I keep starting new posts...

but after writing for a while I generally decide they are kind of stupid. Things that I've written about include how I love cats but not dogs, how I am not good with change, and something about how we are a very selfish egocentric country. All of these ideas putted out after a paragraph or two. I will say that I've been reading archives of other people's blogs and one of them in particular is really touching. I've decided to just free-write about what's been going on for, at least, some sort of update.

I've finished my first semester of college where I'm actually engaged and trying instead of...what the heck did I do the first time around?!? I'll leave that one alone. I did really well and earned a 4.0, and including the last time around I have a cumulative 3.25. Not...too...bad. I'm excited and also extremely anxious about next semester because I have Macroeconomics, History (not my strong suit), Human Growth and Development (a psych course), and Anatomy and Physiology...gulp! I've heard that course is tough, tough, tough. I've had a very, very basic course of it before, which will hopefully be helpful. Lord, please let it be helpful. I've heard that it's a lot of memorizing. So really the tough part will be that it is time-consuming. I am happy that a classmate from my Comp class last semester is also in the A&P class with me. Yay! Someone to start a study group with.

Christmas vacation has been great. Because it's coming after actually being in school it really has been pleasurable to just sit around and not have to think too hard. I've been trying to read a book that I borrowed from TMA forever ago. I'm having a little trouble actually wanting to read. We've been partaking in a "How I Met Your Mother" marathon every evening after the boys retire to their room. We've also had qutie a few activities.

This time off we've had a lot of family gatherings. We've been to Laumeier Sculpture Park to have Jedi Training with light sabers. We had a park playdate with the R's. We also had NR and LR over yesterday morning for a playdate where the older boys played Wii and the younger boys played cars and watched Kung Fu Panda. Most recently, like this morning, we went to the zoo.

We took The Scientist's best friend, NR, with us to Zoomagination Station, which has all these different centers, as the boys call them. There is a veterinary area where you help stuffed animals feel better, a playhouse where you can sort recycling and fill bird feeders, a viewing area where you clean the windows, an art area, puppet theater, library reading area, sand and water tables, and the place The Scientist and NR spent their entire time the habitat building area. The boys spent the entire 45 minutes building a rainforest and rivers. This particular center has rocks, wood, trees, felt "lakes", animals of every sort imaginable. They really enjoyed it. After that session we went to the Children's Zoo.

I love, now that the boys are older, taking them to the Children's Zoo. We didn't even really see any of the animals. They spent an hour and a half playing some sort of challenge game and then a Jedi game on the playground. I wish that I would have taken my mp3 player, because they were so occupied I was a little bored sitting in the sunshine watching them run in circles up the steps, down the slide, up the rock ramp, down the slide. They did tell me on the way out that Monkey had opened the gate at the top, went out, then came back in and locked the gate. I had three going in, three going out, and they were all looking out for each other. It was a really nice playdate. After that we had a quick bite to eat and went to the Herpatarium, or Reptile House, where we watched one Caimen Lizard chomp down, and not let go of, another Caimen Lizard's tail for like five minutes. At that point, the boys speech was starting to have potty talk interspersed, and I was having caffeine withdrawals, so we walked to the car. Well actually, I would give them a spot to wait at and they would race each other ahead to the specified point.

Wow, would you look at that? I have a whole post. I guess the point is to just have little bits of randomness to start with instead of a cobwebby old topic. Or maybe just having something other than school going on, which I've found some people would really like to forget that time of their lives, helps.

This season...

make it about reaching out to other people and enjoying those around you. I'm not really big on the gift-giving aspect. (I'm a horrible gift-opener. My reaction is always awkward and unreadable.) I have been trying to see around those first reactions of people (mainly in the service industry) and trying to think of reasons why they may be acting the way they act. I know it's helped me be more patient. And I've found, that if you are nice long enough the person who is irking you eventually comes around and smiles or, at the very least, ends the "transaction" on a much more pleasant note. I'm trying to remember that this season is a hard time for many people, and the reasons are usually emotionally tied. I know, from my own experience, how powerful one's emotions can be to keep in check. Following this paragraph is a PostSecret. It reminded me that you never know who you are going to influence in a significant way.




This Christmas, I'm enjoying that I have a break from the stress of school. It's making me appreciate family time. I bought Christmas Vacation, with Chevy Chase, hoping that it would be a movie The Scientists would like. We watched it last night and we didn't even get through the animated credits, and he was already laughing. He loved the entire movie and was laughing so hard. It was a nice change from the normal moaning and groaning he usually puts up about movies I've picked.

When I bought the movie, I was supposed to get forty percent off, but my coupon wasn't scanning correctly. The sales lady, who would be one of the previous sales people who don't seem very cheerful, used a different coupon on the register. I ended up paying full price for the movie. However, she took forty percent off of a Star Wars pop-up book that the boys wanted for Christmas. The book was originally $32.99, because of the coupon I only paid $19.79 for the book. I kept telling the lady that I was fine with not getting a discount on the DVD, because the computer took more off for the much more expensive book. This was one sales person who never broke with her gruff exterior. After witnessing the other customers in the Borders, I understood why. Those were some crabby customers. They were snapping at the workers and rolling their eyes. I felt really bad for the workers. It's not like they enjoy pushing charitable causes on the customers or asking you if you're already a member of Borders Rewards program. It's part of their job description and the customers shouldn't act like it's a personal threat, or attack, on their time. God forbid! A simple "No thank you." is enough. A "I REALLY JUST HAVE TO GO!!!" is over the top and really quite rude.

So while I don't think that those snotty ladies will read this blog, for the handful of people that do (and really I don't think you're the ones with these rudeness issues), remember that smiling, being polite (using please and thank yous when necessary), and being patient are ways to show that you respect the person you're dealing with. It's not a way to act condescending and superior. And in an effort to not leave out any specific holiday celebration (my apologies if I do):

"Merry Christmas"
"Happy Holidays"
"Happy Kwanzaa"
"Happy Hanukkah"
"Happy Saturnalia"

Mr. C., The Scientist's teacher, made a slideshow of the class making their gingerbread houses. You will find the link here.

Thanksgiving Extravaganza!!!

I had four days off (so did the boys) this weekend. It was a nice little break, but I'm not at the point where I'm sick of school. So I am actually looking forward to going back and finishing up this first set of classes. I have my paper to finish, a few more tests, and one final. Then I have a month break. That's all well and good, but, like I said before, at this point in the game I don't really need the break...or do I? We just had a really busy holiday weekend. This weekends festivities are the start of what will not finish until February really.

We start with Thanksgiving for Dirty's side and Thanksgiving/Christmas for my side of the family. This year, and I'm thinking it's pretty similar to years past, we start out slow then have a total blowout with my family's celebration on Saturday. The food only got better as the weekend progressed. I love going to my family's functions because I get to eat true Filipino dishes like chicken adobo, pianono (sweet rice cakes), pancit, and the pork cooked in it's own blood (which Tito Poli was so kind to help me with the pronunciation, but that I can't remember today). Really I have never been brave enough to try the pork cooked in it's own blood, but I like bringing it up for the ew-factor. I live with all boys remember...I think my sense of humor is slightly tilted in toward their humor. It was planned as a formal dinner by my wacky auntie.

Auntie Vivien, as I said before, is a little wacky. She likes to make elaborate plans and menus. God bless her, because our family get togethers are nothing if not impromptu at every turn. This year on the itinerary was a napkin folding class, a turkey muffin decorating class (this did not happen), formal-wear for dinner (this also, for the most part, did not happen, but I will describe more later), and, as always, a short sermon with the topic of what thankfulness is and what we are thankful for. I lucked out and got the bible verse that was shortest. I Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice always, which was good because I wasn't filmed for more than 30 seconds. I missed the part of the e-mail (which I didn't get until Thursday anyway because of multiple personal e-mail accounts) about formal dinner-wear being required.

I did dress nicer than just knit-wear with elastic waistbands and a hoodie, but because of a hold-up in the laundry sector I wasn't dressed as nicely as I was hoping. My original choice was to have dark washed jeans with a black empire-waisted silk top so as to still look cute but not have to suck in my tummy all night. I ended up in a very fitted low cut black tank top. I still looked cute but man was I uncomfortable most of the evening. My wacky auntie conducted napkin-folding class, ran around the kitchen and dining room trying to get the tables set formally, then she disappeared to change. When she emerged from the bathroom she was wearing black leather pants, black and white cowboy boots, a black leather vest, and a white shirt that had the buttons covered with embroidered fabric. There was also a matching jacket, but she was already pretty hot in all the other leather. Everyone got pictures*, and she was just as happy as a clam that everyone enjoyed her outfit as much as she did. After the picture-taking fiasco she gave her sermon and we ate. After some sitting around we took a family picture.

