Armed With a Scalpel

Tomorrow is my last class of the week, Yippee Skippy!  Actually, the class hasn't been all that bad, and our professor is super nice.  It's just the whole waking up at 6:15am thing that kinda stinks.  And it's thrown Spencer's whole cycle out of whack - she doesn't really like having to wake up so early.  But the best thing about having to wake up with the sun, you ask?  I don't feel guilty when I lay down beside Spencer and join her in her afternoon nap!

So like I was saying, the professor is great and I'm really enjoying the class.  Today, I dissected a sheep's brain, which is shockingly human-esque.  It wasn't all that horrible to do,`probably because they just gave us the brain, I didn't have to extract it from a cranium- that would have been much worse. But it did stink.

In a completely unrelated note, and having nothing to do with animal brains, here is the front of Spencer's birthday party invitation!

I'll show you the back tomorrow- it's super cute!

Whoops

I woke up this morning for the first time at 4am.  I breathed a sigh of relief- I still had two hours to sleep before we needed to get up.  Monday was my first day of my summer class and I had to be there at 8am, which meant I had to have Spencer at my aunt's house at 7:30am, which meant I needed to wake up at 6:15am if I wanted to be on time.  Which I did.

So when my alarm rang I didn't press snooze, I just rolled over, got up and got ready.  Then I went about waking up Spencer; she was not a happy camper.  A few minutes before it was time to leave I went to double check the classroom number. And that's when I saw it - Class Begins 6/29/10.  I was a bit confused for a minute because I could've sworn that today was the 28th- how could today be the 28th if class was supposed to begin on the 29th?  I quickly double checked the calandar and when I saw that today was in fact the 28th of June, not the 29th, I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs.

It was 6:45am, Spencer was awake, I was awake, and I didn't have class.  Could it be any worse?  Now it's ten in the morning and we have exhausted all of our usual activites.  In these 3+ hours we've read, watered the plants, watched Dora, made breakfast, swam in the pool, colored, did bubbles, and played on the playground.  I am SO annoyed with myself for not looking at this last night.  I was just SO sure that class began on Moday that I never bothered to double check the dates. 

Lesson.
Learned.

Summer Fun

This week's Show Us Your Life at Kelly's Korner is all about activities to do with your kids.  Now this is something I sometimes struggle with, especially since I don't have many friends with kids.  But over time, and with many suggestions from my favorite bloggers, I now have a few tried and true activities that Spencer loves to do. 

I don't know how many of you live in the South, but right it's so hot, I honestly think you could fry an egg on the sidewalk; it was 90 degrees at 9am and 102 by noon.  So all of our current activities are revolving around the temperature outside.  Right now, Spencer's favorite thing to do is water the flowers. I give her the hose and she diligently makes sure each one is thoroughly soaked- as well as herself, ha!  When we are both sufficiently wet, we do "foot prints."  This simply involves walking in a puddle or spraying your feet with water, and then stepping onto a portion of the deck that's dry.  We match up our footprints and then we count how long it takes for it to "disappear."  These days, it only takes a few seconds before the water evaporates.

She also likes to go swimming in the pool.  We mainly swim together in a little pool in the backyard, but sometimes we go to an actual pool.  I get really nervous around those though, so the little one makes us both happy.  But honestly, we can only stay outside for a little bit of time because it's so hot, so then I have to find fun things to do indoors.  Here are a few of our favorite things.

1.  When I write this, I know ya'll are going to think I'm crazy, but wait for the ending- BUBBLES!  Spencer loves bubbles, but I don't love bubbles inside.  It drips everywhere and makes a mess, not to mention that somehow it always manages to spill over.  But then my mom found these at Kroger, and our lives haven't been the same since. 

You just squeeze the bottle and the wand appears- the wand can't come out- and you start blowing bubbles with NO mess.  And it has something in it that prevents it from really spilling out if you knock it over.  Spencer will sit and blow bubbles with this thing for a ridicously long time.  I turn the fan on and that makes it even better, especially if she's in the mood to chase them down!

