Thursday, February 28, 2008

Hi My Name is Amy

S. and I'm an addict. Yes, I am. Totally addicted to Itunes. It's really becoming a problem. I mean all you have to do is press buy and you get songs. It doesn't really cost anything cause I don't remember putting in my credit card. All the e mails go to an old e mail box of Saige's because of a long story where some kid with problems got on my computer and screwed up my account. Well, he actually only signed me out and I could not for the life of me remember my password, this is a problem I have lots of times. I should just think of something and use it all the time for some reason I don't. Whatever. Then Itunes wouldn't let me sign back in with my e mail address, yadda, yadda, yadda. So, it seems to me someone just wants to give me all the music I want. I think it's rather nice of them and I'm not complaining, just stating fact. Slow day here at the Schramm household. Saige is at her other home in Clocktower with two other parents, who seem very nice. Chase and his friend Jack have apparently gone through everything they could possibly do here in the last 2 1/2 hours. Now they have moved out to the garage to kick a ball around. Go get 'em. I do think I saw Chase grab his paintball bag but I am ignoring it for now cause they're happy. I just hope my car is still silver when all is said and done. That's it.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Wednesday Yoga Music

Okay, I am not making the itune link today, simply because I am being lazy. I know you can link yourselves there. I know how smart you are. So, for you, and you know who you are, hassling me, here is what I played today, most I am sure about. I know halfway through I needed to keep it revved up so I switched around a bit but this is the gist. Oh, and you can't get the Kid Rock from Itunes.
Belief- John Mayer
Gotta Have You- The Weepies
Jesus, Etc. -Wilco
Cold Hands (Warm Heart)-Brendan Benson
Your Every Color-Train
Streetcorner Symphony-Rob Thomas
Bring Me Your Cup-The Beautiful Girls
On the Way Down-Ryan Cabrera
All Summer Long-Kid Rock
Be Good to Me-Steriogram
Won't Go Home Without You-Maroon 5
Crooked Teeth-Death Cab for Cutie
Back in the Day-Blues Traveler
Whatever Gets You Through Today-The Radio
Music- The Beautiful Girls
Amen- Kid Rock (Completely inappropriate savasana song-just call me Bill
)

I'm thinking this was about it.

Earning Their Keep

I like to be entertained. My kids know this. They like to make me laugh. Which of course is in their job description. There are certain stock answers to questions or statements in our house. For instance, if someone is upset and you say, "What's the matter?" It is always followed by "Mad hatter." Or when they are leaving in the morning (Jami, Kathy, Michele and Jen you will enjoy this) our standard line is, each and every morning, "Get your book bag, get your pledge class and get the hell outta my house." They like it. Chase especially likes it when he gets to say the last line. Or when they wake up or come home from school or really anywhere I ask, "Did you miss me?" They of course say, "Yes." (Whether they did or not.) Then that is always followed by, "Did you cry?" They say, "Kind of." Always, without fail. They know it amuses me. So anyway, back to music in the morning, which if you follow along, I have mentioned before is an integral part of our day. What I pick can make the morning completely turn around if someone has woken up on the wrong side of the bed. I like to start the day out good. I never want someone leaving irritable, I just don't think it makes for a nice start so I try to choose wisely. So there is one song I can always get Saige with, no matter what kind of mood she has woken up in or Chase has put her in. This song by A Tribe Called Quest called Can I kick it? Most of the song is the guy asking, "Can I kick it?" and then the other singers answer, "Yes you can." Well, if this song comes on as soon as we hear the music starts she perks up, she knows her part is coming. No matter where I am I have to get to her and ask her, "Saige, can I kick it?" What does she say? "Yes, you can." And it makes us laugh.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Dogs

