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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

March Madness at the Whiner's Ball!

Sproing!

Busy, busy, busy these days. Worked out of town the entire weekend. The next week and a bit include: Lots more work, no more pay! Daughter coming home for spring break! And she's hoping to talk us into an overseas trip next summer -- can we say, "dream on"? Extended family coming for Easter dinner! Speed clean-and-junk-stashing, since company's coming! Wedding anniversary! The annual dash to get my badly-organized tax stuff together so the accountant can do his thing and save us from certain doom! And, a followup vet visit for my lame kitten who really hates the vet and wishes for me to know that he is fine, perfectly fine thank you, just bring some more catnip, please!

Not a bad balance of whines and anti-whines, overall. The beauty of the springtime and long hours of light are pushing my mood-o-meter into the happy zone, for the most part.

How's by you, Pixies? Bring your whines and anti-whines, big and small. Special prizes for style, humor, and old skool. Cluesticks for the deserving others. Whine early and often!
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Bonus Survey: If you are wondering why I posted early while whining about being busy, you have not met my patented Procrastinatory Productivity Program; work speed is definitely enhanced by noodling about on ze intertubes while contemplating undone tasks. What are your special productivity tips?

30 comments:

Madeleine said...

Ha! Procrastination!

I would like to whine that my seven year old slept like a baby last night. By which I mean that she woke up about every hour between when I put her to bed and midnight, at which point we dragged her into our bed for a fitful few hours of sleep.

She doesn't seem to be sick and couldn't tell us any reason why she couldn't sleep. We're wracking our brains for where she could have gotten some caffeine. The only unusual thing I know of that she ate yesterday, that I didn't also eat, was two fortune cookies. Those don't have caffeine, do they?

Miranda said...

Madeleine - Could dear daughter be experiencing a developmental milestone of some sort? As kids get older, their milestones seem to be more cognitive, and hence unobservable, as opposed to earlier milestones. My own children seemed to have needy periods as they sought some way to deal with new neural connections.

I am not in any way an expert in neuroscience but I put that out there just as food for thought.

I don't have any shareable whines this week beyond the fact it's Easter on Sunday and I have a ton of work and the kids are home for YET ANOTHER WEEK starting this Friday and Older son's track practices WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME and I am thoroughly sick of driving my children all over town for their myriad activities which all seem to be culminating in April which is also my absolute busiest month.

Um, I also want to rant about the need I feel to express myself in grammatically hopeless run-on sentences.

I blame the students I work with who are also seeking to all reside on my last damn nerve.

Speaking of students, one the young women is experiencing an ovarian cancer scare and has to undergo several rounds of tests. Keep her in your thoughts, Pixies.

Madeleine said...

Hmmm. Interesting thought, Miranda. Thanks.

My sympathy with your run-around. That was February for me. We're in a bit of a March-break dip in extracurriculars now. Phew.

Uccellina said...

Tiny Whine: I saw this post pop up in my Bloglines, and became very confused about what day of the week it was. New babies = days all running together.

Anti-Whine: Both babies are home! And growing!

Whine/Anti: My mother, whom I generally adore, is here and trying to be helpful. And she is helpful, for the most part, but she keeps asking me questions about meaningless minutiae. "Should I put olives in the stew?" "Robin peed on my shirt, do you think I should change it or just let it dry?" Lady, I'm kind of trying to nurse a screaming baby here, so wouldja mind just sorting that out for yourself? Thanks.

kathy a. said...

Yay, Uccellina and the babies, Robin and Wren! Apologies for the confusion, but I have an answer for mom: baby wipes take care of many problems. [They are not good in stew, though.]

Miranda, we are all about grammatically hopeless run-on sentences this week. Thinking good thoughts about your student.

Madeleine, hope your girl isn't all elbows and knees, and that tonight is more settled.

Anonymous said...

Whine of "I don't remember signing up for this:" 3 out of 5 people in this Canadian household have pneumonia.

Anti-whine? I am not one of them, leaving me perfectly capable of taking care of them.

Additional antiwhine: Should there come a moment when dear Spouse chooses to criticize my parenting, I can always remind him that I was not the one who brought home pneumonia to the 2 kiddies who have chronic lung disease. And of my long-suffering devotion in caring for them all. Which, in my books, trumps, "Why did you let them eat cake for breakfast?"

Anonymous said...

Whine of "I don't remember signing up for this:" 3 out of 5 people in this Canadian household have pneumonia.

Anti-whine? I am not one of them, leaving me perfectly capable of taking care of them.

