Project Runway

Last night:

• Angela: Totally deserved to go. Those butt rosettes (fleurchons, as Tim Gunn would say) were heinous. I was worried about Kayne, because his outfit really was too Elvis, but it wasn't as bad as hers. So relieved to see her go!
• Jeffrey: His outfit was good, as in the recycling challenge, but I don't know that it deserved the win. It kills me that he has immunity for next week!
• Jeffrey vs. Angela: I heard a theory that he had a huge crush on her. Now really, that makes sense. Can't you just see him dipping her pigtails in the inkwell? Hence all the deliberately trying to get her goat, etc.
• Laura: Love you, love the dress, how did you manage those heels? Glad to see you a little out of your design box, although I'm not so sure about that color on you.
• Uli: The judges finally called her on always doing the same thing, rightly so, but on a challenge where she was designing for herself, that seemed a little unfair. I think Uli is a major party girl--she again referred to "getting wasted" while at a party.
• Michael: Um, nice, but no standout. I have to say, though, that for the second time, he's changed direction successfully. He thinks on his feet and is flexible.
• Vincent: What a snoozefest.
• Kayne: stop bringing up that you're "white trash." We can see that in your clothes; we don't need reminding.

Now THAT was a nice vacation

Cottage life is awesome.

The beach is awesome (even when the water is freezing).

S'mores on a beach campfire are awesome.

Sitting out on a blanket to see 100 times as many stars as we're used to is awesome.

Listening to the water hit the shore is hypnotically awesome.

Playing games with the kids like Disney charades or badminton is awesome.

No TV or computer is awesome.

My friends who took us up to their cottage for the weekend are awesome!

When we go swimming

When we go swimming at Jeff's brother's pool, my favorite way to get into the water is to jump from the diving board or the side, and kind of flip myself over. It isn't a somersault by any means, but it does make a considerable splash. Last year, I christened this move the Mommy Tsunami.
This year, the Mommy Tsunami continues, with some adaptations. It's been compacted into TsuMommy, although Lauren keeps yelling "Mommy Salami!" every time I walk toward the deep end of the pool. We also have Grammy Tsunami when she does a cannonball (though the resulting waves aren't all that big), and Tsunamis from the three big kids when they jump in. Oh, and of course when Lauren jumps in the shallow end, it's a Lauren Salami. I think that's the one that cracks me up more than any other.

The pool keeps working its magic on the kids. Last week, Sarah swam down to the very bottom of the pool (12 feet) to retrieve some diving weights that had rolled down there. She was coughing and out of breath when she came back up, but I couldn't believe she'd done it!

My nephews have gone from not being able to swim at all to being able to swim well enough and be brave enough to jump off the diving board and swim to the side. My niece has started swimming around the shallow end, and even Lauren has started putting her head under water a bit more.

It's made a huge difference to us, and I'd love to get Jeff's brother & his wife a thank you present. I wanted to do it last year, too, but couldn't think of anything. Any suggestions for a pool-related thank you? I could always do flowers, but that's kind of uninspired.

P.S. I desperately want a digital camera that I can take in the pool.

Can't Believe It, Part Deux

I can't believe Project Runway last night. Oh, I can believe that Keith got booted off for having pattern books under his bed. He doesn't seem too interested in following rules in general. I'm also not suprised that he seems to have no real remorse or guilt about what he did, or that he considered himself a scapegoat. (insert derisive noise here) He was an ass, not a goat.

No, what I totally can't believe is Angela. That outfit was gorge (TM Michael Kors)! Understated and classy, and I give full credit for that to Michael & Laura. They even managed to make her stupid little doodads look cute and stylish. And the lining of the jacket was cute, too! Sadly, she gets the win instead of either of them getting credit. Angela was smart to listen to them and let them have so much input. I still can't stand her.

While I was raving about her last night, Jeff said, "How old are you again?"

Vacation Bible School

On a Roll

We went swimming yesterday with Jeff's cousin, who is an elementary school teacher. Just talking with her about this year's curriculum helped me a lot. I still don't have anything more planned, but I do feel more focused. I'll be doing a lot of planning this weekend, and then next week we'll start reviewing.

Tonight is the Parent's Night at VBS. It's been a fun week, but I am glad tomorrow is the last day.

Loved/hated Project Runway last night.

