Hamster Dance

It has been so long since I saw this and it is so cute that I thought you all would like something to smile at today as well. Enjoy!

Plus I am pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to post a youtube video!

Miscellany

I have these two friends. I introduced them to each other. They were having a play date and apparently the little boy came out and said the girl hit him. So the girl's mom said, "Well, what did you do?" The little boy's mom took offense to this and they began a heated email discussion that ended up with them not speaking to each other. Oh boy. I have only spoken to them each briefly about it, but I don't think it is mendable. And they have known each other now for about a year. Hmm. Apparently they both said things that were hurtful, but I don't know what. Should I try to help them with it and see if they can patch things up or just let it go? A neighbor of the girl's mom called me today to invite me to a bath and body works party she is having and she wanted to know if I had the phone number and could invite the little boy's mom. We all went to her daughter's 1st birthday party and also to the little girl's birthday party. Well, I had to tell her something, so I just said that they had a disagreement and weren't speaking to each other. She said she thought that kids did that, but not adults! Interesting observation. I am still friends with both of them. I like them both. I think maybe I should get involved because I introduced them to each other, but then again, maybe I should just let it go. They probably won't cross paths unless I am a part of it. Who knows?

My dad is doing well. He is adjusting to being able to work for shorter periods of time and resting his eyes. He is taking some natural stuff for his eyes, for his blood pressure and for his blood sugar, which is just a few points higher than it should be. I will be keeping in close contact with him to be sure he watches this, especially the HBP. He figured if he was healthy and watched what he ate that he wouldn't have any problems. Uh-huh.

Rebekah was sitting in front of the refrigerator arranging the Word Whammer letters on it. "My masterpiece would be even more marvelous if I had something to put there."

Oh. And she wants to be called Bekki. Not Bekah. She just decided. So, she's Bekki. It will take Mommy a while to switch to this, though.

The girls were both up at 4:30am on Monday morning to see Daddy off. Well, they decided against my better judgement to stay up. Jess told me to go lay down, everything would be okay. You know, when you do sleep and your babies are awake, it isn't like real sleep, more like twilight. I could wake up at the slightest sound. About an hour later Jess comes in and I was reading. "Oh, you are still up? You can go to sleep, it's okay." And she leans over and kisses me on the nose. "You can sleep as long as you want." Well, it sounded good, anyway. About 20 minutes later, "Rebekah!!!!! Stop it!!!!!!!!" Yeah, so much for Mommy's carefree morning.

I figured they'd be falling asleep on the couch at 7pm. No such luck. They were still awake, though in bed, at 9pm! No rest for the weary!

I started to clean out my cupboards. Now there is no room on my counters. They were bad. Now they are worse. I am cooking every night at home, though, in an attempt to save money. That means more dishes to wash. Such fun. However, since I now know what I have in the way of food products, I was able to find a can of jellied cranberry sauce, a can of creamed corn and a package of Stove Top Stuffing Mix to go with the turkey that came out of the freezer that we had for dinner. It was free, since all the stuff was bought and paid for months ago. Cool.

I have started reading a book by Lisa Whelchel, aka Blair Warner from the Facts of Life television show. She is a very good writer! I read another of her books on homeschooling before, but this was, I think, her first book. I got it for 99 cents from www.bookschristian.com. She has really gone through it and come out okay because she trusted in the Lord. And she stood up for her values all during her time on TV. Now she is the wife of a pastor and has three children. All homeschooled. Very neat. Cool story about how she and her husband got together. Light reading, highly recommended.

Hubby is nervous about this latest class he just started. It will be different than all his other classes to date. I asked him if he wants to quit and he said yes! But then, he has said that about every class! He will be fine. He's just entering new territory again!

A good friend of mine is dating. It is so cool! I get to relive the dating experience with her without actually having to go through it. How cool is that? The good parts only, please, because in real life, I hated dating! It really sucked! Anyway, the guy she is seeing seems just perfect for her and I am so happy! They are one date into it. Such fun!

Jess and I start school next week. We have already begun with the Phonics program. She is halfway through the first level of five levels. She is doing very well. I think, mainly, because we waited until she was ready. She is ready now. She can sit still and concentrate and although she still gets frustrated, she has much more patience than she had a year ago. And she is reading signs everywhere we go now! I hope she learns to love to read as much as I love to read. I got her math books and vocabulary books and spelling books and word puzzle books and we will go on field trips and we will have so much fun! There is so much time wasted in school for sitting still and lining up and breaks and roll call and we don't have to do any of those things. Our school day is all about learning! She is chomping at the bit and I am looking forward to it as well.

I can't wait for the heat to go. I hate the summer heat and I love the cool fall weather. I hope it isn't too far off.

The Middle Name Game

Here are the rules: You have to post these rules before you give the facts. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Thanks, Jennie, I hate these things. At least it isn't a chain letter email! Ha!

Well, here goes, but, I don't think I can find seven people to tag to do this, so we will see how it goes.