Okay, I'm sorry but we all know dogs can be a huge pain in the neck. Sure, every once in a while you get the super dog like my friend Lisa's dog Max. Max let's himself out. He's never annoying, I don't think he sheds and I have never heard him bark. He is the exception to the rule. Most dogs track dirt, shed, get in the trash, make to much noise, and as lovable as they can be are generally just one more thing to take care of. My own dogs Lucy and Mickey are extraordinarily annoying. I love them to death, I do, but God they get on my nerves. They follow me around like I'm the Pied Piper, Lucy is constantly rooting through the trash and Mickey, even though he is like four doesn't quite understand that the only acceptable place to pee is outside. I adore them but I do not want anymore dogs. I love other people's dogs too. I do. I am a dog person. I'd rather hold your puppy than your baby any day of the week. No more for me though. So, when someone I know get's a puppy I think it's so cute and I want to hold it, but deep inside I just feel sorry for them. Recently very good friends of ours got a puppy. This was surprising to begin with because my friend is afraid of dogs, afraid of cats, afraid of all animals. Her husband is funny and nice but doesn't have a ton of patience. He is a short fuse. In a very funny way. So they get this puppy and of course like all puppys its a hassle. All the ordinary puppy stuff, and in the middle of winter, which anyone who has a puppy knows is the worst time to get one. You stand outside, it's freezing, the dog doesn't go and you go inside and then they decide to poop. So of course this exact thing happens to them. She comes back inside with the puppy he makes a beeline for the room he is not allowed in and starts to poop. He(the husband) runs over, ranting and raving, takes the dog outside, freaking out. Meanwhile, she (wife) cleans up said poop. Trys to get things back to normal. So they all come in, put puppy in his nice little house. Sit down, try to relax. He (husband) picks up his remote because he just wants to chill out. He goes to change the channel and puts his finger right in a big droplet of poop. Whoops, she missed a spot.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Hi...My Name is Saige S.

I have been getting a couple requests for older stories. I have been hesitant to put them up here because they are from a while ago but I think considering it's Sunday and I was just talking about Saige's great love of the stage and Kirsten asked, I will share this story. So, as many of you know, I am Presbyterian and Marc is Jewish. We had a non-denominational wedding. We celebrate just about every religious holiday there is, more because we love to party than out of religious obligations. Neither of us is really into organized religion. We are C & E'ers (Christmas and Easter-well really just C'ers when I think about it) for church and when we celebrate the Jewish holidays it is always with Uncle Michael and Aunt Susan and his cousins and it's really more to party. I consider my religion that of "Be kind to other people." That being said, a few years back when my children were younger I sent them to vacation bible school. Really for no other reason than it gave them something to do a few hours a day when school was out, their friends were going and it was free. I really didn't give it much thought from a religious standpoint. Marc wasn't thrilled that they were going, which I just didn't get. It's not like he's at the synagogue every night. In fact, besides ba and bar mitzvah's we've never been to a synagogue. Anyway, he expressed some disgruntlement and then let it go. Good boy. So anyway, they go all week and love it, I mean love it. So on Thursday night, and it just happened to be my birthday (June 24-make a note to yourselves) they have this little show at the church. Me, clueless as to what they could possibly be doing makes Marc come and watch. We've got my brand new camcorder that I got for my birthday in tow. So, literally, there are like at least 400 kids in this thing. Maybe 8 of them speak. We are sitting in the audience watching their little songs or whatever they were doing and all of the sudden this woman is calling a couple kids up on the stage. I am dozing at this point until I hear her go, "Here I have Saige Schramm with a testimonial." Saige makes her way up on stage and stands in front of the mike. I am back in focus now, thinking, what on earth could she have to say? Saige, in her stage voice gets right in front of that mike and says as loud and clearly as she could, "My name is Saige Schramm and this year at vacation bible school I learned that Jesus Christ is my Lord and saviour." I thought back to long ago when I went to New York City as a kid with my friend Megan and her mom told us a hundred times, "Make no eye contact." So that's what I did with Marc, no eye contact.

