Ladybugs to the Rescue!.... NOT!

I have nine rosebushes. My personal philosophy is there is always room for a new rosebush especially if it promises to be one that smells good. To that end I like to cut off roses and bring them in the house for their beauty and their scent. However I HATE aphids. Nasty crawly bugs that eat my roses!
Noticing that I already seemed to have an aphid problem I went to the nursery and bought ladybugs. I bought them at about 1:00pm and brought them home and set the container on my kitchen table to release in the evening so the ladybugs would not fly off but instead make their home in my bushes. That was the theory anyway.
When I went to release them it looked like they were all dead. Now, they hadn't been moving when I got them but I assumed that was because they kept them in a 'fridge and that as they warmed up they would wake up and move around. But eight hours later they were not moving. So I called the nursery. They said to wait 'til morning and see what was what. Guess what? They're still dead. Stupid Bugs. Now I have to take them back and hope the next batch is not a dud too. If they are I'm getting my money back and buying my Ladybugs elsewhere. Humph!

Personality tests

Your result for The Social Persona Test (What kind of man/woman are you?)...

The Rarity (QTAF)

Quirky Traditional Alpha Female

You have an unusual and unbelievably precious combination of traits, especially in a woman. Not only are alpha females extremely rare, but traditional ones with nerdy/geeky interests are even more scarce. Unlike the other types, I can't give you a description because I'm not sure if you actually exist.

PS: I know this is not a compatibility test, but there is a very good chance you are the girl of my dreams. Not to sound desperate or anything, but please, oh please message me! (Assuming, that is, that you are between 20 and 30 and live in New England).

--Bookwyrm85

You are more QUIRKY than NORMAL.

You are more TRADITIONAL than LIBERAL.

You are more DOMINANT than PASSIVE.

When picking a date, consider: Lord of the Misfits (QLAM), The Late Bloomer (QTAM), The Snowball's Chance in Hell (QTBM), or The Manga Geek (QLBM).

(Image from http://folk.uio.no/thomas/lists/amazon-connection.html)

Take The Social Persona Test (What kind of man/woman are you?) at HelloQuizzy

Okay already!

For all you people out there that seem to care how my throat is doing, and apparently there is a bunch of you and I love you all for caring so, I went to see the doc for my post-op today and he said that everything looks great. I have a little bit of something that he said was like thrush only much less so, I can't remember what he called it, but he gave me a script for some lozenges to suck on that should take care it. Everything else looks good, the swelling is going down and I feel fine.

The really good news is I told him I have been sleeping without my CPAP machine and doing well. So he has scheduled a test for a month from now that will test my oxygen levels while I sleep to see if I can get off the thing permanently. I'm pretty confident that it will work out, but keep your fingers crossed!

Thanks again to everyone for all your love and support!

Happy Birthday Ian! (a little late!)

Ian turned SIX yesterday! I cannot believe it! He was born May 9th, 2003, was 8lbs. 11oz. and was 20.75 inches long. Which was pretty amazing considering he was three weeks early. Oh, he was beautiful, and at six even though he doesn't want to hear it I'm sure, he still is.

His personality was very apparent even as an infant. Pretty easy-going most of the time, but the red-haired temper could come out when pushed. He loved play, didn't mind being dirty, and REFUSED to sleep until he was completely overcome with exhaustion. He was a sweet baby who liked to be cuddled and loved Mommy more than anything. I still think I am the luckiest mom on the planet.

Now, at six years old, he is bright and intelligent with tons of imagination. He loves Daddy more than anything now but still comes to mom for the scraped knees and bruised elbows. He is affectionate and sweet, and most of the time has pretty good manners. He can still be a little shy, but is starting to get over that a bit.

P.S. I found a way to decorate the Bundt cake. Ian wanted a "monster" theme to his party, so I made a Loch Ness monster. Unfortunately the icing wasn't as thick as I wanted and it all flowed down to the bottom of the dish. Tasted good though!

R.I.P. Bob

Yesterday was a sad day. Bob died. Bob was Ian's goldfish and a first rate dragon deflector. When Ian was about 2 1/2 years old he suddenly became very frightened of dragons. In my desperation I told Ian that dragons were afraid of fish because fish live in water and water puts out fire. Ian was sneaking into our bed every night or would wake up crying for me and I was getting no sleep, so I decided to get him a goldfish. That night was the first night Ian slept through the night. It was wonderful. Ian has since added Farmer Pickles to the tank and we had to go get a new fish so now we also have America.

