Saturday, December 27, 2008

Shaking my boot-y

After going out for some birthday festivities a few weeks ago and wearing Looseyfur's super comfy go-go boots, I decided I wanted a new pair. I've had a pair for years but they never quite fit right. They were always just smidge small in the foot. Now, post kids, my feet have at least a size and they really really don't fit. Loosey's boots, however were super comfy so I set out on a mission to find myself some new boots. I started looking at Target because I saw a pair there a couple of weeks ago that looked cute. Nothing. So I tried Walmart, Meijer, Payless and Kohl's and found nothing. Everything I found was either too small (I have big feet), too short (ankle height) or had too thin of a heel (I wanted a chunky heel because spiky heels would end with my head broken). Add to that, I have large calves and the one pair I found that was perfect would barely zip past my ankle.

The obvious solution, of course, was to ask Loosey where she got her boots, which I did. Unfortunately, she spent way more on them than I wanted to spend on something I didn't NEED and already had a pair of, even if I don't wear them. But in looking at that site, I found some search terms that I could use to look for other sites. This afternoon, those terms led me to Torrid which has some crazy awesome plus sized stuff. There, they had MY boot. It was a little more than I wanted to spend but still within the limit of my gift card so I ordered up. It should be here in 4-6 business and I can't wait. I hope hope hope they fit right because they are exactly the boot I was looking for. Keep your eyes peeled for my fancy new boots the next time you see me. Because seriously, if I'm spending $60, including shipping, on a pair of shoes, I'm wearing them all the time. Play dates? Check. FCC? Check Preschool pick up? You bet!

Guitar Hero



The video is really dark. The reality of camera phone video :(

They say that a hero will save us

While doing some after Christmas shopping last night, RF bought me Guitar Hero for birthmas (my b-day is in Feb so I often ask for, and get, larger presents because people will combine them and that is fine with me). Plus, I bought Wii Fit and Raving Rabbids TV Party on eBay that I just have to wait to have shipped. So we will have a rock star style party at my house one of these days :)

Additionally, Christmas was good at our house. MT got a Batman shirt and a pink DS from Santa (the only things she asked for). TB got a new computer and a remote control car from Santa. They both got a Chia Pet, which we are waiting to grow now. MT got some wedgits, which I confess I thought had limited play option but she loves them, and TB got new Magnetix. the kids both got some new clothes and we got MT some games for her DS.

I got my curling iron and RF got some new pajama pants to replace his 10 year old pair that finally fell apart.

Today, I'm going to go shopping and see if I can find a new pair of boots and some leggings for MT. It is 2 days after Christmas and they already have bathing suits out in stores. Do they not understand that people still need cold weather apprioriate clothing for kids? Hopefully, I'll get some deal with the after Christmas sales :)

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Not the reason

Leaving Christ out of Christmas

I wrote a post about this a few days ago andnever posted it. It wasn't well thought out and didn't come together like I wanted. So I leave it to Slate to say how I feel about religion and holidays.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Hell has frozen over

And if you look at the weather, you will see that Central Illinois has as well. Because of the deep freeze, we are hanging out at home today and I was playing *GASP* Christmas Music! Of course it was Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Carol of the Bells



and I followed it up with Green Day's Minority



but hey, take what you can get LOL

Monday, December 22, 2008

On the road again

Per RF's suggestion, I have created a blog specifically for travel reviews so they can be kept together and easily accessable. If you are interested in that sort of thing, feel free to subscribe :)

Freaky travels. Enjoy.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Or at least regcognizes a few letters. I went to Target today and got a shirt that says "CELEBRATE!" (those of you that know me, plan to see this shirt over the next few weeks because it is nifty and I will be wearing it for the upcoming holidays). I put it on when I got home and MT asked me what is said. I told her and then pointed to each letter (she has an interest in letters and reading so I make a point of encouraging that for her) to tell her what they were. I pointed and said "c" and then I pointed to the e and before I could say anything she said "e" then she pointed and said "l, e, b and I don't know the rest" LOL It will be so nice to have kid that I don't have to hear about how she can't read all the time. Of course she probably won't be able to do math or something like that but damn it, at least she'll be able to read.

