The Trio of Terror & Feline Fire Safety 101

Pickles stuck her tail in the candle. Instead of delicious iced snow berries scent I had burnt cat hair. Yum. She sleeps on my pillow so I got to smell her all night. I am thankful her tail is fine minus a few singed hair. I am not thankful my pillow smells like smoking cat. Poor pickles complains about everything when she is happy. A smoldering tail just made her whole week.

A little something extra...

The Trio of Terror( or my cats) according to the Lucky Irish Gal Dictionary

Clio \KLEE-oh\ noun: Large, yellow female cat who thinks the world revolves around her. Will most likely make any person in her immediate vicinity pet her.

Pickles \my DD says it is PEEK-os\ noun: Blubberous, gray female with loud, opinionated nature. Will protest anything.

Tree trimming and crying kids

J and I video chatted while he was at 35,000 feet above the ground. Pretty neat. It finally set in for R that daddy was gone for a while. He told his dad he wanted to be on the plane with him and then dissolved into tears. If he had the power J would have turned the plane around right then. L has been a tiny bear all day. She had cried and whined from sun up to sun down. Over all a fantastic day with two little babies that miss having Daddy home.



I did get all the christmas lights put up outside. The tree is up and decorated. Pretty good progress considering the obstacles I had to overcome to get it done.

A little quality time with the kiddos.

My DH is off to DC tomorrow morning and won't return until late Thursday evening. Mom has surgery on Tuesday. She will get to come home sometime Thursday as well. That leaves me and the kids at home together for a little forced bonding. It also means that Mom and J will come home to a slightly less sane me than they left behind. It just figures that the week J is gonna be gone would be the same week Mom has her surgery. We are having an out of funds experience right now so I cannot do much with the kids outside of the house. Well I could but I kind of think paying the mortgage is more important than a trip to McDonald's. Call me crazy.




After watching UP my 4 y/o son made Inigo his very own "cone of shame". Isn't he thoughtful?

Pre surgery poking

Today was my surgery pre testing exam. It was really just questionnaires, sign this here,check your vitals, lets take blood! You know, all that jazz. Of course this sounds like stuff that should take two and a half hours, right? I love the part where they told me I have to be in the waiting room three hours before my appointment on surgery day. J was shocked and appalled. I hate waiting. J brings that hate up to the level of art. Normally J is quiet. He is silent around people he doesn't know. Today I couldn't shut him up. He picked on me unmercifully. I was trying to register and he was using his knuckles to test my reflexes under the desk. You know the lady taking my information loved having her desk kicked. In the office he tried to answer the health questions before i could.

Nurse: Do you snore?
J: No but she breathes like Darth Vader.

Nurse: Are you depressed?
J: Well look at her.

He ducked and just missed getting hit in the head by the book I had in my hands. The nurse asked if I wanted her to put him in the hall. Tempting...but I let him stay. I am used to his brand of abuse, I mean humor. Silly Freudian slips.
On to the bloodletting! A different nurse was sent in to draw my one tiny tube of blood. I am very pale. You can see my veins which lulls you into the delusion that it will be easy to get to it. However, my veins are deep. I despise when I get uber confident nurse or tech that thinks "Easy peasy" and dives right in. Later, when I have blown veins, half moon shapes nail prints in my palm, and a look that would peel paint, we still have no blood in the tiny tube. She even used a tiny needle today. Thankfully she was smart. When she was unsuccessful on her first try, she found someone who draws blood for a living. Is she the only one who knows that this kind of person exists? Only took her one stick to strike the red gold. My only complaint, she used a huge needle.
That just goes to show you can be as gentle and delicate as you want but if you do not know what you are doing, you still make a huge mess.

Slice and dice

I am off to the ortho doc for a consultation on Friday. Eight years ago I developed a ganglion cyst on my left carpal bone (wrist). My cyst was the result of a trauma. I flipped my wrist backwards trying to push a wheelchair up hill with a person in it. Wasn't any more painful than rolling your ankle. Just happened to look down later and freaked out when I saw the pea size bump on my wrist.

Here is the medical portion of this post:

A ganglion cyst is a tumor or swelling on top of a joint of covering of a tendon (tissue that connects muscle to bone). It looks like a sac (cyst) of liquid. Inside the cyst is a thick, sticky, clear, colorless jellylike material (synovial fluid). depending on the size, cysts may feel firm or spongy. It can be one cyst or multiple that appear as one cyst but usually share a common stalk within the deeper tissue. This type of cyst is not harmful and accounts for about half of all soft tissue tumors on the hand.

