Copying

I need to copy my posts to my hard drive so they don't lost forever. Maybe I should find a way to back up my blogs.

Downsizing

I'm downsizing. I've found that nearly everything I want to write about would fit nicely on my homeschool blog. Those few things that don't can easily be incorporated into the homeschool blog under the categories of Toddler-schooling (posts about Josh) and Daily Grind (posts about life in general). So, I'm saying goodbye to this blog and concentrating on Homeschool Distractions. See you there.

India Mahal Restaurant

Do NOT patronize the Indian Mahal Restaurant!

Indian Mahal Restaurant

823 Pacific Ave.

Tacoma, WA

This morning, I took my children over to Ever After, a gift store located immediately next door to the Indian Mahal Restaurnt. While waiting for Ever After to open, I took note of the restaurant. My husband recently tried Indian food and mentioned liking it. I thought about coming back with the family soon to try it out. After my experience with the owner today, I will never step foot into that restaurant and I hope you won't either. This man should not be in business working with the public nor does he deserve your hard earned money.

Like I said, we went to Ever After this morning. While there, my son told me he needed to throw up. I quickly asked if they had a restroom and was directed to the back door and down the hallway. We made a fast beeline there, leaving my daughter in the store (it felt very safe) with our things. My son ended up throwing up on the floor of the hallway. After cleaning it up, we went to leave and found the door back into Ever After was locked from the other side. Oops! So, I tried the next closest door which ended up leading to India Mahal's dining area. I just thought we could quickly walk through. No big deal. We walked about 10 steps through when my son realized he didn't have his bag so we turned back.

When we got to the hallway door, the restaurant owner came at me (in an aggressive stance) and yelled at me, "What are you doing in my restaurant?" I calmly explained that I was shopping next door and my son got sick and needed to use the restroom but we got locked into the hallway so we tried the closest door to get out. He responded by backing me back into the hallway and yelling at me to get out of his restaurant. I, getting a bit angry at this point, asked him if I should just be locked in the hallway all day. He yelled back, that it wasn't his problem and blocked the doorway so I couldn't leave. I can't remember everything he said (other than to repeated say "It's not my problem.") but I don't back down, even from a 6 foot tall man yelling at me while I'm holding a baby and trying to keep my 6 year old away from him so at this point I asked him why he was being such a ________. He didn't answer. He just screamed at me to stay out of his restaurant and it wasn't his problem. I told him I would be informing everyone I knew and the world, via the Internet, not to visit his precious restaurant. What a jerk!

He continued yelling at me and blocking the door to his restaurant and was between me and the locked door to the store I had come from so I had to find another exit. I ended up having to walk, with my toddler and sick son, around the block to get back to the store where my 8 year old daughter was waiting for us. The employees/owners (I'm not sure which they were) apologized for the door being locked and for my unlucky run in with their neighbor. The male employee explained that this guy is always unpleasant and that he had a major run in with him too. He had been in the bathroom and there was pounding on the door. When he opened the door, the restaurant owner began yelling at him and actually grabbed and shook him. Meanwhile, the female employee/owner had to call the police. They ended up filing assault charges against the guy. I'd say he definitely has a problem!

So, PLEASE, don't patronize this restaurant! If you have a blog and are local, please pick up this story and spread the word.

Shhh....

I Hate It When They Do That

My husband showed an interest in I am Legend when we initially saw the trailers for it on TV back when it was in the theater. I was interested as well as I like sci-fi. I was interested in the whole idea of being the only person left alive and how the character would deal with that. So, when I rented a couple of movies yesterday, I picked this one up.

Now, before watching this movie, I knew about the virus-mutated-vampire people. I knew that the main character had run-ins with these mutants. I expected that some parts might be scary because of that. I don't do suspense or scary well. Not at all. However, seeing that the movie was only I rated PG-13, I thought I'd be ok.

Well, I survived the movie...barely. I'm not sure how because that was the scariest movie I have seen in a long time. Throughout most of the movie, I sat there watching the movie terrified. My body tensed. My chest tightened. My hands flew to cover my eyes. I jumped. I even screamed...loudly...twice. I felt like I would suffer a heart attack at any moment.

To rate this movie PG-13 is wrong. It deserves no less than an R rating. The only reason I can think of to explain why it was only rated PG-13 is that there weren't that many violent scenes; however, the suspense was so thick that it gets you worked up so that when those violent scenes do finally show up, it sends you over the edge. Things like that need to be taken in consideration when rating movies so that people like me can be adequately prepared or stay away altogether.

