52:56 Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey

I loved the first book in the series but I think this one moved a little more slowly and the ending could have been about 50 pages shorter and would have read a bit better for being compressed some tho the last page was worth all of it. Another good tale of political intrigue occasioned with sensual themes tho not nearly as much so as the first book. The true villain of the series has once again managed to escape her due thus leaving things open for the last in the first trilogy. I'm desperately hoping that what she has wrought catches up to her in that book.

Apraxia of Speech

We got the diagnosis from Nico's speech therapist today. She says Jonathan has it to a milder degree but Nico's is pretty bad which is what is causing his delay in expressive speech.

Here's a link I found that explained it pretty well:
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/apraxia.htm

It's funny because they had a new poster up on the warning signs of it and I was reading it even before she said anything and was thinking "Boy, this sounds like Nico". The nice part is she was explaining that while many with ASD have this, having it doesn't mean you are on the spectrum. Reading the poster, the big clues were exactly what his developmental pedi and ASD clinic were focusing on when trying to get me to do the ADOS so I'm feeling even more confident in my decision to hold off on that as my gut says he's not (even as my gut told me there was something up with Chris).

What this does mean is that we are in for a much longer haul with him on getting him to speak so other forms of communication are going to be imperative for us. It also means that he's going to be in speech therapy for a long time to come. *sigh* Good thing we like his speech therapist. LOL
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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Since I deeply believe that human beings are basically gentle by nature, I feel that we should not only maintain gentle, peaceful relations with out fellow human beings, but also that it is very important to extend the same kind of attitude toward the natural environment. Morally speaking, we should be concerned for our whole environment.

I swear he reads this blog

So after blogging last night before putting Nico to bed about how he's actually started sleeping, he had to go and make a liar out of me. With only a 5min power nap he still managed to make bedtime hell just for old times sake. It took almost an hour to get him down plus melatonin and it was after 10:30p before he finally gave up and went down. He started waking around 6:20a and did a wake/sleep thing until 7:47a when he finally woke for the day.

Blech!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
I always consider myself a monk, even in my dreams. So naturally I feel myself as more of a religious person. Even in my daily life, I can say that I spend 80 percent of my time on spiritual activities and 20 percent on Tibet as a whole.

52:55 401 Ways to Get Your Kids to Work at Home

There are a lot of good parts to this book and I'm glad to have read it and will be keeping it around for future reference. If you are looking for a good chore or reward system, I wouldn't recommend it but rather Managers of Their Chores by Steve and Teri Maxwell along with the PEGS system by Family Tools. This book does have a lot of other useful information that makes it worthwhile to read. I particularly liked the list of things that all children should know how to do before leaving the house including approximate ages of when you can start teaching the job and when you can reasonably expect mastery of it. There were also the appendices that gave some ideas of how to teach basic mapreading and how to find your way around town plus ideas for helping your child explore possible career options.

So while this wasn't what I was expecting since I bought it from the Family Tools website and was hoping to get a better handle on getting the kids to do chores and this does have some good ideas on certain things but it is not a "chore system" per se like I was looking for. In terms of ideas of what your kids can do and when it's very good. For fun little ways to keep them interested and motivated and help with organizing them a bit, it's ok but not the best I've seen.

Update on 6/23 ToDo List

Well, here's the list I presented last Sunday that I needed to get done this week with what I actually got done crossed off.

• Call main office to get information on contractors that level mobile homes

• Make phone calls to above contractors to start getting quotes
  
• Label the new calendar cutouts I got


• Create some new graphics for my Feb2006 board (didn't do this but I'm almost ready with some new styles to upload that even tho they don't have custom graphics will still be fun)
  
• Create MOTH summer schedule (really need to get to this soon!)
  
• Put registration sticker on truck
• File Rite-Aid rebates


• Balance checkbook (REALLY need to get to this one too)
  
• Call local preschools regarding putting in lead boxes, leaving catalogs, possibility of parties for Discovery Toys
• Write up online business description and put something up in the classifieds section of the CMC website
• Make list room-by-room of what needs to be done around the house (just boys' bedroom and office left to do!)
  
• Get baby stuff up on the CMC classifieds section
• Create summer to-do list
• Update wall calendar


• Menus, Shopping list, WW (didn't get to this but hoping to get this week's done at least)
  
• Work on getting refs for this Saturday's soccer games
• Get enrollment packet together for Christopher for Ocean Grove

As you can see, not everything got done but at least I can see I did make a good dent in it. This week Mark's nieces are in town due to the fires near their house so we will be doing school, therapy, some KSW, and spending lots of time with them. Oh, yeah, and our annual 4th of July outing which will include explosions, rum, and rocking out. WooHoo!!!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:There is a new consciousness in the world, a new sensitivity to reality. Based on that, I am confident that the [twenty-first] century will be better than [its predecessor].

Update on Nico's sleep

Just thought I'd give a quick update on how things are going with the night weaning. He is still waking once every couple of days and asking to nurse but generally the fit is small if at all when he is told no. With the loss of his nap, he is also tending to go down earlier and we are not having to use the melatonin as often to get him to go down. He is even gracing us with this new thing called "sleeping through the night" for 9-10hrs straight! It's truly amazing and I have to say I'm enjoying it and feeling a wee bit spoiled. I've even been sleeping in until around 7a in the mornings to enjoy the feeling of catching up on those years of lost sleep and feeling actually, dare I say, rested.

Since this has been getting better for the last week and a half, I think we may actually be able to soon claim success on this. Heck, maybe I'll even be able to give up our TT habit. *gasp*

Just for the record tho, please don't be fooled into thinking by this post that he is actually getting tons of sleep like a normal child now. Far be it. His average is around 10hrs a day (so down a little) but it's just all done at night and he's sleeping through 2 nights out of 3 these days so it's a victory but sleep is still a precious commodity around here.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
If practices from my own tradition [Buddhism] can be brought together with scientific methods, then we may be able to take another small step toward alleviating human suffering.

New Tasty Recipe

Mark's gotten addicted to Good Eats with Alton Brown and decided to start making his own protein bars, granola bars, and rice crispy treats. He started tonight with the rice crispy treats and they were a hit. We made ours using raisins instead of dried blueberries and cherries and wild flower honey rather than orange blossom but the kids loved them. A lot less sugar than the regular variety plus some dried fruit and slivered almonds for protein make it something I don't mind the kids eating for an afternoon snack.

Here's the recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_31334,00.html

Enjoy!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend--or a meaningful day.