I had it aspirated (drained with a HUGE freaking needle) when it initially happened. won't be doing that again. It did not help and I hyperventilated. I have decided that I want it removed. Numb me up, cut me open, dig it out. No idea why that bothers me less than the idea of aspirating it. Probably because when it is extracted it cannot come back. Done.

The aspirating may or may not solve the problem. Pass.

not smart to tell mama no

The countdown to civilian life is getting closer and closer to zero. I am excited about the pay raise but nervous about the lack of health insurance. We will still have the interim insurance but I never feel safe until the "real" insurance kicks in. Plus the military has taken god care of us medically. We are a tad spoiled when it comes to co pays and prescriptions. I just pray we get awesome insurance with the new company. J is stressing about getting the right job for our family. He is very serious about his hunter/gatherer duties. I am not serious about much of anything.

Lorelei now tells Inigo whether he is being a good dog or a bad dog. She asks for sponge bob. It is cute to hear her ask for her new fav show. However I am not a fan of the sponge. Rory is a huge Sponge-ite. Lately that is the only show I have seen other than Word World. Sesame Street seems to have fallen out of favor. We will have to see if that lasts. I can only handle so much of that laugh before the twitching sends me into a coma.

Rory is being a brave boy. Not a smart boy, but brave. He has begun telling us no. I say he is brave because he knows that this is a one way ticket to punishment. His knowledge of this cause and effect is why I question his smarts. I know he has them. I think he just chooses to ignore them. Nothing makes mama's eyes cross like being openly defied by the three yr old.

Instant Karma- it could happen to you!

You might think Instant Karma is just a song but it is also our family slogan. I actually did not know it was a song until today. Sad, I know. I like the Beatles but not a fan of the Lennon/Yoko stage. This contributed to my lack of knowledge. I first heard the phrase Instant Karma from Samantha. I also learned to say eat the happy little kitten in Spanish. That one has no real world application for me. We were in our sophomore World History class. We were bantering as we often did. I let go of a zinger and then hurt myself almost immediately. "Instant Karma," Samantha said.

Our kiddos hear this a lot. Maybe it makes us bad parents, I dunno. One child aggravates the other then promptly trips. We check for blood/broken bones and then respond to them with instant karma. J and I are the most frequent victims of this phenomena. I think we are just uncoordinated. Since we are almost always picking on each other it makes sense that these accidents are usually preceded by some action or remark that had us just asking for cosmic retribution.

We also use the game Marco Polo as echo location in our house. We are not a normal family by any stretch of the imagination.

A Swede and an Aussie walk into a blog...

I googled my blog because I am too lazy to bookmark it on my laptop. Two interesting sites popped up. One was for a town in Sweden. The other was for a town in Australia. It appears my blog is locally popular there. At least this month it is. Could just be a fad. Or some sort of insane misdirection where they really were looking for one thing and wound up on my blog confused. Either way I am just tickled pink that I might have fans! I pretend I don't care but deep down I want you to like me. Iwill admit that I don't know very much about Sweden. That is sad. I might need to do a little research. The pictures and stories I have heard are nice. I would be interested to hear from any one in Sweden or who has been there. What is your favorite place, story, etc about Sweden.

I would like to take a minute to talk to Australia. Please do not be offended by decision to never visit your gorgeous continent. I love the accents, animals, & people. Little known fact, when I first learned about the continents Australia was my favorite. It still is. Something about the shape. However it is sort of a family curse that we have horrendous weird luck. Five minutes off the plane and I would be chased by a funnel web spider, bitten by a koala, fall into the ocean, to be devoured by a shark. I love you Australia. Believe me when i say it is not you, it is me.

Wow Wow

Lorelei and I are up at 11:30 PM watching "Wow Wow Wubbzy". J, Mom, and I went to see Harry Potter tonight throwing off the kiddos schedule. Usually we do bath, bed, and beyond from 8-8:30PM every night. We didn't get home until 10PM. Lorelei was sacked out in the recliner. She woke up when I laid her in bed. Of course. So happy to see mommy and daddy she was not going back to sleep. She has two more teeth up top. I wonder how long a reprieve we will have before the miserable nights of teething begin anew. I do not remember Rory having a hard time with teething.

Rory has been thrown under the bus over potty training. The experts tell you not to push them. They will do it when they are ready. He turns four in November. His Mommy decided he is ready. I have a very elaborate bribery system concocted with my Mother. It involves m&m's and matchbox cars. Rory is like me in that he is too busy for such mundane activities like the potty. I hate to slow down and do the things I know I have to do. Playing is so much more fun.

Happy I am not a bed bug.

