Oscillo,
We love you. You have brought us past and through a great number of germy-ermy funks. Please continue to be kind to us. K-'s two-time exposure to Scarlet Fever this week has us a might concerned. You know, Easter is coming up. You couldn't really help us out at Christmas, since K- was down all Christmas Day with the stomach virus. If you could sail us past this one, it would be delightful. Please take care of that pesky sore throat she seems to have developed just as of Thursday evening.
Thank you for all of your faithful service to us over the years. To reward you, I just ordered 9 more boxes at the Vitamin Shoppe online. We're running low on stock. I thought that since we were cruising toward warm weather, we wouldn't be needing you as often anymore.
Please. Don't fail us now.
Customers forever,
Amy, Hubs and K-
Smiles in my day:
- My dad came through surgery fine!
- K-'s award ceremony. She was given a Kindergarten Achievement Award and a Perfect Attendance Award.
- The Easter Hat Parade was great fun for all of the kids. They went in and out of every classroom. They had so much fun. So often, the littles don't necessarily get to be the center of attention in the school. The bigger kids get to do all the stuff because they are bigger. The fact that the little kids got to go through the classes and the older ones enjoyed seeing all of them, I love it.
- Our principal.
- Walking to school with short sleeves on. I have to tell you, I felt almost naughty. I haven't had exposed arms outside since, well, fall sometime. It was so freeing!
Here's to hoping that all of you have a fantastic Easter. I hope that each and every one of you are able to enjoy family and are able to reflect on this most holy holiday.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Good things and blessings
First, we got K-'s report card today. I'm pleased that she scored straight +'s (the Kindergarten equivalent to straight A's.) It made our hearts happy to know that though she had a spot of wiggle-wormedness, she seems to be back on track with focus and is doing well. Today she has an awards assembly and she gets a certificate for perfect attendance last grading period. She may be getting a Kindergarten Achievement Award, but I'm not certain. Still, we are so proud of her!
We gave her the good report card prizes that we picked up. I found a little Cinderella snow globe for her. Once we confirmed the straight +'s, I picked up some Japanese erasers that I had set aside for her at work. (An eraser bag with the giraffe, panda, vanilla ice cream cone and the banana.) I figured that it is a neat little treat (cheap) that she can collect. When I was a kid, I know that I would have completely dug the Japanese erasers.
Billy is dealing with some stress from several different angles, but he is holding together beautifully. Truly, not generally his strong suit, but it is amazing how well he can handle life when he isn't all strung out on drugs. He has a new appreciation for things. He is really trying to make things right and to pay up debts. He has made himself very available to his children despite the circumstances that exist with the protection order.
I spoke with Dumpy, my other brother, today. He is sad that he won't be there for my dad's hernia surgery tomorrow, but I explained that LeAnne is out of town, Billy is working and so is he. I told him that I'll be there. I reminded him that it is our 3rd hernia surgery, so I'll give him a call when everything is done.
It has been nice and steady this week at work between restocking shelves with new merchandise and with holiday shoppers. It will probably be a little more quiet next week, but we'll take the little increase in traffic. It is nice!
Smiles in my day:
- Something fun that I found. Write your name in Chinese. How much fun is that?
- K-'s Easter hat parade. She's so excited to wear that hat that I made for her.
- The Storm Chaser DVD's came in. We're excited to be able to watch all three seasons. So sad that they aren't chasing anymore. We did get a great tornado machine from the Discovery Store online, too. So much fun!
Have a great day!
ETA--
My dad came through surgery well. Since the hernia was involving the stomach cavity, they absolutely insisted that he not be awake at all for the surgery. He has been under anesthetic twice before with very bad results. The first time, he went into cardiac arrhythmia and had to be shocked back. The second time he became violent and pulled all his lines out. With his track record, he feared a repeat performance of one or the other. I'm pleased to say that with his history, they gave him a bit more anesthesia to keep him in a little deeper sleep and it worked. The surgery was a success and he was eating graham crackers and drinking ginger ale when I left.
Thank you so much for your prayers and concerns!
We gave her the good report card prizes that we picked up. I found a little Cinderella snow globe for her. Once we confirmed the straight +'s, I picked up some Japanese erasers that I had set aside for her at work. (An eraser bag with the giraffe, panda, vanilla ice cream cone and the banana.) I figured that it is a neat little treat (cheap) that she can collect. When I was a kid, I know that I would have completely dug the Japanese erasers.
Billy is dealing with some stress from several different angles, but he is holding together beautifully. Truly, not generally his strong suit, but it is amazing how well he can handle life when he isn't all strung out on drugs. He has a new appreciation for things. He is really trying to make things right and to pay up debts. He has made himself very available to his children despite the circumstances that exist with the protection order.
