Barack for Hope and Change

It has been a long election season to say the least. Didn't McCain start campaigning during the Johnson Administration? And Barack was in 4th or was it 5th grade right? Or so it seems. Man, I hope they do something about this for the next election or I am moving to Canada. ;-) OK so I am not moving but this is really ridiculous and I think we all know that.

So now the election is days away and our neighborhood is all a twitter. I have friends that are losing sleep for fear that Barack Obama will not win the Presidency. We are in the most liberal part of Oregon and Portland for that matter. I would be nervous if I had a McCain sign in my yard. As a matter of fact, the other day we were on the play ground and Coulter felt compelled to tell me he was voting for John McCain. I immediately bent down and said, "Ahh, you may want to keep that to yourself around here." And then we had a little talk about why he was voting for McCain. After our talk he switched his vote to Obama. To his credit, he's only 4 and he knows who both candidates are. I'm impressed with that. We have had lots of conversations in our house about what the two major parties represent and what they "say" they are going to do. Our kids have been very interested in this process. If they only knew what it meant to their future they might be equally scared. Because of that I am taking this vote very seriously ESPECIALLY because I am the only voting member of my family BOB! For those of you who don't know, Bob is an alien. He wears thick make up to cover the green.

I have thought long and hard about who I am going to vote for and have decided to vote for Barack Obama. The world is changing and McCain, while a hero and experienced, is stuck in a 70's mentality about world politics. I think we are all aware of the dangers of Al-Quaida and the delicate situation in the middle east. The fact that Barack will talk to people gives me hope. Who cares if it gives some yahoo in the middle east "street cred" to talk to a world leader. I think if the guy has bombs and nothing to loose we may need to chat a bit. There needs to be greater equality in this world so that no one and no country is so desperate that they have nothing to loose. That needs to start here at home. Those of us who "have" need to be taxed. If we don't get our health care situation in order we are screwed. Every major industrialized nation in the world has national health care, every one but us. We can send troops around the world but we can't take care of the little old lady down the street who has to eat dog food and then has to decide between heat and her medication. She has to choose! Come on. That is not the America that I grew up in and I certainly don't want it to be where my kids grow up. We need to take care of each other. The lady next door, down the street, across town and across the globe. It only makes sense. Barack has a new view and less baggage and maybe he can start a dialogue with other nations where we don't seem like the giant democracy pushing US values slinging monster. A conversation, if you will, and those go both ways. What happened to give and take? We need to get our energy consumption under control so we don't have to count on OPEC. We need to make AIDS medication affordable for parents in Africa and the couple down the street. Talk about nothing to loose. We need to invest in 3rd world countries so their economies grow and they can join in the world economy. We need to redirect our money and energy from consequences and jails toward education and prevention. We need to have honest politicians who protect the interests of their constituents rather then line their own pockets. We need there to be accountability for those bastards on Wall Street that just STOLE our money by creating a total financial disaster. They knew all along that collapse was just around the corner and if they didn't know they are morons.

So I lay all that out knowing that the task is too big for one man. Even if that man is Barack Obama. But there are so many of us out here who believe that he will make the changes we need. He has to. We can't continue on the track that we are on or it will lead to total disaster and collapse. I hope we can change, I hope we can reclaim our place in the world's view, I hope we can take care of our own, I hope we can calm the fears of other countries, I hope we can create health care for all, I hope our children receive the education they deserve, I hope we can feel secure in all ways in our later years and I hope our children will inherit a better country and world. For all these things I HOPE that Barack Obama will be the change that our country and world deserve.

So now, after getting all that out, I may loose some sleep too. This is too important to loose. No matter what you do, please vote. This election is at such a pivotal point in time and we have the power to change the course of history. May the best man win and I think (pray) most of us know that is Barack Obama.