The previous year these were done after the presents were opened and there was more room. This year everyone just wanted to get to the dang presents, but a minor few wanted to have the picture taken before the presents. So we spread out across the livingroom in front of the tree and presents. I think that the photographers (guests who I think might be invited solely for the purpose of taking our family's picture) had to take two-three across depending on the camera. Then we stepped it up a notch from last year and also took a digital video to "view on youtube". I'm sure it will have a lot of groaning throughout. Finally it was present time.

I, over the years, have been given some pretty crazy things. I think it's gotten better on many fronts. The men-folk, last year and this, were given denim shirts. Last year there was only one style and it had a small embroidered "St. Louis" on the right with an arch and tiny skyline. This year all the guys got denim shirts, but they were all different colors of denim. I was sitting next to one of my four brothers, N, and he picked up his box and said, "This is probably a shirt." I looked at him and said, "Oh it's a shirt and I bet it's denim." He opened the box and it was a bright red shirt. I looked at it giggling and said, "IT IS DENIM!!! IT'S RED DENIM, TOO!!!" We were laughing so hard. Then once the family historians noticed that people got similar gifts a group picture was mandated. All the boys had to put on their shirts and smile for the camera. Dirty somehow was able to blend into the beige walls and didn't have to model his shirt. This was really one of the best family functions in my memory.

I think we all really enjoyed it here in the House Full of Boys. We laughed all night long and especially on the car ride home. These are just a few of my favorite memories from the night. Dirty said it was a tie between my wacky auntie and my cousin A. It's really too bad that it only happens once a year.

*I do not really like my camera. I would like to have a new digital camera that is just a camera. It really only needs to be a step or two up from the gumball machine toy that I gave Jake a year or so ago. I'm thinking Fuji or Canon about $150 (possibly less if it's decent). I'm writing this in case Santa is a reader of my blog. I don't think he is though, unless he's incognito, because I've never seen "North Pole" on feedjit. :D

"feeling good pants" and other random thoughts...

After a few weeks of eating whatever I've felt like, and feeling worse and worse, I have started an eating right plan. I am going to try and limit (drastically) the processed foods. My rule is "If it's processed drink a big cup of water first." The next rule is "Whenever I get that hungry feeling, drink a big cup of water." The last time I did this I lost eight pounds, and that was without exercising.

I also started with the first day of working out. I did 40 minutes of strength training, which should have been only that, but since I'm so out of shape it was also cardio. I measured all my problem areas, and I need to lose 6" off of my thighs to fit into my "feeling good pants". I'm going to try and work out daily like I was before I started school. I think that with that, and the limiting my calories, I should be able to get back to my pre-Monkey weight. Since I weigh as much now as I did when I was completely pregnant, and ready to give birth to him, losing the amount I want to shouldn't be a problem.

I've tried to post on here a couple of times since election and either had technical issues or felt that my work was uninspired there hasn't been anything. For instance, I wanted to post a video of Monkey dancing to RHCP "Especially in Michigan". I don't know what the problem is with the blogspot video player/downloader. I'm losing my focus and my eyes are tired.

I'll end with this story. I bought the generic proactiv at Target and started using it. It cleared up my forehead, and is starting to work on my chin. The blackheads are also gone from my nose. I guess because I was wearing the lotion at night that it spread to my eyes (where it's not supposed to go) and it totally dried the skin out. It's really awful and looks similar to how a rash looks at the end of running it's course. So after a couple days and the dried skin spots spreading to cover my entire eye area I decided not to use the lotion at night. I've had to moisturize like crazy trying to counteract the extremely drying effect that the lotion causes. I was hoping to go get my hair cut this weekend (another thing long overdue...it's been a year and a couple months), but the place I was going to go is a little hoity toity. I don't know if I want to show up in a hip salon with my eye area looking all crazy. So I think I'll postpone until...next week? We'll see.

Election Day...

Today is the day. Get out and vote today. My MOMS Club is finally implementing my idea for helping each other out on election day by watching each other's kids. I guess now it's something that helps out a bit more since our monthly meetings are on Tuesdays. When I suggested it a couple years back no one was interested.

I have been known in the past to complain about taking my kids with me, but I generally don't mind taking them with me to the polls. The Scientist gets to vote at school, and I think it's good for him to get to see the real thing. Originally, this year I was going to go after I finished my classes. I've decided to go ahead and take them before we all head to school. We drive right by my polling place anyway. I've already researched my ballot and have filled out the sample so that I can get through it quickly.

I'm excited this year to see the results. I don't really talk about my actual political views but I do have opinions. I will say that I do not like receiving forwards of other people's political opinions. The truth of the matter is that everyone votes according to what they feel are the issues that are most important to them. My important issues, that I don't mind sharing, are the economy and the environment. So do I want to get e-mail forwards about how Obama is a terrorist and couldn't be his own secret service agent if he were to be elected president or how he practically performs partial-birth abortions himself...ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! No matter who takes office the results of their efforts won't be immediate. We are still a nation of over-the-top-everything.

Happy Halloween...

*The above pictures are in reverse order. I have no idea why blogger reversed the order and I don't feel like figuring out how to re-reverse them. You should be able to get the general idea of the evening though.

The boys were off today so Dirty took off because I still had class. They started the day by going in to Dirty's office to trick or treat. They made a pretty big haul there. Then they went to the park where some of my friends and their kids were having a playdate. I thought that was pretty brave of Dirty to be around a handful of my friends with no other husbands around.

We started trick or treating in the neighborhood about 6 p.m. The boys were both eager to get to Grandpa C.'s and Grandma T.'s so on the walk there they weren't too interested in stopping at the houses giving out candy. Once at Dirty's parent's house we helped give out candy. That didn't last very long because Grandpa C. was giving out handfuls to each trick-or-treater. We then went inside to visit for a little bit and eat a few pieces of candy. After the visit we made the boys walk home to burn off some of the candy energy.

Once home the boys (as soon as they got to the top of the steps) dumped their bags and sorted their candy by type. I then gave them each a labeled container to put their loot into. The Scientist not only sorted his candy but then continued to lay each type neatly into his container. He didn't inherit my perfectionism at all. ;^)

Parent-Teacher Conferences and me...

I didn't realize that it was okay for parents to bring their children with them to Parent/Teacher Conferences. Dirty and I always found a sitter, or went alone, and thought that that was protocol. However, tonight, because we had two boys at the same school, we decided to divide and conquer. This was so not a problem there were kids with every parent I saw there that evening. Our conference times were staggered so that in the best scenario we would have been able to make both meetings together. In the end, though, Monkey's teacher was running 5-10 minutes behind and The Scientist's must have been a little ahead of schedule.

I took Monkey and went to talk to Mrs. B. She has been there since she was a student teacher and both of her boys went to the school as well. She is fantastic and I think Monkey really likes her. She keeps a "portfolio" for each child with pictures of them in class, what their favorite things to do are, and their progress throughout the year. We then went over what he's accomplished in the 8 weeks or so that he's been in school. His memory for things is better than average. He knows 24 of the letters, and their sounds, which is way above the average. He didn't know any of his letters when he started class. Half of the letters he knows Mrs. B hasn't even covered in class yet. He also really loves the dancing and moving time. (Surprise!)

Dirty went with The Scientist, who's teacher was ahead of schedule, and they went over his report card. He's doing really well. His major strengths are counting money (surprise!), math, and especially science which he excelled at. The scientist is doing much better in Art this year. His Art teacher stops me in the halls, every now and then, to tell me that he did great with this project, or it made her so happy that, out of all the class, he remembered this that she'd talked about before. His teacher Mr. C. also said that he's a talker, but that he's very good about knowing when it's an appropriate time.

Both boys, during the conferences, went off to a corner of their rooms and either read quietly (The Scientist) or observed leaves with a magnifying glass very quietly (Monkey) while we talked with their teachers. I had no idea that bringing them was an option. I'm so proud of both of them I could burst right now.

An update on my biology test grade is that I actually scored an 84 (94 with my supplemental quiz) so my average is actually higher than a 96. I changed three of my answers on the test so I could have scored a 90 (100 with my supplemental quiz). I still have a pretty high "A" in the class.

I was in an extremely good mood today and kept thinking throughout the morning/afternoon...GO SCHOOL!!!

Hello Old Friend...

