sandy's general musings

Very tired... the pollen is even gettin to me and at night I get bad sore throats.

Jack had to have one last treatment on his wart yesterday. He HATES it.

alyssa worried me about lice. But I checked her hair and she is fine. Dont know why she is itching in certain spots though.

Never , ever, a dull moment around here :)

Yesterday we had our 20 year anniversary luncheon for work. I have been with 3 different companies, but stayed in the same place. DEC, Compaq, and HP. All the changes happened while I was in the current job.

Who knew, when I got out of college and got the job in Burlington VT in manufacturing 20+ years later I would still be around. I started off doing work with my mechanical engineering degree, but then migrated to software and unix.

At the luncheon they only really "roasted" those with 25 and 30 years. The other thing is that since we are HP, all the trivia, etc talked about HP, but 1/2 of those there were from the old DEC/digital. I dont know if anyone was pure Compaq. Talking about someones career I could follow those that came from DEC, but it was harder with the HP people.

Afterwards I came home since the restaurant was near my house and it was almost time to leave anyway (it was after 2pm).

Alyssa has come up with another great idea about the "Teasing" that she sometimes gets. If they are in the classroom, she will just keep saying "what" , "what", until the person saying the thing will get louder and louder and then get in trouble with the teacher. Despite the difficulties that I sometimes I have with her, she has always had an incredible brain, aka she just thinks very well, many times beyond her years. AT her age I would never have come up with all the stuff that she does. She would have a good career in nursing, dr, etc, as she truely does having a caring personality.

I still love that Jack puts himself to bed many nights. He will just say "goodnight" and go to his room and go to bed. He has always been like that. Other nights its a just a tuck , hug and kiss. About once or twice a week he wants me to lay down for all of about 1 minute or two. Its very rare to have a kid that since age 3 has many times put themselves to sleep. I am very grateful for that.

Well last weekend, it was in the 50's and this weekend it was in the 80's! For March I think we are having record highs. Also no rain recently which is really bad for those with allergies. A few friends and my husband are really suffering. The only think keeping his sanity is that we are heading to Florida this friday and away from pollen.

With the perfect , abeit a bit too hot, weather, we did a lot of outdoor stuff. yesterday felix came up with the best idea. AFter Alyssa's playdate was canceled around 2ish, Felix said, why not go down to olympic park and go into the fountains. They have the fountain of rings down there that they do a water show with, and the rest of the time the kids can play in it. So we did that. It was very crowded. Then we went to the playground in the park. I then called my single friend that lives intown and we stopped by her place. When she lived in the neighborhood my kids loved visiting her cats. There is a microbrewery next door that Felix knew from when he lived on the West coast that he really wanted to go to, so we went to dinner there. The kids did a good job coloring (making their own "designs" ) and behaved well in the restaurant. Thank goodness Jack at least eats veggies. he has asparagus instead of french fries.

On Sat, I was out all day. I was discouraged that with all my runnign around and exercise that I did not lose an ounce. And no, I did not eat mor ethan normal during the weekend. Anyway, we met Alyssa's friend and mom on Sat at the greenway trail. The girls did scootering since Alyssa's friend still is not quite riding the bike. She is at the stage that Jack is. Basically does fine until you let go. We went a mile to end where starbucks and barnes and noble are. We stopped there. Then we went back. We then took the girls to old navy and target. THe girls were no behaving. They feed off each other. TBH, I think Alyssa feeds more off her friend then the other way around. She behaves pretty good in stores when she doesnt have friends around.
I did buy a few things , as we will need more summer stuff for camp. We need 12 days worth of outfits. Anyway, we also went to the mall. Sears had an awesome clearance on girls and boys shoes. Got some great stuff for 4.00$. We ate a 4pm meal at the food court. Then I came home and got Jack. Felix had taken him to a dinasaur puppet show after his baseball game. I then took the kids to the YMCA for open night since we are using their afterschool care and camp. The kids had fun. They had the rock climbing wall open. Also the pool. the problem was that each kid wanted to be somewhere different at various times and I was running around. I could have used Felix, but he was in allergy hell. Alyssa did great rock climbing and repelled back down like a pro. I guess all that tree climbing is doing her good :).

