Yesterday was a bit of a day...

*background* T. Dum has been off working in Alaska. He gets home tomorrow after spending two weeks up North. Last weekend while he was gone, I took the girls to Easter Washington to visit their Grandma Ooo's.

(1) I was walking home after getting The Girl Moo on her way to school. As I passed T. Dum's work van, I noticed that the back window was broken. *fab* I called T. Dum, taped up the window so that more glass doesn't fall out, cut my finger while taping the window, took pictures, called in the police report... How much fun can a girl have in a day?! And, seriously, we have no idea how the window broke. It is a mystery... Was it malicious or an accident? Did a rock hit the window the last time the neighbor's mowed the lawn? Someone hit it with a bat or b-b gun? I just don't know... All that I know is that it has been sitting in the driveway for the past two weeks, was fine when I left on Friday, was not okay when I saw it yesterday.

(2) Just as I was sitting down to work, I got a call from my mom. "Come over right away," was all that she said as I heard Popsicle crying in the background. When I got to her house, I saw Popsicle sitting on the counter crying while my mom held a bloody rag to her face. Apparently, Popsicle had climbed up a bar stools and then rode the bar stool down as it tipped over. She hit her face a nearby table and had a cut just under her eye. We called her pediatrician and they recommended taking her to Children's Hospital for stitches due to the location. They don't like working around the eye and it would be best to have a plastic surgeon suture her face. *groan*

My mom and I decided to take Popsicle to the pediatrician first just to see if she needed stitches before making the 30+ minute drive and sitting in a hospital waiting room all day. We made the right decision! While Popsicle was being cleaned up and examined, we noticed a giant bump on her hand. It didn't occur to us to look for any other wounds! So, we looked for any other injuries and found no other marks. The doctor decided to x-ray her hand and super glue the cut closed. Taking the x-ray pictures was cake. Popsicle nicely placed her hand on the table and held still while technician took the x-rays. Let me just say, I thought the x-ray was adorable and I wanted a copy for her baby book... and there was no fracture! After the x-ray, it was time to glue. Two doctors and a nurse walked into the room to perform the procedure. I held Popsicle's arms and torso, my mom held her feet, the nurse held her head, one doctor pinched the wound closed, and the other doctor glued. It took a couple minutes and a couple reapplications of the glue, but we were successful! And Popsicle was an angel the whole time. She held still while being glued and barely cried during the procedure. The pediatrician decided that she would not mind adopting my little Popsicle. I can't blame her! She is pretty darn cute, even with her shiner.

(3) How could there possibly be a three, right? Well, I went home (after getting Popsicle a balloon at the party store and vanilla steamer at Starbucks, I am from Seattle you know!) to find no power. We have construction going on outside our house. The city has been doing road improvements that include adding a bike lane and sidewalk in front of the house. For some reason, the power pole needs to be relocated about three feet to accommodate the improved road. For the record, the city has already shaped and put in the gravel layer for the road and the existing power pole is not in the way. In fact, the existing power pole is several feet away from the widened road. All the same, it is being moved slightly. SO, without any sort of warning, the power was turned off so that the lines could be moved. Did the power company know they were turning off the power yesterday? Absolutely they did. Did they bother to tell anyone? No. Why would they want to do that? I mean, I was planning on working from the house, so I found the lack of power for my computer to be of no bother what-so-ever. *eyeroll*

Today, I am still tired and ready for bed.

THE MOO GIRL!!! Here are some pictures of The Moo Girl from this past weekend. She spent most of the weekend NOT hanging out with me, so I don't have that many pictures of her. The girl is just busy...

POPSICLE!!! Isn't she just cute?!

Where's Popsicle?

 
There she is!

Super Popsicle!

Chasing rosters. How fun is that?!

I received this e-mail from a friend earlier today. As a quick background, she has been sick and in some pain for the last little bit. Although I really feel bad for all that she has been through, this e-mail had me in stitches:

"So I've been on pain killers, and since last week, it's become apparent to me that I've been on eBay and other online marketplaces at night, then forgetting ALL about it like it was a dream. How do I know this? I've started getting little packages from people I don't know that are full of things that nobody would even THINK to send me, but I'd clearly order for myself. Example: last week I received an envelope full of bubble wrap and a little baggie wrapped up inside. In the baggie were somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 little TINY starfish skeletons. Each about the size of a nickel. Motherload? Perhaps to a VERY inebriated version of ME, but I can't think of anyone else who would even begin to look for something like that. Not even a me when I'm NOT on pain killers.

There were two other packages in my mail box today. One was an old beat-up box with some Ally McBeal DVDs (I don't think they're legal-the labels written with Sharpie pen were my first clue), and the other was the second season of Family Ties.

I need to figure out a system where my computer is not accessible to me when I'm all goofy on drugs."

Starfish skeletons and season two of Family Ties, can you imagine? It kind of sounds like fun to me. Other than the fact that she probably had to pay for such treasures (and they really are not worth the postage it cost to mail), it sounds like fun: packages in the mail with unexpected contents. I hope that someday she receives something really, really great in the mail that she would have no idea what to do with it... Something like a sock monkey army.

I have a couple other stories that I want to share, but they have been pre-empted. Instead, I need to highlight This Our Day of Father's.

• I have a cold. So does Jellybean. We have had the cold since Tuesday or Wednesday. To date, I don't feel any better.
  
• Jellybean has not been sleeping well at night. She has been waking up every hour. For days! I stayed up late(r) on Saturday night hanging out with an ol' friend. I do not think that I fell asleep until around 11:00 PM. Jellybean was up from 3:00 am to 5:00. She got up for the day at 7:00 am. I am so dopey and tired. That makes six hours of broken sleep. While sick.
  
• In our house, This Our Day of Father's translates to Michele is my slave. It is sometime not a Day of Father's but a Weekend of Fathers. On Saturday, I heard several references to This Our Day of Father's Eve. "What, I need to go to the store myself on This Our Day of Father's Eve?!"
  
