It's true. I'm not just another pretty face. No, really. I'm not. I'm also an avid reader, a fabulous hostess, a mediocre cook, mildly interesting and marginally fashionable. I don't like to toot my own horn, but I fancy myself a pret-ty, sharp cookie. I've also become quite the "Handy Andy" in my old age. Becky Home-ecky, if you will. Why, I can fashion a toilet paper cozy out of some scrap yarn and an old barbie doll so fast, your head would spin.
I enjoy clipping wedding & engagement announcements out of the Sunday paper and then writing my own captions for them, and then delivering them to various friends' mailboxes. You know, just for kicks.
I dabble in making custom note cards for my peeps (my friends are like, 'mmmmmm, yeah....thanks for the set of personalized stationary. It's even better than the last 4 set you've made me....oh, I see, this one is much, much different. It has the comic sans font....how clever!') My newest creation is buying craft store, wooden letters and then decorating them with decorative paper. I'm fancy that way. Will I ever stop re-inventing myself? Will the madness ever end?
Hmm. I just realized something while typing this. I was just about to add my blog to my long list of talents when it hit me--- this is what I've been reduced to. Writing to complete strangers about my sad, sad existence. Really? Am I really that proud of my stationary and widdled wooden letters? Good God, am I pathetic.
When all my skirts get together, we're like a sewing circle. All you hear is white noise of conversation with a frequent howl of laughter. If I'm feeling particularly anti-social or quiet, I'll just listen to everyones' conversation and I'll wonder if we have anything else to talk about besides the elementary school's new play ground, recipes or regaling each other with darling little stories about our sons and daughters. Is this really what it has come down to? Ugh. I've become my mother. Never in a million years did I think that this is how I would pass my time. Valentine's Day party meetings....I mean, you bring cupcakes, candy hearts and valentines...voila! Oh no, not anymore....you have to have crafts and nutritious snacks and games and centers, my God, the centers.... don't you know?
I know this is why I chose to stay home with my babies. I just envisioned myself being different than those "other" mothers. I thought I'd be much more cool, but when it comes down to it, like every other mother, giving birth has robbed me of my former self. I used to have a somewhat extensive vocabulary. Not anymore, I have to grasp for synonyms and I struggle to express myself without swearing. I barely know how to hold a pen, for pity's sake! I will go to write out my grocery list and it's like my hands immediately go to sleep and I'm like a caveman who's completely unfamiliar with the workings of a writing utensil. I bang it on the table, grunting.
I feel utterly useless. So, I can potty train a child. So, I can teach a little boy how to ride a two wheeler...that's all well and good but can I contribute anything else to society? Well, that is, besides 2 self sufficient, highly functioning men. Well....at least ONE self sufficient, highly functioning man (our youngest is all slow in the head and whatnot). So, I guess if all of my sacrifices, challenges and tribulations can contribute to at least one of my children becoming upstanding members of society, than I guess it was worth it. I'll keep telling myself that!
This isn't exactly where I thought this blog was heading, but evidently I had some pent up emotions on the subject of my so-called life. At the beginning of my rant, I went from being a well read, creative & talented woman and ended my schpeel with my being a useless, ninny who likes to glue paper together. Neat! At the end of the day, we all turn out to be our mothers---it's inevitable. You can't fight city hall.
That reminds me, I'm going to go blog about really stupid expressions, like, you can't fight city hall....
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
The ticket muncher
Many, many happenings in my home these days. My 3 yr old is potty training and we've given our kitchen a face lift, of sorts. Oh, when will the fun end for my family and myself, I mean, WHEN? It just doesn't get any better than this. I've said it once, I'll say it again, I'm just living the dream. Living. The. Dream. I tell you...
Like any red blooded mother, I made a pee pee chart for my son. Every 5 stamps earns him a special treat. Like, dinner for example. His first 5 earned him a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, which is my personal hell on earth, but the kids enjoy it so. So, alas, he earned 5 stamps and off we went to pay the mouse.
Also, on this particular day, my husband and I were in disagreement as it pertained to our new backsplash. He wanted to do it himself. I wanted him to hire out. My husband doesn't "hire out" for anything. He's quite handy, you see. So, you can imagine the brick wall I was up against when I begged for the back splash of my choice and the total ended up being quite a bit higher than the quote. I knew I'd eventually get my way. We'd been getting along fabulously lately. And by gettting along, I mean, he'd been gettin' some (wink, wink). Sure, I'd have to do some fancy footwork to get that back splash, but I'd earn every square inch of it, oh boy!
So, we're wrapping things up at Chuck E. Cheese and we have a few tokens left. I say to him, "whaddya say we make this interesting. Winner of Skeet Ball makes the back splash decision". He tells me no. I rub his back and play attentive wife. A while later, he propositions me. I won't get into the proposition because it involved a darling skirt (now tainted) and some open toe heels that tie up at the ankle. Next thing I know, we're standing before our respective lanes and we're shaking hands. May the best spouse win, I tell him. I blew out my final breath. I (air) kissed the germ infested ball and we were off! Needless to say, I rock the Kaz ba. I won 20,000 to 18,000.
Of all the games & rides at CEC, the thing my kids love most is the ticket muncher. How many tickets will he eat this time? What on earth will I buy with all these tickets? Will I be able to choose from the first, second or third row? The possibilities are endless. While my babies were hemming and hawing over their precious prizes, Jason was wondering if we could pay for our new back splash with the kids tickets. Surely, behind the counter were the really good prizes...can't you just look in the back?? He's a good sport, God bless 'em.
Definitely the most expensive trip to Chuck E. Cheese he'll ever be on, but oh-so gratifying. 1, 2...6, I'm calling up the decorator lady and the back splash is being installed Monday.
Voila! And that, my friend, is how it's done.
Like any red blooded mother, I made a pee pee chart for my son. Every 5 stamps earns him a special treat. Like, dinner for example. His first 5 earned him a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, which is my personal hell on earth, but the kids enjoy it so. So, alas, he earned 5 stamps and off we went to pay the mouse.
Also, on this particular day, my husband and I were in disagreement as it pertained to our new backsplash. He wanted to do it himself. I wanted him to hire out. My husband doesn't "hire out" for anything. He's quite handy, you see. So, you can imagine the brick wall I was up against when I begged for the back splash of my choice and the total ended up being quite a bit higher than the quote. I knew I'd eventually get my way. We'd been getting along fabulously lately. And by gettting along, I mean, he'd been gettin' some (wink, wink). Sure, I'd have to do some fancy footwork to get that back splash, but I'd earn every square inch of it, oh boy!
So, we're wrapping things up at Chuck E. Cheese and we have a few tokens left. I say to him, "whaddya say we make this interesting. Winner of Skeet Ball makes the back splash decision". He tells me no. I rub his back and play attentive wife. A while later, he propositions me. I won't get into the proposition because it involved a darling skirt (now tainted) and some open toe heels that tie up at the ankle. Next thing I know, we're standing before our respective lanes and we're shaking hands. May the best spouse win, I tell him. I blew out my final breath. I (air) kissed the germ infested ball and we were off! Needless to say, I rock the Kaz ba. I won 20,000 to 18,000.
Of all the games & rides at CEC, the thing my kids love most is the ticket muncher. How many tickets will he eat this time? What on earth will I buy with all these tickets? Will I be able to choose from the first, second or third row? The possibilities are endless. While my babies were hemming and hawing over their precious prizes, Jason was wondering if we could pay for our new back splash with the kids tickets. Surely, behind the counter were the really good prizes...can't you just look in the back?? He's a good sport, God bless 'em.
Definitely the most expensive trip to Chuck E. Cheese he'll ever be on, but oh-so gratifying. 1, 2...6, I'm calling up the decorator lady and the back splash is being installed Monday.
Voila! And that, my friend, is how it's done.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
God, Lindsey, I thought I killed her!
My husband Jason and I had been planning our upcoming trip to Colorado forEVER! His best friend was finally tying the knot. This was the most anticipated wedding, since Luke and Laura's. I literally planned potential pregnancies around this wedding. With the exception of over-nighters here and there, we hadn't been away on vacation together in almost 7 years. We were due.
I'd been counting the days 'til we left. I took all the necessary precautions, ie. new dress, babysitter, dog sitter, rental car, fake tan, etc. etc. So, to say we were anxious for this trip to happen was an extreme understatement.
The "day of" came and we giddily (is that a word?) said good bye to our kids and sped down the driveway, leaving skid marks. We chatted (uninterrupted) and laughed (with each other not at each other) the whole way to the airport.
MISTAKE #1: We stopped at Four Winds Casino on our way to Chicago because...well, why wouldn't we? So, we leisurely had lunch, confidently played a few hands of black jack (lost) and we were on our merry way.
After driving for what seemed a bit longer than expected, my husband announces that we should have been at the airport by now. He's starting to panic because we only have about an hour buffer at this point and we're not even near the airport. Mind you, he JUST made this exact trip (same airline, same flight, same airport) 3 months ago for the bachelor party. So, we're driving and driving and he's freaking out. I call a few friends who know their way around the windy city fairly well and they assure us that we're absolutely heading in the right direction to O'Hare. Jason politely thanks them and then mutters that they don't know what they're talking about because he insists that we weren't going the right way.
MISTAKE #2: He sneaks his blackberry out of his briefcase and very surrepticiously begins to type in our flight information. I ask him, 'what are the chances that we fly out of Midway and not O'Hare'? He says '1%'. Then, what he fears the most is upon him and he whips his phone across the car. "&^%$!#$....WE FRIGGIN' FLY OUT OF MIDWAY". Yeah. Midway was about an hour and 20 minutes ago. We now have about 30 minutes to make our flight. Nevermind parking and checking our bags and such. He asks what we should do and I tell him to pull over and find an attorney because I'm leaving him.
We drive through Chicago's mid-day traffic (in a stick shift) for about an hour and half and I say nothing the entire time. I'm fuming. We finally get to Midway and we obviously miss our flight, but the ticket person assures us we'll get on stand by because there's 30 available seats and we're number 6 in line. So, once I realize that I have 3 hours to myself (which never happens) I exhale and decide to forgive my husband. I immediately walked into the nearest bookstore and began piling up books into his arms. He suggested that perhaps I don't have to buy all of these hardbacks, but wait and then check them out from the library. I glare at him and he lovingly walks up to the register with books in tow. Pretty much the same scene goes down at the jewlery store and when I've decided that I've gotten enough mileage out of his huge snafu, I sit down with my new books and begin to read.
It's about an hour before we're supposed to board for our stand by flight and I'm basically sitting on the ticket counter waiting for the ticket person to show up. When she finally does, I'm all but crawling over the front of the counter to get her to notice me, but she just keeps typing away pretending she doesn't see me. I'm absolutely certain that she was typing "I don't see you, I don't see you" over and over. I jingled my keys, I sighed loudly....nothing (you could hear crickets). Then she walks away. Finally comes back and I pop up from under the counter, "HELLO....Hi, can you help me"?? Her: (sigh...eye roll, glare) I shove my ticket in her face and she tells me that she couldn't possibly tell me if I've gotten on the stand by flight or not, it's far too early to tell. I look around, there's basically 12 people sitting there. So, she proceeds to call up the people who need assistance, then the people from the back of the plane and forward, then she calls up the stand by people one by one. She was like, "Ummm, ok, anyone..... anyone at all who aren't these two annoying people standing in front of me looking like toddlers who are about to pee their pants can board the aircraft. Finally, she sighs, nods her head and allows us onto her precious airplane.
Jason and I fought the whole way onto the plane about who will sit in the middle. I hate the middle, but I always give it to him because he's 6'2" and I don't want to hear him kvetch about it the whole way to Denver. I shove in next to what seems to be a very normal man. He was anything but. First of all, he mumbled to himself from the moment I sat down until we landed in Colorado, which ironically ended up being 3 times longer than it needed to be---but I'll get to that momentarily. He had this non-sensical, unaudible way of speaking which at first concerned me, but then really grated on my nerves. He had a comment for every single thing that was said within his earshot. Very annoying.
We're 8th in line for take off. We're 2nd in line for take off. We've sat idle for about 30 minutes when the pilot announces that the airport has temporarily closed down due to a thunderstorm. Oh....and they don't serve booze while still on the ground. The plane erupts into panic. And there we sit, for the next. 4. hours. I was getting dangerously close to losing it.
The guy. You know, the one next to me? Well, he has a ritual of sorts, see? It goes like this: Toiletry bag out. Place on lap. Unzip. Take out--in the following order--asthma inhaler, skittles, plain M&M's, chapstick. Use each one. Zip. Put away toiletry bag. Dig in pocket for 5 minutes (which is very pleasant for the person sitting next to you--which would be me). Finally retrieve wallet. Count 1's and 5's. Count credit cards. Put wallet back. Adjust ear phones. Get out phone. Scroll thru his peeps. Sit still for 2 seconds and..........then it starts. all. over. again. I was clawing Jason's thigh like a wildebeast. I was going mental. He wouldn't sit still. It was like sitting with my 3 year old, except my 3 year old is handsome...and funny. This guy was fat....and very un-funny. Plus, he kept breathing through his nose onto my hands and it was sending me to the moon. At one point I actually text messaged Jason the entire ritual and while Jason was reading it, the guy was doing exactly what I had written at that very time. Jason thought I was a magician of sorts, bless his heart. Oh, and another thing about this guy that I think is note worthy is that I find him to be a bit of a liar. He would scroll through his phone, dial and then say to the person on the other line, "Oooooh, you answered???? I was playing with my phone and it accidently dialed your number. I didn't want to be rude and just hang up. Me, oh, I'm alright, I guess. (Sigh) Except, I'm sitting on this plane in Chicago......" He did this to THREE different people. I couldn't believe it. Lying like that, in front of me, when I had already formed my awful opinion of him. I soooo badly wanted to grab the phone from him and "out" him. "he's lying...he's LYING--he didn't accidently dial your number--it was very deliberate--he's a liaaaar"!!!!
So, we finally land in Denver. It's 12:30 A.M. there (2:30 A.M. our time). We still have to get our bags, our rental car and get to our rented house, where 15 of our closest friends have been staying for several days prior to us getting there. Surely, there won't be anyone else at Hertz, after all, it is 12:30 in the A.M. Yep. Jason is 27th in line and there's one person working. A slow person at that.
