Histrionic Personality Disorder, That's Me

So, I took a personality test that Nicole Posted on her blog, and look, I have "Histrionic Disorder". Read about it and then take the test yourself.

• People with histrionic personality disorder are constant attention seekers. They need to be the center of attention all the time, often interrupting others in order to dominate the conversation. They use grandiose language to discribe everyday events and seek constant praise. They may dress provacatively or exaggerate illnesses in order to gain attention. Histrionics also tend to exaggerate friendships and relationships, believing that everyone loves them. They are often manipulative.

Disorder	Rating
Histrionic Disorder:	High
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! -- -- Personality Disorders --

Song Time

Both kids were feeling a little theatrical the other evening. DQ was repeatedly singing "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and The Beast over and over again. Here are two different "takes" of her song.
Take 1 - DQ sings "Be Our Guest"
Take 3 - DQ sings "Be Our Guest"

PM had to get in the action as well. He started with some made up "Go, go power rangers" song that made him sound kind of babyish. He then moved on to "What A Mighty God We Serve" that he learned at school. His finale was my favorite, "You Are My Sunshine".
PM Sings "What A Mighty God We Serve"
PM Sings "You Are My Sunshine"

Two New Favorite Recipes

Yesterday, I decided to delve into cooking/baking for the afternoon. I absolutely love to try out new yummy recipes and am very happy in the kitchen, unless my crazy kids are under my feet, then I just want to throw them in the pot right along with whatever I am making!

Yesterday, I made Pioneer Woman's version of The Best Lasagna Ever and The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever. Let me tell you, they were awesome!

I don't have pictures of the wonderful results of my afternoon in the kitchen because my family, along with one of our neighboring families, devoured most of what was there. But, I can tell you that I was quite skeptical of the lasagna, because it is made with cottage cheese and it has 2 1/2 lbs of meat in it and only two layers of noodles. But, it was absolutely amazing!!!!

The chocolate sheet cake was to die for too! It was warm and gooey and sweet and, and, and... All four kids devoured theirs and all four adults too. In fact, the two male adults (BD was one of these) had more than one helping of this as well as the lasagna. The only thing I would say is the next time I make this sheet cake (yes, I am planning already), I will serve it with some Edy's Slow Churned French Vanilla Ice Cream. Then, I think I may really experience a food orgasm!

Loving this song/video!

Conspiracy Theory

Yes, I am crazy this way. But, does anyone else find it awfully coincidental that Britain announces their plan for troop withdrawal from Iraq about the same time as the announcement that Prince Harry will go over there?

Also, why do I keep typing Iraq as Iraz??

A Few Funnies

First, for some reason tonight while DQ was soaking in the tub and I was cleaning out goldfish bowls (why don't ours die???), she had an interesting question. She asked if all daddies were taller than mommies. I told her not necessarily. She told me that her teacher said that mommies are always taller than daddies. I hate to debunk a teacher, but I told her this wasn't always the case and started trying to think of some. Out of the blue she says, M's mommy is taller than his daddy isn't she. I was very happy and agreed. I had a fading moment of feeling proud though as the next words out of her mouth were "well, his daddy is fat, so that must be why he can't grow as tall...". Yeah, I am raising my kid real well.

Then, while laying with PM putting him to bed tonight we were talking about Disney (since we are going in March) and all of the characters he is going to see. He is especially excited about seeing the Power Rangers. I mentioned the princesses and he "yuck"ed to them. I finally was asking who his favorite princess is and he replied with Princess Jasmine. When I asked why, he said because all the other princesses besides Jasmine and Ariel wear dresses. To that of course BD replied "that's my boy!". Yep, raising them well...

