Posts (page 2)

I haven't been to see a dentist in five years.  Yes, I know that this is four and a half years more than you should wait, but for as long as I can remember back, I've always had this fear- and I'm talking about the kind that grips you and makes it almost as unbearable to think about going as the actual act of physically going.  It stems back to childhood (doesn't everything???) when I had a VERY insensitive dentist- make that several- who I swear got off on pulling as many teeth as they could get away with.  Or filling every square inch of tooth, JUST BECAUSE THEY COULD.  I'll never forget one memoriable Easter when I had seven baby teeth pulled from my head just a couple days beforehand, which meant NO CHOCOLATE for me.  That's just a plain cruel and insensitive act to do to a child.  Almost ranking up there next to locking them in closets.  Or telling them that Santa and the Easter Bunny don't exist. 

Since I went back to work fulltime, I became elligible for dental insurance again.  Up until that, we've always taken the boys every six months religiously, but not ourselves (because who wants to scrape together $200 for THAT when you can spend it in such more fulfilling ways like, say, a Wii).  We've used the new insurance for the boys' appointments, but hadn't mustered the courage to go to the dentist ourselves yet... until now.  This morning I had my first appointment in five years.  An appointment that I tried VERY hard to not fixate on until the minute I was opening the door to the office and then the panic started setting in.

I managed to make it through the appointment relatively unscathed.  Even when they got to the part when they told me that I was going to need a "deep cleaning", since I haven't been in for so long.  I won't go into the gorey details of it all, but apparently my face must have told them enough, because when discussing the options, they mentioned that they were going to not just numb me, but would also have the lovely, lovely gas available to "help me relax" during the procedure.  Yes, I am THAT big of a baby.  And yes, I told them that sounded fabulous.  And that I'd probably need the whole day off to recover afterwards.

Unfortunately, with all the time I took off while moving and then again will be taking off at the end of June for our vacation, I really don't know when/ how I'm going to muster up the time off for two appointments (because apparently they do each side in a separate appointment).  I didn't let them know this, naturally, but it's probably going to be July or August before I can schedule my torture sessions.  Hey, what's two or three more months when it's already been five years, right? 

One of the (many) things that Hubby and I were dreading (the list is very, very small actually) with building again was the lawn- well, actually the lack of one- and having to coddle and nurture the "baby lawn" the builders put in until finally 5 years later you have a semi-yard.  Then the dandelions and miscellaneous weeds start setting in, you try to do the lawn care yourself, and finally end up saying, "Screw it, I'm calling in the professionals" and you hire a lawn care service.

Well, we've been in our lovely new home for a little over a month and I was starting to wonder if the "baby lawn" would ever be delivered.  Thanks to the April and then May showers, the delivery and installing of the lawn kept being pushed back.  Every storm that rolled through made me groan, knowing that all that great FREE lawn watering was going to waste on our mud heap.  We watched and waited and every rain produced nice little streams of water trickling down our ungraded backyard.  The "Barren Desert of Beazer" as Aidan called it was full of all sorts of wonderful rocks and junk left behind by the builders- things like broken glass, fast food wrappers, and pieces of 2x4's.  Nice!  Don't see those as landscaping ideas on HGTV, now do you???

Finally, I received a text yesterday by Laura, our building rep that I've become friends with through the process of building our home.  She gave me play-by-play commentary on my lawn going in: "Now they're grading your yard", "Now they're putting in the shrubs", "Now they're planting your tree-- yippee!!".  I was REALLY happy that we finally would have our yard, but also two lingering thoughts kept creeping back into my mind:  Since we weren't there while they were doing this, did they actually pick up all the crap out of the yard, or did they merely lay sod on top of it (I'm pretty sure it was probably the latter)? and Now that we have this wonderful lawn, how much are the water bills going to be over the next few years, as we obsessively water, water, water it???

When I came home yesterday, I must say that it was a wonderful site, seeing all the green instead of the desert landscape that we'd become accustomed to seeing.  Then, looking out over the backyard, waves of anxiety washed over me again as I realized, "Man, this is a big, freakin' yard!  How the heck are we going to keep this bad boy up?"... Especially since we live next to people who are OBSESSED with their yard (mind you, they have no kids.  Which means they have all the time in the world to water and love and talk sweet nothings to their lawn.  Unlike us, who are gone pretty much every single night of the week and most of the weekend, providing taxi service to our darling children. 

