Whoa, long time - no see!!

Holy moly, it's been ages, so I'm going to start off slow! So here's the facebook status update:

Jennifer Thomas Gaillard

is relieved that there doesn't appear to be an electrical fire smoldering somewhere in the house. The culprit? A rubber centipede SOMEONE put on top

of a light bulb in my lamp.23 hours ago

Normally I've got a pretty decent sense of smell, but I doubt myself in

the winter when my nose is stuffed up and I have sinus issues. Two

days ago, I could have sworn I smelled something burning around the

house. Not a smoky smell, but something more electrical. And, since

we live in an old house, I'm paranoid about the wiring. I checked the

closet with the fusebox and the back porch where the dryer is. Nothing.

Yesterday evening we had a neighborhood meeting at County Square

(hoping to get a sidewalk on our street, woohoo!!). Came home to the

front porch light on and lamp on the end table on (thank you, Dear for

not making me come home to a dark house!), and THE SMELL!! I did

more sniffing around, and thought the culprit might be our old TV

(still taking up too much space in the living room!!). Erik is obsessed

with plugging things in, and maybe this old tv decided it was going to

start burning from all the plugging and unplugging. I unplugged it and

figured the problem was possibly solved. Then I sat down in my usual

computing spot on the loveseat to enjoy a few moments of peace and

quiet before heading to the grocery store. Under the glow of the lamp

on the end table, I recalled Erik mentioning there was a bug in the

lamp the night before. At the time, I kind of assumed it was a LIVE

bug, like a moth, drawn to the light. But I decided to look into the

shade just in case. And there, sitting on top of the light bulb and

sizzling, was a rubber glow-in-the-dark centipede! Burnt right

through his middle! My nose wasn't lying to me AND our house was

not burning down. Whew! But I think I need to have words with Erik :-P

Owen's Birthday/Family Fun Day!

Family Fun day at Cobb Park in Marietta was almost 2 weeks ago. The boys and I headed down Friday afternoon since the festivities were to start at 9:30 Saturday morning. That's an ungodly hour for us to be put-together and arriving on time, but we did it!! We picked up my mom to come with us, since I'm a wuss and rarely like to go alone with my 2 boys! So she was a huge help :) So good to see sorority sisters again, and good to see so many friends and family in support of Kari, Lyle, and Dominic Judson. We assembled up the hill at a pavillion, and then headed down to the park for the dedication of the bouncy ride-on car and park bench in honor of Dominic's twin brother Alexander. And I was fine until I saw Alexander's portrait, which was the same as the one at his memorial service in January. And then I just lost it. Embarrassed to be crying before the dedication even began, I headed over to my mom who was with Owen and Erik, and she rescued me with tissues! So I missed the meaningful words that were said, and I'm sorry for that. But at the same time was trying to keep Erik away from the crowd. They saw the car tied up in a blue ribbon and wanted on it ASAP! I could reason with Owen, but Erik was making a beeline for the crowd and I just knew he was going to climb up on it before the ribbon had even been cut! So I tried to quiet his screams without looking like an abusive mother, egads! But in the end, the boys finally got to ride, whew!

Rock is on vacation this week, and he claims that's why we're getting so much rain. I told him if we actually WENT somewhere on his vacation, it might not be raining THERE! Luckily each day, the sun has peeked out after the rain, and we've been able to go swimming with the boys and actually cooked out for Memorial day. Nothin' like burgers and dogs on the grill, yum!

Today is Owen's 5th birthday! Hard to believe! It was like Christmas this morning, with him wanting to open presents first thing! He and Rock started playing the Mario Kart game he got for the wii, and Erik was content to play with the Planet Heroes (?!) and tear apart the Transformers Owen got. The boys have never had any of the Planet Heroes, but the big toy sets were on clearance at Toys R Us, so that's what they got! And what's up with Transformers?!?! Owen wants to keep them in vehicle form, and Erik wants to pull them apart. I think a graduate degree in something quite technical is required to transform them back. What was I thinking?!

