What makes you whine this week? If you are celebrating either of the Judeo-Christian Spring Equinox holidays, surely there is something professional or family related there to whine about. If you are not celebrating, you are probably annoyed that your local store has been taken over by Marshmallow Peeps and boxes of matzah.
And if you are me, you are so tired after the last two weeks of travel and excitement that you had to recite the spelling of your own name to figure out how to type it today.
We go elsewhere for the seders. No shopping, cleaning, cooking, or hosting for me. Because of my crazy travel and excitement schedule, My Love and Snuggly Girl went to pick up the candy-n-nut trays to bring to our friends' house. They had a blast. Maybe I'll send them every year. New this year: little gummy stars in fruity flavors. Love that store.
For lunch I ate my last bowl of pasta. Good bye, pasta, I will miss you this week. Also bread, and my favorite yogurt with the little cup of granola. But we will get by and we will ponder our freedom. And we will whine, no doubt about that. You are cordially invited to join me.
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This is unworthy to be the first whine, but here goes anyway. I bought one box of lasagna noodles at the grocery store today. There is no indication on the box as to how many noodles are inside. I plan to make two lasagnas and judge by the size of the box that there are sufficient noodles. I don't have a recipe but note that the recipe *on the very box* calls for nine (9)noodles per lasagna. One might conclude that there would be a number of noodles that would be some multiple of nine. (I think there is a math word for that, but I can't remember it now). So, how many noodles were there? 17. Enough to make notquite two lasagnas.
Sorry to have a pasta whine as Passover begins here.
I'm sure I'll be back with something more substantive.
Madeleine, we celebrate both holidays. This is not a good week for either. Spouse is very sick and needs his gallbladder removed. All of his various and sundry doctors agree that would be the wisest course of action yet when it comes time to schedule the OR, um, someone else has to be consulted first. I am ready to try my own skills as surgeon in order to kick this process into gear. Maybe I am just in need of something to bash in order to get my myriad frustrations out.
Let's see....12 hours + work days, an invalid spouse, two kids in performance groups and a third in a math club that also has its capstone event this month. Nearly every weekend involves travel.
AW: Sunday is Easter which means Lent is over and I can eat sweets again. I purchased my candy stash for Sunday. R33s3s, mmmmmmm......
AW#2: Dark chocolate candies that "melt in your mouth, not in your hand."
AW#3: Teen Son's performance group won first at State's yesterday. They are headed to Nationals. As a surprise, my mom and I are going to watch them since it is only about 4 hours from our house.
W: I'm going to be stuck with my mother for a whole 36 hours.
AW: But we will watch Teen Son, who sadly is nearly a man now although neither of us can really be sad about what a delightful young man he has become.
ezperanza for Old Skool! Also, Lasagna = yum.
Miranda, that is a heck of a W/AW combination. Best wishes to your spouse on the surgery, Teen Son on his success, and to you in Not-Strangling-Your-Mother.
Madeleine, I hope you are getting some rest and surviving life sans-granola-cups.
This week Our Heroine met adversity and told adversity she is not interested in it.
What does that mean? I just quit my (soul-sucking) job. And it feels great. Also: terrifying. In the last three weeks I have decided to leave a job and a relationship that each had components I really valued. I am proud of myself for not settling for some-needs-met, but... wow. It's unsettling.
I will whine that my nose is full of dog toenail dust. And I have cramps in my legs and a sore spine from turning myself into a pretzel trying to hold the dog down and trim her nails at the same time. She is only half my weight, but she has 4 legs and is quite lithe, muscular and flexible. And determined. Neither of us enjoys this task, even with the dremel.
Antiwhine: I won.
Esperanza, that was a great old-style whine.
Miranda, you must have mental whiplash after all that. And I must be tired, because I was sitting here trying to figure out what exactly invalid spouse meant, because I read it as the not-valid form of the word. Then I realized what you meant and felt silly.
