No News but WEDDING NEWS!!! HELL YEAHH!!

I don't have any news. I'm widdling down my food supplies and I'm hungry.  I don't want to go buy food because I need to use up what I have, but I'm totally uninspired to cook what I've got left. 

I did, however, watch The Wedding today.  Oh my gosh she is such a beautiful bride - and she is soooo classy.   They make such a striking couple.  It was very obvious to me, how different this wedding is from the Charles and Diana wedding.  In this wedding the bride was nervous but visibly happy.  In the last wedding, the bride was utterly terrified and overwhelmed - she was in a "coping" mode it seemed.  With this wedding the couple exchanged glances and tried to suppress laughter during the somber occasion.  In the last wedding it seemed like Charles and Diana were struggling to both look normal and to see each other through the veil and excessive fabric. 

In any event, I thought it was very crass of Barbara Walters to declare that Catherine would be trying to get pregnant right away due to her "age".  W-T-H Babs??  That is so unenlightened.  Maybe she will have a baby right away and maybe she won't, but now a days women in their late 20's and 30's aren't feeling the "pressure" of their age like they used to  . . .!!  Jeeeez.  It seems that Ol' Babs was showing her age with that remark.

I also had to oooooohhhhh and awwwwww at those adorable little kids all dressed up and part of the wedding party.  Those little boys outfits were so cute it made me tear up.  And those cute little girls in their little dresses!!  Awwwwww!!!!

One last thing.  CBS sucks a bigggg ol fatty.  Katie Couric was a fumbling mess of a reporter on this occasion which, I might add, she had ample time to prepare for.  She kept stumbling over pronunciations, couldn't seem to figure out British Royal customs and kept audibly whispering to her producers while her guests were talking.  AND the audio on the entire event was jacked up!! Her guests kept talking over each other, she couldn't seem to figure out what to do about it and her questions to the guests were utterly embarrassing.  Very disappointing coverage.  I made the mistake of only DVR-ing the CBS broadcast, however I will not make that mistake again.  Thank GOD the internet is available for me to watch as many videos, from competent news casters, as I want.

Yes, I'm a white hot mess of a stalker when it comes to the Royals.  I'm not ashamed.  It fascinates me that people are BORN into a fish bowl.  They drive around in cars that even LOOK like fish bowls, specifically designed to enable common folk to view the Royals through the glass.  And now this very nice lady willingly married into the fish bowl.  Fascinating!!!

Fresh Air

All morning I couldn't figure out why my house smelled terrible.  Like rotting fruit, or cat poop, or something nasty.  Then I got a whiff of something over by my sink. . . rotten eggs.  My parents fed the kids egg salad yesterday. . . could it be in the disposal?

Nope.  My gas stove was on.  On high.

All the windows are open and my house smells much better.

Horray for not dying in a fiery ball of gas!!!  Horray for my finely tuned senses realizing after only 5 hours what the source of the smell was!!  Horray for 50mph gusts of wind that are not only airing my home out but putting a fine coating of dust on every surface and causing me to sneeze and not be able to breathe!!!

Whoo HOOOO!

Update:  Nick decided that with the 50 mph gusts whipping through the house, that now would be a good time to empty out the bin under the shredder.  It is unplugged, but the bin was full.  Note that I said "was".  I have teeny bits of paper all over my house.  I was up until 9:45 last night cleaning.  And now I don't know where to begin again.

Update 2:  The cat just puked in three spots. F-ing cats!!!! AJ is going to LOVE coming home to me tonight.  ;-)

Easter Day Fun

Fast Trip

On Friday (yesterday) we suddenly decided at 2pm that we were going to go to Carlsbad Caverns, one last time before we headed north in 2 weeks.  By 4pm we were packed, the dog was at the dog resort and we were in the car and driving.  Whew.

And now we are home.  We got home at 8pm today (Saturday).  It was a fast trip but a great trip. 

We got there bright and early, knowing that it would get very crowded on Easter weekend.  Being tourists, we had to pose for the super cheesy picture that most of my friends will laugh at. 

