Police State Over-Steppng ... again

I just received an email from babies-R-Us, which is supposed to be doing some big trade-in program ... in the email it stated two new guidelines they are going to enforce regarding car seats --- totally asinine if you ask me ....

1. Children should remain in rear-facing car seats until the age of 2 years old!!!!

2. Children should remain in Booster car seats until they are 12 years old

While I understand that the American academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has children's safety in mind (as well as all that study money they get from the car-seat manufacturers) in mind ... Have you ever tried to get a toddler to want to sit backwards in the car? Can you imagine the number of kids who are going to suffer from motion-sickness as they try to look out the side windows while the car is going? I'm sorry but as a mother and having a degree in Child Psychology from one of the leading colleges in the field ... I have to say ... BULLOCKS!

Now about those boosters - when my kids turned four (before the law changed) they couldn't WAIT to get out of those damned things ... My youngest missed the new "boosters until 8yrs" by one month, you try to tell an 8 yr old that they have to sit in a booster like some baby after having nearly 4 hrs of freedom! Now you are going to have to plug them in until they are 12? BULLOCKS!!!

What will happen when these kids start school? Will the school districts require parents to send Booster seats with their kids in order to ride the school bus? Oh wait that can't happen because they somehow have convinced the government that it is safer NOT to belt kids in on the buses ... when I talked to the transportation dept at our old school district, and probably got the most honest answer I've ever heard:

they won't do it because the belts could be used as a weapon against the driver but more probably against another student, and since the district cut funding for bus aides to watch the kids they felt that the driver could not control an over-crowded bus of children

I'm surprised that they haven't recommended that anyone with a child under the age of 15 ness to drive a vehicle with third-row seating so that children will be better protected from front impacts.

Actually I'm really shocked that the Feds aren't dictating that no vehicles that hold more than 4 passengers can be sold because they have too big of a carbon-footprint (gag gag gag wretch) ... This will force people to have fewer children because they wont have room for them in their cars ... Else it will force people to use public transportation - which already have sky-rocketing pricing to cover operating costs because NOBODY WANTS TO RIDE IT as it is now ... then they can dictate that cars be made thinner so that people won't be able to fit in them unless they are as skinny as one of those 14 year old models who have been starving themselves since age 5 and don't even register in a size of the ladies department ...

Sorry ... Government over stepping their boundaries just gets my dander up!

Here's an idea ... LOWER THE SPEED LIMITS ... As speed limits go up, the number of & degree of injuries have increased ... limits were increased as people became overly confident of their cars equipment - air bags & anti-lock brakes led to speed limits on roads of 70 mph and above! Car seat or not, of you get in an accident at that speed someone is going to get hurt ... and the majority of hospital visits after an accident are going to be children who can not adequately describe any injuries they might have.

Cool News For Scrappers

It's been a really long time ... A lot has happened in the world ... Even more in our personal lfe ... But I just had to share this for any readers who scrap:

You know when people look at your scrap book pages and then comment on how they would "love a copy" of that photo that's been glued/adhered down?

Now at Archivers (check their website for your nearest location) you can get full sized 12 inch copies ... Yes you can get a copy of the entire page! You can even get it shrunk down to a smaller 8 inch size if you want to make a sort of "souvenir" album.

I called my local store and they said that copies start at $3.49 a sheet ... I would assume (but I could very well be wrong) that to shrink it might cost a tad more.

I can see where this would come in handy for weddings - one main album for the bride/groom, and copies for the parents and the people who stood up - maybe even the officiate if they are a personal friend ...

Maybe that favorite aunt who couldn't make it ...
One for each of the kids later in your life ...
Or grandiose ...

How about baby books? Make the main one for your family and copies for each set of grandparents ...
Ones for the Godparents ...

What about bridal/ baby showers? Same thing ... Main one for mom/dad/baby ... Some for the grandparents .... Maybe a book that not only has pictures of things like baby's sonogram but also photos of mom &dad as kids thru the years for comparison ... What a precious gift this would be! Just make copies of the parents baby pictures so that the grandparents can get their photos back ... Most grandparents will have them either loose, in some of those albums where the photos just slide in, or in one of those albums that had the tiny sticky dot pages ...