I've noticed this trend of underrating movies. G movies are hard to come by because nearly all children's movies are now PG. PG movies now come with content that is inappropriate for children. PG-13 movies contain content that should only be found in adult movies. Rated R is the old X in some movies. Yet movies that genuinely do fit into the different ratings molds are mixed in with the ones that don't. This means the ratings mean little anymore. If we can't trust the ratings, how are we suppose to know what is safe to watch?

There's a Problem

So there we were testing out our new couches by watching the movie Enchanted. We were all sitting together on the sofa when Sammy got up, got his favorite football blanket, and headed over to the love seat to lay down. Then out in the darkness (we had the lights off), Sammy solemnly says, "Mommy, there's a problem with our new couches."

Concerned, I asked, "What?"

"They don't match my football blanket."

Great Weather Equals Indoor Work

I don't know why it works like this for me but every time I have something I must accomplish indoors and actually do well at accomplishing a lot indoors, it is a gorgeous, must-be-outside day. Today I had to commit to staying home because our new couches were scheduled to arrive. This is the first time we have made a major furniture purchase. The only other major furniture purchase we've made was 9 years ago when we bought our queen bed mattresses. So, getting brand new couches was a big deal. We were excited.

So, today started with the delivery company calling at 8am to give me the delivery window. It turned out that they wanted to delivery between 9am and noon. Aaack! That was in an hour. I jumped off the couch, got dressed, and got started on cleaning up. I wanted needed to clean up the living room before they got here. I also wanted to move the old couches and vacuum under them very well before they got here with the new ones.

So, here's what I accomplished this morning...

I took the feet off the old couches and moved them outside. I had help with the love seat (a friend stopped by unexpectedly and I put him to work). The sofa I moved myself. Then I had the kids clean up all the stuff we found under the sofa. They also helped me clean up the mess we found in and around the corner table. Then I rolled up the throw rug and vacuumed really well, including using the attachment to clean along the wall where the animal fur likes to collect - Yuck! While I was in a roll, I got out the windex (I use it for E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G) and cleaned the baseboards. With my friend's help, I removed the old weatherstipping from the door frame because it was coming apart, leaving sharp points sticking out and I didn't want it to rip my new couches. It was also a safety hazard. While I had the door open, I swept the front porch.

Then the couches were delivered. After getting them in place, I put the tables back in place (we have a corner table, coffee table, and sofa table), and the rug back in place. I vacuumed the throw rug really well too. Then I got out the furniture oil and made them look all nice again. After that, I went through Josh's toy basket. I tossed a few items, boxed up a few baby toys, and had Sammy put away a few other things that made it into the basket. I washed the crystal fruit bowl that I keep on the sofa table between the living and dining rooms. I replaced one of the picture frames and left the others off it because they've been knocked off the table too many times and need new glass now. I also cleaned the window trim and the picture frame. I switched out the two plants. I took one from my bedroom and put it on the corner table instead because it has a really nice pot. The one that was on the corner table got put in the hanger instead.

I love my new, clean living room! And the new couches, of course. Here's what my living room looks like right now. When it gets messy again, I'll just come here and stare at the photo and sigh. : )

I'm thinking we may have to eat a late lunch and then spend a little time outside in our oh-so-rare sunshine. Except I kind of want to stay inside and enjoy my clean living room and maybe get some of the other rooms clean too. Experience tells me that if I stay inside today with the intention to being outside tomorrow, tomorrow will be rainy and yucky outside.

What a Privilege

So, there we were sitting on the couch together watching TV. The show ends and it is time to go to bed. Mika announces that she wants to sleep with me. I tell her, "Sorry, Daddy's sleeping with me." Scott walks into the room and I tell him that Mika wants to sleep with me. So, she looks up at him and tries to convince him to give her his spot in the bed. What wonderful incentive does she give him?

That he could sleep on our old, ripped, yucky, uncomfortable couch one last time before our new one arrive tomorrow.

What a privilege!

And he's such a great daddy that he agrees to sleep on the couch. Sammy sees sleeping on the couch a privilege. He'll be using the loveseat to "camp out" with daddy tonight.

Hungry?

What happens when you take a small-for-his-age 6 year old little boy and give him this kind of day:

9am-10am -- Take him to Home Depot to make a planter box and buy potting soil and flowers for the box.

