Well now I HAVE to blog

My husband is claiming I 'cheated' on a blog when I was in Florida--seriously, I was awake form 4 AM to 1 AM, I think that deserves a little slack--so now I'm going to blog. And you can bet I'm going to work some embarrassing hubby story in here. Maybe more than one.

Depending on your source, night terrors occur in as few of 3 percent of all children. How did I get to be so lucky as to give birth to 2 children that have them?? In the same night! Oh right, I married a man who still sleepwalks and has the occasional night terror. He broke his thumb during one such episode after drinking almost an entire 2 liter bottle of vanilla coke before going to sleep. And we were visiting friends for the weekend. Good times, good times. And for the record, we had omelettes and and pita bread for dinner last night without so much of a hint of dyes/artificial sweeteners or whatever else can sometimes cause night terrors. My kids get them because they're tired, pure and simple. And Evan wonders why we always ask if he took a nap at daycare that day...

The kitchen lady came today and was not that bad, despite the fact I was tiny bit rude on the phone to her the other day when scheduling our appt (and grumbling about the fact that I needed to leave work early in my first week). She showed up a few minutes early and didn't even spend an hour with us, so hopefully the design (and price!) comes out well.

The DirecTV guys on the other hand...good grief. Many kudos to hubby for being at home when they were here, because I don't think I would have done very well. First, they tracked mud into the newly cleaned house. And when I say newly cleaned, I mean our chick left about 10 minutes before they got here. Then they drove on the nice muddy property, which is a big no-no in our neighborhood and technically considered trespassing. Then they only brought 1 receiver instead of 2, despite the fact that we scheduled our appt 2 weeks ago (and it was canceled last week because of the weather). AND they spent THREE HOURS at our house installing 1 (new) satellite dish and 1 receiver. And he wanted to charge us $50 to 'move' a receiver from the basement to another room. The DirecTV customer service lady was very nice, but apparently I have to re-tell the story to a supervisor sometime in the next 48 hours so we can get our second receiver and hopefully avoid Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum coming back out to our house.

Oh, and a final hubby story. I was getting ready for bed last night and came downstairs to get my shoes and hubby was MIA, along with his computer. He was in the bathroom and, to quote "I'm reading." Maybe I should get him a subscription to the newspaper...

Playdates galore this weekend and hopefully a pancake breakfast at the local fire station tomorrow!!

Out of the mouths of babes

I love when kids say grown up things....especially when I'm not the grown up they're repeating. Ethan and I are sitting at the table, PC to PC, and I can't for the life of me remember what the conversation was even though it was a mere 5 minutes ago, but I made a teasing comment to Ethan and as he was giving me the look, Evan filled in the words "easy killer!" And for those of you that know Ethan, it's the phrase that was about to fall out of his mouth before Evan beat him to the punch. I think the last time Evan did that to me was about a year ago when he sat in the backseat of the car singing "driving Mommy nuts! driving Mommy nuts!" for a 20-minute car ride. Good times. So glad I have the blog to record these precious memories.

So tomorrow is a blog-free day. I think I will have to think harder about not blogging than I will about blogging! And in case I don't blog, happy leap year!! But I probably will blog, because tomorrow we meet with the kitchen lady and I'm sure that will fill me with all sorts of stories I want to blog.

Brain overload

I spent the better part of today reviewing documents, trying to figure exactly what it is I'm supposed to be doing at work. Most of the documents were written in 2006. I was actually happy to spend an hour with the client listening to him list off all the issues he's having with us right now because at least I wasn't reading it off a computer screen.

Ethan had something more fun to do after work, so it was just the boyz and I tonight and they were being pretty darn cute. Evan was good enough to get some M&Ms, which just made him that much better for the rest of the night. He looks/sounds the way I look/sound when I have a sinus infection (pale, puffy under the eyes, lots of sniffling and nose blowing), so I suggested he get ready for bed at the same time as Eric. And he did! And then came in and read stories with us, which was really cute when we got to "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You" and they were both saying all the sounds and knocking on the book. It was a rare moment. And then Evan didn't even argue when I put him to bed early, although he's still up there procrastinating going to sleep. But there are worse things in life.

We're slowly making progress on getting our kitchen re-done and I am in shock that the only time you can get an appointment with a designer is M-F 9-5. Seriously? I don't know how much this kitchen is going to cost, but I'm willing to bet I'm going to need every cent I can earn at work! And they suggest it will take multiple sessions to plan your perfect kitchen, but this lady needs to get it all in this Friday afternoon because we've spent enough time just deciding to re-do the kitchen as it is.