I'll use this time to go into my description of the people with whom we're about to spend our weekend. The Rossi family. Ahh, the Rossi's. The Rossi's 3rd child, Chris, is Jason's best friend in the whole entire world. We named our oldest son's middle name "Ross" after these people. Since Jason grew up with Chris, he's long since become an honorary member of their family. And because I'm so charming and witty, they've taken me on as an adopted daughter as well. Between you and me and the rest of the world, I feel closer to these people than I do my own family. I love spending holidays with them. Not the boring ones, like Easter and Christmas, but the really fun ones, like Memorial Day and 4th of July...and Saturdays. So, you get it, we're very close and so forth. Mr. & Mrs. Rossi (Joe & Irene), their 4 kids +spouses (who are mostly our age-ish) Joe & Irene's best friends the Dushane's (Ron & Linda) plus Jason and I all in a 10,000 square foot palatial mansion. This house is on the market for 2 mil and we all got to stay there. We're fancy that way. Now, the Rossi's and the Dushanes are drinkers. Their kids grew up together, there's a lot of history there and they're a riot to watch when they've had a few. Irene with her bloody mary's....Joe with his manhattans....there's no telling where the fun will end. Here's a whimsical little side story to depict the Rossi's.
I'm about 12 hours pregnant and attending a friend's wedding. Jason and I are seated with the Rossi's. Joe asks me what I want to drink, I tell him a long island. He whistles for the waitress and calls her "toots" and tells "toots" to get me a long island. His wife, Irene, screeches, "Jooooeeee, for God's sake, she's pregnant"!!!!!!! J0e looks at her as if to say "....and..???" So he says, "Irene, you drank with all 4 of our kids and they turned out fine". Irene comes back with, "Nooo, not Nick, I did NOT drink or smoke with Nick". Joe replies without hesitation, "Yeah, and he's our dumbest one. Toots, bring this young lady a long island, pronto"!!!! Me loves the Rossi's. And yet another story:
We're all sitting around the Rossi's patio (very typical) and Chris is a newbie attorney and he's telling us about some case where they had to use a NIT kit on someone. That's code-ski for Narcotics Indicator Test. Mrs. Rossi walks into the conversation and says, "what...what...a Nick test.....so, Nick smokes it and reports if it's good pot or not..."????? We laughed for hours about that one. Poor Nick. He's the baby of the family and they all called him Kato Kalin for a while because he'd be known to get drunk and pass out in the pool house on occasion.
But I digress. Back to our trip. So, fast forward a few more hours and we're finally at our destination. Our amazingly, beautiful rented castle which is currently housing some of my most favorite people, who all suck because they've fallen asleep awaiting our arrival. We pull up to the house and there's one lone light on in the kitchen. Out walks Irene (Mrs. Rossi) in all her glory. She's in her 60's, it's well after 2 AM and she's still clutching her glass of wine, God bless her. She greets me at the door with a beer and an Atavan. God, I love these people. Irene knows I love my pills. After we've beat up Jason a little for all of our traveling debacles, we retreat to our fancy schmancy guest room (one of 6) to pass out for the night. Of course, I think my 2nd wind has kicked in and I fight the sleepies. One beer and one Atavan later and I'm all, "I'm not even tir--...zzzzzzzzzz"
The next morning, Jason has an 8AM tee time and he leaves me two $100 bills on the end table. He tells me to have a nice day and gestures to the cash. I tell him that I feel like a whore. He tells me that I must not be a very good one for only $200. I laugh and fall back asleep.
Hours later there's a knock at my door. Mrs. Rossi is standing there with a very nervous look on her face. As it turned out, she just wanted to make sure I was still breathing. I've gotten the rest of the story from Linda Dushane, but this is how it was reported to me.
Evidently Irene has a habit of covering her mouth with her hands to relay a secret, especially if it's a secret that she thinks she'll get into trouble for. So she wearily walks up the stairs and finds Linda sitting on a barstool at the island. She sits next to Linda and leans into her. Linda says, "what the hell has gotten into you, Irene"? Irene places her two hands together like she's praying and then pinches her lips with her index fingers and looks around the kitchen, all shifty-like. "God Lindsey, I thought I killed her"! Anyone who knows me it takes much, much more than a beer and an Atavan to kill this old bird. I've racked up quite a tolerance to the pharmaceuticals.
...for the record the rest of the weekend was a hoot. No further drama to report. Oh, except when I was visiting a friend in Denver, who did we see on the streets of Cherry Creek while window shopping? None other than my seat mate on the infamous flight from Chicago. Just to prove it to Jason, we did take a picture of him leaning into a car window, probably annoying someone, or lying to them. I'll have to work on getting that picture.
I'd been counting the days 'til we left. I took all the necessary precautions, ie. new dress, babysitter, dog sitter, rental car, fake tan, etc. etc. So, to say we were anxious for this trip to happen was an extreme understatement.
The "day of" came and we giddily (is that a word?) said good bye to our kids and sped down the driveway, leaving skid marks. We chatted (uninterrupted) and laughed (with each other not at each other) the whole way to the airport.
MISTAKE #1: We stopped at Four Winds Casino on our way to Chicago because...well, why wouldn't we? So, we leisurely had lunch, confidently played a few hands of black jack (lost) and we were on our merry way.
After driving for what seemed a bit longer than expected, my husband announces that we should have been at the airport by now. He's starting to panic because we only have about an hour buffer at this point and we're not even near the airport. Mind you, he JUST made this exact trip (same airline, same flight, same airport) 3 months ago for the bachelor party. So, we're driving and driving and he's freaking out. I call a few friends who know their way around the windy city fairly well and they assure us that we're absolutely heading in the right direction to O'Hare. Jason politely thanks them and then mutters that they don't know what they're talking about because he insists that we weren't going the right way.
MISTAKE #2: He sneaks his blackberry out of his briefcase and very surrepticiously begins to type in our flight information. I ask him, 'what are the chances that we fly out of Midway and not O'Hare'? He says '1%'. Then, what he fears the most is upon him and he whips his phone across the car. "&^%$!#$....WE FRIGGIN' FLY OUT OF MIDWAY". Yeah. Midway was about an hour and 20 minutes ago. We now have about 30 minutes to make our flight. Nevermind parking and checking our bags and such. He asks what we should do and I tell him to pull over and find an attorney because I'm leaving him.
We drive through Chicago's mid-day traffic (in a stick shift) for about an hour and half and I say nothing the entire time. I'm fuming. We finally get to Midway and we obviously miss our flight, but the ticket person assures us we'll get on stand by because there's 30 available seats and we're number 6 in line. So, once I realize that I have 3 hours to myself (which never happens) I exhale and decide to forgive my husband. I immediately walked into the nearest bookstore and began piling up books into his arms. He suggested that perhaps I don't have to buy all of these hardbacks, but wait and then check them out from the library. I glare at him and he lovingly walks up to the register with books in tow. Pretty much the same scene goes down at the jewlery store and when I've decided that I've gotten enough mileage out of his huge snafu, I sit down with my new books and begin to read.
It's about an hour before we're supposed to board for our stand by flight and I'm basically sitting on the ticket counter waiting for the ticket person to show up. When she finally does, I'm all but crawling over the front of the counter to get her to notice me, but she just keeps typing away pretending she doesn't see me. I'm absolutely certain that she was typing "I don't see you, I don't see you" over and over. I jingled my keys, I sighed loudly....nothing (you could hear crickets). Then she walks away. Finally comes back and I pop up from under the counter, "HELLO....Hi, can you help me"?? Her: (sigh...eye roll, glare) I shove my ticket in her face and she tells me that she couldn't possibly tell me if I've gotten on the stand by flight or not, it's far too early to tell. I look around, there's basically 12 people sitting there. So, she proceeds to call up the people who need assistance, then the people from the back of the plane and forward, then she calls up the stand by people one by one. She was like, "Ummm, ok, anyone..... anyone at all who aren't these two annoying people standing in front of me looking like toddlers who are about to pee their pants can board the aircraft. Finally, she sighs, nods her head and allows us onto her precious airplane.
Jason and I fought the whole way onto the plane about who will sit in the middle. I hate the middle, but I always give it to him because he's 6'2" and I don't want to hear him kvetch about it the whole way to Denver. I shove in next to what seems to be a very normal man. He was anything but. First of all, he mumbled to himself from the moment I sat down until we landed in Colorado, which ironically ended up being 3 times longer than it needed to be---but I'll get to that momentarily. He had this non-sensical, unaudible way of speaking which at first concerned me, but then really grated on my nerves. He had a comment for every single thing that was said within his earshot. Very annoying.
We're 8th in line for take off. We're 2nd in line for take off. We've sat idle for about 30 minutes when the pilot announces that the airport has temporarily closed down due to a thunderstorm. Oh....and they don't serve booze while still on the ground. The plane erupts into panic. And there we sit, for the next. 4. hours. I was getting dangerously close to losing it.
The guy. You know, the one next to me? Well, he has a ritual of sorts, see? It goes like this: Toiletry bag out. Place on lap. Unzip. Take out--in the following order--asthma inhaler, skittles, plain M&M's, chapstick. Use each one. Zip. Put away toiletry bag. Dig in pocket for 5 minutes (which is very pleasant for the person sitting next to you--which would be me). Finally retrieve wallet. Count 1's and 5's. Count credit cards. Put wallet back. Adjust ear phones. Get out phone. Scroll thru his peeps. Sit still for 2 seconds and..........then it starts. all. over. again. I was clawing Jason's thigh like a wildebeast. I was going mental. He wouldn't sit still. It was like sitting with my 3 year old, except my 3 year old is handsome...and funny. This guy was fat....and very un-funny. Plus, he kept breathing through his nose onto my hands and it was sending me to the moon. At one point I actually text messaged Jason the entire ritual and while Jason was reading it, the guy was doing exactly what I had written at that very time. Jason thought I was a magician of sorts, bless his heart. Oh, and another thing about this guy that I think is note worthy is that I find him to be a bit of a liar. He would scroll through his phone, dial and then say to the person on the other line, "Oooooh, you answered???? I was playing with my phone and it accidently dialed your number. I didn't want to be rude and just hang up. Me, oh, I'm alright, I guess. (Sigh) Except, I'm sitting on this plane in Chicago......" He did this to THREE different people. I couldn't believe it. Lying like that, in front of me, when I had already formed my awful opinion of him. I soooo badly wanted to grab the phone from him and "out" him. "he's lying...he's LYING--he didn't accidently dial your number--it was very deliberate--he's a liaaaar"!!!!
So, we finally land in Denver. It's 12:30 A.M. there (2:30 A.M. our time). We still have to get our bags, our rental car and get to our rented house, where 15 of our closest friends have been staying for several days prior to us getting there. Surely, there won't be anyone else at Hertz, after all, it is 12:30 in the A.M. Yep. Jason is 27th in line and there's one person working. A slow person at that.
I'll use this time to go into my description of the people with whom we're about to spend our weekend. The Rossi family. Ahh, the Rossi's. The Rossi's 3rd child, Chris, is Jason's best friend in the whole entire world. We named our oldest son's middle name "Ross" after these people. Since Jason grew up with Chris, he's long since become an honorary member of their family. And because I'm so charming and witty, they've taken me on as an adopted daughter as well. Between you and me and the rest of the world, I feel closer to these people than I do my own family. I love spending holidays with them. Not the boring ones, like Easter and Christmas, but the really fun ones, like Memorial Day and 4th of July...and Saturdays. So, you get it, we're very close and so forth. Mr. & Mrs. Rossi (Joe & Irene), their 4 kids +spouses (who are mostly our age-ish) Joe & Irene's best friends the Dushane's (Ron & Linda) plus Jason and I all in a 10,000 square foot palatial mansion. This house is on the market for 2 mil and we all got to stay there. We're fancy that way. Now, the Rossi's and the Dushanes are drinkers. Their kids grew up together, there's a lot of history there and they're a riot to watch when they've had a few. Irene with her bloody mary's....Joe with his manhattans....there's no telling where the fun will end. Here's a whimsical little side story to depict the Rossi's.
I'm about 12 hours pregnant and attending a friend's wedding. Jason and I are seated with the Rossi's. Joe asks me what I want to drink, I tell him a long island. He whistles for the waitress and calls her "toots" and tells "toots" to get me a long island. His wife, Irene, screeches, "Jooooeeee, for God's sake, she's pregnant"!!!!!!! J0e looks at her as if to say "....and..???" So he says, "Irene, you drank with all 4 of our kids and they turned out fine". Irene comes back with, "Nooo, not Nick, I did NOT drink or smoke with Nick". Joe replies without hesitation, "Yeah, and he's our dumbest one. Toots, bring this young lady a long island, pronto"!!!! Me loves the Rossi's. And yet another story:
We're all sitting around the Rossi's patio (very typical) and Chris is a newbie attorney and he's telling us about some case where they had to use a NIT kit on someone. That's code-ski for Narcotics Indicator Test. Mrs. Rossi walks into the conversation and says, "what...what...a Nick test.....so, Nick smokes it and reports if it's good pot or not..."????? We laughed for hours about that one. Poor Nick. He's the baby of the family and they all called him Kato Kalin for a while because he'd be known to get drunk and pass out in the pool house on occasion.
But I digress. Back to our trip. So, fast forward a few more hours and we're finally at our destination. Our amazingly, beautiful rented castle which is currently housing some of my most favorite people, who all suck because they've fallen asleep awaiting our arrival. We pull up to the house and there's one lone light on in the kitchen. Out walks Irene (Mrs. Rossi) in all her glory. She's in her 60's, it's well after 2 AM and she's still clutching her glass of wine, God bless her. She greets me at the door with a beer and an Atavan. God, I love these people. Irene knows I love my pills. After we've beat up Jason a little for all of our traveling debacles, we retreat to our fancy schmancy guest room (one of 6) to pass out for the night. Of course, I think my 2nd wind has kicked in and I fight the sleepies. One beer and one Atavan later and I'm all, "I'm not even tir--...zzzzzzzzzz"
The next morning, Jason has an 8AM tee time and he leaves me two $100 bills on the end table. He tells me to have a nice day and gestures to the cash. I tell him that I feel like a whore. He tells me that I must not be a very good one for only $200. I laugh and fall back asleep.
Hours later there's a knock at my door. Mrs. Rossi is standing there with a very nervous look on her face. As it turned out, she just wanted to make sure I was still breathing. I've gotten the rest of the story from Linda Dushane, but this is how it was reported to me.
Evidently Irene has a habit of covering her mouth with her hands to relay a secret, especially if it's a secret that she thinks she'll get into trouble for. So she wearily walks up the stairs and finds Linda sitting on a barstool at the island. She sits next to Linda and leans into her. Linda says, "what the hell has gotten into you, Irene"? Irene places her two hands together like she's praying and then pinches her lips with her index fingers and looks around the kitchen, all shifty-like. "God Lindsey, I thought I killed her"! Anyone who knows me it takes much, much more than a beer and an Atavan to kill this old bird. I've racked up quite a tolerance to the pharmaceuticals.
