A slighty scary moment...

So we were on our way to school this morning and coming down to an intersection when an elderly woman pulled out of a gas station and stopped in the lane of oncoming traffic. I assumed this was to wait for me to let her in (which I was going to do). So I stopped to give her ample room even though she did NOT have a blinker on to indicate that she wanted to get over (which I absolutely hate, but whatever she was already in a traffic lane) but she sat there. So I waited thinking maybe she didn't realize I had stopped. Meanwhile, traffic from the oncoming direction (to her) was now coming at her...she still didn't move forcing people to have to veer around her into the far lane. As people in their cars are staring at her jaws open in disbelief she STILL continues to sit in the wrong lane, I have still left ample space for her to move to the correct side of the road thinking that she is going to realize it at some point...she doesn't. So at this point, I decided to go ahead and pull all the way up to the white line so the sensor would trip so that the 80 cars behind me would not have to sit all morning while we waited. As I went around her and looked, she was looking off towards the other direction, completely unaware that she was in oncoming traffic. The light turned green for us, we began to move forward, those of us on the correct side of the road and she on the incorrect side and turned into the lane almost into a minivan a few cars back from me. Of course I had the girls in the car with me and I am thinking, had she been coming at me head on from the wrong direction, what would I do? I am all for older adults retaining independence and I agree with my mother that our city doesn't provide adequate transportation for our elderly residents so they have to have a way to get around but there has to be a point where we draw a line. After the 86 year old woman that almost caused me to lose Nora when I was 8 months pregnant with her because she failed to recognize that she needed to yield on a green light, I am very leery of elderly drivers...especially when my children are involved. I just hope that at some point she realized what she did and stops to think that maybe she shouldn't be driving before she hurts herself or someone else.

Why is it?

That almost every morning I am late to work because I have to fight to get Logan and/or Nora out of the house and to school? Its not because we don't have enough time, goodness knows they're up at the crack of 5:30, we don't have to leave until 6:40 or so but the rule is that they have to get dressed before they can play and that means if they have time left before we have to leave, that is the time they have left to play. It used to be that we didn't have time for play, they used to actually sleep until 6:30 or so (I miss those days) but now they are up, they get dressed, brush teeth and are rearing to go before I'm even out of the shower. So today I'm ready to walk downstairs and the argument was that Logan wanted to use the binoculars and hadn't gotten to use them long enough. I told her nicely that I was sorry but it was time to go downstairs. Neither one of them made a move to go, the both continued to ignore/argue with me. So I said again, "It is time to go, please go downstairs and get your shoes on"
Logan: "No, I didn't get to use these long enough"

Ok, so now I'm pissed. I don't care that she didn't get to use the binoculars, because every day there is an issue, and everyday I am late for work or close to it and I get there cranky. I have a job where I am supposed to leave my personal issues outside and be fully present for the children I serve. How the hell am I supposed to do that when I don't have even a moment to process between home and school. So I came up with a solution. I'm not going to be late for work anymore, whoever is ready to leave with me leaves with me, whoever isn't then Charles has to take to school and HE gets to be late to work once in a while and get in trouble with his boss. I thought this an excellent solution...so I presented it at dinner.

His response, that would double his gas expense, thus making no sense at all. Oh, but it makes perfect sense for me to continue to be late for work and start my day out crabby? I bet it would only take it happening one time for it to stop...well....I can dream anyway.

To top it all off, it sounds like I'm not going to get to run Thursday due to a possible stress fracture in my right foot but through my own research it sounds more like sesamoditis...either way it doesn't look good for running or hockey for a while, I'll know more tomorrow. But I am playing paintball no matter what!

A pain in the toe

So I'm not sure what I've done but somehow I have managed to injury my big toe on my right foot and it hurts like the dickens! Yesterday as I was standing at the sink brushing my teeth I noticed that I was having some trouble standing on my foot but I have noticed that in the past if I wear my birkenstocks for prolonged periods I have foot issues, so I figured I'd put my running shoes on and see if that helped. Well, it didn't...I am having to walk on the outside of my foot and I can't figure out if it is the toe or the ball of my foot that I have hurt. And I wouldn't care except I have a game tomorrow morning and Beth and I are running a 5k Thanksgiving morning so I guess I need to get this looked at if its not feeling better by Monday...grr!

We finally got a family picture taken today, it actually went relatively smoothly and other than Nora having an unexplained scratch on her chin I think they turned out ok. It was the first one we've had done since Logan was about a year and a half. I'd like to get one of the girls together but their patience was wearing thin and at 49 bucks a package one was enough thank you. So we're going to set up the Chanukah bush next weekend and take one ourself! I was very proud at how well the girls responded to the photographer, it took a while and they were very patient!

