Random Thoughts......

I've had some really random junk going on in my head lately.  Most of it is pretty stupid.  But here it is.

I was at the drive-through at Tim Horton's a while back.  They're definitely not my first choice for a coffee fix but it's closest to my work and they had pumpkin spice coffee.  But I digress.  They seem to have a rather large senior crowd there and the first thing that popped into my head was "Tim Horton's...Starbucks for the geriatric set."

If you're corresponding by letter to someone you don't care for all that much, shouldn't you be signing it "Insincerely"?

I'm pretty excited about 2 new holiday things that I get to share with Garrett this year:  Hannukah Harry and all the South Park Christmas episodes.  Appropriate?  Depends.  He's seen much worse, and I get to share my love of twisted humor.

I'm really wondering why Lucas finds flipping through my books so much more entertaining than flipping through his own. I mean, come on!  Mine don't even have doggies in them!

Giving Thanks

I used to think that the best part of Thanksgiving was all the food.  Man, do I ever love pie!!!  When I was a kid, I used to think that Thanksgiving was a time to remember the Pilgrims and the Native Americans coming together to feast.   I guess it still is, but now it is so much more to me.  Today, as I was at my sisters table while my mom said the prayer, I was thinking about what I have to be thankful for.  I can't even begin to start.  I live what I believe to be a very blessed life.  There are sooooo many people out there that are worse off than me.  For that,  I feel so undeserving.  Here's my attempt at putting it all in a nutshell....
Today and all other days I am thankful for the life that God has given me and for everyone that's in it.  And pie.

Election Day Tomorrow!

Yes, it's that time of year!  Time to get out and exercise our right to vote.  I will be doing so after work with my children in tow.  However, I'm getting reaaaaallllly annoyed with all the political ads and especially the slam ones.  And all the political phone messages!!!  Dang!!  I came home and had 5 on my machine.  One of them was in French.  I couldn't understand a frickin' word of it.

I won! I won!

So heeeeeere it is!  I won this tea sampler set from Love To Shop Mom.  It took a bit for me to get it and a few emails back and forth but it's here and I can't wait to finally try it!  Love to Shop Mom is a blog written by a lovely woman named Jamie.  Her site is mostly product reviews--both mom and non-mom related--with a bit of Mom stuff and personal stuff thrown in.  What I love most about her reviews is that she is very honest.  If she loves something, she tell you and if she hates something, she'll tell you that too!  If you want to check it out go here or click on the button on the side of this post.

Disclaimer:  Just so you know, I wasn't given anything to plug Love To Shop Mom.  I merely wanted to give Jamie a shout-out because I love her blog.

Long Time No Post

Two months!  That's how much time has passed since I last posted(well, almost).  A certain Lady Toesocks has been complainin' that I haven't posted in a long time.   Girl doesn't know I'm busy? Jeesh!  Anyway, today was the first day of school here and my oldest child is a seasoned back-to-schooler, so there wasn't a lot of hoopla about it here other than getting our junk together the night before.  In my household it just seems to work better with our getting ready for the day schedules  if the Mr. or I drive the boy to school.  This morning we were all ready to go and I was just finishing getting the little one ready when the school bus stopped at the neighbor's house.  So I said "Garrett, the bus is here!  Better hurry up and get on it!"  In most cases he would know I was joking since I've said that so many times before.   He replied "OK!" and I figure he's joking back.  A few minutes later, we're ready to go so I yelled for Garrett to get a move on.  There's no sign of him downstairs, so I checked upstairs.  Not there either.  I went outside.  Not there.  So I start yelling "GAARRRETTTTT!!!!!"  and I was starting to freak out a little.  My neighbor came outside and said "Are you looking for Garrett? He got on the bus."  "Oh, he wasn't supposed to go on there.  Thank you!"  I replied.   He went on the bus without me knowing!  How did I not see him go right by me?  So my attempt at humor was an epic fail and I managed to make myself look like an idiot in front of my neighbor.  Awesome.  You would think that after 10 years the kid would be used to my brand of sarcasm.   I'd fill y'all in on my summer but there's just not much to write about besides my anxiety trip(issue resolved, thank goodness!).  Also, I have some Oreos to dunk.

So this is what I've been up to lately...enjoying summer with the fam.  This has been a pretty fabulous summer weather-wise!  Quite an improvement from the rainy summer of last year, I must say.  This little heat wave that we're in the middle of, well that I can do without.  So today I say the greatest invention ever is air conditioning.  Gas grills come in at a close second.  I absolutely luuurve my grill, especially on busy summer days or on days when heating up the kitchen just isn't gonna happen.  I love being able to throw some meat on the grill, slap some sauce on it, throw together a salad of some sort and have it all done in less time than it takes to go for takeout.  Of course, I could do the same thing in the winter time on the George Foreman grill(another top notch invention).  But it's just not the same.  I know some diehards grill outside in the winter but I don't do cold.  Standing outside in the snow waiting for food to cook isn't my idea of a good time.
     In other news, Lucas repeated his first swear word today.  Not one of the finer milestones, but a milestone nonetheless.  Mama's gotta start watching those s-bombs!

