Been a Few Days

It has been a busy few days here at Chez Gamers' Babes.

Abby went with her dad and some friends to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium for ZooLights. That's a long drive (and a lot of over-stimulation of the senses) for our motion-sickness-prone girl, and the ride home was apparently Not Pretty. But she had a wonderful day, and once she was all cleaned up, she had a lot to share about the fun time they had. Mostly she shard it with me on the way to meet her grandpa (my dad) for their annual excursion to the Nutcracker. Because Abby has a December birthday, Grandpa takes her out for this special treat every year, rather than subjecting himself to - say - Chuck-E-Cheese in the company of a dozen over-excited school-age kids.

I spent the weekend completing my second term at the University Of Phoenix. Assuming my final projects did not suck, I should come out of this session with at least a B. I feel pretty good about that, but man was there a lot of last-minute fuss!

This week promises to be busy, what with house-cleaning and gift-wrapping and so forth (and a job interview on Thursday! Wish me luck), but we can do it.

Oh for Heaven's Sake!

Remember back a month ago, when my laptop went kablooey? It did. And my dear friend Nate has come over to install the new part (video inverter), and then again when another part down the chain (the LCD cable, which was making interesting crackling noises) was broken, and then again today because the back-light was also broken. The new back light came in earlier this week, Nate came over today whilst I was taking Abby to her dad's (Hubs and Lizzy were here) and...

...the replacement back light is apparently also broken.

Well, expletive.

Apparently it's been that kind of week for Nate as well; just Not His Week when it has to do with mechanics or electronics.

So now instead of having my own laptop back (so this loaner can go back to my mom so the kids can use it for the software Grandma got them for Christmas), I have to call for an RMA in freaking December so we can get a new part (also in freaking December, so who knows how long that will take) so Nate can come install it for me (I have the skill but not the confidence, and I do not have the tools).

Oh for crying out loud.

You Could Die From the Cute

Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa Wall

 I've mentioned before how much I enjoy the multiculturalism of Lizzy's preschool. Today's holiday concert ("and feast, mama!") was a lovely example.

December Wall

Keep in mind that these kids are between three and six years of age, so the one little boy who needed his mom to sit with him due to stage fright is totally acceptable; they are little kids. Also many of the songs have been edited for length. This explains why Lizzy kept telling me I was singing "the wum-pa-pum-pum song wong", because they don't sing all three verses of The Little Drummer Boy at preschool; the vast majority of the kids haven't got the attention span for it. They sang several Christmas tunes (only the first five Days of Christmas in what they called Partridge In a Pear Tree, for example), several I'd classify as "winter" themed in English and Spanish ("Cascabel, cascabel, música de amor"), and a very cute version of The Dreidel Song, wherein one little girl played the dreidel itself, spinning around and falling down with the paper dreidel to show how it worked. Then Miss Ginny - the head teacher - read them The Night Before Christmas, with asides to explain the things they did not grok. My favorite of these went like this...

Miz Liz

Miss Ginny: You see, a long time ago, mommies and daddies both used to wear long nightgowns and caps or kerchiefs to keep themselves warm at night. Do any of your mommies or daddies still do this?
Small Girl: My daddy just wears his underwear to bed!

And then the whole group sang: "We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Happy Hanukkah, we wish you a Joyous Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year!"

Lizzy in her Antlers
and Red Nose for
Reindeer Hokey
Pokey

We all trooped upstairs for "the feast" as Lizzy persisted in calling it - we do potluck. There was a nice little book exchange where the children who brought a book in got to take one home from another child (and Lizzy, dear sweet person that she can be, made a thank-you note for the little boy from whom she received a book), and each child got a book from the preschool staff as well.

And according to the children's wishes, we will all have a merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, a joyous Kwanzaa, and a happy New Year.

Holiday Musings

This is a post about the holiday season. No spoilers.

Abby with Santa 2006

I'm actually the person who naturally says Happy Holidays unless I know someone's religious preferences ahead of time. I am not offended by a Merry Christmas or a Happy Hanukkah, and I never have been. I don't understand the defensiveness that occurs in many people about the greetings given and received this time of year. It may be that's because I'm what my Jewish brother-in-law and I have agreed is "culturally Christian" but I am in no sense religious about it. We have a tree, but our usual tree topper is not particularly Christian (marketed as "Celtic Angel", but I think she's meant to be St. Bridget), and we often put origami Stars of David on our tree. We have a Nativity scene but we only put it up about half the time, and it's more because it's pretty than because of the story attached. We love us some Christmas songs, but again, it's more the music than the content.

Leanna with Santa 2006

We have neighbors and friends and family in all flavors - Atheist, Agnostic, several flavors of (neo)Pagan, Jewish, different denominations of Protestant, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Muslim, Hindu, you name it. Our own taste in decoration leans more toward a winter theme than a Christmas one. We celebrate Christmas but give a nod to other major traditions. Santa puts chocolate gelt in our stockings, and the Easter bunny puts them in our baskets. We read How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Hanukkah Lights pop-up book. We watch Happy Holidays from Sesame Street .We (about every other year) take the kids to the mall to sit on Santa's lap. Abby explained the Hanukkah miracle to me last year by stating that "a miracle is magic when God does it for you" (she's make a great AD&D Cleric, no?) Lizzy's preschool has a concert tomorrow wherein they will sing songs from many traditions, as well as one that incorporates three traditions in one song. As a group we're a pretty ecumenical bunch.

And that's okay too.

Caught It!

Caught this cold before it turned into something dire, that is.

I have asthma (now called "airway reactive disorder", but it's asthma), although it is generally only triggered when I am ill or if I get a face full of allergen. And because I am a mom, I'm exposed to a lot of colds. So my usual shtick when I get a cold is just to ignore it unless one of two things occurs: it gets into my lungs or I get a fever. Either of these symptoms is usually a harbinger of a secondary bacterial infection - bronchitis, sinusitis, pneumonia - so when these symptoms occur I go off to the doctor, just so we don't have a repeat of the Great Meltdown of March 2011. Or November 2006 for that matter. Having gotten Lizzy's cold, I was doing my little ignoring it bit until last night when my chest started aching, so this morning, I went in.

And the doctor congratulated me for getting it before it got bad. Gave me a breathing treatment and recommended the usual cold remedies - fluids, rest, refill your asthma inhaler. Not so bad after all.

Again!?

Miz Liz has a cold. This is not a horrible thing - there's no fever, nothing but runny nose and post-nasal cough and Spoon Droppage. And no sleep because OMG-her-nose-is-wunning-again!!!!!!

But it's the second cold in three weeks. The third cold in the past six weeks. I'm sure it's because she's in preschool - three-and-four-year-olds are both affectionate and unsanitary - but it's kind of getting ridiculous here. Our local drugstore is going to run out of facial tissue and baby wipes at the rate we're buying them up.

My patience is being used up fairly quickly too. I don't lose patience with her the first day or so, because she's miserable enough to just lie here and sip weak herbal tea and watch Blue's Clues, but when her energy levels start ramping up to their norms while she's still overtired and grouchy... I have little tolerance for the whining and the constant Mommymommymommymommymommymommy-watch be twuhl and thed fall dowd because by dose is wuddy shenanigans. Gah.

She is a very dear little person though. She's fussy and tends to revert to babyhood when she's sickish, but she really is the nicest little thing, in spite of her... odd and disgusting habits (today she wiped her nose on the living room rug "because it's the bestest way to scwatch wheah my nose itches"). She's kind for her age, and sweet, and if she's a little whiny I can cope. I won't enjoy it, but I can cope.