BRRRR

Yesterday it was almost 40! Today? right now its -10!! Is that crazy or what? This winter has been horrendous! We've spent almost 2 months at pretty consistent below zero temps. I was going to venture out today to the store... but then everything that melted last night froze up overnight... lots of slick spots on the road and such. Then it started snowing... and blowing... I think there's wind chill advisories for tomorrow. It's just so depressing. I'm so tired of the cold! :) Winter hurry up and leave! :)

'88

We just watched "Donnie Darko" tonight. The movie takes place in '88, the year I graduated high school. Somewhere in the middle of the movie I made the comment to my husband that the person who did the music for the movie must've been about our age because of the timeframe of the music. Here's the funny thing -- throughout the entire movie it flashes up with the current date and a countdown to the "end of the world" and the year just never quite sunk in for me - my husband had to point it out. Can you say "Duh!" :)
Right around Christmas we found a site to download some music. Mike asked what my perfect playlist would be. Many of the songs I thought of were from that time period, and as a matter of fact at least 3 of the songs in the movie I had either downloaded or was looking for to download. That must've been a good year for music! The songs were "Head Over Heels" by Tears for Fears, "Love Will Tear Us Apart Again" by Joy Division - and I looked forever for "Under the Milky Way" by the Church and couldn't find it... well, those three make my list anyway. I'd probably have to have a 10 cd collection for my ultimate playlist though ;) so many songs! But lots of them from my high school days would make it.

Ugh.

I have a horrible headache. I've had a horrible headache for weeks now. I think it's my new glasses - they're pinching my head ;) my husband fixed them last night, so I'm hoping that solves the problem... but I had a headache again tonight. I guess we'll see if I have one again tomorrow night. I feel fine all day, but then in the late afternoon/early evening on comes the pain. I tried not wearing my glasses the other day, but then I was getting a headache from not wearing them... so then I wore them for a while until the headache got worse, then I put on my old glasses, but it was already too late... but now the new ones definately aren't pinching my head. Ugh. I may have to go get another eye exam. Which would suck. But I really don't think I got a good one last time.
How's that for a nothing ramble?
I'm just so sick of having headaches.. they permeate everything. make me not want to do anything. make me unable to do things.

Lethargic Thursday

I'm still in quite the "not wanting to do anything" funk. I did manage to load the dishwasher last night and ran it this morning. That's one step forward :) And we did manage to get the stench out of the fridge ;) it smelled like something died in there when we got home from our trip. We were both a little scared of it. We thought maybe a mouse climbed into it somewhere and we'd have to take something apart... turns out it was just some old broccoli!! Which broccoli stinks anyway - it wasn't really that old. There's stuff in there that's much older... I'm horrible about cleaning out the fridge. Not that I don't like doing it... it's not one of those despised household chores. It's just one of those forgotten ones. What's in the fridge is hidden most of the time. It's not staring you in the face begging you to do something about it. Until there's a horrid stench coming from it.

Lazy Wednesday

So I've managed to do absolutely nothing today. Not proud of it or anything. There's a million things that I really need to do or take care of. I just have little motivation to do it. That and all of the things I need to do are a little bit on the overwhelming side.
I did manage to get two small things done. I called Infantino about the shape sorting castle that was recalled and I returned way back at the beginning of December. They apologized and said that the toy they were replacing it with was on backorder and if it was ok w/me they would send me something similar and an extra toy to boot. So that phone call really paid off.
My least favorite thing to do is making phone calls. I really really hate calling people.
I would rather do dishes than call people :)
And I managed to get a load of clothes in the washer :)
I just can't believe it's 3:30 already.
Must go do dishes...

slight change

There I did it. I changed the header title to Kristin's Almost Everyday Blog. Now, I'm only obligated to publish a post "almost" everyday ;)
tee hee
as if I'm under any kind of blog obligation anyway...
but I do like to give myself some kind of goals. though it should probably be dishes, laundry, or some sort of cleaning instead of some sort of blogging... ;)
oh well.
that said. I do have dishes to contend with today.

