Category Archives: Uncategorized

• I actually completed NaBloPoMo! I can’t believe it. It felt good to not have the pressure of writing yesterday, but I really enjoyed doing it all month.
• I had the weirdest dreams last night and the fact that I remember them in such vivid detail seems even more weird. The first was that my best girlfriend was renewing her wedding vows. I’d assumed that she was having her daughters stand up in her ceremony, but the wedding party was exactly the same, except for me. Yet I wore the same dress as I did as her maid of honor. And so did her other bridesmaids and my random replacement. It was awkward. Then I was at the kids’ school and the principal called me out and asked me to leave because my sneakers looked like bowling shoes. She said it was inappropriate. And the third one was that we had a get together at Hub’s cousin’s house, and on her book shelf was an 8×10 photo of Swistle’s kids. I asked how Cousin knew them, and she said that Swistle was her husband’s cousin. I was excited, and immediately emailed Swistle to tell her we were kind of sort of related! And Swistle said no, that was not the case, but that she sold a bunch of 8×10 photos of her kids at a garage sale and now people everywhere were claiming to be her relative.
• I was so tired today, I’m assuming from all the dreaming, and because Hub worked all night and I don’t sleep well when he’s not here, that I took a 45 minute nap on my lunch break. It was necessary. And I am still exhausted.
• Lucy lost her 1st tooth at school today. Then she swallowed it. Her teacher had to call me to talk her down because she was so upset. We remedied the situation by telling her she could write a note for the tooth fairy, AND by reminding her that she was the 1st student in December to lose a tooth. She’s been waiting forever to be on a lost tooth list, just like I waited forever when she was a baby for her to be on the “We have __ teeth” poster at daycare. She was 11 months old before she even had any teeth, so of course she is losing them later than her friends. Now, she is just fine:

• We had our first snow this morning. It’s already melted, but there is more to come. Hub took this picture and captioned it “Even Frosty is sad about the end of Fall”:

• I’d like to think about going to blog conferences in 2012. I’m sure I could swing it, but…I don’t know. The whole concept makes me nervous. And how would I explain where I am going to someone like my mother who cannot ever know that I blog?
• I was so excited to finally send off my CDP the other day! I’d been piling stuff in to a tote for what seemed like forever and when I couldn’t fit anything else, I sent it off. I hope the recipient likes it! I know I would. (In fact, I doubled up on a few of the gifts for myself)
• We are mostly done Christmas shopping. Hub and I are not getting anything for each other since we bought the new TV. Kids are mostly done, and we have some gift certificates for my parents to buy and a few things for the other kids on our list. Can you believe that Christmas is 3 weeks away??

When I ask my kids to pose for photos, it turns out one of 3 ways.

Cheesed and posed (although even cheesed and posed, she is still gorgeous):

Eyes closed/Weeeeird:

Angry (someone has green eyes when he is annoyed/angry):

I have taken to hanging back and taking shots from behind or from the side and really, these have become some of my favorite photos. I have plenty of pictures of them smiling happily, right in to the camera. Capturing how the light hits someone’s hair, or the excitement in their step, or watching them take something in when they don’t even know you’re there…there is just something about it.

Check it out:

Oh what a very long weekend. It was a good one though, that is for sure.

Wednesday was a kick it in to high gear cleaning day, basically making the house presentable for our Thanksgiving guests. Hub was supposed to install the dishwasher that day as well, but things came up like they always do (things like bailing his brother out of jail for a suspended license and having to get his work truck out of impound) , and it never happened. I’d also wanted to have out photos hung but we didn’t get to that either. Bud and I went shopping alone for some last minute food items. I made pies. I scrubbed the tub. Not that our guests were going to be in the tub, but I could not in good conscience leave it with its grey ring around the bottom lest someone open the shower door and see it. So the tub. She is sparkling white. In all though, it was a relaxed cleaning experience. We were really already pretty well on top of things, based on the last few weekends of getting Important Projects out of the way.

Clean house coupled with a late dinner scheduled because my father was working, allowed us the opportunity to laze a bit on Thanksgiving morning. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and watched the parade. This is the first year the kids were legitimately interested in it, I think. I prepped the turkeys then and had a little bit of down time before I was going to start in on the side dishes. This of course, is when Hub decided to install the dishwasher. And guess where the parts were? Oh, they were in the minivan that was left at the impound lot in order to drive the work truck home. Yes, they were. So he went and got them, and thankfully the actual dishwasher setup only took about 30 minutes, but of course was finished just as my parents arrived and the contents of my under the sink cupboard were strewn across my kitchen floor. That was the only glitch of the night though. We had a fabulous meal, fabulous desserts and played games. I was a smart girl and waited until after our guests left to start drinking.

