I'm kind of grumpy today. I notice that last Tuesday (the last time I blogged) I was in a particularly GOOD mood. I wonder why that is? Nothing is very different from last Tuesday except me being grumpier. Interesting to contemplate.
So here's my day:
1. Got the kids up and off to school. So far, I think we have officially lost 5 pairs of gloves, and it's only December. Elise has done quite well keeping track of her gloves--but Jonas and Ethan could be doing much better. Ethan has either left his snowpants, or his boots, or both at school each and every time he's worn them. Each and every time! Then we end up rushing around in the morning with Ethan saying, "Sorry, Mom, Sorry, Sorry!!" when he can't find them and I feel like not only am I a grumpy mom, I'm apparently a scary one, too.
2. Drove to my doctor's appointment. Stopped at the Burlington Coat Factory on the way to check and see if they had a changing table with a cherry finish that would match my crib. Burlington Coat Factory isn't a welcoming place. It's hollow and slightly cheap and makes me kind of sad. And they did not have my changing table.
3. Went to the doctor. Gained three pounds, bringing the grand total to 19. I must say that I'm pretty happy with the 19. I gained 40 w/ Jonas, but it looks like I'm on track to gain about 25 w/ this one (hooray!). Of course, I started out 12 pounds heavier this time. Just goes to show that my body wants to weigh what it wants to weigh, pregnant or not. Next Dr.s appt, she starts checking my cervix. Unbelievable. This pregnancy has seemed to drag on forever, yet it's hard to believe it' s almost time for this baby to arrive.
4. Got home 5 minutes before Jonas's bus. Had lunch, then Jonas and I went to Super WalMart after I discovered online that they might have my changing table (and I also needed to buy cookie ingredients and holiday tins for neighbor gifts). WalMart isn't as bad as Burlington Coat Factory, but I'm such a Target girl that WalMart tends to give me the heebie jeebies, too. Their clothes are so crammed together and there's always stuff dropped on the floor and the people there seem gloomier--it just doesn't make me happy like Target does. Which is why Target has so much of my money. And, no, they didn't have my changing table either (online liars!).
5. Came home. Ordered my changing table from Amazon.com and got free shipping. Sometimes I wonder why I even go to the store anymore.
6. Took my blood sugar. Under 120. Good news.
7. Jonas helped me make cookies . . . and a gigantic mess. I am an incredibly messy cook, and being pregnant makes it more obvious because I always--ALWAYS--seem to get something on my shirt. Especially if I'm working with flour. Made 60 cookies and felt grateful for the double oven. Only one batch was ever so slightly burned on the bottom, so I was pleased.
8. Big kids came home on the bus. Looked through homework folders. Wondered why on Elise's timed multiplication test (her 2s), she got every thing right but 2 x 1 and 2 x 0. Gotta love her. 2 x 12? No problem. 24. But 2 x 1? Why, that's 4. Children are mysterious creatures.
9. Walked by laundry room, despairing over cat-stink. Last week I dumped out all the old litter and soaked the box in hot soapy water (and I know all about toxoplasmosis and how I'm supposed to stay away from kitty litter when I'm pregnant, but Forrest was gone all week and I couldn't stand it anymore, and I was very careful. Washed my hands thoroughly.) I even changed the cat's food. But Buttercup persists in putting up a stink and it's driving me crazy. Pets. What are we thinking? Life doesn't throw enough at us, we need to throw another living creature into the mix? And one that ruins the furniture?
10. Packed cookies and Christmas candy into 7 tins for neighbors and friends. Made the kids fill out gift tags for the little gifts for their buddies that they bought at Target last night. Was very patient helping Jonas write out all the names, but then got increasingly more impatient when Elise kept misspelling her friend's names and Ethan put his hand down on the paper and smeared all the ink on his friends' tags and had to start over.
11. Wrapped the kids' friends presents. Attached properly written, non-smeary tags.
12. Drove the kids around in the van from house to house delivering gifts. This was actually kind of fun (well, when the kids weren't rambling all over the van, yelping and bonking into each other because I didn't make them wear their seatbelts). Halfway through we had to go back home because Jonas had to go potty so bad that he was doing a little dance on his friend Dylan Marrott's doorstep and I thought he just might lose it, right in front of Brother Marrott.
13. Came home. Gave Elise the timed multiplication test that she brought for homework. She got 100%. Woo hoo! Had no trouble with 1s or 0s. Let's see if she can do it in class tomorrow.
14. Wanted to make kids take a shower, but too tired. Hoping to get them up early enough tomorrow to do it before school (yeah, right). Wanted to read scriptures with kids before bed, but too tired. No excuse or remedy for that one.
