Happy Halloween!

I hope your treat bags are full of candy!

... and I mean the good stuff, not cheap bubble gum or jawbreakers. :)

Happy Halloween!

Something Lighter

Cleo has severe diabetes and we'll have the vet put her to sleep sometime in the next week. Right now, she's home and being spoiled rotten, as befitting a cat who had to put up with a bunch of dogs AND a bath while rooming at the vet's office last night. Although we love her very much, we can't see the sense in extending her life by a year or two with daily insulin injections, a diet change, and the multiple trips to the vet that her condition would require. It's actually the last item that is the deciding factor for us. Until yesterday, Cleo hadn't left our home in the 6 1/2 years we've lived here. Change causes extreme stress for the poor kitty and taking her to the vet for check-ups would be very difficult. So... we'll be okay. And, as A says, Cleo will be so so happy in kitty heaven with her kitty friends.

Ummm... that's not 'lighter', huh? How about a story about my cute kids! Pumpkin carving has taken up a lot of time lately. N dug right in. A was cautious, but more willing to get dirty this year. P thought the whole concept was for the birds.

A Short Reprieve

The vet was unable to find a mass indicating cancer (whew!) but suspects liver or kidney disease (bummer). So, my kitty is staying at the vet office overnight for some bloodwork. The vet understands that we're unwilling to go to extraordinary measures to prolong the life of a sixteen year old cat, no matter how much we love her, but he said the blood tests would give us an idea of whether or not there was something that could reasonably be done or if we should let her go. He was very sweet without giving me too much hope, so we'll bring her home tomorrow and see what the tests say. The poor thing only weighed 7 pounds today. And to be honest, I think she would rather have been put to sleep than stay at the vet... too many doggies for her taste :)

On a funny note, there was an older couple at the vet with a VERY overweight dog. When the receptionist had them put the dog on the scale, she chirped, "He's lost two pounds this week!" The gentleman was rather upset since, as per the vet's advice, he'd switched the dog to low fat food and had taken him for many, many walks. So many walks, in fact, that the doggie owner had lost five pounds while his pooch only lost two! He was rather perturbed - hee!

Thanks for all the sweet notes over the last couple of days. This isn't going to end well, but at least I'm feeling like we're investigating other possibilities.

Not Good

Ever have one of those weeks where the silver lining doesn't seem very apparent? I've been having one of those. Work has been absolutely crazy, the house is a disaster, the kids have been challenging, and to top it all off, I think my cat has cancer. We've been dealing with some litter box issues for a few weeks, but I was handling it and ignoring the idea that anything was really wrong. My Cleo kitty is 16 and old age has definitely caught up with her. I've been prepared to find her quietly gone in her sleep, but dealing with the possibility of putting her down has had me in tears most of the day.

Cleo and I have an appointment with the vet on Monday afternoon and she probably won't be coming home with me. I can't even type that without crying. So a few thoughts and prayers sent my way would be really appreciated.

One of Those Days

I've child-proofed my home... but they still get in.

I Survived Indianapolis

And I deserve a tshirt!

First, I had a fabulous fabulous time with Julie, Jill, and Layne Nhi! Gotta say though - Andy and Jill are in serious trouble there. That little girl is sharp! What an absolute doll. Layne Nhi was so charming and I'm incredibly impressed with how far she's come in two short months. Julie and I did a ton of talking and a little shopping, managing to inflict only minor damage at h+m. We have darling purses to remember our time together :)

Thank goodness Wednesday night was relaxing and fun, because Thursday was action packed. I did my Good Samaritan duty and helped with registration, which started at 7:30. Sessions all day, a reception hosted by our magazine that evening, dinner out with potential advertisers, and then the evening wrapped up at a cigar bar with the organization's board of directors. Nicky Blaine's was one heck of a good time and the martinis were nifty, but I had to throw my purse away when I got home. I was NEVER going to get the cigar smell out of it. Thank goodness I'd bought a new one!

Friday didn't start quite as early, mostly because I was incapable of getting out of bed. I'm too old for late nights at a hip cigar bar. However, I survived and made it to the sessions at the exact same time as my boss, who is also too old for cigar bars :) We got home around 8 on Friday night and I spent a lovely weekend watching football, cleaning my house, and generally enjoying my girls.

The next two weeks are going to be crazy, with another magazine deadline on the horizon. I'll be around, although I doubt if I'll manage to post too often. I have three articles to write by Friday and I haven't even done the interviews for two of them. Whoops!

Clothing Update

I went shopping today. Came home with two sweaters and a new pair of pants. I shined my shoes tonight and packed the suitcase so I guess I'm ready to go. The conference will be dandy, the hotel room will be swank, but the best part?

