RTT: Doings

I'm in a weird space.  I'm trying to decide what to tell you about today.

I could tell you about how the Thanksgiving leftovers are in my fridge and I don't even want to eat them anymore.  I just want them to go away.

I could tell you about the runny nose Miles had had for the past six weeks with no signs of abating.

I could tell you about all the housework and laundry I've been doing.

I could tell you about the relentless telling of knock-knock jokes going on in my house, by both of my children, that all have the same punchline (a chomping noise.)

I could tell you how we decided to bump our thermostat back to 67 degrees.

I could tell you how I left the door open on my van the other day for four hours.  In the rain.  And I didn't remember it was open; my neighbor came over and advised me to shut it because of the rain.

I could tell you how I've finished most of my Christmas shopping.

I could tell you how Miles is wearing Oscar's hand-me-downs from last year (LAST YEAR!) and sometimes when I see my littlest boy round a corner his older brother's grey corduroys and dinosaur hoodie the sense of deja vu is so strong I have to take a minute to compose myself.

I could tell you how Oscar wrote his own name in school two weeks ago, complete with backwards letter "s" and I teared up right there in front of his teacher, when he proudly showed me his work in the nursery school playground.

I could tell you how Miles will be two in just two short weeks and how I've never felt less prepared for one of my children to grow a year older.

I could tell you about this dinner party I'm going to with my girlfriends tomorrow night.

I could tell you how a friend of our sat for the boys a few weeks ago and how much they loved her and how Oscar keeps asking when she's coming back.

I could tell you how Nelson is traveling right now, and how he has two trips in December.

I could tell you how our holiday plans are in place.

I could tell you how I still have not ordered our holiday cards.

I could tell you how annoyed I am that I still have not gotten proofs from the dorky sweater photo shoot.

I could tell you how much Miles loves pumpkin pie.

I could tell you I'm planning on revamping my blog.

I could tell you about any or all of these things in more detail, but meh.  It's all just normal doings here.  Comings. Goings.  Boring.  Mundane.  Fantastic.

Phew

It's over.  My fridge is still full of leftovers, but Thanksgiving has come and gone. My pants are tight.  Really. Well, maybe uncomfortably snug is more accurate.  Either way they don't fit properly.

My mom's birthday yesterday rounded out the week's festivities.  We had spaghetti (not even whole wheat), meatballs, salad, and The Worlds Greatest Chocolate Cake.  It was amazing.  I sent the cake leftovers off into the world and so begins (re-begins, continues, whatever) eating like a normal person.

This is going to be a week of major T-Day atonement.  I just ate a banana covered with half a cup of plain Greek yogurt and a little bit of honey for breakfast.  It was delicious, don't get me wrong, but I'll tell you what it wasn't: pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving is just the beginning, particularly for my family.  My mom, Nelson, and Miles all have birthdays between Turkey Day and Christmas, and my brother-in-law's birthday is between Christmas and New Year's Eve.  That's a lot of celebrating. A lot of cake.

So, here's where I try to come up with strategies to not gain weight over the holidays.  I already blew Thanksgiving, but I'm determined to be on top of things!  The main thing I'll be trying to keep in mind is all things in moderation.  Yes, I can have a piece of pumpkin pike.  One piece.  Mashed potatoes are fine, but not a whole plateful, covered in gravy.   Wine is a great addition to a holiday meal.  A glass or two.  Not an entire bottle.  Just say no to egg nog.

What are your tricks to keep it lean (or at least lean-ish) during the holidays?  I'd hate to have to ask Santa for bigger pants.

Gobble, gobble

Turkey Day!  It's almost here!  My very favorite holiday EVER!  Well, not including my birthday, which while not a national holiday, is certainly a day worth noting.

So!  We! Are! Hosting!  I've hosted three or four times, but not for a few years now.  We're having 10 adults and three children, including Nelson and our boys.  About half family and half friends.  A good crowd, but not huge.