Anyway that was my day. Sunday I took Alyssa to sunday school as our carpool buddy was out of town. I did some walking and then stopped at Kmart. They had unbelievable deals. ! 50% off reduced stuff. Got Alyssa a denim jacket that she wanted for $3.00. Sweaters for men for 1.99.

Oh, did I mention that Alyssa is one of these lucky people.? She won the raffle sat night (floam) and on Webkinz got the 25K jackpot on wishing well at one point. She always seems to "win" stuff, so she is now picking my lottery numbers. She is just one of "those people" it seems.

The other thing is how she finally solved her teasing problems herself. I am very impressed. She has problems that she wants to be friends with boys but then she gets teased. So we tell her to ignore it, which she cannot. She comes the other day and says that next time she gets teased she is going say "Is that all you have on me; Isnt there anything better than you can tease me about ". I think that is geneious. Goes to show that kids sometimes can solve their own problems.

Back to the bike thing. Jack is trying hard. he really wanted a new webkinz. The latest is that he will check the day's activities and tell me "you have to log in at 9pm to do XYZ for me". he is really into it.

I am so happy that the food I feed my cats are not on the recall list. After losing my cat a few years ago to renal failure to have my new ones have problems would devastate me.

Well this was a busy monday to write..

Wow, the weather has been nice! in the 70's everyday.... So the kids are playing more outside. On wednesday we are now done with activities by 4:30 , so the kids have lots of outdoor time it seems. I hang out with them and even play with them. aka helping jack with baseball and with their bikes. Alyssa still needs help "starting". Well yesterday we put jack on Alyssa's bike , and drumroll please...... He rode it without me holding on for a short while!!!

now we take the training wheels off his bike.

Alyssa did get frustrated at one point and just crashed her bike in the middle of the street (cul de sac with island in the middle) and went in the big island and just was crying. I asked her to do that in her room, but she refused to get up. I just ignored her after that. If she wants to embarass herself outside that is her business. then she put herself in my car. I was right there so I was not concerned. I just hate when she has these meltdowns.
We did get report cards this week. Alyssa got all A's except a B in math. I knew that was coming. Just got all "s". His schoolwork is fine. Its just the small things of the day... refusing to do the pledge of allegiance one day, taking a pencil from a kid another..... Of course his M.O. is that he "did not know it was wrong, but now he does know". yeah right. Just like his uncle.

After I dropped each kid off at their sleepovers on Sat, I kinda missed them. It was nice to have a night out with Felix and I and I got to sleep in until 8:30 sunday morning, but there was a sadness dropping them off. Alyssa was at a bday party and Jack was at a friends with a very large party. Both were very safe. Yet there are times that I just want that peace and quiet an cannot wait for them to be "out of the house".

This morning alyssa woke up having a bad dream about ghosts. I tried to tell her that our house was new so that there was likely no ghosts. Then she said "what about bloody mary". I was like Huh, when did you hear about that. She said last year. I though she was a bit young to know about that one. aka the one where you see a ghost in the mirror. Finally we got past the ghost thing and Jack, who lately has been picking his nose, even in public, YIKES, said he was stuffed up and therefore could no go to school. Alas I think he has his father's allergies. Not a good thing. Might have to get him some nasonex. But I convinced him it was OK to go to school.

I need to serious consider dieting again. I have gained back quite a few lbs from teh 25 I lost a number of years ago. I am not happy about that. I need to do the low carb thing again for real. I was able to stick to it for over a year and now I eat everything and anything, including all junk.
I dont fit into many of my clothes anymore. I can bring out my old stuff, but I never wanted to see that stuff again. now that the weather is nicer I am hoping for more outdoor exercises. Walking every night with the kids and also before picking them up from afterschool. Also while they are in activities I can walk at teh park 2 days. I want to start to slightly jog again.

Well I started speech for Jack on mondays. only problem is that this monday Alyssa has an orthodontist appt. I really want to get these braces started since her teeth are so bad. But no more baby teeth are coming out. her dentist doesnt want to yank. I am not impressed with this dentist and probably have to switch anyway. I know that Jack is difficult, but I dont feel like they handle it properly. So how to be two different places at 3:30. ? I am trying to move speech to later.

