Crystal Clear

When Hawii is a PAIN

So my eye is on this little baby: eBay: Schwinn Typhoon Red Cruisernot to mention any other retro RED Schwinn cruiser bike..Did you have any clue as to what a cherry Schwinn Phantom would cost you these days? Just trust me , you will stammer and head out to your garage to see what you have in there that is a Schwinn...I grew up with Schwinns. The first thing I ever bought with money I earned myself over a summer working for my family's company was a yellow 10 speed Schwinn... I remember going down to pick it out and bringing it home. My sister bought the green one, which subsequently I rode in college years later when I went to Arizona State and was hit by a car..Ouch! When I lived in Santa Monica I had a good and nice bike... but I don't recall what brand it was or loving it like I did/do the Schwinn...So yes I have mulled it over whether I just want to get a cruiser bike or a RED cruiser bike or a Red Schwinn cruiser bike... It is terribly sad to me that the bikes they have to buy right now from Schwinn are a silly 2 tone color thing... nyah... nope... I am looking for a RED Schwinn Cruiser bike... the cost of the bike is one thing but the shipping is going to cost me about as much as the bike... so it goes.... I keep an eye out on Craig's list... but it seems to me a great many other late babyboomers are having the same case of retro bike fever I am having... They are just so darn pretty... and shiny.... I am gonna get a cute basket and little bell too! Hey no laughing...

Free is Good for Fanatics and the Rest of You

Via the internet, I have known more than my share of people who pursue shall we say...eccentric past times... One cyber friend is into entering contests and has won some awesome stuff. I was never able to keep it up long enough to get anything as good as her. Another on my August Mommies of 97 e-mail list was known as the Diva of free coupons.

Being a fanatic will get you very far as you can see here. Free stuff was never so easy to find. Shoot from experience I can tell you I knew there has always been a lot of free stuff for babies but I had not a clue it went as far as free wedding stuff! With hundreds of free articles on stuff ranging from free stuff for pets to  free food plan on bookmarking it as well as staying quite a while ot at least until money starts to grow on trees!

Great Find at CouponChief

Ok you guys Halloween is right around the corner... so take a look at BuyCostumes Coupons over at CouponChief. They have a variety of coupons ranging from entering SUP3RMAN for 15% off 65$ which is a pretty standard price for most good quality costumes these days to 5$ off 40$ if you enter MUMMY23 today Sept. 26th.

CouponChief has a great selection to choose from: coupons, online coupons, coupon codes, discounts, deals, etc. The opportunities are categorized by type and by store. Really great bargains are to be had and here in Hawaii I am finding the best way to shop is online. They also have Amazon and Office Depot coupons as well. I am headed off to buy Bryceton's Stormtrooper costume...Nethan is demanding he be a Monster Jam Truck...but we already bought him a Car costume ...back when there was another coupon...Grrr

Doing My Part for the Vast War Machine

My personal roller coaster of Christmas frenzy, exhaustion and hormonal misery is on an upswing this past 1/2 hour  so I decided to take a break from bringing in the Walmart, Sam's Club, and Toys R Us purchases. I am so biting at the bit to address both the track-back from Amanitaand the comment from Caroline, but my new prescription of LexaprX hasn't kicked in yet. I am a bit worried my response would be vitriolic and would embarrass myself or...each of them further...So I will cross my fingers some reader(s) will have a bit of time to help provide Crystal Clear clarity to these two young women who provide  great examples as to what is screwy about the value judgment to have ToBGLAD events during school time. Each lady demonstrates by her own comments why school time is not appropriate for ToBGLAD events.  Although as far as I am concerned they can have ToBGLAD events as often as they like and I am quite certain ToBGLAD day was highly valuable for both the audience and speakers, my post was not about questioning the value of such events. Biting my tongue  keyboard...Even extending the plausibility the majority of Caroline's mistakes were typographical in nature rather than spelling and grammatical, I wish she realized her choice in a lover is only one way people in school and the world are going to look at her...  or discriminate against or for her...What she has to say and how she expresses herself are far more important than her sexual orientation. Grown-ups of any true depth of character and the bottom line in business in the "real" world are going to care more about what type of character she demonstrates and how she contributes or adds to society and the lives of people around her.
     It really is nice Caroline's speech and the ToBGLAD events helped other students widen their horizons and increase both insight and tolerance. However in my opinion, the ToBGLAD panels and events would have provided just as much benefit if they happened outside of school. A cursory glance at both Caroline's and Meredith's observations supports my belief classroom time would have been more appropriately and wisely invested in helping students improve their spelling, grammar and most importantly... critical thinking skills than helping other students know that calling people names such as ___ or ___ while they walk down the hall is not nice and hurts feelings. It seems Crystal Clear to me both young women  could only address the post in a limited and superficial manner. The best time and the appropriate place to learn,develop, and enhance thinking skills is SCHOOL!...My guess is the other industrial countries who scored higher than the USA use SCHOOL time for SCHOOL subjects all the way from elementary through High School...If the American educational system wants to use resources, energy and time for things such as ToBGLAD events, it is not likely we will produce as many top notch scientists and mathematicians as other industrialized countries. However, among other things, it is likely we will produce more and more citizens who feel both appropriately and inappropriately righteous in their feelings but can't adequately present their reasoning, arguments, or intelligently discuss it with those who disagree or hold a different point of view.

