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Monday, September 12, 2016

I Am Not in Paris Whining

W: Three "grown up" parties over the weekend have left me pretty tired. (The Baboos have named them "grown up" parties aka "boring."

AW: The final of the three was for my people rather than Mr. E's, so I enjoyed it very much. But still, introvert overload.

AW: A tiny nap this morning

W: I do not seem to be on a wonderful and fulfilling trip right now. :)

What are your whines, pixies?

51 comments:

kathy a. said...

AW: trip of a lifetime.

W: my husband tried to give me heat stroke today. So much walking -- even though we're using trains, there's still a lot of walking, plus all these staircases in the stations. 90 degrees F. And at the end of the day, he promised me a train, but then said "it's just a few blocks, let's walk," but he is wrong about distances every time.

AW: some time in a/c has helped a lot.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

I hope you're feeling okay today, Kathy! Don't want to miss out on any of that trip of a lifetime. (Tiny cluesticks for your husband, but I understand. I did the same in Paris, as well. I kept thinking, "Oh, it's not that far!")

AW: guess who is UTTERLY ALONE RIGHT NOW? First real day of preschool, you guys! I just went and a had a leisurely, uninterrupted shower.

W: Two hours (minus walking time in both directions) is not nearly as long as it feels like it should be. I have to be out the door again in 27 minutes (not that I'm counting).

Liz Miller said...

(((Kathy))) DRINK WATER.

YAY QWP!!

AW: Saw Weird Al Yankovich in concert last night. All I can say is WOW THAT WAS AWESOME.

kathy a. said...

Alone time!

Weird Al!! That must have been a blast!

Drinking lots of water.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

W: that was over too quickly!
AW: E had a really good morning!

esperanza said...

I'm glad E had a great morning, and 2 hours will go by quickly.

Hooray for a good trip with your beloved, kathy a! We had a "cold" front the other day. The cooler air lasted about 15 minutes. No kidding.

Hooray for a fun concert, Liz!

esperanza said...

AW: different stable arranged a birthday ride for Sweet, quite easily.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Hooray for a birthday ride for Sweet! It sounds like you guys are really settling in well to the new region.

esperanza said...

True confessions: We are settling in to the new town/school/region. But the Baboos and I are having a rough time settling in to the new church :( It's too big for me. Not a place I would choose to go, if Mr. E weren't working there. Sweet and Mini both were totally resistant to Sunday School yesterday. There are some nice people, of course, and maybe I"m not giving it enough time.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

So many hugs, esperanza. I hope that giving it time helps.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Old Skool W: it's been a LONG (but fun) day, and now my muscles all ache and all I want to do is sit in this chair. But there is a kitchen that needs cleaning (or else the fruit flies will take over again), and I have to be the one to do it, because between his job, his admin job, and studying, Mr. Q has to work until bedtime every night. This will all be worth it. This will all be worth it...

esperanza said...

That's not Old Skool, QWP. That's a real whine. I left dirty dishes in the sink last night (which I almost never do), and I'm regretting it this morning.

kathy a. said...

Dirty kitchen whines always get my vote.

Almost as hot today, so after several hours of tooling here and there to see things, I am cooling off in the a/c, and my beloved valiently went to the laundromat with everything we've sweated all over the past few days. Tomorrow, train to Amsterdam.

Sue said...

I'm glad you're having such a great time, kathy! Sending extra water and tiny cluesticks for hubby. :) Have fun in Amsterdam!

QWP - Yay for a good start to pre-school!! It will be a busy time around your house until Mr. Q is finished his degree, but you can do this! Keep working your mantra!

esperanza, I'm so glad you found a stable for Sweet's birthday ride. Yay! Sorry about the too-big church. If the Baboos are used to a smaller church and smaller Sunday School, it will take some time to feel at home there.

W: It would be great if I could get some sleep. Really great.

kathy a. said...

PSA: To visit WW from France, I had to accept French google cookies. Will this mean more French ads on various other sites I visit? I dunno! That would be better than some of the ads I get! :)

Also, for the computer thing, they use the word "cookies" in an announcement in French.

esperanza said...

Oh Sue, sorry about the not sleeping.

kathy a, "train to Amsterdam" just sounds fantastic. As does a beloved who does vacation laundry.

kathy a. said...

((( Sue ))) Sending some pixie dust for sleep. xoxo

I'm told the train is high speed (like the shinkansen in Japan), AND that it features a cafe car! It will be nice to spend a few prime hours sitting in a train, after all these days of strenuous seeing of the sights.

Anonymous said...

