At least I didn't invest in a Ponzi scheme

So, I'm a little dismayed that once again, it's Christmas Eve Eve and I am nowhere near done with the Christmas cards, there's at least 8 hours of present wrapping to be done and both kids are on antibiotics.....sigh! But, at least I didn't put our retirement money in a Ponzi scheme. I was so annoyed listening to former millionaires on CNBC whining about how they lost all their money and the government needs to rescue them. HELLO!!!!! DIVERSIFICATION!!!! How do people manage to save millions while they are stupid and/or gullible! Everything that Madoff guy said had all the earmarks of a classic Ponzi scheme! Ack!!!! OK -- gotta go back to the card salt mines...here's another ELF installment! I wonder if Rob would like the ShamWow as a stocking stuffer........

Rachel made me do it

We needed 5 elves, so Grandma got cast -- sorry Beryl!

Cheap Wyoming Gas

Rob insists that this receipt is blog-worthy. It's his last receipt for filling up the suburban -- $33.56! Granted that's with $0.40 a gallon in coupons, but still it's been a long time since we saw gas for less than $1.50 a gallon -- $1 a gallon is phenomenal!

The tooth fairy pays $2 a tooth at our house. Unless, you lose two in the same day. She's pays an $1 extra since she saves a trip.

Rob put our dead tree in the garage before I could get any reindeer parts assembled to make a twisted holiday display. He thinks it makes sense to keep the dead tree so we'll have a supply of snowman arms.

Santa, teeth and a dead tree

Peter and Jeremy had a great time talking to Santa at his D-land cabin. Santa talked to them for quite a while. A few days after we got home, Peter remembered some things he forgot to tell Santa, so he had to write a traditional letter. He’s not sure if that will work.

Jeremy lost his first two teeth. The first one the day after he turned five and the second one the day after! He’s getting so big!

Jeremy picks up some pretty interesting things in pre-school. They are working really hard on letters and sounds. He doesn’t seem to understand the concepts of “starts with”. However, when we were decorating the tree, I asked him to do something and he said, “Yes, Ma’am!” Well, Rob decided that if I could get Yes Ma’ams, then he could get Yes Sirs. I think he must have heard this in pre-school, because he hasn’t heard it here!

Our apple tree got run over the other night. It started snowing Tuesday and the doofus brains all decided to converge on the school parking lot across the street. We kept calling the police, but they kept missing the antics. Well, the third doofus brain spun cookies in the parking lot and then as he was leaving, he blew past the stop sign and didn’t stop until he’d snapped our apple tree in half! Grrr! At least he didn’t hit the house. It turns out that he’s 16 and lives down the street. I’m still trying to decide whether to just file a claim against his insurance or call his parents and arrange to have him dig a new whole for a new tree in May. I’d like to buy one of those reindeer lawn ornaments, cut the legs off and put the legs hoofs up in front of the dead tree. The problem is that I can’t get Rob on board.

So, if you have better ideas for using a dead apple tree in a slightly twisted Holiday sort of way, let me know. I've got to figure out how to make Rob think that it's his idea and then he'll do it. I keep trying to get him to hang the tree upside down from the ceiling, but he won't go for it. It would be great -- no need to rearrange the furniture, cat can't bat ornaments off the tree or climb it, more room for presents, etc.

OK -- so the spell-checker doesn't have any issues w/ "doofus" or "hange"? Why do I bother? Hange?!? Want to know what the spell-checker doesn't like? Contractions and "street"! Grrrr, ..now I understand why Rob's stuff has so many typos -- the spell-checker can't spell either! Whoever programmed the darn thing has got to be related somehow. Maybe through the group that escaped to Mexico in 1900's. I used to think they fled to Canada or Mexico to avoid the anti-polygamists. Now I'm starting to believe they took off to escape the tyranny of spelling bees!

I'm-a gonna go ta hell when I die da da dah

Conan has this little song he sings when he says something particularly insensitive and he does a little jig: "I'm-a gonna go ta hell when I die, I'm-a...." I mention this because 1) it's one of my favorites and 2) I sing and do the little jig in my mind more often than you'd think if you attend my Sunday School class. On the trip down to LA, we made our first regularly scheduled potty break @ the Cadillac gas station in Rawlins. The boys went in w/ Rob as usual. As usual, I finished before they did. I got a pop for me & got drinks for everyone else and then I heard Jeremy start to scream, this went on for some time. Apparently, he just wasn't in the mood to go. The next morning we stopped for the first potty break of the day at some tiny town between Lehi & Beaver (we don't stop in Beaver because we don't want to deal the crooked tire pushers). Somehow in a process only known to himself, Jeremy managed to get his entire backside soaked & he had to change into the emergency clothes. The next stop of the day was for lunch at a buffet in Mesquite. After lunch, we naturally took a potty break before hitting the road again. Well, Rob insisted that I take Jeremy. After an uneventful break, Jeremy and I were finished much earlier than Rob & Peter. So, I had Jeremy practice making a frownie face and saying, "I cried, and made a mess and Mommy spanked me!" When Rob asked how it went, Jeremy made his frownie face, told Rob that he cried, made a mess and that I spanked him. Well, Rob just about lost it right in the middle of the casino -- until Jeremy and I started laughing & Jeremy explained it was a joke! The scary thing is how well Jeremy pulled it off. I think I'm going to have to add "No tricking Mommy" to the list of things he can't do if he wants Mommy & Daddy's college money.

