Life is good... Happy Birthday Billy!

And yes, another basketball win! Team Dynomite won 17 to 11 today. We played the same team that we played on Tuesday. Thankfully we had 6 players today so we could substitute instead of everybody having to play the entire game. Kyra scored 4 of the 17 points. I keep the scorebook for our team and before the game, Grace said I might as well go ahead and write "222222222222222222222222....." across the page by her name because she would be scoring big today. Well, she was right; she scored 10 points for us.

After the game, I took Kyra to Sophia's birthday party at the bowling alley. She had a great time with her friends for 2.5 hours. After picking her up, she asked if she could invite a friend over to play. It was 3:15 p.m. and I told her it was too late to be calling someone to invite them over; and besides, she just spent the last 2+ hours with a lot of her friends anyway... She argued with me, so I stood even firmer. NO.

Well, guess what happened... We arrived home the same time our across-the-street neighbors were pulling into their driveway. Kyra said she just wanted to shoot hoops outside, which was fine with me. Next thing I know, there are 7 kids in my driveway playing basketball, riding scooters, drawing roads/parking spaces, etc. Even Toby, a golden retriever from down the street, was in on the basketball fun! Although I thought it was too late to be calling someone to invite them over, I'm glad the kids came over anyway. (It turns out that the girl Kyra wanted to invite over was one of the ones that came over.) I love it when this happens! I watched them all playing from the window while cleaning the kitchen and smiled remembering playing with my neighbors when I was her age.

Several hours later, while I was on the phone with my sister, I looked out the window to see Kyra riding her tricycle from the end of the driveway back to the garage. I've kept her smaller trikes, bikes, scooters, etc. for the occassion when younger kids come to play. Kyra has way outgrown this tricycle and I had to laugh, wishing I had my camera. When I got off the phone with Laura, I went outside while Kyra was continuing to put away the toys that the kids had drug out into the yard/driveway. I snapped the photo of her on the car that her Grandma Marion gave her for her 1st birthday. (I can't bear to part with this car since it was the first and only birthday present she would receive from my mom.) I then asked her to get back on her trike so I could capture that moment as well. There have been many times when I've considered emptying the garage of toys that are too small for her use now, but times like today remind me why I haven't. They still occassionally get a good use. Life is good!

I'm glad we don't live in a tent...

Kyra is so creative... I worked from home today, which means Kyra didn't have to go to Day Care, but she did have to entertain herself after school at home while I continued working. Since she has gone through the tissues this week due to a cold, she decided to use an empty kleenex box to create a living room for her "puffles". Puffles are fuzz balls. She named them all and asked me for help with the last name. I suggested Greene since the kleenex box was primarily green and the daddy puffle was green; she liked it. The first photo is of the lid/roof of their home. The second photo is of the actual living room. You can't really see it, but on the wall of the kleenex box on the bottom of the picture is a flat screen TV. You may notice the remote control on the bottom, and the light switch on the wall. The "puffles" are the fuzzy balls sitting on the couch and in the chair.


We live adjacent to the tennis courts. At bedtime, while I was reading chapter 2 of Runt to her, she said, "I sure am glad we don't live in a tent." I wondered where this came from since it didn't seem related to the story. I asked for an explanation. She said that since we can hear people on the courts now, with windows and doors closed, just imagine how loud it would be if we lived in a tent!

Bad Tooth Fairy!!! + basketball win

Boy were we disappointed with the Tooth Fairy this morning! Kyra lost her 15th tooth on Sunday morning. She went to her dad's house that afternoon, but didn't want to take her tooth with her. She wanted to keep it here and put it under her pillow when she returned to our house. So... Last night, she decided that it might get lost if she put it under her pillow, so she decided to leave it sitting on the night stand. That way it would also be easier for the Tooth Fairy to get to. I was in the shower when she woke up this morning and when I came out she was crying. The Tooth Fairy hadn't come! I reassured her that the Tooth Fairy probably had too many teeth to collect last night but I was positive that she'd visit our house... It was a sad morning until after breakfast. Thankfully, the Tooth Fairy came while we were eating breakfast, and we lived happily ever after...

Kyra's basketball game last night was a close one. We only had 5 players again, while the other team had 7. They were able to substitute players in and out for breaks, but our girls had to play the entire game. We didn't play the best we're capable of, but somehow managed to pull off a win with a final score of 12 to 10. This was partly due to the other team fouling us so many times that we got to throw free-throws for each additional foul... Oh well, a win's a win! Go Team Dynomite!

