106

The number of dollars I spent in prescription medication today.

Today J-boy was officially diagnosed with asthma. To some this may seem like a horrible event, but I am just so glad to have a reason for his ongoing coughing spasms that lead him to vomit. Oh, his old pedi tossed about the "A" word, but said an official diagnosis couldn't be made unless she actually saw him in an attack. WTH? Are we supposed to call you out when he's in full blow distress at the ER?

We switched pediatrician's back at the beginning of the year. It was one of those things where you didn't realize how miserable you were until you weren't anymore. My only regret is that I didn't move the boys sooner. I *love* their new pediatrician. She listens, she's in tune with what the boys need. She keeps me in the loop. She rocks.

So after the dx of asthma we went to the pharmacy to fill a buttocks-load of prescriptions. When all was said and done we walked about with $106 for COPAYS. Yep, we are one of the lucky American families who have insurance and can afford to get sick. I was so sad thinking of the single mom out there who's kid is in a similar place and has to make the decision of what to get. Food or medication. I by no means want to turn this into a rant about the state of our medical system - besides way too easy to armchair quarterback - but I think it's important to have compassion and do what we can. So when I go pick up my measley paycheck in a bit I'm going to donate a portion to our local People's Clinic.

The DHW

Santa's On His Way?

Check the date.

Today I saw a commercial for Christmas. Complete with Santa and twinkley lights.

Just a little reality check...it's 105 freaking degrees outside. Santa is no where on my mind.

The DHW

Me: A to Z

I got this from my mom's list and decided to complete it here instead. There's a lot of crossover so no harm, no foul I would think.

A - Age you got your first kiss: I really don't remember. I *think* 12 years old.
B - Band listening to right now: No band, Mariah Carey.
C - Crush right now: Aaron Sanchez
D - Dad's name: Dad
E - eating how many times a day: at least 6
F - Favorite band at the moment: No band, Sheryl Crow.
G - Gummy worms or gummy bears: worms
H - Hometown: Austin
I - Instruments: none
K - Kids: 2 boys
L - Longest car ride ever: Austin, Texas to Wilsonville, Oregon. 2332 miles according to Mapquest
M - Mom's name: Mom
N - Nicknames: E, Lainey, Sis, Mom
O - One wish: To raise my boys to independent, successful by their own standards, men.
P - Phobia[s]: Dying and leaving my kids, crowds, home invasion
Q - Quote: "Get messy. Take chances. Make mistakes." Miss Frizzle, The Magic School Bus
R - Reason to smile: My 2 sons
S - Song you last listened to: "Fallen" by Sarah Mclachlan
T - Time you woke up [today]: 6:25 a.m.
U - Unknown fact about me: If I told you then it would be known.
V - Vegetable you hate: Broccoli...ewww....blech!
W - Worst habit(s): Moi? Why none of course. Okay, showing every emotion I have on my face regardless of how NOT polite or p.c. is may be.
X - X-rays you've had: Back, wrist, collarbone, knee
Y - Yummy food : Tres leches cake
Z - Zodiac sign: Scorpio

Exactly How Long IS "As Soon As I Have A Chance"?

How long can one reasonably expect to leave a household duty in progress? I'm not talking about maintainence like cleaning the filter or vacuuming (though to me there is a start and finish to the task and by God, the vacuum cleaner should be put away each time). What I'm talking about is a one time, just-get-it done task.

I think my good friend Di's husband holds the all time record. He was supposed to get their 3rd car (the one that he wrecked the driver's side front quarterpanel) fixed and street ready so that they could sell it. Three years next month and it's still sitting in the driveway. Granted there were several steps to this process and many of them have been completed, but the final deed has not been done.

Papa has been promising to shred, burn or otherwise destroy several files we have from when we had our agency. The original documents are with the company and we have the copies. The thing is we no longer have access to the big shredder. We did burn quite a few of the files in the backyard, but really you can only do that so much before the neighbors get a bit ticked.

This desire for me to have a clean garage has been going on for about 6 months. I've sold, purged, donated, rearranged, given-away and/or thrown away more stuff that I am able to enumerate in order to reach this goal. I WANT A CLEAN GARAGE!

