First Barbeque of the Season!

Saturday we traded in last year's empty propane tank for a full one, and I'd gotten a couple of choice pieces of meat from the butcher counter (steak for Jake and 2 large butterflied porkchops for me and the boys), we made veggie packets and everything was cooked to absolute perfection. AND the KIDS ATE EVERYTHING. Hayden didn't try the steak, but Sage did. They both loved the pork chops. And ate cooked carrots. And Sage discovered that he likes sour cream. By the forkfull. Which I gave him a few big dollops of because hey, it's almost yogurt, isn't it? Only better for him cuz it's higher fat? Anyway I was so happy that they weren't picky. Their chicken nuggets/preformed hamburgers/hot dogs/pizza-only-diet is expanding! *wipes a tear* I'm so excited.

Our Yummy First Barbeque

For christmas last year Carol gave me a humane bug-get-ridder-ofer. Since the bugs are now awake again, I used it for the first time to get rid of a spider in the bathroom (instead of my usual spraying-it-with-hairspray technique).

Proving I used it. Step 1: Catch

Step 2: Carry outdoors (and try not to drop it from heebie-jeebie shakes)

Step 3: Let free outdoors (then run back inside so it doesn't follow you)

Did another one bite the dust?

I heard more bunny screams last night. I went outside but I didn't see any cats or bunnies or anything. It was dark, but nothing in the shadows was moving. I feel sad but I guess the natural order of things is something I can only think I can prevent.

Maybe if I got a really good flashlight... and a foghorn... and a kitty muzzle... and something sour or spicey to spray on the bunnies so Kitty won't like their taste....

*goes shopping*

Mutual Of Omaha's Wild Kingdom - At-Home Version part II

Well last night I heard the bunnies screaming again. This time it was pretty late, and Jake had already gone to bed. I was up watching So You Think You Can Dance on the west-coast channel. I love that show! But back to the bunny screams. They were screaming. I got up to go chase Kitty inside, but I was too late. I saw her carrying the baby bunny from behind the van into the shrubbery. The momma bunny was under the van. I went into the yard and Kitty dropped the poor little thing, which was still alive but stunned, and I wanted to grab Kitty and let the baby hop away, but I took a moment too long to think about which to grab - cuz I thought for a second that maybe I should grab the baby, then changed my mind - and Kitty did the grabbing and ran away under the McDowell fence with it. The momma bunny following along behind her a good distance away, in the shadows. I'm holding a grudge against Kitty.

Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom - At-Home version

Last night we had some excitment around here. Kitty was outside and it was probably around 8:30pm. Kids were in bed. We had the front door open because it was really warm, so just the screen door was closed. There was still plenty of light in the sky. Jake and I were watching the finale of American Idol (I'm mad about the winner, but that's a different blog that I probably won't write) when all of a sudden we heard a lot of really loud squeaking. I said "Kitty probably got a bird, or it's trying to distract her from one of it's babies" in the way that birds do, faking a broken wing away from it's little babies so the hungry hunter doesn't get them. Jake looked outside and said "She's got a baby bunny!"


I got up to look and Jake held Tilly back while I went outside. I didn't want her to kill the baby of the bunny that lives around here. I have pictures from earlier this spring when the bunny moved in. I may post them soon. Or not. Anyway when I got outside, I was expecting something completely different from what I encountered.



Here I was thinking Kitty would be holding down a bunny, all ferocious and killer, but what I saw was Kitty running down the yard towards me, the momma bunny chasing her! She was (forgive me) 'hopping' mad. (hehehe!) The bunny didn't even stop or run away when she saw me. She even kept coming. Kitty was by this time hiding behind my legs, and I thought, oh no, I'm going to get bitten by an enraged rabbit! But she stopped and just stared at me. Then she hopped to the left of the yard, turned around and watched us again. Kitty took a few steps away from me, back in the direction she'd come, but the bunny hopped in three long leaps to block her path. All the way across the yard! In three leaps! I was amazed. The side view of a bunny hopping with all her strength is amazing. Such a tiny body can stretch out REALLY long. Kitty turned around again and skuttled back to the safety of my legs. I picked her up and turned to go inside. The bunny retreated up to where the apple tree is, turned around, gave us the finger, and hopped away. We went inside.


I think this bunny's cousin guarded the caves of Kyre Banorg. The entrance to that cave is guarded by a creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it and lived! Bones of four fifty men lie strewn about its lair. So brave knights who doubt their courage or strength shouldn't go there, for death awaits them all with nasty big pointy teeth.

