liza thinks

Spring Break Update

It's Tuesday morning. I took yesterday to get a bunch of work around the house done. Yippee! Drs appts, dentist appts, hair appts, etc. It's all good. Also made plans for the chillens and the week. We're hoping to take the kids to Great America on Thursday -- if the weather cooperates.

Last night, the kids were at my inlaws overnight. Mr Wonderful and I had a Date Night. So fun. We got chinese takeout, rented a couple of grownup DVDs, and settled in on the couch, in front of the Jumbotron with a bottle of local Zinfandel. AWESOME!

Greg's cousin, who owns our local video store, told us that Flightplan was AWFUL but we are diehard Jodie Foster fans and we loved it. We also rented School of Rock which tragically we'd never seen before. Totally awesome movie -- especially for a rocker and a teacher! :)

Today, I'm getting the kids (soon, in fact) and then Ruthie has her singing lesson. Then we'll come home and I'll start cranking on the work. Yeeee-haw! Work, work, work. Whistle while you work. Workin' for a livin'. (Okay, I'm done now).

In bird/nature land, the squirrels are driving me insane. They have removed all my feeders except the hummingbird ones. The chickadees are so frustrated that one of them is actually trying to drink from the hummingbird feeder (She put it out here. There MUST be sunflower seeds in it!) It's insane.

And, it's pouring rain. The power was browning out a few minutes ago. Oh joy. Off to the showers for me and then to get my kidlets. Wheeeee!

Sweet Tidings

[click!]

Wish I'd taken a picture of them but my lollipop valentine's for my kids turned out so cute! I was really pleased. The kids were too until I forbid them to eat their lollipops at school. Snicker! They were so hopped up on sugar after our party it was a little scary. And, I didn't let them eat any candy -- just the cupcakes and cookies. Eeeeek!

And, all the candy I got! Wow! Stunning! I think it put me off Valentine's Day for awhile. Just too much! And, I got flowers from a Math Club student! And, I got a red rose from another teacher -- my students saw him coming into the building with a bunch of roses. That was a nice touch! But, best of all, I got a homemade card from one of my students that said, "To my favorite teacher ever!" Awwwww! And, my hardest core student got me a heart-shaped box of chocolates. A day of surprises.

But, still, it was really fun to make the kids' treats. And, to be inspired by Martha . . . well, that's just icing. I did improve on her design -- instead of cutting the hearts out, I used the school's die cut machine. Much better! So, that's my Martha Moment for the week!

As for home. Well, Mr Wonderful and I did not celebrate this holiday. We're both dieting so chocolate was out (thanks goodness given the amount of candy that flowed into our house). We're broke so roses were out and the card thing just didn't happen. I guess when you are coming up on 18 years of marriage little proofs that love exists aren't as important as the big ones like . . . keeping the toilet paper roll filled and buying tuna! :) Hmmmm, I'd better go to the store tomorrow! :)

Health and Love

Happy Valentine's Day.

As such, let me just state uncategorically that . . .

I love Greg - AKA, Mr Wonderful.

While at times that nickname may be snarky, he truly is a wonderful man. And, I'm lucky to have him and I know it.

Last week, I wrote about our diet changes that were urged by his visit to a nutritionist. In that post, I said that his blood sugar levels weren't dangerously high. Well, since then I've seen the note his doctor wrote on his labs. He wrote that Mr Wonderful is "pre-diabetic." Now, on the one hand, everyone who doesn't have diabetes is "pre-diabetic" and on the other . . . the doctor means that Mr Wonderful could become diabetic.

According to the nutritionist, diabetes is a turning point and up until that point, the sugar in your body problem can be reversed but once you are diabetic, there's no going back. So, we are taking this very seriously. The biggest thing Mr W needs to do is change his diet so that his carbs are balanced by protein. This seems so funny to us because we've always felt that he had an all protein diet but he does eat a lot of carbs too. Eating them together is the key -- it keeps the blood sugar levels from spiking and putting undo strain on the pancreas. The second key is to make the carbs he eats as complex as possible -- we've already done a lot in that regard by switching to whole wheat bread, baking with whole wheat flour, and adding brown rice to our white rice.

When we talked to my in-laws, my FIL had a high glucose level on his last bloodwork too. He's already got Prostate Cancer. We told them all the recommendations that the nutritionist gave us and they are implementing them as well.

FlyLady [click!] likes to say that "Nothing says I love you like a fresh roll of toilet paper" and I certainly agree with her. However, for me, on Valentine's Day, nothing says I love you like having tuna and cheese and peanut butter and peanuts and the like around to make sure that my Valentine lives a long and happy life with me!

