Archives for February 2006

100 Things About Me…

In honor of this being my hundredth post, I have done my “100 Things…” list. I’ve been working on this for a couple days… And it’s long – so hunker down and dig in, if you dare!

1. I have lived in 3 states.
2. At last count, I’ve visited 26 of the US states – including Hawaii (on my honeymoon), Arkansas (repeatedly, in my former job), and North Carolina.
3. Two states I’ve never been to, but would love to go see: New York and Texas.
4. I am a carb addict.
5. I have had two “letters to the editor” published in major magazines.
6. I’m allergic to a lot of stuff – if it occurs naturally in nature, I’m probably allergic to it.
7. I don’t like plain cheese – melt it and put it on pizza, and I love it – just a handful of plain cheese – bleeccccccch!
8. Plucking my eyebrows makes me sneeze.
9. Hubby and I dated briefly in high school.
10. Back then, I broke up with him because he was a bit of a chauvenist pig.
11. I am not really able to laugh at myself, and hate to be teased, even if it’s “all in good fun”.
12. I am a voracious reader – and get giddy at the thought of opening a new book and diving in to a new “adventure”.
13. I am pretty picky about how people treat my books – I hate loaning a book to someone, only to have it returned with a cracked spine, dog-eared pages, or moisture damage (my mom does this – she tends to read in the tub and often drops the books or gets pages wet).
14. My two daughters bring me a ton of joy to my life.
15. I love when Pumpkin gives me slobber kisses – a baby’s love is so limitless and pure.
16. The Princess makes me proud of my parenting ability, even if she can be a stinker – she has such a big heart, and says the most loving things, so I figure I must be doing something right.
17. When I started college, I intended to be an biomedical engineer and find a cure for cancer. 18. I quickly scrapped that idea because I couldn’t pass physics – a major engineering pre-requisite.
19. I did, however, pass Fortran – for all the good that did me.
20. After my sophomore year of college, I toyed with the idea of studying Interior Design.
21. I scrapped that idea too, as I have no fashion or design sense.
22. The older I get, the lighter my eyes get.
23. If I were to get plastic surgery, I’d get either a tummy tuck (the joys of having babies) or a nose job (I inherited my dad’s nose – and I don’t like it).
24. I’ll never get plastic surgery because I’m a big chicken, and anesthesia makes me ill.
25. I don’t have any tattoos.
26. I only have one piercing in each ear – and debated piercing my belly button – but didn’t do it. 27. Papa John’s pizza is one of my favorite foods ever.
28. I think I lived on Papa John’s breadsticks through my first trimester of pregnancy with The Princess.
29. I have a few really good friends, rather than a bunch of people that I call friends.
30. I’d take that over having a full social calendar anyday.
31. I am not a great cook but am addicted to the Food Network.
32. I have a list I keep of things that make me happy to keep me focused on the little blessings in my life.
33. I like college football, can’t stand watching NFL.
34. I prefer hockey over any other sport, though (go RedWings).
35. I’m a homebody.
36. Inevitably, when I’m on vacation, I get sick of being away from home, and just want to go home so I can have a big glass of cold, skim milk. I don’t know why it’s so hard to find milk while travelling.
37. One of my all time favorite songs is “American Pie” by Don McLean. The Madonna version was okay – but nowhere near the genius of the original.
38. There is also a Hawaiian version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” by Israel something-something-something (I can’t remember his last name!) – and it rocks my world – one of the first songs downloaded onto my MP3 player. [It’s the version played in the movie “Finding Forrester”]
39. I’m a Starbucks addict (yeah, that was a news flash, wasn’t it?).
40. I’m becoming fanatical about recycling – I recycle my newspaper, junk mail, magazines, cans, and plastic. Doing my part to help our earth.
41. Once, I got about halfway through the book “Gone With The Wind” and lost my place. I never picked it up again, because frankly, my dear, I didn’t give a damn, either.
42. I sing badly, but with enthusiasm.
43. My girls like my singing – so thank goodness for unconditional love.
44. I love unshelling and eating peanuts.
45. The Oreo Madness from TGI Friday’s is one of my favorite treats.
46. I like almost any restaurant where you get a bread basket before your meal shows up.
47. Except Olive Garden. For some reason, I could take or leave Olive Garden.
48. I tend to care too much about what people think of me.
49. I am likely to over-extend myself rather than tell someone ‘no’.
50. I really feel like these are the best days of my life – I will never mourn the fact that I’m not some young, dumb 16 year old anymore. I’d rather be older and wiser.
51. Sleep deprivation makes me a giant crabby butt.
52. When I’m hungry, I’m unbearable to be around.
53. I haven’t had to set an alarm clock to wake up in about a year.
