Happy Halloween

This is part of the decoarations on my front porch. It sort of pays tribute to all the spiders we have around here. I hope everyone has fun trick or teating tonight.

take a guess.

Okay, I'll give in on this one too. My friend Kelly suggested posting two truthes and a lie. guess which one it is.

1. I am a cat person.

2. I'm an organized person.

3. I got drunk the first time when I was 16.

Okay, now I've had a hair mishap

I tried to upload this picture, but for some reason I had trouble with it.

I'm going to blame biscuit for my current hair problems because apparently it's catching. (no more talking about messing up do it yourself hair color). On Thursday I decided it was time to update my highlights so I bought a different brand of haircolor than I normally use and thought it would work well, but I wound up with dots of blonde in my hair. I'm not sure how that happened, but it did. I really didn't notice to tell you the truth, but when I went to get my hair cut today one of the other stylists did. I'll start from the beginning.

My hairstylist had shoulder surgery a couple of monthes ago and I had to have another stylist at her salon cut my hair. I recently noticed that it wasn't looking right and when I went in today my regular stylist took one look at it and told me she was going to have to fix it. The layers where off (that I knew) and one side had been cut thinner than the other. Never ask someone who isn't skilled at thinning hair to do that for you. When she asked another stylist to look at it and recommend the best way to fix it the other stylist kept looking at me funny. Finally she asked me if I colored my hair recently and I told her I did. Then I asked her if something was wrong and she told me there were blonde dots on the part of my head I wouldn't be able to see well. I had knew it wasn't the best highlighting job I've ever done, but I didn't realize it was that bad either. Of course, I couldn't see it very well. They suggested a dye that would bring my hair back to its natural color. It is designed to start dark and fade to the correct color as you wash. She said to wait for the color to settle and decide if I want new hightlights or not. So for now I have dark hair. My family isn't crazy about it. LOL. Oh, and my hair is shorter than usual too.

The phantom stain.

This is a picture of a stain that has now appeared on two different articles of clothing same size and shape. It first showed up on a pair of my shorts. This large purple stain was a pain to get out. This time it showed up on my son's karate pants. I can't figure out where it's coming fun. It came out with bleach though so that's good.

I've been calling it the phantom stain because there is no obvious source for it. I guess we have both sat in something. Maybe it's on the benches at the Dojo. I may ask and see if anyone there has had the same thing happen.

a trip out to eat. I'm insane I think

My son had a perfect report card so we took him out to eat to celebrate. I should go on record this was not my idea, but my husband thought I said I wanted to do this. He was apparently only half listening to me. I thought we should do something that didn't involve food. I wan't to teach other ways of rewarding oneself.

I let him pick the location. He chose the local fast food joint. Big surprise. This wouldn't have been so bad except my husband was sick and couldn't go with us. Here is what happened. I just kept telling myself "I did this on purpose." Thanks to Sam and Kelly I have learned this sanity keeping mantra.

We arrived at the restaurant and my kids went to look at the toy display. The place was very quiet so I figured that would work. I went up to the counter and ordered. While I was doing this a couple walked in and was walking up to the line area. I looked over and saw my daughter had grabbed a high chair and was trying to bring it to Mommy. I though "how cute." She finally got it to me without too much trouble and parked it right next to me. My son started with "Mommy look at this" over and over on the other side while I'm trying to pay the guy at the counter. I told him I saw it and went back to getting my money out. At this point I realized my daughter, who is three, has scaled the high chair and is trying to sit down. As soon as I see her I didn't say anything, but inside I'm freaking out that she is going to hurt herself. I just wrapped my arms around her and sat her down in the seat. I figured the people behind must have thought what a terrible parent I am for not spotting her climbing, or they probably thought I was ignoring it. I wasn't she's just speedy gonzales. I rolled her forward to the end of the counter and straped her down with the seat belt so she couldn't climb back out.

She then discovered if she pushed really hard with her body she could make it roll. I grabbed her chair and hung on while I waited for the food. Meanwhile my son has discovered the new coffee dispenser. They, for some dumb reason, put this out for everyone to use. I recognize the convience factor for the customers, but it's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Some kid will pull on those cool handles wondering what they do and get coffee or hot water burns. I had to tell my son to not touch it because it was hot. Fortunately, he listens to that warning.

After we got our food I got our drinks and sat down. My daughter kept trying to swipe my food and my son just wanted the toy. I have a rule of no toys until we're done eating. He didn't like it when I put up his toy. They finally started eating, but then got bored and my daughter "found" her voice. I had difficutly shushing her. Fortunately, there weren't many people there and those that were had kids too. In fact, one of the other kids set her off one time. Then she discovered since the chair was on wheels and she could kick off from the table. She sent it skidding several feet. (Why don't they put breaks on those things) After admonishing her to stay put she did it again so I had to wrap a leg through one of the openings to stop her. Finally, we were done and could leave. Breathing a sigh of relief.

I'm not doing that again. And the kids wonder why I prefer to eat at home.

me and the camera not friends yesterday.