• I started the day making breakfast for T. Dum. Before I could cook, however, the kitchen required a bit of cleaning. As I was cleaning, I picked up one of our glasses by its handle. As I was lifting the cup to put it in the dishwasher, I bumped it into the upper cabinet. The handle broke off the glass, the glass fell to the counter and broke into a million pieces. *@!*#&
  
• In my extra tired, flustered state, I cut my finger as I was cleaning up the glass.
  
• As I was sweeping and cleaning the kitchen floor, I thought about how this sort of thing always seems to happen when I am too tired to deal it! If I broke a glass on a normal day. Oh well. On a sick, tired, miserable day. I hardly have the energy to life up the broom! Yet, it is because I am so tired that the glass broke in the first place. As I was contemplating this twist of fate, I went to throw away the contents of the dust pan. I open the pantry door and open the lid to the garbage can. I don't remember how it happened entirely, but somehow the garbage can lid flipped the dust pan up shooting the contents of the dust pan all over the pantry... a space that had until that moment had been clean and unaffected by the broken glass. *sigh*
  
• After making T. Dum pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs with cheese, and a extra delicious cup of coffee (and not having had a bite myself), I asked T. Dum if there was anything else that he wanted. "No thanks, I am okay. You aren't feeling well, so you don't need to get me anything more." He is just too generous!
  
• I knew that the world was against me when I went to get Jellybean some graham crackers out of the pantry. I am unsure what caused the air popper to leap off the top shelf of the pantry. All that I know was that I heard a sound and all I had time to do was start to tilt my head up to see what was happening when *BAM*, I got hit on my upper lip. At the time, I had no idea what hit me. My only thought was "That was a really heavy object. Much heavier than I was expecting." I took several moments before I even opened my eyes to see what had fallen. I still have a fat lip.
  
• As I was cooking dinner, I very cleverly found a piece of broken glass with the bottom of my foot. The Moo Girl felt so bad for me that she started to cry as I pried the glass from my foot. The good news is that the shard was big enough that it was easy to grab onto and pull out!
  
• At the end of the day when I was worn out, tired, exhausted, and ready for bed instead of taking a sleeping pill and saying goodbye to This Our Day of Father's, I drove the airport to pick up my parents.
  
• I finally went to bed at 10:45. As much as I would have liked to take a sleeping pill, Tylenol P.M., NyQuil... anything, I could not. Instead, I got up every hour with a sick baby and tried to comfort her and put her back to sleep. I am one tired girl today.

Try not to be jealous of my This Our Day of Father's. Days this wonderful don't happen all the time!

I am sort of in a shopping kick. Since I posted about shopping last week, I have been thinking about all sorts of other shopping experience. The post is about shopping with my mom at her favorite store, Molbak's. Molbak's is a upscale nursery that not only has beautiful plants and a nice shopping ambience, it also has a wonderful home and gift section. (Do I sound like an ad, or what?!) It is the place you go to if you want to by patio furniture that is more expensive than your living room furniture. My mom feels that shopping at Molbak's is an experience for all your senses. Sight and smell... Well there are a ton of beautiful flowers! Taste, you need a latte! And touch and sound just occur as you shop. When you go shopping with my mom, she has several rules that she will go over with you ahead of time:

1. You have to shop at Mulbak's in the correct order. The first stop, latte stand. You are not allowed to look at anything on the way to the latte stand as it is easy to get distracted. One cannot shop at Molbak's without first starting with a latte in your hand.
   
2. When someone find something wonderful (and you will), here is how the conversation goes:
   "This is wonderful!"
   (response) "Oh, it is wonderful!"
   "I think that I have to have this."
   (response) "I think that you have to have it too."
   
3. And this is the most important part of the conversation:
   "I don't think that it is too expensive."
   (response) "No, the price is totally reasonable."

I would like to say that only good has come of these rules, but I would be lying. These rules have always brought a wonderful shopping experience, but not the most practical of purchases.The pinnacle of bad purchases can be summated with the giant stuffed eagle.

A good friend of my mom, and frequent Mulbak's shopper, has a daycare that she runs out of her house. One day, the two of them were at Mulbak's and found a giant stuffed eagle that was ON SALE. "The kids will love this! *pause* I have to have it!" My mom, according to the rules, agreed and encouraged the purchase. It was after all, on sale.

Now, when I say giant stuffed eagle I feel as if I should elaborate. This is not just a large stuffed animal, it is huge. I would guess that the eagle was around four feet long with a six foot wing span. This eagle was giant. If it was real, this eagle was big enough to swoop down and nab a child from the daycare for an afternoon snack. The eagle was hung in the daycare and the children were terrified. What really put my mom's friend over the edge was when her friend's blind mother came to visit and said, "Dear God, there are limits!" in reference to the eagle.

As my mom was part of the purchase, she felt responsible. When the eagle came down at the daycare, it went up in her house. "WOW! There is a huge eagle up there!" company would exclaim. In effort to have good come of the purchase, my mom called a couple schools with the eagle as a mascot to whom might want to except the donation. Stubborn and not willing to admit defeat, the eagle stayed up for about a year in her house before she finally found someone else willing to take over ownership.

Even after such a purchase, the rules still remain firm. Better to a good shopping experience with the occasional bad purchase then ruin the entire shopping adventure.

I have been thinking about shopping adventures of late. I think that I could make shopping a blog topic! Now, in my last blog, I mentioned finding The Moo Girl a great pair of shoes for a mere $180. I would like to clarify (in case anyone was wondering), I did not actually BUY her the shoes. We left Nordstrom without those treasures. In fact, I have been thinking back, and I do not think that I have ever bought (and kept) myself $180 shoes. The most that I think that I have EVER paid for shoes is probably between $125 and $150. My standard shoe runs more in the under $60 category.