Since I Haven't Posted in a Bit....

You've probably seen this if you're one of my Facebook buds, but if you're not(LadyToeSocks!!) This is called "Chuck Norris Your Friends" I decided to "Chuck Norris" my child instead. 

So anyway, yesterday was Family Fun Day at school.  Of course I had to single-parent it since Mark had to go to work.  We paid our $2 to get in and soon after I got ditched.   Apparently I am OK to hang with in a pinch but the second a friend shows up I'm dropped like a hot potato.  I've never felt more like a Mom than I did at that moment, and not necessarily in a good way.  Oh well.  I guess they'll be more where that came from.

More Pink.

See that pink bucket?  Apparently you can buy some chicken and help cure breast cancer at the same time!  Talk about killing 2 birds with 1 stone!(hehehe)...We were talking about this at work yesterday and I thought that a great slogan for this would be "Buy a breast, save a breast!"  Who's with me?

Look What I Found!

Vintage tampons!!!!!  I was on the hunt for something today and came across these oldies.  According to my calculations these are about 11-12 years old.  I know this because after I had Garrett in 2000 I was on the Depo shot up until the time I got pregnant with Lucas, therefore AF didn't visit me in all that time. Do I save or do I toss?  This is where my green and frugal self and just-throw-it-out self come to blows.  On this one the latter won out.  But there was less than 1/2 of the box left anyway.  So I only feel less than 1/2 bad about giving them the old heave-ho.

Look What I Did!

I totally mangled my rings!  More specifically, my engagement ring and wrap.  I was sliding the door to the laundry room shut and my hand didn't quite make it out.  I looked down at my hand and thought "Wow, that ring looks a little off." Then I realized that it hurt and my finger was starting to turn reddish purple.   Mark came to my rescue and got a pair of pliers and made it so I could remove the rings.  This picture doesn't even do it justice.  Lucky for me he can fix them up at work. How long I have to wait for them is another story.  What I thought was interesting was that my diamonds took a hard blow but my wedding band came through perfectly fine.  Ah, the symbolism!           

Veggie Time

I absolutely adore fresh veggies from the garden in the summer!  Growing them is another matter.  It's not that I'm against gardening.  In fact, I would love to be able to dig in the dirt and be proud of what I've grown.  What holds me back is the fact that the only living things that I've tried to raise and haven't killed yet are my kids.  That, and the commitment and time you need to give to the garden.  Since I work full time I don't have much time during the week to tend to a garden and in my off-time on the weekends I'm going here there and everywhere.  So to reconcile my love of fresh veggies and my gardening ambivalence I have decided that I'm going to purchase a farm share.  I'm really stoked about this!  Lately Garrett has been really into trying new fruits and veggies and this is a perfect way to introduce new foods to his palate.  I can't say this is a totally original idea though.  I just finished viewing Chelsea's blog post about healthy living  and CSAs* and thought it was a fabulous idea.  So I did a little net searching and found a farm not far from my BIL and SIL's house.  I can't wait to see what I get each week!

*I didn't know what a CSA was either.  It's Community Supported Agriculture.

Blog Post Soup

Hmmm.  Looks like I haven't written a post in a while.  March has been quite a busy month here and I've barely had time to breathe!   However, there has been a few things knockin' around in my head so here they are, in condensed form.........

I had to find a new daycare for Lucas.   My fabulous SIL had been watching Lucas from the time he was 8 weeks old and I am very happy for the time he got to spend getting to know some of his cousins.  I am also happy that he was with someone who loves him almost as much as I do!  My SIL is preggo with #4 and chasing around little Lucas was getting to be too much.  Flash-forward 2 weeks...he is now at a small daycare that I absolutely LOVE where he gets to play with a few other kiddos his age.

My Grammy passed away on March 18 at the age of 87.  Now she can hang with Grampa and 3 of her kids who got to heaven before she did.  Here's a couple of my favorite stories of Gram..

    One weekend while Gram was visiting with my mom she was having a conversation with my sister. Gram said "You know, if there was birth control in my day, I wouldn't have had as many kids.  I probably would've stopped at 4." (My mom is number 6 of 8.)   My sister said "But Gram!   If that happened then you wouldn't have mom and I wouldn't be here!" And to that, Gram said "I know!  Aren't you lucky!!"

   My mom was raised in Brownville Junction, a small town in Maine.   They lived pretty close to the railroad tracks.  Back then there wasn't any soup kitchens.  Therefore, there were "hobos"  around looking for food.  My grandparents were pretty poor themselves but one thing Gram was really good about was making sure everyone was fed.  If someone came to her porch looking for something to eat, Gram always gave it to them.

