Hatooriya

I think that's how it's spelled. Anyone know what it means?

In any case, I think it may be my new favorite place to eat. It's a small, family owned teriyaki style Japanese restaurant not far from here. They were friendly, not too expensive, food was good, and they were quick. The girls personally recommend their spring rolls and edamame.

Lil Bug

Ok, you know that cute little ladybug up above? Well when we got the costume it had two tiny (almost not noticeable) holes, one in the top of each wing. The costume had come to us in alternate packaging so I'm guessing whoever returned it did so because they put the holes there when removing it from the original packaging.

Anyway, to make a long story longer I called the company. I figured I paid full price for a new costume I ought to get my money's worth or get a partial refund (what I really wanted - I'm all for the bargain.) I have to say the company was excellent to deal with, but a little foolish. Rather than offer a discount on the one I already had, they are sending me a brand new costume at no charge and have instructed me to destroy the old one. Somehow I just don't think I'm going to do that. I have plenty of friends that could use a free costume. Maybe even Gus or Zeus. ;)

We also ordered something from this company that ended up being the wrong size for the girls though I used their charts. They are sending me a replacement and a free shipping label to send back the other ones. I'd say they've more than earned my business.

Long weekend left me too tired to post on Monday...

or Tuesday at this point. Will work on it for this afternoon.

Photo ops

Ok, I should probably explain the above photos (atleast before they change.)

Our friend April gave the girls a toy that has magnetic weeble type animals (a lion, monkey, and elephant) that go on top and spin when the button is pushed. Somehow it became a game for the girls to put their toys in Daddy's shirt when he got home. Combine these two and you have the photo. Riley came up to me pulling on her shirt and waving the monkey at me until I put it in her shirt. She walked around like this for 5 minutes with a very happy smile on her face because I "got" the game.

Then Sammi wanted to get in on the act, but she was wearing a onesie (t-shirt that snaps between the legs) and the monkey fell through to the bottom of the onesie. She has her head in her onesie trying to find the monkey.

The last ones are just a brief Halloween preview - their costumes got here and I had to try them on for size. They also have antennae hats and bee/ladybug slippers that go with the outfits. The last one of them together they are frantically spinning in circles trying to catch their wings much as a puppy tries to catch his tail.

Hockey!

Green had it's first practice last night, and the girls and Bill came to watch for a bit, but then had to head home for bed.

We practiced stops, shooting, and some puck handling. While last week it was almost 24 hours before I felt the pain, this week it was immediate. Particularly up the side of my back from repeatedly trying to work on my backhand.

Andrea and Cheddah otoh, had a great time racing each other for the puck during one drill. I have to say they were nice though and passed it back and forth so they got equal opportunities to shoot. Ladies, ladies, ladies, this is hockey - there's no niceness in hockey. ;)

All in all a good night and to top it off I got to ride home in Betty (Thanks Liz) and have my gear delivered by Andrea. Long story having to do with the babies, but made me feel like the rich and famous briefly.

One less spider in the world

Ok, any of you who know me, know how terrified of spiders I am. Today while making the girls breakfast one attacked me in the kitchen. He was HUGE!! He also made the mistake of being on the edge of the sink so I subjected him to my version of boiling oil (hot water), washed him down the sink, and then ground him to bits in the garbage disposal, followed by more scalding water just to be sure he was dead. Let that be a warning to all other arachnids.

Where does poop go?

Certainly not in the potty for Riley - Andrea, you're falling down on the job.

Where's all this coming from? Well today we had another incident. I was IM'ing with Liz, the phone rang (it was work), and suddenly I see Sam with "stuff" all over her hands. So I'm trying to keep up the conversation with work AND frantically clean up poop, get the diaper away from Riley (yep, it was hers), all while maintaining my composure on the phone. I think I can say I succeeded - at least the person on the other end didn't mention anything odd.

So, two girls cleaned up, fresh diapers all around, and I'm going for a margarita.

Happy Birthday Andrea!

Belated Happy Birthday to you,
Belated Happy Birthday to you,
Belated Happy Birthday dear Andrea,
Belated Happy Birthday to you.

No Pictures at the moment

Went to Flickr and this is what their website had to say:

Flickr is having a massage.
That was the wrong power switch, we'll be back shortly!

I thought it was pretty cute, but I'm easily amused.

Talk like a pirate day - arrrrr

Ok, thanks to Helen for once again bringing us this link (happens like clockwork). Take yer pirate quiz here and better yet, get a cool new pirate name here.