We had forgotten that is was a free weekend for the National Parks!!  Whoo Hoo we got in free!

Nick decided that he was scared of all the dark and big spaces.

Lucas was VERY excited to be underground in a real CAVE and everything!!!  Just like in the Scooby cartoons!!!

We noticed that all the pools in the cave were very full!  The park staff must have finally decided to refill them.  Ha!!

And the staff must have hosed off some of the formations, and got them all sparkly white and shiny wet. I wish they'd do that with all of the formations.  (Most of you know I'm joking)

Unfortunately the new layout of the trails near the natural entrance didn't allow us to get to the Natural Entrance without sitting through ANOTHER orientation after standing in a long line.  I don't care for the new design down there.  But the boys loved the big hole in the ground, once we got close enough to see it!

We lunched at Rattlesnake Springs.  Beautiful and peaceful as always.

Nick played by a tree

I got a very fuzzy photo of a dragonfly.

Here's an even worse photo of a Vermilion Flycatcher .  He's in the center of the pic on a dangling little branch.  Good luck seeing him.

Speaking of flashy dudes (this one is much less attractive though), this guy was in the Walmart parking lot.  SHOCKING, I know.  Here he is after he had to drop/jump out of his vehicle. 

Here he is again with his kids.  To get this photo, I was hiding behind a post at the gas station while I stuck my camera around the side.  I didn't want to be obvious!!  How does he get back in??  How does he reach the handle to open the door??  I'm going to guess that he might be over compensating for something. . . . . .and judging by the size of his over compensation it must be a significant problem that he is trying to cover up. . . . . just sayin'.  [AJ said that he's surprised the guy could reproduce based upon the size of his over compensation.  HAHA!  I love AJ!]

It was hot.  We met some good friends for ice cream.  So good to visit!!

Nick was gnawing on turkey jerky a lot.  Shortly after we got home he had a turkey jerky poop which made me decide to never EVER give him turkey jerky again.  Even my husband with a cast iron stomach had to leave the room.  It was highly unpleasant.  TMI - but consider it a warning.

Speaking of TMI.  I encountered a cashier in a store who took a step back from the register to burp.  He then stepped back and in detail explained to me that he'd just had nachos with salsa and jalapenos. He went on to tell me that he had to step away to burp, but that the nachos were worth it.  I think he wanted me to comment . . .  I did not.  I just looked at him. 

I then encountered another person at another register at another store who was barely willing to tell me my total amount owed.  When she did speak to me it was with a great deal of effort, no smile, and no greeting.  She was really unhappy that she had to take my money.  I was suddenly reminded that when I moved to Albuquerque 2.5 years ago we were so shocked by how friendly people were.  We were just amazed that waiters and waitresses and clerks and cashiers were all greeting us with smiles, and being . . . pleasant.  I had forgotten.

Those were the only down sides to our trip.  We had a GREAT time, although it was too short.  The park is beautiful as always.  I really miss that park.  But I don't miss that town.

Not Again

I had to do the Heimlich maneuver on Nick today.  This is the third time this kid has choked bad enough to need assistance.  What the hell is that about???

He crams his mouth with food and won't swallow until he gags.  I am constantly having to make him spit some out into a napkin - nice visual huh?

Anyway.  It was different that the other times. He started off with dry chex cereal.  He made a face as if he was in a great deal of pain and cried out.  But then he stopped making noise.  I picked him up and thought he'd swallowed a sharp piece and scratched his throat.  I was carrying him to the garbage can to empty his mouth of the rest.  Then I heard a brief and desperate sounding gasp.  It was way too short to be a real breath, it stopped abruptly.  I realized that he was choking and not breathing.  I knelt on the ground and did the chest thrusts.  Two of them.  Nothing.  No breathing.  No breathing. 

Normally, I'm calm.  At least I feel calm, normally.  But I freaked-the-(insert cuss word)-out when the two chest thrusts didn't work.  I picked all 34 pounds of him up with one hand and tilted his whole body with his head down. I dropped his chest onto my fist and then whacked the living-shit out of his back like a freaking maniac.

