Friday, December 17, 2004

can't wait for spring

i love north carolina winters, really i do. i love the weather in the south. but right now, i just can't wait until summer. Why, you inquire? Because the laundry burden is less than half! with all these bulky clothes, i'm running the d*** washer all the time, and there's only 4 of us!

Monday, December 13, 2004

burning leaves rant

My DH has been obsessed with fire this fall.

We have lots of trees and therefore lots of leaves to be cleaned up. Usually, DH bags the leaves and carts them to a disposal area. This year, he was sick of carting them. So he decided to burn them all.

Before he started, the neighbors burned some leaves, and I told him this made me feel sick. The smoke and ash odors make me nauseous, and they come into the house and are very hard to clear out.

But DH, being a guy, and this being fire, pursued the leaf burning anyway. He burned batches the last two weekends in the garden plot, planning to turn the ashes under for fertilizer or mulch or something!

This week, he decided to burn leaves in the driveway. It had rained, and the leaves were damp, and the ashes are noxious. He burned them right behind my car! I couldn't go anywhere yesterday. Today, I needed to drive out, so I took the snow shovel and shoved them into HIS parking area. The ashes rose up and I've been nauseous ever since.

I told him today he wasn't allowed to burn any more leaves! The children were outside while he was burning them and now their hair smells smoky, so I can't snuggle my babies! I'm off to go drink more Maalox and try to settle my stomach.

What is it with Y chromosomes and fire, anyway?

credit cards. feh.

I called this morning to activate a credit card. Has anyone ever had trouble doing this? I remembered to use the landline, and even went to the phone whose buttons work best. Dialed in. punched in numbers. waited for 5 minutes to be "confirmed", whereupon I was disconnected.

So, I redialed, reentered the 16-digit number, and waited. Now an operator in India answers the phone. (What's with this India thing? Aren't there enough people who need work in America? We've GOTTA stop sending our jobs overseas.) He says, what is account number? I start reading it, and he immediately puts me on hold (after 4 digits); he wasn't ready for the account number when he asked for it!

Finally get it all read off when he was finally ready. He says, please wait for confirmation. Then he starts trying to sell me other options - is there anything else I can do for you today? I'm like, you COULD finish what I called for here! I only said, is it confirmed?

credit cards. feh. I only activated the D*** thing today because I wanted to make a car reservation with its discount.

Let's see how Hertz treats me this morning...

Saturday, December 11, 2004

north carolina

I LOVE North Carolina! Good thing, since I've moved here twice. Today is December 11, two weeks until Christmas. As I drove down the road today, a whole flock of red-breasted robins rose off the street in front of me where they had been eating some spilled food. This is where the birds fly south to!

The only problem is people who get all excited about the S-word since they don't see it very often. *sigh*

We went to the mall today for DH's secret Santa for work. Getting out was a nightmare! There's a reason we avoid this like the plague! It took nearly half an hour to get out of the mall parking lot, and that because I doubled back to a less-popular entrance. Never again.

The boys are in the church's Christmas pageant tomorrow! I'm sure that will be noteworthy.

Until then, I remain
Deep in Thought

Thursday, December 09, 2004

bras

thought for the day is bras. why is it so hard to find enough that fit right to last you through the week? even if you find one you like, you'll never get another just like it... the best ones rotate the fastest back to the laundry hamper, and then you're stuck wearing the ones that pinch. the 38's fit in the cups and the 36's in the band... it's either not close enough all the way around or pinching on the sides. what's a girl to do?

wouldn't it be great if we didn't sag to our knees without them, too? after kids, they've never been the same. well, at least i still got 'em, right?

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

if i had a blog...

guess what! now I do! still don't have much earth-shattering to say, but when has that ever stopped me?

below are some thoughts I had about "what-if" I had a blog. I enjoyed pretending enough that when I found out about this site, I created my own blog. if I keep enjoying it, I'll keep posting. :p

Since August, I did have to drop my class in physiology. I'm almost done with public speaking; we're doing a symposium next week on preplanning your funeral. Now there's a Deep Thought.

Beginning in January, I'll be a full-time employee again, with benefits and everything. Reading between the lines, you can assume correctly that being a student was wrecking us financially, and hopefully we'll be able to reverse some of that. I'm not giving up my dreams, I'm just postponing them.

I had some health crises this fall and wasn't able to keep up with everything. That was a MAJOR shock to my system! or at least my ego. :( You can read many of my trials on WebMD's GI disorder support group page. nuf sed.

That's about it for today. Until next time, I remain
MamaBear1001

08-16-04 buying books

if i had a blog, this would be what it would look like...

Monday, 08/16/2004
I finally got my textbooks for fall semester!

The Forsyth Technical Community College is just not high on publishers' priority ship-to lists. They say they'll have the books the first week of August, then maybe next week, maybe next week. So I call them every few days, and today they were in! but I couldn't get through until too late in the day to go until after school let out. uh-oh.

My day started off good. I sold a couple of books over the weekend on Amazon's used book site and had to ship them today. So I got my stuff together - printouts of addresses, scissors, tape, books - and went to buy envelopes, stuff them, mail them. It went smoothly! a little time-consuming, but not too bad. Sam's has better prices than Staples, surprise. (found that out on the web!) Now I've got my weekly
Sam's trip in already, too.

