Quote of the Day

Today I overheard my 5 year old talking to his friend who lives next door. He was telling his friend about the summer reading club at the library. Yesterday we stopped by (for an hour with just about every other person) and he got his prize for completing 1000 minutes of reading this summer. He showed his friend the prize (an art set) and asked his friend if he was doing the summer reading club.
Friend: "No, I don't really go to libraries."
My 5 year old: "We only go when our books are overdue."

Proud Parent Moment #530 is brought to you by your local library.

You Know It's Hot When...

Ok, so most of you may have heard that Seattle is getting a record breaking heat wave this week. Today was over 100 degrees. We don't have air conditioning. We have only 2 fans in our house. We stopped by a few stores to by fans for the kids rooms today. Every store is sold out. We're dying. Today was the hottest day ever for Seattle. I saw on TV last night that Seattle was hotter than Miami, hotter than Phoenix, hotter than Houston, even hotter than hell. Ok, maybe they didn't say that. I think the only city that was hotter was Vegas.
I've been busy this week trying to come up with things to do to keep the kids cool. Today we went to the science center. We spent the whole day in the nicely air conditioned buildings watching IMAX movies and looking at bugs. Yesterday we went to the movies and then to a water park in the afternoon. On Monday we went to the beach. Tomorrow is still supposed to reach 90 something. I thought about going bowling, but that would only last an hour. Maybe see another movie... again... So I started to come up with this list:
You know it's hot when:
1. You think spending an afternoon in the nicely air conditioned ER might not be such a bad idea.
2. The string cheese that you packed for the kids snack has liquefied (Yuck!).
3. The stores have sold out of window fans.
4. The stores have sold out window air conditioners.
5. The stores are still packed with people even though there is nothing left to buy because the stores themselves are air conditioned.
6. A root canal is starting to sound good because then you could lay down for a few hours in the air conditioned office.
7. It might finally be time to join an air conditioned gym.
8. Your house is 90 degrees inside and that's still cooler than the outside temperature of 100.
9. You stick your feet in the tub while giving your kids a bath to help them cool down.
10. After taking a shower you go to put on your lotion as you usually do but this time when you squeeze some into your hands, it's warm.
11. Adults actually go in the water sprinklers at the water spray park.



Hope you're staying cool!

Too Hot

Sorry, I tried to post a nice blog entry with pictures from our trip this weekend, but my computer gave up. It's just too hot! It was in the 90's today. I know most of you are saying, "It's July! So what?!" But see in Seattle, it doesn't get that hot normally. We're spoiled here with summer highs of 81. Really. I think I've worn shorts twice so far this summer. And this weekend at the beach I was wearing pants and a sweatshirt and still shivering.
So today was extremely hot. And since it doesn't normally get this hot, we don't have air conditioning. This afternoon the inside of my house was 88 degrees. 88! That is crazy! I took the kids out shopping thinking that the store's AC would cool us off. The store wasn't air conditioned. We left pretty quick. The kids had swimming lessons, so they cooled off. Then we went out to dinner.
They just went to bed all nice and sweaty. It's still 85 inside the house. So my exciting post about my trip to Ft. Flagler state park will have to wait till tomorrow. I know, you just can't wait! ;)

