Our Own Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds"

Ever seen that movie? It's amazing how creepy birds can be. After a few errands this morning Holland and Egypt were in the kitchen getting ready for a snack. All of a sudden, about 30 birds came swooping into our three feeders. I grabbed the camera (I mean, what else would a good blogger do?) and took a short video through the kitchen window. It's a little blurry and it was hard to get the overall picture of how many birds kept flying in. But it's amazing to me that we witnessed that. It wasn't creepy like the movie, but it was just weird and amazing and wonderful all at the same time.

I've Been Scammed!!

This just makes me so mad. With all we have going on, I'm constantly online either researching all the different ailments my kids have, finding homeschool resources or looking for ways to make some extra cash. This is what I was doing and got scammed. Snookered. Taken. I can see how elderly people can get ripped off so easily. If I wasn't going to be so busy writing a book about the big puzzles that my children are, I would get involved with keeping people from being taken.

Several months ago Holland's OT told me about 2 different grants. One was for this exercise vehicle and another was a dollar amount to help with medical bills. I didn't get either grant, but I thought there must be more and scoured online to find out. It was impossible to find anything. It's like back in high school when all the guidance counselors told me there were just hundreds of thousands of dollars to be had in scholarships. Well, I didn't live in New Jersey; my family didn't farm and I wasn't the daughter of an entomologist. (That's about how crazy they all were). I found several companies that offered CD's to help you navigate the web to find all this money. FREE MONEY! whoopie! I found one that charged shipping only. I got the CD and it wasn't any more clear than what I was already looking at. I gave up trying to figure out how access to services had anything to do with getting or writing grants.

Tonight super-hero is checking our balance online (again). We are so tight and can't figure out why. He doesn't get paid until Friday, but I had to buy food and Holland has two doctor appointments tomorrow. I'm in the kitchen cooking dinner and he starts yelling. I come in to see what in the world is going on. Turns out we have been paying for a service that I was conned into signing up for. That CD I bought? It was actually a monthly service fee for accessing the information. Are you kidding me? I thought that's what the CD was?? And to top it off, I mysteriously signed up for THREE of these! It goes back to like April. It was about $300. Three times every month. And because I didn't "cancel" (cancel WHAT?) within 7 days of receiving this valuable information, they automatically took the money out of my checking account. I cannot believe they are actually getting away with this. I found other people online who had the same thing happen to them. There's no phone number to contact them; just an email address.

Now I've got to figure out if Hardy Myers (for you non-Oregonians, he's our state's Attorney General) even cares if this is happening. I can file a complaint, but what will actually be done?
It's just unreal to me that a company can be so vague and manipulative to the consumer.

I'm so forgetful

This weekend was a whirlwind of activities. The boys both had soccer games at different times, at different locations. That meant finding all the paraphanalia that goes with soccer season; getting food in everyone and packing the cars with water, snacks, coats, chairs, etc. As I was watching Romania's game, I was chatting with another mom and mid-conversation realized that I had missed the team picture re-takes for Holland. My mind was so bogged down with the entire week of places to be, things to do that I completely forgot. I was also trying to get ready for Egypt's birthday party. It wasn't anything fancy, but at 2.45 I was still running around buying ice cream, wrapping paper and Necco wafers. So it's really not surprising that I forgot.

The birthday party was nice and so very low-key. We had my sister and her kids over and both sets of grandparents. The kids just played outside and we watched to make sure Egypt and Cutie Patootie didn't escape the backyard. I didn't get very many good pictures because the batteries in my camera died as soon as the candles were lit. I ran around the house looking for batteries with juice in them. We have reject batteries still in the box we keep the good ones. The boys just end up switching them around so I never know which ones actually work. They go from the Rokenbok, to the Wii, to remote control things, to Holland's newest pet project: his battery powered inventions. (Which reminds me I have to get a picture or a video of what he made. It's a shoe box made into a vehicle, with a pinwheel that spins, an alarm that rings all while it actually moves - forwards and backwards! I'm very impressed he could do this)

This week there's more insanity with ceramics, doctor appointments, blood draws (for me and Holland!), the homeschool co-op, meeting with my ES, speech and OT.

