what's for dessert?

we don't normally do dessert around here, mainly bc i'm not into sweets & B is always trying to watch what he eats. lately however, i've had a sweet-tooth that just won't die! usually i can either bake or buy something, i'll have one serving & i'm done, i got my fix & the boys will eat most of it, then i end up throwing the tail end of it away. not this time; i've made cakes, bought big boxes of ice cream & other treats & still, it is there. i still want more.

B's been no help, instead of telling me to stop it's like a fricken competition on who can eat more....& we're running neck & neck! the other day he made 2 loaves of pumpkin bread; a mix that we've had for probably 2 years but never really bothered to get around to making, but now 1 loaf wasn't enough.

to top it off i called my mom & got her recipe for carrot cake frosting. you know, cream cheese & walnuts? yum!! what i didn't know is it also had butter, too thin it out of course! cheese, butter & sugar all the food groups right? i should have added chocolate bits, that was missing...

lately although B & I are in the midst of our consumption extravaganza the boy is not eating. maybe he's afraid to put his hand in the middle of things? the allergy meds mess with his appetite so although the little guy can not afford to miss a meal, he's been living off snacks lately.

the darn health-nazis at school aren't helping matters either, he's afraid to eat anything fattening. no joke, i've had to have serious discussions with him about how it's ok to have a little fat like a pound of bacon or container of sour cream daily maybe? in one's diet to a 4ft1in 50lb little boy.

what's a mommy to do when her little one isn't eating?
bribery of course.

i told Z once he ate a good lunch he could have x, y or z for dessert & yep, he finished his meal & came over for his dessert. i asked him what he wanted?

his answer "a chicken wing"

i was at a loss. i don't remember offering a chicken wing. i don't think Z would choose a chicken wing for dessert options. i might, hot & spicy = yum!!

i digress...

then i get it:
a drumstick?
you mean a drumstick ice cream?
that's different from a chicken wing....

hack hack cough wheeze sneeze, repeat

on thurs afternoon when i picked up Z he complained about having a runny nose & throughout the evening he sneezed a couple of times = he was coming down with a cold. i figured in the morning we'd evaluate where he was at to decide if he was up for school.

2am - he was sneezing & i heard the barking cough
4am - he woke me up bc he was thirsty. he was wheezing, so i opened his window to get some cold air in his room & got the humidifier out & on for him.
5am - still wheezing, gave him an inhaler treatment
7am - got up, still wheezy, no school, i'm wiped & i'm not the sick one

thankfully i was able to get in to see the dr at 9:30, she asked about the allergy results & if Z was exhibiting any signs at either of the visits [nope], but here we were only 4 days later & Z was in the throes of it. she agreed at almost 8 years, this is really unusual & they did a breathing analysis thing.

they had a breathing tube attached to a monitor; he had to take a deep breath in, put the tube in his mouth, blow out as hard as he could, breath in as hard as he could, then remove the tube. all those moving parts for the kid were too much to handle; thankfully the nurse was really patient bc seriously it took like 20 tries & girlfriend didn't lose it at all.

next they gave Z an abuterol breathing treatment [he looked like he was smoking a hooka].
every time i see a nebulizer it reminds me of when cousin C was just a little girl & i was taking care of her & i didn't know how to use her machine, she was probably 3 or 4 & she was showing me how to turn it on & how to break the glass vial to put the medicine in the dispenser.

then round 2 of the breathing analysis; he was finally primed for the whole evolution but we had to retrain him bc now they only had to measure blow out, so that was probably another 15 tries. that nurse will probably run & hide if she ever sees us again.

results finally - initial readings were in the 70/80s, after meds 80/90s = yes, he has asthma

the interview

last week i went on an interview; one i didn't want to go on. i know that doesn't make sense, but i inadvertently applied for a position that was title 'finance blah' & in the fine print it said 'works with people'....uh, that's not me.

however, it's at a place that i want to work at, so i couldn't blow them off, i couldn't tell them i already had a job & i've already been told if i want in, i have to start at the bottom. which for the most part, i'd be willing to start pretty low but that whole havingtotalktopeople thing & they don't mean office gossip leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

so i went to the interview & of course bc i wasn't nervous i was awesome. [oh how i wish i could bottle that & save it for another time.] really, i was good, know how i know? bc yesterday they called to get approval before checking my references.
damn!