A Nora Post

In typical second child fashion (I suppose, I'm an only child), poor Nora seems to be kind of an after thought in my posts. I guess it's because she's in a steady stage at her life where nothing too exciting happens, but I always feel bad because it seems like that with a lot. But today she turned 2 and a half so I felt that was worth mentioning because it doesn't seem like that long since I gave birth to her. She is such a ball of confidence and joyfulness...truly her daddy! Today when we were leaving school I stopped to talk to my boss David, meanwhile Nora is in the car cracking herself up about goodness knows what but she was hysterical and no one was doing anything to her. David looked at her and then me and said "Well, at least she amuses herself!". Yes, Nora is a great audience, she thinks sneezing is hysterical as are silly noises, Zada's slapstick and the letter "v". Those are not my genetics at work...I blame Charles.

Mostly I am enjoying her conversation right now, she is very verbal and very curious about the world around her. She seems to have a good concept of ideas and like her sister a phenomenal memory. This is such an incredible age, I just wish it wasn't going so quickly. Soon she will be moving to Campbell with her sister and then I won't get to keep an eye on her...even from afar.

A future triathlete???

Today Logan and her friends Julia and Jackson raced in a half mile fun run, it was Logan's first race and she loved it. In fact as soon as we crossed the finish line she was ready to run the course again. That may have been due to the fact that they received medals at the end but I think mostly she is just hooked! We are so proud of her for finishing and she is looking forward to her next race. I was flattered that she wanted to do things "like Mommy", what she wore and how she was going to race. She has expressed an interest in doing a triathlon, we know she can run, she has ridden her bike all the way around Creve Coeur Lake which is about 4 1/2 miles and swimming...well, its getting there, we just have to convince her that she can swim in deeper water without stopping, she is getting there, but since most triathlons don't start for kids until age 7 she has plenty of time. Nora too seems to be interested in running, she said "I race too" and sure enough there were a few kids about her age racing, so maybe the next race we will try her too!

On the promoting me front, I scored my first goal of the season in our game against the Chicago Glaciers this morning. I usually wait to score my goal (although last year I managed to put in 2) until the last game or two of the season. Maybe this season I'll put in 3. I did manage to add to my penalty minute tally with a really weak call for checking, mostly my hips don't lie and the girl bounced right off me as we were going for the puck. Ironically I have never checked anyone in my entire hockey career so I thought it pretty funny that I'd be called for that. In fact my line had a hat trick of penalties one each period...way to go Karin and Rosie!

Nora has had a rough week, the stomach bug that has ravaged our school (love that dramatic effect) caught up with her on Wednesday morning. Thankfully it is a fast moving virus so she threw up twice, ran a slight fever and that was it. We spent most of the day snuggling and reading books...boy what a bummer for both of us : ) Thankfully no one else in the house has gotten so far, on Friday we had 6 teachers out and a lot of kids...of course we had a lot of kids that had been sick the night before and that morning still come to school...thanks for spreading the love! On the plus side, toileting seems to be going very well with her, so putting her back in diapers over the summer didn't scar her, it really was a matter of following her lead, we tried it because she wanted to...stopped because she wasn't ready...tried again when she was and she's been running with it. Yey Nora!

A movie, a fire truck and some pizza

So after the girls spent the night at my parents since I had to work a 16 hour day yesterday, Charles and I thought we would spend some alone time with Logan and try to take her to see her first movie. Bee Movie seemed pretty 5 year old friendly (surprise) and Logan was really excited about going to her first time ever in a movie theatre. She did great until the previews...first of all, when showing a movie to kids, why play 15 minutes of previews...and second why show ones geared to teens. I understand that they can't always cater to younger children but you'd think that at 11:15 AM they'd know that the demographics would be the 4-9 year olds.

Anyhoo, between the loud and the scary we made it through twenty minutes of the movie. At least I now have proof that she is not ready to see a movie, its not my keeping her from experiencing it! I myself want to know how the movie ends, I did learn that bees can't fly in the rain...educational : )

This afternoon we paid a visit to the Olivette Fire Station (also known as the municipal buliding) stemming from my mom sharing stories about how my friend Jason and I used to visit his dad, who was a fire fighter, at the U City Station. Logan was really impressed but also a little intimidated by the size of the trucks up close, but she did get to sit in the driver's seat with the lights on. Nora enjoyed hugging the truck, the back door and the bathroom...oh and the cheese popcorn...food is always good. I had a good time myself and the firefighter we talked to was really nice. Thanks again to the City of Olivette!

To end the day we went to Fortel's for pizza...as I said, food is always good!