Redzils, wow! Best wishes to you in your new beginnings.
Redzils, I am so glad you told your soul-sucking job to suck someone else's soul.
P_K, good on you for winning! Sending icepacks.
Esperanza, in my experience a box of 17 lasagne noodles has about 8 useable noodles in it.
Miranda, I'm sending cluesticks with which to beat the doctors into some actual mindfulness.
P_K, ewwwwww dog toenail dust.
Redzils, Good for you! Here's a little tune to keep you resolute. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPrSVkTRb24
I'm with liz on the lasagna noodles. I so miss lasagna. Darn lactose/casein intolerant family.
Miranda, wishing a quick resolution to your husband's medical limbo, lots of patience and a tongue of steel ('cause of the biting) for your trip with your mom, room for your heart to expand with pride over all of your kids' accomplishments, and someone to deal with the excessive workload.
My new anti-whine: rice pudding cups. To replace the granola/yogurt because I can't find a different yogurt I want to eat. (We are of the "rice on passover" persuasion, some people would not eat this.)(We are also, apparently, of the "dessert for breakfast" persuasion. I will not apologize.)
Whine of stupidity: resorted to electronic dictionary to resolve desert/dessert confusion.
W/AW: MM and MS are leaving this evening to visit my MIL. They'll be back Sunday.
SUNDAY.
On the W side, SUNDAY!!! MY BOYZZZZ!!!!
On the AW side, a good chance to tidy the playroom and listen to music after 9 PM w/out headphones.
We are also, apparently, of the "dessert for breakfast" persuasion.
All my life, I've been looking for a place to fit in, and now I believe I've found it.
I guess that makes me a Reform Dessertitarian.
I'll climb aboard THAT bandwagon.
esperanza, i think this is why we end up with assorted half-used boxes of lasagne. which is a dish i haven't made in a while -- thanks for the inspiration!
miranda, hope the medical sitation gets resolved, STAT! congrats to your wonderful son!
redzils -- wow, lotta major life changes. sending virtual thin mints, but i'm also really glad that you are escaping the terrible job.
PK for best mis-read word award!
madeleine, i see nothing wrong with pudding cups for breakfast. :)
oh, liz -- such a quiet house! hope the boys have a good trip, and that you enjoy the heck out of the wild single life of a left-behind mom. you could even sleep in on saturday! wooot!
the big AW is that we had such a great trip, loved spending time with daughter, saw tons of interesting things. happy happy happy! i'd also like to thank my miracle friend the internet, which we didn't have when we lived in japan 20 years ago.
another AW: the pets are very very glad we are home. i've had cats stuck to me like glue since we walked in the door on sunday.
W: so.tired. after the whirlwind. back to work.
AW: i lurve my tax guy. and apparently some tax changes in the last year really helped us, particularly something about college tuition.
gary for mullet!
Gary, liz, come and join us! Snuggly Girl loves Passover because she gets matzah and nutella for breakfast every day. (The rest of the year she gets Nutella once a week. Maybe twice. And sometimes pancakes with chocolate chips on Sundays.)
Esperanza for Old Skool. I miss lasagna...I'm sure they make gluten-free lasagna noodles. I'm also sure they suck.
Gary for Mullet - no question.
Such a good list of significant whines so far. Redzils - extra points to you for not settling, either at work or in your personal life. You deserve the best and only the best!!
Whine: For those who believe in hell (I'm not convinced - I think we create it here in this world, not so sure about the fire and brimstone down below variety, but whatever...) - I'm pretty sure I'll be heading to whatever form of h-e-double hockey sticks might exist just for saying this:
I WISH EASTER WAS DONE AND OVER WITH!!!
There. I said it. I experience Easter in much the same way I experience Christmas. It's a horse race. They let us out of the gate on Palm Sunday and we run full-on until the last coffee cup is put away on Easter morning (late service).
Then we go home and make turkey.
Yay.
I want to pull the covers over me and wake up next Monday.
