancing in the aisles, brought a rose for Dorothy the Dinosaur, and generally had a marvelous time.

And why I agreed to buy cotton candy, I'll never know.

Three years, eight months, and two days

2004-07-28T10:42:00.000-05:00

without Barney being watched in my house. Then the Girl got sick and was watching tv non-stop when she wasn't sleeping. And she happened to see Barney. And liked it. Now she wants to watch it every day. What's a Barney hating mother to do?

She's willing to give up watching one of her other shows in her allotted tv time in order to watch it. I can't stand this! There has to be something I can do to rid my house of this big purple menace! I just haven't figured out what it is yet.

Two little whirlwinds

2004-07-23T11:48:00.000-05:00

The Girl's playroom and bedroom looked like they were hit by a tornado yesterday. Wait, make that two tornados or just two little whirlwinds named the Girl and M. The Girl's best friend, M, came over yesterday and they were so thrilled to see each other. We haven't seen M in about three weeks due to all our illnesses. She's been begging to see him every day.

So, C came over with M and his baby brother so the kids could play. The Girl and M can really make a mess when they play. But they play so well together that we can handle the mess. Although they did manage to injure each other in true Stooges fashion. The Girl came running through the connecting bath and out of her room while M was running down the hall and into the room. You could hear them hit. Much crying ensued. Later, the Girl got a phone call from M. It was quite cute to hear him ask to speak with her. He apologized for running into her and she also said she was sorry. They then talked about what fun they had, said they loved each other and hung up. It was quite sweet.

And I ended up with a cleaner playroom! All in all, a very good day.

It's your birthday!

2004-07-23T11:44:00.000-05:00

Happy 37th birthday to my favorite Aggie! And yes, for those of you doing the math at home/work, he's four years younger than me. I robbed the cradle. Actually, I was just following in his family's tradition. The Aggie's mom is one year older than his dad. His sister is four years older than her husband. And his paternal grandmother was older than his grandfather.

And really, can it be called robbing the cradle if I was 36 and he was 32 when we got married? I think not.

So, happy birthday, hon! I love ya!

Miss Crabbypants

2004-07-18T14:52:00.000-05:00

Thank goodness the Girl is getting better. She has never been as sick as she was this week. But five days of fever makes for a very cranky girl. Oh, she has been so, so crabby, whiny, and crying at the drop of a hat.

I love my Girl dearly, but having her back to normal is going to be very good for my mental health. The crabbiness and the constant need to sit by me or in my lap have been very wearing.

Now if we can just stay well for the rest of the summer!

House of germs

2004-07-14T11:17:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to keep anyone else from getting sick again, I washed all the sheets this weekend. I also washed the mattress cover and pillows from our bed. The Aggie and I are doing better, although I still have not gotten over my drug reaction yet.

However, the Girl is now ill. Do you know what 105 degrees feels like on a small child? Her whole body gets extremely hot to the touch. Thankfully she doesn't seem to have my aspirin allergy and can take Motrin which works fairly well. I never thought I'd be happy to see her temperature at 101 but when it comes down to that or 105, I go for 101.

The doc said she may have what I had so he put her on antibiotics. I sure hope they kick in soon because a sick Girl is not a fun Girl.

One of these days I'll be well

2004-07-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

And I know everyone will be happy about that because you won't have to listen to my illness woes. The cough is pretty much gone, thank goodness. The joint pain cleared up which was a relief. Now, new side effects! Sleeplessness - I hate lying awake for over two hours trying to fall asleep. Rash - I have some funky rash on my chest. Why can't I just react normally to medicine?

In other news, I think the Girl has a hollow leg. She ate four bowls of oatmeal for breakfast. This is two more than her usual helping. Maybe she's in for a growth spurt or trying to catch up with her S cousins. My niece is 11 years old and is three inches shorter than me. I think I'll be looking up to her by the time she's 13.

Bring out yer dead!

2004-07-04T17:49:00.000-05:00

Medicine is supposed to make you feel better, not worse. Wouldn't you know that I'm one of the people that gets joint pain from my antibiotic? And I've twice gone beyond the gag reflex while coughing. And I can now provide proof that having a c-section doesn't exempt you from incontinence while coughing up a lung.

I semi-seriously asked the Aggie to push me off a cliff earlier so I could go on the dead wagon. He just laughed at me.