• I can't believe Angela and her hideous hooker bubble skirt outfit didn't get auf'd. The story alone--about working with kids--should have been enough. I also find it sad that bubble skirts seem to be making a comeback. Two little girls at VBS wore them Tuesday, including our neighbor that came with us. Hate 'em.
• I can't believe Bradley pulled that outfit off at the last seconds, and that the judges seemed to love it so much. I'm glad he didn't go home on his birthday, but still.
• I can't believe that I'm liking Laura considerably less. Scary sternum or not, she always seemed classy. Then she was dissing those cute little dogs. I'm not a big fan of tiny dogs like that, but her active dislike was unpleasant to watch. Then she dissed the fabric of a couple other designers. Her outfit was nice, and definitely her style, but not terribly original.
• I can't believe Michael's fabulously woven bodice didn't make it into the top three.
• I really can't believe Kayne's dress & coat, which was lined with that same fabric, didn't make the top three. The print fabric reminded me a little of Nick's Barbie Challenge dress last season. So few of the designers use bright (loud) fabrics like that, but he really made it work! (TM Tim Gunn)
• I can totally believe that Vincent needs meds. Or more meds. Or better meds. That laugh he had when he was looking at the dog's picture & talking about its outfit was creeping me out!

Been a while, huh?

I know I haven't updated in a long time, but there hasn't been much going on. I think that after all the craziness of Jeff's surgery and the dance recital, I've been enjoying the relative peace and quiet.

Really, there isn't a lot going on. I made some sundresses (I still hate zippers) for the girls to wear to have their pictures taken at a park. I'm planning on going back and taking some pictures of my own in a week or so, to supplement what the photographer got so I don't buy as much.

VBS started this week. I volunteered again, but instead of being a Crew Leader (takes groups of kids to different stations), I'm a Station Leader, and I run Chadder's Desert Drive-In Theater. It's fun, and I get a break when the kids have snacks and get together at the beginning and end. Yesterday, Sarah invited our neighbor to come with us, and to my slight suprise, her mom said yes! Apparently, their church isn't having a VBS this year, so it works out well.

I haven't been working much, but I've got class all next week. Nice paycheck, but I need to plan our dinners, so that I don't have to think too much once I get home.

I've started thinking about school coming up in a month or so. I had such big plans/high hopes for stuff to do over the summer. I wanted to pick up German, music and geography, all of which got largely ignored during the regular school year. Well, they got ignored over the summer, too, so now they're going to be added in to the schedule.

I'm having some trouble figuring out my objectives and units for most things. So far, I've really only worked on Sarah's stuff. I'm really deadlocked with what to do for Lauren. It's early for her to start kindergarten, but when Sarah's working, she wants stuff to do, too, and she was doing so much preschool stuff last year that I think she can move ahead.

I'd like to be able to start reviewing and getting rolling again during the second week of August, but we'll see how it goes.

Recital

The recital went really well, if really long. We didn't get home until about 10:30. Maybe next year's recital can be on a Saturday afternoon instead of a Friday night?

Both girls' performances were fine, though you could see Lauren looking up at the lights and some of the people backstage. Sarah's hat fell in her face, but she just pushed it up and kept on dancing.

At intermission, my mom took Jeff home--he had been sitting in one position for too long and really needed to go, but was glad he got to see them.

After the big finale, I made my way up to the stage to get the girls (younger kids had to wait up there), but it took a few minutes. When I got there, I saw Lauren, eyes red and very upset. When she saw me, she ran up, and clung to me when I picked her up. I think she thought she'd been abandoned, poor thing. And the first words out of her mouth were: "Did you bring me any flowers?" Heh, I bet she saw some other girl get flowers and tried to horn in, and got rebuffed. I told her that of course we had flowers for her, and that Grammy & Grandpa had them down by the seats. We found Sarah, calmly sitting and waiting for us. Sadly, I didn't have my camera to get pictures right there (cameras are big time verboten during performances), but I got a few once we got home.

Dance

Tonight is the Dance Recital. Finally. This week has been so crazy, with rehearsals and pictures and all. I'm glad we're almost done. Both girls want to continue--Lauren is made for Tap, and Sarah wants to try Hawaiian (Jami, you can come and give us some tips!)

Sarah's song is Perfect Isn't Easy from the movie Oliver & Co. Lauren has Rubber Duckie. Yesterday was Dress Rehearsal, and Sarah's went smoothly (although they started the wrong music for a second). Lauren knows her routine well, and her song was going fine, too--until she noticed a lost bobby pin on the stage and picked it up to return it to the teacher. After that, they had to start over from the beginning. And even then, Lauren was so distracted, she was all over the place. I'm curious to see how she does tonight, but if she's remembered as the comic relief, that's fine, too.

