week(4) 2013

Week 4, January 20 - January 26

random

I just rearranged my office, yet again. I guess my hobby is finding places to put items used in my supposed hobbies. I have a whole lot of furniture crammed in my office, but I guess an office is meant to be used. --- Sunday

D missed his flight home last night. It was a looooongg weekend, so I was not pleased. I kept wondering why this weekend was long since it's not like I haven't been with A on my own plenty of weekends. And during the week, I do almost all the childcare because of D's schedule. The I realized it's because of Abbie. Abbie is like having a toddler in the house. A toddler who fascinates and scares Avery. It's not Avery I need a break from, it's Abbie. As I always say, it's a good thing puppies are so damn cute. --- Monday

Abbie

Abbie has two beds: one is in the living room in front of the fire place; the other is in my office under my desk. She has three crates: one in my car; one in our bedroom (where she sleeps at night); one in the kitchen. We have plenty o' places for her to sleep and relax. You can see where my priorities lie. She also has a bin full of toys kept in the living room. 

Crate training is going a little better. Last night I was able to put her in the crate in the kitchen and leave the room to go upstairs to read to Avery. Every other attempt at this has resulted in her crying and whining the entire time I'm gone. This time, she did it for about 1-2 minutes, then settled down quietly. --- Sunday

Potty training is not going well. Poop accidents are now happening. Just when it seems as if progress could be happening, we take two steps back. Sigh. I could analyze with this is so, but instead I shall sit here and feel sorry for myself. The one highlight of all this is that she's good at night. I can put her in the crate at 9/10 (or whenever I go to bed) and she can make it until at least 6 without whining to get out. Yesterday she made it past 7. So at least there's that. --- Monday

PT continued ... After a horrible 24+ hours of several pee and poop accidents in the house, Abbie, for the first time, scratched the door to go outside to pee.  I am obsessed with the thought of getting the carpet cleaners in here. While I'm not a germaphobe (RHG can attest to this) the thought of having urine and poo in my carpet for any length of time (despite my cleaning of such spots) grosses me out. I was so grateful when today's earlier poop accident at least happened on the hardwoods. I guess I should also be thankful that Abbie seems to handle most food without intestinal distress (fingers crossed that remains true). --- Monday

After a horrible three days of Abbie potty training, D arrived home from his trip and said we're doing it D's way now. So it's in the crate or outside for Abbie until she learns where to potty. I've amended it to be she can be inside with me on the leash. --- Tuesday 

Potty training is getting somewhat better, but she's still not there. Last night, in the evening, let her our of her crate to go outside. She made a beeline to avoid the door and then peed on the kitchen floor as a result. She is currently asleep underneath my desk. Lest you think she spends her whole life in her crate, she gets to go with me on most trips, we do at least once daily walks, she is near me when I'm on the computer (either on her bed or under my desk), and we have puppy play sessions where she just tears through the house like a crazy puppy.  --- Thursday 

Christie came over yesterday to help me out with introducing Abbie and Barkley. Since Barkley is a bit weird around Mom sometimes (protective isn't exactly the right word - more like he's less predictable with other dogs maybe because her attention is diverted? who knows), I decided that I didn't want Mom to be there when Abbie and Barkley met. Mom took Avery and Henry to the park while Christie walked Barkley and I walked Abbie. The meeting between the two was just fine. The walk with the two was just fine. The playing in the yard was just fine. All was just fine. At one point, I left Abbie and Barkley out on the deck and came inside. I was watching them when I saw Abbie get all scared of Barkley. However, nothing Barkley did should have caused this. He's good about not pursuing her if she is backing away from him. Anyway, I now I have no worries about having the two of them here together. They'll usually be apart anyway since Barkley prefers to be outside and Abbie prefers to be anywhere I am. --- Monday

tables

office / crafting den
We have been buying tables galore here at CdT. More specifically  I have been buying them. And I've only bought two, so I'm not sure galore applies. But I bought them within days of each other for the same room, so that seems a bit galorish to me. Plus, I facilitated in Mom buying a new kitchen table.

First, I bought a table that I thought I could use as my sewing table. I measured my space and the table before I bought it, but what I didn't think of was the weight the extending table arms would bear on a constant basis. Both sides of the table can be lowered, making it a compact cabinet should I ever choose to go that route. The sides can definitely bear the weight of the machines for a period of time (weeks, months), but were they to be the permanent home for my sewing machine and serger, there would start to be sagging/problems. So it's now where I keep my paper cutter. I use the large paper cutter (thank you Dag & Rosie!) surprisingly often. Up until now I haven't had a flat surface on which to store it permanently, so it's been stored against the wall in various locations. I also use the surface when I'm doing a project to lay out my bits to be assembled. It's working very nicely.

