in addition to my full-time job and my 'job' as a mom - which i do take very seriously - i also do some freelance writing and layout/design work. since my degree is in communications and i've been writing for just about as long as i can remember, i thought taking on some freelance work would be fun and exciting, since i don't do much creative writing in my current position. well, for the most part, it IS fun except when i try to cram it in along with all of the other things that i have to get done.
right now (yes, as we speak...err, type) i'm attempting to work on a newsletter and write copy/photoshop some photos/design a eye-catching layout. all the while while it's 2am and i'm serving in church later today (in a few hours -- which means i can't shut off the alarm and put the pillow over my head and stay home) and i've got to get this newsletter done by the end of the weekend.
but instead of buckling down and working on it, i surfed the web in between writing copy (although i did find some great blogs to add to my blogroll) and tuned in to some fun shows on E!, the Style network and Bravo that I hadn't seen for awhile. well, I didn't actually mean to tune in...but they were on in the background, and my attention just got sucked to the tv and away from the laptop not more than a foot from my face. it's mazing how sometimes when you are under the gun and trying to get something done, you deep down don't want to be doing it after all and will find any other thing that can possibly divert your attention. not sure if that's a universal thing or just a me thing (adult add, anyone?!) but i remember being the same way in college -- i'd have an exam to study for or a paper to finish and instead of doing the project at hand, my roomies and i would sit up and talk or i'd make sure i took breaks every half hour or so to do something 'important' like clean up the kitchen, paint my hails, or call a friend.
and now, as it gets later and later, and as the tv selection gets worse and worse, i'm faced with the decision that i know i must make. if i continue to tune in to the show that just came on -- an infomercial on some dancing/weightloss video being hawked by a scary christina aguilera look-alike -- i know that bad karma will get me, in the form of my daughter waking up at 4am and totally wrecking any hope of sleep! instead of being a distraction waiting to happen like i normally am, i think i'm ready to allow a nice fluffy pillow and soft blanket distract me from it all. nite-nite!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
can't believe it's over already :(
just as much as i was looking forward to vacation, i'm now bumming just as much that it's over. for the past few years -- actually, since morgan was born -- i've taken long weekends off, but we haven't gone anywhere for a week since she was born, and i had forgotten the sheer joy of not having to worry about a schedule or being anywhere at a given time....heck, aside from that, let's not forget the joy of not having to wear footwear that resembled anything other than a flip-flop for a week!
i also never realized just how much *STUFF* you could actually pack into an suv for a week-long trip! as i mentioned in my last entry, the days of just piling a few things into a suitcase and not giving any forethought to what you're taking are long gone now that morgan's here -- but it was a great learning experience because now i know that i won't need to take nearly as many toys or clothes on vacation next summer. i figured it was better to be prepared than to need something and not have it -- but i also found out that morgan was so exhausted by the end of a day spent swimming, building sand castles, eating ice cream on the boardwalk, riding kiddie rides and hitting the outlets with mommy that the last thing she wanted to do when she got back to the beach house was play with her toys.
undoubtedly one of the best parts of the whole week was the afternoon of the first day we arrived. we decided to just walk along the boardwalk and take in all the sights then walk on the beach for awhile. when morgan saw the sand and the waves, her eyes grew huge and the biggest smile spread across her face. "my beach! my beach!," she exclaimed, amazed by what appeared to be the world's largest sandbox beneath her tiny toes. she was a bit daunted at first by the sound of the waves crashing against the shoreline, but as she stood staring out to sea and held mommy's hand on one side and daddy's on the other and we helped her jump high over the approaching waves as we counted 1...2...3...jump!!, she loved it and couldn't wait to come back the next day, shouting "beach, i'm coming!" and running toward the sand.
when i was anticipating my vacation and thought about the fact that i wouldn't be able to lie on the beach and relax and read like i had done before morgan, i was a bit upset....but honestly, i had so much fun running after her as her little legs carried her down from our perch under our umbrella to the shoreline that i didn't even miss it. we crafted sandcastles from the plastic molds that we brought with us (and kept sending poor daddy back to fetch water to make the sand just the right consistency!) and we buried our legs and toes so they were hidden below the sandy surface. i chased after her with our videocamera, watching her as she helped daddy launch a kite on the beach at dusk. and she and i split a hot dog and a coke that we got from a beach vendor....hmmm, does eating sand count as fiber?? (and yes, i know that i'm a quasi-vegetarian and a hot dog is off limits; i also know that a two year-old shouldn't be making a diet of processed meat and soda....but this was vacation, after all).
