Aug. 31: Month in review

Here, in a nutshell, is my summary of August 2013.

Special days I celebrated this month and how:

• My in-laws’ fiftieth anniversary was in June but the family was all here to celebrate it this month. We had a big photo shoot, made gifts at the ceramics studio, and went out for dinner. I feel fortunate to have such lovely people in my life.
• Jack and Katie registered for middle school. There wasn’t a lot of celebrating, exactly, but we’re all happy about it, and for very, very different reasons.
• Dina’s husband gathered a few of her friends and took us out for her birthday. We went bar-hopping and generally made a lot of noise. We do excel at making the noise.

Movies and TV shows worth mentioning:

• Ever since we ditched the VCR many moons ago, we haven’t owned a watchable copy of The Princess Bride. Now we’ve got it on Blu-Ray. It was fun to introduce Katie to it—she liked; yay!—but Jack is still resisting a forced viewing. If we have to chain him to a chair, we will. OUR BOY WILL LOVE THAT MOVIE.
• We’ve been watching the James Bond movies, in order, on Amazon Instant Video. It’s amusing to see how they started off with Bond as a classic British spy and then veered way away from that into a campy, near-ridiculous, hardy-har-har series. Ugh. But for every stupid fake sound effect, there’s at least one memorable, ever-so-watchable moment—psychotic villains and shark-ful fight scenes, Q’s “futuristic” gadgets, and one absurdly-named Bond girl after another after another.
• Also on Amazon, I watched the miniseries Titanic: Blood & Steel. It focuses on the construction of the Titanic and the people who built it—from working class to financiers. Of course, there’s some romance and intrigue amid the strikes and religious prejudices. I thought it was a well-done series.
• Orange is the New Black sure is a fascinating show. I have no idea how close it is to reality, but fake or not, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to go to prison. I’ll be honest; I was pretty sure of that before I watched OITNB too.

This month’s disappointments:

• At least two friends lost someone close to them. So sad.
• Our sweet wheaten terrier niece, Finn (Sonya’s family’s dog) passed away. We were glad to see and cuddle her one last time.
• My 2½-year follow-up to cancer treatment showed that some lymph nodes have grown quite a bit since my last CT, and now I have to go through more testing. Boo.

My accomplishments:

• We painted the master bathroom, got new towels and hardware, completely re-organized storage, and changed up the décor. Freshening up a room that’s become boring is one of my favorite things. I still have some work to do, but the majority of the bathroom is done and I LOVE the way it looks.
• We re-did the cushions on one of our sofas and it’s like a brand new piece of furniture! The cushions were saggy and squashed and had completely lost their shape. Check out these before (gross) and after (new extry-firm support!) shots:

 

• I finally, finally, got all the PTO stuff turned over to Wendy, the new president. It kinda bummed me out more than I thought it would. However, I spent most of my free time in August doing non-PTO things and I haven’t had an August like that for at least five years. Awesome! It looks like I might actually enjoy a PTO-less life.

Anything else noteworthy:

• Taking Jack to and from his many football practice sessions will consume slightly less of my time starting in September, when his team goes to just three practices a week. Now, though, we’ll actually have GAMES to go to every Saturday! So excited!
• (I’m not really very excited.)
• OMG, I’m going to be a great-aunt! Erin, my former step-niece—who will always be my niece because she’s fab, duh—and her husband will be having a baby in February. Nowadays I find the whole thing so exciting when it’s happening to someone else.
• Here are some sillies because I think you need ‘em:

That’s it for August 2013, doods.

May 31: Month in summary

Yeah, so, I got nothin’ to say about May. It didn’t suck or anything, but I feel like it barely even happened because I remember so little. And that’s NOT because I stumbled drunkenly through the month. Really. I was just crazy-busy with school stuff. Proof:

• We had our last PTO meeting of the year, which was my last PTO meeting EVER, as my term ends June 30. Closing out the year bummed me out more than I expected it to; we did several important things of which I’m proud. I leave the organization in Wendy’s capable hands. Lucky school.
• I finished the school yearbook. We rely on parents to submit photographs to use for the collage pages, and after going through hundreds of pictures taken with camera phones, I have this to request:
• Clean your camera lens once in a while! Your photos will come out less blurry and then I can put them in the yearbook.
• Sorry, but sheesh.
• Katie had her first orthodontist appointment. The first phase of her treatment will start later this summer. It’s cute that she’s so excited. She won’t be when the insides of her mouth are completely raw and her head throbs from those friggin’ rubber bands.
• Smash ended, but Arrested Development began just in time to make it hurt less.

So, that’s it, but-cept for images I collected from around the ‘net in May.

Here’s to a month I hope to remember. Bring it, June!

Mar. 31: My summary of March

Wow, that month went kinda fast. Yikes.

Special days I celebrated this month and how:

There were no major holidays for us this month, but we did go on vacation for the first time in eleventy years, so that was a pretty big celebration.

We spent six days in Southern California, three of them at the Disneyland Resort. Katie and Jack hadn’t been there since 2006, so this was a completely different vacation than we’d had with them before. There were new attractions to experience, and both kids were older/taller, allowing them to try rides they hadn’t been able to in earlier visits.

