I'm way behind here but I'm going to try to catch up -- briefly at least!
Sunday: not a beach day, as we were heading back to Kahului to pick Dana up at the airport. We checked her flight online and found it was running about 30 minutes late, but we were ready to leave by 9:30 so we went ahead and did so. Stopped by Hilo Hattie's in Lahaina to pick up a few things, including a new Hawaiian shirt for Ryan, as the one he was wearing had a little altercation with Will's elbow and the pocket got half ripped off :-) We enjoyed most of a can of butter toffee-covered macadamia nuts on the way to the airport. We were going to make a KMart run once we got to Kahului but that ended up not happening, so once we met Dana, we went to KMart and picked up a few more things, then had lunch at a sketchy but delicious little Mexican place by the aquarium, then hit Safeway (and Maui Dive Shop for a new swim shirt for Will) on the way back to the condo. We spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool, then watched some of the ultimately doomed Kings/Sonics game. Ryan grilled steaks out by the pool for dinner, and we hung out on the balcony for the rest of the evening. At some point, Dana bravely disappeared upstairs with the kids. She is so laid back! It doesn't seem to bother her one bit to be up there with them, in the heat, with Will insisting on sleeping in the smaller of the two beds *with* her and their stuff *everywhere*. I guess she is still used to it from growing up with all those brothers.
Monday -- up early, of course, and we were at the beach (Kapalua again) by 9. At first the water was frighteningly cold and I didn't think I was going to be able to stay in it, but then it got nicer and we were out there a long time. Dana and I ultimately headed up the beach to read (and/or nap) in the sun, but Ryan stayed out in the water with the kids for what seemed like forever! When they finally came in, they were ready to head back to the condo. It was 11:30! We knew they were going to be *zonked*. When we got back, Dana, the kids and I jumped in the pool to cool off/get the sand off before going back to the condo to shower, and after lunch Ryan took the kids down to the pool while Dana and I went shopping :-) I bought a Fresh Produce tank top (way too expensive but I couldn't resist) and then found the cutest dress -- knit, periwinkle blue with a turtle design on the front (yeah, there's a dolphin too, but I don't really care about that :-)), and it was actually cut in such a way as to be flattering on me! It had stupid pockets but I knew I could take care of them. So I was pleased with that. We went back to the condo and I spent about an hour doing surgery on the dress, and then Ryan called a cab and he and I headed into Lahaina for our "date" while Dana stayed with the kids. We had dinner at a nice little place where we could sit on the patio, then wandered, shopped, had another drink, shopped some more, and got some ice cream. I bought my mom a necklace for Mother's Day (and two for myself!), and we went into the Celebrities gallery, which we'd read had a Beatles thing going on. It was very cool and we are definitely planning to get the kids over there today (our last day :-() We were in a cab headed back to the condo by 8:30 pm -- so much for late night! We had fun though. When we got back, Dana and the kids had already headed upstairs for the evening, and Ryan and I sat on the balcony and enjoyed the evening air for while before going to bed.
Tuesday morning, I took Ryan and his golf clubs over to a car rental place early and he headed off for a day of golf. When we were all ready, Dana, the kids and I went to the aquarium. It was kind of muggy and the kids were a little punchy, but it was a nice little aquarium and we had a nice time. I loved the sea turtles and I could have hung with them a while longer. Dana and I both also really liked the dark room with the jellyfish tank in the middle. I could have sat there with them all day! After we were done there, we got some ice cream and headed back to the condo for lunch. Watched about half "The Incredibles" before Dana and Will started picking on each other and then it was time to hit the pool. We spent about an hour and half down there. The kids were really good even though Dana and I didn't spend much time actually in the pool with them -- there were lots of kids in there, and Will's swimming skills are really coming along (though I was glad he had hit noodle). We came back to the condo and the kids and I showered -- then we hung out and watched Oprah till Ryan got home and wanted to watch the Kings game. I fixed burritos for dinner and we ate and Ryan bitched about the way the game was going, and Dana and I busted out the Arbor Mist, and I just read and read. I don't think I've ever blown through a Jonathan Kellerman mystery in 2 1/2 days before, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, the Kings season is over (it's a building year, people!) and we sat on the balcony drinking and laughing for a while, and then Dana disappeared and Ryan went to bed and I wanted to finish my book but I kept falling asleep on the couch. Finally sat up and made myself finish it.
That brings us to this morning. Plans for the day -- head to the beach, and I want to rent some snorkle equipment on the way -- then come back here, clean up, go to Lahaina for lunch/dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise and take the kids to see the Beatles thing at the Celebrities gallery. And then come back here and start packing up, as we have to head to the airport tomorrow morning. I KNEW this trip was going to go by too fast! I comfort myself with a few things:
1) it's pretty humid here, and I miss the mild spring weather and air conditioning at home
2) my hair is disgusting, and it's been freeing to just let it go and not worry what it looks like, but I have an appointment to have it colored and cut off short on the morning after we get home
3) I miss my car. The one we have here sucks.
None of this is to say that I wouldn't extend our trip by a few days, given the choice, but you have to find the silver lining where you can, no?
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Sunday, May 01, 2005
More 50 Book Challenge
14. Drop City by T.C. Boyle (BC, *)
15. The Beatles by Hunter Davies
I haven't decided whether I would recommend this Beatles book quite yet. It goes into minute detail about how the group came together and rose to fame, but it was originally written in 1968 and only has updates since then. They hadn't even done their last couple of albums by the time the original book was finished, so it feels incomplete. At the same time, it had so much detail, so many comments from the Beatles themselves, and was so British and engrossing, that I want to give it a thumbs-up. I'll have to read some more books about them before I form a full opinion about this one. I'm particularly interested in reading about their individual lives after the band broke up, and about the music itself and the creative process behind writing the songs.
Drop City was a fun, if lengthy, read about a 70s commune, which I read for one of my book clubs. Now I've started a Jonathan Kellerman page-turner. Definitely beach reading :-)
15. The Beatles by Hunter Davies
I haven't decided whether I would recommend this Beatles book quite yet. It goes into minute detail about how the group came together and rose to fame, but it was originally written in 1968 and only has updates since then. They hadn't even done their last couple of albums by the time the original book was finished, so it feels incomplete. At the same time, it had so much detail, so many comments from the Beatles themselves, and was so British and engrossing, that I want to give it a thumbs-up. I'll have to read some more books about them before I form a full opinion about this one. I'm particularly interested in reading about their individual lives after the band broke up, and about the music itself and the creative process behind writing the songs.
Drop City was a fun, if lengthy, read about a 70s commune, which I read for one of my book clubs. Now I've started a Jonathan Kellerman page-turner. Definitely beach reading :-)
Maui, Day 3
Yesterday was a really nice day! We were all up around 5 am again, of course, and after eating breakfast, hanging out, etc, around 7 am, Will and I headed out to find our beach for the day. It was frustrating -- we couldn't hardly find beach access among all the condos, and we came back feeling like it had been a useless trip. But we all headed off in our swimsuits with towels in the car, planning to go back to Airport Beach, where we'd been the day before, but we went north first, in search of the ABC Store I *swore* I'd seen. We didn't find it, but we did find access to Kapalua (sp?) beach, so we decided to check it out. And it was great! We went there the first day on our last trip, but for some reason we hadn't really enjoyed it, and had ended up spending the rest of our beach-going days at Airport. This time I think it will be the opposite. We spent about 2 hours there, mostly floating beyond the surf, but also collecting coral and rocks, then headed home to shower and have lunch. We decided to eat at Hula Grill, where we had lunch one day wit my parents, and as we were pulling into the parking garage at Whaler's Village, we noticed how tired we all were. Floating around out there seems really relaxing, but it's amazingly tiring! The kids barely stayed awake through lunch. We were going to do a little shopping before heading back, but we ended up nixing that so we could head right back to the condo to nap. Naturally, Will fell asleep in the car on the way back, and I was the only one who actually ended up napping when we got back. Around 4 pm, the 4 of us headed down to the pool for about an hour, and then we came back to the condo. I fixed the kids some mac & cheese for dinner, and Ryan fixed taquitoes for the two of us, which we ate out on the balcony after it cooled off a little. The kids watched a Rugrats DVD for what seemed like several hours while we sat on the balcony, hanging out, talking and reading. They went to bed at some point, and we came inside. Ryan zonked out on the couch for quite a while and I read and read till past 10. It felt like quite an accomplishment! I'm very near the end of this book about the Beatles I'm reading, and it's so interesting, I just could hardly put it down. Anyway, this morning we will be headed back into Kahului (sp?) to pick up Dana at the airport, and we will probably go to the aquarium while we are out that way as well. Should be another fun day!
Friday, April 29, 2005
Maui: Days 1 & 2
We had such a smooth day travelling to Maui yesterday! Got up early at the motel near the Oakland airport and took their shuttle over to the airport -- it was pouring and it didn't make me feel very sorry about leaving CA! I'd been nervous about our flights because we were booked on an airline I'd never heard of before -- North American -- but it turned out to be great! Once we found our way past the huge Sun Trips check-in line, we walked right up to the NA counter, then went through security and soon boarded our plane. The flight was uncrowded and we had a whole row (6 seats) to ourselves, and we rented a little digital TV thing so the kids were able to watch "Shark Tale" and "Racing Stripes." Will and I took a nice nap as well. And when we got off the plane and went to the baggage claim, our bags were already waiting for us!
Our rental is yet another crappy GM minivan -- I didn't even know Oldsmobile *made* a minivan! -- but it's getting us around just fine. And after killing several hours with very tired, bored kids (we landed at 10:30 am and couldn't get into our condo till 3, so we hit Costco and KMart, ate lunch at Cool Cat Cafe in Lahaina and shopped at Hilo Hattie's as well), we drove to the Papakea resort where we are staying. The condo is functional other than a kind of scary spiral staircase up to the loft where the kids sleep, but it's all very comfortable and the grounds are just beautiful. Ryan took the kids in the pool while I went grocery shopping and got the condo organized -- then we had our Costco roast chicken for dinner and the kids were in bed early. We watched "Survivor" and "CSI" and then hit the sack. I'm surprised we made it that long, having been up since 5 am Pacific time!
Not surprisingly, we were all up by 5 am Hawaii time this morning. We killed several hours hanging around, eating breakfast and hanging out, and then I made a quick trip to Longs before we packed up a picnic and went over to Airport Beach, where we spent a lot of time last time we were here. We were a little dismayed at how high the tide was and the roughness of the waves compared to last time, but there was a storm fairly recently, and that definitely affected things. For a while, poor Ryan made the kids stay close to shore, convinced he was going to lose one of them in the water. We go through this every time we go to the ocean. Ryan grew up taking all of his vacations at the ocean but never actually swimming into it, and if he had his way, the kids would stand at his sides, holding his hands and not going in past their ankles. This was never going to work since a) these kids like the ocean and b)the waves were crashing so hard on the beach that it was actually safer out further, beyond where they broke. I know it's counter-intuitive, but it's the truth, and it took me a while to convince him, but once I did, it was good. Out in the water was the clincher that I need to go on a diet -- my butt actually functions as a floatation device. That's great when you are floating in the ocean, but since I don't spend all that much of time time floating, I'd like to do something about it. Will work on that when I get home!
Anyway, the beach is great -- except for the sand. That shit gets *everywhere*. It gets in places you might never have thought of! I certainly never anticipated being in a beach rest room, standing in front of my 10YO daughter and encouraging her to spread her personal parts out so I could pour water from a water bottle on them :-/ Poor kid. She seemed to feel a lot better afterward though, so it was worth it. When we returned to the beach, Ryan and Will had also had enough, so we snacked a little, packed up, and headed home to our condo. It was almost noon!
We rinsed off, ate lunch, vegged a bit, then went out to the pool, which is really nice -- warm and with a tile-bottom so your feet dont get chewed up. We were out there maybe an hour, then we came back to the condo. Ryan took the kids down to the putting green they have here for a bit while I napped, then Will and I went out to get pizza and salad for dinner while Ryan watched the Kings defeat Seattle on TV. Now the kids are in bed (Will was sleeping by 6:30 and was in bed by 7:30) and Ryan and I are out on the balcony (I refuse to call it a "lanai" like everyone else around here). I asked him if he wanted to watch a movie but he said he wouldn't make it through one. So I suppose he'll be heading to bed soom, and maybe I will too. In spite of my nap, I'm feeling pretty punchy. We discussed plans for tomorrow and have already decided we will make less of a production of going to the beach tomorrow -- we won't worry about packing a lunch and all, and we'll go early and plan to come back and eat here. Not sure if we'll go back to the same place.
Laundry to fold!
Our rental is yet another crappy GM minivan -- I didn't even know Oldsmobile *made* a minivan! -- but it's getting us around just fine. And after killing several hours with very tired, bored kids (we landed at 10:30 am and couldn't get into our condo till 3, so we hit Costco and KMart, ate lunch at Cool Cat Cafe in Lahaina and shopped at Hilo Hattie's as well), we drove to the Papakea resort where we are staying. The condo is functional other than a kind of scary spiral staircase up to the loft where the kids sleep, but it's all very comfortable and the grounds are just beautiful. Ryan took the kids in the pool while I went grocery shopping and got the condo organized -- then we had our Costco roast chicken for dinner and the kids were in bed early. We watched "Survivor" and "CSI" and then hit the sack. I'm surprised we made it that long, having been up since 5 am Pacific time!
Not surprisingly, we were all up by 5 am Hawaii time this morning. We killed several hours hanging around, eating breakfast and hanging out, and then I made a quick trip to Longs before we packed up a picnic and went over to Airport Beach, where we spent a lot of time last time we were here. We were a little dismayed at how high the tide was and the roughness of the waves compared to last time, but there was a storm fairly recently, and that definitely affected things. For a while, poor Ryan made the kids stay close to shore, convinced he was going to lose one of them in the water. We go through this every time we go to the ocean. Ryan grew up taking all of his vacations at the ocean but never actually swimming into it, and if he had his way, the kids would stand at his sides, holding his hands and not going in past their ankles. This was never going to work since a) these kids like the ocean and b)the waves were crashing so hard on the beach that it was actually safer out further, beyond where they broke. I know it's counter-intuitive, but it's the truth, and it took me a while to convince him, but once I did, it was good. Out in the water was the clincher that I need to go on a diet -- my butt actually functions as a floatation device. That's great when you are floating in the ocean, but since I don't spend all that much of time time floating, I'd like to do something about it. Will work on that when I get home!
Anyway, the beach is great -- except for the sand. That shit gets *everywhere*. It gets in places you might never have thought of! I certainly never anticipated being in a beach rest room, standing in front of my 10YO daughter and encouraging her to spread her personal parts out so I could pour water from a water bottle on them :-/ Poor kid. She seemed to feel a lot better afterward though, so it was worth it. When we returned to the beach, Ryan and Will had also had enough, so we snacked a little, packed up, and headed home to our condo. It was almost noon!
We rinsed off, ate lunch, vegged a bit, then went out to the pool, which is really nice -- warm and with a tile-bottom so your feet dont get chewed up. We were out there maybe an hour, then we came back to the condo. Ryan took the kids down to the putting green they have here for a bit while I napped, then Will and I went out to get pizza and salad for dinner while Ryan watched the Kings defeat Seattle on TV. Now the kids are in bed (Will was sleeping by 6:30 and was in bed by 7:30) and Ryan and I are out on the balcony (I refuse to call it a "lanai" like everyone else around here). I asked him if he wanted to watch a movie but he said he wouldn't make it through one. So I suppose he'll be heading to bed soom, and maybe I will too. In spite of my nap, I'm feeling pretty punchy. We discussed plans for tomorrow and have already decided we will make less of a production of going to the beach tomorrow -- we won't worry about packing a lunch and all, and we'll go early and plan to come back and eat here. Not sure if we'll go back to the same place.
Laundry to fold!
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Weird Nights
I've been have night sweats where I wake up drenched, and it sucks. This has been going on for more than a year, only before it was maybe once or twice a month, and now that I'm on medication that's supposed to control this and other hormonal issues, it's happening more like twice a week. Or more. Blech.
Last night, in addition to waking up drenched in my own sweat, I also got a nosebleed. I think it was related to my nose ring -- maybe I was rubbing my nose and the end of it poked me somewhere up in my nasal cavity and made it bleed. All I know is that as I was waking up, I had a vague sense that something was wrong in my nasal area, and the next thing I knew, my one nostril was a faucet and I used tissue after tissue to catch the flow and finally ended up going back to sleep with one wadded up and crammed up my nose. Very lovely. When I woke up, it looked like someone had been murdered on my side of the bed, so I'm washing my sheets. Just what I have time for this morning.
