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Sunday, May 10, 2009

Early Opening

Happy Mother's Day, to all celebrants!

Opening the Whiner's Ball early, on account of busy-ness the next couple of days, and also I had a crabby attack today, so why not?

On the anti-whine side, daughter spoiled me rotten during last weekend's visit, and she hand-painted a lovely vase for Mother's Day! And my son visited today, we had a nice dinner and I got hugs, even if the primary reason for the visit was that he wanted to fix his bike. My beloved, father of our children, was very sweet all day.

And more anti-whines -- wonderful family wedding in 2 weeks! Having fun working on my upcoming college reunion!

But today, I also am tired and underslept and hot-flashy, low on funds, high on behind-in-work, grumpy about some stupid family dynamics and about my stupid recalcitrant computer. Icing on the cake is my mentally ill SIL with dementia, who left a message this morning wanting her barely-9-year-old son's phone number, so she could call him on Mother's Day and say she never wanted to see him again. My beloved didn't return the call, so probably she will kind of forget about this urgent need, but it pokes our hearts badly anyway.

..... I thought that was all, but my husband just drove himself off to the ER. He got bitten pretty deeply in the leg on the evening dog walk, when some loose dog tried to attack one of ours. He never goes to the ER voluntarily. Did not want me to go wait with him. Gah.

28 comments:

kathy a. said...

did i ever mention that my husband is a dog freak? he says it wasn't a strange dog, it's a dog they see all the time, and it was "an accident." he thinks he *only* needs stiches, not rabies shots.

the cats and i are very disturbed.

kathy a. said...

no stitches for fear of closing in an infection. deep cleaning and antibiotics. and, it turns out our dog was bitten a little, too. grr.

Madeleine said...

Oh, kathy! I hope the bites are looking better this morning and the antibiotics are doing their job.

My weekend included hail. Biggest hail I've ever seen. Giant.

To do: call the car insurance people about the dents all over the roof and hood.

Anti-whine: Lovely mother's day. Snuggly Girl is so very very snuggly lately.

Whine: the three pots from the wonderful mother's day breakfast are still on the stove dirty. I was ignoring them on principle but will need to scrub at least one for dinner making.

Anonymous said...

These are just notes for my later full figured whine.

First crack whore comes to house.
Worst Mother's Day ever, and that's saying something.
Shiva
Funeral
Shiva
Shiva
and Shiva
Back totally out
Horrible IEP meeting
Landlord using passive aggressive behavior to drive me crazy.
Misappropriated $ from state
Son might just push me over edge.

Will explain later.

amy said...

kathy - any further updates on your beloved?

early short whine: baby boy cries himself to sleep for naps at babysitter's. it's not bad (5 minutes of crying and he's 7 months old), but it still makes me sad. :(

Sarah at ratatat said...

Hope the bites heal well, Kathy. That's scary. My husband is not a dog guy and one of his fears while running or bike riding is the aggressive dog. How scary/frustrating/annoying.

Wow, Margalit, that's quite a week. Many condolences.

Anti-whine: the fever that has plagued my older two kids seems not to have come back. I am still holding my breath. My son has had a fever off and on for 2 weeks. My daughter for about a week. If it is over, I am glad.

Whine: my 8 month old can only nurse when we're alone in a darkened room. Well, maybe not only, but pretty much. I am pretty OK with weaning after 6 months, so we have been pushing the sippy cup/bottle/straw. And she just doesn't want to drink, period. She wants to eat. And not baby food, please. We're going to try the darkened room approach for a few days, but that sucks for us both. Wean, nurse, just drink nutritious liquids, darling baby! (And I know she doesn't need to have all of her good calories from milk, but we're teetering on less than 24 oz by my nursing guessimate.)

kathy a. said...

beloved is doing well, thanks! he firmly believes this was no big deal and the dog was just being a dog. my views differ substantially. it also freaked me out that he went to the ER; he's like the character in the old monty python sketch who keeps insisting that everything is "just a flesh wound."

madeleine -- oy, hail requiring car repair!

margalit, what a crappy week.

hugs for amy and sarah and their respective wee ones.

Anonymous said...

Hi Pixies!

My whine: MOVING

Anti-whine: graduation! My family coming to watch me get "hooded" (a Ph.D. thing)

Whine: One more animal to take care of, on a week I have no extra time.

Anti-whine: saved a dog from getting hit in traffic, and she climbed in to the car gratefully.