Yes it's been awhile. I've not had time for a while lot lately other than school, housework, raising two boys, and keeping the hubby happy. Working on schoolwork has paid off. I have an "A" average for midterms. I'm not putting in quite as much time as I should but I've still got my head above water.

Monkey turned four. He has a new potty-training motto since his birthday. "I am four and four-year olds are in control of their bodies." As far as I can tell he also knows all of his letters. He also knows most of their sounds.

The scientist, after a long talk about how he is not type of person who is mean to his little brother or who thinks bad, possibly violent, thoughts about people. His response, although timid, was, "I'm allowed to be whoever I am." This wasn't snotty, but more matter-of-fact like he's been told it before. I then had to explain to him that it was my job to make sure that he knows when he's making decisions that are not nice or right. I don't know what's going on with him right now. I do know he's growing physically, and I guess I should understand that he might regress in other areas during that process.

Dirty is holding up pretty well. It makes me giggle a little that every weekend when we have a chance to clean up he almost every time says to the boys, "You know Mommy and I used to clean the house every weekend and spend hours making the house look nice. Did you know that?" On a slightly sour note he also shaved his hair off. All of it. He said he wanted it off. Every time he does that I question why he doesn't shave it but leave an inch or even a half an inch of hair. Instead every time he shaves it down to probably an 1/8 of an inch.

Maybe I'm just jealous. I really need a trim if not a full blown cut. I can't decided where to go. I have a few leads but cost effectiveness is of high priority. That's all I've got right now. We've all been fighting colds and I've had sinus issues for the last week. I took some ibuprofen but it hasn't diminished the extreme pain in my cranio-facial area.

Happy Birthday Monkey!!!

This photo was sent to us by Grandpa C.

Who Knew...

I would be so excited about one measely day off...which is tomorrow...from school. I have one whole day off to do whatever I freaking want. It is Monkey's birthday so part of the day I will be making cupcakes. The other part I guess I should use studying or catching up on my research for my research paper. That reminds me that I have to have a rough draft of my Literary Analysis paper for Thursday. For some strange reason I feel like I should go to Target. I may do it just to appease the spirits that are inspiring me to do it. I also have to go to the grocery store because I have decided to make chili for dinner tomorrow. We are meeting some friends at TG Park for the above mentioned cupcakes after school tomorrow. Other than that the day is open. Both boys are hoping to be sick so that they can stay home and it's only helping that I don't have somewhere to be as well. Now I'm going to get off of here. Sebastian just let loose a deadly gas and if I don't evacuate the area I may suffocate. YUCK!!!

The problem...

with going out on a "school night" with friends is that I'm wired afterwards. I'm not tired at all. I just set up a facebook account because TA and JK said I must. That and GG has an account and so I can't be the only lame-o without a facebook account amongst my friends. I fell prey to peer pressure by creating an account and also buying a pepper spray from the self defense guy because it's better than a gun(his rationing).

My main question was, "Exactly how effective would this be against a bear?" because he said that it was more powerful than bear spray. I never knew there was such a thing. The question I asked him originally was "Where on the bear would I have to spray it?" The self defense expert said that it would be best to spray it in the nose/eye/mouth area, but that I would need a bigger volume of spray against a bear. Whatever. I guess I'm not concerned enough about muggers and rapists in the city. I'm more concerned about, when Dirty takes me on these backpacking trips that he's always talking about, how much I'm going to have to interact with the wildlife?

So now I have a two million something units per whatever of pepper spray on my keychain. Another worry I have about the pepper spray is will my monkey of a child, who is able to scale our full size refrigerator and was able to open our high handled doors by 18 months, be able to operate the pepper spray. The self defense guy's answer was, "Well if he does and it gets on him I can guarantee that he won't do it again." That would be a fun emergency room visit.

I'm feeling at this point like I shouldn't have wasted the money. I guess it's peace of mind. I think I would have rather gone out a couple times for "gourmet" coffee. Oh well.

So now the minutes are ticking away past midnight. I have pepper spray on my keychain. I might be able to keep a mugger or rapist at bay by using some newly learned self-defense moves. I did have fun out with my friends. I have class early (9 a.m.) and I could possibly sleep until 8 if I just throw on clothes, brush teeth, wash face, prepare coffee and run out the door. I'll probably be moving pretty slowly though and will need to get up sooner than that to make sure that I don't forget anything. For instance, I forgot to put on make-up tonight. I also felt a little underdressed. The last time I went to Erato I wore nice clothes and none of my friends dressed up. Tonight they did. The last time I wore my black silk heels and it rained. I just realized this weekend that the reason said heels no longer fit right is because I wore them in the rain and they stretched out. So I guess I'll set my alarm for 7:30. I'm ready for bed now.

RHCP are hot rockin'...

Thank you Red Hot Chili Peppers for making rockin' music!!! With the help of Stadium Arcadium, your last album before going on hiatus helped me move a couch, a very heavy piano with non-working wheels, another couch, a book shelf with books removed, a book shelf with books on it (mostly children's encyclopedias and some college texts that Jake uses for reference like his Excel text), a dresser, and two very large containers of legos (man are those heavy).

I may have more moving to do tonight though. The two sets of shelves I placed in the living room on each side of the window (this is off track and a little silly but I just typed winder hee hee) do not match. I have another shelf that matches and will probably end up switching the non-matching one out. Now that I think about it that kind of stinks since the non-matching book shelf is the one I moved without removing the books. Work smart not hard, dang it!!! Winder...ha ha.

I also replaced the backing on a set of one of the above bookshelves. I'm not exactly sure why it's only secured at the top and the bottom, but I don't design cheap furniture. I'm sure it has to do with the bottom line. It's actually held up quite nicely with the life of Monkey. He's an extreme climber and he's been using those shelves since he was about a year old as practice. I guess it was a $20 investment over six years. Yeah, that's not bad.

Are you spiritless???

Dirty just finished reading my copy of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I think Mr. Krakauer is a great writer and like how he references other situations to help convey the meaning of whatever situation he's writing about. When I read Into The Wild I was struck by how this young guy understood so deeply how unconnected we as society are with each other and with the Earth.

Daily I have thoughts of how much crap we have collected and give our kids. I think about how most, if not all, of it is really unnecessary. I imagine daily what it would be like to cast off all the material garbage that society says we need and move out into the country living off the land with just with what we need to live. Some of my more girly sensibilities usually stop me short, but do I really need all of the comforts that I have? Where would we be as a society if we didn't have computers in every home, multiple tvs with satellite, all of the video games, the mounds of toys, and all the extra food that we as Americans consume because our culture says that more is best and a sign of success.

I admired, in a sense, that Chris McCandless had the boldness and the conviction to get out there and discard all the extra stuff. I understood on some level why he went into Alaska with supplies he bought at a Kmart and didn't take a map or extra provisions. Would I have the bollocks to do that myself? Heck no...but I understand his reasoning. He wanted to be off the grid. He wanted to go someplace uncharted, but how can you do that when everything has already been mapped? You don't take a map! It's really bugging me that Dirty only sees the practical side of the situation (Why would you go into Alaska with supplies you bought at Kmart? Why wouldn't you take more food than that?) and he doesn't seem to understand, or give any gravity to, the spiritual aspect of it. He just says that the story is no good because the guy was stupid for doing what he did. Yes, I would agree that it was eccentric. I also think that it was a journey of a soul to make sense of our society and to know that the Earth is really all any human needs to survive. If only he hadn't been taken down by starvation causing bacteria he would have made it.

How can you read it and not see the spiritual journey the guy was taking? I've written this blog waiting for some of the movie to download because it's linked by youku.com and that site usually lags some time into whatever you're watching.

More good thoughts please...

A good friend of mine found out this weekend that her step-daughter was murdered in southern Mexico while living there fighting for a cause that she believed in. Please send your good thoughts to the E's. I'm still a little upset right now. I didn't know Sally personally but what I knew of her she was a very intelligent, bold, loving person. She fought for what was right in all things. Here's the link carried by the AP be warned that there is a scary looking picture of the man. This link is a blogspot writer who has a more in depth story of Sally as well as a picture of Sally in Mexico.

Another A, John Frusciante, and A Random Question...

A full week after taking the first test my psych. teacher got our grades back to us. The grades are curved so I ended up with a high A instead of a low B. Woo Hoo!!! So far so good on the school front. Dirty supports my need of plenty of time to study and I'm working on introducing the home chores in with the school stuff. It's nice getting staight As though and it's hard to integrate the daily chores.

In other news I'm completely obsessed with John Frusicante. I don't have a website for him because his doesn't seem to be working right now. So there's a video from youtube where I've added about 100 videos of John or the RHCP because I love them too. When I got to go to a RHCP show a few years ago I was mainly going to see John. I believe he is one of the best guitar players of "my" generation.

