Sick day

Poor Bug's sick, her fever has been bouncing up and down all day...going from 100.6 all the way up to 102 degrees. We'vebeen giving her tylenol and keeping her warm but I'm just worried that this is the start of something.

I'm probably going to be up all night with her just to make sure she's going to be alright. Strider and I will be taking shifts if we have to.

Okay, mommy break is about over, time to get back to Bug.


Addendum: Bug's fever went up to 102.6 around 6am then broke around 930am. Her fever was gone completely and hasn't come back at all.

Clingy Bug

They say that as they get older babies develop their own personality as well as choose a favorite parent..I didn't think it would happen this early. Bug just turned 13 months about a week ago, for the past six or so months she only wants me to hold her. When Strider holds her when I try to pass her over to him so I can get a few minute break she flips out. When she gets hurt she comes crying to me. The worst thing she's been doing is hitting me. When I catch her opening something she shouldn't be opening I smack or flick her hand...Could that be causing her to hit me? I dunno.

Then there's the food time...when it's time to eat she will not feed herself. If I set the food on her tray for her to feed herself she'll throw it everywhere. I end up having to feed her. It's as though she wants to be waited on or something.

Then there's the hitting herself, the tantrums, although they're both short lived they still worry me a bit. I've read that it's normal for babies her age to hit themselves and bite themselves when frustrated. She only does it when she's frustrated, tired or just plain grumpy. I usually end up having to fight with her to get her to take a nap, and sometimes it's a fight to get her to go to bed at night. Though some nights are infinitely easier then others...like the nights that she passes out while drinking her nightly bottle of warm milk.

Ah well, I guess this is all par the course.

Not so fun trip to the doctors

Yesterday started out pretty normal, got Bug up, fed, and dressed. Around one in the afternoon we left to go to her 1 year appointment…that’s when the day got bad. Not even two miles from the house we got hit by some idiot making a left turn across the street. He was going the opposite direction and turned to cross over the lane I was in. He didn’t even yield or anything. Then he just sat there staring at me for about a minute before he finally listened to the hand gesture I was giving him to back the hell up. I couldn’t believe it, the S.O.B. tried to tell me that it was my fault.

After making sure Bug was alright I called the insurance company while Strider called the police. I got out of the car to see if the idiot was okay and he said that I was supposed to yield for him, bull. Anyway, the cops got there, the guy got a ticket. The officer reassured me that I had right of way and that I was in no way at fault for the accident. We got to Bug’s appointment with like 7 minutes to spare.

The appointment for the estimate is on Thursday, it looks like about grand plus of body damage. The check engine light is on now and the car’s running oddly, a bit rough. The shop will check it over and let us know how bad the damage is.

Some mothers...

Today I took Bug out shopping for her birthday, it was rather uneventful, but then we got to the cookie aisle. Something black went over my head, I felt pressure in my chest and sick to my stomach, I had to get out of the store. So I hit the checkout and got out, that's when I saw something that pissed me off to no end. A mother was changing her baby's diaper in the front seat of the car, no big deal, I've done that. But, then she grabbed the baby by the wrists, flung it out of the front seat, around the open back door and into the car seat. The poor baby was screaming in agony as she tossed it around like a rag doll. It took everything I had not to beat that woman's head into the ground.

I don't care what the situation is you don't do that to a baby.

Then there's the woman in Eirie PA who used her 1 month old baby as a weapon. According to the news she got into a fight with her boyfriend, picked her 1 month old baby up by the ankle and threw it at her boyfriend. She's in prison now. I say put her in general population...she won't last long.

Okay, enough about that, it pisses me off.

New shoes

Yesterday Strider and I took Bug out to get her a pair of shoes. We took her to StrideRite because they seem to know kids feet better then anyone else, and their shoes flex and move with the childs feet.

Anyway, we took her in and she was so good. We picked out the shoes for her, the lady at the store out them on Bug's feet and she was all good about having shoes on. It took a little bribing to get her to start walking around so we could see how she was in them. But, after a few minutes she was up and walking all over the store. The lady was amazed at how well behaved Bug was, and how she walked normally in the shoes. She had told us that most babies walk like they have skiis on thier feet, not BUg, she bent her knees and walked quite normally.

I was so proud f her because she was so good in the store. We then took her to the Disney Store and let her pick out one toy, she picked out the Tinker Bell plush doll.

