Purple Little Pill

Last weekend I suffered some severe heartburn. If you know me I always sleep within arms length of a bottle of Tums. My general rule of thumb is when I'm eating fine I don't have heartburn. If I am eating junk, which I have been, I get heartburn often. Sunday night I found the big bottle of Nexium that my mom had given me 9 months ago. I have taken one pill a night for 5 straight nights. The heartburn is gone and I've actually slept better. No waking up reaching for the Tums. I think one of the side effects is GAS. I am having a hard time making it through the day without putting myself in embarrassing situations. When you are in front of kids 2 1/2 hours at a time it is hard to keep excusing myself to the restroom.

My embarrassing moment came Wednesday as I sat in a leather chair while the students worked on a project. The gas build up was more than I could bear so I decided to let out a little "tester." I would see if I could slip one out silently and odorlessly. Relieve a little pressure. It was silent, but DEADLY. A few students started gasping and asking who dealt it. After a few seconds of commotion I threatened a few girls because they were "off task." They had the nerve to ask me if I had eaten beans for lunch.

So what should I do? Take the purple little pill only on occasion, or keep taking the pill knowing I'll get better sleep at the expense of my colleagues and students?

Cake or Death

If you ever watch an Eddie Izzard stand up comedy routine make sure you see Dressed to Kill. In his monologue he talks about the Inquisition and how things might have been if the English were in charge. The following is a sample of dialogue:

Cake or death?
Cake please!
Very well.
(next)
Cake or death?
Uh, I'll have the cake.
Okay.
(next)
Cake or death?
Cake.
We've had a run on cake so it will be death.
But I want cake.
Oh, alright then.
(next)
Cake or death.
Death please. I MEAN CAKE.
Oh, you said death!

This came to mind as I sat and watched Animal Planet's Most Extreme as they analyzed the world's deadliest animals. More people are killed by hyenas, jelly fish and scorpions than sharks. Scorpions kill more than 1000 people a year. Yet, here in America sharks get all the publicity. Just as many more people are killed in car accidents than plane crashes, people fear flying more than riding in cars.

In other news: The Jeep is sold and delivered. It only got into the 80's today AND we got plenty of rain. Summer isn't over yet, but today was a breath of fresh air.

General Things

Successfully made it thru the 2nd week of school although we are currently experiencing our 19th consecutive day of 100 PLUS temperatures. This is rough on everyone because a few days it has been too hot to have outdoor recess and the other days it is almost too hot to stand outside monitoring the kids. The 10 day forecast calls for 2 more 100+ days and it looks like starting next Monday we will have temps ONLY in the 90's.

Seems like we have our Jeep sold. We will be a one car family without any car payments. In my 11 years of marriage we may have been without car payments for about 3 months. It is a nice feeling not being upside down on a trade or being stuck in a car we don't like. Pray our 2000 Neon serves us well. Not sure when we are going to pull the trigger on a used car. May go to an auction with a friend.

Made it to the gym 5 days in a row and have exercised 6 in a row. This may be harder to do since my wife will have to drop me off at school and she wouldn't generally pick me up until 5pm or later. A "resourceful" friend may give me rides to the gym after school and my wife could pick me up from there.

3 birthday parties for the daughter on Saturday. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Guess I'll have son duty then. Need to thoroughly clean the Jeep in 100 degree heat!

School Start Dates

I think the legislature of Big State finally passed a law that pushes back the start dates for schools next year. Actually there is a law already in place, but districts are allowed to petition and ask for an earlier start date and they are always granted the request. The new start dates will be the week of the 20 something as opposed to the August 7th start date that my wife's district had this year.

I remember starting school the Tuesday after Labor Day. YES, we started in September. I still remember those damp dew laden mornings that required a light jacket be worn. There was a true sense of seasons changing. Here in Big State it is August 23 and temperatures are still in the high 90's, low 100's. This means kids do not get outdoor recess if the temps hit 95. They only get 10 minutes if it gets up to 90. Forecast thru Wednesday, August 30th call for temps in the high 90's-low 100's. This is ridiculous.

I would be all for school starting after Labor Day weekend, we trim a few days off of our extended holidays, and school let out mid-June. The kids would truly be off school the hottest dog days of summer. Right now they ask all morning what the temperature is because their favorite time of the day is RECESS, then LUNCH, then MY CLASS!

