Fifteen Minutes of Delusion

Alyssa's home again. She asked to go to school at about 8:30, and I felt she was up for it, so I packed her lunch and away we went. It lasted until 12:30, when the school nurse called me. Alyssa was coughing very hard, and looked miserable. So away I went to pick her up. At least she hadn't thrown up. For that she waited until we were on our way to the car. She hasn't quite figured out that if she leans over far enough, she won't throw up on herself. So in addition to a sick child, I had to deal with a soiled shirt, soiled pants, and soiled Spider-Man shoes . And the wind is blowing, so there was hair that needed a wash, too. The hot water ran out during the hair rinse. I think one of the elements in our water heater is out. Since the home warranty people replaced both elements a month or two ago, I need to call them to come back and fix it. But I keep forgetting, as there is always enough hot water for my shower. I think I'll call right now.

One of Alyssa's favorite activities at the Ft Worth Museum is in their Kidspace area. It's a little play grocery store where the kids can pick up plastic food and empty boxes, and put them in a little cart. They have a little checkout set up with a simple electric eye, so it beeps whenever something is "scanned." Alyssa knows it's the barcode that does the magic, and looks for it before scanning anything. She is a master checkout operator, thanks to her experience with the Self Checkouts at Wal-Mart. I'll load the belt, and she can have the items scanned and in the bags faster than half of the professionals who wear the blue vests.

Despite my best efforts, Alyssa's cough has come back with vigor. I'm sure it's allergy related, as all twenty million people here in Texas have a cough or runny nose right now. We rode bikes on Monday, and yesterday we walked to the museum and back, so there was ample opportunity to breathe large quantities of pollen. The weather has been just perfect - sunny and mid-70s - so there was no way we could stay inside. But this morning Alyssa coughed enough to throw up - twice - and so I'm keeping her home, at least for a while. Fortunately, her coughing fit didn't start until 5:45, so I was already up and getting their lunches ready. I'll keep my eye on her, and if her cough subsides, as I suspect it will, then I'll cart her off to school. Kara's home today, so she can help with Alyssa, but the girl really needs to be at school if she can. She's certainly not acting like someone who is sick, which means she'll be trouble in a couple of hours. I'...

Years ago when the girls were young, we came up with "Surprise Lunches" as a way to liven up a boring meal. Take the basic building blocks of lunch (ham, cheese, olives, veggies, etc) and arrange them into a picture. I pulled this trick out again a couple of days ago, and it worked like a charm. I almost feared that Anna would be too big for such a gimmick, but she ate it up. So to speak. Kara is into more traditional meal preparation. Here she and Alyssa put together a batch of enchiladas. Alyssa loves helping, especially when it involves using tools (like a knife). We have a number of pictures of her in this pose from years past, but what really struck me this time is that she is standing on the floor instead of a stool. My girls are growing up! Baird and Ally are getting married. I don't actually know either of them, but the other night Baird sent me a text message announcing their engagement. I wish them both the best, whoever they are.

When I was teaching computer programming as an adjunct faculty member at UVSC , I would emphasize to my classes that there are two kinds of computer users - those who have lost data, and those who will lose data. I'm not the best example of "save and backup", but I'm much better than I used to be. There are at least two copies of anything that is important to me. At least, of the things I have control of. Our email service has had a crash, and it looks like a few messages have been lost. Since the crash, I haven't gotten any new messages, except for a handful of spam and a number of messages from Prism support, each one assuring me that the problems have REALLY been solved this time. Now, it's possible that hundreds of fans of this blog have been trying to email me, with the messages just falling off into the ether somewhere. More likely, however, neither of the fans of this blog have tried to send an email. So as a test, I sent myself an email from my work ac...

Last night, the girls and I went to see Bridge to Terabithia . This was the first time I've taken the girls to the movie since we saw the last Herbie movie at the dollar theaters last year. Or was it the year before? We usually opt to wait for the DVD, because Alyssa generally falls asleep halfway through, and Kara can't do the theater anymore. But this was an activity for Anna's book club at school. They read and discussed the book, and then went to the movies together yesterday, and now they'll discuss the differences over lunch next week. We all enjoyed the movie - even Alyssa made it to the end, although she ended up on my lap halfway through. It has some sad moments, but the emotion comes naturally to this story, and it wasn't drawn out or melodramatic like so many "tear-jerkers" can be. There's nothing I hate more than having to wipe a tear, knowing full well that I've been manipulated by the director. In this story, the tears come honestly. ...

Alyssa lost her chance to go to the Science and History Museum yesterday. Her crime? Failure to keep her hands out of the fishbowl. After two warnings, I closed the bedroom door and told her she needed to stay out. But in the middle of a conference call, I heard a noise and felt impressed to investigate. It was then that I found the fish on the floor. It looks like I got there in time, though. Marigold is expected to make a full recovery and live to a ripe old age of at least another week or two. Alyssa got a good swat and spent a very boring 90 minutes waiting for Anna's acting class to finish. Hopefully she has learned something about obedience and the nature of fish. I'm sure she was just bored, being home sick. Fortunately, I think she's well enough to go back to school today. Monday's kitchen cabinet removal project was a success, in that the cabinets are in the garage and the countertops are sitting on the wire racks and nothing got broken. I even got the plumbin...

