Lunch money located

After taking J to preschool, I went to N's school and met with the lunch coordinator. She was able to look things up on the computer and flip through paperwork and determined that my son's lunch money I sent on Monday ended up credited to another kids' account. He didn't run out of money until Tuesday because he skipped lunch one day last week and didn't mention it. I now have this set up on line so I can look at how much money is in his account and add to it with a credit card if I think the system is secure.

All the way to preschool, the little girl J is carpooling with cried. She did that yesterday, too. She's exactly one year younger than J and doesn't seem to like preschool. She has no choice, though, becuase her mom has begun an on-line master's degree program and needs the time to do her classwork and homework. Hopefully things will get better soon for her. Meanwhile, it's not that much of a bother since with two kids of my own, I have become an expert at tuning out crying while driving. Fortunately she doesn't kick my seat the way my son does. I haven't worked out a way to stop it while driving, and I can't tune it out.

Tomorrow I get an ultrasound and then an appointment with my ob/gyn. It likely will take up the entire morning. I do a lot of waiting at that doctor's office.

School

N came home from school and told me his lunch card didn't have any money on it. I told him I didn't see how that could be since yesterday I pinned a labeled envelope with a check on it for enough money to buy lunch all week inside. In fact, I had to run to the drug store Sunday evening to buy safety pins since his teacher want such things pinned to the children. As far as he and I know, he had money for lunch yesterday. It's $1.75 per day. I sent a check for $8.75. I wonder if it wasn't entered (incorrectly) into a computer as $1.75. Fortunately, my checks have carbons so I was able to check to be sure I didn't write the check for the wrong amount. I've left a message for the lunch person, but she won't be in until tomorrow. I'm probably going to run by the school tomorrow after I drop J off at preschool and make a pest of myself until we have the missing $7 accounted for. It's just one more thing to deal with.

In two days I have another ultrasound. I'm guessing the fetus will look more like a baby than last time when I had the bleeding problem. It did have a head, hands, and legs then. In the first ultrasound I guess it looked a lot like a peanut.

I'm still wearing my jeans, but they are starting to cut into my stomach a bit. I'm not sure when I'll admit my days of wearing size 10 non-maternity jeans are over. I just hate pants with elastic waist. I feel so chubby in them. I think last time I pretty much just jumped right into the maternity clothing even though I didn't have enough at the time to fill the stretchy part (sort of like when I got my first bra in 6th grade). I only put up with the nasty elastic-waist pants for a few days. The problem with the rubber band trick on my jeans' button is that when I'm pregnant, I use the restroom a lot, and it gets to be a lot of trouble to keep refastening the rubber band.

Life is quite good when the above is all I can think of gripe about this evening.

None--I'm annoyed

I wrote a post this afternoon, while this web page was loading very slowly and refused to publish. It's vanished. I don't know where it went, and I can't recover it. Maybe it will reappear later; probably it's gone forever.

I don't have time to re-type it, and I don't remember what I wrote anyway.

I know I didn't write about how I planted some golden beet seeds this afternoon, hoping we'd get our first real rain in over a month. We didn't, and my husband is watering a lot of things tonight.

We've moved our kids' bedtime back to 8:30 p.m. from 9:00 p.m. because it seems to take them half an hour to settle down and quit thinking of reasons to get up.

Birthday

Today is my 36th birthday. Thank you everyone who has wished me a happy birthday. We celebrated last night because my husband had to leave for a business trip this morning. We went out to eat and then came home for cake. Then I threw it all back up. Still, it was a nice birthday. We didn't have a hurricane like on my 30th birthday, one on the way, like my 34th birthday, or the entire country and a lot of the world still stunned and depressed after the 9/11 attacks like my 32nd birthday. This year's Hurricane Katrina has been depressing, but it's just not as bad as the 9/11 attacks because it wasn't brought about by the evil of humankind.

That reminds me of something the priest said at church a weekend or two before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. He was discussing evil, and labeled cancer as evil. I was stumped because I don't see how evil can exist without intent. Now I'm curious if he would consider Hurricane Katrina to be evil.