This weekend is Mother's Day and I figure I'd use that as my excuse to go play out in the yard.  I'm going to start by pulling the sod away from the house where the flower beds are going to go (I learned that the hard way in the last house that it's much harder to dig a flower bed once the lawn's established than to just pull up the sod where you don't want it to begin with).  I'm also going to let my younger son pick out a few things that he wants to grow-- he's expressed interest in having a garden, so I figured we'd go find him some things that we could place in pots up on the deck so the deer and rabbits and other "world's creatures" (as Aidan calls them) won't use them as a buffet. 

I'm terrified that I won't dig out the beds correctly, and that the flowers I pick won't grow.  But, I know the only way to figure out what I can and can't grow is through trial and error.  Lots of hard work and sweat await us for the next 10 or so years, but I know that all our big plans and hard work will eventually pay off...

We've always given our kids the opportunity to try whatever sport/ club they wanted. Our only requirement was that they not be in more than one sport and one educational activity (piano/ club/ church-related thing) at a time.  When we had just one kid to run around, it wasn't so bad.  But you throw the other one into the mix, and you find yourself running every day practically. 

I remember when the neighbors in our old neighborhood had all three of their boys in baseball and we never saw them.  EVER.  And I remember vowing that I was never going to be one of those parents.  Yeah, you guessed it; I'm eating my words now. 

My boys have played soccer every Spring and Fall for the past several years.  I've always enjoyed it (though I couldn't tell you the rules of it) and especially when they played through the church league because it only involved one day/ week for practice and for the games.  This Spring, they decided to try baseball.  I secretly loved this idea because I played for many years on the school's softball team and if there's one sport that I feel 100% confident helping my kids with, this is the one. 

Practices started last week, and because of the move, I'd managed to lose (throw away is probably more likely) their team schedules.  So, after checking the website, I was surprised to find that we will be at the baseball field not 2 or 3 nights a week, but more like 5, sometimes 6.  This bothers me because now I'm just like my neighbors; living every day and night as my kids taxi service to their games/ practices. 

My older son commented that he didn't know that it was going to be this "involved".  I told him I didn't think it'd be quite this bad, either, and that's what he got for wanting to play organized sports that weren't through the chruch league.  The first games were this past Saturday; Aidan's from 12-1:45 and then Alex's from 4-5:45.  Last week's weren't bad, but this week's aren't going to be so great.  Friday and Saturday, Alex has one from 6-7:45, and Aidan has one on Saturday from 12-1:45.  I know that I shouldn't complain really (we have friends who have to be there every Saturday at 8:00am), but really, who wants to spend all weekend at the field?  The latest games for Alex are from 8-9:45pm on Fridays and Saturdays coming up.  Those may be ones that Dad takes Alex to without Mom and Aidan.

I knew that my time was coming for this to happen, but I wasn't expecting it at 4th grade.  And I know that we are certainly NOT the only families doing this.  I just wish that I had had the sense to look into this before signing them up.  So, if any of you need me in the next couple months, you'll knwo where to find me- at the baseball field. 

Every time I go grocery shopping, there seems to be endless distractions that prevent me from sticking strictly to my shopping list:  the candy aisle (because everyone knows that chocolate is a necessary part of life), the beer aisle (fits in the same category as chocolate), and the almighty important chip aisle. 

For a while now, I have found the never-ending variety of new chip flavors too tempting for me to pass up.  I proudly brag about how we've tried every flavor of Dorito to ever grace the shelves of our beloved Walmart.  I also fall prey to the gimmick- packaging scam.  When Dorito had the "name this chip" gimmick a  couple summers ago, we just HAD to try them.  They came in an all-black bag with white letters.  There was a contest where if you guessed the chip flavor, you could win a lifetime's supply of Doritos (which boy, would they have been sorry if we'd won that!).  We thought they were cheeseburger with pickle flavored, but I'm really not sure what flavor they ended up being.

Sadly, whenever we find a chip that's supposed to be "spicy", it always disappoints.  Maybe because their idea of "spicy" is dumbed down for us lame-o Americans?  Maybe because after years of subjecting our tastebuds to REALLY spicy things we no longer have tastebuds (because we've burned them all away)?  I dunno-- but they never seem to do the trick of satisfying our needs for spicy hot.

Today while at the store, I found two chips of interest:  Cheetos has a new "large"- sized cheeto puff out.  That looked (and felt, as I squeezed the bag and found that the cheeto puffs did indeed seem large) intriguing.  Also, I came across buffalo wing-flavored pretzle crisps, which were surprisingly very good. 

