Today I:
Taught ballet at the YMCA
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Never start an land war in Asia either
I have learned today, in addition to the rule "never go to Costco on a Saturday", never go to an Asian grocery story the day before the Moon Festival. I was looking for moon cakes, but also needed some bonito flakes. I walked up and down the aisles for about a half hour and I FINALLY found it. I was about ready to give up, chaulking it up to one of two things: either this store was just too big, or the rest Asia still hadn't forgiven the Japanese.
Today I:
Taught ballet at the YMCA
Went to Survived Costco and the Asian market
Today I:
Taught ballet at the YMCA
Friday, September 28, 2012
Remind me not to play Russian Roulette
The ultrasound tech came pretty quickly to collect me and I went into the ultrasound room. She had me take off the gown, lie on a triangular piece of foam so I was lying kind of an angle. The last ultrasound that I had was to see what sex Alana was, but the procedure was exactly the same. It hurt a little as she pushed the transducer around, but for the most part, I wasn't too worried until she frowned and told me she had to get the radiologist. Another woman came in and pushed the transducer in even harder, asking me how long it'd been hurting, when I'd noticed the lump, when I'd had my last period. I answered them and said that the doctor I'd seen on Tuesday thought it was a breast cyst. She looked at me and said, "Well, it's not a cyst." She explained that they could see irregularities in the lump and that they would have to do a mammogram and a biopsy.
I got dressed and went back to the waiting room. The nurse collected me and off I went to the mammography room. It was the most painful thing I've ever done. Then I went back to the waiting room and was collected by the LPN who kindly sat down with me and explained how the biopsy was going to work, what to expect during and afterwards. She also told me the chances of it coming back abnormal was only about 20%. I went back to the waiting room and waited a little bit because they were trying to contact the insurance company to get a prior authorization for the biopsy.
After the insurance was taken care of, the ultrasound tech and radiologist came and we all went back to the ultrasound room. They ultrasound the area, drew an outline around the transducer where it was clearest. They also ultrasound my lymph nodes in my arm pit. The radiologist noted that my lymph nodes were a bit swollen and if the biopsy came back abnormal, they might come back to biopsy a lymph node. The radiologist told me the painful part would be the needle for the local (LIES), which didn't really hurt at all. Unfortunately, they had to go under my nipple with the biopsy needle and the radiologist told me that since I'm still young, the breast tissue was really dense to go through. The anesthetic didn't spread far enough, and the biopsy needle hurt like a MOTHER. She also injected a minuscule piece of metal into the lump so that later mammograms would pay more attention to that area or if they have to remove the lump later, an x-ray will be able to pick it up. Afterwards, the poor ultrasound tech had to push down on my boob for 10 minutes to make sure I'd stopped bleeding. I had to have another mammogram after that to make sure that the metal insert had gone in correctly.
I went home after that, with a little bit of throbbing but nothing too bad. I'm not allowed to lift anything heavy or exert myself too much in case the needle location starts bleeding again. Unfortunately, whatever anesthetic they gave me wore off when I was in the grocery store, so I was kind of hunched over in pain checking out. I'm just on Tylenol because anything with aspirin has blood thinners. The result will come back on Tuesday.
I know that there's only a 1 in 5 chance that it will come back abnormal, but I'm not really liking even those odds. It was quite unusual that I would have a breast lump this young to begin with, and REALLY unusual that it would be anything other than a cyst. With these odds, maybe I should go to Vegas.
Today I:
Got stabbed in my breast. How would you put it?
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Some days need a head...
So I can hit it in the face with a chair.
Today was one of those days that just kind of suck. On the plus side, the lump on my breast seems to have shrunk a little bit so it didn't hurt quite as badly today. On the negative side, when I called my doctor to tell her this and ask if I should get an ultrasound on Friday, I was told that the doctor had felt a hard lump in the cyst, which could indicate a tumour. Ugh.
I finally got rid of the extra crib we had. When Liam was about six months old, we bought the crib that I'd been stalking for about a year and a half. Then when Alana was born, I'd discovered that company that made the crib went out of the business. I searched the internet until I found one that looked exactly like it. But Alana decided that she like to sleep in the pack n play and she slept in there for 18 months until she could climb out (and Liam could climb in!). For about 6 months, we had a crib set up for her that she never slept in. However, Liam's crib was then recalled, so I had to lug it back to Babies R Us and buy a new one. I decided to get two matching cribs that we never set up as cribs but as two toddler beds. We took down the second crib and just stored it. We even moved it up here to Seattle. The kids are still sleeping on the second set of cribs that have been converted to double beds.
