Friday Fun

This weeks entry comes from Ken, of Michelle and Ken. He has some pretty funny stories from his various rotations throughout medical school. We were discussing funny names one night, and he came up with this one. He wrote it out and asked if any of us could figure out how to pronounce it.

Just so you know, I failed miserably. But you should totally try.

Here it is.

La-Ah.

Happy Friday!


* Okay, I know you give up. Here it is.

You pronounce it La dash uh. As in the dash isn't silent. Can you believe it? And I thought my name was always getting spelled wrong!

Beaten

The other day I made a killer lasagna. My trick? Rinse the cottage cheese, then drain it through a tea towel to make it nice and crumbly. Then add it to the Ricotta, with a beaten egg and some Parmesan. Delish.

But it was killer in another way, as well.

You see, I like to eat leftovers for lunch, and I was so excited to have a slice of this tasty cheesy treat yesterday. I microed it, covered in a paper towel of course, and then let it sit in the microwave while I patiently waited for it to reach eatable temperature. When it was time, I whipped open the door to the microwave, reached in to retrieve my noodley yumminess, when the microwave door decides it wants to fight back. It came swinging back to the closed position, which it would have achieved, had my eye not been directly in the spot where the hook latches it closed.

I took it right to the edge of my ocular. I swore, sorry Mom, and instantly thought I was going to be blind. I rushed to the sink, fearing a blood storm, grabbed a towel to stop the flow, when I realized something. Nothing. Nothing at all. No blood. No eye juice. No nothing at all. At first I was little miffed, because I was expecting something great after all that pain. Then I was relieved that I wasn't blinded. Then I was fully expecting to see a great big bruise that I could pass off as my battered wife wound.

Still, nothing. Don't get me wrong. It hurts like Hell. I can't even squint my eye without a stinging sensation permeating my face and eye ball. But there isn't even a mark where the stupid thing hit me! Not a mark! I have acne scars more noticeable than this thing.

I'm such a wuss. But hopefully in a day or two it will bruise up nicely so I can play the battered wife card and get some sympathy.

I'm -----This----- Thankful

Gretta received a package in the mail the other day. She was instantly in heaven. Although, after seeing what was in the package, I think Maggie was just as thrilled.

All the girls showing off together.

And here it is. The ultimate dress up dress. Aunt Kelli and Aunt Troy are the best. They know exactly what will get Gretta going. She carried it around for a good 10 minutes before Maggie finally forced her to put it on. Otherwise, Maggie would have worn it herself. Of course, once she had it on, there was no taking it off. Even for bed. But that's just fine with me.

An action shot of the opening ceremony. Even Bebe got in on the action. She's that big mess of fur to the right.

So thanks Aunt Kelli and Aunt Troy! You guys are the best!


And for the record, I'm not going on the cruise as some have previously mentioned. My dumb dog had to have emergency surgery a few moths ago, and that basically took up our cruise fund. Dumb dog. So for the next week and a half or so, I will be freezing my patootie off in Chitown, while my bro and sis and their respective spouses gallivant through the Caribbean. Suckers. But if it gets even one of them to update their blogs with the pictures I'm sure they will take, it will be worth the jealousy.

Also, thanks for all the sweet comments yesterday. I have the best friends ever. I even received a giant Coke delivered to my front door. Knowing I had so many of you out there giving me hugs really made a difference. I do feel better today, but I'm sure the Valium is helping with that. ;)

It's One Of Those Days

I can't get a grip today. There will be lots of tears today. I can tell when it starts out first thing in the morning that things are just going to go downhill, and fast.

It started last night. I had just settled in for a nice book and a warm blanket, when Sean came calling me downstairs for a surprise. Of course I couldn't resist, so I marched down there with much anticipation. I had received a letter! I love mail. Inside this letter, was a simple bracelet. It immediately sent me over the edge.

It was my mom's. It has a "P" and a bee on it. She used to wear it all the time. Meg is so sweet to think of me, and knows how much I need to feel close to her. So this meant crying myself to sleep last night. Not an unusual occurrence. But it's the waking up with tears flowing that makes the days hard. There just isn't much that can get me up out of this funk on a day like today. Better to just stay inside and not have to face the world.

Have I mentioned I hate being a grown up? Some days I think I can't deal with it all. I think it's just too much to handle. I hate all the hard decisions, and the despair that comes along with being grown up. Things seemed so much simpler before. Before what? I couldn't exactly say. Before I moved away, probably. Before she died, certainly. You know my first reaction after the strep diagnosis yesterday was to pick up the phone and call my mom. I knew exactly what she would say. I could practically hear the sympathy in her voice. There is no one to call that can take that place.

