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Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The Pixie Party, Independence Edition

Hail, Pixies! It's time, once again, to partake in that most patriotic of institutions: Wednesday Whining! We, as (mostly) Americans are free to shake off the oppressive mantle and bewail our burdensome baggage to all and sundry. Our friends in other lands who are lucky enough to enjoy the most sacred right of free speech are welcome to join in.

Disregarding the politico-speak, what that really means is: Hey, ya'll! You got any whines you wanna share?

30 comments:

Miranda said...

Giant whine: Spouse is coming home tomorrow night then will be back in five nights (he's taking the kids to see his parents in another state). Then he will be here for two weeks at the end of the month. Oh, and he doesn't like his new job and is looking for another new job. Here.

Anti-whine: One of my favorite partners in crime is coming up from Florida while Spouse has the kids for merriment and mild debauchery to make up for not getting a proper graduation party.

Plus, I just returned from Best. Trip. Ever!!! with my entire family of origin and their spouses. I can see why my brother and his wife spent their honeymoon in this town.

kathy a. said...

oh, margaritas to miranda, and a sleeping bag in the back yard for mr. spouse.

PLUS, i'll throw in a FREE GIFT, from my house to your spouse [sing to the tune of "spam"]:

ants ants ants ants
ands ants ants ants

AAAAANTS! glorious ants!
wonderful ants! so many ants! ants in your pants!

Miranda said...

Snerk! It's funny because he was the one who turned me onto Monty Python and that skit specifically*.

Tell me, are they fire ants? Because that would make me smile. Best of luck getting rid of them. We have tiny ones in the upstairs bath that just won't stay away.

*Although I am assuming that the tune is from Spamalot, which I didn't get to see since I live in a cave most of the time.

kathy a. said...

oh, spamalot is so derivative! the vikings going on about the loverliness of spam is at the end of the original skit.

i do not have fire ants handy, only the enormous colony of tiny annoying black ants.

Miranda said...

I pour boiling water over the ant colonies around the house. My mom yells at me for that (wtf???).

Which reminds me, I need to take care of that ant colony before she stops by tomorrow. That's a whine/antiwhine.

esperanza said...

Oh, miranda, you have come to the right place. I have fire ants a-plenty and have been looking for a market for the little buggers. You, however, may have all you want, for no charge.

Whine: my BIL and SIL are here all week. Eleven years and I still don't feel comfortable with them. Objectively speaking, they aren't bad guests: they cook and clean up after themselves (sort of) and entertain themselves. Why do I feel so bitchy about it then?

And on a completely unrelated note...HUGE, GIGANTIC ANTIWHINE: Sweet Baboo is off the oxygen! Pretty much. It's still in our house and we're still monitoring her at night (fun, that) and we'll have to have it available on any overnight trips, but she's done well for almost a week!!!! Seven months of at-home oxygen, plus the two and a half in the NICU, is a loooong time. Thank you for all the pixie good wishes on her behalf in this regard.

Miranda said...

That is amazing news, Esperanza! A pound of chocolate and a huge firework display for you and Sweet Baboo!!

kathy a. said...

hooray for sweet baboo! that is wonderful news, esperanza!

Liz Miller said...

Whine: Last night it POURED and the wind blew from the south and the rain...came in. Poured in. Like a faucet had been turned on at the top of the window. Actually, like FOUR faucets had been turned on.

Anti-whine: I have a lot of buckets.

Uccellina said...

Esperanza, I'm so happy for all of you! Congratulations!

Whine: I became a hysterical hyperventilating crying crazy woman this morning. I yelled at my husband and kicked the car. Twice. Why? It was my first day going back to work. It gave me weird flashbacks to coming home from he hospital without them, when they were in NICU. I really didn't handle it well at all.

Anti-whine: My husband has now forgiven me for saying some pretty lousy things.

Whine: I cried yesterday too, when the tactless @ss of a pediatrician told me my daughter "looks malnourished", and advised us to start supplementing her and breastfeeding my son less (which latter advice shows a surprising ignorance of how breastfeeding works). I've fought so hard for this breastfeeding relationship. One bottle a day really isn't that big a deal, but again, I didn't handle it well at all.

Anonymous said...

Hooray for esperanza and Baboo! Yay!