Bug's napping right now, but when she gets up I'll be taking her to get her birthday present. I still can't believe that her birthday is tomorrow...she's a year old...the year went by way too fast. I was thinking of getting her the magnetic letters and one of those magnetic wipe boards that I can put on the wall.

Over the past few days we've been buying Bug alot of clothing, we have plenty to last her now, and bigger sizes for her to grow into. The only things we still need to get for Bug are a winter jacket and winter shoes/boots, then we'll be all set.

Thoughts

Today was just a day, that's about all I can think of to describe it. Bug woke up around 930 this morning, her first nap was around 1130. I tried to keep her up longer so she'd take a good nap but she fell asleep while eating. She only napped for about 25-30 minutes. not too much on the fussing after that nap, her second nap was only 20 minutes...and third, which she doesn't get normally, was about the same, 20 minutes.

She started to get cranky around 430 this afternoon, when she knew that daddy was supposed be coming home.

Strider ended up having to stay at work until 1030 tonight all because someone screwed up while he was on holiday. Now the shop has to be manned 24/7. I was upset when he told me this. I'm just hoping he has Bug's birthday off, or at least can come home early, and that he'll have the day of her party off too. I really don't want him to miss either of those days. It was bad enough that he was at work the day she started walking.

Since Bug started walking a little over a week ago she's been non-stop. She walks everywhere now with very little stumbling. We're going to have to get her some shoes soon. Not for indoor wear, but for outdoor since she loves to walk in the grass and on the sidewalk. She really loves to be outside with the ground beneath her feet and the wind in her hair. She always has the biggest smile on her face when she's walking around outside. When she's inside she's mostly happy unless she's tired or hungry, then she'll walk to me while crying or fussing. If she's overtired she'll just go onto her hands and knees and put her forehead on the carpet and whimper.

There are so many times that Bug will do something that's just too funy, like when she's eating. If she's done with what ever food she's eating she'll start dropping it onto the floor while looking in the opposite direction. The whole "If I can't see it you don't see it" type of thing. I try so hard not to laugh as she does that because she needs to learn not to do things like that. Today she stopped feeding the dog and started feeding the cat her food after she had her fill.

I still can't believe that next Wednesday she's going to be a year old. It's already been a year. It boggles the mind. Tp me it still feels like yesterday that I gave birth to her. Everytime I look at Bug's face, or into her eyes I'm just amazed at how smart she is and how big she's getting. Lately she's been wanting lots of hugs from me, which is great by me, I love hugging her and just holding her.

I guess that about does it for now.

...

My mom had a friend stay with her this past week...I felt so sorry for her friend at first. She looks like flesh hanging off of bones. Like I said, I felt sorry for her at first until I found out that it was self induced. Nan doesn't eat, and when she does she throws it back up. Supposedly she has a digestive disorder that auses her pain when she eats. She told me that even her shrink said she needed help...she told her shrink to go to hell.

Nan said that she's been starving herself for the past two years. The pain she has when she goes to the bathroom is because there's nothing to pass, and the stomach cramping is because there's no food in there. My mom tried to get her to eat but when she did she went into the bathroom and threw it up. It disgusted me. Nan wanted me to bring Bug over to meet her, I just couldn't let my daughter see someone who was like that. All Nan did was lay on the floor and complain about how much her stomach hurt...well if she would eat and not throw it up she'd be fine!

To me, anyone who intentially starves themselves need serious help. I could go on about this, but it pisses me off to no end so I'm going to stop now.

And the training wheels are off...

Bug took her first steps today...it was so exciting, for both of us. It started with about five steps, which grew to nine steps. Later in the evening she walked three quarters of the way accross the livingroom. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Of dirt and weeds...and yucky tummies...

I started to do the gardening today, I picked up a bunch of bulbs that get planted in the fall. Picked up a 40 count of tulips and a 40 count of Daffodils. I did the big area of the front garden, dug it all up with a pitch fork to turn the earth and loosen the weeds and other plants that were growing in there. So far it looks good, now I have to get the other side of the garden box turned and weeded.

