I'm basically just making this entry so I can write "blissfully boring and normal" three posts in a row :) Oh, and get one more post in for January since I've been such a slacker this month. Probably because my life has been so blissfully boring and normal!
The kids got their report cards on Friday and it really set the tone for a great weekend. Kaylin's was excellent and Logan improved in everything. I was so relieved! He brought Cs in Reading and Language Arts up to Bs and got As in everything else. He was recently moved up to "green dot" books and while I have no idea what that means, he is VERY proud of himself! He's been choosing books and actually reading willingly most nights. Occasionally, he even reads at Latchkey or in bed for fun! I don't know if he'll ever be a bookworm, but at least I feel confident that he'll be ABLE to read what he needs to.
Kaylin and I have been reading the Series of Unfortunate Events. Right now we're on book 11 of 13. These books are the hilarious sequence of misfortune the three Baudelaire children face following the death of their parents due to arson. It sounds terrible, but the writing is fantastic and the books are some of the funniest I've read. It's like having our own little book club; we get to discus all the crazy and unlikely things that happen to the kids. I hope we can find another series to share after we finish this one because we've been having lots of fun!
Tess the cat decided to move back inside the house. She's been living in the garage ever since Tiger moved in almost two years ago. It would be a good thing, except elderly kitty is a major puker. I haven't cleaned this much cat vomit since Sharon's Molo stayed with us. She's been sleeping in Kaylin's bed and last night puked on Kaylin's pillow. Kaylin had to move out to the living room for the rest of the night. Ugh.
Gene and Logan are playing their nightly tackle football game and I can't concentrate. Hooray for it being almost February! Four more weeks and we can at least START thinking spring!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Tiny update
I realized it's been almost two weeks since I've updated, but I suppose that's because life has been blissfully boring and normal. Work, school, home. Lather, rinse, repeat. My foot is holding up well at work with no brace, no meds and little pain. Gene's work is going well and the kids are doing well in school. Tomorrow is Tiger the cat's 2nd birthday and yes, we are going to par-tay! That's as exciting as it gets this week :)
Monday, January 17, 2011
Footloose
Life is back to blissfully boring and normal. My foot is holding up well at work. I expected to be in huge amounts of pain following a full day, but it's completely tolerable. My left leg is still noticeably weaker than my right, but it's getting better every day. I didn't work with my cast enough to mess up my previously healed right foot. My tendon injury on my left foot doesn't hurt at all and the plantar fasciitis pain is improving. I actually have a glimmer of hope that just maybe my foot pain will actually go away. I hope!
Logan had his follow-up appointment from his ear tube and adenoid surgery. The audiologist tested his hearing and everything was in the normal range! That's a huge change from just a month ago! The tubes are in place and he doesn't have another follow-up for 9 months. He was having weird pressure issues at first but I'm pretty sure they've resolved. I'm not positive because if I ask about his ears he just gives me a horrible look and makes a grunting sound. Gene took him to the appointment (since I already missed so much work and was finally back full days) and I had to lecture "Seriously, Logan, you HAVE to tell the doctors and nurses if anything hurts or feels funny!" He gave me a horrible look and grunted :)
Kaylin started taking art classes at Lakeview. It is the same teacher she had at her primary school. I was a little worried she'd be discouraged because the class is for ages 9-14. She was (according to her) the best in her classes last year and some of the older kids are drawing AMAZING stuff. She's had two 90 minute classes and loves them. They've been working on architecture, drawing from photos. Kaylin was one of three kids to win a cookie for drawing detail. (?) When the class is over the parents are invited in and the teacher shows everyone's work. He always teases Kaylin because she can't help but add "cartoonish" detail. Everyone else is very serious about drawing their building- Kaylin adds the sun and covers the walls with birds and flowers. It cracks me up that the teacher has to work so hard to suppress how annoyed he is. Dude! It's a 10-yr-old drawing a building. Lighten up!
