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Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Funny Things from Ian

This morning after Colin had gotten up and had been moving around the house for a little while, he headed back toward our bedroom and found Ian sitting cross-legged in the hallway with a sad face. He asked Ian what was wrong and Ian told him that it wasn't fair that Daddy got to get up first, before anyone else!
This evening when Ian was praying for our dinner, we were reminded of how easily he memorizes things and how impressionable he is. His prayer went something like this:
Dear Jesus, Thank you for our food and our friends. Thank for making all the food and all the "ingredients for life." Now if you live out here and you think that phrase sounds familiar, you're right. It's the slogan for Safeway...Ingredients for Life. The last time we went to Top Foods he announced their slogan as we were walking in the store. He looked up and pointed at their sign (which he can't read) and said, "Look mom, 'Quality in the bag, savings in the bill'." He's a little sponge...and we really limit his TV time. I can't imagine what he would be quoting if he watched all the time!
He was so cute tonight. He put on his footed jammies (which always reminds me of when he was a baby and little toddler), they barely fit. They were stretching. I took some pictures. I think I'll try to find a younger one of him and then one from tonight. Enjoy!

Tuesday

Well today I'm making up for my spontaneous weekend. I wasn't home much over the weekend which means things have piled up until today. So I am washing a mountain of dishes, doing laundry, teaching school, hoping to get to vacuuming and walking the dog. And Colin thinks he has the harder job!
Oh, I also need to make dough so I can make brierocks tonight for dinner. Colin will be really happy about that. If you don't know what those are, they are a roll stuffed with hamburger cooked with cabbage, onion, carrot and salt and pepper and then you bake the rolls. It's one of Colin's favorite meals. Maybe I'll make a few extra and freeze them for when Colin watches the Super Bowl.
So I guess that's all I'll write for now because I need to get back to work. Time for Ian to practice his handwriting!

Sunday, January 28, 2007

The Not So New Bed

Ah, the joys of spontaneity. Yesterday we were going along fine until I saw an ad on Craigslist for a free queen size bed. They actually wanted to trade for a full size bed because they had moved to a smaller place. Well, we had a full size bed and wanted a queen. Sounded good to me so I emailed them and then we called this morning. That led to the crazy van switching, trailer borrowing round trip to make this actually work. So we planned our day accordingly. We went to church where I helped in Ian's class. Then we talked to Colin's parents about borrowing a van and their trailer (we couldn't use our van because it didn't have the connections for the trailer signals). Then on to lunch, a visit to Grandpa George (it was so much better than last time) and a quick stop to see if we even liked the bed.
We thought it looked good, so onward to Colin's parent's place 30 min. away. We had a key to the van, but it didn't work for the alarm so we waited for Colin's parents to return. After they returned it was decided that Colin's mom would ride with Colin to our house (45 min. away), help load our bed and wait for me to return with Ian while Colin drove in to Lacey(50-60 min. away)to drop off our bed and pick up the queen bed. While they did that I headed to JC Penney to get some bedding.
Now we're done. The bed is set up and Colin is already flopped in it reading a book. He didn't get back with the bed until 7:10. Long day, but now we have some room for our little boy to snuggle with us. He'd outgrown the snuggling room on our full size bed about 6 months ago. You just never know what will happen next around here!

Saturday, January 27, 2007

The News: Why I don't like it

Do you watch the news every evening? Or jump on the Internet to see what's happening in the world? I must confess that I do use the Internet to stay current. But most the time, I just don't like the news. I've analyzed this and I think I have several reasons why. Here they are: 1. The news is usually bad...really bad..someone dying, people saying ugly things about other people...war, etc. you get the idea. The worse it is the bigger the headline. 2. If it is something positive, it is buried somewhere and you have to hunt for it in a newspaper or online. 3. The news is not like a book...I only get the dustcover description, never all the details and there's very few news items that have an ending. If the news were like a book we would have the headline which would establish our setting and characters. We would have our climax..police arrested the suspect on Tuesday after a high speed car chase. Then we would have an ending...the suspect was convicted the family is moving on with their lives and their daughter got married last year and had a baby, etc.
Do you ever see news stories and just wonder how are those people doing now?? Have they gone on with their lives or are they still grieving? And that's my point. There never is a complete conclusion to many of the news stories that we see.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Math

I did the math and added up all the estimates from the vet and the doggie cardiologist. Keep in mind that these are only estimates it could cost more. Are you ready for the total??? $595. That's just to diagnose what is wrong with her heart. We already know she has a heart murmur. That's not any money for a cure or treatment. Just diagnostics. Crazy. I could spend all that money and still be right where we're at now. I'm more convinced now that we made the right decision.

