Month: July 2007

The joys of motherhood

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I will admit it, and anyone who knows me in person, or has known me well online also knows that I am not one of these love-every-minute-of-it-moms. I have to crack up when I read some blogs (fear not — no one on my blogroll) where these women seem to just be in a motherhood-incuded coma and never complain at all about their kids. Get real! I know that their kids are not perfect angels. I love my boys more than anything, but sure as Hell they make me crazy.

Today had to have been one of the worst days I’ve had with Noah since he was a teeny tiny baby. He’s been getting up around 4AM again (lovely!), fighting his naps (how wonderful!), not eating well (oh, isn’t that just darling!), and being an all-around pest. I know most of this is his age. With Jake it was not the terrible twos as much as the terrible pre-twos, and Noah is following in those footsteps. Jake has also been at his Grandma’s since Saturday which I think has been compounding Noah’s bad attitude. The two of them are super close, and Noah clearly idolizes his big brother. I am sure he’s missed him and will be so happy to have him back home tomorrow. But man, he was rough today. Thankfully he went to sleep without much arguing tonight. The poor boy is so freaking tired! He needs some serious Zzzz’s. Why do children take sleep for granted? If they only knew…

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Guy Stuff

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I pretty much consider the garage Drew’s territory, mostly because when I was a kid (and heck, even now), that’s where my Dad had his workshop. (Though now my dad also has his own tool annex out back!). Anyway… due to this whole idea that someone would buy our house, half of our garage was repurposed into storage for things that we wanted to donate, or baby things that would be given away to people we know. But now that we’re not sure a sale will happen, Drew’s been looking at workbenches and trying to figure out how he wants to organize the workshop area of the garage. We looked at some benches yesterday at Sam’s and they were decent, but he could also use a good garage storage system, too. Something like this workbench with drawers and cabinets would be exactly what he wants, I bet. (Though it’s priced way above our budget!). Still, as much as I dream about furnishing my house from high-end retailers, I’m sure guys would drool over the stuff at Car Guy Garage.

In case you wonder

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No, nothing’s going on with the house. This is our last-ditch effort, and I think we might have to come to terms with the fact that we’re just not going to be able to sell it right now. The price is as low as it can go (with a broker’s fee), and FSBO probably isn’t going to work, either. Looking back it’s easy to wonder if a different real estate broker would have worked when we first put the house up last March, instead of switching around late like we ended up doing. Maybe it would have made a difference! But the market around here is so soft I think it’s hard on everyone. We’re still plugging along, though, and I guess whatever happens, happens! If the house sells, that’s great! If not, at least I’ll still be close to my good friend Lisanne!

Scattergories a la Carol

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I don’t think I’ve done a meme in a while. And I’m bored. And I saw this while reading Sarah’s blog, so here you go!

The game is SCATTERGORIES…it’s harder than it looks! Here are the rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up! If you can’t think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial. You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Carol

1. Famous Singer/Band: Cake
2. 4 letter word: LOL! The first one that came to mind, I probably shouldn’t type, so I will go with: cash
3. Street: Carew St. (Springfield, MA)
4. Color: Copper
6. Vehicle: Corolla
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Cards
8. Boy Name: Curtis
9. Girl Name: Camille
10. Movie Title: Casablanca
11. Drink: Coca-Cola
12. Occupation: Chef
13. Celebrity: Cher
14. Magazine: Cook’s Illustrated
15. U.S. City: Chicopee, MA
16. Pro Sports Teams: Cardinals
17. Reason for Being Late for Work: Crashed your car
18. Something You Throw Away: Cork (from a wine bottle)
19. Things You Shout: Crap!
20. Cartoon Character: Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbes)

What a way to spend the evening

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So jealous! Well, not really, but I have to admit that I think boating would be a lovely way to spend the rest of the day. I just had a customer who bought quite a few bottles of wine, including a half-bottle of Chardonnay, which she remarked is the perfect size for her “to take on the boat while the guys are all drinking beer.” Indeed it is. It would be pretty swank to be soaking up the sun while floating along on the Hudson River. Maybe I should make nice with her. You know what they say… don’t get a boat. Get a friend with a boat! (I think the same goes for pools, LOL!)

