Love/hate Tuesday

Love: Swimming with the family on Sunday. Heavens alive my kids love the water.

Hate: The siren song of tacos.

Love: Shopping at Target with fam on Saturday (lots o' family time was enjoyed this weekend).

Hate: While at Target T got suckered into getting a flu shot since he's still in town

Love: Target billed our insurance and, dang, if that wasn't easier than me trying to find an appointment time at my doctor's office. Next year I might be hitting up Target directly. Lord knows I'm there often enough.

Hate: We didn't quite get around to carving pumpkins this weekend and I'm not sure we'll have time before Halloween. Derp.

Love: Dinner out with my lovely friends on Sunday night. Conversation, as always, was wildly inappropriate and honest and fraught with laughter-tears. It is always what my heart needs.

Hate: Work is nuts this week.

Love: I'm healthy! No coughing! Woot!

Hate: Well, I made it to almost November before accidentally sending the kids dressed inappropriately in coats that are too light. Damn weather.

Love: We bought Iris her first sleeping pillow this weekend and she loves it. 

Hate: She still is unsure about covers. 

Love: How understanding T is when I turn into a bobcat.

Hate: Bobcat-times still occur.

Love: This smoothing serum for hair. With it turning a bit drier out, my flyaways are out of control.

Hate: Dry air does a number on my hands.

Love: Essie apricot cuticle oil is magic.

Hate: Idiots

Love: The pictures below.

Can a girl just get a fridge and a faux fur scarf?

I have decided that I want two things for Christmas. Just two (and not my two front teeth, mind you):

1. A new refridgerator
2. A faux fur scarf

I mean, damn. Look at these two together:

+

=

True love always.

I'll have space aplenty and can finally stop giving my jenk, ugly as crow, tiny-and-trying-to-overcompensate refrigerator the stank side eye.

I'll have room for the massive amount of food Ezra eats AND my huge pot pies from Costco AND the all the juices T loves AND Iris' bulky lunchbox.

AND! It will be white. Praise be.

And as I soak in New Fridge Glory, I will have a toasty neck. That fuzzy scarf is something I would never buy for myself but I know is timeless and ridiculous and soft and WARM. I want it.

On our daydate yesterday afternoon, I told T that I decided what I wanted for Christmas.

Me: "Hey, I think I know what I want for Christmas."

Him: "Oh, yeah? What about your birthday?" (my birthday is in December as well)

Me: "Right now you only have to worry about Christmas...I want a new fridge."

Him: GUFFAW

Me: "Fool, I am serious. Take note. White. Huge. Freezer on bottom. You'll be home that week for delivery. Slap a bow on it and call it 'Christmas Morning.' "

So yeah. I'm serious as a heart attack. That's what I want.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow

Lovingly snaggled from April.


Yesterday I...

• Had a really, really good day. The best day in a long time. My headspace felt clear. My energy felt up. My patience? Also up! I'm on a third round of meds for the Grossness and I think, after a bit of ruminating, the reason I felt so good is because my head is actually clear (of snot) and my energy isn't being spent on coughing. I've been coughing since August so my quality of life might be improving. Mad props to those with tuberculosis. Because DAYUM. So yeah...I feel really good.
• T and I had a daydate which was lovely. This next month is going to be more intense than usual with his traveling so it was good to have catch-up time. 
• Looked in my closet and decided I need more sweaters. 

Today I...

• Am still feeling really good and mellow.
• Had my car cleaned out while on my lunch break. It was manky town. Oh! And the car cleaners found my extra access card to Iris' daycare that I thought I'd lost.
• Really, really started feeling Christmas-y. The weather this week has officially turned fall--highs in the 40s, cloudy, crunchy leaves throughout--and that just makes me want Christmas. Music! Trees! Baked goods! Tenement gingerbread houses!
• Felt a bit bummed about Ezra's school not doing Halloween costumes. I mean, I get it. It's a Christian school--I figured as much. (Remind me to do a post on this topic and how it was when I was a kid...lordy.) At any rate, we'll do trick or treating and a Candy Gorge Fest on Halloween anyway and I've already taught them to sing, "Trick or treat, smell my feat, give me something good to eat." I like to keep it mature.
• Am enjoying these pictures from the walk the kids and I took to the library on Saturday:

Tomorrow I...

