August 27, 2008

The good, the bad and the ugly, in reverse

Last night SUCKED. You would think by the third kid I would know why Owen keeps waking up, or have a better idea of what to do about it. Suggested/possible options so far include letting him cry til he falls asleep (I'm not ready yet) and nursing him back to sleep when he wakes up (doesn't really get me any more sleep, so I'm not really willing to continue feeding him when he really shouldn't need food). Adding solids hasn't helped, and I think may have something to do with the crankier waking (as opposed to pacifier pop-out and turtle wakings).

I actually fell asleep putting him down for a nap, which would have been wonderful if Katie hadn't come in to ask me to sharpen some pencils about 30 seconds later.

---

Since Jamie started school, Katie has been asking me what to do. All. Day. Long. She'll come up and say "I don't have anything in my head." The scary part is that she's the more independent of my girls. I haven't had a lot of errands to run, so we've been spending a lot of time at home, and I can't seem to come up with anything fun, either. Or at least, anything fun that lasts more than 5 minutes. We made Rice Krispies Treats today, which was a BIG mistake. By big, I'm referring to the size of my butt when I'm done eating the entire batch. I'm not even hungry after all that Brie cheese I had for lunch.

Did I mention my big ass?

Anyway, making the treats took all of 10 minutes. Chalk drawing, coloring, Old Maid and amusing the baby took another 8 and a half. I'm too tired to be more creative than that.

---

For Christmas, Rex gave me a card saying I could get a new computer. Specifically, an Apple product, since I had expressed an interest and he was impressed by the service and details when he went to the store to do some research. I didn't take him up on the offer right away, for a bunch of reasons. We were about to move, my laptop was still working fine in spite of it's small hard drive and failing battery, Apples cost about as much as a car, especially the laptops, and I would have to learn a whole new OS/change applications, etc.

I'm running out of excuses now. We're moved and I have an office all my own. I've so totally outgrown my hard drive it's ridiculous, the battery on this beast is toast, and I've lost a fan. The other fan comes on full speed when the laptop gets hot, but never shuts off. It sounds like a jet is taking off from the couch. I can't really justify the cost of an Macbook, but I really shouldn't need a computer on the couch anyway, right? At least, not in a few months when Owen stops sucking me dry so regularly. Plus, I just can't pass up the glory of the giant iMac screen. And then the applications. I'm concerned about the learning curve, but then, I haven't really gotten around to learning most of the photo editing/video editing apps I wanted to anyway. Might as well save time and just do it once.

And so, on it's way to my house from China, is a glorious 24" iMac. I can't believe I let Rex spend so much money on *me*, for something we don't really *need*.

I'm also so excited I could wet myself!

Posted by me at 1:40 PM | Comments (0)

August 22, 2008

Upstanding citizen or angry bitch?

You know, it takes an awful lot to piss me off enough to do more than rant. Even then, all my good comebacks come hours or even days after they would be useful.

Today was the day I acted.

We live right across the street from an elementary school. During the school year, drop off and pick up time can be a bit of a pain, what with all the cars parked on the street, in front of our house. I'm old enough to have a kids-stay-outta-my-yard attitude, but young enough to keep the words from shooting out of my mouth. It's really not that bad, since the chaos only lasts 30 minutes or so, morning and afternoon.

This afternoon was meet the teacher day, so a ridiculous number of people came to the school looking for a place to park. By the time we walked home, the parking lot, our street, and the street on the other side of the school were full. In fact, our street had cars parked on both sides, effectively leaving a single lane for traffic. That's what it looked like when I packed the kids in the car and ran to the store for a couple things before dinner.

We weren't gone long enough, because it still looked like that when we got home. Except that now, some doofus had parked in the tiny space between our driveway and the driveway next door. In fact, that space is so tiny, he was partially in front of our driveway. That in itself would have pissed me off. Add in that there was another car parked right up against the other side of the driveway, and cars parked on the other side of the street, and I couldn't swing wide to fit between the two fools parked in front of my house.

I wasn't about to find a spot on the street a quarted mile plus from my house so I could haul my crying baby and heavy groceries to my own front door, so I did a many point turn and managed to fit through the tiny gap left to me.

Then I went inside and had Rex look up the non-emergency line for the cops. Cause that SOB blocking my driveway? He parked directly in front of a fire hydrant.

Posted by me at 9:07 PM | Comments (1)

July 7, 2008

The N word

I have some friends who make jokes using the n word. They aren't *really* racist, in the sense that they are happy to have friends of all colors, but they are overly amused by the stereotypes and totally willing to perpetuate them.

I, on the other hand, consider the n word a bad word, like shit or fuck or damn. Actually, it's worse, because while the usual curse words might offend someone's sensabilities, the n word is insulting to someone's sense of self. You aren't just releasing anger with a poor verbal substitute for expressive language, you're using a word that denigrates an entire race.

Now the thing is, I never use that word. Ever. And I don't let people (ok, I'll say it, family) use it in front of my kids. They may say other things that I consider inappropriate, but I draw the line at racist jokes. But when my friends, who I mostly talk to online, start yukking it up, I say nothing. I never participate, but I don't think I've ever told them to stop, either.

How bad of a person does that make me? My sense of guilt tells me that I should stand up for my beliefs, but logic tells me that I'm just going to be ostracized by the aquaintances and mocked by my friends. I don't mind the mocking, myself, we do it to each other in fun all the time. I guess I just can't see what the benefit of saying something will be. They know it's wrong. They aren't going to stop.

I guess what it really comes down to is this: Is their attitude a friendship dealbreaker for me?

Typing this out has pretty much given me the answer: They won't get past a surface friendship with me. My best friends and I have differences, but less important ones, at least to me. I'm not proud that I'm not more forceful standing up for my beliefs, but it's also hard for me to cut someone out of my life (and I've known these people for many years) based on something so common, even if it is contrary to a core belief of mine.

Man, the more I type, the more I feel like a wish washy spineless suck-up.

Posted by me at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

July 3, 2008

Mad, but not crazy

It took me a couple days to write the post I was going to put up today, but then I decided that it doesn't fit the spirit of the 4th, so it will wait.

Instead, I will tell you about about how I'm currently peeved at Verizon. Now, generally I'm in love with Verizon. They provide me with FiOS, a gorgeously fast, seemingly always up, relatively inexpensive internet access. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I'm somewhat attached to the internet. I'm not having any trouble with my connection, which is good, because that would make me all twitchy and livid.

No, I'm having problems with my payment.

See, Verizon automatically bills my credit card every month. This has worked flawlessly for years, through moves and changes and such. But now the card they have on file is going to expire. They were kind enough to send me a notice to remind me to update my information, complete with a website and phone number to edit my information. I tried the website first because, well, I have kids, and serious phone conversation can be, well, spotty. I had no problems logging in. I found the link I needed to make the actual change. I input the correct information. It told me that the info I had entered was the same, and so no changes were made.

Uh, what? MOST of the information is the same. But I specifically changed something they had populated. And besides, it says "update/change". Doesn't that somewhat assume that maybe only a small change will be made? Who's running your database, Verizon?

I tried several times, in case it was my error. Wouldn't be the first time I've fat fingered, after all. Then I called, and talked my way through their automated voice system. God, I hate those things. The wait was estimated at 15 minutes, but oh! they have the option of calling you back when the wait time is up! You just went up a notch in my eyes, Verizon!

So I give the autolady my information, confirm, confirm again and hang up. Fifteen minutes later, she calls me back and I almost immediately get connected to Dan. He confirms my phone number, I quickly sum up my issue, and he mumbles something that I assume to be "Hold, please" since I immediately find myself listening to hold music.

Then I wait. For 20 minutes. That's when I gave up and hung up. I was hoping he might get back to me, since he obviously had my phone number. Autolady didn't bother to call back either. You would think they would want to talk to me, seeing as how I'm trying to give them more money. Regularly scheduled, guaranteed money, at that.

I haven't managed to get back to them, either. I spent most of that 20 minutes on hold trying to keep Owen happy, and I never really had another moment of peace that day. I couldn't bring myself to go to the trouble today, and tomorrow is a holiday. I imagine I'll get through to them Monday, since even pissed, I'm not willing to jeopardize my magical, mystical internet.

Posted by me at 8:21 PM | Comments (0)

June 25, 2008

Full of surprises

This week hasn't exactly gone as planned.

It started Monday. Rex takes the girls to TKD, so I try to feed them dinner a little early so they aren't working out on full stomachs. I got fancy and made Mandajuice's roasted cauliflower and chicken cordon bleu that we got from one of those sells-meat-in-a-truck guys. We've had the chicken before, and while it wasn't great, it was edible and we needed to use it. I don't know what happened to it this time. I had the oven a little hotter than the directions called for, but the chicken still wasn't done in the prescribed amount of time, so we went ahead and ate the cauliflower. I pulled the chicken out and couldn't tell if it was done by looking at it and poking it, so I checked it with a thermometer. Done. Finally. I cut it open and watery juice spurted out. It stunk. And the chicken was GREY. It was a soggy breaded, grey ringed blob with a tuft of pink ham in the center.

I threw it out.

Then I got the rest of them out of the freezer and threw them out.

Then I cooked a second dinner. We gave up on TKD, which was fine, since it was test week and Rex had been planning to take the girls on an off night, anyway.

Tuesday started out great. Then I decided to try to put Owen down, instead of holding him through his nap all afternoon. That's where things went south. For the majority of the next three hours, he screamed. He screeched, fought, drooled, yelled and occasionally teased me with a smile. He fell asleep on the way to Rex's office, where I was going to drop off the girls so they could go to the TKD test. That's where the real weird started. As soon as Katie got in Rex's car, her face started to crumple. Just when I thought we had her calmed, she started to bawl outright. Fine, I'll take her home with me. That's when Jamie started to cry. FINE. They can skip the workout and just go for the test.

That's where things picked back up for me, cause I got Chick-Fil-A. I love that place. Sad, I know. Of course, Katie had to pee as soon as we sat down, but I was holding the baby, the get-out-of-potty-free card. Good thing, too, because she didn't go. Then she said she had to go again, but she had already wet her uniform. Kid is weird, she wets just enough to make some room, and then holds it some more. Three times she tried while we were there, and she never went. Well, except for in her pants.

Both girls happily went with Rex after dinner, even though Katie couldn't participate anymore because she wasn't in her uniform. Apparently, they were angels. Then they came home, and Jamie stood on this old chair that was mine when I was a kid. I'm not sure how many times I've told her not to stand on it in the last week, but enough that I sent her to bed without a story. Of course, she had to cry about that. And then she had to tell me she felt sick. She's been lying about that a lot lately.