The boys have never been to Chuck E. Cheese's, so that's where we were going to celebrate the big 5! But first I wanted Owen to get a haircut. He's looking seriously shaggy, and I knew we'd be taking loads of pictures from today and through the weekend, when the grandparents are all here. So we went to Snip-Its, which is where Owen likes to go. We get there and are told the wait will be 30-45 mins. Urgh. I already feel antsy, but we sit and wait anyway. 2 hairdressers. 2 people already in the chairs. One pre-teen in line. One pregnant mom with THREE girls to have done. Us. Another lady with 2 kids. Pre-teen gets seated and THREE girls go to the other hairdresser. Once pre-teen is done, hairdresser disappears to the back. And then I see the receptionist show her shirts, skirts, etc, from a bag she's pulled out. Receptionist returns, but hairdresser doesn't. Um? What are we waiting for?! Then somebody else walks in and gets seated with the missing hairdresser. Are you kidding me?! Do they DO appointments here? I don't know if the other gal seated with her 2 kids is ahead of me or not, and I've totally lost patience at this point. So I tell Rock we're leaving and put Owen's prize card on the counter. As I'm dragging him out the door, he's asking, "where's my prize?!" and I practically growl, "you don't get one if you don't get your haircut, let's go!" so as we're packing the kids in the car the receptionist came out and apologized to Rock and said Owen was next. Whatever. There's a Great Clips up the street that I'm pretty sure charges less and is about 10 miles closer. Good grief.

Then, it's on to Chuck E. Cheese! Where you would think my mood would become even more foul, but we had a GREAT time! Didn't hurt that it was just before 3pm on a Thursday, I guess. We had a coupon, so appeared to save about $10. The pizza was really good!!! And Rock loved the free beverage refills. We had 100 tokens and after 2.5-3 hrs, had spent every one! Usually the boys see machines/games when we go places and I always tell them no. It was freeing to hand out tokens like they were jellybeans! The boys had fun, and we did, too! Who knew?! We came home and had cake, and lit sparklers in the backyard and played more with the toys and wii. Originally I'd felt guilty about not having a big party with assorted kids, but our family day was really great! :)

God Bless Those with Tender Ears!

I've accepted I won't get a decent night of sleep for years to come. Erik showed up in the middle of the night after crashing at 8pm. And he talked. and talked. and talked. So I was sleepy this morning, and would have loved to go back to sleep after dropping Owen off for Dirty Day at school. But no... i needed to pack to head for GA. i was aiming for a 1-2pm departure, but was wondering if the parents would be upset if i didn't head out til 5. grumble.
Our tivo is ready to bite the dust, so my dad suggested I bring it with me and take his back. So with the threat of losing all our recorded programs, Rock and I plopped down to watch the Lost finale. So sleepy. But we finished it, woohoo!
Got packed and ready to leave before 2, but stopped by Sonic for Owen's Friday after-school treat. and lunch. And he peed before we left, but by the time we were maybe 15 miles down the road, he had to pee again. Geez. Didn't feel like pulling off the side of 85 was safe, so made it to an exit, where we pulled into a gas station. And here's what a wacky thinker I am... I would rather he pee in a cup in the car than to drag both boys into a dirty public bathroom. so he pees in the cup. I feel like I can't just pour pee in the parking lot where we sit, so the cup goes in the cupholder. Don't worry, I'm not going to accidentally drink it! But while we're there, I get him in a pull-up in case he falls asleep or so we don't have to do this again. So we get back on 85 and head for the parents'.
I've never seen so much crap in the road! Owen thought it was a blast as I swerved to dodge tires and flower pots. Criminy! Then I end up behind somebody in the fast lane, who is the opposite of fast. Or rather, inconsistent with her speed. ARGH! So we could be tooling along at 75 and then be doing 50-something. WTH?! I think it's totally rude to pass on the right, so I toughed it out and she finally got over, at which point I got past her pronto. I usually fancy myself a savvy driver, but somehow managed NOT to get over in time for my exit. $*(&! Well, since I'm savvy, I just got off at the next exit and let my inner compass guide me. Worked just fine :) This was around 4pm, and I didn't feel like doing 285. Not sure my choice was any better. Oy. And I somehow got hooked up with a lady in a Honda with a handicap tag, not that there's anything wrong with that. But this hooch almost took me out not once, but TWICE!!! that's right, she was a lane changer, but not a looker! just a no-signal-i'm-coming-over-anyway hooch!! #$%^@!! I knew that cup of pee could come in handy. And between PMS and traffic, I was ready to use it! But instead, I "used my words". Just not good ones for the tender ears in the backseat. I apologized to them and told them I was sorry for using bad words and not to repeat any of them! And the words really ran the gamut. But surely they were preferable to assault via cup of pee, right?! I was seriously ready for a drink by the time I arrived at 5. Didn't have one, but man, sure coulda.