After that, we had my extended family Christmas dinner. Usually we have it at my parents house but with Mom's foot being messed up still, she didn't want to clean and cook and whatnot so we had it at Ryan's instead. Everyone got to eat exactly what they wanted and then we got presents.

MT got new underwear (that she asked for specifically) princess dominoes, a princess story book and a whole boat load of new dresses. TB got a small set of Magnetix, a gift card to Walmart, and $50 in cash (which goes towards his wish of a thousand in cash that he asked for from Santa). RF and I got our Xmas money and now I'm trying to figure out how to spend mine.

Do I be responsible and buy some things we need (nothing major, just some clothes and things for me and the kids) or do I be totally friviolous and buy a Wii fit and Raving Rabbids, if I can afford both. The Wii Fit is $100+ by itself but I'm looking on eBay to see if I can get it cheaper, in which case I can get the game too. Otherwise, I have to wait until my birthday to get the game. In reality, I just want the balance board because I don't care much about the Wii Fit (it would be fun for a while but doesn't seem to have staying power) which I why I turned to eBay in the first place. I hoped to find just the board but it doesn't seem that anyone is selling that right now.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Blond Ambition



Yes, it needs spiked. This was taken about 5 minutes after he got out of the shower from rinsing out the bleach. Stayed for new pictures tomorrow, with the finishing touches on it :)

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Neat Freak

First of all, I need to point out that I rarely come up with good titles, although I try (when I grow up, I want to write titles like Quigs LOL). Today, I'm giggling like mad at my title and that makes me happy. On to the post.

I'm generally lazy and slovenly. My house is generally a mess and usually that doesn't bother me. Recently, we've started having people over more often (I tried to keep people the heck out of my house as a general rule before) so I had to clean it up. Surface cleaning, the type I do most often, just wasn't going to cut it so I kicked it up a notch and really started CLEANING things. I have managed to finish every room in my house except my bedroom(on the agenda, I just didn't feel like it today), the bathroom (I need to really scrub the hell out of the tub, but otherwise it is done), RF's room (he needs to clean off his desk and I need to vaccum) and TB's nook (we are going to clean the hell out of that place over break. He has had it set up only a few months and it is already a health hazard. He is gonna hate it but that is too bad).

Overall, I'm really enjoying the effect of the cleaner house. We have less stuff because I have been mercilessly tossing things, which means less stuff to keep clean in the future. I've managed to stay on top of the rooms that I've cleaned and I'm making the kids, who are more than old enough, help out, especially with picking up their junk. They hate how dictatorish I've become about cleaning but that is just too bad. They need to know that they can't trash the house and then walk away and let someone else clean it up. I'm done being the maid.

I'm also using up stuff that I've been saving. When TB was little, I sold PartyLite for awhile. Basically, it was overprized junk but I have a ton of it. I never could really burn it because TB was facinated with the flame and would try to pull them over or climb to get them. My kids are old enough to leave that kind of thing alone now so I've been burning candles like mad. Anytime we are home for any length of time, I light them. I started digging through the "candle cabinet" looking for a pillar candle and I discovered that I had over 20 dozen tealight candles, several pillars, some tapers, a few jars, etc etc etc. So I dug out a bunch of candle holders and I'm getting rid of all of them. My goal is to have the candle cabinet empty by spring. At least empty of candles. I have a bunch of nice (expensive) holder that I intend to keep and use with cheap candles in the future.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

I need speaker of other languages

Specifically Korean and Spanish. We were discussing at PTA last, translating things to other languages commonly spoken at our school. Spanish and Korean are our 2 biggies and we have someone that can translate to Spanish but there is an issue with the ESL teacher translating, off the clock, for us (I don't know precisely what it is but it had to do with contract and teacher unions and things). We were discussing using the Google translator or Bablefish to translate letters for non-English speaking parents. The issue is, we don't know how correct these translators are. So if I post some text, would someone who speaks the language, tell me what they say?

