Our smoke detector downstairs is malfunctioning. I just replaced the battery last weekend, so I know it's not that. But something made it go off this afternoon while we all were in the living room watching TV. And no, it wasn't smoke. It beeped for about 10 seconds, then stopped. Then about 15 minutes later had one short beep. It's quiet now... but what the heck? I'll make Rick climb up the ladder and look at it later.
Monday, August 30, 2004
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Our First Casualty.
One of our guppies got a little too close to the filter intake and was trapped. I just noticed it tonight as I was feeding the fish.
I removed the guppy for a proper burial and prepared myself for the inevitable life-and-death discussion I would have with Violet.
While checking out her fish she asked, "Hey! Where's the one with the spotted tail?" and I told her what happened. Her eyes widened as I explained how the fish got caught and he couldn't get out, so I had to flush him. "I know, Mommy..." Violet said as she put her arm on my shoulder. "Let's go to Wal-Mart and get another one!!"
Kids. So easy to please. :)
I removed the guppy for a proper burial and prepared myself for the inevitable life-and-death discussion I would have with Violet.
While checking out her fish she asked, "Hey! Where's the one with the spotted tail?" and I told her what happened. Her eyes widened as I explained how the fish got caught and he couldn't get out, so I had to flush him. "I know, Mommy..." Violet said as she put her arm on my shoulder. "Let's go to Wal-Mart and get another one!!"
Kids. So easy to please. :)
Friday, August 27, 2004
I can have a do-over, right?
So yesterday was one of those days.
A day that, were I to describe it to you, would not be believable. Nor would you believe that it all took place within a single three hour span of time.
But it did.
After having a good night's sleep though, I *can* look back upon it and actually smile. Though it's one of those smiles that you see on the face of a mental health patient after they receive their meds. Which, by the way, I think I will need.
Here are the things that happened:
Violet decided she wanted her "teeth to grow" so she locked herself into the bathroom and applied Baby Orajel all over her mouth.
After explaining to Violet that this was NOT good, we called "the doctor" (Miss Valerie) to tell her how it is very dangerous to use medicine and she could have DIED.
While that phone call was taking place, Riley was at the fish tank, placing all Violet's ceramic tea set pieces into the water. Apparently the fish wanted tea.
I brought the kids downstairs, and noticed the living room floor hadn't been swept, so I went to work doing that. Violet and Riley went to the computer room to play Nick Jr.com, which is something they have done plenty of times before.
Violet came running out of the computer room: "Riley's playing with the SEEEEE-DEEEEEEs!!"
Sure enough, he had gotten into our computer CD collection and was trying to put ALL THE CDs into the computer at once and trying to force the door shut. NICE.
I shooed them out of the computer room and put away the CDs.
When I came out of the computer room, I find Riley, pen in hand, his legs covered in pen marks.
Which means pen marks are somewhere else.
So I find them - all over the wedding photos that Lisa and Mark sent us. Pretty little circles on each person's face.
He's so creative.
On a side note, I fould out that baby wipes do a great job cleaning pen ink off glossy photos.
Oh and yes. Riley pooped.
FOUR TIMES.
While I was throwing away one of the four diapers, Riley decided to help with the dishes.
He emptied all the silverware into the trash.
All of it.
Such a helper.
Violet, meanwhile, decided to build a fairy fort in the living room. So down from her bedroom came every blanket and pillow possible.
While I was making lunch, Riley found one of my teaching tools - a plastic tube with teeny tiny styrofoam balls inside that demonstrates static electricity - and opened it up. Little teeny tiny static balls were EVERYWHERE in the living room that had JUST been swept clean.
I sat the kids down to eat and gave them each a juice box. I needed to take a potty break.
I came out of the bathroom to see Riley in the middle of the living room, waving and shaking around the now empty juice box, whose contents are covering the living room floor, rug, couch, and little itty bitty styrofoam balls.
Violet decided to be a helper and get some toilet paper from the bathroom to clean up the mess.
That got boring, so she instead started to tear the toilet paper into shreds and toss it in the air: "like confetti, Mom!!"
It was at that moment, as the toilet-paper-confetti rained down upon me, that I lost control. I yelled. I screamed. I cried. I spanked. And I put both kids to bed in their rooms and threatened them with their lives if they came out.
And, within a minute, both children were asleep.
The house was peaceful, once again.