AHHHHHHHH!

Hormones. Are. An. Ugly. Thing.

Must control.

Half way to the grocery store (a one hour round trip -- not counting the time in the store), I realized that we still had to do Valentine's for school tomorrow. Great.

Then the grocery store was ridiculously crowded (nothing says, "I love you" like last minute flowers from Safeway?????) and despite the fact that we were $37 in groceries, we had to wait 20 minutes in line. Then food for dinner -- fast food. Then home. I griped and moaned the whole way (see comment above on Hormones!).

My little darlings ran into the house and told me not to look while they proceeded to clean the living room. Now, they did it their way which meant that many things were missed and some odd choices were made but this was clear evidence that they a) recognized my grumpiness and b) wanted to do something to help and c) realized that cleaning up a mess they made was a good way to accomplish that. Evidence of higher thinking!!!

So, we sat down and cranked out a bunch of Ninja Turtle and Polly Pocket valentines. Then The Princess made two handmade cards (with a little help from moi) for her Big Buddies at school. And, then I finally herded them to bed . . . an hour late. Sigh. When I went to gripe at The Boy Wonder for not being asleep yet, he said, "But I wanted to show you something." I stifled a sigh and went into to see. He was writing in his journal and had written . . . by his little kindergarten self, mind you . . . the following: "I love u Mom. Gage." And, then he told me that he wrote his name in case I forgot. What a doll.

So, my babies are growing up. The Princess prances around here looking adorable with her long, leggy body that at 7.5 makes it all to easy for me to envision her at 14 and therefore scares the crap out of me. And, The Boy Wonder proves to me over and over again that boys are not inherently less loving and demonstrative but that our society must beat it out of them and I wonder how I can possibly keep him from turning out that way. His dad is pretty good and getting better so maybe there is hope.

And, despite all that, my hormones rage. And, when Mr W does come home, I'm sitting all grumpy on the couch watching the Olympics and not wanting to be touched.

Hormones suck.

Long day . . .

Which is actually an amusingtitle given that it was a short day at school. Well, at least for the kids. For me, it was a looooooong day -- staff meetings all afternoon. They were good and inspirational. I had a chance to chat with LB about where she is in her curriculum and find out that I'm behind in one area and ahead in another and right on in the others. So, that's reassuring to a first year teacher. But ooooooh it was a long day. Tired. Tired. Tired.

So tired that when the kids came running and askingif we were going to pizza night, I thought, hmmmm, but I'm torn between the horror of going to pizza night and the convenience of going to pizza night. And, the whole support the school thing. Sigh. Its a toughie!

Nah, I'd rather just order in but that doesn't work. Bummer. Okay, enough stream of consciousness.

Oh, Mr Wonderfulgot me exactly what I wanted for Christmas this year and it's already on my bed -- I got a new down comforter. It arrived today. In fact, I ordered it. :) Laugh -- he put a bow on the box and wrote Merry Christmas on it. I told him not to bother wrapping. It'll be really nice to curl up under it tonight. Soon would be good. Yawn!

-llm.

Catch Up Time

Wow. Busy time. I had all my schoolwork due last week and was plugg ingaway at it when I got nailed with a horrible stomach bug for 36 hours or so. Basically all I could do was sleep. Thank goodness I was able to get a sub in and do so. No options, really. I was a mess. But, I did get the work done Friday afternoon at the last minute when I was mostly better. Sure hope it is at least mostly coherent.

Then its just been insanity of a man-made type. Mr Wonderfultold me that he was going to set his drums up in our entryway. I was shocked, stunned, amazed, horrified, angry, amused, and terrified all at once. So, we discussed it. In a moment of oh-please-god-no-drums-in-my-entryway panic, I suggested that I move out of the office and let him set them up in there. He readily agreed and then we set to discussing where my computer etc would be. So, I am now in what I am fondly (or not -- you be the judge) calling the dungeon. It's pretty hideous but we'll make it work. I need to paint the walls again -- and, of course that means patch holes, sand, clean, etc. It's been the MOST major effort. I had to clean out the laundry room (which is really where I am -- our house doesn't really have a dungeon). I had to go through all my craft crap and get it re-organized. I emptied the storage shelves in there and Mr Wonderfultook two of them out. My art table is now my computer table (sigh). So, here we are. I've told him that one wall WILL be pink however. He's beingpretty accommodatingabout the whole thing. He's thrilled -- I have less space which means I can't do any piling. I have to try to view it as a good thing-- like when we're camping, I never let dishes and crap pile up -- there isn't room. But, at home, I let stuff pile up absurdly. Same here, I hope. We'll see how it all goes.