Kathy that sounds fantastic. And, I have to say, even though I know they're a different kind, French cookies actually sound kind of fantastic too!
:)
Neighbor Lady

Liz Miller said...

Hoping you get some good sleep, Sue! And THANK YOU for your help in informing a bigot regarding the error of his ways.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Liz: how did it go? Do you think you got through to him at last? I'm glad that Sue could help you out today.

Kathy: have a wonderful train trip and visit to Amsterdam! I'm so jealous that you get to go in a high speed train!

W: TIRED.
AW: the child actually got easier to handle by the end of the day (knock wood: we'll see how solo bedtime goes tonight, but Mr. Q actually bathed her and put her in jammies before he left for his night class).

Queen of West Procrastination said...

One other AW: I've been feeling whiney because my recent box of beloved pens turned out to be duds, but then I received wonderful customer service today. It's pretty rare that really good customer service turns my whole day around.

Liz Miller said...

<3 it seems to have worked. Of course, I still have neo-nazis commenting, but I block and/or report them

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Liz, I'm so glad it worked! Sorry about the neo-nazis.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Oh, I gather from Twitter that you ended up having to block him. Sorry that he was still boneheaded, but blocking is for the best.

Sue said...

kathy, the train sounds amazing!

You're welcome, Liz. Any time! Sorry about the awful people who feel the need to share their hate.

AW: I did manage to get a fairly good sleep last night, with less tossing and turning. Yay!!

W: I generally like to follow the news in both my country and the US. But I'm about at my limit with this "Woman Takes a Sick Day" scandal. Really??? And the constant drumbeat of her being "untrustworthy" when her opponent can't speak a full sentence without lying. It's time for a media break again. *sigh*

Liz Miller said...

I am right there with you, Sue. I can actually feel my blood pressure rising.

kathy a. said...

I know -- the coverage is just insane. Need this election to be over already.

Made it to Amsterdam! Have walked around some to see stuff, but it's close to 90F here, too! Will see the Rijskmuseum and the Van Gogh museum tomorrow.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

The election coverage has been so frustrating! And so many false equivalencies: as if a brief need for antibiotics is the same thing as all of the deeply troubling thing that the other candidate has done.

Have an amazing day, Kathy!

W: even though I finally managed to fall asleep in a timely fashion, I woke up at 5:30AM for no good reason. I am currently a zombie. And the child expects the same level of activity at home as at preschool.
AW: she loves preschool and is doing well there, so far. One mom (who swears this was the last time she'll spend the whole class sitting right outside the classroom door) tells me that she heard E being a good friend to her little girl (who is very shy).

kathy a. said...

Yay, E!

Liz Miller said...

YAY E!!! I love it when other grownups catch my kid being terrific and then tell me about it. And I love hearing when it happens for other parents' kids.

QWP, if it's decent out, I recommend bringing an art project outside, and let E get creative and messy. She'll be busy and happy with minimal input from you.

Liz Miller said...

Alternatively, do what my mom did: sit on a cushion on the floor in front of the sofa. Put E behind you on the sofa, with brushes and combs and barrettes and other hair doodads, and ask her to play hair salon. You can take a nap while she makes your hair a disaster area. If she asks you if you are asleep, you MUST say, "No, I'm just resting my eyes."

Queen of West Procrastination said...

W: why did I think I could make a double batch of playdough at once? I'm exhausted. (Also, I was committed to making them primary colours, and it turns out that -- even with gel food colour -- it is HARD to get true red. Even though the container claims it's supposed to be a deep red, I ended up using almost the whole container of dye on one batch of playdough. The blue, on the other hand, turned the dough to exactly the shade on the container with a small amount.)

AW: nothing makes a person feel like Super Mom like making playdough for the entire preschool class. (Let's ignore the fact that there are only 8 kids in her class.)

kathy a. said...

Impressive work with the play-dough, QWP!

Liz, I forgot to say, sorry about the jerks on that face place.

esperanza said...

Wow, QWP, that's a lot of kneading!

Queen of West Procrastination said...

My brain wasn't making connections this morning, and I started making bread before I remembered that my arm and shoulder aches were the direct result of all that kneading last night. So. Tired.

AW: thank goodness for my mixer, which will do the bulk of the kneading for me, at least at this stage of the bread-making.

(Query: when I make the rest of the playdough this weekend, do you think my stand mixer would knead it properly?)

esperanza said...

I know not of stand mixers. I don't have one. I'd be afraid that the playdough would be too stiff, but I don't know. Also: ouch.

kathy a. said...