Locked Out

My wife was outside tonight and I followed my daughter out as I was carrying out a bag of trash. I proceeded to shut the door behind me before realizing my son was wanting to come out also. I called out to my daughter asking her to open the door. She told me it was locked. Great, we were locked out and my 2 year old was inside. I peaked in the window next to the door motioning to him to unlock the door. I could hear him moving the deadbolt. I'm sure he was locking the door even more. He remained calm and finally opened unlocked the door. I knew he could because he has unlocked and opened the door before and let himself outside without us knowing. He's a pretty smart guy. Takes after his mommy.

One Car Family

A guy I know thru church and school came by today and took our 2003 Jeep Liberty for a test drive. I let him have it the whole afternoon because he is in need of a 2nd vehicle. Our lease is up late November and we have 2000 miles left to spare. Our dilemna is whether or not to sell it right now. I think he is interested in buying it since he is between jobs and he needs a vehicle to drive to interviews. If we sell it we will then be a one car family. It will only disrupt our life a little bit as my wife could drop my daughter and me by school on the way to her school. We would only do this until we could buy a cheap 2nd hand car. We are a little apprehensive about this, but trust things will work out.

I am going to break down the financial potentials of our vehicle.

Actual cash value or trade in value is $9000.
Selling it outright we could expect to get $11000.
Retail similar vehicles are sitting on lots for $14995.

There is a $6000 discrepancy between what a dealer is willing to give and and for what it will try to sell it for. We are actually only trying to break even and that means selling it for about $10600.

Seeking reliable transportation, willing to spend up to $4000.

Anger Management

I turned myself in to AMA today, Anger Management Anonymous. I have never raised my voice to my wife in the 11 years that we have been married, but that doesn't stop me from yelling at my kids. I have a 5 year old girl and a 2 year old boy and they are really good kids. Our daughter never gave us an ounce of trouble until our son turned 2 in June. It really started before he was 1 when he started getting most of the attention you could see her doing whatever she could to be recognized too. Now that they are old enough to interact it seems that the past 2 months there have been more negatives than positives. First off our son started getting "bullying" reports from church. Then when he started his daycare late July he was receiving bad reports too.

My daughter has mastered negotiating and she is extremely jealous and possessive while my son is mischevious and onery. One night this week while driving home after dining at Arby's they both started bickering and when I looked back he had a hand full of her hair. He was suprised when some came out and stuck to his shake sticky hands. What was I to do, I was driving? It all came to a head this morning when during the 20 minutes that we have together before heading out to school the "MINE" followed with screaming and hitting started. Both received their consequence. Then my son insisted on having a sippy cup that was full of soured milk. When I gave him a new one he threw a tantrum and reached for the sink where I had just sprayed for ants.

"STOP IT!" I yelled. Then I realized that I just yelled at a 2 year old. All of my Love and Logic training for dealing with behavioral children just went out the window. I thought about it all day and still struggle with how to get control of my kids and their bickering. It has gotten to the point where it is easier to split them up between mommy and daddy and go out seperately. Or take long drives and hope he doesn't yank out her hair.

While driving they can fight over the horses they see out their windows. "MINE" they both claim as it turned into a tennis match of MINES.

What to do?

At least tonight after they played in the sprinkler they both went down without a fight. Praise God!

Here They Come

School starts tomorrow and ready or not the kids will be showing up before 8am. This year will be unique in that my daughter will start kindergarten and she will be attending my school. This is my first school aged child and I've yet to get sentimental about it. Maybe tomorrow. It will be weird just knowing she is in the same building as I am.

Top 5 concerns I have about her being in school:
5. bathroom issues: she won't be able to have mommy or daddy assist in wiping
will she actually take time out to go to the bathroom
4. teacher's kid: will my parenting skills be subject to scrutiny?
3. will she sit still? she had a hard time today sitting still in church worship service
2. new friends: she never has problems making friends, but once recently she was the outsider to 2 friends and she "felt" being left out
1. extra curricular things: If I go early she has to go with me. If there is something after school I have her to take with me.

Other than that she will do fine. I have a great relationship with the teacher that she was assigned to. My biggest worry about school right now is finding a couple pair of comfortable shoes to wear.

2 Things

Thing 1: Sat through a teacher training yesterday that didn't have anything to do with my subject area. It would be equivalent to making a Spanish teacher sit through a teacher training for French. I just don't understand.

Thing 2: I left my tooth paste in St. Louis and all this week I've been brushing my teeth with Dora bubble gum flavored and Bugs Bunny bubble fruit flavored. It just doesn't feel like I've brushed my teeth. My colleagues haven't said anything yet though.

