Laura

1. What is your favorite childhood memory?

Hard to say. There are many good ones. Time with my parents and the cats at home is definitely up there, but picking one is not easy.

2. If you could be reincarnated as anything besides human, who would you want to be?

A cat. Preferably a pampered housecat, but even as a feral, I think it would be interesting.

3. If you had to start your life all over, what are three things you would change?

I would write down more things in the moment to help jog my memory later (which I nevertheless still don't do often enough). I would spend more time just talking to my parents. And I'd try to be more courageous about changing jobs more often, rather than staying as long as I did. That has worked well for me but meant I've gotten to do fewer different things than if I'd moved on more often.

4. If you had to forget everything in your life, except one thing, what would it be?

There's no good answer to this. I mean, if I remember my self but nothing else, does that drag along all the how-I-became this way? I think the best answer would be "my family" just because it's pretty broad and I wouldn't want to forget them, but then that implies forgetting non-family friends which just no....

5. Do you have a lucky charm?

Nope. Sometimes we have them for a bit when the boys beg and I'm feeling like a sucker, but otherwise, nope. (No, I don't have one the way the question means it, but how could I pass up a chance to make it about the cereal anyway?)

Questions post

...though I surely don't post like it. October was lovely and I got a lot of things done around the house and taking care of family health. The numbers are working out for me to just stay home, not go job searching. This doesn't preclude my jumping all over a job if someone points it out and it sounds fun/fascinating/interesting/whatever, but the bar is definitely high there, for now. The work itself would have to be worth the time given up to it, not just acceptable in return for money.

Handy, since our youngest has been home sick from school since Halloween with a nasty cough and fever. Negative for flu, negative for covid, negative for patience. Two doctor's appointments this week (the first was 'probably viral, he should get over it, come back if it is not gone by Friday'; the second was Friday). He's on high-powered antibiotics for it now so we will see how that does.

So far either none of the rest of us have caught whatever it is, or we recovered from it easily. (I *think* I may have actually caught it last weekend? But if so, it didn't last a day for me. Maybe I was just having a bad day; who knows?)

I need to find my cute reusable advent calendars and prep them (I need to start finding them now because I am not sure where I last put them away!) - the boys expect one, and I've been buying pre-made ones the past several years, but that costs more and is less personalized, and this year I have time. So that'll be fun.

Maria (tuxedo cat) managed to get some kind of bacterial or fungal infection on her right front paw, so the vet removed all the fur between her paw-pad and toes on the underside and she's been getting an anti-almost-everything cream 2-3 times a day. About half the times I put it on it's uncomfortable for her, and she growls very seriously - the warning rumble of a cat who is about to shred you if you don't stop. For the entire time I'm putting it on. Without following through on the threat. She really is a fairly well behaved cat.

However, it may or may not do the trick - the ointment - because she's SUPPOSED to be in a cone to keep her from licking it off. It took her two hours to figure out how to remove the cone the first time. Second time she did it in under fifteen minutes and it took us until the next day to find it. So I bought one of those orange-shaped donut cone substitutes. Very cute, off in less than half an hour. So I gave up and I cuddle and pet her for a while after most doses (sometimes she leaves too rapidly) to distract her and hopefully keep it on long enough. Statistically I can get her to be petted for longer than the cone or cone-substitute would stay on.

If I call the vet and they want to see her again to check it, I'm gonna say "I told you so" to the cat. And then I may just order this, because it has me giggling a LOT and I don't think she could take it off:

https://www.amazon.com/EMUST-Recovery-Breathable-Adjustable-Alternative/dp/B0CQX832HN/

Sadly the one with the green body suit, which is more accurate and cuter IMO, does not come in a size other than large, and Maria is not large for a cat.

It's finally rainy. I know the state of the world isn't what I want it to be, including climate and weather systems, but it finally feels like a proper fall here all the same.

That was a good idea AND a bad idea. Last night we went to the fireworks at the Oregon Garden. The garden itself is lovely, supposed to have a good fireworks show, and it was the only one in the area on the 3rd that I could find. I didn't want us all up late and exhausted before going to work/camp/preschool tomorrow. And hey, music from 6 pm while we wait, too.