I get to meet Julie! And Jill and Layne Nhi! Tomorrow night, the four of us will be sitting at the Hard Rock Cafe, chatting and eating and laughing and generally making all you other Dillon folks jealous as all get out. Whoo! Eat your heart out :)

Girl Stuff

On Saturday, I took N to a class at one of our local hospitals. The purpose of the class was to prepare 8-12 year old girls for the changes in their bodies as they hit puberty. Topics included the dreaded period, body odor, hair that grows... well, no need to spell it out on a blog that my dad reads :) Needless to say, both N and I were slightly embarrassed and bored - not the ideal way to spend a Saturday morning! However, the class accomplished exactly what I wanted it to. It opened a dialogue.

The class covered the basics - the stuff that, as a mom, I find difficult to bring into everyday conversations. With a group of her peers and a few college-aged nursing students in the room, I think it was easier for N to focus on the information presented. It was no longer some dumb talk her mom wanted to have, but concepts that other people her age thought were important. She asked questions the entire way home and has continued to come up with new things all weekend, which allows me to give my own advice and add to what we had heard during the class. The instructor provided a list of recommended books and N asked me to order a couple of them in case she wants to look something up in the future. All in all, an excellent way to spend our time and introduce a topic that can be a intimidating for both mom and daughter.

If anyone wants the list (there are recommendations for boys and girls, btw), let me know and I'll be happy to pass it along. But now that N and I know all this stuff, can we please not have to worry about it for a while? N turns 10 in a few weeks and I am soooooooooo not ready to deal with puberty issues. Heck, I just had a hysterectomy! Could I go a year or two without buying tampons??? Pleeeeeeeeeeease???????

The Clothing Dilemna

I have a business trip coming up this week. I'm actually pretty excited about the whole thing. Not only will I be revisiting a town I love, I'll also get to meet one of my bestest Dillon friends. As a bonus, the conference I'm attending will feed several article topics for 2009 and, since my boss doesn't do things halfway, I'll be staying in a swanky hotel and generally living the high life.

However, business trips mean business attire and that is an area in which I am sadly lacking. I only go into the office two days a week and I rarely see anyone but my coworkers, so jeans and a decent shirt are all that's required. Heck, there are days when I've been known to go to work in a sweatshirt and athletic pants and no one blinks an eye. As a 'creative' type, I don't need to turn out in a business suit for this trip but I do need to look somewhat professional. A peek into my closet reveals... not much in the professional-wear category. Add in a few additional pounds that I should probably do something about and... UGH.

I went into the black hole of my closet and managed to come up with two pair of pants - one black and one gray - that are acceptable, if not incredibly fashionable. I also have one cute sweater that will go nicely with the black pants and a casual jacket to wear with jeans while flying the friendly skies. I'll wear my very favorite black shoes that don't cause blisters, even though I'll need to apply a generous coat of shoe polish before they can be seen in public. As a result, the shopping list isn't nearly as extensive as I thought it could be. In the next two days, I have to find a black sweater to wear with the gray pants and a new pair of shoes to wear with my jeans, since my brown suede clogs aren't exactly appropriate for a biz trip. I can deal with that.

And, I can wear both items when I'm back home, which is important because I don't have another business trip on the schedule until May (Vegas, Baby!).

Peace

As much as I love and adore my three girls, there are days when they get on my last nerve, jump on it, and then scream loudly enough to wake the dead. The little sweethearts generally manage to find that last nerve on the same day I'm ready to run screaming from my job and I've had several emails from parents about PTO issues. Those are the days when a hot bath and a glass of wine just aren't enough to wash away the stress.

Since P has come home, I haven't kept up with my quilting. I've toyed with things here and there, and when I had my surgery I hand quilted several blocks in a Christmas quilt that I've been working on for about five years. But long-term involvement in a project? Not so much. With all that I have going on, adding a quilting class to the mix wouldn't seem like the best idea but that's just what I did. And I tell you, it's soothing my soul.

Twice a month - at least through Christmas - I'll go to my favorite quilt shop and pull up a chair with ten other ladies while we all work on our own projects. It's not a class, per se. It's more of a quilting bee. And since this is my favorite quilt shop and I have taken several classes there in the past, I already know a lot of the ladies I'm spending time with. Granted, I'm younger than everyone else by a good 15 to many more years, but I love it. We complain about husbands, trade stories about our kids (or grandkids), and offer encouragement when someone (usually me) has to rip a thread out for the umpteenth time. Not only am I gaining some essential 'me' time, I'm also making progress on a Dresden Plate quilt that I have been collecting fabric for. For those of you who aren't quilters, 'collecting fabric' is a euphemism for 'buying a whole lot of material without a clear goal in mind, just because it's pretty!'.

