I want Lasik...Don't I???

Hubby and I want Lasik. We've watched friends and family around us get Lasik for about ten years, and whenever people ask us why we haven't gotten it, we say:

"We want to see if there are any after-effects, after ten years or so."

Well, we've been SAYING THIS for ten years, so I've decided (I think) that I want Lasik. So what's the holdup?

I'm Terrified.

Okay, maybe I don't have the world's strongest stomach. Maybe it's the thought of someone deliberately singeing my corneas...but to be honest, I'm still terrified of side effects. What if my operation doesn't take? What if I go blind like one of the extremely rare cases? What if my Lasik Surgeon falls asleep during the procedure and cuts my nose off with the laser, or worse: fries my eyeballs?

These are my EYES, people! I kind of need them!

I had a college roommate who got lasik in the 80's and she completely lost her night vision. Okay, that's certainly terrifying. My other friend, Aimee, got hers in the 90's and she said it was really wonky-feeling and she could smell her eyeball cooking.
EW. No Thanks.

So, the dilemma continues. I think I am so worked up about it I WILL jinx myself. So I informed Hubby the other night if he wants to still get Lasik, go ahead.

I want to see if there are side effects after TWENTY years. Then I might reconsider.

:-)

The Good Old Days...

Aaaaahh, back into the swing of things! I have been so busy I haven't had time to breathe. But that time is over, and it's TIME TO BREATHE!

*Sigh*

Or sigh, whatever. But down to business. I still have a lot on my plate but that's for later. The kids met their teachers last night at the school open house, and they are all set to go. So now I'm having the Do-They-Take-the-Bus-or-Do-I-Drive-Them-To-School Dilemma. I am thinking the bus looks pretty cool. I mean, they would catch it with a million other kids in the neighborhood, and it would be pretty safe.

I remember when I was in first grade, we missed the bus on purpose, (we hid in the bushes, about five of us) and when the bus left we all took off running towards the school, and we actually beat the bus there. We were so proud of ourselves. It was a "look at us we're invincible" moment, for sure.
I think I would kill my kids if any of them did that, today. In fact, I don't think I ever did tell my mother. But then again, she let me walk to the Seven Eleven when I was five, ALL BY MYSELF (she insists that times were more innocent then) so I guess she wouldn't be that shocked.

Times really were more innocent, in the 70's. No one was worried about car seat safety, or the words "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, or whether or not a registered sex offender was living in their zipcode.
I remember riding shotgun with my parents in our little hatchback Corolla--I sat on the console between the front seats. No seat belt. Nothing. And my brother and I would leave the house in the morning and stay out all day (and not check in with our mom) and it was no big deal. Our parents weren't worried about us getting kidnapped or molested by sex offenders or sold into slavery or worse. It just wasn't an issue, back then.

Now, I get nervous when my eight-year old daughter wants to ride her bike beyond our block. Call me crazy, but times sure have changed.

Whew, look at the time! Gotta run and do a million things! But it's good to be back...

Taking a Break...

I've decided, due to recent events, that it's time for a small break. Wayyyy too much on my plate, unfortunately, and I would love to blog, but I am going to try and stay away from the computer (actually, INTERNET) to get accomplished what I need to for the next little while.

The blog will resume on Wednesday, August 30th. Until then, Au Revoir, my dahlinks!

Have a fabulous two weeks!

(And to my friend, Jenni, who is going to Florence, look up the Pencione Bertolini for me! Have fun!)

Lara

Tuesday Toast Day II

Kids are eating their toast and juice...
Status: Still sad Becks won't be playing anymore...does this mean Posh has to get a job?

Had the synopsis for my story come to me like a bolt of lightning yesterday...I scrambled to the computer (after scribbling it down on my grocery list for Pete's sake!) and got it all out into a document. I'm excited to proceed. And I have a deliciously evil villianess (in the form of an eleven-year old girl) forming in my mind. She's a piece of work. It will be fun, writing her.

We went to the park yesterday, and I jogged for 40 minutes. I haven't done it in a while and it felt good. We're off to the park this morning too. I'm just going to get back into things. I've missed running, and I want to get back into it. As long as the weather holds out. Running on a treadmill just isn't the same as the Great Outdoors.

Thing Three has the Running Gene, apparently. We nicknamed him "Dash" and for good reason, the kid is as fast as Lightning. I mean, he's FAST. I don't know how he does it because he has sticks for legs and he has yet to break 40 pounds (he's five, nearly six) but he ran twice around the jogging track yesterday without stopping and his poor siblings were chugging along, gasping for breath and he was a full lap in front of them in no time. I was ready for a little smoke trail to come out behind him...sheesh!