I spoke with Dumpy, my other brother, today. He is sad that he won't be there for my dad's hernia surgery tomorrow, but I explained that LeAnne is out of town, Billy is working and so is he. I told him that I'll be there. I reminded him that it is our 3rd hernia surgery, so I'll give him a call when everything is done.
It has been nice and steady this week at work between restocking shelves with new merchandise and with holiday shoppers. It will probably be a little more quiet next week, but we'll take the little increase in traffic. It is nice!
Smiles in my day:
- Something fun that I found. Write your name in Chinese. How much fun is that?
- K-'s Easter hat parade. She's so excited to wear that hat that I made for her.
- The Storm Chaser DVD's came in. We're excited to be able to watch all three seasons. So sad that they aren't chasing anymore. We did get a great tornado machine from the Discovery Store online, too. So much fun!
Have a great day!
ETA--
My dad came through surgery well. Since the hernia was involving the stomach cavity, they absolutely insisted that he not be awake at all for the surgery. He has been under anesthetic twice before with very bad results. The first time, he went into cardiac arrhythmia and had to be shocked back. The second time he became violent and pulled all his lines out. With his track record, he feared a repeat performance of one or the other. I'm pleased to say that with his history, they gave him a bit more anesthesia to keep him in a little deeper sleep and it worked. The surgery was a success and he was eating graham crackers and drinking ginger ale when I left.
Thank you so much for your prayers and concerns!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Works for Me Wednesday: Reminder stickers on my cell phone
We use round orange stickers all the time at work to mark the outsides of packages that we wrap. That is so that folks know what is on the inside. When multiple items are being wrapped, folks can forget.
I use the orange stickers, no bigger than a nickel, to remind myself of important things. I will stick them straight to the face of my cell and remove them when the task has been accomplished.
I'm horrible at losing little pieces of paper. Usually, I write notes on them, stick them in my back pocket and only remember them after I'm removing bits from the washer. I also write on the palm of my left hand. I know that it is childish, but the likelihood that I will lose my hand is very small in comparison to that little slip of paper.
Orange reminder stickers work for me! They are removable, so they don't leave any type of mark. I have an LG Neon and there is more than enough room to put two stickers on the top front and not obstruct the view, touch pad or voice output area. Yes, I do have a calendar, but the orange stickers call attention to things that I absolutely should not forget!
Works for me!
Smiles in my day:
- Work to keep me busy throughout the day.
- K- continues to improve so much on her writing in preparation for the Kindergarten writing test. This evening, she was a bit strung out. She had fallen asleep on the way home, which put her in an awful ugly mood. She was floppy and crying and just as she was getting ready to get herself set to task, she stepped on the flippy thing on the vent. "I don't want to write! I'm just so sad!" I told her that she should write about being so sad. She did a great job! "I am soe sad. I got a boo boo. I got a papre kut. I do not like to be sad!" No one likes to be sad! (She got a paper cut at my mother-in-law's house.)
- K-'s picture with the Easter bunny (they took it at school last week at the Easter Bunny Breakfast) came out great!
Have a great day!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tales from the Trenches: My quoteable kid.
I only have a few K-ism's today, but if I don't get them down I will forget them.
"I need help inside outing these." - Turning her clothes right side out. (A laundry pet peeve of mine.)
"Mommy? I need you to get me the uncaughter." "I'm sorry. What is an 'uncaughter?'" "Mom, you know. It is a little white thing with stripes and it goes on like this [insert hands smoothing down her sides.]" - An undershirt. (I bought it to go under her Christmas dress because it had some itching stitching that was rubbing her raw on her sides.)
"My control dog." - Furr Real Pet.
"Clone Wars Festival." - A day at home with daddy that she gets to play with the vintage Star Wars toys from daddy's youth.
"My one only." - Her one piece of candy that she may have per day. It started with the Halloween candy. I allowed her to choose 30 pieces of candy, then the rest I took to work. Don't worry. I traded her up for good stuff. That is how the "one only" got started. Then we had Christmas goodies and Valentine's goodies. Just about the time that the one only bowl gets to the bottom, another candy giving occasion comes up.
"Pork chops." - Chop sticks.
A discovery:
I am very good at keeping control of Christmas purchases for K-. We go with a theme and keep within a fairly strict budget. I always plan to do that with Easter. I filled K-'s Easter basket last night and while it is filled and good (and not overfilled), I scratched my head at the little things that I pick up. A little thing here and a little thing there. Darn. Those add up.
