Friday, June 8, 2007

Fiderajer

... we interrupt this broadcast to update you on the continuing saga of the refrigerator, which is "continuing", despite the fact that you may have known nothing about it.

Last Monday, Memorial Day, our refrigerator went out. Not like on a date or anything (there's a joke here somewhere about where those little refrigerators come from... "When a mommy refrigerator and a daddy refrigerator really love each other..."). No, it "went out" as in "quit working". This is on the day after I'd been up all night with the dreaded Stomach Flu, which chose to manifest itself in a revisitation of anything and everything I'd eaten since about the eighth grade.

This is also on a holiday when everyone, including the appliance repair people, took a day off. (Good for them. I'm sure they needed a break from all those people hounding them about broken appliances... except, of course, how dare they choose a national holiday that would fall on the same day my refrigerator quit?!?) I called and left an appropriately desparate message for them to please call me back ASAP on Tuesday morning.

So, what with me being sick and completely unable to even think of venturing into the kitchen, my dad came over to help Knight take all the food out of the fridge. Dad took it all back to their house and stuffed it in their refrigerator and freezer. Yay for Dads!

I had to go to work the next morning to finish a few things and check out for the summer. Knight started his new job that day, too. I finished up about 11:30 that morning, and met the refrigerator repairman back at our house at 1:00.

After about half an hour, he determined that the circuit-board-something-or-other needed to be replaced. Did they have the part? No, ma'am. They'd have to order it and it would be in by Friday. Fantastic. Four days without a fridge.

I managed to keep busy for the next few days, and Friday rolled around. The nice lady at the repair shop called to say that they had the part and would I be around on Saturday? Yes, we're having a yard sale, but he can come fix the fridge. Please come fix the fridge.

Now, have you ever had a yard sale? If you have, then you probably know that your whole house looks like a tornado ripped through it because you've been digging around, gathering things to sell. Combine that with a few breakfast taco wrappers and a plate of unfinished pancakes from Whataburger, a yard sale in full swing, and two toddlers running around... and you have a fairly clear picture of our house at 10:00 that Saturday when he came back to install the thingamajig.

About two hours later, we had a hallelujah moment because the ice maker dumped the first batch of ice. I'll never take ice water for granted again.

My sister in law Deanna had come up to hang out and help with the yard sale. After the yard sale finished and I made a trip to Goodwill with the leftovers, she went with me to gather up my food from Mom's house and hit the grocery store. We grilled burgers for dinner, and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning - the first full day with a working fridge.

Fast forward five days to last night. I was feeling sick with this head cold, and a bit stressed, so what's the cure? Why, ice cream, of course!! As I scooped, I noticed that it was a bit soft. Posessing scientific observation and reasoning skills, I deduced that the freezer was going out again. Sure enough, when I opened it and looked, the back was covered in frost. Again.

Called and left another message. She called back. Is your freezer freezing over again? Yes. I can send him back out at noon. Will you be there? Yes, thanks.

He should be here in about an hour. Wish us luck!

... we now return you to your original broadcast...

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Thursday, June 7, 2007

More on the ring, and it's not pretty

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions on the last post about time-outs. Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with the situation since I wrote it (figures!), but I'm sure it will come up again.

We are now the house of the head-cold. Jet brought something home last week; I took him to the doctor last Tuesday. It was "just" a virus, but it threw him for a loop. Knight and I both woke up miserable this morning. To top it off, my sister-in-law is having surgery today, so we have our nieces here. I absolutely don't mind having them and taking care of them, but I'm concerned they'll take it home with them this weekend. Deanna definitely doesn't need to deal with that.

Anyway, Knight and I both went to the doctor this morning. While I was there, I asked him about my ring and the reaction that I've had to it. He just confirmed what the jeweler said -- I now have a nickel allergy, and I just simply can't wear the ring. I semi-jokingly said that I could have Knight buy me a new platinum one, but the he said that almost all rings are made with a nickel alloy to strengthen the metal. He told me I could wear a plastic one. Great!

"Honey, go win me one o' them there nice plastic ones that costs a whole quarter outta that there bubblegum machine!"

"Why shore, darlin' -- yew know yer worth it!"

