Crappy Day

Did you ever just have one of those days??? You know the kind......it just goes from bad to worse and not even with anything of great consequence - just one annoying, irritating, frustrating event after another! Well lately that is the way my Fridays have been going.

I used to really really like Fridays. You know, the last day of the work week, anticipation of going out, staying up late, sleeping in, etc... It was an easy work day - take the kids bowling in the morning and then after lunch , a movie or a dance. Lately it's been a different story, just review past Friday posts! Today was no exception.

It actually started out to be a pretty good day when a certain coworker didn't show up. I won't elaborate....suffice it to say that we were all pretty happy that this person wasn't there! Unfortunately for us, it was only a temporary absence:~( And that is my first irritating, annoying, frustrating gripe of the day - people who don't keep their word. Over and over again promises are made and broken - very frustrating!!! And there is another example of the same type of thing that also happened today.

Most of you know that Tom & I are looking to buy a house as an investment with the hopes that Julie & Steve will live there and one day be able to buy it from us. Hopefully a win-win situation. Well we took an offer to the table on Thursday afternoon with the promise from the realtor that we'd hear by Friday afternoon "at the latest". I don't need to tell you that we not only didn't hear back from the realtor but that phone calls were not returned either. Maybe since it's a foreclosed home, he is just not that into it. I don't know, but nevertheless...irritating! Especially since now we'll know nothing until at least Monday.

Okay I'm done complaining for now. Oh, one more thing.....when my kids were little they used to love to be read to and one of our favorite books was called "Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day". I think I'll dig it out and read it again, maybe I'll learn something!

Adventures in Babysitting

I don't think you can call it "babysitting" when you watch your own grandkids any more than you call it "babysitting" when one parent watches his/her own kids. Can you? Never mind. But on Saturday we babysat 4 of Julie & Steve's 5 kids for about 4 hours or so. This was the first time that we've had Selah that she hasn't screamed and cried the entire time. And - Linnea wasn't here! We're making progress.....it took Luke and Caleb a lot longer to get to the place where they could be left without major drama. Anyways, they were funny and cute and sassy (you know which one that was!) and best of all, they all fell asleep by 9 pm!!

Here are some of the pictures I took that night.

This is Selah sitting beside Uncle Nick, looking a little worried.

Here she is again eating lasagna off her hand, with Uncle Nick looking a little worried!

Here she is really getting brave and asking him to blow on her food to cool it off!

Here are the dancers - Caleb is taking his turn in the princess shoes. Stunning with the bones pjs!

The boys are all almost asleep here and Selah is walking from one end of the couch to the other trying her best to find one of them to stay awake with her.

It was only a minute later that Caleb & Luke gave in to sleep.

So she crawled on top of Alec and this is where they stayed until Julie & Steve came to get them!

Saturday

What a rip-off that "snowstorm" was! We maybe got 2 inches! I hope this winter doesn't fizzle out so soon like last winter did. Come on, don't hate me just because I like winter - you know it'll be weeks before the weather warms and the tulips start popping and stuff, so relax and enjoy the last of this beautiful winter weather! Top photo was about 11 am before it started snowing. Below was taken about 5 pm just after it stopped. See how much prettier it is with snow???Without the snow it would be brown and boring and ugly:~)



Speaking of ugly, I have really ugly wallpaper in my bathroom. Really really ugly. It has been there since we moved in about 12 years ago so obviously I've come to terms with its ugliness. But recently, while I've been in the bathroom, I've noticed that some of the edges and seams are coming away from the wall; practically begging me to rip them from the wall. So little by little I have been pulling away little strips and chunks of ugly wallpaper. I don't put these scraps in the garbage - oh no! I carry them out in my pockets - like a prisoner who digs himself out of his cell and stuffs the dirt in his shoes. It's not because I feel bad or guilty or anything. It's because once Tom notices it (and I do wonder how much longer he can NOT notice it!) he will want to finish the job and that means finish it right then, no matter what. I prefer to take my time, peeling away tiny strips, sometimes with tweezers and always right after a shower when the humidity does its magic. And that way maybe in another 12 years or so, I'll be ready to re-paper or paint!


And here is baby Maggie in her new hat that a friend from work made for her. Cute???

"BUGS"

Well I did it! I dodged a bullet today!! I guess it's one of the hazards of working in a school....head lice, that is. Every year or so there seems to be an outbreak and this was the "lucky" year! We all heaved a sigh of relief yesterday when our class room seemed unscathed but this morning it was our turn to be screened by the nurses. The kids were all checked before the bus came for bowling and one of our students was sure enough infested! Naturally it was a student whose new hat had been placed on each of our heads earlier this week - YIKES!!! There wasn't time for the nurse to check staff before bowling so I was worked up to a pretty good panic, complete with itchy head, by the time we returned to school. (Did someone say pineapple?)