For all the dragons you kept at bay, we will miss you Bob!

Tonsils Update

Tomorrow at 9 a.m. I go in to get my tonsils out. I'm frightened! How come when things like this happen everyone comes out of the woodwork with horror stories of what happened to their aunt's cousin's neighbor twice removed? ARRRGGG!
(Feeling better now.)

Cake - Very Yummy!

I made a cake! Woo-Hoo! Okay, but I did not get into decorating it because it is a bundt cake. It is called "Tunnel of Fudge Cake" and it is VERY yummy! Ian decided he wants it for his birthday, so I may have to do some decorating then, but this is the result.

You can kind of see the dark fudgy "tunnel" in this photo. Believe me, it is the best, and richest, chocolate cake I have ever had.

Am I Stupid?

A couple of months ago I went to visit the doctor for a check up when she told me she was fairly certain I have sleep apnea. Three tests and a CPAP machine later it turns out she's right. I HATE that machine. I am certain it is some sort of medieval torture device. It's either in my way for rolling over or its beeping because it is not on my face correctly. On the upside I've never slept better. But my doc wanted me to go see an ENT anyway.

You see I was sick a while back and the doc at the walk-in clinic mentioned my "very prominent" tonsils. (His words, not mine.) So when I went to check back with MY doc for the final results of my sleep study I mentioned this to her. She took a look and agreed that the were "rather large". (Again, her words.) So I went to the ENT to see if the tonsils were a contributing factor to my sleep apnea. He said that I did not have prominent tonsils, but rather "gigantically large tonsils that almost meet in the middle and are certainly contributing in a large part to the sleep apnea." ( His words, I swear)

So at the end of this month I am going to go have my tonsils out. This does NOT sound like fun to me. And the question I have is, am I stupid to have my tonsils out just so I, hopefully, won't have to sleep with a machine any more? It's not a sure thing, but I REALLY hope it works.

War & Peace

Guess what? I had most of a day to myself today! It was great! The house is relatively clean, the laundry is mostly done and Ian went to school and the was home from 11:30 'till 1:00, but then went to a friend's house for a couple of hours of playtime. So I decided to make a cake. I really owed one to Heather since she made my mom an apron and refused to take any money for it. So I decided to make a book. But since the "book" was so huge I had to make it a big book. I suppose I could have made it "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", but that was way more words than I was willing to write. As you can see, I still need lots of practice with me writing. But it was a lot of fun to make.



This part is my pages. I tried to make it look like books where the pages are all different sizes. I think my coloring is a little too dark, but it doesn't look too bad.

So, Heather, I hope it at least tasted good!

(Edit 3/17/09: So last night I was laying in bed and just before I fell asleep I realized that if you opened this "book" it would have been backwards! I've GOT to pay more attention!)

Look out! There goes Spiderman!

Spiderman, Spiderman,
Does whatever a spider can.
Spins a web, any size.
Catches thieves- just like flies.
Look out! Here comes the Spiderman.

Is he strong? Listen, bud.
He's got radioactive blood.
Can he swing, from a thread?
Take a look overhead.
Hey, there! There goes the Spiderman!

In the chill of night, at the scene of a crime,
like a streak of light,
he arrives, just in time!

Spiderman, Spiderman,
friendly neighborhood Spiderman.
Wealth and fame? He's ignored.
Action is his reward.
Look out! There goes the Spiderman!

To him,
life is a great big bang-up.
Wherever there's a hang-up,
you'll find the Spiderman!

So, the best thing about having kids is you never have to really grow up. I don't think I ever had my face painted as a kid. Not from any real reason other than the opportunity never presented itself. But look! I get to live vicariously through my son. (I tried convincing the lady Ian REALLY wanted butterflies, you can see how well that went.) The make-up itself did not last long as Ian doesn't like calling attention to himself. Actually, sounds like most superheroes. Also he was afraid he scared Miss Becci! Ah, but now I have the "superhero evidence" forever! Isn't he adorable?