That my is in quotation marks because well he's 9 years older than me and therefore more part of my sister's generation than my own. I've gotten confused with the lettering of the generations but I think I am technically a Y and yet I think I identify with the Xs even though I was more of a tween (that wasn't a vocabulary term when I was a "tween").

Anyway, I have another test tomorrow. I'm not too worried about it but I still need to reread my study guide a few more times and make sure I know the differences between conlict, functionalist, and interactionist perspectives.

Random question...when people say they read Nietzsche do they actually do it like, "I was bored so I pulled out my copy of Nietzsche to read."? Some of my friends think that I read "heavy content" books because I read classics like Tolstoy and Austen.

Good Thoughts...

Today I wore a necklace in honor of my good friend and her flight to freedom. I don't normally wear many necklaces, but I'm going to more often when I can. Send your good thoughts/prayers/whatever you call them her way. :D

First A...

I had my first test today. I was most worried about this test because the professor has such a low pass rate for his tests. I love the age of the scantron!!! I took my test between 11-12:20 this morning and even with the three 2-3 part essay questions my professor was able to have my grades posted by 2 p.m. when I got home and immediately got online to see if my grade was posted. That was never the case the first time I went to college. Scantrons came about when I was in jr. high and were more prevalent in high school. Some of my college professors used them but mainly they used essays (yikes!!!).

I felt good about the test after I finished it. I couldn't really imagine not doing well and getting a bad grade. I felt like the answers were coming to me and, even though I was worried about jinxing myself, I thought most of my answers were right. I scored 91 out of 100!!!! Not only that but this professor gives supplemental quizzes. If you miss them you can't get the points and it isn't counted against you, but if you take them you get 2 points for every correct answer. The quizzes are his answer to extra credit. I took the quiz and got 14 points which count toward my test points. So I end up with over 100% for the class. I was so excited I did Gob's chicken dance.

Buckled down...

I did much better this week keeping on task and studying. I still had to take breaks every now and then but tried to take breaks from types of studying instead of breaks from studying all together. If I got sick of reading I would write out main points that I needed to study. If I got sick of writing out the study guides I would go online and do practice tests. I felt like I was pretty productive school-wise this week.

I did go out last night with a few of my good friends. We went to The Royale. I was hoping to try one of their burgers because they are allegedly one of the best in St. Louis, but while making dinner for the boys I ended up eating a bowl of Thai Chicken Curry Soup. It's a soup that I tried once and love. I need to find a recipe because they don't always have it at Schnucks. Anyway, after eating the soup I wasn't really hungry. I did have one of their drinks called The Subcontinental. It is the first drink on this list. When I ordered it I thought is sounded refreshing because of the fresh cucumber juice. Indeed it was and apparently that is how it is described on the above list.

I had a lot of fun visiting with some of my mom friends who I hadn't seen for a few weeks. It's been hard not seeing them a few times every week. We were all just catching up. I was hoping for some effective "peer workshopping". My friends came through and RE ended up editing my essay (yes I'm kind of a dork and brought a copy of it with me) right there at the table while we ate our shared appetizers and sipped our drinks.

Around 10 p.m. they have a DJ come in and the table that we were sitting at, which if you look at The Royale website above you can see it all the way in the back corner, is where the DJ sets up. So we moved to a different table and stayed until about 11:15 p.m. when AR said she had to go. RE was her ride and DR is pregnant and not drinking. So that was the end of the night. Dirty was surprised when I was home by 11:30 p.m. Apparently this is much earlier than my typical staying out time, but AR and RE both have young kids and AR also has a cold. It was a really nice time and unfortunately I'm kind of paying for it today. I haven't had much of an appetite and I just feel really tired.

My essay which is due this week is pretty much finished except for a few things I need to change. I have two tests this week. I'm not too worried about my Psychology test but am extremely worried about my Biology test. I really have to work on my Biology studying from now until Thursday. I have to go. Dirty has chosen Waterworld for movie night. UGH!!!

Editing Day in class...

I guess that a lot of my "peers" felt that they had been screwed by their peer workshop groups as well. In the time that we were given today our instructor, the lovely Mrs. W, took as many of us seperately out into the hall and looked at our papers scanning them and giving us suggestions. My paper didn't have a whole lot that she commented on negatively. There was one paragraph that she said could use more of my thoughts and feelings, but that was out of five pages. The parts that I was questioning keeping in she validated and said that they fit into the story and helped support some other part. So there isn't too much in the way of revision that I have to do which is nice. I need to add a bit to one paragraph and clean some places up a little but other than that I didn't have many foreign marks on my paper. YAY!!!!

So I totally got screwed...

Yesterday in my Comp. II course we had peer workshops to get feedback on our recall essay outlines. I was with two other girls. One of the girls is from Africa. Her outline wasn't really an outline but more each point that she was going to hit on. I could tell the direction of her story and see that it was personal. Just the outline proved to be a very moving story about how coming to America has been a diverse learning experience, everything she overcame just to get her driver's license, and the events that led up to getting her license. The only problem is that she's pretty shy and not confident about her English vocabulary. So she did give some feedback but it wasn't to my outline.

The other girl came with a half-sheet typed outline of what is supposed to be a five page paper. Her subject was going to college, she said, because at this point in her life it's the only thing she's really learned from. I read what she wanted the content of her paper to be and it was, basically (not easy to do with the minimal amount of effort she put into it), going to college is hard. The reasons she gave for it being hard was not knowing where her classes were, not knowing where the gym was, and not knowing where the bus stop was. Then her second grouping of information was that she learned a lot by going to college. Her reasons were that she took a campus tour, she learned where her classes were, she found out where the gym was, and she found the bus stop. Her conclusion...College isn't so hard and she's made friends. After reading this I looked up and she asked, "Do you think I have enough for a five page paper?" I said, "Um no?!?!? I think you're going to need to really expand on your experience." So then she asked, "Like what?" I asked,"Was this really the hardest part about going to college? What about enrolling, registering, figuring that whole process out? You didn't have any problems with that?" I spent 45 minutes basically writing an outline for her while the African girl and I brainstormed what she could write about and what she may have learned by going to college. AND I WAS WORRIED ABOUT TAKING COMP II WHEN I SERIOUSLY DOUBT THIS GIRL IS ACTUALLY LITERATE!!!!!!

At the end of the class, which my instructor had to leave early because of a meeting, I went up to her and asked if she could tell me where the writing lab is. I proceeded to tell her that I did not get ANY feedback from my group and that I spent most of the time we had writing an outline for one of my partners. She replied that she had overheard a lot of that and that I wouldn't have to work with these same people again. She said that one the things she like about community college is the diversity in the types of people that attend and one of the things that can be a problem about community college is the diversity in where the people are when the come to community college. She said that if, because of peer editing, I don't get enough feedback and she grades my paper and I don't do well that I can talk with her about it. She can help me edit at that point and I can revise and turn it in again. I still plan on going to the Student Success Center and talk to the folks in the Writing Lab and get a little help from them for my paper.

I decided to write about going to my 10 year class reunion. I've been writing all afternoon, haven't even gotten to the actual reunion in my paper and I'm already nearing the end of page 3. I'm guessing I'm going to be able to take a lot of the stuff out about certain persons that I came into contact at the actual reunion. Otherwise, I could probably end up with a novelette.

So I should be doing homework...

However the boys have way too much energy after eating dinner. Dirty is gone for the MS 150. He'll be home in a couple of hours. He raised $700 towards the fight against MS.

I've been home with the boys alone all weekend. I haven't gotten any homework done. Well that's not true. I've read maybe four paragraphs of psychology and partially finished brainstorming for my comp. II course recall essay. I'm starting to understand why parents/adults push high school graduates to finish college while they still have no kids. My house was a mess. I spent about an hour today catching up on some of the cleaning. The cat litter, for instance, was starting to knock people unconscious when they would walk through the door. We were losing minutes lying on the floor trying to regain our composure. The bathroom was my own personal shame when Dirty's friend, BB, came over before they left for Columbia and used the bathroom while Dirty packed up. The bathroom hadn't been touched all week and was smelly and splattered with toothpaste. It was pretty embarrassing. Then I go look at my friend's 365 day portrait project to find this. I was so grateful that she only took a picture of the shower curtain.

I've watched four movies this weekend. A local blogger turned me onto illegal tv show and movie sites. I watched Juno (loved it), Lars and the Real Girl (loved it), Dan in Real Life (loved it), and 27 Dresses (it was alright for a chick flick). Finding free entertainment was nice and slightly titillating since it was illegal. I've also been watching tv shows that way too. Not so helpful on the finishing homework front but old habits die hard.

