Archives for September 2007

Eight, Take 2

A friend of mine tagged me on MySpace to come up with 8 goofy facts about myself and I have to say, I probably wrote the most boring eight things ever. He had some crazy funny stories from college and mine were like, “Blah.” So, I’m doing it again. I’m doing it here. And if you wanna write eight goofy things about you (okay, they don’t have to be THAT goofy), drop me a comment so I go look!

1. In college, there was a group of us who went out a lot – which included another Sarah. Since I got over being Sarah T. (my maiden initial) in about third grade, I didn’t want to go that route. I took on a derivative of my middle name. Consequently, there is a group of people from that time in my life who only know me as “Annie”.

2. Y’all know I’m scared of flying, right? I wasn’t really afraid of flying before I had kids. Now, all I can think of on a plane is that I’m going to crash and Hubby will raise them, and I worry about how that would go and how he would do, and how much they would miss me.

3. But, on another flying note, since most planes crash within 45 seconds of takeoff, I always count to 45 slowly after taking off, after which I am able to somewhat relax myself.

4. I once threw nearly a dozen roses out my dorm window my freshman year of college. I had been dating this guy (who is now happily married to a girl I went to high school with), and he sent me a dozen red roses before finals. Note: I hate red roses. I figured any guy who “cared” enough to send flowers really ought to know first that I think red roses are somewhat generic – it’s the go-to flower for unoriginal guys, I guess (which is fine if you are a woman who likes red roses – though I’m not one of them). I gave a few roses to my neighbors – and chucked the rest out my fifth floor dorm window (and I broke up with the guy too – which left him confused and wondering what on earth happened, though the roses certainly weren’t the only issue).

5. I was voted “Most School Spirit” in high school and by golly! Did I have spirit! (Yes yes yes I do, I have spirit, how ’bout you?!). And yes. I was a cheerleader. I cheered for three years in high school – six seasons of sports. One season we had an exceptionally bad basketball team (final record? 2 – 18). We made up a cheer on the sidelines that we did quietly, “H-E-double-L, you’re playing like hell, now GO!” Um. Yeah. Rah.

6. I am really trying to learn to find joy in cooking. Now that I am home all day every day, and dinner is not a hurried-home-from-work-mad-dash-to-get-something-on-the-table, I have really been trying to find new recipes, do new things. This week, I made a hungarian meatball stew and pasta arrabbiata (which was so spicy, my mouth was ON FIRE). My new hobby is smacking cloves of garlic with the knife to squash them. Yeah, I could totally be on Food Network now. Or not.

7. If money were no object, I’d definitely get plastic surgery. No need to speculate what I’d have done – no Extreme Makeover, but… I’d get some work done, absolutely.

8. I have better taste than I give myself credit for. When we were doing the addition of the house, I really questioned myself a lot on the paint colors I was picking, and little details. When I transferred to a new college my junior year, my original intent had been to study Interior Design. I didn’t go that route, but I do think part of me has that little space in my brain that can find colors that are visually appealing. We get compliments on our colors all the time, and every time, I give myself a silent “atta girl”. I’m pretty proud of the end result of all that work!

Agua Va

First, I would like to point out that this is my very FIRST blog posting from my brand spanking new Dell Inspiron. It’s Spring Green. It’s lovely, very lovely. Now, I’m not entirely sure if I had to do it all over again that I would have ordered this laptop – a month and a half is a long time to wait for a laptop when you can pick one up quick at Best Buy. But, green IS my color. And it’s really cute. Oh, I like the way it works, too.

The other day, I got this idea that I just don’t drink enough water. I got this idea standing in Target browsing water bottles, trying to find a little one with a sport pop-top for The Princess. Her teacher has requested that kids bring a bottle to keep on their desks (I’m guessing to cut down trips to the drinking fountain). While I was there, I thought, Hmmm. If I had a water bottle, maybe I wouldn’t be mainlining Coke Zero like I do. I bought a mammoth 32 ounce water bottle. It’s really quite cute. I fill it up with filtered water from our refrigerator THREE times a day. If your math is a little rusty, let me do the calculations for you: that means I’m drinking 96 ounces of water a day. And this probably goes without saying, but I am now spending a lot of time to my day having to pee. Ah, the price of health.

It is working, though. I’m not drinking nearly as much soda, nor am I craving it. I’m also not stuffing my face quite as much (who has time with all those bathroom trips). I’ve also had to adopt a policy NOT to fill my water bottle after 5 p.m. Bathroom trips are fine and good when I’m awake – but I like sleeping.

It’s In MICHIGAN!

I just went to DHL’s website to track my computer shipment. It’s in the state, which is a huge relief. I have to say, this whole computer delay has caused me to become hugely addicted to calling Dell’s order status line to check my order, and reading the customer gripes on Dell’s customer blog. Whatever will I do with my free time once the laptop arrives?!