10:00am-10:45am -- Travel home, change clothes, and eat lunch.

11:00am-12:00pm -- Take regular taekwondo class.

12:00pm-2:00pm -- Sparring (taekwondo) class which includes 45 minutes of intense aerobic workout followed by sparring with various partners. Today was his first sparring class.

2:00pm-2:30pm -- Leave class and travel home.

2:30pm-4:00pm -- Play games on the computer.

4:00pm-5:30pm -- Take dog to the dog park with daddy.

Well, what happens? Do you know?

He eats 4 large slices of pizza for dinner, of course! He was hungry!

Why He's the Hugest

When I see an average-size newborn, I think she can't possibly be full term. At 7 pounds, a baby just looks tiny to me. And any older baby who started at a 7 pounder looks tiny to me. Why is that? Because all mine were huge at birth and two continued to stay quite large for the first year.

Mika was born at 8lbs 10oz and stayed in the 95th percentile for the first year of life. She quickly slowed down and slimmed down after that. She's remained slim, making it hard to find pants for her. Currently (age 8), she should wear a 7 for length but 7 slims are so big on her they fall off so she wears highwaters instead.

Sammy was born at 9lbs 2oz but grew at a much slower rate so he quickly slimmed down. He became a small toddler and preschooler. Most of this was due to undiagnosed lactose intolerance. Once we discovered the problem, he began to slowly gain weight and is now a smallish 6 year old and a size 5 fits him loosely.

Josh beats them all for size. He entered this world at 9lbs 4oz and has gained weight steadily. He remains in the 95th percentile with a head circumference slightly above the 100th percentile. At 13 months old, he is wears size 2T. His pants are starting to get too snug in the waist but are still on the long side. So, how does he manage to stay so big when he's so active climbing everything? He eats, of course. Here's a typical day (up until 1:30pm is today's actual schedule):

6am - wake up mom, nurse me

7am - wake up mom, if you don't I'll sit on your head, oh and change my wet diaper since it is filled to capacity and may leak very soon if you don't.

8am - I'm hungry. (eats 1/3 cup dry Cheerios)

8:30am - change my poopy diaper, nurse me

9am - I'm hungry (eats 1/4 - 1/3 cup cereal in milk)

9:30am - change my poopy diaper, I'm tired, nurse me (he really nurses, gulping down milk not just pacifying)

11:00am - nurse me

12:00pm - I'm hungry (eats a graham cracker)

1:00pm - I'm hungry (eats 1/4 cup roasted chicken with 1/4 cup mashed potatoes)

3:00pm - I'm tired, nurse me (another real nursing complete with lots of gulping of milk)

5:00pm - I'm hungry (how about another graham cracker since mommy has nothing else to offer you)

6:30pm - I'm hungry (eats dinner with us...maybe 1/2 cup or more worth of food)

7:00pm - Oooh, are you eating dessert, give me some, then nurse me

8:30pm - I'm tired, change diaper, nurse me

I'm not sure how many more diapers I'll change between now (2pm) and when he falls asleep for the night (around 8:30pm).

So far today (2pm), he's also drank 11 oz of water.

Is it just me, or does this seem like a lot of eating and drinking going on for a 13 month old?

That was Easy

"That was easy!"
"That was easy!"
"That was easy!"

Josh sure does like our easy button from Staples.

"That was easy!"
"That was easy!"

So does our dog, Sybil. She found the easy button on the floor where Josh left it after pushing it a dozen times and used her nose to push it twice. She does this. She likes to play with Josh's other toys, too. So, if you ever spend the night here, don't be surprised if you hear, "Let's go to the store. Vroooom" or "Escuela, escuela". It's just the dog playing with the toys.

"That was easy!"

There goes the dog again....

Telling Kids to Pick Up

I have been blessed with a toddler who touches everything in some way. He pushes buttons, removes DVD's from shelves, and explores just about anything (and I mean ANYTHING) he can get his little hands on. Because of this, he is often inspecting, carrying around, and playing with the older kids' stuff. You all know how much we have to tell kids to put their stuff away. I have a new way of doing it that may actually sink in.

For example:
Mika left her expensive, but much enjoyed, Barbie Girl MP3 player on the coffee table. Josh, of course, spotted it and decided to pick it up, shake it, and carry it around. I called to Mika, who was upstairs, "Did you really mean to leave your MP3 player for Josh to play with?" She promptly, without any whining at all, came downstairs to get it and put it away. ~smile

What's Next?