HINT: if you do have photos on those old photo books with the sticky dots,be very careful removing them ... after being there for 20-30 years we found that they will be PERMENATELY stck and maybe damaged while trying to remove them from the page.

Check at Archivers (sorry but they are the experts on this one) and see if they have a product to dissolve the glue without damaging the photos.

I mean I know there is something out there - it's like Goop-Off or lighter fluid ( BUT DON'T USE THOSE) but it's a liquid that comes in a nozzle bottle that you squeeze on and it will gently eat the glue but the photo has minimum damage to it.

Any how ...

Just wanted to share about the copies ...

I think it's a wonderful idea ... Even if it is expensive - you are probably only to need/want this type of service so price will be a smaller factor in the long run.

A Leg to Stand On

Love my in-laws ... well okay, love my Mother in law like she were my own ... my father in law is like a close relative who cracks me up the same time as annoying me - kind of like a husband, all you married gals know what I mean. you love them, but its best if they are in a different room than you most of the day.

Well FIL is in hospital today ... he came in town yesterday with my MIL to see dermitalogist and they decided to take him to the hospital and have his hip rechecked because he was in such pain.

A couple of weeks ago he slipped and fell on his hip on the ice while going down to check on the plumbing in one of the cabins (I think I wrote about this), he had a bunch of stuff in his pocket so at first he thought the pain he was feeling was because he landed on a ring of keys and a bunch of tools.

Well a few days later he decided to come to town and had an xray done and they found he actually had hairline factors in the back part of his pelvic bone. Because of its location they wouldn't or couldn't do anything for him ... about all they could do was operate and put in a plate on the bone. But they felt that as long as he stayed off the foot as much as possible then it would heal within 6 weeks.

You can't keep my FIL in one place for too long -- he is art in perpetual motion ... I have to admire his stubborness.

Hubby took a half day to go down and be with his folks - I need to be here for the kids when they get home and get a spot ready for my MIL for the night if she decides to stay. If they operate, I'm betting she will.

Best Laid Plans

Well ... hubby called tonight to say that he wasn't going to come home on the day planned. Things aren't going the way they are supposed to.



The computers that he is trying to set up are having a hard time accepting all the changes that need to be made to integrate the system from one state to the other. They are older computers and replacing them was just out of the budget, so he has to work with what he's got -- they aren't bad computers, its just that there is so much that needs to be done.

Seems like everytime they fix one problem another few will pop up ... usually memory stuff. he said one which should have taken maybe 2 hours to get done took over 10 hours to update.

Well, he knew that it might be a tough time getting it all done -- so he wasn't surprised by the problems ... he was shocked at how long it is taking.

he has been putting in 18 hour days trying to get it done -- he and his assistant from up here ... so that's 36 hours a day total .... just too bad hubby doesn't get overtime (he's salaried) but oh well that's life.

It does throw a monkey wrench into my exchanges though.

I am in both the Hogwarts Sock Swap and the ACX:Samhain exchange ... ACX is due to go out, well it was supposed to be tomorrow ... and the HSS4 was supposed to be in the mail by Thursday. Now it looks like the soonest either one can go out would be Saturday .... unless things change again.

I'm so not happy about it ... but what can one do? I will live with it .... know its not anyones fault ... and move on. I just feel bad for my partners who will now have to wait a bit longer for their packages.

Well I will take the time to do more for my partners, I guess. Might as well make a good thing out of a bad situation.

End of Summer

Well I was shocked at how much progress I got done this weekend at the cabin considering what had to be done.

We had to pull the dock and close up the cabin for the season - that means everything had to get pulled from the water .... normally we would have a full crew of 15 but for some reason lately its been harder and harder to get people to show up.

The more people we have the easier it is. the quicker it is too. the more guys the better it is too because they seem to have an easier time man handling the boat lifts into place.

