It's been a while!

I know, I know, I haven't written anything in a long time. Not for any real reason either. Sure, I've been busy but just with basic, everyday stuff. I just haven't been very motivated. I still don't have much to say but I can let you know what's been going on with us.

Paige went to the doctor a week ago and he was pleased with how her arm is healing. She goes back next Monday and he seemed optimistic that her cast would come off then. Now if we could get her mood fixed we'd be all set. She's always been dramatic but lately, holy cow! Last Thursday she cried all the way to dance because she didn't have a snack to eat in the car. Not that she didn't have a snack, that she didn't have one in the car. Because the girl ate from the time she came home until it was time to leave. She got herself so worked up that when we got there she refused to go into ballet. Miss Jillian (the owner) came over to talk to her and wanted to sign her cast and Paige wouldn't let her. I finally opened the studio door and PUT her in class. She sat next to the door the entire time and would not dance. I was MAD. She did join in during tap class and acted like nothing ever happened. She is sooo stubborn! We had a big talk about how she has a responsibility to the girls in her class to do her best and how each class is important because they are learning their dance for recital and blah, blah, blah. We are also going to figure out how much that class cost us and make her work off that amount. We want her to understand that this is not cheap and she needs to take it seriously. Who knows if that will work.

Donovan had try-outs for summer ball. He is trying to move up from where he is supposed to be (based on age) so he can play with his classmates. The cut-off date is May 1 so he misses it by three weeks. Every other year is one level behind his class. Most of the rest of his class will be playing with the 9-10 year olds so he thought he'd try out for that level. Unfortunately they have more boys than usual signed up. They decided to add a team so that's good news. The bad news is that he got really nervous and didn't do as well as he could have. Jon also heard somebody say they don't have enough kids for the level he is supposed to play at. Jon said there were a lot of kids better than him and a lot of kids worse than him. If those kids that were worse than him are actually 9 or 10, I would imagine they would get the spots before him. I guess we just wait and see. Right now he says he's not playing if he can't move up, again we'll have to wait and see.

Tessa has continued on her quest to try and get the kids taken away from us. After her encounter with the deer antler she has run into a wall (damn thing jumped right out in front of her!) and fallen off our bed onto the wood floor resulting in a goose-egg and then lovely bruise on her forehead. She also seems to have decided that it wasn't good enough to carry the Terrible 2's through the 3's, it appears she is gearing up to barrel straight on into the 4's. She has just been a stinker lately. The problems seem to mostly involve food. She thinks she needs to eat all. the. time. Her favorite meal? Corn. Seriously, I ask her what she wants for lunch, she tells me "A can of corn". Fortunately for her, she is freaking hilarious. She is so funny, she has us all laughing all the time.

The big thing we're gearing up for is her birthday party that she's sharing with Leah. The carnival theme is a lot of fun to work with. All the kids (and Leah, who's here so much she feels like one of ours) are sooo excited about it. They are full of helpful suggestions about games and prizes. And they keep offering lots of motivation to get things done. Donovan told me the other day that if I didn't go work on the ticket booth right now we were not having a party. Nice. It's good to see that he does hear me when I talk. He can spit back exactly what I would say to them, it's too bad he never listens to me. So he's hearing but not listening. Still better than Jon who doesn't even hear me when I talk.

I've been trying to figure out something we can do for spring break. Donovan is the only one with any suggestions. His were Virginia, Chicago or Georgia. We're going to Virginia this summer, I'm not ready to do Chicago with the kids again yet (it's only been 16 months since the last time, talk to me in 3 years) and Georgia? He doesn't know of anything to do in Georgia, he just wants to go there. I wanted to go to Columbus to go to COSI but apparently I am a big science geek and nobody else thinks that would be fun. That was Jon's take on it. He has no ideas so he is not helpful.

Jon has been trying to figure out how to work 60 hours a week and also go ice fishing on a regular basis. He is failing on both counts. He only works 50 -57 hours an week and has only been fishing twice in the last two weeks. Pretty soon I'll have to get him an anti-depressant to deal with this failure. Oh, and he has also been dealing with me while I prepare for the birthday party and while I nag him daily about ordering the laptop he promised me for my birthday. So I guess he earned some credit there. He lost it when I discovered that he managed to order waders for himself but still has not ordered my laptop, or the ceiling tiles for the landing that he was going to order two months ago.

So that's what's been going on around here. I've got a ton to do to get ready for the birthday party so I probably won't be back before then but I'll post some pics afterwards.