Today went much better than I predicted, based on a late night with, as usual, no sleeping in. The girls spent hours entertaining themselves with a bucket of change and a couple stools. I didn't ask.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Posted by me at 9:18 PM | Comments (0)

June 22, 2008

No pool for you!

We went to a pool party yesterday for Jamie's "best friend's" birthday. There were quite a few kids there, all under the age of six. There were also quite a few parents there, mostly the moms, sitting around talking, and a couple of the dads. In the maybe two hours the kids were swimming, there were three rescues, the last one being Katie. That party pretty much signed the death warrant on us getting a pool until the kids are entering teenhood.

Posted by me at 9:13 PM | Comments (0)

June 20, 2008

And when the hell did I forget how to smile?

That tweet this morning about losing my shit? I had no idea.

My meltdown was a combination of days of holding Owen with no relief, lack of sleep from his unusual nighttime habits, and yet another screaming fit that seemed to have no reason and no solution. It was just too much. I was trying to figure out who I could call to come help me, just for a few minutes, to entertain my poor daughters who have been so good and so neglected, to hold Owen for just a few minutes so I could *not* hold him and still not hear him scream. And I realized there was no one closer than 250 miles that I knew well enough to see me in the state I was in.

And then I cried harder. Cried because I feel so isolated and alone. Because apparently there's only one person in this town that I consider a good friend, and he was in California. Because I was completely incoherent, and not a single creature in the house even noticed.

I need to make some friends around here, and I know it. But aside from the fact that it's something I'm just not good at, calling people I don't know well to set up, uh, something, it's also something that takes time. There are a few women in this neighborhood that may someday be great friends, but I haven't known them long enough to know them well. We're still in the dating stage, where I don't reveal my true self for fear of alienating every woman withing spitting distance of our house. When do I let loose with the atheism and the computer addiction and the animal science degree that required activities that viewed the wrong way are illegal in some states? When do I let them know that I'm an oversharer, and reveal that I no longer have any hobbies or joys or personality, but I used to be loud and sarcastic and opinionated and obnoxious and I had FUN?

Posted by me at 9:11 PM | Comments (3)

June 19, 2008

Ready

Today was a fairly good day with the kids, but I'm still totally ready for Rex to come home. Owen just generally requires a lot of hands on time, and I need for him to be held by someone else for five minutes or so.

---

I have a few posts in my head that aren't dull recreations of my day. Unfortunately, between Owen tying up my arms and a ridiculously full hard drive, I haven't had the time to put them together. Also, it would help if I could at the very least think in complete sentences. It would make writing them just that much easier.

Posted by me at 10:22 PM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2008

This is where I vent

I was looking forward to writing a well thought out and potentially amusing post, but since I've now put Owen to sleep for the fourth time tonight, all I have left in me are bullets.

• Owen woke up at 4 for his regularly scheduled feeding last night. Only, come 4:30ish, when I put him back down, he didn't go back to sleep. He didn't go back to sleep after I fed him some more, or after he burped, after he got quiet with the pacifier, or after I held him. I finally put him in bed with me and we were both out like a light. I had hoped the headache I woke up with at 4 would go away when I got back to sleep, but apparently the one hour and seven minutes of sleep I got before Jamie came in didn't cut it.
• Since we were up and ready to go earlier than usual this morning, we walked to the park while it was still cool and overcast. Jamie did a full on splat on the sidewalk. I have no idea what took her down, but oy! did it look painful. She got over it pretty quickly (for her), although she reminds me every now and then that it's still there.
• In spite of being THRILLED to go to the park, within five minutes of being there she was whining about being hot and hungry. Mind you, we haven't been outside in that kind of cool since summer started around here, and it was still nice and overcast.
• After the park, we came home, fed Owen, and then headed out to McDonald's. I asked Katie (twice, I think) to go to the bathroom before we left. Just as we started eating, she was chair dancing, so I took her again. Nothing. She ate, then played, and since she was running around with her knees together, I took her again. By then, her pants were damp, but she still didn't go. I put our afternoon shopping plans on hold (I just washed the carseat LAST NIGHT because she did the same thing to me at TKD), and we went home. I don't know what's up with her, if it's because Rex is out of town, and why she won't pee when she so obviously has to. I do know that threatening her with lost privledges isn't working. She hadn't had an accident in weeks before yesterday.
• Oh, and what's the deal with McDonald's chicken sandwiches? The Grilled Chicken Classic sandwich has MORE calories than the Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich. So I got the Southern Style, cause I love me some fried, well, anything, and it has less calories, right? Except I still feel like I ate worse (worse to me is fattening, not less nutritious). The fries didn't help, but how can I got to McDonald's and not get fries?
• Then we came home and Jamie bitched at me for making her quit her game to go to McDonald's. She's an ungrateful little creature. I've had some talks with her about being grateful and happy with what she has and to stop always asking for more. (Earlier this week, she actually asked to do something again before we had finished doing it the first time.) I don't know how to make it sink in.
• The girls took super long naps today, so I let them stay up late and watch a movie. Wouldn't it be sweet if they would sleep in tomorrow?
• My reaction to any and all stress is to walk into the pantry and shove something in my pie hole. I've been in there a lot the last two days.

Posted by me at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)

June 15, 2008

I want more of these

Friday night was one of those perfect summer evenings. After dinner, we cleaned up the kitchen, and then the girls went out in the back yard to play. Rex and I got to sit on the patio and talk while the girls dug in the sandbox and kicked a ball around. It was relaxed, it was low key, and I think the only way it could have been better was if we had some friends and a glass of wine join us. I almost hated to call the girls in and end the night.

Posted by me at 9:51 PM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2008

But a good one.

For not having anything to do, this has been a busy week.

Tuesday I got to go to another girl's night here in the neighborhood. I met a couple new women and got to talk to some that I met last month. This time I didn't have to leave early, and Owen doesn't eat until the wee hours of the morning, so I had two guilt-free tasty beverages and loads of conversation with ADULTS.

Wednesday, the kids were all angels. Owen was unscreamy in a way I haven't experienced in weeks. Jamie and Katie were agreeable, nearly tantrum free, and they put a hold on their eternal bickering. We even went to Kohl's and returned and shopped and they were still good. I don't know if I was just more patient since I had a night off and they reacted to it or if it was a fluke. Maybe a should have a few beverages every night for a week to test the theory.

Today is my birthday. Owen decided I should celebrate for extra hours, so he was up a little after 5. Even though he mostly went back to sleep, his presence in the bed kept me half awake for the rest of the morning. I put a movie in for the kids in the hopes of catching a wee nap. Katie was obviously, and Jamie was making noises about not feeling well, so I thought I might get all three kids to nap and I could doze. Turns out Jamie was lying about not feeling well, and spent most of the other kids' nap time squealing, "Look at me! Look at me!" I know the poor kid is a bit neglected, but she's also a huge attention whore. When Rex got home, we went out to dinner and then split TWO desserts. Yummy yum yum.

Maybe that's the key: Finish every day with a tasty beverage and a fancy dessert.

Posted by me at 9:07 PM | Comments (1)

June 9, 2008

It's floating away on the wind

We were officially out of the rental house on the first, but the final utility bills have been coming in this past week. I'm also waiting for the refund of our deposit, but I think they have at least 30 days before they have to send it back. I'm guessing they'll be keeping my money every single day they are legally entitled to it. Le sigh.

I'm actually surprised that we've already gotten all of the utility bills already. I guess I never paid attention to when they cycled. Anyway, gas bill - check. Water bill - refund of deposit minus exorbitant fee for zero usage - check! Electric bill - Holy shit! the bill for the house we aren't living in is higher than the one we *are* living in! I have no idea what happened. I don't know if a realtor changed the settings on the A/C, or if we let them set wrong or what, but the bill was WAY more than the month before. I'm pissed, and I want to fight it, but I'm pretty sure I don't have a leg to stand on. Hell, I don't even know what was left running. In the end, I paid the bill and decided to be happy that we're back to paying for a single abode.

I think I may be finally learning to just let it go.

Posted by me at 9:37 PM | Comments (0)

June 3, 2008

Shovel vs toe

I'm pretty sure when I was a kid, my dad had a rule about wearing sneakers or boot when you used a shovel. I know that rule applied to lawn mowing, horse and bike riding, and dirtbikes.

My dad's been wrong about a lot of things in my life, but this wasn't one of those things.

We have this super heavy duty sandbox that my mom made for Jamie when we were living in Maryland. We thought our move to Houston was going to be permanent, so we went to the trouble to pry the thing out of the ground at my dad's and hauled it to Texas. You have no idea how heavy this sandbox is. It takes two people to move it, and even then it's a strain. Oh, and that's not including the lid!

Once we moved the thing to Texas, we were obligated to take it with us wherever we went. In hindsight, we should have left the thing in Maryland, where the girls would still have had plenty of time to play in it. Of course, we had no idea how many moves we had left.

Now that we're settled(!) again, it's time to dig that baby back into the dirt. We've finally agreed on where it should go, and so I took advantage of one of Owen's happy days and a cool morning. I got out the shovel and started to cut the sod. Well, I tried, anyway. Apparently the sod did not want to be cut. I was stomping and stomping on the damn shovel, and getting absolutely nowhere. And then I somehow missed, and kicked the top edge of the thing.

Did I mention I was wearing sandals?

Yeah. I managed to not teach the girls any new words, and I only screamed just a tiny little bit. Not even enough to bother Owen, who seems to be sensitive to the crying of others. I'm pretty sure I broke the toe next to the little one. No roast beef, and now this. It's a nice shade of purple today.

You were right, Dad.

Posted by me at 9:12 PM | Comments (0)

June 2, 2008

Now we're gonna be RICH

As of yesterday, our lease at our last house has ended. After this last round of utility bills, we'll be officially only supporting ONE household! Whatever will we do with all that extra money?

Oh, yeah, save it for property taxes.

And diapers. My we tiny baby is out of size 1 Pampers. Every time he outgrows a size, I get sad that I'll never use that size again. You'd think I'd be happy to see the end of my diaper days approaching, but I'm just sad that my wee baby is getting closer to angry preschooler, and I'm never going to have a baby again.

On the upside, every day brings him closer to being a real boy, instead of just a blob. Owen was a smiling FOOL today! Head control rules.

Bittersweet.

Posted by me at 10:20 PM | Comments (1)

May 30, 2008

A day in the life

We had an awesome start to the morning. We've apparently resorted to bribery to get the girls to let us sleep in in the morning. Last night, we stopped at Sonic on the way home from Rex and the girls' TKD test (Jamie made green, Rex orange, and Katie got her first orange stripe. So. Proud.) It was late, so I told them we would stop for ice cream if they promised to sleep in the next day.

