Taking the Scenic Route

What a strange feeling.  We got up at 6 am, I made breakfast, got Zach’s coffee ready for the day, did dishes, gathered the trash for Zach to take out to the dumpster on the way to work, and just gave him a kiss goodbye.  So weird for us, but such a “normal” life.  I have never had a morning exactly like this.  Zach has never worked a job with “normal” hours before and we have spent years seeing 6am and thinking “better get to bed soon…we are up too late” lol.

My plans for the day are going to depend largely on the weather.  With Zach taking our only car, it will depend on both weather and how Zane and I feel as to whether or not I am going to walk to the Y for his Tumble Tots class.  It isn’t too bad of a walk, but I have cramps right now and it is pretty chilly outside to have a toddler walking that far…but it is likely to warm up and I took a handful of Motrin to knock the cramps down to at least a dull roar.  When he gets home, we need to go to the store and pick up fixings for lunch.  He is going to try and find out today if he has access to a fridge or a place to put a lunch today.   Maybe he will get his desk area/cubicle assigned today..that would be a help. 

I also need to remember to call Dori because Dr. Phil is doing a thing on PPD.  When Dori came over a few days ago (picture of her babe on the left) she talked about how extremely exhausted she was…to the point that if she takes a shower, she has to take a nap afterwards.  She said she never had that with the boys and I told her that doesn’t mean it isn’t an issue here.  She is also having cravings that sound like she might have some blood sugar issues too…possibly hypoglycemia.  There were some other things too, but I can’t think of them right now.  I told her several times during the conversation that she needed to go back to her Dr. and tell him/her all her symptoms, because if it is PPD, she can get some treatment, and if it isn’t, she needs to find out what is going on because what she is describing does not sound normal.  She says that she doesn’t think it is PPD because she isn’t depressed, but from the outside looking in, she sure is acting like she is depressed and in denial.  The next day when talking to Robert, he ended up staying late because as he was getting ready to leave, he began expressing his extreme concern for Dori.  For one thing, she isn’t even getting pissed at him for things that have caused arguements since before they married.  She is totally apathetic and devoid of emotion.  He said  “I never thought I would say this, but I want the old Dori back”.  lol.  The “blankness” is sort of freaking him out.  He has also been trying to get her to get to a dr. and is going to the HFS to try and see if there is something there that might help.  I gave him the number of a local herbalist that I got from another MDC mama so he doesn’t just rely entirely on the HFS clerks and gets somebody who knows what they are doing.  I also told him he needs to go with her to the dr. because it is likely she is minimizing her symptoms when she talks to them.  (like…”well, I am sort of tired…but I did just have a baby”)  Make sure the dr. understands that this is not normal and that he was going to have to advocate for her since she is not fully capable of advocating for herself right now.  He was thinking along those lines anyway, but he was really just needing support and validation that this *is* a big deal. 

Yarn dilema:  I made several pumpkin hats, but I have no money to mail them to Zane’s cousins before halloween.  lol.  How sad is that!?!  So, I am thinking of frogging the hats and making Zane some slippers since he seems to be into orange this winter and his old slippers aren’t fitting very well.  I don’t think that will take up all the yarn and so I am debating what to do with the rest of it.  It isn’t a machine washable yarn, so I hesitate to make socks or sweaters with it and I don’t want to live with a pair of pumpkin orange slippers myself…I am not gong to outgrow them and orange is my least favorite color.  I could make a felted hat or purse/bag…but again, orange.  (that and I don’t really carry a purse)  I wonder if Joy likes orange. lol.  She likes yellow and it looks good on her..yellow is hideous on me…so maybe orange works on her.  I need to do some thinking on it.  Maybe I will make some soakers…oh…I wonder if there is enough for a pair of longies for Zane…that would work!  He could have longies and a matching pair of slippers.  Or, make a few soakers and sell them to buy more yarn I can do more with.  lol. 

Back to the cousins…I think I am just going to find a Christmas project.  More appropriate anyway.  Does anybody know if it gets cold enough in winter in San Antoinio, Texas to use wool, or do I need to do somthing in cotton?  

At the farm

We went out to my folks tonight so Dad could winterize the Olds.  The Pontiac died a few days ago, so we need this car in as good of shape as possible.  Zach worked on their computer for a while too.  Mom and I took Zane out for a walk down the back driveway, then Mom & Zane played in the sandbox.  Later in the evening, Zane helped Grandpa by holding the flashlight while he worked on the car.  Zane fell asleep on the way home and Zach was able to get him from the carseat to the bed without waking him up.

This was just for fun.  I loved the reflection of the house in the tractor window.

Some shots I took during the walk.

feeling the wind

Who needs the fancy play gyms when you have a farm full of interesting things

Helping turn the sand over in the sandpile

Try this!

Lift up your right foot and make clockwise circles with it.  Now, write the number 6 in the air.  Now, notice that your foot is making circles the other direction.  It is next to impossible to make your foot continue to go clockwise while writing a 6.  Weird, huh!?!