Yet more on travelling

Thought I was done rambling on about travelling eh? Guess again.
Last night while I was sitting on the toilet, my husband reminded me of a couple of things that happened while we were in the motel. Yes, one of them had to do with the toilet.
I have to say, when it comes to putting the toilet seat down, my husband is awesome! I don't think he's ever forgotten. Probably because he grew up with many sisters. Regardless, it's one complaint I will never have about him.
But that second night in the motel... I had to go in the middle of the night. When I have to go in the middle of the night I have to take the baby in to go with me. Can't leave her unattended in the bed, and if I set her down somewhere she will wake up and cry...
So, anyway - here's me in the dark with a baby in my lap thinking that the toilet seat feels weird. Feels like I'm sitting lower and feels like my butt is practically in the bowl... I feel behind me and sure enough feel the seat of the toilet! Just as I'm about to totally freak out, I realize that we're in a motel, and at least there the toilet gets cleaned either daily or at least between guests. It was definitely gross, but not as gross as it could have been.
The second thing is really just silly ;) My husband got a sub-laptop and a wireless card - and I was test driving a laptop with wireless built in and the motel had wireless :) so I suggested that we could im each other to have an adult conversation. Mainly because in a room with children there's pretty much no such thing as an adult conversation. Apparently he took the word adult to heart. Poor guy found a new way to get turned down ;) we were after all in a motel room with 4 children.

Traveling :)

So, no new blogs for the past few days because I was travelling. We got home around dinner time last night - and we were all pretty exhausted! Everyone was so glad to be home.
We had a good time visiting with family. Had a great time in the nice motel. They actually had a wireless connection. I planned on blogging, but ended up chatting with an old friend and my husband (who was sitting right next to me) :)
Travelling just takes a lot out of ya! We all slept in this morning. And now comes the business of picking the dog up from the kennel, unpacking, getting everything all back in order from the trip - which will probably take a couple of days...
But of course it's all worth it to spend time with famiy :)

Travel woes

Man I hate travelling. I used to absolutely love it. 18 hour drive? I'm in. No problem. It's so much more complicated travelling with 3 or 4 kids and at least one dog.

I have to start getting ready to get ready to travel like a couple of weeks ahead of time. No more spontaneous travel... have to call the dog kennel to board the spastic black lab (actually, they love her there - says she is very well behaved and a pleasure - are they really talking about my dog?) ...arrange for someone to come over and feed the crazy outside dog (he's actually the best dog we have - but way too big and clumsy and happy to be an inside dog) ... and make sure that wherever we're going will allow us to bring our loudmouth stinky weiner dog.

Then it's getting tons of laundry done. Making sure I have enough clean bottles to bring. Get most of the dishes done so they don't stink up the house while we're gone. Call the post office to hold the mail. Call the bus garage and let them know our older daughter won't be going to school, call the school and tell them the same thing. Make sure most of the bills are paid and go to the bank to get cash to travel with as we have no atm card or check cashing card (which I actually prefer - so much easier to keep track of when it's just a checkbook). Make sure the car is mostly clean. The actual getting the dog to the kennel...

Then comes the packing. Must make sure older daughter packs appropriate clothes (for some reason she thinks traveling means showcasing her worst clothes), making sure I have enough diapers and wipes for the babies, bottles, onsies, sleepers, 2 outfits for each day....spares in the diaper bag for when we're on the road. Then throwing my stuff and my husband's stuff together an hour or so before we leave and hope I don't forget underwear or my toothbrush...

Then it's making sure we hit the road by 9am so we can make McDonald's breakfast on the way!

The traveling part is OK sometimes. As long as the kids are happy. How it usually works is that they are great for the first half of the trip, and just when you think everything is going great is when the meltdowns start... then it's stopping to change diapers, stopping to feed the baby, changing more diapers... and when you need a diaper change the gas station you stop at doesn't have a changing station... Most of the time it's the very last half hour of a trip that gets crazy. But the last road trip it was the *entire* trip home. At least it was a relatively short trip (half the distance we usually go)...
Anyway. It's going to be lots of fun.

:)

Ok, so I never should have said I was going to write everyday. I am a busy mom of 3, sometimes 4 afterall...
I should rename this "Kristin's (almost) everyday blog" :)
The baby got her shots on Monday and has been fussy ever since :( just wants to be held. And to top that off she woke up yesterday all congested :( :(
And we're getting ready for a big trip.
Why shouldn't everything be complicated and difficult?

