6-30-10
One of these days I am going to come to work bright eyed and bushy tailed. It gets old feeling like I was up all night.
Yesterday I was unable to blog since I was doing month end reports at work. I like the reports since my day goes by quickly.
The only thing I had to say yesterday was regarding my frustration. I arrived home on Monday to find the casserole dish wish dishes in it that I had asked Ken to take care of. He had been home all day, aside from a small outing for some errands. When I walked in, he was playing video games with Bobby. Pissed is an understatement.
After last weeks big blow out of anger, I couldn’t believe that he still didn’t understand what I needed from him. This was a task he assured me would be done in the morning on Monday, and yet now it was 3 o’clock and it was not done. What made it even worse was that he was goofing off. It also didn’t sound like they had been exceptionally busy all day. Bobby called me at noon and told me that Ken was playing video games. I got on the phone with Ken and asked him if he had gone to collect from the Jewish Community Center (they owed for this last Lego session). He had not, so I told him to go. I had to even remind him to go get money!
Dishes and lack of motivation may seem petty in the grand scheme of things, but I am super tired of having to parent 3 kids. I couldn’t yell at him since Bobby was there. Plus, I didn’t know if yelling would even help. I had yelled, cried, bargained, pouted, guilted and done every other emotion under the sun to try and stress that I don’t ask for much.
In hind sight, I should have told Ken he couldn’t play anymore in front of Bobby. I should have told him that he needed to finish his chores, much in the same way I will scold the kids. Then again, I maintain I should not have to.
It sets a horrible example for the boys to see Daddy not pulling his weight. After I cleaned the house on Saturday, the boys both came out of their rooms, and without prompting told me how great the house looked and thanked me for cleaning. I would like it that they, along with their father, would take the same pride in house the house looks and that they don’t all just expect that messes they make will be taken care of Super Mom.
My next tactic, which has been met with some criticism from outside observation, is to create a chore chart. It will indicate which chores are to be done each day and by whom. Obviously the boys can’t do things like dishes, but I am considering having them switch off, every other night, and they can help Ken. This way they learn how to do it. Rooms will need to be kept clean. Desks will need to be kept clean. Sweeping, cat pans, and laundry will all be tasks. Cooking dinner and feeding the dogs will be tasks. Cleaning up the back yard for the gardeners and taking out the trash will be tasks. Making lunch for the boys for the next day and cleaning the bathroom will be tasks. Many of them will be my responsibility. Many will be Ken’s. The boys will have less, but they will also be expected to shadow us on some of our easier tasks. Don’t worry. I don’t intend on making it Fort Brenan. I just want some order. School will be starting in a couple months and we need to make sure we are in a routine. We also will have soccer soon, so there will be things like practice and games and we need to make sure the house is in order.
I hate that it has come to this, but I honestly am at a loss as to what to do. I can’t do it all. I know some people have to. I feel for you single moms out there. But I have a team, and I need to be able to pass the ball from time to time. I already take anti anxiety meds. I would like to not have to take a higher dose. Nor will I lower my expectations any more than I already have.
I am a damn good wife. I have supported my husband as he has been “starting” up his business for damn near 7 years now. I have at times stuck it out in a less than pleasant working environment only because I have a steady paycheck and health insurance that would not happen if I left. I have endured Lego in my house that doesn’t belong to my children and have to have a trailer taking up my driveway. All I now ask is for some help and some teamwork.
I am pleased that the garage is becoming functional again. This Saturday and probably Monday (4th of July is a busy day) we will be able to get it even more so. It does mean that Ken’s work will be in there instead of my entry way. This will go a long way in decreasing my stress levels. Ken also has been working towards my stress since my meltdown. Monday was one of those minor setbacks to success.
I know it will all be ok. I just needed to vent right now to explain why it upsets me. It doesn’t mean that I am not going to get annoyed at things in the future. It does mean that I know that he isn’t doing it to piss me off. It is just all about redirecting priorities and being organized. And as much as I don’t want to have to tell him what to do, I may have to overly tell him at first in order to pound it into his head.
I have no idea what I will do if he still doesn’t adhere to my tasks. I think that is what makes it really frustrating. I mean, if they boys don’t get dressed by a certain time, I can take away a friend or something. Does that mean I will have to start taking away Lego?
Is it a bad sign when the AYSO region Bobby signed up for has not renewed their domain name yet, so their site is down?
I was starting to think that it is possible that we will not be able to go to Vegas in August for the wedding since Bobby’s soccer may have started by then.
I have been given the green light on operation paint the hall. I am still leaning towards a pale yellow for the walls, and I was looking at paint colors online and I kind of like this muted plum color for the trim. I realize one of my favorite things in the hallway, my prison mirror, will have to match, so I need to take a picture of it before I head down to Lowe’s. I am sure I will need to pick up several paint color cards and bring them all home to hold them up against it. I am also planning on taking down all the pictures in there and redoing them. Not all of them will make the cut to be up again. And all of them will eventually get new frames. Quite the project!
I also need to pull out my scanner. I would like that to be my other big time project again.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Haircuts and Movies-the real deal!
6-28-10
It was an eventful weekend. I am wiped out.
Friday evening after going to my folks’ house, we went over to Fantastic Sam’s where I chopped off my hair. Ok, I didn’t but they did. LOL! The boys were amused with me getting my hair washed, and they enjoyed some of the cutting process, but what they really enjoyed was the fact that I put their clone costumes on their tiger and monkey, and then they found a little friend there and they all played Star Wars. Oh well, right? Whatever keeps them happy.
My hair is short. It is shorter than I think I planned, but I am glad that when she suggested a length when pointing to my shoulder that I indicated that was too short, since it would have been even shorter. This is not to say it doesn’t look good. I am pleased with this cut, this being the first time having it this length while in layers. It isn’t my normal undercut bob. It is more flippy and full. Plus, even when it is messy, it seems to work. I am able to pull it back in a pony tail, and headbands will probably be my best friend when I am doing things like cleaning. I went in the pool on Sunday, and wow, so much nicer for that. It will be a good summer cut and I am pleased.
We went to the mall after the hair cut and we had some dinner. I had hoped that Hot Topic would have some clearance shorts for Ken since I had a coupon for an additional 50% off clearance, and $20 in mall cards. We were out of luck. It was all for the best since both boys were kind of whiny.
Ken and I watched “This Is It” that night. It was the 1 year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death, and we had wanted to see it anyway, so it seemed appropriate. Wow. Just wow! I am a casual fan of his work, and enjoy a handful of his songs. I knew he could dance and I knew he was a dedicated performer, but to see this, you gain new found respect for how much all of it meant to him. Here he was, only a couple months (and sometimes only a matter of days and weeks) before his untimely death at 50, and I was shocked and impressed with how great he was. His dancing was amazing. His voice sounded quite good. The whole show looked like it would have been incredible. Of course, you could say that someone else came up with the show ideas, but when you watch this footage, you see that Michael was very hands on, and if anything, he was the one behind everything.
The most interesting thing I noted was how he worked with music. He would be talking with the musicians and be trying to explain how a certain song should go. He didn’t have sheet music in front of him. He didn’t have a recording to refer to. He has his body. If anyone has ever seen Happy Feet, Mumble, the main penguin couldn’t sing a heart song. He could only dance a heart song. It was as though the only way he could explain that a song was correct was when his soul would make his feet go. Michael seemed very similar. When he would listen to a song, he couldn’t help but dance. It was the blood flowing though his body that would compel him to be the music. I had new found appreciation for how much he was in tune with every note, every beat, every tone that would come out of his musicians. As cliché as it sounds, he really was one with his music.
Saturday was productive. Stephanie had to cancel her visit, which was for the best only because I would have hated her to come into a recently sick house when I wasn’t sure if the germs had dissipated yet. I did feel bad when I told Dax the night before. He told me he was excited Sabrina was coming over. I broke the news to him that she wouldn’t make it and he was so upset. He was sobbing, so I ended up telling him maybe she would after all, and this was the only thing that cheered him.
Ken went to see a movie with Aaron, which gave me time to clean house. I redid the kitchen since our toaster on the circuit it was on kept blowing the fuse. This movement inspired a full scrub down. Then, Ken took down this board that resided above our sink that covered up about a third of our window there. We had mentioned taking it down before, but just never had. The previous owners sure did do some stupid ass shit in our house. Once that was gone, holy crap, the kitchen glowed. It was awesome. So much more light was able to shine in and it looked so open. Love it!
So of course now that my kitchen was happy making, I needed a house to match. I went to work, cleaning up and doing some laundry in the process. I scrubbed, I swept, I organized. I made the place happy for me. The boys played and frolicked as I worked on all of this. They did go in the pool while I worked on laundry. Dax never went in, but my little fish, Bobby, was in his element. I finally took a break and sat down by the pool with a magazine, armed with my camera and a soda, and hung out with the kids as they played. Ken got home not long after this and we hung out.
The day, even though it was hot, it wasn’t quite hot enough for swimming. The wind was cold, and the pool was a chilly 70 degrees. So when Bobby had a time out, the punishment of sitting on the deck for 2 minutes was torture. When he got back in, he continued to whine, saying it was cold now and it was our fault. So we told him to get out of the pool and go sit in the sunshine. He refused, and just continued his pouting. We told him if he continued this, that we would remove him from the pool ourselves and then he wouldn’t be allowed back in for the day. He tested this threat by continuing the complaining and bitching. I got up, and stayed pretty calm through this next 30 minutes. I told him to get out. He freaked and refused. I told him that he was only making it worse. He screamed more. I was seconds away from jumping in the pool with my clothes on just to remove him, when I noticed he had moved close enough to the side of the pool that I snagged him. He kicked, he screamed, and he clearly was challenging Dax’s record for worst tantrum ever. I stripped him down outside, dodging flailing legs and arms. He wouldn’t stand up, nor would he calm down, so I ended up carrying him in the house by his legs. Yes, he was upside down, but he didn’t scream less.
I tossed him in the tub where I hosed him down. He freaked more, and in the process, managed to flop down in the tub where I continued to hose him off. I soaped him, and since he wouldn’t sit still, I squirted him down without really worrying if it hit him in the face at times. I was creepy calm in the whole thing, which probably is what ended up spooking the shit out of Dax. Ken actually tagged in after I had finished hosing him down, telling me that I should spend some nice time with Dax since Bobby’s screams and me being the cause of them, made Dax assume I was hurting his brother.
Dax was fine once I went into the room with him. He was happy and all smiles. I let him take a nice bath, which made him happy, all the while Bobby was in his room.
Bobby lost all his tigers. He lost his radio. He lost all friends from his bed. He even lost his blanket. It also was only 3 o’clock and he was told he had to stay in his room the rest of the day because of this tantrum. He ate dinner in the kitchen so as to not allow him any fun things like Dax or tv. Once Bobby calms down, he is surprisingly rational and insightful. It is when he loses control that it becomes an issue. I recognize he is 5, and there have been a lot of changes in his life lately what with no daycare, a new schedule with Daddy and all the other things that go along with becoming a kindergarten aged kid. He is going to have these episodes, so we just have to know this.
Luckily, I think his tantrum tired him out since both boys crashed pretty hard. Ken and I were able to watch some House and get to bed at a reasonable time. Always a good thing.
Sunday morning was our big treat for the kids. Ok, it was a treat for us, too. I am thinking I was more excited about the new Toy Story than they were. Ken had picked up tickets for the 8:30 am showing the day before, so we were set. They knew we were not going to bowling, but they didn’t know where we were going. The day before, I had planted Woody and Buzz in their beds so that they both felt compelled to bring them along. I even had Bobby wear his Buzz hat. We headed over to the mall and both of them seemed hesitant about the adventure. I was surprised, but I suppose they were hoping for a different surprise.
We were the first ones there, so we got awesome seats. We sat in the theatre and watched as they set up the projectors. Various dots and colors were flashed on the screen so they could get it all ready. At one point, this giant white square on a black background was on the screen, flashing every 5 seconds or so. Ken makes the observation that it feels like he is watching the Matrix. Bobby counters with it feels like he is watching a square. I almost died laughing.
We packed cereal and sandwiches and I had a crying rag at the ready. Dax was frustrated with how many previews there were. Sure, they were mostly fun previews. Well, ok, except for the scary ass Smurfs Movie one. Sheesh. But, Dax really wanted Buzz.
I was most impressed with the fact that Dax wore his glasses the whole time. I was hesitant to do a 3D showing since Dax had a history of being leery of 3D, and to have to wear glasses the whole time might annoy him. Luckily, after having him wear sunglasses a lot, he understood this was important. Plus, the glasses were very comfortable.
The movie was AMAZING!!!!!! Seriously, I can’t sing its praises enough. It was funny, witty, touching, moving, tear jerking, loving, sweet, beautiful and just plain fun. I was crying from the beginning, but a lot of my tears were from laughing so hard. Pixar can do no wrong. Seriously. There are no bad Pixar films, and this one, well, it may be one of their top 5.
Dax got a little scared when there was this evil monkey with cymbals. He was pretty damn creepy. Thankfully, he was ok with everything else. He laughed a lot and seemed to really enjoy it. Plus, he looked so damn cute, sitting in his seat, rocking the 3D glasses, clutching Woody and munching on his bee cereal. I would have taken a picture, but I think I would have been yelled at.
Ken is dead inside. After the flick, he says to me, “I kept waiting for the crying part, but there was none.” Ass. I worry that his factory settings were jacked up much like Buzz’s. The only difference is Buzz had more emotion when he was reset. Oh, and Buzz spoke Spanish.
I would have enjoyed walking the mall just to let the boys run around, but Ken seemed anxious to leave. We stopped in one store, and then headed out. We went home and the boys played out back.
Note to parents. Even though it seems cute that your kids want to play with Buzz and Woody in the sandbox, it isn’t a good plan unless you want a paralyzed Buzz.
The movie did make me have issues with throwing away toys for a while. My own crazy always did put life in inanimate objects, especially toys, so when you watch them almost get incinerated or get lost at a rest stop (a personal fear of mine since I was a kid was to lose a toy on the side of the road), or just be outgrown, it was all horrifying. The toy soldiers said that they were always the first to be thrown out. I gasped when I saw this since it is so true! I mourned the death of a few dozen I had just recently tossed unceremoniously into the giant trash bag. When I cleaned the boys’ rooms yesterday, I threw away nothing except real trash, and made sure all toys were placed in their homes which were the various toy bins.
I decided to go in the pool with the boys. It was cold, but refreshing. The only problem is that the boys want to rough house more than my body can take. They jump on me, they poke me, they want me to toss them. Ok, that last part is only Bobby, but shoot, the kid is 50 pounds. It isn’t easy to just “toss” him. By the end of a swimming session with the boys, I tend to be battered and bruised. Of course, a lot of that is my own clumsiness. I ran into the filter several times, which doesn’t feel good.
Ken even got in the pool, even though it was way colder than his body likes. It was nice to have the family all together, swimming around. The boys seemed to enjoy the attention.
The afternoon was mellow. The boys played while I continued my cleaning frenzy. I made dinner and brownies. I also busted out the old Electric Company DVD. Virsil had left this collection at our place so I have claimed it as my own. It has 4 discs of the Best Of. Bobby asked what it was so I explained to him that it was a show I used to watch as a kid that I loved. So they asked to watch it. Sure! I put in the first disc, and the boys were memorized. I loved seeing Morgan Freeman rockin a giant afro and Bill Cosby talkin 70’s style. It was awesome on so many levels. I was amused at the psychedelic parts which seemed to have been included to keep the acid dropping parents amused with their school aged children as they learned the difference between the word giggles and the word goggles.
Poor Dax was exhausted. He asked if he could be excused from the dinner table to sit on the recliner. Within a few minutes he was out. I woke him up with the bribe of brownies, but it was hard to get him up. He ate the brownie, then drifted off again. Eventually he gave up trying to stay asleep with our constant attempts to wake him, and he and Bobby went to go play.
I was concerned Dax was going to have a tough time sleeping since when he went to bed, he screamed out for me. I went in and he was clutching Buzz and Woody, looking concerned and told me he was scared. It was hard to make out what he said since he was crying and almost hysterical. He mentioned the movie and being scared. Then he said it was “just noffing”. This is never good. I explained to him that Bolt was there to keep him safe and that the movie was all pretend. That damned monkey really messed with the kid’s head. Thankfully, a glass of milk settled him and he fell asleep.
I had to watch a M*A*S*H before I could settle into sleep last night. I was a bit restless, probably stemming from all my injuries and the fact that my throat has been sore. Yes, after a flu I have to suffer from a damn cold. Sheesh, like that is fair.
I have a minor project that will earn me an extra $100 this morning, so this is a good thing. We can use the money. I am hesitant to do it today since it is month end and all, so I may do the preliminary work and email them on Wednesday so as not to piss off the poor guy who does close. But then again, if I get them done now, they may be off the close report, so we will see. The boss is out today, so my day is free and breezy. LOL!!!
I am rockin my new hair this morning, so it will be fun to see what people think. I dressed up all nice today, and I feel like a classy 50’s broad. Love it!
If I am going to get anything done today, I should get to it!
Ok, quick note-votes are in and my hair is a hit! Maryann said it was the best cut she has ever seen on me. Woo hoo!
I have done as much as I can do on my project. The system is down. Grrr. I got through about a third of it, and that only took a couple hours, so this is good. I will work on the rest as soon as it comes back up. I have some other things to keep me occupied, though.
The worst thing about today is I am in daydream mode. Specifically because of the funding that my dear friend Maryann is hinting at giving me. I don’t know the exact amount yet, but with each thought, I keep adding to my “to do list”. It is interesting calculating with no real figure. It also is getting me way to giddy with the idea of paying of some things.
Last night I was playing with the laser and Luna and having her spin in circles, all the while using the command “spin”. She was getting to the point where she was not even seeing the laser as she spun around. It was so funny. Poor dog, she does have some intelligence in that blonde head of hers, but her puppy gets the best of her. Like yesterday when she was watching a reflection on the ceiling in the living room. She was fine until she jumped up to get it, at the same time landing on Bobby. Bobby hit the floor hard. Obviously Luna didn’t mean to injure him, but she doesn’t consider that. I have watched her sit and stay for me, with very little training. She is mastering “down” and yet she still gets all goofy. I know it is pup, but I also know the other residents in the house are not as patient with her. In fact, I think only two of us are ok with it; Ittles and I. Ittles thinks Luna is awesome. She has no fear of her and often will hang out in the living room with us when she is out. They touch noses and Ittles has attempted some play. Of course, Luna is too excited, but Ittles cuts her gobs of slack. The human residents don’t know what to do with her. Ken thinks she is an idiot. The boys don’t get that puppy power means crazy. Monarch is all offended, thinking I have replaced him with a pup. Lycos is patient to a point. But over all, she gets annoyed.