I'll remember this laughter.

Put me out of my misery

2004-07-02T09:47:00.000-05:00

Just shoot me now or push me off a cliff. I'm so tired of being sick. Coughing so hard that you gag is not fun. And to have pink eye on top of this, such a joy. The Girl's cough seems to be coming back too. Not a good week in Kelliloo's house.

I've since been to the doctor who didn't want to shake my hand, amazing, I know. Anyway, had to go down for a chest xray and it turns out I have a small triangle of pneumonia on my upper right lung. I asked if it was because I went to the beach right after I got done with a sinus infection. He said it was possible, but really, you just never know with pneumonia. So, now I'm on antibiotics for 10 days and eyedrops til the pinkeye clears up. I'm so ready to be well.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

2004-06-29T15:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, not really. But the Girl loves that song and we listened to the cd several times on the way to the beach last week. And thank goodness she likes it because I had to sing it to her in the bathroom of Frenchy's restaurant. I know you're thinking: why did she do this? It's because my daughter is obsessive about privacy when she poops. She doesn't care if you're in the bathroom when she's peeing, but if she's got to poop she wants privacy.

Obviously, I couldn't give her privacy in the stall at Frenchy's because I had to stay with her. So I told her I wouldn't look at her. Well, that won't work because she doesn't want you to hear her poop. You read that right. She doesn't want you to hear her poop splashing into the toilet. So I commenced singing. I started off singing "The 'quarium" but couldn't remember enough words. That made the Girl mad because the song was too short. I moved on to "Going to the Zoo" which got us through the pooping. We exited the stall to huge grins.

Next week I'll be singing at Carnegie Hall. ;-)

I live in a deathtrap!

2004-06-21T10:45:00.000-05:00

Okay, maybe not really but it sure feels that way. As mentioned previously, we had to have the a/c replaced because it was tripping the breaker. Well, yesterday the breaker started tripping again. Come to find out, our breaker panel is a Federal Pacific box. Guess who went out of business because of their boxes shorting and catching on fire?!

So now in addition to all the money spent on a new a/c, we're going to spend another big chunk of change, probably, to replace the breaker box. However, it's still better than having my house burn down.

Homeownership can suck

2004-06-17T16:39:00.000-05:00

Normally, I love my home but not this week. The a/c went out on Saturday. Thankfully, the Aggie and I both have family close by so we could bunk somewhere without paying. Saturday and Sunday nights were spent at my mom's house.

Mr K, the a/c man, came out Monday morning and we were up and running again, until Tuesday around lunch. He came out again, installed a part and it ran again, for awhile, when it started to kick off the breaker again. So, Tueday night and Weds night were spent at the ILs' house. Today, Mr K came and installed a new compressor for a pretty penny and it's getting cooler. I'll be glad to spend the night in my own house. And I think the Girl will be too. She's been a tad cranky.

Tell me

2004-06-17T16:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, I took this from Bond Girl's blog.

Answer these questions in the comments section, pretty please.

1. Who are you?
2. Have we ever met?
3. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
4. Describe me in one word.
5. What reminds you of me?
6. If you could give me anything, what would it be?
7. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
8. Are you going to put this on your weblog and see what I say about you?
9. What do you love like a fat kid loves cake?
10. What makes you come back here?

The shopping gene runs deep

2004-06-11T21:51:00.000-05:00

There were four generations of M women in my minivan today. My granny, my mom, my daughter, and I were headed to Dillard's for an afternoon of shopping. It's not often that all four of us get to go together. Usually it's the Girl and I with my granny and grandad or the Girl and I with my mom.

The women in my family can really enjoy shopping. And boy, can we go through a store and find the bargains. The Girl is usually a major beneficiary of the shopping trips. Today, she scored a cute t-shirt, seven dresses, and a pair of sailor pants with a striped top that looks like it came out of a Shirley Temple movie.

Where am I can going to find room to put all these clothes?

Her name was Lola

2004-06-11T21:36:00.000-05:00

I was reading Bond Girl, who had been reading Miss Doxie, a few days ago and got jolted back about seven years.

Once upon a time, I was part of a small group that met on Compuserve and bonded over Friends and their younger child status. I was the sole member of the group that was an elder child. Anyway, occasionally, someone would post and just throw out: Her name was Lola. And that was all it took. We'd run through the whole song, line by line. I have no idea why we did this.