This coming to you from Captain Bess Rackham (alias: Snooty Farklefanny)

According to the website: Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Also, say a quick hello to Red Bess Kid when you get a chance. (You all know and love her as the red pants playing hockey girl.)

Adventurer Sammi

Ok, another post I forgot to write about in my long hiatus.

I was in the nursery with Sam and Riley when Sam quietly disappeared. I didn't worry too much, we have the house gated, so she can only get into the living room which is really their playroom. After a bit, I get up and walk into the living room only to slowly realize that 1. She's not there, and 2. the gate to the rest of the house (and all of it's fascinatingly dangerous wonders) is open. I hurry toward our bedroom (one of her favorite places), not there, then to the bathroom, not there, and on into the kitchen, not there. I continue on through the laundry room into Bill's office where she is happily sitting on Daddy's lap. I ask him if he got her, and he said, "No, I thought you sent her in to me."

Apparently Sammi avoided certain disaster, and just went to cuddle with Daddy. Another crisis averted.

Reeses Cookies

OMG, Reeses Peanut butter cookies. Like the cup, only better. Yum, yum.

Clothing optional

Why is it that I can dress two babies, and five minutes later only one of them has clothes on? Yep, that's right, I have a strip tease artist in the making. Riley will not leave her clothes on, and she's very happy about that. Shirt on, shirt off. Socks on, socks off. I'm gonna need to either tack them on her or maybe have little velcro strips surgically planted on her body so the clothes don't come off quite so easy.

Bananas

Ok,today I gave each girl a half a banana which made them very happy. Off they went to eat them. Next thing I know, I hear Riley crying. I pop over and see that Sam is right in her face with a 2 inch piece of banana in her hand. I looked at her and said, "Is that Rileys' banana?" Apparently it was because Sam promptly stuffed it in her mouth as if to say, "It's mine now." Then with the biggest chipmunk cheeks you've ever seen, she leaned over and kissed Riley as if to say, "Thanks for the banana sis."

Nice Surprise

Today I pulled out of a driveway into what I thought was a clear street, but alas it was not. There was a young man (18 - 20 years old I'd guess) driving down that street. I braked, he braked, we avoided collision. What was really nice about this encounter however is that he didn't yell at me, honk his horn obnoxiously, or do other obnoxious things. When I looked and said sorry, he said no problem and waved me on ahead of him with a nice smile on his face. What a nice surprise in general, but especially from someone in that age group.

The best things in life are indeed free

There is nothing better in this world than hugs and cuddles from a baby fresh and clean from the bath in nice warm, fuzzy jammies, unless of course it's two.

Sam's new words

This past week Sam has added to her verbal and signing skills. Her latest words were ball and duck, she has also learned to sign duck,baby, and cereal. She now has about 20 signs she uses to communicate on a regular basis. Her favorites however, are milk, more, and dog. It's so cool being able to communicate with them.

Make Believe

There was just so much that happened in the last two weeks I keep remembering more to blog. Good thing this blog is just for me. ;)

Anyway, last week Riley had a little plastic bowl she was playing with. She suddenly got a big smile on her face, reached in the bowl as if to pick something up, and then popped the pretend something in her mouth. I thought it was a fluke at first, but she repeated it over and over and has done it several times since then. She has now added pretend drinking to her imaginary play repertoire. It's so fun to see her and Sam developing their skills.

New digs

Went to see Stacey's new place yesterday, it's not a dive. Her room was actually clean for the most part (still had 3 unpacked boxes on the floor). Since it was a pre-existing setup, she doesn't need any of the usual moving in stuff like dishes, furniture, etc. Damn, I was hoping to get rid of some. ;)

Wizard of Oz

Went to see AMT's (American Musical Theatre) production of Wizard of Oz last night. Overall it was a great production, the first half was a bit better than the second half, but well done. I would recommend it for adults and children alike. We didn't have any children with us, just 3 adults and we all enjoyed it.

Things of note:

The Munchkins were great, did an excellent job and the kids that played them were so cute. Also, there was a note in the program that the Munchkins would not appear in the curtain call since their bedtime was 9:00 P.M.

The Wizard performed his entire bit as well as the curtain call with his fly down. We thought maybe when he went off stage someone would mention it to him, but no. Also, it was a pair of those funky costume pants where the waist is up at the rib cage, and he was a bit on the portly side, so it was very obvious.

