Guidry Gnews

A disclaimer...

2008-03-22T15:59:00.003-05:00

Now that I've posted one of the trip photos (see the previous post), I need to confess something. I forgot to bring my enormous capacity memory card for the digital camera, so I only took 24 pictures on the entire trip. I know, I know. They were all taken within the first day, and I had to do some serious editing after that as Kodak moments occurred on the trip. So we will rely on our memories and the written word to relate most of our adventures.

At Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom

2008-03-22T15:45:00.001-05:00

"Dad...Dad...which one is the brake again? Dad??? DAD!!!!" I was in the car in front of them, and nearly broke my neck trying to snap this photo of them as we came to the end of the ride. Charlie was an excellent driver!

We're baaaaaaaaaaack!

2008-03-19T10:24:00.003-05:00

We got home at 7:00 last night from the Terrell High School Band Trip to Florida. I will never take my beautiful bed for granted again. Also, I have a new appreciation for "down time".

It's Spring Break for us now, so I will have time to post pictures this week. I may have a Guest Blogger write about his favorite parts of the trip, too. Stay tuned...

New Pajamas

2008-02-27T20:39:00.000-06:00

MeeMee made Charlie some pajamas! And he loves them! He put them on right out of the box. I don't think he even left the living room to change clothes. Thank you, MeeMee! He will wear them when we go to Florida, he says.

No eclipse for us

2008-02-20T21:53:00.005-06:00

This is what we didn't see tonight at our house. Charlie and I stayed up an hour past his usual bedtime of 8:30, specifically to see the total lunar eclipse. But if houses are blocking your view of the dang moon, then what's the point?

We could have driven around the neighborhood in search of a good lunar-eclipse-watching spot if we were bigger nerds. And if I had any energy to spare. But I don't.

Cute phrase of the week

2008-02-16T17:35:00.003-06:00

Charlie and I were working on some more Science TAKS practice tests, and one question was about a tulip. From the way that he answered the question, I knew that he had no idea what a tulip was. I posed the question to him, and he replied, "It looks like an onion, but it's red and white instead of just white." Well, Charlie, I think that's a turnip you're thinking of.

Jason Jumper pic #2

2008-02-11T20:55:00.000-06:00

This is becoming a habit...

Today started off with a barf...

2008-02-11T20:30:00.000-06:00

We arrived at school at 7:15 this morning, as usual. Not twenty feet into the school, Charlie threw up, right there in the hallway! No warning, no "Mom, I'm sick." He hasn't done that since Carly's high school graduation when he barfed all down the front of my 100% silk dress (he was only a baby then). Anyhow, after he threw up, he came to my classroom, sat down for a few minutes, had some 7Up, and was fine.

On a related note, his teachers have asked that we supply a 5-gallon tub of strawberry ice cream for the 5th grade Valentine's Party. (Raise your hand if you remember that he's lactose intolerant.) But we will still send it...along with some sorbet or soy ice cream for him and all the other non-dairy-heirs. (Ha! If you say it fast, it's funny.)

Another nauseating event I took part in today was TAKS Test Administration Training, where the school counselor gathers all the teachers and aides together and bores them to sleep. It's not the counselor's fault: the state makes her do it. The best part of the training was when I didn't have to drive my bus route after school.

So, these posts are probably pretty boring, but so's my life. If there's something else you want me to talk about, please make a comment and let me know what that something is. Thanks!

Shopping day today!

2008-02-10T01:11:00.000-06:00

Nothing really exciting to report today. Jason went to...Allen?...for middle school solo & ensemble competition. He was beat when he came home. Didn't get much detail on the day's goings-on as a result.

Charlie went with me to get my hair cut today-- no pictures yet, as it takes a few days for a hair cut to "take". Right now, I just look like a flat-haired fashion victim. Not flattering. After haircut, we went across the street to Half Price Books so Charlie could sell some books, then to Target for some general shopping for Valentine's Day class party. Gas prices demand that when we do run errands, we make it count!

Bed is calling...

I haven't read this yet, but...

2008-02-06T23:38:00.000-06:00

...I thought you might want to, you diet soda drinkers.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

2008-02-06T11:15:00.000-06:00

I remember my Grammy saying that when we would return home from shopping or visiting or Whataburger. We would ease into the garage at the house on South 41st Street in Temple. That enormous Buick would be purring like a tiger, and I would hear from the back seat, "Home again, home again, jiggety-jig." I can still hear her.

Anyhow, that's where we were today: home again. Charlie had a fever still, and his cough lingered. We filled the prescription for an antibiotic, and he started that tonight. He watched TV all day and squirmed, since he didn't take his Concerta.

On that note, his appetite was excellent all day long. He ate vegetable noodle soup for lunch, and cabbage-beef casserole and corn on the cob for supper.
No fruit, though, which is unusual. Guess his appetite was just turned around today.

