Arrogant [insert R-rated word here]
I think the armed forces should band together and run John Kerry out of town on a rail. Or out of the country on a rail, as it were.
Why does some liberal always seem to shoot themselves in the foot right before an election, which will surely cause a backlash?
Pardon all the bad/mixed cliches. It’s been a long day and I’m tired.
Halloween
This morning, the kids and I went to a ‘fall fun’ fest at a local park. It was geared towards my kids’ ages, so it was fun. They had hayrides, a firetruck to explore, a petting zoo, and lots of kiddie games with candy as prizes. There were knee-high tots as far as the eye could see. I think the highlight of the day was the petting zoo, although a goat nibbled on my daughter’s dress. And then I caught her bending over to kiss the goat. Yuck.
Happy days
I guess it’s been a couple of weeks now since I started taking an anti-depressant. I know it’s supposed to take weeks to make you feel better, even up to a month, but I SWEAR it’s helping tremendously already. Maybe it’s psycho-somatic, but I feel better than I have in ages. I am focusing better. I am sleeping better. I am a LOT less moody, and I have a lot more energy.
It’s hard to put depression into words. I always subconsciously thought it was a case of mind over matter. It’s so not, believe a former skeptic.
You know that feeling you get when you’re excited – a literal physical feeling of joy bubbling up inside? It’s like goosebumps on the inside. Well, you don’t get that when you’re depressed. You might laugh at something funny, or have a good day every once in a while, but your mood always returns to the same state. It’s like that blah feeling you get when you wake up and the skies are dark and gloomy, the winds chilly.
I just wish I would have gotten help sooner. Life’s too short to let depression rob you of your joy.
Just call me little miss Muffett
I had just gotten into the minivan last night to head towards the grocery store when Jay came up and frantically tapped on my window.
“You’re not going to BELIEVE what’s on the front porch!”
I followed him, snapped a photo and then left him with it: “good luck with THAT.”
Thanksgiving dinner
I don’t normally enjoy cooking. I see it as a means to an end. But for some reason, I always get the cooking bug around the holidays. Due to family get-togethers, I’ve never really had the chance to cook a big meal myself, and I really want to this year. It may just be our little family in attendance, but I’m going to do it anyway.
Menu so far: turkey, green bean casserole, corn casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls, deviled eggs, pumpkin pie. Oh, and green olives. Can’t have a good meal without green olives. 
I can’t wait.
This old house
We’ve lived in this rent house long enough to find out its quirks. Like? The over-zealous toilet that uses about five times the water for each flush than it should. Not only that, it sprays water everywhere, as evidenced by the blue stains on the bathroom linoleum floor (we have one of those toilet tablets, so the water is blue.)
Also, the kitchen sink takes so long to finally run hot water, I’m pretty sure Jesus is going to come back whilst I wait for it.
There’s other little things that annoy, like the impossibly-small pantry, but I still like the place overall. It sure is nice to have more elbow room, that’s for sure.
Just in case you were wondering
I am trying to curb my internet habit, so I’m no longer checking my email every 2 minutes. So if it takes me longer to reply, sorry, but …
It’s kind of nice, not being on the computer so much. At our new place, it’s in our bedroom, so it’s kind of like out of sight, out of mind. Which is probably what I needed anyway.
Problem solved?
I found my daughter sans clothing several times today. I am SO over it. So, I marched to the store and bought a handful of one-piece outfits and all-in-one pajama sets.
Maybe THAT will fix her little red wagon. She’s a cunning little thing, so she’ll probably figure out a way to slip out of those, as well.
Does anyone make clothing with buckles?
marriage vows amendment
There should be something in your marriage vows that mandates husbands to provide a warm body part for his wife to warm her cold feet on when they get in bed on chilly nights. Hmph.
Every time I get in bed with my cold little feet, I stick them on Jay’s warm leg and he either grumbles and rolls over or yelps and scoots to the other side of the bed (I guess it depends how cold my feet are.)
Women, are you with me on this?
conversation starter
What is it that compels toddlers to do things like name body parts repeatedly? My daughter runs up to me at least 30 times a day, pulls her shirt up and points to her belly-button and says proudly, “mama! ba-bott!”
Maybe she wants to talk and that’s the only thing she can think to say.
What next?
I walked into my daughter’s room the other night to check on her and found her sleeping on top of her pajamas and diaper. In other words, she’d taken them off and didn’t have a thing on. She looked happy but I didn’t want her to pee everywhere, so I woke her up and put her diaper and PJs back on.
This happens frequently. For some reason, I don’t feel right about punishing her for that, but at the same time, it’s getting old and I want her to stop. Must buy new clothes with lots of buttons.
Anger management
My 20-month-old threw a fit yesterday to top them all. She couldn’t get her blocks stacked right, so she banged her head on the floor (thank God it’s carpeted) and screamed loud enough to wake the dead. She then rolled over and arched her back and continued to scream.
I honestly am at a loss as to what to do here. Now, if she was pitching a fit about something I’d told her to do or not to do, I would discipline her. But she was showing frustration at not being able to do something. Should I just ignore it?
I swear, this kid’s going to give me an ulcer. She’s so cute, but so volatile at the same time.
House of sick
Two nights ago, I wound up taking Mikaela to the ER for a horrible cough that left her struggling to breathe. She had a panicked look in her eyes as she coughed and heaved, trying to catch her breath. They gave her a steroid shot in the hospital and observed her for awhile. They released her about 3:45 am.
