Revolutionary Road

A Review, by JD from Scrubs:

J.D.: Hey I'm glad I found you. I need your approval to cut down some lollipop trees outside the sea monkey hut.
Denise: What are you talking about?
J.D.: These decisions have to go through you because you're the mayor of crazy town.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Happy 5th Anniversary my love!  I love you more today than yesterday, than last week, than last month, than when we got married.

Dear Obnoxious Young People

1. Swearing does not make you sound cooler.  It makes you sound ignorant and crude.   F*** is not the only word in the English language.  Buy a thesaurus.

2. Even if you think you'll *never* use this stuff again, you do not have the right to sit in the back and talk about your silly little dramas.

3. As hard as it may be to believe, you are not the smartest, best-looking, or funniest person on the planet.  This does not make you a bad person, it just doesn't make you as special as your parents and teachers have deluded you into believing you are.

4. You are making the rest of your generation look ignorant, crude and self-deluded.  For their sake (and mine), grow a clue.

Ice Scream

This guy made me laugh so hard I cried.  You can stop watching after the ice cream part.

Class Craziness

So here I was, harboring this delusion that I'd only have to have T in preschool the 2.5 days a week I am actually in class.  Heh.  Heh. Heheheheheheheh.  It's been a really long time since I took math and science courses and the homework load is heavy.  So far, it's not difficult, but there is a crapload of it.  

Since T was out of school yesterday, I didn't get the approx 2 hours of study/homework time that his schedule usually allows me.  Therefore, I am doing Algebra during his nighttime ritual.  My chemistry prof (who I think I'm going to like) not only gives a lot of homework, but also wants us to re-write the question, answer the question, and then justify the answer.  Example:  How many significant digits in the number 0.0020? Answer: 2 Justification:  All non-zero digits are significant, and zero digits following a non-zero digit on the right of the decimal point are significant.  Yeesh.

The students in my class are mostly really young and mostly really clueless.  I'll devote a whole different post to that one.  My professors range from old and delightfully quirky to old and humorless.  Kitty dissection is going better now that we know how to find the muscle definitions and how hard we have to push to create holes.  Poor Fluffy is starting to look a little like roadkill though.  

Long Face, Scrunchy Face

My new favorite game that Ry and T play lately is called Long Face, Scrunchy Face.  It's pretty self-explanatory really, they make long faces and scrunchy faces at each other.

Evarbodee PANIC!

There are two inches of snow on the ground.  Must close all schools! (Except for mine, of course).

Well that was different

I had my first lab for the second half of A&P today.  While I knew that we were going to be dissecting this semester, I have to admit to being a bit unprepared when our Prof started handing out skinned cats 15 minutes into class.  Our cat, Fluffy, is pretty average, for a dead, skinned cat.  His fur (what's left of it) is gingery.  In more proof that I'm just a 12 year old at heart, I giggled while our instructor showed us the "Cat Parts" bucket at the front of the class.  Its use is as you might imagine.  Also at the front was another bucket with funnel labeled "Cat Juice."   

Like last semester, I'm afraid I'll have to do a lot of self teaching, since our prof ran through the muscles we learned today and said "go."  She was somewhat less than helpful with actually identifying the muscles we were looking for.  I guess she figured we should know what we're doing, since we all have so much experience with, you know, dismembering dead cats.  I thought the whole 'working on fluffy' thing would bother me more than it did.  Really, once we got going, it was more about identifying the muscles than anything.  It's going to be an interesting semester.

Grrr, preschool

Today I got T up and breakfasted. Ry and I bundled him into the car, with promises of Miss NewTeacher and New Friends.  We arrived at his preschool only to find it closed for MLK day.  Really?  What happens to people with real (read, not government) jobs?  Are they just screwed?  And why didn't I get notification that they were going to be closed?  Should I have expected them to be closed on MLK day?  Most of the schools we visited said they were only closed on the major holidays (Christmas, July 4, New Years, etc.). I just assumed this one would be the same.  Lucky for us, school doesn't start for me until tomorrow and Ry was off work today.  Guaranteed I'm getting a list of all closings for the rest of the year tomorrow.

Mom: The Coming

My mom is here for a visit for 10 days, so posting will probably be light for the duration.  So far we've had a nice time and T has been reacquainting himself with her.  Yesterday, whenever she left the room, he'd follow her and sadly call "Neena ..." until she reappeared.  It's interesting to me that everyone plays with him in a different way.  Here I am, thinking I've exhausted every type of play imaginable, and she comes along with new, exciting (!) things to do.  Also, she's volunteered to alter my bridesmaid dress and save me mucho moola.  

Coming up this week:

~ T begins his second week of school.

~ I start school on Tuesday.

