Don't Pinch Me

Seriously. Don't. That would hurt.

But also, if you did, I might wake up to find that Husbandguy and I are both still stay-at-home parents. Because this whole HG-getting-a-job thing turned around so quickly it seems unreal. And the job he got isn't doing anything he's even done at all since college. But my husband is so smart and charming that these people talked to him for less than an hour (and he said they just talked - not really an interview) and decided to hire him.

When the recruiter called to make HG the offer he said that the people had called him basically right after HG left the other day and said, "Is everything alright with [HG]?" and the recruiter said, "What do you mean?" and they said, "Is there something wrong?" and the recruiter said, "No. He's great, got great references and everything," and they said, "We don't think he's asking for enough money. Why is that?" !!!

We already knew they would probably make an offer so when HG was talking to the recruiter I was eavesdropping and when HG said "Sweet!"... Well that was just cool. And now I can go Christmas shopping! And I can go by myself!! And I can sign Howie up for intermediate dog classes!!!

LL Says:

Lulu says: I like Elmo. He's Very Cool.

@ the park w/ the dog

Yesterday morning, Husbandguy and I finally took Howie to the dog park down the road from here. It was cool. And Howie was exhausted afterward. It only took him about 40 minutes to really warm up to the idea of being off leash and not right next to me all the time, but he did eventually participate in a couple games of chase with the other dogs, which was the point of going there. We will definitely be going back. He really seemed to like it.

And there was a woman there who fosters dogs. I was thinking that maybe we could get to know her and her dogs and then when we're ready for our next dog she can help us and maybe we can even let Howie pick it. You know? ...but that's a while off still.

Mid-Week Updates (little things)

It is a common thing for me on a Tuesday to feel like it is Friday all day. That is what happened to me yesterday even though I did the usual Tuesday things (minus lunch with Poppop).

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Mid-week next week I may have some super news to report so check back (no, I'm not pregnant).

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I joined NaNoWriMo yesterday. The Grandpa joined today. I'll give you a whole post about that another day.

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For my next dog I want a miniature schnauzer because Lulu will probably still be too little for a Very Small Dog like a Yorkie or a chihuahua.

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We turned our heater on yesterday evening.

I may have more to say later...

Positive Energy Needed

Send positive energy our way today, okay?

Temporal Sabotage

We have this great alarm clock. It has a chip in it. With memory. So if the power goes out or something, it can reset itself to the correct time without any human intervention. And if you like your clock set, say, 5 minutes fast, it remembers that too. It has a problem, though. It was programmed when it was manufactured, many years ago, to set itself forward and backward for the changes in Daylight Saving Time, but someone somewhere decided to change all those dates for whatever reason and no one told our clock. So yesterday, when the alarm went off at 7 AM, the sun was all the way up and Lulu was already awake and all the other clocks in the house said 8:00. Because yesterday was apparently the original day to "fall back." The extra hour of sleep was nice but inconvenient since we had planned on leaving at 8:00. We managed, though. And we also learned that we don't need to get up at 7:00 on the weekend to let the dog out. Apparently he'll wait.

sorry, long day

more tomorrow

Looking Forward to Wednesday after Next

I'm tired of getting phone calls about who I should be voting for. Is there a do-not-call list for this?

De-evolving

Remember I mentioned before that I believe cleaning is not good for a person; I mentioned it a couple of times. Turns out it might be hazardous to your intelligence too. I realized yesterday, while I was cleaning, that my lips were dry and I was very thirsty. And then I realized that I always get that way when I'm cleaning. Then I realized that I was breathing almost exclusively through my mouth. And isn't "mouth-breather" a term that a person might apply to someone they felt was less evolved than everyone else? So I'm not going to clean any more (except washing and drying but not folding clothes) because I don't want you to call me that.

Misleading

So this store near us called Totally Wine also sells beer. All kinds of beer (except the one I've been looking for), but if we hadn't been following Lulu around killing time before meeting Poppop for lunch, Husbandguy and I never would have gone in there because we don't drink wine. They should call it Almost Totally Wine or Very Nearly Totally Wine or Totally Wine (and Beer) or something. You know?

So the neurologist said...

After watching me walk a couple of doors down and back again this morning, as he always does since my MS effects my gait most of all, my neurologist said, "If you had just come in with headaches, I wouldn't even consider testing for MS based on how you're walking."

Apparently my gait is better than he's ever seen. Husbandguy says I should drop tables on my toes more often.