...for the record the rest of the weekend was a hoot. No further drama to report. Oh, except when I was visiting a friend in Denver, who did we see on the streets of Cherry Creek while window shopping? None other than my seat mate on the infamous flight from Chicago. Just to prove it to Jason, we did take a picture of him leaning into a car window, probably annoying someone, or lying to them. I'll have to work on getting that picture.
mcGruff the crime fighting dog
My family and I moved to Pleasantville U.S.A about 4 years ago. And it is pleasantville in every sense of the word. Neighbors look out for one another. Multi-family bbq's take place at least weekly. Children wander fearlessly through each other's yards. Joggers & bikers always wave or stop to say hello, whether you know them or not. Colonial-era carolers visit our home to sing inspirational hymns a capella. OK, that's going a bit too far, but you understand.
We had our dearest friends in town for a visit recently. They're from the East side of the state and although they live in a posh neighborhood, it still seems light years away from me....what with the city lights, locked doors and Starbucks on every corner. They think we live in the middle of nowhere---Butt F*ck Nowhere to be exact. I'll admit, it's a bit small town and yes, I'll even go as far to admit that a few weeks after we moved here, I was scanning radio stations and darned if I didn't hear "Baby Got Bible" on a Christian radio channel. As in, "Oh My Gosh, Becky, look at her bible...it's so big, she must think she's one of those preachers daughter's or something....". I almost put our house up for sale that night. Kids, pack it up, we're outta here. But, after a while this darn place grew on me and we've grown accustom to our small town ways.
That being said, we excitedly welcomed our out-of-town guest with open arms and looked greatly forward to an evening of fun. Fun, indeed. Once we convinced our dear friends that we do, in fact, house electricity and running water, the beers began to flow and laughter ensued. At approximately midnight a threesome of hoodlums came barreling through our backyard, followed by a man yelling, "did you see those kids, they broke into my garage"?!?! Well, that's all the ammunition our husbands needed to play cops and robbers. Off they go, leaving my girlfriend and I to sit roll our eyes at the situation. After about 20 minutes they still hadn't come back yet, so we went around front to investigate. Her husband was huffing and puffing up the driveway and demanded that I call the police. "POLICE"?, I say to him..."Really---is that necessary"? He gets all mad and so forth and tells me that my husband has the hoodlums 'in custody' and I need to call the police immediately. So, I'm in no condition to be speaking to the authorities, but I do as I'm told. Here's how the conversation went down:
Dispatcher: 911, where is your emergency
Me: Well. See, there is no emergency per se, but some kids just ran through our yard and another neighbor claims they broke into his garage.
Dispatcher: Where is that other neighbor now?
Me: Not a clue, musta gone home.
Dispatcher: Where are the boys?
Me: Oh, my husband has them contained.
Dispatcher: CONTAINED???? WHERE??
Me: Over there (I point over there)
Dispatcher: Ma'am, I can't see you through the phone
Me: oh, right...ummm 2 doors down from me....in the yard.
Dispatcher: Ma'am describe your husband please.
Me: OK, he's 6'1", about 230, maybe less due to his recent weight loss, he's Hispanic and is wearing a grubby red shirt.
Me: Oh, wait, I know where you're going with this. He's not holding the kids in a violent way, he's just making sure they don't run. Scaring them, if you will.
Dispatcher: Uh huh.
Me: Seriously.
I'm imagining that my choice of words will most likely land my husband in jail for the night. I imagine our conjugal visits.
Finally she tells me she'll send a car. At this point my girlfriend is doubled over in my front yard, dying laughing. We're crying, when all of a sudden 2 Sheriff cars come whizzing up my driveway. I put down my brewski and walk up the car. One cop stops me and tells me to wait right there. (Like I'm the perp or something) FYI, perp is code-ski for perpetrator. We explain the story again when my friend's husband comes huffing and puffing up the road again and he takes over and explains the situation to the police. At this point, I grow bored with the whole situation and walk back to the deck to enjoy more beers. The guys finally join us and things die down. As it turns out, the 'two youts' weren't stealing out of garages, but ding dong ditching. I called the police on 3 boys who were ding dong ditching. Do you have any idea what that does to my karma? I have 2 boys of my own. Not to mention the fact that I did much, much, much worse than that at their age.
As we all sat there and pondered our own troubled pasts our guest says to us, "nice friggin' place you guys live in....what is this the ghetto"????
We had our dearest friends in town for a visit recently. They're from the East side of the state and although they live in a posh neighborhood, it still seems light years away from me....what with the city lights, locked doors and Starbucks on every corner. They think we live in the middle of nowhere---Butt F*ck Nowhere to be exact. I'll admit, it's a bit small town and yes, I'll even go as far to admit that a few weeks after we moved here, I was scanning radio stations and darned if I didn't hear "Baby Got Bible" on a Christian radio channel. As in, "Oh My Gosh, Becky, look at her bible...it's so big, she must think she's one of those preachers daughter's or something....". I almost put our house up for sale that night. Kids, pack it up, we're outta here. But, after a while this darn place grew on me and we've grown accustom to our small town ways.
That being said, we excitedly welcomed our out-of-town guest with open arms and looked greatly forward to an evening of fun. Fun, indeed. Once we convinced our dear friends that we do, in fact, house electricity and running water, the beers began to flow and laughter ensued. At approximately midnight a threesome of hoodlums came barreling through our backyard, followed by a man yelling, "did you see those kids, they broke into my garage"?!?! Well, that's all the ammunition our husbands needed to play cops and robbers. Off they go, leaving my girlfriend and I to sit roll our eyes at the situation. After about 20 minutes they still hadn't come back yet, so we went around front to investigate. Her husband was huffing and puffing up the driveway and demanded that I call the police. "POLICE"?, I say to him..."Really---is that necessary"? He gets all mad and so forth and tells me that my husband has the hoodlums 'in custody' and I need to call the police immediately. So, I'm in no condition to be speaking to the authorities, but I do as I'm told. Here's how the conversation went down:
Dispatcher: 911, where is your emergency
Me: Well. See, there is no emergency per se, but some kids just ran through our yard and another neighbor claims they broke into his garage.
Dispatcher: Where is that other neighbor now?
Me: Not a clue, musta gone home.
Dispatcher: Where are the boys?
Me: Oh, my husband has them contained.
Dispatcher: CONTAINED???? WHERE??
Me: Over there (I point over there)
Dispatcher: Ma'am, I can't see you through the phone
Me: oh, right...ummm 2 doors down from me....in the yard.
Dispatcher: Ma'am describe your husband please.
Me: OK, he's 6'1", about 230, maybe less due to his recent weight loss, he's Hispanic and is wearing a grubby red shirt.
Me: Oh, wait, I know where you're going with this. He's not holding the kids in a violent way, he's just making sure they don't run. Scaring them, if you will.
Dispatcher: Uh huh.
Me: Seriously.
I'm imagining that my choice of words will most likely land my husband in jail for the night. I imagine our conjugal visits.
Finally she tells me she'll send a car. At this point my girlfriend is doubled over in my front yard, dying laughing. We're crying, when all of a sudden 2 Sheriff cars come whizzing up my driveway. I put down my brewski and walk up the car. One cop stops me and tells me to wait right there. (Like I'm the perp or something) FYI, perp is code-ski for perpetrator. We explain the story again when my friend's husband comes huffing and puffing up the road again and he takes over and explains the situation to the police. At this point, I grow bored with the whole situation and walk back to the deck to enjoy more beers. The guys finally join us and things die down. As it turns out, the 'two youts' weren't stealing out of garages, but ding dong ditching. I called the police on 3 boys who were ding dong ditching. Do you have any idea what that does to my karma? I have 2 boys of my own. Not to mention the fact that I did much, much, much worse than that at their age.
As we all sat there and pondered our own troubled pasts our guest says to us, "nice friggin' place you guys live in....what is this the ghetto"????
Monday, June 23, 2008
the new pediatrician
I found a new pediatrician after our old one chastized me for calling her after hours number for something as mundane as a cough....Anyhoot~
It took blood, sweat and tears for me to get my boys into this highly recommended, highly regarded practice. By the skin of my teeth, I finally got accepted as a new patient, so for no good reason, I felt I had to have the boys as clean and shiny as a new penny for their appointments (not entirely easy to do during the filthy Summer months).
I was in such a hurry to get there (first impressions, you know) when I finally looked down at my children in the waiting room, I was amazed to see that Ben had purple popsicle all over his grubby hands and Gabe's red popsicle had melted all down his arm (albeit 3 hours earlier) and wound up all over the back of his khaki shorts. He went to bed with his hair wet last night, so it was sticking up every which way and his bare legs were revealing a myriad of cuts, bites, bumps and bruises, also consistent with the Summer months.
Again, I'm trying to frantically clean up the boys before our new Dr. comes in. He shows up and he's all polite and so forth. After he goes over the logistics (height/weight, etc) he begins to ask my 6 yr old about bicycle safety. For the record, my Benny is a helmet geek. He even wears his helmet while riding his bike through our plush, grassy yard. So, doc asks if he wears a helmet and Ben answers, "well, only on the really, really busy streets".
Doc: Heh hem....ummm you should really wear it all the time, Ok Buddy?
Doc: What kind of milk do you buy?
Me: Skim
Doc: Do they drink much of it?
Me: Oh yeah, all the time, they are huge milk drinkers. (For the record, I wasn't even lying...they ARE milk drinkers)!
Ben: We love pop, LOVE IT! (Ok, my boys only drink pop when they're with their Grandmother and even then it's rare). So, he continues to go on about Stranger Danger, Sunscreen, Car Seats, etc. I assure him that our motto is "safety first". On cue, Gabe tells him that he loves fireworks, they're soooooo loud and soooooo pretty and very hot! What could I do? I just pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head. So, then Doc wants to check the bottoms of their feet. WHY??? WHY??? What do you think, that I made them walk on hot coals before we came? Why, in the middle of June, when the boys did NOT have a bath last night and they're both wearing black flip flops would a doctor choose then to check the bottoms of their feet? I contemplated faking my own death at that point, I was so embarrassed.
Me: Oh, uh, yeah, those darn flip flops make their feet appear sooooo dirty, but they aren't, I swear....I SWEAR...WHAT?????
Doc: uh huh. Ok see you in about a year.
Now, I'm wondering if I should go back to the old doctor.
It took blood, sweat and tears for me to get my boys into this highly recommended, highly regarded practice. By the skin of my teeth, I finally got accepted as a new patient, so for no good reason, I felt I had to have the boys as clean and shiny as a new penny for their appointments (not entirely easy to do during the filthy Summer months).
I was in such a hurry to get there (first impressions, you know) when I finally looked down at my children in the waiting room, I was amazed to see that Ben had purple popsicle all over his grubby hands and Gabe's red popsicle had melted all down his arm (albeit 3 hours earlier) and wound up all over the back of his khaki shorts. He went to bed with his hair wet last night, so it was sticking up every which way and his bare legs were revealing a myriad of cuts, bites, bumps and bruises, also consistent with the Summer months.
Again, I'm trying to frantically clean up the boys before our new Dr. comes in. He shows up and he's all polite and so forth. After he goes over the logistics (height/weight, etc) he begins to ask my 6 yr old about bicycle safety. For the record, my Benny is a helmet geek. He even wears his helmet while riding his bike through our plush, grassy yard. So, doc asks if he wears a helmet and Ben answers, "well, only on the really, really busy streets".
Doc: Heh hem....ummm you should really wear it all the time, Ok Buddy?
Doc: What kind of milk do you buy?
Me: Skim
Doc: Do they drink much of it?
Me: Oh yeah, all the time, they are huge milk drinkers. (For the record, I wasn't even lying...they ARE milk drinkers)!
Ben: We love pop, LOVE IT! (Ok, my boys only drink pop when they're with their Grandmother and even then it's rare). So, he continues to go on about Stranger Danger, Sunscreen, Car Seats, etc. I assure him that our motto is "safety first". On cue, Gabe tells him that he loves fireworks, they're soooooo loud and soooooo pretty and very hot! What could I do? I just pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head. So, then Doc wants to check the bottoms of their feet. WHY??? WHY??? What do you think, that I made them walk on hot coals before we came? Why, in the middle of June, when the boys did NOT have a bath last night and they're both wearing black flip flops would a doctor choose then to check the bottoms of their feet? I contemplated faking my own death at that point, I was so embarrassed.
Me: Oh, uh, yeah, those darn flip flops make their feet appear sooooo dirty, but they aren't, I swear....I SWEAR...WHAT?????
Doc: uh huh. Ok see you in about a year.
Now, I'm wondering if I should go back to the old doctor.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
I met a gay.
I've waited most of my adult life to befriend a gay and it finally happened. The most charming fellow works at TJ Maxx. He's darling and he likes to chat me up. During some of my futile shopping trips, we've discussed, Kathy Griffin (love her), Barbara Walters, John & Kate plus 8, Little People, Tori Spelling, dog sitting for his vacationing friends, the fact that my 3 year old calls me by my first name (Leslie), etc. etc. He humors me, I humor him, it's mutual. I get his advice on manly things and the like.
On my way home from the store, I began day dreaming about the two of us becoming close friends. We'd go out for drinks, my husband wouldn't even care, because after all, he's gay. Although, my new friend refers to himself as "Happy", not gay. Now, I don't know him from anything, but I think he's kinda bitchy, which is most favorite attribute. I'd imagine he's the critical type who would judge everyone in our line of vision. He shall be a bridesmaid in my next wedding, because he's got flair and all.... I'd even bring him to Bunko with me, to show him off to my lady friends.....he'd be my "show & tell". Awe!
I'm off to clear a space in the basement. He might want to become roommates, once we get to know each other a tad better.
On my way home from the store, I began day dreaming about the two of us becoming close friends. We'd go out for drinks, my husband wouldn't even care, because after all, he's gay. Although, my new friend refers to himself as "Happy", not gay. Now, I don't know him from anything, but I think he's kinda bitchy, which is most favorite attribute. I'd imagine he's the critical type who would judge everyone in our line of vision. He shall be a bridesmaid in my next wedding, because he's got flair and all.... I'd even bring him to Bunko with me, to show him off to my lady friends.....he'd be my "show & tell". Awe!
I'm off to clear a space in the basement. He might want to become roommates, once we get to know each other a tad better.
food for thought
Secret, secret...I've got a secret! Here's something I'll bet you didn't know about me. As much as I love cucumbers, I loathe buying them. I imagine that there are creepy, lurking men who are peering at me from all angles of the produce aisles thinking to themselves, "oooohhhh, she likes the long, firm, green ones...uh huh...I'll give you a long, firm green one, honey....". Then I imagine them going back to their caves where they're holding a Senator's daughter against her will and will inevitably tell her to 'put the lotion on it's skin, or else it gets the hose'. I usually won't be too choosy about my cucumbers, because the longer I stand there and jerk off all the cucumbers, the creepy men have already jimmied their way into my car and are waiting to drag me back to their dungeon, where I'll bravely wait for Jodi Foster to rescue me.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
what not to wear and other fashion don'ts!
