So the weekend didn't turn out how I planned...
Friday I got home and went straight to bed, I was exhausted. Saturday, I woke up at 11:30 which meant I wasn't making it to the Needleplay class which started at 11:00. I was also sicker than snot which filled my sinuses. But, the boys had no Sunday clothes so I had to head out shopping. $400 - 2 suits, 2 pairs of jeans, several shirts and sweaters were purchased and the alterations were scheduled for pick up next week. Is it shameful for me to admit that I found a really nice suit for myself at Walmart? I have siblings that would think it horrible that I even walked into such a low brow store but I just got a nice pin stripe suit for $50. And it looks a lot nicer than it costs. It's not easy for me to get a suit to fit right. I'm an 8 petite pant or skirt and a size 12 or 14 jacket. That means that I usually have to buy a 12 or 14 and have the bottom half tailored to death and it ends up looking like crap. So, it's nice to have something fit without having to have it tailored, although it would only cost a few dollars to have Leone fit it to me.
So wait, I was getting suits for my boys right? I bought 2 suits and one was for me, what about the boys? It turns out that DH has saved his suits as he outgrew them. It seems that the double breasted Oscar De la Renta suit that DH bought just before the drunk driver hit us in 1989 is back in style and fits DS#1 pretty well. It only needs a little tailoring and Leone's son just drooled over the material and the cut, he can't wait to work on it.
Sunday, I was even sicker and, this is one of the reasons why I love the man I married, DH let me sleep in and had one of the boys bring me toast and an herbal decongestant tea late in the afternoon when I woke up. This doesn't sound like much but what it means is that my DH who is still non-weight bearing got himself up and dressed without help, went downstairs and kept everyone away from bothering me. This is just one of the many reasons that I love this man and am so glad that we are working to be together throughout all eternity.
My weekend was rounded out when DD called and told us the news that the prophet for the last 13 years, President Gordon B. Hinckley had passed away. He is the the only prophet my boys remember. President Benson was prophet when DD was born. The first time I took her to church, President and Sister Benson were there. DD was acting up so I went to the lobby to keep her from disturbing the meeting. She wouldn't calm down so I packed up to leave and walked into Sister Benson and the prophets security guards. Sister Benson insisted on holding the baby. It didn't make the security happy and I think they thought I did it on purpose (I hadn't). I realize this story has nothing to do with President Hinckley but I just wanted to record it tonight.
Is this nearing the breaking point?
So there has been a lot of stress around me lately (have I mentioned the roof is leaking now?) I realized this morning that I need to take some me time and run away or I'll snap. Interested in the catalyst? I decided I needed a sugar boost so I made waffles for breakfast. As I'm sitting down to eat, the dog barfs. I sat there and the thought going through my mind was "That's fantastic, now I have my gratitude thought for the day. I'm glad he threw up on the tile, it will be easier to clean." Then it hit me that it's a sad day when my gratitude thought is where the beagle threw up.
Incredible surprise!
My aunt came by the office today and dropped off a Needlepoint project of my grandmother's that she found while cleaning out some storage containers. It's a partially finished needlepoint purse. It's missing one of the pieces of the kit but if I can find some petit point canvas of the same size count then I can recreate the pattern and finish the purse. It has a silk lining that is still in gorgeous condition. It will be a beautiful black purse when finished, and a great reminder of Mama.
Don't you just hate...
the days when you're exhausted at the end but you can't point to one productive thing that got done during the day?
My mom would call them chicken days - They're days you ran around like a chicken with its head cut off, accomplishing nothing but exercise and frustration. A chicken day every now and then isn’t too bad, they usually contain a lot of small tasks that have been put off until someday and now someday is here. It’s when you get a month of chicken days that your ego and endurance take a hit. A full year of chicken days begins to hit your self esteem. In Ethics class we’ve been reading Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and it hit me that the most frustrating thing about chicken days is that they have no overlying meaning – they’re pointless days with no fruitful purpose. But when you sit down and ask the hard questions, they may have an underlying point. It’s just a matter of making the time to sit and ponder and contemplate and finding the connecting threads.
Or if the chicken days have been endless – just snap out of it. Find a meaning to your life, set goals to reach that meaning, eliminate the chicken actions, and concentrate on the meaningful things that bring you closer to your goals.
