Secular Confessions

Ash, what the heck is a fascinator? I thought I had a good vocabulary, and it's not registering with me! You look adorable in each dress, so I'd go with whatever one makes you feel more confident.

We got our teacher assignments, and start school in one week. I'm not excited about school starting, but I'm not dreading it either. I guess I'm just waiting to see how it will develop. I know DS has been looking forward to starting a new school, because he hasn't formed any good connections there. There is a girl gang who doesn't really like to play with boys, and a bunch of really rowdy "bad boys" (kid- and self-labeled), and he could really stand to develop some relationships outside of those two smallish groups. DD is really excited about it. I'm not looking forward to the difficulty of having to have the kids somewhere five days a week, and the coordinating of drop-off and pick-up and the lunch money ready. I don't like not being able to go to fun places on weekdays, but I feel like I have been working so much this summer and my days off are just catching up on errands and chores that we haven't been able to do much anyway. It's losing the possibility is the hardest part. I used to take them to a museum, a park, a playground, or somewhere more interesting every time I had a day off. Still, I'm really maintaining the sense of excitement around them, and they are excited too.

Erin, I'm very sorry about Bruno.

Chrissy, this just doesn't get any easier, does it?

Bridget, I love your park description. I think you handled it beautifully, better than I would have.

L, this is a fascinator. I have seen them in pictures before but wasn't sure what they were called. You don't see them this side of the pond, that's for sure!

Oh, Ash! Forgot to say you look smokin in both of those dresses. Tough call.

So I was just doing some reading on celiac/gluten intolerance and it turns out that frequent urination is a common symptom. I haven't figured out exactly why but I gather it's something to do with the stress eating gluten can put on the organs of a gluten intolerant person. Kai goes in and out of needing to pee all.the.time. It's been so much better since we went gf. I remember posting on here when he was a toddler that I would literally have to change his diaper every ten minutes. No exaggeration. It's crazy now when I notice him peeing a lot I can think back to something he ate that i didn't realize had wheat in it. Although tonight he is peeing constantly and I'm not sure what he ate. Where I'm going with this is that I fear no teacher will ever believe he has to go that often. The kid has a sneaky look in his eye for all his honesty lol. Should I give him/her heads up? Should ask our pedi to write us a note?

I would get a note. Also, ask specifically to discuss with the school nurse (and I mean the nurse, not the health aide or similar). If it really becomes an issue in the classroom they are required to accommodate medical needs.

I hope he will give us one even though he did not diagnose Kai. I also hope he will give me a referall to a gastroenterologist. Lately Kai has been saying that whatever he has, it's not a stomach ache because a stomach ache would go away. All he knows is that he's not healthy:(

Poor little guy! My sister has ulcerative colitis and she was in pain for years before anyone knew why. Good for you for finding out now while he is so young.

I hope that Kai's need to pee is just temporary. Perhaps by the time he reaches kindergarten, he'll either have a bigger bladder or you'll have worked out what exactly is going on with him. I sure hope so! I can see how worrisome this has been for you. :comfort:

I hadn't heard of a fascinator until the most recent royal wedding, and then it was because those photos were making the rounds on the interwebs of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, comparing them to Cinderella's stepsisters. I confess... I giggled. when I saw them

http://imabeautygeek.com/wp-content/...d-Beatrice.jpg

http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/cinderella-royals.jpg

Everyone around here called fascinators 'those things you put in your hair' around here until the Kate/Will wedding and then it was like, 'Oh, they actually have a name for those things!' LOL. We're going to the York Races, so it's known to be quite posh, so everyone who is going on this trip has a hat/fascinator sorted out. Thanks for the advice, ladies (and the compliments!) I'm off to the mall tomorrow with my SIL to buy a fascinator and probably to see if I can get a cardigan or something to go over the pink dress since it will probably be raining off and on on the day of the races.

Bridget, you handled that park situation well and I'm very impressed with Kai handling the other boys' behavior and getting them to share. I am flabbergasted that those other moms sat there and let their kids try to rummage through someone else's belongings. I probably would have thrown in a passive aggressive comment to the girls about how rude it is to do that kind of thing. And about Kai, I would definitely speak to his teacher about it to make sure she knows about his urination issue. At the last few schools that I've worked at, in the teachers' lounge, there is a board up that has pictures of the kids with any health issues so that everyone is aware of anyone that has any kind of issues like that.