So should I just throw it away? Stick it all in a big bag, put it in the big can and set it out at the curb? How long would my guilt last knowing the contents weren't *completely* destroyed before being sent to the landfill? Would the sheer liberation of having yet two more boxes cleared out of the garage mitigate the guilt?

So tell me in word or in deed (i.e. pictures) what is your undone project?

The DHW

Yet Another Getting-to-Know-You Game

1. Who was President of the Untied States when you were born? Nixon
2. Do you know what Day of the week you were born? Tuesday. What time of the day? 11:04 a.m.
3. Were you born at home? A hospital? The front seat of your parents car? Hospital.
4. Have you ever researched your family tree? No. I'm afraid of what I will find. Allow me to live in blissful ignorance for awhile longer.
5. How old where you when you first started school? 5, but I took Kindergarten twice.
6. Can you name a teacher from your years of attending grammar school? Mrs. Glover, Mr. Stamp, Mrs. Haste, Mr. Douglas, Ms. Custis, Mr. Stewart, Ms. Soine, and Mrs. Weaver. Anything after that is high school and I had lots of teachers.
7. How old were you when you developed your first crush on a boy/girl? I’m sure it was 3rd or 4th grade. What was his/her first name? Damned if I remember.
8. Did you graduate high school? Yes. Do you know the date of your graduation? May 26.
9. Did you attend college? Yes. Do you know the date of your graduation? August 12.
10. What was your first job? (Not counting babysitting). Collating papers for a project at Tracor, Inc., but I do believe that was cash off the record since I was 14 so RPJ was HEB.
11. Are you married? Yes. If so, how did you meet your spouse? At work. Was it love at first sight? No, he thought I was pest (though he’ll deny it).
12. How long did you date your spouse before the two you married? Two years before we got engaged and about 18 months engagement, so 3.5 years total. Yeah, that sounds about right.
13. What month of the year were you married in? January. Were you married in the morning? The afternoon? 4:30 p.m.
14. Were you married by the clergy, or did you have a civil ceremony? In the church.
15. Were you nervous during your wedding ceremony? Well, yeah.
16. After your wedding, did you and your spouse go away for a honeymoon? Yep, to Disney World.
17. Does your spouse get along with your mother? Yes. Your father? Yes.
18. Do you get along with your mother-in-law? Yes. Your father-in-law? Yes. They both drive me nuts sometimes, but then so do *my* parents.
19. Do you have any children? Yes. What are their ages? 6 and 4.
20. Do you live in a large city? A small town? The country? The beach? I live in a medium sized city.
21. Do you live in a house? An apartment? A condominium? A house trailer? I live in a house.
22. How many trees are there on the property where you live? 5 trees. How many buildings? One.
23. Do you have a "green" thumb when it comes to plants and flowers? No.
24. How many bedrooms are there in the place where you live? 4 How many floors? 1
25. How is your home decorated? Modern? Contemporary? Country? Early American? Modern Goodwill with just a hint of early Salvation Army.
26. Would you say your home is neat and tidy? A huge mess? Or some where in between? It’s “lived” in.
27. Do you own more than one vehicle? Yes, 2.
28. What is your occupation? Stay at home mom and part time 3-year old teacher & MDO administrator. Would you change it if you could? Not right now, but eventually I’d like to do something different that doesn't involve working directly with kids. I'd like to go back to accounting.
29. What is your spouse's occupation? He works for the State.
30. Do you have children in school? Yes.
31. Where did you and your family go on your last vacation? The beach.
32. Do you sew? Cross stitch? Embroider? Crochet? Knit? I can sew, but it’s not my thing really. 33. Do you play a musical instrument? Paint? Write poetry? Sculpt? Do crafts? I do paper crafts. I scrapbook and I make cards.
34. Do you have a good singing voice? In my own mind I’m rock star, but the people who hear me would strongly disagree.
35. Do you participate in any sports? Physical work? I chase 3-years olds and I walk with my friend a few times a week though we’ve been on hiatus.
36. Do you exercise regularly? If by regularly you mean when I think about it and have the inclination and time.
37. Do you like taking photographs of your family and friends? Oh, good Lord, yes! Are you good at it? My husband gets better shots, but I take more pictures.
36. Are you a good cook? What I make I make well, but I'm not exactly Julia Child.
37. Do you ever bake cookies? All the time. What is your favorite cookie? Chocolate chip with pecans.