I knew we'd pay for it in the food on site being marked up (which it was, and which we did), and with leaving at 10:30 and having to drive an hour home.

What actually happened: we joined others who parked at the remote lot and bused up. (We should have tried the main lot, it wasn't full yet. Oops.) Anyway, the evening was nice, the fireworks were glorious, and then at 10:30 we left. The music continued for another hour, but again, hour drive.

Shoulda stayed for the music. Because according to what the guy doing announcements said just before or after the fireworks (I forget which), there were 6000 people there. And a goodly number of them all left when we did.

And the buses had trouble getting through because of all the cars in the parking lot leaving. And a laaaaarge contingent of folks needing the bus left when we did.

We finally got to our car at 11:45. We would've gotten there about 5-10 minutes later if we'd stayed for all the music..... WHEE. (Well, maybe. We also might have missed the last bus, because I'm not sure how long walking down would have taken us.)

Scott ended up carrying Ian for the last 10 minutes of the line, and the entire bus ride, because Ian was too tired to stand up and walk when the line moved, and as you might expect from that description, as soon as Scott picked him up he fell asleep on Scott's shoulder.

They have an on-site hotel that you can check in to and enjoy and watch the fireworks from there, and some year we may do that. But we also may just take July 5th off next year and go to Canby's show. They have a lovely show, it's just on the actual 4th.

Last night was gorgeous, though. Very tired. But gorgeous.

(And nope, for once I did not take photos. I wanted to strictly watch the fireworks and I did.)

So, we went to Disneyland for Christmas this year. (This was partially a whim and partially not - we had savings for, and plans for, an eventual Disney trip. I'd been waiting until the boys were old enough to enjoy it, and when our Christmas plans shifted a bit we said 'why not?' I'd meant to do 5/8 for the ages, but 4/almost-7 seemed close enough.) The one bad thing about timing is that Ian is 41 inches tall at the moment, or perhaps 41.5 with shoes on, and that makes him a half-inch too short for several rides. He was very disappointed by this once or twice, but honestly, mostly he didn't miss it. I think the Grizzly River Run is the one thing he really regretted it on, and if he had ANY idea how cold Andrew and I were...well, he'd still have regretted it, because four-year-old excitement and practicality do NOT mix. Heh.

I am not going to try to describe the Christmas decor in the hotels, Downtown Disney, or the parks. It was GORGEOUS and AWESOME and I will have pictures up later and let them handle it because seriously, awesome to look at, probably boring to read about.

I'm including steps/miles walked, as registered by my phone, because they amuse me.

I'm cribbing some of this from text messages sent to other people to jog my memory, so some of you may recognize parts of this. :) Day by day, because I'm not sure I can keep it coherent even so.

MONDAY (11,112 steps; 5.22 miles):

( Travel, hotel, and Downtown Disney )

TUESDAY (16,475 steps; 7.34 miles):

( Disneyland )

WEDNESDAY (18,098 steps; 8.39 miles):

( Breakfast with Mickey and Friends; Disney California Adventure; Laura's health (bah) )

THURSDAY (18,364 steps; 8.26 miles):

( Chip & Dale, DCA, Disneyland, and the Rainforest Cafe; one lost item )

FRIDAY (18,759 steps; 8.27 miles):

( Goofy's Kitchen, Disneyland, and DCA )

SATURDAY (6,919 steps; 3.32 miles):

( In which small children having their routine disrupted catches up with us, and we go home. )

...to all the fathers out there, and everyone who has a father they love. And gentle wishes for a good day to all those wanting to be fathers and not yet there, and all those missing their fathers.

Drew heard about breakfast-in-bed for Mother's Day (after Mother's Day) and declared his intent to do breakfast-in-bed for Scott on Father's Day. I got the stuff set up, including hot pan and oil, and brought him the eggs. He cracked the eggs, scrambled the eggs, spiced the eggs. I poured them in the pan, he stirred them in the pan. I lifted the pan, he scraped the eggs out on to the plate.

