Saturday, July 28, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Blog prompts
I keep meanign to do this maybe it'll keep me posting on a regular basis. Anyway over at DSP they have a blog prompt challenge. We'll start with todays, and move back from there maybe I'll make it a habit.
What was the last movie that made you really laugh? Or do you have one you've seen over and over and still makes you laugh?
The last movie to really make me laugh was Dodgeball with Vince Vaughn and Ben Stller. We watched it 3 times in a row on DVD and them Ken went and bought it for me for my birthday. Though off the to of my head I can't think of one that over time still cracks me up. No wait that's wrong, Monty Python's Holy Grail still makes me crack up and going with that a Fish Called Wanda, must be John Cleese.
Thursday Prompt Make up a great excuse why you can't work today.
My excuse yesterday was I took the kids to the farm fair and we were all exhausted when we got home around 2:30 so nothing else got done.
Wednesday Prompt Stand in a favorite spot in your house, garden, wherever and describe it for us in detail.
We're out on the deck under our blue canopy. I love sitting in our cast iron chairs at the table because they rock. The tables set and canopy are set up right where the deck bends to wrap around the house. The grills are off to the right (yes grills one gas, one charcoal)almost directly in line with the french doors to the family room so Ken can bring dinner in quickly if we decide not to eat outside. In the spring my two azalea bushes bloom the flowers peeping through the rails of the deck, white to the right red to the left. Between the red azalea and the oak tree my husband has our canoe set up on saw horses. I hung the butterfly house my sister gave me this year in the oak tree just above the steps to the patio.
It'll be only a year or two more before we have to replace at least part of the wood on the deck. I love to be barefoot in the summer but the risk of splinters any more makes that hard. The only place that is safe is the 8 foot square area by the doors covered by one of those green outdoor rugs. Which reminds me I really need to hose down and scrub the kids toys that have been sitting out all spring/summer. They're getting pretty dirty. And I'm sure one of these days we'll get around to landscaping the back. Maybe leveling things a bit and putting in a retaining wall so that there is room for a play area for the kids. Maybe stairs cut into the hill so it's easier to use the flat clearing at the top for something other than weeds and overgrowth.
well that's all I have time for now the munchkin is awake.
What was the last movie that made you really laugh? Or do you have one you've seen over and over and still makes you laugh?
The last movie to really make me laugh was Dodgeball with Vince Vaughn and Ben Stller. We watched it 3 times in a row on DVD and them Ken went and bought it for me for my birthday. Though off the to of my head I can't think of one that over time still cracks me up. No wait that's wrong, Monty Python's Holy Grail still makes me crack up and going with that a Fish Called Wanda, must be John Cleese.
Thursday Prompt Make up a great excuse why you can't work today.
My excuse yesterday was I took the kids to the farm fair and we were all exhausted when we got home around 2:30 so nothing else got done.
Wednesday Prompt Stand in a favorite spot in your house, garden, wherever and describe it for us in detail.
We're out on the deck under our blue canopy. I love sitting in our cast iron chairs at the table because they rock. The tables set and canopy are set up right where the deck bends to wrap around the house. The grills are off to the right (yes grills one gas, one charcoal)almost directly in line with the french doors to the family room so Ken can bring dinner in quickly if we decide not to eat outside. In the spring my two azalea bushes bloom the flowers peeping through the rails of the deck, white to the right red to the left. Between the red azalea and the oak tree my husband has our canoe set up on saw horses. I hung the butterfly house my sister gave me this year in the oak tree just above the steps to the patio.
It'll be only a year or two more before we have to replace at least part of the wood on the deck. I love to be barefoot in the summer but the risk of splinters any more makes that hard. The only place that is safe is the 8 foot square area by the doors covered by one of those green outdoor rugs. Which reminds me I really need to hose down and scrub the kids toys that have been sitting out all spring/summer. They're getting pretty dirty. And I'm sure one of these days we'll get around to landscaping the back. Maybe leveling things a bit and putting in a retaining wall so that there is room for a play area for the kids. Maybe stairs cut into the hill so it's easier to use the flat clearing at the top for something other than weeds and overgrowth.
well that's all I have time for now the munchkin is awake.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Potty & Potter
wow twice in one day
So friday afternoon I was chatting with my neighbor, she has two little girls and is 7 months pregnant with her third, a boy. We were talking about potty training because I know she had issues with her older daughter who is now 5. The younger one was potty trained except for nights soon after her second birthday, this past spring. The older one took until several months after her 4th birthday, and even now still has accidents. My neighbor says is her way of manifesting her jealousy. She intends on sending a couple sets of clothes with her to school when she starts kindergarten in the fall. Mostly because the baby will arrive a month into the school year. She said that the big backslide occured because three things happened almost at the same time. 1) The younger daughter arrived 2) they moved and 3) her husband started to travel for work and was gone a few days every couple weeks. She said she dealt with it by just letting it go and letting her daughter win because she was just making herself crazy trying to get it to happen.
