a little update

i would be remiss if i didn't at least make note of the last few weeks. i had a second surgery on my wrist the day before having 19 people at our house for thanksgiving dinner. thankfully, we were picking up that dinner and not making by hand from scratch! i slept most of thanksgiving day.

having a second surgery was a road i didn't wish to travel, but one that was necessary since the first screw was stripped and ineffective. the second surgery also restarted my 3-6 months in a cast timer. i hope to be out of this cast sometime between late february and late may. funny thing is, this time around i rarely feel the cast. it's become very much a part of my body, barely registering sensation as i go about my day. this time around was much more intense pain the first two weeks as i adjusted to the much larger screw. however, i minded my surgeon and have used my hand little, if at all. for the first time in months, i have hope that it may someday heal.

one other item of note. little dude is also in a cast owing to his big brother's loving shove and the resultant dislocated ulna. we're quite the pair, and i've taken to telling people that i've learned not to arm wrestle my 3 year old...no one wins!

go ahead, try it.

try to open a ziploc bag with one hand. try to dry off your back after a shower with one hand. try to wash your face at the end of a day with one hand. just for the sake of giggles, try to pull on your pants with one hand tomorrow. then try to button those jeans with one hand. now tie your shoes with one hand.

how about your hair? i use mousse in mine. try to dispense mousse into the same hand you're using to dispense the product. now try to put on deodorant. try to put toothpaste on your toothbrush while it lays unsupported on the counter top. or try to open a child proof medicine bottle with one hand.

next time you do laundry, try to fold it using one hand. let me know if you figure out how to fold socks or sheets. then try to strip a bed and remake it with only one hand.

i'm not complaining, i'm only suggesting that my life is significantly changed. i had no idea how vitally important having two functioning hands was until i temporarily lost the use of one. also, please excuse my lack of caps as i struggle to tap out a post with one hand. it's not as easy as it looks!

broken

in case you're wondering, i'm broken and typing is a challenge. i broke my wrist 3 october, had surgery 9 october, took a whole lot of percoset and am on my third bottle of vicodine. fun times! still managing to keep up (catch up) with school for the kids, but the house and anything computer related is woefully neglected. maybe i'll try to catch up in 2-5 months when i get my cast off.

next time honey, don't kick me so hard! oh, and i promise not to block like that again. :o)

Is it really September?

Funny how time has a way of speeding away from us. Here it is, nearly the middle of September, and I have no idea where the summer went, or the first three weeks of school. My, how time flies!

We've been busy, but a very good kind of busy. All three kids are really enjoying piano lessons, and of course, Little Dude would like to start now, too. They're all doing soccer (well, Little Dude just plays with the mama), all doing karate (um, again, Little Dude has his own way of doing this, although he's working on charming Sensei Martha into letting him start early), and of course, all doing school. Even Little Dude is beginning to read with his older brother. Who says 3 is too young to start Kindergarten???

Last week, we dealt with an Africanized bee hive in our tree. I'm not as loving as I once was toward bees. It certainly doesn't help that Little Miss is sensitive to bee venom (and has an epi-pen), and those weren't your run-of-the-mill European honey bees. I still twitch when anything flies by, including flies.

Our latest adventure was to go to the AIAA Space Conference & Exposition here in San Diego. Education Alley was a blast, and we certainly will look forward to whenever this conference returns. It was fun and quite educational!

Never a dull moment around this house, but maybe I can manage to update a bit more often. It's all about routine!

Yes, I did fall off the face of the earth.

Apparently having your spouse away for an extended amount of time, dealing with ER visits, doctor visits, legos up the nose, visiting friends and trying to get organized for school is more than a full time job.

So I fell off the face of the planet, and survived. I'm still here. I'm still considering those "finished bathroom" pictures and I'm still managing to survive. In case you're counting, we're in week 5 of the Lizard's travel. He comes home soon. I hope I remember to pick him up from the airport!

School officially starts next Monday, but I started yesterday. It kind of feels good to be teaching again, and I'm excited about what this school year will bring. I have classes scheduled, speech therapy scheduled, piano lessons (for the three oldest) are scheduled and karate continues to go full bore.

Speaking of karate, we've recently had a slew of advancements. Mighty Man received his first belt promotion to Yellow Belt. Little Miss advanced to green Belt as will the Lizard, when he returns from his worldly wanderings. And Monkey Boy and I both put on Orange Belt right before the other three promoted, so in a month, we've all advanced! Watch out world, here we come!

That's it for now...I'm back to the grindstone. I must get all of my paperwork and books in order if I'm to continue with school in the morning! Until I write again...

What a dive.

With The Lizard in Hawaii, we've been talking about scuba diving. We're both certified divers, but haven't been diving in nearly 10 years. The last time we were diving together was the month before I got pregnant with Little Miss. Little Miss turns 9 next week, and gets her cast off the same day.

In any case, we've been talking about diving again. I dug out my dive log and reminisced about some of our last dives together. In 1998, The Lizard and I met up on Oahu in Hawaii and dove every day, sometimes twice or three times in a day while we were there together. We did Waimea Bay (the Maui Wreck and surge canyons), Shark's Cove and Three Tables. We saw sting rays, sea turtles, octopuses, shrimp and thousands of fish, including bunches of Moorish Idols. It was definitely a good time.

It will be nice to pick up diving again now that the kids are a bit older. If only we had unlimited time and money. Personally, I'd love to go back to the Gulf of Aqaba and dive off the coast of Jordan again. There's something to be said for bathtub warm water and unlimited visibility.

"Just a widdle wego wheel."

Sorry I've been so scarce. I've been a tad preoccupied with other things.

Wednesday night Little Dude woke up sobbing about his ear hurting. Took a long time to get him settled...tylenol, motrin, and finally pain killing drops in the ear (he has tubes). Called pedes Thursday morning and got him in only to be told "all looks good, nothing wrong, nothing we can do." He was still screaming in pain throughout the day, so I called his ENT and left a message. Got a call back, nothing we could do except continue to treat the pain with alternating tylenol and motrin, instructions to call back if he had a fever. More pain and sobbing Thursday night. Mighty Man randomly says something about his ear, which I ignore because I'm dealing with Little Dude's ear and thought it was attention seeking on his part.

Little Dude's still sobbing/screaming in pain Friday morning and spikes a fever (nearly 102 with both motrin and tylenol on board). Call ENT, he tells me to take him to pedes and get a second opinion.

The oldest three had karate camp from 10-11:30. The only urgent care appointment available is 11:30 unless I want to wait until 8:30 at night. Oh, and The Lizard? Is on a plane to Hawaii. I call a friend to pick up the kids, drop off 3 at the dojo and run to the pede early. Turns out, Little Dude has swimmer's ear. From swim lessons. Pick up numbing drops and antibiotic drops for his ears.

I got home, then made lunch for my friend and her son who picked up the kids. We sat and chatted while the kids played. I'm so thankful for her help!