It kills me that I pay for afterschool care and they are there for less than 1/2 hour most days.
60/each per week! I really wish I could let them come home on the bus and be home alone for 15 minutes. It really sucks that I cannot do that. Next year, when Alyssa is 9, I could possibly do that for her, but not for Jack. I need to find someone who can take them for those 30 minutes , with the agreement that I would leave work early on the days that they cannot do it.

For example, next week.
monday.. dr appt. 3:30
Tuesday skating for Alyssa -- 3:30 Jack picked up at 4:45 from felix, bu tI could have taken him with me to the rink.
Wed. pick up both kids at 3pm for activities
Thursday. normally the one day I can leave them there. But this week Jack might have speech.
Friday.. nothing really, but I can always pick them up after work if I want. This is the only day I can leave them regularly for the most part.

Yesterday I got them early because Jack had a 2 week followup for his wart on the bottom of his foot. problem was, that they had to freeze it again. He totally freaked out. Because he would not be still they froze probably more around the foot than the wart. I highly doubt he will ever ALLOW this to happen again. If the freezing is not working we have to come up with another solution. He said it really hurt so much afterwards.... Then again, Jack has absolutely no tolerance for pain like that. Alyssa taps him and he cries.. He does sorta need to toughen up a bit. I believe he got this way because he knew that every time Alyssa did hit him, he was the "victim".

I am so tired today. our matress is off to the factory.. The guest bed is comfortable, but Felix's snoring has reached new levels! We had the tonsils out and it got better. But now between the sinuses, being overweight, and allergy season, forget it. I wear earplugs now. In a king size bed it works, but not in a queen. So I tired to sleep on the boxspring with lots of padding. Not really working.... I cannot wait to get our bed back Sat night.

Sat is a busy day... Alyssa;s friend Aly comes over in the am, then Jack has pictures and a baseball game, and then "auntie" is staking her claim on the kids since she did not make the car show. I really cannot deny this. So I have the afternoon off. then at 5:30 each kid has a sleepover! A night to ourselves... Alyssa to a party, and Jack to his friend's house. They are a very large family, so one extra kid wont even be noticed!

I am catching Jack's cold. of course, when kids get sick they get over it quickly but adults it can linger. I hope it doesnt become too bad. I still try to keep going though. There is always too much to do. I know that I micromanage everything so things are partly my fault. . On monday Felix stayed home with the kids and for breakfast they went to IHOP and had chocolate chip pancakes. A late lunch was at the ice cream shop for chocolate ice cream. ! that left me to be the bad person that make them eat a fruit and veggies for dinner. Of course I laid out all their clothes like I always do. I know that Alyssa could probably dress herself, but I still have a need to do it. I prefer dressing her to dressing myself, of which I have gained back a bunch of the weight that lost and now I dont like my body. I know I need to get back and diet again, but that motivation has not been strong enuf I guess.

I am also starting to freak out about sleepaway camp. moreso for myself than Alyssa. The only contact I will have will be via letters. 12 days of little contact. I am not sure that I am really ready for that. I can email her, but she can only postal mail me back. Also, they are not allowed any outside food. my poor picky eater will end up losing weight that she cannot afford to lose!

On other camp front, I signed them up for art camp, even though they would have prefered drama camp. art camp is cheaper and fits my hours. I would have had to take time off , aka work 1/2 days , for them to go to drama camp. how come I feel guilty.?

last few days..different stuff.

Alyssa-- She went on the monkey bars today and it was sorta like an S shape. There was about 15 bars. she went back and forth and back again for 45 bars! I was amazed!!!! Also she says that she is the slowest runner in gym, yet she can outrun me. We did a bit of jogging today. Their school is having a carnival and fun run in early May. The other development is that she got invited to a sleepover bday party for next Sat night from a girl that was friends with, then not so much, and then sometimes at school now will play at recess with. It seems for a girl that really doesnt have "friends" she is getting invited to quite a few bday parties. I just wish she would put in an effort more, but I believe that summer camp will really help. This week we are also giving her latte's in the morning. mocha coffee with milk. It hasnt made her more hyper or worse. Whether or not its helping... time will tell.