A Marked Difference in the Marking

So remember? We had Howie altered last week (he's doing much better, thanks for asking). It didn't occur to me then that the difference in my dog would be immediate and noticeable, but yesterday while we were walking I definitely saw a difference. He doesn't try to stop every 10 feet to mark the bush or mailbox or lamp post or neighbor's truck tire or... You get it, right? It's remarkable. Instead he has gone back to picking up all the rocks on the sidewalk and clacking them around on his teeth until I convince him to drop them. Sigh...

I'm a Monster

You Are a Werewolf

You're unpredictable, moody, and downright freaky. You seem sweet and harmless, until you snap. Then you're a total monster. Very few people can predict if you're going to be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. But for you, all your transformations seem perfectly natural. Your greatest power: Your ability to tap into nature. Your greatest weakness: Lack of self control. You play well with: Vampires

What Kind of Monster Are You?

LL Says:

The other day, I had made a pie and everyone did a good job on their dinner and was waiting for HG to bring it over for us to cut into. Lulu apparently thought he was taking too long and began this chant:

"We need pie. We need pie."

Pete and I joined in, of course.

Spooky Things

Last night, Husbandguy and I went to the haunted amusement park down the highway from here. It's not always haunted, just in October and then only after dark. We met some friends of ours and there were no children (who belonged to us) and we got to go on the big people rides. It was awesome.

And I looked totally cute: smoky eye shadow and dark red lips and nails and a spider web design T-shirt over a long sleeve T - the perfect effect for the dark park. Frankly, I was irresistible. That was awesome too.

There are these people who work there and it's their job to sneak up on you and scare/startle you. I generally don't like that kind of thing so I just made certain to be mindful of the fact that, even though these people looked creepy and gross and dead and stuff, they were just employees of the park and I wasn't scared once. In fact, the one guy who snuck up on me got so close before I noticed that I thought I'd almost bumped into him, and I said, "Excuse me!" HG and our friends got a big kick out of that. I guess I'm too polite sometimes.

We had so much fun. We got to go on the big people rides (I know I already said that, but it's a big deal because it's been 6 years since we've been able to do it). The only problem with the night was that it was very dark on the rides and they were disorienting, which wasn't good with my sometimes balance issues. I got to go on 3 before I was done, though, and HG and the other wife only rode 2 more before the park closed so I don't feel like I missed anything.

And it was free, if you don't count the gas we used to get there (we have season passes).

Pete Thinks It's Funny...

...that chihuahua pronounced phonetically is "chih-hoo-ah-hoo-ah."

Sorry I'm Late

I had an obligation this morning. It was the first parent/principal coffee of the school year (I can't find where I posted about it last year, but I'm sure I did - I'll keep looking - you can look too if you want). It was awesome and VERY WELL ATTENDED and everyone was friendly (why wouldn't they be?) and enjoyed my banana bread. We ran out of coffee but not until the very, very end but nobody minded and next time we'll make more. It was awesome. Don't you wish you had a kid at our school?

Zippy

Yesterday the vet called us mid-morning and told us to come get our dog a full 4 hours earlier than they had said they would. Apparently he'd had his surgery, woken up, and then proceeded to stand in his cage and complain. "He's fine," they said. "Come get him." The note on his post-operative instructions said that he is cute and sweet, which doesn't exactly mesh with their message that we should come get him ASAP.

Speaking of post-operative instructions, the receptionist went over his meds and movement restrictions with us before she fetched him, and while she was talking about how he should be kept from running and jumping so he doesn't open his incision, the mental picture in my head was of him doing crazy laps around the great room. There's no way to stop him from doing that; in fact he did it this morning. I need to check his stitches, I guess.

But yesterday when he got home he was no where near able to zip around the house. He limped around whimpering and looking miserable, which made me feel bad for him so I called him to me and told him to sit so I could rub his ears. He came gingerly over and sat like I'd asked, but when his little doggy butt hit the floor he said a doggy version of "Ooof!" and whimpered some more. Poor guy. His convalescence didn't last as long as Husbandguy hoped it would, though (see above).

In Case You Were Wondering

My toes look worse but feel better. I've opted not to go to the doctor because they really do feel better and I can walk and drive and stuff. I've had a request not to post a picture (from Moomie) so you'll just have to imagine it.

Boy Parts and Girls Parts

Poor doggy. He's spending the day at the vet and will be an "it" when he comes home. When I dropped him off, I whispered to the receptionist, "He's here to be neutered. Don't tell him."

She said, "He won't hear it from me. As far as I'm concerned, he's here for a spa day."

And when she mentioned the spa day cover story to the tech who came to take Howie away, the tech looked thoughtful and said, "Well, he will get a shave..."