Erin, I hope Bruno is better soon. I have no knowledge whatsoever about pets, so I'm lost with all the heartworm talk; it sounds serious, though. (hugs)

Shelley, I am sort of in the same position as you very soon! Travis will start full time school in 2 weeks, Cash will be going in to daycare and I'm back at work Mon-Fri 9 to 5. I feel sick about it, but needs must.

Chrissy, I think about you often and hope that you are doing ok with everything.

Gah, I haven't been in here for AGES and I had no idea you and Rich were separated Chrissy. He was a friend of mine on FB, he added me several months ago but I thought nothing of it. I promptly removed him tonight though! I'm sorry you're having to go through this. And yeah, the *****y FB comment from your neighbor pissed me off.

Well Bruno is doing a bit better since this weekend. We took him to the vet (DH couldn't call, he is really distraught over this) and I strong-armed them into giving him a steroid shot and some antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory perscription, which is what a lot of research I read on the web about heartworm treatment said he should have been prescribed as soon as he got the first shot. DH picked out vet out and I don't have much interaction with them but throughout this ordeal I am not impressed with them and I will find Bruno a new vet within the next few months. They have been really standoffish and when DH called them on Saturday, they have Saturday office hours, when Bruno first started coughing up a lot of blood and I wanted him to ask them if we should bring him in, DH wasn't given any advice according to him. I'm not one to believe only one side of a story though, so I gave the vet the benefit of my doubt, but when I called them they just did not seem concerned or interested and I basically told them that I would bring him in that evening before they closed and what I wanted them to do for him. I hate doing that, especially for medical personnel since I feel they should be more knowledgable and at least concerned for their patients. Bruno was weighed and had lost 11lbs. He looks so pitiful too, the nurse was really concerned about his appearance and they rushed to give him a steroid injection. His breathing improved in 10 minutes after that and of course he perked up a bit too.

DH is so relieved and has been happy to force him to take the pills so far and is even talking of cancelling his 40th birthday party that we are planning on throwing in Chicago next month. I told him we couldn't leave Bruno with our regular dog sitter, who owns Bruno's mother and is a good sitter but I just think he may let Bruno run around too much - he has a big yard that Bruno enjoys, and during his HW treatment he is not to be running around or exercising for 2-3 months. So I told DH we can just bring him with us to Chicago, but we are planning on staying with DH's family and they are a crazy anti-any-animal family and keep saying, with attitude "you can't bring that dog to my house!" I even told them that he would be crated, as he has to be for his treatment, and that he could just stay in the basement or a garage if it is heated/cooled, but none of them will let us bring Bruno. So then I thought we could stay in a hotel, but during DH's party we'd have to leave Bruno unattended for most of the day in a hotel room and I wouldn't want him stressed about being in a foreign place alone, since he's not supposed to be stressed either. I am really frustrated by DH's family. Even though I am not a huge dog person or any animal actually as I would rather have no pets at all, I would let a relative bring a pet to visit us for a few days. We will not even be there for a week and they haven't seen us in a year so I would think that MIL or at least one of her siblings(she has 4 sisters and 2 brothers in Chicago) wouldn't mind letting our dog sit in a crate in their basement for a few days. I am actually pretty pissed at them about it since they know Mr. Hyde passed away and how much DH loved him. Most of them with their anti-any-animal attitudes even liked Mr. Hyde when they came to visit us so I would think they would be more understanding of DH's worry over Bruno and not wanting to lose another dog. They didn't like Bruno since he was and usually still is pretty frisky, but he is a nice, loving dog (he will lick you to death though lol!) and he has calmed down a lot this year since he turned 3 years old. Plus since he is sick, of course he's not as frisky and is very mellow and like I said he would be crated all day except for walks so he wouldn't even be running around their house.

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Ash, I LOVE that pink dress on you!! You look great in it and I bet you can find a beautiful fascinator for it (also didn't know it had a name, black women in church have always worn huge elaborate hats - think Aretha Franklin at the Obama inauguration - and I just call them church lady hats, which is funny since you aren't a church lady lol!). I think it goes well with your skin tone and just makes you look all beautiful and glowy. I hope you enjoy the races!

Bridget, your park story reminds me of every time I go to the park lol! I am usually the only parent there, me or a friend of mine (the one I go to the pool with who I miss) who lives a block from the park. There are usually a lot of kids there on Fridays especially when we go as the neighborhood is really diverse, ethnically, culturally, and religiously. There is a mosque not too far from the park so all the Muslim kids come over to play before and after their services. There are about 10-20 kids usually and they do all the things you said of the kids you played with at the park, except they are fully clothed in religious garb and they won't steal, they will look through your stuff though and act like little nutty beings. Their parents are usually in the mosque and nowhere to be seen and there are even little toddlers being watched by bigger kids so I look after them usually when I'm there and I buy us all snacks and share with them, which they like and always ask for nicely.