Additional antiwhine: Should there come a moment when dear Spouse chooses to criticize my parenting, I can always remind him that I was not the one who brought home pneumonia to the 2 kiddies who have chronic lung disease. And of my long-suffering devotion in caring for them all. Which, in my books, trumps, "Why did you let them eat cake for breakfast?"

Anonymous said...

And apparently Blogger thinks it substantial enough a whine to post it twice.

Thanks for the vote, Blogger!

Madeleine said...

Yay for growing babies! And cake for breakfast!

Boo for pneumonia! Eeeesh!

Anonymous said...

Much sympathy to Madeleine and the bad sleep. My son has picked up a flu and has been climbing into our bed. Of course, this is not that unusual, one of the two seems to need night time attention at least 2-3 nights a week.

Whine: my son and the flu.

Anti-whine: my daughter seems to have a mild mild case--just crabbiness and headache (he has fevers and vomiting and headaches).

Whine: morning sickness.

Anti-whine: our builder is submitting the permit for the addition to the town tomorrow. Please let this go well, oh wayward winds of karma and fate.

Whine: I helped out at the monthly girl scouts meeting today. I was underwhelmed. May I please resist any thoughts that I can do better and volunteer to run the troop next year.

And definitely a second on cake for breakfast. As my mom used to say, if I would let you have a donut, how can I object to cake?

Liz Miller said...

Anti-whine: Today's my birthday!

Whine: which I spent doing the following -
* Taking MM to the doctor to see about some redness and swelling in an area one really does not like to see redness and swelling in for at least another 10 years, TYVM.
* Finding out that, yes, Mrs. Mystery Mommy, your son DOES have an infection there. Antibiotics, anti-fungal cream, and bacitracin STAT.
* Taking a stats exam (I think 3 wrong out of 34, but don't know).
* Finding out that, yes, Mrs. Mystery Mommy, you probably DO have mono. And oh, your sugar is a little elevated, do come in for another fasting test sometime, won't you?

Anti-whine: Despite redness and swelling, MM is in a fantastic mood.

Hooray for Uccellina's babies at home and growing!!!! And what's not to like about cake at breakfast? Eggs, milk, flour? Breakfast!

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking cake for breakfast tomorrow morning. This was one of my favorite things of living in Portugal-- cake was totally a regular part of breakfast.

Meanwhile, I'm going to bed early. Cos I am DEAD tired. I'm telling you (not that many of you don't already know for yourselves!), this growing of a baby is exhausting work, apparently. They all say it gets better in the second trimester, teh tiredness. I'm having a hard time believing that next week I'll be not-tired. But I will let you know.

kathy a. said...

Happy Birthday, Liz! Cake all around!

Unknown said...

YEA to Uccellina and the babies. Home is good. Even with a mother that isn't quite as helpful as you had hoped!

This is a week of mostly small whines and one HUGE antiwhine. Let's get the anti out of the way first, shall we?

AW: The "project" that I've been working on, and hinting at, went live on Monday. I've never had such a successful launch of ANYTHNG in my life. We had over 3500 hits in the first 48 hours! So come over and see what I've been bitching about:

http://mid-centurymodernmoms.com

I don't think I've ever been prouder of anything I've built. It's gonna be a really good blog.

Whine: Tomorrow is the school showdown for my daughter, who is still not in school. Does the school have a plan? It doesn't look like they do. Have they been cooperative with anyone? No, they have not. Did they invite people that work with our family and my daughter to the meeting? Why no, they didn't. Are people coming anyhow. Oh yeah, you betcha.

AW: I have gone below my prepregnancy weight for the first time in mumble mumble years. Like, since I've been pregnant. I have officially lost 70 lbs. Go me.

AW: Loving my cardiac rehab class and I even like the exercise part of it. I don't love it, but I don't hate it, which is saying something!

Whine: My son had a 24 hour Guitar Hero3 party with 6 friends this past weekend. While I was asleep someone broke a gorgeous ceramic vase that a friend gave me as a b'day gift pre-kids. I loved that vase. And I'm PISSED that they just left it sitting there, broken. And let me just repeat. 24 hours of guitar hero. One wonders why my sanity is slowly leaking out of my butt. That is why.

Whine: Daughter seems to have forgotten what the words "it's a school night" mean, and has begged to go out every freaking night for weeks. So annoying.

BIG WHINE: The fighting over the dishes. Is. Killing. Me. Honestly, I'm so sick of it I want to just toss every dish and use paper plates and plastic utensils, but I'm so freaking green that I can't in good conscience do that. I also want to make them eat off the floor.

