if you recall, my last post talked about how i was incapacitated for a few days with a sore back...well, if you didn't think i was a klutz before reading this, you'll be sure of it now!
so? my child was taking her afternoon nap and my mom and i decided that we needed to do some cleaning and reorganizing in our basement family room. we sorted through old christmas decorations, got rid of papers, and packed all of our junk into huge boxes that Dork had stashed into the storage room (never could quite figure out why we needed to save boxes from a tv we got a few years ago or from our daughter's carseat, but hey, they did come in handy now).
my mom and i were just about done and were carting the junk outside to put out for the trash hauler so he'd get rid of it tomorrow morning, when the flip-flops i was wearing decided to have a mind of their own and latch onto the side of the step on our front patio. down i went, the box i was carrying went flying, and instead of quickly recovering from the misstep, i made like a five year-old who was falling off a swing (with about 30 years added on) and landed right on both of my knees on the concrete driveway, then caught myself with my hands (albeit, a little too late).
i laid there for a second, not quite realizing what had happened, and when i drug myself up off the ground, blood was squirting from both knees, my back was throbbing, and i felt like a complete idiot. i had to take it easy for the rest of the day since my back was killing me...and i have to take a break from wearing shorts for a few weeks. either that, or my klutz secret won't be much of a secret anymore!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
kids can sometimes be a pain...literally!
my poor daughter's had a cough on and off for the past few days, and last evening it seemed a bit worse, so i had a bad feeling that i'd be awakened sometime during the night to "mamamamamama" and arms reaching up from her crib, wanting to be comforted.
sure enough, after an evening of last comic standing and fighting off the head-bobs to stay awake long enough to watch newly-crowned idol david cook on leno, i drifted off to sleep for two short hours. her sweet little voice cried out for me at 2:30 am, and we snuggled on the couch for a few hours until she finally drifted off.
ever since she was a tiny baby, she's enjoyed resting her head on my tummy and stretching her legs out in the middle of my legs. she'll often fall asleep like that, and last night, after she snoozed in my arms for awhile, i placed her there in her favorite comfy spot. unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be my comfy spot, because when she awakened at 5:30 am wanting to tune into whatever was on Noggin, I got up from the sofa and a stabbing pain traveled through my lower back and on down into my left leg. i had sciatica problems when i was pregnant with her and they'll sometimes recur when i pick up something (like my daughter) and i'm thrown off-balance. i wasn't expecting that a 26 pound little toddler lying on me would cause such pain!
fortunately, i had no meetings or pressing projects this morning in the office, so i let the hot shower soothe my frazzled nerve endings and let the meds kick in while i stretched out in my empty bed for an extra hour or so. the pain's eased up a little as i sit at my desk in my comfy ergonomic chair, and hopefully it will be a pain-free night as i contemplate what to cook for dinner, spend time playing with my daughter and finally ease into the long weekend. happy memorial day!
sure enough, after an evening of last comic standing and fighting off the head-bobs to stay awake long enough to watch newly-crowned idol david cook on leno, i drifted off to sleep for two short hours. her sweet little voice cried out for me at 2:30 am, and we snuggled on the couch for a few hours until she finally drifted off.
ever since she was a tiny baby, she's enjoyed resting her head on my tummy and stretching her legs out in the middle of my legs. she'll often fall asleep like that, and last night, after she snoozed in my arms for awhile, i placed her there in her favorite comfy spot. unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be my comfy spot, because when she awakened at 5:30 am wanting to tune into whatever was on Noggin, I got up from the sofa and a stabbing pain traveled through my lower back and on down into my left leg. i had sciatica problems when i was pregnant with her and they'll sometimes recur when i pick up something (like my daughter) and i'm thrown off-balance. i wasn't expecting that a 26 pound little toddler lying on me would cause such pain!