As soon as she left, I started getting the kids ready for swim lessons. Mighty Man mentions he wants me to look at his ear because there is wax in it (he's had wax problems before and we usually pull a big chunk...pencil eraser size...out when he complains). I pull out the otoscope and take a look. Sure enough, there's a huge chunk of wax, so I try to get it out. It's weird, so I ask if there's anything else in his ear. He assures me there's nothing. I try again, and the wax really feels hard, which I find strange since he's been in swim lessons for the last 6 weeks. I ask again if there is anything in his ear (not believing for a moment that there is, but just wanting to make sure).

"Wewl, just a widdle wego wheel."

*JUST* a little lego wheel??? I called the pede, who told me that I needed to go to the ER. Neither the pedes or the Intermediate Care have the sterilized instruments needed to extract foreign objects from the ears. So guess what? I had to take Mighty Man to the ER yesterday afternoon.

Fortunately, The Neighbor called just as I was trying to figure out what I was going to do, and he was home from work and sight seeing for unexpected reasons. He came up and took Little Miss, Monkey Boy, and Little Dude down to his house while I took Mighty Man to the ER. We were in and out, including getting meds (the same exact pain killing and antibiotic drops I got for Little Dude earlier) in about an hour.

Turns out it was really a hotwheels sized tire, so not quite as big as I thought. Also seems as though Mighty Man put it in there a couple of days ago, so he also has an outer ear infection from having a foreign object in his ear. *sigh*

So The Lizard is in Hawaii and I'm here at home dealing with three trips to the doc in less than 24 hours, plus the trip for Little Miss and her finger on Monday. Oh, and the random virus that is causing 24-48 hours of unreasonably high fevers with no other symptoms. Monkey Boy had it first, then Little Miss and Mighty Man. Little Dude probably has it now, right along with the ear infection. Fun times in the Lizard household...when it rains, it pours!

Maybe not the best laid plan.

When planning swim lessons and karate in the evening, I guess I overlooked the necessity of eating dinner. Tuesday I made homemade pizza (Hawaiian and some pesto/mozzarella/tomato pizza on whole wheat crusts) and tonight...well, let's just say we did drive through. Not ideal, so I'm going to have to plan a little better on this one.

Little Miss isn't exactly thrilled with the idea of not swimming. She's even less thrilled about the idea of not participating in karate. The doctor insisted on taking Monday and Tuesday off, so tomorrow will be her first day of karate with a cast. Sensei isn't exactly thrilled with the thought of having a cast in class, but I think as long as Little Miss takes it easy and doesn't do drills, or sparring, she should be fine.

I'm doing much better about it as well. I still hate that she can't swim, can't do karate (there are several mini-camps coming up, plus a tournament that she'll miss) and can't ride her bike. At least there is the Summer Reading Program at the library. I checked out 11 books for her today. She's read 5 so far. :o)

And I got a little farther on the bathroom finishing today. Tomorrow I'll frame out the door and then work on the window. Almost there!

Something a little lighter.

Today was a much better day than yesterday. Little Miss isn't in a whole lot of pain and seems to be dealing rather well with the addition of a cast to her arm. For now, it's a novelty, but we'll see how long that lasts.

In other news, my big brother came down to see Disneyland with his family, and we went up to have some ice cream and let the cousins play in Downtown Disney. With our four and their six (all girls), we got some looks, but hey, it's Disney, who else do you expect to see there? Grandparents?

Without further ado, here are the cousins:

View Miska195's map

Taken in a place with no name (See more photos or videos here)

All the cousins: Little Miss (8), Cousin R (6), Monkey Boy (6), Cousin M (5), Mighty Man (5), twins B&E (3), Cousin C (just turned two), Little Dude (just about to turn 3) and Cousin L (8 months).

The story of the broken finger.

One thing I know for certain, is that Mama Lizard's do not like holding little lizards while bones are being set. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love holding little lizards when all is well, or even when all is not well and they simply need a hug or snuggle. However, holding little ones so bones can be bent, tweaked, squashed and prodded, is definitely not my cup of tea.

This afternoon, I took Little Miss in to see the orthopedic surgeon while The Lizard kept the boys at home. I expected that it would take some time to get things taken care of, but I did not expect the trip to take 4 hours. We got checked in and taken back to a room to meet our surgeon. She was so very nice, and really understood that Little Miss needed to know what was happening, every step of the way. She looked at the x-ray and noted that there was considerable displacement which needed to be fixed. So off we went to a cast room, equipped with a live x-ray machine and everything needed to cast her little arm. So far, so good. Now for the rough part.

In order to manipulate her finger as much as they needed to, she needed local anesthesia. In a nutshell, Little Miss hates shots. With a passion. Fortunately, they had some handy dandy make-your-hand-cold spray to help numb up the area before the finger block was placed. That served to freak her right the heck out, but we got through the shots without an unreasonable amount of tears. Then we waited.

The finger block was placed in the knuckle at the base of the finger. It swelled a bit, and went numb. But the rest of the finger did not. Begin round two of the shots. No further numbing. Begin round three of shots. Numbing in her middle finger. Begin round 4 of shots. Numbing down to the second knuckle, but not where they need to manipulate. Begin round 5, 6, and 7+ of shots. We now have 6 different kinds of pain killers/anesthesia in her finger, including shots directly to the area of the fracture. And unfortunately, we have no further numbing. She still has feeling in the second knuckle. She has inherited my resistance to local anesthesia. I'm crushed.

At this point, another surgeon was brought in to survey the situation. Little Miss was in considerable pain, begging for no more shots. Her choices were to try one last set of shots, or simply grit her teeth and get through the manipulation. She chose to have manipulation done with incomplete pain relief. They pulled her hand under the live x-ray scope and began the process of straightening her finger. Oh, lord. I know God gave me the grace and strength I needed, but I sure hope I never have to go through that again. Ever.

Now comes the tricky part. They can manipulate her bone into position, and can get her fingernails even (so her finger isn't twisting in a funny direction), but as soon as they let go, it slips right back out of position. Through more manipulation, they find that by bending the finger into a loose fist, the bones align in a favorable position. Slap a cast on it, bend the aluminum, tape the fingers and call it good. We followed this up with a set of regular x-rays and a second run through the live x-ray machine. One tiny tweak of the metal and we're finished.

But here's the catch. There are three pieces of bone that need to fuse into one. That may not happen. We will monitor her progress with weekly x-rays, then decide if surgery and pins are needed in three weeks. Please pray that her bones heal properly and we avoid surgery. Basically, we're trying the long shot of casting before surgery to see if we get lucky. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. But if it works, it was worth the effort to avoid surgery.

In case, you're interested, here are some snapshots of the x-rays. A warning: don't peek if you don't like broken bones. (Descriptions are after the pictures)

You can see here how it is broken right at the growth plate of the second knuckle, displaced to the side, with an extra chip off to the side.

Again, you can see the displacement is also down, with total separation from the growth plate and extra chip to the top.

I took the splint off so she could have a shower (per doctor's orders to shower before the final cast went on)...finger is huge and green/purple all around.

Here you can see how crooked it is.

Here is her black eye. This picture doesn't do the purple color justice. It is swollen all the way around the eye, including the eyelid. Plus the scrape where her glasses cut in both at the corner of the eye and at her temple.

