Aunt Lola

Aunt Lola and one day old Tom Brady.

Aunt Lola was the coolest! Really. She wasn't just any sweet old lady. Aunt Lola tells it like it is. Leave a memory in the comments if you knew her. Even if you didn't know her, leave one anyway (just kidding!)

TOMECEK Lola (Garcia) Aunt Lola Tomecek (Garcia) of Toledo, OH, passed away November 28, 2009, at Heartland of Browning in Waterville, OH. She was born March 11, 1910, to John and Elizabeth (Rendon). She had a great devotion to her family which included three generations of nieces and nephews for whom she babysat and always enjoyed sharing time with. Lola is survived by her brother, Thatcher Garcia. She was preceded in death by brothers, Louis, Frank, Theodore, and Fred Garcia; sisters, Sarah Bush, Pauline Rojas, Juanita Miller, and Sally Vargas; nieces and nephews, Raymond (Cheryl) Garcia, Ruth Ann (Terry) Mohler, Frederick (Linda) Garcia, Isabel Rojas Dailey, Alice Sutton, John and Ron Garcia, Waldo Bush, Hank Garcia and Joseph Vargas. The Garcia family would like to thank the staff of the Arcadia Unit of Heartland/ Browning Waterville for the compassionate friendship and care they extended Aunt Lola in the years she spent in their care. Friends and family may call Tuesday, December 1, 2009, from 3-8 p.m. at Peinert Funeral Home, 7220 Dutch Rd., Waterville, OH. There will be a Rosary service at 7:00 p.m. A Funeral Mass will be Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Maumee, OH. Burial will follow at Assumption Cemetery. Memorials can be given to the Epilepsy Center of Northwest Ohio, 1545 Holland Rd. Suite B Maumee, OH 43537. peinertfuneralhome.com

I am going to do the grown-up thing and miss the funeral. I want to go, but there are many many factors making it close to impossible for me to go. In memory of Aunt Lola, I will call the police on the first stray cat I see. :)

I love you Aunt Lola!

It's over!

On top of our hot water issues and the electronics graveyard, things got pretty crappy with a couple more pieces of bad news. It seemed like the weekend wouldn't end. As an attempt to reverse the mood of the weekend, we headed to Niagara Falls, Canada for the evening.

We had dinner, bought (and ate) fudge, went ice skating and enjoyed the holiday light display. Definitely made the weekend not suck completely.

The lights illuminating the falls at night looked cool in the mist and rain. It deserved a picture.


Tom skating at the Rink at the Brink, a new attraction on the Canadian side of the Falls.

Tom and her Dad skating.

Tom skating with me.



We have a few days of normal here in Buffalo until I head back to Ohio for a funeral. Nick will be enjoying his "normal" in Orlando, Florida for some work meetings.

Come on Monday! Bring it on! We are ready for the week.

Electronics Graveyard Part II

Awhile ago we had a rash of broken electronic items. The 2nd wave is here but I think it is a good time of year for replacements.

Our bathroom scale that I bought the last time is now malfunctioning. I hope I can just replace the batteries.

The hand-me-down DVD player eject button disappeared into the player. We can still use the remote for the 60% of the time when the player will actually play.

Zelda, our sexy Garmin GPS has fallen silent. Rest in Peace Zelda. You and Nick had a great year-or-so together. I wish you were still under warranty. You are hopefully being replaced today thanks to Best Buy and their post-Thanksgiving sale.

Nick's ultra fragile work laptop stopped working this weekend and when they sent the replacement shell, it too is broken.

The water heater has broken and we will do without hot water for a couple days. We will go greasy today but start begging for showers tomorrow. Nick has to leave for a work conference on Monday and I don't think the person he sits next to on the airplane wants to sit next to a fella that hasn't showered in 3 days.

Back Home

We are back home from our week-long visit down South. Cincinnati and Southern Indiana were fun. We are thankful that our house didn't burn down but I sincerely wish I could take a shower. The hot water heater is dead until Monday.

Struggling

It is just about 9:00pm and I thought I would be packed for our trip hours ago. I have hit a snag or two.

1. I decided to tidy the laundry/cat litter box areas of the basement. Three hours later, the basement looks a lot better, but I'm still not packed.
2. I was putting dinner on the table and Leroy decided he was going to knock my food all over the place.
3. Plugged in the iPod touch and the computer prompted me to update it. Instead, it wiped out all of the media and applications. About 99 hours later, the iPod has been restored.
4. I mistakenly threw a tie dyed shirt in the white laundry turning it all pink. In that laundry were brand spanking new socks.
5. Sarina tore open a bag of candy corn.

Wondering what is next. . . .

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I took a photo of my Thanksgiving Lunch at work today. It is basically a lunch lady's worst nightmare.