So I've been trying to decide what to do with this extra crib. I could sell it on craigslist, but the site is full of people trying to sell their cribs. Also, the person would have to come to our house to pick it up, and I'm always nervous of telling random strangers on the internet where we live. So I told the Relief Society secretary that I had a crib that I would like to give to someone who needed one. Unfortunately, good deeds never go unpunished when the secretary sent the news out in a mass email and I got two women emailing me back telling me they wanted it. So I was put in the uncomfortable position of trying to decide who had the greater need and "interviewing" these two women about their, um, financial positions. One woman already had a crib for her toddler, so I decided that the other woman needed it more. Argh, that was so not what I wanted to deal with. Since we had put the crib together and taken it apart, I was trying to find where I'd put the hardware. I was searched through boxes in the garage, office and our bedroom closet frantically, finally calling the woman to tell her that I couldn't find the hardware, but since it was standard sizes, she'd be able to get replacements at home depot. But then her husband and Justin were loading it into the truck, they heard a clink and found the hardware in a packet tied to the mattress support. Oops. Anyway, it's gone and now I can work on trying to clean out of the rest of the garage so we can park Justin's car in there as well.
After it was gone, I pulled out the gorm shelving from Ikea that I'd bought a year ago to put together so we could get the food storage off the floor. But in that year, Shelob had apparently made her home on it and a bunch of spiders came running out at me. I shriek and ran back into the house, yelling to Justin that Aragog and his kids were after me and he would have to put it together. Yeah, I'm a wuss.
So today I:
Cleared out several boxes in my quest for crib hardware
Cleaned out my closet in quest for crib hardware
Got rid of the crib
Started to put together some shelving.
Today was one of those days that just kind of suck. On the plus side, the lump on my breast seems to have shrunk a little bit so it didn't hurt quite as badly today. On the negative side, when I called my doctor to tell her this and ask if I should get an ultrasound on Friday, I was told that the doctor had felt a hard lump in the cyst, which could indicate a tumour. Ugh.
I finally got rid of the extra crib we had. When Liam was about six months old, we bought the crib that I'd been stalking for about a year and a half. Then when Alana was born, I'd discovered that company that made the crib went out of the business. I searched the internet until I found one that looked exactly like it. But Alana decided that she like to sleep in the pack n play and she slept in there for 18 months until she could climb out (and Liam could climb in!). For about 6 months, we had a crib set up for her that she never slept in. However, Liam's crib was then recalled, so I had to lug it back to Babies R Us and buy a new one. I decided to get two matching cribs that we never set up as cribs but as two toddler beds. We took down the second crib and just stored it. We even moved it up here to Seattle. The kids are still sleeping on the second set of cribs that have been converted to double beds.
So I've been trying to decide what to do with this extra crib. I could sell it on craigslist, but the site is full of people trying to sell their cribs. Also, the person would have to come to our house to pick it up, and I'm always nervous of telling random strangers on the internet where we live. So I told the Relief Society secretary that I had a crib that I would like to give to someone who needed one. Unfortunately, good deeds never go unpunished when the secretary sent the news out in a mass email and I got two women emailing me back telling me they wanted it. So I was put in the uncomfortable position of trying to decide who had the greater need and "interviewing" these two women about their, um, financial positions. One woman already had a crib for her toddler, so I decided that the other woman needed it more. Argh, that was so not what I wanted to deal with. Since we had put the crib together and taken it apart, I was trying to find where I'd put the hardware. I was searched through boxes in the garage, office and our bedroom closet frantically, finally calling the woman to tell her that I couldn't find the hardware, but since it was standard sizes, she'd be able to get replacements at home depot. But then her husband and Justin were loading it into the truck, they heard a clink and found the hardware in a packet tied to the mattress support. Oops. Anyway, it's gone and now I can work on trying to clean out of the rest of the garage so we can park Justin's car in there as well.
After it was gone, I pulled out the gorm shelving from Ikea that I'd bought a year ago to put together so we could get the food storage off the floor. But in that year, Shelob had apparently made her home on it and a bunch of spiders came running out at me. I shriek and ran back into the house, yelling to Justin that Aragog and his kids were after me and he would have to put it together. Yeah, I'm a wuss.
So today I:
Cleared out several boxes in my quest for crib hardware
Cleaned out my closet in quest for crib hardware
Got rid of the crib
Started to put together some shelving.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
It's not lupus
If you are squeamish or don't particularly want to hear about my breast, I'd skip this post.
About 2 weeks ago, I had a random pain in my left breast. I chalked it up to either wearing my bra to long, or stabbing myself with my underwire. After about a week of the pain not going away and instead getting worse, I started to poke around. That's when I felt the worse thing: a lump. I called a doctor the next day (Friday) in a panic, but the first time that I could get an appointment was on Tuesday the next week. So I got to panic about it all weekend.