My eyeball has been twitching for about 2 weeks now.  I'm starting to turn into Chief Inspector Dreyfuss.

My entire household was sick last Friday and Saturday.  Fun times!  Nothing like simultaneous vomiting to bring a couple closer together.  We all slept most of the day Friday and Saturday and most of us voluntarily fasted.  I lost 6 pounds.  Woo hoo!  At least something good came out of it.  The bad part--I was going to get a crapload of housework done because Mark and I actually had a weekend off together.

OK, why is it that kids are afraid they're not going to get anymore loot if they tell Mom and Dad that they no longer believe in Santa/the Easter Bunny/the Tooth Fairy?  We practically had to drag it out of Garrett this weekend that he knew I put the candy out.

  

I love being a mom.

   To me, one of the best parts of being a mom is seeing my boys at the end of the day.  I could have a super crappy day but once I see them my crap mood goes out the window and is replaced by joy.  There is nothing quite like seeing someone every day and still, each and every time, they are just so stinking happy to see you.

Shrek 4 is coming out May 21st!!!   I can't wait!  Here's a trailer.

Bitch Please.

Right now the whole world just seems to be pick-pick-picking at me and I just want to tell everyone to piss off and hide my head under the covers and sleep for 24 hours.  Work is, well, less than enjoyable right now (although I give a big shout-out to Rebecca for all her help--that woman saved me yesterday!!).  When I come home, I can't even go to the bathroom without a fuss because Lucas is now my conjoined twin when we're home and Mark is still at work.  To top it off  AF comes to visit me at work with absolutely no warning whatsoever and I ruined my favorite pants.  Thankfully a lab coat covers quite nicely since there's no way I would have been able to go home to change.

Pity Party at My House

  OK, I really can't complain about the life I have.  In fact, most days I think I have it pretty darn good.  But for some reason these past couple of days I'm just not feeling the love.  Lucas is a die-hard daddy's boy and if Mark is anywhere near Lucas then the child wants nothing to do with me.  Mark says it's just because he's not around as much but I think it's because he's the fun parent.  This morning Lucas wasn't feeling well.  Mark was holding him and I tried to rub his head and kiss his cheek and he pushed my face out of the way! **Sigh** If Mark isn't around then he's my cuddle bug.  Whatever.  Garrett was the same way so I shouldn't be surprised.  I told Mark that I'm going to have "Kelly Poulin--Good in a Pinch" put on my headstone.
 And another thing...I called Mark from work today to remind him that today was trash day so when he picked up the phone I started singing "Yackety Yack" (You know, "...take out the papers and the trash..")
So he said "Yeah, what do you want?"  Apparently my song didn't speak for itself.  And he didn't find it funny.  My feeble attempts at humor are nearly always wasted on him.  Probably because he's funnier than I am.

Random Grievance

I just want to preface this post by saying that I don't have anything against cigarette smokers in general.  Hey, blacken your lungs all you want, I won't be all in your face about it.  Heck, I'm an ex-smoker myself.  What I don't get is why people think it's perfectly OK to throw their used cigarette butts out of their car windows.  Why can't people use their ash trays?  Even my no-frills car came with a small ash tray and cigarette lighter!  To me, that's no different than throwing a coffee cup or candy bar wrapper out the window after you're done with it.

Winter Blahs???

I'm not sure if this minor funk that I'm in is the winter doldrums or just life getting too far ahead of me, but lately I've been feeling like work, home and parenting has been sucking the life right out of me.  Even one of my dear coworkers has picked up on it.  I've been a bit of a crankass lately.  It's pretty bad when my crankypants mood crosses over into the workplace because I am usually very good at leaving work stuff at work and home stuff at home.   I love my family more than life but I need a break!  So I've decided that Mark and I are going to get away sans kids for a weekend.  Yippee!  My mom has graciously agreed to watch the boys for me so we can do this.  We probably won't be able to do this until the beginning of March but it gives me something to look forward to during these long winter months!

Just trying to figure out how to do pictures on this...I'm, shall we say, technologically challenged.  Hence the serious lack of pictures on this blog.  But here's one of me that my Aunt Verna sent that she found from when I was 20 months old.  I was a cutie!

Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out the scanner too.  Mark isn't home to help me so I'm left to my own devices.

'Tis The Season...

...to make those doctor's appointments!
I have a few to make in the next week or so...seems like time has gotten away from me what with the new kid and all (shocker!!!) soooo......here's what I have to do in no particular order.