And since, when I'm actually sewing, I like having the machine out and easily available, I needed some sort of table for them. So I looked on Craig's List and found this craft table. It's made of melamine, so it's very sturdy and well made. D was horrified as he thinks it's really ugly, but I'm all about functionality. So far it's working very nicely, though I haven't actually sewn* at it yet. I have used it to do some paper crafting and it works very nicely. The stools below also work quite well. The space on the left is Avery's desk in my office so she has a place to do her stuff when I'm in here.

The slots below the table will eventually house some wooden crates I bought. I measured the space and came up with the following dimensions as an ideal container: 11" x 10.5" x 2.75". I thought there's no way in hell I'm going to be able to find anything close to that size. I entered the size into Google and hoped for the best. I found the EXACT measurements I was looking for. Exact. I was just hoping to find some cardboard boxes I could cut down and re-cover, but wooden crates are even better. And the right size. Be still my beating heart.

I also got around to storing my fabric in a way that will allow me to see what I have more easily. I blogged about this method back when I bought the scanner that allowed me to go paperless. It's embarrassing the amount of fabric I have given the small number of projects I've actually done. Also, don't look closely at the fabric since most of it is quite hideous. Some was picked by Avery, some was bought because it was on sale, and some I have no idea how I ended up with it.

* It's been a long time since I've done any sewing. I find I really enjoy it when I do it, but I have trouble starting new projects.

thanksgiving
Mom joined the three of us for Thanksgiving this year. It was a really good Thanksgiving. D volunteered to cook, so he did the bulk of the cooking work. I did the stuffing-substitute and the clean-up. Mom cooked the pie and cheesecake, helped with clean-up, and took Avery out for a nice, long walk whilst D and I napped after eating. Pretty much a darn near perfect Thanksgiving in my book.

For the stuffing-substitute, I decided to go with risotto. That sounds really weird until you eat risotto with turkey and discover that it has the same comforting effect that stuffing does. So we had baked risotto (sooooo much easier than making it the usual way) with our turkey. I do miss real stuffing, but what can I do?

Mom made a gluten-free apple pie. I greatly appreciate it since the GF dough is a pain in the butt for Mom to work with. It's apparently just harder to manipulate. However, both D and I prefer the GF crust to a regular crust, so it works out nicely for us. Thanks, Mom!

ranking
I asked Avery to rank her current four activities in order of preference. I explained that I would try to schedule as many activities as I could, but that sometimes the class times conflict with each other or other activities, so I needed her ranking. Her results:

1. ballet (no surprise there)
2. kung fu (I was surprised this was #2)
3. soccer (I was shocked this was #3 - I expected it to be last)
4. gymnastics (I expected this to be #2)

I'm glad she's enjoying kung fu so much. 

stumped

... that is stumped for a subject

organizing
For some reason I was sleepy all day yesterday. I took two naps. This, of course, resulted in a burst of energy about 9 pm onward. I stayed up until about 1:30 this morning cleaning and organizing and reorganizing. I got a lot done. I continued with this effort today. It always feels good to get this type of stuff done.

I decided to move my sewing machine into my office so the serger and the sewing machine are in the same spot. This means the ugly fold out table I bought at Home Depot is more permanent. I'd like to put in a table with some shelves above it for sewing, however, I can't justify that cost given how much - or more accurately how little - I sew. I am liking having the sewing machine in my office because it can access my computer for looking up things, etc.

You might be wondering why I have so much time on my hands today when Avery's home with me. Well, she's been tidying her room for about 4 hours now. It's like pulling teeth to get her to do it. I clearly need to find a new system for getting her to do it, but for now, at least I've found a way to get her to play on her own: just tell her to tidy her room and her imagination explodes. Note: it was very quiet, so I went up to check on her and she fell asleep on a mountain of blankets in her room.

washing machine
You may remember (thought I doubt it) when my washing machine started acting up a couple of years ago. I was pondering whether I should get it fixed or buy a new one. During that time, it magically fixed itself and started working again. Today is has started acting up again. I decided that since I'm happy with the way it cleans clothes when it is working, it's probably more economical to get it fixed than to buy a new one. The repairman will come tomorrow afternoon.

dogs
And now I just wasted an hour looking at dogs online. I don't want a dog! But I want a dog. But I don't! But I do. I go back and forth. I love not having to deal with the mess. I love not having to get up to attend to yet another being in the house. However, I miss having a pet. What I really want is a hypoallergenic kitten, but I'm afraid that I'll pay a bunch of money for one and then D will still be allergic to it. Sigh. Oh, and plus Avery has started to ask for a dog.