This week I had two dreams where I still lived at 83 Ryegate Place, the home I grew up in. Which naturally takes me back to the question I often have of how and why my dream-brain has gotten stuck, sort of, in my childhood. One of the dreams I had this week was about the hens coming to visit -- only I lived at home with my mom and that's where we all came to stay. It was like Ryan and the kids didn't exist. And sometimes I have dreams where they do definitely exist, and I still live on Ryegate, and they live -- I don't know, it doesn't come up. I've even had dreams where I seem to be in high school and I'm dealing with getting to class on time, whether I have homework or if I can remember the combination to my locker or there's a cute guy I'm all excited about -- but I'm also stressing about finding a babysitter for the kids so I can actually go to school. Very weird. I've always wondered why my dreams are still stuck in San Ramon. Maybe because I still "experience myself" as a teenager, as my therapist talked about? I don't know. Still curious though.
Last night, in addition to waking up drenched in my own sweat, I also got a nosebleed. I think it was related to my nose ring -- maybe I was rubbing my nose and the end of it poked me somewhere up in my nasal cavity and made it bleed. All I know is that as I was waking up, I had a vague sense that something was wrong in my nasal area, and the next thing I knew, my one nostril was a faucet and I used tissue after tissue to catch the flow and finally ended up going back to sleep with one wadded up and crammed up my nose. Very lovely. When I woke up, it looked like someone had been murdered on my side of the bed, so I'm washing my sheets. Just what I have time for this morning.
This week I had two dreams where I still lived at 83 Ryegate Place, the home I grew up in. Which naturally takes me back to the question I often have of how and why my dream-brain has gotten stuck, sort of, in my childhood. One of the dreams I had this week was about the hens coming to visit -- only I lived at home with my mom and that's where we all came to stay. It was like Ryan and the kids didn't exist. And sometimes I have dreams where they do definitely exist, and I still live on Ryegate, and they live -- I don't know, it doesn't come up. I've even had dreams where I seem to be in high school and I'm dealing with getting to class on time, whether I have homework or if I can remember the combination to my locker or there's a cute guy I'm all excited about -- but I'm also stressing about finding a babysitter for the kids so I can actually go to school. Very weird. I've always wondered why my dreams are still stuck in San Ramon. Maybe because I still "experience myself" as a teenager, as my therapist talked about? I don't know. Still curious though.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Exercise
I've been working my ass off (would that I meant that literally!) exercising this week, even though my allergies are killing me. Monday, I walked on the treadmill for 45 minutes and lifted weights (abs and upper body). Tuesday, 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer and weight lifting (abs and lower body). Yesterday I ran three miles and did abs, and today I took an hour-long stability ball class that just about killed me. During the last 15 minutes, the teacher had us in constant motion to get our heartrates up, so I even got some cardio in.
Tomorrow is a day off. We're skipping the gym and going shopping :-)
Tomorrow is a day off. We're skipping the gym and going shopping :-)
The Dog
Buster is surprisingly clever sometimes, but this day wasn't one of those times. He could tell I was going to be going out soon and didn't want me to find him and put him in his crate.
Monday, April 04, 2005
And More
12. Cold Blooded by Carlton Smith
13. The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough (BC, *)
Currently working on two more -- one parenting-type book that will probably take a while to slog through, and also a book about a 70s commune for one of my book clubs.
13. The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough (BC, *)
Currently working on two more -- one parenting-type book that will probably take a while to slog through, and also a book about a 70s commune for one of my book clubs.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
50 Book Challenge
11. The Clique by Lisi Harrison
I generally like young adult fiction but the above kind of sucked. The true crime book I'm currently reading does too. But I'm going to start reading two more books this weekend, one of which is something I've read before, which I'm reading again for book club, and it's a good one, so at least I know I'm guaranteed one good read in the next few days. Although I would still argue I shouldn't have to read something I've already read to read something good. It's annoying that all these books are turning out to be kind of crappy lately :-/
I generally like young adult fiction but the above kind of sucked. The true crime book I'm currently reading does too. But I'm going to start reading two more books this weekend, one of which is something I've read before, which I'm reading again for book club, and it's a good one, so at least I know I'm guaranteed one good read in the next few days. Although I would still argue I shouldn't have to read something I've already read to read something good. It's annoying that all these books are turning out to be kind of crappy lately :-/
I'm not saying everything with which I've ever festooned a vehicle makes tons of sense or anything, but... why exactly would anyone want to put, on the back of a perfectly nice-looking car, a sticker with a picture of a monkey that says "I Fling Poo"? Is there any logical explanation for this? I think not.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
More for the 50 Book Challenge
9. Final Gifts : Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communications of the Dying by Maggie Callanan & Patricia Kelley (BC, *)
10. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (*)
Now I get to pick something new to read! I have a true crime book, a Tuesday Next sci-fi thing, a teen novel, and a couple of other things to choose from...
10. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (*)
Now I get to pick something new to read! I have a true crime book, a Tuesday Next sci-fi thing, a teen novel, and a couple of other things to choose from...
Saturday, March 19, 2005
This may be a new record in lack-of-blog-updating, even for me. But it's been a busy-ass couple of weeks. Last weekend my friends were here and it was pretty much an eat-, drink-, laugh-, sing- and shop-fest for three or four days. Lots of fun, and we got to spend it with Mr. E, the world's cutest baby! A true humdinger of a Cluckfest.
Some total asshole stole Rachel's bike last weekend. I hope whoever did it gets big painful boils all over their face and private parts.
My friend Janine's mom died on Monday morning. I met her once and she was a lovely, nice lady. I know Janine and her boys are really missing her, and I've been thinking about them pretty much constantly this week.
I managed to chop up the pad of my right index finger when I was trimming the bushes with electric hedgeclippers on Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for Sue for coming over, calming me down, cleaning up the blood I dripped all over the place on the front porch, and driving me to the doctor's office. And to think just the day before, I'd been lecturing her about being too available and dependable for her crazy friends!
Thursday I was part of a committee who interviewed speech therapists for the school district. It was very interesting and I kind of enjoyed it. I'm still curious about how I made the list of special-ed parents who were asked to participate though.
Ryan hurt his tailbone and has been complaining about it a lot this week. I don't blame him -- I've suffered through that particular malady before and it really sucks.
This week I "had it out" with my parents in a pretty major way. We aren't really the kind of family that does that kind of thing, so I gave it a lot of thought beforehand, and then when I did speak to them, I did it by email, which seems kind of wussy, but just thinking about what I wanted to say got me crying so I decided it was best to do it that way. The basic issue is that for several years I've felt like we don't get to spend very much time with them. It seems like they are always doing things with other friends, other relatives, everyone but us, and over the years I've had my feelings hurt over specific incidences of this happening more times than I can remember. I was afraid that my mom wouldn't take it well, but in the end I'm glad I spoke up. Both of my parents agreed that we all don't see each other often enough, and they both assured me that seeing us is as important to them as seeing their friends. I also found out that my mom is really, really stressed over everything that's going on with my grandma right now, and so I feel bad to have dumped my issues on her right now, but on the other hand, now that I know about it, I can step up and do some things to help out, and being left out of these kinds of things has been another frustration of mine. So ultimately I think it's a good thing I spoke up. The kids and I will be going down there to see them tomorrow -- I'm going to help my mom shop for some things for my grandma's new place, and the kids will spend the day with my dad.
On the way down, we will stop in to see my brother's fiance and her sister so I can try on the bridesmaid dress they ordered for me: http://www.maxstudio.com/website/product_pages/4308g57/section_category_sale_dresses-8-jad_main.htm I'm taking my bag of push-up bras and magic underwear, and hopefully I won't look like a total cow in it!
Okay, two hours is probably long enough to have sat on my ass with the computer...
Some total asshole stole Rachel's bike last weekend. I hope whoever did it gets big painful boils all over their face and private parts.
My friend Janine's mom died on Monday morning. I met her once and she was a lovely, nice lady. I know Janine and her boys are really missing her, and I've been thinking about them pretty much constantly this week.
I managed to chop up the pad of my right index finger when I was trimming the bushes with electric hedgeclippers on Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for Sue for coming over, calming me down, cleaning up the blood I dripped all over the place on the front porch, and driving me to the doctor's office. And to think just the day before, I'd been lecturing her about being too available and dependable for her crazy friends!
Thursday I was part of a committee who interviewed speech therapists for the school district. It was very interesting and I kind of enjoyed it. I'm still curious about how I made the list of special-ed parents who were asked to participate though.
Ryan hurt his tailbone and has been complaining about it a lot this week. I don't blame him -- I've suffered through that particular malady before and it really sucks.
This week I "had it out" with my parents in a pretty major way. We aren't really the kind of family that does that kind of thing, so I gave it a lot of thought beforehand, and then when I did speak to them, I did it by email, which seems kind of wussy, but just thinking about what I wanted to say got me crying so I decided it was best to do it that way. The basic issue is that for several years I've felt like we don't get to spend very much time with them. It seems like they are always doing things with other friends, other relatives, everyone but us, and over the years I've had my feelings hurt over specific incidences of this happening more times than I can remember. I was afraid that my mom wouldn't take it well, but in the end I'm glad I spoke up. Both of my parents agreed that we all don't see each other often enough, and they both assured me that seeing us is as important to them as seeing their friends. I also found out that my mom is really, really stressed over everything that's going on with my grandma right now, and so I feel bad to have dumped my issues on her right now, but on the other hand, now that I know about it, I can step up and do some things to help out, and being left out of these kinds of things has been another frustration of mine. So ultimately I think it's a good thing I spoke up. The kids and I will be going down there to see them tomorrow -- I'm going to help my mom shop for some things for my grandma's new place, and the kids will spend the day with my dad.
On the way down, we will stop in to see my brother's fiance and her sister so I can try on the bridesmaid dress they ordered for me: http://www.maxstudio.com/website/product_pages/4308g57/section_category_sale_dresses-8-jad_main.htm I'm taking my bag of push-up bras and magic underwear, and hopefully I won't look like a total cow in it!
Okay, two hours is probably long enough to have sat on my ass with the computer...
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
To the Guy I Ran Off the Road This Morning
I'm sorry.
I was turning left. You were going straight and had the right of way. I was paying no attention and just turned right into your path, causing you to swerve up on to the curb and coming to a sudden, rocking stop. You looked terrified and stunned.
It was completely my fault, and I can't apologize enough. If there'd been anywhere for me to stop and lean out the window, I would have called out an apology to you and let you spew profanity at me for a few minutes. But I was behind you and already blocking traffic, so I had to drive on, and I wasn't even able to make eye contact.
It was completely my fault and I suck. I was talking to my friend in the passenger seat and not paying attention to my driving when I should have been. I am so glad you didn't hit anything or get hurt. If someone had done to me what I did to you, I would hate them forever. I hope you tell everyone you see today how some total moron almost killed you this morning, and how they should watch out for the chick in the white minivan.
Again, I'm sorry. I hope the rest of your day goes a lot better.
I was turning left. You were going straight and had the right of way. I was paying no attention and just turned right into your path, causing you to swerve up on to the curb and coming to a sudden, rocking stop. You looked terrified and stunned.
It was completely my fault, and I can't apologize enough. If there'd been anywhere for me to stop and lean out the window, I would have called out an apology to you and let you spew profanity at me for a few minutes. But I was behind you and already blocking traffic, so I had to drive on, and I wasn't even able to make eye contact.
It was completely my fault and I suck. I was talking to my friend in the passenger seat and not paying attention to my driving when I should have been. I am so glad you didn't hit anything or get hurt. If someone had done to me what I did to you, I would hate them forever. I hope you tell everyone you see today how some total moron almost killed you this morning, and how they should watch out for the chick in the white minivan.
Again, I'm sorry. I hope the rest of your day goes a lot better.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
50 Book Challenge
I just read about this online challege to read 50 books in a calendar year. Sounds like fun! I read a lot anyway, usually in the range of 1-2 books a week when I'm in a "reading mood," so it's possible I could do double the 50-book goal, but then I let reading go by the wayside quite often as well, so I do think 50 books is a good goal. Being in two book clubs will help with diversity of selection -- otherwise the whole list would probably be made up of true crime books *blushing*
This will be my first entry. Hopefully I can remember pretty much everything I've read so far this year. I will note which ones are book club selections (BC) and which ones I'd recommend (*).
1. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (BC,*)
2. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (BC)
3. All She Wanted by Aphrodite Jones
4. The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler (BC)
5. The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg (BC)
6. Breaking Her Fall by Stephen Goodwin (*)
7. The Sweet Potato Queen's Field Guide to Men by Jill Conner Browne (*)
8. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant (BC)
Right now I'm reading Final Gifts : Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communications of the Dying by Maggie Callanan & Patricia Kelley, which is also a book club selection. Next will probably be another true crime book.
This will be my first entry. Hopefully I can remember pretty much everything I've read so far this year. I will note which ones are book club selections (BC) and which ones I'd recommend (*).
1. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (BC,*)
2. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (BC)
3. All She Wanted by Aphrodite Jones
4. The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler (BC)
5. The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg (BC)
6. Breaking Her Fall by Stephen Goodwin (*)
7. The Sweet Potato Queen's Field Guide to Men by Jill Conner Browne (*)
8. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant (BC)
Right now I'm reading Final Gifts : Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communications of the Dying by Maggie Callanan & Patricia Kelley, which is also a book club selection. Next will probably be another true crime book.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
William
Yesterday I yanked another one of his front teeth out, at his request. He said it hurt, but he didn't cry. I have to admit, I'm impressed. Between the tooth-yanking thing him learning to ride his bike (and always recovering quickly on the occasions he falls off), he's been pretty tough lately, and generally that's not a word I would use to describe him.
Inertia
He's home "sick" today. And sadly, I think I let him stay home in large part because *I* was feeling lazy, and I knew that if both kids went to school, I would have to get dressed, ride my bike to the gym, and take torture (otherwise known as stability ball) class, then after having coffee with Sue, ride my bike home BUT if he stayed, home, I'd get to sit on the couch with my laptop all morning. Which is exactly what I've done. I've *thought* about going out to the car to retrieve my yoga mat and then using it to do my yoga tape, but so far I haven't actually done that. Nor have I paid the bills, something I wouldn't even have to get off the computer to do. Instead I've been sitting here reading random blogs and chatting with my not-so-talkative friends while Will watches TV and fondles himself. Someday that boy will learn to keep his hands out of his pants when others are about. But I suspect it won't be today, because we're both being way too damn lazy for something that productive to occur.
I know I will feel A LOT better about myself after I do something on my mental to-do list, so why is it so hard to actually get moving?
I know I will feel A LOT better about myself after I do something on my mental to-do list, so why is it so hard to actually get moving?
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Autism is a fact of life in our house, and I finally learned to that it was okay to laugh about it, thanks to my friend Judy, who also has a child with autism. When she told me sometimes answered the phone "Judy's House of Autism!" and talked about having "the auties" in the backseat of her car, I busted out laughing. And guess what? The sky didn't fall and no one was struck dead and crispy by a thunder bolt. It doesn't mean I don't take my child's disability seriously, and I'm not making fun of my child -- I'm just finding the occasional silver lining on the cloud. So thanks for that, Judy.
Last night at Bunko, Gerri, a woman I don't know very well but whose husband's softball team played Ryan's last summer, asked me if my daughter was playing softball this spring, and I said no. I don't go around explaining Rachel to the whole world -- for instance, if she says something weird when we're checking out at the grocery store, I don't whisper "she's autistic!" to the checker or anything -- but usually I do mention it to people I'm acquainted with, especially other parents, with whom I talk about parenting things. So I continued, saying she didn't really play team sports, and then, "she has autism." For some weird reason, this met with peals of laughter from my two other friends, Sue and Jeannie, who were sitting there (in their defense, we were all a little drunk), and Sue goes "that's a sport in itself!" And we all cracked up (though Gerri looked a little uncomfortable). Anyway, it was fun. It was nice to be among friends who know my sense of humor and who I know are fond of Rachel but understand our struggles too. Sometimes all you can do is have a laugh, you know?
