Riley and Avery

Ah, the underwear bandits!

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, I suppose. The girls woke up excited for it to "be Thanksgiving" and just couldn't wait for dinnertime (I don't serve Thanksgiving dinner at some freaky-early time like most folks). We made the pumpkin pies in the morning and I indulged the girls and let them eat pie around lunchtime. Half of one pie was gone by dinner. Mmmmm, pumpkin pie. We had ham, roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, asparagus, corn and carrots. Some were at Riley and Avery's request, hence the assortment of vegetables. Oh, turds, I just now realized that I forgot to make the cornbread. Oh well, that'll be tomorrow's treat (yummy, cornbread muffins with butter and honey!). Both the girls ate like they had a hollow leg, which is unusual for them. Perhaps eating at the dinner table serves a purpose. We never eat at the table. But we will now. Maybe. I am making bean and ham soup tomorrow with the leftover ham, so that'll be nice, especially given the frigid temperatures here lately. Oh yeah, and it snowed yesterday. Not too terribly much, but still snow.

We had a nibble on our ad for Little Sweetheart, but I haven't heard back yet. I'm hoping it's just because of the holiday. This one was legitimate. I checked our local whitepages for the woman and she exists. She said she was looking for a feline companion for an older woman with medical problems. I said, L.S. loves adults, etc. Hopefully I hear soon.

Some may know that Rudi was not sold on getting another cat if we are able to re-home L.S. At first he didn't seem to care, so I told the girls they could get a different cat. Then he said no way, so I told him that he had to break it to the girls, then. He didn't. So I told Riley that Daddy isn't so sure about a new cat, so they discussed it and Rudi told her, when you're five. Riley was happy about that, since she'll be five soon, but I knew that he was just giving an ambiguous answer that would turn into severe disappointment later. So I asked the girls if they would like to adopt rabbits instead of getting a cat. They were all over that! We have our eye on a pair of female rabbits available at the local rescue, so I hope we can get those. They are tame, love to be held, etc. I always feel for pairs of animals that don't want to be separated, but probably end up separated anyway. We'd take them both.

Anyway...I got another laughable email from petfinder. I swear, I should take down the ad, but I get secret joy from these ridiculous idiotic emails.

Hello Seller
How are you doing and I hope that you are fine and that you are
doing well. I saw the ads that you pasted on the site. Am Mr Morn
slate Duke by name, an engineer, I repair and service jets. I will
need the part that you pasted on the site for a certain job that I
want to do. I will want to know if it is still available for sales and
in a perfect condition. Let me know all that I need to know.about your
Pet Because i want to buy them for my Daughter who is love pet so much
i will make sure i take good care of them and make them feel love with
i and my darling wife
I will be expecting a reply from you soonest.
Thanks
Mr Morn Slate Duke

Well, that's about it. Nothing exciting going on around here.

I'm posting some throw-back pictures from two Christmases ago, because I have a confession to make...


...I killed Santa. He's dead. Riley was asking a lot of questions and I finally asked her why and if she believed in Santa. She said yes. I asked her why. She said because if I don't, I won't get presents. So I told her the truth. She cried. But we reached an understanding. I assured her that her Christmas would be exactly the same, that Daddy and I had always stuffed her stocking and bought all her presents. And I quickly dispelled the myth that you only get presents if you're good. I always hated that part. I told her that she got presents because we loved her and because she's a part of the family. I also reassured her that we can still talk about Santa as a story. We are also going to do a "Secret Santa" among the four of us, so we each get to be Santa. Since we've already done our shopping, I'm thinking of the Secret Santa be kind of an ornament exchange or something small like that. I told her that just like Daddy likes monster movies even though monsters aren't real, we can still enjoy Santa stories even if Santa isn't real. She was happy about that. I knew that she really didn't believe in Santa (a couple of weeks ago, we were discussing various aspects of Santa and Riley said it was "highly improbable") and now that we have the lying and pretending out of the way, we all feel a lot better. Although Rudi won't be able to pull out the Santa card in July anymore. Oh well.

I was so sick yesterday. Oh man, it sucked. I think when Riley puked on me (including my face, did I mention that?) she passed it on to me. I was so lethargic and weak all day long. Oh, so horrible. I managed to get Riley to school, and came home and passed out on the couch. When it was time to pick her up, I could barely stand and just wanted to sit down anywhere and sleep. It seriously took all I had to get out of the car and sign her out. Once home, I passed back out and sent Rudi to the store during a moment of wakefulness. I kept breaking out in the sweats. Then I HAD to drag my butt to school because classes end next week and the professors were handing out info for the finals which I could not miss. I actually started feeling better during class and am a whole new person today. Which is good, as we all know what can happen to a house when the mother is down for the count. I have lots of cleaning to do! Hopefully this bug will pass Avery over since she nursed the whole time I was sick, so she should have gotten the antibodies. Fingers crossed. Avery is a whiny pile of turds when she's sick.

