New truck?!

Today, Mike took my car in for its scheduled maintenance, and they charged him for it! And I guess he forgot it was covered, so he wrote them a check....guess he'll have to swing by there Monday afternoon and demand my money back...Oh, and he also got a new truck. That was a suprise....he's been talking about trading in his truck for a year, but I guess I didn't think he'd ever get around to it! He got some sort of discount through his work, so we're only paying like 15 dollars a month more for this one than the last one. It's nice, I guess. It's another F-150, only it's black and it's their sport model. So anyway, he was up there all day, so I didn't get to get my washer today. Guess we'll have to do it tomorrow...which should be fun since we've already promised the kids we'd go see Finding Nemo...

I didn't break it on purpose, promise!

Well, it looks like our washer finally broke(yay!), so now I'm shopping for a new(!) one. I'm looking at one right now that's in my price range...it's got 12 wash cycles (10 of which I won't use), 3 wash/spin speed options (2 of which I won't use), 3 water levels (two of which I won't use), a 20 year warranty (for which I'll immediately lose the reciept)...and it has a BLEACH DISPENSER! I think I'll get it. I've always wanted a bleach dispenser..

I have a stack of bills sitting on my desk that need to be sent...I really need to get some stamps...some of these are from last week...and I'm about to write some more...huh.

Running Around --or-- Wasted Trips

Ok. I promise I haven't been ignoring this site on purpose! I really did have plans to publish yesterday, but I spent all evening trying to confirm reservations for the island. Ugh. The stupid site wasn't cooperating, either. And it's giving me the runaround again today, too. It's been a b-- trying to get this done! They were supposed to call me today and I was going to confirm over the phone, but that didn't happen...I guess I'll tell you about the weekend, then!
Saturday, we went to Sears to use Mike's gift card, but they didn't have what he wanted, so it was a wasted trip. So we went to Mrs. Baird's to buy bread, which was $1.65. Well, last I looked, it was $1.20 at Wal*Mart, and we were going there anyway to get dog food, so I didn't buy any. Another wasted trip. So I got to Wal*Mart, and bread had jumped to $1.88. Argh! Had to buy some though, so we did.
Saturday night I went to bed at 10:30. Mike got up with the kids, and I ended up sleeping till 1:30. In the afternoon. I was so stiff when I got up! We decided Sunday that we'd go back to Sears and use the gift card towards a tent. Since their tent sale ended Tuesday, we had to go Monday. We got there, bought a tent (a nice one too, seven feet high in the center. Mike can stand up in it!), and decided that since we'd already eaten both loaves of bread, we'd stop by Mrs. Bairds and buy more. And after that we went ahead and went to Wal*Mart and did grocery shopping since I usually do that on Mondays anyway. It was a repeat performance, only without the wasted trips!

Well, I must wrap this up, as I don't want to miss any more of the hockey game...for the next two weeks, I am a (temporary) devout Devils fan...

Tired!

Wow. I've missed three days. I guess not much has been happening lately! Plus the fact that I've just been exuasted this week. I've fallen asleep as soon as I've gotten home every day this past week. I'm sure glad that it's a three day weekend!

I was looking through my fridge to find something to eat and I discovered that half of the stuff in there is frozen. Turns out that the temperature setting ws on 9. Go figure. And I'm sure thet neither of my dear children know anything about it...

Hmmm....I guess really not much is going on now....we'll see what tomorrow brings!

Balance?! What Balance?

sorry I've missed a couple of days...I've been a little lazy! I took Brandon back to the doctor today for his follow up appt. and she says he's all better. Good! When I went to check out, the lady said I was carrying a balance from 2001. Huh? and I'm just now hearing about it? She says, well, it's from a well-baby visit, and your insurance doesn't cover well-baby checkups.

Yes, I know, that's why they send me bills, and that's why I pay them.

Well, I guess you didn't pay this one.

The last statement I got said I owe 10.73. I paid it off.

Well, you have a balance of 127.54, can you pay it today?

No way! I'll call the insurance company and see what's going on.

But your insurance doesn't cover well-baby visits.

Yes, I realise this. I want to call them and find out if we've already paid it.

Well, this balance is so old that they would have turned it into a collection agency.

Well, gosh, don't you think if they had turned it in to a collection agency, someone would have tried to collect on it??

You're going to have to pay this.

yeah-not until I make some phone calls! Here's my $15 copay.



This seems like it could be a fun, fun few days...I feel like May is never gonna be over. This month is dragging on and on and on....

45 more days till vacation!

Clean Your Room!

Well, it's Saturday, which means I'm going through the usual Saturday morning ritual of trying to get Autumn to clean her room. Brandon's room was messier that hers, but he's been done for 30 minutes. She's still cleaning. Now she's mad because Brandon gets to play with Play-Doh, while she still has to clean. Yippee. I don't know why I bother, because she'll have it trashed by this afternoon.

We were supposed to go out this afternoon (yup, still trying to do the Mother's Day thing), but it appears that once again no one can watch the kids...

Dead Bunnies!!

I suppose if it wasn't cloudy where you were, you got to see the eclipse...we didn't! I've just realized I didn't pay the water bill yesterday...oops. Hopefully I'll be able to leave 5 minutes early...maybe if I get it in before they open, it'll still be on time...