A request:
Hello, Emily! See, I didn't forget you! Was your favorite part of the day inhaling paint fumes with an undertone of fresh freesia, gluing paper dots on top of hard-to-reach staples, museum day, the lady with the eraser dice, onion breath, customers talking like babies and farm animals or the last minute folks who did not want to leave? Oh, it must have been working with me, discussing a variety of hygienic issues and nail sizes! Thanks for being my babysitter! I remembered it! Addictive! Julia taught me the rule about addictive! I knew that I would remember! (Things aren't addicting, they are addictive.)
Smiles in my day:
- The migratory birds coming through, which gives us different songs to hear than what we are used to. Today we had song sparrows and a tufted titmouse singing to us as we walked. The end of last week we had red winged blackbirds. Hubs heard the loon yesterday. "A once in a lifetime experience" here is how he described it. Delightful!
- K- got up, was rolling along and happily out the door. We didn't have to beg her to do anything this morning!
- The seedlings need transplanted. They reached the roof of the little garden window greenhouse.
- Leftovers for dinner.
- Our first hard core school project to do together. The class will be doing a section on timelines and we are to make a timeline with K- from birth til now. We'll be working on that over spring break. The disks of pictures that I have! We'll have a lot of fun doing it. It isn't due until April 15, so we're good to work on it for a while.
Have a great day!
"I need help inside outing these." - Turning her clothes right side out. (A laundry pet peeve of mine.)
"Mommy? I need you to get me the uncaughter." "I'm sorry. What is an 'uncaughter?'" "Mom, you know. It is a little white thing with stripes and it goes on like this [insert hands smoothing down her sides.]" - An undershirt. (I bought it to go under her Christmas dress because it had some itching stitching that was rubbing her raw on her sides.)
"My control dog." - Furr Real Pet.
"Clone Wars Festival." - A day at home with daddy that she gets to play with the vintage Star Wars toys from daddy's youth.
"My one only." - Her one piece of candy that she may have per day. It started with the Halloween candy. I allowed her to choose 30 pieces of candy, then the rest I took to work. Don't worry. I traded her up for good stuff. That is how the "one only" got started. Then we had Christmas goodies and Valentine's goodies. Just about the time that the one only bowl gets to the bottom, another candy giving occasion comes up.
"Pork chops." - Chop sticks.
A discovery:
I am very good at keeping control of Christmas purchases for K-. We go with a theme and keep within a fairly strict budget. I always plan to do that with Easter. I filled K-'s Easter basket last night and while it is filled and good (and not overfilled), I scratched my head at the little things that I pick up. A little thing here and a little thing there. Darn. Those add up.
A request:
Hello, Emily! See, I didn't forget you! Was your favorite part of the day inhaling paint fumes with an undertone of fresh freesia, gluing paper dots on top of hard-to-reach staples, museum day, the lady with the eraser dice, onion breath, customers talking like babies and farm animals or the last minute folks who did not want to leave? Oh, it must have been working with me, discussing a variety of hygienic issues and nail sizes! Thanks for being my babysitter! I remembered it! Addictive! Julia taught me the rule about addictive! I knew that I would remember! (Things aren't addicting, they are addictive.)
Smiles in my day:
- The migratory birds coming through, which gives us different songs to hear than what we are used to. Today we had song sparrows and a tufted titmouse singing to us as we walked. The end of last week we had red winged blackbirds. Hubs heard the loon yesterday. "A once in a lifetime experience" here is how he described it. Delightful!
- K- got up, was rolling along and happily out the door. We didn't have to beg her to do anything this morning!
- The seedlings need transplanted. They reached the roof of the little garden window greenhouse.
- Leftovers for dinner.
- Our first hard core school project to do together. The class will be doing a section on timelines and we are to make a timeline with K- from birth til now. We'll be working on that over spring break. The disks of pictures that I have! We'll have a lot of fun doing it. It isn't due until April 15, so we're good to work on it for a while.
Have a great day!
Monday, March 29, 2010
A weekend full of a bunch of stuff that I didn't necessarily plan.
I'm sitting here munching on ginger snaps thinking of my weekend in review.
Thinking of it exhausts me.
I'll rewind slightly to say that I took my truck on Thursday to have Billy give it an alignment. The good news is that only the right side is out. The bad news is that we need two new front tires. My brother, Dumpy, has been telling me that since the truck was 6 months old, but this time I really did see significant wear on the tires. They ran the numbers to tell me how much the new tires and alignment would be. Since it was over the $100.00 limit we have for repairs/purchases without spousal consultation, I talked to them and said, "I need to check with my husband first." No use in aligning a vehicle that needs new tires anyhow. There was no charge, but since Billy had it up on a rack anyhow, he gave it a pull and tug to the driver's side. I thought I heard a clunk in the front end about a week ago. Turns out everything is good and everything is tight. Hooray. See what happens when you listen to your music loud and aren't used to how your car really sounds?