And they did.

We didn't hear a sound out of them until 8, and it was 8:30 before Rex went to tell them we were up. They were playing quietly in the game room upstairs. On top of that, Owen slept in til almost 8:30. I'm still in shock!

After breakfast, I shaved Pookie again. He looks funny without most of his fur, but I'm drowning in fuzz, here. After I washed off all the extra hair in the shower, we walked over to the last house we lived in to drop off the keys and garage door openers. We are finally rid of that albatross! Three months of paying rent and utilities on a house we were happy to move out of. Rex ended up carrying Katie most of the way home. She was complaining about her stomach. I felt bad, because I had told Rex yesterday and today that she seemed a bit off her game, and then we went on a long, hot walk. In my defense, she was excited to go.

After lunch, Katie felt a bit hot, but she only napped for about two hours. She was really hot by the time she woke up. Of course, that's also about the time Owen decided he wasn't going to be quiet unless there was an actual boob in his mouth. He's normally pretty cool with the pacifier, and happy to lie on the floor as long as he's fed and well rested. Not so much today. Not a good day to get ambitious with dinner. I ate most of mine while walking laps around the kitchen.

Katie's fever broke after a dose of Tylenol, but I imagine I'll be up checking on her a few times tonight. Owen is finally asleep and has been for a couple hours. Better yet, he let me put him down, so I finally get to type with two hands!

Posted by me at 10:33 PM | Comments (0)

May 27, 2008

Because I'm not feeling witty enough for paragraphs

More bullets:

• Owen slept a glorious 8+ hours Saturday night. Six hour nights aren't all that rare these days. I love my boy!


• The girls refuse to sleep in, no matter how hard we run them into the ground, and how late we keep them up. Jamie was so tired she fell asleep while we were at the pool, but didn't sleep a minute past seven all weekend. She won't nap, either. Katie will at least cave in and take a nap, but that doesn't help me when I've stayed up too late playing with my friends, too.


• We had friends in this weekend. Between us, we have 6 kids. They have a lot of fun together (so do the adults!), but it's a little like herding cats. We mostly hung out and talked while the kids played, which is pretty much my idea of a good time, these days.


• We lost a Herman sometime late last week. At least this time I don't have to take the blame. I neither starved, dehydrated or cooked the crab. Katie has been pretty sentimental lately, so I was worried about breaking the news. As it turns out, the kids are so excited about going to get a new crab, they didn't even acknowledge the death of the old one.


• Rex is working nights this week, which means he and I will push our schedule back, but the kids won't. Which is why I'll be heading to bed now.

Posted by me at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2008

Vacation for who?

I've been really exhausted the last few mornings, and I'm not sure if I'm still catching up from Owen's really bad night a few days back, adjusting to my new thyroid levels, or if it's just the cumulative effects of two months of night wakings. Last night, by the time I finished making teacher gifts, I was pooped. I made some comment about how nice it would be if Owen would just sleep through the night.

And then he did.

He slept for over six and a half hours, from when I finally got to bed until a reasonable (not desirable, reasonable) morning wake-up time. I slept pretty much straight through, too, except for an early morning something's-different alert and then an is-the-baby-dead check.

---

The girls had a field day for their last day of school. An ice cream truck with free popsicles, an Army Hummer, and some outdoor games. Katie was most impressed by getting to go outside to play twice in one day. Jamie was really excited about the two trucks, but I'm not sure what did it for her in the end. I think she really just likes running wilid with her friends and playing with all the little sisters.

I think I was more emotional about leaving the teachers than the girls were. Then again, I'm not sure Katie really has a concept of "summer vacation." Jamie has a better understanding of time, but I think she gets so caught up in the excitement of the moment that it doesn't occur to her to say goodbye.

Jamie has been talking about how now we can go anywhere we want, whenever we want. I don't think she gets that now every day is going to be like Friday's have been all year. Errands, catering to the baby, and occasional fun trips. She's told me that "babies sure are a lot of work," but I'm not sure she's getting that he's a lot of work all the time.

It's time to lower her expectations, and raise mine.

Posted by me at 9:02 PM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2008

Busy busy busy

More bullets, because we've been busy:

• Last night was Katie's music program. She did awesome! I'm always surprised at how well she does up in front of a crowd, considering how shy she is around strangers. Hell, she's shy with her teachers still, and she loves them.
• Flat Stanley has been visiting us for the last week. We didn't manage to go anywhere exciting, although he almost got sandwich at Jason's Deli one day. Katie totally fell for him, though. She's been in tears at least three times today because we have to send him back to Pennsylvania.
• Tonight was Jamie music program and graduation. I'm pretty much dead inside, but even I teared up seeing her on the stage with her cap on. I can't believe she's going to be in kindergarden next year! When did she stop being a baby and start being a kid?
• After graduation, we went to Sonic to get ice cream. Just as we ordered, Katie said she had to go to the bathroom. Yay! for her finally telling us. Boo for there not being any bathrooms nearby. We jumped in the van and got her home in time to go. She threw a fit when we made her go when we got home, which is just classic Katie.
• We finally got the kids in bed around 9:30. Everything was finally quiet (there was one more Flat Stanley fit), and then around 10:15 there was a really loud thump. I was halfway up the stairs by the time the crying started. Katie has now fallen out of her new bed for the first time. I'm guessing she's loving the thing a little less now.
• I've spent a good portion of today getting, assembling and assisting in getting teacher gifts ready. I wish I had come up with a good idea sooner!
• One of Rex's co-workers has invited us to a sort of wedding celebration. It's a formal affair, so of course, no kids. I really want to go, not beause I know the friend, but because it's been so long since we've gotten to go somewhere fancy. There's pretty much no way though, since we have no family and don't know any sitters here yet. Even if we did have a sitter, I'm not sure I'm ready to leave Owen with anyone but family. Even that would be difficult, what with his every five minutes nursing schedule. Le sigh.
• Tomorrow is the last day of preschool. I have some seriously mixed feelings about that. Mostly, I'm just scared.

Posted by me at 10:58 PM | Comments (2)

May 16, 2008

It's the end of a long, long week. Unfortunately, I don't think the worst of it is going to get better with the return of Daddy.

Posted by me at 9:18 PM | Comments (0)

May 6, 2008

More monkeys off my back

I've been a little light on the posting. My dad came to visit for Katie's birthday last Wednesday, and he just left this morning. The result is a weird more time/less gets done phenomenon. Naturally, the last couple days, Owen has been sleeping up a storm, but today, when I want to get a few things done that require arms, he's been awake and fussy and only catnapping.

I have this chicken scratch list of things I wanted to blog about, but when I look at it now, each thing seems like it's only a sentence. That, or it happened so long ago, it no longer seems relevant. I have a whole pile of unpublished posts that are the same way, but somehow I just can't let them go. Guess who suffers? That's right, YOU.

Let's see...the Owen update. He's definately getting better about the car, although he still hates stopping, and he still sometimes loses it completely. HOWEVER, he has also slept through entire trips, and even been awake and content at times. He's finally started noticing and being amused by toys. Like, you can lay him on the floor with stuff dangling over him, and distract him from fussiness by jiggling the toys. My boobs are grateful for the distraction.

After 3 years of planning, searching, moving, cursing and procrastination, Jamie is finally getting bedroom furniture. And so is Katie. Lucky second kid! We finally decided on a set from Pottery Barn Kids. I feel so snooty! All of the other kids furniture we looked at was crap, though. I wanted something that would last until they left for college, and possibly beyond. Most of what we looked at didn't seem sturdy enough to make it until next year, much less through high school. Of course, we're paying for the quality, but at least I won't have to look anymore. I can't wait to stop sorting their clothes into piles on the floor.

Tonight, Jamie and I are going shopping for a birthday present for Katie, among other things. I'm going to try to leave Owen here. I can't remember the last time it was just Jamie and I. I think the last time we ended up bitching at each other, so I'm going to try to avoid that this time. I'd like her to remember Mama and Me time as a good thing, not the time where Mama bitches at me alone instead of sharing the angst with my sister.

Posted by me at 3:26 PM | Comments (0)

May 5, 2008

I'll be the one scratching

Early last week, I developed a hideously itchy rash between the ring and middle fingers of my left hand. I assumed it was a recurrence of my dyshidrosis, until I found an big itchy patch on my cheek. Over the week since the first I found the first bumps, I've found new blisters and patches daily. Revised diagnosis: poison ivy that has become systemic. I didn't even know poison ivy could do that, and I've been getting plenty of it since I was a kid.

The upside is that a doctor (ok, my OB) actually agrees that it's poison ivy. The downside is that she suggested hydrocortisone cream, which as far as I can tell is about as effective as hand cream. She said that if the rash gets bad enough, i could go on steroids, but when I asked if I could take steroids while breastfeeding, all she said was that they would make me crazy. Since we've established that crazy and I already have a relationship, I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

At least the first bumps that showed up are starting to fade, and I don't look like I have a nasty case of facial herpes anymore.

Posted by me at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)

April 29, 2008

Like I needed help with crazy

The wind is driving me fucking nuts. I swear, we've had one nice, warm day that wasn't windy. The rest of the time it's either been cool, cloudy, rainy, or freakishly windy.

The weatherman said that today was supposed to be 83 and sunny. Tomorrow and Thursday, partly cloudy, 80's and windy. I thought that meant today would be awesome, and it was, but it was also damn breezy. So what's in store for tommorow, when the forecast actually says "windy?

Gusts up to 40 mph.

Posted by me at 9:48 PM | Comments (0)

April 25, 2008

Not so much fun

Yesterday, Owen slept something like 19 or 20 hours. He slept in the car and on the floor and in my arms while I shopped. He slept through stoplights and preschool pickup and even in the carseat while we were at home. He slept so much that even with his usual awake time before bed, I was afraid he would be up half the night. He wasn't, though, he slept right on through that too.

Today, he *wanted* to sleep. But he wanted to sleep on me. Most of the times I set him down, he woke up immediately. A few times, he managed to sleep long enough for me to shower or make lunch, but no longer. Normally this wouldn't bother me, but I'm really trying to play with the girls more. I'm with them all the time, but rarely involved with them. I don't want to just be a presence in their lives, I want to be active in their lives. I'm not very good at that. A lot of day, by the time I'm done fetching and butt wiping and cleaning up after and feeding them, I pretty much just want to be left alone to do my thing. I'm not good at being fun and playful, and most of the time it just feels like more work.

So, anyway, both girls were home today, and I had high hopes that we would figure out something that would be fun for all of us. Instead, I spent most of the day holding Owen, feeding Owen, or telling the girls to be quiet so Owen would fall asleep.