Sure, I have not bought myself $180 shoes, but that does not mean I have not had my shoe store splurges... Rewind to several years ago when T. Dum and I were engaged. I was on a shoe quest looking for the perfect shoes to wear with my wedding dress. For some reason, white shoes are not easy to find. My mom and I shopped high and low looking for cute white shoes. We found some white shoes, but I did not like any of them. They weren't cute. They were standard white shoes. When my mom and I were looking at Nordstrom, the salesman suggested we look at their website. They have a much bigger shoe selection online than they do in the store... And shipping was only $5 no matter how much you order!

I went home and browsed their website. Finally, with my mom's encouragement, I decided to order several pairs of shoes. You never know how shoes will fit and I was up in the air as to what style I wanted. I kid you not, I ordered ten pairs of shoes. Ten. The total bill was over a thousand dollars. For shoes. Some of the shoes were relatively cheap, in the $40 ball park, others were more expensive in the $200 + range. Can I tell you how much fun it was to try on all those shoes?! I put on my wedding dress, put the shoes on, walked around... It was so fun! The bottom line? I kept a pair of shoes that weren't very expensive, totally cute, comfortable AND I could walk in them without breaking my neck! I then took nine pairs of shoes back to the store for a return.

My aunt made the following statement: If we all ate bugs, I bet you that I would be able to figure out the highest calorie bug.

I can sure relate to that statement! Given a variety of foods, I can pick out the foods that are the worst for your health, have the most calories, are the highest in fats... And those are the foods that taste the best! It really is a talent. And also a curse. I have heard that there is a vegetable gene. People with the vegetable gene LOVE the taste of vegetables. I think that vegetables are okay, but I don't have the vegetable gene. I would rather have ice cream. I must have been born with the ice cream gene.

This talent carries over to other parts of my life. Several years ago, my mom and I were at a museum looking at some paintings. None of the paintings in that gallery were ones that I recognized. My mom asks me what painting was my favorite in the room. "I don't know what there is about this painting," I tell my mom, "But I just think that it is wonderful! The best painting in the room!" We go over and look closer at the description. Rembrandt. Of course. Without knowing a single painting in the gallery, I can still pick out the painting that was created by a master.

When shopping, I can walk into a store and pick out some of the most expensive items in the store. If the price tag is high, that is the item that I can't live without! I took The Moo Girl to Nordstrom to get a pair of Crocs. As we were there, the two of us were looking at the kid shoes. "MOO! Come look at these awesome shoes!" I say. They were the greatest pair of kid shoes! Pink sparkles on the sides, silver toe and heal, silver Mary Jane strap. Loved them! They were totally fancy pants shoes. They were a pair of shoes that any little girl would love to have in her collection. I then look up to see the sign for the manufacturer. Prada. I didn't even know that Prada made kid shoes! Bracing myself, I pick up the sneaker... $180.00! For kid shoes! That they will grow out of in a couple months. Leave it to my skills to pick out the only pair of $180 children's shoes in the store. I just have a skill!

As I mentioned earlier, we went camping last weekend. When you camp, campfires are a MUST. When T. Dum got to our camp, he scavenged for some branches and wood on the ground. As luck would have it, he found a large stump. As the stump was partially buried, T. Dum pulled out the stump and placed it near the fire to help it dry.

For several hours, the stump sat next to the fire. As the fire got hotter, the log started to heat up and smoke. As the log started to heat up, out crawled some ant like insects.

"Are these termites?" That's Jared asks T. Dum.

"No!" replies T. Dum, "Termites have wings."

That's Jared kindly moves the insects away from the stump, rescuing them from the fire. The more that That's Jared rescues the bugs, the more convinced he is of their termite status.

"I swear, these are termites!" That's Jared insists, "If they are not termites, then what are they?"

"I don't know what they are," T. Dum insists, "But, termites have wings."

That's Jared continues to fuss with the stump, staring at the mysterious creature. "What are they?" he inquires, "If they are not termites, then tell me what bug they are!"

I get up and walk over to the stump to look at the insects. They looked very strange and were not an insect I recognized. "I don't know what they are That's Jared," I said, "All termites that I have seen have wings."

"Well!" That's Jared responds, "I want to know what this is!"

In an attempt to help him, I called my friend Jill-O, the Knower of all Strange Facts. I described the insect to Jill-O. On the phone, she decided to Google termites.

"Termites," she starts, "Have wings."

"That's what I thought! That's Jared, according to Jill-O and her computer, termite have wings" I inform him.

"Wait!" Jill-O continues, "There is more information about termites at the bottom of this page. Oh, wait. These termites don't have any wings. There are the worker termites that don't have wings." Jill-O then goes on to describe in perfect detail the insects that we had seen crawling around the log.

 I quickly get off the phone with her and avoid eye contact with That's Jared. Praying that he doesn't ask me about the rest of my conversation with Jill-O, I walk over to T. Dum. "They are termites," I whisper to T. Dum.

"Don't tell That's Jared!" he desperately whispers back, "We are in too deep! We would never live this down!"

That's Jared continued to poke at the stump and mumbling about termites. T. Dum continued to insist that they were not termites. "Maybe they are carpenter ants!" T. Dum suggests. Finally, when That's Jared stepped away from the stump, I threw it onto the fire, squishing all further termite questions.

We went camping this weekend at the ocean! It was lovely and Jellybean did great on her first camping trip. We recently got a travel trailer (it is a 1970's beaut!), so it made the trip rather easy. The biggest problem? Monday morning, when I would not have minded sleeping in a tad, both girls were up at 6:30 a.m. *ugh* That sure is early! Since the girls were awake so early in the morning, we went out were the could play without disturbing dad. Unfortunately, most of the food was inside the trailer. Does is make me a bad mom that I feed The Moo Girl the only food that was available for breakfast... S'Mores and Root Beer?

