My step-dad had a liver transplant in September. Came home in time for Halloween. Went back into ICU and was transferred back to the transplant center on XMas eve. He has a fungal infection, apparently it's affecting his heart and he's not reacting well to the one and only treatment. I'm tired of feeling like I'm on an episode of House. Just make him better already, kthnx.
My furnace broke Thursday night after a frightening series of clanks followed by a rather loud CLUNK. Guy came out yesterday and rather thoroughly inspected it all, diagnosed it as a 'really dead motor', ordered a part and scheduled an appointment to come out on Monday and fix the thing. But apparently it was only temporarily broken because tonight it appears to be working fine. How does that happen?
3 of the walls in my living room decided they were powerless on Sunday. No TV, no lamps, no nothing that needed to be plugged in. And remember, no heat. I was totally Amish, except for the buttons. Monday night, I found a super secret double emergency breaker box in the upper cabinet in my kitchen (add that one to the TWO in the basement and one in the garage). I flipped all the switches to off and then back on and everything was magically all better. Could that be what happened to my furnace too?
Twain got a motorcycle for Christmas. He's been driving it around the house since we got home at 6. I want to throw it out the window. My house is basically a circle. You can go from the livingroom into Twain's room, then into my room, then the bathroom, the kitchen, the dining room and back to the livingroom. There's no hallway (and therefore no creepy lil twins asking him to come play with them) just and endless circle for riding in.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Christmas!
Ok, not yet. And really, not even close. But I'm feelin it this year and I'm THRILLED about it.
We'll put up the tree in a week or so - we didn't put one up at the apartment last year, there just wasn't room. But this year we'll have one in our living room and THAT makes me happy. We do simple Christmases. Not a ton of money spent, smallish thoughtful gifts and lots of time with family. I think this year, by the time I'm done, I will have spent about $50 on each kid... and that's enough.
What's COMPLETELY awesome about the whole deal is that w/gas prices down to around $1.45/gallon, there was no budgeting required this year. No scooching of obligations, no credit card purchases. I've gone from putting around $100/week in my tank to somewhere around $30/week. That's HUGE!
I even bought myself something for Christmas, and that NEVER happens. Granted, it's not NEW, it's from Craigslist, and I wouldn't have ever thought I'd go for blue furniture - I've always been an earth tones kind of girl, but I really do like this set, and I NEED a new couch. So yay me. (Especially since the set was $60!)
We'll put up the tree in a week or so - we didn't put one up at the apartment last year, there just wasn't room. But this year we'll have one in our living room and THAT makes me happy. We do simple Christmases. Not a ton of money spent, smallish thoughtful gifts and lots of time with family. I think this year, by the time I'm done, I will have spent about $50 on each kid... and that's enough.
What's COMPLETELY awesome about the whole deal is that w/gas prices down to around $1.45/gallon, there was no budgeting required this year. No scooching of obligations, no credit card purchases. I've gone from putting around $100/week in my tank to somewhere around $30/week. That's HUGE!
I even bought myself something for Christmas, and that NEVER happens. Granted, it's not NEW, it's from Craigslist, and I wouldn't have ever thought I'd go for blue furniture - I've always been an earth tones kind of girl, but I really do like this set, and I NEED a new couch. So yay me. (Especially since the set was $60!)
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Bratty kids...
So, Madison texted me from the school bus and asked if she could be sick tomorrow. It's my day, but tonight is her dad's night, so it's really up to him whether she goes to school tomorrow.
So I asked her if she was really sick, and she said "no, but I can make dad think I am."
I got home at about 540 and not 10 minutes later, Walt called and said that when he got home, Madison told him she'd thrown up and that she was running a fever. So she's staying home tomorrow. I almost feel bad because I KNOW she's not sick and I didn't tell him... but hey, if he's THAT easily fooled, she can play hooky.
So I asked her if she was really sick, and she said "no, but I can make dad think I am."
I got home at about 540 and not 10 minutes later, Walt called and said that when he got home, Madison told him she'd thrown up and that she was running a fever. So she's staying home tomorrow. I almost feel bad because I KNOW she's not sick and I didn't tell him... but hey, if he's THAT easily fooled, she can play hooky.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Date Night
Doug and I had a date tonight - first time we've gotten gussied up and gone out in who knows how long.
We went to Journey Steakhouse @ the Argosy Casino. Seriously, the food was so amazing, I thought I might have a When Harry Met Sally moment while I was eating. We had bacon wrapped shrimp with this amazing spicy/sweet sauce drizzled over it, steak and potato, and I had a spinach salad with the biggest, freshest, most flavorful raspberries you could possibly imagine. Gawd, I ate til I was Thanksgiving full and topped it off with a really nice Shiraz from Australia.
