Boring is good.
Yesterday went well. Pint seems to be doing okay on the 'cutting off a strip of the patch". I will give it a week and then ut a bigger strip off. Her behavior is good, she is staying on focus, so far.
I had to put up with both Calamity and Nursey yesterday. ARRRGGGHHHH. That's a bit much for anyone!!
Baby was here, a friend of hers and also Baby's BF were here. Really put out to figure out how to feed a bunch of people on only two chicken breasts......
I made Refrigerator wraps. I had milk, Parmesan, wraps, a half bag of broccoli, six pieces of uncooked bacon and two frozen chicken breasts. Homemade Alfredo sauce here we come.
Kids went to be well. I watched Uncle Buck which I haven't seen in years. Then went to bed.
I was going to watch Juno, but Baby and I watched it the other night. I thought it very funny and poignant. I would not let anyone under the age of 18 watch it. EVER. While it doesn't exactly glorify teen age pregnancy, it does make it seem somewhat acceptable. Baby and I talked about how fake the movie was, there really aren't any girls as self possessed as Juno was in the movie at age 15, AND there wasn't ONE TEXT MESSAGE OR CELL PHONE in the whole movie. So then, you KNOW it was a fake LOL.
How boring am I?
Rainy Days and Sundays always make me feel better !!
For a morning that started sort of last night, this one is coming along nicely!!
Kids were a bit, um, unsettled. They all three went to bed well. Pint is trying to come off her ADHD patch, so we are slowly slicing off a bit of the patch each day. Yesterday was day one. We nipped off about 1/8 of the patch. Oh, BTW, this is with the permission of her prescriber.
They did tell me when she was diagnosed, that it wasn't probably so much that she had ADHD as that she was extremely gifted and the different hemisphere's of her brain were developing at different rates and would someday catch up with each other and that she may be able to come off her meds.
We (she and I) both think that day may be here.
Not knowing any different, until recently, when we have been exposed to numerous children on ADHD meds (there is a disproportionate ratio of ADHD kids in karate), and we have noticed that although their parents and prescribers say they are well controlled, there is a HUGE difference in behaviors between they and Pint.
Pint, to be brief, looks, acts and reacts like a normal kid. They, in a word (or two to be more precise) do NOT. I thought it was an aberration, her prescriber says probably not. He says she may be ready.
It will be a slow process, with some behavior modification in there as well.
She was a bit whiny yesterday and clingy, but other than that, normal.
She went to sleep well last night, but ALL three of them were up with nightmares at 4 am.
GRRRRRRRR
Baby and her friend were over last night, and both couches were full. There is not room in our bed for three children. I am NOT nice at 4 am.
They whined. They cried, they got hysterical. They got sent back upstairs to their room and told
THERE ARE THREE PEOPLE UP THERE, A NIGHT LIGHT AND NO REASON FOR THIS. GET OVER IT AND GO TO SLEEP.
BOOM. Meemaw flips.
They went back to sleep LOL.
Than, Then, They're, Their, There
Am I the only person who is unseemingly irritated beyond belief by the improper use of two words? Well not actually two words, more correctly, two word groups.
Then....(it already happened).
–adverb
| 1. | at that time: Prices were lower then. |
| 2. | immediately or soon afterward: The rain stopped and then started again. |
| 3. | next in order of time: We ate, then we started home. |
| 4. | at the same time: At first the water seemed blue, then gray. |
Than
–conjunction
| 1. | (used, as after comparative adjectives and adverbs, to introduce the second member of an unequal comparison): She's taller than I am. |
| 2. | (used after some adverbs and adjectives expressing choice or diversity, such as other, otherwise, else, anywhere, or different, to introduce an alternative or denote a difference in kind, place, style, identity, etc.): I had no choice other than that. You won't find such freedom anywhere else than in this country. |
| 3. | (used to introduce the rejected choice in expressions of preference): I'd rather walk than drive there. |
| 4. | except; other than: We had no choice than to return home. |
I have seen college graduates use this word improperly and it doesn't get caught by the spellcheck because it is, in fact, a word.
The other word group that drives me NUTS is
There, Their, They're
Why don't people remember the difference between the three? My mind is mostly gone and I can remember for crappin sake!!
One indicates a direction.
One indicates plural possession (among other things)
They other is a contraction of the two words, they are.
GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRR
oooooh. I must have eaten a bowl of bitchy for breakfast LOL.
Girls are Noisy
5:30 a.m. Pint at baby gate in bedroom door. "I had a nightmare".
Go back to bed.
I can't. I'm scared.
Okay, come on in.