Book Signing!

So today started out busy. Dropped Owen off at school then dropped Raven off at the groomer. Caught the odometer on the car at 70707.0! Coolio, right?! But still, I felt cranky as hell. And I had a girly day planned! What's the problemo?! Michele and I were going to a book signing by Jen Lancaster, how cool is that?! I'm a newbie reader of hers, and starting out of order with book #3, borrowed from Michele. I checked out Jen's blog to get some background info and found we were supposed to be in 80s attire! Eek! My options there were somewhat limited. So I opted for preppy attire so I could pop the collar of my shirt up : ) Thought I'd make up for the lack of costume in hair and makeup! I curled my bangs and teased 'em up and put on LOTS of makeup... eyeliner, blue eyeshadow, etc. So we arrived in Huntersville around 5 or 5:30 and got some tasty dinner at Brixx. Then headed back to Barnes and Noble around 6:30 to buy my book and get in line. We formed a line that snaked through the CDs, but once the star of the show arrived, we were herded in front of her for a reading and Q&A. The first 3 rows or so sat on the floor. That meant us. Enjoyable and funny, though after an hour on the floor, my back was killing me! At 8, it was time for the signing and the rows of sitters were "supposed" to stay in line somehow, but we all merged and ladies were bitching about the order we were in and how we weren't moving at all. Criminy, I was really hoping I'd left the whining at home!! BTW, big thanks to Rock, who took the day off work to stay with the boys while I went on this daytrip with Michele!



Here is my awesome pic with Jen! And man, my big hair and loads of makeup really don't look as outlandish as I thought they did at home. Geez, I just look like a 30-something mom and not a flashback to the 80s! I think this pic was taken before I told Jen that her book makes me choke as I lie in bed at night reading. Should really read funny stuff sitting upright!

And since I went before Michele, I didn't get a frontal shot of her chatting it up with Jen. Luckily one of the B&N gals got a good shot of them.

So that was our fun daytrip!! I'll save the new book for my June girl's beach trip, and in the meantime keep reading #3 at my slow pre-bedtime pace :-P

Stroke waiting to happen!

I'll get to the stroke waiting to happen, but first.... Let me say what a wonderful Mother's Day weekend it was!! The weather was fabulous! Rock was going to go buy tomato plants for our garden and he was going to take Owen, as usual. Which leads to Erik crying because he wants to go, too. Lo and behold, Rock took 'em both!! So I got lots accomplished before they got back. No fighting the kids off the vacuum! No screaming over toppled stacks of folded laundry! No plucking cars and animal/people figures from the dishwasher! It rocked! My mom also arrived from GA just before the kids and Rock got home, yay! We spent the rest of the afternoon in the backyard, where I finally planted my flowers purchased the previous weekend. Ah, it was great to dig in the dirt. The kids ended up in the pool and Rock blew up their bumper boats. Fabulous fun. My mom and I picked up dinner from the Dixie, which is one of my favorite new places! And it isn't really new at all, just newly down the street from us. Gotta love being able to get meat and veggies at a drive-thru!
Mother's Day was another gorgeous day! Rock occupied the boys in the pool again while Mom and I got lunch together. She brought grape salad and corn souflee (i think?), I made Paula Deen's Cheeseburger Meatloaf (YUM!) and broccoli, and Rock's mom brought her always-fabulous deviled eggs. The boys ate great, makes a momma proud to give them seconds of broccoli!! Then we spent the rest of the afternoon poolside again. Rock's mom called me after she got home and said she'd looked through the boook I made for her again and that she'd cried, which made me cry! I'm glad she wasn't indifferent about the gift. I just never know!
Owen's 5th birthday is still two and a half weeks away, but he'll be out of school then, so they celebrated in his class today. My mom brought letter and number cookie cutters, so our grand plan was to cut sugar cookies in the shapes of 5s. I hardly had any flour, but added the required amount to the dough and then spread some on my rolling sheet. after i rolled out some dough, I noticed all these black spots! ACK!!! Kinda noticeable in sugar cookies! So I tossed the dough, thinking I couldn't poison the kids in the 4K class. Turns out the black spots were actually ground coffee. I'm sure that wouldn't fly well for the class either. Sugar AND caffeine?! So I was pissed and we had to start over with another batch. the cutter wasn't working great since i had to toss my flour. So nix the 5s and do round cookies instead. Bummer! Of course we were doing this at 10 o'clock LAST night, so my options were limited! I think they turned out cute even if they weren't the original plan.