What a sad way for a minister to feel about the highest holiday of the year. Srsly.
Whine: So. Fireplacing. Tired.
Whine: Headache (as per usual only more intense - see h-e-double-hockey-sticks above) Last night I just sat in the tub and sobbed while I tried the "hot cloth on my right temple" at home treatment. Didn't help.
Whine: The ice-bag didn't help either.
Whine: Woke up with a 5-6/10. That doesn't bode well for the evening.
Whine: I'm sick of my own whines. You all must be even sicker of them. My pixie apologies.
Anti-whine: hubby earning saint-hood points this week by having groceries delivered today and planning all of our meals, which I will eat quickly with him before heading back out the door every night.
I promise I'll have Lesser Whineage a week from now. I promise.
Sue, we certainly hope so. But we are never sick of your whines, we just feel sick that you still have them.
Oh Sue, I think every minister has that thought at least once a day during Holy Week. Easter is not my favorite either; all those extra people overwhelm my introverted soul.
I have my annual Holy Week cold, thanks to preschool this year. I guess it would be annual HW Laryngitis, if I had a job. (BTW, cheering for redzils on the quitting)
I'm sure you're all dying to know the resolution of the lasagna whine. Liz--all 17 were actually all there, no fragments to suggest the presence of an 18th. I made a big one with 9 noodles, destined for the freezer for an event next month, or for some other preacher's-wife application. The one for supper for the 3 of us (Mini will not partake) is smaller and only used 6 noodles. 9+6=15. 17-15=2 noodles, which will remain in the pantry until 2012, when I decide to make lasagna again.
Sue, I've had brown rice lasagna noodles that were quite delicious. We eat lots of rice noodles around here.
And, Madeleine, I found a wonderful recipe once for lasagna that was completely free of dairy products. It was in a book I borrowed from the library (Feast Without Yeast, I think--that or Nourishing Traditions).
Basically it involved layering noodles with tomato sauce and a variety of vegetables (I don't remember what all vegetables, but I think mushrooms, tomatoes, and maybe broccoli) with garlic, possibly onion, and basil and some other Italian herbs. I put cooked sausage in mine, but you don't have to. Layer it all together, bake and serve. Very yummy. I wish I'd written down the exact recipe.
I did make it with rice noodles. :)
Thanks esperanza, it helps to know I'm not the only one. This week is a bit overwhelming for us introverts, isn't it?
Glad you worked out the lasagna math. See? This is why I don't cook. I can't do the math without taking my socks off.
PK - we don't have many stores around here that carry gluten-free foods. I'll have to take another look for lasagna noodles. The last ones we had weren't made with brown rice, just white rice. They weren't very good consistency-wise. It seems to me that brown rice would make a better noodle.
Sue, do you have Tr@der Jo(e)'s? They have good rice noodles.
W: Cafeteria is out of Haagen Dazs Chocolate and Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Bars and never sells their coffee and almond crunch ones. Their vanilla flavors are just not an acceptable substitute.
Plus, the snack machine in my office suite is down to horrible choices except for the items in the broken section - where the machine takes your money and doesn't even TRY to deliver the chocolately goodness.
Choc Therapy to Liz, STAT! Office-dwelling pixies, I cannot stress enough the importance of an emergency stash in the desk drawer. A locked drawer, if necessary. And next Monday, all the Easter candy goes on sale, often 1/2 off, so mark your calendars.
many hugs to sue. oy, the suckiness, and the fireplacing headaches. xoxo
P_K, we lack that magical emporium north of the border.
Sue, I live in foodie heaven. Perhaps I should arrange an airlift. Though I imagine lasagna noodles wouldn't fly all that well.
Thanks for the good thought Madeleine.
It's true PK - no TJ's up here. Much sadness...
kathy a - I agree. Emergency sweet snacks in all office desks - even if you find last years marshmallow bunny - it's still good!!!! Chewy, yes, but GOOD.
