Yesterday

Yesterday was a bad day.  The morning, pre-8:15 was normal.  We got up, got ready and left the house. I drove Spencer to school.  I took him in, walked him to his classroom, hugged and kissed him and 3 minutes later was back at the car ready to eat my breakfast, drink my coffee and drive to work.  Except.  Except something was wrong.  Immediately.  What was it?

Oh, just some sumbitch knocked out my window and stole my purse and all of its contents.

So, I wander back into the school, totally dazed, shaking and close to tears.  I tell the owner of the school what happened and immediately call Michael and tell him to start calling all of our banks/credit card companies to cancel debit and credit cards and our checking account. Then I tell him to call verizon because my phone was also in there.

The owner of the school calls his friend/neighbor who is a detective.  I call my insurance company because I can't drive until all the glass is cleaned up and replaced.  I also call work to tell them I won't be there.

The detective comes and we talk.  Then he went above and beyond to drive to my house and check it out because the SOB's have our home address.  Everything there checks out.  Then a uniformed officer (nice bonus: he was pretty hot) comes to take the report.  Then the forensics van comes to take fingerprints.  Then the glass people come to clean up and fix the glass.  Meanwhile, Michael is making 960 phone calls to get everything shut down.  He even called Cotsco and the library to tell them my cards had been stolen.  And my sweetie pie honey even walked over to another office (it's in the same building) to get me a new fingerprint clearance card.

So, we know all of my credit/debit cards are missing. Let's take stock of everything else those bastards took from me.

My Kate Spade purse.  It is the only designer anything I owned.  This is exactly what it looked like, except mine was lined with red and white gingham. 

Bastards.  

My wallet.  Not designer or expensive, but I've had it for forever (probably since before I got married) and I was rather fond of it.

Bastards.

$30 in cash (or maybe $29- I don't remember how many ones I had).  This is about $30 more than I usually have in my wallet.

Bastards.

My driver's license.  (Obviously this is not me.  It's weird what a google image search will bring up.)

Bastards.

All of my store rewards cards- grocery stores, clothing stores, craft stores.  I've been "collecting" these for years.  I don't even know all the different ones I had.  This is going to be a real pain in the ass to fix.

Bastards.

My starbucks card, with about $16 on it.  It was a Christmas present.

Bastards.

My phone.  Not a smart phone, but it was my phone and I liked it.  And it had all of my phone numbers that I don't have saved anywhere else. 

Did I mention- bastards?

My camera.  Seriously.  My camera.  How does one blog and keep memories without a camera?  Worst of all, the camera was in a little leather pouch that belonged to my grandmother.  She died 10 years ago.  I can replace the camera, but the pouch is gone.  It's not worth anything but the emotional tie I have to it. 

Bastards.

My check book.  I normally don't carry this with me, but for some reason I wrote a check recently and it was still in my purse.

Bastards.

My 2 FAVORITE avon lip gloss colors.  There were other lipsticks in there too, including a clinique one I was pretty fond of.

B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S

My amazing avon aloe lip balm.  Worth 99 cents, but oh so wonderful.

Can I get a bastards up in here?

My Neutrogena hand cream.  I have another container at home, but it's the principal of it all.

Bastards.

My BREAKFAST.  I was going to eat this on the way to work, as is my routine every work day.

Bastards stole my food. 

They also covered my coffee in shattered glass. 

Double bastards.

This library book.  I already called the library and have been informed that I will have to pay for it, despite having a police report.

Thief bastards and library bastards.

(There was a bunch of other crap in my purse/wallet too- my CPR card, our insurance cards, change, hair brush, bag full of crayons, hair rubber bands, my work keys, antibacterial hand gel, face powder, etc. etc.  I figured you didn't need to see random google images of it all.)

So, I'm blogging at 9:30 am because we can't leave the house because I have no driver's license, no money, no access to money, dull, colorless lips and dry hands.

Oh, one more thing.  We had finally earned a free frozen yogurt to a nearby yogurt place.  That card was in there.

I can't buy anything and I can't even redeem my free stuff.  I hate those people.

P.S.  I always, always, always, always take my purse in with me when I leave the car.  Always.  Except when I drop Spencer off at school.  The police told me these bastard people target schools, day cares, and other places where kids are dropped off because they know that most other moms are like me.  They leave the purse when it's a less than 5 minute stop.

Take your purse with you.

Survival

Summer is coming.  Ack!

I realize that just 24 hours ago I wrote a post about Easter preparations.  Easter typically happens during the season of "spring".  The Phoenix area didn't get that memo though, and the forecast high for Friday is.....wait for it........98 degrees.

Meet my new favorite item for summer survival.

Extra large diet cherry limeade.  44 ounces.  25 calories.

I'll be having one of these babies like 5 times a week.

We're turning the air conditioner on tomorrow.  Hope it works.

Preparations

My very favorite window clings of all time have been hung.  That bunny is just SO pissed.  I'm endlessly amused by this, even 8 years after they were purchased. 

My new purchases from Hobby Lobby have been displayed.  Side note: I've been stalking the Easter aisles for weeks.  Stuff finally went 50% off last week.  Apparently I am not the only one who has been stalking the Easter displays because 1 week later there is nothing left.

And finally, I am on the prowl for one of these:

I don't even know how it is possible that I don't own an egg wreath.  I talk about buying one EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

On the agenda this week: #1. Check Michael's, Home Goods, Stein Mart, Pier 1, Joanne's and Kohls. 

#2.  Purchase and hang egg wreath. 

