Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Another Giveaway!

Life in a Shoe is hosting a giveaway of Vision Forum's exciting new adventure series, Ballantyne books.

While you're visiting Kim's site, read her brilliant blog entry about how NOT to raise a picky eater. (That subject is one of my bigger pet peeves!)

Friday, September 21, 2007

Oxymoron

Or maybe just moronic. I was driving by the neighborhood Krispy Kreme and saw their ad campaign for their new Whole Wheat Glazed Doughnut. As if whole wheat goodness is going to offset the 3.5 grams of transfats. Natch.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Aaarrr!

As we learned from yesterday's instructional pirate video, "aaarrr" can mean anything from "I want a muffin" to "My team is winning." My "aaarrr" today translates as "I have two sick kids and my day is shot."

Backtrack: Last spring I tried to sign David up for preschool for the fall. Even though the girls had gone to preK there, we'd technically taken a year off and now we were banished to the "out-of-house" registration day. I arrived two hours before the registration was supposed to begin and there was already a line snaking its way toward the parking lot. I spent the next several hours trying to entertain my three-year-old son, and in the end we were No. 8 on the waiting list. (Apparently I've told a few too many people how much I love this preK program.)

The school year began and David was not enrolled anywhere. I'd pretty much resigned myself to having him accompany me on all my daily tasks and errands, and he seemed fairly game. So I was pleasantly surprised when I got a call last week saying that there was a spot for David at preK. I guess someone dropped out and the first seven people on the waiting list had already stuck their kids somewhere else. Lucky us, I say.

I'm getting to the point, really.

Yesterday was David's first day of school. Kevin dropped him off to lessen the separation problem from Mommy. I had an extremely productive day and arrived promptly at 2:30 to pick him up. David was passed out on the floor, covered in a blanket and hugging his beloved Bear Bear. I was very surprised that he'd taken a nap considering he's only taken a handful of naps in the last year. Maybe Mrs. Shirley wore him out with fun activities all day, I thought.

David didn't talk at all during the drive to pick up the girls from elementary carpool. When we got home, I asked him what his favorite part about school was. "Nothing," he said. He proceeded to tell me everything he did not like about his day. I send Mr. GrumpyPants off to play Webkinz and prayed that he'd make some friends at school on Friday.

Unfortunately, it's looking like David won't be at school on Friday. At dinner I realized that he had a fever, which accounts for the nap and general grumpiness. He woke up several times last night, and this morning he was delirious. I think he woke up in the middle of a dream, because he was crying about "I didn't mean to throw it" while pointing at his stuffed animals on the floor and then said "I didn't want the whole alphabet!" I'm still not sure what that was about, but he's all tucked in on the couch watching Diego right now.

To top it off, Kendra was also up in the middle of the night complaining about a sore throat. It looks fine to me, but to appease her hypochondria I took her temperature anyway. My bad. She's got a fever. So now she's on the other couch playing Webkinz on the laptop.

Aaarrr! Obviously I'm not really upset that my kids are sick -- that's just the way life goes. I'm just praying that whatever they have doesn't get spread around to the rest of us. And on that note, I have some disinfecting to do.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Avast, Me Hearties!

Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. You might not be up on your pirate lingo, so here's a refresher course from YouTube.

BTW, I'm a fan of random man-made holidays. Did you know that August 8 was the national "Sneak Some Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Porch Day"? I'm not kidding. Google it and celebrate with me next year.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Freecycle

This might be of use to my friends in San Antonio. I've joined a Yahoo group called Freecycle (click on the title of this post for the link). This is a nationwide organization, but it's broken down into regional areas. Basically, this is a free way to unload stuff you can't use anymore but you don't think should be trashed yet. Also, you can submit requests for things you might need. It's a simple concept and so much easier than eBay. Yesterday I picked up five brand-new American Girl books for my daughters, who were quite thrilled and kept asking, "But why were these free?" I've also given away a bag full of maternity clothes that I no longer need or want.

Be warned: If you join you'll be getting quite a few daily emails that announce what's available and what's been taken. You can get a daily digest that summarizes the whole day, but then you'll miss out on grabbing what you might want. Most people operate under a first-email-first-served mentality, but the giver gets to choose the receipient. You are not allowed to share sob stories in an attempt to up your chances for getting free stuff.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Fun Stuff and Giveaways

If you know me you know that I'm all about the free stuff. So I'm happy to share that Pinks and Blues is having a Hanes giveaway. Ten lucky winners are going to receive an assortment of kids-sized Hanes clothing. Head on over to the website and check it out!

Updates

I've solved my plot problem and have turned in all four reading passages that were due this week. Now I've got four more passages on the docket, so forgive me if I don't blog much in the next week or so. I need to stay in good graces with my boss by meeting my deadlines.

On a different note, my dear husband has finally bought me a new oven. It's been seven months since the panel on the oven broke, resulting in some guesswork about how hot the oven is. Also, every time we turned the oven off, it would beep incessantly until we pressed the off button about a dozen more times over the next few minutes. I'll be mighty happy to see that Sears truck come September 25. Kevin also splurged for a new microwave, dishwasher, and high-efficiency Cabrio washer and dryer. Yippee! The new washing machine should cut my laundry time in half, and the updated dishwasher should eliminate by current need to pre-rinse everything. Plus we got a rebate from Sears, a rebate from Whirlpool, and we'll get a rebate from our local utility companies for having high-efficiency appliances. Oh, to enter to current century.