Tagged again

by Francine. (http://fransdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2007/04/tagged-by-my-friend-ann.html) This time it's 7 random photos.

And this time I am going to actually try tagging some people. So Debbie (http://http://debbiemistick.typepad.com/) and Jen, I can't find the link to your blog since you changed sites but consider yourself tagged! (I know you're busy with the move but consider this an opportunity to post some pictures of the new scrappin' space!)

I don't wanna work

I just wanna play with my rub-ons all day....

Ah, that's a bad version of a bad song.

But yeah, that's where I'm at. Having a party here on Sunday. The house is, well, our house, and thus, in its usual state of near chaos. All I want to do is scrapbook but I can't because I need to clean my room (Grace's room, etc. etc. ad nauseum) and I don't want to clean so instead I procrastinate by playing on the internet. See the cool little cycle I've got going on?

Maybe I'll go take a nap.

Apparently it was 7 random facts.

Three cheers for reading comprehension.

7. I am a Vulcan. Do not let the emotional, always teary-eyed side fool you. I scored 100% on the logical sections of two post-grad standardized tests. I.must.have.logic.in.my.life. (And dudes. Lest you think I think I am all that and a bag of chips. I scored 53% on the math portion of one of those tests. Heh.)

Okay then.

Marci tagged me. Dude, that's just not right. Six random facts.

1. I can only sleep on my side and one foot has to be sticking out of the covers. Definitely no socks.
2. One of my favorite comfort foods is macaroni and baked beans. Together.
3. I dated 3 different guys who later turned out to be gay.
4. I've lived with a Siamese cat almost every month I've been alive.
5. I only put the laundry away when it's all washed and folded. Doesn't happen that often.
6. My best friend is a conservative Republican who is one of Karl Rove's apprentices and is a key advisor for Rick Santorum. And yes, we mostly talk politics.

I don't know who I'm going to tag yet sinceI only read Ali's, Marci's and Cathy Z's blog. I'll get back to you.

Six years ago tonight, at this moment

I was 1 hour into the surgery that would bring me my son.

Tonight we celebrated by visiting the 4th level of hell. Chuck E Cheese. Which is infinitely better on a Wednesday evening than on a Saturday. I'm just sayin.

And when they wheeled me into the operating room, I seriously turned to the nurse and said "oh good, we'll be back in the room before West Wing starts." They must have given me different drugs than they told me. We didn't make it for West Wing. I think we finally got settled back in the room about midnight. And I was just thinking tonight that that night was the warmest I think I've ever felt in my life. Not "warm" as in hot but "warm" in the sense that it was just about the coziest, most content feeling imaginable. Must have been the drugs again.

A few weeks back when Elizabeth Edwards held the press conference to announce that her cancer had returned, one of the things she said that stuck with me most was that things hadn't changed that much for her, she just now knew what she would die from. So, since I was about twenty I've pretty much believed that I'll eventually die from skin cancer... assuming that I avoid the random plane crash, becoming shark bait, or being killed by debris falling from a sky scraper. Still, it's always somewhere off in the far distant future when I'm an old lady and unlikely to care much what kills me.

That's poor justification for skipping my screenings but I did. I finally scheduled one to deal with another issue and I didn't expect much except for the standard lecture that I can't afford to be so careless. I had a positive test a few years back. And several pre-cancerous spots since. But still. I did not expect his grim silence as he looked at my back 3 seconds into the exam. He did say he doesn't think it's at Stage II yet. And I'm clinging to that hope. But I've never seen him look like that before. So I'm trying not to freak out and succeeding at intervals.

Can't believe my baby is 6 today. Actually glad I have something else to think about besides that!

Where do I begin?

With CKU I guess. Of course the picture is the fabulous Tim Holz who is a fantastic teacher/enabler/salesman for Ranger. I decided I needed pretty much everything he used in his make and take and class and I spent half of my scrappin' budget on Ranger stuff this weekend. I'm not much of an assembly class (i.e. copy this layout/mini-book) but the Ranger technique instructionals were great.

And Ali's album track. Another big woo hoo! Loved it, loved her, am thrilled with the final product. We liberal scrappers have to stand together you know!

CKU in general... very very fun. It was great getting to meet so many people I've "met" on the Pub over this last year. I liked every single one of them (surprising!) and had a wonderful time with Brandy and her sweet momma. I would do it again if only for the album track and the Ranger classes - I would probably just get the kits and skip the other classes because, like I said, just not my thing. Bad thing: I gained 5 (FIVE!!!!!) pounds. I'm telling myself that I'm retaining water.