I did regret drinking after midnight come Friday morning though. We had to be up early because Bud signed up for a day camp at Tae Kwon Do and had to be there at 8. We’d planned on having Liv stay home for the day, but since Hub was already going out, and since her daycare was doing a day long pajama party, we decided to send her. As soon as they were out the door I went back to bed. Moments later Lucy woke up, but she was happy to crawl in to bed with me. Hub did some black Friday shopping at home depot and brought us donuts back from the cider mill. After he picked Bud up at noon, the 4 of us went and did our huge bulk shopping at BJs, picked up my minivan from the impound lot (eyeroll), and by then picked up Liv. The weather was gorgeous—not typical November in Buffalo weather at all—so we decided to have a fire in the yard. Hub heated up the turkey fryer and he, BIL and I had chicken wings, fried fish and potatoes. The 4 kids roasted hotdogs. Through this, Niece looked sort of off. She had a cold, but you could see her going downhill fast. When I brought the kids inside, she had a 102 temp. It was time for her to go. Niece is notorious for throwing up when she has a fever. And thankfully, she didn’t throw up until she was back home with her father.

Saturday was once again, absolutely gorgeous. We’d already decided that we were cutting down our tree that day, so really the weather was a bonus. I found the perfect tree pretty early on, but Hub and the kids hemmed and hawed over it, and we ended up walking the majority of the tree farm before we ended right back where I’d led them to begin with. We’ve found that this is the sharpest tree we’ve ever had, but it is sturdy and holding the ornaments well. It’s also not making me nearly as itchy as trees we’ve had before. It was a good choice. We had plans Saturday evening to go to our friends’ house down the street, so we and the kids went and just hung out. It was a really nice time, and we were home around midnight.

On account of not having very much sleep over the course of the long weekend, I’m assuming, Liv was very overtired and tossed, turned and screamed all night long. Finally I just slept in her bed with her because I was tired of getting up every 10 minutes. We slept in a little bit longer than we should have on Sunday, considering that we had plans to meet Hub’s cousin and her family at the movies by 10:30, but it was necessary. We made it in time, and saw The Muppets. It was so so so good. I can’t remember the last time we enjoyed a movie so much (although Bud insists that he just hates Muppets). From there we went to lunch at Friendly’s, shopped for new tree light at Target, and came home and decorated the tree. I even kept my rage pent up as the kids put the ornaments in all the wrong spots. The best part? Liv was in bed by 7:30, and she slept until 8:30 this morning. That happens, um, never.

We really did have a great long weekend though. It was very hard to get back in to the swing of things today, for sure. But the next long vacation is only 3 weeks away!

Today is the end of another week! Can you even believe it? Here is my good stuff:

-I received part 1 of my CDP from Misty. Just look! Magnets!

-I got this in the mail from Another fine gal

-I sucked it up, swallowed my fear and called Keurig thanks to Erica, and got a brand new working mini-brewer on Wednesday.
-Liv ate her entire dinner more nights than she did not.
-Bud started reading Superfudge (even though he hates it…it brings back memories for me)
-Lucy and I were able to take a trip to the library alone.

What was your good stuff this week?

This is the last Saturday of NaBloPoMo. Will the questions continue? I do not know!

So, Thanksgiving is over. Let’s move on. But first:

Did you do any Black Friday shopping?
If so, what did you score?

And also:

Will you be decorating for Christmas this weekend?
Are you in Full Blown Christmas Mode yet?

Our plan is to go and get our tree today or tomorrow. I’ll have to get back to you on whether or not that pans out.

Today, on Black Friday, I’d like to direct you to the post I wrote on my old blog after Thanksgiving weekend 4 years ago. This was back when we still went somewhere for Thanksgiving, and then I cooked the whole meal for us on Friday. This was just before I found out we were expecting Liv, when I still had in-laws, when niece was a baby and had a chance, and when Bud and Lucy were still so little. Isn’t it crazy how so many things can change in such a short period of time?

Here is the excerpt about my mixer, in case you aren’t clicking over:

All night on Thursday, Ed was talking about getting up early on Friday to go pick out a laptop. Circuit City had one on sale for $300. I told him he could do what he wanted so long as he didn’t wake me up. So he got up and went and when I woke up he was sound asleep back in bed. When we got up, he said that he hadn’t even gone, and I had no recollection of him leaving, so I believed him—until I went outside and saw a Dunkin cup in the car that I knew was not there the day before. I asked him f he was sure he stayed home and he insisted that he had. Anyway, Eddie got up and asked for some cereal and when I opened the cupboard, there it was, my new Kitchenaid stand mixer. For the last 2 years, any time I’ve mentioned getting one, he’s said no. It’s too expensive. I’ll never use it. So to say that I was shocked would be an understatement. I actually burst in to tears. Over a mixer. I am a lame ass.