54. Every night after Pumpkin goes to bed, I have my daily dose of caffeine – an ice cold Coke Zero. That stuff is way better than Diet Coke (taste wise – I’m sure it’s horrible healthwise, and I don’t wanna know about it).
55. My favorite form of exercise is walking. It’s easy – cheap – and you don’t need any special gear to do it.
56. I hate playing games with The Princess that involve pretending I’m an animal and having a conversation. Play-acting is not my thing!
57. I hate winter – and would love to move to where winter temps hover around 50 to 60 degrees – that I could tolerate.
58. I’m always on time, and usually early.
59. I’m less early now than I was before two kids. Now I’m lucky to get out of the door without someone crying (and sometimes that would be me).
60. I have little patience for stupid people.
61. I know the words to too many old TV show theme songs (Hubby and I did a living room duet of the “Growing Pains” theme last weekend… sing it with me, “Show me that smile again…”).
62. I love to dance.
63. The movie character I am probably most like is Sally Albright from “When Harry Met Sally” – I order meals pretty much the same way.
64. I’ll go see nearly any movie that has John Travolta in it. Or Matthew McConaughey. Or Matt Damon.
65. I’m actually partly skeeved by Matthew McConaughey after seeing him tell Oprah a few weeks ago that he doesn’t use deoderant. But man, is he cute.
66. I love the way Adam Duritz writes, and so the Counting Crows are one of my all time favorites.
67. I once went to Virginia and LaLoma to see what was there. It’s a gorgeous residential area in Berkeley- great view, but no “Perfect Blue Buildings”.
68. I love writing – when I was in college, I wrote a lot of poetry – but I’ve found it’s hard to write poetry now, because I’m much happier and less moody than I was then.
69. I was named after a song.
70. I am petrified of flying.
71. On a flight just over a year ago, I was so freaked out by the turbulence that the flight attendant found an off-duty pilot to sit with me to calmly explain to me what the bumps of turbulence were – and to explain to me how a plane really flies.
72. I am also petrified of snakes. Can’t even stand to see them on TV or in a book.
73. I went to Lilith Fair – on purpose.
74. I can quote much of “When Harry Met Sally” and “Steel Magnolias”.
75. I am almost always cold.
76. I hate being lied to and I tend to hold a grudge about it.
77. Though I’m not always the neatest person, I get mad when someone else makes a mess in the house.
78. I hate emptying the dishwasher – it’s one of my least favorite chores.
79. I had highlights once and they looked skunky, so I’ve stayed
pretty natural since.
80. I played flute for 6 years and never really did get any good at it.
81. I picked the flute because it was the lightest instrument to carry and it fit into my back pack. 82. My dad is a pianist, but I don’t know how to play the piano.
83. Before bed, I sing to the girls. To The Princess, I sing “Reason to Believe” (Rod Stewart – though I hate him), and to Pumpkin, I sing “The Longest Time” (by Billy Joel, who I really like). 84. Pumpkin was really close to being named “Alexa” – I’m glad we didn’t do that – it wasn’t very “us” – but also, Trojan released a line of feminine products called “Elexa” – and well… that just wouldn’t have been nice.
85. For breakfast, I like to mix Special K and Vanilla Almond Special K together… yum.
86. I like cereal A LOT and could eat it three meals a day (and then some) – so I would not do well on Atkins or South Beach.
87. I have a monster sweet tooth.
88. Speaking of teeth, I grind my teeth and clench my jaw when I sleep.
89. When I was a kid, my dad used to play “The Rainbow Connection” from the Muppet Movie for me and I still adore that song – it reminds me of my dad.
90. I tend to be non-confrontational.
91. One of the only confrontations I have ever gotten into was with Hubby’s ex… It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it sure felt good.
92. I hate being winked at. Seriously. I don’t care who does it, I hate it. My mom has done it before – I hate it. It doesn’t even have to be me that is getting winked at – I think it’s just one of those unbearably cheesy things. I hate it.
93. I don’t floss as often as I should, and I usually get fanatical about it a week before I’m due to go to the dentist’s.
94. I don’t actually expect anyone to read this far, but still I type – so I must be an optimist (or stupid).
95. My freshman year of college, my writing class is the only class I got an A in.
96. I don’t like my inlaws – I don’t know how such gruesome people raised my husband. I think it was a fluke.
97. Driving across big bridges makes me nervous – I remember after the quake in San Francisco, after they repaired the Bay Bridge, we were driving across it and dad said, “And here is where it was broken.” Ack! Don’t tell me that! Same principal as my fear of flying – it’s not the flying but the fear of plummeting to my death – in that case, into the cold, SF Bay.
98. I’m a worry wart.
99. I love to love the people in my life.
100. I have now shared entirely too much information about myself… But I did it!

