Yet another mom of three

I need some pills for patience for me and some no-whining pills for my kids. Anyone know where I can buy them?

Reason # 1 that Maryland is better than NY. I went to the post office yesterday and there was NO line. Three cashiers, only 2 had people in front of them. In NY the line would probably be out the door. OK, when I left there were 4 on line, but even that isn't really bad.

Reason #2 is that traffic in NY stinks. (see mom, I didn't type that word that a vacuum does :-) ) People here in MD complain about the traffic, but I just laugh at them... they don't have a clue. :-) I don't know why they don't have a clue, all they have to do is dive 45 minutes south to DC and see some real traffic. There are areas here that are bad at rush hour, but that is all...

What do I have to do today?
put away laundry
do more laundry
(I think that is all the house work I will do)
go to mall with Rebekah (JUST limited 2, I think)
go to bank cash checks and buy great gramma wheeler presents for the kids, and maybe me too
buy one more present for everyone from me
Wrap a present for tomorrow birthday party
I was supposed to go out with Matthew for something, but I forget...

I wonder how people do those lists that they cross off. Do they just do this then go back and put HTML code to cross it out????

is that all?

The kids are getting a console this year. Does anyone think I should buy Grand Theft Auto with my Chanukah money? I know it is violent and I would need to hide it from the kids. Is it really good, or is it just really aimed for teenagers? I am in the mood to buy something really frivrolous with this money... something I would never buy for myself.

I should just keep Rebekah out of school on these types of days. They had parties and a show for the last day of school before break. It just unorganizes her somehow and she is so difficult for the rest of the day. At to that that Matthew and Alyssa were just too excited about Chanukah to be decent or easy or nice to be around. Also, they needed to be in the car together for over an hour. It was seriously not pleasant. :-(

Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Should I tell the story about finding Rebekah reading an 'adult' joke comic book that I had? Not pornography, but jokes. Luckly, she didn't get any connection between a cucumber and a man. She didn't stop to consider they might be talking about a part of the man instead of the man! LOL Believe me, I have search all the book shelves for anything else she might find!

We had a big night last night... Alyssa slept without the bar on the bed!!! YEA!! She was really proud of sleeping like a big girl without the bar. The funny part was this morning. We have been giving stuff to different toy and food drives, so the kids have been hearing a lot about charity. I said maybe we can give the bar to a child whose family can not afford one. Maybe we could give it to a baby who was getting her first big girl bed and couldn't afford a bar. Well, you should see this look on her face! It was like I was planning on giving away a child or something. :-) I quickly told her we could keep it in the basement and she felt better.

I told Matthew and her that we could save it till they had kids and came to visit me. LOL I asked if when they grow up they think they are going to get married and have kids. Matthew was talking about how Rebekah (8) doesn't have kids yet. :-) I said when you are much older. He asked, liked 10? I told him he can get married and have kids when he is 30! :-)

oh yeah. When I woke up this morning, the radio said we had 1/2" of rain so far and were now 3/4" from an all time record of rain/water for a calandar year. We will get some more later today and maybe 1-2" of snow (blech). It wont be 3/4" today and weather bug doesn't show anything else through Tuesday. I guess it is going to be close.

I wonder how icy the roads are going to get. They are VERY wet now and it is supposed to rain before snowing and get down to the mid 20s tonight. I don't mind driving in snow... ice is crazy. Tomorrow forcast is sunny, high about 40. Maybe another delay of school day? If not officially, then just me for safety... we will see.

What do you think were Alyssa's first words today? "Is it Chanukah?" LOL What were her second words? "Nana's house?". Glad to see that you love me kid.

I went to Jiffy Lube, I asked for the manager and spoke to someone. He was sympathetic but said he wished his manager was there. Whatever.. what a pain. I left some info and supposedly his manager will call me. I will believe it when I see it.

What to do? I brought my car to Jiffy Lube today. It is just so convenient, you show up, you get an oil change and you leave. If I brought it to my mechanic, I would have to make an appointment and drop it off, and get rides........