I'm not recommending that all of you run out and become quilters, although I think you'd find it suprisingly simple. But I do believe that we should all take some time to cultivate the soul within. Reconnect with the things you love, even if you think you can't squeeze one more activity into your schedule. You'll be a better mama and a better wife and a more relaxed, peaceful person because of it.

Brain Dump

Like many of my fellow blog-post-a-day-ers, I have a ton of things rattling around in my head. For instance:

• Camera review: I'm loving my Canon SLR! I've been most impressed with the increased quality of my indoor shots. My small point and shoot digital wasn't doing a good job with lighting and my indoor pics weren't turning out at all. The downside is that I definitely wish it was digital. I'm doing my best to tell me husband that at every possible moment, accompanied by a heavy sigh, in hopes that he'll buy me the DSLR I want for Christmas :)


• Organizational frenzy: I'm not a meticulous housekeeper by any means. I like to straighten and fluff and call it 'good enough'. But every so often I can't stand it anymore and I want this place CLEAN. Evidently, I'm in that mode right now. And I've realized that my house has too much stuff in it to ever really be clean, so my major task is decluttering. I've gone through P's room (it was the easiest) and A's room (not as easy, but not bad). I think today I'm going to tackle the basement. N's room and the toy room are always trashed and it's partially my fault because there just isn't a good organizational system in either of those places. I need to get a ton of clothes out of N's room that no longer fit and go through the toy room to de-junk before Christmas hits and well, you've seen what Christmas at my mother-in-law's looks like.


• Back to 4th grade: Do you all remember that lovely health video they showed us in 4th grade? The one where we learned about the changes in our bodies and how life was going to suck until we hit menopause or had a hysterectomy? The local hospital has an enlightened version of the 1970s health video and N and I are going to a 3 hour class tomorrow. Kind of an 'our bodies, our selves' for the 8-12 year old set. Should be interesting!

And that's about it for now. See y'all tomorrow!

Speech Therapy

So today (although it will be yesterday, by the time you read this, because I'm using this as my one-post-a-day for Thursday, so when I say 'today', I actually mean Wednesday, not Thursday)...

Umm, what was I saying?

Oh yes, today. Speech therapy. Today was P's first speech therapy visit. The therapist was here for TWO HOURS. Dude, I had no idea. It was terrific! There was some background info and a little time spent just visiting, but P spent a good 90 minutes working with the therapist on everything from motor skills (at or ahead of her peers at 20 months) to language (about 6 months behind). There are some indicators that P is so close to breaking through. Her receptive language skills are excellent, but verbalization isn't where it should be. So we worked on that, the therapist showed me a few tricks we can try at home, and we scheduled another appointment in a few weeks.

I have to say again - I'm really impressed by the services offered for free through our school district. And there will be even more available for P at age 3 if she needs it. But for now, we'll have these free sessions that will track P's progress and give us an excellent baseline for her language development.

Clarification

When Leigh offered to let me "post a couple of interesting paragraphs from one of the articles" on my blog in order to meet the one-post-a-day challenge, I knew it was time for a little clarification about my job.

I'm the assistant editor for a small publishing firm. We do a few industry-specific publications and we also produce several visitors guides, association publications, and a small newspaper that was KILLING me last week for a statewide hunting association. Occasionally, something fun and somewhat exciting comes across my desk, but primarily I'm responsible for developing the content for two of the magazines.

Now I'll say right up front that I love my magazines. The first was only one issue old when I came on board and took it on. Thanks to a brilliant sales staff and (hopefully) quality content, it's grown from a 28 page mag to 48 pages in the last issue. The second is just two years old and we're holding steady at 32 pages. These magazines are my babies and I'd fight to keep them.

However, under no circumstances would they ever be considered 'interesting' to anyone outside of the industries. For example:

• I once edited a four page technical article - complete with scientific formulas - giving methods for keeping vinyl binders from sticking together during storage.
• A recent article I wrote focused on preventing workers comp claims in a factory environment.
• One of the articles I'm currently working on is a hard-hitting expose of the latest technology developments in a certain type of equipment.

So perhaps I'll keep the blog posts free of stimulating content like that, k?

Post Of The Day

After chastising Leigh for not updating her blog more often, I was called out and am now participating in the 'one blog post a day for a week' challenge. I rarely have a shortage of things to say, but goodness knows most of my posts aren't incredibly earth-shattering. Still, I'm always up for a chit chat so...

