Ugh! I'm sick!

Day two off from work. My throat started feeling scratchy and my right eye started watering about 10pm on Sunday night. I kept thinking, please be allergies! No such luck. My throat has been on fire and my nose running like a faucet for two days. Now I can feel my chest getting that "on fire" feeling. Crazy thing is, knock on wood, the Princess has not gotten sick yet. And I say yet, because it would be some kind of miracle that I got sick and she didn't. So, keep your fingers crossed for us that this one passes her by.

Paws 1 - Racoons 0

Last night I was calling for Paws to come in from the back yard around 11:30pm. Usually she comes right away, but not last night. I kept calling and even walked out past the house in the back and she still didn't come. I couldn't hear or see a thing, so I checked the house for the second time to make sure she wasn't inside ignoring me. I finally put on shoes and traipsed out to the back in the dark to where I finally heard her running around and then all of a sudden this weird barking (undog-like barking) sound and rustling in the weeds/trees and it kept going on all the while I was yelling "Paws!". Then suddenly, whatever she was fighting with jumped up into the tree. I think it was a racoon but couldn't be sure. Paws won and without a scratch or bite this time.

To the news media

Clay Aiken is gay, really! COME ON!

I don't give a rat's ass about him whatsoever, so shut the hell up already!

At that age

I have arrived at the age along with other friends where our parents are aging and some better than others. I know of at least 4 people whose parents are not doing well, all of them are in and out of the hospital and another friend who just lost her dad.

My dad has suffered from depression for years and goes up and down, and by down, I mean down, in bed, not eating. He had a doctors appointment today and when the nurse took his vitals, she immediately took him to emergency where they put him in a bed and started hydrating him as he was severely dehydrated and his blood pressure was down to 45. He doesn't believe that his depression puts him in bed and unable (unwilling?) to eat. He thinks he has stomach problems, of which they NEVER find anything wrong.

In the last couple of weeks he had a CAT Scan, MRI and Endoscopic Ultrasound. They saw something on his pancreas and was told he had pancreatic cancer before they even did any biopsies. WTF? Guess what, all six biopsies came back cancer free. Yahoo. But who in their right mind would tell someone they were 99% sure he had pancreatic cancer BEFORE doing a biopsy? I'm no medical expert, but that just doesn't seem right. Anyway, no cancer. His depression needs new medication which he should be getting soon and I hope they find something that works. It's hard living so far away and not knowing what is going on so I can intervene and say, Hey, something is not working here people! I'll be going home to MI for a visit when my dad turns 73 and mom turns 70. So, I'll be checking up on him!

Tooth Fairy, Part Deux

The Princess lost her second tooth in 14 days. She now has two open spaces on her bottom front teeth. So cute! Of course, I was grossly unprepared as usual for this event. I decided I would give her a dollar for her first tooth and then add a dollar for each additional, so I needed two dollars, except I only had twenties...
I figured she wouldn't know or notice that it was a $20 and then I could switch it out later. First thing she says is, "The tooth fairy gave me a 20 dollar bill!" DAMN! I'll figure out a way to fix it and get back on track, you watch!

Birthday Blowout

Last Saturday (July 26) was supposed to be the birthday party for The Princess' 6th birthday, but it all fell completely apart by 11:30am on the day of. It started the day before when I got a call from the mother of girl one that she had an ear infection. That was one out of three kids. Saturday morning I got the call that girl two (whose house we were supposed to be going to for the second half of the party) had been throwing up all morning. That left my friend's son. The entire plan was to meet at Chuck E. Cheese at noon for pizza and fun and then go to girl two's house for swimming, cake and gifts. Now that we were down to one friend and only Chuck E. Cheese, I was not interested in spending the next few hours at Chuck E. Cheese. Without the swimming and being at a friend's house afterward it suddenly seemed very tedious. So, by the time I got a hold of my friend to tell her that it was just the three of us (my friend was just dropping her son off so it was the two kids and me) it was 11:30am. Her only reaction was, "but I have plans, what are you going to do now, maybe you should just cancel". I was a little upset to say the least and it's hard to explain the whole conversation here, but suffice it to say, The Princess and I had a fun time on her birthday, sans "friends".

Tooth Fairy

The Princess turned 6 on July 23 and lost her first tooth today. She is so excited about the tooth fairy. She commented that her tooth is really small, "will the tooth fairy be able to find it"? she asked. So cute. I know it's a little overdue, but I haven't figured out exactly what I want to do. And leave it to Thomas to tell her (without discussing with me) "That's $2!" I was thinking of going out and buying a bunch of $2 bills. She already has one that I can use for tonight that she doesn't even know she has. I'm such a cheater! You have to in order to stay sane!

To Eat or Not to Eat

Most of us would choose eat! Not the Princess. Dad picked her up today for their weekly trip to Chuck E. Cheese only to leave after 30 minutes to go to McDonald's because she didn't eat her lunch. When Dad called and told me that I said no way, she didn't eat her lunch, she doesn't get to eat McDonald's for dinner. So he took her home (she cried the whole way) and she ate chicken noodle soup, crackers with butter and now we're having a battle over an apple that she is only choking down because she wants the brownie in the end.