And of course, Little Dude got in on the action with his scrapes as well...three on his head, one massive one on his knee.

And without further ado, here is the new cast:

For the record, Little Miss is not a girly-girl. She likes her fire truck jammies. :o)

A New Belt!

Monkey Boy tested and put on a new belt last week! He's so proud of himself, and so are we!

Receiving his new belt from Sensei T.

Putting on his new belt.

Bowing to his class as a brand new orange belt! Hurray!

Good news on the bathroom!

Today I finally got around to some of the final finishing touches for the bathroom! Yea me! Sorry, but someone has to be the cheerleader around here. :D

Today I finally did the color-matched grout caulking around the base of the toilet, sink and up against the tub. The only thing remaining to do on the floor is to seal the grout, which I'll try to do tomorrow. I also cut and painted all the baseboards, the trim around the door and all except one piece around the window. So those are drying and waiting to be installed, again, hopefully tomorrow. And once I get those final finishing touches complete, then I can take one last set of pictures of the bathroom and post the whole process, start to finish. Whew! I bet you can't wait. Well, neither can I! It's been a long month of hard work, but I'm really pleased with the results. Hopefully I won't have to redo anything in there for another 20 years or so! hehe!

Also, please say a prayer or two tomorrow around 3pm Pacific. That's when I'll take Little Miss to get her finger set. I've been looking at the x-ray, and honestly, I'm surprised that's all they're doing is setting it. I guess we'll see tomorrow when an ortho actually looks at the x-ray. I'm really not looking forward to tomorrow. I had her take off the splint/cast tonight so she could have a full bath before getting a regular cast and having to deal with that. Her finger is an excellent mix of shades of green and purple, all the way around the finger, from tip to base. My poor, poor daughter. I'm so sad that she's hurt. I wish I could take her hurt away.

Update on life...because it moves fast!

Today did NOT turn out how I planned. Not even a teeny, tiny, little itty bitty bit. Today, I was supposed to finish up some stuff in the bathroom (yeah, the same bathroom I promised you pictures of, what, a couple of weeks ago?), strip beds, do laundry, fold and put away said laundry, clean house a bit, and a myriad of other things. I was not supposed to run outside in my pajamas to scoop up bleeding children and run one to Intermediate Care for a possible dislocated finger. Nope. That wasn't in my plan at all.

The Lizard was working outside on the truck and went down the street to borrow a shade to work under from the neighbors. Little Dude always wants to go see his Godparents, so Little Miss threw him on her back and went running (ack!) after The Lizard with Little Dude riding piggy back. She fell, which prompted both Monkey Boy and Mighty Man to come screaming inside to get me (and yes, I was still in my pajamas...d'oh). Little Dude was screaming bloody murder, so I scooped him up and took him in to assess the damage. Little Miss was hurt, but not badly enough that she couldn't walk back into the house, so she followed me in.

Little Dude's knee is mega torn up, and he has 3 scrapes/cuts on his head. I cleaned him up (thank you lidocaine in the Dermaplast) and got him patched up enough for the tears to stop. Meanwhile, Little Miss had an icepack on her head and asked to lay down because she felt sleepy. Being familiar with concussions and seeing the massive bruise forming on her temple, I wouldn't let her go while I was patching up her littlest brother. I didn't want her to pass out on me so I made her lay down on the bathroom floor until I was done with Little Dude. As far as I could tell, only a mashed up knee and black eye were the major hurts, so she waited patiently.

The Lizard finally got back just as I finished patching up Little Dude, so he took charge of LD while I turned my attention to Little Miss. She has a nasty black eye, with abrasions and cuts where her glasses cut into her temple. Her glasses are toast. Her knee is torn up pretty good, and her elbow has a scrape. As I worked through each scrape, cleaning out rocks and applying bandaids as necessary, she told me her finger hurt, too. I had already cleaned out a deep cut on her middle finger, and thought that was what she was complaining about.

I took another look at her fingers, asked her to make a fist, and then discovered the index finger on her left hand was not straight at all and starting to swell. I yelled at The Lizard that I thought she dislocated her finger and that I was taking her to Intermediate Care (looks just like an ER, and is kind of like the ER, but without the wait and without the huge co-pay, much faster than waiting for an appointment with urgent care). I threw on some clothes, combed my hair and flew out the door.

Turns out Little Miss did not dislocate her finger. She broke the index finger on her left hand in two places at the growth plate (right at the knuckle) and displaced it. I thought she had dislocated it, by the angle in the middle of her finger. No such luck. At the moment, she's in a plaster cast/splint, wrapped in an ace bandage. Monday we head out to the orthopedic surgeon to get the displacement set and a fiberglass cast, which she'll wear for the next six weeks. Monday is not going to be a fun day in the Lizard household.

Anyway, so no swimming basically for the rest of the summer, which means she will not get to participate in the last session of swim lessons starting on Tuesday. I'm not sure how karate will work either. She definitely can't do sparring or weaponry. I think she can still do katas. We'll see on Monday once they set her finger. Poor girl is just so beat up. I'm glad we have a spare set of glasses, since she scraped up the lenses pretty badly, and mangled the frames something fierce.

Tomorrow, I'm not making any plans. Maybe that way I can actually get some things done around the house. Do you think it will work?

Oh, and yesterday, Mighty Man lost his first top tooth, bringing his total tooth loss to five! I can't believe he's lost so many teeth already!

I must be insane

The kids have been taking both karate and most recently, swim lessons. Two things have changed or will change in the near future to upset the balance. Little Miss recently passed a swim test to move into Level 3. Problem is, Level 3 is not available during the time slot we've chosen for swim lessons. Second issue is that Little Dude turns 3 in bit and will begin lessons with the start of the next session. What to do? So I did a Mensa level puzzle of fitting swim lessons for 4 children into an already established karate schedule for 3 children. Oh, and did I mention as an added constraint, one person must be able to do the entire afternoon? Because The Lizard heads to Hawaii shortly, then off to Norfolk after that. So here's what I came up with:

Monday:
MM has karate 5:30-6:15
no swim lessons

That's not too bad. But wait, there's more!

Tuesday:
LM & MB have karate 4:30-5:30
MM & LD will have swimming 4:30-5:05
LM & MB will have swimming 5:50-6:25

So, if I drop LM & MB off at karate a few minutes early, then head over to the pool for swim lessons, I can get the two littlest dudes dried off and dressed before rushing back to pick up the two oldest from karate in order to get them changed and back over to the pool for swim lessons. Ok, that might be doable. Let's see what the rest of the week will look like.

Wednesday:
MM & LD will have swimming 4:30-5:05
MM has karate 5:30-6:30
LM & MB will have swimming 5:50-6:25

Again, I'll have to be superhuman to make this, but I think I can hit the pool, get MM ready and dropped off at karate, head back to the pool for LM & MB's lessons and get back to pick up MM a smidgen late. The good news is, the dojo is good at keeping track of kiddos, and MM will be perfectly content to sit and watch the next class. Then there is the rest of the week...