In related news, yesterday afternoon, Rachel freaked out about doing her homework -- it was very nearly a visit to the "Vortex of Indecision" where we used to go almost every day -- and I thought "oh shit, spring's here!" I made an appointment for her to go to the doctor so we can talk about upping her anti-depressant and get her on an antihistamine. I really hope we can get through the rest of this school year without too much disruption -- I know it's probably too much to hope for for her to do as well as she did last year, in such a structured classroom, but I'm hoping she's matured enough in the last year or two that she at least do better than she did two years ago, when she kept getting sent to the principal's office :-/
Last night at Bunko, Gerri, a woman I don't know very well but whose husband's softball team played Ryan's last summer, asked me if my daughter was playing softball this spring, and I said no. I don't go around explaining Rachel to the whole world -- for instance, if she says something weird when we're checking out at the grocery store, I don't whisper "she's autistic!" to the checker or anything -- but usually I do mention it to people I'm acquainted with, especially other parents, with whom I talk about parenting things. So I continued, saying she didn't really play team sports, and then, "she has autism." For some weird reason, this met with peals of laughter from my two other friends, Sue and Jeannie, who were sitting there (in their defense, we were all a little drunk), and Sue goes "that's a sport in itself!" And we all cracked up (though Gerri looked a little uncomfortable). Anyway, it was fun. It was nice to be among friends who know my sense of humor and who I know are fond of Rachel but understand our struggles too. Sometimes all you can do is have a laugh, you know?
In related news, yesterday afternoon, Rachel freaked out about doing her homework -- it was very nearly a visit to the "Vortex of Indecision" where we used to go almost every day -- and I thought "oh shit, spring's here!" I made an appointment for her to go to the doctor so we can talk about upping her anti-depressant and get her on an antihistamine. I really hope we can get through the rest of this school year without too much disruption -- I know it's probably too much to hope for for her to do as well as she did last year, in such a structured classroom, but I'm hoping she's matured enough in the last year or two that she at least do better than she did two years ago, when she kept getting sent to the principal's office :-/
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
The Oscars
Yeah, I know, everything there is to be said about the Oscars has already been said, and most people don't care anyway. But I'm going to talk about them because this is my damn blog and I feel like it.
We watch the Oscars every year, and this year I was actually kind of excited about it for a while because it seemed like some actual good movies were nominated for some awards. Then I got sick of all the hype and if Ryan had said to me a few minutes before it started "Let's rent a movie instead," I would have been fine with that. Then the stupid show started and I was glued to the set for the next three hours (except when I went to the store to get some dinner).
General comments: The actresses are all too skinny. Messy hair looks... messy. Dear Renee Zellwegger: have you ever noticed that people start talking about how great you look whenever you're carrying some of that "extra" Bridget Jones weight around and then we are start saying you look like a scarecrow with fish lips when you lose it again? Oh, I don't know -- just thought I'd mention it. I seriously thought Penelope Cruz was Salma Hayak and vice versa, up until the one I thought was Salma left the stage and then Ryan said something about Salma's hair and used the power of Tivo to prove to me that it was Penelope who left the stage. Can't stand either of them so it doesn't make a whole lot of difference, I guess.
Hilary Swank's dress was a cool idea, but the front needed to be executed a lot better for me to give it a thumbs up. I liked her hair though. Take the dress from her first Oscar win and the hair from her second and you've got a pretty awesome look overall. I didn't like the short spiky hair on her the first time around and I liked it even less on Annette Bening this year. Maybe Annette thought that's what made the difference the last time around and adopted it for herself.
I hate to agree with Kathy Griffin's E! Fashion Police opinion about anything, but I thought Imelda Staunton looked pretty awesome too. So did Kate Winslett. So did that actress from "Maria Full of Grace" who was supposed to be so great but who we'll probably never see again. Okay, doesn't Gwyneth Paltrow probably keep, like, a stable of stylists around her, and couldn't one of them make sure she wears a dress that is flattering to her bust to the Oscars one of these days? By my count, we've now seen her wear way too big (the year she won), way too small (this year), and way more than I wanted to see (the year of that black mesh diaster). Aside from that, her hair looked flat and boring. This woman is a fashion icon?
Scarlett Johanssen's hair looked fuzzy to me. Maybe a little less peroxide?
Wait, there were men there? I guess nobody much cares since it's not as fun to ask "who" they're wearing when one tux looks pretty much like all the rest of them. I will say that Johnny Depp looked ridiculous. It's not that much fun to make fun of him for that, though, because "ridiculous" may well have been exactly what he was going for.
I'm not even going to say much about who actually won awards, since I didn't see hardly any of the movies that were nominated. I'm just going to whine about my biggest pet peeve, which is that the two screenplay awards have become more a consolation prize than anything else. It seems like most years there's a movie that gets all kinds of Oscar buzz and is intelligent and usually a comedy, and everyone seems to love it but in the end it's just not as big and flashy and dramatic as the eventual winner, and the next thing you know, the smaller buzzworthy movie has lost all the acting awards, and director and best picture -- forget it -- but the screenwriter goes home with a little gold guy and hey, that's a prestigious one too, right? Only -- come on. How many times has this happened? This year it was *twice* -- people peed themselves over "Sideways" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (both comedies, it must be noted), and they got all kinds of press and have won all kinds of other awards prior to the Oscars, but on the big night -- oh, sorry, we don't want you to go home empty-handed, so here's the writing prize. Last year, I didn't begrudge "Lord of the Rings" a single award it won and I didn't even like "Lost in Translation" all that much, but it was the same story -- one was big and one was little. And the most egregious example I can think of was the year that big bloated piece of crap "Titanic" won almost everything it was nominated for (it wasn't even nominated in the Original Screenplay category, which to me is evidence that there may be a God) while "L.A. Confidential" went home with a screenplay award and Best Supporting Actress for Kim Basinger (!?!).
Don't get me wrong -- I absolutely think the screenplay awards *should* be prestigious. If I were to win an Oscar, a screenplay award is the one I would want to win, and the films that win them do tend to be really well written, so at least there is some justice there.I'm glad Charlie Kaufman won an Oscar because the guy is just brilliant -- he writes some of the only movies I've ever seen where I sit there halfway through them thinking "I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen next!" I was similarly happy when whoever adapted "Sideways" won, because that movie was incredibly funny.
The problem is that both of those movies deserved to win other awards too, not just the consolation prize. I think the fact that these really cool but not big and flashy enough movies win screenplay awards but not usually much else, even if they get tons of nominations, is symptom of just about everything that's wrong with movie-making these days. For me, it all begins and ends with the script -- I don't care if the scenery and special effects are any good if I don't buy the storyline, and the most brilliant acting performance just suffocates under the weight of bad dialogue. I probably sound elitest and all, but I don't care. Drama or comedy, it has been be well-written if it's going to get my stamp of approval. And in my perfect world, the screenplay awards would be the most important awards they gave out.
Anyway, those are my Oscar thoughts. Or the ones I can think of right now, anyway.
We watch the Oscars every year, and this year I was actually kind of excited about it for a while because it seemed like some actual good movies were nominated for some awards. Then I got sick of all the hype and if Ryan had said to me a few minutes before it started "Let's rent a movie instead," I would have been fine with that. Then the stupid show started and I was glued to the set for the next three hours (except when I went to the store to get some dinner).
General comments: The actresses are all too skinny. Messy hair looks... messy. Dear Renee Zellwegger: have you ever noticed that people start talking about how great you look whenever you're carrying some of that "extra" Bridget Jones weight around and then we are start saying you look like a scarecrow with fish lips when you lose it again? Oh, I don't know -- just thought I'd mention it. I seriously thought Penelope Cruz was Salma Hayak and vice versa, up until the one I thought was Salma left the stage and then Ryan said something about Salma's hair and used the power of Tivo to prove to me that it was Penelope who left the stage. Can't stand either of them so it doesn't make a whole lot of difference, I guess.
Hilary Swank's dress was a cool idea, but the front needed to be executed a lot better for me to give it a thumbs up. I liked her hair though. Take the dress from her first Oscar win and the hair from her second and you've got a pretty awesome look overall. I didn't like the short spiky hair on her the first time around and I liked it even less on Annette Bening this year. Maybe Annette thought that's what made the difference the last time around and adopted it for herself.
I hate to agree with Kathy Griffin's E! Fashion Police opinion about anything, but I thought Imelda Staunton looked pretty awesome too. So did Kate Winslett. So did that actress from "Maria Full of Grace" who was supposed to be so great but who we'll probably never see again. Okay, doesn't Gwyneth Paltrow probably keep, like, a stable of stylists around her, and couldn't one of them make sure she wears a dress that is flattering to her bust to the Oscars one of these days? By my count, we've now seen her wear way too big (the year she won), way too small (this year), and way more than I wanted to see (the year of that black mesh diaster). Aside from that, her hair looked flat and boring. This woman is a fashion icon?
Scarlett Johanssen's hair looked fuzzy to me. Maybe a little less peroxide?
Wait, there were men there? I guess nobody much cares since it's not as fun to ask "who" they're wearing when one tux looks pretty much like all the rest of them. I will say that Johnny Depp looked ridiculous. It's not that much fun to make fun of him for that, though, because "ridiculous" may well have been exactly what he was going for.
I'm not even going to say much about who actually won awards, since I didn't see hardly any of the movies that were nominated. I'm just going to whine about my biggest pet peeve, which is that the two screenplay awards have become more a consolation prize than anything else. It seems like most years there's a movie that gets all kinds of Oscar buzz and is intelligent and usually a comedy, and everyone seems to love it but in the end it's just not as big and flashy and dramatic as the eventual winner, and the next thing you know, the smaller buzzworthy movie has lost all the acting awards, and director and best picture -- forget it -- but the screenwriter goes home with a little gold guy and hey, that's a prestigious one too, right? Only -- come on. How many times has this happened? This year it was *twice* -- people peed themselves over "Sideways" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (both comedies, it must be noted), and they got all kinds of press and have won all kinds of other awards prior to the Oscars, but on the big night -- oh, sorry, we don't want you to go home empty-handed, so here's the writing prize. Last year, I didn't begrudge "Lord of the Rings" a single award it won and I didn't even like "Lost in Translation" all that much, but it was the same story -- one was big and one was little. And the most egregious example I can think of was the year that big bloated piece of crap "Titanic" won almost everything it was nominated for (it wasn't even nominated in the Original Screenplay category, which to me is evidence that there may be a God) while "L.A. Confidential" went home with a screenplay award and Best Supporting Actress for Kim Basinger (!?!).
Don't get me wrong -- I absolutely think the screenplay awards *should* be prestigious. If I were to win an Oscar, a screenplay award is the one I would want to win, and the films that win them do tend to be really well written, so at least there is some justice there.I'm glad Charlie Kaufman won an Oscar because the guy is just brilliant -- he writes some of the only movies I've ever seen where I sit there halfway through them thinking "I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen next!" I was similarly happy when whoever adapted "Sideways" won, because that movie was incredibly funny.
The problem is that both of those movies deserved to win other awards too, not just the consolation prize. I think the fact that these really cool but not big and flashy enough movies win screenplay awards but not usually much else, even if they get tons of nominations, is symptom of just about everything that's wrong with movie-making these days. For me, it all begins and ends with the script -- I don't care if the scenery and special effects are any good if I don't buy the storyline, and the most brilliant acting performance just suffocates under the weight of bad dialogue. I probably sound elitest and all, but I don't care. Drama or comedy, it has been be well-written if it's going to get my stamp of approval. And in my perfect world, the screenplay awards would be the most important awards they gave out.
Anyway, those are my Oscar thoughts. Or the ones I can think of right now, anyway.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Being Completely Stupid, or Why I'm a Bad Mom
This evening I had one of those situations that just makes you feel like the biggest pile of crap ever. The other day, Will went up to Ryan and said he had hiccups and needed to be scared. I have no idea of Ryan yelling "BOO!!!" at him a few seconds later actually made his hiccups go away, but for some reason when I was going upstairs this evening I was thinking about that and I decided to sneak up on Will and give him a scare. I determined he was in the "new room" with the door closed, listening to Beatles music, and even maybe dancing around some, so I burst in and yelled "BOO!!!" as loud as I could.
At which point my sweet baby spun around with a horrified expression on his face and burst into tears.
Now, I know better than this. It wasn't too long ago that we were watching a Kings' game and when Mike Bibby sank a three-pointer to tie the game right at the buzzer, Ryan and I both yelled "YES!!!" so loud that Will, who'd been sitting there playing with his K'Nex and minding his own business, shrieked in terror and sobbed. (And then they still lost in overtime.) So it's not like this sort of thing is without precedent, and I really don't know what I was thinking.
Of course I went right in and hugged him and apologized profusely, but I wasn't quite done trying to get myself off the hook, so I explained that I thought he might have hiccups so I decided to scare them out of him. He pointed out, through his tears, that you really need to check and make sure someone has hiccups before you do that too them, which of course is absolutely true and made me feel worse. I kept rubbing his back and finally said that I was just trying to be funny, and I realized that it was a mistake and apologized again, which he seemed to accept. Then I told him the great thing was that he got to pay me back and scare me sometime. Mr. Finesse that he is, he proceeded to do so three times within 10 minutes -- only once with much success -- at which point I told him he'd probably paid me back, and he agreed and seemed cheerful.
Anyway, another lesson learned. The kid is a little fragile. I won't mess with him like that again.
At which point my sweet baby spun around with a horrified expression on his face and burst into tears.
Now, I know better than this. It wasn't too long ago that we were watching a Kings' game and when Mike Bibby sank a three-pointer to tie the game right at the buzzer, Ryan and I both yelled "YES!!!" so loud that Will, who'd been sitting there playing with his K'Nex and minding his own business, shrieked in terror and sobbed. (And then they still lost in overtime.) So it's not like this sort of thing is without precedent, and I really don't know what I was thinking.
Of course I went right in and hugged him and apologized profusely, but I wasn't quite done trying to get myself off the hook, so I explained that I thought he might have hiccups so I decided to scare them out of him. He pointed out, through his tears, that you really need to check and make sure someone has hiccups before you do that too them, which of course is absolutely true and made me feel worse. I kept rubbing his back and finally said that I was just trying to be funny, and I realized that it was a mistake and apologized again, which he seemed to accept. Then I told him the great thing was that he got to pay me back and scare me sometime. Mr. Finesse that he is, he proceeded to do so three times within 10 minutes -- only once with much success -- at which point I told him he'd probably paid me back, and he agreed and seemed cheerful.
Anyway, another lesson learned. The kid is a little fragile. I won't mess with him like that again.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Soccer, or Why I'm a Bad Mom
My name is Tracie, and *sob*... my children don't play soccer!
We live in one of those towns where youth soccer is not just an activity -- it's a way of life. I suppose most suburban American cities like this anymore, but here in Davis, we don't do anything halfway. Therefore, it's pretty much expected that once a kid gets to be 5 or so years old, Mom is going to sign that kid up to play soccer. I managed to avoid this with Rachel due to her autism -- no one questioned it -- but now that William has been of soccer-playing age for two falls and I have yet to sign him up, I seem to get called on it more and more. My reasons for not signing him up are these:
1) I hate soccer.
2) My husband, who loves all sports, hates soccer.
3) Will hasn't asked to play.
I think these are good reasons. I think they are the only reasons I should need to get myself off the hook for not signing him up, and most people let it go with that, but on increasingly frequent occasions, parents I'm conversing with on the subject behave as though not signing my son up for soccer is a subtle form of child abuse, and I'm forced to trot out the rest of my reasons:
4) We don't, as a family, care to take time out of our weekends to go to soccer games and such. I don't mind weekday commitments and the occasional weekend event for Girl Scouts or Little League or something, but I just really don't want to have to plan every Saturday for several months around soccer games.
5) I played soccer as a kid and detested it, so it's not like my loathing of soccer just comes out of nowhere. I do seriously hate it, with reason.
6) Although Will is not really much of an athlete, he does play tee ball, and has asked to take gymnastics and tennis as well. If he wanted to play soccer, I'm sure he would ask to do so, but he hasn't. I have to assume that means he doesn't want to. Trust me, the kid is not shy about asking for what he wants.
Believe it or not, this still isn't enough to satisfy some of the people I've talked to. One mom completely blew off everything I had to say and kept arguing about how great it was. Well, I guess that's wonderful for her family and her kids, who I assume enjoy playing soccer. And if Will was chomping at the bit to play, I promise, I would sign him up. But for God's sake, I simply refuse to buy that there is something essential about playing soccer for any kid growing up in the suburbs, something so important that he or she is going to get out of it that the need to expend time, energy and money on it overrides things like the fact that the kid has no interest in playing and his parents don't really care to go there, all things being equal. It's a pair of cleats, a ball, and a net. I think he can learn just as much about sportsmanship and all that other good stuff playing some other sport that he's actually excited about playing.