I have been watching the new TV program "Monsters Inside Me" about parasites. There are more parasites than any other organism on the planet. Freaky huh? Last night I learned why I am so happy I am not a bed bug. The mating of bed bugs is just wrong. The male jumps on the female and spears her through the back with his...um, I think you get the picture. It is called traumatic insemination. Awful stuff there. Another thing I have learned is that if you go to the hospital for an illness but are not satisfied with the diagnosis, speak up! Almost every person on this show was given two wrong diagnosis before they real problem was identified. I felt really sorry for the man with the five bot flies in his head. People thought he was crazy when he told them that he could feel his sores moving. It is a very interesting program but it is making me more paranoid. J is not allowed to watch it. He would seal us in the house after five minutes of viewing. The bed bugs would have had his skin crawling.

Reply to Jenn

Q: So what's reason #1284 for not swimming unless it's a pool?? :)

A: It is a tie between Barracuda and the ashes of cremated people.

P.S.I think burial at sea is a beautiful thing. I wouldn't swim in the graveyard though.

P.S.S. I do not think barracuda are beautiful.

Little bunny foo foo

You know the song, right? About Little Bunny Foo Foo hopping through the forest picking up the field mice and bopping them on the head? Inigo was channeling him this morning. He brought me a soggy field mouse from the backyard. I got to be the fairy princess and bop him on the head. No way is he bringing his tiny find into my house.
For those of you keeping count that is one bird and one mouse. Inigo-2, Wildlife-0.

goofy and toofy

Lorelei has had a double ear infection for about two weeks now. The antibiotics are up but the Doc says she still has a bunch of pressure behind the eardrum. We are managing the discomfort with Tylenol. Seems to be working because this is how I found her after I finished up her big brothers bath last night.

Diapers make excellent hats. She was in high spirits. Looking at that picture I have a hard time reconciling that little girl with the miserable one in my arms four hours later. Besides the ears and a wonderful cold she picked up we are also teething. I felt her little gums and found 2-3 swollen spots where teeth are trying to erupt. She sobbed for almost 2 hours. Teething tablets and time finally saw us back to bed. We were both exhausted. Not that you could tell by how perky she was today. I am cautious. I know she is as unpredictable as the sea.

Real TV

Do you watch reality television? I do. I watch So You Think You Can Dance. I love Tabitha and Napoleon's choreography. Mia Michael's annoys me to pieces. Interpretive dancing is not my favorite style. When Mia choreographs I roll my eyes and skip to the next dance. Thank heavens for DVRs. Last night J walked into the bedroom while Lorelei and I were watching SYTYCD. She loves the music and likes to dance along. It was the Mia piece. J is extremely anti reality television. The look on his face told me that he was not impressed with the performance. "I know" I said, "I do not think it looks like dancing either. I mean, I can have a seizure on stage as well as the next person."Season 5 Top 20

Go phillip and jeanette!

What is with the strange stories? I like it when the dancing tells a story but aliens impregnating people? crash test dummies? I think I will pass. Remember the mother/daughter fox thing Wade Robson did? He is kind of a strange bird. I think working with Britney and the various boy bands caused a mild mental breakdown. The traditional Russian dance was interesting. I don't think it was necessary. No matter what couple pulled that card it was bound to be a disaster.

wade robson's crash test dummy jazz routine

Um, that is really my only reality show. Not into Survivor, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Bachelor/ette, etc.
I like the discovery or animal planet shows where people just happened to be filming at the right time. You know the ones. Silly zoo goer wants to get a close up picture of Ting Ting the Panda. Fast forward to Ting Ting laying the smack down on silly zoo goer. Recently saw some divers on Untamed and Uncut have a great white hop into the shark cage with them. Reason #3569821 why I do not swim unless in a pool.
Medical Mystery, Worst Highway Chases in history, these are the shows that label me as a train wreck watcher. Only on TV. I think it is just wrong to stop your car on the highway to watch someone elses misfortune. Rude, rude, rude.

Run away rodents

My voles are back. (Kind of like mini moles) I still have Mickey and Minnie living in the wood pile. I don't mind them so much as long as they stay outside. With as many cats as we have it is their funeral should they decide to come in. In this case I still don't see them. I am fine with that. I hope they stay outside. The idea of being ripped apart by a creature 3X the size you are is just not an appealing death. J has a vendetta going with the voles. You see voles eat earth worms (among other things I am sure). We have a very nice lawn that J worked 2 years to attain. The earthworms really like our lawn. We grow very fat, happy voles. If they did not make little holes all over the yard J might not hate them.

side track moment...
The first time I saw them I swore it was a snake hole. In Texas holes like that house snakes, not this weird rodent I had never heard of. I didn't know what one looked like up close until Linus (our golden) dumped a dead one in my lap. I was very pregnant at the time with Lorelei. Happy camper was not the best description for me that day. Poor Linus. He really payed the piper for that.