"so can we call f18 people?" - yes

"what about noems?" - um, yeah [this may be my way out, maybe old boss will give me a bad referral???? not likely, but maybe something will fall out of his mouth before he can stop himself, or his tone might say it all as well...come on old boss, bring it!!!!]

"the golf place?" - all my work peoples are gone, so not a very good source

oh, & there's more to the dislike part, it's a temporary job, only 10-12 weeks. i'm in the works about finding/figuring out how that affects my unemployment but as of right now, it's looking like not a good thing.
although i asked a string of questions trying to figure out how it would work i got one answer being "old claim would end, new claim would have to start". so a new claim based on a short work period at lower pay.

yah for me - as in who can screw things up beyond belief?

judgement day

so i cleaned some on easter, cleaned some more in the morning & trust me, i was a peach to be around with all the stress about what things were going to be like once my mom showed up, A PEACH!

B wasn't going to be here, which was both good & bad, good bc that meant i wouldn't have to be in the middle of anything but bad bc i wouldn't have his support.

my mom was bringing a friend, which also had good & bad points - my mom wouldn't go completely batshit crazy in front of her [i don't think anyway] yet this person has probably heard my mother's completely fictional tirade & OMG how am i supposed to look this person in the face when they think i'm a complete f-ing monster????

Z would be here too [off for spring break, it's not "easter break" anymore bc nobody believes in god] & it's good for him to see his grammie no matter how crazy she is.

mom's dr appt went fine & they showed up about 11:30. i got my mom some coffee & we sat at the dining table & talked for a bit. a little while later she said she was ready to eat so i served the abondigas soup my mom had requested. she hadn't tasted my version soup before, she said "it was good, but not as good as her's".

seriously.

even her friend said "come on, this is really good" & my mom said "it's good, it's just mine is really good". so her friend asked her what was different about her recipe - she fries the onions first....well that makes ALL the difference in the world doesn't it?

i did my best to stay in the conversation, yet not say a lot, so to her soup comment i just smiled. she also told me the dog looked fat; although last time she was worried about the dog's dish not having food in it at all times.

all in all, things went well, it was a painful step in the right direction.

easter 2010

i'd put off calling my mom all week; you know a holiday....most families get together, so i was at a loss at what to do....
do i invite? [only to be turned down]
do i not invite? [she's told me she doesn't want come over but i'm a b*tch if i don't at least offer right?]

woohoo, fun times alright!

i was off the hook though, she had a medical thing to prepare for & couldn't leave the house on sunday.

deep exhale [& feel the 400lb monkey fall off my back]

then when i explained to B that she wouldn't be over on sun for easter, but was coming over on mon after her dr appt it all went to hell again. [he has class all day]

good times...
seriously, can't win for losing sometimes.

then to top all that sh*t off, i was recovering from a migraine [why couldn't it have been a hangover?], so the easter bunny was late ok?
the confetti eggs were colored, but not confettied & obviously not topped & the potato salad was still just a thought nagging at the back of my head.

Z got to open his box from grandma C - lots of yellow grass, candy, camouflage eggs [?] & a science kit with polymers [water absorbing thingies]. my mom sent a card with some cash, thankfully she clued it $50 was a bit much & only gave him $10. then when i was able to, B & I filled plastic eggs & went out to the backyard to hide them.

then Z came out & caught us red handed.

i told him the easter bunny hid some of the eggs, but he was in a hurry & had to leave so he asked me to finish the rest of them. [wasn't that a good lie? i'm totally getting better!]

he totally didn't buy it, so i told him if he didn't go inside easter was canceled.

once we finished with the eggs i brought his basket inside & put the other things in there i bought for him & we went out for the hunt. Z was pissy about having to actually hunt for eggs, the best one was a yellow egg B had placed sitting on top of a tool with a yellow handle. it was really hard to see it & Z even moved the tool & it wasn't until the egg fell down that Z found the egg.

we didn't get to the confetti eggs until after dark, it was still fun, but so much more fun when there are other people around. the boys pretty much went after each other, then Z of course had to get Lady...any chance to mess with the dog!

easter dinner didn't happen.
we had tons of leftovers & it just didn't make sense to prepare everything.

glazed ham, potato salad & asparagus were had on tuesday afternoon though...we're professional procrastinators, novices need not apply!

