Today was both horrible and wonderful. Good and bad. Bueno y mal. It was kinda freaky. My life is a friggin' rollercoaster!
Kids woke up a lot last night, and woke up extra early this morning. BAD.
Tried to exercise. GOOD.
My lunges kept getting interrupted by bad knees and children clinging to them. BAD.
Took a shower. GOOD.
Had both kids in with me at the same time. BAD.
Ran some errands. GOOD.
During an interview the kids started acting up. BAD.
She signed up anyway. GOOD.
Came home to a broken toilet that flooded my office. BAD.
Had only a few minutes to clean it up before I had to leave for a doc's appointment. BAD.
My Director came over to watch the kids. GOOD.
Went to my appointment. I get to be his guinea pig for varicose vein removal for free*. GOOD.
The vein's too big to be zapped by a laser and go away. BAD.
They laser-remove the hair under my arms instead. GOOD.
It feels like someone popping you with a rubber band that's on fire, smells like burning hair, and makes the area swell for 1-6 days. BAD.
But I won't have to shave anymore. GOOD.
It already doesn't hurt anymore. GOOD.
Ate eggs benedict for dinner. GOOD.
It turned out horribly**. BAD.
Had half a Hershey Special Dark for dessert. GOOD.
Don't have the motivation to call my leads. BAD.
I may watch a romance and go to bed early. GOOD.
* A friend's doctor is opening a new clinic and was looking for patients to come test machines while the sales guys are there. The appointment was free, and I could choose varicose vein removal, laser hair removal, spider vein removal, or rosacea removal free the first treatment. Because I'm so light-complected and have such sensitive skin and thin hair, I will only need one more treatment for the hair to be gone completely and for good. No more shaving!!!
** Never try to cook eggs benedict while supervising children. Eggs benedict is an art. It all has to come together at once. The muffins have to be warm and crispy, the potatoes hot, the ham right off the stove, the eggs softly poached and hot right out of the poacher, the hollandaise creamy, and the cheese thinly shredded. My eggs benedict tonight was none of the above.
While trying to keep my children from killing themselves, each other, or my DVD collection, I managed to overcook the eggs, undertoast the muffins, separate the hollandaise because I wasn't stirring often enough, the potatoes were slightly undercooked, and the cheese was too thickly grated to melt on top. The separated hollandaise meant the butter sopped up into the muffin and made it squishy. Eww and sheesh. I'm never attempting that alone again. It usually comes out right when hubby and I work as a team. But then again, when we cook it for dinner the kids are usually already in bed. Apparently I'm an eggs benedict snob. But you already knew that.
P.S. Have you ever really looked at the word "good"? It's a funny word. While I was highlighting I actually had to stop and make sure that I was spelling the darn word right. Maybe I should've gone German. Gut. Gut. Schlecht. Gut.
19 July 2006
As If I Weren't Confused Enough
16 July 2006
To clear up any questions, here is a picture of what we ordered.
Yes, a scooter, not a motorcycle. It gets twice the gas mileage and is half the price and this particular model can hold its own on the trek to work. This is, after all, all about saving money, right? Transportation that gets 80 mpg certainly helps. Eventually we will be proud owners of a real live motorcycle, but not now and not for a while. Sorry for any confusion. And we got it in blue, not red.
Boys Will Be Boys
My husband ordered a great new tool for saving us money on gasoline. Part of ordering this is having to buy a jacket, helmet, and gloves. If you need further explanation, please e-mail me.
While they had to order the rest, he got to take his jacket and gloves home. My, my, my, how he loves those things. They are the epitome of cool. He put them on and paraded around the house for an hour, punching walls and running into things, exclaiming about how he couldn't feel any of it. When I asked him to stop, he said he wasn't hurting himself. I think that explaining that I wasn't worried about him getting hurt, but him hurting the house made it worse. He would chase the kids around, playing "Power Daddy." The kids would giggle and run, and my son would imitate his superhero posture.
The jacket looks roughly like this: (Thank you joerocket.com)
When he's dressed in it, he looks like something from the future. Or off of that movie, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. And he thoroughly enjoys it.