Monty Python's Holy Grail - excerpt

Scene 33

[clop clop whinny]

KNIGHT: They're nervous, sire.
ARTHUR: Then we'd best leave them here and carry on on foot. Dis-mount!
TIM: Behold the cave of Kyre Banorg!
ARTHUR: Right! Keep me covered.
KNIGHT: What with?
ARTHUR: Just keep me covered.
TIM: Too late!

[chord]

ARTHUR: What?
TIM: There he is!
ARTHUR: Where?
TIM: There!
ARTHUR: What, behind the rabbit?
TIM: It is the rabbit!
ARTHUR: You silly sod! You got us all worked up!
TIM: Well, that's no ordinary rabbit. That's the most foul, cruel,
and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on.
ROBIN: You tit! I soiled my armor I was so scared!
TIM: Look, that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide, it's a
killer!
KNIGHT: Get stuffed!
TIM: It'll do you a trick, mate!
KNIGHT: Oh, yeah?
ROBIN: You mangy Scot git!
TIM: I'm warning you!
ROBIN: What's he do, nibble your bum?
TIM: He's got huge, sharp-- he can leap about-- look at the bones!
ARTHUR: Go on, Boris. Chop his head off!
BORIS: Right! Silly little bleeder. One rabbit stew comin' right up!
TIM: Look!

[squeak]

BORIS: Aaaugh!

[chord]

ARTHUR: Jesus Christ!
TIM: I warned you!
ROBIN: I peed again!
TIM: I warned you! But did you listen to me? Oh, no, you knew it all,
didn't you? Oh, it's just a harmless little bunny, isn't it? Well,
it's always the same, I always--
ARTHUR: Oh, shut up!
TIM: --But do they listen to me?--
ARTHUR: Right!
TIM: -Oh, no--
KNIGHTS: Charge!

[squeak squeak]

KNIGHTS: Aaaaugh! Aaaugh! etc.
KNIGHTS: Run away! Run away!
TIM: Haw haw haw. Haw haw haw. Haw haw.
ARTHUR: Right. How many did we lose?
KNIGHT: Gawain.
KNIGHT: Hector.
ARTHUR: And Boris. That's five.
GALAHAD: Three, sir.
ARTHUR: Three. Three. And we'd better not risk another frontal
assault, that rabbit's dynamite.
ROBIN: Would it help to confuse it if we run away more?
ARTHUR: Oh, shut up and go and change your armor.
GALAHAD: Let us taunt it! It may become so cross that it will make
a mistake.
ARTHUR: Like what?
GALAHAD: Well,....
ARTHUR: Have we got bows?
KNIGHT: No.
LAUNCELOT: We have the Holy Hand Grenade.
ARTHUR: Yes, of course! The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch! 'Tis one
of the sacred relics Brother Maynard carries with him! Brother Maynard!
Bring up the Holy Hand Grenade!

[singing]

How does it, uh... how does it work?
KNIGHT: I know not, my liege.
ARTHUR: Consult the Book of Armaments!
MAYNARD: Armaments, Chapter Two, Verses Nine to Twenty-One.
BROTHER: "And Saint Atila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying,
'Oh, Lord, bless this thy hand grenade that with it thou mayest blow
thy enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.' And the Lord did grin, and
people did feast upon the lambs, and sloths, and carp, and anchovies,
and orangutans, and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats, and large --"
MAYNARD: Skip a bit, Brother.
BROTHER: "And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the
Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three
shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting
shalt be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two,
excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once
the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou
thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thou foe, who being naughty
in my sight, shall snuff it.'"
MAYNARD: Amen.
ALL: Amen.
ARTHUR: Right! One... two... five!
KNIGHT: Three, sir!
ARTHUR: Three!

[boom]