Last night, I was trying to work on my computer. It was making me crazy! T. Dum and The Moo Girl were leaving for a Father-Daughter Campout and I was trying to open up their weekend itenary. I could not get the Word document to change out of Reading view... And I loath reading view. Plus, Word's thesoris kept opening and everytime I closed the thesoris, it re-opened. A virus?! I was a bit paniced. If I did have a virus, re-booting my computer can make it worst... but if it's not a virus, re-booting could fix the problem. Hmmmmm. I opted to re-boot. *holding breath* After re-booting, I could not type in my password to log-on. *gasp!* I had to log-in as a Guest. I re-opened word and could not type at all! Dialog boxes kept opening. Oh no, oh no, oh no! Not wanting to think or deal with the situation, I turned off my computer for the night and re-focused my energies on the X-Box 360.

This morning, up again and ready to use my computer. With "the kids" (T. Dum and The Moo Girl) gone for the weekend and Jellybean down for a nap, it was the perfect time to get some work done. Crossing my fingers, I turned the computer on. It was looking promising, I managed to type in my password. Good sign, good sign. First stop, e-mail. Oh dear, e-mail challenges. I had a hard time trying to type in the e-mail address and had to use my contacts list. And, I had no luck typing in the body of the e-mail. *big sigh* Okay, now the Word test. I opened the program and tried to type. The Find and Replace dialog box opened. That's no good. I tried to type again. The Clipboard opened.

Suddently, a thought hit me. Hold on just a darn second... It was almost like the CTRL key was stuck on. Test. I pressed the 'F' key. The Find and Replace dialog box. Now the 'C' key. The Clipboard opens. Is my keyboard broken? How hard is that to replace on a laptop? I blew under the keys in case there was something stuck under the 'CTRL' key. Hold on another moment... T. Dum got me a wireless mouse and keyboard for Christmas. I used the mouse, but the keyboard had been lying around the bedroom. When I was picking up last night, I moved the keyboard into a my laptog bag in the office (and by office, I mean dining room table). I pulled the keyboard out of the bag and set it on the table and Ta DA! Magic. My computer was fixed! Inside the laptop bag, something was pressing down the 'CTRL' key.

I am a bit suprised that the electronic keyboard effected my computer. The software is installed on my computer to see the keyboard and the keyboard does have batteries... but the keyboard reader-thingy isn't plugged in. Only the mouse. If I try to type on the wireless keyboard, that doesn't work. Just the 'CTRL' button works. Mystery solved!

I have found a time warp at my house. It lies somewhere between the front door and the car. My guess is that the time warp resides on the front porch.

I am an on-the-go mom. Even with an infant and a seven year old, we are able to get up and out the door quickly. I have known many a parent who find it impossible to get anywhere before 10:00 am. This has always surprised me since school starts earlier than ten. My family, if needed, can be up, dressed, feed and ready to go within half an hour. We can get to an activity at 7:30 am without too much difficulty. Until Jellybean was born, we could operate even faster.

The other day, The Moo Girl had a birthday party at 2:00. Figuring that we needed to there a bit early, I wanted to leave the house at 1:25 PM. At 1:23 PM, we gathered up the our gear that was together at the front door and went out to the car to load up. I put Jellybean in her car seat. The Moo Girl took care of getting herself in her booster seat and buckled up in the car. I went around the car, buckled up, and turned on the car. The time? What the...? One thirty five! It took us 12 minutes to load up in the car! Is that even possible? The only logical explanation is a time warp.

"Wove, true wove. It's what brings us together today."

Love is in the air. Bunny love, that is! Dogs have friends, cats even have friends, but bunnies? I didn't realize that bunnies had friends. Well, Fuzzy Buddy does! And, as Fuzzy Buddy is a fully functional boy rabbit, and fully functional boy rabbits can be territorial, I think that Fuzzy Buddy might have a girlfriend. At least, T. Dum hopes that Fuzzy Buddy has a girlfriend. Me? I tend to be more open-minded. Each bunny to its own, I say!

In our yard, we have spotted a white rabbit that comes and visits. She is a bit shy and won't let us get near her, but she is in our yard all the time! Not only is she in our yard, she is always near Fuzzy Buddy's bunny barn (home). The most delightful part of her visits is that she likes to jump on top of Fuzzy Buddy's food storage container so that she can get closer to Fuzzy Buddy. On the storage container, they are only separated by chicken wire and can gaze lovingly at one another with their doe eyes. What makes this so delightful is the bunny presents that she leaves behind on the storage container. On this, our Valentine's Day, our holiday of love, I hope that you too can find yourself a bit of bunny love.

This weekend, we went to the funeral for an old family friend, Joe. I have known Joe since we moved down the street from his house when I was two. Joe had three boys that I grew up with, one who is a year older than me, one who is a year younger and a third child who is several years younger. He is someone who has been in my life for as long as I can remember and I feel should always be in my life. Right before Christmas, Joe checked into the hospital for transplant surgery. His doctor thinks that he may have had a heart attack during the surgery and he never was able to recover.

Joe had a great sense of humor. He was always telling jokes and trying to make everyone laugh. At his memorial service, many funny story were told about him. His oldest son told a story during the service that got me to thinking. As the story goes, Joe hated the manly 'To Do' lists that his wife would make for him. The lists were so long that they were even broken down into categories: the indoor 'To Do' list and the outdoor 'To Do' list. Joe confessed to his son (who was sworn never to tell his mom) how he picked what chores on the 'To Do' he would do. If the chore required that he get a new tool, then that chore he would pick! Everyone laughed at this confession.

I have decided that my husband is not unlike Joe in this regard and I can possibly Joe's strategy to my advantage. If all that it takes to get my husband to work on his manly 'To Do' list is a new tool... Well, I can live with that! What I am considering is getting a surprise box filled with tools. "If you paint the bedroom, you can pick out a surprise from the box!" I could make the tools prizes coincide with the chore. "If you refinish the bedroom set, I will let you pick a tool with a cord!" Who knew it was so simple? And, I betting that it would work!