Back from the dead (well almost)

Friday I wasn't feeling all that well, but decided to go ahead and tough it out (as we mothers tend to do) and head out to a restaurant after my kids basketball game. I met about 6 other mothers there and we proceeded to have a wonderful time. After one glass of Pinot Noir and two margaritas, I called it quits on the drinking and headed for a potty break. When I came back, another margarita had magically appeared. I tried to drink a sip, but realized that no, I didn't want or need it, so I passed it off. That should have been a clue that I really was sick. Instead of fessing up, I headed home and crawled in bed, thinking I would be fine by the morning.

WRONG! At 2AM, I was up puking my guts out and had a fever of 102.2 (which for me is really high because my normal range is 96.5 - 97.3). So, after getting BD to get me the only adult medicine we had in the house, Aleve, and an extra blanket, I drifted back off into oblivion. BD slept on the couch and called the doctor at 8AM to find out what time their Urgent Care opened. I dragged myself out of bed and to the urgent care. Luckily, getting there before 8:30 allows you to not have to wait hours on end. Turns out my enormous tonsils were seething with the lovely strep bacteria yet again. So, back on antibiotics it was for me.

That was Saturday morning. Today, my fever has only been up to 99.5. Yeah! Seriously, at least I don't feel like I want to shoot myself anymore... I'll be back with more humor hopefully in the next few days. Right now though, I need to evacuate the room I am in on the computer because it also houses my cats litter box and she just left a heft deposit in there!

Still got my house!

Well, I didn't have to sign over my house to PM yesterday to get him to do the allergy testing, just promise him a chocolate dipped cone at McDonald's. Lucky me, I went to McDonald's with the kids. While they ate their chicken nuggets, french fries and milk, I had an entire big mac, all of my medium fries and some sprite. Then, after eating all of their food, they got chocolate dipped cones and I got an Oreo McFlurry! I felt awful later. I guess that is what you would probably call binge eating. I ended up sitting on the toilet with a tummy ache for about thirty minutes after they went to bed. (I know, TMI.) And, my stomach was hurting this morning again.

Oh, so you want to know about PM's allergy testing? Well, the moment the nurse called us back, he started crying. Yeah, crying and clinging to me. It took all I could to get him to get on the scale to be weighed and measured! He was forty pounds on the nose!

After answering the ten thousand questions from the allergy doctor (who by the way, had no sense of humor whatsoever and drove me made me feel like a failing comedian on stage getting booed off!), we proceeded to the actual allergy testing. Here he is after they wrote on his back and put the various spots on:
Here is his arm that they had to do after nothing happened on his back, not even the control. I think the lady was trying to be too gentle and didn't puncture the skin on a lot of them. I was glad they re-did the milk, eggs and nuts on his arm.
And, lastly, here he is holding his prize for being good and waiting for the results to be read.
So, does he have any allergies you ask? Nope. The kid just has eczema and asthma because he does. Did you know that the white marks left by eczema are there because it destroys the pigment in the skin and it can take about a year for it to return? Yep, my son the leper. I'll have to take pictures of the back of his legs sometime for you to see how lovely it looks.

(side note: these pictures were taken with the camera on my phone, so sorry about the poor quality...)

Girls Weekend Recap - Part III - Saved the Best for Last

So, Friday night, I had prepared Carmel French Toast that I baked Saturday morning for the girls and the family. The recipe is included at the bottom of this post. I wish I had taken pictures, maybe next time...

Anyway, after a big breakfast, the girls and I headed to Lowe's Motor Speedway. Now, none of us are into NASCAR, but we all thought that for $5 a tour with a drive around the track would be fun. It was FREEZING outside, but we went anyway. We hopped in a van with about 8 other people and headed out for the tour. Our tour guide was great. He showed us everything and explained what things were. He drove onto the track and up one of the corners for us to feel the banking of the track. Then, he proceeded to drive the van at about 80 mph around the track one time. It was pretty cool. But, then, we went to the winners circle. While we were down there taking pictures and all the Richard Petty driving experience people invited us down to take a look at the cars close and personal. That was awesome! We each climbed in the cars and took pictures and all. Of course, the men were flirting with us three good-lookin women and invited us back to watch the driving experience and they would let us help change tires. We thought about it, but really didn't have time.