AW: Is LOST not the best show on TV? So hooked.

Anonymous said...

Congrats to Margalit! May this week be the week of kicking butt.

And now on to my new super-ceded all old whines whine: I am sick. Vomiting, headache, tired. And I am a SAHM and that sucks when I am sick. My husband and my mother both said, oh, um, well, I have to go to work now. And if you've ever seen the way my husband uses sick time when he is the least bit ill...you could see why I am extra cranky. My daughter has made a face at having my dad drive her to school. And because this is Wed Whining I am not going to justify/explain/compensate/meditate on being a SAHM and choices. Today it sucks, period.

And being pregnant, I can't take much of anything to relieve the symptoms. I do think a 3 hour nap would help, but heaven knows I'm not getting that.

And in the TMI but I am asking anyway category--how many times would you vomit before calling the OB? This is not morning sickness, but will a nurse believe me?

Miranda said...

Sarah: ((HUGS)) I just have a minute but I would call your OB if your instincts tell you so. Is there a nice nurse there you can talk to? The nurses at my midwife's practice were great at talking me down from the ledge when I was pregnant and very generous with the empathy and good suggestions.


Yay, Margalit!

Yay, Uccellina!

Happy B-Day, Liz!

Okay, must go to work now....Let's hope they aren't still drunk from Monday. Yes, there were students who were suffering alcohol poisoning type symptoms at 10am. Yikes.

Anonymous said...

Sarah,
I'm also suffering from teh morning-noon-night sickness, and my OB told me that her two biggest concerns were me keeping my thyroid meds and vitamins down and me not getting dehydrated. She said if I went 24 hours without keeping anything down, to go to the ER for IV fluids. She asked me how many times I had peed that day. It was mid-afternoon, and I said twice. She was okay with that, but wished I were better hydrated.

I second Miranda's words - if you feel like something is up, then call. Also, you won't be the first patient they've had with morning sickness and flu, so I don't think it would take much to convince them of that.

GOOD LUCK. And I hope you feel better soon.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the blog, margalit! It's just beautiful!!!

Lots of sympathy for Sarah...that's just the sucky. I hope the nurse is sympathetic. I do think they take this stuff seriously- since they don't want you dehydrated, etc etc etc. Someone in my 'class' (of pregnant, midwife patients & partners) didn't keep anything down for four days and ended up at the ER. So better to be early, really.

Anonymous said...

A new whine: The starting of the allergy season. My eyes feel itchy and nose is runny today. It can't *really* be allergies as um, yesterday it snowed here and there are ZERO flowering plants or grasses yet. But it reminds me that allergy season awaits. Which I hate. But generally deal with through copious amounts of Claritin-D. Which, now that I look up, is not the good for pregnant women. Dammit. The regular Claritin, which is fine, never seems to work for me ... cos the psuedoephedrine I guess is the key ingredient missing. I may have to just suffer a little more this season. Which means more whines of the running bodily fluids in the future from me.

Anonymous said...

Okay, and here is a really really whiny-whine which I feel bad even saying, but I know you guys won't judge me for and which I don't really mean WAY down deep inside but on the surface I get annoyed with.

This baby-in-utero. It keeps me from a lot of things I would like. The aformentioned Claritin-D. Feta cheese. Any soft cheese, but especially feta cheese oh and fresh mozzerella. I want to cry when I think about the tomato and cucumber plants I will have in the summer and the greek salad I won't be making with them and feta. And the tomato-basil-mozarella salads. The Subway sandwich I've been inexplicably craving for the past week. Sushi. Bagels with cream cheese and lox. Really hot baths. Even enjoying long warm baths.

Of course, I put the safety of the babe above my own fleeting desires. But really, sometimes, I just want to stamp my foot and pout cos I can't have whatever it is I want. I think I'll go have some more cake. (The "suggestion" from a midwife about only eating 300 extra calories for the babe be damned. If I can't have feta, let me eat cake!!!!)

Liz Miller said...

I say eat the soft cheese anyway on occasion. The French do it, the Greeks do it. Especially since all the cheese we have here tends to be pasteurized.

Unknown said...

An update and another HUGE antiwhine!

The school meeting regarding my daughter was this afternoon. At first they recommended one program that I had already refused once. But they tried a really hard sell, and I said no, and they continues the pressure and then my daughter said no, too. So that was out.

Then they presented another option, which was to transfer her to another school and put her in the same program my son is in, only at the other high school. She was very clearly opposed to that, and I was as well.