However, Tuesday (today) was Alana's first day of school and I had to be at my appointment at about the time she needed to get on the bus. Justin graciously worked from home make sure the kids got on and off the buses at their scheduled time, and I took off this morning for my doctors appointment. Unfortunately, I had to drive through the majority of Seattle during rush hour, find my exit, TURN AROUND because of stupid one way streets and pick out a random building. I actually ended up pulling into a pay parking lot, intending to walk just because I didn't know where the hell I was. I notice that I was still five blocks from where I was supposed to be, so I pulled back out into the road. Unfortunately, I got caught on a hill at the red light and the person behind me pulled right up onto my bumper. I drive a manual, so I floored the accelerator when the light turned green to be sure not to back into them when I felt my flip flop catch on the petal and my shoe broke in half. So now I was lost, late, and down a shoe. I finally got to the building, successfully didn't ram the idiot in front of me who couldn't figure out how to take the ticket out of the dispenser and parked in a very narrow spot where the driver on my left side was right on the line. I actually had to back out and park again just so I could get my door open. I rushed over to the medical tower, hopped into the elevator and staggered out on 15th floor, I'm sure looking a little panicked and less than put together. I stood there for a minute trying to figure out what to do, when the receptionist tersely told me to find a seat because she was busy. Fortunately the other receptionist (who turned out not to be a colossal bitch) hung up the phone and helped me check in.
I finally got all my stuff together enough to check in and get into the doctor's office. The doctor came in and asked me a bunch of questions about my general health, medications, etc. But she got really hung up on the fact that I've only had three periods in the past year and she started talking about endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer and all these scary things. So she ordered a bunch of blood tests and told me to go to the Breast Center for an ultrasound of the lump. I got my blood drawn and was wandering aimlessly around the corridor trying to find my way back to the waiting room, or for someone to give me the referral of the Breast Center. I finally found my way out to the waiting room and stood in front of a window, trying very hard not to cry. I noticed a 10 story apartment building a few streets that had a beautiful roof top garden. I wondered who planted it and lived there, and wished very hard I was over there instead of a waiting room that smelled funny waiting for someone to tell me what to do.
The doctor finally came out and told me that they hadn't been able to get a hold of the center, and handed me a paper with the phone number to call and try to get an appointment myself. I notice that there was another center that was closer to my house, so she said that she would fax over the order to that center and to try to get a hold of the one of my choice. I wandered back down to the parking garage, and drove out. Unfortunately, I was so turned around and lost and didn't know where the freeway entrance was, I drove around the block until I found where north way. I then took the Dirk Gently method of trying to find the freeway, picked a car that looked like it knew where it was going and followed it. Lo, and behold, it worked! I found the freeway, drove to Target to replace the shoe that had broken and sat in the parking garage and called the breast center SIX TIMES to get an appointment. Each time it ended up going to an answering machine. I finally drove home and broke down and cried.
The lump in my breast is mostly likely a cyst as it's painful and changes in size during the day (it's much bigger in the evening and seems to shrink at night). I've also been having hormone problems, many of which could cause no period and cysts in breast. I finally got an appointment, but the earliest they can see me is Friday afternoon, so I get to live with this hanging over my head the rest of the week. This whole ordeal was amplified by people being idiots about a crib I'm trying to donate (seriously?).
Yesterday I:
Had a home visit from both of the kids's preschool teachers
Took Alana to speech therapy and then the grocery store
Took Liam to speech therapy in the afternoon.
Today I:
Didn't crash in downtown Seattle
Went to my doctor's appointment
Went to Target, Joanns, Hobby Lobby and back to Joanns, then DI
Made soy emergency candles (that a story for another day)
About 2 weeks ago, I had a random pain in my left breast. I chalked it up to either wearing my bra to long, or stabbing myself with my underwire. After about a week of the pain not going away and instead getting worse, I started to poke around. That's when I felt the worse thing: a lump. I called a doctor the next day (Friday) in a panic, but the first time that I could get an appointment was on Tuesday the next week. So I got to panic about it all weekend.
However, Tuesday (today) was Alana's first day of school and I had to be at my appointment at about the time she needed to get on the bus. Justin graciously worked from home make sure the kids got on and off the buses at their scheduled time, and I took off this morning for my doctors appointment. Unfortunately, I had to drive through the majority of Seattle during rush hour, find my exit, TURN AROUND because of stupid one way streets and pick out a random building. I actually ended up pulling into a pay parking lot, intending to walk just because I didn't know where the hell I was. I notice that I was still five blocks from where I was supposed to be, so I pulled back out into the road. Unfortunately, I got caught on a hill at the red light and the person behind me pulled right up onto my bumper. I drive a manual, so I floored the accelerator when the light turned green to be sure not to back into them when I felt my flip flop catch on the petal and my shoe broke in half. So now I was lost, late, and down a shoe. I finally got to the building, successfully didn't ram the idiot in front of me who couldn't figure out how to take the ticket out of the dispenser and parked in a very narrow spot where the driver on my left side was right on the line. I actually had to back out and park again just so I could get my door open. I rushed over to the medical tower, hopped into the elevator and staggered out on 15th floor, I'm sure looking a little panicked and less than put together. I stood there for a minute trying to figure out what to do, when the receptionist tersely told me to find a seat because she was busy. Fortunately the other receptionist (who turned out not to be a colossal bitch) hung up the phone and helped me check in.