I tried to get it done while Bug was napping today, but she only took a 20-30 minute nap. She's not feeling so good today, she has diarrhea, the poor kid. No fever though and she's been eating somewhat and drinking so I'm not too worried about her getting dehydrated. It doesn't seem like a virus or anything like that, more like maybe what she had for dinner last night didn't agree with her digestive tract. She's been pretty active today, about half her normal activity level actually. But that could be due to her not sleeping very well last night. She woke up at around 3:30 this morning and fell back to sleep around 5, then she was up again around 7:30 and back down by 8 and back up again at 9. Poor kid is going through so much right now. When I was playing with her she laid on her back and started laughing, when she opened her mouth real wide I saw the teeth that are coming in. It looks like her upper and lower right pre-molars, which seems odd to me considering her canines haven't come in yet.

Even though Bug's a little under the weather today we had fun. I took her outside with me while I was doing the turning in the garden. She sat happily in her stroller and talked to me while I worked, it was like she was supervising the work as I did it.

Earlier today when I was trying to change the cover on the couch Bug thought it would be fun to try to climb the cushion. I couldn't help but laugh, she had the biggest grin on her face while she was climbing Mt Couch. It's so good to see her playing and having fun. I can't get enough of her smile or her laugh.

I called Strider and asked him to pick up some Pedialyte on his way home, that way we can make sure that she doesn't get dehydrated. If she still has the diarrhea tomorrow I'll call her doctor and try to get her in for an appointment.

Tired....

I'm just so tired right now, but sleep is not on the agenda for about another hour or so.

It all started at around 215am this morning, Remy had another seizure, just like the first one four months ago it was a grand maul. After it was over and he was back to his normal goofy self I stayed up for a little bit just to make sure he'd be okay.

Strider snored most of the way through the night and Bug woke up crying several times. I was so tired by the time 10am rolled around that I didn't want to get out of bed, but I had to. I had to get Bug up and fed.

The morning was went rather well, until I talked to my mother in law. Can I just say that I'm not going to be talking to her for a very long time?

Anyway, after Bug had a good 1 hour 45 min nap I fed her lunch then we went shopping for the groceries. After that was done we got home and I tried to get her down for a 2nd nap, but that didn't happen.

Strider has duty tomorrow so I don't get sleep in, talk about major suckage. Tomorrow's going to be a very busy day for me and Bug. I have to steam clean the master bedroom carpet because when Remy had the seizure he peed on the carpet. I also have to finish the grocery shopping tomorrow and try to get the spray on sealant so I can finish at least one more dining room chair. That reminds me, I also need to do the dishes.

Have I mentioned yet that I'm tired?

Ah well, it's time to give Bug her bath then it's off to bed for all of us. Hopefully she'll sleep through the night so I can get a good night's sleep....providing the spray and breath right strips I got for Strider actually work and he doesn't snore.

The finishing of furniture

I started finishing the dining room chairs today. I got one done, I know, not all that big of a deal, but to me it is. In the midst of finishing the chair I played with Bug, did the laundry and tried to keep the animals from getting thier fur in the stain.

Here's what the chair looked like before I finished it.



















And here's the finished chair.



















I really like how you can see the grain of the wood after the staining. It just looks so good. You can't really see it in the picture, but it looks great.

One down, five more chairs to go. I need to get out to the home store and pick up some more rags and spray acrylic for the waterfroof coating. Once I'm done with the chairs I'll be refinishing the dining room table. Gonna have to pick up new table legs though, the ones that are on their are not just nasty, they're also plastic. My mom gave me the table, she had gotten it after she got married to my ex-father. The wood itself seems to be in good condition on the table top, but I won't know for certain until I strip all the years of varnish and polish off it. I'm hoping it turns out good like the coffee table that I refinished a year and a half ago.

Late summer cleaning...

Today I not only vaccumed the livingroom carpet, I also attacked it with the steam cleaner. Bug hung out in the hallway with some toys while I did the work. She was in a supervisory possition you could say. The carpet looks really good now. Guess I didn't need to hire someone to do it after all.

I also tackled the carpet in Bug's room, it really needed it since our elder cat decided it was a good idea to pee on some of Strider's stuff that was in there.

With all the work I did today I still managed to be with Bug all day and even make dinner.

Maybe I'm pushing myself too hard, I mean, my back is constantly hurting. *sighs* Ah well, if I don't do it who will? Answer: No-one.

Self Image

Why are people so concerned with the way they look? My mom is doing this whole internet dating thing and she asked me to scan some pictures for her. They're old pictures, Glamour shots to be exact. They make her look like she's trying to be someone she's not. I just don't get it.