Ian put the toast in the toaster oven and turned it on (with me watching him). He could have buttered it but backed out, so I did that. We also put some of the pineapple (that Ian picked out at the grocery store because he wanted pineapple, not with Father's Day in mind) on the plate, so. :)

Scott asked us to take the breakfast back out to the kitchen so he could eat there, but still, he was brought breakfast in bed. I think it was pretty cool. And Scott liked his juice. (It was blue raspberry juice...lol.)

Well, okay, a piece of code is kicking my behind from here to tomorrow at work. (Hopefully no further. I need to make it behave and move on!)

But aside from that, so far so good. REALLY busy weekend, but fun.

Saturday:

Swim lessons, 9 am.

Then off to the Children's Museum where the Garage room (formerly 6+ years old only) is now open to all ages WITH parental supervision. I thought the boys would love it. They walked in, looked around, Drew said he was going to make a puppet and changed his mind, and they walked out. LOL. But they had a blast in the other rooms they went to, and it was a good time. Plus there's now a piano out front "feel free to play" and they did (unharmoniously, of course). (Neither is interested in piano lessons - at least yet - I did offer. But it's fun to push the keys anyway.)

Then on to our friend N's to celebrate his 50th birthday with gaming (and food and gifts, but lots of gaming). I played a game of Pandemic. We, um, failed to save the world. But only barely! We stopped three of the four pandemics. LOL. Scott and I wanted to stay longer but the boys were absolutely done, so we left. Just in time to dash to open swim! So we did, and had a blast.

Sunday we went to the Rennaissance festival for a couple hours. It's a pretty weak one, in that it's sort of a mix of things that fit and things that don't, and it's pretty small. But we got a good deal. It would have been more fun if the weather hadn't been so hot, but last year it _poured_ rain on us and at least this year we were not soaking wet! Got to see Cast In Bronze perform (omg awesome) and miscellaneous other fun. I would have liked to see more shows through, but the boys didn't really want to stay still for a whole show, and so it goes.

I got the most gorgeous hair ornaments there. I wasn't going to, but Scott talked me into them. I'm not sure how often I will wear them - but I really like them. So we'll see. :)

Scott was mourning after that, that he can no longer find his period-appropriate hat which he loved. It should be somewhere in the house, but if it is, it's totally missing. He'd been looking at the festival for another, but they didn't have one he liked. Well, I hunted up one online that I think he will like, and it's on its way. (I asked him, he agreed and said to surprise him, so.)

And my latest order of Goat Milk Stuff's soap is here. And the tomatoes are still doing well.

And tomorrow, maybe I'll get that problem bit of code back in line.

Oh, and our road's now closed where it joins the main road, until some time in October. The other path out isn't too bad as long as they're not working on that corner, though. I'll be glad when they've completely finished that, because right now it's kind of un-fun if I have to go through it when they're there.

I was re-reading early 2002 (January-April) tracking down when we started the move into our first house (April, we got the keys on the 23rd).

I used to post A LOT back then. And I'm wistful for some of the exchanges and fun then.

I have two kids now, and I don't have as much time to post, but I am going to try not to be radio silent for weeks or months at a go. *nods*

Yesterday, we had our "regular" Thursday night gaming session. I put regular in quotes because we now only have one of those a month starting this month - the other three moved to Fridays!

That's awesome because Drew is five and starts kindergarten in the fall, Ian is two and will move up to preschool sometime in the next year (probably in about six months when he turns three, I'm guessing, but he's VERY verbal, so maybe sooner), and the "Friday morning meltdown after a late Thursday" symptom, which hits about 25% of the time, bites. So reducing it to once a month instead of four times a month for a potential trigger? HUGE.

Anyway, last night we were playing the Pathfinder Kingmaker game Scott runs (the one that is staying on Thursdays) and I posted a couple Facebook statuses that I think my friends here will also be amused by:

( And now I cut because some of you are both places, and it's probably not so funny you want to read it twice. )

And a random bit of silly from Tuesday, involving picking on a 5-year-old a bit.