Posted by me at 9:49 PM | Comments (0)

April 23, 2008

And then I found a gray hair

Just when I think you have it all together, I realize that I've been wearing my shorts inside out ALL DAY LONG. That includes skipping the usual preschool drop off line in favor of walking the girls in (and speaking to just about every teacher there), and a trip to the grocery store. No wonder that nice store employee was so unusually helpful.

Posted by me at 9:30 PM | Comments (2)

April 15, 2008

Did I mention how happy I am about the warranty?

Owen must be some kind of baby genius, because he rolled from front to back tonight. Twice! On the floor, so he didn't have the help from uneven surfaces. Unless we have a foundation issue, which doesn't seem so unlikely after the last week.

Saturday night, I tried to turn the heat back on. I hate alternating between running the heat and A/C, but the weather has just been that variable. To avoid cooking the girls and freezing the boy (and me!), I had to do it. Anyway, soon after I turned the heat on, I noticed that what I thought had been a passing low-flying helicopter was actually one of the heating units in the attic. Rex narrowed it down to the downstairs unit, so at least the girls have been warm the last few days. Thank god for new home warranties!

Last week, we had a huge storm with some nice sideways rain. While the girls were waving goodbye to Rex as he drove off for work, I found puddles in the foyer. One of them was at least three feet in from the door. I couldn't figure out where the water came in from, but we're assuming there's a gap in the seal around the door. I'm going to hose the door down when I get a chance so I can tell the warranty guy exactly what he needs to fix. Oh, and the same storm uprooted our baby trees AGAIN.

Posted by me at 9:32 PM | Comments (0)

April 9, 2008

Maybe tomorrow will be the day

I have got to start eating better.

It's like the day Owen came out, I said to hell with health and weight. First I cleaned the house of all the (ugh) Valentine's and Easter candy. With my mouth. Then I started in on anything else I could find that was sweet. I baked. I ate salty I didn't even want.

I thought that would help me get back into the healthy stuff we have, the fruit and such. Nope. I just got a giant bag of M&M's the next time I went to Target. Oh, and more chips, and cheese puffs, and some faux cheese crackers.

Two days ago, I had lemonade and waffle fries from Chick-fil-A for lunch. Yesterday, it was a third of a grilled cheese and a PILE of M&M's. It's 10am and I'm already trying to resist the chocolate. It's not working.

Every day I swear I'm going to stop with the chocolate, and start with the real food. Every morning, I get on the scale, and I'm surprised that I haven't starting gaining weight. I think that if I weren't eating all the junk, I'd probably be losing weight. Every day I justify another handful of junk because me kids are driving me nuts, or because I survived, or because I'm having a good day.

Posted by me at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)

April 5, 2008

I'm melting!

Woo!

In spite of the fact that I polished off all the Easter candy, some Valentine's candy, the fudge sauce and some ice cream and some pie dough and, well, you get the picture. In spite of all that, I only have 6 more baby pounds to lose.

Of course, then there are the 7 pounds I gained due to poor management of my thyroid problem last spring, and then the 6 pounds I wanted to lose before that. But still, I'm happy to have gotten through a pregnancy without gaining a metric ton, and glad to see the pounds leaving the way they did when had babies at a younger age.

Posted by me at 1:13 PM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2008

And it is good

We're mostly on our own, here.

My dad left on Sunday, before Owen and I got home from the hospital. He had to be back in Maryland to leave for New Jersey Tuesday morning.

My mom left this morning, heading out for an elder hostel in Arizona that starts at the end of the month. She could have stayed a little longer if we had needed her, but I guess we were all ready to sort of move on.

I'm going to miss their help. Hell, I'm going to miss having extra warm bodies that made it possible to leave a room/make lunch/go to the store alone/sleep/breathe. Not to mention the entertainment my parents provided every single day they were here. I'm going to have to figure out how to interact with my own kids again.

Luckily for me, Spring Break is finally over. Jamie went back to school today, and Katie will be back for the first time in two weeks tomorrow. I want to kiss every woman in that place in thankfulness.

Rex is off work for the rest of this week, and will be working nights from home next week, so I'm not totally on my own. This is also good, because I haven't yet figured out how to get the girls ready for school and myself dressed (and potentially clean, too!) in time to get out the door. We have quite a list of things to do this week, and it's going to take both of us to make it happen. Rex has some meetings at work, everyone but Katie has doctor appointments, we have Jamie's birthday party to replan, another birthday party to attend, it goes on and on.

Life goes on.

Posted by me at 8:40 PM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2008

GET OUT

Wow. I've been really bad about posting. I keep thinking of things to post, and in my head I think I've written them, but apparently I've never actually typed them out.

My parents are still both here, so I've spent a lot less time in the evenings on the laptop, when I actually have time to write. I manage to keep up with email and blogs (sort of) during the day in little bursts.

I'm still pregnant. I'm now, what, 5 days overdue? I've never been in this position before. This kid has missed all the cool dates, too. His due date, his sister's birthday, his uncle's birthday (that would be today), not to mention ANY ONE OF THE DAYS IN BETWEEN.

The sickness that Katie had made it's way through the entire household, minus Rex. There were at least two days during which my biggest accomplishment was breathing. Thankfully, the ick hit us in staggered fashion and by the time it took my mom down, the rest of us were capable of feeding ourselves again. I have the feeling this kid has been hiding out from all the coughing, but I'm better now. I SWEAR.

Posted by me at 9:53 PM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2008

Yawn

Still no baby. I shouldn't be surprised. In fact, I'm fully expecting this kid to come sometime on Sunday, the way babycenter.com says he will. After all, that's what my other kids did!

Katie has been sick since last Friday. She gets a nightly fever and occasionally heats up at nap time, but otherwise acts normal. Well, normal plus a cough and runny nose. I kept her home from school on Monday, and I'm truly hoping that she doesn't heat up again tonight so she can go back tomorrow for her egg hunt. I really don't want to have to tell her she's missing her egg hunt.

We haven't heard from most of the girls we invited to Jamie's birthday party. The fer sure yes we had has turned into a maybe, I have a definite no, and I have a we-thought-we-couldn't-make-it,-but-now-we-can that I pray doesn't forget. Not a peep from the other three. Rex is considering paying little girls to come. Wow, that didn't sound bad til I typed it. Anyway, I'm going to attend the egg hunts tomorrow and see if I can corner some moms and beat an answer out of them.

Bubba is peeing blood again. Recurring UTI's, not good. I think this solves my dilemma, although it doesn't make it any easier.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to sleep again, between cat drama, sick kid, and pregnancy. And since I already know what to expect after the kid arrives, I know I'm screwed.

Posted by me at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)

March 6, 2008

It's all over but the waiting (and the packing of the bag)

My mom called last week and asked if I had any idea when the baby would be coming. As though the woman had not been through two pregnancies that ran long and had no idea that babies come when they want, and they rarely inform anyone ahead of time.

I had another appointment today. It sucked, but not because it was painful or embarrassing or I received bad news. It sucked because I only got two pages of my book read. TWO PAGES. Last week was so much better when my doctor was late for my appointment because she was in surgery. I think between the waiting room and the exam room, I had 45 minutes of almost uninterrupted alone time. Today, I was actually back in the van on the way home one minute after my appointment was scheduled to start.

On the upside, everything is looking good. I'm locked up tight, but that's nothing new. The baby is high (no kidding, I think an ENT could probably see feet), but then, Katie was up like that five hours after my water broke.

My dad is out of town for the weekend, and my mom hasn't arrived yet. Inclement weather is predicted for tonight. Maybe the inconvenience will bring him along.

Posted by me at 8:24 PM | Comments (2)

February 27, 2008

Disconnected

I have, so far, managed to stay within my weight gain goal for this pregnancy. I'm actually impressed, since it's not like I've been eating particularly well. My Sonic habit alone should be kicking my butt. Add that to my obsession with Cadbury Mini Eggs, and the fact that we keep M&M's around constantly to bribe Katie to use the potty. And the Valentine's candy. Oh, and Rex's birthday cake.

You can see why I'm surprised.

---

I spent my kids free hours today waiting at the rental house for the carpet cleaners to come. Not that they weren't well within their window, and once they got there, were quite quick. Too quick, in fact, to feel like I got what I was paying for. I mean, I'm sure I did, but since there was no furniture to move they arrived, cleaned, packed up and left in under 30 minutes.

---

Jamie is supposed to take a bug to school tomorrow. I had planned to look with her this afternoon, but I ended up saving my sanity by forcing a nap instead. By the time the girls woke up, they had to eat and run to TKD and didn't come home til well after bedtime. She and Rex remembered a (dead) grasshopper in the garage. I just went out to collect it. It's huge, nicely dead, and Rex ran over it's head when he brought the girls home. I'm not sending a juicy headless grasshopper to school with my kid. Unfortunately, it's cold outside, and not another bug to be seen.

---

Why is it that whenever you go into a salon to get, say, your lip waxed, they ask you if you want your eyebrows done? I don't think I've once gotten a lip wax without being asked as least once if I wanted my eyebrows done. I don't have faint line eyebrows, but it's not like I have fuzzy caterpillars crawling around up there.

Posted by me at 9:49 PM | Comments (1)

February 25, 2008

Bruised, a little bloody, but not a single contraction

Not that I would recommend twisting an ankle and taking a fall at any time, but I definately don't suggest doing it 37 weeks pregnant. The gimpy walk I developed as I stiffened up over the day just makes me feel more self-conscious than usual, with my leading belly.

On the up side, the baby finally has a carseat installed just for him and the girls are thrilled with their new seating arrangement.

Posted by me at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2008

Brilliant

Keeping the cat locked in the bathroom so he doesn't pee in the new house, and so that he eats his super-special expensive food and not the regular stuff works a lot better when you remember to PUT HIM IN THE BATHROOM before you leave the house.

Posted by me at 8:26 PM | Comments (1)

February 14, 2008

Temporarily smooth

I have pretty much given up shaving my legs for the last few months. Somehow the fact that reaching for my legs with the razor cuts off my supply of oxygen overrode my need for smooth legs. Today, however, I had to take my pants off for the doctor, and even though she's no hot stud, I felt the need to debristle.

As I was breathing heavily between sorties against the hair, it occurred to me that today was the last day I would have to try to fold myself in half to reach my ankles. The movers come for the furniture and heavy crap tomorrow, and tomorrow night we'll be sleeping in our new house. Not that we'll be done moving, by any means. We still have a lot of van loads of oddly-shaped, delicate, or just plain overlooked stuff that won't make it by tomorrow night, but the beds will be there, and I follow the comfort.

