Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Danger: Foul mood ahead. Save Yourselves!





I'm in a foul mood this evening and I wasn’t going to post because of it, but I'm hoping that getting it out this way might make me feel better. First my computer is not being very nice to me. I spent much too long trying to type up an assignment that I need for Friday, and every time I tried to save a new portion-yes, I practice “safe saving”-Word came back with a !#@*# message box indicating that an error had occurred and the program would be shutting down. And you guessed it-the recovered document didn’t include the latest additions. GROWL!

The weather

I have about had it with this frigid, rainy weather we've been having-I can’t find an umbrella and we have half a dozen or so somewhere in this house, and I am cold to the core. Plus the rain will prevent my husband from bringing a donated couch and loveseat up to school tomorrow (it's for our broadcast studio and it's been taking up residence in my garage, instead of my car, for a month until the donation was approved), and I don’t like getting into a cold car...

My health


Wait a second, hack, gag, cough, gross…I can’t seem to shake this croupy cough that has controlled me for more than a week now, and it’s really zapping my energy level. In fact, it's wore me down so much that I haven’t worked out for a week because I’m afraid the exertion will make it worse, and since I haven’t worked out I feel awful-it’s an endless cycle.

 

SLEEP!


Then there is the one problem that I know that every mother can relate to, and that's the lack of eight hours of uninterrupted, REM staging, glorious sleep. Last week my son was the reason I wasn’t enjoying a peaceful slumber-he was waking up two times a night, usually around midnight, and then happily again between the hours of 2:30 and 3:30 am. The reason? Some of it was due to nightmares, but even he can’t explain the rest. This week he's sleeping fine but I am the one waking up around 3:30 am, and the thing is that I don’t feel tired when I first wake up, but I can barely pull myself out of bed at my regular 5:30 wake up time-why did I have to pick a profession that started so darn awful early? I would be so much happier if my day started at 10 am… And the really sad part about this early waking (this will make you weep, I promise) is that since I went on my “be a healthier me” kick, I cut out all caffeinated beverages, so that wonderful jolt that a good ole cup of Joe gives is not happening from sipping water all day! Sorry Areeba-I know I promised, but I have to say this: "Man am I tired!"

And here I sit without my lunch made, my clothes out, or my pajamas on-I vowed I would go to bed earlier, but… I congratulate all the brave souls who made it to the end of my cranky post, and I wish you all a good evening.


Sunday, October 25, 2009

Reflections


Reflections?

It's Sunday evening, and after viewing many of your posts, I find myself back at my site staring at a blank white screen because I am unsure of what I want to tell all of you. I don’t have any sage advice for you to follow tonight, but what I am going to offer is something you all have given me this evening-a chance to reflect on your lives. Your posts make me laugh, make me think, and best of all make me remember past events that are very dear to me, so I thought I would try to do this for you.

But I am not going to fill this post with words because I think it would lesson the impact. Instead, I am going to do what "September Mom" from My Voice My View often does-I am going to turn to a singer/songwriter to help, so listen to the words from one of my favorite soul-searching songs: Landslide by Stevie Nicks, think about your life, float back in time, and enjoy your reflection.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Wealthy Wednesday


No, I didn't come into money or anything-my meaning today is more in the lines of "wealth of information," but it certainly got your attention didn't I?

Award Winners


I am behind on bestowing the Kreative Blogger Award to the newest recipients, so I will get right to it. Now the rules for this award are as follows:
1. Thank the person who awarded you.
2. Copy and paste the logo into your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. List 7 things about yourself that readers might not know.
Now drum roll please...The blogs that are the most creative because of content, site appearance (or both), and because I turn to these blogs the most for my reading enjoyement, are:(I apologize to anyone who may have received this award already):



I also just got this loyal blogger award from Christine from Chrisitnes Home Place (Thank you Christine!) so I would like to pass this on to my faithful followers. Here's my list:
(Some of you are not seeing double, you are just being doubly honored!)
I really appreciate all the kindness and support I have received from each and everyone of you. Take a bow ladies because you deserve it!