Everyone seems to want to be there for the fun, but no one makes sure they are there for the clean up. I guess its that sense of responsibility that has only gotten into one branch of the family trees.

Oh well -- don't I wish everyone was as perfect as me? That's what my parents would always say when they caught one of us kids getting into that 'my poop don't stink' moods.

So it was the six of us this weekend -- everyone, even the it-bits, had to pitch in. It didn't help when the oldest girl started feeling faint again -- although I have my suspicions that she was using it as a way to get out of work, but I wasn't taking any chances ... we made her sit for a while and then she was put on go-fer duty.

which the it-bits enjoyed because that had been their jobs so they got a break too.

Any how, some how we got in all the boat lifts, the water-surfer lift, and the pontoon lifts out by ourselves. Then there were both docks -- one is fairly easy, its just pull and push it into place - but the other one is older and so the planks have to be taken off in sections (there are 14 of them) and they are each about 4 1/2 ft square so they are very gangly to carry (it just about kills my shoulders) ... then the dockbrace sections are made out of a thinner material than the main dock so we can't hook up any machinery to pull it out.

so you have to have two people in the water trying to lift the dock up about 3 ft onto the shore so that everyone else can pull it the rest of the way (without twisting it) and then lift & walk it to where it needs to go. now do that with 2 more sections and then deal with the landing section of the dock.

not fun ... but still ....

somehow we were able to get it all done by 2pm on saturday. Maybe it was because they pulled out the boats the week before - although we've done that before too - maybe it was just the thought that it was us or no one was going to get it done. Of course a good bit of it was that we didn't have to put the boats & equipement into storage -- that was already done this year since my father-in-law seems to have worked out exactly where everything goes.

Its kind of like one of those puzzles, the storage area, where all the pieces fit no matter how you put them together, but only one way will make the proper picture. I guess he got the picture right this year.

But I got to knit saturday night and part of sunday. yeah. I got to start on the toe sections .... very nice but didn't get as far as I wanted. but that is a seperate post.

Well the house is still standing

In case you are wondering what that is about -- I learned an important lesson today.

Never cook sausage under the electric broiler.

Yes .... I thought I could do it. I've cooked steaks under there without a problem, so thought that the sausage wouldn't be that much different -- boy was I wrong!

I set the timer for 5 minutes and walked out of the room for less than a minute (remember I had the timer going) and thought the grease spatter was way too much for being in there for less than a minute.

So I started to open the oven door when flames came out .... luckily my first instincts proved correct ... shut the door, turn off the broiler. I opened the door again and still a bit of flame popped out. okay now what? call 911 -- or just wait a bit. between the flame & the smoke I wasn't sure.

The smoke was white & not black so I figured that it was just the grease ... but was it the grease on the boiling element or on the pan? I had to look again .... I just had to.

Very carefully I opened the door -- flame was mostly out, but a little flare up when I opened the door ... it was the grease hitting the element (better than the pan, less fuel to feed it). closed the door and got the silicone mitts on.

Opened the door again and moved the pan to the bottom rack (it was too hot to put on the counter) ... sure enough once I moved the pan the flare ups completely stopped. But the fear wasn't done yet.

See there was this horrid smell of burnt plastic - like the covering of wires (at least that's what I was thinking) ... so got a hold of hubby and we talked about it .... found a flashlight and took as good a look as I could at the way the oven was made to see if there was anyway that the flames could have gotten into the insulation between the oven and the cabinetry -- we have a build in oven -- but I didn't think there was a way.

On the bright side -- today is our 20th wedding anniversary so hubby took us out for dinner. It was pretty funny actually .... wait I'll post seperate on that one!!

hubby took a look at it though when we got back and we turned the broiler on just to make sure it was still getting juice and everything looks okay. oven will need a bit of cleaning, I will have to be careful though when I do the broiler unit so I don't damage it but that will need the grease wiped off too - its between the coils as well as on them and I don't want to remove it to do it.