When the weather's not as hot, this is a great bubble activity to do with your kids.  Dandelion Daydreams did this with her daughter and I had just had to try it.  We had so much fun making our own bubbles and using all different things around the house as wands.

2.  Barnes and Noble Storytime-  Every Tuesday morning there's story hour and singing, and it's FREE! Most every store has this program, but to find out times, or other activities, click here to search for them. For kids who are a little older, they have a great reading program where you read eight books and fill out this passport, your child can pick out a free book. 

3.  Chick-Fil-A Craft Hour - On Thursday mornings, Chick-Fil-A has a craft activity for little kids.  Check your local store to find out when they do theirs and what time.

4.  The Children's Museum - Richmond has a wonderful one, it's actually where Spencer's birthday party is going to be next month!  The best thing about them is that they have things to do with children of all ages, so all of your kids will have something fun to do.

5.  Fun Crayons- I know everyone in the world has probably read this on some blog, but it's something that always entertains Spencer.  I did a whole post on it here, but basically, break up your old crayons, put them in a silicone tray with fun shapes, and bake them until they melt.  When they re-harden, the crayons make great funky colors and your kiddo(s) will be thoroughly entertained.

I can't wait to read about everyone else's activities- you can never have too many things to do with your kids!

39

This is probably the closest to Dooce as I will ever be; Awarding the Web named my blog as the 39th best Mom & Dad Blog! I was so shocked that I had to reread the email twice.  It may have been 102 degrees today, and Spencer may have gotten poop all over my sofa (more on that later), but I'm calling this one as a good day!

Are You Ready for Some Football?!

Once upon a time, long long ago, in a land far away, I was a young ingenue studying abroad in Italy. 

As fate would have it, this was the summer of the World Cup.  I like to fancy myself as fairly knowledgeable about the goings on in the sports world- you can learn a lot as a cheerleader.  But soccer, that was my secret specialty. You see, I was friends with almost every soccer player in middle school.  At the start of 7th grade, the team didn't have any managers and they asked me to do it.  I didn't think twice about it, there was no way I was going to go to every 3 hour practice, fill all the water bottles (daily), clean all the water bottles (daily), chase after errant balls, keep a detailed stat log, or wash stinky sweaty jerseys. And then my crush made the team...

There are few times in my life that I can recall having to work as hard as I did when I was Manager of the Boys Soccer Team.  After the first practice I was so sore from lugging the ice coolers and water coolers down to the field and back up to the school and chasing down every ball that went out of bounds.  Not to mention the stress of having the coach constantly telling me that I just missed writing down who was "all sides." Of course I missed it, I was running after the ball that flew over the fence and down the hill.  And what in the world was "all sides?" The boys got a real kick when they saw my stats log on that first day;  I quickly learned that it was "offsides." 

Not wanting to embarrass myself again, I went about learning everything I could about the rules of the game, the correct terminology, and famous players and teams. It took a little practice for me to apply what I knew with what I was seeing; just because you know the definition of offsides doesn't mean you can recognize it when it's happen(ing)(ed).  But after a week of daily three hour practices, I got the hang of it.  At the end of the season I knew more about soccer than I ever thought possible. Throughout my teen years I found myself at many a soccer game; mostly because I liked to ogle the hot maleness of the players, but also because I liked the opportunity to throw around my soccer savvy. And then I found myself in Italy during the World Cup; it was like entering the Twilight Zone;

 The first day that Italy played is one I won't forget.  The country basically shut down; school let out, work let out, and most everyone went to their favorite bar to watch the game.  The ones that didn't go out, opened their windows and turned the TVs on with full volume.  You could literally walk outside and be able to hear the entire game echoing throughout the streets.  And this happened every single time Italy played!  It was most surreal.

I also learned pretty quickly that I should never call it soccer- it was football.  If you said soccer than they looked at you like "stupid American girl."  It was amazing to watch as an entire country put everything on hold for a football game.  They had so much pride in their team.

There is nothing like experiencing a World Cup in Italy- it's like being in a football bubble.  That was many moons ago, but I still remember the excitement in the air.  And I've called it football ever since; it reminds me of those youthful days of yore. As I watched USA play today, I turned up the volume on my TV and opened the windows.  I couldn't hear anyone else, but I'm pretty sure that every neighbor in a mile radius heard my whooping and screaming as Landon Donovan scored the game winning goal in the final minutes of the game! 