Ceiling

Handy stuff
The handyman was here for.ev.er yesterday. He got her at 10 AM and left about 7:30 PM. Installing those hanging ceiling storage racks turned into quite a difficult thing. After two trips to Home Depot, those suckers were finally hung.

I thought I'd have to buy a taller ladder to reach the items stored up there, but I was easily able to load all the items myself.

I also had him install a medicine cabinet in the bathroom downstairs to make Mom's stay with us more comfortable. It's IKEA, which I don't think of as good quality. However, I have to say, I'm very pleased with the quality (for the price) of this cabinet and the cabinet in our bathroom from IKEA.

And I had him switch out all the lights in Avery's room and the playroom (formerly the tan guest room) so that all of them are now LED lights. Basically, I am trying to avoid calling the electrician to fix the actual issue, which is that one of our circuits/fuses (?) is overloaded such that if we have all the lights on in Avery's room, the playroom, and then have maybe one light in the guest room on, the fuse will almost certainly blow. I figured if I reduced the amount of electricity being used in the two most used rooms ... Yeah, the fuse blew last night, then again this morning. Grrrr.

Mom's quarters*
The preparation of Mom's quarters is going well. We moved the couch that was in our living room down there, as well as the chair.

It's turning into a nice little apartment down there. Not necessarily from a decor standpoint, but from a functional standpoint. When Mom's stuff gets here, we'll get her TV set up down there and have the cable company activate that port so she'll have her own TV. D pointed out that we have an extra TiVo for her, too. It's not an HD TiVo, but it'll do for a few months.

* quarters sounds so much better than basement, doesn't it?

Travel, travel, travel - March is the month
I can't believe Mexico is less than a week away!  I also can't believe that when we get back from Mexico, I'll only have one full day here and then be off to Colorado for a long weekend for D's work. Then a couple of weeks later I'll be back in Colorado helping Mom move. Mom and I will drive her car, with Barkley, from CO here. We've decided upon Bossypants as our audiobook for the trip.

Reuse

Reuse
When D and I have left Avery at the G's for our trips in the past, I've left a small gift for each kid to open on each day that we're gone. This gets to be a bit of a stuff management problem for RHG, so this time I'll buy one small gift for each kid and then make daily cards for them to retrieve from an envelope mounted on some cardboard. Today I spent the afternoon making everything to assemble the cards and envelopes. I still need to assemble and then fill out the cards.

Since it's an ongoing project that I don't want Avery to see, I needed to find a place to store the project. Then I remembered a couple of boxes - with new configurations - from Amazon that arrived recently. I usually break boxes down immediately because otherwise we'd have cardboard boxes coming out of our ears, but I thought I might find a use for them. And I did! It's like the box was made for such a purpose. I just cut the top and side flaps off and voila!

Then I just filed the boxes away.

Easy to reuse, the perfect shape, easy to line up next to each other. Perfect. I love when I am able to reuse things.

Gluten

---

Reintroduction of Gluten

I decided that despite the fact I'm still sick, I would reintroduce gluten today as planned.  I felt like waiting to get better is just pointless as it seems my destiny is to be sick for the rest of my life.  I've been on the elimination diet for 26 days, which means I've been sick for 24 days since I was only well for day 1 and day 2 of the diet.  Anyway, this morning, I decided I would eat as I normally have been, but add a sandwich.  That way I know that it's not just because I didn't eat a balanced breakfast.  So I had my usual brown rice cereal (oh how I love thee), chicken for protein, and then an almond butter and jelly sandwich.  I guess I usually have some fruit, but I forgot that part.

I started getting a headache around noon.  Since I'm still so sick with other crap, I realized this is the error of reintroducing when not feeling 100%.  However, now I have a sign I haven't had the whole time I've been on the diet and sick with one ailment or another: I'm so nauseated.  And I'm also feeling that oh-so-familiar pull to take a nap.  So, I think gluten is out for the moment.  The naturopath said it's entirely possible I might be sensitive/reactive to gluten (or something else) now, but be able to resume eating it in six months or so. The next step is to not eat any more gluten, wait for these symptoms to clear up, then introduce dairy.

