Stay at Home Chaos

Tim’s uncle, Robert “Bob” Eli Hatcher Jr, died early this morning. He was battling cancer for a few years now. The treatments stopped working recently. I know for a fact that he’s been enjoying himself in recent history, spending time with his brother and sister-in-law. I’m unsure of whether his only son and two grand-daughters managed to see him before he died. Tim made reservations last week to see him this weekend. I hope they can schedule the funeral over the time he’ll be visiting. The kids and I will be staying home.

I hope to get new pictures to make and print a good quality family tree for him. I made one for Tim’s grandma, but it wasn’t very good. I’m hoping I can make a better one this time. Tim asked his mom for new pictures so I can make one.

Tim was called on his way to work. So he’s at work now. I hope he’s going to be ok. He started crying yesterday evening for unknown reasons so I don’t know how well he’s going to handle it.

Today I thought I’d make a post about stuff. This has crossed my mind with the upcoming Mother’s Day. I haven’t gotten Mom anything yet. I have a comedic card stamped and ready to be mailed out, but I’m waiting for Tim to sign the card for his mom so I can get them in the outbox at the same time. Tim picked out and ordered his mom’s present, and I picked one too. The first present I picked out for his mom was out of stock much to my disappointment. She would’ve loved it. The second item I picked, I got the email confirmation in which it said, “ships in 6-8 weeks.” What on earth? I checked the Web site over and over. There was no warning on the product page. I found the FAQ and seen that was standard for everything. Some warning. I then told Tim he’d have to pick it out by himself (I gave my input though).

Stuff. I have lots of stuff. My favorite past time is throwing out stuff to make room for new stuff. I hate clutter. Tim hates throwing things out. I think we keep a nice balance of stuff. We’re slowly figuring the play room out.

But what should I get Mom for Mother’s Day? She insists on nothing. Perhaps she doesn’t want more stuff collecting dust or cluttering her closets. I considered getting her dog toys or cookies. What stuff is there that doesn’t take room? I don’t know. But if you ever need more stuff, I like Amazon.com, Lenox.com, and Target.

In a lighter side of stuff, I bring you George Carlin(1937-2008).

I discovered this article thanks to my friend in Dayton. I’m in love with it. Back when I was wee high, I had a childhood crush on one of my cousins. He was cute, and the best part was he was smart in math, my favorite subject. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized how unacceptable it was and became creeped out by it like most Americans. Now he’s just an interesting cousin serving the country.

However, Mac McClelland wrote an article called “Map of the Day: Cousin Lovin’.” She is a lesbian or bisexual, I’m not completely sure which. Either way, she has ex-girlfriends that she can’t marry due to American law. For some reason this girl decided to find out since she can’t marry other women, can she marry her own relatives? The answer is yes.

This outrageously wonderful woman made a map of where one can marry their first cousin, with or without caveats, and where their marriage would be recognized. That’s right. It was no surprise to me that Ohio, where I was raised, was part of the “Definitely Not in OUR State” group. After all, I was married there and I recall them asking before handing out the certificate if we were cousins. Yes, they asked. However, it was a complete shock to me that California, where I actively reside, allows first cousin marriages.

Alaska, California, Hawaii, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware, and Connecticut all allow first cousin marriages. So if you have the hots for your cousin, just pack your bags and move to one of those states! If you just don’t want to live in those states, you can marry in one state and live in Washington, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana, or West Virginia. If you don’t mind having strings attached to your marriage, you may also marry and live in Utah, Arizona, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Maine.

But you still can’t marry your same sex partner in most those places. What on earth?

I don’t mention the pets nearly enough. I thought I’d give a rundown of the furry family.

We have two dogs. One is Amaya, an American Eskimo Dog. She’s 6 years old. The other is WALLE, which you hear a lot about. He is a black and white cocker spaniel, aged 1 year. There is three cats, all boys. Oreo is a 6 year old tuxedo who requires a special urinary diet, Spirit is a 5 year old white fluffball, and Teddy is a 6 year old tabby with hydrocephalus. I have 2 hamsters remaining, who are coming to the end of their lifespans. I had 8. These two are mommy April and son Riddick. There is 2 holland lops. Truffles is brown and white and Clover is all brown. They are sisters and a bonded pair. On top of these, we have a clown fish in Tim’s tank and two sunset platy’s and a snail in my tank. That is our pets.

I lost one today and didn’t even realize it. While WALLE and Amaya have no problems darting out the gate if we don’t shut it all the way, we always catch up to them and bring them back. They’ve escaped through our broken fence too. We’re getting it fixed soon! We’re re-doing the back yard and have already started on it by removing the deck. Only the fence remains of the deck to keep everyone out of the wreckage. Now we need to remove the cement blocks, the pool and hot tub, then take down the fence surrounding it all, then haul it to the dump!