I did my best to clean up the mess. But I was emotionally exhausted too. I stretched out on the couch and took a nap. It lasted 30 minutes, and then Riley woke up.
And the cycle continued. Pens. Paper. Toys. Poop. Riley scooping large cupfuls of water out of the toilet and pouring them onto the bedroom floor.
I got a call from a magazine asking for me to do a layout on a very short deadline - something that was a *total* piece of cake! All I needed to do was scan and print a photo using the photo restoration button on the scanner. No problem, except I noticed my color ink cartridge was out of yellows. I replaced it with a new one and printed the photo. It came out Magenta. No other colors were printing. I cleaned the heads, primed the printer, and reset the drivers.
Nothing worked. I thought it might be a bad cartridge, so I opened another one. This one the printer won't even accept.
My totally easy job was no longer easy. I had to call them back and let them know I could not fulfill my duities. They were very understanding.
I, on the other hand, think I want a do-over on yesterday. :p
A day that, were I to describe it to you, would not be believable. Nor would you believe that it all took place within a single three hour span of time.
But it did.
After having a good night's sleep though, I *can* look back upon it and actually smile. Though it's one of those smiles that you see on the face of a mental health patient after they receive their meds. Which, by the way, I think I will need.
Here are the things that happened:
Violet decided she wanted her "teeth to grow" so she locked herself into the bathroom and applied Baby Orajel all over her mouth.
After explaining to Violet that this was NOT good, we called "the doctor" (Miss Valerie) to tell her how it is very dangerous to use medicine and she could have DIED.
While that phone call was taking place, Riley was at the fish tank, placing all Violet's ceramic tea set pieces into the water. Apparently the fish wanted tea.
I brought the kids downstairs, and noticed the living room floor hadn't been swept, so I went to work doing that. Violet and Riley went to the computer room to play Nick Jr.com, which is something they have done plenty of times before.
Violet came running out of the computer room: "Riley's playing with the SEEEEE-DEEEEEEs!!"
Sure enough, he had gotten into our computer CD collection and was trying to put ALL THE CDs into the computer at once and trying to force the door shut. NICE.
I shooed them out of the computer room and put away the CDs.
When I came out of the computer room, I find Riley, pen in hand, his legs covered in pen marks.
Which means pen marks are somewhere else.
So I find them - all over the wedding photos that Lisa and Mark sent us. Pretty little circles on each person's face.
He's so creative.
On a side note, I fould out that baby wipes do a great job cleaning pen ink off glossy photos.
Oh and yes. Riley pooped.
FOUR TIMES.
While I was throwing away one of the four diapers, Riley decided to help with the dishes.
He emptied all the silverware into the trash.
All of it.
Such a helper.
Violet, meanwhile, decided to build a fairy fort in the living room. So down from her bedroom came every blanket and pillow possible.
While I was making lunch, Riley found one of my teaching tools - a plastic tube with teeny tiny styrofoam balls inside that demonstrates static electricity - and opened it up. Little teeny tiny static balls were EVERYWHERE in the living room that had JUST been swept clean.
I sat the kids down to eat and gave them each a juice box. I needed to take a potty break.
I came out of the bathroom to see Riley in the middle of the living room, waving and shaking around the now empty juice box, whose contents are covering the living room floor, rug, couch, and little itty bitty styrofoam balls.
Violet decided to be a helper and get some toilet paper from the bathroom to clean up the mess.
That got boring, so she instead started to tear the toilet paper into shreds and toss it in the air: "like confetti, Mom!!"
It was at that moment, as the toilet-paper-confetti rained down upon me, that I lost control. I yelled. I screamed. I cried. I spanked. And I put both kids to bed in their rooms and threatened them with their lives if they came out.
And, within a minute, both children were asleep.
The house was peaceful, once again.
I did my best to clean up the mess. But I was emotionally exhausted too. I stretched out on the couch and took a nap. It lasted 30 minutes, and then Riley woke up.
And the cycle continued. Pens. Paper. Toys. Poop. Riley scooping large cupfuls of water out of the toilet and pouring them onto the bedroom floor.
I got a call from a magazine asking for me to do a layout on a very short deadline - something that was a *total* piece of cake! All I needed to do was scan and print a photo using the photo restoration button on the scanner. No problem, except I noticed my color ink cartridge was out of yellows. I replaced it with a new one and printed the photo. It came out Magenta. No other colors were printing. I cleaned the heads, primed the printer, and reset the drivers.