Lycos is really showing her age lately. With the addition of Luna, you could see the puppy like energy return to Lycos. The problem is, her body can’t keep up with the spirit. We watched her fall off the ladder to the play house twice yesterday. She never falls. She seems even more stiff than normal. When in the house, she pretty much has the run of it, yet she prefers to just lie on the floor by the front door. Or, if we are up, she will lie by my chair or by Ken near the computer. It is kind of sad to see her so old. She is super affectionate, though, which is sweet.
My throat is killing me. I have not been coughing too much, but this morning I did. I can feel the dull pain that is getting worse by the hour. I chose to not chew gum today just to prevent it from getting worse. Luckily I made some iced tea so I know gum doesn’t go with that. LOL! I may need some hot tea tonight. That always helps. Maybe I will spoil myself and take a nice hot bath and let the steam help things out.
I wonder how much it would cost to take down the wall paper in the hallway and paint it. I want to paint it a pale yellow. I think that will lighten up the hall. Maybe I should finish the bathroom. Of course, I am actually trying to think of a project I can do myself, hence the hallway. It wouldn’t take much furniture moving, and I could do the painting myself. Then maybe we could also finish the new hall closet.
I think I should just hope to patch some things and concentrate my efforts on making the house sellable so that we can move.
I may have to stop texting. I have just shorted “fucks” to “fux”. I am 35 years old, dammit. I can’t be doing that!!!!
It was an eventful weekend. I am wiped out.
Friday evening after going to my folks’ house, we went over to Fantastic Sam’s where I chopped off my hair. Ok, I didn’t but they did. LOL! The boys were amused with me getting my hair washed, and they enjoyed some of the cutting process, but what they really enjoyed was the fact that I put their clone costumes on their tiger and monkey, and then they found a little friend there and they all played Star Wars. Oh well, right? Whatever keeps them happy.
My hair is short. It is shorter than I think I planned, but I am glad that when she suggested a length when pointing to my shoulder that I indicated that was too short, since it would have been even shorter. This is not to say it doesn’t look good. I am pleased with this cut, this being the first time having it this length while in layers. It isn’t my normal undercut bob. It is more flippy and full. Plus, even when it is messy, it seems to work. I am able to pull it back in a pony tail, and headbands will probably be my best friend when I am doing things like cleaning. I went in the pool on Sunday, and wow, so much nicer for that. It will be a good summer cut and I am pleased.
We went to the mall after the hair cut and we had some dinner. I had hoped that Hot Topic would have some clearance shorts for Ken since I had a coupon for an additional 50% off clearance, and $20 in mall cards. We were out of luck. It was all for the best since both boys were kind of whiny.
Ken and I watched “This Is It” that night. It was the 1 year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death, and we had wanted to see it anyway, so it seemed appropriate. Wow. Just wow! I am a casual fan of his work, and enjoy a handful of his songs. I knew he could dance and I knew he was a dedicated performer, but to see this, you gain new found respect for how much all of it meant to him. Here he was, only a couple months (and sometimes only a matter of days and weeks) before his untimely death at 50, and I was shocked and impressed with how great he was. His dancing was amazing. His voice sounded quite good. The whole show looked like it would have been incredible. Of course, you could say that someone else came up with the show ideas, but when you watch this footage, you see that Michael was very hands on, and if anything, he was the one behind everything.
The most interesting thing I noted was how he worked with music. He would be talking with the musicians and be trying to explain how a certain song should go. He didn’t have sheet music in front of him. He didn’t have a recording to refer to. He has his body. If anyone has ever seen Happy Feet, Mumble, the main penguin couldn’t sing a heart song. He could only dance a heart song. It was as though the only way he could explain that a song was correct was when his soul would make his feet go. Michael seemed very similar. When he would listen to a song, he couldn’t help but dance. It was the blood flowing though his body that would compel him to be the music. I had new found appreciation for how much he was in tune with every note, every beat, every tone that would come out of his musicians. As cliché as it sounds, he really was one with his music.
Saturday was productive. Stephanie had to cancel her visit, which was for the best only because I would have hated her to come into a recently sick house when I wasn’t sure if the germs had dissipated yet. I did feel bad when I told Dax the night before. He told me he was excited Sabrina was coming over. I broke the news to him that she wouldn’t make it and he was so upset. He was sobbing, so I ended up telling him maybe she would after all, and this was the only thing that cheered him.
Ken went to see a movie with Aaron, which gave me time to clean house. I redid the kitchen since our toaster on the circuit it was on kept blowing the fuse. This movement inspired a full scrub down. Then, Ken took down this board that resided above our sink that covered up about a third of our window there. We had mentioned taking it down before, but just never had. The previous owners sure did do some stupid ass shit in our house. Once that was gone, holy crap, the kitchen glowed. It was awesome. So much more light was able to shine in and it looked so open. Love it!
So of course now that my kitchen was happy making, I needed a house to match. I went to work, cleaning up and doing some laundry in the process. I scrubbed, I swept, I organized. I made the place happy for me. The boys played and frolicked as I worked on all of this. They did go in the pool while I worked on laundry. Dax never went in, but my little fish, Bobby, was in his element. I finally took a break and sat down by the pool with a magazine, armed with my camera and a soda, and hung out with the kids as they played. Ken got home not long after this and we hung out.
The day, even though it was hot, it wasn’t quite hot enough for swimming. The wind was cold, and the pool was a chilly 70 degrees. So when Bobby had a time out, the punishment of sitting on the deck for 2 minutes was torture. When he got back in, he continued to whine, saying it was cold now and it was our fault. So we told him to get out of the pool and go sit in the sunshine. He refused, and just continued his pouting. We told him if he continued this, that we would remove him from the pool ourselves and then he wouldn’t be allowed back in for the day. He tested this threat by continuing the complaining and bitching. I got up, and stayed pretty calm through this next 30 minutes. I told him to get out. He freaked and refused. I told him that he was only making it worse. He screamed more. I was seconds away from jumping in the pool with my clothes on just to remove him, when I noticed he had moved close enough to the side of the pool that I snagged him. He kicked, he screamed, and he clearly was challenging Dax’s record for worst tantrum ever. I stripped him down outside, dodging flailing legs and arms. He wouldn’t stand up, nor would he calm down, so I ended up carrying him in the house by his legs. Yes, he was upside down, but he didn’t scream less.
I tossed him in the tub where I hosed him down. He freaked more, and in the process, managed to flop down in the tub where I continued to hose him off. I soaped him, and since he wouldn’t sit still, I squirted him down without really worrying if it hit him in the face at times. I was creepy calm in the whole thing, which probably is what ended up spooking the shit out of Dax. Ken actually tagged in after I had finished hosing him down, telling me that I should spend some nice time with Dax since Bobby’s screams and me being the cause of them, made Dax assume I was hurting his brother.
Dax was fine once I went into the room with him. He was happy and all smiles. I let him take a nice bath, which made him happy, all the while Bobby was in his room.
Bobby lost all his tigers. He lost his radio. He lost all friends from his bed. He even lost his blanket. It also was only 3 o’clock and he was told he had to stay in his room the rest of the day because of this tantrum. He ate dinner in the kitchen so as to not allow him any fun things like Dax or tv. Once Bobby calms down, he is surprisingly rational and insightful. It is when he loses control that it becomes an issue. I recognize he is 5, and there have been a lot of changes in his life lately what with no daycare, a new schedule with Daddy and all the other things that go along with becoming a kindergarten aged kid. He is going to have these episodes, so we just have to know this.
Luckily, I think his tantrum tired him out since both boys crashed pretty hard. Ken and I were able to watch some House and get to bed at a reasonable time. Always a good thing.
Sunday morning was our big treat for the kids. Ok, it was a treat for us, too. I am thinking I was more excited about the new Toy Story than they were. Ken had picked up tickets for the 8:30 am showing the day before, so we were set. They knew we were not going to bowling, but they didn’t know where we were going. The day before, I had planted Woody and Buzz in their beds so that they both felt compelled to bring them along. I even had Bobby wear his Buzz hat. We headed over to the mall and both of them seemed hesitant about the adventure. I was surprised, but I suppose they were hoping for a different surprise.
We were the first ones there, so we got awesome seats. We sat in the theatre and watched as they set up the projectors. Various dots and colors were flashed on the screen so they could get it all ready. At one point, this giant white square on a black background was on the screen, flashing every 5 seconds or so. Ken makes the observation that it feels like he is watching the Matrix. Bobby counters with it feels like he is watching a square. I almost died laughing.
We packed cereal and sandwiches and I had a crying rag at the ready. Dax was frustrated with how many previews there were. Sure, they were mostly fun previews. Well, ok, except for the scary ass Smurfs Movie one. Sheesh. But, Dax really wanted Buzz.
I was most impressed with the fact that Dax wore his glasses the whole time. I was hesitant to do a 3D showing since Dax had a history of being leery of 3D, and to have to wear glasses the whole time might annoy him. Luckily, after having him wear sunglasses a lot, he understood this was important. Plus, the glasses were very comfortable.
The movie was AMAZING!!!!!! Seriously, I can’t sing its praises enough. It was funny, witty, touching, moving, tear jerking, loving, sweet, beautiful and just plain fun. I was crying from the beginning, but a lot of my tears were from laughing so hard. Pixar can do no wrong. Seriously. There are no bad Pixar films, and this one, well, it may be one of their top 5.
Dax got a little scared when there was this evil monkey with cymbals. He was pretty damn creepy. Thankfully, he was ok with everything else. He laughed a lot and seemed to really enjoy it. Plus, he looked so damn cute, sitting in his seat, rocking the 3D glasses, clutching Woody and munching on his bee cereal. I would have taken a picture, but I think I would have been yelled at.
Ken is dead inside. After the flick, he says to me, “I kept waiting for the crying part, but there was none.” Ass. I worry that his factory settings were jacked up much like Buzz’s. The only difference is Buzz had more emotion when he was reset. Oh, and Buzz spoke Spanish.
I would have enjoyed walking the mall just to let the boys run around, but Ken seemed anxious to leave. We stopped in one store, and then headed out. We went home and the boys played out back.
Note to parents. Even though it seems cute that your kids want to play with Buzz and Woody in the sandbox, it isn’t a good plan unless you want a paralyzed Buzz.
The movie did make me have issues with throwing away toys for a while. My own crazy always did put life in inanimate objects, especially toys, so when you watch them almost get incinerated or get lost at a rest stop (a personal fear of mine since I was a kid was to lose a toy on the side of the road), or just be outgrown, it was all horrifying. The toy soldiers said that they were always the first to be thrown out. I gasped when I saw this since it is so true! I mourned the death of a few dozen I had just recently tossed unceremoniously into the giant trash bag. When I cleaned the boys’ rooms yesterday, I threw away nothing except real trash, and made sure all toys were placed in their homes which were the various toy bins.
I decided to go in the pool with the boys. It was cold, but refreshing. The only problem is that the boys want to rough house more than my body can take. They jump on me, they poke me, they want me to toss them. Ok, that last part is only Bobby, but shoot, the kid is 50 pounds. It isn’t easy to just “toss” him. By the end of a swimming session with the boys, I tend to be battered and bruised. Of course, a lot of that is my own clumsiness. I ran into the filter several times, which doesn’t feel good.
Ken even got in the pool, even though it was way colder than his body likes. It was nice to have the family all together, swimming around. The boys seemed to enjoy the attention.
The afternoon was mellow. The boys played while I continued my cleaning frenzy. I made dinner and brownies. I also busted out the old Electric Company DVD. Virsil had left this collection at our place so I have claimed it as my own. It has 4 discs of the Best Of. Bobby asked what it was so I explained to him that it was a show I used to watch as a kid that I loved. So they asked to watch it. Sure! I put in the first disc, and the boys were memorized. I loved seeing Morgan Freeman rockin a giant afro and Bill Cosby talkin 70’s style. It was awesome on so many levels. I was amused at the psychedelic parts which seemed to have been included to keep the acid dropping parents amused with their school aged children as they learned the difference between the word giggles and the word goggles.
Poor Dax was exhausted. He asked if he could be excused from the dinner table to sit on the recliner. Within a few minutes he was out. I woke him up with the bribe of brownies, but it was hard to get him up. He ate the brownie, then drifted off again. Eventually he gave up trying to stay asleep with our constant attempts to wake him, and he and Bobby went to go play.
I was concerned Dax was going to have a tough time sleeping since when he went to bed, he screamed out for me. I went in and he was clutching Buzz and Woody, looking concerned and told me he was scared. It was hard to make out what he said since he was crying and almost hysterical. He mentioned the movie and being scared. Then he said it was “just noffing”. This is never good. I explained to him that Bolt was there to keep him safe and that the movie was all pretend. That damned monkey really messed with the kid’s head. Thankfully, a glass of milk settled him and he fell asleep.
I had to watch a M*A*S*H before I could settle into sleep last night. I was a bit restless, probably stemming from all my injuries and the fact that my throat has been sore. Yes, after a flu I have to suffer from a damn cold. Sheesh, like that is fair.
I have a minor project that will earn me an extra $100 this morning, so this is a good thing. We can use the money. I am hesitant to do it today since it is month end and all, so I may do the preliminary work and email them on Wednesday so as not to piss off the poor guy who does close. But then again, if I get them done now, they may be off the close report, so we will see. The boss is out today, so my day is free and breezy. LOL!!!
I am rockin my new hair this morning, so it will be fun to see what people think. I dressed up all nice today, and I feel like a classy 50’s broad. Love it!
If I am going to get anything done today, I should get to it!
Ok, quick note-votes are in and my hair is a hit! Maryann said it was the best cut she has ever seen on me. Woo hoo!
I have done as much as I can do on my project. The system is down. Grrr. I got through about a third of it, and that only took a couple hours, so this is good. I will work on the rest as soon as it comes back up. I have some other things to keep me occupied, though.
The worst thing about today is I am in daydream mode. Specifically because of the funding that my dear friend Maryann is hinting at giving me. I don’t know the exact amount yet, but with each thought, I keep adding to my “to do list”. It is interesting calculating with no real figure. It also is getting me way to giddy with the idea of paying of some things.
Last night I was playing with the laser and Luna and having her spin in circles, all the while using the command “spin”. She was getting to the point where she was not even seeing the laser as she spun around. It was so funny. Poor dog, she does have some intelligence in that blonde head of hers, but her puppy gets the best of her. Like yesterday when she was watching a reflection on the ceiling in the living room. She was fine until she jumped up to get it, at the same time landing on Bobby. Bobby hit the floor hard. Obviously Luna didn’t mean to injure him, but she doesn’t consider that. I have watched her sit and stay for me, with very little training. She is mastering “down” and yet she still gets all goofy. I know it is pup, but I also know the other residents in the house are not as patient with her. In fact, I think only two of us are ok with it; Ittles and I. Ittles thinks Luna is awesome. She has no fear of her and often will hang out in the living room with us when she is out. They touch noses and Ittles has attempted some play. Of course, Luna is too excited, but Ittles cuts her gobs of slack. The human residents don’t know what to do with her. Ken thinks she is an idiot. The boys don’t get that puppy power means crazy. Monarch is all offended, thinking I have replaced him with a pup. Lycos is patient to a point. But over all, she gets annoyed.
Lycos is really showing her age lately. With the addition of Luna, you could see the puppy like energy return to Lycos. The problem is, her body can’t keep up with the spirit. We watched her fall off the ladder to the play house twice yesterday. She never falls. She seems even more stiff than normal. When in the house, she pretty much has the run of it, yet she prefers to just lie on the floor by the front door. Or, if we are up, she will lie by my chair or by Ken near the computer. It is kind of sad to see her so old. She is super affectionate, though, which is sweet.
My throat is killing me. I have not been coughing too much, but this morning I did. I can feel the dull pain that is getting worse by the hour. I chose to not chew gum today just to prevent it from getting worse. Luckily I made some iced tea so I know gum doesn’t go with that. LOL! I may need some hot tea tonight. That always helps. Maybe I will spoil myself and take a nice hot bath and let the steam help things out.
I wonder how much it would cost to take down the wall paper in the hallway and paint it. I want to paint it a pale yellow. I think that will lighten up the hall. Maybe I should finish the bathroom. Of course, I am actually trying to think of a project I can do myself, hence the hallway. It wouldn’t take much furniture moving, and I could do the painting myself. Then maybe we could also finish the new hall closet.
I think I should just hope to patch some things and concentrate my efforts on making the house sellable so that we can move.
I may have to stop texting. I have just shorted “fucks” to “fux”. I am 35 years old, dammit. I can’t be doing that!!!!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Ball Gown Friday
6-25-10
I was home, dinking around on Facebook when I saw that Sean had posted a link from TMZ. Michael Jackson was dead. No fucking way! I clicked the link and saw the TMZ story about how they had rushed the King of Pop to the hospital and that he was dead. I was still in mourning since Farrah had passed away that morning, but this was shocking. I actually wanted to doubt it, but let’s face it, TMZ doesn’t post false information.
Ken and I searched numerous web sites, all of whom would only post that yes he had been rushed to the hospital. They all mentioned that TMZ said he was dead, but that there was no official word. For 45 minutes, TMZ was ahead of the game. Finally, all other media outlets had to give a shout out, Harvey was right. Michael was dead.
The rest of the news came in pieces. Some saying he had a heart attack, some saying he was frail. Eventually of course, after a memorial service where the man was rolled out in a chaffing dish, numerous tabloid articles saying he was still alive and even video showing him stepping out of some van, it has come to light that this 50 year old performer was in fact rather healthy, but had died from an overdose of some drug I had never heard of before; Propofol.
Was it his doctor’s fault? Was Michael a drug addict who just needed meds to sleep? Was there negligence? Was it his family’s fault? Was it his promoters? Of course it would be good to have an answer, but today, we do need to remember a sad man who had a tough 50 years, despite a lifetime of privilege.
So rest in peace, Mr. Jackson. Hopefully your legacy of music, even if your best was 20 years ago, will be the thing we all remember today.
Ok, enough of my eulogy, let’s get back to our regular scheduled programming.
I had an incredibly pleasant evening. I got home to find Bobby feeling much better, but of course, Ken was the one suffering. He was weak and feverish, which I could sympathize with having dealt with it a few hours before.
Ken and Bobby had been playing Lego Star Wars, which was cool since it was mellow. I went and played with the dogs a bit and then went and got Dax. Ken eventually went to bed and the boys and I hung out. None of us had much of an appetite, so dinner was informal. They were both shockingly cheerful, so we had some fun just hanging out.
I got them both to bed on time and they had very little complaint. I had been trying to keep them quiet so Ken could sleep. This backfired since Ken actually got up because the house was too quiet. Figures. LOL!
Ken and I hung out and watched reruns of How I Met Your Mother while Ken managed to eat some ramen. I showed off Luna’s new skills which include her sitting, staying and coming to me only with hand commands. I also finally taught her “down” last night. She even did down, then stay while I prepped Ken’s ramen. She was doing really well! She is still a wild puppy, but some of her intelligence is now shining through. Woo hoo! Even Ken had to admit she was doing much better with listening.