Updates

I'll try to get you caught up on anything I forgot to mention this week. I'll start with Monday. Monday after work we saw Colin's grandpa at the nursing home. That was pretty rough for Colin. He had a hard time seeing his grandpa looking so frail and in a room with several other elderly men. I'm sure he was thinking back to all the fun times he had with his grandpa. We didn't stay very long because Colin was about to start crying. Ian did the best of all three of us, simply accepting that grandpa was ok and being taken care of. He did tell grandpa that he thought the grandma that belonged to him must be pretty lonely without him. Ian gave grandpa some hugs and kisses before we left, which was very nice...grandpa smiled at those.
Wednesday was work and Bible study and Awana. Ian is almost done with his Awana book for the second time and just about to start on a new workbook. We signed Ian up for the Awana games in March. We'll see how that goes.
Thursday..you already heard the news about the dog if you read my previous blog. In the afternoon Ian had tumbling. He had a great time. They worked on forward rolls, backward rolls, cartwheel skills and hand stands or handsprings..I forgot which one they were doing. The line at tumbling was getting restless, so I went and stood by the kids. It got quiet so fast. Their teacher noticed it got quiet and said 'Wow! You just stand by them and they get quiet.' That's pretty much all they needed. I did have to tell Ian to pay attention a few times and when he and another boy wouldn't stop messing with each other(talking, trying to play some game, etc.) I told them that they both needed to stop and I called them both by name. You should have seen the other little boy's face when he realized I knew his name. 'How do you know my name?' he asked me. I just told him I'm good with names. I just listened to them last week and this week. I do catch on to names quickly. It's called survival. After all that substitute teaching, I'd better get names fast!
Thursday night we made our decision about Lucy. We decided that we can't afford to run a bunch of expensive tests just to find out that there is an expensive cure that we can't afford or to find out that there's nothing that can be done. So we're going to love her, let her live her life give her good food and water a little herbal supplement for her heart and just let her be the dog that she is. I already told Ian that Lucy is sick and has a bad heart and we don't know how long she will live. Not an easy decision ,but it's the best one for our family.
Now we're up to today. We're doing home school today and it's going well!!!!! Ian did his work in a reasonable amount of time and then was able to have playtime in between subjects. That's been my goal all along. I know he needs to be able to move around and wiggle. Today it finally worked the way it should. I told him that he did a great job and that as long as he keeps working hard when he has work to do...I'll keep giving him playtime in between. This afternoon we are planning to take a trip to the library.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Here Comes The Rain Again

The sun is hiding today and it's dark and gray and misty. Kind of like my news from the vet. I took Lucy in to see about getting some medicine to help her stop leaking urine when she's asleep. They listened to her heart and said it was even worse than a month ago. Her heart murmur is very pronounced. There were no normal heart sounds. They let me listen to her heart. All I heard was whoosing, no thumps. So now she needs x-rays and an ECG and a trip to a doggie cariologist for an echocardiogram.
I love this dog, but good grief we've only had her a month and a half. Is she going to be ok after we do all this or will we spend this money and find out there's nothing we can do??? Why didn't the animal shelter notice her heart murmur? I hope she will be ok. Ian has just finally gotten comfortable enough with her to start petting her and he loves playing with her. She's such a sweetie. Pray that she'll get better or that her cure won't cost too much. There's only so much we can afford.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Sunshine on my Shoulder Makes me Happy

Do you remember that song? Good ole John Denver. I always thought that line was silly. I don't know about sunshine on my shoulder making me happy, but I am certainly happy to welcome the sunshine back into my life for yet another day. That's 2 days in a row, people. Count them! 2! That's pretty cool in the Pacific Northwest. We are in the rainy season right now. You know, my darling husband didn't bother to tell me we'd be living in a rain forest when he proposed to me. I wonder how that slipped his mind??? I guess I should have known, it was even raining when he proposed to me!
I am living in the place that caused the need for so many names for rain. Back home in the Midwest we had rain. Period. That was pretty much the word for it. Out here we have: mist, drizzle, light rain, heavy rain, sprinkling, heavy fog (if you don't think that one counts, stand out in it for a while). I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, but you get the idea.
So today we rejoice and count the sunshine as what it really is, a blessing, a gift from God and definitely a rare and precious thing this time of year.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Sponge-bert