Jason built a makeshift cat tree for Jumper last night. Instead of combining traditional objects (money, a car, a pet store) he used various household objects (a large dog cage, a shoe rack, zip ties, a rag rug, pillows, a blanket). Jumper now has a wonderful house, complete with a fabulous backyard view! As long as one of his humans is in the kitchen with him, he will stay there as long as he likes. (This cat does not like to be alone!) His mouth is open in this picture...don't know if he was hissing at the camera, or yawning. Probably yawning, because it was late when I took this. Oh, and he's a lazy cat.

So, back to school tomorrow, with a well-dosed-up Charlie...there is change afoot in Forney ISD. Lots of shuffling of administrators, and, soon, teachers. Can't wait. Will fill you in on that later. Good night!

Charlie Health Care Crisis 2008 Update

2008-02-04T20:53:00.000-06:00

Charlie's doing about the same today...still feverish, still coughing. Dr. Miller (Dr. Frazier's husband) diagnosed bronchitis. If he isn't better by Thursday, we have a prescription to fill for an antibiotic. In the meantime, we have a Serious Prescription Cold Medicine, as well as Tylenol and Advil to alternate. I would love to let him stay home tomorrow, but my teacher will be out for training, and I have to be there. Maybe the next day...

Serious office work

2008-02-03T21:11:00.000-06:00

This is the view from my chair in the office. Not bad, eh?

Habits & cheap produce

2008-02-03T14:48:00.000-06:00

Baked some no-knead bread today: above is the better-looking of the 2 loaves (the white "beard" is flour). Ridiculously easy recipe is here. I use 2 cups whole-wheat flour and 1 cup naturally white flour in place of 3 cups white flour, and active dry yeast instead of instant yeast (just have to sprinkle the yeast over 1/4 cup of the water to activate it before mixing it into the flour) and the recipe turns out beautifully. Bake this bread with caution, as it is habit-forming: have baked 2 loaves per week for the last 3 weeks. The 2 loaves last us the whole week.

For the last few weeks, Saturday night has been Movie Night for us. We watched Star Wars Episode 1 the first week, then Episode 2, and last week Charlie was grounded from watching television because he came home from his friend's house 6 hours later than requested. (I know, I should have gone over to the house to get him after 30 minutes. I just wasn't thinking.) So Movie Night ended there.

Well, last night we were supposed to go to the Mesquite Symphony Orchestra Pops & Brave Combo concert. Even though he's a stand-out euphomonium player, Jason plays percussion in the MSO. One of the band members of Brave Combo told him after rehearsal last week that he really enjoyed Jason's percussion playing!!!!!! But our plans changed when Charlie developed a low-grade fever on Saturday afternoon. So Movie Night was reinstated. He and I stayed home and watched a movie rented from the Redbox. They didn't have any Spongebob or High School Musical, so I hurriedly chose a movie called Stardust that advertised itself as "A thrill ride for the whole family!" For once, advertising didn't lie! I really enjoyed it, and Charlie "sort of" liked it. Coming from a child who eats, drinks, sleeps, and breathes animated media, that is high praise for a (mostly) live-action movie. You may want to check it out.

Charlie is still under the weather today...fever of 102, headache, cough, runny nose (flu, maybe?)...so he won't be going to school tomorrow. Jason gets to stay home with him, since I stayed home on Friday. They have plans to see Dr. Frazier. If it is flu, maybe she can prescribe some Tamiflu or one of the other anti-flu meds to shorten the duration.

Brookshire's is a grocery store chain here in the northeast Texas area that reminds me of Handy Andy in San Antonio when I was growing up. The stores are not mega-sized, and their produce is always nice and fresh. They do bag up and reduce prices on produce as it gets toward the sell-by date. On Saturday I found a large bag of dried chilis de arbol and about 10 bags of bay leaves, all for $1 (not per piece, but total!). So I am going to make some homemade picante sauce using the chilis, some canned diced tomatoes, and cilantro on sale for 33 cents a bunch at WalMart. I may make more and freeze it, depending on how it turns out.

Finally, you've probably noticed that it's been about 6 months since I last blogged. I'm not going to make any promises about future blogging, but I will say that my goal is to blog more frequently in 2008 than I did in 2007. How's that for vague?

Happy Birthday, Jason!

2007-06-28T08:52:00.000-05:00

This handsome devil is thirty years old today! Last night he started celebrating early with the consumption of a fermented beverage in his newly-acquired pilsner glass.

Here's to (at least) thirty more years...I love you!

It's just the best school picture ever!

2007-06-08T21:23:00.000-05:00

This is Charlie's school picture from the Spring 2007 semester. I could not believe what a good picture he took! If you have not received one from us yet, please be patient...it's on the way.

