http://www.pleonast.com/user/polaramy recent pleonast.com entries by user polaramy en-us http://www.pleonast.com/user/polaramy?l=5&entryID=601714 The Alamo and Sea World. We had a great time. Jack was a real trooper. The other kids each picked a pair of grandparents to stay with in the hotel. I don't think they gave us another thought. :) P.S. I never realized how easy the date the Alamo fell is to remember - 3/6/36! (And if you forget what century, just remember 3*6=18, so it's 3/6/1836.) 2008-11-21 http://www.pleonast.com/user/polaramy?l=5&entryID=600774 All 3 kids have been busy lately. Patrick's been slowly realizing he can read. He's recognized words like zoo, go, and exit for a couple years (plus of course those words like Tonka that have their own special font), so it didn't occur to him at first that when he could tell what show we were looking at on a text-only TiVo screen that he was actually figuring out the word himself instead of recognizing it. I think he's finally caught on to the fact that he can read. He's a funny boy sometimes... Samantha gave up her lifelong nickname for Patrick a couple weeks ago - "Dadich" has become "Patwick". It's a bittersweet moment. She has also matured in the punishment department. Today for the first time she was included in the counting "game" at the grocery store. That's not the typical version you see where the mom counts out warnings to the kids. My version is I'm counting how many "disciplinings" you've earned yourself when I get home aw... 2008-11-18 http://www.pleonast.com/user/polaramy?l=5&entryID=598419 2008-11-12 http://www.pleonast.com/user/polaramy?l=5&entryID=598186 I called to cancel our newspaper subscription (rates are up over 70% from last time) and the guy just asked if I wanted to cancel it now or when my current subscription runs out next week. No "why do you want to cancel" or "what can we do to keep your business" or anything like that. Of course I take the 5 minutes I saved in not having to repeatedly say that I did not want to continue my subscription and spend it blogging instead. I'm waiting on my mother-in-law for San Antonio pictures to post, but we had a good time. For now I'll just leave you with what 2 adults, 3 kids, and 2 nights away from home looks like: And that didn't include the double stroller, coats, snacks in the fridge, etc... To be fair, Jack and his fondness for leaking out of both ends was responsible for most of this. He had 2 outfits, a pair of PJs, 2 blankets, a bib, and multiple burp cloths for each day. There was a bag full of plastic bags just for containing any messes he made. H... 2008-11-11 http://www.pleonast.com/user/polaramy?l=5&entryID=594730 It's been a fun and busy weekend. Friday was trick-or-treating. (We live in the trick-or-treat-on-October-31 part of the country. My parents live in the pick-a-time-and-date-to-trick-or-treat part of the country. This year was Thurs Oct 30 from 5-7. Weird.) Saturday was Oklahoma to see Scott's grandma and other assorted relatives. It's out in the boonies. Let me put it this way - Antlers, OK is every bit as much of a hick "town" as you would expect a place named Antlers to be, and they live 20 or so minutes outside Antlers. We had a great time. Scott's cousin Stephanie brought over a couple of their horses and set up a training circle so all the kids could ride. There was a giant sandpit in Scott's uncle's back yard from where they removed an above ground pool. The weather was great, the kids had a blast, Jack did very well, and we all enjoyed visiting. We got home around bedtime, did a tick check, washed Oklahoma off the kids, and enjoyed an extra hour's worth o... 2008-11-03 http://www.pleonast.com/user/polaramy?l=5&entryID=591776 The in-laws and we are planning a whirlwind San Antonio visit soon. Of course we'll try to squeeze in Sea World and Alamo. Any other musts? We won't have time to do much more stuff, but we will be eating while we're there, so if you only had a couple meals in San Antonio, where would you eat? Any other insider tips? P.S. Anyone checked out the nursing facilities at Sea World? I saw 4 on the map - wondered if they were decent. 2008-10-26 http://www.pleonast.com/user/polaramy?l=5&entryID=590672 Today is Mole Day. What is a mole? It is the number 6.02 * 10^23. That’s 602,214,100,000,000,000,000,000. (Those aren’t really all zeros – it’s approximate.) This relationship was first discovered by Amadeo Avogadro, so it is also called Avogadro’s constant. Those of us with geeky tendencies celebrate Mole Day at 6:02 on 10/23. A mole is the number of molecules or atoms required to reach the atomic mass (in grams) of a substance. For example, hydrogen has an atomic mass of 1.0079 and oxygen has an atomic mass of 15.994, so water (H20) has an atomic mass of 2 * 1.0079 + 15.9994 = 18.0152(ish). Therefore, a mole of water molecules is approximately 18 grams. Neon’s atomic mass is 20, so 20 grams of neon contain a mole of neon atoms. To illustrate how incredibly large a mole is, suppose you were able to consume a teaspoon of corn syrup every second of every day of every year of your three score and ten years on this earth. Now suppose the other 6.6+ billion people o... 2008-10-23 http://www.pleonast.com/user/polaramy?l=5&entryID=590343 It's surprising (or perhaps pathetic) how excited I am about our new hamper. We haven't had a hamper for the laundry room since...ever. Scott and I have one for our room, but the kids just take their clothes and chunk them on the laundry room floor. There has long been an inability for them to understand that a laundry basket sitting in front of the dryer is full of clean clothes that I have yet to sort, not an invitation for them to dump their wet, filthy clothes on top. So I am now the proud owner of a 3-compartment hamper that actually fits in my itty-bitty laundry room. The kids think it's a lot of fun, too. In fact, I caught them taking clean clothes out of the aforementioned basket to sort into the hamper. I guess I should just learn to put away clean clothes more quickly. On a serious note, please keep our uncle's family in your prayers. He passed away unexpectedly Sunday night. Neither my sister nor I were able to make arrangements to get to Ohio for the services, but... 2008-10-22 http://www.pleonast.com/user/polaramy?l=5&entryID=587381 Full Album Grandma came with us and we all had a great time. Samantha was still a little worn out from her stomach bug, but she lasted a while. No helicopters this year :( , but they had a hose hooked up that the kids could spray at a little house to knock the (wooden) flames down. The giant inflatable slide was a big hit, too. The firemen and policemen who work this event are always so great with the kids - no wonder they love it so much. Jack has become wonderfully proficient at sucking his thumb, which makes nights long and daytime naps better than before. Here's his preferred pose, with the right thumb in his mouth and his left hand poised to scratch that annoyingly itchy scalp: 2008-10-14 http://www.pleonast.com/user/polaramy?l=5&entryID=586365 I joined facebook last night. I feel like such a follower! Don't worry (or get your hopes up, if you don't like reading my posts), I have no intention of leaving pleo. I have a very good friend from my working days who is on it and neither of us are good at e-mailing. I will try very hard not to become addicted to it. Samantha seems much better. Thanks for the messages yesterday! 2008-10-11