Saturday we had the most amazing experience. We got up at the crack of dawn & made it to D-land when it opened at 8. We got a phenomenal parking spot -- the best we have EVER gotten. That by itself was enough to make for a fabulous day. However, while Rob was dashing over to get Space Mtn fast-passes, we measured Jeremy & he's big enough to ride Indy! Woohoo -- so we rode Indy when Rob finished the fast-pass run and then headed over to Big Thunder. Since it was so stinkin' early, there was no line there either. When we got off our 2nd Big Thunder ride at about 9, the Dream Team was handing out Dream Fast-Passes to everyone who got off our train!!!! Ohhh -- we were so flumoxed that we had to regroup. We rode Pirates to clear our heads and come up with a new plan, since we didn't want to waste the Dream Fast-passes. Dream Fast-Passes are express tickets to the 13 best rides -- D-land & Ca Adventure. They hand out about 100 a day. We never imagined we would get them, but they are by far the best Dream Prize. They also give away dopey things like a night in the dream-suite in the park, shopping sprees, chances to lead the parade, eder="0">tc. Anyway, we then focused on riding the fast-pass rides. We figured out that we could still get & use regular fast-passes. So we ended up getting enough fast-passes that we rode Big Thunder 6 times, Space Mtn 3, Soarin 2, Indy 3, etc. As if that wasn't fabulous enough, Peter finally decided he was brave enough to ride Ca Screamin (my personal fav) AND he liked it. Since Jeremy isn't tall enough for that one, Peter rode once w/ Rob and once w/ me. Then we ALL rode Tower of Terror. Generally, when we get off a ride, Jeremy says some variation of "wanna go again!" Not this time -- it was, "I want to get off!" In fairness, it was only mine & Rob's 2nd time -- the first time was 7 years ago. I think I'm good for another 7 years. Anyway we left the park at about 11:30 that night. We still had a couple unused fastpasses -- we were just too wiped out to keep going. Poor Jeremy -- we didn't get a stroller on Saturday, so by the time we were headed to the tram, he just couldn't make his little 5-year old legs go any more!

I can't find the battery charger for my camera, so I'm using the dopey card reader to transfer photos & it is taking forever.....grrrr! I don't dare try to transfer video while that is going on -- so maybe later I'll get some videos posted. Rob's new thing has been to take photos while we are on the ride. I haven't watched those yet, so they may never air.

Another quick note on the Asperger's stuff. I think it's actually going to be very helpful for us. The more I learn about it, the more I'm able to find new skills for me and more importantly, things Rob & I can teach Peter. I've always had demons that I've been fighting, and when I found something that worked I would hold onto that. The hard thing was that I couldn't see the demons, but I knew they were out there. Now, I'm learning things that help me 1) recognize the demons, 2) learn more strategies for fighting them and 3) helping Peter do the same thing. It's also helping Rob. I always understood Peter better & Rob always understood Jeremy better. Now it makes sense -- we have two distinct brain types in our house. It's also helping me to connect to Jeremy by helping me understand that 'normal' people think differently than me & it helps me to understand what 'normal' is. I still have a lot of work to do, but I'm glad to have more tools available. I'm hopeful that Peter will be able to learn to use these tools earlier in life -- maybe he won't struggle with them quite so much.

Tagged

I got tagged by a friend to answer the following questions.

FOODOLOGY*

What is your salad dressing of choice? Not sure what it’s called, but Green Street Restaurant in Pasadena’s Mackey’s Chicken Salad – think it’s a ginger/Chinese thing….

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Oh dear…….it’s the French restaurant @ Epcot Center –ooooh, but the Italian one was really fabulous!

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? Mackey’s Chicken Salad (see # 1)

What are your pizza toppings of choice? Pineapple & pepperoni or the Pizza Hut BBQ Chicken pizza.

What do you like to put on your toast? real butter and dip it into hot chocolate – learned that trick in Jr High French class.