I HATE hormones!

Last month I was crying at the drop of a hat, heck you didn't even need to drop the hat, just dangle it a bit and I would be in tears for hours. This month, touch the hat and I will hand it back to you on your head which I've just torn from your body and bashed in with heavy, blunt objects. Now, obviously I haven't actually done that part (tho last month I did do tons of crying) but man, oh man, one little misstep and I'm fuming for hours. I have zero patience with anyone or anything and of course, the kids are taking this opportunity to see how many of my buttons they can push. It's truly a miracle I haven't started calling military academies or boarding schools.

Needless to say, chocolate is everyone's friend right now. Not for them to eat but to throw in the opposite direction in the hopes I'll go chasing after that rather than continue to hunt them down. It's working...sort of.

As for getting things done today, miraculously I managed a few things tho not much. Nico has been in super, whiny, tantrumy mode for the last two days (just what I needed...NOT) so getting anything done requires pausing for his latest whine/tantrum every 2min. However I did manage to do:

• school with Jonathan (2 math, 1 phonics, 2 science, & 2 music)
• order his new math workbook (they don't supply the workbook in Math3, just the textbook)
• get most of the general summer to do list written down plus the master bed/bath section
• fax over Christopher's enrollment application to Ocean Grove
• my Power90 workout
• get kids to KSW
• the grocery shopping

Not tons but considering it took 3hrs to get the kids to do a 5min pick up so I could do my workout which then took 1hr instead of 35min because I had to pause every 2min to deal with Nico I don't think it was too horrible. I'm hoping tomorrow is better tho. I'm really hoping the hormones recede soon for everyone's sake.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
From the Buddhist point of view, meditation is spiritual discipline...that allows you to have some degree of control over your thoughts and emotions. Why is it that we don't succeed in enjoying the lasting happiness that we are seeking? Buddhism explains that our normal state of mind is such that our thoughts and emotions are wild and unruly, and since we lack the mental discipline needed to tame them, we are powerless to control them. As a result, they control us. And thoughts and emotions...tend to be controlled by our negative impulses rather than our positive ones. We need to reverse this cycle.

52:54 The Cat Who Went Underground by Lilian Jackson Braun

Bit meatier, a little more suspenseful, and a bit more character development all the way around. Continuing to just plot along the series as I have time and enjoying it.

52:53 On the Bank of the Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I've really just been loving these books, much more than I ever thought I would. I love the independent nature of the family, how they deal with adversity, how they cherish what they have but continue to hope for that little something like money for new shoes. I found it interesting that even at a young age the girls are taught not to cry over things. You always think of that as something boys are taught but not the girls. I really love and admire Laura's spirit and I love how Pa seems to encourage it so long as it's safe for her. Really sets some preconceived notions on how people used to raise their children on end.

I'm a bit sad I don't have the rest of the series to read right now but I'll pick it up when I have a chance. It's time to hit my summer reading any way. Jane Austen, Here I Come!

Just another Manic Monday

Can't get that song out of my head today. It started off bad with a nasty email from someone on one of my boards talking about how apparently 5 people on a board of 75 is a consensus and that as admins its our job to do what those 5 want and if we aren't, she'll take care of it. What freaking ever lady. Do the math. 5 out of 75 is not any kind of consensus, majority, or anything else that has the authority to make decisions for the rest without having some actual reason to, like oh, I don't know, maybe being elected into the position and then actually upholding the rules the MAJORITY voted in. UGH!!!! I can't believe the self-centeredness of that so called "consensus".

So that started off my day. I then put all that energy of wanting to tell her off into doing some more of the cleaning and decluttering instead. Didn't help how I felt but at least it was a more productive use for my time and energy. LOL

So here's what I did manage to get done today (besides not saying anything to someone who needs to be told a good deal):

• Finished cleaning the one shelf that had the VHS stuff on it including getting it all dusted and started in on the second shelf on that case.
• Taught one lesson of phonics, 2 lessons of music, and one lesson of language arts to Jonathan.
• Took Jonathan and Nico to their therapy
• Worked out at Curves
• Did my Power90 Abs100 workout
• Found out when the local recycling center is open
• Dropped off a couple of borrowed items at various houses
• Bundled up my 3 bags of stuffed animals for donation and had the boys go through theirs and get another bag bundled up of their stuff
• Put the stuffed animals up on Freecycle
• Put a few other items up that I found up on Freecycle
• Put the Baby Stuff up for sale on CMC website (and sold a couple of things already)
• Called around and got phone numbers for contractors that can level the house
• Called said contractors and started getting quotes and leaving messages to set-up appointments for estimates
• Labeled Calendar Cut-outs
• Filled out the paperwork for Christopher's Ocean Grove enrollment. I'll finish getting everything together tomorrow and get it faxed over.
• Got the new registration sticker on my truck
• Called K12 because Jonathan's new math course materials have gone missing. Apparently someone named Bouhay in Brisbane has them now. Lovely. They are about to shut down shipments to do inventory so it maybe another 2wks before we get his new math course. Thankfully he's a year ahead in math so it's really not a big deal but still. It's his favorite subject and I want to see if I can order him a workbook to go with his textbook since writing out all the problems would be hard for him and I want to encourage his independence there since it's currently the only subject he can basically do with little instruction.
• Called UPS to try and find the other package that was supposed to be delivered today as well as just casually ask why my son's math materials were delivered to some guy I've never heard of in a city I don't have anything to do with.
  

Mark is off at some whiskey tasting thing to smooze with people tonight. He was home to help with dinner and dishes and then off again so I get to finish getting everyone ready for bed.

Christopher was a total pill today, completely self-absorbed. He broke a dish because it was in his way and rather than move it he shoved it out of his way and it shattered so I got to clean that up as well. He flopped on my bed while I was on the phone with K12 and continued to sit there while Jonathan shrieked because Nico was biting him. He continued to lay there as I was pulling Nico off him to put him on time out and get an ice pack for Jonathan (Matthew as in the bathroom the whole time). I thought perhaps the bed had grown arms or some magnetic wave to keep him so ensconced upon it (hey, it's a new bed, I don't know) especially as I'm still on the phone through all this while Nico is screaming about his time out. Apparently the bed was just fine and he just couldn't be bothered to move his butt. At that point, I'd had enough of him and sent him to his room, mostly for his protection because I was ready to throttle him. He went to sleep and woke with a migraine so I'll cut him some slack and let him live until tomorrow at least. If he keeps this up tho, I'll cease to buy that it was the migraine that caused the behavior especially since none of it was new, just more screaming in your face obvious.

