Phisch's blog

Waaaaah!

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:00:53 -0500

This is so sad. She's in her crate, crying, crying, crying. I feel like crying, crying and taking her to bed with me. But I am not giving in. Besides, she has fleas.

4th of July isn't the best night to bring home a new puppy and teach it to sleep in a crate.

She's good, though, she only had one accident today inside the house and I caught her in the act so we're working on it. Sprocket didn't whine that time, nor did she spin in circles but to be fair, she just got up from a long nap and I paused before taking her outside.

The person we bought her from said she and her litter mates got up at 7 am every day, so hopefully she won't be up much earlier than that.

We've had her one day and she's shown us her temperament very well. I was concerned that she was really sad and missing her siblings but after a few play times outside I realize she's just mellow indoors and seems to reserve being active for times she can play in grass. She's definitely got a more submissive temperament rather than dominant which makes for a great family dog. That's not to say that Sprocket won't have to be trained out of trying to herd the boys when they play by nipping at their ankles...we'll see if that's necessary.

NM likes her very much. He's still very ginger with her and not sure how to pick her up. He's nervous and we have to work on that because dogs can sense it. She doesn't treat him any differently than J, though, so it might not be an issue. J will pick her up and carry her for whatever reason. He's tried to play guns with her already and she just tried to eat his gun. She did sleep next to NM for a bit today and that made him very happy :)

To make sure she knows she's at the bottom of the totem pole of our pack, we will all take turns feeding her and taking her outside. I think she sleeps next to or nearest whoever fed her last. I was trying to keep track and it seems that way. I'm trying to make sure everything is predictable because puppies, just like babies, appreciate routine and need that security.

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Hello!

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:00:52 -0500

IMG_7151
Originally uploaded by Phisch

EDIT/UPDATE: I'm a girl. Ooops...I forgot to tell you and assumed that you would know that because I point my toes very daintily. But my new family decided on a name for me: SPROCKET. I like it and I'll come or look up right away when I hear it. Kinda fits, don't you think?

Hi, I'm a 7 week old pembroke welsh corgi. I just got adopted today by my new family. I miss my brothers and sister! But the boys in my new family really love me and are really good about being gentle.

I'm really little but I make sure to let my new family know when I have to go outside. I love to chase the boys around and I don't like being alone. They got me new toys to chew on and those are great! So are the pillows, but they are nice enough to explain to me that toys are better to chew on.

I love this house! It's big and full of soft things to lay on. I think I'll go to sleep while they watch the Olympics tryouts.

Only trouble is...they don't have a name for me yet! Do you have any ideas? I have a heart on my forehead. Does that help with ideas?

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4th of July

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:18:32 -0500

IMG_7138
Originally uploaded by Phisch

In honor of Independence Day (and the fact that my right hand/arm is still not up to knitting*), I made a banner with some scrap fabric plus new fabric the kids helped to pick out.

Looks ok here. I really like it. In spite of the fact that the machine was totally misbehaving, it did get done and I kept my cool.

Happy 4th of July!

*I was almost all better when I bought and helped hubby lift and set up a rug for upstairs. This rug is the third (and hopefully) last one in our saga of rugs. The first wasn't working with the vacuum which has since been returned. The second was the no-end-to-shedding-ever rug so it went back. I like this one and I hope that it flattens out soon so we don't have to exchange that one either. But now my right arm needs to relax a while again.

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Moo Cards

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:15:58 -0500

IMG_7136
Originally uploaded by Phisch

I got three from my sister! I think I want to make some now.

Oops...adding link to Moo so it makes more sense.

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Soccer!

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:32:01 -0500

I signed *both* boys up for Fall soccer season. I hope both boys get great coaches like Noah had last year.

We won't have any indoor soccer games until July 13, however. This is a good thing: that means other things can happen on Saturdays in the summer.

I am very much looking forward to buying their gear! I hope they let me take photos of them in their uniforms. NM already makes "shin guards" for his brother and they pretend they play on the same team. It's cuteness!

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Abba's Bowl

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:02:12 -0500

2008-06-28 Abba's Bowl
Originally uploaded by Phisch

The boys and I made this for Father's Day only they were closed the first few times we went to pick it up (kinda helps if they are open on a Monday when they tell you that you have to pick it up the following Monday). Hehe.

Pics of the bottom and side here. They show a lot of the kids' input.

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How's it going?

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:24:45 -0500

We're fine, just fine.

