Happy New Year 2011 !!

Welcome to 2011!

So far, ours has been chock FULL of snow! The children's winter break began a week early. They had , in total, a month's time out of school.

Several days before Christmas, Husband had surgery on his shoulder. It was a bit rough for a week or two. The children were extremely helpful, and very cooperative. I think it also helped that we were snowed in for a good portion of this time!

A quiet Christmas for the Nuthouse~ Daughter woke at an earth-shattering 3:30am. I promise you, we were all napping by noon, while watching more snow fall.

New Years was a bit more. Husband felt better, the roads had finally cleared again.. We allowed the children to watch the New York ball drop.
Son wanted to know why it went SO slow, if it was "dropped". The mechanics were explained.
Son also wanted to know WHY in the world we celebrated the new year, and why it was done by watching a big ball of lights on a building. That one was a bit harder. "its just what we do." Its part of the celebration of a new year.

We also had some friends visit for a few days, its always great to see them ! They had planned a trip to see the snow, as we had gotten over 4 inches just before Christmas. Of course, when they arrived ,the snow was gone, and the temperatures were back to the 50's. (you know what happened the day they left , right?)

Finally, after the hustle and bustle of preparing for the holidays, Husband's surgery , the holidays themselves, and visits, this Mama was looking forward to the kids returning to school!

I saw their return to school, to schedules and consistency,as the beginning of MY break!

The night before the first day, son tells me he needs a toothpick. there's something stuck in his teeth, driving him crazy.
lemme see it.
Turns out, it was a tooth. His adult tooth grew in behind his baby tooth. The baby tooth was hardly loose!

So both kids got dropped off at school Tuesday morning, but one was picked up two hours later for a field trip to the dentist.
This was the first time son's mouth had been numbed. . . he didn't like it much. he kept saying his face was falling, and was worried he looked funny.( really, its hard to believe your face isn't really sagging the way it feels when they numb you like that!)
He made it through in one piece, thrilled to have his first tooth out. It is SO tiny, it dropped when they pulled it, and myself, the dentist, and the nurse were on the floor, feeling through the rug for it !
When we got home, and he had regained some of the sensation in his face, he asked me if his "cheek had grown back" ! ! It was hard to explain with a straight face that he hadn't swelled, his cheek hadn't fallen off, he looked just like he always did, minus a tooth in his smile.

Wednesday both children again went to school, stayed all day. Mama was happy. She got many many items checked off of the evil to-do list.
It was short lived.
By noon, it was snowing again. (much to my friend's delight, as they had concluded their travels, and were on the way home.)
We were tortured by a rain / snow mix all night.
Naturally in the morning, though there wasn't much snow to speak of, the roads were too icy, and schools closed for Thursday... (today)

The children didn't take this well. they had two days back with friends and routines. what a teaser to be shut out again so soon!
They were also frustrated, because by noon, the sun was out ,and the roads had cleared.

Daughter was very upset when she was informed that tomorrow, and probably Monday and Tuesday would bring more closings.
"but LOOK mama!! the snow's gone and the sun is out!!"
yes, but tonight its going to snow again. wear your jammies inside out !! (this supposedly encourages the snow. something the teachers told them)
Daughter did not agree with the Jammy theory today.
"NO!! if we wear Jammies inside out there REALLY won't be school! "
well, silly, look at it this way, its GOING to snow. schools will probably close anyway. won't you like to have enough to PLAY IN ?
"no. i wanna go to school."

only kid I know that defies a snow day for this reason.

certainly has been an interesting start here at the Nuthouse.

Fun Travels !

Husband and I have loaded up the residents of the NutHouse for a Thanksgiving trip. We're visiting his family in his Indianna hometown.

the trip itself was smoother than we thought it would be- the kids were incredibly well behaved, and even the dog was very mellow, hoarding half the storage area of the truck with her bedding and bones.

We discovered very quickly how much colder it was north, than at home.

it was 56 degrees at home when we left.
it was 32 degrees when we arrived in Indianna.
and dropping quickly, preceeding the sleet/ rain / wind .

the wind chill took it down to about 19 degrees. yea. COLD.

Husband got up very early our first full day in, and decided to find a store for some supplies. Son went with him. They wisely, found Son a set of gloves.

Later the children and husband went for a stroll in the woods, with my brother in law- showing the kids thier old stomping grounds on the farm.
I could hear the frozen ground crunching as they walked away from the house. ( i do mean GROUND, not grass, as the MUD freezes here, and crunches just like frozen grass would)

They returned about 30 minutes later.

Son made a beeline for the house.

he came in, took off his new gloves, threw them down on a chair, and said ,
"MAMA ! these gloves DON'T WORK!"

what??

"my gloves don't work, we should take them back to the store! "

why don't they work hon?

"they must be broken or sumpthin"

baffled ,I ask again " whats wrong with them?"

his reply " they don't WORK! my fingers are frozen !! "

it was impossible not to giggle.

of COURSE your fingers are cold. it doesn't mean theres anything wrong with your gloves, it means its REALLY REALLY COLD out there !!!

the child regarded me as if I was clueless, and was just "talking crazy".

i suppose it wouldn't be the first time.

The Betta Lives.....Again

Only in the Nuthouse can a FISH have 9 lives.

ok, I think ,actually, that this particular fish has already used up about 5 lives, but I am curious as to how many more it has left !

Daughter's betta pulled yet another death defying feat this week.

last night , when I tucked in Daughter, I turned off the tank light, and realized I hadn't seen the fish.
(odd, because this is the crazy stalker fish that stares at me like I'm lunch)
I turned the light back on.

no fish.

not in or behind the cave.

its a gallon and a half size tank. there is only one fish in said tank, so I can't blame another of fishy-cannibalism.
I also can't assume it was sucked into the filter, because there isn't one- just a bubbler, that the fish couldn't get into.

the cat has never shoen interest in the fish tanks, and couldn't get at this one if he wanted to.
same for our very tall ,mischievous pup. there's just no way !

I go to ask husband, who was alone at home while the children were at their extra activity.
"Did the fish possibly die while we were gone? did you scoop it out of there?"
huh? no, i haven't been in there at all.

hmm.

the fish is GONE.
POOF.

where the heck did it go?

Today, the mission was to clean the tank, see if I could play Sherlock Holmes, and find out what exactly happened to the poor betta.

I put the net into the tank, and moved the cave, trying to scoop it out-
and the Betta came swimming out !

somehow it had gotten UNDER the cave. and from the look of it, got stuck.

it wan't very.. perky at first, we gave it some food, and kept watch.

we are still watching it, just in case .

Only in the Nuthouse.


I have an update from tank 2 as well.
we had released our naughty tetra from time out, and all was well.
it was no longer nipping at the other tetra.
after about a week, the tetra it had been snacking on got weird.
started swim-floating sideways, yet every time we thought it done and dead, it would twitch, and swim again.
this fish, has also vanished.
it ,however, has not returned with a miraculous attempt at a second life.
the possibilities with this one is that the other fish finally did eat it, being as weak as it was, or it found its way into the filter of doom.

so, tank 2 is now back down to 4 tetras and one frog ( who seems to hide more often than not anymore)