Jack---well since alyssa's week at school was much better, Jack had a bad week. On thursday he "mocked" the teacher. This is apparently a very hot button for her and he got into a boatload of trouble. Straight to another class and almost to the "office". He also had to writte an apology. of course , in usual "Jack world" he did not understand how wrong it was that he did that. He must know that it was not right, but apparently did not see the seriousness of it when it happened.
Jack starts speech on Monday. He really needs it. JAck has started baseball. He is honestly not that good, but sports is good for him , since he would rather be indoors on the computer, tv, etc.
For Jack's class I volunteered to type up the stories that the kids do. in kindy the teacher write down what the kids talks about. The subject was either My pet or What I want to be when I grow up. Jack chose the 2nd one. He wants to be an archeologist that digs for diamonds so that he can be rich. He wants 5 kids and wants to live in Florida . gotta love it! Well typing these up are a big pain. plus most kids in his class had just a few short sentences that I need to try to fit on 3-4 pages without seeming like they wrote nothing. I am not liking this project that I signed up for. I cannot imagine doing the older grades though. Next year I think I will stay away from the book project. Stick to the science fair and other stuff.

Other big deals this weekend. WEll tonight we dont have a babysitter. We will have to go out next sat night. Alyssa will be gone and findnig a place for Jack should be easy.
Last night I met up with a friend of mine that used to live in my neighborhood, but moved in town. She is still single; its nice to talk to someone who is not in surburban mommy land every so often. Orginally we were going out with my other friend for her birthday, but she got sick. I still went down to visit my friend and she made dinner. We went out for dessert. I was home by 11. :)
Other news is that my sister in law fell the other night getting up to go to the bathroom. She tripped on her pj bottoms. It turns out that she fell so hard she fractured her hip. Today she had surgery to put pins in. Without the pins she woudl be bedridden for almost 3 months. with the pins she will slowly be up and about . My brother has had to deal with a lot. He has had to step up as a father as well as working and being with her. So far so good. She does have family up there, so that is helpful to them. Also they have a boatload of friends.

Well the kids are still outside playing . it was around 70 today. Felix is planting some seeds. I better go check up on everyone.

Today is my anniversary. Felix did good with teh dozen lilac roses. Its funny that we are both mad at each other over the car show incident , but still it is our anniversary. I got him a digital photo frame with internal memory as well as slots for cards.

And from the car show incident, they are now going Sunday, but the following weekend Sperry is going to do something with the kids.. that is fine... But Felix and I still do see eye to eye. He honestly doesnt think it was a big deal to invite her along. And he doesnt care either.

On other news I switched Jacks gymnastics class from 4:15 to 3:15. This will cut back from the overlap since Alyssa's threatre class is at 3:30. The boy from his class that was also in gymnastics moved his time to later.. But what really motivated this decision is that another boy that Jack is friends with is taking the 3:15 class. So the kids have to take the bus on wed so that I get to work extra early. They actually took the bus again today... I was shocked that alyssa wanted to. I guess after its dark again in the am, this will change again. After sunday it wont be light until close to 8am!

sandy

Ok, I feel much better today than the last couple of days. Of course Alyssa pushed me to my limits as well. I handled 2 meltdowns, but very differently.
Monday afternoon Alyssa hit Jack. So we told her nice and calmly to go to her room. She then started bawling and saying things such as "I am a bad girl and dont deserve a room". Wow, where did that come from. We knew it was a mix between her normal cant control meltdown and a ploy. She did tell us she heard that one on jimmy neutron. So much for that show! Anyway we brought her to her room and then while in there she proceeded to do some banging and destruction. I did take away her small vanity at one point. I ignored her for the most part and so did Felix. I also took away her webkinz animals. (she likes BOTH the animals and the online part). She eventually calmed down, came downstairs and apologized to both myself and Jack. OK. So we thought we were done.
Tuesday morning. I am still not feeling well. FElix has offered to take the kids on the bus . EVerything is going ok. Though I came to find out later that Jack put his Crocs on instead of sneakers and it was PE day!. I did have to help with Alyssa's hair though. Then Alyssa decides she wants her earrings back in at the last minute, which was a no. Well up to her room, crying and slamming the door. Felix did leave with JAck because he had to. I was not feeling good, at my wits end, and this time I really got in her face and let her have it. This time that method worked, though I did not like that I had to resort to that. Her punishment was that this morning she had to take the bus .. which she did.... Also no complaining at skating. There was a little of that, but overall she and her friend started group lessons again and did very well.

