Life.

Today I think I left smoke in my tracks. I ran from here to there and back again from the second I woke up. I run like a lunatic on a normal day but today was extreme.

Rosie woke up this morning and was only able to open one eye which although hilariously funny to see was not a great start to my day. As soon as her doctors office opened I rang them and the sent a prescription to the pharmacy. We figured it was pink eye. About an hour later my eye got all funky too. If you have followed this blog for a while you know I can't take any chances with my eye.

We dropped Lily at school and headed straight to the assembly area for Lily's honor roll ceremony. We were informed by other mothers that have had this teacher before that this would be the first year she wouldn't make the honor roll and to forget principals honor roll as that was out of the question. When she bought home her report card she had all A's in academics but a B in conduct with the homeroom teacher. Oh well we had been warned. As I left school last Thursday I bumped into the "tough teacher" and she said she wanted to tell me something. She had been thinking about Lily's grade and had changed it. She wanted to surprise Lily at the assembly so would I please not tell her. This lady who I have been scared of since school started was so nice, just a really lovely lady. In fact we chatted for a good 10 minutes and I almost got locked into the school.

Adam and Lily. The only 2 kids in their class to make the Principals Honor Roll. Standing with their teachers.

Here she is receiving an award for Perfect Attendance.
Lily, Adam and Sana, the 3 amigos.


Lily was shocked, really shocked. It was great. She then went and thanked her teacher and was hugged by her. Obviously this lady is not what everyone says she is.

Anyhoo, from there I flew to work at full speed and on the way home picked up Rosie's script. the whole time I was driving home I kept thinking....but what if it isn't pink eye and she gets treated with the wrong meds. I know that is irrational but my eye problems started with me being given the wrong meds and now I have a droopy pupil, a scar in my eye that affects my vision, a pupil that no longer dilates and contracts and my eyes are 2 different colours. I'm a bit sensitive to eye problems.
I voiced my concerns to jacob and he agreed. I have the best eye doctor ever and I have his home phone number and his cell. With all the problems I have had, I have never used them. Today I rang his personal office number. He told me to bring all of us in immediately. When we arrived the front desk was waiting for us. This is a huge practice and so busy. The wait times are awful but whenever he sees me in the waiting room he just puts me to the front of the line. (I know it is wrong for the others waiting, It's not my doing) He dealt with Rosie first, then me then Lily. All of us got a full exam, a really thorough exam and vision tests. Rosie cracked everyone up and she went into so much detail about what she could see. The tech, and I were laughing uncontrollably. 2 out of 4 of us are infected.

Darn child of mine is always bringing home something skanky from school. We all got meds, just in case it spreads. We don't all have to use them, just Rosie and I, for now.

By this time it is 4.45 and swimming starts in 10 minutes. With my eyes completely dilated I drove as fast as I could to the pool. That was hair raising. Lily was 3 minutes late. Rosie and I sat and watched her swim then we flew home for dinner. DINNER??? Oh my word the lasagna I had planned on making was still in the ingredient stage. I threw together an omelette and salad. At 8pm the kids finally went up to the bath and then to bed.

Now I need to figure out what to do with Squirty Smurfy Murphy,

Last night he ate the chocolate out of the advent calendars that my sister sent and I got 2 very annoyed kiddies this morning. They couldn't believe he had done such a thing. Once they looked in the fridge they found the stash and then spent ages methodically putting each piece back in their calendars.

Cheeky little Elf.


It will be me who eats the chocolate tonight, not the elf.

Stupid auto correct

Sadly on Friday morning we lost a good friend. He went to sleep and never woke up. The best way to go if I do say so myself. We have celebrated his life and now we continue on. The one hurt the most by all of this is his son. Adam is 20, so he isn't a kid anymore but still way to young to lose his Father.

Jacob and I have been trying to keep tabs on Adam in the past few days but at the same time not suffocate him. Being a young guy he doesn't answer his phone but will return a text so fast your head will spin. So, texting it has been. This afternoon I sent him one and ended it with, "please send our condolences to your Dad's sisters". My dear darling phone decided that I really didn't want to say that at all and changed it to " please send our CONDOMS to your Dad's sisters".