Dolittle

On my way to St. Louis I drive Hwy 44, or old Rt. 66, and I drive by a town called Dolittle just outside of Rolla, Missouri. I can't help but wonder how the town got it's name. Did the original people who lived in that town do anything? Were they deadbeats?

Saturday and Sunday I did very little around the house. Saturday morning I was all ready to take the kids to the gym while I worked out when the wife mentioned that my son hasn't stayed home in over 2 weeks since his daycare started, we worked out the previous Saturday morning and of course he is at church Sunday's from 8-noon. So I stayed home. This is a hard thing for me to do. I've always got to be doing something. Saturday I did leave the house 2 times. Once, for a drive thru breakfast and a second time I went to the grocery store for ice. I did make a homemade pizza for dinner Saturday. Everything from scratch including the crust. 1/2 bar-b-que chicken and 1/2 spicy sausage. Major accomplishment considering we average eating out 3 meals a day. Sunday I did go to church and to eat lunch afterwards, but the rest of the day I stayed home.

School started for teachers yesterday and it was a slight welcome in my book. After school I mowed 3 front yards and one whole yard and actually felt like I accomplished something. I even slept better last night.

I think I made the trip to Missouri last week in fear of doing little.

I'm Back

The Ballgame: I went with Minhaul to the game and it was hot. We parked for FREE on the White Castle parking lot. A friend of mine lives next door to a WC manager and he worked it out to where we could park for free. I was a little worried that for some reason the car might get towed. It didn't.

We received our tickets and I saw section 132 and got excited...."WE GOT GREAT SEATS." Minhaul then informed me it was section 132 Standing Room Only "seats." After the first inning Minhaul scoped out some seats about 25 rows up and we sat in them the whole game. Cards lost 5-3 in an uneventful game. They currently are stuck in a 7 game losing streak, but are still in first place.

The Ride Home: This was my 3rd trip to St. Louis in 2 months. It is at best a 9 1/2 hour trip, but it usually turns into an 11 hour trips with unforseen traffic or multiple restroom breaks. It is entertaining to listen to songs you haven 't heard in years as you travel across cattle country. I personally do not want to listen to another Cher song in my life. I also think George Michael tunes should be banned.

Last Day Off: Today is my last official day off for the summer. I do have a meeting at school from 1-4 today that I'll make part of. I do have my daughter and I don't think she'll sit quietly for the 3 hours.

Yesterday I went to school and Pigs helped me get my classoom going. Last year she stressed as I waited until the last possible minute to get my room ready for "Supply Night" or meet the teacher night. This is fun for her, necessary for me. I get professional help in setting up my room and she gets a full detail of her car. Bartering is not bad!

First Pitch Tickets

The St. Louis Cardinals are playing their first season in the new Busch Stadium and I have really wanted to go to a game this inaugural season. My family has been to St. Louis 3 times this summer and I've yet to make a game. Tickets are hard to come by as most seats are sold out. A person can only buy standing room only seats or single seats for all games. You could go to Stubhub.com or other ticket agencies and get tickets, but this usually costs a good 25% above face value when all is said and done.

The Cardinals have a "First Pitch" ticket program. The first 125 people lined up outside the ticket office at 9a.m. purchase a voucher good for 2 tickets for $11 total. Considering the cheapest seats are $13 this will at least be a $15 savings. I went down this morning with my daughter and bought a voucher. After juggling possible options of who I would take to the game Minhaul opted to forego his softball game and committed to going to tonight's game. We will need to arrive at Gate 4-15 minutes before game time to get our 2 tickets. We could get Field Box seats valued at $78 each or general reserved seats valued at $13 each. I guess some of the excitement is built around CHANCE. The type of seat depends on which seats are turned back into the box office from players, promo companies, etc. Generally unused tickets.

I am excited to be going. The easy route would have been to stay home and watch the game on TV. I really didn't have anyone that interested in going with me so when I went down this morning I really went down in blind faith.

General comments about my experience so far:
1. If you take a 5 year old take something for her/him to do. Otherwise go alone.
2. You can actually park near the stadium for $2. I was worried about parking and almost took the Metrolink to the stadium.
3. Arrive by around 8am if you want a decent spot in line. For weekend or Cubs games get there even earlier. I am sure some people will camp out overnight for these tickets.
4. Plan on using up 3 hours of your morning time. Left my mom's about 7:20am and arrived back just after 10am.
5. Take a foldable chair and something to read. Or strike up a conversation with complete strangers......easy for me!