Theft and the Ensuing Guilt

My friend wants some rhubarb. Up the yard near the front house there's a huge patch of it, so I offered to grab a root of it for her. The gardener always prunes it back every year anyway, so I figured it would not be missed. They really prune back the raspberry bushes too. They love pruning, them gardeners. Jake and I don't get along with the gardeners. The main one is a crotchety old jerk. Last summer the younger one - who is about 15 years old - drove the riding mower over Lacey's old tie-out and they spent an hour untangling it. We apologized to them profusely, explained how our dog had died on the highway, and asked if there were any damage, to which they replied No, there was no damage. But they were not satisfied with our heartfelt apologies. The crotchety old one complained to the main McDowell Handyman - Walleye we call him because his eyes look in two different directions like a wall-eyed fish - he doesn't like us either if our yard isn't perfectly neat and tidy - where was I? Oh yes - he complained to Walleye about the tie-out who also came over to yell at us about it, who then complained to Bernie McDowell - who hadn't died yet - who drove up his car (well Walleye was driving cuz he was pretty far gone with Alzheimers by then) to talk to us about it, only he had forgotten why he'd come, and instead of yelling right away he introduced himself to me (we've lived here almost 4 years) and said they were either going to trim the hedges or take them right out. At which point I said "But they really do help us with privacy" and he changed his mind back to just trimming them - and then Walleye reminded him to chastize me about the dog chain which he started to, but I'd had enough. I leaned in the window (I was on the passenger side, next to Mr. McDowell) and said to Walleye that we'd already been informed about the chain twice, we'd already apologized a great deal to him AND the gardener at the time, and didn't feel it was necessary to bring it up a third time. Especially since there had been no damage. Also, I added, the boy should have been looking where he was driving. And Mr McDowell said "yes he should have been watching" ha! Walleye looked grumpy and they took off. One time when we had a few garbage bags next to the house, Walleye had said to Jake if we don't tidy the yard up we'd get evicted, which was illegal of him to say to us, according to the Landlord and Tenant Act.

Back to the rhubarb. I took a chunk and as I was putting it into a bag outside, a grey car much like Mr. McDowell's drove slowly past the house, then reversed to pass our house again. I went inside and locked the door and hid in the bedroom for half an hour. Just in case they were going to yell at me for stealing some rhubarb. No one knocked on my door though, but MAN did I ever feel guilty.

Well that didn't work.

Back to the old way.

I learned a lesson though: Stick With What You Know When You Don't Know Much About What You're Doing

heh

comments.. where aaarrre youuuu?

hmm.. what did I do wrong..

Trying Something New

I'm trying something new with comments via Typepad instead of blogger. I'm following several typepad blogs and like their style, so I'm giving it a go.

Note: I only had 2 heart-attacks while editing my html, thinking I'd permanently deleted my blog without saving a back-up version of the code first. What could go wrong? I *almost* know what I'm doing... yah. Back-up old version now saved. Which is good, because if I don't like the changes I can always go back to the old way now!

I sooo smort.

Recommendations

I have mentioned before that I love Finslippy's blog. Today when I checked her out, she raved about this blog that she loves. I read and read and read through it.. I love it!! And I think you will love it too. So go there. You have time, just go :)

http://thediamondinthewindow.typepad.com/the-diamond-in-the-window/

http://www.finslippy.com/

Today

I wanted to write something about my mother for Mother's Day today, but I can't.

What I can do is tell you that my kids said Happy Mother's Day to me about a zillion times, and even sang Happy Mother's Day To You (sounds like Happy Birthday). Sage's version sometimes did lapse into Happy Birthday instead.

When I put the kids to bed we read a story or three, then I sing a few songs, then it's time for sleep. I usually ask the kids what songs they want. Hayden always raises his hand and asks for "The Cow Jumped Over The Moon" which I don't really know the tune for, but I made something up that suffices. He usually asks for it twice, and I sing it through twice per request. Sage never asks for anything, but says YAH! with enthusiasm whenever I suggest something. Tonight for the first time Sage ASKED for Twinkle Twinkle, and even SANG ALONG with me and Hayden. Then he asked for Itsy Bitsy Spider and made the little spider hands and sang along while we all sang. The spider hands aren't new, but the singing along is. So I couldn't really have asked for anything more from my children.

It was also our Tilly-versary today. I received Tilly as my mother's day gift last year. I sang Happy Tilly-versary to Tilly a lot today too. She jumped around and got excited and shed. She is shhhhhhhheeeedddddiiiiinnnnnggg. A lot of shedding from a small dog. Clumps of fur. Not just her undercoat either. Her long guard-hairs are coming out by the fistful also. FISTS FULL. Yesterday I took her outside and, since we don't have a brush or zoom, used my fingers to rake her fur and try to get out the loose ones. Hayden was looking out the door and said "There's hairs flying around." There was a CLOUD of fur flying all over. She loved it too. Those zooms are AWESOME though. Lacey's zoom worked wonders, but it got left outside and ploughed away in the winter. They're rubbery large-toothed brushes that grab all the loose hairs quite efficiently. You know what's fun tho, is seeing little white undercoat hair clumps sticking out on her rump, grabbing it and pulling out a huge wad of fur. That is sooo relaxing for me. It doesn't relax Tilly though. I don't think it hurts her, but it must itch or something because she gets wiggly. Maybe it tickles.

