Don't Blog On Ambien

I tried re-reading the entry from yesterday and I have to say that I have no idea what my point was. I'm sure I had one and it was semi-eloquent in my head. Didn't make it to the blog now did it?

Tonight I'm going to have to take a pass on blogging on anything actually interesting because I went for a "walk" with Christina. Now in her defense I was given the option for the two mile walk however, that felt like it wasn't enough so I went for the full meal deal. Yes, I'm an IDIOT!!!!


View The Walk in a larger map

That's 6.2 Miles People!!!!! So, I'm going to limp over to my bed and passout now.

Longevity

Today I got an envelope of pictures from Granny. Some I already have in my collection but not this one. This is my the kids Great Great Grandmother. I remember meeting her more than once and going to her birthday parties. I don't remember anything about her as a person though, only the stories that I've heard about her over the years and they are all from when she was younger and Grandpaw Woody was still at home. It made me realize how lucky I was to have my Granny Sheldon. She was my connection to the great grandparent generation. While it's very weird for me to think of Grandpa Bud as a great grandpa the kids not only have a very young one and then they have Grandpaw Woody who really isn't. He turned 91 last week. I remind myself that he has longevity on his side since his Mama lived to around 103. It amazes me when I think about Grandpaw as I would have remembered him and who my children will remember him as. I am grateful that they have experienced life with him not just seen him for a rare family occasion. There are pictures that mean so much whether it be the next shot of Grandpaw Woody listening to Ephraim play cars or this picture from long ago that shows the generations of our family. This post was headed somewhere and then has taken a quick slide into nothing due to the taking of the evening medications prior to writing the blog. It is with that knowledge I will retire from this true ramble and come back and try to clean it up in the morning.

Nature or Nurture?

Or to nurture nature!

Our daughter is now a first grader! It is possible we will never be parents of a kindergartner again. We celebrated with some ice cream and then played in the back yard. The kids have a hideout in the bushes, it even comes with it's own stone Bambi. Judy and I took the opportunity to prune a few things that were bugging us, like the four leaves left on one of the totally butchered rhododendron bushes. If it's going to be a giant twig sculpture than it needs to be all twigs. No need to throw the fact that it's supposed to have leaves in our face. Ruby was a fantastic help with the yard debris. It was fun to just get out there and play. Judy found and gave them a slug that they decided was too slimy. He went on his first solo flight through the air (not an adult sponsored disposal). Then Ruby found a worm that she was carrying all over the yard. She climbed up in my lap while I took a break with her worm and announced that she was "nurturing the worm". Wow! Good to know. I really hadn't thought that was possible. The dynamic duo went off to find Eph a worm and instead Ruby found a potato bug. As Ruby ran across the yard with her potato bug in search of Phil the flying slug, Ephraim explained that the potato bug was "doing yoga"! Where do they get this stuff? I sure do love them! Kudos go out to my lovely wife Judy! She may be temporarily triumphing over the blackberry bushes that were trying to take over the back of "Judy's Sanctuary" (aka. the laundry and storage room).

Exciting discoveries in the back yard.....

1. the baby plum tree has furry fruit which means correct me if I'm wrong it's a peach or apricot.

2. the big tree (really big tree) in the yard is covered with 10 million plums! Woooooo Hooooo! Judy wants to know if we can freeze them in slices. I'm thinking we'll have to google that one. Plum pudding anyone? Oh and you'll all be getting plum jam for Christmas. Please send me your best recipes.

Take Slow Deep Breathes

Two posts in two days! I have the perfect spot and this is Judy's last night of class so it's just the dog and I. it helps to have this perfect little setup on our back porch. I really love this house. It's so nice to have "our" house. Even though we shared the apartment and things were all moved around and Judy had her influence everywhere (hence why you could see the floor, not every hard surface was covered with stuff, and you could find a place to sit). It was still mine and not ours. I just thought of something I didn't cover yesterday.... Hand Surgery. So I had this gangleon cyst in my palm pushing on the nerves in my finger. So after complaining about it for months here and there Judy made me call the doctor. A trip to the doctor resulted in a referral to the Hand Specialist. Dr. W asked me two questions, pushed on my hand, and said "Yep it's a cyst do you want to do surgery?" He explained why the other method wouldn't work for me. He asked me if I wanted a second opinion or time to consider surgery. He was my second opinion and cut it out if that's how you can fix it. Next thing I know the nurse is sending me over to the hospital for tests and I have a surgery date in 5 days! The big surprise was that my anxiety was a blip on the radar instead of the firestorm it usually is (ok to me, not sure I wasn't making everyone else nuts!). We made it there, the procedure went well, and it was the best nap I've ever had. Judy was a great nurse. Home I went to bo be tortured by hours and hours of Inspector Gadget!!! Now a reasonable individual might have noticed we just moved! Yep, I had hand surgery the weekend before our move. I am still married afterwards. I was amazed at how helpfull one can be with only one hand. Here it is 3 weeks to the day and it's looking great. I don't have any of the zings or ache I used to have. I still getting my strength back so if I look like I'm giving you the bird, I swear it's not intentional (or maybe it is).

I'm On The Blog Again....

...or so I hope. Were you signing it to the tune of "On the Road Again"? I don't expect anyone to believe it until they see more than one entry in a row.

the list from of blog topics from before has grown and some of it has actually changed. Let's revisit the list:


~The Family Vacation to Disneyland~ We had a great time. The kids were so good and everything came together fairly seamlessly. The parents all survived to tell the tale and there are lots of great pictures. I think this is still going to be it's own entry someday and when I do I have to make sure to tell the tale of Bitty!

