Were these good choices?

Anyone have these particular appliances?

GE Profile 30 in. Gas XL44™ Self-Clean Convection Freestanding Range with Sealed Burners (#JGB920SEFSS)

Stainless Steel w/Black GE Appliances Microhood Combination, Advantium™ Oven (#SCA2001FSS )

Stainless Steel w/Black GE Profile 24 in. Built-In Dishwasher (#PDW8680JSS)

These came as a "set" from our builder. What I need to find now is a refrigerator. I'm contemplating getting that stainless steel that doesn't show fingerprints. "Clean Steel"???

What needs to be determined is if I want a side-by-side or a freezer on the bottom. I'm sick and tired of having to bend over to grab drinks out of our current refrigerator. I'm in the freezer section maybe once or twice a day. It wouldn't be an issue if the freezer was on the bottom. But does it really work as well as I'm thinking it does?

Those of you who have a freezer on the bottom -- please help! Need your input on how you like your freezer.

Day at home...

You'd think that I'd relish in a day at home. Let me just say I'm in a pissy mood. Actually, I'm past the pissy and have moved onto a sad hopeless mood that my life feels like.

So do I have planned for today?

I've cleaned both bathrooms. I cleaned up all the stacked mail & organized hubby's magazines. I've got a couple loads in the washer & drier. I've got about 4 more loads to get through until the laundry is done. I'm moving slowly and depressingly through my day. The kids are working on their snacks while watching Finding Nemo as they play.

How am I gonna shake this funky mood? My day didn't start out so hot (I may be putting in a not-so-pleasant entry on this later).

Someone make me laugh, please!

In search of a good school

I'm hoping to find a good school for the Princess to start attending Fall 2005.

That's right. I want her to start kindergarten next fall. Why do I have to look for a good school? Because her birthday falls less than 30 days AFTER the cut-off and they make NO exceptions in the school district we'll be located. I can't believe they don't make exceptions either. If I lived in California, I could have her into a school without any hassles!

Anyway, she's a kind soul. She's quiet and shy upon first meeting. But give her a week or two and she's all smiles and happiness to everyone. I guess she's like me and takes time to get warmed up to a new situation. She observes things, takes note of things, and then reacts later on.

She's truly an intelligent child. She started talking early. She uses complex sentences for her age. She takes direction well. She knows how to sit still and listen. She's very inquisitive. There's always a question once you've answered one question - especially if there's an animal show on television.

She knows her alphabet. She can identify all the letters visually. If you ask her "Say a word that starts with the letter %" She'll be able to tell you a word that fits the bill. She can recite her numbers up to 30 consistently. She tends to lag of on anything above 30 (possibly boredom?).

She knows how to spell her name. Her first name. And her last name. She knows how to write her first name. She's known how to do this since January. She knows the Bear's full name. She knows my hubby's full name. She knows my full name and knows how to spell my hyphenated last name. Right now she's trying to memorize how to spell the Bear's name. We made sure she knew our full names in the event she'd ever get lost. When we get to our new house we'll have her memorize our new street address and new phone number.

She also loves to sing. She's been making up words to basic nursery rhymes forever! Then she's branched out into her own tunes with her own words. I let her perform for me and it's funny when she continues a song. On and on and on. Sometimes I wait until she needs to take a break and start clapping and say "Wow!" She then takes a bow. Then she contemplates another tune and belts it out when she's ready.

She loves to dance. Let me tell you it's a crazy dance. It reminds me of Ellen on Seinfeld. It's a crazy concoction of twists and turns and arm movements. She's even got serious facial expressions that go with certain moves. She's VERY serious about her dancing. She's having a good time, so I don't make any suggestions or critiques.

Well, that's a run-down of my Princess. I've started calling around to the private and charter schools in the area. Some of them still have a August 31st cut-off for turning 5 & starting kindergarten. Oy! For those that have a later cut-off date or who make exceptions, I'm requesting information to be sent. This way I can read up on their curriculum, their philosophy, and get a general feel for the school. Once I review a school's material and it seems to pass our expectations, I'll have to make arrangements for a site visit. If my visit goes well then I'll continue onto the next step. For the schools that make exceptions to the cut-off, my Princess will need to meet with the school principal/director/kindergarten teacher for an evaluation. They'll determine if they feel she's got the skills to start kindergarten at their facility. Then my hubby and I will make a decision.

