So You Thought Y2K was Over....

So, computers and calendars clash again. Apparently, when Congress adjusted the approved Daylight Savings dates, they've screwed with the computer world anew. It's likely that after Sunday's time change, many computers will report incorrect times for the next month.

LOL

Big News

Last night, Becca's second tooth came out. This was a very abrupt tooth-exodus (the first tooth was loose for more than 2 months). She noticed it was slightly loose just a week ago. Tuesday she was at school and chewing on her tights (yes, while she was wearing them - don't ask me why or even how this occurred), and she popped that tooth loose. She spent the rest of that day in pain because every time she closed her mouth or tried to chew, the top front teeth hit that loose, cock-eyed bottom tooth.

Constant pain does not make for a charming 5.6 child. In fact, the evening was pretty miserable despite the Tylenol I gave her. And for dinner, she ate a fruit smoothy because she could not chew.

But after finding $5 under her pillow, she is wishing for the next tooth to let go.

Stinky Bunco

Monday night, I played Bunco with a bunch of women from playgroup and a few of their friends and co-workers. There are many variations of Bunco, but I'll give you ours. Eight women gather together, rotating whose home they invade, eat dinner and play Bunco. It is mainly an excuse to get away from the husband and kids, eat food someone else had to make (except when it's your turn to host), and gossip over a dice game that takes just a little brainpower to play. We split into 2 tables (the winners'/head table and the losers' table), pair up with the woman across the table, and roll a set of 3 dice until someone gets 21 points. There are 6 rounds in each game. In round one, each time a dice lands on a 1, it's worth one point. In round two, points are awarded for tossing 2's. And so on. After each round, the pair of women from the loser table who had more points moves to the winner table while the pair who had fewer points at the winner/head table gets kicked down to the losers' table.

This week, there was an extra incentive to win and move to the head table. We were in the middle of the first game and Kristy said she could smell something odd. Mindy (the hostess) seemed a bit confused and then gasped. She jumped up, ran to the door to her garage (a few feet away from the losers' table), opened it, yelled something unintelligible, put down her garage door, and shut the door to the garage. She was not pleased about something. I vaguely remembered that her garage door had been open just a few inches. (Turns out that was so her cat could get in to his food and water.)

So Mindy shared her struggle with her in-laws' cats. Her in-laws (neither she nor her husband gets along with them very well) have 12 cats and live next door. They aren't really all that close because Mindy is pretty far out in the country, I guess you'd call it. Houses are relatively spread out. But one of those 12 cats, a big male, likes to come over to Mindy's house and spray all over. In particular he likes to spray on door and window glass. Yuck!

And the perfume in the air for the rest of Bunco was Yuck! for sure. That big tomcat had crawled into the garage and sprayed all over while we were playing dice. And it was like sitting in a cat box that has not been changed in quite a while. Sort of spoiled the ice cream dessert we shared between Bunco games. Ick.

Ta-Da!!!!

I spent last night and this morning at a women's conference at our church. The speaker was Liz Curtis Higgs, successful author and formerly a well known radio personality. She was really engaging and hilarious.

One of her themes was that we women should stop being ashamed of our bodies. We tell our daughters they are beautiful but always criticize ourselves, sending them a stronger message in our actions than in the words we speak. Our society's pressures have us always looking in the mirror for flaws. And guess what? When you look in the mirror to check if there are problems, you are going to find problems.

So, Liz suggests that we master our mirrors. This involves a daily ritual with our mirror that consists of the following: approach the mirror, throw up your arms enthusiastically, and announce, "Ta-Da!!!" with a big smile. [Note: It is good to warn your husband prior to performing this the first time, both to alert him that nothing is wrong and to make sure he doesn't miss it if that's his wish! Also note that the upraised arms are critical as everything is given a lift and boost upward! (-: ]

In the United Kingdom, each of these words has a meaning. "Ta" is shorthand for "thanks," while "Da" often refers to "father." So, each morning, this cheerful little exercise shouts praise to God the Father for making me so special.

Psalms 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (After a few more Ta-Da's I hope it'll sink in!)

Silence

In every happy couple, there is one morning person and one night person. In my marriage, I am the morning person. The cost of being the morning person is lack of sleep because no matter how late I stay up working/talking/gaming with my husband, I still wake up early the next morning.

The reward of being the morning person is silence. Peace. Solitude. A quiet house with no one demanding anything of you such as breakfast, candy, help tying a shoe or attention. Freedom. Quiet time with God.

Don't miss out on your phone tax money!

I heard about this a few days ago, and thought I would mention it here.

There is a refund you can claim on your 2006 tax return if you paid phone bills between March 2003 and July 2006. Apparently a tax was collected on those bills (which would have included cell phone bills as well as land lines) for both long distance and local calls, but according to some new rulings should have only been collected for local calls. So, the part that was for long distance is being refunded.

If you don't have 4 years of old bills, you can take a standard amount (the actual amount depends on your number of exemptions) that is supposedly easy to calculate and include in your return. I've heard advice from one tax professional that says it's not worth the extra time and effort to pull out the old invoices and add up the tax anyway. Also, if you've already filed and forgot this refund, just refile an amended return.

