Update

There are several little tidbits that have been happening around here lately that I have thought about blogging about, but just didn't think they were "big" enough to write a whole blog about (or, I just didn't have time). So, here are some tidbits...

Sadie LOVES to dance. Particularly, she loves ballet. So I took her to see the Little Mermaid ballet when it was here in town. She loved it! She even liked the "sample" of another ballet that the groups does called "Stars and Fairies" that was a *real* ballet, and didn't follow a storyline that she was familiar with. For the Little Mermaid part, her favorite was "the whole thing" but she did get pretty scared when Ursula came out. She clung to me, and requested that I hold her tighter. The irony is that after the show, when I asked her which part she would want to be, her choice was Ursula because "she got to put smoke on the Little Mermaid's hand." She also got her picture made with the Little Mermaid, and I kept meaning to take the picture up to work so I could scan it in (ours is not functioning now) to upload to the blog, but keep forgetting.

Aaron is busy in school. He really wants to participate in the Jump Rope for Heart, but apparently they are supposed to do it at home (the jumping), and I threw away his jump rope several months ago. I need to head to Walmart to get him a new one, and let him start asking for donations...

He is also gearing up for soccer season. I can't remember exactly when it starts, but I know it will be soon. He really enjoys getting to play soccer...probably at least in part because he gets to be around his buddies!

Toby is currently suffering from Miserable Allergy Syndrome. He has tried treating himself with over-the-counter allergies meds, but to no avail. He was going to go to Urgent Care today, but couldn't find his insurance card, and didn't want to make the trip to my work to get one out of my purse. He must not be too miserable if that stopped him from seeking help. Or, maybe he was afraid of getting a shot :)

As for me...I am busy at work. I swear, we have a committee for everything. And every committee has at least 2 task forces. And before you can make any changes to anything, you have to get your proposal up the chain of committees. I'm still waiting to get approval to change my clock ahead the hour from last fall when Daylight Saving Time ended. Maybe by Fall '09, I'll get that approval :P

That's about it for now. Oh, and just so you know, I plan on winning the big jackpot tonight. Then I won't have to worry about getting that approval for clock change at work...I guess I should go buy some tickets! Wish me luck!!!

A Loss in Our Family

About 2 weeks ago, a very important member of our family became ill with a serious virus. After heroic efforts to save this member of the family, it became obvious that even though survival was achieved, the quality of life was serious diminished. It appeared that even though the virus was successfully eradicated, there was permanent and disabling brain damage. So, today we were forced to bite the bullet, and pull the cord...

And now, we have a brand new, fully (and rapidly) functioning CPU for our computer! We had been debating getting a new computer since last summer, and had thought we would wait for Christmas. We then decided that even though our 6-year old computer was slow, it still worked, and we should probably save the money and wait. Well, after we somehow got this horrendous virus, and after Toby got rid of said virus, the computer was left painfully slow, creeping along at the pace of a geriatric snail trying to cross the salt plains.

We decided to keep the monitor and printer that we already had to save a meager amount of money. We upped our memory from 512 MB (or was it 256?) to 750 GB for the hard drive, and from who knows how little RAM to 8 GB. I am so excited. Websites actually load in a matter of seconds, rather than minutes.

My Sweet Valentines

I have 2 very sweet men in my life. First, Aaron took his own money to school Monday morning so that he could buy a gift from the items available from the student council for me and Sadie. He remembered to take money, even though it had been since Friday that he had been told about it. He didn't mention it to me, until I caught him going through his piggy bank, fishing out quarters. He also took money to get something for Sadie, and was going to get something for Toby, but Toby told him to save his money. He kept the gifts hidden from me and Sadie, and was very excited to give them to us, bright and early this morning (he really wanted to give them to us last night, but I assured him he could wait one more day). He's so sweet, and I love him very very much. Sadie got Aaron 2 packs of caps for his cap gun. He was very excited about that...

My other sweet man is, of course, Toby, the love of my life. I was surprised that he got me more than just candy this year. You see, although Toby is very loving, he feels that Valentine's Day is just a commercial holiday, invented so that men would have to buy cards, flowers, candy, jewelry, etc. And I agree with him, and never really expect anything from him. He does usually at least get me some candy. He has learned over the years not to waste his time w/ those heart-shaped boxes of assorted chocolates. This year, he got me a heart-shaped box filled with chocolate covered caramel hearts. He is learning.