Post Secret

I was talking about this blog the other day to my friend and she had never heard of it. I thought I would mention it here cause it's really cool. This guy Frank started it a while ago and he has people send in their secrets. Every week on Sunday he posts new ones on his blog. He takes them all over and has shows with them and there are also a bunch of books now. Check it out if you haven't before.
www.postsecret.blogspot.com

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Puggy-Wug



My friend Kirsten hates pugs. I know this sounds ridiculous, I mean, who hates Pugs? They're so cute. But she hates them. Apparently one picked a fight with her big dog a long time ago. Her dog got blamed, cause it was the big one and she just hasn't gotten over it. When we would walk down the street in New York she would scowl and make rude gestures if we saw a cute little pug. So of course this inspired me to look for pug cards everywhere I was. And of course to them send them to her. I take great pleasure in stamping it and putting it in the mailbox knowing she will open it and see the dreaded pug. The demon dog. Anyway, she totally one upped me with this card she sent me. On the inside it reads,
Pet him and kiss him and
give him a hug.
Run and fetch him a suitable drug.
Wrap him up tenderly all in a rug.
That is the way to cure Puggy-Wug.
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill? That is possibly the funniest part of it. Who knew?

A Real Live Snow Day (I'm Going to Blow My Brains Out)

Okay, so I guess it's true. Be careful what you wish for. Remember that rain day thing? Not yesterday. Yesterday a full fledged snow day. We knew it was coming, no reason to even check if school was closed. I mean, duh. My friends, Lisa and Christina and I were supposed to go to New York this day. We had big plans, yoga, dinner, staying over. We decided Thursday night to cancel because we knew there wasn't going to be school. So, yesterday morning my phone rings, it's Lisa, "Okay, I'm going to blow my brains out." There was actually an expletive in there but I will refrain from writing it, use your imaginations. So my day started funny. I love that. Lisa's kids were already at each others throats. Ah, three boys, what do you expect. She said, "I feel like doing what my mother did, putting on their snow stuff, shoving them outside and locking the door." Unfortunately in this day and age that might be considered abuse so she opted for hiding from them for a while. We made a plan to go out tonight seeing as were missing out on New York and got busy figuring out how we were going to work out even with all these pesky kids around.
It wasn't hard for me. Marc came and got Chase. He called and said he was picking him up to help plow and clean the cars at the dealership. This sounds like hell on earth to me but Chase was very excited. I told him to go get dressed. He came down in shorts. Come on Chase, really? Shorts? Use your head man. I mean why not a tank top and grab your goggles. Where do you think you're going? So we got him as properly dressed for the weather as he could (except his jacket wouldn't zipper, but I told him Marc would deal with that) and sent him on his way. Now it's just me and Saige. She orders a movie and settles down for a little chill time. Fine, I'll go down in the basement and run. Phone rings, it's a friend, "Saige you want to come over and sled?" Done deal, pack up more snow clothes, order that movie tomorrow and let's get out of here. So off we go, Saige to Brigittes, me to the gym. Everyone's happy. So, snow day or not it was a good one. Then later chi rolls, wine and tuna pizza at Teikoku, things could be worse.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

ElectroMagnetic

So today's the big day. Guess what? The project is finished. It's good too. They made these batteries become magnets. The glue gun was never needed. There were some batteries, some paper clips, some copper wire and voila, a science project is made. We worked on the poster last night and it is very pretty. Which, you know, is important.
Marc had picked the kids up after school and taken them to his work. I had to go down to help with the poster. When I got there Chase was doing his thing, wandering around. His bookbag had not been touched. I asked him, "Any homework buddy?" Of course the immediate, "NO." popped out of his mouth. Saige goes, "Yeah, there's no homework until tomorrow morning when he remembers that he forgot to do it." So, then we find out that there is word study. So that's what were about to do now.
So tonight at school is the whole Science fair. Saige will get to present her project in front of everyone and she is really excited. It's like a little stage for her. She loves to be up on stage. Years ago she started performing her little dances at the talent shows everytime we were at at resort. All by herself. It amazed me. For days after people come up and tell her how awesome she was. I am in awe of it, not in a million years would I have done that. It is one more way she is like Marc, totally comfortable being in front of a crowd. Not me. I am very proud of her