Step #3.  Breathe a sigh of relief that I am no longer disappointing this person:

Fine Motor Skills

We recently bought some markers for Spencer's white board.  He seems to enjoy the white board side more than the chalkboard side these days.  Last week he asked me to write his name on the board.  I said I would, but only if he traced over it.

I wrote in yellow.  He wrote over that in blue.  This is totally unassisted.  I was not doing hand over hand guidance with him.

It's pretty good, huh?

I mean, he is only 3.5 years old.

I snapped some quick pictures because he won't leave anything on the white board for more than 35 seconds.  He thinks erasing it is just as enjoyable as actually coloring on it.

Moving on.

 As a speech therapist I know a lot about speech and language development (duh).  When I evaluate kids and then explain the results to parents I talk a great deal about typical development and developmental milestones. During meetings I also spend a lot of time listening to the evaluation results of the physical therapist, occupational therapist and psychologist.  I always love listening to other professionals, because I learn such interesting information.  For example, did you know there is a typical progression of drawing development in children? 

Stage 1 is the scribbling stage.  This happens around 18 months-2 years. Disordered scribbles are simply records of enjoyable kinesthetic activity, not attempts at portraying the visual world. After six months of scribbling, marks are more orderly as children become more engrossed. Soon they begin to name scribbles, an important milestone in development.

Stage 2 is the preschematic stage.  This happens between ages 3-5.

First conscious creation of form occurs around age three and provides a tangible record of the child's thinking process. The first representational attempt is a person, usually with a circle for the head and two vertical lines for legs. Later other forms develop, clearly recognizable and often quite complex. Children continually search for new concepts so symbols constantly change.

Let me introduce you to Spencer's first representational attempt at a person:

I love it.  I could not be more proud of him for making this potato man.  I just hope it wasn't supposed to be me.

Same couch

Remember when we went to the zoo with our friends James, Stephanie, Rainer and Zoe last week?  The next day they came over and we went to lunch.  I meant to post this right after they were here, but then the rest of spring break got in the way.

October 2007

June 2009

March 2011

#1) It seems like we have get-togethers in odd years.

#2) It seems like I'm always taking James and Spencer's picture on the same couch.

#3) Now that we realize this, we'll have to keep that couch forever and plan gatherings at our house in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, etc, etc, etc.  It's going to take a lot of work.

Spring Break odds and ends

1.

My parents came to visit us the second weekend of spring break.  Spencer was in grandparent heaven.

We ate dinner outside.  My mom thought it was chilly.  Check out our ghetto foil covered windows in the background.  That's the master bedroom.  We have blinds in there, but we like to sleep in a simulated cave, so we have foil in the windows of all the bedrooms.

Spencer saw Gramme in a jacket so he wanted to wear one too.

2.

Michael did a beautious job hanging the inital pictures on the wall.  I blacked out the last initial because I like to pretend that we've remained somewhat anonymous on the internet by never sharing a last name.

3.

I've been bitching about not having a nightstand on my side of the bed since we have Spencer's second bed right there.  Without a nightstand I don't have my alarm clock close by, so it makes it hard for me to tell the time since we are, in fact, sleeping in a cave and there is no visible light for me to see the clock on the wall.  And forget about having an illuminated digital clock.  I'd have a mental breakdown after 2 nights.  Also, without a nightstand Michael has to leave my alarm clock on his pillow after he gets up.  Sometimes I knock it off the pillow and then can't find it.  It would also be nice to have a little bottle of water close by in case I'm thirsty at 2 am.  Enough. Do I really have to convince you why it's bad to be sans nightstand?  Anyway,  we found this shelf in the garage and hung it by my side of the bed.  Michael is taking bets for when I first knock it off the wall during the middle of the night.

4.

We bought a new vacuum.  One with a hepa filter.  This thing is AWESOME.  It totally confirms that our last vacuum should have been retired a long time ago.  We vacuumed once and the canister was full.  We could have made 3 more beagles with the amount of hair it sucked up.

5.

My brother gave us his hepa filter air purifier.  It's in Spencer's room.  His room is fast becoming a clean room.  You could do sensitive lab work in there.  We just need to add a positive pressure entrance.  Or should it be negative pressure.  I've never worked in a clean room lab.

6. 

When my parents were here my dad was bitching that the couch was too close to the TV.  He formulated a whole plan on how to fix it.  Unfortunately he was right.  After he left we took his advice and enacted the plan.

BEFORE

AFTER

We gained a good 2 feet of space between couch and TV.  And now more of the toys are within one contained area.  It works.  But dammit I hate to admit when one of my parents is right.

Beaglefest

We adopted Ginger from the Southern Arizona Beagle Rescue 4 years ago.  They are based out of Tucson.

  The Arizona Beagle Rescue is based in the Phoenix area.  Every year they hold a Beaglefest as a fundraiser for their organization.  We were finally able to go this year.

There were lots of beagles available for adoption.  I wasn't really tempted by any of them.

I was tempted by this little lady, but who wouldn't be?

We entered Ginger in the "first to come when called/last to come when called contest".  I held her at the start line and Michael called to her.  She was the 3rd to last dog to run to their other person.  She would have been last, but Michael finally took pity on her and walked half-way to us so she could see him.  She was very confused and anxious about the whole thing and probably won't ever forgive us for the experience.  Maximize this picture for the full beagle effect.

We also walked in the rescued beagle parade.

Spencer got a cool glittery frog hand tattoo.

As of bed time tonight he has glitter on his eyelids, in his ears, in his hair and on his legs, but only about 5 pieces of glitter left on the actual frog.

This is what happens to an old lady beagle after partying with 100 other beagles for 2 hours.  Very, very, very worn out.

She still wanted to go on her nightly walk tonight.  But after that it was right back to bed.