Because I SHOULD post ...

Okay, it's been over two weeks ... and I just haven't had a lot to post about, I guess.

So, about the Bucket's lunch situation, I got to talk to the principal on the phone. She was rather shocked that a lunchroom helper took it upon herself to make a judgement call that should NOT have occurred at all. (It's school practice to CALL the family with lunch-related questions). And the principal was supernice. I adore her already. ... Sometimes you can just tell by the voice and its mannerisms. But, yeah, I like her very much and she made a bad situation SO MUCH LESS stressful.  Lovely.

Okay ... let's see what else has happened since I last blogged? (I had to check my Cozi calendar ... how pitiful is it that I really can't recall what's gone on?)

• We got a new (to us) couch. This one's tall enough that my mom can actually sit on it comfortably. (Our older couch and the matching loveseat ... the loveseat is no longer part of our household, bee tee wubs ... are so low that they are a little, um, challenging to get out of. Especially if you have a bad back, hip, or if your center of balance is changing due to pregnancy. Just sayin'.)
• Michael took a bunch of stuff to the dump -- our old (broken-ish) screen door from the back, old lawn furniture that's seen better days, a window that doesn't fit ANY window around our house, the loveseat, the old (rusted) BBQ, a dented file cabinet ... Just stuff that we really don't use and won't ever miss.
• We went to OMSI. We were going to go though the Body Worlds exhibit (since we have a membership, all the traveling exhibits have been included in the price ... but this one is NOT) ... but we decided to wait (indefinitely at present), since we didn't want to spend $56 for the four of us. (If we didn't have a membership, it'd have run us $84 ... seriously, our 5-year-olds would be $17 EACH. WHAT????).
  We may just end up buying the book and DVD set about the exhibit ($40) or just the book ($30) and call it good.
  Because that's SPENCY!!!!
  I could just about get a membership for the Oregon Coast Aquarium for what we'd pay to go ONCE through that exhibit.
  That is just insane.  (I could see around $10/person admission. TOPS. This is OMSI, not a four-star restaurant!) ... Unless I get valet parking, a spa day, AND a plasticized corpse as a souvenir included in that price, well, I am NOT IMPRESSED.
• Oh! I should tell you about Halloween!
  So, Bruise was Captain America and Bucket was Princess Aurora (her last day with long hair).
  They didn't have school on Halloween (which is just as well, since their school doesn't do Halloween, which is a little sad. Oh well.), so we were going to do Trick-or-Treating in the next town over and go to a party at the library there ... but I was so, so tired. So, we took it easy during the day and just went Trick-or-Treating at the mall in the evening. Then at a neighbor's house. And, after Michael came home, we went to Izzy's for dinner, since they offered free kids' meals AND a little treat bag for the holiday.
  We also had gone to HOWL-oween at the zoo and then to dinner with Mom and Dad C and to Uncle D's haunted apartment during the weekend. The kids had plenty of treats to eat.
  Bruise's toothache came back for a little, but he was doing better ... and has been for most of the rest of the time.
• Now, with how expensive the Body Worlds exhibit was, I had griped to my friends on Facebook. And one of my friends (an editor at a local paper who I went to high school with) let me know that there was a small portion of the exhibit traveling to our towns (And another friend did see it in the paper and let me know. I have AWESOME FRIENDS, let me tell you!) ... so I took the kids.
  It all fit on one table, that's how small it was. There were two sets of lungs (one healthy, one smoker), a couple spleens, a kidney, a small portion of the large intestines, about four transparent body slices (like CAT scans, cross-sections of the abdomen, taken at different locations), a couple livers (one fatty, but overall okay; the other was so swollen from cirrhosis that it had indentations where it had pushed against the ribcage), a plasticized arm, a cross-section of an arm of a VERY sedentary person ... and an iPad that played a video preview of what the exhibit looks like. I THINK that's everything.
  So, yeah, it was a dinky display overall ... but it was free and local. So I can't really complain.
• Besides that, I've been keeping busy with Savior of the World rehearsals, cleaning up the house (including REWASHING some clean clothes that Freyja decided to .... baptize by sprinkling, per se, on the couch. Ugh.), and reading library books.
• I've resigned from my volunteer position at the library. Which is sad. But I've gotten big enough that I am not as able to bend and shelve those lower shelves very easily. And I get light-headed a bit. Which isn't the best thing. ... And, sadly, with budget cuts, I no longer am exempt from fines (I paid almost FIVE DOLLARS in fines. Ouch!) ... and, once my library card expires next Halloween, even if I AM a volunteer, I don't get a free library card. ... It'd cost $120/year. *sigh*
  So I'll be limited to the closer library. ... Maybe it'd be worth it to sign up for PaperbackBookSwap at that point.
  Does anyone have experience using it? Would it be worth it?
• The kiddos got to go to the pediatric dentist. We'll be back after Christmas for some work on cavities. Bucket had the four cavities. Bruise has six. One of his molars will have to be pulled (the one that's causing his toothaches) and a spacer will be put in. They'll file down the cavities on the back of his front teeth ... those will be coming out within the year anyways, so it's not worth putting fillings or caps on those.
  Bucket lost her first tooth last weekend. Her other bottom tooth is loose already. And Dr. F, the dentist, said that her front teeth aren't very far behind.
  Bruise's teeth haven't been very loose ... but ONE of his bottom teeth is FINALLY getting loose ... which made him feel a WHOLE LOT BETTER.
  I was the one to pull out Bucket's loose tooth. Michael was trying, but Bucket's moist mouth meant that the floss kept sliding off. So I grabbed BOTH ends of the floss, like when you're threading eyebrows? And it popped right out! ... Bucket was most disturbed at the blood. (I had warned her there would be a little!) But she was thrilled to get four quarters from the tooth fairy in the morning.
• We took the missionaries out to dinner last night. We spent a bit of the conversation talking about what I learned (about a decade ago. Oy!) in my Asian History class in college. ... Yup, an Ed major. And my emphasis areas are unique ... like me. Children's Theatre and Asian History. (I love theatre ... and Asian History was only three sequential classes ... and I knew that I'd be learning something new ... so ... why not?)
• I've been having strange dreams. Last night, I woke up thinking that I was going to be late for Seminary.
  (Seminary is a religion class for LDS high-schoolers ... around here, it's an early-morning extra-curricular, usually not earning any school credit. I haven't been in Seminary since, oh, June 1999. No one in our house is enrolled. Not for another nine years or so.)
  I also had a stupid dream while I napped the other day. The stupid pugs down the road had started yapping (in real life), and that got into my dream.
  They were chasing a badger around the broken fence that was here BEFORE our new neighbor moved in. Then Bruise and Bucket invited a friend over. And I didn't know this boy or where he lived, so I couldn't drive him home. And then this HUGE, ANGRY DOG was barking at our front door and trying to get in as I'm STRIVING to lock the deadbolt and keep him out.
  NOT VERY RELAXING.