Anti-whine: Went to the gym even though every cell in my body wanted to go home after work and nap. For exactly 45 minutes, my legs and lungs hurt more than my head. That - believe it or not - is awesome. Now, nap.
A health update....
Spouse went in to see the GI specialist today. GI doc thinks that is probably isn't gall bladder and he wouldn't operate on it right now.
That is the anti-whine.
The doc thinks it is probably something worse. Involving his stomach or possibly liver.
More testing coming over the next two days.
What isn't off the table, diagnosis wise, scares me to my core.
Anti-whine: This specialist is a really good one and I feel like Spouse is in good hands.
((((Miranda and spouse)))) So sorry to hear that, but glad to hear you have a good doc.
((( miranda ))) fireplacity fireplace. fireplace. it is good he has a great specialist; good the testing will be done soon to narrow things down.
breathe, my friend. xoxoxo
Miranda - sending good thoughts to you and your spouse.
Miranda. FIREPLACE!!! Am sending many hugs and healthy thoughts
Now I want lasagna. Damn you, pixies!
I'm glad to be here at all for WW, since I've missed several of the last weeks due to my crazy hectic schedule.
Whine: the aforementioned schedule, which just now has become manageable again.
Antiwhine: my college quarter is over, and we're on Spring Break, so I have a spate of days in which to try to permanently meld my butt to the couch. And I made an "A" in my class, and my GPA currently stands at 3.67.
W: I've been taking Alli for the last couple of months, and it works. If you eat a higher-than-normal fat diet, you WILL get some not so of the pleasant side effects. Said effects have combined with Mother Nature's monthly gift to create the Perfect Storm in my gut. I'll spare you all the more disgusting details, but let's just say that it is NOT PRETTY.
AW: The Alli works, at least. I have had several people tell me that they can really see it in my face. My question was, "How big was my head?!?"
Much love to all the pixies, except for the ones with lasagna. That might make the Perfect Storm even worse. And that would be ASTRONOMICALLY bad.
Sorry about all the lasagna-talk KLee. Will try to refrain...
Whine: Complicated family stuff. Easter is no longer a problem, thank goodness, because my local sisters finally understand that I am far too zombie-like on Easter Sunday to go anywhere but bed. Also, hubby can't get into their homes, so we won't go for feast day. They're FINALLY cool with that. (Only took eight years or so)
We will have my in-laws over on Monday, which will be fine.
The whine?
My step-sister, who lives in another city, and just got dumped by husband #3 (she had children with the first two) just celebrated on fb that she is in a relationship.
Yay.
When I saw her in the summer, right after the break up, I asked her if it would *really* be so bad to just be with her two boys for awhile and sort out her own stuff before venturing into another serious relationship. Her answer, "No. I just like men. I like relationships."
It's her life, I know, but she's starting the same thing all over again. She's going to get hurt again and come to the rest of us to rescue her broken heart.
Maybe I should just set her up with Tiger and get it over with.
Anti-whine: She always makes my side of the family, by comparison, appear to be very normal. That, on it's own, is hilarious.
My boys are gone, down where KLee is. I'm here. At work. And I have no Haagen Dazs.
Lo, I am blue.
KLee, hope the miseries resolve in time for you to enjoy your spring break!
Oy, Sue -- such drama! My SIL is another who always needs a man around, and always has disasterous relationships. "Boy-crazy" is bad enough with teenagers, and decidedly less cute as the decades march on...
I feel so sad when you mention your beloved's access problems; you don't very often, but it has to be a constant frustration.
W: My sister is supposed to have her bone biopsy today. Whatever it is, is beyond our control; we'll deal if there is bad news. I really dislike that period of suspended animation, though, waiting for results. Miranda is probably in pretty much the same boat right now.
My cell phone is officially dead despite resuscitation attempts. Paying the activation fee on a new phone always crushes my soul a little. It's the only service fee I truly resent.