Movie Reviews

Now if you would like to add to your kids DVD collection for Christmas but are unsure of which of the new DVD releases you should purchase, I can point you in the right direction.

One to pass on


My kids and I missed the Monsters Vs. Aliens movie when it was in the theatres, but after renting it last weekend on DVD, I am glad we did. (If you haven’t rented from the Red Box Kiosks you should try this -rentals are only $1 through your debit or credit card, and you have until the next evening to return them. It’s a $1 a day late fee for every day late, but since most kiosks are in pretty useful locations-we have some at the grocery store and outside of Walgreen’s-we have always returned the movies on time.)

The major story line revolves around a young woman who gets hit by a large meteor on her wedding day and grows both in size and strength until she towers over just about everything. She is captured by the government and thrown in prison with other captured monsters-yes I said that right-monsters, and there are no plans for her release ever. Ok, so if you have small children who are scared of the so called “boogey man”, the monster premise will not win them over. Then add in the violence that occurs when the aliens attack to get their power rock back (and believe me, there is plenty of that including several scenes where beings are being pulverized), and you have a pretty undesirable kids movie, at least in my eyes. I watched it with my kids and there weren’t many areas where they laughed, in fact, the movie watching experience was mostly done in complete silence, except for a few groans coming from me.

One to get


Now one movie that I saw with my kids this summer is on DVD as well, and this one is worth a purchase. We did make the mistake of seeing the 3D version and I almost passed out when I found out how much the tickets were- my hands were shaking as I handed the money over to the woman at the ticket counter! The fact is the 3D effects really didn’t add that much to the movie, and the only thing we got out of watching it was some additional 3D glasses. (The theatre wanted us to recycle the glasses on our way out, but we paid for those things with the extra cost of the tickets, so I was planning on taking with me-we have a couple 3D movies at home. However, I almost had to drop the glasses in the recycling box after hearing- “Mom, MOM don’t walk away. The sign says we should recycle our glasses. Mom?” I was almost trotting down the ramp like a common thief, but I whispered to her when she got up that we were recycling them at home…)

Anyway, the story starts off by giving a little background information about the old man and his relationship with his wife. Without giving the major points of the plot away I will just say that the man then sets sail for a rather remote country in South America with an unexpected stow away, and the way he makes the trip and what happens when he gets there are far from normal, but the story is both delightful and heartwarming all the same. The kids really enjoyed this movie, as did I, so it will definitely be on our Christmas video lists this year. (Photos © Disney/Pixar)

A movie for mom


I don’t purchase many movies with the exception of anything from a Jane Austen novel-this would include the Bridget Jones movies since they were based off of Pride and Prejudice. But, I might start making some exceptions, and one movie I might add would be Management. I rented this last weekend too mainly because I enjoy movies with Jennifer Aniston, but the performer I enjoyed the most was her co-star, Steve Zahn. I have seen him in bit parts such as the sci-fi geek in Daddy Daycare, but he stole the movie from Aniston because I liked his character more. The tale is about Zhan’s characters lack of a life really-he is the night manager of his parents’ hotel, and that’s how he meets Aniston’s character. The story continues with his “at no cost” pursuit of her halfway across the country and many funny things happen as a result, and yes, there are tears, so if you like rooting for the underdog you will enjoy this avant-garde love story.

I hope you enjoyed your wealth of entertainment information this evening, and I hope you are richly rewarded tomorrow with beautiful weather and a treasure chest full of happy memories! Ok, I will stop with the money comparisons and just wish you all a Goodnight.


Sunday, October 18, 2009

Life is funny...


These past few days remind me of a famous quote by John Lennon, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans,” and here’s why. I was so excited that I had Friday off but the kids still had school and hubby had to work-ok, that doesn’t sound too good, so how about “I was looking forward to some well deserved down time on Friday since I didn’t have to work”-there, that sounds better.