i was also pleasantly surprised at how well morgan adapted to our new home-away-from-home. i thought she might be homesick for some toy she forgot to bring or for 'mam-mam', my mom whom she loves dearly and will choose anytime over daddy and mommy. she loved our house and explored each room as soon as we arrived, and she quickly learned what our house looked like, pointing to it as we approached it each afternoon after a long day at the beach or an evening of fun and exclaiming, "my house, my house!" (yeah, she is at that great age where she thinks everything is hers). she even made sure to say good night to the beach and the sand and the seagulls and the moon and the boardwalk each evening when we headed for home, eagerly anticipating the next day.
and now, after being back at our real home for almost a week, it's a bittersweet feeling to look back and reminisce about our week together. after all, it was morgan's first trip to the beach and the first week that the three of us spent together without the distractions of phones, computers, work concerns, daycare, and TV (ok, we cheated a little bit on that one....but it was only on for about an hour a day, when we watched Curious George in the morning!). unfortunately, we're now back into the swing of real life and i miss having her all to my self....but i'll always have great memories of our first true vacation as a family!
i also never realized just how much *STUFF* you could actually pack into an suv for a week-long trip! as i mentioned in my last entry, the days of just piling a few things into a suitcase and not giving any forethought to what you're taking are long gone now that morgan's here -- but it was a great learning experience because now i know that i won't need to take nearly as many toys or clothes on vacation next summer. i figured it was better to be prepared than to need something and not have it -- but i also found out that morgan was so exhausted by the end of a day spent swimming, building sand castles, eating ice cream on the boardwalk, riding kiddie rides and hitting the outlets with mommy that the last thing she wanted to do when she got back to the beach house was play with her toys.
undoubtedly one of the best parts of the whole week was the afternoon of the first day we arrived. we decided to just walk along the boardwalk and take in all the sights then walk on the beach for awhile. when morgan saw the sand and the waves, her eyes grew huge and the biggest smile spread across her face. "my beach! my beach!," she exclaimed, amazed by what appeared to be the world's largest sandbox beneath her tiny toes. she was a bit daunted at first by the sound of the waves crashing against the shoreline, but as she stood staring out to sea and held mommy's hand on one side and daddy's on the other and we helped her jump high over the approaching waves as we counted 1...2...3...jump!!, she loved it and couldn't wait to come back the next day, shouting "beach, i'm coming!" and running toward the sand.
when i was anticipating my vacation and thought about the fact that i wouldn't be able to lie on the beach and relax and read like i had done before morgan, i was a bit upset....but honestly, i had so much fun running after her as her little legs carried her down from our perch under our umbrella to the shoreline that i didn't even miss it. we crafted sandcastles from the plastic molds that we brought with us (and kept sending poor daddy back to fetch water to make the sand just the right consistency!) and we buried our legs and toes so they were hidden below the sandy surface. i chased after her with our videocamera, watching her as she helped daddy launch a kite on the beach at dusk. and she and i split a hot dog and a coke that we got from a beach vendor....hmmm, does eating sand count as fiber?? (and yes, i know that i'm a quasi-vegetarian and a hot dog is off limits; i also know that a two year-old shouldn't be making a diet of processed meat and soda....but this was vacation, after all).
i was also pleasantly surprised at how well morgan adapted to our new home-away-from-home. i thought she might be homesick for some toy she forgot to bring or for 'mam-mam', my mom whom she loves dearly and will choose anytime over daddy and mommy. she loved our house and explored each room as soon as we arrived, and she quickly learned what our house looked like, pointing to it as we approached it each afternoon after a long day at the beach or an evening of fun and exclaiming, "my house, my house!" (yeah, she is at that great age where she thinks everything is hers). she even made sure to say good night to the beach and the sand and the seagulls and the moon and the boardwalk each evening when we headed for home, eagerly anticipating the next day.
and now, after being back at our real home for almost a week, it's a bittersweet feeling to look back and reminisce about our week together. after all, it was morgan's first trip to the beach and the first week that the three of us spent together without the distractions of phones, computers, work concerns, daycare, and TV (ok, we cheated a little bit on that one....but it was only on for about an hour a day, when we watched Curious George in the morning!). unfortunately, we're now back into the swing of real life and i miss having her all to my self....but i'll always have great memories of our first true vacation as a family!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
vacation - and fall - are just around the corner
well, i've been eagerly anticipating this week for most of the summer, and it's finally here! yes, this is the week that my family and i leave for vacation. i'm especially excited because it will be morgan's first time ever at the beach and i hope she loves it as much as i think she will. she loves to swim, and one of her fave things to do at home is sit in her sandbox and throw sand everywhere and make a mess -- which are the two things she'll get to do a lot of next week and will hopefully love at the beach.