Friday we got internet so I posted. It was all good. I noticed that on the handy dandy calendar, we had a date for Lowe's in the AM. No problem.
We hit Lowe's at 10 AM. It was Kaleidoscope day and though it wasn't a hard project, it was tricky. All the bits had to go a certain way and whatnot. Ours worked out well, but folks all around us were putting theirs together wrong. Hooray!
We ran home for about a 45 minute break and took off to the Chuck E Cheese birthday party. K- had a great time. She was able to hang out with some class friends. She ended up with about 100 tickets, so she was able to walk away with some tiny little trinkets that she loved. An hour and 52 minutes was about my limit, though. We talked before we went in that I was buying nothing. We would use the tokens she was given (though I was armed just in case we didn't get any) and once they were gone, they were gone. When we left, she did get a great lenticular cup with a lid and a whistly straw and a balloon. The kid loves mylar balloons and cups with straws. (Hey, we try to be simple in our house!) Since it isn't California, mylar is still legal.
I got home to find out that my family was "working wood" next door and my mom had a big ole pot of soup on. I grabbed up a bag of coleslaw, a bag of lettuce (despite the article I read from a few weeks ago), made a quick dressing for the coleslaw and off we went. K- wanted to play with her cousins. My sister, her partner, his brother, my dad and Billy were all taking down a few trees for some elderly neighbors. I've never seen in person someone take a tree down, but they laid it down right where they wanted, missing all power lines, homes and structures nearby. My nephew hung out in my arms, playing gently with my necklace and enjoying my tracing the baby features on his face. We scadoo'd out and on to home in time for Hubs to return home from work.
I had plans to get into the studio, but by the time we got K- down to bed, I was yawning. "Yawning and going into the studio is just a recipe for disaster, isn't it?" my beloved husband asked. "Yes." I didn't go in.
This morning we got out to church. We ran home, got a quick lunch and off to swimming we went. My in-law's joined us, as they love to watch K- swim and to see what progress she is making. She did great! Her strokes are improving and she is doing a better job at floating. After swimming lessons, my in-law's took us to lunch. K- ate everything, except the pineapple, and was treated to a special little cup of vanilla ice cream for dessert. After lunch, we parted ways and I dashed over to Target for a few Easter egg fillers for K-. She gets candy from everyone else, so I don't generally put candy into her eggs or basket. I did pick up a multi pack of gum for her (sugar free) because she does enjoy the occasional piece of gum. I got Silly Putty, stackable crayons, punch balloons and some other things that I can't remember. I'm going to do an Easter basket trial run. I think everything will fit. We're going with a Ponyville theme this year, since I scored a bunch of Ponyville stuff off the Target clearance. I've thought of breaking the individual boxes of ponies down and depositing those in eggs, if needed. K- likes to save the pictures so that she knows "how to set it up." I don't know about that one yet.
Sorry. I was on a bit of a tangent.
Anyhow, we got home and Hubs decided to take K- birding. They were on the hunt for migratory water fowl. They saw a Greb, Sand Billed Piper (I think I have that one right, but might not) and saw and HEARD loons. Apparently, the birds don't call unless they are calling to mate and since we aren't Canada, it was amazing to hear the loons. Hubs was thrilled. He said that K- was very well behaved.
While Hubs and K- were out birding, I was able to work in the studio. I was able to foil 6 frames, which means that they are now ready to be soldered. On Friday, I have to bring in a body of work to show my boss. It isn't expected to be all encompassing, but she wants a general representation of what to expect. All work is due on April 16. I'll get these soldered, cleaned and standing (I won't necessarily fill them for Friday), and will consider that the half-way point of where I want to be for the final date of April 16.
They got in, we had dinner, K- and I worked on homework and here I sit. I'm pleased to say that K-'s compositional skills have improved immensely. Her handwriting has improved a lot, as well. For each 4 sentence paragraph they turn in to Mrs. H-, she gives them a "sweet treat." A nice incentive for them to ready themselves for the Kindergarten writing test.
Folks, I'm tired. With that, I'm shoving off. I need to deal with some laundry.
Smiles in my weekend:
- Sprinkled in above.
Thinking of it exhausts me.