Friday


I had the whole day planned-I was going to enjoy a big breakfast after putting the kids on the bus-something of a real luxury around here for me. I am usually walking around the house, cereal bowl in hand, as I try to rouse my daughter from her dreamlike state, and let’s just say that it takes more than one trip to her room before I can confidently declare to my husband that she is “up!” On this day, we were all able to sleep in later, so there wasn’t the usual morning rush or arguments about how  my daughter had decided, overnight, that what she had planned on wearing now just wouldn’t do, at least it was this way until my husband left…
I leave the house by 6:45 every morning so it is my husband who ushers the kids out the door- I was clueless about any last minute drama that happens before the bus arrives until Friday. The one good thing that happens in the morning is that the bus stops at the bottom of our driveway, but this can be a very bad thing as well. Hubby told me to start outside around 8, and I hesitated about this at first because the bus comes at 8:15-but hubby knows more about this than me, so I herded the kids into the damp garage (it was raining) to wait.

Friday Problem #1

It was about this time that my daughter announces that she didn’t get her reading time in the night before. so back in the house we went and I grabbed the first book I saw-one that my son read to his first grade class, so more than a little elementary for her I know, but I was nervous about the bus. My son then got mad because he already read the book and wanted her to read something else, but I pulled rank on him with this one, and he started pacing the garage in disgust. My daughter was also complaining about reading a “baby book,” but since I outranked her too, she reluctantly started reading.

Friday Problem #2


Now as I said earlier, it was raining, and if you have a son you should know by now that water, especially the kind from murky brown mud puddles, is an instant attraction. Since I was listening intently to the story, I did not see my son venture out until my daughter, who was not enjoying the story as intently as I, tattled on her brother, oblivious to us and splish-splashing away. The puddles weren’t that deep (thankfully!), because it was almost 8:20 and I was certain we didn’t have time for a change of both shoes and socks. “Get out of the rain,” I shouted with more than a little agitation in my voice. “I’m watching for the bus,” he snapped-quick response I had to admit. “You don’t have to be in the rain to see the bus, besides,” I retorted, “I’m pretty sure we will be able to hear it coming. Get in here NOW !”

Wait a second, it was 8: 20, so where was that darn bus? I knew we hadn’t missed it because we were out way to early for that, and besides, I could see the neighbor boy waiting down the road.

And just as the thought entered my mind, I heard the familiar lumbering sound of that beautiful yellow machine, but before I could get my hug and kiss from my son, he was already halfway down the driveway, and my once sluggish daughter was leading the way! I called and waved, but she never looked back, even when she got in her seat! So like a dumb ____ (I will let you fill in the blank) I started jumping up and down waving, convinced that neither saw me-yea right. At least I got a stare and half a wave from my son, but nothing from my daughter. Wait till you get off the bus, I thought slyly. I am going to be overly affectionate in my welcome home greeting-insert evil laugh here!

Friday, Saturday, Sunday Problems, oh my!

Those few moments seemed to set the mood for the entire rest of my wonderfully planned weekend. My Friday morning breakfast-I burnt my toast and overflowed my Cream of Wheat in the microwave. My Friday morning workout-I decided to jump on the computer really quick (uh huh!) and then because I hadn’t slept too well despite sleeping in, I decided a mid-morning nap (right...) would be ok, but I slept for two glorious hours, and by then it was lunch time, so I had to eat, and you know I can’t work out on a full stomach...I dilly-dallied around the house for another hour before going, but it was going to be a quick work out because I had to be back when the kids got off the bus…(Insert sigh here.  Why do I make things so hard?)


By Friday night I was coughing, but I didn’t have a cold so my guess is that I caught something from the gym that day. (In my haste I didn’t wipe down the leg curl bench-I just threw my sweatshirt on it but then put that same sweatshirt back over my head when I left-EWW!! With all the H1N1 stuff I had been adamant with the kids about germs, so I still can’t believe I actually “swabbed the bench” with my sweatshirt then wore the germ filled thing home!

