My Freakin' Family

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

remember the fiasco of the too large Crocs? Now we have the fiasco of two pairs of better fitting Crocs to replace!

I bought a pair of navy blue Crocs on my way home from work last night. Marmie bought a pair of orange (woo!) Crocs for Jesse’s birthday (which is Saturday).

I’ll just keep the blue pair for Molly for when her feet fit in them - I know that Jesse probably wore them all day today, sans socks. And the tags were tossed into the trash. There’s no way I can return them in good conscience.

And I should have called my mother before I made the impulse purchase.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Jesse has a pathological love of his Walmart cheapo fake Crocs. Despite the fact that his toes are crunched painfully (I can only assume) because they are too small, he insists on wearing them still. Prior to Christmas we were only letting him wear them around the house, like slippers.

Aside: He has an equal pathological hatred for socks. We have no idea where it came from, but it is a battle nearly to the death to get them on his feet. We compromise and only require them when we know he’s going outside, since it’s winter and we seem to be in The New Ice Age.

Anyway, I put a pair of real Crocs on his wishlist for Christmas - orange, because it’s his favorite color. You may have seen the pictures of him wearing the shoes while also astride his orange bike.

We noticed that his feet seemed awfully close to overlapping the heel, so I dug out this size chart that I had printed so that we could actually measure the boy’s foot. It seemed silly to keep guessing at his foot size, clearly we weren’t keeping up with his growth. He obediently laid his foot on the sheet and his toe hit the line at size 11.

Wha?!

The shiny new Crocs are 8/9. Oy vey.

I promptly hopped on the computer to find larger shoes for the kid. There are no orange Crocs to be had in his size. And then I noticed the fleece-lined versions, which seemed a better way to go with his socks phobia. I read that it was wise to get the next size up if opting for the fleece lined shoes, to accommodate socks. Knowing that there would be days when we insisted on socks, this is what I ordered. In brown - his beloveds are brown with an orange stripe.

They arrived yesterday and they are HUGE! He came down to the basement with them on and he looked Bozo. It was obvious that they were way too big - even with socks. There’s easily one full inch at the heel and when I felt for his toes, there was about that much empty space there, too.

Ah, comedy of errors.

Aside: Beau bought mittens for the kid last week. He carefully measured the boy’s hand to make sure he bought the right size. Like me, he opted for the next size up since his hands measured .25” less than the minimum of that size (medium). They are enormous. So he’ll be set for shoes and mittens next winter, at least. *sigh*

We figure his feet are probably size 10. So now the question, do I bother to order a pair of size 10 Crocs for him, too?

Monday, December 28, 2009

I hope that Christmas was merry and blessed for all 3 of you that still read the blog. Ours was full and festive, spent at Marmie and Pop’s house from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day.

For Jesse, it was fun for us to watch him enjoy his CootieCousins, unwrapping his gifts, and seem to get the magic of it all. Thanks to the grandparents (Santa) and Uncle Bill for the awesome gifts for him - he loves his Strider Bike and Handy Manny Tool Truck above all other gifts. We are holding the Little Einsteins and Bingo games for when he seems to get bored with the tool truck.

Molly’s favorite gift is the jumper, hands down.

It’s now back to reality. Back to work for me and back to the daily routine for Beau and the kids. I start the week with a trip to the dentist this morning, which may end in a crown on one tooth.

What we have to look forward to is our 4th anniversary on Thursday and another 4-day weekend. We plan to go out (sans kids), but the weather may not cooperate (there’s a possibility of snow/ice Wednesday night into Friday). Either way, we will do something to commemorate the occasion.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Monday - somehow managed to scratch my right eye enough to generate pain for most of the day. Turns out it was just an irritation of the outer corner and not the cornea, but still. Missed a day of work and sported an eye patch until about 4pm. Not a cool black, pirate-type eye patch - just your every day gauze and tape patch.  But it did the trick and by late afternoon the eye was no longer painful.

