Wednesday comes early this week, and will likely finish late. Yes, I'm procrastinating at this very moment, because my brain is so fried that it might explode if I do any more work today. The rest of the week looks about the same. I have to make up for pitiful progress on a piece of a project by cramming my little heart out this week. My behindness wasn't totally procrastination; other stuff going on, yadda ya. But the deadline, she looms.
Maybe I'll use my insomnia to cover some of the reading? Time will tell. At least I got round one of another bothersome something done today, and someone else will be wrestling that one this week. The office cats are helping a lot by being cute. I may have to fire one for bathing on my paperwork, though.
Passing the chips and guacamole. What are your whines and anti-whines this week?
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whine: had to have a blood test today, and now have a huge painful goose egg at site of draw--hurts to bend my arm! doc says ice and advil, but it is hard not to freak out in my head imagining things like clots, etc.
antiwhine: my doc responded quickly to my freaked out call to her office
whine: it snowed this weekend!
antiwhine: should be 60 for a few days in a row this week
whine: my kindergarten son's school picture was not so flattering
antiwhine: re-take day in a few weeks
whine part2: he assures me he is not likely to smile in that one either!
antiwhine part2: I can't help but smile at his honesty
whine: six loads of laundry to put away
antiwhine: husband actually did the washing of said laundry!
That's it for now, but then it is only Monday.....
:) Neighbor Lady
Whine: total lack of motivation, plenty of work to do
Anti-whine: fleece pants.
Yes, it's one of those days.
I cut Tater's hair. It's bad. What's worse is that I forgot that we're due for 1-year pictures.
Oops.
Ooops. Postpone the pictures? Hair will grow. 20 years from now you won't care that the picture was a couple months late.
ouchy, neighbor lady!
amy, i'm right with madeleine -- a couple months won't matter. and neighbor lady, i've got a few goofball photos of my kids on the wall; some years, that's just how it goes. my son's K photo, he just was not happy with being photographed.
aack, back to the salt mines.
whine: got up at 5.30 am to drive to BWI, fly to Hartford, attend meeting/give presentation, fly back, drive home. Am totally fried now.
anti-whine: DONE. Done with trip, done with son's birthday festivities, mostly done with cold. Done with PTA newsletter. After Wednesday, will be done with driving school. Halloween costumes are my husband's problem.
Whine: am I a mean ogre of a mama that I have really never considered taking the Sweet Baboo trick-or-treating this year? She goes to bed at 7 pm, people. It saves me the costume angst, anyway. When someone asked my husband what the Sweet Baboo was going to be for Halloween, he said, "a cutie pie." I think that's our plan. And we're going to the pumpkin patch on Wednesday for some pumpkin fun.
Anitwhine: completely uneventful appointment at the pediatric pulmonologist's office.
yay, elizabeth!
esperanza, a mean ogre? never! sweet baboo hasn't reached prime halloween age, anyway. the itty bitty ones [usually dragged along with older sibs] tend to be very confused about the whole thing.
NL - icky about the bump and sore arm, but it should be okay within a day or so. My guess is that you will have a dandy bruise though! I'm glad your doc called back so quickly. Try not to get that phlebotomist next time - she should have held the gauze/cotton ball on the site until it stopped bleeding completely. The reason you got the bump and bruise is that she was in too much of a hurry for you to leave. (I worked in a lab for 15 years, and that was generally the case with big bruises - impatient workers.)
Madeleine - I'm totally with you on the lack of motivation. However, I'm at the office and would pay richly for fleece pants right about now. How can I be inspired in "work" clothes????
Amy - I'm with the others - let the hair grow back and then get the pics done.
Elizabeth - nice work! Good delegation of Halloween too.
kathy a. - deadlines suck, but office cat assistants are a bonus!
esperanza - you are not an ogre. We didn't take our kids out until they asked to go. Up to that point, they were fascinated with all the knocks on the door and the funny costumes everyone had on. They LOVED giving out treats.
Whine: "I'm surrounded by thieves and assassins." I think that's from Julius Ceasar, but I don't know. My dad used to say that whenever he felt like the rest of us (four girls and Mom) were ganging up on him.
I'm surrounded by good church people with lots of good ideas. They are quite happy to encircle the THREE staff people - two of whom are part time and have other jobs - and hurl their good ideas in our general direction, assuming that we will make them all happen.