I did get a great vibe from one gal I spoke with today. She gave some wonderful information and seemed very excited about the school. It's a small charter school with only 125 kids in attendance. She told me that this year's kindergarten class has 32 kids with THREE teachers! Can you believe it? That's less than a 1:11 ratio. I know that some of the public schools are working on a 1:30 ratio. In the preschool she's in now, there are 3 teachers (1 lead & 2 assistants), so this school would make for a good transition. I AM going to do a drive-by of the school just to see the exterior and check the neighborhood though. It's only going to be about 7 miles from our new house, so it would be a reasonable drive every day.

Anyone else considering enrolling their child into kindergarten earlier than the regular cut-off date?

On the house front...

The Bear and I dropped by the housing development so I could sign some papers today. Found out that they've sold the lots on both sides of us. And guess what? They are both ONE story homes! Woohoo! This means that the bedrooms upstairs won't have corresponding upstairs windows to compete with (noise & view). Woohoo again!

The only unfortunate thing about this situation is that the promise dates for both these homes is July. Yes, July! We'll be in our house sometime in February. This means that we'll have lots of noise (especially during slab pour and framing) on both sides of our house for a while.

Nearsighted

I'm one of those unfortunate people who have VERY poor vision.

I can't even put it into a 20/20 scope. I just call it the -12 range. That's right...NEGATIVE twelve.

If I wore regular eyeglass lenses, then I'd be one of those with coke bottle thick lenses. It's truly pathetic. Thankfully, they now have the technology to make thinner & more lightweight eyeglass lenses. But my lenses are still thick in comparison to most people. My gosh though these thinner lenses are truly more expensive!

I still need to get the optional (& costly) anti-glare coating. If I didn't then people wouldn't be able to see my eyes when they were talking to me. They'd probably see the glare of the lenses as the light hit it.

Contacts? You think I should wear them? I do! But I have to wear gas permeable lenses because I'm so nearsighted and because I've got astigmatism. No, gas permeable lenses are not a secret option on soft lenses. These contacts are hard but allow oxygen to permeate through to the eyes. Yes, these are HARD lenses. I wear them every day for about 12 hours.

But contacts and glasses do not last forever. I have to get new contacts every two years. I finally just bought a new pair of eyeglasses after six years. It's a pretty costly thing to be so nearsighted.

What sucks even more is that I still have to invest in my eyes every 3 weeks. That's right. I need contact solution. One bottle costs about $9 a pop. So that's more than $150 a year on contact solution.

Surgery? No. Can't do it. I had my corneas tested a few years ago for lasik. My corneas are too thin for the amount of correction I'd need. There's a new procedure that I'd be able to qualify for, but it's still in the short-term results stage. They'd have to put a plastic lense IN my eye. Ewww!

So for those of you with perfect 20/20 vision. Be thankful. You can party all night and will still be able to see in the morning. Imagine if you got blitzed one night and had to put hard pieces of plastic in your red, gritty eyeballs so you'd be able to squint through your day? Yeah, thank your parents for those good eyeball genes.

I just hope my two kiddos get a break and catch my hubby's 20/20 vision...

Anyone else still waiting for the verdict?

Good God...It's 10:52pm!

I'm usually in bed by 10pm. I'm up late! My hubs and I were just lounging on the couch watching the endless discussion about who's winning or not winning in what state.

Can you believe we didn't have punch-holes at our polling? We had to fill in the bubbles! Yup! Scantron type ballots. I guess they didn't want any "chads"!!!!

I'm on pins & needles waiting for the final decision for Prez.....

Back to the regular sleep routine...

It's taken some time but my Bear is now back to his regular sleep schedule.

We've always had a regular routine about putting him down for a nap and for night-time. It's not like we changed anything & caused him to have the issues. It just happened! We're not certain as to why he started having problems. He may have been teething. He did have a slight fever. But thank goodness he's back to normal.

I mentioned my plight about the Bear's sleep situation here and here.