Happy Birthday Egypt!

Today is Egypt's birthday. She kept asking me when the people were coming over for her party. Even the boys have trouble with this. They think the party has to happen on the day of the birthday. I let her open one gift - a pink tutu skirt, kitty shirt and sweater. She was most excited about the "ballerina" skirt and ran around the house, twirling and spinning.

She is having so much fun withe the cats. Here's a quick video I took on my camera. She set up a box on a chair and is reading to the cats. It's hard to hear, but she keeps saying "something" is "destroyed".

Finally They Have Names

For some reason, I take too long to figure out names. It happened with the kids. Holland's (real) name was decided almost immediately. The grandparents emailed us pictures of him right after he was born and from the list of names we had, there was no disagreement on his name. The next two, were completely different. Romania's (real) name took me almost 3 days to come up with. Mostly because it's so unusual and Super-Hero really didn't like it. But in the end, he agreed with me. Same thing with Egypt's name. Not only did we not agree on a first name, but I complicated things by adding two middle names - those of great-grandmothers.

But here they are. Super-Hero keeps calling them "Molly 2" and Millicent 2". I've decided he doesn't get to know the real names because he won't stop calling them that. I'm so much more original than calling a cat "the second". So, kitty in the first picture is "LuLu" and kitty in the second is "Fancy". Lulu's name was easy for me to come up with. It just fit her personality. Fancy took awhile. I wanted something that wasn't too long, or weird, or comical. But in the end, it was her face, it was 'fancy'. Here they are lounging on the couch around 9 tonight. I love how they sleep and walk all over each other. When I was taking this picture, Fancy got up from her nap and walked right over to the camera and started to paw at it. Then she climbed on my shoulder and head and walked around. The whole time LuLu, just lay there looking at her sister, probably wondering why she was disturbing her nap.

Kitty Adventures

These two are so hilarious together. Holland and Super-Hero built this cat post covered with leftover carpet we had in the basement. They actually climb up and down it, wrestle and fall off it. It's funny to watch them wiggle their bums just before they pounce.

Pumpkin Party

This afternoon we were invited to our uncle's house for hot dogs, smores and picking pumpkins. My sister and her kids came too and the kids got to search for a pumpkin that had each of their names carved into it. They had such a great time running around. Here are some pictures of the pumpkin part; I'll have to make another scrapbook to fit the rest of the pictures!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Because I'm such an industrious blogger, here's another slideshow. I didn't bother taking out the duplicate pictures. It won't kill you to see them twice. Make sure you click on "full screen" (I paid for that feature, so you'd better use it!)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Welcome the Newest Members

Last night we picked up our new kitties. I was planning on giving one to Egypt for her birthday, but the kids quickly became possessive about which one belonged to them. So now they are both mine :-) They are both female and very sweet. Holland made a little box for them to sleep in and put a sign on the bathroom saying they were sleeping and not to disturb. We are having fun watching them roll around together, and play under the couch trying to grab our feet. Cats are so entertaining.

Science Guy

Today was the last day of Holland's "fun with electricity" class at the co-op. He had a great time building circuits and lighting up little bulbs. The last experiment had me holding a balloon that was popped when the teacher made an electrical connection.

When we got home he was still so excited about having the circuits he built at home that he built this circuit that lit a bulb and made a pinwheel turn. Here's a short video I took on my camera.

Everybody On Your Toes

Today was just one of those weird days that you can't do anything about. It actually started last night when I got a call from Holland's psychiatrist at 9:30! We hadn't been in for awhile and I had asked him several weeks ago about possible med changes since we started the gluten-free diet. He called to say he'd had an opening and did I want it? It meant a lot of finagling because it was right when Romania needed to be picked up at the bus hub. I said I'd take it and I would call the receptionist in the morning to check on the time.



