Spots

SKGP has spots.

It appears that she is allergic to penicillin and the like.

I did want to write a blog

EJP uses the contraction amn't all the time. I don't know where he could have picked it up, so I think he must have figured out the rules of contractions, and come up with it. It is a very reasonable assumption to make. There is "can not ==> can't" and "are not ==> aren't", so why not "am not ==> amn't"? I think this is the contraction of the future; just you wait.

He also throws forms of to do into his speech very regularly. For example, "I did want to jump out of the car," and "I do want to have a treat." To any linguists reading this, is there a term for this emphatic way of speaking? It's very cute to hear.

A Sick Car

I was driving the kids home from Nana's on Wednesday, and the Cadillac's control panel said "Low Oil Pressure. Stop Engine." I drove the little way home, so I didn't have to deal with a tow truck and two kids past their bedtime.

I called the mechanic, and he said that low oil pressure is a bad thing.

On Friday, I started driving to the mechanic's shop, hoping that I could make it before the message came on again. I got two miles from home, and it came on. So I stopped and waited for the tow truck.

Smitty, the family's mechanic, told me that they would try replacing the oil pump, for about $400. If that doesn't fix it, you throw the car away and get a new one. He's of the opinion that the car isn't worth putting several thousand dollars worth of repairs.

Let's hope that the oil pump fixes it. Our last payment on the Sienna is this month, and I was looking forward to not having a car payment.

It's Curtains For You

The walls are painted, the book cases are built, installed, and filled, and the curtains are up.

The computer room is looking good. Light blue and dark brown (chocolate?) do look good together.

Strep

Oh yeah, SKGP has strep throat. On Friday afternoon, near the end of the school day, she started feeling terrible. RCP picked her up, took a look at her, took her temperature (101.4 degrees in her armpit), and took her to the doctor.

The antibiotics are working their magic, and ibuprofin is a pretty miraculous too. She is acting like her normal self, and will go back to school tomorrow.

The neighbor kid in SKGP's calls, Jake, was out on Thursday with a fever. When we told them about the strep, they decided that he's going to the doctor tomorrow.

Christmas Lights

Yesterday we put up the Christmas lights. It was (hopefully) more difficult this year, since we had to figure out where they go and attach the hardware. We went with simple icicle lights from the front door, to the front of the house, across the copper thingy, and around the single garage door.

To attach to the copper thingy, we used stick on hooks. They are a great idea; I hope they work and don't all fall off.

I think it looks pretty good.

I need a tall ladder. Things in this house are high.

Cricket Season

A month or two ago, we were going to a Council meeting in Coalinga. We stopped for dinner at the Red Robin restaurant near Harris Ranch, off of I-5. On the door was a sign that read something like "Please excuse our crickets.". And sure enough, there were crickets all over the restaurant. Strange.

So we get to the council chambers, and sure enough, crickets were hopping around the room during the session.

No one said anything or acted like this was out of the ordinary.

The next trip down, two weeks later, there was no sign of crickets.