You gotta be out of your mind

I met some more people that I work with and am relieved to find out there is an under 40 crowd in my office. We went to what ended up to be a free lunch for everyone and the conversation went from working out/sports to yoga. Apparently, if you are nuts enough, you can be locked in a room for 90 minutes with a bunch of other nuts people to take part in a yoga class in a room that is heated to 105 degrees. I couldn't make this up if I tried.

Seriously? I got claustrophobic and sweaty just thinking about it.

And kudos to Champps for giving our party of 4 lunch on the house because the kitchen was so backed up. And it really wasn't that bad (30 minutes for appetizers, another 15 for entrees), and we did not complain, which makes it even more awesome.

The first day

Clearly I had nothing to be concerned about on the first day at the new job. It went well.

• I arrived before and left after my boss.

• I only worked 8 hours.

• My cube is quite ugly, with blue fabric on the walls and red fabric on the outside of the hanging cabinets. The chair has a suspicious stain on it.

• I have a window right outside of my cube and I can actually see out of that window.

• I can't go to the bathroom without permission because I can't get into the building. So glad there's a nice lady sitting next to me who just gave me her badge when I needed to go :-)

• I had a new used laptop waiting for me when I got there and a name tag was 'installed' by noon. Now that's service!

• The guy who sat there before me didn't do a very good job cleaning up. Some items of interest include : 63 cents in change, a tube of Tom's organic toothpaste, and a take-out container that still had half a piece of bread in it. Eww. Luckily, it didn't look like it had been there too long.

• I heard a minimum of 11 new acronyms today. Spent a lot of time on google learning what they were, which turned out to be time well spent.

Evan has been in an extreme not listening state of mind lately. As in, you tell him to do something, he says ok, and turns around and does the opposite. Hopefully this is just cabin fever and will pass soon?

Okay, enough.

I'm not quitting the 365, but the numbers and pictures are starting to restrict my creativity and random stream of consciousness. So the reading world will have to deal with the randomness that is Jessica for a while ;-)

Eric said 'giraffe' today. And then kept saying it. It was absolutely adorable and I didn't want to miss a minute of it by running to get the camera, so I just sat there laughing and smiling as he held it up saying "dur-APH!" over and over. And the more I laughed, the louder and more persistent he got, which just made me laugh and smile more.

I went to Costco today to return a couple of sweaters that were the wrong size and stood in line for 30 minutes. Roughly 2o minutes in, I found their phone number online and called to ask if they could please send a second person to help with the returns. Someone appeared a minute later, but she couldn't refund cash (and most people need cash since they only take AmEx), which I found weird. But I got my cash back, so it's all good.

I start my new job tomorrow--YIKES!! I haven't been 'unknown' at my job for like 6 years, so this is truly terrifying. But it will still be great, and I just need to get to bed (and hopefully to sleep) at a decent hour tonight.

Evan is constantly pulling on his socks. Why is this? Do other little kids pull on their socks all the time?

Day 54 - Another thoughtless post

Tired...

Day 53 - The cat (cont'd)

Even though I posted yesterday on how frustrating Cole the fat cat can be, he felt that wasn't enough and wanted me to talk some more. I go upstairs today and find him once again ignoring his comfy cozy orthopedic bed and laying on...you ready? A magazine. Seriously? I'm so confused as to why you would pick a pile of paper that's not even as big as you are over a warm cushy bed.

And tonight, just now? He made me carry him up the stairs. I took the magazine off the floor though, so who knows where he's decided to sleep. Probably on top of somebody's shoe.

Cole and his new bed...
I guess I should be grateful he's only smothering a picture of a baby
and not an actual baby :-)

The great room switch aka We're not going to jump aka It's time to call George

To enjoy a tiny bit of R&R in Florida, I opted to stay in a hotel near my grandparents house. Not an easy task, considering there was a marathon AND a lacrosse tournament going on that weekend and the hotels/planes were PACKED. But I managed to get a room and figured I could check out on Sunday and go stay with another relative if needed (waking up at 4 AM = needing a nap in a dark quiet place, which is why I wanted the hotel). My aunt and uncle from CA were staying across the straight and had a room with a sofabed so their daughter (Eric's godmother, lives in NY) could stay with them. Blah blah blah, sofabed was the size of a very small cot and my cousin is a rather tall girl, so she decided to stay with me. My room had a king bed, which is not the end of the world, but obviously 2 double beds would have been nicer.

I asked the front desk about a different room and they are, of course, fully booked, but the girl will let me know if someone asks to upgrade to a king room. I remind her of this again as I head out for some beauty time, and then again, when I get back. As I leave for the party, there is a different person at the front desk, so I figure I should make sure they're in the loop and they're not. Sigh. Write down my phone number for a second time and head on my way, pretty sure I'll still be in the same room when I get back.