Pool Party

Spencer loves to go swimming.  I get nervous every time we're near a pool- I've just read too many horror stories about toddlers and pools- but I know how much she loves it.  Still, I make sure she knows the rules and that she's wearing or using some kind of flotation device.  Better safe than sorry, right?

This Hurts Me More Than it Hurts You

I never really understood that phrase until tonight, and I've heard it quite a few times. My mom would almost always say that to me when I got a spanking.  I used to think, no it doesn't, I'm the one getting spanked, you're the one who's doing it, and if does hurt you, it's just your hand and that's because your spanking me.  She would say something like, you will understand when you get older and became a parent. Well, tonight I finally understand, and no, it's not because I spanked Spencer; blame the inch long splinter embedded in Spencer's toe.

Yesterday, Spencer told me that she wanted me to kiss her toe- it had a boo-boo on it.  I kissed her toe, looking at her boo-boo, and I saw what appeared to be a little cut that had already scabbed over. When I was examining it, she told me she needed a "boo-boo baid" (Spencer's word for band-aid) and I put a smiling Sponge Bob on her toe.  All was right again.

So tonight, she told me again that I needed to kiss her toe. This seemed strange to me, it was just a little cut, her toe shouldn't still be hurting.  I had her lay down and I flipped the lamp shade up so the light was shining right on us.  I looked closely, but it appeared the same as it did the night before- a small cut.  But when I touched it, Spencer yelled "OWWWW." So I got my little LED flash light out and examined her toe, but when I touched it again, it started to ooze a little and Spencer began crying for real. The bright flash light revealed that the scabbed over cut was, in fact, a deep splinter.

I immediately flashed back to when I was kid and my dad would take out my splinters- those are not pleasant memories.  I used to think splinter extraction was a form of torture and when I'd get one, I wouldn't tell anyone until it was already infected, thus making said extraction even worse.  And now I was going to have to do the same thing to Spencer.  I got out my little medical kit, sterilized the tweezers, and fixed the light so I could clearly see what I was doing.

The entire process took about five minutes, but it felt more like 50.  It wouldn't have taken even half that time, but I was trying to be extra gentle, which only only made it worse because it meant I was going super slow.  Finally, I figured out that it would be in everyone's best interest to get the splinter out sooner rather than later; as it turns out, the gentle way is a lot more painful than the quick way.

Spencer screamed the entire time, her constant howling refrain was "don't hurt me mommy, please stop, please, please, please."  It broke my heart. That's when I heard myself saying to her, "this hurts me more than it hurts you."  I tried explain that I had to get the splinter out or it would hurt even worse because it would cause an infection.  Of course, a two, almost three, year old doesn't really understand this concept.  But I just wanted her know that I wasn't doing it to hurt her- I was trying to prevent her from experiencing even more pain further down the road.  She crying, I was crying, and I would have given anything to not be the one causing her tears.

When it was all over, I scooped her into my lap and rocked her until she stopped crying.  I kissed her toe and she looked me and said "don't cry mommy, it's okay."  And with that, all was forgotten and she was back to her normal self.  I, however, was not.  It's like I was hit with an enlightening lightening bolt.  I realized that when you love someone as much as a mother loves her child, sometimes you have to do things that they might not understand, for their own good.  Even though you may not want to and you feel terribly, it's something that has to be done- because you them.  And yes, it will most likely hurt you more than it will hurt them.  Man, this motherhood stuff is tricky sometimes!  Who would have thought a splinter could have taught me so much?

Attack at the Beauty Parlor

Saturday afternoon Spencer and I were in the car driving to her PGP's house.  I called my mom to let her know what we were doing and to find out where the plans were for Sunday- Father's Day.  When she didn't answer at home I tried her cell, which she never answers.  I should have known immediately that something was wrong, because not only did she answer, she answered after the first ring.

