Mucus factory
That should be my new name: Megan the Mucus Factory. I feel like shit. I can't believe I still have bursts of energy even through this round of sickness. I'm grateful for that, but as of an hour ago, I hit my wall and now I'm just waiting for nighttime so I can put Avery to bed. In the meantime, she's watching Bolt.
I'm getting all achy now, which concerns me that this is the beginning of it and not the end. I have been sick since Feb. 6. Before that, I was hit by an awful, but short-lived, vomiting and other-end virus for a few days. I am quite sure I've been sick more than I've been well in 2011. I'm ready to have energy AND be well. Any day now would be just dandy.
The way I am looking at it, this is my third distinct bout with sickness since getting on my diet. Only I can tell the differences between each bout since to the rest of you, the only symptom other than my hacking cough and runny nose, is my whining about my never-ending sickness. In any case, I'm ready to be well. Now.
Sledding
This morning, while I wasn't feeling wonderful, I was certainly far better than I am right now. After eating my second breakfast (see next topic for why I ate two of them), Avery and I headed out to go sledding. When I heard snow was expected, I stopped to buy a couple of sleds just in case. D played with us out on the street out front for about 10 minutes between conference calls. Then Avery, Turtle Girlie and I headed over to the cemetery to do more sledding. I pulled Avery on her sled, had her hold my sled, then walked Turtle with my other hand. This went surprisingly well.
Once in the cemetery, I tested out the hill for the danger factor since we only had maybe 3 inches of snow which means hitting the road would be hard. Once I felt it was a spot safe enough for Avery, I sent her flying down the hill. At first, she was a bit hesitant. But after coming to a safe landing that first time, she wanted to do it again and again. I also had her in a helmet since we were sledding from grass to snow-covered cement.
After a while of sledding, I decided that our scheduled playdate with Kerry & Lily would be easiest to get to if I pulled Avery up the cemetery hills then down the road for a bit, then dropped back into our development. Pulling her was not what I would call easy. Those hills are steep, she's 30 lbs, and her sled kept accumulating snow underneath it. However, we made it and had a nice playdate with Kerry and Lily.
Getting home went very well. I was a bit worried that, since the hills are so steep, I'd have a hard time controlling the sled from taking off down the hill while trying to walk Turtle and my sled in one hand whilst pulling Avery with the other. Avery couldn't hold my sled, in case you're wondering, because she was busy eating Goldfish. Then I remembered I had something I could use to fasten the second sled to the back of Avery's sled. That made the journey back a piece of cake.
Turtle was very well behaved at Kerry's house. I left her in the garage. It's nice to have a dog whom I'm positive will not chew up anything in someone's garage, will not scratch on the door, and will not bark. Good Turtle Girlie. She did accidentally knock Avery down a few steps in the garage, but Avery had her helmet and snow suit on, so no harm no foul. I think that's actually the first time Turtle has ever knocked Avery down. Not bad for three years.
Double breakfast
So on my last post, I said I was heading to bed at 3:50. That didn't take. So I was awake last night from 12:30 - 6:00 am. I ate my first breakfast at 5 am, then ate another one at 8:30. And thus concludes the story of my two breakfasts.
Qaddafi
I have not been following any of the world events as of late. I understand Egypt had some sort of brew ha-ha (kidding, I do know a bit more than that). Anyway, not to make light of the situation in Libya, but this Vanity Fair slideshow of Qaddafi's fashion sense cracked me up. And how did he go from being not bad looking at all (see the last picture from 1981) to someone who has got to be on the ugliest people of all time?
Weird Ad
I saw this ad on FB a while back. Normally I don't notice ads (I have my own special brain that misses most ads - it's a gift), but this one stuck out. What the hell? Are these the women who failed to take advantage because they were busy getting boob jobs? Or does is it trying to depict that homeowners who fail to take advantage are tools?
Refugee family details
I received the details about the refugee family for whom we're buying gifts. They're from the Congo. The most needed clothing items are coats and pants. I'm excited to shop for them. I also confirmed that I can give them a gently used coat since I have so many winter coats upstairs. For some reason, we are just brimming with coats that have barely been worn. Giving them one of my coats means I can spend more on the other items. Woohoo!
Electronic cigarettes
Did you know these existed? Me neither. You can get them with or without nicotine. The "smoke" is water vapor. Yes, you have to charge the cigarettes up. So weird. Now you, too, can look like this douche bag. Though, to be fair, I'd rather sit next to this tool than someone who is actually smoking since smoke bothers me, but I can shake off a tool.