But, he surprised me and got me jewelry. When I first saw that it was a jewelry box, I was thinking that this man does not know me well. I am not really a jewelry person, and the jewelry I do wear I am pretty particular about and he knows to let me pick it out. So, I opened the box and it was a Pandora bracelet, which is a charm bracelet. I tried to get a good picture of it, but couldn't get our camera to focus well on it, or the flash to work well. So, instead, I have copied and pasted pictures from their site. Here is the bracelet:

Here are the 2 clips he picked out. The clips lock in place over the 2 areas of the bracelet you can see on the back that look a little different. These don't move, they lock in place. That's good for me right now, because I only have once charm, and it keeps things well spaced.

And here is the charm he picked out:

I really love my bracelet. I never had a charm bracelet back in the 90's, or whenever it was that they were popular (was that the 80's?) Whenever it was, I never had one, and I never would have thought that I would be so excited to get one now. I absolutely love it, and am looking forward to adding meaningful charms to it as the years go by. Toby is excited, too, because part of the reason he bought this bracelet was because it will give him something "easy" as a gift for all future occasions. So there was some practicality in this gift, but also lots of love.

I love you, Toby!

Soaking

So I was washing Sadie's hair tonight. It has to be washed at least every other night, followed with REAL conditioner, because the curliness coupled with being ultra fine leads to horrific tangled madness. So, I washed her hair, then put in the conditioner. She knows the routine, but after I applied the conditioner, I reminded her not to get her hair wet because the conditioner needed to "soak." I have never used that word before, and Sadie looked at me, and informed me that "soak" means when you're sad and pouting. I was confused for a moment, and then realized what she meant. I explained that she was thinking of "sulk" and asked her how she knew what it meant. She then informed me that she just knew it. Finally, she admitted that "a long time ago," the librarian at school had read a book to the class, and she taught them about it. Sadie said it was a book about the heart. I wonder exactly when "a long time ago" was. I think I'll ask her teacher...

The Joys of Identity Theft

Last summer, our garage was broken into. Me being the naive, boon-docks girl that I am had always left my purse in my car, and my car unlocked. After all, it was safe in my garage. Who could possibly breech such an impenetrable security system like a remote controlled garage door? So, my wallet was stolen out of my purse, along with my checkbook. The $10 cash was left untouched. I guess it wasn't worth the criminals' time to bother with it.

Luckily, we called the credit card companies before they were used, and cancelled those cards. The credit card companies very graciously (and expeditiously) sent us new cards. They didn't want there to be any delay in our charging patterns.

The bad part...the part that has been a thorn in my side...ever since then has been the stolen ID and checkbook. There have been numerous hot checks written in my name. There were only 3 checks left in that checkbook. We put a stop payment on those and closed the account, so they naturally came back as hot checks. There have also been who knows how many fake checks have made with my name at the top, signed with my name (because some loser has my driver's license). And those come back as unpaid checks on me, too.

I have received and dealt with at least 3 different check recovery services, and even had a warrant out for my arrest in Randall county. Randall county was the easiest to deal with...just had to take a copy of the police report to them, and all was settled (I was skeptical to go there to provide the documents they wanted, being as there was a warrant issued, and I had through a metal detector to get to the office I needed to go to). However, TRS has been horrible to deal with. Them, and one other, seem to get their kicks from treating me like a criminal. I am sure that there are plenty of PopTarts out there who try to convince them that their hot check was forged or whatever, but I have actually sent in police reports and affidavits.

Today, I think I may actually see the light at the end of the tunnel for TRS. Seems that even though they have the police report and an Affidavit of Forgery, they need an ID Theft Affidavit. It seems that since it wasn't someone forging my name on one of my accounts, all the other paperwork I faxed in was not sufficient. So now, a 5 page affidavit, notarized, and faxed in...hopefully in a few weeks my record will be clean...

If I ever meet the Poptarts who stole my identity...or maybe any Poptart who steals from people. I don't even know if they deserve to be labeled as Poptarts. Perhaps I should borrow from Travis and wish a ravenous, rabid porcupine to make its way into their rectum...

Boys and Shoes

What is it with little boys and shoes? Today, I had to buy another pair of tennis shoes for Aaron, and it wasn't because he outgrew them. Instead, he somehow was able to wear holes in the toes of both shoes. This past week, he looked like a poor hobo boy...in a Catholic school uniform. Good thing it didn't rain this week.

