Bullets and sunShine

So much has been going on, but not enough about any one thing to write an entire post, so I thought I would update you, bulletstyle!

• How about the Warner Robins Little Leaguers winning the LL World Series? That's my hometown, we are so very proud of them. They did such an awesome job! Congratulations boys and coaches.
• I have not been exercising for the past few weeks because something is going on with my knee. It is popping when I walk up stairs or bend it too much. It feels swolen on the inside and it hurts some, but I am afraid to go to the doctor about it because I don't want a shot in it or anything else that will hurt, so I have just been dealing with the pain.
• Sciatica sucks! My back/hip have really been hurting lately. I guess I need to find a good doctor that can treat this as well as my knee. I wish I wasn't such a baby about things like that, but I am. I am trying to work up the courage to go have it seen about.
• The babe was in a wreck yesterday! Someone rear-ended my MIL and Grand-MIL and the babe as they were slowing down in traffic. They are all alright, but until I knew for sure that my baby was alright, I was FREAKIN' out! I was crying uncontrollably and having all sorts of REALLY bad thoughts. I thought about banning him from ever riding in a car with anyone other than his dad or me driving. I know how ridiculous that is, but that child is my heart and when I thought that he was hurt, it scared the hell out of me. When he got home I just hugged him and showered him with kisses. He is bad sometimes, but he is my baby and I just love him so much.
• My bestest friend got a job. A pretty good job, too, with benefits and at such a nice place. I am so happy for her. I was really worried about her lack of income and I know she was too, but now things are looking up. YAY!
• It has cooled off here. The high today will be 90 and rainy and overcast. Hooray for cooler weather. I am ready for the fall. Fall and spring are my 2 favorite times of the year. I like 70 or 75 degree days and 50 or 60 degree nights.
• We have planned our vacation. We are going to Gatlinburg, TN for a week at the end of September. I know it will be cooler by then. I am so excited. I have not been there since my honeymoon. We have a nice cabin with a jacuzzi and pool table! The kids have never been to the mountians, I am sure that they will love it. I am a little sad though because we are not going back to the beach for vacation. Our last 3 vacations have been to the beach Oh how I love the beach, but since we went for Memorial Day we decided to go somewhere different for our vacation.
• The babe is still sleeping in our bed. The last time I tried to put him in his bed to sleep, he cried and screamed until he threw up. Yeah, I am not into making my child that miserable. I think he does not like to be alone, so I guess until I can come up with a solution that works for us, he will continue to sleep with us. It is nice to snuggle up with him at night and to see his little face first thing in the morning. I know when we go back to the doctor for his 2 year check-up he will not be happy about this, maybe I just won't tell him!
• In about 3 months my sweet little baby boy will be 2 years old. I cannot believe that he will be 2! He is already acting like he is 2, what with the meltdowns and terribleness and all. He can count to 10. He is making sentences now and he has such funny pronunciations for some words, like a dinosaur is a da-seen. He also says "I a mess", and he really is. He runs everywhere and likes to jump off the sofa into a pile of pillows. He is fearless about some things and then other things scare him.
• My neice is having post partum depression. She is not really taking care of her baby, if it were not for my sister and mom I don't know what she would do. My mom said that she has not really bonded with her baby, which is not good, that makes me so sad! She is also thinking about quitting her GREAT job, that pays really well and has great benefits so she can go sell insurance on commission. That makes a lot of sense to me. I just can't talk to her, she doesn't listen because she already knows everything. You know how 19 year olds are. She is on an anti-depressant, but I don't know if it is working yet or not. I hope it kicks in before she quits her good job. I just hate for her to make such a big mistake, good jobs are really hard to find around here. Some people have to learn the hard way!

Okay enough for now, is your head spinning yet?

Dreaded news

I got news today that I had been anticipating, but hoping and praying that it wouldn't happen. One of my Daily Distractions has lost her battle with cancer. My heart is just broken. She is in my sidebar as Emptying my Head, her husband is over there too under Canuckville (I still don't know how to link). He is my only male reader. I began reading Ellen (and Curtis) several years ago and she was such a great writer and a wonderful person. She was always so positive, even when it would have been easy to give up. She fought a great fight, but in the end she lost to the beast. My heart goes out to Curtis, her husband, and her family. I know she will be missed greatly. If you have a moment go by and say hello, send him a prayer. I am sure he needs all the support that he can get right now.

The heat

Oh the heat! It is unbearable! For the past few weeks we have been breaking all kind of records with the high heat and honestly folks I am sick of it. It is so hot in my office that I just fantasize about laying on a big iceberg somewhere very, very cold. That is just not me because I don't like cold weather either. I can handle the mid 90s, but 103? Come on, give me a break. I think our air conditioner must be about to die at work because it is barely keeping the place cooler than the outside. I have my fan on, blowing right on me, but it offers little relief from the heat. When will it cool off? On the weekends I don't want to leave the house because the thought of having to get in the hot car and drag the babe out and in places in this heat is just more than I can stand. I know the old saying, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen, well please someone show me the door!