Next morning we get up and shower, and I stop by the desk to see about changing rooms. The girl is back, yet I have to re-explain the whole thing. Not a problem to switch rooms, lots of people checking out today. Just need to sign 17 forms and leave our bags in one of the (locked) conference rooms. We do, write down the phone number for a THIRD time, and head to church/lunch. Come back from lunch and stop by the desk to see if a room is ready so we can move our stuff before heading out for the rest of the day.

Guy: Let me check. Oh! Yes, we have a room! Oh...it's on the second floor.

Me: Yeah? And?

Guy: Your other room was on the first floor.

Me: We're not going to jump, I promise.

He checks us into our new room and I tell him twice that I need a receipt for the 'old' room, and that we will need our stuff out of the conference room. I get the receipt on the second request and hands us our new keys with a smile.

Me: Our bags?

Guy: Oh, right. Let me see...I guess I should call George.

Teresa: Yes, I would say it's time to call George.

George is a nice guy, who re-opens the room and we grab our stuff without having to show any ID or signing any more forms. Technically, we could have grabbed someone else's stuff, but seeing as how I had my laptop and a bottle of wine we had swiped from the previous night's party, I don't think we were going to get a better deal ;-)

My grandmother invited us to stay at their place the next night, but that was enough room switching for one weekend!!

Day 52 - What?!?!?

I need to learn how to speak cat. Enough of this meowing at 4 AM for no apparent reason and then finding kitty waste in various places in the house. Just tell me when the litter box is no longer meeting your standards! How am I supposed to know that you need a fresh box every 3 days?

And why won't you sleep in the nice comfy heated orthopedic bed anymore? It's right next to the heating vent and if it weren't 2' by 2', I would probably sleep in it, it looks so comfortable! Why do you have to sit next to my ear and meow instead??

And why is it that you can bang your big head into everything in the house, but you can't give your food dish a little nudge so that more food will fall down into the bowl. WHY?!?

How long do cats live? I know Ethan's answer: too long!!

Cole, in his younger days...

Whores and topless oysters

The post you've all been waiting for...and I'm sure it won't live up to the hype ;-)

After arriving in Florida and trying desperately not to get myself left by the highway after all my comments and having my luggage arrive at the same time, my aunt, uncle, and I headed to the church hall/room/place where the surprise birthday dinner was going to be held. While that sounds a little cheesy, it turned out very nice with some tablecloths and candles. As an added bonus, the church nursery was down the hall and available (with babysitter) for small children to go to after dinner which is a truly great thing when there are like 15 kids there.

So we get to the church and get tables/chairs set up and one of my aunts is making labels for what goes on what table so the caterers could do their things. One of the tables was for hors d'oeuvre which no one knew how to spell (I just had to google it), and after various attempts, someone said "just write whores on it and they'll know what it means." And that kicked off the round of jokes about the whores and the whore table and who should be sitting there and what we would wear if we were at that table. I think they ended up writing "appetizers" on the card instead.

After labeling tables (and labeling me "mom" because I had a bag of snacks that was keeping people somewhat subdued), several of us headed out to lunch at a sort-of local seafood place. One of those places where you're sitting at what looks like a folding table and the drinks are served in big styrofoam cups with whatever you ordered spilling over the side. Classy. But damn good food! And I immediately see on the menu that you can order topless oysters, which seemed like a good thing to serve at the whore table.

See? It was much funnier there, in the moment.

On the upside, all the women were at one end of the table and when the bill came we pretended to be deep in conversation until the men finally paid. Worked out especially well for the 2 of us that were there without men ;-)

Day 51 - A lady of leisure

To continue my week of unemployment, I laid around all day watching soaps and eating bon bons. Ha! Whatever. The only reason I turned on the TV was to let the boyz watch Disney channel so I could shower before taking them to daycare. Then I went to Target and spent most of the rest of the on the computer doing un-fun things that needed to be done. And still haven't touched the taxes. Maybe tomorrow?

My new laptop is slightly uneven and rocks back and forth as it types, so I called Dell to complain. The woman finally understood my problem when I compared it to an uneven table at a restaurant where you finally stick a sugar packet under one of the legs. The good news: they're sending me a new laptop. The bad news: they're sending me a new laptop. After I finally got most everything set up on this one the way I like it. Oh well, better than being computerless for a couple of weeks!!

I think it's still snowing...kind of hoping it stops so I can (selfishly) enjoy another day by myself tomorrow!