Bablefish Spanish

Estimados padres, Tendremos nuestra celebración de días festivos después del programa del día de fiesta el viernes 19 de diciembre. El comienzo del programa en 9 y el partido correcto después. Firme por favor para arriba abajo para los artículos para nuestro partido. Gracias

Google Spanish

Queridos padres,
Vamos a tener nuestra fiesta después de que el programa feriado el viernes 19 de diciembre. El programa comienza a las 9 am y el partido será justo después.

Por favor, firme a continuación para los temas de nuestro partido.

Gracias



Apparently, I don't have a Korean language pack installed on my computer so I can't really translate to it. All I get are little boxes. :(

Anyway, help would be appreciated :)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

quizzes

Your result for The Are you a SEXY geek test...

The Hip Nerd

52% Sexy!


You are one of those rare geeks that has style! You march to the beat of your own drummer, You enjoy the geeky things in life, but you can mingle in any crowd. As the geek. You definitely love your sci-fi and computers, probably a bit TOO much, but you also know when to put it on the shelf. Supermodels may be out of your league, but you have enough style to date. And you can always download the supermodels later when you get home.


Take The Are you a SEXY geek test
at HelloQuizzy





Your result for The Pop Culture Archetype Personality Test...

The Fighter

Pirate, Monkey, Zombie, Clown


Fighters enjoy being in charge, and are excellent protectors, being hyper-vigilant and aware of the danger in the world. They see problems and obstacles clearly, and delegate easily to others where necessary, working and playing equally hard. They have a strong sense of seniority and allegiance, and are willing to serve, though they expect the same from others. Though tough-minded, they are easily wounded emotionally, with their strong sense of right and wrong causing them to struggle between swift justice against transgressors, and rescuing the punished from their punishment at the last minute. Though decisive, they will often construct their worldviews from only those facts that support the conclusion drawn by their gut feelings.


Fighters tend towards a Masochistic temperament, with a pattern of avoiding pleasure and seeking out experiences that lead to suffering. They will prevent others from helping them, and will often hinder the attempts of others to help them in their time of need. They respond to positive rewards with depression and guilt, and take little interest in those who treat them well. They often perform self-sacrificing tasks without being asked to.


Famous fighters include William McKinley, Bill Clinton, Terry Bradshaw, Sally Struthers and Danny Glover.


Take The Pop Culture Archetype Personality Test
at HelloQuizzy

You know you've made it

when the governor of your state is parodied on SNL

Monday, December 15, 2008

Is this one of those "with age comes wisdom" things?

Will someone please explain to my son that if you have a heated electric blanket that you sleep on, the most effect use of said blanket is not to turn it to high and then uncover.

I'm just saying.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Happy New Year (unless you have kids)

Can someone please explain to me why there is not a single group or organization anywhere in this town (or any closer than frikkin' Springfield) that does any kind of family friendly New Year's Eve night event? We have a playgroup thing in the afternoon and I've seen that other places as well (a Noon Year's Eve celebration) which is great for younger kids and my kids will have a good time at but I want something to do in the evening with the kids. In years past, we've gone to Tuscola to their New Year's Eve dance that ran from 7-12. This was perfect for us because we could go for a couple of hours and still have the kids home at a reasonable hour. Apparently, they have cancelled it (it didn't happen last year and it isn't on the calendar for this year), which sucks! I simply can't believe that we don't have a First Night celebration or that the park districts don't do something. You can't tell me that I'm the only parent in the whole town that wants to celebrate New Years Eve with my kids.

If I had unlimited money, I would rent a space, hire a DJ, bring in food and throw a family friendly New Year's Eve bash. I can only imagine there must be interest and the only reason that Tuscola faded is because it is too small of a town to support that and it is too far from CU to be worth the drive (especially on New Year's when the likely hood of drunks and bad weather goes up).