1. Regular appointment with my PCP since I haven't had a checkup since my 6-week postnatal appointment.  Mainly so I can stay on my med and she can tell me I'm healthy in every way but I'm overweight.  Because for some darn reason I always seem to be forgetting that bit of information.
2. Eye appointment...because I'm blind as a frickin' bat and I have vision insurance and can get 1 pair of specs and an appointment each year for really cheap.  Maybe this will be the year for contacts.
3. Dental appointment...because I missed that last appointment at 7 am and didn't reschedule.  What was I thinking when I made an appointment at that time of day???
4. Mammogram...because now I have a family history.  This is really the first time I have put this out there and I have been resisting out of respect to my sister who hasn't told her friends about it and I have 2 of her friends as facebook friends but I need to get it out so here it is...my mom was diagnosed last July with breast cancer.  Every once in a while she decides to get healthy and do appointments and such so she had a mammogram.  They found something wonky on it so they sent her to get another one at a different location.  Apparently what they saw turned out to be nothing.  However, the second mammogram picked up something in the other twin in the other twin that they missed the first time around which turned out to be cancerous.  Thankfully it was found very early and was considered stage 1.  She had a lumpectomy in July, went through radiation(which kicked her ass hard) and now she's taking oral chemo which makes her sick.  But she's cancer free!  Woo hoo!  So anyway, I promised her that I'd get one this year and I'm keeping that promise.

Contrary to popular belief, people with breast cancer aren't all that interested in being reminded about it.  A few weeks after my mom's lumpectomy I read an article in a magazine about a woman going through treatment and she was basically tired of seeing the pink ribbons everywhere she turns.  I asked my mom if she feels like that and she said "Oh yeah!"  Apparently those with the disease really don't like to be reminded of it.  Now when I see all these pink products and pink ribbons and all this other stuff like putting your bra color on facebook for breast cancer awareness, I think to myself "You know, I'm really all TOO aware, thank you very much!"  I don't mean to lessen the importance of awareness or anything.  My MIL also had it and conquered it but ended up dying from the bone cancer that came up about 6 months after.  Anyway, all's I'm saying is that if you want to get something pink ribbon-y or a book for someone with this disease, reconsider. Or at least don't get a sad serious book about breast cancer.  Get Erma Bombeck or Gilda Radner.  If anything, laughter is what she needs!  And less pink.

Obligatory Post For the New Year.

Well.  Another year down the tubes.  What did I do up in 2009?  Not a whole lot...work, kids, house.  Same old same old.   Oh wait!   I had a newborn!  Now that's exciting!  Seriously though, the last year has very good to me.  Raising  Lucas and Garrett is a lot of fun.  I gotta say though, raising Lucas is definitely is not turning out to be old-hat like I thought it would be.  For one thing there is a 9 and 3/4 year age difference between the 2 boys.   That make mama a bit rusty.  And another thing(you've probably heard me say this before)...those boys are almost complete opposites.  Sure, some say they both look alike but that's where the similarity ends.  You can pretty much bank on Lucas doing the opposite thing that Garrett did at various stages of babyhood. 

But anyway enough about the kids.  What else did I do in 2009?  I "moved" from Auburn to Lewiston work-wise.  It was a very good move for me since I was spinning my wheels in Auburn because I wasn't really doing what my job description entailed and they needed someone in one of the Lewiston stores so I was asked to switch and I said "Sure, why not?"  It was supposed to be a temporary switch but it turned into a permanent one.  The best part?  The move was just across the river so I didn't have to add much of a commute.  So I guess I didn't get a whole lot accomplished but those dang kids take up a chunk of my time!
Kidding.  Sort of.  I didn't get my freezer cleaned out in 2009 but I will be doing that shortly in 1010 since it's fricking cold outside so I have a place to stash the goods while the freezer is defrosting.  I'm looking forward to the "3 guesses what this is" part.  If I can't guess it in 3 tries it goes in the trash.  This is a good segue into the second part of what I want to accomplish in the new year--more organization.  I have waaaayyyyy too much clutter in my house and playing the Where's the Remote game gets tiresome.   I'm going to put that shredder to good use!  A related plan to the organization thing...grocery lists.  I can't count the number of times I've gone into the store to "just get a couple of things" and ended up spending $100!  So I need to do the weekly menu-planning thing and shopping once a week(with coupons, natch).  This will help in the next thing...spending less $$$.  2009 found me buying lots and lots of things that I really didn't NEED but thought I did at the time.  Books? My goodness, I probably have like 20 books that I haven't read yet taking up overflow space near my bookshelf.  I work full-time and I have 2 kids.  Do I really have time to read all those?  More cans of diced tomatoes?  If I reorganized my pantry I'd probably find 20 cans.   The final thing I need to work on...using my treadmill for something besides Mark's clothesrack.  So in a nutshell what I need to do is do more with less and simplify.  Hopefully this will be my year and yours as well.  Feel free to share what you plan to do in the upcoming year.  I love hearing other people's ideas since I rarely have good ones of my own!