fortunately, i had no meetings or pressing projects this morning in the office, so i let the hot shower soothe my frazzled nerve endings and let the meds kick in while i stretched out in my empty bed for an extra hour or so. the pain's eased up a little as i sit at my desk in my comfy ergonomic chair, and hopefully it will be a pain-free night as i contemplate what to cook for dinner, spend time playing with my daughter and finally ease into the long weekend. happy memorial day!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
what did i do wrong?!
picture this -- i'm pulling out of the driveway this morning with my daughter in tow, heading to drop her off at daycare and then to work. i pass Dork a few blocks from home, and he has his window rolled down and is waving at me.
i pull close enough to 'high five' him, and he tells me he went to get me breakfast and proceeds to hand over a huge coffee and a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich (and this isn't just micky dees, either..., it's panera, so it's the decent, no-trans-fat-filled stuff that he went out of his way to get).
i thank him, blow him a kiss, drop off the kid, and then, as i've got the radio cranked on my way to work, it dawns on me. my husband, being of the male species that he is, didn't get me breakfast for no reason at all...either he knows he's about to land in the doghouse for something he did and is trying to dig himself out before i find out, or he's trying to make me feel guilty for something i didn't do. turns out it's the latter.
"honey, i was just thinking," i say to him on my cell as i'm driving up the road that leads to my office parking lot, "why did you *really* get me breakfast?!" he acted a little taken off-guard at first, but then lets me have it....lo and behold, i've been a little 'surly' to him lately and he was just trying to cheer me up. (but as my female co-worker so aptly pointed out, he's also rewarding my bad behavior! of course i'll stay bitchy if it means i get a treat every morning...)
i admit, sometimes i am surly....i've always been the kind of person who seems like i'm always in a good mood and pretty positive, and i usually am....but when i'm not, i only let it show at home. my friends and co-workers have never seen me really mad or pissed off....the only person who really gets the brunt of my anger or surliness is him. sometimes i guess from being 'on' all day and from juggling work, a home, and being a mom and wife, i let down my guard at home and get into my 'leave me the f#$& alone' mode (especially late at night after the little one's gone to sleep and he's surfing through 32 different channels over the course of a two-minute commercial break while simultaneously surfing the web and not talking to me even though we haven't seen each other for more than a few hours over the past couple of days...oh wait, do i sound bitter about that?!)
and speaking of being bitter....when the eff is the sun ever going to come out?! we've had so much rain and coldness lately, i forget what the sun looks like, even though i think i saw it for a few minutes this morning. i really want to take my daughter to the park that's two blocks from our house -- she loves the swings and running through the grass, but it's been so muddy lately. i know we'll have lots of time to do that this summer, but i get impatient!
i pull close enough to 'high five' him, and he tells me he went to get me breakfast and proceeds to hand over a huge coffee and a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich (and this isn't just micky dees, either..., it's panera, so it's the decent, no-trans-fat-filled stuff that he went out of his way to get).
i thank him, blow him a kiss, drop off the kid, and then, as i've got the radio cranked on my way to work, it dawns on me. my husband, being of the male species that he is, didn't get me breakfast for no reason at all...either he knows he's about to land in the doghouse for something he did and is trying to dig himself out before i find out, or he's trying to make me feel guilty for something i didn't do. turns out it's the latter.
"honey, i was just thinking," i say to him on my cell as i'm driving up the road that leads to my office parking lot, "why did you *really* get me breakfast?!" he acted a little taken off-guard at first, but then lets me have it....lo and behold, i've been a little 'surly' to him lately and he was just trying to cheer me up. (but as my female co-worker so aptly pointed out, he's also rewarding my bad behavior! of course i'll stay bitchy if it means i get a treat every morning...)