...back on topic.
Take a walk through my yard. You will see the little dudes sprint through the grass. They are flat and dark so at first I thought it was a giant water roach. I totally prefer rodents over roaches. Our bug guy told us how to get rid of the buggers. Spread citronella granules over the grass. Earthworms eat it. Voles eat citro worms and die. I am not sure how I feel about it yet. They ARE outside. Our yard is not destroyed. Just a few tiny holes. They DO eat the bugs so a purpose is served. Why do I care? I think it is the little noses that do it to me. They twitch to the beat of my heart. Look at the picture below.
How can you say that ain't cute? J has a horrible memory. He never reads my blog. I think the voles are safe. Geez, I can't believe I am conspiring with rats.

4th of July Mall Crawl

We started our fourth of July by watching wall-E in the "big bed" together. Good thing we have a king size or all four of us would not fit. We didn't have anything planned. No cook outs or fireworks. After nap time we got bored. Kids and adults piled into the van. J drove around aimlessly until somehow we ended up at the Galleria in Brentwood. I was getting Lorelei out the car when i realized she had blown out her diaper. She has been on antibiotics for a double ear infection. I had a spare outfit or we would have wasted a trip.

I know kids grow fast but wow she shot up quick. Brave man to have her up there after the diaper I just changed. In this particular mall is a fantastic pizza place called the California Pizza Kitchen. There are so many choices for pizzas. I was a little overwhelmed. i will let you in on a little secret. I don't like pizza that much. They have more than pizza at CPK (California pizza kitchen not cabbage patch kids). I am trying to bring my cholesterol down so pizza and pastas are not on my list. Neither is much in the way of dairy, sugar, and red meat. I am reduced to granola and cardboard all because of 30 points. (kill me now) Oh well. Now is the time for that healthy living over haul I have been pondering.

She lasted about 45 seconds before the crayons went in the mouth.

Pizza and coca-cola. What kid could be happier?

Back on topic. I ordered a chicken won ton wrap thing. Won tons are bad for the diet but better than pizza dough. They were thin, I promise. The won tons were stuffed with chicken, tomato's, avocado, and bacon. i would have done without the bacon. I tried to scrap it out so J could put it on his pizza. He appreciated that. J's pizza was the epitome of all the things I cannot have right now. It was called the meat cravers deep dish pizza.

Mmmm, Kiwi Lemonade. So delicious.

What did you do for the fourth?

Swiss Sofa

There is a war being waged in my house. (Seems like there always is these days.) The main aggressor is under 2 yrs old and has a limited vocabulary. Her current opponent is not even human. It is princess general lorelei vs. inigo the pugliest for the rights to my lap. She won the first two rounds because she is louder. Being the most annoying gets you a lot. Ever hear the phrase the squeaky wheel gets the oil?
Inigo is in the proverbial dog house so he should not be getting any momma time anyways. The rotten beast ate a hole in my mother's chaise. Call me crazy but I prefer the furniture not resemble swiss cheese. While we are on the subject of Inigo's indiscretions I should mention that he brought me a gift he found in the back yard. Buster.
Another Internet celeb bites the dust. It is possible that it was one of his siblings. When I look down to spot a dead bird at my feet I really don't care much beyond how quick I can dispose of it. I don't know if Inigo is responsible for the death. It wasn't in bad shape if you get my drift. Could have been the massive downpour, lack of food, various animals, divine intervention, who knows? I do not plan on dwelling on it after this post. I love animals and nature. Sorry he died. Really sorry he chose my backyard to keel over. In the end Mother Nature is a harsh taskmaster. That is why I try to avoid it.

Buster

lots of commotion over here. I tested my hand at wild bird rescue this afternoon. Got the kids up from nap time to this pathetic chirping. Some Internet research and phone calls led to the events that follow in video below.

Meet Buster


This is where Buster is supposed to be.


Buster's siblings


Rescue attempt #1


Rescue attempt #2


Just going to hang out and wait for Mom.


I am happy to report that both Mom and Dad bird have returned to tutor little Buster more. No idea if they will get him back in the nest. I went out to check on him but his parents let me know I was not welcome. I backed off, happy to no longer feel the need to worry about him.