I've never claimed to be a fashionista and no, I'm not trying to rip off Stacy London. However, I do own a mirror and that alone gives me authority over what works and what doesn't.
1. Nude nylons. There should be a law. I'll take it a step further. Nude nylons with open-toe sandles. Never, ever, under any circumstances should you ever wear nude nylons and/or with sandles.
2. Long, air brushed acrylic nails. Nope, sorry. Say good bye to your mini sunsets and your little flamingos.... NO designs on your nails! The only exception to this is if you're 4 and your mommy paints a daisy on your little piggy, but that's about it!
3. Jeans that show camel toe. You do own a mirror, do you not? And you are aware that you are revealing a perfect silouette of your labia, are you not? Ladies, ladies, the higher up you pull your jeans, the bigger your camel toe will become. It's basic science. Furthermore, typically these types of jeans have a double whammy because not only are they atrocious from the front, but they're also horrendous from the back, because often these are the types of jeans that have really small back pockets and the pockets are placed too far apart. Another no-no. These are what we call "mom jeans". All they do is make your butt look big. Go for the big pockets, ones that are close together and with some sort of cute design on the pockets. It's all about the pockets.
4. Please, for the love of the land, stop letting your kids wear their pajamas to the grocery store. Just dress them. Is it really that difficult to get them out of their pajamas and into actual street clothes? Also...babies dressed only in a diaper. No shoes, no shirt....just sitting in a germ infested grocery cart, walking down the freezer aisle which is somewhere around 4 degrees.... you've all seen it.
5. Parents, grandparents, etc.. STOP BUYING CLOTHES AND SHOES WITH CHARACTERS ON THEM. I'll just leave it at that. No need to elaborate. Nothing screams 'white trash' like a Lightning McQueen tank top, that's all.
6. Scrunchies. Throw them away. Nothing good will come from you wearing a scrunchie. Trust me.
7. Boys with unmanicured nails. Yuck. Not that I'm suggesting that you man-up and get mani's & pedi's, I am suggesting that you scrape the dirt out from under your finger and toe nails, and take a nail trimmer to them. I'll throw up in my mouth if I see a guy with long nails. The bagger at my grocery store often has long nails and I can barely stand it.
8. There's no polite way to say this..... men & women....shave your curlys. They're gross, they make you look like an amazon-bush person and it's ugly. Soft and smooth is sweeping the nation, believe you, me! (men---it'll also make your pee pee look bigger)!!!!
I can't think of anymore right now. But I'm taking my kids to a carnival later tonight, so I'm sure I'll have more to add.
Ciao!
1. Nude nylons. There should be a law. I'll take it a step further. Nude nylons with open-toe sandles. Never, ever, under any circumstances should you ever wear nude nylons and/or with sandles.
2. Long, air brushed acrylic nails. Nope, sorry. Say good bye to your mini sunsets and your little flamingos.... NO designs on your nails! The only exception to this is if you're 4 and your mommy paints a daisy on your little piggy, but that's about it!
3. Jeans that show camel toe. You do own a mirror, do you not? And you are aware that you are revealing a perfect silouette of your labia, are you not? Ladies, ladies, the higher up you pull your jeans, the bigger your camel toe will become. It's basic science. Furthermore, typically these types of jeans have a double whammy because not only are they atrocious from the front, but they're also horrendous from the back, because often these are the types of jeans that have really small back pockets and the pockets are placed too far apart. Another no-no. These are what we call "mom jeans". All they do is make your butt look big. Go for the big pockets, ones that are close together and with some sort of cute design on the pockets. It's all about the pockets.
4. Please, for the love of the land, stop letting your kids wear their pajamas to the grocery store. Just dress them. Is it really that difficult to get them out of their pajamas and into actual street clothes? Also...babies dressed only in a diaper. No shoes, no shirt....just sitting in a germ infested grocery cart, walking down the freezer aisle which is somewhere around 4 degrees.... you've all seen it.
5. Parents, grandparents, etc.. STOP BUYING CLOTHES AND SHOES WITH CHARACTERS ON THEM. I'll just leave it at that. No need to elaborate. Nothing screams 'white trash' like a Lightning McQueen tank top, that's all.
6. Scrunchies. Throw them away. Nothing good will come from you wearing a scrunchie. Trust me.
7. Boys with unmanicured nails. Yuck. Not that I'm suggesting that you man-up and get mani's & pedi's, I am suggesting that you scrape the dirt out from under your finger and toe nails, and take a nail trimmer to them. I'll throw up in my mouth if I see a guy with long nails. The bagger at my grocery store often has long nails and I can barely stand it.
8. There's no polite way to say this..... men & women....shave your curlys. They're gross, they make you look like an amazon-bush person and it's ugly. Soft and smooth is sweeping the nation, believe you, me! (men---it'll also make your pee pee look bigger)!!!!
I can't think of anymore right now. But I'm taking my kids to a carnival later tonight, so I'm sure I'll have more to add.
Ciao!
Things that baffle and intrigue me.
Here is a compiled list of things that baffle and/or intrigue me. And for the record, I become intrigued very easily. Some might call it Adult ADD, I call it being hyper aware. Tomato/toe-mah-toe
1. Carnivals: (and all that that entails). There is so much to take in at carnivals, it's hard for me to absorb it all. My kids could get kidnapped and I'd barely notice because I get fixated on the people watching. Everything from the barefoot babies, to the couples with matching t-shirts, to the morbidly obese lady sitting on a bench eating an elephant ear. And the carnies, for Heaven's sake, the carnies could take up a blog of their own. At what point do you realize you've hit rock bottom? Is it when you're actually filling out the application to become a carnie, or is it when you're sitting on your little stool, very authoritatively-like, with a ciggy hanging out of your mouth waiting for one ride to end and another to begin? It's a lonely life for the carnies.... life on the road, barely any time to get acquainted with a nice carnette before you're back on the road again. When they lay their sweet, greasy heads down at night, from inside their small trailor, I wonder if the only sounds they hear is the whirling of the rides, the climactic screams of children and the festive music. Ain't that America?
2. Lesbians: I'm fascinated by lesbians....not the attractive, curious, lipstick-lesbians, but the mullet wearing, hands shoved down in the pocket, honest to goodness dikes. I could watch 'em for hours, but I have to be careful, because if I make myself too conspicuous, they'll either kill me or sodomize me. I can't figure it out, why, WHY do they look so much like men, if they prefer women? I don't understand. I would think that if I were attracted to women, I'd be attracted to womanly things. If they're into looking like short, stocky ladies with bad haircuts, why don't they just date really ugly men. Maybe that's what their seeking and they just don't realize it. Thank God for this blog---I can shed some light on the lesbian community. You're NOT GAY...you just like UGLY MEN!!!
3. Polygomists: Why are polygomists so homely? What is it about the mormon religion that breeds such ugly, ugly people? And how on earth does the husband do it? My husband would hang himself if he had to deal with multiple me's. Sometimes I'd like to imagine what it would be like if I were casted for a reality show and I was dropped off in the middle of some sect in Utah where I had 29 sister wives with one husband. I like to think I'd have fun with the situation and that I'd rattle their cages a little. I'd teach the sisters how to line dance, we'd look so darn cute in our denim jumpers and long pony tails...doing the electric slide. I wouldn't be real popular among the men, but eventually, I'd win the sisters over and they'd be sorry to see me go. Maybe I'd smuggle a few of the really homely ones home with me. They could tend to the child rearing and the mending. But inevitably, jealousy would ensue and I'd have to go all Tonya Harding on them if they tried to seduce my Jason. It was just a thought...
4. Home Schooling: I'll just say it. What the F.? Do you love your children thaaat much, that you can't possibly bear the thought of spending 8 hours a day away from them? How egotistical of these people to think that no one in the world could possibly do a better job of teaching their children than themselves. I say, send them to school, expose them to life's experiences, socialize them, prepare them for adulthood, etc. etc. etc. How prepared is little Mary Alice going to be when you ship her off to college after being home school for 12 years? I'll tell you how prepared she'll be. Prepared to be the biggest ho on campus!
Girls gone wild, FO SHO! Good luck with that!
So many things in this world make me cock my head like a dog. Like I said, it doesn't take much to spark my interest. Pretty much if you start a conversation with, "Did you happen to notice the lady with the......" I'll be foaming at the mouth before you even make your point. So, with that said, as people continue to baffle me and situations continue to intrigue me, I'll add to my compilation.
Ta ta for now.
1. Carnivals: (and all that that entails). There is so much to take in at carnivals, it's hard for me to absorb it all. My kids could get kidnapped and I'd barely notice because I get fixated on the people watching. Everything from the barefoot babies, to the couples with matching t-shirts, to the morbidly obese lady sitting on a bench eating an elephant ear. And the carnies, for Heaven's sake, the carnies could take up a blog of their own. At what point do you realize you've hit rock bottom? Is it when you're actually filling out the application to become a carnie, or is it when you're sitting on your little stool, very authoritatively-like, with a ciggy hanging out of your mouth waiting for one ride to end and another to begin? It's a lonely life for the carnies.... life on the road, barely any time to get acquainted with a nice carnette before you're back on the road again. When they lay their sweet, greasy heads down at night, from inside their small trailor, I wonder if the only sounds they hear is the whirling of the rides, the climactic screams of children and the festive music. Ain't that America?
2. Lesbians: I'm fascinated by lesbians....not the attractive, curious, lipstick-lesbians, but the mullet wearing, hands shoved down in the pocket, honest to goodness dikes. I could watch 'em for hours, but I have to be careful, because if I make myself too conspicuous, they'll either kill me or sodomize me. I can't figure it out, why, WHY do they look so much like men, if they prefer women? I don't understand. I would think that if I were attracted to women, I'd be attracted to womanly things. If they're into looking like short, stocky ladies with bad haircuts, why don't they just date really ugly men. Maybe that's what their seeking and they just don't realize it. Thank God for this blog---I can shed some light on the lesbian community. You're NOT GAY...you just like UGLY MEN!!!
3. Polygomists: Why are polygomists so homely? What is it about the mormon religion that breeds such ugly, ugly people? And how on earth does the husband do it? My husband would hang himself if he had to deal with multiple me's. Sometimes I'd like to imagine what it would be like if I were casted for a reality show and I was dropped off in the middle of some sect in Utah where I had 29 sister wives with one husband. I like to think I'd have fun with the situation and that I'd rattle their cages a little. I'd teach the sisters how to line dance, we'd look so darn cute in our denim jumpers and long pony tails...doing the electric slide. I wouldn't be real popular among the men, but eventually, I'd win the sisters over and they'd be sorry to see me go. Maybe I'd smuggle a few of the really homely ones home with me. They could tend to the child rearing and the mending. But inevitably, jealousy would ensue and I'd have to go all Tonya Harding on them if they tried to seduce my Jason. It was just a thought...
4. Home Schooling: I'll just say it. What the F.? Do you love your children thaaat much, that you can't possibly bear the thought of spending 8 hours a day away from them? How egotistical of these people to think that no one in the world could possibly do a better job of teaching their children than themselves. I say, send them to school, expose them to life's experiences, socialize them, prepare them for adulthood, etc. etc. etc. How prepared is little Mary Alice going to be when you ship her off to college after being home school for 12 years? I'll tell you how prepared she'll be. Prepared to be the biggest ho on campus!
Girls gone wild, FO SHO! Good luck with that!
So many things in this world make me cock my head like a dog. Like I said, it doesn't take much to spark my interest. Pretty much if you start a conversation with, "Did you happen to notice the lady with the......" I'll be foaming at the mouth before you even make your point. So, with that said, as people continue to baffle me and situations continue to intrigue me, I'll add to my compilation.
Ta ta for now.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
stupid things I say
It's true. Sometimes I actually say stupid things. There truly is no filter between my brain and my mouth. I'm often not fit for social outings, depending on my mood. My husband frequently cringes at these outings. This is exacerbated when alcohol is involved. I'll give several examples.
1. I saw a friend of mine recently at the library and she had just had a baby. I ask what the baby's name is. She tells me, "Otto". Without hesitation, I say the first thing that comes to mind, which is, "that'll work out great if he ends up being dyslexic". There were so many other options of things to say in this circumstance, but of course, I have to reference a learning disability.
2. I went to a neighbors house for a gathering and about 4 years ago, my husband and I actually looked at this house when it was for sale. So, I mention this to the owner (my friend) and I say to her, "Jason and I looked at this house.....but we couldn't get past the kitchen". Really? Really? I just said that outloud?
3. I was at my sister's wedding when I was 16 years old. I was as drunk as a skunk and dancing very slutasticly and seductively around the best man, who was probably, oh, in his mid 30's, perhaps. My mom decided it was time for me to go nighty night and began dragging me out of the reception. On the way out, I saw the best man and surrepticiously tried to slide him my room key. I was staying in the same room with my mom and stepdad. Smooth!! Thankfully, he let me down easy.
4. Not being much of a church goer, I began going to church with my husband early into our relationship. It was Easter Sunday and as we entered the sanctuary, the Pastor was handing out nails. I was intrigued. My husband explained that it was to symbolize nailing our sins to the cross. I said to the Pastor, "I'm definitely going to need more than one nail". Funny right? I kill me.
5. To my African American friend who just told me about her sister in Atlanta: "Oh, I have a black friend in Atlanta, ask your sister if she knows her".
6. At a neighbor's house....we aren't particularly close, I'm drinking wine and she tells me to be careful because the glasses are real crystal. I say to her, "oh, that's ok because I'm totally fake, so they'll cancel each other out". (what??)
7. Again, not much of a church goer.....it's Christmas eve and I'm with my future in-laws, whose family is very conservative and Christian. Jason's grandfather has all of his great grandchildren gathered around him as he starts his story, "OK, whose birthday are we celebrating today".... I am trying to dazzle these people whom I will soon call family and I even impress myself by knowing the answer to this one. I answer very confidently and truth be told, I was pretty smug about the whole thing and I say, "Oh, I know this one...Aunt Anita". Jason cringes and quietly whispers, "nope, that would be Jesus. It's Jesus birthday that we're celebrating, honey". Ooooh, right....He is the reason for the season, after all.... But, I did score brownie points for knowing Aunt Anita's birthday.
There are so many more...I could add to this list, at least daily. Chew on these for a while and then we'll revisit at a later date.
Au Revoir!
1. I saw a friend of mine recently at the library and she had just had a baby. I ask what the baby's name is. She tells me, "Otto". Without hesitation, I say the first thing that comes to mind, which is, "that'll work out great if he ends up being dyslexic". There were so many other options of things to say in this circumstance, but of course, I have to reference a learning disability.
