Your Funky Monkey

I am in a funk.

I can’t remember the last time I was so glad to have a long weekend. Life has been exhausting lately. Just the daily minutiae takes so much out of me, and when coupled with the unexpected I am left feeling drained and weak, like I can’t even go on for another minute. But I do, and the cycle starts all over again.

We had our niece Saturday until late in the afternoon Sunday and at this point we are so used to having her around that she doesn’t throw too many wrenches in to our schedule. After dinner, we made popcorn and all watched Aladdin, and then Niece and Lucy camped out on her bedroom floor. My brother came over and ended up staying the night as well since he was going with Hub and Bud to Toronto on Sunday to see Monster Jam.

Lucy and I have a tradition of going out and shopping and having dinner when the boys are at Monster Jam, so she, Liv, Niece and I headed out to Target soon after the boys left on Sunday. I was a bit disappointed with the clearance section at our local Target, but did find a few things for Liv for next year and 2 outfits for Niece who just needs some clothes (I always put her in Lucy’s old clothes when she comes over). We grabbed a few personal pizza’s from pizza hut and came home where the girls went in for a nap. Well, Niece and Lucy napped. This is the only nap Liv took all day:



And here is Niece posing outside of Target:



Liv did play quietly in her crib for a bit though which gave me a chance to lie down and nurse the migraine that was raging for about a half an hour. I felt a bit better and got her out when she started getting loud and we shared some ice cream and watched TV until the other 2 got up, dropped Niece off with BIL around 5, and headed to the mall with my girls.

My Target disappointment waned as we got in to Old Navy and worked their clearance. I had no luck with anything for Bud, but got 2 shirts and a headband for Lucy, and a summer blouse and 2 summer skirts for Liv and I spent $14. I picked up one shirt for Lucy at JC Penny that IS NOT for next year (and that kind of goes against my purpose for shopping, but she asked so nicely) and at Sears got Liv 2 dresses for next year, one dress for right now, and a new purse for me. All day, including our Ihop dinner, I spent around $100. Not too shabby.

Yesterday was a normal daycare day for Lucy and Liv, and I signed Bud up as well for the school aged program. The plan was for Hub and I to get some much needed housework done. Instead, when I got home I crawled in to bed with him and was just so warm and comfortable that we slept for most of the morning. And after a late breakfast, we decided to go to the movies. We saw ‘Up in the Air” and I really liked it. I’d say I loved it, but I don’t feel like it really had an ending and that kind of bugs me. But the movie itself? Just my thing.

We had lunch at Olive Garden and by then were ready to pick the kids up, and get back to real life and prepare for today’s work and school day.

Like I said, I really needed this weekend. I’m no less tired; we were very busy! But I am refreshed in a way and that helps. And I am very much looking forward to our new laptop (our very first laptop, actually) arriving tomorrow, and finally being able to go wireless at home. The little things certainly do help to defunkify me. Here hoping that they work for a few days at least.

Friday Free For All- Wow!! You do love me!

Thanks for indulging me with your comments yesterday. I mean it!! I'm glad to know that even though I've been lazy on the blog front, you guys still care. I'm lazy because of my job, you know. The recent changes have severely cut my internet time. Bastards.

Anyway, you indulged me, so now I will indulge you!

* On work days, I almost always eat reduced sugar apples and cinnamon oatmeal, with black coffee for breakfast. Its not a health thing, just what I like. Some days I have an everything bagel instead. Living on the edge, right?

* I wear between a 7 and an 8 sized shoe. My feet did grow when I was pregnant, but they grew wider. It's crazy. I used to wear a 6.5.

Random Tidbit:

Did I mention that Hub got me a new camera for Christmas? He did, but he talked me in to returning it for a model that takes AA batteries because he knows me, and figures I will never keep the battery charged. He gave me a Target rain check for the model he thought I'd like that was on sale before Christmas. I took his advice and returned the camera even though I loved it. I have looked and looked for the suggested model and no store has had it in stock. So today I called Target to find this camera once and for all. It seems that the model for which I had the rain check was discontinued. Furthermore, we should not have been issued a rain check for an item that was about to be on clearance. Target is reasonable though and agreed to let me apply the 26% discount referenced on my rain check to another camera. When I got to the store, the CSR seemed unsure about this and called her manager. Not only did they honor the discount, they gave me the camera I picked for the clearance price of the discontinued item. It happens to be the exact model I opened on Christmas morning, only now, it was $50 cheaper. I've never felt so lucky!!

