Hmm. So it’s Friday again and uh, I don’t have a lot of blogginess to show for it. I’ve got plenty of bloggy goodness waiting to happen, but NO time to get it done. In fact, I’ve been so preoccupied with my real life that I only just realized this morning that I did NOT do a Trouble Spot Tuesday this week. Didn’t even cross my mind at all. Guess that shows how well I’m doing, huh? Uh yeah. How about that. Hope you did something "organize-y" on Tuesday. I might have. I don't remember.
My days of late, since we got 12 inches of snow earlier this week, are centered around snow gear. At least 3 times a day we’re getting snow pants, hats, boots, mitts, coats (take it all off to go to the bathroom and start again) to go outside to bask in the snowiness that is our yard right now. And me, I’m outside along with them, socializing with the neighbours, shoveling snow (uh, I forgot about all of that after a decade of almost no snow) and hitting our little slope on the sled.
In between, I’m frantically trying to play catch up – cleaning/laundry/meals, drying snow gear for the next round of outdoor play. All the STUFF that has to happen for real life to function normally. However, we’ve had a lot of fun and are all sleeping pretty well because we’re so exhausted after all that fresh air.
Mouse’s school has had a pizza sale fundraiser and today was the day for making all 400 pizzas. Oy. I could get a job shmearing sauce on pizza crusts. I’ve certainly had enough practice. It was fun though. One Dad came to help and told corny jokes and we all swapped stories about choosing kindergartens and I learned that our local elementary school is actually pretty good, so I’m not quite so worried about Grade 1 for Mouse in a few years. (Yeah, planning a head now). Haha. The really good part about the pizza sale… ok, 2 really good parts about the pizza sale is that 1) dinner tonight is a NO brainer. Yeah, guess what we’re having? 2) We get to buy the extra pizza toppings for really cheap. Last time I got 2 huge bags of shredded cheese, that we’re still working through (it froze very well) and this time I got a HUGE bag of pepperoni (a staple here for Mouse) for super cheap. Yeah, that rocks.
And tomorrow we’re getting up at o’dark-thirty to catch a plane to go somewhere nice and sunny for a week. We’re looking forward to the break, especially after these crazy past few weeks. Here’s hoping the weather cooperates and we’re all able to come back refreshed. I’m packing the laptop (so robber-bad guys don’t come to my house to steal it cos it won’t be here and we have a huge dog that likes to eat people) and maybe I’ll actually be functional enough to post real posts instead of posts that say “sorry for not posting”.
For now, check out the blogs I love links below for some great blogs with great posts. (and I see a theme of people having a hard time with January, so I guess I’m not the only one who feels like they are losing their mind these days).
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Stinky Snow Day
We’re buried in snow today, like at least 8-10 inches of snow and it’s still coming down. School is cancelled just about everywhere and in a way I’m glad. We need a down day here to just chill out, play outside and go sledding, do more “crafts” and play and then follow it all up with some fresh baked cookies we made yesterday and hot chocolate. I’m hoping to get some tidying up and packing done today.
As we were taking our time getting it together this morning, my idyllic snow day bubble burst as the girls started with the knock-knock jokes. Or what they call knock-knock jokes only because they all start with knock-knock.
M: Mommy! Knock-knock (rapping knuckles on my shoulder)
Me: Who’s there?
M: (look around frantically for something to say)… Glasses
Me: Glasses who?
M: Glasses stinky!! (Insert hilarious laughter here)
Repeat with other smaller daughter…. Because I really need to hear the same joke twice.
Follow with several other ridiculous jokes all with a xyz-stinky/tootie/poopie punch line. Oy.
Mouse’s teacher did warn us that this is the age for potty talk and let me tell ya, we’re getting some serious potty talk around here. Poopie, tootie, fart, fake burping, peepee, butts, BOOGERS… it’s all VERRRRRYYY funny these days. And repeated … often. OY.
And it’s only 8:15 am. Thank goodness for lots of coffee. I think I’m going to need it today.
Now, I’m off to go and shovel the driveway. Again. Yay. Snow day! (groan)
As we were taking our time getting it together this morning, my idyllic snow day bubble burst as the girls started with the knock-knock jokes. Or what they call knock-knock jokes only because they all start with knock-knock.
M: Mommy! Knock-knock (rapping knuckles on my shoulder)
Me: Who’s there?
M: (look around frantically for something to say)… Glasses
Me: Glasses who?
M: Glasses stinky!! (Insert hilarious laughter here)
Repeat with other smaller daughter…. Because I really need to hear the same joke twice.
Follow with several other ridiculous jokes all with a xyz-stinky/tootie/poopie punch line. Oy.
Mouse’s teacher did warn us that this is the age for potty talk and let me tell ya, we’re getting some serious potty talk around here. Poopie, tootie, fart, fake burping, peepee, butts, BOOGERS… it’s all VERRRRRYYY funny these days. And repeated … often. OY.
And it’s only 8:15 am. Thank goodness for lots of coffee. I think I’m going to need it today.
Now, I’m off to go and shovel the driveway. Again. Yay. Snow day! (groan)
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Whine and Taxes
If you heard a popping sound yesterday, that was just my head exploding. Almost the whole day yesterday was spoken in “whine-ese” . (ahaha. Like that pun?)
It was mostly the girls; Mouse: “I wanna watch ttttttvvvvvv! MooOOOm, Baboo toke my “xyz”! I wanna hold me neeewwww pannntieeess”. Baboo just whined and cried about everything. Needless to say, Hubster and I were not really in the best of moods by lunchtime.
After lunch, Hubster retreated to his office computer and I decided to trim the girls’ hair. Mouse’s was getting really ratty at the ends and her bangs were hanging ½ way down her eyes. I will remember next time to SEPARATE them when I trim hair. Baboo kept dancing around in front of Mouse and bumping her feet, so Mouse’s trim took MUCH longer than I thought it would. It did turn out pretty even.
For Baboo, I decided to give her some bangs. We are so sick of her hair sliding out of any barrettes and elastics to hang straight down her face to her chin to get stuck to her face with food, juice, boogers. Gross. I only did a little bit of a bang, and may do more in a day or 2 when I see how it does when the rest of her hair is up, but it looks really cute. She learned from her sister though to keep saying “Done yet, Mommy? Sigh”. (Hers took all of 3.5 minutes).
No one paid me a million dollars this time.
When we were done, I put Dora on for the girls for a bit and then I figured, heck, why not start our taxes!? I know, I’m insane.
So I started the taxes. Installed the program and pulled together as much of the paperwork as I could. I learned, though, that last year was one hell of a complicated year tax-wise and so I had to make about 15 trips to the office upstairs to get more and more paper work. Hubster kept saying, playing happily at his computer, “Here again?”. By the last time, I thought, “Uh yeah, and if you ask me that one more time, I’m going to drop kick you, pal!” (He has not ever touched a tax form).
Anyway, I didn’t whine too much, but I sure wanted to. Good grief.
So after I finished as much of the Federal stuff as I could for now and cursed as I downloaded the second State forms, I decided it was time for Mouse and I to get out of the house for some retail therapy. So we headed to Kohls. Mouse needs a new winter coat next year and we figured now was a good time to look. We did find a coat and snowpants for 70% off! And boots and new hat/gloves. We got new gloves and hat for Baboo too. Guess what they wore all evening? Hat, gloves and boots. In the house. Baboo wore Mouse’s new boots – size 9. She’s a size 5. She clomped around in those things for well over an hour. What a kid. Anyway, it killed the whinies, so we were happy about that.
Then the sillies arrived in time for dinner and it was like a circus of pretend burping, giggling, exaggerated chomping and fork dropping, punctuated by Hubster and I saying “Please stop. That’s not good manners” before we instituted the “if you continue you will have to eat by yourself” rule.
Needless to say, it was early bedtime for everyone last night, including Hubster and I.
What a day.
It was mostly the girls; Mouse: “I wanna watch ttttttvvvvvv! MooOOOm, Baboo toke my “xyz”! I wanna hold me neeewwww pannntieeess”. Baboo just whined and cried about everything. Needless to say, Hubster and I were not really in the best of moods by lunchtime.
After lunch, Hubster retreated to his office computer and I decided to trim the girls’ hair. Mouse’s was getting really ratty at the ends and her bangs were hanging ½ way down her eyes. I will remember next time to SEPARATE them when I trim hair. Baboo kept dancing around in front of Mouse and bumping her feet, so Mouse’s trim took MUCH longer than I thought it would. It did turn out pretty even.
For Baboo, I decided to give her some bangs. We are so sick of her hair sliding out of any barrettes and elastics to hang straight down her face to her chin to get stuck to her face with food, juice, boogers. Gross. I only did a little bit of a bang, and may do more in a day or 2 when I see how it does when the rest of her hair is up, but it looks really cute. She learned from her sister though to keep saying “Done yet, Mommy? Sigh”. (Hers took all of 3.5 minutes).
No one paid me a million dollars this time.
When we were done, I put Dora on for the girls for a bit and then I figured, heck, why not start our taxes!? I know, I’m insane.
So I started the taxes. Installed the program and pulled together as much of the paperwork as I could. I learned, though, that last year was one hell of a complicated year tax-wise and so I had to make about 15 trips to the office upstairs to get more and more paper work. Hubster kept saying, playing happily at his computer, “Here again?”. By the last time, I thought, “Uh yeah, and if you ask me that one more time, I’m going to drop kick you, pal!” (He has not ever touched a tax form).
Anyway, I didn’t whine too much, but I sure wanted to. Good grief.
So after I finished as much of the Federal stuff as I could for now and cursed as I downloaded the second State forms, I decided it was time for Mouse and I to get out of the house for some retail therapy. So we headed to Kohls. Mouse needs a new winter coat next year and we figured now was a good time to look. We did find a coat and snowpants for 70% off! And boots and new hat/gloves. We got new gloves and hat for Baboo too. Guess what they wore all evening? Hat, gloves and boots. In the house. Baboo wore Mouse’s new boots – size 9. She’s a size 5. She clomped around in those things for well over an hour. What a kid. Anyway, it killed the whinies, so we were happy about that.
Then the sillies arrived in time for dinner and it was like a circus of pretend burping, giggling, exaggerated chomping and fork dropping, punctuated by Hubster and I saying “Please stop. That’s not good manners” before we instituted the “if you continue you will have to eat by yourself” rule.
Needless to say, it was early bedtime for everyone last night, including Hubster and I.
What a day.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Hello? Is this thing on?
Uh yeah, so it’s Friday already, huh? I’ve kind of misplaced a few days. I did have a few post ideas in my head but I really haven’t had the time to sit down and write and haven’t really formulated enough thoughts to get them down. Ah yes, kind of like writers block, if I was, you know, a writer. How about a brain fart? That sounds better. Noisy, obnoxious and not very pleasant.
So in lieu of an actual post, there is a run-down of this past week:
So what HAVE I been doing? Well, I seem to have clawed my way out of the depths of despair, thankfully, and am certainly feeling more human. I’m feeling less isolated and certainly more positive than I have been in a while.
I’ve actually taught 2, yes 2 REAL Pilates classes this week and it’s been great. My poor classes have been limping along with illness and bad weather so to have them ramping up is a great feeling. There is interest there and so far people “seem” like the classes.
Today Mouse received 2 HUGE bags of hand-me-down clothes from a friend at school so she spent a gleeful hour trying on clothes like Pretty Woman, flouncing around in all her “new” duds and preening. She was so in her element. She chose to wear a pair of pj’s out of ALL the clothes she got. Um, ok. We LOVE hand-me-downs and it’s been a great couple of weeks for them. Recently, we got 2 huge bags of clothes for Baboo , some of which fit Mouse, so we’re so super stocked with clothes right now. Oy. Maybe over-stocked. However, strangely, I have very few summer clothes for Baboo this coming summer. I’m not sure what happened to all of Mouse’s old clothes. They seem to have vanished. Weird.
We’ve been busy with school, as we always are. We have a few fundraisers going on right now and I’m working on a committee and am apparently running for board secretary for next year. It’s a good thing. We love our school.
My head is getting ready for our big trip south next week, so that’s been occupying a large portion of my brain as well. We’ve already sent down most of our clothes with my folks, but it’s all the weird little stuff that I didn’t think about that we’ll need to bring.
We’ve been invited to a birthday party next week for one of Mouse’s school friends and I’m so, so happy that I’ve stocked up on birthday cards and little gifts perfect for this kind of thing. All I have to do is head out to the garage and choose something and we’re set. We have got a HUGE bin of gift bags etc – all saved from gifts given to us, so going to this party should be pretty simple. We’re really looking forward to it and of course, Mouse LOVES a party.
We’ve visited and touched base with our 2 closest neighbours and that was definitely a good thing. I feel like we’ve all been in a cave the past 2 months with the wintery weather. And yesterday we went to see a friend’s (who moved here from Eastcoast-ville) new house. We had a wonderful day talking and catching up and watching our gaggle of girls play. Of course, we were highly impressed with the great new digs as well.
However, the highlight of my week was yesterday morning. I did NOT get up at 6 to exercise because I was lazy, (dammit) and so I was just lounging in bed while Hubster got dressed to go to work. (I know, it seems so stereo-typically house-wife-ish. Pass the bonbons!) Mouse woke up and came down the hall and crawled into bed with me. We snuggled quietly for a bit until Baboo woke up. When she wakes up, she just keeps yelling people’s names until someone comes to get her: “Mommeeee! Daddeeee! Mouse! Ewebodeee!” Hubster went to get her and she ran down the hall, clambered up on the bed, and threw herself down on the pillow, narrowly missing cracking me in the head with hers. She snuggled right in, like Mouse was on my other side, pulled the blankets right up to her chin, then grabbed my face, looked me right in the eyes and say “I wuv YOU, Mommee”, breathing her baby morning breath all over my face. And then proceeded to poke me in the eye and pinch my nose.
Ah, priceless moments. I think my heart melted a little bit. Wouldn’t trade it for a million dollars.
Over all, the week ended better than it started and I’m certainly grateful for that.
So in lieu of an actual post, there is a run-down of this past week:
So what HAVE I been doing? Well, I seem to have clawed my way out of the depths of despair, thankfully, and am certainly feeling more human. I’m feeling less isolated and certainly more positive than I have been in a while.
I’ve actually taught 2, yes 2 REAL Pilates classes this week and it’s been great. My poor classes have been limping along with illness and bad weather so to have them ramping up is a great feeling. There is interest there and so far people “seem” like the classes.
Today Mouse received 2 HUGE bags of hand-me-down clothes from a friend at school so she spent a gleeful hour trying on clothes like Pretty Woman, flouncing around in all her “new” duds and preening. She was so in her element. She chose to wear a pair of pj’s out of ALL the clothes she got. Um, ok. We LOVE hand-me-downs and it’s been a great couple of weeks for them. Recently, we got 2 huge bags of clothes for Baboo , some of which fit Mouse, so we’re so super stocked with clothes right now. Oy. Maybe over-stocked. However, strangely, I have very few summer clothes for Baboo this coming summer. I’m not sure what happened to all of Mouse’s old clothes. They seem to have vanished. Weird.
We’ve been busy with school, as we always are. We have a few fundraisers going on right now and I’m working on a committee and am apparently running for board secretary for next year. It’s a good thing. We love our school.
My head is getting ready for our big trip south next week, so that’s been occupying a large portion of my brain as well. We’ve already sent down most of our clothes with my folks, but it’s all the weird little stuff that I didn’t think about that we’ll need to bring.
We’ve been invited to a birthday party next week for one of Mouse’s school friends and I’m so, so happy that I’ve stocked up on birthday cards and little gifts perfect for this kind of thing. All I have to do is head out to the garage and choose something and we’re set. We have got a HUGE bin of gift bags etc – all saved from gifts given to us, so going to this party should be pretty simple. We’re really looking forward to it and of course, Mouse LOVES a party.
We’ve visited and touched base with our 2 closest neighbours and that was definitely a good thing. I feel like we’ve all been in a cave the past 2 months with the wintery weather. And yesterday we went to see a friend’s (who moved here from Eastcoast-ville) new house. We had a wonderful day talking and catching up and watching our gaggle of girls play. Of course, we were highly impressed with the great new digs as well.
However, the highlight of my week was yesterday morning. I did NOT get up at 6 to exercise because I was lazy, (dammit) and so I was just lounging in bed while Hubster got dressed to go to work. (I know, it seems so stereo-typically house-wife-ish. Pass the bonbons!) Mouse woke up and came down the hall and crawled into bed with me. We snuggled quietly for a bit until Baboo woke up. When she wakes up, she just keeps yelling people’s names until someone comes to get her: “Mommeeee! Daddeeee! Mouse! Ewebodeee!” Hubster went to get her and she ran down the hall, clambered up on the bed, and threw herself down on the pillow, narrowly missing cracking me in the head with hers. She snuggled right in, like Mouse was on my other side, pulled the blankets right up to her chin, then grabbed my face, looked me right in the eyes and say “I wuv YOU, Mommee”, breathing her baby morning breath all over my face. And then proceeded to poke me in the eye and pinch my nose.