I've learned some new tricks and hopefully when you click on the hyperlinks they will open in a new window. I was told that it's too much of a bother to hit the back button and blog savvy folks will just move onto something else. This way instead of moving the mouse up to the back button you can move it to the "X" close window button. I'm wondering now that I wrote that though if it has something to do with the differences between MACs and PCs. Feel free to let me know and I apologize if I've offended with my naivete.

I am having a real issue with needing pockets. Sometimes I wear pants or a jacket and can keep my cell phone in them or keys or whatever. But a lot of the time I wear skirts or don't feel like having the bulk in my pockets. I've decided after many months of consideration that I am going to become "the lady who always wears an apron in her house" lady. I like having the easy access pockets and the keeping the front of my clothes clean aspect would also be nice. My only problem is that my one and only apron is not cute. It's navy canvas and boring, boring, boring. I want some old school style aprons. I saw an episode of Sex and the City where Charlotte was making her first Shabbat dinner. Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte were all wearing extremely cute stylish aprons. I either need to figure out how to sew and make my own or find someone else who does. I don't know why women stopped wearing them. It's not like they aren't functional...like gloves or hats.

So there's some good news and some bad news...

The bad news is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince "the movie" has had it's release date pushed back to something like next June/July. This really stinks but I think I read something about how this makes the last three Harry Potter movies come out closer together. That's good right?

The addititonal good news is that because the Harry Potter movie has been pushed back to a later date Twilight, the movie, is getting pushed up to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

I am excited. However, is any of this at all relevant considering the last movie I saw in a theater was Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix? I've wanted to see a few movies since then and just haven't. I guess I'm excited for all those people that spend their extra money on going to see movies in the theater. I wish I had extra money to spend on that stuff. This is all I have to think about since I am all wired for some odd reason. I am not tired at all...I guess I'll go watch some more tv. I turned it off in hopes of feeling more tired. It didn't work.

I passed my appeal, lazy day, reading juvenile literature...

This is kind of a school update. I got my appeal approval in the mail today. I've been given the okay to receive financial aid. YAY!!! The boys also had their first day of school today. I'll update on the specifics of that later. I spent most of the in a chair reading a book. I got the last installment of the Twilight series this weekend and am a little more than halfway through the book. It is SOOOOOOO good! TMA if you read this and would like to borrow the book you are more than welcome. I should be way done with it by the time you get home from yet another (wink) of your trips. I'm going to go read my book again.

I'm going to school!!!...UPDATE!!!

Well I'm going back to school. I successfully navigated that which is community college and 1.)had my student status changed to "regular" so that my credits would count and I can get financial aid 2.)sat with a counselor and made up a schedule 3.)met with a financial aid officer to fill out an appeal because my last set of grades from CC were no good. Now that those things are finished I am waiting for a letter stating that my appeal has been granted (so that I can get financial aid) and wait for my student ID to come in the mail. After sitting with a counselor I found out that my previously taken Biology class is no good because it's too old. So unfortunately I have to retake it. However, because of our current financial situation (which won't be that way forever) I was approved for a federal pell grant. That pell grant will cover EVERYTHING!!!! It will pay for all of my classes and I think it will cover all of my book expenses as well.

It was really a lovely surprise after waiting in the Financial Aid waiting area for 45 minutes to find out that it will all be covered. I am also proud to say that I kept a smile on my face and treated everyone kindly and with respect. First of all me with a smile on my face for three hours at a time is not something that happens often. Secondly to keep a smile on your face while dealing with crabby front desk FA guy, who is acting like you are extremely annoying for even thinking about asking him if the category that you signed in with is the correct category because you don't want to get sent to the wrong person only to find out that you had categorized yourself with the wrong number and then to cause frustration for them and me and also wasting my time and theirs, is not an easy feat. (Nice run on right? I might have better writing skills after I take my English 102-Intensive writing course.)

So now I am registered for four classes: Intro to Biology, General Psychology, Intro to Sociology, and College Comp II. I'm excited! I'm really looking forward to starting even though the girl who helped me get my id acted like I was a crazy person for taking the courses I'm taking. They aren't any different than the courses I was signing up for 10 years ago. I didn't really understand why she was acting like that. I'm more worried about statistics, macro economics, logic, and ethics. I guess I am slightly worried that I'll have nothing to write about for my College Comp II course. I don't do well if I'm not given a clear subject to draw from, and I'd rather not all of my papers be about all the day to day hum drum that is my life. I guess that's what this blog is about but is it really enough to carry a good grade in a college course??? I don't know.

Okay well before I freak myself out to much about the courses that I'm going to take this semester and in the future... send good thoughts my way and that of the appeals person in the financial aid office. I already know that I have favor but when two or more are gathered together...

Summer is winding down...

Well we've made it through two months of summer break!!! It was getting a little hairy mid-July. Then Yellow Belt started summer camp and for something that was supposed to make him a happier person he was really getting on my nerves throughout the experience. I know that sounds really awful but he was so tired which made him crabby. He was talking back and whining and being mean to Monkey. He was really quite unpleasant. I made a promise to myself to make sure that we actually do start up our bedtime routine again...now that there are just a couple of weeks until school starts. (Insert gasp here) I'm excited for the boys to start school. I'm hoping that with routine Monkey's potty-training regressions will stop completely. He's almost earned the Transformer that's been sitting on top of the upper kitchen cabinets (the only place he can't get to yet...well he probably could but that's something I listen for) for of couple weeks now. And since there are only two more weeks of summer break left for them I really want to enjoy them.

Today Yellow Belt had breakfast in bed while Monkey barged into my bedroom demanding that I "get out from under those sheets. Come into the kitchen and made me some breakfast as well. I want cocoa pops and milk in a bowl with a spoon and milk in a cup with a lid as well." ("As well" is his new favorite phrase.) I told him I was getting out of bed for no less than him asking politely for his breakfast. The first time he asked politely he did it with many "hmphs" and a little pouty attitude (thanks to Yellow Belt's example) which I told him wouldn't cut it. So then he asked nicely and I got out of bed. It's made me realize how nice it is that Yellow Belt doesn't like to eat right away when he wakes up and will play quietly by himself until I'm ready to get out of bed. Monkey has never given me that luxury.

One thing I did like about Yellow Belt being in camp, and so busy the last two weeks, was that I was alone with Monkey a lot with no interruptions. He's going through this "using big vocabulary" phase which is extremely cute. Even though he can be challenging sometimes he also really enjoyed being "the only child". Now I know that I've spent a lot of time with him in the past three and a half years but this summer it's been all three of us. Plus Monkey is at this really cute age where he has a lot to say and he has the language skills to do so. Monkey really gets a kick out of being funny. It's not really a making jokes funny but more him telling stories or using phrases that you would really expect to hear from a three year old. He's also really cuddle-y. He likes to tell stories. Unfortunately they mainly have to do with Transformers but he does add in other characters. It's really a lot of fun to hear him talk. I guess because I spend so much time with him that I understand him really well. I think he talks pretty clearly but most times I have to translate for others...or at least give them a general idea of what he's talking about (the topics aren't exactly varied). I guess it helps when you have a starting point.

I can't believe there are only two weeks left of summer vacation...

Working out...

I haven't blogged about working out in a while. I have been working out but my topics seemed a little too boring. Not that they are spectacularly exciting but I thought those that read might not be too into hearing how often or what I'm doing to work out. However, like I said, I have been working out. I've been walking a lot even in the heat of the St. Louis summer. Not so much this week but there were other factors in this last week...physically speaking. Also for at least the last month I cut out the cardio portion in my bellydancing/strength training work out. I did that mainly because of the walking so much. You will find the video that I use on the second "here" of this post. I found that when I cut out the cardio portion I was more likely to fit in more of the muscle toning portion throughout my week which is what I feel I need the most. I've been doing approximately 70-90 minutes throughout the week. Each targeted section is 10 minutes. I do seven different routines (arms, chest and back, hips and waist, abs 1, abs 2, legs and butt 1, legs and butt 2)mixed and matched usually three each day I work out.

I've noticed, of all things, that my neck seems to be getting slimmer. I guess because I'm building up my trapezius muscle between the arms and abs workouts. I'm still seeing definition like before. I don't know if it's necessarily more. Since I still haven't lost any weight there's still that layer of fat covering everything. I feel stronger, and I'm getting through the routines completely. It seems easier to push through them and and really perfect the moves even though my muscles might still be sore from the day before. I also feel like my body wants to be in a perfect posture when I'm sitting throughout the day. I don't always feel that way by the end of the day when I'm tired though.