Virginia is for lovers slowpokes

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Earlier this week I heard a news story on the radio that now, in the state of Virgina, you could be fined $3,000 if you’re nabbed driving over 80 MPH. I thought this sounded crazy so I looked it up and it’s totally true. If you are driving more that 20 miles over the posted speed limit, it’s considered “reckless.” I considered this later that evening as I was driving home from work on 684. The posted speed limit is 65 MPH. I looked down at my speedometer and noted that I was driving close to 80 MPH, and people were passing me in both the right lane and left lane who had to be doing closer to 90 or 95, easily. I can’t imagine what would happen if New York set fines this steep. There are plenty of drivers who, I’m sure, already have a radar detector in their car, but I’m going to guess they’ll be selling lots more in Virginia these days. Lucky for me, I am actually a pretty slow driver. Hard to believe, I know, driving 80, but it’s true. At least in comparision to everyone else on the road! Hopefully they’ll put the money to good use.

So Gross

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The mustard was one thing, but now the condiment obsession has moved on. And not for the better. It is not even 5:30 in the freaking morning and Noah is insisting on eating ketchup. Straight. (If I am lucky I can convince him to dip crackers in it, but really all he wants is the sticky tomatoey stuff). I don’t get it.

A Rainy Fourth

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Watermelon Roll Well, our fourth of July celebration was rather subdued. It was kind of a crummy day weather-wise. We basically hung out around the house, and then grilled burgers and hot dogs for dinner. I know — edge-of-your-seat excitement, huh? I bought one of those Friendly’s Watermelon Rolls for dessert. Damn, those things are good. I can’t imagine living where they are unavailable. I mean, watermelon sherbet with chocolate chips, and then lemon sherbet for the “rind.” Seriously delicious. And I admit to being a sucker for food that looks like other foods (sherbet disguised as fruit — so sneaky!).

Since it was raining we didn’t do much in the way of fireworks, but we did manage to light off one “sparkler.” See, fireworks are illegal in NY, but you can purchase “faux” fireworks at some places, so we have these lo-fi sparklers that are in no way as good as the metal ones, but they do the job. And I bought some of those “champagne poppers” — the little bottles where you pull the string and it makes a BANG and streamers fly out. We’ll do the rest on a day when it’s not pouring.

After the boys were in bed we ordered “Epic Movie” on PayPerView, which was really funny, though I fell asleep on Drew while watching it because I was so freaking tired. We did tape it, though, so I will finish it another time.

So that was pretty much it! Hope yours was more exciting!

Reality is setting in

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The other day I received a letter from the school system in the mail. It had the name of Jake’s teacher, his room assignment, as well as the school supply list. Eek! It’s so weird to think that come September he will be away all day, five days a week in school. How is that possible? Five years passes mighty fast. I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but pretty much all the school systems around here have full-day kindergarten. To me, that seems like it would be a long day, but I’ve been assured he will not find it that way. I just have to work on getting him going in the morning. Wake-up call is not a problem. As most of you know, my lovely children are even earlier birds than myself, and getting Jake to stay in bed until 6 AM is considered a victory! However, getting dressed and fed can be quite a production, so I’m starting to work on that with him now.

He’s also excited about taking lunches to school. The other day we were looking at the Kid Eats Flickr group, and he was pointing out everything he liked. I’m toying with the idea of getting one of those Laptop Lunchboxes, but I might see if the Lunch n’ Things container I’ve ordered will work for now. I was also very happy to read in the letter that the school requires you pack a healthy afternoon snack for the kindergarteners. I’m not sure what time they’ll eat lunch, but I do know that Jake can get nasty mid-afternoon if he doesn’t have something to eat.

Everything was just so organized telling me what I’ll need to get! It’s such a refreshing change from his nursery school which often kept me wondering just what was going on. We’ll get another packet in mid-to-late August and he has an orientation on August 29th where he’ll see his classroom and meet his teacher. ::sniff:: My little guy is growing up!