About My Brilliant Ball Pit

I've had several people asking me where I got the ball pit balls to fill the pool. I got mine at WalMart (yes, yes, yes, I'm feeding evil). Here are a list of other places you can find them (an inflatable pool, of course, can be purchased just about anywhere).

eBay (the search is done for you)
Toys R Us
TinkerTots
Ball Pit Balls

Happy Hunting! I want to see pictures!

WWYD: Baby Mama or The Strangers?

I'm looking for a good date night movie, and am trying to console myself, since I am a huge Indiana Jones fan, and I've heard from too many sources to deny it that the new movie disappoints.

Baby Mama - Both Jason and I are fans of SNL, and of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in general. It would be a light, funny, comedy, which is good for a date night. But I've heard it's somewhat lame and predictable.

The Strangers - We're also fans of scary movies, and The Strangers definitely looks like it will deliver on that. That said, I am also a giant wuss, and haven't been able to put the toddler down or stop looking around corners since I watched the trailer. I am such a wuss about this plotline in general (YOU HEARD ME, I'M A PUSSY!). And it's not exactly date night material. But it's probably a better movie than Baby Mama.

You have two days to decide for me. And GO.


omg - Kristen just swung the front door (it's open, the screen door is shut) and I jumped ten feet and peed a bit. Please keep this in mind.

I Aim To Please!

Pictures of Miss K at the cookout yesterday


Eating lunch (she was getting fussy and tired)












Hanging out















Look how tall she is!




















I think she looks more like him every day

What Every Mother Needs, And Doesn't Even Know It

Two-Ring Inflatable Swimming Pool: $4.88
3 Bags of 100 Balls: $9.88 ea
Hours Of Phun: Unknown Quantity

Kristen LOVES this thing. We blow it up, play, and then pop the balls and deflated pool back in the bags.







She loves jumping in and swishing balls around. She'll stand up, look at me, wait until I yell, "go PLOP!" and fall back down, laughing hysterically.





She and I both get in (okay, my limbs are hanging out, but it's relaxing) and she spreads out beside me and we both start giggling.






Seriously. Most fun EVER. I loved ball pits when I was little. When I was actually using my Early Childhood degree and taught a classroom of two-year-olds, the center had a ball pit big enough for my 5'10" frame to swim in it, I loved playing with the kids in it. I am so happy that my daughter loves them too!

Man, my life has been boring lately

I shall be forced to delve deep into my mind and begin spouting philosophics about how I feel about the world before long.

One note: I have been watching where you are all coming from, and am fascinated at the spread. I even got someone from India the other day. How'd you all find me?

Old Skool

I have nothing to talk about today. So I'll kife a post from my old MySpace blog. This is from when I was about six months pregnant. It makes me laugh when I remember it.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

The many ways karma tries to screw you (and how preserverence will eventually conquer) Current mood: accomplished I wanted a sandwich. Really badly. Sat and thought about how good a ham and cheese sandwich would be for a while, then got up to make it. We're out of bread. That's okay, we have a bagel left, it would be really good on a bagel. Got the ham out - ham is gray and I think turning a little green. That's disappointing, but we have turkey. Warmed up turkey. Cucumbers. Cucumbers would be excellent, and I have leftover finger veggies left from Xmas eve party. Got out tray - cucumbers are gone, the only vegetable eaten to nonexistence at the party. But that's okay, I overestimated how many cucumbers would fit in the tray, so I have an extra in fridge. Washed, peeled, sliced cucumber. Got bagel out to separate and put mayonnaise on - bagel split in two, went flying through the air, and landed in the dog's water bowl. If you have been around me at all for the previous seven months, you are probably surprised this did not happen sooner, but the pregnant woman finally started to cry. But that's okay. We have other bread things. So I am now eating a delicious turkey, mayo, cheese, and cucumber sandwich, which is good even on a kaiser roll. And I warmed up my milk and dumped three packages of hot chocolate mix in it, and no one can stop me, damn it.

I am back down to two dogs.