It sure has been awhile since my last post! I have been trying to work out of the house... With an infant... It has been time consuming trying to get any work done. There are days when I feel a bit pulled in a million different directions. Take care of the kids, work, cook dinner, pay attention to my husband, clean the house. Whew! I don't know if I am doing a good job on any of it! And it certainly doesn't leave a lot of time to blog. I think that daggers shot out of my eyes the day that my husband suggested that I go for a walk and get some exercise. Sounds great, but do you realize how much I have to do? But... since it is 3:30 in the morning right now and Jellybean won't go back to sleep, it is the perfect time to bounce her in bed while blogging. Please excuse all the odd grammer and spelling, it is rather early or late. I don't know where 3:30 am falls in the spectrum.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Sunday morning, my husband announced that we were having a Superbowl party! I replied, "Well, it sure is a good thing that I have plans this morning and am taking the kids out of your way while you clean." Isn't that nice of me? I did run by the store on my way back from a friend's house. Panic about the unknown party? Never! It wasn't my party!

Our party was small. Just a couple friends. Strangely, the mix was more girls than boys. It made for a different dynamic while watching the game. Normally, all anyone does is pay attention to the game while it is on. It is almost an overwhelming force. Not this time. I don't even know what the final score was to the game! I think that the men must have been outside watching the TV much of the time. Who knows. I certainly don't remember too much screaming.

One of my friend came over with her super fancy camera. Luckily for me, she took a million pictures of Jellybean. In total, she ended the day with an additional 176 photos (but they weren't all of Jellybean). Just a couple pictures! I posted a nice selection of the Jellybean photos in a new album. Isn't she adorable?! That soft little head and pretty red hair. I am probably biased...

Today, I was looking at her Flickr site to see what pictures she posted from Sunday. You can imagine my horror when I saw this picture of my husband! He looks so happy with himself... Dear, oh dear.

I have been so busy lately that I have not had the time to update my blog. Plus, with The Moo Girl's new X-Box 360... Well, Lego Star Wars isn't going to play its self! (Yes, we did learn this year that Santa is a sucker for a kid with a cute smile!)

I received this e-mail today and thought that it was rather different, so it will be my post:

Don't  delete this just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can
read  it.

I  cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd  waht I was rdanieg.

The phaonmneal  pweor of th huan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at  Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,  it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers  in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be  in the rghit pclae.  The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs  is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod  as a wlohe.

Azmanig huh?

I have a so much to write about... I hope that I find myself with more time soon!

The holidays are concluded and the power has remained (mostly) on! And yet, even though I have a ton to blog about, I have been horribly busy. I hope to have a bit more time this week, so I plan on telling several last month stories. Rewind to December...

My mom's family has a White Elephant every year for Christmas. Since there are so many people in the family, it is impossible to get gifts for everyone. Through the years, we have tried several different arrangements for present giving. Finally, we have settled on having the kids draw a name of one other kid to trade presents with and the adults bringing a white elephant.

The Rules:

• Bring a wrapped tacky present
• Everyone draws a number
• When it is your number, either pick a present from under the tree or steal an already unwrapped present
• When a present has been stolen three times, it becomes frozen and is no longer steal'able

We brought the following treasures:

Two beautiful lava lamps

Nothing says Christmas like a lava lamp! And what is better than one lava lamp, a set of lava lamps!

Pig Catapult

Description on box: The first catapults were built around 200 B.C. to hurl flaming 6-pound javelins. Now you can use the same basic mechanism to launch tiny plastic pigs through the air with the Pig Catapult. You may question the concept at first, but trust us, after propelling a few pigs across the room you'll be a believer too. Each 5-3/4" shooting device is made of plastic and comes with ample pig ammo for a full-fledged pig-flinging party. Comes on our illustrated blistercard with pig bull's eye on the back.

Internet Urinal

This treasure worn the award for tackiest present at the party! I am so proud.

Description on box: Shopping, gaming, chat rooms, cyber-dating - the internet is such an addictive and time-consuming force, who's got time to go? With the Internet Urinal, you'll never have to leave your computer again. Imagine the freedom - destroy your opponents on network Quake without taking a break; drink as many cans of Jolt as you want and still be able to make that last important trade before the market closes. Each urinal is made with hard plastic and comes with a handy female adapter. Holds 32 oz. of liquid (same as a Big Gulp!).

We received the following treasures:

These reindeer (I think that is what they are) are a made from the finest of plastics. Truly a gem. This was a re-gift from my aunt. Re-gifting is totally acceptable, if not encouraged, for white elephant presents. My aunt gave her sister-in-law a Waterford crystal butter dish... she got in return this plastic beaut.

This treasure not only sings "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", but is sound activated! This ornament would in no way become annoying on the tree. I was up for re-gifting this treasure immediately, but T. Dum decided that it was way too good of a present to give to someone else. "they just won't appreciate it," he claimed.

The following present was so wonderful, The Moo Girl wrapped the present and placed it under the tree before any discussions of re-gifting took place.  If you notice, she even made a present tag. To: herself, From: dad. It is best to be clear and prevent any confusion. Now, what could be so wonderful that it would warrant this sort of attention from a seven year old?

The Waddling Penguin Pooper, of course!

And our last present for the day, The Fartenstein. We did not win (if that would be the term) this present, it was just as added bonus. The Moo Girl fell in love with this present, so the winner of this present re-gifted to her on the spot! Lucky us that we got to take home such a price. This was the runner up for The Most Tacky Present contest. When you pull Fartenstein finger, he shakes and makes a loud rumbling noise. The noise is then followed by delightful saying, such as "What did in here?" or "I am shaking in my boots."