Um, I don't think so. Really folks, that's not how this whole church thing works. Do I really have to start from the beginning and explain all of that AGAIN????
And I wonder why my head hurts. Srsly. An angry gang of three year olds would be easier to work with most days.
W: my cell phone died today. :(
AW: new cell phone in my future! :)
W? i need to pick one out and i'm sure the one i'll want will be $$ or require $$ service.
AW? maybe some pixies have recommendations?
Sorry I can't be of any cellphone help Amy. We go with a local company up here in the Land Far Far Away.
Whine: My butt hurts from sitting at this desk all day.
Anti-whine: I'm leaving to go to my workout. I'm pretty sure my butt won't be hurting so much after that.
Sue, your church people don't know the Good Idea Rule? As in, if you suggest it, you've just volunteered to run it. It is this very principle that keeps my mouth shut on a regular basis.
Esperanza, two year olds don't need to trick or treat. For sure. Though I'm sure I speak for all pixies when I say we'd love to see a picture of her in her cutie pie costume ;-)
W: On the picture theme, MM has class pictures tomorrow. His cheek ran into someone else's forehead yesterday and is now sporting a bruise exactly like someone kissed him wearing blue lipstick.
W: The insurance lobbyist got confirmed. 5 yeas, 4 nays. One of those nays was a yea yesterday. I am so pissed.
W: I have to be at a mandatory team building exercise on Friday, Oct 30th at 9:00 AM. Which is when I volunteer at my son's school. His teacher will have to administer spelling tests to the whole class without me.
AW: No one in my house is sick.
sue, i'm with madeleine on the Good Idea Rule!
amy, i'm also worthless on cellphones. i really want one with no features but voicemail and cheap rates. the one i've got [the cheapest one, with incomprehensible icons and a camera] is too much cellphone for me.
OMG liz! i smell a cluesticking coming -- wtf are they thinking about the lobbyist??
Liz - grrrrrrr - Cluestick is at the ready. You name the time and place....
We're whining about school pictures? Oh, goody. I've got a school picture whine. (Nothing that can top teh kiss of death bruise, though.)
SG's school sent home flyers announcing picture day for the first Monday in October. Monday! That's awesome! Because, you see, her hair takes about two hours to comb and braid and it looks fairly ratty by the end of the week, so Monday! Perfect!
Sunday afternoon, hair done as per usual, a little extra neat maybe. Monday while packing her backpack, she finds the piece of paper with her class newsletter, wherein picture day is listed as Oct 22. Yep, they moved picture day and didn't send up red flares. Oh well.
This past weekend was really busy so, anti-whine, I wasn't sorry to put the hair event off until today. It's done, though she hasn't done much homework today. And she should still look decent on Thursday.
Which, BONUS WHINE, is also the first Pizza Lunch of the year. When I commented that I hope they take the pics before lunch, I got the dreaded "Mooooooo-om." She just better not wipe her mouth on her shoulder, is all I can say.
OK, thanks pixies. I am not a mean ogre. Sweet Baboo will wear her pumpkin shirt and be a cutie pie. I will look like I'm trying to shoplift a pumpkin, and it will all be good.
Sue may have a different response, but it is my experience that people think the Good Idea Rule does not apply at church. Nor does the Grownups Should Act Like Grownups Rule, at least sometimes.
Oh I totally agree esperanza. Something about church just completely obliterates those two rules. Completely.
Wah.
AW: MM chose his own outfit for pictures today. White dress shirt, xlnt tie, navy blue suit.
W: This morning the shirt was "itchy" even after having all tags cut out of it.
AW: I packed an extra shirt in his backpack if he wants to change (it's head-shots anyway, I'm not picky).
W: Because of all the whining and drama, we got to school late.
AW: Because we got to school late, I walked him to class, where all the girls in their party dresses SQUEALED over how dressed up MM was and how handsome he looked and so I think that the dress shirt and tie aren't going anywhere.
Anti-whine: On the way to the office, I was driving behind an SUV with a bumper sticker that said "B*tch on Board."
Must. Have. One.
oh, liz, i totally understand the itchy shirt syndrome. my daughter came undone with tags and any non-soft fabric, and for a couple years she absolutely could not stand even the seams in socks. she had to wear skirts at all times. thankfully, she had a uniform for school, but the sock issue undid us many a morning.