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Science Project

So, in true us fashion we are down to two days before the big science project is due. Forgetting yesterday was Monday and they had off, I actually thought we had three. Nope. So this morning I try to talk Saige into giving the old lollipop experiment one more try. You know we could make a really pretty poster. It would be great. NO. That is not happening. So she goes up and tells Marc,"We're down to days Dad." So in true Marc fashion he calls me this afternoon and says he is on his way home to pick up Saige and take her back to work and they are going to get this Science project done. I still really have no idea what they're doing. I know it involves titanium. Just kidding. It involves some sort of battery and he needed the glue gun. That glue gun is an intregal part of many a project that goes on. Saige was really happy but wanted to make sure I would still be helping with the art portion of the project which involves the poster. Of course, there is nothing I enjoy more than taking over an art project. No, I wouldn't do that to her. Only to Chase. Chase would prefer to do "time on the line." than his work at times. Although I have told him you can't use "time on the line" as an alternative to your work. He seemed to think this is perfectly reasonable. He is fine with it although will try to work his way out of "time on the line," sometimes by telling the teacher her likes her shoes. Doesn't always work, but back to that charisma thing. Or suck up, either one. Anyway, I am hoping by the time they get home tonight Saige has one kick ass Science project to turn in Thursday. I'm thinking she will.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Another Day with No School

Are we on Spring break already and someone forgot to tell us? That's what I feel like. I cannot in my mind clearly remember the last full day of school. I think it was sometime in '07. Okay, I'm exaggerating a tiny bit but really, enough already. Call the teachers, warm up those buses, let's get this show on the road. It even has the nerve to be another rainy day with no school. I guess it's good that this one was already planned or they might be having a 2 hour delay anyway.
So, what to do today? We are going to the movies. My friend Lisa and I are taking her kids, my two and a few strays that we have in our house and taking them to see The Spiderwick Chronicles. Lisa and I are going to see Juno at the same time. That works out nicely. To bad a nice restaurant isn't connected to the movie theater, we would be golden.
I think the other thing that has to be addressed today is Saige's science project. She had one idea a while ago, when it was given but it didn't work out to well. She was testing lollipops to see what they did in different liquids, coffee, soda, water. Hey, guess what they did? Melted. All of them, in one day. Marc and her came up with some other hair brained idea. I have yet to see any of it. I think it's due, like tomorrow. No, maybe Wednesday. I'm thinking of throwing those lollipops in for one more try and calling it a day. There is no way Saige would go for this though. Even if it is last minute she wants it to be good. That's the Marc in her again. Me? I would be fine turning in the dead lollipops. So, we (they) better get busy.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Saige is back up and running

Many of you enjoyed Saige's blog this summer. It was fun. Her details are great. She kind of lost interest after a while but she's back. Her new blog is www.allaboutsaige.blogspot.com. I will put the link in my link list. Check it out and leave her comments, she loves comments. I know a lot of you don't know how to leave comments by the e mails I get, a tutorial is available to you. Not really. It's simple. Figure it out. Shes 10, come on.

Happy Valentine's Day


Happy Valentines Day. From Kid Rock's (who I keep blathering on about) lyric's "Someone out there unconditionally, religiously loves you, just hold on cause you know it's the truth." So, if you're reading this I'm thinking I love you, seeing as it's basically my friends and family who read it. I hope you all have great days. I have the cutest Chase story, I have to check with him if it's all right to share. It's his Valentine's Day story. We'll see how it goes today for him.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Snow Days