We recieved a phone call yesterday from a woman who worked at a nearby vet clinic. They had lost their older dog in January and got a puppy. The puppy had died the day before in surgery. Although they weren't trying to replace their puppy, their children and other dog were crushed and lost, and she wondered if we had any prospects. My boss told her about Pippi, and she and her husband agreed to come meet her.
When they arrived, they plopped right down on the concrete, dog hair covered office floor with her (I liked them already). They were delighted to hear that I have four cats that Pippi loves, because they had three. They were delighted to hear that I have a one-year-old...so do they. She was happy to hear that I have a golden retriever...their other dog is a yellow lab. I told them about her, where we're at in training, her personality. Then the woman asked me how she was in the car, because she would like to take her to work with her often, and the puppy hated to get in the car. I told her Pippi came to work with me every day and loved car rides (I think she almost cried). AND the husband was a teacher, so she'd have company all day in a few weeks.
They took pictures of her on their cell phones, told me they would talk it over with each other and their twelve-year-old, and they would give us a call tomorrow. An hour later they called back begging for her.
So today, I said goodbye. And I am a sniveling dying heap on the floor. I will be seeing her again - the woman was very set on not letting her forget us, she'll be bringing her back frequently and she will be bringing her to training classes. And I have talked myself out of the fact that she probably feels like I abandoned her (thanks for the pep talk, P&F girls!).

But ohhh.

EDIT: Oh! Some things about them I forgot to gush about. She has a brand new collar with daises on it (which really looks pretty on her). She has been renamed 'Blanche' after a lake around here - the couple has just gotten a boat and are really hoping that she will like to swim and she will want to go boating with them all.summer.long.

Tailypo

I was bopping around with Kristen when the doorbell rang. I went to go get it (pushing dogs and cats back).

It was an acquaintance who had stopped to drop something off. She looked nervous and said, "You know, I SWEAR I hear a cat!" I heard a mad yowling. I looked under the stroller and there was poor spazzy Ghost, who must have snuck out when I was out getting mail. He was hiding under the stroller, drooling, eyes glowing, and screaming at her.

As usual, the SHUTUPSHUTUP portion of my brain was not working, and I said, "Oh, we thought it'd be best to keep him outside until the rabies test comes back!"

She almost fell off the porch. I sighed and said, "Get your spastic butt in this house" and he went shooting across her feet and into the house, where he promptly got scooped up by Caden, who went tearing through the house with Ghost in his mouth (don't worry, the cats like it). Kristen screamed, "MOOOOOOMMMMMmamamamamaohhhhhkay!"

Sharpie a beard on me, give me a cane, and call me Noah.

A Communication Breakthrough

And no, NOT elimination communication - I may be neurotic, anal, and crazy...but I still don't get you people.

Kristen has started picking up on sign language. She is starting to use 'more'. I am thrilled - life has been a storm of screams, slaps, and temper tantrums lately. She's getting to that stage where she is highly frustrated, on the brink of independence, and unable to do it completely herself and tell us what she wants. I am THRILLED that we are opening up ways to communicate!

And no...no pictures. As soon as she sees me thinking about getting the camera, the hands drop and she just stares at me. She'd starve before asking for more WHILE THE CAMERA IS OUT.

I H8 my life.

I was cutting up a chicken patty for Kristen when the heavy plate slipped off the counter. It came down, on edge, between my toe bone and my foot bone. Then it shattered.

I think my toe is broken.

My baby is so sweet.

We took her to the viewing last night (she helped everyone perk up). I kept her away from the coffin...I didn't know if it would upset her or not. At the very end, Jason took her up to the casket so he could say goodbye. Kristen stared at her great grandmother solemly for a few seconds, no expression on her face, and then waved.

I cried all the way home.

Picture Post

Mothers Day
One Year Ago



















Mother's Day This Year

















We'll miss you, Norma.
1931-2008

Sad Mother's Day

It didn't start out that way. We had a lovely time - we took MIL out to breakfast, where she made a giantic fuss over Kristen's new pigtails. We went out with my parents and my grandmother to lunch, and had another great time. We went to the nursing home to drop my grandmother off, and saw ILs walking up. We assumed they were going to visit Jason's grandmother, so we said hello. They told us Gram had died an hour ago.
We promptly handed Kristen over to my parents and went up with ILs to Grams floor. The family was there, sobbing and hugging each other. We did know it was coming - she had not been getting on well at all, and had been given one to two weeks to live. That doesn't make it any less heartbreaking, she was a great woman.

I'll have pictures tomorrow - both of happy Mother's Day moments, and a few of Gram.