How It Went and Other Stuff

The Princess alternates between telling me super duper fantastic things about kindergarten… and telling me she hates it. It’s definitely a lot to get used to: new building, new kids, lunch in a cafeteria, riding the bus. As I suspected, friendswise, she’s not hurting. At soccer practice on Wednesday, she immediately connected with a buddy from her class – then asked me later when the girl could come to our house and spend the night. So, she’s definitely not lonely… which is good.

She came home on the first day telling me, “Mom – did you know that 1 is an odd number?” Granted, she couldn’t tell me what an even number was, but, hey, she’s only 5. I don’t remember learning odd and even numbers in kindergarten (to be honest, all I remember from kindergarten was playing a game called Don’t Break the Ice, where there was a blue frame, and white block pieces and you had a little plastic guy sitting on the “ice”. With a little hammer, you took turns banging out the blocks one-by-one until the blocks all fell out and the plastic dude fell thru the “ice”… Obviously in the days before No Child Left Behind).

Yesterday, she had Gym for the first time and she didn’t like the PE teacher. She said, “He’s too loud and he talks too fast.” The Princess has always been hypersensitive to noise for some reason – she doesn’t like things to be too loud (with the exception of Radio Disney, which she doesn’t mind blaring), so it’s not a surprise that Mr. G annoyed her.

We packed a lunch Tuesday, and yesterday she opted for hot lunch (against my better judgement: I think school lunches are crap, and I intend for this to be an occasional thing only). She was pretty excited about that. Since the kids only get a super short time for lunch – as in, 20 minutes from the time they leave their classroom until they have to be back in the classroom – I’m not sure why she’d want to spend the bulk of the time standing in line. But… she’s 5. She also thinks knock-knock jokes are the ultimate in entertainment.

In other news – Pumpkin was up 3 times last night, and I really should be crabbier, except Dell has redeemed itself by changing the status of my order to SHIPPED. (Finally!). Also, since I’m in gadget acquiring mode, I’ll be venturing to the Apple Store for one of the new iPod Nano’s today. I wanted to order it online, but to be honest – I can’t tell what the new colors are looking like. Looks like a silver, black, red, turquoise and maybe a minty green? It’s hard telling – so, after naptime, we’ll venture out and spoil me today. (And if the girls are holding up alright, I may just stop and get The Princess a new raincoat – she is wearing one two sizes too small because the one in her size is Dora the Explorer and she is SO over Dora, that she’d rather be in a size 3 coat than be seen wearing Dora in public…. Joy).

TGIF, everyone!

To My Daughter Who is Now Part of the Class 2020

Dear Princess,

As I type this, you are more than halfway through your first day of kindergarten. You’ve made it through your first morning. You’ve gotten through your first lunch. You’re in the home stretch now! School gets out in about two and a half hours, and I can’t wait to see you get off the bus and hear all about your first day.

You were up early this morning, and looked absolutely adorable in your skirt and yellow t-shirt. I’m sorry I couldn’t do the hair-do you wanted (how on earth do you remember how Lilly had her hair done on Hannah Montana?!), but I have to say, the ‘do we did was adorable. I wish you had eaten more breakfast – I have been kind of worried about how hungry you would be come lunch time, but I know you’ll be okay. I think maybe you were a little nervous, and maybe unaccustomed to being up so early again.

I find it hard to believe I have a kid in kindergarten. Actually, though I may be a bit biased, I thought you were ready to go to kindergarten last year (but those stinkers at the school have this rule about your age… and you were too young). Sometimes I am shocked by how smart you are, and I have to keep my bragging toned down, as no one likes the smug mom whose kid is better than everyone else. But, you, my crazy lady, you are so smart. And you are so personable. You are kind. You are funny. You are really really amazing. All of those things are why I don’t worry too much about the fact that you don’t have any of your friends in your classroom. I know it’s just a matter of time before you turn those “strangers” into friends.

This morning, after you got on the bus, I called Grandma and said, “There she goes! She’s off!” and she asked me, “Did you cry?” I laughed at her and told her, “Of course not.” Seeing you grow, seeing you change, watching you move forward in the world is not sad to me. Each step forward you take reminds me that Daddy and I are doing our jobs in making sure you’re ready for each new step and making sure you know that we’re here, and letting you test your (kindergarten) wings. The world is an amazing place and today, you are getting a taste of it. By the time you get home today, you’ll have ridden the bus twice, you’ll have navigated your way to and from the cafeteria, you’ll have had recess, and who knows what else.

I can’t wait to hear all about it.

I love you with my whole heart.
Love,
Mom

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So…
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,
you’re of to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.

So… Get on your way!
–Dr. Suess

So There IS Such a Thing As Too Much Happy

The Princess got into my perfume this morning. When I do wear perfume, I wear Clinque’s Happy, which I love – it’s light, fresh, and not too spicy smelling. I was sitting downstairs with Pumpkin when the smell of perfume wafted downstairs. Mind you, The Princess was upstairs. She hadn’t come downstairs – she had merely sprayed so much perfume it was oozing through the house.

I now have all the windows upstairs opened in an attempt to air out the house. I love my perfume, but today it’s kind of making me sick.