movie news: clash of the titans & a lil avatar talk

on sat we went to go see clash of the titans. we actually saw it in 3-d, something i'd been afraid to do. after that one time we went to movies when i was pregnant & i got nauseous & had to leave, well, i'm still antsy about it. i know, i know, the boy is almost 8 YEARS old, but seriously, who wants to puke at the theater?

not me

when we went to see avatar, B said "who wouldn't want to see it in 3-d?"

um, hello, your pukey wife...

so we didn't see that one in 3-d, which ended up being a good thing bc in one scene where the guy falls off a tree limb while walking through the forest, well i fell with him. honestly, i almost fell out of the chair & it wasn't even 3-d.

i'm an awesome date
yeah, & B's a lucky man

so, the movie though, um, clash of the titans one as i realize i'm all over the place, yeah, it was pretty good, the 3-d effect worked & was pretty neat & i didn't fall off the chair once. they stuck a lot to the old 80s story line, although they left out some parts that were missed the beloved mechanical owl-wth?.

before we went to the movies i thought i'd give Z an idea about what it was about so i was explaining greek mythology, their stories, beliefs & gods, etc when suddenly he decided he didn't want to go. we got him to change his mind & when it was over he said he thought the movie was going to be like going to church & they were just going to talk about god....

we're excellent parents

so as further punishment we're going to rent the old version, i have to be sure to wake up Z early on sunday morning to watch it. do you think i should make him get dressed in fancy clothes too?

Z's blood test

following up on the caterpillar torture we had to take Z in for some blood work. i made the appt online & didn't really think about should i call & warn ask them about what would be the best way to prepare the kid for them them for the kid.

luckily B was able to come along, bc honestly i was so worried about it, i actually woke up in the middle of the night concerned about how Z was going to react to having his blood drawn.

the phlebotomist [fyi my spell check says that's wrong & is recommending lobotomist...we'll save that one for another day] was a young small framed asian woman & when she realized who was getting their blood drawn she looked a little tense.

awesome...

she said one of us should sit & have Z sit on our lap so i went to wait in the car told B it was all him. i didn't think me puking on the kid while she tried to put a needle in his arm was a good idea....
B held his wrist with one hand & kept his elbow straight with the other while i did my best not to lose my s**t as Z screamed & cried & i told him to just look at me & not look at his arm.

in the car i had a bowl of strawberries waiting to calm Z's nerves & when he felt a little better he said the caterpillars were worse. i told him that was good bc he probably wouldn't have to have that done again but getting blood drawn is something done that has to be done every once in awhile.

i think next time we'll do tequila shots before we go...

go pee before reading

you went pee right?
you need to go before you look at this pic.
i'm serious, wet chonies are no fun.
[& a breeding group for nasty bacteria, not to mention plain ol stinky]

as part of Z's nightly routine i have him pull out his clothes for the next day; 1 less thing for him to do in the morning & also i get a chance to review the choices. yesterday morning he came out in pre-approved clothing but he was wearing rain boots.

back-up, i haven't talked about the rain boots, they are hand-me-downs from wonderful SIL who gives Z fantastical BAGS of clothing. although her son is a few months younger than Z, the hand-me-downs from what? 2 years ago? still fit Z...yeah there's a tad difference in the boys' sizes. so anyways, the boots, um sorry SIL, no offense, but i thought the boots were kinda ugly from day 1 & Z thought they were the cat's meow. he loves them & wants to wear them ALL the time! not to mention the fact that we're in SoCal & it's late march...

so i told the boy "no boots" & he to change his shoes & came back with some lace up things that were acceptable & i took his butt to school & didn't think anything more of it. [how's that for a run on sentence?]

this actually happened yesterday when we were on our way to the allergist & i was driving & trying to figure out where we were going & then B says something about "do you know what your son is wearing?". well yeah, i did the clothing inspection & i nixed the boots, so yes, i know exactly what he's wearing.

but the truth of the matter is i was missing something. something i didn't know i needed to review. B told Z to put his foot up on the center console thingie so i could see what i missed:



in case you're overwhelmed by how little the ankle is, look at the sock my boy is wearing.
yeah, he's wearing my black fuzzy house socks...
to school all day...
& now to the dr's office...
& we don't have time to go home to change so he either has to wear them or go sans socks [which option is MORE ghetto i ask?]

in his defense he said his feet were that cold & he was wearing them when he had the rain boots on.

surprisingly he didn't tell us to f-off when we were laughing our a**es off...