i admit, sometimes i am surly....i've always been the kind of person who seems like i'm always in a good mood and pretty positive, and i usually am....but when i'm not, i only let it show at home. my friends and co-workers have never seen me really mad or pissed off....the only person who really gets the brunt of my anger or surliness is him. sometimes i guess from being 'on' all day and from juggling work, a home, and being a mom and wife, i let down my guard at home and get into my 'leave me the f#$& alone' mode (especially late at night after the little one's gone to sleep and he's surfing through 32 different channels over the course of a two-minute commercial break while simultaneously surfing the web and not talking to me even though we haven't seen each other for more than a few hours over the past couple of days...oh wait, do i sound bitter about that?!)
and speaking of being bitter....when the eff is the sun ever going to come out?! we've had so much rain and coldness lately, i forget what the sun looks like, even though i think i saw it for a few minutes this morning. i really want to take my daughter to the park that's two blocks from our house -- she loves the swings and running through the grass, but it's been so muddy lately. i know we'll have lots of time to do that this summer, but i get impatient!
randomness....
ok, so i've seen this on other blogs and since i don't have anything particularly profound to write at this minute, here are....
Ten completely mundane facts about me:
10. i don't know how to light a match. i've tried many, many times but for some reason, can't get the hang of it....so if i don't have a lighter handy, my candles sit unlit.
9. i tend to not use caps when i type, and especially when i blog. not sure why...maybe from being a journalism major and always having to play 'by the rules' with my grammar?
8. i'm an only child.
7. my first pet was a goldfish (named, aptly, goldie)....after that, i had a turtle (toby), some hermit crabs, a tankful of goldfish, and now, two cats (callie & cleo) and a beagle (snoopy).
6. i played a man in a theater production! a few years ago, Dork and i were in a summer production of "arsenic and old lace" at allegheny highlands regional theatre, and i played dr. einstein, who had a mustache and dressed in baggy clothing. i adopted a deep voice and sinister laugh, and for about five seconds, even considered cutting my shoulder-length hair off to look like a man's....but then i came to my senses and ended up slicking it back over my ears and tucking in back in a hidden ponytail.
5. the first real job i had was a cashier at a supermarket when i was 16 years old. i was shy as a kid but couldn't wait to start working (to overcome that 'spoiled only child' stigma! lol) and got to talk to lots of interesting people and made new friends with my co-workers (and even got some dates out of the deal...), and overcame my shyness by talking to so many strangers.
4. i don't have a middle name....i have two first names but no middle name. when i got married, i hyphenated, and now i have four names (guess that more than makes up for my lack of a middle name!)
3. my dream job in the whole world is to do public relations for disney -- i think it would be lots of fun to coordinate promotions for a world-known place of family fun. either that or being a dj (i'm a music fanatic and would love to get paid for playing music and talking about it!)
2. i have a food phobia about warm and mushy foods, and certain textures of foods just ick me out (so much that i feel sick when i go to eat them).
1. i always knew i wanted to be some form of journalist, from the time i was quoted by my hometown newspaper in third grade about a science project that i did, to the time i had to do a career report in seventh grade and wrote to a tv reporter in pittsburgh about the news reporting field and she actually answered me back and sealed my future career plans.
Ten completely mundane facts about me:
10. i don't know how to light a match. i've tried many, many times but for some reason, can't get the hang of it....so if i don't have a lighter handy, my candles sit unlit.
9. i tend to not use caps when i type, and especially when i blog. not sure why...maybe from being a journalism major and always having to play 'by the rules' with my grammar?
8. i'm an only child.
7. my first pet was a goldfish (named, aptly, goldie)....after that, i had a turtle (toby), some hermit crabs, a tankful of goldfish, and now, two cats (callie & cleo) and a beagle (snoopy).
6. i played a man in a theater production! a few years ago, Dork and i were in a summer production of "arsenic and old lace" at allegheny highlands regional theatre, and i played dr. einstein, who had a mustache and dressed in baggy clothing. i adopted a deep voice and sinister laugh, and for about five seconds, even considered cutting my shoulder-length hair off to look like a man's....but then i came to my senses and ended up slicking it back over my ears and tucking in back in a hidden ponytail.