So I talked with Ken that evening before leaving for work. And we figured out that Alex's backslide started about when Ken started traveling for work on a pretty regular basis. Last spring we had gotten to the point where he'd sit on the potty no problem, he'd tell me he went/was going right away. That was the first thing that stopped, then he started refusing to even sit on the potty.
So we decided to back off until November when Ken won't be traveling again until March/April. Monday Alex started a two week day camp at school. And what do I see on the page that we get the end of each day. He used the potty all day. 7 hours at school not one accident but at home I still have to check him every couple hours. This definately reinforces the idea that this is a kind of passive/agressive reaction to Ken being gone so much. This and his fear of the dark becoming more pronounced in the last few months.
Friday was of course the release of HP7. I went into work at 7:00 pm. And was put incharge of the trivia hunt at the party. At about 10:30 I was sent out to relieve the people handing out bracelets for people wanting to pick up their copy after midnight. At eleven I was brought in to give me a register and take a very brief break, enough time to chug a bottle of water and use the bathroom. At 11:30 we were trying to clear the store enough to allow people to line up. Then the fire marshal and the police arrived and told us to clear the store completely have people line up outside and then bring them in. This took until about 12:15, with much bitching and complaining by people at the front of the line. (Why they cared I don't know, we were bringing people in by ticket number they recieved with their bracelets, so they'd still be one of the first 50 in line) Things moved very quickly from there and we were completely done by 2:45. Clean up took until 4am. We didn't really do much anything lying around was either stacked on the info desk or a library cart and the shelves straightened so that nothing was actually lying on it's side. We found out shortly before we left we weren't the only store that had to clear the entire store before opening the boxes.
I have my copy sitting here waitng for me to finish reading 6 again. I'm about half way through. That's about it the baby is awake so I must get him. I might get back on when he goes down for his second nap before we go get Alex.
So friday afternoon I was chatting with my neighbor, she has two little girls and is 7 months pregnant with her third, a boy. We were talking about potty training because I know she had issues with her older daughter who is now 5. The younger one was potty trained except for nights soon after her second birthday, this past spring. The older one took until several months after her 4th birthday, and even now still has accidents. My neighbor says is her way of manifesting her jealousy. She intends on sending a couple sets of clothes with her to school when she starts kindergarten in the fall. Mostly because the baby will arrive a month into the school year. She said that the big backslide occured because three things happened almost at the same time. 1) The younger daughter arrived 2) they moved and 3) her husband started to travel for work and was gone a few days every couple weeks. She said she dealt with it by just letting it go and letting her daughter win because she was just making herself crazy trying to get it to happen.
So I talked with Ken that evening before leaving for work. And we figured out that Alex's backslide started about when Ken started traveling for work on a pretty regular basis. Last spring we had gotten to the point where he'd sit on the potty no problem, he'd tell me he went/was going right away. That was the first thing that stopped, then he started refusing to even sit on the potty.
So we decided to back off until November when Ken won't be traveling again until March/April. Monday Alex started a two week day camp at school. And what do I see on the page that we get the end of each day. He used the potty all day. 7 hours at school not one accident but at home I still have to check him every couple hours. This definately reinforces the idea that this is a kind of passive/agressive reaction to Ken being gone so much. This and his fear of the dark becoming more pronounced in the last few months.
Friday was of course the release of HP7. I went into work at 7:00 pm. And was put incharge of the trivia hunt at the party. At about 10:30 I was sent out to relieve the people handing out bracelets for people wanting to pick up their copy after midnight. At eleven I was brought in to give me a register and take a very brief break, enough time to chug a bottle of water and use the bathroom. At 11:30 we were trying to clear the store enough to allow people to line up. Then the fire marshal and the police arrived and told us to clear the store completely have people line up outside and then bring them in. This took until about 12:15, with much bitching and complaining by people at the front of the line. (Why they cared I don't know, we were bringing people in by ticket number they recieved with their bracelets, so they'd still be one of the first 50 in line) Things moved very quickly from there and we were completely done by 2:45. Clean up took until 4am. We didn't really do much anything lying around was either stacked on the info desk or a library cart and the shelves straightened so that nothing was actually lying on it's side. We found out shortly before we left we weren't the only store that had to clear the entire store before opening the boxes.
I have my copy sitting here waitng for me to finish reading 6 again. I'm about half way through. That's about it the baby is awake so I must get him. I might get back on when he goes down for his second nap before we go get Alex.