There was actually one more night that this Mommy was NOT a happy camper. My hubby decided to make me roll into bed early at about 9:30pm. He knew I was mentally exhausted dealing with my whiny Bear, so he thought an early night was what I needed to get refreshed.

Life is full of challenges and that night was definitely a challenge. Can you believe that I heard the Bear crying at 10:30pm? A scant hour after I'd laid myself into bed with my hubby, the kid was awake.

Oy! A rude awakening that's for sure.

I got the Bear and he felt a little warm. I brought him to the bathroom and gave him some Tylenol to make him more comfortable. I then brought him out to the couch so I could relax while holding him. He lay on me tummy-to-tummy with his head on my left shoulder. His left hand hand meandered all over the right side of my head playing with my hair. We sat that way for a while.

Suddenly, he pops his head up off of my shoulder. He looks at me. He scoots himself off my lap and off the couch. He turns to look at me and points towards the kitchen.

Me: Are you thirsty buddy?

Bear: [Gives me the "yes" sign]

We head into the kitchen. I grab a fresh sippy. I get the water pitcher out of the fridge and pour him about 6 oz. I tighten the cap. I hand the sippy to the kid. He stands there and gulps it down. He must of had 5 oz of it! Oy! He was warm AND thirsty! Poor kid...

We get back to the business of cuddling on the couch.

Let me just say it took me 5 tries until I got him back into his crib. It's like he had a radar on. Seemed like he knew when I was making a move towards his room. His arms would clasp around my neck tightly. His legs would wrap about my torso like a vise. It's not like he was awake, but he wasn't fully asleep either.

I got him back into his crib about 12:35am. Yes! Two whole hours after I'd rescued him out of his crib, he was safely back in it.

Like I mentioned, we aren't too sure but suspect a teething issue as the cause for the sleep problems. He seemed to also be more clingy to me than normal. It felt like he was having separation anxiety. He'd hold onto my leg if I got up from the couch to go into the kitchen. He wouldn't let my hubby give him a bath. The Bear would cling to my neck as if I'd disappear. Weird for a boy who likes his freedom.

What's crazy to me is that he didn't want to go down for his naps. I know he's tired. He knows he's tired. He wanted to be held! There's my rationale about the separation anxiety conclusion. He'd cry and whine. He'd whine and cry. It would last for upwards of 20 minutes before (a) he'd finally settle down and sleep or (b) I'd remove him from his crib & hold him until he did sleep or (c) Remove him from his crib and forego the nap because he was only getting more vocal instead of settling down.

Situation A was always the best. Situation B was okay because he'd get some sleep, but I'd be stuck holding him for 1 1/2 hours! That was time away from the Princess. It was also time away from my mid-day access to the internet. Situation C was the worst of all cases. When the Bear didn't get a nap, he'd be in such a horrible mood by the end of the day. My hubby always hated hearing that the Bear didn't get a nap. I didn't blame him for dreading coming home once he'd been told the kid didn't sleep.

But he's back to regularly scheduled programming. I'm being more deligent about getting him and the Princess out of the house each morning, even if it's just to run a quick errand. This way we're not stuck watching television. Plus it's a way for the two to get some energy expelled from their system. Then it's lunch. After lunch, is naptime for the Bear. Thankfully, he's now okay with this routine. He'll make complaining noises but we both know he's bushed by 12:30-1pm.

I'm crossing my fingers that this is the last bit of sleep related issues we'll have for a while. I'm tired of dealing with a tired toddler!

What's for breakfast

The Bear and I had toast and eggs this morning. Not anything unusual.

What was unusual was the relish in which the Bear tore into those scrambled eggs. He already had his triangle shaped pieces of toast in front of him when I placed a scoop of eggs on his tray. He looked at them. Pondered. Picked them up between his fingers. Then he promptly shoved that piece into his mouth. The rest of the pieces were gone in a blur.

Hhmmm...I guess he's in an egg mood.

I placed two big scoops in front of him. This time he mixed bites of the eggs with bites of the toast. He had slowed down but wasn't finished.

This continued until all the scrambled eggs were gone. I only had two small scoops of eggs. The Bear had the rest. I had made FOUR scrambled eggs!

I guess he was really craving eggs!