We're packing up and heading out to Manhappiness this weekend - I think I'll go out Hwy 36 and come down through farm country (yes, there's a part of Kansas I consider more 'farmy' than the rest). We'll drive by the farm where my Dad grew up, and it's a much prettier drive in the fall than I-70. I'll be meeting my latest nephew, and checking up on Jerry, and the kids are crazy excited that Grampa is home from Omaha.
We're planning a trip out to DC this summer - any tips from anyone who lives along the way? We're road-tripping since I'm far too poor to fly 4 people out there, and then (hopefully) staying w/relatives in Maryland.
We went to Journey Steakhouse @ the Argosy Casino. Seriously, the food was so amazing, I thought I might have a When Harry Met Sally moment while I was eating. We had bacon wrapped shrimp with this amazing spicy/sweet sauce drizzled over it, steak and potato, and I had a spinach salad with the biggest, freshest, most flavorful raspberries you could possibly imagine. Gawd, I ate til I was Thanksgiving full and topped it off with a really nice Shiraz from Australia.
We're packing up and heading out to Manhappiness this weekend - I think I'll go out Hwy 36 and come down through farm country (yes, there's a part of Kansas I consider more 'farmy' than the rest). We'll drive by the farm where my Dad grew up, and it's a much prettier drive in the fall than I-70. I'll be meeting my latest nephew, and checking up on Jerry, and the kids are crazy excited that Grampa is home from Omaha.
We're planning a trip out to DC this summer - any tips from anyone who lives along the way? We're road-tripping since I'm far too poor to fly 4 people out there, and then (hopefully) staying w/relatives in Maryland.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Getting off my ass...
Yes, I know it's been awhile. I haven't even thought about blogging since I got so wrapped up in everything else and here it is 10 months later!
What's changed?
I bought a house with a little assistance from Mom and moved in in May:
I LOVE it. It was 4 bedrooms, but I converted the smaller of the 2 upstairs rooms into a walk-in closet/dressing room for the girls. They're happy as clams up there in their space.
The house is just over 100 years old and has the original hardwood floors and mouldings which are GORGEOUS. I'm just so happy there.
What else?
We have 2 cats, sorry, no pics. Vladimir came to live with us in May and Hannibal joined us in September or so. Both black cats and SO different. But they get along really well and neither of them are terribly annoying.
Twain is growing up faster every day. He's a veritable chatterbox these days, and has started making up stories to see what sort of reactions he gets. Here's him and Doug building a lego tower just today:
The girls are doing awesome. Madison is in SIXTH GRADE! That's the grade I was in when I was so in love w/Shon Rowe that I thought I'd go crazy. Thankfully, she's not so in to boys or any of those social things. She plays basketball and sings in choir and plays the sax and gets excellent grades and loves to hang out w/me watching dorky movies.
Cady is amazing too, though she IS a bit too in to boys. She emailed me the other day - from my livingroom - to tell me all about how in love she is with the boy down the street. So I enrolled her in volleyball and make sure she's really busy with other stuff. Thank all the gods that she's only 8!
Jerry (my step-dad) had a liver transplant in September. He's doing awesome and was released to go home almost exactly 8 weeks post-op. Still doing physical therapy, but he's very glad to be home, and we're ALL so very thankful that the donor's family made the decision they did. He would not be with us now if they hadn't.
We joined the YMCA last summer so the kids would be able to take swimming lessons and stuff. Doug jumped on the membership this past month and we're going to be working out in the evenings. My goal? To start running again. I miss it so much, and am really motivated to start it up - though I know it won't be as easy as it was when I was 10! Madison and I are going to do the 'couch to 5K plan' and hopefully Jerry and Cady will jump on too. The goal? To do a 5K w/the 3 generations in March 2010.
What's changed?
I bought a house with a little assistance from Mom and moved in in May:
I LOVE it. It was 4 bedrooms, but I converted the smaller of the 2 upstairs rooms into a walk-in closet/dressing room for the girls. They're happy as clams up there in their space.
The house is just over 100 years old and has the original hardwood floors and mouldings which are GORGEOUS. I'm just so happy there.
What else?
We have 2 cats, sorry, no pics. Vladimir came to live with us in May and Hannibal joined us in September or so. Both black cats and SO different. But they get along really well and neither of them are terribly annoying.
