Do you really have to be rude?

I had one of those moments yesterday while picking Bryn up from school when I just wanted to throttle a fellow human...

I pull into a parking space to wait for the kids to come out. Now I notice the lady next to me has parked practically on the line but I am happily in the middle of my space so I worry no further (and I cannot go elsewhere as there are no more empty spaces). Elmer and I sit and wait until the lady in the car next to me scowls at me and rolls down her window. "How am I supposed to get out of my car?" she demands (totally intimating it is my fault she has 2 1/2 inches to open her door because I am some moronic parking pariah). I tell her I don't know and will try to move over, but she practically parked on the line and I wasn't sure what I could do. Does she look to see where she parked? Does she move her car? No. She waits for me to move, rams her door into mine and goes to get her grandkid. Meanwhile I try to come up with some clever comment, and fail. When she comes back she says "I guess I did park a little close to the line, ha, ha," and proceeds to open her door into mine again.

Sigh.

Makes me want to move to a private island even though I wouldn't have curbside trash pickup.

On a brighter note, we went to see "Peter Pan" last night and although Peter Pan was not a stellar actress, Bryn thought it was great. Which made Aaron and I glad we went.

Decorating and picture distress

Another crazy, busy day...

Haircut this morning (it had been 4 MONTHS)- who knows why I wait so long...Oh wait, I know - because it costs a FORTUNE!

Wild Oats for some groceries...I actually have a couple of meals planned for the week. Aaron will tell you that is something that hasn't happened around here in quite a while!

Playdate after school at Maddie's house. All 3 girls escaped unscathed, so a success I'd say!

Decorating the library (for Friends of the Library) for Christmas tonight...just reminded me that all of my decorations are still in boxes and there are only a few short days before I have to have Bryn's new drawer advent calendar filled with goodies and activities (I come up with one activity for each day - go driving to look at Christmas lights, watch a Christmas movie, do a Christmas craft, etc.).

Distress over Bryn's school pictures...we got the right package, but the wrong pose. Thanks for sending the one that looks like she has just been poked with a cattle prod instead of the one that she looks normal in. I may have to go to Walmart to scan it...you'll see why I am not sure I need an 8x10 of this one!

Good news on another picture front...Some "lost" pictures were found on our external hard drive. I am not sure how they disappeared from the other spots they should have been located in on our computer, but I am glad to have them back. I know I haven't been great about taking pictures this year, but I felt sure I had taken more than 6 between January and June!

BTW, Elmer is making it throught the night without potty breaks! Of course I still wake up every hour worried that he needs to go, so I am still not getting much sleep! But hey, we're making progress!

Off to watch "Biggest Loser" and get ready for another full day tomorrow!

More of the same

We had a nice Thanksgiving with Mom and John...the food was great, of course, and Elmer was fabulous in the car. He basically just slept in his kennel.

We made it home last night and today is back to the daily stuff. I need to empty the dishwasher, wash clothes, etc - more of the same! I also need to work on some Christmas shopping as it is sneaking up on me. And catch up on all the blogs I haven't read in the past few days...hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

We're out of here!

We're headed out today to visit Mom and John for Thanksgiving. It should be an interesting trip with Elmer..we'll see if we all survive! I hope everyone has a god holiday and eats plenty of turkey!

Another pretty quiet weekend

Aaron and I had a nice dinner out last night (Italian - yum). Bryn spent the night with a friend, so we had some time to ourselves. We watched "The Fantastic Four" after dinner and I went to bed early...I am such a rockin' date these days!

My goal for tonight is to organize some pictures on my computer and order them online as I don't think I have printed pictures since last spring - scary. I'm sure it will take me much more than one night to straighten it all out, but I guess I have to start somewhere.

It's a boy! (most likely)

We had the big ultrasound today and from the brief glances the tech got it looks like we will be adding a boy to our family! Bryn is quite distressed as boys will now outnumber girls in our house (once the cats and dogs are included).

Most importantly, baby looks healthy and all the measurements are right on (by this time in my pregnancy with Bryn she was already measuring small) and my blood pressure is still fine. The perinatologist says everything looks great thus far and I am hoping for a continued healthy and uneventful pregnancy! I'll go back for another visit with the perinatologist and another ultrasound in a month - hopefully we'll get to say for sure then whether this little bugger is a boy or a girl. For now we're getting busy trying to think of some good boy names...

Playground trauma

Bryn took a tumble off the monkey bars today at school and broke her fall with her face. The school secretary called to warn me she may be a little scary looking when I picked her up today. In all reality, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but it does look like the mulch won the battle! I don't know if the shock had worn off by the time she got home, but my usually dramatic child was relatively unfazed by the occurrence by the time I picked her up from school. All's well that ends well, I suppose!

100th post

It is hard to believe I have managed to babble away for 100 posts - and even harder to believe that anyone has been reading! I started blogging as a way to keep a sort of journal - the journal I have always been too lazy to consistently keep. I didn't expect to find so many other blogs I enjoy visiting and keeping up with - what a fun bonus!

O.K. So for the puppy update...another great night in the crate and a not-so-good day in the house. I must have cleaned up a half dozen puddles today...sigh. Two steps forward, one step back. The bright side is that I think I am going to be able to find a nice place for Elmer to go while we are gone over Christmas. There are a couple of potential doggy daycare options here and my mom and John have generously agreed to keep him if he gets along with their dog. So I am feeling better about not having to leave him in a little box all day and night for two weeks.