Ah, priceless moments. I think my heart melted a little bit. Wouldn’t trade it for a million dollars.
Over all, the week ended better than it started and I’m certainly grateful for that.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
High Hopes
There are so many excellent posts up about the inauguration… I can’t even attempt to write anything so well spoken.
I missed the actual speech as I took the kids to the museum to get out of the house for a bit. I was able to catch it on CNN.com and let me tell you, my heart was as in my throat today as it was the night of the election. I was teary the whole time and kept getting chills as I listened to him speak. This is big history and I’m watching it. I’m glad to be at an age to really take all of this in and to be able to tell my girls about this big moment.
Hubster and I cannot vote here, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not directly affected by US politics. We live here, pay taxes here, contribute to our community and try to be an honest functioning part of this society. We would do no less regardless of which country we lived in.
It’s hard not to be inspired and feel hopeful around Barack Obama. And despite my reservations about the big picture, I am hopeful.
Our daughters, by birth, are American citizens and it’s for them that I hope. I want to be a part of a generation that actually makes a difference. I hope we can pass down to them a better environment, a better life, a kinder world. We’re willing to work at it. I hope that he is the man to help lead the way.
I missed the actual speech as I took the kids to the museum to get out of the house for a bit. I was able to catch it on CNN.com and let me tell you, my heart was as in my throat today as it was the night of the election. I was teary the whole time and kept getting chills as I listened to him speak. This is big history and I’m watching it. I’m glad to be at an age to really take all of this in and to be able to tell my girls about this big moment.
Hubster and I cannot vote here, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not directly affected by US politics. We live here, pay taxes here, contribute to our community and try to be an honest functioning part of this society. We would do no less regardless of which country we lived in.
It’s hard not to be inspired and feel hopeful around Barack Obama. And despite my reservations about the big picture, I am hopeful.
Our daughters, by birth, are American citizens and it’s for them that I hope. I want to be a part of a generation that actually makes a difference. I hope we can pass down to them a better environment, a better life, a kinder world. We’re willing to work at it. I hope that he is the man to help lead the way.
Trouble Spot Tuesday: Cleaning Out Your Clothes Drawer
This weekend I went to the armoire that Hubster and I share and could not find a t-shirt. The drawers were a mess; the shelves had clothes bunched up all over the place. I decided right then and there to clean it up.
Despite being worried that it was going to take longer, it really only took 15 minutes. I didn’t really give myself a lot of time to ponder over whether to keep things or not. If it was ripped, stained, un-matchable or just plain “done”, it was gone.
I started with the undies and sock drawers as those are generally the easiest. I got rid of a few socks that had holes or didn’t have a mate and obviously any undies that were past their prime.
Then I sorted out the pjs, grouping them together in one place. I did get rid of a couple of things here as well.
Then, t-shirts. Right now, because we have an enormous closet (filled more with stuff than clothes), most of the shirts we wear daily, i.e. the long sleeve ones, are hanging up in our closet because our pants are there and it’s just easier to get dressed there. Surprisingly, I have to say that with everything hanging up, it’s much easier to see what we have and what needs to go or what we need to get. Once the seasons change, we’ll likely move things around.
Anyway, back to the t-shirts. The shirts were lumped and bunched all over the shelves and it was hard to tell what was actually in there. I pulled each one out, inspected it and either folded it or tossed it. I tossed a bunch of Hubster’s shirts and some of mine as well. I tend to go through shirts pretty quickly because I’m always painting with the kids or cooking and get some gunk on it that won’t come out.
Once I was done with that, it was time to put everything back in the armoire and really, it all went back together quickly.
I’ve been working pretty hard this past year to keep things cleaned out – or at least weeded down. I’m not even close to being a fashionista so I don’t keep up with a lot of trends etc, so I really don’t have whole lot. I know that I’ll wear about the same 4 shirts over and over until they’re worn out, which happens about every 4 months or so. So, I just buy 1 or 2 shirts as I need them and try to toss them out or move them to the rag pile when they’re toasted. I haven’t done this in a while, so it was time. I keep a bag or box for Goodwill in all of our closets and when we decide that something doesn’t fit (this is especially important with the girls) or we’re done with it, I just toss it in the box. My policy is that if I wouldn’t give it to a friend, then I toss it out. Meaning, if it’s just too stained or worn and I wouldn’t give it to my best friend, then, I put it in the rag bag rather than donate it to Goodwill.
Once the seasons change, before I move anything over, I’ll go through the closet and check over all the winter clothes before I put them away and toss what needs to be done and will do the same for the spring stuff coming out. That way I’ll know what we’re going to need and can keep an eye out for sales.
So, if you have a lot of clothes and it seems overwhelming, start with one drawer. Put a box or bag in your room to hold anything you’re passing on. When you’re putting things back in the drawer or closet, think about how you’re going to reach for it and group it together so it makes finding things easier. Then do another drawer the next day or, work on a section of your closet. Be honest about what you really wear or will wear. If it’s past its’ prime, doesn’t fit or you don’t like it any more, don’t feel guilty. Pass it on.
And if you’re really lucky and get a big chunk of time, then go whole hog and really get it done. Get some boxes or bags and start shocking yourself with how much crap you really have.
Well, what are you waiting for? Go! Sort! Organize! Toss! Then dress in something really nice you just found at the back of your closet and feel GREAT all day.
I’ll talk about kids clothes another time because, at least in our house with 2 girls, is a whole other ball of wax.
Despite being worried that it was going to take longer, it really only took 15 minutes. I didn’t really give myself a lot of time to ponder over whether to keep things or not. If it was ripped, stained, un-matchable or just plain “done”, it was gone.
I started with the undies and sock drawers as those are generally the easiest. I got rid of a few socks that had holes or didn’t have a mate and obviously any undies that were past their prime.
Then I sorted out the pjs, grouping them together in one place. I did get rid of a couple of things here as well.
Then, t-shirts. Right now, because we have an enormous closet (filled more with stuff than clothes), most of the shirts we wear daily, i.e. the long sleeve ones, are hanging up in our closet because our pants are there and it’s just easier to get dressed there. Surprisingly, I have to say that with everything hanging up, it’s much easier to see what we have and what needs to go or what we need to get. Once the seasons change, we’ll likely move things around.
Anyway, back to the t-shirts. The shirts were lumped and bunched all over the shelves and it was hard to tell what was actually in there. I pulled each one out, inspected it and either folded it or tossed it. I tossed a bunch of Hubster’s shirts and some of mine as well. I tend to go through shirts pretty quickly because I’m always painting with the kids or cooking and get some gunk on it that won’t come out.
Once I was done with that, it was time to put everything back in the armoire and really, it all went back together quickly.
I’ve been working pretty hard this past year to keep things cleaned out – or at least weeded down. I’m not even close to being a fashionista so I don’t keep up with a lot of trends etc, so I really don’t have whole lot. I know that I’ll wear about the same 4 shirts over and over until they’re worn out, which happens about every 4 months or so. So, I just buy 1 or 2 shirts as I need them and try to toss them out or move them to the rag pile when they’re toasted. I haven’t done this in a while, so it was time. I keep a bag or box for Goodwill in all of our closets and when we decide that something doesn’t fit (this is especially important with the girls) or we’re done with it, I just toss it in the box. My policy is that if I wouldn’t give it to a friend, then I toss it out. Meaning, if it’s just too stained or worn and I wouldn’t give it to my best friend, then, I put it in the rag bag rather than donate it to Goodwill.
Once the seasons change, before I move anything over, I’ll go through the closet and check over all the winter clothes before I put them away and toss what needs to be done and will do the same for the spring stuff coming out. That way I’ll know what we’re going to need and can keep an eye out for sales.
So, if you have a lot of clothes and it seems overwhelming, start with one drawer. Put a box or bag in your room to hold anything you’re passing on. When you’re putting things back in the drawer or closet, think about how you’re going to reach for it and group it together so it makes finding things easier. Then do another drawer the next day or, work on a section of your closet. Be honest about what you really wear or will wear. If it’s past its’ prime, doesn’t fit or you don’t like it any more, don’t feel guilty. Pass it on.
And if you’re really lucky and get a big chunk of time, then go whole hog and really get it done. Get some boxes or bags and start shocking yourself with how much crap you really have.
Well, what are you waiting for? Go! Sort! Organize! Toss! Then dress in something really nice you just found at the back of your closet and feel GREAT all day.
I’ll talk about kids clothes another time because, at least in our house with 2 girls, is a whole other ball of wax.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Really Ok
Lest you think I'm going to go and jump off a cliff, don't fret. I'm not going to.
Since it's actually SUNNY today, I've spent quite a bit of time outside with hat and mitts off to get some exposure and already I'm feeling significantly better. I've got all the blinds open completely and plan to spend some time in front of the windows this afternoon. And maybe get some exercise in later on when Baboo is napping.
I've also made a dr's appointment for next week to get things checked out and we'll see where things go from there.
I'm ok. I'm dealing. Really.
Since it's actually SUNNY today, I've spent quite a bit of time outside with hat and mitts off to get some exposure and already I'm feeling significantly better. I've got all the blinds open completely and plan to spend some time in front of the windows this afternoon. And maybe get some exercise in later on when Baboo is napping.
I've also made a dr's appointment for next week to get things checked out and we'll see where things go from there.
I'm ok. I'm dealing. Really.
Funky
I feel funky and not in the good way like in “get down, party out” (lame I know) kind of funky. It’s more like I feel in a “FUNK”. A dark, nasty, stinky place.
It’s been increasing in intensity since before Christmas and I’m still struggling with it. This past week has been really bad, likely being hammered on by PMS has made things worse, but still… It’s killing me. I don’t feel like myself at all.
I feel… disconnected, like I can’t really engage with anyone and though I have to, it’s a struggle. I want to sleep ALL the time. If I sit down at any time during the day, I will nod off. So I drag myself through the day THINKING about sleep the whole time. Or thinking about eating all the stuff I shouldn’t and don’t want to be eating because I’m looking for the energy boost that I hope food will give me. Most of the time I can resist it, but when it’s 3 pm and I seriously feel like I’m going to fall over, sometimes I cave and snack (which I almost immediately regret) and though I feel a slight increase in my energy, it’s rarely enough to really help.
I feel like I’m in a perpetual fog and life seems … muted and grating all at the same time. I don’t feel sick, though I certainly was a couple of weeks ago and various viruses have hit our house lately. I feel lost, depressed, out of it. I’m in a cycle of self-loathing and guilt and regret about many things that I just can’t shake. I want to climb into a cave and hide for a while. We’ve got lots of things to look forward to, and I can’t seem to get fired up about any of it.
Yesterday afternoon all I could think about was sitting down and sleeping and I said to Hubster “I don’t know what’s wrong with me!?”.
This morning, there is no school as its’ MLK day. The girls and I are sitting around in our pj’s taking our time this morning, mostly because I can’t get started. Hubster has the car because his carpool driver has the day off so we have no plans to go out today. I’m letting the girls watch more tv than I usually do in the morning and surfing around the net reading blogs.
Someone mentioned Season Affective Disorder and though I also think I’m working through some other issues, I do think this might have a lot to do with what’s going on right now and considering it got really bad right before Christmas when winter really started to set in, it makes sense.
I don’t really know what to do about it. I may try to get in to see a doctor to see what they have to say and maybe it’s time for me to get myself into some therapy sessions as well. I feel locked in my head lately and I know I’m not a very good wife, mother or anything else right now. And haven’t been for a while.
One of those great things we have to look forward to, that I’m sort of plodding towards, is a trip to sunny Florida in a couple of weeks. I’m hoping that the weather is nice enough that I can really get into some bright light (without breaking out into one of those nasty sun rashes I get) and maybe start shaking this nastiness.
However, right now, we need to get dressed, there are beds to make, laundry to do, stuff to put away, kids to entertain and a sticky floor to wash. So I’d better drag my butt off this chair and get crackin’.
It’s been increasing in intensity since before Christmas and I’m still struggling with it. This past week has been really bad, likely being hammered on by PMS has made things worse, but still… It’s killing me. I don’t feel like myself at all.
I feel… disconnected, like I can’t really engage with anyone and though I have to, it’s a struggle. I want to sleep ALL the time. If I sit down at any time during the day, I will nod off. So I drag myself through the day THINKING about sleep the whole time. Or thinking about eating all the stuff I shouldn’t and don’t want to be eating because I’m looking for the energy boost that I hope food will give me. Most of the time I can resist it, but when it’s 3 pm and I seriously feel like I’m going to fall over, sometimes I cave and snack (which I almost immediately regret) and though I feel a slight increase in my energy, it’s rarely enough to really help.
I feel like I’m in a perpetual fog and life seems … muted and grating all at the same time. I don’t feel sick, though I certainly was a couple of weeks ago and various viruses have hit our house lately. I feel lost, depressed, out of it. I’m in a cycle of self-loathing and guilt and regret about many things that I just can’t shake. I want to climb into a cave and hide for a while. We’ve got lots of things to look forward to, and I can’t seem to get fired up about any of it.
Yesterday afternoon all I could think about was sitting down and sleeping and I said to Hubster “I don’t know what’s wrong with me!?”.
This morning, there is no school as its’ MLK day. The girls and I are sitting around in our pj’s taking our time this morning, mostly because I can’t get started. Hubster has the car because his carpool driver has the day off so we have no plans to go out today. I’m letting the girls watch more tv than I usually do in the morning and surfing around the net reading blogs.
Someone mentioned Season Affective Disorder and though I also think I’m working through some other issues, I do think this might have a lot to do with what’s going on right now and considering it got really bad right before Christmas when winter really started to set in, it makes sense.
I don’t really know what to do about it. I may try to get in to see a doctor to see what they have to say and maybe it’s time for me to get myself into some therapy sessions as well. I feel locked in my head lately and I know I’m not a very good wife, mother or anything else right now. And haven’t been for a while.
One of those great things we have to look forward to, that I’m sort of plodding towards, is a trip to sunny Florida in a couple of weeks. I’m hoping that the weather is nice enough that I can really get into some bright light (without breaking out into one of those nasty sun rashes I get) and maybe start shaking this nastiness.
However, right now, we need to get dressed, there are beds to make, laundry to do, stuff to put away, kids to entertain and a sticky floor to wash. So I’d better drag my butt off this chair and get crackin’.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Where the Poops Go
A conversation with Baboo this morning as I was changing her diaper:
Baboo: Mommy, poops all gone!
Me: Yup. Where do you think they went?
Baboo: Gwocewee 'tore. (grocery store)
Me: Hmm. Really.
Baboo: And movie 'tore.
Me: What are they going to get there?
Baboo: Hahah. Silly Mommy! MOVIES and GWOCEWEES!
Me: Well, how about that. How did they get there?
Baboo: I don't KNOW!? They just gone. Silly poopies. hehehehe
And Hubster wonders why I feel like I have no brain cells left when he gets home from work. With stimulating poop conversations like this, how could *I* not feel brilliant? Oy. Granted, I have to give her lots of kudos for her imagination. Now, if only we could shift (shit?) the focus off the poop.
Baboo: Mommy, poops all gone!
Me: Yup. Where do you think they went?
Baboo: Gwocewee 'tore. (grocery store)
Me: Hmm. Really.
Baboo: And movie 'tore.
Me: What are they going to get there?
Baboo: Hahah. Silly Mommy! MOVIES and GWOCEWEES!
Me: Well, how about that. How did they get there?
Baboo: I don't KNOW!? They just gone. Silly poopies. hehehehe
And Hubster wonders why I feel like I have no brain cells left when he gets home from work. With stimulating poop conversations like this, how could *I* not feel brilliant? Oy. Granted, I have to give her lots of kudos for her imagination. Now, if only we could shift (shit?) the focus off the poop.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Night Processing
Last night was a long night for some of us. Mouse was up, about 5 or 6 times, from the time she went to bed at 8 until 3 am. It seemed just when Hubster and I were finally drifting back to sleep, we’d hear the scuff of footie pajamas on the carpet in the hall and then the squeak of our bedroom door being opened, followed by a whispered “Mom” from the foot of the bed.
She’d come up, usually to my side and ask to snuggle. The first time she came in, I let her stay for about ½ an hour then I took her back to bed and stayed with her for about 5 minutes to get her settled. She seemed to be sleeping so I left and tried to get settled myself. However, about 30 minutes later, she came back. Hubster took her back to her own bed that time and other 3 times as well. At one point, she almost threw a tantrum because I wasn’t the one taking her back. Yeah, wanted to deal with THAT at 3:30 am.
It was weird; very unusual for her. We haven’t had a night like this with her for a long time. At least once or twice a week she comes to us at night time, but usually she’ll go right back to sleep and stay in her bed once we take her back. It didn’t seem like she was having nightmares as she didn’t seem scared.