Now onto my very sore subject. Sperry. If any of you read this, she is my husband's "sister". The kids adore her, so I put up with her. This one is my husband's fault. He had made plans to take Jack to the car show with another father and his son that we know from Alyssa's sunday school. The date changed to this weekend from the later weekend, as they could not make it. I checked the calendar at the time and it seemed fine. I told Felix to call him and he siad that he had to check with Sperry first. I was like WHAT? He invited her to come along. I told him how wrong this was. You just dont invite a 3rd person for a father/son activity. He just did not see it. Also, she had offered to babysit for us sat night and I guess he doesnt want to piss her off. Well I personally dont care. This one I do blame him. Well anyway, jack now has baseball later on Sat, so Sat would be out, but Sperry cannot go on Sunday. Boo hoo. But Felix's answer is that they just dont go. He even stated how the other guy canceled from the next Sat which worked. Well guess what . It doesnt work becaues of baseball. So now Felix is blaming me that I told him baseball was probably going to be late in teh day on sat's based on info I received. Well that info was false. Its just like last year. He is also mad that I volunteered him to assist coach, but even if he wasnt, Jack was not going miss his 2nd practice and his 1st game.

So lets just say that my 9th anniversary is not going to be such a "happy one". Its not like I am comtemplating anything "serious" here, but I am just very upset about this and feel I have a right to be. The last few months have been extremely difficult due to the health issues and dealing with "her". If I could I would be harder about "her", but once again, I cannot hurt my kids.

Today is a double whammy day.. I have one of my migraines AND cramps. I managed to get the kids off to school. Now I am feeling a tad better. Contemplating whether to go to work or not yet. The good news is that from my computer I can now all of sudden get into work via the VPN. It had not worked for months. Not sure why. I still cannot on the kids computer where all my apps are loaded.

I knew I had something else to write about, but now I have forgotten! I did remember to write about those silly cats of mine. I decided to test and see if they knew their name. Kaikai (the girl) does know her name, but cobbie (the boy does not). I would call each name and only when I did kaikai would she stop what she was doing (drinking from the sink). Cobbie --not really. Also cobbie has decided to sleep by my feet now at night. Must like our new down mattress pad.!

Oh that is what I wanted to write about..... The mattress guy came out and because we have a pillow top, have valleys on each side and a mountain in the middle is "normal". But they will stretch out the pillow top for us and tighten it. Also we are getting addional supports under the box spring right where we sleep. If I had to do it again, I would not get a pillow top.

Yesterday we had a very nice day. So after I picked up Alyssa we went for a mile walk. I swear that child did not stop talking the entire time. It was like she had sugar or caffeine. The good news is that caffeine is suppose to calm her. I am testing that theory now that TAG testing is complete for her. It seems that she got in trouble in school yesterday for not quietly going down the hall, but jumping a pretend jump rope. Also for talking and singing. The universe is upside down this week.... Jack has been perfect up to today with green lights and punches and Alyssa is the one I need to talk to!!!! Webkinz is what has motivated Jack. He also finally !! finished his word list. He should have had it done a long time ago, but his teacher seems to be behind the other kindy teachers. I was looking on the walls and other classes are writing short stories (a couple sentences), but not his class. Thank goodness I work with him at home.

Oh and speaking of his class I volunteered to do the book typing for his class. Every year in teh spring each kid writes their own book. In kindy, I recall that the kids dictate their story to someone. in 1st grade up they write their own. Last year Alyssa was frustrated writing a story and when the room mom came into the class, she had to help "push" alyssa to do so. This year, its completely different!!! She kept writing. Her story is longer than most. At least thats true if they use the "chocolate bar" story that they wrote. Also, this year she is finishing her work, which is so different than last year. Even making some extra effort. The BIG issue is remembering her homework every day and stupid mistakes.