there's always so much pre-planning to do before vacation, though, and even more than i ever realized now that we have a child. no more grabbing a few pair of shorts, flip flops, tossing everything in a small suitcase and heading out the door -- nope, we now have to make sure we have beach umbrellas (so morgan doesn't burn in the sun), sand pails and toys for the beach (to build the perfect sandcastle and hopefully keep her from wanting to constantly eat sand or run head-on into the ocean), spf 70 in spray form (again, the no-burn thing -- a red screaming child at the beach isn't my idea of fun), a backpack to hold all of her gear at the beach (so that i can hold onto her, along with the beach chairs, umbrellas, blankets, cooler, toys, and all the other assorted stuff that will be weighing us down as we trod onto the sand). hell, i even found a site online that has vacation checklists that you can print out -- since we've never done a full-fledged vacation with a child (and yes, since i'm a control freak...) i wanted to make sure that we have all our bases covered and i'm not forgetting something vital. after all, i don't want to scar my daughter for life because i forgot to pack her fave juice boxes to drink on the beach.
her clothes have been washed and set aside for a week, and i'm finishing up the last of the laundry tonight...so now it's time to grab her toys and find that ones to take that either (a) aren't going to cause a meltdown if we happen to lose them while we're there, or (b) don't have so many pieces to them that they'll get scattered throughout the beach house we're staying in, or (c) don't require batteries to operate that will inevitably go dead while we're there, or (d) aren't so cumbersome that they'll take up valuable packing space, or (e) won't cause a meltdown because she can't play with them during the 24 hours between the time they're packed and the time we arrive at the beach. so once i narrow down that list (unfortunately, i didn't locate a list on the 'net for selecting the perfect toys to take on vacation), i will hopefully have one less thing to worry about.
as much as i love this time of the year and look forward to it each summer, there's always a melancholy sadness that goes along with it for me. summer is my favorite time of year, without a doubt -- i hate winter, hate snow and ice (even though it is quite beautiful), don't like to be cold, don't participate in winter sports because i don't like to be cold (and i live in the northeast, where we get actual winters and school delays and closings), yada yada. problem is, right after summer is over, fall is quickly ushered in, and that means winter isn't far behind. in my mind, once vacation is over, it's all downhill from there because cold weather will soon be on its way....and along with it, snow, ice, and darkness when i get up and when i leave my office at the end of the day.
even though i'm a glass-is-half-full kinda gal, this is one thing that's always gotten me down as long as i can remember in my adult life. i've always fought to stay positive after i get home from vacation, but i don't totally succeed. sure, this year will be fun because morgan will be more into halloween and we'll have so much fun picking out our costume and dressing up. the chancellor at the college where i work has an awesome halloween party for faculty and staff at her home and i look forward each year to dressing up and having a great time. and fall is no doubt very beautiful where i live, and morgan and i will have a great time jumping in the piles of leaves and picking out pumpkins, and we might even attempt a corn maze this year, which was hard to do in a stoller last fall. but that dark cloud of impending winter still permeates my thoughts and bums me out. i'll try more than ever to not let it interfere with enjoying all the great moments of the season with my husband and daughter that i possibly can....and who knows, maybe i'll even find a checklist online that will tell me all i need to do to have the perfect winter!! if you have any ideas to keep me bright and sunny instead of cold and dreary, do share :)
there's always so much pre-planning to do before vacation, though, and even more than i ever realized now that we have a child. no more grabbing a few pair of shorts, flip flops, tossing everything in a small suitcase and heading out the door -- nope, we now have to make sure we have beach umbrellas (so morgan doesn't burn in the sun), sand pails and toys for the beach (to build the perfect sandcastle and hopefully keep her from wanting to constantly eat sand or run head-on into the ocean), spf 70 in spray form (again, the no-burn thing -- a red screaming child at the beach isn't my idea of fun), a backpack to hold all of her gear at the beach (so that i can hold onto her, along with the beach chairs, umbrellas, blankets, cooler, toys, and all the other assorted stuff that will be weighing us down as we trod onto the sand). hell, i even found a site online that has vacation checklists that you can print out -- since we've never done a full-fledged vacation with a child (and yes, since i'm a control freak...) i wanted to make sure that we have all our bases covered and i'm not forgetting something vital. after all, i don't want to scar my daughter for life because i forgot to pack her fave juice boxes to drink on the beach.
