in which i tell you what’s up

At this very moment I am “stealing” wi-fi from my local Sonic. These days its good business to ask “would you like free wi-fi with your tater tots”.  To be fair, I did buy food here (which I regret now but tomorrow is another day, another pound, so whatever). Kiddo would not take a nap today and I was going stir crazy which translates to me getting snappy with everyone so I’ve made an escape for a little while. Enter Sonic and me hiding out in my car with every portable electronic device that I own. It’s a glamorous life I tell ya.

The food poisoning/mystery bacteria was quickly knocked out with the magic anthrax killing antibiotics from the doctor. Thank you modern medicine and good health insurance. What has not been knocked out however, is my fractured foot. I don’t go back to the doc for that until Feb 2nd. Until then I have decided to stop being such a rebel (read stupid) patient and use my crutches as much as possible. This pains me but I have got to get past this as soon as possible. I go from being “ok, I’ve got a plan, lets do this” to “I hate all runners and people who can walk properly”. I keep getting emails and various other reminders about races I can’t do and hearing that so and so ran x miles and is doing this or that race, blah blah blah and I just want to spit. The recently purchased Road ID and Garmin are buried in my underwear drawer cowering in fear. Mature? No. Me being honest? Yes. Sue me. Btw, I sold my 1/2 marathon entry to a friend of a friend but will have to endure going to pick up the packet myself and handing it over. Insult to injury. But, such is life sometimes I suppose. Bleh. Maybe tomorrow will be another upbeat, positive, I got this kind of day.

My big event for work I mentioned in the last post? It was a huge success! People actually showed up, were extremely interested and asked a ton of questions. Two hiccups…one of my main speakers was about 20 minutes late and about gave me a heart attack. And I got locked out. Other than that, perfection. Said speaker is notorious for being late but I didn’t know that. We opted to start without him and hope he showed up in time to give his talk. I made a last minute decision to man the main entrance to help latecomers find the room and when Mr. Tardy arrived I practically shoved him down the hall. This turn of events caused me to get locked out of my own event. After a certain time, the doors of the venue automatically lock. I knew this but did NOT know that the inside set of double doors also locked. I was caught between them and knew I was screwed when I heard the “click”. I couldn’t do anything but stand there and hope someone would come looking for me. Luckily, in a few minutes someone who happened to be working late came out and I squeezed past them and managed to attend the last half. Ha. All’s well that ends well though right? I even got one of those emails from the boss cc’ed to everyone thanking me and telling me I did a great job. I’m not used to that sort of open appreciation from a supervisor and its pretty cool. I feel like I’ve proven myself to many in the department and that’s a good feeling. Now on to the next challenge!

I was going to tell you all about kiddo and The Accountant’s pretend camping adventures this weekend, and events planned for next weekend, but the carhops are starting to look at me in annoyance so I’ll save that for next time.

I can’t make this stuff up

So now I have food poisoning or some sort of bacteria infection according to the doctor’s best guess. The night of The Stress Fracture Debacle I did the head in the toilet thing for a bit. I thought I had just stressed myself to the point of illness but then other things began to occur (I will spare  you the details) and The Accountant really wanted me to go to the doc. I did, and am now on some antibiotics that say they will fight bacteria as well as lessen the effects of anthrax. Again, not kidding.

My initial mental anguish over the foot has abated somewhat. I mean, I’m not shallow enough to wallow in self pity forever ya know. I just have to get it out of my system before moving forward. A big thank you to my friends who have been great and have known just when to say supportive things and when to stay silent to avoid my fists of fury as mentioned in the prior post. I may or may not be watching too much Ku Fung Panda with kiddo. Anyway.

Confession. I am not doing so well with the crutches. Believe it or not, I have never had to be on crutches before in my life and seriously, I can’t do anything with those things. I can’t carry anything, can’t go down stairs, can’t get anywhere faster than molasses, can’t stay vertical.  Ha. Maybe I’ll get better with practice but I’ll sheepishly admit to you that they are currently leaning up against the wall in the garage. I know this is not in my best interest for healing as quickly as possible so I will do better I promise. Don’t lecture me. Fists o’ fury, remember?