Tuesday - Spent the morning at work and then went to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at the Patriot Center. That is a very cool show. Both kids loved it. Yes, Molly Ann was enthralled and stayed cheerful and engaged until about the last 30 minutes. I took her up to the tunnel where I wore her and we watched the end. Throughout I felt the scratchy throat of an oncoming cold.

Wednesday - woke up with more intense scratchy sore throat, but went to work because I felt fine otherwise. By the time I got home, I was worn out and not feeling so hot. Went to bed early.

Thursday - started in the middle of the night when the congestion invaded my sinuses and interrupted my sleep. Spent a restless night fighting to breathe. “Woke up” in the morning convinced I was dying, called in to inform my boss** that I was staying home to save them from the plague. By the evening, the cough had settled in quite nicely and it was an effort to speak. I’m sure Beau appreciated this new aspect of my illness.

** My new boss is now Amazing One. She was promoted to that slot when My Boss retired this month. She is not to be confused with my real New Boss when I transfer to the New Job. That hasn’t happened yet. Are you all properly confused now? Good.

Friday - awoke this morning to the wracking cough. Interestingly, the congestion is much diminished although my sinuses still feel like each is about 10 lbs. I’m really hoping I don’t have a sinus infection. The barking cough is enough for now. I can speak, but it is an effort at times. Stayed home - again, for the good of the people at my office. No need to share my germs with them the week before Christmas.

I’ve spent the past two days hiding from my children. That part really sux, but I don’t want them to be sick at Christmas either. Jesse is a sweetheart - very concerned that I take my medicine and offering to sleep with me, although that is code for jumping on the bed. Where that boy got the gift of mercy is a mystery - although his father seems much more merciful than I.

And then we get to the snow part - we basically have a blizzard headed this way. I’m bummed because I have two Christmas parties this weekend that I was really looking forward to attending. I’m thinking the one for Sunday with my small group ladies will still happen since by that time the snow will have stopped falling. But the one for tomorrow night is a no-go, at least for me. I still have not gotten word from the hosts on any plans to cancel or reschedule - imho, it would be odd to expect people to show up at a party when we’ll be getting better than a foot of snow.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Wow, my last post was on November 30th? That’s just sad. Ye olde blogge is sorely neglected.

Is anyone still checking in?

Here’s a load of random stuff from the past couple of weeks:

1. Watched Night at the Museum 2 - not as good as the first, we laughed in places probably not intended to be funny. Hank Azaria was not funny. 2.5 stars out of 5. Next up: Julie & Julia. Amy Adams, yet again, in all of her perkiness.

2. We have beef. A large quantity of it. It looks very good - nice and lean. We managed to screw up in our order of the cuts wanted, which resulted in a lot of ground beef, but that was our fault. The first to be eaten will be t-bone steaks on Monday or Tuesday.

3. Jesse is entering the challenging 3s. I loved 2. He’s just shy of 3 and there are times when I wonder if he’ll make it to 4. The problem is his insatiable curiosity and intelligence. My fear is that he will figure out how to dismantle the DVD player (or something similar). Yesterday he decided to decorate his room with Boudreaux’s Butt Paste. I won’t go into further details, except that attempts at clean up involved Orange Glo furniture polish. I’ll be breaking out the OxiClean tomorrow. Truthfully, I haven’t had a chance to investigate the whole situation yet because I haven’t been in his room in daylight since it happened.

4. Traffic is killing me this week - it took me 2 hours to get from work to our church last night, which is actually closer than if I had gone home. I had band practice, so I had to be there.  Got no dinner and I didn’t get home until after 10pm. If Beau hadn’t brought the kids to the pot luck lunch at work I wouldn’t have seen either of them at all yesterday. Boo.