We live in one of those towns where youth soccer is not just an activity -- it's a way of life. I suppose most suburban American cities like this anymore, but here in Davis, we don't do anything halfway. Therefore, it's pretty much expected that once a kid gets to be 5 or so years old, Mom is going to sign that kid up to play soccer. I managed to avoid this with Rachel due to her autism -- no one questioned it -- but now that William has been of soccer-playing age for two falls and I have yet to sign him up, I seem to get called on it more and more. My reasons for not signing him up are these:
1) I hate soccer.
2) My husband, who loves all sports, hates soccer.
3) Will hasn't asked to play.
I think these are good reasons. I think they are the only reasons I should need to get myself off the hook for not signing him up, and most people let it go with that, but on increasingly frequent occasions, parents I'm conversing with on the subject behave as though not signing my son up for soccer is a subtle form of child abuse, and I'm forced to trot out the rest of my reasons:
4) We don't, as a family, care to take time out of our weekends to go to soccer games and such. I don't mind weekday commitments and the occasional weekend event for Girl Scouts or Little League or something, but I just really don't want to have to plan every Saturday for several months around soccer games.
5) I played soccer as a kid and detested it, so it's not like my loathing of soccer just comes out of nowhere. I do seriously hate it, with reason.
6) Although Will is not really much of an athlete, he does play tee ball, and has asked to take gymnastics and tennis as well. If he wanted to play soccer, I'm sure he would ask to do so, but he hasn't. I have to assume that means he doesn't want to. Trust me, the kid is not shy about asking for what he wants.
Believe it or not, this still isn't enough to satisfy some of the people I've talked to. One mom completely blew off everything I had to say and kept arguing about how great it was. Well, I guess that's wonderful for her family and her kids, who I assume enjoy playing soccer. And if Will was chomping at the bit to play, I promise, I would sign him up. But for God's sake, I simply refuse to buy that there is something essential about playing soccer for any kid growing up in the suburbs, something so important that he or she is going to get out of it that the need to expend time, energy and money on it overrides things like the fact that the kid has no interest in playing and his parents don't really care to go there, all things being equal. It's a pair of cleats, a ball, and a net. I think he can learn just as much about sportsmanship and all that other good stuff playing some other sport that he's actually excited about playing.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
I feel like rambling this morning, probably largely because none of my friends are online for me to ramble to. That's probably a good thing since I'm in this rambly mood.
Lots of stuff happened this week. In addition to me getting a bike and riding it all over the place, I also got my first ever traffic ticket, for failure to yield. I've been trying to decide if that's some kind of metaphor for my life. Anyway, I think it was kind of a BS ticket, as do all (three) of the people I've told about it so far. Ryan thinks I should fight it, and offered to go with me and argue my case. I gave that about 2 seconds of consideration, especially since he followed up his offer by telling me we probably wouldn't win. And what exactly would the point of that be?
My grandma is evidently in the hospital again, which is not good, of course. I need to call my mom and find out what's happening on that front, but I keep putting it off.
In much less important news -- the Kings traded Webber. Yee-haw! He's an excellent player for another team, but his presence has been throwing off the Kings' chemistry for close to a year now, and that amazing teamwork they have is what makes them great. I hope he goes and kicks butt for Sixers (not against the Kings) but sorry, I'm glad to see him go. Now our awesome guys like Bibby and Miller and Songaila and of course, my baby Peja, can really shine :-)
The sun is trying to come out today and I'm glad. Ryan was supposed to go to San Diego this weekend and he cancelled for a couple of work-related reasons that I didn't agree with and I was kind of annoyed about it, but I told him he needed to go play 18 holes of golf and he's planning to do that. I also promised the kids I would take them on a long bike ride and I'm going to do that too. I'd said Borders, but who knows -- depending on how well they do with it, maybe we'll go all the way to campus and hang out at the Coffee House for a while instead. That would be fun.
Tonight I'm going to Mom's Night In and will get to hang out with some friends I haven't seen much of lately, so that will be nice. Not sure about the concept of staying in rather than going out and why it would be superior, but I don't have little kids anymore so maybe that's part of it. And that's pretty much the whole agenda for this weekend. As opposed to next weekend, which is ridiculous (scrapbooking with my aunt Ann and the Girl Scout cookie site sale Friday, helping to set up for the Montgomery Auction, the Auction before-party and the Auction itself on Saturday, going bridesmaids dress shopping on Sunday) and the following weekend, when the Hens will be here (yay! I heart that!). I really have a tremendous amount to do in the next two weeks and I should probably wrap my brain around that, but at this point I'm mostly thinking about going shopping for something to wear to the Auction next weekend and other silly things like that.
Speaking of the Auction, I've got paperwork to do and I suppose it's time to make myself useful so I should really get to it...
Lots of stuff happened this week. In addition to me getting a bike and riding it all over the place, I also got my first ever traffic ticket, for failure to yield. I've been trying to decide if that's some kind of metaphor for my life. Anyway, I think it was kind of a BS ticket, as do all (three) of the people I've told about it so far. Ryan thinks I should fight it, and offered to go with me and argue my case. I gave that about 2 seconds of consideration, especially since he followed up his offer by telling me we probably wouldn't win. And what exactly would the point of that be?
My grandma is evidently in the hospital again, which is not good, of course. I need to call my mom and find out what's happening on that front, but I keep putting it off.
In much less important news -- the Kings traded Webber. Yee-haw! He's an excellent player for another team, but his presence has been throwing off the Kings' chemistry for close to a year now, and that amazing teamwork they have is what makes them great. I hope he goes and kicks butt for Sixers (not against the Kings) but sorry, I'm glad to see him go. Now our awesome guys like Bibby and Miller and Songaila and of course, my baby Peja, can really shine :-)
The sun is trying to come out today and I'm glad. Ryan was supposed to go to San Diego this weekend and he cancelled for a couple of work-related reasons that I didn't agree with and I was kind of annoyed about it, but I told him he needed to go play 18 holes of golf and he's planning to do that. I also promised the kids I would take them on a long bike ride and I'm going to do that too. I'd said Borders, but who knows -- depending on how well they do with it, maybe we'll go all the way to campus and hang out at the Coffee House for a while instead. That would be fun.
Tonight I'm going to Mom's Night In and will get to hang out with some friends I haven't seen much of lately, so that will be nice. Not sure about the concept of staying in rather than going out and why it would be superior, but I don't have little kids anymore so maybe that's part of it. And that's pretty much the whole agenda for this weekend. As opposed to next weekend, which is ridiculous (scrapbooking with my aunt Ann and the Girl Scout cookie site sale Friday, helping to set up for the Montgomery Auction, the Auction before-party and the Auction itself on Saturday, going bridesmaids dress shopping on Sunday) and the following weekend, when the Hens will be here (yay! I heart that!). I really have a tremendous amount to do in the next two weeks and I should probably wrap my brain around that, but at this point I'm mostly thinking about going shopping for something to wear to the Auction next weekend and other silly things like that.
Speaking of the Auction, I've got paperwork to do and I suppose it's time to make myself useful so I should really get to it...
The Dog
Everyone should have a creature who loves them as much as Buster loves me. This morning he whined at our door and woke us up, which was fine and made sense, since it was after 8:30 and we certainly prefer him coming to ask to be let out to decorating the carpet and he probably had to go pretty bad by then. I came downstairs and let him out, then went back upstairs to put on some sweats and slippers. The kids let him back in and he bounded back upstairs. Ryan was going back downstairs by then, but he came in demanded attention from me, so I had to sit down for a minute and rub his head and tell him he was a good boy before I changed my clothes. Then he sat at the top of the stairs waiting impatiently for me to come with him, went downstairs just ahead of me, looking back no fewer than three times to make sure I was following, then sat and waited for me on the couch, ears perked and looking somewhat forlorn while I made coffee. Now he is settled in against my thigh here on the couch and I really don't have the slightest doubt he would stay here all day, without moving, if I didn't move either. I find this all a bit weird because it seems like he's become somewhat clingier lately for not apparent reason. I mean, I know I'm his favorite -- there has been no doubt in my mind since the incident where he stole several pairs of my underpants out of the dirty laundry pile I left on the floor and absconded to his bed with them -- but we've had him for nearly five years and he used to be able to go up and down the stairs without making sure I was right behind.
He drives me crazy and I complain about it him all the time, but geez, it's hard not to respond to this kind of devotion. Sure, he barks, and he has the worst breath in dog history, and he acts pathetic, and we can't take him anywhere, and in the last few days he's unloaded such lethal gas that I worried my eyelashes might be singed off, but he's cute and cuddly, and recently when I was bitching about him in a chat room, my friend Judy said "you know you love that little shit." Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
He drives me crazy and I complain about it him all the time, but geez, it's hard not to respond to this kind of devotion. Sure, he barks, and he has the worst breath in dog history, and he acts pathetic, and we can't take him anywhere, and in the last few days he's unloaded such lethal gas that I worried my eyelashes might be singed off, but he's cute and cuddly, and recently when I was bitching about him in a chat room, my friend Judy said "you know you love that little shit." Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
Sorry my new bike has been keeping me from updating my blog the last few days
Yeah, I know, I was lousy about updating even before I got the bike, but that's my excuse this week. Anyway, other than picking the kids up from school yesterday because I didn't want to listen to Rachel whining, I have maintained a strict policy of riding my bike anyplace I want to go in South Davis for the last few days, and yesterday I even ventured to the other side of the freeway into town. Had coffee and bought a couple of books at Borders, then came home. I love have a basket to carry things in! I love the ache I get in my thighs when I've ridden a ways! I love my bike! Yep, I'm seven years old again...
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
I've often thought I was enjoying a delayed adolescence in the last few years, but today I experienced a return to something more like the age of ten, when I got a bike and rode down the street. A couple of weeks ago, I taught my son how to ride without training wheels, and since then I've been enjoying him ride as fast as he can up and down our street. Ryan and I have dallied with the idea of getting an adult bike for the two of us to share since Rachel learned how to ride two years ago, just so we'd be able to go on rides with the kids sometimes, but we never got serious about it. One of the carrots I dangled in front of Will when he was learning a couple of weeks ago was that I would get a bike so we could ride togther too. Till now I've made do with getting on my rollerblades and getting out there with them when they've wanted to go for a spin. But Ryan won't do that, and I know he didn't enjoy running behind them to the park yesterday. Plus today is such a beautiful day. So I decided to go to the bike shop downtown where I've been admiring cruiser-style bikes for the past two years, and when I got there, this big purple one caught my eye. The bike store guy said I could take it for a spin around the block if I was so inclined, so I thought, what the hell? And I climbed on it and took off down the street.
Wheee! Why did I ever stop riding a bike? Well, I do remember that none of them were ever as comfortable as this one, which has a nice wide seat and those big handlebars that make it so you don't have to lean forward when you're riding. There is also the fact that I have mostly lived places a lot hillier than Davis in 13 or so years since I rode a bike much. Still, I was surprised as how quickly I returned to that feeling that I know my son has when he's zooming up and down our street on his little bike these last couple of weeks. It's the kind of feeling you just don't get driving a car. Well, not after the first couple of weeks you have your license, anyway.
I did take one more bike -- a less expensive blue cruiser with the boy-bar across the frame -- out for a test-ride, but it just wasn't the same as the purple one. So I brought it home, and took it for a ride around the neighborhood before I put it away. Hopefully the kids will be up for a ride when they get home too...
I sure hope Ryan doesn't mind riding a purple girl-bike!
Wheee! Why did I ever stop riding a bike? Well, I do remember that none of them were ever as comfortable as this one, which has a nice wide seat and those big handlebars that make it so you don't have to lean forward when you're riding. There is also the fact that I have mostly lived places a lot hillier than Davis in 13 or so years since I rode a bike much. Still, I was surprised as how quickly I returned to that feeling that I know my son has when he's zooming up and down our street on his little bike these last couple of weeks. It's the kind of feeling you just don't get driving a car. Well, not after the first couple of weeks you have your license, anyway.
I did take one more bike -- a less expensive blue cruiser with the boy-bar across the frame -- out for a test-ride, but it just wasn't the same as the purple one. So I brought it home, and took it for a ride around the neighborhood before I put it away. Hopefully the kids will be up for a ride when they get home too...
I sure hope Ryan doesn't mind riding a purple girl-bike!
The sun is shining here today. I am thinking about walking to school to pick up the kids this afternoon, though I know that decision is likely to meet with nothing but complaints from my charges (little ingrates). We should enjoy this weather to the fullest, if only in appreciation of the fact that we don't live where there is snow on the ground and the mommies have to write to their e-friends for advice on what lotions will keeps their kids' skin from cracking and bleeding. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know -- you guys love the snow. Well, you can keep it. I'll take short-sleeves weather in February, thank you very much!
Coolness, Pt II
Some interesting (to me) tidbits about coolness:
1. I've recently become acquainted with a high school classmate (I don't say re-acquainted because I actually didn't really know him in high school)who lives nearby and we've become friends. A few weeks ago we had lunch, and it was interesting talking about high school because his concept of who was popular back then was completely different than mine. I tend to remember the cheerleaders and jocks and all those people, while he kept talking about his advanced-placement classmates, the people who ran student government and all that. It had never occurred to me that other people would have a completely different perspective on who all got all the attention back then. Incidentally, this guy who is my friend now was quite cool himself. He probably didn't think so, but I remember
2. A couple of months ago, a friend of mine told me her 15-year-old daughter had told her, "Tracie's so cool! I wish she was my mom!" Sad how happy that made me. The experience of it was tempered somewhat by the fact that my friend told me this right in front of her daughter, and her daughter and I avoided eye contact after that.
3. The rules of coolness have definitely changed since I was an adolescent.
A lot of people probably think the fact that I drive a minivan is uncool. I know driving one doesn't make me cool, but I think the fact that I fully acknowledge that minivans aren't cool and I still love driving mine makes me cool. I have my nose pierced because I think it's cool, not in hopes of having other people think I'm cool. And so on. Overall, at the ripe age of 34, I think I have achieved a level of detachment about these kinds of things that would have made me seem extremely cool at 16.
4. I enjoy my life a lot more now than I did when I used to worry about trying to be cool. I should probably not be devoting so much thought to coolness right now -- it's likely to harsh my mellow pretty soon.
1. I've recently become acquainted with a high school classmate (I don't say re-acquainted because I actually didn't really know him in high school)who lives nearby and we've become friends. A few weeks ago we had lunch, and it was interesting talking about high school because his concept of who was popular back then was completely different than mine. I tend to remember the cheerleaders and jocks and all those people, while he kept talking about his advanced-placement classmates, the people who ran student government and all that. It had never occurred to me that other people would have a completely different perspective on who all got all the attention back then. Incidentally, this guy who is my friend now was quite cool himself. He probably didn't think so, but I remember
2. A couple of months ago, a friend of mine told me her 15-year-old daughter had told her, "Tracie's so cool! I wish she was my mom!" Sad how happy that made me. The experience of it was tempered somewhat by the fact that my friend told me this right in front of her daughter, and her daughter and I avoided eye contact after that.
3. The rules of coolness have definitely changed since I was an adolescent.
A lot of people probably think the fact that I drive a minivan is uncool. I know driving one doesn't make me cool, but I think the fact that I fully acknowledge that minivans aren't cool and I still love driving mine makes me cool. I have my nose pierced because I think it's cool, not in hopes of having other people think I'm cool. And so on. Overall, at the ripe age of 34, I think I have achieved a level of detachment about these kinds of things that would have made me seem extremely cool at 16.
4. I enjoy my life a lot more now than I did when I used to worry about trying to be cool. I should probably not be devoting so much thought to coolness right now -- it's likely to harsh my mellow pretty soon.
Coolness
Since I started writing this blog, I have been thinking about degrees of coolness. I read other people's blogs sometimes, and I've discovered from that exploration as well as having read a few other kinds of sites that there is some kind of legion of coolness in the blogging world to which I (and most of the millions of other blog-owners online) do not belong. I've only come across one -- it's entirely possible that I'm not cool enough to have come across the others. The people who are part of this legion all seem to have connections to one or both of the following websites: http://www.damnhellasskings.com/ and http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/. I enjoy both of these sites and I honestly don't mean to disparage anyone connected with them in this post (or any subsequent posts on this topic). I am just really intrigued by the idea of people becoming prominent online, and having others come to think they're cool, based on what they write. Let's face it: I'm jealous.