Nook
The nook doesn't exactly have the kind of awe-inspiring creativity I'd hoped it would. Part of the problem is the rug I bought ($25!) is a very ugly tan, especially under fluorescent lighting, which is the lighting in the nook. It also clashes with the pink I chose for the walls. However, I think Avery will totally love it. I need to buy some bolster pillows to line the sides where the carpet doesn't quite reach. I was also thinking of buying some magnetic paint for some areas of the nook. We'll see. I've decided against putting up the bumblebee lights due to safety concerns. They would have looked so cute, so I'm bummed that my instincts are telling me the risk is not worth the cuteness.
Relatives
My uncle (my mom's brother) and aunt were here last night. They live in eastern Oregon and often stay at our house when in Portland for medical appointments. It was good to catch up, though I did a pathetic job of providing dinner last night. I ended up buying a rotisserie chicken, making plain pasta, and cooking frozen veg. Ah well, 'tis the way it goes.
Charity
FYI, on Monday, Groupon will have a deal to buy a $25 gift certificate to Kiva for $15. Unfortunately, there's a limit of 1/customer. I do love Kiva!
There's a new website called GiveBack.org. It's basically a way to keep track of your charitable giving to make taxes easier. You can add funds directly to the account, or you can earn money buy shopping at various sponsors who will donate from 1-15% of the amount of your purchase to your account. It's a non-profit, so sign up is free and there's no charge for the service. It seems a little unnecessary from a tax perspective to me, though I don't do our taxes, D does. However, if I am going to shop at the online stores listed anyway, I would like funds to go to a charity. Also, for signing up, you get $5 to start with, so that's worth signing up alone! I believe the site was started by the guy who won Oprah's reality show The Big Give.
Baby steps in holiday spirit
I have actually started to buy some things for Avery for Christmas. For me, this is exceptionally early. I am also looking forward to buying her more stuff. Again, for me, this is exceptional. Part of my excitement is because you can't really go wrong buying a three-year-old presents. At least, you can't with Avery. I swear I could wrap up dirt and she'd be thrilled with it.
I also know what I'm giving her for her birthday. We have two nooks, with doors on them, off of an area in our master bedroom. For some reason, the builder finished the walls of the interior of these spaces even though they're just storage spaces. I'm going to make one of those spaces a place for Avery to play. I need to paint the walls (pink, of course), buy some carpet, buy some pillow covers (I have lots of pillows to go in there already), and buy some things to hang on the wall. I'm going to designate it as a space where Avery can write on the walls if she wants. I know I would have loved a place like that to play when I was a kid, so hopefully Avery feels the same way.
In addition to those two baby steps, I have another plan in place. I was pondering buying a real Christmas tree this year, but I don't think I'm ready for that hassle in the living room. So what I've decided to do is buy a fairly small tree that we'll put in the foyer, then decorate that tree with ornaments that we make together. If it's fun, it can be a yearly tradition. If it's not, we'll drop it. My idea for the ornaments as of now is to take old CDs and glue jewels and beads to them. Maybe put glitter on them, etc. If anyone has any old CDs, send 'em my way!
Giddy
Since Eddie started pooping in the house regularly, I've been struggling to keep up a supply of plastic bags. In line with this, I have found I get practically giddy when I find the ideal plastic bag for poop pick ups. Yes, I really do. For example, when I finish a bag of bagels, I grin knowing that bag will be perfect for picking up those turds. Likewise, preschooler clothing ordered online is often delivered in the perfect plastic bags for poop scoop duty.
After being miserable about the poop accidents, I have reached a point of acceptance with them. The turning point was our return from Mexico. Before I dropped the dogs at the G's house, I assembled two poop clean up kits: one for accidents on hardwoods and one for accidents on carpet. Those clean up kits came back virtually unused since Eddie was so often outside at their house. However, those kits have dramatically reduced my stress about the accidents. Why I didn't think to gather all the things needed to easily clean up accidents before, I do not know. But having everything I need to efficiently and effectively clean up the accidents is so much easier.
Eddie had been sleeping in the garage before this cold snap. Now that we're in the cold weather, he's back in the house at night (and during the day, of course). This means a daily in-house accident is practically a guarantee.
