I've Joined Facebook

Tonight, at my friend Laura's urging, I stepped further into the 21st century, and joined Facebook. I'm not really sure what I'm doing on it or how I'll use it on a daily basis, however, I'm learning. It really is amazing how it puts one in contact with old acquaintences and friends.

I'm must admit, though, that I feel a bit like a geeky 3rd grader, asking people to "be my friend". You know, the old " I'll be your friend if you'll be my friend" routine that I thought I had gotten away from after graduating high school.

So far, I'm preferring the land of blog much better than this facebook stuff, but I'll give it time.

Live and learn!

Weekend Update

So what did we do this weekend?

The birthday cakes have been ordered, and the countdown has begun. We're getting every excited, not only for the parties, but for our disney vacation that will begin on Sunday. Yippee!

My van is in the shop and the inform me they must replace some part of the engine. Thank god for warranties! I successfully wrestled my mom's car away from them, and am driving that. Of course, I am in no hurry whatsoever, to give it back ;) .

Though her birthday has yet to pass, T insists that she is 4 yrs old, and tells anyone and everyone that little fact. Though her party is only from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., I think that she's planning about 3 costume changes. She keeps saying she's going to be a different princess at the party. It will be very interesting to see on which she settles.

I tried to keep T from napping today, as we woke up late. She's alseep now, and I suspect I'm going to be screwed in the a.m.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Early Birthday Present

On Friday night after dropping the schoolbus at the dealership, Aunt Dot insisted that we go to the toy store, which was located conveniently nearby. We were in search of Bendaroos. Our search was for naught. Those things are like discovering gold. They were all sold out. So, Dot let T select another toy. She chose pixos...another crafty toy she has seen on TV, and continually insists that she wants.

All I can say is, "Beware of this Toy!"

Imagine, if you will, hundreds of tiny little colored pellets, the size of BBs. T has already spilled the tray of them once, necessiating a HUGE clean up effort. You put the pellets on a grid, using a colored pattern to make a picture. One then sprays the thing with water, and the pellets magically stick together. T loves it. Mom, not so much.


At any rate, its a good gift for a rainy day, as long as one understands going into it that it needs LOADS of supervision.

The Bendaroo quest continues...

Can I Hitch a Ride???

Take one guess who is having car trouble......

Yep, the schoolbus is in the shop. Dot has been saying for the past couple weeks that the engine sounded funny. Came out of work and it wouldn't start. Got a jump and drove directly to Sears Express Battery....who promptly informed me that its not the battery, but probably the alternator or some belt that's not working correctly. So, out to the dealership we drove.

I'll be having to borrow my parents' car. At least that will keep my mom from driving for a week or so. I choose to look on the bright side...


In other news, things are getting exciting around here. We'll be ordering Taylor's birthday cakes from publix this weekend. Yes, you read that right. Cakes. Plural. In my Princess-and-Pirate-party-planning mania, I forgot all about her school birthday party. All the kids have one. How can T not? So, we went rushing out for supplies and let T pick the theme. Its Tinkerbell. We bought some paperware to decorate, some gift bags, and some candy to fill them. We'll be ordering the Tinkerbell Pull-Apart Cake from Publix for school, and the Ariel cake for the party next Saturday.


I'm obsessing some on what to order. I'm thinking chocolate and vanilla with pudding in the middle. I just know I won't make the HUGE snafu I made at her 1st birthday party. Longtime readers will remember that I ordered a carrot cake b/c I love it. Well, not one kid ate a piece.

Not. One.

Apparently, no kid likes carrotcake. They were so disappointed. God, did I feel bad. They were all so excited abou the elmo cake. Then their little faces fell upon looking at the nasty brown cake. Lesson learned there.

That's it for now!

It Does Tick!

Yep, a watched clock really does tick!

According to my calculator, I have another 10.9561644 years to go!

Tick Tock

If a watched pot never boils, does a watched clock ever tick?

Years ago I gave my good friend Ruth this clock, never thinking that the time would actually pass, she'd retire, and I'd inherit the clock back to document my own retirement. Most days I don't pay much attention to it, but then on others....like today...I notice it and notice I'm hitting a milestone....only 3,999 days left!