I finally got all my stuff together enough to check in and get into the doctor's office. The doctor came in and asked me a bunch of questions about my general health, medications, etc. But she got really hung up on the fact that I've only had three periods in the past year and she started talking about endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer and all these scary things. So she ordered a bunch of blood tests and told me to go to the Breast Center for an ultrasound of the lump. I got my blood drawn and was wandering aimlessly around the corridor trying to find my way back to the waiting room, or for someone to give me the referral of the Breast Center. I finally found my way out to the waiting room and stood in front of a window, trying very hard not to cry. I noticed a 10 story apartment building a few streets that had a beautiful roof top garden. I wondered who planted it and lived there, and wished very hard I was over there instead of a waiting room that smelled funny waiting for someone to tell me what to do.
The doctor finally came out and told me that they hadn't been able to get a hold of the center, and handed me a paper with the phone number to call and try to get an appointment myself. I notice that there was another center that was closer to my house, so she said that she would fax over the order to that center and to try to get a hold of the one of my choice. I wandered back down to the parking garage, and drove out. Unfortunately, I was so turned around and lost and didn't know where the freeway entrance was, I drove around the block until I found where north way. I then took the Dirk Gently method of trying to find the freeway, picked a car that looked like it knew where it was going and followed it. Lo, and behold, it worked! I found the freeway, drove to Target to replace the shoe that had broken and sat in the parking garage and called the breast center SIX TIMES to get an appointment. Each time it ended up going to an answering machine. I finally drove home and broke down and cried.
The lump in my breast is mostly likely a cyst as it's painful and changes in size during the day (it's much bigger in the evening and seems to shrink at night). I've also been having hormone problems, many of which could cause no period and cysts in breast. I finally got an appointment, but the earliest they can see me is Friday afternoon, so I get to live with this hanging over my head the rest of the week. This whole ordeal was amplified by people being idiots about a crib I'm trying to donate (seriously?).
Yesterday I:
Had a home visit from both of the kids's preschool teachers
Took Alana to speech therapy and then the grocery store
Took Liam to speech therapy in the afternoon.
Today I:
Didn't crash in downtown Seattle
Went to my doctor's appointment
Went to Target, Joanns, Hobby Lobby and back to Joanns, then DI
Made soy emergency candles (that a story for another day)
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Yesterday and today
Yesterday I:
Went to a IEP meeting at the school.
Went home to fill out paperwork, make a doctor's appoint, and call the pediatrician to get Alana's vaccination record
Packed both kids up to take Alana to speech therapy
Threw both kids into the car, sped to the pediatrician, ran the kids inside to pick up paperwork
Threw both kids back into the car, sped to the school to drop off said paperwork (it had to be in that day)
Threw both kids back into the car, sped to the grocery store, picked up some croissants for second breakfast (does it count as second breakfast if I didn't have first breakfast and it was in fact lunch time?)
Threw both kids back into the car, threw croissants at the kids, sped home, and got Liam ready for school in record time to get him on the bus. Whew.
Today I:
Went to not just one, but two ballet classes
Ran home to shower and then spent 45 minutes scrubbing permanent marker off the kitchen table, courtesy of Liam
Got my hair cut (pictures forth coming)
Went to Costco and the grocery store
Whew. Two busy days. I'm off to reward myself with some Doctor Who.
Went to a IEP meeting at the school.
Went home to fill out paperwork, make a doctor's appoint, and call the pediatrician to get Alana's vaccination record
Packed both kids up to take Alana to speech therapy
Threw both kids into the car, sped to the pediatrician, ran the kids inside to pick up paperwork
Threw both kids back into the car, sped to the school to drop off said paperwork (it had to be in that day)
Threw both kids back into the car, sped to the grocery store, picked up some croissants for second breakfast (does it count as second breakfast if I didn't have first breakfast and it was in fact lunch time?)
Threw both kids back into the car, threw croissants at the kids, sped home, and got Liam ready for school in record time to get him on the bus. Whew.
Today I:
Went to not just one, but two ballet classes
Ran home to shower and then spent 45 minutes scrubbing permanent marker off the kitchen table, courtesy of Liam
Got my hair cut (pictures forth coming)
Went to Costco and the grocery store
Whew. Two busy days. I'm off to reward myself with some Doctor Who.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Don't mess with ballerinas
I'm trying to get back into ballet. I took a break because Alana got me sick and then Justin went out of town and I didn't have one to watch the kids while I was in class. But I'm going to go tomorrow! Plus I have to teach at the Y next week. This video cracks me up:
Ballerinas totally win. Mostly because I like ballet over hip hop, but also because it takes about years to become proficient in ballet, vs street dance with can be weeks.
Yesterday I took Liam to the doctor. Yup, that was about it.
Ballerinas totally win. Mostly because I like ballet over hip hop, but also because it takes about years to become proficient in ballet, vs street dance with can be weeks.
