Just like that

Later this week, I will become 41 years of age. Woo!

Remember last year?! Sure you do. EVERYONE does. WHY? Because I keep telling them about it. I have now become the person people think of when they hear or read about Trace Adkins. (And here I was afraid that I'd leave this world someday without any kind of legacy.)

Now, this year, there wasn't any Trace Chasin' goin' on. I will be attending a Martina McBride/Trace Adkins concert in November, but will most likely not be meeting Trace or Martina in person. With fifth row seats to the concert for Erika and I, I can be very happy with that.

Another thing I am VERY happy about -- Hubby bought me an iPod for my birthday! I've been collecting songs off my CDs for a while now so I could listen to them at work, and in anticipation of this gift. You see, a while back, I borrowed the iPod that Punkin got for her birthday last year so I could have music while I went for a walk. That little gadget came in pretty handy. I decided that I would/might work out more if I had "portable" music. (yeah, that's my story and I'm stickin to it). Since then, I've made it known that I would like an iPod for my birthday, and if I didn't get one as a gift, I was going to go buy one.

(tangent)
Yeah, I know... I can be a snot, but I've learned if I don't clearly announce my wishes, repeatedly, well, there's a chance I might be disappointed and angry because the people who love me apparently still can not read my mind. Clearly, this must be the case because I have to constantly ASK my children to clean their rooms. If they could read my mind, I wouldn't have to ask, now would I?
(/tangent)

Hubby sprang my shiney new iPod on me while we were tooling around with the kids in the family truckster. It made me very happy and I had to pass the still packaged iPod around so the kids could see all the new and shiney of my hot pink iPod. Punkin immediately had iPod envy. Hers is just purple with a smaller screen and it doesn't have a camera or video capabilities. Woo! Hot pink and shiney and new and all upgradey and stuff!

When we got home, Hubs set about to helping me load the songs on the miPod. He just started doing it and I got all flustered and announced that *I* could do that and I wasn't about to have to ask him to load my songs each time I wanted to add something (like he does for Punkin). After all, I'm not a complete idiot. It was very nice of him to help, though. As the songs were being all converted and what not, he wandered off with my iPod. "To charge it", he said. Cool. No problem, I'd just pile up more songs from my CDs while I waited. (I also cleaned up the kitchen and folded laundry while I waited. I wouldn't want y'all to think I was neglecting my chores for my new toy. Heaven forbid.)

After miPod was all charged, Hubs brought it back and set it on my desk. I was in the middle of preparing dinner, and Punkin asked to look at miPod. As long as the littles didn't begin to think miPod was community property, I was ok with that.

Over the next few minutes, Punkin clicked and scrolled and proclaimed she liked miPod better than hers. "Aw, bummer darlin'. That's MINE. Mommy loves you!" *smile*

She made a face at me, and continued to explore "Hey. There's a pedometer on here!"
Me: Really?! Cool! Now I'll have to get a holder thingy for the miPod. (Mental note: check out all the fun accessories available for miPod.)

For the next little while, Punkin played with leaving me voice messages and taking videos and just figuring out all the "extras" on miPod while I continued to make dinner.

The evening wore on and soon it was bedtime for the clowns. Punkin gave me hugs and kisses and said "Really, Mom. If you want to know anything about your iPod, just let me know. I'll be happy to show you how to work stuff."

And just like that, I became one of "those" parents who don't know anything about modern technology.

Damn Whippersnappers.

When Worlds Collide

I've said it before - Stay At Home Moms have my admiration. I just don't feel that I could be a very good SAHMom.

On the other hand, being a Working Out Of The House Mom has some major disadvantages -- like when the work world and the Mom world collide.

Case in point:
An event at the school for Sweet Pea and her class. Something she is looking forward to. Something I was able to attend when Punkin was involved. Something we worked on a project this weekend for. The event is planned for Friday.

This Friday.

At work, we have an all day meeting coming up. I take care of the meeting room set up, taking the notes, and arranging the catering for the event. There are typically about 50 people in this day-long meeting. The meeting is set for Friday.

