104.5 / 23.9% - Zane, aka "Tooth-Lip"

Tomorrow I take Tooth-Lip to the dentist so the very in-denial doc can see that YES, Zane's tooth is embedded in his lip (which was cut all the way through from inside his mouth to just below the bottom of his lip on the outside about a month ago), which has now healed over.  (I wondered why it was still so swollen in that one spot.)  Doc was in great denial on the telephone, saying it's just scar tissue (he had x-rayed in his office the day of the trauma).  Can't wait to see the look on his face when he realizes it really is the half of Zane's tooth that was never found when he got his faced smashed onto the back of a chair.  Am I still a little upset about that?  Yeah.  But, I have to admit, the whole Tooth-Lip thing is kinda funny.  Zane just wants to leave it in there.  So not happening.  It's huge.

In other "Zane" news, he won't leave me alone about a freaking iPad.  I told him months ago to save up for it.  He had enough money between Christmas and his birthday to have the cash by now, but he bought an iTouch, and blew the rest on silly little things, like iPod apps and video games.  Poor kid; his mom has apparently taught him nothing about saving up for things you really want or delaying gratification or avoiding impulse buying.  Shame on me her.

Doctor, Doctor, Gimme the News

I'm trying really hard to see the sunny side, seriously, I am. But it's only 10:15 a.m. and the day already sucks.

7:30 a.m. doctor appointment for me: a follow-up to get test results. Not good. Ultrasound showed I have something called "hydrosalpinx" of the left fallopian tube. This can mean 1 of 4 different things, one of which was a rare form of cancer. So of course now I'm scared that that's what it is. Following up with Gyn in a week-point-five. The healthy thing would be to NOT WORRY about it until I know for sure what's going on. Unfortunately, I'm not healthy in that way.

So I get home at 8:05 a.m. from my doc and Zane is sorting through some of my costume jewelry to wear to school for Switch Day. He finds an old silver ring, very tarnished and I tell him to polish it with a silver polishing cloth. He pulls a cloth out from the dispenser, but 2 come out, so he pokes one back in with his finger. OOPS! Finger is now stuck in VERY rigid plastic prongs and when he tries to pull the finger back out, they chew into his finger angrily.

Crap.

I look for something sharp to cut the prongs with, which is going to be difficult since they're so tight on his finger. Scissors aren't sharp enough. I'm afraid to try my box cutter. Zane is yowling in pain.

Off to Urgent Care we go (which is right next door to the doc I had just come from). We get there at 8:45; it doesn't open 'til 9.

We sit. We wait. We worry. We pace before the door. The nurse/receptionist sees us and lets us in and takes a good look at Z's finger.

By the time we get inside and present payment, Zane's finger is BLUE/GRAY. The doc still hasn't arrived.

Doc arrives at 9 and we go back around 9:01. Doc pulls out some heavy duty cutters and within a couple minutes, Zane's blue finger is free. Doc keeps us there to make sure the finger regains circulation. Checks his pulse-ox a couple times. Gives him Tylenol. Tells us a funny story about his little brother who once got his HEAD stuck in a similar fashion. Hehehe. Not funny, but hehehehe.

We take Allie to school and Zane comes home with me. He can't write with the finger, anyway, so what the heck. He's a little traumatized. I'm a little traumatized.

And now I have to spend the day trying to get my deadline work done before I take Allie to the eye doc at 4.

Where's the freaking CALGON and how soon can it take me away?

Zoots, the World's Greatest Trumpet Player and Cookie Baker

Todd & I got Zane a drum set four Christmases ago. He took some lessons in Mesa, then continued in Virginia when we moved. When we came back to AZ, I never hooked him back up with lessons, so the drums have been mostly sitting in the garage for the past year and a half. Such a shame, because Zane was REALLY talented on the drums.

So this year, he decided to take band. I was so happy! The drums would finally be used again on a regular basis, right? Uh-uh. Zane decided to learn the trumpet.

Bryce thinks Zane's trumpeting is absolutely brilliant!