I nearly ran to the nurses room when we returned to school. I guess the nurses drew straws to see who would get stuck with me - well, my hair actually! It took a nurse and an assistant about 15 minutes to search my hair for bugs......I was ready to throw up! Every time there was a pause I was convinced they'd found a nest! My palms were sweating and I was hyper ventilating. And I was trying to figure out who would actually have the task of raking through my hair for the hours long job if they did indeed find bugs (probably someone with a grudge!) and that maybe I should just buzz it all off and trying to decide what my other options were when the nurse proclaimed me bug free!

I'm sure there'll be a next time - maybe not for lice - but for today, I dodged this bullet!!!

"Sisters"

I never really thought I was missing anything by not having a sister. Sure there were times that I thought it might be a good idea but then something would always change my mind. Example - I never had hand me downs, usually got to bring a friend on vacations, never had to wait my turn for the bathroom or the phone, never had to share a room; well with only a brother I never had to share anything! There were plenty of benefits to being the only daughter, for sure! Besides, it's not like I can do anything about it now anyways! With my mom nearing her 80th birthday it is unlikely...no, more like impossible, that I'd ever have a biological sister. So each year I take a little trip with my pretend sisters, Judy & Cindy! We just came back from our annual trip yesterday. We stayed in this little cabin in Davison. We ate, crocheted, took a walk, ate, stayed up late, watched girly movies and .....um..... the rest falls under the category of "what happens in Davison stays in Davison"!

Like me, Judy doesn't have any sisters. Cindy, on the other hand, has about 15 sisters! They all look alike which is to say that they look like their mom. I'm always jealous of all those sisters...they seem to have so much fun and stuff. Even though none of them lives nearby they are always getting together or facebooking each other, they even meet for group haircuts!

Anyways, for a couple days each year I like to pretend that I have two sisters! So here we are before taking a walk - Judy made us take a walk with her!

Here is the cabin we stayed in...isn't it so cozy?? We'll probably go back there next February and I can get my "sister fix" again!
I was just remembering that quite often when Julie (my daughter - 20 years younger than me) & I are out somewhere people frequently ask if we are sisters. Seriously! A good question from my viewpoint......not so good for Julie! I always smile and answer "yes"! Sorry Julie...maybe if I had a real sister.....

Happy Valentines Day!!

Okay - it's Valentines Day so enough about Walmart and hospitals and Kawasaki disease - today's entry is about the "little girls" Olivia (almost 3), Selah (almost 2) and Maggie (4 months). Total fluff! Enjoy!

This is Olivia having her nails polished by her mommy the other day. A lovely shade of lilac, yes?

Here she is blowing on her nails to "cool them off"!!!

Here is Lukie - recovering from Kawasaki disease - feeding little Maggie. So serious!

This next sequence is kinda cute.

All I'm trying to do here is get Selah to smile with her eyes open.

OOPS....Maggie is spitting up ("spilling" in Selah-speak) but Selah dosen't notice yet......

UH-OH! Looks like Maggie "spilled"!

Don't worry - Selah knows just what to do with a baby wipe!



Checking..... There! That's much better!

Oh yeah, Grandma was trying to get me to smile with my eyes open!! Maybe next time!!

Happy Valentine's Day everybuddy!!!

Triskaidekaphobia

Triskaidekaphobia - is defined as the fear of the number thirteen especially Friday the thirteenth. I am not triskaidekaphobic......well not before today anyways.

My day (off) started with a phone call at 6:30 am. Unless it's a snow day/no school call, a call at that hour is usually not good news. Today's early call was no different - my dad was calling to let me know that my mom had suffered a seizure. And so I spent the morning helping him with her.

I left them about noon and went to Walmart (I can't stand Walmart! see earlier posts) to pick up a prescription for my mom. I was pleasantly surprised to find that unlike the other day, there was no line at the pharmacy! Unfortunately, they did not have the drug we needed but the pharmacist offered to call around for it (!) and was able to find it at a nearby CVS. Unbelievable! Stacy, the pharmacist, promised to order it immediately "within 10 minutes". So I left Walmart and headed out on some errands, happy that I was in and out of Walmart so quickly. Silly me.

Tonight we left home to take dinner over to my mom & dad and stopped by CVS to pick up the prescription. You know this doesn't end well already, don't you?? Of course Walmart never called this prescription over to CVS (why would they do something right?) and here we are about 6 hours later trying to straighten things out while our dinner is getting colder and colder. Not only that but you know that every person in the CVS pharmacy was coughing, sneezing and sick! Gross! I didn't even want to breathe in there. It took 45 minutes to get the Rx!!! I couldn't get to the Purell fast enough!

So as far as I can tell, I'm still not triskaidekaphobic . But I definitely have a fear of Walmart!
I wonder what you call that??