It worked.  The gravity worked.  He took a big long gasp and started to cry. 

Shocking News Flash:  I'm not too thrilled that this kid has a knack for choking.

Zoo

We went to zoo yesterday with Joanne.  We had a lot of fun.  As you can see I am still playing with photoshop. 

The zoo was packed with about 10 (I'm guessing) field trip groups from local schools.  The place was swarming with kids in color coded t-shirts.  There weren't enough chaperone's and the kids were running, screaming and obnoxious.  At one point they swarmed into a building we were in and separated me from Nick and Sara (Joanne's daughter).  Sara was trying to get out of the way but they wouldn't let her get over to me because they were rushing by so fast - so I got feisty.  We'll leave it at that.

It was really nice to sit on the lawn and visit with Joanne.  I am planning a trip to see her next week.  One last chance before the big move. 

The bitches, aka cats, have decided to F with me and are puking all over the carpets.  Good times.  I'm not sure if I can get some of the stains out.

Lesson Learned??

Lucas chased Nick down with his bicycle while Nick ran across the court.  They were laughing and having a blast - a modified game of chase.  It was slow motion for me because it was pretty predictable that Nick would trip on the too-close tire on the bike.  I tried to stop it, but was too late.  Lucas ran right over him and dragged him along for a few inches until the momentum stopped. 

Both were guilty.  Nick shouldn't get in front of bikes and asked to be chased, and Lucas should leave enough room so that he can stop if needed. 

They both cried, for different reasons.  No real harm was done, but I had a chat with both of them and tried to make it a learning moment.  I don't know if I succeeded though.  My boys don't seem to think of consequences or have the caution that many girls do. 

I took these pics less than two minutes after it happened, and you can see that Nick is not crying anymore and is fascinated by the blood oozing from his skin.  That seemed to be more interesting to Nick than maintaining a cry was. 

I just had to share the tire marks on Nick's back though.  It is pretty funny that he has tire marks on his back.  If he were older that would be something to brag about. . . .

Buyers

For all the people who believe in karma. . . . it has slapped me on the ass.  When we moved into this house we asked the seller to repair a small hole in the screen door, and a small air leak around the front door (not a big deal).  I wasn't even completely aware of our realtor requesting these things . . . . it just all sort of happened and we signed the papers requesting it.

But now the buyers of our home are asking for equally small repairs.  Silly repairs.  And I fully recognize how the universe has swung around to show us how it feels to be asked to repair silly things or risk putting the whole sale in jeopardy.  I know it is all normal buyer-seller stuff.  To be expected.  It is just a thing on my radar that is annoying me.  Hurry up, get it done, get it paid for, get it reinspected, get the agreement paperwork submitted.  Dear LORD get me out of this house before the kids spill grape juice on the carpet!!  It isn't my carpet anymore!!!

I'm ready to whip out the snow gear in 2.5 weeks and get up there for the winter *ahem* I mean summer fun.

Current Picture: 

Weather

Today is Sunday April 17th.  We are in the heart of spring.  I spent the first half of my day sitting in patio chairs and visiting with my parents while enjoying a cool beverage and watching the kids play in the dirt.  The second half of my day I was barefoot walking through the warm sand in our backyard while gardening.  Later I threw the ball for the dog over and over again until she was tired.  It has been a beautiful New Mexico day.  The temperatures were in the high 70's by late morning.  Perfect weather.


I got a little tired of all the sunshine so I decided to come inside and start making dinner.  But first I opened my computer to check email.  I decided to peek at the web cams for Glacier to see how their day is going.



As I sat on my couch, newly suntanned and in a tank top, this is what I saw:

Three separate cameras.  Two of them completely covered in snow, and one of them showing even more white shit. There were more camera views available, but it is more of the same. I checked and they received just over 5 inches as of this morning. . . not counting what continued to fall all day. 

*Sigh* 

It's ok.  It will be ok right?  I will see the sun again right??   My GOD is it winter all the time up there??  What the hell?