I will be investing in some padded booty shorts (aka biking shorts but that’s not as fun to say) and will begin haunting the gym again next week. I think I have acquired a used bike to use at home so I hope to have that soon. I also plan to use this time off from running to strengthen my core and upper body. So there. A plan. I haz one.

In other news, kiddo and I met up with a potential new babysitter this afternoon and will meet another in the next couple of weeks. The Accountant and I have decided to make it a priority to go out with friends more, as well as have more date nights. The girl I met tonight seemed great. College student with babysitting experience (and references), very sweet and engaging with kiddo. We’ve been invited to dinner with friends in a couple of weeks so that will be her trial by kiddo fire I guess.

My big work event is Monday night and I’m nervous of course. Hoping people show up, hoping my speakers don’t talk over the audience’s heads, hoping I don’t say anything stupid. Lots of hopes. After this event, there are some new things coming up at work that I’m pretty excited about…moving to a new office, a new project I’ll be working on, a trip to Boston in March…that kind of stuff.

It’s now 4:49 am and kiddo has just been up for her nightly cover check. I’m heading back to sleep if I can. Tomorrow is a big day. The Accountant and I are getting the oil changed in our cars. Woot. #sarcasm

i want to beat something with my crutches

I’m a mess, angry and dejected. Ever since hearing this afternoon that I have a stress fracture in my cuboid bone I’ve alternated between severe pissivity and extreme doldrums. Both involve mass amounts of tears.

I can’t tell you how excited I was to sign up for my first half marathon this April and how pumped I was to have been running consistently for the past nine months and improving distance and pace. For the record, I hadn’t even worked up to running over 5 miles at a time and my pace was averaging about 11:30 so I don’t feel that I went out “too hard and too fast” or over trained. If you say anything of that nature to me I will punch you in the face. Both of my fists are still in working order.

Regardless of any progress I’ve made thus far, I’m now staring at the crutches leaning up against the wall and will have no need anytime soon for a regular shoe on my right foot since it is encased in an aircast for the duration. I’m upset about the half marathon that I won’t be running, yes. But I’m more upset about the progress in my running that I’ve worked so hard for all going down the shitter. I had been semi-content riding the bike at the gym for the past couple of weeks, convinced it was for the short term and that the MRI would show nothing other than the need for new running shoes and maybe some inserts. Not a fractured foot that will have me out of commission for weeks or months.

I know I will have to regroup and come up with a Plan B but right now, I am going to wallow. I know there are babies starving in Africa and people dying every second of some malady or other. I know that my stupid foot is a First World Problem. But until I figure out a First World Solution, I don’t want to hear about running, read about running, watch running on tv, or even SEE anyone running. Call me if you’d like to run the Country Music Marathon in April and you can have my bib. I’ll even throw in the t-shirt. Oh, and you get a cool medal if you finish.

Turning comments off because I don’t want sympathy or a lecture. Just to rant.

going nowhere but sweating like I am

Just an update…So, I DID make it to the gym and snagged the last available bike. I felt like a complete dork because that’s not usually my exercise machine of choice but I think I might have liked it. I definitely felt the burn and worked up a nasty sweat. Rode a smidge over 10 miles and it felt great! So here’s to spinning my wheels. And really bad jokes.

Random kid pic: I’m not sure what kiddo is doing here but it made me laugh.

 

back to it

Today was my first day back at work in what seems like ages. The holidays were great (minus that whole foot incident) but they seemed to drag on forever. I was actually quite glad to come back to work today. Weird for me, but good. I’m in the throes of planning and marketing an event and am trying to look like I know what I’m doing. I’ll be a nervous bird about it until it’s over. Just so you know.

I’ve packed a gym bag and the plan is to make friends with a stationary bike this afternoon. We’ll see how that goes but I know that I cannot sit around moping about this forever. I can lift weights, bike, use the rowing machine, the elliptical (maybe) if I’m feeling froggy, resistance band and on and on. I am not limited and have to stop thinking that I am. Best case scenario is that at next week’s doctor appointment he’ll say the MRI was clear, that I’m a crazy person and to get back at it. The good news is that being bummed out has caused me to not want to eat and I’m down about 10 lbs. Yeah!