Sick and Tired

All mothers have done this. They are tired, they are sick but they still try and make things happen. Today is supposed to be the last nice day before Halloween. We still had not been to the pumpkin patch and I felt like we had to go. I am not sure what happens if you just get a pumpkin at QFC. Is that bad mojo? I am not sure I want to find out. So today I pulled Sophia out of school a half hour early and headed to the patch. The kids get very excited and act as if this is the outing of the year. We had to go without daddy, that is a first but he had meetings he couldn't get out of. Now let me tell you that I am sick as a dog. I can sing "Old Man River" better them 90% of the professional baritones out there. I have a fever and I hurt all over but damn it, my kids were going to the pumpkin patch. I tried to be as light hearted as possible but I seriously felt like I could keel over at any time. The kids seemed to have a good time and the dog had a great time. We rode the hay ride, the cow barrel ride and climbed the hay stack AND got pumpkins. I do this trying to be a good mother and to give my kids happy memories. But, I don't remember ever going to the pumpkin patch as a kid. I am not saying that I didn't but I don't remember it. If my kids forget this trip there is going to be heck to pay! They better remember that I went out sick as a dog. Although the dog seemed pretty good. But they won't remember and they will blog or whatever the medium is at that time that they didn't go to pumpkin patches when they were kids and they turned out alright. Maybe, but maybe they will remember that today was fun. I hope so...... I know I tried really hard.

Dog Gone It

Damn dog. Don't get me wrong, we love our dog Iva but what the heck is wrong with her. I now have over a $1000 in beautiful X-Rays of our dog. They are model X-Rays that show a perfectly healthy dog....except she's not, healthy that is. Yesterday she underwent an exploratory arthroscopy. Don't people usually get this type of procedure? Nope, my dog. They couldn't find anything definitively wrong but are still willing to do the $4000 surgery tomorrow if we want. Ahhh, let me think....NOPE! I have now spent over $2000 and have no answers. It isn't the doctors' fault, they are just as frustrated as I am. And I think she is better today then she was last week. So I think we'll wait a while. If there was something that we knew would work I would do it but at this point we might have to dip in to Iva's 529 if this continues and then what would her future look like? Ha ha.... Looks like last year's Christmas present might cut into this years loot.

I'll let you know if there is any change......

More POOP

Why is the word mom synonymous with cleaning up poop. I know that babies poop and so they need to be changed and cleaned. I know that dogs poop and in today's world that poop needs to be picked up, bagged and properly disposed of. Mom's wipe butts when kids potty train. Hey that is a big improvement over the previous step of cleaning the butt after pooping in the pants. Moms clean shoes when kids step the poop that daddy didn't pick up. Come on daddy. OK it's not ALWAYS daddy's fault but I like to blame him and he takes it pretty well (read "by ignoring me" there). We wash underwear that has poop on it because I wasn't there to assist in the last step of the pooping process. Maybe they were at school. But this morning was a great poop story.

So Tuesdays and Thursdays are my days to drive the carpool to school in the morning. We take another boy from down the street with us. I try really hard to get everyone in the car before he gets here so we can be at school on time. So this morning the dog decides she is going with us. As soon as the front door opened she ran out and jumped in the car. I don't really care if she comes with us, that is fine. The only problem I usually have with her coming is when we get out of the van she runs around inside in a total panic like we are NEVER coming back. She barks and goes wild and in the process gets nose prints all over the inside of the windows. I have actually gone to the trouble of parking so that the back of the van is pointed in the direction that I have to walk. That way she stares out the back window and nose prints that window up instead of the windshield in front of where I sit. But I digress...... So she is in the car. Everyone is buckled in and Iva, our dog, is sitting in the drivers seat. I shoo her out and notice that there is poop on my seat. Gross! I wipe it up with a baby wipe. Thank goodness for baby wipes. I then look over at Iva and see that now there is poop on the passenger seat. She is sitting there staring at me. "What? You don't have to clean this up." I march around the car, open the passenger door and quick grab Iva by the tail because she is trying to jump in the back. Yep, there is the offender, a poop blob stuck in her fur. I grab more wipes and try to clean her butt. I try and try and try....about 15 wipes worth before I realize this is a bath situation. I really didn't want it to be a bath situation. Meanwhile in the back of the van there is a chorus of poop talk and laughter. Oh man there is nothing funnier then poop when you are 4. "Ha ha, you have to clean the poop." He he he ha ha.... Shut up! I am thinking this really loud. This is not funny and I am now getting to the late side of things and you boys are totally annoying me. They are having a great time, I am not. I drag the dog out of the car and into the back yard. I have never left her outside when I was gone but I don't really have a choice. I hope she didn't bark but I am pretty sure she did. The hilarity ensues in the peanut gallery. Everyone gets to school safely and I go back home. The dog is laying on the ground with her snout shoved under the gate so she can watch for us. I get her and it is into the bath tub for her. If you have a dog you know how much they love to be in the slippery tub all wet. She is fighting it. I get the water flowing, pour water on her and ah, yes, nothing finer then pulling dog poop off your dog with your bare hands. Yes, yes this is great. I get her clean and try to dry her off. No go. She eventually leaps out of the tub and does the doggy shake all over the house. My house is now damp and smells a bit like a wet dog but there is no poop. Oh wait, Kees is screaming from the upstairs bathroom. "I pooped." More poop duty. I am living the dream.

