1/21/2008

Has anybody seen my routine?

'Cause I think I've misplaced it for the past, oh, FOUR weeks...

Foster has been on 'winter break' for FOUR weeks. School starts up again tomorrow. The poor boy won't know what hit him.

He goes to a "Year-Round School". Which, in theory, I love, but man, these breaks are killers! It's not like he has no place to go - let's see...over the past 4 weeks at his day program (the same "before and after" school program has been open full days during break) - he's gone to the Zoo, ice-skating and the movies. The walking trip to the bookstore was cancelled due to rain and he elected not to go to the pizza restaurant for lunch (strange child). This is not to mention the "PNO" (Parents Night Out) where he got to stay 'til 11pm and watch movies and eat crap. Oh wait, that was fun for us as well...

Anyway, what I was getting at was that during the school year when he's in school regular days, my days are a bit easier. I know what to expect (almost) at school. My new work hours will have me off work at 4:00pm and picking him up by 4:15. That will give us an hour to work on homework before Logan and Seth come home. During breaks, we try to do "homework" but nothing really beats the stuff that the teacher sends home. I look forward to him having his regular days back - and papers home, projects to do, fund-raisings to partake him, and oh yeah, PTA meetings.

So, tomorrow it is, first day back.

Yay!

Oh - about the year-round school deal - for those of you who don't understand it - well, sometimes neither do I honestly. The school across the street can be on a "Traditional" schedule and ours is on a "Year-round" schedule. This also means that when the Traditional schools are out for summer, my kid continues on, until almost the end of July. Then he gets 6 weeks off for summer break, vs. the 11 weeks the Traditional kids get. I honestly believe that it's a good system. I think they retain more knowledge, esp. over the summer. I mean 11 weeks seems like a very looooooong time. I can do okay with 6 weeks.

But, still looking forward to tomorrow - new backpack and all.

1/20/2008

Cruise Fund AND Bed Fund

My, aren't we a "fun" family around here, setting up all our "funds".

Well, on the "yay" front, we did receive the $200.00 for Logan's clinical trial in the excema study. That money got plunked right into our bed fund. Buy hey, who am I to disregard $200? AND, we did get some answers to Logan's excema and an Rx too.

Tuesday is B-Day - no not a birthday, Bed Day - boy, I really need to get out more...

I can't wait.

Not that sleeping on our Tempur-Pedic on the floor is uncomfortable, it's not. I just hate getting up in the morning, uggggg, that first morning rise. 10" off the floor. Well, Tuesday it is. Just one more night on the floor.

I'm also totally looking forward to all the storage the bed has. In the meantime, all the junk that was in the storage under the waterbed is taking up much valued real estate in my closet. I want it out and under the bed where it belongs!

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - which means that even though Foster still isn't back at school (year-round school, they are STILL freakin' out on Winter Break - well 'til Tuesday), his before and after school program is open all day, so he's going there. Our wonderful neighbor/daycare provider is open so Logan and Seth are going there. Both Laura and I have off of work, sooooo, guess where we're going?

Yup.

Costco.

We know how to live it up I tell ya.

Well, okay, we are going out for breakfast...

1/19/2008

Where did my "babies" go?

This one has Seth on the left and Logan on the right




This one has Logan on the left and Seth on the right


1/16/2008

Where can I find some snow?

My 6 y.o. is desperately seeking snow. The real stuff, not the fake, icy stuff they spray on the ground at the Wild Animal Park but real, falling from the sky snow.

Don't mean to brag (hahahahahaha) but I'm not evening wearing a jacket during the day - kinda nice on a daily basis not having to worry about having a jacket but kinda worrisome on a global level.

Anyway, short of going to a ski resort, any ideas where to find snow that's not more than a few hours drive from Southern CA?? We just want to play around for a bit and then come home to our warm neighborhood.

1/14/2008

Laura’s Birthday and Beds

We (me, Laura and my mom) celebrated Laura’s birthday by going out to dinner the weekend before her actual birthday (1/8) since my mom was leaving the next day to fly back to NY. Anyway, it was so great – wonderful food and company – and the kids stayed home with a sitter so it was even more enjoyable. We went to a place on Coronado and after dinner we all walked over to the Hotel Del Coronado to see the Christmas tree (they always put a huge one up in the lobby) but alas, we were a few days late and the tree was gone. No matter, we walked around a bit, perused the gift shop and studied all the old photos lining the hallways. After, we went home to houseful of sleeping kiddies (yay!).