I wish I had that energy. Where did it all go? I know--it was sucked out of me when I got kids, two cars and a mortgage. Ssssssssploink!! Energy gone! Hopefully the exercise will help.

Time to get going! The kids want to see Zoom, and we're taking them this weekend, because Hubby wants to see it too.

Thank Heaven there won't be any udders...

Something in BARNYARD Stinks...

Okay, so I take the kids to see "In the Barnyard" on Saturday and I've heard that it's funny, etc. We sit down to watch the movie, and it's this cute movie, but about 30 seconds into the movie we get introduced to "Ben" a dark brown bull, with the deepest voice ever (you know, the "Beef, It's What's For Dinner" Guy voice) and don't worry, Ben has a GINORMOUS set of pink...wait for it... udders.

It was actually jarring. I was like: What the Freak? Then we are introduced to his SON, Otis, who also has a huge pink udder. (And these cows walk upright so they're just jiggling and uddering all over the place...it was actually distracting).

And don't worry, the female cows had udders too, so in the scene where Otis is picking up on one of the female cows and they're both standing there with udders, I nearly had a logic meltdown.

Of course my kids, oblivious to all, laughed their heads off and enjoyed the movie. I couldn't. I couldn't get past the men cows with the udders. It ruined it for me. Dang it.

We had some good friends over for dessert last night. When Hubby and I were first married, we had the missionaries over for dinner, and became good friends with one of them. So much so, Hubby was the Best Man at his wedding a few years later, and now, they have four children and he is a doctor, with three years of residency to go. It's amazing how time flies. They were just in Denver for the weekend, but it was nice to catch up. It made me feel old, though. And I'm not really old, yet. It just made me feel that way.

I have a busy week ahead of me, but will have time to write every night. Soon, school will start and I will have UNLIMITED writing time. I'm turning cartwheels over that one (and not in the sarcastic sense) and can't wait.

Woo Hoo!

I'm a SNEAKY Soccer Mom...

Thing One wasn't going for Soccer this year. She has done it every year, without fail, and finally, she said she wanted to do something else.

Frankly, I think she could be very good at it if she stayed, so we were in Sports Authority the other day, and I took her to the section where they have all the cute girl's soccer gear. She immediately began fawning over the little velcro strips they had on display, that turn your jersey into a sleeveless jersey, and she was going ga-ga over all the cute clothes, and I told her
"Yeah, too bad you don't want to do soccer this year. Otherwise you could get those."

Suddenly she was begging me to play soccer. On her knees, begging. I led her on for a moment, telling her it was too late, and the volume got louder on the begging until I "gave in" and told her she could play soccer.

How pathetic am I? Apparently I know the way to my daughter's heart:
Cute soccer accessories.

Is it Really Friday?

Where did the week go? Seriously, I am either losing track of time, or my mind. Hopefully it isn't the latter.
Thing One and I stayed up late watching Superman with Christopher Reeve. She was all ga-ga over him until I told her he'd recently died. Poor thing, she watches all these old movies with me, and has crushes on either deceased or now-decrepit actors. HA!

I spent most of yesterday organizing my writing files. Thing One (my clone in every way) was cute, she decided to organize HER writing stuff as well. I recently got a new writing bag (Hubby came home with this freebie from one of his vendors) so I gave her my old one, and she was so excited you would think I'd have given her Christmas early. She immediately put her writing tools and notebooks in it, and she carries it around with her everywhere in the house. Well, she will for a few days, anyway, until the novelty wears off.

I packed my new writing bag (which I usually take with me to the park, or Library, or Barnes & Noble) and realized that it really is a vital part of me. Inside I have my Alphasmart, a few composition notebooks, a hand dictionary, thesaurus, pens and pencils, chapstick (a must!) gum and a baby-name book I bought in high school titled "Let's Name the Baby" where I've scratched out "baby" and written "Character" over it. I have this thing where my characters' names always have to stand for something pertaining to who they are. I guess I'm weird that way.
Most of my stories are historical, so I have a filebox for each one, with meticulously labeled folders (I'm anal about my folders) and I think it's the only part of my life that's TRULY organized. Sad, but true.
If I could only keep my house the same way I keep my writing folders!

Hubby flies home today (short trip) but he gets home too late to mow the lawn, so I volunteered to do it. I'm actually pretty good at it now. It's easy when you're sitting on a quarter acre and most of it is house! :-)

We're going to see ZOOM this weekend, it sounds hilarious. We all need a good laugh, heaven knows. Have a good weekend, all!

