W: This is going to be another day when we wish there was air conditioning. Last night, it was still 80F in the house at midnight, with all fans running! Supposed to be hotter today. AW: My beloved nighttime fog will return tomorrow.
W: Unfortunately, it is also another day when the UPS guy says he's coming. I'm really going to be cranky-pants if he stands me up again. Not sure why they didn't attempt delivery on Saturday, when my beloved could have sat here waiting.
AW: There's enough leftover BBQ from last night that we need not worry about cooking!
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Forgot to pre-whine about tonight's political festivities, which I do not think I can bear to view directly. I really want to see my candidate; the other, already have absorbed toxic levels.
It's so rainy here. So dreary. It's year end in my professional world and omg, the panic stricken take over my email and voice mail.
I went to a wedding of two wonderful people. I had an amazing weekend away and enjoyed the company of friends I hadn't seen in ages.
No update on my oldest. We are trying to deal with the holes in our hearts for now. My mom and reaffirmed to the other two how important and special they are to us both. I had to miss curriculum night last week and my youngest is hurt by that. I apologized for missing it. He understood why I chose to be with my mom because we all agreed she needed support that night.
AW: My mom is trying to be more supportive of me as well.
((((Miranda)))) Sending all the love in the world.
((( Miranda ))) xoxo
He is found! In the correctional facility. We hope and pray he comes out unscathed and with a more discipline.
I'm glad he is found and basically safe. Hoping and praying along with you.
((( Miranda ))) xoxoxo
Oh, I'm so relieved he's been found, and pray that he comes out of this unscathed. So many hugs.
So glad he's found! Sorry about WHERE, but could have been so much worse.
Very glad he's safe! There is a lot to sort through -- but sending love and patience. He is still young. There is room for him to see this as a learning opportunity -- one that wasn't your doing, but his. xoxox
It is 92 F already (average high for this date is 73), and we aren't at peak heat for a few hours. One more time, sitting in the house and waiting for the UPS guy. May the force be with the fans and icemaker.
Ugh about the heat kathy!
Miranda, so many hugs! So glad he has been found, and hope he uses this as a chance for growth. xoxoxo
W: Did something weird to my hip.... joint pain-- trying to rest it and take anti-inflammatories.
AW: I think it was the wind that kept flipping over my rainbow peace flag and not a person! Yay! I have managed to fix it with some heavy duty twisty ties and safety pins. In this time when so large a portion of the country seems to have lost their flipping minds, I am disproportionately happy every time I see my flag hanging the proper way.
--Neighbor Lady
Yay for the flag, NL! Sending healing thoughts and a bonus supply of virtual advil. xoxo
(((Miranda))) I'm SO glad he's been found, but sorry about where he is now. Sending hugs your way.
That's mighty warm for late September, kathy a!!
NL, sorry to hear about the hip pain. :( Yay for good flags though!!!
kathy a, you seem to have our weather, and we have yours. So sorry about that. (Seriously--our weather with no a/c is not good).
W/AW: Sweet's birthday is Saturday (she's going to be 9, which means we've been whining at this location for a bit over 9 years). She hasn't made any friends in the new place, at least not ones she's willing to tell me about and/or invite to birthday party. Old friends are busy with Little Town's Giant Annual Festival (which always falls on Sweet's birthday). So we're having a low key celebration. Riding horses on Friday, which is her favorite thing ever. Cake and presents with the grandparents. Pizza. While I'm sad that there's no one to invite, I actually think she will enjoy this more, and goodness knows it's way easier on the preparation front.
Happy Birthday, Sweet!!! OMG, nine! That sounds like a great celebration, Esperanza! xoxoxo
The UPS guy arrived, just now, almost 10 hours into today's waiting. It is still hot, though the heat is falling now.
Oh my goodness: nine?! And it's been more than nine years here?! Uff dah. (Happy birthday to Sweet! I hope that the celebration goes well.)
Hooray for the arrival of the UPS guy!
AW: back feeling better after a visit to the chiro
W: I have to go back later this week, because I did some wacky stuff to my back last week. He asked me if I was feeling pinched nerves, and I responded, "Was that why my toes were tingling on Friday and Saturday?" Who knew it was possible to throw out your back that badly during preschooler swimming lessons?