There are Things to Do to prepare for Thanksgiving and associated company.  The first thing to do is prepare the menu.  Done.  We are traditionalists in the Oscarelli household, and I also don't believe in overcooking.  I try to take it easy on myself, so I also always say "yes" if a guest offers to bring something along.  Here's what we are having:

Veggies, cheese, and crackers (provided by a guest)
Turkey
Glazed ham
These mashed potatoes, though I don't bake them (I've made them before and they are delish.)
Stuffing (or dressing if you prefer), my mom's recipe
Candied sweet potatoes (I don't do marshmallows on top of mine.)
Fresh green bean casserole
Gravy
Rolls (provided by a guest)
Corn pudding
Homemade cranberry sauce (and some canned for my Mom)
Green salad (provided by a guest)
Apple pie (provided by a guest)
Pecan pie (provided by a guest)
Pumpkin pie

We like also like our Thanksgiving startchy.

I'll put together the corn pudding and the green bean casserole on Wednesday, and I'll do the cranberry sauce then as well.  Wednesday will also be the day I make the candied sweet potatoes pumpkin pie.  I'll also prepare the stuffing, because I stuff the bird (I know, I know.  I keep some out for the kids and those not willing to take a culinary gamble.) and it has to be cool before you cram it into the turkey's behind.

On Turkey Day, I'll get up early, stuff the bird, and toss her in the oven.  I got a 16 and 1/2 pound bird so it should take around 4-ish hours to cook, so I'll put it in around 9:00AM.  I cook the turkey with a digital thermometer inserted in it, so I can monitor the the internal temp and I baste every 45 minutes or so.  I don't do anything fancy to the bird; I butter it, salt it, stuff it, roast it.

When the turkey is done, I'll put the ham in for about an hour to heat through an I'll start the mashed potatoes.  When the ham is heated through, I'll put the corn pudding, green beans, and extra stuffing in to cook and at the very end I'll nuke the sweet potatoes so I can serve them warm, and my sister will make the gravy while Nelson carves the turkey.  We should eat by three, if all goes according to plan.

So that's dinner.  There's also house prep, which we've already begun.  I've already washed all our curtains and re-hung most of them.  I also went through and de-toyed our living room a bit in preparation for Christmas, and so we have a little more space in our living room.  I need to do more of that, maybe tonight.  Tonight, I'll also wash our chair covers, Nelson will finish up some touch up painting , and hopefully we will hang some photos that have been sitting in frames begging to be put on the wall for over a year now.

I've been a cleaning fool.  I scoured the kitchen this morning; will do the dusting tomorrow; Nelson will clean the bathroom and wash the walls (crayon/markers) on Wednesday (he took off) while I cook; we'll do a final vacuum of the floors on Thursday morning.  Oh, and I really need to get a white curtain for downstairs hallway, but I don't know when that's going to happen.  Wednesday morning?

On top of all this, I've promised Oscar we'll do a special craft tomorrow, and I've set up a playgroup for 10AM. And then there's regular housework, dishes, laundry, three meals a day M-W.

Phew, right?

I am dangerously tempted, DANGEROUSLY TEMPTED, to get a few newer photos printed out, put into frames, and hung on the walls before Thursday.  Our most recent printed and framed photos are from Mother's Day a year ago.  Abysmal, I know.  And, we have some really good photos from this spring and fall that I really want to have done.  But, I'm trying to rein it in because there is a lot to do and I don't want to make things difficult for myself.  I mean, of course I really DO want to make things difficult for myself because that's just who I am, but I am resisting!  Encourage me to resist!

Alright, chickens, what's cooking?  Tell me, tell me, tell me!

Christmas Gifts: The Miles Edition

I've decided to do Christmas list posts again this year, since they were recieved relatively well last year, and it helps me think things though.  I haven't actually purchased anything for the boys yet this year, and I'm having some trouble.  One of the reason is that Oscar and Miles are so close in age that I'm having trouble deciding who to get what.  The gifts are pretty similar this year.

My boys are into all the same things; building, dinosaurs, cars/trucks/trains, pretend play, arts and crafts, sports.  I think this is pretty standard for little boys in the 2-5 age range.  Like I said earlier, all their gifts are pretty similar this year, and I think this will be great because the toys we buy will get more use.  FYI, you are going to have to click on the text links and NOT on the pictures because I couldn't make that work.  Am awesome at technology.

So the stuff below is a compilation of the more interesting and unique things I found for Miles that I'm considering.  None of this is under the tree just yet.  And Miles is a total train fanatic, so there will certainly be choo-choos and monster trucks under the tree, but you don't really need to see those, do you?

Okay, here goes.

