Rolling in the Dough

I recently got a notice that my car insurance policy was going to be credited because Geico made a mistake calculating my premium. I waited excitedly for the check to find out how much I would get back - it's not every day that some of that money you pay out in bills comes back! Finally the other day it came.




Yep. They sent me a check for 24 cents. I guess they knew I couldn't get by without that last (less than a) quarter in my budget. Thanks Geico!

I'm taking it to the bank.

Every Parent's Dream

I related more than usual to today's Engrish Funny:



After months (OK, actually years) of potty training, pleading, begging, scolding and bribing, Sawyer is finally consistently using the toilet. Our developmental pediatrician says that it's pretty common for kids with a language delay to also have issues with potty training, but we finally made it, right around his fourth birthday. Hallelujah!

He still has accidents sometimes when he gets really involved in playing and he doesn't want to stop what he's doing. He'll come up to me and say "Uh-oh! Accident!" Then he'll say "Oh well, that's OK," which is a line from a book he likes about learning to go potty. I want to tell him "NO! It's NOT OK!" but I usually manage to rein it in.

Next step: teaching him that yes, you really do have to wash your hands every single time.

Guilty

Do you other moms ever have moments of intense mommy guilt? I just had one yesterday. I was doing some weeding in the front yard. Sawyer was with me and disappeared when I had my back turned. I called for him, he didn't answer. I went inside and looked all over the house, he didn't answer. I was starting to freak out when I found him in the backyard using one of my pitchers to dip water out of the pond. My fear combined with the fact that he had (unintentionally) uprooted several newly planted water plants made me furious - oh, and the fact that he knows he's not supposed to play in the pond without an adult watching. I smacked him on the hand as I took the pitcher away and yelled at him, telling him how mad I was. We don't spank, so he's not used to this kind of reaction, but he didn't seem too upset about the whole thing, which actually just made me even madder. I brought him inside, put the pitcher away and tried to calm down. Once I was feeling more level-headed I apologized for getting so mad.

So later in the day I overheard him playing by himself with a couple of matchbox cars and making them "talk" to each other using a high-pitched, sing-songy voice. Here was the conversation:
"I so mad! So so mad! I'm going to HURT you!"
"Ouch! That hurt!"
"Oh, I sorry."
"That's OK."


GUILT.

Looking for LOST?

I've decided to create a separate blog for my LOST posts. That way those of you who read just for LOST won't have to wade through posts with pictures of my dog, and those of you who read just for pictures of my dog (I know you're out there!) can skip all the LOST musings. The new blog is at http://chelseagetslost.blogspot.com

I'm going to be following the Lostpedia: Rewatch schedule, where the plan is to watch seasons 1 through 5 before the start of the final season in 2010, and I'll continue with the weekly blogging through season 6. By the end, I should have a complete LOST blog. And that's what I'm doing with my summer vacation.

The Massacre Continues

Because Penny has shown such a love for stuffed animals (or a desire to tear them to bits) I bought her one of her own - a squeaky monkey from the pet store. I thought since it was made specifically for dogs that it would be a bit sturdier than regular stuffed animals. I was wrong.



She immediately ripped off all of the poor monkey's extremities. The tail has not yet been found.

Fortunately Sawyer hasn't been traumatized by all the violence. In fact, he thinks it's hilarious.

Whale Wars

In the absence of LOST, 24, Fringe, The Office, and so many others, Eric and I have found a new favorite show, Whale Wars on Animal Planet. It started in November, but they have been replaying episodes. We're hooked.

It's a documentary series about members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society . The Sea Shepherds were founded by Paul Watson, an activist who was kicked out of Greenpeace for being too hardcore. Yep. Too hardcore for Greenpeace. The series follows the group as they sail around the Antarctic trying to intercept Japanese whaling ships - according to the Sea Shepherds, the whaling ships claim to be conducting research, but they are actually hunting for whales in order to sell the meat, which is extremely valuable in the Japanese market. So they use nonviolent but confrontational tactics to stop them - they throw butyric acid stink bombs (which taint the whale meat and make the deck of the ship slippery and just generally stinky), interfere with nets, and on one occasion, they even ram the ship.