She said that honesty with someone when you're trying to start a relationship isn't always the best thing to do, I think she's wrong. She also seems to think that she needs to pretend to be someone she's not. She sometimes acts as though she's better then everyone else, like she's in some higher class then the rest of us. It just bugs me. Why can't she just be herself? I mean, sure, not everyone likes the way they look, but why does she have to try to be someone she's not?

Okay, so what, I've been tossing around the idea of breast augmentation for a while now. I'm an A cup, and all I want is a B cup, nothing too big, just one cup size. But I don't feel that I have to wear makeup and try to be someone I'm not to get the world to accept me. I want to do this for me, no one else, me. To give me a better sense of self, a way for me to maybe like my body and the way it looks. Then again, I'd also like to be able to gain about ten pounds and keep it on, but that's never going to happen unless I do reverse lipo suction. Okay so that's a bit far fetched, but hey, you can't blame a girl for trying, right?

I don't see the point in wearing makeup, even when I go out somewhere nice I usually don't wear it. Granted, I wore makeup for our wedding, but that was different, and I think I also wore it for the Navy Christmas Ball a few years back. I hate social functions where I don't know a single person except my hubby.

And that brings me to another point...what the hell is up with this vanity sizing thing?! I mean, come on, are the heavier set women really in that dire of need to feel smaller that clothing manufacturers had to change the size labeling of clothing? I used to wear a size 2-3, now I wear 00-0. Finding my size is really difficult, but the manufacturers of clothing don't really care. All they seem to care about is making those bigger women feel better about themselves because a size ten can now claim to be a size seven. It sickens me.

Ah well, enough ranting for now...

T.S. Ernesto

Well, the storm started in on us around 5am or so I think. By 6am the power went down for a little bit, but came back on after a few minutes. I had trouble sleeping because of the sound of the rain and wind.

After I got Angie up this morning and gave her breakfast I decided to go outside and see what was hitting the side of the house. A piece of the siding was pulled halfway down by the high winds. I called a guy about fixing it, he'll be here sometime this weekend of Monday, he said it would be about $50 to fix it providing it doesn't take more then an hour.

Braving the storm I had to go to the store, we needed formula, milk, bread and eggs. The formula for Bug being the most important. It was when I was getting ready to leave that I noticed a leak in the hall bathroom. The water is dripping in from the exhaust vent. I'm hoping it's not a leak in our roof. I'll ask the guy to take a look up in the attic when he comes over to do the siding repair.

Amazingly enough the store was empty. Considering there's a T.S. and it's payday I was rather happy to see it so empty. I got what we needed and high tailed it out of there. By the time I got home I was soaked to the skin from just going out in the rain for about three minutes total.

T.S. Ernesto seems to have subsided, it's just breezey outside now, so we have the windows open to air out the house. Providing it stays calm like this throughout the rest of the day I'll make another run out to the store to get the rest pf what we need for groceries and such. I also want to stop by BJ's and pick up Brother Bear 2 for Bug.

Speaking of Bug, she's been in such a happy mood today, she took a good nap and was all smiley and ready to play when she woke up. Now it's time for lunch.

20/20 out to terrify people...

Last night I decided, against my better judgment, to watch 20/20: Last Days On Earth. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed by it. It seemed like they only had some of the facts and made the rest of it up as they went along. It seemed to be more science fiction then science fact to me. The only person they had on there that made sense and told it like it is was Steven Hawking. As he said, the Earth is more likely to be destroyed by humankind rather then Gamma Ray Bursts.

This makes me wonder though, are there really people out there who take everything on 20/20 as 100% fact and truth? Is the populous really that gullible?

Remind me to never watch 20/20 again.

They said that a black hole could suck up the earth, umm, anyone have proof that this can and has happened? Scientists have stated that only matter that reached the event horizon in a black hole is doomed to be "sucked in". The biggest misnomer is that black holes are giant cosmic vacuum cleaners, this isn't a whole truth.

Here is what the fact is about Black Holes:

Black holes and quasars ( Source – Answers.com )

When a very massive star collapses, it forms a black hole. A black hole does not have a surface in the usual sense of the word. There is simply a region in space around a black hole beyond which nothing can be seen, because nothing can escape from inside this region. This region is called the event horizon.

Anything that passes beyond the event horizon is doomed to be crushed as it descends ever deeper into the gravitational well of the black hole. Neither visible light, nor x-rays, nor any other form of electromagnetic radiation given off by the particle can escape.