I was a little startled by her voice, since I wasn't expecting it, and she sounded funny.  It was the exact same voice she answered the phone with eight years ago when I called from Italy and she told me that she'd "accidentally" killed my two year old fish. I asked her where she was and she hesitated and then said "the vet."  I could feel the panic beginning as I asked her why she was at the vet on a Saturday afternoon.  And that's when she told me.

My 13 year old dog, Josie, had been attacked by a German Shepard at the groomer's that morning.  I didn't hear anything else because I was started sobbing uncontrollably.  All I could think about was my precious senior citizen Josie, who was an abused puppy that I'd rescued 12 years ago, and that she was going to die.  Then I heard my mom yelling through the phone to calm down- Josie was going to live, but she'd been hurt pretty badly and had to be stitched up and stapled in several places. I started to cry again.

It didn't make sense how this could have happened- we always paid extra so that Josie could have a walk by herself on a leash and to have her own outside time.  Not because she can't be around other dogs, but because she's so old and we were afraid that if something happened she wouldn't be able to defend herself.  Well, as it turns out, she can defend herself, because the dog that attacked her also had to be stitched up.  But here's what happened.  After she received her hair cut, one of the dog walkers put Josie on her leash and took out to the enclosed play/park/yard.  The sign was up that said no dogs were in area- meaning it was supposed to be empty.  A few seconds after getting out there, this huge German Shepard, who'd been outside all along, ran up and attacked my Josie for no reason.  And it was just that one dog walker with them and she couldn't get the dog off of Josie.

It makes me sick to think about it. She is the sweetest dog and she had such a difficult start to her life (many of her ribs were broken as a puppy due to being kicked) and it was just not fair for something like this to happen to her in "Golden Girl Years."  My mom has been on a crusade for the past few days, the person who left the German Shepard out in the yard unattended was fired and she's meeting with the manager today.  They are paying for all of Josie's medical bills and, get this, they said she could be groomed there for free for the rest of her life... Ha, as if!

Josie is at home now and she's a pretty sad girl, although, I think shes enjoying getting spoiled by everyone.  On Saturday night she had a hard time walking and just wanted to have me rub her ears, but by yesterday she was doing much better.  She even got off the sofa to meet me at the door!  The vet said it's pretty amazing how well she's doing considering her age.  I guess that out of everything that could have happened as a result of her injuries, this is the best case scenario, but it should have NEVER happened.  I'm trying to be grateful that she's "okay," but I really mad that she has to go through this.

Here are some pictures that I took of her yesterday.  I could only get pictures of some of her injuries because she can't roll on her back, which means I couldn't get the ones on her tummy.  If you get a chance, please say a little prayer for her!

Fun, and Other Such Things

Having fun with my new camera and 3-D chalk. And folks, that chalk is actually 3-D, like, for real

It Came Upon an Afternoon Not So Clear

I woke up this morning feeling like a seven year old on Christmas.  After months and months of saving my money, today it would be here!  Of course, this day would have happened much sooner if not for the Great Electronic Deaths of 2009- when both my TV and my laptop had to be replaced.  (The TV lived a long happy life, unfortunately, a Great Force of Destruction...Spencer... armed with orange juice killed my laptop two weeks before Christmas. 

Since I'm about six months removed from those incidents, I can now think about them without having my blood pressure sky rocket into the stratosphere.  In fact, I can even see the bright side.  If I hadn't been saving my money for this large expenditure, I wouldn't have had the funds to replace the TV and the laptop, which, to be quite honest with you, might have been the death of me.

So these were pretty large set backs that brought me to tears more than once, but I never lost hope.  It's been 11 months since I've had a hair cut by someone other than myself, eight months since I've left the greater Richmond area to see any of my friends, eight months since I've eaten at a restaurant with anyone other than family, seven months since I've purchased a magazine, and six months since I've bought myself anything without a gift card (thank goodness for my Swagbucks and those Amazon gift cards!)

Basically, this self-deprivation has been going on too, too, too long. And just when I thought I would never have enough money, The Fates took pity on me and felt bad for all they had put me through.  I received an unexpected gift in the mail on the same day that Amazon sent me an email alert telling me that the object of my affection was going to be available at a discounted price for the next week.  The combination of those two events gave me just enough money!  Not being one to ignore "the signs," I acted with all due haste and the order was made.