People my age shouldn't be dealing with the loss of a parent. Especially the loss of a parent in such a manner as hers. I know I'm not the only one that has had to do it, but some days it feels like I am.

Sorry for the pity party. It's just one of those days.

Hiatus

My kid has strep. Again. This is like the bajillionth time in the last year and a half or so. I'm really really really tired of 10 day antibiotics. I'm also tired of her screaming through a penicillin shot, and then doing 10 days of antibiotics on top of that. I'm hoping she'll be getting her tonsils out within the year. But we'll see.

So, on that note, I'll be back tomorrow with something good. Not great, but probably not that good either, so don't hold your breath.

On a completely unrelated note, my feet are muy stinky.

Friday Fun

Remember this movie? I queued it from Netflix, and the day it came it got watched 3 times. We've had it for 3 weeks, and I think someone has watched at least part of it every single day since.

I'm just so glad to see great flicks like this get passed on to the next generation.

Happy Friday!

A Walk In My Shoes

Gretta has taken to a nifty new habit as of late. She thinks every pair of shoes left unfilled or unattended can be used as her new toy. She started out with "Moots Boots" the other day. As she clomped around in Maggie's boots, she kept repeating, incessantly, "Moots boots, Moots boots," until I wanted to pull my hair out. For the uninitiated, Maggie's middle name is Moots, and Gretta thinks it's hilarious to call her that.


Here she is, Miss America. Please disregard the binky. I'm so tired of the binky, and trust me, I've been admonished to rid her of it several times, by several different people. Problem with that, is that if she doesn't have her binky handy, she's just as content to suck her thumb, like Moots. I'd rather have her on the binky thankyouverymuch.


Wearing one pair of about three pairs of heels I own. Somehow she finds them in the waaaaay back of the closet, pairs them up correctly, and parades around my bathroom in them. I guess it's all that practice she had with her Disney shoes.


But really, someone should tell her that socks and sandals are out. This is actually her least favorite pair of shoes, because the foot bed is quite slippery, and she can't walk so well in them.

Oh, how we love our Gretta. She's learning so many things so quickly. Her new thing is to say "a show?" right before bed time. She thinks this gets her out of going to bed. It doesn't. Most of the time. She also loves to be read to. Repeatedly. Over and over and over again. The same stupid "This Little Piggy" book. She knows the words, but she wants someone else to read it to her a million times in a row. And her newest favorite thing is the shower. If she hears that upstairs shower turn on, she is up the stairs, naked and opening the door before the steam has even started. Gotta love the 2 year olds.

Totally Random

I realized yesterday that it's been a while since I posted any pics. I guess my thoughts have gotten better of me than my camera has. But here is some proof that I do indeed take pictures most days. I just don't get around to uploading and posting them like I should. Bear with me.


Emma playing dress up with Mags. This is a pretty rare occurrence around our house these days. Emma is growing past the dress up stage, and to be honest, she and Maggie rarely play anything together anymore. Unless it has to do with the computer or the DS, Emma pretty much stays away from having much to do with Maggie. I think she sees her as the annoying little sister. I remember being that annoying little sister. It's a hard stage.


Here is Gretta enjoying opening up her birthday present from Poppa. When we were in Utah for the summer, my mom had this little fox that graced the bottom shelf of one of her cabinets. Gretta always found it and carried it around the house. I had completely forgotten about it until it arrived as part of her package. You can see she pretty much thinks it's the coolest thing ever.



This was her first expression after ripping open the paper it was wrapped in. She was as shocked as I was. But then she hugged it, kissed it, and tried to ride it around the house like a horse.


Pre-tearing of the goods. She also got an outfit that she thinks is pajamas, a pack of Care Bears playing cards which have mostly found themselves shoved into every nook and cranny of the toy room, and a fancy schmancy card with Minnie Mouse on it. She loves it all!


Here is Maggie showing off her Valentines boxes she made for her dance class. We only had to make like 10 valentines, so instead of buying a huge pack of cards for $3.00, we went to our local craft store, bought 10 pieces of paper for $1.00, and used their die cut machine to cut the design for the boxes. She folded them, I glued the bottoms, and she filled them up with candy hearts. They were the hit of the class for sure.

So that pretty much sums up the most interesting pictures I've taken in the last few weeks. I'm still on the lookout for a funny Friday image, but I'll keep looking. I have the best one, but for the life of me, I can't find the picture to go with the story. I'll do my best, just for you.

*I have been asked about the origin of the fox. I can honestly say I have no idea from whence it came. It's just always been around the house, and I never thought to ask my mom about it. You know, it wasn't one of those important things you think about in the last few weeks of someone's life. I find myself having a lot of those moments. I wish I could call her up and ask her. Anywhoo, if any of you know where the fox originated, I would love to know.