Saturday I was still coghing but I had my plan-I was supposed to take my son to get a new winter jacket and new pajamas while my daughter was at practice, and then I was going to get my hair done, something my son was not at all happy about, but the thought of new Superman pajamas dispelled some of his pain. I was so close to getting in that chair for my hair appointment when my cell phone rang-my daughter was feeling sick to her stomach. By the time I got her home, she was feeling much better and I was feeling much worse.

For the next nine hours, I went from casually lying on the couch to feeling like I was dying in my bed, and the only human contact I got was around 4:30p.m when my husband casually asked if I was going to eat any dinner. (Translation: Do you feel well enough to cook? Answer: No freak'n way!)

Aren't you finished yet?

Not quite. I felt better by Saturday night, but Sunday morning I awoke to severe stomach cramps again-now what? I shouldn’t have asked-mother nature was kind enough to bestow a gift on me this morning-so I was once again on the couch feeling like crap. I felt better by Sunday afternoon, but I still wanted a haircut, so I convinced my reluctant husband to take me for a rescheduled hair appointment (I never had this young lady before).


Let’s just say that when I emerged, fully coiffed, my son was laughing, my daughter was trying hard not to, and my saintly husband said, “That’s different.” I found out as I was sitting in the chair, that this young lady had just graduated from beauty school the week before-something I am now coming to grips with because I looked a lot like her when I left.



I am sitting here having just tamed my wild hair and once again I am reminded that no matter how much you plan, life might have something else in store for you, and these are the times that my family and I will laugh about (maybe not the illness thing) in the years to come.  Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying, “Were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults in the first,” but I am not sure I would rewrite a single thing in mine… Goodnight everyone.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

You win some, you win some?



I was recently surprised with this Kretiv Blogger award from Two Toddlers and Me . This site is one of my newly discovered blogs, but one I enjoy very much. Check it out for some great reads!
Now the rules for this award are:
1. Thank the person who awarded you.
check
2. Copy and paste the logo into your blog.
check
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
check
4. List 7 things about yourself that readers might not know.
che... Ooh. Well let's see.

My 7 unknowns are:

1. I was painfully shy all through school-but I changed in college. (There's no going back now!)




2. I was what my husband refers to as a band geek in high school.







3. I once loathed any exercise that caused a sweat.



(Changed that too!)









4. I hate spiders and anything that can crawl or slither faster than I can move, but after the initial scream, I feel badly about them and I either bravely scoop them up with a tissue and toss them outside, or I get one of my kids to do it.


(Yes, I know-they probably turn and head right back in, but I feel like such a good guy when I spare their lives!)







5. I do not feel the same for ants or flies. I can kill them on the spot!


 
6. I am a sucker when it coms to sappy movies. I actually feel cleansed somehow after crying my eyes out during one. (Plus, no matter how many times I may have seen the movie, I cry in all the same places!)










7. I always wanted to learn how to tap dance, but since I have two left feet, that may never be possible...


I am also supposed to get a list together of 7 other Kreativ blogs, but that will have to wait for another post-I need to rescue my son's stuffed snake. The dog decided he wanted to see what made the thing fluffy so I am off to do an emergency "snakedectomy" so my son doesn't find out. (It's been a long week and it's only Tuesday!) Thanks again 2 Toddlers and Me!


Monday, October 12, 2009

Best Laid Plans...


I am excited to report that I am a happy mommy today after getting some much needed time alone in, you guessed it, a mall. I bought more than a few new things for myself, thanks to some handy plastic, but relax because I actually have credit on this card thanks to some miscommunication with my husband. We both mistakenly paid the last bill so I was really shopping with “found” money, right? Unfortunately, I went a teensy bit over the card’s credit (at least I think there is a credit... or was that two months ago? Well, at least I know there isn’t a balance-phew, now I feel better!), but I felt entitled because the last time I did any shopping it was for my daughter-she was carrying an armload of stuff to the register while I carried one measly t-shirt. Boy, I still get depressed just thinking about it.

What about some shoes?