The last snowfall we had (which just recently melted)

Why 6:30 AM flights are a bad idea

Lessons learned:

1. I had to wake up at 4:00 AM to be ready to go for my aunt/uncle taxi service which arrived at 4:45 AM.
2. Taxi didn't quite make the left onto a major road and we ended up driving into oncoming traffic for about 2 seconds. Luckily, since it was so early, there was no oncoming traffic.
3. Our driver (I won't say if it was the aunt or uncle), he complained the intersection was not well marked. Then said driver asked about the road to the airport and I told driver not to worry, it's well marked. Driver muttered some not very nice words to me in the rear view mirror.
4. I made another well marked comment in the parking garage and am lucky I wasn't locked in the trunk.
5. It's damn cold at 5:00 AM when you're walking from the garage to the airport. Especially when you decided to leave your coat at home.
6. It's awesome to have your connection gates right across from each other when you only have a 30 minute layover in Atlanta.
7. It's not awesome for your bags to have a 30 minute layover in Atlanta.
8. It's less awesome when you've been making smart-ass "it's well marked" comments all morning AND you decided to carry on your bag.
9. Don't gloat about carrying on your bag, not even while sitting in the backseat on the phone with your husband.
10. Always turn down the volume in the rental car, otherwise you might be deafened by Nelly "Hot in Herre" blasting from the speakers.

Stay tuned to hear about the whores and topless oysters...don't worry, that's not going to be my picture blog!!

Mommy, I need you to do me a flavor

Time to take a break from the hideous to-do list I need to work through this week and oh good grief, it has just started to snow. Please don't close daycare early, please don't close daycare early.

I think it was Friday night (either that or it was Tuesday night, because Eric was in the tub and I really don't think I could remember anything as far back as Sunday night and those are usually the nights our children bathe/shower). Man it feels good to let that stream of consciousness go! And I spelled 'consciousness' right!! Go me!

Anyway.

Evan and I were putting laundry away (well, I was putting it away and he kept re-arranging the piles) and he said "Mommy, I need you to do me a flavor."

"A flavor?" I asked

"Yes. You need to go give Daddy a kiss."

Umm. Okay. Easy enough. I go into the bathroom where Eric and Ethan are making a great splashing mess and give Ethan a kiss while Evan peeks in through the door, giggling at us.

In his stage whisper roar "and tell him you love him"

Again, easy enough, and I have completed all my flavors for the evening.

Kids are so cute.

Day 50 - Ahhhh

It's nice to be home, and I think I need a list of all the things I need to blog about from the trip and even a little bit before.

• Mommy, I need you to do me a flavor
• The trip down
• Whores and topless oysters
• The great room switch aka We're not going to jump aka It's time to call George
• Flip-flop shopping--more than just shoes
• Atlanta to Dulles--worst part of the trip

Let's see how many of those I get to in the next couple of days, among all the other things I need to do!

But I did get home safe and sound and the boys were very excited to see me and absolutely adorable with fresh haircuts. Brave Ethan for taking them by himself! Thankfully, there were still some 'babies' in Florida and I got to enjoy a little snuggle time with my youngest cousin Olivia.

Day 49 - Almost over...

The bad news is, the trip to Florida is almost over. The good news is, I will be home with all my boys and will have plenty of blogging time to catch up on stories, memories, and generally make up for all the crap I've been posting in a rush for the past week because I've had no time to spend in front of the computer doing fun stuff.

Weather was weird today...heavy rain, sun, threatening clouds, then more sun. Makes for some great photos though...

Day 48 - It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a...

...space station?

An added 'cool thing' about the trip to Florida is that we had the chance to see the space station flying overhead. My dad gave us a pre-warning, and then stood watch in the front yard of my aunt's house until it finally appeared. It really was cool, kind of like a shooting star...this small but very bright light sailing across the sky.

I warned you that it was small...

see the teeny tiny dot in the lower right corner of the picture?

Day 47 - She missed it! Or did she?

Is this really today's blog? Close enough. After waking at 4 AM to get to the airport for a 6:30 AM flight, I made it to my secret destination--Florida for my grandmother's 80th birthday party, which was a surprise. She was surprised. It was great. We stayed up until 1 AM.

Happy Birthday Grandma! Enjoy your weekend!

Day 46 - Still tired

Today was my last day of work, and I re-start at my new job next Monday (25th). This afternoon was a whirlwind of packing stuff, saying goodbye, and pacing myself on the margaritas so I could still come home and see the family before bedtime. I have to be up and out of the house at 4:45 AM tomorrow (more on that in the next couple of days) and I hate it because I feel like I've hardly seen my boys (including Ethan) this week. But the trip is for a good cause and will be a great time and hopefully we can get into a little more relaxed routine when I get back.

