For everything else...

Size of oil tank: 175 gallons
Price of fuel: $2.089/gallon
Filling our oil tank for HALF the price we did in October: PRICELESS!

Star Wars

We've started a "marble jar" in our house. Do something good, get a marble. Do something bad, lose a marble. When the cup is full, get a reward. Well, Eldon got his reward - and he wanted to watch Star Wars episode II. Well, I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, so I didn't watch it. I still have yet to see all of Star Wars IV, because I always fall asleep during it. Looks like Jessie and I are on the same wavelength. This is a picture I took of her in the middle of the movie.

Baby Blanket

I finally get to use the "I Made It Myself" image that some of my friends use on their blog.  Because I FINALLY finished my baby blanket.  So now the baby can come.  Anytime.  Really.  I don't mind.  Whenever it's ready.  Like, now, please.

Thankfulness

I am thankful for a husband that is calm in a crisis.  Today, just as we were taking the turkey out of the oven, we heard Jessie scream, "Dad!  Dad!"  Since James was busy with the turkey, I went to see what the matter was.  The toilet was flowing over abundantly.  So I did what anyone else would do.  I screamed, "James! James!"  He came running, threw some towels at me and said, "Don't let it get on the carpet."  Oh yeah, that would be a good idea.  Then he ran into the bathroom and shut off the water valve.  Oh yeah, another good idea.  Then he told me to start picking things up off the floor.  Oh yeah, that's a good idea.  So he kept his head and nothing was ruined at all.  Not even the turkey.  The stuffing didn't get fluffed in time, but I think we survived that.

I'm also thankful that my husband can cook.  He spent a great deal of time making dinner for today.  Turkey, rolls, cranberry sauce, and potatoes.

I, however, made the pies: lemon meringue, chocolate, and blueberry.  I am thankful for yummy pies.

Yesterday was my last cake decorating class.  One of my friends' had a birthday today, so I made the cake for her.  Here are the results.  You can call my secretary to set up an order. ;)

Jessica's 3rd Birthday

Today is Jessica's 3rd birthday.  James made her waffles for breakfast and after lunch she got to watch a movie, open presents and eat her birthday cake.  She's now playing with her presents and is very happy.

Other notes:  Jessie's birthday cake is the result of my first cake decorating class.  We only practiced with 2 tips (stars and dots), so it's pretty simple.  When I came home, James asked me why I didn't write Happy Birthday Jessica on it somewhere.  It had never occurred to me.  Silly!  When I asked Jessica what kind of cake she wanted (as in what design) all I could get out of her was chocolate.  So I made a chocolate cake.  When I asked her what color the frosting should be, she answered brown.  So easy to please!  So she got her brown chocolate cake, but she would only eat the frosting.

Jessica is still allergic to nuts.  She had a skin test in February that showed a minimal reaction and took a blood test a few months ago that gave us the go ahead for the "Peanut Challenge", which is essentially letting her eat peanut butter and watching her reaction for two hours.  So on Thursday before the challenge her doctor did another skin test.  On this skin test her body reacted, so we did not proceed with the challenge.  The doctor said to come back in a year and try again.  

On a good note, it seems that Jessica can almost spell her name.  She's known for a while what letter her name begins with and is very interested in what letter words begin with.  One day she said "Jessica begins with a J!"  I agreed, then she proceeded, "And next is an E, then a C (I corrected that), then another S, then an I, then a C!"  I helped her with the A on the end, but I was very impressed for a 2-year old to be able to do that.  Erica is very interested in learning how to spell things, and it seems that it is rubbing off on Jessie.

New Blog

After watching James retrieve the pencil eraser from the pencil sharpener, I decided to start a blog cataloging all the stupid/silly/crazy things my kids do. For posterity, you know. For those of you that get this blog by email, the crazy things won't be sent out by email. You'll have to check it out periodically at http://perkinsnotthinking.blogspot.com.

Under the category of "What was he thinking?"

I often ask myself, "What was he thinking?!?!?!?" As you probably know, I have a very intelligent boy. That can be good, but it can be bad. We often say to ourselves that we wish he'd use his powers for good instead of evil. The bad part comes with inventing ways to get out of trouble.

So, where do I start? Starting the story from the front or the back has its appeal. I think this story is best told from the ending.

So, there I was, doing our weekly loads of laundry. I open the dryer to pull out the first load (darks, jeans and such), and all over the dryer vent are little brown balls of...well, something. Now, at this time, Jessie is potty training and not doing a very good job of it. Still, I would be surprised if dirty underwear could pass by me unnoticed and into the laundry. So, I did what any self-respecting mother would do. I picked up a little ball and smelled it. Ah-ha! Mystery solved.

Now, back to the beginning of the story. On Friday, we had our Halloween dinner (as you can see in a previous post). Our entree was rat-shaped meatloaf. The kids were excited to eat it. However, when it came time to actually eat, my pickiest of picky eaters decided he didn't like meatloaf today and didn't want to eat it. The rule in our house is that if you put it on your plate, you have to eat it. After much arguing and threatening, the meatloaf was eaten and the boy was allowed to leave to go trick-or-treating.

Fast forward to today. As soon as I smelled the little baked balls of meatloaf, I knew exactly what my son had done. Yes, that's right, the meatloaf went IN HIS POCKETS! He'd already been reprimanded for trying to hide it in a napkin and throw it away. All we saw was the empty plate at the end and never, never, never would I have thought of him putting it in his pockets, then in the laundry, thinking he could get away with it. What was he thinking? He was thinking "I want to go trick-or-treating, my family is leaving soon, and I don't want to eat this meatloaf. My mom will never find it in my pockets!" That, folks, is what he was thinking.