Okay, we're fine-ish and tired. I'm sorta fine, or as fine as I can be with half of me in Mexico on a business trip.

I'm tired so if my grammar is lacking, can that be my excuse? We ran errands today. I spent time with the boys measuring our planter to see how many square foot garden boxes we could fit over it. How fun is that? I sure beats working on multiplication problems on a sheet of paper. Practical math! Whodda thunk it? Now we know how many square feet we need for two 4'x4' box bottoms and three 3'x3' box bottoms. We also figured out the perimeter total so we know how much 1x8 (or 1x10) lumber we need. Eventually, we'll get to plant our mandan corn seeds plus who knows what else the boys will want in there.

We finally picked up the bowl we painted for Father's Day. Finally! Each prior attempt was met with a "CLOSED" sign at the door. It looks great and when I get the gumption (did I actually type that? dagnabit, I did!) I will take photos and share them with you.

After a trip to Target to exchange a door mat (you were dying to know that, weren't you?), we went to visit friends and take advantage of their pool. Lovely, lovely pool. It was hot enough that I actually went in. And, check it out: my J taught himself to swim. Almost. Kinda. I remember this stage with NM. Given another few weeks of practice, he'll have it down pat. He's able to float horizontally and kick, but not quite yet the two together. He has, however, taken my advice to heart and will kick from the bottom of the pool to get his head out of the water so he can breathe. Bravo! My heart always skips a beat because it's hard to tell if he really needs air of if he's just trying to swim. Since he comes up all smiles, I guess it's the latter so I only stick my arms out for him to grab if necessary. He's having a blast! He is so driven to learn so he can keep up with his older brother in the deep parts, the parts marked 4'8" as opposed to 3'6".

I forgot to mention this from two days ago: after a trip to the pool, my boys were in the bath getting all the cooties off them (pools are very cootieful). My oldest comes out afterwards and tells me: "Mom, I shampooed J's hair for you. I soaped him off also and I was very careful, I made really sure not to get soap in his eyes. Pretty good, huh?"

I tell ya, sometimes I wonder why God picked me. Those warm fuzzies are like grace bombs that remind me how much I'm loved---and how grateful I am that we got on Feingold diet.

I just read a list of symptoms and effects that people had to deal with before the diet and one was heart breaking (paraphrasing here): "Hard is when people look at your kid's behavior and wonder how you can be such a bad parent." Because I can so relate to that one! To think I spent a lot of time stressing over behaviors that were avoidable with a change of diet.

^_^

So, God has this way of reminding me "be careful what you pray for." No, I didn't pray for patience because I doubt I'm old enough. I did ask to be stretched and to be pointed towards a ministry in church and He answered. I wasn't led to children's ministry because my reasons to work there aren't right (It's what I've always done and the people who work there are fun). I get approached to work as a greeter, get that one! I didn't think it would work since we're always late but then my hubby gets asked to help in ministry work that requires us to be 1 hour early for early service. I didn't see how it could work, but God worked it out. He's so good. I am also praying about helping with the new supply ministry which is more my sort of thing: in the background and incognito. Ministry ninja-style. I already do some graphics stuff for women's ministry and they asked me today to help with the main media ministry graphics, so I will pray about that one. That's also ninja-style ministry so long as no one talks. If they talk, well...you know ninjas ;)

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George Carlin

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:27:06 -0500

By now, unless you really weren't paying attention, you know that George Carlin died. I'm kinda lukewarm over his routines (though his "Stuff" bit was great) but I had to share that I think I got to meet him once.

It was during our honeymoon and we were traveling through Carmel, CA before driving up PCH to San Francisco.We spent the night at a small b&b or inn after an amazing dinner at a small cafe we never did manage to find on subsequent trips. In the morning, we walked to a restaurant called Ruby's or something similar and had our breakfast.

It wasn't too crowded there. There was a group of about five people at another table that was chatting it up. Well, One Guy was chatting it up and the rest, you could tell by body language, were just excited to be there.

We get ready to go, hubby goes to the restroom and I decide to go also after he'd gone outside already. On my way out, the One Guy stops me and asks me "Have you ever been there?"

I go "Huh?" I don't readily approach strangers and I'm not sure what he's talking about. Oh yeah, I'm wearing my hubby's USSR sweatshirt.

"No, my husband got it for Christmas a few years ago because we figured it wasn't going to be there anymore."

The One Guy proceeds to tell me how he's been to Moscow and it's an interesting place. I just notice the facial hair and voice. Gruff.