---

Doctors

Tomorrow I have appointments with both my naturopathic doctor and my Western doctor.  I'm thinking of going to a witch doctor also, you know, just to cover all the bases (ba-dum-dum).  I'm going to the Western doc because I'm pretty sure I have a sinus infection.  I know that my mucus glands are in overtime at the moment.  Despite having bought a good 20 boxes of Kleenex on Superbowl Sunday, we're out of fresh boxes.  And I'm out in my car, too.  So I had to take a tp roll when I took Avery to school today.  Here's a picture of what the roll looked like when I returned home just 3 hours later.  I didn't use this for anything other than blowing my nose.  Notice the better-than-usual picture quality, though granted it's the usual poor photography skills as evidenced by the shadow in the bottom of the picture.  Avery seems to have hidden my camera.  Since I was planning to buy a new point-and-shoot camera soon anyway, I did that this weekend.

After on the left; right, size of roll before Mucus Fest 2011

---

Guilt

Avery will be in school for four days this week. Count them: FOUR! I feel really guilty about this, particularly since I'll be leaving on Friday.  However, it's just the way it worked out given she missed school due to weather last week, needs to go on Friday since I'm gone, and then typically goes on Tuesday and Thursday.  I'm picking her up early so we can still go to swim lessons tonight.

I don't know why I feel guilty since Avery loves going to school.  She couldn't wait to get there and join in on the walk the kids were doing on the fifth floor.  Odd activity if you ask me - walking around the office building floors - but I guess that is just what you do when the weather is crappier than usual and the school/daycare is in an office building.  

---

Problem solver

I am a problem solver.  Never mind I've had this problem for three years, I have solved it and that is what matters most.  I have never been able to find a trash bag that works for my car.  I don't like hanging things off the knobs in the front of my car.  For a long time I hung a little bag off the divider thingy in the center console. However, that bag was never big enough since I go through a lot of Kleenexes (thanks for those genes, Mom).  Finally, I decided to make myself a trash receptacle out of a shoe box, then fasten the Kleenex box to the top. That way I wouldn't lose the spot where I keep my Kleenex box, and would have a larger, more easily accessible bin for trash.   It's working perfectly.  It's easy to empty, easy to access, and the Kleenex box stays in place.  Of course, since I'm out of Kleenex boxes at the moment, I doesn't look nearly as impressive as a show box with a hole in it should look, but trust me, it's impressive.  Well, it's functional.

---

Post-it Folders

There's nothing too fancy about this, but it's darn handy.  Did you know you can get these holders that you fasten to the wall using the same type of sticky stuff as is used on Post-It Notes?  That means you don't have to worry about damaging a cabinet.  And you can move it if necessary.  Such a great idea for temporary things that you don't want to have fastened to the wall.

I am definitely going to use one for receipts around the holidays.  Before, I've always found an old shoe box that then gets moved around.  Everyone is supposed to put their holiday receipts into that so we at least know where all receipts are for any necessary returns.  That works well enough, but this will work much better. 

Late

Morning Rush

Avery and I didn't wake up until 8:30 today.  D gave her milk at some point this morning, which is why she slept later.  I had an appointment at 9:00, so I knew it was going to be a mad rush.  I hopped in the shower, got dressed, got Avery dressed and was out the door by 9:00.  I dropped off Avery at school and was "only" 20 minutes late for my appointment.  Then, my appointment ran long, so I was late getting home to meet the handyman.  Thankfully, I was only 2 minutes late getting home and he arrived a minute or after that.

Handyman

I have the handyman here doing various odd projects, the most important of which is installing our new garage storage unit.  I am so looking forward to getting things put into that!  I had to figure out a new plan for where to put it when I realized the wall I'd intended to put it against wouldn't work (not important why).  However, I think the new space will work out quite well.

Before he got to work on the garage stuff, I had him install two knife racks at Avery's height.  "What?!" you exclaim?  It's my solution for hanging Avery's art work since we can't hang it on the stainless steel refrigerator.   I also had him reinstall the stainless steel board I'd removed in favor of a dry erase board.  If you think the knife racks looks a little crooked, you're wrong.  Those are level.  What is not level is the light switch panel. Something that will drive me batty until my dying day.

Another quick project I had him complete was Avery-height coat hooks in the kitchen closet.  It's rather hard to ask her to hang up her coat when she can't actually reach the hangers.  My solution is a bar with hooks on it. It's also designed for the kitchen, but I hope it'll work well for this purpose. It is from IKEA (i.e. inexpensive), so if it doesn't work out, so be it. 