Turkey and gravy over mashed potatoes, carrot coins, dinner roll, pumpkin pie and gelatinous cranberry substance. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. All on a stainless steel table.

(I can't get the picture to rotate correctly)

Packing Day!

The day has arrived. Packing day. We leave for Cincinnati tomorrow and I have been assembling 3 lists.

1. List for house/pet sitters so they can find the dog food and know that the DVD player is missing a button.
2. Do Not Forget list with essentials such as Nick's clothes, phone charger and library books.
3. Things to do list. Put clean towels out, buy dog food and put gas in the car.

Nick is already in Ohio so it is my fault if I forget something. Maybe I should make a secondary list for Tom to check my work.

Tomorrow we go to school/work until around 2pm when we both leave early and leave for Ohio!

Is it Friday yet? and other stuff

Tom asked me yesterday
"Is it Friday yet?"
"No Tom, it is Tuesday. Why do you ask?"
"Because I want to see Friday Night Smackdown this week."
"Oh I see".
This is the point where I pound my head against the wall.

CHANGE OF SUBJECT

Yesterday we get a call from a telephone number I don't recognize. It is a friend from school. A boy! Oooo! Tom has a boyfriend! Tom has a boyfriend! The kid called to tell Tom that his tooth fell out and it was bleeding. I'm guessing they probably won't end up being soul mates. This is not a first-grade love connection that everyone was hoping for. My friend suggested that the boy probably doesn't even realize that Tom is a girl. Someone else said that Tom should call him when she gets her period.

CHANGE OF SUBJECT
I have this problem. I clench and grind my teeth when I sleep. The dentists give me an occlusal guard which I am supposed to wear in my mouth when I am sleeping to save the nubs that are left of my teeth. The occlusal guard costs around $400 and I have a nasty habit of breaking them. I don't step on it, or put it in the dryer. The dog doesn't chew them up either. I am such a violent tooth clencher, they break in my mouth. I rarely wear one because I can't afford to replace them so often.

My last night guard I received on October 13th only because our dental insurance agreed to pay for most of it. Last night I was awoken by a snap in my mouth. I broke the occlusal guard. It is still partially wearable, but I am still mad at myself. Why must I be so violent?

I want to take it back to the dentist and beg them to fix or replace it, but I just transferred my records to another dentist last week. Oh what a pickle I am in now. By the way, I pity the fool who tries to put his or her fingers in my mouth while I am sleeping. Not that I could ever imagine that happening, but you would probably lose a finger.

Normal Tom

Tom's school picture turned out nice this year! She never looks like this when I try to take her picture.

Stinky Farts

As a very mature good night gesture, I sit on Tom's bed and pass gas. You know, one of those tender mother-daughter moments a girl cherishes her entire life. Tom gets out of bed and makes a toot on my bed. She then tells me:

"Starting today, my farts are really stinky. You are going to have a hard time sleeping tonight!"

I too marked the day my farts started to smell really bad. Can I tell her that she is becoming a woman yet?

House Rules #2

Cory wanted more rules:

11. Do not squeeze the cat.
12. Marriage is not a license to be gross and fart around me every single day. You can make an attempt to break wind in another room if possible. Once in awhile is fine.
13. Do not eat potato chips straight out of the bag. Use a bowl. A gigantic bowl may be necessary if you insist on being a glutton.
14. Please refrain from sprinkling salt on your food before you try it. It offends me as the cook.
15. Toss all cardboard boxes and bubble wrap in the basement. I hoard them for the next time we need to move.
16. My bras and underwear are in 2 separate compartments in the drawer. Please take the time to determine whether or not it is underwear or a sports bra before tossing them all together.
17. I wear a size 7.5 shoe. Tom wears a size 1. Our socks are not the same size nor are our shoes. Please study them carefully.
18. When you take the trash out, you MUST but a new garbage bag in the can.
19. Speaking of garbage cans, I like mine clean enough to eat out of. The rest of the house may be disgusting, but the inside of the garbage can must be immaculate.
20. My pillows are mine. I do not share. Boy's pillows smell like. . . boy hair.

House Rules

I am a controlling beeyotch. I am not afraid to admit that. Therefore I torture my family with really ridiculous rules. Here are 10. There may be millions but this can get you started.

1. Bare feet are gross. Put on some socks dang it.
2. Eat in a silent manner. Shhhhh.
3. If the sun is in my eyes, please take care of that or I might resort to violence.
4. The bed must be made prior to sleeping. I don't care if it remains unmade all day, just make it before I get in.
5. Please do not shove the remote control in the couch cushions on purpose. . . NICK.
6. The half empty soda cans are mine. I have been known to drink one can of soda for up to 3 days. Do not dump them out.
7. Untie your shoes before putting them on your feet. I should not have to repeat myself.
8. Mail must be opened and sorted immediately. Recycling, Shredding, Filing.
9. Any hair or bodily fluids/solids must be removed from the interior/exterior of the toilet after each use. This includes "fish food" which is leafy matter that is left floating in the toilet sometimes even after flushing once.
10. Label each and every compact disc you burn on the computer. Returning a CD with information/music to the Blank CD spindle will result in certain death. Yes. Death.

