By the time this posts I will be out at the putative busiest polling place begging people to vote for my husband. I don't know what the weather will be, but it will be fireplacing DARK out. Please, for the love of all that is holy, please do not let it be rainy, foggy, or too bloody cold. Thank you.
I hope that No on 8 wins in Maine.
I hope (yes, yes I do) that my husband wins.
I hope that Deeds and Wagner and Shannon win here.
I hope that the Dems win a majority in the VA House of Delegates.
I hope that the Dems win in NJ.
In that order.
See you all tomorrow with news. In the meantime: Whining Time is officially open. Pixies....start your whining!
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73 comments:
Good luck Liz! weather is sunny and gorgeous -- should be good for the dems. I was voter 128 at 8.15 in my precinct.
Good luck Liz!
Whine here: all 3 kids are sick. No school until the fever is gone. Dr. prediction is the 8 year old might go back Thursday, the 5 year old next Monday (no school on Friday, of course). The baby, maybe she'll be good next Tuesday or so?
Anti-whine: this is just boring sick. No one is scarily ill.
Whine: good gracious it is boring.
Hooray for sunny weather! Hooray for early voters!
Hooray for my new furnace! Yes, pixies, it is warm on the second floor for a change. Anti-whine of the year.
Sarah, sorry to hear you are the lead-off batter on Team YUCK this week. With a hat trick no less, to mix my sports metaphors.
good luck, liz and everyone else crossing fingers for good electoral results!
congrats on the furnace, madeleine!
sarah, sorry for the fever x 3. my nephew's got it, too.
today is the 3d and final day of the funeral extravaganza. the service yesterday was lovely; the minister had been friends with my stepfather for close to 60 years. crossing fingers that today goes smoothly. one of the difficult relatives showed up 2.5 hours late for the service, but will be at the burial today. [ack, family dynamics.]
A three day funeral extravaganza does not sound pleasant for anyone, kathy a. Hoping sick pixie kiddos get well soon.
Mini Baboo whines here: can't shake the impending feeling of doom/waiting for other shoe to drop. What I'm actually waiting for is the test results that will tell me if I can go on this trip. Said results will be so late that I'll have to pack anyway. And--Mini Baboo is having a good ol time dancing on my bladder, cervix, intestines and other sensitive organs. Yes, I believe we are talking breech. And--despite the fact that we want Mini Baboo to be a surprise, I think the OB slipped yesterday and said "she." But was it an accident? Does she refer to all babies as "she"? Was it because the Sweet Baboo was sitting there and she was thinking girl? Hmmm. Which brings up a related whine: names. We are just as stuck as we were two years ago. Boy name is good to go. Girl name...um...uh...
I should come up with some antiwhines, I guess. Weather is lovely. Halloween was fun. The Sweet Baboo thought it was just ducky that all these people kept coming to our house!
{{{esperanza}}}} waiting for test results, ugh!
You have company today in the waiting. Or you would, if Liz wasn't at the polls smiling.
oh no sarah! And we were all at your house Friday... hopefully it wasn't my lingering cold that did it. No fever here though. So I'll also hope that whatever your three have didn't get passed to mine or the rest of the crowd.
The Sweet Baboo would like to join in the whining. Not about anything in particular, just whining.
Esperanza - Oh sweet Baboo, save your whining for us pixies and leave mommy be. To rest and worry about test results :(
KathyA - I hope the extravaganza ends civilly and peacefully. Ah family, you have my sympathies.
JenR - I don't think you are the vector. Miranda was just a bit twitchy on Friday pre-party. Hard to separate from pre-party anxiety and hyper-ness. I warned her no hand massages, no kissing, wash your hands frequently. Just in case. I think it was going around her school - 2 of her friends were felled on Friday and the weekend. And my kindergartener's teacher said they had a lot of kids out too. Oh my. Stay well!
Yay for working furnaces, Madeleine!
Any news from the elections yet?
crossing fingers for esperanza!
i think it is probably still early to be worrying about a breech baby. my son was breech, but up until the last stretch, the doctor was hoping he would turn.
the extravaganza is over, and it went pretty well considering.
Hugs to all. Esperanza, I agree that often babies are breech until labor is getting close, and then they turn over. M&M did that--I remember the kicking and thrashing that worried me a day or two before she was born, but the midwife said she was probably just getting herself into position and getting ready to be born. Sure enough, she got herself all into position and then when she decided to arrive it was so fast and easy the midwife barely got to the hospital in time to catch her.