This is relevant. Tim was working on taking it apart a bit yesterday so we can be one step closer to replacing the fence to keep the dogs in. The kids and Tim got all muddy so they all took an early bath yesterday. Then we ate dinner, I took my shower, and everyone went to bed. Spirit irritated me last night by rubbing on Kiki’s face, waking her up. This should’ve been my first hint that something was amiss.

I get up this morning and do my morning routine. Spirit is still being extra affectionate for unknown reasons. I open all the curtains and get ready to feed Kiki when I see it. Oreo is staring at me. He was outside sitting on the pool fence, staring at me through the window. He isn’t supposed to be outside! I let him in and go on a frantic search for Teddy, who I also haven’t seen since yesterday. I can’t find him. I call Tim. He hasn’t seen him. When I finally come to the conclusion he isn’t in the house as he always comes when called, I start putting on my shoes to go outside to look for him. Then I have a thought, there was one place I hadn’t looked that I really should have. I looked under the baby bassinet and there he was! Sound asleep. I pet his big head and he woke up and wondered what I wanted. Relief.

Oreo needed extra loving, but all is normal again!

Kiana Selene joined us on January 21, 2010 at 9:04 am PST. She weighed 8lbs 10oz and was 20½” long. She appears to have blond hair and dimples. Eye color will be determined later. She passed her hearing test, has no heart murmurs like Evie did, and is currently a good sleeper.

We came home a bit after 1:00 pm on January 22nd. Birth story and more pictures to come.

A lot has happened since I last updated, the major event being Christmas. Lots of presents. We unwrapped things on web cam for the in-laws and recorded it at the same time. The video camera turned off at some unknown point, but that’s ok. Half-way through the unwrapping, I started feeling a bit sick and continued feeling off for about two days. The kids got a bunch of toys and some clothes, Tim got a bunch of train stuff, and I got a bunch of things from my wish list. Ory’s favorite item has to be the toy vacuum. Evie’s favorite item is Ory’s turtle nightlight/constellation show, Tim’s favorite item is his DCC locomotive, and my favorite item is something I didn’t even ask for. It’s a handmade felt mouse rowing on a felt leaf I found on Etsy.com a long time ago, that Tim happened to buy!). I love it and need to get it a display case or something to help preserve it. I don’t need the dust mites eating it alive. I threw out the dogs presents a couple days ago. There was nothing but fabric pieces and stuffing left. I’m still finding stuffing.

The New Years was uneventful for the most part. My sister called and we talked about a movie Tim and I had just finished watching (Observe and Report) and how there is a naked man in it. Seeing a naked man in any movie is so very rare. The naked man torments a mall by streaking through it and never getting caught, driving the head of security crazy. I wouldn’t watch it again because other than the surprising ending, it was just dull. Anyway, New Years is less than interesting for me. We ate a bunch of junk food and had some sparkling apple cider.

Tim’s been working on his train and I’ve been slacking off on my work. I haven’t really played any of my new games yet either. In fact, I’ve pretty much done nothing. I’m just too tired and not in the mood. I sleep and watch the kids, that’s pretty much it right now. I’ve been getting a nightly bath instead of shower lately, and since then sleeping has been less painful. I can roll over without being in pain now, but it’s still a hassle to roll over.

My sister had a baby last year on December 28th. It was a baby girl one week overdue. They had to induce her. Now I have three nieces and two nephews, or four nieces and three nephews if you count my brothers steps. If you count my sisters boyfriends son, then I have four nieces and four nephews! Why do things have to be so complicated? My littlest sister is still too young to have kids. She’s only 17 but I hear she has a boyfriend. I think my littlest sister is pretty smart though, so I don’t have to worry about that. She’ll have the very last batch of family babies most likely.

Speaking of babies, I’m due in 18 days. I’ll probably go late so that means nothing. I found out I’ve been taking my iron pills all wrong this whole time, which is depressing. I was supposed to be taking one pill twice a day, not just one pill once a day. So my anemia hasn’t improved at all. I’ve been taking my two pills diligently now. For some reason, this has only increased my bathroom trips and causes me to be gassy. For those never-been-pregnant people, pregnant and having gas can be painful.

Last night, I actually did something fun for me. I read a children’s book called Fantastic Mr. Fox from the Roald Dahl book collection Tim got me some time ago. It was a very short book, so I made quick work of it. It’s a very good children’s book.

I’ll save more things to talk about for later. I’m wiped out from my first day back on the job. Tim went back to work today after a two week vacation.

Why is it that parents always seem to give you underwear and socks for Christmas? I think I’ve figured it out. Because it’s what they want! Here we are, in the Christmas countdown. One week from today we get to unwrap all our goodies. And just yesterday I went and bought myself underwear and socks. Now go out and buy your parents their hidden necessities, they’ve been hinting at it for years.

In other news, Evie was ‘hiding’ yesterday behind the blinds when we was trying to leave to go buy me underwear. I did my usual, “Evieee? Wherree aree yoouu..” search. Of course I knew where she was, and Ory also knew where she was. Before we knew it, Ory stood in front of her and said, “EeEe, [wh]ere are you..?” I’ve never even heard the boy say her name before, yet there he was, asking her where she was. I’m a proud mommy.

