English as a second (or third) language

I was recently introduced to a funny little website called Engrish.com, which highlights the rather amusing results when Japanese companies put English text on their products. Here's a couple of choice examples for this week's Multimedia Friday (hey--pictures are multimedia too...)

This one would make a good t-shirt:

Another Multimedia Friday

I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't change the name of this item to "Flashback Friday." Today's feature was inspired by the boys' current favorite CD to listen to in the van, the one they call "The Faces CD":

Mike and I are doing a pretty good job of making our kids "grandchildren of the 80s," don't you think? Despite being thoroughly 21st century children, they are going to have a solid indoctrination in 80s pop (and other obscure stuff).

So, for your listening enjoyment, here's a little OMD.

Sick 'N' Tired

It occurs to me that many of you may think that that brief evening of croup 2 weeks ago was the extent of the illness in our home. Au contraire!! It has been what is starting to feel like a neverending saga of pestilence.

Let's see, that first night of croup with Matthew was followed by a second night, which included a trip to the emergency room, always a fun way to spend the wee hours of the morning, followed by 4 days on a prescription steroid, which made him quite cranky.

The following Monday found me with an icky sore throat and Matt and Grace still with goopy noses. Overall though, things were looking up until Matthew spiked a fever on Wednesday and Grace's eyes turned red. Off to the doctor where they were diagnosed with ear infections (2 for Matt, 1 for Grace) and pinkeye (Grace). TWO prescriptions for amoxicillin (and a note on the shopping list to stock up on bananas and diapers). On Friday evening, my throat was still screaming and I noticed a white spot back there. Fearing strep, I hustled off to the Urgent Care Center, where I was informed it was not strep but a canker sore on the back of my throat coupled with a sinus infection. One more script for amoxicillin (and a note to buy yogurt in addition to the bananas and diapers).

Another Monday and it seemed the kids were doing okay, and I was getting by with my Chloroseptic. Then Grace spiked a fever of 102. Back to the doctor, who found that her ears were clear and the rapid strep was negative (naturally, thanks to the amoxicillin), and advised us that it was likely viral and to treat the fever with ibuprofen. We went through a lot of ibuprofen over the next three days as she kept running fevers (104.9 at midnight on Wednesday!). The fevers finally tapered off, but she woke up this morning with pink spots! She looks like she has that blotchy newborn skin. The doctor assures us it's normal to see such a thing toward the end of an illness like this, and I hope that's true--that it's the end of the illness, because I'm sick and tired of everyone being sick and tired!

Edited to add: Oh, and in case you're wondering, Mike and Jonathan have been illness free. Lucky them. ;-)

Edited again to add: Andrea and I have pretty much determined that Grace's ailment this week has been roseola. Oh how fun!

Multimedia Friday

So I heard a fun song on the "Fickle" radio station here in town on my way to work this morning, and it inspired me to try a weekly feature here on the blog: Multimedia Fridays.

My idea with this is to present some sort of video or picture item that amuses me or entertains me or just catches my eye, and hopefully it will entertain or amuse you too. So, for the inaugural Multimedia Friday, I present: 10CC!!



Just TRY to tell me you didn't bop a little and hum along... ;-)

I heart ibuprofen (or Middle-of-the-Night Musings)

So Matthew has come down with croup--again. Nevermind that croup is generally supposed to be an October to March problem, when it would actually be possible to take said croupy child out into the "cool night air" during an attack. Know what? August in WNY doesn't have particularly cool night air. Not cool enough to break stridor anyway. So there I was at 1am, running the shower on full hot (mmm, warm and steamy, just like August), my hair absorbing all that great humidity and expanding to epic proportions, try to calm my poor barky baby so that his crying wouldn't make matters worse. There's something very fundamentally MOM about being up with a sick child at 1am. Not that it's my favorite thing to be sitting in a steamy bathroom with a weepy, barking child in the middle of the night, but even if you wouldn't have chosen it, it's somehow validating when you go through it...not unlike giving birth with no drugs (RIGHT, Jill and Andrea?).

In any case, 1½ teaspoons of ibuprofen later, the hot water had run out and he was lying in our bed with us. The fever was down, the bark had quieted, and Matthew informed me that "I'm not really tired anymore," and decided to have a chat about...I have no idea what. My sleep-craving brain did not absorb the topic of his conversation(s). I only remember my efforts to doze off being punctuated by "Did you knoooooow?" And my mumbled responses of "Hmmm, oh really?" and once, from the other side of the bed, a drowsy "I did not know that." But there's such comfort in seeing your child through a bout of croup and having him acting like his usual self again, even if that means he's talking your ear off until 3am.