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Clean up your life

Back in April, I took pictures of my "trouble spots" and posted them for Mrs Chicken. Last month, we had some friends over for dinner and despite cleaning all day, I was still vaguely embarrassed to have people over (I know, my friends, not gonna critize too harshly, etc, still it stressed me). Since then (and since I'm hosting dinner again next week), I've been on a cleaning mission. Each day, I take a room or section of room and clean the hell out of it. I started in the laundry room an put all the laundry away, swept, mopped, cleaned off the window sill, etc. Then I moved to the living and sorted my art center, tossing any old markers, drawn on pieces of paper, etc. After that I moved around the living room, cleaning, sorting, dusting, swept, mopping, vacuuming and scrubbing the walls. Then I moved to the kitchen, taking apart the fridge and scrubbing the shelves and walls. Then I moved to the dining room and cleaned off the butcher block, my desk, and bar.

I still have to clean off the fridge top, scrub one side of it (I didn't realize it was that dirty until I was sticking magnets on it today and it is a mess), clean out the pantry, clean the bathroom, and my bedroom (and coerce The Boy into cleaning his room as well, but that is going to happen over break when we have plenty of time to devote to it). I will be mostly done by next week and what I don't get done won't be in public areas of the house so I won't have to worry about it. Now I just have to stay on top of it and keep it clean so I don't have to work like a maniac in the future to get it clean again :)

For contrast, I posted the link to the pictures taken in April for the Dirty Housewives and then the pictures I took today of those 2 areas.



New hair cut



I decided that all my efforts to get my hair looking decent were in vain so I got it cut today. I told her I just wanted it trimmed, that I didn't want to lose any length. She told me she could do that or she could even it up, make it closer to one length. So, it is shorter than I wanted (no ponytail, is sad) but it is cute and looks decent, although the left side still flips the wrong freaking way!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Can't Get Enough Of You Baby

So Quigs and Make up Girl tagged me for a meme. I'm using RF's shared iTunes folders with only things I'll listen to selected. My MP3 player is in the car and it is too cold to go get it :)

1. Put your iPod or whatever music player you have on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 5 friends who might enjoy doing this as well as the person you got this from. Let them know they've been tagged.


IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Daylight Fading Counting Crows

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Margaritaville Jimmy Buffet

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
I'm a Believer Smash Mouth

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Cheeseburger in Paradise Jimmy buffet

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Starry Eyed Surprise Paul Oakenfield

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Mary Jane's Last Dance Tom Petty

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Swing Swing All American Rejects

WHAT IS 2+2?
Conventioneers BareNaked Ladies

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Bossman Lucky Boys Confusion

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Mambo No. 5 Lou Bega

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Enid BareNaked Ladies

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Monster Mash Dr Demento

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Manic Monday The Bangles

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In The 5th Dimension

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Sell Out Reel Big Fish

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Nuttn' for Christmas

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
I Didn't Like you Anyway The Donnas

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Jumper Third Eye Blind

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Damn Matchbox 20

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Hey There Delilah Plain White T's

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Only Wanna Be With You Hootie and the Blowfish

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Be my Yoko Ono BareNaked Ladies

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
AM Radio Everclear

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Bohemian Like You Dandy Warhols

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
For What It's Worth Buffalo Springfield

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Life After Lisa Bowling For Soup

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Love Shack B-52's

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Brick Ben Folds Five

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Shoebox BareNaked Ladies

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Can't Get Enough Of You Baby Smash Mouth

And because I'm late to the party, I end the tagging here. All the locals have been tagged already and I don't want to hunt down other people. So if you want to do it and you haven't been tagged, do it. Otherwise, don't! :)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Straight hair



This is straightened with the curling iron. I know, you totally can't tell I just spent the last hour on it, can you?

I'm borrowing a flat iron to see if that works better, but I may give in to RF's offer of getting my hair done. If I get it done (it needs trimmed a little anyway) Saturday morning, it should still be good for that night.

Hair pictures



Last night's attempt. Curled all the hair and it was way too much



Today's attempt, where I only curled part of it and it looks like I didn't do anything.

Monday, December 8, 2008

You want a date?