The idea of being the author of a "famous" blog appeals to me for so many reasons! Just writing down my random thoughts and experiences, couched in what I imagine to be my rapier wit, and have people bookmark me and check my site regularly for new pearls of my wisdom? Receiving actual entries to my guestbook, frequently hearing how awesome I am? Referring to all my other hip blog-community friends by their online names, and the cool places we go and interesting, blog-entry-worthy experiences we have? Does it get any better than this?
I don't expect it to happen though. Largely for the same reason I keep not doing anything to get my novels published -- I'm scared. I'm scared of drawing attention to myself, and I'm scared of making people angry or offending them with something I've written. For me, it's always been this way. Question: how much does cool have to do with a) not caring if you make people mad, and b) willingness to draw attention to oneself? The number of people I've even told that I have this blog is pretty small. My own husband didn't know I had it for two months. I give out my daughter's blog address more readily than I give out my own. But really -- I didn't start this blog to remain anonymous or maintain my privacy, and anyone who uses that reasoning really needs to think about it some more. I have never been one to keep a journal -- it's always bored me. The fact that people might read what I have to say here is the entire reason I'm writing. The fact that not many do is probably one of the things that keeps me from posting more regularly. Overall, I'm kind of disgusted with myself on the whole blog-front. The whole idea of seeking prominence is, in the end, just too scary. Woe is me.
Enough of my pity party. Time to use the blow dryer before my hair is lost cause for the day. Don't ever say I don't have my priorities in order!
The idea of being the author of a "famous" blog appeals to me for so many reasons! Just writing down my random thoughts and experiences, couched in what I imagine to be my rapier wit, and have people bookmark me and check my site regularly for new pearls of my wisdom? Receiving actual entries to my guestbook, frequently hearing how awesome I am? Referring to all my other hip blog-community friends by their online names, and the cool places we go and interesting, blog-entry-worthy experiences we have? Does it get any better than this?
I don't expect it to happen though. Largely for the same reason I keep not doing anything to get my novels published -- I'm scared. I'm scared of drawing attention to myself, and I'm scared of making people angry or offending them with something I've written. For me, it's always been this way. Question: how much does cool have to do with a) not caring if you make people mad, and b) willingness to draw attention to oneself? The number of people I've even told that I have this blog is pretty small. My own husband didn't know I had it for two months. I give out my daughter's blog address more readily than I give out my own. But really -- I didn't start this blog to remain anonymous or maintain my privacy, and anyone who uses that reasoning really needs to think about it some more. I have never been one to keep a journal -- it's always bored me. The fact that people might read what I have to say here is the entire reason I'm writing. The fact that not many do is probably one of the things that keeps me from posting more regularly. Overall, I'm kind of disgusted with myself on the whole blog-front. The whole idea of seeking prominence is, in the end, just too scary. Woe is me.
Enough of my pity party. Time to use the blow dryer before my hair is lost cause for the day. Don't ever say I don't have my priorities in order!
Friday, February 18, 2005
*Beep*
Hi, you've reached the Bezerras. If you're someone we might actually want to speak to, please leave us a message. If you're a telemarketer calling from a business like MCI, please take us off your list and don't ever call again. If we were interested in what you want to sell us, we wouldn't have used our Caller ID to avoid talking to you the first 87 times you called. We will continue to do so until you get it through your thick skulls that we do not want to to talk to you. Ever. That's why we have Caller ID -- so we can avoid talking to telemarketers. Guess what, MCI? You've called us, like, 20 times in the last week. You're up there with stalker ex-boyfriends and people to whom we owe money. Save yourself some time and effort and just erase our number from your list already. Really. You'll sleep better for it tonight, and so will we. Good-bye forever. Really. Go away.
Monday, February 07, 2005
This is why you shouldn't have my family over to your house for dinner
Saturday evening, we went to the home of some new friends for dinner. They live in a huge, beautiful house with white carpetting and expensive electronics. From the moment we walked in, I was a little worried one or both of my children would damage or destroy something. But we went on to have a pleasant evening. Our friends' son is as into the Beatles as our kids currently are, so they watched "Yellow Submarine" on DVD and were enjoying it so much and being so good that we adults decided to retire to the dining room to eat without them. We had a very nice, peaceful dinner, and the kids continued to be occupied by the movie.
After dinner we went into the kitchen and were having some dessert when disaster finally struck. Will wandered into their home office (where they keep their DVD collection and some cool Beatles figures) and proceeded to deposit the contents of his stomach on the off-white carpetting. It was, quite simply, a heart-stopping amount of vomit. How it all came out of a 6-year-old boy, I do not know. Our friends were very kind about it, but needless to say, we were utterly mortified. Ryan and I cleaned up the bulk of it and then our hostess got out a little steam cleaner thing and proceeded to make the entire spot fade away while the rest of us stood around and made jokes about what they would do to our carpet when they came over to our house for dinner. Nevertheless, the event brought the evening to a bit of a subdued conclusion.
At last report, the carpet came completely clean, our friends are somewhat amused over the incident, and we still don't know why Will threw up -- though he did so again at home approximately 24 hours after the first incident. In the toilet, of course. It figures!
After dinner we went into the kitchen and were having some dessert when disaster finally struck. Will wandered into their home office (where they keep their DVD collection and some cool Beatles figures) and proceeded to deposit the contents of his stomach on the off-white carpetting. It was, quite simply, a heart-stopping amount of vomit. How it all came out of a 6-year-old boy, I do not know. Our friends were very kind about it, but needless to say, we were utterly mortified. Ryan and I cleaned up the bulk of it and then our hostess got out a little steam cleaner thing and proceeded to make the entire spot fade away while the rest of us stood around and made jokes about what they would do to our carpet when they came over to our house for dinner. Nevertheless, the event brought the evening to a bit of a subdued conclusion.
At last report, the carpet came completely clean, our friends are somewhat amused over the incident, and we still don't know why Will threw up -- though he did so again at home approximately 24 hours after the first incident. In the toilet, of course. It figures!
Monday, January 24, 2005
Good things this week:
1) I edited my Nano novel and gave it to some friends to read. It feels like a major accomplishment!
2) I am running and doing WW.
3) I finished reading the lengthy scifi book for book club this week. It was a good book, but it required a lot of concentration to read it and it feels like it's been a while since I got to read anything "fun". Now I have at least a couple of weeks before I have to start in on my next book club selection for my other book club...
4) ...which was my pick. I chose _An Amateur Marriage_ by Anne Tyler. I haven't read it yet, so I hope it's good. I had fun at last week's meeting and I'm looking forward to the one I have tomorrow night.
Bad things this week:
1) I'm feeling hormonal.
2) Tomorrow I'm supposed to weigh in after my first week doing WW and at the moment I don't have access to an accurate scale and I don't want to spend money on one.
3) In a few minutes I have to go pick up my kids and I sure don't feel like doing homework. All I really feel like doing is taking a nap, to be quite frank.
4) It's cold. I can't seem to warm up today. I think some fat free hot chocolate is in order when we get home. It's not as good as the regular stuff, but it's fewer points.
1) I edited my Nano novel and gave it to some friends to read. It feels like a major accomplishment!
2) I am running and doing WW.
3) I finished reading the lengthy scifi book for book club this week. It was a good book, but it required a lot of concentration to read it and it feels like it's been a while since I got to read anything "fun". Now I have at least a couple of weeks before I have to start in on my next book club selection for my other book club...
4) ...which was my pick. I chose _An Amateur Marriage_ by Anne Tyler. I haven't read it yet, so I hope it's good. I had fun at last week's meeting and I'm looking forward to the one I have tomorrow night.
Bad things this week:
1) I'm feeling hormonal.
2) Tomorrow I'm supposed to weigh in after my first week doing WW and at the moment I don't have access to an accurate scale and I don't want to spend money on one.
3) In a few minutes I have to go pick up my kids and I sure don't feel like doing homework. All I really feel like doing is taking a nap, to be quite frank.
4) It's cold. I can't seem to warm up today. I think some fat free hot chocolate is in order when we get home. It's not as good as the regular stuff, but it's fewer points.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Good things this week:
1)I've been going running every other day, so I've kept up my exercise even though my workout buddy hase been sick (Get better soon, Sue!)
2)I rejoined WW Online the day before yesterday and have been pretty much sticking to it. I feel good about it, and not deprived, so far.
3)Today instead of playing computer games, I got out the hard copy of my Nano novel and I've started editting it. I want to get this sucker into shape so I can have some people read it.
4)Tomorrow is "Thunder Down Under" at Cache Creek, and I'm looking forward to a fun night out with the girls instead of sort of dreading how lame it was going to be, like I was before. We are going to eat and drink too much, I already know, but I will just eat really light all day and then let myself enjoy the evening. No big deal.
5)This morning I enjoyed a rousing theatrical production of "Harry the Dirty Dog" at the Crest Theater with Will's class. I was only on the reserve list for driving on the field trip, but then a mom got sick and they called me up. We parked in a garage that let us out on across from the Capitol, and when we were leaving, there was a stream of people carrying "Electoral Dysfunction" signs with Bush's picture of them leaving the Capital steps. As we were waiting for a bunch of them to pass so we could get out to the street, one of the kids in the back said "wow, what are they doing? Are they having a party?" Of course I felt cautious, not wanting to say anything too opinionated in case it got back to a conservative parent who complained to the teacher or something like that, so I just said "they don't like the president, and they met there to talk about it." One of my passengers commented, "yeah, I like John Kerry better" and Will and his other classmate agreed. All three of them are in first grade! It's so good to we are mostly breeding them liberal here in Davis :-)
1)I've been going running every other day, so I've kept up my exercise even though my workout buddy hase been sick (Get better soon, Sue!)
2)I rejoined WW Online the day before yesterday and have been pretty much sticking to it. I feel good about it, and not deprived, so far.
3)Today instead of playing computer games, I got out the hard copy of my Nano novel and I've started editting it. I want to get this sucker into shape so I can have some people read it.
4)Tomorrow is "Thunder Down Under" at Cache Creek, and I'm looking forward to a fun night out with the girls instead of sort of dreading how lame it was going to be, like I was before. We are going to eat and drink too much, I already know, but I will just eat really light all day and then let myself enjoy the evening. No big deal.
5)This morning I enjoyed a rousing theatrical production of "Harry the Dirty Dog" at the Crest Theater with Will's class. I was only on the reserve list for driving on the field trip, but then a mom got sick and they called me up. We parked in a garage that let us out on across from the Capitol, and when we were leaving, there was a stream of people carrying "Electoral Dysfunction" signs with Bush's picture of them leaving the Capital steps. As we were waiting for a bunch of them to pass so we could get out to the street, one of the kids in the back said "wow, what are they doing? Are they having a party?" Of course I felt cautious, not wanting to say anything too opinionated in case it got back to a conservative parent who complained to the teacher or something like that, so I just said "they don't like the president, and they met there to talk about it." One of my passengers commented, "yeah, I like John Kerry better" and Will and his other classmate agreed. All three of them are in first grade! It's so good to we are mostly breeding them liberal here in Davis :-)
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
I Feel Fat
This morning I went to a yoga class where I ended up sitting close to the mirror. Usually I can't see myself that well but today, whenever we were doing twisting poses, I was looking at a back view of myself. Bleah. I look huge. I want to lose 20 lbs. And you know what really sucks? I started running again this past week and have run ~10 miles in the last 5 days. Now I feel fatter than ever -- wtf?
I joined WW Online a year ago fall and did it sporadically with not much in the way of results. This morning before I got up, I was thinking about whether I should rejoin, and then when I opened my email, I had received a thing from them asking me to come back. I'd rather not do it online because I don't think it works for me, but all the meetings in Davis a) conflict with my yoga class on Tuesday morning, b) are in the late afternoon, so I end up starving myself before my weigh-in every week or c) are on Saturday mornings, making it highly likely that I will blow them off. But I feel like the online thing doesn't really work for me and I need the support from the meetings. I feel discouraged and I haven't even gotten started doing anything :-(
I joined WW Online a year ago fall and did it sporadically with not much in the way of results. This morning before I got up, I was thinking about whether I should rejoin, and then when I opened my email, I had received a thing from them asking me to come back. I'd rather not do it online because I don't think it works for me, but all the meetings in Davis a) conflict with my yoga class on Tuesday morning, b) are in the late afternoon, so I end up starving myself before my weigh-in every week or c) are on Saturday mornings, making it highly likely that I will blow them off. But I feel like the online thing doesn't really work for me and I need the support from the meetings. I feel discouraged and I haven't even gotten started doing anything :-(
Sunday, January 16, 2005
The Beatles
We're going through a Beatles fixation here in the Bezerra house. It started with me finally deciding to put together a CD of my favorite Beatles songs. We started listening to it in the car a couple of weeks ago, and since then the kids and I haven't wanted to listen to anything else. I'm using mp3downloading.com to download all kinds of other songs, and we have rented "Yellow Submarine" and "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" starring Peter Frampton and the BeeGees (terrible but enjoyable in "wow this is bad but the music is good" kind of way). Rachel is particularly interested in figuring out which guy is singing lead on each songs and has gotten pretty good at distinguishing their voices from one another. She's getting obsessed, as she usually does, but that's okay. If she's going to get all fixated on something new, it might as well be something cool like Beatles music, right?
Health
I was just reading over my last few entries prior to this morning's and was surprised at how many of them were recounting my illness and sleeplessness last week. This past week has been much better -- I've been healthy and I've slept like a rock. I don't think I've been appreciating it enough, so I'm just going to say, here and now -- it's been nice. I don't know now long it's going to last and I don't want to tempt fate, but I just want to say that I do appreciate it. I'd rather spend a solid week in Computer Hell than a single day suffering through a stomach virus.
Computer Hell
I was there for three days. On Tuesday I bought a new computer desk at IKEA, and on Wednesday I took down my computer system so I could put the desk together and set the system up on it. First problem: my wireless router was no longer working. I called the manufacturer to see if they could help me, and they told me A) the lights that were on indicated that the router was dead, and B) it was no longer under warranty even though they just replaced the stupid thing for me 8 months ago. So okay, I needed a new router. Went over to Office Max and bought one. But then when I went to set it up, I could no longer get my DSL connection going. Turned out that the 18-volt a/c adapter for my modem had somehow burnt out.
They didn't have one at Radio Shack (bleah). I was able to get the modem running using the 12-volt adapter that came with the new router, but I needed it for the router and I was worried about the effect on the modem, so I called SBC to see about getting a replacement for the modem adapter. They agreed that I should get the appropriate adapter for the modem and referred me to their DSL store, so I called there and was informed that they don't carry accessories for my modem because it's too old. They referred me to the manufacturer, who informed me that, since they don't make that modem anymore, they don't have an adapter available for it either. I spoke to two different people at SBC who both told me as long as the modem was working, it probably was fine to stay with the 12-volt adapter, but since I was going to have to get another one anyway, I decided I should really try to get another 18-volt one to use with the modem.
Ryan is out of town on business this weekend (wtf?), so yesterday I took my kids to Fry's Electronics Super Store(otherwise known as the fifth circle hell to those of us who are female) on a Saturday and endured all the sales guys with superior attitudes and the line to the cashiers that rivalled anything you encounter at Disney World during spring break, so as to purchase a "universal" a/c adapter for $35. Once I got everything hooked up properly, including a wireless connection on my laptop, I still wasn't able to get online, so there was yet another tech support call before everything was copecetic.
In short:
Trips to Radio Shack: 2
Trips to Office Max: 2
Trips to Fry's Fifth Cirle of Hell: 1
Calls to Speedstream (manufacturer of modem and old router):2
Calls to NetGear (manufacturer of new router):2
Calls to SBC DSL: I lost count. Somewhere around 9.
Times I melted down in frustration: 3
Outlay of cash: ~$125.00
All this because I dared to unhook my computer equipment and then set it all up again. I got it a nice new desk for it to live in -- you would think it would be more grateful. Hmph. Anyhow, I'm never taking the system down again. If we ever decide to move, I'm going to slide a pallet under the desk and move the whole thing with a forklift.
(Note: The preceding account contains the omission of certain events that may have been the result of fuck-ups directly attributable to the author during her time in Computer Hell. The author feels that frustration suffered and money spent during her time in Computer Hell more than make up for her being somewhat less than completely forthcoming in this account, and suggests than any readers who have a problem with that can suck it.)
