Saturday, March 31, 2007

The chicken or the egg?

THIS. IS. WEIRD. We were boiling eggs to dye today. As I placed the eggs in the water, I heard a distinct "peep, peep". I laughed and made a joke to DH about the chickens chirping inside. He came over and listened. It was a distinct chirp noise. We silently looked at each other. Nah, couldn't be. Obviously not. Of course not. We are IMAGINING THINGS!

Still more hesitation.

Come on, we're being silly. There can't be a chicken in it. The eggs were just bought last night and have been refrigerated the entire time.

However........

A quick search of some not-so-great web pages turned up lots of information on chickens and eggs. Not exactly what I was looking for but close enough. So......

I turned on the burner.

Yes, I did. Told myself this was ridiculous.

The eggs are now dyed pretty girly colors and even have glitter on them. (Pictures coming soon!) I think we did the right thing. Or at least, I'm trying NOT to think about it.

Here is what I learned about chickens and eggs that made me decide to go ahead:

The eggs you buy in the store aren't fertilized.
Chickens can lay eggs that are not fertilized.
If you don't pick the eggs up daily, the chicken will quit laying them.
Baby chicken eggs need to be kept very warm in order to hatch.
If there had been a chicken in there old enough to chirp, it would have been pecking itself out of the shell.

My best guess is this:
When I placed the eggs in the water, some had tiny holes in them. Air bubbles started to come out. My first thought, and ultimately, my last, was that the air escaping from the tiny hole was making the noise. It was just a REALLY LOUD noise!

It weirded us out. Kinda puts a new spin on the "resurrection eggs" they sell these days.

Interpreting kindergarten speech

Ok. (This one's for you, Robin!) So yesterday, Alpha gets in the car after school and says "Mommy! I got an award for having no lights pulled in March!" They have to pull "stoplights" if they are bad in class. First red, to stop their behavior, then yellow for caution, then green. Don't ask me why it's backwards.

Anyway, Alpha is very excited because she pulled no lights all month. For her award, she got a pencil, to dig in the "treasure chest" (has cheap toys in it), and a surf ticket. This is what she told me. I said "surf ticket?" She said "yes, I can't say it very well." So on the way to pick up Beta at preschool, I'm trying to figure out what kind of ticket she had and what kind of event we were going to have to go to.

Later that night, she actually showed me and her dad her "surf ticket". It's a nice piece of paper that says "This award is for pulling no lights in March." THAT'S when it finally hit me: CERTIFICATE! I don't know who looks sillier. Her or me!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

WAH!! Spring Break is over!

Well, here it is, the last night of spring break. Ok, I really didn't get much of a break. I still had to work. (tax season. see below) However, I had a babysitter for those days so it was very nice to only have myself to get ready. Tomorrow, though, that's another story. Beta (my youngest daughter) goes back to preschool tomorrow after being home for nearly 2 weeks! She's already said she doesn't want to go. Oh joy!

Alpha, (my oldest daughter) is ready to see her friends again. I'm just ready to get things back to normal. My husband is ready to return to work as well. At least I think he is.

I can't post much tonight. I promise to post tomorrow night, though. Here is a preview of some future posts:

Our visit to the Tulsa Zoo
Building a flower & vegetable garden in the backyard
My daffodils!

Good night, everybody. (or internet, as my sister-in-law says!) Hope this week goes great!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

When it rains, it pours.

Why does everything happen at once? All of the activities I'm involved in are crashing together during March and April. My main activities are work, PTO Treasurer, Disciple Bible study, and choir. At work, it's TAX SEASON! At school, our yearbook orders and fundraiser are due this week. In Disciple Bible study, our class is helping out with a Seder meal on April 1, and in choir, we are performing a Living Lord's Supper on April 5. Oh, and don't forget Easter! (April 8)

To top all this off, my 3 year old has come down with the flu! We are all on Tamiflu now to help us not get sick and help her get better sooner. It seems to be working. She was running around today asking why she couldn't play outside. (and let me tell you, the company that makes Tamiflu is sure proud of its product.....)