Also W: our household is falling quickly to a cold, which has been going around Mr. Q and E's school for a while now. We held out this long, and then in the middle of the afternoon E started complaining of a plugged nose. And now it's a full-blown cold, and suddenly Mr. Q is sick too. And I'm starting to feel a sore throat.
W: sick and miserable child. This is going to be a long day.
((QWP & E)) I prescribe copious amount of screen time.
Hope E feels better!
It is still hot. Am making pasta salad this a.m., for later feasting. Also really need to run the dishes, before the temps get to "broil."
All my worries about the political festivities vanished, and I don't think it was because the heat melted them. This is not a political blog; others are free to disagree. But I've been so exhausted by certain goings-on, and how very long this campaign season has consumed one. And now I think maybe I can last these last coupla months.
I am coming to a realization about myself: Though I inhabit the life of a morning person (arising and functional at 6 AM), I am still not a morning person. I get nothing of consequence accomplished before lunch. Especially nothing that requires brain power--I can do laundry and unload the dishwasher, but not read or write or create. I foresee many years of impersonating a morning person in my future, so I need to figure out something that will work better.
Esperanza: is the morning your main available time to read/write/create? I ask this because I also am only creative at certain times of the day (and am also a not-morning-person who inhabits the life of a morning person). I create tasks that allow myself to ease my brain into the day: all the mindless busywork first, when my brain is still in a bit of a fog. If it's possible for me to do my creative-type work later in the day, I do. But if I can't, I create cheats that force my brain into a bit more of a creative mode (examples: playing my standard writing playlist, relocating to a coffee shop, going outside to get some sun into my brain, doing yoga or other stretches, doing something fun and special first, even wearing a silly hat that indicates to myself that I'm working now). I always prefer doing my creative work in the evening, but when I'm trapped into a specific (set by my kid) schedule, I basically bribe myself in every way possible.
QWP, I have from 7:00-3:00 without Baboos. I usually go for a walk first thing, in a vain attempt to start my brain. Afternoons are good brain time for me, as are evenings. But Mini is usually pestering me and/or refusing to go to sleep in the evenings. So my productive hours are basically noon till 3:00. I did try to go to the library to work one morning, which was a disaster: I was hungry, I was thirsty, I had forgotten my headphones. Loudest library ever. I stayed for an hour and left without accomplishing anything except getting new books. Thanks for your tricks and cheats...I'll give them a try.
I actually hate working at the library, unless I have to do specific microfilm-related work, because I can't have food with me there. But it's both expensive and sometimes ridiculous to work at coffee shops as well. (The best was the brief window when my bff had an awesome office of her own on campus, and it had an extra desk. She let me work there with her, and I got the best writing of my life done there.) My other favourite cheat/trick/helper is to have a work buddy, who has a similar writing schedule (even if you're in different cities or states). Having someone to check in with periodically, to brainstorm and vent, gets my brain moving better than anything. I hope you find something that helps! I know that dissertation-writing and preaching are very different, but I know the struggle of trying write around kid schedules.
(Speaking of which, I have some neglected freelance work to do.)
W: E's cold got worse through the day. She had a coughing spell so bad, while she was struggling to eat supper with a plugged nose, that she ended up having to use her inhaler for the first time ever. She also took a while to settle down to sleep (she didn't call out for me at all, but I heard a lot of coughing, nose blowing, and whimpering). I'm keeping her home from preschool tomorrow (I'm extra sad about that part), and I suspect there will also be no swimming lesson on Thursday.
Keeping her home from school sounds like a good idea, but I know that there's grief over losing that time to yourself. Hope she feels better soon!
Happy Birthday, Sweet!!! That sounds like a great birthday celebration, especially the horse riding!
I hope everyone at your house is feeling better soon QWP.
esperanza, I hear you on the non-productive morning thing. Great ideas from QWP re: getting those creative juices flowing.
Hugs to the not-morning people. Just keep trying different things!
Hope everybody suffering from illness gets right over it.