Sharpies and mosquito repellent

Avery wrote on the hardwoods the other day with a green Sharpie. To remove it, first I tried vinegar and water - nothing.  Next, I got online and found a suggestion for using toothpaste and baby wipes.  For good measure, I also updated my FB status about the incident.  The toothpaste started to lighten it just a bit, but I had to scrub really hard.  The picture I posted is after I had scrubbed quite a bit.  When that didn't work, I went back to my computer to do more research.  A friend from HS commented on my status that she'd just heard mosquito repellent gets out Sharpie stains.  We happened to have some left over from D's camping trip with Avery, so I got it and tried it.  It lifted the stain up immediately.  No scrubbing required.  Poof! 

So there you go.  If your kid gets hold of a Sharpie, go for the mosquito repellent. Yes, I did gather up all the Sharpies and rubber banded them together and put them in the back of the drawer. Putting them up high would probably be smarter, but I actually use them a fair amount, so I'm hoping the rubber band is enough of a deterrent. If not, I have mosquito repellent (famous last words, I'm sure).

Cough

I still have a cough, but I think it's getting better.  My voice is still hoarse, but I think there's a minor improvement.  Hopefully with very little talking today and tomorrow (Avery's school days), it'll get better much faster.

Memories

Popcorn

Shortly after Avery arrived, Mom sent me a few of the books I had as a child.  It was one of the books I numbered, with my grandmother's help, when I was in second grade to better organize my personal library.  The book is called Popcorn. It's the story of a bear who is left alone on Halloween night when his parents go out for the night.  He decides to have a Halloween party, calls up his friends to invite them and tells them to wear a costume and bring something good to eat.  His friends all show up with unpopped popcorn - every single one of them.  At some point during the party, someone suggests they pop all the popcorn.  They do and it's so much popcorn that it fills the whole house.  They then have to eat all of it and clean up the house so the bear doesn't get in trouble.  Then his parents come home, to a nice clean house with no knowledge of the incident, wake the bear and tell him they brought him a present: popcorn!  I hope none of you were planning to read the book because I pretty much just told you the entire thing.

Anyway, I loved this book.  Not just the story, but the cover.  I had forgotten until I started reading this to Avery, but I have very vivid memories of studying the back of the book.  Here it is:

I remember trying to find each pumpkin that was different from the rest of the pumpkins.  I would wonder why some of them didn't have eyes that were colored in and why some didn't have a green stem.  I didn't know if it was a mistake on the part of the publisher, or if it was intentional.

Now that I'm reading this to Avery, my obsession with it continues.  Did they do it on purpose?  Make some different?  Why?  If they didn't do it deliberately, how did the publisher miss such an obvious mistake?  I am so tempted to buy it from Amazon to see if the newly published books have the same "flaws."

Small Spaces

Continuing my obsession with small, yet very functional, living spaces, check out this 500 sq. ft. studio in NYC.  I think I am so obsessed with small spaces like this because it's small and cozy, yet very functional and very organized.

Pink

Pink Eye

I woke up with pink eye in my right eye this morning.  It's oozing and gooey and gross.  It's not actually all that pink anymore, but it's gunky.  I have a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow anyway, so I will see if I need eye drops then. 

I find it odd that I've never had laryngitis or pink eye, yet I've gotten both within the last month.  I also find it odd, though predictable, that it's my right eye.  It seems like everything that goes wrong with me is on the right side of my body.  I swear, it's like my left is perfect and my right is pathetic - just like politics!  Ha! (Note: I don't actually think the left is anywhere near perfect, but I do think the right is pathetic).  

Brick & landscaping

There's a guy putting the brick facing on our front pillars as I type this.  It's so hot out today.  I feel terrible that he's out there sweating away in this heat doing that type of work.  The other bad part is that the porch railing is so damn close to the pillars, which is not ideal from either a functional or aesthetic perspective. 

The landscaping is closer to being complete.  It still needs some plants to line one side of the sidewalk, but the nursery doesn't get them in until Wednesday.  There are also some large rocks due to be installed.  The mulch is in and looks nice.  I'll update with some pictures tomorrow.  It's too hot to take them now.

