Ray Harryhausen ROCKS!

"Homer" bought my husband "Clash of the Titans" for XMas. I love the fact that Medusa was so scary that my son had to pull the blankets over his face to get through the scene. I can't wait to get all the Sinbad's on DVD!!

Nevermind

Then I hear the sing songy voice of Lexy calling out, "I'mmmmmmmmm poooooooooooooooooopy!" I find her at the top of the stairs dancing with her diaper in her hands. And I'm not kidding about the dancing part. She was full on dancing. I started up the stairs praying to myself, "Please don't let there be poop everywhere." I look inside the diaper and there's nothing there. "Where's the poopy Lexy?" "Wight Der!" And wight der indeed it was on the floor. *sigh*

BTW

Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a parent quite like, "This diaper is YUCKY!" I was afraid to turn my head lest there be poop running down her legs.

Whew! She just didn't like that diaper.

Christmas is over!

And again, Thanksgiving still reigns supreme in my book. No stress, no wrapping, no picking out the perfect gift....what should I bring to dinner and what time should I be there? Then I spend the day hanging out with the family members I do like.
I was up until super late wrapping presents. Of course, I could have wrapped them and hid them again but noooooo I'm all cool like that. Mike got to see Lexy when she first walked downstairs and her mouth just dropped to the floor when she saw everything under the tree. She ran back upstairs and woke up Kiernan and the paper shredding was on. They were so cute during the opening portion. Lexy would hand me her present and say, "Open it!" "Honey, it's your present, you open it!" I would start it for her and she would open it the rest of the way. Of course, she started to get the hang of it towards the end but then they were out of presents to open. She looked at Mike and said, "More presents!" He laughed and told her that she had opened them all which prompted her to put her hands over her mouth and sob. Needless to say, she took a long nap later on.
During the wrapping and unwrapping phases Mike and I just looked at each other like What did we BUY?! I can distinctly remember getting swamped with presents when I was little before my parents divorced. The front room would be so full of presents and wrapping paper that one literally couldn't walk through. I thought maybe that memory was false but I asked my mom about it some time ago and she told me that it was true. Those were awesome Christmas memories and maybe I wanted the same for my kids. We spoiled them rotten. And I felt both good and guilty at the same time. My daughter opened her stocking first and pulled out the Little Mermaid phone that she had picked out herself (ahh, the memory of a 2 year old) and she was supremely happy. Mike said, "And she's done." Meaning, she could have been happy right there. My mom picked up a Princess Jasmine outfit from Disney for her to wear. She even danced a little with it on then was done. "OFF!!"
Later on, my son informed me that he was bored. I just looked at him *blink blink* "You're bored? Go play with your new toys! Or better yet, pick out the ones you think are boring and I'll take them back!" Mike told me that I had it all wrong. His friends had come over to play and had left and he had no one to share his new toys with. Hence...boredom. Ah. I guess I don't quite have the hang of 7 1/2 year old boy speak yet.
Mike and I are going to celebrate our anniversary and Christmas in a few weeks. We have a spa room scheduled at a casino downtown and the kids are going to auntie's for the night. YEE HAW! Oh and a spa package that includes massages. We can't decide on Hot Stone or Deep Tissue because the sound of either makes us want to drool.
But in the meantime, it was a music and movie Christmas for the both of us. I gave him 4 classic Clint Eastwood westerns, season 1 & 2 of Smallville and the new Audioslave. He gave me Jet Li's Fearless (KICK ASS!), Jet Li's The One (so I like Jet Li), Lost Boys, Season 1 of Samurai Jack, Mortal Kombat & the 10th anniversary edition of Ninja Scroll. Oh and the new Gwen Stefani and Ludacris (I like to walk around and yell LUDA!). Santa brought us the Star Wars Trilogy (because I wasn't allowed to get another set until it came out in a DVD boxed set and I'm tired of waiting for the set of 6 to come out).
And Mike got "Clash of the Titans" from "Homer." If you've ever watched the Simpsons, then you know what a "Homer" gift is. Mike gets gifts from "Homer" every year :)
And my house is destroyed. I should be cleaning it right this very instant but I'm not going to. In fact, I may go and take a nap. How do you like them apples?

Lexy's Birthday Party

aka How many places can I find melted chocolate?