Oh, and I was sick on Sunday night and Monday.

To give credit where credit is due, I did have some help with all this. My WONDERFUL husband took off from work to stay home today so I could get some taxes done. The very INVOLVED parents at PTO took today (all day) to count the money. I'd just like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for helping me out. I hope I can return the favor very soon.

Well, darn. I was going to upload a picture to generate some conversation, but Blogger doesn't seem to be cooperating tonight. I guess that means it's time to go to bed. Good night all! Get some rest!

Thursday, March 8, 2007

You Big Baby!

You are not going to believe what I'm going to tell you. But I swear, it happened. Or in the immortal words of Dave Barry "I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!"

I am the treasurer of the PTO at my daughter's school. We have been collecting money for yearbooks. Wednesday afternoon, I made another deposit. However, as I drove off, I looked at the receipt. The deposit amount was wrong! I was headed home anyway so I went in and got the sheet where I had added up the deposit. I went back to the bank and showed the same teller and told him he'd done the deposit wrong. His amount was $3 less than mine. He didn't argue with me, but went and fixed it. He didn't even say he'd have to count his drawer or wait until closing that night.

BUT....................

When he came back to the window of the drive-thru, he said "Ok, you big baby! There's your three dollars!" in a tone that sounded like he was kidding. I said, "Well, it was wrong." He said "Well there's your three dollars are you happy now?" I said, "But it's three dollars!" Then he said, "Are you gonna ask for suckers again?" (It is now a rule that we must procure 2 suckers for every trip to the bank even for children who may not be in attendance.) I told him no, that my daugher had already said we shouldn't ask for suckers again. Maybe some of my lessons ARE getting through to her. Then after that, I think he just said thanks and have a nice day. I really don't remember b/c I was still in shock!

Was I mad? Not at all. Was I offended? Nope. All I kept thinking was, "Did this guy really just say 'big baby'"? A BANK TELLER just said this???? I mean, banks are supposed to be all professional and stuffy. They've got the money, don't they?

On the other hand, maybe I looked young and hip enough to him that he thought he could joke with me. That would actually be a compliment! He did say it in a very joking tone.

Needless to say, I'm glad this is the school's bank and not our bank. And I'm sure this guy's bad karma will come back around and bite him in the butt. Maybe one day he'll accidentally GIVE us $3. Maybe he already has a kid who'll be coming to our school next year. Then we can get this guy to make the bank deposits and deal with the tellers! Maybe his supervisor will overhear him one day. Who knows? Certainly not THIS big baby!

Friday, March 2, 2007

The Epi-Pen

OH, boy. Oh geez. You want me to what??? But I'm not a nurse!

These are some of the feelings I'm having today. My youngest daughter got tested for a peanut allergy this morning. She only has a peanut sensitivity, which is a mild allergy. So, it's better than having a full-blown, risk-of-anaphylactic-shock allergy. And it's the only allergy she has. She's not even allergic to tree nuts. (Pecan pie, here we come!)

However, TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE, the doctor prescribed her to carry an epi-pen. Yes. A full shot of epinephrine should something horrible happen. He did say her peanut allergy could get worse even though it's only slight at this point. He and the nurses also assured me that I would probably never have to use the epi-pen. She can have benedryl if it's just a skin reaction.

I got the kit home and looked it over. There are two pens in there so we're going to keep one at school and one in my purse. It comes with a "trainer" pen to practice with. It contains no medicine and, more importantly, no needle. You have to hit that thing pretty hard against your thigh to get it to work. Then the insert says the epi-pen you have to hit even harder! Yikes! However, I figure if it's a life or death situation, I'll probably be able to do some things then that I couldn't do now. In the meantime, let's just keep her away from peanuts. Not only do I want to keep her from having a reaction, but I don't want to have to use that pen!!!