Okay, let me know if you played.

The DHW

SPF: Oh, The Randomness Of It All

It’s Friday!

This week’s assignment is easy-peasy. A special thanks is extended to Kristine for making our load just a little lighter at the end of the week.

Okay for your viewing pleasure:
My kitchen
My handwriting
Something random





This is a view of my kitchen from the breakfast area. There are lots of things I'd love to change about my kitchen, but I do enjoy the amount of room. It's a pretty big kitchen considering when the house was built and I love that I can see the boys playing in the backyard while I make dinner each night.

Here is the view from the kitchen into the breakfast area. The yellow is a bit more "butter" than I was going for so eventually I will repaint. One thing at a time, Mortimor, one thing at a time.

This is the view from the door inside with the kitchen to the left and the breakfast area to the right. That little area is supposed to be a desk/office space, but some moron thought it would be a good thing to put this little spot right smack-dab in the middle. Oh, that's not in anyone's way. Ugh.

So for us it works as a communication area. Phone, music, calendar, and all the things we need to keep this household running smoothly so long as we don't need to sit down.

Killing two birds with one stone the blog world gets to see my handwriting and my son gets to practice "The Eyes of Texas" for the game.

Let's all sing together now that you have the words right in front of you.

Hook 'em, Horns!

I know some of you know what these stacks are for and you're probably screaming in your mind (or maybe even out loud). These are books of spelling tests. My job as the room parent is to rip out each unit in the book and staple the pages togehter. Then I do that 19 more times to create 19 Unit 1 spelling tests and 19 Unit 2 spelling tests and...well, you get the picture. I have to have this done by Tuesday. Anyone wanna help me?!

So this concludes another edition of SPF. Thanks so much for taking the time to listen to my mad ramblings and let's get together again really soon.

The DHW

WBW: My Own Version of Best Dressed

Sorry The Kept Woman, I didn't have time to go digging through my pix this week's WBW, but I did have a chance to snap this shot of my GQ inspired boy. Unfortunately he seems to share his mother's sense of fashion, though I don't think I could pull off the black socks and L.L. Bean navy (what are those shoes called) mocs as well as he does.

All I can say is at least he dresses himself every morning. We'll have to work on *what* he dresses himself in each day.

The DHW

Four Years Ago Today

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the day that changed the world. The Kept Woman asks us where we were the day the world stopped turning.

I was nursing my 3 month old baby.

I had just had my second son and I was sitting on the recliner when my mom told me to turn on the news. She said a plane hit a World Trade Center tower and while the news was covering the crash another plane flew right into the second tower. I flipped on the TV and watched. And watched. And watched.

That day I was going to Papa’s office for a few hours to get his files organized while he kept the boys. I got to his office and the television was on, but nobody was working. We all stayed glued to the TV and the files remained where they were the day before. Nothing got done. All the appointments with clients scheduled for that day were cancelled by the clients who couldn’t focus. In the world of sales this is not good. In some ways I don’t think our business was ever the same after 9/11. We took a direct hit at first, but really it was more of a life evaluation based on you-never-know-what’s-going-to-happen that made us decide ultimately to close our doors two years later.

Another indirect consequence of 9/11 for me was depression. Granted at 3 months postpartum I was already at risk, but the events of 9/11 certainly sent me over the psychological edge. I remember being so sad about everything that I wasn’t able to even enjoy my own son. I was constantly crying and not just a boo-hoo, but earth shaking sobs. Then the panic attacks started. Consider that my first son was born in January 1999 and three months later in April 1999 the worst case of school violence occurred at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. And now the terrorist attacks three months after my second child was born. Admittedly, my body was a hormonal mess, but my mind kept going back to what kind of world did I bring my kids into? I was depressed. I felt guilty. The saddest part is that I stayed this way for over a year and a half before going to get help. I simply didn’t know it didn’t have to be this way. Finally I went and got help (and no, Mr. Cruise, it was not through vitamins and exercise alone), but that’s a story for another post.

