Love goes beyond the label
I’ve had labels on the brain, this week. Go figure.
The irony is that we all seem to believe that labels = organization, and when I married Otto we gained a fancy electronic labelmaker that the kids seem to think is some wondrous hybrid of the Wii and the circus. There is never a happier day than when Otto lets them take out the labelmaker and label something.
So I’ve been noticing our labels on things. Bread flour. Wrenches. 2007 Taxes. They’re everywhere. They’re usually very illustrative. They add order to our world. They’re supposed to make things make sense.
I’m cute when I get all literal and ponderous over simple stuff, aren’t I? read more…
Gummy bears for dinner
I have promised to have all manner of sticky food available for the freshly un-braced boy, this evening. Sour Patch Kids and gum and whatever else he’d like. Nevermind that Halloween is in a little over a week; he’s spent two years unable to eat “anything delicious,” and he has a lot of catching up to do.
As he skipped out of the orthodontist this morning, still running his tongue endlessly over the unfamiliar, smooth surface of his teeth, I asked him how he felt.
“GREAT!” he answered. “I feel like today is the first day of the REST OF MY LIFE!”
I do, too.
Thanks to everyone for your kind words and support, yesterday. Monkey may not understand that he has a fan club, but I appreciate each and every one of you more than I can say.
Officially quirky
I have been know to watch reruns of Degrassi. On purpose. I’m not proud. I could tell you it’s because I used to watch the original show way back in the day, but I really don’t know if that’s any justification. And now Chickadee is old enough to watch it (sometimes), though as a whole the show is considerably more sexed up than I remember it being when I was younger.
Really, I think Degrassi reminds me of all of the teen drama shows I loved in my youth (90210, for example) crossed with those after school specials I never could stop watching. There’s drama! And suspense! And kissing! And often a Very Special Message.
So one day I was watching Degrassi while I pedaled my elliptical, and Chickadee wandered in, and we watched as this one “quirky” student became progressively more agitated over a variety of things, culminating in a dramatic teen tantrum.
“This totally reminds me of Monkey,” Chickadee said, as the boy threw things on the floor and yelled. read more…
Family learning
Tonight we decided that none of our usual standbys would do for Family Game Night, so we went ahead and opened up our Urban Myth game that was still sitting in its shrink wrap in the closet.
[Me: Where did we get this?
Otto: You gave it to me.
Me: Uh, no I didn’t.
Otto: Are you sure? I thought you did.
Me: Nope, seems like something I’d remember.
Otto: Oh. In that case, I have no idea.]
Urban Myth says that it’s for ages 12+, but we are fans of rounding up. We read the rules and off we went.
It turned out to be rather more educational than we’d planned. read more…
Click for furry distraction
I know it often appears that I am completely obsessed with the dog, but that’s only because I am completely obsessed with the dog. And by that, of course, I mean that the dog is a convenient focal point in a world filled with plenty of less pleasant things to do than get your face licked.
[True story: One of my clients sent me some paperwork about a month ago, and I put it on my desk, and then I put other stuff on my desk on top of it, and pretty soon I totally forgot that it was there. A couple of days ago I got a call from their accounting department, and as soon as the caller announced who she was, I died a little on the inside because I realized what I’d done.
“Is there a problem with the paperwork?” she asked.
“Yes,” I replied, too tired and embarrassed to lie. “The problem is that it ended up at the bottom of this stack here on my desk. I’m so sorry. I’ll take care of it today.”
“Oh, well then,” she replied, “Move it to the top! Problem solved!” Patient folks with intact senses of humor: I salute you.] read more…
Love can’t keep up
Wednesdays are my busiest day, because I suck at planning and I always have eleventy million things I must do and go to and monitor ON THAT DAY, and no, they can’t be moved to a different day. Um. Yay, me? No. The point is that I tend to be harried and cranky and lots of other less-than-flattering adjectives on Wednesdays, and also, I would really like it if Otto would cook on Wednesdays, but often it just doesn’t work out that way.