Health Report
Sage had that stomach flu for five days. Hayden had it for 2 1/2 days. Jake called me at work on Friday afternoon to say he had puked. Which sent me into a panic because up till then I was hoping it was one of those "children only" flues. I was trying to think back and remember if the stomach flues my sister or I ever got was shared with my parents, and I don't think they ever were. Germs had more respect back then I think. Anyway my hopes and dreams of me and Jake remaining flu-free were dashed. And at that point Hayden was still sick, so I didn't know he was going to have the abbreviated version. Luckily, Jake also had the abbreviated version, and I have not had any symptoms yet at all. I hope I didn't tempt fate by typing that out.

My back is so-so. I saw the chiropractor last week and was very excited about our first consultation. I believe she will be able to help me a lot. My first adjustment is tomorrow morning. I found working afternoons instead of mornings to be better, giving the pain killers time to set in and prep for the strain of sitting up straight. She did a couple scans of my spine and had explained that if the bar graph showed white, there was no stress, green was mild, blue medium, and red was severe stress. When I saw my graphs, a few were black. I asked what black meant, and she said that black was worse than red. Ahhhha. She poked around my neck and asked if I'd ever hit the right side of my head. I told her I had fallen down some stairs about 8 years ago and had hit my head on the concrete floor, above my right eye. I got stitches and a wicked black eye. Wicked bad, not wicked good. I was amazed she could tell! She also reported that my left leg was shorter than my right because the muscles in my back are so tense and tight they're skewing up my hips. And she asked if I'd ever been to the chiropractor before. I had, about 7 years ago because my lower back was starting to be a bit of an issue, because of my tendonitis in my arms, and it was covered by work so I thought "why not?". She asked how long after the fall did I go.. and it was about 8 months or so. She said it was very possible that it was the fall that put bones out of alignment, taking that long to become such that I wanted to do something about it. I thought that was a very interesting connective leap. The xray that I'd had done a few weeks ago is being sent to her office, so she'll have that to refer to as well. My family doc had told me it was normal, so to answer your question Sarah, No I didn't get an MRI. I forgot you have a herniated disk. What are you doing with it? Is it fixable? Work-aroundable? Does that kind of thing show up on an xray?

I hope everyone had a lot of love for their mothers today. Give them hugs and kisses from me, please.

Stomach Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

The kids are sick. Veeeerry sick. Sage started throwing up Friday night and didn't keep a drop or crumb in all weekend. I called Teleheath (registered nurse's advice over the phone) and since she described some things that his throw up wasn't, we were fine with her advice to just treat him at home and give 2 tsp of water every 10 minutes for 8 hours, then bland foods if he keeps that down. Then a few hours later he threw up something that the nurse had asked about, coffee grounds, and I called her back. It's coffee grounds now, should I be more worried? Defcon two? I had a different nurse that call and she said yes, I should bring him in to emergency within the hour. She was going to fax them a copy of our conversation. So I took his little self to emerge and we were there for 6 hours. The night before my first day back to work after being off for my sore back. Six hours in waiting room chairs. Well sorry no. That's an exaggeration. The last 45 minutes we were in a little room and there was a gurney. But the other 5.25 hours I sat in a chair holding sleeping weak little Sage. He was so tired with this flu that when walking from his bedroom to the living room he'd stop in the hall, kneel down, put his head on the floor and pass out. Or at the table. Or in the middle of the living room. He was falling asleep anywhere. At the hospital, this was good because it meant I didn't have to wrangle him. But I did have to hold him. And his breath wasn't amazing. So when we saw the doctor, she asked some questions, probed his tummy, checked his ears mouth eyes and diaper, and good news - he wasn't dehydrated and she didn't feel anything hard in his tummy. So she said give him 2 tsp of watered down juice every 15 minutes. We were out of there around 2am.

So monday I returned to work for the full day. I had 389 emails. When I got home, my back was sore and Sage was no better. Still crying for water in his heart-wrenching way "waaater.. waaaater" and still sleeping all over the place. A few hose-downs were necessary for some messy other accidents, the details of which I spare you. Tuesday I went to work again and talked to HR about modified hours, so I don't over do it. This was approved by my manager and the rest of the week I'm working 1/2 days. Next week is to be determined. When I got home, Sage was actually chipper, and was awake the entire afternoon until bedtime! Dramatic improvement. And then late last night Hayden started to throw up. And the other thing. The other thing in bed with me. I got home today and Sage was not over throwing up. It's kind of miserable in here. Jake and I are just waiting for our turns with ominous dread. I'm washing my hands so much it hurts.