Now I also had a few dollars on me because I got paid Friday, so it was off to the shoe stores, because you just can’t enjoy a new outfit wearing old shoes, and I needed them-at least I tried to convince myself it was a need. But since my previous purchase total was still looming in my brain, I ducked into Shoe Depot and Payless in the hopes I could find some attractive but comfortable, and incredibly cheap shoes. I had better luck at Shoe Depot, and though they weren’t as economical as I would have liked, I still thought I made at least one good purchase. (I found a two toned brown patent with a 2 ½ inch heel and I was in love, but I am not sure about its twin-a two toned patent in black and grey. One shoe seems wider in the heel than the other, so sadly, this pair may be going back.)

You get what you pay for

I waltzed into Payless, and couldn’t have been happier when the sales lady announced the buy one pair and get the other half off. I was only looking for a brown wedge to replace the one the dog chewed up, but if I could get two pairs, it was like Christmas-see my logic when it comes to my love of shoes? I found a rather plain but still attractive fake leather-is that what they call “pleather”– wedge that was pretty comfortable, so it was time to find my bonus shoe. I picked a black patent flat with silver loop buckles, and after paying for my two-but really one-purchase, I believed all was right with the world, until I got home. I anxiously tried on my patent flat for my daughter so that she too could “ooh,” and “ah,” but when I started walking around, I heard this strange squeaking and it was coming from my feet! My daughter said, laughing, “Mommy, your shoes are farting!” Very ladylike, I know, but she was sort of right in her observation because it did sound like my very cost-effective pleather shoes were, well, you know. So let’s do some simple math-4 pairs minus 2 pairs leaves only two lovely new shoes, although suddenly I am not so crazy about the plain brown wedge...

At least you'll get that chick flick movie


I grabbed a quick shuteye before it was time to get dinner started and get ready for the Homecoming dance. The kids were thankfully preoccupied, and so was hubby, so I collapsed on the couch hoping for about 20 minutes of non-interruption, but my daughter had other ideas. “Mom,” she whispered so loudly that it was almost not a whisper, and she did it inside my ear! “What?” I answered without opening my eyes with the hopes that this little intruder would realize that she was disturbing me, but it didn’t work. “You know, you took me to your Homecoming dance last year.” Oops, I completely forgot how much my daughter had enjoyed getting all dolled up and accompanying me last year while I snapped some shots. She loves seeing all the “big girls” in their pretty dresses -pretty skimpy dresses if you ask me, but anything goes (almost) at Homecoming- and I think helping me makes her feel pretty important, so I had a dilemma. If I took her I could get my shots, get her back home, change, and still meet my young teacher friend back at the school. (We only live 15 minutes away...) So I agreed and looked forward to spending some quality time with just my daughter.

Best Laid Plans go awry,


After dinner and a quick shower, I started wondering why I hadn’t heard from my young teacher friend all weekend, and why she hadn’t said anything to me before she left school on Friday. The last time we had talked about our plans for Saturday night was Thursday, and I was still pretty wishy washy about the whole thing-remember my blog? But what I didn’t tell you was that she had been hinting around about me actually staying the whole night (margaritas were also discussed so I was tempted)-she was pretty freaked out in her house without her fiancé-but I thought that a night thing was a bit much, so I suggested just a late night movie instead. Now that I think about it, I don’t know if she really liked the idea or not. I was curious about what her reaction would be to having my daughter along, and I decided to keep quiet about our plans.

I am not sure if she was upset or not when she saw me with my daughter, but I didn’t care because my daughter was so excited, and I was really having a good time with her. I did finally approach my young friend when I saw her by herself, and I explained that I was going to drop my daughter off then change, and I wanted to know if we were still on for that movie. Well, she said if she called me before 9 it was still on, (there were family things she needed to take care of), but otherwise... I let her off the hook and said that we could do this again some other time, and she agreed, but as I walked away, I was more than a little disappointed. I expressed my disappointment to my husband later that evening as we were hovering over the pictures I had taken, and he reassured me that my friend might have been disappointed as well, and it wouldn’t be long before we moved passed this. Sometimes men can say the right thing.

maybe...