Safe toys

Is there even such a thing anymore? So far we have several of the toys that have been recalled due to high levels of lead in the paint. Of course these were all small toys that most children would love to put in their mouth and chew on. Thank goodness the babe is not too bad about putting things in his mouth. Most of the time he has his "pa" (paci) in there, which I guess is a good thing, at least it isn't filled with lead paint for him to suck on.

I am so infuriated with these toy companies. I remember a time when things were actually made in America and we were proud of that fact. Now most of our stuff is imported from foreign countries who for the most part don't really care for America and they don't have many safety and accountability standards in place to ensure that the products that they are creating are safe. I worked in the manufacturing industry for 5 years and I watched our jobs being sent overseas to other poor countries that had plenty of workers willing to work for nothing compared to our salaries. I also saw the work that came back from those countries, far below the quality of work that the american factories were putting out. Yet still, more and more of our jobs are outsourced and now with all these recalls we are beginning to pay the price. I say let's bring these jobs back to America, put our people back to work and stop importing so much of our stuff from foreign countries. I am so afraid now for my sweet little boy to play with most of his toys because what if it is painted with lead paint, what if the toys that make him so happy are harming him? These past few weeks have really been an eye opener to me and I hope they have to you all too. I will be looking on the packages from now on to see where things were made before I spend anymore of my hard earned money on things Made In China. I also know that things can be made in America from parts that came from China and there is no way around that, but I will be more careful now.

Miracle Treat Day is Thursday

This Thursday is Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen. They have pledged to give all of the proceeds from the sale of their blizzards to the Chidren's Miracle Network, which helps alot of the children's hospitals. This is a great cause and you get a treat for yourself also! So take the family to DQ and enjoy a blizzard. We could all use something cool in this horrible heat!

Breaking out of my comfort zone

Okay so I took someone's advice and signed up on meetup.com to meet some local mommies and children in a playgroup. So our first meetup was planned for Saturday at a local park. I WAS SO VERY NERVOUS. I have major social phobias, so I just usually pass on any sort of thing that would actually require me to leave the house and interact with strangers. I was excited, but nervous. I wanted to back out of going several times, but how am I ever going to meet other people and have some children for the babe to play with if I don't take a chance. So as the time neared, I was dressed and ready, but nervous. Was I overdressed? Did I look frumpy? What about my hair, was it okay? So I loaded the babe in the car and off we went, to the bank and then to the park. Well the babe was in an especially cranky mood, since he was sleepy and had been up way past his bedtime the night before. Of course he went to sleep in the car, so I got to the park and got him out of the car and as I was walking up to the park I thought it looked rather empty. There was one other woman there with a baby. So I approached her and asked if she was M, the group administrator. She was! So I introduced myself and the babe and we put the kids in the swings and pushed them. Well we kept pushing the kids and waiting for other mommies to show up and they didn't. There were at least 7 other RSVPs that said yes and yet none of them showed up. Everytime I tried to take the babe out of the swing he would whine. He would not play with the other little girl or on any of the playground equipment. He just wanted me to either hold him or push him in the swings. So after an hour of playing we decided to go, it was hotter than hell and the babe was ill. Maybe next time more people will show up and it will be more like a playgroup. At least I put myself out there and tried.

Zoo fun

We took the kids to the zoo on Saturday. I had never been to the zoo in Atlanta, so it was a new experience for me too. We had a great time, but let me tell you that outdoor activities in Georgia in July are HOT! It was so hot, we drank plenty of water and ate some ice cream to help keep us cool. We also spent a lot of time in the air conditioned exibits. The babe could name most of the animals and the ones that he wasn't sure about, he just called them what they looked like. Lemurs are kitty cats and he meowed at them! It was cute, they do sort of look like very large cats. They are much larger than they look in the movie Madagascar. The babe did great and only had a few mini meltdowns, which were quickly corrected. We rode the carousel, but the babe will not sit on any of the animals or get close to any of them. We had to sit in one of the seats, but he enjoyed it. He also would not get near any of the statues of animals or the cut out things where you put your head through to take a picture. We did have our picture taken by the gorilla statue, but even with me holding him he was still screaming!

After that on the way home we stopped at TGI Fridays to eat supper since we don't have one in our town. They were very busy, after all it was Saturday afternoon. We had to wait about 20 minutes, but that was okay because the babe was asleep, so I just sat in the car with him until it was time for us to be seated. They called our number and we went inside to the hostess. When she got ready to take us to our table someone from the bar had taken our seat. The hostess told them that they needed to move, that the table was for someone else. They did not move and she called the manager over and told him what was going on and he looked at us and then looked at them and said that they could stay. The hostess told him that was not fair and he looked at us and said that life isn't fair. Talk about being pissed. We were all so pissed, we were about ready to leave. The hostess was so nice and she tried so very hard to find us another table in a hurry. We ate there, but then we asked our waitress for a number for the corporate office and the managers name. She gave us a card with his name and the number to call, so hubby took care of that yesterday. Other people were standing outside as we were leaving talking about the horrible service. They said their waitress just never came back and they had to go to the bar to pay. That place has some major problems!

Here are some pics from our adventures at the zoo.

The babe looking at the flamingos, which he called ducks and quacked at them.

Lemurs, or kitty cats as they are known in my house!

This was the babe's favorite. Marti and Melman!