Nothing worked. I thought it might be a bad cartridge, so I opened another one. This one the printer won't even accept.
My totally easy job was no longer easy. I had to call them back and let them know I could not fulfill my duities. They were very understanding.
I, on the other hand, think I want a do-over on yesterday. :p
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Gentle Reminders for those of Potty Training Age.
Oh and I came across this little ditty and I thought I'd share.
Potty Training Tips
Let's hope it never gets to THAT in my house.
Potty Training Tips
Let's hope it never gets to THAT in my house.
Neeeeeeeeeeeemo!
Last weekend we had a garage sale to get rid of some of our excess stuff. During the sale, Violet had a lemonade stand and declared that with her earnings she would buy a FISH TANK because she always wanted fish.
So with her $3.25 she made selling lemonade, we went down to the fish store to look at tanks and such. Of course she wanted the pretty Nemo fish. The salesman explained why that would not be possible in the little 5 gallon acrylic tank we were looking at. Instead we browsed the freshwater fish and she found several that she liked, including Neon Tetras, Platys, and even these cute little frogs.
We started pricing the tanks and equipment and at the pet store it would have been $80 for a five-gallon setup. (and Violet thought she could get a fish for $3.25!!) While we were writing all the info down, a couple of young boys (who says they are all hoodlums?) suggested we check out the tank sets at Wal-Mart across the street. We headed over there and LO & BEHOLD the exact same setup we saw at the first store was there for $50. And there was a sale on a 10 gallon tank set - all we had to buy in addition was the rocks - and THAT was $45! We decided that the 10 gallon tank would be the best bet, so on Monday we got the tank. Violet could not understand why she couldn't get the fish too, but I explained to her we had to wait 24 hours for the tank to properly filter.
Have I mentioned that the *entire* time we were in any fish section at the store, Riley simply said OVER AND OVER, "Mama! Memo! Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemo! Mama!! MEMO MEMO MEMO MEMO MEMO MEMO MEMO!!!" as he pointed and jumped up and down and ran around the fish tanks. The whole way home, he kept telling Violet, "Vay-lah!! MEEEEMO! MEMO MEMO! Meeeeeeeeemo! Vay-lah! MEEEEEEMO!"
The tank was set up in Violet's room, and after a lengthy discussion with her regarding how the filters work and when to feed the fish, she was prepared to wait until the next day to get them.
Tuesday morning, 6 a.m. Violet runs up to the side of my bed and shakes me violently. "MOM! MOM! MOM!! We can get our FISH today! Let's GO!" I opened my eyes to find her fully dressed, including an attempt at hairstyle. It was precious! I groggily told her we would have to wait till after lunch to get the fish, since we set up the tank Monday afternoon. Violet declared that she would make me a surprise breakfast for being such a good mommy. It took a few minutes for *that* to register in my sleepy brain, but once it did, I was AWAKE. She called me downstairs to the table, where she presented to me a bowl of dry Frosted Flakes topped with banana pieces (broken apart by hand since she's not allowed to use a knife) and several spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt. It was..... so sweet of her. And actually, not half bad.
From about 10 a.m. on, every 5 minutes I was asked, "Is it lunchtime yet, Mommy? Can we have lunch now, Mommy?" until noon when I fed the kids. Then it was into the car to get the fishies. Violet acted like SUCH a big girl. She chose two neon tetras dubbed Silly and Pilly, another, larger white Tetra she named Cinderella, and two orange platys she called Nemo and Riley.
The excitement was building - we had to acclimate the fish to the tank temperature, which took 15 minutes, and then Nemo, Riley, Silly, Pilly, and Cinderella were introduced to their new home. They seemed to like it... and Violet was transfixed. She sat in front of the tank for at least an hour. Poor Riles fell asleep in the car and missed the excitement for the time being.
Later that afternoon I checked on the tank. The fish were swimming around happily. In front of the tank were several pieces of scrap paper with various letters written in 4 year old hand, a photo of our family, and a mirror. I asked Violet what all that was for. The letters were the fishies' names so they wouldn't forget. The mirror was so they could look at themselves and see how pretty they were, and the photo was so the fishies would recognize us when we looked into the tank. Gotta love the mind of a 4 year old!
When Riley woke up from his nap, Violet introduced him to the new fish. He was in LOVE and stayed in front of the tank, calling "MEEEEEMO" for a whole ten minutes!! This new little adventure into tankhood should be fun.
