Laura

A revision of our road construction map: ( behind a cut, because image )

The red section is still closed and will be until October 21 according to their current estimates. The blue section is where there will be street that wasn't there before.

The orange section is no longer ACTIVELY being worked, and the steel plate has been removed. The square, 3-4 feet on a side, that it covered, however, is not fully filled in, but is sunken several inches...and has been left that way for a week or more. Apparently that's our new reality. It COMPLETELY fills the lane of travel, the right lane of Courtside, at that intersection. It's not dangerous except to very low cars and maybe motorcycles/bikes, but it's annoying and no one wants to go through it. So we go around. I figure it's only a matter of time before that causes an accident.

Tonight, hopefully not for too long, they closed Town Center Loop between Courtside and the Wilsonville Road. That is the purple spot on the map...and meant we couldn't head home that way and I had to loop around a long way to get back. Fun! Anyway, the closure at Courtside blocks the right lane inbound to the neighborhood, so they had a flagger there moving us through since it was one car at a time.

Maybe they'd just like to close our neighborhood?? Seriously, why could whatever they are doing on Town Center Loop there not have been done earlier this month _before_ Vlahos closed at least?

Ah well. If worst comes to worst, we can park in the next neighborhood over (NO shared roads) and walk in on the trail that crosses the wetlands. And the fact that I even briefly consider that is sign of how stressful/annoying this is, but I didn't know until I got alllll the way back around the loop whether or not Courtside WAS open, since I couldn't see that far from the block between the Wilsonville Road and Town Center Loop.

I know, road construction season, but this is a wee bit ridiculous. :P

At least I'm getting good stories out of it?

The boys are now registered for swim lessons next session - going in person as soon as registration opened worked nicely, I got exactly the slots I most wanted so that my schedule won't be insanity. :) And they had fun at swim lessons and open swim.

My new prescription swim goggles are in and I'm very pleased with them - they do what I'd hoped for and they do it well. And the frames we wanted to try for my new glasses came in, I tried them on, and I love them. Lenses are now ordered, so I wait again, for those as well as a backup pair I ordered at one of the cheap online sites. I think the latter will be acceptable for a backup pair, but I distinctly went cheap on the options and they wouldn't be my first choice for anything else. That's not the point for them. :)

Laundry, kitchen cleaning, dishes, care for the vegetables - all done. I picked all the carrots; they aren't doing well in these containers, and the other things in with them will do better with them out.

Yesterday was Fun in the Park also, and we did have fun. Drew got a balloon sword, Ian got a balloon cat, both got cotton candy. Ian tried chicken teriyaki and liked it, which was kind of neat. I would have preferred to spend more time on things I instead went right by, but in all honesty, not much time all the same.

Today, the boys went with Scott to the zoo while I got stuff done around the house (at my request!). Then we went to the library, where they turned in their summer reading program and got to pick free books and science experiment kits, and got (rather nice, really) packets of coupons/freebies. Being small and indulged is apparently good for your ability to snag treats.

And I almost finished reading a book! _Cast In Flame_. I will finish it tonight, I swear I will. :) And then I will sulk because the sequel isn't out yet, if history is any judge.

I had a dream last night, and remembered it, and I'm greatly amused.

( Not at all sure anyone else cares about my dream tho, so here's a cut tag. )

The most amusing part is that while I *adored* the place and was *thrilled* we were buying it in the dream...the reality is I would never want to buy or own it in real life. Lots of things about it that are "things I love" but not "things I want to own or be responsible for" and more house than I want to *live in* even if someone else was responsible for taking care of it. I *would* like to have the view of the mountains, though. And some of the decor. Those bits are worth making note of. (Since I don't want to move, a VIEW of the mountains is not likely. Art, however....)

Well, today is productive. Much credit to Scott, who came up with the idea of the zoo run, and thus created an afternoon in which productivity was possible (WOW did Drew need to run off energy!). Today we have:

1. Gone to the zoo for three hours. Including watching the wild birds show. Which only briefly held Drew's attention but *I* enjoyed it. They now have to tell people, not only to sit down, but to put away all food. Apparently the turkey vulture has realized that humans have food and it's yummy (but bad for the bird). :P

On the ride home, both kids fell asleep. Getting out of the car, both woke up. Alas.

2. Gotten me new pants. I wanted one more pair in rotation, plus another to replace the lovely but easily-snagged mid-tan pair I had. Alas. It's a gorgeous fabric, but it snags on EVERYTHING. Including my wedding ring. No, thanks. Anyway, I got lucky as one of the two pairs I got was on clearance for 1/4 the normal price (and a color and style I like and can wear; there were rather a lot of OTHERS on clearance that I didn't get, including another pair of the snag-fabric, heh).