I am at my wits end with her and food. There is barely anything left that she wants in her lunch everyday and breakfast and dinner are not much better. My biggest fear is that she'll end up with some eating disorder over all the constant battles we have over food. She has already made comments about people being fat and how she doesn't ever want to be fat! She's not even six! They say that kids will eat when they are hungry. The problem is we didn't handle things well when she was younger and we are already paying the price. Whenever she gets hungry she always wants junk.
The other mistake we made was giving her choices for her meals instead of telling her what she would be eating like when we were kids. We were asking our parents what was for dinner, not the other way around. I tried holding off sweets and junk food for as long as I could, but lost the battle to my husband after awhile.

I know there are many people in the same boat as I am. I need to find an online group to be able to get ideas...

Impulse Buyer

I am the worst when it comes to impulse purchases, especially ANYTHING having to do with facial products and makeup. I've spent hundreds of dollars in the last year on products that I really didn't need or could afford. Someone was watching out for me the other day at Sephora. I went in to get two things, the Laura Mercier lipstick that I love (even though it's $20 for a small tube~I spent about $150 at Laura Mercier when we got our make-up done for my friend's wedding) and an eye shadow by Bare Minerals. I told the girl what I was looking for and she said, "oh sit down, I think you need an update for summer". Sixty dollars later (I turned down the "crease brush" for another $22), I was at the register, but oops, my wallet was in the car. So I offered to write a check, but I couldn't do that either because my I.D. was in my wallet and the cashier told me she would need to see it in order to accept the check. Phew, that was a narrow escape, but I didn't get what I actually needed either!

Two other major purchases in the last year:

1. Seacret: Supposedly all the products are made from some aspect of the Dead Sea. They were selling it at a kiosk at The Paseo. They get you first by showing you this nail buffer that makes your nails look like they are coated with glass, so shiny...and comes with cuticle oil and a body lotion, ONLY $20. Three hundred + later, I had a salt scrub, facial soap, mud mask, eye gel, blah, blah, blah. I told myself after spending all that money I was definitely going to use these products. RIGHT! I do, but no where near as often as I should for them to actually work. Oh, and I have never been able to make my nails as shiny with that buffer as the salesman did.

2. Lancome: I spent almost all of my $500 Nordstrom gift card at the Lancome counter. I got a complete makeover. I purposely picked this woman who looked around my age so she would have some kind of clue as to the issues we have with make-up at mid-40's. It was great, I loved what she did, but damn that shit is expensive. Plus I got schmoozed into buying two eye products that I didn't need because I have the one from Seacret that was expensive as hell and I have a ton left!

SUCKER!!!

Grandparents Visit

My mom and stepdad were here visiting since Sunday. I took them to the airport this morning. It's a combination of sadness and relief, but mostly relief. I love them, but more than 3 or 4 days would be overkill. We had a great time with them. The Princess loved it and they loved her. I was pissed before they got here because my stepdad kept saying "We're following you" meaning we expect you to make all the plans and we won't even give you a hint of what we'd be interested in doing. So, here is what we did:

Sunday: Pick them up in San Pedro after they get off the ship from which they just cruised. Go to hotel, check-in, go to Old Town and eat and then back to their hotel for swimming (The Princess' new favorite activity).

Monday: Aquarium of the Pacific plus Harbor Cruise in Long Beach. Got back and ate fish tacos at Rubios then part ways and go home and drink lots of wine.

Tuesday: Griffith Park Observatory, lunch at Noodle World, back to hotel for sunning and swimming. Go home and drink lots of wine.

Wednesday: Take The Princess to school, pick them and luggage up at hotel. Breakfast at Marsten's. Airport drop-off (where my mom slips me a $100~Thanks Mom!). Check engine light comes on in car on the way to the airport, which I don't mention, drive to dealer when I get back. Sitting home on computer hoping it is something EXTREMELY minor.

Last but not least, Hubby and parents never see each other...Ugh/Hooray

Hmmmmm

Is it considered professional to start your emails with Hmmmm? I think not. AAHHHH!

Free Day for Mom - Not

My daughter, The Princess, was sent home early from school on Thursday after complaining of an earache and having been checked and discovered that she had an "elevated temperature". Hubby went and picked her up as I was spending all day in offsite meetings. She had woke up crying the two previous nights but I couldn't get her to communicate what was wrong, so I chaulked it up to bad dreams. Thursday morning she complained of a sore throat so I pumped her full of Vitamin C and crossed my fingers...You see, Friday was a day off from work for me so I was really looking forward to having a "free day" to myself while she was in school. No such luck. I had to keep her home from school and take her to the doctor on my "free day". She did end of up having an ear infection and sore throat (oops)! The difference between kids and adults being sick is that unless the kid is down with a high fever and ear and throat pain (nothing that a little Tylenol doesn't cure) they are just as high energy and crawling up the walls as any other day. Whereas, when we are faced with the same symptoms, we can't get out of bed for a day or two. So, she would complain her throat hurt, I'd give her Tylenol and 20 minutes later she'd be back to herself. This went on all day every 4 hours. Today, she hasn't even taken any Tylenol after only two doses of antibiotic. I'm thankful though, because it is Memorial weekend and we would both go crazy having to spend 4 days in the house together.