Like I said ... the house is still standing and nothing horrid happened.

Knit, not

Wednesday night I had a craving for 'chinese' food -- c'mon we all know what Americans call chinese food is about as chinese as fortune cookies -- so we had one of those 'open can and mix it up' Teriyaki chicken and some Chicken Fried Rice (from a box .... I was in such a lazy mood).
Well I don't know if there was something wrong with the Teriyaki chicken - which just looked jelled to me ... or if the Fried Rice was too spicy .... but I wound up with a sick kid and a pretty green hubby.

Although he was complaining that his stomach hurt Wednesday morning - so it may not have been completely my cookings fault.

Everyone else was fine ... well I had issues but then I always have issues if I drink my milk too fast or have a second cup, so I don't count .... but the kid with a very touchy stomach decided to redecorate the bathroom for me just before 11pm and didn't get onto the sick-cot until 1am ...

needless to say he stayed home from school yesterday ... and slept until after 12n -- you need to know this kid.

His day is spent complaining that he's hungry ... and trying to keep him into one spot for too long is kind of like herding cats, you can do it but its a challange .... he is usually up by 7am at the latest no matter when he gets to bed - unless he's sick. he's cuddly but not clingy .... and he loves picking on his sisters (big & little).

Yesterday he didn't complain about being hungry until nearly 4pm and wanted to know where I was at all times, and asked to do homework - I actually caught him studying for a test ... what kid does that? Actually he was running a low-grade fever, so most of it was to be expected - but studying? I wonder how long this is going to last?

Well I didn't get a lick of knitting done yesterday ... normally no matter how busy my day gets i can get in some knitting while waiting for my little one's bus to show up - little, she's in 3rd grade already - but yesterday I totally lost track of time and didn't get a single 1/2 row done.

I am keeping him home one more day - he still feels warm although the thermometer (one of those ear ones) is acting up and reading very low, it says my temp is 96*f even though I'm perfectly healthy, well fairly healthy ... better he should get back onto solid food at home, than have to start right off with cafeteria food.

of course were I a working mom I probably would be feeling totally different about this. Then I would have to send my little sack-o-germs back to school too soon. I feel really bad for working moms .... I don't know how I would handle the guilt. I would have to find a job that would allow me to work from home if the kids are sick .... of course, if I can't get my knitting done i don't know how I could get my work done.

SHOW-N-TELL

Ooo its been a while, huh? Well here are some shots of the socks I'm working on for my daughters graduation ... in two years (so there isn't a rush yet to finish them).

health

some of you may have noticed I haven't been up dating as much lately ... my MIL was in the hospital with double pnumonia in another state and we were waiting for word as to how she was doing.

It was a real surprise because we had just seen her the weekend before and she was fine, then by Monday night she sounded like she had a bad cold and by Tuesday night she was in the hosp. Pretty scary - it hit my husband hard ... he was faced with her mortality.

I think his concern was about cancer though - the way we lost my mother - because of how quickly it seemed to hit. My father-in-law had it the week before and was already on meds.

Mother's are those people who you never expect to leave you ... and I guess mother's are people who never expect to leave either.

but she is home now on a nebulizer, steriods, and antibiotic. We get to go up this weekend and play nursemaid while FIL goes to family reunion in different state -- he wouldn't go except he knows we will take good care of her .. who knows he may change his mind and stay after all.

Now I can breath again ... and get back to my crocheting/knitting/etc. ... you know it used to be that when I worried I would grab a project and get it done ... but ever since mom's death, I don't ever want to associate crafting with illness again -- its really funny.

We have a scoutmom-buddy who's husband has terminal cancer (so sad, their son is only 12 yrs old) and she took up cross-stitch when her husband started chemo and she had to sit there while he was 'hooked up' (her words not mine) ... she said she hadn't touch the craft for a long time. My guess is that after his death (gods I hate that thought) she will set it all aside again.