Had a nice little suprise on my doorstep yesterday...I guess the kitty was feeling particulary vicious, cuz she had bunny for dinner. Which wouldn't have been a big deal if she hadn't left the head on my doorstep. Thanks, VJ. I've no idea how that lazy cat caught a rabbit to begin with.

It's lightninging out, so Missy's freaking out. It's not the thunder that scares her, like normal dogs- it's the lightning. Wierd. I guess it's gonna rain more today...

Autumn had her pre-k graduation yesterday. She also got an award because she was the only one who knew all her numbers to 100, all her blends, and could read. She'll do just fine in kindergarten...

Old wives' tales

Ok, you know that look I get when I'm trying to be patient, but I'm about to lose it? You know the one. Someone's talking to me, and my eyebrows go up, and my arms are crossed, and I'm usually nodding really slowly...If you would like to not be on the recieving end of this look, I've a bit of advice.

PLEASE DO NOT FEED ME OLD WIVE'S TALES!

That's right! I do not wish to "feed a fever, starve a cold" or any number of equally inane things. I'm continually amazed by the number of grown, well-educated people who believe in this stuff. And, trust me, having a sick child draws these suggestions like flies. I refuse to take medical advice that originated from a time where people were old at thirty, and died at fifty. Shouldn't that tell you something? Ok, chicken soup. Good for colds..but believe it or not, chicken soup has no mystical properties! Chicken soup is like 90% broth. Warm, clear liquids (like chicken broth, or tea, or even hot water) help loosen congestion and increase blood flow to the throat, which helps heal sore throats. And while we're at it, just because the Chinese people do something, doesn't mean it's some all-powerful remedy. I have great respect for the Chinese culture-they've been around a lot longer than us, after all-but I refuse to ingest 500 milligrams of shark cartilidge every morning. It's not gonna cure my knees. I also don't believe in feng shui or whetever the heck it's called. My bedroom is arranged the way I like it and it's staying that way! And, though I like the way citrus smells, it doesn't energize me. Lavender doesn't relax me. And magnetic bracelets are silly. And I don't believe in voodoo, or karma, or acupuncture...

ER is not fun!

Golly, we had a fun night last night...Brandon's fever ended up spiking to 104.6, so we took him to the ER, where we waited, and waited, and waited.....By the time we got back, his fever had come way down. In retrospect, we should have just waited and gone to his doctor this morning...Turns out he had a viral infection in his throat, and they thought he probably had a bacterial infection, too, since his fever had gone so high. So they gave him a booster of the antibiotics he was already on from the pneumonia, and said to keep him home today and give him tylenol and motrin every 3-4 hours for two days. Fun. And if his fever comes back I'm to take him to Dr Joslin. Man we see a lot of her! Good thing Brandon likes her...

Autumn claims she's going to bring home "thousands of hundreds" of tadpoles from Nana's house today-she took a jar and a net, so she's probably not lying. Guess the fish will have plenty to eat...

Barf! Gross!

You see? This is what I get for saying my kids are better...Brandon ended up coming home sick. I think he's got the virus thingy that everyone else up there had...they sent home two kids in his class yesterday, so I guess is was just a matter of time...hope I don't get it too! Oh, wait, I forgot...I don't get sick! Geez, I'm gonna be poor come payday...

Asleep at the tube

wow...I got up on time again today! It's a good thing too, because I fell asleep in the chair last night, so lunches weren't packed, and the shirt that Autumn's supposed to wear in her program today was still in the washing machine...
It finally rained this morning! Yay! Maybe it won't be so humid now...right...

Anaheim won last night...I caught that right before I went to bed...You know, the Eastern Conference has its #1 and #2 seed left- Ottawa and Jersey. But over here in the Western Conference, we've got the sixth and seventh seeds. Huh.

I heard from Brent the other day. Said he was gardening. Wierd. Oh, and I heard from Erin, too. She said she's finally graduating. As she says, " Six years and 270 credits later, I'll finally
have a degree..." Good show, Erin!

yippee...Monday again... At least my kids both seem to be feeling better, so maybe I'll be able to work a full week. I actually got up on time today too...even though I really didn't want to! Autumn's end of year program is tomorrow, and Brandon's is Wednesday. They're both during the day, though, so Mike can't come. They never set the date early enough for him to have time to remember to ask off...I can't believe it's summer already! The kids don't have to wear uniforms after Memorial Day, so I really need to get Brandon some new shorts. He's only got two pairs of good shorts

There seems to be mud all over my kitchen floor...I just can't imagine...couldn't be from muddy kids or muddy shoes or muddy dogs...



54 more days till vacation!

Happy Mom's Day

To all you moms- Happy Mother's Day! We were supposed to go out this weekend, but with everyone being sick we couldn't. Autumn came down with some sort of virus yesterday afternoon, so it's been a fun weekend. We decided to postpone going out till next weekend, either Saturday night or Sunday afternoon depending on if Mike has to work Saturday.