And maybe the OB just alternates between "he" and "she" or calls all babies she?
I'm not worried about breech; we're already doing a C-section anyway. It's just not so comfortable what with the dancing parties. Better today.
Antiwhine here is that I think we *may* have found a therapist that will be a better fit for our family. He comes highly-recommended, and just happens to not only share our faith, but he's also a homeschool dad. Which doesn't necessarily automatically make him a good fit, but does likely mean that he's not immediately going to think we're strange or judge us negatively based on either factor.
Oh, yes, having the bladder danced on is highly uncomfortable.
Fingers crossed for Mr. Liz. Early returns aren't so good, but only about half the precincts are reporting.
And the statewide results are a definite whine.
Oh no, Elizabeth. Fingers and toes crossed here too, for Mr. Liz and crew.
My husband got to the polls this afternoon to do his civic duty, only to find that we are the wrong district, and there IS no voting for us to do. I'm glad I didn't make the trip to the polling place, only to have it wasted!
Keeping fingers crossed for Mr. Liz -- hopefully, the beginning returns are dismal, and he's a rolling stone that gathers the rest of the moss on the down slope!
No.
We lost.
But not as badly as the top of the ticket.
Worse news, we've definitely lost one Dem seat to the Republicans, and possibly another.
Loudoun went red with a vengeance.
Sorry, Liz. Really cruddy results overall in Virginia. It's going to be a scary few years.
Fingers still crossed for Maine.
((Hugs)), Liz. At least you know that you worked hard and gave it your best. Maybe next time. I'm not even a Dem, and I was rooting for you. :)
oh, no, liz and mr. liz! i nominate the both of you for the fighting the good fight award. whine though we will, pixies strike me as individuals who care about the public good -- but y'all are the ones who set an amazing example of commitment. therefore, raising a toast. i know your voices will still be out there for the longer haul.
purple kangaroo -- that is great news about the therapist lead!
esperanza, apologies for misunderstanding the gist of the dancing-on-bladder whine.
crabby little whine: went to an airport place to grab some quick appetizers and beverages with my sisters. twice, we tried to order a menu item only to be told they were out. twice more, we ordered a menu item, and the waitperson returned on separate occasions to report that they were out. we resorted to asking what she could postively identify as available and deliver in 10 minutes. adequate quantities of plastic cutlery and napkinage never arrived. if you needed any more reason to avoid the Terrible Greedy Infamous Fireplace chain, i submit this dining report for your consideration.
p_k, i'm so sorry. sending peaceful energy your way this morning.
Liz - I'm so sorry.
And P-K - good luck with the new therapist and I hope that things calm down for you and your family.
KathyA - one of the few perks to living really far away from one of that chain restaurants' locations is that we rarely ever go there. It was a place that my parents like an I didn't hate so we used to go there fairly often. I will admit I don't miss it.
Esperanza - hope the dancing slows to a waltz? And having had 3 c-sections, but only the third was definitely going to be a section from the get-go, it does make for one less thing to worry about. (#1 was breech, led to the #1 c-section.) Of course, your brain just fills with other things to worry about.
Fireplace fireplace fireplace fireplace fireplace.
Gay marriage is dead in Maine. I am so angry about that. Fireplacing bigots.
My husband lost, oh well, we did better than the top of the ticket.
The top of the ticket lost. I hate that, but particularly for Shannon's race for the Atty Gen'l. Cuccinelli is a disaster.
Not only did the Dems not win a majority in the house, we lost 7 seats (including those of 2 dear friends). We are now down 13.
And, of course, Christie won NJ.
Fireplace.
Fireplace, every one of them. So sorry, liz. And for the folks in Maine who lost their civil rights.
Clearly, whining pixies should be able to vote in whichever state they please. Multiple times.
Our antiwhine of the day is that the fetal fibronectin test was negative. Which is good. I have a 1 in 10,000 chance of going into labor in the next 14 days, which is good enough to me. Off on a roadtrip (others are driving) for my brother's celebration. Woohoo!
Whine: I procrastinated the packing and now have an hour and a half to pack for said road trip. So, I thought I would stop to whine!
Yay for mini-baboo staying put! Have a good trip.
political AW: my district special-elected a dem congresscritter, who vows to do something about health care.
esperanza, have a great trip!
Yay Kathy A!
So sorry to Mr. Liz. I was so hopeful that things would go well for him.