A black hole cannot be seen directly. The only way to find one is by observing the energy released by matter that is falling toward the black hole. As gas and dust particles swirl toward a black hole, they speed up and form a flattened disk. Friction caused by collisions between the particles heats them to extreme temperatures. Just before the particles pass beyond the event horizon, they produce x-rays and gamma rays as their temperatures approach 10⁸ K.

Black holes grow when matter falls into them. A black hole in the center of a galaxy where stars are densely packed may grow to the mass of 10⁹ suns. Energy released from large clouds of gas as they fall into these supermassive black holes can be stupendous. This is the accepted explanation for quasars, sources in which the power output at the center of a galaxy is a thousand times greater than an entire galaxy of 10¹¹ stars. See also Quasar.

One of the most intriguing features of supermassive black holes is that they do not suck up all the matter that falls within their sphere of influence. Some of the matter falls inexorably toward the black hole, and some explodes away from the black hole in high-energy jets that move at near the speed of light. These jets produce radio, optical, x-ray, and gamma radiation. The matter swirling around the black hole must somehow be producing enormous electric and magnetic fields that accelerate electrons to extremely high energies. Exactly how this happens is unknown and is a major focus of research. See also Black hole.

They also talked about Gamma Ray Bursts hitting and destroying the Earths Ozone layer and that the only thing left living will be the microbes. Not a very comforting feeling. The fact about Gamma Ray Busts is such:

Gamma Ray Bursts ( Source: NASA )

Extraordinary explosions.

Imagine an explosion so fierce and intense that it carries with it the power to destroy everything in its path for hundreds if not thousands of light years away. No this isn’t the realms of science fiction but the amazing world of Gamma Ray Bursts.

Astonishing discovery.

Gamma Ray Bursts, or GRBs as they are otherwise known were f irst detected during the late 1960’s. US monitoring equipment on a space satellite set up to detect Soviet nuclear weapons testing began to notice intense gamma ray bursts that were hard to explain.

For a long time it also proved impossible to determine the origin of these bursts. Then in the last decade of the 20th century astronomers made the astonishing discovery that these phenomenal bursts of radiation emanated from the observable extremities of the known Universe.

Nothing rare.

Dramatic though the discovery of Gamma Ray bursts was, there is nothing particularly rare about them since they were, and continue to be spotted at a rate of around one a day. But what were these bursts? They were obviously some form of intense radiation coming from an unimaginably distant location but how could they be explained?

Very quickly astronomers began to surmise that GRBs were exploding stars. These are usually known as supernovas but GRBs were in a whole new category and made even the tremendous force of a supernova look minuscule by comparison. Scientists have now speculated that Gamma Ray Bursts may be associated with black holes capable of releasing a fireball of energy into a high pressure jet that in turn creates the shock waves that lead to the formation of Gamma Rays.

Long and short duration.

For all their astonishing power GRBs are of extremely short duration and fall into two categories. The first involves those with an average of just a third of a second and others with a much longer average span of 30 seconds. Astronomers then conjectured that different causal forces lay behind the origin of the two categories. As it is there is still a huge amount we do not understand about GRB’s, but one thing we do know for sure is the great damage they would be capable of causing.

Deadly consequences.

Since most GRBs are at the extremities of the Universe and occurred when the Earth was very young there is seemingly nothing to worry about. Yet the very nature of GRBs mean that an explosion at even several thousand light years distance could prove deadly to all life on Earth. Indeed some scientists believe that GRBs were responsible for at least some of the frequent mass extinction's that have swept the planet over millions of years. For more on the possibly drastic implications that GRB’s could hold for our planet please turn to the accompanying link:

http://www.nature.com/nsu/030922/030922-7.html

Our Sun - the ultimate end!

For the ultimate disaster representing the End of the World we should look no further than our own Sun. Eventually - in many millions of years - this too will erupt in a vast fireball and completely vaporize our planet. This may be a long time in the future but the Sun has shown recent signs of an increase in activity.

They also mentioned the exploding of Yellow Stone National Park’s Caldera. That’s not a matter of if, that’s a matter of when. It has happened in the past and it will happen again according to Discovery Channel and the scientists involved in the information.

