Webkinz!!

Webkinz are all the rage at my house these days. A few weeks ago I didn't know what Webkinz were. I had heard about them a little bit from my imaginary on line friends and thought my kids might like them for Valentine's Day.
For those of you not in the know Webkinz are cute little stuffed animals that you can buy for about $10. When you bring it home you open the tag to reveal the secret code. This code allows you to adopt your Webkin online and grants you one year access to a kid friendly Internet community it's full of games and activities and best of all a virtual version of your Webkin that you can build a home for, dress and feed. The kids can add the screen names of their friends so if they are online at the same time they can meet at their pet's house for games like go fish!

Anyway back to my story... It was February 13 and I went to the store that sells them. I asked the store owner, "where are your webkinz" he said "you mean WebKIN" I only have 1 left"

Well I needed 4 of them so one just wouldn't do and it was a white unicorn at that and I don't think any of my boys would have been interested in that one. He went on to tell me they were sold out every where. BUT he had a shipment of 500 of them coming in any day maybe even that afternoon. So I looked over his list of what was coming in and reserved one for each of my boys. And got them gift certificates to give them for Valentine's day.

Those next few days waiting for the call from the store to say the shipment was in seemed to last forever. But finally they came it! What an exciting day!

Dean got a polar bear that he named "Frank". Reese got a tree frog that he named "Ray". Jaren got a frog that he named "Pod". And I (i mean Strider) got a monkey that is named "Dobby".

The next week was school vacation week. Let me tell you they logged in a LOT of hours at webkinz.com setting the timer for 15 minute intervals so they could take turns.

Right now these pets are living large. They have played games to earn "KinzCash" and have bought them virtual mansions, swimming pools, gourmet meals, and fashionable clothes and accessories. Even the real life plush pets have been in the lap of luxury. They take them everywhere they go, not only do I have to do a head count to make sure I have all my children I need to count the pets to make sure that "Frank" hasn't been left behind. They also now have a custom built quadruple bunk hammock!

It's crazy but they sure have had a lot of fun with them.

Dean, Dean, Dean.....

I sent him upstairs to get dressed. 40 minutes later he came down like this…






T shirt, shorts and bare feet. I told him it was a bad choice for today. He said “Why?”
So I put him outside to see “Why?” for himself. I was nice and let him wear the boots.

His shirt says it all “GOOF”

I double dog dare you!

Yesterday I got a call from the school. The secretary called and said “you will never guess what your son Jaren did today before he even got into the school building…. He stuck his tongue to the pole outside.”

It was 1 degree out there this morning

Two bus drivers and the Head Teacher had to free him with cups of warm water. He left half of his upper lip stuck to the pole and has a small raw spot on his tongue.

He was very shaken up so I went to the school to sit with him for a little while in the nurses office. Reese had been by his side the whole time. He claimed he was just walking by and got stuck. I sent Reese back to his classroom so I could talk with Jaren alone. After some coaxing he admitted that he did it on purpose. No one tricked him or dared him to do it. He just wanted to see if it was true. He calmed down considerably once the real story was out.

He took me outside to see the scene of the incident. He was highly embarrassed. We talked it up as an adventure that he could share with his friends to make it exciting and dangerous instead of embarrassing. Finally he agreed to go back to his classroom. His friends were all very concerned about him and they all wanted to see his tongue. No one laughed at him. At least none of the kids laughed. To them it was all very serious. After seeing that he was alright, the grown ups, me included, couldn’t help but snickering and thinking of A Christmas Story.

I left him to join his class with a stick of lip balm to use if his lips felt sore.

Later I went back to the school to get a pictures of the lamp post with his lip still attatched.

Dapper diapered dogs!

The diapers are working! I have not found any puddles on my floor! And no more spray marks on my door frames. WOO HOO! Only twice have I found a diaper to be wet so it is discouraging them from even trying!. The first few days it was difficult to remember to put the diaper ON when they came in and OFF before they go out. More than once the kids have let the dogs out with diapers still on OOPS. But now it is becoming a habit. One dog is still reluctant to have me put his on but this dog still objects to letting me put his leash on to go for a walk but he's learning!

The desk challenge is complete!

I logged every single receipt I had on that spike which dated back to September. I balanced 4 months worth of bank statements. I tamed a tangle of assorted USB cables and ipod accessories. And I vacuumed out about a half pound of dust out of my keyboard. I finished last night so the total time was 10 days!

Unusual Weather We're Having!

We live in Maine and winter is supposed to be cold and snowy. January is typically the coldest month of the year, but not this year. We actually had temperatures in the 60's earlier this week. We have no snow and the ground is not even frozen. That means no ice skating, no sledding, no snowforts, no snowmobiling.... nothing.



Suddenly Mother Nature snapped out of it and gave us some bitter January weather. In the morning it was 10 degrees. The pond had a skim of ice over it. Then it happened! at 1:00 pm there was actual SNOW falling from the sky! Too bad it only lasted 15 minutes.



When theboys got off the bus that afternoon they came running up the front steps.

"Mom! Mom! did you see the snow today!"



Jaren my 7 year old was determined that he was going to have a snow man.



And here it is!

This is something I don't do every day

I sewed diapers for my dogs! I have been a very bad pack leader and my dogs think they own the house. Every time I leave the house I lock them into the kitchen area. This is because they will pee all over my house. At least there is no carpeting in this area but it is still frustrating and disgusting to come home to puddles of pee on the floor and sprayed on the chair legs. I have never caught them in the act.

I was at my wits end. I have been trying to walk the dogs daily as prescribed by the Dog Whisperer. But it's not working yet. So I surfed the web looking for help and I found that people make diapers for dogs. Male dogs have a special contraption called a Belly Band. It's basically a padded belt that you velcro around their waist covering their tinkler. They come in all sorts of outrageous fashion colors. I am a little more plain than that so I went up to my craft room and whipped up 3 plain black dog diapers, belly bands, wiener wraps what have you.

In theory they won't bother trying to pee with them on. If they do they just end up wetting themselves which is supposed to be a deterent from future peeings, or at the very least even if they do pee with them on at least it's not on your rugs or furniture!

My three dogs let me put them on without fuss. All I had to do was wait an hour or so to witness the results.

I hid in my living room, lying on my couch under a blanket. I caught one of my dogs come in and lift his leg to a chair! And the proof of his deed was in the diaper! Later I brought the kids to karate class. The dogs were still locked in the kitchen and this time diapered. I was only gone a half an hour when I had to return home unexpectedly. Sure enough that same dog had wet his diaper AGAIN. Woo Hoo I just prevented 2 incidents in one afternoon! Hopefully this will taper off as I fight to regain my role as the pack leader here.