~ Still looking for a job.  Starting to get a bit desperate and widening my circle of possibilities.

~ Grandpa G arrives Thursday.  He and Ry will brainstorm how to build a pantry in the basement.

Heh

http://www.iheartguts.com/recall/

Best Scrubs Ever

Today while I was working out, I realized our DVR recorded my all time favorite Scrubs episode; the musical.  This my favorite scene.  A little musical love, from me to you ....

Ruthless Purging

We are in the process of converting the office into T's "big boy" room.  The process is not without pain.   The office became our "I don't know what to do with it, so throw it in the office" room.  As such, we had an entire season of shoes, random toys, books and baby paraphernalia, a desktop full of long-neglected filing and a closet full of who-knows-what.  As we move out our junk to make room for the dresser and twin-sized bed, I've been doing some ruthless purging.  Books I haven't read in +2 years?  Into the donation pile.  Shoes I haven't worn in over a year?  Good-will box.  Random paper, cards, bags, broken toys?  Into the trash with you!  It is very freeing to get rid of the unneeded detritous of our lives.  Having a family is keeping us honest.  This is a small house and I refuse to turn into one of those poor people on Dr. Phil who have houses stacked to the ceiling with crap they couldn't possibly use.  Ahh, I feel better.

Tell It T!

The Indy Children's Museum was a blast, although pretty crowded.  I'm always a little disappointed in children's museums because I remember them being more sciencey when I was a kid.  They had the giant brain and heart you could walk through, the machine that made your hair stand on end, the big sound tube where you could talk to each other across the room.  You know, science concepts in a fun kid way.  The Indy Museum certainly had some science content, but there was some stuff that was just building stuff or playing with hula hoops.

Anyhow, the above picture was taken at a "real life" exhibit.  This, obviously, is a mini pulpit.  He looks good up there, don't you think?  Maybe he'll be a pastor.

The verdict is in

I think Miss Newteacher is going to be just fine.  I stopped back in around naptime only to find T sound asleep.  He had a good morning.  Apparently, Miss Newteacher has a "clean up" song that T dug. He was pretty cranky when we got home from school, but I think he was wiped out from the day.  Tomorrow we begin anew.

In which my expectations are violated

This morning I took T in for his first day of school.  I was really looking forward to said first day, since he had been to the school several times, really liked his teacher and would give me a chance to work on some things around the house (namely, converting the office into his "big boy" room).  Anyhow, the morning went smoothly, and we got loaded into the car with lunch, diapers, wipes, sheet, blanket, flat giraffe and an extra set of clothes.  We walked in, said a cheery hello to the director, and headed in to the classroom.  The director guided us into ... a class I'd never been in.  "Oh," she said, "The owners decided to split the classroom into 2 rooms since the kids are such widely varying ages" (18 months - 3 years). "T is going to be with Miss Newteacher instead of Miss Weloveyouteacher."  And away she went.

'Scuse me?  A phone call would've been nice.  Miss Newteacher might be wonderful, but I don't know Miss Newteacher.  I've never met Miss Newteacher. I don't know anything about Miss Newteacher.  OK, I thought, let's see how this plays out.  We walk in and meet Miss Newteacher.  She apologizes for the lack of communication and proceeds to tell me about her background.  OK, she used to run an in-home childcare center and she has a background in early childhood education. Check.  Cheerful and good with T. Check.  Kids of her own who now attend at T's new school. Check.  Will be working with Miss Weloveyouteacher and combining the classes a couple times a day. Check.  So I decide to make lemonade.  I spent about 45 minutes with her, getting used to her and getting to know her.  I told her about T and anything acidic (poor, poor baby bum).  I told her about Flat Giraffe and naptime.  And then I told my baby bye bye.  As per usual, I got "bye bye", a kiss, and then a dismissal signaled by his attention to the toy nearest his gaze.  

Then I found the director.  "I'm so sorry," she said.  "This was a complete oversight on my part. I really thought I had notified all the parents of the change."  I told her in no uncertain terms that I was unhappy to not be notified of the change before I walked in this morning.  However, I would see how it went.  I did choose this school, after all, because I liked the teachers (most of whom I had met before) and the policies, screening procedures and safety of the place.  After a little more discussion, I felt pretty mollified.  I'm going to pop in around naptime to see how it goes (and because I forgot to tell the teacher that he likes to have the blanket on his, but not over his feet).  The director also told me to consider this week a gift from them as an apology and a chance to make it up to me. "I won't take your money until I'm sure that you're satisfied," she said.

The jury is out.

A: Saints, Martyrs or Liars

Q: What are women who never put their toddlers in front of the teevee?

Burn After Reading - 2 Reviews

From Hubby:

I kept waiting for the point, and then they rolled the credits.