Tim’s been working on his train table for the most part. He’s assembling bridges. I, on the other hand, am busy being poked and prodded by either people in the medical field, or attacked internally and externally by my offspring. I got blood drawn to check my iron levels again, and had the usual Group B Strep test yesterday. The nurse that drew my blood started off mentioning how long his day was. Thankfully, he was still a good nurse and was really quick. In regards to my vagina being swabbed, I also learned that my cervix is still closed up tight. My suspicions that the baby had dropped was confirmed. My doctor gave me a choice, I could either start my weekly visits now (I’m 35 weeks) or I could start in 2 weeks. Well, I don’t want to go next week so I said in 2 weeks, when I’ll be 37 weeks along. Now all we do is wait for progress.

My sister is still pregnant. We all made guesses of when she’d have her baby, because us normal people like having bragging rights when we’re right. Her boyfriends guessed date has come and went, my sisters guessed date has come and went, and my guessed date is today. So far, no baby. She still has 11 hours for me to be right though…

The presents I got for my sisters arrived today. Except I didn’t realize I had one of them until Tim was already at the UPS store. So I got one sent out, and the other will be sent out later I guess. I still need to acquire Christmas cards and a birthday card for my littlest sister. Tim’s present from the kids hasn’t arrived. A package I’m expecting from my in-laws hasn’t shown it’s face yet either. I thought that after getting those 2, that I wouldn’t need to expect a doorbell to wake up sleeping children anymore. Except I was wrong.

Tim apparently ordered stuff off his wish list for himself, not once, but twice. I went over what he got the first time, and it was fine. Nothing that anyone else got. I went over what he got the second time, which I believe he ordered either yesterday or today, and now I’m pretty mad. First off, he ordered things and didn’t even let me know that he planned on it. Second, he ordered stuff that I physically have in this house already. I could have stopped him, but he didn’t give me the chance. Why did he have to order things knowing that three people have gotten him things from this list? I don’t know what to do with him except shred his credit and debit card.

Today, Tim was going to go pick up cat food and leaf-blow the yard. He attempted to skip both of them. He leaf blowed the yard after I reminded him, and the vet turned out to have a 2 hour lunch period so he couldn’t pick up Oreo’s cat food. I had already fed them the last prescription can I because I thought Tim was going to be coming home with new food. I would’ve rationed that can (mixed it with other food) if I knew they were closed. So I planned on dropping by the vets office after the kids woke up from their nap. No big deal, although I wasn’t looking forward to it.

I then spent the first portion of nap time wrapping up the remainder of my in-laws presents for Tim that they mailed directly here. I wrap his right away so he can’t see what it is, and have all the presents well hidden so he doesn’t peak (it’s a brilliant spot). I also had noticed that a box that something came in appeared to be just the kind I was waiting for, and was able to finish wrapping presents for my in-laws, meaning we can ship it out now! Then I find the clothing boxes that I had been looking for all this time when digging out ornaments, darn it. One was a perfect size too. Isn’t that always the case?

I finished wrapping presents for my in-laws and re-wrapped the two presents Evie had already managed to open and put them in a giant cloth bag. This bag is awesome, because it’s cloth it doesn’t stretch, and it holds a lot. I decided that I would ship them out before I go to the vets to get cat food. I don’t have a box that fits the presents. One is just barely too small, and the other is too large and I have no packing peanuts or the like. I put the bag in the car. The bag will make it easier to hold Auron, the presents, and direct Evie at the same time.

Then I wait for the kids to wake up. They aren’t waking up. So I decide to add some decorations to the tree. I can’t find the hooks for the ornaments, so I just put up what I can. The kids still aren’t waking up. Around 5, Evie wakes up. Then Tim informs me that the vet closes at 5. What on earth? They take a 2 hour lunch from noon – 2, and stay open for 3 more hours and close? I don’t know what to do now. Oreo should be fine for 1 day without his special food, but last time he went 2 days without it he got sick. I must get it tomorrow.

This also means I didn’t go out to ship the presents. I was only going to do it because I’d be going out anyway. Now I’m going to just cross my fingers and see how many gifts I’m still expecting show up tomorrow to see if I can ship more out at the same time. I’m missing my 2 sisters presents, and that prevents me from shipping out the remaining 2 packages. But I am all done shopping! Everything has shipped to me, and I’m just waiting for the last 4 packages to arrive.

Speaking of receiving packages. I ordered something for Tim a week ago, and do you know what USPS is doing? This package went from Pennsylvania all the way to New Jersey in 3 days. That’s a bit excessive. However, why on Earth did it head to New Jersey? I’m in California. It had no reason to go that direction. The tracking hasn’t updated since. I’m antsy. I have bad luck with USPS… I love my UPS driver.