Lara

ps...It's promising to be a sad weekend...at the time of this writing it was announced that they dropped Becks from the England team! Noooooooooooooo!!!!!

Close to Home

Hubby woke up at 5am this morning to catch a flight for a business trip, and of course, sleep deprived, I went back to bed.
The phone rang a short while later and it was my mother, telling me about the foiled terrorist plot. I turned on the news and was aghast at what they were saying.

Then Hubby called through and asked me to find out when the next flight to SLC was, because he wasn't going to make it--the security line was too long and too slow. He was a little miffed because he had to dump out his toothpaste and hair gel...(things you kind of need)...but I am still reeling at what I've been watching on the news this morning.

All I can say is: hooray for Tony Blair and President Bush, and all the UK/US Intelligence people. They had word about this plot, they knew something was happening, and it was foiled.

I cannot comprehend the mass murder and scenes of horror we would have had to endure, had these terrorists gotten away with what they were planning.

I just hope Hubby flies safe. He can buy toothpaste and hair gel when he gets there.

I'm Officially Ready...

...for the kids to be in school. Why is it, that summer can pass relatively smoothly, but the few weeks leading up to when school starts, the children turn into whiny complaining minions? Hopefully I'm not the only mother who experiences this phenomenon.

Thing Two has been in more time-outs than I can count, and I have to get him out of the house or he goes crazy. Thing One is busy crocheting hats and scarves at assembly-line speed, thank heaven she found a hobby she loves. She's currently reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but I won't let her go past Book Three until she's older. She's eight, for Pete's sake.

Thing Three wants to do Gamecube all day long and I have to drag him, kicking and screaming from Super Smash Brothers Melee. I am not one for playing video games all day. It's beautiful outside and there's PLENTY of other activities.

I was sick all day yesterday (stress I think) and yet I ran all my errands and cleaned the house from to to bottom. I got a ton of editing in, I keep re-writing the beginning of my YA story, because I want it to sound cool. The start of a story is everything, you know? I just can't seem to get it right, and it's driving me nuts. I'll get it, eventually.

Time to go jog at the park! It's a great stress reliever. And I'm going to start up Yoga again, I really enjoyed it when I did it. I need something.

Up All Night...

...couldn't turn my brain off last night. Hubby woke up at 1am, and had a question for me, and after that I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned. I paced. I went downstairs and played Bejeweled (I'm on level 77, GO ME!) and sleep still eluded me!
I finally dozed off around 5am, and Hubby's alarm went off an hour later.

I swear, why is it when you're really tired, the alarm always seems like a CANNON going off next to you rather than a little digital squealing noise?

So, I'm exhausted. Not even Honey Nut Cheerios is working for me this morning. And I have TONS of errands to run--all the errands I put off yesterday have piled up into today. But this could be good because the kids will be occupied and I won't have to put up with incessant complaints of boredom or arguing over the Gamecube.

So, I'm off to drag my tired butt around...wish me luck...UGH.

Secret Soccer Weapon

I have discovered my secret soccer weapon: Grape Kool Aid! I kid you not, this stuff is amazing!
They have those single-serving packets now, that you put into a bottle of water and shake, and voila! Kool aid!

So, we're practicing soccer and Thing Two has HAD it. He's dragging and he's whining and I am trying to get him to get a little animated, so for his drink I mix him up a grape Kool aid. He drank the whole thing in 20 seconds and RAN out to the field and scored two goals within three minutes.

The same thing happened last year, only it was Capri Sun. Thing Two would play hard, and come back dying, and I'd give him his Capri Sun, and he'd spring right up and get in there. It was almost comical, watching the change the sugar made in him.

So this year's (slighly more sugary) secret weapon? Grape Kool Aid. Soccer players, beware!

I got a LOT of editing done this weekend. Hubby is burned out from traveling so we rested and had just a family weekend. We were going to see In the Barnyard but every single review Hubby read, the reviewer couldn't get over the anatomically-correct cows, only they happened to have MALE voices. Seriously. It was mentioned in every review. So we skipped it and saw Monster House again (since Hubby and Thing One hadn't seen it) and I cringed through it.

We are excited to see ZOOM this weekend. It promises to be like X-Men for kids, or something. And it looks dang funny.

Well, time to run! I get to be a phone-calling maniac this morning. Fun fun fun...

I've Been Tagged!