Oh, and I'll be spending a good part of the day eating. Holy cow am I starving!

And in all the illness, I forgot that yesterday was our anniversary. For once, I'm happy that Rudi forgot too!

Well, I have to go to the grocery store and get the last ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner. Riley has learned a lot about Thanksgiving at school and she was fairly upset that we were having ham and not turkey. She requested sweet potatoes and cornbread, neither of which I was planning on making. Since I disappointed her by having ham, I surely should at least make sweet potatoes and cornbread.

Oh, and the cat is out of food, so I better go get more before the cat eats the children...

Another post without pictures. I'll get some up later. So, we have been trying to eat very frugally. Which means a lot of cheap poultry and cooking from scratch with fresh ingredients, with only the occasional processed food thrown in. Like stuffing. I had been getting Horizon Organic Milk on short-sale for about $2.50 or less a gallon. Oh, I loved how it tasted! So much better than "regular" milk. Until I learn that they are under investigation for the use of factory farming. Another one bites the dust.

And recently, noticing that the price of honey has sky-rocketed, I chose Agave Nectar instead, because for once it was actually less expensive than honey. I had heard so much about agave nectar as an alternative sweetner. Now I find out that agave nectar has twice the fructose as high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). To add insult to injury, there are also claims that HFCS is actually being packaged and sold as agave nectar. I am now so jaded.

I think that a vast majority of natural/organic food sold in all stores are produced by crooks. Why make regular mac&cheese for 50 cents a box, when you can call it organic/natural and sell it for $2/box? Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. I think I'll just buy regular food, saving hundreds of dollars a month, and know for sure that I'm getting a box of crap (hey, what incentive to they have to cover-up ingredients, they are likely to be all on the label). Rather than spend hundreds more and probably still end up with crap (Oh, in the ingredients list, instead of saying "HFCS" we are going to put "agave nectar." That'll get them to cough up the extra money, right?).

I'm just angry.

If you want to search available animals for adoption, go ahead. But do not post a classified if you wan to re-home your pet! I posted a classified for Little Sweetheart and have gotten nothing but questionable emails. As an example:

Hello...
With sound of good health. Searching through the internet, i found your advert of pet for adoption. I would like to re-home your pet as
part of my loving family and a good companion at French Quarter in New Orleans LA. I can assure you a loving forever home for your pet. Pls get back to me with the last adoption prices, breed, mode of feedingand pictures if available...
Get back asap.
Rev Emily Feeter

I got the same identical email again, with a different name attached to it:

Hello...
With sound of good health. Searching through the internet, i
found your advert of pet for adoption. I would like to re-home your
pet as part of my loving family and a good companion at French Quarter
in New Orleans LA. I can assure you a loving forever home for your
pet. feeding and pictures if available...
Get back asap.
Dr.Henry Moore

I got this identical email twice, though I very specifically stated that L.S. had to go to an adult-only home:

Hello,
My name is Laci and my husband John was able to came across your advert today concerning the pet adoption you posted for sale on Pet finder.com and i am much interest in re_ homing your pet at a companion and also a member of my family, because i have passion and care for pet.i spent much of my time taking care of my lost pet and i lost her on my way taking her to vet clinic for Neuture, since then live has been unbearable for my family especially my daughter who care for pet more that anything she does.
I'm a christian and i live in Adams,New York US and My house was wood fenced and 8.87fts high, i have enough garden in my premises where the pet can roam about.. i have 2 daughters and a son.
i will appreciate it if you can assure me 100% that you will be able to let me re-home yours in replacement of my lost one.i don't know how happy my daughter Benita and her brother mark will be to see another pet in replacement.You don't
have to long for how to ship the pet.i will handle that my self with care. so i want you to get back to me with the adoption fees, present health condition, price, and pictures if available for more satisfaction.
P.S: After getting to a better compromise, i will be paying with a check in us dollars and i'll instruct my TRUSTEE in the state to issue a check on your behalf which will include the price of the pet.you need to get all this info to me as well as to issue the check as soon as possible.
Name to be written on the certified American check
Home address ,
Phone Number;
City;
Zip Code;
State;
plz get back to me
Laci.