3. Washed three loads of laundry (well, okay, #2 is in the dryer and #3 is in the washer, but...).

4. Washed a load of dishes (still running, but hey, running is running!).

5. Lowered Ian's crib mattress to the bottom position - okay, Scott did that, I held the baby, and Drew wandered about "helping" with his "tool box" (a game box of Uno Moos, which he fortunately did not roll under Scott's feet, so that WAS helpful!). Ian is officially pushing to sit at every opportunity, having started during our Wisconsin trip, and has started trying to pull to stand. Day care is predicting he'll walk early. I refuse to guess; I fell into predicting an early crawl along with them, when in reality, he *wanted* to for a long time but hit the milestone at a normal time, he was just intensely frustrated in between. :P

[EDITED TO ADD: I posted this, and then Scott walked in to show me a picture of Ian, standing. He'd pulled himself to standing successfully. And held it long enough for three pictures before he fell over as the fourth one was being taken. I still refuse to predict walking, tho.]

6. Put holds on a couple videos at the library. Also, managed to be the second hold on Libriomancer! YES! :)

Now taking a break to write things up here, but then I need to go juggle more laundry and write some letters. And sort some pictures that were printed earlier this week so they might, you know, actually get mailed.

Seriously, argh. So. There was Conflikt. We returned. Tuesday, Ian started day care, which means most of February I'm on leave and he's in day care (lets me respond if needed, and get stuff done otherwise).

So I need a fair amount of dental work (again...pregnancy hormones and the lower energy levels and no time and teeth that are soft to begin with...yeah, actually it was better than I feared this time!). So that's scheduled throughout February, I have my allergy shots (need to get back up to maintenance, since they're stopped the last month of pregnancy and resume after recovery), the cats needed to go to the vet, Drew had his 3-year pediatric appointment, Ian has a two-month appointment, Drew has a dental appointment....

February's gonna be interesting. But this week? Oh dear ... GAH. Monday we drive home, arriving basically in time for dinner. Tuesday we take both boys to day care, then I collect Drew later that morning for his pediatric appointment (no shots needed this year - I didn't expect that! It went well). Then I return phone calls for various appointments and whatnot. Today I got my allergy shots, then took both cats to the vet (they were THRILLED, I tell you, THRILLED - I was not - I had trouble getting Drew's car seat out of my car, the first time I've had to take it out since it moved to the side position and switched to LATCH attachment, and it was not cooperating--). Tomorrow I have a dental appointment and a routine medical exam/blood draw. Tomorrow evening is the gaming group, I hope I'm conscious by then.

And, you know, I have to pump milk for Ian in amongst these appointments, and I'd kinda like to clean the house as I'd intended because the state of my kitchen and pantry has me wanting to *scream*. (Not "it needs a scrubbing" - "it needs someone to decide where stuff goes and then bully it into place". Where 'someone' had better be me, because I am fussy about where stuff is, alas. Good thing Scott is comfortable with/accepting of my chosen order.)

(Also, kudos to Scott, who helped me *over the phone* with figuring out what I was doing wrong getting that car seat unmounted. Counter-intuitive interface ahoy! Now I know and next time it should be easy. Go figure. I'm going to have him guide me through putting it back in, rather than doing it himself, too - I haven't had to do that in this spot and I should, so I know.)

As for the cats, Ray's weight has held steady and he's a fine fit cat. Apple's dropped a pound, so we're going to give her a little extra canned and monitor, but we're not sure that there's an issue yet either, since that was over a bit more than a year. Apple got three vaccines, Ray got two, and since I released them in the house after the appointment, they have been studiously out of reach and mostly out of sight. :P

Going back to work won't be restful...but it may come close, relative to what I'm doing this week. Sheesh. It will at least involve fewer needles and less drilling.

And, yannow, I owe emails and such to various people...I am so behind on things. O.o If only I could get far enough behind to be ahead, but alas it doesn't work that way.

Oh, and laundry. And dishes. Babies make for a lot of dishes. So do toddlers. And both help make a lot of laundry.

We got a dining table for the dining nook. It is used, and goes pretty well with the look of the area. Four of the six chairs are sturdy; one more will be with a little wood glue; the last one I need to figure out and haven't yet. In any case we only need three for now, so no big rush on the two that aren't solid. The table is.

Couch arrives tomorrow. Dresser and TV stand arrive next week. Lawns are mowed. The repairs that needed to happen to the house are done. My dishwasher has clean/dirty magnets that I like okay, and are separate magnets. Have acquired what I need to secure the UPS against further toddler moments (he found the power button! joy).

Things on the current aggravation list:
* I want more energy. Meh. Being tired is, well, tiresome.
* Too many things in boxes. But see 'energy'.
* Dental work. Today I had the prep and such for the permanent crown, and got a deep cavity in the adjacent tooth (easier to access when no crown is on the one to be crowed) filled. I'm pregnant, so I can't take ibuprofen. Tylenol is fine for pain, but ibuprofen would've been better. Oh, well. Temporary crown in place, and will get the permanent crown later this month.
* Running around frantically. Today had too many appointments, and then I had to do grocery shopping as I'm on call this weekend and didn't want to do it then.
* Fussy toddler. He didn't get to bed until too late last night because we had guests over, and today just...it didn't go horrible, but it didn't go well either. Poor kidlet. Poor us!