My good friend Devon tagged me, so here goes:

One Book:

One book that changed my life:
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read it when I was little and decided then and there that I wanted to be a writer.

One Book that I have read more than once:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. (Close second: "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon)

One Book I would want on a deserted Island:
Well, my quadruple combination scriptures because I'd need them to get through BEING on a deserted island all by myself...

One book that made me laugh:
If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, then What am I Doing In the Pits? by Erma Bombeck, rest her comic soul.

One book that made me cry:
I honestly can't think of one, which is pretty strange considering I sob like a baby at HALLMARK commercials...maybe it's because I am a "visual" person. Although Where the Red Fern Grows did get one or two tears out of me...

One book I wish I'd written:
DUGH. Harry Potter. No contest.

One Book that I am Currently Reading:
William Thackeray's Vanity Fair.

One Book I've been meaning to read:
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

People I'm tagging: Mik, Pamela, Brenda, Karen and Laura!

Soccer is starting up!

First, I have to say that yesterday's post sounded incredibly spoiled, I'm sure. (I even got an email to that effect.) Last night, I was watching the news, and watching the bombings, and I imagined all those people (on both sides) who have NOTHING, let alone power or clean drinking water. I, who live in my little air-conditioned corner of the world, can hardly fathom what these people go through.

That being said, I try to keep this blog light, and not bog it down with the sorrow of the world. There's enough sorrow for everyone to have a double share, and frankly, I don't like to dwell on it, because I could get very depressed. So if my blog doesn't address world issues, or reflect what's really happening in the "real" world, it is only because my goal is to keep things light. I watch the news every day. I am informed and educated, and every day I am always shocked and dismayed by what I see in the news. I process it, and I move on, and I blog about the horrors of Toilet training, and why I hate shopping during the holidays.

It's called self-preservation, and I won't apologize for it.

Now, on with the blog. Heh, you would think, given the title of this blog, that I would talk more about Soccer. But to clarify, I just happen to be a rambling Soccer Mom. I don't necessarily have to talk about Soccer or any other sport, only the drudgery of driving my kids to all their sports, and having to LIVE in my car, right? :-)

I was frustrated yesterday, because time is going too fast. I can't believe it's already August. The year is more than half over, and I haven't accomplished the goals I set for myself. Not only that, but I am frustrated with the writing process again: I get an idea, I write it down, and it's a good six months to a year (sometimes more!) before I see it on paper. Writing takes forever, even when you dedicate all your time to it. I want to be able to write a novel in a week, and have it done. Next, Please.
Alas, it is not so, for me. I had this plan as to what I was going to do--to work on my Middle Grade series, but I keep getting this nagging little whisper in my head to revise my YA novel. And that will take not only TIME, but sweat and blood, to be sure. And frankly, I'm sick of revising it. But that little voice...

UGH!!!

I've always been taught to follow the little voice in my head. Whether it's my heart or my gut, it usually steers me right. But to revise that @#$&**!! story AGAIN? Double UGH!!!

I'll think about it later. Time to clean the house! It's the weekend--have a good one everyone!

Back in the 18th Century...

Our power went out early this morning. Crikey, my house gets dark when the power goes out! Especially in the basement, where the kids were trying out one of my old Tae-Bo videos for fun.
(I, of course, was laying in bed when it happened, still recovering from being up until 1am restoring and reloading my old laptop, that crashed as I was on a MAJOR writing roll...unfortunately.)
All of a sudden I heard a loud "click" throughout the house and the sound of several things beeping and the kids came running up the basement stairs, screaming at the top of their lungs.

It was humorous to me, but if you're a kid, and you're in a basement, (that you're normally uneasy in anyway) having it suddenly plunged into complete blackness could be a bit disconcerting.

So I called and reported the outage and they said it would be FOUR hours before it was restored. FOUR FREAKING HOURS I get to be in the 18th century again. Ugh. Especially since I have things to do online, and things to fax and email. Not to mention the lack of air conditioning and it's working on being 95 degrees today.
What's even funnier is, all my phones are cordless phones, and so my phones didn't even work. I am writing down on my to do list as I type to go and buy a regular phone at Target so in case this happens again I can at least have one working lan-ded phone in the house.

So the kids and I sat in the family room and the kids played their Gameboys while I texted Hubby for a while and wallowed in self-pity. Luckily the "four" hours was only an hour and a half, and here I am, online.
I now realize I would shrivel up and die without the Internet.

What a scary thought.

Research Schmeesearch...

