Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The Merry Month of May


Bad me! I forgot to mention Dwayne's birthday in our blog last month! On April 29Th he turned 41 years old. He wasn't in the best of moods, it seems now that he's getting on in years he's less and less enthusiastic about his birthdays. So, needless to say it was a pretty uneventful day for him.....per his request. I made a new recipe for him that didn't turn out as I expected but it was good none the less. We baked brownies instead of cake so we had hot, gooey brownies and ice cream for dessert. I think it's safe to say he had a Happy Birthday.

Calvin has been a giant brat this month. I'm not sure if it's the end of school "crazies" or if he's trying to test our limits, but it's getting old very fast. It seems he's made a friend in his class who is wise beyond his years due to having an older brother, and they tend to chat A LOT about inappropriate things during class and lunch (finally someone to blame besides me!). I've had a few talks with his teacher in the past 3 weeks or so and I've come to cringe every time I see her approaching me when I pick him up at the end of the day. We took everything away from him that we can think of and so far that's seemed to work. He's slowly earned some of his prized possessions and favorite privileges back. I'm hoping he keeps up the good work because I don't want to have to resort to riping off his arm and beating him with the bloody end. LOL. Just kidding!!

My old friend Tracy, from high school came to town this week. Dwayne and I met her and her fiance Jay down on the strip for some fun and we all had a blast (thank you tons for babysitting for us Cheri!! Love you!). We had dinner at Margaritaville, good food but way too much of it! The margaritas were good too! I had more than my share of drinks cuz I don't get to get my drink on too often...in other words I'm not always such an animated chatty Kathy, Tracy ☺! It was almost like time stood still, we just picked up where we left off over 20 years ago. Even our guys got along like they were old friends. It made me give a good consideration about going to our 20 year class reunion (when did we get this old?!). I'll go if you go Tracy! Cheers to you and Jay and to rekindling old friendships!!

Calvin gave us quite a scare last night. I made ravioli with pesto sauce and it had pine nuts in it. We knew he has a slight allergy to some nuts but I didn't know that meant ALL tree nuts. Well, his lips swelled to twice the size, he felt like he had something stuck in his throat and was having trouble breathing. I called his doctor and he said to give him benedryl and if he didn't improve in the next 45 minutes to take him to the ER. The swelling in his lips went down but he had a bad belly ache. He finally threw up an hour or so later. It was scary and a little confusing because he's SOOOOOO DRAMATIC about everything!! (I know my family is saying "Oh, I wonder where he gets that from Kelli?" Yah, yah, I know, he's a mini me, I see more of it everyday and it scares me!) After he got sick he was much better but of course he milked the situation for a long while after that. He should really take up acting and put all that drama to use.

Zach and I have been on the adventure of potty training lately. I DO NOT like this adventure and apparently neither does he. He only uses the potty if he's naked, and even then it's touch and go. One morning I found a naked Zach in one room and his poopy pull up in another, it was not pretty! I'm thinking maybe we should take a break from it for now and come back to it later. Eventually he'll get sick of the "not so fresh feeling" of a diaper right?

I have 2 bits of great and exciting news!!! First is that my dear friend Kristen who has been fighting Inflammatory Breast Cancer had a PET scan a few weeks ago and it came up clean......NO CANCER!! I truly feel that this is a miracle!! I am so excited and happy for her! It's about damn time! She's been fighting this horrible battle for almost 2 years now!

Second......it's official! I'm officially enrolled in school to become a Dental Assistant! I can't believe it! I can't believe I'm going back to school at 38!! Yikes! I'm very excited about it and am looking forward to the change and challenge! It will be so nice to actually have a career! I will keep you all posted on my progress and such as I venture on this scary yet exciting journey!

We finally joined the YMCA again! Yay! I worked out 3 times last week. I'm going to try to at least walk 2 miles every other day. I think I'm also going to take a yoga class on Fridays too. I've quit drinking Coke which I never thought was possible for me! I LOVE Coke! I stopped for about 3 days then drank one and it ate a hole in my belly. I figure I'm much better off without it. Now I'm addicted to iced tea from Fresh & Easy. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that store!!! They finally opened the one down the street from us so I'm there all the time!! I'm happy to report I hardly ever go to Walmart now! I hated giving almost all of my money to those greedy bastards!

