Today definately ended a bit differently than I would have predicted at 7am this morning. We were up in plenty of time to visit my grandma, run errands, go to church, or any combination of the above. However, as we were reading the paper, Gage pititifully (is that a word?) announced, "I don't feel very good." In all honesty, I should have seen this coming. He had been complaining off and on for about 4 days. "My nose is really snotty. My throat is sore. I didn't sleep very good last night." But, as it always goes, life keeps moving and the tough, brave kids keep rolling along with it. Gage is that kid. It takes a lot to knock him down. He has never taken an antibiotic. He misses very few days of school. He just keeps keepin' on.
So I look at him this morning, after the announcement, and he just doesn't look well. So I do all the mom stuff. Quiz him about how sore his throat is, how bad does his tummy feel? He eventually throws up a couple times, falls asleep, and just hangs out on the couch. Garth is trying to convince me that he's throwing up because of all the drainage, etc. I, however, all day am hearing this voice whispering "Strep. Strep." Why do these voices whisper on Sunday afternoons?
After googling "strep" upsidedown and backwards, I was thoroughly convinced that's what we had and decided to take him to urgent care. Well, long story short, he's got strep. Bad news, all the pharmacies in the burbs close at 6 on Sundays. I didn't feel like driving into the city tonight. A carjacking would have really wrecked our day. So we will be at the Meijer pharmacy in our jammies (well, not really) bright and early tomorrow morning. At least I won't have to spend 1/2 the day dragging my poor sick boy around town for a diagnosis. We got that part out of the way!
Good news: Made 1 of 3 curtains for our back door/windows. At least I got something done today. Oh, and picked up Gage a new bike. That was actually the errand we were planning to run as a family today, but it sounds better to say we bought him a new bike because he came down with strep throat!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
A bit of a conundrum...
I'm at a bit of an impasse. In my family when something irritating occurs, see where you're at after 24 hours. Is it still making you cringe, or have you moved on? So dear readers, all 11 of you, what would you do?
I had the pleasure of accompanying my 3rd grade son on his field trip yesterday. Said trip was to Rollhaven in Grand Blanc. The trip is $4.00 and advertises that the 3rd graders will be joining the 2nd graders, therefore having a chance to say "Hi" to their teachers from last year. The 2nd graders will have a chance to meet the 3rd grade teachers, in preparation for next year. Awesome.
Here's the thing, in a dark, NOISY rollerskating arena, ain't nobody meeting or talking to nobody. What you have instead is about 250ish 7-9 year olds running CRAZY...CRAZY. Here's the other thing, the arena doesn't just have rollerskating. There is also laser tag and a jump house (think Micky D's playland) at an additional cost of $3 each. ALSO, there is a minature Chuckee Cheese area. Games can be played for 25 or 50 cents each, and tickets are spit out to redeem for prizes. (((sigh))) There is also a snack stand if a field tripper wishes to purchase a snack.
Here is my problem. If you pay only the $4 for your kid to attend, they will just be skating. Which is great. Although, my estimate would be, at least 1/2 the children appeared to have little interest in skating. Most were mobbing the games, buying candy/ice cream, hanging from the bounce house, and engaging in rowsing battles in the laser tag room. These kids were pumped full of cash before they left the house in the morning. Gage and I stood in line at the change machine and watched 2 kids change $10 bills for quarters. (That was in the 5 minutes we were in line.) WHAT? Who gives their 2nd/3rd grader that much money for a field trip? Maybe the intention was they would use part of it for a snack. Clearly, that wasn't happening. Makes me wonder how much money was spent total by all the kids...
Anyway, the kids take this field trip in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. It seems to be some sort of a reward for March is Reading Month. Or as my dad says, a nice break day for the teachers. He's allowed to say that. He retired from the trenches. I personally think they could be a little more creative. If you're not a rich kid (here we would say if you don't live on the lake), you're at a clear disadvantage on this trip. I think they need to figure out a way to level the playing field, or put the old cabosh on this one. It's a stupid, dumb trip. Yes, I'm swearing. Please don't show this to my children.
