The Doorway Mess

This is the doorway from the playroom into the office. Tom was surfing, or working, or whatever it is he does on the 'puter with the door closed. I was working and he had the kids for the weekend, so maybe he was just hiding from the kids. I do it every chance they'll leave me alone for a few minutes, so it's not really a bad thing. Tom could hear Colby puttering in the playroom, but wasn't exactly sure what he was doing. Colby's answer? "I'm building a mess so Evan can't tell on me. So he will trip and fall and he will forget and he won't tell on me. So then I won't get in trouble." I've since cleaned up the mess, and it reappeared larger.
His other share-worthy story? A family friend is pregnant, due any day now. "Mommy, howdat baby dit in her mouth?" He knows that to get to your tummy, you go through your mouth first. My answer? "I don't know. It's just a gift from God." He's happy with that so far. And, he's starting speech therapy. Woohoo! His vocabulary is high, but his enunciation stinks. I really was having to translate for others when he wanted to tell them something.

Evan has finally started sleeping, thanks to a counselor. I don't know what they talk about, but they draw and make stuff - a guard dog from clay, and they are working on a shield to protect him from scary stuff - and he's slept most nights for a whole month. Whatever it is, it's working. We are all sleeping better.

Power (St)Rangers Birthday

We are celebrating Tom's 50th bday this weekend. He doesn't like my choice of bakeries for his cake, so I told him he had to arrange his own cake. We were discussing the cake and how it should be decorated this morning. My helpful response? It's your birthday, pick out whatever you want. As he was leaving today, Colby told him he wanted a Power Rangers (or Strangers in our house) cake. My silly husband - he ordered a PR cake, just cause he could. That's the best thing I've heard all day! If I die first, please someone, offer him judgment in picking out my tombstone!

Nordies at Noon

I have found Facebook. It can be wonderfully addicting, a huge time sucker. I look up at the clock and realize it's been 30 minutes when I just wanted to log on the the puter and check the bank balance. On FB, I found a friend from jr high, high school and college. She bought another friend's house when the 2nd friend moved to KC. In one of her FB posts, she mentioned a book that a jr high and high school friend had written. It was "Nordies at Noon." The coauthor (there are 4 ladies) that I went to school with is Patti Balwanz. We played basketball in jr high and swam when we were freshmen. She continued on to be a great high school athelete in many sports. The book is the story of these 4 women, each diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 30. I knew the ending thanks to the FB post, and absolutely bawled my way through the book last night. Patti was diagnosed at 24, and passed away at 29. Wow. We were still invincible at 24, weren't we? Tom came home at midnight (I worked yesterday, so was up at 0430 - why still at midnight?) to find the lights on - he was worried that one of the boys was sick. Nope, just me, reading and crying, a mountain of kleenex on our bed, and Conan on the TV. I hate Conan, but couldn't be bothered to change the channel. I hope I never need it as a resource, but what an inspiring, tragic, breast cancer book. I think it's time to go feel my boobies now. It's been a while. I turn 35 this year - my mom was 45 when diagnosed with BC the first time. Gotta get that first mammogram this summer, too.

Wii, Alzheimer's & Snow

From Evan to Tom - Dad, when you and Mom die, can I have the Wii?

Tom? - God willing, Son, we'll be on our third or fourth Wii, or you'll be old enough to buy your own.

It was a tragic week. I dropped and broke the Nintendo screen. Tom ordered the parts to fix it, but the computer geek couldn't get it to work when he soldered wires and put it back together. Have you ever taken one apart? Pretty intricate and delicate. Maybe we should have given it to Colby to let him fix it. Dang it, we were going to give it to Colby and get Evan a new one for his birthday so they'd stop fighting over it, but now that's goofed up. We told them they were wireless until his bday in March. We also have invested in a b-ball goal for the driveway. Evan is playing Upward b-ball and loving it. Mom, I really really really want a goal for my bday. That's all I want. Thank you, Wal-Mart for your $0.97 shipping. I'll gladly have it delivered to my house for that! It was a better deal than what I found on Craigslist.

My mom went to visit her sister this week - alzheimer's - went to the nsg home in October. She has very fleeting moments of lucidity, but for the most part doesn't wake up. She's not eating on her own, and it takes several people to help her walk anywhere. She was always a gracious hostess, always fussing over food and asking how you slept, taking an interest in my hospital and my job. She was a nurse, my mom followed her footsteps, and so loved to hear about the big city stories - so different from her rural community hospital. By the time my sis and I had kids, she was in the beginning stages and had a hard time keeping track of who was who, but always asked about the little kids running around at family gatherings.

We had a great snowstorm this week. Perhaps you were there... ice on Tuesday, and 6" of snow Tuesday night. Of course, I had to make it to work on Wed am. I was a little late, and love the metrolink! The first 20 feet are the hardest - kinda like going on vacation. The hardest part is getting out of the driveway! Looking forward to a warm end of the week, and walking outside again. The winter is starting to get long.