Drew now responds to tissues by taking them and wiping his nose, instead of screaming "no no no" and whipping his head around as he would have six months ago. I am thrilled. And appalled, because he is not yet a master at actually wiping his nose, and spreading the problem across both cheeks is...yeah. OTOH, he then tolerates (less than thrilled, but tolerates) when you take the tissue and further scrub his nose and, oh yes, his cheeks.

It's progress.

He loves the back yard and play house. He gives tours of the house to friends who come over. He has been helping his father unpack most of his clothing and bedding into the new dresser in his room. (The dresser that used to be in the spare/craft room...much more useful here. It would not have fit as well in his room at the old house, tho, without removing other stuff.)

He went for a walk with Scott all the way to the post office today. (About a half mile each way.)

We need to either isolate the art, or hang the art, because right now he is trying to play with it. :(

Yesterday, I lost about 1/4 of my steamed veggies from my dinner because Drew kept demanding my broccoli and carrots. Yay! ...not that I wouldn't have liked to eat them too, but....

Some tweets from the past few days:

I have no idea, but he was very insistent I get out of my chair so he could do them ALL. http://t.co/rQpW5ie

Drew is in his playhouse kitchen saying "order pizza" - oh, what we have taught him. :/

Seeing Scott experience an Ikea store for the first time: priceless. [ed: okay, not parenting-related. But even with all the hype, explanations, and warning - even with, when he asked if we should stop there, my pausing and then saying "I think I'm up to it" - he was totally unprepared for the scale and style of the place. Watching his face go twitchy-twitchy when we got to the children's Ikea section was fun too.]

Both kitties are in the laundry room of the new house, with hidey-holes, soft beds, food, water, and litter. Kitties: not real thrilled. [ed: this is from yesterday morning. kitties are starting to be happier, though Ray is still tentative. They come out to be petted and climb all over you, and Drew even went in with me for one of the pet-and-cuddle sessions this morning and gave Ray a hug. Ray tolerated this as usual, so...pretty good.]

Drew got set next to me, asleep. Snuggled tight against my back without waking. [ed: from Friday night, when I was exhausted from a very busy Friday and had already been in bed a few hours, intermittently awake. So. SWEET.]

So, we got a Roomba. (We had one years ago, but it could not cope. This one seems to be hardier, although it has needed a couple brush cleanings already just on these two rooms.)

Tonight we are running it. Ray and Apple are...not impressed. Ray has been stalking it jumpily. Apple has been staring at it and jumping, with an occasional paw-swat. (Ray hasn't actually gotten close enough to hit it; Apple seems to be fear-striking, not hunting.) We have tried to reassure as best we can, but mostly they just have to get used to it.

Ray was calmer, so I got him up onto the chair beside me and was petting him, letting him get used to it and realize it CAN'T GET HIM UP THERE. He began the Snoopy vulture posture. I began trying to figure out how to prevent him - all "I must be at least partially Maine Coon" umpty pounds of him - from coming down on the Roomba like the Wrath of Cat.

The Roomba went under the chair he was vulturing from. Feline doom waited for it to emerge.

The chair in question is right next to the five-foot-high writing desk I inherited from my parents, helping to block access to it so that Drew doesn't open it repeatedly (only about twice a week). The doors on the desk no longer latch well, so a small heavy box sits in front of them, keeping the right-hand one closed (it is otherwise inclined to swing open).

Roomba, under the chair, bumped this box and shoved it aside. The door swung open. The box from my new web cam, tossed up there to keep it out of Drew-reach, fell onto Ray.

Ray abruptly appeared about halfway across the room, trailing a nearly-visible thought balloon: "I was above IT. How did IT get above ME???"

Roomba, meanwhile, jostled the chair a little and ended up stuck in a no-longer-exitable space between the chair, the box holding the desk closed, the web cam box, and an adjacent side table. Scott had to rescue it, because I was laughing too hard to save the robot. I was almost laughing too hard to BREATHE.

It's been a day. Mostly good, but a day. Scott pulled something in his back so he's been resting, applying heat, etc. We're hoping that by being gentle to it and taking care of it now, it'll recover nicely and not impair him for ages. The result, however, is that I've been doing all the stuff that we normally split too. I am feeling enormously productive, proud of myself, and yeah, tired.

( No one probably really cares about the to-do/to-done list, but I'm pleased, so I'm posting it. )

This is made easier by the fact that I got to sleep in this morning, waking on my own - no alarm, no crying fits - although I suspect the sound of Scott leaving for church may have woken me, but I didn't feel jolted awake. I felt wonderfully rested. I feel pretty tired by now tho.

Did I mention my cold has faded to minor sniffles and an occasional cough? SO GLAD. And the sinuses have settled. YAY.

So. Our old back deck was not well-set and was sagging; also we were warned it was badly-handled with regards to interfacing with the siding and could lead to water damage in the future by trapping water. It was also a pain to care for because of all the vertical wood surfaces. So we replaced it.

The replacement work is mostly done (still some cleanup to be done, but I don't think you can see much if any of it in these photos), but here's the new deck (click for bigger pictures):



I like it. :) And now I go to beeeeed.