On the tacos, I can't really think of any advice, it just takes a lot of practice. I used to have trouble getting them to stay up like a taco, I usually do one side holding it, then the other side, then the middle - like press the taco bottom part down into the oil really good to make sure that part is crisp. When I first started doing them though, I'd give up and just make tostadas (Elle calls them "mostados" which is cute). Now tostadas are a bigger hit than tacos since Elle thinks they are easier to eat. You just lay them flat in the oil so it is much easier.

Erin

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Originally Posted by AmeriBrit

Everyone around here called fascinators 'those things you put in your hair' around here until the Kate/Will wedding and then it was like, 'Oh, they actually have a name for those things!' LOL. We're going to the York Races, so it's known to be quite posh, so everyone who is going on this trip has a hat/fascinator sorted out. Thanks for the advice, ladies (and the compliments!) I'm off to the mall tomorrow with my SIL to buy a fascinator and probably to see if I can get a cardigan or something to go over the pink dress since it will probably be raining off and on on the day of the races.

Bridget, you handled that park situation well and I'm very impressed with Kai handling the other boys' behavior and getting them to share. I am flabbergasted that those other moms sat there and let their kids try to rummage through someone else's belongings. I probably would have thrown in a passive aggressive comment to the girls about how rude it is to do that kind of thing. And about Kai, I would definitely speak to his teacher about it to make sure she knows about his urination issue. At the last few schools that I've worked at, in the teachers' lounge, there is a board up that has pictures of the kids with any health issues so that everyone is aware of anyone that has any kind of issues like that.

Erin, I hope Bruno is better soon. I have no knowledge whatsoever about pets, so I'm lost with all the heartworm talk; it sounds serious, though. (hugs)

Shelley, I am sort of in the same position as you very soon! Travis will start full time school in 2 weeks, Cash will be going in to daycare and I'm back at work Mon-Fri 9 to 5. I feel sick about it, but needs must.

Chrissy, I think about you often and hope that you are doing ok with everything.

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Aww...thanks. I'm doing well. I love your fascinator story and Myles-your pics CRACKED ME UP! I hope you share a pic with us when you're all gussied up.

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Originally Posted by beanpop

Gah, I haven't been in here for AGES and I had no idea you and Rich were separated Chrissy. He was a friend of mine on FB, he added me several months ago but I thought nothing of it. I promptly removed him tonight though! I'm sorry you're having to go through this. And yeah, the *****y FB comment from your neighbor pissed me off.

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Oh, it's ok if you keep him as a friend. He's new to facebook (or was) and was adding anyone it suggested to him for a while. He's not a bad guy. He just has a bad problem.

In other news, I did something I swore I'd never do. I made a Plenty of Fish account at someone else's suggestion. Not surprisingly, I was overwhelmed with 100 messages in less than 12 hours. But I have 'met' someone that's at least fun to talk to. So far. I'm not hoping for a relationship, but it would be nice to have someone to chat with and perhaps go hiking or whatever with. I need to just get out and do things.

Erin, I missed your post. I'm glad Bruno is doing better. I cannot believe that vet office! Don't feel bad for ordering them around. They sound like they needed it!

Chrissy, I can't wait to live vicariously through you if you start dating:)

Sawyer has been up so many times the past two nights. I bet he woke up 9 times last night but of course I lost track. It's strange becasue since he has always been a tummy sleeper. If I'm awake when he stops nursing, I put him in his sidecarred crib, on his tummy and he goes right to sleep. Now he flips immediately to his back and then causes him to flail around all night and wake up over and over. Also he is such a little ball of energy and even though I give him food all the time, it doesn't seem like he eats much so I wonder if that's why he's waking so much too. I'm going to try and give him something to snack before bedtime. So. Tired.

I'm not sure I'll be dating. I found 1 person that was intelligent, funny, cool and all that...and he's already encouraged me to use men, starting with him. And how he'd like porn streamed into his brain. The dating world can probably wait for me. He's definitely nice and when I was uncomfortable with the talk about using men he easily switched topics and didn't seem put off by it. But me...I'm thinking it's a red flag.

Ew, yeah it's in really poor taste to start talking about sex right imo. I would be worried he's just out to get laid and not looking for a friend at all.