Personality DNA
I got this from one of the journals I visit on LTJ
You are an Inventor
Your imagination, self-reliance, openness to new things, and appreciation for utility combine to make you an INVENTOR.
You have the confidence to make your visions into reality, and you are willing to consider many alternatives to get that done.
The full spectrum of possibilities in the world intrigues you—you're not limited by pre-conceived notions of how things should be.
Problem-solving is a specialty of yours, owing to your persistence, curiosity, and understanding of how things work.
Your vision allows you to identify what's missing from a given situation, and your creativity allows you to fill in the gaps.
Your awareness of how things function gives you the ability to come up with new uses for common objects.
It is more interesting for you to pursue excitement than it is to get caught up in a routine.
Although understanding details is not difficult for you, you specialize in seeing the bigger picture and don't get caught up in specifics.
You tend to more proactive than reactive—you don't just wait for things to come to you.
If you want to be different:
Try applying your creativity to more artistic arenas, and letting your imagination take less practical forms.
how you relate to others
You are Benevolent
You are a great person to interact with—understanding, giving, and trusting—in a word, BENEVOLENT
You don't mind being in social situations, as you feel comfortable enough with people to be yourself.
Your caring nature goes beyond a basic concern: you take the time to understand the nuances of people's situations before passing any sort of judgment.
You're a good listener, and even better at offering advice.
You're concerned with others at both an individual and societal level—you sympathize with the plights of troubled groups, and you can care about people you've never met.
Considering many different perspectives is something at which you excel, and you appreciate that quality in others.
Other people's feelings are important to you, and you're good at mediating disputes.
Because of your understanding and patience, you tend to bring out the best in people.
If you want to be different:
You spend a lot of time taking care of others, but don't forget to take care of yourself!
Sometimes you can get overcommitted, and when you sacrifice spending time with those close to you, it can make them feel unimportant.
You know what cracked me up, not sure why, but I held my pointer over the different squares in the tile. It tells what the different personality qualities are and the long green one over the little orange bar says slightly functional. I just find that funny.
You are an Inventor
Your imagination, self-reliance, openness to new things, and appreciation for utility combine to make you an INVENTOR.
You have the confidence to make your visions into reality, and you are willing to consider many alternatives to get that done.
The full spectrum of possibilities in the world intrigues you—you're not limited by pre-conceived notions of how things should be.
Problem-solving is a specialty of yours, owing to your persistence, curiosity, and understanding of how things work.
Your vision allows you to identify what's missing from a given situation, and your creativity allows you to fill in the gaps.
Your awareness of how things function gives you the ability to come up with new uses for common objects.
It is more interesting for you to pursue excitement than it is to get caught up in a routine.
Although understanding details is not difficult for you, you specialize in seeing the bigger picture and don't get caught up in specifics.
You tend to more proactive than reactive—you don't just wait for things to come to you.
If you want to be different:
Try applying your creativity to more artistic arenas, and letting your imagination take less practical forms.
how you relate to others
You are Benevolent
You are a great person to interact with—understanding, giving, and trusting—in a word, BENEVOLENT
You don't mind being in social situations, as you feel comfortable enough with people to be yourself.
Your caring nature goes beyond a basic concern: you take the time to understand the nuances of people's situations before passing any sort of judgment.
You're a good listener, and even better at offering advice.
You're concerned with others at both an individual and societal level—you sympathize with the plights of troubled groups, and you can care about people you've never met.
Considering many different perspectives is something at which you excel, and you appreciate that quality in others.
Other people's feelings are important to you, and you're good at mediating disputes.
Because of your understanding and patience, you tend to bring out the best in people.
If you want to be different:
You spend a lot of time taking care of others, but don't forget to take care of yourself!
Sometimes you can get overcommitted, and when you sacrifice spending time with those close to you, it can make them feel unimportant.
You know what cracked me up, not sure why, but I held my pointer over the different squares in the tile. It tells what the different personality qualities are and the long green one over the little orange bar says slightly functional. I just find that funny.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Over a month
Good lord it's been a month since I posted in here. Part of it is me and part of it is my children. I think once Alex goes back to school in September I'll be able to stop in more often, like during Quin's naps. And by me I mean that I seem to have a wave of creativity that runs about 3 years. When I'm at either end, feeling no creativity or super creative I don't post. It's when I'm in the middle I seem to post. Right now I'm on the high end, I've done more work in the last 6 months than I have done in the previous two years. Just to warn you if I start posting on a regular basis it means I'm on the down swing.
The last week of June I spent getting all my stuff together for the display on the art wall at B&N. I put it up on July 1st then left the next day to go to TN to see my Dad for a week. We get back I have my niece and nephew with us. My mom comes in the next day, they were here until last Thursday. So it basically felt like I haven't been home for two weeks. I spent the weekend getting the house ready because Tuesday I hosted a baby shower for one of my friends from the playgroup.