"I'm already going through a mid life crisis and now because of these snow days I'm having a nervous breakdown too." These were the first words my friend Lisa said to me as she walked in my house this morning with kids in tow. The title of this post is somewhat misleading because you couldn't really call today a snow day. A snow day is where there is actual snow and your kids can go out and play in it. This was more of a rain day. Rain is something our school district finds very dangerous because our kids are called in late, or sent home early, or like today, sometimes they don't even go at all for rain. The big difference between a snow and rain day is that your kids are home when they shouldn't be and they can't go outside and play so no matter how many kids you pile in your house there's still going to be trouble. I feel like we got off easy with one pool ball in the eye and a almost bleeding nose. Today I got up at 5:30 and checked my e mail for closings. Two hour delay, I can live with that, it just gives me some extra time. I txt my friend that we will practice yoga an hour later and I go to the gym. When I am done working out I get that ominous txt back, "School's closed. What are we going to do?" You're kidding me? I don't want school to be closed. I want it to be open, where kids go. Not so much. So we decided to pile all the kids in my house and do yoga. It was fun. They joined in at the end.
So it was a good plan, but the real stroke of genius was when we decided to let them all go to Lisa's house with her oldest son to babysit and we would go to lunch. Smart, right? Yes, very smart. Order a pizza, drop them off and go. Only about five phone calls about fighting, lost drum sticks and how to bake cake. All in all a very good idea. So, moral. Make sure at least one of your friends has a babysitting age kid on a snow day.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Dave L.



My friend Christina's, very funny, nice, kind, husband Dave needed a little recognition. He is not to be confused with Dr. Dave of the short hair fame. Another Dave. A Phi Sig Dave for those of you who went to college with me. Christina is one of my very bendy friends who is pictured in many of my yoga photos. Dave has never participated in one of my yoga classes (chicken) but he does get a big kick out of the pictures I post. He says it is half laughing and half envy. Looks more fun than going to work (I have to admit...it is- don't tell anyone though.) So apparently one time Christina was looking at the pictures on here and left it up on her computer. She went upstairs and heard a big belly laugh coming from downstairs. She knew it was Dave looking at all our craziness. Yes, this is what we do on Wednesday mornings. My friends come over and we play yoga. He did like the playlists though and wanted to contribute because apparently he is a music junkie like I am. So on Sunday I go over to their house to pick up Chase and they give me this Kid Rock cd. You can't get it on Itunes. For this reason I don't have it, I am an Ituner. I have to so highly recommend this cd, I just can't give it enough props. When you open it up on the inside cover it says "It it looks good, You'll see it. It it sounds good. You'll hear it. It it's marketed right, you'll buy it. But....If it's real. You'll feel it." Do yourself a favor and go buy it. Even if you are not normally a Kid Rock fan you will probably love this. I like almost all the songs but Amen is reason enough alone to get it. So thanks Dave. We'll be listening to this Wednesday morning while we're doing tricks. Have fun at work.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Saige

Saige is an awesome kid. Always has been. From the time she was a little kid she has been like a miniature adult. Even when she was very small she has seemed to understand how to get things done. As I have mentioned before on here her kindness goes unparalleled. So last night sometime before three she came in with a stomach ache. This went on for about an hour or so of her going back and forth from my room to her room until at about 4 things worked themselves out of her and she was able to go to sleep. Poor sweet thing. Now my dogs started pacing around and Lucy was banging her big huge tail against the side of my bed. I got up and took them out.At this point I had been wide awake since about 2:45 and didn't feel like this was going to make for a good Monday so I decided a date with my Nyquil bottle seemed like a good idea. At the time, it seemed perfectly sane. That is until two hours later when it was time to get up. Note to self, when taking Nyquil make sure you have more than two hours to sleep. So I was tired this morning. At about ten of eight Saige comes up to the side of my bed and says, "Mom, do you want me to watch Chase get on the bus?" I, so out of it, said, "No honey, I'll get up in a minute. I'll just drive him to school." She said, "No, that's okay. He's fine." I actually fell back asleep. I woke up in a panic a little bit later. Chase wasn't in his room. I ran downstairs. Saige, pale as a ghost is lying on the couch. I said, "Where's Chase?" She told me, "Well, I got him up. He got dressed.I gave him a granola bar,told him he was buying lunch, helped him with his Science work and watched from the front door as he got on the bus." Oh my God. She's something huh?