C - Caring. I care about other people. I have given up caring what other people think about ME, but I do care about other people's feelings.
A - Able to handle a crisis or two. I have had to, with the things that have happened to me in my life!
M - Mommy. To two of the most energetic girls around.
I - In Love. With my hubby. He's great.
L - Lively. I am generally pretty upbeat and it takes a lot to get me down.
L - Late. I am always like fifteen minutes late. Getting better, but it drives my hubby nuts!
E - Everywhere! Anyone who knows me, knows I spend a lot of time in the car. Not always by choice, either! We live an hour from church and doctors, etc. so we have to travelto go anywhere.

Umm, okay, Sandy and Joann. I think you will both do this. I am tagging you.

Meteors

Well, Sunday night/Monday morning we got up at 3:00am to watch the meteor shower. All four of us. There are two streetlights next to our yard, so it was too bright to watch it from home, but we all climbed in the car and took off for dark parts unknown. We found a spot and got out and the girls fidgeted and fussed and Hubby was upset and frustrated, so we went back home. We got chairs and snacks and blankets for the girls and headed back out. Hubby wasn't very impressed. He had never seen a meteor shower before. Jessica liked it okay. Hubby was getting frustrated because the girls wouldn't look up. They kept looking at all the lights, cars, etc. in the distance. It was pretty black where we were. I enjoyed it immensely. It was nice weather for 3am, probably about mid-60's and the meteors were visible. I watched a shower years ago from Mt. Pinos. People go up there with their telescopes and you can walk around and they will let you look through them. Lots of people. Anyway, I knew what to expect. Hubby was expecting it to be more like fireworks. Oh well. I enjoyed myself and then got to sleep in late, since the girls did, too.

Hangin' Out With Dear Ol' Dad aka The Golden Years

So, Monday night at about 6:30pm I get a call from Dad. He said he had left a message earlier, but I missed it. He said about a week ago he woke up and his vision was blurry in his left eye and the lower half of his vision was gray. He couldn't read small print. And he's getting frustrated. So on Tuesday morning I call my optometrist and try to schedule an appt. Booked up until Saturday. Can you refer me? Yes, to an ophthalmologist. Cool. Even better. They can get us in on Tuesday afternoon. Call Dad. Come on down! So he comes out to our house and we go to lunch and then to his appt. Apparently there is some type of blockage in the blood vessel behind the eye and the doc wants to run some tests. About six different blood tests. And he refers him to a specialist that can see him on Wednesday. Good. Let's get this figured out. So Dad spends the night with us on Tuesday night and on Wed. we go to see the specialist. Turns out it was possibly caused by something like a small stroke, possibly caused by his blood pressure being slightly elevated and this dr. wants to see him in a month. Time for Dad to get to the doctor and find out where his numbers are and run some more tests. He does not have a primary care doctor. Hasn't been to the doctor in several years. Now he needs to go. Another guy in the waiting room with the same problem, "Well, these are the golden years!" Dad got a kick out of that one. He is very healthy and just needs to know where he is at.

His vision is coming back. Yesterday morning he said it was already a little bit better than it had been. That's good, since they said it could take up to a few years for the vision to come back.

The girls had a great time with their Papa. They love having him over. The only trouble is that he has such a hard time hearing that when he watches tv at our house, it is painfully loud for the rest of us! But hey, if that's the worst thing, then we are doing okay.

I was glad I could help. Dad left on Wed. with a sense that at least he knew what it was and what to do about it. I wanted him to get in to see these doctors as soon as possible so that he wouldn't have to wait and wonder. So I was glad he was able to get it done in two days. I am sure he will be just fine. And I was glad he felt that he could come to me and ask for my help.

Next thing we need to work on is hearing aids.

What?!

Bekah

Driving in the car a couple of days ago. Out of the blue, she says, "Okay, let me get this straight, your Daddy is OUR Papa?"

Let me get this straight? Who talks like that? At four? Sometimes, she just blows me away.

And please do scroll down. I posted three posts tonight. I am trying to catch up.

Bekah's First Big Boo-Boo

It was so sad. And she was having such a good day, too. We were swimming at my friend's house. The girls were in the pool. My friend and I were under the patio umbrella, nursing our sunburns from the last visit. (Don't ask. It was really ugly and I am still licking my wounds, so to speak.) So Rebekah is on the "sand beach" portion of the pool. It is built like a beach and the edge gradually gets deeper, like a beach. But it is made out of like concrete pebbles or something. Very cool. Anyway, so she is in like VERY shallow water. She is yelling at the dog, who is standing on the rock at the side of the pool right next to her. As we are watching, the dog jumps on her. Good sized dog, too. It is an australian sheepdog mix. Very smart. Very protective and watches the girls when they are in the pool. Well, he jumps on her back and she goes face down into the pool. About two inches of water. When she lifts her head up, her nose is bleeding and her forehead had hit the concrete beach. Hard. It immediately started swelling and turning red. Like you could see the veins showing through, red. With the addition of the water to the blood, it appears that she is bleeding like crazy, but it actually stopped after about five minutes. I took her to the doctor's office, since we were only ten minutes from there. I had to watch her closely last night, however, she was fine. No complaining, no headache, no nothing. She is a trooper. She was nervous and everybody who looked at her had this concerned and worried look and said, "ooooohh!" But she was fine. Is fine. She did very well. Not her fault and she wasn't really upset with the dog, either. She knows he didn't try to hurt her.