Stupid cold

Okay so got the two girls into the dr yesterday - youngest complaining that cleaning out her ear or scratching near it hurt her eye and oldest with nasty sinus congestion. First the youngest - to me this is classic sign that she has an ear infection. Everything is connected in their little bodies so I needed to get her in. The oldest was getting bloody noses her sinus' were so clogged, I was afraid she might have had a sinus infection.

Irony of irony, whenever I call to make an appt for them our regular dr is out, either he isn't working that day or else he is on vacation -- we don't go that often so I'm pretty sure he isn't trying to avoid me (even if hubby thinks I'm scary...different story). And there are a couple of drs at the clinic I don't like ... okay I don't have confidence in them ... wouldn't you know it, the last two appt for the day were with one of those drs.

Well with a roll of the eyes I had to take them - I'm not willing to jeopardize my kids health because I have a personality clash (well okay one of them decided to check if my daughter broke her ankle by twisting it all around and figured she didn't because she wasn't screaming -- WHAT???) any ways --

It came back the usual -- 'viral, has to run its course, nothing we can do' - translation: she couldn't figure out what it was.

I so miss my old physician. Dr. Lerdahl was great! he would have ran a blood screen on them to check their white count, he would have treated the entire family knowing that it would just travel from one kid to the next and become a viscious circle, and he would have given us samples for two weeks - he was great that way ,,, you really got the feeling that

But he retired and moved out of state. So hey - you get who you get. The dr we have now came recommended by my SIL ... before she got on her HMO... and so far, when we get to actually see him, he seems okay....he seems trustworthy.

She did give my older daughter some retina-A & some other gel product for the acne on her body -- it seems silly to me ... if you use retina-A you aren't supposed to be in the sun and yet what teeenage girl doesn't like to sit in the sun??? I just hope she doesn't get a nasty burn.

For the youngest she gave some of this new Mucilex stuff. They are dissolvable granuals that seem to be very much like Pixie stix -- you remember those straws with the flavored sugar inside? She took it well, but said it tasted kind of funny as it dissolved.
Only thing hubby didn't ask was if she could take the muc. and benedryl at the same time - the mucilex didn't seem to touch her nasal congestion although it did seem to suppress her cough somewhat.

So now the girls are treated .... youngest son was stuffy last night and felt like he was running a slight fever - his body trying to break up the sinus clog I suspect --- but themometer said differently (but I'm losing faith in the ear themometer) .... this morning he woke up with a bloody nose when he blew it. So I gave him a 12-hour decong. so he can, hopefully, make it thru the school day. Tomorrow he has a fairly major test - one of the ones they take to see if they will eventually be able to graduate - so he can't miss it.

So last night I started getting stuffy (more post to come) and took some meds - 4 hour decong, since they over work on me - but it didn't touch it either. So I am completely clogged on one side of my nose.
I'm achy and feel like crap.

The reason I like winter - less colds. Spring time colds are the worse!!

Lessons taught, learned, forgotten

Okay -- so I got this great online coupon from Herrschner's for free shipping ... I practically LIVE for these coupons - no tax, no shipping ... hey I hit their sale pages like nothing you could ever believe (well maybe you can), only two things I had to do to collect (1)use the click in the email and (2)order at least $35 in stuff. If you knew me, and you can probably tell from my stash assortment on the sidebar, I can come up with $35 worth of yarn w/o an issue....

Accept today. I have noticed that whenever this coupon comes out its either I've (a)already placed a big order, (b)when something is coming up and we can't afford me to splerge, or (c)there isn't anything I really like.

Now I can add (d)there isn't $35 worth of stuff I want to get.

They did have Kroy for socks on sale - but I would have to buy a 6 pack of a single color for $30 ... when I buy sock yarn I like to buy for a single pair of socks, not a fleet of them ... although the coal was tempting for making work socks for hubby, I passed it by.

So I got the cart to like $23 (all in scrapbook stuff) and realized - there wasn't a dang thing more that I liked. Oh the inhumanity of it all. I scrounged thru their regular priced stuff and decided that spending $40 on a ball winder (the usage of which I never considered worthwhile until I started buying hanked yarns, now I can see where it and a swift would be a necessary tool)

Anyhow, I filled out the order and got it in ... not a single bit of needlework in it == all scrapbook and stencil.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Well since I learned a lesson I thought perhaps I better get going on some basic re-training of Addy.