So the conundrum is, do I write a carefully worded letter to the powers at be? Or do I just let it go? Weigh in with your thoughts, or send me an email. If you totally disagree with me, that's OK with me to. Just putting out my feelers. Cuz you know, if I write the letter, I will be further classified as "freak mom". Oh look, it's one of those crazy religious/conservative lunatics that plans to shelter her children from everything until they rebel into a crazy frenzy and start drinking soda and watching Sponge Bob and are never heard from again....Whatever. It's hard trying to be a mom that gives a crap.
I had the pleasure of accompanying my 3rd grade son on his field trip yesterday. Said trip was to Rollhaven in Grand Blanc. The trip is $4.00 and advertises that the 3rd graders will be joining the 2nd graders, therefore having a chance to say "Hi" to their teachers from last year. The 2nd graders will have a chance to meet the 3rd grade teachers, in preparation for next year. Awesome.
Here's the thing, in a dark, NOISY rollerskating arena, ain't nobody meeting or talking to nobody. What you have instead is about 250ish 7-9 year olds running CRAZY...CRAZY. Here's the other thing, the arena doesn't just have rollerskating. There is also laser tag and a jump house (think Micky D's playland) at an additional cost of $3 each. ALSO, there is a minature Chuckee Cheese area. Games can be played for 25 or 50 cents each, and tickets are spit out to redeem for prizes. (((sigh))) There is also a snack stand if a field tripper wishes to purchase a snack.
Here is my problem. If you pay only the $4 for your kid to attend, they will just be skating. Which is great. Although, my estimate would be, at least 1/2 the children appeared to have little interest in skating. Most were mobbing the games, buying candy/ice cream, hanging from the bounce house, and engaging in rowsing battles in the laser tag room. These kids were pumped full of cash before they left the house in the morning. Gage and I stood in line at the change machine and watched 2 kids change $10 bills for quarters. (That was in the 5 minutes we were in line.) WHAT? Who gives their 2nd/3rd grader that much money for a field trip? Maybe the intention was they would use part of it for a snack. Clearly, that wasn't happening. Makes me wonder how much money was spent total by all the kids...
Anyway, the kids take this field trip in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. It seems to be some sort of a reward for March is Reading Month. Or as my dad says, a nice break day for the teachers. He's allowed to say that. He retired from the trenches. I personally think they could be a little more creative. If you're not a rich kid (here we would say if you don't live on the lake), you're at a clear disadvantage on this trip. I think they need to figure out a way to level the playing field, or put the old cabosh on this one. It's a stupid, dumb trip. Yes, I'm swearing. Please don't show this to my children.
So the conundrum is, do I write a carefully worded letter to the powers at be? Or do I just let it go? Weigh in with your thoughts, or send me an email. If you totally disagree with me, that's OK with me to. Just putting out my feelers. Cuz you know, if I write the letter, I will be further classified as "freak mom". Oh look, it's one of those crazy religious/conservative lunatics that plans to shelter her children from everything until they rebel into a crazy frenzy and start drinking soda and watching Sponge Bob and are never heard from again....Whatever. It's hard trying to be a mom that gives a crap.
Friday, March 25, 2011
It's All About Perspective
We watched a real tear jerker on tv last night. You know, one of those where you can just feel the pain of the family coming through the tv screen. Here's the cliff notes version. After a recent job reduction/layoff situation, a family of 6 was choosing to move from their 7500 sq ft...errr...musuem?...I mean, house. Anyway, they were downgrading with a budget of $400,000, somewhere in TX, I believe. Right? Truly heartbreaking...
They were clearly rattled by laminate countertops, brass fixtures, and oak kitchens. A first floor master was a must. They also couldn't stomach the idea that their master bathroom wouldn't be connected to the bedroom. A step out into the hallway appeared to be a deal breaker. They finally did choose a 3300 sq ft house with potential. He had a background in construction.