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Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Time-Out Dilemma

Last Friday was a rough day. I called our place The House of the Time-Outs and Spankings. I had expected it to be difficult -- just getting Jet used to a new routine, etc.

However, we've run into a couple of issues, and I'm seeking opinions.

First, you should know that I'm more prone to use a time-out (one minute for each year of age) for discipline than a spanking. For starters, it doesn't hurt me as much. I hate spanking Jet. Sometimes I feel like it seems to him that I'm taking my frustration out on him instead of the spanking being logical consequences for his actions (a.k.a. discipline). Time-outs also seems to be more effective with him.

So, here are the problems. When I put Jet into time-out, he takes a swipe at me. He also yells while he's in time-out. He doesn't yell any words. It's more like a cross between a scream and a growl, and it's definitely directed at me. He does that about three or four times during his three-minute time-out.

I know that hitting is wrong, and he should be disciplined for it. I usually just consider the time-out to be punishment for the previous incident as well as the hitting. I do make it a point to tell him a stern "No hitting!" when he hits me, and I address it in our post-time-out pow-wow. I make him apologize for both things. He says he's "Sorry for [fill in transgression-of-the-day here] and hitting and yelling". I tell him that I forgive him and I love him.

My question is this: Should the hit and/or yell escalate the punishment? If so, to what? Spanking? It bothers me to say, "We don't hit - here's your spanking"...Here's Your Sign. I don't think a longer time-out is effective or appropriate, so... ?

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Monday, June 4, 2007

Excuse me?

Today has been a good day with Jet. He's a pretty funny kid...

I put him in a T-shirt with a pocket today. To understand the humor, you should know that I've dumped out a ton of dirt from pockets and found countless clean rocks in the bottom of my washing machine. He's definitely ALL BOY.

J: Hey! I have a pock-et!

D: You sure do. What do you put in that pocket?

J, very seriously: Not dirt.

D, stifling a giggle: No, not dirt.

