catnip and coffee

• I’m doing bullets today because it seems faster….
• Work is kicking my butt yo. Too much to do before Friday deadlines. I’m ordering final images for one book, and finding a gazillion image options for another. Why do these things always fall on the same week? Last week I had nothing to do!
• Charity event I’m doing this weekend should be kicking my butt, but I feel like I haven’t done crap for it so the guilt is kicking my butt instead.
• I am obsessed with refreshing the 10 day forecast to see what the weather will be for this outdoor charity event that I’m slacking on. Right now: 40% chance of rain.
• I had leftover chicken, tomato, and garlic pizza for breakfast. The tomato made it really soggy. And now I’m gonna smell like garlic all day.
• Great mother that I am, I just fed my kid brown and serve sausages (microwaved) and a cheese stick for breakfast. I guess it’s better than fruit loops.
• Boy has to go to school today. I seem to get nothing accomplished on school days due to all the freaking time I spend in the car going back and forth. Frankly, two hours of preschool helps me not. at. all. And it costs me two bucks in tolls every day.
• My sister gave me lemon balm from her garden for Mother’s Day. I think I might have killed it already. Bummer.
• I had what I thought was a great “Mexican Lasagna” recipe all typed and ready to post. Then I made it for a recipe swap night last week. Blech. Yes, Nicole the tortilla texture was a little funny. And the re-heat value (very important!) was, as my boy would say, yucko mucko. How can something be soggy and dry at the same time. When I have time I’m going to find my tried and true Chicken and Black Bean Enchilada recipe and get that ready to post instead.
• HRC is really pissing me off that she won’t drop out already.
• I haven’t done groceries in ages, so dh has had nothing to pack for lunches this week. Not saving any $$ that way! Also, it’s the reason for the weird breakfasts. Maybe.
• I really really need to buy a can of air. My keys are a little crumby and I’m having trouble with the enter button. I have to hit it really hard to break up whatever little crumb is underneath! Um. Yeah. I suck at cleaning even worse than you ever thought.
• I’m thinking about getting a second cat. What am I? Nuts? Yes. I do think George needs a companion. And major overcrowding at local animal shelter makes me sad….hence next bullet:
• I feel bad for people who get foreclosed on, (there but for the grace of god go I…) BUT it really bites when some of them leave their pets locked up in their empty houses when they move away. Assholes.
• I read a very funny post yesterday and then I got in a little trouble with dh for my comments on said post. Sorry honey Then I went and unloaded/reloaded the dishwasher. If you go read it, you’ll understand.
• I don’t seem to know how to end this post. I don’t think I like bullets after all, it was not faster.
• Must go brush teeth and leave.

So we notice a little stain on the ceiling in the foyer, just under one of the upstairs bathroom sinks. Well, technically not we. The boy noticed it a couple of days ago and I mentally filed it away to mention to dh. Apparently I put it in my mental circular file. Luckily dh noticed it himself yesterday and decided to do something about it first this this morning. Me? I would have remembered it about the time the ceiling caved in and we were all asthmatic from mold exposure.

So yeah, the drywall was more than a little damp as he cut into it. And so the hole got bigger and bigger, looking for the dry edges. Out came damp insulation, yuck. Out also came some some strange radiant heat tiles that hadn’t been used in years. We didn’t even know the system was in there. It didn’t take dh long to find the leak - since it’s still dripping - just a small pinhole in the copper fitting on the cold water pipe. Unfortunately, it will need to be replaced. As will the ceiling:

Wicked classy eh?

Perhaps I should have titled this “I wished I played the lottery this week.”

I don’t have coherent thoughts today. So I’ll ramble instead. It’ll be like you’re having a real life conversation with me, cause you know I ramble…not to mention monopolize the conversation. Damn, this really is the perfect medium for me. <lots of heads nodding out there>

I have a pain in my neck. Right down at the base, between my shoulder blades. Too much raking yesterday. I was working on cleaning out the flower beds, getting them ready to transplant some of my seedlings soon. Guess it won’t be planting them for at least a couple of days now. Guess I can’t clean either…well, I don’t do that anyway.

