Kids

I took Friday off in an attempt to get some things done that I just couldn’t seem to get to.  I went to Home Depot to pick up paint and supplies to get working on the bathroom.  I am in line when I get a call from Jason’s school.  He is calling to let me know he fell in gym and he hurt his arm.  The school wanted me to come get him.  This was at 11:30 in the morning.  3 hours into my get stuff done day and I am heading to the school.  When I got there Jason was holding his arm.  I asked him what happened and he told me he tried to get the ball in basketball.  The other kid moved and Jason went to the ground.  The gym teacher thought he may have broken it.  I told him to rub some dirt on it and go back to class.  For a second I thought he was going to.  I told him I would sign him out for the day.  

Off to the hospital we go.  The ER ended up splinting him with a follow up with the Orthopedist.  They couldn’t be sure he didn’t break anything.  Yeah me.  It didn’t stop him from running around all weekend though.

On Monday we saw the Orthopedist who confirmed no break happened but a couple of more days with the splint couldn’t hurt.

On the up side I got the bathroom and hall painted.  Looks good too.

Dogs

The dogs were getting pretty ripe.  On top of that they need their nails cut.  That was a fun day.

I took Abby and Candy to PetSmart for nail trimmings.  Candy is fine with it.  Abby needs a muzzle.  She tried to bite a lady at PetSmart so I warn them ahead of time.  Even with the muzzle she makes it very tough on the poor girls that are doing the trimming.  This time I had them ground as opposed to cut.  It was a buck more but they are shorter and smoother.  After their nails were done it was off to Shampooch!

Shampooch is a self serve wash your dog place.  It sounds goofy but it is so much easier than the tub.  (not just because I do not yet have a working tub)  They supply everything.  They even have high speed blow dryers.  The Tubs are standing height with a small leash to keep the dog in the tub.  There is a sprayer on a long hose in the tub so it is much easier than being hunched over a normal bathtub.  This was a handy thing since it was below freezing that day.  Again Candy seemed ok with it, Abby not so much.  Not sure why but Abby is afraid of being cleaned.  She tries to bunch up in the corner and you are constantly moving her back to the middle to wash, rinse and repeat.  In the end it was worth it as they now smelled like clean wet dogs.

My life is very exciting.

Summer Camps

So the kids need supervision during the day during the summer when they do not have school.  Christine likes to try and enrich the children’s lives.  I merely want them not to be dead at the end of the day.  

With Chris’s goal in mind (let’s not kid ourselves, she was going to win) we signed them up at Schoolcraft College.  The kids went there one week last year and loved it.  This year they will go for three weeks.  Chris was nervous that they would fill fast and the kids would miss out on their first choices.  She tried to sign them up online.  Of course this did not work.  So I sat in my car until 8:01 am on the first day to be the first in line to get them signed up.  Sadly I was second in line.  I was the first to the cashier’s cage so we kinda tied.

We couldn’t miss Video Game Design or Art Explosion.

We will do another week away at Camp Copneconic and a couple of weeks at the YMCA. 

For the other two I don’t need to camp out like a groupie to register.

I'm back

I have said it before, I am a bad blogger.  Chris did an amazing job on her trip reporting.  http://momdeployed.blogspot.com/

On my first day back 2 and a half weeks of being gone jumped up and slapped me.  I had a solid week of Mondays.

On top of work crap my car is now dead.  I had the car towed to Hal’s auto shop in Northville.  They gave me a call to let me know the cool sound it makes when you try to start it is the timing chain slapping around.  If the only damage done to the car was a snapped chain then it would be about a $750 fix.  Odds are since I was driving at the time it is very likely the pistons touched the valves.  That would be very bad. He wanted to know if I would like him to work up and engine replacement quote.  I told the mechanic “You had me at $750. Push it outside I will donate it.”  He made an attempt to try and talk me into the repair.  I reminded him it was a 2001 Stratus.  He understood.  I donated it to Cars Fighting Cancer.  I had a vision of ‘Mater from cars with boxing gloves on his front tires.  I donated there.  They sent me an iPod Shuffle for my car.  There it is.  A 2001 Dodge Stratus with a blown motor equals an iPod.  Sounded good to me.

Being down to one vehicle makes me a bit nervous.  I haven’t been without a back up since 1993.