Hopefully I'll get at least one night of un-interrupted hard core sleeping...like this guy :-)

Day 45 - It's Valentine's Day

As my dear hubby said to me tonight "it took me a while, but I've learned." And learned he has. I am not a fan of Valentine's Day...it looks like an excuse to spend a lot of money on a fancy dinner and flowers that you could go out 3 'regular' nights and spend the same. I love my hubby and don't need a specific day in the year to tell him, although it is a nice reminder for me to tell him at least. Anyway, I picked the boys up from daycare and they each had a card for me (with Daddy's help), which was sweet. And Evan was SO excited to give it to me, which was even cuter. Ethan and I attempted to have a semi-nice/quiet dinner at home, but the boys were not very quiet and we ended up watching the red lights of the monitor while Eric screamed and listening to Little Einsteins in the background. Ah, well, we were together and had a little bit of uninterrupted adult conversation, so that's good enough for me!

Enough blogging, back to some quality time with hubby and trying not to be on an emotional roller coaster about my last day at work tomorrow.

Here's the boys and all their 'loot'

Day 44 - The rule of thirds

Photography class #2, where we learned about composition and 'the rule of thirds.' In a nutshell, it's wrong to center your picture. Sort of. You shouldn't center the main focus of the picture. So if you're taking a portrait of a person, you wouldn't want their eyes to be at the center of the picture, because that tends to be the main focus. And if you're taking a landscape shot, you want the horizon line to be in the top or bottom third, depending on whether you're highlighting the ground or the sky. I think I do okay on the people thing, but wasn't sure about the landscape thing. Surprisingly enough though, I think I got it...most of the time ;-)

Got it.

Don't got it.

Day 43 - It's here!!

My new computer is here. FINALLY. Even though the DHL website still says it's sitting in a warehouse waiting for me to pick it up.

And I'm spending so much time trying to get everything loaded on it, I have no energy for other thoughts.

Sharing the love...

Eric is still on the nebulizer treatments, although we're down to 3 times a day. Still, treatment #2 needs to happen mid-day, so daycare has the joy of handling that one. I warned them, I really did. I told them that he has a tendency to fight and cry and scream and offered some suggestions to minimize that (books, Evan, straight jacket).

I get a phone call early this afternoon from one of the directors. Eric had his medicine, but she's not sure they will be able to continue doing this because she feels they might be breaking state laws if they have to use force to hold him down.

It was all I could do not to laugh, and I know, it's not really that funny and I understand the concern because I know how loud and squirmy he is and have perfected a "hold" to keep him from getting away. I showed one of my co-workers the hold (her son is in the same situation), and someone thought we were demonstrating some sort of self-defense move.

After picking Eric up this afternoon and listening to one of the office women going on and on about how horrible it was, I just looked at her and said "Yeah, I know. We had to do it FIVE times a day this weekend. That's TEN times." And the other office lady looked like she was doing all she could not to laugh. I felt better. And am still laughing at the fear of breaking state laws :)

Day 42 - Does this happen to other people?

In preparation for leaving my current job and giving up my sweet laptop, I bought a new laptop. No idea if I'll get one with the newjob, but somehow I don't think it's appropriate to keep a kabillion photos on a work laptop. So the new one made good sense.

Ordered it a little over a week ago, and got a notice last week that it would arrive on Friday. Sweet! I came home early Friday, saw the laptop had not yet been delivered and there was no "sorry we missed you" note on the door, and did not leave the house until Ethan came home so I wouldn't miss it. The overflowing bag of dry cleaning is still sitting in the front hallway. The delivery guy never showed up and sometime that evening the website showed they had tried to deliver at 9:30 in the morning. But never bothered to leave a note.

I called DHL and they informed me that the laptop would be re-delivered on Monday and I would have to be there to sign for it. And no, I could not sign the little slip of paper (that they forgot to leave), I had to physically be there. Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM.

I called Dell and spent over an hour on the phone with 4 different people trying to get them to call DHL to 1) deliver on Saturday, 2) remove the signature requirement, or 3) change the shipping address to my office. There was a lot of nasty exchanges, and not all on my part. I was 'disconnected' twice. The 4th guy finally changed the shipping address, so I guess I was the most polite with him. The 1st guy suggested I should go pick up the laptop at DHL between 9-5/Mon-Fri and I asked him if he was going to refund me the amount of money I was going to lose in vacation time if I did that. The answer, no surprise, was no. He had a lot of other equally bad suggestions which is why I think I got disconnected when I insisted on speaking with his supervisor (and I actually had to say the words "I insist on talking to your supervisor" because he would only put me through if I "insisted").