Thursday:
LM & MB have karate 4:30-5:30
MM & LD will have swimming 4:30-5:05
LM & MB will have swimming 5:50-6:25

Lather, rinse and repeat.

Friday:
MM & LD will have swimming 4:30-5:05
LM & MB will have swimming 5:50-6:25

Oh, that's easy! I think I'll just pack a picnic and head to the park between lessons. And the good news??? I'll only do this for 4 weeks! woohoo!

In case you're wondering, we're doing nearly the same schedule this week (minus the later swim lessons...they have lessons 3:50-4:25 this week), with the added bonus of doing Vacation Bible School every day, 8:30am-1pm (-ish...depending on when we finish setting up for the next day). Wait, I thought summer vacation was supposed to be a vacation? What happened there? Maybe I'm making up for lost time last summer. Hmm. I'll have to think about that.

P.S. Want to see the new bathroom? You do? Really? Well, you're going to have to wait. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. *smooches*

Think of it as elevator music.

So while you wait for me to get around to updating you on the progress being made in the bathroom, please allow me to bore you to tears with some more pictures. We went to Disneyland last Tuesday, which explains the following pictures:

First, the Sword in the Stone. Although, as Jay kindly pointed out, it's more like the Sword in the Anvil. But, whatever. This is right in front of King Arthur's Carousel, which the kids also enjoy. And since we'd just had a lovely ride on the carousel, we had to stop by the sword, to see if it was any easier to pull than the other 59 million times they've tried.

All four try:

Then the lady gets bored and wanders off, leaving the three boys to try.

We lose another kid and another, until we're left with this:

I have about 14 other pictures of Mighty Man trying his darnedest to get that sucker out, but I'll spare you the gore. Let's just say he has a particular talent for making faces. He always has. Maybe I'll pull up some old pictures for your entertainment...

More than likely, I'll forget that I ever promised to dig up old pictures of Mighty Man as a wee babe. In the mean while, I'd also like to beat you into submission with more flower pictures. All of these were taken at Disneyland, and none of them have been processed. They're sooc. Hey, I have 4 kids. Knock yourself out if you want to play with them in PhotoShop and kick up the saturation etc. Otherwise, just enjoy them, ok?

Yeah, I'll get there...

In the meantime, have a picture:

Please forgive me

I know I really left you hanging on Tuesday. Came blazing in with the horrors of a broken drain line on the tub, and then ran off with nary an update. I've been busy, ok? REALLY FREAKING busy.

Hmm. So, let's see. Where was I? Where am I? What time is it anyway? I have no idea. I'm kind of awash in a sea of, well, I don't even know what. But I'm awash. And I may soon be able to wash my kids again. If I take them to the neighbor's house.

Anyway, enough of that. When I last left you, I had gotten a plumber over, who promptly ran away, insisting that he couldn't give me an estimate. He had to bring out the field manager because this wasn't your ordinary job. Fine. Whatever. Chicken.

So Wednesday morning, I had a couple of plumbers out to give me estimates and selected a plumber who started the one day job on Thursday. The bottom line was we needed new santees in the bathrooms (yes, plural...our bathrooms butt up against each other, so I had the santee for the masterbath sink exposed), a new connection for the pipe I broke and he was also going to rough in the bathroom for me (completely re-plumb the bathroom...toilet, sink, shower/tub). Fine.

One reason why I chose this plumber is that he didn't say he was going to jack hammer the foundation without even looking. He wanted to see if he could replace the connection without major rework, and he was successful. He cut out vent lines, replaced quite a bit of pipework and had things nearly wrapped up when the first bad thing happened. The drainpipe for the masterbath sink snapped as they tried to make a connection. Cast iron pipe, folks, just snapped in two.

As a result of that little oopsie, we found a crack running down the length of the pipe. We're on a slab foundation, and the drainpipe and its crack, ran straight down into the concrete. Since it was already 4pm, they cleaned up and promised to be back first thing in the morning to saw and jack hammer into the foundation until they had good pipe for the connection. They were pretty sure they would be done no later than 3pm with an 8am start time. Joy. I had to get up early.

So my morning started off painfully early, with the cat beginning her morning meowing an hour and change early. Normally the cat alarm goes off at 6:20. This morning, she went off at 4:54. I should have drop kicked her furry little tail into next week. I was a little miffed. The next thing I heard, was Little Dude chatting away to himself at 6-something. I went out to investigate and found him happily perched on the couch...in soaking wet pajamas. Apparently all this construction threw him off his groove. He peed on the couch. I retrieved a towel, and started sopping things up.

At this point, at 6-something a.m., I should have known it was shaping up to be a not-so-fabulous day. I showered, fed the kids breakfast, and ripped out a few rows of tiles while I waited for the plumbers to show. They arrived at 8:30am. First, they sawed into the foundation around the pipe. Then, the jack hammering began. Oh, my goodness. Next time someone wants to jack hammer in my house, I think I'll sell it and move out. They jack hammered for hours. Then, all the sudden, I hear shouting and one of the guys comes flying out, and shuts off the water to the house. They've hit a water line.

I went in to take a look. The rest of our slab is 4-5 inches of concrete. The first thing I noticed about their hole, is that it's about a foot deep...and still totally encased in concrete. Guess what. The drainpipe for the master bathroom? Is in a footing for our house. Great. Just flipping great. Cue the music. Yeah, that's right, we're going to suffer through many more hours of jack hammering while they try to find the bottom of the concrete, or the bottom of the crack in the pipe.

At this point, I decided that I needed lunch. The kids already had lunch and I was hungry. I came out to the kitchen, got out the bread and peanut butter, then opened the cabinet to get a plate, and the door came off in my hand. GREAT! You know what Mr. Murphy??? Screw you AND the horse you rode in on! What the heck, man? WHY??? So I spent the next hour looking for wood putty to fill the stripped screw holes so I can reattach the cabinet door. Cleaned out a few things in the garage (because I was bored) and found a couple of new movies for the kids. Also located all of the paint I will need for various wall repairs, but that's a different story for a different day. Anyway, at some point, I did get my lunch.

Back to the bathroom situation. Eventually, nearly another foot of concrete later, they finally broke through to dirt. And discover that the crack, goes all the way down to the coupling. They have to excavate more, so they can replace the entire joint. Hoo baby. With their continued digging, they realize that all the dirt under the pipe is soggy. The crack has been there a while, we just hadn't paid the piper yet. We were lucky.

So, fast forward a bit to 6pm. The pipe gets fixed, the hole gets refilled and compacted, the water line is repaired and both lines get sheathed, and the top gets cemented in. Time to set the tub. At this point, I bailed. I went to church to help with a parish retreat. Bottom line was I had no water, I had no toilet, and there was no way I was going to try to make dinner. Going to church was the easy way out. Sure beat trying to drum up something in my kitchen anyway.

I left my number with the guys and they promised to call when they were finished. They thought they would be done by 7 or 7:30. Or? Or, Mr. Murphy will hang around and mess with things to the best of his abilities. They set the tub, and then realized that something was seriously wrong. The sides were wonky. So they pulled the tub (no easy feat), troubleshot the problem and reinstalled the tub with the proper side supports. Then they soldered in the new PosiTemp (single) handle, the spout and shower head. The last thing that needed to be done was running the water to the tub to check the new plumbing for leaks. Turned on the water and...