I didn’t know anyone at the time that was directly affected by the events of that day, but I’ve since made a friend that was very close to the tragedy. It’s interesting to hear her tell of the day that changed the world having been so close to it all.

I haven’t been on a plane since that day and I still have no desire to do so now. I don’t want to visit other countries; I don’t want to leave my safe little world. Maybe with time and distance my views will change, but not now. Something I heard recently that just haunts me is the ticket clerk who put two of the terrorist on the flight that hit one of the towers killed herself. It breaks my heart to think that in some way she held herself responsible enough to end her own life. To me she was equally a victim of the terrorist attacks. I pray that she has found peace.

I pray for each of you on this saddest of anniversaries we all share.

The DHW

What's The Haps?

I heard this on a Roseanne episode. I wonder if it's made it's way back to cool again? Is cool cool?

Anyway, I updated my blog links. They're in alphabetical order, not in order of favorite. You know that YOU are my favorite.

There's not much there right now, but enjoy. If I know you're out there I'd love to add you to my reads. Oh, and if you hear of any more good blogs games do keep me in the know.

The DHW

SPF: Threads, Oogling and a Hail Mary

************************************

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!

STUFF PORTRAIT FRIDAY - SHAUN STYLE

This week our team leaders over at Random and Odd have called the play of SPFing (is that a verb?) team spirit.

1. Your favorite 'team' paraphenalia. (shirts, hats, washing machines...whatever you have that shows off your favorite team)
2. This is a 'google hunt' picture. Go find a picture of your favorite player from your team and post it.
3. Dig through some old pictures and show me one of you at a tailgating party, block party, or Superbowl party. I know you've got to have something like that.

Team Threads

Well, the boob shot in my profile should give away some of my team spirit. The hat goes with the shirt in my profile and is great for bad hair days. No, it's not burnt orange, but it's got a great girly-mommy spin doncha think?




In spite of the pink departure, I am doing everything possible to make sure my boys bleed burnt orange. My family is with me on this life goal.

J-boy looking very on-his-way-to-college in this ensemble.

Z-boy in his burnt orange finest.

Hook 'em, Horns!

A Google Hunt

Or as I like to think of it, an "oogle" hunt.

My hunt wasn’t for football. If I’m googling athletes then is for my baseball boys. Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. I could give a rat’s ass what their RBI or other stats are for this season or any other. This is a visual sport, if you know what I mean…*wink, wink*.

Alex Rodriguez. Lawdy, this man is good looking. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure he can play ball, but oh, so not the point. Can I say it's really nice to have Latinos climbing the food chain?

Quite a player, both on and off the field. That's okay, Derek, honey. Get it out of your system. I'll be waiting here for you and then we can live happily ever after.

Papa is rolling his eyes at me, but a girl can have her dreams. Isn't that what it's all about, Oprah?

Party Plays

In the interest of time I had to go with our “Hail Mary” play: Show me a picture of your kid in their sports jersey.




The one season my kids played soccer. They tried it and now their done. The best thing they liked about soccer was the end of season pizza party. Me too.

So there you have it, folks. Another glimpse into our world. I can see you yawning!

The DHW

Way Back Wednesday: We've Got Spirit, Yes, We Do...

...We've got spirit, how 'bout you?

Okay, the first thing you need to know is I didn't have spirit in school. It's not that I disliked our school or anything, quite the contrary. I went to the best high school in Austin. My mom and dad graduated from there 20 years before me. My grandfather graduated from the same high school many years before my parents. Hell, we were a legacy. MY boys will go there in 8 more years. My lack of spirit was a casuality of my generation. In the late 80's we were on the cusp of the gen-x/slacker era.