How Men & Women Differ….

I ended up taking Pumpkin to the doctor’s today when nearly 90 minutes after a dose of Tylenol, her fever was still hovering at 101 degrees. Normally a very laid-back baby, when sick (and this is the sickest she’s ever been), she’s clingy, needs lots of cuddling, and can’t be put down AT ALL.

This means that getting things done today was low priority. I barely managed to prepare lunch for myself and The Princess. I still managed to get dinner on the table (don’t ask how – it involved feeding Pumpkin two bites of baby food, then dashing into the kitchen, then back to give her another bite, then back to the kitchen). On a day when I would have loved for Hubby to say, “Hey, why don’t I pick up a pizza on the way home?” he did nothing of the sort. And then, on top of that, he and Stepson added to my mood by doing this joyful male “goodie”: Nothing.

Yup, that means that dishes were left stacked up in the sink (you know, the sink that is RIGHT NEXT TO THE FREAKING DISHWASHER). We had breakfast for dinner, so the bottle of syrup was left on the table. Napkins were wadded up on the table (for the few who actually used their napkins, anyway). I suppose I should count my blessings they even put their stuff in the sink.

I have a great deal of pet peeves – but a big one is that I don’t like a sink full of dirty dishes. You can almost “fake it” that your kitchen is reasonably neat if the sink is empty. But when it’s full of junk? Forget it? It starts making the whole kitchen feel cluttered and messy.

I put Pumpkin to bed (by the way, the doc can’t find a “focus of infection” but says that with a temp like that, her body is obviously fighting something – if it’s still pretty consistent at 101 tomorrow, we’ll have to go to the after hours and get her a chest x-ray, even though today her lungs sound fine), and went to hop on the treadmill and walk and be A L O N E for 30 minutes. I came back upstairs and not only is my sink full of dishes, but the toys I had asked The Princess to put away were still strewn all over the living room. Hubby had already tucked The Princess in, so I wasn’t going to drag her downstairs to put the stuff away.

I went to hug and kiss my kiddo, came back downstairs and I collapsed on the floor (more out of drama than actual exhaustion, mind you). I told Hubby, “I need more help around here! I wasn’t able to get anything done today because Pumpkin was sick, and I feel like I’m starting all over now that the kids are all in bed – like I have several more hours of work to do.” His response? “You don’t have to worry about getting things done – take care of Pumpkin – she’s the priority. The other stuff can happen later.”

Okay, all fine and good. But I don’t want to live in squalor because the baby is sick! MEN! It would be nice to hear, “You know what, honey, I’m hearin’ ya, and I’ll make more of an effort to pick up after myself.”

I am not trying to scrub the floors and polish windows here! I just want to get the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and have the toys put away at the end of the day. It’s like pulling teeth.

Never mind my pity party – I’m in a “poor me” mode.

Where is that ice cream when ya need it?

TGIF?