But what ends up being on my mind the most is the dr's appointment I had this afternoon. Did not go well. I mean, I appear to be healthy and all of that but he was very discouraging about another pregnancy. Discouraging would be an understatement. Bordering on apoplectic that we are even considering it is probably closer to the truth. Furious that Justin hasn't had a vasectomy. He said he was sorry but it is what it is and he's been around long enough to know when to say it's a minor health risk and long enough to know when to say it's a risk to my life. He told me in explicit detail what could and was likely to happen. But then he ended by saying that I need to schedule a consultation with the doctor who performed the last surgery so that she could give her final opinion. I guess I needed to hear it but it still wasn't a lot of fun. Justin wants to get the consultation scheduled so that he can get his procedure scheduled as soon as possible. Yesterday I thought I would be pregnant by the end of this summer. And today I know it's not going to happen.

Dear Mr. Marshall Mathers,

I don't know if you have been following my blog (I know you have a very demanding schedule) but I just wanted to alert you that I am coming to Detroit later this week.

While I am sure I do not deserve the title of "Your number one fan" (and moreover, I am not sure that I want that title given how it turned out for Stan), I am, in fact, "A" fan, and if I had to pick a soundtrack for my life, Lose Yourself might well be the title track.

Unfortunately, I already had to assure my husband that I wouldn't go looking for you in any clubs and that I wouldn't drive up and down 8 Mile looking for landmarks from your movie. So in the event that you decide it's time we must meet, I am staying at the Dearborn Hyatt along with 500 other scrapbookers. I will be the chubby suburban-mom looking one. How can you resist?

Looking forward to meeting you,

Your fan Sarah

The last straw

for me is the ultra-serious Oprah Winfrey commercial that's been running the last few days advertising Monday's show... "After Imus. Where do we go from here?"

Seriously? Seriously. This shock and outrage everyone is pretending to feel all the while knowing this kind of hate talk has been going unchecked on the airwaves for years. Hate against blacks, hate against women, hate against anyone who looks, talks, smells, thinks, kisses or loves different than "us." Who is us? Apparently grumpy old heterosexual white guys. My blog challenge: I dare you to come up with 5 male synonyms for the word "ho." Challenge #2: See how many synonyms you can come up with for the word as it relates to females. Trust me, your choices are practically infinite.

So what do I do on a dreary, drizzly Sunday afternoon? Apparently channel my old, grumpy inner-white guy.

I'm not really that organized

and I'm not the kind of person who thinks you're behind on your Christmas shopping if you're still shopping 2 days before. With our schedules, I'm usually flying by the seat of my pants. I know, I know, I have dozens of planners including an adorable green leather one my husband got me for Christmas. I'm hopeless.

So it's kind of remarkable that I realized that between now and Charlie's birthday - exactly 2 weeks from today - I will have 0 free days to shop. Today was it. Got it done.

Unfortunately, I did NOT look at his school calendar to realize that his show&tell project for the month is due tomorrow. Flying by the seat of my pants.

Who doesn't love a good Easter egg hunt?

or three? Man, it was cold!

Well first of all, Justin "cleaned up" my computer desktop. He thought he was helping. I can't find anything!

I'm in a rut. Or more accurately, I have major scrapper's block. I don't know if it's because I organized my stuff last month and put it all away. I don't know if it's because I'm trying to save my money for CKU so I'm not shopping. I don't know if it's because of the way the planets are aligned, all I know is that I'm not scrapping anything that makes me happy and that generally makes me unhappy.

I'm in a fantastic support group of scrapping friends including some of the most talented and inspirational girls in the business and they've given me some great advice over the last few days. (Thanks again guys!) Justin says I'm their mascot since I'm the only one in the group without some serious scrappin' credentials. I did take the small pile of very bad photos I had from a trip to California (b.k. - before kids) and scrapped them 8 1/2 x 11. They're very simple though - no embellishment on any of the pages yet and I feel so puzzled about what to do next. This is a very strange place to be. CKU is either going to help get me out of this rut or else it's going to be a total bust.

And since this seems to be all about scrapbooking today, I was very excited when Layle from Scenic Route e-mailed me earlier today and asked me to send her the names and contact info for my local stores so she can contact them and see if they want to carry Scenic Route. I love me some Scenic Route! I put that list together in lightning speed. Eh, if I can't scrap, I can at least fantasize about very fun patterned paper, right?

Random thoughts on Easter Saturday

Gracie was invited to a tea party today. I doubt there is anything that could make Gracie as excited as the idea of tea party (except getting to move to Disney) and it met all her expectations. It was at a tea shoppe and she got to drink strawberry lemonade from a china teacup. Little girl heaven.

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There is nothing like an impending multi-day trip with no access to laundry to make one realize how few clothes one owns. I think I've mentioned before how much I hate clothes shopping. But I loaded Grace into the car before the party and we shopped a little bit. I got very little I actually needed but found a really cool jean jacket and some pajamas. Think that will get me through 5 days at CKU?

