Like Sands through the Hourglass...

So, I don't know if it's just me, but I remember when I was a little kid and time used to drag, pretty much everywhere I went. Waiting for Christmas, waiting for school to get out or summer to come. Now, I don't know if it's because I am a grown-up or because I have kids, but time speeds by and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do to stop it. It's gotten so bad lately that I find myself wanting to go to bed late and get up early so I can do all of the fun things, as well as the boring things, I can fit into the day. Lately, Moe and I want to play Wii and time just flies by when we do that. I think it helps that we don't have a clock in the Wii room and we can just pretend that defeating that particular level only took a few minutes instead of the hour and a half it really did. Or, I have books that somehow are due already at the library when it seems that I just checked them out. Or go swimming and workout at the Y. I think it's been reading that has been tossed by the wayside, at least compared to how much I usually do. Oh, and also the blog writing. I guess it's hard to come up with intelligent things to talk about when your mind is focused on defeating the Emperor and collecting studs (lego studs, they're the money in the game you can use to buy special powers and people and vehicles).

Do you feel the same? Does time still drag for you like it did when you were a kid or do you find yourself wondering where the day, week, month, year has gone? I can't believe tomorrow is July.

On another note, does anyone out there have special advice on dealing with curly hair? If she had been born with curly hair, I think I would've slowly figured out how to deal with it, but all of a sudden, BAM!, she's got all of these curls and they are being abused between the continued chemo and sun and chlorine from the pool. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I don't like my girls looking like ragmuffins!

Buttercup is Perturbed

Moe and I have been having a great time playing our new Wii game. I think Buttercup has seen a whole new side of me. In the midst of attempting to defeat our foes, Moe and I have been having some serious giggle fits,as well as screaming DIE!! at the television. I seriously have not laughed this hard in years. I think it has something to do with legos pieces being dismembered by Chewbacca or "force"-d apart by Darth Vader, or us inadvertantly killing each other. Buttercup caught me playing with her sister today and when we finally defeated a particularly hard level, using some excellent team work skills, I did a happy dance. I must admit it involved some running man. I think it's good for Buttercup to see that adults can cut lose and act silly. As long as I don't do it in public.......
Oh, and are you kidding? I don't have pictures of us....apparently it's not very attractive. Whatever.

I May be an Addict

I bought this game recently, having heard that the game is pretty good. I haven't bonded with any of the games we have for the Wii, clearly dressing Hannah Montana isn't my bag. I do really like the Wii fit. They have a lot of fun games that I really enjoy.
I let the girls play, really just to keep them quiet, especially for Fiona's sake. Then Buttercup didn't want to play any more, so I came out to set up the game for Fiona to play alone. I got it working, she watched what I was doing and picked up the other remote and started her character going again! We had a good time playing together. She eventually got bored, but I was really into it and played for a couple of hours. Some of the levels are really fun, others are nauseating! ugh. I woke up this morning with my left thumb hurting...go figure.
The really funny thing is it's rated E-10 for cartoon violence and we are really talking cartoon. Neither of my girls got particularly upset seeing the lego action figures fly apart.

Tummy Problems and Security Leaks

This is what I am sitting next to right now at 8am. This chemo round has been considerably tougher on Fiona. She's had a lot more stomach cramping and painful joints. We were scheduled to go to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, Texas as a fun thing to do for both my birthday and Father's Day, but hubby started feeling not so good about it. He was right to want to keep us home, Fiona has been melting down a lot more. I feel bad for her. I don't know if it's because she's no longer on a schedule with school that keeps her distracted from her pains, or if we have been overdoing it. So....this morning she is eating a Lunchable for breakfast, in my bed, while watching Star Wars: A New Hope. We have to stick with what works best, huh?

On scarier news, the security and anonymity of my blog may have been compromised, (Hi Mom?). I hope not. Somehow the news of my father's heart problem leaked quicker through Oregon than it should've and my blog got blamed. I hope it won't be found because I have sincerely enjoyed being able to discuss issues without fear of reprisal. Either way, I am going to continue to post and not even remove things that might be thought of as offensive or questionable.

Phone Call Etiquette

So, tomorrow is both my birthday and Father's Day. This doesn't happen often, it did the day I was born. My dad was wondering who should call who first...is Father's Day more important than a birthday or vice versa. My dad is quite the outspoken sort of guy, not to be outdone. So, in his grand scheme of things he thought he would find a way to get me to call first...today no less. How did he do this? My mom called and said at 2am she took him to the hospital because he was having chest pains, sweating and nausea. I got to talk to him around lunch, our time. He said they had gone through most of the tests, finding nothing and he was feeling okay. I teased him saying he just had to be the most important one. I guess as the father of nine kids, he's pretty darn important.
My sister called later this afternoon and said he had a narrowing near the bottom of his heart and they were going to do angioplasty on Monday. I told Dad earlier that he had better be prepared for a chewing out by his doctor. It might even been Emily Anne's dad, who is also my dad's Bishop. Or maybe Liz and Anne's dad might appreciate the business, considering how much business his family brought the auto bodyshop my dad used to manage.
So, this Father's Day is a bit different for him. He's not one of the hospital regulars in our family, like me, Fiona, her cousin Rachel, and my mom. Hopefully he can manage laying in bed all day and then get ready to start a new way of life....without saturated fats and with plenty of exercise.
***This is quite the old picture, nearly 12 years, but it was the easiest to lay my hands on at this time of night.