I managed to scare several members of this group when we all met up in Chicago. For some reason, they were unnerved when we tuned into a radio station that was playing disco and I could sing along with all the songs. The rest of the weekend, I'd suddenly start singing Knock On Wood and make MB jump.

Thanks to Bond Girl and Miss Doxie for making me remember this.

No FlyLady here

2004-06-05T17:57:00.000-05:00

I hate, loathe, despise, and abominate cleaning the house. But after the mad rush last night to get the house respectable for a party this morning, I've sworn to do better. I really think I need to adopt Holly's plan because, otherwise, this house just ain't staying clean. We're way too likely around here to pile stuff up because it's just too easy.

Just don't expect to be able to do the white glove test. I said respectable, not neat freak clean.

Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home

2004-06-03T18:18:00.000-05:00

Personally, I'm hoping they don't fly away. I tried killing aphids the natural way two years ago. All the ladybugs flew away the first day. So last year I went back to the chemicals. This year's crop of aphids, however, seem very resistant to the poison so it's back to the ladybugs. I'm hoping since I have seen a couple in the rosebed on their own that the new batch will stay since we have a virtual aphid buffet. The Girl is going to help me distribute them before bed tonight.

She's very into ladybugs eating aphids thanks to this book. She was quite taken with the tub full of ladybugs and held it all the way home. I think she was trying to inspect the ladybugs for spots. She informed me that she found one ladybug with only one spot. Maybe that one will stay and keep her happy.

I'm not ready to be a grandmother!

2004-05-28T21:30:00.000-05:00

Not only that, the Girl is only three and a half. No way is she ready for children. However, for the last week, since discovering baby name books in the cabinet, she is obsessed with what she will name her future children. Oh, and these aren't just some random children in the future, these are children she will have with her best friend, M.

I told my friend C, M's mother, about this today while the kids were playing. She laughed and said, I'd be perfectly happy to have the Girl as a daughter-in-law.

So we've now graduated from marrying M at some point to having children with him. I am so not ready for this.

10 years

2004-05-21T20:35:00.000-05:00

I managed to go almost the whole day without thinking about what day it is. And when I did think about him, I only cried a little. I guess it's true what they say about time making things better. But I still miss him. So I hugged my Girl a little tighter tonight. My Girl with her long fingers like her Poppie. My Girl who only knows my father through pictures and stories. My sweet Girl who dried my tears and said you're okay, Mommy. And I will be. Because it gets a little easier every year.

I miss you, Dad.

Elvis, is that you?

2004-05-19T11:20:00.000-05:00

From the backseat: Mom, can we listen to the Hunka, hunka song? It's my favorite.

That would be Burning Love by Elvis Presley as interpreted by Wynonna. How did I birth an Elvis fan? Not to say I don't like the occasional Elvis tune, but I'm definitely not a huge fan. However, since the purchase of this cd, the Girl is totally into Elvis.

This is particularly pleasing to my step-father because he's a huge Elvis fan. The Girl was very excited to hear that Pop has a whole cd of Elvis Christmas music that he will be happy to share with her.

So for the time being, I will be enduring "I'm just a hunka, hunka burning love" rendered by a three year old. Oh well, could be worse. Could be Barney.

Mail for me!

2004-05-03T21:41:00.000-05:00

I love getting mail. Real mail, not bills and junk mail. Today I received a package from a lovely overseas friend that I definitely was not expecting. Actually, I guess you could say the package was really for the Girl because it was a book for her. But the package had my name on it and that's what counts. ;-) Included in the package was a lovely letter detailing the current goings-on at Poppins Towers.

Now I shall have to compose a suitable thank you note and hope my friend can read my horrendous handwriting. There's a reason some of us prefer email.

Work in progress

2004-05-03T15:05:00.000-05:00

I'm working on changing the color scheme here. Since I'm HTML ignorant, I'm just going by trial and error. I know there are still some things that are too light or too bright. I'll work on them again another day.

Mean Girl

2004-05-01T15:31:00.000-05:00

My Girl was officially mean to me the other day. Actually, I'm sure she didn't intend to be mean, she just loves her some Papa Ray (my FIL). My ILs live up the street so she gets to see them frequently. And they're retired so they keep her on the occasions I have to work, go to the doctor, dentist, etc. But I digress.

