sad day for oNe

They had crayfish in their classroom. The one that oNe wanted to bring home went to that big crayfish pond in the sky.

oNe was so sad. She cried. Her teacher and oNe buried it in the school garden.

oNe has a different crayfish tonight, but she is still sad about the little crayfish that died. She loves animals... All creatures great and small.

Not a good start to the week

I had to go in for fasting blood work this morning. That meant EVERYTHING about this morning was WRONG and it seemed to drag through the day.

1. First, I was late to the blood draw appointment because traffic up to the lab was horrible.

2. Then, I was late to work because I was late to the appointment and it takes SO long to draw my blood because my blood draws are complex. They only took about 6 vials this time. I think I gave about 14 once--6 seemed like nothing, but I guess they have to figure out how to send it off to another lab and all that. (My blood has to be shipped out for some of the tests.)

2b. At the lab, I parked in the garage because I didn't want my food for the day to get too hot. When I was leaving the garage, I turned on my lights and then, I got to work and l left my lights on. Of course, I didn't notice for 7 hours until I wanted to go home...

3. My battery was DEAD--deader than a dinosaur*. The security guy couldn't get my car to start. I am not sure if he 1) had a poor set up, 2) didn't know what he was doing, or 3) if my battery was too dead for a standard jump.

4. Called a tow-truck. It cost $65 for the jump. Fortunately, my car started and it wasn't something else. Now I'm debating about whether I need AAA.

5. Due to the car issue I missed one of my workouts. BUMMED... STRESSED... Could have used the workout. I felt like I wasted 2 hours of my life getting my car jumped.

6. I got home about the same time as usual, but the girls were not as far along in their evening routine as usual, so BLEH, had to get them finished. oNe was tired so homework took longer. twoK hasn't started her homework for the week. SIGH. Already behind.

7. I'm tired and I still have tons of work to do, but I'm probably going to go to bed now and just get up early. I HOPE I CAN GO TO ZUMBA tomorrow... I MISSED MY WORKOUT TONIGHT. I NEED A GOOD WORKOUT. I'm not yet sure if I will be able to go to Zumba or not because of my new work project. I'm going to try and go to at least 1/2 of the class. I NEED IT.

Sorry to yell, but BLEH. Just imagine how grumpy I'd be if I'd missed all my Pilates workout today--I missed about 15 minutes of it.

oNe also had a horrible day at school. I told her it was a big, fat, ugly, horrible Monday. She laughed a little.

On a more positive note, MWH had a good day. He had his annual review at work and they love him. Can't say I blame them. He is awesome, smart, and cute. I'm guessing it's 'cause he's so cute that they love him.

I'm still hoping for a better day tomorrow.

*A title of a book that was on our bookshelves when I was a kid. I've never read it, but I loved that saying when I was a kid.

New week

This last week kicked my @&&! Seriously.

1. A project that I thought was due 9/30 was actually due 9/15.

2. The thing that was supposed to be on Thursdays got moved to Tuesdays.

3. We had a super fun play date this morning, but usually we're bums on Sunday mornings.

4. Thank goodness we went out to dinner F and Sat nights. I am wondering if we should go out tonight. (On F night, MWH and I got to go out alone!)

5. twoK can whistle. (This didn't contribute to the kicking.)

6. The girls decided they wanted to camp out last night. We set up a tent for them on our deck. Two of the three slept outside. Then they woke us up at the dawn's early light.

7. Mostly it was work that got me, but oNe had a lot of homework, too. She was DONE on Thursday and we forgot to study for her spelling test. One of the words was cotyledon. She's in third grade. I thought it was a biology term, but I had to look it up. Do you know what it is?

8. I'm hoping this week is less crazy.

9. I was still pretty exhausted from the cold I had... I got it two weeks ago on Thursday or Friday (so it's been over two weeks now). I'm just about feeling 100% NOW. Really... two weeks for a cold. How pathetic is that?

10. My ex-boyfriend, the EVIL one, has found me in FB and wants to friend me. HELL NO is what I want to say, but right now, I'm just ignoring him. I haven't seen him for 14 years, explain to me why should we be friends?

11. This week is MWH's half-birthday. Heh.

12. All for now... Hope you all have good weeks! Me too!

My new fav

I used to like milk chocolate. I was wrong.

So far...

So far, I've not worked this weekend. We slept late--NICE! We needed it; I'm super tired today. I ironed all of the patches on twoK's Daisy vest. twoK helped. She was super excited about the iron. They had read about ironing in Little House on the Prairie and twoK was very interested in testing to see if the iron was hot. MWH showed her how to flick little bits of water at it, rather than licking her finger and touching quickly. I showed off my ability to lick and touch. MWH scolded me for encouraging such behavior. Heh.

I then tried to recall the last time I ironed anything. The girls didn't know we had an iron! (I am proud!) I know I ironed in 1997--I ironed the gown for my Ph.D. hooding ceremony. I think I have ironed a little since then, but I can't actually think of what.