A Bit of Retail Therapy Always Seems to Help

I really enjoyed reading all the emails and comments and am oh so glad I seem to have reassured and soothed my needy little inner blogger child. Once again it all really seems to come down to faith... I have it and know that numbers are fun indeed but I really like reading the emails and comments that say I have somehow made a difference or made someone think.... NOW that IS most definitely ME!
Most people would probably think that as a psychotherapist I get a fair enough share of that in my day to day real life work...They would of course be wrong... I love it when I get it but I really don't get it....Hard to explain right now and that is another post to write about but not tonight... Just know that I beam when reading  I make you think and I like to have you make me think just as much which is why I asked for Geneva to share more why she thinks I am quite a sick woman and need to seek psychiatric help. Comments like that don't do anything harmful to me but really genuinely intrigue me....Especially when I take a glance through the list of people who have blogmarked me and the bloggers who have linked me... I am truly honored and genuinely impressed by the quality of writers and people and thinkers who read me and link to me... Many must read me on a pretty regular basis and therein also lies a predicament because those minds deserve something worthy and genuine!
Although Dr. Derdoy had told me on Monday I should call him at his extension on Friday if I hadn't received a call about the scheduling of the Upper GI for Nethan, I was on hold 12 minutes to get to a live person and then was passed back too quickly by someone who could hardly speak English into the loop before being able to explain the situation yet again. The girl was clueless as to what was going on with Nethan and the upper GI series as this last appointment was up here in Ventura and not down at CHELLA. I politely told her I would wait as she found out and insisted Dr. Derdoy had TOLD me to call if I hadn't heard from them about an appointment. I did receive a call yesterday from the CHELLA surgeon's office telling me that Nethan is scheduled to see Dr. Cathy Shin at CHELLA on December 30 so I knew this Upper GI needed to be completed before that date. After another 17 minutes on hold, they put me through to Dr. Derdoy who admitted he had dropped the ball regarding scheduling that appointment and that the girl would schedule it today. I offered to WAIT on the line while they did that but then he acknowledged he hadn't even filled out the request form yet..... After asking and hinting in a strong tone I was reassured I would receive an appointment time by the end of the day. 31 minutes of my time and a good 31 points too I am sure regarding my blood pressure....Nevertheless we now have the Upper GI series scheduled for December 8.
Realizing that surgery is in Nethan's very near future has set me in motion on a number of things. Clearly I am researching and exploring but also came up with the idea that I wanted Nethan to have one of those little build it yourself teddy bears to have with him that would be made by myself and Bryceton. I wanted to imbue it with as much of my love and faith and healing thoughts and prayers as possible... HokeY?  I imagined him sleeping with this teddy and keeping this teddy with him from the time it is presented to him until ...well I guess some unknown future time...I imagined it soft and cuddly beyond belief and  smelling like me and smelling like Bryceton. Therapists call this sort of object a transitional object... However, more humorously I realized it was important to me that he have us with him when he is in surgery and during the test. So darn important to me that I needed him to have this bear today...I originally thought we would make it and give it to him as a Christmas present but nope my anxiety is high enough and I wanted to do something to calm me today!
We headed to the closest workshop and I was surprised at how much Bryceton wanted one of his own. I guess I just think of teddy bears as something for little girls. Wrong on that ...They are awfully cute teddy bears though... The little heart we put into Nethan's I prayed and prayed and prayed on....I rubbed it on my heart and rubbed it on Bryceton's... I kissed it...Bryceton kissed it and about 85$ and an hour later we walked out with two bears we picked out, stuffed, clothed, and named... Bryceton clothed his, Roar Boy ( he put something in it that roars) ,  in a Santa Suit with a beard and glasses and little boots. I didn't put any clothes on Nethan's bear, which I  think I appropriately named Poo Poo. But Nethan loved the little medical bag that came with some little stuffed medical things so I tossed that in to the purchase.  It was a great joy to do this tonight. I love shopping but buying something this  adorable, sweet, and  precious for my boys is extra worthwhile shopping. Bryceton thanked me wholeheartedly and told me how much fun it was to do and how he was surprised by how much fun it was. Will of course be posting the obligatory adorable snapshots tomorrow...Both are sleeping soundly right now with those adorable little bears...

