Happy 11th Birthday Catherine!

My little girl is turning 11. Time for sushi, of course.

What's a dream day like for this kid? An evening dinner out to Tokio Sake for sushi followed by a trip to Barnes and Nobles to use up the $80 in gift cards she received from family and friends.

Other highlights of today: being selected to sub in for the A team for Scholastic Bowl tomorrow against Fox River Grove (Go Catherine!). I had a feeling she might get the bump up to the A team from the B team when one of the moms from another school we played (and beat) told me that my daughter was "on fire" when it came to scholastic bowl.

We had a small party at Clay Monet on Saturday which she enjoyed. It seemed the theme was to paint dragons, but Catherine chose a cat. I broke with tradition and brought Eli's cheesecake samplers for the treats. Cupcakes seemed too young and boring, and a cake was too much for 6 kids. The cheesecakes were very good.

Less dying today, obviously

I went into the office yesterday but I felt weird when I got there. I was dizzy. I felt like I was falling. Bleh. I am drinking tons of water. I had about 32 oz or more yesterday and today as well. No appetite really. Not eating. Bleh. Maybe I am still dehydrated?

However I did have to get party favors at Target for my daughter's 11th birthday party tomorrow so I grabbed my 2 x $1/1 qs and my 2 x $2.50/3 cats (printed from Jewel), and grabbed 8 J&J Bath Buddies Bars for a total of 76 cents (plus tax).

I couldn't help it.....

...it's a sickness

Bleach best to beat norovirus

CBC News - Consumer Life - Bleach best to beat norovirus: study

See, I told you. This stuff is BAD.

How to lose 4 pounds in 6 hours

His name is Norovirus.

I am pretty sure I met him in church on Sunday after shaking hands.

I always wash my hands before fellowship coffee, but that day I used hand sanitizer.

Hand sanitizer does not kill my friend Noro.

His outer skin does not contain lipids (fat) and therefore does not dry out and die when exposed to alcohol-based cleansers.
He visited me 24 hours later.

And left 48 hours later.

Highlights of his visit included:
Vomiting
Vomiting

Vomiting
x 25
Chills
Low-grade fever
Muscle spasms
Diarrhea
Passing out in the bathroom and hitting my head on the tile floor
Wanting to die
Having my husband think I was actually going to die
Being THIS close to going to the ER (better bring a shower curtain for the car)
Oh and wanting to die


Cause I have never, ever, EVER, been so sick for so long, so suddenly
Violently
In my life

Summer Camps

Today was the first day that my husband and I have been able to take a walk outside since November and already I'm worried about getting a jump start on summer camp registration. Something about winter, cold, and snow snow snow doesn't inspire me to start researching camps (even though I know I really should).

My children enjoy camps, which is good, because being a working mom means that I need a fun, safe place for this children during the summer. I've got extremely flexible working hours, which is a blessing, but even when I can work at home more than the two days a week I do now, the kids need something to do or they'll want to spend the day indoors, on the TV or computer (which I limit to one hour a day). A few years ago we tried the summer program offered by the local "mega church" that provides my son's after school care. The after school program was non-religious and offered safe, convenient child care in a facility full of options such as an indoor swimming pool, horse back riding, soccer, baseball, basketball etc. I should add that we are Presbyterians, so a religious after school program was not out of the question, it's just we aren't Bible Baptists. That's a whole 'nother thing.

Unfortunately the summer program offered a WHOLE LOT of Bible Baptist. It turned out that this was where they switched over to their "Come to Jesus" ministry program. I should have known something was up when they never allowed the students of the church's private school to mingle with the non-member children (I can only assume they thought that because we didn't send our children to their church school they were somehow tainted). And the straw that broke the camels back (see how I throw in a religious reference!) was when they started showing the children DVD series that made fun of evolution and told my daughter, who wants to be a geneticist, that scientists were athiests and all going to Hell.

Nice, huh?

So we nixed the denim-wearing Bible fundies and moved to the YMCA down the street, which while more "worldly" has tons of kids, activities and programs that my two enjoyed (including a science program that did not preach the earth was 3,000 years old and Adam had a dinosaur as a pet). I won't say it is a perfect program (some of the music is questionable and some of the children use language that we don't allow) but my children recognize this and we deal with it. Life gives you choices and we teach the children the right ones to make and to recognize the wrong ones. That's part of growing up.

We'll be going back to the Y this year, plus mixing in some theater camp run by the Christian Youth Theater. This is a new one for us, and the kids are really looking forward to drama, singing and dance classes. We've seen several productions already from CYT and they are professional and really outstanding.

I'm also looking into a week at sleepaway camp, also run by another YMCA, about 30 minutes from here. John went to sleepaway camp as a kid (I did not) and really enjoyed it. William is keen on the idea, Catherine not so much. I thought we'd go to the info session and see what we think, tour the camp etc. At $1300 for the week, it isn't cheap, and I'm expecting a lot from it. Still, it makes me nervous to have the kids gone for a week, even though this is sort of a cool thing to do as a kid.

Anyone have any good sleepaway camp stories to share?

Organic Thursday: Whole Foods Printable Coupons

Whole Foods online coupons have been updated again! Here is a list of the current coupons offered.

• $1.00 off any ONE (1) 18-oz jar 365 Everyday Value® Organic Peanut Butter
• $1.00 off any ONE (1) Lightlife Products
• $1.00 off any ONE (1) 4-pack of Stonyfield YoBaby Meals Organic Yogurt
• Buy any FOUR (4) Brown Cow Yogurt Cups, Get ONE (1) FREE
• $1.00 off any ONE (1) 4.25 oz. Box of Blue Diamond® Nut Thins®
• $1.50 off any TWO (2) Nature’s Path Organic Cereal items
• $1.00 off any TWO (2) 32 oz. Helios Kefir Products
• 50¢ off any ONE (1) LUNA® Bar or LUNA® Protein Bar
• $1.00 off any ONE (1) Organic Valley Cheese 6oz or larger
• $1.50 off any TWO (2) Nasoya Products
• 75¢ off any TWO (2) flavors/varieties LARABAR® or JOCALAT® bars
• $1.00 off any ONE (1) Michael Angelo's Frozen Entrée or Pocket Calzone
• $1.00 off any ONE (1) Seventh Generation Disinfecting Product (Sprays and Wipes)
• $5.00 off any ONE (1) Vitamin Code Raw Multivitamins (EXCLUDES Targeted Nutrient Formulas)

Your Bucks apologizes

Well, sort of...

Dear Valued YourBucks Member,

As a result of an email that we provided earlier, we have received feedback from some of our valued consumers. We apologize for the way in which we communicated the change in some of the offers now available to you on the YourBucks website. While the Terms and Conditions of the YourBucks program allow the Store to modify an offer, we regret suggesting that there was any improper use of the program by our YourBucks consumers.

Thank you for your support. We hope that you will continue to enjoy the YourBucks program.

Very truly yours,

Debra Friar
VP, CPG New Development

The fact of the matter is they screwed up and blamed the consumer for their own problems.

PS: Your Bucks is STILL giving you $1 for every 89c you spend on Sauve. I guess I'll get the blame for that, too.