Logan had his follow-up appointment from his ear tube and adenoid surgery. The audiologist tested his hearing and everything was in the normal range! That's a huge change from just a month ago! The tubes are in place and he doesn't have another follow-up for 9 months. He was having weird pressure issues at first but I'm pretty sure they've resolved. I'm not positive because if I ask about his ears he just gives me a horrible look and makes a grunting sound. Gene took him to the appointment (since I already missed so much work and was finally back full days) and I had to lecture "Seriously, Logan, you HAVE to tell the doctors and nurses if anything hurts or feels funny!" He gave me a horrible look and grunted :)
Kaylin started taking art classes at Lakeview. It is the same teacher she had at her primary school. I was a little worried she'd be discouraged because the class is for ages 9-14. She was (according to her) the best in her classes last year and some of the older kids are drawing AMAZING stuff. She's had two 90 minute classes and loves them. They've been working on architecture, drawing from photos. Kaylin was one of three kids to win a cookie for drawing detail. (?) When the class is over the parents are invited in and the teacher shows everyone's work. He always teases Kaylin because she can't help but add "cartoonish" detail. Everyone else is very serious about drawing their building- Kaylin adds the sun and covers the walls with birds and flowers. It cracks me up that the teacher has to work so hard to suppress how annoyed he is. Dude! It's a 10-yr-old drawing a building. Lighten up!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Freedom!
Yes! Yes! Yes! I am so happy and excited! Today I not only got doctor clearance to go back to work full-time, but also graduated from the horrible, heavy cast to a slightly padded fabric brace! I find it hard to describe how much I hate that cast! It is The. Most. uncomfortable and awful thing I've ever been forced to wear. It made my other leg hurt, made my plantar fasciitis in my other foot flare, completely knotted the calf it was on. My knees and back hurt. Basically the cast was ruining my entire life! Seriously.
Hopefully I'll be able to handle a full day of work without too much pain. I think I will be fine. It will be nice to be able to take things more slowly, do a better cleaning job, spend some time with my animals and actually take breaks. Yay! I'm ready!
Hopefully I'll be able to handle a full day of work without too much pain. I think I will be fine. It will be nice to be able to take things more slowly, do a better cleaning job, spend some time with my animals and actually take breaks. Yay! I'm ready!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Fan-cee!
Friday morning Logan and I had a breakfast date. Instead of our usual Bob Evans or IHOP, Logan chose Le Peep. Le Peep is a chain restaurant, but rather than flaunting their chain connection, they pretend to be a mom and pop. The menu is huge and diverse and I believe they probably do actually mix pancake batter and crack their own eggs and possibly even cut up their own potatoes. In other words, the food actually tastes good and fresh rather than the processed, fake taste of Bob Evans where I imagine most everything is poured from a package.
Much of the restaurant decor is similar to Bob Evans- hugging stuffed snowmen and generic paintings. However, unlike Bob Evans, the tables are covered in vinyl tablecloths, there are water carafes and actual glass glasses on each table. The windows have curtains instead of blinds and classical music plays instead of lite rock. The Le Peep wait staff wear polos, so Bob Evans, with their button-up shirts, actually has classier uniforms.
Anyway, my point in this never ending description was Logan's reaction to Le Peep. He was SO impressed at how fancy Le Peep was. He spent our entire meal looking around in awe and just taking in all the fanciness. The tablecloth pretty much blew his mind. (I was laughing because it was similar to the tablecloths a former boss used to hang so the tigers could look at them for visual enrichment.) The GLASS water pitcher and glasses were too much to take in. The ceiling fans (plain brown, nothing special) were so fancy! The music! He just kept loudly exclaiming over and over and over how FANCY the place was. It was hilarious! He was very disappointed that this fancy restaurant still had gum under the tables...
I started really thinking about it and other than theme birthday parties (with plastic table coverings) and Grandma Kaiser's family dinners, the kid has probably never been anywhere else that uses tablecloths! I don't even own one. Almost all restaurants these days use plastic cups. I guess the "fanciest" we get is an occasional trip to a steakhouse and even they use plastic cups, at least for the kids. And the steakhouses certainly aren't blaring classical music!
Wow. A very casual before-school breakfast is my 8-year-old's fanciest dining experience to date! I'd consider taking him somewhere that's actually fancy, but then I'd have to figure out how to rein in his loud enthusiasm for pointing out all the fanciness. I'm thinking the other patrons and staff might not find it as amusing as those at Le Peep. Yep. We're just not fancy folk.
