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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Whines? Bring 'Em

Big ones, small ones, whiny ones, braggy ones, Old Skool ones, stylish ones, funny ones, sad ones, old ones, new ones. We take them all.

My whine? Clearly I'm no Dr. Seuss.

29 comments:

Liz Miller said...

I like your list. And Dr. Seuss cheated, he made up words.

Sue said...

AW: arrived in Ottawa way too early for check-in, but my room was ready! Yay!! Time for a nap before tonight's meeting!

Anonymous said...

So tired. Am probably coming down with the cold-like crud my kids had over the weekend and Neighbor Guy has. Blech.
--Neighbor Lady

kathy a. said...

AW: we're in DC, having a great time! seeing sights! had a meetup with the fabulous gary! daughter's apartment is good, we've started the move-in!

W: omg, i'm so tired. low on sleep, and so out of shape for this much walking.

JenR said...

Smoke from wildfires... Fires in northern MN, me in southern WI. Wind is weird and asthma is getting worse :-(

I have stopped all pain medicine a full week earlier than the last baby. And now I have a headache. Ugh.

But... There is this thing we shall not speak of involving closed eyes and quiet. It happens here for hours at a time and that didn't happen with kid #1 for many many months. Now that I mentioned it I am doomed.

(also... A little clarity for last week's whine... The milk? There was nearly none after 10 days of trying. If formula didn't exist my children would starve.)

esperanza said...

oh, JenR, I hear you on the smoke. Our air has cleared up considerably, but my chest got tight when I was outside...I don't even have asthma. Sweet was not allowed outside at all.

I will not even pretend that I heard you talk about that thing. Wow. And sorry about the milk, but grateful for formula.

NL, hope you get the weakened version.

W: holy cow am I busy. Wish I was getting paid for more of this stuff than I am.

AW: But, I finished my dress! Only a few goofups. I am going to wear it in public this weekend and everything. Sewed it all by myself, I did. Er. With a few phone calls to mom.

Days said...

Hooray for safe travels, successful sewing, naps and that other thing we shall not speak of that involves closed eyes and quiet.

Chicken soup for NL and any other under the weather pixie.

Yesterday morning, I stumbled downstairs in my pre-coffee haze to find that the dishwasher had flooded the kitchen and the basement in the wee hours. The mess is mostly cleaned up and the fans are doing a pretty good job of drying things out but it's still not pretty.

Today I waited all day for the courier to arrive, found out that the parcel hadn't even made it onto a truck today.

My youngest has had four days of kindergarten thus far, and every day, she's come home with a note regarding her lunch - too much litter, containers she can't open/close independently, unlabelled lunch bag, sent food that she wouldn't eat, etc. etc. etc. I can only hope that the teacher is enforcing good academic practices for the kids as much as she is enforcing the lunch packing rules for the parents.

I think it's going to be one of those weeks.

Sue said...

Virtual chicken soup for NL.

Oh JenR - sorry about both smoke and headache. Both earn an Ick of omumentous proportion.

AW: good consult in Ottawa- now - tired beyond belief! Stijl, soooooooo worth the trip.

Sue said...

Days, I ordered a duffel which would have been the perfect size for this trip. It was reasonably priced and had free delivery. And it was made in Canada.

All good right?

It was delivered today. I'm already on said trip.

Next time I guess....

kathy a. said...

have a great trip, sue!

NL, hope you are feeling better.

jenr -- so sorry about teh nursing trouble. i totally did not hear the other part, either. ;)

esperanza, yay on the dress!

oy, days! a flood is always award-worthy; so is flunking lunch-packing. does this teacher have nothing better to do?

my travel deodorant committed sewercide -- jumped right out of its tube and into the commode.

Sue said...

Oh rats kathy a! Was it one if little "Barbie size" deodorants? Outrageously priced, but so cute! How unfortunate about the unscheduled "swim". Sometimes the hotel has emergency supplies if you lose or forget important personal items. Never hurts to ask......though they probably don't need the details. :)

kathy a. said...

Oy! We went to daughter's apartment for the internet hookup, and discovered that [a] the front door key doesn't work, [b] the apartment smelled like gas, and [c] the modem hookup in the apartment has no signal, so they have to send a lineman out.