These past few days I've felt just like I used to when I was a little girl counting down the days to until Santa would deliver a plethora of elfin-made toys under my tree.  I compulsively used the tracking number to check the status and location of my order and then last night "it" told me she had arrived in Richmond- which meant today would be The Day.  In true Katie Fashion, luck was not exactly on my side, and the UPS Man did not ring the doorbell until 5:05pm, just as the clouds began to darken and the rain started to gently fall. (Even though it got to Richmond LAST NIGHT!)  I signed for it, shut the door, sat my butt down right there on the floor and opened her up.

I am now the proud owner of a brand new Canon 50D, body only.  I wanted to take pictures right away, but that was not to be; I had to charge the battery. UGH!  And then life things/obligations happened- dinner and bath time for Spencer, etc., followed by the previous sprinkling of rain turning into a large thunderstorm that had to start just as the life things/obligations were over.  So I haven't had much time to learn and play around yet- in fact,  I only took 14 pictures!  But from what I have done/seen/read, I have a lot to learn and then some. While a few of the features are the same as on my Rebel Xti, there's a bunch that's new and different.  It's going to take me awhile to really get to know all of the ins and outs, but I am A-OK with that!

Now it's dark and Spencer is sleeping, okay, that's not true, she's fighting sleep with all of the strength she possess, and I'm realizing that I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow morning to really take any good pictures.  I've waited this long, I think I can make it another 10 hours, haha!  Here are a few of the pictures that I took this evening. They are SOOTC (straight out of the camera), which means there's not post-edit work. 

 

She's a GLEEK

Well, we all successfully made it through the week and my brother is now a high school graduate!  The ceremony was very nice, although I got a wee bit tired of all the different metaphors used to demonstrate what role high school plays in your life.  But the worst part was all of the RUDE family members in attendance!  I thought my dad was going to have a stroke as people just kept acting like they were raised in a barn.  Some people actually talked on their cell phones, as the remained seated in their chairs, while the commencement speech was being given! And it wasn't just one or two people doing that, it was many, AND they didn't even bother to whisper. 

After it was over, my parents told my brother that he could pick any restaurant in the greater Richmond area at which we could eat lunch.  Do you know what he chose?  Any restaurant and he chooses The Olive Garden!  I was like, how can we be related?!  But it was actually pretty good and we had good service, so I can't complain too much.  After lunch we all went back to my parents house and took a nap, haha.  It was a long, exhausting, emotional day and everyone was just zonked.


We haven't done very much today, except for Spencer playing on the Slip-n-Slide for over an hour.  I found one on sale for $9 at CVS!  Worth. Every. Penny.  She calls it her slip slider and keeps asking when we can go slip sliding.  It cracks me up every time she says it!  In other Spencer news, she's officially obsessed with GLEE.  She loves to dance to all the songs, and when they're over, she says "rewind on the remote control!"  Seriously, that's what she says.  And finally, my Spencer turns three years old, one month from today. ahhhh!

The Wonder Years

I'm in the midst of a whirlwind of busy that resembles something out of The Wonder Years.  Last night was my brother's graduation party and it was all kinds of make-me-feel-so-old.  He and a few of his volleyball friends had a joint pool party and the place was teeming with teenagers all about to embark on the best four years of their lives.  You could actually smell their excitement.  Because they rented a pool, the party didn't start until 8:30pm, which in the world of Spencer, is pretty late.  Add playing in the pool and two chocolate cupcakes into the mix, and you have the perfect formula for the longest night of my life.

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday and then Wednesday my baby bro actually graduates from high school at 10am in the morning, followed by a family celebratory lunch.  I get tired just reading that sentence.  So that's where I am right now...  I'm trying to be on my best behavior, but if I hear 525,600 Minutes, one more time, I just might scream.

Uncle Matt

My brother is getting ready to graduate from high school this week.  As hard as it is for me to believe that I graduated high school ten years ago, it's even harder to believe to that my baby brother is about to graduate high school.  One thing's for sure though- Spencer is going to miss him. A LOT!

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