I thought I missed something Saturday night, but as I write this I am remembering the look on my daughter’s face as she watched the parade of fashions go by, and how she held my hand tightly as we made our way through the throngs of (at least to her) giants, and about how nice it was to hold her hand since I do so little of it anymore. I remember kissing her forehead and leaving a rather large lipstick smudge that she quickly worked at removing, but she still held onto my hand. She wants to be a big girl and a little girl all at the same time, and I now understand this after Saturday night-I didn’t miss a thing.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Here Sits a Guilty Mommy


I am sitting here contemplating the “me” time I will be having tomorrow, and to be honest, I am feeling more than a little guilty. I am finally going to get my shopping trip while my daughter is at practice tomorrow, and as the school’s photographer (one of my many extra duties) I will be attending our school’s Homecoming dance to snap a few shots of the king, queen, court, etc. A teacher friend of mine will also be there serving as a chaperone, and when her two-hour sentence is up we are going to head over to her house for a late night chic flick! (Her fiancé is out of town, so she decided to spend all her free time this weekend with her friends.)

So what's the problem?


I am worried about a few things though. The friendships I have formed with non-moms never seem to last because they just don’t seem to understand how motherhood changes everything. I mean it affects how you think about situations-that mommy radar is always on- and the fact is, you need to be where your kids are in order to be involved in their lives. There is no “spur of the moment” dash anywhere, as all events must be carefully planned and synchronized, and mothers instinctively understand this.

And?


I also worry about our age difference because even though I have many friends (especially co-worker friends) who are older than me a good 10-15 years, I am fourteen years older than her, so it feels different, and there’s something weird about all this. See I feel young around my older friends, and even though I feel I don’t look-or heavens act-my age, I can’t help feeling old around her.


She’s wearing all the latest fashions while my fashions are a couple years old (I’ve got to get to that mall!), she’s planning her spring wedding while I’m planning doctor and dentist visits, and even though our personalities seem to click, I can’t help but wonder if I should be acting my age.


We are finally going to get together sans kids (she has been over my house three times but I have never been to hers), but the truth is, I don’t know if I can hold out that long! By the time we leave the dance it will be around 9:00 p.m., my usual wind down time, and I probably won’t get home until around midnight, and this mom is going to be tired.
And guilty…the bedtime ritual is pretty important to me, plus since I work, my weekends almost always revolve around my kids. The tired feeling will probably snowball into Sunday, and a tired mommy isn’t a good thing.

Why do I feel so weird?



I am almost tempted to call this off, but even though I have a lot of “all-purpose” friends, I have few that I consider to be close, and I have turned to her more this past summer than any other friend. I just hope I have the nerve… So, until tomorrow, “Here’s looking at you kid.” I always wanted to use that line…

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Check out these sites


I am very behind on my listing of 15 great new blogger sites that win the lovely blog award, but better late than never I always say. Now remember, you need to do the passing as well (I will spare you the list if you received this award recently...) So here they are:

Check out Widge at My Guide to Surviving and Enjoying Life's Mundane. Widge is from New Zealand and she found and followed my site first. I connected to hers and was more than pleasantly surprised. For one, her site is beutiful, and her posts contain a mixture of topics all moms would find interesting, so go check her site out.

Katie from Ladybug Mama of 2 has more than a few followers. In fact, I think it is over 100, but don't let that stop you from stopping by her site. Her posts vary from heartfelt sentiments to fun, family centered topics you might enjoy.

Katie from Savvy Moxie has a truckload of good advice and money saving tips. Check out her site.

Check out Two Toddlers and Me for a very attractive site with wonderful posts about being a mommy and some of the every day events that involves.

Land of Mama Grits contains some tear jerking posts as well as mommy tales with a little bit of humor. You will really like her page logo!

Lisa at All that and a Box of Rocks has a very attractive site and is heavily followed. Check out her latest post detailing a very long to-do list.

I have recently been enjoying the posts of September Mom at My Voice My View. You will enjoy the lovely paintings decorating the side of her page, as well as the topics she writes about-some funny, some sad, some in the form of poetry.

