If only in retrospect, at least!
These past few weeks have been peppered with amusing moments, although a few weren't that funny until looking back on them!
Scene: quick mid-week family dinner at Taco Bell.
Cast of characters: Ernesto, Aidan, Lily and yours truly
Necessary Background information: Lily chews quite noisily, with her mouth open. We are diligently working on this, but to date have been unsuccessful in curbing.
Lily: "I can't wait until I am old enough to go on a date. I think I will date Nesto... Maybe I should marry him." (Insert VERY noisy chomping as she nibbles away at a cinnamon twist"
Aidan: "You know what sis? If you keep chewing like that you won't ever even go on a date. If a boy ever hears you do that, he will just get up and leave you in the restaurant, and be like 'ooh lame!'
I am watching one of my good friends' two children, and getting ready to start dinner. I turned the burner on high, put on the pot of water to heat up and then went to get the crayons for the girls to color. I walk back into the kitchen, and to my horror, there are flames shooting two feet above the stove! I am clearly one to have around in a crisis, because I proceeded to herd the girls out of the kitchen and scream at the top of my lungs, "Ernesto!!! There's a fire, there's a fire!!!!" He had the flames out in under 30 seconds. By this time the boys had come running to see what the commotion was about, and I simply turned and said- Pizza anyone?!
At the very least, I can be assured my life will never be dull!
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
And so it begins...
5 things I have learned in the past 13 days while on my "daily pursuit of positive change" :
1. I can bust out an announcers voice during family game time that would make Michael Buffer sit up and take notice!
2. Building a fort out of a big box is still just as fun as it was when I was a kid. (Note to self: Make sure there are batteries in the flashlight before this project is attempted again because they WILL want to play camp out)
3. Market on the Move- $10.00 gets you 60 lbs of produce. Check it out!
4. You should take the skin off an eggplant before you roast it- No matter what MsVeganChef369's blog says!
5. Candyland is The.Worst.Game.Ever. I have become the quickest deck-stacker on record. Baby girl gets the Popsicle (that's her favorite and she doesn't even care if she goes backwards to get it) baby boy gets the gummy star, and then we say a little prayer that someone makes it to the castle before our eyes glaze over completely!
1. I can bust out an announcers voice during family game time that would make Michael Buffer sit up and take notice!
2. Building a fort out of a big box is still just as fun as it was when I was a kid. (Note to self: Make sure there are batteries in the flashlight before this project is attempted again because they WILL want to play camp out)
3. Market on the Move- $10.00 gets you 60 lbs of produce. Check it out!
4. You should take the skin off an eggplant before you roast it- No matter what MsVeganChef369's blog says!
5. Candyland is The.Worst.Game.Ever. I have become the quickest deck-stacker on record. Baby girl gets the Popsicle (that's her favorite and she doesn't even care if she goes backwards to get it) baby boy gets the gummy star, and then we say a little prayer that someone makes it to the castle before our eyes glaze over completely!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
New Year brings resolve...
Or good intentions at least!
As each New Year rolls around, people roll out their list of resolutions for self-improvement, and let's be real... The majority of those things just stay on the list for next year! I have always held a certain disdain for this antiquated tradition, viewing them as useless proclamations of our short-comings and yet another reminder of our failure when the resolve fades away. This year however, I was thinking it over and toyed with the idea that perhaps I would give it a shot. "Ridiculous tradition" my jaded mind screamed, as the inner optimist shouted back- "It's as good a time as any to try and make some positive changes!"
After much inner debate, I decided to overlook my longstanding hatred of this tradition and give it a shot- but only after setting some personal parameters. I would settle on a few things that were deeply important to me, forgoing the grandiose, like becoming a perfectly toned gym-rat, Wonder Mom, perfect house keeper and achieving a solution to world peace all in the same year! I would set realistic expectations for improvement, not dooming myself to failure before I had even begun!
1. Have my children watch less TV.
2. Eat more vegetables.
Profound, I know! But that is what I settled on. They are both things I have been thinking about for awhile, but had not actively pursued changing. They are simple, and flexible- allowing for positive change to occur, but offering the opportunity of exploration. I wasn't going to bind myself to eating 5 servings of vegetables every single day, or limiting TV to one cartoon a day right off the bat, but rather committing to try on a daily basis to be conscious of those two things and actively pursue the positive change I desire.
As each New Year rolls around, people roll out their list of resolutions for self-improvement, and let's be real... The majority of those things just stay on the list for next year! I have always held a certain disdain for this antiquated tradition, viewing them as useless proclamations of our short-comings and yet another reminder of our failure when the resolve fades away. This year however, I was thinking it over and toyed with the idea that perhaps I would give it a shot. "Ridiculous tradition" my jaded mind screamed, as the inner optimist shouted back- "It's as good a time as any to try and make some positive changes!"