The other three are currently tearing apart my bed and running around like maniacs while I write this. I'm sure that will help immensely with their falling asleep now.

Where's Calgon when you need him?

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
I know a physicist from Chile who told me it is not appropriate for a scientist to be biased towards science because of his love and passion for it. I am a Buddhist practitioner, and have a lot of faith and respect in the teachings of Buddha. However, if I mix up my love for and attachment for Buddhism, then my mind shall be biased towards it. A biased mind, which never sees the compete picture, cannot grasp the reality. And any action that results from such a state of mind will not be in tune with reality.

This week's to-do list

Well, didn't get much done this weekend with BIL and his family down but that's what we planned for as we don't get to see them much and wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. Family is way more important than stupid housework. LOL I did manage to get the boys' lesson plans done tonight, go through all my stuffed animals and now have probably 2-3 bags to give away, took another 15min to go through some other stuff in my bedroom to give away, went through all our VHS tapes (remember those???? LOL) and put the movies we want up on our Amazon wishlist and only keeping a few that we do actually watch occasionally even tho they are on tape (or that will be hard to get on DVD at this time), and set-up an actual to-do list for this week. I figured I'd post them here so I can laugh at myself later:

• Call main office to get information on contractors that level mobile homes
• Make phone calls to above contractors to start getting quotes (the boys bathroom is falling apart with dryrot and even if we fix it, we'll continue to have problems if we don't get the house leveled first so as much as it pains me to have to start putting money into this place, especially since we are trying to get OUT of debt, not further in, it can't be put off any longer)
• Label the new calendar cutouts I got
• Create some new graphics for my Feb2006 board
• Create MOTH summer schedule
• Put registration sticker on truck
• File Rite-Aid rebates
• Balance checkbook
• Call local preschools regarding putting in lead boxes, leaving catalogs, possibility of parties for Discovery Toys
• Write up online business description and put something up in the classifieds section of the CMC website
• Make list room-by-room of what needs to be done around the house
• Get baby stuff up on the CMC classifieds section
• Create summer to-do list
• Update wall calendar (it's still on May *sigh*)
• Menus, Shopping list, WW
• Work on getting refs for this Saturday's soccer games
• Get enrollment packet together for Christopher for Ocean Grove
  

All of this while basically doing a regular schedule of school and activities for all the boys plus getting in my workouts and finding time to read so I keep a few sanity points. Yeah, I know the men in the white coats are circling. Take no notice of them, maintain a low profile, and they usually just keep on circling. At least it's worked for me so far.

Sleep & TV updates, pt.1

Last night wasn't great but not horrible either. Nico was up 15hrs straight on around 8½hrs of sleep and went down at 10p. He woke up at 3:45a but settled back in with us quickly but not deeply and woke again at 4:15a when I had to go pee. He had a fit for about 15min because I wouldn't nurse but eventually went back down until around 7:20a which gave him just under 9hrs of sleep for last night. He was generally cranky and asking to nurse constantly today. He took a nap in the car and slept through our outing to pick olallieberries and woke only as we got him back in the car for the return trip home. After our dinner out (which all things considering, he was actually decently behaved), he came home and immediately started begging to nurse and go to sleep. I was a bit worried since it was just after 7p so we managed to stall for a bit and I finally started nursing him at 8:45p and he was down 30min later. We'll see what tonight holds.

As for the TV thing, there was basically no TV this weekend and everyone survived. Nico had the hardest time with it and I need to make sure that everything is well hidden before he wakes tomorrow morning but having to have things out for school is going to be almost impossible. Still trying to figure out how we'll work it all out since he doesn't really understand what is going on. We did have company much of the weekend, including a sleep-over so the boys got to watch a movie last night with their cousins (and I'm guessing that more than one may have been watched) and a little TV this morning since their uncle was watching some but that's been it. They even managed a longer car ride without the DVD player and everyone lived to tell the tale. I know they won't thank me for this any time soon but I do think this will be a good thing (even if Mark is still grumbling at me for it, but he's another addict).

Breaking the addiction!

I've had to come to the sad realization that all of my children are addicts....to anything monitor related. Nico gets up in the morning and as soon as he's done nursing, he gets on a computer. The big boys lie, cheat, and sneak time in front of whatever they can find on a constant basis and it's out of hand. Today it came to a head when we trusted the two biggest to work on cleaning their room (a task that is sorely past due) and when Mark came home from soccer they were sitting in front of the TV because "We did our chores so we get our 1/2 hrs of tv time" regardless of the fact that they had watched TV all morning before Mark left for soccer with the younger and two and I left to go to Curves and run some errands.

So we are breaking the addiction. We are going to find a way to remove everything monitor related for a week. Computers will only be accessed for schoolwork and there will be no TV time for anything. They are all going to have to find other things to do with their time. We'll make a decision after this first week how much further we need to take things but I'm taking control of my children back!

Night weaning, part 6

Well, I'm going to claim a minor success. He did wake at 5:30a as I was expecting since his pattern has been to wake up every other night this week. The success came from the fact that the climbed into my bed and went right back to sleep. No crying, no fussing, no asking to nurse!!!! He slept until 7a when he woke up, nursed, and is now bugging his brothers.

This came on the heels of his going down late as he took a nap since we were out and about in the heat but when going down, he nursed for 20min but was so squirmy that I finally told him no more and he didn't argue with me, just cuddled up instead and was asleep 15min later.

We'll see what tonight brings but I'm cautiously optimistic that he may have figured out the new order of things.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
The kind of love we should advocate is the wider love that you can have even for someone who has done harm to you: your enemy.

Seriously?!

I just got finished ordering a custom Starbucks card for Matthew. He had to create and design his own card for his favorite hot chocolate drink there. I'm shaking my head over the fact that my not-quite-10yr old decided to spend his hard earned money (he helped Grandma around the house yesterday) on creating a custom Starbucks card.

On the other hand, I have to say that I'm pretty proud of him for the fact that he had saved towards this goal already and was hoping to have the money to buy it for himself by his birthday. He has been really getting the idea of saving towards his goals which is great to see. We talked a bit about his birthday earlier this week and he told me that in accordance with our new rules on gifts and parties, he just wants his own MP3 player (red please) and he wants a BBQ at the park and then he'd like to go to Malibu for some mini-golf. I reminded him that with golf meant no pinata and there was no argument, just simple agreement.

I think he might be growing up a little. But shhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Don't let him know I said that.