And now my brain is blank again.

giving 2011 the boot

This is not exactly how I thought/hoped/planned  2011 would go out. Meaning, sitting up in bed with a space boot on, listening to my kid tell the dog that he’s going into “timeout” for eating toilet paper. Oh well, the best laid plans…

No offense to anyone who does this but I hate cheesy New Year’s posts about how fabulous the past year has been and how great the next one is going to be and how you are going to resolve to do this or that or be this or that. Can’t you feel my eyes rolling? Blame it on my cynical nature but they make me insane.

And so I’m going to give you a cheesy picture of my kid just for the irony.

 

I’ve already seen/saw/whatever this HouseHunters episode

Hi. 3am, kiddo just woke me up to go pee. Small victories. However, if she is still doing this when she is 10 I will claw my eyes out.

This guy has weird eyes on HouseHunters. They are like crossed but not really. I can’t stop staring so I’m glad he can’t see me.

Christmas was great and if I were a proper mommy blogger I’d post about it. But I think the moment has passed and we have now entered the post holiday funk. I will just say that Christmases with kiddo keep getting better and better and funner and funner (shut up, I can say “funner” if I want to) and I am a lucky momma.

Except sometimes I don’t feel very good at it. Today was a crap day for me and I’m now wearing a boot on my right foot which I don’t want to talk about. But that meant that I was done with domestic life by about 8pm. My dear sweet patient Accountant took over bedtime duty and he and kiddo had an epic showdown regarding her not staying in bed and getting up multiple times to be retucked in, drink water, wipe her nose, and various other excuses that are really cute the first two times and then quickly become maddening. The Accountant is a very patient man, consistent and persistent. Guess who won the showdown and kiddo finally complied? All that to say that during that fiasco, I stayed out of it and waged that oft fought battle in my head about what a craptastic mom I am and how my kid is going to turn out to be the bratty one in kindergarten but then will probably grow up to be the next white Oprah or something and will tell this story to her children blah blah blah. My head is a fickle place to be.

I didn’t wash off my makeup tonight and my face it itching. I hate that. I also think that I forgot to eat dinner.

Tomorrow is a holiday for my workplace and that means that daycare is also closed. God grant me patience and good balance tomorrow is all I’ll say about that.

LIGHTS!!! And SNEAKY SANTA!!! Oh the drama…

The tree that's as "big as a whole house"!

Daddy & Kiddo approaching the tree

I’ve been wanting to take kiddo to The Opryland Hotel to see the lights this year. She went last year but there’s a big difference between a 2 year old’s enthusiasm over all the Christmas shenanigans and a 3 years old’s. Or so I thought. I was semi-dreading the hassle of parking and mass crowds but we somehow managed to park only a short walk away and were in and out within an hour. That’s some efficient Christmas light viewing people!

Sam was impressed with the lights but was equally as impressed with the patterns on the carpet and the shiny trashcans so her reaction was not quite what I was looking for, but we had a good time and it was virtually stress free. Another holiday win.

I think I mentioned that we’ve been leaving kiddo little gifts from Santa at random times. Tonight we played a bit of a trick on her and she about peed in the bathtub from excitement. Last night Santa came while she was in the bath and left her some trinket under the tree. She said she thought she heard him walking. The Accountant and I decided to step it up a notch and I downloaded a Santa sounds app on my phone. Tonight while hubs was giving kiddo her bath, I placed a Disney necklace under the tree and then tiptoed to just outside the bathroom door where I blasted Santa’s “HO HO HO” a few times. Hubs said kiddo freaked out and her eyes were as wide as saucers and she could not get out of that bathtub fast enough.  I played dumb and let her go on and on to me how she’d heard Santa and look what he’d left her! Big time drama I tell you. And Mom and Dad got a kick out of it too.

This Christmas with a kid stuff is fun!

running, closets & quesadillas

I’m not sure what got into me yesterday but I was a woman on fire.

I’m off on Fridays and didn’t have to be anywhere until 11:00 so kiddo and I snuggled in bed for an extra long time watching Kung Fu Panda and Scooby Doo. I dropped her off at daycare just in time for outside play and then met Donita for our run.