Seriously?
Every time I read it I giggle. Couldn't it have found something more appropriate to correct it to? Oh well I guess I have learnt the hard way. Don't just hit send, proof read your writing.

I sent an explanation immediately.

As for auto correct, it's true what they say, it really is, a stupid piece of shut.

Just can't be chipper all the time

I'm feeling a little freaked out at the moment. All this talk of American Airlines going bankrupt has me quite nervous and worried. I worry alot about things in general but knowing that my husbands employer might go belly up is really taking it's toll.
The company isn't talking. They have gone on record to say this is not what they want but not out of the question. They have just placed an order with Boeing for the biggest airplane order in aviation history but that means nothing. Many companies do these types of things and then turn right around and file chapter 11.

The rumours out at the airport are leaning towards scare tactics. AA is financially strapped and they are over due signing contracts. With them pulling this move it looks like they are folding when all it is is the company trying to panic people into signing contracts for a lot less money. The union is reassuring it's people that it won't happen. I sure wish they would come over to my house and reassure me.

Jacob is calm, he always is. I joke with him that we need to light a fire under his backside just to get him moving. He says his job is fine, that nothing will happen and that I have to stop worrying. When I suggested that we all go ahead and see the dentist, and all of our doctors just in case we don't have health insurance soon, he rolled his eyes at me.

I can't just sit back and do nothing with this looming over my head.

Corporate greed sucks.

This post is going to offend

There you are, you've been warned.
What the heck is it with the massage industry as a whole that it attracts such unusual folk? I really am the oddball when it comes to massage. I'm way to conservative, I think inside the box and I bathe. Yes, you read that correctly, I bathe.
Way back many centuries ago when I went to massage college I realised that I was the odd one out. Whilst not entirely alone I was definitely the minority. Not just because I bathed, daily, but because I was so square and really I ain't that square. My brother might think I am but I'm not so don't listen to him. I generally conform to society, I dress "normally". In other words when I show up for work I do not have to worry about the doorman announcing that "Eliza Dolittle" has arrived and then trying to shoo me away with a broom before calling security cos I look and smell like a homeless bum.
This past weekend I attended a seminar. Every 2 years I have to renew my license and in order to do so I have to have a required number of continuing education hours. This seminar counted towards my hours. I do as many as possible online but obviously due to the nature of my work some of them have to be hands on learning. I choose my seminars carefully. Nearly always medically minded, and always steering clear of anything involving colours, scents, and aura's.
As I entered the classroom this past weekend the odor of dirty laundry hit me like a tonne of bricks. Now we all know I am a clean freak but really, can't you bring clean linens to a seminar? As the seminar unfolded we had to chose a partner to work with/on. I turned to the lady to my left and we partnered up (she looked clean). Hah, looks can be deceiving. We went to our table and she pulled out of her bag the nastiest, scraggiest, most wrinkled linens i have ever seen in my life. I wouldn't put them in a dogs bed. The arrangement is, you place your linens on the table for the other person as they are your client. I took one look at them and said, "your linens, your body, my linens, my body". Thankfully I didn't offend her and she went for it.
When I got home I scrubbed my body in scalding water. Yuck!
Quite often people ask me all the time how I managed to do so well in this profession here as it is saturated with therapists. Well, I''m clean, that's one reason I suppose.
I think now I'll probably be known as the massage snob but I'm Ok with that.
Each of us has our own niche and there is room for all of us on this planet and I truly believe that we should live and let live but I also think we should live, wash and let live.
Goodnight.

Chatter

I do NOT text.

Yes, you read that correctly, I do NOT text. I have a phone, which I often forget or if I do take it I fail to turn it on. If it is on, I don't hear it. I am not an important person, I don't believe I need to be available every second of every day. My friends and husband have spent hours trying to convince me of the joys of smart phones.....phooey.