We went to bed, and Ken only watched one M*A*S*H and then even turned off the tv, which is way unlike him. The house slept, with no incident, through the night! YAY!!!!!!
I feel better today. I now seem to have the cold that comes after the flu. Dax had this, and Bobby was sneezy, so this was expected. I am much more rested than I had been, but I am sure I could use a couple more hours. Maybe tomorrow morning I can do that.
Tonight is a busy one. I am taking the boys to my parents’ house, after which I will head over to get my hair cut. Depending on if Ken goes with us, I may just leave the boys with my parents while I run get my hair cut, then come back and pick them up after. If Ken comes, we will all go.
After hair cutting adventures, I may try to go by the mall since I have a 50% off coupon for clearance stuff at Hot Topic. I also have $20 in mall cards, so it seems like a good time to see if there is anything of interest.
I don’t think there are any more specific plans aside from Ken and I watching “This is It” tonight. I had not seen it, and we got it on Netflix. It seems reasonable to watch it on his deathaversary.
Today has been declared Ball Gown Friday. Because of this, I am rocking my pinstripe ball gown. This all came about because Esther was describing this dress she was thinking of getting. I was able to find it online and Maryann and I gave her the thumbs up to at the very least go try it on and then when it looked awesome, get it and wear it to work Monday. She was afraid that the dress was too fancy for work. I didn’t understand this for a couple of reasons. One, the dress wasn’t anymore fancy than what she wears normally. And more importantly, two, this is the kind of work you can wear whatever makes you happy. We sit at a desk all day, and mostly only see a handful of folks. We don’t have to do anything difficult like lifting boxes or anything physical, so wearing a pretty dress is fine. We wear things to make us feel good about us, and to indirectly fish for compliments from our peers. I then pointed out that I have worn fancy attire here and it was fine. I told her I would wear my ball gown here just because. This of course became a challenge, so I promised Esther and Maryann that I would rock the ball gown today, just because. I love their naiveté argument that it was casual Friday, as if this means anything to me. So today, I am working it and looking awesome. I even did my hair since it will be the last time I will have this much for a while. The dress is shockingly comfy, and really, a cool dress. I will have pictures, since Maryann has indicated she would take some, so I will break out my camera.
Ok, Maryann has seen it and approves. She was expecting more Cinderelly and less black and gothy, but then she didn’t know why she would think that since clearly, I would be more on the second end. LOL! But she approves and told me she is always impressed with my clothing choices. Yay!
I am getting tired of the fever feeling. Of course, I could just be hot since I am wearing a big ass dress. Luckily, the fan can be turned on and I will be happy again shortly.
I have now funked out my hair and I feel like I am late for prom. LOL!
I had forgotten about the cuts I have on my hands. On Tuesday, the boys and I helped my mom destroy evidence. Let me explain. She had a lot of old tapes that were part of closed files and they needed to be destroyed. Turns out, trashing 50 cassette tapes isn’t only fun for the kids, it is a little dangerous. We had been just pulling the tape part out, but that was taking too long, so I started breaking the cassettes in half, and removing the guts. This was way easier, until at one point I noticed blood. Oops. I also had sliced part of my hand but there was no blood. Well, since I got sick that night, I forgot all about it. I just noticed the flaps of skin. Neat!
Ken has his appt today to set up the appt for his colonoscopy. I will be curious as to how long it will take to get that procedure done. Will it be next week? In a month? I will have to take part of the day off since I need to drive him there and home. Plus, I will be with Bobby. He and I may not be allowed to leave the facility while Ken is under. I don’t know. Should be interesting, the whole process. I am sure Ken doesn’t think it is as interesting.
I lie to my boss too much. It is something I tend to take pride in. He is one of those folks that doesn’t really follow up on requests, and so often it is just easier to tell him, “Sure, boss!” and take care of the task your own way then to explain why his way is wrong. Ultimately, I think his only concern is that the end result is good. An example from this morning would be my correspondence with one of my top customers. There is a check that is in route and should hit our bank today. My contact said she would get me a tracking number for the check. I am waiting on her since she is awesome. My boss doesn’t understand this. His method on something like this is to harass the good customer to the point of them hating us. I don’t let this happen. He just asked me to give her a jingle. I said, sure! I of course did not pick up the phone. Instead, I did send her a reminder email, which is how she and I communicate. See, my boss doesn’t understand that the phone isn’t always the best way to talk with people. When I only communicate with this customer via email, why in the world would I call her?
My boss just gets antsy. He is like a kid on Christmas Eve. He doesn’t like to Wait And See. He wants to have it now! His calling won’t get the check here any sooner. Especially if it was in fact sent out. His checking the bank every 30 minutes won’t get it entered any quicker. He just gets so nervous that someone will see that we didn’t meet a goal (the first time in like 8 months) so he thinks he will get fired. Look, this so won’t happen.
What irks me most about this is that he won’t spend the same kind of dedication on the crap customers. See, the one he wants the check from today is one of our best, and is projected to, no joke, quadruple their business with us in the next year. They pay pretty timely and have been a customer since we opened 30 years ago. Yet there are customers that owe money from 2 years ago, pay slowly, still insist on us selling to them and my boss does! He doesn’t get the back pay. He will get the amount of the order and use it towards old invoices, yet he won’t call them every day on the past due. Where is the logic?
His logic lies in the goal of collecting money, not past due money. He gets a bonus for getting big dollars in house, not reducing the debt. This is dumb. Especially since we are told to call on customers that don’t owe yet!
So this takes me back to my lies. It is true. I will tell him all the time that I contacted someone. He had yet to call me on it. I am sure it will happen at some point, and I will have to BS my way out of it. I think I can mange. I have been doing this with him for 9 years.
On the plus side, I just got word the check arrived. So I am in the clear again. LOL!
Ken has not called me yet. It is almost 11. He had his butt doc appt, but how long would it take since it isn’t the real deal? My guess is he forgot his phone.
I hate it when Ken leaves his phone. I am so guessing this is the case now since it is 11:35 and nothing from him. Doesn’t he know I freak out that he is dead or something. It is true, I am a spaz. I just need him to not forget something like his phone. I know that we didn’t always have phones. How did I cope before? Trust me, I am less freaky now since I know that I can get a hold of people in no time at all.
Ok, I am bored here in the land of work. I have had a few projects, but not enough to sustain me. Thankfully the day is almost over. Woo hoo!
I was home, dinking around on Facebook when I saw that Sean had posted a link from TMZ. Michael Jackson was dead. No fucking way! I clicked the link and saw the TMZ story about how they had rushed the King of Pop to the hospital and that he was dead. I was still in mourning since Farrah had passed away that morning, but this was shocking. I actually wanted to doubt it, but let’s face it, TMZ doesn’t post false information.
Ken and I searched numerous web sites, all of whom would only post that yes he had been rushed to the hospital. They all mentioned that TMZ said he was dead, but that there was no official word. For 45 minutes, TMZ was ahead of the game. Finally, all other media outlets had to give a shout out, Harvey was right. Michael was dead.
The rest of the news came in pieces. Some saying he had a heart attack, some saying he was frail. Eventually of course, after a memorial service where the man was rolled out in a chaffing dish, numerous tabloid articles saying he was still alive and even video showing him stepping out of some van, it has come to light that this 50 year old performer was in fact rather healthy, but had died from an overdose of some drug I had never heard of before; Propofol.
Was it his doctor’s fault? Was Michael a drug addict who just needed meds to sleep? Was there negligence? Was it his family’s fault? Was it his promoters? Of course it would be good to have an answer, but today, we do need to remember a sad man who had a tough 50 years, despite a lifetime of privilege.
So rest in peace, Mr. Jackson. Hopefully your legacy of music, even if your best was 20 years ago, will be the thing we all remember today.
Ok, enough of my eulogy, let’s get back to our regular scheduled programming.
I had an incredibly pleasant evening. I got home to find Bobby feeling much better, but of course, Ken was the one suffering. He was weak and feverish, which I could sympathize with having dealt with it a few hours before.
Ken and Bobby had been playing Lego Star Wars, which was cool since it was mellow. I went and played with the dogs a bit and then went and got Dax. Ken eventually went to bed and the boys and I hung out. None of us had much of an appetite, so dinner was informal. They were both shockingly cheerful, so we had some fun just hanging out.
I got them both to bed on time and they had very little complaint. I had been trying to keep them quiet so Ken could sleep. This backfired since Ken actually got up because the house was too quiet. Figures. LOL!
Ken and I hung out and watched reruns of How I Met Your Mother while Ken managed to eat some ramen. I showed off Luna’s new skills which include her sitting, staying and coming to me only with hand commands. I also finally taught her “down” last night. She even did down, then stay while I prepped Ken’s ramen. She was doing really well! She is still a wild puppy, but some of her intelligence is now shining through. Woo hoo! Even Ken had to admit she was doing much better with listening.
We went to bed, and Ken only watched one M*A*S*H and then even turned off the tv, which is way unlike him. The house slept, with no incident, through the night! YAY!!!!!!
I feel better today. I now seem to have the cold that comes after the flu. Dax had this, and Bobby was sneezy, so this was expected. I am much more rested than I had been, but I am sure I could use a couple more hours. Maybe tomorrow morning I can do that.
Tonight is a busy one. I am taking the boys to my parents’ house, after which I will head over to get my hair cut. Depending on if Ken goes with us, I may just leave the boys with my parents while I run get my hair cut, then come back and pick them up after. If Ken comes, we will all go.
After hair cutting adventures, I may try to go by the mall since I have a 50% off coupon for clearance stuff at Hot Topic. I also have $20 in mall cards, so it seems like a good time to see if there is anything of interest.
I don’t think there are any more specific plans aside from Ken and I watching “This is It” tonight. I had not seen it, and we got it on Netflix. It seems reasonable to watch it on his deathaversary.
Today has been declared Ball Gown Friday. Because of this, I am rocking my pinstripe ball gown. This all came about because Esther was describing this dress she was thinking of getting. I was able to find it online and Maryann and I gave her the thumbs up to at the very least go try it on and then when it looked awesome, get it and wear it to work Monday. She was afraid that the dress was too fancy for work. I didn’t understand this for a couple of reasons. One, the dress wasn’t anymore fancy than what she wears normally. And more importantly, two, this is the kind of work you can wear whatever makes you happy. We sit at a desk all day, and mostly only see a handful of folks. We don’t have to do anything difficult like lifting boxes or anything physical, so wearing a pretty dress is fine. We wear things to make us feel good about us, and to indirectly fish for compliments from our peers. I then pointed out that I have worn fancy attire here and it was fine. I told her I would wear my ball gown here just because. This of course became a challenge, so I promised Esther and Maryann that I would rock the ball gown today, just because. I love their naiveté argument that it was casual Friday, as if this means anything to me. So today, I am working it and looking awesome. I even did my hair since it will be the last time I will have this much for a while. The dress is shockingly comfy, and really, a cool dress. I will have pictures, since Maryann has indicated she would take some, so I will break out my camera.
Ok, Maryann has seen it and approves. She was expecting more Cinderelly and less black and gothy, but then she didn’t know why she would think that since clearly, I would be more on the second end. LOL! But she approves and told me she is always impressed with my clothing choices. Yay!
I am getting tired of the fever feeling. Of course, I could just be hot since I am wearing a big ass dress. Luckily, the fan can be turned on and I will be happy again shortly.
I have now funked out my hair and I feel like I am late for prom. LOL!
I had forgotten about the cuts I have on my hands. On Tuesday, the boys and I helped my mom destroy evidence. Let me explain. She had a lot of old tapes that were part of closed files and they needed to be destroyed. Turns out, trashing 50 cassette tapes isn’t only fun for the kids, it is a little dangerous. We had been just pulling the tape part out, but that was taking too long, so I started breaking the cassettes in half, and removing the guts. This was way easier, until at one point I noticed blood. Oops. I also had sliced part of my hand but there was no blood. Well, since I got sick that night, I forgot all about it. I just noticed the flaps of skin. Neat!
Ken has his appt today to set up the appt for his colonoscopy. I will be curious as to how long it will take to get that procedure done. Will it be next week? In a month? I will have to take part of the day off since I need to drive him there and home. Plus, I will be with Bobby. He and I may not be allowed to leave the facility while Ken is under. I don’t know. Should be interesting, the whole process. I am sure Ken doesn’t think it is as interesting.
I lie to my boss too much. It is something I tend to take pride in. He is one of those folks that doesn’t really follow up on requests, and so often it is just easier to tell him, “Sure, boss!” and take care of the task your own way then to explain why his way is wrong. Ultimately, I think his only concern is that the end result is good. An example from this morning would be my correspondence with one of my top customers. There is a check that is in route and should hit our bank today. My contact said she would get me a tracking number for the check. I am waiting on her since she is awesome. My boss doesn’t understand this. His method on something like this is to harass the good customer to the point of them hating us. I don’t let this happen. He just asked me to give her a jingle. I said, sure! I of course did not pick up the phone. Instead, I did send her a reminder email, which is how she and I communicate. See, my boss doesn’t understand that the phone isn’t always the best way to talk with people. When I only communicate with this customer via email, why in the world would I call her?
My boss just gets antsy. He is like a kid on Christmas Eve. He doesn’t like to Wait And See. He wants to have it now! His calling won’t get the check here any sooner. Especially if it was in fact sent out. His checking the bank every 30 minutes won’t get it entered any quicker. He just gets so nervous that someone will see that we didn’t meet a goal (the first time in like 8 months) so he thinks he will get fired. Look, this so won’t happen.
What irks me most about this is that he won’t spend the same kind of dedication on the crap customers. See, the one he wants the check from today is one of our best, and is projected to, no joke, quadruple their business with us in the next year. They pay pretty timely and have been a customer since we opened 30 years ago. Yet there are customers that owe money from 2 years ago, pay slowly, still insist on us selling to them and my boss does! He doesn’t get the back pay. He will get the amount of the order and use it towards old invoices, yet he won’t call them every day on the past due. Where is the logic?
His logic lies in the goal of collecting money, not past due money. He gets a bonus for getting big dollars in house, not reducing the debt. This is dumb. Especially since we are told to call on customers that don’t owe yet!
So this takes me back to my lies. It is true. I will tell him all the time that I contacted someone. He had yet to call me on it. I am sure it will happen at some point, and I will have to BS my way out of it. I think I can mange. I have been doing this with him for 9 years.
On the plus side, I just got word the check arrived. So I am in the clear again. LOL!
Ken has not called me yet. It is almost 11. He had his butt doc appt, but how long would it take since it isn’t the real deal? My guess is he forgot his phone.
I hate it when Ken leaves his phone. I am so guessing this is the case now since it is 11:35 and nothing from him. Doesn’t he know I freak out that he is dead or something. It is true, I am a spaz. I just need him to not forget something like his phone. I know that we didn’t always have phones. How did I cope before? Trust me, I am less freaky now since I know that I can get a hold of people in no time at all.
Ok, I am bored here in the land of work. I have had a few projects, but not enough to sustain me. Thankfully the day is almost over. Woo hoo!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Have I mentioned sick sucks?
6-24-10
Although I am not 100%, it is nice to be at least above 50%.
Yesterday was not fun. I woke up around 2 am and I felt nauseous. I assumed it was just heart burn at first, having had pizza for dinner. The ick didn’t seem to get better. I was starting to feel like I was actually going to be sick.
The alarm went off and I staggered into the bathroom to attempt to get ready for the day. I didn’t throw up thankfully, but all of the yucky did rush for the other exit and I knew I had what Dax had been suffering from.
I felt so weak. I also had some dizzy moments in the shower. I got dressed and continued through my morning routine, but at a much slower pace. My first thought was that I just wouldn’t eat breakfast. I had no appetite and this way I wouldn’t end up getting too sick at work. It was a good idea, but it didn’t matter since when I headed back to the bathroom, I knew I was done for.
Poor Ken was confused when I came into the bedroom. I was supposed to be waking him up in order to make sure his car started, but I wasn’t dressed. I crawled back into bed, in massive amounts of pain. My stomach clearly wanted to leave my body, but it just wasn’t happening.
I slept most of the day. I stayed in bed until around 10. The dogs kept waking me up and my back was sore. I moved into the living room where I napped off and on to the sounds of Scrubs. I tried the couch for a while, too, but it turns out our couch is way uncomfortable. I went back to bed around 2:30 and slept for another couple hours.
In between the sleep were constant trips to the bathroom. It was horrid. In hind sight, I kind of wish I did throw up. Once again, even though it would probably make me feel better, there is some part of me that fights it and doesn’t allow it to happen.
Throughout the day, I could feel the ick slowly leaving my body. It was like a tank where in the beginning I felt full of ick. Then, the ick levels went down. I could feel the level in my body actually go down. I still hurt in my bowels, but I also felt some kind of an appetite return.
I had some soup for dinner. Mostly I sipped the broth, which was good. I didn’t have much. I took another shower, hoping for it to soothe my back and ass and just for the relaxing aspects of showers. It wiped me out for a bit and once again I had to crawl back into bed for a while.
I did attempt to do some work yesterday. I had a meeting at 1:15, so I had emailed my boss to call me from the meeting and have me on speaker phone. He called and I participated for a while until I must have accidently hung up. I waited for a call back, but got nothing. Next thing I knew, it was an hour later and I had fallen asleep. I suppose it is better that I hung up before I fell asleep.
Last night I had a hard time sleeping. Bobby ended up getting the sick next. I would have helped more, but Ken ordered me back to bed. Luckily, Bobby is at the age that knows when he has to throw up so the mess is minimal since he can manage to get it into some kind of proper receptacle. He had dry heaves most of the night, which kept Ken up. Ken also was up because he was feeling a little icky. He was the nurse of the night, though. I couldn’t move. I had (and probably still do) have a fever, which makes life worse. Plus, even with all that sleep yesterday, I am beat. I will see how long I can hang in there today.
Ken and Bobby are currently camped out in our bedroom. They are in for a long day of rest and tummy pains. Thankfully Dax was cheery and he went to Maria’s without incident. I know I feel better than I did yesterday, but I am still tired. Luckily, I have a project to keep my mind occupied.
Yay plans for Sunday morning. I noticed that there is an 8:30 am showing of Toy Story 3 at IMAX 3D. I figure it won’t be uber crowded that morning, and we can skip bowling and go to that. We can get tickets earlier and then enjoy the Pixar flick with less stress. Yay!
As the day is moving forward, I am feeling better. I had some Advil (the first aid kit in the kitchen was lacking in Tylenol, and after I took it is when I remembered that I have a bottle of that in my purse) and a small snack and so far so good. I will try some lunch here in a bit, which I am sure will help just in the idea of having some more energy.
Although I am not 100%, it is nice to be at least above 50%.