Also very upset that Maine has not amassed more empathy for their fellow men and women, but I will have to admit that I'm not surprised. I was hoping against hope, really.
Liz, thank you for all of your hard work on Mr. Liz's behalf. It's bad enough to work yourself to the bone, but to work yourself to the bone without a win and a chance to change things is just plain sad. I know he would have done a good job, and it really is the constituency's loss.
HUGE anti-whine for me -- no school today! I got lots of errands that I have had no time to do completed!
HUGE anti-whine -- it's a furlough day, so it means I don't get paid for said lovely day off. But, I needed this day, so I'm almost where I don't care about taking the hit to the pocket. It was a realllllly long October. Not a single day off. Argh!
Twin brother has had drug problems for the past few months, which nobody told me about until he was in rehab for the 2nd time, about 3 weeks ago. Today, I called his phone and got no answer, so called my mom (he's been living at their house since he got out of rehab). Apparently he's been kicked out for falling back into addiction, and is now sleeping on the street. Which nobody felt compelled to even tell me about until I called. Gah.
Gah.
Also, fireplacing Maine.
(((Jenevieve)))
oh ((( jenevieve ))) there is so much wrapped up in this -- family dynamics layered in with bad communication, on top of fear for your brother.
this is much more than ghiradelli can solve, but sending much love and support, and hoping for the best for your brother. xoxox
also, i think i want to cluestick your parents. the solid reason is not talking with you about what is going on. my second reason might be off-track, but i wonder whether they engaged at all in his treatment. results are usually measured as "progress," not "cure." xoxoxo
Sorry folks, no time to read the whines-to-date. I just returned home after three days of visiting a friend in Milwaukee.
My friend is going through a really rough time right now, so we spent three days going to the most wonderful spa EVER for massages, pedis an a relax in the steam room. It was heavenly. We ate great sushi and had pomegranate martinis and cheesecake while watching Biggest Loser last night. Fun, fun, fun.
My friend is considerably taller than I am, so she called me her "Pocket Canadian" for three days. ~snicker~
Fireplacing Maine bigots! And {{Liz}} We need to clone you for the next election, is all. Esperanza..have fun on your road trip! Maybe look up some restrooms along your route ahead of time?;)
Whine: My internal organs are apparently being used as some sort of trampoline by my as-yet-unborn-but-already-grounded daughter. From the amount of kicking I'm feeling (about 5 counts a minute, vs the 10 an hour one is supposed to feel to make sure everything's OK), I am having Michael Flatley's love child. "Liverdance", anyone?
Anti-whine: Healthy, dancing baby =)
Also, moving to a HOUSE! Owned, not rented! In two weeks! And can pretend not to be too wimpy to lift heavy boxes because am not allowed to lift anyway, neener neener booboo.
Happy week, fellow pixies!
((Jenevieve))
I'm filling out intake forms for the psychologist tomorrow, and answering these questions is making me sad. :(
((Jenevieve))
((purple_kangaroo))
whine: Achy
{{{P_K}}} for sad questions and {{{Jeni}}} for sad family situations.
Anti-whine (Wait for it, it's down at the end): I just got back from taking a good friend to the doctor. She is having a baby, and had a rough previous pregnancy, and her husband couldn't come to this first appointment so she needed a driver and company to keep her calm. Her only child is older than my only child, and we figured she wasn't going to have another either. Another friend had a baby over the summer and I was a bit jealous. But after spending the morning surrounded by pregnant woman and baby-inside pictures, I am happy to say I didn't sit there in jealous fits. I think I'm OK.
Madeleine, that is a good thing.
Here's my anti-whine for the day, though it might carry me for a week:
Tater hates to nap anywhere but on my body or in the car seat. Right now, he is napping in his crib. Why? His father and his father's friends are directly below his crib, having band practice in the basement. Now, how am I supposed to recreate that tomorrow? [sigh] But it's still an anti-whine because it means I get to take a shower without listening to a screaming boy, and hoo-doggie, that is excellent.
Whine of continuing suckage: we are still waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding the job loss. The company always fires people on Friday, so I'm going to the pharmacy today to refill all of my prescriptions in case the company lets him go tomorrow. It's a possibility that they won't give him severance and we'll have to deal with cobra.
elizabeth for the brevity award! hope you feel less achy soon.