We rented a bounce house for 4 hours (3-7pm/party started at 2). They called me yesterday and asked if it would be ok if they dropped it off between 9-10 today. So we got a bounce house for almost 9 hours for the price of 4. Sweet! And it had Princesses all over it. Doubly sweet. It was one of those super deluxe houses that has a slide, basketball hoop and mini obstacle course inside. We invited all the kids from the neighborhood plus the kids in my family so I figure there was something like 10 kids or so here. We had the BBQ up and running with chicken, steak and hot dogs. The theme was Tinkerbell (or Tinka-bey-yo) and of course there was the Tinkerbell cake. We followed that up with the chocolate fountain we recently inherited and a snow cone machine. What can one say about a "Chocolate Fountain"? I had some girlfriends over a month ago and we used it. It was super tasty and actually not too bad to clean up (about 20 minutes including dumping the chocolate out). Fast forward to today---Said chocolate fountain with 10 kids. At about 40 minutes into it I was still scrubbing chocolate from the walls of my kitchen (which is just where I was cleaning it---it wasn't even used there). I walked back to the garage (thinking I was done) and found chocolate fingerprints all over the back of the door. I was standing at the sink and happened to glance over at the snow cone maker only to find the whole backside was coated in chocolate (especially around the on/off button). I laughed and came out to the front room and told my husband about where I had found more chocolate. He laughed too because it was on both my forearms. We all had a great time. I love having family and friends over.

P.S. I went to help my husband get my son up to bed and found more on the wall opposite of the stairs. I have a feeling there will be more to come.

P.P.S. Snow cone margaritas ROCK!

Everyone says

you should never blog drunk. Well HA! I'm drunk and I'm blogging! Except I have nothing to say. Well, not really true but it wouldn't make much sense....which is why they say you should never blog drunk.

My son is spending the night at the neighbors (twin boys the same age). Their parents and I sat in their back yard and downed margaritas. Yummy!

I did take my daughter shopping tonight. I must say, it was one of the worse mommy/child shopping experiences ever. I'm trying to think of a time I ever had to walk out of a store with my son (leaving everything in the cart behind) but can't think of one instance. She completely and utterly fell apart. She was tired but I figured it was far enough from her bedtime that I was in a safe zone. No such luck! In Target she kept running away (can't really chase her right now being so close to the surgery date) and after the third time of taking off, we left. Oh lordy did she scream!!! AND tried every trick in the book. She screamed for what we left behind. She screamed "OWIE!!" but I knew I wasn't hurting her (I had her craddled in my arms but with my arm through the middle of her legs so she couldn't kick me). And she cried "No No No NO NOOOO!" By the time we got into the car and started driving she started calming down. I wanted to get some supplies for her party next weekend. "Honey, mommy needs to go to one more store. Are you going to be a good girl for mommy?" "YES!" She lasted about 4 minutes. I was in pain from baby wrasslin' and by the time I did get home, I made Mike take her out of the car because I just couldn't carry her one more time. Kids!

And it always ends badly

And the two of them completely fell apart by the time Nick's mother arrived. At that point they weren't speaking, had been trying to hit each other with their scooters (and I'm not talking about trying to run each other over---literally swinging them at each other like baseball bats), Nick had been throwing rocks at Kiernan's head and by the time Kiernan ran to the door crying, Nick had him by the shirt and was trying to drag him back out to the front yard. I got the main gist of the story and separated them. And there they sat, one on the arm of the couch, the other on the rocking chair...separated by my daughter the two year old and watching Barbie in Swan Lake.

And Nick threw a huge fit when his mom tried to take him home. Like he wanted to stay there.

I'm a child sitter today

Today we are watching the grandson of our next door neighbor. He's 8; 9 in November (my son Kiernan just turned 7) and has some emotional problems. My kids both like him (we call him Alexia's boyfriend because every boy in the neighborhood is "Nick") but with my son it's like a love/hate relationship. When Nick is on his meds (and he is on meds and in therapy) he is a very good playmate. He and my son play pirates and army and ride bikes etc etc. But when he's got "the devil in him" its like he loses touch with reality. He's done the typical things like pushed Kiernan down or twisted his arm too hard. My last straw was the time where he grabbed Kiernan by the neck and tried to choke him. Nick let go and begged for Kiernan not to say anything (which Kiernan told him about as soon as I saw him).