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Okay, We're getting Somewhere


Even though there was some sarcasm of course Kirsten was up to task. Not to be out done she figured out how to get into that pesky pose. It's not easy, let me tell you. That's why you won't see a picture of me trying it...yet.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Come on Kirsten



I hold my friend Kirsten in the highest regard for many reasons, she is smart, funny, makes awesome granola and of course a yoga rockstar. Kirsten and I did our teacher training together a couple years ago up in New York. We trudged every weekend in the winter for fourteen weekends to the city. Sometimes with family in tow, sometimes by ourselves. We were in a class of twenty-eight people, most a wee bit younger, total New Yorkers. One girl who used to wear two different striped socks to yoga class and she had to be at least 30. One girl, who so obviously didn't shower Kirsten deemed her "PigPen". Oh there were many clueless girls. We started about a month and a half after the tsunami hit and during one discussion this girl (I think it might have been sock girl) actually shared some urban legend that she thought was true of a surfer riding in the tsunami on a surfboard to a deck and having a cocktail, much to the incredulous stares of many of us including our teacher who had zero tolerance for ignorance of any sort. We listened to some of the most ridiculous and long winded stories during those fourteen weeks that I have heard to date. One of my favorite parts though was Kirsten could make me laugh over just about anything. One day we were sitting through an incredibly, unbelievably boring anatomy lecture, where the teacher actually had one poor girl put on this white leotard and drew on her like some horrible sorority pledging activity. During the lecture the teacher had instructed us not to ask any questions, so of course Kirsten kept leaning over and whispering questions I should ask. My favorite was when the teacher was talking about the different muscle groups and Kirsten said, "Come on Amy, ask her which part of the body cooks up best." Anyway, this story could go on forever but the main point is whenever there is a new yoga trick I want to do I count on Kirsten to figure it out for me and tell me exactly how to do it so I can add it to my reportoire. Where as I just like to do it, Kirsten enjoys figuring out the mechanics of it. So, my question for you Kirsten, is why can't you figure out this one?

Friday, February 8, 2008

The Liar and The Psycho

Okay this is a true story. I am not using real names to protect the not so innocent. It is so insane though I thought some of you might enjoy it. Okay, so I have this friend. Let's call her Marcy. Marcy is dating Jake. They have been dating for a few months. Jake has the tendency to be somewhat of a liar. He's not even a good liar. He's a stupid liar. Marcy catches him in every lie he tells, he's such an idiot about it. Besides that he's fun and cute and she really likes him. Oh, except for this one other annoying quality, whenever they get in an argument he up and leaves. All the time, from bars, their apartments, wherever. He just goes. It drives her crazy. Which I think is totally understandable. Anyway, a couple nights ago he is at her apartment and they get in an argument. He doesn't feel like dealing with it so he decides he is going to leave. He gets up to get his stuff, Marcy sees his wallet on the table and thinks, "he's not leaving without this." so she snags it, goes in the bathroom and throws it under the bathroom sink. Yes, it's true. Crazy, but true. Meanwhile Jake is getting his coat on and he realizes he's got no wallet. Hmmm? Where could that be? So he starts looking for it. It's a studio apartment so really there aren't that many places it could be. He starts to panic. "Marcy, can you help me find my wallet?" "What, so you can leave? No. I'm not helping you." she says. "Please." he begs. He's getting nervous. So, nice girl that she is says she'll help him. Yes, help him find the wallet she hid. They look everywhere, good quality time together, in the kitchen, under the couch, in the bedroom. Everywhere that is except under the bathroom sink, because really, why would a wallet be there? Jake is really losing it now. He decides they should go look down in the room where the garbage shoot goes to. I kid you not, Marcy watches him sift through other peoples trash. Just watches as he pulls out bag after bag looking for hers. Finally, mercifully, she says, "Let's just look one more time upstairs." So they go back up and look again. This is starting to bore her so she has decides she needs to get the wallet someplace he will find it that won't look like she took it. She chooses the laundry bag, something about it getting mixed up with the placemats they used at dinner, which really, I found to be one of the most ridiculous parts to this story, how could a wallet get mixed up with a placemat? I don't get it. It's not a big apartment though so it's not easy to do this while he is not looking. She does manage to get it in there while he is frantically searching under the salt shaker. Somehow she gets him to go through it and he finds it. Hip hip hooray the case of the missing wallet has been solved by Encyclopedia Brown. Jake is so happy that Marcy was so kind to help him look that he decides to stay. Can you say sucker? Or psycho? Can't decide who's worse. I say Jake, I love Marcy, crazy as she is.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Not So Alternative Medicine