Horse Camp and Book Club

Kyra had fun at Horse Camp today while I stayed busy cooking and cleaning. A group of friends came over for our monthly Book Club gathering. We discussed Breaking Dawn, by Stephanie Meyer (the last book of the Twilight series). I loved the book series, but am looking forward to reading something different. I chose Sundays at Tiffany's, by James Patterson, as our next book to read. I appreciate the suggestions of friends, but I ended up just wandering the aisles of Borders until I came across James Patterson novels. I have enjoyed his books in the past and haven't read anything by him in years. This book caught my eye since I own a few pieces of Tiffany jewelry (thanks Drew!)... I hope it's a good book! My salad turned out delicious, but the soup was more of a thick stew. I made the mistake of putting in an entire box of seashell pasta rather than the one cup that the double-recipe called for. The pasta soaked up all the liquid. Yikes... Oh well, I learned a valuable cooking lesson... At least the beverages, salad and friendship were amazing!

Lost tooth, feels better

One of Kyra's teeth was very loose on Friday. I thought for sure that it would have fallen out on Saturday, but it didn't. However, this morning during breakfast, she gave it a twist and out it came. She feels much better today. She slept 12 hours last night in addition to the naps off and on yesterday afternoon. She's still sniffling, but she's acting like her usual happy self and the fever is gone. I transferred her to her dad a little after 1 p.m. and then went grocery shopping and to the library. I'm hosting Book Club tomorrow night and I have no idea what book to pick! I spent an hour at the library and left empty handed. I returned home to declutter the kitchen counter, put away the remaining Christmas decor, and read as much as I could in hopes of finishing the current book before the discussion Monday. I'll go to the book store tomorrow and ask for a recommendation. That worked successfully on a previous occassion.

Basketball win, Kyra feels bad

I had to wake Kyra up this morning to go to her basketball game. She was not happy that she had to get up. But... once up she seemed OK except for still having the sniffles. We had breakfast and then went to her baskeball game. There are 7 girls on her team. One was absent and one was injured and wouldn't be able to play. That left 5 girls to play the entire game. Then something happened to one of the girls and she had to come out of the game in the 1st quarter; she sat out until the 4th quarter. Amazingly, our 4 1/2 girl team won the game with a final score of 21 to 16. Kyra didn't score any points this game, but she played hard and was a key player.

Afterwards we went shopping for a present for making all A's on her report card, and also a birthday present for Colleen. Then we ate lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant before returning home. Driving home, I noticed that Kyra's cold sounded worse and she looked very run down. When she laid her head against the car window and closed her eyes, I became concerned. She rarely does that. She began complaining of a headache. As soon as we got home, she laid down on the couch, bundled up in a blanket, and immediately fell asleep. This is so not like her. She slept for about a half-hour. The rest of the afternoon consisted of lying either on the couch, or in bed, with cat-naps all afternoon and her complaining of feeling horrible. She had a low-grade fever, 99.2. She was supposed to go to her dad's house this afternoon/evening, but he and I decided it would probably be best for her to just stay here and rest since her 4-year-old half-sister would not understand that she needed peace and quiet rather than play-time. I hope she feels better soon!

Hotel for Dogs - Northlake Movie Tavern

Friday night is Movie Night at our house, which typically means watching a movie on TV, On Demand, or renting a movie from Blockbuster. But for this week we decided to splurge and go out to see a movie. The movie Hotel for Dogs was scheduled to be released today, so on Thursday we started making plans. We invited one of Kyra's friends, Colleen, to come over Friday afternoon to play for a while and then go to the theater with us. I decided to go to a theater that we've never been to, the Northlake Movie Tavern. They have rows of reclining chairs with a long table between the rows of chairs for your food. You order a meal or snack at the concession stand and then they bring your food to you when it's ready. We ordered cheeseburgers, and I was truly surprised at how good it was! I honestly expected it to be like a fast-food burger, but it was thick, juicy and served with yummy french fries! The seats were very comfortable and if the movie had been boring, I probably would have fallen asleep in the recliner. We all enjoyed both the movie and the theater. The girls wanted Colleen to sleep over, but Kyra has a basketball game at 9 in the morning. Colleen was willing to go watch and I knew they would go to bed at a reasonable time, but when I picked Kyra up from Day Care this afternoon, she was sniffling and looked very run down. I didn't want to expose Colleen too long to whatever illness Kyra has, so I was the mean mom and said "not tonight, but we'll have her sleep-over another night soon."

Another limb

I wish Riley would stop bringing tree limbs/branches into the house and shredding them! Oh well, I guess it's better than him destroying something we value...

I took Tasha back to the vet for a re-check this afternoon. Kenya took her to a different vet than we usually go to, but for consistency, I took her back to the same office. The vet that saw her on Monday wasn't working today, but the vet technician remembered her. She said that Tasha was much better today. She told me and the new vet that Tasha's eye was swollen on Monday and that they had a hard time getting it open. Plus she was definitely not as happy as she was today. The vet checked her eye and said it was a little cloudy. He said to discontinue all but the antibiotic ointment and to continue that for 4-5 more days to make sure it doesn't get infected. He didn't know if the cloudiness would disappear as it healed or if there would be permanent scarring. He said to bring her back if her eye becomes watery or if she starts keeping it shut. I was encouraged by the vet tech saying how much improved she seemed to be, since I didn't really know what to compare it to since I've been out of town.

