I've Been Promoted

I received some mail today and according to the address label, I've been promoted.

"McNeil Elementary" is where I worked over 3 years ago, before we moved to another city 300 miles south of said school.

It wouldn't be weird to me if it had been addressed to "4th Grade Teacher" considering that is the title I held for 3 years at the school. It would be obvious to me that some company just needed to update their records. But where in the world did they get the title "Director of Finance"?

I know you can't tell because of the lovely black bars, but it was sent to my CURRENT address. Not forwarded from my old address.

I'd heard that the leadership in the school was lacking, but to promote a former employee to Director of Finance? Who knew I had such an impact?

Rant

"I don't know"---Three words that have always irritated me a bit.

Mrs. Aims: "Why didn't you ask me for a replacement worksheet when you realized that you had lost it 4 days ago?"

Spacey 4th Grader: "I don't know."

Yeah, kids over use it quite a bit. Even parents use it sometimes.

Mrs. Aims: "What things have you tried at home to keep Junior's behavior in check?"

Clueless Parent: "I don't know."

But I think I heard the definitive one the other day. It came from my child's pediatrician when I took her in to see why she had been running a temperature of over 104 for 3 days straight. After doing all the routine tests and everything checked out normal, we were left with, "I don't know."

Please know that our pediatrician is WONDERFUL. This is not a slam on him in any way. You go in expecting to hear that her throat is a mess, or her ears are badly infected. Perhaps the flu? All of which are not pleasant, but you at least have some course of action from there. But what do you do with, "I don't know"?

So we moved to the next level of tests. Urine and blood samples. Now for an adult, a urine sample is no biggie. Granted, it's not fun to try to balance while peeing in a small cup, but it's certainly not traumatizing. But for a 10 month old? Taking a urine sample means Mommy and Daddy holding a screaming child down on the table while they insert a catheter. Shudder.

Then? To take the blood I was expecting the simple (but not fun) poke of the heel that she had to have in her early months. But no. We got to experience the full fledged rubber-band-around-the-arm, needle-jabbed-into-elbow-pit, drain-several-viles-of-blood event. Again . . . shudder.

We are still waiting on final results, but the preliminary ones suggest a urinary tract infection. But we still "don't know" for sure and won't for several more days. So until then, she is on antibiotics to clear up what might be a UTI. Good news is that they seem to be working because we had our first temperature free day today--which is why I had time to blog!

And those antibiotics by the way? Yeah, they cost $130. Liquid gold I am pouring down my baby's throat 4 CCs at a time.

As If I Needed Another Reason

So I really don't like wallpaper. I know there are some nice patterns now-a-days, but I still don't like it. I guess I just got wallpaper overload from the 80's and now that is all I can think of anytime I see it. When we were considering purchasing the house we currently own, one of the very few "cons" on my do-we-buy-this-house-list was that there was quite a bit of wallpaper.

And apparently? Wallpaper attracts silverfish. Shudder.

So began my renovation projects.

I first decided to tackle our breakfast nook. Mainly because it had the least amount of wallpaper. I figured I could "teach" myself how to strip wallpaper with the least amount of stress and then be fully prepared to hit the bigger areas later. So in about a week's time, we made this transformation:


Now? I am finally tackling the guest bathroom. This room has, in my opinion, the most hideous wallpaper selection imaginable. Take a look:


This is state-of-the-art, FOIL paper. The house was built in 2005, but somehow they managed to find paper that was made in the 1960s.

Tearing this paper off the walls may prove to be very therapeutic. The only problem I have is that there is no texture behind this wallpaper. NONE. When you pull off the paper, you have bare sheet rock. So, to limit how much texturing I have to do myself, I am thinking about paneling some of the walls with wainscoting. Ahhhh . . . . beautiful wainscoting.

This could take awhile to complete. Especially when you consider that I have a child who only naps in 45 minutes spurts. I'll keep you updated as the construction continues. Any handy tips are welcome!

Hmmmmm . . . .

I was at Carter's today and saw that they had several "Baby's First Easter" outfits on clearance. Ironically they were all sized 24 months. Anyone else see a problem with that?

Happy Valentines Day!!

Hot-n-Spicy

You know your husband likes for you to cook spicy foods when the Coupon-o-Matic at Kroger decides you need to start buying antacids and offers multiple coupons to help you on your way.

Where's Aims Been?

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, but life as we knew it has changed. Claire has started pulling up on everything in sight. This is a wonderfully fun new milestone, but with it comes plenty of hardships as well.

For instance, did you know that once you pull up on the side of your crib it is IMPOSSIBLE to get back into a horizontal position without help? Yep. So my poor tired baby, so intrigued with her new skill, can't help but to pull up on the crib when she is put down for a nap. She is very tired, but can't figure out how to get down so she just stands and cries waiting for mommy to come and help. I come and offer my assistance only to have her pull up again and need more help. Second verse, same as the first.

I even tried leaving her for a bit to see if she'd figure it out on her own. Goodness knows she manages to fall plenty of times around the house. Surely she could manage to fall back onto her mattress and start her much needed snooze. So I wait patiently outside her door for the complaining to cease. Once I have silence, I peek inside the room only to find the poor thing with arms draped over the side, thumb in mouth and head resting on the top bar. So that idea was a flop. I guess I am just going to be helping her until she gets past this must-practice-the-new-skill phase.

She has also finally begun to crawl--for real. Not the scoot that was so cute, but a full-on hands and knees crawl. Between that and pulling up, I spend my days in constant supervision to ensure my precious angel's safety as she now has so many new ways to explore our house.

I did finally break down and purchase THE GATE.

So I can occasionally . . . I don't know . . . . start a load of laundry? It's very nice to have a place where Claire can play with no worries. Now if I just moved my computer in there with her, I could keep my blog updated!!