The heat wave is gone, and I'm very happy about the more usual fog at night! Although, today the cooling clouds look like they plan to stick around. Oh, well.
Hey, maybe y'all can have a "Productive Mornings for Non-Morning-Persons" club.
Check in with each other, have challenges, like on FitBit.
Whew, today is Grumpy Day for all three people present in the house. In my defense: mammogram.
Mams are always whine-worthy!
Liz, if I didn't love you so much, I'd be grumpy just reading about fit-bit challenges.
xoxo
You guys, the kid has only been in preschool for a few weeks, and she only goes for a total of four hours a week. HOW is it that, on her first sick day at home, has she been so much more rascally than usual? I was thinking, "It'll just be like a normal day." I'm so tired. (It didn't help that I'm also in pain from my back injury plus Aunt Flo.) E found a wee nub of non-washable crayon, and decorated EVERYTHING. She hasn't coloured on walls in a year a half, and all of a sudden she thinks it's a good idea again.
Extra W: the bottle of Goo Gone, which has been in the way in the kitchen for weeks, has suddenly disappeared. One of us finally decided to put it away, but didn't put it in its home. And it's the only thing that really cleans crayon off of smooth surfaces.
I'd say the art project cleanup belongs to whomever can find the Goo Gone. Which is obviously not you. ;)
AW: Goo Gone found!
W: as Mr. Q was walking out the door to go to his night class. If I left it for him, I'd have to stare out coloured-on windows until after school tomorrow.
I am sorry to admit that I, too, used crayons on windows. But I think I was a little older, because I was careful to use a window where the curtains stayed closed. It probably wasn't discovered for a while. There certainly wasn't the magnitude of reaction as the time my sister used mom's new lipstick to decorate the front porch.
Rome wasn't cleaned in a day. xoxo
That little turkey. She was a handful all day, trying out all kinds of new shenanigans. And then, at bedtime, she went to bed really easily, and then sang for me a song that she learned in preschool. (One about being thankful! You can tell Canadian Thanksgiving is approaching.)
W: as soon as I typed that, E started choking and coughing, and I had to go in there and give her the inhaler. (Apparently, she had kept a tiny piece of granola bar in her cheek, and it manged to escape my toothbrushing. And then it fell to the back of her throat as she had been dropping off, which got her coughing going.) After we got her breathing calmed down, E requested that I read her Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very-Bad Day. We agreed that it's a pretty good description of the day she just had.
AW? Quiet for now. Let's see if it lasts.
Yep, good book for today. Tomorrow will be better, even if the crayon isn't gone yet.
I think I managed to find all the crayons, and put them in a bag together. (She knows the rules: you colour on inappropriate things, and you lose that colouring implement for a couple of days. And, after that, I'm going to make sure that none of the non-washable crayons get back into circulation. I don't even know why we have those.)
Yep, those and non washable markers go straight in the trashcan.
Even though I slept a solid 8 hours last night, I've been sluggish and exhausted all day. Blech. Maybe I'm still recuperating from the weekend cold? I think my medications are barely keeping a major allergy attack at bay, as well. I think I should put myself to bed early.
Yikes, such a whine-worthy day! Mams, crayons, coughs, and *shudder* thoughts of early morning productivity. Hubby and I still chuckle over an early morning when our firstborn (who was two-ish) was gleefully singing in his crib and both of us denied any possibility that this happy morning child could be our progeny. Good times... :)
Kid barf at 5 AM is definitely not the way I want to start off my morning, Universe.
--signed, REALLY not a morning person today
Oh no, esperanza! *passes the coffee*
Oh no! Worst way to start the day.
Thanks, y'all.
Mini seems a little more herself and has had some water without incident. She says her tummy is not ready for food. I'm a big believer in trusting one's body, especially at times like these.
Fingers crossed that birthday horse riding festivities can still happen tomorrow. Grandparents are supposed to arrive tomorrow. She missed getting an award at her first ever awards assembly today, but her teacher took a video of them calling her name (super sweet). I'm going to let Sweet tell her all about it.
Aw, poor little Mini! I'm glad that her teacher sent her a video.