He even made me put it on. And let me tell you, men's jackets are made completely different from women's. Everything except the hips and chest was okay. It made me look like Rambo on estrogen. No, thanks, I'll get a woman's jacket. But then he wanted me to play in it, too. So he made me run into the room weilding a toilet part as a weapon. I did so just to amuse him, giggling the whole time at how silly I must look. I ran into the room and did my best cop stance, shouting "Freeze!" in my deepest manly-man voice, wielding my toilet part like a deadly rifle. I was a rattler ready to strike. He burst out laughing. Gave me kudos for attempting to lower my voice, but all in all it was a pretty funny sight.
Yeah, that makes me want to do it again.
Not.
10 July 2006
08 July 2006
So I'm Sarcastic...
Is that truly a bad thing? And besides, I prefer to be called witty.
My humor is sometimes sarcastic. I blame it all on my husband and his family, where sarcasm is the humor de jour. Spend too much time around them and you get drawn in, too. And I married into it, so where does that leave me??
My son had a birthday party today. He's two. The big... umm... two. Yes, yes, on Independence Day exactly two years ago, I was saying, "Please, dear God, if you have any mercy let me have this baby today!!!" Which, of course, in our sarcastic family meant that he came bright and early the next morning. At least he didn't dilly-dally around once he decided he needed to be born.
My mother-in-law attributes my short labor to all the walking I did trying to induce myself. My husband attributes my short labor to all the... ummm.... brisk activities we engaged in trying to bring about labor. Some of my friends say it was the 10 days of pre-labor contractions I had, and some claim it was the entire gallon of parsley tea I drank. So what if that sounds disgusting? It was, but at that point I was grasping at straws and I embraced every new "for-sure" labor inducer that I came across. My due date had come and gone by almost a week, and I was in so much pain!
So today we celebrated with friends this strange development from baby to kid. That wasn't in the manual for babies, and it's kinda like realizing that your cute little kitten is going to become a cat. It just makes you sit back and go, "What the heck am I getting myself in to?"
I didn't sign up for this whole kid thing, you know. I signed up for the baby thing, and he was supposed to stay that way. My parents always threatened to make me wear books on my head to keep me little... I wonder if that actually works...
Luckily as of now I have escaped the baby bug. You know, that pesky little thing that bites when you realize your kids are growing up, and you think, "I sure would like another baby..." As if we're still in denial about the whole baby-kid transition.
There's too much to do before baby #3 is born. I'm looking at two years minimum to get it all sorted out. I need to finish my education, become a Director (preferably very stable, where I've opened in other countries as well), we need a new car and to fix up the house, and we need to get out of debt. I told my husband that I wanted to be six months away from getting out of debt completely before I would consider getting pregnant. I want it to be a sure thing. No more albatross for us!
The party went well. We had cupcakes and a sandcastle cake. I put brown sugar around the bottom, sprinkled a minimum of powdered sugar on the top, and filled the middle with strawberries and blueberries. I will post a picture tomorrow, Bridget, I promise! The theme was Animal Planet, and so there were pictures of animals making funny faces on everything. Also on the menu were the kid-friendly favorites of pineapple-BBQ sausage, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato salad, kettle corn, crackers with cream cheese and Pickapeppa, and a lovely summer fruit salad that had white peaches, apricots, plums, apples, pears, bananas, and grapes. We didn't really play games, just let the kids play on their own, did cake and present time early, and then let the kids play with the birthday boy's new toys. Luckily one doesn't have to do much to make a toddler's birthday fun.
Totally random thought: I should post an old English essay here. I had to write a comment on some Poe, and one of the options was to write a story that was similar. I'd love to get your opinions on it, since apparently it was quite a hit at my Mom's school. I'll have to look for it. I tend to be highly critical of my own work, so I didn't think it was all that great, and reading it sometimes is embarrassing. Sort of like, "I wrote that? Oh, geez. How corny."
AND... I'm helping to plan a wedding. Well, as much as I'll be allowed! Happy happy, joy joy!!! I love weddings. I hope I don't try to take control, because I tend to get excited and have a lot of ideas. And sometimes they don't go over, and my excitement deflates like a popped helium balloon. KABAM! Oh, well, that just means I need to be careful about how pushy I get. You can pray for me if you'd like, because the last thing I want to do is turn this into something stressful for the bride!!!