So last night, we’d all just gotten home from various destinations, and I was TRYING to finish up cooking dinner, but really all I was thinking about was the mountain of work I had yet to complete AFTER dinner, and I was trying to get Monkey to sit down and finish his homework, and I was pouring potatoes and hot water into a colander and trying not to splash/burn myself, and Chickadee started telling me about something that happened at school.
And I blew it, because I’m a mom and that’s what I do. Those of you with a tween girl know this particular Game of Losing, but I am still adjusting to it and it still stings. read more…
Randomly we roll along
My alarm clock went off at 5:45 this morning for the first time since last Thursday, and verily, I didst think Very Bad Words Indeed.
In a discussion with some friends (okay, FINE; it was a thread on Facebook, because we all know I never actually talk to people face-to-face anymore), I realized just how LONG of a day the kids have, for no discernible reason. I mean, okay; Monkey is gone by 7:15 but is generally home before 3:00, which just seems like a long day for a little guy. It’s not beyond the norm, I suppose, although the schools are always bitching about how they don’t have time to teach [fill in this blank with “the standardized test material” or “the real learning stuff we’d still like to teach aside from the standardized test material” as you see fit].
Chickadee, however, leaves the house before 8:00 (though she is blossoming into So Not A Morning Person and gets up with the rest of us so as to grunt her way into alertness by bus time) and is rarely home before 5:00, or later on activity days. But at least she spends that entire time sitting on a bus or behind a desk, with none of that pesky fresh air or exercise stuff getting in the way! read more…
You are winners! I am a loser!
I just whacked my head. Twice. Really hard. Because I’m all graceful and stuff.
The good news is that I am feeling better, if still somewhat run-over-by-a-truck-ish. The bad news is that it’s raining again and lest you think I’m just randomly whining about a few sprinkles, our pool is actually overflowing. This is not rain so much as WRATH OF A VERY SOGGY GOD. So I was trying to drain some water from the pool via the big filter thingie under the porch, and I whacked my head on the way in (because I was wearing a jacket with the hood up, on account of the rain, and my vision was obscured and also, I’m not very bright) and *SLAM* head meets support beam. I saw some pretty stars.
I set the filter up to remove water from the pool and then wandered out to empty the skimmer basket, and while doing so, stepped in some fire ants. Yes. Distracted by that, I managed to return to the filter and hit my head a second time, at which point I abandoned all pretense of being brave and emitted a sound that could only be heard by dogs and dolphins, and roughly translates to something I cannot say in polite company. read more…
Pictures from camp
So we were supposed to go on our last big camping trip this weekend, and we shopped and packed and measured out dog food and loaded up the camper and then I spiked a fever.
Because I am nothing if not able to ruin everyone’s plans without breaking a sweat. (Actually, I’m totally lying. The fever, you know… I was a little sweaty.)
Rather than TRULY ruin everything for everyone else, I assured the family that it was okay if they went without me. Because everyone had been so looking forward to it, and there was no reason for everyone to stay home just because I was feeling crummy. The kids were a little too quick to agree, and even went so far as to insist that Licorice was also really looking forward to camping!
So the whole lot of them left. It is VERY quiet here. read more…
Sometimes love is blue
I had a small breakdown, last week. Not a big one. Nothing dramatic, I don’t think, nor dangerous or even particularly noteworthy to anyone except ME. To me it was clear that the Mir Pressure Release System had malfunctioned somewhere along the line, allowing stress to build to Code Red levels and ultimately result in Unhealthy Things.
Sooooooo I blew up at one two all of the members of my family, had a few good cries, spent many a late night wrestling with my old pal, insomnia, and then got over it. Kind of.
Over it enough to keep on keepin’ on, as we say, in any event. I may have something of a meltdown hangover, now. (It’s sort of throbby and achy but ultimately more annoying than concerning.)
I hope to look back on this time and laugh, someday. Alternatively, I hope to have my memory wiped. Either way. read more…