It's report card time in the Cruz household.
Can you guess which kid this little ditty came from?
__ is doing very well academically. I have noticed, this trimester, s/he has gotten bold with speaking back to adults & bending the truth to suit his/her needs. S/he is responsive to the consequences of his/her actions, however.
Okay, I won't keep you guessing anymore. It's my lovely daughter. She also got a - (not a plus or check mark) in the respects authority box. Someday this strong personality will be a positive, right?
Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Tell me, I can't be the only person whose kids have rooms that are unfit for habitation.
The messy room has been a point of contention for a while.
This weekend I had - had it.
We have a new dog & sometimes it was close to impossible to find her in the piles of stuff accumulating in the room.
To Mari's credit- there was a large amount of plastic garbage bags with stuffed animals and other assorted cloth bases items under her loft bed waiting out the lice. And she did do as I asked her - she opened them all yesterday & culled out one bag to give away. And I was a good girl & I did not look in the bag. Just let it go. (yup... it was Daddy who saw a Chuck E Cheese leg & got upset. "You had to have that on your 2nd BD!" She's 6 now. We got our monies worth- time to go Chuckster.)
It's with great humiliation I tell you - we found a crusty dog turd. On the plus side. We've only had the dog for a week. So it couldn't have been that old. I found a cup & bowl too. Both empty. I suspect the bowl was empty only because of the dog.
To put away--
I'm on the fence. She's hasn't played with her My Little Pony's in several months. She's into Polly Pocket, her doll house & Bratz. It might be time to box up the ponies & haul them into the garage for storage. I'm not ready to let them go-go yet. Just when is the time to let these toys go? The baby toys were so easy to pass along -- but these beloved treasures of not only Mari's toddler hood - but my youth have grabbed a hold of my heart. Along with all the 3-5 year old books. I think Kipper, Sheep in Jeep (& the other sheep) will sit on the bookshelf for a little longer. If only for my enjoyment.
The weather is still beautiful.
The days are getting longer.
My bird feeder is full of happy little finches.
My kids are having a blast playing with their new dog.
The new dog is an absolute doll. She loves to play fetch. She's like a golden retriever - running, playing, fetching, even rolling on a dead snake in the back yard. FUN!
I tried to get some photos - no, not of the dead snake.....
She's a little funny looking - (looking better now that I read up on wire hair dogs & how you need to pull out the long wiry ones!) She's pretty darn smart. Very snuggly. And she's stolen our hearts. Even the cat is thrilled with her. They've already been playing.
I will post better pictures soon. These are from her 1st day when she was still very timid. She's settling in well.
On another note- I woke up to my work phone yesterday am. My driver was calling to tell me his brand new truck (we got it the Fri. before) had been stolen. They drove off with the lift gate down and luckily all the laundry carts came barreling out.... Poor guy. It was quite traumatic for him. So this morning my work tasks will be revolving around insurance.
Cameron's got High Tea with the Explorers at school today. The kids were assigned to create "authentic" journals & entries written as famous explorers. Cam is writing as Cortez. "He killed off my ancestors". Cameron wrote about drunk shipmates & pillaging Aztec gold. I wonder what the teacher expects from 9/10 year old boys! :) I'll try to post a pic. of his completed journal. If he didn't have such small motor skill woes - I would have liked for him to write with a quill & ink (by candle light!).
Cameron also had a cool field trip last Fri. His class left early in the am (8am); took Amtrak to the State Capitol, Sacramento (in case you're geographically challenged), spent the day on a walking tour, toured the train museum, ate dinner with the gang & Amtraked back - home after 9:30. Whew, what a day!
Well my friends, that's just about all that's new here. Last week was full of lovely weather. Low 80ies most of the week. This week looks less promising. I was so happy. The bird feeder's full of seed - the birds are singing. (no cats are mating in this area - evil laugh-) I suffer from SAD do badly. Next winter I'm going to have to seek professional help.
I posted about this little adventure over at www.houseofpaper.com this am.
Now I know not everyone I know scrapbooks & hangs out at HOP so I'm going to share this little diddy here as well:
I have to share this funny story with you! I only wish I would have remembered to grab the camera and get a photo. I can't find the spider anywhere! My niece must have taken it home. It was not beneath me to "recreate" the scene for a photo op!
Yesterday afternoon my DD left the photo studio with my SIL & her girls (who live next
door). We went out to "lupper" with the rest of the family.
When we came home Mari had said something about my room - she was excited about it but we were busy & I forgot....
Fast forward a few hours & DH comes out of our room with a
strange look on his face. He asked me if I LEFT A TARANTULA IN THE
BED?!?!
WHAT?
He's standing in the doorway just looking in the room. I get up to
investigate and there's a giant tranutula on my pillow. The logical part
of me knows it has to be fake. I remember Mari giggling about my room
earlier in the afternoon. However, there's a huge spider on my bed
& my husband is not investigating! He's just standing there. I tell
him about the giggling girl & assure him it's fake and push him in
the room.
Yes. I was fake. And huge - about 6" around.
Bleck!
I later asked him why he asked me about it and why he was just standing around & not protecting me. He claims he was trying to decide how to capture it without it running down & under the bed... because if it got away I would never go back in the room. LOL! Manhood saved. Because he was right!
I can't believe my DD (6) and her cousin (9) pulled off such a funny joke!
_________________
I've been busy with a nit comb this week. Mari brought home lice.
No sense bitching about it.
I did discover something rather interesting........
I bought the RID boxed set with the pesticide shampoo, the spray for furniture & the Egg & Nit Comb-Out Gel.
The gel is a lot like hair lube.
And that got me thinkin'
KY Jelly
Ingredients:Chlorhexidine Gluconate, Glucono Delta Lactone, Glycerin, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Methylparaben, Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide
RID Egg & Nit Comb Out Gel
Ingredients:
Water,
Glycerin, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine
Behenate, Cabbage Extract, Cysteine, Disodium EDTA, Disodium Phosphate,
DMDM Hydantoin, Fragrance, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate,
PG-Hydroxyethylcellulose Cocodimonium Chloride, Pineapple Extract,
Polysorbate-20, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Phosphate, Tocopheryl Acetate
The stuff was pretty good -not worth the extra cost - conditioner works just as well for the nightly comb-out. Generic KY would be a great cost saver. And I'm glad there's no cabbage & pineapple in KY! ;)
So there's my interesting information of the day!
Cameron earned $20 today - mowing his Tia's lawn! (weeds really, let's call it what it is! ; ) )
And I couldn't be happier -I tell you. Enough with these long, cold winter nights. I need some long days and warm sunshine!!!
Today was a beautiful day here. Mid 60ies - sun high in the sky! The kids have been out riding their bikes (and crashing). We took an afternoon family hike. We had a blast! DH is finally talking to me. We had a little burp in the marriage last week.... I asked him this morning how he would feel if I was dead in the am. Of course he wouldn't want that - so told him to set aside the hostility & let's make amends. Life is too short. And for once the stubborn man listened to me! (maybe he's interested in the making up I suggested for tonight! ;) )
We fed the ducks, Cameron took some nice scenic photos, the waded over/through 2 creeks blocking our trail, the kids climbed a tree, I took some kid photos & the camera battery died. I slipped in the mud & I ended up with one very wet foot.
Photos - I bet you would like to see some --- :) Enjoy! This is what winter looks like in the Bay Area!
Some photos from Cameron -