All of these people are quite possibly clinically insane. They're sailing through a minefield of icebergs on a ship that's not designed to handle ice, they head into open waters in tiny little zodiacs in the middle of storms, they stand in plain sight when the whalers ships threaten to retaliate with gunfire...all in the name of saving whales. Whether or not you agree with their mission, their bravery and determination are astonishing. That's great TV.

The Lion King Lear

The other day a tragedy occurred in our home.



It was Penny's doing. Despite the mountains of dog appropriate toys we've bought for her, she only wants to play with (and subsequently destroy) Sawyer's stuffed animals, in particular this lion. No matter how many times I put him away, she always manages to get him out again. I suspect Sawyer is helping her. At least now the poor lion won't have to see his stuffing ripped out in front of his own eyes.

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's....Healthy Body Image Man!

Yesterday I was cleaning the kitchen when I suddenly noticed the house was too quiet. I figured Sawyer was out back so I went to go check on him and this is what I found.








Apparently superheroes don't need clothes (just a cape), and it doesn't matter if their Crocs are on the wrong feet.

Enjoying the Fruits of Someone Else's Labors

The previous owners of our home were obviously gardeners. Since we bought the house in February we didn't have any idea of what was planted in the backyard but since spring began all sorts of gorgeous things keep surprising us. A huge peony bush, which unfortunately I didn't photograph before all the flowers fell off (huge bummer how short the blooms last on those!) Enormous azaleas, which have also lost their blooms already. A few recent discoveries:

Raspberries.

I can't wait until these ripen. They've spread over a large part of the landscaped area, but I don't care, that just means more berries!

Daisies. There are little clumps of these all over the yard.


And my most favorite thing ever: lavender.



I have a two year old lavender plant in a planter on our deck that I've been waiting to transplant, and then I find this! Very mature plants that are flourishing.

Weeping willows are my favorite trees, and when we were touring the house and realized there were four of them on the property that sealed the deal for me.




Our pond needs some work (I've been trying to schedule a drain and clean for weeks but it keeps getting pushed back because of the rain) but something survived the year of neglect - these plants suddenly popped up a few weeks ago and now they're getting huge. Doing a web search, I think these are taro - does anyone recognize them?

Sickness Part Deux

Just when we were all feeling healthy again, last Wednesday I got a stomach bug that kept me up all night. The next day Sawyer got a fever and what turned out to also be a stomach bug (probably the same one I had.) Just in time for my dear friend Sara's wedding. So Eric stepped up as the good dad that he is and stayed home with him so I could go to the sealing and dinner. This captures pretty well how Sawyer was feeling.

Luckily it was a quick illness and we are all feeling fine now. Here's to a healthy, sickness-free summer!

Sickness

I fell off the radar screen for a while there because I was sick. We were all sick - Eric, Sawyer and I got the Worst Cold Ever. Eric missed several days of work. Eric NEVER misses work. After almost a week with no improvement we all went to the doctor. In the waiting room they had a big sign that listed the symptoms of Swine Flu and instructed us to put on a mask and use a squirt of Purell if we had any symptoms. I was pretty sure that's not what we had so we declined the masks. At least they're taking the outbreak seriously. When we saw the doctor she agreed with us that it wasn't Swine Flu (pshew!) but just a bad cold. She told us to wait it out for a few more days, and if we still weren't better to take antibiotics. A couple of days later (the day before Mother's Day, and the day of Sawyer's birthday party, which I have yet to blog about) Sawyer and Eric were feeling a lot better, but I developed an earache. So I filled my prescription and took a Z-Pak. 6 days later, my ear was still killing me. I went back to the doctor and she was surprised it was me and not Sawyer that was back with an earache. She took one look in my ear and said "Oh, that ear is not happy." No, it wasn't. I have newfound empathy for kids that get chronic ear infections, because it hurts like crazy. All I wanted to do was lie down and whine. She gave me a stronger course of antibiotics, and about 5 days later the pain was finally gone. I still can't hear well though - apparently it can take up to a couple months for the fluid to drain completely. Eric is calling me "old lady" because he is so tired of repeating himself to me whenever he's on my right side.