A Series: How We Met

My ninth grade year I was Vice President or something like that of my class. I don’t remember many of my my responsibilities of being class Vice President of a class of 36 kids, but the most important one was on the first day of school. I got to sit in the lobby and pass out class schedules to all my classmates. I wasn’t really interested in any of my old classmates schedules, I was interested in checking out the new boys that would be entering my class that year. There were quite a few new students coming into our ninth grade class and some of them were boys.

One new name that I did not recognize was Larry Castle.

He came in and I gave him his class schedule. I vaguely remembered seeing him around the school at games and events with the Zimmerman boys, but I had never met him. And I don’t know if handing him a schedule actually counts as an official meeting. But I knew who he was.

I had know idea the adventures we were to have.

Randomness

I still get a few people coming to the site hoping the Daily Castle is daily again. Or maybe they just like to use the links on the side bar. Not sure.

I need to change the picture in the header.  Valentine’s day is way gone. Maybe I should just leave it up till next year.

The girls are gone on their first over night trip with some friends. They went to Irish Hills with the neighbor kids for a couple of days. Larry and I don’t know what to do with ourselves with all the finished thoughts and conversations.

Emma texted Larry goodnight last night.

We went to the Dollar show. It smelled.

 

I will be back.

10 Years

A few nights ago Claire and I were snuggling in bed watching Jeopardy! together. We burrowed down into the covers like bears ready to hibernate and decided we were not ever leaving. It was just too cozy snuggled up like that. 

She has always been a little cuddle bug. When she was a baby she was a little chubbers and she was so smushy you just couldn’t help but squeeze her. Her cheeks were little kiss magnets. 

She is no longer chubby. She is so long she barely fits on my lap anymore. Her limbs are getting to that gangly stage and she smelled like she might need a little deodorant last week.  It is hard to believe she is ten years old. 

Ten years ago yesterday I went to the hospital to be induced to have my second child. Compared to the first go around it was very uneventful. I was going to try to have this second the child the old-fashioned way, meaning to push her out instead of going under the knife. The doctor did not want her to get too big so he scheduled an induction on her due date. 

Claire, being a people pleaser, decided to get the show on the road early on the morning of the induction, so by the time I got to the hospital at nine, I was already in labor and dilated to three. The doctor still gave me the dreaded pictocin to keep things moving along and the blessed epidural to keep me comfortable. I think I felt one contraction. 

Some highlights I remember from the day:

1. I was surprised the doctor still wanted to induce labor. I thought he would let nature take its course. Ha!

2. Larry did not pack any food to eat for the day. We arrived at the hospital at 9 in the morning and he did  not eat breakfast. Around noon he finally had to leave to get something to eat. What does he bring back? A Rodeo burger from Burger King. Some super stinky hamburger to make his wife sick from the stench. Ha!

3. I had a really nice nurse this time. I wish I could remember her name. 

4. My doctor was delivering another lady’s baby in the room next to mine at the same time as me. He kept running back and forth between the two rooms. He made into a little competition as to who could deliver first. I won. She won the loudest screamer award. 

5. I had several medical students in the room during delivery. I was a vbac delivery so it was special. Ha! One that I remember was a little Chinese girl that was so timid and so excited to see a birth. On of the interns actually delivered Claire. As I was pushing her out I was thinking I did not pay you to do this I am paying him (meaning the doctor)!

6. I had to push for an hour. Enough said. 

7. Larry picked Claire’s name out. He just liked it. No other reason than that. 

8. I wanted to name her Margaret May after our grandmothers. Claire is glad it was Larry’s turn to pick the name. 

9. As soon as Claire came out Larry said, “She looks like you.”

10. My parents brought Emma up to see her new little sister and she called her “Clow”. 

Happy Birthday Claire.

Anyone Have Some Hand Sanitizer?

Why do parents take their kids to the doctors when they are not really that sick? Is it really necessary to have someone tell you your kid has a cold, drink some fluids and get plenty of rest? Apparently, I am that parent. Because why else would I have spent two hours at the Pediatricians yesterday? I must feel the need for validation. Yes, I was right! You are sick! And now that I have made you sit in this germ infested waiting room filled with screaming, hacking kids for two hours you should have pink eye and strep by Monday.  

Sign me up for Mother of the Year. 

So Claire is sick. She had a fever for three days and has been laying on the couch for four. She has barley eaten anything and if she opens her mouth and says Ah! you can see her tonsils from across the room. Her glands are so swollen they look like rocks on the side of her neck. I got a little worried. She’s not my whiner so you don’t really think about how bad she must be feeling. But she had Mono when she was almost 5. And after looking up on the internet about reoccurrence of Mono I thought I had better take her. The doctor did not take blood or feel her spleen. She told her to eat oranges and rest for three days. 

Two hours for that. Next time I may just stick with WebMD.

Dude! I Won Something!

I can not tell you how many contests I have entered on blogs to try to win an awesome prize. Bloggy Giveaways and Pioneer Woman and Rocks in My Dryer are just a few places I have entered. And I have never won. Until now!

Sarah over at Shortstop had a contest for a Blurb photo book. I started reading her blog when she had the 12 days of cookies at Christmas. I made several of the recipes and they all turned out great.

She had made a cookbook at Blurb for her sister-in-law for Christmas and it looked awesome. So I entered and I won a photobook! And like a dummy I forgot to go back and check until today. Yeah! 

I am a winner. Thanks Blurb and Sarah!

Voting Day

Today is the day we as Americans get to cast our vote for who we think would be best to lead our country. Today, history will be made either way. 