So they were left with option 3, which was MY option in the first place. She'll be going to school for 2 block/day to do bio and math. I'll be homeschooling her in English. She is blowing off history, which she really doesn't need if she takes history in her senior year. And they're giving her credit for "wellness" (PC- Phys Ed) for being in therapy. Heh!

So she's going to get her credits for the year, only be in school part time a couple of hours/day, have tutoring provided in both of those subjects to catch up, and I get to supervise the class that is the hardest for her, English.

We are PSYCHED.

The school...not that thrilled. OH well...they have to do some actual work for once! Heh.

Anonymous said...

I ate feta once a week in my first pregnancy and well...actually, nevermind. I was going to say my daughter was fine but then I remembered that yesterday I found her licking the fridge sooo.... maybe you should skip the feta. (she's 2 so maybe not so bad?)

votes for everyone that didn't get to have cake for breakfast today!

KLee said...

Hooray for things FINALLY going Margalit's way! It's about fireplacing time!

Mazel Tov to Liz on her birthday! Many happy returns!

Another hooray for Uccellina's bambinos! The growing, she is good!

A hearty "boooooo!" to all those with illness, whether pregnancy-induced or not. Vomiting is always sucky, no matter the cause.

Hey! I want some cake! Alas, the diet allows no cake. Another reason why "diet" has the word "die!!!" in it. :(

Uccellina said...

Turtlebella,

Eat the cheese, darling. The "no-soft-cheese" thing is actually a warning against eating unpasteurized dairy, but since almost all dairy products in the US are pasteurized, there really isn't a problem with soft cheese.

http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20031105/pasteurized-soft-cheese-ok-in-pregnancy

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you know, I always wonder about that pasteurized thing, since that would keep the bacteria out! And since cream cheese is okay. And yeah, millions of French women can't be all wrong!!! :) Thanks for all the advice, pixies. And I was chuckling at diane's daughter licking the fridge!!!

I think I will go buy myself some feta right now. I might even share. Maybe. Feta cheese and cake? Interesting combination, no?

Anonymous said...

Yay for Uccellina, and I think we may have the same mother. I can't count the number of times I said, irritatedly, "I. Don't. Care." Really, as long as the clean towels (yes, thank you for washing them) are deposited in the linen closet, I. Don't. Care. how they are stacked. Not kidding.

Whines--well, it's Holy Week. Lots of stuff at work for me and the hubby, keeping up with the baby and her doctor's appointments, and...yep, company coming. "We have a three day weekend and we haven't seen the baby yet." Argh. They will have to deal with stressed out parents, high-maintenance baby, messy house, and no food. Tough.

And, the ongoing "baby still on oxygen" whine. No progress on that front.

Antiwhines: new couch, old couch hauled away for free by someone else, free babysitting by various parties this week, and it finally rained here. Baby weighs ten pounds! And rolls over from front to back! And is very cute!

Sue said...

happy birthday Liz!!

Yay Margalit! Way to go!!

Whine-hugs and votes for all the pixies!!

Late in the day Whine: I woke up this morning with the Pukies. Blech. Everything hurts. My toenails hurt. My eyes hurt. The little hairs on my legs hurt. I am immeasurably tired.

Wah wah wah.... I know - everyone and their dog has had the stomach flu this year. But, why, oh why, for the love of mercy did I have to get it during Holy Week???

I sooooo don't have time to be sick this week.

Second whine: I'm supposed to have a few days off next week (lieu days for Good Friday and Easter Sunday). Or, not so much. I just found out that I can have Wednesday off during the day, but I have to attend a meeting on Wednesday night.

Fireplace. Is a WHOLE day off too freakin' much to ask?

Anti-whine: Bathroom renovations are done. Looks fabulous!! We should have done this years ago, but at least now it will help sell the house.

OneTiredEma said...

Just in under the wire!

Friday is Purim. I was baking 8-inch bundt applesauce spice cakes to put in the cute little tote bags I bought, with a boxed apple juice, cinnamon apple rings, and apples. And apple shaped Post Its. See the theme?

Guess who forgot to put applesauce into the batter? Of the applesauce spice cake! Um, yeah.

Antiwhine: the plain spice cake is good, and now we have dessert to put in the freezer for the next 3 Shabbat lunches.

Antiwhine: Because I am a Costco shopper, I had enough maple syrup to do the whole thing over--with the applesauce. That's 7 cups of maple syrup in one night, folks. (By chance I had an extra dozen eggs too.)

Whine: It's 11:59 and batch 2 is not out of the oven. And my kitchen/house looks very messy.

Sue said...

onetiredema - two words - YUM-OH!!