January 10, 2013

• Thursday Thankful

  • Ellie finally getting treatment for her heartworm.  Last year when she was diagnosed, they said they’d have to keep for a long time, she wouldn’t be able to move, she’d be given the equivalent of chemo, it’d be painful and could result in death… so I passed and tried holistic treatments (that did nothing).  THIS year, they tell me they have pills that will take care of them within three years time.  So THAT I will do… but why couldn’t they have told me that LAST year, so we could be a year into it, by now?  HATE doctors.  Any doctors… but glad to have a positive course of action for our dog.
  • New Dance Studio!  I e-mailed a place after the holidays, and asked if they’d take kids at the mid-year point… and they said YES.  So we drove down on Monday to check it out.  Now, we were with FRDC for five years, and LOVED it, because Miss Marci-Anne was a friend of mine, and loved kids, ran a clean, organized, family-friendly studio.  But then she moved to North Carolina (and we moved a two-hour round trip away!), so we looked elsewhere… and Ho.Mi.GAWSH, the skank that’s out there is un-Believable. 

    Remember B-a-M, where we went for two years until they choreographed my Lydia strangling a kid to death?  That’s when I found out they wanted to choreograph to Britney Spears’ “Three” (three-way sex).  It was… explicit, and the adult dances were bleeped out for expletives.  I have no doubt why it folded.  Then we tried the studio run by two college girls out of an elementary school cafeteria… where they drank water and never taught the kids any dance moves… while I babysat up to nine children in the halls?  Or how about the place on Division we tried this summer, which was cramped, dirty, taught by women busting out of spandex in nasty ways… and my boys were being taught by this guy with huge holes in his ears, jeans around his kneecaps, tatt sleeves, and whose idea of dancing was throwing gang signs to “I’m Sexy and I know It”.  Not to mention Lydia’s class was ‘floating’ – we were supposed to come at 5pm and find out who could teach it, and when they could squeeze it in, and then we got to wait until then?  Yeah… not. 

    So I wanted to SEE this new place before I did ANYTHING.  To our surprise, it’s clean, it’s spacious, it’s organized, it’s overseen by mature adults, AND the music is kid-friendly.  There are three big studios, and they have a TON of discounts – if you pay your costumes by X date, then you get two free recital tickets.  If you pay up front for the year/half-year, they discount X dollars.  It’s buy three, get one free.  For my FOUR children to take classes, it’s $70/month… that’s incredible!  And their theme for the 2013 spring recital is “World Tour” – my boys will be dancing Asian-flavored hip-hop in Oriental costumes with Chinese sticks – they’re over the MOON. 

    And even better still?  Their class is at exactly the same time as Lydia’s acro (gymnastic-dance) class – and at such a time that Brian gets out of work, comes home, we get in the car, and we’re off and make it there at just the right time, then can go to dinner together.  Four kids, one hour/stone!  I’m so happy.  It’s almost too good to be true.  But I have high hopes!
    

  • Brian’s eye better.  Sunday morning, he woke up in the wee hours and said his eye was ‘buzzing’… by morning, he could barely open it, and it was so swollen his lid was doing odd things.  We Benedryl-ed him to death, with compresses, and by the end of the day he was able to open it, but it was still pretty bad – they teased him Monday at work, said his wife’s beatin’ on him again.  (As if!)  Anyhow, it’s calmed down a LOT, and is almost better, now.  I’m glad, because he got really testy for a while there!
  • And that just on the heels of his good deed.  Saturday we went to a thrift store to drop off a box of donations, and I took Lydia and Aaron in to do a quick run thru (and got some great older Disney VHS tapes – Thomasina, Shaggy Dog, etc).
    
    While we were inside, there was a man there trying to pick up an entertainment center for his wife… and it was NOT going to fit in his work van. Brian watched the man struggle with the thing, and then he got out and said, “If you’re not too far away, why don’t you just load it up in our truck and we’ll take it home for you?” (We drove the truck to town, because we had to get trim from Menards for the finish work of the drywall project from the past weeks.)
    
    So Isaac comes in the store and says, “Mom, are you done? Dad’s gonna help a man move something *BIG*!!” So I thought he wanted me at the truck to watch the littles while he helped load something. Then the lady said, “Ah. You’re married to our Good Samaritan!” I. Had. NO. Idea what she was talking about.
    
    But there they were, loading it up in the truck, and we followed the man home, and Brian helped him unload it and it was our mitzvah of the day. The kewl part was that BRIAN was the one who offered the help. Usually I’m the zany one talking too much and offering stuff and trying to help people out. But he actually did it all, himself!
  • School back on track.  The holidays did a NUMBER on us, and I thought I would NEVER get it together, again.  It actually came together again rather painlessly, so I’m really grateful that the kids got back into the groove with no major problems.
  • So many signs to watch.  This morning they’re saying there’s going to be a bigger near-asteroid than we thought, which means a bigger quake than I was anticipating.  Ure is also calling for a big quake (based on 1/11 numbers, I think), but the asteroid makes more sense.

    Then (LINK) there’s this news, that they’ve found bodies of 10-foot tall people in Iraq, and there’s speculation about Nephilim or Giant tribes mentioned in the Bible.  It’s crazy stuff out there, all of it confirmation of scripture, and some of it just mind-blowing.

    On top of that, the Jewish sites are saying that we’re seeing the ‘ten plagues’, redux… that Hagel (the anti-Semite just made US Secretary of Defence) is ‘hail’ in Yiddish… and today a new species of flying frog was discovered. Weird, weird, stuff…!!  But kind of fun, too!
    

  • Goals and aspirations.  I’m keeping up pretty well, truth be told!  We planted Basil and Thyme in my kitchen this week, Brian and I are shredding regularly, I’m reading and working on projects… it’s fun!  We’re having a glorious time, over here!
  • Home projects are coming together, too.  We got Lydia’s room totally finished, the painting done in the Parlor (and most everything put back), although we’re re-papering this weekend, and finishing the boy’s room.  It’s almost done!!
    
  • A penpal for Ethan.  Lydia and Isaac both had people to write to, but now Ethan has been making cards/projects, and has decided he wanted someone to write to, too.  So I messaged my friend Missy and asked her if her son might be willing to get some things from my Ethan.  And hence the beginning of something fun and educational!
  • My new parenting technique.  The past week or so, Isaac (9) has gotten really sullen and cranky.  He has nothing positive to add to any conversation, he belittles and gripes… and Brian (recall he’s been testy cuz of the eye thing) has been snapping at him over it, and I was getting mad at both of them… that’s a LOT of negative vibes, between the three of us.  So Tuesday morning I told Isaac that I think he’s not getting enough LUVV.  So everytime he gets his grump on, I’m going to hug him.  So I’ve been running over for the better part of the week, wrapping him up in a big bear hug.  He’s so squirmy about it, but always comes out of it with a smile, so… I’d call it a success!  And of course then Aaron and Baby O come running for *their* hugs, and shocking, Ethan (7) has been running over to get in line, too!!  Besides, you know how easy it is to back off when boys hit that age.  He still needs his parental affection, whether he thinks so or not!

  There’s a LOT more, but this is long, and… well, we’re just blessed, plain and simple.  I’m happy.  And we’re doing so good.  Oh, and I had to update the ‘challenges’ post I put up the other day, because I forgot one, and it’s SO GOOD, I couldn’t leave it off, so be sure to scroll down and read it, k?  Talk to you later!

  • 10:33 am
  • 3 Comments