Giving Up Dress Up

A few weeks ago I was going through our upstairs storage closet. This closet only has a few things in it; our suit cases, a few coats and pieces of winter clothing, dress up clothes and a box that has the clothes that the kids have out grown. We would put more stuff in the closet but the kids like to play in there. Nothing is better then a secret fort when you are little. I remember that very well. So I was in there picking up the dress up clothes. I yelled out to Sophia who was in the other room, "Sophia! If you don't put these princess clothes away I am going to get rid of them!" And she replied, "OK. You can get rid of them."

was totally taken aback, it stopped me in my tracks. As I started to think about it I hadn't seen her in those for ages. I can't believe that my baby doesn't want to dress up anymore. I will tell you that when she was in the dress up phase I let her do it. My motto was, "You should be able to go out as a princess any time you want to." knowing that she would only do it for so long.

When she was 4 she went to the Nutcracker in her full fairy regalia. She was so cute! Sophia was so proud and everyone thought she was dressed as the Sugar Plum Fairy. She, of course, thought she had fooled everyone because they thought she was the REAL Sugar Plum Fairy. She felt sneaky because the fact that she wasn't the Sugar Plum Fairy was our little secret. She had on pink tights, a big puffy layered purple skirt with a silk ribbon at the waist with flowers and beads all around the top, a body suit that had a dragon fly motif, an old head piece from someone's wedding and of course glittery, jeweled purple wings. I let her go out in that get up any time she wanted. She wore it to Christmas Tea at the Heathman Hotel. Oh, you should have seen the smiles on all the little old ladies' faces. They almost glowed with approval.

I don't know what it is that makes us smile so when we see kids dressed up in their daily life. Perhaps it's that they don't care what anyone thinks about them, that THEY think they look and feel cool and we wish we had that strength. They don't think anything is unusual about going to Home Depot dressed as Spiderman with pink feathery wings. Or wearing snow boots, no pants and a fireman's hat (backwards) while mowing the lawn. Maybe we should dress up again and be a princess or a superhero (Or go pantless?). Why not? Why do we care so much what society thinks? Why are we so self conscious? I'm not talking about looking like a freak or anything, well, except, I guess ahhhh...... If I wear the fairy regalia out what would happen? Would someone call the cops thinking I had escaped from the funny farm? Maybe. Who knows. Maybe I should try it.

But I am off point. My point is that Sophia is out growing dress up. She still dresses up but it's usually in grown up clothes and she did comment that her wings are all floppy and can't be worn that way. But it's fading away and that part will soon be over. I love the girl she is becoming. She is lovely, thoughtful, beautiful, smart and strong and I am blessed to be her mom. I want her to be confident and self assured as well. I will miss seeing her imagination show on the outside in her clothing and try to give her the confidence to be a fairy or a princess whenever she wants. I think we'd all be better off if we dressed up more and judged others less.

You Can See the Wheels Turning

When Sophia was 2 years old she was drawing "people." Coulter just started drawing people and he is almost 5. He has been drawing "roller coasters" and "race tracks." To the rest of the world they are scribble circles. He has added cars to the pictures lately so at least he gets it....a little. He has also started to write his name. Until 4 months ago he couldn't have cared less. He is writing letters (individual letters not "Dear Mr. President" letters) and is starting to string them together. You can almost see the wheels turning. So he put together some of his skills and came up with this picture. Every time I see it it makes me smile. He brought it to me and said, "Mom, this is for you. It's Coulter thinking about the alphabet." He explained that he worked really hard on it and told me that he had used his ruler to make the letters and then added the "think" bubbles so show what he was thinking about. I swear that each year gets better. I love watching my babies grow and develop at their own pace. It is a miracle each and every day even when they are making me crazy. Watching their wheels turn is an amazing thing and today my life is a straight out privilege.