As I left for work this morning Jacob told me he was going to upgrade my phone and told me to leave mine with him. Yeah, Ok, sure thing. He's said it before but hasn't. This time was different :(

I have a new phone. It is all schmancy. I have no idea how it works. Now I can't really tell people not to text me cos when they see my phone they won't buy my little tale of how I have had the texting capabilities turned off. Oh god this thing is so intimidating. I'm not afraid of technology in general, just phones. I was browsing through the app's and had to giggle. Why do I need all this stuff, who, WHO uses all of it? I did have loads of fun playing with the flashlight. It's the small stuff that makes me smile. Not sure why a phone has a torch built into it but it does.

I think we have a made the decision to throw caution to the wind and just do it. Move that is. It is something that we have wanted for a while but now appears to be the time. Moving doesn't worry me (which when you consider I worry what shoes to wear) that's quite an accomplishment however now we have 2 kids. They make everything much more important.

It's summer. My new motto: if the kids get 3 meals a day and get to bed at some point, it's all good. I have never been quite so unstructured in my life. The school year is just one fat rush after another so to be able to wake up later, eat breakfast later and just keep at a snails pace for the whole day is so refreshing.

Everyday is pool day. Rosie is just as much a fish now as Lily. Now that I would take my eyes off of either of them for a second but it makes it a lot more fun.

I cannot wait to go home. My brother emailed me yesterday and invited us to go punting on the river in Cambridge with them. I have never done this. Everyone else who visits them has had the opportunity. The girls are going to love it. I also can't really believe that Hollis and her girls are meeting us there. Oh how much fun we are going to have.

I should publish this post and go and study this danged phone but I am in total denial so instead I am going to read my book. I'll grab the tissues first. Anyone else read. "Message From an Unknown Chinese Mother?"

Identity Crisis

I think Lily was 4 when she painted and decorated this little birdhouse. It has been hanging on the fence for years now waiting for an occupant. It barely survived Wilma when she blew threw and sustained quite a bit of damage. Jacob put it back together as best he could because Lily was so sad.

Lily is now 8 and still we are waiting for a bird to move in. Today as I was in the kitchen I looked up and noticed something in her bird house. I dashed to the window and this is what I saw.

A lizard! Yes folks she now has an occupant in her birdhouse, an occupant who according to hubby, is having an identity crisis apparently.
Perhaps he thinks if he pretends to be a bird he won't get eaten by one.

The photo isn't very clear as we didn't want to get too close because that would scare him. About an hour later he was sunning himself on the roof.

Going To The Dogs.

I am not sure how I got myself into this one especially since i don't particularly care for dogs but this weekend we are dog sitting AGAIN. Actually I do know how I got myself into it, I can't say, no! I like this dog he is super friendly and very clean, I know that is an odd thing to mention when talking about an animal but I am a germ freak and a clean freak so that ranks way up high with me if something is coming into my house.
I didn't tell the girls he was coming but told them something was going on and that a boy was going to be sleeping over. Lily's face was classic at the the thought of a boy sleeping here. She asked for a few million clues and decided she had it sussed and it was going to be her friend Marco. Wrong! It is Jeremy. Needless to say when they opened the door and saw him they were so happy.
The next part of the plan was to meet our friends Richard and Shara with their 2 big dogs at the local dog park. Well since I have apparently lost my mind why not just jump in feet first. So that is what we did. Jeremy did not like the dog park one little bit...oopsie. I thought all dogs loved dog parks. Jeremy doesn't seem to know he is a dog he thinks he is a person. So having a bunch of dogs sniffing about him just made him unhappy so we didn't stay long. He isn't a very energetic dog either which exasperates Lily who has a boundless supply of energy just like me. Rosie just calls him dog and talks to him. A L O T. Lily decided that Snickers and Sophie are much more fun to play with and was happy to see them at the park. Jeremy just walked around very slowly and didn't do one thing that all the other dogs did. By the time we got home he needed a nap and I had to force the girls away from him so that he could nap for about 2 hours!!!!! Rosie should follow his lead!