I'm really not being fair. They actually seemed like a very nice family who had learned a valuable lesson in materialism. They were choosing to cutback. They appartently ended up cutting their mortgage in half, which was their goal. What the heck would a mortgage payment be on a 7500 sq ft house? Insurance, taxes...can you imagine?
But, like I said it's all in your perspective. We become so used to what we have everyday, what we "deserve" that's it's sometimes hard to adjust our thinking. My biggest complaints about our house are: no walk-in closet, laundry room is actually a closet, and a 4th bedroom would be handy. Which are all ridiculous to someone living with their family in a 1 bedroom apartment, or worse yet, having no home at all. I know we're fortunate. Our house is very comfortable (and affordable!) for our family. We truly don't need anything more. Anything more than what we have would be a luxury, not a necessity. (Don't tell the HGTV people, but I have laminate floors (gasp!), no granite (ewwww!), and...hold on for this one...no double sinks (I am being serious!). Our house would never make it on House Hunters. People would faint as soon as they walked in the door.)
So, I guess dreaming of a larger, more luxurious house can be fun. But sometimes, it's better to look around and appreciate what I have. Which usually leads to dreaming of future projects...plus, I hate cleaning. There is no way those commercial stoves and theatre rooms clean themselves...
They were clearly rattled by laminate countertops, brass fixtures, and oak kitchens. A first floor master was a must. They also couldn't stomach the idea that their master bathroom wouldn't be connected to the bedroom. A step out into the hallway appeared to be a deal breaker. They finally did choose a 3300 sq ft house with potential. He had a background in construction.
I'm really not being fair. They actually seemed like a very nice family who had learned a valuable lesson in materialism. They were choosing to cutback. They appartently ended up cutting their mortgage in half, which was their goal. What the heck would a mortgage payment be on a 7500 sq ft house? Insurance, taxes...can you imagine?
But, like I said it's all in your perspective. We become so used to what we have everyday, what we "deserve" that's it's sometimes hard to adjust our thinking. My biggest complaints about our house are: no walk-in closet, laundry room is actually a closet, and a 4th bedroom would be handy. Which are all ridiculous to someone living with their family in a 1 bedroom apartment, or worse yet, having no home at all. I know we're fortunate. Our house is very comfortable (and affordable!) for our family. We truly don't need anything more. Anything more than what we have would be a luxury, not a necessity. (Don't tell the HGTV people, but I have laminate floors (gasp!), no granite (ewwww!), and...hold on for this one...no double sinks (I am being serious!). Our house would never make it on House Hunters. People would faint as soon as they walked in the door.)
So, I guess dreaming of a larger, more luxurious house can be fun. But sometimes, it's better to look around and appreciate what I have. Which usually leads to dreaming of future projects...plus, I hate cleaning. There is no way those commercial stoves and theatre rooms clean themselves...
Thursday, March 24, 2011
A few random things...
So I heard on the radio this morning, two planes had to land without assistance yesterday, I believe. Apparently the air traffic controller fell asleep. That is ONE job you can not fall asleep at. Someone get that man/woman a Red Bull!
Gage's Little League practices start in two weeks. Do you think the ground will be thawed about by then. I hope summer is just as warm and sunny, as winter was cold and snowy!
Topic that came up today: For those of you who are interested, pluggedin.com has great reviews of movies, and how appropriate they may or may not be for your family. They give a nice broken down review with the positives and negatives. Basically written from a parent's perspective. I believe they review other media as well, but I've only used the movie reviews. I'm a bit of a nazi. Pretty much if I haven't read the review, we aren't watching it! It's amazing how you forgot some of the content in the movies we watched growing up. "PG" was apparently used more loosely in the 80s!
Just a few things I had thought of! Enjoy your day!
Gage's Little League practices start in two weeks. Do you think the ground will be thawed about by then. I hope summer is just as warm and sunny, as winter was cold and snowy!