This weekend, while celebrating an early Easter with the in-laws, one of the items that "the Easter Bunny" left in the baskets for the kids were Bean Boozled jellybeans.  There are several colors, which is nothing new obviously.  What is new is that there can be two separate flavors for each color.  For the green ones, you can either get sour apple flavored or booger flavored.  The peachish ones were either peach fizz flavored or pencil shaving flavored.  From the looks on my kids' and their cousins' faces as they ate the "gross" flavored ones, I opted out of that flavor adventure.  The thought of the gross flavors is enough alone to make my stomach a little queasy; I can only imagine what biting into an ear wax-flavored jelly bean would do to me...

If anyone has tried any interestingly flavored foods (especially chips), let me know; we're always up for the challenge (except for booger or pencil shaving- flavored things.  I think I can pass on those).   

So, our get-away last weekend was very nice, but definitely sent me into a state of panic once back home.  The past week was a blur as we prepared for closing and now the "Big Move", which is tomorrow.  Last week, we had the final loose ends that needed tired up: contacting the utility companies and letting them know when to transfer service (which Steve had to do the day of closing since his loser wife let it slip her mind all week), wiring the money to the mortgage company (another thing that poor Hubby had to deal with at the last minute, thanks to his wife's ineptitude), making sure all necessary T's were crossed and I's were dotted.  Notice my omission of mentioning packing anywhere in there... Accidentally omission?  No- as of today; there really has been no packing yet. And since both Hubby and I work today, I have a feeling that all remaining packing will have to take place tonight between the hours of 9pm and midnight.  This is unfortunately a trend with us and moving- we usually don't realize till the last minute and then we go, "Shit!  WHY didn't we start thinking about this a month ago?!"  and then everything gets thrown haphazardly into trash bags (unlabeled, of course, because that adds an extra element of surprise to it when you open a trash bag and find either it's the trash you forgot to set out a week ago or breakable things that SHOULD have been wrapped up, instead of just pitched into a trash bag and now, since you didn't take the time to properly secure said items, are broken).

Over the weekend, we spent a good portion of the time at the new house, painting and starting to hang blinds in the bedrooms (so the neighbors don't get to know us THAT well).  We found that one of our bedroom windows is just THAT much too small for the blind we'd ordered, so now we have to return it and special order the right-sized blind (Ouch; can you say twice as expensive?).  Painting was a success, though.  we managed to get both boys' rooms painted and they look GREAT.  I've learned that you get what you pay for, as far as paint goes and I'm now sold on Lowe's Valspar brand of paint.  We had several walls that we painted in dark colors and all of them were covered very well with just a coat of paint and some touching up; BIG improvement over the last time I painted (in the old house) when it took 4 or 5 coats of red paint to get the wall relatively covered... 

Now, we're coming up on the final move tomorrow.  The movers are coming at 8:45; right after we shoo the kids out the door for school.  The kids are excited; we're excited; I'm sure everyone who knows us are excited (so we'll finally shut up about the stupid house).  We have many, many other exciting projects left inside (hanging lights/ ceiling fans/ more blinds) before heading to the outside, where there's an endless list of projects awaiting us. 

When I can catch my breath, I'll post some pics of our journey.  It's been a long year for us and I'm very happy that it's almost complete.

In one week exactly, our new house will officially be ours.  It's been a long year and we're more than ready to end this journey... So, what is the best way to spend your last weekend before moving?  Packing?  Surely you jest.  That would make us too prepared, too organized. 

No, instead we're going away to a cabin with friends.  Last year we also did this, but it was under different circumstances.  I'd just started my job and welcomed the chance to get away.  This year, we had decided to opt out of the cabin so we could pack... except that we must have not conveyed that to our friends very well and when they reserved the cabin, counted us in.  We were given the option of backing out after the reservations had been made, but why?  It's not like we won't get stuff packed in time (though we may go crazy trying to do all of it at the last minute).  Besides, two glorious mornings of being to sleep in (hopefully past 8) sounds pretty frickin' good right now. 

I forgot to throw the camera in my bag before leaving for work (we're heading out right after I'm off), but hopefully I'll have pics from one of our friends.  My biggest obstacle this weekend is going to be not fixating on the fact that instead of drinking and sitting in the hot tub, I should be home packing up the kitchen...