Here’s what they had to say:

Yellow Stone Caldera ( Source: Discover Channel )

The VEI scale runs from zero to eight. The higher the VEI number, the bigger — and less frequent — the eruptions. On one end there are the burbling, rather gentle eruptions that happen on the big island of Hawaii. These happen daily on Earth, and even with their occasional impressive fountains of lava, they rate a zero on the VEI.

At the other extreme is the Yellowstone eruption of 2.1 million years ago, which is described on the VEI as an eight: mega-colossal, with a towering ash cloud 10 miles high that pours out at least a thousand cubic miles of ash. That Yellowstone eruption had 10 times the ejected material as a VEI 7 volcano, which modern humans have never seen either.

In fact, the last VEI 7 eruption was in Toba, Indonesia, 74,000 years ago, and it caused such global cooling that some scientists think it nearly drove humans to extinction.

The largest known eruption in the last several thousand years is believed to be that of Tambora, Indonesia, in 1815. It was tens of times more massive an eruption than Mount St. Helens in 1980. Despite pouring out 7 cubic miles of ash and causing short-term global cooling, Tambora was small fry compared with any of Yellowstone's big eruptions, or even the eruption of Toba 74,000 years ago.

No eruptions of this magnitude have happened since the dawn of civilization, about 10,000 years ago — which is lucky for us, and perhaps one reason civilization has been able to develop.

As with Yellowstone, none of the other caldera-based supervolcanoes around the globe fit the classic volcano image.

Calderas are broad, sunken areas often filled with lakes, ringed with hot springs and landscaped with domes of lava. They are something like cauldrons, after which they were named, and tend to be the largest volcanoes on the planet — hence the less formal name they are sometimes given: supervolcanoes.

Like other calderas worldwide, the Yellowstone caldera landscape was created by the "roof collapse" on a subterranean chamber after molten rock — called magma — was ejected in massive prehistoric eruptions. It's almost as if there was a giant magma balloon under the surface that suddenly deflated. The deflation itself is the super-eruption, and the sunken land left behind is the caldera.

Also, as with many other calderas, there is still hot material not far underground at Yellowstone, which is why there are so many hot springs and geysers today.

As for what caused the land to inflate with magma and explode in the first place, it was a powerful "hot spot" welling up from deep in the Earth and melting rock closer to the surface into magma, says Smith.

But what caused the hot spot? And what can explain it today? Scientists are still learning answers to these questions.

"A hot spot is a long-lived point spot of magmatism," explains geologist Paul Ihinger of the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire. Among the most famous places made by hot spots are the Hawaiian Islands, Iceland and, of course, Yellowstone.

In the case of Yellowstone, the hot spot has left a 350-mile trail marked by several generations of ever-older and deader calderas marching away to the southwest of Yellowstone.

The oldest is a 15- to 16.5-million-year-old dead caldera straddling the Oregon-Nevada state line near McDermitt, Nev. The trail of dead calderas is evidence that the hot spot has remained in place while the North American continent has moved southwest over it.

The next thing they talked about was an asteroid hitting Earth. Again, that’s not a matter of if but a matter of when. The Earth has been hit by asteroids, meteors and other space debris in the past, and is hit by smaller meteorites to this very day. According to NASA we’ve had many near misses in the past. But, seriously, this probably won’t happen in our lifetimes, or even our children’s lifetimes. Or so scientists hope. NASA has been working on finding ways to “deflect” an asteroid if it should target our planet. They have some pretty far fetched ideas, but they could very well work, or not. For this one we have nothing else to do but wait and see what happens.

They also talked about Nuclear War, okay, so that is a possibility, considering the state of things. This one is not far fetched and is a possibility. What more can I say about it? Of course I’m hoping it doesn’t happen.

Next was Germs/Disease: Plague and Bioterrorism, again not so far fetched. Bioterrorism is a very real threat.

Then there was the all-time favorite Global Warming/Climate Change, again, not far fetched. The human race is killing our planet with all the gasses and toxins we’re spewing into the atmosphere. It’s called progress, I call it killing our planet. But there’s not much that one person can do about something this big. An example of the climate changes is the recent heat wave that hit North America. Temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit and higher. What can be done to fix this? The scientists seem to think they have an answer to this question. Stop pumping so much CO2 into our atmosphere, but that’s the cost of using our fossil fuels and driving our cars, trucks, busses and so on.

Okay, time for me to hop off my soap box.

Another day in the life...