My mother is 59 years old and still cuts out ALL of the tags in her clothes. Every single one.
come to think of it, my beloved cuts out all tags, too. my daughter got over the extra-sensitivity at some point, but she still goes for comfort in clothing. which sometimes conflicts with her sense of style.
I can usually tolerate tags in my clothes, but I do go for comfort in clothing. It helps a lot to have no sense of style.
*snort* Nomination for Madeleine for "It helps a lot to have no sense of style." I like that one...
I have a bad habit of removing all the tags before I read the washing instructions. D'oh. Then hubby gives me the "over the top of his glasses" look when I shrink something. Whatever...
Sue, I have the answer to that, too. Don't buy anything that needs special treatment. Again, it helps a lot to have no sense of style.
Our household has three types of clothing: dry-clean-only; wash-with-like-colors; and bras. Bras get shampooed in the shower and hung to dry.
When in doubt, it's dry-clean-only.
Really, shampoo the bras? I just throw them in the washer and hang to dry. Mr. E forgets the hang to dry part.
The Sweet Baboo would like to complain about her snack (raisins and cheerios). The Cheerios have gotten removed from the bowl and returned to the bowl approximately three times each. Apparently that's better than eating them. Mind you, if we're out somewhere, she always wants to snack on the cheerio stash in the diaper bag.
When your bras are Ginormous and hard to find (Nordstrom's website doesn't have them anymore. Now I'm anxious and hyperventilating), you handwash them gently with mild soap (aka, shampoo in the shower).
madeleine is my hero! liz reminds me that i have dry-cleaning to do: some stuff got on my good jacket and best dress. and that was a few months ago, such is my dedication to style. bras, the occasional sweater, and my beloved's bike clothes all go in the washer, but i have to remember to pull them out for air-drying.
crap. The Sweet Baboo is running a fever tonight. I thought it was typical Daddy overreaction, but sure enough, 102. H1N1 is running rampant here, so we will take all prayers/good thoughts/vibes/voodoo. No other symptoms, except a little heavy breathing. Hmm.
Ooooh, oooh, ooooh. Sending good vibes for a healthy Sweet Baboo pronto.
Thanks, Madeleine. For me, too, if you don't mind, since I'm in that high risk category known as pregnant women.
Oh, poor Sweet Baboo - sending No Fever vibes and good thoughts...
I totally wash my bras in the shower. I thought everyone did. I guess I was wrong. Oh this sheltered life I lead....
Liz - I always think I know exactly what needs dry-cleaning and what I can wash on gentle. Sometimes I'm wrong. My fancy schmancy designer suit - oh yeah - dry cleaner baby - everything else is total guess work.
Anti-whine: I've worked out for three days in a row for at least an hour each day. Woot! I sort of hurt a bit in the thighs and calves, but it feels good to move again. Bonus - no headache since Sunday afternoon!
Sue! Woot!
Esperanza, my mom swears by imagining a shield made of light around you keeping the germs at bay.
She does stay remarkably healthy.
So I send you a shield of light.
awards will be friday, or maybe saturday. so keep whining!
Stay healthy, Esperanza. Sitting on the couch should have some benefit.
Yay! Sue - being pleased about exercising is nearly as good as exercising in my book. Can you tell I have a mental block about starting to exercise again?
Liz - the scratchy tag problem lives here too. The worst was the one time my daughter complained about the "tagless" printing on the back of her short. It was rough, but you can't cut it off.
Did he keep on his handsome shirt?
Whine: I have gone a bit overboard on the Halloween party we're having next week. It is only the money that bugs me.
Anti-whine: did I say the baby was walking last week? It is so true. Walking like a real person! I am still delighted.
Anti-whine: we had a fairly impromptu playdate and I really liked it. It has been 2.5 years since we moved here and I think I may be making friends :)
Gotta make this quick.
AJ is freaking out about everything from germs to pens to energy conservation to poison (yes, poison--I have no idea why) this week, and not a single person I left a message with last week (trying to find a new therapist) has returned my phone call.
Going back to our own methods rather than the therapist's suggested methods has ramped her level of inconsolability down several levels, though.
Re: itchy shirt syndrome. Tags itch me. But the printed-on ink labels itch me worse. I'm allergic to them or something.
It took me years to figure out why I always had an itchy red rashy area at the small of my back and at the back of my neck, until I saw a thing about babies reacting to the tagless labels in kids' clothing. I started turning my underwear inside-out and the rashes went away!