Yesterday I took Liam to the doctor. Yup, that was about it.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
In which I'm a hypocrite
So I don't like mommy blogs who talk about their experiences potty training because 1) GROSS and 2) no one cares. But turns about fair play, here's the fun I had today:
So while I was in my bedroom this morning, Alana had an accident on the carpet outside my door. Unfortunately, she was wearing this tutu that I'd made last year. ARGH. So while I was cleaning that up, she promptly had another accident. So I put her on the potty (keep in mind that she hadn't pooped for days) and made her stay there for an hour. She kept running out of the bathroom and I'd tell her to get back on the potty. After an hour of not doing anything, I put her in a pull-up and set her in her room for a nap. Two minutes later she was screaming her head off because she'd, yup, pooped in her pants. I cleaned her up and was about ready to set her back on the potty when I noticed that nearly an entire roll of toilet paper was stuffed in there. Every time she'd run out of the bedroom earlier apparently she'd wiped, but not flushed. So I had to unclog the toilet while trying to keep a naked 3 year-old-calm in a very small enclosed space. Yay. And all of this was before 1 o'clock. Yay. So there is my gross, gratuitous story that serves to reinforce some people's (smart) decision not to have kids. Just kidding. Sort of. Yay.
Today I:
Unclogged a toilet (!!!)
Did two loads of laundry
Pruned the trees and bushes in my front yard while simultaneously trying to keep Alana out of the street and the neighbour's driveway. She finally settled down to picking and eating blackberries off the bushes.
So while I was in my bedroom this morning, Alana had an accident on the carpet outside my door. Unfortunately, she was wearing this tutu that I'd made last year. ARGH. So while I was cleaning that up, she promptly had another accident. So I put her on the potty (keep in mind that she hadn't pooped for days) and made her stay there for an hour. She kept running out of the bathroom and I'd tell her to get back on the potty. After an hour of not doing anything, I put her in a pull-up and set her in her room for a nap. Two minutes later she was screaming her head off because she'd, yup, pooped in her pants. I cleaned her up and was about ready to set her back on the potty when I noticed that nearly an entire roll of toilet paper was stuffed in there. Every time she'd run out of the bedroom earlier apparently she'd wiped, but not flushed. So I had to unclog the toilet while trying to keep a naked 3 year-old-calm in a very small enclosed space. Yay. And all of this was before 1 o'clock. Yay. So there is my gross, gratuitous story that serves to reinforce some people's (smart) decision not to have kids. Just kidding. Sort of. Yay.
Today I:
Unclogged a toilet (!!!)
Did two loads of laundry
Pruned the trees and bushes in my front yard while simultaneously trying to keep Alana out of the street and the neighbour's driveway. She finally settled down to picking and eating blackberries off the bushes.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
09/18
Today I:
Got Liam off to the first day of school. Alana didn't go (there's a story behind that, later)
Helped my brother with puzzle design
Cleaned my kitchen and one bathroom
Did three loads laundry
Avoided the gym....
Got Liam off to the first day of school. Alana didn't go (there's a story behind that, later)
Helped my brother with puzzle design
Cleaned my kitchen and one bathroom
Did three loads laundry
Avoided the gym....
Monday, September 17, 2012
Angry Little Girls
I read this very bizarre web comic called "Angry Little Girls". I don't know why, but I find it funny. Possibly because I am both Kim and Xyla (the two Asians, go figure). It's pretty cliché, but worth a giggle every so often:
Today I:
Took Alana to speech therapy
Went to the post office and successfully didn't throttle the idiot postal worker who told me I wasn't specific enough on my customs form.
Went to Joann's to return stuff and the bank
Went home, exchanged kids and took Liam to speech therapy....and waited around for 40 minutes because his SLP forgot the time change. Blargh. This day kinda sucked.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
09/15
I watched the Secret Life of the Manic Depressive today. It's a two-part series that was on BBC in 2006. It's hosted by Stephen Fry (who is bi-polar himself) who interviews various people who are bi-polar or have had their lives affected by bi-polar disorder. It's nothing earth-shatter, nor did it tell me anything I didn't know about bi-polar disorder, but an interesting watch none the less. I think that it's convinced me I DON'T have bipolarism, just a few periods of disphoric mania. Yay???
Today I:
Cleaned out and organized my pantry
Went to three grocery stores and Joann fabric
Napped (I want to sleep a lot lately, ugh)
Today I:
Cleaned out and organized my pantry
Went to three grocery stores and Joann fabric
Napped (I want to sleep a lot lately, ugh)
Friday, September 14, 2012
Clarification
I feel like I should clarify Risa's comment from yesterday. No, I usually don't go around telling my friend about giant phalluses. We were talking about Bhutan.
This movie won the 2010 Oscar for shorts. It was narrated by Tim Minchin, a musician/comedian that I think is hilarious, but probably would offend most people I know. Google him at your own risk.
Today I:
Drove an hour and a half to get to Ikea. Got through to Ikea with the kindness of about three random strangers. (Thanks random strangers!)
Picked up Justin from the airport.
This movie won the 2010 Oscar for shorts. It was narrated by Tim Minchin, a musician/comedian that I think is hilarious, but probably would offend most people I know. Google him at your own risk.
Today I:
Drove an hour and a half to get to Ikea. Got through to Ikea with the kindness of about three random strangers. (Thanks random strangers!)