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Last night, Pete asked me this question: "What happens to girls when they are K's age?" K is Pete's 12 year-old friend from down the street. After a little more talking, I realized that Pete was actually asking me about what happens when girls start their periods.

Now, Pete is only 6, remember, and most likely has anywhere from 4 to 8 more years before she will go through that so I hesitated. But only for an instant. I have always believed in being age-appropriately truthful with my children about what is what and how things work when they ask. Sometimes I go overboard - like my extensive explanation of thunder when she was 3, from which she learned simply that thunder is noise, despite my description of the lightning heating the air, blah blah blah. Most of the time I can tell when she feels like her question has been answered and leave the rest of the explanation for later. Last night, she got the whole story (not the part about how babies are actually made - she didn't ask for that). We talked anatomy and calendars and used words like "menses" and "personal" and ended with a list of the people who can help if Mommy's not around when (many years from now) this all happens to Pete. And she listened and asked clarifying questions and seemed satisfied in the end. It was all very grown up.

Sigh...

I think she might know more than her dad does now. Guess I should have the talk with him too...

Wanna See It?

Not sure if I need a doctor yet. Leaning toward no.

Could use a pedicure, though...

Trying to Decide

I'm trying to decide whether my toes hurt as much as my C-section incision or more. It's definitely not less. You may get a picture tomorrow of my swollen purple big toe so be sure to check back for that!

Ouch!

Today, while Husbandguy and I were working with some other people cleaning up the parent center at Pete's school, I was moving a kind of heavy table and I dropped it on the first 3 toes on my right foot. That was more than an hour ago and they're still throbbing. I have taken them out of my shoe and am airing them out so that HG can look at them and tell me if I need to go to the doctor. Just in case you were wondering how my morning was...

When There's No Money for Great Clips

Three out of 4 of us (not counting the dog) got haircuts this weekend. Lulu wanted her hair cut like Dora so it's pretty short - her first real haircut (I evened it off once before). Husbandguy got the typical enginerd haircut. And Pete just got a trim. This is what was left behind.

Graduation Day

Today was graduation at puppy class. While my little dog-man isn't exactly Canine Good Citizen material yet, he is way better and knows so much more than he did 8 weeks ago. He comes when you I call his name, sits when you I tell him to sit, lies down when you I tell him "down," rolls over when you I tell him to and move my arm the right way, gives you me his paw when I ask for it, and will stay when you I walk around him in a complete circle. Most of the time. Eight weeks ago? He didn't know any of that. How cool is my puppy? Very cool, I say.

Now Husbandguy, who hasn't worked with Howie on any of those things at all in the last ever, complains like crazy that "the dumb dog won't listen!" Um, duh. He doesn't believe he has to listen to you. But I'm done giving advice and reminding him that he needs to show Howie - that the dog doesn't automatically know this stuff. He's a dog. Jeez! But I've made the offer to go with HG and the dog to the park or somewhere and walk them through what I learned in the last 8 weeks, and I believe that if HG will commit to that and to practicing, Howie will be way less annoying than he is now. And then maybe HG will agree to us getting another little dog sooner than I'm expecting.

But in the meantime, someone lend me $100, okay? Because we need to sign up for intermediate class so Howie can get even better at being a good dog. Sooner is better than later.

Name That Breakfast Cereal

LL says: "It's saying CRAP CRACKLE SMOCK!"

I Don't Think She Likes Me

Recently I've been feeling rejected. By Pete. She doesn't want to do anything with me anymore. Well, sometimes she does, but other times she'll say she wants to and then changes her mind right at the last minute. Like puppy class. Or going to Target. Or making dinner. It makes me a little sad. Aren't little girls supposed to want to hang out with their moms? You know, right up until their moms get all embarrassing and everything?

(Lulu doesn't want to hang out with me either, but that's just because Husbandguy is here all the time and of course she prefers him.)

Expanding Our Search

Husbandguy isn't having any luck finding a job here in our "world-class city." Or even particularly nearby. So we're expanding our search. We're still staying pretty local at the moment - you know, anywhere between Atlanta and Raleigh - but I don't think he'd automatically say no to someplace else.

So if you know anyone looking for a Project Engineer with Land Development expertise, let us know!

Story Time Now

Lulu and I used to love going to story time. I was more obvious about it than Lulu, but we both liked it. This year they've changed it. Apparently our Mother Goose was doing too much or something because now she only does the one story time for kids 3 to 5 without parents, and other people have taken over the rest. The woman who does the 2's? I'm not sure how to put this. I don't want to say she's terrible because I think that's not quite accurate. But she's not good at it. Maybe she'd be better suited for older children. Maybe not, though.