I Heart Faces

This weeks theme over at I heart faces is Black and White. I just love this picture of Gretta. It was taken right after we got her ears pierced. So cute. You can barely see she has one teeny tiny tooth coming in on the bottom.



So go here and check out the other entries.

Field Trip

Take a wander over to my other blog and enter a contest to win some cute clippies. The directions are over there, and be sure and comment over there for your entries.

Good Luck!

She Seems Harmless

Last night was a strange night. First of all, with 1 PM church time, I don't get my usual Sunday nap in anymore, and that just puts me in a strange mood to begin with. But after church, and a delicious meal of Laura's chicken enchiladas, we settled in for a view of Amazing Race. As I hunkered down under the blankets, I got that no so fresh feeling. Ewww. I hate that. So up to bed I went. I tossed and turned most of the night, trying at first not to throw up, and then trying to get myself to throw up just so I could feel better.

Nothing happened. Except a very strange dream.

I sat observing a preschool class, in which 3 of my own children were enrolled. The class instructor was very strict, and as I observed, I found myself needing to step in to help control her very bad temper. She was a beautiful teacher, long blond hair, and the cutest little lisp. She had on very fancy jewelry, and wore stunning pointy toe shoes. But still, despite her good looks, she was mean.

At one point, my Sister-In-Law arrives with her 3 kids, drops them in the classroom and heads out on her merry way, none the wiser to our harsh teacher's antics. I stayed, and felt I needed to protect my kids from her.

Finally, just as class was ending, the teacher turned to me, and I recognized her face instantly. She told me she couldn't deal with my kids anymore, and she was certain their lives would be screwed up forever because of my bad parenting skills. She actually used the words "screwed up", which surprised me, even in my dream state, because she is so eloquent with language, that I felt she could have found better words. And I don't see her as the "screwed" using type in her real life, even though I don't know her in real life.

But as she stormed out of the classroom in a huff of arrogance, she turned to me and lowered down to face me where I was sitting. She was so close I could smell her toothpaste. As she was about to say some other mean snarky comment, I took my right hand and POW! I punched her square in the eye. She stumbled back, and came back at me with a force that shoved me over in my chair. She straddled on top of me, and began pummeling me with her fists.

All the while, I lay there taking the punches, thinking to myself, "why on earth is CJane punching me?"

She seems so sweet. I've never gotten the abusive vibe from her at all. I mean, she took in her nieces and nephew with nary a days notice, and fed and clothed them for months just out of the goodness of her heart. And yet, here she is, punching me in the face. It was shocking, really.

But then I was startled awake by the 2 AM screams from Gretta, apparently she was having a scary dream, too.

So CJane, I know we don't know each other, but if you could please remember that when you're teaching my kid(s) in preschool, don't start punching me in the face for being a bad mom. I beat myself up enough for both of us.

Friday Fun

I am posting a Friday Fun today, but there is no picture. There is only pure joy. My kid got a root canal this morning, and she didn't even cry! This is a big deal, since she got us kicked out of the last dentists office.

I am so proud.

Occlusions

Yesterday brought a visit to La Dentista. The dentist, for you English speakers. I hate the dentist. It hurts to go to the dentist. I don't care what they do, it hurts. The X-Rays hurt when they make you bite into that piece of rubber that is so carefully placed to scrape its sharp edges against your delicate gums. The cleaning hurts when they take freezing cold water and aim it at your delicate teeth and spray at full force. The scraping hurts, well, okay, the scraping I don't really mind. I'm a little sadistic I guess.

Anyway, after last weeks trauma of taking Maggie to the dentist, and her screaming and yelling practically getting us kicked out, I wasn't looking forward to going myself. I was fairly confident that I had no cavities, maybe one. I floss every day. I rinse with Listerine every day. I brush every day, at least once. See, confident?

Nope, shouldn't have been so confident. I came away with a follow up visit and a proposed bill of $1200 for 9 cavities. 9 freaking cavities! What am I, one of Jill's kids?

Funny thing is, is that the one place I thought I would have a cavity, due to some pain I've been having in my jaw, is the one place there are no cavities present. Weird. But, after reading some comments on Jill's post about their dentist visit, I'm starting to wonder if this doctor is trying to rip me off. She kept giving me this schpeel in her thick Eastern European accent about how hard it is to keep teeth clean with braces on, and how it can cause an eruption of cavities. Yep, right, sounds good, if you're 13, and have braces!

My braces have been off for 4 years, folks. And I've had several sets of X-Rays since then, and never once had a cavity. Hmm, see where I'm going with this? So I heard some dentists will give you a second opinion for free, so I may go that route. Seems like a better deal than just forking over the money and calling it good.