We had another Knowledge Bowl practice this week. I am expecting an utter disaster next week as I have been pretty ineffective at coaching the kids. it is pretty hard to get 5 year olds to understand and/or care about rules like time limits and a designated question answerer. Ah well...at least it should be amusing.

It feels like an ice cream night - I think I am going to have to head to Sonic for a little fix.

Hallelujah!

Elmer made it through the night without an accident! So sad that I am so very excited about a dog and its bodily functions, but I am almost giddy! I have been trying to feed him in the kennel to restore the "don't poop where you eat" instinct that he had obviously lost during his days in the pet store. I crated him last night and it seems to have worked! I am not at all convinced this is the end of our housebreaking struggle, but at least it is progress!

Our house is overrun by ladybugs. They are absolutely everywhere this year and I have probably vacuumed up a hundred of the buggers. I always thought they were pretty cool until they came into my house. I love bugs, but they are not allowed to hang out inside (unless I am purposefully raising them).

Bryn went to a little program on poop yesterday at the zoo and I had 2 hours to hang out in Topeka and do some Christmas shopping. I still have a lot left to go, but I feel better to have knocked out most of the kids shopping I have to do. Of course, kids are pretty easy to buy for so I still have the hard people left to go!

I am feeling behind with the house. There are papers piled everywhere and I still haven't gotten the Halloween decorations put away. I guess the motivator will be the fact that I have people coming over Thursday night for a Party Lite candle party - that will at least make me move the piles out of sight!

Everyday happenings

I know it's been a few days since I posted, but there is not much new to report. I had a quiet couple of days after Bryn's sleepover. Yesterday I babysat for MOPS in the morning and took Bryn and Elmer to the park yesterday afternoon. Today I took the van in for an oil change and got some grocery shopping done. I need to be cleaning the house but am totally unmotivated...

Aaron is leaving to hunting tomorrow morning so Bryn and I will be on our own. No big plans yet...we'll probably just hang out and watch movies and paint fingernails and let Elmer in and out. Speaking of Elmer, his bathroom habits are continuing to improve (slowly). Maybe there is hope...

My first reading challenge

I finally put together my list for Annie's "What's in a Name" reading challenge. Here it is:

1. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig
(color in the title)

2. Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
(animal in the title)

3. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
(first name in the title)

4. Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea
(place in the title)

5. Lick of Frost by Laurell K. Hamilton
(weather event in the title)

6. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
(plant in the title)

Some of these books I have been wanting to read and some are totally random picks to fit the category...

P.S. Annie - I truly did try to get one of the buttons but I am afraid that is beyond my current blogging skills!

Toenails and trivia

Never fear...I am not going to tell you about some horrible toenail fungus. Instead it is the day of Elmer's first visit to the groomer. When I brought him in she was behind schedule so I had to leave him in a little cage whining his heart out. I felt really bad until I remembered all of the soiled newspaper I had to pick up out of the bathroom this morning. That tempered the sorrow a bit...

And for those who are waiting with bated breath to hear how the housebreaking saga is going, here is your update. Elmer is doing very well during the day while I am home and there has not been an accident in the house for two days (of course I am hoping that someday I won't have to take him out every 15 minutes, but I am glad for some progress). Nighttime is a completely different story. After the crating debacle, we resorted to newspapering the entire bathroom and locking him in there at night. It is not a pretty site in the morning and taking him out in the middle of the night doesn't seem to help as he is simply so excited to be released from doggy jail he won't focus on the business at hand. So I am at a loss as to how we'll solve that problem...can someone remind me why I didn't try really hard just to talk Bryn into another cat?

On the trivia front, Bryn had Knowledge Bowl practice yesterday. I thought it would be a riot to volunteer and watch a bunch of kindergartners participate in Knowledge Bowl, and it was. I was thoroughly impressed that my kid knew which planet had rings around it (thank you Magic School Bus!) and nevermind that she had no clue who the president of the United States is...She's far too young for politics, right?!?! Anyway, it was a lot of fun.

Bryn is having a friend sleep over tonight (on a school night even!) as Emma's parents are headed to the Garth Brooks concert. As much as I love the girls, I am thinking the concert would be a little more fun than trying to get two girls to quit giggling in bed and go to sleep! Actually, Stephanie is making us dinner as babysitting payment so I seriously may have gotten the better bargain!

All is quiet here

We have had a nice weekend. It has been relatively relaxing if you discount the endless trips to the backyard and constant vigilance required to keep a puppy form making hash out of a house...

Bryn had her fall party at school on Friday. There was a near tragedy when the other mom bringing cupcakes left them on the roof of her van and drove away. Fortunately, she salvaged 4 and I had 18 so we had 2 to spare! Fun times!

I bought a couple of new shirts yesterday to help get me through the colder weather and another shirt to have to wear in Hawaii over Christmas. I am hoping I get to wear my fabulous warm weather maternity wear - as long as baby and I can stay healthy we're good to go!

I went to bookclub last night - we read Graham Greene's "The Quiet American". Not my favorite book, but it was interesting. We had good food - always a highlight of any gathering, in my opinion.

Does something stink?

We had two skunks in our house on Halloween...

There is more than enough candy in the house after a night of trick-or-treating, but we all had fun!

And we had a minor housebreaking breakthrough today...Elmer scratched on the back door twice today to be let out - hooray! Mind you, I am still cleaning up plenty of accidents, but hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Bryn's fall party at school is tomorrow and I actually have already baked and frosted the cupcakes I have to bring.

Now I just have to get some clothes out of the dryer and settle in for Grey's Anatomy - life is good (except the laundry part!).