I think that's enough. I have about 50 minutes until I need to pick up Yellow Belt and his friend, NR, at day camp. I think I'll read. I really want to finish The Amber Spyglass already. I want to know what happens but have been a little bored with the plot. I have a new book that I want to start that my friend TMA let me borrow. So it would be nice if I'd just finish this book already.

No satellite. Will read...

I really miss satellite tv. But here are the books that I've read in the last week that it's been gone.

The Golden Compass
Pride and Prejudice (I started this before but really got into it and finished it after satellite was no longer)
The Subtle Knife
Water for Elephants
and I've started The Amber Spyglass

Not too bad for a week.

No more satellite for this family...

And here are shows that I'm going to miss.

1. The Graham Norton Show-He may be the funniest person to watch...ever. I laugh out loud so much during this show that my stomach usually hurts afterwards. That usually only happens when I'm out with my girl friends.
2. Jon and Kate plus 8-I like that when I watch this show I realize that they are raising six kids the same age as Monkey. I actually have it pretty easy. It's also inspirational (even if they don't think they are) because they are handling it with 2 7-8 year olds and 6 3-4 year olds. There are times when I'm stressed out about just one of each age group and think, "Jon and Kate do this only so much more." Plus I wish that I was as dedicated as she was to prepare almost every meal at home and for it to be mainly organic fresh food. It's amazing.
3. Flipping Out-I may never know if Jenny and Chris made up with Jeff. Okay so I'll be able to still see their blogs on bravotv.com but it's not the same as watching a whole episode. Also, Jeff has a wicked sense of humor and I really liked watching him. I look at the people he's hired and think, "Man that job would be pretty easy. Why isn't Chris Elwood just doing the things on the list? It's not like any of the items take that much time. And not only that but he gets paid well to do them. I wish my "job" paid. It's practically the same job."
4. Iron Chef America-I <3 Alton Brown and Kevin Brauch. Oooh Oooh Oooh and Michael Symon.
5. The Next Food Network Star-Will the lady with squinty eyes and great fashion sense be "The Next Food Network Star"? At first she annoyed the heck out of me but now I like her and feel that she is the most qualified. I wish I had the money to have her wardrobe. Although I don't think I could chase after Monkey in Jimmy Choos.
6.You Are What You Eat-I wish that I could make money as a nutritionist. I also like the knowledge I got from that show on food nutrition and physiology.
7. Ace of Cakes-That would be one fun job working in a bakery with artsy people joking around and creating cakes.
8. Top Chef-Oh the drama!!!
9. That Mitchell and Webb Look-This is a sketch comedy from Britain that is hilarious. Although when I started watching it I had a hard time watching the real BBC news documentaries on "interesting people with problems". See they had this sketch on a documentary about a man with something like 7 penises. Then through the whole sketch there is a voiceover about "Now you can stare at this person with a deformity without feeling guilty." Of course the deformities they used were always ridiculous but I had trouble watching the real BBC news documentaries that I had recorded and watched religiously after this show. The poor guy with 7 penises had to clean his bathroom more often than I do which was very very sad. ;D
10. Little People, Big World-I like watching this and I'm not really sure why. I've enjoyed watching the kids grow up. I also like to watch the mom. I would like to be as centered as she seems to be when my boys are in their late teens about them growing up.

I can't think of any other shows at the moment so there may be a part 2 in the near future.

Some local business blogs...

I found out that a local grocery store has a blog found here. But then I didn't want to leave out my neighbors soap and candle business blog found here. And unless I think or find any other local companies that I would like to help promote I'm finished for now. I would add my coffee shop that I haven't been to since summer started, but they don't have a blog just a website.

Camping at Lucky Clover...

We went camping the end of last week at Lucky Clover Camping and RV Resort. Dirty packed and organized everything. He put up camp and kept the boys occupied most of the time we were there. I actually enjoyed myself a majority of the time. For anyone that knows me you will already have an understanding of how much I do not enjoy camping, but with Dirty doing a majority of the work I ended up having a really nice time. Our trip started out with a real traffic pain. A little after Fenton there was extremely slow moving traffic. I had the windows down on the Civic thinking that we would have plenty of airflow but with us barely moving and the sun beating down on us it was unbearable. We ended up getting off at Beaumont and Antire Road and taking back roads to 109 where we hopped back on the highway after a quick bathroom break (I had only factored in a little over an hour in drive time and my bladder was about to burst).

It was a little hot the first day with no water time for me and mainly trying to stay as shaded as possible. Dirty took the boys down to the river to play while I stayed at camp and read Pride And Predjudice. We ate hot dogs, corn on the cob, and ceasar salad for dinner. Dirty had picked up a pack of four different colored glow sticks and gave one to each boy each night. I was surpised how long it kept them occupied the first night. Then they took them to bed as "night lights". Dirty and I didn't sleep too well because it kept raining and were weren't sure how waterproof the tent would prove to be. We all stayed dry through the next morning though so our waterproofing measures from a couple years back have held up.

The second day Dirty woke up really early and made us coffee in our new 5 cup percolator coffee maker. It was more work than it should normally be because we didn't have many coals left after the rain. He could have maybe dug a little deeper and put the percolator further in the ground but didn't think of it until later. The boys got up and we packed up our floating essentials. It was a beautiful day on the river. The sun was hot which made getting in the river enjoyable. There weren't too many people out since it was Friday morning (There were a ton of people floating Saturday so we were glad we weren't going out that day). We took our time and stopped often. We also stayed places longer than we normally would have. We usually put in around 8 or 9 in the morning and are done by noon. We didn't finish this time until nearly 4 or 5 p.m. Near the end of the float Monkey lost a paddle. There was a hole in the paddle part and had been filling with water all day. When he dropped it it sank to the bottom immediately, and we never found it. After the float we went back to camp and started dinner. We had marinated chicken, more corn on the cob, and apples. Monkey ended up throwing fit after fit so he was sent to bed. Yellow Belt stayed up until after 11 when he protested that he was going to stay up as late as Dirty...even though he'd fallen asleep in my chair.

The next morning Dirty made us coffee again. The boys fished for a while. Then we packed up camp and headed for home. We came home and brought everything in, took baths and showers, and finally we collapsed. After resting for a while we worked on unpacking and trying to clean what needed to be cleaned. Everyone was in bed by 9 except for me. I tried to stay up and finish Pride and Predjudice but couldn't make it through the last chapter without having to reread everything a few times finally deciding to put it away and finish it when I woke up.

What exactly have we been doing...

I was asked by my dad what the boys and I had been doing the last two weeks and I went completely blank. Now this is pretty common. There are more than some days that I can't remember what we've done all day. I think my forgetfulness has to do with dehydration. I think most times every physical issue can be traced to dehydration or lack of nutrients in one's diet. Because really I could go on and on about what I know about signs of vitamin and mineral deficiencies and the foods to eat to counteract these deficiencies. However, for the sake of anyone reading this, I digress.

Since the 19th of June when we had a sick Monkey, then Yellow Belt caught it, then Dirty and I, being the hypochondriacs that we are, thought we had it as well. The next two weeks I walked us to a lot of places. I've been trying to walk in order to burn off more calories than I take in and to conserve gas. We walk to the wading pool in Tower Grove park. We walk to our friends, the R.'s, across Tower Grove park. We walk to the library at Kingshighway and Vandeventer. We walk to the South Grand shopping district. Then there were places we went but didn't walk. We went to my book club where I didn't really get to talk much about the book, but it was a morning out of the house and the boys had fun. We went to the zoo. We've also had playdates with friends here and at their houses.

I also had the Installation Dinner for MOMS Club. One of our members who lives in Clayton offered up her back yard for us to infiltrate for the evening. She had actually been dealing with a bout of salmonella leading up to the dinner. It was a nice evening and my friend, KL, made a rockin' mojito. It was even better than mine. She didn't have a recipe for it though because she improvised off her original recipe. It was really yummy. For MOMS Club I also finished up my term as Treasurer on the the board. I completed the Financial Report that is required by each chapter at end of year. I'm kind of glad that I won't have as many responsibilities but a little sad that now I'll just have the regular activities to attend. I'm hoping I won't notice as much when I start school and am busier.

