Busted

My laptop is broken. It keeps showing me the Blue Screen of Death every time I boot it up. It's a blessing and a curse, all rolled into one. I MISS checking my favorite blogs and hunting for bargains and trolling facebook, but HEY LOOK! I HAVE KID! Who knew?! He's been getting an awful lot of my undivided attention lately, and he likes it. A happy kid makes for a happy mama. But I really miss my laptop...like REALLY miss it.

Retail Therapy

I've been feeling kind of down lately reading all the trash talk about single mamas that seems to be flying around my normally benign and favorite parenting websites. Why people who have never walked in my shoes feel the need to bash my life and my child just amazes me. I couldn't care less how you chose to live your life...why the need to pass judgement on mine? I'm trying to let it go. It's not really working. Why can't we just all get along, people, why??

Anyhow. My income tax refund got deposited in my checking account yesterday, and I used every last penny to pay off one of my two remaining credit cards. It felt so good to hit submit. One more down, just one to go. I did treat myself to this [go ahead and click on that link...you won't be sorry!] gorgeous new bathroom set as my reward for being so totally grownup with that money, and it's just so darn pretty! I can't wait for it to arrive in the mail so I can redo my bathroom. I've been staring at yellow rubber duckies for near on five years. It's time for a change.

Same Old

I tweaked my back yesterday...again. Because apparently I'm old and decrepit and I have a completely unconditioned core. It happens to me every few months and can be brought on by any number of things like hauling the boy around or turning quickly or breathing. It stinks because I finally get a few days off and I'm couch bound and without good snacks or diet Pepsi. Grrr.

However, Lucas has been keeping me entertained by working on his Oscar nomination. He walks around the house bellowing "Just ask me, Mom! I'll do anything for you! ANYTHING!" Unfortunately all I want from him are BBQ chips and ice cold soda, but since we have neither in house and there's no way I'm going to the store, I'm sort of out of luck. By morning I should be suffering from caffeine withdrawals and it won't be pretty. Pray for me, would 'ya?
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SWEET!!! The second I posted this my friend Becky showed up on my doorstep with cheesecake. That's what you call an awesome snack...and an answered prayer! Thanks Becky! My mouth is full of strawberry cheescake as we speak type.

Barnacles!!

I took the BEST pictures today of the kid playing in our first snowstorm and they came out SO GOOD. Except, I experimented shooting in RAW and now I can't get the [bleepin'] pictures to download. That is frustration at it's finest...a few of those pictures were in the running to grace this year's Christmas cards. Bah-hum-bug!

If any of you out there know what I'm doing wrong...LET ME KNOW! Otherwise...just feel bad for me. Heh.

edited:
I still haven't figured out the whole shooting in raw...but I did manage to switch a couple of my favorite pictures to a jpeg. file...yay!

Yes, I Would Like a Little Cheese With My Whine.

I'm suffering through yet another cold. I know, big deal...a cold. But let me just say, I do believe that I have been some sort of sick or broken for every single day so far in 2008. Grrr. I am so sick and tired of being sick and tired. My big red couch has a big red indent in the center where my big butt has been parked all week. I tired, I worn out and I don't like it. Was that enough whine for 'ya?

My poor kid has been fending for himself a lot the past few days...evidenced by the fact that I found several DOZEN pictures of my pathetic self, mouth agape, sound asleep on the sofa. He is a whiz with the cell phone camera, apparently. I'd post a few for your laughing pleasure, but the little bit of dignity I have left won't allow it.

Think healthy, happy thoughts for me people, I clearly need them.

Every Kind of Gross

Our toilet overflowed today.

*Blech* *Barf* *Double Yuck*

And of course we don't own a plunger, so we made a quickie-quick trip to the hardware store where, LUCKY ME!, plungers were on sale. And since we were right across the street from the bank and the post office I decided to mail off my tax returns and do a little banking. Heh. Totally should have done those errands before purchasing the golden plunger. Lucas could not help himself from telling every person in line at all three places that our toilet had overflowed!, and also that it had poop! in it. Great! The fun part was when he regalled an old lady buying stamps with his story, but of course she was hard of hearing, and kept asking me to repeat what he said louder, so to the delight of all the other post office patrons I got to yell..."THAT'S RIGHT, LADY, OUR POOPY TOILET OVERFLOWED! ENJOY YOUR TEDDY BEAR STAMPS!" Geesh.

Luckily, the whole mess has been resolved, and we now own a very handy plunger with a bright yellow handle.

Barfing and Birthdays

I went home sick from work yesterday with the barfing flu...it's the first time I've left work sick ever, that I remember, and I've worked here for almost 13 years. So, yeah...I was really sick and very barfy. Seems to be a 24 hour thing, though, 'cause I'm back in the saddle today.
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On the way in to work this afternoon Lucas and I got on the topic of parties, specifically his baby shower and his upcoming 4th birthday party. He started to cry when we talked about his shower and what types of gifts people brought him, and when I asked him why he was crying he told me he was sad that he had missed his own shower...he had "'willy 'willy wanted to be there." I tried to explain that he was totally there...that all the presents were for him...that he had a blast, but it didn't seem to help. (I did not go into the fact that all the presents were pink...he doesn't need to know we all thought I was having a girl!) So I distracted him with talk about his 4TH! BIRTHDAY! This is when the little love informed that even though he has been asking for a Spongebob birthday party (since the ride home from his 3rd birthday) he has changed his mind and now wants another Thomas the Tank Engine party..."'cause Thomas is 'willy very cheeky, although he likes to be 'willy 'willy useful!" I guess I don't really care how cheeky or useful Thomas is, because I have already purchased everything but the kitchen sink in Spongebob birthday junk...and I'm not starting over. I guess that makes me a well organized, party lovin' meanie?

