How do I get rid of the evil sickness in my house?

B has never been in daycare before. Since he was a baby we've been completely lucky (and grateful!) that my mom has watched him since he was born while we worked. This past summer my MIL took care of him too. This is his first year of school and he's in kindergarten. While it's been good for him to be around kids his own age and get into a routine, there's one thing I'm not excited, or prepared for...

THE GERMS!!!!!!

B started school on Sept 2nd. It's now October 7th. He's been sick a total of 4 TIMES ALREADY! He was sick enough that he missed 2 days of school between his first and second week of school. He's sick again! Poor little guy is sneezing and dripping and coughing all over the place. I was so not prepared for him to be sick ALL THE TIME when he started school. Someone tell me that his little immune system will get tougher over the next few months so he's not bringing home every germ that he comes in contact with!?!?!

I can't handle THIS. MUCH. SNOT! Seriously. It's everywhere and on everything. I'm going to have to start wearing a slicker pretty soon if he doesn't get better. And the funny thing is that his K teacher is one of the most germaphobic people I've met. B's come home with no less then 4 pieces of "germ" artwork each week since school started. You guys have heard of dream catchers right? He and his classmates made a "germ" catcher. A big thing that looks like a persons head and upper body with arms. The arms are holding a picture of what a germ looks like in one hand. The other hand is holding a tissue for "when he needs to cough or sneeze to catch the germs." How funny is that? I'll take a picture tonight of him and his artwork and post it here so you guys can see it.

I better be going so I can get reading for work.

BTW, Ms Peabody is still peeing and crapping EVERYWHERE!!!! How the hell do I get her to stop? We've tried everything and can't get her housebroken. J's ready to give up and send her packing. Someone please tell me how to break her of this bad habit before J wraps up all her things in a hankerchief and ties it around a long stick and sends her on her way!

A death in the family and a hole in the wall....

Tonight J's grandma died. She's been going downhill for a few years now, first with various age related health problems, then she got dementia. She's gotten sicker and sicker the past year. J's grandpa, a very healthy, fit, strict military man has been taking care of her 24/7 and we've watched him deteriorate right along side of her. Grandma made grandpa promise that he would take care of her and not put her in a nursing home so he did his best to try and do everything for her, sometimes going for days without sleeping.

I of course got this information 2nd hand from my MIL. See, when J and I found out we were pregnant with B, we weren't married and his grandparents said we were going to hell. They are very strict Mormon and weren't shy about telling us we were going to eternal damnation for having a "bastard" child. And I kid you not, those were their EXACT words. Needless to say it didn't make for warm and cozy holiday get togethers. They wanted nothing to do with me or with the cutest little baby to ever see the face of the earth, at least in our eyes, unless J and I decided to get married. So we didn't spend a lot of time together and it wasn't until about 2 years ago they warmed up to B. Never me, but B became the light of their lives.

There's a whole lot of back story that is too late to go into. Long story short, grandma is my MIL's stepmother. Grandma inherited 3 kids when she married grandpa and she immediately did whatever she could to get rid of those kids. She treated them horribly, hit them, tried to send them away, she even once scratched her neck, face, and scalp all up right in front of my MIL and then told Grandpa my MIL did it! (Can you say PSYCHO? I know you can!) I think she even threw herself down some stairs at one point saying my MIL had done that too. I think my MIL was only 12 or 13 when the stairs and scratches happened. Grandpa always believed her, never my MIL.

No matter what issues and problems I have with my MIL, she has selflessly given a ton of time to take care of this woman, who has continued to be a nasty nightmare to my MIL even through her dementia. She's held on to the "hatred" for my MIL even when her mind was too far gone to remember who she was or how she got there. My MIL has been driving 45 minutes (one way) to grandma and grandpas house to help with housework, yardwork, errands, whatever they needed almost every day for the past 3 or 4 years. They knew grandma was dying, we even thought she wasn't going to make it the weekend my BIL and his fiance were getting married last month. Tonight we got the call that she was finally gone. We just hope grandpa can stay strong and not let himself slip away after grandma is buried. He's wrapped his whole life around grandma since she got sick and I don't think he remembers his life without the constant care of grandma. Please keep grandpa in your prayers. Well, my whole extended family could use the prayers about now.

So much else happened today but it's getting too late and I need to hit the sack. I'll leave you with the wonderful sight I got home to tonight...


My sister calls our puppy 'Miss Peebody" for obvious reasons. But we may have to start calling her Jaws or something. I guess she got bored and her teeth were hurting her since she's teething so she decided to chew a hole in the freakin WALL. The WALL!!!! I get her little teeth are hurting her and she feels the need to bite something hard, and the million bones and toys we've bought her obviously aren't enough, but why the WALL??!?!? B went through his teething stage also but the kid never took out any plaster!



A closeup of the damage. Down to the plaster!








You can even see the plaster on the carpet where it came off in chunks! What the hell is wrong with this dog? I think she's possessed or something! There's something just NOT RIGHT with her!

Well, here it is... The first day of kindergarten for B. I am so nervous for him. He's still sleeping away in bed and I'm here worried about how he'll feel this morning. He has afternoon kindergarten so he won't need to be to school until 12:45. We picked out his outfit that he wants to wear to school today already and his backpack is packed. Guess I should finish the school forms and paperwork huh?

It was so cold this morning. Isn't it supposed to be summer still? We've had this small cold front move in the past few days with all of the rain and when I got up this morning I had to turn on the heater. It was only 61* in my house this morning!!! Brrrrr!

Anyone know how best to re-potty train a puppy? We bought this chug (half pug, half chiuahua) from our best friends and she was potty trained. We brought her home and she kept having accident after accident. I know they have a rough time transitioning to a new place but it's been almost 2 months now and she's still having accidents! I haven't seen this much pee, well, ever! I was going to say since we potty trained B but he actually only had 1 accident. So, if she doesn't start peeing outside, there will be one Chug for sale...

She's cute.. Make me an offer!