Posted by me at 8:45 PM | Comments (0)

February 5, 2008

Topsy turvy

This has been a weird day. Jamie woke up with a good fever, but acting on the happy, perky side of normal. Katie was perky and happy, too, and NOT sick. I felt like crap, probably because I barely slept last night. The day started in the 60's and went up from there. Then Katie turned into a teary crank. Jamie's energy ran down. We watched a movie, had some lunch and then spent a few minutes outside, enjoying the sunny 70's. I started feeling better. They were obviously winding down. I put them to bed, and they both fell asleep. Then the storm hit. Pea sized hail, high winds, we've dropped 25 degrees so far. I wonder what this evening will bring?

Posted by me at 3:03 PM | Comments (0)

January 31, 2008

Putting a little too much into it

The wind is still howling.

Bubba is still yowling.

But we officially own a house.

---

I've been planning to get Jamie a bedroom set since her second birthday. That didn't happen because we just didn't have room to add it to my dad's house. When we moved back to Spring, I looked and I looked and I found what I wanted at IKEA. Since her room was so big, and we planned to have the girls share for at least a few years, I had decided to get two sets using different pieces from the same line. The only reason I didn't take it home was that it wouldn't fit in my van while the seats were in, and since I had the kids with me, taking them out would have been a wee problematic. For some reason, you had to arrange delivery in person, and I figured if I was going to have stuff delivered I'd combine the charges and get the game room furniture at the same time, only I hadn't picked that out yet. And then before I got around to it, we found out we might be moving, and hell if I wanted to pay to move and store even more furniture. Then the apartment was too small, plus we've known we had a few more moves coming.

But now. Now, we're ready.

Of course, now, IKEA still makes the same line but in different stains. I can't get the pieces I want in matching colors, unless I go with white, which just ain't gonna happen. Also, the girls are now required to room together for the forseeable future, and the room is a bit smaller, so some of my requirements have changed.

There is some other furniture I like that meets the new requirements just fine. Pottery Barn Kids has some stuff I really like, at least until I choke over the price. I remember a set from Pier1 Kids that was nifty, but they have apparently gone out of business, and the kids stuff doesn't appear to have moved to the regular store. I wasn't impressed with the quality of most of the stuff at Rooms to Go Kids, from what I remember.

I've put way too much time, effort and angst into this the last three years, and I have nothing to show for it. You would think with all the options in this world, it wouldn't be so damn hard to find what I want.

Posted by me at 9:22 PM | Comments (0)

January 29, 2008

Cracking

I think the stress is starting to get to me, even though I don't actually think about all we have going on right now all the time.

Listening to Bubba yowl all day and half the night is driving me insane. I know that it's no picnic for him to be locked in that bathroom, but it's better than being dead, right? Except that he's getting so annoying I'm going to choke him to get him to shut up anyway.

Sunday afternoon, both kids finally took much needed naps. In fact, they SO needed naps that we decided not to wake them up, but I think Rex finally woke Katie up around 6. Naturally, that bit us in the ass when she came out of her room at 9:45 that night with a big smile on her face. Trying to avoid a repeat, when she zonked out this afternoon, I made sure to have her up around 5. I've had to wake her plenty in the past, and she usually wakes up pretty quickly and happily. Not so much today. It took me about 15 minutes to convince her to keep her eyes open, but soon after that she started an hour long crying jag that she wasn't giving up for anything, including dinner. I actually kept myself together much better than usual (read, with Jamie), but goddamn, I really wanted to scream.

And then Jamie. Ahh, Jamie. Remember that Gary Larson cartoon with the kid trying to get into the School for the Gifted? Can you picture a kid trying to put a square peg into a round hole? Over and over, for an hour? That was my evening. Jamie and I had played Uno, and I asked her to put the cards away. I had already stacked them in two even piles, so she really just needed to slide them into the box, but for some reason she just couldn't figure out how to get them in. She just kept doing the same thing over and over. And I held my patience very well, even after she started crying. She needs to learn to figure things out, though. And she needs to learn that just because something is hard, that doesn't mean someone is going to come and do it for her. She hates to work at things that are difficult for her, but she needs to learn to do it anyway.

The final straw for the day is probably the wind. Or maybe that's what put me on edge from the beginning. It finally warmed up around here, but the wind has been crazy. Today, the house lost probably a dozen shingles and something like six panels of the fence blew down. The wind caught the door of my van and smashed it into the mirror of the van next to me so hard it flattened a piece of the trim. Trash and leaves and crap flying around, and it's impossible to keep your hair out of your face. And then there's the sound, the constant whine and the rattle of windows. Today was an extreme day, but the wind blows a lot here. It's actually on my list of things to hate about Dallas.

Posted by me at 10:00 PM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2008

Another action packed day.

When I woke up at 6:30 this morning, I was bummed because I barely had enough time to fall back asleep before the girls would be up. When I woke up at 7:30 and there wasn't a kid in sight, I was stunned. Both kids slept in, almost an extra hour, on the same day. And neither was sick enough to keep home!

Rex and I did the walk-through with the builder for our house today. A final walk-through and closing and we're homeowners again! It went well. There were a few minor problems on the inspection, and then some cosmetic repairs, but nothing that should cause any problems. This has been almost too easy.

In what seems to be a neverending saga involving Bubba and his pee, I made another trip to the vet today. I had fully intended to take him to another vet to get a urine sample, and my intent was hurried along when I found one of the vets I used to work for practicing in town and another bloody pee spot. Three hours of solid yowling later and I have a diagnosis of a nasty UTI but no crystals. A pill a day for two weeks, and then we see what happens. Poor Bubba has been locked in a bathroom for the last few days, and it looks like he'll be there a while longer. When I asked the doc how cruel that was, she said "Better than the alternative!" which is, of course, his demise. I had to agree. Rex may have a different opinion when he sees the bill.

Posted by me at 8:56 PM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2008

Don't

I just learned a valuable lesson about leaving the dirty water in the carpet cleaner.

Posted by me at 4:28 PM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2008

Mission: Unaccomplished

I've already technically failed my attempt at Project 365. I had a day last week that I forgot to take a picture. This would be easier if I just had to take 365 pictures instead of taking pictures over 365 days. I've found a bunch of things that I want to photograph, but I often hit a couple of them in a single (often child-free!) day. Then there are days like today, when it's so cold and unpleasant outside that I have to try to find an indoor subject, and frankly, there isn't much inspiration in here. Or worse, the kids are in bed, it's dark, and I realize I have two hours before midnight to find something snap-worthy.

I'm going to keep trying to take a picture a day, though. It's just too early in the year to be giving up!

Posted by me at 10:23 PM | Comments (2)

January 12, 2008

Like hiring a hooker to hold me

I actually spent quite a while talking to a saleguy who came to our door today. He was one of those "I'm selling magazines as part of a program to get me out of a bad life situation" guys, that swear they work for a non-profit, but I'm just not convinced that it's a fleece. THen I felt bad about talking to him for so long with no intent to buy that I donated $10 to him. At the worst I paid $10 for some socialization, at best I made a small donation to help some guy dig his way out of a bad situation.

I need to get out more.

Posted by me at 8:57 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2008

The good kind of frazzled

So many things happening at once. Getting Katie's preschool stuff in order (doctor's visits and such), trying to get information from the vet about Bubba (I've pretty much just given up and am treating him myself and hoping for the best) and all the crap we have to get in order for the new house.

I think tonight I'll go to bed early.

Posted by me at 8:29 PM | Comments (0)

January 9, 2008

But at least I'm going to go nuts in a pretty house!

So much going on at once, all of it major, traumatizing, and yet most excellent.

Katie had a great day at school. Even Jamie's teacher noticed when the classes crossed paths. I never saw a tear or anything approaching sadness, and from what I gather she didn't shed one. She came home with a dry diaper and hadn't been changed once. She ate all of her lunch. She's excited about her name tags (for her backpack and the hangtag for my van.) She's ready to go back. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.

I had four hours in which I both got things done and had alone time, and didn't have to feel any guilt about neglecting my kids, aside from the holy-crap-my-baby-went-to-school. I somehow didn't manage to call the vets about Bubba's urine results, but he seems much better since the two days of pen injections. I really do need to call them tomorrow and figure out wtf is up.

Between Rex and I, we negotiated a price on the house and a rate with the lender (the builder's lender, otherwise all incentives were void, so we had each other over a barrel). Then we spent an hour or so signing contracts and paperwork and our lives away. We're set to close by the end of the month. In spite of the fact that I kind of want to throw up, I really want to start moving NOW NOW NOW. We'll be paying rent and mortgage at the same time for a while, which doesn't thrill me, but it sure does give us the time to make a leisurely move. I still can't believe I signed up to stay here. Just the wind in the last week has been enough to drive me insane, add in the cold and the lack of friends and family, and I'm probably one step from the funny farm.

Posted by me at 8:19 PM | Comments (1)

January 8, 2008

Ramble, ramble, WHEE!

So today was the first full day with the kids back. I didn't start losing it until dinner time, in spite of some kid and non-kid provocation.

There was a little extra whining, and some gratutious crying, but I sort of expected that. We all have to readjust to the rhythms of this life. I'm personally am making an effort to stop sweating the small stuff, nag less and enjoy more. After lunch, we went out to run some errands. I suppose I should mention that my dad has been working on potty training Katie while they were up in Maryland, with quite a bit of success. It seems to be either a feast or famine or type of thing, where she either successfully goes completely on her own without reminding or assistance, or she totally forgets. During lunch today, she made three or four trips to the bathroom to "try," although I think after the first try she was playing some weird sort of potty/food dawdling game. We had some errands to run, so right before we left, I had her try one more time, without results. Of course, while we were in a model home talking to the sales person, she not only wet herself, but she pooped, too. Did I mention that the panties she was wearing were a couple sizes too big? There were turds falling out of the legs of her pants as I stripped her before I let her back in the carseat. We ran back home before we continued with our errands (um, duh, she was naked) only to discover that the garage door opener was broken. Luckily, I can still open it by hand, but I can't say I'm thrilled by the whole thing.

Yesterday, we got a call from Katie's preschool saying that they have a Monday/Wednesday opening, starting tomorrow. I'm pretty sure she's going to do fine, but I'm not ready anymore! I had gotten used to the idea of her being around this spring, and frankly, it didn't bother me at all. She can't stop talking about getting to go to school, though, so I guess I'm going to have to grow up and be ok too. We ran by the school to do a little paperwork, and she got to meet her teachers and see her room. She of course turned back into shygirl. I still think she's going to be fine, though. Really. *sigh* Believe me yet?

I was fine through all of that. What got me was dinner. The two trips to the bathroom Katie made without making anything. The nagging and complaining and the wanting of other people's food before she's bothered to eat any of her own. It's the little things *fake smile*

Tomorrow, I have 4 hours to myself, with the exception of meeting the garage repair guy. Whatever shall I do with myself?