Then on Laura’s actual birthday, I became the world’s worst partner when I actually forgot to wish her a Happy Birthday...:-(

What was I thinking?? I’m an idiot. That night, all night long, I had, ummm, intestinal issues and every time I woke up during the night (about 8 times) I thought to myself, “Hey, tomorrow (or today (depending on the time I woke up, i.e. 2am, 3am, 4am)) is Laura’s birthday!” Then wouldn’t you know it, I just forgot to wish her a Happy Birthday that morning. Well, I’m still pissed at myself so I tried to make it (partially) up to her by baking a cake when I got home. Only thing, I couldn’t find the cake mix in the kitchen and had to wait ‘til she got home to bake it – which I did, Foster helping. Just as an aside, the same way I’m horrible with directions, I’m horrible about finding my way around the kitchen. I think I blogged about that before, but I highly dislike cooking or making much in the kitchen. Anyway, so although the cake was great, getting there wasn’t. So somebody, please just give me my award (ha!) and we’ll be done with that.

Beds. Yay! We will soon have a new bed. Our waterbed bit the proverbial dust, it was time though, it was about 15 years old. I sold in on Craigslist in about 4 hours. We have a super-comfy Tempur-Pedic mattress and soon (hopefully by this weekend) our new bed frame will arrive. It’s got great storage underneath and in the headboard. We needed a platform frame since we don’t have (or need) a box spring. We also wanted (needed!) storage under the bed, especially since we got so used to it with the waterbed. Do you know how hard it is to find a Cal-King Platform bed frame? Yeah, me neither. We started off at Ikea and went to dozens of places near and far. But on a rainy Saturday we tried one last place just a few miles from us and wouldn’t you know it? There it was. It was love at first sight. Perfect. I’ll take pictures when we get it. So, of course since we were getting a new bed, that meant we “needed” a new bedspread (well actually we really did, since although our mattress is a Cal-King, with the waterbed frame, we only needed a Queen-sized spread but now with the new bed, we really need the correct size), so we got that. Oh and new sheets (didn’t need those but they were cheap and I just love the “t-shirt” sheets). So, now, we are pretending to be college students and our mattress is on the floor. But with the Tempur-Pedic mattress, you can’t tell the difference – it feels the same whether on the floor or in a bed frame. But – I certainly feel the difference getting out of said mattress first thing in the morning since we’re now only 10” off the floor…

Guess that’s enough of an update for now.

More soon…

1/13/2008

Just a "few" pics to entertain you...

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZs2bNu0ZNGa7&notag=1

Our Big Lots Big Find...

AKA: I'm taking Foster shopping with me wherever I go!

Just a quickie 'cause it's waaaay too freakin' late for me to be up, but among lots of other places we went to today, we made a stop at Big Lots (for a coffee pot).

On the way out with a Crock Pot (well, it's a pot but not a coffee pot), Foster exclaimed "Look I found a...........................$20 bill!".

And yup, he did.

It was a bit crumpled up so it probably fell out of someone's pocket on the way out of the store. We quickly looked around and nobody was walking around near where we were and nobody was seen checking pockets, etc.

So, he kept it.

Ya know, finders keepers and all that.

1/04/2008

Placeholder for a "talky"

*Final grade of A- in class (yay!) - next step, job-search 2008...
*Shopping for a new bed ($$$ ding, ding, ding $$$)...
*Shopping all day WITHOUT kids...much more peaceful...
***Cruise Fund being set up...
*Job-shopping (goes along with the first one)
*School break for Foster - and man, is it a long one (about a month - hey, good reason for me to get a job in the schools eh?)...
*Movies - "I Am Legend" and "The Golden Compass" - I really liked them both...
*Plan to go "see the snow"...
*Doctor visits, check-ups, iron levels and more...
*My new "old" job update...
*Swim lessons and Hebrew School
*New Year's Eve...
*Laura's birthday coming up (and dinner out tomorrow nite - SANS kids, hey, it's a nice place)...
***Did I mention Cruise Fund???...???

I think that's enough for now.
I needed a placeholder to remind myself of what I wanted to blog about, otherwise it just goes right out the 'ole noggin.