Glacier Pictures

Glacier is really impressing me already!!  They have so much (up to date!!) information on their website for the general public to access.  For example they maintain a Flickr account with pictures of park operations, scenery, wildlife and visitor activities.  Very cool indeed. 

You can go onto their flickr account and see current (as of  Friday the 15th) pictures of the snow plowing operations.  They also are posting wolverine pictures obtained from remote cameras.  What a great and modern way to get the public excited about the resources. Love it!!

BIG OL' BABY

Ohhh.  I am acting like such a child.  I am so very happy I chose the realtor that I did.  She is not only excellent at her job, but she is excellent at dealing with crazy people like me too. I went with my gut on this realtor and it is paying off.  This experience is so much easier with a person who can handle people - not just realty.


Anyway enough about that.  Here are some pictures.  There aren't any pics of the kids, they are having a rough afternoon so we will try for kid pics tomorrow.

I will be passing my potted plants off to a friend of mine soon.  Kinda sad to see my little babies go.  I get way too attached to plants.

Ready, Finally

I'm finally past the shock and the sadness of moving.  I'm organized (as much as I will be, anyway) and I'm ready to go.  3 weeks left.  I'm really ready to get out of this house, because I have already started to see it as another person's home. 

Now it is all about the waiting.

*sigh*

Getting Out

I get to go see some friends tonight.  I miss my friends.  I'm so happy. 

Tomorrow the buyer wants to see the house. . . again.  I don't blame them.  If I were them, I would want to see it a few times to take measurements, and to plan.  It is just inconvenient for us.  I am tempted to hang out in the back yard while they are here, just because I'm really tired of surrendering my home every time people come through it.  It is so difficult to leave each and every time - and then to wonder what they are doing in there for so long??  Are they opening my refrigerator?  Are they sitting on my couches, you know, to get a feel for how they would feel in the home?  I am just not very good at this whole home-selling thing.

Nick is being a little firecracker lately.  He is reverting to more baby-like behavior.  He wants to be held, carried, and fed.  He whines a lot and is defiant and argumentative.  He is having trouble sleeping and wants his Momma all of the time.  It is hard to live with.  But I remember Lucas going through a very similar stage (Lucas was a bit younger when he did it at 2.5yrs) and we survived it just fine.  Nick is a bit more intense in all things so it is a more difficult stage with Nick than it was Lucas.  I wonder if Nick is picking up on all the energy levels and is reacting in this way.  Or he could just be hitting the challenging age of three and giving me a peek at the next year of my life. 

What ever is going on, I am trying to be extra patient and not react too forcefully.  He, for what ever reason, is in need of more attention and time lately and I'm doing my best.

Enough

You know how sometimes, not often, you just have had enough?  Enough!!!  I'm there.  I've had enough.  Enough of everything.

I came home after my home was inspected to find that the inspector had opened every single window in my home and let in a tremendous amount of dirt - including all over Nick's bed.  We have 50 mph winds going on and dust storms right now.

In addition, he apparently checked every sink stopper in the house, and managed to break two of them.  I don't know how you break sink stoppers, but two no longer work.  They worked this morning when I was cleaning the sinks though. . . AND he removed a piece of our alarm system.  It is a sticky magnet that sticks to the door and it is now gone.  I can't arm the alarm system without it. I know it was there this afternoon when I left the house because the door beeped at me when it was opened.  And of course AJ is out of town tonight.

This isn't all the bullshit of the day. . . but it is enough to throw me over the edge of reason.  I'm in no mood right now to be civil to anyone.

Oh, and I just had an argument with Nick because he insisted he should be allowed to pee in the bathtub.  No, he wasn't taking a bath or a shower.  He just wanted to drop his pants and pee in the bathtub.  Then Lucas decided to lock Nick in the shower and leave the water turned to cold (Nick can't reach the knob) while Nick screamed and cried.  I ran in there and of course was very unhappy with Lucas' behavior.

Today needs to end, and I suspect it will end with me drinking some of my emergency stash of wine.

Funny Rural Montana Advice

Read this and try not to pee your pants.  Ok. So maybe you won't pee your pants because you won't be forced into fighting off the meth heads like I will.  But I do feel the battle-rage.  HA!