But his real skills lie in cookie making:

He's seriously giving Allie some competition!

Home Safe and Sound

A & Z arrived home Saturday afternoon. I was on pins and needles waiting at the gate for their plane to land. It arrived a few minutes early and as it pulled up to the walkway thingie (what do you call that, anyway?) I went to the door and scanned the faces coming up the walk. As usual, because they fly UM (Unaccompanied Minor), they were last off the plane. I saw Allie first and burst into tears. She came RUNNING to me and I squeezed her so tight. Then, I reached for Zane, but the flight attendant said, "Not until you sign the release." She was KIDDING but Zane (like me) is so literal minded, that Zane backed away from me. LOL! The FA told him she was kidding, so he came and hugged me. His hair is soooo long! And Allie looks even more grown up than ever. Six weeks sounds like just a short time, but things do change.

Bryce wouldn't let Zane put him down for anything! He clung to Z fiercely and wouldn't even let Todd take him. Now he follows him around the house. Today, Zane was a minute or two late coming out of Church, and the rest of us were already waiting in the car. Bryce pointed to Zane's seat and asked, "Where's Zane?" He was so concerned. CUTE!


Allie's friend Cayli came with us; I think she missed Al this summer! The girls hung out most of Saturday. They even let me hang with them a bit ;o) I recorded A playing a few of the songs she learned this summer on her guitar (her aunt Chris bought her one in Virginia). I'll have those videos up soon...maybe tomorrow. Right now, I'm sick with a nasty cold and quite miserable. Couldn't resist putting up a couple pix, though!

Allie & Zane Playing Enter Sandman

This was the first time they tried playing music together and I think they did pretty well!

Diggin' on my Lumix camera

So I had my doubts when we bought the Panasonic Lumix F33 at Costco a couple weeks ago (when we thought Todd lost the old camera at Father/Son's campout; we found it, by the way). The name 'Panasonic' doesn't instill camera confidence in me, but the Leica lens mounted grandly on the front convinced me to give it a try. I'm glad I did. I really like this camera. It has no manual settings (a major bummer for me), but that's not really the purpose of a P&S (point & shoot) anyway. It does an okay job in macro mode (which is my favorite hobby--macro photography). The two pix of a parrot tulip (which my smoochable Todd got me for Mother's Day) below are about as close as the camera goes in macro--again, not too bad for a P&S. It also has an auto-bracketing function--LOVE THAT!






I LOVE this picture of Todd. We were weeding the front yard yesterday evening as the sun was just starting to go low. The Lumix has face detecting technology and an "Auto intelligence" mode which makes some pretty cool adjustments. It did a great job of keeping the light nice on Todd's face while the rest of him was in slight shadow. The wide angle lens (28 mm) gives you lots of options, too, with a nice zoom range.


And it took a nice portrait of Zane and Wuzzle. I like the color and the lens has nice contrast--not too harsh (like a Leica digital P&S I briefly owned several years ago--it was too contrasty for family snap shots, creating harsh lines).

Overall, I would recommend this camera to anyone looking for a new, inexpensive but great performing digital P&S. This was the least expensive camera in Costco at $199.95. It has a nice weight, attractive and sturdy body, beautiful Leica lens and fantastic functions. It's an 8.1 megapixel. **I checked out the Lumix 10 mp at Best Buy and the body was light-weight cheap plastic and didn't feel good in the hands. The 10 mp would have been nice, but I appreciate the better quality body of the Costco version, which also came with a case and photo viewing/editing software.

Zane's Celeb Look-a-likes

This is just way too much fun...heheee...!



Okay, so they're mostly female, but hey, he's a cute kid :o)

Zane's Dance of the Rainforest

I've often compared having Zane in the house with living with a young Jim Carrey. He dislikes that comparison (Zane, that is; I'm sure Jim would take it as a compliment). I don't know why Zane feels that way. They both crack me up. Shrug.

Irish Water Jig Performed by Zane

This speaks for itself...unstoppable except when hosed by Todd!