Fall Fest at YMCA camp

We were really looking forward to this event.  We ended up leaving after an hour or so because most places they were just too many people and LOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG lines to do ANYTHING.  The event was from 3pm – 8 pm.  We got there at around 4 pm, waited in a long line for pumkin painting and they ran out of pumpkins.  grrrrrrr.  The lines were disorganized and insanely long.  We got “food tickets” to keep us from getting more than one hot dog, but since there were probably hundreds and hundreds more people there than they were anticipating, it was first come first serve.  (I did not need a repeat of the pumpkin episode with a hungry toddler)  People were waiting in 45 minute lines to ride on the back of a HumVee (sp?) around a pasture…the “hayrack ride” line had to have at least 200 people in it, and that was just the part of the line I could see.  It was totally nuts. We made our way off the beaten trail so we could circumvent the crowd and find our way back to the car and that was the only part of the afternoon we enjoyed. lol.  Zane found a HUGE leaf and did not want to let go of it for a while.  Finally, he gave it to me to hold for him since the terrain was steep in places, but he kept looking to make sure I still had it. 

When we got back into town Zach drove me to the Boeing campus to show me the building he worked in and the cool security stuff he goes through every day.  It looked pretty neat.  I think he was more excited showing that to us than he was at the fall fest event.  Well, at least there were less people.  hee hee.

Zach had a good day at work.  (It was his first full day)  He said the environment was much more comfortable than previous jobs and he likes the people.  He also likes the managers.  Unlike previous employers, these guys don’t seem to be on some major power trip.  It is good to see him happy again.

Zane isn’t quite understanding what is going on.  He skipped his nap today so it was a little rough going, but he went to bed on time.  I think I am going to join him.  I am so tired I am having a hard time typing.

Zane finally got the hang of his tricycle this morning!

And a really neat chalk drawing from this afternoon

A person with hair, torso, arms, legs (albeit short ones) and ground underneath (the lines)

The sequence of events for getting the job

Friday:  We met up with a neighbor outside as we were leaving and he was coming home.  We sort of knew him from school but still don’t know his name.  I asked where he worked, he said Boeing, and we jokingly asked if he knew whether or not they are hiring.  (We knew he was also a recent computer science grad, so we knew he worked in the same field).  He said he didn’t know, but he was a contract employee from a company in KC.  I asked if it happened to be the same one Zach used to work for?  It was.  Small world.   We called them up and sent in an updated resume.

Tuesday:  Zach called in the morning to let them know he was sending in an updated reference letter (letter of recommendation from one of his profs.) and the guy asked if anybody had called him this morning.  He said that if they didn’t call in two hours, to call him back.  The guy called and wanted to interview Zach at 3pm that afternoon. 

Now for the funny part – Zach went to try on his suit since he hadn’t worn it in a while.  The pants were too small.  We started scraping together money from both of our billfolds and from our change jar to get together some money to buy some pants.  Whirlwind shopping trip to Kohls we found some pants.  It was so close to all of our money that we were commenting that he better get this job or we aren’t going to eat unless we return the pants. 

Anyway, interview at 3 pm – he was hired, filled out paperwork, and took the drug test.  WOW.  If we would have been able to locate his birth certificate, he could have started Wednesday.  (certainly wasn’t for lack of looking).  Mom loaned us her credit card to order the birth certificate and have it fedexed ($50 wowzaa!).

Thursday morning:  Fedex at our door at 9am, Zach told to come in that afternoon to get his security badge.  Zach leaves for his first day at 1pm.  At 1:30 I get a call.  He should have been there for a bit by then but he had not even made it quite half way yet.   Our car was leaking oil so bad it was leaving a thick trail behind him and every time Zach stepped on the brake oil just poured out of the car.  He was stopping every few blocks to put more oil in the car.  He drained our bank account and dug through change to buy oil along the way.  $26 worth of oil.  That is a LOT of oil.  He did finally make it back at about 2:20 and turned around in the Olds (the “crappy” car) and made it to work.  Thank goodness he wasn’t on a specific time schedule.

Whew!  Much drama, but more good than bad.

     WooHoo!      

Zach is employed at Boeing

in the IT department!

      YES!      

Last night Zane insisted he was NOT tired and did NOT want to go to bed.

5 minutes later…

He was not very happy when we accidently woke him up trying to unthread him from the table, but fell back asleep mid-protest. lol. little stinker!

Before the hilarity ensues with this evenings debacle…I mean debate…let me just let you all know something.  Every time the Shrub says “You can run, but you can’t hide”  I will be commenting on what a frickin’ moron he is and possibly screaming.  He might as well be saying “The chickens are wearing nose rings” for all the sense it makes.  It would at least make some sense if Kerry said it about Bush, since Bush wimped out during Vietnam, but there is no conceivable reason Bush could justifiably say it about Kerry.  It just makes him sound like a preschooler who picked up this “cool phrase” and uses for everything with no understanding of the meaning of the phrase.