I've learned something today. I always knew how to bend my knees when I pick up one of the kids but today my body gave me and kick in the back side for not doing it. The middle of my lower back to be precise. I've never pulled a muscle there before and when it happened I almost hit the ground. I've been wearing a heating pad on it all day. Those wearable self heating pads are wonderful. It has helped, but if I sit still for very long I get very very stiff. I found moving about actually helps.

Well I guess I should also update you on my surgery follow up. For those who don't know I had surgery two monthes ago. I had my tonsills removed in hopes it would cure my sleep apnea. It turned out I also had chronic tonsillitis and didn't realize it. Well I don't snore anymore so most likely the sleep apnea is gone, but I still wake up at night and can't go back to sleep. Otherwise known as chronic insomnia. The Dr. has prescibed me some allergy meds to help me breath easier at night and boy did they work. I've also added magnesium to my diet. If this works I won't need another sleep study, but if it doesn't I have to do it again. He knows how much I hated the first one. When he told me I almost curlled up into a little ball in the chair. I have two weeks to see improvement or else.

I will say that the ENT who did my surgery did say that he will do additional surgery without hesitation if I need it to cure the apnea.

pictures

I have added some pics to up through the trees.

We went today to take the pictures for our Christmas cards. The kids did great. This time my daughter had to wait while her brother had individuals done. Boy did she get mad she wanted up on that table. It was quite a contrast from last year when she refused to cooperate and we didn't get a pic for the card. At least our card will be a good one this time.

our trip to the beach.

We got back from Panama City Beach a few days ago and we had a great trip. It was very relaxing. We would go out to the beach in the morning and get all dirty and then we would play in the pool in the afternoon. My kids especially liked the hot tub though. I kept having to insist they get out and play in the pool.

The first day we were there we met a family who lives in Birmingham. Our kids had fun digging a hole in the sand together. There was one little boy with them who I thought was theirs only to find out that they had become defacto babysitters. His mother had come out to the water and was snorkeling and not paying attention. I noticed the next day that they avoided her. She came out with him again later and left him with us. She didn't say a word she just went in the water. When I was ready to go in I waded out to her and told her to watch her son. I think she could tell I was ticked. She said his teenage brother would watch him. I said I didn't think he was paying any attention. The kid was sitting in a chair with a magazine draped over his face. He was a sweet little boy, but I found this frustrating. I would have just gone in but I didn't want to leave a three year old boy to his devices. He decided he was going to swim out to his mom and I had to stop him.

We also met some people from Indiana. They love Panama City and come down a couple of times a year. They were tan and burned. Ouch. On Friday one of them asked me if we just got there because we weren't tan I had to tell him we just don't tan very well. I will say none of us got a sunburn either. Mommy was diligent with the sunscreen. We found a shallow sand bar that my daughter adored playing on. She got mad at me when I made her come in.

We also visited the Gulf World Aquarium along with the zoo. The pic is of a guy riding a dolphin's nose. It pushing him up out of the water. I posted a beach scene on my photo blog up through the trees.

Anybody got any caffiene?

Would someone explain to me why my husband can't seem to go to bed at night without making alot of noise. He always opens the door loudly and then turns on the light to the bathroom and shuts the door. He never seems to realize how loud and bright this is. It wakes me up every time. I have trouble falling back to sleep too. To top this off he does it at 3 a.m.

I have trouble with insomnia so I wind up staying up all night. I did get to watch three shows we recorded while we were on vacation so I guess there is a bright side to everything. Let's hope that I'm awake this afternoon. The fun part of all this is I finally got rid of my sleep apnea and sleep better, but that doesn't do any good when your up half the night. I need some caffiene.

I'm back and I broke my glasses

Well, we returned home yesterday. We had a great time relaxing on the beach. The weather was perfect and the Gulf was calm. It looked like it does in the vacation brochures.

There were two drawbacks though. One was the biting flies and the other was I broke my glasses on Friday. The flies were more of an annoyance than anything. Breaking my glasses was no fun. I made the mistake of setting them down on the floor while I was taking a bath. (there really wasn't anywhere else to put them) I kept thinking that may be a bad idea, but I didn't listen to myself. When I got out I stepped on them. Not much pressure before I realized it but it was too late. They broke at he spot where the arm meets the lenses so they cannot be fixed. I walked around with one armed glasses for two days. That is annoying. I wore my prescription sunglasses when I could, but you can't wear them inside long so I wound up squinting alot.

I will go today and see about replacing them or putting the lenses in new frames. I really can't afford new glasses right now, but we do have insurance that is supposed to pay for new glasses. They don't cover transitions lenses though so I will have to pay the difference, I think. I don't have any idea how much that will be. I may be better off just putting the old lenses in new frames. Okay, I talked to the insurance company who said they would email me a claim from so I can go get glasses. It isn't here yet. I wanted to leave already. AUGHHHH!

I took plenty of pics of the beach. I will publish them after I get them processed today.

time to relax

Well I'm going to the Fiddler's convention tonight. It is amazing how much fun it is. Especially, for this rock music lover. Most people think of listening to fiddlers, banjo players and many other instruments associated with blue grass music isn't for them, but it is some of the best you will ever hear. These musicians are fantastic, and just think I get paid to go hear them play.