An Apology, and a Teaser

2007-06-05T22:32:00.000-05:00

So, you've all probably noticed that this blog has not been updated in a while. It's been a very busy month or two around here, so blogging and staying in touch with friends and family has taken a back seat to other, less interesting, yet essential tasks (laundry, dishes, and the obligatory 500 or so end-of-the-year Band and Choir concerts to attend). Thank you, all you abandoned saints, for your patience.

Now that summer vacation's here (Hooray!), I hope to (Hooray!) find more time to (Hooray!) keep everyone (Hooray!) apprised of our (Hooray!) activities. We're going to keep Charlie busy this summer with a home-school-like atmosphere. He has a daily schedule with activities from 0700 to 1800 hours (that's 7 AM to 6PM for you civilians). So there will be plenty of pictures, some video, and maybe even a Charlie-produced PowerPoint or movie thrown in for good measure. Should be fun and exhausting for all involved. Hope that will satisfy those of you needing a Charlie "fix". :)

So keep an eye out for new posts, dear ones! We love you all!!!!!!

Playing Life Over Spring Break

2007-04-09T14:55:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted anything, so I am playing catch-up. Sorry! We love board games in this house, and we hardly ever get to play them since most of them take forever to play. Over Spring Break, we whipped out the old "Life" board and went at it.

We are all sticklers for playing by the rules. Instead of reading the rules before the game begins and following them throughout the game, we wait until one player accuses another of trying to get away with a move that may be illegal. The game comes to a standstill while the accuser peruses the rules for 27 minutes looking for the potential broken rule, until he or she discovers that the accused didn't actually break any rules. That's not what was happening when I took the above picture, but I needed something more interesting than "Daddy's silly and Charlie's bored."

I got trounced pretty well. Note (ha-ha) the small pile of bills and the red promisory note before me.

Now Charlie's being silly, and Daddy's probably bored. (See picture 1 description if you didn't get that joke.)

Ummm...Charlie won. More importantly, what are those blotchies on his shirt? Who does the laundry around here? Oh, wait...it isn't me so I better shut up.

Bonus pics of curtains

2007-03-06T16:08:00.000-06:00

Here's another pic of the new curtains in the living room, and the new little TV stand. Our old, monstrous entertainment center was falling apart, and I had all ready tried to repaint and repair it. It now lives in the guest bedroom, ready to house my craft center (or, as others refer to it, my "crap center"). The new little TV stand takes up much less room, plus it is intact. Notice that Monk is on the TV.

Stand Tall, Stand Proud

2007-03-05T20:41:00.000-06:00

Once he realized I was taking pictures, he really hammed it up. What a kid...

Ommmmmm.....

2007-03-05T20:37:00.000-06:00

Whenever we go to Medical City in Dallas for a doctor's appointment, we have to stop in the lobby on our way out so that Charlie can visit the big plush whale. He loves to try to climb up the whale's head, and wasn't able to do that until recently, since he's begun to swim and build up his strength. This last visit, when he reached the top, he sat down and pretended to meditate. It was hilarious!

2007-03-05T20:26:00.000-06:00

I took other, less dramatic photos of the brown gloom, but this is the most telling of them all. The hazy glowing orb above our neighbors' two-story house on the right side of the photo is the sun. It's obscured by the dust in the atmosphere.

Now I have a vague idea of how people who lived in the Dust Bowl felt. The day after this incident, I came down with bronchitis. I can't imagine having to live with this haze day in, day out.

The fog descended...

2007-03-05T20:04:00.000-06:00

...upon our town on February 24, 2007. When I went outside that afternoon, the sky was brown, and I couldn't see all the way up the street. This is the view from our front yard across the vacant lots that are across the street from us. The houses in the distance are 2 blocks away from us. They look hazy because of all the dust in the air.

This is an image from one of NASA's satellites of the dust storm "narrowly missing" the DFW Metroplex. The brown boomerang-shaped blobby is the dust, and the light gray circular-shaped blobby to its right is DFW. I found this article with an interesting animated map that illustrates the dust storm's movement that day. Enjoy!

Inspiration...

2007-03-04T15:47:00.000-06:00

...for this blog came from my friend Renee, who's one of the most brilliant writers I've known. She has a wonderful blog that's all about Saje and Bailey, and sometimes Dave, but hardly ever about Renee. You should go read it sometime.

Decorating

2007-03-04T15:23:00.000-06:00

Right before our Super Bowl party, I realized that our home looked like a bachelor pad: no window coverings, no pictures on the walls, no personal touches. So I panicked and bought some window coverings at WalMart the weekend before, and hung a few pictures. I was surprised at how inexpensive the curtains were, and disappointed that I hadn't done it sooner. I had originally wanted to make curtains out of sheets from Goodwill, but never got around to it. Above are the results from the living room. They are 2 tab-top dark navy denim panels hung on 1 silver-gray rod. According to what I've read, curtains should be hung about 4 inches above the top of the window, and that's what I tried to do. I plan to paint the living room walls someday so the contrast between them and the curtains isn't so stark.