Topic that came up today: For those of you who are interested, pluggedin.com has great reviews of movies, and how appropriate they may or may not be for your family. They give a nice broken down review with the positives and negatives. Basically written from a parent's perspective. I believe they review other media as well, but I've only used the movie reviews. I'm a bit of a nazi. Pretty much if I haven't read the review, we aren't watching it! It's amazing how you forgot some of the content in the movies we watched growing up. "PG" was apparently used more loosely in the 80s!
Just a few things I had thought of! Enjoy your day!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
No fair!
I never sleep right, anticipating the "winter storm". Tossing and turning, waiting for that call, but knowing I won't hear it. I turn the phone off whenever there is icky weather predicted. I don't necessarily need to know at 5am that there is no school that day. So basically, I wait all night for a silent phone to ring. Don't judge. In my world that makes perfect sense.
To wake up...and there IS school! What? No one else has school! Why do I have to get out of bed? It's so not fair. For the kids that is. It's all about the kids. It's not that I wanted to sleep in or anything. I didn't already have the chore list planned for the kids. And I certainly hadn't contemplated making cinnamon rolls last night, on the off chance we would all be home in the morning. That would be ridiculous. I mean, geesh...what am I? Like 5 years old or something?
For the record, it's still not fair...
To wake up...and there IS school! What? No one else has school! Why do I have to get out of bed? It's so not fair. For the kids that is. It's all about the kids. It's not that I wanted to sleep in or anything. I didn't already have the chore list planned for the kids. And I certainly hadn't contemplated making cinnamon rolls last night, on the off chance we would all be home in the morning. That would be ridiculous. I mean, geesh...what am I? Like 5 years old or something?
For the record, it's still not fair...
Monday, March 21, 2011
A few pictures...
Just thought I would share a few pictures of the princess and her daddy! They had a wonderful time. She is already asking when there is another dance for her to go to with her daddy. Oh, AND, Garth told her since they had such a great time, he figured it would be ok that he go on her first date as well. Great news! She said he could go, as well as me and her brothers. In fact, we're all going for ice cream, a large banana split to share. How awesome is that? All her idea. Can't wait! If she starts dating when she's 25...we still have awhile :-)
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Daddy Daughter Dance
A couple weeks ago, Claire received a flier advertising the Daddy-Daughter Dance taking place at school this Saturday. I thought maybe this would be a good year to send her and Garth off to what I pictured as a gaggle of ruffles, lace, and giggles. I showed it to Garth and he said "Sure. Why not?" So I did a little nosing around and found out, yes, we did know other families that would be attending. An idea was born...
Okay, so now we need a dress. That one was easy. She has a really cute, dressy dress from Easter last year. Shoes...yup easy. The silver shoes from the holidays are still fitting just fine. (Probably the good moms go out and a buy a brand new dress with matching shoes.) So far this is turning out to be pretty painless (and cheap! I love cheap!).
Fast forward to last night. I finally got out of Garth that he really didn't want to wear a suit. He was pretty sure khaki pants would look better with her dress. If you know him, you know he's quite the fashionista. You can tell by his high maintenance hairstyle. So anyway, I had this little dream in my head that his shirt/tie should at least somewhat match Claire's dress. I assume that could be accomplished at Target. We popped in there last night and they had all of 6 ties choices, and about the same choices of button down shirts. Claire really liked the baby pink tie, which her agreeable daddy said was fine, but I didn't. Her dress isn't baby pink, it's more coral pink. A baby pink tie simply wasn't going to work. I was starting to sweat just a little.
We're on the way home and a plan was forming in my head. The kids were really looking forward to watching "Megamind" for their Friday Night Movie. So, Garth can settle in with them and I'll run up to Kohls. About this time it occurs to me, that we never really settled "the corsage" issue. Do we need one? Do we not? Time to call in the experts. I texted a veteran mom. Me: What's the deal with the corsage for the Daddy-Daughter Dance? Do we need one? She immediately texts me back: Oh yes. Some sort of flower is highly advised. Me: Fine. I'll find something to strap to her wrist. Geesh!