As I type this, I hear Kyra in the living room singing "Push It To the Limit" by Corbin Bleu. She was playing tennis on the Wii earlier, so I'm guessing this is a song on her Sing It wii game. She sounds tired. I had to wake her early today to finish reading and she was very grouchy with me. I promised her this morning that I would get her to bed early (or at least on time) tonight so she could catch up on sleep, so I better close this now since she has 2 more chapters to read and a response to write, again...

Riding Lessons

My goal for today was to be relaxed, but it ended up stressed beyond belief. I planned to leave the hotel at 7, and take a 30 minute lunch break, thinking this would put me back in Atlanta by 2:30. I completely forgot that my starting point was 45 minutes further away than my ending point was on Monday, which was the basis for my time estimate. I left at 7 and contemplated stopping at a state park in Georgia for a run since I would have time to spare. But around 1 pm I realized that I wouldn't make it to the office until 3:15-3:30, without any more stops. Yikes! I really needed to leave the office by 3 to pick up the dogs and then Kyra in time to give her a snack and make it to riding lessons on time. Oh well... I skipped my run and skipped the gas station and didn't drink anything so I wouldn't have to make a potty stop. I arrived at the office at 3:15, quickly transferred my stuff to my car and left. I had heard on the radio that there was an accident on the Interstate with all lanes blocked, so I took the back roads to day care which added an extra 20 minutes of driving time. I called Funnybones and left a message saying I would pick up the pups after 6 instead of before 4. I picked Kyra up at 4:25 and called her riding instructor to let her know we would be late. Kyra was supposed to be there at 4:45; we arrived at 5:00 pm. On the way to the ranch, Kyra told me that she needed to go to the library tonight to get a book for her FOCUS (gifted) class project. She has 2 sources and needs a 3rd by tomorrow. I asked her how long she knew about this and if it was mandatory to have by tomorrow. She said she was the only one in her class that doesn't have 3 sources yet for her research project on California Sea Otters. She has an encyclopedia and an internet source, so her 3rd must be a different type of media (i.e. a book). She said she went to the school library today and they didn't have any books on otters. I worried that the library would close early tonight, since it is Wednesday, but thankfully they were open until 9 pm. Kyra got in a short riding lesson. It took her a while to bring Andy from the barn, saddle him, etc. She only had about 15 minutes of riding/instruction time due to the sun setting. Oh well... at least she'll have all day riding camp on Monday... I was freezing cold watching her anyway...

After riding lessons, we picked up the pups. Tasha looked so sad wearing the cone collar, but Kenny reassured me that she was doing so much better than she was on Monday. After receiving instructions from Kenny about Tasha's medication, care, and update on how she's been, we took them home. I put Tasha in my bedroom to keep Riley from messing with her. I left the basement door open so Riley could go out if needed, and then Kyra and I got back in the car to head to the library. The only book on sea otters that we found through the catalogue search turned out to be a pre-school picture book. I looked in the research/science section and found a few books on mammals which included a page or two on sea otters. The pre-school book was too baby-ish, so we checked out the two books on mammals. We were starving and I don't have much food at home so we went to Bambinelli's for dinner. It was great, as usual. But it meant a late night. We left at 9 pm and Kyra still had 2 chapters to read for homework and had to write 4 or more sentences about those chapters.

Back at home, we went straight to bed, after giving the dogs attention. I continued reading my book, "Breaking Dawn" while Kyra started reading her two chapters. At 10:30 she told me she was falling asleep reading and I was shocked at what time it was. I put a bookmark in her book and told her I would wake her early to finish reading and write her response. How did this day get so away from me?

I'm weird

I had half-planned to go for an early morning run on Wrightsville Beach, but I was exhausted and slept until 6 a.m. instead. It was a wise decision. It was raining and 40 degrees when I got up. I went to work at the HoltraChem Site and stayed there until noon-ish. I had Thai-Vietnamese for lunch and for some reason, whenever I eat this I crave chocolate. I returned to the hotel after lunch to work from there because the Site office was frigid. Mid-afternoon the craving hit and I went to the hotel snack shop and bought a pack of m&m's. I ate a few, two at a time of matching color. I had emptied the bag onto the bed so I could pick them out in color pairs to eat. I am so weird! But the weirdest thing occurred when I was on a phone call. I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing, but I organized the m&m's in the pattern depicted in the photo while talking. Why do I do this? If I only had time to organize my house as efficiently as I do m&m's...

On a positive note, the latest report on Tasha is that she is back to her happy self and is allowing the staff at Funnybones to apply antibiotic ointment to her eye without complaint. She doesn't like the head collar that prevents her from rubbing her face, and is jealous of all the other dogs being allowed to go out and play while she's forced to remain sequestered in a crate (except supervised potty breaks). Thankfully Riley is still having fun playing with the other pups despite his sister not being allowed to come out to play. I'm grateful for the attentive care of the owners and staff at Funnybones!