Paybacks

This weekend I told Leif he couldn't do something, redirected him, pulled him away, etc. This apparently ticked him off more than he could stand. A normal ticked off Leif will throw himself on the floor and scream and wail until he either gets what he wants (which is never once this behavior sets in) or is successfully redirected.

The ultimate ticked off Leif has a new tactic:

1. Beg for lunchbox from counter. (Mommy complies, a little confused... why would he want his lunchbox?)
2. Walk to the laundry room and work on turning the knob to the garage. (An equally perplexed daddy complies mostly out of curiousity.)
3. Go place the lunchbox by mommy's door and stand patiently at Leif's door to the Four Runner. (Dad goes over to him.)
4. Realize that it isn't mommy coming out, so go over to daddy's car and wait to be put in.

So it appears that when mommy is mean, Leif would rather just head to school than put up with mommy's BS. (Oh bruised ego.)

----------------------

Why going to the mailbox is now a forbidden activity...

Getting the mail is an ultra-dangerous proposition. Last spring I headed to the mailbox and took a header into the concrete sidewalk. Friday I headed to the mailbox, Winny and Leif in tow. Winny was being her normal spazzo self, "oh I am so excited to go to the mailbox, oh yay, we are at the mailbox, oh yay, let's leave the mailbox". Leif decides to follow Winny and turns around to take an unassisted step OFF the curb. GACK! I swing around to grab him and roll my foot, leg and upper body OVER my ankle and off the curb (and my 2" clogs).

Ouch. I get Winny to come and "SIT" next to me (just off the curb) and I grab Leif's (thankfully zippered) coat. Then I sit there with tears rolling down my face trying not to sob too hard. AB was at work and so I sat there actually hoping and praying one of my neighbors either saw me go down and could tell I needed help, or maybe one would wander by.

10 minutes later, still crying, no dice. I HAVE to get back to the house. I grabbed Leif's coat and we crossed the street, I was wincing with every step. Got to the yard, let Leif go and sat on the grass for another 10 minutes before I could bear getting up and going to the phone to tell AB that he was NOT working late tonight and to get home asap.

I hate being injured. So now I had a head cold, and a bum ankle. I heard something pop when I went down and was pretty convinced I had broken it. AB did come home and got Leif fed and ready for bed. I resolved to re-evaluate the ankle in the morning and see if a trip to the ER was warranted.

Long story short, the thing is bruised all over, and still painful. I did manage to get a shoe on however both Saturday to go to Target, and today for work. It is a hiking boot, and so I am *gasp* wearing my hiking boots to work. (no sarcasm intended) I could get the clogs on, but umm yeah, not going there even in the name of fashion.

I can walk on it, so even if I have a broken bone, it isn't a weight bearing bone and therefore nothing will be done. More likely according to my mom, who as a marathon runner is a foot guru, I popped a tendon. All the symptoms indicate this. Painful.

--------------------

AB had a ton of work this weekend. It was month end at work and so he busted his butt working late each night and going into work on Sunday. He also had a program to run for one of his classes - and no homemade programs by professors can be run without a whole gamut of complications, it is a rule. And he had a 10 page paper due. So AB was scarce.

--------------------
The pillows

Leif was getting tired of toting around a cripple and insisted on a trip to Target to brighten his spirits. (Not. He despises shopping more than dad.) We needed to go out for a few things and pillows was one of them. (Leif was the lucky recipient of the FP Little People Garage purchased with Halloween money from Grandma however... that toy is ruling his life right now.)

AB and I have a pillow problem. There was one comfortable pillow in the entire house. We have a problem buying them. We buy a couple and a few days after bringing them home, they suck and are relegated to the guest bedroom, to holding the pillow shams, and to Leif's room to play with. We seriously have like 14 pillows in the house.

So the one comfortable pillow just happened to be mine. I am quite positive AB and Leif are in cahoots. Leif would get up and need attention, I would go tend to him and return to AB having stolen my pillow. Fine, no big deal, give me yours I would tell him. No, he couldn't do that to me, he wouldn't want me to have a shitty night's sleep. Awww, the guilt.

So we needed at least one new pillow. The perception AB has is that *I* am the only one capable of picking out a decent pillow and that *I* should just go to the store and pick out one for him based off what I would like. He was off the hook since he was so busy and I complied with this request in order to relieve MY pillow of it's frequent kidnapping.

I went to Target and was shocked to find that they carried a whole 5 types of pillows. We have a small Target, but it is a Target nonetheless. This one is too hard, this one is too soft, aww... this one is JUST right. I bought two, they were $2.99 each. Yes, you read right... $2.99. I have spent $50 on a pillow that was uncomfortable as hell. I figured why not try the $2.99 pillow?

I replaced the summer quilt with the down comforter and duvet and new pillows and AB hasn't had *this* good of night in months. He slept like a log on his $2.99 pillow.

Ok, so maybe the pillows die a premature death, but for $3 if I need to buy a new pillow each 6 months I will do it. The things we do for comfort.

Here is another case of who are you and what have you done with my husband? I got home from Target and AB said, "oh I wish I would have thought about it before you went to Target, we need some new towels, the old ones are getting really bad, and the "new" ones should be replaced and relegated to "old towel" status". He may think it was just fortuitous that he said it AFTER we returned from Target... but I have learned... I put it on my to do list so I don't forget.
--------------------

Fatty foods, so good yet so bad

Last night we made pork tenderloin with green peppercorn cream sauce, roasted asparagus and potato galette. It is one of our stand by master dinners. It was made even better by having an assortment of 12 bottles of wine to taste that K&V dropped off. They had worked one of the big regional wine judgings and since the half empty bottles just get tossed, they managed to get out with 24 half bottles and dropped half of them off for our tasting enjoyment.

I love, love, love my green peppercorn cream sauce. It is just impossible for me not to sip little tastes of it while simmering. Then on my pork tenderloin? Every bite was sopped. I even contemplated how I would make a soup out of this stuff.

Let's just say that is a bad idea. Man did my stomach pay. It is just now recovering. I am quite certain I gained back a few pounds of pure fat from that stuff. I guess the good thing is that I made myself thoroughly sick of fat, heavy, cream sauces and am craving a salad tonight.

--------------------

Happy Halloween!

Pictures will go up tomorrow I hope. Leif was quite intrigued as we walked through the halls of his school with all the masks and outfits that the kids were wearing. He was only a little disconcerted as we walked into his room and everyone was fascinated with his ears. He didn't quite realize that he too was wearing a costume and every bit as fascinating in appearance as everyone else.