Picked up Justin from the airport.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Bring on the rain
So Monday it finally rained after 48 days of no rain, three days short of the record set in 1951. Since then my garden has died, the lawn is brown and crispy, and the temp got up over 80 degrees THREE TIMES. Every time it got hot, I got grumpy. However, Seattle has the most bi-polar weather ever. Last Friday it was 81, but on Monday it was 62. In three days, it varied nearly 20 degrees!
Today I:
Went to an evaluation meeting for Alana's classroom. I feel better about Alana's teacher.
Went to the gym. (Three days in a row! I deserve an award or something.)
Today I:
Went to an evaluation meeting for Alana's classroom. I feel better about Alana's teacher.
Went to the gym. (Three days in a row! I deserve an award or something.)
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Not a happy bunny
Today's title comes from this QI episode in which Van Gogh was described as "not a happy bunny." Just so you know.
Gargh. Today was kind of a huge ball of frustration. Nothing really went wrong, but nothing went right. I got up late, ran out of the house to run errands, paused for a moment at lunch and then restarted the frantic running around in the afternoon. I went to the kids's school open house and was very disappointed to learn that the awesome teacher that we had for Liam last year was NOT going to be Alana's teacher this year. This was decided today by the ECC program but no one told me. I met the new teacher, and she seems competent and friendly, but it would have been nice to have the teacher we KNOW is awesome and also to have both the kids with the same teacher this year. The weekly themes would be the same for both, I'd be able to split treats between the morning and afternoon classes, and also I donated a lot of stuff to Liam's classroom last year because I thought that she'd be Alana's teacher for two years too. I know it sounds asinine. I'm just trying hard not to sulk.
Today I:
Taught my sister-in-law some more sewing.
Went to the library to return book and to pick up some books on hold. The kids played on the computer and we read a little bit.
Came home and had the world's quickest lunch.
Took Liam to speech therapy and then frantically ran to Big Lots while he was with the therapist to get printer paper for their class supplies
Went to the kids's open house at the school
Went to the gym
Went to the grocery store (does it seem like I go to the grocery store a lot? Darn kids keep eating everything)
Currently it's 10:30 at night and I'm eating my first meal of the day not counting 5 bites of mac and cheese at lunch. After which I plan on collapsing from exhaustion.
Gargh. Today was kind of a huge ball of frustration. Nothing really went wrong, but nothing went right. I got up late, ran out of the house to run errands, paused for a moment at lunch and then restarted the frantic running around in the afternoon. I went to the kids's school open house and was very disappointed to learn that the awesome teacher that we had for Liam last year was NOT going to be Alana's teacher this year. This was decided today by the ECC program but no one told me. I met the new teacher, and she seems competent and friendly, but it would have been nice to have the teacher we KNOW is awesome and also to have both the kids with the same teacher this year. The weekly themes would be the same for both, I'd be able to split treats between the morning and afternoon classes, and also I donated a lot of stuff to Liam's classroom last year because I thought that she'd be Alana's teacher for two years too. I know it sounds asinine. I'm just trying hard not to sulk.
Today I:
Taught my sister-in-law some more sewing.
Went to the library to return book and to pick up some books on hold. The kids played on the computer and we read a little bit.
Came home and had the world's quickest lunch.
Took Liam to speech therapy and then frantically ran to Big Lots while he was with the therapist to get printer paper for their class supplies
Went to the kids's open house at the school
Went to the gym
Went to the grocery store (does it seem like I go to the grocery store a lot? Darn kids keep eating everything)
Currently it's 10:30 at night and I'm eating my first meal of the day not counting 5 bites of mac and cheese at lunch. After which I plan on collapsing from exhaustion.
Monday, September 10, 2012
09/10
Today I:
Got up at 5 am to take Justin to the airport. (5 AM, PEOPLE! This is a time that should not exist.)
Took Alana to speech therapy
Went to the gym (Yay! I did it!)
Got up at 5 am to take Justin to the airport. (5 AM, PEOPLE! This is a time that should not exist.)
Took Alana to speech therapy
Went to the gym (Yay! I did it!)
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Laundry
Let me explain my laundering system to you. It's a process that's been refined after years, and altered with the addition of children. I gather all the clothes in the house, assess if any have been peed on (aren't children fun?), stuff them into the washer, soak them if they urine tinged and wash them normally if not. Then they are either hung up or dried in the dryer. THEN they are moved to the top of the counter until they are needed for actually wearing. Or until Justin gets tired of the piles of laundry taking over the downstairs bathroom and hauls them up to our bedroom where I trip over them every night. Rinse and repeat with interjected episodes of panic when trying to find that one item in the heap o' laundry.
Today I:
Napped
Finished a book
Went to the grocery store
Washed and ironed my sheets (yes, I'm aware how crazy I sound especially when I don't even fold my socks. Try it once and then you'll never go back)
Today I:
Napped
Finished a book
Went to the grocery store
Washed and ironed my sheets (yes, I'm aware how crazy I sound especially when I don't even fold my socks. Try it once and then you'll never go back)
Friday, September 7, 2012
Gilly's birthday party
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| Meet Gilly. He's a snake, if you can't tell. |
Since this is Liam's first birthday party that he can remember, I didn't want to overload him with kids. So I invited over my brother, his wife, and their two kids, Caitlin and Dylan. First the kids decorated shields.