Not now, I have a headache

I have migraines. It feels like I always have a headache. I see a neurologist regularly now. I take preventative medicine daily and I have another prescription to take whenever I get a migraine.
This morning I had my 3 month appointment with the neurologist again. I brought my calendar where I have been keeping track of my headaches hoping to find some rhyme or reason. I keep track of food, drinks, stress, loud place, bright lights etc. I also keep track of my monthly cycle and any medication taken. It's a fact that migraines are more common in women than in men. So it must be because of our hormones. Not because we are more stressed or any other reason. (Why yes, that is sarcasm you hear.)
Recently I have been getting headaches about twice a week. That's a lot! I find that I get headaches when I'm in the sun for a while or in loud places like a baseball game. My husband says I'm getting headaches more frequently because the kids are home for summer. This neurologist likes to stick with the idea that my headaches are caused by my cycle. As if I were I getting my period twice a week now. My new blog will be called "Super Flo!"... Um... No. But if that were the case, then I would recommend buying stock in Tampax.
So now I'm on some new preventative medicine. I have been feeling old for a little while and this just makes me feel more old.
This morning the kids and I spent a lot of time with doctors. After my neurologist appointment we swung by the ER for a not-so-quick visit. My 7 year old hurt his pinky toe yesterday and being the bad mom that I am, I made him go all day with a hurt toe. This morning it was still hurting, still swollen and bruised. So we had to get it x-rayed.
How did he hurt his toe? He was chasing his little brother and he ran into a wall. Yup. Genius, I know.
You might remember that my 7 year was at the ER not that long ago. He broke his arm in February. And my 5 year old was there about 6 months before that when he nearly sliced his ear off. (Don't worry, they glued it back on.) So I'm starting to recognize some of the staff there. That place is becoming our primary care physician. I mean we're there more frequently it seems. So when they took my son's weight and blood pressure I asked, "How does that compare with last time?" Maybe not the best thing to ask. I'm pretty sure CPS will be stopping by my house any minute.
Oh, and the x-rays were fine. It's just a sprain. But that doesn't stop him from complaining about it every other minute. And from sitting on the couch and having his little brother bring him things. But when he gets bored he gets up and runs around until it hurts again. That he starts whining to me again.
I wish the ER doctor would have prescribed some meds to make me feel better! I can't take much more of this!

Overdue

Yesterday I took my kids to the library. The library has a show every Tuesday at 7pm during the summer. Last night was a kids rock band called "Recess Monkey." They were great. I think we've only missed one show this year. Before the show we return our books and get new books.
Yesterday afternoon I logged onto the library website. I checked which books were due. I renewed some and some couldn't be renewed (you can't renew more than twice and you can't renew if there are holds waiting). I made a pile of the books that had to be returned because they would become overdue. The kids moaned and groaned because they weren't finished with all of the books. They looked at a few in the afternoon.
After dinner I put all of the books into the bag to take to the library. I also collected books from the kids' bedrooms upstairs. My 7 year old brought some more books that he was finished with. We went to the library, returned the books, checked out new books and watched the show.
This morning I found 3 books that were in my original pile that had to be returned last night. I asked my kids how these books were left behind. They have no idea. How does this happen???? I put these books in the pile to be returned yesterday. Every other book that was in that pile was returned. How did these get left behind??? Must be magic!
Looks like I'll be making another trip to the library today.

You Say Tomato, I Say What?

Tonight my 5 year old told me, "Mom I like the brown tomatoes you made for dinner."

I didn't make any tomatoes, especially not brown ones for dinner.

"Honey, do you mean potatoes?" I replied.

"Yes, the brown ones." He said.

At least he likes them! Even if he doesn't know what they are.

Can You Hear Me Now?

For the past month or so we've been having problems with our phone. There has been static on the line and it can be very difficult or even impossible to hear the other person. I called Verizon. They had someone come to the house the next day to fix it.

The repair man came to the house. He did something with wires. He told me it was fixed. He left. That night my husband called. I answered the phone. I couldn't hear him. I could only hear horrible static.

I called Verizon the next day. A different repair man came to the house. I explained what had happened earlier. He did something with the box outside of our house. He thought there was a problem with the connection from the street to our house. He put a new wire to connect the house to the main line at the street. The wire stretched across our yard, over the side walk, over the garage doors and came down on the side of the house. This was only supposed to be temporary. Someone would be out by Friday, last Friday, to put the new wire underground.