Night weaning, part 5

I'm onto you, my son. I can't be tricked, I can't be fooled, I'm not letting my guard down that easily. You may have had a great night last night sleeping 10hrs straight from 8:45p-6:45a but you've been doing that every other night this week and the next night we've had an hour long fight so be forewarned, I'm ready for you tonight. There will be no quarter given.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Fulfilled desire may provide a sense of temporary satisfaction; however, the pleasure we experience upon acquiring a new car or home, for example, is usually short-lived. When we indulge our desires, they tend to increase in intensity and multiply in number. We become more demanding and less content, finding it more difficult to satisfy our needs.

New Leaf

So it finally opened amid much fanfare yesterday. I picked Mark up after work as I had the boys down in Morgan Hill at this awesome aquatic center my friends met up with us at. Since we were passing through and it wasn't too late, we decided to make a swing through and check it out.

I was impressed.

Very nice layout. Knowledgeable, helpful, friendly staff. One lady took the time to really help me make some informed decisions on some vitamins to try with Nico and figure out which of their liquid melatonins might work best for him. She also gave me some free samples to try with the boys of a different vitamin to see if they would like that. Another gentleman from the produce department handed me a pea that had been on the vine 2hrs previously. Wow! Talk about some fresh produce! We also had the sweetest strawberry ever while waiting in line to check out. The boys were in love with their cereal aisle, while Mark and I were thrilled with their bulk foods aisle. I also loved that they have the biobags in every size there so I don't have to special order those any more. Yeah! We were able to get everything Mark needed for the recipes he found for making his own granola, power, and rice crispy bars (3 different types of bars there, not all in one LOL).

Yes, things are pricier there which since we are counting pennies is bad so I don't see us doing the majority of our shopping there atm but hopefully things will start changing as our debt gets paid off since the quality of the products is very high. I don't think we'll be doing much meat buying there as their prices for that were much higher than I find reasonable, like $22/lb for salmon when we can get fresh salmon for $7/lb at the local fish markets and it's fresh caught here.

They are billing themselves as the "Community Market" in that their goods are as local as possible to cut down on shipping costs and to support the community where they are which I think is a wonderful thing. They are incredibly environmentally conscience and very green oriented. Since we are trying more and more to head that way ourselves, I can see spending more and more time and money there as time goes by. If you are ever near one (there are only two so far), I highly recommend checking them out.

Night weaning, part 4

Yes, I'm sure everyone will be sick of these updates soon but oh, well. LOL We had a repeat of Tuesday morning's performance but it started 30min earlier today. Just lovely. I still didn't give in tho so I'm hoping he'll start realizing that he comes by his stubborn streak honestly via his mom and that when I really put my foot down, that's it and there's no budging me. I have a feeling that this is going to be a hard lesson and a hard fought battle to get him to stay down but I will persevere!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
A mind committed to compassion is like an overflowing reservoir-a constant source of energy, determination, and kindness. Or this mind can be likened to a seed; when cultivated, it gives rise to many other qualities, such as tolerance, inner strength, and the confidence to overcome fear and insecurity. The compassionate mind is also like an elixir: it is capable of transforming bad situations into beneficial ones. Therefore, we should not limit our expressions of love and compassion to our family and friends. Nor is compassion only the responsibility of clergy and healthcare or social workers. It is the necessary business of every part of the human community.

Note to self re: exercise

Power90 + Curves = BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

My legs and abs still aren't speaking to me. This sucks!

Night weaning, part 3

Yep, he's trying to keep me on my toes with not knowing what to expect from one night to the next. Ha! Little does he know, I'm totally on to this game and I won't claim victory for a loooooooong time with his sleep. I know better.

Why, you may ask do I type this? Because it's 7:28a and he's been asleep since 9:40p and was transferred to his bed at 9:50p. Yes, you read that right. He slept through and is still asleep.

I'm sure this won't be repeated again tonight but it was nice to see him do it. He actually slept through Saturday as well. I don't think he's ever slept this long straight ever two times in a week! Of course, my body had no clue how to handle it and was waking every 15-20min starting at 5a waiting for him to wake up. I have a feeling it will take a long time for my body to figure it out after he does. That's when the actual victory dance will be done.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Peaceful resolution is the only alternative [to violence].

Night weaning, part 2

Yeah, that's more like what I expected. Not sure how I lucked out the first night (maybe he was trying to lull me into a false sense of security but this mama knows better than that) but this morning he woke at 5:55a and climbed into my bed and wanted to nurse. I repeated the same lines as the night before and was met with hysterics. I kept telling him they were asleep and would wake up after 7a and that if he would just go back to sleep, when next he woke, he would be able to nurse. He would calm down for a minute and then repeat the whole process again. This went on until 6:35a when Christopher got up and brought his sleeping bag into the living room. Nico had to go see what was going on so I had to bring him back to bed and close the door. More hysterics ensued so I told him if he stayed in bed, I would open the door back up. He did so I did. Then he asked to nurse again. I gave him the same song and he did the same dance and finally fell back asleep at 7:03a (yes, I know technically after 7a but there was a point to be made, darn it). He slept until 9:45a where upon he woke in a good mood, got nursed and is now out playing with his brothers.

Now the big question is how will tonight go. My money says same as this morning but I will be cautiously hopeful that it will last just under an hour this time.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
A balanced and skillful approach to live, taking are to avoid extremes, becomes a very important factor in conducting one's everyday existence.

Owie!!!

Or that's what I would be saying if I had the breath to talk. Mark burned a copy of Power90 for us to try and I did the Cardio 1-2 today for the first time. I'm not sure my body will ever speak to me again, especially my ab and calf muscles. They are currently rebelling and threatening me with dire things should I ever attempt it again. We'll see what they say tonight after my Curves workout. I'm guessing they'll disown me long before I try out the Sculpt or whatever the other one was on the Power90 tomorrow. At least if they do disown me, I won't have to listen to them complain, right?

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
I have heard the occasional Westerner maintain that long-term Gandhian struggles employing nonviolent passive resistance do not suit everybody, and that such courses of action are more natural in the East. Because Westerners are active, they tend to seek immediate results in all situations, even at the cost of their lives. This approach, I believe, is not always beneficial. But surely the practice of nonviolence suits us all. It simply calls for determination.

52:52 Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

It was sort of a weird read. I kept thinking back to watching the show (I know, always a bad idea when actually reading the book) and it was so wrongly different, especially the part where they spent a year there and then had to move on. I mean, really, that show lasted how many years???