You can probably tell that I haven't filed my return yet and won't for a number of months (yes, I'll file an extension request). For that reason, I'm not completely familiar with the details yet. I will be once I look into it for myself. But if any friends have questions about it, just let me know. I'll do the research early! (Yes, you have to be a friend of mine to get this service.)

The child issue

Rereading my old posts, I see a commitment never to have 4 children. How time can change your outlook (time and your level of exhaustion). Actually, I still can't claim to want 4 children, but my husband and I are working on conceiving our third. (No, not right this second. And, yes, I've heard that joke before.)

Sometimes I think I'm a little deranged for making this choice, because I can catch a glimpse of freedom in the near future. We've signed a contract for Diana to attend a Montessori preschool starting next fall, and Rebecca will be in the 1st grade. I will actually have my mornings child-free! Well, I will for a few months before #3 is born, should we succeed in our efforts.

I'm definitely off my rocker for watching "A Baby Story" on TLC each morning that I go to the YMCA and climb on an elliptical machine. No one contemplating pregnancy should enjoy watching others go through the agony of labor, right? But somehow I watch it and always seem to come up with reasons why my experience will be different from the one I'm watching. I won't be screaming in a van racing to reach the hospital in time. I won't be the one begging for an epidural (I've delivered both girls without pain meds.) . I won't be the one who can't seem to get the baby past her hips (no questions there!).

But this time... no induction! No hernias (I hope)! No huge weight gain (I don't need it). Absolutely no pitocin. More naps! No more morning sickness!

Yeah, I'm insane.

More than Momentary relapse

Well, it's been a while. Hmmm. Seems to me that it was about May 2005 that I started playing WoW. Oh, that's World of Warcraft to the uninitiated. If there are any of those left. Guess that's when this blog petered out.

The girls are 2.09 and 5.06. (Version numbers, by the way, are years.months) We just got back from their first trip to Disney World.

And since that has left me tired, I will try to pick this up again tomorrow.

Time Flies

Since the last time I posted:
I've been to 2 other states.
Both of my daughters have broken bones (different times, places, people responsible).
One of my daughters had surgery.
My best friend had a baby.
I've been vomited upon about 6 times.
I've had 2 severe migraines.
My brother got married.
My husband became a partner in his medical practice.
Our 150-year-old tree was diagnosed with a fungal infection that renders it dangerous.
I've hired someone to cut it down.
My husband and I bought a new refrigerator and microwave.
My sister broke up with her boyfriend.

The Author Who Shall Not Be Named

Recently, I've been reading novels by a local Louisville author who writes well-constructed romantic thrillers - good love stories with a serial killer or rapist or spy thrown in. I enjoy them and get the romance experience without the guilt of reading a trashy, slutty romance novel that has no real plot. Somehow the existence of the cops and robbers part gives the books some dignity. And they don't have mostly naked people on the cover that I'd have to try to hide in public.
So when I found some other books written by her (ages ago) at a nearby used book store, I snatched them up - all 15 or so. (I am one of their best customers.) As I've noticed with many authors, she definitely is a better writer today than she was at the beginning of her career, but still much better than the average romance author.
What I don't understand is what on earth, as a woman, she was thinking writing about young (usually 17 or so) girls who fall in love with criminals or men who RAPE them (but they really liked it). And most of them -men and women- are married and cheating (but that's okay because the spouse paid for their abduction or the spouse is really an evil person who is only interested in their fortune...). How can a female person write about rape as a romantic thing?!?!?!
I love her recent books. She is an excellent writer. But I cannot give her name here and send her the publicity in good conscience.

I do not want to have 4 kids

I now have experience with having 4 children. Not actually bearing them, of course, but taking care of them for 3 hours. And my conclusion is it makes me tired even remembering the experience.
A friend moved this weekend. Just across town, but moving is always a huge endeavor, so I offered to babysit for an afternoon while she got a chance to pack. So, for 3 hours on Friday I had 2 extra daughters, both almost the exact same ages as my girls - which makes the whole job easier as each has a playmate. We decided to go on a walk. Okay, I decided we should go on a walk - I figured it would make the time pass more quickly.
I got out our double stroller and put the two one-year-olds in it. The three-and-a-half-year-olds had to walk. We headed out with the destination of our ice cream store about 5 blocks up and one over. We got there, ate a child's cup each and headed home. The 3-yr-olds set the pace with their slow feet. And they were worn out when we got back. The whole thing took an hour and 25 minutes.
We were about half way home when I realized we were missing a sandal for the one-year-old guest. I backtracked to the last place we'd turned and looked back down that street, but no luck. Knowing we had already exhausted the older girls and I was going to be blessed to make it home without carrying someone, I did not turn back. I called in reinforcements - my mother-in-law drove the route and recovered the sandal just before my friend was leaving my house with her girls.
I really needed a nap. Too bad there is some law of the universe that if you have more than one child, they will not nap on the same schedule (or the older one will give up naps entirely). I think the law of the universe related to having 4 or more children ... well, it must be pretty scary and I don't want to know.

Childhood Milestones

This has been a big milestone week for my younger daughter, Diana 1.0. First, her fifth tooth popped through. Then she had her first reaction to a vaccination (big rash and fever). Then on Friday she took her first steps. She also had her first ice cream; yes, it was vanilla.