The Dog

RT had this brilliant idea of having Pippen sleep in our room with us at night.  Pippen's normal bed is in a cage that is located in the basement.  I went along with the idea, hoping for the best.

The first night (yes, there was more than one night) I woke up at 2 am to hear Pippen licking his paws.  2 am?  He had all day to do it and decides 2 am is the perfect time to clean his paws.  Oh, and since it's quiet in the room, his cleaning routine was rather loud.

At 4 am, it seemed like he might have missed some spots at the 2 am cleaning, so he decided to start all over from the beginning.

5 am comes around and he decides he needs to be petted.  Luckily he went to RT's side of the bed.  (it helped that I pulled the covers over my face).

6am he started getting antsy.  I waited a little and then decided to just get up and let him out.  By the way, he slept the entire day while both RT and I worked.

The second and third nights were just a repeat of the first night.

The fourth night RT said that he wanted to get some sleep, so Pippen slept in his own bed (the cage).  We (RT and I) both slept great that night. 

RT hasn't brought up changing Pippens sleeping arrangement again. 

The Sick Line

In our school district, each school has a designated phone line to call when your child is going to be absent.  Our schools ask the usual three million questions that they want answered in your message.  You know, things like:

Your child's name, spelling both first and last name
child's grade
School ID #
Soc. Sec #
Blood Type
Grade they are getting in PE
Reason for being absent (they want a description here)

Here is where they add:

"Due to our ongoing efforts, if your child is experiencing flu like symptoms or has a fever, please let us know."

Your Name
Your relation to the student
a phone number where you can be reached
your blood type
your grade in English in Sophomore year of high school
The name of your first pet

I think you get the picture.

My kids don't get sick that often, but, I have the replies down.  RT, on the other hand, ends up leaving some strange messages.  He usually calls twice.  The first time is to write down all the questions.  The second time is to leave a message with as little details as possible.  I think he gets the part correct when he states his name.  I'm not sure about the child's name, tho.  We haven't had any call backs from the school (that I know of), so I think his sick messages have worked.

With such a long, detailed message, it's very easy to get distracted.  Once you leave your message, you feel this sense of victory.  "Hey!  I successfully left a message on the sick line!"  You want to shout it out to the world!  You feel like you can do anything now.

Climb Mount Everest?

No problem!

Sail around the world?

Easy!

Write a best selling novel?

Piece of cake!

Remember that you have a sick kid at home to take care of today?

What?  Who's sick?

Musings

I think the toaster should have two settings.

Not toasted (or bready, as I call it)

and

Burnt

I am a master at making burnt toast.  It took years of training.  If you're in the area and have a taste for burnt toast, stop by and I'll make you some.

Musings

Alex got into the car after his orthodontist appointment and started singing, "and I'm Hungry like the wolf!"

I said: "Since when are you a Duran Duran fan?

Alex:  They were playing that song when I was sitting in the chair.

Me:  Do you want to listen to their greatest hits album with me?

Alex:  You mean they had more than one?

Ouch.

The boy has so much to learn.

Broken Mug

Bella received a huge coffee mug filled with packets of hot chocolate from her best friend for Christmas.  She has been using the mug for water, cereal, snacks, and, of course, hot chocolate.  

The other day while I was at work, I was told that there was a phone call for me.  I hesitated because, who calls and asks for me at work?  

I answered the phone and I could tell that Bella was trying to keep it together.  I had to calm her down and try to get the details without a bunch of tears.  Apparently, the huge red coffee mug broke (oh, the horror!).  

Bella told me that Nick broke it.  Now, I'm imagining the two of them getting into an argument and Nick breaking her mug.  

The true story finally came out.  Bella put a glass snack bowl inside the mug and carried it into the kitchen.  The glass bowl got stuck and Nick tried to get it out (I found out later that he used a rubber hammer...yea, I didn't ask for details).  I told her not to worry.  It's just a mug.  Every one's OK. There were no injuries or blood.  We'll all live (without the mug).

I have to say...I was afraid to go home.  I mean, a gift from her best friend and it broke.  This isn't the first gift to break (from this same friend).  Bella received a sand dollar when her friend visited the beach last summer.  RT was in Bella's room hanging up a picture and accidentally dropped a hammer (it's always a hammer) on her shell.  The sand dollar shattered, of course.

Anyway, I got home and realized that Bella was not there.  Nick and his car were missing, too.  I asked Alex and he had no idea what was going on.  I called Nick and could tell that he was in a store.

Here's where I get choked up.

Nick took Bella to Toys R Us to buy her something because he felt bad that he broke her mug.  I told him that it was very nice and thoughtful of him and that I was proud of him.  I also said that he didn't have to buy her anything.  He said he wanted to do it and that it was the right thing. 

And, he said that he was going for favorite brother status.

Oil Change

My car needed an oil change.  I have one son who can do it at home (he used to work at a shop, fixing cars) and another son who is taking an auto class in high school.  So, why bring it into a shop?

I decided to take my car to the high school while Alex was at Auto club.  Alex was excited.  I think some of the other kids were excited to have a car to work on that day.  I was assured by Alex that the parts were there and I figured things would run smoothly.

An hour later (yes, this is an oil change), the teacher told me that the oil was on it's way (my car is diesel and requires special oil).  Luckily I had a couple blog post ideas that I could write while I waited.  At one hour twenty minutes, Nick called me and asked what was taking so long and did I want him to come over there and show them how an oil change is done in less than an hour?  At one hour thirty minutes, my car was finished.  The guys who worked on the car looked relieved.  I think they had a few problems.  I was happy that it was done and that we could finally go home.  Oh, and Alex's yellow sweatshirt, well, it wasn't yellow anymore.

Anyone know how to get motor oil out of a sweatshirt?

I'm trying Dawn dish soap.  Let's hope this works out.

Need a Little Help

It's funny how difficult it is to get my kids to help out around the house.  They seem to have no problem asking us to help them.  We (RT and I) willingly step up and help them any way we can when asked.  When the tables are turned and we are the one's asking for help we get grunts, stomping off, running and hiding in their rooms, complaining...I think you get the idea.

The tasks/chores that we are asking the kids to do are not difficult.  Vacuuming, brush the dog, wash the dishes, empty the dishwasher, etc.  By the way my kids react when asked to do a task, you would think it was something that would kill them.

I have yet to figure out a solution.  I'm sure that if I do figure this out, I could write a book and make a lot of money.