I have to say that I did find it fascinating hearing her description of how Pa built their house by hand (a house just about the size of our master bedroom) and got everything started for a farm before they were forced to move on. One man with just a bit of help from his neighbors (who weren't within shouting distance even) with a wife and 3 small daughters. Wow is all I have to say to that! I think it shows a lot, both about the human spirit and about how far we've come from there and not necessarily in a good way much of the time.

And with that, I've completed by 52 book challenge, 6½mos early. Admittedly a lot of them were classic children's literature which means that they were averaging 200-300 pages per book but I feel like there was a good mix of books in there. I think I'm bumping up my challenge tho and next stop is 75 books for me before the end of the year. A lot of the next books on my list are likely to take me a lot longer to read but should be well worth it.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Live a good honorable life. Then when you get older and think bck, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.

Are you serious?!

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. This morning after waking up, Nico went and got Christopher's laptop out of it's bag. He placed it on the table, found the chord that was still plugged into the wall and figured out how to plug it into the back of the computer, opened it up, pressed the power button, and then waited for it to load. He still needs help typing in the password but once in, he can use the touchpad to maneuver to the program he wants (Firefox) and find the bookmark to the site he wants to play on and then maneuver around the site to whatever game he wants to play.

Holy Cow!!!!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Although I am deeply opposed to war, I am not advocating appeasement. It is often necessary to take a strong stand to counter unjust aggression...[But] war is violence and violence is unpredictable. Therefore, it is better to avoid it if possible, and never to presume that we know beforehand whether the outcome or a particular war will be beneficial or not.

Starting the weaning process

With his deciding that naps are not for him any more, I've decided to just let that battle go in favor of another battle...weaning. Right now we are starting with nighttime nursing. It's not been bad but he CAN sleep through the night on occasion and I would love to see that occasion turn into more often than not. I told him last night as I was nursing him to sleep that we weren't going to nurse in the middle of the night any more. Of course, he agreed at the time but I knew that it wouldn't be nearly so simple to actually put into practice and I geared up towards the long night ahead.

He woke once around 5:30a (a little later than his usual) and I went straight to him and picked him up to comfort and rock him. Of course, he asked to nurse and pointed to the bed. I explained again that we weren't going to nurse in the middle of the night any more but that I would be happy to stand up and rock him or lay in the bed and cuddle with him. He pointed to the chair to see if I would nurse him there. No dice buddy but good try. After a minute or two of loud complaints, he finally opted for laying in bed cuddling. I laid down with him and he asked once to nurse and I explained it again and he settled into bed and fell asleep within 10min.

I'm not sure how we got away with it being so easy last night but I'm not holding my breath on a repeat performance tonight. Once we do have this down, we'll start cutting out another nursing session, likely first thing in the morning. If he really has ditched his nap, the only other one will be before bed at night. I'm hoping to be done by the end of the summer.

Hey, I can hope.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
As long as there are powerful armies, there will always be danger of dictatorship. If we really believe dictatorship to be a despicable and destructive form of government, then we must recognize that the existence of a powerful military establishment is one of its main causes.

The Incredible Disappearing Nap

*sigh* Yep, he's trying to get rid of his naps now. They have shrunk to an average of 30min and disappear altogether a few times a week. No, he is not going to sleep any earlier at night either. His daily sleep average has dropped to around 10hrs/day.

Yes, I'm going to whine about it. It sucks that he is so crazy busy and doesn't sleep on top of it. I'm seriously considering throttling the next person who watches him run around like a maniac and says "well, at least he must sleep well at night". Grrrrrrr!!!!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
You have to work. There are thousands of people who will help you. You are never alone. But the main work is on your own shoulders.

Going Green!

Yep, we've looked at things and tried to make little changes here and there but things are now so prevalent that it's become super easy (and a lot cheaper) to do the right thing by our environment so we have made the plunge to start cutting out the plastic grocery bags from our lives. This has been a big one for us as we do reuse them and recycle them when we have too many. I kept looking at the reusable shopping bags but hey, what was I going to do for our daily catbox clean-up and to line small trashcans? The answer came with this, a biodegradable pet waste bag! Mark rolled his eyes a little when I brought it up but agreed that we could afford to spend $40/yr to not use plastic grocery bags. And when buying those, I also got cotton produce bags and those green bags for preserving fresh fruits & vegetables longer. I really like that the main ingredient is a natural clay and that they are washable so can be reused several times. Always a plus in my book.

We are also starting to look into dual-flush or low-water flush toilets for the house. The boys have already broken the new toilet seat we put on 6mos ago and the top to the tank (again) and with the current drought in CA (and 6 people in the house) it seems like a good way to go. We are also starting to look at low-flow showeheads. We've been watching the new channel, Planet Green, and specifically the shows where people are remodeling their houses to be more environmentally friendly and it's nice to see that more and more of the low-flow appliances have been made in such a way as to not impact how they perform. Sounds good to me!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Buddhists text speak of four principal obstacles that one must overcome for meditation to be successful. The third is mental laxity, which means that our mind is unable to retain sharpness and clarity.

Bookstores Baaaaaaaaaaddddd

Why, oh why, does my husband let me near them???? He KNOWS I have zero willpower when it comes to going into a bookstore and not purchasing something. I think the number of times I have managed this feat could be counted on one hand with fingers left over. It just doesn't happen. Ok, he couldn't stop me on my trip to the local bookstore where I went looking for 3 books and came out with 2 (only one of which was on my list) and 3 more ordered. But he knowingly took Nico and Jonathan so I could BROWSE, omg BROWSE, at Barnes and Noble!!!! It was beautiful. It was ecstasy. It was bad for my pocketbook.

$138 later and 12 books later, maybe I can stay out of bookstores for a few weeks.



Yeah, I'm not holding my breath on it either.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
It is said that if you want to know what you were doing in the past, look at your body now; if you ant to know what will happen to you in the future, look at what your mind is doing now.

No more pencils, no more books....

Yeah, right! LOL Technically, yes, this is the last official day of school for the 2007-2008 school year for my kids BUT as anyone who knows me knows, I'm that mean person who makes their kids do some work over the summer no matter what just to keep their brains from atrophying. Besides, the bigger two spent 2mos goofing off during the school year so they can make it up now and keep Jonathan company since he HAS to do school for his IEP so he can keep his services. But we will take it at an easier pace with plenty of time for swimming, park time, and just plain down time.