Our Sacrament Meeting yesterday was at the Church of Christ down the street and around the corner. It was a nice big building, although very different from an LDS chapel. The thing I liked best about it was the stained concrete floors. I've become very observant of building materials as of late, and while that building was rather spartan in its amenities, it was a relatively "safe" building. The Weatherford chapel, being 25 years old, was fairly safe, too, having off-gassed many of the chemicals used in the building materials. I'm concerned about what a new building will hold in store for us. Sacrament Meeting ran for 100 minutes, but that was the only meeting that we had, and given the circumstances and the amount of spirit and emotion, it seemed appropriate. The investigation into the fire has been closed, and the cause was apparently wiring in a light switch. I was scheduled to teach in priesthood, and I wanted to share the story of I Hemolele and the origins of t...

We made it through another Saturday, and managed to get a few projects done, including some long overdue cleaning. Anna even helped vacuum the floors, and only put up a fuss equal to that of a pinkie-finger amputation. Alyssa still has her cough, although she managed to sleep through the night with only a couple of minor spells that were quickly subdued by a drink of water. Kara has developed a rash that has her itching unbearably. As with most things, we have some likely suspects but no clear guilty party. It could be yeast. Or cotton. Or dust mites. Or vitamin B12. Or any number of variables. I haven't talked to her yet today, but hopefully it isn't as bad as it was yesterday. Anna is really taking her fish care responsibilities seriously. Of course, we're only on day 8, but still I'm impressed with how strong her sense of duty is. We changed the water in their containers today, and she ran back and forth between the fish bowls and the replacement water with a little ...

Alyssa has allergies, or a cold or something, and it's making her cough. I kept her home Thursday morning for a couple of hours, but the cough calmed down so I took her in to school. Thursday night she started coughing just after I went to bed, and I was up until 1:30 before she finally got quieted down enough for us both to sleep. As a result, I kept her home Friday. She thought that was a good idea, for about an hour. Then she realized that when dad's working and Anna's not around, it can get pretty boring at home. I did my best to keep the videos rolling and take Play-dough and puzzle breaks, but by about 1:00 she was begging me to take her to school. I thought we would be OK last night, but it was even worse. I was up with her until 2:00, then again at 5:00. She can't seem to cough and spit, so if there is enough stuff in her throat she will eventually cough until she throws up, which happened several times last night. I ended up sleeping in her bed, and I'd jus...

Yesterday was quite the Valentines day around here. Kara had a good day, the girl's had three Valentine's parties between them, we got yet another fish, and our church burned down. I was on my way to one of Alyssa's Valentine's parties when I heard on the radio that a church in Weatherford had burned to the ground. I had a strange feeling that it was ours, and the full report a few minutes later confirmed this. No news yet on a cause, or where we'll be meeting this Sunday. Alyssa had two parties yesterday, one in her Special Education class, and one in her regular 2nd grade class. I worked extra on Monday so I could go to both of them. I felt this was important so I could see her in her classroom environment and meet some of her friends. This is a picture of Alyssa and her best friend, Andrew. (For the longest time, Kara thought someone in Alyssa's class had a cold, because she says his name "A-choo.") Alyssa and Andrew also meet with a regular 2nd gr...

I went to the liquor store on Monday night, and bought two big bottles of their cheapest Vodka. Don't worry - I didn't drink any. The problem I have is terpene , which is a strong chemical that occurs naturally in many plants, and is what gives wood that "woody" smell. It's also the basic ingredient of turpentine, and is the main reason that even natural, unfinished woods are not as safe for the chemically sensitive as one might expect. Ethyl alcohol is a very powerful, natural solvent, and vodka is a fairly economical solution of pure alcohol and water. Rubbing alcohol is not pure alcohol, but has acetone and methyl isobutyl ketone added to make it undrinkable, so it is unusable for our situation. Anyway, I soaked some rags with vodka and set them on the sauna bench, which had been moved to the living room. The alcohol dissolved the terpenes and then evaporated. By morning, the whole house smelled like a sawmill. And once the rags were removed and the bench had d...

Winter has returned to North Texas. After hitting 74 on Wednesday, we were lucky to get to 47 on Thursday. Today there is fog and drizzle, and it's just the kind of day that makes me glad my commute is exclusively an indoor affair. I just hope Kara's drive to Dallas is uneventful. She says the truck drives like a dream now that she's had it tuned up, but I'll have to take her word on it for now. I was going to take it to the church last night for Alyssa's "Great to be Eight" primary activity, since I thought it would just be the two of us. But Anna was asked to help out in the nursery, so I just took the car. The truck is a '94 Ford Ranger Extended Cab with jump seats, so there's room for all four of us if needed. But when it's just the three of us I prefer the car, because the girl's always fight about who gets to sit in front with me. If I put them both in the back, where they sit facing each other, then they fight just because they can. ...

