Blog

The Gold's Gym in Issaquah is finally open. Joe and I are thrilled to be able to workout together again. It has been almost 7 years since the last time that really happened. The girls love the people who run the kid's club at the gym so they are excited to go. They call it the "Golden Gym". The kid's club experience is an extreme opposite from the last gym where Dahlia screamed so much they needed to page me to retrieve her after only 10 minutes. It works out to be $6 a visit for both the girls for up to 2 hours so we have no excuses now. We will get in shape. Joe is especially excited because the gym has 2 racquetball courts that have anchors in the wall to hang a net for wallyball. I just might have to start playing with Joe.

Dahlia graduated from her preschool Friday. I am usually very stoic
and solid at these events but I have to admit I was really holding
back the tears. My baby is done with preschool. I am not sure how I
will keep it together in September when I put both my girls on the bus
for school for the first time. I have been looking forward to that day
for years but now that it is getting closer it makes me a little sad.

I went in for my yearly mammogram and physical. Everything went well but I found out from my blood test my vitamin D was low. I asked to be tested this year because I had been hearing so much about it lately in the news. The doctor is recommending I take a 1000 IU daily supplement of Vitamin D. It is equivalent to drinking 10 glasses of fortified milk a day. The normal recommended daily dose is 400 IU but many experts now believe that 400 IU is too low. Vitamin D is known to help with calcium absorption but they are also looking into the vitamin's role in boosting the immune system and protecting against cancers, including prostate,breast and ovarian. People living in Northern states have a difficult time getting the vitamin D they need due to the lack of sunshine. In fact any state above 35 degrees latitude doesn't get enough sun from Nov-Feb to allow the skin to produce any vitamin D at all. This includes most of the US except for the southernmost states. To make things more difficult the sunscreen people wear to protect themselves from skin cancer also prevents the absorption of Vitamin D. They are now recommending that people go 10-15 minutes in the sun without protection before slathering on their sunscreen. The rules are constantly changing.

We have not had the best luck with pets lately. The fish I thought we had saved died this weekend along with another fish. Monti and Dahlia received a couple of stick bugs from Dahlia’s preschool about a month ago. I have been swearing the bugs were dead for a week now mocking Monti when she tried to convince me they only appeared dead because they were nocturnal. I was shocked to find out she was totally right ….those bugs were alive. We rushed out and collected some fresh leaves for them to eat. They like blackberry leaves and ivy leaves but ivy is not native to this area. Blackberry leaves can be found almost anywhere around the Northwest.

The stick bugs were alive but not doing too well. The smaller one had only 3 legs from being handled by little girls I assume. At the time of this post I am pretty sure they are now truly dead. The picture of dead stick bugs or dead fish is too depressing so I included these little lizards pleading with us to take them home. Monti is counting down to her 10th birthday when she thinks she will be able to get a Leopard Gecko for her pet. I told her when she was four she had to be 10 before she was responsible enough to have a gecko as a pet. She will try to hold me to it. No more pets for us for a while… just too much death.

What do you do when your fish seems like it is dying? The kids beg for
us to take it to the vet but I can't realistically do that for a $2
fish so I google the symptoms and find out our black and white
spotted Molly has a swimming bladder disease. The poor fish can't
right itself in the water. He gets stuck with his nose face first in
the gravel. It is suggested on the internet that we remove most of the
water in the tank so the water pressure on the fish will be reduced.
In addition the fish can't be fed for a couple days. When he does get
fed his flake food is supposed to be pre-soaked. They also say feeding
the fish peas can help. After about of week of treating the fish he
seems to have recovered. I just wish we could have done something for
our other black and white pet.

As Dahlia has a summer birthday her preschool encouraged her to celebrate her birthday at school today. Everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to her and she brought in birthday donuts to share with everyone. She was extremely disappointed to find out that she truly hadn’t turned 5 yet.

They found me! After 11 years and 5 different addresses the state of Texas finally contacted me regarding a speeding ticket I received in 1997. Unbelievable.

Back in 1997 Apple believed employees needed a break to unwind and relax after working in the stressful environment of computer tech. They provided 6 weeks paid leave to their employees after every 5 years of working. Joe and I spent part of the 6 weeks driving cross country to California. It was a rough trip through Texas. I received the speeding ticket, our rental car was hit, we had limited vegetarian eating options, and Princess Diana died. After paying my $232 I guess I can safely go back to Texas without worrying about warrants for my arrest.

We actually had a dinner date on Saturday night without the kids.
Dahlia's preschool hosts a PJ/pizza party for the kids which allows
the parents to have a couple hours on a weekend night to themselves.
During dinner we were entertained by a a beaver swimming up and down
the Issaquah creek collecting tall grass reeds for his home. It was
too bad the kids were not with us. They would have enjoyed seeing that
little guy work so hard.

Saturday was Monti's first grade picnic at a park on the shores of Lake Sammamish. The weather was chilly but it wasn't raining. So far the weather in June has been lousy for the Seattle area. During the picnic we saw several eagles flying around the large trees overhead. They are always amazing to watch in flight. The kids spent most of their time collecting large bird feathers. Since the picnic Monti has been trying to fly with her hands full of feathers. She told me she dreamt she jumped off the balcony trying to fly. Between the fear of her actually attempting to fly and the sheer filthiness of the feathers I decided to just throw her precious collection away.