Now for the stroke waiting to happen. Let it be noted I've been to the doctor twice in the last month and a half or so to monitor the blood pressure. My first visit was actually because I thought I'd had a heart attack! And I may be a hypochondriac at home, but it takes a serious illness to get me to the doctor. Anyway... Erik has a cold, so had me up during the night. He ended up sleeping with me, so my quality of sleep was not great. My mom and I took Owen to school this morning, then she headed back to GA, and I headed back to sleep!! Rock didn't mention that he was going to retrieve Owen when the time came, and I was still snoozing while Erik was awake. Not good. I didn't wake up til Rock and Owen returned home and said, "WHAT SMELLS LIKE VICK'S?!" Erik had gotten into the Vicks VapoRub (the smaller jar, thank God) and smeared it on his and Raven's bodies. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! I should have known the rest of the day would be in the shitter. The weather outside is cool and wet, so we were inside all day. Small house. Trapped Indoors. Because I'm certainly not taking these 2 anywhere. I've never heard so much screaming, whining, and fighting, or witnessed so much hitting, throwing, and spitting. Owen got popped and put in time out once, but I lost count with Erik. The last thing I remember before hauling the 2 of them to bed is that Erik got into my generic Pepto Bismol. He didn't get the whole cap off, but somehow, there was pink liquid on him and some on the floor. So this is what is going to lead to my having a stroke. I'm thinking on my next blood pressure check, medication is going to be demanded. Is it wrong that summer hasn't started and I can't wait til fall when I'll have TWO 5-HOUR DAYS TO MYSELF?!?!

Urgh

I haven't been on here in forever! And now I'm in a funk. I hate to have a negative post, but a gal's gotta vent!! Looks like I will be out of a job in about 6 weeks. My most favorite job ever. Seriously bummed. But times are tough and I can understand how a small business can't make it. It's not like we needed the paycheck for bills. Granted I need it for MY bills, but that's another story! But the job is my sanity! My only time away from the kids! Waaah. I want to whine and cry! Since Rock was never supportive of the gig, there's certainly no empathy from him now! Maybe another opportunity will present itself when the time comes, but all I can think of now is endless days at home! The job is about the only reason I leave the house! Now what?!?

Ok moving on.... Here are some lessons I have learned since last posting. A child really has no sense of danger. And if left unsupervised for just a moment, will find himself on the roof of the house. One of the scariest moments in my life!!! Rock was patching some shingles on the roof while Owen played in the backyard. I was inside with Erik and then Erik went out. Owen came in and I heard crying. When I asked him if that was Erik, he said, "yes, he's stuck on the roof!" WTF?!?! Are you KIDDING ME?!?! He wanted to see what Daddy was doing. Luckily he was scared and didn't wander far from the ladder, but I about crapped my pants and hoped like hell I wouldn't fall with him in my arms as I attempted the rescue! Rock was on the front of the house and Erik was on the back, so Rock didn't know he had company up there. I swear I was shaking. Egads. Another scary moment today as I looked up and saw Erik fall to the ground from the play fort in the backyard. This kid is going to take us to the emergency room, I just know it!!! Owen is usually a good kid, but they had some sort of squabble and he pushed Erik and down he went. Luckily he was still in his heavily padded swimsuit and didn't appear to be hurt. He got right up after a little crying "Owen pushed me!", and continued to run around like nothing had happened. Good lord, this kid is like a cat with nine lives. And I'm wondering when "the good one" Owen turned into the devil?! He didn't say a word, but his eyes welled up with tears and he hung his head while I questioned/lectured. Then Erik jabbed him in the watery eye. I guess that made them even?!