• I have to figure out why the money to Ezra's lunch account didn't post. Sigh. I don't want to have to track someone down. 
• Hope Ezra cooperates in the morning. Dang it if getting him going in the morning isn't a pain. Hey! Guess what! Every morning you have to take off your jammies! Why is this is a surprise?!

Share with me what's on your plate. I want to hear.

I love 'em

Sent to me from Red Door

Trifecta of nasty

On Saturday afternoon I took Ezra to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and it was basically the grossest thing I've ever done (and that includes parts of child birth).

I have a hard time with:

1. Loud ass noise and dinging and sounds everywhere
2. Gross sticky germs
3. Unsavory folks

Any one of those things by themselves, I'm cool. Loud concerts? Fine. Sticky germs and things at a zoo? It's cool. Watching reality television. DELIGHTFUL.

But all combined it was no bueno.

Ezra, of course, had a lovely time and the little boys lost their fool minds together and even the mom of the birthday boy was sweet and we chatted a lot. 

Once home, T asked how it went and then maybe he snickered a bit.

Whatever, dude, you don't know me.

What's happenin', hot stuff?

T
He continues to be a machine of the working hard and traveling around the globe variety. Woot woot for gainful employment! He and I haven't had a daydate or evening date in awhile, so I need to make a point of scheduling one soon. 

Me
Revelations are slowly coming to the forefront about my work and career and professional whatnot. I have felt stalled and dissatisfied for a long time, with some of those feelings being quite unbearable on any given week. I've sought out other opportunities, but for reasons I won't expound on here--things have sizzled down.

That sizzling down was hard to reconcile given my desire for change, and I struggled to figure out what exactly the bigger picture was. I mean, my job gives us a lot of freedom. First and foremost, my job lets us save a lot for retirement which is a huge priority for us and we're able to send Ezra to a private school we really believe in. Both of those things are very important to T and I. 

But in the last few weeks I'm realizing that my job allows our family to have that ability to invest in the future and the freedom to be with the kids when they need me. I am going with Ezra on his field trips. I'm volunteering at the book fair and their PTO fundraiser. I'm able to help out with Teacher Appreciation Week. At the last minute earlier this week, I was able to take a day off for a family member who needed some support. Sure, I have to juggle my schedule to still make sure I'm not hosing anyone in my wake (teaching, Reference Desk schedules, etc.), but my boss is okay with me balancing those things with/for my children/family and being accountable for my work responsibilities. 

Do I wish I was satisfied professionally? Yes. But, you know, satisfaction is tricky and I'm a bit of a fickle pickle. I have enough self-awareness to know that if I had the job I've been coveting for years, that I'd be there wringing my hands about missing out on children-y things. 

So I'm making the most of what I've got. I'm not on some death march, for pete's sake. 

In other news, I'm still sick. Still coughing now with more sinus infection! Yay! (No.) Yet another round of antibiotics. When your face--not your head, but yo' face--throbs and your teeth hurt, that ain't good. We shall see what these new meds deliver. 

Iris
She's moving and grooving with the eating. It's slow going, but she's getting there. At the most successful meal time, and we have quite a few of these, she doesn't cough after a bite. She chews everything quickly and swallows easily without gagging. She asks for more and the entire meal doesn't last longer than 30 minutes. 

At other meal times, though, she's distracted and we have to firmly keep her on task. She keeps the food stored in her cheek instead of mashing it up on her teeth and sometimes swallowing makes her cough. The meal time drags and she isn't able to eat as much table food as we'd like.

So we move back and forth between the two types of meals as she hones her skills and gets stronger coordination. It's a miracle she's eating by mouth at all, so--as always--patience is a virtue.