It's new! It's delicious! It's Sponge-bert! It's what??? Tonight Ian asked me for some ice cream for dessert. I told him we didn't have any so he went into the kitchen and asked me for sponge-bert. I don't know what that is I told him. 'You know, sponge-bert, it's got lots of fruit flavors...' Bing...the light bulb went on. 'Do you mean Sherbet??' 'Yes!' he told me. 'Yeah, we don't have any of that either, how about a gummy lifesaver?' That did the trick. If you are having sponge-bert tonight, I hope you are enjoying it!

Sunshine

I saw some sunshine outside today. That may not sound too amazing, but believe me, when it rains all winter where you live and the sun comes out for the afternoon and the rain stops--it's beyond wonderful!!! Ian and I took Lucy for a walk/bike ride. Ian rode his bike while I walked Lucy. Later we even took Lucy on a second walk..and still no rain. Right now it's 52 degrees. Almost like springtime. I love it!
Ian did much better with his schoolwork today. It didn't take us all day to do his lessons as it has for the past week or so.
I got out my new toy from Christmas today. It's a Cuttlebug. It is a die-cutter and can do embossing. I used it to emboss swirls on some red paper..too cool! It looks very cool. I'm getting excited to start making Valentine's cards or as Ian likes to call them..Valentime's cards.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Smiling Dog

I really wish I had had my camera in hand tonight. We had only been home for about 30 min. and I was talking with Colin in his office at his computer. I turned around and saw our dog Lucy. She was laying on her back with her paws curled up like 'hello I'm here, LOVE me!' and she was smiling at us. That's right she was smiling at us!!!! I saw her teeth. It was a definite doggie grin. What a missed photo opportunity!

EKG

We rode into town with Colin today and dropped him off at work. Then we headed over to Group Health for Ian's Dr. appointment. On the way to his appointment, I stopped by the eye clinic and set up an appointment to look at my lovely allergy eyes...yes, they're still here.
Ian's appt. went well. The doc thought his heart sounded very good, but sent us for an EKG just to be certain. Ian didn't mind the EKG. He was very good, staying quiet when the technician asked him to be quiet. He ended up holding his breath for most of the test because he forgot to ask before it started and he was following directions to be still and not talk. We'll find out the results in a few days.
Then we went to work and picked up Ian's cousin from the bus. We had a quick lunch and back out the door to go to Group Health. So they looked at my eyes and suggested that it would be helpful to find out what was causing the allergic reaction. Uh, I believe I've thought of that already. We have been washing, pitching out and eliminating anything that might have any possibility of causing this. We're even using stuff on the dog in case it's her dander!
They prescribed some new eye drops and we were on our way. The trip home held some surprise. A little old lady in a red mustang rear-ended me at a stop light. I had to get out and assess the damage...no harm done to my van or her car. We were both very relieved. I gave her a little hug(I was really trying to give her a pat on the shoulder, but she must have thought I was going to hug her, because she hugged me) and told her to be careful(in a nice "I'm concerned" way, not a mean way).
Tonight after work we're going to go visit Colin's Grandpa.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Sunday School

I helped out in Ian's Sunday School class this morning (2nd hr.). Wow! What a big class! There were 35 5 and 6 yr. olds in his class. I had stayed because Ian had been hitting last week...a conflict over his coat. Another kid thought it belonged to his little brother.
So this week I stayed to see how Ian was interacting with the other kids. It was so busy in there that they put me to work. One of the teachers explained that they'd like to sing songs with the kids, but they weren't singers and had asked someone else to help (they were still thinking it over). So I said if they wanted to sing songs with the kids...I could do that. I've had a "little" experience with that! So we sang all the action songs I could remember off the top of my head. The kids did a great job. I've been invited to return next week and lead songs again.
So everybody pray very hard that I won't get sick so I CAN do this...every time I've volunteered in Ian's class before...I get sick. I love leading kids in singing and I know this class needs a lot of help due to it's massive size.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Parent Teeth