They didn't have one at Radio Shack (bleah). I was able to get the modem running using the 12-volt adapter that came with the new router, but I needed it for the router and I was worried about the effect on the modem, so I called SBC to see about getting a replacement for the modem adapter. They agreed that I should get the appropriate adapter for the modem and referred me to their DSL store, so I called there and was informed that they don't carry accessories for my modem because it's too old. They referred me to the manufacturer, who informed me that, since they don't make that modem anymore, they don't have an adapter available for it either. I spoke to two different people at SBC who both told me as long as the modem was working, it probably was fine to stay with the 12-volt adapter, but since I was going to have to get another one anyway, I decided I should really try to get another 18-volt one to use with the modem.
Ryan is out of town on business this weekend (wtf?), so yesterday I took my kids to Fry's Electronics Super Store(otherwise known as the fifth circle hell to those of us who are female) on a Saturday and endured all the sales guys with superior attitudes and the line to the cashiers that rivalled anything you encounter at Disney World during spring break, so as to purchase a "universal" a/c adapter for $35. Once I got everything hooked up properly, including a wireless connection on my laptop, I still wasn't able to get online, so there was yet another tech support call before everything was copecetic.
In short:
Trips to Radio Shack: 2
Trips to Office Max: 2
Trips to Fry's Fifth Cirle of Hell: 1
Calls to Speedstream (manufacturer of modem and old router):2
Calls to NetGear (manufacturer of new router):2
Calls to SBC DSL: I lost count. Somewhere around 9.
Times I melted down in frustration: 3
Outlay of cash: ~$125.00
All this because I dared to unhook my computer equipment and then set it all up again. I got it a nice new desk for it to live in -- you would think it would be more grateful. Hmph. Anyhow, I'm never taking the system down again. If we ever decide to move, I'm going to slide a pallet under the desk and move the whole thing with a forklift.
(Note: The preceding account contains the omission of certain events that may have been the result of fuck-ups directly attributable to the author during her time in Computer Hell. The author feels that frustration suffered and money spent during her time in Computer Hell more than make up for her being somewhat less than completely forthcoming in this account, and suggests than any readers who have a problem with that can suck it.)
Running again
I've been feeling much guilt because I included in my profile here on Blogger or Blogspot or whichever it is that I'm a runner, but I haven't run in the last couple of months -- I'm not sure if I'd run a single time since I started this blog. Well, this past Thursday day I started up again, and I went again yesterday, and all I can say is that I am a runner, because as soon as I got out there, I was loving it again. I don't know what distances I ran, but on Thursday I was out for about 35 minutes, and yesterday for about 45 minutes, and both times I felt like I could have gone for a while longer. It was very cool. So anyway, I don't feel bad about calling myself a runner anymore. And I'm glad to be back at it :-)
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Parenting on TV
First of all, I watch this show and I like this show. I laugh at it. I make note of the fact generally that it doesn't resemble my life as a housewife in any way shape or form, and that's okay -- it's a soap opera. None of my neighbors are former runway models who are screwing the gardener, or man-hungry divorcees. I can think of two very nice single moms who live across the street, and they are both lovely people but neither of them is anything like Terry Hatcher. And the woman who lives next door to me gardens constantly, but she does it in a denim shirt and a ponytail, not a cashmere twinset and an oddly shaped sunhat like Marcia Cross.
The show does bother me though, because there is one character on it whose life is actually meant to resemble mine, and that of many of my friends, and it doesn't -- at all. Felicity Huffman (a really good actress) plays a stay-at-home mother of four, three boys in the 4-7 age range and a baby girl. The portrayal of what her life is like has gone from extreme to ridiculous since the show began. Are we really supposed to believe that a woman who evidently has the financial means to hire a full-time, live-in nanny never thought of getting a sitter a few hours a week to help her hold on to her sanity? Or that once she hired the nanny, she would go directly from being worried the nanny couldn't handle things to being jealous of how much the kids liked the nanny (which she learned, of course, after installing a nanny-cam)without even taking an afternoon to maybe go get a manicure and go shopping and relax? She goes through one parenting issue per show, as though the writers have a list entitled "Things Moms Might Deal With" that they are checking off each week. The other characters have ongoing storylines in which they get to deal with issues like real people, but Lynnette has to cover everything mothers of small children might deal with, in stupid ways and quickly. Because, you know, SAHMs aren't very interesting, and you wouldn't want to waste too much time on them.
But really, this points to a bigger problem, I think. The problem is not so much with this show in particular as it is with parenting on TV in general, and the parenting of children under 10 in particular. I'll admit I don't watch many sitcoms anymore, but I can't think of any shows currently on TV that do a good job of this. on "Desperate Housewives," Lynnette's three sons are not distinguishable from one another. Same with the twin sons on "Everybody Loves Raymond," another good show that has a dismal track record of believable storylines involving the child characters. Really, I have to stretch as far back in my memory as "Roseanne" to think of a show that dealt realistically and interestingly with the whole topic of parenting on a regular basis (before that show went to hell, that is). That's pretty sad. I guess good parenting just doesn't seem as entertaining as bad parenting. Or maybe the hand-wringing of Mel Harris on "thirtysomething" (another show I loved) gave the attempt to portray parents dealing with real parenting issues a bad name.
The show does bother me though, because there is one character on it whose life is actually meant to resemble mine, and that of many of my friends, and it doesn't -- at all. Felicity Huffman (a really good actress) plays a stay-at-home mother of four, three boys in the 4-7 age range and a baby girl. The portrayal of what her life is like has gone from extreme to ridiculous since the show began. Are we really supposed to believe that a woman who evidently has the financial means to hire a full-time, live-in nanny never thought of getting a sitter a few hours a week to help her hold on to her sanity? Or that once she hired the nanny, she would go directly from being worried the nanny couldn't handle things to being jealous of how much the kids liked the nanny (which she learned, of course, after installing a nanny-cam)without even taking an afternoon to maybe go get a manicure and go shopping and relax? She goes through one parenting issue per show, as though the writers have a list entitled "Things Moms Might Deal With" that they are checking off each week. The other characters have ongoing storylines in which they get to deal with issues like real people, but Lynnette has to cover everything mothers of small children might deal with, in stupid ways and quickly. Because, you know, SAHMs aren't very interesting, and you wouldn't want to waste too much time on them.
But really, this points to a bigger problem, I think. The problem is not so much with this show in particular as it is with parenting on TV in general, and the parenting of children under 10 in particular. I'll admit I don't watch many sitcoms anymore, but I can't think of any shows currently on TV that do a good job of this. on "Desperate Housewives," Lynnette's three sons are not distinguishable from one another. Same with the twin sons on "Everybody Loves Raymond," another good show that has a dismal track record of believable storylines involving the child characters. Really, I have to stretch as far back in my memory as "Roseanne" to think of a show that dealt realistically and interestingly with the whole topic of parenting on a regular basis (before that show went to hell, that is). That's pretty sad. I guess good parenting just doesn't seem as entertaining as bad parenting. Or maybe the hand-wringing of Mel Harris on "thirtysomething" (another show I loved) gave the attempt to portray parents dealing with real parenting issues a bad name.
Friday, January 07, 2005
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Sick
Yesterday I had the stomach flu for the third time this year. WTF? I used to get it fairly often as a kid, but as an adult, I usually go years in between bouts. I had it once last spring, and before that, it had been 8 years since the last time I'd had it. What is up with either the germs that are going around this year or my immune system, anyway?
Yesterday was just horrible. I wasn't eating or drinking anything since I knew it was just going to come back up anyway, but since my body was insisting on expelling anything that might be in my stomach every 30 to 45 minutes anyway, I just ended up retching even harder. Next time I will eat saltines in between just to have something in there that will come up easily. My whole stomach area and rib cage were hurting so bad I thought I'd die. The last time it happened was after the kids came home from school, and I was just glad that when you close both the laundry room door and the bathroom door, not a lot of sound gets through, because I sound awful throwing up.
I woke up in the early evening feeling better, and I went in the spa to deal with my aching back and hips. Oh, it was heaven! I spent the evening on the couch drinking Gatorade and watching TV, helping with the kids when I could (it seemed like Rachel and Ryan did homework for *hours* last night), and then I went in the spa again before going to bed.
The night didn't go much better. I woke up for extended periods three times, bathed in sweat and with a splitting headache. My first priority upon getting out of bed this morning was taking a shower -- I felt *disgusting* -- but I haven't been able to dry it so it's just going to be stringy and yuck all day. This headache is still killing me. A friend offered to do carpool for me this morning, but it turned out she couldn't and when Will whined at me about something stupid I ended up screaming at him in the car, complete with swearing :-( But I apologized and told him I love him before I dropped them off, and now they're at school and I can spend the next 6 hours concentrating on feeling better. I'm going to try to choke down an egg and see how that feels, and if it goes okay, I may brave some Excedrin for this headache, because it's killing me.
Yesterday was just horrible. I wasn't eating or drinking anything since I knew it was just going to come back up anyway, but since my body was insisting on expelling anything that might be in my stomach every 30 to 45 minutes anyway, I just ended up retching even harder. Next time I will eat saltines in between just to have something in there that will come up easily. My whole stomach area and rib cage were hurting so bad I thought I'd die. The last time it happened was after the kids came home from school, and I was just glad that when you close both the laundry room door and the bathroom door, not a lot of sound gets through, because I sound awful throwing up.
I woke up in the early evening feeling better, and I went in the spa to deal with my aching back and hips. Oh, it was heaven! I spent the evening on the couch drinking Gatorade and watching TV, helping with the kids when I could (it seemed like Rachel and Ryan did homework for *hours* last night), and then I went in the spa again before going to bed.
The night didn't go much better. I woke up for extended periods three times, bathed in sweat and with a splitting headache. My first priority upon getting out of bed this morning was taking a shower -- I felt *disgusting* -- but I haven't been able to dry it so it's just going to be stringy and yuck all day. This headache is still killing me. A friend offered to do carpool for me this morning, but it turned out she couldn't and when Will whined at me about something stupid I ended up screaming at him in the car, complete with swearing :-( But I apologized and told him I love him before I dropped them off, and now they're at school and I can spend the next 6 hours concentrating on feeling better. I'm going to try to choke down an egg and see how that feels, and if it goes okay, I may brave some Excedrin for this headache, because it's killing me.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
This morning
Getting up this morning wasn't any easier than yesterday -- this cough still cut into my sleep time -- but I felt the difference as soon as I was actually upright. I feel human today! I'm headed to yoga after I drop the kids off. Then I'm hoping to get all the Christmas decorations inside the house taken down, and if it stays dry outside, I'll take down the lights too. I always have mixed reactions to taking down the Christmas stuff -- on the one hand, Christmas is over and the stuff starts to feel like clutter once New Year's is past, and on the other, I love Christmas, and the house feels very sterile and spare once the stuff is gone. But it has to come down, and better while the kids are out of the house!
We had an impromptu visit to the pediatrician's office yesterday -- when we were driving home from school, Rachel told me her ear hurt. She claimed she'd chewed up some paper and put it in there. I couldn't get anything out with tweezers and she seemed to be in a fair amount of pain, so I made an appt. The doctor couldn't see paper in there -- he let me look in both her ears and we just saw waxy stuff -- so they flushed a bunch of cruddy gross-looking stuff out of each ear. When he looked again, the doctor said her eardrum on the sore side looked irritated like she had a bit of swimmer's ear, which makes sense considering how much she's been in the spa lately, and he prescribed some ear drops. On the subject of her continued insistance on putting stuff in her ears, she lost two days of computer time, and that pissed her off mightily! I am hoping it will really sink in this time, though I'm not holding my breath.
Yesterday was day one with the new aide, Jessica, and it seemed to go fine. I let Mrs. D. know that I want to do whatever is necessary to make the situation work out *crossing my fingers*
We had an impromptu visit to the pediatrician's office yesterday -- when we were driving home from school, Rachel told me her ear hurt. She claimed she'd chewed up some paper and put it in there. I couldn't get anything out with tweezers and she seemed to be in a fair amount of pain, so I made an appt. The doctor couldn't see paper in there -- he let me look in both her ears and we just saw waxy stuff -- so they flushed a bunch of cruddy gross-looking stuff out of each ear. When he looked again, the doctor said her eardrum on the sore side looked irritated like she had a bit of swimmer's ear, which makes sense considering how much she's been in the spa lately, and he prescribed some ear drops. On the subject of her continued insistance on putting stuff in her ears, she lost two days of computer time, and that pissed her off mightily! I am hoping it will really sink in this time, though I'm not holding my breath.
Yesterday was day one with the new aide, Jessica, and it seemed to go fine. I let Mrs. D. know that I want to do whatever is necessary to make the situation work out *crossing my fingers*
Monday, January 03, 2005
This morning is hideous
I stayed up to late last night -- past 11 -- and then when I went to bed, I couldn't sleep because I was coughing. I waited way too long before I moved into the new room to sleep on the futon. Don't know what time I finally got to sleep, but when Ryan came in to get me up this morning, I couldn't believe it was really daytime. The last hour has been a slog, and as soon as the kids are safely deposited at school, I'm going back to sleep.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Lazy Days
Friday was full of activity, but in the last two days, we've done almost nothing. Yesterday we watched "Return of the Jedi" on DVD, and today Ryan took Will to the movies and out for a haircut. I've been reading a really good book, The Time Traveller's Wife, and haven't felt like doing a whole lot other than reading it. But even Will seems to have enjoyed the down time. I was expecting to be pretty desperate for them to go back to school by this point, but really, I could do with another few days off. Especially the sleeping in part!
Good News
As this Christmas vacation winds down, we have some good news: more aide time has been approved at Rachel's school, and a new (hopefully) permanent aide has been hired for Rachel. Now we just have to cross our fingers that personality conflicts and other unpleasantness won't make problems in the classroom. For right now, though, I'm a happy mom :-)
Friday, December 31, 2004
New Year's resolutions
1) To not make other people's problems my own. I love my friends, and when they need to talk, I always want to be there for them. But sometimes I let their stress become my stress, and I worry about them and the choices they make to an unhealthy point, so I resolve to stop doing that.
2) To be more assertive in the right circumstances. Sometimes it's just not worth it, but when it's a situation where it's going to nag at me later on, I resolve to do my best to speak up right then and there.
They're both going to be hard to keep, and I will most definitely slip up from time to time, but I'm going to do my best.
2) To be more assertive in the right circumstances. Sometimes it's just not worth it, but when it's a situation where it's going to nag at me later on, I resolve to do my best to speak up right then and there.
They're both going to be hard to keep, and I will most definitely slip up from time to time, but I'm going to do my best.
I feel like writing
I would like to
1) work on editing my nano novel
2) revisit/get back to work on the novel I started over the summer
3) start writing about some new characters I kind of randomly came up with this past week.
1) work on editing my nano novel
2) revisit/get back to work on the novel I started over the summer
3) start writing about some new characters I kind of randomly came up with this past week.
Rain
Yesterday we visited Janine and her kids in Livermore, and it was great to get out for the day and be with other people -- thanks Janine! I wasn't looking forward to the drive home anyway -- 90 minutes in the car with both kids at the end of the day is not my idea of the best time ever. Once we got out on to the road, we discovered that it was pouring, and it pretty much kept up the whole way home. Driving over the Altamont Pass with the windshield wipers on full blast, surrounded by cars and trucks driving at normal speeds, I was struck by the thought that I was going to need to really concentrate on my driving all the way home -- that we were really in a treacherous situation and getting my kids home safely was going to be -- well, not difficult, but not guaranteed either. It was kind of scary. A couple of times Rachel piped up from the backseat with "uh oh -- this is dangerous!" but when I assured her that we would be fine, she would insist she was talking to herself. In any case -- obviously we did make it home, and we didn't even hit that much traffic -- just some slow stuff going through Tracy. I never really felt stressed driving in it either. All in all, it was a little surreal.
Happy Birthday Rachel!
Today is the tenth birthday of my wonderful, brilliant, beautiful, sweet and lovely daughter Rachel Christine, who makes me proud every day! I love you, sweetie!
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
I need to figure out how to put more stuff on this blog. Other people have lists of links and stuff off to the side and I need to figure out how to do that, so I can direct people to the websites of my friends and other sites I like. I'm going to work on posting some pictures I like too. I just got an awesome one of my brother and my son together that was taken on Thanksgiving. I think Will totally takes after Chad so I love pictures of them together, and this is a good one.