Tonight we got the space cleared out almost completely in the office. I have to move my old PC out of the way -- had to give up the luxury of two computers on my desk at a time -- no room. Also, no access to Toontown right now. (Waaaaaa!) I have a HUGE box of filing to go through -- I'm sure half of it is trash but I need time to go through it all. Then there is all the eBay stuff that's piled up ridiculously in front of our storage area in the office. That's another HUGE job.

I'm really trying to be positive about this but its not easy. I have to get ready for Christmas and our Christmas party and instead I'm vacuuming up rat poop from behind the storage shelf.

One good thing. Mr Wonderfulhas realized that the HUGE server shelves that he has set up need to go. He has ONE workingpiece of equipment on them. So, he's going to get rid of all the equipment -- found a place that takes old equipment of any type. Take out the shelf and re-arrange in the office. The upshot will be that my PC will be set up again which is REALLY going to be nice. There are just times when I need to use it and then again . . . there's Toontown.

Okay, gonna go finish the damn job. I'll tell you a "Thanks, I appreciate your doing this for me" would be REALLY nice to hear.

2 weeks, 3 to go. . .

I'm still doing well. I had one rough day last week. I got 4 new students in my class which really changed the dynamics. But, it's settling in again. I really like the kids so much. I think I'm teaching them stuff. Interestingly, their academic knowledge is pretty good -- it's all about language with them. Sigh. So, we're working on it. M-- came and observed me for a little while on Friday which was good since I was doing a really engag ing activity with the kids. That felt nice! I am takingit easy today though -- no teaching stuff. Just playing TT with Mr Wonderful -- and hang ing out. Even got some yardwork in! :) Quiet day. Nice.

So much catching up to do

Great trip to Morro Bay. Too short, of course, but still really great. Saw the whole gang. Drank some great martinis with garlic/jalepeno olives -- oh my goodness! So good. Really nice connecting with T- and F- and R- and K- again. Missed R- this time -- sad he couldn't join us. Mr Wonderful and I went and saw Star Wars III. Really good. We loved it. They were givingaway free posters that show Darth Vadar and say, "Who's Your Daddy?" for the Father's Day weekend. Too funny. We got one for g. :)

Trip home was wild. Drove to SV and dropped off R- and J-. Orig inally, I was going to spin off and Mr Wonderful would go get the kids and I'd go get the dogs and we'd meet at home with extra time for me to prep for today's class. But, when I called SF, I figured out that Mom was REALLY countingon my coming up so I did. It was good. I got to have extra time with the kids. They were WIPED out -- so tired. They had a blast though. Mom and Ig took them to Marine World on Saturday -- so much fun. They got to pet and feed dolphins. Amazing! Then, they did a concert in the park on Sunday. The Princess was wiped so she didn't like it but The Boy Wonder and Igor had a blast.

I got a bunch of prep in last night which was great. Poor Mr Wonderful totally slept and watched TV while I did that. He did all the drivingyesterday!

My first day of school was today. It went well. The kids were great. I was expecting22 but ended up with 14. That will likely go up though -- fingers crossed. There were lots of issues to work out today which was fine. Flexibility. The kids were great -- very sweet, really cooperative, very nice kids. My aide, Samuel, was there almost all day which was really great because he speaks Spanish and I don't. Very nice! I don't think I'll have him all day everyday though but still, it was great.

I was exhausted when I got home. Mr Wonderful headed off for a meeting and I had some desk work to do. Then I checked my email . . . and learned . . . I PASSED THE CSET!!! Yee-haw! I didn' think it was possible for me to have passed the whole bloody thing but I did (at least according to my unofficial scores!). I'm STOKED!!!!! I worked so hard. This test was so hard. And, it's all so important for my career!

So, it was a good day all around!

The Rat Wars. So, picture

The Rat Wars.

So, picture this. It's a quiet night. The kids are in bed. I'm ignoring the sink full of dishes (Sorry FlyLady) and we're playingToonTown Online. And, I can hear my old lab on the back deck agitating to come back inside. I don't let her in until the kids are asleep as The Boy Wonder finds it offensive if she walks in his room while he's trying to go to sleep. So, anyway, after about 20 min, I realize that the noises behind me probably aren't coming from Rosie. It's coming from my trash can. It's. something. alive. In. My. Trash. Can. Behind. Me. EEEEEEK! So, I turn slowly and yes, all the papers are moving on their own.

And, the worst part . . . I have bare feet!