Today is cleaning day at our house. Well, OK, I'm the only one cleaning. Ian has no interest in it whatsoever and Colin got rid of the cardboard that has been in our garage since Christmas. Now the guys are napping and I'm on here typing.
The sun has been shining today, in between a few cloud bursts. I love seeing the sun shining. Makes me feel like spring can't be too far away.
Ian has another slightly loose tooth. Give it about a month or so and he'll be missing his two front teeth. I found his wiggly tooth when I was checking his teeth. I told him one of them was loose and he looked concerned. "That's one of my parent teeth." he told me. He did not say permanent tooth...it was a parent tooth. Makes sense if you think about it, baby teeth, parent teeth..very logical. I told him it was a baby tooth. He seemed much happier about the whole thing then.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Friday

Well today was a MOPS Friday. Yeah! I dropped Ian off in his class, took a few minutes to get out the food I brought and got to sit down. Just me, with no kiddo. After our struggles yesterday, I was ready. So I got to have adult conversation and listen to our friend Tricia talk about nutrition to the whole group and then for our activity, I got to make my dinner for tonight. How cool is that? Chicken Black Bean Enchiladas. They look very yummy!
Before I knew it, it was 11:30 and time to go pick up Ian and the other kids I help watch while the steering team cleans up after the meeting. Then on to our errands, grab a little lunch and head home. Ian fell asleep on the way home. That reminds me...Ian complained about something pounding in his "stomach" to his teachers. They checked his pulse thinking it might be his heart, but it was normal. He told me he didn't feel good when I picked him up, but that he didn't feel "sick". He's fine now, so I guess I'll just keep an eye on him.
When we got home our crazy dog was so excited to see us. She ran around when I came in and then she ran to her water dish and proceeded to drink all the water in it, wagging her tail the entire time. Then she tried to convince us to play fetch. She was running all over the place. Right now she's trying to get my attention, which probably means it's time for a walk. So I guess that's all for now.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Tumbling

Well we made it through the first day of tumbling. Ian has decided it was pretty fun. There were a lot of kids there. For some reason some of the younger group and the older group came to the K-2 session. Next time it should be a smaller group.
Ian is definitely not up on tumbling terminology. The teacher was asking kids to do forward or front rolls. When it was Ian's turn he looked right at her and said 'I don't how to do those, but I've been practicing something for a long time. You know what it's called? Somersaults.' His teacher chuckled a little and said that that was great, it's another name for what she'd just asked him to do.
A little later the teacher was starting to teach the kids the first part of learning to do cartwheels. Ian took one look at what they were going to do and announced to his teacher that his body didn't know how to do that. I took that one on. I explained that his body could do lots of things that he might not know about yet or know how to do yet and that his teacher would show him what to do. When it was his turn, he practiced a couple of times and then turned and looked at me and said 'I do love it mom.'
I think Ian will be looking forward to tumbling next week.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Wednesday

Well, not too much has been happening lately. Ian had school yesterday, but not today because his cousin had a snow day and we came to work early. It's really hard to have school with Ian when his buddy is just waiting to play.
Yesterday was Colin's Grandpa's birthday. He didn't get out of bed. I hope he will do better, but he isn't a spring chicken. Colin's grandma is about to the point that she can't take care of him by herself anymore. I think I'll see if there's anything we could do to be of assistance to her today.
Ian and I now have a code word (phrase?) for when he isn't obeying and needs to and we're around other people...like at church or a store, etc. It's pink pickle. It means obey now or you are choosing to have a consequence. I'll let you know how it goes...so far, pretty good. Hopefully, some funny things will happen soon to share with you. I could use some humor right about now. I did have one funny thing happen yesterday. I was talking on my cell phone to my mom and the other phone rang. I looked at caller id and it had a lot of letters on it something like this: GHACC. I thought it could be my vet's office, but wasn't sure so I called it back. A lady answered 'Elma Senior Center'. I explained that someone had called from that number. She laughed and said 'oh that was me. I miss dialed. Just a silly old lady who can't dial numbers.' I thanked her for the chuckle, I really needed one yesterday.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Don't Believe Everything You Read