her clothes have been washed and set aside for a week, and i'm finishing up the last of the laundry tonight...so now it's time to grab her toys and find that ones to take that either (a) aren't going to cause a meltdown if we happen to lose them while we're there, or (b) don't have so many pieces to them that they'll get scattered throughout the beach house we're staying in, or (c) don't require batteries to operate that will inevitably go dead while we're there, or (d) aren't so cumbersome that they'll take up valuable packing space, or (e) won't cause a meltdown because she can't play with them during the 24 hours between the time they're packed and the time we arrive at the beach. so once i narrow down that list (unfortunately, i didn't locate a list on the 'net for selecting the perfect toys to take on vacation), i will hopefully have one less thing to worry about.
as much as i love this time of the year and look forward to it each summer, there's always a melancholy sadness that goes along with it for me. summer is my favorite time of year, without a doubt -- i hate winter, hate snow and ice (even though it is quite beautiful), don't like to be cold, don't participate in winter sports because i don't like to be cold (and i live in the northeast, where we get actual winters and school delays and closings), yada yada. problem is, right after summer is over, fall is quickly ushered in, and that means winter isn't far behind. in my mind, once vacation is over, it's all downhill from there because cold weather will soon be on its way....and along with it, snow, ice, and darkness when i get up and when i leave my office at the end of the day.
even though i'm a glass-is-half-full kinda gal, this is one thing that's always gotten me down as long as i can remember in my adult life. i've always fought to stay positive after i get home from vacation, but i don't totally succeed. sure, this year will be fun because morgan will be more into halloween and we'll have so much fun picking out our costume and dressing up. the chancellor at the college where i work has an awesome halloween party for faculty and staff at her home and i look forward each year to dressing up and having a great time. and fall is no doubt very beautiful where i live, and morgan and i will have a great time jumping in the piles of leaves and picking out pumpkins, and we might even attempt a corn maze this year, which was hard to do in a stoller last fall. but that dark cloud of impending winter still permeates my thoughts and bums me out. i'll try more than ever to not let it interfere with enjoying all the great moments of the season with my husband and daughter that i possibly can....and who knows, maybe i'll even find a checklist online that will tell me all i need to do to have the perfect winter!! if you have any ideas to keep me bright and sunny instead of cold and dreary, do share :)
Friday, August 8, 2008
blogging with good intentions
although i love writing entries in here, i (obviously!!) don't write them often enough. it seems like everyday life often gets in the way of just taking a few minutes out of my day to be creative and reflect on my thoughts.
unfortunately, with a two-year old, most of my reflective thoughts come at inopportune times to write about them: the solitude of my 20-minute commute to work each morning (OK, i use solitude really loosely here...for me, solitude is having my radio blaring, listening to either my favorite morning show or whatever CD i pop in that gets me awake and ready to hit the day running), washing dishes and loading the dishwasher after my daughter's gone to bed, in the shower as the water pulses down my back and i'm waking up. you get the picture -- i get inspired whenever my laptop happens not to be around. i'm a techno-geek and all, but i still haven't figured out how to write a blog entry from my phone -- which is probably a good thing, given that i was texting someone a few weeks ago as i went through a drive-thru for a cup of coffee and now have a nice scratch on the side of my door to show for it! guess that shows what too much multitasking will get me.
i get these great thoughts of what to write about....last week, on my way to the office, i decided that i just had to tell about my daughter experiencing her sandbox for the very first time....but by the time i parked my car, grabbed a cup of coffee, shot the bull for a minute with my co-workers, checked my e-mail and listened to my voice messages, any thoughts i had about making a new blog entry were quickly replaced by what donor i was visiting that day and how many phone calls i had to return. this morning, too, i had every good intention of talking about Dork's struggle that he's going through this week and how i'm trying to be a supportive wife from 100 miles away (he is away on business all week....and he's trying to quit smoking). however, i had to review a proposal that was on my desk, answer a few e-mails to people i'm planning on visiting in maryland next week, and look up some info i needed for a 10am meeting and my computer wouldn't cooperate. after doing that, writing a blog was the furtherest thing from my mind.
and now, even as i sit at my desk finishing my lunch and enjoying a few minutes of computer surfing before i try to overcome my writer's block and finish the three reports i have to do by the end of the day, i don't feel very reflective and contemplative....but i do know that just when i least expect it this weekend, i'll have a great idea for my next blog entry rush through my mind. unfortunately, you'll probably never get to read it!!!