Posted by me at 9:55 PM | Comments (0)

January 4, 2008

Biological nightmare

I've spent the last hour or so wanding around in the dark with a black light, squirting half a gallon of simple solution on glowing carpet stains. As much as I love Bubba, and as much as I abhor putting an animal down for a bad habit, Bubba is walking a fine, fine line.

I took the cats to the vet today. They haven't been in a while and were all due for rabies shots. Bubba, of course, was there to look for a medical explanation for his "issues." His bladder, naturally, was empty, so Sunday night I'll have the pleasure of collecting a urine sample to drop off for analysis.

The black light proved educational in other ways. The game room carpet is spotted like a dalmation, and I'm positive that Bubba isn't responsible for the majority of it. The bedroom carpet isn't much better. Let's hope CSI never has to investigate here. They'd have to take thousands of samples, 99% of which would be unrelated to us but still potentially foul.

Posted by me at 8:28 PM | Comments (0)

January 3, 2008

Friends in humid places

I had totally planned to start posting a picture a day (or as close to it as I can get) starting on the 1st. Except, on the 1st, Rex and I went to Houston to see friends, and managed to go completely laptop free, except for the time we spent poking around in the Apple Store. Anyway, I'm not going to scrap the whole plan just because I missed the first two days.

Also, in an effort to get myself to start pulling out the camera more often again and to take and think about subjects other than holidays and kids, I'm going to attempt Project 365. I have managed to take pictures the last two days, although it was a near thing, getting them done on the right day. I'm not sure I'm going to post every picture of every day anywhere, but I suspect a lot of them will make it to this blog.

Our trip to Houston was wonderful. It was more time in the car than I prefer, but without kids in the car we could talk and read and not have to listen to Cars rolling in the back seat. We also ended up coming home many, many hours later than planned, because we were enjoying a fun dinner with friends that none of us wanted to end. Come to think of it, we stayed up later than planned on Tuesday, talking with another set of friends. I really miss friends. I mean, I miss those people specifically, but I also miss having people around to go out to dinner with, or stay in and have pizza with, just in general. One of the nice things about both of these couples is that we could have had our girls with us, and although we would have had to cut our time short, we would have had just as much fun.

It's rather sad that we've been in Dallas for over a year now, and haven't found anything close.

Posted by me at 10:47 AM | Comments (2)

December 28, 2007

I could get used to this

The girls left yesterday for 12 days with my Dad. For some reason, I'm more worried about them enjoying their time up there. It's not the first time they've made this visit without me, and they've always done fine. I also felt a little guilty over how much I was looking forward to them going. I seem to be getting over that.

They called yesterday when they got to my dad's, and both kids were chipper and happy and not at all homesick. I'm sure that will come, too, but it usually hits them for just a few minutes and then they perk back up again.

In the meantime, what I thought was a short list of things to get done while they're out of my hair has turned into quite a list. It might be difficult to fit it all in, especially since "Sleep in as late as possible" is at the top of each day's list! In the day and a half they've been gone, we've already gotten service done on my van, had a problem diagnosed (the part is on backorder), taken down the Christmas tree and put the loot away, and cleaned up an ocean of cat pee. AND we've had time to be lazy and watch a movie.

Posted by me at 3:37 PM | Comments (1)

December 27, 2007

I don't really want to think about what comes next

I have cleaned no less than a dozen pee spots from around the house in less than a week. I don't know what to do anymore.

I'm still not 100% sure which cat is doing it. I wouldn't be surprised at this point if Bubba started it and some other cat is marking where he peed.

I can't kill an animal for peeing on stuff. I can't pay hundreds or thousands of dollars cleaning and replacing carpet because a cat pees on stuff. I don't mind making concessions for my pets, closing doors, picking things up, keeping the box extra clean. We're doing all that, and it isn't working.

I think the next step is to lock Bubba up for a couple days and see if the spraying stops. If it does, I'll take him to the vet to make sure there isn't anything medical going on.

Posted by me at 5:35 PM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2007

But what I need is a drink

The last week has been weird weird weird.

The weather has gone from nice to beautiful to fantastic to crap, and then when we got up this morning, it was back to nice, with a forecast of more crap. I'm loving the nice, hating the cold, and just plain confused.

The girls have been sleeping when I least expect it. Katie has been sleeping a bit later, and then yesterday she took a nap, too. This morning, she slept in an extra half hour, Jamie was over an hour later than her usual. Either they're both going to need new wardrobes next week, or the sick is coming to get them.

Last week, Rex had a day of some puking illness. He went from perfectly fine to puking up his guts to perfectly fine in underr 24 hours. I was convinced I was next, and have spent the last week feeling queasy and blah. Apparently, I'm just a hypochondriac. Then yesterday, I woke up with an ominous throat tickle. By last night, I knew I'd been hit...by another cold. I would SO rather have Rex's day-long version of sick than 10 days of ass dragging with a cold. Ugh.

I did mange to get most of the picture book done yesterday. I spent all afternoon sorting and picking and enhancing and placing. Then I had to take a break from that last night to sign and address Christmas cards. For someone who doesn't usually seem to have much to do, I sure have a lot on my plate right now. I have some actual work (the kind I get paid for!) sitting in my inbox, we have family coming into town to cook and clean for this weekend, Christmas gifts to buy and figure out, and a BzzCampaign waiting for me too.

All I really wanna do is lay in bed, read a book, watch tv and nap.

Posted by me at 9:49 AM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2007

The Christmas cards are done!

My hand hurts.

Posted by me at 9:49 PM | Comments (0)

December 9, 2007

Trying to get back into gear

It's surprising easy to get out of the habit of posting daily. I have all kinds of excuses, the best of which is that I've been living life instead of typing about it. The weather this week has been spectacular, and there's no way I'm not going to enjoy the gift of 80 degree days in December.

I spent a lot of the week shopping. Picking up Christmas gifts, some much needed clothing, food. I'm not sure how it happened, but some of Jamie's jeans are already too small. These are the same jeans that were on the big side of fitting three months ago. I'm not at all upset about this spurt, it seems like she's been wearing the same clothes for *years*, and even I'm ready to see her in something new! Except for the jeans, come to think of it. September was the first time she wore those. Hmm.

In the evenings, instead of blogging about my day, I've been sorting through the 8100+ pictures of the kids I've taken this year, looking for the best 30 or so for our annual gift book. Yeesh. The experience is making me want to resolve to take fewer pictures of my family. I may get my wish, since for whatever reason, I've taken a lot less photos in the last 4 months.

Yesterday was busy, with TKD, our first visit to Chuck E. Cheese for a party, and the tree lighting ceremony for our little town. The girls got their first ever picture on Santa's lap, and there wasn't a single tear! Today was much more relaxed, something I think we were all ready for. We managed to get our Christmas card picture taken (finally!) in short order with no fuss. And as a totally unexpected gift, both girls fell asleep at rest time. It's putting a kink in getting the Christmas pictures printed, but it's a happy kink.

Posted by me at 4:26 PM | Comments (0)

November 29, 2007

Justification that doesn't make me feel one bit better

I've always believed that when you take a pet into your home, you're making a lifelong commitment to that animal. Much like in a marriage, you take the bad with the good. You make living arrangement decisions based on your family at the time, including your pet. You work through behavior issues. Unless the animal is violent or dangerous to your children, you train both your children and your pet to get along. They aren't disposable, you don't just take them to the shelter when they become inconvenient, or annoying, or you decide to move to an apartment where they don't take pets. And you don't put down an otherwise healthy animal. You took this creature into your life, if for some reason you can't keep it, you better find a good home for it.

And that is why this is killing me.

I've had Bubba for nine and a half years. He is...special. When he was about 8 weeks old, his front feet were amputated in an act of cruelty that I can't really go into. He was brought to the vet clinic where I worked, and he became a part of the clinic. His treatment was not always pleasant, and it took over eight months and a small surgery for his stupms to heal. He was a sweet, loving little creature that loved to hang out on my shoulders. For some reason, I was the only person in the clinic who could treat him by myself. The others could do what was required, but it took two or three of them to hold onto him and get the job done. On holidays, I happily volunteered to take him home and care for him.

One of the vets wanted Bubba for a pet, but he wasn't what any of us considered a loving pet owner. Besides, Bubba loved me, and I wanted him. Strangely, he fit into the communal living arrangement I was in at the time, four people, my two cats plus my boyfriend at the time's cat, a large dog and at some point a beastly little puppy. And so he came to live with me.

That communal house was not the, uh, cleanest place I've lived. And the boyfriend's cat had a little issue with peeing. Likely because the boyfriend had a little issues with keeping his box clean. That may have been where Bubba picked up his little habit. In late living arrangements, I had a lot fewer problems with Bubba and his pee, although every now and then he would go in the dirty laundry basket or on a pile of clothes or one memorable time, in Rex's suitcase as he was unpacking from a trip. We've learned to just not keep piles of clothing and such around, and most of the time that works.

He has spells every now and then, though, that make him difficult to live with. Peeing on things in the kids toy room. Peeing on Jamie's bed (thank goodness the mattress is covered, since the cat isn't the only creature that wets her bed.) Peeing on brand new beanbags. Peeing on the throw rugs I keep around the house so he doesn't have to stump on the hard floors. We very, very rarely catch him at his game, although I'm 99% sure he is the only culprit.

In the last week, he's gone at least twice on a rug, twice in the kids laundry basket (I can't figure out how, the girls are well trained to keep their bedrooms closed up), once in a wooden doll cradle on doll blankets, and once just on the floor in the corner of our bedroom (he has NEVER gone on just the carpet before). At least, that's what I've found so far.

I might be able to find him a pet or child free home that would be more to his liking except for one thing: He really doesn't like anyone but me. It took years for him to even tolerate Rex's comopany, and the kids have developed a healthy respect for him. He won't go after anyone, but he prefers to be left alone. I'm just not sure how he would do with anyone else.

Rex's patience is worn thin, as is mine.

So what can I do?

Posted by me at 10:27 PM | Comments (1)

November 25, 2007

If you don't like the weather in Texas...

I can't decide if this is a complaint or a wonder. Less than a week ago, the temperatures were in the low 80's. All weekend, they were in the low 40's. It's hard to believe as we bundle up to leave the house that last week we were all in shorts. Luckily, this week temps should go back up into the 60's, and I'll be willing to leave the house for groceries again.

Posted by me at 11:30 PM | Comments (0)

November 23, 2007

Is it still November?