Edited to add: I guess I was wrong about not having much to say!

Qoute of the Day

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit."

I got this from my sister-in-law Cindi. I find it to be very true. Except for maybe the groceries part, for me anyway. If you give me groceries you may well end up with crap. At the very least, you'll end up with a pissed off Lisa, because you all know-- I don't cook!

The Downside of Not Getting Sick Very Often

So I've been sick for about 3 1/2 weeks now. Mostly chest congestion and coughing... a lot of coughing. Yesterday something started going on with my sinuses. Needless to say there has been a lot of mucus involved. I had thought about going to the doctor, it would get a little better so I would put it off. I don't have time to go to the doctor anyway. Today I had had enough. So I called good ol' Dr. Buchweitz. I hate making the drive to Lansing but I still haven't gotten around to finding a doctor around here. I've only had six years, I'll get to it! I know it's been awhile since I've gone to see her. Apparantly it's been longer than I thought. Like 6 1/2 years. So I am no longer a patient there. After about three years they drop you. (They did offer to try and get me in as a new patient with one of the OTHER doctors there. Not even with our doctor. I declined.) Even if I knew which doctor I wanted to go to we all know it takes a while to get the insurance stuff switched over to a new doctor. So now I actually want to go to a doctor and don't have one to go to. I called PHP to see what they thought I should do, I wouldn't want to break some rule I don't know about and end up having to pay more money than I should. They tell me to go to Urgent Care since it has the same co-pay as an office visit anyway and I can go to any one I want. We've always gone to the Urgent Care at the hospital in Mt. Pleasant. I've never been all that thrilled with our experience there. I've heard ads on the radio about a new Urgent Care in Alma so I decide to try that out. It was so nice! All new and shiny! And there was nobody there. I felt like an idiot telling them I was there because I had been sick for over three weeks and now it was URGENT! But everybody was very nice and I was in and out in less than an hour. I am now armed with Zithromax and an inhaler so hopefully I'll be all better soon. (I have bronchitis and a sinus infection.) I'm hoping I'm better in time to go see Nolan when he decides to show up!

Future Shepherd Pom Girl?

This past Saturday Paige spent the morning at the Pom Clinic that our varsity Pom team does as a fundraiser every year. They spend about three hours learning a routine and then they get to perform at a basketball game. Last night she got to do her routine (to a song from High School Musical) during half-time of the Shepherd vs. Hemlock boy's varsity game. She did great, I was really impressed! We forgot to take the camera but it wasn't too big of a loss. We took pictures last year when she did it and between being too far away, bad lighting and her moving the pictures weren't that great. I did take a picture of her afterward though, she was so proud of herself.

Funny Update

Sorry I've been gone so long, I've been sick. But that's not the funny update. The update is about Rocket, the dog from across the street.

This happened last Wednesday, the same day I posted the story about Rocket. That afternoon the doorbell rings and it's the woman who owns Rocket. She has some potted bulbs (hyacinths, my favorite!) and a thank-you card. She was so grateful that I took care of Rocket and just went on and on. They really are very nice people. Because the door had been opened, Daisy was just sure she had to go out. So I made Donovan take her out. All of a sudden the door slams open, Donovan literally falls through it and he is just sobbing. He's yelling, "Rocket's here, there's a dog fight!" I can't hear anything over him so it obviously can't be that bad, right? I can see he's still hanging on to the leash so I tell him to just bring Daisy in and then it will be over. He pulls as hard as he can and nothing happens, so I have to go out to help him. I haul Daisy in and Rocket follows her up the steps. This all happens right after school gets out so I don't want to just leave Rocket out there, the high schoolers drive like maniacs. I need to just clip a leash on Rocket and take her back home, easy enough right? Except that I'm wearing my green flannel pants with the reindeer on them and they have a hole in the knee. No way am I going out in those. So what to do with Rocket? Since it's me, and I'm slightly crazy, I let her in the house. Yup, two dogs that don't know each other that well and four kids (Leah was here that day) running around like idiots because something new and exciting is happening. I ran upstairs, changed into jeans and took Rocket home. I think they've learned because Rocket isn't being left out in the backyard alone anymore! I thought it was absolutely hilarious Rocket was back over not five minutes after her owner was over about the last incident.

Not so funny is that when Donovan took Daisy out he decided to wear my tennis shoes because he is too lazy to put his boots on. When Rocket came running over, he started running across the yard and lost both my shoes in the process. I didn't know this until he said something about having cold, wet feet. I went out to look for my shoes and found one, half buried in the snow. I've looked and looked and still have not found my other damn shoe!

