Category: Around the House

It was actually pretty quiet here this week.  Monday I had this flurry of back-and-forth phone calls with the cub scout den & pack leaders, the end result of which was that we were having neither the TV station tour nor the pack meeting this week.  Our Tuesday night plans were likewise nonexistent.  So instead we’ve hung out with my parents a lot, weathered a really bad storm, hit the end-of-year mom’s group meeting (had an epiphany there, actually, more about that later), and took Ben to the world’s shortest doctor’s office visit (I only had one kid with me, so of course there was no wait this time).  Playdates were cancelled due to Ben’s illness (ear infection + virus) or rescheduled to next week.  And since we’ve not been at our house much, it’s actually stayed clean, which is heavenly.

In other news, the Great Computer Repair did not turn out well.  I bought a new power supply and I have nearly enough parts for three whole computers, but enough of them either a) don’t work or b) aren’t compatible with other components that I’d actually have to spend more money than I’d like to get them all together (which in my world means that I’d be spending nearly as much to get them together as I’d spend on a new-but-cheap complete system).  It’s very frustrating. We’re going to decide tomorrow whether we buy more parts or just a complete system (I love the tinkering, but I’m almost at the “just buy something new” stage).

It’s come to my attention that when I sign things “Lisa and the boys” that people are thinking that Nick is not included.  Au contraire, mon amies.  Nick is a boy, albeit a big one, and is included in that signature.

(I am sick.  Sick, sick, sick.  I am wearing clothing so close to pajamas that I feel like I maybe never left them.  Mmm…pajamas.  My mother’s day dinner might need to be pureed.)

I’m trying to remember what’s been keeping us so busy and my brain just whirls on and on.  Last week we had two park-related playdates, one with a new friend and one with an old friend.  The new friend works at the church, but is a comic book/Green Day fan with many tattoos.  The old friend is Z’s mom (Z, who is marrying Ben someday, as long as she can call him Mr. Ben-ana and they eat cookies instead of cake at the wedding).  We had lots of fun on both playdates.

This week we went to the DSP with a couple different families (due to a weird misremembered scheduling accident, but it worked out) and no children were lost permanently, but some were missing for about five minutes.  I’d forgotten that you can’t go anywhere in the month of May without running into some school group somewhere.  Drives me nuts.

We had meals at two new=ish places in town last week.  One I went to with my parents for lunch and it was a franchise of The Jalapeno Tree.  It was awful.  Just dreadful food and not great service.  They had lovely decor though.  The other place we went to for date night on Saturday and it was not part of a giant chain and did not have the loveliest decor, but had excellent service & food and even a piano/lounge singer and a mariachi band (Pico de Gallo, for those that want to know).

David has been out-and-about with cub scouts.  Did a hike at the local giant-park-and-trails place.  Went to a local baseball game.  Next week I’m taking them all to tour a tv startion & to watch the evening broadcast.  David will be getting a couple belt badges for bicycling and chess at the next pack meeting, too.

Let’s see, what else?  It’s National Teacher Appreciation week: don’t forget to thank your teachers!    We brought desserts to David’s school and presents for Ben & Greg’s teachers.  (We bought one for David’s teacher, but he’s forgotten to take it to her all week long.)  We’re going to take notes to the Sunday school teachers  & nursery workers this weekend, too (they already did an appreciation thing about a month ago and we brought food for them then).

It’s also doctor’s appointment week, it seems.  I finally got David in for his 7-year-old well-child check-up (I had no idea it would take so long for them to get him on the schedule).  He’s 4 foot, one inch tall now and weighs 56lbs.  I loved watching the neuro-check, it’s hysterical.  He and Gregory both got the HepA or HepB shots (whichever is the one they give to kids in school & daycare; I never can remember).  So I took them to McDonald’s afterwards, which has become a tradition.     I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow for a check-up and actually found a friend both willing & available to watch my kids so they don’t have to be dragged along (It’s a hard combination to find, sadly).

Next week Nick will be out of town, as he’s going to some big long training/study session for his PE exam (which he’s taking in October).  It may not technically be the PE exam; he told me the other initials of the specific branch of the exam he’s taking and I can’t remember exactly (CSEPE?  Maybe?  Control Systems Engineer Practical Exam?).  I’m doing both the TV studio tour and the pack meeting on my own (with all three children), not to mention mom’s group and everything else.  I may go insane.  If you hear a giant “argh!” out of nowhere, it’s probably me.    (I did have a friend offer to take one of my kids during key moments next week if necessary, which is very much appreciated, but I’ll have to reciprocate during the next week with one of hers.  Fortunately, both kids we need to have out of the way are the laid-back, easy to deal with kids.)

Is that really all?  I don’t know.  I’m still finding jello soup everywhere….

My parents have been in town two days now.  Yesterday my kids each drank a bunch of creme soda and ran around like crazy wild beasts.  Today after the kids each drank another can apiece (special treats, ya know.  only at grandma’s.  at home they drink no soda.)  we took a closer look at the cans, which in addition to not being diet (my mom knew they weren’t, but bought them anyway) now include among their ingredients: caffeine!

