Kicking off the whines early because this week is already roaring at me, and it is due to start raining again. Again!
Weather report: After three years of drought in California, we are getting all this peculiar weather news. On the one hand, it could rain the rest of the season and the drought won't officially be over; and on the other hand, flooding. Drought! Flood! It's two, two, two contradictory disasters in one!
Local news: Cats still amusing. Mostly purry, with scattered reports of wanton silliness. In a dire development, kibble levels are dangerously low in the storage bin.
International report: Daughter urgently needs shipment of boxed mac & cheese.
Business page: Remember the Project of Doom? I work with that person on yet another unbloggable project that just came out of hibernation. Yesterday, several difficult emails received. The person is very stressed about something unrelated, rightfully so, but getting huffy with me was not the best start to Next Project.
Food news: I have a crush on my crock-pot, which might be the greatest appliance of all time. Don't bother telling me about your buff food-processer, or that cute coffeemaker; they will not steal my heart.
Looking forward to reports from our far-flung and hardy band of correspondents!
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Remember how, a long time ago, I took great care to be un-googleable?
Yeah, those were the days.
W: I'm no longer blogging anonymously
AW: My! My site hits sure have grown!
My 5.5 year old daughter is fixated on death, and every time I think we're going to move past it (for, like, the last year and a half), something dies. This weekend, it was my mom's favorite dog, and I had to help get the dog to the hospital yesterday morning to have him put to sleep.
I'm sad for my mom, as this is the second dog in three months she's lost to old age, but I'm a little frustrated with the Fates for bringing this topic back into my house.
oh, amy -- how sad and hard. my kids and their friends lost their caretaker suddenly when they were 3.5 and 5. one thing we did was have a picnic with all kids and families to remember "auntie," and the kids planted flowers. we got some excellent advice about listening when they wanted to talk, and letting them know we were sad, too. one unexpected piece of advice was that young kids often feel guilty, that they may have done something to cause the death -- and that turned out to be true for a couple of them.
i can't remember all the books that were recommended, but one was "the tenth good thing about barney" by judith viorst, about the loss of a beloved dog.
Hugs to Amy. That's so hard.
--Neighbor Lady
Definite hugs to Amy. I just had the same conversation with a Mom whose own Mom just died this morning. She was asking about how to tell her 6 year old daughter. So sad. I REALLY hope I counseled her well on that one. I have plenty of good books for young children about death, but they are at the office. I told the Mom to trust her own heart because she knows her daughter better than anyone and she will know how much information her little girl can take in and how much will have to wait until she is a bit older. (then I told her to come in and borrow all the good books.)
Any word from esperanza?????
Anti-whine: I too love my slow-cooker.
Whine: Winter storm today. Meeting tonight that I can't get out of attending. IT'S MY FIREPLACEING DAY OFF. Breathe, breathe, breathe...
Whine: I suck at this "keeping to 40 hours" stuff. I suck at it. I really do. Funeral last week. Funeral this week. Usual Sunday stuff. Board meeting. Can I really keep this up? My headache chart (which I track daily as per doc's orders) is beyond horrible. Crap.
Anti-whine: I paid the municipal taxes. Hey, something good had to happen today, right?
I'm waiting for vicarious happiness from my pixie friends - there seems to be a lack of it 'round these parts.
Your Northern-but-not-as-far-as-Sue Correspondent is on the road this week reporting from Beantown, where it rained buckets today, but I wasn't out in it much. I give thanks to lovely co-worker who ferried me around.
Whine: My hotel room, which seemed fine last night, smells kinda musty tonight. All that water in the ventilation, maybe? I'll live.
Anti-whine: knitting stuff I ordered arrived as planned. Time to try it out!
Whine: great big blisters on the soles of my feet.
Antiwhine: good excuse for saying "talk to your father about it" when my son started to tell me that I might want to do some laundry.
Oh Amy, I'm sorry.
And Liz - yay on the increased hits!
I got to see Kathy's rainy climate up close and wet this weekend. It would have been more fun to see KathyA. It was a nice weekend. I saw a long-time friend and we talked and gossiped on and on. And if we saw each other often the gossip would probably be bad, but as a once a year indulgence, I liked it.
Now I have to treat tomorrow like Tuesday and not Monday. How many times will I screw that up tomorrow?
aw, sarah -- wish i'd gotten it together to arrange a meetup in person!
kudos to elizabeth, for an excellent pass-off of laundry duty!
oh, sue -- hope the headache is better, and sorry about so much piling on recently. you must take some time out of the non-crisis pieces of the week!
madeleine, hope the mustiness blows out of the hotel room. look forward to hearing about your knitting stuff.
Anti-whine: I managed to get *most* of today off. Only about an hour or so of work - and I did that from home. The rest of the day has consisted of napping and napping. Oh, and napping. :)
Antiwhine: Mini Baboo is here! She's doing great, passing all the tests her sister flunked at least once, and breastfeeding like a little champ. She's pretty mini, at 6 lb 3 oz, but everything seems to be fine. Home tomorrow!
Whines: crappy internet at hospital. And C-section = ouch. As does the breastfeeding.
Welcome to this crazy beautiful world, Mini Baboo! The pixies are very glad you are healthy.
Wishing you a fast recovery, esperanza. So sorry the little one came with ouchies.
Mazel tov!!!
woo hoo! welcome, mini-baboo!!
congratulations and much love, esperanza! xoxoxo
Congratulations to you and your whole family esperanza!!!!
Way to go Mama and Mini-Baboo!!