AW: there was this glitch with her last class, where the teacher apparently lost a significant amount of her work, but her advisor is going to bat for her. Yay!

Liz Miller said...

Kathy A, ugh sorry about the apartment stuff.

But yay for advisors who have your back!!

Anonymous said...

Ugh, kathy a on all the apt and school snafus! But your deodorant story did make me laugh.

Sewing success is always awesome--congrats esperanza!

Feeling better today (knock on wood), after lots of sleep last night...Hope it lasts! :)

I think I must be more germphobic than I used to be (actually, I know that's true). Neighbor Girl is just starting to learn clarinet which I used to play, and the whole reed thing is skeeving me out. I used to let mine sit for days (or much longer!) on the mouthpiece, never gave it a second thought. Now I have the heebie-jeebies, but she is anxious about lots else (not that, apparently) so I am trying to keep my shuddering to myself!

Sorry about the fires and smoke and troubles with milk!

--Neighbor Lady

esperanza said...

W: First cold of the school year. Or is it allergies? Only Mini's immune system can tell me. Verbal as she is, she can't distinguish that yet.

W/AW: Sweet has made so much progress on speech in the last year that they are decreasing her speech therapy appts to once a week.

kathy a. said...

NL, our theory with reeds was that they only held daughter's personal germies, so they were practically sterile. ;)

esperanza, poor mini. go, sweet!

Elizabeth said...

ugh, Kathy sorry to hear about the apartment issues -- holler if I can be of help.

And Days, I feel for you on the school lunches.

Whine: The school has the boys all in hysterics about the goodies that they'll miss out on if they don't sell a bunch of crap to our family and friends. I'm happy to write a check to the PTA if they'd lay off the kids.

Whine: Got an email from someone I really respect at another organization asking me to call her about a project I'm working on, and I'm immediately convinced that I've screwed up somehow. This project is a bit out of my usual area of expertise, and I'm feeling like I've just been unmasked as an imposter. (And yes, I tried to call her and got voice mail.)

AW: Think we have afterschool coverage lined up for next month when my DH will be out of town for 3 weeks.

Sue said...

Elizabeth, I hear you on the project request front. This month has been totally insane (see Whine below), and I had a call from someone I really care a lot about and who has always been there for me.

She asked me to conduct the late-night vesper service at the meeting of our regional Presbytery next weekend. I've never even BEEN to a vesper service at these events because they don't start until at 9:00 - after a 13 hour work day. I always duck out and head back to the hotel and hit the pillows.

I said "No" and she was entirely okay with it. She understood and applauded how much I've learned about boundaries. Sometimes *No* really is the best answer.

WHINE: I just looked in the bathroom mirror in the church and someone seems to have covered it with a picture of a haggard, tired, older looking version of me. The black circles under my eyes make me look those pictures of models who use crack to stay skinny. (I have the circles, not so much the skinny).

Whine: It's only the 15th. Two weeks back to work and I already have 25 hours of overtime logged. And seriously, aside from what I shared with Elizabeth - I really HAD to do all of those hours.

Anti-whine: Good thing I love my job, or I would so totally walk....today I feel like I would happily ask "would you like fries with that?" - at least that job would have a shift that starts and ends.

Wah.

Okay, I'm over it. I have work to do. (and undereye cover makeup to find!)

kthxbai. :)

Sue said...

I should add that my black-circled eyes are the result of no sleep....as opposed to, you know...crack.

Perhaps that wasn't the best metaphor I've ever used. Hm. This week's sermon comes to you courtesy of "Minister With Pudding Brain".....

kathy a. said...

elizabeth, those school sales were such a drag. i don't think many kids actually sell much except to their parents, and don't recall any selling enough to get noteworthy prizes.

hoping that email was because of something good. fingers crossed!

i'm proud of daughter, because she has been working it all out. she is working her way through the grade snafu, with good adviser support. and she is getting a new key today, the landlord is getting the gas fixed before sunday, and c0mc@ast rescheduled the lineman for friday, before she starts work, at her determined request.

daddy got cranky with me last night. i thought daughter had told him about the grade snafu, and was saying positive things about how she was handling it and the support from her adviser, and her father just wanted me to get to the bottom line. since she was sitting right there -- and these various challenges have been really anxious for her -- i was NOT going to say "she is currently flunking this class" without explaining the situation. i get that he worries about his baby girl, but don't appreciate the crankypants.

