No Good, Very Bad Day

That was yesterday. I went to the Y, in the morning, with the girls, to try a step class. I used to love it in Sherwood, had the best instructors, but here they have it at odd times or combine it with other stuff. I am just not diehard enough to combine a step class with another 20 minutes of abs and weightlifting. Of course, back in Sherwood, we had this teacher who would eat a pie or two, over the weekend, and then make us pay for it. I wish she would've warned me, I would've eaten my own pie. Anyway, this lady here was crazy as well, never take a class from someone who acts like the Energizer bunny. I left a bit early, collected the girls and went to start my van. The a/c was working great, except for the two driver's vents that were blowing hot air. You know for here in Texas, where we are having an awful heat wave and at 10 in the morning it was almost 90 degrees. I was already dripping and it just got worse. I drove home, trying to get some ideas out of my dad (our family car guy) about what it might be. Unfortunately the magic school bus has basically a fighter cockpit and Dad hasn't had as much experience with Hondas. I head into my room to call the local dealership and I hear a gigantic smash from the kitchen. Buttercup went to empty the dishwasher and dropped one of my glass measuring cups.
Last week, Fiona dropped one. Her reaction? Burst into tears and say, "I'm so sorry Mama." Buttercup's? To leap away from it and say, " I didn't do it." But I was in my room, Fiona was vacuuming her room and the cats were nowhere to be seen...maybe we have a ghost that just hates glass measuring cups.
I kept trying to get a hold of TD to figure out what we should do with the car and the man never answers any of his communications. We got him a cell phone after Fiona got diagnosed, but he never carries it. Moe wasn't even answering anything. I was getting so frustrated I had to call another sister and have her talk me down. Of course, her idea of tucking in to the pan of brownies on my countertop, while effective, was probably not the best. She did offer to send some plastic liquid measuring cups for Christmas. I called TD again and threatened to code red him using some superglue and his cell phone.
All of this wouldn't have been as bad if we hadn't dropped $700 on his car the day before. If he loved his car, it would be one thing, but I bought it last year, while he was driving a SportTrac that got about 12 miles to the gallon, during the $4 a gallon gas woes. It was exactly what he asked for, but somehow it's not exactly what he envisioned. So I take it as a personal affront because I drove all over the Houston area and managed to locate the one Honda Civic (that gets over 30mpg) in captivity. It had a few issues and I think we took it to the wrong place, talk about highway robbery.
So we get the van into the dealership and a shuttle ride home. Which left us with only the afore mentioned Civic and the 5 of us. That meant that we all had to get up with Moe and TD because they needed to leave for work at 7am and we needed the car because Fiona had her monthly trip to Texas Childrens' today. (Is it bad that I want to sneak over to the neonatal ICU and try to see the doctor from TLC's The Little Couple?) So I worked out at the Y near TD's work and hung out with the girls for 8 hours of near solid togetherness.
Can I just say how much I hate cars? I really shouldn't complain. I LOVE our minivan and we bought an extended warranty with it and the a/c problem was covered with no deductible. I am so grateful for that. I just didn't need to deal with all of that yesterday and today.

I got Tagged...

which almost never happens, so I will do it!
FOUR THINGS:

Four Jobs I have had in my life:
1) McDonalds, from basic fry person, to shift manager, 5 years of high school and college.
2) Temp, right after college
3) Media Buyer for an ad agency, crazy boss, fun job
4) Mom

Four Movies I can Watch Over and Over
1) Last of the Mohicans
2) The Mummy
3) 27 dresses (didn't even want to watch it in the first place, LOVE James Marsden)
4) Lord of the Rings

Four TV Shows I watch
1) The Office
2) Tori and Dean
3) Househunters
4) ER (there are still reruns!)