Busy Days...

or maybe not so busy ;) if you call watching movies busy - as I do...
Procrastinated the big grocery shopping expedition until Sunday. Planned on going as early as possible. Managed to procrastinate it until after noon. Didn't get home until almost 4! That's the sucky thing about living out in the middle of nowhere. Takes forever to get anywhere. Shoots the whole day to have to go do anything.
We ended up buying a few movies at Wal-Mart. Almost a necessity since we have no cable service in said boondocks... and don't really want to take the giant leap of getting sattellite... so we spent the evening watching movies. We watched "White Noise 2," and "Resident Evil: Extinction." We started watching "Sunshine," but then decided to watch it today instead. They were all pretty good. "White Noise 2" was somewhat of a departure from the first, but liked it anyway.
Today was actually somewhat busy. The baby had her 4 month shots today. Man I hate having to see her get shots! It's awful for any baby. Needless to say, she's just not quite feeling too good this evening.

Feeling Old?

I am a couple years shy of 40. My husband is a couple of years beyond 40. The other night we discussed the fact that neither of us feel like our age. Both of us feel like we are somewhere much younger. He did not really specify how old he feels, but I know some part of me still feels like a teenager.
Its pretty strange. I really dont feel like a parent - although I have been one for several years now. Its weird to me to be all grown up like this. I feel young, but when I see 18 year olds now they look like babies. I wonder if everyone feels like that. I just hope I feel like more of an adult when I'm 64.

Miscellany

I just got "Schott's Miscellany 2008" in the mail today. I ordered it last Sunday after seeing it on the CBS Sunday Morning show. I had forgotten that I ordered it, so it was a welcome surprise.

So far I am really lovin' it! Although I do not agree at all that Chipotle should be on the list of words to banish. I love that word. And I love chipotle! Every time I hear it or see it I absolutely must say it. Maybe I'm not the only person who has to say it all the time like that, and that's why it made the list. (The first time I heard of it and ate it was in Tucson. There was a chicken shack on campus and they had a chicken sandwhich with chipotle mayonaise and I was intrigued. I quickly became addicted to it, and haven't been able to find a chipotle mayo that tastes anywhere near as good).

I think my favorite part so far is the words of the year. I will be highlighting and using quite a few of them. Like "Gorno" - those pornographically violent gore fest films... I love horror films, but I draw the line at a point. "Wolf Creek" was the most disturbing film I've ever seen. My husband quit watching it pretty early on. I watched it to the horrid end. And now (a year and a half later) I really wish I never would have finished it, because that awful Head on a Stick part will disturb me forever.

Ugh. On a lighter note... I like the word "Peerents". Parents who aspire to be like their children's peers. Its such a current issue - I see so many parents behaving that way, and its just not right. My mom was way ahead of her time when she started acting that way in the late 80s.
The most interesting thing so far is the affidavit of Lt Haut affirming the existence of a crashed UFO with extraterrestials... so was it the truth, or was it some kind of final joke?

Anyway... sorry for the punctuation and lack of quotations - i'll fix it later - posting by email does not favor some characters...

~~Fixed :) but I may have missed some... posting by email kind of sucks... for some odd reason sometimes the email gets sent 2 or 3 times...

Lazy day

Not that I am really proud or anything ;) but I managed to get not much done today. I spent too much time reading and writing blogs... I did manage to get a load of laundry done as well as unload the dishwasher, which is more than I accomplish on some days that I dont spend as much time at the computer.
The best thing about the day though was playing with my toddler. Ive been spending so much time with the baby - especially the past couple of weeks since shes been sick and fussy... today was one of the first days in a while that she has been pretty content all day. So I sat her down in the boppy pillow and let her watch me and the boy play with his Cars racetrack. We had a lot of fun :) It was a good lazy day.

Remembering Tucson

I started this yesterday - so it still counts ;)



Sometimes, when we have tacos or taco bake, I remember the awesome Mexican food in Tucson. And I have conned myself into believing that it's about the only thing I miss. Throughout both pregnancies I really craved the Mexican fast food from the southwest... rolled guacamole tacos, machaca... mmmm.... nothing quite like it. And the Sunday brunch at the restaurant close to my apartment where I would go with my upstairs neighbors after the big booze fests we had on Saturdays... If I ever visit Tucson I will be doing so much eating!