To celebrate the end of the regular school year (extended year for Jonathan starts Monday, oh joy) we headed to Fudruckers for dinner and then took the younger three to see Kung Fu Panda (very cute movie and it almost kept Nico's attention) while Christopher and one of Mark's co-workers went to see the Bleach movie. Talk about a limited engagement. It was playing in three theaters near us for 2 days at 7:30p. That's it. 6 possible showings and it's gone again. Christopher was stoked that we made it work out so he could see it. As for me, it's hard to believe I have a child old enough to be heading off to see movies on his own (yes, I know he's 13½, and he has a cell phone, and he just graduated 8th grade, and that I was doing the same thing even younger but none of that matters, thank you very much).

So tomorrow, it's just a little bit of catch-up stuff that didn't get done this week for the boys and then down time while I clean out the fridge, pay the bills, work on cleaning my desk, put together the costco list, do the banking, do the costco shopping, get Jonathan to soccer, Nico to gymnastics, cook a ham, and then get everyone to the KSW potluck. Hey, wait a minute, what kind of freaking break is that?! I get the distinct feeling that I'm getting seriously jipped here.

And I'll be doing it all while sleep-deprived once again since Nico has decided not to sleep tonight. Not even the melatonin is helping and he didn't have a goofy nap schedule or anything. *sigh*

Apparently he thinks he's cute tho as he's just climbed on my lap to give me hugs and kisses. Yeah, it's cute but I think he'd be a whole lot cuter asleep right now.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
If you shift your focus from yourself to others, and think more about others' well-being and welfare, it has an immediate liberating effect.

Just give him what he wants...

or he'll get it himself. This is one determined child here and nothing stands between him and what he wants. This morning after getting up and nursing, he decided he wanted TV time. Not something I generally encourage first thing in the morning so he didn't even bother to ask. The coffee table was put up in it's vacuuming position (something he normally moves around to reach things in the living room) so he grabbed a little chair, climbed on that to turn on the TV power, moved it in front of the entertainment center, climbed on it again, got a little higher using the entertainment center itself, and turned on the tuner, climbed back down to the chair and started using the front buttons on the DTV box to change the channel to what he wanted to watch.

I think this weekend we are spending it fastening everything to the walls and trying to batten down the hatches even further so he doesn't kill himself since there appears to be no stopping him.

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Insights from the Dalai Lama:
Education tends to develop the brain while it neglects the heart, so [people] have a longing for teachings that develop and strengthen the good heart.

52:51 Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

This book tells the story of a year in her husband's childhood. It was a wonderful insight into a boys' life in a different part of the country and the attitudes of the time. I'm enjoying reading about the earlier times in our country's past and I look forward to sharing it with my boys as well.

Of course, I also look forward to using it as a lesson in how they don't have it nearly so hard as they complain about in the chore department. LOL

52:50 Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey

I read this book a couple of years ago on the recommendation of Travis (book pusher and later co-worker of Mark's) and enjoyed it but didn't think more upon it. Then the author came to town to sign her latest work in the series at our bookstore so I took the opportunity to go buy the rest of the series so far and get them signed. I remember truly enjoying the first book but with everything else on my shelves, it got pushed back...Until now.

I just got finished reading this one for the second time and Wow! I was still blown away by it. The characters are wonderfully written, the plot and political intrigue are superb, and the pace takes your breath away by the end. I couldn't put it down for the last 200 pages or so as I so enjoyed getting lost in that world. I would follow the story of Delaunay's anguisette, Kushiel's Dart, on the journey the god's have put her on any day. I wouldn't want to walk it with her tho.

Are you my little Angel?

I ask this of Nico when he's coming up wanting to cuddle with me (which has been more and more often lately). He used to just look at me with an innocent look on his face which would make me laugh because I could see him thinking "No, not really but I like making you think that mom".

His new answer makes me laugh even harder tho.

He'll shake his head no and then look at me laughing and say "Woo Woo". I laugh and ask if he's my little puppy and he laughs harder and shakes his head yes.

I love that kid!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

So gee, Nico, what are you trying to tell me?

I'm afraid it might be wishful thinking but I'm hoping he's trying to tell me that he's considering potty training rather than practicing for a future career as a stripper or lifestyle in a nudist colony.

Why do I think any of this? Try keeping a diaper on that child (or any clothing for that matter). It's a feat that flies in the face of Nico's determination to streak through life. Especially if, god forbid, that diaper is soiled in any way. He will strip off everything to get it off himself...which of course then leads to trying to keep him from smearing it's contents anywhere else (tho I must say, he's actually been pretty good about this *keeping fingers crossed*). If he can't get his pants off due to shoes or some other thing that actually stops him for a few minutes, that's ok. He'll just strip the pull-up off at the sides and bring it to you anyway. He's very considerate that way.

He's also gotten really into the "I do it" phase even if he can't say the words yet. He's starting to put on his own pull-ups and pants with very little help which is definitely a start in the right direction. Now comes the part of helping him to figure out what it feels like when he needs to go potty and hold it until he can get to one. He does like his potty seat and likes the M&M he gets when he makes a deposit even more. Yet another good sign.

So I was really hoping to work on potty training this summer with him and it looks like I may actually get my wish. Wow! Of course, I'm also hoping to wean him this summer but I think that may be a much bigger fight. The big question, who will emerge victorious?

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Insights from the Dalai Lama:
At a personal level, as a Buddhist practitioner, I deliberately visualize and think about death in my daily practice. Death is not separated from our lives. Due to my research and thoughts about death, I have some guarantee and some conviction that it will be a positive experience.

What next?!

Seriously?!?! I love Nico but holy cow, what that child comes up with every day is worse for my heart than the day before. Today's accomplishment....figuring out how to get Otter Pops for himself! Now he's been able to get into the kitchen unless we put the securing lock on the gate (which the big boys always seem to forget to do so what is the point of having a baby gate there that the baby can open at will but I digress) and he drags his little chair in there to point up to the freezer or maybe even pull an Otter Pop down but then he always has to ask someone to open it for him and if I say no, he has his pout, it gets put back, and that's the end of it.

Until today

A few minutes ago I went into the kitchen to get myself a bottle of water. On my way, I see the middle two sitting on the couch and the oldest at the dining room table. "Where is Nico?" I ask. Everyone shrugs. I think this can't be good and continue to the kitchen to see if he's in there while I get my water and then we'll start searching. No need to search tho. Apparently he didn't like being told no for his 3rd OP of the day so the little booger had pushed his chair over to the counter where the scissors are, gotten the scissors down, and cut open the OP enough that he could eat it. I found him on the floor surrounded by paper towels, eating the OP, with the scissors next to him. I'm still not sure if one of the big boys left them out or if he managed to actually climb up on the counter and get all the way into the back corner to dig them out. Neither would surprise me, unfortunately.