After the Speedway and subsequent gift shopping by L, we headed to Concord Mills for a little shopping and lunch. From there, we hit Northlake Mall and then headed home. We got home around 6PM and proceeded to get ready for a night on the town. We headed to uptown Charlotte (notice it isn't downtown, but uptown, that's a whole other post) for dinner at Mert's. We had to walk about a block and a half to Mert's from the parking deck and B was complaining because she was on medicine for a sinus infection. During dinner, she decided she really couldn't walk the block and a half to the dance club in the cold (we had left our coats in the car) and insisted we take a cab. Anyway, $6.60 later, we arrived at The Breakfast Club. We were some of the first people there, as L had called and their message said to arrive early as they expected to sell out since it was their 4th anniversary party.

The place was really awesome! The bartender was great and the atmosphere is amazing. It is ALL 80's! We had some drinks, chatted and watched 80's videos until we finally got the urge to dance. They had Madonna, Billy Idol, Pat Benetar & Joan Jet impersonators. They really went all out. In the dance area, the movie "The Breakfast Club" played on one wall over and over. The other showed usually the video for what song was playing while the other showed old shows from the 80's (Fraggle Rock was on for a while!). We had a blast! In fact, we didn't get back to my house until 2:30 AM! Yes, you read that right, 2:30 in the fucking morning! On the way home, we swung by the Taco Bell drive through, as we were starving. When we arrived home BD was just trying to get PM back to sleep, who had woken up. So, I got to deal with that and PM ended up in our bed. I would guess he had a bad dream. Then, DQ got up after B finished in the bathroom and I had to get her back to sleep. Lucky me. I did sleep until about 7:30 on Sunday though.

Here is a lovely "drunk" self-portrait of us on the dance floor. I say "drunk" in quotes because I wasn't drunk because I had to drive home!
The girls and I headed first to the South Carolina state line and then to SouthPark Mall on Sunday. We shopped some, B bought a small silver ring at Tiffany for herself. Oh to be single again... We had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and then I dropped the girls off at the airport. When I got home, the kids and BD graciously let me take an hour long nap. That was very sweet of them! I then made them a fabulous lasagna dinner, so they should do that more often!

Here is the recipe for Carmel French Toast:

Ingredients
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 stick of margarine/butter
2 1/4 Tablespoon Light Corn Syrup (I use Karo)
10 (1 3/4 inch) slices of French Bread
4 Eggs Beaten
2 1/2 cup of milk or cream
1 Tablespoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of salt
3 Tablespoons of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/4 cup margarine/butter (melted)

Steps

1. In a saucepan combine the first three ingredients (brown sugar, margarine/butter, corn syrup). Stir constantly over medium heat until bubbly.
2. Pour mixture into baking dish. Arrange bread slices on top of
3. mixture in baking dish.
4. In a mixing bowl, mix eggs, milk/cream vanilla
5. and salt until well blended. Pour mixture on top of bread slices.
6. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over bread (I mixed the cinnamon and sugar together before sprinkling over bread).
   
7. Chill mixture overnight.
8. The next morning, cover with the melted butter and bake on 350 for 45-50 minutes. Enjoy!

Girls Weekend Recap - Part II

Where did I leave off? Oh, yes, heading to Mt. Airy. On the way there, L wanted to stop at a dollar store to purchase an inflated Happy Birthday balloon for her mom who passed away just over a year ago. She would later let it go at my house outside, alone.

Here is a lovely shot of the stream at Shelton Vineyards from earlier in the day, taken by L.

