Long, boring post ahead...

I am exhausted. Totally exhausted!

Today was a great homeschooling day. Opened my eyes at 6 am to see the most amazing sunrise over the mountains. The clouds were brilliant orange and there was a dusting of snow on the tops of the mountains. I sleep on the couch and when I wake up the first thing I see is the mountains. Then I fell back to sleep until 7.

I got up, made coffee, checked email. Then I went upstairs with my coffee, climbed back under the covers and sat on the couch with the puppy and just absorbed the silence. Finally got up, went down and fed the birds, woke up Jason. Then woke up Hailey and Syd.

We got ourselves showered and dressed and were on the road to the zoo by 9. It is 45 minutes from Sultan to Seattle. By the time we left it was drizzling. By the time we hit the next town it was pouring. We were supposed to meet wildcraft, aka Kara from yomamasays, but I forgot her number and wasn't sure she would make it with the rain. We have a pass, so I figured what the hell we would go rain or no rain, Kara or no Kara.

She was there. This was the first time meeting her and she was awsome. Her kid was adorable. She even forgave me for calling him a her over and over. We managed to hit almost the whole zoo because her kid is as much as a fireball as Syd and he just kept going and going.

Finally he started to meltdown, so we said our goodbyes and then the kids and I hit the nocturnal house. On the way we flagged down a zoo keeper to tell them about the snow leopards. When we were watching the leopards we saw one get his paw hopelessly stuck in the mush on the top of the habitat (woodland park zoo is awsome and all of the animals have big, natural habitats to live in). He started to growl and really struggle and another leopard actually came to his rescue and chewed him out. That was amazing to watch, but there were two problems...one, it was dangerous for the cats and two, there was now a hole in the top of the enclosure.

Anyway, after that we headed to my grandmas. The kids and I laughed and talked all the way to grandmas. (I have awsome kids!) I help grandma once a week. (She is preparing to move near me soon..YAY!) We went out to lunch and then I cleaned her house. I left there at 4:30, stopped at Staples to do some copying and then hit the grocery store to get Jason some stuff for his lunch tomorrow.

Kids kept me laughing all the way home and Syd asked a million quesions before she finally conked out.

Got home and realized we had NOTHING for dinner. Went back out with Shawn and bought food (keep in mind we live 15 minutes from the nearest decent grocery store). Got home at 8.

Found cops everywhere and a car in the ditch. Seems that someone stole a car and crashed it right across from out house. The cops were out in force looking for the guy. With any luck it is the same creep that took my car and with any luck my car will be home soon...yeah right. And with any luck syd will go to bed tonight and I will find money I forgot about.

Now I must go put the beast, er I mean Sydney, to bed. Then I will eat my weight in coco pebbles and wash it down with cherry cider.

Last night Sydney (age 5)  and I were sitting by the fireplace reading books. When we were done I told her to brush her teeth, I meant to tell her to finish up her orange and then brush her teeth. She said, "Mom, don't you mean 'finish your orange'?"

Me: Yes

Her: (very seriously) Mom, why do you forget all the time?

Me: I don't know.

Her: (very, very earnestly while putting her arm around me) I think it is because you are getting old.

She was so serious and caring when she said it. She cracks me up.

I posted this on lj too, so if you read it twice I apologize. (by the way, did I mention that xanga does not like my computer? The screen won't fit and it is making me nutty.)

Ok on with the post...

I promised I would get over my car being stolen and not post whiny, poor me, crybaby rants here, but this is about a car seat and not the car. Fair enough?

So Shawn got the mighty, might dirty van running today, also known as a 1989 VW Vanagon that I LOVE...even though it smells rather horrid. Actually it smells REALLY horrid and the inside really, really needs a major steam cleaning.

But I digress, the problem is that it only has lap belts in the back seats and I can't find a single booster seat that will work with a lap belt. Syd weighs 45 pounds, so she is too big for the 5-point harness. She has to have a booster. With my other kids I had this seat with this big piece of padded plastic that went around the front. The lap belt went across the front of the plastic. I still have one, but I recently read that they aren't safe. Apparently the upper body is not secured enough and the child can either fly out or suffer some pretty sever whiplash or chest injuries. (nice huh? I had one for both of my older kids and they were the rage at the time.)

So for now I bought her a high back booster, but she will have to sit in the front seat. Obviously the mighty, mighty dirty van does not have airbags, but it also doesn't have an engine in front to absorb impact. I worry! I worry a lot.

This is  tough because, not only do I make my kids use a booster until age six,but they recently passed a law saying that a kid has to be in a booster until age 8. We will be putting shoulder belts in the back when we can, but I am not sure when that will be. It isn't cheap.

Does anyone know of a good booster that works with a lap belt? And if so, can you give me the name or a link?

Thanks!

PS to all of you that I owe emails and replys to, they are coming soon!

No time to post now. Just wanted to say that life is better. The brown cloud has moved a few inches to the south...not too far, but a few inches.

Now that I have some nice, high powered allergy pills and it looks as though we will be able to get the van running life is looking up.

Yay!

Stay tuned for the story of the bullfrog in the garage and the tortoise eggs homeschool project.

Do you ever feel like the whole world is against you?

Do you ever feel like bad luck is the only luck you will ever have?

Do you ever feel like a large brown cloud is following you all of the time just waiting to drench you is shit?

Do you ever feel like just giving up?

Tonight I feel like that. I am not looking for pity. It is just how I feel tonight.

((Oh and xanga is very difficult to use. It doesn't fit on my screen right, so posting is a huge pain in the ass (see even xanga is against me). I keep getting frustrated with it. Livejournal is way easier, so if I don't post much here come look for me there...))