I am chuckling to myself over this one. Today our church had a missions conference and then a lunch called A Taste of the World. There were foods prepared by missionaries from the country were they are located and a few foods that looked like they'd been fixed for kids or the picky eaters. One of those foods(labeled American) was corn dogs cut into smaller bites. It was right next to some reindeer and caribou sausage labeled Alaskan. I got my food and some for Ian and then it was Colin's turn. He came back with some corn dogs and sausage that was it. Nothing from China or Korea, Greece or Mexico..he's not that adventurous. I commented that he had a lot of the American food. He said 'no. Some of it is Alaskan.' I agreed that the sausage was Alaskan. He said 'some of the corn dogs are Alaskan'. He pointed to half the corn dogs and told me that they were Alaskan, he had seen a sign saying so. I laughed and then explained that the sign must have gotten moved, it was originally right by the sausage. A corn dogs is a corn dog and it's American. He tried to disagree and point out the differences...some had a darker spot in the middle(which I explained was a mark from being baked in the oven). Eventually, he conceded that a corn dog is American, not an Alaskan speciality.
So trust your common sense, even if some sign might tell you different...you never know who might have been moving things around!

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Watch Your TV, It's Good For You

My five year old told me today that he was watching TV and that it's good for you. "It's on organization, you know, so that makes it good." he told me. He also proceeded to tell me that we'd let our garage get out of control (that's where all the boxes we haven't unpacked yet are and where they will remain until it gets warmer) and that we needed to organize. I told him I'd watch part of the show with him. When I went in to watch the show he smiled and nodded at me and said "come on, it's good for you."
Move over vitamin c, we have vitamin TV.

Birthdays

Colin's Grandpa just turned 91. 91! That is amazing to me. If you knew you were going to live until 91 or longer, what would you do?? You wouldn't need to worry about a will until you were at least 85. You wouldn't need to worry about life insurance until the last year of age you could be and still lock in the good rate. You would know for sure that you'd get to meet your grandkids. You'd probably do like Grandpa George and eat sugar cereal with sugar added on top whenever you wanted. Would you floss really well several times a day knowing that those teeth had to last a really long time?
Would you travel? Write the great American novel? Find a cure for a disease?? Would you procrastinate, knowing that you had more time??
Well, unfortunately, we don't know how much time we have for our life, but if you thought of some things you would do if you had more time..why don't you do it now?
Just a thought.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Moderate Climate

I'm pretty sure when I signed up to move out west, I was promised a moderate climate. I think I even have it in writing, if I could just find the right box, I'm sure it's there. So then, why does my outdoor thermometer say 15 degrees. That does not seem moderate to me. It seems EXTREME! Extremely cold. I know, I know, we are now suffering the change in our ozone caused by the big hair fad of the eighties. All those cans of Aquanet hairspray. If we had only known.
While I suffer the cold Arctic weather here, my in-laws are still in Hawaii. My mother-in-law called when they arrived and told me the temperature was somewhere around 80. I knew I should have packed a few extra suitcases for them. 3 to be exact. One for me. One for Colin and one for Ian. Oops! Maybe another one so Lucy the dog could go, too. I'm sure she would enjoy surfing.
Well, it's still cold here. I'm just going to have to think warm thoughts. Maybe the travel channel has a show about the Bahamas or the Caribbean. That ought to make me feel warmer. Perhaps a hot cocoa.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Reading

My son can read. Isn't that cool? Okay, he isn't reading the classic American novel, he's reading little books called Mat, Sam, Dot, Mac and today we introduced Dot and Mit. He's 5, so I think he is doing super. The books are from a series called Bob books. I love them! They work great with the phonics program we're using and they're pretty cute, too. He can read 2 or 3 of them without any help and the other two with a little help. Way to go buddy!