The achy isn't really so bad in itself, it's that I'm sitting here trying to decide if it's the start of the flu...
oh, amy. that so sucks.
unbloggable antiwhine of victory! something good just happened in something i worked hard on many years ago. yeah, again! i guess the take-away lesson is that sometimes ya gotta wait for the good part to finally happen.
Hooray for kathy a., slow-but-sure superwoman!
completely whinable whine of feeling icky: I feel icky. Not yet Icky and definitely not Yuck. But not quite right. Same as yesterday afternoon; felt better this morning. Approach is the same: take it easy, don't bother going to the grocery store, make something simple for dinner and crash.
{{{Amy}}} on the continuing suckage of impending job loss. I hope he gets severance.
My sympathies to all pixies with internal organs serving as unwilling dance partners for teh growing babies2be. It's tough when a good thing (baby moving!) is also a bad thing (pregnant bladder...not...trampoline!)
My whine: I had to go to a meeting and, foolishly decided to put a bit of foundation over a zit. (whine within a whine--zit? is it fair to have to deal with middle age *and* zits, not to mention teenagers with zits all at the same time?). I managed to drip foundation on my shirt, tried to blot it with a wet cloth and discovered that the make up is--waterproof (duh--who wants melting makeup)--leaving me with a stain and a wet spot and having to change my shirt. (anti whine--I think the stain stick plus soaking is getting it out)
Thanks, guys. Yeah, Kathy A., my parents have a long history of alternating between enabling and shunning, in a variety of bad situations. Fail.
Antiwhine (?): My brother had beed AWOL from the army for the last 2ish years, and he turned himself in so he didn't have to sleep in a shelter. At least he'll get some sort of counselling in prison.
Man, that's a crappy antiwhine. I'm making apple cake right now; that's a better one.
emily should win a prize for having a spare shirt at hand! am in total sympathy with the "why zits? why now? it's not fair!" sentiment.
aw, jeni. xoxox it actually sounds like your brother made a smart choice, getting something looming out of the way *and* getting to a relatively safe place. apple cake sounds like a great idea. passing some virtual chocolate as well.
I'm eating chocolate peanut butter spread . . . passing jar and spoons around.
ITA with Kathy . . . hoping this will be a positive move for your brother, Jenevieve.
Wah. No time to catch up on whines. How can a week of study leave be this busy????
Pixie hugs to everyone. Really.
Oh, and the other book he said might be helpful was The Explosive Child . . . one that's been recommended to me so many times that I think I'll try to buy it rather than just getting it at the library.
oh, PK. this does sound like a wonderful start with the new therapist! parts i like: nonjudgmental [of you and of AJ]; he is suggesting some very supportive things; he has a plan and isn't freaked out. i'm really impressed by the last paragraph, about how to approach medication.
and oh, dear -- what she is really worrying about is horrible. it must be very frightening for her and for everyone else. xoxo
PK - Many hugs
...and, another AW! the road work on my street is being done right this very minute. whining works, yet again! trying to think of a thank-you song for the dedicated guy in charge of city road work, who swore it would really happen this week.
Many, many hugs to all of the hurting pixies, especially PK and Jeni. I feel so awful for both of you and your situations. I pray relief comes for both of your families, and soon.
My day sucked, mightily. I had a kid get violent, and got the crap beat out of me. At least when the kindergarters lashed out, it was basically flesh wounds, but the fifth graders are another story all together. Have a knot on my leg, multiple contusions and long, deep scratches down one arm. The kid got sent home for the day, and I feel bad for him. He's not bad, he's just damned frustrated, which I would be too! His grandmother won't bother to learn to sign, so he's basically locked in his head unless he's at school. No damn wonder he's frustrated, and lashes out! It's just my bad luck that I was in the path of the hurricane.
omg, klee! hugs to you, and to your student. you are so understanding; he really needs more than he is getting from his family. crossing fingers that someone will find him some outlets, both for communication and for frustration. xoxo
{{{KLee}}} What a terrible situation all around.
kathy a. I was working at home, so the spare shirt wasn't a problem. Also, since I have no personal style, most of my clothes match each other so at least I only had to change the shirt and not the rest of the outfit.
prayers and good wishes for all those at Ft Hood -- those killed and injured, and those who don't know yet if their loved ones are ok. And for our Muslim soldiers whose lives just got that much harder.
((Hugs)), Klee. I'm so glad that kid has people like you in his life, and hope your wounds heal soon.
(Editing my earlier comment a bit)
New psychologist seems promising so far. He was understanding and reassuring, and seems like a personality that might be a good fit.