Apparently I'm a Kleptomaniac
Stealing once again from Tonya:
1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4.
Thursday, you stayed late folding the bulletins.
2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What can you touch?
Our dresser.
3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
The opening credits to Wallace and Gromit as I started it for my kids.
4. Without looking, guess what time it is:
5:30 PM
5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
7:14 PM (Holy crap! Where'd the day go???)
6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
My kids playing with their nesting cubes in the livingroom, the air conditioner.
7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
Around 4:30, and I was walking the last of our birthday party guests to their car.
8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
Dishes that once were dirty that now are clean.
9. What are you wearing?
Black and heather gray sport-style shirt, capri jeans, black flip-flops
10. Did you dream last night?
Yes, but I don't remember them.
11. When did you last laugh?
About 20 minutes ago, my son was on the office chair behind me playing peekaboo over my shoulder.
12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Hanging file, phone, a cross I decorated as an art project in MOPS, the embroidered quilt we were given as a wedding present.
13. Seen anything weird lately?
Not really. Everything's normal schnormal.
14. What do you think of this quiz? Finally, I don't have to answer whether I prefer Coke or Pepsi!!!
15. What is the last film or video you saw? All the way through? Pride and Prejudice.
16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?
I'd pay off debt first, then the first thing would be a nifty 2006 Odyssey with all the bells and whistles. Then a paramotor, and then a new house.
17. Tell me something about you that I don't know.
When I was a kid I wanted to be a vetrinarian until I found out one day that sometimes vets had to put animals to sleep or do surgery on them. I'm not good with blood or needles or animal death, so that ruled out that profession.
18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt, or politics, what would you do?
Promote a common goodwill and end violence.
19. Do you like to dance?
Most of the time, but especially when no one is watching.
20. Comment to George Bush:
I don't have a lot of comments on politics, I keep most of my political opinions to myself and then just VOTE.
21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
Ummmm... my first child WAS a girl.
22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
But my first child wasn't a boy.
23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
If it weren't permanent. Maybe a few years.
24. What do you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
Well done.
04 July 2006
Only in Texas
I've really enjoyed myself the past few days. I've been indulging in simple pleasures, and like the small stuff, it's paid off in a general happy attitude.
This past weekend we visited my in-laws. We went swimming on the lake, and got chased out of the water by a snake. Scary. I can handle snakes that are meant to be pets. I can't handle wild ones. We then watched an armadillo frolicking in the front yard before my father-in-law killed it. First time I'd ever seen one that wasn't dead. Didn't last long. They'd be cute if they didn't carry leprosy and rabies.
I actually got to counsel my little sister yesterday. That was so cool. It was an honest to goodness woman-to-woman talk. That also kinda freaks me out, because I still have this vision in my head of her in pigtails asking me to play Barbies with her. Yikes. I feel so honored that she felt like she could talk to me, and that she wanted my opinion. I'm afraid that just made my head get a little bigger.
Today I actually got to go into Williams-Sonoma, shop for a while, and leave with a big bag of goodies with no guilt. This is because this shopping expedition was compliments of my mother-in-law for our anniversary. Thanks, Mom. There was one big thing both the hub-meister and I wanted, so we each got that and then divvied up the rest on little things. We got a sandcastle bundt pan (mine), four mini springform pans for cheesecakes (his), a NICE set of mixing bowls with pour spouts, four spatulas, a multi-purpose scraper like they use at ice cream shops, an egg timer that you leave in the pot with the boiling eggs, and a book on cheesecake recipes. It was astounding.
We then spent quality time with friends this afternoon, which is something we haven't had the time to do in quite a while. What a wonderful way to celebrate the 4th! Thanks to all my friends for good food and good company!
And to top off the evening, I check my friends' blogs on MySpace and find out my great friend and composer Mark is moving back home!!! Which isn't here, but closer to here than where he is. He's now going to be close enough to warrant a visit every now and again for a weekend. I can't wait to see him once things settle down.
I'm off to catch up with the laundry before it takes over my house. I think I've heard my daughter's underwear plotting revenge with my bathrobe, and the mutiny has got to stop! And I need to do the dishes because the hubby has informed me that he's going to scour the kitchen tomorrow to get rid of our ants. And just when we were getting to know each other so well...
:P