Yesterday was not fun. I woke up around 2 am and I felt nauseous. I assumed it was just heart burn at first, having had pizza for dinner. The ick didn’t seem to get better. I was starting to feel like I was actually going to be sick.
The alarm went off and I staggered into the bathroom to attempt to get ready for the day. I didn’t throw up thankfully, but all of the yucky did rush for the other exit and I knew I had what Dax had been suffering from.
I felt so weak. I also had some dizzy moments in the shower. I got dressed and continued through my morning routine, but at a much slower pace. My first thought was that I just wouldn’t eat breakfast. I had no appetite and this way I wouldn’t end up getting too sick at work. It was a good idea, but it didn’t matter since when I headed back to the bathroom, I knew I was done for.
Poor Ken was confused when I came into the bedroom. I was supposed to be waking him up in order to make sure his car started, but I wasn’t dressed. I crawled back into bed, in massive amounts of pain. My stomach clearly wanted to leave my body, but it just wasn’t happening.
I slept most of the day. I stayed in bed until around 10. The dogs kept waking me up and my back was sore. I moved into the living room where I napped off and on to the sounds of Scrubs. I tried the couch for a while, too, but it turns out our couch is way uncomfortable. I went back to bed around 2:30 and slept for another couple hours.
In between the sleep were constant trips to the bathroom. It was horrid. In hind sight, I kind of wish I did throw up. Once again, even though it would probably make me feel better, there is some part of me that fights it and doesn’t allow it to happen.
Throughout the day, I could feel the ick slowly leaving my body. It was like a tank where in the beginning I felt full of ick. Then, the ick levels went down. I could feel the level in my body actually go down. I still hurt in my bowels, but I also felt some kind of an appetite return.
I had some soup for dinner. Mostly I sipped the broth, which was good. I didn’t have much. I took another shower, hoping for it to soothe my back and ass and just for the relaxing aspects of showers. It wiped me out for a bit and once again I had to crawl back into bed for a while.
I did attempt to do some work yesterday. I had a meeting at 1:15, so I had emailed my boss to call me from the meeting and have me on speaker phone. He called and I participated for a while until I must have accidently hung up. I waited for a call back, but got nothing. Next thing I knew, it was an hour later and I had fallen asleep. I suppose it is better that I hung up before I fell asleep.
Last night I had a hard time sleeping. Bobby ended up getting the sick next. I would have helped more, but Ken ordered me back to bed. Luckily, Bobby is at the age that knows when he has to throw up so the mess is minimal since he can manage to get it into some kind of proper receptacle. He had dry heaves most of the night, which kept Ken up. Ken also was up because he was feeling a little icky. He was the nurse of the night, though. I couldn’t move. I had (and probably still do) have a fever, which makes life worse. Plus, even with all that sleep yesterday, I am beat. I will see how long I can hang in there today.
Ken and Bobby are currently camped out in our bedroom. They are in for a long day of rest and tummy pains. Thankfully Dax was cheery and he went to Maria’s without incident. I know I feel better than I did yesterday, but I am still tired. Luckily, I have a project to keep my mind occupied.
Yay plans for Sunday morning. I noticed that there is an 8:30 am showing of Toy Story 3 at IMAX 3D. I figure it won’t be uber crowded that morning, and we can skip bowling and go to that. We can get tickets earlier and then enjoy the Pixar flick with less stress. Yay!
As the day is moving forward, I am feeling better. I had some Advil (the first aid kit in the kitchen was lacking in Tylenol, and after I took it is when I remembered that I have a bottle of that in my purse) and a small snack and so far so good. I will try some lunch here in a bit, which I am sure will help just in the idea of having some more energy.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
No more sick!
6-22-10
The good news is that Dax wasn’t throwing up all day. He was clearly sick, though. A fever of probably 100+ (we could only get an armpit temp since he wasn’t keen on any other kind) and poo issues. Poor kid was beat. When I got home he looked at me, all miserable and says, “Hi Mom. I am not feeling very well.” My poor darlin.
Ken and Bobby went to do the errands they couldn’t do since the car didn’t want to start. They used my car to jump it. I stayed with Dax, who just laid on the couch, looking spent. We watched movies and cartoons all day. Every 40 minutes or so was a bathroom break, and I kept him drinking Gatorade and Caprisun during the day.
I tried to nap during his zoned out periods, but every time I fell asleep, he would ask me for something. At least I did get to just zone out.
Ken and Bobby returned and Ken headed out to work on the garage. Dax finally fell asleep, so I went out to help Ken in the garage. We made tremendous progress on the first pass at it. In fact we found this one thing in there that we were not sure what it was called. I think it is referred to as a “floor”, but since I had only heard about this in stories, I always assumed it was a mythical creature.
We have a large pile of garbage now, which will be put into the cans over the next few days. We also have electronic trash which will need to be carted down to one of the disposal places. Ken is planning on working on more organization today. A lot, of course, is Lego, but he took much of that out since it will be going to Camp VIP where the Lego gets sorted down into less containers. In fact, some of today, Bobby gets to help take apart Lego. He likes this task, so this is very helpful.
He went to sleep last night ok. He did wake up around 11:30 from coughing. He seems to have a bad cough along with the fever and ick. Hopefully he is back to his normal self this morning. He never ate anything last night. I think maybe one small piece of chicken. I wasn’t forcing the issue. He will eat when he is ready.
I found out yesterday that hot dog vomit is Ken’s weakness.
I am all kinds of annoyed. I posted my parents’ bed up on Craigslist and got no bites the first round. Then I reposted it on Saturday and was all excited when I got two responses. The one guy offered to spend $50 more if I took down the ad right then. I had no problem with this only because it wasn’t like we were in a hurry to sell and I could always repost it.
After some emails back and forth, he said he would get his PA to send me a cashier’s check for the $450 and then he would have someone pick up the bed. He said he was getting it for his brother who lost everything in a fire. At first I told him to send the money to the PO box. He didn’t like this and asked for my address instead. I ended up giving him this, but was not feeling good about it anymore.
This morning, he sends me an email telling me he accidently sent $2100 because his PA wrote out a check for a bunch of furniture and sent it all to me instead of multiple checks to all the people. He then told me to just go ahead and cash it and send him the difference. Um, yeah, not in a million fucking years buddy. So I googled his name.
Turns out, this dude has done this scam before. I found someone who posted a similar exchange with this guy. I emailed him back and told him I would return the check and would only accept an exact amount. I am sure I won’t hear from him. I decided to also look up the other chick who sent me a response. The number she listed is also a scam number and several people posted about her. So much for selling the bed quickly.
I had never really looked much on Etsy before. Holy crap, there is a lot of wonderful stuff up there! I could get lost for hours!
The ants are back. They have been circling for a while. I have found them in the bathroom, the living room, and even on our bed. Yeah, that wasn’t cool to find a random trail of ants across our bedspread when there was nothing there for them. This morning they had hit the mother load in the form of the kitchen. Dishes had not been done what with Dax being sick and we had the garage stuff. They pounced on this opportunity. I tried to do some quick killing this morning, but gave up since it would take too long to make it better. I know Ken will handle it this morning, so it will be ok, but it annoys me that they are there.
I am really liking this tanned look on me. It makes my makeup look better.
I have been playing with my iGoogle and enjoying that I was able to make my own theme. I know, I am strange, but it makes me happy.
The good news is that Dax wasn’t throwing up all day. He was clearly sick, though. A fever of probably 100+ (we could only get an armpit temp since he wasn’t keen on any other kind) and poo issues. Poor kid was beat. When I got home he looked at me, all miserable and says, “Hi Mom. I am not feeling very well.” My poor darlin.
Ken and Bobby went to do the errands they couldn’t do since the car didn’t want to start. They used my car to jump it. I stayed with Dax, who just laid on the couch, looking spent. We watched movies and cartoons all day. Every 40 minutes or so was a bathroom break, and I kept him drinking Gatorade and Caprisun during the day.
I tried to nap during his zoned out periods, but every time I fell asleep, he would ask me for something. At least I did get to just zone out.
Ken and Bobby returned and Ken headed out to work on the garage. Dax finally fell asleep, so I went out to help Ken in the garage. We made tremendous progress on the first pass at it. In fact we found this one thing in there that we were not sure what it was called. I think it is referred to as a “floor”, but since I had only heard about this in stories, I always assumed it was a mythical creature.
We have a large pile of garbage now, which will be put into the cans over the next few days. We also have electronic trash which will need to be carted down to one of the disposal places. Ken is planning on working on more organization today. A lot, of course, is Lego, but he took much of that out since it will be going to Camp VIP where the Lego gets sorted down into less containers. In fact, some of today, Bobby gets to help take apart Lego. He likes this task, so this is very helpful.
He went to sleep last night ok. He did wake up around 11:30 from coughing. He seems to have a bad cough along with the fever and ick. Hopefully he is back to his normal self this morning. He never ate anything last night. I think maybe one small piece of chicken. I wasn’t forcing the issue. He will eat when he is ready.
I found out yesterday that hot dog vomit is Ken’s weakness.
I am all kinds of annoyed. I posted my parents’ bed up on Craigslist and got no bites the first round. Then I reposted it on Saturday and was all excited when I got two responses. The one guy offered to spend $50 more if I took down the ad right then. I had no problem with this only because it wasn’t like we were in a hurry to sell and I could always repost it.
After some emails back and forth, he said he would get his PA to send me a cashier’s check for the $450 and then he would have someone pick up the bed. He said he was getting it for his brother who lost everything in a fire. At first I told him to send the money to the PO box. He didn’t like this and asked for my address instead. I ended up giving him this, but was not feeling good about it anymore.
This morning, he sends me an email telling me he accidently sent $2100 because his PA wrote out a check for a bunch of furniture and sent it all to me instead of multiple checks to all the people. He then told me to just go ahead and cash it and send him the difference. Um, yeah, not in a million fucking years buddy. So I googled his name.
Turns out, this dude has done this scam before. I found someone who posted a similar exchange with this guy. I emailed him back and told him I would return the check and would only accept an exact amount. I am sure I won’t hear from him. I decided to also look up the other chick who sent me a response. The number she listed is also a scam number and several people posted about her. So much for selling the bed quickly.
I had never really looked much on Etsy before. Holy crap, there is a lot of wonderful stuff up there! I could get lost for hours!
The ants are back. They have been circling for a while. I have found them in the bathroom, the living room, and even on our bed. Yeah, that wasn’t cool to find a random trail of ants across our bedspread when there was nothing there for them. This morning they had hit the mother load in the form of the kitchen. Dishes had not been done what with Dax being sick and we had the garage stuff. They pounced on this opportunity. I tried to do some quick killing this morning, but gave up since it would take too long to make it better. I know Ken will handle it this morning, so it will be ok, but it annoys me that they are there.
I am really liking this tanned look on me. It makes my makeup look better.
I have been playing with my iGoogle and enjoying that I was able to make my own theme. I know, I am strange, but it makes me happy.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Turns out, sleep is a good idea
6-21-10
I need sleep. I need sleep. I need sleep.
Just wanted to get that out of the way right up front.
I was awoken this morning by Ken calling out to me that he needed some help. It was 3 and Dax had just hurled. I should have expected this. Turns out most kid clichés are based in truth. When your kid eats mostly chips and crap all day, chances are pretty high that they will throw up.
He managed to not hit his blankets since he had pushed them off of himself. His friends got the bulk, with Kitty being left almost unrecognizable with how much he was covered in. I felt bad about that since while Dax was in the bath, he asked about Kitty. I had to tell him the only friend that wasn’t hit was JoJo. Thankfully he was ok with this.
The exhaustion plus hot and steamy bathroom and the slight aroma of vomit made me a little ill. When we crawled back into bed, I was a little concerned I was going to be sick. Thankfully it passed and I was able to fall back asleep…three minutes before the alarm went off.
I was tired before all of this. It was a busy weekend.
I managed to sleep in Saturday morning. Ken was even shocked that I stayed in bed, which is something I never do. I was just so beat.
We headed to Big Wok for lunch with my parents, Matt and Grammie. I really need to frequent that restaurant more often. Wow is it yummy! Bobby even tried some of the noodles and chicken and liked both. I didn’t expect them to eat that food, though, so I came prepared with PB&J.
We went back to the house for cake and ice cream. The boys ran around and we visited with Grammie. We didn’t stay too late since there were still chores to be done before the following day. Plus, it was crazy hot out and the boys wanted to go in the pool.
The pool was wonderfully refreshing, but it is a death trap.
I was in the pool for 2 hours. I left with 3 injuries. 2 out of 3 were inflicted by Bobby.
The first injury was when I scraped my knee on the drainage stuff. I now have a pretty scab that hurts like heck. This was just a way to ease me into the pain.
Bobby, while wearing his swim mask, jumped up at me and smacked my sunglasses into the bridge of my nose. I swear, I thought I was going to die. It hurt so bad. I even wondered if I had a broken nose.
This was nothing compared to what would happen a little bit later.
Bobby had been jumping off the platform into the pool, but up until this point, I didn’t have chaos of a dog in the pool. I was positioned directly under where the kid jumped. He landed on my right shoulder. Bobby is no light weight. He is 45 pounds of kid. He came down hard. I was flattened. The way he hit me seemed to dig into my shoulder blade. I had to get out of the pool I hurt so bad.
The rest of the night I could hardly move my arm without wincing. It was bruised and the muscle had a knot in it. Ken ended up working out the muscle pain, but it still is bruised to the touch.
I made the mistake of going to bed without pain meds. I tossed and turned all night, in gobs of pain.
We went to bowling and then rushed home after to make sure everything was in order for the dad’s day BBQ.
My folks got there around 10:30 and we had a nice time with the boys playing in the pool, visiting and having some yummy burgers.
This is where Dax started his road to vomitville. He chose to not eat anything but what looked like 100 Doritos. He ate dinner later, but I am sure just the sunshine, lack of proper nutrition and exhaustion led to the inevitable.
What sucks is that with us still line drying things, his bedding won’t be ready quickly. Thankfully we have lots of extra, but if for some reason he is sick all morning, we may run out of spots to dry things.
My hair is jumping ship. It has been shedding for a couple days. It knows I am cutting it this week. I know I have been going back and forth, but after spending two days in the pool, it was pretty easy to see that my hair will piss me off too much if I am having to comb it out after that each day.
New travel plans for the month of July. Andy’s birthday weekend, which is the last weekend in July, we are going to the compound. It is a quick visit, but jam packed. We would drive up Friday night and drive home Sunday. Saturday is celebrate Andy’s birthday, and then the boys would stay with Grandma and Grandpa while we all go out to see Adam Lambert. WOO HOO! I am quite jazzed.
This weekend looks like it will be a lot of fun. Saturday, Stephanie and Sabrina are coming to Brenan Park so the kids can run around and us girls can chit chat. I am sending Ken out to play with his friends since I think he needs to get out of the house. Sunday, I think the plan is a matinee of Toy Story 3 in IMAX 3D. I am quite excited, and I know the boys will love it. I just hope I don’t cry too much.
OH!!!!! And I forgot the most important discovery on Saturday. DAX IS IN!!!!!!! We got the acceptance letter for Dax that he is one of the 30 kids that gets to partake in the Pre-K program at the school. His schedule is 8 to 10:20, Monday through Thursday. We may in fact have him keep daycare, with him now only having part time, which will be good, since it still saves $50 a week. Ken has to check his schedule before we commit to daycare hours. I will be able to take off a Friday a month so I can participate in the parent stuff on Fridays. Ken should also be abler to be in the classroom when needed, and as the teacher told us, we also can be the at home helpers where we staple things or do stuff like that. Ken, Dax and I all need to go get TB tests, which should be entertaining. Ken will have to suck it up so he doesn’t freak out in front of Dax. I think I will go first. Hopefully then Dax will see it is ok.
Both my boys will be in school in a couple of months. I am so excited! Oh the stuff they will learn! The fun they will have! The friends, the adventure, the knowledge!! I know I am not looking forward to homework, but every other aspect of school I am really looking forward to. Making them lunches, hearing about their day, seeing school performances! Sheesh, I will be a crazy mom, won’t I?
Best of Kevin and Bean this week. I like hearing old bits, but it throws off my whole day since I use their schedule to know what time of the day is. I am worried that I am too dependent on them, though. I actually responded to Bean’s tweet yesterday to have him pick me for which 5 followers got a postcard from him while he was in Paris. I won!
I get worried when Maryann doesn’t get here. She hasn’t called, either, which is so unlike her. I may worry too much.
Ok, I turned on my fan to hopefully wake my ass up. I have started to get into the mode where I honestly cannot keep my eyes open. This sucks!!
Maryann made it in. She had traded hours with someone, so she came in at 8:30. Phew!
The poor Dax man is sickly. He tried to sleep in this morning, but his body just wasn’t cooperating. He has the Fear, so Ken went ahead and kept him home today. They only have one quick outing to the bank, so not too bad. Of course, it won’t be quick if Ken can’t get his car to start. It has been having issues. I need to save up $2000 to fix the PT.
Ok, I am heading home. With Ken’s car not starting and Dax being sick, he needs to use the car and I should keep Dax home.
I need sleep. I need sleep. I need sleep.
Just wanted to get that out of the way right up front.
I was awoken this morning by Ken calling out to me that he needed some help. It was 3 and Dax had just hurled. I should have expected this. Turns out most kid clichés are based in truth. When your kid eats mostly chips and crap all day, chances are pretty high that they will throw up.
He managed to not hit his blankets since he had pushed them off of himself. His friends got the bulk, with Kitty being left almost unrecognizable with how much he was covered in. I felt bad about that since while Dax was in the bath, he asked about Kitty. I had to tell him the only friend that wasn’t hit was JoJo. Thankfully he was ok with this.
The exhaustion plus hot and steamy bathroom and the slight aroma of vomit made me a little ill. When we crawled back into bed, I was a little concerned I was going to be sick. Thankfully it passed and I was able to fall back asleep…three minutes before the alarm went off.
I was tired before all of this. It was a busy weekend.
I managed to sleep in Saturday morning. Ken was even shocked that I stayed in bed, which is something I never do. I was just so beat.
We headed to Big Wok for lunch with my parents, Matt and Grammie. I really need to frequent that restaurant more often. Wow is it yummy! Bobby even tried some of the noodles and chicken and liked both. I didn’t expect them to eat that food, though, so I came prepared with PB&J.
We went back to the house for cake and ice cream. The boys ran around and we visited with Grammie. We didn’t stay too late since there were still chores to be done before the following day. Plus, it was crazy hot out and the boys wanted to go in the pool.
The pool was wonderfully refreshing, but it is a death trap.
I was in the pool for 2 hours. I left with 3 injuries. 2 out of 3 were inflicted by Bobby.
The first injury was when I scraped my knee on the drainage stuff. I now have a pretty scab that hurts like heck. This was just a way to ease me into the pain.
Bobby, while wearing his swim mask, jumped up at me and smacked my sunglasses into the bridge of my nose. I swear, I thought I was going to die. It hurt so bad. I even wondered if I had a broken nose.