We met with the designer to pay much of the remaining balance of the work.  He came in under budget on most items, but, of course, charged us for the lighting.  I'm a little annoyed by that because I sent a two sentence email asking him how difficult it would be and how much it would cost to put in lighting.  He responded with something like, "Sounds great! I'll make it happen!" and then proceeded to install tons of lights.  The reason I'm only slightly annoyed is that I am actually very happy we have the lights.  They haven't been turned on yet, but I know I'm going to love them because I always love outdoor lighting.  We definitely would not have done it had we known the cost ahead of time, but since that ship has sailed, there you go. 

Acupuncture & NP

I am convinced the acupuncture is working wonders on my energy and sleepiness.  Even without dietary changes, I am hardly napping at all.  Even with being sick and the family drama, I haven't been napping. It's amazing how much you can get accomplished when you're awake! 

I think I am going to chat with the NP next time I see him and just see if I can settle into an acupuncture routine versus taking any dietary steps.  I can't see going through the elimination diet successfully without having someone cook every meal for me.  I realized another factor in my failure at sticking to it was boredom.  Not even boredom with foods, but I would have had to cook every meal at home.  We typically eat out 2-4 times per week.  I need that just to get out of the house and do things.  That is an ingrained part of our lifestyle. 

I did ask about eliminating one category at a time, but that is less effective because people often have two categories they react to, so you may eliminate one, but still feel poorly because you're still eating the other. 

Avery's Sleeping Rewards

Avery finally earned her pink dress for the latest sleeping reward.  It took twice as long as it took to get either of the previous two dresses.  I think that was because I didn't have the actual dress hanging up for her to see since it hadn't arrived yet. 

For her next reward, we're going to bump up the number of nights from four to six or eight.  I also bought her a set of toy kitchen utensils from IKEA rather than a dress.  We'll see how well a toy motivates her.  

Parking Space

One of my favorite Avery quirks is how she refers to a spot to sit as a parking space.  For example, the other day she asked me to sit in a particular spot on the floor. I wanted to stay on the couch, so I suggested she come sit by me.  She said no and explained that, "there's no parking space for me." 

Just the two of us

It's a good thing I have all that acupuncture energy because D has social or work engagements every night this week.  That means I'm on for bedtime routine duty every night this week.

Scootering

I saw this on Free Range Kids: scootering is replacing cars for getting kids to and from school in England.

It makes me think D and I should get scooters for down in Mexico.  The pavement is a little bumpy, but I think once Avery is a year or two older, they'll be good for getting to and from the pool and beach. 

Full day

It was actually a fairly full day for me today.  After dropping Avery off at school - in her new pink dress which is waaaaaay too big for her and makes her look like she's in Little House on the Prairie - I headed to acupuncture, then to do some volunteer pinch-hitting on the database I created for them back in the day, then hooked up with D and some of his coworkers for lunch, then hit IKEA.  I spent a good hour and a half at IKEA.  I have never spent that much time there since I usually rush in and out because I can't handle the people.  It was fairly empty, I had no little person in tow, I had no husband who is just Ready To Leave.  So I shopped. I went for paper organization boxes.  I left with considerably more.

I'm excited because I bought a large bookcase cube unit (25 cubes) that I'm going to have the handyman install and affix to the wall in the garage.  For most people, IKEA would be a bad place to purchase garage organization since it typically doesn't hold up to wear and tear very well.  However, I realized for us, it's perfect!  We go out and get one screwdriver.  There's no heavy use of tools or garage-stored items, so I just need a place to get things out of the way and organized so I can find the screwdriver when we need it (you know, to hand to the handyman).  Anyway, what I bought was way cheaper than buying shelving units from Home Depot and should give me plenty of room for storage.

And now it's 5 pm, so I shall leave to get Avery soon.

Disappointing

Photo and Video Backup Process

I've been working to get all my photos and movies backed up and organized since my hard drive crashed oh so many months ago.  For the most part, I seem to have not lost too many pictures.  I'm certainly unaware of any important pictures that may have been lost, so that's good.

Video, ironically, I was very confident I had not lost since I backed those up on a thumb drive well before the crash.  Unfortunately, it appears I lost a batch of them.  It's only about four months worth, and some of those months are documented in the various movie clips I've assembled, but it's disappointing nonetheless. 

Surprise!

After an afternoon of not much, we headed over to the Gs to pick up Elise and Nolan for Jay's surprise 40th BD party. On the way there, the girls had a discussion about anatomy.  Avery said something about Nolan having a "peanut."  I corrected her and said Nolan has a penis.  Avery said, "Yes, Nolan has a penis and I have a vagina."  Then Elise started talking about her vagina.  Nolan stayed curiously quiet about his genitalia.

