A new bloggy home after long absence

Due to some crazy operator errors I have to change my bloggy home. From now on you can find the Aspirant Scribbler at Leaping Leprachauns

Hope to see you there!

2 yrs today

It is 11:51 PM. Two years ago today I was waiting for the epidural to wear off so I could take a shower and get in my room. Then they would bring me back my perfect baby girl who was all of two hours old.

Flash forward to the present and that same little girl is asleep snuggled up to her Daddy. Tomorrow we are having a McDonald's birthday party because this Mom thinks it is great that I can pay $80 bucks for someone else to do all the work. Happy Birthday precious girl!

Hi! I like you.

My son is now four years old. I have noticed over the last few months that anytime I introduce him to some one new he tells them, "Hi! I like you!" Remember the age when everyone was your friends simply because you had no reason to doubt them? I miss that innocence of childhood. I have to admit that I am still way over friendly. J complains that I will talk to any one for hours about nothing. It is a gift my Mother taught me.

My daughter, who will be two on Friday, is not so open to strangers. She likes her space free of extra bodies. Mostly so she has more room to dance. She is a rump shaker. We are trying to break her of her Lady Gaga addiction. She has an obsession with her. I see many recitals in my future. I danced when I was a teenager. Not well but I managed to keep up. My tiny dancer has more talent at 2 than I did at 14. It is a hard thing to admit but I will survive.

Florida Python

Up late one night I see a program called Monster Quest on the History Channel. The subject for this weeks episode is giant snakes in America. Here is what the guide said about it: A deadly, slithering menace is taking over Florida and may be heading north. For more than 100 years, giant pythons have been discovered in parts of the Sunshine State, but since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, their territory has rapidly spread. Now, MonsterQuest searches for incursions in the outskirts of Miami, a population hot spot that is just moments from schools and homes. The team investigates whether pythons could hybridize and adapt, enabling them to threaten every state in the US.



By the end of the program the answer is clear that yes pythons are doing a booming business. They caught one that was 20 feet long! Several scientist give their two cents worth but the one I just loved was the guy who said snakes are not aggressive. I agree (sort of) that snakes are not lurking out in the grass waiting to eat human passersby. You cannot argue that bigger snakes need bigger prey. What does a 20 ft python eat? The real question is what does a 20 ft Python NOT eat. It was really an interesting show and I learned a lot. Mostly why I won't be moving to Florida.

If you are interested you can watch it on Saturday, February 06 03:00 PM on the History Channel.

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?