Meme
X.x Basics x.X
[ Name ] Tracie
[ Nickname ] none
[Screen name ] tkbezerra
[ Birthday ] 6/19/70
[ Age ] 34
[ Astrological sign? ] Gemini
[ Chinese zodiac sign? ] Dog (I think)
[ Religion ] none
[ Status ] married
[ Eye color ] hazel
[ Height ] 5'6"
[ Shoe size ] 8
[ Parents still together? ] yes
[ Siblings? ] one brother
[ Nieces/Nephews? ] None
[ Kids of your own ] one son, one daughter
[Grandkids ] no
[ Pets? ] one dachshund, one cat, one betta
[ In school/graduated? ] Bachelor's of Arts, UCD, 1992
[ Rent, lease, or own your home? ] Own
[ Have any credit cards? ] yes
[ What do you drive? ] Mazda minivan
X.x Favorites x.X
[ Color ] green
[ Number ] I've never really understood the concept of having a favorite number
[ Animal ] turtle
[ Vehicle ] none
[ Flower ] tulips
[ Scent] Pine cleaner
[ Soda ] diet pepsi
[ Book ] To Kill a Mockingbird
[ Song ] Can't possibly pick just one
X.x Do you... x.X
[ Color your hair? ] yes, for almost 20 years now
[ Twirl your hair? ] no
[ Have tattoos? ] None
[ Piercings? ] one in my nose, three in my left earlobe, 2 in my right
[ Have a boyfriend/girlfriend/both? ] Not unless you count my husband
[ Homework? ] I feel like I do since my daughter started 4th grade
[ Like roller coasters ] yes
[ Wish you could live somewhere else? ] no, I like it here
[ Want more piercings? ] no
[ Like cleaning? ] I wish
[ Write in cursive or print? ] cursive
[ Carry a donor card?] yes
[ Swear a lot? ] unfortunately
[ Own a web cam? ] no
[ Know how to drive? ] yes
[ Diet? ] sometimes
[ Own a cell phone? ] yes
[ Ever get off the damn computer? ] no
[ Hablar Espanol? ] no
X.x Have you ever.. x.X
[ Gotten a speeding ticket? ] No
[ DUI? ] no
[ Been in a wreck? ] I've been in car accidents but I would classify them more as "fender benders" than "wrecks"
[ Been arrested? ] no
[ Been in a fist fight? ] no
[ Kicked someone in the nuts? ] not with any serious intent
[ Stolen anything? ] yes
[ Held a gun? ] no
[ Drank? ] no
[ Been so drunk you couldn't remember anothers name ? ] no -- I've been drunk plenty of times but it doesn't affect my memory
[ Been so drunk you couldn't remember your name? ] no
[ Considered a life of crime? ] no
[ Considered being a hooker? ] no
[ Cheated on someone? ] sort of
[ Cried over a girl? ] No
[ Cried over a boy? ] yes
[ Lied to someone? ] yes
[ Been in love? ] yes
[ Fallen for your best friend? ] no
[ Made out with JUST a friend? ] no
[ Been rejected? ] yes
[ Been in lust? ] yes
[ Use someone? ] no
[ Been cheated on? ] not that I know of
[ Been kissed? ] I've been married 13 years and have two biological children, so figure it out
X.x Now x.X
[ Current mood ] bored/irritated
[ Current music ] lots of Beatles lately
[ Current taste ] I need to brush my teeth
[ Current hair ] messy
[ Current annoyance ] toss-up between the dog barking and nothing and the fact that it's noon and I'm sitting here in my sweats with no plans to get dressed or get anything done any time soon
[ Current thing I ought to be doing ] getting dressed, cleaning the house, parenting my kids
[ Current windows open ] outlook express, AIM window with Janine (blinking at me), two blog windows
[ Current desktop picture ] my kids on Halloween
[ Current favorite band(s) ] The Beatles now and forever, Maroon 5
[ Current book ] Middlesex (and it's damn long)
[ Current cds in stereo ] Beatles collection
[ Current crush ] characters I made up when I was falling asleep the other night that I might write about soon
[ Current favorite celeb ] Jeremy Piven and Jason Bateman
[ Current hate ] Christmas vacation, myself
[ Current job ] "homemaker"
X.x The last time x.X
[ Last book you read ] Girl In Hyacinth Blue
[ Last movie you saw ] That I hadn't seen before: "Saved!" That I had seen before: "Office Space." They're both awesome.
[ Last thing you had to drink ] coffee
[ Last thing you ate ] chocolate
[ Last person you talked to on the phone ] Sue
X.x Do you x.X
[ Do drugs? ] No
[ Have a dream that keeps coming back? ] yes
[ Play an instrument? ] no
[ Believe there is life on other planets? ] not really
[ Remember your first love? ] yes
[ Still love him/her? ] no
[ Read the newspaper? ] yes, but not very much of it
[ Have any gay or lesbian friends? ] yes
[ Believe in miracles? ] more like happy coincidences
[ Believe it's possible to remain faithful forever? ] yes
[ Consider yourself tolerant of others? ] depends -- stuff like sexual preference I don't have a problem with, but I am shocked and dismayed by some of the choices people make in their lifes wrt parenting, money, etc
[ Consider love a mistake? ] another happy coincidence
[ Have a favorite candy? ] am partial to Skor/Heath bars
[ Believe in astrology? ] no
[ Believe in magic? ] no
[ Believe in God? ] no
[ Do well in school? ] I did pretty well
[ Go to or plan to go to college? ] I went and may go back again someday
[ Wear hats? ] sometimes
[ Hate yourself? ] sometimes
[ Have an obsession? ] characters in my head, an affliction of being a writer
[ Have a secret crush? ] just the characters in my head
X.x Love life x.X
[ First crush ] I was 11
[ First kiss ] some guy I had just met -- ugh
[ Single or attached? ] attached
[ Do you believe in love at first sight? ] not for me
[ Do you believe in "the one?" ] no
[ Describe your ideal significant other ] I'm pretty happy with the one I've got and am too much of a realist to have any ideal, I think
[ Have you ever played a game that required removal of clothing? ] not that I can think of!
[ Have you ever been intoxicated? ] yes
[ Favorite place to be kissed ] hm...
[ Shy to make the first move? ] depends on what kinds of signals I'm getting
[ Name ] Tracie
[ Nickname ] none
[Screen name ] tkbezerra
[ Birthday ] 6/19/70
[ Age ] 34
[ Astrological sign? ] Gemini
[ Chinese zodiac sign? ] Dog (I think)
[ Religion ] none
[ Status ] married
[ Eye color ] hazel
[ Height ] 5'6"
[ Shoe size ] 8
[ Parents still together? ] yes
[ Siblings? ] one brother
[ Nieces/Nephews? ] None
[ Kids of your own ] one son, one daughter
[Grandkids ] no
[ Pets? ] one dachshund, one cat, one betta
[ In school/graduated? ] Bachelor's of Arts, UCD, 1992
[ Rent, lease, or own your home? ] Own
[ Have any credit cards? ] yes
[ What do you drive? ] Mazda minivan
X.x Favorites x.X
[ Color ] green
[ Number ] I've never really understood the concept of having a favorite number
[ Animal ] turtle
[ Vehicle ] none
[ Flower ] tulips
[ Scent] Pine cleaner
[ Soda ] diet pepsi
[ Book ] To Kill a Mockingbird
[ Song ] Can't possibly pick just one
X.x Do you... x.X
[ Color your hair? ] yes, for almost 20 years now
[ Twirl your hair? ] no
[ Have tattoos? ] None
[ Piercings? ] one in my nose, three in my left earlobe, 2 in my right
[ Have a boyfriend/girlfriend/both? ] Not unless you count my husband
[ Homework? ] I feel like I do since my daughter started 4th grade
[ Like roller coasters ] yes
[ Wish you could live somewhere else? ] no, I like it here
[ Want more piercings? ] no
[ Like cleaning? ] I wish
[ Write in cursive or print? ] cursive
[ Carry a donor card?] yes
[ Swear a lot? ] unfortunately
[ Own a web cam? ] no
[ Know how to drive? ] yes
[ Diet? ] sometimes
[ Own a cell phone? ] yes
[ Ever get off the damn computer? ] no
[ Hablar Espanol? ] no
X.x Have you ever.. x.X
[ Gotten a speeding ticket? ] No
[ DUI? ] no
[ Been in a wreck? ] I've been in car accidents but I would classify them more as "fender benders" than "wrecks"
[ Been arrested? ] no
[ Been in a fist fight? ] no
[ Kicked someone in the nuts? ] not with any serious intent
[ Stolen anything? ] yes
[ Held a gun? ] no
[ Drank? ] no
[ Been so drunk you couldn't remember anothers name ? ] no -- I've been drunk plenty of times but it doesn't affect my memory
[ Been so drunk you couldn't remember your name? ] no
[ Considered a life of crime? ] no
[ Considered being a hooker? ] no
[ Cheated on someone? ] sort of
[ Cried over a girl? ] No
[ Cried over a boy? ] yes
[ Lied to someone? ] yes
[ Been in love? ] yes
[ Fallen for your best friend? ] no
[ Made out with JUST a friend? ] no
[ Been rejected? ] yes
[ Been in lust? ] yes
[ Use someone? ] no
[ Been cheated on? ] not that I know of
[ Been kissed? ] I've been married 13 years and have two biological children, so figure it out
X.x Now x.X
[ Current mood ] bored/irritated
[ Current music ] lots of Beatles lately
[ Current taste ] I need to brush my teeth
[ Current hair ] messy
[ Current annoyance ] toss-up between the dog barking and nothing and the fact that it's noon and I'm sitting here in my sweats with no plans to get dressed or get anything done any time soon
[ Current thing I ought to be doing ] getting dressed, cleaning the house, parenting my kids
[ Current windows open ] outlook express, AIM window with Janine (blinking at me), two blog windows
[ Current desktop picture ] my kids on Halloween
[ Current favorite band(s) ] The Beatles now and forever, Maroon 5
[ Current book ] Middlesex (and it's damn long)
[ Current cds in stereo ] Beatles collection
[ Current crush ] characters I made up when I was falling asleep the other night that I might write about soon
[ Current favorite celeb ] Jeremy Piven and Jason Bateman
[ Current hate ] Christmas vacation, myself
[ Current job ] "homemaker"
X.x The last time x.X
[ Last book you read ] Girl In Hyacinth Blue
[ Last movie you saw ] That I hadn't seen before: "Saved!" That I had seen before: "Office Space." They're both awesome.
[ Last thing you had to drink ] coffee
[ Last thing you ate ] chocolate
[ Last person you talked to on the phone ] Sue
X.x Do you x.X
[ Do drugs? ] No
[ Have a dream that keeps coming back? ] yes
[ Play an instrument? ] no
[ Believe there is life on other planets? ] not really
[ Remember your first love? ] yes
[ Still love him/her? ] no
[ Read the newspaper? ] yes, but not very much of it
[ Have any gay or lesbian friends? ] yes
[ Believe in miracles? ] more like happy coincidences
[ Believe it's possible to remain faithful forever? ] yes
[ Consider yourself tolerant of others? ] depends -- stuff like sexual preference I don't have a problem with, but I am shocked and dismayed by some of the choices people make in their lifes wrt parenting, money, etc
[ Consider love a mistake? ] another happy coincidence
[ Have a favorite candy? ] am partial to Skor/Heath bars
[ Believe in astrology? ] no
[ Believe in magic? ] no
[ Believe in God? ] no
[ Do well in school? ] I did pretty well
[ Go to or plan to go to college? ] I went and may go back again someday
[ Wear hats? ] sometimes
[ Hate yourself? ] sometimes
[ Have an obsession? ] characters in my head, an affliction of being a writer
[ Have a secret crush? ] just the characters in my head
X.x Love life x.X
[ First crush ] I was 11
[ First kiss ] some guy I had just met -- ugh
[ Single or attached? ] attached
[ Do you believe in love at first sight? ] not for me
[ Do you believe in "the one?" ] no
[ Describe your ideal significant other ] I'm pretty happy with the one I've got and am too much of a realist to have any ideal, I think
[ Have you ever played a game that required removal of clothing? ] not that I can think of!
[ Have you ever been intoxicated? ] yes
[ Favorite place to be kissed ] hm...
[ Shy to make the first move? ] depends on what kinds of signals I'm getting
I'm a slug
We are doing so little this week! Yesterday, a trip to Costco was our big event of the day -- today it will probably be grocery shopping. Rachel has had it with Will, and yesterday in the afternoon, I asked him to go find something to do approximately 837 times. They need to go back to school in the worst way.
I want to get this house tidied up and even though I'm enjoying sleeping in (almost 10 am this morning -- woo hoo!), I know I can't live like this. It's good that next week is my week to drive carpool in the morning. That will ensure that I put my gym clothes on and get my butt out the door at a reasonable time each morning. Sue and I are going to start back in with the weight lifting on top of the cardio as well. I may even go back to Weight Watchers, although we'll see about that. Right now -- baby steps. Just going to the gym every day again will be great :-)
I want to get this house tidied up and even though I'm enjoying sleeping in (almost 10 am this morning -- woo hoo!), I know I can't live like this. It's good that next week is my week to drive carpool in the morning. That will ensure that I put my gym clothes on and get my butt out the door at a reasonable time each morning. Sue and I are going to start back in with the weight lifting on top of the cardio as well. I may even go back to Weight Watchers, although we'll see about that. Right now -- baby steps. Just going to the gym every day again will be great :-)
Monday, December 27, 2004
Wow, I suck at updating my blog
Maybe I'll be better at it now that Christmas is past. New Year's/Rachel's birthday is still upon us, but her gifts are bought, and we will probably eat lunch out, have a little cake, and be done with it. And we're going to an east coast NYE celebration at our friends' house, kids invited, that night, which should be fun. In any case, nothing is taking place at our house and not much preparation is expected from me, so yay!
Friday, December 17, 2004
Desperate housewife? Not me!
I realized recently that I have been unemployed for 10 years as of this week. I went on maternity leave from my job as a receptionist/secretary at SPP-LET around the middle of December 1994, and have not returned to the workforce since. It's been a decade with ups and downs, but overall, I can say that I am happy to be a homemaker and stay-at-home mom, and if I had it all to do again, I wouldn't do anything differently. The first five years were really hard, what with being lonely in SLO, dealing with Rachel's disability, money issues and Ryan's unhappiness at his old firm, and all the health issues that I believe resulted from my emotional state. The second five years have just gotten better and better :-)
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I have a pretty sweet deal. A great husband, two wonderful kids, awesome friends, a roof over my head, financial stability, and enough free time to really enjoy my life. Everyone should be so fortunate as I am. I'm feeling very blessed today!
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I have a pretty sweet deal. A great husband, two wonderful kids, awesome friends, a roof over my head, financial stability, and enough free time to really enjoy my life. Everyone should be so fortunate as I am. I'm feeling very blessed today!
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
My Christmas gifts
Okay, so get this:
Last week, after I got Ryan's second Christmas gift, and I wrapped both of them and put them under the tree, I started the usual taunting: I got your gifts! You're gonna like them! And so on. It's juvenile but I can't help myself. So I say to him, have you bought my gift? And he's like, yeah. And I'm an idiot, so I believed him!
Sunday, we're driving into the Longs parking lot to check out Christmas trees. I'm thinking about what a mess the house is, and how my whole entire family is coming next week on Christmas, and how I'm going to have to clean the whole damn place before that. I'm thinking about how I'd like nothing better than for someone else to come and clean. So I said, you got my Christmas present already, right? And Ryan looks at me and goes, yeah, and he's so lying! He's a terrible liar and usually I like that about him. Oh, I was so mad! So I gave him a pretty much an endless amount of crap about it, and then I finally said to him, okay, well, if I was talking to a husband who hadn't bought his wife a gift yet and also hadn't lied his ass off about it, I might tell him that his wife would like someone to come and clean the house before Christmas and that would make a pretty excellent Christmas present. And he's all, oh, thanks for telling me that. So I was pretty happy about it at that point.
Today I went into Sac to have lunch with him and we got on the subject of Christmas gifts and I started bugging him about my Christmas present again. And again, he claimed to have bought me one already. And I was just not falling for it this time. Which is why I felt like a moron when I took him back to his office and he told me to pull into the parking lot and wait a minute, and I watched him go open the trunk of his car and pull out a Macy's bag. And he brought it over to me -- it had two packages in it -- and he said could you put these under the tree for me?
