My Own American Idol Star?

Oh yeah, here's T's latest use for my cane... T sings into it as if its her own, personal microphone and she's on stage.

Much ado about nothing

Well, it seems we have a whole lot of nothing to report. I'm happy to report that I had a blessedly HOT shower this morning. I hope I'm not jinxing anything by typing this, but so far, so good. Hopefully, the electric problem was just the circuit.

On the Rehab front: Rehab is coming along fairly well. I still have the cane for distance, but around the house and the office, I'm on my own. So far, so good. Picking up T is still dicey, as is carrying anything with much weight. I'm bummed that I'll probably be in rehab longer than I had anticipated. This stupid swelling is staying longer that I had imagined. Also, I'm still in my dorky New Balance sneakers. Can't wait til I get back into my old shoes again. I'm slightly nervous, though, b/c a girl at work had a similar incident, and she said that her foot never did go back to its normal size. Crap.

I got noticed yesterday that swim class has been postponed for about 2 weeks. Something about the pool pump not working correctly. Since T isn't thrilled with the idea of the classes anyway, she's fine with it.

Meanwhile, why hasn't my sweet Aunt Connie posted on the new blog? We're missing her!

Blinging the Blog and Electrical Snafus

Yep, my blog fairy has struck again. This time, with a snazzy new signature line at the end of each post. T loves it b/c all she sees and cares about is her precious Ariel.

Meanwhile, we're experiencing slight electrical problems in Casa Gringa. Last month, my electric bill was only $74.00. That was weird, but I figured I must have paid the previous months bill late, then paid again, and this was the balance that was due. Well, this month, my electric bill was a whopping $11.11. While I loved the number, I knew something was drastically wrong and ended up reporting it to FPL. Good lord, while I knew that once I installed Al Gore's super-duper energy-saving light bulbs, there would be a savings, an $11.11 electric bill is ridiculous!!! Especially since my bill is usually over $300.00 in the hot summertime. Yikes!

Well, they swiftly installed a new meterbox that's busy counting the kilowatts as we speak (or blog). FPL is also busy calculating up my new bazillion dollar electric bill to make up for all their lost income due to the bum box. They say I'll be getting that in the near future. Oh joy :(

Now tonight, I give T a bath and the water is only lukewarm. Apparently, the circuit that the water heater is on was tripped. Not sure if it's related to the installation of the new meter box, or if the old circuit just burned out. Whatever. I guess it wouldn't be summer without there being electric problems. You may recall last summer it was my a/c.

Say a prayer that I don't have to take a cold shower in the morning!

Party Time

Here's how T has a party. She announces she's having one, pulls out an appropriate dress, then pulls out her mermaid comforter from her bedroom. They are her invited "guests". She then sits in the middle of the mermaids, and sings "Happy Birthday".

A good time was had by all!

FATHER'S DAY

We had lots of fun today. We went over to our parents house and took them out to lunch at a new Bar-B-Q restaurant in the area. This is a pic of my mom and dad, Aunt Dot, and T. Food was good, but service was poor. That's OK, though. It gave us more time to sit and talk. God knows, nobody in this family can shut up so that was a good thing! T was very well behaved.

After lunch, Dot took T home to nap, and I stayed at my parents. I had taken my maid Leonor over to clean the house for them, so I had to stay until she finished. The bonus with that...I was able to sneak out to Target by myself, for a little shopping on my own, which is a truly rare event in my life. Of course, I missed T, so ended up getting her a ribbon wand, like I see the Chinese acrobatic girls doing. I've yet to give it to her, though, as I really don't want her wacking everything in sight inside the house. We'll save it for the park.

Afterwards, we came back home and T had fun playing in her pool again. I keep pushing the water play, as T starts swim class in a mere 2 weeks. So, the more she's in the water having fun, I figure the easier swim class will be. As it stands, whenever I mention the classes, her the response is...."I don't want to go to swim class!".

Growing pains...or lack thereof

I guess kids slow down in growing. At least T seems to be slowing at 3 yrs 2.5 months. She's still hovering around 27 - 28 pounds and is around 36 inches. She's been hovering at this weight for about 6 or 8 months. So, I decided to see if this little skirt still fits her. Yes, my 3 yr old is actually wearing a skirt that is size 3 - 6 months. Clearly, something is off with the way gymboree sizes things.

Her shirts, she's growing out of all the time. They get too small in length and across the chest/arm area. She could still technically wear some of her pants that are 6 - 12 months. She still has a black pair. Now, however, they fit her like short capri leggings. The other pants just look odd, so I had to get rid of them.


Finally, here's proof of T's budding photography skills. Now, to get her to stand still for a picture, I have to bribe her by offering to let her take a picture, too.

Crazy Hair

Guess who loves to take a bath? It also gives me a glimpse of what T would look like if she got ahold of my hairspray can.

She just looked at the computer and asked, "Is that Me?" She then started cracking up when I said yes.

"That's funny," she says.

That Doggie is eating the Panties

So I'm busy on the computer and T is busy playing in the living room with the Shrek backpack that's filled with our swim stuff. Suddenly, I hear her saying over and over again, "Mama, the doggie is eating the panties. " Huh?

I look over, and T is very concerned about the picture on the coppertone sunscreen stick. Yes, baby, the doggie is eating the panties. To which T replies, "I don't like that doggie. I see the girl booty". Now, where she learned the term booty, I'll never know, as that's not a word I EVER use.

Meanwhile, today was my first day back at work, and I loved it! Tomorrow, it will be my first whole day back. Yippee!!!

Commuting in China

And you thought you had a tough commute....



Thank you, Manny, for this hilarious video

Water Play

We had lots of fun today. After Aunt Dot was liberated and went back home, we headed out to Target. That's the best place for me to shop b/c they have electric scooters with a basket on the front. I can ride around the store to my heart's content, with T standing between my legs. I can even ride it outside to my car...so no carrying heavy packages and trying to walk with my cane and keep track of T all at the same time.

Anyway, I broke down and got T a blowup pool. Not the big one I was speaking of a week ago, but a small, blow-up one. We dragged out her water table and a sprinkler, and she had the time of her life in the backyard playing.

I took the opportunity to soak my bad foot in the cold water, in hopes that it would help decrease the swelling. T thought it was lots of fun to pour water on it, to help along the process.

That's all for now. Tomorrow is a big day...by first day returning to work. I'm so excited I can't stand it!