I Spy..... I think I need to lie down.

I love roller coasters. I love the thrill of flying down the track twisting, turning, and looping. I love the pit in my stomach the moment you reach the crest of the hill and know there is no turning back. Some must go to the amusement park drugged up on dramamine so they can enjoy the thrill. I have never been one of these people. I have never experienced motion sickness as a result of roller coasters, car or plane rides, or any other normal way of getting motion sickness. So it would seem reasonable to think that I don't get motion sick at all. On the contrary, there are a few strange things that make me sick.

The first and probably the most reasonable would be car racing video games. Tom and Nathan were playing one the other night and I had to stop watching. I was getting a headache and feeling nauseated just by watching. These have always made me sick. At first I thought it was just because I stunk at playing them and I was always all over the place. But I can't even watch someone else play. Along with this classification I include pretty much any game that your view is supposed to be simulated as the person you are playing. For example, if you are playing mario you see mario and he happily moves from the left side of the screen to the right. I can do this. The problem is when mario can now view any direction on the screen and all of a sudden you can't see him anymore because you are him. Or at least that is the view. The only exception I know would be the Wii games. I can totally play simulated bowling (better than in real life) without getting sick.

The second thing that makes me motion sick would be stationary excercise equipment. I can not run or even walk on a treadmill. There is something about moving but the scene not changing that makes me want to ralph. We own a stationary bike. I have used it twice that I can remember I had to lie down both times.

The third (and the one that is hardest to admit because it is so ridiculous) is I spy books. Yes, I did say I Spy books. It is not every picture nor every book. I don't have a problem with the I spy spooky night book. Whitney and I have looked at the book many times and I have never gotten sick. It happens to be the traditional I spy book that makes me sick. All the stuff on the page!! I unpacked the original I spy book at my Mom's two days ago. Whitney and I were looking at it and the same thing happened to me that happened when I was watching Tom play his video game, my head started to hurt and I started feeling nauseated. We had to cut story time short because I had to lie down to regain my composure. I would like to say this was the first time the book had made me sick but sadly that is not the case. I can not read them in a box, I can not read them with a fox. On a train or in the rain, I just can't do it, it gives me pain.

So today I am thankful that I do not get motion sickness the normal way. I can die happy without mastering advanced video gaming. I can ride a real bike or jog an actual path. I can even give up I spy books for playing the actual game with Whitney. But, it would be very tough to never realize the full amusement potential of an amusement park.

I am thankful for my face

It being November and all I thought I would list some of the things I am thankful for. So today I am thankful for my face. Now before you think I am getting all conceited let me relay the story and I promise you would be thankful for your face too. Yesterday morning before Angela left she added some logs to the burning coals form the night fire. She told me about it and then left. I was in the kitchen when I noticed a ton of smoke outside. I figured that the coals were just hot enough to smoke but had not ignited the new logs. I went downstairs to open the stove and get the fire going. As I did this the air I let into the stove ignited a piece of cardboard that was there and flames shot out of the stove at my face. I immediately slammed the door shut. It only took a moment for the smell of burned hair to register. My face didn't hurt so I knew I hadn't been burned but my hair was obviously not going to be the same. I prepared myself for the worst possible outcome as I headed into the bathroom. I was expecting my eyebrows and eyelashes to be gone and the hair around my face to be singed to the scalp. Luckily my eyebrows were still there unscathed and only the far right eyelashes on my right eye were singed. My hair around the right side of my face was singed pretty badly but thanks to a little pomade you can't notice.

So there it is, I am thankful for my face and I don't feel stuck up at all! And by the way it did fix the fire. It was burning not smoldering after that!

Halloween

So it took me a while to get my pictures uploaded but I finally have them posted. We had our Trunk or Treat on the Wednesday before Halloween and then we went real trick or treating on Halloween. I was a little concerned that we would not get very far because last year Whitney went to two houses and then was done. But we were blessed with extremely warm weather (no coat required) and Whitney understood that each house meant another piece of candy. Ryan caught on very quickly and was much more enthusiastic about getting to the next house. We actually didn't get that far but she got a lot of candy. We went to one house that had a lot of decorations. There was a grave yard and multiple life sized figures including a motion sensored man that took off is face to reveal his skull. I'll admit that it would be scary to a young kid. After getting her up there to get a treat she turn around and said, "Get me out of here mom!" On our way to the next house she said that she never wanted to go to that house again even next year. I laughed and told her we would come anyway because my dad made me go to a scary house every year. Adee will remember this house. It was the red house next to the Meyers. I believe it was Mr. Gladwin and he always answered the door in a scary mask. I remember trying to skip the house and protest to Dad but he would always say while waving his hand, "It's just Mr. Gladwin, just go up there." I don't remember if his candy was spectacular I only remember being afraid of what answered the door. So because it is another peice of candy and so Whitney will have a similar memory we will go every year, besides it is just Mr. Miner.