I suppose I could have just let her stay as she was obviously needing something, but Baboo had been in our bed for a while the night before and I didn’t really sleep very well, clinging to the outer inch and dreaming about falling out of bed while my tiny toddler had the rest of the KING sized bed.
When Hubster couldn’t get back to sleep after taking her back to bed for the 4th time and decided to get up and watch some tv (I guess, I’m not sure) I lay there trying to get back to sleep myself. My mind was starting to wander as it usually does when I’m up in the middle of the night. It started singing Noggin’s Wow Wow Wubzy Robot Dance Song. (Please KILL me) So to STOP my head from singing “Robot Dance. Robot Dance. We want to do the Robot Dance. Here’s your number, here’s your chance. Let’s all do the robot dance” with an annoying techno robotic-like musical accompaniment (shudder), I tried to figure out what was going on with Mouse.
After a few minutes of pondering, I was shuttled back to her baby days. As a baby she’d be fine all day, regardless of what we did: stayed home, shopping, outing with friends etc. However, by the evening if we did anything stimulating, like the mall for example, she’d be an absolute MESS. She’d scream and cry for hours and there was almost nothing we could do to console her. We’d take her for walks in the pack carrier or sling when we could or just walk with her up and down the halls of our apartment building when we couldn’t. It didn’t happen consistently enough for us to think it was colic, but it took us a while to figure out what was going on. She was highly sensitive to stimulating things, but just not immediately. Everyone would always say how good and cute she was while we were out and she would be. She rarely cried when we were out. It hit her all at night as she tried to process everything.
She’s gotten better with time and maturity and a bigger vocabulary to be able to talk about things, however every now and then we go through some of the night time processing.
Yesterday, Mouse had a play date with a friend from school yesterday. She was supposed to go for a couple of hours after school in the afternoon, but school was cancelled because of the cold, so the other Mom, whose daughter was REALLY looking forward to the play date, drove here to pick her up about 10:30 in the morning and planned to keep her until about 4 in the afternoon.
I was a bit apprehensive about this as Mouse had never been at someone’s house that long without me before. We talked about it and she said she wanted to go, and I know the other Mom pretty well and her daughter is really sweet, so I wasn’t really worried about the girls fighting or anything.
When I picked her up at 4, she was excited to tell me about her day. She had a great time and had fun and the other Mom said she was great; well behaved, had a good time and that the girls played well together and there were no major incidences that needed to be reported.
I knew Mouse was tired and so we planned a pretty quiet evening. It was movie night so we had a pizza, watched a movie and then put the girls to bed. We made sure to have quite a bit of cuddle time and didn’t push talking about the big new experiences too much. She really didn’t want to talk too much about it.
I realized after lying in bed that this was a huge thing for her. She’d been away from me ALL day with someone she doesn’t know really well . She had to take in a lot of information and experience a lot of new things all by herself. I wasn’t there to interpret, explain and referee or act as the grounding device she could come to when she needed to find something familiar. Even I felt weird not having her here for most of the day.
So, last night seemed to be one of those times where she needed to process all that had happened. She needed to process the fact that she’s growing up a little bit more, that she can handle herself for longer periods of time without me there and that while she SAYS “MOooom, I’m FINE” (cos she’s 4.5 going on 13) she still misses me. And those are some tough concepts to reconcile. I know, because I was trying to figure it out too. She’s my baby and my big girl all at the same time.
Eventually, we all fell back to sleep, and at 9:15 Hubster is still sleeping. Today is another day, just like any other day, but I think we all know, we’ve jumped through a pretty big growing up hoop.
She’d come up, usually to my side and ask to snuggle. The first time she came in, I let her stay for about ½ an hour then I took her back to bed and stayed with her for about 5 minutes to get her settled. She seemed to be sleeping so I left and tried to get settled myself. However, about 30 minutes later, she came back. Hubster took her back to her own bed that time and other 3 times as well. At one point, she almost threw a tantrum because I wasn’t the one taking her back. Yeah, wanted to deal with THAT at 3:30 am.
It was weird; very unusual for her. We haven’t had a night like this with her for a long time. At least once or twice a week she comes to us at night time, but usually she’ll go right back to sleep and stay in her bed once we take her back. It didn’t seem like she was having nightmares as she didn’t seem scared.
I suppose I could have just let her stay as she was obviously needing something, but Baboo had been in our bed for a while the night before and I didn’t really sleep very well, clinging to the outer inch and dreaming about falling out of bed while my tiny toddler had the rest of the KING sized bed.
When Hubster couldn’t get back to sleep after taking her back to bed for the 4th time and decided to get up and watch some tv (I guess, I’m not sure) I lay there trying to get back to sleep myself. My mind was starting to wander as it usually does when I’m up in the middle of the night. It started singing Noggin’s Wow Wow Wubzy Robot Dance Song. (Please KILL me) So to STOP my head from singing “Robot Dance. Robot Dance. We want to do the Robot Dance. Here’s your number, here’s your chance. Let’s all do the robot dance” with an annoying techno robotic-like musical accompaniment (shudder), I tried to figure out what was going on with Mouse.
After a few minutes of pondering, I was shuttled back to her baby days. As a baby she’d be fine all day, regardless of what we did: stayed home, shopping, outing with friends etc. However, by the evening if we did anything stimulating, like the mall for example, she’d be an absolute MESS. She’d scream and cry for hours and there was almost nothing we could do to console her. We’d take her for walks in the pack carrier or sling when we could or just walk with her up and down the halls of our apartment building when we couldn’t. It didn’t happen consistently enough for us to think it was colic, but it took us a while to figure out what was going on. She was highly sensitive to stimulating things, but just not immediately. Everyone would always say how good and cute she was while we were out and she would be. She rarely cried when we were out. It hit her all at night as she tried to process everything.
She’s gotten better with time and maturity and a bigger vocabulary to be able to talk about things, however every now and then we go through some of the night time processing.
Yesterday, Mouse had a play date with a friend from school yesterday. She was supposed to go for a couple of hours after school in the afternoon, but school was cancelled because of the cold, so the other Mom, whose daughter was REALLY looking forward to the play date, drove here to pick her up about 10:30 in the morning and planned to keep her until about 4 in the afternoon.
I was a bit apprehensive about this as Mouse had never been at someone’s house that long without me before. We talked about it and she said she wanted to go, and I know the other Mom pretty well and her daughter is really sweet, so I wasn’t really worried about the girls fighting or anything.
When I picked her up at 4, she was excited to tell me about her day. She had a great time and had fun and the other Mom said she was great; well behaved, had a good time and that the girls played well together and there were no major incidences that needed to be reported.
I knew Mouse was tired and so we planned a pretty quiet evening. It was movie night so we had a pizza, watched a movie and then put the girls to bed. We made sure to have quite a bit of cuddle time and didn’t push talking about the big new experiences too much. She really didn’t want to talk too much about it.
I realized after lying in bed that this was a huge thing for her. She’d been away from me ALL day with someone she doesn’t know really well . She had to take in a lot of information and experience a lot of new things all by herself. I wasn’t there to interpret, explain and referee or act as the grounding device she could come to when she needed to find something familiar. Even I felt weird not having her here for most of the day.
So, last night seemed to be one of those times where she needed to process all that had happened. She needed to process the fact that she’s growing up a little bit more, that she can handle herself for longer periods of time without me there and that while she SAYS “MOooom, I’m FINE” (cos she’s 4.5 going on 13) she still misses me. And those are some tough concepts to reconcile. I know, because I was trying to figure it out too. She’s my baby and my big girl all at the same time.
Eventually, we all fell back to sleep, and at 9:15 Hubster is still sleeping. Today is another day, just like any other day, but I think we all know, we’ve jumped through a pretty big growing up hoop.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Turning A Blind Eye
It’s school registration season and though I’ve been talking about it on the surface and loosely considering options for months, I’m taken aback. WHAT? Time to register for next year, already?
And it’s not even so much that it’s another school year, it’s that Mouse will be going to kindergarten in the fall. She’ll be *5*. How did this happen? It’s really beyond my comprehension. Baboo will be starting preschool as well, mostly because she so wants to be there. She pushes Mouse’s much larger classmates out of the way so *she* can be the first to greet the teacher in the morning. For some reason though, Mouse going to kindy is much more distressing for me. I guess maybe it’s because it really does signal the “end of the baby years”.
The school she currently attends is an AWESOME school. We all love it and frankly, since moving here, it’s been one of the best things that we stumbled upon. It’s been an instant community and has been the perfect introduction to school for our sensitive little Mouse. She fit in so well and has thrived there. We love the other parents, have made some great friends, and love the teachers. I’m so in love with our kindergarten that ‘I’ want to go. I should call it “The Love School”. One of the many things I love about this kindergarten is that there is a very low student/teacher ratio and that, to me, says quality. I also appreciate that it is ½ day every day which I think is appropriate for a 5 year old, schedule wise, and prepares them for going into elementary school without overwhelming them.
However, with Mouse’s current class at max capacity and fewer spots available in the kindergarten, it feels like a bit of a scramble to get her in. I suppose it always feels like that for the “good stuff”. So today, I was filling out paperwork and writing checks so I could turn in the registration forms and secure a spot for both girls.
Because I’m a planner who likes to have a backup plan, even if I get it going almost too late in the game, I decided to check out our local public kindergarten, just in case something happens and we can’t go to our current “love” school. Registration is NOW and I *just* happened to luck out and reserve a spot for the first tour of the registration season. I know, it’s pushing it and I’m well aware of my good fortune, despite me feeling like an ass for not thinking of this SOONER and putting myself in a panic situation where I’m scrambling to get things in order. I HATE that feeling.
So yesterday the girls and I drove over to check it out. It’s a nice building, laid out well and I like their philosophies. I’m not keen on the schedule at all and when they mentioned bussing the kids, I nearly had a heart attack. I was picturing my little Mouse, looking sooo tiny beside all the big kids getting on the big orange death rocket, stepping into the hands of a complete stranger who will drive her around the city without seat belt.
…..
Ok, so maybe I’m over dramatizing things and clearly, I’m in denial about Mouse, and Baboo for that matter, growing up. I know that if Mouse was bussed, she love the riding on the bus; probably more than being at school.
However, I was still mad at myself for not getting on the ball about this sooner. This was important to me, and was in fact, the primary reason we moved out here last year, so why did I leave it all to the last minute before REALLY looking into things?
I’ve been thinking (Hubster DREADS this opening and cringes every time I say it) and I realized that I kind of have blinders on when it comes to picturing the girls’ futures, or rather picturing the girls IN the future. I can look ahead a few steps and plan for that, but longer term with them, I just have a hard time. And I think I’ve figured out why.
The year before Mouse was born, Hubster and I would celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. When we got married we said we’d renew our vows on our 10th anniversary and then likely start a family. After 9 years, we had felt we’d grown a lot, had been through some interesting times and figured 9 was close enough to 10 and that it was time to activate “the plan”. We decided to have a small ceremony to renew our wedding vows as way of recommitting ourselves to each other as the changed people we had grown into. To celebrate all we’d been through and to start the next phase of our relationship. It involved a trip to our home town so we could be with family and have the ceremony at the church we were married in. We started planning this around March for the coming August.
As I was making the guest list, in my head I was picturing each person as I wrote down their name. Once I had a list, I kept having a niggle of a feeling of forgetting someone. It took me a day or two to realize that I had forgotten my stepdaughter, Hubster’s daughter from a previous relationship. I was so ashamed to have not included her initially, even though I hadn’t sent out invitations or even talked about it much to anyone else other than Hubster. HOW could I forget someone so important!? I *put* her on the list.
As the weeks went by, in my head, I was picturing how things would go, what’d we’d wear, what we would say, planning the food etc, and of course, picturing the people who would be there. The ceremony was going to be pretty small and casual, just our immediate family and friends. AGAIN and again, my head kept leaving her out. I was furious with myself. It wasn’t that I was trying to exclude her or was wanting to be a like a fairy tale “step-mother” wanting to hurry up and have my own kids with Hubster to edge her out. I loved her more than I ever knew I could and in my heart, she was like a daughter to me. I was embarrassed and ashamed and mad, wondering WHY I couldn’t “see” her there? Why did I keep leaving her out? And yet, every time I pictured it, I had to deliberately “put” her in the scene. We wanted her to stand up with us. I WANTED this, wanted her to be a big part of that day. So what was wrong with me, I kept asking myself.
Then, in May, the unspeakable happened. She passed away tragically in an accident. So many hearts were broken, ours included. In shock, we boarded a plane to go home, not really knowing what was going on. It was a long trip and neither Hubster or I spoke much. We were afraid to say too much in fear of breaking down on the plane. As I looked out the window, shutting myself off to be with my thoughts, I started thinking about the vow renewal ceremony. I was so sad to know that she wouldn’t be there; that we wouldn’t get to acknowledge her as our family. And then I remembered how I couldn’t “see” her there over the past months.
I felt a kind of horror at this realization. My stomach clenched and my heart stopped for a minute. All this time, I thought I was a horrible person for wondering if maybe I didn’t want her there (which was so, not true). I never once imagined that she would literally be gone. Why would I ever think that an otherwise wonderful, healthy, vibrant 11 year old girl would die? It was a possibility that never crossed my mind. Coming to the realization that maybe I was supposed to know this; had been “told” this; frightened me. Was I supposed to have figured it out sooner? Was I supposed to have done something? But what?
Like a high speed slide show that happens when we realize something that makes us panic, images and thoughts were flashing before my eyes. I recalled talking with Hubster about our long range plans at some point long past. We would talk about buying a house and having a room for his daughter when she came to visit us and we hoped that she might even live with us some of the time. We truly wanted that, we loved her and wanted for all of us to be together as a family. We felt close to her grandparents with whom she lived and we all got along very well. We always wanted to preserve that peace. And though I never admitted it, whenever I tried to “imagine” her living with us; trying to picture a young teenager’s room within our house, it was always hazy, beyond my reach. It was something more than “I just can’t picture it” because it seemed so foreign. It felt more like a whisper of “this won’t happen” and my heart felt a kind of knowing I didn’t want to admit. Why would I ever admit that? It sounded horrible, evil, like I wanted her gone. So, I dismissed it many times, determining that it seemed so unclear because we still had a long way to go before getting to that point in all of our lives.
How could I have possibly interpreted those… things. Premonitions? When I thought back on all that had happened, all I had “seen”, my heart said “I knew”. And that hurt twice as much. I “knew” and wasn’t prepared. Didn’t want to know. And how could I have prepared for that? There IS no way to prepare for that.
So, when it comes to my girls, whether all of this seem hokey or not, I feel like I have my eyes cast downward a bit. I’m not eyeing the horizon too closely. I don’t try to picture them going to high school, going to college, getting married or having a family. I HOPE with all my heart for them and I WISH them every happiness in the world. I WANT so much for them, but I panic if I ever start to try to daydream about it; to picture it.
I’m trying to live in the here and now as best I can. I’m looking a few steps ahead so we’re not completely run over by the future. They are kids for pete’s sakes so they’re changing every nanosecond of every day. I’m still planning, because that’s what I do, but instead of specifics, it’s a much broader spectrum. It’s a generalized planning.
As the girls grow and change and move through their milestones, sometimes, like with kindergarten, I’m a little blown over because I don’t have it all laid out like I so with so many other things in my life. Most of the time, it’s a happy kind of surprise, while still being surreal. I think “We’re here. We made it here. We’re moving forward. “
But, I’m still too afraid to look too closely at the distant future. I’m afraid of what I might see, or rather, what I might not see. If that’s to be, it’s something I’d rather not know. I’m happy with the here and now and for me, that’s all we really have anyway. I’d rather enjoy this time as we have it rather than worry about what I think we might not have down the road.
And it’s not even so much that it’s another school year, it’s that Mouse will be going to kindergarten in the fall. She’ll be *5*. How did this happen? It’s really beyond my comprehension. Baboo will be starting preschool as well, mostly because she so wants to be there. She pushes Mouse’s much larger classmates out of the way so *she* can be the first to greet the teacher in the morning. For some reason though, Mouse going to kindy is much more distressing for me. I guess maybe it’s because it really does signal the “end of the baby years”.
The school she currently attends is an AWESOME school. We all love it and frankly, since moving here, it’s been one of the best things that we stumbled upon. It’s been an instant community and has been the perfect introduction to school for our sensitive little Mouse. She fit in so well and has thrived there. We love the other parents, have made some great friends, and love the teachers. I’m so in love with our kindergarten that ‘I’ want to go. I should call it “The Love School”. One of the many things I love about this kindergarten is that there is a very low student/teacher ratio and that, to me, says quality. I also appreciate that it is ½ day every day which I think is appropriate for a 5 year old, schedule wise, and prepares them for going into elementary school without overwhelming them.
However, with Mouse’s current class at max capacity and fewer spots available in the kindergarten, it feels like a bit of a scramble to get her in. I suppose it always feels like that for the “good stuff”. So today, I was filling out paperwork and writing checks so I could turn in the registration forms and secure a spot for both girls.
Because I’m a planner who likes to have a backup plan, even if I get it going almost too late in the game, I decided to check out our local public kindergarten, just in case something happens and we can’t go to our current “love” school. Registration is NOW and I *just* happened to luck out and reserve a spot for the first tour of the registration season. I know, it’s pushing it and I’m well aware of my good fortune, despite me feeling like an ass for not thinking of this SOONER and putting myself in a panic situation where I’m scrambling to get things in order. I HATE that feeling.
So yesterday the girls and I drove over to check it out. It’s a nice building, laid out well and I like their philosophies. I’m not keen on the schedule at all and when they mentioned bussing the kids, I nearly had a heart attack. I was picturing my little Mouse, looking sooo tiny beside all the big kids getting on the big orange death rocket, stepping into the hands of a complete stranger who will drive her around the city without seat belt.
…..
Ok, so maybe I’m over dramatizing things and clearly, I’m in denial about Mouse, and Baboo for that matter, growing up. I know that if Mouse was bussed, she love the riding on the bus; probably more than being at school.
However, I was still mad at myself for not getting on the ball about this sooner. This was important to me, and was in fact, the primary reason we moved out here last year, so why did I leave it all to the last minute before REALLY looking into things?
I’ve been thinking (Hubster DREADS this opening and cringes every time I say it) and I realized that I kind of have blinders on when it comes to picturing the girls’ futures, or rather picturing the girls IN the future. I can look ahead a few steps and plan for that, but longer term with them, I just have a hard time. And I think I’ve figured out why.
The year before Mouse was born, Hubster and I would celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. When we got married we said we’d renew our vows on our 10th anniversary and then likely start a family. After 9 years, we had felt we’d grown a lot, had been through some interesting times and figured 9 was close enough to 10 and that it was time to activate “the plan”. We decided to have a small ceremony to renew our wedding vows as way of recommitting ourselves to each other as the changed people we had grown into. To celebrate all we’d been through and to start the next phase of our relationship. It involved a trip to our home town so we could be with family and have the ceremony at the church we were married in. We started planning this around March for the coming August.
As I was making the guest list, in my head I was picturing each person as I wrote down their name. Once I had a list, I kept having a niggle of a feeling of forgetting someone. It took me a day or two to realize that I had forgotten my stepdaughter, Hubster’s daughter from a previous relationship. I was so ashamed to have not included her initially, even though I hadn’t sent out invitations or even talked about it much to anyone else other than Hubster. HOW could I forget someone so important!? I *put* her on the list.
As the weeks went by, in my head, I was picturing how things would go, what’d we’d wear, what we would say, planning the food etc, and of course, picturing the people who would be there. The ceremony was going to be pretty small and casual, just our immediate family and friends. AGAIN and again, my head kept leaving her out. I was furious with myself. It wasn’t that I was trying to exclude her or was wanting to be a like a fairy tale “step-mother” wanting to hurry up and have my own kids with Hubster to edge her out. I loved her more than I ever knew I could and in my heart, she was like a daughter to me. I was embarrassed and ashamed and mad, wondering WHY I couldn’t “see” her there? Why did I keep leaving her out? And yet, every time I pictured it, I had to deliberately “put” her in the scene. We wanted her to stand up with us. I WANTED this, wanted her to be a big part of that day. So what was wrong with me, I kept asking myself.
Then, in May, the unspeakable happened. She passed away tragically in an accident. So many hearts were broken, ours included. In shock, we boarded a plane to go home, not really knowing what was going on. It was a long trip and neither Hubster or I spoke much. We were afraid to say too much in fear of breaking down on the plane. As I looked out the window, shutting myself off to be with my thoughts, I started thinking about the vow renewal ceremony. I was so sad to know that she wouldn’t be there; that we wouldn’t get to acknowledge her as our family. And then I remembered how I couldn’t “see” her there over the past months.
I felt a kind of horror at this realization. My stomach clenched and my heart stopped for a minute. All this time, I thought I was a horrible person for wondering if maybe I didn’t want her there (which was so, not true). I never once imagined that she would literally be gone. Why would I ever think that an otherwise wonderful, healthy, vibrant 11 year old girl would die? It was a possibility that never crossed my mind. Coming to the realization that maybe I was supposed to know this; had been “told” this; frightened me. Was I supposed to have figured it out sooner? Was I supposed to have done something? But what?
Like a high speed slide show that happens when we realize something that makes us panic, images and thoughts were flashing before my eyes. I recalled talking with Hubster about our long range plans at some point long past. We would talk about buying a house and having a room for his daughter when she came to visit us and we hoped that she might even live with us some of the time. We truly wanted that, we loved her and wanted for all of us to be together as a family. We felt close to her grandparents with whom she lived and we all got along very well. We always wanted to preserve that peace. And though I never admitted it, whenever I tried to “imagine” her living with us; trying to picture a young teenager’s room within our house, it was always hazy, beyond my reach. It was something more than “I just can’t picture it” because it seemed so foreign. It felt more like a whisper of “this won’t happen” and my heart felt a kind of knowing I didn’t want to admit. Why would I ever admit that? It sounded horrible, evil, like I wanted her gone. So, I dismissed it many times, determining that it seemed so unclear because we still had a long way to go before getting to that point in all of our lives.
How could I have possibly interpreted those… things. Premonitions? When I thought back on all that had happened, all I had “seen”, my heart said “I knew”. And that hurt twice as much. I “knew” and wasn’t prepared. Didn’t want to know. And how could I have prepared for that? There IS no way to prepare for that.
So, when it comes to my girls, whether all of this seem hokey or not, I feel like I have my eyes cast downward a bit. I’m not eyeing the horizon too closely. I don’t try to picture them going to high school, going to college, getting married or having a family. I HOPE with all my heart for them and I WISH them every happiness in the world. I WANT so much for them, but I panic if I ever start to try to daydream about it; to picture it.
I’m trying to live in the here and now as best I can. I’m looking a few steps ahead so we’re not completely run over by the future. They are kids for pete’s sakes so they’re changing every nanosecond of every day. I’m still planning, because that’s what I do, but instead of specifics, it’s a much broader spectrum. It’s a generalized planning.
As the girls grow and change and move through their milestones, sometimes, like with kindergarten, I’m a little blown over because I don’t have it all laid out like I so with so many other things in my life. Most of the time, it’s a happy kind of surprise, while still being surreal. I think “We’re here. We made it here. We’re moving forward. “
But, I’m still too afraid to look too closely at the distant future. I’m afraid of what I might see, or rather, what I might not see. If that’s to be, it’s something I’d rather not know. I’m happy with the here and now and for me, that’s all we really have anyway. I’d rather enjoy this time as we have it rather than worry about what I think we might not have down the road.
Dear PMS:
This is one of those kiss-off letters where I would like to politely tell you to go away. However, since I know that isn’t going to happen, allow me to be blunt.
You suck.
You are screwing with my life and my body right now, as you do every month, and it SUCKS.
I haven’t slept in 3 days because each month you insist on bringing about a week of insomnia. It’s wonderful to stumble around my days in a fog of drowsiness. . Every month, you rob me of a week of sleep without fail. Oh, you were sneaky about it and it took me a while to figure out your pattern, but I’m onto you. I “LOVE” the fact that you’re inconsistent about it though. The other night, I couldn’t get to sleep because you wouldn’t LET me go to sleep. The next night, you let me sleep for a couple of hours then kept me up for a few. And then last night I was up a bit late and just as I was nodding off, and turned off my reading light to slip blissfully into a much needed slumber, you sent in your cavalry to perk me right up. You make my brain race with spastic thought processes so that I ponder all the wonders of the universe, organize my closets and try to figure out the taxes at 2 in the morning. Freaking, thank you. I did end up taking a Tylenol to beat your butt down though last night and did eventually get to sleep.
And the way you are screwing with my weight? Fan-freaking-tastic.
I particularly loved how last Wednesday evening at 8:45; oh yes, there was an exact time, you did a very dramatic bloat session where I could FEEL my pants get tighter over a 2 minute span. I swear there was an audible *POP* as I filled up with fluids. There’s nothing like gaining 3 lbs of water (that feels like 20!) in a matter of a few minutes. The 1 pair of jeans I can get into this week, are looking a bit worn.
And the cravings? Those are great too. REAALLLLYYY great. (layin’ on the sarcasm kinda thick here). Here I was, rockin’ along with my little diet, making some good progress and moving toward my goal. Then, WHAM. You send in the cravings for salty and CHOCOLATE and eating everything in sight. So, while I’m not necessarily caving to this, I’m thinking about trying NOT to think about food all day, every day. It’s exhausting and I’m already tired.
And to round things out nicely, because I don’t already feel enough like crap, is the clumsiness. You know, the key losing, glass dropping, water spilling, head banging, finger cutting clumsiness. It comes on with such obviousness that Hubster always watches me from a distance and says “Whoa! I see it’s THAT time of the month, again”. And then he whimpers and scurries away to hide because my Medusa head pops out from my shoulder to snap at him from across the room. Yup, lovin’ the mood swings too.
Oh, the mood swings. I’m weepy, crabby, impatient, frustrated, growly and just plain ole bitchy on top of being tired, bloated, crampy and constipated. I’m so much fun to be around. So. Much. Fun. I wish I could get away from myself.
And now I need to limp away from the computer, because some nice cramps (are you offended that I’m telling you off? Oh, too bad, but THANKS for kickin’ me when I’m down) are telling me it’s time for some Advil, and then I need to actually to function today.
The only saving grace for me right now is to know that, in a few days, I will feel “normal” again.
As much as I wish you’d be gone forever, I know I’ll see you again next month.
Unfortunately, Torturously Yours
Lefty
You suck.
You are screwing with my life and my body right now, as you do every month, and it SUCKS.
I haven’t slept in 3 days because each month you insist on bringing about a week of insomnia. It’s wonderful to stumble around my days in a fog of drowsiness. . Every month, you rob me of a week of sleep without fail. Oh, you were sneaky about it and it took me a while to figure out your pattern, but I’m onto you. I “LOVE” the fact that you’re inconsistent about it though. The other night, I couldn’t get to sleep because you wouldn’t LET me go to sleep. The next night, you let me sleep for a couple of hours then kept me up for a few. And then last night I was up a bit late and just as I was nodding off, and turned off my reading light to slip blissfully into a much needed slumber, you sent in your cavalry to perk me right up. You make my brain race with spastic thought processes so that I ponder all the wonders of the universe, organize my closets and try to figure out the taxes at 2 in the morning. Freaking, thank you. I did end up taking a Tylenol to beat your butt down though last night and did eventually get to sleep.
And the way you are screwing with my weight? Fan-freaking-tastic.
I particularly loved how last Wednesday evening at 8:45; oh yes, there was an exact time, you did a very dramatic bloat session where I could FEEL my pants get tighter over a 2 minute span. I swear there was an audible *POP* as I filled up with fluids. There’s nothing like gaining 3 lbs of water (that feels like 20!) in a matter of a few minutes. The 1 pair of jeans I can get into this week, are looking a bit worn.
And the cravings? Those are great too. REAALLLLYYY great. (layin’ on the sarcasm kinda thick here). Here I was, rockin’ along with my little diet, making some good progress and moving toward my goal. Then, WHAM. You send in the cravings for salty and CHOCOLATE and eating everything in sight. So, while I’m not necessarily caving to this, I’m thinking about trying NOT to think about food all day, every day. It’s exhausting and I’m already tired.
And to round things out nicely, because I don’t already feel enough like crap, is the clumsiness. You know, the key losing, glass dropping, water spilling, head banging, finger cutting clumsiness. It comes on with such obviousness that Hubster always watches me from a distance and says “Whoa! I see it’s THAT time of the month, again”. And then he whimpers and scurries away to hide because my Medusa head pops out from my shoulder to snap at him from across the room. Yup, lovin’ the mood swings too.
Oh, the mood swings. I’m weepy, crabby, impatient, frustrated, growly and just plain ole bitchy on top of being tired, bloated, crampy and constipated. I’m so much fun to be around. So. Much. Fun. I wish I could get away from myself.
And now I need to limp away from the computer, because some nice cramps (are you offended that I’m telling you off? Oh, too bad, but THANKS for kickin’ me when I’m down) are telling me it’s time for some Advil, and then I need to actually to function today.
The only saving grace for me right now is to know that, in a few days, I will feel “normal” again.
As much as I wish you’d be gone forever, I know I’ll see you again next month.
Unfortunately, Torturously Yours
Lefty
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Ego Boosting
While the kids ate dinner, I went to change my sweater before heading out to a board meeting tonight as it was covered in "schmutz" from my day with 2 small children, taco soup and ketchup. (It didn't stand a chance). I put on the only other mostly clean, nice enough for a meeting but not too fancy sweater I had in the closet.
Every thing else about my outfit; jeans, slippers, smudgey glasses and tangled,unbrushed hair wrangled back into a hair clip is exactly as it has been all day.
I'm wiping up Baboo and picking pieces of sacrified hotdog off the floor when Mouse says to me "Mom, why are so you beautiful?".
Well... uh, why indeed.
Every thing else about my outfit; jeans, slippers, smudgey glasses and tangled,unbrushed hair wrangled back into a hair clip is exactly as it has been all day.
I'm wiping up Baboo and picking pieces of sacrified hotdog off the floor when Mouse says to me "Mom, why are so you beautiful?".
Well... uh, why indeed.
To Cut or Not to Cut?
In the spring of last year I cut my hair. While this may not seem like a big deal to you, it was to me. I’d had my hair short twice in my life and HATED it both times. The last time I had it cut was shortly after we were married…. 14 years ago. The time before that, I was 8. I had some issues and barely trusted anyone to trim it. My ‘hair’ was my ‘identity’ and I couldn’t deal with CHANGE… oh scary, scary change!
However, I’d finally had enough. I wasn’t happy with how it was looking, and in all honestly, while the hair itself was lovely (it was long and wavy – ½ way down my back), it was NOT particularly flattering on ME.
So after weeks of looking at pictures online and getting pep talks from numerous people (who finally told me to SHUT UP AND DO IT ALREADY) I decided to cut it. I went to a hairdresser I trusted (it only took 3 years for her to prove herself )and said “help me!”. She made some recommendations; I made her sign an affidavit in blood promising that I would look fabulous, and I went home and hyperventilated for a few days. Then, I made an appointment. The day before I got strep. But I went in anyway because I knew if I didn’t do it THEN, I would never do it. I’m responsible that way and CERTAINLY have my priorities laid out.
She cut and colored my hair. I went from hair that hung under my bra strap to between shoulder/chin. It was curly, bouncy and framed my face and was NOT gray and I LOVED it. Really loved it. It was still long enough that I could put it up if I wanted, but looked great down. I think I might have done a little dance, peed in my pants and hugged Mary a bit too hard. (Sorry). I tried not to breathe on her.
And my friends! People I saw almost daily didn’t recognize me. It was weird, but overall the new “do” was well received. I felt like new person. I felt refreshed. It was fun and I was so happy that I cut my hair.
Anyway, we moved and I panicked! Who would cut my hair!!!??? I let it go all summer. Then I got a coupon for a FREE haircut and decided to take my chances. I couldn’t beat the price and we were broker than broke at the time.
When I talked to “Pam”, I told her about where my hair had been after the first cut explained how I wanted it similar to that. She said “ok, it was a lot shorter then” which I somewhat agree to. Then told me a bit what she would do and she got started. When I could feel a BIG breeze on the back of my neck I knew it was SHORT. MUCH shorter than before. I think I stopped breathing for a minute and kept saying “ohgodohgodohgod” in my head. And not wearing my glasses only made it worse. I was a blurry shorn blob in the mirror.
She really took her time, she was used to working with curly hair, knew I wanted easy maintenance, etc. She put in some goo and dried it a bit. I put on my glasses and held my breath as I looked in the mirror.
It was MUCH shorter than it had been before, but I LOVED IT! Even more than the first cut! I felt very chic and cool with my short, curly hair. I was worried that I wouldn’t like not being able to put it up, but I really didn’t miss that.
So, it’s been a few months since that great cut. I’m *just* able to put it back in a clip, but it doesn’t stay in very well (unless I don’t wash or brush my hair. I just wake up, take the tangled mess and let the knots hold it in place… shhhhh. Don’t tell anyone!). It still slips out and kind of annoys me. But I like the way it looks in a clip, when it stays in. When it’s down, it looks ok, but the weight of my hair is pulling the curl out, so now it just looks a bit…well, messy. I’m not really thrilled with it either way right now.
So, my dilemma is that I don’t know what to do. Do I let it grow out a bit more so I can put it up, or should I go and get it cut short again? Hmm.
I know, I’m just pondering the deep, worldly questions today, aren’t I? (yeah, I’m vain).
However, I’d finally had enough. I wasn’t happy with how it was looking, and in all honestly, while the hair itself was lovely (it was long and wavy – ½ way down my back), it was NOT particularly flattering on ME.
So after weeks of looking at pictures online and getting pep talks from numerous people (who finally told me to SHUT UP AND DO IT ALREADY) I decided to cut it. I went to a hairdresser I trusted (it only took 3 years for her to prove herself )and said “help me!”. She made some recommendations; I made her sign an affidavit in blood promising that I would look fabulous, and I went home and hyperventilated for a few days. Then, I made an appointment. The day before I got strep. But I went in anyway because I knew if I didn’t do it THEN, I would never do it. I’m responsible that way and CERTAINLY have my priorities laid out.
She cut and colored my hair. I went from hair that hung under my bra strap to between shoulder/chin. It was curly, bouncy and framed my face and was NOT gray and I LOVED it. Really loved it. It was still long enough that I could put it up if I wanted, but looked great down. I think I might have done a little dance, peed in my pants and hugged Mary a bit too hard. (Sorry). I tried not to breathe on her.
And my friends! People I saw almost daily didn’t recognize me. It was weird, but overall the new “do” was well received. I felt like new person. I felt refreshed. It was fun and I was so happy that I cut my hair.
Anyway, we moved and I panicked! Who would cut my hair!!!??? I let it go all summer. Then I got a coupon for a FREE haircut and decided to take my chances. I couldn’t beat the price and we were broker than broke at the time.
When I talked to “Pam”, I told her about where my hair had been after the first cut explained how I wanted it similar to that. She said “ok, it was a lot shorter then” which I somewhat agree to. Then told me a bit what she would do and she got started. When I could feel a BIG breeze on the back of my neck I knew it was SHORT. MUCH shorter than before. I think I stopped breathing for a minute and kept saying “ohgodohgodohgod” in my head. And not wearing my glasses only made it worse. I was a blurry shorn blob in the mirror.
She really took her time, she was used to working with curly hair, knew I wanted easy maintenance, etc. She put in some goo and dried it a bit. I put on my glasses and held my breath as I looked in the mirror.
It was MUCH shorter than it had been before, but I LOVED IT! Even more than the first cut! I felt very chic and cool with my short, curly hair. I was worried that I wouldn’t like not being able to put it up, but I really didn’t miss that.
So, it’s been a few months since that great cut. I’m *just* able to put it back in a clip, but it doesn’t stay in very well (unless I don’t wash or brush my hair. I just wake up, take the tangled mess and let the knots hold it in place… shhhhh. Don’t tell anyone!). It still slips out and kind of annoys me. But I like the way it looks in a clip, when it stays in. When it’s down, it looks ok, but the weight of my hair is pulling the curl out, so now it just looks a bit…well, messy. I’m not really thrilled with it either way right now.
So, my dilemma is that I don’t know what to do. Do I let it grow out a bit more so I can put it up, or should I go and get it cut short again? Hmm.
I know, I’m just pondering the deep, worldly questions today, aren’t I? (yeah, I’m vain).
Monday, January 12, 2009
Trouble Spot Tuesday: Fridge, Pantry and... MEAL PLANNING
I hate meal planning. Or rather, I should say I hate the process of meal planning. It’s my LEAST favorite household job (other than rinsing out poopy cloth diapers. Wierd that I consider those 2 equally opposite tasks, equally distasteful). It seems very tedious to me and I hate having to balance it all out and try to figure out what everyone would like to eat. The family is of little help. Hubster says "You know I'm good for anything" and Mouse says "Hotdogs! Mac and cheese! MacDonalds!"
However, I LIKE the result of knowing exactly what we’re having for dinner. I like to check the menu, take out the meat the day before, not have to rush and know how I need to plan the day so that dinner is ready on time. And I don’t mind cooking or grocery shopping. But by the amount of carrying on I do before actually sitting down and making the plan, you’d think that I was going for a root canal with an anal probe chaser.
I used to plan a month of meals at a time, but since we moved, with all the craziness that entailed along with holidays and the like, I haven’t made myself get organized enough to sit down and get to it. However, we’re getting back on track, so no more procrastinating (but I did sulk a bit).
This was a 2 day, 2 stage process for me. On the first day, I took an inventory while I cleaned things out. I started with the fridge. I threw out a bunch of stuff, wiped all the shelves down and grouped together “like” items: salad dressings, condiments, drinks, yogurts, etc. I’ve regained a bunch of my useable sized plastic containers and got rid of some interesting almost science experiments.
Then I hit the freezer. I’ve hit a boat load of meat sales in the last few weeks and we do not need meat for a long time. Especially, chicken. Good grief. Anyway, I took stock of what we had, and again, grouped like items together, meats, frozen veggies, breakfast stuff, Hubster’s meals and wiped things down. Last night we had a pasta fagioli leftover I made a while ago to use it up and realized it didnt' really carry over so well. Note to self: make less of that next time.
Next was the pantry. We are blessed to have 2 great pantry spaces. One is used for storing crafts, the crockpot/breadmachine/etc, cleaners etc. The other is for food. Again I grouped like things together: bin of potatoes/onions, water and juice bottles on the floor (and 9, yes, 9 LARGE cans of pea soup from home – we really like pea soup around here); snack items on the lower shelf where the kids could reach them; a shelf for breakfast/lunch foods; another for pasta/rice/cooking oil and pickles/extra condiments; another for baking and other staples; and then the goody basket (with Mama's chocolate stash and all the other treats that are better left out of sight out of mind for little ones. Shhh) and coffee on the top shelf. This system was already in place but needed some tidying up. Mouse’s class is having a pretend grocery store next week so this was a good opportunity for me to empty out some boxes and clean out some containers to pass onto the school.
Once I had an idea of what I had on hand, I whined, stomped around, made a coffee, threw a little tantrum and procrastinated some more. Then the next day, I sulked for a while (because I’m really mature that way) and then finally sat my ass down with a pen, paper and favorite cook books to make up the meal plan. My goal was to plan enough dinners to take us to the end of January, primarily using the food and staples we had on hand.
To start, I made a list of all the days we needed meals for and made a note beside each day if there were any plans that would need special attention: school functions, board meetings, classes, movie nights etc. Then I made a list of all the meals we could have with the food we had on hand using recipes and meal ideas that I know we like. I kept a running grocery list for any items I knew I’d need to round things out.
Then, I determined which meals were most appropriate for each night, trying to balance things out so we weren't eating chicken EVERY night (though we could) and factoring in leftover nights.
After I had things figured out, I tidied up my list and transferred the meal plans over to my calendar (which has a handy spot for it right beside the weekly view). Then, Mouse and I headed out to Walmart to grocery shop with a very short list.
Here’s what I ended up with:
12 Mushroom risotto with Italian sausage and veggies (the risotto turned out sooo well. Can’t wait for lunch tomorrow! And the Italian sausage is from home – Thanks Dad!- we inhaled it. YUM)
13 Taco soup done in crock pot (board meeting)
14 Beef fajitas (Pilates evening class)
15 Turkey pot pie and brownies (make double to give to a friend recovering from surgery)
16 Nachos with leftover taco soup and leftover velveeta cheese from killer mac/cheese (movie night)
17 Baked Pork chops, mashed potatoes and veggies
18 Chicken stir fry with rice
19 Hunter chicken (roasted chicken with peppers, tomatoes, onions)
20 Spagetti and salad (help at school in evening) (make extra sauce to use next week for chicken parm)
21 Chicken quesadillas (with leftover chicken from 19th) (Pilates evening class)
22 Leftovers or soup (anyone for Pea soup?)
23 Breakfast for dinner – pancakes or waffles (movie night)
24 Tuna pasta salad
25 Baked bbq chicken legs, roasted potato wedgies, veggies (make extra potatoes)
26 Frittata with leftovers from previous night
27 Pork chops and rice pilaf
28 Turkey soup (in freezer) and salad (participate in class = fried by noon! Pilates class)
29 Chicken parmesan and salad
30 Leftovers or pizza (we’re making pizzas at school for fundraising this day).
For groceries, I did a bit of stocking up on a few things I was out of, but generally I didn’t need much. Sour cream, pie crusts (because I’m lazy that way), chicken stock, a bit of fruit, bread, canned tomatoes, beans. Nor, will I need much other than fresh produce or milk for the next few weeks.
I do like to keep some staples on hand so that even if something happens and the meal plan falls through, at least I can put something together. And, if we decide to swap things around, it’s not really a problem either. It’s also easier for me to stay on budget if I have a plan and know what I already have in the cupboards.
I don’t plan lunches or breakfasts because these are often hit or miss with us. Especially breakfasts. Breakfasts for Hubster and I are pretty standard: toast, cereal, oatmeal, yogurt/fruit, waffles, pancakes etc. Hubster takes his lunch pretty much every day – either a Smart Ones/Lean Cuisine or leftovers and I’ll often have salad and a baked sweet potato or leftovers or soup. The kids, well, you never know with them.
So despite my griping and crabbing, I feel a sense of peace having things sorted out and planned for the next few weeks. I won’t have that ” 5 pm OHMYGOD what the hell am I going to make for dinner” freak out as I bang frozen meat on the counter. (clunk, clunk) And it keeps us eating healthier as well.
Cooking Light magazine has done a nice and simple article this month on doing this exact process but with significantly less whining and a lot more information as to what kinds of staples to have on hand. I personally wont’ tell you all of that, because well, I don’t have time and I figure you’ll know better than I what your family will eat and what you need to make those meals. Chipolte peppers might be as important to you as say, pea soup is at our house.
So, what are you waiting for? You know you need to clean out the fridge and the pantry. Go. GO. GO! And then, grab a coffee and something yummy to ease the torture, I recommend chocolate personally, and plan at LEAST week of meals based on what you have right now. It’s ok, you can curse me as you’re doing it, but you’ll thank me later. *wink*
However, I LIKE the result of knowing exactly what we’re having for dinner. I like to check the menu, take out the meat the day before, not have to rush and know how I need to plan the day so that dinner is ready on time. And I don’t mind cooking or grocery shopping. But by the amount of carrying on I do before actually sitting down and making the plan, you’d think that I was going for a root canal with an anal probe chaser.
I used to plan a month of meals at a time, but since we moved, with all the craziness that entailed along with holidays and the like, I haven’t made myself get organized enough to sit down and get to it. However, we’re getting back on track, so no more procrastinating (but I did sulk a bit).
This was a 2 day, 2 stage process for me. On the first day, I took an inventory while I cleaned things out. I started with the fridge. I threw out a bunch of stuff, wiped all the shelves down and grouped together “like” items: salad dressings, condiments, drinks, yogurts, etc. I’ve regained a bunch of my useable sized plastic containers and got rid of some interesting almost science experiments.
Then I hit the freezer. I’ve hit a boat load of meat sales in the last few weeks and we do not need meat for a long time. Especially, chicken. Good grief. Anyway, I took stock of what we had, and again, grouped like items together, meats, frozen veggies, breakfast stuff, Hubster’s meals and wiped things down. Last night we had a pasta fagioli leftover I made a while ago to use it up and realized it didnt' really carry over so well. Note to self: make less of that next time.
Next was the pantry. We are blessed to have 2 great pantry spaces. One is used for storing crafts, the crockpot/breadmachine/etc, cleaners etc. The other is for food. Again I grouped like things together: bin of potatoes/onions, water and juice bottles on the floor (and 9, yes, 9 LARGE cans of pea soup from home – we really like pea soup around here); snack items on the lower shelf where the kids could reach them; a shelf for breakfast/lunch foods; another for pasta/rice/cooking oil and pickles/extra condiments; another for baking and other staples; and then the goody basket (with Mama's chocolate stash and all the other treats that are better left out of sight out of mind for little ones. Shhh) and coffee on the top shelf. This system was already in place but needed some tidying up. Mouse’s class is having a pretend grocery store next week so this was a good opportunity for me to empty out some boxes and clean out some containers to pass onto the school.
Once I had an idea of what I had on hand, I whined, stomped around, made a coffee, threw a little tantrum and procrastinated some more. Then the next day, I sulked for a while (because I’m really mature that way) and then finally sat my ass down with a pen, paper and favorite cook books to make up the meal plan. My goal was to plan enough dinners to take us to the end of January, primarily using the food and staples we had on hand.
To start, I made a list of all the days we needed meals for and made a note beside each day if there were any plans that would need special attention: school functions, board meetings, classes, movie nights etc. Then I made a list of all the meals we could have with the food we had on hand using recipes and meal ideas that I know we like. I kept a running grocery list for any items I knew I’d need to round things out.
Then, I determined which meals were most appropriate for each night, trying to balance things out so we weren't eating chicken EVERY night (though we could) and factoring in leftover nights.
After I had things figured out, I tidied up my list and transferred the meal plans over to my calendar (which has a handy spot for it right beside the weekly view). Then, Mouse and I headed out to Walmart to grocery shop with a very short list.
Here’s what I ended up with:
12 Mushroom risotto with Italian sausage and veggies (the risotto turned out sooo well. Can’t wait for lunch tomorrow! And the Italian sausage is from home – Thanks Dad!- we inhaled it. YUM)
13 Taco soup done in crock pot (board meeting)
14 Beef fajitas (Pilates evening class)
15 Turkey pot pie and brownies (make double to give to a friend recovering from surgery)
16 Nachos with leftover taco soup and leftover velveeta cheese from killer mac/cheese (movie night)
17 Baked Pork chops, mashed potatoes and veggies
18 Chicken stir fry with rice
19 Hunter chicken (roasted chicken with peppers, tomatoes, onions)
20 Spagetti and salad (help at school in evening) (make extra sauce to use next week for chicken parm)
21 Chicken quesadillas (with leftover chicken from 19th) (Pilates evening class)
22 Leftovers or soup (anyone for Pea soup?)
23 Breakfast for dinner – pancakes or waffles (movie night)
24 Tuna pasta salad
25 Baked bbq chicken legs, roasted potato wedgies, veggies (make extra potatoes)
26 Frittata with leftovers from previous night
27 Pork chops and rice pilaf
28 Turkey soup (in freezer) and salad (participate in class = fried by noon! Pilates class)
29 Chicken parmesan and salad
30 Leftovers or pizza (we’re making pizzas at school for fundraising this day).
For groceries, I did a bit of stocking up on a few things I was out of, but generally I didn’t need much. Sour cream, pie crusts (because I’m lazy that way), chicken stock, a bit of fruit, bread, canned tomatoes, beans. Nor, will I need much other than fresh produce or milk for the next few weeks.
I do like to keep some staples on hand so that even if something happens and the meal plan falls through, at least I can put something together. And, if we decide to swap things around, it’s not really a problem either. It’s also easier for me to stay on budget if I have a plan and know what I already have in the cupboards.
I don’t plan lunches or breakfasts because these are often hit or miss with us. Especially breakfasts. Breakfasts for Hubster and I are pretty standard: toast, cereal, oatmeal, yogurt/fruit, waffles, pancakes etc. Hubster takes his lunch pretty much every day – either a Smart Ones/Lean Cuisine or leftovers and I’ll often have salad and a baked sweet potato or leftovers or soup. The kids, well, you never know with them.
So despite my griping and crabbing, I feel a sense of peace having things sorted out and planned for the next few weeks. I won’t have that ” 5 pm OHMYGOD what the hell am I going to make for dinner” freak out as I bang frozen meat on the counter. (clunk, clunk) And it keeps us eating healthier as well.
Cooking Light magazine has done a nice and simple article this month on doing this exact process but with significantly less whining and a lot more information as to what kinds of staples to have on hand. I personally wont’ tell you all of that, because well, I don’t have time and I figure you’ll know better than I what your family will eat and what you need to make those meals. Chipolte peppers might be as important to you as say, pea soup is at our house.
So, what are you waiting for? You know you need to clean out the fridge and the pantry. Go. GO. GO! And then, grab a coffee and something yummy to ease the torture, I recommend chocolate personally, and plan at LEAST week of meals based on what you have right now. It’s ok, you can curse me as you’re doing it, but you’ll thank me later. *wink*
Chicken or the Egg?
As I’m driving Mouse to school this morning, a mourning dove startled from the median at a stop sign and flew over the car. Mouse yelled, “Mom! A “morning” dove. It’s out because it’s morning”. Well, I didn’t really correct her because well, I wasn’t sure how to explain the concept of “mourning” before 9 am to a 4 year old.
What followed was a discussion about birds. Mouse said, mourning doves are birds and birds lay eggs. And the proceeded to list a bunch of birds and proclaim their egg laying abilities and how little baby birdies hatch out of eggs.
Baboo suddenly started yelling “AH! EAT, EAT! EAT, EAT! Birdies! EGGS!” It took me a minute, as it usually does, to figure out that she connected that birds lay eggs and that we eat eggs. So I said “Yes, we do eat the eggs from some birds. Like chickens.”
Mouse started laughing and said “Chickens??” while, Baboo said “OH NO!”. So explained that, yes, the eggs we buy in the store and use to cook with are from chickens. (insert Baboo clucking here)
When I looked at Mouse’s face in the rear view mirror, I saw the start of a look of horror on her face, so I quickly explained that not all eggs have baby birds in them and only the ones with no babies in them are the ones that we eat.
Then Baboo says “I hungry. I want eggs”.
Hmmm… I might have the making of a vegetarian and a disturbing carnivore on my hands. Though I know I’ve mentioned it before, I didn’t have the heart to reiterate that when we EAT chicken, it’s REALLY a chicken. Oy. I’ll save that bombshell for another day.
Some days I’m surprised at the real world connections that Baboo makes that Mouse is really only just starting to get. I guess a part of me is happy that she’s still innocent, but another part of me thinks I’ve overprotected her and should have helped her to make these connections.
Another Baboo “connection”: lately we’ve been singing quite a bit. Baboo loves music and sings a lot. I always sing to the girls a song of their choice at bed time and they almost always choose Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or ABCs. Yesterday, I was getting Baboo dressed, she was telling me that the night before we sang both songs. After a minute or two, she got a surprised look on her face and sat up on the change table. She yelled with hands out for emphasis 3 inches from my face, “Mommy! Twinkle,Twinkle and ABC same! SAME!” and sang a piece of both to get her point across. I was stunned for a minute and then confirmed to her that yes, they have the same music, just different words. With a smug little smile, she laid back down so I could finish getting her dressed saying quietly to herself, as though she’d figured out a big world mystery ;“Both same. Hahaha.”
What followed was a discussion about birds. Mouse said, mourning doves are birds and birds lay eggs. And the proceeded to list a bunch of birds and proclaim their egg laying abilities and how little baby birdies hatch out of eggs.
Baboo suddenly started yelling “AH! EAT, EAT! EAT, EAT! Birdies! EGGS!” It took me a minute, as it usually does, to figure out that she connected that birds lay eggs and that we eat eggs. So I said “Yes, we do eat the eggs from some birds. Like chickens.”
Mouse started laughing and said “Chickens??” while, Baboo said “OH NO!”. So explained that, yes, the eggs we buy in the store and use to cook with are from chickens. (insert Baboo clucking here)
When I looked at Mouse’s face in the rear view mirror, I saw the start of a look of horror on her face, so I quickly explained that not all eggs have baby birds in them and only the ones with no babies in them are the ones that we eat.
Then Baboo says “I hungry. I want eggs”.
Hmmm… I might have the making of a vegetarian and a disturbing carnivore on my hands. Though I know I’ve mentioned it before, I didn’t have the heart to reiterate that when we EAT chicken, it’s REALLY a chicken. Oy. I’ll save that bombshell for another day.
Some days I’m surprised at the real world connections that Baboo makes that Mouse is really only just starting to get. I guess a part of me is happy that she’s still innocent, but another part of me thinks I’ve overprotected her and should have helped her to make these connections.
Another Baboo “connection”: lately we’ve been singing quite a bit. Baboo loves music and sings a lot. I always sing to the girls a song of their choice at bed time and they almost always choose Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or ABCs. Yesterday, I was getting Baboo dressed, she was telling me that the night before we sang both songs. After a minute or two, she got a surprised look on her face and sat up on the change table. She yelled with hands out for emphasis 3 inches from my face, “Mommy! Twinkle,Twinkle and ABC same! SAME!” and sang a piece of both to get her point across. I was stunned for a minute and then confirmed to her that yes, they have the same music, just different words. With a smug little smile, she laid back down so I could finish getting her dressed saying quietly to herself, as though she’d figured out a big world mystery ;“Both same. Hahaha.”
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Off Duty
I hope I don’t become a single parent any time soon.
The good news is that, overall, everyone is doing better. Mouse’s stomach bug only lasted one day and thankfully it didn’t pass to anyone else, that we know of. She’s back to her sassy self, so yeah, we’re good there. Hubster has been a bit slower to recover, but is feeling much better today. The antibiotics are kicking in and all the nasal spraying, hot compressing and sleeping he’s been doing the last few days is certainly clearing up what has been one of the worst sinus infections he’s had to date.
It’s been a long weekend for me. Lots of non-stop care, puke clean up, laundry washing, snack preparation, fluid pushing, tv show changing, hand washing, medicine giving, late night trips to Walmart for medication, worrying, entertaining of little ones, including one sick little one while Hubster has been out of commission. And considering that hormonally, I’m not exactly at my peak for patience, I’m surprised I haven’t completely lost it. Let’s just say, I’m relieved it’s bedtime. I’ve always had a huge respect for people who are single parents but I have an even bigger respect after a weekend like this. It’s HARD to do it all yourself.
Hubster has really been sick and I don’t begrudge him that. He’s NEEDED to sleep and this time it’s taken 4 days for him to feel better. He really wouldn’t have been much help to me in his condition. And he really does need to get better to get back to work and earn the moolah that keeps us in such fine shape. However, it’s funny; I think for most Moms, to be completely out of commission– as in only functional for a combined total of 1.5 hours a day for 3 days in a row without lying in a hospital bed or recovering from surgery – is unheard of. I think there’s some law against that somewhere. Maybe your mileage varies. My experience has been that I can really only be really sick for about a day, and I pray that it’s on a weekend, where I can sleep and rest and then I’m expected to be functional enough to help with kids, direct traffic, be present at meals and generally keep the house running. Even if I’m still feeling crappy, MOM is needed. Period. There are no sick days. I think most of the time it’s sheer willpower that helps me to get over being sick a bit faster or maybe to deny it because the cost of being sick is too high. There’s lots of lip service paid to the whole “you should take better care of yourself” but there aren’t many systems in place to help Mom’s accomplish this. There’s also the expectation in our society of Mom being on duty all the time and God help her if her kids don’t come first. So, taking care of yourself FIRST is almost a taboo. We all WANT to do it, we all THINK about doing it and yet, no one wants to really do it because we’re afraid of the backlash we might receive if we aren’t tending to our families the whole time. I’ve seen the disdain and heard the nasty comments people make about other Mom’s when they’re doing what they need to do for THEMSELVES and I don’t want to be on the receiving end of that. I personally am all in favor of Moms’ doing for themselves, but I have a hard time allowing myself the same privilege.
I struggle with this endlessly. I can’t find the balance. Often, when I try to take time for myself, there always seems to be a price to “pay” – getting behind on something, having to come home to more work or cranky behavior that makes coming home a bigger pain in the ass and negates the whole point of getting away. Many days, I’d love to find some time to go and hide, retreat to my cave for even ½ an hour to read my book, write or nap and yet, there’s always another load of laundry, something to put away, something to get ready for tomorrow. And unfortunately, it’ll still be there tomorrow, so I might as well do it today. And yet, I know when I need some time alone/away because I’m being a total nasty bitch to be around. But, what to do? Sometimes it’s hard to know.
Anyway, all of that is to say, that I’m off nurse duty, off Mom duty for tonight and thank goodness because I’m crankier than a bear right now. I’m tired, worn out, bloated and PMSing and frankly, that’s not a good combination. I’ve got a very busy week ahead of me with meetings, appointments, classes, a bunch of service phone calls to make and work for the school to do and I have got to get a chill going on here so I can function this week. So I’m off to chill and hopefully get some rest.
The good news is that, overall, everyone is doing better. Mouse’s stomach bug only lasted one day and thankfully it didn’t pass to anyone else, that we know of. She’s back to her sassy self, so yeah, we’re good there. Hubster has been a bit slower to recover, but is feeling much better today. The antibiotics are kicking in and all the nasal spraying, hot compressing and sleeping he’s been doing the last few days is certainly clearing up what has been one of the worst sinus infections he’s had to date.
It’s been a long weekend for me. Lots of non-stop care, puke clean up, laundry washing, snack preparation, fluid pushing, tv show changing, hand washing, medicine giving, late night trips to Walmart for medication, worrying, entertaining of little ones, including one sick little one while Hubster has been out of commission. And considering that hormonally, I’m not exactly at my peak for patience, I’m surprised I haven’t completely lost it. Let’s just say, I’m relieved it’s bedtime. I’ve always had a huge respect for people who are single parents but I have an even bigger respect after a weekend like this. It’s HARD to do it all yourself.
Hubster has really been sick and I don’t begrudge him that. He’s NEEDED to sleep and this time it’s taken 4 days for him to feel better. He really wouldn’t have been much help to me in his condition. And he really does need to get better to get back to work and earn the moolah that keeps us in such fine shape. However, it’s funny; I think for most Moms, to be completely out of commission– as in only functional for a combined total of 1.5 hours a day for 3 days in a row without lying in a hospital bed or recovering from surgery – is unheard of. I think there’s some law against that somewhere. Maybe your mileage varies. My experience has been that I can really only be really sick for about a day, and I pray that it’s on a weekend, where I can sleep and rest and then I’m expected to be functional enough to help with kids, direct traffic, be present at meals and generally keep the house running. Even if I’m still feeling crappy, MOM is needed. Period. There are no sick days. I think most of the time it’s sheer willpower that helps me to get over being sick a bit faster or maybe to deny it because the cost of being sick is too high. There’s lots of lip service paid to the whole “you should take better care of yourself” but there aren’t many systems in place to help Mom’s accomplish this. There’s also the expectation in our society of Mom being on duty all the time and God help her if her kids don’t come first. So, taking care of yourself FIRST is almost a taboo. We all WANT to do it, we all THINK about doing it and yet, no one wants to really do it because we’re afraid of the backlash we might receive if we aren’t tending to our families the whole time. I’ve seen the disdain and heard the nasty comments people make about other Mom’s when they’re doing what they need to do for THEMSELVES and I don’t want to be on the receiving end of that. I personally am all in favor of Moms’ doing for themselves, but I have a hard time allowing myself the same privilege.
I struggle with this endlessly. I can’t find the balance. Often, when I try to take time for myself, there always seems to be a price to “pay” – getting behind on something, having to come home to more work or cranky behavior that makes coming home a bigger pain in the ass and negates the whole point of getting away. Many days, I’d love to find some time to go and hide, retreat to my cave for even ½ an hour to read my book, write or nap and yet, there’s always another load of laundry, something to put away, something to get ready for tomorrow. And unfortunately, it’ll still be there tomorrow, so I might as well do it today. And yet, I know when I need some time alone/away because I’m being a total nasty bitch to be around. But, what to do? Sometimes it’s hard to know.
Anyway, all of that is to say, that I’m off nurse duty, off Mom duty for tonight and thank goodness because I’m crankier than a bear right now. I’m tired, worn out, bloated and PMSing and frankly, that’s not a good combination. I’ve got a very busy week ahead of me with meetings, appointments, classes, a bunch of service phone calls to make and work for the school to do and I have got to get a chill going on here so I can function this week. So I’m off to chill and hopefully get some rest.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Premonition?
Note to self: No matter how hard lovable, convincing but SICK daughter begs for cherries, do not give them to her.
Becprints over at A Couple Bit recommended a cleaner to me a few weeks ago. It’s LA’s TOTALLY AWESOME (stain remover and degreaser). Her mother in law told her to buy it because it was TOTALLY AWESOME. And Becprints, who really hates to talk anything “house-frauish” tried it and was amazed at it’s TOTALLY AWESOME cleaning abilities. She was walking around her house removing stains like a crazed woman hopped up on TOTALLY AWESOME cleaner fumes.
So, the other day I was at the Dollar Store where this product can be purchased and decided to give it a try. I figured it might be handy to have on hand, some day.
Little did I know that I would need it in the very near future; like, um, 2 days later when said sick daughter woke up mid Tylenol induced nap and threw up Sprite and cherries (again, I ask myself, WHAT WAS I THINKING!?) all over the beige carpet.
I cleaned up Mouse, wiped up as much of the mess on the carpet as I could then mixed up a batch of TOTALLY AWESOME cleaner as per the instructions for cleaning carpets. I had a bunch of towels on hand to start mopping and scrubbing… but… I didn’t need to! As soon as that cleaner hit the carpet the stain, that I thought was going to live there forever, I mean come on, it was cherry juice – THAT never comes out, was GONE. Instantly. I stood on some old towels just to mop up any extra liquid and then hit it with some water to rinse it a bit but otherwise, the carpet is fine.
So thanks Becprints. It really is TOTALLY AWESOME cleaner. My brain is already thinking of other things to try it out on.
(I can’t help it, I have to type TOTALLY AWESOME in caps. It just begs for it).
Becprints over at A Couple Bit recommended a cleaner to me a few weeks ago. It’s LA’s TOTALLY AWESOME (stain remover and degreaser). Her mother in law told her to buy it because it was TOTALLY AWESOME. And Becprints, who really hates to talk anything “house-frauish” tried it and was amazed at it’s TOTALLY AWESOME cleaning abilities. She was walking around her house removing stains like a crazed woman hopped up on TOTALLY AWESOME cleaner fumes.
So, the other day I was at the Dollar Store where this product can be purchased and decided to give it a try. I figured it might be handy to have on hand, some day.
Little did I know that I would need it in the very near future; like, um, 2 days later when said sick daughter woke up mid Tylenol induced nap and threw up Sprite and cherries (again, I ask myself, WHAT WAS I THINKING!?) all over the beige carpet.
I cleaned up Mouse, wiped up as much of the mess on the carpet as I could then mixed up a batch of TOTALLY AWESOME cleaner as per the instructions for cleaning carpets. I had a bunch of towels on hand to start mopping and scrubbing… but… I didn’t need to! As soon as that cleaner hit the carpet the stain, that I thought was going to live there forever, I mean come on, it was cherry juice – THAT never comes out, was GONE. Instantly. I stood on some old towels just to mop up any extra liquid and then hit it with some water to rinse it a bit but otherwise, the carpet is fine.
So thanks Becprints. It really is TOTALLY AWESOME cleaner. My brain is already thinking of other things to try it out on.
(I can’t help it, I have to type TOTALLY AWESOME in caps. It just begs for it).
Germ Warfare
Well, the germies have moved in and set up camp and are waging full scale war on us here at Casa de Lefty. Hubster has been sick for a few days now with the same cold that I had. First this thing morning, after a horrible night, he went to an urgent care facility (we haven’t gone to a real doctor’s office yet and so can’t get in anywhere). We’re not surprised to learn he’s got one nasty sinus infection that requires pain relievers, antibiotics and nasal spray. He is prone to sinus infections; apparently it’s a genetic thing as his Dad seems to get them often too.
This morning, Mouse woke up in tears and cried for 30 minutes before I clued in and figured out that this is her usual M.O. when she is sick. She curled up on the couch with 3 layers of clothes and a wool blanket sobbing because she was still cold. Ah, the tell-tale signs of a fever. And a good one at almost 102 F. Then came the projection of the Tylenol and juice she had. Poor bean.
So, after getting her back into her jammies, setting her up on the couch with a big bowl for a day of TV Pedialyte and rest, I made a few frantic calls to my Pilates clients telling them to avoid our contaminated home. Head for the hills! Bathe in antibacterial gel! Stay away! Danger, Will Robinson, DANGER! (Hmm, a little over the top, maybe?).
It looks like a quiet weekend here for us. Hopefully everyone will be feeling better soon. Excuse me while I don my nurse’s cap and uniform. I know that I’ll be making the care giving rounds.
This morning, Mouse woke up in tears and cried for 30 minutes before I clued in and figured out that this is her usual M.O. when she is sick. She curled up on the couch with 3 layers of clothes and a wool blanket sobbing because she was still cold. Ah, the tell-tale signs of a fever. And a good one at almost 102 F. Then came the projection of the Tylenol and juice she had. Poor bean.
So, after getting her back into her jammies, setting her up on the couch with a big bowl for a day of TV Pedialyte and rest, I made a few frantic calls to my Pilates clients telling them to avoid our contaminated home. Head for the hills! Bathe in antibacterial gel! Stay away! Danger, Will Robinson, DANGER! (Hmm, a little over the top, maybe?).
It looks like a quiet weekend here for us. Hopefully everyone will be feeling better soon. Excuse me while I don my nurse’s cap and uniform. I know that I’ll be making the care giving rounds.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Gotchyer Nose
We were outside playing in the snow for the second time today; trying out our new sleds (which are awesome and work much better than the placemats) and getting some fresh air. There’s no doubt that Mouse has Canada in her blood because she cannot get enough of playing the snow.
Baboo, who seems a bit out of sorts today, just wanted to swing in the blue rocket swing. I had to keep doing “blast off”, which involves holding the swing up, shaking it a bit (like a rocket getting ready to launch) and a countdown from 5 followed by a big push while yelling “BLAST OFF”. Anything less involved much whining and carrying on, but she DID NOT want to go inside.
So as she’s swinging, I’m trying to keep her happy in between pushing Mouse down the hill on the crazy carpet. I pretended to grab her nose with my mittens. What ensued was a fit of hysteria and screaming “GIVE.IT. BACK, MAMA!” Genuinely surprised, I said “What?!!” Baboo started crying “Put nose BACK! It’s MINE.”. So, as she swung back towards me, I carefully “put” her nose back. When I was done she said “Thank-um” (which is her version of thank you and you’re welcome combined, that whole 2 birds, 1 stone thing, I guess) and kept swinging happily.
Oops. Guess I didn’t need that extra nose.
Baboo, who seems a bit out of sorts today, just wanted to swing in the blue rocket swing. I had to keep doing “blast off”, which involves holding the swing up, shaking it a bit (like a rocket getting ready to launch) and a countdown from 5 followed by a big push while yelling “BLAST OFF”. Anything less involved much whining and carrying on, but she DID NOT want to go inside.
So as she’s swinging, I’m trying to keep her happy in between pushing Mouse down the hill on the crazy carpet. I pretended to grab her nose with my mittens. What ensued was a fit of hysteria and screaming “GIVE.IT. BACK, MAMA!” Genuinely surprised, I said “What?!!” Baboo started crying “Put nose BACK! It’s MINE.”. So, as she swung back towards me, I carefully “put” her nose back. When I was done she said “Thank-um” (which is her version of thank you and you’re welcome combined, that whole 2 birds, 1 stone thing, I guess) and kept swinging happily.
Oops. Guess I didn’t need that extra nose.
Some Things Are Sacred
I’ve just finished making heaven in a casserole dish, also known as, my Mum’s mac and cheese. As a general rule, we don’t eat a lot of processed food, and yeah, I know how to make mac and cheese from scratch with a roux etc… and it’s good, but it’s not the same. Some things are sacred enough to break the rules. This is one of those sacred things.
My Mum’s “recipe” uses Velveeta cheese product. (I just can’t make myself say “cheese” cos, we’ll it isn’t cheese). Though, really, there isn’t a a “recipe”. She learned how to make it by watching her mother make it. So, um, I guess it’s actually my grandmother’s recipe.
I had to watch her make it twice before I was able to make even a CLOSE reproduction of it. There are some fine stirring details that are important, lots of watching involved so as not to scorch the cheese sauce, and it’s important not to put on too much bread crumb or it’ll just be nasty. She wrote her “instructions” (not a recipe) down for me once and it says: “Cook some elbow mac in a pot, drain. In another pot heat some milk, put in some butter, Velveeta, dry mustard and pepper. Cook until smooth. Add to noodles. Dump into a casserole dish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs or crackers, and shredded cheese. Dot with butter. Bake at 350”. That’s it. That’s the “recipe”. No measurements. No times. Zip.
Now, I’m known for not exactly measuring things when I cook, and I’m equally known for “tinkering” with recipes. To quote Pirates of the Carribean “they’re more like guidelines”. And yes, I tinkered with this recipe just a little bit. Just a little. But, I think it’s turned out pretty well.
My Mum on the other hand, is the queen of exact. She likes things to fit, to go, to work together, to be efficient and to turn out. She likes measurements. And it works very well for her. She’s one of the most dedicated and hardest working people I know. If anyone is going to find a way to make something work or to figure something out; it’s going to be her. I admire that. A lot. And I aspire to that, in a more half-assed, meander-y kind of way. (It makes her crazy, I know).
So, that there wasn’t a “recipe” telling me how much pasta or milk or Velveeta to use, or telling me how long to stir for, surprised me. But, I’m glad to have taken the time to learn this “recipe”. I love knowing that my late Grandmother used to make it for my Mum and that she used to eat it as a kid. I love having something to make for my family that was one of my absolute favourite meals as a kid. I love that my family loves it. And though, my eye was calculating the amounts of ingredients today, I’m not going to write it down, yet. I’m going to let my mind and my memories help me make it each time, for a little while longer. And hopefully, I’ll be able to teach my girls how to make it and in time, they’ll carry the memories of this simple dish to their own families.
So on this cold evening, we’ll have a delicious, warm, comforting meal served with a big salad on the side to help ease my niggle of a conscience about the artery clogging trans fats in the Velveeta. But we’ll enjoy it; of that I have no doubts.
My Mum’s “recipe” uses Velveeta cheese product. (I just can’t make myself say “cheese” cos, we’ll it isn’t cheese). Though, really, there isn’t a a “recipe”. She learned how to make it by watching her mother make it. So, um, I guess it’s actually my grandmother’s recipe.
I had to watch her make it twice before I was able to make even a CLOSE reproduction of it. There are some fine stirring details that are important, lots of watching involved so as not to scorch the cheese sauce, and it’s important not to put on too much bread crumb or it’ll just be nasty. She wrote her “instructions” (not a recipe) down for me once and it says: “Cook some elbow mac in a pot, drain. In another pot heat some milk, put in some butter, Velveeta, dry mustard and pepper. Cook until smooth. Add to noodles. Dump into a casserole dish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs or crackers, and shredded cheese. Dot with butter. Bake at 350”. That’s it. That’s the “recipe”. No measurements. No times. Zip.
Now, I’m known for not exactly measuring things when I cook, and I’m equally known for “tinkering” with recipes. To quote Pirates of the Carribean “they’re more like guidelines”. And yes, I tinkered with this recipe just a little bit. Just a little. But, I think it’s turned out pretty well.
My Mum on the other hand, is the queen of exact. She likes things to fit, to go, to work together, to be efficient and to turn out. She likes measurements. And it works very well for her. She’s one of the most dedicated and hardest working people I know. If anyone is going to find a way to make something work or to figure something out; it’s going to be her. I admire that. A lot. And I aspire to that, in a more half-assed, meander-y kind of way. (It makes her crazy, I know).
So, that there wasn’t a “recipe” telling me how much pasta or milk or Velveeta to use, or telling me how long to stir for, surprised me. But, I’m glad to have taken the time to learn this “recipe”. I love knowing that my late Grandmother used to make it for my Mum and that she used to eat it as a kid. I love having something to make for my family that was one of my absolute favourite meals as a kid. I love that my family loves it. And though, my eye was calculating the amounts of ingredients today, I’m not going to write it down, yet. I’m going to let my mind and my memories help me make it each time, for a little while longer. And hopefully, I’ll be able to teach my girls how to make it and in time, they’ll carry the memories of this simple dish to their own families.
So on this cold evening, we’ll have a delicious, warm, comforting meal served with a big salad on the side to help ease my niggle of a conscience about the artery clogging trans fats in the Velveeta. But we’ll enjoy it; of that I have no doubts.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Happy Puppy
Sometimes, we have a dog. Her name is “Happy Puppy”. She also goes by the name Baboo.
Happy Puppy comes out when Baboo is really excited about something. It involves, getting on all fours, barking, panting and tongue lolling. Lately, Happy Puppy has started to pretend to lick our pants –with sound effects.
Pretty much every day, Happy Puppy comes to get her “gummy dwop” vitamins. This apparently is a VERY happy occasion as Happy Puppy comes out full fur-ce (haha, sorry, couldn’t resist). Other Happy Puppy events include watching a favorite show, dinner, bath time or well… anything that Baboo would fine exciting. I’m sure if she had a tail, she’d wag it.
When Baboo started doing this a few months ago, it took a while for me to clue in as to what she was doing. Finally one day, as she came crawling me to me panting with her tongue hanging out, a light bulb went off and I said “Baboo – are you pretending to be a dog?” And she said yes and started yapping. When I said are you a happy dog? She started jumping up and panting. And so, Happy Puppy was born.
I don’t know how long this will last, but it cracks me up every time and I want to capture this memory so I don’t forget that once upon a time, Happy Puppy lived at our house.
Happy Puppy comes out when Baboo is really excited about something. It involves, getting on all fours, barking, panting and tongue lolling. Lately, Happy Puppy has started to pretend to lick our pants –with sound effects.
Pretty much every day, Happy Puppy comes to get her “gummy dwop” vitamins. This apparently is a VERY happy occasion as Happy Puppy comes out full fur-ce (haha, sorry, couldn’t resist). Other Happy Puppy events include watching a favorite show, dinner, bath time or well… anything that Baboo would fine exciting. I’m sure if she had a tail, she’d wag it.
When Baboo started doing this a few months ago, it took a while for me to clue in as to what she was doing. Finally one day, as she came crawling me to me panting with her tongue hanging out, a light bulb went off and I said “Baboo – are you pretending to be a dog?” And she said yes and started yapping. When I said are you a happy dog? She started jumping up and panting. And so, Happy Puppy was born.
I don’t know how long this will last, but it cracks me up every time and I want to capture this memory so I don’t forget that once upon a time, Happy Puppy lived at our house.
Horray for Hand-me-downs!
This seems to be my week for scoring free stuff. A friend at Mouse’s school passed on 2 HUGE bags of clothes for the girls this week. Monday it looked like a clothes bomb went off in the family room as Mouse couldn’t WAIT to try EVERYTHING on; regardless of whether it would fit her or not. She wanted first dibs on any of the good stuff, I guess.
Surprisingly, quite a few things fit her well enough for her to get a few wears out of them, but most of it was intended for Baboo… and she now has enough clothes to go at least 2 weeks without wearing the same thing twice. Yikes. But we love hand-me-downs.
AND, our realtor, whose wife happens to teach at Mouse’s school AND who is taking my Pilates class has graciously offered to pass on 4 bar stools to us that he is not using. When we bought the house he mentioned that he had them in his basement and wasn’t using them and that they’d be great at our breakfast bar in our kitchen. Not wanting to seem rude, I never asked about them because how do you say “Hey! Remember those bar stools you offered to us? Are you ever giving them to us?” without sounding rude? So we just let it go. But today he called to say he cleaned them up, repainted them and is sending them along with his wife tonight.
So, definitely a bonus week. The good thing about hand-me-downs is that the price is always right - and I feel like I'm balancing the universe when I give some of our things away.
Surprisingly, quite a few things fit her well enough for her to get a few wears out of them, but most of it was intended for Baboo… and she now has enough clothes to go at least 2 weeks without wearing the same thing twice. Yikes. But we love hand-me-downs.
AND, our realtor, whose wife happens to teach at Mouse’s school AND who is taking my Pilates class has graciously offered to pass on 4 bar stools to us that he is not using. When we bought the house he mentioned that he had them in his basement and wasn’t using them and that they’d be great at our breakfast bar in our kitchen. Not wanting to seem rude, I never asked about them because how do you say “Hey! Remember those bar stools you offered to us? Are you ever giving them to us?” without sounding rude? So we just let it go. But today he called to say he cleaned them up, repainted them and is sending them along with his wife tonight.
So, definitely a bonus week. The good thing about hand-me-downs is that the price is always right - and I feel like I'm balancing the universe when I give some of our things away.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Trouble Spot Tuesday: Address Book
Well, I warned you last week that I’m working on my address book this week.
It’s taken me all week to get it together – seriously. I combed through old email, gathered up scraps of paper and ripped off return addresses from envelopes. I pulled out an old address book that I’ve had, um, just about forever. I also had about 20 business cards – dentists, realtors, doctors, etc.
Then I attempted to be happy with Microsoft’s contacts, but well, I couldn’t find my happy place with it.
So I pulled out my old Treo, which actually barely works, but I love the address book that comes with the software. It’s easy, simple and straight forward. And then I loaded that baby up. I had a copy of some addresses on the Palm One Treo program that is loaded on Hubster’s computer so I imported it onto mine and did a lot of updating. I categorized everything by friends/family/playgroup/business/school.
It’s great that it’s all in one place and having it set up on my machine it makes it easy to update as well. I don’t know why it took me this long to do this, other than sheer laziness. And hopefully I won't have to ask my Mum for my grandfather's address for the 20th time.
So, get your stuff together, treat yourself to a new address book or program, get all your bits and pieces together and get it done. You know you want to.
As an update to the Calendar version, I was in Target the other day WITH my calendar WITH the little list tab on the side, and another woman yelled across 2 aisles – “HEY! I have the SAME calendar! Don’t you LOVE IT!?” Then she proceeded to tell me that she has her kids completely color coordinated in the calendar and out of the calendar (laundry baskets, hangers etc). Which is a good idea, but well, probably more than I really wanted to know.
AND… I’ve gotten about 95% of the birthday cards I needed to get for this year and all of the kids gifts.
My Mum would be proud – I’m “accomplishing” things. *wink*
It’s taken me all week to get it together – seriously. I combed through old email, gathered up scraps of paper and ripped off return addresses from envelopes. I pulled out an old address book that I’ve had, um, just about forever. I also had about 20 business cards – dentists, realtors, doctors, etc.
Then I attempted to be happy with Microsoft’s contacts, but well, I couldn’t find my happy place with it.
So I pulled out my old Treo, which actually barely works, but I love the address book that comes with the software. It’s easy, simple and straight forward. And then I loaded that baby up. I had a copy of some addresses on the Palm One Treo program that is loaded on Hubster’s computer so I imported it onto mine and did a lot of updating. I categorized everything by friends/family/playgroup/business/school.
It’s great that it’s all in one place and having it set up on my machine it makes it easy to update as well. I don’t know why it took me this long to do this, other than sheer laziness. And hopefully I won't have to ask my Mum for my grandfather's address for the 20th time.
So, get your stuff together, treat yourself to a new address book or program, get all your bits and pieces together and get it done. You know you want to.
As an update to the Calendar version, I was in Target the other day WITH my calendar WITH the little list tab on the side, and another woman yelled across 2 aisles – “HEY! I have the SAME calendar! Don’t you LOVE IT!?” Then she proceeded to tell me that she has her kids completely color coordinated in the calendar and out of the calendar (laundry baskets, hangers etc). Which is a good idea, but well, probably more than I really wanted to know.
AND… I’ve gotten about 95% of the birthday cards I needed to get for this year and all of the kids gifts.
My Mum would be proud – I’m “accomplishing” things. *wink*
Undermining My Fragile Confidence?
My information was forwarded to a friend of someone who has signed up to take my morning Pilates class on Friday. This friend included the forwarded part of the email when she emailed to let me know that’s she’s interested and to keep me in mind if a space becomes available.
Here is the forwarded message in its’ entirety:
“Here is the Pilates information. As I told you before it looks filled, but I am guessing that will not last long.”
Now, maybe I’m over-analyzing; but what does “…guessing that will not last long” mean? Does it mean that this person doesn’t have high expectations for the class? Doesn’t expect me to stick with it? Doesn’t think interest will be that great in the end? Does this person think that someone will drop out and there will be a space available for her friend? (which is very possible).
I’m feeling a bit stung , but am probably being overly sensitive because of nerves. However, now I really have butterflies about my classes. I really want this to take off and do well. ACK!
No worries… Trouble Spot Tuesday is coming up later today!
Here is the forwarded message in its’ entirety:
“Here is the Pilates information. As I told you before it looks filled, but I am guessing that will not last long.”
Now, maybe I’m over-analyzing; but what does “…guessing that will not last long” mean? Does it mean that this person doesn’t have high expectations for the class? Doesn’t expect me to stick with it? Doesn’t think interest will be that great in the end? Does this person think that someone will drop out and there will be a space available for her friend? (which is very possible).
I’m feeling a bit stung , but am probably being overly sensitive because of nerves. However, now I really have butterflies about my classes. I really want this to take off and do well. ACK!
No worries… Trouble Spot Tuesday is coming up later today!
Monday, January 5, 2009
This Day Is Going to Need Significantly MORE Coffee
It’s the first day back at the grind. I was up early this morning to get started on getting back into my exercise routine. I’ve got a load of laundry in the washer already. Mouse ate enough breakfast to get a start sticker on her chart and Baboo had ½ a cup of milk.
They both spend the almost 45 minutes it took them to eat their “breakfasts” alternately barking and yelling “AHHHH” at each other. OY.
I’ve got a list to hit Target with this morning after Baboo and I drop Mouse off at school. I’ve got a bag packed with snacks because I KNOW Baboo is going to be starving and asking for “nacks” the minute we get in the car.
It’s 8:30 am and I’m already exhausted. This day is going to need SIGNIFICANTLY more coffee.
Note: I’m feeling much better. I found some quick dissolve Zicam and can definitely say these are MUCH better than the chews. They work well and don’t have that lingering mouth coating nastiness that the chews have.
They both spend the almost 45 minutes it took them to eat their “breakfasts” alternately barking and yelling “AHHHH” at each other. OY.
I’ve got a list to hit Target with this morning after Baboo and I drop Mouse off at school. I’ve got a bag packed with snacks because I KNOW Baboo is going to be starving and asking for “nacks” the minute we get in the car.
It’s 8:30 am and I’m already exhausted. This day is going to need SIGNIFICANTLY more coffee.
Note: I’m feeling much better. I found some quick dissolve Zicam and can definitely say these are MUCH better than the chews. They work well and don’t have that lingering mouth coating nastiness that the chews have.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Feels Like Home
It’s been a while since I’ve done Pilates seriously. I quit teaching about the time Mouse turned 2. At the time, I ended up falling into a job where I could do some computer work from home and make pretty good money. Despite my reservations, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up and while I was sad to give up my classes; they really were stagnating and I wasn’t sure where else to go with them.
Though the company I worked for was great and I stuck with the job for about 6 months, I really didn’t enjoy the work. Then I got pregnant with Baboo and decided that there was no way I could juggle it all. I had been miserably sick for the first few months of my pregnancy and really needed time to recoup my energy, get Mouse in gear for the arrival of a new baby and to get the house sorted out.
Now that we’re pretty much settled into our new place, I’ve been struggling with trying to figure out what I’m supposed to be “doing”. I’ve been trying to help contribute financially to our household income, but do not want to work outside the home as both Hubster and I feel strongly that our girls come first. My first post for this blog was about trying to find a way to make some money – and since this blog isn’t exactly sending me a nice, fat check every month (yet! I’m going to figure that out!) I had a brain wave to use the cavernous and empty living room and dining room that we can’t afford to furnish right now to teach Pilates classes. I wrote up a few fliers, put them in the mailboxes of the people at Mouse’s school and waited. Nothing happened. I was disheartened until another parent expressed interest and mentioned that she wasn’t sure it was me offering the classes. After I sent out an email to our group, the 2 classes that I’m offering right now are nearly full and I have a “waiting” list for one of them.
I haven’t taught a Pilates class since I quit teaching in 2006 and really haven’t done Pilates very seriously since then either. I have done some on my own as part of my exercise routine – when I’m actually sticking to one but I’ve really fallen off the wagon (reformer?). Don't I sound like a convincing instructor?? Oy! I’ve been worried that I’ll forget what to do and am too fat and out of shape to be able to do it properly for myself; never mind teach it to others.
I’m nervous about teaching these classes to people that I will encounter in other parts of my life. I want to teach well and offer quality classes. If the classes suck, I still have to face these people on a regular basis; I won’t be able to hide out somewhere and pretend I never knew them.
However, despite my reservations, overall, I’m excited to be teaching again. I really believe in Pilates. It’s become a part of my soul and has been my go-to tool for many years. I started by taking a few classes through a community program where I met the instructors who later opened their own studio to teach a broader range of classes and eventually, I trained with them to become an instructor. After meeting these wonderful, grounded, kind people AND being introduced to the reformer, I was hooked. I couldn’t get enough and wanted to learn and do more! From the beginning I felt like THIS was what I was meant to "DO"!
Not only did I get in excellent shape and learn an entirely different and healthy way of living, but Pilates was also the exercise that saved me from sinking into the void when my step-daughter died. It was the outlet for my grief; I literally ‘worked’ it out of my system. Then I used Pilates to prepare myself for the birth of Mouse and to work though the anxiety of quitting my “job” to be an at home Mom. By becoming an instructor, I was able to have a way to earn some money by teaching classes on my own schedule and it allowed me the freedom to have Mouse with me pretty much all the time. It’s always been a joy to teach and share something that I love and believe in so strongly. It never feels like “work”.
So, the last few days, I’ve been getting my living room/dining room ready for classes. I’ve been reviewing my notes, going through some old routines, reminiscing and remembering that phase in my life when Pilates was such a huge part of who I was. I’m letting my body remember what it loved to do and it’s surprising me with how much it remembers. I’m realizing how much I’ve missed this.
My head feels ready, my space feels ready, my soul is starting to feel some peace creeping in and my body; it feels like it’s coming home.
Though the company I worked for was great and I stuck with the job for about 6 months, I really didn’t enjoy the work. Then I got pregnant with Baboo and decided that there was no way I could juggle it all. I had been miserably sick for the first few months of my pregnancy and really needed time to recoup my energy, get Mouse in gear for the arrival of a new baby and to get the house sorted out.
Now that we’re pretty much settled into our new place, I’ve been struggling with trying to figure out what I’m supposed to be “doing”. I’ve been trying to help contribute financially to our household income, but do not want to work outside the home as both Hubster and I feel strongly that our girls come first. My first post for this blog was about trying to find a way to make some money – and since this blog isn’t exactly sending me a nice, fat check every month (yet! I’m going to figure that out!) I had a brain wave to use the cavernous and empty living room and dining room that we can’t afford to furnish right now to teach Pilates classes. I wrote up a few fliers, put them in the mailboxes of the people at Mouse’s school and waited. Nothing happened. I was disheartened until another parent expressed interest and mentioned that she wasn’t sure it was me offering the classes. After I sent out an email to our group, the 2 classes that I’m offering right now are nearly full and I have a “waiting” list for one of them.
I haven’t taught a Pilates class since I quit teaching in 2006 and really haven’t done Pilates very seriously since then either. I have done some on my own as part of my exercise routine – when I’m actually sticking to one but I’ve really fallen off the wagon (reformer?). Don't I sound like a convincing instructor?? Oy! I’ve been worried that I’ll forget what to do and am too fat and out of shape to be able to do it properly for myself; never mind teach it to others.
I’m nervous about teaching these classes to people that I will encounter in other parts of my life. I want to teach well and offer quality classes. If the classes suck, I still have to face these people on a regular basis; I won’t be able to hide out somewhere and pretend I never knew them.
However, despite my reservations, overall, I’m excited to be teaching again. I really believe in Pilates. It’s become a part of my soul and has been my go-to tool for many years. I started by taking a few classes through a community program where I met the instructors who later opened their own studio to teach a broader range of classes and eventually, I trained with them to become an instructor. After meeting these wonderful, grounded, kind people AND being introduced to the reformer, I was hooked. I couldn’t get enough and wanted to learn and do more! From the beginning I felt like THIS was what I was meant to "DO"!
Not only did I get in excellent shape and learn an entirely different and healthy way of living, but Pilates was also the exercise that saved me from sinking into the void when my step-daughter died. It was the outlet for my grief; I literally ‘worked’ it out of my system. Then I used Pilates to prepare myself for the birth of Mouse and to work though the anxiety of quitting my “job” to be an at home Mom. By becoming an instructor, I was able to have a way to earn some money by teaching classes on my own schedule and it allowed me the freedom to have Mouse with me pretty much all the time. It’s always been a joy to teach and share something that I love and believe in so strongly. It never feels like “work”.
So, the last few days, I’ve been getting my living room/dining room ready for classes. I’ve been reviewing my notes, going through some old routines, reminiscing and remembering that phase in my life when Pilates was such a huge part of who I was. I’m letting my body remember what it loved to do and it’s surprising me with how much it remembers. I’m realizing how much I’ve missed this.
My head feels ready, my space feels ready, my soul is starting to feel some peace creeping in and my body; it feels like it’s coming home.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Slammed
Its’ 3:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon and I’m still in my pj’s in bed with crazy bed head and unbrushed teeth. It can only mean one thing… that cold I thought I was getting has arrived.
I tried to fight it off, I’ve been fighting it off for weeks and twice Zicam has been my hero and protector, albeit a bad tasting one. But this time, no, this time, the germs were too strong for any preventative remedy. They sunk their claws in deep and threw in a 101F fever and a face full of snot to boot. Fun times.
However, despite feeling crappy all of yesterday and last night, today, I’m feeling a bit better. The fever broke, I don’t feel like my head is going to explode and Hubster has let me rest the whole day. The girls have been pretty good; nursing me with pretend cups of tea and water from the play kitchen, bringing me their favourite books (Pinkalicious, Moosetache, and a few Sandra Boynton board books) to read and making me “happy dude” pictures to cheer me up. For a while Baboo insisted on “fweepin’ wif Mommy” this morning but then decided that Daddy and Mouse were more fun and ran off to play with them.
Right now the girls are playing at the foot of the bed where I’m ensconced and surrounded by papers, tissues, magazines, books, cups and Tylenol. They both have princess dresses on and are playing with a laundry basket and a clothes hanger (because they don’t have an enormous room full of toys down the hall to play with, good grief) and have spread the extra blanket on the floor. Baboo is pretending it’s an air bed and has one corner in her mouth to blow it up. Mouse is yelling at her that it’s not an air bed, it’s a picnic blanket to which Baboo responds “OK” and continues to pretend to blow. Nothing like entertainment for those in sick bay.
So I’ll continue to rest as much as I can while Hubster is home from work. Monday we’re back into the grind of school and work and I’m starting a new phase for myself: teaching Pilates classes from my living room, so I really need to be back into the game by Wednesday night.
Maybe with me doing all this sitting and resting, I’ll be able to think up and maybe even write a few decent posts. HA!
I tried to fight it off, I’ve been fighting it off for weeks and twice Zicam has been my hero and protector, albeit a bad tasting one. But this time, no, this time, the germs were too strong for any preventative remedy. They sunk their claws in deep and threw in a 101F fever and a face full of snot to boot. Fun times.
However, despite feeling crappy all of yesterday and last night, today, I’m feeling a bit better. The fever broke, I don’t feel like my head is going to explode and Hubster has let me rest the whole day. The girls have been pretty good; nursing me with pretend cups of tea and water from the play kitchen, bringing me their favourite books (Pinkalicious, Moosetache, and a few Sandra Boynton board books) to read and making me “happy dude” pictures to cheer me up. For a while Baboo insisted on “fweepin’ wif Mommy” this morning but then decided that Daddy and Mouse were more fun and ran off to play with them.
Right now the girls are playing at the foot of the bed where I’m ensconced and surrounded by papers, tissues, magazines, books, cups and Tylenol. They both have princess dresses on and are playing with a laundry basket and a clothes hanger (because they don’t have an enormous room full of toys down the hall to play with, good grief) and have spread the extra blanket on the floor. Baboo is pretending it’s an air bed and has one corner in her mouth to blow it up. Mouse is yelling at her that it’s not an air bed, it’s a picnic blanket to which Baboo responds “OK” and continues to pretend to blow. Nothing like entertainment for those in sick bay.
So I’ll continue to rest as much as I can while Hubster is home from work. Monday we’re back into the grind of school and work and I’m starting a new phase for myself: teaching Pilates classes from my living room, so I really need to be back into the game by Wednesday night.
Maybe with me doing all this sitting and resting, I’ll be able to think up and maybe even write a few decent posts. HA!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
A New New Year's Day Tradition
All plans for a well thought out and inspiring post fell apart as I napped a large portion of the day away. Despite sleeping well last night and not hearing our neighbors screaming “Happy New Year” banging on pans and shooting off fireworks and maybe a gun or two, I’m still wiped out and out of sorts. It almost feels like a cold – AGAIN – but I’m not sure. I’ve been sleeping/resting a lot today, and doing laundry in between. Nothing like starting 2009 off with a bang…
BUT we did actually incorporate a type of “bang” into the day.
The girls got a gift from Hubster’s cousin that threw me for a bit of a loop and won the award for ‘weirdest gift ever’. (Sorry K). It takes a lot to make me say “huh?” but it turned out to be a cool thing indeed and I think it has inspired a new tradition.
Cousin K sent the girls a large Nemo piñata. My girls love the movie Finding Nemo, Baboo especially. She wants me to fast forward to all the scenes with Nemo. She doesn’t give a rat’s ass about any of the other supporting characters.
When we pulled the large piñata out of the box, we all kind of looked at each other and said “Well…. That’s interesting” and I wondered what kind of crack Cousin K had been smoking. (I’m kidding… She’s a perfectly upstanding member of the community.) But really, a piñata for Christmas? Ok, then. As I said, it takes a lot to surprise me and this certainly did. The kids, of course, loved it. Baboo screamed “NEMO!” from her Princess Cozy Coupe and Mouse surprised me by saying “Cool! A piñata! Can we do it right now?” (I didn’t know she knew what a piñata was).
I decided to save it for another day so that we could stretch the Christmas bounty out over, say a week. Oy. They’ve been wanting to open everything right away and I can’t blame them. I’ve managed to squirrel away a few things for a rainy day when we need something new to do, but um, it’s kind of hard to hide an enormous Nemo. He lived under our tree until today when we started putting some of the Christmas things away.
Mouse asked again today if we could do the piñata and maybe it was the Tylenol I’d taken or the fact that I wasn’t really awake yet, but, I couldn’t see a reason not to.
I wasn’t sure how Baboo would take to us hacking at her favorite, cute little fishy friend with a foam bat, but as soon as Mouse took the first swing she started laughing in that deep, throaty, devilish way that only she can. I’m afraid, very afraid.
Anyway, we hooked Nemo onto a tall shepherds hook from the garden, got out the kid’s foam bat and had at ‘er. I decided NOT to blindfold anyone because well, I prefer life and not to be covered in bruises or cleaning up masses of broken things. Mouse threw a couple of good ones, Hubster helped Baboo and for a good 10 minutes they banged away with no rewarding shower of treats. Then we read the instructions and saw that we had to pull ribbons to open the trap door to release the booty. Oh. I’m kind of glad we didn’t have to pulverize Nemo to get the good stuff out.
Once we figured that out, the kids yanked ribbons until Mouse found the magic one and all kinds of fun things hit the floor – pencils, erasers, stickers, a few chocolates and mini candy canes, socks, tooth brushes, hair elastics etc.
It was fun and the girls definitely enjoyed it. It was something I never would have thought to do, but it’s a great idea. I have visions of us making one to look like the New Year ball that falls every year, but this would be much more fun. The kids could make it and I’d fill it with things to surprise them. It could really be a messy, fun holiday activity. Then after we do the piñata, we’ll order pizza like we’re doing right now. Pinata and Pizza. Hmmm… I like that. That’s a tradition I could get used to.
Thanks Cousin K. The gift was a hit! And Happy New Year!
Added: I just looked up and saw that Baboo had chocolate ALL over her face and was chewing away madly. When I asked what she was eating she said “I find choc-wit”. When I looked in her mouth, I saw a handful of foil covered in chocolate drool. (gross). I guess I missed picking up one of the chocolate Santas from the piñata. Oy.
BUT we did actually incorporate a type of “bang” into the day.
The girls got a gift from Hubster’s cousin that threw me for a bit of a loop and won the award for ‘weirdest gift ever’. (Sorry K). It takes a lot to make me say “huh?” but it turned out to be a cool thing indeed and I think it has inspired a new tradition.
Cousin K sent the girls a large Nemo piñata. My girls love the movie Finding Nemo, Baboo especially. She wants me to fast forward to all the scenes with Nemo. She doesn’t give a rat’s ass about any of the other supporting characters.
When we pulled the large piñata out of the box, we all kind of looked at each other and said “Well…. That’s interesting” and I wondered what kind of crack Cousin K had been smoking. (I’m kidding… She’s a perfectly upstanding member of the community.) But really, a piñata for Christmas? Ok, then. As I said, it takes a lot to surprise me and this certainly did. The kids, of course, loved it. Baboo screamed “NEMO!” from her Princess Cozy Coupe and Mouse surprised me by saying “Cool! A piñata! Can we do it right now?” (I didn’t know she knew what a piñata was).
I decided to save it for another day so that we could stretch the Christmas bounty out over, say a week. Oy. They’ve been wanting to open everything right away and I can’t blame them. I’ve managed to squirrel away a few things for a rainy day when we need something new to do, but um, it’s kind of hard to hide an enormous Nemo. He lived under our tree until today when we started putting some of the Christmas things away.
Mouse asked again today if we could do the piñata and maybe it was the Tylenol I’d taken or the fact that I wasn’t really awake yet, but, I couldn’t see a reason not to.
I wasn’t sure how Baboo would take to us hacking at her favorite, cute little fishy friend with a foam bat, but as soon as Mouse took the first swing she started laughing in that deep, throaty, devilish way that only she can. I’m afraid, very afraid.
Anyway, we hooked Nemo onto a tall shepherds hook from the garden, got out the kid’s foam bat and had at ‘er. I decided NOT to blindfold anyone because well, I prefer life and not to be covered in bruises or cleaning up masses of broken things. Mouse threw a couple of good ones, Hubster helped Baboo and for a good 10 minutes they banged away with no rewarding shower of treats. Then we read the instructions and saw that we had to pull ribbons to open the trap door to release the booty. Oh. I’m kind of glad we didn’t have to pulverize Nemo to get the good stuff out.
Once we figured that out, the kids yanked ribbons until Mouse found the magic one and all kinds of fun things hit the floor – pencils, erasers, stickers, a few chocolates and mini candy canes, socks, tooth brushes, hair elastics etc.
It was fun and the girls definitely enjoyed it. It was something I never would have thought to do, but it’s a great idea. I have visions of us making one to look like the New Year ball that falls every year, but this would be much more fun. The kids could make it and I’d fill it with things to surprise them. It could really be a messy, fun holiday activity. Then after we do the piñata, we’ll order pizza like we’re doing right now. Pinata and Pizza. Hmmm… I like that. That’s a tradition I could get used to.
Thanks Cousin K. The gift was a hit! And Happy New Year!
Added: I just looked up and saw that Baboo had chocolate ALL over her face and was chewing away madly. When I asked what she was eating she said “I find choc-wit”. When I looked in her mouth, I saw a handful of foil covered in chocolate drool. (gross). I guess I missed picking up one of the chocolate Santas from the piñata. Oy.
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