unfortunately, with a two-year old, most of my reflective thoughts come at inopportune times to write about them: the solitude of my 20-minute commute to work each morning (OK, i use solitude really loosely here...for me, solitude is having my radio blaring, listening to either my favorite morning show or whatever CD i pop in that gets me awake and ready to hit the day running), washing dishes and loading the dishwasher after my daughter's gone to bed, in the shower as the water pulses down my back and i'm waking up. you get the picture -- i get inspired whenever my laptop happens not to be around. i'm a techno-geek and all, but i still haven't figured out how to write a blog entry from my phone -- which is probably a good thing, given that i was texting someone a few weeks ago as i went through a drive-thru for a cup of coffee and now have a nice scratch on the side of my door to show for it! guess that shows what too much multitasking will get me.
i get these great thoughts of what to write about....last week, on my way to the office, i decided that i just had to tell about my daughter experiencing her sandbox for the very first time....but by the time i parked my car, grabbed a cup of coffee, shot the bull for a minute with my co-workers, checked my e-mail and listened to my voice messages, any thoughts i had about making a new blog entry were quickly replaced by what donor i was visiting that day and how many phone calls i had to return. this morning, too, i had every good intention of talking about Dork's struggle that he's going through this week and how i'm trying to be a supportive wife from 100 miles away (he is away on business all week....and he's trying to quit smoking). however, i had to review a proposal that was on my desk, answer a few e-mails to people i'm planning on visiting in maryland next week, and look up some info i needed for a 10am meeting and my computer wouldn't cooperate. after doing that, writing a blog was the furtherest thing from my mind.
and now, even as i sit at my desk finishing my lunch and enjoying a few minutes of computer surfing before i try to overcome my writer's block and finish the three reports i have to do by the end of the day, i don't feel very reflective and contemplative....but i do know that just when i least expect it this weekend, i'll have a great idea for my next blog entry rush through my mind. unfortunately, you'll probably never get to read it!!!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
libraries -- a refuge of peace? not so much for me
when i was little, i used to love going to the library with my mom to check out my favorite books and play in the kiddie area. i've always loved books, but my love of the library was replaced by not-so-pleasant feelings when i went to college and had to research topics in "the stacks," which, at penn state, are dark, narrow and creepy corridors that reek of stale air and old books. those experiences, along with having to do mandatory sorority study hours in the library (come on, i would rather have chatted with my sisters about what party we were going to that night than have to crack open a boring oriental philosophy or history of communications book!) gave me a less-than-savory feeling about libraries.
after i graduated from penn state, and then grad school, i thought i'd give libraries another chance, now that i wasn't *forced* to use them for boring research. i went to my little hometown library, where i enjoyed going as a kid, and got an adult library card and checked out some books about my new career and some fun reading, and i had a great relationship with my library -- for a few years.
since i was going fairly regularly and reading quite a bit, i decided to check out a whole stack of books on some of the locations that dork and i were thinking of going for our honeymoon. frommers, fodor, lonely planet, you name them, i checked them out, with great intention of reading them all and doing some research on what island locations would be the most tranquil, have the best beaches and, of course, have the best shopping. (only kidding about that last one....mostly).
i did manage to read and get great info, but in the process of planning my wedding, packing away a lot of my stuff and moving dork's stuff in to my (our) townhouse, three of the books got misplaced/packed away/thrown out/kicked under the bed, or otherwise sucked into that big black hole that exists when you can't find something you're l0oking for. i returned the remaining 10 or so books that i had....and getting caught up in married life, then enjoying the barnes & noble that had opened, and then becoming pregnant, i hadn't visited the library in a few years because i was occupied with other concerns. but now that my concern at hand was the little peanut growing inside, i thought i'd head to the library to check out some books on parenting and healthy baby development. i almost had a hormonal meltdown when i went to check out my books and the library tech said that i couldn't get them -- because i had built up $100 in fines!! that wasn't exactly what i had planned for, and in my pregnant state, i didn't handle the news so well....so i slammed my books on the counter and stormed out, never to return again....until this week.
i went there to pick out some books for an elderly friend of mine who recently had surgery and can't drive for awhile. she loaned me her library card and gave me a list of what she wanted, so i buzzed through the stacks over my lunch break and even found her some vhs tapes on the railroad that i thought she would enjoy watching. i marched up to the circulation desk and presented the materials and the library card of "mrs. jane doe" and the lady checked them out and uneventfully slid them down to the end of the counter.
i figured that i'd take care of getting my daughter a library card while i was there, and she proceeded to help me with that. that is, up until i gave her my daughter's last name, which didn't match mine of "d0e". the following exchange then ensued:
"i can't let you take these books."