This was nothing compared to what would happen a little bit later.
Bobby had been jumping off the platform into the pool, but up until this point, I didn’t have chaos of a dog in the pool. I was positioned directly under where the kid jumped. He landed on my right shoulder. Bobby is no light weight. He is 45 pounds of kid. He came down hard. I was flattened. The way he hit me seemed to dig into my shoulder blade. I had to get out of the pool I hurt so bad.
The rest of the night I could hardly move my arm without wincing. It was bruised and the muscle had a knot in it. Ken ended up working out the muscle pain, but it still is bruised to the touch.
I made the mistake of going to bed without pain meds. I tossed and turned all night, in gobs of pain.
We went to bowling and then rushed home after to make sure everything was in order for the dad’s day BBQ.
My folks got there around 10:30 and we had a nice time with the boys playing in the pool, visiting and having some yummy burgers.
This is where Dax started his road to vomitville. He chose to not eat anything but what looked like 100 Doritos. He ate dinner later, but I am sure just the sunshine, lack of proper nutrition and exhaustion led to the inevitable.
What sucks is that with us still line drying things, his bedding won’t be ready quickly. Thankfully we have lots of extra, but if for some reason he is sick all morning, we may run out of spots to dry things.
My hair is jumping ship. It has been shedding for a couple days. It knows I am cutting it this week. I know I have been going back and forth, but after spending two days in the pool, it was pretty easy to see that my hair will piss me off too much if I am having to comb it out after that each day.
New travel plans for the month of July. Andy’s birthday weekend, which is the last weekend in July, we are going to the compound. It is a quick visit, but jam packed. We would drive up Friday night and drive home Sunday. Saturday is celebrate Andy’s birthday, and then the boys would stay with Grandma and Grandpa while we all go out to see Adam Lambert. WOO HOO! I am quite jazzed.
This weekend looks like it will be a lot of fun. Saturday, Stephanie and Sabrina are coming to Brenan Park so the kids can run around and us girls can chit chat. I am sending Ken out to play with his friends since I think he needs to get out of the house. Sunday, I think the plan is a matinee of Toy Story 3 in IMAX 3D. I am quite excited, and I know the boys will love it. I just hope I don’t cry too much.
OH!!!!! And I forgot the most important discovery on Saturday. DAX IS IN!!!!!!! We got the acceptance letter for Dax that he is one of the 30 kids that gets to partake in the Pre-K program at the school. His schedule is 8 to 10:20, Monday through Thursday. We may in fact have him keep daycare, with him now only having part time, which will be good, since it still saves $50 a week. Ken has to check his schedule before we commit to daycare hours. I will be able to take off a Friday a month so I can participate in the parent stuff on Fridays. Ken should also be abler to be in the classroom when needed, and as the teacher told us, we also can be the at home helpers where we staple things or do stuff like that. Ken, Dax and I all need to go get TB tests, which should be entertaining. Ken will have to suck it up so he doesn’t freak out in front of Dax. I think I will go first. Hopefully then Dax will see it is ok.
Both my boys will be in school in a couple of months. I am so excited! Oh the stuff they will learn! The fun they will have! The friends, the adventure, the knowledge!! I know I am not looking forward to homework, but every other aspect of school I am really looking forward to. Making them lunches, hearing about their day, seeing school performances! Sheesh, I will be a crazy mom, won’t I?
Best of Kevin and Bean this week. I like hearing old bits, but it throws off my whole day since I use their schedule to know what time of the day is. I am worried that I am too dependent on them, though. I actually responded to Bean’s tweet yesterday to have him pick me for which 5 followers got a postcard from him while he was in Paris. I won!
I get worried when Maryann doesn’t get here. She hasn’t called, either, which is so unlike her. I may worry too much.
Ok, I turned on my fan to hopefully wake my ass up. I have started to get into the mode where I honestly cannot keep my eyes open. This sucks!!
Maryann made it in. She had traded hours with someone, so she came in at 8:30. Phew!
The poor Dax man is sickly. He tried to sleep in this morning, but his body just wasn’t cooperating. He has the Fear, so Ken went ahead and kept him home today. They only have one quick outing to the bank, so not too bad. Of course, it won’t be quick if Ken can’t get his car to start. It has been having issues. I need to save up $2000 to fix the PT.
Ok, I am heading home. With Ken’s car not starting and Dax being sick, he needs to use the car and I should keep Dax home.
Friday, June 18, 2010
The beginning is a little dry, but I get random later
6-18-10
Yay me!!!
I cleaned like a crazy woman. I got home from work yesterday and got all inspired. I started on our bedroom. First order of business was to remove the door. This probably sounds odd, but being that we really don’t close our doors in our room, and this door is a bad thing. First off, it blocks the back door that is in our bedroom. It pretty much makes the space between it and the back door a dust bunny paradise. Plus, we tend to hang stuff on the door, which just adds to the cluttered feel. We had discussed removing it for a while, so I went ahead and did so. Wow, that made a difference.
I proceeded with operation “Make the Bedroom a Haven”. I put away laundry, cleaned up trash, put away so many things and by the time I was done, the bedroom was so inviting and warm feeling. I could have laid down right there and not moved!
Instead, Dax and I proceeded to clean his room. When we were done, Dax stood in the middle of the room and says, “Wow, mom! It looks great!” He then says, “Can we do Bobby’s room?”
We head to Bobby’s room. His isn’t as bad, but we still get it all cleaned. It looks great. At this point, Dax asked if he could go outside and play. I send him on his merry way while I buckled down and scrub the kitchen. I cleaned everything, including Cinderelly style on the floor. It looked pretty good.
Last night brought on the mother of all discussions. I had become frustrated with the Ken’s efforts on cleaning the house. My idea of the dishes being done meant no dishes left behind. If the dishwasher was full of dirty, then the remaining dishes needed to be hand washed. If the dishwasher is clean, then it needs to be emptied and loaded. Nothing should be on the counter when the dishes are done. This was a point apparently up for debate.
After gobs of yelling and then gobs of crying on my part, there were some compromises. Plans to clean the garage were put in place so that Ken’s work was no longer my hallway into the house. I am making a list today of things I need done daily, weekly and maybe even monthly. Ken is supposed to work on some organizing today since he has no classes. I am looking to have my house good so that when people come over on Sunday I don’t feel like I have to make excuses. Yes, there was so much more discussed, but honestly I am drained still from it and didn’t feel like going over the gritty details. The important thing isn’t really what happened during so much as what will transpire because of this. I know that right now I am feeling underappreciated in my house and am tired. I feel like I work all day at one place that pays me, and then go to work the rest of the day at a place where the money I made in the first job then pays for everything my other employers want leaving me with exhaustion and frustration. I can’t have that. My Effexor is pretty strong, but it isn’t a miracle pill.
So this leaves me in a crumpled heap today. I am tired and spent. Thankfully it is Friday. I have some work that will hopefully make the day fly by. I am happy to say that I should be able to sleep in tomorrow a bit. We have lunch plans with the family at 11, but then after we get home, we do have to clean up the backyard to prep for Sunday, but I had already done a lot of work on it, so we should be good enough to maybe take a dip in the pool. Yay!
I just read one of the eye witness accounts of the execution of a killer by the name of Gardner. He was executed by firing squad this morning in Utah. I know that he chose this method and not lethal injection. I am not going to go into detail on what this man did, nor am I going to go into a long discussion on capital punishment, but I can tell you, when I read the article, I was once again horrified that we as a people in 2010 still use this as a method of punishment. Mind you, I understand what we are trying to accomplish. I just wish there was a better way.
I hate it when it is warm in the office. Luckily I do have a fan, but it is not a fun feeling to be so warm in here. I suppose it could be my vest, but I have a thin shirt under it so I don’t know how that would make it that much hotter.
I have completed the requested spreadsheet from my boss and he was quite pleased with my results. I am all kinds of proud now. I like to make sure I keep myself as a valuable employee. Especially on the heels of a couple more layoffs. There were three of our salesmen that were let go yesterday. I don’t know if it was because they sucked or because of our restructuring that has been hinted at for some time, but either way, these were guys who have been here for 20 years. It is still nerve racking, even though we are almost to the one year mark of everyone getting the boot.
Who knew the boys would enjoy pictures as much as me? I printed out some snapshots from my collection and taped them up on Bobby’s wall. He was thrilled. Dax was then slightly pouty since I had not done the same for him. I promptly printed out several for him and also made the photo collage for him in his room. Both of them tell me every day how much they love the pictures. I think I will need to print some more. I have included pictures of Ken and I, pictures of the boys, pictures of various family members, the cats, the dogs. Dax has a picture of Sabrina on his wall. Bobby has a picture of the battle droid painting. I am thinking I will start adding one or two when they don’t see me do it to see if they notice. Should be a fun game.
Thank goodness there is a department meeting this afternoon. It is something we have needed to do for a while, and it tends to help speed along the final 90 minutes of my day. I should be out of here before I know it!
I have been obsessing on M*A*S*H. I just put the final episode on my Netflix. I had not realized it was 2 and half hours. It has been some time since I saw it last. I know that it seems like a waste of time to enjoy programs I have seen several times when there are so many great shows I have not seen. But just as I enjoy looking at old photographs, old shows seem to make me feel warm and fuzzy.
NPH is getting a star on the walk of fame!!!!!!
Maryann has been put on strict orders to check on me from time to time today to make sure I didn’t fall asleep.
There is part of me that kind of holds out hope that Ken and Bobby will surprise me and take me to lunch.
I keep getting closer to trying a banana again, until m progress is derailed when I have to deal with an overly ripe starting to go bad one. Then the squishy fear kicks in again.
I need a screen door.
I want a deck that is right outside our bedroom that could be screened in so the cats can go out there and Luna could sleep out there.
I don’t want to build said deck only because I don’t want to make something really cool on this house since I want to move.
I still really think that Bobby would benefit from having his own critter, but we just have too many right now.
I saw 5 month old kittens in my parking lot today. I think its time to bring the trap.
I adopted a party duck.
Only Ken will laugh at that.
“Dolphins are just gay sharks”. Seriously, how am I going to make it for 3 months until this comes back???
No, when I type in bolis icesticks I do not mean Boris Icepicks.
I am getting my dad booze for Father’s Day. I feel like I should include it with a little construction paper heart that I made so that there isn’t a complete loss of innocence.
OMG-Build A Bear is thinking about adding a Glee critter. HOLY FUCK!!! I am so excited I might pee.
I like Lily and want to be her, but if I was a lesbian, I would so pick Robin.
I wonder if Luna would stay in a boat.
I think I want to be the dude from Hell’s Kitchen for Halloween. Then I could just go around cursing at people all day.
You know that kids have no problems with body issues when their drawings of people just include a head and limbs.
Ken and Bobby did not come for lunch.
Dax has decided he wants orange shoes.
I miss Pixel and Saavik.
Shhh…don’t tell anyone but I think my hoops are too big for my head.
Do people eat pickles on their burgers because they like them or is it just something that always seems to be on them so they got used to them?
Bobby’s awesome red hat doesn’t look as good on him with his short hair. He kind of looks like a cancer kid.
Why are butts so fascinating?
With that, I present, the end.
Yay me!!!
I cleaned like a crazy woman. I got home from work yesterday and got all inspired. I started on our bedroom. First order of business was to remove the door. This probably sounds odd, but being that we really don’t close our doors in our room, and this door is a bad thing. First off, it blocks the back door that is in our bedroom. It pretty much makes the space between it and the back door a dust bunny paradise. Plus, we tend to hang stuff on the door, which just adds to the cluttered feel. We had discussed removing it for a while, so I went ahead and did so. Wow, that made a difference.
I proceeded with operation “Make the Bedroom a Haven”. I put away laundry, cleaned up trash, put away so many things and by the time I was done, the bedroom was so inviting and warm feeling. I could have laid down right there and not moved!
Instead, Dax and I proceeded to clean his room. When we were done, Dax stood in the middle of the room and says, “Wow, mom! It looks great!” He then says, “Can we do Bobby’s room?”
We head to Bobby’s room. His isn’t as bad, but we still get it all cleaned. It looks great. At this point, Dax asked if he could go outside and play. I send him on his merry way while I buckled down and scrub the kitchen. I cleaned everything, including Cinderelly style on the floor. It looked pretty good.
Last night brought on the mother of all discussions. I had become frustrated with the Ken’s efforts on cleaning the house. My idea of the dishes being done meant no dishes left behind. If the dishwasher was full of dirty, then the remaining dishes needed to be hand washed. If the dishwasher is clean, then it needs to be emptied and loaded. Nothing should be on the counter when the dishes are done. This was a point apparently up for debate.
After gobs of yelling and then gobs of crying on my part, there were some compromises. Plans to clean the garage were put in place so that Ken’s work was no longer my hallway into the house. I am making a list today of things I need done daily, weekly and maybe even monthly. Ken is supposed to work on some organizing today since he has no classes. I am looking to have my house good so that when people come over on Sunday I don’t feel like I have to make excuses. Yes, there was so much more discussed, but honestly I am drained still from it and didn’t feel like going over the gritty details. The important thing isn’t really what happened during so much as what will transpire because of this. I know that right now I am feeling underappreciated in my house and am tired. I feel like I work all day at one place that pays me, and then go to work the rest of the day at a place where the money I made in the first job then pays for everything my other employers want leaving me with exhaustion and frustration. I can’t have that. My Effexor is pretty strong, but it isn’t a miracle pill.
So this leaves me in a crumpled heap today. I am tired and spent. Thankfully it is Friday. I have some work that will hopefully make the day fly by. I am happy to say that I should be able to sleep in tomorrow a bit. We have lunch plans with the family at 11, but then after we get home, we do have to clean up the backyard to prep for Sunday, but I had already done a lot of work on it, so we should be good enough to maybe take a dip in the pool. Yay!
I just read one of the eye witness accounts of the execution of a killer by the name of Gardner. He was executed by firing squad this morning in Utah. I know that he chose this method and not lethal injection. I am not going to go into detail on what this man did, nor am I going to go into a long discussion on capital punishment, but I can tell you, when I read the article, I was once again horrified that we as a people in 2010 still use this as a method of punishment. Mind you, I understand what we are trying to accomplish. I just wish there was a better way.
I hate it when it is warm in the office. Luckily I do have a fan, but it is not a fun feeling to be so warm in here. I suppose it could be my vest, but I have a thin shirt under it so I don’t know how that would make it that much hotter.
I have completed the requested spreadsheet from my boss and he was quite pleased with my results. I am all kinds of proud now. I like to make sure I keep myself as a valuable employee. Especially on the heels of a couple more layoffs. There were three of our salesmen that were let go yesterday. I don’t know if it was because they sucked or because of our restructuring that has been hinted at for some time, but either way, these were guys who have been here for 20 years. It is still nerve racking, even though we are almost to the one year mark of everyone getting the boot.
Who knew the boys would enjoy pictures as much as me? I printed out some snapshots from my collection and taped them up on Bobby’s wall. He was thrilled. Dax was then slightly pouty since I had not done the same for him. I promptly printed out several for him and also made the photo collage for him in his room. Both of them tell me every day how much they love the pictures. I think I will need to print some more. I have included pictures of Ken and I, pictures of the boys, pictures of various family members, the cats, the dogs. Dax has a picture of Sabrina on his wall. Bobby has a picture of the battle droid painting. I am thinking I will start adding one or two when they don’t see me do it to see if they notice. Should be a fun game.
Thank goodness there is a department meeting this afternoon. It is something we have needed to do for a while, and it tends to help speed along the final 90 minutes of my day. I should be out of here before I know it!
I have been obsessing on M*A*S*H. I just put the final episode on my Netflix. I had not realized it was 2 and half hours. It has been some time since I saw it last. I know that it seems like a waste of time to enjoy programs I have seen several times when there are so many great shows I have not seen. But just as I enjoy looking at old photographs, old shows seem to make me feel warm and fuzzy.
NPH is getting a star on the walk of fame!!!!!!
Maryann has been put on strict orders to check on me from time to time today to make sure I didn’t fall asleep.
There is part of me that kind of holds out hope that Ken and Bobby will surprise me and take me to lunch.
I keep getting closer to trying a banana again, until m progress is derailed when I have to deal with an overly ripe starting to go bad one. Then the squishy fear kicks in again.
I need a screen door.
I want a deck that is right outside our bedroom that could be screened in so the cats can go out there and Luna could sleep out there.
I don’t want to build said deck only because I don’t want to make something really cool on this house since I want to move.
I still really think that Bobby would benefit from having his own critter, but we just have too many right now.
I saw 5 month old kittens in my parking lot today. I think its time to bring the trap.
I adopted a party duck.
Only Ken will laugh at that.
“Dolphins are just gay sharks”. Seriously, how am I going to make it for 3 months until this comes back???
No, when I type in bolis icesticks I do not mean Boris Icepicks.
I am getting my dad booze for Father’s Day. I feel like I should include it with a little construction paper heart that I made so that there isn’t a complete loss of innocence.
OMG-Build A Bear is thinking about adding a Glee critter. HOLY FUCK!!! I am so excited I might pee.
I like Lily and want to be her, but if I was a lesbian, I would so pick Robin.
I wonder if Luna would stay in a boat.
I think I want to be the dude from Hell’s Kitchen for Halloween. Then I could just go around cursing at people all day.
You know that kids have no problems with body issues when their drawings of people just include a head and limbs.
Ken and Bobby did not come for lunch.
Dax has decided he wants orange shoes.
I miss Pixel and Saavik.
Shhh…don’t tell anyone but I think my hoops are too big for my head.
Do people eat pickles on their burgers because they like them or is it just something that always seems to be on them so they got used to them?
Bobby’s awesome red hat doesn’t look as good on him with his short hair. He kind of looks like a cancer kid.
Why are butts so fascinating?
With that, I present, the end.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
needing parental advice
6-17-10
I wore my Plantar Fasciitis brace last night which means I was never truly comfortable. I am exhausted this morning. I don’t even know how much good it did. I am wearing my super cute happy making heels this morning since the one web site mentioned not wearing flats or being barefoot. Mind you, this is probably the other extreme, but I am not walking around much, and even just sitting with heels feels like it is stretching my foot out, so perhaps this is good.
It is the first Wii Workout Thursday (thinking about it, we should have done it Wednesdays if only so I could say it was WWW) tonight with Brandy. Not sure what we will do. Perhaps some tennis? That is always enjoyable. Plus, there is a lot of set up tonight just since we need to make a Mii for Brandy in order for us to play. I promise to not go crazy on my feet.
Yesterday afternoon was pleasant since the boys for some reason actually chose to play without needing me every 20 seconds. Not complaining mind you. It was quite nice. They played out back for 90 minutes and it allowed me to clean the kitchen, make dinner (which I am thrilled to say was a masterpiece) and even bake a cake just for the hell of it. I also managed to clean some other little things, which means when I get home, there is only a few major things that need to be looked at.