The Bed Wetter

Woke up to a nice little wet spot in my bed at 7 AM. Lorelei had removed her diaper. She peed on me. She is a sweet girl. Have to change all my linens. We needed a lighter blanket on the bed anyway. I hate washing our sheets and blankets. They are king size. We just bought new front loaders so it should not be such a pain any longer. I have to go sit and figure out my new washer and dryer. They have more buttons than my car.

It has been very hot here this week. Unusually so for this area. Our ceiling fan wore out yesterday. we run that poor thin 100% all day, every day. I would wear out too. J replaced it and I am happy to say we now have our fast fan back. J and I are extremely hot natured. we passed that tradition to our children. I think the summers in Alaska would make our family whine that it is too hot. Really we are just a bunch of wimps. I survived in Texas for 15 of my 25 years. It was miserable but I made it. I look back now and wonder how. Seems unfathomable to me. Texas, I love you. You are just too smokin' for me.

Games little girls play

Lorelei has a new game she likes to play.



What does the dog say?




In case you are wondering that is my Mom holding Lorelei. I was the director. Yes I know I sound like Jeff Foxworthy's long lost relative with that accent. Might have something to do with growing up in Texas. Just a thought.

Zombies

I grew up thinking zombie movies were just plain dumb. I was not scared of them at all. I didn't see the horror in them. They were stupidly ridiculous. i wanted nothing to do with them. In 2004 Zach Snyder directed a remake of the classic Romero movie "Dawn of the Dead". I get it now. Zombies are freaky. Totally of topic here but do you think that zombie movies are really all about the fear of being a very small minority? Nah, it is about not getting eaten alive.

Dawn of the dead (2004 remake) trivia

• The word "zombie" is never used.
• For the scene where Ana stitches Kenneth's wounds, the director hired a real nurse for the close-ups. She misunderstood the director's directions to go deeper and inadvertently punctured Ving Rhames' skin and stitched the prosthesis to his arm. He didn't say anything until after the scene was done filming and the director thought the blood was merely "a really good effect".
• Different colors of blood were used for zombies in different stages of decomposition: red for the recently dead, a browner version for the ones that have been dead for a few weeks; and a blacker, oilier version for the ones that have been dead for a considerable period of time.
• The two zombies with missing limbs (the jogger missing an arm and the legless zombie in the parking garage) were both played by actual amputees. The same thing was done for one of the first zombies seen in the original Dawn of the Dead (1978).
  
• Shot in chronological order.
• Most of the zombie makeup was modeled after real and gruesome forensic photos
• 

Dawn of the dead (2004 remake) quotes

Ana: Why are they coming here?
Kenneth: Memory, maybe. Instinct. Maybe their coming for us.

Kenneth: Is everyone there dead?
Steve: Well, dead-ish.
Kenneth: Is everyone there dead?
Steve: Yeah, in the sense that they all sort of, uh... fell down... and then got up... and started eating each other.

Kenneth: You know how to use that?
Michael: [pointing to the gun barrel] This is the dangerous end, right?
Kenneth: [Taking the safety off] Now it is.


After watching dawn of the dead J bought the video game dead rising. One person alone with thousands of dead people that want to snack on you. Makes my skin crawl. The best thing about this game is that everything is a weapon. You want to hold of the zombies by beating them with a teddy bear? Be my guest! Personally I loved the lawn mower. There is a sequel coming out in November that J is just chomping at the bit to have.

I play adventure role playing type games when I actually sit down to play them. J got me into this first person shooter game called Left for dead. It was a co-op so we got to play together. It was really a lot of fun. great way to relieve stress too! My brother in law also had the game so we played online. Now we just have to get my sister in law on so we can have a family game! Left for dead is dropping a sequel in November as well. I am looking forward to spending time with my J zombie hunting.

Here is a funny story. In the game there are things that alert the horde to your presence. One of these things is car alarms. J and I are playing and I realize that i am somehow off on my own. i tiptoe around looking for my partner when all of a sudden the car next to me begins to wail. The horde comes out of nowhere and feast on me. J had set a trap for me! He wanted to unlock the achievement for killing a certain number of horde by setting them on fire. He sat up in his perch with a sniper rifle and waited for me to get into position. Then he set me on fire while I was being eaten. talk about adding insult to injury. That is the kind of loving relationship we have.