Four Places I have been on Vacation
1) Honolulu
2) Orlando
3) Atlanta
4) New Orleans (pre and post Katrina)

Four Place I have Lived
1) Medford, OR
2) Eugene, OR
3) Sherwood, OR
4) Houston, TX

Four Places I would rather be right now
1) Hawaii
2) a bookstore, sans kids
3) Asleep, cuz that's just a good answer
4) the Y

Four of my favorite Foods
1) Cracklin' Oat Bran
2) a good salad
3) Steak
4) Baked Goods, preferably baked by me

Four websites I visit daily
1) the library website to check if books are in
2) hotmail
3) Facebook
4) most of my friends blogs

Tags?
1) Danielle, because she should be totally bored this week!
2) YONF, either one because I just don't know what you two have been up to for a while
3) Jamie, because she might not have anything better to do when she's up in the middle of the night
4)And Lori because she hasn't posted in Forever! And I'm wondering what's up with her.

Things to Worry about in the Future

So, I am lying here in the condo, watching TV. I came across Little People, Big World, on TLC. I don't think I have ever really watched the show before. I did want to see their pumpkin patch, but we moved right before Halloween and after I figured out where they were. This episode is about the daughter 'graduating' from 8th grade. We just finished the graduation season and I marvel at the way celebrations have sprung up for everything! I mean, she's 14 and it's 8th grade and her mom took her out and bought her basically a prom dress to wear for this. I was talking to the girls about high school graduation earlier. I told them to come and find me when they graduate from college. It cracks me up to hear these 18 years refer to themselves as men and women and marvel at their adulthood. This isn't one of those, oh, I am so much older than you. I didn't feel like an adult for the longest time. When I had Buttercup, I told TD I guess I could refer to myself as a woman. I was still only 23, so I didn't particularly feel that way.
Buttercup 'graduated' from 4th grade this year. This is only because our school district has an intermediate school for 5th and 6th grades. They had a graduation party where some kid won a bike.
Back to this episode, so this dress... It was a halter and half of the back was bare. After they brought the dress home, the daughter brought out a note from school saying that spaghetti straps, strapless and bare shoulders weren't welcome. The mom ended up writing a note to the school because she felt like her daughter's dress was modest and she should be able to decide what her child could wear. This is modest? Then the girl goes out to get her hair done. She does end up getting a jacket that covers her shoulders.
I see all of these things and I think I talked before about how things are a bit more formal here in Texas than they were in Oregon. Seeing stuff like this worries me. I know Buttercup is very conscious of how she fits in with her peers and I have been walking a fine line between fitting in and keeping with our own values and ideas. I mean Buttercup could have a new dress, if she wanted one, but one that she could wear to church and not one that would be more appropriate for a formal for an older girl.
I don't know, what do you think? Especially those of you with older children. Was this over the top or are you seeing this with your own kids in their schools? Either way, I think my girls are going to be disappointed in my lack of excitement over the celebration of expected accomplishments, ie my children will have no problem graduating from high school and shouldn't expect us to hire a limo, rent out a hall and have a celebrity DJ flown in....like I said, " Get back to me when you graduate from college."

Another Trip

I get to take another trip this summer. My baby brother is getting married! We used TD's airline miles to buy a ticket and I am going alone! That's right, alone! I never get to take a trip by myself.
So, last time we came, I got to meet up with some friends and I would love to do it again. So! Who's up? I will be flying into Medford on the 20th of August and flying out on the 24th. I am so excited. My dad said that he's excited to see me again so soon, this time when he's not under the influence of drugs.
Now my parents will actually be empty nesters. That will be so weird for them.

Still Here

I can't seem to pull myself away from the beach. It's been hot here, but we go in the morning and the late afternoon and the water is amazing. This morning we did have to get out for a few minutes due to suspected shark sighting. We weren't too worried.

The girls and I have taken up boogie boarding and you would be amazed at how quickly Fiona adapted to the water. Maybe it's due to my growing up in the Oregon coast water where getting in past your knees would get you called a daredevil. But she slapped on some goggles and has been swimming like a fish.

This has been the best vacation. I think it's because we came down here without an itinerary. All of our other vacations, except Hawaii, required significant lists of things that had to be done. This time, we have done a lot of nothing. It's been great. It also helps that we aren't sharing a room with the girls.