A little while ago he made me jump out of my skin when he started to bark at the TV. I noticed that their was a dog on it. Guess he doesn't even like other dogs on TV.. He is a funny little fellow but he is sweet. He came with his little lunchbox and bag all packed up for his visit and a note from him to the girls. He also bought them both a gift for caring for him. Nuts I tell ya just nuts!

The girls and Jeremy


Rosie playing on the dog toys at the park and getting flattened by a puppy! Ha ha ha ha


Shara with her daughter Alaina, and their doggies with the girls and Jeremy.


Rosie walking Jeremy.

Meet The Inmates.

Whenever we go to this particular park to play it reminds me of a prison yard. Well, what I assume a prison yard would be like. The girls love to play on the racket ball courts and no one is ever there so I let them. I noticed that the walls have been recently painted green, it helps nothing it still looks like a prison. The weather was gorgeous yesterday and perfect for being outside. Jacob was busy helping a friend so the girls and I played outside all day.

Independent Annies

Both of the girls are very independent. Lily is fiercely independent and Rosie is independent when she is around people she knows and trusts, otherwise she is a complete wimp and is afraid of her own shadow but more about that another time.
We spent a fabulous day yesterday with Hollis and the girls. From the minute we arrived they all played harmoniously. Since we haven't seen each other for 6 weeks the kids were in heaven as were the adults. When we first came home with Rosie and had served our six weeks of self inflicted house arrest to get her used to being part of our nutty household one of the first homes we visited was Hollis' so she is really comfortable there and runs about as if she owns it which pleases Hollis tremendously.
Once the thunderstorms left we headed into the pool and the kids had a hayday. Rosie is starting to get quite brave in the water and we had all good intentions of getting her into swimming lessons this summer but (a) summer hasn't gone quite as we had planned it and (b) Rosie still freaks out around strangers so we have decided that it probably won't benefit her to give her swimming lessons with a stranger at this point and will have the adverse effect on her and she will end up hating water which is something that we don't want as we spend alot of time in the wet stuff. A couple of weeks ago she decided she liked tubes and would put herself in a tube and kick like mad to get around the pool. I trail her and she loves it. It gives her freedom and I can still do stuff with Lily. Yesterday we took some tubes up to Hollis' with us and the big girls played with them and the noodles and a myriad of other toys and Rosie clung to her tube and swam, as she calls it, all around. She also likes to jump in so she did alot of that too. In fact she tried hard to do what the big kids were doing but just her version of it. Just as we were getting ready to call it a day and go inside for ice cream Rosie said she wanted to swim under water. For the most part she hates to get her face wet. On occasion I shove her face under and push her really fast to the side and tell her to kick. She does it but reluctantly. (yes, I am harsh but the kid has to learn to swim. Lily could swim, properly at 18 months, this is Fl there is water everywhere) I called for Jacob and he sat on the steps and I gave Rosie a shove and she swam underwater to her Daddy. He pulled her up and she was all smiles and asked to do it again so he shoved her back to me and so it went again and again and again! She was swimming. Not well but she was doing it and she was loving it. She needs to kick a bit more but she has the concept so I think if we go into the pool everyday this week she will be swimming by the end of it. She just really wants to be able to do what the big kids are doing.

Joie came up to me yesterday afternoon and asked when Lily could sleepover again so Hollis said she could sleepover that evening. I realised that Lily didn't have her Bunny so I said, soon, she could sleepover again soon. Lily pleaded so I asked to talk to her in private and explained the situation. For a minute she looked panic stricken and then she pushed her shoulders back in a way that would have made my father proud and said, I can do it. I told Hollis that if it was fine with her it was fine with us and independent child number 2 took off playing without looking back.
When it was time to leave I barely got a kiss goodbye but she did ask that I send up her Daddy so could say good bye to him before he left. She loves to play with Joie, Anlie and Trevi and the idea of sleeping there is just the cats pajamas.
When we left, Rosie was so worried because she thought we had forgotten Lily and it took us quite some time to calm her fears and make her understand that everything was fine.
I am glad they are willing to try new things. Rosie has been so scared for so long and to see her break free from her chains is wonderful. Lily has always been outgoing but she used to say she would never sleep anywhere if we were not there but now she cannot wait to sleep with her friends, at least not these friends.

