House of Estrogen

Simple Woman's Daybook, May 31, 2010

For Today...

Outside my window... heat, miserable heat.

I am thinking... that I wish I was still at the beach!

I am thankful for... working air conditioning in half the house... at least we can be comfortable downstairs.

From the kitchen... J.C. made pancakes and bacon for dinner tonight.

I am wearing... a tee and denim shorts.

I am creating... beach photo blog posts over the next few days. You may experience beach photo overload. Sorry about that!

I am going... to bed soon... whenever it is cool enough outside to survive in my bed with just a ceiling fan running.

I am reading... Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson... seems like a fun beach-read chick-lit book so far.

 I am hoping... the a/c repairs don't cost a fortune.

I am hearing... JC on the phone, and sadly... no a/c running, just the ceiling fan.

Around the house... suitcases have exploded everywhere!

One of my favorite things... my six year old reading books to my two year old at bedtime... so sweet!

A few plans for the rest of the week.... not much planned... the kids are going to camp at one of those inflatable places three days this week and then puppet camp on Friday... should be fun.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... one of the first pictures I took with my new 85 mm 1.8 lens... I think I'm going to like it!

 
   

   To read more Daybook posts or learn how to participate, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook. 

Lesson Learned and Babysitter of the Year Award

Parenting is one of those jobs where you learn the most through experience. Every so often though, a friend or family member will pass along a really great tip that will keep you from making the same mistake she did. Here is your tip for the day. Remember it. It is important. Write it down if you need to. EMPTY THE DIAPER PAIL BEFORE GOING ON VACATION. Even if you own the Diaper Champ or Diaper Genie or diaper wonder-pail-of-the-moment-that-swears-it-will-never-let-the-slightest-odor-out, please empty it.  If you neglect to empty it and your air conditioner just happens to stop functioning while you're on vacation, your house will smell distinctly of a diaper oven upon your arrival. Worse, if you come home during a long holiday weekend, you won't be able to get the A.C. fixed until Tuesday, so your house will be an extremely hot diaper oven. Trust me on this one. This is a situation where you're better off letting somebody else make that mistake.  Just empty it. You'll be glad you did.

Before arriving home to the diaper oven, J.C. and I decided to extend our vacation a bit by going out to a movie tonight. We lined up a babysitter while we were on the road. Only the upstairs A.C. is out, and we figured the girls would sleep OK with fans in their rooms. We left the sitter with the usual instructions about bedtimes, teeth brushing, etc. and took off. When we got home after the movie, we walked in to a pitch black house. The sitter was sitting on the couch and hopped up to greet us. He said that the big girls were too hot to sleep and that Addie had been asleep but was sweating like a pig, so he brought them all downstairs. We walked into the family room to see this...

He even dragged Addie's crib mattress downstairs!  The poor guy was sitting in the dark, listening to the classical music he had turned on to help the kids relax.  I'm nominating him for babysitter of the year award!  I'm sure he would have been much happier hanging out in the family room by himself with a hockey game on TV, a soda in hand, and a bag of chips in his lap. Instead, he put the girls' comfort first. Creative babysitting solution at its finest! Thank you M!

 

Classic

Our friends J and K and their three children arrived Wednesday night to join us for fun in the sun. They arrived after all of our kids had gone to bed, and J.C. and I were in the middle of a pretty serious Wii tournament. I had run upstairs to get a drink (from the bucket of margarita, of course). The B's pulled up and went to the front door (on the second floor) which was locked, so they came back down to the first floor and let themselves in. J.C. hadn't heard them pull up as he was deep in concentration. Since I was up on the third floor, I wasn't able to alert him to their arrival. They walked in to find J.C. alone, swinging his hips wide from side to side Wii hula-hooping! The laughter and heckling was clearly heard two stories above. I'm pretty sure they will never let him live that down, and now, thanks to the Internet, you too can enjoy that little mental picture... tall, long-limbed, 6'5 guy by himself air hula-hooping... classic.