Lastly, and this was HIGHLY irritating, we were stuck in the parking garage for ONE AND A HALF HOURS AFTER THE SHOW WAS OVER. Usually you pay when you go in, but last night they had everyone pulling tickets and then pay on the way out. There was only one attendant (I felt sorry for her), so it was very slow and there were a lot of angry people. We were on the top level in one of the last spots, so we didn't even turn the car on for the first hour (noone on our level was moving at all.) Stacey and I had to use the restroom so we walked down the street to the Crown Victoria I think it was, then came back. However, while there they had this very interesting digital vending machine where you could buy stamps, an Ipod, condoms, tampons, and the standard candy and beverage offerings. I wish I'd had my camera with me to take a picture. Anyway, when we got back to the garage everyone on our level had moved up two car lengths. Woo hoo, progress!

Then got home, both girls woke up, wanted to nurse, Riley went back to sleep, but Sam kept me up until 3:30. As usual, I'm exhausted.

So, that was my night.

Blog Spam

Okay, is anyone as irritated by blog spam as I am?? How irritating. Does anyone know how to delete it?

Oh my aching body

Monday morning:

Liz: So how are you feeling today?
Me: Pretty good, just the sore hip.
Liz: Oh that's good.

Tuesday morning:
Me: Every body part hurts today, apparently I was too tired to realize it yesterday.


Either I am too old or too clumsy to play hockey, but who cares I'm playin' anyway.

:D

1 pitcher of water + 2 toddlers

You can already guess what happened. I had a Brita water pitcher in the nursery (I was refilling their water cups). I forgot to take it out, but it's ok, the girls aren't usually in the nursery. This afternoon Stacey came by and was playing with the girls in the nursery while I did laundry (mine, not hers). Next thing I know, Stacey is standing there talking to me and there's lots of banging noise coming from the nursery. Riley had climbed up on the glider, got the pitcher of water, and proceeded to pour it all over the glider, the ottoman, but hardly any hit the floor (now that takes talent. 4 hours later and the rocker is still drying out.

Cute baby story 157 (at least to me)

As I was sitting in the nursery on Sunday (workinig on my sisters quilt), Bill was in the living room with Samantha. Riley was in the nursery with me and Bill was trying to get her to come out with him and Sam so that I could work. He kept calling her and singing to her, but she wasn't budging. After a few minutes Sam decided to take matters into her own hands, so she walked into the nursery, grabbed Riley by the hand and led her out to the living room. They were both smiling like crazy so I guess it was all good with Riley too.

Hello out there

Did anybody notice that I said my oldest baby has fled the nest within the last two weeks???

Woo hoo!

I'm back at the top of Viv's blogroll. ;)

What has happened in the last 2 weeks and why I haven't blogged

Ok, the last two weeks have been busy and I won't bore you with a day by day accounting, just some of the highlights. Oh, and I'll try not to babble, but I'm working on 2 hours of sleep, so I don't guarantee it. (See, I'm babbling already.)

Two weeks ago I attended a 3 day lactation class where I learned some very fascinating facts including the fact that children will naturally wean themselves somewhere between 4 and 8 years old. Also, they claim the new breast pumps work better and have the same power as the old breast pumps (they so don't!) And the worst part was that they spent the entire 3 days using scare tactics and the same type of promotion tactics that they were condemning the formula companies for. All in all, I don't think the information presented will help me any more with my job. I was really hoping to get some more practical information. Oh well.

Then last week, my oldest daughter moved out. She's living in a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 guys and a girl (hey, wasn't that a sitcom in the 90's?) It's not far from here and so far she's called home almost every day, and stopped by a couple of times. It's sad, but good all at the same time.

One of the main things that has kept me from blogging is that I was spending every extra minute I had to finish a quilt for my sister (the one going through chemo.) I dropped it off this morning - she cried when she got it. Thanks to everyone who helped me with that project,particularly Debbie who fought the battle of the geese and won (she'll know what I mean.) I'll post pictures later.

Lastly, I returned to the ice yesterday. Good and bad, I can still skate with the same skill (or lack thereof) that I did before, however now I seem to be having difficulty staying on my skates. During the scrimmage yesterday I had a nice brain bounce on the ice, a butt flop, a belly flop, and a plain ol' arms and legs o'flailing flop. Maybe I should think about having someone put edge on my skates (or training wheels.)

So that's the long and short of what's been happening.

Let it begin...

the blogging tourettes as my pal Liz would call it.