The conversation started innocently enough. TB said that his sister was like Megan from Drake and Josh, smart and evil.
Ok so if she is Megan, then are you Drake or Josh?
Drake of course, he is a rockstar.
Yeah? Josh is kind of cool too (he isn't but you know)
No he isn't Drake plays guitar and kisses girls
Would you like to kiss girls?
Yeah, pretty much
Which girls would you like to kiss?
Well, N's sister is in love with me but I don't know which I would rather date.

Then we had this whole long involved discussion about the girls in his class and you who he might like to date.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Times 100

With the book I started reading yesterday, I'm at 100 books for the year! This was my goal this year and I think I got a little stressed about it at times (like this week)because I found myself reading 2 or 3 books at a time to beef up my list. I finished them all so they all counted but it made me feel better to have them listed. So now I've reached my goal and I have a few more weeks to go. I know that I will finish at least one more book before the end of the year so I'm going to wait until the year is said and done to post my list here. I just couldn't wait another 2 weeks to announce hitting my goal :)

Meeting people

About a year ago, a new person joined our playgroup. She went to tons of meetups and I know because I was at most them. After about the 3rd or 4th one, I commented to RF "there is a new girl in the group and she is at all the meetups that I've been at recently and I'm just not sure what I think about her. Sometimes she is really funny and other times I'm just not sure how to take her. She'll say things that sound like things I would say but she sounds serious about them. I can't decide if she just has a super dry sense of humor or is just kind of a bitch" RF suggested that I take her how I would want to be taken which is with a painfully dry sense of humor. So I kept hanging out with her and taking her in the best possible spirit. After awhile, I figured out that I was taking things exactly the right way and not only was she not a bitch, but she was a super fab, awesome person!

Today, I spent the afternoon hanging out with her, Loosey, Harley and Ms. Lemonade, baking holiday cookies. I chose easy drop cookies so I walked in, threw them on a cookie sheet and tossed them in the oven. In 13 minutes, I was done and could sit and drink and talk and drink and talk we did! We had a super fab time discussing everything and snacking on the yummy goodies. I brought a little bit of each item home and now i'm trying to figure out if I should be a good wife and mom and share the bounty with my family or if I should be selfish glutton and hide it all for me. Naturally, I leave towards the selfish but I do try to be better occasionally :)

Saturday, December 6, 2008

What goes Ho Ho Ho, thump?

Santa Claus laughing his head off, of course! What goes "Holy Crap it's cold out here"? That would be the playgroup freezing our butts off at the annual parade of lights tonight. Despite the cold, the parade was good. Looseyfur set us up in a darn good spot. We were right in front of Aroma Cafe, where the view of the parade was great and we had access to warmth and bathrooms. Nothing better than that. :)

MT decided to dance to keep warm while we waited
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I had no idea that there would be candy thown at the parade so I didn't bring our candy bags. However, my resourceful kids used TB's camera bag to hold all their candy. Smarties :)

We met up with the Quigs family
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as well as several of our other favorite people! Poor Pretty Girl wasn't happy about the cold at all. Fortunately, her daddy was willing to let her borrow his coat.
Photobucket

The MTD float got to have one of the star balloons that were in the parade
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Their bus was pretty cool too
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This was the display on the top of the bus. I'm amazed it stayed put with the way the wind was howling.
Photobucket

I liked the teddy bears sledding

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Tigger, Piglet, The Cat in the Hat and a dalmation joined in the parade as well.

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Finally, the big guy himself!
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Friday, December 5, 2008

Addition to the library

My friend Jen over at Flannel Hippos posted about her favorite things. One of them was the online catalog for the library. I agree with her about using it but I would like to go one step further.

I was thinking today how much I love the online catalog for the library. The only thing that would make it better is if they had a drive up pick up area. Similar to the old fast food places that had multiple food windows with the little elevator that came in and out. They could have a person working the hold room and you drive up, send in your card, they scan it, retrieve your items, send them and the card and the receipt back to you and you go on your merry way.

There have been many many times (less now that the kids are older but it still happens regularly) when I passed ona trip to the library because someone was asleep in the car or is was pouring down rain and I didn't want to drag everyone in or someone was sick and I didn't want to infect the whole library or any of a dozen other reason why I would want to drive through.