WHO GOES THERE??

I know, I know. I don’t comment anymore. But I promise I will today! It is Delurking Day!! So please show me some love….I’ll show you mine if you show me yours!

You can just say, “I’m here!” Or you can tell me what size shoe you wear. Or tell me what you had for breakfast—I am always interested in breakfast food. Or tell me something off the wall and random.

Here is something off the wall and random about me:

When I sit in meetings, I make mental tallies of how many people have blue or brown eyes, how many people wear glasses, dark hair vs. light hair and so on. I don’t know why I do it, and I don’t do anything with the data I collect.

So there! Now please, announce yourself! Otherwise the next time you are here I will release the hounds!

Kid Updates and an Unrelated Question

We had quite the weekend, with a bounce house party for Bud and his friends on Saturday, and a family party yesterday.  Between his actual birthday, and the 2 weekend parties, I am almost (but not quite) caked out.  I still barely believe that he is 6 years old already.  My first born baby—he’s 6.  Which makes me, well, old.  No, I do not like it one bit.  Something else I don’t like?  His mouth.  The sass on this kid is unreal.  And I don’t know where he comes up with some of this stuff.  My catch all is the bus.  Surely, he learns it from kids on the bus. 

 

For example, he taught his sister that sticking up her middle finger means she is swearing.  In the car on Saturday, there was Lucy holding up her middle finger saying “I swear!!” When we told her what she was doing, she said “to swear means ‘I promise’”.  She is so funny.  She was one of Bud’s party guests at the bounce house on Saturday, and every other time we’ve been there, she has been terrified of the big slide.  When I went in to the bounce area from the party area at one point she was nowhere to be found.  I looked everywhere, except for the slide, and then I saw her, going down backwards on her stomach.  She had a blast, but has a 2-inch brush burn on her belly to show for it.

 

And Liv, well she’s herself.  She is eating a ton, and is a maniac.  She just moved in to the 18-month room at daycare (thought I don’t get my 18-month discount until the end of the month when she is OFFICIALLY 18-months-old) and she seems so small compared to the ones who have already turned 2.  She is used to running with the big kids though, and she fits in fine.  She eats lunch at a table and takes her nap on a mat.  Clearly, she is no longer a baby.  She has taken a liking to her sister’s dress up clothes and tells us “me lella”, or “I’m Cinderella”, which is so stinkin’ cute I could just DIE. 

 

My kids.  I wish I could stick them in a bottle sometimes to remember just how they are at this moment.  I wish that I could focus more on the positives than on the million ways they drive me crazy every day.  In some ways, I suppose, this blog is my bottle, and thankfully more good then bad comes out about them over here. 

 

On a completely unrelated note—do you children have quiet pip-squeaky like voices?  It seems like all the children we encounter on a regular basis so, yet all 3 of my children have very loud, very boisterous voices.  Hub has a very loud voice; I do not.  Do you think it is genetic?  I can be kind of embarrassing!  :D

 

 

Christmas, and New Years and Bafing (OH MY!!)

It seems kind of funny to be talking Christmas now; it’s weird that as soon as it’s over, it’s over. I was fortunate to be off of work for 10 days, starting on Christmas Eve, right along with the kids, and we didn’t do much of anything for the entire break. No goals, no plans. It was nice.

Liv did have a bout with a sinus infection though, and was put on the ZPAK, so I didn’t give it a lot of thought when she started throwing up on Christmas Eve. We kept her home from the party we attended, only because I didn’t want her to puke on somebody else’s carpet (but it was fine to puke on mine??). I stayed with her for a while and then met Hub and the kids at the party, leaving her with FIL. When we got home though, she was grey. She had thrown up until there was nothing left in her belly. FIL hadn’t given her anything to drink, so I gave her some water, and she immediately puked again. Crap, she really was sick. After throwing up the water though, she finally passed out, and slept all night. She was her usual self on Christmas morning.

Luckily, we all were and had a fantastic day. Look how happy and adorable they were!



