Blanket wars

Linus, I mean Tara, is very fond of her blanket. I think she'd take it to school if she could fit it in her back pack. I think I saw her trying to do that once...

She drags it around the house, depositing it wherever it falls. So, to counter this I made the rule that it had to be on their made beds - don't take it off your bed, kids. Oh and by the way Emily has picked up Tara's habit and also drags her blanket around, too. Well, the rule lasted about 10 minutes. Just long enough for me to leave their rooms. Out came the blankets off the freshly made beds. When questioned they both feigned surprise. "Oh... this blanket?...Oh.. you see.... I thought you meant.... another blanket." So they put it back for about 10 minutes. I guess they think I'll forget the rule by then.
So then Aunt Dee bought them both Disney blankets. Perfect, I thought! Now they can drag these around instead of the huge comforters. Well, they love the blankets for sure, but now they drag both around the house. They pull dolls on them, sit on them, pull each other on them, cuddle with them, the list goes on and on.

I know, I thought. I will put the comforters away in the basement and tell them they are being washed for a long, long time. Every hour on the hour, kind of like a grandfather clock. "Are the blankets washed yet?"

New tactic. I know! I will put them away for the summer. "You don't need those heavy blankets in the summer, do you kids?"
"YES WE MOST CERTAINLY DO", they added with a hint of panic in their voices.
I give up. Blankets abound. Blankets in the living room and on the kitchen floor. I picked my battle-and lost- and now I am admitting defeat.

Ten on Tuesday

These ten things are the minutia that is my life.

• When you feel stressed, it doesn't help at all if a stranger tells you that you look stressed.
• I feel vindicated about one of my assignments. Nobody else knew how to do the stuff either. Thank goodness for my dad and Jay who sat with me to explain it before class. Then the prof had the NERVE to say it was so easy! I could feel the class bristle and one woman looked like she was going to hit him outright.
• My mind is so full of weird info, it actually FEELS FULL.
• I need to roll with it. I am not doing a good job of that. I feel like if something can go wrong, it will; so I make myself crazy. Ugh.
• It's midterm week. Enough said.
• Emily sat for 11 assessment tests. Bless her heart. I owe her. What she doesn't know is this is just the beginning. She may not be so eager to help in a week or two. I've got to think of some really good bribes.
• Tara walks in her sleep.
• I love Hell's Kitchen, Big Love, America's Got Talent and Little People, Big World.
• Jay's been trying to explain to the kids that they can't go to every theme park and city that they see advertised on TV.
• Millie sheds so much that it's like having two dogs.

Summer fun

The kids are having fun this summer so far. They were in hog heaven watching a Naked Brother's Band marathon a couple of days ago. They only have the attention to watch a bit at a time and then run off. But if I change the channel, watch out! " I was watching that!!!!" Yah right, you were watching it from the swings outside. :) It was like when I was a kid and my dad would fall asleep in front of the news. My brother and I would creep up to change the channel....click....click..Suddenly he was awake."I was watching that!!!" I can't win.

It's fun to listen to Em and Tara's conversation while watching this show. The oldest member of the band is 12 and the youngest is 8. They both like the 8 year old. The one who's 12 is "way too old". The picture is of them watching the show and playing on the floor.

They both got new shoes the other day. They had their feet measured and are essentially the same size. This did not go over well with Emily. She insisted on a 1/2 size bigger shoe. It's just not right to be the same size as your younger sister, I guess. :)

Jay is at work now. The girls want him to come home and make them pictures and put songs in their "IPads".

"WHHHHWEEEREEE's Daddy?"

"But kids, Mommy's here!!" I say kind of pathetically.

There is always someone who is the fun parent. Apparently that's not me.

Emily asked Jay to put pictures of her on a page from when Tara was born until now. We go through a lot of printer ink in this house!

Posting is so much more fun than the stuff I actually need to get done. Distraction is the key!

The picture above is from around Mother's day. Every couple of weeks Emily wants another updated picture of her and Millie and Tara. Jay always does such a cute job pasting the pictures all together. This time Em said she thought her hair looked like the 60's. Ha ha. She did experience so much of the 60's afterall! So Jay put the 60's on the picture. Then Emily puts the pictures up on her wall. They're a riot, my family.