As of this morning, no update on DHL's website, so I call to find out when they are going to deliver it. A lovely woman says the change has not gone through yet, but they could hold the package there and I could pick it up before 8 PM tonight. I can do this.

I show up at DHL at 7:20 tonight to find out my package is no longer at their facility; it has been re-routed for delivery to my office. Maybe tomorrow. And it's not even worth calling to complain about anymore, which is why my blog-readers are victim to this whole story :-)

Evan playing on my computer at bring your kids to work day

A blog that needs to live on...

I'm still crying from laughing so hard. Go here.

Thanks Chick

Day 41 - Here's the deal; it'll only take a couple of minutes

I cringe when my husband starts a conversation with "here's the deal." Usually it means he is going to try and get me to do something that will almost entirely benefit him, but make me think that it benefits me as well.

He's also famous (in our house) for his use of the word "couple." To me, a couple is a small number, most commonly TWO. To him, it means way more. If we're talking physical objects/beings, it's a minimum of 3 and anywhere up to about 8. If we're talking about a couple of minutes? Yeah, that can go at least an hour. And "quick" is pretty interchangeable. Like today, we finally got around to re-anchoring the cabinet of death. Seemed like an easy task: shift to the right 2 inches, insert some big ass screws into the wall. How foolish of me.

I am sitting in the dining room, preparing to blog, and realize the internet has died on me. I go downstairs to find he has disconnected everything in the cabinet, namely the cable modem and wireless router. They weigh about 6 ounces each. I'm not sure how removing them from the cabinet simplified this process any. Oh, and when he disconnects things, he rips the power cords out of the back with no regard to what was connected where.

Then, apparently there is only 1 stud behind where he is trying to put the cabinet of death, and we need 2. We hang 300 pounds worth of electronic equipment plus big heavy Waterford bowls/vases off our wall with only one stud, but this one requires 2, in his eyes. So we make a makeshift stud which involves me holding a piece of wood while he drills into it and I pray that I survive this episode without injury.

And then I have to put the laptop, modem, router, phone, and printer back into the cabinet and re-connect all the wires. But rest assured, it only took a couple of minutes ;-)

A good 'evil man' picture :-)
Although it's hard not to laugh when he looks so small in that big shirt :-)

Day 40 - Time is running out!!

Just finished a lovely dinner, a bottle of wine, and a round of cards with some friends and realized I have less than 40 minutes left to post in the day--gasp!!

A long story I can't really tell to preface this, but today I was at an event where someone was, well, complaining, that there were no schools in this area that satisfied what they were studying. Seriously, we live in the general area of the capital of the United States--what the hell was this girl studying that couldn't be found in the DC, Baltimore, or northern Virginia region? Really, truly, I hope someone can tell me, because I am at a loss to think of what it could be.

Just to prove how 'city' we are, here's a video of when Evan spotted a turtle on the sidewalk behind our house about a year ago. I can almost hear the 'Green Acres' music playing in the background:

And just to clarify, yes, Evan is wearing his pajama shirt with boxers (no pants),
Eric's hat, and a Spiderman backpack. Talking about bears and wolves.

I have to do my photography 'homework' tomorrow, so hopefully the boys will cooperate as my subjects. Or at least be nearby while the camera is out :-)

Day 39 - And they laughed

Yesterday's posts were a little loose on details, so just to clarify:

• I have put in notice at my current job and will be starting a new one in a few weeks. I'm excited and nervous, all at the same time. I've received a lot of great compliments from my current co-workers and clients though, which continues my cloud from yesterday.
  

• The doctor was 95% sure that Eric just had a virus, but because of Evan's recent pneumonia, gave us antibiotics 'just to kill anything that might be there.' He's the man :-) We have to nebulize Eric FIVE times a day this weekend, but he's actually doing very well. Except when Ethan gives him the nebulizer :-(

Ethan calls this afternoon to ask if I talked to to the guy who used to be my boss and is now my boss 3 levels up. I say no, why would I have called him?

E: Because he called last night

J: And you're just now telling me?

E: I tried a couple of times, but you were talking too much and then I forgot.

So I call the old boss and immediately apologize for not calling sooner and explain that I just got the message because Ethan said he tried to tell me, but I was talking too much. And my old boss? He LAUGHED. And agreed that I can talk too much!!

And when I told Ethan that he had laughed, he started laughing too. And laughed for a long time.

I don't talk THAT much.