Need Advice

I am painfully clueless when it comes to following other blogs. I tried to "follow" blogs through blogger, but it isn't updated when people actually post. Is there a blog reader that someone recommends?

What the Hell is an RSS reader? I don't know what an RSS reader/feed is. I don't even understand the wikipedia page about it.

I IS SO DUMB.

For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about (Dad, this means you!) please ignore this post!

The Dark Side

Tom woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Nick and I were up getting ready when Tom's alarm went off at 6:45am. She started screaming and hitting things which we found amusing. Tom came into my bedroom looking like thunder. She plopped down on my bed and I asked her if she was angry at her alarm clock.

"Yes! And the people who started school!" :(

"The people who started school" are those evil people who invented school many years ago. I hope they know that Tom is furious about this.

Tom was showing a little too much sass so I sent her outside about 15 minutes prior to the buses arrival. I wanted to say "Don't sass me" but I doubt that I can say it with a straight face. Going outside early is normal for her, but I refused to give her a football to play with because it was a punishment. This did not help with her mood at all.

I was taking the trash out and Tom was making mad faces the entire time. I told her to change her attitude and her reply was:

"I am on the Dark Side".

Ooooo! I'm shaking in my shoes! She then proceeded to bite her finger to see what the mark looked like. She confirmed she is a vampire AND a werewolf and she wanted to bite me. I declined the offer saying that if she draws blood I will have to get a Hepatitis C shot. Tom said:

"I look forward to everyone getting a shot because I am on the Dark Side. Don't you remember?"

I knew she was evil when I had continuous heartburn during my entire pregnancy.

Us versus the Lawn Mower

Our lawn is hideous. It is shaggy and ugly. All summer we paid a neighbor to cut it for us and we rarely touched the second hand mower we bought last year. I stopped paying the neighbor for 2 reasons. 1. We were broke and couldn't afford it. 2. He was tired of mowing our lawn.

For the past few weeks, I have been pulling the mower out of the garage and have been trying to start it to no avail. I even checked out Sears and Home Depot for clearance Lawn Mowers. Funny, the lawn mowers aren't on sale yet.

Today I got serious with a TON of help from my dad via the telephone. I replaced the air filter, topped up the oil, sprayed some starter fluid and even replaced our practically new spark plug. This required a trip to Home Depot and the car parts store.

We could get the thing started, but it wouldn't stay running for more than 2 seconds. Thanks to the help from my Dad, we decided that it was the fuel line. It probably clogged because the fuel I used was not stabilized. There should be a warning to NEVER USE UNSTABILIZED GASOLINE in the mower.

I called the lawnmower repair guy but he wasn't doing repairs until spring.

I Googled some stuff like "unclog fuel line in my lawnmower". I learned that the carburetor is part of the fuel system in my lawn mower. Can I find the carburetor? I found the air filter! What if I break the lawn mower? I am considering buying a new mower anyway!


What the heck. I went for it. I disassembled the mower and then Nick had to make another trip to Auto Zone for carburetor cleaner. By the time I got the mower put back together, it was pitch black. Unfortunately, I STILL couldn't attempt to start the thing because I had no gasoline. Unclogging the fuel line requires you to drain the gas tank. That gas was skunky anyway.

So. . . one more trip. This time to the gas station. I added stabilizer (I can't emphasize enough how important this is). I filled the tank and the mower started in my driveway in the pitch black of night. It was only 7:30pm, but it seemed like the middle of the night.

I would like to thank Nick for his patience and tolerance for my love of fixing stuff. Nick doesn't care about lawn mowers and he is man enough to admit it. I would like to thank the weather for being nice. I would like to thank most of all, my Dad. He put up with all 400 of my telephone calls. That is what Dads are for. You are the best!

I conquered a carburetor! Hooray!

Yes, I am completely insane for attempting this. I think this is up there with when I deleted Microsoft Office by hand. I still have nightmares about Registry Keys (whatever the heck they are). This does not top the craziest thing I ever did which was deciding to raise a human child. She is still alive so I guess I can do anything!

MORE football pictures?

Please keep in mind that this blog was originally intended for a way of sharing pictures with Grandmas and Grandpas. Please enjoy the pictures of Tom in her last game of the season. Her team won yesterday's Harvest bowl. The weather this weekend has been FABULOUS FABULOUS FABULOUS!