J, still seriously: And not rocks. And not friends. And not peanut budder and jelly samliches.

~~~~~~~~~~
Later, we were looking at pictures on my computer.

J: I wanna be a farmer!

D: Mmhmmm...

J: I'll be a farmer, and you can be.... a COW!!! Yeah, A COW! You be the COW, MOMMY!!

D: ???..... Gee, thanks.

J: You're welcome, Mommy.

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Sunday, June 3, 2007

Meme from Heather

I was tagged by Heather to do this meme, so here goes!!

The rules:

-Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

-People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

-At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

-Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I can tune the world out if I have a good book. Sometimes people have to physically touch me to get my attention. This worries me a bit about staying home with Jet this summer. :)

2. I luuuuurve the Food Network, and it's the one reason I'm even considering getting cable. Otherwise, I hate paying for TV.

3. I never have a problem falling asleep. Knight swears I fall asleep before my head actually hits the pillow.

4. I've scrubbed our shower exactly twice since we've moved in last October. I hate scrubbing the shower. I assuage my guilt by wiping it down every now and then while I'm in it.

5. I actually have stories that start out, "One time, at band camp...".

6. When I was a sophomore in college, I worked in the administration office of a hospital. One of the VPs invited me to eat lunch with Tiger Woods, and I didn't go because I didn't have a clue who he was. *smack to forehead*

7. My sister Beezneez and I shared a room for a long time when we were growing up. This created some hardships at times. After one particularly difficult day, I had a nightmare that something really bad happened to her, and I woke up crying. I woke her up and made her come to bed with me so I could cuddle her. I don't think I've ever told anyone about that.

8. When I was a toddler, I had houseshoes that were Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. One shoe was Bert, the other was Ernie. Ernie's nose disappeared at one point. When asked what had happened to it, I replied, "I bited it off."

I tag Ann... and I would have tagged Heather, but... as she said, "so sue me!"

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Thursday, May 31, 2007

It's official

My status as temporary stay-at-home-mom began this afternoon when I picked up Jet from his last day at playschool.

I'll admit that I'm a little scared. I know I don't have to keep him entertained 24/7 -- he's really pretty good at playing on his own. I just don't think I can compete with his playschool in regards to having his friends there and constantly switching tasks. I even had his teacher copy their schedule for me. I'm hoping I can get some fun ideas from the internet so we have some activities.

We will be taking swim lessons. I have two choices through our local Parks and Recreation department. One is the "Starfish - Parent and Tot" (up to 3 years old) and the other is "Frog I - Preschool" (3-4 years old). My issue is that Jet will turn three on June 21st, so I don't know which one to take. The Starfish course description says, "This class is for parents and tots to learn general safety and swimming techniques while enjoying the water environment"; the other one describes a lot more activities, such as submerging the face for 3 seconds, blowing bubbles, move through water comfortably, etc.

Jet has never been much of a water kid. He likes his bath, as long as it's in his bathtub, with his toys and we keep the routine. He's never liked "Splash Days" at his playschool because he doesn't like to be splashed. Knight can't believe this is his kid -- he grew up on a shrimp boat. I, on the other hand, have never been a strong swimmer. I'm thinking the first one will be more beneficial to both of us. :) They're both 30-minute classes, four days a week, for two weeks. They only cost $30. At least it will be something to get us out of the house!

I went to the jeweler this afternoon. He took one look at my finger and claimed that my ring was too tight. I told him that it wasn't, and he decided to measure my ring and finger "to be sure". It's not too small. He said he couldn't do anything about it, but cleaned it well for me. I never realize how dirty the poor thing gets until someone does a good scrub on it! He did send home some cleaning fluid and advised me to clean it every evening to clean off the body oils. Maybe I should get a second opinion?

I also got this new phone today. I was eligible for a $150 credit for my old one, and I picked this one for two reasons. First, it is red. And red is fun. Second, it's bluetooth enabled. I could get them to waive the activation fee if I bought an accessory, so I got the headset to go with it. I've really gotten nervous about driving while holding my phone, and I think Texas is going to pass a law that says you can't anyway (if they haven't already done so...?). Hopefully I can adjust to using the headset pretty easily.

Off to play with my new toy!

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New Frog "Ungrella"

A gift from Aunt Beezneez last weekend:

Jet has carried it everywhere this past week; he was actually able to use it this morning! He carried it (while I carried him) into his playschool this morning, and his friends were all duly impressed.

Good job, Beezneez! He loves it!

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No, really, I'm married!

I'm not wearing my wedding ring these days. I love the ring (and my husband!), but I've started having some sort of reaction to it.

The inside of the ring has "I love you" cut out of the band underneath the diamonds, which is the reason why Knight bought it. Something is going on, though, because the skin on my ring finger under that portion of the ring started chafing. Because I refused to quit wearing the ring, eventually it got really bad, swelling and oozing yucky stuff. I know, it's gross!

I quit wearing it last Saturday, and my finger is healing. It's still scarred, but I'm hoping it heals well. I'm going to take it to a jeweler today to see what's up. Maybe he can coat the inside of the ring with something clear so I can still see the "I love you".

I feel really naked without the ring, though, especially when I'm out with Knight and Jet. I know that people probably don't look as often as I think they do, but I don't want them to think we're not married. Knight doesn't wear his ring -- all of my good home cookin' has made the ring shrink mysteriously. :)

Anyway, I hope my ring can be fixed easily (and cheaply!).

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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Big enough, but still little

We went to the library over the weekend. It's so nice -- all big and new and clean!

Jet loves to climb this staircase. Last time we were there, I knew I needed to get a picture of him doing this. The juxtaposition of his little self being big enough to climb this huge set of stairs really does something to my heart.

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FREE MOVIES!

BTW, prepare thyselves for an onslaught of posts in the next couple of days. There have been many happenings in the Knight/Damsel/Jet clan. I've not been able to blog, though, precisely because of all those happenings. I shall update you as I'm able.

First things first, though. You may or may not know that bargains make my heart go pitty-pat like almost nothing else can. FREE things make it pitty-pat even faster. Free things that I wanted ANYWAY... ? Swoon! Get the smelling salts!

The incredibly Pretty Mir at WantNot.net wrote this post about free movies at the movie theater! It sounds like a blast, and I'm hoping that some friends and our kids can partake of a few this summer!

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