This makes his 3rd pair of tennis shoes this school year. He started out with a pair of New Balance shoes that velcroed. We did the tie-shoe thing last year, and he very quickly realized that the time involved in tying his shoes was not worth the "big boy" feeling of being able to tie them on his own. The part that velcroed somehow got ripped off, so we then bought him a pair of shoes from Target. I figured if the name brand shoes didn't last, why bother paying for them. Surprisingly, the Target shoes were not that much cheaper (only saved about $5). So now, we are on to pair 3. This time, we bought some Nerf shoes from Academy. I hope that these will last the remainder of the school year, and hold up through the summer.

So, I know there are a few of you out there who read this blog with boys of your own. Have you found a brand that can withstand the rigorous strain placed on them by a 7 year old boy? Any brands that definitely can't handle the torture?

Karma's a B!

I have known for a while now what sort of effect I have on students when they have to perform a nursing skill in front of me. Even when the skill only counts for a very small percentage of their grade, they always get very nervous and that nervousness, and me, have a Murphy's Law effect on them. They forget things they once knew well, needles fly off the syringe, pills drop on the floor, etc. I did not know, however, that I would have this effect on others, as well.

Today, I got my yearly TB test done. Since my current employer does not provide TB testing, I go to the pharmacy at a local United (a supermarket) to have the test performed. The pharmacist who performed the test had to stick me twice. Yes, twice on a simple TB test. All you have to do is get the bevel of the needle under the skin (but not into the fat or muscle) and inject a tiny bit of serum and make a bubble. Well, on the 1st attempt, I think he didn't go far enough in, and as he injected the serum, some of it leaked out and didn't make it into me. So, he felt he had to restart. Me, personally, felt that a there would still be enough of the serum in to get an accurate response, but I didn't say anything. So, he drew up more of the serum into a new syringe with a new needle, and did it in my other arm.

I guess that's what I get for causing so many students so much grief. That's what I get for letting a pharmacist do this test. How many of these has he done? He told me that this has never happened to him before, but I was left wondering if that is because he so rarely does it.

Oh well. It's over now. You guys need to remind me on Wednesday morning to go have it read.

update

It has been awhile since I last posted, and that is mainly due to the fact that there has been absolutely nothing going on in our lives lately. Okay, so not "nothing," but at least nothing has happened that I have felt like writing a post about. Just little snippets of life. Aside from Sadie's "Whoa-whoa cheeks" story (it's a good story, but I just can't post it to the world-wide web...ask me in person some time), nothing has seemed like it would make much of a post. So, today as the final hour ticks down before the kick-off of the big game, I figured I would post a few thoughts/happenings of late...

Lately, I have been noticing all the wonderful differences between my 2 children...the things that make them unique. Some of those traits I can definitely claim as having come from me, or my lineage. Sometimes I proudly claim those traits, while other times, I pretend that I have no idea where those kids get that from. It is incredibly neat to watch how their personalities and mannerisms develop.

I have been busy at work. Clinicals start up this week, so my weekends are about to be taken up with the mind-numbing task of grading care plans. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of doing a care plan for nursing clinicals, be very thankful. For those of you who know what a care plan is and exactly what it entails, imagine grading 10 of those each weekend. UGH! The only part of my job (aside from waking up early on Thursdays and Fridays for clinicals) that I don't like.

The kids are busy with school. Sadie has started gymnastics, and loves it, and Aaron continues to do well in guitar. Lately, Sadie has started telling us how smart she is. This comment by her is almost always followed by the following (or some similar) comment from Aaron: "Oh yeah? Then what's 5 + 9?" Sadie got tired of not being able to answer those math questions, so now she responds with "Well, I don't know my numbers." Then they argue about who's smarter. Lovely. I wonder who they get that competitive trait from? It couldn't be me...

Toby is still trudging away at the railroad. They laid off about 60 guys here. Luckily, Toby wasn't one of them. However, he can't hold an engineer job anymore, and is now working "on the ground" as a conductor. It's hard being a conductor this time of year because you spend a lot of the time outside of the engine, lining switching and what-not. Plus, he is working an evening shift, and usually doesn't get home until sometime between 9 and midnight...sometimes later. Oh well. At least he can still hold a job here in Amarillo.

That's about it for me for now. I have to go work on laundry a bit before the big game. Who are you rooting for? I have to say that after much consideration, I am rooting for the Cardinals. I just don't want the Steelers to be one-up on the Cowboys. Plus, the Cardinals are the NFC team, the underdogs, and they have never been to the Big Game...