5. the first real job i had was a cashier at a supermarket when i was 16 years old. i was shy as a kid but couldn't wait to start working (to overcome that 'spoiled only child' stigma! lol) and got to talk to lots of interesting people and made new friends with my co-workers (and even got some dates out of the deal...), and overcame my shyness by talking to so many strangers.
4. i don't have a middle name....i have two first names but no middle name. when i got married, i hyphenated, and now i have four names (guess that more than makes up for my lack of a middle name!)
3. my dream job in the whole world is to do public relations for disney -- i think it would be lots of fun to coordinate promotions for a world-known place of family fun. either that or being a dj (i'm a music fanatic and would love to get paid for playing music and talking about it!)
2. i have a food phobia about warm and mushy foods, and certain textures of foods just ick me out (so much that i feel sick when i go to eat them).
1. i always knew i wanted to be some form of journalist, from the time i was quoted by my hometown newspaper in third grade about a science project that i did, to the time i had to do a career report in seventh grade and wrote to a tv reporter in pittsburgh about the news reporting field and she actually answered me back and sealed my future career plans.
Friday, May 16, 2008
tgif?
it's a dreary day today; in fact, if i didn't know it was the beginning of may, i couldn't tell the difference between a dreary february day and today, other than by looking at the trees. it's raining and cold, and would have been a great day to stay in bed and read a book, other then the fact that i do work full time and had things to do today!
i'm glad it's friday and the end of the work week, but i was busy last weekend with work events and i'll be busy this weekend, too, so it's not really much of a break. in case i didn't mention earlier, Dork also works on the weekends (he's off mondays and tuesdays....which will be the topic of a whole other entry...don't even get me started!) so, besides work events this weekend, i'm a single mom every weekend. it's great because i get her all to myself, but doing things together as a family like going to the park or taking a day trip are just out of the question. i also miss the times that he'd spend having breakfast with her while i finished my second cup of coffee and caught up on one or two chapters of whatever book i was reading at the time. that's changed, though, since he got a promotion, and now my weekends are filled with mommy and baby time.
i'm supposed to help plant flowers for a service project that my mom's group is doing tomorrow (but praying for rain so that we can stay inside in our jammies and watch tv and color together!) and am scooping ice cream for a work event sunday....but it's supposed to be cold all weekend, so i better dig the sweatshirt out and trade in my flip-flops for sneakers. and, given the only 'sneakers' i wear are pink & gray ralph lauren girlie-girl ones that aren't very warm, i'll still be cold! (yes, i believe in wearing sneakers to the gym, not as a fashion accessory....i'm weird like that...or maybe i'm not the weird one, but the people who actually walk around with suits and sneakers on are the crazies!)
i'm glad it's friday and the end of the work week, but i was busy last weekend with work events and i'll be busy this weekend, too, so it's not really much of a break. in case i didn't mention earlier, Dork also works on the weekends (he's off mondays and tuesdays....which will be the topic of a whole other entry...don't even get me started!) so, besides work events this weekend, i'm a single mom every weekend. it's great because i get her all to myself, but doing things together as a family like going to the park or taking a day trip are just out of the question. i also miss the times that he'd spend having breakfast with her while i finished my second cup of coffee and caught up on one or two chapters of whatever book i was reading at the time. that's changed, though, since he got a promotion, and now my weekends are filled with mommy and baby time.
i'm supposed to help plant flowers for a service project that my mom's group is doing tomorrow (but praying for rain so that we can stay inside in our jammies and watch tv and color together!) and am scooping ice cream for a work event sunday....but it's supposed to be cold all weekend, so i better dig the sweatshirt out and trade in my flip-flops for sneakers. and, given the only 'sneakers' i wear are pink & gray ralph lauren girlie-girl ones that aren't very warm, i'll still be cold! (yes, i believe in wearing sneakers to the gym, not as a fashion accessory....i'm weird like that...or maybe i'm not the weird one, but the people who actually walk around with suits and sneakers on are the crazies!)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
feeling guilty for not feeling guilty...