Of course, the hold roomw would still accessable to people in the library so you can pick up stuff if you are in (we are there a couple of times a week typically) but you don't have to go in if you don't want to. Unfortunately, with our new building, I doubt we would see anything like this any time soon. They won't be remodelling the builidng to include it and there isn't a way to do it without some construction.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Magic House Review

While we were in St Louis last weekend, we went to the Magic House. I had been several times when I was kid but hadn't been in about 20 years. Apparently, according to my mom because I didn't remember, it is COMPLETELY different.

When you walk in the door, there is the admission desk where you pay and get your sticker, letting people know you have paid. To the left are a few benches and the gift shop. Beyond the benches, there is a large expansion area, which is opening next week. To the right is the actual museum area. As you head down the hallway, they have the "Little bit of magic" area for kids under 6 (shh, don't tell but we snuck TB in). In it, they have some slides, a sand table, a water play table, a climbing area. In the back corner, they have a baby area for kids under 2.

Around the corner from the LBOM area, there is the Math Path, which is all numbers. From math puzzles and guess the number of items to giant calculators and build the fastest Lego car, the Math Path is a dream come true for your budding Einstein.

Beyond the Math Path, you will find the Children's Village. It includes magnetic fishing, a mechanic's shop with a car up on a lift, an electric company, a store, a pizza palor and a tree fort. This also were the elevator to the basement is located. MT loved playing in the mechanic's shop, changing the tires and the license plate on the cars (this tells me she will either be a mechanic or a car thief LOL) TB liked the tree house and the pizza palor.

From there, we took the elevator down to the basement because the kids were hungry and there was a vending area marked on the map. We were disappointed to find that their vending area consisted of a couple of drink machines and no food. Both kids ended up getting sugary caffinated drinks so they were really hopped up for the rest of the visit.

After our drink stop, we continued down the hall, past the experiment center. It looked like something TB would have enjoyed but there was really nothing for MT so we bypassed it. The majority of the basement is given over to Lewis and Clark. In one area, they have a Lewis and Clark camp site, with a wooden canoe, a teepee and a fire, as well as some costumes to dress up in. MT proclaimed it "boring" and insisted on going elsewhere. Off of the camp site, they have a Lewis and Clark Trail setup. WARNING, this exhibit is NOT for young children, old people, or anyone with any kind of limited mobility. The age range for it is 5-12 but we took MT in because wouldn't allow us to leave her out. 10 feet into the exhibit, there is a rope you have to use to swing across a gap in the floor (you can walk across if you must, but what is the fun in that), that leads to stumps to step on, ladders to climb and slides to slide down. Over all the whole exhibit was pretty dark, with some pitch black spots. It was also pretty physical and quite fun. The kids wanted to make a repeat trip through but each guest is only allowed through once, for some reason.

Then it was up to the third floor to see the fitness center, the shadow wall and the coolest of all, the electro-static generator. That is the machine that when you touch it, makes your hair stand up all wild. Unfortunately, it didn't work at all for TB. It worked fairly well for MT but because I had to hold her to reach it, I didn't get a picture of it. However, we found that my hair worked GREAT so I went back and TB took a picture of my crazy hair.

By then the kids were hungry and tired and we decided to call it a day. We stopped off in the gift shop which was pretty much to be expected. It had the components of the various exhibits, highly priced for children to beg for. We picked up a couple of things and got some ideas for Christmas as well.

I remember it being mostly a museum for older kids, but MT had a really great time. There were a few things she couldn't do (the Lego racers were for kids 4+ but I think that was because they are considered chocking hazards) but she didn't lack for things to keep her busy.

Over all, I would give it 3.5 stars. I think it will be better when the new expansion opens up and when it is warmer, the outside stuff will be available. As it is right now, the really fun exhibits (LBOM, Math Path, etc) were really crowed and moving around and keeping your kids in sight was fairly difficult. With more space, some of that congestion would be relieved. I was also umimpressed with the lack of snack machines. If we had something to eat and if the crowds had been less, we probably would have stayed longer. As it was, we rushed through some exhibits and bypassed other completely, just to move things along.