We decided our next stop would be the Old North State Winery. But, before going tasting, we decided to have lunch. We soon discovered that Mt. Airy is the home/birthplace of Andy Griffith. So, what better place to have lunch than Barney's Cafe? It was a quaint little place that had a decent menu and low prices. The ladies room was under some stairs, so you had to duck your head just to wash your hands. After eating, the owner of the place started to fill us in on some local attractions. We were given a map and he pointed out a few things we might want to see, like Floyd's Barber Shop, Mayberry Sherriff's car, World's Largest Open Face Rock Quarry, etc...

We headed off and stopped first at "The Emporium" where they had tons of little shops within one big building. It was a completely adorable place to wander around, but I was good and didn't buy anything (can you believe it?). From there, we walked down to Old North State Winery. This winery doesn't grow their own grapes, but rather they purchase them from various local growers. They make the wine in the basemen to the place. Apparently, a long time ago and I don't remember the year, as the building was built in the 1890's, there was an explosion under the building. Well, while they were renovating for the winery, again, don't remember the year, they found a skeleton arm. On the bottle of one of the wines I purchased is this skeleton arm.

After the winery, we hopped in the car (it was freezing outside!) and drove to the world's largest open face granite quarry at The North Carolina Granite Corporation. We drove down the little road next to the quarry to get a better look. It was pretty neat to see, but I was too cold to look very much. I believe the granite from this quarry was used to build the Washington Monument or something, but I can't find it on their site. I did think that this little tidbit about the quarry was funny though:

• The Rock, as it is known affectionately by local citizens, was once considered a white elephant when it was purchased in 1849 by Robert S. Gilmer. He was so angry when he found this “big white rock” on what he thought was a farm, that he insisted the seller give him part of his money back. So the story goes, that the huge Mount Airy White Quarry was bought for zero.

After leaving the quarry, my van was COVERED in white powder. Here are a few pictures:

**

The back of my van had a layer about 1/2" thick resting on the top of the back bumper. When I got home, BD told me there was no way he was washing it and that I had better take it to a car wash.

After our visit to the granite quarry, we headed over to visit the Mayberry Sherrif's car. You can actually pay for a tour that drives you around Mt. Airy (Mayberry) in the Sherrif's car. We didn't have time for all of that, but I did get a picture of the car, with the driver, before they left for a tour.
While at the Sherrif's car, we had a slight little mishap. My van doors open with buttons that are located in the front of the van, on my keychain and next to the doors themselves. I typically have the child safety locks on and therefore the buttons by the doors don't work. Well, since B was sitting back there, I had to constantly open her door for her. It was at this point that I forgot. L and I ran over to the car and snapped our pictures, then hopped back in the van. We were wondering why she didn't get out when she said, "mom didn't let me out!". At the time it was hilarious and L is still laughing about it today.

We had to hurry at this point because we needed to be back by 6PM for PM and DQ's basketball game. I wanted to get L over the Virginia border, since we were so close. We made it.
And, very quickly after snapping that picture, she also snapped this one as we headed back to the kids basketball game.
One last picture, before I leave you for the day. This one was taken Thursday night when we went out to On The Border for dinner. I think we look cute! L is on the left, I am in the middle and B is on the right.

Girls Weekend Recap - Part I

I'll have to break up the stories from the weekend into a few posts on a few days, as there was so much!

My two childhood friends arrived on Thursday afternoon. After taking them to my home, we went to pick up the kids from school. The kids were so funny because they were so shy! After BD got home from work, my friends and I headed to On The Border for dinner. My one friend, B, is addicted to that place. They don't have one near where she lives, so whenever she comes she insists on eating there. We were pretty good, each with only one margarita.

Friday, after waiting for B to finish getting ready (she is notoriously slow), we dropped the kids off at school and headed out for the day. We started with a big breakfast at Cracker Barrel. You can't go wine tasting on an empty stomach! We then headed about an hour and forty five minutes north to Shelton Vineyards. The grounds were beautiful, but it was just way too cold to go for an outside tour and such. We each sampled five different wines and B and L were taught the art of wine tasting (you know the five S's: see, swirl, smell, swish, spit), only we didn't spit, we swallowed (can you imagine the google hits I am going to get with that phrase?). I wasn't super fond of their wines, but I did end up buying a nice house red from them. I am typically a huge Pinot Noir fan, but it just didn't hit me right then. The tasting room and gift shop area is just beautiful there, although it would be really nice if they had stools for you to sit on during your tasting instead of making you stand at the counter.