5. Why is December so freakin’ busy? I have worship team this weekend. Then next weekend I have a worship arts team Christmas party at our pastor’s house on Saturday night (with the departure of our worship leader in the spring, we’ve been lead by a team of folks in the interim. Supposedly we’re supposed to hear the vision at this party. I have heard bits and pieces from various staff that trouble me.) On Sunday night my small group ladies are having a Christmas pot luck. I’m not sure if we’ll then have our regular Monday night meeting or not, but I know the plan was to be finished with the Meyer book before Christmas, so I think we well.

6. On the Meyer book, I have mixed feelings about it. The general principles are good and the encouragement to go to Scripture is well needed and excellent. However, I have issues with a few of the things she has said - not major theological things, but things that could be taken wrong if out of context.

7. Still no word on a date for my transition to the new job. It’s beyond frustrating. I’m sure my stuff is sitting on some drone’s desk waiting for action, while said drone is out on his/her use-or-lose leave.

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Today is my mother’s birthday.

I have the best mom a gal could have - she’s the ultimate Proverbs 31 woman and also a good friend.

Mom, I hope you have a blessed day today!

Monday, October 05, 2009

Friday was a day off for me. Sometimes there just aren’t enough hours to get things done on the weekend. When you take away Saturday because of an out-of-town trip, then it means having to take a day off from work to make it up. Not that I had a problem with taking a day off - especially after the craziness of the end of the fiscal year. Add that Friday was going to be a really boring day at work because I couldn’t do anything until the financial systems were back up and it just made sense to take the day for myself.

So I spent the day running errands, working on jewelry, doing laundry, and preparing for our day trip on Saturday.

Saturday we hit the road shortly after lunch to go meet up with Beau’s Sis and her daughter’s family in Maryland before we all headed to Pennsylvania for Beau’s niece’s engagement party at his brother’s home. While in MD, there was a swap of baby/toddler clothes between me and Beau’s eldest niece (the one who had her baby boy 3 weeks prior to Molly Ann’s arrival). I took the boy baby clothes her baby had outgrown to give to my friend who is expecting twins. I gave her 24 mo/2T things that Jesse had outgrown for the future. Oh, and she also passed down things her nearly 5 year old boy had outgrown to give to Jesse. Confused?

We got to PA just about 10-15 minutes “late” for the party. Beau’s niece and her fiancé had rented a bus for their DC area friends. The bus beat us to the party, so by the time we got there it looked like things had been in full swing for a while. Beau’s Bro has a very cool backyard with a koi pond that has a large waterfall. He also created a little creek that flows down to what I call the lower yard where there’s a beautiful gazebo. They had a large tent set up down there, too. We never made it down to that part of the yard since Jesse was interested in the koi and pretty much hung around the pond for most of the evening.

Beau’s SIL is Korean and an awesome cook. She and her sister had been prepping food for this gig for the three days leading up to the party and it was fantastic. Beau’s bro smoked a couple turkeys and some salmon and also roasted a pig. We had Thai noodles, wonderful homemade pork spring rolls, California rolls, some kind of corn relish, and the smoked salmon on toast. And Beau’s Bro remembered that I drink Fresca, so he made sure to stock up on that for me. Isn’t that sweet? There was plenty of beer and other alcohol, but I didn’t imbibe.

Beau’s Bro had also hired two teenage girls to babysit - there were a lot more little ones than I expected - so Jesse hung out with them to watch Bolt for a while, too. I wore Molly Ann for most of the time in the mei-tai. Both kids did really well and charmed everyone.

At one point, Beau’s Sis and Beau were talking to another guest who happened to be a pediatric neurologist. He watched Jesse for a bit and remarked that he was pretty advanced verbally for a 2 year old. Beau clarified that Jesse is actually two and a half. “Oh, that makes a difference!” said the doctor with a bit of sarcasm. He said that he would classify Jesse as “off the charts” and possibly a genius - I think Beau said he mentioned the 150 IQ figure. “You basically have a professor in a toddler’s body, there,” he said. Beau’s Sis laughed that he does come by that honestly since Beau is a professor as is his grandfather. Of course we take that all with a large grain of salt, but also file it away for the future in case it does become an issue. As Beau said to the doctor, we just try to keep up with him. Beau’s Sis can clarify anything I may have gotten wrong here - I didn’t hear the conversation myself, but got it from Beau in the car on the way home.
Anyway, our goal departure time was 8pm. We actually left at 8:45pm, which was little too late judging from the meltdown we got from Jesse when I mistakenly removed his shoes for the ride home. We had to stop the car so that I could put them back on. Go figure. But we made it home in just over 2 hours, which was impressive since it’s normally a 3 hour drive. We found a shortcut on the way up that really did take time off of the drive.