WoooHooo....I'm out of the 4,000's

Hot Shots

T's gymnastics school has invitation only classes, for the children who show more aptitude than the average child. T has been invited to participate, and today was her "evaluation"/trial class. They have a Hot Tot's class for 3 and 4 yr olds, and a Hot Shots class for 5 and 6 yr olds. Unfortunately, the hot tot class is offered only on Fridays at 3:30. Um, hello! Some of us actually have to work!

So, if T is to participate, she would have to be in Hot Shots with the 5 and 6 yr olds. Not sure if that will work out.

I've mentioned before how driven T is. As an example, when writing her letters and words, if she isn't happy with how she makes a letter, she gets really really mad, scribbles like crazy over it blotting out the image, throws down her pen, and stomps off in a pout. I've never seen anything like it. She gets so very mad at herself when she can't do something that she wants to do. Instead of quietly working at it, she pulls the histrionics and drama and quits.

Well, as you can imagine, these girls tonight were much more advanced than T, especially since they've been doing the class for a while. The class started off well, with T keeping up with them as they ran around the gym. T can run at the speed of light. However during some of the warm up, she checked out when she couldn't do some of the unfamiliar moves. Then, during the first floor routine she did well and appeared to be having fun despite her lack of skills.

Then came the balance beam.

T got so mad at herself when she was falling off that she checked out, came over to me, and refused to rejoin the class. There was no coaxing her back into the class. I'm very disappointed b/c I feel if she was in the younger class, she'd love it and excel. I think she's probably a little to young for this class. Its also a riot to watch the other girls, then T, who barely comes up to the bottom of their shoulders. She looks half their size.

So, we'll give it one more try next week to see how she likes it, but I suspect that we'll probably wait 6 mo to a year, before she joins this class. That's OK...there are alot of new things and changes looming on the horizon for Taylor in just 5 short months. T will be starting a new school in August, with new teachers and friends and she'll also be enrolled in Chinese school on Saturdays...at a different location, with different students and different teachers. I figure gymnastics can wait a bit until she gets settled into these new environments. T hasn't dealt that well with new classes in the past within her present school, and those were new classes with a few familiar faces of students in them.

I marvel all the time at how grown up T is, and then situations like tonight happen, which make me realize just how young my baby still is. So, we're at home happily watching Max and Ruby and Dora.

All is right, again, with the world.

My baby appears to still be a Hot Tot...and has yet to achieve Hot Shot status...and that's fine with me!

4 yr old Wellness Visit

...I booked ours for today. Unfortunately, no one told me that they can't give the 4 yr old shots 10 days before the birthday. Apparently, they can't do them 2 days before. I suspect those sons of b*tches at the insurance company are behind this. This is just like some idiotic thing that they'd do. So, we have to GO BACK again on 3/27...T's birthday...so that she can get 2 shots.

Now that's just rotten. Shots on a kid's birthday. However, we have no choice. T's medical forms for school expire on 3/27. So if they aren't done then, T can't go to daycare. Sigh.

On an upnote...its official....10 days before T's 4th birthday, she measures a whopping 39.5 inches tall and 32 pounds!

Boy oh Boy is this kid growing!

Happy St Patty's Day!

May the luck of the Irish be with you all on this grand day!

Sleep more....Weigh Less

EUREKA!!!!!!! Did everyone see this recent article?

Finally....I've discovered a diet I think I can stick to...

Hmmmm, I ate a bit too much today, so I'll be going to be a little earlier, to balance it all out!

When a doctor recently swore to a "Glamour" editor that he could help
women lose weight just by making over their sleep habits, we were
dubious. Research has linked lack of sleep to weight gain, but
certainly weight loss requires hard work, diet and exercise -- right?
We decided to put it to the test. Sleep and medical experts Michael
Breus, Ph.D., and Steven Lamm, M.D., created a plan for seven "Glamour"
readers of varying weights. The women's one simple goal: Get at least
seven and a half hours of sleep a night. That's it. In fact, we asked
the women not to make any significant diet or exercise changes -- we
wanted to see if sleep and sleep alone would make a difference. Did it
ever! Week by week, we were amazed by the results the women reported.

Anyone want to join me on this new and innovative diet?