BULLETS

• 4 more days of school. Yee Haw!
• This time next week we will be in New England.
• When I went in Rosie's room this morning after her nap she said, "it's so nice to see you".
• I cut my hair this morning. It's getting shorter by the hair cut. Soon it will be short again even though I said I wouldn't go short again. 
• Rosie is growing. I don't care what the scales say, well I do actually but she is growing. She is nearly in 18 month clothes exclusively. Just a few 12 month stragglers hanging on.
• Lily is huge. She turns 7 next week. There is such a difference between turning 6 and turning 7. 
• She wanted to go the American Girl Store for her birthday so we let her chose the location. I secretly hoped she would chose NYC but she chose Boston cos her Aunties live there and we can see them. That is great cos I can't wait to see Fran and Shell either and I know Andie will love them...they are nuts too.
• I am finding it increasingly more difficult to be pleasant to Lily's teacher. As the days to the end of school count down my smile gets more and more fake. I have to be the grown up but it is proving to be a challenge. Nasty old bag.
• Lily makes me laugh all the time. She really is a funny girl with a great sense of humour.
• I am so ready for a vacation we have not been away as a family since we went to China last year. Andie is meeting us in Boston and there is going to be so much silliness. 2 weeks with Andie and then another week on the west coast......bliss.
• I don't think it is ever going to stop raining. For those of you that don't live in Florida you don't know what rain is until you have been to Florida during rainy season,  especially this one.
• I haven't even got any closets left to clean out during all this rain since I went on a major cleaning bender a few weeks back.
• I think Rose is going to have a lisp. This probably should  not be making me laugh but right now it is comical. She says horsth, nicth, huth for horse nice and hush. Perhaps it is a speech learning curve but me not so sure. 
• With regard to the aforementioned lisp Lily's comment was, "oh no, does that mean I am going to get wet when she speaks?" I told you she has a sense of humour and it is wicked just like mine.
• When I started this post the roofer had not been, now he has. He will be back to mend the roof if it stops raining for more than 5 hours at one time...I will see him in October. Ha ha ha.
• Hurricane season starts again in a few days. 'Nuff said about that. 
• The girls really love it when we drive through big puddles. I loved it when I was little too and I called them wooshers so now the girls call them that too. My dad used to seek out the biggest wooshers he could find for me. Jacob thinks I should avoid wooshers at all costs since I drive a car not a boat. Dull, very dull. Little does he know we seek them out and we just don't tell him. Well I don't at least but I cannot speak for the girls since I never tell them not to tell their Daddy anything.
• Tomorrow we are off to meet up with a blogger whose blog I have followed for ages and she has finally and I mean finally received her referral. Her baby is so beautiful and is waiting for her in Thailand.
• If you have made it this far you deserve a stiff drink or at least a whole bag of sweets all to your self so off you go and indulge. 
• Have a fabulous weekend and if you are from these parts...stay dry!

Hodge Podge

This is yet another post of me leaping from one topic to another in no particular order just so that I can cover yet another weeks worth of news in one go! Whatever happened to spare time?

This has been an amazing week in the adoption world with quite a few families that I have watched for the past 3 years finally receive their referrals and I have shed quite a few happy tears for them. Congrats to them all on their gorgeous baby girls and also to the families who are in China now.

I have not had a migraine in over 3 weeks! This is monumental news. I have gone back on a medicine I took a few years ago. It stopped wroking so I stopped taking it but it is working this time and I am in heaven. (kina hora, salt over my shoulder, send a donation to Marc's Uncle Howard's Rabbi) Three flipping weeks OMG this is really amazing I have my life back and my family has me back. If anyone is interested it is T0pamax and I take it daily to prevent them. I know longer like chocolate which is strange and am losing weight which isn't good but what the heck I haven't had a headache so I can deal with it.