Vacation

We just spent two weeks on Christine’s R&R.  A week in Orlando and a 7 day cruise in the western Caribbean. 

I highly recommend the Central American coast for beautiful beaches.  No idea what the countries in question are really like but the beaches are fantastic.

I would go into more detail but Chris already did and should be posting it in her blog after she gets home on Tuesday. 

Our wonderful neighbor Kim dropped us off and picked us up at the airport.  That worked very well.

Once we got home the kids moved the luggage downstairs and all was well.  I told them I was heading to the bank and Kroger.  After much begging I agreed to pizza as well.

I drove out of the garage and realized something didn’t feel right.  The right rear tire was completely flat.  I backed back into the garage, cussed a lot and I re-inflated the tire on the van.  I was surprised it held air.  I figured if it held then maybe I could get a new tire on Sunday.  (No luck.  The tire folks do not work Sundays) I got into the car. It started slowly but I didn’t think anything of it as it hasn’t been started in a while. I was just across 6 mile when it started making an odd sound.  There were cars around me so as I tried to figure out where the noise was coming from the engine died.  I put it in neutral, hit the flashers and tried to re-start the car.  Odd noises come out when I tried to crank it. I coasted into DFCU’s lot and got it parked. I tried unsuccessfully to re-start the car. It sits there now.  I grabbed the gloves out of the trunk and because I was so angry, I walked home. It seemed like less distance when I started.  I guess walking fast and zipping up my fleece worked.

I stopped at CVS and picked up milk and Pizza rolls.

Movie Time

The kids were very good today and decided they wanted to go see a movie.  The conspired together.  They looked up the movie times, made me a snack and presented me with a free back rub and a well written note.  They asked politely if we could see a movie, they would even use their own money. (Christmas gifts of AMC Gift cards) 

So off we went to see The Chipmunks, Chipwrecked.

Even though we just had lunch the kids were excited to get their own snacks.  Sam got a small popcorn, soda, and candy.  Jason got the kids pack and I got a small popcorn and soda.  The list becomes important in a minute.  Sam had her purse and I needed to grad napkins and straws for the kids.  Sam set her popcorn down on the prep counter, for butter etc., so she could put her card and wallet away.  I wasn’t looking and she knocked he popcorn over.  She lost about half a bag.  Sad but not unrecoverable as I told her I would share mine.  We walked into a full theater and found three seats near the isle towards the top.  The stairs turn twice.  I stopped so the kids could get around and when I turned I was closer to the step then I thought.  I tripped and went down.  I lost my soda, mostly on my arms and pants, and ¾ of my popcorn.  In the process I smacked my head on the hand rail and my knee on the step.  I mentioned full theater right?  So we sat down quick and I told Sam our popcorn matched now.  The above mentioned list became much smaller causing me to reflect on the insane prices at the snack isle.

The movie was funny and an overall fun time.  I just ended up a bit soda soaked with a bump on my head.

I probably won’t get any notes for awhile.

Holy Crap!

I did not expect the first person to take a bath in our remodeled bathroom would be Abby.

When I came home today I was met with a surprise.  The entire house had a particular odor to it.  I was pretty sure what I was walking into when I went downstairs.  I was very, very wrong.  That was a smell I can honestly say I have not encountered since the stockyards in Clovis, NM.  Abby ate something that did not agree with her.  It passed today.  Her crate was covered from end to end.  My first problem was how to get her outside without spreading it all over the carpet.  The second was the crate itself.  The crates are large.  They will not fit through a door.  The tray is wider than a door.  So me and the little green machine went to work.  Halfway through cleaning the tray Sam came down and asked me “What was for dinner?”  That was not a good idea.  I told her and Jason to clean the living room and last I looked it was getting done.

Once the cage and floor was cleaned I still had the daunting task of cleaning Abby.  Our tub is in and the plumbing works.  There is no proper faucet and the handle is not installed, just the end of the valve.  There is a temporary spout in place for construction and eventual installation.  I took off the plastic, uncovered the drain and dropped Abby in the tub.  It is hard to wash a dog when you cannot use a hose attachment.  Just me and a cup.  She is clean now and my headache is starting to subside.  Tomorrow is a Lucky Puppy day and I am hoping the fresh air and lots of yard helps her stomach.

Off to eat dinner.  Yum.