After much inner debate, I decided to overlook my longstanding hatred of this tradition and give it a shot- but only after setting some personal parameters. I would settle on a few things that were deeply important to me, forgoing the grandiose, like becoming a perfectly toned gym-rat, Wonder Mom, perfect house keeper and achieving a solution to world peace all in the same year! I would set realistic expectations for improvement, not dooming myself to failure before I had even begun!
1. Have my children watch less TV.
2. Eat more vegetables.
Profound, I know! But that is what I settled on. They are both things I have been thinking about for awhile, but had not actively pursued changing. They are simple, and flexible- allowing for positive change to occur, but offering the opportunity of exploration. I wasn't going to bind myself to eating 5 servings of vegetables every single day, or limiting TV to one cartoon a day right off the bat, but rather committing to try on a daily basis to be conscious of those two things and actively pursue the positive change I desire.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Fear Itself
"One should keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." - Robert Louis Stevenson
My courage today is directly defiant to Mr. Stevenson's belief. For three reasons you all get a brief glimpse into the dark and twisty tunnels of my anxiety-ridden mind. First, it is rumored to be therapeutic to give the histrionic prone woman inside your head a voice. Second, in the process of my self-analysis, I have found that this hysterical person that sometimes occupies my brain is quite humorous. And lastly, I have been missing my outlet of spilling my guts onto paper (well, rather typing them onto a screen) and after a conversation with my mom today about how my son used to be deathly afraid of a squeaky rubber lamb, and the cow in the neighbors field, this topic came to mind!
I won't eat baked potatoes from a restaurant because I heard this story when I was a kid about a girl getting botulism from one that was wrapped in tin foil.
When I am cooking and go to take something out of the oven, I am struck every time by a split second of total terror that I am going to loose my balance and fall in headfirst.
If there is a plunger next to the toilet, I sit down with great care in order to avoid inadvertently being impaled.
Driving next to semi trucks makes my heart pound wildly out of control. All I can see dancing before my eyes is a vision of my car being sucked underneath.
I have many fears that are legitimately things to worry about. The ones that have a greater chance of actually happening to me than not. Those fears I hold close, never voicing because the mere whisper of acknowledgment brings them one step closer to being reality. These are simply some of the silly, irrational things, like the cow and the sheep. Perhaps I agree with Mr. Stevenson more than I had initially thought.
Friday, April 22, 2011
What a Week
This week has been long and crazy, and I am glad it is almost over!
Monday started out with a suicidal man ending up shot off an overpass by the freeway causing it to be completely shut down. A main freeway being closed in Monday morning rush hour traffic in Phoenix means complete and total gridlock. Nobody is going anywhere anytime soon. My poor baby was stuck for three and half hours in this mess.
Wednesday, my day off, started out at the DES office trying to get my kid's insurance straightened out. Royal.Pain.In.My.Ass. There was another persons entire file accidentally scanned into mine. I am talking birth certificates, attestation of citizenship, proof of residence- the whole nine yards. Makes me completely confident in our government by the way! Bye-bye three hours of my day. Grocery shopping equals Bye-Bye to another 2 hours, and before you know it, it's 7:00! Made dinner, cleaned up, collapsed on my bed waiting for the kid's movie to finish and to get them tucked into bed.
They came running into my room when it was over, jumped onto my bed and were playing until about 9:15. I went to get their pj's, and smelled a weird chemical smell as soon as I stepped into the hall. As soon as I said." What's that smell? It smells like something is burning." I heard Ernesto yell, "oh shit!" Let me just say- if you leave a pan on the stove boiling to sterilize some plastic sippy cup lids and forget about it? This will be a very long evening for you! Before we even made it down the hall, the fire alarms started blaring. I ran the kids outside while Ernesto got the flaming disaster put out, and opened the doors and started fans going to air out the house. Turns out, when plastic catches on fire it releases chemicals that are not good for you, and Poison Control advises you remain outside your residence for at least 2 hours. I ended up sending my kids home with my wonderful Mother, and then Ernesto and I went and saw Your Highness while we were waiting to be able to crawl into our bed!
Needless to say too many early mornings and late nights have made a very tired me. The kids are spending the night with their Yia-Yia, and I am so thankful I get to sleep in tomorrow!
Make it a great Friday everyone!
xoxoxo
Monday started out with a suicidal man ending up shot off an overpass by the freeway causing it to be completely shut down. A main freeway being closed in Monday morning rush hour traffic in Phoenix means complete and total gridlock. Nobody is going anywhere anytime soon. My poor baby was stuck for three and half hours in this mess.