I heard a freight train rumble through my house. Good lord, I thought the thing was going to come straight through the walls! I traced the noise back...down the hall, out to the garage...it seemed to be coming through the water heater. I had no idea what the heck was happening, but it sure didn't sound good to me. They checked the water pressure in the house, and it was a whopping 113 psi. It's supposed to be right around 65 psi. The regulator blew out the diaphragm, so that now needs to be replaced. That'll be another $275.

And when the regulator blew, it blew the masterbath toilet innards to smithereens. So, now the masterbath toilet has new guts. I finally got the kids in bed around 9:30, which is obscenely late. More than 2 hours past their bed time. I'll pay for it tomorrow, I'm sure. And the plumbers? Got everything together and left my house at 10:15pm...nearly 14 hours after they started this morning. Ho.ly.cow.

So there you have it. That was my Friday. Happy, happy, joy, joy! So much for camping this weekend. I think gas went up another 15 cents today, or something equally stupid. The cheapest gas in the county is $4.07. If you want diesel? Prepare to pay $5.29 a gallon. Uncle. I give already.

Oops.

When starting a big project, I never assume it's going to be as easy as it looks. I also never like to hear "oops" at any time during said big project. *sigh*

Today was a good day, right up until I thought I was finished. That's when it got a little tricky. For what it's worth, a girl like me can pick up a cast iron tub and lug it around. I learned that tubs are actually nailed to the wall, so I pulled each and every one of those nails out. Then I learned that tubs won't move while still puttied to the floor, so I broke the caulking seal. Then I unscrewed the drain couplings underneath the tub and set to work on figuring out how to pull out the tub.

Before long, I realized that I also needed to remove the drain inside the tub in order to detach that part of the tub. Apparently, unscrewing the two pipes (drain pipe and overflow pipe) wasn't enough, and I also had to remove the drain in order to release the tub from the piping below. No problem. I'll get a wrench and fix that. Or not. I stuck a long nose pair of vise grips down the drain to grip the cross pieces in the drain. Oops. Yeah, those were corroded. Wanna guess what they did? Disintegrated. That's right, they ceased to exist. Hmm. So then I used my crowbar, chiseled into the enamel and bent up the edges so I could grip them and remove it that way. No luck. So I sat and thought, and sat and thought some more, and finally decided to see if I could wiggle the pipe out by lifting the tub.

I pushed the tub a bit and was surprised at how easily it moved! I pulled it a bit and voila! The whole thing was free! So I turned it on its side, hefted it up and moved it out to the back patio. That wasn't so bad! In fact, that was amazingly easy. I had called a friend who agreed to come over and assist me with the rip out. He was also going to see if he could bring along his two (young adult) sons to help. Turns out, I had the tub out before they arrived, so I called and let him know of my success. Then I went back to the bathroom to clean up a bit before starting to reinstall new fixtures.

That's when I noticed something wasn't quite right. Turns out that the pipe wasn't up to the task of me taking out the tub. Don't get me wrong, everything up top looked normal. All the plastic drain work was fine...P-trap, drain and everything was just hunky dory. Want to know what broke in two? The cast iron pipe right where it enters the foundation. Doh! Thankfully, I can quickly recognize when I'm out of my league. This is one of those times. I called a professional. Actually, I called two, because the first guy I talked to sounded scared. I decided that maybe this was a big job for a really big company, not just your local plumber dude.

I think this is going to involve tearing up part of our foundation and replacing original cast iron piping. Or worse...the whole thing. I think this is bigger than our economic stimulus check. All because I could no longer tighten a valve tight enough to turn off the water. Such is life.

What a difference a day makes

Today is day 3 of my bathroom project. While it may not look vastly different, I can assure you, a great deal of work was completed today.

I completed the drywall and tile rip out, pulled all the extraneous nails, pulled the toilet and removed all the rubble. All in all, not a terribly demanding day, but a good solid four hours of work, nonetheless.

Tomorrow I'll tackle removing the tub and then the tile floor. Once that is complete, I'll rewire that bathroom and the master bathroom (they share a wall and all the wiring is exposed for the master bath...might as well do it while I can...you know, to ground the gfci plugs...), install the new tub and start installing the new drywall. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Might take me a few days...especially since I'm going to run away and go camping with the kids this weekend. Never a dull moment, is there?

Bathroom renovation, day 2

So yesterday I had a wild hair, bought enough materials to cause the Lizard to contemplate working overtime, and began gutting the kids' bathroom. Here's what it looks like tonight:

Two things: yes, our bathroom is small and yes, that is the bathtub along the back wall. It's just buried in dry wall and tile that once graced the walls.

Today I learned that quarter turn valves aren't as infallible as they claim. Two of the three valves I installed a mere 9 years ago leak more than just a little bit. I turned off the water to the toilet and flushed as I prepared to pull it out. I was stunned to hear the water running when the valve was turned off. Needless to say, I had to secure water to the whole house in order to cap the valve. Note to self: buy new valves before reinstalling sink and toilet.

Stimulating the economy

The tub faucet leaks. I stripped the handle trying to tighten it down. I swapped out handles with the tub fill/shower diverter handle, so I can at least turn on the cold water. Just can't take it off shower mode without pliers for the moment.

The base cabinet for the sink is water damaged 4 inches up due to toilet stoppages. I'm tired of putting bandaids on every little thing in there to nurse it along. So I'm going for the big rip out. I'm close enough to done with school for the year to call it a day, so this morning, we (me, myself and I and the 4 kids) went shopping for a few items. Here's what we bought:

Ceramic tile
spacers
grout
adhesive
adhesive trowel
tile cutter
grout sealant/applicator
grout sponges
pedestal sink/pedestal
bathtub
tub faucet
tub surround
bathroom fan

I think that's it for now. Later I need to go back and buy the toilet, dry wall, mud, tape, texture and paint for the walls. I'm ok hauling the tub and surround in by myself, but I think I'll wait for help to do the drywall. Those buggers are unwieldy. :o) I guess I also need to get some copper pipe to raise the height of the shower head. As it currently stands, it's too short for me, and I'm short. Really short.

So there you go. I'm spending our economic stimulus check, just doing my part in stimulating the economy.

What do you hear on a typical day?

In the past, I've highlighted a few choice statements from the kids. This morning, they're in rare form. Here's a few of the statements I've heard so far:

"Be careful with my patience. I'm running out."
~ Mighty Man

"If you don't let go of that, I'll lick you 59 million times."
~ Little Miss

"Maybe I should put on my penis protector."
~ Monkey Boy

"Aw, man. Hey mommy, our clouds came back."
~ Mighty Man

How much more of this do you think I can handle? I guess time will tell. In the meanwhile, I'm praying that those clouds that just came back aren't bringing more rain. As if we need any more. I don't think I need to water the lawn for a week or so with everything that has fallen in the last 3 days. It's been interesting to swing from 100+ temperatures to the 60's all in the span of a couple of days. We've done that twice in the last couple of weeks. It's pretty crazy!