Here's the thing things:

First - she never tells us her name. We know what her name is because we asked Mother Goose after the first time we had story time with the new lady. We commented to MG that we thought the new lady should tell us her name and MG said she'd mention it to her and maybe she just forgot that time. But she never tells us her name. That's not right.

Also - she doesn't read the whole book to us. She skips pages when she reads. I suppose that might be okay. You know, more time for other things, but I'd like to hear the whole book sometime.

And then - she gets visibly stressed when children don't just sit and listen. I do think that parents should take their kids out when they're being disruptive (shrieking, banging on the door, etc.) because it's disrespectful not to, but most 2 year-olds aren't going to sit quietly by their parents and not wiggle (when they're comfortable in a place), and we wouldn't want to go to a story time where that's what's expected. I don't think she expects that, exactly, but it's obvious that she'd be more comfortable if things went that way. And there have been a couple of times when she said something wouldn't happen (special stuffed animal visitor, hand stamps) unless everyone was sitting down. Sorry. Not going to happen.

I guess in general story time isn't very welcoming anymore.

So I've been letting Lulu choose whether we want to go to story time. We still go to the library every week. We even got Lulu a library card of her own. But as to whether we actually go into the story time room and listen to that woman for ½ hour - that's up to Lulu. And I've been relieved that Lulu chose not to go the last 2 weeks. This week, though, that woman was sick and another librarian (not MG) did it in her stead. So we went in and listened. It was sad, really (not the other librarian - he did fine). That room was packed - overloaded, really - when MG did story time each week, but today there were maybe 5 families. It makes me wonder if the new lady has run everyone else off too...

Good Thing I Didn't Answer the Door

Husbandguy is more tolerant of people, uninvited people, ringing our doorbell than I am. I tend to not trust them. I almost called the police on some baptist once because he was harassing me, but that's another post. This one is about the fact that if I had answered the door last night instead of HG, we would still have to pay our phone bill for the next 3 months instead of riding out our $200+ credit for the over-billing that was discovered when the phone company rep came to our door to be sure we had the best plan possible.

On the other hand, though, said phone company lowered their rates almost 3 years ago and didn't bother to adjust our bill because the rate we were paying was our "fixed rate."

And also, I wish HG had asked them to send us a check instead of doing the smart thing and taking the credit because I could have put a portion of it to good use. It's just not fair for Santa not to come when your daddy doesn't have a job. That's like a double-whammy!

Physical Fitness Test Phobia (PhFTPh)

Sunday night, I tucked Pete in and less than 5 minutes later she came out of her room with tears in her eyes. She said, "Mom, I don't want to go to school on Wednesday." Apparently her PE teacher is giving them a test this week, which he told them about 2 weeks ago, for which she was supposed to be practicing but wasn't. They have to do 9 sit-ups, some push-ups, and some other things, including run around the lower field 3 times (1 mile, we think). She was really scared. I totally know how she was feeling. I hated physical fitness tests, although I don't think I ever failed one. Poor kid! My first reaction was to say, "It's late. Let's talk about this tomorrow," but that wasn't good enough. So then I said, "I bet you can do 9 sit-ups. Come on. Show me." And she did. She did 9 no problem. So I had her show me her push-ups. They were funky but she did 5 and could have done more if I'd asked her to. Then I promised her that I would talk to her dad (who was putting Lulu to bed), that I would ask him to help her with the running when she got home from school Monday. He agreed. They tried, but 5 minutes after they left they came back with Pete looking all sullen. Apparently HG wanted her to jog but her teacher had used the word run so Pete, being 6, decided that if HG wouldn't let her run she would walk and he got all impatient with her and blahblahblah...

So the test is tomorrow. She knows she will pass the sit-ups part and has apparently decided not to worry about the rest. Wish her luck.

And Then His Legs Mysteriously Stopped Working... Apparently

I think the TV must put out some kind of debilitating rays or waves or something because Husbandguy needs my help an awful lot when it's on. I know he can do stuff on his own because sometimes he actually does. Unless he's sitting on the couch (I was going to add "and the TV is on" but he doesn't sit on the couch without the TV on so it seemed redundant). But for some reason, if he's on the couch (watching "Dora the Explorer" this morning) he can't get up to answer the phone (even though he's waiting for phone calls from potential employers - it rang twice) or check Lulu's shoes in the dryer or get socks for her out of her drawer, which is full of socks ("I looked," he said. "I didn't see any."). I am enjoying having him home with me most of the time, but I am also really looking forward to being able to turn the TV off (or just not turn it on - GASP! what nonsense is this?!). Keep hoping for us...