Did I tell you guys my bff is moving back to Hawaii? :( I'm so sad. I just keep pushing it out of my head. We're all getting together labor day weekend to say goodbye. All of us girls who used to hang out all the time back in our single days (and my brother lol). It will be fun. I haven't broken the news to them yet that I'm brining Sawyer. I am sure they are all going to gape about that but I plan to have a little wine and am not going to drive the hour home after that, obviously. Sawyer still needs me at night (see earlier post) and I wouldn't be able to stay for as long as I like if I don't take him with me. I have already planned my comeback for the looks of surprise I will get when I tell them I am still breastfeeding. "I am going to get on the cover of Time magazine one way or another." :winks:

I hope you have a good time Bridget. And I hope none of them give it a 2nd thought that you're bringing Sawyer or still BFing.

Yay for Bruno doing better, Erin!!! :D Keep it up, pup!!

Chrissy, I agree. Red flag. People on the interwebs feel very emboldened by their anonymity (which is why I'm such a shrinking violet IRL :P). Seriously, though, I have had my share of internet dating experience. I even wrote up a "handbook" for my girlfriends who were new to it. If you like I can dig it up and send it to you. Just have fun with it, take most of the guys with a grain of salt, RUN from the ones who profess to be totally into you who barely know you, and try to eat well on dinner dates. :D

All that talk the other day about "Ruby LaRue" has set the association in my head to madames, New Orleans, and - because of True Blood, which I don't even watch - vampires. So now, whenever I think of that name, it conjures up images for a blood-sucking prostitute. Heh heh. I don't think the names gonna work for me afterall. Too bad, though. I just liked the double reference of "someone who lives near a path" (a wanderer) and "to play".

And with all that talk, I started remembering this old MadTV sketch about "Loup Garou and his sister Hula Hoop" that takes place in New Orleans and now that song is LODGED deep in my brain. It's not even that funny of a sketch, (http://youtu.be/_pFx7bTz7xM <-- well, not obviously funny, anyway, albeit funny) but in my Googling, I came across this other one yesterday. I didn't want to share it at first thinking maybe it wasn't as funny as I thought, but I'm still laughing when I think about it today, so here it is:

http://youtu.be/jlVwBDPvi6A

I remember those pictures of the princesses and the evil step-sisters-haha! I remember that mad tv skit, she did Shakira really well LOL.

Erin, so glad to hear that Bruno is better.

Last night G climbed into our bed about 1am, of course I felt like I had just fallen asleep. Then we had a huge thunderstorm. And when G is in our bed, he is a heat seeking missile-just what you want in the August heat. So I am worn out today. I took G to a open play time at a gymnastics place and he loved it. His favorite was running on the long trampoline and then jumping into the "sea" which was foam squares.

Chrissy that would definitely be a turn off for me. I was this close to try online dating when I met dh.

My MIL has done POF a lot and all the men on there she has talked to are all about booty even those who try to say at first they aren't. That and she gets a LOT of guys trying to get with her who are like 20's and 30's.....and she is early 60's!

Online success story here (think that there are a few of us here!). Hotmail had free classifieds back in the day and that was how I met my DH 14.5 years ago.

A friend of mine met her dh on yahoo personals 7 years ago. That same friend is a online friend of mine that I met 15 years ago!! I cannot believe it was 15 years ago. Back in the day, I was a big Days of Our Lives fan, I was on a email group and met a great group of ladies. We all traveled together to attend the Days fan parties. My family at first thought I had become a weirdo "trekkie" attending fan events. There were definitely people there at the parties that didn't have a grip on reality, but I was lucky enough to meet nice normal people who are still my friends today.

Shelley, look at your new siggy pic! Gilly cheeks!!! NOM NOM NOM. :wub:

LOL, Myles, I remember that picture of the princesses going around right after the royal wedding. So hilarious. The first version I saw had the original hair and clothing colors unchanged and it was just as funny. Those poor girls, though. For some reason I feel sorry for them, being made so much fun of. But I suppose they asked for it, at least the one in pink did.

Erin, I hope Bruno is doing well. I'm glad you got them to do the treatment. I agree that I hate to tell a doctor what to do, but when they sit back and don't do anything it's infuriating.

Shelley, I agree about the Gilly cheeks! He's such a cutie!

Chrissy, run. Definite red flag.