This giant, 1000 piece puzzle is my uncle's idea of a gift. Usually, I'm overwhelmed and confounded by puzzles, but somehow we managed to get the whole thing done in a day and a half. More surprisingly than getting it done is that Jamie helped, and I mean helped and not "helped."

Color me impressed.

Posted by me at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)

November 21, 2007

My family interferes with my internet habit. And for that I'm grateful.

I haven't had much time to think today. My mom and grandmother showed up around lunchtime. Before that there was cleaning, after, talking and troubleshooting. We just got home and put the kids to bed, and I'm pooped, although mostly mentally.

Tomorrow, they'll be back, along with my aunt and uncle, to share a lovely Thanksgiving dinner that I will hopefully prepare without disaster.

I think that means it's time for bed.

Posted by me at 8:58 PM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2007

See you tomorrow!

I'm feeling liike I've spent the last three weeks bitching about the same things. The kids, dirt, the kids, the pregnancy, the kids and our living situation.

So today, instead of bitching, I'm going to watch Oprah's Favorite Things.

Posted by me at 3:11 PM | Comments (0)

November 18, 2007

November 18

Today was my due date for the pregnancy I lost back in March.

I'm a little puzzled that I remember that. After all, I only knew I was pregnant for 4 days before I wasn't any more. I was disappointed to lose the pregnancy, but not devastated. I didn't cry, there wasn't any guilt or depression, in fact at the time I learned something important: I really did want another kid. I missed the thought of the baby I wasn't going to have any more, but I wasn't at all concerned that I couldn't have another.

I'm not a particularly sentimental person. I'm not at all religious, and my beliefs are deeply rooted in biology and science. I know all the statistics for losses in early pregnancy, and I know and wholly accept that most of these losses are related to problems with the developing embryo. And while I'm smart enough not to tell a woman who has just experienced miscarriage that it's for the best, I believe it usually is. (It's taken me years to understand that to a mother, the death of a child is NEVER "for the best.")Which is why I'm surprised that the closer I got to that potential due date, the more I thought about what I lost, especially considering that I'm currently 23 weeks pregnant. I would have expected to feel more like I'm replacing something I lost, instead of having something in addition to what I lost.

On a much more shallow note, I can't help but think that if I had kept that pregnancy, I'd be done by now, and wonder if it was a girl.

Posted by me at 2:51 PM | Comments (2)

November 16, 2007

But if they want to come pick up my old shoes or something, they can have them

For the last three months, we've been paying the gas company for the privilege of the opportunity to use gas. This month, we finally used some, and had to pay more than the minimum bill. This is also the first month the bill has not ended in .00, and so it was the first time I noticed that I have been drafted into a charitable donation program known as Operation Roundup.

I'm somewhat familiar with the program, since I'm pretty sure I asked to opt out of it when we signed up for service. Then again, it was months ago, and maybe I meant to opt out but didn't, because it required me to call the gas company or waste a stamp on them for something I feel I should have to opt IN to, not opt out of.

I'm not against donating money, but I would really rather save my change and donate it to the charity of my choice, not the gas company's.

Posted by me at 8:37 AM | Comments (0)

November 15, 2007

I hate the limbo

Last week, Rex, Katie and I spent a morning walking through spec homes in our maybe neighborhood of choice. The good news is, we found a house we like. The bad news: Someone else had made an offer on it already, they aren't dealing on it past the incentives they advertise, it's more than we really want to pay, and it's in the Dallas area.

On the one hand, I'm ready for this unsettled feeling to disappear with the signing of thousands of pages of lawyerese and the aquisition of a large mortgage. No more renting, no more talk of moving, and best of all, I can start buying Jamie the bedroom furniture I planned to get her for her second birthday.

On the other, I don't really want to commit to this place. I'm not ready to give up my Austin dream. Heck, I don't even want to give up my unreasonable Houston fantasy. (I keep several goals in my head, some that are reasonable, and some that are way up in the clouds. Sometimes the way to get to the moon is to aim for the stars.) I'm unwilling to accept this place as my fate.

A couple days ago, we heard that the house we liked was back on the market. Depending on the minute you ask me, I'm either ready to sign on the dotted line, or I'm totally ambivalent to the house's fate.

Posted by me at 9:37 PM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2007

Pigs shed less than cats

I think I’m a nicer person when I don’t clean.

I get really pissed off when I think the carpet is filthy, but I can’t tell any difference in the yuck level after I’ve vacuumed. I get mad at myself for not noticing just how disgusting it was before we moved in, and insisting that it be replaced or cleaned before we signed a lease. Then again, with our last minute procrastinator’s schedule, we probably didn’t really have the luxury, anyway.

The carpet, though, that’s circumstantial. Although finding a blop of cat fur on a freshly vacuumed clean carpet steams me a little too. What really kind of gets me is when I clean, say, the kitchen. And then less than an hour later, Katie guts a sandwich and dumps a cupful of juice on my freshly mopped and swept floor. And when she dumps two cups in three days? I really start to wonder why I bother. Also? Katie gets a lecture that’s probably a little beyond her years.

I’m not super anal (ha ha) about shiny toilet bowls, either, although I must admit that my recent discovery of a bowl cleaner that requires no scrubbing inclines me to clean a little more often.

Really, though, this housework thing is just a neverending battle against the gross that lives in my house in the form of the two kids and three cats I brought on myself. It’s a good thing I really was practically raised in a barn!

Posted by me at 3:18 PM | Comments (2)

November 8, 2007

The reason I haul around hundreds of pounds of paper I'll probably never need

We got a letter yesterday, absolving us from any tax liability to the State of Maryland for the year 2004.

'Bout time.

We've gone back and forth several times now with the state, sending justification for not paying state tax that year. Did I mention that we were following their rule, to the letter? And that after I sent proof that we were, in fact, in compliance, they requested information that I'm pretty sure they should have had access to one their own? Access that wouldn't have required me to dig through my less-than-organized files?

Actually, I'm having a hard time being too upset at this point. After all, I was just proven right AND I get to keep my money.

Posted by me at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

November 5, 2007

Today, a random collection of thoughts

My favorite part of NaBloPoMo? The fact that some of my favorite bloggers post so often I can barely keep up with my reading.

I made meatloaf for dinner. My hand is tingly from the frozen ground beef, and smells like a meaty club. I'm not in love with the smell, but I'm compelled to keep sniffing it anyway.

I rarely order from catalogs, and almost as rarely order online. And yet, I receive multiple catalogs EVERY DAY for things I don't buy. I feel guilty at the waste of all that paper as I toss it into the recycling bin. Make it stop!

I still can't get my scheduled posts to post. I spent most of last night trying to wrap my feeble little mind around MT's documentation, Wikipedia's explanation of cron jobs, my friends' sometimes overly technical speak (it doesn't take much) and my own miniscule knowledge of Unix and vi. As far as I can see, it never should have stopped working. The minor changes I made had no noticable effect on, well, anything. I will persevere! And maybe cry a little.

Posted by me at 12:32 PM | Comments (2)

November 4, 2007

One of us better get some good drugs

Rex is at the doctor as I type, in an attempt to save our marriage.

He's had this cough for the last two weeks, and it's not getting any better. In fact, I think last night was the worst yet. At the beginning of this dread disease, he would cough a little and then go downstairs to sleep on the couch so he wasn't keeping me up. The consideration seems to be inversely proportional to the amount of coughing, though, and last night, after hours of hacking, I was ready to kill. Not because the coughing kept me up so much as the part where when the coughing ended and the snoring started, while I lay awake. When I stopped fantasizing and started reaching for my pillow to beat him I figured it was time to head to the couch myself.

Since I was the one relagated to the couch, I figured I might get out of waking up with the girls this morning. Somehow, though, I'm still the one that heard Katie calling for me, even though I was all the way downstairs. I didn't beat Rex, but I did throw my pillow and blanket at his head as I passed the bedroom.

Posted by me at 1:10 PM | Comments (0)

November 2, 2007

The new definition of "date"

I'm finishing up my second hour of alone time. I am in love with my alone time. I am, however, regretting eating my hopefully e-coli free Totino's pizza without anyone to share it with. I'm a little, shall we say, overstuffed? But what are you going to do, throw out pizza? Put it in the fridge and make some poor sap (hi, honey!) eat it as a leftover later? Can't do it. Had to eat it.

The rest of my precious freedom has been spent loading the dishwasher, watching The View, fending off "free" carpet cleaning, and reading blogs. I was going to say that I had been wasting this glorious gift, and then I realized that most of those things really are nicer done alone. It's hard to read when people keep talking and asking who the baby in the picture is and poking at the touchpad and talking.

Dad is going home tomorrow, so Rex and I are going to make use of his presence and go out alone tonight. Sadly, there are no movies we want to see, so we'll probably get a yummy beverage that we'll get to drink ALL BY OURSELVES and sit around a bookstore, not paying attention to children of any kind.

Posted by me at 12:59 PM | Comments (1)

November 1, 2007

NaBloPoMo: 2.1

And so it begins.

Posted by me at 7:00 AM | Comments (1)

October 30, 2007

Fiesta in my mouth

I have a love hate relationship with our favorite Mexican restaurant here. I love love love the Chimichangas, and I love the staff that are kind enough to gringatize my meal to Yankee standards. They have yet to not satisfy me.

Unfortunately, from about halfway through the meal on, I'm so full I'm uncomfortable. By the time we get home, I'm doing my lamaze breathing to relax my stomach in an attempt to relieve the pressure. Lamaze has worked ever so much better for me in overeating situations than it ever did in labor.

The girls, at least, seem to love love the place. Of course, what's not to love? They eat a pile of chips and queso, have a couple bites of a vegetable-free meal, a chugger of milk, and then they return to the chips with gusto.

Mexican food: Everything that's wrong but oh, so right with America's eating habits!

Posted by me at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)

October 29, 2007

He even COOKS

Hmm, it seems I have also lost the ability to post in one click, and to create scheduled posts. I guess this means I'll be blogging real time for NaBloPoMo, unless I can figure this out! Not that I wasn't going to, of course.

My dad is here for a week, and the angels are singing. My dad is the one person who can visit and it doesn't feel like we have company. In fact, when he leaves, I have to do things like cook and play with the kids and care for them and shit. And I'm not pawning the kids off on him, either. He and they *ask* to leave me alone. While he's here, it's like *I'm* the one on vacation. When he leaves, he takes the shiny with him. And also? He doesn't care if I clean.

I'm hoping by the end of the week, my brain returns to partial functionality. Of course, I've lowered the bar a little on the definition of functionality, but hey, every brain cell counts!

Posted by me at 2:44 PM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2007

The end is near!

