Today--being my last full day to accomplish the Herculean set of housecleaning tasks I have set for myself before Rejoining The Working Folk--I found myself watching a friend's 5-year-old daughter for an hour. I was itching to get on with my to-do list and just didn't think she'd be amenable to tackling the pile of crap on my nightstand, ya know? So we moved further down the list to "make cookies for the very nice people who decided to give me a job." I have an unnatural relationship with cookies. I mean, yes... it's 2005 and I am a grown woman with absolutely no use for the "barefoot and...
There's only one thing that will help me unwind after a rough day, and today I did it a whole new way. It started with a special delivery to the house; my pulse quickened immediately. As soon as I was able to shoo the children over to their father's for dinner I was on that package, grinning ear to ear. Before I knew it I was gripping with both hands and working up a good sweat, murmuring my wonderment and appreciation as things progressed. Sure, I had a take a break to welcome the kids back and get them to bed, but then I picked up right where I left off. Afterwards I was spent; exhausted...
Well, the countdown is on. It looks like I have about a week and a half to get my life in order before I return to the ranks of Those Who Work For A Living. That should be enough time to accomplish everything I meant to do during the previous 15 months of unemployment hell, right? Right?? Hello...? No matter. Small multicolored animated birds and butterflies accompany me wherever I go, these days. They flit and swoop around my head and sing Disney tunes--which does get a little bit old--and titter in the most charming way in reaction to any of life's little roadblocks. Snow day (yesterday)?...
I was supposed to go to the gym and work out this morning with a friend. I do not belong to the gym; she thought she had a free pass, but then couldn't find it. She called me back later to say she found it but it had already expired. I was sort of bummed, but then I remembered that I'm a lazy slug and didn't want to work out, anyway. Still, I'm as interested in fitness as the next health-conscious person. I have an elliptical trainer here at home, which I gave some thought to using. You know, since I was already in the workout mood. But then I realized that rather than working out, I could...
On Monday, we went to the McDonald's Play Place to celebrate Martin Luther King Day with the rest of the free world. We all said, "Hurray for Martin Luther King, Jr. and his pioneering work! Also, it is a crime against humanity for school to be closed on such a cold day. All you kids go into these brightly-colored plastic tunnels and don't come out until you feel copious amount of brotherly love!" And we mothers sat outside the Kiddie Habitrail and chatted and drank our diet cokes and hollered the occasional encouraging comment to our offspring. "Yes, I see you! Great climbing!" "Inside...
Today's entry brought to you by the letter C, the number 0, and Tide With Bleach Alternative. Because I said so. Don't make me come back there. Too Cold Call me a wimp, but once the temperature hits honest-to-goodness 0 degrees, I'm all done with winter. And this morning--as an added bonus--we have a wind chill advisory. Blah blah cold front blah blah frigid temps blah blah risk of frostbite. Translation: It is really goddamn cold out there, and also windy, and meteorologists have to feed their families, too, so please act like this is startling information and also remember to button up. No...
[I wouldn't be me if it didn't all come in story format. But I swear the reviews come at the end, and they're all really important. If you're me. Or experiencing a real shortage of reading material.] I may have mentioned that I had a tonsillectomy1 about a year and a half ago, due to recurrent strep infections. So you can imagine how very pleased I was to wake up this morning--because just being sick is not enough fun--with the worst sore throat I've had since the surgery. I'm not supposed to get strep anymore, you understand. It's technically possible, but very unlikely. So I choose to...
It went like this: a friend informed me that she was having an informal cocktail hour type thing today, and suggested that if I needed help finishing up party stuff, we could work on it afterwards. Come mingle and have some fun. I checked in with another friend, verified that she would attend and stay to help me, and agreed. I got there around 6:00, expecting we'd get to work on my Big Bag O' Cape Stuff by 8:00. I did pull aside my craft consultant as soon as she arrived to confer on cutting the material. This was a calculated move: I feared once she had a few drinks her measurements might...
One of the things I'm supposed to be doing this week while my children are off with their father is Figuring My Life Out. And as tempting as it is to spend this time wondering what my little ones are eating, what they're wearing, and how late they're going to bed (oh, don't forget where they're sleeping, since Happy Fun Daddy encourages a rousing game of Musical Beds! Yay!), I made a decision to say a prayer and let it go; and focus, instead, on myself. It works surprisingly well once you come to the realization that if anything went horribly wrong, someone would call. And if no one calls,...