You've gotta love Jay for doing these pictures for the girls.

Tara just came in and asked why she has sticky hair. Now it's off to bathe them. That is really kicking me out of the fun parent category. I even make their clothes match. I am absolutely no fun at all. ha ha.

TV is not the devil

Isn't it weird how TV gets a bad rap; most people would say not to watch much and yet we all do? I think TV is the best thing since sliced bread. We can see a country without ever going there. We can watch movies and be moved. We can learn about the news. Investigative news exposes corruption. We can just be plain entertained. And there is always the escape factor. What's not to like?

I don't understand people who villify it and blanketly say, "TV rots your brain." Some of my favorite memories involve watching TV with Jay and friends. I guess anything done to excess is bad but why is reading considered so much more proper of an activity? If you are relaxing after work, what's the difference what you do for fun? "Oh, you're not getting exercise," or "You aren't using your imagination." Bull pucky. I have a better imagination because of what I've been able to see on TV than what I can muster only in my small window of experience. And many people would/wouldn't exercise regardless of their TV watching. When I lived in Luxembourg and the TV wasn't in English, I really missed it. Did I find other things to do? Yep. If given the choice, though, I like watching something in the evening to wind down before bed and hate that many people, including the media itself, want to make me feel guilty about it. It's also very nice to watch a show while folding laundry or peeling potatoes. Oh, and I let the kids watch their fill, too. They naturally do other things as well. It's not the forbidden fruit and it shouldn't be. Just my two cents.

I am getting used to that very uncomfortable feeling of never really being done with my work. Well, tonight I am as "done" as I can be.

I have to do a very in depth assessment on a real kid for one of my classes. It just so happens that I have a couple of kids lying around that I can use! Now I know why I had kids; they are my lab rats! I'm just kidding....sorta. hee hee.

For another class I have to increase a behavior and document it with interventions and graphs blah blah blah. I was thinking of increasing water consumption as one idea. It has to be measurable, blah blah blah. Oh my gosh, I am starting to bore myself in this entry!

Millie got washed by Jay today and then he took her to get her nails trimmed.

She later proceeded to roll in dirt to make sure none of the grooming took.

Teeth are flying everywhere

Yesterday a tooth came out in the playroom. Today another tooth came out at Walmart. Tonight I told her to go brush the few teeth she has left. She laughed. I love her bald little mouth. :)

Some little known but cool facts about my dad:

• He worked in the pit crews for AJ Foyt and Al Unser. All the famous racers back in the 70's knew him by name.
  
• He took dogs to show- and won.
  
• He rode in the Goodyear Blimp.
  
• He holds more than 15 patents.
  
• He knows a little something about most everything.
  
• He owns first edition books of Mark Twain and other authors.
  
• He puts a very cool spin on a bowling ball.
  
• He has worked in several countries and would fly to upper level meetings in Italy where they only spoke Italian.
  
• He kept 18 acres of land immaculate.
  
• He played every sport in high school and was good at every one.
  
• He can wheel and deal in a car dealership like noone else
  
• He once got a whole bucket of arctic water poured on him on a cruise.

Happy Father's Day Dad.

Geek Utopia

I got through my week of constant classes and assignments and have a breather today. When I got home last night from school, Jay had bought me three booster packs for Magic The Gathering. This is why I love Jay. He knows the path to a geek's heart is her new booster pack. So today, we (of course) had to dig into our decks to optimize them in the geekiest of fashions. We were pouring over our cards like Gollum to his Precious (I think I just heard the sound of two of my three blogreaders closing their windows), when we started discussing the rules for how a split card works (and the one person still reading this surely knows what I mean):

We couldn't decide, and Jay said "Never fear!" and got up to call the 24-hour toll-free helpline for Magic The Gathering. As an aside, would that NOT BE THE BEST JOB EVER, to be the helpdesk for your favorite card game?

We giddily each grabbed a phone extension so we could hear what would happen. We then heard a message that all lines were busy, which made me laugh - because that meant either it is just one guy who rolled out of bed to start taking calls about this game, or that there are actually that many players out there quarreling over the rules of this game at twelve in the afternoon. I guess we're in good geek company.