PK, whatever works for AJ is what works. I hope that you get some callbacks soon.
And yes, MM kept his dress shirt, tie, and jacket on all day.
I'm all about the health shield - pass it around Liz!!
Sarah - it's taken me a LONG time to get back into the exercise thing. Yoga was a good way to start.
P_K - good luck with a new therapist, I hope someone can help. And soon.
Sue - yoga probably would be a good idea. It has been a long time...
And a small whine/anti-whine this morning: my 5 year old was mad at me for telling him to stop playing Wii and put on his shoes for school. He said - not really to me - just to the room, "I hate Mom!" Then he tried to run up and punch my knee, but he was smart enough to not actually hit me. But I am taking it as an anti-whine because it is so blessedly, emotionally, developmentally normal. It was much more devastating when my 8 year old would tearfully complain that I don't love her. Much messier to explain I do love her, even if I am mad at her behavior. I told the 5 year old I could see he was frustrated, but that wasn't a very nice thing to say. And he hugged me. And it was over. Whereas the 8 year old...yeah, therapy is ongoing.
P.S. I am so glad to have the pixie community to voice this to. Thanks for listening.
Oh, Sarah, I understand the glimpses of normal thing. Wishing you more of them for both kids, and for p_k, too.
And, the pixies have healing powers! Baboo had fever all night (why of course I slept some, why do you ask?) and woke up with 102 this morning. After a tasty breakfast of oatmeal and tangerines and milk, it was 99. Now, normal. Weird, but I'm not complaining. Thank you for the shields.
hugs to PK and sarah, and the kids they love. xoxox
esperanza, hope baboo is better asap!
sue, yay for the exercise and no headache!
W: continuing work avalanche. awards saturday.
W: dogs have caught 2 young squirrels in 24 hours. nothing starts your day like a trophy in the garage...
AW/[w]: japan gave daughter a "scholarship" amounting to $800/month for expenses and spending money. [it's wrong to feel vaguely jealous about this, isn't it?]
i forgot to mention, daughter's room, board, tuition, and major transportation are all covered, AND she already has $700/mo. for expenses. it is just hard for me to compute being a student and having $1500/month for extras.
that said, we didn't know the scholarship was coming, and hopefully she'll have the time of her life and save some of the bounty for leaner times.
Wow, that is quite a windfall. Japan is an expensive place to live, I'm told, so it may not go as far as you think. Still, since she will eventually need to pay back her student loans, she might want to sock a bit away for that.
i think we have to have a talk about now declining one loan, and the need to set up a savings account. she is generally prudent about spending. oy. financial aid procedures remain as clear as mud to me.
this is all blowing my mind, because i remember working 20 hours a week at her age, and having maybe $10/week to spend on non-essentials. maybe. and i am still living month to month, not a lot for extras.
The cat puked on my bed. In the middle of the night. He jumped up on the bed--waking me up--just to throw up. Gross. Plus being startled awake like that was *not* conducive to falling back asleep.
anti-whine--he only caught the edge of the duvet and not the comforter inside so the cleanup was not as bad as it could have been!
We have the tag issue in our house--among other things. My oldest and I share a dislike of 3/4 sleeves (they're ok if they can be pushed up a bit like on a tee, but not for blouses or jackets). I ordered a jacket from an on-line site. Nowhere did it say 3/4 sleeves. It *looked* like it had long sleeves in the photograph. But, when it came--3/4 sleeves. Now I have to return it--bah! (anti-whine--at least I can return it to a store and I don't have to repack and pay return shipping)
Liz--I hear you on the bras and Nordstroms not stocking them--we've had luck at www.barenecessities.com and figleaves.com. Related whine--why is it so hard to find a bra (in a bricks & mortar store) for a curvy person with a smallish rib cage (32D, for example). I know why 8/10 (or whatever number they throw around) women wear the wrong size bra--nobody (except Nordstroms) stocks the right size!
Esperanza, I hope the Sweet Baboos fever stays away. Sending you both some virtual chicken soup.
Has anyone gotten the H1N1 vaccine yet? It hasn't even appeared here.
MM's getting the H1N1 vac. today at school.
OMIGOD! Bare Necessities has 'em in my size!! WOOT!!
Dancin' dancin' dancin'
Emily, you are my long lost bra twin. I didn't know anyone else with that size! And let's not even talk about nursing bras for small rib-caged women. Argh.