The Dancing Baby

Lorelei like Velcro. She will undo her shoes, your shoes, a random strangers shoes. She does not like to discriminate. Diapers have Velcro of a sort on them you know. Lorelei know too. Any outfit has to either have pants or bloomers to protect her nakedness. She is crawling so pants are a bad idea unless I want the knees worn out. Dresses are not made for crawling as they tend to get in the way. The only bloomers I have match outfits. I just know as soon as I use them I will want to dress her up and not have the matching bloomers. How do we solve this crisis? Panties. I bought a 5 pack of Disney Princess panties to use as diaper covers. $8 for five pairs versus $15 for a single pair of cute bloomers. Much more economical. I got the idea from my aunt T. She was babysitting when Lorelei had a blowout. She couldn't find a pair of bloomers so she grabbed a pair of Rory's underwear. Worked beautifully. If you know a baby that is a diaper remover, tell his/her mom to buy some underwear diaper covers.

Lorelei is learning so much new stuff. She toys with the idea of walking on her feet. she is really good at walking on her knees. I don't think I have ever seen a baby knee walk as an alternative to regular walking. of course my child would be different. Her new favorite thing is dancing and clapping. In the van or in the house she bebops to the music.

Lorelei is all about showing us where her belly button is now. My kids sit on the floor looking at each other's belly buttons. They are sitting nicely and getting along so I let them bond. It won't last long. They will be back to tormenting one another shortly.

Did you know that your belly button is your first scar?

Inigo brought me a potato last night. We were in bed when I heard him trot in. This isn't unusual since he comes in every night once he is ready for bed. I was caught off guard when I heard a giant thunk. That was the potato hitting the hard wood floor. Guess he is not getting enough starch in his diet. I took the potato away. You never seen a pug look so stricken. He recovered fast. He is a little trooper.

dancing with the mice

Posting when you are suffering from a lack of sleep is not smart. I learned my lesson when I re-read my "sheep" post. I have been a bit stressed out of late. I think we might just get this house/lease thing figured out this week. That will go a long way toward defusing my stress and returning me to my usual chipper self.

Lorelei has figured out clapping. She applauds herself for everything. It is so cute we just have to join in. She is such a little stinker. Rory was a golden child at this age. He was so sweet and peaceful. Lorelei is a spitfire in a diaper. Nothing and no one is safe. We are in for a ride with her. Rory has come into his own since his quiet baby days. He keeps up with his sister just fine. The two of them together really cement the belief that I am done having more children. What would I do with a third crazy kiddo? I know, invest in a straight jacket.

The yard critters are back. Are they mice? Are they voles? Do I care? Not really. I took the trash out yesterday and two of whatever they are went running past my bare foot. I did a nice little hopping jig. I like to entertain the neighborhood with interpretive dance. I called that particular piece "Eek!" As long as Mickey and Minnie stay outside until we move we will get along.

Send me sheep!

Why am I blogging at 1:42 AM? Insomnia. The lovely head cold that Rory gave Lorelei was passed to me. This began a cycle of odd sleep patterns that have finally caught up with me. Not to mention stress about the house, packing, moving, and the state of the union.
Eh, maybe not that last one so much. I am pretty numb to that right now. Gotta prioritize, ya know.
Inigo is glaring at me with is little pug eyes. I am disturbing his nap time. His snoring bothers mine. What's a pug mom to do? I surrender. Off to count sheep.

Chin up baby

In response to my horrible weekend Parker sent me a link in my email to cheer me up.
Chin Up from the movie Charlotte's Web.
I have the best buddies. Thanks girls for all the well wishes and prayers. I appreciate them and you more than you know!

Bad Weekend

This weekend was major bad for my family. Lorelei has been under the weather but that isn't even a blip on the radar currently.

Wednesday evening we noticed a smell that was none too pleasing. I cleaned the kitchen, the trash can, dishwasher, and disposal. Still the smell remained. Friday evening we located the smell and its cause. In the kitchen we have no cabinet doors. Don't ask, long story. There is one cabinet that is never used due to its awkward location. The cats like to use is for a hidey hole. Yes that little kernel of dread that has developed in the pit of your stomach is correct. The smell was one of my Aunt B's cats. Dead. George bit the dust hard core. J chimes in with "I thought I smelled death." Ever the observant commentator.

You think that was bad. It gets worse.

Monday was the day we were supposed to close on Mom's house in Texas. Notice all the past tense in that sentence. The buyer backed out two. days. before. closing.
Pardon me, I have to climb up on the roof and do a belly flop on a rake.
*sigh
No worries. I am not the suicidal type. Low pain threshold. However I am not above a little homicide so the rake and I might be taking the train to Texas. I kid...maybe...
This puts a HUGE Godzilla size kink in our plans. I might be working on a temp solution so pray HARD for it to work out. We are looking for another buyer in Texas. The Ex-buyers were the first people to look at it after the new floors were installed so we are praying for a fast resolution to the lack of buyer. Just a lot of stress right now.
Did I mention Lorelei is sick? Yep. So even if I manage to forget all the rest of the drama I still have icky baby. She was so kind to share it with me also. I am showing the signs of her cold. Yippee skippee.