So, the boys got home, and since I've been to Sam's, I've got their after-school cookies and milk. I let them decompress with their snack, then stuff them in the van and head to school.

We go in to the bookstore and Gabe's eyes light up when he sees vending machines. I found I had six quarters, negotiate what sodas he's allowed to purchase (i don't allow them caffeine; it's hard enough to keep up when I have it and they don't), and let them loose on the open area. I can't see them and I'm a wee bit uneasy but I can handle this. Hopefully Gabe can, too.

Nope. The machine ate his quarters. (sodas cost $1; he only put in 75c) But there's a line to get INTO the bookstore because they actually have stock, and I'm not getting out of line! So I send him back to try pushing the coin return button. I figure, I'm out the same amount of cash whether he gets his soda or not, right? He may as well try this on his own. Tyler's running with him. He comes back with half his money refunded. I'm near the front of the line. Tyler's tummy hurts. Gabe goes to try the coin return slot again.

They let me in the store! Gabe returns! Tyler says "Mom, I gotta go to the bathroom NOW! I have to poop!" Kids. So I turn back to the lady letting people in and say "Where's the bathroom, quick?" She tells me, says I'll be let back in when I'm done, and we RUN. tummy ache plus "I need to poop" = you know what, moms.

We made it. nuff sed. Tyler wants to sit for a few minutes. So I show Gabe how to find me, leave him in the bathroom, negotiate what sodas I will buy them from the cooler in the bookstore (wish I'd known about that sooner!), and get my books, get their treats (it's so unfair to drag them along, isn't it?), and get in line. Gabe handled it like a pro. He's 7 now, and he can handle things sometimes. When he needs to. If there isn't a demonstrable need, eh, probably not. :D Kids.

The lady forgets to charge me for my $125 book. Obviously I'm not going to do a happy dance and run away. Then she thinks she has to void out all the soda that she couldn't scan in the first place. I'm like, I do not mind having two separate transactions, just put it through and put the book through separately.

$230 later, we're out of there. Nursing school is expensive! But I opened my physiology book today, and it looks VERY interesting. I can't wait for school to start. Public speaking wants to talk too much about nerves - I got over those when I took piano lessons from David. There just isn't time for nerves when you're always performing. But they want you to think of nerves as a GOOD thing. Now I'm starting behind the rest of the class! I thought I was AHEAD because I wasn't afraid to speak in public! Argh!

Until the next installment, I am
Mama Bear

08-12-04 back to school!

if i had a blog, this is what it would say today.
8-12-04
today was the first day of a routine going to school. woke the boys up, argued with tyler over whether i was allowed to wake him up, threatened him with earlier bedtime, made him stop whining. asked gabe if he would like to take a shower - i know, poor word choice - and when he said no, told him wrong answer.

sent boys to brush teeth. picked clothes for small one. set water temp for large one. delegated breakfast feeding to hairy one. took my own shower. ran downstairs and got boys to turn TV off (hairy one didn't realize that it's a bad thing on school mornings and let small one turn it on). grabbed a cheese stick (on toothpaste breath - yuck!) and started nagging them about shoes.

had daily fight with tyler over why he had to wear the shoes that fit and not the ones that have velcro straps (two sizes too small, but "they don't either pinch"). [note to self: pick up stretchy shoe laces so he can do up his own damn shoes.]

got boys in van without them arguing about putting on backpacks first. yes! remembered videos that have to go back. drove to school. traffic a nightmare, 10 minutes before bell. plenty of time. parked at post office and walked. plenty of time. yes! have to put backpacks on properly now. i don't argue. everyone's happy. yes!ran into other kids we knew on the way in; not in gabe's class this year, pity.

very foggy morning; saw a large spiderweb spanning the sidewalk covered in dew, high up so it hadn't been broken. cool.left gabe in his room at the top of the stairs, ran down stairs with tyler. he wanted to go first, annoyed with me when i went ahead of him (but he's slow!). (yeah, i'm not always a good mommy.) waited for him, let him into class ahead of me. let another mommy out of the room; by the time i go in, tyler's in the back of the room, putting backpack away. he's so ready for this.

finds a seat, asks if he can play with some girls. not a doubt in his mind that he belongs. what a kid. how did he come out of me?

check in with TA. teacher is running late. i stay until she gets there. help with kids; this is first full kindergarten day. find seats, help find something to do, get focused. one boy wants to play point fingers and shoot; remind him not to do this. he's going to be a handful for the teachers. good class, very ready to come in, sit down, learn.

Ms. Bujan runs in, says she forgot to turn on alarm, and this (of course) was the only day her husband has _ever_ forgotten to check whether she did. Murphy strikes again!

finally out of school. didn't really want to leave, but tyler hardly notices i'm there. checked in with office, since i'll be helping out a couple of mornings each week, to get badge instead of temporary one each time. Finally back across dewy lawn to post office where van is. drive to blockbusters. not open. Carol insisted that i return these videos personally, not to a slot, so i'll have to come back after 10. we're having lunch later for her birthday, so i'll do it before we go out. fine. i can handle this.

back home. Finally get some caffeine!!! now i'm awake. but the fake crystal light OJ is reacting with my digestion and i'm spending my morning in the john. argh. maybe some time i'll get to work.

might be interesting to keep a blog. i don't know if i care if anybody ever visits, but it's a way to keep a journal when i feel the urge. thoughts?