Sunday was a quiet day at home. Beau and Jesse went to church so that Beau could help with parking. I stayed home with Molly Ann. I spent the afternoon working on jewelry for the open house later this month. I made several pairs of earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.

And now we’re back to Monday. I’m working at home this morning, although not able to actually do work until the systems come back online. And then we take Molly Ann for her 6 month check up this afternoon. I’ll report on that at her blog later…

Happy Monday!

Sunday, August 02, 2009

We had some wicked thunderstorms come through overnight. It was during the most intense one that I had a weird, scary, and surprisingly uplifting dream. I gave Beau the short synopsis review in the middle of the night, but I’ll try to give more details here, as I can remember them.

Mom, Uncle Bill, and I were on some kind of tour. We were in an SUV-Winnebego hybrid type of vehicle. It was just the three of us from our family, but there were a bunch of others on the tour, too. We were confused about where and why we were going when all of a sudden our vehicle started to turn around quickly. I noticed weird cloud configurations out of the window - they were pale brown, pink, and white and reminded me of neopolitan ice cream. When I said as much, Mom gave me this look as if I was a complete idiot (which she would never do) and Uncle Bill laughed.

The next thing I knew the clouds turned black and our vehicle was on some kind of boat, a ferry, I guess. We were crossing water and it was violently churned up. Then it went pitch black dark and I could see this weird apparition flying towards us - it was not an angel, I knew it was not of God. So I started yelling, “Jesus is Lord!” over and over. The apparition disappeared and we were suddenly in this maze of hallways. It was still dark and we were stumbling through a series of doors. I had gotten separated from Mom and Uncle Bill and I was calling out to them when all of a sudden I noticed a bit of light ahead. Next thing I knew Uncle Bill was running toward the light and threw open some double doors. Behind them was the brightest light. Blinding white light.

At that point I woke up to hear a crash of thunder over our house. So I’m thinking the bright light was actual lightning. Almost immediately I went back to sleep and back into the dream.

The new scene is of all of us in this room. There are new people in this room and I see this couple headed toward me. I still don’t know where Mom is and Uncle Bill is out of sight again, too. The couple gets to me and the woman reaches out to hug me. At that moment I realized that it was my grandmother and the man is my grandfather. I didn’t recognize them because they were younger - maybe in their 50s and healthy, and the few physical flaws they had in this life (crooked noses, crooked teeth, etc) were now perfect.

I guess my grandfather saw the confusion on my face, because he said to Grandma, “I told you not to rush at her. You’ve scared her!”

I started to turn to look for Mom and Uncle Bill - they needed to be there! And then I woke up for good (at least I didn’t get to go back to the dream - I had to feed Molly Ann and then I talked with Beau while we waited for the last of the storm to pass).

It’s hard to explain the feelings that went through me when I woke up. I felt confused, but I also felt this overwhelming joy.  When the demon was coming I knew that the only thing that could save us was Jesus. I didn’t know if I was going to die or what was happening. I didn’t know if the last room was heaven or what. All I know is that my grandparents had been restored and the place was filled with joy.

When I retold the dream to Beau, it made me cry a bit. Even now when I think about that hug from Grandma I tear up a bit. It’s definitely one of the coolest dreams I’ve had ever.

Just as background, my grandmother died in 1994. She was a believer in Jesus Christ, so I am confident that I will see her in heaven one day.