Today wasn't too bad with Bug. Even though she didn't sleep through the night she was generally happy and playing all day. She had two naps that were only a maximum of 30 minutes each and a third nap that was about an hour and a half.

When it came time to get her ready for bed she faught it tooth and claw. She had an entire bottle, and still wasn't ready to fall asleep. I tried letting her put herself to sleep, but that didn't work. I ended up having to give her her nuk and rock her to sleep. Not that I mind doing that, it just means that I get a little more cuddle time with the Bug.

After I got her to sleep around midnight I was able to gather up the trash and get it out into the can for collection in the morning. I just have to try to remember to tell Strider to take it to the curb when he gets up for work. He sometimes forgets to take the can out front on Thursday mornings, but he's gotten alot better about that lately.

Sometimes I wonder about our dog, he used to be such a well behaved and well trained dog. Until he got older, then he got all the bad habbits of our elder dog, which we had to put to sleep a few months ago.

Anyway, he attacks the door when he wants to come in, he's always on the bed, never sits down when you tell him to....and he's always in my face.

I've tried just about everything to get him to listen to me, I've tried possitive reenforcement training, treat training even clicker training...nothing's worked.

It started to get even worse with him after he had a grand maul siezure, maybe it fried his brain. He only had the one seizure so the vet said there wasn't anything that could be done for him except to wait to see if he has any more.

Don't get me wrong, he great with Bug, he's very protective over her and loves her to no end. I just wish he'd listen to me.

Well, now that everything's said and done it's time for me to try to get some sleep. I hope Bug sleeps through the night tonight so I can get a good amount of sleep and be rested for the mornings adventures with her.

One hot night...

Yesterday we had a few power blinks, then later on in the evening we had a storm roll through. It was a lot of thunder and lightning and some rain. But that's not what this post is about...

At around 7:30pm I noticed that the AC unit hadn't turned on and it was getting hotter in the house. After checking the circuit breaker and changing the batteries in the thermostat on the wall it was obvious that the unit outside was dead. I must have called about half a dozen placed that claimed to have 24hr emergency service.

It wasn't until around 1015pm that I finally got in touch with someone who was willing to come out and fix it. The add in the Yellow pages said "Call anytime to speak to the owner", I thought it was just a marketing ploy, boy was I wrong.

By 1045pm a guy called me back, he called back again to get our address and said he'd be here in 30-40 minutes...exactly 40 minutes later he was pulling up in front of the house. Turned out he was the owner. Talk about true to your add.

Anyway, he found the problem, which was the capacitor, it had been blown by a power spike. When he did the test with the multi-meter he was able to discern the problem right off the bat. Instead of giving off 35 volts like normal, the capacitor was giving off 3000 volts. Within fifteen or so minutes he had the new capacitor in and the unit worked again. We had cold air coming in through the vents within seconds. By twelve midnight it was all done and working great again.

Granted it cost us a good chunk of money that we didn't technically have, but at least we have AC again, which is a very good thing in my book.

This makes me wonder though, could the capacitor have started to go with the initial power spike that blew out our T.V. and fried the memory chip on our DVR? I guess we'll never really know.

The really bad thing about this whole thing is that Bug didn't sleep through the night, she woke up every hour on the hour starting at 215am. I'm a bit tired and groggy, but I know that I have to keep chugging along with my day. It's a good thing that she's not cranky today, she's in a really good mood, playing, going all over the place, yelling at and talking to the cats and the dog.

Now we have an appointment scheduled for the 5th of September to have the air ducts cleaned and sanitized. Next on our list will be having the carpets professionally cleaned.

Party planning

Bug's birthday is coming up in about a month and a half and I have no clue what to do for a party for her. She's going to be a year old. We don't know any of the other parents or kids her age in the nieghborhood, but we do know some people with kids.

So far we've invited three couples with kids. Bug's been around four of thie kids, two of which are MomInsane's kids, which are very well manored and well behaved, the other two...well, let's just say that they're wild and rather unruley. The last set of kids Bug hasn't met, niether have I for that matter.

I know that we'll be having two cakes, one small one for her to devour and turn into a mess, and the other cake for the rest of us.

The other party we're planning is for Halloween. Not sure what to do for that either, maybe have stuff for the kids to make like candied apples, craft projects and other stuff...good thing Halloween's a good two months away.

I found these on the Kids Domain for Halloween crafts, they're so cute and should make it more fun for the kids.