There is also alot of artisans there selling their work so I'm hoping to find something cool to buy my nieces for their very late birthday presents. It's a good thing that giving presents whenever during the course of the year is common place in my family or they probably wouldn't be speaking to me right now.

I won't be posting for over a week since I will be at the beach, but I'll be thinking of you guys while I chase my kids and help them build sandcastles.

new tires

I got new tires yesterday. I hadn't planned to but when I went to have them rotated the woman working pointed out that two of them needed replacing. I knew we were getting close, but had hoped to wait awhile longer. It's always expensive, but it was well worth it so far. The last set I had were weather tires, the same brand I had used on a previous car, and they didn't work very well. Everytime I would stop on wet pavement they would slide anyway. They really drove me crazy when they would squeal just making a minor turn or when I started to pull forward. For some reason they did not like to "catch" the road. I always made sure they were properly inflated so they shouldn't have been doing that. I used to own a cavalier and had put those same tires on it and never had any problems from them. I personally think they kept the name and downgraded the tire quality.

I got a different brand of weather tires put on this time. Higher quality too. So far so good. It's nice to stop or take off and not have my tires spin or slide. It's really great not to squeal in the local parking lot. It got very annoying to have people look at me like I was trying to show off or something. Can you see a mom of two pealing out in the parking lot. I know I can drive aggressively but I don't do it in parking lots.

sibling rivalry

Well we experienced a bought of sibling rivalry last night. My son was not happy that he was not the center attention. We worked to make him feel happy, but it was obvious he resented his sister for being the center of attention yesterday. Fortunately, his birthday is coming up next week and it will be his day then. We gave him attention, but he kept getting mad. I was finally able to get across to him when I told him he could help his sister open presents. This worked like a charm. Thank heavens.

Through the whole party he kept asking to go in the other room and watch a video. I told him he had to stay with us. The last thing I want is to raise a child who thinks it's acceptable to take off and hide when he isn't getting his way. Actually, we've been lucky with our kids they usually get along great and the rivalry has been to a minimum, but sometimes.....

My noodle had a great birthday though. I took her for a check up and she is healthy. I knew that though. Then we had lunch out and went to the new park downtown to play in the fountains. She had a blast. She had a Thomas the Tank Engine cake. She picked it out herself. Believe me I was surprised because I thought she would pick something like Dora or Blues clues. I think her favorite present (so far anyway) was the purse she got. Though I got a great pic of her Daddy putting earings on her. She kept going to him for help with them. It was really cute. Well it's time to go pick up cupcakes for school today. She is going to be so hyped up on cake I'm going to have trouble getting her to go to sleep tonight. Oh well.

Noodle's third birthday

Today is my little girl's third birthday. Wow, I can't believe she is three years old. She is growing so fast it's unbelievable to me. She spent the weekend telling me she is going to a party except it sounds like she is saying potty. Now if I could convince her to actually use the potty.

She has begun to dress herself and help me wash her in the tub. She especially loves to help brush her teeth. This is great because most kids don't like to. We are going for a yearly check up at the Dr. today too. When she was younger she would scream at the Dr. but over time she started relaxing. She is to the point where she actually wants to go see him. About a year ago the Dr. walked into the examining room fully expecting to have her start screaming at him instead she said "Hi, Dr. Bob." He looked at me and said I'm in the wrong room. Hang on," and turned around. Then he told me he almost had a heartattack when she said that. She went from being he second most unhappy patient (he said there was one who would scream louder than she did) to being thrilled to see him. I think today I will take her to play in the new fountains in downtown. The kids love them.

Busy busy day.

Today has been a fun but tiring day. After a fun soccer game where my son found an ant to be far more interesting than the soccer ball headed straight for the goal (he was goalie at the time) we headed over to the Madison Street Festival for his karate demo. The demo went well and the kids had fun. We saw several people we know as we walked around. It really gives you a strong sense of your community. It came complete with the trains barrelling through the the middle of everything at top speed. We were inside one of the restaurants and the building shook harder than my house does when one goes by. Yes they really do set this thing up with the train track. Usually the trains don't run on Saturday, but they did today.

I also went and got a flu shot today. I was able to get one by the skin of my teeth. I got there late and realized I had to go the ATM to get some more money. It was down for "service." I wound up going back in the store and buying something so I could get cash back. When I finally got back in to the area where they were giving out the shots they were packing up because they were out. The lady taking the forms and money asked them to double check the vials. One of the nurses started looking through them and found enough left for two more shots. Whew. So I got my flu shot. I was so thankful because last year I didn't get it this early and wound up with a severe case of bronchitis all while I was at Disney World. BTW for anyone who wonders: yes, I have asthma and qualify to receive it now. They are supposed to be very strict about who they are giving them to right now. Well that's my Saturday so far. I plan to spend the rest of the evening vegging out. Maybe I'll watch Robots.