It seems as if weekly Josh is giving me even more cause for concern for our future as his parents. If you'll recall, he's only just turned 13 months old but already he:

-- Began walking steadily at 10 months of age and now almost runs

-- Communicates his basic wants and needs clearly (nonverbally)

-- Climbs a variety of objects including the huge rock at Woodland Park Zoo

-- Climbing the back of sofa so he can turn the lights on and off

-- Climbing the back of the sofa so he can try to unlock and open the front door

-- Can climb the stairs, both up and down, without assistance

-- Uses the dog as a step stool to our taller couch

-- Understands that GameCube controllers don't work if not plugged in

-- Eats just about everything and anything

-- Dunks his cookie in milk (after all, he did see me do it...once)

-- Presses just about every button he sees and figured out how to open the DVD players (both the tv one and the laptop one)

-- Climbs down off our bed

So, we have a few new tricks he's added to his reportoire lately. They include...

-- Carrying the step stool around the house and using it to try to reach things

-- Bringing us a diaper after he's had a bowel movement

-- Requesting tylinol (nonverbally, of course) for his aching teeth

-- Clapping at appropriate moments during a play (live theater)

-- Getting kleenix and wiping his own nose

-- Bringing us his coat when he wants to wear it

-- Colors with crayons, pencils, and pens on paper (and my coffee table)

If he's like this now, what can we expect when he is two and three years old?

He's da Man!

We went to a free children's concert up in Seattle today. It turned out to be "underwhelming and unimpressive" to use my husband's words. On the drive home, I was having trouble keeping awake. When we arrived home, Josh was asleep so I headed upstairs with him to get him back to sleep and promptly passed out with him.

Well, while I snoozed (during a time I should have been cleaning up, washing dishes, and cooking dinner) my husband took care of things. He bought and replaced my right blinker for me (it was out) and he headed to the store for diapers (we were down to 3) and frozen lasagna (yum) for dinner.

It's he just wonderful?

A Morning in the Life of...

Just a few happenings in our house this morning (before 9am):

Yesterday, we woke up to a sunny, spring day. By evening it was cloudy, cold, and snowing. Huh? This morning we woke up to snow on the ground. Huh? It's spring! We barely get any snow during the winter much less during the spring. This doesn't look like global warming to me, more like global cooling. The kids got dressed early and headed out to play in the snow before it melted entirely. Strange, strange weather.

I caught the two boys sitting together on the couch. This is a very rare occasion because Josh is usually bullying his older brother. So, I handed the camera to Mika and asked her to snap a photo. It's it cute how they both happen to be holding their chins the same way?

After he tired of hanging out with Sammy, Josh resumed his favorite activity...trying to break his neck. The kid is only 13 months old (tomorrow) but he thinks he is 2 already. One of his new favorite activities is to climb onto the couch (something he's known how to do for a while now) and then climb up the corner where the arm and back meet so he can reach the light switch, doorknob, and deadbolt key.

On a similar topic, we've quit gating the stairs. He climbs them so well, we aren't even worried about him falling any more. He gets to the top and then complains until we come get him down. He does know how to climb down the stairs as well...he just doesn't want to.

And the paw print on the couch? That was put there years ago. All I'll say is DON'T leave latex wall paint uncovered when you own kittens and you need to nurse your child down for a nap in another room.

Movie Review: Mr. Nice Guy

The acting is horrible.
The story line is absurd.
The scenes are pretty insane.

But it's hilarious.



Diana, a television reporter, is in possession of a video showing a cocaine deal gone wrong and the bad guys are after her. As she frantic flees, tape in hand, she bumps into Jackie Chan who is playing a famous Chinese cook named Jackie. Being the nice guy that he is, he helps her out. Without knowing what's happening, Jackie finds himself in the middle of a battle between an Italian mob and a street gang known as the Demons. Neither group will give up until they have that tape, providing plenty of opportunities for Jackie's amazing martial arts and acrobatic skills to be put to use for our enjoyment in his characteristically humorous way.

In this house, we love a good Jackie Chan movie. As with any of his other movies, you'll have plenty of opportunities to see his comical looks of confusion as he jumps, spins, climbs, falls, and fights his way through unexpected situations. His humor is evident through out the movie and his martial arts and acrobatic skills are well-used. If you enjoy this type of movie, you'll enjoy Mr. Nice Guy.