So at 9:30 at night, I call the only person that can help me out - a mom of one of Romania's friends at school. Would it be possible to have Romania come home with you? Sure, no problem. So in the morning I called the school to make sure they knew about the transportation change and also emailed his teacher. Whew. Then I called the doctor's office to confirm the time. "The doctor is not in today." Um. Exsqueeze me? He just called me last night to offer me this time slot. She said she'd email him, but was pretty confident that I had my pages mixed up.



Two hours after calling his cell and leaving a voice mail, the doctor called me and said "oops! I got my days mixed up". Oh boy. He had no idea how involved I already was in this ordeal. This meant undoing the transportation mess I'd created, and telling Romania he couldn't go to his friend's house. I called my friend and asked if she'd still be available for tomorrow afternoon? Yes, she would. Great. I offered to flip the deal and have her son come over to our house (as a little peace offering for all the trouble I'd - I mean the doctor - had caused). So I called back the school and explained that now to confuse the school even further, I needed Romania to come home on his regular bus and to boot, why not throw his friend on there too?



The boys had a great time running around in the backyard. And they also got to play legos, Rokenbok and a little Wii Star Wars. I even got Egypt to clean her room (gasp!). I told her the friend's brother was coming when his mom picked him up and would she like to show the boy her room? Yes - she would! Okay, then you should go clean up your room so he can see it. In 10 minutes it was spotless! Of course, most of it ended up in her closet, but lately I've been cleaning the same way.

Check This Out

Since we are being bombarded with talk of the upcoming election, I thought why not add one more potato to the pot. I don't get to listen to the radio much, but Michael Savage has a great radio program that is really addressing some important points about our two stellar candidates. Since the mainstream media is controlled by those leaning towards the liberal agenda (that was tactful, right?), we don't get to hear much about what is really happening with current events. Here's a link to his website and many eye-opening articles on information you probably won't hear on Good Morning America tomorrow.
Michael Savage

No Child Models Here

Egypt's 4th birthday is coming up and I always try to do pictures to mark each birthday. Since Romania had school off today, I thought I could get a few pictures with all three of them. I do not know what I was thinking. Why did I think my kids would do what they were told in a photo session? Why did I think they wouldn't touch things, roll on their brother, make faces, laugh their heads off or walk out of the room? So any fear you had that I was going to subject my kids to the rigors of child modeling is out the window. Seriously. How do they get kids to stand still for pictures? Do they fire you if your kid doesn't stand the right way? I always thought it would be fun to get Egypt in the hanna andersson catalogs because she's got that Scandinavian look. You know, earn a few extra bucks for college or pay some bills. It ain't happenin'. I didn't even stay to see the pictures on the computer.

Oh and for my headache of a picture session I drove to a McDonald's drive through and ordered a drink and fries for me and Holland.

I Heart Electricity

We had dinner at my in-law's house on Tuesday to celebrate grampa's 79th birthday. The kids got to bed kind of late and I knew I'd be waking at least one up in the morning to get to the bus on time. It was Egypt. I barely got her dressed and was later thankful that I took the time to do this. After waving good-bye to Romania, I chatted with another mom and then headed back home. It was now that the garage door opener decided to stop working. It's been fussy lately, sometimes working, most of the time not. We can never seem to get out to Sears to buy a new battery. To make it all the more comical, I didn't have a house key on my key chain. And I had also forgotten my pager. Couldn't send an email to super-hero, couldn't even call my sister. So we did what any normal person locked out of their house would do: we went to Target.

I had to kill about an hour and a half before Sears opened. So we wandered around Target, picking up Halloween candy, kitchen scissors and tape. Finally it's 10 so we drive over to Sears. Showed the salesman the remote and he picked up a battery and handed it to me. I was able to pry open the thing before we left and put the new battery in. We get home and it's probably 10.45. More comedy: the door still wouldn't open. Holland had eaten a rice cake for breakfast and Egypt didn't even get anything before we left. The only way I was going to get in touch with super-hero was to email him from my sister's house. He answered pretty quickly and said he'd meet us at 11.30 at a store halfway between us. My sister gave my kids a few things to eat and as I was leaving asked her to reply to his message to say we were coming.