15. Talked to Forrest on the phone from LA. He is tired as well, and was unhappy with the pizza he ordered from Buca, an Italian place. Bland, he said. I told him that I had Rice Chex and banannas for dinner. Kind of grumpily.
16. Looked at the kitchen. Still very, very messy. Also a good number of Reeses Puffs rolling around on the floor from when the kids got their own cereal this morning that I never swept up, and I have been stepping on them and turning them to Resses Puffs Dust all day long.
17. Decided to sit down for just a bit before I hauled my preggo self up to clean before bed. Hopeful to find something on television, but there was nothing. Nada. Not one thing of interest. I watched a little bit of COPS (which shows you how desperate I was) . . . but it just wasn't doing anything for me. Hauled my preggo self up. Cleaned the kitchen.
18. Walked through the office on my way to the kitty-stink laundry room to get the whites out of the dryer and move in the colors so Elise has pants to wear in the morning. However, got distracted (trying to avoid work that involves leaning over?) and sat down and started blogging instead.
19. Blogging. But now I must finish. I can't imagine who would hang with me this entire entry since it's really about nothing whatsoever, and mostly just a way for me to avoid laundry. (I also spend a good deal of time commenting on my brother's blog the other day as a laundry-avoidance method. Interesting).
20. Sleep. Awaken. Repeat.
:-)
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Little Luxuries
Life is pretty good right now, and I've been thinking about the little things that make a good life even better. So here's my list. Feel free to add your own little luxuries in the comments section (I'd love to hear them).
-A just right pillow position. The perfect puffiness, nice and cool, doesn't crink your neck. I especially enjoy a perfect pillow position when I wake up at 5:00 in the morning to go to the bathroom and lie back down and realize that I get two more hours of sleeping.
-Christmas cards. I love mailtime during the month of December. The day's just humming along, nothing too exciting, then you think, "Hey! I bet the mail's here!" and then you get to open it and see who sent you a card (preferably with a photo AND a Christmas letter . . . although just a card is nice, too). Since I'm focusing on the positive, I won't mention the days in mid-December when one SHOULD be getting at least ONE card in the mail and comes up with nada.
-A good sing-along song on the radio. Today I was driving along and Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" came on, which I sang enthusiastically at the top of my lungs, followed by "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance, another winner. I even stayed in my car in the driveway for a minute so I could finish singing.
-Forrest's cold hands and feet. I know I'm probably alone here, but I love cold feet and cold hands. I'm always warm, so there's nothing I like better than a cold hand to hold or a cold foot on my leg at night. Most people hate this--I realize--but, no, not I. I'll even make the kids hold my hand if they're cold.
-A handful of M&Ms. Nuff said.
-Having all the laundry done and hanging in the closet so when I go stand there in my robe I have my entire wardrobe of beguiling maternity fashions from which to choose.
-Being in the middle of a good book that I can think about all day and look forward to nighttime when I can get in the bathtub and finish it.
-Someone else making dinner.
-When I'm running late in the morning and both kids opt for hot lunch instead of cold--no PB&J mess to clean up, and I have a better chance of remembering to send their library books.
-A cold can of Diet Coke.
-New earrings.
-A good article in the New Yorker--one that's just the right length. Not so long that I have to set it down and forget to pick it up, but long enough that I can justify sitting on the couch by the fireplace for 20 minutes.
-Throw blankets. What a good idea, throws! You can curl up with them and feel cozy instead of lazy (which I do feel when I curl up with an actual blanket). Curling up sideways in the crook of the couch with a throw is cozy. Lying down completely on the couch with a blanket is lazy. So I'm glad I have the cozy option.
There are many, many more little luxuries, but I leave it here. I'd love to hear about some of yours.
-A just right pillow position. The perfect puffiness, nice and cool, doesn't crink your neck. I especially enjoy a perfect pillow position when I wake up at 5:00 in the morning to go to the bathroom and lie back down and realize that I get two more hours of sleeping.
-Christmas cards. I love mailtime during the month of December. The day's just humming along, nothing too exciting, then you think, "Hey! I bet the mail's here!" and then you get to open it and see who sent you a card (preferably with a photo AND a Christmas letter . . . although just a card is nice, too). Since I'm focusing on the positive, I won't mention the days in mid-December when one SHOULD be getting at least ONE card in the mail and comes up with nada.
-A good sing-along song on the radio. Today I was driving along and Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" came on, which I sang enthusiastically at the top of my lungs, followed by "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance, another winner. I even stayed in my car in the driveway for a minute so I could finish singing.
-Forrest's cold hands and feet. I know I'm probably alone here, but I love cold feet and cold hands. I'm always warm, so there's nothing I like better than a cold hand to hold or a cold foot on my leg at night. Most people hate this--I realize--but, no, not I. I'll even make the kids hold my hand if they're cold.
-A handful of M&Ms. Nuff said.