Hurrah! Congratulations esperanza! I hope that there is fast and smooth healing for you.
And for Elizabeth's foot blisters too. Ouch!
I'm so glad to hear you managed some time off today Sue.
So sorry, Amy. That is the sort of topic I am so very worried that my oldest will become obsessed with. So difficult.
Bone-deep weariness. Frustrated with the Fates.(Thanks Amy.)
Yay Mini Baboo and Esperanza and family!!!!!
Welcome to the pixie party Mini Baboo!!!
miniwhine: Had a rough playdate last week, in which Neighbor Boy got mooned (yes, really) by the invited playdate friend. OK they're in kindergarten, but still. So, we had to have a little conversation about rules of the house, and private parts etc. etc. Anyway, just found out that kid discovered lice on Monday. Just spent morning paranoidly vacuuming the couches, etc. and washing bedclothes. And now I itch.
miniwhine 2: studying for a teacher certification exam in about a month in "middle school math and science". Now, I have a science background, so hopefully that will be ok, but oh the amount of math I have forgotten since I last took a math class over twenty years ago--it boggles the mind!!!! Volume of a sphere? Antiderivative? Synthetic division? Lots to do in the next month...
miniwhine #3 It has been over twenty years since my last math class!!!!How is that possible!?
antiwhine: I am finding, to my surprise, that I am actually enjoying the challenge!
antiwhine: all in good enough health (knock wood)
Hugs to all, and yay again for the mini baboo, and naps for Sue!
--Neighbor lady
mazel tov and welcome to the mini-baboo
NL -- mooning and lice and math, oh my! quite an adventurous time in the neighbor household! best with it all.
Son's b-day party is this coming Sunday...and it may snow over night Saturday. Will it be a dusting or a blanketing? Weather watchers want to know!
AW: My spouse really appreciates a good iPad joke.
His legislative assistant thinks we're both pretty childish, humor-wise.
My favorites so far:
The iPad, when you really need a personal computer.
For those days when your workflow is extra heavy.
It's so slim that most people don't even know you're using it.
Liz, if you are looking for more, I saw on the bottom of a twitter page that one of todays top topics is iTampon.
Lice. Ick! I hope the itching is imaginary, Neighbor Lady.
Even the word "lice" makes me itch. My sympathies and good vacuuming vibes NL.
Liz - you're cracking me up with the iPad jokes. Srsly.
Whine: it's -30C out there (bloody fireplacing cold) and I have to go a fireplacing meeting tonight. If I could work fireplace into this fireplacing sentence one more fireplacing time, I fireplacing would! But I'm far too mature for that sort of thing.
I have freshly popped popcorn and some cold beers if anyone wants to share.
I also have a pile of work that needs to be completed by Friday but is far from being done. It can be completed from home, if anyone wants to take some of that as well. Please? My supervisor is leaving for two weeks in NZ, so missing the deadline is not a particularly valid option.
Antiwhine? Supervisor in NZ for two weeks. I predict the office being much more relaxed and possibly even productive for a change.
OH KathyA - yes, there is at least small thanks that you aren't in court too. Hope it resolves well. And I didn't push for a meet-up because I think it would have made my hostess antsy and after 15 years I am getting smarter in visiting her. But on a longer visit, I'd love to meet the cats :)
Congrats Esperanza! What happy news. And just a little unnecessary advice - endless pillows were a big help with my c-sections and my BF'ing.
Now I want some iPad limericks, Liz. Too funny!
Oh NL...lice. Ick. Hope it is not at your house. And that all gusts keep there clothes on.
Whine: Sorry TMI-- I have these 2 plantar warts that won't go away. And the doctor excised them today, as she did last January (with lasering and freezing in-between). And I forgot how much the anesthetic needles in the bottom of my foot hurts. And that the recovery bandaging is gross.
Sarah, so sorry about your persistent warts. Icky, ick ick.
On the list of Things You Don't Want to Hear From Your Taxi Driver:
"So I was home all day yesterday with this bad cold. I'm OK today. I took some Dayquil. And I didn't have a cough but I took some cough medicine anyway. And I guess there is something in that that makes you sleepy."
AW: His driving was fine even if his self-medication approach is questionable. I made it to the airport just fine. And now I am home sweet home.
Whine: Apparently I shoved my computer glasses into the bag in a really weird way because the left arm is all bent up. Urgh.
Welcome Mini Baboo!
W: I think my whole family is getting sick, and the little guy is getting teeth, too. We are a crabby bunch.
My brains were sucked out by church zombies last night. srsly.
And I have to conduct a funeral in two hours. Minus my brainz. Oh my. I'm glad the prep for the funeral was done before last night's fireplacing meeting. But still - church zombies suck.
thanks, everyone, for the kind thoughts. my daughter doesn't feel sad, per se. she probably wouldn't have noticed if i hadn't said anything. the way the fixation manifests itself is in her play (every game of pretend involves a character dying) and in her worries about dying.
the play thing is exhausting, both for me and, i think, her friends. when she has a friend over, i hear them negotiating the game of barbies, for instance, and i hear her friend say things like, "but in this game, no one is going to die." my daughter says okay, but then when she tries to make up the next part, it almost always involves some kind of dying or getting dead. it seems like a great way to alienate her friends, to me.
okay, i've exhausted all of my brain cells. we've come down with a nasty cold here, and it's everything i can do to not lock the kids outside while i take a nap.
congrats, mini baboo! and virtual naps to everyone, apply as necessary.
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