Meanwhile, the average morning with MiniPlu can best be described by this comic. :P
To add to yesterday's update, let me tell you about my weekend. Back in January, I coaxed Will into signing up for a Marriage Encounter (WWME). See, I knew my aunt/uncle (who are "spiritual" but not religious, if you know what I mean?) had attended several WWME weekends and really enjoyed them, and I know they have a wonderful marriage; it's long been in my head that I wanted to try it, too, once our kids were old enough to foist on someone else for the weekend. Finding an Encounter weekend that's relatively nearby was problematic for awhile, until I discovered one being held right in our region. So - we signed up.
Meanwhile, Karen took our kids to the Camden Aquarium on Sat, where they all apparently had a great time. MiniPlu came home with an adorable floppy plush hippo, and Two got yet another penguin, of course. :-P Sun the kids didn't get as much attention because Karen was trying to get a very stressed Rob ready and out the door to a two-week business trip in TX, but they were safe and content to be where they were, so no problems there. Dog behaved herself, too.
Will finished our taxes today, in the nick of time - which means I get to join the insane mob thronging hordes at the post office tomorrow, ensuring it gets processed in time. Whee!
I ran 3 miles today and seem to be pain-free, so yay! (Two rode her bike next to me the whole time, which was rather sweet.) I can now go back to TKD, and hopefully I can continue to progress with running, too. Actually, what hurt the most today was my arms - despite the pushups I've been doing - since they've gotten out of the habit of pumping back and forth for an extended period.
Two spent part of the evening tonight literally climbing the walls, bracing her feet and hands against the walls in our narrow hallway upstairs. (I allow this because I did the same thing when I was a kid. :P)
Two: Mom, watch this! *shimmies up the walls* Me: *Nervously wondering what, exactly, she was going to do differently this time* How much of a heart attack am I going to have? Two: *Cheerfully* A large one.
Which, despite ourselves, caused Will and me to giggle. (And in the end, we both agreed that her "trick" was more of a mild-to-medium heart attack. It just involved jumping straight down from her perch.)
Will's still moving kind of slowly and carefully, although he's on a LOT less OTC painkiller, and he's had the dressing off since yesterday. I've been trying hard not to feel grumpy that he's still getting to laze around all day, or sit at the computer and work on whatever he wants to (whether it's updating the server downstairs or catching up on the comics), while I still have to do almost everything myself. I get these rather stubborn, sullen looks if I ask him to do anything, even things that I feel are totally within his physical limitations, or are almost entirely non-physical. I want to be patient, and give him some time to relax, because it's not like he normally gets much, and I don't want him to do too much too fast, but I don't want to start feeling taken advantage of, either. At what point can I start poking him to help out more again, not counting any more significantly taxing activities, like lawn-mowing (which I'm doing, no question, tomorrow) or lifting?
My aunt and uncle are celebrating their 25th (!!!) reunion in November; I just received an invitation to attend an intimate celebratory lunch for the occasion but it's on a Monday. In California. I'm just not sure I can manage that, as much as I wish otherwise. :(
I finally got my Pottermore owl today, but I haven't had any time to poke around, nor will I have time tomorrow, either. Or Thursday, come to think of it - school is closed on Thurs for Rosh Hashanah, which means kids underfoot all day. I keep hearing about how the first visit is a timesuck, and I don't know how I'm going to find the time, unless I give up sleep one of these evenings. I'm already struggling to find time to finish books, read Gunnerkrigg Court, sew MiniPlu's costume (it took me nearly 2 months to sew two quilted placemats for my cousin - GAH), keep caught up on LJ, answer email, etc, with such limited free time - and that's having a fair amount of free time! I don't know where it all goes - do chores, exercise, errands and lesson planning (and naps) take THAT much time?
Excuse me while I continue to be extremely frazzled. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time keeping up with the demands of life + holidays + birthday this year, given that I've managed just fine in the past, , but there it is. Maybe it's because Will's had so much extra work - between cars and job - piled on him lately, more of life is falling to me alone and I'm just not managing very well. I'm chronically short on sleep. The extra exercise dictated by the half-marathon training program eats into my time and energy. It took until today for me to read Sunday's newspaper. I haven't read my flist in 2 days (and was only skimming for the couple of days before that) so - what's new with you? Link me if I've missed something important.
abigail89 - who kindly emailed me directly since I've been absent - wrote me a lovely Christmas ficlet, which you can find here. ♥
I've had a lot of head-banging moments in my life lately, which include ( ranty mcrantCollapse )
On the other hand, I did manage to get about half my holiday cards done on Saturday (Will hasn't had time for any), although normally by now I would have mailed ALL of them already, and we saw DH1 a second time on Sunday as my SIL and niece hadn't seen it yet and wanted to - the only HP movie I've seen more than once in the theater since PS/SS.