5:30 to 6:30 a.m. Toss and turn on the literal edge of bed. Try to make room to be comfortable. Doesn't work.
6:30 am.
Meemaw!! Quit turning around and turning around and turning around!!
Pint!! Get outta my bed!!
"I can't go back to sleep"......
So get up. It's 6:30. The sun is awake. Go back upstairs.
Can I watch TV? Real quietly?
Sure.
ZZZZZiiiiipppppp. Up she goes.
Blessed sleep.
6:45 A.M.
3/4 Pint at doorway. Can I come in? Sure. Come in.
6:48 a.m. 3/4 Pint (don't EVER give a girl child the name Grace ANYWHERE in her name. EVER) falls over the baby gate, breaks open scraped knee from two days ago when she fell off her bike.
6:49 a.m.
SCREEEEEECH
6:49 a.m. I give up and get up. Find Band Aid in my half blind state. Help her put bandaid on knee. Give comfort.
Up she goes to bedroom.
6:51 a.m.
Screaming and punching from bedroom. Pint and 3/4 are now in a knockdown drag out all out fight. Screeching and screaming, crying and snotting all over the room.
6:52 a.m. Up the stairs I go. Break it up. 1/2 Pint is in bed with her ipod on, listening to music. Lucky Girl.
Pint was screaming at 3/4 because 3/4 turned on the light to find her Neenee (blanket). She was looking for 'emergency neenee', which is a small 1/2 inch wide piece of old neenee, about 20 inches long and very disreputable. She needs emergency neenee because I, in my apparent germaphobic state, W A S H E D real neenee a week ago. Real neenee had been puked on. But freshly washed, it doesn't smell right....and so, we needed emergency neenee to get us through until real neenee developed a rather fragrant normalcy.
Pint doesn't like a lot of lights on in the morning. She would rather even eat breakfast in the dark.
I turn light BACK on, find emergency neenee, turn light off, tell them all to shut the heck up and go back downstairs to get a cuppa.
Pint comes down and eats. Cocoa Pebbles. 3/4 Pint does not want to eat. Into the bedroom with Pappy she goes.
1/2 Pint comes down the stairs. Into the bedroom with Pappy she goes. Comes out crying, heart broken.
3/4 Pint has beat her in there into 'HER' spot next to Pappy. Her life has never been worse. She is totally devestated and doesn't WANT to wait her turn to snuggle with Pappy. I offer hugs, kiss tears away and ask if she would like some breaktast....(that's the way she says it). She allows as how she would, chooses Apple Jacks.
I manage to pour a cup of coffee while I get her some cereal. Take one drink on the way to the cupboard.
Get cereal.
She eats, I read paper and drink a cup. Take cup into Pappy who is still reclining in bed. I want someone to give me time to wake up and bring me coffee. Sigh.
3/4 Pint finally comes out. 1/2 is coloring on couch. Pint is back upstairs. 1/2 Pint wants me to color with her NOW.
3/4 Wants green olives for breakfast. I say no. I offer cucumbers. She tells me how cucumbers are what pickles are made from. I tell her I know this and she is not having pickles for breakfast. I offer cereal or waffles. She wants cinnamon toast. I tell her no. I am not getting up. I offer fruits.
She asks for salad. I tell her I don't want to make salad. She allows as how we have "Debbie Meyers Green Bags" so she can just reach in and get some lettuce out of the green bag.
I just want to wake up; I tell her go for it then.
Check email. Quick Blog. Off to color with 1/2.
My oldest daughter is 31 years old today. Happy Birthday Nursey!!
In Defence of Obama from one who will NEVER vote for him!!
As anyone who knows me knows..I am unabashedly American and unabashedly and unapologetically Republican. I will never vote for Obama, I do not like the man at all. That being said I also do not like the lies that are being spread and the misquotes which are being attributed to him. So, here are the complete quotes from his two books that are being chopped up and used wrongly.
Just to set the record straight
From Dreams From My Father: 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mothers race.'
FACT
Nothing close to this quote appears in Dreams from My Father
SMEAR EMAIL
'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'
FACT
FULL QUOTE From Dreams From My Father:
"He offered to start me off at ten thousand dollars the first year, with a two-thousand-dollar travel allowance to buy a car; the salary would go up if things worked out. After he was gone, I took the long way home, along the East River promenade, and tried to figure out what to make of the man. He was smart, I decided. He seemed committed to his work. Still, there was something about him that made me wary. A little too sure of himself, maybe. And white--he'd said himself that that was a problem." [Page 142]
SMEAR EMAIL
'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'
FACT
FULL QUOTE From Dreams From My Father:
"All my life, I had carried a single image of my father, one that I had sometimes rebelled against but had never questioned, one that I had later tried to take as my own. The brilliant scholar, the generous friend, the upstanding leader--my father had been all those things. All those things and more, because except for that one brief visit in Hawaii, he had never been present to foil the image, because I hadn't seen what perhaps most men see at some point in their lives: their father's body shrinking, their father's best hopes dashed, their father's face lined with grief and regret.