Check out these Magneatos:

Magnets!  In blocks! Holy coolness, Batman!  I like these because they are big and because of the magnets, the kids should be able to get really tall towers.  Miles is really into building tall towers right now, and our wooden blocks tend to tip over on him pretty easily.  I think he'll love these.  Also, MAGNETS!  So cool!

Miles has been super into drawing and painting these days (he will spend like an HOUR at the table making pictures), and I found this Do-A-Dot Rainbow Art Set (Set of 6) on Amazon and I think it will be perfect for him: 

It seems like all the fun of painting with significantly less mess.  I'm slightly concerned about their washable-ness, but I'm going to go with them anyways.   

Miles loves balls and sports, so I thought this Little Tikes TotSports Basketball Set would be right up his ally: 

The boys can play with it together AND it goes outside, which I love.  

My Miles has a lot of patience and the ability to focus on a singular task for significant (30 minutes or more) periods of time.  This seems pretty out of the ordinary to me, but that might just be because Oscar couldn't focus on one task for more than two minutes until he was almost three.  Anyways, he's really good at entertaining himself and likes doing things that are intricate and work his fine motor skills, so I found a few gifts  I though could really hold his attention.

First, this Quercetti Fantacolor Junior Pegboard Set:

I can really see Miles making pushing the pegs into this peg board for hours.

You know how they just love to open and close things at this age?  Well I found this Melissa & Doug Deluxe Latches Board that I think Miles will be really into:

Open and close, open and close.  Oscar will love it too.

Okay, so I feel like this next one is a little expensive for what it is but I LOVE it.  Isn't this P'Kolino Puzzle Stacker just the neatest thing? It's a puzzle!  It's a stacker!  It teaches colors and matching and fine motor skills!

Really cool. Really cool.  But, it's like $30 and if I bought it and no one played with it I'd be really irritated and spend years looking at it and thinking it was a waste of money.  I have this problem of buying them toys that I WANT them to like and then they end up not really liking them.  So, I don't know.  

Speaking of puzzles, look at this Infantino Where's My Tail Puzzle:

Dead cute right?  Perfect, I think, for a two-year-old.

Also perfect for a two-year-old are these Melissa & Doug Beginner Pattern Blocks:

Miles is just beginning to recognize his shapes and colors, and so I think these will be a fun learning toy.  Is that and oxymoron?  Fun learning toy?  Whatever, I think they will be fun and he will love them.  So he's going to hate them.

Both boys love robots.  And they love building.  Robot was one of Miles William's first words.  So these Wood Stacking Robots?  Perfect.

My mother-in-law actually bought the boys a set of these a few months ago and the love them so much, I'm getting another set for Christmas.  That is how good these are. We need more. Very, very fun, for kids and parents.

Have you heard of this thing?

It's called a Bilibo. What is a Bilbo?  It's a seat!  It's a helmet!  It's anything your kid wants it to be!  My guess is this thing is either awesome or a total dud.  

Okay, so those are some of my ideas for Miles.  What do you guys think?

In accordance with FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that all of the links included in this post go to my Amazon Associate's account, and should you choose to purchase any of these items via my links, I will receive monetary compensation. 

FML, really? REALLY?

Warning: Gratuitous use of the "F" word below.


There is something going on in the world of texting and Facebook updating that I feel the need to address.  The over use of the acronyms FML (Fuck my Life) and  FTW (Fuck the World) in texting and status updates has got to stop.  For those not in the know, FML and FTW are exclamations placed at the end of a status update or text message to express a person's frustration and/or anger at a specific occurrence or situation. The exclamations are often meant to be sarcastic but my argument is that these exclamations are ridiculous, over the top, and irritating and as this is my blog, I am correct in this argument.  Let me convince you.

I mean, fuck your life because you have a lot of laundry?  Really?  Or because your kids are being jerks or you have  flat tire?  Your whole entire life?  Just fuck it?  The whole thing?  Fuck the world because there is a lot of traffic?  Because you received poor customer service?  The entire planet should just go fuck itself because of your individual lousy circumstances?  Isn't that just a little bit selfish?  I just feel like fucking your whole life or the entire world is pretty drastic and people often say them for pretty, basic, regular everyday situations.