When the boys were going to bed, Ken noticed a sound and next thing I know, he is sprinting out back. I went out to investigate, leaving the boys with vitamins in hand and very confused. One of the tubes from the pool had broke, there causing quite a bit of water to have drained out. Luckily, we caught it before it went so low that things like the pump went out. We managed to get it repaired and re filled with little issues.
We watched Shorts last night with the boys. It was another Robert Rodriguez film. So far we have enjoyed Shark Boy and Lava Girl and the Spy Kids series. This one was really fun! I was impressed. The boys, especially Bobby, was loving it.
Yesterday afternoon I had hosed down some dog poo and Luna managed to get all muddy and wet in the process. I laughed at this until she jumped up on me, planting multiple muddy paw prints on my new skirt. I stood there, annoyed buy amused at it as Ken laughed. Bobby was there and looks at me in shock.
“She got it on you!”
“I know!” said in my best Monica.
“On your new dress!” Bobby was still in shock.
“I know!”
“And I love that dress!”
“Me too!”
“Stupid dog”
I was dying laughing at this exchange.
I may need to stop watching M*A*S*H at night only because I am too distracted by it. I actually want to watch it instead of just listening to the sounds. Luckily there are only a few episodes that have compelled me to watch the whole episode. And even when I watch it, I do feel more relaxed by the time I go to sleep. I just need to listen to some audio of BJ and Hawkeye talking and all will be right for me. Listening to Potter would be good, too.
Harry Morgan is 95??? Holy crap!
There is some 4 year old who can do like 1500 push ups in 40 minutes. Dude, Dax is slacking. I suppose at least he isn’t smoking like that other 4 year old.
Am I a bad Los Angeles resident when I am routing for Boston? It isn’t because I like Boston better. It is just because I don’t like the Lakers. Besides, it is basketball, which sucks no matter who is playing.
I feel all important now. My boss is asking me to do this complex spreadsheet since he knows I am the only one who can do it. Plus, he knows I will get it done quickly. It is nice to feel needed at work.
Crud. I wish I could figure out what to do to motivate my kids. Actually, what I really wish was that I could have a house in which all of their toys were in a playroom and that way nothing but a bed and clothing were in their bedrooms. But since that isn’t going to happen anytime soon, I am stuck with unmotivated children.
In all fairness, I can blame Ken for this. He isn’t a morning person, and apparently this is something the kids have developed. The kids get up and see their room as a playground with really no rules. They have been taught to play quietly in their room until everyone gets up. The problem is, the lesson we should have been teaching them was that of, you cannot play until you get dressed.
I cut Dax some slack. Hell, the kid is only 3. But Bobby, who is going to school in a few short months, needs to step it up. I also know that I am not the only parent dealing with kids who dink in the morning. Seriously, what grownup wouldn’t relish in the idea of sitting around all morning in their jammies? Hell, I know that on a Saturday I have been known to be in sweats and a tank top while barking orders at the boys to get ready to face the day. This isn’t a good thing.
The suggestion at this point on the table is that of an alarm clock. The boys are going to need to be up by a certain time soon so that they can have breakfast and get ready in time for school. It seems to me that now with the alarm clocks that have 2 alarm times, we could easily have the wake up one set for them to get up and start getting dressed, with a second alarm going off to tell them they are now officially in trouble. I hate to have to go to the punishment route, but they clearly don’t seem motivated by incentive.
We have a couple of Lego Star Wars Watches that they really want. I told them if they could get dressed 5 days in a row without being told that they would earn it. They can’t even get one day down. I tried making a reward for one day, to which they didn’t care.
What drives me nuts is that I am not there. This battle is entirely on Ken’s watch which means I am frustrated that I can’t act instantly, but actually have to calculate out suggestions for him to work with. Since right now, my schedule is not interfered with, and truly, the kids have a flexible time schedule now, I am not motivated myself to put my foot down on what needs to be done. But I am starting to get a little itchy to do so since I know we have a short period in which they need to learn this.
What is really sad is that I am starting to consider putting out their breakfast when I go to work in the morning. I am considering putting their clothes on the back of the chairs so that before they can sit down to eat, they have to change into what is there.
After some further thought, it is possible that Bobby doesn’t have the problem; I do. Instead of beating him over the head with this, maybe I need to consider he isn’t ready. I may need to look at this as not a loss, but as a, we need to step back and let him get there at a more natural progression. He dresses himself, but being self motivated takes time. Maybe I need to just set it that he has to be dressed by a certain time. We can remind him, but if he doesn’t get ready before we need to leave, then he has consequences. It is a puzzle for me to work on, that is for sure.
I wore my Plantar Fasciitis brace last night which means I was never truly comfortable. I am exhausted this morning. I don’t even know how much good it did. I am wearing my super cute happy making heels this morning since the one web site mentioned not wearing flats or being barefoot. Mind you, this is probably the other extreme, but I am not walking around much, and even just sitting with heels feels like it is stretching my foot out, so perhaps this is good.
It is the first Wii Workout Thursday (thinking about it, we should have done it Wednesdays if only so I could say it was WWW) tonight with Brandy. Not sure what we will do. Perhaps some tennis? That is always enjoyable. Plus, there is a lot of set up tonight just since we need to make a Mii for Brandy in order for us to play. I promise to not go crazy on my feet.
Yesterday afternoon was pleasant since the boys for some reason actually chose to play without needing me every 20 seconds. Not complaining mind you. It was quite nice. They played out back for 90 minutes and it allowed me to clean the kitchen, make dinner (which I am thrilled to say was a masterpiece) and even bake a cake just for the hell of it. I also managed to clean some other little things, which means when I get home, there is only a few major things that need to be looked at.
When the boys were going to bed, Ken noticed a sound and next thing I know, he is sprinting out back. I went out to investigate, leaving the boys with vitamins in hand and very confused. One of the tubes from the pool had broke, there causing quite a bit of water to have drained out. Luckily, we caught it before it went so low that things like the pump went out. We managed to get it repaired and re filled with little issues.
We watched Shorts last night with the boys. It was another Robert Rodriguez film. So far we have enjoyed Shark Boy and Lava Girl and the Spy Kids series. This one was really fun! I was impressed. The boys, especially Bobby, was loving it.
Yesterday afternoon I had hosed down some dog poo and Luna managed to get all muddy and wet in the process. I laughed at this until she jumped up on me, planting multiple muddy paw prints on my new skirt. I stood there, annoyed buy amused at it as Ken laughed. Bobby was there and looks at me in shock.
“She got it on you!”
“I know!” said in my best Monica.
“On your new dress!” Bobby was still in shock.
“I know!”
“And I love that dress!”
“Me too!”
“Stupid dog”
I was dying laughing at this exchange.
I may need to stop watching M*A*S*H at night only because I am too distracted by it. I actually want to watch it instead of just listening to the sounds. Luckily there are only a few episodes that have compelled me to watch the whole episode. And even when I watch it, I do feel more relaxed by the time I go to sleep. I just need to listen to some audio of BJ and Hawkeye talking and all will be right for me. Listening to Potter would be good, too.
Harry Morgan is 95??? Holy crap!
There is some 4 year old who can do like 1500 push ups in 40 minutes. Dude, Dax is slacking. I suppose at least he isn’t smoking like that other 4 year old.
Am I a bad Los Angeles resident when I am routing for Boston? It isn’t because I like Boston better. It is just because I don’t like the Lakers. Besides, it is basketball, which sucks no matter who is playing.
I feel all important now. My boss is asking me to do this complex spreadsheet since he knows I am the only one who can do it. Plus, he knows I will get it done quickly. It is nice to feel needed at work.
Crud. I wish I could figure out what to do to motivate my kids. Actually, what I really wish was that I could have a house in which all of their toys were in a playroom and that way nothing but a bed and clothing were in their bedrooms. But since that isn’t going to happen anytime soon, I am stuck with unmotivated children.
In all fairness, I can blame Ken for this. He isn’t a morning person, and apparently this is something the kids have developed. The kids get up and see their room as a playground with really no rules. They have been taught to play quietly in their room until everyone gets up. The problem is, the lesson we should have been teaching them was that of, you cannot play until you get dressed.
I cut Dax some slack. Hell, the kid is only 3. But Bobby, who is going to school in a few short months, needs to step it up. I also know that I am not the only parent dealing with kids who dink in the morning. Seriously, what grownup wouldn’t relish in the idea of sitting around all morning in their jammies? Hell, I know that on a Saturday I have been known to be in sweats and a tank top while barking orders at the boys to get ready to face the day. This isn’t a good thing.
The suggestion at this point on the table is that of an alarm clock. The boys are going to need to be up by a certain time soon so that they can have breakfast and get ready in time for school. It seems to me that now with the alarm clocks that have 2 alarm times, we could easily have the wake up one set for them to get up and start getting dressed, with a second alarm going off to tell them they are now officially in trouble. I hate to have to go to the punishment route, but they clearly don’t seem motivated by incentive.
We have a couple of Lego Star Wars Watches that they really want. I told them if they could get dressed 5 days in a row without being told that they would earn it. They can’t even get one day down. I tried making a reward for one day, to which they didn’t care.
What drives me nuts is that I am not there. This battle is entirely on Ken’s watch which means I am frustrated that I can’t act instantly, but actually have to calculate out suggestions for him to work with. Since right now, my schedule is not interfered with, and truly, the kids have a flexible time schedule now, I am not motivated myself to put my foot down on what needs to be done. But I am starting to get a little itchy to do so since I know we have a short period in which they need to learn this.
What is really sad is that I am starting to consider putting out their breakfast when I go to work in the morning. I am considering putting their clothes on the back of the chairs so that before they can sit down to eat, they have to change into what is there.
After some further thought, it is possible that Bobby doesn’t have the problem; I do. Instead of beating him over the head with this, maybe I need to consider he isn’t ready. I may need to look at this as not a loss, but as a, we need to step back and let him get there at a more natural progression. He dresses himself, but being self motivated takes time. Maybe I need to just set it that he has to be dressed by a certain time. We can remind him, but if he doesn’t get ready before we need to leave, then he has consequences. It is a puzzle for me to work on, that is for sure.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
day off
6-16-10
I need more sleep.
Yesterday I did get a little extra since I slept in a bit. Unfortunately, on a work day it is hard to sleep in. Alarms, cats, little boys, all things that make it almost impossible to get extra shut eye.
We all went to Dax’s meeting at 8:30. The teacher for the Pre-K program was extremely nice. I had Dax sit down at the table and let Bobby wander the classroom since there was only one other teacher there and really, it was pretty mellow. The teacher talked to Dax a little bit, but mostly she spoke to Ken and me.
Turns out we are not “in” yet. She explained that they whittled it down to 44 kids for 30 slots. They wanted to meet with the students and their parents in order to explain the process, and then today they will be drawing names out of a hat. Crossing fingers!
The program is federally funded. Because of this, there are quite a few requirements. There is parental participation. Something like once a month we need to have one of us in the classroom. There also is parenting classes which is once a week for something like 6 weeks. It is only an hour, so it isn’t like it is much. Ken will probably be able to do this with no issues. I am hoping to take at least one day to do it.
The class is not as long as we had been originally made to believe. It is only 2 hours a day, 4 days a week. The schedule best for us will probably end up being the 8 am to 10 am block since then both boys can be taken to school together, and then Ken would get Dax when he was done. There is talk of possibly still using Maria, but even if we end up needing to do this, it will be part time, which saves us $50 a week. Still a good thing all around.
Dax of course impressed the hell out of the teacher. Dax was polite and sat calmly at the table, even though he really wanted to go explore like Bobby had been able to do. The teacher said she was impressed that he was just sitting there. She asked him some questions like his middle name and colors, all of which Dax knew no problem. Hee hee! Then Dax asked if he could go look around, so I let him go, and she loved that he asked me first. She said she wished all kids could be like Dax in her class. YAY! She also liked that Ken and I both showed up. She liked the whole family aspect.
My hopes is that even though they draw names out of a hat that they don’t truly do it at random. Like maybe our application can get ear marked as one that was “drawn”. Worst case scenario is that he doesn’t get in, which truly isn’t horrid. I just think he would benefit from extra schooling and it will make his transition to kindergarten that much easier. I am bummed I didn’t know about this last year for Bobby.
The original plan for yesterday was to go to the meeting, drop Dax off at daycare, and Ken and Bobby would end up going to class. This would have left me to clean house all day, and maybe rest some. This did not occur.
Ken pointed out that we were nearing the blackout period for Disneyland, so we should go as much as possible since all of July and most of August we would not be able to. So we surprised the boys by driving out there. The only problem with this plan was that we got there at 10. This seemed to be the time when everyone in Los Angeles was arriving. Plus, it was way too hot.
We got in and did Star Tours and Buzz, but really, it was crazy packed and so hot so we opted to head out. We did get over to the Tiki Room since the boys had not done that yet. They must have enjoyed it since the rest of the day they were singing the song.
Since we were hungry and out in Anaheim, I suggested Sonic since we had yet to go. I had been jonzing to try this place for some time. We didn’t really know where it was, so we cruised around where we thought it might be, and then searched for open WiFi networks to look it up. Finally, we pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot and used their connection to look it up.
I kind of hoped it was gross. I wanted it to be totally not worth it since it is far enough away that I can’t see us driving that far to get a burger. Of course, it is also very near Disneyland, so it could just be a Disneyland treat, but still. Turns out the food was quite tasty and we all enjoyed it quite a bit. The kids meal had the option of a banana for side dish, which Dax was thrilled with.
We went back home and I put the boys in quiet time. Dax managed to fall asleep, as did I. Bobby not so much, but he still stayed in his room for the hour. I could have slept the rest of the afternoon, but we were heading to my parents’ house and I really wanted to take Matt’s birthday presents since we had forgotten to call him Monday night.
We stayed late since Matt didn’t get home till 5:20 and we normally leave around 5. The boys were pretty quiet on the way home so instead of having Ken run to the store when we got home to get milk, I decided the three of us could just as easily stop by the store and get milk.
I was wrong.
Ken sent me a few texts of other things to get, even going so far as to have me do a medium load of shopping. The boys came alive in the store and were a little wild. This sucked since I was in pain.
Oh, yes, because I am not ever allowed to be 100% healthy, my right heel hurts now. I had walked on Monday night with Luna and after that I was dying. Such a shame, too, since the walk itself made me feel great and Luna was awesome! She really did a good job. Turns out when she doesn’t have distractions in the form of Lycos and children, she walks great on a leash. By the end of the walk, she even sat at the curb without being reminded. She is actually very smart (I am sure Ken is scoffing at this right now), just so full of puppy energy she acts out.
So I am hobbling a bit in the store, snipping at the boys every now and again, eventually even putting Dax in the cart since he can’t help himself from running down the aisles and almost slamming into people. We did manage to get a good haul, though and headed home with me frazzled.
The rest of the evening was thankfully uneventful. I set up some goals for the boys and managed to take out some trash and clean up some parts of the house. Then thankfully the boys fell asleep pretty quickly so I was able to go to bed listening to Radar cope with becoming a second lieutenant.
I don’t know that I will be able to walk tonight due to the Bobby being home when I get there. I may just do some Wii Yoga instead, which will be good. I am also thinking that maybe some pool time will be good since that always wears me out. I do a lot of swimming around in circles since the boys like the whirlpool effect, so that might be good. I may need to put Luna’s socks on so she can come in, too.
I have such a craving for Taco Bell. Stupid commercials.
What an incredibly busy morning! I have actually enjoyed how productive I have been. I feel slightly rejuvenated. I have a meeting this afternoon, which will just mean my afternoon will fly by. Woo hoo! I just wish my heel would stop hurting.
I need more sleep.
Yesterday I did get a little extra since I slept in a bit. Unfortunately, on a work day it is hard to sleep in. Alarms, cats, little boys, all things that make it almost impossible to get extra shut eye.
We all went to Dax’s meeting at 8:30. The teacher for the Pre-K program was extremely nice. I had Dax sit down at the table and let Bobby wander the classroom since there was only one other teacher there and really, it was pretty mellow. The teacher talked to Dax a little bit, but mostly she spoke to Ken and me.
Turns out we are not “in” yet. She explained that they whittled it down to 44 kids for 30 slots. They wanted to meet with the students and their parents in order to explain the process, and then today they will be drawing names out of a hat. Crossing fingers!
The program is federally funded. Because of this, there are quite a few requirements. There is parental participation. Something like once a month we need to have one of us in the classroom. There also is parenting classes which is once a week for something like 6 weeks. It is only an hour, so it isn’t like it is much. Ken will probably be able to do this with no issues. I am hoping to take at least one day to do it.
The class is not as long as we had been originally made to believe. It is only 2 hours a day, 4 days a week. The schedule best for us will probably end up being the 8 am to 10 am block since then both boys can be taken to school together, and then Ken would get Dax when he was done. There is talk of possibly still using Maria, but even if we end up needing to do this, it will be part time, which saves us $50 a week. Still a good thing all around.
Dax of course impressed the hell out of the teacher. Dax was polite and sat calmly at the table, even though he really wanted to go explore like Bobby had been able to do. The teacher said she was impressed that he was just sitting there. She asked him some questions like his middle name and colors, all of which Dax knew no problem. Hee hee! Then Dax asked if he could go look around, so I let him go, and she loved that he asked me first. She said she wished all kids could be like Dax in her class. YAY! She also liked that Ken and I both showed up. She liked the whole family aspect.
My hopes is that even though they draw names out of a hat that they don’t truly do it at random. Like maybe our application can get ear marked as one that was “drawn”. Worst case scenario is that he doesn’t get in, which truly isn’t horrid. I just think he would benefit from extra schooling and it will make his transition to kindergarten that much easier. I am bummed I didn’t know about this last year for Bobby.
The original plan for yesterday was to go to the meeting, drop Dax off at daycare, and Ken and Bobby would end up going to class. This would have left me to clean house all day, and maybe rest some. This did not occur.
Ken pointed out that we were nearing the blackout period for Disneyland, so we should go as much as possible since all of July and most of August we would not be able to. So we surprised the boys by driving out there. The only problem with this plan was that we got there at 10. This seemed to be the time when everyone in Los Angeles was arriving. Plus, it was way too hot.
We got in and did Star Tours and Buzz, but really, it was crazy packed and so hot so we opted to head out. We did get over to the Tiki Room since the boys had not done that yet. They must have enjoyed it since the rest of the day they were singing the song.
Since we were hungry and out in Anaheim, I suggested Sonic since we had yet to go. I had been jonzing to try this place for some time. We didn’t really know where it was, so we cruised around where we thought it might be, and then searched for open WiFi networks to look it up. Finally, we pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot and used their connection to look it up.