I got to put the chickens and rabbits to bed tonight since K is out of town. He warned me the new chickens might refuse to get into the pen and I might have to leave them out and hope for the best tonight with the predators. I was able to capture the three who didn't go to bed by grabbing them while they were sitting on the rabbit cages. Boy did they squawk all the way to the coop. Suprisingly, no one pecked me or scratched me.

My parents, my brother, and a friend of mine have called today to wish me a happy birthday. I'm hoping my husband will call from Charleston, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to until tomorrow. I saw him this morning, though. He waited for the bus with my son. Hopefully he now understands why I'd like to put a bench up front that we can wait on.

I got Seasons 1 through 3 of MacGyver from my husband for a birthday present. We've already borrowed Season 1 from the library, but I wanted it anyway. I managed to see most of two episodes during the day today.

Mostly I've been resting. Tuesday I was bleeding a little. Pregnant women aren't supposed to. I went in and had an ultrasound, and all looked well. The doctor discovered I had a slight UTI (urinary tract infection--bladder infection), and prescribed generic macrobid. It has warnings that it makes one sleepy, and I feel they are warranted. I've been extra lethargic since I started taking them. The bleeding seems to have stopped, so I'm hoping all is well.

Birthday present

I'm getting one of my birthday presents right now. My husband is taking the kids out shopping for my present. Since I am with at least one of my kids nearly every moment of the day, getting the chance to have the house to myself is a present itself. I'll probably mop the kitchen and bathroom floors; it's what I did last year.

This year we'll be celebrating my birthday a day early. My husband is leaving on the morning of my birthday for a business trip in Charleston, SC (assuming Hurricane Ophelia doesn't interfere with his plans). He is too grumpy in the morning to try to have a birthday party at breakfast. Besides, we'll be rushing around to get my son ready for school.

We haven't had rain in a long time. I think my husband is watering things with the sprinkler right now. I'm in the house, I hear the sound of running water, and I'm not doing laundry or running the dishwasher.

My dishwasher has lots of breaks in the white plastic stuff that covers the metal rack inside. A lot of my dishes are getting rust stains from the metal. They are also starting to get chipped. I'm thinking about dumping them (Corelle). I have a box of china in the attic bedroom I need to clean up so my son can move up there. It's Haviland Limoges. I got it three years ago when my grandma died. She had it on display but almost never used it. Years ago she gave me a small set of Spode, which I have on display in my china cabinet but never use. I don't even have anywhere to display the Haviland stuff. I'm thinking after I dump the Corelle, I should use the Haviland stuff. I'll just have to hand wash it so it doesn't get rusted on in the dishwasher (plus I don't think it's strong enough to survive the dishwasher. Anyway, in a few years, it will probably all be trashed since I'm hard on dishes, but at least it will have been used. I think I also have another box of Noritake stuff in that attic room I got when my great-Aunt died almost two decades ago. I used it when I was single, but it is a very small set. I broke some, so I don't think there is enough of it to use now. Maybe I should just mix all my dishes (but the Spode) and use them until they are all broken. Then I can go buy some unbreakble, microwavable dishes. (I tried Rubbermaid dishes after I was married. My husband broke some, and I melted some in the microwave. They were very disappointing.)

Worshipping the Porcelain Goddess

Yes, this is another disgusting post. I must have a fascination with disgusting stuff. Stop here if you are queasy.

We went out for dinner, which is something we seldom do. I had crab cakes. Since I had dinner, I've thrown up at least five times. I think some of my salad may be left, but I've seen pretty everything else I had for dinner. It's been awful. The splashing has been extra bad since everything is coming up with such force. I had to clean the walls and my face, but I haven't gotten around to may hair, which has a definite odor about it.

The bright side is I'm still not as ill as I was in my first two pregnancies. I can still function most of the time between rounds in the bathroom. The weight I've lost has been from lack of eating instead of losing most of what I eat, but that has been changing in the last couple days. It's almost bed time so I can take another phenergan and hope it will keep my stomach in place until morning. I think it would be best if I stepped into the shower and washed my hair before I go to bed.

At this moment I feel fine so I can laugh at how funny this is.

TGIF

J is visiting her friend. I'm home. In a few minutes, I have to call my husband's office and try to do some computer stuff over the phone. If that fails, I have to drive to the office and use the computer there.