Monday, July 27, 2009

We survived a 4-day weekend without Daddy. It was a near thing at times.

Saturday went well enough, capped by church and dinner out with my parents.

Sunday was super long as I watched the clock all day, waiting for the time to depart to the airport to pick up Beau. He made it home on time and safely and I’m eternally grateful to the Lord for keeping him and us safe while he was away.

I am also eternally grateful for the days alone with my kids. I think I especially benefited from that time with Jesse since I don’t really get to spend as much one-on-one time with him because of Molly Ann. I came to appreciate what a sweet, tender, generous, polite, hilarious, wicked smart, adorable little boy my son is. He is a credit to his dad, really.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

It’s lunchtime in the Speaks house and so far it’s been a full morning as single parent.

We went for a walk - I pulled Jesse in his red wagon and wore Molly Ann. We paused for some playground time during the circuit.

There followed some coloring/drawing with Jesse while Molly Ann napped. Then a quick snack just as Molly Ann woke up.

I fed Molly Ann while Jesse watched some Schoolhouse Rock with me. He seemed intrigued - at least he stayed in the room.

Then when I worked on getting Molly Ann down for her next nap, I put Jesse into his room to play. When she quit the battle against the sleep she desperately wanted, I went in to find him in his tent and ready for his own nap. OK, but I’m a bit alarmed at the thought of no afternoon nap because that part of the day is when he gets the most rowdy.

Lunch was ravioli and he ate enough for two adults. Given that breakfast was ignored, I think he was hungry.

Now we’re waiting for the landlord to arrive - he’s installing our new front door (finally) and also painting the front of the townhouse. Jesse will enjoy watching that, I’m sure.

Molly Ann is sleeping again already after her lunch, too.

So far, so good…

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Robbo the Llama Butcher’s post here reminded me of the story of the visit to the Natural History Museum made by my parents, Beau and Jesse, and the Cootiekids last Friday. All went well until lunch, when my mother lost her cool with a cafeteria worker.

Now, if you know my mother you know that she is one of the most well-mannered, genteel, and gracious ladies ever. It takes a lot for her to lose it. A. Lot.

Apparently, she waited in line and when it was her turn, she asked for pizza. “That’s not this line,” she was told. “OK, then, I’ll have a hot dog,” she said. When the hot dog was placed on the counter, my mother reached for it, assuming it was hers. But the cafeteria lady pulled it back and gestured to the dude behind my mother, making it clear that the hot dog was that guy’s. He looked sheepish as he took the hot dog, clearly knowing that it should have gone to my mother, but not wanting to rock the boat of the cafeteria lady any more than had been rocked. I never did get all of the details, but I think it was at that moment that Mom’s head exploded. Dad pulled her away before there was actual carnage. In his words, it was “a thing of beauty” to see Mom in her ire. Mostly because it is so rare.

Somehow they got all of their food and then the sticker shock set in when the bill came to $60. $60 for hot dogs and chicken fingers.

As Mom and I said, they get you into the museum with their free admittance, but then they’ve got you over a barrel when it comes time to feed the family. I’d rather pay an entrace fee and have a reasonably priced meal, thanks. My parents can afford $60 for a crappy lunch, but what about the family with young children who have saved their pennies for a trip to DC? Did they plan for $60 lunches? I sure hope so.

It’s a reminder of why we don’t play tourist in our own backyard.

Monday, July 20, 2009

We got word on Saturday that Beau’s uncle died on Friday night. Interestingly, his name was Walter and he died on the same day as Walter Cronkite. Two beloved Uncle Walts died on the same day. The weekend was a flurry of phone calls as Beau tried to figure out when the funeral was going to be and coordinating flights for he and his siblings. The resulting flight schedules make for a busy week ahead.

Beau’s Sis is flying into the airport closest to Beau’s parents location. She departs on Wednesday out of Dulles so she’ll be staying with us tomorrow night. She is staying out there for a couple of weeks.