Doctors seem popular in these scams:

I saw your advert today on a classified site on internet concerning
your adorable pet adoption you posted on pet finder.com , I am very
much interested in re-homing your pet at a companion to be part of my
family, because my 10 yrs old son love pet so much and i have passion
and care for pets also.i will like to know if the pet is still
available for sale and the present health condition of the pet more so
the pictures if available for more satisfaction.. i wait to read back
from you after you might have consider to give me the details of your
pet

Regards,
Dr Morris Morgan

Gooday,
I saw your posted advert on pet finder.com and i am interested
in buying your adorable pet to be part of my lovely family.I am
indeed a pet lover likewise,
my children. we cherish pets a lot in our family and have passions for
them also.i really want to adopt your adorable pet for my children
because will dont have any pet we are rearing for now.
Please i will like to know the present conditions of the pet,the
color of the pet and the type you have available.i will also like to
know are you are the real owner of the pet. I will also like you to
let me know the
last adoption fee of the pet.Please get back to me if it is still
available for adoption.Hope to hear back from you as soon as possible.
Regards

Dr Robert marc and the family.....

hello,
my name is Gary, i live in P.a together with my family. I am interested in giving your pet a loving home, could you pls tell me the present condition of the pet ? what is the adoption fee ? do you have some pictures of the pet that you can show to me if available? what is the name of the pet and what are the likes and dislikes of the pet.As regards how the pet will get to my location,i ought to come down to your location for a home check on the pet but due to the nature of my work that does not permit me because of time.That is why i decide to make an arrangement with a reliable shipping company that will come down to your destination to pickup the pet.this simply means that the pet will be shipped on the plane from your destination to my loving home without any stress.I will be looking forward to hear back from you.
N.b
My residential address is :
2225 downing st.
reading, PA 19605

I am jones kate ,International business man based in Canada for a missionaries purpose.,i was searching thru the net and i came across ur
posted ad which u posted for adoption on the posted ads ..plz i will like to know if it still available for my purchase and also will like to know the
conditions .because I was thinking about travelling far away so i want to purchase these pet for my kids so that they won;t lonely .and i will be
needing it as soon as possible ..so i will like to see the health papers(if any)...and also want u to know that i will be paying by a certified cheque
if thats acceptable by u ..can get back to me soon...waiting to hear from you
jones kate.

And why do most of these "people" tend to have first names as last names, all of them? I know that many people do have last names that also work as first names, but I'm thinking these are coming from foreign countries and they don't know how our names work. I mean, really, Jones Kate? Wow, and I would never employ a doctor with such poor grammar. These emails all come from gmail accounts and in some, the sender name does not match the name on the gmail address. Just totally weird, if you ask me. And when doing a search of the internet, I found that this happens all the time to people who post classifieds on petfinder. And petfinder does absolutely nothing about it. They are a legitimate website, though, for those looking to see what animals are available at local shelter and rescue organizations, just don't post a classified there. Ever.

I've been barfed on. A lot. A whole whole whole lot. Riley was complaining about an upset stomach, so I got her a heating pad for her tummy and we settled in on the couch. It was supposed to be our special movie night. Rudi got Wall-E and I put Avery to bed and we were going to watch the movie together. Well, just as Rudi was putting the movie in, Riley puked right on me. My shirt was covered, my pants were covered. Her shirt was covered, her pants were covered. She was so upset, thinking that I was mad at her. Poor thing. Luckily Rudi has a habit (that I hate) of covering the couch with a quilt, so clean-up was easy. We washed up and started watching the movie. Riley threw up once more, but we had a bucket ready. Then she watched some movie and fell asleep. She seems fine now, but she's home from school just in case.

(Never too old for some tactile discovery!)

(At the races.)




Mid-70s! For days! Have I made anyone jealous yet? Seriously, the weather here is phenomenal right now. The downside is that it is completely dark by 5:30, so there is very limited time to play outside, especially on Riley's full days. It really feels weird to eat dinner after dark. The kids wonder at 6:30 if it's past their bedtime and why they are still being allowed to stay up. Not that it helps bedtimes much. You'd think that after hours of darkness they would be ready to sleep. Not so. Avery is turning into quite the nightowl. Not fun at all.

I can't wait for this semester to be over. I am getting so stressed out over these two stupid paralegal classes. I procrastinate more than usual because I find the work monotonous and just plain unbearable. I am on the computer way too much trying to catch up. I don't get enough time with the girls. I say "good job" way too much, not taking the time to fully interact with them. It just stinks. All I have to do is pass these classes, that's it...