Back in the fall Saige started saying her leg hurt. We just thought she was growing and pretty much blew it off. She didn't mention it for a while. About two weeks ago she started complaining about it a lot. She kept saying it was the same pain from before, she remembered it started at a birthday party she went to at Hershey Park. We thought it would go away, but it didn't. Saige is not a faker either. If she says it hurts, it hurts. Everyday it seemed to get worse, when she started limping I called the doctor. So we went in, he asked her a few questions, moved her leg around a little bit to see where it hurt and ordered an x-ray. He mentioned two possibilities that he could think of, one having to do with surgery and pins in her hip. Saige's hip was displaced when she was born so he said she had a better chance of having that thing than another kid. So I'm a nervous wreck. Surgery? So we went down and got her x-rays. Thankfully nothing showed up that he thought would. He told me I needed to make an appointment at Dupont and quick. I needed to be in there in the next week. He made it seem so urgent. It was scary. So I'm talking on the phone to my friend Carolyn, she says, "Amy, I don't know if you believe in this kind of thing but maybe you should see a chiropractor." Well of course I believe in that. I swear by my chiropractor. I am all about chiropractors. It just never occured to me because it was her leg. So I immediately called them, they said come in now. I took her over and he did all sorts of tests with her leg. He said, "I'm sure this is redundent, her doctor probably already did all this." Um. No. Not really. He asked her a bunch of questions and said, "I think her L4 is pinched. It would cause exactly what she is describing." He adjusted her. I took her home. On Wednesday she couldn't really tell a difference. Today she isn't limping anymore. She says it feels so much better. Also her chiropractor mentioned a ride at Hershey Park that is old and rickety and whips you around that he doesn't let his kids go on. She went on it twice at that party. I don't know if that's what happened, but come on. My question is , why won't regular doctors ever give you this option? Why did it have to be scary and surgery and pins and Dupont? I guess money. I don't know.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Playing Yoga

Happy Wednesday

Some days I wake up and I am so happy and I just don't know why. Maybe it's the music in the morning, I highly suggest this to everyone. Maybe it's the fact that my kids make me laugh over the silliest things. Today there was a big discussion about cars, well, it was really one sided because Saige was not interested. Chase had a new Car and Driver magazine that he was looking at and quizzing her on. He likes to go through and try to get you to say what kind of car it is, and all sorts of other information that he knows we don't know. Saige has about as much interest as I do in cars. She put up with it for a few minutes and then starting questioning him on lip gloss. I thought it was very clever actually. It made me laugh and shut him up at the same time. Really a win/win. My happiness could be due to the fact that I have Kirsten teaching todays yoga class which means I don't even have to think and can do all the handstands my little heart desires because it's my house. Whatever it is I'm glad about it.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Kirsten and Jen this ones for you....You both know why

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUJ4es4cYIU

Cut and paste this link. I couldn't even explain it without laughing because I am obviously demented.