We had Addy really well trained, to the point where we thought the kids should take over. New lesson learned - kids can undo whatever you have taught a dog in less than 2 months ... completely.

Well I was going to work on some off lead heeling. and use her new balls we got her as a reward between training. I got the chicken breasts (left over from last night and only lightly spiced so she could easily have some) chopped into small bits that would still be satisfying for her without being so much as to spoil her or make a meal out of it or make her fat.

It took a couple of times to get her to understand that she had to actually work for her treat.

She was doing great at sitting when I stopped ... going when I started ... staying on the proper side. Wonderful! So we took a break to play ball, it was going to be a short break ... maybe 5 minutes so I could try to break her of her biggest bad habit of all -- jumping on my oldest daughter.

My timing was a bit late ... the kids came home during our play session so Addy wasn't in the best state of mind for listening. Sure enough as I thought the dog did just what I thought she would and when she saw my daughter get within the boundries of her electronic collar she ran to jump on her.

Now we told the kids when she does this they need to do two things - turn their back to her, and tell her 'off'. Well daughter did turn, but it was in a very timid way. Arms pulled up, hands clasped under chin, body bent, top turning before the bottom ... everything that would make a dog feel they were superior.

So I gave her a bit of chicken and told her NOT to give it to the dog until I said so. I asked her to take a couple of steps ... that was all it took for Addy to get excited and jump again. Made the dog sit, had daughter praise her and give a peice of chicken. had her do the same thing a few more times and the dog seemed to get the idea.

Well dog wanted to only hang out with the daughter, so I thought it would be a great time to have my daughter try the offlead work too. My mistake. I hadn't been watching her when she worked the dog onlead so I hadn't noticed all the errors she was making ....

Starting off without saying a word to the dog ... halting too quickly ... walking too slow (Addy's a big dog, she needs to move faster) ... and allowing the dog to walk on the wrong side (left side only please).

So in all of two minutes she undid most of the work I had gotten into Addy's head this afternoon ... sigh .... its a good thing Addy is a smart dog. I will work more with her tomorrow and she will soon learn.

20 minutes a day is all she will really need for her basic training.

My kids want me to hurry and get into the 'fetch' stage of things -- see Addy is very much like a husky in that she will run after the toy/ball and get it, but if you want it back she's going to make you work for it.

She's a good dog. And now that she's 16months I would have expected better from her, but then I have to admit that's partially my fault for not making sure she was getting the proper training.

Now if only I can get my daughter to stop wrestling with her -- she'd save so much of her wardrobe if she would. We go thru more sweaters and pants because the dog thinks she's another puppy .

Well Addy had her time so she was rewarded with extra playtime -- with my oldest who also came home during training (and who, with his little brother, was doing a wonderful job at distracting Addy during training by playing with the volley ball).

Actually I'm glad to see him playing with her. He seemed to have a really tough time bonding with her after our husky had to be put down a couple of months before we got her.

I think, while it wasn't too soon for the rest of the family, it may have been for him. They were really good buds.

When did I get so f=ing old??

Last year we started a great little thing called geo-caching ... hubby sucked me in. If you aren't familiar with it...its kind of like modern day treasure hunting only much more polite and using the modern GPS technology.



Last year it was fun .... we went on several expoditions collecting travel-bugs, certain items that are logged in and go from treasure box to treasure box. Well life happened and we did get to relaunch the bugs we picked up ... everything we planned it something would come up, or we wouldn't be able to find the treasure we were looking for.



Well .... I was thinking I was a tad under par during the last camping trip when I found the thought of climbing a steep hill made my knees ache a bit.



Maybe it was playing 8 rounds of Wii tennis & baseball with the oldest son yesterday night, and countless others with the younger two while dad took the oldest to the father-daughter dance --- I had such a sore back that I couldn't get to sleep before 3am lastnight --- but whatever the reason ....



