by Sarah | Oct 1, 2008 | Holidays
My mother hated Halloween, and I guess she passed it on to me.
Walking around to stranger’s houses and begging for food. Bratty teenagers creating havoc performing more tricks than treats. The cost/hassle of costumes, pumpkins.Â
I was predestined to dislike it.Â
Then during high school my dad’s employee vehicle was egged. The neighborhood we lived in was filled with the rich, snobby kid set…and it sort of sealed Halloween’s fate for me.
I hated it.
As Brandon has gotten older, my dislike grew. I leave my house dark, not like our neighborhood gets many hits (it’s sort of off the beaten path) anyway. I have Archie take Brandon out, the girls don’t go (Riley went her first year, Angel has never gone). I cringe and blah my way through the day.
So why am I finding myself getting excited now? Planning on going to the pumpkin patch for the harvest festival/corn maze? Getting ideas for pumpkins that don’t necessarily involve carving? Recipes for pumpkin-involved dishes? Thinking of cheap, easy costumes to MAKE for the girls? Why do I have visions of them dressed as a princess and an angel?Â
Is it possible that…I’m starting to…LIKE Halloween? Or at least get interested in it?Â
Or am I just facing serious mental illness? Because I’m also already making plans to expand our Christmas decorations, too…which I’ve always done (planned), but never followed through on…
by Sarah | Sep 29, 2008 | All About Molly
Last Thursday Riley came home from school. As usual we took off her little backpack and opened it up to see what she had brought home and read her report. Inside was a little craft they had done at school. This is what she brought:
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It’s simple and pretty, and I have no idea what it is. No explanation existed in her daily report. So I told Riley it was beautiful, and then asked “What is it, Riley?”
Riley turns to me with big, serious eyes, and a wide smile and says, “It’s PAPER!”
Yes, Riley…It certainly is!
by Sarah | Sep 25, 2008 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Kennedy, All About Marriage, All About Me, All About Molly, Crap
Did you know…
~ That having truncal hypotonia and a daredevil are a VERY bad combination?
~ The the above mentioned combination can lead to a face plant from the height of the back of a couch resulting in an unexpected $60 trip to the dentist for X-rays?
~ That a fasting glucose level of 160 is BAD?
~ That such a fasting glucose level can cause grown men to be diagnosed with diabetes?
~ That being diagnosed with high cholesterol AND diabetes in the same week can lead to an ultra-restrictive and ultra SUCKY diet?
~ That mastering such a diet is TOUGH?Â
~ And have I mentioned that it SUCKS?
~ That I have soooo many things that occurred during blog closing/deletion that I can’t seem to compose one REAL post out of the mess?
~ That this is a thinly disguised bullet list?
~ That Riley has become an abusive big sister that likes to hit her sister on regular occassions?
~ That Brandon has started going to Wednesday night bible school…with the neighbors…NOT us…and that I (as a non-christian) am not sure how to feel about that?
~ That I feel hypocritical for saying that because I believe that my children should be able to make their own choices in life and religion?
~ That sometimes not even the internet can help you locate an old friend?
~ That I am TOTALLY obsessed with True Blood (and the Sookie Stackhouse book series)?!
~ That I was SO obsessed with it, that I switched to DirecTV because it was the cheapest way to get HBO?
~ That I was SOOO obsessed with the books that I got Archie reading them?
~ That having a book discussion with a spouse of the opposite sex (which mine happens to be) brings about points (and viewpoints)Â that you seriously never considered, and might not understand?
~ That I could go on for another fifty points, but I don’t want to annoy you so soon back into re-posting?
by Sarah | Sep 23, 2008 | All About Kennedy
Angel has anger issues. We’ve discussed this in the past (in a deleted post, sorry folks, they ain’t every comin’ back…I really wiped them clean). We met with the Behavioral Psych a couple of months ago and it was determined that she needed services.
Then it stopped.
Okay, it didn’t STOP…but it slowed significantly. Suddenly it wasn’t daily that we had a horrible shrieking, ear splitting, head banging, body throwing fit. It was every few days…one time we went almost a full week.Â
Our first appointment with the psych was about a week and a half ago. I had to say, it had calmed down…I was being honest. There were still plenty of issues to deal with (no sense of danger, mixed with daredevil stunts – another post on this soon), so we kept on as we had been. We planned for our next appointment.