We enjoyed our day and had fun at my uncle’s later in the evening, which is when I started feeling a bit off. By the time bedtime rolled around, Bud, Lucy and I all had it; and it was horrible. Thank God that Hub did not get sick until the day after, because I don’t know how we would have managed it. At one point, Bud and Lucy were throwing up in buckets, I was in the bathroom, and the baby was awake and crying from all the commotion. Yeah, fun times.

We got a good deal of snow over the vacation, so Hub made a ramp on the porch for the kids to sled down. We took the big kids out to a movie and dinner one day too. It was really very low key, and just my kind of holiday week.

New Year’s Eve was uneventful for us, as it always is. We had steaks for dinner, watched Snow White with the kids, and after they went to bed, Hub and I watched The Hangover. We did some running around on NYD, and on Saturday, we dropped the kids off with my parents for the weekend. And let me tell you after 8 days of just being home with them it was needed. Hub and I saw a movie and had dinner, and then slept until nearly 11 the next morning. It was glorious.

I can’t say that I was ready to get back to the grind this week, but I am looking forward to this new year. Maybe we’ll have some resolution talk soon.

(or more likely, in February)

Since I Don't Blog Anymore-Christmas Meme

I stole this one from Swistle and Jess, and a million other people.

 

Eggnog or hot chocolate? I would imagine that if I had ever tried eggnog, I would like it very much.  I don’t usually do cocoa, and don’t consider it to be a holiday drink. 

Does Santa wrap the presents or leave them open under the tree? Santa wraps them and puts them under the tree.  I don’t know how much longer that will go on for because our nearly-6-yo is on to us.  We’ve never really pushed the whole Santa thing anyway, and we don’t use that whole Santa is watching BS to get our kids to behave. 

Colored lights on a tree or white? Colored.  I do like the white though too.

Do you hang mistletoe? No.

When do you put your decorations up? Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving

What is your favorite holiday dish? Pierogies

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We go to Hub’s cousin’s house on Christmas Eve and the kids get a few gifts there, so those, they open.  I give them new (matching) pajamas for Christmas Eve as well, but they aren’t considered gifts, and they are in their dressers now. 

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? We have a huge mishmash of ornaments; Hub’s mom and his grandmother made him one for every year of his life (a tradition that we’ve kept for our own kids, except that we buy an ornament to represent their personality for the year and we label it with their name and the year), hand blown ornaments from Hub’s dad’s childhood, and some favorites we bought for our first tree.  Also, colored lights.  We found a strand of lifesavers in Hub’s mom’s things—that will be on the tree next year. 

Snow: love it or hate it? I don’t mind it at all.  I don’t mind driving in it either.  I do hate it when it gets black and dirty from the cars though.  And I hate when inconsiderate people track it in to my house. 

Can you ice skate? Have you met me??  That would be no.

What is your favorite holiday dessert? Cut-out cookies.  No contest.  But I am a dessert sort of person, so I love it ALL.

What is your favorite holiday tradition? After opening gifts with the kids, my parents and our brothers come over (and til now, Hub’s mom too) and we cook them brunch.  They sit with the kids and open their gifts while we cook and do other things.

 

Candy canes: yum or yuck? Take ‘em or leave ‘em

Favorite Christmas show? A Christmas Story.  We start watching it on Christmas Eve and continue through the weekend.  The kids also really like Shrek the Halls.  Fun Facts: I have never seen It’s a Wonderful Life and I LOATHE Peanuts Christmas.

 

Hard as I try, I can not catch up on all the blogging. I have 236 unread items in my reader, and I think I will have to mark them all as read. This pains me. I’m the girl who can’t have an unread email without totally tweaking. TOTALLY TWEAKING. But alas, I will likely skim. And then mark as read. Hmph.

The last few weeks have been insanely busy. Transition at work, Thanksgiving, and now the bustle of Christmas. We cut down our own tree this year, and well, I don’t see what the big deal was. It was muddy and annoying. Plus I had to carry the baby. OMG, it sucked. But the tree is pretty, and hopefully tonight, it will be in the house and we can decorate it.

I shared Bud’s school picture with you a few weeks ago. So now I must share Lucy’s. No, this is not her senior portrait; it is her preschool photo. She is something else, huh?


Here is Liv too:



I hope the season finds you all well and I hope to catch up soon!!