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I heard on the radio it's National No Housework Day. Not at my house. The Easter bunny doesn't want to see a messy living room when he comes in to hide the eggs tonight. Plus Justin and I were apparently having a little battle of wills as to who was going to load the dishwasher after breakfast. I took off with Gracie to the store and was sure he would do it while we were gone. But nope - we got home and those breakfast dishes were still waiting. He won the battle.

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Dying eggs is next on the to-do list. A couple years ago while watching old video-tapes, we discovered the video of Charlie dying eggs right before his 2nd birthday. We were horrified at ourselves because we really rushed him through it. It must have been late at night and it seemed like every other word was "okay, let's hurry up!" He seemed to be having a good time but this was heartbreaking for us to realize what we had done. Ever since, egg dying day has been a yearly reminder to slow down, savor the moments, let them take their time and appreciate the joy of their tender ages.

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Charlie's on his 7th day of antibiotics and though he says his ear feels fine, I am not satisfied with the rate at which it is healing. I don't think I'll be waiting for the 2 week follow-up, he'll have to go back this week and probably get another round of medicine. We don't want to mess around with this, it was horrible for him, horribly scary for us and downright gross. It's still gross. And mama doesn't like gross.

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And it's my 2nd favorite sports weekend of the year. The Masters Tournament. Some people seem surprised that I like to watch golf but I love this tournament - it's so beautiful, so unique, such fun to watch as they round Amen Corner. The kids aren't too happy about it being on tv though!

The Boy Scouts are always prepared

At Easter and on Mother's Day, my dad allows the Boy Scouts to set up shop in our parking lot at work and sell flowers. It's a great spot for them - right in the middle of town, we sit at the intersection of both roads that run through the town. So they came in this morning and asked if they would be allowed to use the bathroom throughout the day. And of course they could. And then they carried in their own 36 roll package of toilet paper, a handtowel and soap. Now that is preparedness.

It was nice while it lasted

The wonderful weather stuck around much longer than I expected but today winter is back. Sigh. It's cold, gray, snowy and my daffodils and pink whachamacallits are wilted and sad. It's to stay like this through Easter so that pink sleeveless dress I bought for Grace isn't looking like such a great idea right about now.

I am home from work with her today, her asthma has been acting up. So I made Charlie's birthday invitations - I'm not going to post them because I think they might contain a copyright violation (!) but they're plenty cute. He picked an alien theme and I think we're going to have some fun with that!

He seems to be feeling better. At any rate, I sent him back to school yesterday and he visits the nurse a couple times a day to get it checked out. It was surprising how hard that was. He and I were attached at the hip basically from Saturday night through yesterday morning and the moment I had to put him on the bus, I almost cried for missing him. I'm looking forward to the 4 day weekend and lots of family time.

And since this has essentially become my journal, I'll mark this morning as 1 month since I started my diet and 12 lbs. down today. I think I'm going to have to go buy some new clothes before CKU because all of my jeans are already falling down. Okay, I guess I could just buy a new belt but that wouldn't be so much fun!

And it turns out to be a good day after all

Some highlights...

1. I'm "cute" (according to Charlie).

2. Who is feeling much better after nature took its course. Will definitely be following up with the pediatrician first thing in the morning.

3. We decided to do a little social experiment and gave the kids $50 each from this year's bonus to spend on whatever they wanted. They've gotten to shop a few times before with a little bit of birthday or Christmas money, here and there, but never that much all at once. It was quite amusing to see their choices; all absolutely reflective of their personalities and quite appropriate. Gracie picked a game for her Leapster, a tinkerbell costume and Honey Pie Pony (for Strawberry Shortcake.) Charlie picked a game for his gameboy, an Imaginext T-Rex that is just very cool and a Spiderman Hot Wheels contraption of some sort where he gets to blow up bad Spiderman's head. Yeah. He's lovin' that one.

4. I took a little nap.

5. And I took entirely too much pleasure in watching Gracie flit around the yard in her Tinkerbell dress, pink tennis shoes and pink jacket. But darn it, I didn't find my camera until she'd already come in for the evening.

What a difference a day makes

I've had some time to reflect on that over the last week or so. Justin has had some enormous changes at work, all good, and all completely unexpected.

And my little guy... yesterday we had a fabulous day. Went and bought new soccer shoes, ran around at the Easter egg hunt and he did awesome at his first soccer game of the season - 2 goals! And then when we got home, my mother-in-law came to visit and he began to complain that his ear hurt. He thought it was hit by a soccer ball. By 4:00 a.m. he was inconsolable and I took him into Children's Hospital where his eardrum promptly ruptured. He is plainly miserable. The good news is, he will be fine.

So we are setting aside our plans for the day, for the week really, and just settling in here. It's a gray, rainy day so it's for the best and he's pretty pleased he gets to play gameboy and watch videos all day. Sometimes I wonder if I'm too strict that he actually enjoys being sick so he can do those things he loves so much! Gracie is none too pleased she is not the center of attention but she'll survive too.