But my boyz do love to laugh :-)

Different planets, same universe

Conversation between hubby and I over lunch today:

Me: Eric's still breathing pretty hard, not sure whether to go ahead and take him to the doctor today or wait and see how he does over the weekend with the nebulizer.

Translation: Do I take him today when I am already working from home or do I roll the dice and hope that he gets better over the weekend so I don't have to take time off on Monday and waste a vacation day at a job I am only going to be at for another week?

Hubby: If you can get an appointment for today, then you should take him today. Or I can take him during the walk-in hours tomorrow.

Translation: Take him today because I don't want to have to take time off tomorrow to take him even though I have a job with gobs of leave. And if he doesn't go today and he really is sick, I will subtly lay on the thick guilt (see note below).

Later in the afternoon, I call to tell him I have gotten Eric an appointment for this afternoon so he will need to pick up Evan and take care of dinner.

Hubby: What made you change your mind?

Translation: Holy crap! She listened to me? I am the man!

Sigh. Are we speaking the same language?

As an added note, whenever Ethan wants to take Eric to the doctor NOW and I think we should wait, Eric is sick with something they can treat (i.e. ear infection). But whenever I rush to take him to the doctor, it's always a damn virus that they can't do anything about. Maybe my luck is changing?

Day 38 - Sometimes, it's just nice to hear it

I know I'm a good mom...I'm not perfect and I'm sure I could be a better mom, but all in all, I know I'm good. Sometimes it's nice to hear it though.

**Warning: this could be seen as another 'sick kid blog', which according to my husband, I post way too much about sick kids**

Evan is fully recovered from his latest round of pneumonia, and had a visit with the doctor this morning resulting in a clean bill of health. Eric has also been pretty healthy, except for a cough and runny nose/eyes which I blamed on the sudden warm weather that showed up earlier this week. Then his breathing started to get a little heavy after doing absolutely nothing strenuous and didn't seem to get any better after the nebulizer. After a story I'll post separately, we decide it's better to get him checked out and, lucky lucky, get an appointment for late afternoon with THE doctor. When I say THE doctor, it's because he's the reason the practice is so popular. He's old school, doesn't mess around, and whatever his diagnosis is, you're confident that's what it is because he's so confident.

Eric and I show up for the 4:40 appointment armed with snacks and toys galore, preparing for the worst after Evan's 4-hour visit last week. Wasn't too bad of a wait and the doctor comes in and does his thing...listening, diagnosing, explaining treatment, writing prescriptions. All the while, Eric is sitting on my lap drooling like crazy, flipping through books before requesting another from the giant basket they keep in each exam room. He's babbling the whole time "mommy...daddy...baby...puppy...cat" and I'm trying to keep him on each page a little longer, asking where thing are and what noise different animals make. The doctors stops all his writing and looks over and smiles and says "thanks...I'm enjoying this...it's really great to see how you're taking this time and just enjoying it with him and mothering him and reading to him."

I could continue about how great the rest of the night was, despite a trip to CVS, an awful dinner at Popeye's and TWO nebulizer treatments, but I'm still just too darn proud of myself for being a good mom and having a (almost) complete stranger recognize it.

Almost forgot the picture, I'm on such a cloud!

Day 37 - Photography 101

Tonight was my first photography class. It's in one of the science classrooms of a local high school. There's a hamster running on a wheel (in a cage), a stuffed squirrel, and a tank that looks like it should hold some sort of slithery animal, but there was no slithery animal. Is that what high school science classrooms look like everywhere?

The teacher is an odd lady with no kids, but a "cat out of wedlock." Most people in the class seem normal and somewhat intelligent with varying interests in photography (kids vs. nature vs. architecture), so it should be good. Today I learned how to take a picture without a flash by setting the aperture and shutter speed. Here's what I got:


Ooh...ahh...

Day 36 - Pictures only

Roller coaster of a day, so no time/energy for stories...

Good for a smile though :-)

Day 35 - Is that Klingon?

Eric speaks his own language, one that even Ethan and I have trouble understanding most of the time. But sometimes...sometimes he comes out with something that makes you cock your head to one side like a dog does when they think they heard something they wanted to hear, but aren't sure if they heard it.

I went to Marshalls the other day and when I came home (with a bag in my hand), he said "whadja buy?"

When Grandma was visiting last week, he asked where Pop-pop was and after Grandma said he stayed home, he asked "Wass he doing?"

(Evan used to say "Daddy! Doing!?" constantly when he was little and it was the sweetest thing ever.

We have tried to teach Eric this phrase, but he absolutely refuses to give in.)

So here's my little Klingon

Day 34 - Where does the time go?