Overall, Eddie's doing well. He is becoming less active during the day, but still enjoys the short walks we do occasionally. He's also starting to seek his pain medication more regularly. I am very confident that he knows the pills dull pain. I suspect they also make him feel groggy or something like that because he will sometimes just refuse to take the pills. I used to make him take them anyway, but now I just offer him the pills and if he wants them, he takes them; if he doesn't, he turns his head and I let it go. Sometimes, he'll go stand next to the cabinet where the pills are kept and wait for me. Then I know he wants more pills. There's one pill that we're allowed to give him quite a few of, so I just give him that one and he goes back to his crate.
Eye roll
I get emails from babycenter.com about once a week. Most of the time, I immediately delete them. Some of the time, I click to a link and glance over the topic. Today's email was centered around "is your child gifted." I glance through the bullet points and assess Avery's not gifted (which is not to say I don't think she's a smart cookie - I do - but based on those bullet points, she's not gifted). Anyway, I see there's a poll as to whether your child is gifted. I click over to view the results. 72% of 32,000+ voters said yes. Are our eyes really that clouded about our children? Wow.
Perplexing
I read Yahoo's Most Emailed everyday. It's been a habit for eight years or so. I've stuck with it even when they've changed the format from brilliant to annoying to more annoying. One portion of the page is now called "Most Recommended Photos." For the past two or three month, the photo of the eagle and of Jennifer Hudson have been on this panel. This is odd for a number of reasons: 1. Normally the news stories and photos on this page change daily, or at least weekly. 2. Why would these two photos be so highly recommended? The two photos to the right of these photos have changed periodically, but eagle and JH remain there. It is really starting to annoy me.
2 AM
I was awake until 2 or 2:30 last night, or rather this morning if I'm being all proper about it. I didn't feel like making dinner last night, so we went out to Pastini's for dinner. Of course, when out to dinner, I tend to order Diet Coke. I drank two full glasses. Sometimes I can do this and sleep with no problem whatsoever. Other times, like last night, it makes it such that I'm exhausted, but can't sleep. So I read my book. At least I had a book to read rather than simply tossing and turning.
Avery came into the room, quite silently, around 2 when I was still awake and reading. She came over and just stood by my bed. I asked if she wanted me to put the blanket on her, she said yes, walked back to her room, I put the blanket on, then left. Happily, she went right back to sleep. This is in stark contrast to the night before when she and I had a 1.5 hour battle after she requested to get into our bed and I refused. It went from her having a tantrum, me giving her a time out, her continuously asking for me to put the blanket on her, me relenting about 4 AM and saying she could get in bed with me, only to have her decide that's not what she wanted, etc. The battled ended with me yelling, at the top of my lungs, "Avery, either go to sleep in my bed or in your bed, but pick and bed and GO TO SLEEP!" She was in her room whining at that point. I'm not sure what she chose to do because I put the pillow over my head and went to sleep.
Fever
Avery started a low grade fever (100.8°) last night. When she woke around 6:45, she still had it. The good news is that she slept through the night in her room. She's definitely getting better, though we did take a three hour nap together late this morning. Despite those three hours, I'm quite tired. All things considered, it's been a fairly easy sick-kid stint, but I tire easily, as you should know if you've read my blog for a week or more. I'm really happy to have D home. He was in Seattle Monday and today.
Right now, I hear D reading to Avery up in her room. And he said he'd clean the kitchen tonight.
I expect tomorrow Avery will be well enough for me to cease the screen-time-limit-be-damned attitude I've been allowing. We have watched a lot of Kung Fu Panda ("there is no charge for awesomeness ... or attractiveness" - best line of the movie right there). Avery has started talking about Master Shifu. It's odd to hear her say, "Master Shifu."
Book
I read a book. Yes, this feat merits an entire section because, damn it, I just don't read that much anymore. I'll Fly Away is a compilation of short stories and poems written by women in a prison in Connecticut. The author Wally Lamb runs writing classes (workshops?) with them. I read the first book he published with works by the women, Couldn't Keep it to Myself, and enjoyed it, so I bought this one for my Kindle. While I don't like that I can't share a book I bought for my Kindle, I do love the Kindle itself.
Since I so enjoyed reading an actual book, I'm going to read the Stones into Schools book my mom recommended. At least if it's available on Kindle I'm going to read it. If not, then I know Three Cups of Tea by the same author is available for download. Christie read Stones into Schools, so I fear that while we're in Mexico, she and Mom will be chatting away about this book that I'm going to wish I'd read.
Underwear
I skim this blog about happiness. I have mixed feelings about it. I like it in that I do believe that happiness is, in large part, a choice we make. I dislike it because I like happiness to be easy and not something I work to make happen. That said, I think it was Vy who commented she read the book by the blog author and was intrigued by the idea of adding more happiness into her already happy life. In any case, this is why I skim it: because I find it somewhat interesting without being a devout follower of the concept.