Cold Weather

Have I mentioned that I'm not overly fond of cold weather? As I sit here typing, it's 27 degrees. 27!!!!!! I am thankful that it is not a work day or church day or any kind of day that I have to go anywhere. I am going to hibernate. Even Lucy, the dog told me it was too cold.
We did get snow yesterday, but it wasn't too slippery. Only part of our drive was a little slick. I worked from 9-4 so that we could leave while it was still daylight. Colin and I commuted together. Normally we both work until 5, but we would have been going home in the dark with falling temperature and already wet roads.
Ian and I missed AWANA and Bible study (they didn't cancel for the weather). :(
I hated to miss, but we didn't want to drive home on ice.
We are thinking about signing Ian up for tumbling. The community is offering it for K-2 at the elementary school near our house. We thought maybe he could meet some other kids from the area. He isn't quite sure what tumbling is and he's not quite sure he wants to go to it, but he's slightly interested.
Did I mention that Ian woke us up at 4:30 in the morning yesterday??? And that we never got back to sleep?? Do you know what happens to you when you do that??? You do ok all day long, feel a little tired, but ok. You come home, you have dinner, still doing ok and then you go sit down. Ten minutes later, you are ready for bed and trying to convince the little guy (that woke you up at 4:30 am and did go back to sleep until 7:30 am) that bedtime really is NOW, in the middle of the Peter Pan movie that you put on before you actually sat down. So yes, our whole family went to bed at 8 pm, which is probably why I am awake at almost 2 am. Not for much longer, though. I'm going to get some more sleep. ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Hawaii

My in-laws are heading to Hawaii tomorrow for a week. (Normally I say mom and dad, but I don't want to confuse my parents...they might think I got them a surprise trip or something, just kidding!). Last year we went with them. It was quite the experience. Ian got sick on the plane trip there and was sick for at least a couple of days. We weren't sure how sick he was when we arrived (it could have been airsickness) and we took him down to the beach. Obviously it was not airsickness. He decided right away that he hated sand and that he didn't like the water God made(ocean), he only liked water man made(pools).
We also went the same week as the Honolulu marathon-to Waikiki. Now if you've never been to Waikiki let me share with you what our luau tour guide shared with us. He told us that Haiwaiian natives only go into Waikiki to work. They call it the concrete jungle. It's a very pretty tourist trap. Lots of shopping and hotels, some sand, some water and a TON of people. Hopefully for mom and dad o. it will be less populated in January than last year in December.
Ian did get better before the week was over after a very long trip by bus to the emergency room with his very kind grandparents. They sent us on a luau while they took him to the dr. We beat them back. Which means..it took a long time. The luau was a blast...I would highly recommend going to one on a trip to Hawaii.
We did get Ian to swim in the ocean. Grandma bought him a small boogie board that he had a blast playing with.
I think Ian's favorite thing about the whole trip was going to the Dole Plantation and riding on the pineapple train to see where they grow the pineapples.
My father-in-law offered to bring something back for us. Do you think balmy breezes, sand, warm ocean water and palm trees will fit on the plane?? :)

Snow

I know. I didn't post anything yesterday. I was working and after that, I really couldn't think of anything I wanted to share until I watched the weather forecast last night. I saved it for today. They are calling for a big storm to move in this afternoon. It's supposed to be in the 20's and we might get snow. Which brings me to my topic: snow.
I don't know if you know this, but I have rules for snow. Of course, snow doesn't usually follow my rules, but here they are anyway:
1. Don't fall on a day I have to work or need to drive anywhere (preferably a Sat., but Tuesdays and Thursdays are ok).
2. Do not fall on or stick to driveways, sidewalks, roads, parking lots, etc.
3. Do not overstay your welcome. A day or two of snow is nice. Maybe even a week. After that, it's time to move on.
4. Be the kind of snow that makes a good snowman. Otherwise, what's the point?
5. Do feel free to show up for Christmas. You're always welcome then.
6. Don't show up in the spring...it just depresses everyone
7. Don't fall only at night. We like to see when you're coming down.
8. Never ever turn to slush or ice.
So, those are my rules. If we get snow tonight, I'll see if any of them were followed. I'm not holding my breath.

Sunday, January 7, 2007

Oatmeal Raisin cookie cereal

Doesn't the name sound fancy?? It's really just hot oatmeal with some cinnamon, currents, brown sugar and a little butter in it. Colin and Ian love it. I think part of it is psychological because they both love cookies. Especially oatmeal raisin cookies. I made it yesterday morning for breakfast and both of them gobbled it up. We had some left so I saved it for this morning. I told Colin I was going to go reheat some for breakfast this morning and he said "I was just thinking about that". That means he really liked it!
Well, I overdid it yesterday, cleaning all day long. I could barely move this morning. It was very dark and stormy at 7 am. Ian woke up long enough to go to the bathroom and ask to have his blankets straightened out. He went right back to bed. I thought he was waking me up in the middle of the night...that's how dark it was. We've been having lots of rain...excuse me, I mean.. we've been having LOTS of RAIN!!!!!
I've been sleeping better the last two nights. I got smart and left our bedroom door open a crack so Lucy can leave if she gets thirsty or wants to go sleep in the living room. That way she isn't waking me up and keeping me awake at 2 or 3 in the morning.
Today, I'm still going to try to get a bunch of stuff done, but I'm also going to try to get a little rest. Back to work tomorrow and I'm working late.