Today’s run was 3.15 miles and one of the hilliest I’ve done so far. This is good since I need to be doing a lot of hillwork anyway. It can only help my running and the half marathon in April will have lots of hills. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right? Or at least makes your butt look better. Although I seem to have done something weird to my foot so I’m gonna rest it today and hope its better tomorrow. Just what I don’t need, an injury this early on.

Then to Target for more shoe boxes for my closet overhaul and then home to try out a new recipe. Who am I? My closet is a small walk-in but I’m planning on turning it into a space where I can do scrapbooking and crafty type things. Good thing I don’t have many clothes I guess. The Accountant likes this idea because I’m a slob creative type and tend to leave chaos in my wake. This way we can shut the door and not have to worry about having to clean up a disaster in the guest room when company comes, which was choice number two for a craft room. So far one bag of clothes has been delivered to Goodwill and shoes are in clear boxes off the floor. Onward!

I mentioned a recipe…I’m really honestly for real trying to eat healthier and cook at home more these days. Last week’s crock pot vegetarian chili was great so I decided to try another. This time it was Black Bean Quesadillas from epicurious.com. Hello yumminess!!! With a few tweaks, mainly less onion and more beans. Otherwise, fabulous! Here is the recipe and some pics because I have nothing else to talk about at the moment.

Black Bean Quesadillas

• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained. (I’ll use 2 cans next time)
• 1 8oz block monteray jack or cheddar cheese, shredded (or use pre-shredded bag of taco cheese…guess which one I did)
• 1 cup chopped cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 white onion, chopped (I’ll use 3/4 onion next time)
• 8 flour tortillas

For serving:

• shredded romaine lettuce
• chopped tomatoes
• salsa
• hot sauce
• sour cream

In a bowl (duh), combine beans, cheese, cilantro and onion. Set aside.

Place tortilla in heated non stick skillet sprayed with non stick spray. Spoon mixture evenly over half of tortilla and fold remaining half over mixture. Lightly press down with spatula. Cook for a few minutes until bottom of tortilla is golden brown, then carefully flip and cook for a few more minutes until tortilla is golden brown and cheese is melted. Cut into 3 or 4 wedges and serve quesadillas with salsa, salad and Spanish rice. Or whatever you want. I did Spanish rice as a side.

Viola! Easy peasy and yummy!

 

weight and body stuff

I “ran” 5 miles last night for the first time ever. Longest distance at one time so far. I say “ran” because it was very slow and I had to walk some too. But I’ll take it regardless. It was pretty hilly considering what I’m used to. And then I did a stupid thing. I didn’t eat dinner after. Not on purpose, just got busy with kiddo and then passed out by 9:30. While this is not a healthy approach, I am down 5ish pounds for the week so there’s that. Haha.

I’d like to lose 30 pounds. There, I said it. I not-so-secretly anymore want to be tall and well, willowy. I’ve got the tall part down at least.

Isn’t it funny how weight and body image are such relative things? I have friends who are much skinnier than me and I get so annoyed when they complain about being “fat”, because to me they aren’t fat and I’d love to be their size. And then I’m sure there are people who weigh more than I do who think the same about me. So I try to remember that when my tiny friends are moaning about the doughnut they ate this morning that went right to their thighs. And when I say I try to remember that what I really mean is that I only punch them in the face in my mind and not for real. Love you skinny friends!

I remember being the weight I’d like to be right now and STILL not being happy with my body so truth be told, 90% of it is your attitude. Obviously mine is not in the right place since I obsess about it so much. I hate that but it’s true. I was talking to a friend the other day and she said that she is finally content with how she looks. It was a mental change and I’d like to steal it somehow. It seems like such a big leap for me though. I’m not sure how people do that. I guess that goes for more things than just body image too.

I have no answers on this stuff, just thoughts. And I’m about to eat a salad. A willowy-type salad.

Sidenote: Know what bugs me? Typos bug me. Proofreading is good. I’m not a grammar stickler but some things are just stupid. And people who get into the elevator before letting others get off. Those two things for today.