I'm actually feeling a little bad for George Bush. On The View this morning, they were discussing Bush's impending visit to California to see the damage caused by the fire. They were raking him over the coals for going now, and taking focus away from the real heros, the firefighters. In the next breath, they were denigrating him for not having visited New Orleans fast enough after Katrina. Wouldn't a visit to Louisiana have taken focus away from the rescue efforts that were going on there in much the same way it might shift focus in California?

I'm not sure which presidential response is more appropriate, but it sure seems like he was damned either way. I don't necessarily agree with a lot of what Bush has done in the last few years, but it has to suck to be in a position where absolutely nothing you do is ever right.

Posted by me at 8:22 PM | Comments (0)

October 2, 2007

The litter box smells fresh in comparison

I made a delicious curry for dinner tonight. I just wish it had the decency to stay at dinner.

The house stinks of curry. It was way worse after the girls and I took a walk around the block and came back inside. My clothes stink. My hands stink. And the house? It STINKS.

On the upside, though, both kids actually LIKED it.

Posted by me at 8:05 PM | Comments (0)

October 1, 2007

Rotten

Rex is working nights this week, which means he's home and parenting for a large part of the time the kids are awake. So far that has gotten me out of feeding the kids breakfast, I finished my book, Jamie magically got home from preschool, and I didn't have to wake Katie up to take Jamie to TKD. I'll be spoiled like curdled milk by the end of the week.

Is Britney Spears losing custody really that big a news story? It's seems a little high on the food chain for what it is.

Wow, those two paragraphs are related. I'm going back to my E! News before I start talking politics :)

Posted by me at 9:50 PM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2007

Even family has resisted

For the first time in almost two and a half pregnancies, my belly has been molested.

I'm not even really showing unless I'm naked, but this is one of the other parents from TKD, so she already knew. I'm still not getting the touching thing, though, since I don't have enough belly to be fondling baby, it's more like just rubbing some chicks stomach. And also, she rubbed way up by my rib cage, where there is definately no baby.

Posted by me at 9:15 PM | Comments (2)

September 25, 2007

I live in an income tax free state for a reason

According to the State of Maryland, we were not required to file state income taxes in 2004. A few months ago, they sent me a letter, fishing to find out why we hadn't sent them any money that year. I sent them back a reply, as requested, along with a copy of our property tax records for 2004, showing that we still owned a home in Texas and therefore qualified for the rule printed right there under the question "Am I required to file?" in their tax booklet.

Instead of receiving a nice, "Oops, we're sorry!" letter, I have instead received a request for more information. They want to to send them all relevant 2004 tax information, along with a copy of my driver's license. Shouldn't they already have all that shit?

Posted by me at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2007

Let's face it, it's premier week. I was unlikely to be read-worthy anyway.

I'm being temporarily sidelined by a broken AC adapter. We are geeky enough to have spare computers around the house, but all my pictures and stuff are on the one I can't turn on.

Dell wants $65 for a replacement, so I checked out Fry's, where I could instantly gratify myself and hopefully find something less...pricey. The cheapest thing Fry's had that had a chance of being compatible was $150, so I'll be sucking up the inconvenience of mail order. Actually, I'm in the procecss of getting one on eBay for half the price, including shipping. It says new, and appears to be Dell brand, even. I just hope it really is.

Posted by me at 7:46 PM | Comments (0)

September 21, 2007

For four days

My MIL is on her way to our house, to stay for a long weekend.

I swear, I have nothing against her. Aside from my usual friction with other humans, I have nothing against Rex's family at all. No horror stories about in-laws coming over and insulting me or snooping or tearing apart my house.

But today, I'm totally not in the mood. The girls and I have been fighting colds all week, and none of us has had proper nappage to boost our attitudes. I've had to clean this house for the first time since, uh, we moved in. I still have boxes left to unpack, and no idea where to put the stuff that's in them.

I am tired. I am cranky. I am so not in the mood to be welcoming and social.

Posted by me at 2:16 PM | Comments (0)

September 10, 2007

I haven't even gotten to brag about not having to clean the litterbox.

It was amazing how hard it was to keep this pregnancy a secret from the internet. You would think it would have been harder to keep it from people in real life, especially with all the nausea and headaches and my sluglike demeanor. My blogs are where I post my daily, uh, thoughts, if you can call them that. And a lot of my thoughts lately have been filled with this pregnancy and it's ups and downs.

Worse, all the pathethic little things that I wanted to post about as they happened? They've fallen from my head. I no longer have it in me to write a whole post about the GIGANTOR prescription prenatal vitamins I'm on. The ones that cost over $1 a day, and make me burp a salmony/fishy foulness that is probably the reason my cats love me all night long. I have no idea what was wrong with my Target generics. Those produced two perfectly lovely, if a bit chatty, specimens of humanity.

Of course, you're totally escaping weeks of whining about how ill I felt, how much I neglected the kids in favor of sitting on the couch, the headaches I had literally every. single. day.

Posted by me at 8:07 PM | Comments (0)

August 29, 2007

Same old, same old

Nothing like following up a good workout with a trip to Chick-Fil-A.

I feel like all the things I have to talk about are things that I've already covered. Jamie's excited about preschool. Hell, she was excited about our trip to the dentist this morning. Katie keeps talking about going to school as if she's going to go next week, too. She gets really upset if you tell her she isn't going. It's hot. I'm tired.

You know, the usual.

Posted by me at 8:19 PM | Comments (0)

August 21, 2007

Getting a letter from the Comptroller of Maryland, completely out of tax season, and referring to tax year 2004, asking why we didn't file?

Not cool.

Posted by me at 9:47 PM | Comments (0)

August 16, 2007

Blue and green make aquamarine

I finally broke out the camera for a pile of pictures today, and I took the whole damn lot on the wrong ISO. 1600, outside. Crap. And this isn't the first time I've done it, either. I might need to tape a little sign on the camera to remind me to check.

It was under 100 for the first time in, well, I don't know how long. A while. So I ran out to the store and got some cornstarch, and we made "goo." Bloo goo for Katie, green for Jamie. I played in it for a while myself, and man is that stuff fascinating. Solid, liquid, both at the same time! I think Katie had more fun hosing off afterward, but whatever, I gave fun to my kids, for once.

Posted by me at 8:08 PM | Comments (0)

August 15, 2007

Free M&M's and Twinkies!

We ran out of milk a couple days ago, but since that was really the only thing we needed, and we didn't really go out in a way that made picking up milk convenient (Have I mentioned the HOT? I'm pretty sure I could have slow roasted meat in my van while we were at Tae Kwon Do today.), we just did without.

By yesterday, I had managed to come up with a list of things to buy, so we made the big run to Super Target and I shopped to my heart's content. Well, not really, because I didn't manage to find lemon drops or decent cut pineapple, but our food supplies have been replenished. I found a coupon in my purse for $10 off a $100 purchase, so I had a goal.

Unfortunately, I fell short. $7 short. So I did what I had to do - I ran to the candy aisle (the closest) and picked up a $6something bag of M&M's, and then grabbed a box of Twinkies on display at the checkout on my way back. It may have been $8 worth of crap my ass doesn't need, but dammit, I saved $10!

Posted by me at 2:18 PM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2007

And now me and my headache are going to bed

I actually used my Canon to take a couple pics today. I'm too lazy to go down and get it to download them, and they may suck ass, but at least I clickety clicked.

We're going to Austin this weekend to see our friends and celebrate her birthday. I'm probably more excited than I should be, but I really enjoy the time we spend with them, and I know Rex and the girls enjoy it too. Rex was supposed to work on Sunday, but managed to switch last minute. I'm glad someone traded with him, 'cause I think I would have gone without him, and it's just so much easier when I have an extra body.

Posted by me at 8:28 PM | Comments (0)

August 13, 2007

Melting

I was supposed to get to go out to a movie today, all by myself. We mixed up the times/theaters, though, so I got my lip waxed, picked up the sushi rice we like from World Market, and had a quiet lunch at Potbelly by myself. A little too quiet, I wish I had brought a book with me.

We need to start coming up with some better indoor activities. It hit 104 here yesterday, and it's supposed to get up to 105 today. Crazy talk, I tell ya.

The price on the foreclosure house dropped again, to less than our highest offer. It almost makes me want to just go ahead and put in another offer, our lease be damned. But then, I'm still hoping to get the heck outta Dallas, so maybe it's not the best idea. Also, I'm starting to wonder if even in good condition I could sell it for what I thought we would be able to sell for.

I'm missing the Houston house again. The pretty clean carpets, the nice paint colors, the fact that all the boxes were unpacked and everything had a place. My big, glorious kitchen. And the "mild" upper 90's temperatures. We had shade there, and it hit just the right places for us to play.

See why I haven't been posting? I have no more than three sentences on any one topic, and most of them are just replays of the past.

Posted by me at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)

August 11, 2007

I still haven't taken any pictures, but I did get a couple boxes emptied, a ton of laundry done, a little vacuuming, and I made dinner. Oh, and a homemade cheese sauce over pasta for lunch.

It's a start, right?

Posted by me at 1:33 PM | Comments (0)

August 10, 2007

Forgive me readers, for I have slacked

I have no idea what's happened to me.

I've been back from Maryland for a couple weeks, but I've barely taken a single picture (in fact, I can't think of a single one) and I haven't posted any of the few interesting things that have happened.

And I haven't even felt all that guilty about it.

Worse, it's not even that I've been super busy. I haven't unpacked even one more box. I considered it a big deal when I got the suitcase put away from our trip. I have managed to almomst keep up with the dishes in the kitchen, but just barely.

I think today my goal is going to be to take my camera out of it's bag and set it somewhere where I can't NOT take a pitcture.

Posted by me at 8:52 AM | Comments (1)

June 22, 2007

Crying all the way to the bank

I've been procrastinating calling my mom all week. Not because I don't want to talk to her, but because I have an etiquette question that I don't want to ask or have answered.

As I've said, my grandfather's health is in decline. The question of when is narrowing more and more each time I talk to them. I recently received a letter from my mom with a check, and instructions to deposit it as soon as possible, because if my grandfather dies it becomes void. My grandfather is having a last minute screw-Uncle-Sam moment, and decided to disburse some cash to his grandkids early to avoid some estate taxes.

Receiving the money makes me feel sad and guilty. I'm getting this cash because my grandfather is dying. I probably woldn't be getting it now for any other reason. And while I know I can't do anything to make him healthier or live longer, it still seems wrong to be getting this big gift of death. The guilt comes along because it's hard not to appreciate cash for what it is. At least I know my grandparents would understand. I didn't get my love of money from just anyone.

My question for my mother: Do you write a thank you note for what is basically an advance on an inheritance? (Her answer: To treat this as a normal cash gift, and write the thank y