So we'll get on the big boys about making sure the kitchen is locked up properly but I'm sure that won't stop him for long. I fully expect by next week, he'll have a chair over to the gate and will have used that to climb over it since he already does that to reach forbidden items on the breakfast bar which is higher than the gate. We are planning on putting kidlocks on the fridge and freezer to keep him out of those (especially since he likes to leave them open) but I have no idea how to keep him from playing in the sink (which is a total no-no since we are currently in a drought) which especially worries me since I keep half the sink filled with soapy water to soak and was the dishes in.

I really don't want to know what his next trick will be. I'd love to think there won't be but I know that is only the most beautiful of fantasies and that reality will be darker than anyone should have to face.

This is, after all, Nico we are talking about.

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Insights from the Dalai Lama:
The very purpose of religion is to control yourself, not to criticize others. Rather, we must criticize ourselves. How much am I doing about my anger? About my attachment, about my hatred, about my pride, my jealousy? These are things which we much in daily life.

Wow, Saturday's over?!

Ok, well, not quite. There are still technically about 3hrs left til the end of it but still, you know what I mean. The last couple of days have been sort of a blur. Thursday, I hit the wall after having been running for so long and so I took a down day to catch my breath. Of course, Friday saw me catching up on school & house work that hadn't been done all week for all the running around. Happily I'm totally caught up on the dishes, laundry, and bookkeeping so those are all pluses.

Today was another crazy run around day and that is just the way our Saturdays are going to be until the end of July (and then once again from Sept-Nov). Mark took Nico to his gymnastics class this morning with Jonathan in tow. I left just before they got home to take the 2 biggest boys to KSW before heading over to Curves for me. After my workout, I stopped at Longs to get the Sunday papers and then GNC to pick up some vitamins for Mark and soy protein powder for both of us (Mark's been reading some muscle men magazines now and said this is what he needed and I figured I'd at least try the protein powder as the other supplements aren't ok while nursing). The big boys met me there and then we headed over to the local Farmers' Market to pick up some fresh fruit and veggies for the week. We got some beautiful fresh peas (6lbs worth that are almost gone now), artichokes, apricots, white nectarines, blueberries, fresh cinnamon bread, and pesto jack cheese. Very nummy stuff all around. Then it was back to the car to head over to Jonathan's soccer game where Mark was with the two little guys. I took over Nico duty while Jonathan was on the field so Mark could leave to take the bigger boys to see Iron Man.

I didn't see much of Jon's game running after Nico as I was. He climbed and slid down every mound of dirt he could find then headed back to the playground where he found some 4yr olds. He ran up to them and tried to tickle them which is his way of saying "hey, let's play" and a sort of tag like game ensued with Nico being constantly "it". He didn't mind tho and had fun running and chasing the other kids. If he lost interest because they got away too quickly, they came back closer and called his name and the chase was back on. It was so cute to watch. Almost as cute as his game of Nerf dart tag this evening with his brothers where every time they shot him he would fall down dead and then everyone would start busting up laughing. He's such a ham.

After soccer I brought 2nd pair home and fed them lunch and put Nico down for his nap. Jonathan was tired so helped me shell some peas but mostly just vegged. I did some laundry and talked to my Discovery Toys manager to tell her what I've done so far this week and what my next steps were. She thinks I've made a good start in establishing contacts and have good ideas moving forward. Hopefully some of them will pan out.

Mark and 1st pair got home so we scurried around getting the house picked up as his parents were coming for dinner. They arrived with a bunch of grazings so we grazed and played Bridge, then ate steak and fresh peas. Ahhhh...talk about a wonderful yet simple meal.

Now we are trying to herd cats get the boys to do their evening chores and head to bed. It's been, um, less than successful so far. *sigh*

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
If in the mist of your enjoyment of the world you have a moment, try to help in however small a way those who are downtrodden and those who, for whatever reason, cannot or do not help themselves. Try not to turn away from those whose appearance is disturbing, from the ragged and unwell. Try never to think of them as inferior to yourself. If you can, try not even to think of yourself as better than the humblest beggar. You will look the same in your grave.

52:49 LIttle House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I remember watching Little House on the Prairie as a child but, yet again, it was one of those series that for some reason never entered my brain to actually read it. I've heard several of my homeschooling friends talk about reading it for History with their children so I was really excited when Matthew choose Little House on the Prairie as one of his novel units but really surprised when I found that it was not the first book in the series. So in typical me fashion, I bought the first four books so we could start in on the series. I'm reading them first and will try to encourage Matthew to read them himself, but if not, I'll make reading them aloud to him and Jonathan part of our summer "school time".

As to the book itself, it's hard finding adjectives other than sweet for it. Laura is a spirited girl of 5 and from this book, you get a real sense of how Laura perceived her life back then and how their family relationships worked. Time with Pa was a special treat and one that was very much sought after and several of his stories and songs that he sang are included in the book along with a recipe of her mother's. In all, a very nice look at the 18070s from a child's perspective.

I'm officially a Discovery Toys Educational Consultant!

Well, I did it! I signed up to become a Discovery Toys Educational Consultant! My papers are all taken care of and my Webstore has been set-up! I'm really excited by this because this is one of those companies where I have seen their stuff all over the place but for whatever reason, I rarely get a chance to buy it. I see it when we are at the fair and I don't have money to buy the toys or I see the toys at someone's house (or more recently at Speech and OT) but the consultant they used to work with they are no longer in contact with or something along those lines. But I've always been impressed with the toys. My boys always have a good time playing with them, seem drawn to them in fact over other toys and I was always disappointed by the development but then life would move on and I would forget about things (easily distractable, you know LOL) but seeing them on such a regular basis at Speech for Nico, I remember to actually look at the box and found their website. I looked around and further found there doesn't appear to be a rep in my area so "Hey, I can do that" and I signed up. My box should be here tomorrow (crossing fingers) and I'm gathering thoughts, ideas, and questions to go over with my manager for our Saturday phone conference. I really am so excited by this just because every toy of theirs has impressed me and I love the fact that if nothing else, I can buy them for my kids but I really do hope to share this love with others. They are just great, sturdy toys that really do encourage exploration and imaginative play in kids!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
It is the enemy who can truly teach us to practice the virtues of compassion and tolerance.