I'd like to not let him come over but my husband Mike takes these opportunities to work with him. Mike is so much more patient then I am. When we first had Nick over about a year ago, he and Kiernan got into it and Nick him in the head with something. Mike sent him home (Nick begged and begged to stay). That's become the norm. He knows that we're not going to tell him "Don't do that" or "Work it out", we send him home. In the strangling case, he was grounded from our house for the week.

When I was growing up my mother was the ONLY mother on the block who didn't forbid me from playing with other children on the street. We could always make our own choices. I can remember playing with one girl and wanting to go and expand our playgroup but "my mom says I can't play with her anymore" kind of but a kabosh on that. I always promised that I would never be the kind of mom that did that but I have been tempted time and time before.

For all his destructive ways, he is the complete opposite with our daughter. He is the only friend that Kiernan has who ALWAYS takes the time to stop and say "Hi" to her. He always makes the extra effort to let her know that he sees her and will wave or pat her head. I've even found him on the floor with her, totally absorbed in play. After the strangling incident, I don't leave the two of them alone. I can't assume he "will know better" anymore.

That is all :)

Plastic Surgery FAQ's

So tomorrow is week 2 of my plastic surgery. I had a tummy tuck, lipo of the hips, flanks and arms and a breast reduction and lift. I think my surgeon was fabulous! His name is Philip Dahan and his # is 775-826-4477. When I finally decided to do the surgery and I started mentioning his name to people I got overwhelming response as to how great he is. Even the nurses at the S. Meadows Washoe Med gushed about his attention to detail as a surgeon. I had a friend who did a consult with him but decided not to go to him because she thought he was too arrogant. Heck yeah he's arrogant! BUT I don't see us going to the movies with each other or going to each other's houses for dinner. I wanted the best surgeon money could buy and I think I got him.

So how much did all of it cost?
I originally took out a loan for $19,000 but later reduced it to $18,000. The surgery itself cost like almost $13,000 but include into that the hospital stay (I stayed two nights) the anesthesiologist etc.

When did you have it done?
I had it done on Friday, July the 14th.

How long will it be before you are back to work?
I'll be back on this Monday, July 31st.

Did insurance cover any of it??
Not even remotely. My boobs weren't big enough to be covered. Even though they were causing me excruiating pain, they weren't big enough.

Has there been a lot of pain and did you get really, really, good drugs for it????
At this point the worst pain is my back. I have arthritis in my back and that's where I'm bending from and it is soooo painful at times. They gave me a morphine drip at first but I couldn't stop hitting it (I was hitting the button exactly every 8 minutes). They switched me to Percocet and that was nice too. That's what I brought home with me. I also had an anti-biotic called Keflex and a suppository in the event I had nausea.

How long did the surgery take?
The surgery was originally scheduled for noon until 4:30 but it didn't start until 1pm and I think it went until like 6pm. The nurses told me it would run late because he's very particular about how things are done. My recovery room period was horrible and I can't remember a time in my life where my body has felt worse. I didn't get into my room until like 9pm. I can't believe that some women do it as an outpatient surgery! I decided to stay an additional night just for pain management and so I could have the nurses help me get up and walk. I asked for no visitors so I could deal with my pain on my own. When my friends are around I tend to want to take care of their needs rather than my own.

Was it worth it?
Yes. I am already delighted by what I see. I still can't stand up straight all the way but I can see big changes.

Did everything turn out the way you thought it would?
No. My arms arm still kind of funky looking. It may be one of those things that I revisit in the future. My sides along where my breasts are look kind of funky too. I was hoping that the lift would take some of that away but it's actually a separate procedure. Perhaps someday I'll revisit that too. My boobs look really really small (I was a large D and a large C before). Once they recover then gravity will round them out. Right now they look like cones.

There were some scary moments for me. During my first night they wanted to do something with my binder for my waist and as soon as they removed it, soooo much pain and swelling came rushing at me that I panicked and hyperventilated. I was crying because I couldn't catch my breath but crying was preventing me from breathing. The nurse totally talked me down. Also, my arms and hands swelled up to immense proportions. I had a few nicks on my hands and they looked like they had turned inside out from the swelling. It's only been in the last few days that the swelling has gone down.