Why it was a long day.

I mentioned that Wednesday was a long day. It was, in so many ways. I was so ready to throw a white flag up and call it a day.

My day started hours earlier than it should have. 6am, is way too early, in my book. I like 7:30 or 8 much better, thank you very much. And I don't care for crises quite so early, either. I don't mind something cropping up after you've had a chance to wake up and get going, but to wake up to the crisis is something else entirely.

So, here was my day:

6am wake up
6:05 start the day
6:20 start first laundry
7 am get kids dressed
7:15 breakfast, start manual watering of front yard (the valves crapped out on the automatic sprinklers and I haven't had a chance to get to Home Depot for replacements and the Lizard is away on business)
7:20 shower
7:45 feed the critters down the street
8:10 start second laundry
8:20 have breakfast
8:45 start packing up for piano lessons
9:15 off to piano lessons
10:35 off to computer based testing for Little Miss
12:30 off to Burger King for lunch
1 pm other errands
2 pm stop by the credit union to deposit a check (I received a check for the repairs I had done to my van after being hit last week...)
2:17 discover keys are locked in van and call AAA
2:48 AAA hero comes and rescues me and 4 kids who are restless
3 pm home again

I also learned today that my college roommate of two years passed away yesterday. That hit me hard. Terribly hard. I'm so incredibly sad. She had her whole life ahead of her. She did everything with gusto. And now she's gone. There are so many unanswered questions burning in my mind. I'll probably never know the answers to most. I suppose that's just the way it is.

"Mommy?"

My eyes flew open this morning to the sound of Little Miss whispering my name. In case you're wondering, in my experience, it's never a good thing to awaken to that word whispered in your face at oh-dark-thirty. Never.

"Mommy? Little Dude stinks. He pooped and he knows it because he's hiding it under his blanket and is laughing. And I can't get back to sleep because my room stinks. I don't think it's very funny at all."

Now, call me crazy, but I'm not all that keen about "pooped," "blanket" and "laughing" being used all in one sentence. Especially not at 6am before I've had a good stretch and enough time for my brain to awaken from its slumber. That's just wrong on so many levels.

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the fact that Little Miss was standing at the side of my bed staring at me. Maybe I could wake up again later and it would have been a dream. "Mommy?" She was still there. "My bedroom stinks and I can't sleep." Once again, reality was shoved in my face. I couldn't ignore it. I heaved a big sigh, pushed back my covers and rubbed my eyes. We traded places and I shuffled off to assess the situation while she snuggled in to my nice, warm bed.

The first thing I noticed was the open bathroom door, the empty spindle of toilet paper and a toilet bowl full of paper. I decided to risk it and flush. Thankfully, it all went down without the need to plunge. The second thing I noticed was an open bedroom door and a missing Mighty Man. I hunted him down and sent him back to bed. Now all I had left was the next bedroom: the one with the door closed and light escaping around the edges. The one from which a distinct odor was wafting. I took a deep breath and then went in.

On many occasions, I've noted that Little Dude not only resembles Little Miss, but acts just like her. He's highly verbal and very easy to understand, just like she was. He potty trained himself, just like she did, and at the same age. There are many other similarities, but this morning, he took it one step farther...just like his sister. He painted with poop. Joy. Obviously I was mistaken in my belief that only our little angel of a girl would have the creative impetus to paint with poop. I stand corrected.

So this morning at 6am, I gingerly extracted Little Dude's bottomless self from his bed and put him in the bathtub. I then began to assess the damage. The large stuffed dog had nails painted on its paws. I hauled it off to the washer and started my first wash of the day. I returned with a container of disinfecting wipes and contemplated where I should begin. I stripped his bed, turned on the fan and opened the window. Then I scrubbed walls and determined that the carpet could wait. There were several little footprints, but not enough for me to feel the need to break out the steam cleaner at 6:15. I headed to the bathroom to discover Little Dude had continued his painting efforts. Thankfully, it was all contained in the tub.

One quick bath later, and I emerged to find that all 3 older kids were gathered on the couch for an early morning showing of Brother Bear. Well, why not. I'm not in the mood to fight the early rising or the tears I'm sure to experience today as a result of everyone being up so early. I did eventually get the carpet cleaned...right before I put the kids down to bed. We had such a full day today, that was my first chance to get it clean. It's been a long day.

Are you a pussy that just never gets any attention?

And no, this is not a psa (public service announcement) about hooha's. Call me juvenile, but it always cracks me up when I hear words such as these uttered from my children.

The situation was this: we have a cat. One who meows. A lot. Incessantly at times. We love this cat dearly, but man, can she ever get loud. Like when the children are outside. Or when we're all asleep. Well, today, she was just wandering around, meowing her ever loving head off. Little Miss sat down next to her, scratched under her chin, and said compassionately, "Are you a pussy that just never gets any attention?"

So glad I wasn't drinking anything. Or eating anything. That wouldn't have been pretty. Kind of like last night at dinner. Last night I had a spaghetti shower courtesy of Mighty Man. Ew!

Why I never get anything done

I started out today thinking I needed to plant my rose cuttings so they don't die. They're starting to show their age in the water, and they definitely need to be put in dirt. So from the kitchen (where the rose cuttings are), I went to the bathroom...I know, not the most direct route to outside, but I'll get there, I promise. While in the bathroom, my daughter came in to report that her second youngest brother was digging a hole in the back yard to go poop in.

So I yelled out the window for Might Man to come inside to put away his shoes. He did. He put away his Crocs and went back to digging a latrine hole. So I went back to my bedroom window and asked that he come inside and put away his church shoes, which were in his bedroom. That would give me an opportunity to talk him out of his outdoor potty mission. While waiting, I decided to sort some laundry since I'm sure that taking two days off from it has given me enough for three loads. So I sort some laundry, clean up the blue bedroom, clear out all of their laundry, and head to the pink bedroom to clean it up and clear out laundry. Discover that I should probably change Little Dude's sheets. He didn't have an accident, I'm sure, but they smell...funky. So back to my bedroom I go with laundry in hand (haven't touched the bed yet) to get new sheets and a water proof pad (the clean ones are still on my bedroom floor from the last round).

Instead of doing that, I finish sorting my laundry, have a talk with MM who agrees that we only go potty in the toilet and not outside, and then head to the garage with my laundry basket. Start a dark load. Come back into the kitchen and look around blankly. Realize that I don't have my menu on the fridge, so back out to the car to find the list. Get my list and cell phone and realize that the Lizard has text messaged me about my earlier report of being backed into and needing a new bumper. Go back out to take a couple of pictures of that.

Back to the kitchen. Clean off the counters a bit, lay out bread for the kid's lunch. Remember that I need to bring lemonade to tonight's meeting. Find the container, figure out how much mix, add water and stir. Then remember to ask if I need to bring cups. Get on the computer. Also remember that I have some pictures of my finished front yard, some Mother's Day pictures, and some pictures of a really cool beetle that Mighty Man found. Download pictures and write a blog post.