*TECHNOLOGY*

What is your wallpaper on your computer? Jeremy in his Jedi-Cowboy-Stormtrooper costume looking very serious.

How many televisions are in your house? 4……..hey – that’s only 1 per person! It’s not like the cat has a TV….yet…..

What color cell phone do you have? silver

*BIOLOGY*

Are you right-handed or left-handed? right

Have you ever had anything removed from your body? Teeth, gall-bladder & 2 kids…

What is the last heavy item you lifted? 55 lbs of suitcase [So they have a new gal at the Casper airport. She asked me if I wanted to re-arrange anything in my luggage. I said “no” very matter-of-factly, which I thought was extremely polite of me AND very reasonable since it was 5:30 am. She gives me a really annoyed look and says, “Delta charges $125 for over-weight bags.” So I said, “you really should look at my ticket before you tell me that.” She looks at the screen, scowls and says, “I don’t even know if Delta will take a bag over 50 lbs.” At that point, I look at the regular gal for some help, she comes over, says “Hi”, puts a Heavy tag on my bag and says “Have a nice flight, Ma’am.” As I left, I heard the regular gal telling the new gal that they would need to review the elite flier rules again…….]

Have you ever been knocked unconscious? Nope. Well not that I remember other than surgeries.

*BULLCRAPOLOGY*

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? Hmmm, depends on if I had enough $ to have a really fabulous party or trip & still leave my family financially stable.

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1,000? $1K? No.

*DUMBOLOGY*

How many pairs of flip flops do you own? zero

Last time you had a run-in with the cops? Last flight home on a Friday – got a warning for speeding into town at 11 pm…..in front of the Beacon…

What do you want to be when you grow up? Rich.

Last person you talked to? Front desk clerk.

Last person you hugged? Cori

*FAVORITOLOGY*

Season? Spring

Holiday? Christmas

Day of the week? Saturday

Month? April

OK – so I copied the form from Steph’s blog (since she tagged me) and I didn’t have to change any of the Favoritology answers!

*CURRENTOLOGY*

Missing someone? Rob, Peter & Jeremy

Mood? I survived! Had a board meeting today which was stressing me out!

Listening to? Law & Order, Criminal Intent

Watching? My words show up on my monitor.

Worrying about? Getting work done, finishing Xmas, planning for after Xmas trip, will we ever adopt? How long will Rob be the Spotted Man? Will Jeremy be totally bored with Kindergarten? Are we going to get the Xmas lights up? Why didn't anyone comment on my new title photo? How come spell-checker doesn't understand contractions?

*RANDOMOLOGY*

First place you went this morning? work

What can you not wait to do? Spend Thanksgiving with my family

What's the last movie you saw? Hunt For Red October – it’s on the iPod – yaaa!

Do you smile often? I guess, mostly when the kids are being cute or people do stupid things…

If they have time, I'd like to hear what Janelle, Michelle & Angela have to say. I think we need to get Bev & Cindy blogging…..

Halloween Pox!

So, on Nov 1st, Rob got this funky rash. We didn't think much of it, since it started to go away. But, just when the spots went away, a whole new itchy batch showed up. Turns out that it's Chicken Pox! Ha! Yeah, so he was contagious 2 days BEFORE the first pox showed up, including the 2 hours he spent wandering around with our kids AND the neighbors' trick-or-treating! And at Bev's party. I'm amazed at how many people had their kids vaccinated. Rob is currently on wave 4 of the pox. Apparently when an adult gets it after having it as a kid, it can go on for a couple of weeks. Our kids have been vaccinated, but if that doesn't work, they could see pox just in time for Thanksgiving.

This is Peter at 18 months. I made the costume for his first Halloween, but it was WAY too big. I did NOT make Pooh's costume. Jeremy never wore this costume -- he was too big for it for his first Halloween at 12 months.....

The second photo is our bathroom -- in the basement!!!! We have connected plumbing!!! Yaaaa!!!!!!!!! It still needs a little work, but it's got tile, fixtures and a door! Hopefully the ceiling tiles will show up soon. I put some gold paint in the topcoat of the venetian plaster -- it glitters a bit. The floor is a little intense -- gives you slight vertigo. I thought about getting a glow-in-the-dark additive for the grout, but that may have been over the top. I still think we should get a fish-n-flush. www.fishnflush.com I haven't been able to talk Rob into it yet. Hmmm -- maybe Santa will bring one......I'll have to think about that while I try out the jets in my tub this weekend.

Why do I always find typos AFTER I publish the post? Really, I use the spell check, preview, etc. Then I post & check to see how it looks and BOOM there's grammar errors up the wazoo! Spell checker does NOT have a problem w/ 'wazoo', but it doesn't like 'topcoat'. What gives?