For the person who found me by searching 'sekzy man woman'

I apologize for the disappointment I'm sure you felt when you realized I was talking about a pittie puppy with hot purple nails and a pink hoodie.

Sick freak.

I have never been so traumatized in all my days

We were slow at work today, so I was doing some extra cleaning. I was vaccumming down the hallway and decided to get behind the vet's freezer (where they put the dead animals...but technically that has nothing to do with this story).

I got a giant clump of hair stuck in the shop vac hose. I pulled the hose out and started tugging on the hair. There was this plastic string stuck in it - I figured it was a zip tie. I pulled and pulled...and then an ugly memory hit me. I opened my hand all the way to find a rock-hard dead mouse in it.

I screamed, flung the mouse at the wall, and began dancing and shaking my hand and freaking out. Vet techs poured in from the operating rooms. In the office, my boss began frantically changing camera views to see what dog was bleeding. They realized what happened and laughed and walked away. My boss threw the mouse away ( she did it with one hand over her eyes, a bunch of paper towels in the other, and screaming, "I don't think I can do it!") while I was panicking and washing my hands over...and over...and over. Then I burst into tears. Then I puked. Then I washed my hands over...and over...and over. Then I cried some more. Then I asked to go home (my boss called me a pansy). Then I washed my hands. Then I walked around shaking my hand because I could still feel it on my fingers. Then I washed my hands.

I was a sniveling, shaking mess in the office for half an hour before she told me to go home.


Ugly Memory: When I was around five, I was washing dishes with my mother. I looked down to see a mouse tail peeking out of the cabinet. I have never, not once, been able to do dishes with my feet more than two feet away from the sink. Ever. I have issues.


Thursday I go back to the doctor...I don't care for the Cymbalta. I can't remember to take it every day, so I am not coming well. I would like some Xanax (for situations of 'sension'). I think something more situation-based would be better.

My foster puppy

A few weekends ago, I was at work, and there was a tiny pittie puppy there, giving me the EYES. I asked the managers and found out her story. She was seventeen weeks old. She had been taken from her mother at four weeks and lived outside attached to a very short chain in the kennel owner's neighborhood. She was stolen, and found chained to a telephone pole a few blocks away with a broken leg. She was then surrendered to our kennel. I took her in as a foster, and we've been helping her learn to be a puppy. She's amazingly good - no accidents, she loves Caden and Barkley (although you could tell she didn't quite know how to play), the cats, Kristen...you name it. She let Shana paint her toenails bright purple and she wears a pink hoodie (sekxy). I had her to obedience class last Tuesday and she did perfectly - she was one of the first to start automatic sitting, which we don't even start expecting them to learn until the second half of the next class. She lives to please me - she craves my approval and love, she begs for it every second of the day. Is there anyone out there who knows of a forever home? I have a prospect, but the husband isn't sure if he wants to add another pittie or not. We're calling her Pippi (although she comes to anything as long as it's said in the party voice) and she is UTD on all her shots.



There are probably people reading this who are shocked that I would allow a pit bull puppy, with socialization and probably abuse issues, into my home, with cats and a thirteen-month-old. Pit bulls, after all, are killing machines who have brains hardwired for blood. I ask you - go back and reread this post - look me (and come look at her) in the eyes, and tell me that SHE is the monster.

EDIT: PS - yes, that is Ghost's ass. Mooning you. The cats do not like Pippi near as much as Pippi likes the cats.

No, seriously now. Where in Pennsylvania IS DC?

Shana and I were talking the other day. I forget the topic. She asked me where in Pennsylvania the Washington Monument is.
I looked at her and said, "I do believe that's in Washington, DC."
"Yes," she said, "But where in PA is that?"
I looked at her. "What? I said it's in DC."
"Yeah...and where in PA is that?"
"It's...not."
"Delaware?"
"No."
"Maryland?"
"No, Shana, it's not IN a sta-"
"VIRGINIA??"
"Oh my god! How are you graduating from high school in a month??"
"NO! WHAT STATE IS IT IN??"
"HOW MANY STATES ARE THERE IN THE UNITED STATES??"
"SHUT UP! THAT WAS JUST A MISTAKE!"

Yes, folks...my eighteen year old sister thought that Washington, DC, was a city in PA. I think. I'm still not sure of the thought process behind that one.