Check out things at the The Chic Geek I just stopped by the other day and her sight is full of beautiful pictures and a variety of topics.

Here's another at I've Become My Mother The title alone drew me in and I read a couple funny blog posts.

I also looked at Thoughts of a Smother Mother and enjoyed her last posts.


If you are into give-aways, check out Stacie at The Devine Miss Mommy and a second Stacie at Simply Stacie

And there's one woman whose site offers both giveaways and heart warming reads. Check out (she probably is not a stranger to you), Theta Mom
Here are a few more blogs worth a look:
The Woman Driver at Non Traditional in More Ways Than One
Her other site is Life Domestic
Phew! That was work. Time for bed-5:30 AM rolls around quickly...
(Oh, and I want to thank all of you that stopped and commented on my new design. It means a lot!)

Monday, October 5, 2009

How Not to Go Shopping


Well, I made one of the biggest mistakes a mother can make: I said to my family Friday night that I wanted to go shopping for myself sometime this weekend. Big mistake, and I knew it too as soon as it escaped from my mouth, so I tried to cover myself with a lame, “if I get the chance.” Now those of you new to motherhood may not know that in order to get some alone time in the mall, everything has to be cosmically perfect, and one way to knock the planets out of line is to voice your wish. This has happened to me way too many times for it to be just a coincidence.

Ilness strikes


Everything seemed to be ok, but early - very early- Saturday morning, my son comes in complaining loudly of a sore stomach. Now since we had a pretty early dinner Friday night and the kids didn’t have a snack before bed, I just figured he was hungry, so I fed him. Oh how wrong this was… The only plus in all this is that he finally can get to the toilet-or at least he did that first time. (His small garbage can took a beating the rest of the time and is now sitting on the back porch after I hit it full blast with the hose. I got some back spray in my face, and after gagging profusely-I better not get sick-I started questioning my choice to clean the thing. Don’t they have these in Wal-Mart for only a couple bucks?) I won’t go into too many details, but I will say that when the boy gets sick, he gets sick, and he makes sure everyone knows it. (He is not known for curling up in a ball in his room, quietly suffering-he writhes in pain, with more than a little moaning on the side.) My husband and I were losing patience with this illness by Sunday evening. Strike one.

The weather


Now my husband had also made a proclamation around the same time I mentioned my possible shopping trip. If the weather cooperated, he was going to replace our front door with the one we purchased not too long ago, and maybe get it primed and painted on Sunday. Yippee! Sounds like fun to me-not! How can I complain, though? I was the one who said we needed a new door, and I was the one who was nagging him about putting it up, but the fact is, if he did this chore, I would be involved as well, and I wanted the mall. I was secretly hoping for rain, but weather wishes never come true, and it was warm and sunny all blasted weekend long! And, just as I predicted, I was the "hold it here honey" girl, while he tacked and cut, and got the door in. Strike two.

All the other stuff


In the midst of these two memorable weekend events, I was running my daughter back and forth to practice, and then to Old Navy for a couple clothing exchanges. I also noted that since the weather was so nice and I had to be close to home due to my "hold it here honey" and nursemaind duties, I could hang the laundry out on the line to dry, and then there was painting the door Sunday, and I might as well work on the design of my blog, and we needed whites washed, and groceries…Strike three.

Well the weekend ended, I didn’t get in a shopping trip, and I stayed home with my son today because he still hadn’t really eaten anything other than a banana. I am looking into the future and I see a shopping trip sometime in the days ahead, but this time I will wait until I am in my car heading down the driveway before I shout from an open car window, “Hey,dear, I’m going to make a quick run to the mall.” You just don’t mess with those cosmic forces...

What do you think?


Since I had plenty of "at home time" this weekend, I was determined to finally take the time design a new background, fix my new logo, and customize coloring for my site. Let me know what you think... (Be honest. I was worried that my bubbles in the background may look like pills, so the site "family formula" would have an entirely different meaning, LOL! I may make them molecules instead...  I am also unsure about the outside border.  I wanted blue with a pop of yellow, but things are looking pretty bright.)