So, a) he did buy me presents
and b) no one is coming to clean my house next week!
I thought maybe he'd had them gift wrapped at the store, but when I pulled them out and put them under the tree as instructed, I couldn't help noticing that someone had done a perfectly hideous job of wrapping them. Can't wait to see what's in them. One is clearly clothing and the other one, I'm guessing DVDs.
Last week, after I got Ryan's second Christmas gift, and I wrapped both of them and put them under the tree, I started the usual taunting: I got your gifts! You're gonna like them! And so on. It's juvenile but I can't help myself. So I say to him, have you bought my gift? And he's like, yeah. And I'm an idiot, so I believed him!
Sunday, we're driving into the Longs parking lot to check out Christmas trees. I'm thinking about what a mess the house is, and how my whole entire family is coming next week on Christmas, and how I'm going to have to clean the whole damn place before that. I'm thinking about how I'd like nothing better than for someone else to come and clean. So I said, you got my Christmas present already, right? And Ryan looks at me and goes, yeah, and he's so lying! He's a terrible liar and usually I like that about him. Oh, I was so mad! So I gave him a pretty much an endless amount of crap about it, and then I finally said to him, okay, well, if I was talking to a husband who hadn't bought his wife a gift yet and also hadn't lied his ass off about it, I might tell him that his wife would like someone to come and clean the house before Christmas and that would make a pretty excellent Christmas present. And he's all, oh, thanks for telling me that. So I was pretty happy about it at that point.
Today I went into Sac to have lunch with him and we got on the subject of Christmas gifts and I started bugging him about my Christmas present again. And again, he claimed to have bought me one already. And I was just not falling for it this time. Which is why I felt like a moron when I took him back to his office and he told me to pull into the parking lot and wait a minute, and I watched him go open the trunk of his car and pull out a Macy's bag. And he brought it over to me -- it had two packages in it -- and he said could you put these under the tree for me?
So, a) he did buy me presents
and b) no one is coming to clean my house next week!
I thought maybe he'd had them gift wrapped at the store, but when I pulled them out and put them under the tree as instructed, I couldn't help noticing that someone had done a perfectly hideous job of wrapping them. Can't wait to see what's in them. One is clearly clothing and the other one, I'm guessing DVDs.
Yeah, I don't update my blog often enough. Janine has been complaining that I don't write in here enough, and since she's the only one who reads this blog, I suppose I should try to keep her happy. I don't know, it seems like every time I get on the computer lately, all I do is check my email and then play games. I haven't even been logging into AIM much lately, which is weird. I guess I've been feeling anti-social.
My Christmas-sing is mostly done. Yesterday after I went to the gym and came home and showered, I turned on a movie ("Mystic River" -- it was okay) and spent a few hours wrapping Christmas presents. Today I went with Sue to Borders and bought gift cards for Rachel's teacher, her speech therapist, the full-inclusion specialist, and a girl in speech therapy who Rachel is exchanging gifts with tomorrow. I asked Rachel what this girl would like and was told "a tooth fairy." Didn't really know how to comply with that, so I went for the easy route -- the gift card. Don't you just love them? I know I'm happy whenever I get one! All I have left to do now is call and order a gift card to a day spa for my mother-in-law and pick up some perishables to put in a basket for my grandma. And I guess this is the last year that that's going to work for her since she's moving into assisted living after the first of the year. Which is good for her but bad for my gift giving. I think I will just start sending her a big flower arrangement every couple of month. She and Ryan's grandma seem to really like that, and I like to surprise them at different times of the year.
The kids will be on Christmas break soon, and I actually can't wait. Normally I'd be dreading it, but this year we have all this crap with Rachel's aide situation at school (the situation being that she doesn't have one and hasn't for nearly two months), not to mention the fact that getting up to get the kids off to school has really been harshing my mellow lately. It's so nice now that they're old enough to get up, go downstairs, turn on the TV and have cereal or toast or something without me. Having school-age kids rocks. The other day for some reason first thing in the morning I was really missing Will being a baby and I had to come downstairs and look at pictures of him as a baby in one of the scrapbooks. But then when they went to school, I was glad :-)
Don't get me wrong --I do miss Rachel as a baby sometimes too. It's just that on this particular occasion I was missing my little chunk baby boy :-)
Ryan's in San Jose for the next two days and probably for most of next week. We are going to be living like Lord of the Flies around here, I'm telling you!
My Christmas-sing is mostly done. Yesterday after I went to the gym and came home and showered, I turned on a movie ("Mystic River" -- it was okay) and spent a few hours wrapping Christmas presents. Today I went with Sue to Borders and bought gift cards for Rachel's teacher, her speech therapist, the full-inclusion specialist, and a girl in speech therapy who Rachel is exchanging gifts with tomorrow. I asked Rachel what this girl would like and was told "a tooth fairy." Didn't really know how to comply with that, so I went for the easy route -- the gift card. Don't you just love them? I know I'm happy whenever I get one! All I have left to do now is call and order a gift card to a day spa for my mother-in-law and pick up some perishables to put in a basket for my grandma. And I guess this is the last year that that's going to work for her since she's moving into assisted living after the first of the year. Which is good for her but bad for my gift giving. I think I will just start sending her a big flower arrangement every couple of month. She and Ryan's grandma seem to really like that, and I like to surprise them at different times of the year.
The kids will be on Christmas break soon, and I actually can't wait. Normally I'd be dreading it, but this year we have all this crap with Rachel's aide situation at school (the situation being that she doesn't have one and hasn't for nearly two months), not to mention the fact that getting up to get the kids off to school has really been harshing my mellow lately. It's so nice now that they're old enough to get up, go downstairs, turn on the TV and have cereal or toast or something without me. Having school-age kids rocks. The other day for some reason first thing in the morning I was really missing Will being a baby and I had to come downstairs and look at pictures of him as a baby in one of the scrapbooks. But then when they went to school, I was glad :-)
Don't get me wrong --I do miss Rachel as a baby sometimes too. It's just that on this particular occasion I was missing my little chunk baby boy :-)
Ryan's in San Jose for the next two days and probably for most of next week. We are going to be living like Lord of the Flies around here, I'm telling you!
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Relief
I got an email from my mom this morning -- they compared her recent mammogram to one from 1999, and the calcifications they thought were new are actually the same ones she's had and they haven't changed at all. So she's fine -- no biopsy, no worries! I'm so happy!
Monday, December 06, 2004
Family Size
Last night, some friends of ours told us they're expecting their fourth child in May. I'm happy for them because I know it's what they want, but I have to admit that the number gives me pause. Four kids! That's twice as many as we have! I know tons of people want at least three, but I never wanted more than two, so wanting four is totally beyond my comprehension!
I feel fortunate to have married someone who feels the same way about family size that I do. My brother's fiance is from a family of five, just like Ryan, which I think is funny, since I didn't know that many families with more than three kids growing up, so what are the odds? I asked Angela if she wanted to have a big family like hers, and she said she did, but that Chad only wanted one or two children. I hope they can work that out. I wonder if they'll settle on three -- to me that really seems like the boundary between a small family and a big one.
I feel fortunate to have married someone who feels the same way about family size that I do. My brother's fiance is from a family of five, just like Ryan, which I think is funny, since I didn't know that many families with more than three kids growing up, so what are the odds? I asked Angela if she wanted to have a big family like hers, and she said she did, but that Chad only wanted one or two children. I hope they can work that out. I wonder if they'll settle on three -- to me that really seems like the boundary between a small family and a big one.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July
I don't mean to keep beating a dead horse, but there are some really crappy Christmas specials out there. Seems to me anyone would know that Ethel Merman + Claymation was a bad idea...
I am so glad this wretched movie has to go back to the video store today!
I am so glad this wretched movie has to go back to the video store today!
Saturday, December 04, 2004
Had a productive week. The Christmas cards went out yesterday, the decorations are up (other than the tree, which we'll probably get next week), and most of my shopping is done. I'd been thinking we would get a family portrait done to give to parents and such, but we will see if that happens. Seems like we're buying gifts for everyone anyway...
Rachel has a Girl Scout Holiday Boutique to go to in a little bit. Yesterday she was gone from 8 in the morning till 8 at night -- from school to Girl Scouts to a birthday party. When I picked her up, I asked if she had a good time, and she said "Yeah, but I missed you!" I'd kind of missed her too :-) She's so loveable lately -- Ryan and I were talking about it the other day and we agreed that she's developed this quality of self-possession. She knows who she is and she's comfortable with it. And that's that. It's a quality that will serve her well as she goes through the next few difficult years. I supposed it's possible that she'll fall victim to some of that whole self-hating adolescent girl, why-am-I-not-perfect-and-beautiful thing, but at this point I don't really expect it. We'll cross that bridge when/if we come to it, I guess.
Rachel has a Girl Scout Holiday Boutique to go to in a little bit. Yesterday she was gone from 8 in the morning till 8 at night -- from school to Girl Scouts to a birthday party. When I picked her up, I asked if she had a good time, and she said "Yeah, but I missed you!" I'd kind of missed her too :-) She's so loveable lately -- Ryan and I were talking about it the other day and we agreed that she's developed this quality of self-possession. She knows who she is and she's comfortable with it. And that's that. It's a quality that will serve her well as she goes through the next few difficult years. I supposed it's possible that she'll fall victim to some of that whole self-hating adolescent girl, why-am-I-not-perfect-and-beautiful thing, but at this point I don't really expect it. We'll cross that bridge when/if we come to it, I guess.
Thursday, December 02, 2004
I hate my printer
Our printer is older (about 4 years! :-/) It's gotten very picky about sucking paper in to print on, and ever since we switched our computer over to Windows XP, whenever it gets jammed, once you clear, it insists on spitting out about a million pages of nonsense crap, just a few lines on each page, before it gets itself sorted out. We will definitely be getting a better one after Christmas, and have asked my Grandma to contribute either cash or a gift card to Staples or Office Max toward that end (she asked what we wanted -- I assure you i'm not in the habit of soliciting money for the things I want from elderly relatives or anyone else!). But in the meantime, I have about 80 Christmas cards to print and get out the door, and going through this routine every 5 cards or so (not to mention wasting all that black ink -- argh -- I have a spare color cartridge in there I would be happy to use, but if I have to buy another black one before I'm done with this piece of crap I'm going to be livid) is getting really old, really fast.
Yes, there are bigger problems in the world, but this is the most annoying thing in my life at the moment, and this is my blog, so I'm going to whine about it if I want! :-)
Yes, there are bigger problems in the world, but this is the most annoying thing in my life at the moment, and this is my blog, so I'm going to whine about it if I want! :-)
Mom
Last night I got an email from my mom saying she'd "flunked" a mammogram. She will be having a needle biopsy on December 15 and they will go from there. If it's what they think it is, this will be her third bout with breast cancer. The first was in 1988, and the second was in 1998. Both times she had surgery and that was the end of it -- no radiation or chemo. I so hope that if there is anything to this, it will be that simple again -- not that surgery is simple. I really really hope it's nothing :-/
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
I'm pretty bad at keeping up with this blogging stuff.
Suffice it to say, November is done and I'm finished with my novel. It ended up being about 58,000 words - 2,000 that I wrote prior to November 1st but needed to be in there. Some would say I cheated. But I wanted to write this particular novel for Nano, and there were two scenes I'd written before that I really thought were important to the novel, and I still wrote over 50,000 words during the month November, so whatever.
I printed up the novel on Sunday and I'm slowly working my way through it. It's pretty okay. Needs work -- in fact I think big chunks of it probably just need to be removed entirely -- but you know, I always surprise myself. I write and write and think "this must just totally suck" and it never does as bad as I expect. It still needs work though!
Got started with all the Christmasing too. Sunday we put up our little fake pre-lit tree in the "new room" upstairs and I went through the ornaments and separated out the more durable ones for the kids to use to decorate it. I also did up the fireplace and put the lit garland on the bannister. Today I put up lights out front. Nothing too strenuous, and it looks very nice. We won't get our tree till later in the month. I have a good amount of my Christmas shopping done, and today I designed our Christmas cards, printed out a few (my printer is sucking -- we're planning to get a new one after Christmas -- woo hoo!), and organized and printed out the mailing labels. Once I get them printed and buy stamps, it shouldn't be too tough to get them out the door pretty quickly. I do need to get some wrapping done. Stuff is piling up around the chair in our bedroom and it would look so nice wrapped up under the tree in the new room :-)
Suffice it to say, November is done and I'm finished with my novel. It ended up being about 58,000 words - 2,000 that I wrote prior to November 1st but needed to be in there. Some would say I cheated. But I wanted to write this particular novel for Nano, and there were two scenes I'd written before that I really thought were important to the novel, and I still wrote over 50,000 words during the month November, so whatever.
I printed up the novel on Sunday and I'm slowly working my way through it. It's pretty okay. Needs work -- in fact I think big chunks of it probably just need to be removed entirely -- but you know, I always surprise myself. I write and write and think "this must just totally suck" and it never does as bad as I expect. It still needs work though!
Got started with all the Christmasing too. Sunday we put up our little fake pre-lit tree in the "new room" upstairs and I went through the ornaments and separated out the more durable ones for the kids to use to decorate it. I also did up the fireplace and put the lit garland on the bannister. Today I put up lights out front. Nothing too strenuous, and it looks very nice. We won't get our tree till later in the month. I have a good amount of my Christmas shopping done, and today I designed our Christmas cards, printed out a few (my printer is sucking -- we're planning to get a new one after Christmas -- woo hoo!), and organized and printed out the mailing labels. Once I get them printed and buy stamps, it shouldn't be too tough to get them out the door pretty quickly. I do need to get some wrapping done. Stuff is piling up around the chair in our bedroom and it would look so nice wrapped up under the tree in the new room :-)
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
My kids had been looking forward to watching "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" for a week, and it was on tonight. When Ryan got home, Will actually asked him how long it would be till it came on (2 1/2 hours, or a century in 6-year-old time). So guess what? They turn on the TV at 8 o'clock and see the end of it. Daddy had failed to note that it was on CBS (here in the Sacramento area, CBS runs all its prime-time shows an hour early) and Mom had failed to set the TV to Tivo the approximately 763 times she thought of doing so. The children were distraught, and Daddy was apologetic till Mom sent his butt to the video store to see what he could scrounge up. We have one of those old, independent video stores that stocks every cheesy old kids' show they ever put on video. Well, success! Daddy returned home with not just one but two Rudolph videos. The kiddos got to stay up 20 minutes past their bedtime to watch the regular Rudolph video, and have the delights of "Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July" (featuring claymation versions of Ethel Merman and Red Buttons!) to looking forward to tomorrow.
Okay, I know "Rudolph" is really old and stuff, but geez. Not only was it unbelievably cheesy, but it was pretty sexist too. There's this one part near the end where that miner/adventurer guy goes over a cliff, and they're all really sad but they decide that the best thing to do is "get the women home." Not to mention the fact that, when the little reindeer were trying out and practicing to pull Santa's sleigh at the beginning, it was clear that only the boy reindeer were eligible. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it's just a dumb old kids' special, but I hate seeing stuff like this in shows aimed at kids. On the other hand, I would probably also be offended if I heard it wasn't being shown because someone decided it wasn't PC enough. If anything, they shouldn't show it because the animation is lame and the story is dumb.
Needless to say, my kids liked it anyway. They will probably want to watch it about a hundred times before we have to take it back on Sunday. At least they haven't asked for the animated "Frosty the Snowman." For some inexplicable reason, I have always hated both that song and that show.
Okay, I know "Rudolph" is really old and stuff, but geez. Not only was it unbelievably cheesy, but it was pretty sexist too. There's this one part near the end where that miner/adventurer guy goes over a cliff, and they're all really sad but they decide that the best thing to do is "get the women home." Not to mention the fact that, when the little reindeer were trying out and practicing to pull Santa's sleigh at the beginning, it was clear that only the boy reindeer were eligible. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it's just a dumb old kids' special, but I hate seeing stuff like this in shows aimed at kids. On the other hand, I would probably also be offended if I heard it wasn't being shown because someone decided it wasn't PC enough. If anything, they shouldn't show it because the animation is lame and the story is dumb.
Needless to say, my kids liked it anyway. They will probably want to watch it about a hundred times before we have to take it back on Sunday. At least they haven't asked for the animated "Frosty the Snowman." For some inexplicable reason, I have always hated both that song and that show.
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