QWP -- I don't have a stand mixer, either, but think there's no down side to letting yours do the heavy work. If it seems too stiff, surely there are hints someplace about softening it a bit -- or you can do the last knead by hand. Worth an experimental batch, anyway.

Today was lovely, head to toe. And, not hurting so much as the past few days (lower back arthritis, and the heat hasn't done me any favors, either). Two great museums; 2 great meals as well; and a bakery cat, among other features. ;)

Queen of West Procrastination said...

I've been thinking about doing exactly what Kathy suggested: let the mixer do the initial kneading (when it's sticky and annoying anyway, and when the salty dough gets everywhere, and finds every tiny cut in my hands), and then finish it by hand. I'm also torn about whether I'd knead in the colour by hand or by mixer.

I'm glad that the past few days have gone so well for you, Kathy!

Anonymous said...

Mixer.

Liz on iPhone

Sue said...

Go E!! Impressive work on the playdough QWP!

kathy a. said...

My beloved usually gets a LOT more exercise -- rides his bike 10 miles each way for work. I am <> not nearly so fit. So, he has gone off on a 2 hour bike tour; and I am enjoying some down time this morning. Win-win!

Liz Miller said...

This morning, my husband said, "we haff half a half-gallon of half-&-half" and I gave him a big smooch. "Why?" he asked. "Because you just made me feel totally happy that we are married, and I wanted to make a point of paying attention to that. We've spent a lot of time the last week or so being annoyed with one another, and I wanted to make sure that we are both aware that we feel happy and loving, too."

Then we both got all verklempt.

Talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic. Canned spinach (as opposed to fresh or frozen) should be outlawed by the Geneva Convention. Discuss.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Liz: <3 <3

Also, canned spinach is an abomination.

AW: even though the morning started off really poorly (these weeks feel very long for Little Miss E, with Monday and Wednesday preschool, and her Daddy in night class on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday, she was certain it had to be the weekend already. This morning she woke up far too early, and had a massive tantrum when her daddy left for school), right now is okay. I'm resting upstairs, having gotten some work done, and E is in the basement, playing quietly and listening to music. And the weekend will be here soon.

kathy a. said...

Eww on canned vegetables generally, except in case of emergency. We had canned corn and canned green beans growing up -- close to my mother's repertoire of vegetables except salad. The only time I remember eating spinach, my great grandmother cooked fresh while babysitting me. My great-G rocked.

esperanza said...

Canned vegetables, with the exception of tomatoes, which is really a fruit, and beans which I don't really like compared to cooking the dried ones but are ok, should be banned.

AW: Mr. E is thumbs up in my book today as well. He is mowing and has stayed home to help me clean.

W: Some of his family is visiting this weekend.

W: Sweet woke up at 5 this morning and proceeded to play in her room (which is our rule), but so loudly she woke me up.

AW: Three hour nap after the bus came.

esperanza said...

W/AW: I don't think I've ever composed such a run-on-y sentence as I did up there about the canned veggies. Sorry.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

What's with Sweet and E being in sync? Mr. Q first heard E chattering to herself at 5:15. I, thankfully, slept until she heard Mr. Q get up at 6 and started shouting for him to come and get her. But we're a bit punchy this morning.

esperanza said...

Sweet has been waking up super early most of the week. She's been tired and falling asleep at 7:30 or so, and then waking up at 5:00 or so. For many years, she needed 11 hours of sleep, but apparently 10-10.5 is good for now. She's chipper when she comes home from school (which is a huge change from last year). She just needs to be quieter!

Queen of West Procrastination said...

W: I've been a little queasy for the past few days. I'm fighting off something tiny, which has resulted in aching muscles, the occasional sore throat, and a sensitive stomach. I thought I was feeling better today, and then made the mistake of having chicken fingers for lunch. Ugh. Bad choice.

AW: while E was procrastinating from getting out of the bathroom this morning, I managed to make another batch of playdough. Doing a single bath was so easy! And I found the right use of the mixer: it did the kneading while the dough was still sticky, but then kneaded by hand to form a ball and to add the colour. It was so quick, with minimal cleanup. (Unlike the other night, when I thought it would save me work to do a double batch. Never again.)

Sue said...

Aw, Liz...so sweet. And I'll second QWP's assessment of canned spinach as an abomination.

Early mornings are always whine-worthy.

Liz Miller said...

W: Power flickers at 5 in the morning, setting off the burglar alarm. Twice. Double-plus-ungood.

W: Rape and death threats from white supremacists on Twitter. Reported. Blocked.

AW: I am thankful that I only get these threat blasts once in a while. Other activists I know get them daily.

AW: I am not letting them shut me up.