By the way, some of you have grab buttons with the html code to go with them. How do I get this on mine? (I have the button.) Thanks a bunch. (New "real" post coming later today.)

Saturday, October 3, 2009

A Word Between Friends


Ok, Janie B from Life Not Wasted or Lost offered a chance at a little word play a few days ago where she would provide the words and I could write my feelings pertaining to these words. Take a look...


1. October : This is one of the months (next to Christmas and birthdays that is) that my kids look forward to the most, and truthfully, I have always enjoyed it too. When I was younger, the thought of "being someone or something else," even just for one night, was pretty exciting, and when I was first married, I often dragged my husband to Halloween dances and costume contests. The last time I did this, I was four months pregnant with my daughter, and I was a corpse in a casket with my husband as a gravedigger. We won first place in one contest and third in another, and this is something I want to get back to when my kids are older and don't want to spend time with old mom and dad.




2. computers: I have a love/hate relationship with technology. On the one hand, as a computer science teacher, I love what technology can do and I often find myself comparing new technology "toys" with my students. But when something doesn't work, it just about drives me crazy, and when it comes to computer problems here at home, I am the one who has to keep things running. (My kids got a virus in their computer and I was up until around 1:00 trying to keep from having to reformat the hard drive. Well, long story short, I fixed their computer, but I felt I never left work.)
I also know that too much of even a good thing can be detrimental, and I know some of my students stay up until the wee hours of the morning playing all these tech games. Lack of sleep = poor performance = poor health = poor personal relationships. (Unfortunately, I do this as well, like when I was working on my new blog logo and site appearance-and I am still not satisfied with it...)


3. parenting : I would like to say that I have this parent thing mastered, but everyone would know I was lying. I checked out a video that Heather at Theta Mom had on her site about some mothers being alpha or beta, but I don't like labels especially when it comes to what kind of mother you are, just like I feel that not everything in the world is black or white. There are many in-betweens, and I think I am one of those mothers. I feel strongly about some things when it comes to my kids, but there are other times that I take more of a laid back approach with situations that I don't think are dire. Just take one thing at a time, right?


4. holidays:  Holidays with a family, especially a family with small children, are wonderful, and my husband and I go all out to make things magical. Since my daughter is beginning to out-grow some of the childhood fantasies such as the Easter Bunny and unfortunately the tooth fairy too (I had to fess up recently after she saw her tooth sitting in a glass on my night stand-ok, I know it's gross, but I didn't want to save a bloody tooth, and I forgot about it. I think Sarah at Mommy Lite jinxed me because I haven't messed up a tooth pickup in a while... Check out her site for some cute tooth fairy stories!)
Santa Clause is now in danger so last year we really freaked my daughter out. I got some bells, and my husband grabbed my exercise ball (finally it was good for something other than sitting in a corner), and come midnight my husband jingled the bells outside the kids windows while at the same time tossing the ball on the roof. He did pretty good until he threw the ball with a little too much gusto and it bounced pretty rapidly along the length of the roof and off the other side where it continued to roll to the street. He took off as fast as he could because it was heading in the direction of a passing motorist! The ball was saved, my daughter described how she heard Santa's sleight skidding on the rooftop, and my son heard nothing-he slept through the whole thing. (Oh well, there's always next year!)



5. popcorn:  Well, what's not to like about popcorn? I buy this in bulk because it's the favorite snack for our movie nights. I only wish that our microwave wasn't so unpredictable. I can't just plunk the bag down and wait for the timer. Too many batches of scorched popcorn (yes, it took more than one scorching-I'm not a quick learner) taught me this fact, and because of all the starving people in India (at least this is what my mother told me when I was younger) I can't just chuck the bag and get out another. I try to pick through the burnt kernels and salvage what I can. (Notice I said I not we-I pop everyone else another bag. I can be weird sometimes...)

Now Janie, how did I do with my first homework assignment? I really enjoyed this exercise, and I hope everyone else did too.