From Me:

Dumb people getting dumber.

Caffeine Free, Me

Sometimes when Ry makes coffee I have a strange reaction to it.  My ears start itching, I get jittery and my face feels tingly. I switched his coffee and it got better, so I thought, problem solved.  Then the reaction came back.  It seemed to be better when I didn't use the liquid creamer stuff, so I thought I was just having a reaction to that.  Then I got a Starbucks coffee the other day when I was out with a friend.  I only put milk and sweetener in it, but still, 30 minutes later I started feeling all strange.  I've also started noticing that if I have caffeine soda with dinner I have a hard time falling asleep at night. The only conclusion I can draw is that my body is handling caffeine less and less well as I get older.  There are enough caffeine free options out there that I think I'm just going to cut caffeine from my diet (well, except from chocolate, of course).

Better day

We definitely had a better, no time out day yesterday.  We went out a met a friend to play and have lunch.  I think it makes a huge difference with him to have an activity outside the house.  He gets stir crazy and I lose patience when we're in the house all day.  I've been trying to work on the distraction tactic and it's mostly working well.  T can be awfully single-minded when he wants to.

A cry for help

My dad tells me that not even I was as stubborn as my son.  Most days we flit through activities with a few stern "no"s and a handful of mommy looks.  Then there are the time out days. And then, there are days like today.  Today I discovered that timeout is really code for "lay on the couch and giggle every time mom looks my way."  This infuriates me.  After the 5th time telling T to stop getting into my bag, I decided to try something my sister hated, putting him in a corner.  While this seemed to work somewhat better, I think it's just a matter of time until this tactic, too, is an opportunity for glee.

I know he's not yet two, but believe me, he knows what he's doing (as evidenced by the fact that the most egregious infractions occur when something else is taking my attention from him).  I also know that things are going to be worse for a few days because he's had constant attention for the past 2 weeks.  Seriously though, I need some help.  Any creative ideas for bending, but not breaking, a stubborn toddler's will?

Yummy

I did nothing but eat for the past 2 weeks and now our family is back to eating reality.  I stole a yummy recipe from my stepmom.  It's heathy too!

Yummy Apple, Cranberry and Walnut Salad

2-3 medium apples, diced

1.5 ounces dried cranberries

1 ounce walnuts

1 container of light vanilla yogurt

1 small squeeze of honey

Put all ingredients in a bowl, stir together.  Enjoy.

Cleaning tips from my dad

My dad is dirt-averse.  It yielded a few cleaning tips on my latest trip home.

1.  Use 409 on dirty (leather) sneakers.  Spray liberally and wait about 45 seconds.  The dirt comes right off with some paper towels.  

2. Put a few drops of dishwasher liquid in a crusty pot with water and let it sit.  We made queso dip Sunday and the pot was covered in crusty cheesy goodness.  I followed dad's advice and the next morning, the cheese slid out of the pot like it had never been baked on.

The holidays in review

Our little family opened our Christmas gifts for each other before we left for the Land of Oz.  T loved his stocking stuffer best, of course.  The lesson here is that toddlers destroy the metal slinkies in less than an hour.  The plastic ones hold up a lot better.
Meanwhile, in Emerald City, T was into everything. He got really into throwing things away.  We kept him busy for 30 minutes with throwing away any little scrap of paper.  He also tried every cabinet and drawer in the house.  I'm told most kids won't do this, but not my guy.  He learned how to unlock all the windows and unlock and open the patio door.  The good news is that we had lots of help. T got to spend lots of time with both sets of grandparents, and Ry and I actually got out for a movie and several miscellaneous outings with friends.
I mean, how freaking cute is he?  I searched high and low for these jammies and my aunt had to make the hat (thanks!), but it was totally worth it.  We had a nice Christmas.  T loved to hand out the presents, even to the point of trying to hand out gifts for people who weren't there.
T trying the cabinets, again.
One of the local churches has a huge indoor playground.  T spent a lot mornings there.  What a great idea!  
Rock Band is so fun.  He's T banging on the drums before bedtime.  His Uncle L brought the game over after the Illinois game and we played like Rock Stars.  T never stirred.  Seriously, it was super fun.
Back at the church.  They have murals on all the surrounding walls leading into the Sunday school classes.

We also had a New Years Eve party with the best White Elephant gift exchange I have attended.  Best items of the evening: stuffed meerkat, massager and an edwardian mustard pot.

Coming soon: our trip to the Indy Children's Museum.

I'm a slacker

Yup, I know I haven't written in a long time.  I was in the Land of Oz for 2 weeks over the Christmas/New Year holidays and there's so much to update that I'm feeling sunk.  I'll get around to it soon. Cross my heart.