This Friday.

Fun "Clown" event at the school.
All day meeting at work.

Responsibilities are tugging at me from two different directions.

With the Boss dealing with stressors, I really really really don't want to ask for two hours off work for any reason. He is, under regular circumstances, a fair and generous boss. (And no one wants to sit in this meeting taking notes for me)

I will put on my big girl panties and do the right thing, but I really do not like having to make choices like this. Not at all. Someone is always "disappointed" no matter what.

New 'do

It's been years since I've had a cut that was more than "just a trim"... and months since I've done even that. Can you tell?


I finally bit the bullet and got a cut AND highlights (I hardly ever color my hair).

I am very pleased with this! Thank you Dianne and Nu Age Hair!

All before/after photos can be seen here

Clownin' around

The other evening, we were watching televsion when some actress came on the screen, extolling the benefits of wrinkle-reducing beauty cream.
Buddy looks at me for a moment and says
"You should get that, Mom."
- - - - - - - - -
I asked Punkin to take a few photos of my hair tonight because I will be getting a new 'do in a couple of days. "Should I take a photo of the gray?" she asks. "Sure, why not." I say.
"Yeah, because that's not very difficult to do."
- - - - - - - - -
During a family drive last week, Hubs and I were throwing out acronyms.
OMG!
BFF
When Hubs says "LOL"
Sweet Pea, from the very back of the truck says
"Dad! Do you even *know* what that means?!"
I just busted out laughing while he assured our 7 year old that he did indeed know what LOL meant.
Hubs and I finished the game with a "WTF?", said under our breaths, of course.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Right now as I sit here
The dishwasher is swooshing and humming behind me
My music pours through these computer speakers
Buddy is 'napping' on the couch
I tried to encourage him to just go up and get ready for bed
but he declined
Sweet Pea is nestled in a chair with a poofy pillow and a cozy blanket reading a book
Hubby is catching up with some sports event downstairs, and
I'm not sure where Punkin is

In short
things are peaceful at the Big Top
right this moment

I thank God for that
because a half hour ago
all hell was breaking loose
nobody was listening to me, and
I was an evil Mom because I was "making" the clowns eat CORN!
oh. the. horror.

I don't know what that was, but I liked it

Earlier this week, I was having one of those "low battery" days. I just felt a bit run down, but was doing well overall.

I had a dentist appointment scheduled for the afternoon--something I never like doing. I also had to get a few time-sensitive tasks accomplished first thing at work. These were my thoughts when Buddy came into my room to tell me his eye hurt. The eyelid and surrounding skin was inflammed, but the eye itself looked ok--not goopy or crusty. I crossed my fingers and sent him to school. Now the need to get certain work tasks done first thing was even more urgent.

As the day progressed, I began dreading the dentist visit more and more. That was an underlying thought all morning. "I don't want to go to the dentist."

At lunchtime, I had made a decision to pick up something for lunch, but I kept thinking what I would really like something warm. Something like scrambled eggs. That was an underlying thought all morning ("I wish I had some scrambled eggs" that and "I wish I didn't have to go out in this weather"). On my way out of the building, I stopped in the lunchroom for a Coke and lo and behold, there were the castoff leftovers from a morning meeting -- a pan with several egg wraps from a local restaurant.

SCORE! I nuked two and my tummy was happy. The universe had delivered lunch to me! Woo!

The afternoon wore on, I made my way down my to-do list, and my dentist appointment got closer and closer. I had just returned to my desk after brushing my teeth when the phone rang. Buddy's after school teacher called to say that his eye is looking worse she thought I might want to have a doctor look at it.

Afraid that his eye would be worse the following morning, or that the school would tell me I needed to take him to the doctor before he could return the following day, I called the doctor. SCORE! I was able to get Buddy in within the hour -- IF I moved my dentist appointment. BONUS! Dentist appointment moved to Monday night where it won't interfere with my workday.