Lets see what's up with the kids. Quin sits up on his own, has been very cranky because he cut two more teeth. Rolls over, likes to stand but has shown no interest in crawling or pulling himself up. He's eating table food on a regular basis, it must be cut in small pieces but he gums it pretty well.
Alex has given up naps, I was hoping he'd at least keep taking a short one until he was four. I know the three hour ones wouldn't last much longer, but to go from that to none has been killer. I tray making him take some quiet time in the afternoon where he just has to stay in his room and either play quietly or read his books but he won't stay put and I can hear him wandering around getting into stuff in my room. The thing that really gets me, is he now realizes he can leave his room when he wakes in the morning (at 6am). He doesn't come to our room first no, he hears Quin moving around and thinks he's awake so goes in there and actually wakes him up, then he comes to my room saying "Quinton's crying mommy?" Luckily I can usually nurse Quin and put him back to bed for another hour or two. I've tried moving his bedtime up but he still seems to fall asleep around 7:30-8:00 so I gave up trying unless he is unbearably cranky in the late afternoon.
He has me at my wits end with potty training. He refuses to use the potty. He knows how to pull his pants up and down by himself, and he's used it at school but here with me he won't, even when his friends are over and they use it. He is definately physically ready, but I can't figure out what he's afraid of. Sometimes it seems like he doesn't think he can, so he won't even try. I don't know what to do anymore. Today we went through 4 pairs of underwear. And almost every time he went it was right after I suggested he just sit on the potty. Didn't tell him he had to go in it, just sit on it. We're coming up on a year now.
Well because of his resistance and some additional reading I've done, I've started the initial stages of potty training with Quin. I set him on the potty for maybe five minutes a couple times a day usually shortly after he eats. I don't expect him to actually go just kind of get him used to the process. Alex doesn't like Quin on the potty because it's his potty, but he won't use it himself. Ken was thinking about talking with a professional so we could figure out a way around this resistance. I keep thinking I waited too long with Alex going by what was recommended, and waiting for him to show signs of interest, which he's never shown. We seem to have back slid to the point where he doesn't even tell me after the fact that he's gone, he used to at least tell me a couple months ago. bleh
The last week of June I spent getting all my stuff together for the display on the art wall at B&N. I put it up on July 1st then left the next day to go to TN to see my Dad for a week. We get back I have my niece and nephew with us. My mom comes in the next day, they were here until last Thursday. So it basically felt like I haven't been home for two weeks. I spent the weekend getting the house ready because Tuesday I hosted a baby shower for one of my friends from the playgroup.
Lets see what's up with the kids. Quin sits up on his own, has been very cranky because he cut two more teeth. Rolls over, likes to stand but has shown no interest in crawling or pulling himself up. He's eating table food on a regular basis, it must be cut in small pieces but he gums it pretty well.
Alex has given up naps, I was hoping he'd at least keep taking a short one until he was four. I know the three hour ones wouldn't last much longer, but to go from that to none has been killer. I tray making him take some quiet time in the afternoon where he just has to stay in his room and either play quietly or read his books but he won't stay put and I can hear him wandering around getting into stuff in my room. The thing that really gets me, is he now realizes he can leave his room when he wakes in the morning (at 6am). He doesn't come to our room first no, he hears Quin moving around and thinks he's awake so goes in there and actually wakes him up, then he comes to my room saying "Quinton's crying mommy?" Luckily I can usually nurse Quin and put him back to bed for another hour or two. I've tried moving his bedtime up but he still seems to fall asleep around 7:30-8:00 so I gave up trying unless he is unbearably cranky in the late afternoon.
He has me at my wits end with potty training. He refuses to use the potty. He knows how to pull his pants up and down by himself, and he's used it at school but here with me he won't, even when his friends are over and they use it. He is definately physically ready, but I can't figure out what he's afraid of. Sometimes it seems like he doesn't think he can, so he won't even try. I don't know what to do anymore. Today we went through 4 pairs of underwear. And almost every time he went it was right after I suggested he just sit on the potty. Didn't tell him he had to go in it, just sit on it. We're coming up on a year now.
Well because of his resistance and some additional reading I've done, I've started the initial stages of potty training with Quin. I set him on the potty for maybe five minutes a couple times a day usually shortly after he eats. I don't expect him to actually go just kind of get him used to the process. Alex doesn't like Quin on the potty because it's his potty, but he won't use it himself. Ken was thinking about talking with a professional so we could figure out a way around this resistance. I keep thinking I waited too long with Alex going by what was recommended, and waiting for him to show signs of interest, which he's never shown. We seem to have back slid to the point where he doesn't even tell me after the fact that he's gone, he used to at least tell me a couple months ago. bleh
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