BIG anti-whine: as I was typing this out, the Animal Control person called and put the dog's mother on the phone. Hurray - one night of frantic cat + anxious dog was plenty.

Sue said...

Oh Kathy a - so sorry about hubby's dog incident. I hope he's recovering well.

margalit - yikes. That's a bad, bad, week.

congrats once again redzils on the hood!!!! Yay!!!!! I wish we could all be there with our pixie pom poms! Wouldn't we make the most curious of cheer teams?

Madeleine - hail in May is wrong in so many many ways....

amy and sarah - hang in there. This too shall pass (omg - the transformation is now complete - that is exactly what my now-deceased mother used to tell me when my boys were babies).

Back later....

esperanza said...

Wow, the whines are award winning, already.

Let's see...the good news is I am much less whiny than last week. Or at least less whiny about having whines.

Fertility-related whine: we really needed to do the procedure that...uh...requires both of us to be present in the doctor's office...on Sunday morning. Did I mention we're both pastors? Sunday is the one day out of seven that we just can't do that. What are the odds? Some math person can figure them out. Anyway, we did the procedure Saturday and are now waiting the interminable two weeks to find out if anything happened. Waiting till Monday was out of the question, unless I wanted to be the next octuplet mom.

Moving whine: this is my last Sunday with my congregation. We're moving just far enough away that commuting is not an option. They drive me crazy sometimes, but I'll miss them.

Other whine: the Sweet Baboo and I are off on a road trip tomorrow...visit to the grandparents' and an appointment for her. I do not have time for this, but it had to be rescheduled, due to above fertility whine.

That should do it for now.

Sue said...

holy moly esperanza. you have a LOT going on. Moving. Waiting and hoping. Family visits.

My whines hardly seem worthy of mention. But that's never stopped me before, so why start now?

Whine #1: Fireplacing headaches. Not as severe. Not as frequent. But still...I thought they were gone for good.

Whine #2 (and likely reason for Whine #1) STOOPID church rules around partial disability. I somehow ON MY HOLIDAYS last week (which, as you pixies will recall, was interrupted by a weekend workshop that I couldn't avoid) became part of a massive chain of emails about "process" surrounding my partial disability and the problem that my reduced hours is causing for, well, pretty much everyone.

Hey, no problem. I have an insurance company that can't wait to get rid of me, and now I'm getting pressure from the church (not my congregation, but the higher ups) to get back to full time.

Nice.

Doc said "No way" and signed off on another six weeks at 30 hours. It sucks to be everyone's problem.

Liz Miller said...

Sue, YOU are not everyone's problem. That their souls are shriveled and shivering in the cold of their frozen compassion is the problem.

esperanza said...

Yeah, what liz said. And a big cluestick for all the meanies. And an I-don't-know-what for the headaches. They can go on a vacation to Antarctica and never come back. Bah!

Liz Miller said...

I have either a huge whine or a huge anti-whine. I won't know for a bit which it is.

Liz Miller said...

Looks like it may come down on the huge anti-whine side. Will know for sure later.

esperanza said...

Can we take a pixie vote, liz? I can't take the suspense and the mystery!

Liz Miller said...

The choice of whine or anti-whine is dependent on whether I get to attend a SQUEEE!-worthy event. If not, then whining will commence.

kathy a. said...

redzils -- glad the pup is reunited with family!

esperanza -- crossing fingers! oy, what a busy time for you, too.

sue -- you are NOT a problem! and what liz and esperanza said.

liz, feel free to whine while all of us sit on pins and needles about the secret thing!

Elizabeth said...

I'm really losing it.

My mom got offered a liver, but the donor had both fresh and old track marks, so she declined. At least they figured this out before she got on a plane to go back to Miami.

One of the foster cats is pissing in inappropriate places. That's bad enough, but my husband is convinced it means that he's going to do this everywhere and ruin our house and so he totally flips out.

Went to the orientation for the GT program for next year, which would be an anti-whine, except for the really annoying other parents who got hostile at the principal when she told them that if they wanted to know what the non-center services at their base school would be like, they needed to talk to that principal, not her.

Feeling overwhelmed by work.

But it's a beautiful day out and I'm meeting some online friends for dinner.

Liz Miller said...

(((Elizabeth)))

Definitely will NOT be whining. Level of ecstatic anti-whining yet to be determined.

Miranda said...

Small son is home today because he was suspended from school. It was a justifiable suspension because one should not show one's private parts at school even if the other kids make dares to do just that.