I am sure tomorrow night's post will be about my first game to the "new" Busch Stadium. Or the 10 hour drive back to Texas.

All You Can BOWL(not eat)

Busy day here in St. Louis today. Mowed for 2 hours early. My daughter and I met a friend and his daughter at the theatre and we watched Ant Bully. After that I met Minhaul for All You Can Bowl for 2 hours for $5.95...shoes included. I paid for my daughter and she bowled for the first time in over 2 years. Her first game was a 79 with bumpers.

I bowled my best game ever...258. 10 strikes and 2 spares. I think my 5 game series went: 190, 137, 200, 258, 155. I even bowled one lefted handed game and scored 157. Minhaul bowled his first ever left handed game and broke 100. I needed a day like this because my brother and Minhaul dominated the last 2 bowling outings. I think between my daughter and Minhaul we bowled 15+ games. We probably saved at least $20 with this special.

Finished the night with a little swimming action at my friend Andy's house. Tomorrow I hope to get tickets to the Cardinals game before heading back to Texas on Wednesday.

Up Hill BOTH Ways

Remember the stories your parents or grandparents would tell you about walking to school, two miles, up hill, BOTH WAYS? ANd thru 2 feet of snow! Well I helped BillyV move yesterday and loading the truck we worked UP HILL and unloading the truck we worked UP HILL.

We started Saturday morning about 9:30 and it took about 2 1/2 hours. We had to move boxes and furniture from the basement of a local pastor who was generous to let them store their items for free. The logistics had us walking out a basement door, across a flat area, and then turning left to negotiated a huge tree and then up a steep gravel hill that was at least 20 steps long. From there you made your way to the driveway and another 20 uphill steps to the truck. If you had the energy, you walked the last 10 steps UP the ramp. This was a tough trek walking without anything let alone pulling a dolly stacked with 3 boxes across the gravel. Of about 15 trips with the dolly that I took I only had 2 spills.

It only took about 1 1/2 hours to unload. Most of the stuff went into the ground level garage, but some went up about 20 steps to the front door which led into the living area. A few items even went up one more level to the bedrooms.

I was impressed with the generals(dad and dad-n-law) who were near 60 in age. Then you had BillyV and myself at 40 and then a couple who came and helped who are mid to low 30 ish. AND she is expecting. I am so thankful that this couple made the trek too.

I ended up with one tick bite, a slight sun burn on my neck and shoulders, probably a little dehydrated(100 degree index) and this morning my calves are BURNING. Ibuprofen will be my friend today.

Red Lobster

Last night my family dined at Red Lobster for $16. That was $38 for 2 entrees and a kids meal, minus $25 for a gift card, minus $4 coupon, add $6 tip. Not bad for plenty of food with left overs to bring home.

Philly Connection: $11.30

Our Wednesday night dinner plans usually include dining at the Philly Connection. It is "Kids Eat Free" with the purchase of a large combo. Our dinner total came to $11.30.

The following was our order:

Large Original Philly Cheesesteak, no onions as a combo: fries and drink included. Basically the kids split this one,$7.39
Kids Philly Cheesesteak meal, with onions: fries and drink included. This was my meal,$FREE.
Wednesday special sandwich: chicken chunks with cheese, no onions: $2.99. The wife ate this one.

This is plenty of food for us and we even had french fries left over. We visit enough that the lady was able to punch in our order last night without help. I did recommend this place to a friend and I was SHOCKED that he didn't like it. He thought it was bland. Oh well, taste is a preference.

Eat Cheap

I am going to start posting cheap dining experiences since this is a specialty of mine. I may be able to pass on some tips to those of you with families to feed on a tight budge.

Sunday after church my family had lunch at Taco Cabana. The following is the order and food description.

1. Personal Fajita Skillet-$4.99. This meal comes with fajita chicken served on a hot iron skillet accompanied with rice, beans, lettuce, pico, sour cream and 2 tortillas.
2. 3 Taco Combo-$4.99. This meal comes with 3 tacos of choice(beef or chicken), crispy or soft tortillas, a bowl of tortilla chips, a decent side of queso and a 20 oz. drink.
3. 3 extra tortillas.

The meal total was $10.99. This gave us plenty of food to share with a little bit of the beans and rice left over. Nobody left the table hungry. Sharing the soda does lend itself to a few refills, taking turns and trading germs, but we share the same toilet so what's the big deal. Our only sacrifice on the drink is that my wife would prefer tea or coke and I try to mix a 1/2 Coke and 1/2 diet Coke.