Someone did come out last Friday. I wasn't home at the time. He called my cell phone to let me know he was at the house. He asked what needed to be done. I explained that repair man #1 had come and thought the problem was fixed but it wasn't. Then repair man #2 came and fixed the connection but left a wire stapled over my garage doors, across the sidewalk and across the yard. Repair man #3 wasn't too happy to hear this. He said, "So I'm here to put the wire under the ground?"

"Yes." Shouldn't he know that already????

"Well I don't do that. I'll have to put a work order in for that."

"Oh, well how long does that take?"

"That depends." (That's never a good answer.) "First we need someone to come out here and let us know where the utilities are so we don't dig them up. Then we need someone to come here with a tunneller."

"Oh. So that's not going to be done today, like repair man #2 said?"

"No."

Today is day #11. Here's the front of my house.

Do you know how much trouble 2 little boys can get into with a wire across the front yard???

Repair man #2 left his stapler here for us to remember him by.

Does Your Kid's Choice of Music Say Anything About You as a Parent?

Last Friday my husband and I took out 2 boys to a Mariners game at Safeco Field. They started playing "Rock N Roll All Night" by Kiss on the loud speakers. My 5 year old started shouting singing along. "I want to Rock N Roll all niiiiiight. And Party Everyday!"

The lady in front of me had a little girl about the same age. The mother asked me how my son would know that song. I shrugged. "Must be from Guitar Hero." (Note: Proud Parent Moment 417)




Then "Take Me out to the Ball Game" was played over the loudspeaker. Lots of people sang along including the little girl in front of us. My 5 year sat silently in his chair.





Guess they don't put that song on Guitar Hero.

Finding Sand Dollars

Last weekend we went to the beach. The kids loved looking for sand dollars on the beach. At first we only found broken sand dollars. Then my 7 year old found a whole sand dollar. He was hooked. He was no longer interested in the broken sand dollars. He wanted the rare whole sand dollar from then on.

I tried to help search the sand for whole sand dollars. They were more difficult to find that broken pieces. They usually remained whole when they were partially hidden in the sand. So you could only see a small white flat circle sticking out of the sand. I saw something that looked like part of a sand dollar. It was small and white and flat and a circle. I called to my 7 year old and said, "It looks like a sand dollar over there."

He looked up and over to the spot where I was pointing. He said, "No mom, that's just bird poop."

Ahhhh... Nothing like a day at the beach.

Back From the Beach

We went to Ocean Shores WA this weekend. Here is a picture of my 5 year old enjoying the beach this morning before we left. I'm not ready for my short vacation to be over.

Who Is Going to Clean That Up?

Last week we watched a neighbor's dog while they went on vacation (well it was a road trip to visit family in Montana so not a real vacation, but anyway). The dog stayed with us for 6 days. Our yard is fully fenced in and I love dogs. It's really nice to be able to have a dog for a week. The kids are thrilled. And by the end of the week they don't care about the dog as much. The excitement of having a dog has worn off. It's like renting a dog for a week and then being able to give it back!

Today I was preparing to mow the lawn. I cleaned up a few firework debris. And I scooped up all the dog poop. My 5 year was watching me. He was going to make sure that he didn't have to touch the poop. He asked me why I was "picking up" the dog poop. I explained how I wanted the yard to be clean. He then asked, "How are you going to clean up all of the pee?"

Honey, I think that's your job.

Honest Scrap Blogger Award

I'd like to thank Karen at Karen's Adventures In Mommy Land for this most prestigious award. It's not like she gives these things out to just anyone. 4 people got one!

In order to keep this award, I must do the following:
1. Say thanks and link to the presenter of the award.
2. Share ten honest things about myself.
3. Present this blog award to 4 other whose blogs are brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
4. Tell those 4 people that they have been awarded the HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving it.

Ten things about ME! (Do these all have to be believable?):

1. I drink one cup of Taster's Choice Instant coffee every morning. And Taster's Choice has not paid me to say that. But if someone from Taster's Choice is reading this and would like to pay me there's a link to my email at the top.