Except for that one year when I went out for drill team I did nothing. I couldn't make my weight cap so I couldn't dance so what was the point? You see apparently at 5' 1" you are considered a heffer over 111 pounds [the limit to dance at the game on Friday nights]. I was 118 in high school so I was clearly too porky to dance. Hmmm, I wonder why so many girls are suffering from eating disorders? Couldn't have anything to do with those kinds of requirements? Nahhhhh. Let's just say I only wish I was the in the heavy-weight class of 118 these days.

The only evidence that I had school spirit was my graduation photo. It proves that in fact I participated in graduation ceremonies and wore the official school colors: maroon and white. C'mon though our mascot was a "Maroon". Do you know what that is? It's the head of a comet. Seriously. What clever student council member came up with that over a 100 years ago? Go, Maroons!

However, our school fight song is classic!

"Beer, beer for old Austin High;
Bring out the whiskey, bring out the rye.
Send those freshman out for gin and
Don't let a sober senior in!
We never stagger; we never fall.
We are the [class level, i.e. junior]. We conquer all!
All ye saints of Austin High are
Out on the drunk again!"

No shit, we sang this at school assemblies and pep rallies. And now it will be in my head all day thankyouverymuch.




Given how much crap I'm into these days surronding my boys you might not believe I didn't do jack in school, but 'tis true.

Thanks to The Kept Woman for this little jaunt down memory lane.

The DHW

These Three Things

3 things I want to do before I die:
1) Raise my kids to be happy, independent, successful by-their-own-definition adults
2) Retake my honeymoon (I pnemonia on the first one)
3) Pay off my student loan

3 things I can do:
1) Give what I can and not feel guilty about what I can't give
2) Bake like I was the Dough Boy
3) Preserve our family past and create routines & traditions

3 things I can't do:
1) Wear a thong (sorry, Kami and Mama Duck)
2) Pretend I like someone when I don't
3) Save the world

3 things I say most:
1) No, thank you
2) Stop it, Critter!
3) 1,2,3 all eyes on me!

3 celebrity crushes:
1) Lance Armstrong
2) Ty Pennington
3) Aaron Sanchez (Iron Chef America)

Cool.

The DHW

SPF: Drinks, Clinks and Crapapalooza

Or just more reason why mommies love mood elevating pharmaceuticals.




Exhibit 1: Your Drink of Choice

Ah, nothing like the sweet taste of booze and caffeine. In this instance I don't indulge together. I love the Smirnoff Twist, madarine orange flavor. Umm ummm! Takes me back to my high school wine cooler days. I never was a Bud girl...he he! Also a high school vice is my diet coke. I don't care how bad for me it is I need at least one a day. I've gone so far as to get the caffeine free from time to time, but I won't let go of my aspertame or now my Splenda. I must have my coffee in the morning and my diet coke during the day. Hey, I don't smoke, I rarely drink (hell, I've been encouraged to drink *more*), I don't do illegal drugs (though my some of my mom friends and I were talking and agreed we'd try marajuana in brownie form if it was legal...how can anything chocolate be bad??) the least I can ask for is my DIET COKE!!!

Exhibit 2: My trunk
I don't have an honest to goodness trunk. I have a vast wasteland where boy stuff accumulates. I have all the laundry that has needed to go to the dry cleaners for about 2 weeks (sure hope Papa doesn't ask for his blue dress shirt). In the purple bin is all the stuff I bought at the stores and decided to return. Yeah, it's a sickness. I also keep a blanket, bottled water and dry food in the back just in case we hit an ice storm in TEXAS and are stranded. The reserves will hold us until be can be rescued. Yes, I know logically this will not likely happen, but I do it all the same.

Exhibit 3: My Dishes

For awhile we had this idea that everywhere we visted we get the boys a plastic plate to remember our trip. Well, after a collection of Thomas the Train from Dallas, Rainforest Cafe from Galveston, Fiesta Texas from San Antonio in addition to all the other characters in our cupboard I think were done with that tradition. One of my kids will only eat out of bowl and sometimes it's just a paper plate kind of night.

For the grown up stuff I decided to do every thing in white so I could just decorate around whichever holiday. I can summer it up or fall it down by buying decorative paper napkins and tablecloth. How very practical of me, don't you think?