Wa-hoo-wa-heee-ho-ho-ho-ho
Wa-hoo-wa-heee-ho-ho-ho-ho
So with her $3.25 she made selling lemonade, we went down to the fish store to look at tanks and such. Of course she wanted the pretty Nemo fish. The salesman explained why that would not be possible in the little 5 gallon acrylic tank we were looking at. Instead we browsed the freshwater fish and she found several that she liked, including Neon Tetras, Platys, and even these cute little frogs.
We started pricing the tanks and equipment and at the pet store it would have been $80 for a five-gallon setup. (and Violet thought she could get a fish for $3.25!!) While we were writing all the info down, a couple of young boys (who says they are all hoodlums?) suggested we check out the tank sets at Wal-Mart across the street. We headed over there and LO & BEHOLD the exact same setup we saw at the first store was there for $50. And there was a sale on a 10 gallon tank set - all we had to buy in addition was the rocks - and THAT was $45! We decided that the 10 gallon tank would be the best bet, so on Monday we got the tank. Violet could not understand why she couldn't get the fish too, but I explained to her we had to wait 24 hours for the tank to properly filter.
Have I mentioned that the *entire* time we were in any fish section at the store, Riley simply said OVER AND OVER, "Mama! Memo! Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemo! Mama!! MEMO MEMO MEMO MEMO MEMO MEMO MEMO!!!" as he pointed and jumped up and down and ran around the fish tanks. The whole way home, he kept telling Violet, "Vay-lah!! MEEEEMO! MEMO MEMO! Meeeeeeeeemo! Vay-lah! MEEEEEEMO!"
The tank was set up in Violet's room, and after a lengthy discussion with her regarding how the filters work and when to feed the fish, she was prepared to wait until the next day to get them.
Tuesday morning, 6 a.m. Violet runs up to the side of my bed and shakes me violently. "MOM! MOM! MOM!! We can get our FISH today! Let's GO!" I opened my eyes to find her fully dressed, including an attempt at hairstyle. It was precious! I groggily told her we would have to wait till after lunch to get the fish, since we set up the tank Monday afternoon. Violet declared that she would make me a surprise breakfast for being such a good mommy. It took a few minutes for *that* to register in my sleepy brain, but once it did, I was AWAKE. She called me downstairs to the table, where she presented to me a bowl of dry Frosted Flakes topped with banana pieces (broken apart by hand since she's not allowed to use a knife) and several spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt. It was..... so sweet of her. And actually, not half bad.
From about 10 a.m. on, every 5 minutes I was asked, "Is it lunchtime yet, Mommy? Can we have lunch now, Mommy?" until noon when I fed the kids. Then it was into the car to get the fishies. Violet acted like SUCH a big girl. She chose two neon tetras dubbed Silly and Pilly, another, larger white Tetra she named Cinderella, and two orange platys she called Nemo and Riley.
The excitement was building - we had to acclimate the fish to the tank temperature, which took 15 minutes, and then Nemo, Riley, Silly, Pilly, and Cinderella were introduced to their new home. They seemed to like it... and Violet was transfixed. She sat in front of the tank for at least an hour. Poor Riles fell asleep in the car and missed the excitement for the time being.
Later that afternoon I checked on the tank. The fish were swimming around happily. In front of the tank were several pieces of scrap paper with various letters written in 4 year old hand, a photo of our family, and a mirror. I asked Violet what all that was for. The letters were the fishies' names so they wouldn't forget. The mirror was so they could look at themselves and see how pretty they were, and the photo was so the fishies would recognize us when we looked into the tank. Gotta love the mind of a 4 year old!
When Riley woke up from his nap, Violet introduced him to the new fish. He was in LOVE and stayed in front of the tank, calling "MEEEEEMO" for a whole ten minutes!! This new little adventure into tankhood should be fun.
Wa-hoo-wa-heee-ho-ho-ho-ho
Wa-hoo-wa-heee-ho-ho-ho-ho
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
My First Post
Well, here it is. I have officially started a blog, because my sister Melinda and her new hubby have gone and moved to Korea so that Melinda could be a teacher with the Department of Defense, and we decided this would be the best way for them to be in touch with the daily ramblings of my life. Still trying to figure out all the settings and such, so give me a bit before I get the hang of everything.
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