Wednesday, my day off, started out at the DES office trying to get my kid's insurance straightened out. Royal.Pain.In.My.Ass. There was another persons entire file accidentally scanned into mine. I am talking birth certificates, attestation of citizenship, proof of residence- the whole nine yards. Makes me completely confident in our government by the way! Bye-bye three hours of my day. Grocery shopping equals Bye-Bye to another 2 hours, and before you know it, it's 7:00! Made dinner, cleaned up, collapsed on my bed waiting for the kid's movie to finish and to get them tucked into bed.
They came running into my room when it was over, jumped onto my bed and were playing until about 9:15. I went to get their pj's, and smelled a weird chemical smell as soon as I stepped into the hall. As soon as I said." What's that smell? It smells like something is burning." I heard Ernesto yell, "oh shit!" Let me just say- if you leave a pan on the stove boiling to sterilize some plastic sippy cup lids and forget about it? This will be a very long evening for you! Before we even made it down the hall, the fire alarms started blaring. I ran the kids outside while Ernesto got the flaming disaster put out, and opened the doors and started fans going to air out the house. Turns out, when plastic catches on fire it releases chemicals that are not good for you, and Poison Control advises you remain outside your residence for at least 2 hours. I ended up sending my kids home with my wonderful Mother, and then Ernesto and I went and saw Your Highness while we were waiting to be able to crawl into our bed!
Needless to say too many early mornings and late nights have made a very tired me. The kids are spending the night with their Yia-Yia, and I am so thankful I get to sleep in tomorrow!
Make it a great Friday everyone!
xoxoxo
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Work Woes
It is Thursday morning, I am two cups of coffee in and realizing it is nowhere near the level of a caffeine jolt I need today. I don't know if it is left-over edginess from my brief stint into being a non-smoker yesterday that left me with no doubt in my mind that I am just not ready for that journey or the general stress of our current office transition but I have suddenly found myself with a fuse that is far too short.
We have outgrown our current office and have had a new location in the works for months now, and the drop-dead date was May 1st. Unfortunately there are uncontrollable permit issues with the city, and that date has been pushed at least 6-8 weeks. In anticipation of this change we hired another person for the front office to be trained by the time we moved. In our already cramped quarters we added an additional body, and now for the foreseeable future I have become a man without a country! I have a make-shift workstation in the break room that has an extremely slow connection to our main server, and a phone that only works 50% of the time. Please join me in a moment of silence hoping that this move is over and done with sooner vs. later!
On the bright side, Katie has so generously delegated herself to the dungeon today so I have run of her desk. (I love you by the way!) We have a lunch meeting, which is always fun and my shoes are stunning if I do say so myself. Typically toasts are done with something a tad bit stronger than coffee, but for today it's what I've got. So CHEERS to a better day... now imagine me downing my third cup of coffee cuz that's just what I am doing! HAPPY THURSDAY EVERYONE!
We have outgrown our current office and have had a new location in the works for months now, and the drop-dead date was May 1st. Unfortunately there are uncontrollable permit issues with the city, and that date has been pushed at least 6-8 weeks. In anticipation of this change we hired another person for the front office to be trained by the time we moved. In our already cramped quarters we added an additional body, and now for the foreseeable future I have become a man without a country! I have a make-shift workstation in the break room that has an extremely slow connection to our main server, and a phone that only works 50% of the time. Please join me in a moment of silence hoping that this move is over and done with sooner vs. later!
On the bright side, Katie has so generously delegated herself to the dungeon today so I have run of her desk. (I love you by the way!) We have a lunch meeting, which is always fun and my shoes are stunning if I do say so myself. Typically toasts are done with something a tad bit stronger than coffee, but for today it's what I've got. So CHEERS to a better day... now imagine me downing my third cup of coffee cuz that's just what I am doing! HAPPY THURSDAY EVERYONE!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Thoughts
Inspiration can blossom at any moment, often from the most seemingly insignificant sources. May I never overlook the ideas that are waiting with baited breath for me to bring to life.
Spontaneity seems to dwindle with age and responsibility. My awesome last minute date last night reminded me why you should never let that side of yourself die.
I love high heels. I love black high heels. So when I get a new pair and am ecstatic about it the answer to your questions are: No - you can never have too many black heels. Yes, I have 7 other pairs in my closet... and No, they are not the same.
A little nail polish and an oversize ring can make a girl feel like a million bucks.
Eggplant parmigiana sounds divine.
Spontaneity seems to dwindle with age and responsibility. My awesome last minute date last night reminded me why you should never let that side of yourself die.
I love high heels. I love black high heels. So when I get a new pair and am ecstatic about it the answer to your questions are: No - you can never have too many black heels. Yes, I have 7 other pairs in my closet... and No, they are not the same.
A little nail polish and an oversize ring can make a girl feel like a million bucks.
Eggplant parmigiana sounds divine.
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