Doctor said Buddy didn't have pink eye, but maybe an allergic reaction. (Two days later and his eye looks completely recovered - YAY!). She gave us a note that he could return to school the following day. SCORE! He was going to be ok, there was a doctor's note to back that up, and I wouldn't have to take the following day off work. (I have to carefully budget my remaining paid time off for the rest of the year, and want to take as little time off for doctor appointments as possible.)

I'm not sure if the universe was just taking pity on me, if these unexpected blessings were the work of fate or God or what. All I knew was that it was all perfectly timed.

The kicker? I openly asked the universe for a cookie. I did not get a real cookie. I did, however, get an email from a coworker saying her daughter was going to be making chocolate bliss cupcakes this week, and would I want to place an order.

Amen, baby. Amen.

Off the top of my head

Some snark
Kanye - Just shut up and go away. If you can't say anything nice...
Whitney - Good Lord, you too, ya damn drama queen. GO AWAY.
Jay - Hey, thanks for the 9pm central show on NBC EVERY. WEEKNIGHT. I'm sure to get to bed earlier now.

Some funny
SweetPea from upstairs: Mommy!
Hubs: What?
SweetPea: Not you Mommy! The other Mommy!

Punkin: Are all boys annoying and weird?!
Me: Yes. Look at your Daddy.
Punkin: Oh. Right. (Ha!)

Me: I don't like that Jay Leno is on every weeknight now. I want my shows back.
Hubs: *blah blah something about more people will watch Jay Leno and cost of production vs ONE one-hour drama blah blah blah*
Me: Yeah. I don't care. I like my 9pm shows. I want them back. I think you should send NBC a strongly worded email on my behalf.
Hubs: *?*

Other
Patrick Swayze died? Aw damn.

I like Jodi Picoult books, but if you're the mother of a five year old boy with a slight speech impediment, perhaps "Perfect Match" isn't the book for you.

Taylor Swift - I used to think you were just "Guitar Barbie", but I'm liking you more these days. So far, you're ok for my kid to look up to. P.S. Kanye is an ass -- oh, but you already knew that.

Punkin: Mom, I think there may be a school dance coming up. It's going to be so much fun!
Me: *gulp--I'm not ready for this*

Two new favorite sites:
Gives Me Hope
Operation Beautiful

What the heck is going on with my bangs?! Sheesh. I really need a haircut.

Ok... now I need to get dinner ready for the Circus...

So very random -- no, really.

Fog City baby, and I'm not just talkin' about mah head.

Heard today:
So, you learned how to speak dog?

Sweet Pea upon just waking up:
Mom, you could at least let me go to the bathroom before you wake me up.

Either allergies, or a head cold are making me feel a little loopy and tired this morning. (Yes, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. Shush) It's the kind of feeling where I just *know* that copious amounts of caffeinated sugar will definitely make me feel better. Do you ever feel that way?

I was SO tired when I woke up this morning. I don't think I stirred all night. When the alarm went off this morning, I was sure that it was someone else's alarm. I clearly remember thinking "Wow, someone's alarm sure is loud. If that's Punkin's alarm, she should be getting up now." Uh-huh. Yeah, that pretty much sums up my day so far -- not that I'm having a bad day, because I'm not.

The kids and Hubs all got to where they needed to be and I drove off into the fog, singing along with the radio. I'm a bit more alto than soprano today because of the cold/allergies, but it's all good.

Random word for the day: Ducksnort. Honestly. Where the heck did that come from? It just popped into my head this morning. I don't think I've ever heard a duck snort. Have you?

Oooohhh... today is gonna be good. I can just feel it. At least the crabbiness from earlier this week is gone. That's a good thing.

You know, on second thought, this could be from the cold medicine I took last night. I thought I took it with plenty of time for it to be out of my system before now, but apparently not.

Maybe I should have stayed home today and slept this off... and I would have...if I had been thinking clearly. On the other hand, if I had been thinking clearly, I wouldn't have needed to stay home.

You know what would have been good? Peppermint Hot Cocoa from Starbucks.

Hey! Hi! How are you today?!