Saturday, January 6, 2007

Chewy Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here's the recipe I promised to post. It's super yummy. Just make sure you have friends to share it with...it makes 8 doz.

4 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 c.(2 sticks) softened butter
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
2 t. pure vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 3/4 c.(1o-oz. package) English Toffee Bits
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside
Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended.
Add eggs; beat well.
Gradually add flour mixture, beating well blended.
Stir in toffee bits and chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded spoonful onto parchment covered (this is important or the toffee will burn) cookie sheet.
Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned.
Let cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
Parchment paper should be able to be used for the entire batch but may need to be changed half way through.

Undecorating

Well, I'm not sure undecorating is really a word, but that's what I'm doing today. We've already taken down the tree and put it away. I'm still working on getting the ornaments put away. Ian was playing a computer game while we took the tree down, so by the time he came out to look it was already down. He told us we shouldn't take it down, we should put it back.
As much as I love Christmas and as much as I don't like to take down the decorations, this year I'm ready. It means I'll be able to put out my living room decorations that have been put away since we moved in October. I might even find things I've forgotten I own.
I've been listening to Christmas music while I take things down. Colin told me it's after Christmas so I shouldn't be listening to Christmas music, but I listened to it while I decorated..I'm going to listen while I undecorate, too!
I'm going to call my parents soon, but the Chiefs are playing right now so I'm waiting. There's no way I could get my dad to talk on the phone while the Chiefs are playing...unless I wanted to listen to a play by play of the game and the occasional hollering (at top volume) C H I E F S ! ! ! !
I'll wait until it's over. Go Chiefs!

Friday, January 5, 2007

Cranky Day

Today is a cranky day for the O'Neill's. Well, it's cranky for me and Ian, maybe Colin isn't cranky at work. We were up very early this morning so we could all ride in together and I could go to yet another Dr.'s appointment to see what can be done to make my eyes stop being red and itchy.
When Ian gets up early, it's usually a cranky day. He took a long time to eat his breakfast, didn't listen when we were at the Dr.'s office and pharmacy. Not in to cooperating at all. When we finished with the pharmacy, it was time for a potty break. I asked Ian to put his coat on the counter by the door (there's nothing over there so it was a good spot for coats) as usual for today, I had to ask several times, but it was finally done.
Now, the whole time that I was taking off my coat and asking Ian to take off his coat, there had been a paper towel on the floor in front of one of the bathroom stalls. I had seen it, but didn't think too much about it. Ian headed for a bathroom stall and stepped on it. I do not kid when I say it looked like one of those prat falls on a banana in a really old movie. Feet flying up in the air, a moment when his whole body is in the air and splat, he's on the floor. He looked at me like 'what just happened?' I tried. I really did. Once I knew he was ok, I tried really hard not to laugh, but it was really a funny sight and then he gave me the angry pouty face (kind of like the I'm not a happy camper picture posted on here) and I laughed. Laughing did not make him happy. He decided he was very angry at the paper towel so he went over and picked it up and said something in a mean tone of voice. Something to the effect of: bad paper towel, it's all your fault, I'm going to rip you up. Which is what he did. He ripped it up and threw it away.
Just so you know, I did tell Ian I was sorry that I was laughing at his mishap(I said this while I was laughing) but it was such a funny sight to see. I gave him a big hug. I think his ego has bounced back by now.

Thursday, January 4, 2007

The vacuum: my nemesis

What is the deal with dogs and vacuums? My last dog, Heidi (a miniature schnauzer) hated the vacuum with a passion. She would try to attack it every time we ran it. You could just hear her say 'I'm gonna get you'.
Lucy, on the other hand is very grieved when I run the vacuum. She looks at me as if I have betrayed her trust. As if I have broken some sacred rule. She moves from each area I vacuum as if it is breaking her heart that I would do this horrible thing to her. I suppose she'll forgive me if I go give her a treat!