We left Shelton Vineyards and headed a quick hop down the road to a little horse accessory shop. L's daughter, who is the same age as PM, really loves horses. She was hoping to find her some type of t-shirt or necklace. Unfortunately, this shop was more for the horse owner than just the city horse lover. We were back in the car pretty quickly.

From there, we drove about 5-10 minutes down the road to Black Wolf Vineyards. They do not offer tours, but you can do a tasting at the restaurant. I would have to say that I enjoyed the way this tasting was done, but really wish that the waitress would have been a little more attentive to just the tasting rather than serving food and such to the other tables. We were seated at a little round table in the room in front of the fireplace. On one wall was a stuffed/mounted boars head. Above the fireplace was a stuffed/mounted wild turkey. The building was a log cabin and really reminded me of a nice hunters lodge. The food smelled and looked divine, but we decided to not eat lunch there and wait. I ended up not purchasing any wine from this stop, but both B & L did. They had a wine that was a savignon blanc with a hint of peach that they both loved.
After we left that winery, we headed to Mount Airy in search of lunch and yet another winery. I'll continue here in the next entry.

Girls Weekend!

Two of my oldest friends are flying in this afternoon for the weekend. The one, L, I have known since 3rd grade. The other, B, I have known since junior high. We have a full agenda for the weekend which includes, dinners, wine tasting hopping (yeah, I mean go from a tasting room at one winery to another), shopping and dancing. I'll be taking along my trusty camera, and though while not a DSLR, it should do the trick to provide us with some wonderful shots!

In case you are wondering where in NC you can visit wineries, that would be called Yadkin Valley. I hope we have a great time!

It's Over

Quincy is gone.

BD and I met at the house yesterday at 4:00. We played with him a little bit before heading off to the vet. We talked with the vet for quite a while before the procedure. Basically, Quincy had Alzheimer's we believe. The vet also said that it was not a question of "if" he would bite again, but "when" and "who", so we decided to go ahead and put him down with his dignity instead of letting him get worse and be miserable.

I'll warn you now, I am going to give you every detail of what happened, so if you don't want to know, stop reading now.

The nurse first gave him a strong sedative and within a minute he could barely stand, so I picked him up and held him. After another minute or so, he was completely still in my arms. His head was resting on my arm and he was drooling all over me. One of his nervous tendancies is to lick, and he did so. Unfortunately, the sedative was so strong that it got to a point where he couldn't lick anymore and his tongue was sticking out and moving all around. That part was actually kind of funny to see, but sad at the same time. I placed my hand in front of his tongue so that he could lick me. The nurse had said the vet would be in after 5 minutes, but after almost 10 he wasn't there and Quincy started to cry. Yes, my dog cried. Quincy has always been able to scream and cry. As part of his separation anxiety, he cried and screamed a lot. Well, he was crying and I couldn't take it. I told BD to go and get someone to come in and get it over with. The whole point was to not have Quincy be scared or in any pain and that was not working!

So, the vet came in and we placed him on the table. BD left the room at this point after saying goodbye. I stood in front of him at eye level and petted him and told him I loved him as they injected the pink solution into his shaved arm. A tear that had built up in the corner of his eye while I was holding him ran down his face at this point. I will never forget that one single tear as his life faded away. The vet verified that his heart had stopped after a few moments and he was gone. The vet also said he had never seen a dog cry. Quincy was one hell of a special dog.