Happy New Year!

Last year, I was pregnant and TIRED for the New Year. In fact, I took a nap at 8:00 pm, only to be awoken by T. Dum and The Moo Girl around 10:00 or so. I then went back to bed and slept through the coming of the new year.

This year, I greeted in the New Year alone. The rest of the family was fast asleep. The is the first year in The Moo Girl's now seven years that she has ever slept through the New Year. EVER. Today, although she first complained that I did not wake her up to "see the ball drop" as she told me, we had our own celebration. One bubbly drink (this year, Shirley Temple's) and the TiVo'ed New Year's at the Space Needle and we were set! At 8:00 pm tonight, we counted down to the New Year, clinked our glasses, and air banded music as we watched the fireworks from the Space Needle. Fun, fun!

I am crossing my fingers that I can actually post this blog entry. My Internet connection has been horrible. Our usually fast cable connection has been so bogged down that I have given up trying to look up anything online. Wish me luck!

I woke up at 2:30 am last night to discover that something was different... *GASP* Noooooo! *sob* Why me?! The power was out again. Oh, the horror.

As I lied in bed, letting this terrible discovery sink in, I noticed that it was light outside. Why was only my power out? The power bill was paid. Besides, who has ever heard of the power company coming in the middle of the night to turn off your power like it is a Power Repossessor. So, why, oh why would my power be out and everybody else have power? What could have happened to the power line coming to my house? I got up out of bed to investigate.

Forgetting about my spider in the dark fear, I got out of bed and walked into the kitchen. The window in the kitchen has the best view of the front yard and power lines. I was shocked with what I saw. Snow. Snow! In December! It was a winter wonderland. We had about four inches outside. Just amazing. It was not that I was the only one without power, everyone was without power. It was light outside from all the snow!

Looking for the silver lining, I came up with several reasons why no power wasn't completely terrible:

The Moo Girl got new snow wear for Christmas to test out

It looked very pretty outside

I had nowhere to go

The cable company put a generator outside our house, so we still had  cable and Internet... until the generator stopped

I am an expert at living withoug electricity

The fridge and freezer are mostly empty, so it doesn't matter if they warm up

It is unlikely that we will be without power for over a week (like the last time)

My power bill was going to be like nothing for the month

Update: The power was not out for too long. The cable and Internet remained off for much longer.

Tip: If you are going to barbeque in the snow, flip flops are not a good shoe choice.

Update 2: It took a day and a half to fix the Internet. So sad. I can finally post this blog that I wrote on Tuesday!

Without power for so long, I kept a hand written journal. The following (rather long) entry consists of my experiences for the past week and a half.

Wednesday

The power went out around 2:00 today. As soon as the power went out, the battery started beeping in the smoke detector that is in the peak of our 15' high ceilings. You know, the battery we do not change as often because it is SUCH a pain. Great... That won't be annoying to listen to today AT ALL!

The Moo Girl hates it when the power goes out. As a kid, I always thought it was kind of fun and different to be without power. The Moo Girl has other ideas. There are two reasons she hates it when the power goes out:

1. One time in the past, the power went out and we had a candle burning in the bathroom all day. It was a cheap candle that put off a lot of smoke. That candle, in combination with all the other candles that were burning set off the smoke detector. The noise was rather startling. The Moo Girl freaked.
2. The low battery beeping on the fire alarm scares her. It probably reminds her of incident number 1. All the same, it seems that every time we are without power, one or all the smoke detectors start beeping. Even when we have replaced the batteries, they still beep. Totally obnoxious.

The Moo Girl started to complain about the power going out. She was scared that our house will burn down. It is 2:00, middle of the day, no candles are even lit, but she is afraid there will be a fire.

I once heard that until kids are seven, their imagination are just as real as reality. Monsters under the bed are just as real as puppy dogs. Around seven, kids can start to discern between the two. That being said, fear does not usually develop until around three.

That night, in the dark, I was getting ready for bed. As getting ready, I started to think about spiders. I am not a fan of spiders. In particular, I hate those big, huge wolf spiders. We can sure grow big spiders in the Northwest. Being in the dark and not being able if there is a spider hiding somewhere makes it worst. What if I step on one? Ewwww?!

Thursday

Good News: The power came back on at around 1:15 am.

Bad News: We are without cable and Internet.

Bad News: My mom tells me another storm in on the way. I sure hope that the cable and Internet come back on before this next storm starts.

Later Thursday...

The cable never returned. When I went to get The Moo Girl at the bust stop, I saw a Comcast truck driving around the neighborhood, but it was starting to get rather blustery. I think that Comcast decided to call it a day because of the upcoming storm.

The power started to flicker around 5:30 PM, but officially went out at around 8:30. This storm is expected to be a pretty good little storm with gusts of wind around 60 mph.

And reflecting back on Thursday...

As I lay in bed listening to the wind, I started thinking about all the trees around our house. The wind starts to blow and I start to worry about a tree landing on our house. Working in an architectural firm, we work on houses with tree damage all the time. Trees can sure cause a lot of destruction. Most of the trees around our house would fall in a direction that would not endanger our house, but you never know...

The Moo Girl tells me that I worry all the time. As I make her sit down to eat her lollipop (what if she fell?) and as I cannot go near a second + floor railing will carrying Jellybean (what if I fell?), The Moo Girl thinks that I am overprotective. Are my concerns and fears any different than her fear of the house burning down because the fire alarm is beeping from a low battery? I rationalize that bad things happen and I want to keep my family safe. Yet, I have never lived in a house that has had a tree fall it nor I have ever stepped on a spider while barefoot. So why my fear?

People often worry about the wrong things in life. Statistically, you are WAY more likely to die in a car accident on the way to the airport than in an airplane crash. All the same, there are people who are afraid of flying but are not afraid of driving. So, what about the trees and spiders? Am I worrying about the wrong thing?

I could not sleep well listening to the storm and thinking of the trees. I kept hearing what I thought sounded like trees popping and cracking. Was that a tree that fell or just a branch?

Friday

2:00 AM

I am still having a hard time sleeping. I just keep worrying?! Like a mother hen, I want to collect all my chicks and have them nearby. With an infant... well, that is easier said than done.

I got up out of bed shortly after 2:00 AM. I noticed some red lights outside my bedroom window and decided to have a peak. WOW! The lights that I noticed were from a fire truck that was trying to drive under a tree that was nestled in the power lines. The fire truck had to cross onto the wrong side of the road to get under the tree. I saw a couple fireman in the street directing the fire truck so that it would avoid hitting the tree with the lights onto of the truck.

T. Dum heard my walking around and also woke up. Together we opened the front door and went out on the porch. The tree tops were shaking constantly... and then a real gust of wind would hit. It was a sight to behold. While we were standing outside we saw branches falling. From what we could see, there was several trees down nearby and the storm was not over.

7:00 AM

I finally got some sleep! Although tired, I got up extra early. Today, the kids were going to the Rotary Santa Breakfast with Buba (my dad). The chances were slim that the breakfast was still on, but we decided to give it a try. It was like an adventure!

The site outside was amazing. It was still dark, so I could not take any pictures, but WOW! There were several trees down in the neighbor's yards on both sides of the house. Driving on the road was like driving on a Christmas tree. I kid you not, you could not see the gray of the road there were so many branches were down.

As we drove down to breakfast, there were branches, power lines and trees down everywhere. At times, we had to drive on the left hand side of the road to pass an obstacle. Other times, the road was simply closed with a barricade. The Rotary Breakfast was canceled. In fact, we did not see a single light on in the 40 minute drive. It was not until we were in the block around the hospital that we saw any sign of electricity. We got breakfast in one of the few restaurants that were open and came back home.

Later Friday

When the sun was up and I went outside to survey the sites. It was like Armageddon! The neighbor's house to the right had four very large trees down and the neighbor's to the left had six trees down. The neighbor's with the four trees down won the award for the worst looking yard in the neighborhood. To get out of their driveway, they had to cut up two trees and still needed to drive underneath a third tree. One of the root balls that came up was about five feet high. I think that it was this tree that I heard popping and cracking all night. Amazingly, the damage to property was minimal. However, I think that mother nature is out to get them. They are the same neighbor's that lost three trees in the previous storm.

I am not so sure that my fear of trees falling on the house was completely without merit.

Saturday

Good News:

My parents (and my next door neighbors) got their generator working. Our gas fireplace keeps the house pretty warm, but with the freezing weather that has now hit, it is having a hard time keeping up. When the house gets too cold, we can just plug the furnace in and heat up! Knowing that we have a  baby, two of our other neighbors offered us an extension cord from their generator. So nice! It is really a statements of our fall and winters, the neighbors on all four sides own generators.

Good News:

As it is so cold outside, I can use the front porch as our new refrigerator! The milk now resides on the patio table.

Bad News:

Although our water heater is gas, the water main is uphill. Normally, when our sewage tang fills, it is pumped (using electricity) uphill to the main. We have no electricity and the tank is full. No more water down the drain. No more flushing the toilet. No more showers. We have been cut off!

Good News:

The tree was finally cleared from the power lines tonight. Knowing that the electricity cannot be fixed with a tree on the lines, it feels like progress to see that tree down!

Bad News:

It took a day and a half to clear the tree from the power lines. If it has taken so long to fix a dangerous situation, it cannot be a good sign.

Sunday

Good News:

Today we went to my mother's family Christmas. We went to my aunt's house who had electricity! Details to follow...

Bad News:

Coming back from my aunt's house, we took a ferry boat. Coming into Seattle was a site. Although downtown Seattle was light, there were huge dark spots of people without power. It was amazing to see the city so dark several days after the storm. Driving home, the city of Issaquah was still in the dark. This included Costco and their corporate headquarters. Not a good sign. I doubt that we will get electricity before the main cities nearby are with electricity.

Suspense:

As we continued on our drive to the house, the main street by our house had power! We are only a couple blocks from the main street. I was very encouraged.

"I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will have power back on!" I told T. Dum.

"Michele, its not worth the effort of putting one finger on top of the other," he told me.

Pessimist! Don't be so negative.

Bad News:

He was right... I hate having to admit that he was right.

Monday

Good News:

Without power, there is not much we can do, so Christmas shopping during the day!

Good News:

For dinner, we made spaghetti on the barbeque. It would have been perfect if we had just had some parmesan cheese. Without power, there is not much point to buy cheese. I guess that I was smart to procrastinate on going to the grocery store last week! I only had to throw out one garbage bag of food.

Bad News:

A rodent got into my new refrigerator and ate the cream cheese that was sitting on the front porch. I am rather surprised that it gnawed through the plastic container.

Good News:

We all took baths today. As we cannot have the water down the drain, we filled up the tub and left the water inside. If felt so great to get clean.

Bad News:

T. Dum told me a filthy lie! Word is with the ladies at the grocery store that another wind storm in expected on Wednesday. That is just too horrible to be true.

Tuesday

Bad News:

I must confess, I am ready for the power to get turned back on. The thrill of the adventure is OVER. I guess that we are in the lucky 120,00 that are still without power. The top of our telephone pole snapped off in the storm, so it might be a slightly more time consuming repair. I keep look longingly out the window for the power company. *sigh* They are no where to be seen.

Good News:

Last July, T. Dum and I were in a disagreement about the Christmas Lights. They were still on the house and I felt that it was time to take them down! Yup, we were one of those families. The obnoxious neighbors who leave the Christmas lights up year round. He insisted that you could not see them. He was so wrong. Every time I drove in the driveway, the first thing that I noticed was those darn Christmas lights. It was making me crazy. I would have taken them down myself except climbing on the roof while six months pregnant did not seem smart.

In July, we had a painter scheduled to come work on the exterior of the house. Since the painter was painting the house, the Christmas lights had to go. Finally, T. Dum grudgingly took down the lights. Unfortunately for the painter, he had a family crisis and never finished the work on the house. T. Dum thinks it was all a ploy on my part to force him to take down our beautiful lights.

When T. Dum finally took down our Christmas lights, he just threw them in the trash. As I was decorating for Christmas, I was going to go to the store and buy some new lights to decorate the exterior of our house. It is just so nice to look at all the Christmas lights! And, this time I was going to put up the lights in places were I could also take them down! But, I didn't make it to the store before the storm hit. Thank God! I would have been so bummed to go through all the effort of putting up Christmas lights outside and then never have electricity on to see them. 

Wednesday

Bad News:

Every time I hear a large truck outside, I look out the window to see if the power company has finally arrived to fix the power. Since the road construction resumed on Monday, I am frequently looking out the window. It is never the power company. You know the saying "the watched pot never boils?" I am feeling that way about the power.

Bad News:

After a couple hours at the house, the girls and I went out to run some errands. We didn't really need to run any errands, but what the heck are we going to do at home? You can only play so many rounds of "I Spy" before going crazy. As I was out and about, I ran into a neighbor who gave me the most horrible news. She said that the power is not going to be turned on until Sunday. Later I got the full report from the power company. We are not scheduled until Sunday at 9:00 PM. *GASP*

Good News:

I spent the rest of the day going through the stages of grief. Denial, the power company cannot possibly wait until Sunday to fix the our electricity. Anger, I just hate that power company for not turning on the power! Bargaining, if you will turn on the power, than I will forever pay the power bill early. Depression, I just cannot get anything done with power. I will just go to bed. If Now, at the conclusion of the day, I am finally at acceptance.

Bad News:

I told my mom the news about the power, and she went off the deep end! She offered to put us all up in a hotel anywhere. The ocean, Levingworth? What to go visit your aunt? Then, she just got angry and cranky about her house. I took the girls home at that point. Poor mom.

Good News:

Our neighbor called this evening and offered their generator to hook up to our sewage tank. That would be grand to empty our tank! So, we now have our big plans for the tomorrow! Doesn't get much better.

Bad News:

We are supposed to have yet another wind storm tonight. I am afraid that it might postpone our repairs even further. The winds are supposed to hit around midnight, but this time only around 20-30 mph. The gusts should be around 40. The neighbors on our right are hoping that no more trees will come down in their yard. Their remaining trees are not looking to good so their fingers are crossed. They have also roped some trees together for additional strength. We shall see what tomorrow brings!

Thursday

Good News:

The wind storm last night was nothing! All the neighbor's trees are still vertical... or mostly vertical. Still concerned that they could still fall, they did park their Jeep underneath one of the titling trees.

Good News:

Having accepted that the power would not be on until Sunday, I went to Target and purchased more candles. I must say, the candle section was rather picked over. While at Target, I heard that some sections of Woodinville are being told that they might not have power until next year! I guess that Sunday isn't that bad.

Good News:

T. Dum also borrowed a generator today. We are ready to fire up the generator and light up the Christmas tree! If you are going to turn on a light, why not a festive light? Or better yet, the tree?

Good News:

So, now that we are ready to go another week without power, what should we see? Yup, the power company!

The power company was working right outside our house. I sat on the porch swing with the girls and watched them repair our telephone pole. It was very interesting to see them work. They had two bucket truck, one on each side of the pole and they worked fast. When T. Dum got home, we brought the men some bottle water. Water was all we had to offer without any power! They told us that they frequently are asked if they would like a cup of coffee, to which they, "No, you can't without any power!" These men were here from Montana and were working 18 hours days trying to restore power to the 800,000 that had been without. As much as we were hoping for power on Christmas, they were hoping even harder that they would be completed with their work so that they could be home with their families.

So, it is 9:00 and the power is not on yet, but I am hopeful! I am trying not to count my chickens before they hatch, but it is hard to avoid. We could... maybe... have power tomorrow. First, I plan to flush the toilet. Second, hot shower. Third might be laundry, but that doesn't sound as nice as flushing the toilet and taking a hot shower.

Friday

Good News:

We got up early today for the Rotary Santa Breakfast. Breakfast was supposed to be last Friday, but got rescheduled for this week. The Moo Girl loves the Santa Breakfast and was soooo excited.

Bad News:

When I got up this morning, there was no power on. *SOB* Maybe they are coming back later today to work.

Suspense:

When I looked out the window, it seemed as if the neighbor's house had more lights on than normal. Yesterday when my dad and T. Dum had been working on trying to pump out the sewage tank, they messed around with the breaker box. Although T. Dum claimed that he flipped all the breakers, I went to double check his work. As it turned out, he thought that my dad had manually flipped all of the breakers and flipped all the breakers back. My dad had actually thrown the master switch. When T. Dum thought that he was turning all the breakers on, he actually turned them all off.

Good News:

We flipped on the breakers and HORRAY! there was power. Happy Electricity Day to all! T. Dum felt like it was a holiday and that he should have the day off from work. I couldn't agree more.

Good News:

We had a really fun, busy day. Santa breakfast in the morning, company lunch (the girls were invited and came with me), and then a movie with Grandma and Buba.

Bad News:

When I got home, T. Dum instantly asked me what I had been doing all day and why didn't I stay home to work on the house? *humpf* I have had these plans for weeks! But, he was still in a good mood. For some reason, he just really wanted clean work clothes for work the next day. I just don't understand...

Bad News:

I have a lot of housework to do tomorrow and Sunday morning. Hopefully I can pull the house together in time for our Christmas Eve plans.

Good News:

I am just so happy to have electricity nothing else matters!