And my head?  It is pounding so hard that while I was lying on the bed I noticed that my cell phone, lovingly placed on my forehead by a boy, was throbbing in rhythym with my heartbeat.

(So yes, the boys are watching The Goonies in the next room.  I know it’s terribly inappropriate for 1-year-olds and 4-year-olds and 7-year-olds.  I may have been 9 by the time it came out, but I know that my sister, then 6, and my best friends sister, age 4, loved it.)

It’s been a good week.  Aside from the hacking cough and looming threat that it will turn into pneumonia, everyone’s been really quite happy and not having too many of the meltdowns we had last week.

In other happy news, a certain very-soon-to-be-married lady sent me computer parts to repair the old computer, so instead of spending $500 for a new one, we can spend about $50 for a power supply and call it done.  (They are sooo getting a good wedding gift!)

Also in the mail came a care package from a certain beagle loving lady in Austin.  The kids loooved their little Just Add Water! toys and we’ve listened to the cd many many times now.

We got two contradictory things in the mail as well: one a letter stating that no, you can’t have money out of your medical cafeteria plan and one a check from that plan in the exact amount the previous letter said we couldn’t have.  It was exciting, really.

Ben wants you to know that his new name is Prince Swimming Pool and my name is Princess Mommy Sunglasses and David’s is Prince Magic Rings and Gregory is the Dread Pirate Baby Booty.  He would like to rename his daddy King Baseball Cap, but Nick was not responding to it, so he gave up on that idea.  (Oh, and since I’ve started typing this my name has changed to Princess Mama Mema.  The other names he gave out a few days ago, but apparently I get a new one now.  woo-hoo!)

I got a birthday card in the mail yesterday, as did David.  We’re conspiring to put our birthday money together and buy something fabulous.  We don’t know what.  But we only have $28 dollars now, as he had to put some of his money towards replacing something he broke in the backyard, so we may have to wait for another holiday to get more money for our something fabulous.  That’s okay.  We can be patient (we keep repeating that to ourselves, as we’re really not all that good at being patient.).

In other news, every time I turn my back on him Gregory does something else naughty.  This morning alone he has drank water from the toilet (using a medicine cup), eaten enough of my toothpaste that he might be minty for life, climbed inside the oven (one rack was set low and the other high and there was just enough room for him to climb in the middle.), taken all my money out of my purse and strewn it around the house, attempted to eat a beer bottle top that he dug out of the trash can, and dragged down the guitar (which he attempted to put on and play) & used the nunchuk from the Wii as a pick.

We had another successful playdate the other day.  Today we’re going to the park with a group of ladies not from my personal mom’s group, but from another one (my group doesn’t have anything scheduled that works with my calendar, but another group has graciously taken me in on their scheduled outings), and we’re also meeting friends there (who we’ve recently found out is the sister of another person we know).

Sorry if this post is scattered; I’ve been interrupted more times than you can imagine while typing.  (Plus the sound of Wii Bowling combined with the wild orchestral music from Yanni is a bit much to think over, especially when your ears are stuffed up enough that everything sounds like it’s inside a tin can.  FUN, I tell ya.)

Today has been interesting so far.

1.  We had Gregory’s 18 month well-child check-up.  He’s barely gotten bigger, height or weight-wise,  in the last six months.  The doctor said we’ll keep an eye on that.  (yeah, yeah.)  Also, he’s more bow-legged than he should be. (uh-huh, I know that; I do have eyes). The doctor is sending us on to a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon.  Yay. Cause we need more specialists in our lives.  Lastly, he’s got water on the ear.  “On the ear?”  Yeah, I don’t really remember the correct term at the moment.  In any case, it’s not infected, it’s not hurting him, and it’ll more-than-likely go away on its own (hello?  have you met our family?  when do our medical issues ever ”go away on its own?”)

2.  We had a playdate with my friend BB and her kids CB, SB, & bb.  She came in and looked at my small living room (with all the furniture in the universe in it) and said “I LOVE THIS ROOM!” and proceeded to point out all the features that I do, in fact, LOVE and oftentimes forget that I love them.  She noticed the kids art and made much of things.  Her kids ”showed” my kids toys that my kids never touch and now, several hours later, my kids are still playing with those things (and in ways they’d never done before).  She also exclaimed over the kitchen gadgets that I take for granted (built-together steamer basket for my medium pot, 6-sided grater with rubber bottom; I feel like I cheated her somehow by not using the mandolin-look-alike for the carrots). She was encouraging about my scrabbled-together craft space.  She even invited my husband out to play games with her husband (who is a history-gamer geek) while us and the kids do something else together.  Anyways, our kids got along famously and one of hers didn’t want to ever go home again, which is a huge compliment, playdate-wise.

So now I’m looking at my kids and my house and my stuff with new eyes.  It’s refreshing, actually. *

* I have to admit here that I am totally helped along in this “seeing things with new eyes” phase by the fact that having one of my friends here totally made me want to finish up putting up the art & stuff that I still hadn’t gotten around to before the party.