See why I never get anything done? Right now I have a load in the washing machine, clean sheets and pad in my bedroom, one bed that needs to be changed, bread on plates and jam out (but not the peanut butter or honey), lemonade made, but not in the refrigerator, my camera is connected to my computer but not turned on, and the kids are still outside, hungry but quite content to dig in the dirt. All because I wanted to plant some rose cuttings. Life is complicated!

Random stuff

Just because I'm feeling the need to keep blogging, so I don't get out of the habit, I'll update you on a few things around here.

First off, Mighty Man lost his fourth tooth. That's right. He's 4 years old and has already lost 4 teeth. He's just fast like that. And he rides a two wheeler...no training wheels (he started that last November). You know how some kids are "a really young 5" or "a really old 5" when they start Kindergarten? Well, MM is on the old side of that scale. He has a passion for learning things and learning them well and early. Or works on his teeth until they fall out. Ironically, of the four children, he's the only one who doesn't believe in the Tooth Fairy. He's certain that the Lizard is the Tooth Fairy. Or I am. Don't ask why, because I cannot answer that question for you! He's a smart little cookie.

Second, last weekend (yes, it was a busy weekend!), Little Miss and Monkey Boy had a piano recital. Once I figure out how to post those videos, I'll do it. This was MB's first, and boy howdy, was he ever proud of himself! LM played "Fur Elise" and the "Star Wars" Theme and MB played "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and "My Invention." It was great to see them playing on a grand piano!

And last but not least, I've been puttering around in our front yard lately. First, I weeded the entire parkway and remulched that. Did I mention that I'm so glad the kids will weed large expanses of flower beds for 50 cents apiece? Because I really am! They do a great job! And they're cheap too. Did I mention they're cheap? :o)

With all of their help, I was able to move on to the flower beds in the front yard. I now have 5 new rose bushes and a full complement of petunias out front. Some of the petunias are left over from last year, and are just prolific! I love how they bloom for me all year round. I think that's one reason why I like living here...I have roses year round, petunias year round, and never any snow! In any case, here are a few pictures from my front yard. These are all "before" pictures, so you won't get the full effect of the mulching and beautification that has taken place in the last two weeks, but they'll do for now!

This is my Disneyland Rose (my favorite):

Opening Night:

Voodoo:

Disneyland (again):

Mr. Lincoln:

Fragrant Wave:

Locks of Love

If you've never heard of Locks of Love, be sure to check out their website. A couple of years ago, I whacked my hair from mid back length to super short (and super easy to care for). Apparently, this made an impression upon our daughter. She tried to grow it out then, but finally begged me to cut it for the summer. That was two years ago. This time, she stuck with it, and grew it until she had more than enough. So this weekend, we went to get her hair cut for Locks of Love.

Here she is before. I think she looks a bit like Cousin It. She really hated brushing all that hair every day. Because I'm a mean mom and make her do it.

Then she sat down, got her hair braided and whacked off!

And here she is, sporting her new 'do:

Oh, and then there was one other thing we did on Saturday...she got her ears pierced!

Our Little Miss is growing up right before our eyes. And I'm ok with that. It seems each stage brings a new excitement to our lives.

There comes a time...

There comes a time in life, when you feel the need to slow down. To take a break and catch your breath. This is one of those times. I think I deserve a break! I did eight or nine laundries today. I taught Little Miss about the industrial revolution and then how to solve for x. She's 8 and we're already moving on to algebraic equations...which I find to be so cool! I also spent some time excavating what used to be our school table, before I had 4 kids who all wanted to do school at once.

I've still got a million things I feel like I should do. I need to plant the poor tomato plant that is slowly wilting on my back patio. I need to finish up the front yard...my roses are flourishing and my petunias are planted, but alas, the bags of mulch are still waiting to be spread. I have window planters ready for radishes to be started. I have rose cuttings that are budding on my kitchen counter. Those need to hit the dirt very soon. I also have grape bushes running amok in the back yard that need to be trimmed back. And I have seeds for a little herb garden...good thing we are currently studying plants and whatnot!

I have the Himalayas of laundry beat back (for the moment...see above note about laundry), and two of the 5 beds have been changed for the week. All the laundry has been folded and put away, and the dishes are all done (although not by my hand today...thank you my hubby in shining armor!). And the cat has been fed...even though she's still meowing about starving. Little Miss has recently gained some new responsibilities.

Which reminds me. This weekend our very own little girl decided to donate her hair to Locks of Love. It was so amazing to see her eager desire to help someone else. She has such a pure heart. I'll try to get to some before and after pictures later. For now, that's it...I'm taking a break now. I'm trying to break myself in easy you know. :o)

I'll be back, I promise!

It has been awhile since my last post. I've all manner of excuses, but honestly, I'm up to my eyeballs in things to do and too little time. Most notably, I've taken a lot of time to, um, heal. The day after my last post, I took a not-so-graceful step off the tailgate of our truck and have then spent the last two weeks on some very pleasant mind altering drugs to mask the horrific pain. The last two days have been pretty good, but today I might have over done things a bit, trying to catch up. I haven't touched my house in two weeks, haven't lifted a finger to cook, clean or even do the basics of feeding the kids. Thankfully, Little Miss does a bang up job at feeding her brothers breakfast and lunch.

So, with all that in mind, I'll try to get back to work, but I can't promise anything. This time of year is when I start planning our next academic year in earnest, including ordering books and writing lesson plans. So if I'm scarce, know I am well and the kids are thriving. And that you are loved for checking in on us!

More best laid plans...

I have approximately 1300 (ok, so 1308) pictures from our most recent nearly two week jaunt out into the desert. We went to Joshua Tree National Park and had ourselves a ball. However, unless you're privy to (or savvy enough to find) my flickr account, you'll just have to hold your horses! Life in the fast lane of school and Marriage Encounter is grand!

Oh, and I'll also add that Little Dude has discovered the direct connection between going pee and poop in the potty, and getting a car. Cruisin' Ramone, Piggy, Pit Crew Doc, Pit Crew Filmore, Woody, etc. He's got quite the collection, and I'm a happy mama! And for those who are counting, 7 pees or poops earns a car. So it's definitely not a one for one exchange, unless you count the one for one exchange for stickers. Little Dude loves stickers!

Best laid plans...

I intended to grace you with another post or ten of pictures and whatnot that I've been saving up. Or, maybe I'll just go to sleep. I'm tired! Little Dude has been making a habit of visiting multiple times per night. *yawn* Good night!

Don't worry!

If you have a kid or more than one kid, I'm sure at one time or another, you've sat and listened in on a conversation, or monologue from your child. I still enjoy each and every snippet I catch. Here's an example from our little Mighty Man, talking about and to a Western Fence Lizard he had caught. He had the terrarium out, and was prepared to keep the poor unsuspecting reptile for all time. At one point, the lizard warmed up sufficiently to run away, but not far enough...

An announcement to anyone within earshot: "Don't worry, I'll capture him again!"

After some time and considerable effort to catch the poor guy: "Wewl, apparently he doesn't want to be captured again. Oh, but don't worry, I'wl get him in there again, even though he doesn't want to be captured again."