Somehow, it's almost 10:00. Where did the day go? We got up, had pancakes, Ethan went to help a friend shop for golf clubs while the boys and I stayed home and made bread...lunch, naps, 2 trips to the Container Store, replacing the shelves in our living room with the new shelves, off to friends for the Superbowl...hmmm, I'm starting to see where the day went. And the worst part? I missed halftime. I assume it happened just about the time I put Eric to bed and then supervised Evan's shower before putting him to bed. Bummer. The last few minutes of the game are proving to be pretty exciting though, so at least there's that. And there's a new episode of House on tonight!! Sneaky networks, hanging onto a couple of episodes...

In the shelf re-arranging, I decided to pull down the picture of Evan we had up, seeing as how we (okay, I) never bothered to put a picture of Eric up there, even though I have one that's kind of the same. So, to be a fair parent and equal to both my children, I'll post them here instead:

Evan (3 days old)

Eric (5 days old)

And holy crap, I can't believe the Giants just won the Superbowl.

Day 33 - A deal of a day!!

Ethan called me at work yesterday to share a mix of news:

The bad - the blender had died. It was smoking and seemed to be melting.

The good - he got the best damn pomegranate smoothie out of it before it croaked

We estimated the blender had lasted at least 3 years, which isn't too bad considering he uses it a pretty good amount, especially during workout times. And it does a good enough job to keep me from 'needing' the Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker. For now anyway. At some point my mother will get tired of hers, right? ;-)

So we decide to stick with the same brand of blender (Cuisinart) and opt for a slightly different style, but it's essentially the same as the old one with a kick-ass motor. Bed Bath and Beyond has it on their website, so I head to the store with one of many 20% off coupons.

No blender.

Linens n Things did NOT have the blender on their website, but I head over there anyway because they usually have a good selection of stuff (better than BBB). Ta-da! They have the blender! For $30 more. Argh. Ethan sends me the BBB link so I can pull up the price on my phone and I head to the cash register and make my case. The guy rings it up and it actually is the same price as the BBB one, so that was a waste of an argument. BUT. Because I brought my business to LNT instead of BBB, he knocks another $10 off the price, and then gives me the 20% off (they always take the coupon). Sweet!!

It gets better.

I headed to Giant to pick up some things for a Superbowl party tomorrow and to take advantage of a 'spend $20 on sour cream and pizza and get $7 towards your next order.' I don't get my $7 (I think I technically only spent $19.98 before taxes, which may have something to do with it). Since I'm a self-checkout kind of girl, I head to customer service with my receipt and the weekly ad. The guy gives the receipt a quick glance, opens his register, and presents me with $7. Double sweet!!

I ordered a new laptop last night and today Ethan got a gift card in the mail for the same company (he bought a new laptop a few months ago). They will not apply the gift card to my already made purchase, and Ethan is trying to convince me to cancel and re-place the order so I can use the gift card (no penalty for doing this). I keep asking him what kind of deal he's going to give me :-)

Evan and his smoothie mustache (or 'soobie', as he used to call them)

Day 32 - Manly Jambalaya

I have to admit, I was afraid. Since his job allows him to work less or no hours on Fridays, my hubby has taken over dinner duty on Friday nights. It hasn't been easy. Not on me, having to relinquish control of something, and not on him, having to deal with my pickiness at what he's cooking and what he's using to cook it. I mean, the man can grill like nobody's business, so why is there a need to step into the kitchen--my domain--and cook there??

To make it even more frightening, he insists on cooking from these A Man, A Can cookbooks. Although, I have made some of these recipes myself and they're not so bad. I think I'm just still traumatized from the day Ethan made the boys chicken nugget refried bean burritos for dinner.

Anyway, tonight was 'Manly Jambalaya' night. It had chicken, sausage, shrimp, AND bacon in it. He didn't realize the recipe called for 'regular' rice and he was using instant. I forgot to buy green pepper. He used some sort of onion spice instead of one of the many onions sitting in the refrigerator.

It was pretty good. I'm pretty sure I have a clogged artery from all the greasy saltiness, but it still was good. Evan ate most of it after we convinced him the sausage was hot dogs and Eric held his own after he lost interest in putting his feet on the table (a firm voice when you're trying not to laugh just doesn't seem to do it, but the sight of his little red sock inching onto the table was just too funny to contain).

So if your hubby wants to cook manly jambalaya, give it a chance. Join in the moment and have a beer and good belch afterwards too ;-)

In the interest of being a stern parent, I was not able to take a picture of Eric sticking his foot on the table. So here's my hubby with his favorite cooking utensil.