Now, we're going to go meet some friends at the park and hang for a little while. I think I can convince myself to work an hour or so tonight. Both things I need to work on are already started and should be pretty easy to work on.... Otherwise, it's gotta be 4 hours tomorrow. Tomorrow, we have a Daisy event to go to, so I hope to get off my duff and work tonight. We're going out to dinner after the park, so if I don't have to cook, I shouldn't be too tired to work.

(This is a pep talk for myself.)

Sigh....I love the fact that my work is flexible and that I can work at home, when I want to, but I dislike that it's so flexible that it feels like it's ALWAYS hanging over my head. That's my own fault. I need to set clearer parameters and have more discipline about when I work, but alas, I don't. I continue to always be insanely busy and it's MY OWN DAMN FAULT.

On another note, I was thinking about one thing today, that I need to document. oNe and Three-a are each taking two dance classes and twoK is only taking one. I was thinking about how this isn't fair, but twoK is a Daisy, so that replaces her second dance class. It's fair. All is right with the world. Whew.

Eventful

Today was BUSY. I am now busier than I thought I would be... I just took on something at work that will be about 4-5 hours a week. It's good. (PS, it's with DZ, and it's working with 6th graders! and technology!) It will be fun, but now I hope that I'm 1) not too busy, and 2) that I stay busy enough so that I don't have to take on anything else this year. I'm sure something else will happen and that I'll have to take on something new, but hopefully I'll get time to get into a routine with this new project before I get busier.

It's always a crazy game where I work. We rarely run out of work, but we often don't know what we'll be working on in a couple of months. I also have an opportunity to work on a big new proposal and I can't decide if I want to or not. Err, maybe it's more accurate to say I don't want to, but I can't decide whether I SHOULD or whether I can get away with not working on it. Always something.

And another example of "something".... This morning, I was really busy with meetings and working like mad, and guess what happened? My computer DIED. It flickered and then it crashed and then it wouldn't restart. MWH took a look at it (and he knows a LOT about computers). He pronounced it "most likely DEAD."

I was tremendously panicked because I didn't have one thing backed up and it was the ONE THING I NEEDED TO WORK ON TODAY/THIS WEEKEND. Somehow, miraculously, my computer restarted and let me get the document; then, it died again. (I'm still hoping it will start again, but two more restarts didn't work... Maybe MWH can say an incantation and make it work a little more.)

Honestly, I don't know how my computer restarted,, but I am so thankful it did and that I got my files! Now I have to finish that document (and work on that other thing too). This weekend, I pledge to work at least 4 hours--more if I can manage.

The girls had today off school. I had our new baby sitter watch the girls. She brought over little flower pots and painted them with the girls. Super cute. New babysitter needs a bloggy name here. Maybe I should call her 18 (her age), or BB (she plays basketball), or ... eh, we'll go with 18, BB sounds too much like baby. Cool?

Not much to tell you about 18; she loves the girls, is eager to please, but she doesn't pick up as much stuff as N3nnny did around the house. Despite that little flaw, she seems refreshing. After 18 left this afternoon, I took twoK and oNe to their gymnastics class. As we were getting ready to head home, oNe noticed many kids from school were at the park, so we stopped to see what was occurring. (Their gymnastics class is in a building at the park.)

Apparently, a couple of things were happening. 1) Several Moms just gathered with their kids and 2) one Mom had arranged a time for all the kids in the class to get together so familes could meet. It's always odd when you "crash" an event at the park. We've crashed a couple of birthday parties there so crashing an informal gathering seemed less awkward. It was kind of cool....

I knew some of the Moms from when oNe was in K and first grade but hadn't really talked to them for a couple of years. Running into all the moms and kids that we knew made the park feel much like the center of a little community. It was nice. We were all just chatting and catching up. It's fun to talk with the Moms who have kids older than my girls. It gives me a little glimpse of what life will be like as the girls get older.

The mom I was talking to tonight about her daughters used to really annoy me. Tonight, she only mildly annoyed me. I think that's progress.

What else... Oh, I now like EXTREMELY dark chocolate--like 85% cacoa. I used to only like milk chocolate. In about 2006, I got introduced to Swiss Dark Chocolate from Switzerland and started to like it. After that, I couldn't go back to wimpy milk chocolate. Now, I like the hard stuff. I like it because a little goes a long way. I eat about 1/10th of a serving and feel satiated.

One more random-ish kind of thing, I got my hair cut. I didn't get a lot of length taken off, but I did get it cut back into a style that I just spent the last 8 months or so growing out. What can I say other than I needed a change again? It's the same haircut I've had many times, and I kind of flip between three similar haircuts, but right now, I think I'll stick with this one for a little while and let it get a teeny bit longer. Unless, of course, I decide I need another change. Who knows, I might.

P.S. This was typed on my little iPad with keyboard. (Oh, how I love the iPad!)

Achoo!

oNe brought home the first cold of the season and, yes, I caught it. Every fall, in September or October, I get one. I was pretty miserable Saturday. I felt like I was winning the battle on Sunday, and I was. I am still getting better, but I am now at the stage of blowing my nose ever 3 minutes. Ugh. oNe was slowed down by the cold for about 3 hours--I for about 3 days. It's NOT FAIR.