Since I need something to make me smile you get the picture below.

Go back to bed!

Rory has figured out that he can get out of his room at will. He knows better than to pop out at nap time or bedtime. Doesn't stop him from opening the door, barking a request, then slamming the door closed. Usually the request is "can I get out?"
Unlike his mother Rory is not much of a sleeper. He can be heard singing or playing several hours after he has been put to bed. Nap time is always a will he/won't he guessing game. As long as he stays in his room quietly for the allotted amount of time I am cool with the no napping thing. The past two mornings Rory has started his day at 7 AM. A loud three year old running two dogs back and forth down the hall is kind of hard to ignore. Lorelei and I are forced out of bed far earlier than we would like.
So tempting to put the childproof doorknob thing back on.

Tylenol, take me away.

Stress! I hate stress. Chaos is okay but stress is icky. House hunting for us, selling the TX house, trying to figure out what goes and what gets trashed/donated. Major headache. I am not prone to headaches. I am keeping Tylenol in business lately. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. I've been assured it is not an oncoming train.
We found our house. We close on July 1st. Sooner if we can get all our ducks in a row neatly. I am hoping for the neat ducks. The house belonged to some friends of ours that moved to Hungary. It is nice to be helping out a friend while getting what we want. Talk about having your cake and eating it too!

Rory and Lorelei have declared sibling war. He growls at her and yells "No Ma'am!". Can't imagine where he might have heard that said. Lorelei is trying to walk but finds our hard wood floors not to her liking. We took her to a friend's house that had carpet and she really showed us what she can do. I think once we get moved in she is going to take off.
Star Trek, and Drag me to Hell. Terminator 4 was much more keeping with the first two films than that train wreck Terminator 3 was. Christian Bale did a good John Connor. Kind of sounded like batman a few times though.

Star Trek was great! Cannot even talk about it for fear of spoiling. I hope they decide to do more.

Drag me to hell. Hmm, can we say scary? Yea I was a bit jumpy afterward. I went with Parker to see this. She screamed, I grabbed her leg, we held hands. We are grown women who NEVER do those things in films. It gets our seal of approval.

"WOW!"

Will work for Sushi

I love sushi. My brother in law is responsible. We were at a Shoguns of Japan Steakhouse for his 21st bday. He ordered so much sushi it was ridiculous. I did not see the check, just my part of the pot for his tab. It was very not pretty. Anyways, we all ate some. It was my first time and I was sure I wouldn't like it. I like rare steak so I am not sure why raw fish was messing with my head. I was in heaven. I tried a bit of everything. I like it all. The dilemma now is that good sushi is pricey. You either have to survive on a sampling once in a great while or brave the cheap stuff. If I have to get my fix I have found a cheap but tasty (and safe) place to get it. There is a difference though. Maybe it is a girl thing. Hershey's chocolate is great. I love it. But get me a bar of Godiva and I cherish it. We know that the more expensive stuff is a better selection. Therefore we want it over the more affordable although just as tasty stuff. Maybe I need more therapy? Same thing with shoes.

Inner Beauty is better than bad bloggers

I am going to have to weigh in on the Miss California debacle. I think it is a shame that she was penalized for giving her answer truthfully. When did saying you do not believe gay marriage become social suicide? Why was that question even asked? Does Miss America really do much lobbying in congress during her reign? From what i have heard reported she was not going to win anyway. She was behind in the swimsuit and one other category. What i find silly is how many people associated with her felt the need to contact the media to throw her under the bus. reminds me of grade school. remember when a rumor went around about one person and suddenly all his/her friends took a step back to say "we are not with that person. Don't even know 'em."
When she spoke she spoke for Carrie Prejean, the girl who scored the highest in the Miss California pageant. Not all of California, it's people, business, governments, etc. The California Pageant had to say how "disappointed" they were in Prejean. Shana Moakler spoke up about how saddened she was. Hello? Who cares? Not like USA was going to boycott California because of her answer. Chill out. I had to give her credit for giving the answer that was true to her heart in that moment. She could have lied. She knew she was gonna tank after that.
What is with Perez Hilton and his huge monster hissy fit? She didn't say what he wanted to hear so she deserves to be blasted with crude epitaphs all over the web and on TV? Equality and free speech unless you disagree with me? Have your opinion but have some class as well. No one needs to hear all the profanity and slurs to get that you are passionate about your point. Guess what? I do not believe in gay marriage. I only believe in marriage where God blesses the union. read the bible, God ain't too keen on the same sex unions. Not going to argue with any one about my opinion. The lifestyle you live is yours. My beliefs are mine. The same bible that taught me this also taught me to be kind and love all of God's children. So we might not believe the same things but I still love you as one of God's children.
As to the current events...
They have found pics of her she had taken nude. That goes against her contract and I believe she should have her crown stripped for that. As a potential role model I can get behind her being brave enough to be honest even in unfavorable conditions. I cannot condone pics in the nude.