So, we're driving past Papa Ray's house and spot him in the yard. We stop and say hi, then head on home. As we're turning into the alley, my sweet Girl pipes up from the backseat: Mommy, could you please go to work now (4:00 p.m.) so I can go stay with Papa?

She can really twist that knife.

Cool!

2004-04-26T22:23:00.000-05:00

Which Legendary Actress are you?

Sometimes he can keep a secret

2004-04-26T22:12:00.000-05:00

I frequently tease the Aggie about his inability to keep a secret. He comes from a family of blabbermouths so it's not that surprising. Last year, for my 40th birthday, he gave me a surprise party and, amazingly, didn't blow it. I was very surprised. Today, he informed me that he has scheduled a day off for my birthday next week. Since we planned his vacation days together, I was once again quite surprised.

The Aggie even made some plans for Girl coverage. His parents will be getting her in the morning, taking her to gymnastics and then keeping her the rest of the day. This will let us go out for breakfast, shop for a new watch for me, have lunch, go to a movie maybe, or whatever I want. Maybe turning 41 won't be so bad.

Why did it have to be Willie?

2004-04-25T10:22:00.000-05:00

I went to a funeral yesterday. The husband of one of my mom's good friends passed away suddenly this week. Mom asked if I would go to the funeral with her. Of course I said yes. I've known Pat for years. She and her sisters gave me a bridal shower so I felt I should be there. I knew it would be hard, it was a funeral after all. But it was a funeral less than a month from the 10 year anniversary of my dad's death. And the suddenness of Doug's death was too familiar.

I was doing fine, holding it together. I had gotten a little misty a few times but no real tears. The service ended and I thought I was in the clear. Then, they started playing Willie Nelson music. I lost it. My mom lost it. People looked at us sympathetically. I'm sure they thought we were crying for Doug or Pat. And maybe we were, a little. But mostly, it was because we played Willie Nelson at my dad's funeral. So that made it hit a little too close to home.

That thud you hear...

2004-04-25T10:15:00.000-05:00

is not your child falling out of her bed. It is, instead, a car bashing into your front porch! Yes, last Sunday at 1:00 in the morning, some idiot plowed into my front porch. I heard the thud and immediately thought the Girl had fallen out of bed. Checked on her, still dreaming away. The Aggie and I went through the whole house and decided one of the cats caused the noise and went back to bed. Because, of course, the idiot driver drove off and didn't come tell us he hit our house.

Fast forward to 8:00. I walk out to get the paper and discover mangled bushes, a post knocked loose, a broken sprinkler head, a broken light, and a huge gouge out of the concrete. Said gouge was less than four feet from the Girl's bed! Needless to say, I freaked out. Now we're planning on moving the Girl back to her old room, safe from the worries of the front of the house. Stupid drivers!

Bible study and the playground

2004-04-15T22:15:00.000-05:00

I actually made it to Bible study today. Thanks to work, vacation, and illness I haven't made it for two months. I was really happy I got to go today because we started a new study. The book we're studying is Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller. It's about making time for sacred rest to refresh the body and spirit. I think it's going to make for a good session.

After Bible study, the Girl and I met up with friends at the playground. My friend C is also in my Bible study and her son is the Girl's best friend. He hadn't been in childcare during Bible study because he was at school and the Girl had been quite upset about that. She was thrilled to get to see him for lunch and play. After an hour at the playground, including a picnic with another friend, C and I went back to her house so the kids could play longer. It was such an enjoyable afternoon. We got to have a cup of tea and catch up on things. It was like a Sabbath time, even with the Girl and her bud running around in the background. I think we need to do this again soon.

Yay! Adult music in my car again!

2004-04-05T10:46:00.000-05:00

While I'm happy that my child loves music, I do get rather tired of The Wiggles and toddler tunes. This is why I'm thrilled that the Girl has latched on to my Carrie Newcomer cd. On the way to school th is morning, she called out a request from the backseat.

"Mommy, I want to hear my favorite song."

"Which one is your favorite?"

"Bowwing Alby Baby. Please can I hear it, Mommy?"

I quickly switched to track three. After all, who am I to refuse my child her favorite song? ;-)