Cat and Ghost Streamers


I also found these on the same site, the kids don't have to make them for the car antenna, they can make them to hang on thier walls or something.

Bat Antenna Buddy


There's lots more that I found, I might ask each parent to bring something for the crafts, that way we can all chip in to pay for it. That should make it alot easier on all of us.

New words...

Last night just before the normal bedtime ritual with Bug, she sat in front of the gate that blocks off the hall, she kept looking at me and saying what sounded like "Mama makes it". What she was really saying I have no clue, I tried to coax her to say it again and she did, but still it sounded the same "Mama makes it". Sometimes I wish there was a dictionary for baby speak.

She slept through the night, mostly, she woke up at 6:30am. I tried the usual to get her back to sleep, which is bringing her into Strider and I's bed...didn't work. Instead she laid there with her hand on his shoulder, she patted the bed and plainly said "Bed". It went something like this...

Bug: *patting the bed* Bed.
Me: Yes, lovey, bed.
Bug: *patting Striders shoulder* Bed.
Me: No, lovey, that's daddy.

Okay, so maybe for most that's not funny, but for me it is, she kept calling him and the bed Bed.

Anyway, I succeeded in getting her back to sleep after giving her something to eat.

This morning I was hoping to get a little extra sleep, since Strider is home on the weekends...but, no such luck. She still won't eat for him, which is really getting annoying. I mean, after over ten months you'd think that Bug would eat for her daddy. I don't know what to do, other then keep chugging along and getting up with her when she needs me.

Speaking of needing me, she's crying and Strider can't get her calmed down, yet again, so I'm off to sooth my lovey Bug.

The Cleaning of toys...

Who knew that the cleaning of toys could be so easy? I got Bug the Squirt from Finding Nemo plushy, after months of her chewing on the fins it was time to clean it. Bad thing is that the label says surface clean only, so being the daring mom I am I put it in the wash in normal cycle and dried it on Medium Perm Press...the toy and all the paint on it are fine. It survived in perfect condition minus the Bug drool.

Is it just me?

Yesterday I went to Home Depot to get a quote on having the ocuntertop in our kitchen replaced. The quote they gave me for it was higher then what Lowes's wanted. Home Depot wanted almost a grand and Lowes wanted about 850$. But the good news is that the guy showed me how to do it myself and we're going to give it a shot. It'll be cheaper to do it ourselves anyway. The countertop we're looking at has no backsplash on it, which will make it easier for me to do the tiling on the wall.

Bug did really good yesterday, she ate alot. The only bad thing was that while I was out doing the errands Strider called me to find out if I was on my way home yet, which I was. He said that Bug was being rather fussy. As soon as I walked in the door she was all smiles, guess she just wanted her mama.

Bug's still asleep so I can get a few things done aruond the house. Then it's all Bug time until Strider gets homes. He's supposed to be coming home early because I have a dr's appointment. Hopefully Bug will be calm for him today and not get fussy because mama's not in her sight.

Am I a bad mommy?

Sometimes I feel like I'm failing my Bug. Everytime she cries it breaks my heart, so I try to keep her as happy as possible. I play with her all the time, feed her her favorite food and give her her favorite cookies. In spite of all that I still feel like I'm not doing a good job as a mom. I get so scared sometimes that I'm going to hurt her, or that she hates me. But then I see that smile and I forget it all.

Maybe I'm just losing my mind, or maybe this is normal, I have no idea.

My hubby keeps trying to reassure me that I'm not failing Bug, but it doesn't seem to help much.

I also feel like the oldest mom in my neighborhood. I don't know anyone around here and we moved here about a year and a half ago. I'm not very outgoing, so that could be why. I prefer to stay at home with the Bug.

A day...

Well, to say that today was boring would be an understatement. Bug was fussy today, refused to take more then a 30 minute nap all day. When she's tired it's difficult to get her to eat. Plus she did alot of playing today, which did make her hungry, but then she wanted to look all around the room instead of eating.

To top it all off, my hubby got food poisoning. He ate the left overs from dinner last night and ended up sick from them...now that makes me feel horrible. He had packed the left overs up and put them into the fridge as soon as we were finished with dinner, so we know the food was good. The poor guy can't even keep water down.

I'll be staying up until he stops throwing up, have to keep giving him water to keep him hydrated, even if he does keep throwing it up. Better to throw up water then stomach acids, right?