2. I went to a neighbors house for a gathering and about 4 years ago, my husband and I actually looked at this house when it was for sale. So, I mention this to the owner (my friend) and I say to her, "Jason and I looked at this house.....but we couldn't get past the kitchen". Really? Really? I just said that outloud?
3. I was at my sister's wedding when I was 16 years old. I was as drunk as a skunk and dancing very slutasticly and seductively around the best man, who was probably, oh, in his mid 30's, perhaps. My mom decided it was time for me to go nighty night and began dragging me out of the reception. On the way out, I saw the best man and surrepticiously tried to slide him my room key. I was staying in the same room with my mom and stepdad. Smooth!! Thankfully, he let me down easy.
4. Not being much of a church goer, I began going to church with my husband early into our relationship. It was Easter Sunday and as we entered the sanctuary, the Pastor was handing out nails. I was intrigued. My husband explained that it was to symbolize nailing our sins to the cross. I said to the Pastor, "I'm definitely going to need more than one nail". Funny right? I kill me.
5. To my African American friend who just told me about her sister in Atlanta: "Oh, I have a black friend in Atlanta, ask your sister if she knows her".
6. At a neighbor's house....we aren't particularly close, I'm drinking wine and she tells me to be careful because the glasses are real crystal. I say to her, "oh, that's ok because I'm totally fake, so they'll cancel each other out". (what??)
7. Again, not much of a church goer.....it's Christmas eve and I'm with my future in-laws, whose family is very conservative and Christian. Jason's grandfather has all of his great grandchildren gathered around him as he starts his story, "OK, whose birthday are we celebrating today".... I am trying to dazzle these people whom I will soon call family and I even impress myself by knowing the answer to this one. I answer very confidently and truth be told, I was pretty smug about the whole thing and I say, "Oh, I know this one...Aunt Anita". Jason cringes and quietly whispers, "nope, that would be Jesus. It's Jesus birthday that we're celebrating, honey". Ooooh, right....He is the reason for the season, after all.... But, I did score brownie points for knowing Aunt Anita's birthday.
There are so many more...I could add to this list, at least daily. Chew on these for a while and then we'll revisit at a later date.
Au Revoir!
Friday, May 30, 2008
more stupid things my husband says
He makes so many stupid jokes/comments, etc... I don't EVEN have the strawn-th to recollect every single one of them, but here are a few of his greatest hits.
1. Me: I feel so lethargic, I think I need some protein. Jason: I've got some protein for you. (there are many, many, many variations to this comment----basically anything with the words, hard, taste, box, cans, stick, in, bend, deep, choke, gag, mouth, facial, pearls, hand, finger, fist or come will elicit a 4th grade response).
2. Jason: Honey, have you seen my shoes? Me: Gee, have you checked the shoe closet. (He asks me if I've seen his Tiger's hat, wallet, keys, Tiger's jersey, etc at least hourly---it might be my biggest pet peeve because he won't LOOK for any of these items). I will usually tell him that my uterus is not his personal tracking device.
3. What state is Delaware in? I almost visited an attorney that day.
4. Me, folding piles and piles of clean clothes, fresh out of the dryer. Jason: Well, what do you have going on here???? Me: I was folding clothes, but now I'm answering obvious questions.
5. Me, starting the dishwasher and turning on the light above the stove (the tell tale sign that the kitchen is clean and closed). Jason: Ok, what do you need help with?
6. (Upon my returning home from the store) Jason: Do you have any change for me? (isn't he adorable)?
7. Are you hungry? (Is the pope Catholic)?
8. Pregnant with my firstborn, we're discussing potential boy names Jason: How about Vito .....no? Then, how about Victor? Donovan? Again, I almost visited an attorney that afternoon.
9. He calls home from work in the middle of the day......Jason: Whatcha doin' honey, watching Oprah? Ooooh, them are fightin' words!
10. We were finishing our basement and discussing what furniture would go where. He sets up the pub table and bar stools and declares that this will be where my "Ladies of the Month" club will take place. What exactly does he think I do all day? For the record, I'm in no such club. Actually, this story isn't so much stupid as it is cute.
1. Me: I feel so lethargic, I think I need some protein. Jason: I've got some protein for you. (there are many, many, many variations to this comment----basically anything with the words, hard, taste, box, cans, stick, in, bend, deep, choke, gag, mouth, facial, pearls, hand, finger, fist or come will elicit a 4th grade response).
2. Jason: Honey, have you seen my shoes? Me: Gee, have you checked the shoe closet. (He asks me if I've seen his Tiger's hat, wallet, keys, Tiger's jersey, etc at least hourly---it might be my biggest pet peeve because he won't LOOK for any of these items). I will usually tell him that my uterus is not his personal tracking device.
3. What state is Delaware in? I almost visited an attorney that day.
4. Me, folding piles and piles of clean clothes, fresh out of the dryer. Jason: Well, what do you have going on here???? Me: I was folding clothes, but now I'm answering obvious questions.
5. Me, starting the dishwasher and turning on the light above the stove (the tell tale sign that the kitchen is clean and closed). Jason: Ok, what do you need help with?
6. (Upon my returning home from the store) Jason: Do you have any change for me? (isn't he adorable)?
7. Are you hungry? (Is the pope Catholic)?
8. Pregnant with my firstborn, we're discussing potential boy names Jason: How about Vito .....no? Then, how about Victor? Donovan? Again, I almost visited an attorney that afternoon.
9. He calls home from work in the middle of the day......Jason: Whatcha doin' honey, watching Oprah? Ooooh, them are fightin' words!
10. We were finishing our basement and discussing what furniture would go where. He sets up the pub table and bar stools and declares that this will be where my "Ladies of the Month" club will take place. What exactly does he think I do all day? For the record, I'm in no such club. Actually, this story isn't so much stupid as it is cute.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
helen's homecoming
Our mother passed away almost 5 years ago. It was sudden but not terribly surprising since she'd been giving away her worldly possessions since her 42nd birthday. I personally think she willed herself sick. It was no secret that her gene pool was riddled with cancer and heart disease. Deep down she knew that she wouldn't live a long life, but I wonder if she'd had a more positive outlook on life, if she'd have lived longer. Instead, she was content being depressed and morbid.
There's another factor here. Her husband, Jack (our step father) was 20 years her senior. Although their age difference was vast, I never once imagined her as the widow---somehow, I always knew she'd be the one to leave this earth before him. He aged her. She liked pretending they were the same age. She would say ridiculous things like, "We can't keep up like we used to..." The fact of the matter was, he was (is) incredibly spry for his age and he continued to run circles around here. Even when she was 55 and he was 75. It was irritating to me that she acted much older than she was, I had little patience for her.
She and Jack moved out of state when I was 17. When they'd come back for holidays or a long weekend. I'd put so much pressure on the visit and I'd have overly high expectations. Disappointment would ultimately ensue. I'd expect that our visit would be similar to all of my other friends whose parents would come for a visit. There would be shopping, there would lots of laughs and cooking of the favorite meals and pouring over photo albums, etc. etc. In reality it would be more like this: Jack would get diarrhea and/or a mysterious insect bite, or a cold, or a broken tooth...and they'd either have to spend the weekend in Urgent Care, or they'd just make the 18 hour trek back home again. From time to time Jack would escape illness and tragedy, but I'd still be let down because then something else would inevitably happen, like mom would get into one of her moods because my phone would ring too many times during dinner, or I'd suggest we do something else besides watch tv and eat chocolate covered raisins, she'd roll her eyes and they'd be on the road by 6 AM the next morning. Happened everytime. Or more commonly, she'd pay too much attention to one of my sisters and I'd get my overly sensitive feelings hurt and we'd get into a fight.
This is just the way my relationship with with my mom. I'd like to look back on our 29 years together and remember them differently, but it is what it is. I don't doubt for one single second that she loved me. I know she did, but often, I was fairly certain that she didn't like me. She didn't 'get me' and that was fine, a lot of people don't get me. I loved her, she loved me, I miss her, I miss her essence, I miss her sense of humor, I miss having a mom, I miss all the good stuff.
Fast forward to April 2008. Jack calls me (I'm going to write this dialogue phonetically as Jack has an old NY accent and the story is much more entertaining if you read it with a New York accent---also, he yells when he talks):
Jack: (on my voicemail) HA-NEE, HI, IT'S JACK. LISTEN HA-NEE, I'M ALMOST 84 AND IF ANYTHING SHOULD HAPPEN TO ME, I DON'T WANT HELEN'S ASHES GETTING MISPLACED, SO I'M SENDING THEM TO YOU. KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE KIDS...HEH HEH HEH
(next message) HA-NEE, HI, IT'S JACK. I WENT TO THE POST OFFICE AND THEY WON'T LET ME MAIL OUT YA MUTHA'S REMAINS. I'LL KEEP YOU POSTED.
(next message) HI HA-NEE, I WENT TO THE FUNERAL HOME WHERE WE HAD YA MUTHA'S SERVICE AND THEY TOOK CARE OF HER REMAINS---THEY SHIPPED THEM OUT IN AN AIR TIGHT CONTAINER AND SHE SHOULD BE THERE IN A FEW DAYS.
(next message) HI HA-NEE, I'M WONDERING IF YA MUTHA HAS ARRIVED YET. IT'S BEEN A FEW DAYS AND I HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING. I HOPE SHE'S NOT LOST IN THE MAIL AND ENDED UP GETTING RE-ROUTED TO EGYPT OR SOMETHING, HEH HEH HEH.... OH SHE'D LOVE THAT, WOULDN'T SHE DOLLY?
Leading up to that week, I was a wreck. Everytime I heard the UPS truck, I just about threw up in my mouth. I was scared. Of what? I don't know. I deal with death perfectly fine, it's "the dead" that I don't do well with. So, I'm driving home from running errands with the kids after about a week since Jack's original phone call and as I'm pulling up my driveway, I saw a big package hanging from my storm door. I threw the car in reverse and bee-lined down the street. I just kept driving up and down the street until I had the strawn-th to deal with what was waiting for me at home. I finally went home and as I approach the infamous package, I noticed it was from the shoe store where I ordered some wedges online. I had to laugh.
Two days after that, I was running errands downtown with the boys and it was getting close to nap time, so I took them home. I retrieved the mail and there was a yellow notice from the post office stating that I had a certified package waiting for me at the post office. (gulp) Well, no sense going allll the way back to the post office now, she's been traveling all week, surely she can wait until after her grandsons take their naps. So, Lee calls during naptime and I told her that mom was at the post office waiting for me. Picture me sitting on my couch, legs crossed out in front of me, filing my nails, phone tucked under my chin, chocolates next to me.... personifying this whole 'lady of luxury' scene while my mother waits to be picked up from the post office. Lee said to me, half joking, "you. are. the. worst. daughter. ever---GO PICK HER UP'. We were dying. We pictured her standing there, standing on one leg, with one foot propped up on her other ankle, arms crossed over her chest, rolling her eyes, shaking her head, FUMING...and muttering about her youngest daughter being unresponsible and unreliable... Oh, we had great fun at mom's expense that day.
I did arrive at the post office 3 minutes before they closed that day. I had to sign for her and everything. Very official, mind you. My legs got all weak and wobbly walking to the car. I had a hard time accepting the fact that I was carrying my mother's remains. The boys were in the back seat freaking out because they thought they got a present in the mail. "mom, what is it, what is it...is it for me...what is it....who's it from".... I just ignored them. I didn't have the strawn-th to explain the whole cremation process to them.
After I brought her box o' bones home, I wandered through the house for hours wondering where to put her. Not one single place in the house seemed appropriate for her final resting place. So, 9 weeks later, she's still sitting atop my dresser and often the kids will stack their night-night books on her as if to say, "grammy, read to me". I'm sure she wouldn't have it any other way.
So, the moral of the story is, if you have a difficult & complicated relationship with your mother, talk to her about her dying wishes, or else she could end up living with her least favorite daughter, collecting dust on top of a dresser.
There's another factor here. Her husband, Jack (our step father) was 20 years her senior. Although their age difference was vast, I never once imagined her as the widow---somehow, I always knew she'd be the one to leave this earth before him. He aged her. She liked pretending they were the same age. She would say ridiculous things like, "We can't keep up like we used to..." The fact of the matter was, he was (is) incredibly spry for his age and he continued to run circles around here. Even when she was 55 and he was 75. It was irritating to me that she acted much older than she was, I had little patience for her.
She and Jack moved out of state when I was 17. When they'd come back for holidays or a long weekend. I'd put so much pressure on the visit and I'd have overly high expectations. Disappointment would ultimately ensue. I'd expect that our visit would be similar to all of my other friends whose parents would come for a visit. There would be shopping, there would lots of laughs and cooking of the favorite meals and pouring over photo albums, etc. etc. In reality it would be more like this: Jack would get diarrhea and/or a mysterious insect bite, or a cold, or a broken tooth...and they'd either have to spend the weekend in Urgent Care, or they'd just make the 18 hour trek back home again. From time to time Jack would escape illness and tragedy, but I'd still be let down because then something else would inevitably happen, like mom would get into one of her moods because my phone would ring too many times during dinner, or I'd suggest we do something else besides watch tv and eat chocolate covered raisins, she'd roll her eyes and they'd be on the road by 6 AM the next morning. Happened everytime. Or more commonly, she'd pay too much attention to one of my sisters and I'd get my overly sensitive feelings hurt and we'd get into a fight.
This is just the way my relationship with with my mom. I'd like to look back on our 29 years together and remember them differently, but it is what it is. I don't doubt for one single second that she loved me. I know she did, but often, I was fairly certain that she didn't like me. She didn't 'get me' and that was fine, a lot of people don't get me. I loved her, she loved me, I miss her, I miss her essence, I miss her sense of humor, I miss having a mom, I miss all the good stuff.
Fast forward to April 2008. Jack calls me (I'm going to write this dialogue phonetically as Jack has an old NY accent and the story is much more entertaining if you read it with a New York accent---also, he yells when he talks):
Jack: (on my voicemail) HA-NEE, HI, IT'S JACK. LISTEN HA-NEE, I'M ALMOST 84 AND IF ANYTHING SHOULD HAPPEN TO ME, I DON'T WANT HELEN'S ASHES GETTING MISPLACED, SO I'M SENDING THEM TO YOU. KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE KIDS...HEH HEH HEH
(next message) HA-NEE, HI, IT'S JACK. I WENT TO THE POST OFFICE AND THEY WON'T LET ME MAIL OUT YA MUTHA'S REMAINS. I'LL KEEP YOU POSTED.
(next message) HI HA-NEE, I WENT TO THE FUNERAL HOME WHERE WE HAD YA MUTHA'S SERVICE AND THEY TOOK CARE OF HER REMAINS---THEY SHIPPED THEM OUT IN AN AIR TIGHT CONTAINER AND SHE SHOULD BE THERE IN A FEW DAYS.