one of the best parts of my job is that i get to travel and meet with alumni and donors for the college where i work, and that means i often get to stay over if i'm going to be out of town. because i have a two year-old, my single male colleague usually does the bulk of the extended travel, but i still have a night or two each month away from home.
i felt bad about being away from home when i first started the job last year -- my daughter had just turned one and, in my mind, was still a baby who needed me there 24/7. now that she's two, i don't feel so bad about not being there every minute of the day; she has a great time with my mom and my hubby, and it makes the time that i am with her all that more special. but i still can't help feeling a bit guilty as i sit in my hotel room outside of d.c., savoring the last few chapters of jen lancaster's "such a pretty fat" without the interruption of cries or 'mamamamamamama.' a tiny part of me feels bad that i'm not with her at this minute, but the rest of me is savoring the trip...the crisp, pristine white sheets...the floor that i can step down on without fear of breaking a crayon into bits or feeling the sharp corner of a wooden block on my bare foot...and the simple fact that i could watch all of 'american idol' without Dork flipping through 37 channels during the commercial break.
sitting here with my book on my lap, tv tuned to one channel, and laptop open and sitting beside me on the bed makes me fondly reminisce about my single days, before Dork and morgan, when i could watch whatever i wanted without interruptions and when i knew that my computer was safe without the threat of tiny fingers tapping on it or spilling cereal on the keyboard. but then i remember the sound of her little laugh, and how my heart almost bursts every day when i pick her up from school and she runs over to see me, yelling 'mamamama' and hugging my legs, and suddenly those 'happy' memories of being single and carefree aren't as appealing after all. see, i'm lucky because i get the best of both worlds, and i couldn't be happier....guilt or no guilt.
i felt bad about being away from home when i first started the job last year -- my daughter had just turned one and, in my mind, was still a baby who needed me there 24/7. now that she's two, i don't feel so bad about not being there every minute of the day; she has a great time with my mom and my hubby, and it makes the time that i am with her all that more special. but i still can't help feeling a bit guilty as i sit in my hotel room outside of d.c., savoring the last few chapters of jen lancaster's "such a pretty fat" without the interruption of cries or 'mamamamamamama.' a tiny part of me feels bad that i'm not with her at this minute, but the rest of me is savoring the trip...the crisp, pristine white sheets...the floor that i can step down on without fear of breaking a crayon into bits or feeling the sharp corner of a wooden block on my bare foot...and the simple fact that i could watch all of 'american idol' without Dork flipping through 37 channels during the commercial break.
sitting here with my book on my lap, tv tuned to one channel, and laptop open and sitting beside me on the bed makes me fondly reminisce about my single days, before Dork and morgan, when i could watch whatever i wanted without interruptions and when i knew that my computer was safe without the threat of tiny fingers tapping on it or spilling cereal on the keyboard. but then i remember the sound of her little laugh, and how my heart almost bursts every day when i pick her up from school and she runs over to see me, yelling 'mamamama' and hugging my legs, and suddenly those 'happy' memories of being single and carefree aren't as appealing after all. see, i'm lucky because i get the best of both worlds, and i couldn't be happier....guilt or no guilt.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Cinco De Mayo
So I had a lousy day yesterday -- just busy with lots of meetings -- and my daughter has been a holy terror. Between throwing tantrums and every other word out of her mouth being "mine!", I had a PMS-induced breakdown last night.
In typical "I need to control everything everything" fashion, I was browsing through the rack of Mother's Day cards at our local Target, with my daughter sitting in the cart and my husband nearby. As I'm browsing through the cards, I see the most adorable card that a little girl should send to her mommy, and I show it to Dork, who proceeds to tell me that that would ruin the surprise if he'd buy me that card, and that he had everything taken care of. (This is coming from the man who, on my first Mother's Day, thought it would be sweet to give me a card 'from my daughter' that talked about farting....so you can see why I feel the need to tell my husband the type of appropriate cards that he should be picking!)