Back to the party ... Jay was definitely surprised!  We stayed for dinner, cake, and presents, then left for our house with the three kids.  Fortunately, all three were cake to get to sleep tonight (perhaps because of the cake? see what I did there cake and cake?  I'm funny.  I know).  I say fortunately due to ... 

Pizza Migraine

About 75% of the time I eat traditional pizza, I get a migraine.  My migraines aren't as bad as I've read others describe them.  I only call them a migraine because that is what the doctor has said I'm experiencing.  I'm quite sure that there is some spice that causes it for me.  I can feel it coming on, then I get queasy, then I have to throw up, then I feel much better.  If I don't throw up, it takes hours for it to subside. 

This has happened since I was a kid. I can't recall if it's always been triggered by pizza, but the pattern has always been the same: headache, queasy feeling, throw up, then be better.  I remember it happened once at a French restaurant in Manchester, England when I was a junior in HS (which makes me sounds like I was a world traveler as a teenager - I was not - it was one trip).  I was so sick that time. For the longest time, I wouldn't eat French food because of it. 

I wish I could pinpoint the offending spice.  It's got to be a spice because (gross stuff coming your way) when it's coming back up, it's always the same sort of bile/spice flavor.  The problem is I don't get a migraine 100% of the time.  I'll eat pizza a few times and be fine, so I forget or figure it is done with.  It rarely happens when I eat pizza from New Seasons or Pizzacato where they do more gourmet things with the pizza.  And it's happened with Italian foods, too.  It's one of the reasons I don't like Italian food nearly as much as other foods. 

Avery

I'm trying to get Avery to make a transition to using the toilet rather than her little floor potties.  It's going well.  Last night, I told her she needed to use the toilet before bed and she asked why.  I said, "Because you're getting bigger."  She responded with, "Yes, I'm getting older and older so I can buy a car."  Damn, she is going to be one expensive child.

Avery talks about her birthday party all.the.time.  I have no idea where she got this obsession from, but it certainly wasn't Damian or me.  When we told her that Uncle Jay's BD party was tonight, she was so excited.  She then said, "It's Uncle Jay's birthday tonight and he's going to open presents and have cake!  But it's not my birthday because my birthday is in December." It's the first time she's gotten the month right out of the blue.  Then she said, "And Nain is going to be at my birthday party! And I'm going to have cake and blow out the candles like this!"  Then she showed us how one blows out birthday candles. 

The actual questions toddlers ask, well at least that Avery asks, surprises me a bit.  I expected questions like, "Why is the sky blue?" and, "Where do babies come from?"  Instead, I get questions like, "How do we get up there?" which is asked every time we drive under a bridge over a highway.   The other day, as we were driving, she said that she saw a lot of cars and that they were hers.  I said, no, the car we were driving in is mine, the car Daddy drives is his, and the cars around us were owned by the other people.  She then asked, "Why are they not our cars?" which then became, "Why do they buy cars?"  I think I eventually responded something like grownups often buy cars so they can drive to and from work.  Which is why I think she now associates buying a car with getting older.

On the way to pick up Elise and Nolan tonight, Avery recounted to us her time out earlier in the day.  She was not happy because she was tired (this nap dropping thing is brutal from a crankiness perspective).  She was being really difficult and demanding all sorts of things, then still wasn't happy if we said yes. Eventually, I told her I was going to take the dogs for a walk and that if she wanted to come with me, she'd need to put on some clothes.  She said she wanted to go, but then refused to make a move to put on clothes.  Finally, I explained I was leaving and that she was staying home with Daddy because she was dawdling.  So, back to the conversation in the car, she says, "Daddy put me in time out.  You took the dogs for a walk and I didn't go."  I say, "Yes.  Why did you get a time out?" and she thought about it and then said, "Because I was dawdling and crying."  So that's a long way of saying that "dawdle" is a new vocabulary word for Avery.

Stuff

Dog run is officially complete

We bought bark dust last night.  Today, while Avery is at school, I put it down in the dog run.  The dogs now have a pooping sanctuary, though they'd much rather just have the whole backyard in which to poop, I'm sure.