One sick baby with a temperature + One 3-year-old scream-singing “Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer” = One Mama who Needs a Calgon Moment (or two)

Pumpkin has a temp of about 101, even just four hours after I gave her ibuprofen (which is supposed to last 6-8 hours). She’s tired, clingy, and crabby. The doctor’s office says, “Hydrate and don’t overdress her. Give her the ibuprofen…”

I know fevers are the body’s way to fight an infection, so it’s a good thing… but because The Princess was given to febrile seizures when she was younger, I am so paranoid about fevers. It’s been a long day.

Send us some get-well thoughts, if you don’t mind….

Gotta Love That Bald Man…

I’m not one who enjoys cleaning by any means, so I had to share my latest find… The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser… When nothing would get The Princess’s “art” off the wall of her room, this thing worked (I had a sample stashed in our kitchen that I hadn’t used). I then decided to try it on our bathtub, which, grossly enough, I’ve neglected a little too long (besides spraying it with shower cleaner… which is pointless, in my opinion). You have to use a little muscle, but darned if my tub isn’t sparkling.

Whoo hoo.

525,600 Minutes…

“Rent” came out on DVD yesterday and of course, I bought it. I wasn’t going to – I even tried to talk myself out of it while I was at the store, but ultimately justified the purchase by telling myself that I’ve saved our family more than the $16 I paid by nursing Pumpkin, so I happily put it in my cart.

(Of course, I was at Target, and you can’t just buy ONE thing at Target – I ended up getting baby food, a t-shirt on clearance – $2.50!!!, protein bars, a bag of Goldfish Pretzels to eat on the drive home, and some soda).

In my mind, I just had this feeling Hubby was going to give me crap about it – I don’t know why, I don’t ever splurge on things, I’m just not a shopper. I can’t remember the last time I went all-out and spent money on myself. I just don’t do that. I dropped him an email telling him I bought “Rent” and how I justified it. He emailed me back, “I was waiting to see if you bought it today – if you hadn’t, I was going to pick it up for you tomorrow.”

How can you not love that man?

When I Grow Up…

Today The Princess told me that when she grows up, she doesn’t want to work. I sort of looked at her in “that way” – you know the way I mean, I’m sure – that I’m not raising you to not do anything, what do you mean you don’t want to work? She looked back at me and said, “I mean, that I don’t want to go away to work – I want to work at home like you do.” Oh. Much better.

It got me to thinking, though, what on earth am I going to do when these girls are in school? I am loving being home now, and being able to do part time work from the comfort of my own home, but someday, I’ll probably re-enter the full-time, outside the home workforce, and I just don’t believe that what I was doing before is going to cut it for me. When I started college, I initially chose a major that I believed would be profitable and make me some bucks – engineering. When I realized that I was just NOT cut out for that, I waffled a bit about what I wanted to do, but ultimately entered The Business School, and eventually focused on Marketing, the most creative of the endeavors (well, pre-Enron, anyway — personally, I think some of these accounting folks are WAY more creative than their marketing counterparts – you’d have to be). The thing about marketing, though, is that when the economy is slumping, marketing is usually the first to get cut… and the last thing employers are looking to replace. This is contrary to the fact that when times are toughest is when there is the most need, but, ah… I digress.

When I re-enter the “Real World” of work outside the home, I would really like to, for the first time, have a job that I really enjoy – one that allows me to do what interests me, that is actually FUN.

So, I’ve narrowed it down: I want to either open a bakery or become a personal trainer.

The irony, huh? Heck, I should probably do both – stuff people with sugar, and then help them work it off. Baking is one of my favorite things to do (in fact, The Princess and I made these cookies, minus the amaretto ice cream, this afternoon). I love the precision of measuring ingredients, blending, mixing, and the aroma of something yummy in the oven. I also take pride in the compliments I get after serving up these treats. My Christmas Eve Monkey Bread is the stuff of legends.

And the physical training aspect is something I would dig, mainly because my own experience with one was so enjoyable. She pushed and encouraged me to keep healthy and fit throughout my pregnancy with The Princess. Was it money well spent? Absolutely. From that, I began to take pride not only in being fit and active, but in taking care of myself and wanting others to feel that way too. Besides that – who wouldn’t dig wearing a pair of Nikes to work every day?!