I think Baboo's success deserves a special award this week, dontcha think? Maybe the Deep Breath of Relief Award? We need a catchier title than that, though.

esperanza said...

((uccellina))

Elizabeth said...

Congrats for esperanza and her baboo

((uccellina))

My whine is that I woke up this morning with a sore throat. I am not allowed to be getting sick right now because my friend from college who lives on the other side of the country is coming to visit this weekend and the two of us are going camping without DH or kids. So I am NOT allowed to be getting sick.

Anti-whine: Boss gave us tomorrow off as paid leave, and I was already planning on taking Monday to hang out with friend, so now I have 5 days off in a row.

kathy a. said...

(((( uccellina )))) going back to work is very hard! the pediatrician is in desperate need of training from the cluestick posse -- feeding your son less isn't going to help your daughter any, and there surely are more graceful and intelligent ways to suggest daughter could stand to gain a little faster.

elizabeth, hope that sore throat goes away, stat!

liz has a prize-worthy anti-whine. :)

Unknown said...

Quiet week for whining. Is everyone OK? Things going well? GOOD!

Here is Casa Disaster we lost our phone for an entire week for non-payment, and once the phone was turned back on Monday morning, we lost our electricity for half a day. But that was due to stupidity at the NStar office. The story is long and complicated, but it's back on and we're OK for 3 months.

Headaches, we've got headaches. Pounding, squeezing skull headaches.

Son's bipolar meds are still being held up by insurance co. They approved the ADHD stuff after a full week. Kid has been on exact same meds for YEARS. This is extra stupid.

School district refused to pay for summer school for Daughter after they promised to do so at meeting. When I played tape recording of meeting (I'm no fool!) they backed down, but refused transportation. Lied to me and told me that they didn't have to. Law suit? Oh my yes! They're just building up more crap against them.

Antiwhine-- The garden, she is growing by leaps and bounds. We have fresh herbs out the posterior. Am experimenting with freezing thai basil because it is so hard to find in winter. We will have bumper crop of salmonilla-free tomatoes.

(((Uccellina))

Kathy A: we've got ants. I do the boric acid thing along the door where they march in, two by two. They apparently can't get enough of the cat food.

Esperanza: EXCELLENT NEWS about Baboo's oxygen.

kathy a. said...

oy, margalit.

and, how did you know it was the cat food?

Uccellina said...

Kathy - when I lived in Australia, I had to feed my housemate's cat raw kangaroo meat. The little bitey ants would come pouring through the window as soon as I put it out. In desperation, I bleached the entire ant-river each day. They kept coming.

Thanks for the hugs, everyone. I did better today. Only cried a little, and didn't verbally abuse anyone.

Sue said...

Hooray for the Sweet Baboo!!!

hugs to uccellina. Big hugs.

margalit - oy. hugs.

Ants. Oh yeah. We've got 'em too. Regular ugly black ones who like to show up when visitors show up to see the house we're trying to sell. Nice.

Whine: No word from the real-estate people in three days. I'm starting to panic. I really wanted this to happen quickly.

Whine: Mood - scary low. I've done enough suicide funerals to know that I would never act on it, but damn, I spend way too much time thinking about dying. I know it's just the topamax side effects, but it totally sucks.

Whine: My dose of topamax is still way too low to help with the headache pain, so I get to add that to my low mood. Yay.

Anti-whine: Klonopin.

Whine: I'm a freakin' train wreck.

esperanza said...

Oh, Sue, your whines break my heart. Sending some hope your way.

On the ants, if you have a little trail of them, wipe over their entire trail with some kind of acid (vinegar, lemon juice, not the illicit drug kind). That sometimes works. Or it was a big coincidence at our house, can't say for sure. But it's cheap and non-toxic, anyway.

Liz Miller said...

(Sue)
(Uccellina)
Woohoo Baboo!!!

Anti-whine: My husband is made of 100% unadulterated WIN.

I deleted my last comment, because I used the wrong link.

Sue said...

Someone recommended a mixture of sugar and baking soda for ant elimination. They eat it up for the sugar, then they go away and blow up b/c of the baking soda. Seems a bit violent, but still...