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| If I had thought about it beforehand, I'd probably have glued some poster board over the cardboard to make it white and easier to colour on. |
Next they ran an obstacle course. First they can to crawl through the tunnel to sneak past the wicked witch, then ride horses through the woods, catapult bean bags at the castle so the drawbridge would come down, fight their way through the evil knights and ninjas, and kill the dragon at the end for the treasure.
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| The full gamut. |
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| Sneaking past the witch. |
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| Riding the horses through the woods. |
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| Caitlin had a little hoop skirt in her dress. HOW CUTE IS THAT? |
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| Dylan riding, and Caitlin and Liam preparing to throw bean bags at the fortress. |
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| The moat and draw bridge |
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| Storming the castle |
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| You can see the corpses of the knights in the background. They were Mylar balloons with helmets and faces drawn on them. |
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| Attacking the dragon. We bought Liam a nice foam injected sword, but he rejected it for a stick. |
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| If it wasn't for Dylan, we'd still be working on the pinata. |
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| Food: teriyaki chicken, lemon garlic shrimp, strawberries, grilled pineapples, marinated tomatoes and baguettes, smoked salmon carpaccio, missing: mandu (potstickers) |
Wonderful time was had by one and all, but I'm so glad that it's over. I'm now going to go die on the couch.
Today I:
Took Alana to speech therapy
Drove to TWO different Dollar Trees for balloons since one was out of helium (seriously?!?)
Came home and cooked and cooked and cooked and cooked.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Conversational vignettes
Justin: "Whatcha thinkin' about?"
Me: "Whether Vulcans would make good parents."
Justin: ???
Me: "Vulcan kids are probably fine. But if a Vulcan got left to babysit, they'd probably have problems." (I start doing a Spock voice) "You have been fed, you have been cleaned, you have been entertained. It is not logical that you should be crying."
Justin: "I'm sorry I asked."
Today I pull out a stick of butter to make cupcakes.
Justin: "What are you doing?"
Me: "I'm waiting for my butter to soften. And no, that's not a euphemism for something dirty."
Justin: "Didn't sound like it."
Me: "EVERYTHING sounds dirty if you said that it's not a euphemism for something else. Or if you say 'if you know what I mean.'"
Justin: .....
Me: "I'm changing out the toilet paper roll.....if you know what I mean."
Justin leaves very quickly.
Today I:
Did three loads of laundry
Ran errands for supplies for Liam's birthday party
Baked cupcakes
Made filling for mandu (potstickers) and marinated tomatoes
Stuffed a dragon pinata....if you know what I mean.
Me: "Whether Vulcans would make good parents."
Justin: ???
Me: "Vulcan kids are probably fine. But if a Vulcan got left to babysit, they'd probably have problems." (I start doing a Spock voice) "You have been fed, you have been cleaned, you have been entertained. It is not logical that you should be crying."
Justin: "I'm sorry I asked."
Today I pull out a stick of butter to make cupcakes.
Justin: "What are you doing?"
Me: "I'm waiting for my butter to soften. And no, that's not a euphemism for something dirty."
Justin: "Didn't sound like it."
Me: "EVERYTHING sounds dirty if you said that it's not a euphemism for something else. Or if you say 'if you know what I mean.'"
Justin: .....
Me: "I'm changing out the toilet paper roll.....if you know what I mean."
Justin leaves very quickly.
Today I:
Did three loads of laundry
Ran errands for supplies for Liam's birthday party
Baked cupcakes
Made filling for mandu (potstickers) and marinated tomatoes
Stuffed a dragon pinata....if you know what I mean.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
09/05
Today was Liam's birthday, so I taped balloons and crepe paper across his door so when he'd open it the balloons would fall on him and he'd have to burst through the crepe papers. He opened the door so slowly though, the balloons just fell to the floor and Alana was the one to run through the paper.
Reason 713487961 to love Seattle. I have fresh wild blackberries....FROM MY FRONT YARD. This is about 1/8th of what I've harvested. I now have two gallons of frozen berries in my freezer to get me through the winter. Yum.
Today I:
Ran 3 loads of laundry
Finished my book
Helped my brother with origami for something cool
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
09/04
Today I:
Took Liam to speech therapy
Dropped by the post office to pick up a box
Picked up milk and spices at the grocery store
Disassembled the table in the garage with Justin's help, moved the table from the garage to the dining room with Justin's help, and then stood useless while Justin reassembled the table for me. I now have a table that's looking very lonely without chairs.