I really thought my kids were more responsible...
As I'm walking out the door to teach my community school class, I tell the 14 year old "Don't forget to feed your father." Three hours later when I call home, DH tells me that he's starved and he's asked the kids for dinner three times. The responses were "I'm not hungry." "Later, in a minute." and "Uh-huh, which resulted in a bowl of spoiled lettuce being put close enough to the bed to make him sick.
So when I got home with a Wendy's bag for the hubby, I told the kids that 9 pm was way too late for them to eat and (this is so old-fashioned) they could go to bed without supper. Maybe it will help them realize that they need to take better care of their dad when I'm not home. More likely it will just mean that they eat a larger breakfast in the morning.
Barnes and Noble pays me to have a membership
I live in a house with no cable TV. We read. I thought I would share this year's receipt with everyone. Yes, that is 5 and 1/2 paperbacks long. Strangely enough, only 3 or 4 of the entries on that receipt are mine, 2 were for charity, but all the rest are for the children. Yes, all those books are for the kids and they spent the rest of Christmas vacation reading. Christmas vacation was a reading paradise when I was growing up. Aunts would be at the house so I was excused from a lot of the cleaning since they and my mom had control of the kitchen. This meant I had time to curl up behind the tree with the books I got for Christmas and devour them. It's wonderful to see my kids doing the same thing. Oh and for the record, this year Barnes and Noble paid me $74.32 to renew my membership - yes, it's a lot to spend on books but my kids are worth it.
Electronic Addiction, some random thoughts
So one of the guys in my EMBA class is terminating a subordinate because he's been spending too much time at work playing World of Warcraft. I have an acquaintance whose husband pawned stuff in order to support a $750 month WOW habit and there is a support group for
WOW Widows.
DH is tired of Boy Scouts who can't leave the electronics home when they go camping. He's confiscated a number of electronic devices. It seems that kids can't bear to be unplugged anymore.
When Shatner's TekWars came out and he talked about people choosing to have implanted devices to make manipulating the Internet easier and it seemed wild but there are kids today who would definitely do something like that. It also reminds me of the Dr. Who episode where the guy goes to the future and gets the implant so that he can stream data.
It's also been said that a result of the digital age is a shortened attention span but we wonder about the increase of kids diagnosed with ADD?
The new furnace is here!!
As I type, they are installing a new to me furnace in the basement so that I'll have heat on the main floor when I get home. This means the menagerie can move back down to their normal area. I love our birds but it's a good thing they normally live away from where we sleep. The lizard is no problem. Tiamat, the leopard gecko, is quiet, pretty, and costs us about $56 a year in crickets - 50 degrees was just too cold for her so she was the first to move upstairs when the furnace died. The birds followed soon after.
Now that the main floor is warm again, I may get my sewing machine out and work on piecing some quilts this weekend.
Taking a moment to be grateful for what I have...
I really feel bad about whining the last few days...some people are much worse off.
No one is hunting me like in Darfur.
I have a job even after I screwed up on the 31st.
All my kids are alive today.
No one is critically ill, just banged up a bit.
I have access to funds to replace the furnace (and the 2nd bid came in at 50% of the first so I'm very relieved!)
School starts tomorrow and my tuition is paid.
I have someone who wants me to come home tonight.
I have a home to go to at the end of the day.
Dinner will be waiting for me there.
I have leisure time to do what I wish while I'm at home.
I can speak my mind and vote for the leaders I want.
I can worship who, where, when, and how I wish.
There is enough stash in my house to keep me busy for 4 years.
People generally like me when they meet me, they don't turn away in horror and disgust.
I have friends all over the world.
I will make this year better than last year.
I worry about having too much weight on me rather than not enough food in me.
I have skills that people want for which they pay me.
I have information that other people will pay to learn.
I can read and have access to books and the internet.
Medical care is readily available even if it is expensive.
I can drive to work, I don't have to walk even if public transport is not available
All in all, I have it pretty good.
And the final shoe drops...
They say that bad things happen in threes, well Christmas Day DH got hurt. Then the main floor furnace died, and today, I find out that a mistake in reading a file I made on Monday is going to cost the company a full day of production since we have to restore the system to back before month end processing. So much for any hope at a production bonus.