Potty Time

So today I took the boys to school. Before we got there Kees insisted that I spend some time with him in his class before I left. He's never cared if I was there or not. Now let me remind you that Mondays are almost sacred time to me because this is the day that I have 8 hours to myself. The boys are in school all day. But, I promised to stay with Kees through "Circle Time." So I sat there with him, read a book, sat through circle time and then kept reading. 5 minutes into reading after circle time Kees says, "I need to go poop." Now if you've read any of my stuff over the past few days you know Kees and poop are a big topic. This explains why he wanted me there, he hadn't pooped at school and wasn't sure about what happens when you poop at school. So I jumped up and took him to the bathroom. Now you need to know he had been to this bathroom many times because he has been peeing in the potty for the whole time he's been at school. So we get to the bathroom, go in and I close the door. He says, "There is a door on this room?!!?" Seriously, he was totally shocked! So he tried to go potty but he was so enthralled with the door that he couldn't go. It was too exciting. It had never occurred to him to look for a door. I guess his little world is totally changed and he now will look for a door but he still may not connect a door with a bathroom for a while.

We Only Have ONE Special Car

As you can see here we hardly have any cars for little boys to play with . The top picture is a box that is about 8" deep with cars. We have a whole other box about that same size that I couldn't find when taking these pictures tonight. We have big cars, trucks, race cars, buses, you name it. Not only do we have 'em all but usually in multiple sizes. Everything from pocket size to ride on size. So why am I boring you with the details of all the cars strewn all over my house? Because this morning I was in my kitchen while my boys played in the basement. Most of the time they played pretty well. UNTIL..... they found the car. I don't know which car it was, I don't CARE! All I know is they started screaming at each other. "I had it FIRST, ahhhh." "No, I had it." "OWWWIEE!!! He hit me. GIMME MY CAR! It's MINE!!!" Crash, bang boom. "Ahhhh"

And then lots of crying. What the hell? We have AT LEAST 400 cars of every shape and size. How is it that there is only one special one? Usually I would step in but I was not in the mood so I just let them duke it out. Well not duke it out, they weren't hitting each other but they were yelling. I only had to get in the middle of them once but other then that they worked it out......eventually.....after lots of yelling. But I must repeat.....What the hell? How can they both want the same car when there are 400+ cars. Maybe this means that I can get rid of the other 399 +/- cars that aren't worth playing with. Now THAT would be awesome!

I Don't Have Anymore Babies!

OK I know you are all sick of hearing about it but I am NOT sick of talking about it. I have had a kid (or two) in diapers for almost 8 years now. If you do the math that is about 10,000 diapers. Dawg, that is a lot of diapers! So I am happy that;
A) I don't have to change any more diapers,
B) I don't have to carry a diaper bag anymore,
C) I don't even have to go over to that section of Costco anymore,
D) If I smell poop stink it's either a fart or someone else's kid. I have boys so a fart can go a long way!

Kees said to me the other day, "You don't have any babies in your house you only have big boys!" He's right. I only have big boys and girls. I have never been a baby, baby person. I much prefer when they can express what they want and you can (kind of) reason with them. Or at least they can understand, "If you don't ______ there will be no_______ for a week!!!!" That gets their attention. Just recently I have started thinking babies are cute again. For the longest time I didn't want to hold one (if it wasn't mine), change it or interact with one. Now they are cute.....for short periods..... generally from a bit of a distance...... if they aren't whining.

That may all sound grouchy but I am done with that stage and I love the new one. Sophia and Coulter can dress them selves, get them selves in the car and buckled and get their own snacks. Sophia can do all that plus turn on the TV on Saturday mornings AND she can help Kees do all the other stuff. Just this morning while I was getting dressed she got Kees dressed. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

I loved my babies, but I am now loving that they are getting more independent. Of course they will always be my babies but I am loving this new stage and adventure. And our adventures are a little bit easier sans the diaper bag, baby bed, stroller and extra clothes.