J.C. - just so you won't divorce me for posting this little episode, I'm softening the blow with a sweet picture.  That's fair, right?

House of Estrogen "Hello there!" from Emerald Isle

Vogue

"Ladies with an attitude,

Fellas that were in the mood,

Don't just stand there, let's get to it

Strike a pose, there's nothing to it."

~ Madonna

 

 

 
 

R & R

Those Eyes!

Our friends S and N have been down here at the beach with us, and I've become a bit obsessed with photographing their daughter S. Look at those eyes! Just look at them!  Tell me they don't melt your heart just a little.

"This is Some Good Living!"

Yesterday afternoon after spending the morning at the aquarium and the afternoon on the beach, we were all sitting around the kitchen having a snack, and Nina busted out with, "This is some goooood living!"  I have to say I agree. We're having a great beach trip. This morning we took a bike ride to DQ for lunch, and now the girls and JC are out in the pool. I plan to join them shortly.

I won't be posting many pictures while we're here. I have Photoshop installed on the laptop but no Photoshop actions, and editing pictures in the glare of this screen is torture. Here's one from yesterday though.... some good living!

 

Simple Woman's Daybook, May 24, 2010

For Today...

Outside my window... rain.... fingers crossed it goes away!

I am thinking... that there are few places I love more than the beach.

I am thankful for... vacation.

From the kitchen... seafood and a bucket of margarita!

I am wearing... PJ's.

I am creating... maybe some good pictures?

I am going... to enjoy every minute at the beach.

I am reading... The First Patient by Michael Palmer. This is a great thriller! 

 I am hoping... for great weather.

I am hearing... the ocean.... heaven to my ears!

Around the house... WOW.... seriously, just WOW. This beach house is freakin' amazing! I think the kitchen island is as big as my entire kitchen at home. I could seriously move into the master bathroom here and live a very happy life!

One of my favorite things... the beach. I love the sound of the waves, the feel of the salty air, the smell of the ocean, and the shrieks from my children having the time of their lives.

A few plans for the rest of the week.... eat well, drink well, play hard, sleep hard, and leave all my worries behind!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... the car as we were packing yesterday. This is before adding four bikes to the hitch rack... I'm not sure how the back end wasn't dragging the ground!

 

   

   To read more Daybook posts or learn how to participate, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook. 

Adrenaline

A little background information is needed for this post.

1. About two years ago, the husband of a good friend of mine did a not-quite-a-complete-flip on a trampoline and broke his neck. After emergency surgery, he is extremely lucky to be walking.

2. Last month, the teenage kid across the street broke four vertebrae in his neck in the middle of a lacrosse game. He continued playing the rest of the game. Unreal. It is mind-boggling that he is not paralyzed.

Given that history, you can understand my spike in adrenaline when after gymnastics camp this afternoon, Nina came to me in tears saying, "I tried to do a flip on the trampoline today, but I landed on my head. It felt like all the bones in my neck broke, and now my neck really hurts to move it."

"It felt like all the bones in my neck broke."

Now if I hadn't known about my neighbor playing half a game of lacrosse with a broken neck, I might have just said, "Oh, shake it off. You can move your neck. You're fine." Really though, if he could play lacrosse with crushed C3-C6, then it was perfectly reasonable to assume that Nina could finish out the day at camp with a broken neck as well. There would be no shaking this off... no shaking, period. I made a call to the pediatrician, got an appointment for 10 minutes later, and off we went. Long story short, she is fine. She strained some ligaments in the thoracic region, and a couple days of Motrin should take care of it.

However, today just further confirms my fear and loathing of trampolines. The doctor said he thinks someone evil invented them just to hurt people. He has already seen two broken bones this week from trampolines. Thankfully, we didn't add to his count.

How long does it take to come off the adrenaline high? Do I have a chance of falling asleep tonight? We had a great outcome today, but the "what ifs" are paralyzing... pun intended.