He's home!

Yay!

I picked him up from the hospital last night after dinner. How odd is it that he'd been on a liquid diet for two meals, and for his first meal on solids, his choices were:

1. a hamburger
2. mostaccioli
3. cottage cheese & fruit

He still isn't eating much, nor sleeping enough, but he feels a lot better, now that he's home. He has a boatload of drugs, mostly antibiotics, to take for the next couple weeks, and there's no telling when he'll go back to work.

I so don't care--I'm so happy and relieved to have him home!

Evil, the thing about appendicitis is this: usually, you get a little warning. There is pain that is manageble at first, and gets worse. If you catch it in time, the appendix can be removed laproscopically, through the belly button, before it perforates. Jeff's pain was quite severe right away, and by the time the surgeon got there, his appendix had ruptured. There was a hole in his lower intestine, so to speak and some nasty stuff was coming out of it. This is the point where you get peritonitis, an infection of the peritoneal cavity. It's very severe and it had gotten to that point with him. That's also why they had to make a regular incision, and why his recovery is taking as long as it is.

Priorities

While we were all at the ER Friday, waiting for Jeff to be seen, I kept thinking, "I have to be out of here by no later than 4PM in order to get to dance class on time." If it had been a regular class, I wouldn't have cared, but this was the Finale Rehearsal, and it's been drummed into us that it is mandatory--miss this, and you don't dance in the recital.

We did make it in time, and some of the other moms were teasing me about Dance being more important than Dad (at this point, there was still hope that it was not his appendix, just an extreme case of the stomach flu). This is how the imaginary monologue conversation went:

"Honestly, hon, I'd be rather be here with you the whole time, but we can't miss Dance. No, of course you're more important than Dance class. It's just the one time we can't miss. Well, and pictures next Tuesday for Lauren. And pictures Wednesday for Sarah. And Dress Rehearsal on Thursday. And of course, the recital on Friday. Any time other than those, and you're at the top of the list. Really."

The real kicker of all this is that Jeff had been asking if he had to stay through the entire recital. "We have to sit through the whole thing? We can't cut out at intermission, once our kids are done?" My stepdad is already getting ready to tease him about the extremes to which he'll go in order to avoid sitting through two hours of dancing, heh.

In medical news, Jeff is feeling better, although that's still a relative term. We're hoping he can come home in a few more days.

Since I'm awake anyway . . .

I might as well blog about why I'm awake.

I got home from the hospital about 45 minutes ago--Jeff just had his appendix out. It had perforated, and the surgeon said it was pretty ugly. He'll be in the hospital at least three or four days, maybe longer. His total recovery might be as long as a month.

My awesome in laws picked up the kids for a sleepover, so I could be at the hospital without worrying about a babysitter having to sleep on the couch.

I really do need to go to bed.

Garage Sale Weekend

Clean House, it ain't. Honestly, I would love for Miss Niecy to come and deal with all my "foolishness" and bring a crew to get rid of all my crap.

Short of that, we are having our own yard sale. Yesterday went well enough, to the tune of about $150 and a sunburn for me. I realized that I needed to get all the utterly adorable baby clothes that no one is interested in off the table so that people realize that the table itself is also for sale. But what to do with the clothes? I fear that putting them on a blanket on the ground will only make them less appealing, if that's even possible.

Eh, whatever doesn't sell gets donated, although I'll probably cull the best of the clothes for my niece anyway.

Sarah also has a dance performance this afternoon, and then a birthday party, which means that she & Daddy will have to make a trip to Toys R Us this morning.

Summer

Stolen from Snapper

Cookie Monster is probably my favorite Muppet, after Grover.

You Are Cookie Monster

Misunderstood as a primal monster, you're a true hedonist with a huge sweet tooth. You are usually feeling: Hungry. Cookies are preferred, but you'll eat anything if cookies aren't around. You are famous for: Your slightly crazy eyes and usual way of speaking How you life your life: In the moment. "Me want COOKIE!"

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

sick

I've been sick all week. It started on Monday with some sinus issues, then I got an ugly cough, and then a sore throat. By Friday, I made a doctor's appointment. The last time I went to see our GP was when I was pregnant with Lauren (again, sinus issues, about a month before all the wierd stuff with my eye).