Amish Way. Cruel or not?

OK so yesterday I used the Amish way to clean my boy off. So it was about 60 degrees out and the water was fairly cold but it wasn't torture. If it scared him or something I wouldn't have done it but it was just unpleasant. Wait..... wait...... Kees just came in from outside saying he needs to poop. Wait here... do, do, do, do, dat, dat, da, da, da, da, boopy, ba, ba, do, do, do, dee, de, hum, hum, YEEE HAWWWW!!! He did it, he did it, he pooped in the potty. We're doing the potty dance. I can't believe it. This is the first time he has pooped in the potty because he decided to. Oh, man this is great. I am freakin' happy. If you told me the stock market only fell 100 points today instead of the usual 500 I couldn't be happier. That is how happy I am.

Well I originally was writing this blog entry to get your opinions. My question was, "Is the Amish way cruel and unusual or just uncomfortable?" Kees just answered that question for me but what do you think? What measures have you implemented to potty train your kids? What have you heard of other people doing? What has worked?

I sure hope this sticks.

Improvement

I am looking better every day. I am a bit tired today but other then that I think my overall (general) appearance is improving.......given my circumstance. The pictures are the proof. I will tell you that I think Arnica Gel is miracle potion. I have been applying it 3 times per day and taking the little pills that disolve in your mouth. You can almost see my chin getting better. So the next time you land on your face use Arnica!

PS - Don't land on your face.

Ahhhh.... Never Mind

Re: That last post. I just came in from another hose off for Kees. Seriously, how much poop can a poop, pooper poop if a poop pooper could poop poop? That is 3+ poops today. I can't do that even if I try! I am loosing my cool.

What's the Deal?

What is the deal with kids and pooping in the potty? My youngest son is 3 and soooooo knows that pooping in his pants is taboo. He has to poop in the potty for school because at his school, if you are not potty trained, you can't go there. But he's not potty trained because he doesn't want to be. He goes to school and God bless those people there, they love him and when he has an "accident", or in his case, an "on purpose" they assist him into new clothes. I have threatened him with no school but really that punishes me more then him. If the school calls I will, of course, pick him up. Maybe that would really get across that there are consequences for his actions. Obviously the consequences I have put in place don't have the desired effect.

I have tried everything I can think of. Now let it be known that my other two didn't really finish potty training until they were 3-1/2 and of those two, Coulter was the easier of the two. So now here I am with #3 and I think he is willing to hold out until college. I have tried bribes, taking things away, swats, treats, ignoring it, sitting with him for hours in the bathroom AND having him clean himself and the clothes after a poop and then the bathroom after all that because it is filthy. His cleaning skills really need improvement. Today I am trying the Amish way that a friend suggested. I love this and he is beginning to hate it and believe me, if it goes much longer he's going to hate it even more. If you poop in your pants in an Amish home they take you outside, strip off your pants and clean you off with a hose. This wouldn't have worked in the summer but now that it's starting to get colder.....well you can see that there might be some motivation on his part. It is 1:30 and I have already used this tactic twice today. At about..... wait right here.... he SAYS he pooped in the potty..... I'll be right back..... do de doooo, da, da, da.. hum a little tune. La, lala, la dup de doo. Wait, hold the blog...... HE DID IT!!!! HE DID IT!!! You can't imagine how happy I am right now. Just 10 minutes ago I had executed the second application of the Amish technique. He was standing RIGHT NEXT TO ME and started to have an "on purpose." I stopped him mid stream, took him outside, squirted him off and put him on the potty. He sat in there and screamed and cried at me for about 10 minutes that he couldn't poop. My ass, I know Waaaaayyyy to well his pooping habits. There was more in there. So I did my best to ignore him while he screamed and sat on the potty. I was willing to go one of two routes. Route one, he poops in the potty and we celebrate. Route two, he screams, refuses to go, wears himself out and then takes a nap. Either way I win. Yes, yes I know it's not about "winning" and it is certainly not about me. Right? Right. I guess. He did it and now we both win. He got LOTS of praise, we called daddy to tell him about it, he got a bag of M&Ms and he says he'll go poo poo in the potty next time. If he goes in the potty with out pooping in his pants next time he'll get a cake party after dinner! So this started out being a frustrated entry and now ends up as a really happy one. Well there you go, we went on a little journey together from Argggghhh to WAHOO!!!!