The fourth of July we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens which had free admission to the gardens and the Children's Garden. They have the Niki sculpture exhibit which I would like to check out sometime without the boys. I think that if I had more free time I would probably go there on the free mornings for city dwellers and just walk around the different gardens. By the time we walked from our house to the gardens the boys were done walking and didn't want to do anything but go straight to the Children's Garden. We pushed them further than we probably should have which made everyone very crabby. By the time we got home Dirty and I had decided not to do anything else that day. But he called his parent's house and confirmed our plans with them to have dinner at their house. We went and the boys played with his step-mom's niece which I guess is now Dirty's cousin. And of course Grandpa C. bought fireworks and sparklers for the kids. I nearly had a heart attack from the unsafeness of Monkey with fire which was apparently very obvious to all the adults present because after many gasps and cries of "Oh my goodness!" I was asked a few times if I was sure I didn't want a glass of wine. We made it through that and walked home. We saw a few fireworks go off over what seemed like old McRee town which was exciting enough for the boys.

And that pretty much sums up what we've done the last couple of weeks. This week we've already run errands, went to a Monthly Social, had a playdate here, had a playdate at a friends. And later in the week we'll be going camping and on a float trip. I'm thinking of putting a stipulation on marriage that I will only go camping if it's in Hawaii. :D Dirty says that for our 20th anniversary I am obliged to go on a camping trip where we follow the same path that Frodo followed from the Shire to Mordor. I told him he can go alone. I'll be in Hawaii on the North Shore of Oahu. You may have also guessed that I've been spending a lot of time daydreaming about a vacation to Hawaii. If you guessed that you would be correct.

I told you not to drink the water...

Well it's been awhile since any of us have been sick with fever/vomiting/etc. But after a day at the wading pool Monkey has come down with a medium-grade fever and has thrown up once. He's been on the couch in his bedroom all day and that is totally uncharacteristic for Monkey. He's gotten up a few times to play quietly on the floor and sit by me while I cleaned the kitchen after dinner. He's had no appetite. Also uncharacteristic. He's like a hobbit in that sense that he has a couple breakfasts, elevensies, lunch, mid-day snack, tea, dinner, dessert normally. During the morning he had a bite of cereal and half of a saltine cracker. I didn't know what to do with myself all morning not having to be in the kitchen. Mid-afternoon he had half an apple which he threw up a couple hours later. Through the evening he's eaten maybe 10 more saltines and a few bites of bread. I've also been giving him as much iced water as I can. Mainly he is just holding the sippy cup near his torso and it's probably helping him feel more comfortable.

It's funny because when he is well he wants medicine for all kinds of made up maladies. Just this week there was a "favor" aka fever that he told me started in his head but that it was at that time in his "ankle" aka his calf. Now that he has a real fever though he doesn't want anything. I don't push tylenol or ibuprofen because really it's just to help make him more comfortable. The whole reason for the fever is to trigger the immune system so if he can handle it then there's no reason to push the medicine.

I believe that all of this was caused by drinking water from the wading pool in Tower Grove Park. We went yesterday and spent a couple hours playing. I had brought little craft brushes for the boys to "paint" the planters. They did for at least an hour but I noticed that Monkey was sucking on one of them a few times. I warned him not to suck on the brush or to drink the water because it could make him sick. I always ask them if they want to throw up because neither of them have fond memories of throwing up. Who does? It didn't seem to really click with Monkey yesterday though. He, at one point, washed off a grape in the pool as well. YUCK!!! I really enjoy the wading pool and it's even nicer since they put in fountains, but my friend, AR, put it best, "It's really just a really big foot bath if you think about it." And that it really is. I was glad that I found a toy that would keep the boys occupied in the water and not just running around the fountain. Doing that Yellow Belt wiped out and scraped up half of his torso and his elbow. They did have a lot of fun despite the scrapes and sickness. I'm sure we'll go back. I'll have to reevaluate the craft brushes. It is free afterall. :D

Summer Snail Day...

I've been trying to occupy the days with water play, craft activities, and outside play. One day this week while playing outside in the water Yellow Belt found a worm and a snail. Monkey melted down because he didn't have any and Yellow Belt wasn't sharing. Dirty happened to call (to check in on how the day was going which was not so good at that point) and he let me in on the whereabouts of a snail habitat in our very own backyard with tons of snails. So we went back to the habitat and collected snails, after we created a snail sanctuary on the porch, played with the poor snails for a while, then released the snails back into their habitat (because we are all about animal conservation...just like the Irwins). We went in and had lunch where I thought about what kind of craft we could do to take up some time in the afternoon.

Originally I was going to just make a snail picture but our glue sources are low. Our tape sources are also slightly low so I remembered that we still have a ton of contact paper from a centerpiece that we did for Yellow Belts Blue and Gold Scout Banquet. It was perfect because the pieces of construction paper stick to the sheet of contact paper and you just layer another piece on top. This helps keep all of the construction paper in place in case it's not touching enough contact paper on one side it is on the other. I cut out the snail "shells" which were brown circles and blue snail "bodies" which were blue little finger looking things. I let the boys cut out their own grass and rip their own leaves. So then they put all of their leaves and grass on the contact paper and then placed their snails in and amongst the grass and leaves. After they finished I placed the top sheet of contact paper and cut a border around the sides. They really liked creating their new placemats.

Overall, it was a fun summer day. And now I have to top it. :D

Tricksey Little Hobbitses, Mildewy laundry, and Lord of the Rings marathon...

To start with tricksey little hobbitses...Tonight we had chicken enchiladas. This is not something the boys love (it's not dino chicken nuggets after all) but they ate it tonight without too much hassle. Monkey wasn't quite as hungry as usual what with the animal crackers/enough pepper cheese to constipate an elephant/a third of a peach/applesauce dipper/graham cracker sticks/apple juice/cut up tomato snack. So he didn't eat much of the dinner. I told him that in order to get dessert he needed to eat more...then I left to go talk to Dirty about what I spent at the grocery store today. That was a parenting mistake that I should have learned not to make by now. So Monkey took his adult sized plate, emptied it into the garbage disposal, rinsed his plate, then asked for dessert. When I went to see how much he'd eaten there was no plate because it was completely cleaned off in the sink. Do I tell him I don't believe that he ate the rest and not give him dessert? Do I give in because he did clear his place and clean off his plate? How can I verify that he did indeed eat his dinner? I didn't. I gave him the one flavor-ice that has frozen since we got home from the grocery store and a waffle cone bowl with some rainbow sherbet in it. Tricksey little hobbitses...

Mildewy laundry has to do with the fact that I am washing for the third time the same load of darks that I keep leaving either a.) in the washer until it mildews or b.) in the dryer not giving it more dry cycles (because it's a super large load) until it gets mildewy. I've spent more money on laundry detergent, water, and electricity with this one load of laundry than I cared to. I vow to get this load of darks through the entire laundry cycle instead of leaving it down in the basement to mildew once more.

And finally, our family has been having a Lord of the Rings marathon in all of our free tv watching time (LOTR for all of you lay-folk). In anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour or so we have been watching all three of the LOTRs...since last Friday. It's now Tuesday and we are finally on the final movie (Return of the King...again for all you that don't know much about LOTR) We have all three movies in extended versions. That adds on maybe 30 extra minutes or so of movie onto already pretty long movies. Don't tell Dirty but I actually enjoy all of these movies but love busting his chops about how I don't want to watch them. I don't really need a reason to watch Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, or Andy Serkis (hee hee hee for anyone that doesn't know he actually plays Gollum). My only problem with watching them this time is that Dirty has sub-dialogues of what the characters are thinking. For instance, when Eowyn is trying to convey to Aragorn that she wants to end up with him before the final battle because she loves him Dirty says, "Step up off my grill woman! I only dig elven women. Those pointy ears really do it for me. I don't want some human woman. I don't care if you can wield a sword." Other than that I do enjoy the movies and that is why I'm calling my three year old a tricksey little hobbitses.

Summer Vacation...

Summer vacation is officially here. I know that all of us that get to be more house-bound during the summer were looking forward to it. Of course we will be visiting all of the regular summer places around town but we get to do it when we want to do it whenever we want to do it. Last night Yellow Belt was upset that he had to go to late (7-8:15 p.m.) Tae Kwon Do until I reminded him that it didn't really matter that it was late night because he could stay up until I go to bed which would be at the very least 11 p.m. He perked up after that. I think the routines and schedules were really wearing on him.