Oh, and I went to UCCS to inquire about the graduate program, and it appears that you can't enter the program in the middle of the year. I have to wait until summer. So I waste away for another semester at PPCC. At least I won't have to take any more paralegal classes. It's so strange. Two months ago I loved the idea of being a paralegal, but when I think about getting my master's instead, I can't stand the idea of paralegal stuff. Yuck. How fickle I am!

Oh, and I just bought gas for $1.63/gallon! Oh, yeah!

Riley and Avery had their last race yesterday. Riley had to run almost 1/2 mile. She looked like she was dead by the time she crossed the finish line. What can I say, the child is built for power, not for speed. Take her on a five-mile mountainous hike and she's perfectly fine. Ask her to run 1/2 mile and she just about kills herself. I was kind of freaking out because the last race was on a track, but this one was at a park, so they made a course for the kids to run that took them out of view. And parents weren't allowed to run with them. I mean, they had officials lead the way and work caboose, but still. Riley was out of my sight for several minutes in a park with several hundred people there for the event, without the supervision of someone I trusted. But they each got their ribbons and their trophies and are happy.

To cut to the chase, I've put the parental controls on our television. And not for a child, but for my husband. How ridiculous is that? He can watch whatever he wants after the girls go to bed. But when I go to school, the parental controls go on. I don't feel bad about it at all. I've given him every opportunity to refrain from watching horror films and slasher flicks while the children are around, and he has failed. So, sucks to be him. I really wish that he wouldn't watch those movies either. I think they make him very apathetic. He is the epitome of apathy. When the girls go to bed at 8-ish and he stays up until 4 or 5 am, there is no reason to believe that in that 8 hours he can't watch enough TV. Oh turds, I just remembered that he can still watch his violent DVDs. Hmmm, how to remedy that? (Isn't it sad that I can't trust my husband to not watch violent movies in front of the kids!) Perhaps any violent DVD he watches, I'll sell it and put it in a fund for the girls' future psychiatry fund. Or bail money.

The impetus for this action is as follows (this is what I came home to school to last week):




And now some gratuitously cute pictures to balance it out a bit:

So, Riley is feverish. Last night totally sucked. I go upstairs to nurse Avery back to sleep and see Riley curled up in a ball in my spot, so I moved her over and realized that she was burning up. She said she was freezing, then sweating, then freezing, then sweating. It was 4am when I realized that I really should take her temperature because she was frying hot. I couldn't find the thermometer. Anywhere. That's what I get for teaching Riley about warm blooded and cold blooded animals with our thermometer. Doh. So I gave her Tylenol and we settled in for the night. I need to find it in our budget now to spring for a nice accurate thermometer. I let the girls go to 105 before treating, so I really need to be able to trust the thermometer. I bought one this afternoon for $4 and it's such an unreliable piece of junk. It beeps before I even get it into Riley's mouth, then reads 93. Um, yeah, whatever. She's getting hot and I'm not looking forward to another night like the last...

Halloween went really well this year. The girls both trick-or-treated and even Avery went up to the doors with Riley. Every time she asked Riley to protect her. She had fun. She decided a little early not to get any more candy, but was content to walk with us. She did return home about a few houses from the end (and proceeded to play with a balloon and somehow managed to gouge out a chunk of her cheek with her fingernail). When she dumped out her basket, we found that she only had 4 or 5 pieces of candy without peanuts in them. The rest were peanut M&Ms, Reece's peanut butter cups, Reece's pieces, Butterfingers, and Snickers. She was a little turned off by the candy then. I think she's only had one piece and I have to repeatedly reassure her that it was safe for her. We did the Switch Witch thing again this year. I was hoping to skip it, but Riley remembered. She is really good as self-regulating with candy so I didn't really see it as all that necessary, but they enjoy it. And we have so much of our own candy let over that it's pretty impossible to "hide" it. Especially with Rudi mowing through it and leaving the trash by the couch. Duh, the kids can figure it out. Riley has one piece about every two days and is anal about brushing her teeth right afterward. I seriously didn't think they would remember the Switch Witch.

On Halloween, Riley's school went to the Senior Center like they do every year. Riley performed the songs and wasn't too shy at all. Avery wanted her costume off half-way through and then we nursed in the corner (it's hard to find a spot to nurse in a senior center where you won't get run over by a wheelchair or a walker).