Talkin' in your sleep

It was pointed out to me today that most men sleep on the left side of the bed, when you are standing at the foot, looking towards the head. Every person I've polled, except one, has confimed this so I now I want a larger audience to weigh in.

Standing at the foot of your bed, what side do you sleep on?

SAHM I am

I was reading Mommy Track'd which is mostly for working moms but there is plenty of stuff that is just funny and entertaining for me. On it, they have a section about worst mom moments. In it I found the following:

"An evening board meeting was just getting started when my cell phone rang, seeing it was my husband, I silenced it and turned the phone off. I was pissed he called at 6:05, knowing the meeting started at 6. He had to leave a message to tell me my 3 month old first-born son had fallen off the couch onto his head, which I didn't pick up until 2 hours later. (ps. In the end my son was fine.)"

First let me comment that most of the posts where so poorly written, they were barely in English so I didn't find much of anything I could identify with but this one just boggled my mind.

I suppose my reaction to this is part of the reason I'm no longer in the work force. Everyone talks about balance but I never got that. My kids were more important than anything and they came first, period. If my husband was with the kids and he called, I would have either taken the call, thus being able to be there for the trip to the hospital or I would have checked my voicemail as soon as it was left, thus beng there for the hospital trip. Either way, work would have had to wait, the building wouldn't fall down because I left.

I've always felt that way about work/family issues. And I've always pondered whether that stemmed from having a "job" versus having a "career". When I worked full time, I was a receptionist. Not a real long term job that I intended to advance in so I had no real incentive to please people.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The eyes have it, details

So basically TB has an astigmatism that makes him both near sighted and far sighted. So he is squinting trying to see the board and trying to read anything close up and that is giving him headaches. It isn't a very bad one so he only needs glasses for any eye work type things. He doesn't need them for playing or running around or anything, which should help with the "keeping them intact" issues. Of course, them we have the "he doesn't have to wear them all the time so he can't find them" issues but whatever.

Part of my grouchy mood today was dealing with both the monsters at the eye doctor. They were being terrible, wrestling, fighting, arguing etc. I was seriously ready to leave them there by the time we were done. Plus, the exam and waiting took forever. Our appointment was at 9:20 and we didn't get done until after 10:30.

The other part was dealing with the insurance. The kids have AllKids, which is great for most stuff but dental and vision sucks. When I had to try and get TB a dental exam, they told me the only participating dentist was in Peoria! Really? I'm so not driving almost 2 hours to have his teeth looked at when he just had them cleaned but you people say that wasn't good enough. Vision is a bit better but still a PITA. First, I called the referral place and was told Jones Optical. I called them yesterday and they said they didn't book new patients, that I had to call Public Health and get them to make a referral. So I called PH and was told they don't do referrals to Jones but they do to Chittick. Fine, as long as they take my insurance. They did so it was fine. Then after we did the exam today, I was told that my insurance doesn't cover actually getting the glasses!!! WTF? The guy told me I would have to call Public Health again and they would fill the prescription for me. So I called and got a voicemail. She called me back and left a message telling me to keep calling until I talked to a live person. Eventually, I got ahold of her and was told that we have to wait until Dec 22 to get in to get fitted for the glasses. Again I say, really? Hopefully, that will get moved up if she manages to get out of jury duty but still, 20 days of knowing that he needs glasses and not being able to get them. I'm also concerned that the frames will end up being ugly and not something he'll want to wear. My hope is that they have at least a few styles to chose from so he can pick something that looks ok. He was really excited when he saw the green frames they had at Chittick and was pretty ticked when he found out he couldn't have them.

The eyes have it

TB had his eye appointment today. He has an astigmatism and needs glasses. I'm in a craptacular mood so I don't feel like writing more than that right now. Full details to follow

Monday, December 1, 2008

Why?

Seriously, why can my kid read the word ostriches but not at?