Yes lots of laundry and misbehaving children suck, but your life is really not so terrible because these situations exist.  I mean you have children who you love and clothing to wear, right?  Score!  Or bad drivers and jerky customer service reps - yeah, they suck, but they really aren't worthy of fucking the WHOLE WORLD are they?  You have means to travel and money to buy things.  That doesn't sound so bad to me.  Like, maybe if you lost all your limbs or something, then you could say "I have no arms and legs.  FML!"  Or even, "My wife just left me, FML!" But even then you are still ALIVE and could maybe get prosthetics or something, and if your wife left you maybe you will find a better wife next time because this sea, it has lots of fish.

And if you are going to say "Fuck the world" the circumstances should be pretty extreme, like "Nuclear proliferation is eventually going to kill everyone.  FTW!" or "This AIDS pandemic is really killing a lot of people.  FTW!"  or "One day the sun is going to go all supernova on our asses and then it's 'Bye-bye planet Earth!' FTW!"  These are truly serious situations in which the world may indeed be fucked.

I just think we should stop being so dramatic with our texting/status updating, okay America?   So, instead of typing FML when you get a flat tire in the rain or you get stuck in traffic, maybe type, MLSRN (My Luck Sucks Right Now) or, TCRBGBFM (Things Could Really Be Going Better For Me), or even the more optimistic MDCOGB (My Day Can Only Get Better.)

Now, if the situation is a little more extreme, like you have been diagnosed with a serious disease, or a tree falls on your house, you can use stronger language.  I suggest, TUIRSWMT (The Universe is Really Screwing with Me Today) or perhaps DWCIGAB (Dear World Can I Get a Break) or WAYKMWTC (World, Are You Kidding Me With This Crap.)

I think we should all try to incorporate my new acronyms into popular texting vernacular.  Together we can make a difference and end the use of overly dramatic acronyms in texts and status updates.  

Hair today, hair tomorrow

I'm getting my hair cut Thursday.  Long, long overdue, friends.  Long.  I've practically got a mom mullet going on over here and it ain't pretty.

Nelson and Oscar are getting their hair cut this weekend.

Do you know who's NOT getting his hair cut?

Miles William.

We've decided that there will be no hair cut for Miles anytime in the near future.  He's going to be a long-haired kid, until he objects. It mostly stays out of his eyes, but it's terribly messy.  He always looks wind blown, like he just got off a boat or a motorcycle or a black ops mission.  He's like the baby version of Michael Westen but with messy hair.  Miles does love yogurt...

Right now, the back is borderline matted.  He ALMOST has baby dreads. I am not about the baby dreads.  In fact, I told Nelson just the other night that he should take Miles in for a hair cut when he and Oscar went this weekend.  Nelson objected.  "Lets leave it long." 

I might clean it up a little bit.  I'm okay with long hair, but not neglected-looking long hair, you know?

This guy does not need a hair cut.

A pivotal parenting moment

There comes a time in every parent's life when he or she must decide weather or not to put their children in dorky, matching sweaters for professional photos.

For me, tomorrow will be that time.

Who will I be?  The dorky sweater-matching parent, or the free-spirited parent who choses clothing that lets her children's individual personalities shine?

Alright, alright, who am I kidding?  It's dorky sweaters all the way.  Mostly because it is CUTE (even if dorky) but, if I'm being entirely honest, it is a LITTLE BIT for future comedy.

And that's the parent I am, folks.  I am the parent who dresses her kids in dorky matching sweaters because 20 year from now these photos will be comedic gold.

Gold.

I'm already laughing.

Moments

This weekend I had the occasion to go to Target, just Oscar and I,which almost never happens.  It was as straight up and down errand run - toilet paper, paper towels, the like.  Not a very exciting trip for Oscar, nor for me since I couldn't really browse the clearance because he is three and has no patience for deals, but it was fun because he and I were having a good time, just the two of us.

We had many, many moments during this trip.  I was filled with patience and Oscar was filled with good humor.  One moment Oscar declared himself a police officer and I declared myself his captain and we referred to each other quite ridiculously has Officer Gibson and Captain Mommy throughout the trip.

There was another moment when I helped him pick out two choice Hot Wheels cars, one for him and one for Miles.  I also let him choose a candy bar in the check out line because he was just so stellar and because we had another stop to make.  He chose a Kit Kat and then came the moment when informed me he had no plans to share.