Walk my way unless your name is Inigo; HE needs to stay in the dang yard!

Look who is off and (trying) to walk! Little Miss Lorelei! She is not so fond of the grass. The first time she felt it on her bare feet was awful. She has warmed up to it since then. As long as she is moving it is okay. Sit her down and her mood deteriorates rapidly. Rory was the same way at her age. He is all about getting in the grass now. Anything to get filthy from head to toe he is down for.
Last night as I began setting out pots and pans to cook dinner my cell phone rang. It was the Home Again pet people. "I have a lady on the phone who has your dog." I was a bit surprised. To my knowledge I had my dog. Apparently I was mistaken. Sure enough Inigo was down the road on his back getting a tummy rub in this woman's driveway. She had spotted him in her rear view mirror chasing her SUV. Pugs - all energy, no common sense. He saw me and just kind of looked like "Oh hey Mom. Where did you come from?" This is why I spent the extra $13 to get him the fancy engraved tag for his collar with his name and ID#. It has a big Home Again logo on the opposite side. To me this says, "I get around. My owner is confident I will disappear on her more than once."
This was taken about 8:45 last night. He looks bushed. Lorelei was eating cheerios out of a tupperware bowl not even a foot from him. He didn't even try to sniff them. Those neighborhood adventures take a lot out of a pooch.

Hair no more

Never, NEVER make your wife angry and then hand her a pair of electric hair clippers. All the ranting will prevent her from paying attention. she will not notice that the guard is off. The assumption that you want her to check for any uneven spots might be made. Now you have a a bald spot the approximate size of a playing card on the side of your head. This might have happened at my house.

Okay so it did happen. I swear I would never mangle a persons physical appearance on purpose. Being a woman I understand how important hair is. J's will look normal again in two weeks but right now he is bald. Completely. I tried to fix it. Just kept getting worse. I apologized profusely. J is a handsome man no matter how he wears his hair but bald is not his best style.

In other news... THE TX HOUSE SOLD!!!!
We close June 16. As soon as that is over we will talk to a loan officer about pre-approval and then find our new(bigger) home. PRAY that everything goes through!

Sassy's Bows

My BFF is thinking about opening a store on Ebay or Etsy. I am all for it. She is super talented as you can see. 99% of all the bows I have for Lorelei were made by Sassy. I swear she just keeps getting better at making boutique bows. I hope that soon I will be able to put a button that links to her shop!

She just bought a huge lot of various solid colors and polka dot ribbon. I was digging through it today. So many possibilities for awesome bows!

She is thinking about expanding to do corkers, wipe case covers, bow holders, and knit hats with the gerber daisies.

Isn't that little ribbon flower so cute?

Another cute ribbon flower creation.

We've Sprung

Mom came back from TX with sidewalk chalk for Rory. He loves being able to color on the driveway. Fans of the series Heroes might notice the heroes sign I drew. Its everywhere. its everywhere!
Lorelei had some fun making some chicken scratch with a yellow piece. As you can see I had some fun too! Kind of felt like i was back in high school scribbling I love J on the front of my notebooks in bubble letters.
My wisteria has finally bloomed. Only took 3 years to happen! Speaking of spring our doves are back. Every year we get a mating pair that builds a nest in the front yard. I think they must trust us an awful lot to leave them be because last year any time Mom and Dad went out to get dinner they left jack and judy sitting on our welcome mat. A welcome mat that doesn't say welcome but rather Beware of Cat. Kind of funny to see two baby doves sleeping cuddled together on a mat speaking about the evil cats indoors.
Our ducks are back too. They frequent the area and call a lot of places home but we usually see the same male and female wander through our yard several times in the spring. Today they had flown over our fence into the backyard. Bad place to be. Inigo was really looking forward to a play date with them. I coaxed them back over the fence where it is safer.

This is the only time Rory is allowed to push his sister.

Wonder what they are both pointing at?

That would be Daddy riding on Rory's power wheels Harley Davidson.