Today

I think my child is living vicariously through me. I know it's usually the other way around, but not this time. Let me start by saying that Ian loves to watch HGTV and the Food Network..typical 5 yr. old right??? Anyway, now he's started seeing advertisements for shows that are on after his bedtime. So he asked me 'mom can you watch Designed to Sell for me tonight? I think it comes on right after my story time.'
What a kid.
Last night I told Colin that I was going to bake cookies for next week's Bible study. He was driving, but he turned his head fast to look at me and said "chewy toffee chocolate chip cookies??? And I get to keep some???" He's such a big kid!! He is right, though. They are yummy. I'll try to post the recipe later today or at least by the weekend. That should give you something to look forward to. :)

Long Day

Yesterday was a very long day. Wednesdays usually are a long day for me...work and bible study for me and Awana for Ian. Yesterday was even longer. Colin was working overtime which meant the dog needed to come with me...she needs to go out a little more frequently since she's been on this antibiotic. I left the house yesterday morning at 10 am and got home around 9:30 pm.
We did have some fun, though. Lucy got to come into the garage where I nanny and the boys got to play fetch with her for a while. Ian got to watch Over the Hedge..I think I watched at least 20 min. of it. It looked like fun.
Ian had a good time at Awana. He didn't want to go. He'd been off for 3 weeks, I think. Anytime he has a break he balks at going back, but he has a great time.
My bible study was really good. We're studying the book of Daniel. It's a Beth Moore study. Last night we watched the DVD part. We've just gotten to the part where we'll be studying end time events. It should be good.
Lucy got to go to church, too. Well not really, but she did come in for a minute after Awana and Bible study to meet a couple of people. They thought she was very cute. She agreed with them. She got to meet a few kids, too. Funny, the little boys just pushed past her like she wasn't there, but the little girls stopped and petted her and gazed at her with love.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Wimpy Dog

I have to say that our dog is a wimp. She does not like the rain, at all. She is in the wrong state to dislike rain because that's about all it's going to do until April or May. I just tried to take her out to go potty. She went outside on our porch, which is covered. Would she leave the porch?? No. She looked at me like 'you have got to be kidding me! Me? Go out in that rain? I don't think so.'
I will admit she will go for a walk in the rain. She's not too thrilled with the idea, but as long as I'm getting just as wet as she is...she'll go along. I may have to break down and buy her a doggie rain coat. I wonder if she'd prefer yellow or red?? Silly dog!

Monday, January 1, 2007

Story time

Ian and I finished reading One Wintry Night. It was wonderful. It was a Christmas gift from my mom last year, but Ian wasn't quite ready for it. This year, he was ready. We took several nights to read all the chapters. The pictures were gorgeous. I don't think Ian was ready for the story to end. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to share the true meaning of Christmas with their children. Thanks mom!

Finally tried

Today I finally used the rosette cooking set that I bought at least four years ago. It makes kind of a fried waffle cookie thing, which is yummy, but not too exciting. And what will I do with this lovely rosette set now that I've tried it? I'm sending it to Goodwill. I can't see myself ever wanting to make these again. You fry one waffle cookie thing at a time and it makes 40 (I gave up around 10). At least I can say I'm not procrastinating anymore!
This morning I overheard my husband and son having a discussion about my son's breakfast (he was having toast, which my husband had already put in the toaster). Here's what it sounded like to me :
Daddy: What would you like on your toast?
Ian: You didn't cook it, did you? I didn't want you to cook it.
Daddy: You wanted toast. You have to toast it if you want toast.
Ian: But I didn't want it cooked.
Daddy: Well, it's too late now. What would you like on your toast?
Ian: I'd like butter on one and honey.
Daddy: Do you mean you'd like butter and honey on your toast?
Ian: No. I want butter on one and honey on the other one, but I don't want them together.
That's what he had. I'm still stuck on the untoasted toast request. Is that like a virgin drink? If you ordered it at a restaurant, would they charge extra for not toasting your toast?? Why didn't he just ask for bread?? Ah, the mind of a five year old. I'm certain it made perfect sense to him.
Happy New Year! Yes, I managed to stay up until 12:01, but I was not all the way awake. I went to bed right after I watched the firework show on TV from the Space Needle.