Very sweet about the video! Hope Mini is recovered tomorrow.
Well, she drank too much water (she's the one that has to learn the hard way) and barfed again. Now she's asleep some more. I'm thinking she'll need to stay home tomorrow, too. :(
Poor little one.
W/AW: I ended up making the decision to keep E home from swimming lessons today. She's greatly improved, but I know that she would end up coughing from accidentally inhaling a little water (she's still learning how to put her face in the water), and stuff that makes her choke a little make her cough so hard she needs her inhaler. So, I'd rather stay home than cause that to happen. (I also booked an appointment with her pediatrician, to let him know about all this.)
Good plan, QWP. I would say the pediatrician definitely needs to know that the inhaler was needed for the first time. I'm glad E is feeling better.
Yes, first inhaler use is reason to alert the doc. But it doesn't mean she'll need it often. Since this was sparked by a bit of granola, learning to rinse and spit more effectively will go a long way. (Seriously, there are so many things they learn at this age!)
For swimming, it helps younger kids if they "make bubbles" when learning to put their faces in the water. Fun, and it works! Learning to pull in air and hold it also actually helps with lung stuff.
Oy, Esperanza -- sorry about Mini and the second barf. One of mine was particularly prone to learning the hard way...
Now fever :(
Oh, no. Fever's not good. xoxo
Oh no. Poor Mini, and her poor mama.
Kathy: blowing bubbles is the main objective of this class! (Mine is just starting to learn how to manage to do that without inhaling a little water somehow.) That, and learning to kick their feet in the water. It's so cute, you guys.
E might be at a good age to learn more about marine mammals -- whales, seals, sea lions, etc. -- who breathe air at the surface, and have to hold their breath underwater.
Polar bears are even considered marine mammals! (At least by the Marine Mammal Institute, where my daughter once volunteered. But they never had any rescue polar bears to rehab, this far south...)
Sweet arrived home with a "Is this a person, place, or thing" worksheet. She only missed one: "mall." That's because she's never been and doesn't know what it is. And now you know even more about me :)
Hmm, I might not have been to a mall since about the time Sweet was born... It's a city thing, anyway, and she's better off. ;)
Of course, you guys have also lived in a fairly small town up until now! (And big box stores are rendering some malls obsolete.) I asked E if she knows what a mall is, and she reminded me that her hairdresser is in a mall, and her favourite library is in another one. (True story: our local library branch has taken over a huge chunk of the nearest mall. And visits to said library often end in a trip to the food court, mostly as a bribe to get us out of the library.)
(Actually, the conversation went: "E, do you know what a mall is?" and she responded, "Cornwall?" which is the name of one of the local malls. She's really confused about why I asked.)
ha! Thanks for making E a test subject, QWP! I feel justified in my child's ignorance for the reasons you mentioned. Actually, I might be quite proud.
Oh, I wanted our library to take over a local strip mall -- not the same thing, but it is a central location in our town, near schools and transportation, and the big grocery store moved up the road some years back. But the grocery chain owns the vacant store and the rest of the strip, and says no. Friends of the Library have been trying to get a modern library put together for years -- the current one is incredibly small, not up to date, no parking, no space for community things. So discouraging.
Have I never bragged about this before? Abandoned W@lm@rt turned into largest-single-story public library in the country. In McAllen, Texas. Head architect was my friend's husband. Pretty cool story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/us/former-walmart-in-mcallen-is-now-an-airy-public-library.html?_r=0
I know not how to make that a clickable link. Sorry.
I heard about that one before! I didn't know that you know the head architect. So cool!
In a related vein (to Sweet not knowing what a mall is): it turns out that E doesn't know was a boss is. She was visiting with Mr. Q's Vice Principal today, and later she was telling my sister and me about it. My sister says, "Mrs. M is your daddy's boss!" and says "Just like Bowser, in my Yoshi and Mario games!" My preschooler thinks that "boss" means "bad guy you fight at the end of video games." Top-level parenting here.