2. I had to stop in the middle of this post to put the laundry in the dryer. It's an exciting life I lead.

3. I bumped the back of my elbow on the dryer while putting the clothes inside. See, I told you things were exciting in my house.

4. I don't usually like doing these MeMeMe things. Can you tell?

5. I wear a size 7 shoe. This must be a very popular size (I know everyone wants to be like me) because whenever there is a sale, I can never find a size 7 in stock.

6. I love to dip potato chips in Barbecue sauce.

7. I'm a vegetarian.

8. Apparently I think about food too often.

10. I like to take short cuts. (This is much funnier if you re-read #9.)

Now for my list of nominees. Drum Roll Please....

1. Cathy at The Clothesline. She always great environmentally friendly ideas.

2. Jessica at Bern This. She loves to embarrass herself so she has good blog stories to share.

3. Firehunt has a great blog and she's expecting her first girl!

4. Talon. She always has beautiful pictures.

Happy 4th of July

Ok, so I'm a little late in wishing everyone a happy fourth of July. But I don't think that will surprise most of devoted readers.

One of my earliest childhood memories is of my mom putting my hair in pigtails. I would beg her all year to put my hair in pigtails. She would only do it on the 4th of July. I know she was busy. She had 3 little ones to take care of and her mother was sick and lived us for a while. My hair was long and always had knots. It was a chore for her to brush it or do anything with it. So the 4th of July was special. I felt like a princess when she practically pulled my scalp off with the comb used Johnsons No More Tangles and brushed my hair. Then she would use a little bit of conditioner until all the knots were gone and my hair was free. She would put it in pigtails and I would dance around the house until it was time to go to the fireworks.

I don't remember actually going to the fireworks or anything else other than the pigtails.

I have 2 boys. No girls. So I can't continue the pigtail tradition. (Their father might kill me if I tried!) Sometimes I wonder what my kids will remember from their childhood. Will they remember that my husband and I took them to the pancake breakfast at the fire station? Will my 5 year old decorating his scooter so he could ride it in the children's parade? Will my 7 year old remember his father walking belong side him while he rode on the cub scouts float? Will they remember barbecuing hot dogs and sipping soda on the deck? Or will they remember that mom and dad were tired and hot and took a nap in the afternoon while they were left to play video games for a few hours?

It was after 11pm when we came inside from doing fireworks with our neighbors in the cul de sac in front of our house. When I walked my kids upstairs and helped them get ready for bed my 7 year was still very excited. He looked at me and said, "Mom, wasn't this the best night EVER?!"

"Yes, it sure is the best night ever."

And So It Goes

Today has been one of those days. Nothing special happened today. But everything about today drove me crazy. Here's an example of just one minute of a conversation with my kids. We are dog sitting and I said we needed to use the leash to walk the dog to our house.

“No we don’t.”

"Yes, we do. We don’t want the dog to get excited and run away.”

“Well it’s a short walk and the dog knows the way to our house.”

“We still need to use the leash.”

“Well our friends don’t have to use the leash because it’s their dog.”

“Yes, they do.”

“Well if we walk the cat then we don’t need a leash.”

Frustrating!!!!!

I can usually handle this kind of thing. It doesn't usually bother me. I'm not sure why it did today. But after the 8th or 9th conversation like that I started to lose it. And I still haven't found it.

Name Change

Did you know I was Korean? Neither did I.

Yesterday I went to my favorite Korean market, H-Mart. They just opened one in my town this spring. I signed up for the "frequent shopper card." You get a $10 gift certificate for every $1,000 that you spend! Isn't that great?! Or maybe it was $5,000. Either way, I have a little more to go. Yesterday when the cashier scanned my card, my name appeared on the screen, "Daun." My name is "Dawn." I think it's funny how those 4 letters that even make up a regular word in the English language are often messed up. "Daun" does sound much more Korean though. My last name is much longer and most people don't even attempt to pronounce it, let alone spell it. But even funnier, they got my last name spelled correctly. All 73 letters!