Lily is on Spring Break and I am loving it. On Tuesday we were meant to meet up with some friends at the zoo at 10.30, at 10.36 I looked at the clock and realised we were never going to make it as were all still in our jammies. We did get there, at 2.30, I think we were late! We have been so lazy. It is heavenly not to be dashing about at 7.00am getting ready for school. Bring on the long summer holidays!

The kidlets and I went to the beach today but it was cold. The sun was shining but there was noway I going in the water much to their chagrin. I dabbled my toes in but that was it. All the pleading in the world wouldn't change my mind.

One chilly willy

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the other chilly willy

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One frozen stiff chilly willy

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After we ate lunch we came home and dyed some eggs. Letting Rosie near food dye made me antsy and I failed to take photos until they were done but the final products looked like this and they had so much fun.

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I have decided not to attack anymore of the furniture until after spring break because I am spending time with the girls and I don't want to keep ditching them to go and stain this or sand that. So for now here are the before and after shots of what I have done so far. Actually I didn't take any before shots since the stuff was already in the house so I assumed I had photos of it but after scanning through kazillions of photos for the past hour it appears I only have some things. Oh well.

This is the storage system for the kidlets toys that we bought at Ike*a a month ago that started this staining epidemic. All because I really love the colour of it.

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This was the T.V unit the way it used to look

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This is it now

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The hall table and mirror now. They also used to be a light pine. Excuse the funky easter stuff. I give the girlies free reign on the easter decorating

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This bookcase was also very light. This cheesy kid keeps appeariing in all these photos.!

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The kitchen table before. We always kept it covered with a table cloth and only took it off when we ate. I know that is opposite to most poeple but it just looked odd in here. Now we never put a cloth on it! This table gave me fits and at one point it was loaded into the back of my SUV and was on the way to the tip. My father was my sounding board and even he got sick and tired of me but I did it, I beat the bugger! I gave up ringing my father as he was starting to show signs of wear. LOL.

And now

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Once this project is done I think we will be done with this house so it really will be time to move and I can start from scratch or as Lily says, start from scrap! She came home from school the other day and told me that they made pancakes.....from scrap. I nearly peed myself I laughed so hard. I bet they were really tough to chew!

Buckle Up!

Sit down, buckle up and get ready cos this is going to be a very fast, all over the place catch up post because I haven't posted in over a week and lots of things have been going on with the girlies.

Firstly this is what happens when you let your baby sister water the flowers !

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I am hiding behind the car begging the devil child to put the hose down.

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Lily wasn't so lucky and became the hose hostage.


Onto another day and another moment of madness. The girls have a trunk filled with dress up clothes. Lily has always loved to dress up but Rosie has never got into it but that looks as if it might be about to change.

The Easter Bunnies
If you notice in this photo the kids itty bitty table is in the background. This is what we have been using as a kitchen table for the last week as I have been refinishing our table and it is taking way longer than anticipated.

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Just follow the Yellow Brick Road(s)

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Scary Lily

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We made brownies yesterday and licking the bowl is serious business in this house. They actually sat down on the floor and got out there own spoons. After they were cooked Rose wouldn't touch them. I literally had to force open her mouth and poke a piece in all the time she was screaming until she finally realised it was chocolatey goodness and then she couldn't get enough. This kid is hardwork, but she is worth it. When the face changed and the screams stopped it was priceless.

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For the past month before Rose gets into her bath I sit her on her potty and every night she grabs a mile of loo roll and wipes but has failed to actually pee. Tonight I told her to sit on her potty and she did and then said, uh-oh. She finally did it. Now I am not expecting her to run full speed into potty training but it was the first step so we danced the potty dance and we squealed and yelled and hooted and hollered and generally acted like fools and of course we celebrated with m and m's.

My project is finally coming to an end. Just one enormous armoire left to do and then I am finished. This is no longer fun but I refuse to quit. I will post photos once it is all complete. I must say that I am really happy how everything is turnning out even if it is hell getting it there.