Gary said...

Whine/Anti-whine/too soon to tell but probably ultimately an anti-whine:

My Dad is moving in with us tomorrow. He's 79 and doing great, considering the 2 heart attacks and prostate cancer and heart valve replacement, etc. But it will be nice to have him nearby, instead of 3.5 hours away in case any other things arise. And it's neat to see my sons have something I never had, a warm, steady relationship with a grandparent.

We were lucky enough to find a house that is actually 2 houses conjoined at the basement and first floor, so he has his own kitchen, dining room, bathrooms, etc. So in theory, everybody has plenty of space and privacy when they want it.

I guess the whine part is, I'm not sure how the space/privacy boundary issues are going to play out, particularly with our rambunctious, boundary-ignoring boys.

Anti-whine: had a great time meeting Kathy A. and her daughter in DC on Tuesday. They were very tolerant of me slipping into professorial mode at the Natural History museum, even as I lingered over the Burgess Shale fossils.

kathy a. said...

gary, are you kidding? my daughter thinks everybody should be lucky enough to visit the fossils with a qualified biologist and all-around good guy. :)

hope the move goes well with your dad, and that appropriate boundaries work themselves out.

Sue said...

Good luck with the move-in Gary. It sound like a great arrangement.

esperanza said...

Keep 'em coming, pixies. Awards tomorrow, I guess, since Saturday is full of work-related stuff (more of the kind I don't get paid for).

Elizabeth said...

W: babysitter booked for tonight didn't show up.

AW: better to discover that she's not reliable now than when my husband is out of town (and I'm glad that we were able to sign the boys up for an afterschool program yesterday, so I'm not freaking out about coverage.)

kathy a. said...

babysitter not showing = major cluesticks.

kathy a. said...

yay! fabulous lunch with liz and elizabeth! i'm so excited we could get together.

update: the landlady did not fix the gas leak because she said she couldn't smell it. we got the gas company out, and there was a significant leak in the furnace. gas off; she says she'll fix it; i will be calling to be SURE this gets done.

Elizabeth said...

Fabulous lunch indeed. Thanks for making it happen.

Sue said...

Oh, I'm so excited about your Pixie Lunch!!!! Wish I could have been there!

kathy a - landlady needs serious cluesticking. Posse at the ready....

Whine of Epic Proportion Only Barely Averted: at - get this - 4:50 (Clinic closes at 5:00), I get a call from the pain clinic in Toronto CANCELLING my Monday appointment.

That would be the appointment for my trigger point injections, the appointment I've been waiting for for four months and have taken time off work for and have PAID for already (flight and hotel). *deep cleansing breath*

Yes, I get the money refunded eventually through the Northern Travel Grant. But seriously, cancel??????

I reminded the nurse that I was from "out of town" (ie about 2000 km out of town) and that the cancellation was just not acceptable. Apparently my doc has been called out of town for that day, and they want to re-book for the following week.

Not. going. to. happen. (I'll be in Fort Frances next week - about 5 hours southwest of here, near International Falls) for a church meeting.

So I told her I would be quite happy to see any of the other physicians at the center. My procedure is not complicated - any one of them could do it.

She called me back ten minutes later and said to come at the scheduled time, prepared to wait while they try to fit me in. I will be seeing the doc that she works with exclusively.

W: I googled him. Ouch. Apparently he had a problematic case about 10 years ago. He won the case on appeal and was completely cleared on all charges. But still.

Here's the link for anyone interested....
Yikes!

Gulp.

I want my nice doctor back!!!!!

AW: This doc, and now has a 4.5 out of 5 rating with the CPSO. I'm trying to stay positive - most docs end up in front of a CPSO tribunal at some point in their careers - especially specialists. He appears to have come through it fairly unscathed.

Also, everything I know about the clinic now (no patients are allowed to be taking opiates - seriously - I get pee tested on arrival, and I get weighed) seems to have emerged out of this tragic case. If anything, the clinic has raised the bar re: competence of care to an incredibly high level.

Sorry, long, late whine.....