It was a Saturday afternoon to Target was packed.  We had to park in what I consider the axillary parking lot, which is a smallish lot to the right of the store, as opposed to the main lot in front of the store.  For several moments Oscar and I were walking to the auxiliary lot and chatting.  He was in the kid seat part of the cart and the back of the cart was filled with gigantic packages of paper products.

We navigated around to the side of the store, over to the crosswalk, where I paused for a moment, looking both ways.  No car coming on my left; a gray taxi cab coming on my right.

"Look, mom!  A gray taxi cab! Why is it gray?  Why is it at the store?  Why is it stopping?"

The cab slowed as it approached the crosswalk and waved me on.

"Some people don't own cars so they take taxis to the store.  It is stopping so we can cross the street.  This is a crosswalk.  The cars have to wait for us while we cross," I explained in the moment when we started across the street.

And then, I guess the car coming up behind the taxi cab decided he did not want to wait the 30 seconds for us to cross the street and he went around the taxi cab and came within about two inches from hitting my shopping cart.  The shopping cart carrying my child.

I think my heart may have jumped clear out of my throat in that moment as I imagined what nearly happened, what was inches away from happening.  My shopping cart getting clipped by a car easily going 25 miles per hour; the cart being ripped from my hands and flipping over and over; Oscar being thrown from the cart, under the cart, under the car; Oscar screams or lack of screams (which would be worse?); the blood; his pain; my helplessness.

Of course Oscar was untouched and absolutely fine, and so was I if you don't include the years that incident scared of my life.  It was just a moment in my life, a moment that I've had a million times, that all parents have had a million times.  A moment of what ifs that makes you realize how much of life is up to chance and that sometimes bad things happen and parents are powerless to stop them.  A moment that fills you with terror.  A moment that you push through so you can get back to the real moments where bad things are not happening and you are calmly pushing your shopping cart through a crosswalk and answering your three-year-olds questions about why some people don't have cars and the difference between taking a taxi and a bus.

Affirmative

Yesterday was a big day here in the Oscarelli household.  Yesterday marked the very first time in the history of his entire life that Miles William responded to me in the affirmative.  I asked him if he wanted a snack, and he said, "Yeah." And then I said, "Did you just say 'Yeah?'" and Miles slapped on his devilish grin and said, "Yeah!" and then I kissed his cute little face about a thousand times and tickled his belly until he was red with laughter.

And then I got him a snack.

YEAH!

I realize you may be thinking, "Isn't six-weeks shy of two-years-old a bit late to be saying 'yes' or a variation of 'yes?'"

The answer is no, or I don't know, or I don't care.  I have no concerns about the speed of Miles William's speech and language development.  He's been totally on par developmentally.  At just under two, has 50 to 75 words; can follow directions; identify shapes and animals in pictures; makes multiple animal sounds; has been using two word phrases for a couple of months; and just last week started saying full three and four word phrases.  Miles does not/has never talked as much or as articulately as Oscar, but Oscar is a little above the curve as far as verbal skills and I think Miles is firmly in the middle.

So why no "yes?"  I don't know.  Prior to yesterday, to convey the idea of "yes," Miles would say "No!" emphatically while smiling.  He's been doing this consistently for like three or four months.  I don't think he was being contrary, I think he just thought "no" was the standard response to question, "Do you want X?" and by smiling, he'd indicate when the "x" was correct.  Almost like he thought that attitude was the key component to his response.  This smiling no worked has worked so well for so long, I think he just didn't feel the need to say "yes." Why would he?  He was getting what he wanted.

Watching kids acquire language is by far one of my favorite parts of parenting, especially after having a second child and seeing how differently language acquisition has been for each boy.  Oscar was always very precise.  Often when he learned a new word, he'd repeat it back and forth with me until he had the pronunciation correct.  As a result, he's had almost none of the jargon you normally see in a toddler/preschooler.  He's also been interested in things like, when to use could, would, or should; and sentence structure.  It is also really common for Oscar ask what words mean, and to keep asking until he figures out how to use the word correctly.

Miles has been different.  His speech acquisition has been more sudden, and he has lots of jargon.  People who are around him a lot can understand him, but to strangers his speech sounds like nonsense.  Oscar actually understands Miles the best and often translates for his little brother.  I've recently noticed his words.taking more form; "pah-see-toe" (Popsicle) is becoming "pah-sit-al" and "skee-ee" (scary) is becoming "sca-dee."