"you mean these, that i just checked out?"
"yes, because they're not yours."
"but i got them for my friend and this is her library card, which you just used to check the books out on."
"yes but i thought that was you."
"so you're saying i could have taken the books if i wouldn't have mentioned my daughter's last name, which was different than what was on the card."
(silence)
"my friend is elderly and can't drive, and she can't come to the library right now."
"well, she'll have to come in to sign a form saying that she's homebound, and then we will put that on file, and then a family member of hers can check out books for her."
"but her family live out of the area. i have her number on my cell -- let me call her and she'll give you authorization for me to pick them up."
"are you a family member? if not, don't bother calling her."
"no, i just told you, her family live out of town."
(again, silence)
"so, if i understand you, i just spent 1/2 hour out of my day looking for books, waiting in line for 15 minutes to check them out, actually checking them out, but then not being able to take them because i'm not a family member on record."
(note: i didn't exactly resemble someone intending to rip off a library in broad daylight, as i stood there in a pant suit and heels, carrying my coach bag in one hand and cell in the other).
"that's correct. so...do you think you'll be back for the books, because if you come back, we'll have to re-check them out again?"
once again...there was a slam and a storm....and a big apology to my friend for coming up empty-handed when i visited her later in the day. i'm not exactly sure if it will be a few years until i visit the library again....but i do know that i don't encounter that kind of "customer service" at barnes & noble. and last time i checked, my local library didn't have scones and infusions of caffeine readily available, so bet you can guess where i'll be doing most of my reading in the future.
after i graduated from penn state, and then grad school, i thought i'd give libraries another chance, now that i wasn't *forced* to use them for boring research. i went to my little hometown library, where i enjoyed going as a kid, and got an adult library card and checked out some books about my new career and some fun reading, and i had a great relationship with my library -- for a few years.
since i was going fairly regularly and reading quite a bit, i decided to check out a whole stack of books on some of the locations that dork and i were thinking of going for our honeymoon. frommers, fodor, lonely planet, you name them, i checked them out, with great intention of reading them all and doing some research on what island locations would be the most tranquil, have the best beaches and, of course, have the best shopping. (only kidding about that last one....mostly).
i did manage to read and get great info, but in the process of planning my wedding, packing away a lot of my stuff and moving dork's stuff in to my (our) townhouse, three of the books got misplaced/packed away/thrown out/kicked under the bed, or otherwise sucked into that big black hole that exists when you can't find something you're l0oking for. i returned the remaining 10 or so books that i had....and getting caught up in married life, then enjoying the barnes & noble that had opened, and then becoming pregnant, i hadn't visited the library in a few years because i was occupied with other concerns. but now that my concern at hand was the little peanut growing inside, i thought i'd head to the library to check out some books on parenting and healthy baby development. i almost had a hormonal meltdown when i went to check out my books and the library tech said that i couldn't get them -- because i had built up $100 in fines!! that wasn't exactly what i had planned for, and in my pregnant state, i didn't handle the news so well....so i slammed my books on the counter and stormed out, never to return again....until this week.
i went there to pick out some books for an elderly friend of mine who recently had surgery and can't drive for awhile. she loaned me her library card and gave me a list of what she wanted, so i buzzed through the stacks over my lunch break and even found her some vhs tapes on the railroad that i thought she would enjoy watching. i marched up to the circulation desk and presented the materials and the library card of "mrs. jane doe" and the lady checked them out and uneventfully slid them down to the end of the counter.
i figured that i'd take care of getting my daughter a library card while i was there, and she proceeded to help me with that. that is, up until i gave her my daughter's last name, which didn't match mine of "d0e". the following exchange then ensued:
"i can't let you take these books."
"you mean these, that i just checked out?"
"yes, because they're not yours."
"but i got them for my friend and this is her library card, which you just used to check the books out on."
"yes but i thought that was you."
"so you're saying i could have taken the books if i wouldn't have mentioned my daughter's last name, which was different than what was on the card."
(silence)
"my friend is elderly and can't drive, and she can't come to the library right now."
"well, she'll have to come in to sign a form saying that she's homebound, and then we will put that on file, and then a family member of hers can check out books for her."