1. What is something mom always says to you? "I love you"

2. What makes mom happy? "Kisses"

3. What makes mom sad? "Being shot with a gun" (like that happens)

4. What does your mom do that makes you laugh? "Me being cute and acting like a little tiny monkey"

5. What was your mom like as a child? "Being bad and being hit by wooden paddles" (he's not too far off, actually)

6. How old is your mom? "35"

7. How tall is your mom?"12 inches"

8. What is her favorite thing to do? "Buy artwork from me" (what?!)

9. What does your mom do when you're sleeping? "Watch American Idol"

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "Being beautiful" (smart boy)

11. What is your mom really good at?"being beautiful" (he's seriously earning some major brownie points here)

12. What is your mom not very good at? "BEing ugly"

13. What does your mom do for her job? "talking to people about asthma"

14. What is your mom's favorite food? "dried apricots"

15. Why do you love mom?"because you're so pretty and beautiful and nice" (he's just earned himself anything he wants... I won't tell him that, though)

16. If your mom were a cartoon character,who would she be?"Perry the Platypus"

17. What do you and your mom do together? "hug and kiss"

18. How are you and your mom the same? "'cause we both have sweet tooths"

19. How are you and your mom different? "you like spicy stuff and I don't"

20. How do you know your mom loves you?"'cause you birthed me out"

Gosh, I had no idea it had been so long since I've written-- so sorry, Blog, for neglecting you for so long!  How time flies when you've been sick as a dog and also trying to tie up loose ends, two weeks out from moving into a new home!

All winter- no, make that since starting my new job about a year ago- I've tried, and failed, to fend off illness.  I've been on some sort of antibiotic at least 4 times in the past year.  Not to mention the dreaded Prednisone, which reeks havoc on your sleep patterns, moods, and appetite, which I've been on twice.  And we won't go into how much Mucinex, Albuterol, and Robitussin- AC I've ingested in the past year. 

I thought that this would be the first February in FOREVER that I wouldn't find myself sick as a dog.  I made it to about February 17th and then all hell broke loose.  I'd been sick with bronchitis back in January, and thought I'd successful kicked it's ass... Then I started developing a little cold around the middle of February, which then snowballed into a full-blown sinus infection/ respiratory whatever (that the doctor assures me is "just a virus".  WHATEVER!  It's "just a virus" that has sent me into coughing jags that wake me up several times a night and caused multiple asthma attacks.  But it's "just a virus").... Last week I went back to the doctor, and was placed on antibiotic Round 5.  It's taken care of the sinus infection, but the coughing jags still are there, though better than before.  I only cough 7-8 times a day, as opposed to constantly... *Sigh* Spring cannot come quick enough.

The other cause of my absense is the upcoming move.  It's been a long-time coming; about a year exactly, actually, since we started this process.  And it can't come quick enough-- the kids are tearing each other apart (because they've been stuck in the rental house, on top of each other).  So, two weeks out, the to-do list is a mile long, and new stuff is added daily.  The latest news on the homefront is that Hubby met with the builder at the house today for one of many last-minute walk-throughs.  Yesterday, he was there with the inspector we hired and let me tell you something: the money that you spend for an inspector?  TOTALLY WORTH IT.  We cringed initially when the inspector told us his fee a few months ago, but it has totally, 150% been worth it... So, today at the walk-through with the builder, everything was addressed and the builder seems very willing to fix everything.  There were two particularly alarming things that were found during the walk-through that are going to have to be fixed:  in the basement there is supposed to be a pit where all the "goods" from that toilet go.  It's supposed to work that a pump pumps out the "goods" before the pit's full.  However, because that pump isn't working, the stuff wouldn't get pumped out, consequently spilling over the pit when full.  YUM!  Yeah, that's high-priority on the "fix-it" list.  As is the flooring that was laid throughout the foyer, dining room, and kitchen.  Apparently the flooring people didn't feel it necessary to sand the subfloor before laying the laminate, so there are all these bumps and dips in the flooring. Which means that they will probably be ripping it all back up again and sanding it and relaying it... and they've got two weeks to get this done...

*Sigh* So, I think my absense has been completely justified.  In about two weeks we'll be moving and I'll hopefully have some pics to share at that time of my "handywork"-- I'm painting the boys' rooms prior to moving in and hopefully can get some of the other smaller rooms painted, too.  I'll share as soon as I have some new news.  Just cross your fingers that the builder will get all the things fixed right the next time-- especially the "poop pit".  Something tells me that poop and carpet don't mix well...

Yeah, and that's how I've been sounding now for, oh about five days now (but, hey, who's counting?)... I started getting the infamous "tickle in the throat", which usually is the precursor to me coming down with something that will eventually require at least a good, strong antibiotic.  And yet again, it didn't disappoint...

I showed up at work Monday and after hearing my incessant coughing for about a minute and a half, the nurse practitioner said (and these are her exact words), "Jesus!  You sound like shit!  I think you're asthma's flared up pretty good, don't you?!"  Duh!  You THINK?!  So, she hooked me up pretty well-- Prednisone (I HATE Prednisone),a Z-pack, cough syrup with codeine (which hasn't touched the cough really), taking my Albuterol three or four times a day, and my Advair twice a day, and Mucinex twice a day, and blah blah blah... I think the best remedy I've found yet was in the hot buttered rum I made the other night.  Nothing like passing out from the liquor, just to wak up in the middle of the night, hacking and coughing. 

