December 5, 2003

I am so completely immersed in the Christmas spirit.  We're putting up the tree today (I decided to use our resources and go for the good deal on the real tree.  Eric's picking it up while he's out today and we're decorating tonight) and Eric has the lights up (we're rather spartan there) on the outside of the house.  I haven't done the other decorations (I have several altars and a mantle's worth) yet, but will later on today.  Tomorrow is Christmas Craft Making at the school with the kids.  That's a fun family tradition. 

The tooth/dentist issue yesterday was fairly anticlimactic.  I liked the office staff very much and really liked the doctor as well.  I didn't have to wait more than 20 minutes or so and everyone actually seemed to know what they were doing.  They took about a million x-rays (I can do x-rays all day, it's when I'm in THE CHAIR that I get all choked up), then the doc looked at the tooth, asked me a lot of questions and then referred me to an endodontist for  a root canal and a 4-quad root planing (basically a very deep cleaning with numbing).  I'll be glad when it's over.  I'll come back to the dentist to get the crown, which will either be silver (free) or toothlike ($182).  Not hard to figure out which I'll get!  I almost wish they'd just pull the thing.  They are going to mail me (snail mail) and appointment date once the referral has been approved by my insurance carrier (within 3 weeks).  Guess I was just destined for January.  It will feel good when it's done.  They did prescribe more antibiotics (keflex) and pain killers for night time (Vicodin, baby!) which kept me through the night last night rather than me having to get up in the middle of the night to take pills, then wait for them to take effect before I can sleep again.  I still got too little sleep, due to starting and stopping times, but at least the in between was fairly solid.

Has anyone seen these guys?  They're "The Wiggles" and it's a show on Playhouse Disney.  These guys are just... strange.  I'm very open to kids' programming, having been through a tremendous lot of it between my own childhood, the childhoods of my older children (who are now 25, 23 and 21) and now my little ones (10, 6 and 4).  I've been through The Electric Company, Romper Room, Mr Rogers, Captain Kangaroo, Smurfs, Ninja Turtles, Care Bears, GI Joe, Barney, Dragon Tales, Teletubbies, Bob the Builder and a bajillion others.  These are the first ones I really didn't get.  Those who have read my work for a while know of my *cough*sneer*lear  affection for the Kratt brothers of "Kratt's Creatures" and "Zaboomafoo" and although they can get a little goofy sometimes, they've got nothing on these guys, who are about as fruity as a bag of Skittles.  Dylan and Nathan love them and their stage show approach to kid TV is quite animated and manic.  With songs like "Fruit Salad," "Hey, Hey, Hey, We're All Pirate Dancing" and the only one I can tolerate, "Hot Potato," they definitely keep the kids moving.  To get a feel for them, you can go to their official web site:

http://203.147.156.145/

I'm not sure why they terrify me.  I lived through Barney and Teletubbies, even getting their angle and learning to appreciate them.  These guys though, *full body shudder*... just scary.

I am so excited!!  I went to our grocery store last night and found a london broil in the mark downs!!  Yayy!!  Beef!!  I'm starting to think that all of the cows in the US were beamed to Jupiter or something because beef is just TOO outrageous any more!  I used to be able to afford beef more than anything (back in the Atkins days!), but now, it's about twice what I normally pay!  I was going to grill this puppy, but I decided to boil it down instead and make flautas.  It's been such a long time since we had them last and they are so filling and go such a long way.  A steak will feed us for a night, but when you mix the boiled steak with tomatoes, potato cubes, stewed tomatoes, green chiles and cheese, then wrap them in a flour tortilla and fry them, it will stretch out to about 3-4 meals! 

My husband and I have had a long term rivalry over "sleeping in" privileges.  It seems that about 99% of the time that, in theory, either of us is available to get up with kids in the morning (between 6-7:30am at some point), it ends up being me.  He sleeps in almost all the time and when he does get up with the kids, it is a really big deal, requiring extensive thanks and recognition.  We have spent six years discussing the inequality of it and he acknowledges it both intellectually and emotionally... then doesn't get up.  He's better at it than he used to be, but now, a side effect of always being the one to get up with them is that I tend to wake up fairly easily, ready for action.  So now, when they come in to poke me awake for cereal or whatever, I'm awake and it's hard to settle back down into sleep.  That gets me up, grumbling and bleary-eyed.  I've tried hard to lose the resentment over this and when he does get up right away, it's such a blessing.  I finally hit on a solution, which seems really simple, but has really changed our dynamics.  Since Eric is home a good deal now that he's on side jobs, I told him that if he would do all of the laundry, I'd get up every day without prejudice.  He got very excited about the idea and now works his little finely toned booty off on the laundry almost every day and I do what I've always done:  get up with the kids every morning.  I think I won something here.  Regardless, I feel better.

There are about 4 movies out that I want to see: Gothika, Bad Santa, Timeline and Haunted Mansion.  If anyone has seen any of them and has comments, please let me know. 

Seein's as how I've been sitting here looking at the screen for about 10 minutes trying to think of something else to say, I guess this entry is done.  Maybe it's the Vicodin.  I'm only taking it at night and have only taken one, but I'm a tremendous space cadet today.

Nappy time, me thinks.

Have a magnificent evening, folks,