( ALSO already posted on FB. )

Every August, Wilsonville hosts Fun in the Park - a free fair. Lots of booths advertising companies, churches, and other organizations, and giving away freebies. Bounce houses. A food court (not free, natch). Vendors (also not free, as the name implies). This year (and last) a pony ride. This year also, a rock climbing wall and a carnival ride that spun you around. Police, fire, and EMS showing off vehicles / what they do / dive safety - and also being available just in case, I assume. Main Stage and some speakers kept music going steadily for the whole thing. (The speakers might perhaps have been better positioned back from the walkway, as one corner near the food court was Painfully Loud, but so it goes.)

Town Center Park, where this is held each year, has a water feature the kids can play in too - a great way to cool off mid-fair. And the visitor's center, with handy proper bathrooms, good if you're dealing with small kids who need changes among other things! :)

We went at 10:30. A little after noon, we left and got lunch - then Drew and I went back (Ian having fallen asleep in the car for his nap). We spent an awful long time by just two booths - first, Drew ate an entire mini box of Nerds...the first half of it one. nerd. at. a. time. Then he wanted to get his face painted. He was going to get a kitty-face on it, but then he saw Hello Kitty, so he got that done. It was a REALLY good job, I was impressed, and he held so amazingly still for it. I got photos, because I figured it was doomed, since we had to stop him from rubbing at his face twice during the process.

I was right, fifteen minutes later he'd swiped his arm across his face and by the time we left he was more Hello Kitty Zombie than Hello Kitty. So much so that we coaxed him to say "Braaaaains" on the way back to the car, which he did very creditably.

We got home about 4:30. The park's about 5 minutes away. I'd say Drew and I probably spent five hours there - Scott and Ian four or a little less.

Drew was very happily about the swag, it was hilarious. He came home with a spinny flying toy, a frisbee, a pair of sunglasses, a string backpack, an almost-empty bottle of water (THAT one was SUPER useful!), a bunch of free candy, some stickers, two posters, a plastic harmonica, a quack-like-a-duck toy, a toothbrush, a robotics team pin....

He also went on almost all the bounce houses (despite long lines), spun every prize wheel he could find (including at the Mary Kay booth, where they very kindly offered him a "prize" from their free candy basket instead of the "facial powder free at first appointment" that he'd won, lol), and had a BLAST watching the radio-controlled car (Hobby Town) and robot (Wilsonville high school's robotics team, right next door to the Hobby Town booth). Also, Lego Train and town! So cool.

They've started doing a "memory quilt" each year where people draw on a fabric square and they tie it together - the last four years at least. And this year, Ian and Drew each drew a square. Neither one is coherent, but hey. They're not the only incoherent ones. ;)

A good day. A tiring, exciting, very good day. And I totally have a temporary tattoo of a heart on my right arm. LOL.

I gave Scott a See's candy (and had one myself). The boys did not see the exchange. Seconds later, Ian showed up and saw Scott holding the empty See's wrapper and was VERY SAD at Scott. VERY SAD. Empty wrapper SO SAD.

Scott looked at the wrapper, picked up one of Ian's binks, and folded the wrapper around it. Handed it to Ian. Who unwrapped it and danced around gleefully stamping his feet. NO MORE SAD. SEE'S BINK, ALL GOOD.

Okay, saying on Facebook that I'd updated our wish lists probably precipitated this, but I've had more than one request for them, which draws my attention to the fact that it is October already. Who authorized this?

Oh, never mind who authorized it. I have a request. Respond here, respond on my Facebook, wherever.

But please make sure I have your proper address if you want a card and any of the following is true:
1) It has changed since last Christmas
2) You didn't get a card from me last Christmas
3) You did get a card from me last Christmas, but the post office had to forward it

If you don't want a card from us but got one last Christmas, please let me know? :)

And for those who have been asking, Amazon wish lists:

Scott's

Mine

Drew's

Ian's

As I noted on Facebook, this year brings a new milestone...there is nothing on Drew's wish list that he didn't agree should be there. Some things he suggested, some things I did, but all are there with his approval. He would love any of those things, and probably any similar things.