Anyway, sorry for the lame A posts as of late. I am getting some better meds soon, and hope to be back to "normal" soon. I need a good post for Fun For Friday, so if any of you have a funny pic you'd like to send me, I'll totally credit you, and I'm sure you'll get some traffic sent your way. Cause I'm so popular and stuff. Feel free to email me at keli dot clayton at gmail dot com.

I Heart Faces

I'm giving in, and doing an I heart faces contest. I'm such a sheep. Here's my entry. It better win. Wink wink.

Go here and see all the entrants.

If You Dare

Homemade Fun:

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! But you probably will...I'm just saying.
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. That gives me a good 10 1/2 months to get it done!
4. It will be a surprise.

The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so, and leave a comment telling me they did, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

All Due Respect

Thank you, dear President's past. I love getting a Monday off school. Not that I go to school, but my kids do, and that means I get to sleep in. I love my sleep.

So thank you for being super, and earning us all a day off. You rule(d).

Heart

Happy Valentines Day.

I got a PajamaGram delivered last night. The shirt says "I'm with Cupid" I find it funny.

All Sugar Daddy gets is me. Moody, bitchy, bloated, ornery me. He better take it and like it.

Field Trip

Take a little field trip on over to our Cancer Sucks! blog. I've posted a new fun thing, and also redone the template, it's much more appropriate now. See what you think.

Day Of Love

Today is a big day. My sweet little niece turns 2. She and Gretta could be twins; but not by looks. They couldn't look more different. Gracie is chubby and dark, mellow and cuddly. Gretta isn't any of those things. But the way they talk, cry, squeak, and pad barefoot across the floor, you wouldn't be able to tell them apart. I miss that Gracie. Here are a couple of shots of her I ran across. I have more recent ones, but these ones are precious to me. You'll see why.

Mom getting Gracie dressed in her blessing dress.

I miss those hands. When she died, I held her hands and stroked them, and tried to burn the image of them into my brain. She had lovely hands, and the cutest little mole on her hand. She always had beautiful rings, Diamonique mostly, but some very expensive ones as well. She had beautiful nails she kept done up just so, for 13 years with the same nail lady! But those hands are so much more than a physical attribute. She loved her babies. Her grandbabies, especially. And dressing them, rubbing them down after a bath, cuddling with them, watching them run through her backyard, all had more to do with her hands than any jewelry. Those hands fed and clothed us kids, worked hard for us, and showed us the direction we should take in life.

Chubby little Gracie on her blessing day.

She is a special little kid. I have never met a more mellow baby. The day before she was blessed, Jill got out the white nail polish. And we polished her fingernails and toenails. She sat still through the entire process. On the other hand, if it was Gretta, if Gretta was awake, she was moving. Gracie is different than Jill's other kids. She is dark, and has dark eyes. She is Aaron to a tee. She was a long time getting here, but boy are we glad she did. I love this kid!

I know I talk about her like she's my own, but after spending every day with her through the summer, I feel like she could be. We bonded. I love her.

Happy day, Gracie!



Today is also my other nieces birthday. Abby is 5 today! She was our next door neighbor for 4 years, and we miss being able to run back and forth from their house to ours. I believe Abby was born on Friday the 13th, just like today. Creepy. So happy day to Abby, too! We miss you.

Interpretation Please

Last night I had a dream. I have a history of having vivid, strange dreams, but ever since I've switched medications they have gotten more vivid. And strange.

I mean, aside from the usual dreams of teeth falling out, drowning in a puddle of door knobs, or even the occasional "happy" dream, things have gotten much, much worse. Or better, I guess it depends on your perspective.

But last nights dream is especially disturbing to me. I don't know why. It was simple, non-threatening, and short. Well, relatively short, as in does anyone really know how long their dreams last?

So do you want to hear it? I thought you might.

I was lying down somewhere. Where isn't important. I had covers pulled up to my neck, and I stared straight up to the ceiling. My sister Jill approached me with giant tweezers. She had this evil grin on her face. No, more evil than normal. Yeah, right. She held my arms down with her hands, and in her other hands (?) she took the tweezers, aimed them straight at my neck, and proceeded to pluck out a giant stem of a chin hair. It was about 3" in diameter, and had a blossom of white on the end. My first reaction was "Why didn't someone tell me I had been growing this huge hair on my chin?". She proceeded to explain that it hadn't been there long, and her other friends had missed seeing theirs grow so quickly and had subsequently been strangled within minutes.

So I guess she saved my life. How do I thank a sister that is 2000 miles away for saving my life in my dream? Does Hallmark even make a card for something like that?