And so it's gone...

So, after about five or six sleepless nights, I'm starting to feel slightly (and that term, I use loosely) better.  I'm still coughing my head off every time I try speaking more than three words at a time (which makes my patients feel sooo at ease with me, I'm sure).  I found that by leaning to the left at about a 90-degree angle, I don't get quite as bad a pain in my abdomen (I felt like I was ripping my stomach muscles apart earlier this morning-- I suspect that would not be a good thing).

I feel like I've been the biggest baby with this, but c'mon; four times in the past year I've come down with bronchitis.  It's like I hit 35 and that was it!  I know that the main root to my problems is that I am not good at taking care of myself-- I eat horribly (though I've been trying harder lately).  I drink WAY too much caffeine.  I DON'T drink enough water (though I'm really working on that one, too).  I've been very stressed out now for the last year (though the end is in sight with the house adventure, at least) professionally and personally...

I started 2009 with this one resolution and wish: better health.  We'll see how it goes, but so far, not any better than 2008... *Sigh*

You could take the title as a reference to Valentine's Day, or just that we've been really, really busy, partying it up while Dad's been away.  Every year, Hubby has to fly out to NYC for the annual Toy Fair/ Convention- Thingy (boy, what a rough job he has).  In years past, I dreaded this because it meant that I was left alone for four days to fend for myself and the kids with no help.  It's funny how you grow to take the extra help for granted until it isn't there...

Last year, I planned a whole weekend of fun with Boys, while Dad played in NYC with toys, but as it would go, I got stinking sick with bronchitis; so badly that all I could do was lay in bed and hack my head off.  Ugh!  BUT this year the planets were in alignment and all was good health-wise and I was actually able to enjoy my four days with the boys for the first time ever.  Saturday, the boys were my Valentine's Day dates; we went out for dinner, then met up with my friend, Jyl, and her son for a movie, and then for dessert.  It was a great night and we all had a blast.

The next day, after no problems sleeping (hooray!  I've always had a hard time sleeping when Hubby's gone), we left for my friends' house in Ohio.  It's the first time I've attempted this trip in about two years.  Not because I haven't wanted to- I've REALLY wanted to get over that way for quite some time.  It's just that I couldn't trust the boys to not kill each other (or make me want to kill them) in the 2 1/2 hours that it takes to get to Ang and Jeff's house. 

Once I hit the half way point to their house, I realized that both boys were being perfect- not a fight or whine to be heard (it helped that they both have their own DS and I'd wised up and rented them their own DS games to play for the tri- and they did.  The WHOLE day.).  At one point, I glanced in the rear view mirror and found that Aidan was reading his book and Alex was playing his DS.  Completely karmic moment!  Finally about five minutes out from my friends' did the boys start to act like their usual selves, picking at each other a bit and squabbling.

The rest of the visit was wonderful.  It was great to finally catch up with my friends whose blog has been the main way I've kept up with their lives, but seldom get to talk to in person.  I met their beautiful new baby girl, Lydia, whom I tried ever-so-hard to not hog (but I'm sure I did) and got to watch their precious toeheaded- toddler, Rowan, in all his glory (stealing the show as much as he could with his cuteness).  (Naturally, the batteries in my camera died minutes after I arrived at their house, so no pics of the baby or my friends or my kids with Ang and Jeff' or their kids-- I'm such a loser...)   It proved a very important theory that I had wondered about for a while now:  I CAN actually travel again!  YES!  I've missed being able to go visit people, and now  that I know we can be in the car for more than half an hour without Aidan's fuss bomb exploding, look out! 

I must say that the last four days have gone quite quickly.  Our weekend was obviously jammed packed full of exciting adventures.  And then I went back to work yesterday, so there really wasn't much time in the day left once back home to think about Hubby's absense.  Is that pathetic; that I don't think about him every single second of the day, when apart?  That spending Valentine's Day apart is not as unbearable as it once would have been?  I don't think so.  I think it shows that we've been together long enough to be okay with functioning NOT connected at the hip.  It will be nice when he's back home, though.  I'll be relieved of duties of getting everyone up and out the door in the morning and to the sitter's before rushing to work; then rushing home to get them, and then trying to figure out dinner all by myself.  And it'll be nice to have a warm body beside me, warming up the bed at night.  The only thing I'm not looking forward to is having to share the computer again; which just proved my other theory:  I really need my own computer.

Sidenote:  Hey, Ang and Jeff-- PLEASE send me some pics from Sunday... Thanks!