(next message) HI HA-NEE, I'M WONDERING IF YA MUTHA HAS ARRIVED YET. IT'S BEEN A FEW DAYS AND I HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING. I HOPE SHE'S NOT LOST IN THE MAIL AND ENDED UP GETTING RE-ROUTED TO EGYPT OR SOMETHING, HEH HEH HEH.... OH SHE'D LOVE THAT, WOULDN'T SHE DOLLY?
Leading up to that week, I was a wreck. Everytime I heard the UPS truck, I just about threw up in my mouth. I was scared. Of what? I don't know. I deal with death perfectly fine, it's "the dead" that I don't do well with. So, I'm driving home from running errands with the kids after about a week since Jack's original phone call and as I'm pulling up my driveway, I saw a big package hanging from my storm door. I threw the car in reverse and bee-lined down the street. I just kept driving up and down the street until I had the strawn-th to deal with what was waiting for me at home. I finally went home and as I approach the infamous package, I noticed it was from the shoe store where I ordered some wedges online. I had to laugh.
Two days after that, I was running errands downtown with the boys and it was getting close to nap time, so I took them home. I retrieved the mail and there was a yellow notice from the post office stating that I had a certified package waiting for me at the post office. (gulp) Well, no sense going allll the way back to the post office now, she's been traveling all week, surely she can wait until after her grandsons take their naps. So, Lee calls during naptime and I told her that mom was at the post office waiting for me. Picture me sitting on my couch, legs crossed out in front of me, filing my nails, phone tucked under my chin, chocolates next to me.... personifying this whole 'lady of luxury' scene while my mother waits to be picked up from the post office. Lee said to me, half joking, "you. are. the. worst. daughter. ever---GO PICK HER UP'. We were dying. We pictured her standing there, standing on one leg, with one foot propped up on her other ankle, arms crossed over her chest, rolling her eyes, shaking her head, FUMING...and muttering about her youngest daughter being unresponsible and unreliable... Oh, we had great fun at mom's expense that day.
I did arrive at the post office 3 minutes before they closed that day. I had to sign for her and everything. Very official, mind you. My legs got all weak and wobbly walking to the car. I had a hard time accepting the fact that I was carrying my mother's remains. The boys were in the back seat freaking out because they thought they got a present in the mail. "mom, what is it, what is it...is it for me...what is it....who's it from".... I just ignored them. I didn't have the strawn-th to explain the whole cremation process to them.
After I brought her box o' bones home, I wandered through the house for hours wondering where to put her. Not one single place in the house seemed appropriate for her final resting place. So, 9 weeks later, she's still sitting atop my dresser and often the kids will stack their night-night books on her as if to say, "grammy, read to me". I'm sure she wouldn't have it any other way.
So, the moral of the story is, if you have a difficult & complicated relationship with your mother, talk to her about her dying wishes, or else she could end up living with her least favorite daughter, collecting dust on top of a dresser.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
People we LOVE
See...we're not always mean and hateful, sometimes we're very loving.
1. People who card us. This doesn't happen often, at all... but when it does, I want to kiss that person. With tongue.
2. Pharmacists. We really don't show these people enough appreciation for their dedication. In fact, I'm going to google my pharmacist right now, find out where he lives and bring him a fruit bouquet. Grease his palm a little, if you catch my drift, heh, heh, heh
3. Children who swear. There is nothing, I mean nothing more adorable than a child who properly uses a swear word in the right context. Ooooh, it's just darling!
4. Monica Lewinsky. This may puzzle you. People, she is famous for blowing the President of the United States of America. Get down with your bad self girl!
5. Miguel. Miguel worked at the Bugan Villas in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I'm sure he started working there when he was 14 and he is now 65. My husband and I have stayed at this resort 3 times and I'll be damned if Miguel wasn't still standing there each time waiting to take our drink orders.
6. Kathy Griffin. She's not only funny (VERY FUNNY) but she throws popularity to the wind just for a good laugh. You've got to love her chutzpah. She offends everyone and couldn't care less. My personal mantra is "F&$K 'em if they can't take a joke". I think she shares the same mantra. She's my mostly companion---although she doesn't know it yet.
7. David & Amy Sedaris. He's queer, she's insane. We believe my mother gave them up for adoption some 40 years ago. His writings depict an extremely dysfunctional family, but he has the articulation to draw humor from it. (Obviously we love him) And Amy, well, she's just plain silly.
8. People who start sentences by saying, "You didn't hear this from me, but...." Oooooh, I just love this person!
9. People who think Lee is actually my mother. Hee heee. She'll kill me for that one, but it really does make me happy.
10. Chelsea Handler. She's sassy, she tells it like it is, she's sarcastic, she's intelligent. I want to be her.
1. People who card us. This doesn't happen often, at all... but when it does, I want to kiss that person. With tongue.
2. Pharmacists. We really don't show these people enough appreciation for their dedication. In fact, I'm going to google my pharmacist right now, find out where he lives and bring him a fruit bouquet. Grease his palm a little, if you catch my drift, heh, heh, heh
3. Children who swear. There is nothing, I mean nothing more adorable than a child who properly uses a swear word in the right context. Ooooh, it's just darling!
4. Monica Lewinsky. This may puzzle you. People, she is famous for blowing the President of the United States of America. Get down with your bad self girl!
5. Miguel. Miguel worked at the Bugan Villas in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I'm sure he started working there when he was 14 and he is now 65. My husband and I have stayed at this resort 3 times and I'll be damned if Miguel wasn't still standing there each time waiting to take our drink orders.
6. Kathy Griffin. She's not only funny (VERY FUNNY) but she throws popularity to the wind just for a good laugh. You've got to love her chutzpah. She offends everyone and couldn't care less. My personal mantra is "F&$K 'em if they can't take a joke". I think she shares the same mantra. She's my mostly companion---although she doesn't know it yet.
7. David & Amy Sedaris. He's queer, she's insane. We believe my mother gave them up for adoption some 40 years ago. His writings depict an extremely dysfunctional family, but he has the articulation to draw humor from it. (Obviously we love him) And Amy, well, she's just plain silly.
8. People who start sentences by saying, "You didn't hear this from me, but...." Oooooh, I just love this person!
9. People who think Lee is actually my mother. Hee heee. She'll kill me for that one, but it really does make me happy.
10. Chelsea Handler. She's sassy, she tells it like it is, she's sarcastic, she's intelligent. I want to be her.
nothing says I don't give a SH*T quite like flowers.
Mother's Day is upon us. Oh joy. All these Hallmark commercials and advertisements just remind me that my family is thoughtless. Riddle me this. Why, why, why is it that on Father's Day, the husband gets to sleep in (after drinking himself silly the night before), then head out for a scheduled Tee time and then off to a watering hole to put throw back a few with the fellas before heading home for the proverbial Father's Day dinner.
While, on Mother's Day, we have to spend the whole God Forsaken day with our families? For Christ's sake, it would be a sin if we didn't. Can you imagine how this scenario would go down?
11:30 Mother's Day morning: Hi Kids, ooooh, thank you for the runny eggs and scribbled construction paper, you shouldn't have. Anyhoot, I'm off! I have a mani/pedi at noon, mimosas & lunch with Nancy after that, then we're going to an estate sale to browse antiques. If we have time after that, we're going to see a matinee. See you at dinner!!! And by the way, I'm in the mood for a grilled chicken salad tonight!
Their mouths would all be hanging open and their eyes would just be going, blink, blink, blink.... You'd hear nothing but crickets....
No, no, it's more like this: Guilt gets the better of you and you roll out of bed begrudgingly around 9 AM. The husband & kids mumble 'happy mother's day' while shoving handmade cards in your face. You, of course, have to ooooh and aahhhh over them because you wouldn't want to break their little spirits. Now, mind you, you've envisioned your mother's day gift for weeks. You've dropped enough hints about a Roomba, Cuisinart or new iPod for weeks, he's a flipping idiot if he didn't pick up on the subtle hints (I left a Pandora catalog next to the toilet). So, back to Mother's Day morning, on the kitchen table, next to the too-strong coffee & soggy english muffin is a bouquet of flowers. Your enthusiasm deflates like a balloon and you want to go back to bed, immediately. Your husband will say things like, "Do you like them...don't you like the flowers....the kids helped me pick them out....you like purple, right...???? ". You somehow have to act like it's all you've ever wanted. A friggin' bouquet of flowers. Wow, you really put some thought into that, didn't you? Then you turn on the tv and all you see are Zales commercials with men giving their wives diamonds and by doing so telling her, "I'd marry you all over again"... (sigh)
Nothing says 'I don't give a SH*T' quite like flowers. So, to all you mommies out there whose husbands are thoughtless and a tad stupid, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY---GO BUY SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR YOURSELF---and when your husband questions your purchase, tell him to go *&%$$& himself.
xoxoxo
****side note: the husband described in this blog in NO WAY reflects my husband, but is dedicated to all of you ladies who are married to , shall we say, thoughtfully challenged men. I know too many of them and was smart enough to train mine early on. As I sit here and stare at my new Pandora charms & Ed Hardy shirt, I'm rather pleased with myself...and him!
While, on Mother's Day, we have to spend the whole God Forsaken day with our families? For Christ's sake, it would be a sin if we didn't. Can you imagine how this scenario would go down?
11:30 Mother's Day morning: Hi Kids, ooooh, thank you for the runny eggs and scribbled construction paper, you shouldn't have. Anyhoot, I'm off! I have a mani/pedi at noon, mimosas & lunch with Nancy after that, then we're going to an estate sale to browse antiques. If we have time after that, we're going to see a matinee. See you at dinner!!! And by the way, I'm in the mood for a grilled chicken salad tonight!
Their mouths would all be hanging open and their eyes would just be going, blink, blink, blink.... You'd hear nothing but crickets....
No, no, it's more like this: Guilt gets the better of you and you roll out of bed begrudgingly around 9 AM. The husband & kids mumble 'happy mother's day' while shoving handmade cards in your face. You, of course, have to ooooh and aahhhh over them because you wouldn't want to break their little spirits. Now, mind you, you've envisioned your mother's day gift for weeks. You've dropped enough hints about a Roomba, Cuisinart or new iPod for weeks, he's a flipping idiot if he didn't pick up on the subtle hints (I left a Pandora catalog next to the toilet). So, back to Mother's Day morning, on the kitchen table, next to the too-strong coffee & soggy english muffin is a bouquet of flowers. Your enthusiasm deflates like a balloon and you want to go back to bed, immediately. Your husband will say things like, "Do you like them...don't you like the flowers....the kids helped me pick them out....you like purple, right...???? ". You somehow have to act like it's all you've ever wanted. A friggin' bouquet of flowers. Wow, you really put some thought into that, didn't you? Then you turn on the tv and all you see are Zales commercials with men giving their wives diamonds and by doing so telling her, "I'd marry you all over again"... (sigh)
Nothing says 'I don't give a SH*T' quite like flowers. So, to all you mommies out there whose husbands are thoughtless and a tad stupid, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY---GO BUY SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR YOURSELF---and when your husband questions your purchase, tell him to go *&%$$& himself.
xoxoxo
****side note: the husband described in this blog in NO WAY reflects my husband, but is dedicated to all of you ladies who are married to , shall we say, thoughtfully challenged men. I know too many of them and was smart enough to train mine early on. As I sit here and stare at my new Pandora charms & Ed Hardy shirt, I'm rather pleased with myself...and him!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Stupid Things My Husband Says
Good Morning Everyone!
It's a beautiful day (finally) in my (Lee's) part of the midwest. Sun is shining, sky is blue and I almost made it all the way through the night last night without waking up! A miracle! I haven't slept well in weeks and I am having a sleep study done next week to figure out what is wrong with me. Hubby thinks I'm stressed out and just need to relax. He said to me last night as we watched our daughter's softball game, "I'm worried about you. It seems like everytime we plan to go somewhere, you get all anxious. I bet that's why you aren't sleeping." If a softball bat were laying next to me at that point, I may have used it on my brilliant husband's head!
It isn't as if we haven't had this discussion before. Any woman with children knows that even a typical day in a normal household takes planning and precision execution. Add a trip out of town for Mom and Dad, and even the best of the best may get a little frazzeled. When you have to coordinate who will be staying with the kids and precious dog in between the time they spend with their father because it's his weekend and kid sporting events, you need a team of event planners and a bottomless jug of margahritas! Welcome to my world! The truth is, I have been dealing with this kind of juggling for years so it doesn't really freak me out and this trip to San Antonio for the weekend isn't keeping me from sleeping. I think the fact that my husband makes ridiculous statements (see above) causes me to believe I have to do ALL the thinking for our family, and THAT is what is causing me not to sleep at night. Oh, I hear you girl (Ann here)---we've been doing this 'parenting' thing for approx. 6 yrs now and still, to this day, husband thinks that getting ready to go consists of putting on shoes and buckling in the children into their carseats. I'll break it down. Pack snacks, diapers, wipes, put aside at least 10 minutes for putting shoes on because the 3 year old will take off the left while I put on the right and so on. Gather coupons, to-do list, blockbuster movies, birthday presents and all the other things we will need for our outing, make the children go pee, clean up the main floor so we don't come home to a clean house. All the while, as I'm running around doing all of these mundane tasks, husband is sitting on the couch, usually tuning his f-ing guitar and saying idiot things like, "we're going to be late....can we go now?"...
I'll take it a step further. What about the bedtime routine? Here's mine: Let our precious 'dog-ter" outside, turn off the porch lights, put the ubiquitous snacks back into the pantry, bring glasses to the dishwasher, fold throw blankets, fluff pillows on couch, lay out various items onto the counter so husband doesn't forget them on his way to work, ie. keys, blackberry, bills to be mailed, etc. Lay out kindergartner's clothes, pack his lunch, let in dog, give her a cookie, carry up a folded load of laundry, tuck in kids, wash face, brush teeth, pee, apply hand lotion & chapstick, talk my way out of sex, fall into bed.
Here's husband's bedtime routine: Yawn, walk upstairs, lay down.
They all wonder why we are raging bee-ochs...
I have so much more to say about this topic, but I have to start my list of "To-Do's" so I am ready precisely at 5 pm when we leave for the airport and so when Hubby walks in he doesn't say, "Why aren't you ready yet?????"! After all, we are going to visit HIS friends and if I kill him, it may ruin the weekend for them!
It's a beautiful day (finally) in my (Lee's) part of the midwest. Sun is shining, sky is blue and I almost made it all the way through the night last night without waking up! A miracle! I haven't slept well in weeks and I am having a sleep study done next week to figure out what is wrong with me. Hubby thinks I'm stressed out and just need to relax. He said to me last night as we watched our daughter's softball game, "I'm worried about you. It seems like everytime we plan to go somewhere, you get all anxious. I bet that's why you aren't sleeping." If a softball bat were laying next to me at that point, I may have used it on my brilliant husband's head!