So now I'm on my way to Kohls, with a side trip to Hobby Lobby. I can accomplish anything with a glue gun! I'm thinking the chances of just popping into a florist and picking up a corsage are slim. Plus, I have no idea what that costs. So at this point, I'm taking control of the situation, and making it myself. Totally, lucked out. The whole aisle of brideal gaudiness was 1/2 off. I picked up enough stuff to make a gorgeous (well, maybe slightly tacky) wrist corsage fit for a princess. Fortunately she's at that age, where lots of ribbons, pearls, and fluff make for a successful fashion statement.
Next stop Kohls, PERFECT tie! Matches her dress and everything! I was quite excited. Ran home, plugged in the glue gun and got busy being the florist that I'm not! Corsage came togehter. Shirt and tie fit hubby. All is well.
So tonight they embark on their big adventure. I did not make them reservations at a 4 star restaurant or rent a limo. Hopefully, those things aren't mandatory. She will be rightfully claiming her role as Daddy's Princess. She picked out a little tiara comb hair accessory at Target that I must get into her hair (oh, the pressue!). I'm sure they will look adorable. An evening to remember...
Okay, so now we need a dress. That one was easy. She has a really cute, dressy dress from Easter last year. Shoes...yup easy. The silver shoes from the holidays are still fitting just fine. (Probably the good moms go out and a buy a brand new dress with matching shoes.) So far this is turning out to be pretty painless (and cheap! I love cheap!).
Fast forward to last night. I finally got out of Garth that he really didn't want to wear a suit. He was pretty sure khaki pants would look better with her dress. If you know him, you know he's quite the fashionista. You can tell by his high maintenance hairstyle. So anyway, I had this little dream in my head that his shirt/tie should at least somewhat match Claire's dress. I assume that could be accomplished at Target. We popped in there last night and they had all of 6 ties choices, and about the same choices of button down shirts. Claire really liked the baby pink tie, which her agreeable daddy said was fine, but I didn't. Her dress isn't baby pink, it's more coral pink. A baby pink tie simply wasn't going to work. I was starting to sweat just a little.
We're on the way home and a plan was forming in my head. The kids were really looking forward to watching "Megamind" for their Friday Night Movie. So, Garth can settle in with them and I'll run up to Kohls. About this time it occurs to me, that we never really settled "the corsage" issue. Do we need one? Do we not? Time to call in the experts. I texted a veteran mom. Me: What's the deal with the corsage for the Daddy-Daughter Dance? Do we need one? She immediately texts me back: Oh yes. Some sort of flower is highly advised. Me: Fine. I'll find something to strap to her wrist. Geesh!
So now I'm on my way to Kohls, with a side trip to Hobby Lobby. I can accomplish anything with a glue gun! I'm thinking the chances of just popping into a florist and picking up a corsage are slim. Plus, I have no idea what that costs. So at this point, I'm taking control of the situation, and making it myself. Totally, lucked out. The whole aisle of brideal gaudiness was 1/2 off. I picked up enough stuff to make a gorgeous (well, maybe slightly tacky) wrist corsage fit for a princess. Fortunately she's at that age, where lots of ribbons, pearls, and fluff make for a successful fashion statement.
Next stop Kohls, PERFECT tie! Matches her dress and everything! I was quite excited. Ran home, plugged in the glue gun and got busy being the florist that I'm not! Corsage came togehter. Shirt and tie fit hubby. All is well.
So tonight they embark on their big adventure. I did not make them reservations at a 4 star restaurant or rent a limo. Hopefully, those things aren't mandatory. She will be rightfully claiming her role as Daddy's Princess. She picked out a little tiara comb hair accessory at Target that I must get into her hair (oh, the pressue!). I'm sure they will look adorable. An evening to remember...
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