I kind of hoped it was gross. I wanted it to be totally not worth it since it is far enough away that I can’t see us driving that far to get a burger. Of course, it is also very near Disneyland, so it could just be a Disneyland treat, but still. Turns out the food was quite tasty and we all enjoyed it quite a bit. The kids meal had the option of a banana for side dish, which Dax was thrilled with.
We went back home and I put the boys in quiet time. Dax managed to fall asleep, as did I. Bobby not so much, but he still stayed in his room for the hour. I could have slept the rest of the afternoon, but we were heading to my parents’ house and I really wanted to take Matt’s birthday presents since we had forgotten to call him Monday night.
We stayed late since Matt didn’t get home till 5:20 and we normally leave around 5. The boys were pretty quiet on the way home so instead of having Ken run to the store when we got home to get milk, I decided the three of us could just as easily stop by the store and get milk.
I was wrong.
Ken sent me a few texts of other things to get, even going so far as to have me do a medium load of shopping. The boys came alive in the store and were a little wild. This sucked since I was in pain.
Oh, yes, because I am not ever allowed to be 100% healthy, my right heel hurts now. I had walked on Monday night with Luna and after that I was dying. Such a shame, too, since the walk itself made me feel great and Luna was awesome! She really did a good job. Turns out when she doesn’t have distractions in the form of Lycos and children, she walks great on a leash. By the end of the walk, she even sat at the curb without being reminded. She is actually very smart (I am sure Ken is scoffing at this right now), just so full of puppy energy she acts out.
So I am hobbling a bit in the store, snipping at the boys every now and again, eventually even putting Dax in the cart since he can’t help himself from running down the aisles and almost slamming into people. We did manage to get a good haul, though and headed home with me frazzled.
The rest of the evening was thankfully uneventful. I set up some goals for the boys and managed to take out some trash and clean up some parts of the house. Then thankfully the boys fell asleep pretty quickly so I was able to go to bed listening to Radar cope with becoming a second lieutenant.
I don’t know that I will be able to walk tonight due to the Bobby being home when I get there. I may just do some Wii Yoga instead, which will be good. I am also thinking that maybe some pool time will be good since that always wears me out. I do a lot of swimming around in circles since the boys like the whirlpool effect, so that might be good. I may need to put Luna’s socks on so she can come in, too.
I have such a craving for Taco Bell. Stupid commercials.
What an incredibly busy morning! I have actually enjoyed how productive I have been. I feel slightly rejuvenated. I have a meeting this afternoon, which will just mean my afternoon will fly by. Woo hoo! I just wish my heel would stop hurting.
Monday, June 14, 2010
My eyes won't stay open
6-14-10
This morning starts my attempt to stop being a fat ass.
My breakfast this morning was a Carnation Instant breakfast. I know, probably not the best, but it was quick and low calorie. I also enjoy them, so it was good. I have my pack of gum and gobs of water to keep me set until snack. I have some wheat thins, which will satisfy a salt craving and they are crunchy and filling.
Lunch is some left over spaghetti. Dinner, I think I will make some chicken. Either way, I plan on not eating as large of a helping.
When I get home from work, Luna and I are going to walk my old walking route. It is maybe a 20 minute hike. I don’t want to start too crazy, so this is a nice way to ease into this again. The walk with Luna will kill two birds by getting me some exercise, and getting out some puppy energy.
I think I will be ok this first day. Keeping from going crazy on anything will take some will power, but the sound of Bobby’s voice now is imbedded in my brain. On Friday, he asked me why I was fat. It was pretty heartbreaking for me.
My birthday was mostly uneventful. We went to my folks’ house for normal play time. After that, we headed over to get some critter chow and then to the mall to pick up our gift cards that they keep insisting on giving us. Now Ken is on the same mailing list, so not only did I get one $10 card, Ken got one too!
At the mall, we had some dinner and we browsed some stores. I was hoping to find some cool clearance item at either Torrid or Hot Topic. Not so much. We bailed on the mall and headed over to Target so I could spend my gift card that Matt gave me.
Even though yes, I am on the road to fat ass recovery, I am pleased to report that Target seems to have embraced a good chunk of their clientele and have added a new line of plus size clothing to their inventory. I found an extremely cute skirt and top, both of which not only fit comfortably, but the skirt on the largest size may even be a little big on me! They have always had a pretty good assortment, but it was nice to see so many more options.
I was pretty bummed that the one day I decided to break down and buy the big floppy hat I had fallen in love with last year was not in stock. I am starting to wonder if it is not meant to be.
We headed home and all I really wanted was some sleep. I was so exhausted. Ken gave me a wonderful backrub which made crawling into bed happy making. Now if only I could explain to the other residents of our house that I needed some extra sleep.
The last few nights, Monarch and IO have been fighting over who gets to sleep in my space on the bed. It is crazy! Not only do they steal covers, but they sit right in the middle of my legs to the point where it is hard to move for me. It is super annoying. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Luna was annoyed that it was now 6:30, and I had yet to let her out. I finally got up and let her out, but it isn’t like I can just leave her out there. Not only does she feel the need to bark at shadows of birds, she doesn’t quite know how to deal with the pool yet when unsupervised. She has already managed to chew up one section of the pool cover and kill the dragon. So I end up having to sit there and wait for her to be done drinking the 7 gallons she consumes when she first goes outside, and then wait for her to pee and poo and be done chasing bugs. I put her back inside and then crawled back into bed, only to be mobbed by Monarch with his neediness. He tends to get like this after I spend some time with Luna. So even though the small people and husband were dead asleep, which would normally be a green light for sleeping in, I was up.
I dinked around online and ate some breakfast while waiting for the rest of the house to wake up. I was jealous looking at the monitor, seeing Dax passed out in such a way that if I didn’t know any better I would have thought he had been shot.
Bobby got up and I gently reminded him that he forgot to get dressed, so he ran back to his room to do so. Dax and Ken got up soon after, both of them looking groggy and slightly grumpy.
Out plans for the day included going to lunch with my parents, Matt, Dough and Elizabeth. After this, we would do cake at my parents’ house. I would leave the children with them and Ken and I would meet up with Doug and Elizabeth later for some kind of comedy show. Good plans!
We went to Cozymels for lunch. Yummy! What was cool is we were the first ones there. We also had some coupons which included a free appetizer and one that had 4 free margaritas! I had two of the margaritas. Mmmm! Then, the manager, who was training a new bartender and server, gave us another free margarita since the bartender screwed up on it. Woo hoo!
Recently the restaurant added these little touch screens to their tables which include the ability to order and pay for your meals. They also have a couple of games on them, which was awesome for the boys. Both of them got a screen and proceeded to play this one game over and over the whole time. It was perfect for them since then they were not bored. They did, however, require my attention a good chunk of the time since both of them wanted me to look at their progress every 2 seconds. I didn’t hear most of the conversation between the table since I was constantly distracted by their needs. Plus, I was at the far end of the table, which meant I could not hear anyone. I participated as best I could, but I felt like a bad guest of honor.
All of the servers were watching World Cup in the bar and US scored. It was total excitement! One waiter accidently cheered in my ear since he was walking past when it happened. I didn’t mind one bit, but he felt so bad! It was cute, actually. I liked seeing them all so jazzed about something.
After lunch, we headed to Bowlby land and had some cake. Mmmm….Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. YUM!
Doug and Elizabeth headed home and we all walked to the park so the boys could play. I am amused at how many parents are as bad as me, all swarming around their children on the monkey bars making sure no one falls. It made me realize that perhaps I do get a little too helicopter on them.
We left the boys at the park with Grandma and Poppy and headed home to get ready for the show. We did stop at the beauty supply place to get some hair color for me. I had enough time that I could do my hair before we met up with them later. For the record, second time using the non boxed color, and still quite pleased.
Since the place we were going was near our old stomping ground of the original Earthlink building, Ken asked if we could have dinner at Eats which is part of the golf course next to the office buildings. I had never actually eaten there, despite working walking distance from the place, so I was ok with it. Unfortunately, their kitchen was mostly closed since we got there 10 minutes before closing time. Luckily they did still have the ability to make sandwiches, which turned out to be pretty good.
We managed to find the place with only a little bit of lost time. We got there early enough that we got spectacular parking right in front. Woo hoo! Our names were on the will call list so we checked in and got our drink chips and hung out waiting for things to get going.
The venue was an old mechanics shop. It had been converted into a theatre. We were out in the “courtyard” which was really the area on the outside of the rolling doors where cars used to drive in for work to be done. The bar was just behind the doors.
Once the bar was open, we got a couple of drinks. It was clear that these were not bartenders. In reality, most of the people “working” the event all seemed like theatre members and were all just helping out since this was a fundraiser. The funny lady who got us our drinks was awesome. Not only were they super strong, she gave me the Buddha charm from the freshly opened bottle of Pyrat Rum. I had not tried this particular rum before, but I can safely say I am now a fan.
Doug and Elizabeth showed up and we hung out with them and browsed the free food, which included pizza, tacos from Acupulco and gobs of sweets. We munched on some of it and had a couple more drinks. I had a minor buzz, but it was good.
Ken managed to contain himself for about 45 minutes before he started to work for them. He went up to the entrance to check on things like getting a good seat and to see what time the doors open. Next thing I know, I hear his booming voice over the crowd as my phone buzzed. I looked at the text and saw, “I have to”. Sigh. I know that a lot of the time this works out well for me since he gets us good seats and whatnot, but it would be nice if one time we are out that he is just content enough to hang out with me and not feel the need to correct how people run their business. I feel like I am not interesting enough to keep his attention.
Ken did get us seats right up front, which was cool since Joel Mchale was only a couple feet from me. He was funny and talked up the main act quite a bit since he knew the guy from some play they did. He called him a genius, so we expected greatness. Joel may have been a little, well, let’s just say Joel was being very generous.
So this guy comes out. His pants have been hemmed to I guess accommodate some light flooding. He had the expression that indicated he wasn’t all there. He came out timid, which seemed to be in character. He didn’t speak much. He then got into what seemed like a newer ended series of 2 and 3 minute skits that was mostly mime work. His name, Casey Smith of Violators will be Violated. The skits had no joke, 18 that had him killing himself or dying. There were 9 instances of simulated sex. Don’t even get me on the poo jokes. Although probably the funniest part did include poo humor. He pretended to poo into a jar and then proceeded to dump it on a member of the audience, who screamed as though she had actually had feces dumped on her. Her screaming was funny to me.
It was crude, obnoxious and disgusting at times. I did laugh, but not as much as I think I was supposed to, nor as much as the audience did. To some degree, we just didn’t know what to make of it. Elizabeth knew someone who was part of the theatre group who put on the show. This was a fundraiser that was designed to raise money for this dude to go New York to have this routine in a comedy show.
Smith was incredibly animated, which was cool, but it made me worry since he was sweating profusely. It was actually to the point where I wanted to see him chug a gallon water just so I would be sure that he wouldn’t pass out from dehydration.
After the show, we bee lined for the back area to see about procuring a photo of myself and Joel. We stalked him for a while, and even though we were kind of asked to go over next door to where they were dancing to DJ music, we held our ground waiting for him to emerge from the restroom.
Ken introduced Joel to me and we asked if he would let us get a picture with him. He looked kind of freaked out, and said it was $15. I was a little annoyed at this, but also wasn’t sure if he was kidding. Ken asked me if I wanted to do this, so I agreed, when Joel said he was kidding and was shocked we would have paid for this picture.
He asked me what show I watched. I know, I screwed up and told him The Soup and not both that and Community. But I didn’t want to lie to him. He gave me some light shit for that but allowed the picture to happen. I have to admit I was a little disenchanted by him after this meeting. Of course, it was a strange setting to stalk him in. He was there for someone else’s show, he was backstage and yet we still bothered him. He could have told us to fuck off, but instead he was nice enough to allow a quick pic to happen. I guess I will just be content with that.
We didn’t stay too much later than that. We talked for a bit and then Ken and I headed out. It was late and we still had to get up early for bowling and child retrieval. We got home around 11:30 and I think I was dead asleep by midnight.
A guy at the bowling alley got a 300 game by us. That was shockingly exciting to watch. You could hear the hush of the spectators with each roll. My dad pointed out that it was a shame for him to get it just during practice bowling and not league, but I still think that it doesn’t matter when you get it, I would take it whenever!
Sunday was good. We played in the pool much of the day and hung laundry out to dry. Our dryer broke a couple weeks ago, so we have been drying things old school. Not a bad thing since it doesn’t cost to do this. We are planning on seeing what part is needed soon and will either pick it up and fix it ourselves, or scour Craiglist for another one. They seem to only run about $75, so not too bad!
My week is going to be busy without really going anywhere. I need to make my house good since I will have company on Sunday for Dad’s day. The folks are coming over, along with possibly Doug and Elizabeth for BBQ and the boys playing in the pool. Saturday is kind of busy with a lunch date for Matt’s birthday which is today. So with my exercise program and a nice break tomorrow from work for a possible good Dax thing, I have lots to work on.
I am telling you right now, if I don’t figure out a way to wake up, I am screwed. I honestly can barely keep my eyes open. I actually just closed my eyes and about fell on my keyboard. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I don’t feel fatigued in my body. It seems to be all in my head. My eyes are heavy and I feel warm. Almost sweating a bit from how warm I feel. I am in a tank top! I am doing everything just short of splashing water on my face to stay up. I am shaking my legs, I keep standing up, and nothing seems to help. I am thinking I may go sit in the restroom for a while and nap.
No amount of napping is going to help here. I need to do it at home. I am hoping I can make it till going home. Maybe my body is just nervous about this whole diet thing and it is closing up shop and not allowing anything to work. My arms hurt, too, which I think is a result of swimming, carrying a dog and throwing Luna’s heavy toy. So my lack of physical strength is making this worse. So sleepy!!!!!
Ok, interesting theory. I normally have a soda in the morning. I did not have one today since I am trying to cut back on unnecessary calories. Drowsiness is a symptom of caffeine withdrawals. So is soreness in the upper part of my body. It is certainly possible this is what is causing the issue. I am considering having a soda to see if this is the issue.
I am tracking everything I eat on my app for Lose It on iTty. I have a goal listed of losing 2 pounds a week to get down to 140 pounds. I obviously have a ways to go, but I don’t want to go crazy. I figure if I log my foods, at least then I can see what I have consumed. It tracks my calories, too, which tells me if I want this goal to happen, I can only have 1800 a day. I think that is doable. It will be hard, and I am not going to freak out if I go over every now and again. I have had 443 today so far. That seems like a lot, but this is breakfast and a snack and a soda, all in 5 hours. I just entered my lunch and it looks like I have 600 calories to work with for this afternoon. I am rounding up a bit for my lunch calories. It has listing of tons of foods and it has the calories listed for them based on serving. So I am not sure what home cooked spaghetti would be. Sure, it tells me, but I don’t think that is enough calories, so I am adding some to the mix. 600 seems more than reasonable for dinner. When I was losing weight, I was keeping myself on 300 to 350 calorie meals, so I think I can do it. Wish me luck!!!
Ok, I woke up a bit. Not sure if it was soda involved or just me getting off my ass. Either way, I feel a little better, just a little hot still. It is warm in this office. Bleah. I think I have a meeting in a bit and I am hoping for some lunch soon. Then the rest of the day is down hill.
My meeting with Dax and the school tomorrow is only supposed to take 10 minutes. Hmm..that hardly seems worth taking off the whole day. Than again, I have gobs of stuff to work on, so maybe it is a good thing. We will see. At the very least, I do want to walk there just as more exercise. So we will see.
I really hope Luna behaves on our walk. I think these walks will do her some good. She has so much energy. It is the breed and the pup, but either way, she will like it. We play with her out back and stuff, but an actual walk is different. I was thinking about it on how Lycos was never this wild as a pup, but then again, she and I went on walks every day since it was just her and I what with Ken up north for work. So I think I helped her get out puppy energy with those walks. Plus, I think the training will help her in her own training.
I hate this. If we have this meeting, it is in like 2 minutes. In 2 minutes, I tend to heat up my food. I don’t want to heat up my food before I know what the plan is, but with my boss, he might come and get us in a bit. Grr..
If it is soda related, then I am screwed. I am tired again, which says either it is not soda related, or that I need more than I realized to function.
This morning starts my attempt to stop being a fat ass.
My breakfast this morning was a Carnation Instant breakfast. I know, probably not the best, but it was quick and low calorie. I also enjoy them, so it was good. I have my pack of gum and gobs of water to keep me set until snack. I have some wheat thins, which will satisfy a salt craving and they are crunchy and filling.
Lunch is some left over spaghetti. Dinner, I think I will make some chicken. Either way, I plan on not eating as large of a helping.
When I get home from work, Luna and I are going to walk my old walking route. It is maybe a 20 minute hike. I don’t want to start too crazy, so this is a nice way to ease into this again. The walk with Luna will kill two birds by getting me some exercise, and getting out some puppy energy.
I think I will be ok this first day. Keeping from going crazy on anything will take some will power, but the sound of Bobby’s voice now is imbedded in my brain. On Friday, he asked me why I was fat. It was pretty heartbreaking for me.
My birthday was mostly uneventful. We went to my folks’ house for normal play time. After that, we headed over to get some critter chow and then to the mall to pick up our gift cards that they keep insisting on giving us. Now Ken is on the same mailing list, so not only did I get one $10 card, Ken got one too!
At the mall, we had some dinner and we browsed some stores. I was hoping to find some cool clearance item at either Torrid or Hot Topic. Not so much. We bailed on the mall and headed over to Target so I could spend my gift card that Matt gave me.
Even though yes, I am on the road to fat ass recovery, I am pleased to report that Target seems to have embraced a good chunk of their clientele and have added a new line of plus size clothing to their inventory. I found an extremely cute skirt and top, both of which not only fit comfortably, but the skirt on the largest size may even be a little big on me! They have always had a pretty good assortment, but it was nice to see so many more options.
I was pretty bummed that the one day I decided to break down and buy the big floppy hat I had fallen in love with last year was not in stock. I am starting to wonder if it is not meant to be.
We headed home and all I really wanted was some sleep. I was so exhausted. Ken gave me a wonderful backrub which made crawling into bed happy making. Now if only I could explain to the other residents of our house that I needed some extra sleep.
The last few nights, Monarch and IO have been fighting over who gets to sleep in my space on the bed. It is crazy! Not only do they steal covers, but they sit right in the middle of my legs to the point where it is hard to move for me. It is super annoying. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Luna was annoyed that it was now 6:30, and I had yet to let her out. I finally got up and let her out, but it isn’t like I can just leave her out there. Not only does she feel the need to bark at shadows of birds, she doesn’t quite know how to deal with the pool yet when unsupervised. She has already managed to chew up one section of the pool cover and kill the dragon. So I end up having to sit there and wait for her to be done drinking the 7 gallons she consumes when she first goes outside, and then wait for her to pee and poo and be done chasing bugs. I put her back inside and then crawled back into bed, only to be mobbed by Monarch with his neediness. He tends to get like this after I spend some time with Luna. So even though the small people and husband were dead asleep, which would normally be a green light for sleeping in, I was up.