The fever is back, but not as high. She is completely her perky self. Other symptoms: heavy breathing and the tiniest runny nose you can imagine. It would be worse if she had the flu, right?
Heh. It's also hard to find a bra for someone who is somewhere between a 32 Nearly A and a 28 A and a half (depending on the style) but is spaced so that underwires are excruciatingly impossible, with the effects of having nursed three babies making it so that bras designed for teenagers don't have a hope of fitting, though you'd think they would. Nothing fits right, few carry something that fits in rib cage, cup and spacing, and I HATE BRA SHOPPING (and blouse shopping, too--do you know how hard it is to find preteen-sized clothes that don't look like teenybopper styles?)
p_k, if there is a woman out there who really enjoys bra shopping, I've never met her. Blech.
Re: photos. You know, if the haircut or the black eye or whatever looks bad in them, in 30 years that is going to be your favorite photo in the line-up because it's unique, fun and not boring.
My kids have a great talent for getting black eyes, stitches, etc. on their faces just before photos--and the likelihood is quadrupled if they're actually being in a wedding party.
I was a 32D for a little while when I was nursing. Nursing bras do come in that size. :)
I've got the opposite problem -- I wear something like a 38A. Also really hard to find.
Yay Liz on the bra discovery!
Actually, I kind of like bra shopping. I'm an easy size (either a 34C or 34D, depending on where my weight is) - right now a 34C. So I can go and buy something really pretty and match up the panties. I just feel prettier and more confident when my foundational undergarments match - is that odd? Hm. I'm thinking yes, that's odd.
Whine: Just found out a good friend has lymphoma. Crap.
I feel like I've been dipped in grief this week.
Anti-whine: The video on my blog is SO cool. If you don't have access and would like it just email me at suecan at gmail dot com.
Sue I'm so sorry about your friend.
And you are not odd at all. You'd feel even more confident if you got them in tiger print.
MM's vaccination is NEXT Thursday (d'oh!)
I can't tell you people how relieved I feel to know that the one bra that fits me still exists. I owe the ownership of the bras I have to the good advice given on the blog of BitchPhd. Sincerely. She sent me to Nordies back when I was still a DD.
Sue, I'm so sorry for the pool of grief.
I owe my current good bras to the Bitch PhD bra thread, too. I found out later that Dr. B's former northern college town is north of me, so now I wonder if she extra-pseudonymously posted the comment that recommended the best store in my city. Which indeed rocks, as SG would say.
AW of I Am Not Alone in My Madness: As previously whined, yesterday was both Photo Day and Pizza Lunch at school. When My Love heard this he had the same reaction as me: "I hope they take the pictures before lunch!" And SG told me when she came home that another girl's mom sent an extra shirt for her to wear at lunchtime. Ha! I am not quite that obsessed, though I did send her in a dark color and beg her to use her napkin for a change.
For the record, they did their class pic in the morning and their individual pics in the afternoon, but there were no sauce stains on her clothes.
FYI: Barenecessities.com has a 15 % off coupon -- retailmenot09 in the code space.
Whine: absolutely no info from Kaiser about when they might be getting swine flu vaccine.
Emily - sorry I missed the cat puke whine yesterday - definitely a top contender for Old Skool. And no, not conducive to falling back to sleep. Ugh. Sooooooo been there.
Really? Cat puke IN YOUR BED is Old Skool? I would have guessed Whine of Substance, or Bodily Fluids at the least.
This is why I don't want a furry pet.
I don't think I've ever had matching foundational undergarments in my life. Perhaps it would be transformative. And Sue, sorry for the bad news kind of week.
p_k, yes they do make 32D nursing bras. But when that is one's *normal* size, one needs a somewhat (ahem) larger cup size when nursing. When the cup sizes get that large, even in nursing bras, the band sizes do too. Sewing machine to the rescue! And you can be sure that mine are saved for Mini Baboo.
Antiwhine of Unbelievable proportions: I slept from 10:30 pm to 6:00 am without getting up to go to the bathroom. And then! Went back to sleep until 8:00 am when Sweet Baboo woke up (she's usually a 7:00 am girl). Aaaahhh.
And puke, of any sort, is definitely worthy of an award.
Bravissimo had nursing bras in larger sizes, if I remember correctly. And my lactation consultant special-ordered me some to go with the Medela pump (so I could pump hands-free)
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