-Having all the laundry done and hanging in the closet so when I go stand there in my robe I have my entire wardrobe of beguiling maternity fashions from which to choose.
-Being in the middle of a good book that I can think about all day and look forward to nighttime when I can get in the bathtub and finish it.
-Someone else making dinner.
-When I'm running late in the morning and both kids opt for hot lunch instead of cold--no PB&J mess to clean up, and I have a better chance of remembering to send their library books.
-A cold can of Diet Coke.
-New earrings.
-A good article in the New Yorker--one that's just the right length. Not so long that I have to set it down and forget to pick it up, but long enough that I can justify sitting on the couch by the fireplace for 20 minutes.
-Throw blankets. What a good idea, throws! You can curl up with them and feel cozy instead of lazy (which I do feel when I curl up with an actual blanket). Curling up sideways in the crook of the couch with a throw is cozy. Lying down completely on the couch with a blanket is lazy. So I'm glad I have the cozy option.
There are many, many more little luxuries, but I leave it here. I'd love to hear about some of yours.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Hallelujah!
Today is a day to celebrate: We sent Irreantum to the printer! Hooray! It's 220 pages long and I think I probably read every word at least five or six times, not to mention all the other mind-numbing, time-sapping minutae that goes into publishing a literary mag. It's not going to be a perfect magazine--I know there will be some mistake I'll catch as soon as I read the finished product--but we worked hard and did our best, and now I can move on to less-stressful pastures.
I also wanted to put in a plug for Ethan's new blog. He'd been bugging me about starting his own blog for a few weeks now, so I finally sat down and helped him sign up for one. We got the template all done, and then Forrest and I left to go see a movie at the theater down the street (Deja Vu with Denzel Washington. Quite good!). And, yes, leaving the children alone for two hours while we go see a movie is an incredible luxury, and one we won't be enjoying any longer in about 6-7 weeks. Anyway, when we came home, Ethan had produced quite a blog, all by himself, with pictures and everything. So go take a look. It's at: http://ethancentral.blogspot.com/.
Finally, I went to do my first non-stress test yesterday. (I like the name "non-stress test"--as if it somehow it keeps me from getting overwhelmed and helps me learn to chill. But, alas, these tests are not for me, but for little Owen Bytheway--Forrest's newest joke name. Say it outloud and you'll get it.) At first they wanted to do non-stress tests because of my placenta problems early in the pregnancy (the baby might be too small); now they also want to do them because of the borderline diabetes (the baby might be too big). To me, it seems that--a la Goldilocks and the Three Bears--the baby should be just right. Anyway, little no-name performed like a pro at the first test, kicking and moving around so much that it only took about 20 minutes and they had all the "accelerations and decelerations" of his heart rate that they needed in order to deduce that, yes, he's moving around, and yes, he has a nice strong heart. So good to know. (Even Forrest can attest to the fact that this kid is an active one. If I snuggle up against him in the night, he gets kicked good and hard. Already something Oedipal with this kid??)
So that's the weekly summary from Hallstrom land. Time to clean up the bowls of Cheetos the kids left out when we went to the movies and head to bed.
I also wanted to put in a plug for Ethan's new blog. He'd been bugging me about starting his own blog for a few weeks now, so I finally sat down and helped him sign up for one. We got the template all done, and then Forrest and I left to go see a movie at the theater down the street (Deja Vu with Denzel Washington. Quite good!). And, yes, leaving the children alone for two hours while we go see a movie is an incredible luxury, and one we won't be enjoying any longer in about 6-7 weeks. Anyway, when we came home, Ethan had produced quite a blog, all by himself, with pictures and everything. So go take a look. It's at: http://ethancentral.blogspot.com/.
Finally, I went to do my first non-stress test yesterday. (I like the name "non-stress test"--as if it somehow it keeps me from getting overwhelmed and helps me learn to chill. But, alas, these tests are not for me, but for little Owen Bytheway--Forrest's newest joke name. Say it outloud and you'll get it.) At first they wanted to do non-stress tests because of my placenta problems early in the pregnancy (the baby might be too small); now they also want to do them because of the borderline diabetes (the baby might be too big). To me, it seems that--a la Goldilocks and the Three Bears--the baby should be just right. Anyway, little no-name performed like a pro at the first test, kicking and moving around so much that it only took about 20 minutes and they had all the "accelerations and decelerations" of his heart rate that they needed in order to deduce that, yes, he's moving around, and yes, he has a nice strong heart. So good to know. (Even Forrest can attest to the fact that this kid is an active one. If I snuggle up against him in the night, he gets kicked good and hard. Already something Oedipal with this kid??)
So that's the weekly summary from Hallstrom land. Time to clean up the bowls of Cheetos the kids left out when we went to the movies and head to bed.
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