Tom (#68) posing with the team.
Tom gets some coaching on the field. I love this picture!
Post game Tom.
Tom VERY unhappy about the picture taking.
Playing on the swings after the game. I love to see all of these tough little guys playing on the playground after the games.

Tom fighting with Nick who was trying to take her picture again.

I am happy

I can't explain how much better I feel now that I have a job. I was voluntarily out of work for 2 long years. It is great to be able to take a day off whenever you want and I never had to worry about calling the boss when Tom was ill. In reality, I don't think staying at home is for me. This week I worked every day totaling 25 hours. I still have every single responsibility to take care of at home because Nick was gone this week, but it seemed easier to do those same chore after I worked 5 hours in a kitchen. Does that make sense? Absolutely not. Do I care? Absolutely not. Hooray for employment!

Last Practice

Tom hates getting her picture taken. Especially when I corner her in the bathroom and she knows I am going to post it online. She isn't trying to look tough, she just won't smile. The last play of practice, Tom got knocked hard to the ground and her facemask got all muddy. I thought she looked kick ass and it deserved a picture.

Tonight was the last practice of the season. We made it! It was freaking cold cold cold. The temperature is 38 degrees, but according to Weather.com, it feels like 31. It was pitch black before practice even started. Luckily, it was only an hour. The season will be all the way over this weekend after their last game. It is practically impossible to imagine what it was like when they had their first game in August. We came very close to melting.

Being a kid is fun

I heard some loud thumping noises when I was trying to get in the shower this morning. After investigating, I find Tom standing on my bed in her underpants making armpit farts. She admitted to jumping on my bed just a minute before that.

I wish adults could have this much fun on a random Wednesday morning.

Migrane?

Here is just one more tidbit of information when you fill out the Mom of the Year nomination form.

Halloween was Saturday night and we let Tom gorge herself on as much candy as she could eat in the 1/2 hour between Trick or Treating and bedtime. She did pretty well, but I was surprised that she somehow squeezed in a bag of pretzels instead of a bag of M&M's. Sunday morning, I let Tom nibble on some candy. Sunday afternoon, I let her have "2 pieces". Unfortunately, the suburban children get full sized candies so she had an entire package of Twizzlers and something else. Sunday night? Tom ate dinner (minus the yummy sauerkraut) and probably some more candy.

Tom started to complain of a headache and I offered to get her some pain reliever. She refused and I did what every concerned parent would do. I went to the grocery store.

Arriving home, I notice a funky smell and Nick comes downstairs with all of Tom's blankets covered in barf. Tom was in her bed in the dark trying to die because of her head splitting pain. She threw up some more and then went into her "migrane coma" as I call it. This morning, she wakes up 30 minutes early chattering away good as new.

I'm glad she's better and we have had our suspicions about this in the past. (Click Here to read about the last one)I think we are pretty sure what happened this time. Next headache? I'm getting the piller that I use to give Cheeseburger's medications and sticking it right down her throat if she won't take the Tylenol.

Happy Halloween!

It is officially the morning after. Tom slept until exactly 7am after the Daylight Savings Time adjustment. Her first words to me were "Daylight Savings Time ends today". I thought this was odd for a child to care about. About after 10 minutes of discussion of candy and stuff, I realized that it is now November and got excited to change the calendars. I questioned Tom if she changed the calendars in her room (she has 3) and her response was "of course!". I sometimes wonder if I have the only child in the universe that loves calendars so much, she changes them before using the restroom in the morning.

Trick or Treating went well. We dragged Tom up and down all new streets of the neighborhood then hit the streets we usually visit. Luckily, in our town there are NO SPECIFIC TIMES for trick or treating so we went out before 6pm and stayed out until about 8:45 when there were only large crowds of high schoolers left to wander the streets. Nick and I were the only parents to dress up. I thought this was odd, but maybe all of the dressed up adults were at cool parties that we weren't invited to attend. Sad Face.

Tom got a ton of candy that included several full-sized varieties of candy and a super cool Tom's of Maine tube of toothpaste. I still am getting used to the suburban haul of candy. Back in the Old South End of Toledo you would get a bag full of Tootsie Rolls, rock-hard gum, smarties and those black and orange peanut butter chewy things. There was someone over near Jones Jr. High that passed out toothbrushes. Oh the memories.

We did not end up purchasing extra toilet paper that Tom suggested earlier in the month for throwing in the trees. She was under the impression that it was a requirement and not for fun. She made it sound like a chore to TP every single house that didn't pass out candy. She was okay when I said No.

Tom's Bleeding Scream Face:


Sarina in her bee costume. She loves it can't you tell?


Dr. Nick and Sarina


Tom and I. I was a chubby Hermione from Harry Potter.

Tom's candy with the big candy (and toothpaste on top)