"Yes, I'd seen weakness in other men--Gramps and his disappointments, Lolo and his compromise. But these men had become object lessons for me, men I might love but never emulate, white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela. And if later I saw that the black men I knew--Frank or Ray or Will or Rafiq--fell short of such lofty standards; if I had learned to respect these men for the struggles they went through, recognizing them as my own--my father's voice had nevertheless remained untainted, inspiring, rebuking, granting or withholding approval. You do not work hard enough, Barry. You must help in your people's struggle. Wake up, black man!
"Now, as I sat in the glow of a single light bulb, rocking slightly on a hard-backed chair, that image had suddenly vanished. Replaced by...what? A bitter drunk? An abusive husband? A defeated, lonely bureaucrat? To think that all my life I had been wrestling with nothing more than a ghost!" [Page 220]
SMEAR EMAIL
'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'
FACT
FULL QUOTE From Audacity of Hope:
"Whenever I appear before immigrant audiences, I can count on some good-natured ribbing from my staff after my speech; according to them, my remarks always follow a three-part structure: "I am your friend," "[Fill in the home country] has been a cradle of civilization," and "You embody the American dream." They're right, my message is simple, for what I've come to understand is that my mere presence before these newly minted Americans serves notice that they matter, that they are voters critical to my success and full-fledged citizens deserving of respect.
"Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." [Page 260-261]
okay PD, I wrote something LOL
Sorry.
A little Baptist birdie said I should catch everyone up???
So, (big breath) here goes.
Not actually too much going on. I have been a bit on the cranky side lately, you know, the reason we all don't walk around armed? Because if we did, I probably would have killed someone and been front page news in some paper somewhere. Really cranky.
I guess I'm feeling a bit like an um....slave, servant, drudge?
Rather. And, I am getting dang tired of it as well!! I know, I know (nodding) no one can take advantage of me without my permission. I have to LET them take advantage of me.
So, I am going to stop. Problem is, the people taking advantage of me are little for the most part, Okay, DH isn't exactly little LOL, and I love them.
So, lately I have been saying things like
NO!! If you want ME, then you bring your young little legs HERE, I am NOT coming to you and you are NOT screaming for me anymore....
3/4 Pint still thinks you can Pause and Rewind real life. I caught her the other day again, saying to 1/2 Pint....(they were playing a game...) NO J.....I didn't mean that, I want my turn over, Rewind that.
Sigh.
Pint has been clingy lately.
I went to Wally World and bought a cheap o' fire pit. I really LIKE the one that was $119, but got the one that was $49. I mean, come ON...I am going to light fires in it LOL. I also got three camp forks (read marshmallow roasters) which are only sold in the camping aisle, not anywhere near the firepits or bbq's or 'things to do outside in the summer' aisle. I think that is weird?
Dave and I lit a fire in it that evening and sat around the patio set outside watching the kids roast marshmallows and make s'mores for the first time in their lives.
They are totally retarded.
We laughed our butts off. First they were scared of the firepit. Then they were scared of the heat. Then they were scared of the forks. Then, they were scared to put them in the fire. After we got them all through those issues, then
They burned the marshmallows cause they put them right in the coals. LOL. Then, after disposing of the 'burned beyond all possibility of eating' marshmallows, we did it again, this time roasting them correctly to a (mostly) golden brown, plopped them little suckers right down onto the half graham cracker and over the two sections of hershey bar chocolate..and put the other piece of graham cracker on it.
Guess what?
They don't like S'mores.
Whoda thunk? But, they REALLY liked roasting the marshmallows, and Dave enjoyed eating them, so it was all good until the next day when he was in a sugar coma and I couldn't get him to come to consciousness till like 1 pm.....
We are having a cook out today. BIL is coming, Baby is trying to come, she works a split shift at the Caribbean restaurant today, Baby's BF is invited, don't know if he is coming or not, In Laws aren't invited cause BIL wants to drink and they don't and it's weird I guess to do something in front of your parents when you are 35 years old and they don't approve? I would not know. Whatever.
Happy fourth of July guys!! Oh, and BTW, the Declaration of Independence was SIGNED on JULY 2ND....