P.S. I just realized I am wearing the green reindeer pants again, let's hope nobody comes to the door!

Neighborhood Gentle Giant

Our neighbors across the street have a St. Bernard named Rocket. To be honest, this dog used to freak me out! She barked a lot and, while she stayed in her yard, seemed very interested in Daisy. I never really understood how a three-foot picket fence kept this giant dog in. Every so often I would see Rocket walking with her owner and Daisy and Rocket did not seem to like each other very much. I figured Daisy knew this was that annoying dog who always barked at her when she was trying to poop. I wouldn't like her either! One day the kids told me Rocket had jumped the fence when some people were walking their dogs past her yard. After that I was really on guard when Daisy had to go out. Not too long ago, my fears were realized (okay, I almost had to change my pants) when I took Daisy out and all of a sudden I see Rocket running across the street straight at us. When Rocket got to us there was a little growling and a lot of butt sniffing but then they both calmed down. Now I had to figure out how to get this huge dog home. I figured my best bet was to just walk over to the neighbors and hope the dog would follow Daisy. This worked better than I had even hoped. Rocket followed me right up onto her porch and waited while I waited for someone to answer the door. Once she realized her owners wanted her to come in and stop playing she took off. They chased her all over and had a heck of a time catching her.
Yesterday, the kids and I were coming home and we see Rocket in the street. She was apparently trying to help two women walk their dogs. I knew Rocket's owners weren't home because I had just seen them at the eye doctor 10 minutes ago(what a coincidence!), but couldn't figure out why she was wandering around. They never leave her in the yard when they leave. When I let the kids in the house I grabbed our extra leash and went out to see what I could do. Rocket was so interested in the other dogs that she wasn't hard to catch at all. I ended up taking her home and tying her up in the backyard. And started watching for her owners to come home. I stayed with her for awhile and she is just a giant furry baby. What a nice dog. I think she was confused and a little scared. It felt like forever but after two hours Donovan saw the neighbors pull in their driveway. I ran out, grabbed Rocket and headed across the street. You should have seen the kids' faces when they saw me coming across the street with their dog! It turns out they had the appointment at the eye doctor and then the son started hockey and the Dad was trying to get everybody and everything out of the house and totally forgot to let the dog back in. I bet this wouldn't have happened if Mom had been there! There was a lot of traffic last night because there was a home basketball game and things could have really ended badly. I'm glad I helped their dog and I got to know a big lovable ball of fur a little bit better. But I still wish she would stay in her own yard!

It's Been Awhile

Man, I haven't gotten to this in awhile. I've had a few different posts written in my head but I never got here to post them. After a few days they didn't really seem relevant so they never made it here.

I guess I can sum up the last couple weeks.

Christmas was great. Everybody got a ton of stuff and everyone was happy with what they got. It's always very irritating when you see them sitting there surrounded by all these presents and they are upset because they didn't get that one thing. This year when all the commercials started and the kids started their "I want....." I usually would just tell them, "No, you can't have it." Usually followed by a "Fine, I'll just ask Santa." I started telling them we could contact Santa and tell him they couldn't have certain things. I don't know if they believed me but Paige was not upset when she did not get Biscuit the giant, expensive dog. I don't even know why she wanted it. Hello, real dog sitting right in front of you!

New Year's was low-key but fun. Shelley seemed to enjoy herself quite a bit! The Strawberry Daiquiris were yummy. She even got into her "Touche" mood which always makes me laugh!

Tessa got her stitches out Monday(1/5). She was kind of scared to go and I don't blame her. The last time she went it hurt! But she did great and is happy that her "strings" are out and she can take baths again.

Donovan and Paige were not excited to go back to school but seem to be adjusting back to the schedule pretty well. It's too bad we don't even have any three-day-weekends coming up to look forward to. Tessa was thrilled to be back at school. She loves every minute she is there!

Paige did already get a day off though. She woke up Wednesday with a weird rash. Since I didn't know what it was I kept her home and called the doctor. Of course they wanted to see her so off I went to Lansing. (I really need to switch to a doctor up here.) The doctor thought it looked like Scarlet Fever but they haven't called and said the strep test was positive so it might have just been viral. Oh well, I'm just going to keep her on the anti-biotic anyway. She had a cough she couldn't shake and maybe that will go away.

That's a (not so) quick recap of the last couple weeks. Hopefully I'll be better about updating this.