It isn't as if we haven't had this discussion before. Any woman with children knows that even a typical day in a normal household takes planning and precision execution. Add a trip out of town for Mom and Dad, and even the best of the best may get a little frazzeled. When you have to coordinate who will be staying with the kids and precious dog in between the time they spend with their father because it's his weekend and kid sporting events, you need a team of event planners and a bottomless jug of margahritas! Welcome to my world! The truth is, I have been dealing with this kind of juggling for years so it doesn't really freak me out and this trip to San Antonio for the weekend isn't keeping me from sleeping. I think the fact that my husband makes ridiculous statements (see above) causes me to believe I have to do ALL the thinking for our family, and THAT is what is causing me not to sleep at night. Oh, I hear you girl (Ann here)---we've been doing this 'parenting' thing for approx. 6 yrs now and still, to this day, husband thinks that getting ready to go consists of putting on shoes and buckling in the children into their carseats. I'll break it down. Pack snacks, diapers, wipes, put aside at least 10 minutes for putting shoes on because the 3 year old will take off the left while I put on the right and so on. Gather coupons, to-do list, blockbuster movies, birthday presents and all the other things we will need for our outing, make the children go pee, clean up the main floor so we don't come home to a clean house. All the while, as I'm running around doing all of these mundane tasks, husband is sitting on the couch, usually tuning his f-ing guitar and saying idiot things like, "we're going to be late....can we go now?"...
I'll take it a step further. What about the bedtime routine? Here's mine: Let our precious 'dog-ter" outside, turn off the porch lights, put the ubiquitous snacks back into the pantry, bring glasses to the dishwasher, fold throw blankets, fluff pillows on couch, lay out various items onto the counter so husband doesn't forget them on his way to work, ie. keys, blackberry, bills to be mailed, etc. Lay out kindergartner's clothes, pack his lunch, let in dog, give her a cookie, carry up a folded load of laundry, tuck in kids, wash face, brush teeth, pee, apply hand lotion & chapstick, talk my way out of sex, fall into bed.
Here's husband's bedtime routine: Yawn, walk upstairs, lay down.
They all wonder why we are raging bee-ochs...
I have so much more to say about this topic, but I have to start my list of "To-Do's" so I am ready precisely at 5 pm when we leave for the airport and so when Hubby walks in he doesn't say, "Why aren't you ready yet?????"! After all, we are going to visit HIS friends and if I kill him, it may ruin the weekend for them!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
People we hate
Listing the people that we love is..well, boring. So, we'll list the people that we hate. It's very simple, there are those who "get it" and those who don't. It's all black and white, we are 'love it' or 'hate it' girls, there's no grey. Lee interjecting here. I think it is important to note that in our family, it was kill or be killed. Around the dinner table, if we didn't have something nasty to say about someone, there would be hell to pay. We would get extra points for ripping on someone outside the family. I guess it's how dear 'ol dad made himself feel better about his pathetic life. Here goes:
1. People who talk and talk and talk, just for the sake of hearing their own voice. What is coming out of their mouth is neither remarkable nor entertaining. They truly think that if they throw in a 4 syllable word every so often, it will create the illusion that they are intelligent. I usually see right through that and then instantly hate them.
2. People who have no minds of their own. Their likes and dislikes parallel their spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend. This falls into the same category as people who can't NOT have a spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend and also people who worship their spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend. Puke. I have no patience or tolerance for this type of person. They are usually very meek and boring individuals. We are also not so fond of people who can ONLY talk about their children. We love our children to death, however, we don't expect others to love them as much as we do nor do we expect others to find their silly antics as fabulous as we do.
3. Trista Sutter (A.K.A the Bachelorette). She got dissed on the Bachelor and then went on the Bachelorette where she found true love and married him on National TV (which funded her 1 Million dollar wedding). Then went onto be a spokesperson for infertility within weeks of her nuptiuals. She began writing a column for Redbook magazine....something about being married, or something (because she was obviously an expert after 3 months of marriage). Blew out her fallopian tubes and was knocked up the following month. Got her fat ass onto any magazine that would shoot her revealed her story book nursery. And is now on the cover of every cheap grocery store magazine as the poster girl for post-pregnancy weight loss. Go away! Your 7 minutes were up in 2001. I don't care for the girl or her wussy husband either. I just don't care enough to waste one milisecond on thinking about it. Shut up. If you don't have anything bitchy to day, don't say anything at all.
4. Cashiers who comment on everything that you buy. "Oh, this looks delicious, where did you find this". Just ring me up, Shannon--thanks! Also--cashiers that complain about their jobs while they're ringing you up. I don't know why, but this makes me insane. "hello, how are you today, Target person"? "I'll be a lot better when I get to punch out of this place". I never know how to respond to that. Grocery store cashiers who throw my food to the end of the whatever it is you call it after charging me for it make me mental. I'm hyperventilating just thinking about it! It's called a conveyour belt, donkey.
5. People who use poor grammar. This includes:
1. People who talk and talk and talk, just for the sake of hearing their own voice. What is coming out of their mouth is neither remarkable nor entertaining. They truly think that if they throw in a 4 syllable word every so often, it will create the illusion that they are intelligent. I usually see right through that and then instantly hate them.
2. People who have no minds of their own. Their likes and dislikes parallel their spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend. This falls into the same category as people who can't NOT have a spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend and also people who worship their spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend. Puke. I have no patience or tolerance for this type of person. They are usually very meek and boring individuals. We are also not so fond of people who can ONLY talk about their children. We love our children to death, however, we don't expect others to love them as much as we do nor do we expect others to find their silly antics as fabulous as we do.
3. Trista Sutter (A.K.A the Bachelorette). She got dissed on the Bachelor and then went on the Bachelorette where she found true love and married him on National TV (which funded her 1 Million dollar wedding). Then went onto be a spokesperson for infertility within weeks of her nuptiuals. She began writing a column for Redbook magazine....something about being married, or something (because she was obviously an expert after 3 months of marriage). Blew out her fallopian tubes and was knocked up the following month. Got her fat ass onto any magazine that would shoot her revealed her story book nursery. And is now on the cover of every cheap grocery store magazine as the poster girl for post-pregnancy weight loss. Go away! Your 7 minutes were up in 2001. I don't care for the girl or her wussy husband either. I just don't care enough to waste one milisecond on thinking about it. Shut up. If you don't have anything bitchy to day, don't say anything at all.
4. Cashiers who comment on everything that you buy. "Oh, this looks delicious, where did you find this". Just ring me up, Shannon--thanks! Also--cashiers that complain about their jobs while they're ringing you up. I don't know why, but this makes me insane. "hello, how are you today, Target person"? "I'll be a lot better when I get to punch out of this place". I never know how to respond to that. Grocery store cashiers who throw my food to the end of the whatever it is you call it after charging me for it make me mental. I'm hyperventilating just thinking about it! It's called a conveyour belt, donkey.
5. People who use poor grammar. This includes:
- He don't know...
- I seen him at the Walmart last week.
- You ain't got no dang money!
- Where you at?
- Irregardless...(you just know this person thinks they're using a big word and don't you just want to slap them)?
- I have went....
- People who prounounce Illinois as El-in-oy and industry as IN-dustry. OMG I need a drink!
6. People who have their kids in public still in their pajamas in the afternoon. This gives me hives. Is it really that hard to dress your child. This includes people who refuse to brush their kids hair and the kid shows up to school with the biggest rat's nest in the back of their head. Also--the people in the middle of the Summer who push their kids around in a grocery cart wearing nothing but a diaper.
7. Chris Hansen from Dateline. You know the "To Catch A Predator". He's so..... "Enough about you, I'm Chris Hansen, do you like my hair". "Well, we'll get to you in a minute, Long-schlong-228, right now, I'd like to introduce myself, but surely you've seen me on T.V, I'm Chris Hansen. Don't I look better in person?"
8. People who can't muster up the strawn-th to shake your hand. It's like shaking hands with an invalid. It's all limp and damp. They're the worst.
9. People who can't make a point. There's a word for this and it's called "circuitous". Good one, eh? Learn it. Use it. Impress your friends with it. I can't stand when people mistake me for a stupid person and take 3 hours to explain the most simple concept. I usually have to put the phone down and pinch the bridge of my nose, pour myself a drink and then eventually pick the phone back up again to see if they've progressed any further into the story. I have no patience for circuitous people. My mother used to do this when she'd explain recipes to me. She'd explain each layer of lasagne as if each one was different from the one before. Instead of saying, 'sauce, lasagne, meat, cheese, sauce....layer it 3 times, etc.' She'd start her recipe directions at the grocery store and finish at how to clean up baked on grease. Maddening, I tell you.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
No one puts Baby in the Coroner
No, that wasn't a typo---I meant to type coroner, not corner. It was pun. That's how I roll.
Today's little nugget of unsolicited information is brought to you by the postpartum depression society of the Mid-West. And Brooke Shields.
You've read all the books on postpartum depression. You've read about the baby blues and how you'll feel 'inadequate' and how you'll be over tired and overwhelmed and all that stuff. It's all true, you'll feel all of those emotions with about 4,000 other emotions ranging from euphoria to desperation & dread.
Mine is a common story, but not a very frequently told story. No one wants to talk about how they wanted nothing more than to check into a fancy hotel following the birth of their baby---and never check out.
The first time around, I felt elated, prepared and completely in control. I never once went through a period of time with my first born where I didn't know what I was doing. I felt like I was meant to be a mother and I felt like I stepped flawlessly and gracefully into that role. For Lord's sake, I look back at photos and videos from the first few months of motherhood and I'm wearing makeup, jewelery and heels in the middle of the afternoon. What the F.? Who was I kidding?
Fast forward 3 years and I can barely manage to wash and dry the same load of laundry within the same day. I'll admit it, it got ugly for a while. Not that my second pregnancy wasn't planned. It most certainly was. The truth of the matter was that I felt I owed it to my son to give him a sibling. It truly wasn't that I wanted or needed another child, I felt quite content with one. I just didn't want him to be an only child. Little did I know my two boys would wind up hating each other.... Anyway, back to my second pregnancy. Like an idiot, I took the pregnancy test way too early. I found out I was preggers when I was less than 2 weeks along. I have freakishly strong hormones, apparently. So, this was my quandary. If I'd have just played it cool, I could have had 2 or 3 more weeks of drinking before "technically" finding out. But nooooo, nosy bitch had to find out early. So, there I sat, on the toilet, staring at the pee stick. I wasn't elated, I wasn't surprised, I wasn't anything. Literally, my only thought was, "damn. if I'd have waited until I was actually late, I could have partied over Labor Day weekend"...
As the pregnancy went on, I got more and more depressed. There are so many distinct memories I have of that very dark time. I recall crying to my husband one night about how on earth am I going to read Ben (my oldest) his bedtime stories with a newborn. I don't know why, but it was the mundane things like that which overwhelmed me to no end. I didn't see how other mothers did it. Or why they'd want to. "Great...and how do you expect me to drive Ben to pre-school with a newborn in the car...huh..huh"??? I was so very negative about it all.
During the labor, I was more excited about the epidural than about the actual birth. I kept lying and saying that I could feel the contractions (I couldn't) just so they'd pump me with more meds. By the time I was fully dialated, I was so numb from the waist down, my husband was poking my thighs with a sharp pencil just for fun. Oh, we had ourselves quite a time! I was at 10 cm. for about 3 hours. The nurse kept saying, "do you want to try and push now... he's practically hanging out of you". And I'd say (while admiring my manicure), "No. Not so much. I think I'll wait a tad longer". I wanted to maintain being the patient for as long as I could. I was milking this for all it's worth. I knew once he'd arrived, I'd get tossed to the back burner and he'd take over.
Ok, so by sheer gravity, the child was born. I totally feigned pushing. I made the face and grimaced and everything, but as for using any strawn-th to push my child out---none. I didn't want him out. Plainly said. Finally, I was distracted by a very irritating sound in the room (Lee and I are very sensitive to noise) and I think I went as far as to crinkle my nose and ask "what is that intolerable sound"? The nurse said, "we're suctioning the baby's mouth". Oh. Alright then, carry on. He was out and I didn't even know it (again, the drugs...). So, he was all cute and so forth. I marveled him and wondered how I (me?) could have gotten two of the best looking little boys ever known to man. All that fuss was short lived until the next morning when I got a visit from a social worker.
I'd had my tubes tied immediately following the birth. This was a prearranged thing, not spontaneous. After wanting to kill myself throughout the entire pregnancy, I knew I never wanted to do this again. Plus, I didn't think I had enough love in my heart for more than 2 children. I was still reeling from the vicodin after the surgery when a lovely, motherly figure appeared in the doorway. I knew immediately who she was and why she was there. A few hours after Gabe's birth, I had to fill out a postpartum depression survey. I turned it into my nurse and thought nothing of it until the social worker came. The look on her face was pity, compassion, love, support and comfort. I started bawling as soon as I saw her. She did that thing that women do where they tilt their head to one side, squint and sort of smile at you. Oh, I wanted to crawl into her lap and suck my thumb. My mother had been gone for 2 years at this point and I felt so sorry for myself that I didn't have my mother to share this with me. Again. She was sick with cancer during Ben's pregnancy & birth and now she wasn't even alive for this one. I felt robbed. Anyway, she asked if I remembered taking the survey, I did. She said a score of 10 or more indicated possible depression. I scored a 37. I can laugh about it now, but I vividly recall saying to her. "I'm not going to kill my kids or anything, it's not that kind of postpartum depression....it's just the kind where I don't ever want to leave the hospital...so you don't have to call the authorities or anything". She just smiled that beautiful smile at me. My OB came in later that evening and patted my legs and said, "are you ready to go home tomorrow"??? I started bawling and said, "Hells NO...they make me work at home". He just slowly backed out of the room.
I sat in my wheelchair with Gabe in his carseat, on my lap, in the waiting room. All the other new moms were waiting for their husbands or significant other's to come pick them up to go home. They all looked so anxious and hopeful and excited. I just stared at them, wishing I was anywhere else besides there. The whole way home, my husband kept saying, "here we go....new chapter.... " and all these other cliche things that made me want to kill him. All I wanted to do was cry. Once home, I literally didn't get out my bathrobe for 3 days. My blinds were drawn and I'm sure my neighbors assumed that we had a really ugly baby, based on how reclusive I was. I remember watching Will & Grace that first night at home. Gabe in his bouncy seat, I in my robe. I thought to myself, "Will is so lucky he's gay---he'll never have to deal with all of this". I didn't understand it. I loved babies, I loved everything about babies. Why was I so sad to have another one of my own--a gorgeously healthy baby at that? I knew all about postpartum depression, but I was fairly confident that that was NOT was this was. PPD was an erroneous psychosomatic condition. What I had was real.