I drove past my local nursery a couple of days ago. I almost drooled at the pansies they had out. Not that I particularly love pansies, but because, omg, the color! I might have to go pick up a few to brighten things up a bit while I wait for my perennials to bloom. I had to stop myself from buying some at at home improvement big box when I was there for other things. I’d rather give my money to the small local nursery but oh I so wanted immediate gratification! I know I’m a dork, it’s okay if you’re thinking that…

Pause while I get some coffee, k? Go look at some freaking cute kitties, but you have to come right back cause I have more to say.

Well I’m back. Did you like that? It’s the boy’s favorite blog. So, while I was making coffee I had to stop and unload and reload the dishwasher. The dishwasher that someone in this house led me to believe was already unloaded and instead only unloaded the silverware basket. That helps me…not at all.

I neglected things here yesterday because I was working on my other website design. I need a work related site and I need it soon. I don’t know if I’ll ever link to it from here though. I’m still conflicted about the whole secret identity thing. (hee hee secret identity - am I a superhero or what?) At least half of you reading are all: secret, huh? But I know who you are….well yes, but I only told a select few friends, and only one of my many siblings. There are other people coming here that I don’t know at all, and that’s great, but, well, you know.

Anyway, that’s all really a conversation for another day. Back to my other website. I’m a photo editor, so it has to actually have photos in the design. I’d like to just pick a pre-made design cause I don’t, we don’t, DH doesn’t have time to redo the whole thing. I thought that was one of the perks of having a technogeek for a husband, but, uh, guess not. (He has his own website to work on - and it’s in worse shape than mine!) Well, the pre-made designs aren’t all that. I think I’ve chosen the best possible, and it should work with the b/w images I want to use on it. In any case, that’s what I’m working on in my free time. Cause I have so much of it. (Well, I do if I skip blog surfing!)

The reason I want my work website ready is because I can’t get my business cards made until I do, and I can’t start marketing myself until I have both. Right now I only have one client that I work for, and even though I love them and they keep me very busy, I still have this nagging doubt that the jobs will continue to be there. The two people who hire me the most may someday suddenly not work there anymore, and if they left would their replacements call on me or some other freelancer they like more? I just don’t know. So, I need to be prepared to get new clients in a hurry. Sigh. One of the very few drawbacks to doing contract work instead of being a real employee.

In other news, we’ve signed the boy up to play t-ball this spring. He did really well with soccer in the fall but we thought we’d try something different. I had to go to a sports store yesterday to pick up a few supplies since his first practice is this weekend. So I go him a new tee, a good one this time instead of plastic wallyworld crap (like the one that broke.) Luckily a friend of dh’s gave him a cute little bat and I had a glove that I picked up last summer. Well two gloves, a righty and a lefty. He can’t seem to decide what he is. I think it’s going to be lefty though. He writes with his left and eats with his right. Weird. I digress, again. So the only other piece of equipment he needed? A cup. Heh. I know nothing. So of course we had to ask for help. I’m still getting over it.

The best part about t-ball? And the most shocking development in the history of my marriage? DH volunteered to be the assistant coach! Yay! I’m off the hook! Yes, I was thinking of volunteering. I loved, loved, playing softball and I want my kid to love baseball. However, I am overly bossy and overly competitive. No, really. You didn’t know that? And it’s only freaking t-ball. So really, its better if I keep my big mouth shut, and luckily DH knows that without saying it, and hopefully his calmness will prevail on the field. Plus, it’s gonna be really cute! (Hey, if you’re still reading then you’re as much of a dork as me so get over it.)

Okay, that might be all I have for rambling this morning. Maybe. Probably not. But I need to send some emails now…

ps. Did anyone else see the Biggest Loser finale? Woohooo! I won’t spoil it for you if you didn’t see it…but seriously woohoo! We can do spoilers in the comments…

“Maybe when you’re dead he’ll stop. Or maybe when you’re dead he’ll sniff your old bones.”

Said the boy, after overhearing me tell the cat to STOP FOLLOWING ME.

I laughed so hard I had to walk away. And then heard dh say “don’t encourage him.”

How can I not encourage that? It’s frigging brilliant.