The kids are on Easter break and we are headed to the in-laws' for the loooooong weekend.
Prayers and positive thoughts headed to the pixies with medical whines.
new whine: lasagna guilt
hugs to all in suspended animation. That sucks
Mini's whine: 2 month shots
Mama's antiwhine: one of my children is *on* the growth chart. In the middle of it, even.
Whine of the future: I'm just waiting for Mini to catch up enough that I'll be asked if they're twins.
Yay, Mini-Baboo!!! Laughing, Esperanza, because any two kids you put in a double-stroller, you *will* get questions about twins! Mine were 19 months apart, the boy a chubby little dark-haired perpetual motion machine, and his younger sister very blond [what hair she had] and petite.
esperanza: Yay for Mini-Baboo!! No worries about the lasagna. Wasn't there a movie where they said "There's no guilt in lasanga!!" or maybe it was "There's no crying in baseball" - either way - we pixies are cool.
kathy a - no, I don't talk about the accessibility stuff very often. For the most part, it just is what it is. I'm heartbroken that there are places that we cannot go because of access, but in personal homes there's little I can do about it.
The good news is that by 2012, all public buildings (including government buildings, businesses and restaurants) MUST be accessible in accordance with the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Two more years and businesses - and CHURCHES - need to get busy and do what is right.
Sorry for all the pixies waiting in medical limbo land - that's such a hard place to be.
Thanks. Heading back to ER because Spouse is turning yellow and his primary care doctor doesn't think he should stay home without being checked out tonight.
Oh, Miranda. Forget that thing about us being in the same boat, because ER turning yellow is not the same thing in the least. xoxoxoxo
Oh Miranda. I'm keeping all appendages crossed that it will turn out to be something fixable.
oh no, Miranda. Prayers and good thoughts from here.
(((miranda))))
Hugs to Miranda. Jaundice is scary as he-double hockey sticks. I think you're in scary waters, but I will say I had had jaundice twice as a teen and it turned out to be an infection and not as serious as it might have been. Crossing my fingers for you. And Hugs.
Sue - what a cool law, boo on not until for 2012. I've often thought that if architects couldn't imagine wheelchairs, they should be given a stroller and told to access their buildings.
And sorry about the pressure cooker of Holy Week. And the headaches. A double ugh.
Klee - yay on the grades! Good job! And interesting about the Alli. I have considered it and it is interesting to a have an unbiased opinion.
Liz - I hope the urgent chocolate needs have been met.
yay Redzils. Let the vampire job go! Will you be returning to lower latitudes again? Do I have that right?
Anti-whine: My 10 hour a week job that morphed into a 25 hr/wk job while we prepared for a work event - I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Big event is in 2 weeks. And I am nearly prepared.
Whine: May the universe not strike me down for even thinking that, kay?
Whine: Passive aggression. Mother-daughters. Holidays.
My antiwhine is that that Spouse was admitted and gets to talk to a real live surgeon in the am. He was probably more dehydrated than jaundiced but given his elevated bilirubin and previous liver history, we collectively decided that we should play that card for all it was worth.
W/AW Already Stated: I gave up Sweets for Lent and not even my SIL's sister's wonderful homemade hamentashen made especially for Younger Son who has a severe corn allergy for Seder is tempting me nor the R33s3's in the cupboard.
Thank you all so much for the support. I'm trying to keep Facebook updated with his progress which simplifies my life considerably. If you aren't my FB friend and you want updates, you can find me through Liz or Kathy A and a few others. Younger Son has tired of Farmville, so it safe to be my friend once more. :)
AW the second: All this medical emergency stuff is keeping me from dwelling on the fact that my 12 year daughter lists that she is "in a relationship" with BOY on her FB page. I knew about it but this is a very unwanted development from my point of view yet I know there is very little I can do other than try to keep the lines of communication open. Her brother was so much easier at that age!
((miranda))
my whine of congestedness...