After we got home, Mikaela settled in and slept well; I stayed up several more hours with a hacking cough of my own. The next day (yesterday), I had to call Jay home from work to help with the kids because of my lack of sleep on top of being sick. God bless him, he came home and relieved me so I could get some rest. God bless him AND his boss!! This scenario happens a little too often in our family.
Anyway, Mikaela and I are both much better today. I got a really good night’s sleep last night and I just feel like a million bucks today. I actually did some shopping today – I was in desperate need of clothes, so I hit the mall. It’s so hard to find clothes when you’re overweight. But, I did find some really cute stuff at Macy’s. I just hope Jay doesn’t see how much I paid ….
You’ve got to be kidding me
CNN reports that John Mark Karr – the weirdo who confessed to JonBenet Ramsey’s murder, but was later exonerated due to his family’s alibi and a total lack of evidence – says he may return to teaching someday.
Riiiight. I’m sure every school district in the country is going to be bending over backwards to attract this top-notch individual.
They’re like little snowflakes
It never ceases to amaze me how children come into the world with starkly different personalities.
My son and daughter are a good example. Let’s just put it this way: he needs assertiveness training and she needs anger management classes. Or finishing school.
My dad says Mikaela has Gabriel buffaloed. Boy, does she ever. Today, Mikaela came running at Gabriel at a full gallop and tackled him, knocking him flat on his back. She grinned as she pinned him down, and he was wailing.
Funny how such a little bitty thing can do that to a big brother almost twice her size. I’m very curious about how her personality is going to develop as she grows older.
‘Tis the Season
I am in the middle of my annual fall sinus infection/upper respiratory-thingy. Happens every year, like clockwork. I wish I knew why and/or how to prevent it. Anyway, I have a fever, barking cough, my head feels like it weighs 50 pounds, and body aches. No fun. Jay was able to come home from work early today, though, which was a huge help. He took care of the kids so I could get a good nap in.
Jay took my mom to the airport this morning on his way to work. We had a really good visit. No one who knows me from my tumultuous teenage years would ever have believed that my mom and I are great friends now. I feel like I can talk to her about (almost) anything. Other than the marital stuff she doesn’t need to (or want to, I’m sure) know.
My mom delights in her grandchildren. I constantly call her with “cute updates.” It was very hard for them and us when we moved here to TX when Mikaela was just 2 weeks old…. I wish we could see each other more often. Phone calls and videotapes only go so far.
Well, I’m headed back for the couch with my box of Kleenexes and my rudolph-nose. Hopefully I’m on the mend.
Might want to be a little more specific next time
Yesterday I pulled a vinyl bib out of the washing machine load that I was about to put into the dryer. I always let that bib air-dry. Gabriel had followed me out to the laundry area, so I handed him the bib and asked him to go put it in the kitchen.
When I walked into the kitchen a few minutes later, there was the bib, laid carefully flat in the middle of the floor.
First day of school
So, Gabriel’s first day of preschool was yesterday. He’s going 4 hours a week to a special program through the public school district that’s specifically for kids with speech delays – specifically, articulation problems. This is a new program this year and the kids in his class have been progressing wonderfully, according to their teacher. There are only 4 other kids in Gabriel’s class – all boys – and there is one teacher and one helper. What a great teacher/student ratio!
The lead teacher is very young and enthusiastic. I’m so excited and thankful for this program. I hope it will be a wonderful and productive experience for my son.
Babytalk
My daughter is turning into a chatterbox. Her vocabulary is exploding and every day I’m continually shocked and amazed at what she knows. Maybe she’s normal for her age, but this is something I never quite got to experience with Gabriel. Well, I guess I did, but the development has been much slower and more spread out.
Anyway, I had to laugh at her this morning because when Gabriel took her sippy cup, she said “NO! Kay-ka!” (No, that’s Mikaela’s).
For weeks now, she’s been saying “Aahhhhn get ow-ut!” (I wanna get out). She uses this frequently, to let us know she wants out of her crib, down from her high chair, out of her carseat, etc.
Her favorite thing is books. Or, ‘bicks,’ as she calls them. Many times a day, she’ll come running, holding one of her favorites and screaming, “bick! bick!!” Then, she’ll sit down and leaf through the pages while “reading” the book out loud.
The real scream was Mikaela’s response to Gabriel last week when he was whining. She said “No ma’am! HUSH!”
Busy times
My excuses for not posting recently: my folks are visiting, and we’ve been settling in to our new place still.
Just in case you wondered.
Gabriel’s 3rd birthday was today. We threw him a small, train-themed party. He seemed very happy.
I have been floating around in a fog for weeks now. It’s hard to explain. I went to my doctor today for debilitating fatigue, among other things. He thinks I’m depressed and prescribed me some pills. I am a little nervous about taking them, but at this point, I don’t think I have a choice … I don’t feel like I’ve been a good mom lately because I’ve been SO overly tired and irritable.
I grew up in a church that mostly pooh-poohed psychology and psychiatry. I don’t agree with that at all … mental disorders and chemical imbalances are as real as strep throat and should be treated with the same respect.
Anyway, maybe I’ll be more blog-o-riffic again real soon. For now, I’m going to go curl up and sleeeep.
Yes, I’m still alive
We moved this weekend, very suddenly. We went from not having a single thing packed on Friday morning to being completely moved in and having the other place completely spotless by Sunday. I’m still recovering, and still unpacking and organizing.
Last week, I FINALLY found a great rent-house that was a good price, and in a good neighborhood. It’s older (built in 1983), but I love it. It’s a 3/2/2 with a fireplace and a fenced-in backyard.
So, anyway, I knew we had to snatch the deal up before it disappeared. So, here we are. I’ll post pix and more details soon …