2:50 AM

Up with a frantic kiddo doing the pee pee dance which resulted in a trip to the potty with no results. But hey, she tried. Yes, we are still in pull ups at night (her, not me, yet) and honestly, I’m not worrying about it until she’s 10 or so. Haha.

I know I don’t write here much anymore. Guess I’m too busy living life instead of recording it and that’s ok. Things are good. Life is good. I am blessed and fortunate.

Legs are aching like crazy right now, part of my non-sleeping I’m sure. Although I passed out on top of a puppy pillow pet and a princess dress complete with magic wand from the dollar bin at Target. Comfy really. But back to the leg issue. The running is going great. I’m in training mode for a half marathon in April and am currently just trying to increase mileage and not worry about speed. Which is convenient since I’m pretty slow. But the legs….they ache like growing pains or something. There are a few remedies I can try to see if that helps. I’m old I guess.

Work is good in its weird way. I’m in the midst of planning a pretty big event and being the worrier that I am, its stressing me a bit. But I think I’ve finally found a venue that should work as long as a zillion people don’t show up. But if they do, that would be a success in itself. I need to stop thinking so much and do better at taking charge, making decisions and being more aggressive in a way with this job. That’s a new role for me and is taking some getting used to. My own confidence in my abilities is sometimes fragile.

The holidays are fast approaching and I suppose we are about ready. I did the majority of shopping online this year and I have to say, it was one of my better ideas. Ha. Kiddo is pretty excited about Christmas. The Accountant and I have been leaving her little treats under the tree at random times from Santa. Her excitement is quite entertaining. She’s been doing this sweet thing lately of just as I close her door at bedtime to leave she’ll say “mommy?” I’ll say “yes sweetie?” and she’ll say “I love you mommy”. Good grief it melts me every time.

And now its 3:03 and I’m going to try sleeping.

its a fiat i know it

There’s a car that always parks in the same space in the internal depths of the parking garage. It is always shrouded in a car cover concealing what must be something pretty special to the owner. I can hardly stand it and every time I walk by I just want to take a peek underneath to see what the big deal is about this vehicle.

And lets be honest, it also annoys me a little that Mr. or Ms. Fancypants feel the need to shield their car from the rest of us peasants.

But mostly I’m just curious nosy and like to make up adventurous stories about it in my head as I walk by. Its a tiny thing so I’m guessing foreign, maybe antique, some sort of Italian coupe or something equally intriguing.

On second thought, maybe I won’t peek underneath that cover just in case its a beat up old Datsun that will cause incredible disappointment and deflate my glamorous roadster notions.

nigh a month

Poor neglected blog.

Halloween 2011

Best.Halloween.Ever.

Sam’s homemade spider costume turned out great and was a huge hit at our two trick-or-treating outings. She loved it and didn’t balk at wearing it at all. I was a bit worried that she wouldn’t wear the hat but she loved everything about it. I was kinda proud of myself for being so crafty.

The Accountant and I took her to a trick-or-treating event at a local outdoor shopping mall thingy a couple of days before Halloween and then I took her walking around the neighborhood on Halloween evening. This was our first Halloween in the new ‘hood and it was fabulous. She really got into saying “trick or treat” and “thank you”, and of course, the mass amounts of sugary goodness. I loved not having to get in the car to go candy-gathering! We just walked around to houses until she got tired and then we walked home. Easy peasy.

Pics of course! Click each to embiggen.

Halloween win.

Go to bed me

Why am I watching baseball? World Series or not, Game 6 or not, I’m not a big fan of baseball. In person games are pretty fun for that whole ballpark atmosphere, and the hot dogs. But for some reason I’m watching the game and am kinda enjoying it.

Did my workout tonight and tomorrow I’ll get a good run in before errands and all the stuff you do on your day off. Like make spider costumes. Right now I’m hungry but it’s too late to eat. Maybe I’ll dream about cupcakes or something.

Night.

Tis Thursday

I think I just cracked my jaw trying to bite into a Granny Smith apple. Ouch.

Tomorrow I will attempt to make a spider costume by hand. This will go either very well or quite badly. Good thing we have a leftover pirate outfit and a fairy princess dress in the closet for potential backup costumes.