In my skimming, I paused on the post Do you hoard your new underwear? I can say unequivocally that I do not hoard my new underwear. I wash it, then put it directly into rotation the moment I buy it. It would never occur to me to hoard my new underwear. Why would you buy underwear just to keep wearing your old underwear? Further reading of the posts reveals that this isn't so much about underwear as much as it as about "spending out" (using things that she has because otherwise they go to waste just sitting there unused). I do not suffer from this problem. If I buy something, I rarely save it for later. I think I used to do that, but I've decluttered enough to have realized that when I save things for later, I just end up forgetting about them and then not extracting the happiness from using it.
Now I feel like, in my little diatribe, I've basically stolen this woman's post and redone it. I didn't mean to do that. She can rest peacefully in the fact that hers is much more eloquent and profound, whereas mine is mostly about the underwear.
Avery Conversations
Today, as we were checking out at the grocery store, Avery says to the checkout clerk, "Hi. My name is Avery. I have yogurt." And she did have yogurt. The end.
Ballsy
Finally, I leave you with a posting of two emails sent by an internship seeker. It's hard to believe that someone like this exists, but since I've heard stories of candidates going in for interviews with their mothers in tow (seriously!), I guess this shouldn't surprise me.
Not Great
Today has not been so great. Nothing major. I am just feeling very annoyed with things that shouldn't be getting under my skin. Example: a fellow Loreto Bay homeowner - whom I've never met, emailed, or spoken to - friended me on Facebook a while back because I'm the administrator of a group on FB of Loreto Bay homeowners. I accepted and dumped her into my "lesser view" category. However, I keep getting invites from her to become a fan of her FB page. She's a Realtor in San Diego. Why would I become a fan of a business I've never used? In another state? Yeah, not going to happen. I just unfriended her due to annoyance.
I took the dogs for a walk and it started raining half way through. Do you think I brought a coat or anything? No. Of course not. That would be too smart.
Date Nights
Elise and Nolan will arrive in an hour or so for the G's date night.
Last night was our date night. We went to see Kick Ass. It was a good movie that I enjoyed, but it was shockingly violent. I don't really mind violence in movies, but wasn't mentally prepared for this movie to have that much violence. The movie could have so easily turned out to be dreadful for any number of reasons. I think good directing and good casting are largely responsible for its success.
Farmers Market
I went to the Portland Farmers Market this morning while D took Avery to the gym with him. I don't belong at these places. I love the concept, but not so much the actual being there. Too many people. I can't enjoy myself with so many people around me when I'm actually trying to look for things. If I were just there to go to a specific stall (that I knew of in advance and I knew exactly what I planned to get), I would be fine, but the browsing is not for me. I also didn't have much of a plan, so I came home with perhaps the most ridiculous assortment of items ever:
- enough new potatoes for one meal
- one bunch of flowers
- one serving of frozen buffalo meat
- three red onions
- four stalks of rhubarb
- one bag of bagels
Seriously? I look at it typed out and it's even dumber than when I looked in my bag. Gah.
I went because I had a goal of buying more vegetables at farmers markets this year. I think what I will do is wait for the Hillsdale Market to get in full swing for the summer and then tag along with RHG when she goes and have her show me all the places she's already determined to be best for produce. RHG, I'm inviting myself along for a future visit. If that doesn't result in me not finding it to be a miserable experience, then I shall just have to admit I'm someone who wants to like the farmers market, but will never be the person who does.
Mad Men & other TV
D and I watched the third season of Mad Men over the past couple of weeks. It took me a while to warm up to the show, mostly because the men are total pigs, but now I can't wait for season four.
D and I TiVo'd the first episode of Treme on HBO. It's done by the same people who did The Wire, one of my all-time favorite shows, so I figured I'd give it a whirl. However, what I didn't realize was how much I need subtitles for these shows. We used the subtitles all through The Wire and Mad Men. Rescue Me's lame DVD's didn't have subtitles. I don't catch half of what is said otherwise. Part of it is the dialect, but I think a lot is that my hearing must be damaged enough that background noise makes it difficult to hear what's being said. It's an argument for surround sound, but I don't care enough about surround sound to spend the money on it, so we'll have to figure something else out. I would suggest that HBO is stupid for not airing episodes with subtitles in a few middle of the night time-slots, but I am pretty sure D and I are of a select few who use subtitles on shows already in English.