We bought Monsters, Inc. for the kids yesterday. I like that movie. But the best part is on the second disc. I don't know if any of you have seen the animated short "For the Birds," but I tell you what, that's worth the fifteen bucks right there. Man is it ever funny! The first time I saw it was at my mom's house and I couldn't stop laughing for a good twenty minutes. It's hilarious...

I got the second pond installed today, so now I really need to talk to my dad about running electricity out there...I've only got one hole to plug into right now, which is a problem since I have two pumps that need plugging in...

Hmmm...Minnesota?

huh. Minnesota won last night...which means they get Anaheim next. You know, as much as I'd really like to see Anaheim get their butts kicked, having Minnesota do it is like, well, asking your baby brother to beat up the school bully for you. It's quite the conundrum...either an inferior team can beat Anaheim for us, or Anaheim can go on to win....there's less shame in losing to the eventual winner, you see.

Brandon is feeling better, so we're going to go back to school/work today to see how he does-he sure didn't want to get up this morning, though! Oh well, at least tomorrow's Saturday...I think Mike and I are going to go out Saturday for Mother's Day...i feel bad about asking my mom to watch the kids on Sunday! Gonna have to cut this short as it's nearly time to go...

Good Dog!

you know, I may just have to change my Cup predictions...I think Minnesota may just have what it takes after all...
Puppy class started last night. The first class was dogless, she just talked about what we would learn and gave us "homework" as she won't be there next week. So I came home and worked with Zephyr...he aleady knew sit, but she taught us something called a "finish" where the dog comes to sit on your left side, and she told us to get the dog to learn "watch" so he'd pay attention, and "wait". Well, dang, Zephyr learned all that in 20 minutes, so I went ahead and taught him "down, " too...the real question is whether he'll do it with all the other people and dogs around--fat chance! I just got finished making me grocery list for next week, and there's no food on it. Wierd. Well, no, lettuce is on there...and cheese...huh.

It looks like rain outside...of course, it is May in Texas, which means pretty much every day looks like rain...

Bye-Bye Stars

I sold all my Stars players from my fantasy team today...wow, that was depressing...I couldn't bring myslef to buy J-S G, but I did buy Mike Leclerc. I'm betting heavily on Jersey, so they'd better come through for me...

We got all of Brandon's medicines from Eckerd's last night. There were 5 different medications for him, poor guy...this one once a day, this one twice a day, this one every 4 hours, this one at bedtime...it's a lot. But he seemd to be feeling a little better today...Doggie school starts today, but I can't remember what time. It doesn't say on the paper anywhere...I think it's at 7:00, but I can't get ahold of Petco to find out...guess I'll go at 7:00 and hope for the best!

Pnemounia!

Well, we just got back from the doctor's office, and it turns out Brandon has pnemounia. Again. Not as bad as last time, though; he doesn't have to go to the hospital this time. He does have to stay home for a few days. Thank goodnes we caught it early this time! We have about fifty new meds, though. Seems to me that we're in for a fun week. Yippee...

Anaheim Bites!

I hate Anaheim. I really do. Stupid, stupid Anaheim! ...nothing personal against those of you who live in California, of course. Geez. I will spend today wallowing in my own personal misery. The Stars’ season is over. Over! Golfing and boating it is for them till September. I even stayed up till the game was over last night. They should have won it. They would have, too, if not for the god-awful two minutes in the second...Oh well, what’s done is done. I say Jersey over Vancouver in 6 ......Turco for Vezina!!

Brandon is sick again. I left work at 8:00 and brought him home. I’m waiting for the doctor to call back now. He’s had fever for two days and in congested and phlegmy ...I wonder if that’s how one spells that word? I don’t know ...Anyway, hopefully it’s just his allergies and nothing serious....

Happy Birthday!

You know, you'd think that there would be more time to do this on the weekends, but it seems that the weekends are when I don't do it...

The Stars won on Saturday, thank goodness, only two more to go....I wonder where that team was for four games, cuz they sure weren't playing....

Mike and I both took off Friday for his birthday and went to go see X2 and then went out to eat. The kids got to stay with Aunt Alison and Uncle Chris-or as Brandon calls him, "Cocoa Chris"...I also bought a bunch of plants for around the pond and (mostly) fixed the leak around the fountain...The Stars don't play tonight till 9:30, which means I'm gonna be up all night again...I guess I shouldn't complain, though...at least they're still in it! And the Mavs won last night, too, so maybe that's a good omen....

Hope and Pray

Geez. I hate Anaheim. I'll be amazed if the Stars manage to pull off this series. They could have done it if they had won last night, but they didn't....so now they have to win 3 straight...and to be quite honest, that would take a miracle. I would dearly love to be proved wrong, though! They've been playing like crap lately. I hope Tippett gives them a serious chewing out today...

Brandon's been hacking again lately, and I had to start giving him breathing treatments-I hape he doesn't get sick again, poor little guy! They're out there watching Maisy now. It's a such a dumb show, but they like it...I think it's boring! But then, I'm not 3, either...I'm being called for now-they see a spider and I need to come with the spider spanker (that's what Brandon calls the flyswatter)... I hate wolf spiders. This whole neighborhood gets a yearly infestation....huge, nasty hairy leggy things, they are....