Anybody have any tips on removing silly putty from clothing/fabric? Some moronic Easter Bunny put Silly Putty in the boys' baskets. Hopefully he (she/ME!) remembers and doesn't do it again next year, even if it IS only $1 at AC Moore.

Not a huge mess here, just a nuissance... must monitor Erik's visits to the kitchen and the drawer that holds the tape. Erik's toy giraffe is totally wrapped in tape and he's starting on the parking garage, see below!

Kids should not be given styrofoam packing peanuts even if you think doing so will buy you 5-10 mins to get the dishes taken care of. They don't even need a fraction of that time to destroy them and make a huge mess. And I thought this would be easy to sweep up, but styrofoam+broom=serious static!

Pennies for Alexander

I'm copying this from the group on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=43767340887). Kari is one of my sorority sisters, and their tragedy has effected me so much more than I could have imagined. One of the women taking donations, Betsy, is also a sorority sister. I've taken my boys to this park and look forward to seeing the new equipment in place this spring. I think it's a great tribute to this little guy! So this cause means a lot to me and I feel like I can't do my trivial blogs again until I've acknowledged the serious events of the last month.
Here's the copy:
On December 30th, 2008 Kari and Lyle Judson lost their sweet baby Alexander Hinton Judson to RSV. Alexander was a healthy 11 ½ month old who loved playing with his mommy and daddy and twin brother Dominic. A few days after Christmas Xander and Nic came down with a terrible respiratory infection. After a short battle with RSV and Pneumonia Xander closed his eyes and was received in heaven. Kari and Lyle made a truly selfless decision in the midst of their own unimaginable grief to donate baby Xanders organs to help save the lives of others. What a testament of their love. On Friday, January 2nd Kari and Lyle left the hospital where brother Nic was still recovering and drove to Holy Family Catholic Church to say goodbye to the love of their life four days before his first birthday. We know that Xander got the birthday of a lifetime in Heaven and if you were silent and listened carefully that day you could hear the angels singing to him. Nic celebrated his 1st birthday in the hospital with his mommy and daddy, his girlfriends (the nurses) and his new guardian angel. Today Nic is finally home and doing well. Now the journey begins for this family to find peace in this tragedy. Your pennies can bring a bit of joy back into their lives. The money will be used for the park addition where Xander and Nic made so many wonderful memories that will forever live in the hearts of Kari and Lyle. Some of the money will be used for RSV awareness which is vital to stopping this horrible illness from taking another child from his or her parents. Xander’s kidneys were the only organs viable for donation and they went to a 32 year old woman in Florida. This little boy and this family saved the life of this woman!Lyle and Kari would like to have a see saw donated to the park. The see saw is representative of the twins, one being UP in heaven and the other DOWN on earth. We are asking everyone we know to donate $3.60 to this cause. That is one penny for each day this little boy graced us here on Earth. Even if you don’t know this family any parent can imagine what they are going through and this little piece of you can make a huge difference in the life of another! You can change the world one penny at a time! Thank you!

If you feel you can make this donation please go online and make your donation through PayPal to:
betsyball01@comcast.net
Or can be mailed to:
Andrea Faust
Attention: Pennies for Alexander
2619 Hampton Park Drive
Marietta, GA 30062
Please make checks payable to Andrea Faust

Thank you for your support for this beautiful family. This park addition will be a great place for Nic to play in the coming years and a great memorial for the joyful life little Xander lived for such a short time!

Donations can also be sent to:
PICU- CHOA FOUNDATION
Att: Steven Wagner
1687 Tullie Circle, NE
Atlanta, GA 30329

And here is a link for RSV information: http://children.webmd.com/tc/respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-infection-topic-overview