Took Liam to speech therapy
Dropped by the post office to pick up a box
Picked up milk and spices at the grocery store
Disassembled the table in the garage with Justin's help, moved the table from the garage to the dining room with Justin's help, and then stood useless while Justin reassembled the table for me. I now have a table that's looking very lonely without chairs.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Bumbershoot
So my brother had an extra ticket to the gig that he was doing at Bumbershoot tonight, so I got to tag along. Bumbershoot is a huge arts, music and comedy festival that happens at the Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is). He hosted a trivia contest after which he and Mindy (my sister-in-law) went to see the band Vaseline at one of the outdoor theaters. I'm not a huge concert person and so I wandered off and bought some veggie spring rolls at one of the food stalls and walked around. There some very cool artist stands that I looked at (though not $35 a shirt cool) and I got to listen to the bands from farther away so it didn't hurt my ears.
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| Source This fountain is HUGE. This photo was obviously not taken tonight. |
Afterwards I settled by the fountain and just sat. You know the last time I was able to just sit down? It's been MONTHS. It was quite relaxing know that a kid wasn't going to run up and start whining or demanding something. Despite being surrounded by people, I felt very calm and alone mostly because it's been a while since I didn't have anywhere to go or was responsible for another person. Bumbershoot was awesome and something that I totally would not do normally because of the noise and crowds, but I did okay because I had mints that I could suck on when I was feeling stressed. Sucking on something makes me not chew on the inside of my mouth and turn it into a cankerous mess. People in high school always knew I was a good source for tic tacs because I had to always have them to stay calm. But you had to take two. ALWAYS TWO.
Today I:
Took Alana to speech therapy and then Joann fabric to get stuff for her Halloween costume.
Made it through the smoke, noise and chaos of Bumbershoot.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Saturday is a special day
It's the day that we try not to ram other drivers on the road.
Today I:
Put 2 coats of polyurethane on the table
Went to two grocery stores (?!?), Target, and the Korean store
Took Liam's feather duvet to the laundromat and finished my book. The two are not unrelated. Laundromats are depressing places.
So we're lucky to live in an area that's simultaneously quiet and close to everything. Literally two streets over is a major highway that runs through Seattle and almost half the county north of us. We're also lucky that we live within walking distance of two grocery stores, couple of drug stores, an auto supply store, a DI (seriously, how did me move from Utah and end up across the street from a DI?) and a smattering of restaurants. I rarely driver more than 5 miles from our house. One of the grocery stores has an AWESOME selection of non alcoholic drinks. I can get apple beer, one of the things I was prepared miss from Utah, but turns out you can get it here too, so SUCK IT UTAH. Anyway, they have about a million types root beer, sarsaparilla beer, and birch beer. We're slowly making our way through them.
More awesome is the plethora of Korean stores around here. My favourite one is this one:
Today I:
Put 2 coats of polyurethane on the table
Went to two grocery stores (?!?), Target, and the Korean store
Took Liam's feather duvet to the laundromat and finished my book. The two are not unrelated. Laundromats are depressing places.
So we're lucky to live in an area that's simultaneously quiet and close to everything. Literally two streets over is a major highway that runs through Seattle and almost half the county north of us. We're also lucky that we live within walking distance of two grocery stores, couple of drug stores, an auto supply store, a DI (seriously, how did me move from Utah and end up across the street from a DI?) and a smattering of restaurants. I rarely driver more than 5 miles from our house. One of the grocery stores has an AWESOME selection of non alcoholic drinks. I can get apple beer, one of the things I was prepared miss from Utah, but turns out you can get it here too, so SUCK IT UTAH. Anyway, they have about a million types root beer, sarsaparilla beer, and birch beer. We're slowly making our way through them.
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| Mmmmm, contains yucca extractives |
More awesome is the plethora of Korean stores around here. My favourite one is this one:
but there is LITERALLY another Korean store across the street. In the same strip mall as Boo Han is a Korean dry cleaner, a Korean optometrist, a Korean book-ish store, a Korean bakery, a Korean pharmacist, a sushi restaurant where the owners speak Korean, a Korean deli, and what I can only assume was a huge mistake on the part of the location scout for Verizon, a Verizon store. Maybe the staff only speaks Korean? Anyway, Boo Han is big. It has a small restaurant inside that you can get a quick lunch, a counter where you can get kim pop (a sort of Korean sushi without the fish), a small produce section, live abalone and flatfish in a tank, and lots and lots of narrow aisles packed with Korea items.
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| Half of this aisle was soy sauces. The other half was sesame oil. |
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| It's like Costco for Korean pot noodles. |
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| Bet you can't guess what's in this aisle. That's right, noodles! |
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| This was an example of stuff you can buy from the butcher... |
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| As well is this. $3.99/lb of squid is a GOOD DEAL. |
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| Straight ahead is the restaurant (behind the baked goods) and kim pop counter. Notice the prominence of Korean vs. English. |
Everyone speaks Korean here. I usually mutter stuff to the cashier, hoping they don't notice I'm not really speaking the same language. I'm usually able to say "thank you" and remember the right form for "goodbye", but I have to pick out the rest from cues. Like if the cashier says, "혹시, box를 원하세요?", I obviously can figure out if she's asking if I want a box. Don't ask me why she didn't say box in Korean, that one still is puzzling me. But until I can improve my language skills, I can fill my tummy with kim chi and soba noodles.
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