I still say the mixer was the VERY best gift Hub ever bought me.

I have so many things to be thankful for today, but really it all comes down to these 4:

I truly couldn’t be a luckier girl.

I am up very early this morning. I am writing this before I’ve even had any coffee–so beware. I fear that if I don’t just get a move on, nothing will be done in time for Thanksgiving. We aren’t eating until later tomorrow though, since my dad has to work, so that will be a help. We’ve been so busy cleaning and reorganizing these last couple of weekends–so really there is just surface work to be done, but still it is all overwhelming. Hub is busy with people trying to squeeze in cleanings before the holiday, and today, he is going to install our dishwasher. Now, when I said I would like for it to be in use in time for Thanksgiving, I did not mean that he should wait until the day before to get it done. But here we are, and he has worked all night, and is back at work now, and hopefully later today we will have a working dishwasher, and not a gaping hole in my floor or cupboards, and hopefully nothing will have caught fire.

I’m not the type of person who feels pressure to have a completely spotless house, are you? I say good enough is good enough. And if you want to judge me for it, feel free. If the floors are swept and vacuumed, the counters and table are clear, the bathroom is shiny, and we’ve at least feather dusted, I am all good. I’m not a housekeeper, you know? I’m a mom, with a busy life, and I have better things to do than to scrub my grout with a toothbrush, or wipe my baseboards obsessively, or worry too much about the clutter in the kids’ rooms.

I think you’d be very comfortable here. You might get some cat hair on you. But the comfort…it will be undeniable.

I am just having the shittiest of days. It’s “that time” and I’m crabby, the dog tore up my office garbage this morning, and I am privy to some family information that was not disclosed to me by the family member involved so I have been in the position of answering questions and acting like I have no idea what’s going on, when I do in fact know way more than I should but nobody can ever know that I know and have known all this time, (that’s maybe a bit cryptic…just not for the blog but I’ll tell anyone who wants to know) and the pressure is making me so stabby! And speaking of stabbing, seriously, if I don’t stab my mother before Thanksgiving is over, it is going to be a miracle. And then I had to have my thyroid bloodwork done today because I waited ‘til the last minute, and am out of refills like always. So it was today, or go down that slippery slope I always go down of randomly being off my thyroid meds and basically taking a trip to crazy town.

Anyway…

If there were ever a probable time for me to get in to a fist fight, it would have been at the blood draw lab today. They have this system where you can make an appointment online, and even though they still take walk-ins, appointments are guaranteed to go first. This way, I assume, they hope to avoid having their patients waste their entire lunch hour hanging out in their waiting room. This appointment system has never failed me until today.

I arrived for my 12:10 appointment at 11:55. There was one non-appointment maker in the waiting area who, by the sign in sheet, had arrived one minute before me. By their design, I should have been seen first. But I wasn’t. So, I stewed a bit when at 12:10 PM the other gentleman (if you could call his burping snot swallowing gentlemanly)back in to the room, but wasn’t going to make a big deal. In the meantime, another guy came in and signed in. It was 12:20, 10 minutes past my appointment time, but I still had plenty of time. No Big.

Finally the tech came out and called my name. I stood up and then she said to just wait a second because the other man had an appointment. And that is when I got a little bit pissy since I also had an appointment, AND I had been waiting for 30 minutes. “But”, she told me, “his appointment was for 12:00 and yours was at 12:10.” Then I went from straight up pissy, to ENRAGED. I was here for 30 minutes before this guy even walked in! He showed up 20 minutes PAST his appointment time. He missed his appointment!! She says “Ma’am, I can’t prove that he was here any later than you were.” THE SIGN IN SHEET! “He signed in at 11:55 as well.” The hell he did. So if he showed up at 2PM, would you take him before all of the 2PM appointments, since his appointment was scheduled for 2 hours before? “Well no, we’d consider him a missed appointment.” This is not different! He was not here for his appointment! “Well, I can’t prove that ma’am and his appointment was first.” So I flung myself back in to my waiting room chair, like a surly teenager and waited my turn, even though my turn had already passed.

I really wanted to storm out of there, but they already had my lab slip, and I’d already wasted almost an hour. And then of course, I ended up with that same tech drawing my blood. I was sure she was going to jab me or something because I had made a scene, but she didn’t. Though now I am convinced she’s going to tamper with my blood. We’ll know if I get any weird calls from my endocrinologist tomorrow.