I'll rewind slightly to say that I took my truck on Thursday to have Billy give it an alignment. The good news is that only the right side is out. The bad news is that we need two new front tires. My brother, Dumpy, has been telling me that since the truck was 6 months old, but this time I really did see significant wear on the tires. They ran the numbers to tell me how much the new tires and alignment would be. Since it was over the $100.00 limit we have for repairs/purchases without spousal consultation, I talked to them and said, "I need to check with my husband first." No use in aligning a vehicle that needs new tires anyhow. There was no charge, but since Billy had it up on a rack anyhow, he gave it a pull and tug to the driver's side. I thought I heard a clunk in the front end about a week ago. Turns out everything is good and everything is tight. Hooray. See what happens when you listen to your music loud and aren't used to how your car really sounds?
Friday we got internet so I posted. It was all good. I noticed that on the handy dandy calendar, we had a date for Lowe's in the AM. No problem.
We hit Lowe's at 10 AM. It was Kaleidoscope day and though it wasn't a hard project, it was tricky. All the bits had to go a certain way and whatnot. Ours worked out well, but folks all around us were putting theirs together wrong. Hooray!
We ran home for about a 45 minute break and took off to the Chuck E Cheese birthday party. K- had a great time. She was able to hang out with some class friends. She ended up with about 100 tickets, so she was able to walk away with some tiny little trinkets that she loved. An hour and 52 minutes was about my limit, though. We talked before we went in that I was buying nothing. We would use the tokens she was given (though I was armed just in case we didn't get any) and once they were gone, they were gone. When we left, she did get a great lenticular cup with a lid and a whistly straw and a balloon. The kid loves mylar balloons and cups with straws. (Hey, we try to be simple in our house!) Since it isn't California, mylar is still legal.
I got home to find out that my family was "working wood" next door and my mom had a big ole pot of soup on. I grabbed up a bag of coleslaw, a bag of lettuce (despite the article I read from a few weeks ago), made a quick dressing for the coleslaw and off we went. K- wanted to play with her cousins. My sister, her partner, his brother, my dad and Billy were all taking down a few trees for some elderly neighbors. I've never seen in person someone take a tree down, but they laid it down right where they wanted, missing all power lines, homes and structures nearby. My nephew hung out in my arms, playing gently with my necklace and enjoying my tracing the baby features on his face. We scadoo'd out and on to home in time for Hubs to return home from work.
I had plans to get into the studio, but by the time we got K- down to bed, I was yawning. "Yawning and going into the studio is just a recipe for disaster, isn't it?" my beloved husband asked. "Yes." I didn't go in.
This morning we got out to church. We ran home, got a quick lunch and off to swimming we went. My in-law's joined us, as they love to watch K- swim and to see what progress she is making. She did great! Her strokes are improving and she is doing a better job at floating. After swimming lessons, my in-law's took us to lunch. K- ate everything, except the pineapple, and was treated to a special little cup of vanilla ice cream for dessert. After lunch, we parted ways and I dashed over to Target for a few Easter egg fillers for K-. She gets candy from everyone else, so I don't generally put candy into her eggs or basket. I did pick up a multi pack of gum for her (sugar free) because she does enjoy the occasional piece of gum. I got Silly Putty, stackable crayons, punch balloons and some other things that I can't remember. I'm going to do an Easter basket trial run. I think everything will fit. We're going with a Ponyville theme this year, since I scored a bunch of Ponyville stuff off the Target clearance. I've thought of breaking the individual boxes of ponies down and depositing those in eggs, if needed. K- likes to save the pictures so that she knows "how to set it up." I don't know about that one yet.
Sorry. I was on a bit of a tangent.
Anyhow, we got home and Hubs decided to take K- birding. They were on the hunt for migratory water fowl. They saw a Greb, Sand Billed Piper (I think I have that one right, but might not) and saw and HEARD loons. Apparently, the birds don't call unless they are calling to mate and since we aren't Canada, it was amazing to hear the loons. Hubs was thrilled. He said that K- was very well behaved.
While Hubs and K- were out birding, I was able to work in the studio. I was able to foil 6 frames, which means that they are now ready to be soldered. On Friday, I have to bring in a body of work to show my boss. It isn't expected to be all encompassing, but she wants a general representation of what to expect. All work is due on April 16. I'll get these soldered, cleaned and standing (I won't necessarily fill them for Friday), and will consider that the half-way point of where I want to be for the final date of April 16.
They got in, we had dinner, K- and I worked on homework and here I sit. I'm pleased to say that K-'s compositional skills have improved immensely. Her handwriting has improved a lot, as well. For each 4 sentence paragraph they turn in to Mrs. H-, she gives them a "sweet treat." A nice incentive for them to ready themselves for the Kindergarten writing test.
Folks, I'm tired. With that, I'm shoving off. I need to deal with some laundry.
Smiles in my weekend:
- Sprinkled in above.
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