I've started to feel huge. Not that I really LOOK huge. I'm only 25 weeks now. But there are days that I've been so tired and don't feel like doing, well, ANYTHING.
But the kids are out to the bus on time. I get them from the bus on time. They take lunches to school. They get their homework done ... I may not be the most fun or exciting parent, but they're doing okay.

Bruise got moved up to a more advanced reading group. Phew.
Looks like there were some other kids that needed to be moved up, too. So it's good that I shared my concerns. I just didn't want him to regress. And he's been reading a lot more ... especially signs as we drive.

The one (not great) thing about having children who read is that I have to be a little more careful about what I'm reading online. Since I don't mind READING profanity (I don't like saying it or HEARING it ... but reading it ... I can edit it as I read pretty easily ... unless I have little readers nearby. I do NOT want to hear them ask what "bite-ch" is or anything, iykwim. Aityd.)

We went to the Veterans' Day parade yesterday. We left shortly before it ended. And it took us nearly a half hour or so to make the ten minute drive back home. Ugh. I hate traffic.
And I could tell that I'm hormonal when I about burst into tears seeing the Patriot Guard (motorcycles) driving by at the start of the parade.
Bruise got a balloon sword from a family that had bought one too many ... and Bucket was crying and pouting. Good thing that same family ended up with an extra bracelet that was passed out from one float. *sigh*  .... I really wish that Michael didn't have to work on Veterans' Day. It's much easier to take the kids to the parade when there's another adult. But we survived.
And then he had me take a nap (since he was home by the time we got home, since Friday's his short day) when we got home. Since I was snapping at the kids.

I'm finding it hard to make myself eat this pregnancy. I don't really have any cravings (which has been normal for my pregnancies thus far). But, after all the morning sickness (which appears to be MOSTLY passed. Thank goodness), I don't eat as much. And ... I'm not motivated to expend all the energy to make something for myself to eat (and, heck, when the kids won't eat much of what I DO make for them, that's not much motivation either. At least Michael likes what I cook.) ... and, usually, nothing really sounds good.
And I'm a little worried that I'll end up failing the blood glucose test next week. Since TWO of the pregnant gals that I know have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes ... and I really ....
Well, is it REALLY asking too much for a pregnancy with NO complications?
I've been low-risk so far, which has been a nice change ... can't I keep it up?
After having preeclampsia, which stretched out my skin (even MORE than carrying around two healthy kiddos simultaneously) ... especially in areas that shouldn't have been stretched like that ... is it really too much to ask to just have a perfect little pregnancy?
(Of course, with all the puking that I've done, it's not like it's been completely perfect ... but this girl (still haven't come up with a blog name -- do I keep up with this "b" trend? I don't know ...) is healthy. I mean, what else do I really want? ... Besides more energy, no major surgeries, a better attitude ... *sigh*)

We found out yesterday that my sister-from-another-mister (as we like to call each other) is also having a girl. Which follows the old-wives-lore about morning sickness (as have I).
These little girls are going to be besties. WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT. HA.

So ... yeah. I've been a little ... off. I need to read my scriptures and pray more. Since I've not been doing a great job at that habit. And I need to start that "Things I'm Thankful For" list. ... Which I'll start (and get caught up on.) Stat.