And he said that he does NOT think she's just doing this stuff to get attention, despite what the previous counselor said. :)
He also did not seem phased when we told him about AJ's fears and some of the odd things she's been saying. He pointed out to us that she does have a lot of unrealistic, not-reality-based thinking. Hopefully we'll be able to start getting some of this under control.
He has a plan, gave us a book to read (on parenting gifted kids), suggested another book, and said we should see some improvement within a couple of months.
He does seem to think we'll likely end up going the medication route eventually, but thinks it would be good for AJ to see herself make at least some progress on her own before starting medication so that she'll see the medication as a help supporting her own efforts and tools, rather than as a magic cure that's doing all the work by itself.
Oh Jeni - what a horror. I hope things get better for your brother.
KLee - what a scary day and so understanding of you. Thank goodness for teachers like you.
P K - your therapist sounds like a winner. So much hard work left to do.
Amy - the living in limbo is horrible. Crossing my fingers for a reprieve and if not, severance.
KathyA - yay for good things coming through in the end. The street and your project.
Sue - I hope Milwaukee treated you well.
Whine of worry: I started my new job. I think the work end will be fine - I can do the job. It is a tad bit more religious than I am used to. By tad bit, let's multiple any number you think of by 100. I don't think I've ever been prayed at so much. Maybe when I get to the data entry, it will be quieter? This is somewhat complicated for me as the religious tradition is not my own. IT will all work out. Or it won't.
Thanks all. The anti-whine of the morning is that job loss day very likely will not be today, and that's nice.
It will happen, however, eventually. The group my husband is a part of is being disintegrated. His company was bought by another a couple of years ago, and this new company just doesn't know what to do with them, so they're simply ending the group. They're not even going to try to sell it off.
My heart goes out to the Ft. Hood families too, but I'm done watching it on television. The way the news outlets capitalize on any and all footage they have of grieving families is disgusting.
When my brother was killed, it was a very public, newsworthy thing*, and I lost count of the number of times I saw my brother's final moments on TV. I understand it's a news story, but the media has no idea when enough is enough. It's comprised of bloated opportunistic carcass eaters looking for the next set of remains to kick over for their own advancement and ratings. I'm not sure which layer of hell those people end up in, but I'm sure it's close to Satan's mouth.
*I don't know if these comments will show up in teh Google, so I won't name it here, but if you search for the largest peace time loss of life in US military history, you'll come up with it.
Amy, sending condolences your way, because it sounds like this event is stirring up your memories of your brother's loss. I'm so sorry.
((Hugs)), pixies.
I only have a minute at the moment, but may I whine that there are people in our lives who think we're overreacting, and others who think we're underreacting.
Antiwhine?: Maybe that's a good sign that possibly we're finding a decent balance?
P_K, definitely a good sign when you've got critics on both sides ;-)
I also think the new Doc sounds good. He has a plan. He understands you didn't cause this. He thinks AJ can improve, without and with medication. Very hopeful.
amy, i am so sorry. and with you 100% on the opportunistic media feeding frenzy. what is wrong with those people?
((Amy))
I was chatting with the kids last night about the various activities they're involved in. They're 9-12 weeks into the semester in AWANA and our homeschool co-op.
M&M was able to tell me about a few new friends she has made in each, as well as friends she's stayed friendly with from previous years (it's their third year in both programs).
AJ was not able to tell me about a single friend from either activity. She has no friends in Sunday School either. All of her friends are either relatives, or kids who are mainly friends with M&M but also play with AJ (at least until she removes herself from socializing to go read a book or play by herself).
There is one child at the co-op that she's been watching for 9 weeks now, and thinks she might like to be friends with, but wasn't sure of her name and has never spoken to her. "I haven't said hello yet." There are only 2 weeks left in the term.
In AWANA, there's a little girl who AJ says, "I'm her friend, but she's not my friend," and who apparently follows AJ around kicking her.
She has a great deal of difficulty reading social signals and facial expressions, and understanding any kind of subtlety too.
She feels that nobody likes her, and she wants friendships but doesn't know how to make them happen or maintain them. Even when we have friends the kids' age over, AJ eventually ends up choosing to play or read by herself while the two younger girls interact with the guests. Adults love her, and she's very popular with all her teachers, but she doesn't connect with kids her age.
It just really seems to me that there has to be something more than just "OCD-spectrum" going on here.
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