Zumba

I have an inner dancing queen that just needs to get out!

Moe Has Arrived

We spent Monday cleaning the house in preparation for Tuesday when we went to the Houston Airport to pick up Moe. It's sort of weird not having anything to do, house-wise, but nice to have all of that done for the week. Of course, I don't think I want to make myself crazy for a day and a half every week in order to enjoy some semblance of peace.
She is amazed at Houston. She heard the same things we did, oh it's too hot down there, it's ugly and brown, nothing grows...I could go on and on about all of the bad things I have heard about down here. It's 8 months today and I have had nothing but great days weather wise. 8 months of perfect weather never happened in Portland, so...already we are better off. We are getting her used to the area before letting her loose with a car. I have to say I was a bit intimidated when we drove to our new apartment from the airport, although I think that had more to do with the plane ride and wrestling the cat through airport security, but the sideways stoplights threw me for a loop.
I took Moe to her first Zumba class yesterday. That does take some getting used to. We nicknamed the teacher Gumby because I swear she has no bones in her body. Moe wants to get more fit while living with us and I am happy to have a new project. I think projects help to keep me from getting bored with being a SAHM. Plus being a SAHM gives me time for new projects.
Buttercup didn't score as well as we would've like on the state math test and she is being assigned a lot of math this summer. It would seem that once she conquers things like addition and subtraction, they sort of fall out of her head to make room for multiplication. So, we are trying to have daily flash card runs and coming up with incentives to have her finish books of math problems. I offered her a new book from Barnes and Noble if she finished the 2nd grade math book in a week and she basically did it in a day. I guess we just need to get her motivated...

Journaling by a 6 year old

The girls and I spent the afternoon cleaning up their rooms. I told them I was cleaning the house thoroughly so that Moe could appreciate the beauty that is our new home. Really, it was a chance to do some serious decluttering and spring cleaning. I got rid of a trash bag and a half out of Buttercup's room and another trash bag in Fiona's. We were finally done when I brought in the vacuum. There was a serious amount of food crumbies under Fiona's bed, so I moved the bed over and started picking stuff up when I found this.

Fiona was kind enough to date it, I don't remember exactly what happened that day. It says (I will clean up the spelling for you) Dear Mom, From (Fiona) I do not like being yelled at. I feel sad. I chuckled over this and I called her in to ask her about. She started, with a furrowed brow, reading the first part of the note. When she got to the I do not like, a change came over her face and she started looking embarrassed. I had to laugh at her. She said she felt bad over what she did, not the fact that I yelled(?) at her. I can't think of hardly any time when I have yelled at her. She has such a tender heart and between that, her cute little face and her sad cancer girl status, it breaks my heart to even get upset with her. Hubby feels the same way. It's a good thing she behaves so well because disciplining her isn't the most fun. But I do love it when I find these little notes. I collect the best ones and put them in her journal. This way she can check out her mad writing skills when she gets older.

How Things Are

I looked and realized it has been quite some time (for me) since I posted last. Summer Vacation comes early to Texas and the girls have been home with me all week. We swim in the morning and the evening; much more activity than I am used to.

Moe is still headed for Texas. I thought that was a great suggestion for my little sister's nickname. She graduates and turns 18 this week and is headed here on Tuesday. We are trying to get things extra clean here so we don't have to clean as much the first few weeks she is here. She hasn't been on an airplane before and there are so many things for her and us to see.

I volunteered to make the birthday treats for our youth girls group every time someone has a birthday. This has helped me out because Hubby has called a moratorium on baked goods while he whittles his waist back down into his regular pants. Long hours and lunches out haven't been the best for him. Anyway, I found this recipe on Bakerella and they are so yummy. I didn't put them on the sticks, but they still turned out lovely. I enjoy being able to eat a few treats and also share with others.
We have had the Wii Fit for over 2 weeks now and it's still wildly fun. One thing I don't appreciate is that it wants you to have a weight loss goal and it expects you to take regular body tests where it weighs you and calculates BMI. I had a 2lb gain one week and it called me on it and gave a list of what I might attribute it to.....since hormonal water retention wasn't on there, I had to put "I don't know". Of course, it was the first to congratulate me the next week when it was gone.
This is the picture I see on a regular basis now! The heat has shown up and it hasn't bothered me that much. I remember when the thought of a 90 degree day in Portland was enough to make me want to cry. Now, I am not sure if it's hot enough to swim. Weird!
So, life is going well down here. The girls can't wait to see their auntie and I am looking forward to hanging out with my little sister.