I dinked around online and ate some breakfast while waiting for the rest of the house to wake up. I was jealous looking at the monitor, seeing Dax passed out in such a way that if I didn’t know any better I would have thought he had been shot.
Bobby got up and I gently reminded him that he forgot to get dressed, so he ran back to his room to do so. Dax and Ken got up soon after, both of them looking groggy and slightly grumpy.
Out plans for the day included going to lunch with my parents, Matt, Dough and Elizabeth. After this, we would do cake at my parents’ house. I would leave the children with them and Ken and I would meet up with Doug and Elizabeth later for some kind of comedy show. Good plans!
We went to Cozymels for lunch. Yummy! What was cool is we were the first ones there. We also had some coupons which included a free appetizer and one that had 4 free margaritas! I had two of the margaritas. Mmmm! Then, the manager, who was training a new bartender and server, gave us another free margarita since the bartender screwed up on it. Woo hoo!
Recently the restaurant added these little touch screens to their tables which include the ability to order and pay for your meals. They also have a couple of games on them, which was awesome for the boys. Both of them got a screen and proceeded to play this one game over and over the whole time. It was perfect for them since then they were not bored. They did, however, require my attention a good chunk of the time since both of them wanted me to look at their progress every 2 seconds. I didn’t hear most of the conversation between the table since I was constantly distracted by their needs. Plus, I was at the far end of the table, which meant I could not hear anyone. I participated as best I could, but I felt like a bad guest of honor.
All of the servers were watching World Cup in the bar and US scored. It was total excitement! One waiter accidently cheered in my ear since he was walking past when it happened. I didn’t mind one bit, but he felt so bad! It was cute, actually. I liked seeing them all so jazzed about something.
After lunch, we headed to Bowlby land and had some cake. Mmmm….Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. YUM!
Doug and Elizabeth headed home and we all walked to the park so the boys could play. I am amused at how many parents are as bad as me, all swarming around their children on the monkey bars making sure no one falls. It made me realize that perhaps I do get a little too helicopter on them.
We left the boys at the park with Grandma and Poppy and headed home to get ready for the show. We did stop at the beauty supply place to get some hair color for me. I had enough time that I could do my hair before we met up with them later. For the record, second time using the non boxed color, and still quite pleased.
Since the place we were going was near our old stomping ground of the original Earthlink building, Ken asked if we could have dinner at Eats which is part of the golf course next to the office buildings. I had never actually eaten there, despite working walking distance from the place, so I was ok with it. Unfortunately, their kitchen was mostly closed since we got there 10 minutes before closing time. Luckily they did still have the ability to make sandwiches, which turned out to be pretty good.
We managed to find the place with only a little bit of lost time. We got there early enough that we got spectacular parking right in front. Woo hoo! Our names were on the will call list so we checked in and got our drink chips and hung out waiting for things to get going.
The venue was an old mechanics shop. It had been converted into a theatre. We were out in the “courtyard” which was really the area on the outside of the rolling doors where cars used to drive in for work to be done. The bar was just behind the doors.
Once the bar was open, we got a couple of drinks. It was clear that these were not bartenders. In reality, most of the people “working” the event all seemed like theatre members and were all just helping out since this was a fundraiser. The funny lady who got us our drinks was awesome. Not only were they super strong, she gave me the Buddha charm from the freshly opened bottle of Pyrat Rum. I had not tried this particular rum before, but I can safely say I am now a fan.
Doug and Elizabeth showed up and we hung out with them and browsed the free food, which included pizza, tacos from Acupulco and gobs of sweets. We munched on some of it and had a couple more drinks. I had a minor buzz, but it was good.
Ken managed to contain himself for about 45 minutes before he started to work for them. He went up to the entrance to check on things like getting a good seat and to see what time the doors open. Next thing I know, I hear his booming voice over the crowd as my phone buzzed. I looked at the text and saw, “I have to”. Sigh. I know that a lot of the time this works out well for me since he gets us good seats and whatnot, but it would be nice if one time we are out that he is just content enough to hang out with me and not feel the need to correct how people run their business. I feel like I am not interesting enough to keep his attention.
Ken did get us seats right up front, which was cool since Joel Mchale was only a couple feet from me. He was funny and talked up the main act quite a bit since he knew the guy from some play they did. He called him a genius, so we expected greatness. Joel may have been a little, well, let’s just say Joel was being very generous.
So this guy comes out. His pants have been hemmed to I guess accommodate some light flooding. He had the expression that indicated he wasn’t all there. He came out timid, which seemed to be in character. He didn’t speak much. He then got into what seemed like a newer ended series of 2 and 3 minute skits that was mostly mime work. His name, Casey Smith of Violators will be Violated. The skits had no joke, 18 that had him killing himself or dying. There were 9 instances of simulated sex. Don’t even get me on the poo jokes. Although probably the funniest part did include poo humor. He pretended to poo into a jar and then proceeded to dump it on a member of the audience, who screamed as though she had actually had feces dumped on her. Her screaming was funny to me.
It was crude, obnoxious and disgusting at times. I did laugh, but not as much as I think I was supposed to, nor as much as the audience did. To some degree, we just didn’t know what to make of it. Elizabeth knew someone who was part of the theatre group who put on the show. This was a fundraiser that was designed to raise money for this dude to go New York to have this routine in a comedy show.
Smith was incredibly animated, which was cool, but it made me worry since he was sweating profusely. It was actually to the point where I wanted to see him chug a gallon water just so I would be sure that he wouldn’t pass out from dehydration.
After the show, we bee lined for the back area to see about procuring a photo of myself and Joel. We stalked him for a while, and even though we were kind of asked to go over next door to where they were dancing to DJ music, we held our ground waiting for him to emerge from the restroom.
Ken introduced Joel to me and we asked if he would let us get a picture with him. He looked kind of freaked out, and said it was $15. I was a little annoyed at this, but also wasn’t sure if he was kidding. Ken asked me if I wanted to do this, so I agreed, when Joel said he was kidding and was shocked we would have paid for this picture.
He asked me what show I watched. I know, I screwed up and told him The Soup and not both that and Community. But I didn’t want to lie to him. He gave me some light shit for that but allowed the picture to happen. I have to admit I was a little disenchanted by him after this meeting. Of course, it was a strange setting to stalk him in. He was there for someone else’s show, he was backstage and yet we still bothered him. He could have told us to fuck off, but instead he was nice enough to allow a quick pic to happen. I guess I will just be content with that.
We didn’t stay too much later than that. We talked for a bit and then Ken and I headed out. It was late and we still had to get up early for bowling and child retrieval. We got home around 11:30 and I think I was dead asleep by midnight.
A guy at the bowling alley got a 300 game by us. That was shockingly exciting to watch. You could hear the hush of the spectators with each roll. My dad pointed out that it was a shame for him to get it just during practice bowling and not league, but I still think that it doesn’t matter when you get it, I would take it whenever!
Sunday was good. We played in the pool much of the day and hung laundry out to dry. Our dryer broke a couple weeks ago, so we have been drying things old school. Not a bad thing since it doesn’t cost to do this. We are planning on seeing what part is needed soon and will either pick it up and fix it ourselves, or scour Craiglist for another one. They seem to only run about $75, so not too bad!
My week is going to be busy without really going anywhere. I need to make my house good since I will have company on Sunday for Dad’s day. The folks are coming over, along with possibly Doug and Elizabeth for BBQ and the boys playing in the pool. Saturday is kind of busy with a lunch date for Matt’s birthday which is today. So with my exercise program and a nice break tomorrow from work for a possible good Dax thing, I have lots to work on.
I am telling you right now, if I don’t figure out a way to wake up, I am screwed. I honestly can barely keep my eyes open. I actually just closed my eyes and about fell on my keyboard. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I don’t feel fatigued in my body. It seems to be all in my head. My eyes are heavy and I feel warm. Almost sweating a bit from how warm I feel. I am in a tank top! I am doing everything just short of splashing water on my face to stay up. I am shaking my legs, I keep standing up, and nothing seems to help. I am thinking I may go sit in the restroom for a while and nap.
No amount of napping is going to help here. I need to do it at home. I am hoping I can make it till going home. Maybe my body is just nervous about this whole diet thing and it is closing up shop and not allowing anything to work. My arms hurt, too, which I think is a result of swimming, carrying a dog and throwing Luna’s heavy toy. So my lack of physical strength is making this worse. So sleepy!!!!!
Ok, interesting theory. I normally have a soda in the morning. I did not have one today since I am trying to cut back on unnecessary calories. Drowsiness is a symptom of caffeine withdrawals. So is soreness in the upper part of my body. It is certainly possible this is what is causing the issue. I am considering having a soda to see if this is the issue.
I am tracking everything I eat on my app for Lose It on iTty. I have a goal listed of losing 2 pounds a week to get down to 140 pounds. I obviously have a ways to go, but I don’t want to go crazy. I figure if I log my foods, at least then I can see what I have consumed. It tracks my calories, too, which tells me if I want this goal to happen, I can only have 1800 a day. I think that is doable. It will be hard, and I am not going to freak out if I go over every now and again. I have had 443 today so far. That seems like a lot, but this is breakfast and a snack and a soda, all in 5 hours. I just entered my lunch and it looks like I have 600 calories to work with for this afternoon. I am rounding up a bit for my lunch calories. It has listing of tons of foods and it has the calories listed for them based on serving. So I am not sure what home cooked spaghetti would be. Sure, it tells me, but I don’t think that is enough calories, so I am adding some to the mix. 600 seems more than reasonable for dinner. When I was losing weight, I was keeping myself on 300 to 350 calorie meals, so I think I can do it. Wish me luck!!!
Ok, I woke up a bit. Not sure if it was soda involved or just me getting off my ass. Either way, I feel a little better, just a little hot still. It is warm in this office. Bleah. I think I have a meeting in a bit and I am hoping for some lunch soon. Then the rest of the day is down hill.
My meeting with Dax and the school tomorrow is only supposed to take 10 minutes. Hmm..that hardly seems worth taking off the whole day. Than again, I have gobs of stuff to work on, so maybe it is a good thing. We will see. At the very least, I do want to walk there just as more exercise. So we will see.
I really hope Luna behaves on our walk. I think these walks will do her some good. She has so much energy. It is the breed and the pup, but either way, she will like it. We play with her out back and stuff, but an actual walk is different. I was thinking about it on how Lycos was never this wild as a pup, but then again, she and I went on walks every day since it was just her and I what with Ken up north for work. So I think I helped her get out puppy energy with those walks. Plus, I think the training will help her in her own training.
I hate this. If we have this meeting, it is in like 2 minutes. In 2 minutes, I tend to heat up my food. I don’t want to heat up my food before I know what the plan is, but with my boss, he might come and get us in a bit. Grr..
If it is soda related, then I am screwed. I am tired again, which says either it is not soda related, or that I need more than I realized to function.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Happy Birthday To Me
6-11-10
Happy Birthday to, well, me! LOL!
I am zoned out here at work since I have no boss, and let’s face it, no boss plus Friday plus birthday equals Gena will be browsing Wikipedia all day. LOL!!
I went to dinner with Brandy last night which was cool! We went to P F Changs which was YUMMY! I had lettuce wraps with tofu and I tried some of Brandy’s tofu dish. I even had a snow pea! YAY ME! I was trying things. All was pretty damn good. The lettuce wraps were exactly the same as the ones with chicken. I had some Dan Dan which rocks.
After dinner, we went to a couple of shops and were able to visit and hang out, which was something we don’t always have a lot of time to do. I was glad I could get out.
I want to go home. Just so I can sleep.
Maryann brought me a beautiful pink scarf from Turkey! It is so cool! I may need to see about wearing it tomorrow night. We are going to a benefit show with Doug and Elizabeth for my birthday. Joel Mcchale will be there, so yay!
Is it wrong to be a little bummed that they didn’t get me a cake at work?
I am eating lunch early today. I was starving. I am also considering the whole sneaking out at noon thing. I don’t think I will, though. It isn’t like going home needs to happen. Besides, the afternoon is even easier to goof off.
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Thursday morning we packed up and were out of the room early. We wanted to get in as much site seeing as possible before we had to go. We jetted around the historic district and looked for more placement of where their shops and homes were.
We bid farewell to Marietta and went on towards the airport, but not before a quick stop at a courthouse and library in one of the smaller towns. We had to move quickly since we still had to get to the airport.
At the library, we walked in and you could smell the rain wanting to come down. We were inside all of 10 minutes when it started to pour. Thunder and lightning, all kinds of cool, so Andy and I ran outside to film what we could.
We got to the airport with plenty of time. Turns out, when you fly out of anywhere aside from LAX, it is easy to do security. LOL! Holly was on a different airline, but luckily, we were all leaving around the same time and there was a common ground between the terminals that we could hang out in before we went through security.
I picked up the boys some Ohio bears and Holly got her kids a couple of stuffed cows adorned in shirts that said “no tipping!” I would have got those for Bobby and Dax, but I don’t think the humor would have worked for their age. Oh well.
Holly left first, and so we said our goodbyes and headed towards our gate.
The flight was yicky.
I hate flying, but man, this one sucked. Quite a bit of turbulence. Some bad enough the flight attendants had to sit down. It was tolerable, but unfun. I slept a good chunk in the beginning, and then ended up reading a quick book. If it was a good book, I wanted to give it to Andy to read, so I needed it done before the flight was over since he and Papa Brenan would be going from Vegas to Sacramento, whereas I was in route to LA.
It was not a good book, but I finished it anyway.
We touched down in Vegas, and even got in a smidge early. There was to be a quick turnaround for all of us, and our gates were even next to each other. I was only a couple hours out of home. Then came the dreaded news.
I had no plane.
The plane that was to be taking me on to Los Angeles was still in route, having been delayed due to weather for 90 minutes. Crud. I would be leaving an hour later than planned. Not a huge deal, but annoying nonetheless.
Andy and Papa Brenan were lucky and did not get delayed, so I said goodbye to them and hung out in the airport reading my second book, anxiously waiting to get home.
Luckily, the flight home was quick and painless. I played solitaire on iTty, which makes time fly by. I got off the plane and headed to baggage.
I came down the escalator to see my three smiling boys, all holding signs that said “Mom”. Awesomeness! I am telling you, this is why people should be allowed to be at the gate. I would have loved to see someone get that kind of surprise.
After being home now for a week, and having time to reflect on the trip, I will say I really had a lot of fun. Sure, there were some boring points in which I was spent, but overall, just having time to sit in the back of a car, with no agenda and to be able to see some cool sights and bond with inlaws, it was all kinds of good. It was good for me to get away from my comfort zone. It was good for me to help out on genealogy. It was good for me to leave all the schedules and planning up to other folks. I was pretty free while there, and although it was strange, I really enjoyed it.
_________________________________________________________
Ok, I have spent too much time dinking around and it still is only noon. Grrr.
Happy Birthday to, well, me! LOL!
I am zoned out here at work since I have no boss, and let’s face it, no boss plus Friday plus birthday equals Gena will be browsing Wikipedia all day. LOL!!
I went to dinner with Brandy last night which was cool! We went to P F Changs which was YUMMY! I had lettuce wraps with tofu and I tried some of Brandy’s tofu dish. I even had a snow pea! YAY ME! I was trying things. All was pretty damn good. The lettuce wraps were exactly the same as the ones with chicken. I had some Dan Dan which rocks.
After dinner, we went to a couple of shops and were able to visit and hang out, which was something we don’t always have a lot of time to do. I was glad I could get out.
I want to go home. Just so I can sleep.
Maryann brought me a beautiful pink scarf from Turkey! It is so cool! I may need to see about wearing it tomorrow night. We are going to a benefit show with Doug and Elizabeth for my birthday. Joel Mcchale will be there, so yay!
Is it wrong to be a little bummed that they didn’t get me a cake at work?
I am eating lunch early today. I was starving. I am also considering the whole sneaking out at noon thing. I don’t think I will, though. It isn’t like going home needs to happen. Besides, the afternoon is even easier to goof off.
_______________________________________________________________
Thursday morning we packed up and were out of the room early. We wanted to get in as much site seeing as possible before we had to go. We jetted around the historic district and looked for more placement of where their shops and homes were.
We bid farewell to Marietta and went on towards the airport, but not before a quick stop at a courthouse and library in one of the smaller towns. We had to move quickly since we still had to get to the airport.
At the library, we walked in and you could smell the rain wanting to come down. We were inside all of 10 minutes when it started to pour. Thunder and lightning, all kinds of cool, so Andy and I ran outside to film what we could.
We got to the airport with plenty of time. Turns out, when you fly out of anywhere aside from LAX, it is easy to do security. LOL! Holly was on a different airline, but luckily, we were all leaving around the same time and there was a common ground between the terminals that we could hang out in before we went through security.
I picked up the boys some Ohio bears and Holly got her kids a couple of stuffed cows adorned in shirts that said “no tipping!” I would have got those for Bobby and Dax, but I don’t think the humor would have worked for their age. Oh well.
Holly left first, and so we said our goodbyes and headed towards our gate.
The flight was yicky.
I hate flying, but man, this one sucked. Quite a bit of turbulence. Some bad enough the flight attendants had to sit down. It was tolerable, but unfun. I slept a good chunk in the beginning, and then ended up reading a quick book. If it was a good book, I wanted to give it to Andy to read, so I needed it done before the flight was over since he and Papa Brenan would be going from Vegas to Sacramento, whereas I was in route to LA.
It was not a good book, but I finished it anyway.
We touched down in Vegas, and even got in a smidge early. There was to be a quick turnaround for all of us, and our gates were even next to each other. I was only a couple hours out of home. Then came the dreaded news.
I had no plane.
The plane that was to be taking me on to Los Angeles was still in route, having been delayed due to weather for 90 minutes. Crud. I would be leaving an hour later than planned. Not a huge deal, but annoying nonetheless.
Andy and Papa Brenan were lucky and did not get delayed, so I said goodbye to them and hung out in the airport reading my second book, anxiously waiting to get home.
Luckily, the flight home was quick and painless. I played solitaire on iTty, which makes time fly by. I got off the plane and headed to baggage.
I came down the escalator to see my three smiling boys, all holding signs that said “Mom”. Awesomeness! I am telling you, this is why people should be allowed to be at the gate. I would have loved to see someone get that kind of surprise.
After being home now for a week, and having time to reflect on the trip, I will say I really had a lot of fun. Sure, there were some boring points in which I was spent, but overall, just having time to sit in the back of a car, with no agenda and to be able to see some cool sights and bond with inlaws, it was all kinds of good. It was good for me to get away from my comfort zone. It was good for me to help out on genealogy. It was good for me to leave all the schedules and planning up to other folks. I was pretty free while there, and although it was strange, I really enjoyed it.
_________________________________________________________
Ok, I have spent too much time dinking around and it still is only noon. Grrr.
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