What else...oh! She's going to be a cat for Halloween because of course.

The other morning she greeted me with, "Good MORNING, you silly bo-bo."

Also, she's maybe a little expressive.

Ezra
Ezra has yet another loose tooth. His top right. Which, you know, when those front ones go--things officially start looking hoopty and big kid-like.

He's going to be the Dark Knight (aka Batman in the Black Suit) for Halloween. It has built-in muscles.

He is rather taken with kindergarten and is just doing marvelously. We have his parent-teacher conference next week so we shall see if all is as good as it seems. It could be an utter crap show from 8:05am to 3:05pm. I guess we'll find out.

A pair of jeans I bought for him a few weeks ago came with a belt and, holy hell, does he love it. Turns out I was underestimating a belt's appeal.



So that's what happening with us. Things are good. Things are busy. We are happy.

Turns out it's kinda hot in the South

Late last week and then into the weekend I went to Charleston. It was some good, clean fun with ladies who are smart and witty and mostly very ridiculous. Good thing I'm keen on "ridiculous."

I relaxed outside and sweated a lot (effing heat). Ate some of the tastiest food EVER (everrrrrrrrrrr) at Poogan's Porch. Mainly, I tried to fill my time with two things: wonderful conversation and damn tasty food.

It was a roaring success on both counts.

The very lovely pool at the resort.

Why, yes. I would love to take a water taxi.

Friday morning breakfast.

This character was EVERYWHERE. 

And this poor buddy looked how I felt in the
heat and humidity.

Where we stayed.

Saturday morning breakfast

Just a little shack by the sea.

St. Michaels Church which is very old.

September achievements

This is what I set out to accomplish in September and how it all shook out:

• Finish the two books on my nightstand: Dark Places and Motherland
• Achieved! Kind of. I started both and hated both and returned both to the library. I'm not even sure what in the fresh hell I was thinking in requesting Dark Places. A boy that kills his family? NO BUENO. I started Motherland (and loved Prospect Park West), but the characters became increasingly more dysfunctional and dick-ish and it was bringing me down, so that was a negatory, too.
• Polish those dern dining room sconces
• Achieved! And they are very shiny now.
• Figure out the wonk of the special needs entryway ceiling and freaking order it already 
• 50% achieved. Special needs figured out! Got T clued in since he'll be doing the install! Pattern picked out! Order button still not pushed. Grrrr. I chalk this up to T and I largely being like ships in the night during September and us needing one addition confer before hitting "purchase." 
• Lights out at night earlier--9:45pm--to, in turn, make the morning easier
• Eh. Kind of. I was more dutiful, and, more often than not--had the lights out by 10:00pm. This made mornings a tick easier, but then it got cooler and I put on flannel sheets and, balls, if getting out of bed still was hard.
• Remove the train table from the playroom and donate it
• Achieved! T and I dragged that bad boy down to the curb and someone picked it up within two days. I thought it'd go sooner and even Ezra asked, "Doesn't anyone want our train table." Womp womp, train table. 
• Keep all the trains and train tracks, but put them in a bin for playing on the floor
• Achieved! New bin procured.
• Buy and put together these desks and chairs for the kids to use in the playroom + stash their art supplies 
• Achieved! The kids are loving their desks and it's actually quite a perfect set-up since Ezra has usually has one or two worksheets to do on Sunday afternoon to return on Monday, and we sit in there together and he works on them while Iris naps.
• Procure a red toaster for the kitchen and reorganize our kitchen cart to hold it (rather than the current art supplies) and the bread goods 
• Achieved! Red toaster purchased along with a basket to store our bread and bagels. I divied up the kids' supplies in their desks and everyone is happy. Especially as we eat toasty brown waffles in the AM.
• Book a location/decide on a date for Iris' birthday party
• Achieved! Birthday Number Four is on the books for early November with a marble cake ordered and me on the prowl for kitty invitations.