Erin, it's no different from having a child, really. You are your dog's best advocate. Glad Bruno is feeling better, and I agree with you that he needs a new vet. If your travel to Chicago can handle a detour through NoVA, I'd be happy to have Bruno bunk with us, as long as he's dog friendly (even otherwise, since he should be on crate rest anyway).

I'd love to read your handbook Myles :)

That's awesome of you to offer, Suja. While I have you on the line, 2 questions come to mind: 1) Is it ok to give my dogs leftover oatmeal in the morning - like maybe a half a cup at a time? They really seem to like it and have started to whimper when they smell it. 2) My little she-dog is a dominance humper. I just let it go, because I read somewhere in a book that it stresses dogs out when you try to disrupt the pack order. But seeing as how you called prevailing dominance theory into question, maybe you don't think so? It is kind of unsettling to see her jumping on Cayo's back and ride away, even though he just has a big sheepish grin on his face. DH does force her to get off of him sometimes because he says it's too disturbing to watch.

In other news - more strange happenings in the town where I still have that house. The director of Top Gun jumped off a bridge there last Sunday.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...idge-jump.html

I met him once at a club when I was seeing a friend's band called Dengue Fever. They'd done a song on a soundtrack to one of his movies. It's so sad to read about someone throwing it all away just like that. That town - in addition to now having a road that detours through the Pacific Ocean, has played host to a lot of suicides unfortunately because of its cliffs right over the ocean. This is the first time I'd heard of someone jumping off that bridge, though. R.I.P.

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Originally Posted by demigraf

I met him once at a club when I was seeing a friend's band called Dengue Fever. They'd done a song on a soundtrack to one of his movies. It's so sad to read about someone throwing it all away just like that. That town - in addition to now having a road that detours through the Pacific Ocean, has played host to a lot of suicides unfortunately because of its cliffs right over the ocean. This is the first time I'd heard of someone jumping off that bridge, though. R.I.P.

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I take that back. It was a director named Tony Kaye. Not Tony Scott.

Chrissy, yeah not so much. Red flats all over.

Bridget I'm sorry your BFF is moving :( That sucks so much.

Speaking of tostadas, I LOVE them. **** tacos, tostadas are the ****. Way better :winks: my local grocery store sells freshly baked taco shells every day so I picked up some for dinner tonight. YUM.

Didn't that director have brain cancer or was that just speculation? I have to say that if that's what urged him to jump, after seeing how horribly mom suffered, I get it. i really do.
Today we have a day camp at the kids new charter school so they can meet the teachers and we can see the school in it's finished state. We are all very excited.

I hope you have a great day camp at school Bridget!! Sounds fun!

Today is an "early release" date for Ky's school, which is some BS IMO. They stop teaching at 11:30am. It is a state wide thing in order to save money due to budget cuts, it was either 4 half days per year or cut 2 days out of the school calendar. I would have rather had 2 extra days of summer vacation.

Ky gets to stay in his after school program at his actual school though, which is nice as he enjoys the after school program. I feel for him being that he has to go to the Boys and Girls club usually after school and he doesn't like any of the kids there except 2 (our of like 500 kids LOL!). He says they are all super annoying and ask stupid questions and say stupid things and like to "start stuff" meaning the boys are all extra macho and try to talk about who they will beat up or what they will do to him and when he flinches at them they run LOL! The after school program at his school isnt' that expensive, only $35 per week, but the B&G is $35 per year so they beat the school out in regards to price. Also I have more than doubled what I am paying for Elle's daycare via her new preschool (which she loves BTW and so I'm happy about that) and so the extra money for afterschool care would really increase childcare expenses for us. Once Elle starts kindergarten though, I will go ahead and have both of them go to the afterschool program at our charter school. Elle is really upset that she won't get to go to Ky's school next year for kindergarten. I was asking her if she wanted to go to the bigger school next to her daycare for Pre-K next year. She told me she wanted to go to kindergarten and go to "big school with Kyro." I found out that here in GA they will not, under any circumstances, let a child enter kindergarten if they don't turn 5 by August 31st, which is pretty dumb and idiotic IMO. Elle is in a preschool right now that covers everything they will learn in Pre-K so next year, when she goes to regular Pre-K (it is in public schools here in GA for 4 year olds) she will be one of the oldest kids in the class doing stuff she already knows in regards to academics. Plus she will have to go to 3 different schools over the course of the next 3 years (starting this year at preschool, then to the public Pre-K, then to the charter for kindergarten). I would rather her just go to the charter next year but GA is pretty antiquated when it comes to schools and education IMO.

Erin