We left and drove over to pick up the kids from school. We didn't tell them right away. Instead, we picked up McDonald's and headed home. We let them eat dinner and finish before we told them and let Buddy (our other dog) inside. They were sad, but it didn't really hit PM until he went to bed. PM did decide that God has given Quincy a very large pile of trash in heaven for him to eat and play in.

We will pick up his cremated remains later this week and bury him in our backyard. I hope this will provide closure for the kids. I don't know how long it will take me to get over it. It will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. I know, that is a little dramatic, but really that is how I feel right now. I will leave you with first a picture of him sleeping in the sun in our foyer this past Sunday:

And another of Quincy and Buddy together this past Sunday:

Hyperventilating

I am feeling short of breath and completely nervous about this afternoon. We have an appointment scheduled with the vet at 4:30.

How can I choose for Quincy to die? How can I execute him? This is the hardest decision I have ever made in my life and BD is of no help. Since he didn't see the bite actually happen, he said he is relying on my judgment if Quincy was really aggressive or not. Damn him! I really think the dog would be fine for a while longer, but how much longer? When is too long? Do I need to wait until he really hurts someone or one of the kids?

This is so difficult. I am going to have him put down and I will pray that this is the right decision for all involved. I just can't send him to a pound, knowing he will be completely freaked out (he has terrible separation anxiety) and scared. He definitely won't pass their aggressiveness tests.

Please keep us in your thoughts this afternoon as BD and I take him to the vet. I am going to comfort him the entire time and try to make this easier on him. I do love this dog.

Depressing Week

It will be a sad week at our house this week. We are going to put our beagle down. Our beagle, who will be 12 on Friday is just too senile and aggressive now. Don't get me wrong, he isn't doing anything horrible to the kids, in fact the damn dog is great with them. But, he bit me on Saturday. He was trying to get in the trash (which is in a pull-out drawer in our kitchen) and I was standing right next to it. I picked him up by the scruff of his neck to take him away and he turned his head and grabbed my middle finger on the other hand and clamped down. He didn't just bite and let go either, he was like gnawing on it.

I freaked out because when I was in 5th grade I was almost killed when a dog bit me in the head and I guess the emotions came back from all of that. Dammit! Every time I start to think about it I start crying! I HATE BEING WEEPY!

Anyway, we had said a long time ago that if he ever bit anyone we would have to get rid of him because we can't risk one of the kids or their friends getting bit. So, BD says he is going to call the vet and take him one day this week while the kids are at school.

As much as I "hate" this dog, I do love him too. He was my "baby". We got him when we moved into our first house back in 1995. He was about 10 months old at the time. As I sit here typing this, I am looking at a picture of BD holding him on the couch at our first house just grinning from ear to ear. I know he really loves this dog. And, here is a classic showing his typical self trying to get someone's food:


But, we really can't risk something happening.

Here he is as a puppy:

Absolutely Beautiful

Here is what is written about it on YouTube:
"Young@Heart sing 'Fix You' by Coldplay.

This is from a documentary shown on Channel 4 in the UK called 'Young@Heart'; the name of the New England octogenarian chorus line. The performer here is Fred Knittle, who suffers from congestive heart failure. This song was intended to be a duet between Fred and another chorus member, Bob Salvini. Sadly, Bob died of a heart attack and it was left to Fred to carry the song on his own. If I'm correct, the people you see crying at 01:13 are Bob's family. The lady you occasionally see mouthing the lyrics in the audience is Fred's wife.

There were some very touching scenes where we see Fred rehearsing alone soon after Bob's death. It was an incredible film."

It Snowed!

The kids were so excited you would have thought it was Christmas morning. DQ was bouncing up and down on my bed on her knees just screaming for me to come and see the snow. They had a lot of fun, but it was pretty short lived. While we were out, the precipitation changed to sleet, then back to snow and then back to sleet. Eventually, it became just a cold rain.

So, I have had my fill for the year. Summer can come now. (Aren't I easy to please?)

A few shots from the kids fun morning: