So, here we are on day 2 of spring break. We’ve just spent a lovely spring morning with some friends at the local zoo. The week isn’t turning out to be as quiet as I’d hoped, but life is certainly moving at a slower pace. It’s nice not to be rushing out the door every morning and fighting over clothes, hair, food, chores before 8 am.
Yesterday, the girls and I spent most of the morning in our pajamas before donning our rain boots to slog around in our very soggy and muddy yard – playing in the cool sunshine and puddles, hanging last years’ plastic Easter eggs on our apple tree in the front yard and dreaming of getting the garden in in a few weeks.
Yesterday afternoon, Baboo and I had appointments for our annual checkups. I couldn’t really find anyone to watch Mouse during this time that wouldn’t be kind of a pain to organize, so I brought her with us. Both Baboo and I were weighed, measured and asked to don paper gowns. Mine did not have cute little teddy bears on it and kept gaping at the bust. Classy.
Baboo went first, getting the full scope of a 3 year well visit including a much worried about shot. It’s hard to feel like I have any shred of dignity discussing my daughter while wearing a gaping paper gown.
Then it was my turn. I hoped that the girls would be “busy” with their lollipops, Dora bandaids and coloring books so I could discuss more grown up health issues – though surprisingly, regardless of your age, you still have to talk about poop and pee.
So then it was time for the PAP. We tried not to make a big deal out of it and had the girls move up towards my head so as not to be in right in line of sight of all that business down there. It’s not that we’re overly modest in our family or have not discussed bodies and functions and names, but really that’s a lot of reality for a 5 and 3 year old. A pelvic exam and PAP are never comfortable, and at one point I did say “ouch” which worried Mouse a lot. When she saw the speculum and the doctor basically buried to her elbow, her eyes grew to the size of saucers as she figured out what was going on and unconsciously and protectively she lowered her hands. I assured her when I was done, that I was fine, and that it’s a part of staying healthy and that one day, when she was GROWN up she’d need to have this done too. She asked how old I was and said she’d wait until she was 35 before starting any of that. I laughed out loud. I wish that were true!
I got my script for a mammogram, a tetanus shot, orders to lose a bit of weight, take vitamin D and fish oil and was sent on my merry way. As I was taking off my gown and gathering my clothes, Baboo reached over to pass me my bra saying loudly, “Mommy, don’t forget to put your shells back on”.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tis The Season
It’s that time of year; temperatures are rising, birds are singing, plants are starting to grow and I start checking out my summer clothes. And so, while the world comes alive with all sorts of springy loveliness, I’m sulky and whiney.
Every year, I quickly realize that the clothes I so carefully put away last fall are in worse shape than I remember. The pants/capris are faded and I notice stains that I didn’t see last year. The shirts are sweat and sunscreen stained (does that ever come out? Seriously. Gross.) and more than a little grubby around the edges. And maybe more than a few years old.
The other day, I was getting dressed to teach a Pilates class, looked in the mirror and thought “Yikes. This is looking a little rough!” The knees of my pants were very faded, a little saggy around the butt and the shirts were pilling and droopy. I realized that I’d been wearing the same pants for um, 6 years and shirts for just over 2 and they were very sad.
And so, it begins. The spring hunt for clothes; a vicious battle involving a short, curvy, (hourglass some say) somewhat heavy than before nearing middle age woman and a fashion industry that assumes all petites are 85 with very, very long torsos, thick waists, no hips and even shorter legs than I have now. Though, good luck finding a well stocked petite section at any store. The stock and choice in the stores is diminishing and it’s hard not to feel abandoned, as though being petite is not important enough to warrant floor space.
The shirts are too long, and those are supposed to be the “petites”. Most of the pants gape at the waist while make my thighs look like a sausage in a casing. Oh, and then there’s the flood factor of the pants not quite reaching the top of my shoes. But if they’re not too short, they’re dragging on the ground.
And who designed the lighting and mirrors in those change rooms? Some kind of twisted circus hell bent on making grown women cry at the sight of all those fleshy dimples on their ass? I think so.
I’m not asking for much. Decent clothes that are not too hard on my budget. I’m not overly trendy or fashionable, but I don’t want to go out looking like a schlep either. Yeah, I could go to a tailor, but well, who has time or money for that? And oh yes, I love the higher end stores; Ann Taylor Loft makes me swoon, but well, I’m a stay at home Mom who is hard on her clothes, especially in the summer, so I have a reallllly hard time justifying $25 for a t-shirt. It’ll stain and fade just as fast as a $10 one.
However, since I can’t really walk around naked this spring and summer, (there’s not enough in the therapy budget for that!) I will continue to scope out the stores, ever hopeful that I’ll find a winning rack of pants that fit and shirts that don’t hit my knees and be able to put together an outfit or 2 that won’t make me feel like blue hair rinse and orthopedic sandals are requuired to make it complete.
Wish me luck.
Every year, I quickly realize that the clothes I so carefully put away last fall are in worse shape than I remember. The pants/capris are faded and I notice stains that I didn’t see last year. The shirts are sweat and sunscreen stained (does that ever come out? Seriously. Gross.) and more than a little grubby around the edges. And maybe more than a few years old.
The other day, I was getting dressed to teach a Pilates class, looked in the mirror and thought “Yikes. This is looking a little rough!” The knees of my pants were very faded, a little saggy around the butt and the shirts were pilling and droopy. I realized that I’d been wearing the same pants for um, 6 years and shirts for just over 2 and they were very sad.
And so, it begins. The spring hunt for clothes; a vicious battle involving a short, curvy, (hourglass some say) somewhat heavy than before nearing middle age woman and a fashion industry that assumes all petites are 85 with very, very long torsos, thick waists, no hips and even shorter legs than I have now. Though, good luck finding a well stocked petite section at any store. The stock and choice in the stores is diminishing and it’s hard not to feel abandoned, as though being petite is not important enough to warrant floor space.
The shirts are too long, and those are supposed to be the “petites”. Most of the pants gape at the waist while make my thighs look like a sausage in a casing. Oh, and then there’s the flood factor of the pants not quite reaching the top of my shoes. But if they’re not too short, they’re dragging on the ground.
And who designed the lighting and mirrors in those change rooms? Some kind of twisted circus hell bent on making grown women cry at the sight of all those fleshy dimples on their ass? I think so.
I’m not asking for much. Decent clothes that are not too hard on my budget. I’m not overly trendy or fashionable, but I don’t want to go out looking like a schlep either. Yeah, I could go to a tailor, but well, who has time or money for that? And oh yes, I love the higher end stores; Ann Taylor Loft makes me swoon, but well, I’m a stay at home Mom who is hard on her clothes, especially in the summer, so I have a reallllly hard time justifying $25 for a t-shirt. It’ll stain and fade just as fast as a $10 one.
However, since I can’t really walk around naked this spring and summer, (there’s not enough in the therapy budget for that!) I will continue to scope out the stores, ever hopeful that I’ll find a winning rack of pants that fit and shirts that don’t hit my knees and be able to put together an outfit or 2 that won’t make me feel like blue hair rinse and orthopedic sandals are requuired to make it complete.
Wish me luck.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Another Run By Posting
Oh, poor neglected blog. You are so at the bottom of my priority list right now. Or, at least if there was a list, you’d be at the bottom. Right now I’m just flapping around rushing frantically from one desperately neglected item to the next. Ahead of you has been: 2 huge school functions, a 3 yr old birthday party, house guests, cleaning, grocery shopping, school, doctor appointments, swimming lessons… yada-yada-yada. You get the idea.
However, that’s not to say that some great and weird things haven’t been happening and if I could blog via telepathy, they’d ALLLLL be documented. But they’re not. And because I’m seriously lacking in the sleep department, my memory is the size of a dried up pea.
So, Baboo turned 3 recently and she shares her birthday with my best friend’s (Becprints) daughter H. I know, what are the chances of that? I said it outloud when I was pregnant with Baboo as in “Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if this baby was born on H’s birthday “ And it happened. True story. Anyway, we had a rockin’ kitty cat bash this year as it was the “year of the cat” at our house. The kids came, devoured cat shaped sandwiches and jell-o jigglers, cat cupcakes, ran around with cat masks on meowing, smashed “cat chow” (rainbow Cheerios) into the carpet and had an awesome time. Hubster’s parents and his cousin (who I secretly refer to as the sister I ALWAYS wanted) drove down to share the weekend with us and we all enjoyed the company and extra help.
And all that said, I can’t believe my “baby” is 3 and proudly telling me “Mama! You don’t need to come into the baf-woom wif me because I’m FWEE and ALL GROWED UP now!”. Ok, then.
In other awesome news, after much angst and nashing of teeth, Mouse was invited to attend an awesome elementary school in our district. I’m BEYOND excited about it. We got the letter on Saturday – after I gave up hope of it coming, and I literally was dancing around the kitchen. Mouse looked at me with some kind of shocked horror because this really wasn’t what she pictured for grade 1.
And then it hit me that she’ll be going into grade 1. In a few months. Good grief. But at least she’ll be at an awesome school and Baboo is automatically grandfathered in and so I don’t have to freak out about the next level until Mouse reaches grade 5.
In my last post I posted about the washer and it’s possible imminent death. So far it’s still running and we’ll continue to just let it do it’s thing for as long as we can keep it going. It really seems to be ok now, but we’ll assume that that may not last. Sears Cares apparently has sent me an email to try to “increase my satisfaction with their service” but I’m in the process of checking to see if it’s a scam or not.
And despite things being increasingly hectic, (what happened to a slow January/February? Seriously? It’s been CRAZY around here lately) spring break is around the corner and we have NO plans other than sitting around in our pajamas and doing basically nothing. Ok, that’s not really true. We have a few small appointments and we’ll squeeze in some fun but we will not be running around at breakneck speed until we all want to just hurt someone. At least I hope not.
However, that’s not to say that some great and weird things haven’t been happening and if I could blog via telepathy, they’d ALLLLL be documented. But they’re not. And because I’m seriously lacking in the sleep department, my memory is the size of a dried up pea.
So, Baboo turned 3 recently and she shares her birthday with my best friend’s (Becprints) daughter H. I know, what are the chances of that? I said it outloud when I was pregnant with Baboo as in “Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if this baby was born on H’s birthday “ And it happened. True story. Anyway, we had a rockin’ kitty cat bash this year as it was the “year of the cat” at our house. The kids came, devoured cat shaped sandwiches and jell-o jigglers, cat cupcakes, ran around with cat masks on meowing, smashed “cat chow” (rainbow Cheerios) into the carpet and had an awesome time. Hubster’s parents and his cousin (who I secretly refer to as the sister I ALWAYS wanted) drove down to share the weekend with us and we all enjoyed the company and extra help.
And all that said, I can’t believe my “baby” is 3 and proudly telling me “Mama! You don’t need to come into the baf-woom wif me because I’m FWEE and ALL GROWED UP now!”. Ok, then.
In other awesome news, after much angst and nashing of teeth, Mouse was invited to attend an awesome elementary school in our district. I’m BEYOND excited about it. We got the letter on Saturday – after I gave up hope of it coming, and I literally was dancing around the kitchen. Mouse looked at me with some kind of shocked horror because this really wasn’t what she pictured for grade 1.
And then it hit me that she’ll be going into grade 1. In a few months. Good grief. But at least she’ll be at an awesome school and Baboo is automatically grandfathered in and so I don’t have to freak out about the next level until Mouse reaches grade 5.
In my last post I posted about the washer and it’s possible imminent death. So far it’s still running and we’ll continue to just let it do it’s thing for as long as we can keep it going. It really seems to be ok now, but we’ll assume that that may not last. Sears Cares apparently has sent me an email to try to “increase my satisfaction with their service” but I’m in the process of checking to see if it’s a scam or not.
And despite things being increasingly hectic, (what happened to a slow January/February? Seriously? It’s been CRAZY around here lately) spring break is around the corner and we have NO plans other than sitting around in our pajamas and doing basically nothing. Ok, that’s not really true. We have a few small appointments and we’ll squeeze in some fun but we will not be running around at breakneck speed until we all want to just hurt someone. At least I hope not.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Appliance Purgatory
Today, Sears visited us again, for a whopping $130, excuse me $129 but who’s freaking counting to tell us that our washing machine is dying. Oh and when they were here in January, the visit only cost $109, so they've jacked the price $20. Thanks Sears! Grrr. We “could” replace the parts, but it would almost as much as a new washer. And Mr. Blue Crew “I’ve been doing this since Moses” did nothing other than say if we didn’t have a family of four with two of us being young children who generate mountains of laundry, our appliance choice (front loader, not enormous sized) would have been appropriate, but he’s surprised it’s lasted this long.
Funny, the damned sales people didn’t tell us that when we bought it. Hmph.
Now, it’s not like this is a new machine, it’s about 5 years old and it’s been a workhorse. Lots of clothes, diapers, bedding, towels have found their cleanliness in its’ sudsy tub. It’s done well, but really, only 5 years? And that’s GOOD? What the heck?
And $129 bucks to tell me it’s dying. Really, that’s all he did other than turn on the rinse cycle for 3 minutes. RIP. OFF.
If it seems like I’m a bit overly sensitive, that’s because I am. It seems like we’ve had a lot of appliance angst lately, like our recent oven issue, and the lest we forget the microwave. But that’s not all, oh no! We had to replace our electric kettle recently because our old one didn’t turn off one night, and while thankfully it didn’t burn down the house, it boiled dry and then nearly melted. Yeah, scary. We replaced it with a stainless steel one that sounds like a freaking jet engine when it’s on. I was on the phone one day with my Mum and turned the kettle on, and she asked a train was going by. True story. Nice.
And we also recently bought a new toaster oven and coffee maker. Both Black and Decker and mounted under the counter. In the past these have been our favorites and expected no less this time. Well, they’re just over a year old and the toaster oven only cooks at one end and hope you like it SUPER toasty – as in burnt. B&D also took out a few of my favorite features from previous models – like the pull out crumb tray (they’ve got a drop down pan and guess where the crumbs go? Allll over the counter. Argh!) and the little hook thing on the door to pull out the rack so you don’t burn your hand getting your toast out. Why? Why did they remove these useful gadgets?
The coffee maker has leaked from day one, takes a while and the little rubber thing that allows the pause feature to work is already broken off the basket. Sucky. And it’s a pain to clean.
To say the least, I’m not thrilled to be budgeting to buy a new washer sometime in the next year … IF I’m lucky, apparently, it’ll probably be sooner than that. I’m told to just let it run until either the whole thing breaks or the noise gets to be so bad I can’t stand it. Apparently, they just dont' make them as good as they used to. And it's really, really true. However, I guess that's how they keep making $129/house call.
Funny, the damned sales people didn’t tell us that when we bought it. Hmph.
Now, it’s not like this is a new machine, it’s about 5 years old and it’s been a workhorse. Lots of clothes, diapers, bedding, towels have found their cleanliness in its’ sudsy tub. It’s done well, but really, only 5 years? And that’s GOOD? What the heck?
And $129 bucks to tell me it’s dying. Really, that’s all he did other than turn on the rinse cycle for 3 minutes. RIP. OFF.
If it seems like I’m a bit overly sensitive, that’s because I am. It seems like we’ve had a lot of appliance angst lately, like our recent oven issue, and the lest we forget the microwave. But that’s not all, oh no! We had to replace our electric kettle recently because our old one didn’t turn off one night, and while thankfully it didn’t burn down the house, it boiled dry and then nearly melted. Yeah, scary. We replaced it with a stainless steel one that sounds like a freaking jet engine when it’s on. I was on the phone one day with my Mum and turned the kettle on, and she asked a train was going by. True story. Nice.
And we also recently bought a new toaster oven and coffee maker. Both Black and Decker and mounted under the counter. In the past these have been our favorites and expected no less this time. Well, they’re just over a year old and the toaster oven only cooks at one end and hope you like it SUPER toasty – as in burnt. B&D also took out a few of my favorite features from previous models – like the pull out crumb tray (they’ve got a drop down pan and guess where the crumbs go? Allll over the counter. Argh!) and the little hook thing on the door to pull out the rack so you don’t burn your hand getting your toast out. Why? Why did they remove these useful gadgets?
The coffee maker has leaked from day one, takes a while and the little rubber thing that allows the pause feature to work is already broken off the basket. Sucky. And it’s a pain to clean.
To say the least, I’m not thrilled to be budgeting to buy a new washer sometime in the next year … IF I’m lucky, apparently, it’ll probably be sooner than that. I’m told to just let it run until either the whole thing breaks or the noise gets to be so bad I can’t stand it. Apparently, they just dont' make them as good as they used to. And it's really, really true. However, I guess that's how they keep making $129/house call.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)