It's now 9:30pm and MiniPlu is still up. First, she had trouble falling asleep [probably due to the late-night jolt of sugar (choc cake)] she ingested and she's had two nasty nosebleeds to boot.
I haven't managed to help my kids practice this week's spelling yet. I only barely remembered Two's weekly reading assignment (which she gets on Fri and has until Wed to practice) last night, so she read it twice today, instead. I have presents to wrap, more cards to do, I'm volunteering at school both Wed and Thurs (plus usual library on Fri), we're attending a wedding on Sat and HELP! And yet, there are plenty of you juggling just the same demands plus a FT job. What's wrong with me??
I'm so sorry to hear about Elizabeth Edwards. Although they reported this morning on the news that she was in the "there's nothing more that we can do" stage, it didn't sound like she was down to her final hours. There was a woman with grace and strength.
*grumbles about having to cave in to Republican tax demands*
Phew. If you made it through all that, have a mug of hot chocolate. :)
I'm a bit antsy about this week's homework, because I didn't understand how to access the reading assignments until today, due to unclear instructions and a broken link. I've since figured it out, but I'm usually more ahead of the game as the week starts. I have to listen to one audiobook - I've downloaded a free eBook from the library, but it's not going to be as easy to find time to 'read' it as it is with an actual book I can tote around with me. (And you DO remember how small my mp3 player's capacity is, right?) I also have to go to the library's reference section to find a book about magazines, and then have to pick a kids' magazine to review. (The series as a whole, not an individual issue.)
Meanwhile, Will has been very stressed over the semi-demotion at work and has been rather difficult to live with at home, due to him blowing up over stupid shit, or angsting (it took me a minute to figure out why "anxting" looked wrong :P) without taking any action (which just drives me BANANAS after awhile). Plus angst and cynicism over the election. I feel sorry for him, but it's very frustrating, too. Plus there's my usual frustration of talking to walls (husband who cannot pay attention to more than one thing at a time, and children who cannot remember anything Mommy tells them for more than one nanosecond, thus requiring exasperatingly frequent repetition), dealing with rebellious moppets (not to mention Will - who automatically gives smart-ass responses and it gets old really fast) and being taken for granted that I'll pick up everyone else's pieces, blah blah. You moms know what I mean.
I've been lent another book in this timeline (different author) as well as another Phillipa Gregory book, but I think I'm going to take a break from the Middle Ages to return to Discworld; I still have Night Watch left from my birthday four-pack, so I've started that. Haven't gotten more than a few pages so far, what with all the other stuff going on this weekend, but it's a delight, as usual.
I owe hamsterwoman answers to some meme questions, but it will have to wait. Getting late - time for bed.
Ordinary Tuesday, really - library, cooking (yogurt), some errands, my glasses are broken again (bent frame), sinus headache, a nap, homework, time with the girls, Two being sent to her room.... :P
I should have said this awhile back, but anyone with an interest in books (particularly children's books) and/or food should check out jamarattigan's LJ. She's the author of Dumpling Soup (which I can attest is delightful) as well as several other picture books. Her LJ is full of book recs, recipes, talk about favorite foods, fun quizzes and the like. Today's post is about Presidential cookies and includes a link to recipes. Delicious and full of fun trivia, too. I was telling her today that her posts always brighten my day. Maybe you'd like your day brightened too - go check it out!
Follow-up on the "field trip" we'd heard nothing about - MiniPlu's class went. All the first and second graders, to a local middle school to see plays based on children's books. One of the moms at the bus stop (a former teacher for a different district) told me she thought it was district policy that it's not considered a "real" field trip (with permission forms) as long as they are visiting someplace within the district. Which I think is absolute LUNACY. What if I needed to pick MiniPlu up early for a dentist appointment and she wasn't there - and I had no idea where she was? They got on a bus and left their usual building - parents should be told (and preferably asked). I'm wondering if I should make a stink about this - I mean, it was fine that she went but I don't like how it was handled at all.
Thanks to everyone who voted in/commented on my political poll. Anyone else want to put in their 2 knuts?