Well, I suppose that's about it for us this month. It was prettty uneventful. I'm sure next month will be full of drama since Calvin will be out of school as of June 4th. I'm hoping we can survive the summer without becoming sworn enemies. He's been showing real effort in being good and so have I. He really gets on me for cussing and now Zach has picked up on that too. It doesn't matter what word I say Zach tells me "Stop cssin Mama!" The older they get the more I have to mind my Ps and Qs and it getting harder and harder! Damn kids. Haha!

Love you all, mean it!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Spring is over and now I'm HOT!

As you can see from the slide show we spent Easter with the Ferencys. We spend a lot of time with them now that we live so close to them, so much so this is like their family blog too. LOL.

Any way, Easter was fun. We went to their house in the late morning to hunt for eggs filled with candy. Calvin wasn't too pleased about having to give the little guys a 3 minute head start. In the end though they all collected about the same amount. Zach really got a kick out of it. After nap time we went back over to their house for a dinner of prime rib, potatoes, salad, broccoli, and cake. The food was great and so was the company.

My Mama came up to see us. It was rather unexpected but I'm so glad she came. We had lots of laughs and wine as usual. She did very well climbing all the stairs in our house. I was so proud of her, though I'm sure she was sore for days after she got home. Hopefully my Pa will come to see us soon and take Calvin back with him for a few days. Then Zach and I will cruise on down to AZ to stay a few days and pick Calvin up. So let that be a shout out to all my gals down there........I'm coming to town so let's get together for some fun!

Calvin rides his bike all over the place now. We also got the tiny bike fixed for Zach, and got him a helmet, or should I say......."Awesome helmet" as he would. He's still a bit scared of the bike but he tools around on his tricycle all over the place. We finally got the gator pickup running for him to drive around too. He doesn't quite get the steering stuff yet but he's trying. I'm glad it's up and running and Zach can use it, because poor Calvin hardly got to at all, once we moved to Vegas there was no where for him to ride it.

Our house has become the neighborhood hang out these days. Calvin and Zach have found quite a few friends. We love being at the end of a dead end street but I"m not too sure how I feel about being the local hangout for the kids. They tend to help themselves to the boys' toys and bikes and such. Yesterday we woke up to the door bell ringing 3 or 4 times and it was the boy from around the corner. We were ALL still asleep! I don't like dealing with my own kids that early in the morning let alone ones that I don't know! Hell, I don't really like kids in general except my own and my friends'..........and even that's not all the time! (I sound so "nurturing" don't I! wink wink!) Just kidding! I hope for my kid's sake I don't earn "the Meanest Mom on the Block" title. Although, according to Calvin I already have!

Besides all the kids playing in my driveway our street has grown rather quiet. We're the only ones left on our side of the street. The folks next to us moved back to Utah because the husband retired, and the house on the corner went in to foreclosure. It's all rather sad. I just hope we get some great people with some kids moving in so I can shoo all the kids to the other houses. Let the other moms scold kids for sitting on top of the 10 foot block wall! Let the other mom's ears bleed from listening to Calvin's constant whistling! I'll be happy to pass on my Meanest Mom crown, or at least share it!

Hopefully we'll join the YMCA this summer so we can spend some time there. It's too damn hot now to do much outside besides swim and we don't have a pool =(. Besides, this jiggling jelly belly I've been complaining about for months isn't going away on it's own damn it! I've never had a weight problem before now and I'm not handling it very well. I get bored and I eat, so I need to get out of the house and do something physical pronto! I'd go for walks but I'm afraid I'll melt! Every summer I become less tolerant of the heat!

I do have some exciting news to report though! It looks like I will for certain be going to school to become a Dental Assistant provided we qualify for financial aid! I'm very excited about it! We should find out for sure very soon! The program is 8 months and costs almost 10 grand. I will learn how to polish teeth, take xrays, make impressions, deal with insurance and all sorts of other stuff. It also includes a 6 week externship. The pay is in the low 30s but that's more than what I was making punching numbers and scanning groceries. Once I get some experience I can move on to a specialized field and the pay will be higher. I can't believe I'm going back to school at 38 years old! I'm looking forward to it and hoping the newness and excitement will help me lose some of this excess weight. If not I'll have to get my Meanest Mom on the Block crown resized and that probably won't go over too well!

Love you all! Miss you too!!!

PS....Observe Calvin's baseball picture over on the right!