selkie girl 

my shapeshifter is...

The Scottish Selkie was a being who appeared to be a seal, but had the ability to shed their skin and roam the land in human form. If a human were to happen upon the discarded seal skin, he or she could hide it and force the selkie to marry him or her. However, if the selkie were to ever find the skin, he or she would immediately reassume seal form and return to the sea from whence they came, leaving their spouse and offspring on land to forever mourn their loss. As a selkie, you are a very withdrawn, secretive and somewhat sad person, and those around you find you alluring and mystifying. People who come into your life find it difficult to find the inner you. You are also curious, but you enjoy the comforts of home most of all.

Who is your inner Shapeshifter?
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coincidentally, one of my favorite children's plays that i read during grad school is Selkie by Laurie Brooks Gollobin. this is a link to a teacher's guide from Chicago Playworks.

another note

i've given up on not drinking for Lent, or for any other reason. i've given in to the fact that a small glass of wine in the evening is necessary for my sanity on many days.

bed wetting saga

so we've totally regressed with the night potty training thing. wet...wetter...and still wetter. i think the kid is going to bed too late. she doesn't even wake up when there is a big wet spot. she just sleeps in it. i was a bed wetter until i was about seven. i read that if a kid has a parent that was a bed wetter, there's a big chance they will inherit the problem. sorry kid! some of the causes of bed-wetting include the following:

• Genetic factors (it tends to run in families)
• Difficulties waking up from sleep
• Slower than normal development of the central nervous system--this reduces the child's ability to stop the bladder from emptying at night YIKES!!!
• Hormonal factors (not enough antidiuretic hormone--this hormone reduces the amount of urine made by the kidneys) YIKES AGAIN!!!
• Urinary tract infections (EEK)
• Abnormalities in the urethral valves in boys or in the ureter in girls or boys DOUBLE YIKES!!!!
• Abnormalities in the spinal cord TRIPLE YIKES!!!!
• Inability to hold urine for a long time because of small bladder

bed-wetting is NOT caused by

• drinking too much before bedtime. (no, she's not an alcoholic)
• It's not a mental or behavior problem. (thank God)
• It doesn't happen because the child is too lazy to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. (no one could ever call my child lazy!)
• And children do not wet the bed on purpose or to irritate their parents. (well.... that's debatable)

time to turn to the infamous wee-alert from sears. my mom bought one when i was having problems. its this metal sheet that goes under your matress pad, hooked up to some sort of box by clamps. the principal is it makes this horrendous buzzing noise to alarm you when you start to wet the bed, with the result that you become so terribly shaken by this noise that your brain begins to warn you to wake up before it happens, so you go to the bathroom to avoid being frightened to death night after night. yes, my mom did it to me. it worked. am i considering it? yup. we'll try again before i resort to the wee alert.

lakefront property 

rain rain go away!!!!!!!!!!

ok. one of the reasons i agreed to come to los angeles with the hubby was that the weather was always 75 degrees and sunny. so i can take rain every now and again, and the huge lightning storm we had the other night reminded me of texas (one of the things i really miss about texas are the big storms with thunder and lightning) but this is RIDICULOUS. we were stranded in our house yesterday watching the fools who thought they could drive through 3 feet of water, and stalled out in the street, forcing them to climb out the windows of their vehicles and wade to higher ground.

try...try again

again with the sheets... twice over the long weekend. i'm sure it's the excessive rain we've had.

if at first you don't succeed....

have to wash the sheets this morning.

milestones

last night was a big night. the kid slept in big girl pants, and didn't weedle in the bed! it's a big deal for us. the thought of not having to spend money on another box of pull-ups is very liberating. plus, i feel some guilt being removed as we will no longer be contributing super absorbent non-bio-degradable materials to the landfill. then there's the biggest thing. our little monster is growing up. she was so proud of herself. we'll have to celebrate tonight.