I can NOT believe how tired I am right now.



We chose a treasure that showed to be fairly easy (less than an hour) and pet friendly - we love to take Addy with us so she gets some socialization. Well wouldn't you know it -- bike paths. Addy isn't used to bikes. We live in the country .... bikes aren't something you see everyday ... joggers yes, bikers no. Even more foreign to her ... there was a unicycle club going thru there.



She damn near tore my arm off. I'm glad I took her from my daughter ... she would have lost total control of the dog and we would have had a lawsuit on our hands. but I got her and made her down and wait while they went past .... three past and she was doing much better with them - then the fourth came by without warning around a blind curve and without much room off path to take her so I had to pin her between a tree and myself -- I thought for sure she was going to try to climb that tree to get to that tire.



Anyways, so we got to the spot near where the treasure was supposed to be and there were a couple of 'muggles' there === people who may not know what geo-caching is === so we couldn't very well go digging around while they were there so we did some stealthy scoping out and started to walk away on the premise that we were going to try to find some other view of the river.



But the gps was giving us conflicting info .... first it was in one space then in another. It would say it was behind us, in front of us, down the side of the cliff (well that's not right) ....



Under and hour -- filthy liar. So 1 1/2 hours later, hubby, dog & I were worn out. Kids were complaining about being hungry and oldest kid just wanted to listen to her music. So I took pup back and things went a little smoother. Then girl took dog back because she wanted to just GO.



So we left and on the way out a car was going past -- with another Newfie with its head sticking out of the window! Beautiful Landseer ... love the personality in their markings. They didn't stop long -- just long enough for the dogs to see each other. I'm wondering how they got that dog to stay in the car ... I can't see Addy doing that.



So we got home and ... damn I'm tired.

my hands hurt. m legs are shaky. my arms ache. and supper was looming.

********************************

On the bright side - the next day I feel no rements of yesterday. Although my feet still hurt from camping a week ago -- but then I just love getting my feet rubbed by my youngest (she gives very good foot massages).

Don't go ewwww .... my job growing up was sitting on the back of the couch & combing my mom's hair that she had to move out of the way so she wouldn't sit on it -- her's is rubbing my feet. Seems fair.

The dog? She got to sleep all day when we got back ... and stay up all last night barking and barking and barking at ... NOTHING!!!!

burning the Midnight Oil

well hubby is still at work.

Whoever said that having computers would make our lives easier & better, never imagined the I.T. aspect of it.

He had one of the servers go down today ... usually no biggie .... except for the storm .... and the son who's battery died 1/2 hr away (on dry streets) .... the lack of lunch that forgot to get made yesterday night .... AND the younger son earning his Scouting Badge where parents are supposed to be part of ...

But anyhow -- so here it is very late. When he gets tired, hungry and stressed he gets a bit pissy ... very short tempered and short worded .... and, well, he has a worker there with him .... and I could just see Mike saying something he doesn't really mean to ... and not realizing it; perhaps he is more careful at work - you know how you can relax a bit more at home.

So he called finally and let me know what's going on. His worker doesn't want to go home - fine for him, he gets o/t, Mike doesn't since he is salaried (pay-off for predictability) - and it turned out that the issue isn't the server at this point ... its data recovery. They have about a week's worth to recover.

Nothing hubby hasn't been thru before ... he knows pretty much what to do - but if there is even a single issue with the external back up system it could mean even more extra work. It is getting to the point where I'm wondering if it wouldn't be best for them just to stay overnight so that they don't have to try to transverse the roads.

Meanwhile I am stuck here wondering what would be best to do .... do I go to sleep and hope to see him in the morning? Or do I start the sock with the sock yarn that has been calling me for about 2 weeks now? Or do I just fade out watching television?

TV wins for now. maybe I will be lucky and hubby will come home ... just to wake up tomorrow at 5am to go back to work (please notice the time this was written!)