Let me know how you cut corners and save when it comes to eating. I've got a few people I know asking me "Where can we eat cheap today?"

Bugs

Flies
In the movie Tombstone, Morgan Earp(Bill Paxton) says, "I know what they say about live and let live, but there aint no livin' with bugs Wyatt." This weekend we went to a pool party in the neighborhood and if you've read my blog in the past you know my feelings about flies(HATE THEM). When you sit there and watch fly after fly land on the deviled eggs, cheese dip, pasta salad, etc. you kind of lose your desire to eat. Especially when you know that they vomit and poop each time they land. Great diet plan I guess. I only ate the meat that was covered FULLY by the foil. We were at the party for about 2 hours when the host picked up one of the 2 remaining deviled eggs. "NO!" I screamed silently, but it was too late. I almost lost it for her. Tip: If hosting a party keep the food INSIDE!!!!!! Then keep a fly swatter handy.

Crickets
Pigs posted about how her home was being invaded by crickets so you can go to her site and read about it http://worldofpig.blogspot.com/ . I don't have the cricket problems at my house.

Ants
Typically when someone in Texas talks about ants they are talking about FIRE ANTS. They are nasty ants that attack when disturbed and have on occasion killed someone who reacted negatively to the bites. But right now I'm talking about the general ant. The one who in human distance travels about 10 miles in hopes of finding a crumb or a puddle of spilled Pepsi. When we came back from Missouri mid July we found ants all over the house. And since this time we have sprayed and sprayed and they still manage to infiltrate our house looking for either water, a cooler habitat, or food. They are on the counters, in the pantry, in the bathroom, scattered across the carpet. You name it. Fortunately they aren't the biting kind so until it rains or cools off we'll just learn to co-habitate with these arthopods.

What's bugging you?

To Go or Not to Go

My summer break is slowly coming to an end. My first official report date is August 7 making the next 14 days extremely valuable. That said I have one more chance to trek up north to the great picturesque state of Missouri. My best friend BillyV is moving from the Camdenton area to a small town just outside of Springfield called Nixa. There are many people that I do not hesitate to help with no questions asked. BillyV is one of the few that I would go the extra to help out regardless of the circumstances. I've known of "the move" for about a month and told BillyV that I could possible drive the 8 hrs. and help him out. My wife has school commitments and all I would need to do is bring my daughter along.

The following is the lists of PROS and CONS on making the trip

PROS
BillyV needs the MAN power(I think he has 2 other people helping-dad and father-in-law)
Friendship-my friendship with BillyV can't be replaced
Memories-I would journey the additional 3 hours to St. Louis and visit family again and use my FREE Six Flags ticket, possibly go to a Cardinals game with my dad, and spend time with my aging parents.
Boredom-I would probably be bored here at home anyway
Delivery-I could take my treadmill to my mom and 3 cookie jars to my aunt

CONS
The biggest con is it will cost me at least $150 in gasoline costs. My dad usually fills my gas tank once when I visit(-$35) and gives me a little cash so that would offset my costs a little.


I would probably drive back on Wednesday or Thursday so I would still have 3-4 FREE days before going back to school for trainings. I think in the long run I would regret NOT doing this and I usually don't spend much $$$ in St. Louis since my family usually treats and such. I could maybe even work for my brother one day if I had too.

Chime in and let me know what your opinion is.

It's HOT

It is kind of pathetic when the news meteorologists have to create new ways to draw the viewers in by leading them to think it is either going to A) RAIN or B) get cooler. All week they have shown a chance of rain for Saturday along with a cool front blowing thru the area. "Is there rain in the forecast? Stay tuned!" The viewing area that they've included expanded by 200 miles to include a trace of rain near San Antonio and I live near Dallas. Our cold front that blew in today dropped the temps to 99 degrees.

We finally called the solar screen guy and had him come out and give us an estimate of what it would cost to cover our back 23 windows.....$525. We would probably recoup that money in the short run and another positive would be that our bedroom would stay a little darker. Should consider putting one on my daughter's room since she wakes up at 7am regardless of what time she goes to bed.

It was hot across the nation so heat in Texas probably isn't getting anyone's sympathy vote. Although I was a little jealous this morning when my dad say it was in the low 60's just outside of St. Louis this morning. I do wonder during July and August why I moved to Texas. BillyV can you answer me???????

Off to a pool party....got to beat the heat!