Have a great day..... I am!

Holy Crap

That is all I have to say about this week. Holy crap. It has been an eventful one to say the least.

On Wednesday I took the boys to school in the bike trailer. I have been trying to ride my bike as much as possible. Taking the boys to school is almost the perfect thing because I get some exercise, they're learning by example to exercise and the commute is only about 5 minutes longer then in the car. I do worry about cars but I wear a dorky construction reflector vest and I try to stay on side streets as much as possible.

So I dropped the boys at school, was riding home when a friend of mine saw me and invited me to breakfast. Awesome. I hadn't seen my friend for a long time and it seemed like the perfect thing. I went home, dropped off the trailer and put my cable lock and fanny pack on the rack with a bungee cord. I haven't ridden without the trailer in months. Seriously. As I rode down the street I was amazed how easy it was to ride without it. That thing creates LOTS of drag. I went to breakfast, caught up with my friend and her family and then headed home. Again, I was so happy about the freedom of riding without the trailer.

When I was 100' from my house the bungee cord broke. The rubber band part separated from the hook. Ahhhh.... It started to get caught up in my back wheel along with my cable lock and fanny pack. "Oh crap! I don't want to ruin my bike!" I immediately grab the brakes (these are my brand new, really good brakes) and go over the front of the bike. Luckily I come to an immediate halt when I land on my face. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I stopped courtesy of my face, more specifically my chin. I scrapped my hands up, banged my knee but really most of my injury was my chin.

I laid in the middle of the street for a couple seconds taking inventory and trying to figure out if I was alright. I seemed to be. My neighbor Jay came over and assisted me off the street and up the side walk. He asked me, "Are you going to be OK?" I, being the kid of a doctor replied, "Oh yeah, I'll be fine." Meanwhile I was almost passing out. I am pretty sure I was in shock. I barely made it into the house and I collapsed on the couch. After about 10 minutes I was able to get up and put some ice on my chin and take a peek. "Yowza, that looks nasty."

My "friend" Nolee called, I told her what happened and she stopped what she was doing, went and got coffee and came right over. I say, "friend" because she and our house guest, Nancy, as soon and they knew I was going to be alright, started making fun of me and my big, purple chin. Nice. In all seriousness, I was glad to have them here. I felt fine for the next 4 hours. I put band aids on my chin just to save others from being shocked when I went to pick up my kids. I took the car this time. People were still shocked. Later I went to Sophia's school to pick her up. We walked. More shocked people. A bunch of people told me to go get checked out. I'm a doctor's kid. We don't go to the doctor. I did call them though to see if I could get some muscle relaxers. The doctor's office said, "You need to come in ASAP."

As soon as Bob got home my friend Sarah drove me to the urgent care center. She is so funny. Not only did she take me but she made sure I got checked in and seated comfortably with some good magazines. When I got in the diagnosis was a mild concussion. They gave me a tetanus shot (that hurts) and say to take some Ibuprofen and rest. The rest part almost makes me laugh out loud. Tell that to my kids. IBUPROFEN? Have you seen my face? I want the good stuff. I ask for some muscle relaxers and the guy says, "I don't really believe in them." What? That they exist or work or what? I tell him I do and I want some. Not a ton but now I am in pain. He finally agrees. I get my meds and Tina, my sister in law picks me up. I get in the car and say, "What do you think?" She says, "I thought it would be worse." The big purple protrusion isn't impressive enough? Anyway, she gets me home safely.

So today, Saturday, I have a headache from the concussion but I am recovering. I decide to sleep in since I have not had time to rest and recover at all. At 10:30 I get a call from Bob. He took the kids and the dog to a preschool get together in SE Portland. He says, "You need to come over here right now. Iva (our dog) was running (and she runs really fast) and ran straight into a pole."