Twain is growing up faster every day. He's a veritable chatterbox these days, and has started making up stories to see what sort of reactions he gets. Here's him and Doug building a lego tower just today:
The girls are doing awesome. Madison is in SIXTH GRADE! That's the grade I was in when I was so in love w/Shon Rowe that I thought I'd go crazy. Thankfully, she's not so in to boys or any of those social things. She plays basketball and sings in choir and plays the sax and gets excellent grades and loves to hang out w/me watching dorky movies.
Cady is amazing too, though she IS a bit too in to boys. She emailed me the other day - from my livingroom - to tell me all about how in love she is with the boy down the street. So I enrolled her in volleyball and make sure she's really busy with other stuff. Thank all the gods that she's only 8!
Jerry (my step-dad) had a liver transplant in September. He's doing awesome and was released to go home almost exactly 8 weeks post-op. Still doing physical therapy, but he's very glad to be home, and we're ALL so very thankful that the donor's family made the decision they did. He would not be with us now if they hadn't.
We joined the YMCA last summer so the kids would be able to take swimming lessons and stuff. Doug jumped on the membership this past month and we're going to be working out in the evenings. My goal? To start running again. I miss it so much, and am really motivated to start it up - though I know it won't be as easy as it was when I was 10! Madison and I are going to do the 'couch to 5K plan' and hopefully Jerry and Cady will jump on too. The goal? To do a 5K w/the 3 generations in March 2010.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
January Part 2
So, a random google search for a former employer rather inexplicably sent me to this story on the BBC...
32 Horses Found Dead. 80 More Rescued.
How freaking insane is THAT? (Not so much the ending up there, but the story itself)
And a friend sent me this, which made me laugh uproariously.
Bono, lead singer of the rock band U2, is famous throughout the entertainment industry for being more than just a little self-righteous. At a recent U2 concert in Glasgow , Scotland , he asked the audience for total quiet. Then he started to slowly clap his hands, once every few seconds.Holding the audience in total silence, he said into the microphone, 'Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies...'A voice with a broad Scottish accent from the front of the crowd pierced the quiet... 'Well, fookin stop doin' it then, ya evil bastard!'
I'm still engaged in a hunt for the perfect job. Which is a lot like hunting snipe, I think.
Resolution number 8: Continue making real effort to find a better paying, if not altogether better, job. Deadline: April 2008.
32 Horses Found Dead. 80 More Rescued.
How freaking insane is THAT? (Not so much the ending up there, but the story itself)
And a friend sent me this, which made me laugh uproariously.
Bono, lead singer of the rock band U2, is famous throughout the entertainment industry for being more than just a little self-righteous. At a recent U2 concert in Glasgow , Scotland , he asked the audience for total quiet. Then he started to slowly clap his hands, once every few seconds.Holding the audience in total silence, he said into the microphone, 'Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies...'A voice with a broad Scottish accent from the front of the crowd pierced the quiet... 'Well, fookin stop doin' it then, ya evil bastard!'
I'm still engaged in a hunt for the perfect job. Which is a lot like hunting snipe, I think.
Resolution number 8: Continue making real effort to find a better paying, if not altogether better, job. Deadline: April 2008.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Captain's Log 01/09/2008
Interesting that the title of the blog is what I always agonize about the most. It's like when I was single and posting ads on Yahoo and Plenty of Fish and stuff. You MUST have a headline!!!!!
Well, gawd, I never thought of my LIFE as headline-worthy, let alone ME. So how come we have to title everything? Can't it just be dated?
Grrr.
Anyway... I looked into training to become a Family Law Mediator today. We ALL know that I'm never going to law school. I'll be lucky to finish my Bachelors before I'm 80. But it turns out that a couple of times a year, the University in Springfield offers a 40 hour training session for mediation. I can get in on that for about $950 for the training plus a room while I'm there and the time off work. I can't make the next session, it's in February... but I'm going to shoot for doing it this year.
Resolution number 1: Complete Family Law Mediation Training by 01/01/2009.
I've rejoined FitDay and have been tracking my calories and stuff. I do ok when I can access it from work and update it as I go through my day. Not so good on catching up after a weekend though so I'm kind of on the honor system for it. The goal isn't necessarily to lose weight, though that'll be a nice side benefit for me. The goal is to eat healthier and make better choices about what goes into my body.
Resolution number 2: Make better food choices by tracking calories on FitDay.
There's a work-out room at the apartment complex where I live. I've been in there TWICE. Really, it's ridiculous how little I've availed myself of the services available to me. And yet I feel perfectly justified in bitching about the size of my ass and the way I look in my clothes. Nevermind the way I look OUT of them. Bleh!
Resolution number 3: Use the work out room at least 2 nights per week. Take a walk at least 3 mornings per week.