Much of the restaurant decor is similar to Bob Evans- hugging stuffed snowmen and generic paintings. However, unlike Bob Evans, the tables are covered in vinyl tablecloths, there are water carafes and actual glass glasses on each table. The windows have curtains instead of blinds and classical music plays instead of lite rock. The Le Peep wait staff wear polos, so Bob Evans, with their button-up shirts, actually has classier uniforms.
Anyway, my point in this never ending description was Logan's reaction to Le Peep. He was SO impressed at how fancy Le Peep was. He spent our entire meal looking around in awe and just taking in all the fanciness. The tablecloth pretty much blew his mind. (I was laughing because it was similar to the tablecloths a former boss used to hang so the tigers could look at them for visual enrichment.) The GLASS water pitcher and glasses were too much to take in. The ceiling fans (plain brown, nothing special) were so fancy! The music! He just kept loudly exclaiming over and over and over how FANCY the place was. It was hilarious! He was very disappointed that this fancy restaurant still had gum under the tables...
I started really thinking about it and other than theme birthday parties (with plastic table coverings) and Grandma Kaiser's family dinners, the kid has probably never been anywhere else that uses tablecloths! I don't even own one. Almost all restaurants these days use plastic cups. I guess the "fanciest" we get is an occasional trip to a steakhouse and even they use plastic cups, at least for the kids. And the steakhouses certainly aren't blaring classical music!
Wow. A very casual before-school breakfast is my 8-year-old's fanciest dining experience to date! I'd consider taking him somewhere that's actually fancy, but then I'd have to figure out how to rein in his loud enthusiasm for pointing out all the fanciness. I'm thinking the other patrons and staff might not find it as amusing as those at Le Peep. Yep. We're just not fancy folk.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Back to Work!
I finally made it back to work! I will be working half-days for a week and then will likely go back to my full-time, regular schedule. I'm still in the cast until further notice. At first I was extremely annoyed about the half-days, but today I am glad. Would I have worked all day? Of course! But man, I'm tired. I haven't been on my feet that much or worked that much for 7 weeks. My feet hurt, but the pain is from being on them; my tendon injury area doesn't hurt at all. My plantar fasciitis hurts a little. I'm putting heat on my bad foot and stretching my good one. I think I'll rest and elevate the rest of the day.
My morning was wonderful. I got an awesome reception from my animals. It was so cool! Yes, I really, truly, actually, for real believe most of them recognized me and were happy to see me. Probably the most flattering greeting was from Darwin, the Galapagos tortoise. Usually the Galaps aren't overly fond of human contact. Darwin heard my voice and immediately came up to the front of his stall to say hi. He even let me rub his head a little. It made me feel really good. I had a volunteer who helped a lot. The piglets are HUGE! It's great to be back!
The kids also went back to school today. After nearly two weeks of staying up late and sleeping in, they were zombies this morning. Kaylin was happy to get back to her friends but Logan was very sad and wished for more time off. Gene went back to work yesterday. We really did have one of the best vacations I can remember. It was great to just hang out and chill rather than go, go, go the entire time. I'll have to try to remember this when I have time off and am not hobbled :)
My morning was wonderful. I got an awesome reception from my animals. It was so cool! Yes, I really, truly, actually, for real believe most of them recognized me and were happy to see me. Probably the most flattering greeting was from Darwin, the Galapagos tortoise. Usually the Galaps aren't overly fond of human contact. Darwin heard my voice and immediately came up to the front of his stall to say hi. He even let me rub his head a little. It made me feel really good. I had a volunteer who helped a lot. The piglets are HUGE! It's great to be back!
The kids also went back to school today. After nearly two weeks of staying up late and sleeping in, they were zombies this morning. Kaylin was happy to get back to her friends but Logan was very sad and wished for more time off. Gene went back to work yesterday. We really did have one of the best vacations I can remember. It was great to just hang out and chill rather than go, go, go the entire time. I'll have to try to remember this when I have time off and am not hobbled :)
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