I would love to hear some of your own Halloween memories.

Whitney was a bat cat. She was originally a cat but became a bat cat when she added a sparkly black scarf as wings to her outfit. I originally thought she was just very clever not to mention fashionable, but after reading Carol's post I found out that Lola from Charlie and Lola was a bat cat. Apparently she got the idea from TV.

Here is Ryan demonstrating to Dad what happens when we say trick or treat.

I am pretty sure I have a similar picture of Whitney with a sucker on her 2nd Halloween too. It is on another computer so I'll have to look it up.

His mane was on for a fraction of a second, just long enough for this picture. Lucky for him he has his own mane.

This was Whitney right before trick or treating. She wore her costume most of the day and was plum tuckered out while I was making dinner. I woke her up at 530 so we could go. I knew she would be so sad if she slept through trick or treating and I wouldn't have very much candy to steal if we had gotten started any later.

White shirts

There is something about a guy in a white shirt sans tie. I have always found it sexy. (Now I could talk further about this but this is a family blog so I will leave it at that.) I must say that it is even better when it happens to be my two favorite guys!

Snakes and snails and puppy dog tails and everything else rotten I can think of!

Don't be fooled by his innocent look, he is actually a monster in disguise. I am not sure if I have written about the differences between boys and girls before but they are huge!! He thinks up things that Whitney never in her wildest dreams would have thought of doing. He has discovered that he can open the turntable door and the roll out pantry in the kitchen and unload, relocate, throw away, and hide items (I am still missing some of my spices). He has taken it upon himself to unload bookshelves within reach, pull Whitney's crayon bucket off of the top shelf, and climb on every object that seems stable enough to try. The little white things that cover the bolts on the toilet, they fit so easily in his tiny little hand and the plunger dragging behind him with the other! I caught him playing in the soot in the fireplace. He actually got the door open all by himself!! Whitney used the handle as a microphone, I don't think she even knew it was a door that could open. He dragged Whitney's pink folding chair out of her room and placed it in front of the fridge, climbed up and then proceeded to push on the water dispenser button. Yes, it was a serious reach because he is short and it wasn't a big chair, but my oh my did he make a big mess. This reaching thing has created a whole new world for him. You can't seem to block this kid anymore. He is strong and will try and try until he has moved the heavy object you have put in the way and if he can't reach he will find something he can stand on to get him just a little bit further. My floor has been swept twice today and I don't think you could even tell. All this (with the exception of the fireplace incident which happened at my mom's) and more all within a 1 hour period!!

When he is not making messes he is bugging Whitney. He has figured out how to push her buttons and bugs her on purpose. I am sure that he knows that his chances of getting what he wants and or not getting in trouble are greatly increased if :

1. I am not in the room with them and
2. He starts to cry first.

Hate to break it to you pal but I invented the whole cry first so you don't get in trouble scheme. I remember being consciously aware of the fact that if I cried first even if I started it Adrienne would get in trouble not me. I can remember specific incidents at age 4, so I give you kudos for figuring it out at one but that still doesn't mean I will fall for it, at least not every time.

But a day like today could not be finished without talking to your accomplice. I was helping Whitney in the kitchen and I heard the sound of the telephone buttons being pushed and him saying "hi". I can only imagine that he was checking in with the devil because the number he dialed (and I am not making this up just for a story he really did dial it all by himself) was 666. I am sure he was plotting for tomorrow!!

Peas are not good for the body or for the belly!

So we talked about the word of wisdom for fhe. I felt this was important given the fact that the neighbor kids have taken up smoking. (I am not sure their ages but I know they are not yet in high school). We made a poster of things that we take in and things that we keep out. We cut things out of a magazine and Ang did a wonderful job of drawing the "bad" things. I would give Whitney a picture and she would glue it to the correct side of the poster. When I handed her a picture of peas she put it on the keep out side. I asked her about this and she said, "They are not in my word of wisdom". So the peas stayed on the keep out side and she insists that they are not good for her body even if I like them. At least we were clear on the other "keep out" things!