I'd Rather Wear Pajamas

13528141_F_tn, originally uploaded by CrystalClear.

I wish I had thought of this!

Camping is a Stressful & Expensive Hobby

Bryceton's school, Open Classroom, has a charming little tradition of an all school campout during the first part of the school year. I am not as anxious and worried this year as I was last year but still... I d r e a d going on this lovely community building two night outing which starts on Wednesday.
I just don't get IT.
I understand the community building thing and I did honestly feel closer to Bryceton last year after the campout and Bryceton has a total blast camping. BUT I think the same things could just as easily be achieved in some wonderful family friendly resort. A place with showers and no bugs or critters. A place with real beds and no sleeping bags or tents. A place with room service and no cleaning up.
It is not fun for me to have to pack up all this stuff and you know the list is

L O N G...

and then unpack all this stuff and set up camp and then turn around and pack it all up again and come back and unpack

O N C E again

and put it all away....Where is the fun in this?
The souvenirs are bug bites upon bug bites and an extra visit to the chiropractor.
Last year I begged and borrowed a great deal of the major equipment from friends and acquaintances for the first campout. However, I always enjoy an actual bonafide reason to shop and slowly through the rest of the year I started picking up things here and there. By the time of the classroom beach campout I had amassed a fair amount. And now for this trip I am pretty well stocked except for the actual tent. And this will likely be the last time I borrow Claudio's tent. Today's fun campout purchases included such things as a Swiss Army Knife, a solar heated waterbag shower, a folding shovel, a grip of snacking foods, and a large bottle of Cuervo Gold Margarita Mix with the Tequila already mixed in! Last year I followed the school outing rules and did not partake in any alcoholic beverages. On the beach campout I asked a parent in a joking manner whose bright idea it was to not allow beer on the trip and she chuckled and told me that people were indeed imbibing but the key was to do it discretely...So although Vodka might have been a more discrete choice I decided to go with Margaritas since I don't usually drink alcohol and I always enjoy a Margarita.
Part of why I wasn't dreading the trip that much this year is because I figured I had today, Labor Day, to get all packed up. Well I have, as usual, sorely disappointed myself. My time management skills suck and between changing 8 diapers and two changes of clothes before we left the house this morning and feeding them...well I am still looking at a long night ahead both tonight and tomorrow night...Ahh yes... I love my kids I love my kids I love my kids...I just HATE CAMPING!

Crystal Clear Stuff to Buy!

This is just the coolest thing...Having my own store and well the possibilities are just endless... and oh so fun to mess around with...Also you too can have your own store so check it out! I will be adding stuff as I think about it but wanted to just see what it looked like and well looks great! Check it out and let me know what you think or what you would want to buy...After you set up your store link back to me so I can see what you came up with too!!!!
Come visit my store!!!