Cranky and Miserable

I pinched a nerve in my neck AGAIN yesterday, and last night and this morning has been just a big 'ole bowl of misery and pain. It always takes a full week before I feel normal again, but the first few days are the worst. So. Show of hands...who is coming over to rub my shoulders? Anyone? I have good snacks....still no? Bummer.

He Is Lucky I Didn't Leave Him There

We got the chance to see some friends of ours today that we haven't seen in a very long time because they moved far far away. Lucas was a beast of a boy. Everything started out so well with hugs and presents and playing. Then it came time to go out to lunch and he just unraveled. The crying and whining and snot could be seen and heard for miles around...I just know it! And here I am, always bragging to these same people how well behaved my child is and he goes all postal on me at lunch. In his very weak defense, we got up really early and we'd been on the road all day up until that point. But it didn't make me want to strangle him any less for the scene he caused. We left early and we walked to the car in silence. I didn't start lecturing him until the first traffic light, and I glanced in the rear view mirror to make sure he understood how angry I was at the rotten behavior...and can you believe that little devil was sound asleep? Yeah...he could really care less about my sermon on good behavior...he was snoring. I dropped his sorry self off at Grandma's house nice and early and came to work...and I got to hold my new baby cousin! She's just a few hours old and if her mom doesn't mind I'll post the sweetest picture of her later. That baby fix was just what I needed to get me out of my crabby mood!

I'm Sick

Maybe some of you know this about me already, but maybe you don't. I can normally jump right up and dust myself off when things come my way...I tend to be a glass half full kind of person and I NEVER feel sorry for myself. Until I get sick. When I get a cold I turn into a BIG BABY and I feel miserable and I want my Mommy. Well...it might not get that bad, but pretty darn close. I have a coooold and my throat is sore. Did 'ya catch the whine there? Yeah. When I don't feel well, I want everyone to feel bad for me like I'm the only person in the whole wide world that has ever had a cold. That's not too much to ask, right?

The silver lining on my cloud of sickness is that Lucas is independent enough and creative enough to keep himself busy. I lined up a few sippy cups and layed out a few snacks on the coffee table, and then spent the rest of the morning half passed out on the couch...recovering. Because my cold is so bad that I need to recover, and not just get over it. Feel bad for me yet? Didn't think so.

It Only Drove Me So Nuts Today Because of Lack of Sleep

I need to keep reminding myself that he's only 3 (and a half...that half is important...ask him, he'll tell you) but it drives me crazy that he'll use the bathroom (by himself, I know should at least be grateful for that) and then he'll come to the top of the stairs and yell down to me, "BUT I DIDN'T WASH MY HANDS!" What?! You know you need to or you wouldn't be telling that you haven't! And I tell him every time, "Well, go back and wash your hands, every time buddy!" "OK!" he says and skips back into the bathroom to play in the water until I'm positive the bathroom will flood. I have to keep telling myself, he's just a small little kid, he's not a full grown adult. I swear he keeps doing it just to drive me nuts.

The Cursed Debit Card

I was at Walmart last night to look for a workout video (if you're laughing to yourself right now, I won't be insulted) and of course, as always, I found a cart full of other stuff to buy, but no workout video. Fine. By the time I got to the register, the store was about to close. I loaded all of my purchases on the belt and the cashier was perfectly friendly and quick and I thought I was actually going to get out of there with no hassle...until I ran my debit card through the machine and the lady handed me back $40.00. How nice, a gift with purchase. Yeah, right. I told the lady that I didn't ask for any cash back, but she just looked confused and told me there was nothing she could do, that I authorized a cash back transaction for $40.00, and there was my money and there was my receipt, so what was I complaining about. Humph. Not a big deal, my credit union is just five minutes away, I figured I would just make a quick run over to put the money back in my account. I don't ever carry cash...it's too easy to spend and too easy to lose. I drove right over and stuck my debit card in the ATM, where the screen instantly went blank, and then black, and then ate my card. Arghhh! On the one hand, now I'm glad I have forty dollars because it's Friday night and I won't have any access to my money until Monday, on the other hand, I wouldn't be in this predicament at all if the lady at Walmart hadn't decided for me that I was authorizing a money back transaction.

To top it all off, when I called the bank this morning, the lady gave me a hard time about cancelling my card and sending me a new one. She seemed to think her idea of just waiting for the ATM service personnel to find it and decide to send it back me via the US Postal Service was a fine solution, where I thought the idea of cancelling that card and sending me a new one was a better one. I did win out, but not before I got a little attitude from her...like I meant for the machine to eat my card and screw up my next 7-10 business days...hello!?