2/28/14

Lydia's class was rewarded for good behavior today, by having a twins day. They and their friends could all plan their outfits to match. (?) They loved the idea (again, ?). Anyway, her little group is wearing blue pants, sneakers and striped shirts. Lydia is the only one with short hair so all the other girls decided to put their hair in buns so they would look the same. I thought that was pretty cute.
When I walked her to school a couple of the girls came running towards her, screaming "Lydia everybody's here!"
Most mornings when I walk her onto the playground, I hear someone running and screaming her name.
Does anyone else remember the torturous start to this school year.
It makes me smile.

2/27/14

Ed's boss gave him 3 tickets to a Timbers game. The Timbers are Portland's men's soccer team. Now you may know, Ed and I are not all that interested in sports, but Ed wanted us all to try something new. Lydia and I were poo pooey about it, and then we told her she could bring a friend and she got excited.
So we went. I did end up glad that we went. It would be fun to watch if only the fans weren't there. OH, so the Timbers played second, which would have put us home late on a school night, so we watched San Jose and Vancouver play the early game. It's a good thing we did, because I don't think I could have taken the full on fandom of the Timbers.
It was the most disgusting display of humanity I have witnessed in ages! It was SO negative, people were screaming insults and disappointments at every player the entire time!
On a happier note, Lydia's team took on the fourth grade winning team in the Oregon Battle of the Books today. They were down a teammate, and a little nervous, but Lydia wore her lucky shirt. They were losing for awhile and then Lydia answered a five pointer that put them in the lead! They won by 2 points!!!
So next week they will battle the fifth grade and if they win they will go on to regionals! Hip Hip Hooray!

2/21/14

A strange group of things went on around me today. Our school walk friends had to put their dog down today, oh so sad! Lindsay had one of her first goat Mama's die from a rough birth.
Ed's co worker's father died. Ugh.
But for us, we had a victory! Lydia's book battle team took the semi finals! They beat out all the other third grade teams and now will go on to compete against the fourth grade! We are so proud and excited for her, as she is for herself.
She went out with Ed after dinner and got her hair cut super short again. At first it was hard to let go of waiting for it to grow out long again, but her little face looks so dang cute! And she is thrilled with it, so there you have it.
I wonder if she will ever have long hair. 

2/15/14

Lydia's book battle team had their first loss a few weeks ago. The other team approached them at lunch and said "hey losers". After that they decided to quit. Of course we discouraged this. They have already lost two teammates to family moves. Time passed, they had the next battle, against that mean team, and they won. She came home SO proud of herself.
She has picked up steam from there. They won the next battle, and yesterday they had an intimidating one against Sean's team, apparently Sean is a super reader. They whooped them! Lydia is very proud, and so are we. They have one more battle in their own grade and then they go to semi finals against 4th and then 5th graders. The reading bug is slowly getting under her skin!
She had OAKS testing this week. It's a reading test for the district I think. Should I know this? Anyway that's done.
Ed is at school this morning taking an online class, long distance with his brother Dan.
Later we are probably going to meet our Asheville friend for some lunch and hang time.
Yesterday I went for my Chiro appt. When she was done she asked if I had interest in Acupuncture, said it would help with this, that and the other. I said SURE. So I went across the hall and for 75 minutes got needled. When I left and for the day I was RELIEVED! I have hope again of living pain free! For a bit of time atleast. Usually when I sleep, I wake up when I need to roll over because of the pain/spasm in my back, it takes finessing. And when I get out of bed in the morning it takes careful maneuvering.  But not today!

2/12/14

What with the ice we had on top of the snow, there was another no school day on Monday. Couch delivery was delayed, and our first pottery class was cancelled, as was my second appointment with the chiropractor. HOW have I not written of this yet!? After breaking down from the frustration of discomfort, pain and limitation, I went to see Dr. Box. After the treatment I was amazed at the relief! I went yesterday for my second visit, but first saw her P.T. who gave me some maintenance techniques, and the promise of a machine to work out my trigger points for tomorrow. After my chiro stop, I went back to her and she put some posture tape on my back, so she will be able to see how much slouching I have done in the meantime.
The last time I saw someone for my back, I was told it would be a life long thing, I would never be completely healed from my accident 12 years ago. I gave up hope.
Yesterday changed it all for me! I once again have hope for living mostly pain free! Atleast from this stuff.
Ed made an appt. for his Float tank experience, I will report asap! It was for tomorrow, but he has to change it, we hope for Friday.
The couch was delivered finally last night! How exciting to have a decent piece of furniture! It's lovely and big.