J and I spent part of the morning at the car repair place. We had to get the oil pan gasket, which was replaced last weekend, checked to be certain it wasn't leaking. It wasn't.

If I have time before I need to pick up J, I might go to the local nursery and get some cool-weather flowers for this winter. That's one thing I like about living in the south that I didn't have in the midwest--I can have flowers in the winter. Sometimes they get covered with snow, but they survive after the snow melts off. Snow seldom lasts long here. I'll probably get pansies. They do the best in the winter here. I might also get some bulbs that will produce flowers next spring.

I got the craving for potato soup this morning. I have some going in the crock pot right now. I've never tried the recipe, but it seemed easy enough.

Second day of kindergarten

N didn't like kindergarten. He especially hated the bus ride. K and I told him to get used to it; he has at least 13 years of school and then he can get a job he doesn't want to go to or he can go to school for another four years before getting a job he doesn't like going to every day.

J's friend came over to play with for several hours today. She's had a much better day than yesterday. Tomorrow we have playgroup. Friday she's going over to her friend's house while I nap, mop the floor, or get stuff at the hardware store. I had no idea she would miss her brother so much. I thought it would be a relief to her to have him gone since he beats her up so often.

K stopped by home between appointments this morning and mentioned the price of gasoline had dropped a little. It's back around $3/gallon.

I guess I need to go entertain J since her friend has gone home for a nap. She's asking to see the Planter's Peanut "Peanut Dance" that Kathy K. once had linked to her blog. She's always loved it.

First day of kindergarten

My daughter and I watched N get on the bus this morning for his first day of kindergarten. Because we live on a busy street with no sidewalks (only drainage ditches overgrown with poison ivy) the bus stopped in front of our house. If all goes well, this afternoon we will wait for my son to get back off the bus in front of our house. Hopefully he will enjoy school. I always hated it, even kindergarten, but I haven't told him that.

J and I made blueberry sour cream scones from a mix this morning. I liked them. J picked out all the blueberries. She's been having lots of temper tantrums this morning. I think she misses her brother.

Next week J begins preschool. I think she'll be much happier when she has a "school" to attend also. I've got a parents' night for her later this week. I may have to get my husband to go. I often throw up the most in the mornings and evenings.

Car trouble

For the past three weeks, my car has had a funny burning oil or rubber smell after driving it. Friday my husband noticed an oil leak where I park. When the smell began, I checked the oil and it was fine, so I quit worrying about it.

I've put off taking it in since I had to get a state safety inspection in September. I could have done it a month early, but then I'd forget next year since I always get it done in my birthday month. I took the car in yesterday. I'm amazed to say I got it fixed and returned yesterday.

Let me start with I know nothing about cars except how to drive them. I'll probably screw up any explanation of what was wrong. To stop the leak, I needed a new oil pan gasket. I would have passed the safety inspection without it, but of course, I don't want my car leaking oil. I guess it's a lot of work to change the gasket because the labor was $250.

To pass the inspection, I needed something to do with wheel bearings replaced. Maybe that's not exactly what it was. The steering was coming loose from the wheels and the word bearings was in there somewhere.

I had a Chevy Cavalier for over 60,000 miles and seven years and that never happened. My Ford Taurus only has just under 35,000 miles. I admit the car is five years old, but I don't drive that much. My bearings were over $70 apiece, and the labor was once again $250.

I got my car back last night for $768. I guess that's my birthday present this year.

As I said, I amazingly got my car back the same day, and we were able to go to church in the morning. I hadn't expected to see my car until this evening.

Something worth posting

I'll get to it. Right now I'm watching a clip on the news about how the babies and little children are suffering in New Orleans, and how they are especially vulnerable to dehydration.

I haven't been well lately and probably won't be okay until next spring. I am very happy to be pregnant for my third and last (intentional) child (I know lots of people who have surprise children.). I threw up and remained on anti-nausea medicine (which only helps but doesn't cure nausea) the entire time of both of my previous pregnancies.

Some days are better than others. I should have more good days in a month or so, when I get through the first trimester. This time amniocentisis is an issue since I'll be 36 later this month. I was only 32 last time I was pregnant.