I have a blood clotting disorder called Factor 5 Leiden but have only one genetic marker for it (meaning only one parent has it). I don't take medication for it and so far the only time it's reared its very ugly head was during a pregnancy that terminated at 24 weeks. However, my surgeon never neglected a single detail and I had sequential stockings the whole time I was in the hospital, I went home with embolism stockings, I had a bilateral scan of my calves before I even went to the surgical room and I had 14 days of lovenox shots (a blood thinner). Since I am hysterical when it comes to needles, my husband had to give me my shots every morning and every night.

Right now I have taken off all my ace bandages and my binder just to rest for a second (they're in the dryer now). It feels nice but I better not tempt fate. I just spent a whole lotta money for it and better take care of it.

Feel free to ask questions if you like : )

Addiction

I have a new addiction. Some people are addicted to drugs, cigarettes or alcohol. Some are addicted to reality game shows. I'm addicted to this show called, "The World Series of Pop Culture." What a FUN show!!! I love game shows like this!

http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/wsopc/series.jhtml

Watch it!

My boys

My husband has decided to take a father/son bonding trip to California in a few weeks. He and my son are going to do a marathon tour of Universal Studios, Disneyland, California Adventure, Sea World, The San Diego Zoo and Legoland.

Both my husband and I come from broken homes and are the product of being raised by a single mother. Taking a trip like this would have never occured to either of our fathers. It is going to be such a fabulous trip for them and both are extremely excited.

Sybil

I fell asleep on the couch and woke up watching "Sybil". Now Sybil is one of those movies that I've always wanted to watch but just never got around to. I just happen to wake up during a scene where Sybil (Sally Fields) has been hypnotized by her therapist and is remembering her mother torturing her first in the house then the barn (yanking her up to the second floor of the barn on a hook with her hands tied). I was instantly sick to my stomach and watched the scene play out like some violent train wreck. I thought to change the channel but left it alone. What a draining movie! I honestly don't know if I could sit through the whole thing. Or at least sit through it without feeling like I just ran a marathon. It breaks my heart knowing that there are people in the world who treat their children like that.

I'm coming up on 10 years

This September will mark 10 years of belly dance. WOW! Ten years! It really does seem like the time when I was a "baby dancer" was just yesterday and now our little troupe has become a professional non-profit entity with 7 members.
I have to give kudos to my husband for being my groupie through all these years. It hasn't been easy being a by stander while your wife keeps coming and going from gig to gig to competition to showcase.

I'm off for the week

So I am posting my guts out to make up for the times I won't have time to post. I'm sitting here loading CD's onto the IPod I gave my husband for his birthday (which is today). When I gave it to him yesterday he looked at me like "This is a Homer gift isn't it" (you have to watch "The Simpsons"). As the day progressed and more people called to wish him well, the more he talked about his IPod and the more (I think) he got excited about it. Now I see that he took it with him to work.

Score one for me for knowing what he wanted before he did.

Doesn't that just figure

When my daughter was very young (she's only 2 mind you) I decided that I was going to paint her room with cute little bugs and flowers and make her a "things with wings" themed bedroom. So I went out and bought wallpaper flowers and tons of rubber stamps and cute little paint kits to decorate her room with. I have ladybugs, bees, dragonflies and other assorted little buggies all set to go.

So what is the problem you ask? SHE'S AFRAID OF BUGS! Her daycare had a temporary bug problem this past semester and whenever the kids saw bugs on the floor they'd scream and started stomping. I found this out the day I like to refer to as the Great Rollie Pollie Slaughter of 2006. Hundreds of rollie pollies decided to congregate by the front door. *cue "Isn't it ironic" by Alanis Morrisette* Those bugs crawled from all their little homes in our big front yard. Who knows how long it took them(hours, days) but they arrived for their family reunion by my front door only to be greeted by a high pitched "BUUUUUUUUUUUG!!!" and then their brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles were wiped out with a pink Stride Rite sandal.

While trying to explain to her that Rollie Pollies were "good bugs" she was all squatted down looking at her devestation. For a brief moment I thought maybe she was feeling remorseful but it became apparent that she was looking for survivors.

So maybe I will go with a Princess themed room. Any suggestions?

What doesn't she do?

I say that because my co-worker always says that to me. She tells me I have four jobs. 1) Full time worker 2) husband and two children (7 and 2 years) 3) I teach belly dance at the local community college 4) I dance professional in a belly dance troupe (for 9 years now in September).

Whew! But then again I don't knit, spin wool, dye fibers, bead or make soap like my mother. I feel as if I am behind. Maybe I can squeeze some beading in around 2am.