Happy Birthday to Me

I have given up mothering for the day. Which probably explains why I did this to my firstborn.

She didn't seem to mind.
I had a great time myself.

More Productive

That's the way I wish I could be today. I started my new set of pills last night. The pharmacist recommended that I take them at night in order to sleep through the side effects. I was taking them around 8am and feeling bad at 2pm. So, last night I took my pill, along with 2 benadryls at 8pm. I took the benadryls for the knots in my neck because they relax me more than muscle relaxers. Anyway, I was looking forward to nothing until morning. But at 2am, I woke up so sick to my stomach. I laid in bed for a few minutes, got up and took one of Fiona's good anti-nausea meds and then laid back down for a few more minutes. Then I got up and puked. SCORE! Seriously, one pill? I think I might be better equipped to deal with nausea during the day, surfing the internet and watching TV. Laying there, in the dark, just made me feel sicker, plus I was too tired from the benadryl to get up and move somewhere else.
After that, I laid awake for an hour, trying to get back to sleep. I wasn't nauseous any more, but the feeling you get right after you puke isn't the best either. Oh and this morning, while putting on my makeup, I saw that I had burst tiny blood vessels around my eyes, giving me purple freckles. The last time I did this was while pregnant with Fiona. The girls assure me that if I don't point it out, no one gets that close to me anyway.
Ugh, maybe it will be a one time thing. After I got up this morning, I succumbed to the girls' pestering and moved both of their beds into one room. The other room will be a dressing/play room. It does look pretty cozy and hopefully it will keep them from having sleepovers in the Wii room and making it a big giant mess. Sometimes, I feel like I can't let people past the front door because it looks like a bedding store threw up in there. Haha, threw up.

End of School Daze

I often wonder what the kids do all day during the last week of school. They come home with tales of laying around, reading, playing board games. Is it the adult equivalent of what I watched at church on Sunday? The adults, in Sunday School, were putting away their scriptures and papers while the teacher was giving a heartfelt closing. I was so aware of what was going on, I closed everything and looked straight at her the whole time. I am almost always guilty of that, wanting to be prepared to just get the heck out. So, as the school year end, the teachers are just marking time? It makes me think they should just end the school year, when they are done teaching stuff.
Today Fiona had pet day. Kids sign up to bring their pets and their parents show up at the appropriate time, pet in tow, or in hands (someone brought a snake, blech). Fiona wanted to bring Tessa, but she is our skittish, hide under the bed sort of gal. I corralled Dukie and hardly got out the door when he started whining. Big time. He turned into a total chicken. I stopped at the crosswalk, in front of our house, on my way over, because a squirrel had the right of way. That's right, a squirrel was crossing at the crosswalk. I think he might've noticed all of the smashed squirrels in the roads lately and decided to give himself a fighting chance.
I could only stay for a few minutes and show off Dukie to those who wanted to see him specifically. He was shaking and panting and howling. What a wimp. After bringing him home and letting him out, I gave him a few treats. I took the carrier back out to the garage in the hopes that after he takes his daylong nap, he will assume it was a bad dream.
Tomorrow the girls have pizza day, put on by the PTO. I promised each that I would attend their lunch for a few minutes. It's the last few days of my freedom and I am spending it with them and a whole bunch of other loud kids. Buttercup also said she would be having doughnuts in the morning. Seriously.
As for me, I went to pick up my first refill of pills and I told the pharmacist all of the things that have been happening. She said to call my doc and ask for a different type. Apparently if you are having all of the side effects, it would be okay to ask for a different kind. I hope I don't have to get readjusted to the new pills.
I also booked our condo in Destin, FL and arranged for a stop off in New Orleans. I figure the girls would enjoy some beignets and the aquarium where TD and I pet a shark. Of course, this presumes the girls make it through the first couple weeks of summer break. If it's anything like the screaming I am currently listening to, it's not a given.