So getting to the hospital and early labor are truly a blur now. All I know is that for hours I rocked, and walked, and talked, but never dilated past 3. I know dh watched a lot of CNN. Then I got some pitocin to move things along. Idiot me refused the epidural, “for now” I said. By the time I was begging for the epidural, the contractions were so close and strong the anesthesiologist could barely find a quiet moment to stick it in. It’s funny how clearly I remember that part.

After the epi, of course, I could no longer get out of bed. Numb legs and that pesky catheter kind of get in the way of walking. So I laid there and complained, and contracted, whined, and contracted. And dh held my hand and watched some more CNN. I didn’t even let him leave for food.

So, remember that whole need to get the kid out within 24 hours of your water breaking? Well, that’s due to the risk of infection. So a few hours sixteen hours after my wake up call, I was still only at 7cm, exhausted, baby’s heart rate was starting to get a little depressed, and I’m pretty sure I was screaming “just get it out of me.” We all decided the best course of action was a c-section.

Yep, another cesarean statistic. Well, I’m glad we made that decision, because as we discovered, he would never would have come out the other way with his head positioned wrong. The only bad part about the surgery was when the nurse didn’t bring dh into the operating room until after they had sliced me open. And he had to walk right by the carnage to get behind the curtain. Oops.

In any case, the boy, (a boy? wait! we were so sure it was a girl!) was born at 4:30pm March, 20, 2003. Happy birthday sweetie!

I have a memory lapse. It happened five years ago today. It was when we were still living in Virgina, without any other family around. Just dh and I. I know that I went to work all day. I’m guessing I went out to lunch, probably had kung pao as it was all I could keep down. I’m guessing certain I waddled about, when I moved much at all. I most definitely had cankles. You guessed where I’m going with this didn’t you? Because, really, what’s a mommy blog without a birth story??

It was a day like any other in my pregnancy, all blurred together with the constant nausea and the lack of sleep. Whoever tells you to get your sleep while you’re still pregnant has clearly never experienced it and should not be listened to. Between the charley horses, the achy hips, the kicking, the pressing on the bladder…. Anyway, I know I went to bed early that night, because we were already comfy and checking the news when we saw coverage of the first bombs striking. Not surprisingly, dh made plans to go back to the office to cover the war, a journalist is always working you know. Except, of course, when his wife goes into an untimely labor.

At some point I know I fell asleep because something woke me with a start around 10:00pm. Oops. I clearly remember that feeling and the primal instinct to run for the bathroom. No mistake about it. My water broke, ten days early.

My boss actually didn’t believe me when I called to tell her I wouldn’t be at work the next day. See, all my coworkers and I had long joked that I would have the baby on the day the war started. We all knew the bombs would fall at some point, and since I worked with a bunch of military history geeks experts, it was naturally, a pretty funny joke. Until it wasn’t a joke. It still kind of irritates me that I can’t remember my son’s birth without thinking about this effing war. But I digress.

Of course, dh did not go to work after all, and sometime soon after we headed for the hospital. See, I can’t really remember much of anything, but I’m sure that was before midnight. I was one tired mommy to be, after a full day’s work and no sleep. Not the best way to start labor. And did you know, once your water breaks, the kid has to come out within 24 hours? So there would be no rest for the weary.
to be continued tomorrow….

Is it wrong to be counting the hours until my mother in law comes to get the boy for a whole weekend? Is it wrong to want to be alone in my own house? I hope not! Because at noon tomorrow I’m free for 48 hours!

The last time I slept in this house alone was exactly a year ago. My dear husband (dh from now on) is at the very same conference and the MIL took our dear son (aka ds) for two nights then as well.

I don’t recall doing anything particularly exciting. I only remember not having to cook or clean, being able to watch bad tv all day long, (and not even power rangers!) and getting as much sleep as I wanted without anyone waking me up! Woohoo! I’m gonna do that all over again baby! I might even be able to read. a. book. Shocking, I know.

Of course, I’ll miss my boys, and when they return on Sunday I’ll appreciate them so much more for having been gone, but until then I plan to wallow in my alone time. <sigh>