Moving on, last night, I went to Whole Foods. I was STARVING. I decided to have a salad before I went shopping because shopping when hungry can be dangerous. I got a lovely, big salad from the salad bar and when I was done, I had no desire to shop. I only bought 3 things. Heh. Being hungry can be dangerous, but being full can mean no food. It's a good thing I didn't really need stuff from the store.

While eating my salad, a lovely, little two year old girl was trying to engage me in conversation. I wanted to sit and read on my iPhone. She was cute as a button, but I was at Whole Foods while I had a baby sitter and I didn't want to engage with children. I missed my own. Does this make me a bad person? I hope not. She was super cute. After the two year old left, I felt like I should have apologized and explained my actions to her mom, but alas, I didn't get a chance. I feel a little bad about it.

Did I tell you MWH got a new car? He did. Yippeee! His old car was very old, 15 years; it still ran well, but we were waiting for it to have a big, expensive problem. He's donating it today. I hope the organization can get some more good months out of it and then sell it for money for parts.

Okay, this is a pretty boring post, but it happens. Sorry about that. The girls are good, and we're settling into a routine. We have a new babysitter helping 2 afternoons a week. I miss N3nny a little, but not as much as I thought I would. I like doing homework with the girls. I like hanging with them more. It's good! I knew it would be. We do have so much laundry!! We're working on a system there. I like washing the clothes, but I dislike putting them away. We have a couple of full laundry baskets down in the girls' room. Maybe we'll get to it tonight.

Well, now, I think I just succeeded in making this post EVEN MORE boring. That's pretty impressive, eh? I should stop NOW.

I'd rather be...

not working, but I have about 4 hours of stuff I should get done today. The good news is I have about 4.5 hours in which to do it. The other good news, it's a 3-day weekend and if I get it all done, I might be able to get a little ahead for next week! If I don't get it all done, I could still get time to work this weekend... Or to clean my house! We have a couple of fun things planned. We may go bowing and on Monday we're planning on a last summer swim fling with our wonderful friends.

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On another note, Three-a got "lost" today at school. Not really, but she was scared.

The story... I was dropping twoK off and I ran into her classroom to check with the teacher about one thing. The door shut as I ran in--I didn't realize it--and it took longer than 2 seconds to find out the answer because someone else was there asking a question before me.

I had left Three-a happily playing right outside the door to twoK's room, but I hadn't told her I was running in to ask a question. My mistake, I should have. (You know, it was only going to take two seconds, but that's what you ALWAYS think and that's why accidents happen.)

So Three-a was playing and some parents saw her by herself; they knew who she was and so they asked her where she was supposed to be. Note, the parents knew her, but she didn't really know them. When they asked her where she was supposed to be, she got worried that something was wrong. If they hadn't have asked, she wouldn't have even noticed I was gone and that I or she was "lost." But, alas, when they asked,* she started crying. (So sad!)

But the good news is that she 1) wouldn't go with them--they were offering to take her to the office and 2) that she told them "Call my Mom, her phone number is 4_ _ - _ _ _ _. Smart girl. They called and I walked outside. It was horrible that she cried, but it was a SUPER test of how she'd do under pressure of being lost for real. She did all the right things. I am so proud of her.

I hugged her and told her she was super smart and she clung to me for a while and then all was better. She went to morning care and told a little boy she'd teach him how to play chess. (Heh.) (She is trying to learn herself... I'd love to see what she knows when she teaches someone else; it would be priceless.)




*I don't fault them for asking, I would have done the same thing if I'd seen a kid I knew playing outside by him or herself. I'm glad they asked! If something had been wrong, it's nice to have folks looking out for your kid!

How green can you go?*

Super Yum! Kale, spirulina, blueberries, banana, almond milk, flax, and ice made this green powerhouse. I am SO green.



*Bonus points if you can name the song that inspired the title. If you don't listen to rap/hip hop you may not get it.

Right now

Right now, I'm learning how to be at work less and with the girls more. It's GREAT! Errrr, it's great to spend more time with the girls, bu I'm feeling a little stressed about working less, but I'll adjust. I'm trying to figure out if I'll be able to work 20 hours a week, or if I'll need to work less, but I am lucky to have options at work and it'll all be okay.

Right now, oNe is LOVING school. She gets homework M-Th nights and it takes her about an hour to do it all, but she says she loves it. She says she doesn't understand why some kids don't like homework. Super! My little girl.

Right now, twoK is reading the Little House on the Prairie books. Actually, we are reading them aloud to her, but she loves them. It's so fun to revisit childhood with them.

Right now, Three-a is impressing me with how responsible and organized she is. I thought twoK was good, but Three-a is just as good! Whew! Makes up for oNe who would lose her head if it weren't firmly attached to her shoulders.* Three-a got her new tote bag for school yesterday and remembered to take it today. I am not sure if daddy helped or not, but I didn't.


And right now, at this very moment, all 3 are in a dance class. oNe in tap, and twoK and Three-a in ballet, tap, and jazz.

*I say that with love as oNe is JUST like me in that regard.... I can't keep track of stuff--I've gotten better over the years, but I'm NOT naturally good at it.

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This post was created on my new 3G iPad.