So when I see the cute, sappy card, I start crying and tell Dork that he has no taste in picking out cards and that he just doesn't understand what being a mom is all about...and blah, blah, blah, right in the middle of Target. My two year-old, of course, is just sitting in the cart looking at me and laughing, and my husband then tells her that they should take a walk "since Mommy will be awhile at the cards." That really makes me look like a blubbering idiot, since I'm now standing at the card display crying....and my husband and kid have left, so I'm there alone.
I pull myself together and go browse at the makeup display to take my mind off of what I was doing (and besides, since I'm PMS-ing it, I needed a bit of a shopping fix and figured a few new lipsticks should make me happy). The family meets up with me and we go on our merry way home, and as I'm changing my daughter and putting her in her jammies, I hear Dork rustling around in the kitchen. Turns out that he decides that I could use a drink, and a pitcher of margaritas, complete with chips, salsa, and a salt-rimmed glass, are waiting for me in the kitchen after I put her to bed. Guess it's not such a bad Cinco de Mayo after all, even if I am bloated and bitchy!
In typical "I need to control everything everything" fashion, I was browsing through the rack of Mother's Day cards at our local Target, with my daughter sitting in the cart and my husband nearby. As I'm browsing through the cards, I see the most adorable card that a little girl should send to her mommy, and I show it to Dork, who proceeds to tell me that that would ruin the surprise if he'd buy me that card, and that he had everything taken care of. (This is coming from the man who, on my first Mother's Day, thought it would be sweet to give me a card 'from my daughter' that talked about farting....so you can see why I feel the need to tell my husband the type of appropriate cards that he should be picking!)
So when I see the cute, sappy card, I start crying and tell Dork that he has no taste in picking out cards and that he just doesn't understand what being a mom is all about...and blah, blah, blah, right in the middle of Target. My two year-old, of course, is just sitting in the cart looking at me and laughing, and my husband then tells her that they should take a walk "since Mommy will be awhile at the cards." That really makes me look like a blubbering idiot, since I'm now standing at the card display crying....and my husband and kid have left, so I'm there alone.
I pull myself together and go browse at the makeup display to take my mind off of what I was doing (and besides, since I'm PMS-ing it, I needed a bit of a shopping fix and figured a few new lipsticks should make me happy). The family meets up with me and we go on our merry way home, and as I'm changing my daughter and putting her in her jammies, I hear Dork rustling around in the kitchen. Turns out that he decides that I could use a drink, and a pitcher of margaritas, complete with chips, salsa, and a salt-rimmed glass, are waiting for me in the kitchen after I put her to bed. Guess it's not such a bad Cinco de Mayo after all, even if I am bloated and bitchy!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
here it is...
...my foray into blog-dum. Well, it's not really my first foray -- I've started blogs on other sites and just never kept up with them for one reason or another (my boss walking in my office as I was getting ready to uplod the latest pics of my daughter to my blog may be a good reason). I also had one on Blogger that I lost all of the previous entries when it converted over to the new version -- so I guess I'm SOL and will need to start fresh with my blogging.
What better time to start my new attempts at blogging than on a Sunday night around 9:30 pm when I'm should be working on some reports that I need to turn in in the morning at work -- but no, I wasn't feeling 'inspired' writing the reports. Not quite sure what I'm hoping will inspire me as I find myself doing head bobs as I stare at the laptop while I'm sitting in bed, but hopefully some inspiration will come and knock me over the head with it!!
What better time to start my new attempts at blogging than on a Sunday night around 9:30 pm when I'm should be working on some reports that I need to turn in in the morning at work -- but no, I wasn't feeling 'inspired' writing the reports. Not quite sure what I'm hoping will inspire me as I find myself doing head bobs as I stare at the laptop while I'm sitting in bed, but hopefully some inspiration will come and knock me over the head with it!!
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