We survived!!!

Yes, it's true. We have survived homeschooling for 3½yrs to bring Christopher through Jr. High and today we got to watch him accept his certificate of completion for 8th grade! So hard to believe that my little tiny baby will be starting high school in the fall. *sniff sniff*


Even worse was when they said "Congratulations to the future class of 2012" and I realized that that will be a HUGE year for us in terms of graduations. Christopher will be graduating from high school, Matthew will be graduating from 8th grade, Jonathan will be graduating from 5th grade, and Nico will be graduating from Kindergarten!!! Geez, talk about insane! I feel myself going gray just thinking about it.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
Reaching out to help others may be as fundamental to our nature as communication.

First Haircut!

Yes, I finally broke down and did it. Nico has had his first haircut. *sniff sniff* I will have to say that it went much better than I feared. He seemed to be in a state of total shock and confusion and could not comprehend what was going on except this person he had never seen before was all over his head with a pair of scissors in her hand, something mommy has always said was a no no. So he sat very still with a look of great consternation upon his face which was quite funny to behold.





I have to say, I'm sad about it even tho I fully admit it was time. It just makes him look so much older now (like I knew it would) and he'll never have that exact same cute, wispy look to his hair ever again. *sigh*


And for good measure, we got all the other boys trimmed up too. Christopher really wanted to go full blue but I vetoed that for the moment and we compromised on a new cut with blue hair gel so he can be blue sometimes. The other boys of course wanted colored gel as well (tho not new cuts) so I also bought green. I would have bought the red had they had it in stock but alas, they were out so I'll be on the lookout for it. They all enjoyed their new hair colors immensely which was fun to watch.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
A religious act is performed out of good motivation with sincere thought for the benefit of others. Religion is here and now in our daily lives. If we lead that life for the benefit of the world, this is the hallmark of a religious life.

Hmmm....

So let's take a look at the weekend's todo list and see how far I got:

• School with Jonathan (2 science, 1 phonics, 2 music) - nope, nada, nothing
  
• Banking
• Hair cuts (ok, technically scheduled for tomorrow but hey, I made phone calls)
  
• School paperwork: lesson plans, grade papers (got some of this done)
  
• Desk work: pay bills, June & July Budgets, balance checkbook (ok, very happy to have this one done as it was the most important thing on the list)
  
• More desk work: weekly menu, grocery game, clip coupons, enter menu into WW, get points sheet for boys printed (got some of it done, menu & WW are hard to do since we are eating out 3xs this week....Ugh!)
  
• Update wall calendar
• Feb2006Friends graphics: June, July, & August
  
• Make Summer MOTH Schedule
• Make Chore Packs
• Get packages ready to mail: Crystal, Kristine, Kim & Josie
• AYSO ref stuff: emailing/calling about clinic, bug for people to start signing up to ref games
• AYSO board stuff: keep up on the hotline
• Clean and restock little pantry
• Clean out fridge and reorganize
• Clean off breakfast bar - about half way done
  
• Clean off desk (ok, I'll totally settle for making a dent on this one *sigh*) - sort of
  
• Make list of bigger projects that need to get done this summer and start prioritizing
  
• Not lose any more sanity points (not holding my breath on this one) - I don't think I did too badly on this one, but of course, how could I tell? *big grin*
  

Also signed up the two big boys for focus groups on Wedn evening. I spent the morning talking to creditors trying to lower interest payments and find out a couple of things. Well, that's what I was trying to do. The reality was I kept getting shunted from one department to another with no one having any clue at all, that is when I could talk to a person and not a robot. Ugh!

On a positive note, I just faxed off my application to become a Discovery Toys rep! I've been seriously considering this for a while now and as far as anyone I've talked to knows, there isn't one on the coast so that's nice. Add in all the coastal kid organizations I'm part of and I should hopefully be able to actually make a little money (supporting my book habit anyone? LOL). I'm also hoping to get some of my out of town friends to either buy or, better yet, become reps in their own areas. I've been seeing these toys for years but could never find a rep so I could actually buy anything. My boys LOVE playing with them tho and I've always been impressed by the quality and the fun the kids have so I'm very happy to have the opportunity to sell them. I've already had the boys' speech and OT center say I can sell there around the holidays so that is way awesome. Can't wait to start putting it out in the CMC and other places. WooHoo!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
As long as you are not completely enlightened, there will always be an inner obstruction to knowledge that will make your task of helping others incomplete.

To-do list as of right now...

Basically has nothing crossed off. *sigh* We were up until almost 3a yesterday morning as one of our friends called to tell us that her husband was missing. We called out the search party and spent hours on the computer checking bank records and emails and on the phone calling local hospitals and trying to keep her calmed down as she was out of town on a business trip. We resumed the search after a few hours of sleep and he was finally located safe and sound at home having stayed until closing at a bookstore to just miss the people searching for him on the roads to his house and then he proceeded to sleep like the dead and not hear the phone ringing before going on a long walk upon waking. UGH!!!! I've threatened to implant a GPS rfid tag under his skin if his wife doesn't kill him first. Needless to say, we were all very tired after little sleep and I ended up with yet another migraine thanks to that and hormones. Blech!

At least Mark got the oil changed in all three cars.

Of course now I'm having to wash all the oily clothes and rags which is going to take multiple washings to get the stench out and keep from transferring to the next load of laundry. Blech!

And Christopher's school computer is well and truly dead. No clue why but since Mark also screwed up Matthew's laptop, his desktop has gone sideways, and Matthew's desktop is on the fritz, the IT guy's family has 2 working computers to try and do everything on. Yeah, it does kinda suck. Guess what he's working on today?! Yeah, that would be the 4 non-working computers in the house. Unfortunately, Mark can't actually take the school computer apart and do anything with it so I've already put an email out to his teacher to see how to get that fixed or a new one or whatever. Yeah, Christopher won't be back next year but with 2 other kids enrolled, we are still entitled to a computer so we'll keep theirs for him.

So that's the update, not much to report. Really hoping to get a few things crossed off the list today. Of course, Christopher just informed me that all the history papers he fixed on my computer, he didn't save properly so I've just lost my computer for a few hours while he fixes them again (and hopefully saves them correctly this time!). Ugh, ugh, ugh!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
The central question--central for the survival and well-being of our world--is how we can make the wonderful developments of science into something that offers altruistic and compassionate service for the needs of humanity and the other sentient beings with whom we share this earth.