While the process of acquiring speech has felt longer with Miles, it all seems to happen at once.  Like he went from five words to 20 in a day, or something, but not until he was 20 months.  I almost think he has a lot more words than he says out loud and he's holding them in so that when he finally does say them they have maximum impact.  For example, last week, he said, "I sit in wagon with Xaiver." Up until that point, he'd only been using two or three word phrases and then BAM!  Six!  Describing an action!  And yesterday he said to me, "I see a monster truck.  It's big." A two sentence mini conversation.  Where'd that come from?  And as soon as he started doing these things he does them all the time.

My boys are still young so I still have several more year to watch them learn language.  I love it.  You can almost see the gears in their little heads turning as they figure things out, put things together.  And language is just the beginning.  Nelson and I are both big science nerds, so I was thinking how cool it's going to be when they start learning about physics and chemistry and biology.  They are just going to keep learning and learning and learning.  It makes you realize that the human brain is really amazing.

What do you love watching your kids learn and/or do?  What are you looking forward to wasting them learn as they get older?

Wait your turn, loser

My kids have been sick.  Probably your kids have been sick, too.  Miles is on week three of green crap coming out of his nose and has developed a really wretched cough, so I brought him in to the doctor yesterday.

The first available appointment they had for him was at 3:45 yesterday.  Now, if live in/have ever lived in/visited the DC metro area, you know that our afternoon rush hour begins at 3PM and ends at 7PM.  These are four hours you do not want to be on the road unless you absolutely have to.   Clearly, as my child was oozing puss, I absolutely had to.

When we get to the doctor's office (only two minutes late!) I was told that the doctor we were seeing was running 30 minutes behind schedule.  That's a lot, especially when you have a toddler who, despite his illness, is a runner.  (For those non-parents reading, a runner is a kid that will, well RUN AWAY from parents at top speed at every opportunity, especially into streets, parking lots, open elevators, what ever is most dangerous.  Also, runners tend to be especially fast.)

After about five minutes, the shine had worn off the trains and matchbox cars and books I had brought to keep Miles entertained, and he proceeded to bolt down the hallways and towards the elevators for the next 25 minutes.

They finally took us back and we waited another 15 minutes to see the doctor.  She felt that because he'd been so sick for so long and was showing no signs of improvement, it was antibiotic time.  She wrote a script and we were back on the road towards home by 5PM, AKA the height of rush hour.

About 45 minutes later, we were unloading in the Target parking lot so I could get his prescription and some paper towels.   We dropped off the script with the pharmacist and he told me to come back at 6:15, which was 25 minutes later.  I got a bag of Goldfish for Miles and my paper towels, a plug in menthol thingy for the boys' room, a couple of dinosaur sweatshirts for the boys for $3.99 each, and an R2D2 T-shirt for Oscar on clearance for $3.48.

So, 25 minutes and $35 later, I was back at the pharmacy and I hopped in line to pick up the prescription.  Everyone was busy so I just stood in the designated Pick-Up line and waited.  I wasn't waiting for more than a minute or so, no biggie (the cleak was helping someone at Drop Off), and two other people got in the pick up line behind me.

The clerk finished with the customer and Drop Off and walked over to me.  He made eye contact with me and said, "May I help you?"  Very polite and courteous.  I responded, "Yes, I'm pi-"

And then, some woman comes up and STEPS IN FRONT OF ME and says, "Can you tell me where your eyebrow wax is? Which aisle it is on? I can't find it."

The clerk looked disarmed and looked over to her and then back to me.  And then she looked at me and said, "Oh, sorry."

Like she didn't notice me and the THREE OTHER PEOPLE waiting in line?  Like her need for eyebrow wax was so urgent she couldn't wait her GD turn?  There is no line rule that states if you just have a question you can butt in front of several people.  Oh, no, that is not how it works, my hairy eyebrowed friend, particularly when it is busy.  You and your eyebrows have to wait their turn.

So, she said, "Oh, sorry," and I said, "Sure you are," and then to the clerk, "Go ahead," and he answered her question re: eyebrow wax.

Then, the clerk apologized to me and checked me out and then I waited for a few more minutes because my prescription was not actually ready.

I'm still annoyed.  The whole day was annoying, and Miles has not been magically cured after one dose of antibiotics.  I just want people to be courteous and my kids to stop being sick, okay?  OKAY?

How was your Monday?

Happy Halloween!