"but her family live out of the area. i have her number on my cell -- let me call her and she'll give you authorization for me to pick them up."
"are you a family member? if not, don't bother calling her."
"no, i just told you, her family live out of town."
(again, silence)
"so, if i understand you, i just spent 1/2 hour out of my day looking for books, waiting in line for 15 minutes to check them out, actually checking them out, but then not being able to take them because i'm not a family member on record."
(note: i didn't exactly resemble someone intending to rip off a library in broad daylight, as i stood there in a pant suit and heels, carrying my coach bag in one hand and cell in the other).
"that's correct. so...do you think you'll be back for the books, because if you come back, we'll have to re-check them out again?"
once again...there was a slam and a storm....and a big apology to my friend for coming up empty-handed when i visited her later in the day. i'm not exactly sure if it will be a few years until i visit the library again....but i do know that i don't encounter that kind of "customer service" at barnes & noble. and last time i checked, my local library didn't have scones and infusions of caffeine readily available, so bet you can guess where i'll be doing most of my reading in the future.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
hormones -- and hair -- from hell
i don't know about you, but i always was under the impression that, once you hit about 18, your 'girl' hormones got under control and all of the icky acne problems that occurred around *that* time of the month were suddenly wiped out, leaving you with nothing but rosy, smooth, and glowing skin all the time.
why, then, if that's the case, did i wake up this morning with a brand new zit that's big enough to have its own zip code? (mind you, i'm twice the age of someone who should be affected by hormones, so it's not like i'm reliving my second puberty or anything!) as i peered in the mirror this morning and saw an oily nose and forehead staring back at me -- and a forehead that now too closely resembled that of my cromagnon ancestors -- i debated whether it was even worth it to pile on loads of makeup to try and cover that sucker up. but then i came to my senses and devised what i thought was a perfectly reasonable plan as i finished getting ready for work and was ready to leave the house: i would cut my bangs to cover the zit!
never mind that i just got my hair cut last week. never mind that my bangs were already neatly brushed over to the side and i was having a semi-good hair morning. and never mind that, as usual, i was running out the door to get my daughter to daycare and get to work at a reasonable time (i can't say 'get to work on time', because that rarely happens!) no, that all went out the window when i deduced that i suddenly needed fringe hanging straight down to cover my forehead, and i needed it done NOW.
i went on a mission to find small manicure scissors, then proceeded to pull my bangs straight down over my eyes and lopped off about 1/2 inch or so, so that the forehead was bare no longer and the red spot was now incognito. i brushed off all the little hair fuzzies from my shirt (or is it blouse? i never know which is which...) and re-styled my hair so that my newly-shorn bangs hung stylishly over my forehead. guess it would have probably saved time to have just put a dab of concealer on and run out the door -- but the other rotten part about the wrath of female hormones? we don't always think rationally when aunt flo is in town. any female can attest to that -- and any man who lives with one of us certainly can!
why, then, if that's the case, did i wake up this morning with a brand new zit that's big enough to have its own zip code? (mind you, i'm twice the age of someone who should be affected by hormones, so it's not like i'm reliving my second puberty or anything!) as i peered in the mirror this morning and saw an oily nose and forehead staring back at me -- and a forehead that now too closely resembled that of my cromagnon ancestors -- i debated whether it was even worth it to pile on loads of makeup to try and cover that sucker up. but then i came to my senses and devised what i thought was a perfectly reasonable plan as i finished getting ready for work and was ready to leave the house: i would cut my bangs to cover the zit!
never mind that i just got my hair cut last week. never mind that my bangs were already neatly brushed over to the side and i was having a semi-good hair morning. and never mind that, as usual, i was running out the door to get my daughter to daycare and get to work at a reasonable time (i can't say 'get to work on time', because that rarely happens!) no, that all went out the window when i deduced that i suddenly needed fringe hanging straight down to cover my forehead, and i needed it done NOW.
i went on a mission to find small manicure scissors, then proceeded to pull my bangs straight down over my eyes and lopped off about 1/2 inch or so, so that the forehead was bare no longer and the red spot was now incognito. i brushed off all the little hair fuzzies from my shirt (or is it blouse? i never know which is which...) and re-styled my hair so that my newly-shorn bangs hung stylishly over my forehead. guess it would have probably saved time to have just put a dab of concealer on and run out the door -- but the other rotten part about the wrath of female hormones? we don't always think rationally when aunt flo is in town. any female can attest to that -- and any man who lives with one of us certainly can!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
to bee or not to bee
so, i know i rip on Dork a lot for not pulling his weight and being a typical male who has to be told to do everything and who doesn't *want* to want to do things....but i do feel badly about something i asked him to do that went terribly wrong.