For my back, I'm going to a chiropractor tomorrow and a physiotherapist at the end of the month, both services for which I have coverage from work benefits.

I'm tired. I'm cranky. I'm sore. And tired. And fearful of when and where the flu will hit me.

Outdated Easter Photos

Friday: Szabbies come to Sudbury for 4 days! Dinner at our house Friday night.


Saturday: Treated to Science North as a Raciszabihussicots Clan by Patriarch.

chain o kids

Science North was sooo interesting on the way in, we could've spent all day with the parabolic echo wall, locker room, bunnies and chickies, water fall, and plastic practice milking cow (with functioning milkable teats)!

black chickie and kid cluster - only one kid isn't ours. can you tell which one?

Sage pats the bunny. Can you pat the bunny?

Interesting caves lead us to the exhibits.

Promo for Uncle Ron's 3-D movie which unfortunately we couldn't work into the schedule.



Grampa investigating the tiny play-cave.


Twinsies running into the tiny play-cave. It's only as big as you can see there.

examining horns and antlers

Hayden said "This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built." when we got to the rat exhibit.

Snap Snap! This one's for you, Delbert. May you rest in peace.

Mindi, concentrate on Sage's uber-cute expression and don't read what's next!! While we were examining this milk snake, an employee came by and said that this little guy was lost within the center for a month because he escaped his prior habitat. Eeeeeeeeeeek.


If you bring in a piece of nature, you can trade it for what they've got in all those shelves and drawers. My dad gave Anya and Hayden little rocks to donate, and they each picked out a bunch of shells.

Sage and some dinos

Carol took this beautiful butterfly portrait.

Twins on a Butterfly Bench

And then the most hideous Easter Bunny in the entire briar patch came by to hug the children. Hayden wasn't terrorized. He wasn't even shy!


Sage would not get closer than this to the bunny, and yet he also was so intrigued that he wouldn't move away from the bunny either. He had to be carried away and he complained the whole time. Weeeird. I think the large flower on the hat was hypnotizing him.


And then I was brave enough to hold Sammy Snail's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-...-great-great grand-nephew and/or neice. This snail is clinging to a rotting piece of apple he or she had been eating for lunch when plucked from his or her habitat to be held by various people such as I. It wasn't too bad until he or she started to go forward. And then I was done.


On the way out, we stopped and touched a piece of history. Coke-a-cola sponsored photos being taken with THE Olympic Torch, which we downloaded from the website about a week later. Complete with police guard. Plus an athelete. And a really tall dude. And a winnibego.


Sunday: woke up with sore back, had Easter presents for the kids at our house. Deux parapluies et du chocolate. Not many photos of easter at our house because of my sore back making me grumpy and ibuprofin not working fast enough.



By 10am-ish we were back at my dad's and had the easter egg hunt for the kids. I'd given them bunny bags to collect the jelly-bean filled treasures.

Finding Eggs

The Official Count for fair-and-square divvying.

And since it was such a nice day, we didn't want to go back inside. We threw plastic balls all over the yard and Carol invented running-around games for the kids to play.

Put All The Red Balls Into The Yellow Hoop game
Throwing More Balls Into The Yard

Hoop Toss

Sand Garden Play

Run over there and salute the captain! now... run back here and swab the deck!

Hayden introduces The Face to a young Szabbicotian. (Is that pronounced Szabico-ee-an, or Szabicoshan? hmm)

Quick mastering of The Face

And so it spreads, as The Face has tremendous appeal for young minds eager for attention...

nuff said

Carol tells Stories

A Very Interesting Look

At one point during household nap time, Anya meticulously arranged all the toys in the playroom while Carol slept on the couch. Note the symmetry in the wooden block castle. Note the cars under the coffee table.

Note the windowsill guys. And the stuffies bookending Carol. I couldn't believe it and had to take pictures.

Kids Being Have

These are some pictures from the week before Easter that I wanted to post as well:

A cool Hayden-taken photo

Hayden drew a "mushroom" on the right, and traced his hands on the left. Easel purchased from Kijiji ad for $7.

At daycare Hayden's class made bunny ears and also washable-markered on whiskers and bunny noses. Hayden also wanted a bunny beard on his chin, to be just like Daddy.

At school Hayden's class made bunny ears which he shared with Sage, since he then had two pairs.

whew. sorry that took so long.