PROUD of my Puppy

At puppy class this week, we had a little obedience contest. Everybody got 3 cards and the rest of the dogs had to do what was on the other cards. Got it? No? I didn't think so. Let me try again. Our trainer gave each dog owner 3 cards with things written on them. I had one that said, "15 second stay." I read that card to the class and all the other dogs had to do a 15-second stay. If they were successful, they got a point. If they were not, I could challenge and then if Howie did the 15-second stay, I could steal their point. The 15-second stay is actually important because it happened to be the last card read and since it was mine, the only way I could get a point was to steal one. Luckily for us, the dog that was in the lead had trouble with it and I challenged and Howie did it no problem and we won!! We're the smartest dog-gy. Nyah nyah nyah nyah NYAAH-NYAAH. We won some chewy treat things and a bunch of little milk bone things and some coupons and a treat pouch, which I'd been wanting but hadn't been able to justify the expense, even when Husbandguy had a job.

So next week is graduation, and the trainer told us what would be on our final exam and I'm pretty sure we'll pass. I was a little concerned about the stay part of the test, though, because we have to either walk away from or around our dog while he stays, and we've only ever done that (around the dog) once and that was at puppy class this week. We did it, but I think I had to put him back in the stay 3 times before it stuck (because we'd never done it before). So on our way out of the store, I took Howie up by the front door and I put him in a down-stay and tried walking around him. He got up twice, but the third time he was so good he didn't even get up when I released him (we need to work on the release, I think). I was bursting, I was so proud! And we left on that high note. He's awesome!

Sometimes...

Pete Says:

In case you wondered, Pete says:

"A control is something that you use when you're trying to figure something out. If you have a puzzle that you've never done before and you're trying to do it and you don't know where all the pieces go, the top of the puzzle box sometimes may have a picture of what the puzzle looks like. And that is my example of a control."

MN says: "Anything else?"

Pete says: "Nope. That's it!"

Probation

Pete is terrible about practicing her piano. If my parents ever wished that I would have a kid as difficult as me about practicing, they got their wish. After 3 weeks in a row of her just practicing 1 day each week, Husbadguy and I told her that if she didn't shape up, she was going to have to take lessons from me. Mostly I told her that, actually. Then she and I talked some more because she doesn't want to stop taking lessons from a real teacher and I don't really want to have to teach her (we don't always work well together), and we decided that she can have the month of October to prove to us that we're not wasting our money and that she's serious about learning. I asked her if she would let me be in charge of her practicing, and she shook her head no and I shook my head yes and she changed her shaking to agree with mine. Now I'm in charge of her practicing, and it's not as bad as I think she thought it would be.

So far so good, but we've got most of the month left to go...

Weirdness, Man!

So yesterday morning the "PS Truck" (per Lulu) came to deliver my medicine, and after we'd signed for it and the driver had gone back to his truck, he called out something to Husbandguy. Apparently his little brown scanner thing said that the package had been refused and reclaimed and it wouldn't let him tell it otherwise. But that wasn't true. And it's such a hassle to get my medicine that he was going to have a hard time getting me to give it back to him. We worked around it, though, and he went away happy and we went to the library (remind me to post later about my recent reading experiences).

Then later that afternoon the credit card company called and said that someone was making suspicious charges on my card. Stupid fraud perpetrator (is there an actual term for a person who perpetrates fraud?)! Now we've had to cancel my credit card, which we use for everything, and wait 3 to 4 days for a new one. Guess we'll be using HG's card at the grocery store this week.

But weird things always seem to come in 3's. Right? Does that happen to you too? So, unless you count Pappap saying that Lulu can spend the night at their house soon or Pete practicing her piano 2 days in a row (and I might...), we're due for something else weird to happen. Ooo! Maybe the dog will grow up overnight and be good or Lulu will learn to use the potty... You know - something weird but good.

Spilling Secrets

I wasn't sure if I was going to tell you guys about this, but I guess I will. I trust you...

I met with my PhDoctor yesterday for a whole hour. She had already decided from our first meeting that I have a generalized anxiety disorder (who doesn't?), but yesterday something I said gave her the impression that I also have social anxiety. Um, DUH!

I had already self-diagnosed and here's my diagnosis of me: I have social anxiety, which is due to my minuscule self-esteem. I also have generalized anxiety and rare episodes of mild depression; these are secondary* to my social anxiety. Husbandguy could probably have told you that if he had the terminology - although he probably would have made a joke about me just being nuts. I told her that I already know these things about myself but don't know what to do about them. She told me to make another appointment.

*caused by

Know What I Don't Get?

I don't get nice people with limited or no senses of humor. How is that possible? They make me uncomfortable.