we have an awning over the front of our house, and i've noticed a small wasp nest being built over the past few weeks in the upper corner, nest to the roof. in the vein of "if i want something done, i'll do it myself," i attempted to knock the little sucker down myself about a week ago, but it was kinda hidden under the awning and i couldn't see it and was afraid to just take a whack at it and have it fall down on top of me. after hearing me complain about it one too many times, Dork said he'd take care of it, and he proceded to buy some wasp and hornet spray at home depot over the weekend.
we chatted on the phone yesterday -- i was at work and he had the day off -- and we agreed that we'd go to see a baseball game with our daughter that evening. we talked about what we'd have for dinner and we discussed how my day was going. then he casually mentioned it: he had taken care of the wasp nest. in the process? five stings and a beat up leg. he promised me that he didn't look like quasimoto with a swollen, huge forehead or anything, but i couldn't even imagine getting stung FIVE times. unfortunately, our family's beekeeper outfit was at the drycleaners (OK, that's one thing neither Dork nor I have ever been for Halloween, although we've been many other odd characters...) so he had no protection other than his madras plaid shorts, flip flops and t-shirt (assuming he wasn't out there bare-chested, which maybe i shouldn't assume).
knock on wood, i have never gotten stung and am kinda skeeved out about it ever happening, since i don't even know if i'm allergic to bee stings. but i felt so horrible after he told me what happened, like i was mostly responsible for his ill fated incident. evidently, when he aimed the spray can at the nest, the bees just went crazy and flew at him. he said he was flailing around and got stuck in the hedges (he had to stand in the middle of the hedge to reach the wasp nest, hence the scratches and scrapes all over his leg). i'll bet our neighbors wondered what kind of funky dance my husband was doing outside in the front of the yard!
i dug out the neosporin when i got home from work and gave Dork some tlc for his bee-fighting efforts. but the real kicker to his pain and suffering? the stupid nest is still there, and the little suckers are still flying in and flying out; although i did spy a few dead ones on the pavemet this morning, so his spraying wasn't all in vain. let's hope the effects of the spray kick in over the next day or two so we can knock the nest down before Dork becomes their afternoon snack once again!
we have an awning over the front of our house, and i've noticed a small wasp nest being built over the past few weeks in the upper corner, nest to the roof. in the vein of "if i want something done, i'll do it myself," i attempted to knock the little sucker down myself about a week ago, but it was kinda hidden under the awning and i couldn't see it and was afraid to just take a whack at it and have it fall down on top of me. after hearing me complain about it one too many times, Dork said he'd take care of it, and he proceded to buy some wasp and hornet spray at home depot over the weekend.
we chatted on the phone yesterday -- i was at work and he had the day off -- and we agreed that we'd go to see a baseball game with our daughter that evening. we talked about what we'd have for dinner and we discussed how my day was going. then he casually mentioned it: he had taken care of the wasp nest. in the process? five stings and a beat up leg. he promised me that he didn't look like quasimoto with a swollen, huge forehead or anything, but i couldn't even imagine getting stung FIVE times. unfortunately, our family's beekeeper outfit was at the drycleaners (OK, that's one thing neither Dork nor I have ever been for Halloween, although we've been many other odd characters...) so he had no protection other than his madras plaid shorts, flip flops and t-shirt (assuming he wasn't out there bare-chested, which maybe i shouldn't assume).
knock on wood, i have never gotten stung and am kinda skeeved out about it ever happening, since i don't even know if i'm allergic to bee stings. but i felt so horrible after he told me what happened, like i was mostly responsible for his ill fated incident. evidently, when he aimed the spray can at the nest, the bees just went crazy and flew at him. he said he was flailing around and got stuck in the hedges (he had to stand in the middle of the hedge to reach the wasp nest, hence the scratches and scrapes all over his leg). i'll bet our neighbors wondered what kind of funky dance my husband was doing outside in the front of the yard!
i dug out the neosporin when i got home from work and gave Dork some tlc for his bee-fighting efforts. but the real kicker to his pain and suffering? the stupid nest is still there, and the little suckers are still flying in and flying out; although i did spy a few dead ones on the pavemet this morning, so his spraying wasn't all in vain. let's hope the effects of the spray kick in over the next day or two so we can knock the nest down before Dork becomes their afternoon snack once again!
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