I've also developed my method for near-daily poop pick up in the run.  I put on gardening gloves, then put a plastic bag over the glove.  I pick up all the poop and put it in a plastic or paper bag, then I toss the plastic bag in with it all, then toss the bag in the trash.  So far, there is no stench in the dog run or the garage, which is where the trash can is kept. The biggest challenge is the plastic bags.  We just don't have that many plastic bags.  I do most of our shopping at New Seasons, which doesn't use plastic bags.  Plus, even if they did, I usually bring my own bags.  I carry them in my purse, so even at stores like Target I rarely get a plastic bag.  If anyone wants to save some of your plastic bags, I'll take them!

Organization kick

I've been on a bit of an organization kick lately, probably because I have more energy. In any case, it's nice to get things sorted out.  There's still much to do, as there always is, but I like organizing and decluttering.  I find it relaxing the same way that some people like to cook or read.  I really want to focus on getting my computer cleaned up and the photos sorted and backed up, but I fear if I spend too much time at the computer, I'll start to have wrist problems.  So I'm trying to attack that project in chunks. 

I think compared to the average American, I stay more on top of getting rid of stuff and keeping things cleared away.  I have no problems throwing stuff out/giving it away/recycling - whatever.  Stuff is just stuff to me.  Nonetheless, I'm shocked by the amount of time I spend sorting stuff, moving stuff, decluttering stuff, and just generally dealing with stuff.  Part of that is my constant need to reorganize.  I will change something around completely if I think it'll make it easier to maintain a system of organization.  With Avery in the equation, I find that with each new phase, comes a shift in needs.  For example, now we're getting bombarded with art projects.  I don't want to immediately chuck them all, but I also know I'm not going to hang every one of them up.  It's just too much.  So I need to find an easy location to put all these art projects until I get a moment to sort through them and pick the ones to keep or display. 

Blah

Blah

That is what I feel like lately.  Just blah.  I managed to get a few key things done Monday morning, then spent the afternoon napping. We'll see what Tuesday has in store.  ... I wrote that earlier.  So far today has had me give up while shopping in Target, drive home, and fall asleep for three hours.  Nice.  I'm exhausted lately.  Maybe I'm storing up my reserves for Mexico. 

Freecycle

I decided to get the garage cleaned out of the items I've been accumulating for the purpose of giving away.  Instead of doing mass posts of all items at once, I am posting one or two items at a time.  That is making the process slower, of course, but also less chaotic.  So far I've gotten rid of a printer, a dresser, and a baby swing (with a broken motor).

My goal is to get the garage cleaned out such that the dogs can spend more time out there, weather permitting.  They're driving me crazy.  As I've lamented again and again, I was not meant to have a baby/toddler at the same time as large dogs and that's all there is to it.  It gives me little joy and that is not a good feeling. 

I have been marginally better at walking them daily, which helps the situation somewhat, but Eddie has still started to take on annoying old-man-dog traits: sitting at our feet panting, refusing to listen to where he should go lie down, and generally just being very needy and omnipresent.  Turtle is her usual wonderful self who blends into the background and, if given a daily walk, asks of nothing more.  But the hair.  Oh the hair.  Sigh.  Crap.  I've written yet another section on dog hair. 

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day yesterday, we met Nikki & Garrett & Grandma J (Nikki's mom) at a park for a picnic and swinging.  It struck me at some point how natural the interaction felt to me.  Nothing too weird about it.  I think Nikki & Grandma J deserve all the credit for that. This visit was a lot less anxiety provoking for me, which confirms my observation that I seem to get most anxious when the visits take place here. Not having to prepare the house, even if I don't do much to prepare, takes a load off.  

School

I called about our rate at Avery's school, which I was expecting to go down when she turned 2.5.  It turns out it goes down when the youngest child in her class turns 2.5.  This makes logical sense, but it definitely wasn't explained to me that way.  I was told it would go down in July.  The other thing I learned is this means she won't be in the same class as Lily.  Lily is a week older, but her mom will be  be paying the lower rate when she starts in June, which means that Lily must be one of the youngest in the class.  I can see about getting Avery transferred into one of the other classes, but she loves Teacher Theresa.  After thinking about this overnight, I'm just going to leave things the way they are.  She really likes TT and feels comfortable so lower price be damned!  She can still play with Lily during outdoor time.

Books

I finally finished Stones into Schools.  I think I preferred Three Cups of Tea, but that might have simply been because of the order in which I read them.  Both were excellent reads.  I should have listened to you earlier, Mom. :)

I bought and downloaded The Help last night after analyzing the other books bought by people who bought Three Cups of Tea.  Interestingly, the other book coming up as recommended for me is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was recommended at the last Yummy Group.  Perhaps that one will be next.