Yum, this apple is making me want some green apple Jolly Ranchers. Is that not the best hard candy ever? My jawbone appears to be intact by the way. Ignore the loud popping noises.

It’s rainy and chilly today. But the leaves are turning beautifully and I can wear cozy sweaters, cute hats and bulky boots. And scarves! I love scarves! Random happening of the day: I drove to the roof of my parking garage hoping to snap a good picture of the trees but I couldn’t get the shot I wanted and I ended up getting lost turned around in the garage. So that was fun.

Last night I did Day 1 of Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred. I hate that lady. I mean, she’s awesome in a brutal I am going to kill you before you even know what is happening kind of way. I cannot seem to do a push up properly. Even from the knees. Will go for it again tonight. It’s invigorating to say the least. Tomorrow will be a running day. You’d think with all this exercising I do that I would be skinny. But its the food that gets me. The sweets and the salty and the carbs. And with the holidays coming up, what hope do we dieters have? Ah well. Just gotta keep moving along I guess.

Kiddo’s latest thing is sitting on the potty, putting a stream of toilet paper on her head and saying “I am the bad princess”. She has also been telling whoever is around to listen that she has “great eyesight” and then naming off the things she can see at the moment. Kids are weird. The Accountant gave her a miniature remote control helicopter yesterday. Its a very simple one and after a few bumps to the ceiling and floor, kiddo kind of started getting the hang of it. Soon they’ll be flying buddies I think.

Dad’s birthday is coming up, on Halloween actually. I have the best present in mind for him but I have to make it. I don’t know why I’m feeling all crafty all of a sudden. Lucky for me, I will have an extra week or two before I deliver this gift o’ fabulousity so I will have time to start finish it.

So sleepy. Make me go to bed before 10 tonight please. Ciao.

zombie brain

My “grey matter” as a former English teacher used to refer to our adolescent brains, has been completely mush the last couple of days. Maybe its too much Dora and not enough veggies or something, I dunno. I do the whole zoning out thing quite well but some days its way worse than others. I need a challenge of some sort. Some new stimulation or scenery. I did change the template here…you know I do that when I get restless.

Speaking of zombies and brains, a friend is doing the Zombie Buffet 5K this weekend and I’m kinda jealous. The timing just isn’t good for me but I would’ve made a killa Black Swan Zombie doncha think? Oh wait, I don’t think I’ve talked about that whole running a 5K in a tutu thing on here have I? My bad. Long story short…a friend and I dressed as White Swan and Black Swan and ran a race. It was wicked fun. The end. Here is proof…I cropped White Swan out because well, not everyone wants these types of things documented on the internet.

  And no, I am not pregnant, I was just wearing a “billowy” shirt.

Now, what was I talking about again? Oh yes, being restless. This must be why I run around town in tutus on occasion. To feed the restless beast (or bird in this case).

While I’m on the subject of costumes (sort of), kiddo keeps saying she wants to be a spider for Halloween. The original plan was to recycle last year’s pirate costume but a couple of options have come to my attention to change things up. The lovely Danielle suggested drawing a spider on her face and she could be a Pirate Spider. Brilliant! Also, I’ve found a no-sew (’cause we all know that ain’t happening) homemade spider costume that doesn’t look too difficult or expensive so we could do that as well. Hmmmm. What will probably happen is kid will want to be a spider up until the costume is ready and then randomly say that she wants to be a unicorn or something. In which case mommy will say no candy for you.

I’m reading an excellent book right now for bookclub. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. It has nothing to do with zombies, spiders or swans but is great nonetheless.

Oh, back to the 5K thing. Kiddo and I will be tearing up the pavement in this one in a few weeks. I am definitely not going to break any PRs in this race since I’ll be pushing a 30 lb kid in a humongous stroller, but it should be fun. And hopefully she’ll think its cool to race with the old lady.

Till next time.

Monday, 10/24/11

Day 5 of The Stomach Virus of 2011. I stayed home with kiddo today and thankfully, she was much better. Little monkey is going back to school tomorrow unless there is a turn for the worse. In which case The Accountant is staying home because mommy has got to get out of this house for an extended period of time and I’m sure my workplace would appreciate my presence. And lets face it, the kid and I are kind of sick of each other. We did get brave and venture out to the grocery store this morning just to see some other humans.