It's Spring, right? So illness season should be over. Allergies! This is the season for allergies. But even I know that what I have is not allergies. That would respond to the medicine I took. Yuck.
AAAAHHH!! My company switched back to the old Internet blockage system - I'm sneaking on from a secret location!
I didn't want everyone to think I only came back for my own selfish whines!
I tried to read/skim all the whines and here's what I got:
Noodle packages stink, it's just like ice cream sunday toppings, first you run out of ice cream and have plenty of toppings left, then, because you got more ice cream you run out of whipped cream and cherries so you have to buy more of that stuff - it's a never ending cycle to make us constantly have lasagna and ice cream sundaes.
Easter/passover - they can be a pain!
I'm pretty sure I read some things about hospitals and being admitted and some not so light hearted whines, but I'm panicking I'm about to be busted (this is why I can never watch horror/suspense movies) so I'm passing on all good vibes to those who need it!
Also - funniest comment ever by Gary!
Also part II - Do they make allergy medicine for dog toe nail dust or do you just have to wait till it clears out on its own?
JenR, sickness season is not over here, either.
I vote Diane for Understatement of the Century for "Easter/passover - they can be a pain!"
Truer words were never spoken.
More hugs to Miranda and hubby. Sending good pixie thoughts for both of you. Also to JenR and esperanza and all the sickly pixies. Bleh.
Whine: Hubby thought it was HILARIOUS to turn up the volume on this annoying yogurt commercial where they sing "Hi Ho Hi Ho, it's off to work we go...lalalalala" while I was attempting to apply make-up this morning in order to make myself look somewhat humanoid.
Ya. The guys a riot. The fun just never stops at our house.
Yes. He got "The Look" otherwise known as the "Laser Eye Beam of Doom".
My whine is not for the squeamish:
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You can still skip ahead -- it's not too late!
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Okay. Here's the deal. I can't handle dealing with bark -- cat, people, or otherwise -- so it is my husband's job. Truly. We talked about it when we got married and I moved in. It is HIS job to clean up all bark, except mine (in the rare case that I do bark). We made this agreement because his cat produces an unbelievable amount of bark. Like, almost daily. The wind changes direction, and this cat barks.
Husband used to be really good about cleaning it up, but then we had kids and now his approach is more hands-off. As in, he prefers to leave it until the other cat (mine - aka, "Garbage Can Cat") "has a chance to get to it." In other words, he delays with the hope that my cat will eat it so he doesn't have to clean it up.
[shudder]
You know, I don't have too much of a problem with that, except for two parts:
1. My husband has to *tell* me about it, even though I've begged him not to. SWEET CHEESES, MAN, I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!
2. My cat invariably misses just enough that I *still* end up stepping in it because my husband forgot and didn't clean up after my cat's insufficient clean-up job.
BLEH! Now I feel like barking.
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OKAY, SQUEAMISH PIXIES! YOU MAY RETURN TO READING TEH WHINES!
Anti-whine: Tater has figured out how to get to my daughter's computer, which is behind the baby gate. He's sitting there right now and is SO CUTE. He put himself in the chair like a big boy and he's clicking away on her mouse and typing on the computer. I can hear the Windows "Error" noise ("Donk!"), but he's having a blast. He's 18 months now. Where has the time gone?
amy deserves some kind of award for her priceless cat-related whine. sadly, this is one area where dogs are better equipped to do the job, in that they will eat anything at all.
OMG people! Now my daughter will never get a furry pet. Never. Ever.
Miranda, glad to hear Spouse is in good hands.
~snort~ madeleine!
sister update -- she didn't have a needle biopsy yesterday -- the doc was worried that might miss something. she's having the strange thing on her rib removed tomorrow, instead. it could just be a small fracture. results could take to next week.
((kathy a))) I hope the biopsy and follow up tests are all okay.
Definitely, Amy gets a special bark-related award. I'm used to cat bark and even I shuddered at...well...you know "that" part.
I mean, srsly. Ick.
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