The movie is rated PG-13. The rating is necessary due to violence (fighting, guns, and explosions) and some foul language. However, the comical nature of Jackie Chan's movies really tones it down for me and I feel I'm watching a comedy more than a violent, action film.

Family Game Night

The kids requested a family game night Thursday but it wasn't a good time so I promised we'd do it Friday and do it special. And so we did.

First, we had a fun dinner that we do on rare occasions. It's not healthy but we enjoy it. We had a variety of finger foods: dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, seasoned curly fries, pizza rolls, taquitos, and jalepeno poppers. I didn't do as much variety as I usually do but it was enough. In addition to that, I let each child have a full can of soda to enjoy while we played games. Normally, when they get soda, they have to share a can.

Once we got the food out of the way, we pulled out a game of their choice. They chose Hungry Hippos first.


Josh wanted to get in on the action so I sat him in front of me and helped him work our hippo. He thought it was lots of fun.

It didn't take him long to figure it out and be able to it all on his own. In fact, he refused to share his hippo with me once he got it down.

Sometimes he'd quit feeding his hippo. The older kids, however, weren't quitting for anything. See how intent they are?

Here's everyone, even Josh, in the midst of an intense game. Meanwhile, I was snapping photos and baking a carrot cake. We sampled the recipe recently featured on Pioneer Woman Cooks. My daughter thinks her recipes are awesome, especially her mashed potatoes.

After we tired of Hungry Hippos, we had some cake and played a mean game of Sorry. Mika won. I came in second. Then Sam and Scott spent forever pacing their last piece back and forth, up and down the final home stretch. They'd go up 2, up 1, back 4, up five, back 1, up 1, back 4, up 2, up 3, back 1 and so on and so on and so on until Sammy finally made it home. Scott kept drawing cards. I'm happy to say that he finally, many cards later, drew a series that got him home.

It was a great night. Lots of fun and laughter and not too many issues with poor sportsmanship and tears.

Do you have family game nights? What are your favorite games to play?

Not Totally Lost

I've been more and more absent from this blog. The truth is that homeschooling is so ingrained to the way we live that most of my posts end up on my homeschooling blog. So, I've basically decided to focus most of my efforts on that blog. For the time being, I'm still keeping this blog live because every now and then I want to post something not related to homeschooling...and I'm trying really hard to keep that one on topic.

So, I'll be around. I probably have a post coming this weekend but it's after 1am and I need to get to bed. My baby will be walking me up in just under 6 hours.

Blessed Warmth

Scott was correct; it was our thermostat that was broken. Our local hardware store, the tiny family-owned one, had exactly the right thermostat that we needed. Scott came home with it, hooked it up, turned the furnace back on, and we had heat again. Yea!

It's COLD in here!

Yesterday evening while cooking dinner, I felt cold so I went to check the heat. Our thermostat is a turn dial that easily gets bumped and turned down (or way up) by accident. When I reached the thermostat, I saw that it was already turned up to our preferred temperature of 70 degrees but the house was only at 62 degrees. I turned it way up and the heat didn't click on. It was then that I realized I had been checking the heat all day and the temperature had been going down all day.

I asked my husband to check it out. He played it it for a while and then went down into our cellar and played with the furnace for a while. Then he got online and researched it for a while. Back and forth he went: computer, thermostat, computer, furnace, computer. He finally concluded that he thought it was either a specific part on the furnace or the thermostat itself. Off to Home Depot he went. He arrived home with two parts.

First, he installed the furnace part; it was the cheapest fix. It didn't do it. So, he started to install the thermostat only to find it wouldn't work. The thermostat requires a three-wire set up and ours only has a two-wire set up. Back to Home Depot he went only to return at 9pm with news that Home Depot didn't carry any two-wire thermostats. We'd just have to bundle up for the night.

Fortunately for us, our bedrooms upstairs have their own cadet heaters and don't use the forced air heat from the furnace. We were nice and warm in our rooms last night but when we came downstairs it was only 57 degrees in our house. Today's high is 48 so I'm expected it to continue to get colder in our house. You see, we have 17 single-pane windows on the first floor of our house letting in all that cold air.

We are hoping the little, local, family-owned hardware store will have a thermostat that will work. They often carry parts for older homes (ours is 88 years old) that the big stores don't carry. In the meantime, send some warmth our way, will ya?