At the doc's office, I had a temp of 101.9, and the doc thought it was strep throat, so she ordered a swab. I have a bad gag reflex, so that wasn't fun, but I got through it. But when the test came back negative, the doc wanted it done again (she really thought it was strep), so I got a different nurse, one who really jammed it into the back of my throat. Damn, it hurt. Luckily for her, I hadn't eaten all day, or I think I would have thrown up on her. That test came back negative too, but the doc still gave me a scrip for antibiotics and an expectorant.

So I stayed in my pajamas and watched TV and slept all weekend. Jeff was so awesome. He picked up groceries, and did everything for the kids, including getting them to church in time to plant flowers Sunday morning.

So how do I feel now, after three days of meds? Well, the fever is gone. But other than that, I feel about the same as I did in the middle last week. Barky cough, lots of phlegm, sore throat that I can feel in my ears when I swallow. I don't think I need an expectorant. I think I need a heavy duty antihistamine. I think all this garbage is thanks to sinus drainage (though my nose isn't runny or stuffy at all). My throat is raw from coughing, not strep. My mom suggested Chlortrimatron tabs, and I'll wait until I finish the prescribed meds, but then I'm going to jump on that.

McCall's 4359

Easiest dresses I've made so far. Lined bodices instead of facings, and no sleeves or gathers. Zippers still give me trouble, but I'd rather deal with that than buttonholes. There's a good chance I'll do this pattern again next year, and if I do, I'll make the sash double sided (the only thing I didn't like).

Originally, I wanted to make one of the more complicated views (chiffon overlay, pretty!), but couldn't find fabric that I thought went well together. Last weekend, I was really glad that I was doing the most basic version, since they went together amazingly quickly!

They got new shoes and cardigans from Grammy & Grandpa J., and baseball gloves in their baskets from my Dad & stepmom.

Quickie

Just a quick "hi" so everyone knows I didn't fall down a well or something.

We've been so busy lately, it's nuts. Sarah had a Brownie/Girl Scout overnight carnival last Friday (I got to go, too!), and then choir practice Sat, and both girls went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese on Sunday.

This week is being dominated by sewing Easter dresses. When I originally got the pattern, I really wanted to do one of the more complicated options, but now I'm glad I couldn't find coordinating fabric. Aside from the zippers, they should go together in a flash.

I also have to (FINALLY) take in my paperwork for the German class I started teaching, so I can get paid. We so need the money; I can't believe I've put it off so long. I like teaching German again, but I feel a little out of my depth sometimes.

As for my computer classes, that's just a mess. They still don't have the lab up and running (they moved to a different building), so there's no way of knowing if I'll be able to teach any time soon. I've complained about them so much for so long, but it's really hard to walk away from the money and the schedule that works so well for us.

Lauren is starting her Gym class today. We tried her in Sarah's baseball practice last week, but she just wasn't that interested. Almost all the kids were at least a few years older than she, and she really doesn't have the focus to practice hitting, catching, throwing. Sarah seemed to have a good time, though. Gym is more for smaller kids, with tag, follow the leader, and basic hand/eye coordination. Should be perfect for her, but now we have classes for the kids four days a week. That is right on the brink of being overscheduled, which I always said I wanted to avoid.

Oh, and we started cleaning out the basement. I'm finally ready to get rid of the baby stuff (except for the crib, because that converts to a toddler bed and then we can use the headboard when Lauren grows out of that), so we're in the process of getting it all up to the garage. The big question now is whether to donate it or have a garage sale. If I didn't have such a laundry list of projects that require $$$ staring at me, I'd happily donate it and take the tax credit. As it is, I'm willing to do some work to get a couple hundred bucks. Wish me luck!

A Little Good News, Please

I'm ready for a little turnaround in things. I'm kind of sick of:

• needing to call the plumber, and--$200 later--finding out that "someone" flushed a baby hairbrush
• having Sarah throw up five times since she got home last night (Jeff's parents babysat at their house while I was working)
• having Sarah refuse to eat either chicken broth or Jello, and having neither Pedialyte nor Gatorade in the house, so missy is both crabby and hungry
• learning that my neighbor needs some help getting a resume together (he didn't get fired, but his job is a bad situation, so I said I'd help with getting a resume together)
• my Dad being all stressed out about trying to get their house together to sell
• my mom needing four more chemo treatments (but they're planning to be here by the middle of June, yay!)

So, if anyone wants to leave comments, please tell me something funny or happy. I need it!

Cool!

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