Anonymous said...

gotta get my two cents in before we lose power from t-storms...

anti-whine: i have found a sunscreen i actually like wearing.

whine: apparently i am not that good a judge of when to apply it, or my house sits directly under the hole in the ozone layer, or both, because i haven't gotten a sunburn in years but i did yesterday.

in fact, i'm calico. where i had farmers tan, i am still tan; where i was china tea cup white, i am still white; where my pasty pasty skin was exposed (yay tank tops, i guess), i am pale radish red.

anti-whine? at least my farmers tan will no longer stop just above my elbows. we'll just hope that the straps on the dress i plan to wear to my friend's wedding next month lines up with the remaining blank spots.

big hugs to uccellina, margalit, and sue. very hard things to deal with, to be sure.

kathy a. said...

(((( sue )))) can you call your doctor and see if there is something to smooth this rough time? because you are doing an excellent clinical assessment of yourself, but dang. on the one hand, only an incurably wonderful person could find a silver lining in suicide funerals. but more importantly, you are in a rung of phamaceutical hell that needs to be scooped out of the depths on humanitarian grounds. xoxox

kathy a. said...

on a rung? in a ring? i've lost the power of sensible speech, but you know what i mean.

Anonymous said...

Hugs for Uccellina. I always like venting to my husband when I am in such a mood--the better I can explain that I am just in a very hurt place the less he takes it personally.

And Sue, your whines break my heart...good luck and happy thoughts.

Yay for the Sweet Baboo! Off oxygen at last.

Whine: I had only gained 3 pounds in the first 27 weeks of pregnancy. (I was torn between worry and smugness--but I had gained 20 pounds from last year when I got pregnant and miscarried so I was not overly concerned about withering away) No comment from my doctor. So I ate more (and decadently). And gained 9 pounds in month. Um, wow, that was overboard. Still no comment from my OB. I am back to eating more fruit / less ice cream (still some ice cream :)

Anti-whine: the unborn one is vigorously kicking. Frequently. I am pleased as punch. And can just sit and feel her. No I'm too busy to clean that mess, I'm feeling the baby kick.

Anti-whine: the dishwasher will rise again! The new water softener comes on Monday.

Whine: I am feeling socially fragile. I usually work harder to make sure we see friends and this year has been hard. I am pregnant and tired and lazy. We have had an overdose of family events that has swallowed many weekends. Our most socially gathering friend didn't invite us for the 4th. But, we have plans for the 4th, so why doesn't this make me feel like middle school lunch-room rejects? The same friend did invite me and the kids to a fun kids day, but it involves 2 hours of driving. And did I mention I am pregnant and tired? And I want to go, but I think I may be work for her and suddenly I feel like that might be a problem. (my kids would want to split up for activities at this place and there is only one slow me.)

Of course the real whine here is that I am letting this grow into a problem in my head. Rather than just checking in with her to see how the group was shaping up. I am too old for this nonsense. I was on a committee with a woman who promised me I would stop fussing about this kind of stuff once I hit 40. Can I hope?

Miranda said...

Are you sick of me? I'm sick of me. It's after 3am here.

Anyway, I need a place to sleep. Younger Son is on the sofa. Spouse is in the bed. YS's room is a disaster.

Do you think Daughter would mind if I slept on her other bed?

purple_kangaroo said...

just real quick . . . w/aw

AW: Wonderful trip to the coast last week. Wonderful. Lots of wave-jumping, sandcastle-building, and running and playing on the beach.

W: Aforementioned playing on the beach caused huge FMS/CFS flare-up. I managed to strand myself at a friend's house, dissolving into a shaking weepy mess, because I was in too much pain (and fatigue) to drive.

AW: Lots of great pictures of playing with the kids in the sand--even some faceless ones fit for posting on the blog.

AW: Neighbor Girl is supposed to come play with the kids tomorrow afternoon so I can rest.

W: She was also supposed to come Monday afternoon, and didn't show. Again.

Miranda said...

PK I hope Neighbor Girl can help you today.

purple_kangaroo said...

Massive thunderstorms all night. I have not been asleep yet (it's after 6AM now). I have no idea how the rest of the family managed to sleep through the noise. If neighbor girl can't help today, I'll be making phone calls to try to find someone who can.

purple_kangaroo said...

Votes for Miranda and margalit.

And Sarah. I so hear you on the "feel like a high-school reject forever" thing.