Every morning when I get to work I deliver the Wall Street Journal to a co-worker. This morning the Headline was something like ” New challenges for the new President.” They were already setting the scene for failure. And my first thought was “What kind of crazy person wants to be President?” 

Seriously. It has to take a special person to believe they can lead the entire country. I respect both of the candidates and their families for the sacrifices they are making for our country. They spend very little time with their spouses. They are attacked by the media. Some are attacked by their own party. How exhausting it must be to be on the road for months shaking all those hands and kissing all those babies. 

And yet we complain because we are tired of the ads and the calls and the signs. 

So today, I will be part of history and cast my vote. And either way there will be change.

That Was Larry

For those of you faithful readers who come to my blog everyday to use my links…thank you. If you are true Daily Castle reader then you may have noticed a different tone in the writing in the last two posts. That’s because my husband hi-jacked my blog. He is so proud of my cheapness that he must show it on the blog world.

And thank you to the three of you that entered the “Guess how much Julie Paid for this” Contest. You all must think I am Wonder woman to get all that for $4.99. I thought $21 was pretty good. Here’s the break down. Or how we like to say it in our house, Break it down.

Target:
Jackets – $3.74 each. My girls have been wanting these for months!

Pringles – $0.40 a can.

Skippy Peanut Butter – $0.66 a jar

Smuckers Jelly – $0.77

Two Cans of shaving cream – Free with coupon

At Meijer I used Meijer Mealbox coupons.

Two boxes of elbow macaroni – free

Four other boxes of pasta – I thought these would be free also, but they were not on sale – $0.75 each

Gold Bond powder – free with coupon

Cheezy crunch treats – Free with coupon

Two Bottles of Herbal Essence Shampoo – $2.00

And The Winner Is…

Nicole! Thanks for playing. Johny, tell her what she’s won!

Nicole, we’ve spared every expense (really, it was free) to present to you a brand new 4 oz  tube of Colgate Total Advanced Clean Toothpaste…”Whitens teeth with a breakthrough cleaning ingrediant that gently removes surface stains.”
We’ll contact you to get your prize to you. Enjoy!

Thanks to everyone who played. We’ll try it again in a week or so. Stay tuned.

Happy 36 Years

Yesterday was Larry’s birthday and something was missing.

I have not been writing here. I had blog burn out. It was nice to take a little break, but I think I am ready to come back and write all my “secrets.” Several times this last month and a half I have thought to myself “I should write about that on the blog.” But I just couldn’t do it.

But I missed writing Larry his birthday tribute. I missed gushing on about what a great husband and father he is and how much I like him. I missed telling you what a great friend he is and how everyday he amazes me more. I would have told you what a hard worker he is and what geeky thing he has done lately. I could have listed 36 things I love about him or told you what we did for his birthday.

But I did none of those things because I was taking a blog break. But today I have something to say…Happy Birthday to my best friend.

I like to write in lists

I have a new friend in my life. Someone who is always there for me. Asking me to send gifts and reachout to others. It’s Facebook. I finally sucumbed to the pressure of joining yet another online group. I had to…everyone I know is on Facebook. So I got myself a few friends and caught up with a few old friends too. It’s fun. And addictive.

Some updates that happened over the last month while I have been neglecting the blog because of my new relationship.

1. If you find a few ants in your house, RUN, do not walk to the nearest ACO and buy ant spray. Kill those suckers because they are scouts checking the place out for move in availability. The scouts thought my house was the perfect spot. Hmm, let’s see, three kids who drop lots of crumbs, no pet to endanger us, a working mom with no time to sweep and mop everyday. Perfect!! A few days after we saw the first ants we came home from the Sciene Fair to a perfect black line cross our dining room floor. The black line was hundreds of ants. If I thought six or ten was bad was I in for a treat! Just picture Claire and I screaming and yelling Dad! at the same time. Too bad he wasn’t home and I had to kill them myself. Ick. For about a week we dealt with those pests. They were coming in under the fireplace and setting up shop under our floating laminate floor. Ants like to eat cough drops that children set on the fireplace after they have sucked on it for awhile. Just so you know.

2. Claire and Emma did a great job in the Science Fair. Emma received an honorable mention award and Claire placed in the top three of her class. Third graders are not required to participate in the Science Fair. So there were only three third graders that participated. So what? She went on to the District Fair which was very exciting. She did not receive an award, but she is motivated for next year. Great. Did I tell you how much I love Science Fairs?

3. Spring Break was last week. We went on vacation to Greats Lakes Crossing for a day. We ate at The Rain Forrest Cafe and saw Horton Hears A Who. Next year we are just going to pack up the camping suppies and start driving south until is about 70 degrees and park it for the week. Snow during Spring Break just isn’t right.

4. The Chicken Pox vaccine is stupid. Okay, maybe that is a little harsh. The chicken pox vaccine and I are not friends. All three of my girls got the vaccine when they were two. All three of them came down with a slight case of the chicken pox about three years ago. They had about 10-30 spots. Emma broke out with another case of them last week. She wasn’t really sick so I guess that is a good thing, but she had to still miss a couple of days of school. I’m not sure what is worse, getting a full blown case of the pox and being done with it or wondering if they will just keep on getting a slight case every few years.

5. We finally did our taxes. I like to think it had something to do with me nagging my husband every-single-day since January 31st to do the taxes already, but maybe not. I live with a patient man. We owe $18. Yeah.

Don’t get used to me posting here now. I am in a new relationship and it is in the exciting first stage. When I get tired of him I may be back.