2/8/14

There are many nights when I put Lydia to bed and she doesn't want to be left alone. I have tried many times to convince her that with Ayla right there, she had nothing to worry about, she would protect her and alert her if she had any need to be concerned.
Apparently yesterday, Ayla proved me right! Ed took Lydia out to play in the snow and they came across a woman we met the other day, with her two year old jumpy dog. She was not very good about restraining the big puppy. The dog jumped up on Lydia and Ayla started growling at her! This happened a few times and every time the dog jumped on Lydia, Ayla would do this.
When Lydia listened to Ed relaying the story to me, she grinned, I said "you see? I told you she would protect you if you ever needed it!" Lydia was so happy! And this made ME so happy. What a great dog we have.
So it snowed all day today and finally turned to a bit of freezing rain around 4 or 5. We all went out to sled on the hill and when it was time to come back, Ed and Lydia were already at the bottom and I was at the top with Ayla on leash. I was wearing Ed's waterproof snowboarding pants, sat down and told Ayla to go, it was the best downhill ride ever! And I really think she enjoyed being my "sled dog" too! Then she dragged Lydia and Ed part of the way home through the frozen parking lot.

2/7/14

Yesterday was an early dismissal because of the start of some wonderful snow! We thought it might be a lame smattering and then quit. But it snowed all day and night, rested this morning and kicked back in around noon today. Yesterday we took a family walk to the store, it was quite cold, but we were dressed warm, only my right eyebrow froze a bit, and we all had some pink cheeks.
Today we tried to go to DMV to get our Ore. D.L's but they were closed. So we came home lazed a bit, and then Ed and Lydia went for sleds and took them to the hill, while I created some order in my room. Finding some paperwork I could have used a couple of weeks ago.
I have been looking for the right pair of dress boots for years, last week Ed found a pair of Fryes for cheap, so he ordered them and I have been so excited for them to show up. It was today! I checked the shipping status and the activity was something I had never seen before, It stated a train derailment in Wisconsin and they don't know when I should expect them yet! Are they freezing over in the snow out there!?
The other disappointment was our couch. After a couple of years with our Big Lot's couch, where Ed has felt like he is being pushed off the edge(me only recently) we ordered a real grown up couch! It is made locally AND the best part is that the cushions are guaranteed! So if they start to smush, they will replace them for free, forever! But because of the snow, this like my boots, did not arrive today, we are now looking at Tuesday.
Tonight we completed the Financial Aid paperwork for Lydia's application to OES next year. All the steps have been taken, now we wait to hear. Should be early March.
I have been trying to get some pix to load but am failing at it. Soon!

2/1/14

It's been a tough week for Lydia. Monday she spent the day at OES in a third grade class. She was soooo scared. She didn't come back to me doing cartwheels, but she wasn't devastated either. Thursday she went home with her little friend on the school bus, the lead up to it coming on more nerves. She tried to back out but I told her that I had my own playdate and wouldn't be back to pick her up at school. So she went. She had an okay time. Friday she had to go back to OES for testing. I told her we could have our own playdate afterwards if she wanted, but she decided she wanted to go back to school. (!!!)
So she went in okay, only once expressing fear. When I picked her up, it seemed that her nerves had caught up with her and she cried and changed her mind about school. We didn't go out and do fun stuff as would have been the plan, because she was asked more than once if she was sure and THEN changed her mind. So she read, we had some giggles and watched some shows.
When Ed came home we went to Powell's books. I was looking for a copy of a book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3791339842/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=
And Lydia got a new book for her last competition in the Oregon Battle of the Books. Her team won the first two with a wide margin. Last week they lost a team mate and the event as well. The winning team came to them at lunch, mocking, saying heeey losers. Nice.
Anyway, at Powell's I saw the advertising for an authors read for today(Sat.). It is a new series, a bit ahead for Lydia, but I look forward to reading it together.
http://www.amazon.com/Wildwood-Imperium-Chronicles-Book-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00DB30KMQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391334987&sr=1-1&keywords=colin+meloy
I loved the artwork, and was intrigued by the series. The above link is the third book. So I googled for info last night and found that the author is the singer for the band The Decemberists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL05CA6C283B2F0A19&v=BwgpSBsQYCU
The illustrator is his lovely wife Carson Ellis. Ed and lydia weren't too interested, but I really enjoyed it. They are residents here in Portland and based the series on Forest park, the largest urban park in the U.S.
http://www.forestparkconservancy.org/forest-park/
He started with an illustration of the map and designed the story from it.
 Oh, MY play date! Lina and Bronek live here in the complex with Rayaana, their 7 year old. We often walk to and from school together. She picked me up Thursday and we went to Bob's Red Mill.
http://www.bobsredmill.com/Whole-Grain-Store.html
And then we went across the street to Dave's killer bread. It's a family owned bread company that has been in business for a long time. Dave is an ex con. He did 10 years I think. When he came out they redesigned around his story. Things went pretty well for awhile. But now he has gone off the deep end and was arrested for ramming a cop car, he is also under suspicion in a case where his friend was found dead.
http://www.kgw.com/news/Founder-of-Daves-Killer-Bread-rams-Wash-Co-sheriffs-cruisers-232041621.html
Okay it's 2:15. I was going to bed an hour ago. Good night!