I jump up and walk/run over to Mr Wonderful's desk and say to him. "There's something in my trash can." He replies, "Yes." (Perhaps he thought I was berating him for not emptying it on trash day or something. :)). I say, "No, you aren't getting me. There is something MOVING in my trash can." He jumps up -- he has socks on! -- and graps a lid to a plastic tub (a cute pink one I got at Office Max a couple of weeks ago). He puts it over the trashcan and picks the whole thing up. I have opened the back door to the office and he's heading that way when the rat -- which, of course it was -- manages to get out between the lid and the can and falls down on Mr Wonderful's socked feet. I am meanwhile trying to climb the stack of flat files I'm standing next to which is, of course, impossible. But, there is a very small battery charger on the ground there so I climb up on that (reinjuring my broken toe in the process) and do my very best 50's cartoon woman seeing a mouse impersonation. Mr Wonderful said later all I needed was pearls and a full skirt and the picture would have been perfect. [Click!] [Click!] The rat doesn't run out the open door 1 foot away from it . . . Nooooooo! It runs BACK INTO THE OFFICE. ACK! So, we find it's hole and block it off.

Next morning. . . Mr Wonderful goes and gets a bunch of rat traps. We'd seen rat signs around in various places so we knew this was coming(we've had rat wars before!). And, we bait them with peanut butter and place them around strategically. Now, setting a rat trap is a dangerous thing. As you are doing it, you can hear the Mission Impossible -- don't cut the red wire or the world will blow up -- music playing in the background. So, it's delicate work. And, the traps are very sensative and go off quite easily. The recommended procedure is to bait the traps for a day or so without setting them so that the rats get relaxed about their odd new food source and then you set them and voila! Dead rats.

Well, our rats are clever little buggers. The first day we actually set them, we found a couple sprung with no rats and a couple still set but completely licked clean of peanut butter. Sigh. So, we keep trying.

And, on Wednesday, I come home from work to a strangely subdued husband. It seems the rats are finally getting caught in the traps. We're not big on killing critters. We are "live and let live" kind of folks but rats that are bold enough to come IN the office while we're in there in hopes of eating a few unpopped kernals of popcorn are just not okay to have around our house. We have kids and dogs and don't like fleas and rat poop all over the place. But, we're also not big fans of poison because cats and other animals can eat the poison or the dying rats and get poisoned themselves so . . . its traps for us. But, dead rats aren't exactly a pleasant thing.

Mr Wonderful had found one trap with a dead rat and disposed of it. But, then The Boy Wonder noticed a rat in the driveway. Just lying there. But breathing. So, they were watching it and Mr Wonderful was running through the ramifications in his mind and none of them were good. Either the rat got stunned by a trap and was dying of a massive head injury or it had been poisoned by one of our neighbors or something but bottom line it's like 1pm and there's a rat lying in the driveway and that can't be a good thing. The rat pulls it together enough to drag itself into the groundcover next to the house - clearly planning to go under our house and die there so that we can enjoy it's spirit for a long, unpleasant time. So, Mr Wonderful knows that he has to put it out of its misery -- and ours -- and dispose of it. So, he sends The Boy Wonder into the house and kills it with a shovel. But, then he's pretty much done. So, he waits until I get home and tells me about it. I can see this is really hard for him. So, I step up and say I can manage it.

I get the pooper scooper that we keep in the front yard (because some of our neighbors let their dogs roam and they think my yard is a toilet! Sigh.) and scoop up the poor, dead rat and dispose of him.

And, then we check the traps again. One of them is missing. It's behind a fake fence attached to the house to give privacy to our bathroom. So, I have to take the pooper scooper into the bathroom, put it out the window and reach down into this little space and scoop up the rat and trap from there. Mr Wonderful brought a garbage bag so we didn't have to cart it through the house and show the kids.

The Princess was already upset about the idea of killing rats.

We found another dead one today. Success . . . but not a very pleasant one.

Oh, and we've found there is a limit to our reuse, recycle philosophy. Rat traps can be tossed and new ones purchased.

So, the animal stories continue. . . life in the country. It's grand!

I should have known better . . .

I was dusting today. Sure, it's been awhile but I really was doing it. And, I noticed that there was a crack in one of the living room windows. I couldn't believe it. When had that happened?

So, later in the day, I mentioned to Mr Wonderful about the window and said I couldn't remember when it happened. He shrugged and said, "It's been that way for ages." "Really?" I said, shaking my head in bewilderment over my own stupidity.

"Well, at least a month." He says, looking embarrassed.

Yup. Another window casualty of the Manaical Fly Killer.

[Calgon. Take me away.]