Said Today

Me:
"Lucas don't lock your brother into the sleeping bag."
"Nick don't smother your brother in the sleeping bag."
"That's it, no one plays with the sleeping bag."
"Who left the water running??!!"
"Stop fighting and help Mommy find the dog poop."
"Damn, I forgot to get diaper wipes at the store.  Lucas, bring Mommy the paper towels please."
"Lucas put the windex down, now."


Lucas:
"Don't worry Mommy, I just sprayed the chemical on my skin, not on my eyecovers."
"Mommy, I don't want to shower.  I'm busy cleaning and cleaning men don't take breaks."
"Nick did it."
"I didn't, Nick did."


Nick:
"I don't want grapes.  I want strawberries."
"But I wanted grapes, not straaaaawbeeeerrries."
"NO.  I want pineapple Mommy.  I'm so hungry."
"Buttttt I'm huuuuungry.  I don't want that, I'm huuuungry."
"You hurt me."
"Yes you did, you hurt me Mommy."
"NOOOO, you did!!"

P.S.  I never got near him and he declared that I hurt him.  He's on the fast track to being placed in foster care if he keeps saying that.

Beaver Love

The boys are currently watching an educational show about beavers and beaver dams.  They are loving the show.  There have been lots and lots of questions as we watch the show, which is good. We will hopefully see many beaver dams in our new state.  They have never seen a beaver or a beaver dam before, so this is good preparation for what we will find in Montana.

Yesterday we were learning about rivers.  Lots and lots of rivers and streams. They learned that rivers start small in the mountains and get bigger and bigger as they flow toward the oceans.

The day before we learned about water animals like bugs, fish, frogs, newts and others.

We have been looking at pictures on the computer and reading books about mountains.

It is going to be a whole new environment and I feel like I need to prepare the kids as much as I prepare myself - so that it won't be a total shock to us.

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Ehhh hahahahaha!!  We just got to explain "beaver love" to the boys - because the show became extra educational.  Nice. 

I imagine that we will see "elk love" and "moose love" and "bison, bear and mountain goat love" up in Montana too.  This should be fun.  I'll keep you posted.
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Update:
Oh NO!!  A grizzly bear chased a beaver down the hill - which resulted in me screaming like a little girl and covering the boys' eyes.  The kids tried to fight to see the action on the TV but I was determined to keep their eyes covered while I loudly screamed and yelled at the little brown beaver to hurry his fuzzy ass up and get to the water FAST. 

Thankfully the beaver survived and the kids don't have my arms wrapped tightly around their heads anymore.  I think I traumatized them more than the beaver chase did.

Things to Do In the Winter

PLACES: Pond Skim at Whitefish Mountain Resort | Flathead Beacon

There seem to be many events despite cold weather. A good sign.

Spiders and Sprinklers

There was a 2.5-3 inch long spider up under our eaves this morning. She was slightly hairy.  I've never seen a spider like this before.  The only thing I can think of is maybe a baby tarantula?  But do tarantulas climb like this?  If you have insight please let me know.

 Update:  I did a bit of research and based on the leg position, the size of the abdomen and the pedipalps, it looks like it may be a wolf spider or a close relative of a wolf spider?  Any more guesses?  I have better quality photos available if needed. 

She was really beautiful.  I had no inclination to kill her, although my neighbor felt she should die for some irrational, fearful reason.  He immediately decided she was a black widow.  I told him it was not a black widow.  I told him (nicely) to keep his paws off of my spider.



Pop and the boys fixed our swimming pool situation in the back yard!!  Problem solved for good.  Just in time to pass inspections on Thursday.



Now I need to go and buy about 12 tubes of caulk so we can re-do areas in our shower, around windows, and under our eaves.  Plus we need to re-tar around all the vent pipes on the roof.  I'm sooo glad we have "sold" the house.  One of my lilacs just started blooming, and it is beautiful, and it is reminding me of all the plans we had for the yard.  All my trees are showing such promise and now I worry that the new owners won't water them or love them like I do.  I need to let go, but it is hard.