The girls and I love board games and have a ton of them. And yet... we rarely play them. We're always busy with Brownies or Basketball or homework or nothing at all. And I realized this morning, in that way that you realize things ALL OF A SUDDEN that have been under your nose FOREVER that Madison is well on her way to not needing me anymore. She's 11. Over half her time of being MINE is gone.
Resolution number 4: Play a game or engage in a family activity that is NOT television related at least 1 night per week.
Resolution number 5: Have a girls' movie night once per month.
I am woefully out of touch. Really and truly have NO IDEA what the pop-culture of today is all about. I mean, if it's on NPR I know about it. Or if I can read it on the MSNBC ticker, or if it's on Discovery Channel... but I haven't listened to new music in forever, and I generally have NO idea what is playing at the theaters or who is in concert where, or even who it's still cool to give a crap about when I see them on the cover of Enquirer at the grocery store. I don't want to be THAT mom... the one who buys her 17 year old a gift that she wouldn't have liked at 10.
Resolution number 6: Actually TALK to the girls about what's cool and hip and stuff w/them. Turn off NPR in the mornings on the way to the babysitter and actually listen to THEIR music. No matter how painful it might be.
I am VERY lucky to have a man like D in my life. He is simply amazing, and I can quite honestly say that he's one of the best people I've ever met in my life. You know those people that you meet and say "He's good people."? That's him. Somehow, he fell in love with me and I'm just continually grateful that that's true.
Resolution number 7: Remember to appreciate the people who love me. Every day.
I think that's enough for now. Other than blogging more. But I promise to do THAT all the time.
Well, gawd, I never thought of my LIFE as headline-worthy, let alone ME. So how come we have to title everything? Can't it just be dated?
Grrr.
Anyway... I looked into training to become a Family Law Mediator today. We ALL know that I'm never going to law school. I'll be lucky to finish my Bachelors before I'm 80. But it turns out that a couple of times a year, the University in Springfield offers a 40 hour training session for mediation. I can get in on that for about $950 for the training plus a room while I'm there and the time off work. I can't make the next session, it's in February... but I'm going to shoot for doing it this year.
Resolution number 1: Complete Family Law Mediation Training by 01/01/2009.
I've rejoined FitDay and have been tracking my calories and stuff. I do ok when I can access it from work and update it as I go through my day. Not so good on catching up after a weekend though so I'm kind of on the honor system for it. The goal isn't necessarily to lose weight, though that'll be a nice side benefit for me. The goal is to eat healthier and make better choices about what goes into my body.
Resolution number 2: Make better food choices by tracking calories on FitDay.
There's a work-out room at the apartment complex where I live. I've been in there TWICE. Really, it's ridiculous how little I've availed myself of the services available to me. And yet I feel perfectly justified in bitching about the size of my ass and the way I look in my clothes. Nevermind the way I look OUT of them. Bleh!
Resolution number 3: Use the work out room at least 2 nights per week. Take a walk at least 3 mornings per week.
The girls and I love board games and have a ton of them. And yet... we rarely play them. We're always busy with Brownies or Basketball or homework or nothing at all. And I realized this morning, in that way that you realize things ALL OF A SUDDEN that have been under your nose FOREVER that Madison is well on her way to not needing me anymore. She's 11. Over half her time of being MINE is gone.
Resolution number 4: Play a game or engage in a family activity that is NOT television related at least 1 night per week.
Resolution number 5: Have a girls' movie night once per month.
I am woefully out of touch. Really and truly have NO IDEA what the pop-culture of today is all about. I mean, if it's on NPR I know about it. Or if I can read it on the MSNBC ticker, or if it's on Discovery Channel... but I haven't listened to new music in forever, and I generally have NO idea what is playing at the theaters or who is in concert where, or even who it's still cool to give a crap about when I see them on the cover of Enquirer at the grocery store. I don't want to be THAT mom... the one who buys her 17 year old a gift that she wouldn't have liked at 10.
Resolution number 6: Actually TALK to the girls about what's cool and hip and stuff w/them. Turn off NPR in the mornings on the way to the babysitter and actually listen to THEIR music. No matter how painful it might be.
I am VERY lucky to have a man like D in my life. He is simply amazing, and I can quite honestly say that he's one of the best people I've ever met in my life. You know those people that you meet and say "He's good people."? That's him. Somehow, he fell in love with me and I'm just continually grateful that that's true.
Resolution number 7: Remember to appreciate the people who love me. Every day.
I think that's enough for now. Other than blogging more. But I promise to do THAT all the time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