I jump out of bed, get dressed and go straight over there. She does not look good and Bob's hand is bleeding pretty bad. Apparently, she bit Bob when she was freaked out. He said that he thought she was dead when it happened. She was all bent up and screaming. Sophia saw the whole thing and was terrified and hysterical. I decide that he should take the kids and I'll take Iva to the doggie hospital. We go our separate directions.

Iva is whimpering in the back of the car and trying to get up on the seat in the back. She gets up there but is crying the whole time. Poor baby. I get her to the hospital and they meet me out at the car and carry her in. After an hour and a half they have given her sedation medication and a pain killer. SEE even the vet believes in good meds! They take some x-rays and there is only one little area of concern on her left shoulder. They'll have to wait until Monday to talk to the radiologist. Iva wouldn't walk for them so it's really hard to tell where she's hurt. I call everyone and tell them she should be alright. She can't play or be off leash for at least 2 weeks. Right now she is laying on the floor. I don't think she can get up. It's hard to tell how badly she is hurt but it looks pretty bad.

AND...... Bob had to go to the urgent care for his hand. I told the vet about the bite and he insisted that Bob go to the doctor. He went, they cleaned up the bite and got him some antibiotics.

So I am hoping that all will settle down now. You know how things happen in threes? Right after I crashed I thought, "Oh no, what are the next 2 things going to be?" I am praying that the dog and the bite are the other two and not considered by the powers that be, just one incident. The dog and I are resting well and taking our meds. I sure hope she gets better soon.



Be careful out there. You know I will be.

Becky's Post - Thanks for Sharing

This Christmas Letter was sent to me by my friend Becky Chasse. I love this stuff.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Once again, I’ll rely on Claire’s “quips” she’s said throughout the year to fill you in on what’s been happening with our family.

“Mom, did you used to ride in a covered wagon when you were a kid?” Mark and I both turned 40, not 140 this year. We ran away to Canada for Mark’s celebration. (Vancouver was fabulous; had a pretty good time in Whistler and Victoria.) And for mine, we celebrated in Portland with a very nice dinner party.

“I’m bored with this house. I’ve lived here my whole life!” We bought a house about a mile away within walking distance of Claire’s school. (It’s a relief Claire is excited about moving, too.) We’re hoping for a miracle of our own on 34th street: that our new house will stay cleaner and the Portland housing market won’t tank before we put this house on the market in February.

“We were pretending to play Little House on the Prairie, but instead of living on the prairie, we lived in Hawaii instead.” Claire likes to play pretend a lot with friends and little tiny figurines like Playmobile people. But art by far is her favorite activity.

“The kids have to give the teacher money so they can go out to recess”. Claire started kindergarten in the fall and likes it very much. She’s got a couple of close friends and likes her teacher, art class, and “writing” in her journal using kid writing. The schools are always desperate for funding, but we don’t think they have started charging the kids for recess yet.

“I know a secret special way to live for a long time… breathe through your ears. I can do it, just watch!” Apparently, she has inherited our science abilities.

“I’m an angel compared to Beegu. I haven’t been in a time out since he got here!” Beegu is a 5-month-old Boston Terrier puppy we got in September. Claire is much better behaved then he is. But he is adorable and goofy and is generally worth the effort. He reminds us of a mini-sized, extraterrestrial version of our old bulldog, Spunky. We know we’re alone in liking the name, but we think Claire picked the perfect name. Beegu is the alien title character for one of her favorite books.

“Did you know some people don’t even believe in Rudolph?” “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” is a favorite because is the only Christmas song we know completely by heart.

“The older you get, the less magic fairy dust you have.” Mark and I are trying to keep some magic fairy dust. I’ve been volunteering in Claire’s library. I love being around Claire’s class, all of the books, and the kind librarian. Next year I’ll have more fairy dust if I can limit the amount of hours I put in at my part-time job. Mark has been trying to fit in some more creative endeavors this year. He’s been learning piano and has been writing a lot of fiction. One short story was entitled “Fairy Dust” (inspired by the above Claire quip) was especially touching.

WISHING YOU ALL A HOLIDAY SEASON FILLED WITH LOTS OF MAGIC FAIRY DUST!

Becky, thanks for giving me more matterial. I love hearing your stories so I know I am not the only one going through this......alone. Amen, I am not alone. Keep sending material.