Attack Bird

Ok, I promised you more about the bird attack, and here it is. This bird (who I know looks like a very nice bird sitting in his/her tree) would wait for people to pass the tree and then swoop down and attack them. He never made a frontal assault, just flew in from behind, swiped at the top of the head, then back to his/her tree. I didn't realize this when I passed the tree, and the first swoop I thought was a fluke, but then s/he hit my head a couple more times. Just past this tree was a little play area for the kids, so while they played I was able to observe this bird and I noted the following:
1. As stated before, it never attacked from the front.
2. It never announced it's intentions, or that you were somehow in its' territory, it just suddenly swooped.
3. It would only attack people in groups of 3 or less (and it seemed only if one or two of those were children.) Groups of 4 or more were safe AND children were safe.
4. It also seemed to avoid attacking people with hats on. (See, they are not only good for protecting you from the cold and sun.)

Just for Bubbles...cuz it's still Friday

Five games you played as a kid.
1. Hide and Seek
2. Freeze Tag
3. Torment my younger sister and her friends (ok, not so much a game for others as it was good fun for me mostly cuz I was forced to play with them.) P.S. I like her now.
4. Street ball (Modified baseball/softball played in the street with many episodes of "Car!" which sent us all scattering)
5. HORSE, Dodgeball, and 4 square which count as one cuz they were all played in our driveway one right after the other cuz we had the ball and nothing to do.

Five people you know (or knew) and the food you associate with them. (This is really hard - I just don't make that many food/people associations.)
1. Dad - popcorn and strawberry pancakes as big as your head. When I was growing up there was Wide World of Disney every week. Dad would make a huge bag (think grocery sack) of popcorn and we would all sit and watch. On Sunday mornings, after church Dad would make pancakes that took up the entire plate and then some, and they would be topped with butter, syrup, and whipped cream. Yum!)
2. My hubby - meat (get your minds out of the gutter people.) He's just really good at preparing it. He makes the best burger you will ever taste - I swear.
3. Liz - toffee crack and pancakes
4. Jason - baked spaghetti
5. Sean - deviled eggs

Five things you don't own/have on hand that most people probably do.
I'm stumped, I can't think of anything. Between Bill and I we have samples of most things. I'll have to think more on this one and get back to you.

Five pet peeves.
1. Stupidity
2. Selfishness
3. Things out of order (yes, my house is driving me CRAZY)
4. People who think they know more than everyone else about anything.
5. Incorrect pronunciations (to me.)

Five people who taught you important things (you need not know them).
1. Mom and Dad of course (parents are your first teachers)
2. All the people out there who have persevered despite greater challenges than I have ever faced. I only hope that if I am ever faced with cancer, alzheimers, loss of limb, dementia, etc. that I can do as well.
3. One of my nursing instructors (for the life of me I can't remember her name) that helped me realize that one bad test grade does not determine the worth of the person.
4. My hubby (and he really should have appeared higher on this list) He is the reason I made it through nursing school. He taught me what unconditional love and support are about.
5. My children for teaching me that I have more patience than I ever thought, and yet it's still not enough sometimes.

5 people (or a higher multiple of 5) that you're tagging for this meme:
1. Andrea
2. Liz
3. Cheddah
4. SoopahViv
5. McJedi

What we did on our summer vacation (part 1 of ?)

Wednesday the girls took their first train ride. We got up early in the morning and caught the train into work with Bill. They thought it was so much fun riding the train with Daddy. While we were in the city, we rode muni, walked to Pier 39 (EXTREMELY long walk), got attacked by a bird (more on that later), played in the play area by the Aquarium, saw some sea lions and of course the requisite seagull on a post (along with about 50,000 more), walked the LOOONNNNGGG walk back to the Ferry Building, had lunch with Bill, got some really cute passport photos of the girls done (in preparation for our trip to Germany), stopped at Starbucks, did some window shopping, met Bill, took another muni ride, and hopped the train home. All in all it was a great day, and one I could write reams about since there were so many funny happenings, but I won't. Instead you get the picture book Reader's Digest version. One day I will again be a regular blogger.

I'm so traumatized

Ok, for those of you who don't know, the girls have co-slept in our room since they were born, either in their co-sleeper, crib, or with us. The reasons for this are many though I will not defend nor explain them.

The reason I am traumatized is that for the FIRST TIME EVER the girls slept the whole night in their own cribs, in their own room last night. Needless to say I did not sleep much at all, and kept hearing ever little turn, cough, rustle of blankets, etc. Sam did wake up crying briefly at 2:30 A.M. so I went in and sat with her in the rocking chair till she was quiet again, then slipped her back INTO HER OWN BED and headed off to my bed. I'm sure I will get used to them not being in my room, but it's not going to be easy.

In other news: Riley went for 2 whole days with no accidents including naptime. Sam is dry day and night. Woo hoo!

Thanks to all who sent their healing thoughts to my sis.

Her surgery ended up being about 7 hours. There was some great news though - she is one of an extremely small group of women that had a superficial artery they could use which meant they did not need to dissect the muscle. This makes for a much quicker healing time for her, and hopefully means that her physical activities such as yoga and quigong (sp?) shouldn't be affected. She's out of ICU and on a regular floor now. Hopefully she will be coming home tomorrow for what still promises to be a long recovery. Everything looks great though.

Thanks again.

Skating again

Last night I went skating with Liz (who did awesome). I otoh felt very odd. I realized that I just don't feel comfortable when I don't have all my gear on. For some reason I feel like a total beginner skater (which I am) when I'm just wearing streetgear, but when I put on my hockey gear I gain a lot more confidence, and seem to skate a little faster and a little better (still at the beginner level however.) Kind of odd.

Paid to play

Today I had to go to a 2 hour work meeting, but it was one that I could take the girls to. They were perfectly behaved, and everyone was impressed with how good they were. They did their Mommy proud. And the best part? I got paid to play with my kids. Woo hoo!

A Personal Request

If any of you have a spare moment today, I'd like you to stop and say a prayer, think good thoughts, whatever it is you do, for my sister Cathy. She is currently in the middle of an 8 hour surgery to reconstruct her breast that she lost to a mastectomy as a result of breast cancer. It's a very tough surgery and recovery, so she can use all the good thoughts you can send her. It is one of the final steps in a very long and tough journey for her.

Thank you.

I'm being chased by the 80's

This has been a strange week. Yesterday, as I was driving down the street I saw a young man riding a bike listening to a boom box he had propped on his shoulder. Today, as I was walking down the hall at work I saw a young man talking on a giant cell phone (like the ones from the 80's that were half the size of your head), and he had it chained to his waist ala the 80's.
So weird to have 2 flashbacks in one week. Are we heading into a revival of the 80's or were these just abberations?