We got our question answered by a representative who was very warm, chipper and helpful. And Jay said, "Why wouldn't he be?! Look at what a great job he has!"

Excuse me now while I go delicately place my foil cards in their protective sleeves. Good thing Jay & I are married to each other now, otherwise neither of us could ever get a date.

learning

The learning curve goes up when you learn a new thing or have a new experience, like getting a new job or having a kid.

Well, the learning curve is off the charts for me right now. I feel really out of it at school. It is a bit overwhelming. I study for hours and am barely keeping up. The lingo for special ed is very different than that of regular ed. And everything is turned in electronically. Also, I can't see the powerpoints of the teachers even with my glasses on. I knew it would be a bit of juggling but this is insane. I am expected to know terms that I don't because the one class has the 4 other classes I'm taking now as the prerequisite. The prof says stuff like, "Go to the IRC and download the data off of vista from your flashline account and make a powerpoint about why standardized testing doesn't suit those with ODD or FAS. And be prepared to justify your answers with graphs when you present it to the class." Why don't you just tell me to go to the moon. :) I just nod and write copious notes. Nod and write, and hope to figure it out in my negative spare time.

Oh and I feel like a crappy mom to top it off because I come home and go right to work after they go to bed. "No story tonight kids...I don't know where your shorts are- maybe they're under your assessment, I mean bed."

Summer times

Millie in her happy place- the couch. You can see the new blinds behind her.

Tara took this picture of Emily today. Summer break begins!!

9:43pm on a Thursday

So right now Millie is trying to get me to play with her toy and trying to eat a fly out of midair.
Emily is finally sleeping after several trips into the living room for no good reason.
Tara just went back to bed. She's been up like five times. The latest was a sobbing fest about how she doesn't want to go to first grade because that would mean leaving her beloved kindergarten teacher. I told her that she cried the same tears last year when she didn't want to leave her preschool teacher.

"I was a baby then. This is different. This is true love," sobs Tara.

I tell her that she will see her teacher around. Well, you can imagine THAT didn't go over very well. She wasn't buying it. More sobbing. Poor kid. When Tara loves someone, she REALLY loves them.

Last day of school

Here is a blast from the past when Emily graduated from kindergarten two years ago. Now Tara has too.
At least they can now say, " No more teachers, no more books..." unlike me.

What I've learned this week so far:

• Tara had a bad dream last night about Winnie the Pooh chasing her. So much for fun memories with Winnie.
  
• more about pop culture bad girls than I needed to know.


• Professors contradict themselves but I say nothing because they are also the keeper of the grades.


• When companies say training is for a month, don't plan on it. Plan on delays, extensions and your carefully planned babysitting schedule going up in smoke.


• Things are rarely the big deal you make them up to be in your mind.


• New glasses take a while to get used to.


• Little kids sweat a lot but still want a blanket on when sleeping.


• When it gets too quiet and you can't hear the kids, bad things are happening.


• The idea of frozen strawberries is a good idea only in theory.


• Children love to cuddle.


• Dogs can get fleas, even with a flea collar. scratch scratch.


• My blog is still very fun for me, even when I'm busy.


• God teaches me things despite my bad attitude at times.
  

my new specs are freaking me out

Ok it doesn't help the 'ole self esteem when the love of your life keeps taking your picture and saying, "No, that's not a good one. Nope, you look too red in that one. Each one has a fatal flaw." In his defense, and he needs it, I am notoriously unphotogenic. It is God's little joke. He makes me love photography but then makes me look really weird in photos. Triple chins come out of nowhere. One eye slightly crosses. Whatever. :) But I wanted a picture of me in my new glasses to show.



Anyhoo, I got my glasses today. The optician was surprised they were my first pair due to the prescription strength. I did have glasses a long time ago but I never wore them and lost them. But because of this prescription, the world looks really weird to me right now. Jay keeps laughing and encouraging me at the same time. The ground looks like it is coming up at me. I swear a sign looked like it was following me. Jay was snickering and telling me that it was coming to GIT ME!!!!!!!! Things seem much brighter. Did this happen to you guys, too when you got glasses? And noone better write back and say, "No, freaky weird Jo, just you."