Most of what I remember of my experiences there on a more personal level are the negatives. Sure I had friends there (just a handful), but really I was spending too much time drinking and wallowing in depression. What I find amazing is how isolated I felt there. There I was with friends and living in a big city with lots and lots of people swimming around me every day. And I felt isolated. And somehow that isolation seems worse than the very real isolation I have here in Wisconsin. I live in a town with less than 100 people! The closest "big" town only has about 2000 people! I have no friends here. And I'm not sure I really miss having friends. I am so much more isolated here - but it just doesn't feel as bad.



I have only thought and talked longingly about the food for so long that I had almost forgotten about the overpowering landscape.






I do miss the beauty of it all. The feeling of being surrounded by mountains. There is nothing quite like it. The writer in me fails at being able to describe it in words - it's just too powerful. Words diminish it.

Anyway--- that was all about five lifetimes ago. I've come so far since then. And I certainly have no regrets about leaving Tucson. I may get nostalgic about it from time to time - especially in the below zero weather we've had here in Wisconsin this winter - but there's a lot I enjoy about living in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

Testing the email post

Just had to post something to see how easy it is to do from my pda, sitting in my comfy chair watching something other than "Cars." I threw in "Open Season" for the boy and he's actually watching it. It's one of my faves. He will usually only watch "Cars" and "Flushed Away." Not much else holds his interest for long. Which is probably a good thing.
I switched to watching only PBS during the day when we moved up here to Wisconsin (about a year and a half ago). He was paying entirely too much attention to the commercials. Seriously, when he was just a few months old he would wake himself up every time the commercials for Lunesta and Nasonex came on. He would quit nursing to watch those commercials - then it progressed to all prescription drug commercials, then all commercials in general... he would absolutely stop everything to watch the commercials. PBS only has a commercial or two between shows. A lot of days I will let him watch his few favorites (Sesame Street, Curious George, and Bob the Builder) and then turn the tv off for the rest of the afternoon. He plays better with the tv off. I need to start turning the tv off in the evenings... but it makes for good background noise.

Don't Lick It!

I finally got the CD I've been waiting for ("Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1")! I won it on EBay on 12/26 and got an email the next day saying it had shipped. I was really expecting it would come within a few days. I was just starting to get annoyed. Turns out it took so long because it came from China.
My husband called right after I came in with the mail. I told him it came all the way from China.
Him: "Did you wipe it down with a sanitizing wipe?"
Me: {laugh} "Well I didn't plan on licking it." {laugh} thinking about the lead issue - as has been the running joke lately.
Him: paraphrasing [Did you see the Simpsons where Bart ordered something from China? The person packing it in China sneezed on it and when Bart got the package he got sick.]
Me: not really thinking about what he's saying, preoccupied with changing pictures on sidebar of family blog...
Ten Minutes Later I get it...
OMG must sanitize hands immediately! Have I touched my face or anything since handling that package? Shit, I'm nursing the baby - did I touch her anywhere? I immediately go to the kitchen and sanitize my hands. Then sanitize the baby's hands (and paper towel dry them quick before she puts them in her mouth - because that's something else to worry about - children have died from ingesting hand sanitizer).
Of course any package from anywhere could have some kind of virus lurking inside, but somehow something coming from another country causes more suspicion, worry and concern.
And China has a bad rap lately. Of course mostly because of the high lead content in toys. But what else that they manufacture has a high content of lead? Three of us recently got new eyeglasses: mine and my daughter's were both made in China. She said so right away when she got hers, and I said "Don't lick them!" and I was half serious. For two reasons. The reality that they may in fact have a high content of lead in the paint or plastic or whatever... and it's not too far a stretch to forsee her licking anything. She licks odd things. She's a 10-year old. And in fact her old glasses had chew marks all over the ends of both arms. Thinking about it now I should check her glasses when she gets home from school.

One a day helps keep boredom away?

:) I decided on the 6th that I should just keep a daily blog all year (a little late to decide that, but might as well give it a late start). One where I just post something/anything once a day every day. I love writing, and am absolutely addicted to blogging! I have several blogs going now, but they are all much more specific. And either have lots of pictures or lengthy text... need a blog that I can post to more easily with my pda (on which my email has a rather limiting limit on characters)...
So -