I finally called my dearest girlfriend and bawled for the first 20 minutes of the conversation. Just incomprehensible sobbing. She gave me the best advice I've ever received and I firmly believe she saved my life that day. She said, "Listen to me. RUN--don't walk---RUN to your doctor and get on something [anti-depressants] before sundown today". Bada boom, bada bing, 4 hours later, my husband was filling my prescription for zoloft and the rest is history. 3 or 4 days later I was saying, "what was all that business about"??? Not that I didn't fall into my fair share of mild depression every now and again. After all, pills can only help so much.
No doubt about it, this is the hardest, most unappreciated and stressful job I've ever had in my life. Hands down. But, would I trade it for anything in the entire world? Never. I'm honest about motherhood, I don't try to sugar coat it into a Norman Rockwell painting. It is what it is, but at the end of the day, if you can put adults out into the world who are well adjusted, well liked, self sufficient, contributing members of society, than you've done your job and that's what I'm trying to do. But for now, I'm perfectly content hearing strangers comment on my "ridiculously good looking boys".
Today's little nugget of unsolicited information is brought to you by the postpartum depression society of the Mid-West. And Brooke Shields.
You've read all the books on postpartum depression. You've read about the baby blues and how you'll feel 'inadequate' and how you'll be over tired and overwhelmed and all that stuff. It's all true, you'll feel all of those emotions with about 4,000 other emotions ranging from euphoria to desperation & dread.
Mine is a common story, but not a very frequently told story. No one wants to talk about how they wanted nothing more than to check into a fancy hotel following the birth of their baby---and never check out.
The first time around, I felt elated, prepared and completely in control. I never once went through a period of time with my first born where I didn't know what I was doing. I felt like I was meant to be a mother and I felt like I stepped flawlessly and gracefully into that role. For Lord's sake, I look back at photos and videos from the first few months of motherhood and I'm wearing makeup, jewelery and heels in the middle of the afternoon. What the F.? Who was I kidding?
Fast forward 3 years and I can barely manage to wash and dry the same load of laundry within the same day. I'll admit it, it got ugly for a while. Not that my second pregnancy wasn't planned. It most certainly was. The truth of the matter was that I felt I owed it to my son to give him a sibling. It truly wasn't that I wanted or needed another child, I felt quite content with one. I just didn't want him to be an only child. Little did I know my two boys would wind up hating each other.... Anyway, back to my second pregnancy. Like an idiot, I took the pregnancy test way too early. I found out I was preggers when I was less than 2 weeks along. I have freakishly strong hormones, apparently. So, this was my quandary. If I'd have just played it cool, I could have had 2 or 3 more weeks of drinking before "technically" finding out. But nooooo, nosy bitch had to find out early. So, there I sat, on the toilet, staring at the pee stick. I wasn't elated, I wasn't surprised, I wasn't anything. Literally, my only thought was, "damn. if I'd have waited until I was actually late, I could have partied over Labor Day weekend"...
As the pregnancy went on, I got more and more depressed. There are so many distinct memories I have of that very dark time. I recall crying to my husband one night about how on earth am I going to read Ben (my oldest) his bedtime stories with a newborn. I don't know why, but it was the mundane things like that which overwhelmed me to no end. I didn't see how other mothers did it. Or why they'd want to. "Great...and how do you expect me to drive Ben to pre-school with a newborn in the car...huh..huh"??? I was so very negative about it all.
During the labor, I was more excited about the epidural than about the actual birth. I kept lying and saying that I could feel the contractions (I couldn't) just so they'd pump me with more meds. By the time I was fully dialated, I was so numb from the waist down, my husband was poking my thighs with a sharp pencil just for fun. Oh, we had ourselves quite a time! I was at 10 cm. for about 3 hours. The nurse kept saying, "do you want to try and push now... he's practically hanging out of you". And I'd say (while admiring my manicure), "No. Not so much. I think I'll wait a tad longer". I wanted to maintain being the patient for as long as I could. I was milking this for all it's worth. I knew once he'd arrived, I'd get tossed to the back burner and he'd take over.
Ok, so by sheer gravity, the child was born. I totally feigned pushing. I made the face and grimaced and everything, but as for using any strawn-th to push my child out---none. I didn't want him out. Plainly said. Finally, I was distracted by a very irritating sound in the room (Lee and I are very sensitive to noise) and I think I went as far as to crinkle my nose and ask "what is that intolerable sound"? The nurse said, "we're suctioning the baby's mouth". Oh. Alright then, carry on. He was out and I didn't even know it (again, the drugs...). So, he was all cute and so forth. I marveled him and wondered how I (me?) could have gotten two of the best looking little boys ever known to man. All that fuss was short lived until the next morning when I got a visit from a social worker.
I'd had my tubes tied immediately following the birth. This was a prearranged thing, not spontaneous. After wanting to kill myself throughout the entire pregnancy, I knew I never wanted to do this again. Plus, I didn't think I had enough love in my heart for more than 2 children. I was still reeling from the vicodin after the surgery when a lovely, motherly figure appeared in the doorway. I knew immediately who she was and why she was there. A few hours after Gabe's birth, I had to fill out a postpartum depression survey. I turned it into my nurse and thought nothing of it until the social worker came. The look on her face was pity, compassion, love, support and comfort. I started bawling as soon as I saw her. She did that thing that women do where they tilt their head to one side, squint and sort of smile at you. Oh, I wanted to crawl into her lap and suck my thumb. My mother had been gone for 2 years at this point and I felt so sorry for myself that I didn't have my mother to share this with me. Again. She was sick with cancer during Ben's pregnancy & birth and now she wasn't even alive for this one. I felt robbed. Anyway, she asked if I remembered taking the survey, I did. She said a score of 10 or more indicated possible depression. I scored a 37. I can laugh about it now, but I vividly recall saying to her. "I'm not going to kill my kids or anything, it's not that kind of postpartum depression....it's just the kind where I don't ever want to leave the hospital...so you don't have to call the authorities or anything". She just smiled that beautiful smile at me. My OB came in later that evening and patted my legs and said, "are you ready to go home tomorrow"??? I started bawling and said, "Hells NO...they make me work at home". He just slowly backed out of the room.
I sat in my wheelchair with Gabe in his carseat, on my lap, in the waiting room. All the other new moms were waiting for their husbands or significant other's to come pick them up to go home. They all looked so anxious and hopeful and excited. I just stared at them, wishing I was anywhere else besides there. The whole way home, my husband kept saying, "here we go....new chapter.... " and all these other cliche things that made me want to kill him. All I wanted to do was cry. Once home, I literally didn't get out my bathrobe for 3 days. My blinds were drawn and I'm sure my neighbors assumed that we had a really ugly baby, based on how reclusive I was. I remember watching Will & Grace that first night at home. Gabe in his bouncy seat, I in my robe. I thought to myself, "Will is so lucky he's gay---he'll never have to deal with all of this". I didn't understand it. I loved babies, I loved everything about babies. Why was I so sad to have another one of my own--a gorgeously healthy baby at that? I knew all about postpartum depression, but I was fairly confident that that was NOT was this was. PPD was an erroneous psychosomatic condition. What I had was real.
I finally called my dearest girlfriend and bawled for the first 20 minutes of the conversation. Just incomprehensible sobbing. She gave me the best advice I've ever received and I firmly believe she saved my life that day. She said, "Listen to me. RUN--don't walk---RUN to your doctor and get on something [anti-depressants] before sundown today". Bada boom, bada bing, 4 hours later, my husband was filling my prescription for zoloft and the rest is history. 3 or 4 days later I was saying, "what was all that business about"??? Not that I didn't fall into my fair share of mild depression every now and again. After all, pills can only help so much.
No doubt about it, this is the hardest, most unappreciated and stressful job I've ever had in my life. Hands down. But, would I trade it for anything in the entire world? Never. I'm honest about motherhood, I don't try to sugar coat it into a Norman Rockwell painting. It is what it is, but at the end of the day, if you can put adults out into the world who are well adjusted, well liked, self sufficient, contributing members of society, than you've done your job and that's what I'm trying to do. But for now, I'm perfectly content hearing strangers comment on my "ridiculously good looking boys".
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Cinematology
I'm a person who is big on "taste". By saying so, I should also admit that I don't particularly have exceptional taste, or even good taste, but it's my own and I think someone's taste says a lot about them. I tend to be a bit judgemental that way. Others' taste helps me to gauge if I will like them or not. For example: If asked a person what their favorite restaurant is, and they replied, "Olive Garden", I could guess that we probably wouldn't hit it off very well.
I am often interested in what type of movies interest people. Again, I think it says a lot about them. If someone told me their favorite movie was "Legally Blonde" I'd probably put a skewer in their eye.
With all that said, I now shall go through my distinct list of favorite movies and my reasons for loving them so.
1. Good Fellas. Greatest movie of all time. Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci and Robert DiNiro at their finest. Mafia legend gets greedy and turns into a rat. I've seen it about 8,000 times and to this day, I never miss an opportunity to see it. It thrills me to the core each time I see Henry Hill in action. (sigh)
2. Pulp Fiction. You really have to be able to appreciate the artistic approach of this film. If you prefer your movies to have a beginning, climax & conclusion all wrapped up in nice package, than you won't like this movie. Plus, you might not possess the intellect to understand it's complex plot. My husband and I reference this movie at least daily. "Who's chopper is this"?
3. American Beauty. I still don't understand my strong attraction for Kevin Spacey, but this movie definitely sealed the deal for me. He portrays a pitiful, mid-life, has-been and finds himself wildly drawn to the sexy, teenage friend of his sullen daughter. Annette Benning is fabulous!
4. Silence of the Lambs. I have chills just typing it's title. Again, I've seen it hundreds of times and could definitely see it hundreds more! I still get scared at the same places. I still get the willies when Buffalo Bill tucks his weenie and dances for the camera and I still want to jump out of my skin when Hannibal sniffs Clarice's essence.
5. Urban Cowboy. Features the darling Debra Winger and the ever-talented Mr. John Travolta. Bud (Travolta) delivers a stellar performance as aspiring mechanical bull rider but at the cost of his marriage to Sissy as he faces losing her to ex-con, Wes Hightower.
6. Coal Miner's Daughter. There no words....
7. Best in Show. ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!! Perfect cast, perfectly timed one-liners & quips!
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. C'mon. If this isn't on your list, than you're not right in the head.
9. Friday. Starring Chris Tucker and rapper Ice Cube. If you've never heard of this movie, don't feel too badly---it mostly targets the pot-smoking crowd. Basically, the entire movie takes place getting high on Craig's (Cube) front porch. Evidently, in the ghetto, it all goes down on the front porch.
10. Last but not least--Napolean Dynamite. Oh my goodness.... I cry everytime! Uncle Rico, Kip... I could go on and on, but I wouldn't do it justice. God! Idiot!
Feel free to comment! Add your own favorites, harass me for mine...whateva!
I am often interested in what type of movies interest people. Again, I think it says a lot about them. If someone told me their favorite movie was "Legally Blonde" I'd probably put a skewer in their eye.
With all that said, I now shall go through my distinct list of favorite movies and my reasons for loving them so.
1. Good Fellas. Greatest movie of all time. Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci and Robert DiNiro at their finest. Mafia legend gets greedy and turns into a rat. I've seen it about 8,000 times and to this day, I never miss an opportunity to see it. It thrills me to the core each time I see Henry Hill in action. (sigh)
2. Pulp Fiction. You really have to be able to appreciate the artistic approach of this film. If you prefer your movies to have a beginning, climax & conclusion all wrapped up in nice package, than you won't like this movie. Plus, you might not possess the intellect to understand it's complex plot. My husband and I reference this movie at least daily. "Who's chopper is this"?
3. American Beauty. I still don't understand my strong attraction for Kevin Spacey, but this movie definitely sealed the deal for me. He portrays a pitiful, mid-life, has-been and finds himself wildly drawn to the sexy, teenage friend of his sullen daughter. Annette Benning is fabulous!
4. Silence of the Lambs. I have chills just typing it's title. Again, I've seen it hundreds of times and could definitely see it hundreds more! I still get scared at the same places. I still get the willies when Buffalo Bill tucks his weenie and dances for the camera and I still want to jump out of my skin when Hannibal sniffs Clarice's essence.
5. Urban Cowboy. Features the darling Debra Winger and the ever-talented Mr. John Travolta. Bud (Travolta) delivers a stellar performance as aspiring mechanical bull rider but at the cost of his marriage to Sissy as he faces losing her to ex-con, Wes Hightower.
6. Coal Miner's Daughter. There no words....
7. Best in Show. ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!! Perfect cast, perfectly timed one-liners & quips!
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. C'mon. If this isn't on your list, than you're not right in the head.
9. Friday. Starring Chris Tucker and rapper Ice Cube. If you've never heard of this movie, don't feel too badly---it mostly targets the pot-smoking crowd. Basically, the entire movie takes place getting high on Craig's (Cube) front porch. Evidently, in the ghetto, it all goes down on the front porch.
10. Last but not least--Napolean Dynamite. Oh my goodness.... I cry everytime! Uncle Rico, Kip... I could go on and on, but I wouldn't do it justice. God! Idiot!
Feel free to comment! Add your own favorites, harass me for mine...whateva!
And other benefits of childbirth
Here’s a secret. Very, very often, when I go on my father-in-law’s trampoline, I pee my pants on the jump up. I don’t know why. I’ve learned not to wear skirts or shorts on the old tramp. I don’t know if it’s a girl thing, or a child birth thing, or an old age thing, or what….but it’s troublesome. Try laughing, sneezing, running, coughing, jump roping, etc. after you turn 40. It's a real scream when you actually listen to the Depends commercials at this stage of the game. I'm doing everything I can think of to fight the signs of aging, but until they make depends that wear like a thong, my MILF jeans aren't looking, well MILFy. Why didn't I listen when they said "do your kegels?"....I'm definetly telling my daughter to do them daily. She's 14. She'll love me for it!
homeless insomniacs
Sometimes I don’t feel like being long winded and thought provoking. Sometimes I just feel like sharing a little anecdote or tip. Like this one: sometimes, when I can’t sleep, I pretend that I’m homeless and I’ve been sleeping on the streets for weeks and weeks. I pretend that someone took me in and let me use their shower and I’m as shiny as a new penny. Then, I crawl into my bed and I feel that it’s the most comfortable thing I’ve ever felt in my entire life and I feel like a princess while I drift off to sleep. That’s how I fall asleep many-a-night.
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