Esperanza, my town's been trying to get a new library for years. I really want the vacant supermarket space [right on transit!] to be built out -- but the supermarket chain still owns that empty space and teh pathetic pharmacy space next door, and somethow that never got going. The latest big plan was to get space recently vacated by a public middle school that moved, but people in the school district oppose that because there will be school construction upcoming and they want the portables to stay where they are, for the schools under construction. Gah.
QWP -- word proficiency continues to grow!
QWP, all kids are warped in their own ways...Sweet was about 4 and asked where Daddy was. I said he was helping someone who was sad (my usual description of whenever he was preparing for a funeral). She replies, completely dispassionately, "who died?" Poor warped preacher's kids!
kathy, I was proud of Little Town: they renovated a supermarket to be a new elementary school. And plans are in the works to renovate an old bank building (think stately columns, etc) to be the new public library. There are still plenty of empty eyesores, but those two were positive developments, I thought.
Sorry for continued ick and fevers and missed activities. Boo!!
Yay for not knowing what malls are. I visit ours once a year to pick up something for my MIL for Christmas, otherwise I avoid it. I find it suffocating in there as there aren't enough windows or skylights to let in natural light. Also, the tiles on the floor are super slippery. Not a nice experience.
Hooray for a W@lm%rt becoming a library!!!!
W: My FIL was back to ER last night with chest pains and arrhythmia. We both went over to see how he was doing and he seemed okay, but a little shaken. They've kept him overnight but plan to send him home once they get his meds straightened out. MIL doesn't do well on her own so we're really concerned.
Sue, so sorry about your FIL's scare! Hope he is OK. And also that your MIL is OK. Sounds like they might be getting to a point where they might use some extra help?
Definitely - they need help if they're going to stay at the condo. Problem is MIL won't hear of it, doesn't want "strangers" coming in, etc.... GAH!!
Oh, Sue. That is really a problem with some folks who need help. Do you think she might give it a try if a doctor recommended someone to do this or that? xoxo
Oh Sue, so sorry to hear about your in-laws. My grandmother had that same vehement aversion to "strangers" in her house.
The allegedly sick Baboo has eaten, made art projects, rode her bicycle and is now (upon maternal insistence) resting. We're going to go out shopping for her sister's birthday present shortly, as our date to do that had to be canceled yesterday. Horse riding has been rescheduled for next Friday.
Hey y'all. Hugs all around. Esperanza, I'd heard about that library, SO COOL. I grew up within walking distance of the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, where the children's section was larger than the entire library nearest me now.
Aunt Flo came for a visit starting yesterday after a 112 day absence, beating the previous record by a day (just long enough to get my hopes up she wasn't ever coming back).
Here's the website for the Central Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library
Esperanza, glad Mini's better; sorry about the horse postponement.
LIZ! Aunt Flo kept fooling me like that, too. One time it was 6 months. Aunt Flo is a mean bitch.
Bleah, have a bug today myself. Bleah.
AW: Daughter cheered herself up this morning by wearing a HP school sweater to work. :)
Hugs for Sue. I hope everyone figures out a way to get appropriate care for the in-laws.
Oh no, Kathy! I hope you feel better soon.
W: first migraine in three months. I had a rough second half of the day.
Gentle hugs QWP. I hope you're feeling better this morning.
Liz, perhaps this is Aunt Flo's last hurrah?
Sorry you're feeling bleh kathy.
Update: FIL will be in hospital until at least Monday having tests and such. I had a nice visit with him last night. He said it's time to make some changes and realizes it will be difficult with MIL as she resists change at the best of times. Still, he seems to know they either need help at their present home or will need to make a move to senior-but-independent living. Whew! It was so good to hear him say it. It doesn't mean it will happen immediately - my MIL is a tough nut to crack - but he's onboard at least.
QWP, hope you're feeling better.
Sue -- very good to have that talk with FIL! Hope all goes well with his hospital stay. Is your MIL able to visit him?
W: Fireplacing netflix is out. This was my recuperation plan for the afternoon.
Whining apparently works.
Liz, hugs. I'm feeling peri menopause myself even though I don't menstruate. So much anger at the world. It's really the worst experience.
((( Miranda ))) xoxox
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