Okay, like an idiot, I wandered into Barnes & Noble with the kids, and started salivating immediately. And I was just looking at the Bargain Books section!
It's been a while, and I needed a book fix.
In my middle-grade series, my characters solve a lot of mysteries having to do with History, and so I knew I had a lot of research to do. In the beginning (last year) I bought books with titles such as Unsolved Mysteries Through Time and the like, and then I would just buy books on any part of History that caught my fancy, because frankly, when you have a Time Machine, the Sky's the Limit, you know?

So, my once bulging bookcase, that I had to lighten up, is now bulging again. But I know at some point I will need the information in these books. And I don't like going to the library, because I can't seem to return the books on time, and they don't let you check out the REALLY COOL research books, so my only option is buying them as cheaply as possible, and building my own library. So, lots of research to do now!I have decided to put the first book as the second book, and make this new draft more introductory to the characters and the plot. That way, there will be less narrative in the second book, because the first book Emma will be experiencing it first hand, with the reader.
Okay, now could this post be any more BORING???

Thing Three got his tooth pulled yesterday at the dentist, due to an ill-timed kick to the face by Thing Two. It was an accident of course, but the dentist had to yank it because it was a baby tooth.
Thing Three is normally a brave kid, but he was screaming while the dentist was yanking, because he apparently wasn't numbed enough. He came out into the waiting area with tearstained cheeks and a big wad of gauze in his mouth, holding his tooth in a little container. He definitely "needed Mommy" but he was torn because the tooth looked so cool, and he was trying to be a big boy.
I was of course trying my hardest not to be a mess, but it's hard when your child is screaming in pain and you are helpless to stop it. Thing Three is fine now, and he's very excited that the Tooth Fairy came last night (she almost had to give him Ten dollars instead of the usual Two because she didn't have any Ones...so she opted for two dollars in quarters, which was even MORE exciting, apparently) and he feels like a big boy. Of course his permanent tooth is nowhere near ready to come down yet, but he looks cute and it's all good.

We are definitely seeing THE ANT BULLY today. I just hope I don't fall asleep. I was up all night de-junking, and then doing research on Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Hieratic vs. Demotic script. *YAWN* My name in Hieroglyphics is cool. I tried to paste it into the blog but I couldn't for some reason.
Thing One thought it was so cool: she could go and decipher ancient Egyptian, but I had to burst her bubble and tell her that the language was Egyptian, not English, so they wouldn't make sense anyway.

Can I just say Thing One has turned into a crochet-freak? She makes hats, scarves, handbags, blankets, anything and everything. And she's EIGHT for Cripes sake. When I was eight I could hardly be counted on to bathe regularly and brush my hair...let alone MAKE things. Then again I was a hopeless tomboy who climbed trees and played outside all day long.
Thing One is an inspiration. Go Thing One!!

YUCK Day

Yesterday was a YUCK day. You know when you have those, and you just wish you could forget all about them? Well, yuck yuck yuck. I'll be erasing yesterday from my memory soon.

So. today is a new day. Day number two of my "dejunking the house" project.
When we moved here, I hastily threw half of my house into clear plastic tubs, and now, I have been systematically going through all of them one by one, and I have two big black bags on either side: the Goodwill Bag and the Trash Bag.

I'm proud of myself. I've filled three Trash bags and two Goodwill bags, and I only went through about seven tubs last night. But now I get to haul it all to the Goodwill, which is 20 minutes away, so an entire hour there and back. But its for a good cause. And hey, it's a tax write-off!

I had Hubby clean out his closet for me, and I have a feeling that they're going to pass out when they open his bag. Let's just say, Hubby likes labels. And all of his clothes are hardly worn. His particular bag I've dubbed the "Fashion Gold Mine" bag. All these really nice suits, shirts, shoes, etc. I'm actually kind of sick that he's parting with some of it, but hey, he doesn't wear it and it is cluttering up the closet. It's not my fault that he only shops at Nordstrom and Banana Republic...that's his choice.

I of course, shop at Target and Kohls for my clothes (I only shop at Nordstrom or Macys when I have to look really nice) and so I didn't have much to donate. Oh well. I may not be a label-bearing clotheshorse, but I look just fine in my Mossimo shirts. :-)

So, I am going to try and get through another ten tubs today. I hope I can. The kids are getting antsy, and I can't blame them. It's too hot to play outside, and inside is boring. So today I'll take them swimming at the Rec Center. At least it's something.

I didn't get any writing done last night, I was bad and watched movies instead. But now I have all sorts of ideas buzzing around in my head for the novel I'm working on, and so tonight will be very productive. The Muse has returned!