We got to the location and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Every 10 or 15 minutes I debated whether I should leave or not. If I left and missed him he would not be happy. Thirty minutes goes by. I'm thinking, 'he'd better have been in a car accident because 30 minutes is ridiculous'. The kids and I were so hungry, we opened the Halloween candy and started to eat lunch. Since Holland's diet now requires no gluten, I couldn't just run to McDonald's for something to eat. Finally at 12.15, he comes into the parking lot. He said he was waiting for my answer to make sure I was meeting him. My sister got sidetracked with her kids and doing an inventory for a new part-time job and didn't remember to reply until noon. I gave super-hero all the remote pieces and the batteries and he said he'd stop on his way home. We were locked out about 4 1/2 hours and after not having breakfast, Holland decided he wanted pancakes for lunch. So I'm exhausted from my morning of non-productivity and decide to let Holland build with Rokenbok in his room. His design turned out pretty cool. I'll have to get a picture before someone falls on it or something.

Oh yeah. We still cannot get the remote to work.

Not So Fast

We keep getting these bills from the car accident that Egypt and I were in back in February. I keep ignoring them because, well, I'm not paying them! I finally had to call the billing service to find out why it wasn't getting paid. She told me that the other insurance denied the claim. What?!? So, I dig through my paperwork and find the other person's insurance number, call and leave a message asking why they haven't paid. He calls back and says that my insurance needs to pay and then they will get reimbursed from the other insurance. He then asks if I'm still receiving treatment. Oh - I hate these questions! In the beginning I would get bugged at least once a week asking when my treatment would be done. I answered, "No, not right now." "OK. Good, then I'll go ahead and write up a report and close out your case." Ummm. Excuse me?!! I was actually able to think fast enough to realize what he was doing! I told him that I would not be closing the case until next February, a year after the accident. They are so sneaky, those insurance agents. I wouldn't be able to get anymore treatment if I had agreed with him. And if I had had kids around me, distracting me, I wouldn't even have realized that he was trying to close my case.

Yummy Pancakes!

I finally opened the pancake mix that I bought last week. The price could give milk or bread a run for their money. I figured it's about 30 cents an ounce. Which doesn't seem like a lot until you look at this piddly bag of 24 ounces and the recipe for one batch of pancakes says: "yields 6, four-inch pancakes". Wow. That's a lot. (I'm rolling my eyes). My griddle that my mom gave me (I just typed 'girdle' and had to correct that before moving on! Spellcheck is completely worthless.) has gone kaput. I can only cook one lonely pancake at a time on the stove in a skillet, but Holland was really craving pancakes. He ate 2 ricecakes for breakfast before we took Romania to the bus stop, so I figured I needed to do something more.

The brand is Pamela's and I think they are equal or even better in taste than these buttermilk pancakes I've been making lately (sorry gramma Nora!) The mix can be used for pancakes, waffles or even as a flour in any baking recipe. One of the tricks I'm learning about gluten-free cooking is that you have to spray the pan or griddle or iron that you are using before cooking. I made that mistake with the first two little pancakes I put on the pan. I usually don't spray a non-stick pan, but after scraping pancake off, I decided I'd better follow the directions.

Egypt ate three pancakes and Holland had two. He usually can barely finish one pancake, so this was great for him. I'm still trying to figure out how to fill him up. He ate constantly all morning while we were doing school. It's all healthy stuff, so not complaining, but sometimes I wish he'd just eat a pudding cup and get on with it!

Now I just need to get my hands on some black market Pamela's so we can afford to eat pancakes for dinner.

Dining Out on Gluten-Free Pizza

Tonight was the night. October 1st. This really good pizza joint would be introducing their gluten-free menu. Holland was so excited. We picked Romania up from the bus stop, got Holland changed into his soccer clothes and met super-hero dad at the restaurant. Their gluten-free pizza came in one size, so Holland got a pepperoni pizza all to himself. Here he is enjoying his first dining out experience since being diagnosed with celiac. (I even tasted it and it wasn't that bad!)