Riley was invited to Caoimhe's (pronounced "Kwee-vah") birthday party and she is beyond excited. Caoimhe is her best friend at school. Her mother says that Caoimhe talks about Riley all the time. Riley's her only school friend that she's inviting. At the ill-fated trip to the Nature Center, I think Caoimhe's mom was trying to strike up a conversation about breastfeeding. She has an infant daughter and she saw me breastfeeding Avery. I think that most people don't want to blatantly talk about extended breastfeeding so as not to offend, but since she was acknowledging that we both breastfeed, I think she was supportive. I was too overwhelmed by Riley being ill-treated by the old hag there that I wasn't as forthcoming as I usually am about breastfeeding. In fact, there was another mother there who was shocked that I was still breastfeeding. Well, not shocked per se, but very interested. Her curiosity seemed genuine and not judgmental. She is from Korea, so some things are very interesting to her about our culture. She asked if Avery eats solids too, how long Riley nursed, how often Avery nurses, asked if the benefits of breastfeeding extend into the toddler years, etc. I really should have been a better lactivist and explained about the global weaning age being 4-6 and normal weaning range or primates, including humans, being between 2 and 7. But again, I was way to angry over the old bat to educate. Now I feel bad about it (obviously, because this happened a while ago, and here I am blogging about it so much later).

Hmmm...what else? Rudi has decided to go ahead and have his gallbladder removed. It's supposed to be outpatient, but last time he had outpatient surgery to remove the lump in his back, it turned into a hospital stay. So I'm half expecting that this time too. He has a consult on December 2, which I believe will put the surgery after at least Avery's birthday and the end of my semester. That way I can take care of him and not have to worry about him watching the kids while I'm in class. I'm glad that he's having it removed, since the pain sometimes radiates into his chest and I'm afraid that one day he'd have a heart attack and write it off as gallstone pain and ignore it. So yeah...

Riley's weaning is going well. In fact, I often forget to give her her meds. There have been little tinges of anxiety (a tad bit more clingy when I leave sometimes) but it is so totally 100% better than it was so I feel nit-picky or even mentioning it. She still occasionally says that she's afraid I don't love her, but I think that's more of an age thing. She doesn't worry about us throwing her in the dumpster, and doesn't talk about her "bad thoughts" anymore. So I think we're in the clear. But, really, are we ever totally in the clear with Riley?




So I have a beef with the manufacturers of toys. Riley still has some favorite toys, but she's gradually growing out of the toy stage. She wants things that function, things with an end result. I was at a loss about what to get her for Christmas. I'm wandering around the toy aisles, after finding nothing in the girls' aisle, and I find myself among the "boy" toys. I found a bunch of stuff that I think she'll love. I found something called K'Nex (which is like an erector set) with which you assemble little creatures. Then I got her a small erector set to see if she likes it. I just wonder about why girl toys are so brain-less. It just makes me angry that they assume that girls have no interest in assembling things. Geez, I think Riley would love it. Well, as least hopefully, since I already bought them.

I also got Riley a used point-and-shoot camera. The kids ones are so offensive in their low quality, and she's used to handling fragile things (she used our SLRs, for heaven's sake!), so I thought to go for the adult model. I also got Avery a used set of Thomas the Tank Engine and Brio trains. I supplemented the train set with a few extra trains that I bought at Michael's with 40% off coupons. This train set was a bargain, I'll tell you. It has two or three bridges, tons of track, scenery, trains, etc. I think Avery will dig it. Ah, Christmas on the cheap! Eh, the kids will never know. Oh, and I got Riley some of the Calico Critters that she loves so much. (I had a coupon for that too).

Now I just have to figure out what each is getting for their birthday and what for Christmas. That's the hard part.

Ugh. Dinner is almost done, yet I'm supposed to leave for school in a couple of minutes. Rudi's sleeping on the couch and I don't like leaving him sleeping while dinner cooks, and waking him up isn't reliable because he remembers nothing said to him within 10 minutes of waking. I guess I'll be late for school. No biggie.

I swear there was something I was supposed to blog about and now I have forgotten.

Oh, yeah!! Riley and Avery had their fall series run on Sunday. They both had a blast. Avery actually ran, and Riley ran the 1/4 mile. Rudi came with us this time, since he was working last year.

Hmmm...I was just looking at Avery and she's looking like she has filled out a little. Perhaps I'll buy a scale and see for sure. Not like she'll be going to the doctor any time soon. I just noticed this today. Perhaps she's just bloated :)

Oh, yeah, and GO OBAMA!!