So last night her daddy took all of us to Coldstone Creamery. So she could get whatever she wanted. She ordered Sweet Cream...with chocolate chips. She said that was the best. She is so down to earth! Not much fazes this kid. She is such a joy in my life!

Special Bulletin From the Emergency Chocolate Network

1) Milk Chocolate Butter Chocolate buttercream	2) Dark Chocolate Butter Chocolate buttercream	3) Milk Buttercream Vanilla buttercream	4) Dark Buttercream Vanilla buttercream	5) Cashew Brittle Hard toffee with cashews and shredded coconut	6) Butterscotch Square Firm brown sugar, vanilla buttercream
7) Almond Square Roasted almonds and caramel	8) Milk Bordeaux™ Brown sugar buttercream	9) Dark Bordeaux™ Brown sugar buttercream	10) Pecan Buds Pecans and vanilla caramel	11) Milk Walnut English walnuts	12) Dark Walnut English walnuts
13) Milk Almonds Roasted almonds	14) Dark Almonds Roasted almonds	15) Milk Peanuts Roasted peanuts	16) Raspberry Truffle Rich raspberry chocolate	17) Almond Buds Roasted almonds and caramel	18) P-Nut Crunch™ Crunchy peanut butter center
19) Scotch Kiss Marshmallow and caramel	20) Marzipan Honey almond paste	21) Ginger Glaced ginger	22) California Brittle® Hard toffee with almonds	23) Dark Butterchew® Vanilla brown sugar caramel with dark chocolate coating	24) Dark Chocolate Chip Truffle Rich chocolate buttercream with chocolate chips
25) Maple Walnut Maple buttercream with English walnuts	26) Scotchmallow® Honey marshmallow and caramel	27) Light Chocolate Truffle Rich chocolate buttercream with ground nutmeats on top	28) Mocha Coffee milk chocolate buttercream	29) Cocoanut Cocoanut buttercream	30) Polar Bear Paw® Peanuts and vanilla caramel
31) Lemon Truffle Rich lemon chiffon buttercream	32) Dark Nougat Honey nougat, coconut, vanilla, with almonds	33) Dark Chocolate Truffle Rich chocolate buttercream with ground nutmeats on top	34) Caramel Caramel with almonds	35) Rum Nougat English walnuts, rum, cherries, raisin nougat	36) Orange Cream Orange buttercream
37) Strawberry Cream Strawberry buttercream with strawberries	38) Raspberry Cream Raspberry buttercream with raspberries	39) Vanilla Nut Cream Vanilla buttercream with English walnuts	41) Chelsea Chocolate buttercream with roasted pecans	42) Milk Divinity Whipped egg whites, vanilla cream and English walnuts	43) Walnut Square Caramel with English walnuts
44) Milk Butterchew Vanilla, brown sugar caramel	45) Peanut Nougat Chewy peanut nougat	46) Milk Pattie Vanilla caramel Recipe	47) Dark Pattie Chocolate vanilla caramel	48) See's Apple Pie Truffle® Rich buttercream with Granny Smith apples and cinnamon	49) Vanilla Nut Caramel Vanilla caramel and pecans
50) Key Lime Truffle Rich buttercream with Key Lime	58) Café au Lait Truffle Rich coffee buttercream	64) Apricot Delight Apricot buttercream with chopped apricot and toasted coconut Recipe	65) Divinity Puff Whipped egg whites, vanilla cream and English walnuts with shredded coconut	66) Butterscotch Chew Vanilla, brown sugar caramel	67) Almond Truffle Dark chocolate buttercream with ground almonds
68) Kona Mocha Coffee, chocolate buttercream and toasted coconut	75) Dark California Brittle® Hard toffee with almonds covered in dark chocolate

What is your favorite flavor? I just love the pecan buds and the walnut squares. Hubby loves the rum nougat. Hands down. Jess, the Scotchmallow. Rebekah, so far, whatever she can get her hands on.

Oh, and I just had an apple pie truffle the other day. OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!! Hubby's comment, "How DO they make a candy that tastes EXACTLY like apple pie???!" It tastes like more.

If you have never had See's Candies, you have no idea what you are missing. If you have, you KNOW what you are missing and if you are in the vicinity of one, you must go. They have the best candy, like, EVER! And if you don't like chocolate (and you know who you are), they have lemon truffles, key lime truffles and the aforementioned apple pie truffles that are, hands down, the best non-chocolate candies EVER! If nothing else, get some shipped to you when the weather cools down (though they CAN ship in the summer, it just costs more). That way, you can spend your money on more important things...like more candy.

Mmmmmmmmmmm. This concludes this post from the Emergency Chocolate Network. If this had been an actual chocolate emergency, there would be people running around in the streets trying to find a See's Candies. It is best to know where they are before an actual emergency occurs.