The other faces at the table look at me with expressions that are expectant and full of grins. I wasn't quite sure what they expected of me. I excused myself to go.

When I get outside, I mention the encounter to hubby because we both really liked the sweatshirt and the conversations it always sparked. Then I described the One Guy to him. "He looked like George Carlin. I mean, a lot like George Carlin. Hey! I think that was George Carlin!" Nah, I didn't go back.

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Saturday

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:28:50 -0500

I failed to mention what we did and mainly because I had absolutely no photographic evidence to share with you. I am sad. I failed to charge the camera battery and it died as I tried to take what would have been the first photo. Tsk!

[hangs head in shame]

Butaniways. We went to Pace Bend Park which is located on Lake Travis but a further drive from Mansfield Dam area. This is not as developed as Mansfield Dam park.

The water was colder than the day before (generally the whole lake has the same temp) but it was cloudy and overcast. And rainy. We got rain! Sad because we did pack responsibly this time and brought a cooler, our folding chairs and swimming gear.

I spent a few minutes in the water, thigh-deep only, and then the rain started. The breeze---not yet a gusty wind---was cooler than I was comfortable with (oi! 80s and I'm cold already?). I headed to the car. NM was of the same mind. Kinda. He really wanted to "play house" in the back of the car and set the truck up so he can convince us it's possible to sleep in it comfortably without a tent or sleeping bags. He wants to go camping very badly! J headed into the truck not long after.

Not much later, hubby comes in with all the folding chairs since it's not just rain anymore. These drops are huge and they hurt! They were pretty loud, too. We found out that there was hail in some places which makes sense.

It didn't last long and we decided to drive to the other two swimming-only areas in the park. The second was only ok though the beach was nice, but not as nice as the first. The third was interesting. There were signs that said "jumping from cliffs is not advised" and we found out why. There were, in fact, sort of cliffs. But the water wasn't clear at all so you have no idea what you're jumping into or how deep it is.

The boys' gut reaction was to stay out of the water; they weren't happy about the imperceptible bottom. Hubby jumped in, swam to the other side and managed to hurt himself badly on a rock he couldn't see. He scrapped the front of his shin. We ended up running home after that. It's lake water, after all, and he needed to get it cleaned up.

We did have lots of fun in spite of the injury. J spent a lot of time in the water and NM and I played in the truck (well, he played and I napped). I was so tired I fell asleep in the car on the way home! I don't think that's happened since J was a newborn (trip from CA doesn't count here). We hope to go back when we have a tent and two more sleeping bags so we can enjoy real camping!

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Lake Travis/Mansfield Dam Park

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:45:23 -0500

IMG_6906
Originally uploaded by Phisch

Photos here.

Our anniversary day! Yes, maybe we should have done dinner. Instead we opted to drive around Lake Travis just because we've never done it.

Just because. You do things just because when you've been married 16 years. :D

Off we went. We realized the GPS was directing us through one area where we were looking for houses. We almost bought a model home but I didn't want to live in that area. Bigger and better isn't always best. You can quote me on that.

We found a park and then, well, we parked. Only---oops!---Mr. Park Ranger found us parking in the overnight camping parking lot. We wanted to see what the water was like, see? But he said we had to move to the day use only parking. Oh, I know that the overnight camping area was completely empty and there were no cars. But you know how it goes. Mr. Park Ranger must have been really heavy on the J in those Myer's-Briggs tests.

We park where we are supposed to and get out. The area we found was surrounded by huge granite boulders but a couple of hundred yards further we found a beachy area. The beach was covered with rocks and they really weren't much fun to walk on. The boys had gotten their shoes off so they could get their legs wet. I go back to the truck to get the camera. As I leave, J decides that the rest of his body deserved to be as wet as his feet :D

By the time I get back, all three boys were in the water, fully clothed. The water was warm and clear! J had a blast and hubby gave both of them a few boat rides. Me? I was the fuddy duddy on the shore with the camera. I didn't want to go in without swimming gear (and water tolerant shoes). My reservations about going in were based on the idea that we weren't going to be there long enough for me to get dry again but that wasn't true. The boys had a blast! Several times NM said he was getting out, put on his socks, then took them off again and went back in. J never left the water until his lips were turning blue (his MO whenever we're around water).

There were quite a few picnickers and they were having bbqs and such besides playing in the water. We did see a few speed boats and jet skis. I now can see that they would be nice to have around here.

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