The Accountant got home early and I got a 4+ mile run in this afternoon. Its such a stress reliever, even if I am still super slow. I’m looking forward to another good one tomorrow after work.

I’m currently surrounded by a sea of Barbies and there is a rotation of Bubble Guppies and Dora playing on the TV. I’m ready for kiddo’s bedtime so I can eliminate Barbie-geddon and do something 35-year-oldish.

Rough night or severe apathy?

the most boring post ever

Oy, what a weekend. Kiddo has been sick with stomach virus thing since Thursday. I’ll be staying home with her again tomorrow. Luckily, she seems to feel ok in between episodes and is eating and drinking fine. A call to the pediatrician yielded the usual advice of clear liquids, wash hands constantly, bland diet, it should pass within 7 to 10 days, etc. I’m crossing fingers that it doesn’t hit me or hubs.

Otherwise, life goes on. Work is fine, The Accountant is fine, all is fine. Don’t you hate that descriptor “fine”? It tells you nothing. It might as well be a non-answer or a neutral one at the most.

And I should get to bed as kiddo will be up by 6:00ish.

No, I do not want an elephant. But thanks for asking.

The scene: Target $1 section. Surrounded by rubber snakes, plastic pumpkins and random pairs of socks with cartoon characters on them.

Mommy: “Ok, you can pick out ONE toy from this section.”

Kiddo: “I want TWO elephants.” (plastic elephant toys that make the most annoying elephant trumpeting sound ever. Not that there is such thing as a pleasant elephant trumpeting sound).

Mommy: “No, you can have ONE elephant or NO elephants. Suck it up. ” (Ok, so I didn’t say the suck it up part but in my head I add colorful side notes to these conversations with her on a regular basis).

Kiddo: Puts on her “thinking face”. This expression consists of a dramatic smirk with eyes averted upward and to the side. When the “thinking face” is activated this means she is concocting some sort of preschool diabolical plan to outsmart me. So far, she has been unsuccessful but its only a matter of time people, only a matter of time.

Kiddo: “Mommy? Do you want an elephant too?”

Mommy: a bit taken aback at her offspring’s calculated thought process and clever attempt to, in fact, get TWO elephants into her unwitting mommy’s shopping cart instead of just one.

Mommy: “Kid, you are too smart for your own good. But no thank you, I am not particularly in need of a noisy plastic elephant at this time. Put one back before you and I have a serious throw down in the $1 aisle.”

Score? Mommy, 0 elephants. Kiddo, 1 elephant. Mommy wins again, but the game has gotten a bit more challenging it seems.

these legs don’t sleep, they party

Like nursing home residents party. As in with leg cramps, aches, stiffness and joint pain. Yes, I’m up at 2 am with the new initiative, “Candy for Pee” (more on that another time, lets just call it an incentive program for nighttime potty training for now shall we?) and my soon to be 36 year old aching gams. I’m going to just pretend that it’s my legs becoming more muscular and less jiggly but then again, I do like to try and fool myself at times. Truth be told, I probably just need more potassium or some such but that’s not as exciting.

I know I’m rambling but did I mention that its 2:30 am and I am sleep deprived? I think I get this sleep disorder thing from my dear father. Up at all hours, sitting up in bed, sitting in the recliner (I haven’t gotten to that point yet but its just a matter of time), getting a drink of water, taking some tylenol, and all manner of other exciting insomniac night owl activities. I’m even considering a peanut butter sandwich right now and I don’t even LIKE peanut butter sandwiches. I am clearly delirious. Oh, hello Prince earworm, do come join the party won’t you? ♫ I get delirious whenever you’re near…♫

Another thing I sometimes do with I can’t sleep? Besides talk all crazy on this blog? Peruse quotes. Here’s a rather lengthy one that I found interesting. I’ll share it with the rest of you WHO ARE SLEEPING RIGHT NOW so that you may enjoy it when you wake up. I hate you all. (j/k really).