One HUGE step was that Victor and I actually separated from the kids a couple times and went off to do the too-scary-for-our-weeeener-kids rides (Tower of Terror and California Screamin’) ourselves. We were proud of them for being conscientious—they quickly responded when we texted them—and for Jack allowing Katie to be in charge for brief moments. However, we’re still a long way from leaving them on their own OUTSIDE a Disney park.

Cars Land, the newest area of California Adventure, definitely lived up to the hype—it was like walking through a set of the movie! The refurb of it’s a small world was very cute. Vic and Katie loved World of Color (Jack and I napped at the hotel instead). I’ll write up a more thorough trip report when I get the chance, but for now I’ll just say that *almost* start-to-finish, this was one of the best vacations we’ve ever been on.

Books I read this month:

• Disney travel books, mostly.
• The new book by my favorite Crappy Blogger, Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures. Very funny.
• My attention span is still frustratingly short and although I’ve started reading several books, I haven’t finished much. During April we run a reading incentive program at school, and I plan to participate along with the kids, so hopefully April’s month-in-review post will be more book-y.

Movies and TV shows worth mentioning:

• Wreck-It Ralph was way cuter than I expected.
• United 93. You forget about the intense emotions of that day in 2001 until you watch this kind of movie, this very dramatic, incredibly sad story, and then everything comes flooding back. It took a Disney vacation to get me out of the funk—I don’t mean to make light of it at all, but for me, it requires a complete removal from normal life to get 9/11 out of the very front of my mind.
• I know I watched other movies and TV shows in March, but the fact that I can’t remember them now probably means they weren’t worth mentioning.

New recipes or restaurants I tried:

• I’ve eaten at In-N-Out Burger in the past, but we tried it again on vacation and I had forgotten how tasty those burgers are! Yum. Why the company prints Bible verses on all their paper goods, though, I do not know.
• California Adventure has a new beverage that we thought was surprisingly delicious: Red’s Apple Freeze. It’s apple-flavored with a hint of toasted marshmallow and fruity foamy topping. Sounds gross, but it wasn’t.

Special or unusual purchases I made:

• A cape. Yes, this was an unusual purchase. Do you buy a cape every month? Katie needed one for Super Hero Day at school, and we’ll all need them for Relay for Life this summer, which is super hero-themed, so I’ll be ordering a bunch more soon. Yay!
• This phone case for Vic, possibly one of my favorite etsy finds ever:

• A dog bowl. I know, super exciting, huh? Lucy tends to inhale her food, and sometimes that makes her sick but mostly it makes her want MORE FOOD RIGHT NOW I MEAN IT, and that’s annoying. I found these fancy dog bowls with big raised sections in the bottom that supposedly make dogs eat more slowly, but I knew they wouldn’t work for Lucy because they are plastic and she thinks plastic equals chew toy. Fortunately, I was able to find a stainless steel bowl that promises the same slow-eating effect. It was ridiculously expensive, but Lucy is eating more slowly now and not being quite so demanding. S’good.

This month’s disappointments:

• I found out that I didn’t actually have all the dental work I needed done last month. I could have SWORN they said “You need a root canal. [blah blah blah…] We’ll do that for you today if you’d like.” Apparently they just did the prep, so I go in next week to have the actual root canal done. Grrr…
• We saw Nicole Richie and Joel Madden with their kids in California Adventure. Here’s the disappointing part: why no Lionel?
• I was absolutely exhausted just two days into our trip. At home I feel like my energy level has improved so much since going through my zapping chemo regimen, but trips like this—the go-go-go kind—remind me that I’m still not back to normal. Or maybe I’m just old and feeble. Either way, bummer.
• I came home with several blisters on my feet and a bad sunburn. (And yet, totally worth it.)
• Still no pony.

My accomplishments:

• I take no credit for this myself, but the kids had dental exams and OMG, no cavities! Considering the fact that Jack’s dental hygiene techniques are typical of an 11-year-old boy (when he says that YES, he brushed his teeth, we have to ask a follow-up: “TODAY???”), this is very good news and an accomplishment to be celebrated. With Pixy sticks and cotton candy, obvy.
• Another accomplishment I cannot take credit for is the fundraising we did for a new baseball field at the school, inspired by a sweet first grade boy who died on Dec. 31. We raised $2,000 easily—having a great cause certainly made all the difference.
• I always try to clean thoroughly before we leave home for any length of time because it’s so nice to come home to a neat house. In the end, though, the rush to get packed and out the door means lots of cleaning tasks are often left undone. Not this time! We managed to do all the laundry in the house, scrub the floors, straighten bedrooms, clean the kitchen, and leave the house virtually spotless. Coming home from vacation has rarely been so lovely.

Anything else noteworthy:

Just a few things that gave me chuckles…

That’s all I got. Later, doods.

I’m not even gonna try to pretend this month-in-review was on time. I changed the post date so it would stay in March where it belongs, but I actually wrote it on April 3. I know this matters to no one.