As part of her ocean-themed bedroom, Anna wanted some fish. However, I wasn't very excited about having a fishbowl that could get knocked over by all of the clutter that finds its way to every horizontal surface in her room. So several months ago, I had the idea to find some wall-mounted vases to put the fish in. Anna loved the idea, and we started looking. Unfortunately, finding a couple of vases that would work for fish bowls was a little tricky A few weeks ago, I finally found some on closeout at Wal-Mart, but decided I wasn't up to doing the fish thing just yet, so I put them away. Every few weeks, Anna asks when we're going to get her fish, and she asked again yesterday. I admitted to her that I had found the vases, and agreed to take her to get the fish that night if she would help me with my work. I'm such a mean dad; always trying to get my kids to help me. Fortunately she did, and last night we picked out a couple of bettas . These are pretty fish that like liv...

I learned yesterday that once glass has been tempered it cannot be cut. It will shatter instead. I didn't necessary learn this the hard way, but it could have been much easier. When I measured the glass for our sauna, I wrote down the actual measurements of the wood panels I was to be covering, and then subtracted a bit for the mounting hardware. Unfortunately, when I placed the order, I accidentally gave the larger measurements. So after picking up the panels on Wednesday, I found they were all just a little too big. I called the shop and asked if they could cut the glass. I failed to mention that the glass was tempered, so they said "sure." I got up a half-hour early yesterday so I could leave as soon as the girls were on the bus to take the glass and have it cut. After driving 20 minutes through Ft. Worth rush hour traffic I was educated on the uncutability of tempered glass, and had to drive back home with nothing to show for my efforts. Except for the advice "if...

The beautiful weather continues here in Willow Park, Texas. Yesterday was in the mid-60s, and today we hit 70. I had to fix a flat on Anna's bike yesterday, and after I broke a sweat I decided that jeans would be inappropriate for a ride to the park. Fortunately, my shorts were easily accessible. Alyssa got to go to Casa Manana twice today - once for Anna's class, and once to see Jack and the Beanstalk. Alyssa and I walked through the Will Rogers Center complex on our way to the museum this afternoon because she wanted to see the cows again. I agreed, although I explained that we probably wouldn't see any because the Fort Worth Stock Show is over now. All that was left were big tractors mucking the many, many stalls. I wish I could have directed one of those trucks full of prime fertilizer over to our house! I got two of the kitchen cabinets replaced today, and it looks like I'll have a little extra time to prepare for replacing the big cabinet. My help for tomorrow eve...

It's very difficult remodeling a house without outside help. The kind of help you pay for is OK, but there's usually a limited supply of funds, even when there's no limit to the help that is needed. Free help from friends/neighbors/church members is great, although the supply is even more limited because people have their own Jumbo/LARGE to do lists. And while jars of homemade apple butter help, it's essential to make very judicious use of free help so it is there when you really need it. As mentioned earlier, I am in the process of replacing the kitchen cabinets with wire shelving. Here you can see a "before" and "during" shot of one of the smaller cabinets. I think it will look quite nice when it's done (tile behind, paint touched up, etc) and I'll be sure to post a picture when I have one. Four of the five counters are small, and I can get do the work myself. However, number five is a very large counter that covers four cabinets, the dis...

Alyssa has turned into quite the little game master. On Friday night she moved all of the chairs into the living room and invited everyone to sit, which we did. She then proceeded to play a game something like Simon Says where she told each of us to stand up or sit down, and to put our hands on our heads or noses or ears. She did a great job directing the game. The only real trouble was keeping Anna from trying to take over. Tonight we found that four chairs had been set out, back to back, for a game of musical chairs. Anna, of course, didn't want to play. But with Alyssa asserting herself like this, we insisted. I put in Mary Poppins and skipped to one of the songs, so I could start and stop the music via remote. For the most part, we played with enough chairs for everyone, but we played a few rounds the "right" way. I made sure that everyone had a chance to win, and managed to bump Anna onto the floor a couple of times, which she thought was hilarious. In the end, Anna ...

Last night I took the girls to see Peter Pan at Aledo High School. I was quite impressed by the timing and precision and dead-on execution. And then when we got to the school, the play was really good, too. It was one of those evenings where the plan, though workable, had nearly a dozen potential points of failure. But, almost miraculously, everything came together. (Cue the A-Team theme...) The first thing that needed to happen was for Alyssa to have a nap, or she'd be sleeping on me through the whole play. It was a cold, snowy afternoon, and I knew that would help. Anna commented that she could probably use a rest, too, although she didn't want to take one. Big mistake on her part. Alyssa will sometimes just climb in bed on her own, but most afternoons she's too worried that she'll miss out on the fun, so she gets back up again. I gave her a little while to wind down before I tucked her in, and she requested that Anna come in the room with her. That usually helps her ...