Tonight was McTeacher Night at our local fast food joint. There are 300 kids in N's elementary school so we squeezed in the front door, hounded a friend and her family until they left and gave us their booth, and had a leisurely (ha!) meal with a multitude of people. At 20% profit for our classrooms, the school should rake in a nice chunk of change.

Speaking of 'chunk of change', we're also in the middle of our Fall Fundraiser, so if anyone feels the urge to order something from a catalog full of decent-quality-but-outrageously-expensive items, let me know by Friday :)

On the work front, I screwed up my courage and asked my boss for a raise and he agreed, so I'm feeling ridiculously pleased. I'm also ridiculously overwhelmed, since I'm going to Indianapolis for three days next week for a conference and still need to get an entire magazine's content ready by the following Monday. Since I haven't started writing any of the articles, nor seen any of the content from other writers... well, let's just say I'd better kick it in gear.

So, that's the post for the day! We'll see what is floating around in my head tomorrow!

Dissecting the Choices

No, not the political choices... the baby name choices so sweetly suggested by you! (Although I did take a candidate test that strongly suggested I marry Obama and have his children.) I thought I'd give you all a little feedback...

Isabella and Beatrice and Sophia: Thank you, Elaine, for such lovely choices! Isabella was an option for all three of our girls but has always died a natural death due to extreme popularity. However, it continues to hang in there so who knows! Beatrice is not my style - in other words, I'm too chicken to use it - and Sophia is taken by my best friend's daughter... who shall be causing her parents untold woe in the coming years.

Jess, I love you. But there is no way in he** I’m naming my child Jessica.

Rachel or Lydia. Max, Alec, Ian. Although Rachel was joking (I think) when she suggested Rachel, it was always one of my favorites. Unfortunately, one of my aunt's snapped it up and I have a darling little cousin named Rachel. And I love Lydia! I swear, Rachel and I have very similar naming tastes. The husband, however, is not a fan. Max is taken by the same best friend with a Sophie. Alec is close to one of my personal favorites, Alex, but again: see husband. Ian! Love love love Ian! However, he's a little dude from India in my mind... right Nadra?

Juliet. Dan, Isaac, Isaiah, and Marc. Speaking of Nadra, these are her suggestions. We still love Juliet and it's definitely on my list. I say 'my list' because the husband is still rolling his eyes when I mention #4. Dan - not so much due to ex-boyfriend issues. Marc - not so much due to high school memories. I like both Isaac and Isaiah! I would use Isaac in a heartbeat but I'm not sure the husband would go for Isaiah. Evidently he's talked to Charlie :)

Evelyn or Lydia. Or Claire or Claudia. See above for Lydia. I do still love Evelyn, but we'd shorten it to 'Evie' and that doesn't work with P's name. Claire is N's middle name and Claudia... ugh. I used to love the name until I ran across the evil boss from he**. So that's off the list for. ever.

Joshua, Isaiah, Maxwell. See Max and Isaiah above. Joshua is a terrific name but I babysat for a family of boys, two named with a 'J' and it's scarred me for life.

Cameron, Cristian. I like Cameron. Hmmm... may have to add it to the list! But Cristian is too close to hubby's name so that one is probably out.

We're visiting our travel buddy, Hank, in November and his folks are currently in process for baby #4. I'm hopeful that some of their craziness will rub off on my dear husband! I'm really not ready to start right this minute, but a year from now or so??? *sigh*

The Ice Show

Yes, it's true. Carrie Underwood just wasn't enough excitement for one week. We also took in the spectacle that is High School Musical: The Ice Show. We be-bopped til we just couldn't be-bop no more! Happy children, tired mama.

We've declared a Pajama Day for today. No one will be leaving the house, we're set as far as snack foods go, and the Huskers play Missouri (ranked #4) tonight. That could be ugly but, as always, we'll hope for the best and keep the pillows available for throwing violently across the room later. Have a great weekend!

One Very Happy 9 Year Old

N has been begging me to take her to see Carrie Underwood in concert ever since the date was announced. Although we generally indulge our children in a ridiculous fashion, I was steadfast in my refusal to take her to a concert on a school night. Well, that sounded good... But it was actually the $70 ticket price I objected to.

Free, however, is a completely different story.

Yesterday afternoon, my boss asked if we wanted a couple of free tickets. He has connections and I was perfectly willing to take advantage! So we dashed off to the concert, which was pretty darn fabulous. And I'm now Mom of the Year. At least until she gets home from school tonight and I tell her to go clean her room.