Feb. 18: Pretend this is fascinating

Apparently I don’t blog anymore, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who’s noticed. It’s such a busy time of year for us, with lots of school stuff happening, disgusting sicknesses, the uninspiring grey weather, and that horrible, horrible Downton Abbey season finale last night. I don’t have much to say but am checking in to prove I’m still alive and capable of constructing sentences. They may not be good sentences, but they are sentences all the same.

And I also have time-wasters to share with you:

• 40 greatest dog GIFs of all time
• If Downton Abbey happened on Facebook (check this soon for last night’s summary, unless you haven’t watched it yet because SPOILERS!)

 

This has a little potty language, but it’s funny

• You love Pinterest, right? Here’s stuff you might have missed. And by that, I mean I HOPE YOU HAVE MISSED IT. Yikes.

Alright, back to the chaos that is February. Smell ya later.

Feb. 7: They make good food, though…

Sometimes, when it’s your job to purchase prizes to stock the prize redemption room at the upcoming school carnival, you think IT WOULD BE COOL TO HAVE STUFF KIDS ACTUALLY WANT.

Sometimes, because the stuff kids want is expensive, you look online for cheaper alternatives, like buying in bulk or FROM CHINA.

Sometimes you spend lots of time searching these Chinese stores, using words like ZOMBIE and MUSTACHE and ONE DIRECTION and ANGRY BIRDS and JUSTIN BIEBER and MINECRAFT and CUPCAKES and HELLO KITTY and SPIDER MAN. Too much time, really.

Sometimes, in these Chinese stores, you find exactly what you know the kids would go nuts over, because CHINESE PEOPLE TOTALLY GET US SIMPLE AND SOMETIMES STUPID AMERICANS. You place lots of orders, and three weeks later find out that each order is being shipped separately and must be signed for, which does not irritate your mail lady even a little or make her want to throw your mail in the trash.

And sometimes, CHINESE PEOPLE SPELL STUFF DIFFERENTLY.

Sometimes they spell it WRONG.

Sometimes YOU GET MAIL THAT, LITERALLY, MAKES YOU LOL. Like this:

Oh, how I love translation funnies.

Jan. 31: Month in summary

Time to summarize January at the Manullangs’ house.

Special days I celebrated this month and how:

• New Year’s Day. Spent most of it recovering from the night before.  
• Friends’ birthdays. Some involved bacon!

Books I read this month:

• I started and stopped reading Anna Karenina.
• I’ve read three or four books on essential oils and how to use them in place of harmful chemicals in my home. The things I’ve concocted have worked well so far, but I’ve got lots more to try before I can truly be called a witch doctor.
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. I’m enjoying it very much.
• I bought, but have not yet read, my pal Lisa Schroeder’s newest young adult novel, Falling for You. Yay, Lisa!

Movies and TV shows worth mentioning:

• I saw Anna Karenina—the new one, with Keira Knightley. It was fine, but a bit too artsy for me. The good thing is that it saved me from wasting any more time reading the novel. The story just was not my thing.
• Grey Gardens—the original documentary from 1975—was an absolute delight. Ca-razy women, those two.
• Sleepwalk with Me, with Mike Birbiglia. Hilarious.
• Team America: World Police. This movie is by the creators of South Park, and just what you’d expect it to be: filthy, somewhat funny, totally inappropriate. The Kim Jong Il impersonation was pretty good though.
• As for TV shows, it’s been all Downton Abbey, all the time! Season 3 started wonderfully, with Shirley MacLaine and Maggie Smith bickering about customs and countries and class. And then episode 4 just completely ruined the ride.

This month’s disappointments:

• I’ve felt rundown and tired for the last several weeks, so I went into my two year post-treatment tests nervous. Even though I have the results now and there’s little of which to be concerned, I still feel rotten. Pfffft. I don’t know if the time of year, or what.
• My two year post-treatment CT showed a lymph node that has grown since the scan six months ago. This required a PET scan to follow-up, which I had today. Results were mostly good, but I’ll know more after my oncologist gives her interpretation. This blip means I’ll have to have another CT in six months, which is a bummer because I was supposed to be done with CTs and PETs and was hoping to get my port removed. I hate cancer. I hate being afraid that it’s going to come back, and having a good reason to worry that it will, and all the appointments and tests and radioactivity. Ugh.
• I am EXTRA sick as a dog today. I had to take medication on an empty stomach (the PET scan required 6+hours of fasting), and I started antibiotics yesterday for a sinus infection, which are giving me a headache and nausea. I have a terrible cough, which makes my head hurt even more, and now I’m whining and whining and you’re sorry you ever read this.

My accomplishments:

• Lots of school stuff is getting done. We’re planning the carnival for next month.
• I’ve got a trunk-ful of donations to take to Goodwill. That always feels good.
• Katie and I cleaned out her room and we’re still friends.

Anything else noteworthy:

• Debi and I got to spend a day together when she visited Portland with friends a couple weeks ago. It was so much fun catching up while shopping and eating. I like that girl.
• The Relay for Life 2013 kickoff party was last week. This year’s event is July 27-28. Our team name has slightly changed: we’re the Super Hoe-Downs, to go with the superheroes even theme. I’m so excited to wear a cape!

Silly stuff to share:

Bring it, February. I am soooo ready for ya.