It’s at night, when perhaps we should be dreaming, that the mind is most clear, that we are most able to hold all our life in the palm of our skull. I don’t know if anyone has ever pointed out that great attraction of insomnia before, but it is so; the night seems to release a little more of our vast backward inheritance of instincts and feelings; as with the dawn, a little honey is allowed to ooze between the lips of the sandwich, a little of the stuff of dreams to drip into the waking mind. I wish I believed, as J. B. Priestley did, that consciousness continues after disembodiment or death, not forever, but for a long while. Three score years and ten is such a stingy ration of time, when there is so much time around. Perhaps that’s why some of us are insomniacs; night is so precious that it would be pusillanimous to sleep all through it! A “bad night” is not always a bad thing.

~Brian W. Aldiss

A day at the pumpkin patch

I’m thinking a trip to the local pumpkin patch will become an October tradition.

We took kiddo to one last year and she had a great time. This year we found another one a few miles from our current home and decided to check it out on Saturday.

She loved the animals and picking out her pumpkin. Its a cute place, well organized and lots of different things for kids to see and do.

Sheep shearing demonstrations for instance. I thought this might freak her out a bit since the guy had to wrestle the sheep to get him to cooperate but kiddo took it in stride and casually watched as the sheep became “bald like daddy” before her very eyes.

You can’t fail with a farm animal petting zoo. I’m not sure what’s up with this facial expression but these little piglets sure were cute. The calves were a hit as well as evidenced by kiddo’s repeated “moo”ing at them.

The massive pumpkin below was the prize winner at the State Fair this year. A monstrosity I’d say. I’m not sure what the allure is with these face cut out things but its really more fun for the parents than the kids. And of course, the grand finale, the actual choosing of the pumpkin. Which will probably sit on the counter until we notice a weird smell and throw it out. But who knows, maybe someone will get adventurous and carve it.

  

Miss Independent

Three is proving to be a challenging age. Sam has a mind of her own and is not afraid to express it. But I love that she’s spunky and not a shy little wallflower like I was as a kid. She’s perfecting her negotiation skills in determined attempts to eat cookies for breakfast and wear her underwear on her head to school. Don’t worry, I don’t let her do either. Usually. Her most used phrase lately is “I can do it MYSELF mommy”, and she says it with such conviction. I hope she keeps that confidence but channels it wisely.

 

 

Pretty great

Its been a pretty great week. An extra short one due to the holiday. The constant rain forced us to get a bit creative with the indoor activities with kiddo but we colored, pasted, painted, bowled, played indoor baseball, barbies, watched movies, ate popcorn, snuggled, danced, played balloon and on and on and on.

Things at the gig are shaping up a bit and I’m finding my groove. Sort of. Its good though. I had a heart to heart with the boss and got some good feedback and am feeling better about the path I’m taking.

The running, working out and eating better thing is still going well. Minus the massive amount of tacos I ate tonight but I’m not counting that. I’ve only lost about three pounds but I feel better so there is that. The running seems to have turned a bit of a corner and my pace is improving a little. I was in a wicked slump and was beginning to get disheartened and then you know what I did? I weighed myself just before a run and was so pissed at the number I saw that I had my best run ever. And the one after that was pretty good too. Today’s wasn’t great but I took it easy and still felt good about it. I’ll be doing a 5k on Saturday and just hope to improve over last month’s race time. Ab work and weights at the gym are making me feel stronger and stand straighter. My calories are down but I still need to work on getting more fruits/veggies. I am a slave to the carbs. Not good. But enough about that stuff.

I saw the Andy Warhol exhibit at The Frist last Friday and it was fabulous. I’m going again tomorrow to see what I can see. I love art museums. Much like libraries, they reek of peace of mind, thoughtfulness and creative energy. They’re just positive and inspirational places to hang out.

Tomorrow afternoon I’ll pack up myself and kiddo and head to my home county for a weekend of family, running, and a hotel room for a couple of nights. I’m hoping I can sleep in the same room with kiddo and that I can manage her and all our stuff and activities that we have planned. I imagine I’ll return home on Sunday exhausted but it should be an interesting time.

Adios for now.