Anyway, the drone came in and showed me a radiator fluid tester thing and told me I had to have work on my radiator fluid. (A change, I assume) I asked to see the tester and 5 thingies were floating and one was down at the bottom. I seemed to remember that the more thingies floating, the better, and they were trying to rip me off. I said no (to that and everything else they said) and when I left I called my mechanic. They tested it for me and said it was great... I was safe to 40 below zero or something.

So, do I bother to go back and complain? I know this place offers to fix too much, but this is so blatenly crooked. I know they water down their windshield fluid in the summer ( and probably some in the winter too) which corporation says they shouldn't... but this just seems to be in a different ball park. Oh well, I guess it all depends on how much extra time (yeah right..) I have tomorrow.

Last winter we broke records around Baltimore for the most snow in a storm ever and we have had a very wet year in addition to that. That includes the hurricane and lots of other storms. Well, it looks like if we get 1 more inch of rain this year, 2003 will be the wettest year in Baltimore's history. I can't find anything online about it, but I heard it on TV. It is going to rain tomorrow. It looks like the last rain of the year. So, if tomorrow's rain is 1" (it is supposed to be heavy and maybe turn to ice/snow at night, yuck), Baltimore's 2003 goes down in history for not only the sniper, the blizzard, the hurricane, but also for the wettest year ever. GO BALTIMORE! :-)

Here is a quote from some gov't site.

THE RECORD FOR THE MOST PRECIPITATION IN A CALENDAR YEAR WAS 1889
WITH 62.35 INCHES... ONLY 4.40 INCHES FROM WHERE WE WERE AT THE END
OF NOVEMBER AND WELL WITHIN REACH.

Over 60 inches of rain. How absurd. 2002 was a major drought around here. I seem to remember us being around desert amounts for rain (10"). What a crazy difference in years.

My children go to three different schools.
1 school was delayed 2 hours.
1 school was delayed 1 hour.
1 school started on time.

Clear as mud, huh?

Alyssa had speech today and all she kept on saying to the ST was that she was going to Nana's house over Chanukah. I kept on telling her she wasn't going to the END of Chanukah, hope she isn't too disapointed.

Alyssa was very upset the other night because she wanted me to put on her PJs and I was in the basement (the trials of being 4). I had her call Nana to tell her what was wrong. Papa was talking to someone else, so we call Anene (Aunt) and Alyssa was at least able to talk to tell her what was wrong. Then we called Nana again and Nana promised to put the PJs on Alyssa when we were in NY. OK, Alyssa was a little bit calmer. Then we called Anene (the best shower giver in the whole wide world) and Anene promised to give her a shower while we were in NY. Finally, I put on her PJs that night and the world was good again. LOL

So fun to have new people reading the blog.

I think we can agree that the turkey carcass from Thanksgiving that I just found in the basement fridge can be thrown out? I think it is a bit old to be making soup out of now. BLECH.

The parties ended up really good today! Alyssa's party was cancelled because the poor birthday boy has the flu. :-( But, that made it simpler for us. Bill took Matthew to the drop off party where he went fairly easily and had a really good time. :-) I took Rebekah to the swim party. It was amazing! This place had two (indoor) water slides. They were about 4 flights up and it had drops and curves and everything. The kids were on tubes. There was also a rope swing into the pool and a 3ft diving board. Now Rebekah wants her party there. Every good birthday part we go to, Rebekah wants that as her party. :-) Maybe we will have a swimming/kareoke/karate/bowling party?

Matthew's Sunday part is at Chuckie Cheese. Oh fun... My Mom had a great idea. I think I am going to bring Alyssa with Matthew and Me there and just buy her food and tokens myself. It is not like this is a private place. Heck, the kids don't even know who is at their party. That way, Bill can take Rebekah to the skating rink. That should work well.

Oh, Rebekah was sooo scared the first time she went down the water slide. I had walked up with her and was almost pushing her down. She screamed 1/2 the way down. By the time I got back down (had to walk past 50 kids on the stairs) Rebekah was down and ready to go again. She LOVED it. :-) I think she went on the thing about a dozen times. I didn't go in the pool at all, but the chlorine was so strong my eyes were itching by the time we left.

Good night. Matthew has Sunday school tomorrow and I have to be up in 6 1/2 hours.