Yesterday we had our first day of summer vacation. The boys woke up I think about 7. (I can't remember anymore since today Yellow Belt slept until 9 a.m. and Monkey slept until 10 a.m.) Yellow Belt didn't want to eat breakfast so I didn't push it. He ended up just eating lunch. The boys both stayed in their underwear until after lunch when we got sunblocked up and swimsuits on. We played in the sprinkler and baby pool. The boys like to dunk into the pool and it's the perfect size for that. After outside play we came in for "quiet time" so that I could work out. "Quiet time" didn't end up being very quiet because Monkey was too silly trying to entertain big brother. Afterwards I went to go clean the kitchen and start dinner. Yellow Belt and Monkey watched some tv and then Yellow Belt came in, at 4:30 p.m. no less, to inform me that Monkey was asleep. Yellow belt then demanded dino chicken nuggets for dinner because he DID NOT want salmon patties and he wasn't going to eat what I made. I informed him that I wasn't making anything else and he WAS going to eat the dinner I DID make. He disappeared the rest of the time that I prepared dinner. Once Dirty got home, about 5 p.m., I woke up Monkey who was surprisingly pleasant during dinner, we ate, had the discussion about not wanting to go to Tae Kwon Do, Yellow Belt decided once again (for the fifth time at least) that he does indeed like salmon patties, and Dirty and Yellow Belt left to go to class. They stopped to get milk and ice cream on the way home and the boys both stayed up until around 11 p.m. (the reason they slept late today).

I spent the entire day enjoying the moments and telling the boys how much I was enjoying spending time with them. I know that there will be a point during the summer when we're all going crazy and I'm counting down the days until school starts but for now I'm really enjoying our slow starts and being together all day long. Today Yellow Belt has a playdate and will be gone all afternoon until after dinner, but we got some quality time to watch Essence of Emeril together which we haven't done in a really long time.

Holy Inappropriateness Batman...

My neighbor that moved in where my in-laws used to live is a really nice guy. He likes a well manicured yard and clear sidewalks when it snows. He always does it without asking and usually says, "No really. I like doing it!" Which is extremely generous of him. He pretty much does every one's front yards within at least a five house radius of his. He snow blows both sides of the street, around some neighbors cars even, on pretty much the whole block. I think that's his gift to the mail person. We are having a birthday party for Yellow Belt tomorrow evening and even though Dirty offered to do it since we were having guests in the yard our neighbor still did it during the day today while we were both gone.

As a thank you we try to get him some Schlafly beer as a thank you because he enjoys beer. We do it when we can, which isn't often with our current financial situation, in hopes that it conveys our gratitude. We don't have a lawnmower, a snow blower, a weed whacker, or any of the other tools you might need to keep your yard looking crisp. And since Dirty offered to do it and our neighbor did it anyway we bought a couple of cases and were going to let him pick which one he wanted. Dirty left it to me this time to speak with our neighbor about which he preferred.

Now as I've stated he'd been working in the yard all afternoon. He had just gone inside but I was hoping to catch him before he went out or got too comfy inside. I ran over and rang the bell. No dogs barking. Must not work. Knocked on the glass of their door. Dogs bark. It's only a matter of moments now. Then he opens his door...wearing nothing but a towel...that is gaping toward the bottom...threatening to pop open and show me more than I would really ever want to see of one of my neighbors. Holy inappropriateness!!! So I said a little shyly and really embarrassed that, "You really didn't have to answer the door in this state!" He said, "Oh no. It's not problem." All I can think is...white hairy chest...please don't let the towel drop...oh good the puppy came out to see me and I don't have to look up...just spit out the types of beer you bought and have him pick...AS QUICKLY AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE...PLEASE...OH...PLEASE!!!!! I gave him the choices. He didn't have a preference. I was trying to figure out how to get out of the situation as quickly as possible. I said, "Well we should be in the yard later. I could get it to you then. But actually. You're already at the door (practically naked anyway). So if you can wait, like, 30 more seconds I can go get it and run it back over." "Sure that would work." "Okay great." I ran back over and then had to walk back with the case of Hefeweizen. I would have ran had I not feared slipping on the walk and then breaking the bottles in the case. I noticed when I came back out that he was leaning out his door watching. So as soon as I gave him the case he said, "Yeah, I cleaned off your patio out back for you since you'll have guests over." "I said we really appreciate it. Thank you so much for always doing the yard." And he said, "Oh really no problem." Then I ran off because I think my entire face was red from being embarrassed.

Yikes!!! Then I couldn't even get ahold of my husband to tell him of the very odd uncomfortable situation and that I would NEVER be doing that again....never...ever. So after many weeks of not blogging about anything here's a story for you. I hope your neighbors never answer the door naked...unless you want them too of course. I really did not.

Cinco de Mayo recipes...

Just in case you need some quick recipes (and hopefully Schnucks on The Hill has restocked because it was slim pickin's yesterday :). I like this recipe for margaritas. And this is my favorite mixed drink which are mojitos. Most resturants don't make them, and I've only like this recipe which makes a whole pitcher. Be careful with these. They are extremely tasty and you might not noticed just how potent they are.

For salsa (I make it fresh): I take one small onion, a clove or two of garlic, a handful of cilantro, and one whole jalapeno (more if you like it really spicy...Dirty likes three. I know he's crazy. He likens it to getting tattoos. He knows it's painful but he still endures it.) and throw all of that in a food pro (i<3 kevin brauch and alton brown) and pulse until finely chopped. Then add four tomatoes that have been quartered, the juice of one freshly squeezed lime, and a pinch of salt. Enjoy with corn tortilla chips.*
*I can't get the salsa picture to come through right. I've tried three times and now I give up.



For guacamole (again I like it fresh...and chunky. No blended, can't tell what's in it, baby food texture guac for me.): Take two avocados, cut in half, remove the pit, score a criss cross pattern in the flesh, and scoop out with a spoon. Add two diced tomatoes, a handful of chopped cilantro, one fresh jalapeno pepper, one or two cloves of garlic, and a small onion all finely diced. Then add a pinch of salt and ground cumin and the juice of one freshly squeezed lime. Gently fold the ingredients together, being careful not to break up the avocado too much, and enjoy!!!

Bellydancing video update...

The videos that I am using, as far as bellydancing goes, all feature Rania. The two specific videos that I have are here and here. The first video, as you can see, is only $5 right now on amazon.com. I haven't actually used the second video (I've only viewed it) because I just got it today, but I plan on starting tomorrow. The "My Personal Trainer" video actually has a plans in it, and the one I'm most interested in, has seven days a week (mainly 50 minute) sessions.

And I'm so excited that Dirty helped me brainstorm how to link web urls into the blog content YAY!!! THANK YOU, DIRTY!!! This is extremely exciting!!! I'm going to have links all over the place now. I've graduated to a new level of blogging...at least in my own head. :D Do the emoticons bring me back down a level?!?

my coffee shop...

Here is the web address for Hartford Coffee Co. I'm sorry that I can't link it. I need to have a tutorial with my more blog saavy friends to figure out how to link things. I've tried using the shortcuts at the top of the posts and they aren't working...well the pictures do but nothing else.

http://www.hartfordcoffeecompany.net/index.html

I'm a "Regular"!!!

Some of the coffee shop regulars are viewing me as a regular which I found exciting this morning. I've decided to introduce myself to the staff of my favorite coffee shop the next time I'm in...especially Sullen Guy who always under-charges me, gives me extra bacon when I order a sandwich, doesn't get frustrated when I can't decide if I want food or not, and let's it roll off his back if I get distracted (sometimes I have Monkey with me). I'm always polite* (I greet them with a "Hi", I try and be as quick with ordering as possible, and ALWAYS say "please" and "thank you") but if I'm going to see these people as often as I sometimes do I should introduce myself...right???

*At least to the ones that don't try and act all condescending when, I accidentally, order two "endless cups" (insert nasty look here by guy taking order), and I end up clarifying my order by saying that I want two 16 oz. sized "to go" coffees which is technically different than an "endless cup". I did have one of the staff give me a look like "You are so clueless. I'm so much hipper than you will ever be. I would never screw up my coffee order. How lame you must be. I can't believe all of the extra steps you are making me go through to put this order in." which I thought was rude.

As a person who works at a coffee shop you should have the understanding that some of the people who order will have some order clarity issues...THAT'S WHY WE DRINK COFFEE!!! So don't all go and get an attitude when one of us accidentally orders using the incorrect terms for the coffee (sizes, types, etc.)

I could also complain about a girl that works there who speaks as little as possible to me and acts like I'm bothering her by being there ordering. But I digress...

BTW Sullen Guy has never given me attitude. He quietly backs up in the order, corrects it, and then gives me my "to go" cup (whichever size I want...generally the 16 oz.) marked with a "B" (I think that stands for endless cup. I might ask him the next time since I'm going to introduce myself anyway), and then ALWAYS says thank you. So thank you Sullen Guy. You always brighten up my coffee shop visits.