Who knows – maybe I’ll do both? A combination workout studio/bakery. I could call it “Oxymoron” or “Defeating the Purpose”… I am just a study of contradiction, I guess.

And Hubby Says….

“Yeah, you. You think you’re just SO cool… just ’cause you can walk and stuff!”

My Week In Numbers…

Number of cartons of ice cream eaten to avoid polishing off the bag of Baked Lays: 1
Days in a row I have eaten a bowl of ice cream before bed: 5
[Side note: Flavor – French Silk from Edy’s Slow Churned – yuuuuuummmmmmmy!]

Miles per hour over the speed limit I was going when I got pulled over yesterday: 12
What I thought the speed was: 45
What it really was: 30
Number of tickets I was issued: 0
[And NO, I didn’t cry and I didn’t flirt- but I was straight up honest with the cop – yes I was speeding, but I thought the speed limit was 45 there…. Apparently I was wrong, but he thanked me for my honesty]
Number of people The Princess told about the police having to come to our car: 3

Number of Starbucks visits this week: 2
Number of Starbucks caps received as a gift: 1
Number of times I wished I could have caf, not decaf: 100!

Number of hours DH spent in the ER last night: 2.5
Number of hours DH must now keep his very sprained (but luckily not broken) ankle elevated: 24-36
Number of moles on my left forearm: 14
Number of suspicious looking moles my dermatologist found today: 0
[Note: they say after the age of 20, it’s a good idea to go to a dermatologist and have your moles looked over… consider this my public service announcement – get those moles checked, wear that sunscreen!]
Amount spent on doctor copays this week: $75

Number of frilly flower girl dresses purchased this week: 1
Number of happy 3-year-olds who get to wear frilly flower girl dress: 1
Number of relatives who can’t wait to see more pictures of 3 year old in frilly flower girl dress: too many to count

Number of people in this house who need a weekend REALLY badly: 2
Number of people in this house who will actually get any rest this weekend: 0

Thank goodness tomorrow’s Friday…

Happy Freakin’ Valentines Day!

Some men really know how to screw up a day that is supposed to be filled with romance and love. I’m not talking about my husband (he’s given me a wonderful card already today and I’ve been told that, “The day isn’t over yet!” – which translates into, “I haven’t had time to buy a gift for you yet, but I just might before I come home tonight!”).

I called my mom to wish her a Happy Valentines Day and she told me her best friend called her at 7 this morning – not altogether odd, except her friend is on the west coast, so that is four a.m. to her. Apparently, this woman’s husband is leaving her. For his old girlfriend. And he told her last night. Which, in and of itself is horrid. Matters made worse by the fact that last night was not only the Eve of Valentines Day, but also the EVE of their wedding anniversary! Twenty-some years they have been married and the bozo calls it quits the day before their anniversary.

This bonehead has been supported by his loving wife (who rocks, and has always been there for my mom through the years) for years – and he hasn’t held a job in two years. His new woman (well, not so new I guess – who on earth goes back to an ex from twenty plus years ago?!) apparently doesn’t work either, and lives off of child support. What a match made in heaven.

Casanova, he ain’t.

My Mini Me…

Sometimes I joke that I must be a walking recessive gene pool because The Princess is so much like Hubby – even traits that I have, that should be dominant (such as brown eyes) are not. She is a blue eyed wonder, just like her daddy (and just like Pumpkin, as well… go figure). There are days, however, when The Princess opens her mouth, and out comes my words, and I think, By golly. That really is my kid! Today was one of those days.

Sleep deprived from being up all night with ear pain (Hubby is on his way home from taking her to the doctor’s, by the way – it’s an ear infection), she was surveying the living room with her hands on her hips and a pout on her face. The Princess started picking things up from the floor, mostly blankets, and chucking them onto the big easy chair in the living room. Throughout her efforts, she was muttering:

“Why do I have to pick up everything myself? Every where I look in this room, all I see is crap!”

Um, yeah. That would have been me. I had to stifle my giggles, and say to her, “Honey, ‘crap’ is a word for mommies and daddies to use, and not for kids, okay?” She looked at me, resumed huffing and picking up things and said, “Okay, I don’t understand why everyone has to put their stuff all over my living room!”

Somedays, she is SO my daughter.