Sell Sell Sell



It's February. Girl Scout cookie selling time again. Saige loves this. I find it a little stressful because like Marc she is a very competetive seller. I kind of feel like selling the alloted amount they need you to and calling it a day. Not Saige. She wants to sell the most. Which is great. Really. I think it's awesome. I just don't feel like standing outside CVS on some cold Saturday and trying to sell a box here and there. So, I decide she should go to Marc's work and sell them. It's so easy. Saige is of course thrilled with this idea because both her and Chase love to go to his work any chance they get. I don't really know what is the huge draw but there are times they choose going there over a friends house. It's fine with me. So on Saturday I drop her and her cookies off. She sets them up on the windowsill of his office. Marc tells her, "Just try and wait for people to ask you." In the five minutes I am there dropping her off and helping her set them up six boxes are gone. She calls me an hour later and tells me she sold out. Yeah. We're done right? Nope. So this morning, Tuesday, I am making my list of stuff to do. Saige writes in big letters "Get More Girl Scout Cookies for Saige." We get in the car to go to the bus and she is reviewing what she sold, who she sold it to, how many boxes they bought, what she needs more. So she starts listing it, "Lisa bought two, Rupen bought five, Tim bought one and Michael bought seven boxes, he was my best customer. So I gave him a pen." Her father's daughter.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Happy Birthfewweeks Lisa!



Really Happy Birthday Lisa. Happy Birthday starting in Punta Cana on your vacation where we almost lost you! Happy Birthday from your beautiful new necklace that I love that you have.Happy Birthday from Teikoku. Happy Birthday from Teca. Happy Birthday from Azie. Happy Birthday from John the masseuse. Happy Birthday from the Brazillian girls. Happy Birthday from All your pretty friends. Happy Birthday from your party next Friday. Happy Birthday from New York where I think we will close out this years festivities with a bang. Then we can start Christina's, then mine. This could carry us into '09 if we work it right. Right?

Wednesday January 30, 08 Yoga Music

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Florence Nightengale

I am the worst with kid injurys. Sickness, I'm pretty good at that. Give me a fever, I've got tylenol. Throwing up? I'll be the first one to hold your hair, pat your back, get you some gingerale and toast and tuck you into bed. But injuries, not so much. The sight of blood makes me queasy, a loose tooth makes me shudder and a broken bone, well, really just annoys me. That may sound rough, but many of you know how many broken bones we've gone through. Basically one a season. We've had broken wrists galore, from jumping on the bed to falling down, soccer injuries coming out the kazoo. Who knew soccer could be such a rough sport? I think we have had two broken growth plates, a lost tooth and a broken wrist from soccer and that was all in '06. My kids can ride motorcycles, quads, and ski all day long but literally sit one of them on a big wheel and we're gluing their split open head with some glue from CVS. Well Marc is. He is who they go to when they are hurt. They know I am kind of pathetic in this department. I mean when push comes to shove I can haul ass to the emergency room, and have on more that one occasion but usually it's Daddy who's the family docter. We also use the age old method of "How long did you cry for when it happened?" to determine if it is a break. I know this might be hard to believe but this is not entirely fool proof. Usually we know if Chase cries then it has to be bad, and if he cries for more than two minutes it's broken. A couple weeks ago the nurse called because he had hurt his finger in gym class, he didn't cry though, so we figured it was fine, put it in a little splint and then let him go snowboarding on Saturday and ride his motorcycle Sunday. Monday we found out it was broken. He's fine though, a broken finger is nothing to Chase, it's like an itch. Anyway, Saige has been complaining her leg hurts for a while. Nothing you can see. No break or bruise or anything telltale. "It just hurts." she said. "I can't sit criss cross applesauce." So I say, "You're just growing Honey." thinking that will do the trick. "Then why does only one hurt?" she asked. I don't know. Do I look like a nurse? Time to turn it over to Dr. Marc. So the other day the kids and I are waiting at the bus stop. Marc stops his car on the way to work to say bye. Saige asks about her leg. Marc tells her when he gets home he will look at it so he can make a proper diagnosis then. From the back seat of my car I hear a little voice go, "Well, they'll probably just have to cut it off." Nice Chase. He is obviously following in the maternal lineage of healthcare.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Music I Listened to on the Plane

This is what I listened to on the plane. My friends are always asking me for the playlists I use during class. I will just post them here. You can link directly to itunes through it. I am becoming a computer genius. Right?