And the she-devil returned…in full force.
Since that appointment naptime has been a joke. I put her down and she’s fine for twenty minutes and it becomes the seventh circle of Hell in the girls bedroom. With no catalyst, she starts shrieking and throwing herself around the crib, literally throwing herself into the bars. She beats on the wall, she tears up her bed (literally), she throws all of her bedding out. For at least fifteen to thirty minutes straight this happens.Â
Then she comes out of naptime and it’s a crapshoot. Some nights she’s jsut the sweetest angel you ever did see. The others – nothing makes her happy. Now, granted, Riley has taken to picking on her and hitting her – which certainly does NOTHING to help matters.Â
There are days when after nap time it’s an hour and a half of screaming…then Daddy walks inthe door and the angel magically appears and I just look crazy.
There are days when she’s perfectly good all day long, and then Daddy walks in the door and BOTH girls descend into madness. Like the stimulation of Daddy being home is the straw that breaks the camels back.
The next appointment for psych had to be cancelled (due to a full house of sickies), and has yet to actually be rescheduled because the psych never called me back the next day.Â
I’m at my wits end. I don’t know what to do with her when she descends into madness. I watch in terror as she flings herself into very hard surfaces without a care to possible injury. I need the psych to return and give me tips on what to do when she’s like that. I hate seeing my baby like this.
by Sarah | Dec 17, 2007 | Random
Well, when you’ve been kicked, it’s hard some days to find the joy. After learning our car is terminal over the weekend I’ve been struggling with my usual cheery disposition (really, I am the optimist in this house, believe it or not!).
Over the weekend we went to the movies – $40 gone. I remembered I still have to buy a present for my nephew when I thought I was done with Christmas presents (looking at another $10 there at least). I have the expense of Christmast dinner (ham is EXPENSIVE!! Sheesh! And I thought our turkey breasts at T-day were bad)…and other random things. I’m looking at our currently stable savings (small though it is) and trying to figure out how long it has left to live. At this point I’m figuring 1 – maybe 2 – weeks before it’s DOA.
Erik calls from work says he’s going to pay on his account at work (he works for a water purification/water softener company – from which we regularly buy salt for our softener, and filters for our R/O)…and then take out $20 for his carpool buddy to help cover gas costs (he and I agreed $20/2wks)…and the $30 for my remaining Christmas presents.
In a panic, thinking of our cash levels, I pull up the account. I expect to see a certain moderate amount in our account (on hold until mortgage is paid on Friday)…instead I see $200 MORE than I expected.
Apparently Erik got a bonus at work. No one told him *lol*
So our random joy for today is a bonus!! It’s not a huge one (not like the one he got two years ago, unfortunately), but it’s bigger than last years crap…and enough to cover our date night this weekend, AND Christmas dinner!!
Now if UPS would show up with his present…and the other one would make it before Christmas I’ll be totally joyous! (One gift was mailed standard USPS on Saturday…God willing it will get here before Christmas day!!)
by Sarah | Dec 12, 2007 | CF, Crap
You know ladies and gents…I’ve thought about it…but I just cannot be silent for a full day most of the time. If I HAD to be silent on a day I know it jsut wouldn’t happen *giggle* So I doubt I will ever be participating in Wordless Wednesday.
But I DID get a fun picture for this weeks upcoming Picture Hunt. So I may start doing that in time for the new year. I keep meaning to better my picture taking (I’m hoping for a fancy schmancy digital next year, our current one sucks monkey butt)…so that gives me an excuse and a challenge 😀
CF Clinic was today. K was a total witch again. Throwing herself down on the floor (which, by the way, is 3 feet of concrete with a pretty layer of tile on it…how can that NOT hurt??)…throwing a huge fit pretty much 98% of the time we were there. Dr. was a doll…I just adore her…she called me insane for backing 5 different types of cookies (I didn’t tell her I was planning on making a second round of 4 of those types).
Umm…oh yes. Car worked like a dream. Like there was absolutely nothing wrong with it ever. We’re thinking the fuel got frozen in the line or something…I hadn’t run it in about 36 hours….and it gets COLD at night here!!