Austin Girl

Austin Girl testing 123

the 100 scariest movie scenes of all time

http://www.retrocrush.com/scary/

doh!!!!!

so i fell off the wagon last night. only 6 days into my non-drinking promise. yes, we had dinner with the cat in the hat and family, and he had three bottles of wine ready, big grin on his face. husby was strong, held his ground and stuck with soda. the cat's wife drank half a beer, and then soda. i gave in to the charms of the cat, and partook in some very nice red wine (charles shaw Gamet Beaujolais is really nice- and cheap!!). i think i had 3 glasses. have a twinge of a headache in me ol' noggin. feel terribly guilty. but i think i've learned a lesson. i like the way i feel not drinking much better. there's still beerapalooza, but husby and i have made a pact that we will politely taste a couple of the brews (it is a home brew party after all, and we can't be rude guests), but will be sensible.

down 5!!!!

so i was training for this half marathon last year (which i never ran). i was running or going to the gym 5 days a week, yet the scale didn't budge from 140. now i've reprogrammed my eating habbits, and have been abstaining from alcohol for a week, and i'm down to 135! very excited. clothes fitting better. if i can just add in a few days of excercise each week i'll be in good shape. and i don't feel like i'm dieting. i just opt for the flavorful but healthy. i have always hated dieting, but for some reason this is working and i'm not feeling deprived.

and the alcohol thing isn't bothering me either. with my sig other not drinking, i really don't even miss it. we just drink hot tea. now, if we can just keep the cat in the hat from coming over with his 3 bottles of wine.....

texas, texas yee haw!

i forgot to mention the kid and i went to texas (or did i?) it was such a brief trip, but it satisfied my texas cravings for a bit. got to see some of the fam damnily. got to spend time with mamma, and go to my sister's ranch. actually, her husband is a ranch manager, so they just live there. don't own it. but it sounds so texas! my sister's ranch. we all own them you know. ride horses everywhere we go, and wear hats and boots. wait a minute. sounds like me brother-in-law. they have lots of exotic critters there. a heard of zebras, kudus, ginzboks (not sure how to spell that one). the kid had a ton of fun.

now me husby wants to take her to czechland with him when he goes in april on business, so she can meet some of her czech cousins, aunts and uncles. i think she'll have so much fun. it will be so different for her. i'm glad she will make her first trip with daddy. i'm such a nervous wreck flying these days.

so we're giving up alcohol for Lent. i think it'll be good. we've both been feeling guilt when we drink lately. maybe its because we're approacing 40. but so far it hasn't been too difficult. the wine will be the hard part for me. i love red wine. beer, i can live without. never liked liquor much (ever since that incident in 10th grade!) husby even mentioned giving it up for good. i'll believe it when i see it. a czech without beer is like, well.... OMG! i just remembered we're invited to a party next weekend titled BEERAPALOOZA! with pub grub and all. with home brew. how's that gonna work? can you take a break in the Lenten promises? yikes. that'll be a toughy.

just a few thoughts for the day.
back to work.

thoughts on a rainy friday

my daughter was afraid for me to leave her at her pre-school today. said she thought i was going to blow away in the wind. i'm not sure where these fears are coming from. did mary poppins scar me that much at that age? you know, the nannys blowing away and all. or was it wizard of oz?

i'm on this low carb thing. i have always been annoyed by all of the low carb fanaticism, but i jumped on the bandwagon when i had no time to work out, and was putting on the pounds. i'm not doing anything silly like eating bacon and beef all the time. i eat lots of salad and vegetables, and chicken and fish. just no pasta, bread, rice, etc. also need to stop with the wine. i'm a total wino sometimes. mainly, excercise is the way to go. i was almost ready for a half marathon last october, then i sprained my ankle really badly jumping into a swimming pool (fully clothed) to rescue my daughter who had fallen in head first. actually, i froze and my husband pushed me aside because i was standing there like a lump and so i decided that i needed to follow him in and twisted my ankle on the steps. so we were all in the pool, fully clothed, soaking wet. me with a hurt ankle. my daughter started laughing hysterically, but has never wanted to get near water since. short story long, i didn't run the half marathon, and haven't exercised since. guess its time to get off my behind and do something. before too long i'll be hitting the big 4-0. ACK!

well, time to run. off to pick up my lil' schmoopie.