~Ephraim's School Expulsion~ There is so much to say in this department. Several entries really. A quick update is that after 5 1/2 weeks Ephraim started at a new school where he actually enjoys going to school every day. Really can you ask for more?

~Run for the Arts~ The kids had a great time. They ran less laps than last year but only because Eph needs to work on pacing himself and Ruby had friends to talk to this year. I missed out on the event so I don't have much more to say on that.

~Ruby and the Wizard of Oz~ I'm so far behind we actually had another play yesterday! It was a dance theater production of Cinderella. She was the wicked step-mother and this was by far the best play yet. I'll have to see what we can do about getting them on the web.

~Judy the Karate student~ICE! This one will have to wait partially because I'm not sure what I can say without getting a chop to the middle of my head. No wait that's what I keep doing that Judy can't seem to block. Who is really learning this karate stuff. In all seriousness she's kicking butt (almost literally) and taking names. Oh, and she's cute in the outfit too. ~The Return of Tonks The Dog~ Got Tonks. Couldn't have Tonks in apartment. Invaded Katie's house sometimes with Katie still in it. Found new house. Snuck Tonks into apartment because what were they going to do, evict us? Now happily living in new home with Tonks the Lactating Dog. Yes. you read that correctly. I was sleeping on the dog yesterday when I awoke and noticed something white on her nipple. I went to wipe it off and it was MILK! Yes, I squeezed the dogs nipples to check how many of them had milk and Judy has decided I am dog molester. It turns out that dogs actually have a high occurrence of false pregnancy. So we could be at this for another month before the imaginary puppies are born! We are accepting donations for her spay! (actually we found a good deal on it through the Oregon Humane Society.)

~House Hunting~ Our marriage actually survived finding a house. Not that our relationship is that fragile rather house hunting sucks that bad. If you have unlimited resources for rent you could live anywhere your heart desires in our fair city for just $1250 a month. However if you want to live in a 3 bedroom anything that allows dogs that weigh 50 pounds and you refuse to live in Gresham than your screwed. We also discovered that certain property management companies in the area exist only to make money off multiple denied application fees. I will not name names but I swear to you.... they will someday go to Hell for the wrongs they knowingly committed (and I don't even believe in Hell so you know it's bad).

~House Finding (I pray that will be a topic very soon)~It's not only a topic but we've done gone and moved into it! So our new home is so very cute and absolutely perfect for us. We've moved out to the suburbs and live a few blocks from good friends. The owners couldn't be nicer people. The neighbors are friendly, the street is quiet, and I think our yard is 5 acres. Ok, maybe .5 acres but when you are mowing the lawn it feels like much more.

~A Tiny Tidbit on Work~ Not sure why I ever said I'd add a tidbit on work. I never post about work only that I work. Must not have been thinking at the time.

In Addition........

~Ruby's Birthday~ The beautiful and talented Ms. Ruby turned 6 years old. I swear it can't have been that long. Really! She has matured so much these last few months it's crazy. I feel like she grows before my eyes.

~Ephraim's Birthday~ Mr. E turned 7! It's crazy and I do mean really crazy. He loves his birthday so much it was really fun. On the morning of the actual day I called him to say "Happy Birthday". He was telling me about his presents when his bus came. He hung up on me to run and get his bus. That's how well school is going! We took him to the nickle arcade on his birthday and he spent nearly all his nickles on his favorite jump rope game. It's a good way to burn off some energy. He played the same game at Chuck E. Cheese for Ruby's birthday but he had to take turns with other kids so having the machine all to himself was like a birthday present all on it's own.

~Teeth~Eph's teeth have been falling out right and left and some of them are actually growing in again already. He lost the two top front teeth and I thought he couldn't get any cuter. Then the bottom ones fell out on either side of his front teeth and it's the cutest carved pumpkin grin ever. The tooth fairy had the opportunity to come visit our house on the last tooth and that was really fun.

~Hilda~ Did you know that the Candy Witch (of Halloween Fame) has an evil sister? Actually neither did we! However, one day we were informed that Hilda not the Candy Witch had taken away all the pez. I think Mommy might have had something to do with this version of the story so as to preserve the good name of her dear friend the Candy Witch. None the less, we ended up with Hilda who only visits the kids at our house and is "super greedy and a very mean lady"! When we were packing up the kids room to move we even discovered correspondence left under Eph's pillow begging Hilda to be his friend and give back the pez. Apparently his pleas did not fall on a heartless Candy Witch's Evil Sister Hilda! In his bed tonight when I went in to take pictures of his room, Hilda had returned so many pez and they were all tucked snug in his bed. I can't wait to see what Ephraim thinks when he comes over next.

~A Washer and Dryer~ We have our very own washer and dryer! Ok well they are Jeanna and Katie's that we are babysitting for them. They are hooked up, washing, and drying. I realize this may be something that some of you take for granted. I'm just so thrilled not to have to trudge to the laundry room, spend quarters, and still not get my stuff all the way dry. The other option has been trucking a car full of laundry to the Property to wash it for "free". This only works when we actually get to go out there and the way things have been lately our clothes would have been walking and talking if we'd waited. As part of having a washer and dryer some things that really needed to be washed but we couldn't justify that cost found their way into the washer.

So that's that for now. It's late and the bugs are eating me as I'm sitting out in my nice backyard with my cute Wife studying for her math final!