And then after the lizard was safely secured within the terrarium: "Don't worry, widdle wizard, you can poke your head out waiter (later)."

The poor lizard! He needed just a few more minutes in the sun to get his runnin' away legs warm enough, lol!

And...we're back!

Let's see...where were we? Ah, yes, catching up on life, that's where we were! So, while we were in Oregon, the kids had the chance to do just a little bit of horse back riding. What fun! It was a tad chilly that day (ok, it was below freezing and the wind was blowing...it was waaay too cold!), but the thrill of riding a horse was more than enough to keep the kids warm.

Little Miss went first, being the oldest and the biggest horse lover of the bunch.

Next was Monkey Boy, who is trying very hard to emulate his big sister. :o)

Then Mighty Man decided to give it a whirl all by himself. He proved to be quite the horseman!

And last but not least, was Little Dude. He absolutely refused to be left out on this opportunity. His giggles were terribly contagious!

Coming soon...

I've taken a bit of a break, but fear not. While I wasn't writing, we certainly weren't lacking in adventures. I've uploaded quite a few pictures of our latest escapades, and shall be back to writing soon!

In the mean time, Little Dude had surgery yesterday morning to have tubes placed in his ears. Aside from thinking everything was a tad loud initially, he seems to be none the worse for the wear. He's quite the little trooper! In fact, he woke up from the anesthesia quite happy and started putting his world right immediately. There's no slowing down this little guy!

When you're bored...

What do you like to do when you're bored?

• Pick your nose
• Channel surf
• Surf the 'net
• Go for a run (yeah...right!)
• Read a book
• Chase squirrels
• Other equally enriching activities

So it's 5 days until Christmas. In the past 4 days we've gone to the Wild Animal Park, the zoo, climbed a mountain and spent a day at Disneyland. On the 5th day, we rested. Except the boys, apparently. Here's how they chose to occupy their time:

For some unknown reason, Monkey Boy decided to take a pair of scissors to his head and that of his youngest brother. I was thrilled. Overjoyed, even. Or perhaps I was just a smidgen steamed that they had chosen to whack off hair just days before Christmas and all of the family stuff (and pictures) that goes along with that.

This picture does not paint an accurate picture of just how hideous the hack job was. The entire top of his head was a patchwork of exceptionally short hair. It was awful.

And here we have Mighty Man, in all of his glory. He did a superb job. Hacked it off down to the roots. Not even a 1/4" guard could make it look right. Oh well. I did my best.

As you might imagine, all 3 boys got buzzed that afternoon. It wasn't on the schedule, but it certainly needed to be done. Fortunately, as my grandfather used to say, "the only difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut is 3 days." Thankfully, we had 5 days until Christmas. By then, the scalping of December, 2007 was just a distant memory to my little monkeys. Not even the threat of Santa leaving them lumps of coal could coax them into angelic behavior. What can I say...they're definitely all boy(s)!

After the rain...

Even here in sunny SoCal, it rains on occasion. Like today, for instance. It rained all day. But then you're faced with the interesting quandary of what to do after the rain. Wait for days on end for it to dry? Take a walk around the block while carefully avoiding contact with all standing water? High tail it out to the mountains to see if there's snow? Or to the desert to see if the wildflowers are in full bloom yet? Or, just wait to see what the kids come up with?

Well, let's just see what the kids can come up with. Because I'm busy doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, teaching, sitting in my rocking chair with a glazed over look on my face...you know, normal mom things. It's always nice when the kids can get outside for a little bit of...well, just what were they doing outside??

Oh, yes, well there you have it. The boys were outside using the tiki torches to dig to China from my garden. Well, that's a perfectly normal boy activity, isn't it? And apparently, some days you just need to ditch your pants in favor of more fresh air. Or something like that. I never did figure out why Mighty Man took off his pants. Something about keeping them dry or clean or whatever.

Um, yes, and those are brand new shirts that had only just been worn for the first time ever. One should always break those things in the first opportunity one gets. Right? Good thing my washing machine has a way with dirt and mud. Ew!

And here we have the saddest, most pathetic face on the surface of planet earth. Can't you see the poor boy is crying real mud tears? He was highly distressed that I had the gall to stand there at the door, taking pictures and not allowing him free reign in the house. Moms are so misguided sometimes. Especially when it comes to a guy's need to put muddy finger and foot prints far and wide inside. The nerve! Ha! All right. I admit, he was also cold and really mad that I wouldn't pick him up and cuddle him right away.

Anyway, needless to say, the hour I had kid-free to do all the mom-things I needed to do, was quickly erased by the hour+ that it took to strip off clothes, rinse clothes with a hose, do laundry, bathe kids, redress kids and then I could start dinner. Which is why we just hit the drive thru. Heh.

A brief side note: I'm catching up on pictures and posts I could have/should have done earlier...say December or January, but haven't. I also should be doing my Christmas cards, but haven't found the motivation to finish those. The cards are printed (have been since November) and the letters are done (have been since well before Christmas) but the envelopes aren't addressed. A pretty sad state of affairs, no? Ah, well. Life goes on!

Wonder where the spider went?

Honestly, as I got up on New Year's Eve, I wasn't really looking to take pictures. I was simply going through my routine: get up, go to the bathroom, open the curtains...and this was the sight I saw right outside of our bedroom window that morning.

It was just so beautiful to see this dew ridden spider web, alight with the early morning sun. We have orb weaver spiders who come and go around here. While I don't much care for the sight of one of those bad boys (and oh, my, they're HUGE!), nor do I particularly relish doing the spiderweb flail when encountering one unexpectedly, I do really enjoy the beauty and intricacy of their webs. Even more so when they are adorned with tiny droplets of water and highlighted by the cool rays of sun on a crisp, clear morning.

And just so you can be jealous, our tangerines are just getting ripe. This spider had particularly good taste when it came to choosing his tree.

It's broken

Continuing our journey north on I-5, we ran across a couple of truckers who had a bad day. We have no idea how this happened (and believe me, my parents and I discussed it and still can't figure it out), but there were two big rigs busted wide open, both on the same side. Anyway, here are a few pictures...again, taken by Mighty Man. This first picture is of the truckload of Gatorade.

Here's part of the other truck, which was loaded with fresh vegetables. There were heads of lettuce everywhere, plus parsnips, cabbage and other assorted veggies I couldn't readily identify.

Here's one of the trucks. See, it really is broken! Although you can't really see it from this shot, the nose of the truck was bent down to the pavement. I just don't know how they managed to break it. Whatever they did, they did a good job of it.

And just as we were sitting in traffic, inching our way forward, we saw this front end loader coming south on I-5 toward us. I thought it was a little odd, until I saw it whip a U-turn and trundle up the side of the road toward the wreckage. Admittedly, I thought that was a little odd, too, until I saw the extent of the produce and cases of drink scattered over a mile of freeway. Then it all became clear.

Honestly, I'm just thankful that during all of our traveling this month, we managed to keep our noses clean, our trucks out of the ditch and our family safe. Because that's really what matters. :o)