The only thing the stimulus plan is stimulating is the red tape police in my little corner of employment. This in turn stimulates a very interesting migraine.

I suppose my antiwhine is that at least it was the small son and not the teen son who inappropriately displayed himself for all the world to see.

Kathy A, glad Beloved is not seriously injured and that he took care of things.

Sue, honestly, your denominational people need a kindness transplant, stat!

Redzils, I am so excited for you! A job!! A hood!!! Family to be with you!!!!

Liz, deets. Dish em.

Esperanza, sending lots of hope your way. I don't know how you juggle it all so well.

Elizabeth, there is always one parent. Grr.. Enjoy your dinner.

Anonymous said...

This morning I didn't wanna run, or be awake, or do any of the things on my to do list, or...anything. So I was jogging along under my little black cloud and tried to shift off to the right of the trail to let oncoming traffic by. Instead I managed to trip myself. SPLAT!

I look like a five year old who fell off her bike, with the most amazing skinned knee I've given myself in 20 years. Anything touching it - including AIR - hurts, and I am alternately feeling sorry for myself and giggling hysterically. I mean, how many people do you know that get to walk across the stage to get their Ph.D. looking like a crash-prone kid, just graduating to a two-wheeler?

Liz Miller said...

Stood thisclose to an ex-president. SQUEEEE!!!!!

SQUEEE!!!!

Sue said...

Amazing Liz!!!! SQUEEEE indeed!

(((Elizabeth)))

(((Miranda))))

I had a regularly scheduled therapy session today, which was surprisingly well-timed for me. As soon as she saw me, my therapist said, "Oh, you look really tired."

I usually dislike it when people say that to me, but it's true. Also, coming from her, it was honest and a good starting point for our session. She agreed that the church people around here could use some serious clue-sticks (though she didn't put it quite that bluntly).

She said I did exactly what she's been trying to get me to do all year - assert myself in a kind but firm way, and set boundaries that will help to keep me healthy. That it all happened as it did was unfortunate, especially the part about the local Chairperson's parent dying, but none of that was my doing.

Ah, perspective....where are you when I need you????

Miranda said...

OMG LIZ!!! I'm hyperventilating on your behalf. SQEEE to the eleventy!!!

amy said...

I'd like to nominate Sue for the Full Circle Award with "amy and sarah - hang in there. This too shall pass (omg - the transformation is now complete - that is exactly what my now-deceased mother used to tell me when my boys were babies)."

Madeleine's “Whine: the three pots from the wonderful mother's day breakfast are still on the stove dirty. I was ignoring them on principle but will need to scrub at least one for dinner making” resonates with me. When I thanked my husband for a nice breakfast, he complained about some pre-existing kitchen mess. Dude! I know the kitchen isn't spotless! Next time just say "You're welcome"!

Margalit - “First crack whore comes to house.” Is there a Hallmark guide to help us figure out what gift to give for this occasion?

Elizabeth – I hope your evening out with friends was fun and gave you a much needed break.

I think Miranda said it beautifully: “Sue, honestly, your denominational people need a kindness transplant, stat!”

Dr. Redzils – is it wrong that I'm laughing so hard? At the very least, you'll always have the best graduation story to tell at all the faculty cocktail parties. That's worth something, right?

I'm so relieved to be starting a new semester, even though I can already spot the jerks. Last semester was so awful that I considered quitting teaching altogether. Thanks for all your support last week. It was hard to flunk so many students, though they all earned it. Someone said it was a service to those who actually did the work, and that was reassuring. So thanks, pixies – you're the bestest!

Madeleine said...

Late-breaking whine that I felt compelled to break up an almost-fight at the school bus stop -- between two parents. One of whom is a good friend of mine, but he can be a ass, to be honest. So I had to tell him to STOP. And he did, mostly. And the other guy finally huffed off.

But really, when the 5th grade boys on the back of the bus aren't listening to the driver telling them to sit down and get their heads inside the windows, is it helping the situation to get in a fist fight with the guy who just read them the riot act? No, it is not. Fist fight averted.

I don't enjoy the drama. I was crying by the time I got home. But I think I was an effective intermediary, and my friend apologized to me afterward. He still thinks the other guy was in the wrong, but he accepts that he shouldn't provoke a fight in front of the kids.

It will be interesting to hear what the kids say when they get off this afternoon. I'm sure they were all watching intently.

Madeleine said...

an ass.

He can be an ass. That sentence looked so wrong, and I couldn't figure out why.