Beau and his brother are flying into the airport in the town where the funeral is to take place. Their flight departs our of Dulles on Thursday AM, so Beau’s Bro is staying with us on Wednesday night. They both return on Sunday evening.

Thursday morning begins four days of single parenting for me. I’m more than a bit nervous, but I know that God’s mercies are new every morning and that his grace is sufficient. I also know that my mother cared for Jaynee and me for years alone when Dad was deployed to sea, so I think I can handle four days.

Uncle Walt was a lovely man who loved Jesus, his wife, his daughters, and his grandchildren. He was equally loved by all of his extended family. I am so grateful that I got to meet him when we were in California last summer - I cherish the memories I have of staying at his home when we arrived for our week-long visit with family. He truly was a man who lived an abundant life and he is missed.

Please pray for his family as they adjust to their loss. The funeral is on Friday morning.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

My absolute earliest memory is from when I was two years old. We lived in Washington state at the time and my sister was just one month old on this particular day. Since my mother had just had her second child, her parents had come to visit to see their new granddaughter. And so it was that they were with us on July 20, 1969. I remember that I was sitting on my Granddad’s lap and that we were all gathered around our tiny living room to watch our console TV. I knew that something important was happening, but I didn’t quiet understand why it was important. And what we watched on the TV was weird, because the picture was not good at all. I know that the adults in the room were very excited by it all. I always had my own memory images from that night and never knew that there was a photograph. And then when Granddad died a few years ago, my mother found the photo here in an album of his. As soon as I saw it I knew what it was and I asked my mother to confirm the date. She agreed that the picture of me on my Granddad’s lap is the one taken on the day the men from America landed on the moon. I love that picture.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Gran Torino - loved it, although curmudgeonly Clint Eastwood’s character was tough to listen to at times. 4 stars out of 5.

Did you see the story about a 2 year old girl who scored the same IQ as Stephen Hawking? The article doesn’t go into a lot of detail, but when I read it my thoughts were along the lines of, “So? Jesse does all that, too.” Not that I’m saying that he’s a genius - he is smart for his age, but I’m reserving the genius label until he’s in school and it can be better assessed. She’s probably just a super inquisitive little girl with parents who encourage her curiosity.

I was wasting time on Facebook yesterday and noticed on a friend’s page that she was friends with a mutual friend from junior high school days. So I Friend Requested him and this morning I had a message asking me to remind him who I am. I’m awaiting his response. I admit to feeling a bit hurt that he didn’t remember me, although it’s ridiculous to feel that way - it has been almost 30 years since we last had meaningful contact with each other and he lives in a tiny Navy town whose population changes annually in a significant manner.

I’ve started Tweeting a bit, although I still don’t quite get that one so much. It’s harder to follow conversations.

That said, I am following on Twitter a TV reviewer that my sister told me about. He’s rewatching Band of Brothers and reviewing it on his blog.  That is my all-time favorite TV miniseries, so to know that there others who love it as much is cool. And reading his thoughts on each episode is fascinating - his thoughts match mine almost exactly, but every once in a while he notes something that I missed or didn’t see the same way.

[ADDED LATER]: I’ve been meaning to post a BoB-related thing from work. We have a manager who reminds me of Lt Dike. He’s the useless officer from the Battle of the Bulge episodes who was always heading off the line to “check in” but he was really just trying to protect himself. Anyway, this manager totally reminds me of Dike - he comes across as gung ho, but when push comes to shove he steps out of it with regularity.

Beau’s mother is coming to visit and we’re looking forward to that. She arrives just in time for Father’s Day, which also happens to be the weekend of baby dedications at our church. We’re so happy that she’ll be here to share that day with us. After church on that Sunday morning, we’ll take the Dads (mine and Beau) out for brunch and then it’ll be an afternoon of naps.

And that’s about it for now.

Monday, June 01, 2009

I’m back at work. I started missing my family when I was in the shower this morning.

When I left Beau was wearing Molly Ann in the mei-tai and Jesse was getting ready to eat breakfast and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.