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April 27, 2010

Crappy Mondays

Filed under: Random — jen @ 9:03 pm

This is the movie made about my day yesterday. They made it before the actual day, though. Weird.

Okay, so even though I don’t work in an office anymore, I still dread Mondays. I think I was born with this hatred for Mondays. I’ve tried to be positive on that wretched day of the week many times, but within 10 minutes, I’m done. I can’t get the coffee made fast enough and the kids are screaming that they’re hungry (such audacity!) and the dog is barking at a rock outside and all of it just leads me back to hating the start of the week and wanting to run away.

Nothing good ever happens on Mondays. Nothing. Any other day of the week, I can find something to look forward to, like coffee with my friend Heidi (Tuesdays), getting out of the house alone for an hour (Wednesday nights), watching the shows I DVR’d (Thursday nights) and then, it’s the weekend. (I just read that sentence; how pathetic is my life?) So can someone please give me a tip on how to at least tolerate Mondays? I mean, if I could sleep through the whole day I would, but I don’t think the kids would last more than 10 minutes without me (they’re so needy).

And nobody else seems to like Mondays either, so we’re just a bunch of cranky people roaming the planet trying to make it through the day without punching each other in the groin. And Mondays seem to last forever. It’s the longest day of the week. It’s a mystery to me. Maybe Scotland Yard should give up on that whole “Great Train Robbery” thing and work on why the hell Mondays last longer than any other day.

Every Monday I wake up hoping it will be different, that I won’t dread that day. I also hope the wrinkles on my face will be gone every time I look in the mirror, but that has yet to happen. When will I learn? I know, I should be thankful for my beautiful children and my dashing husband and my lovely home and I am, really. Tuesday through Sunday.

April 23, 2010

Happy Birthday Mama!

Filed under: Random — jen @ 7:36 am

Today is my mama’s birthday and in honor of this special day, I’d like to tell you a bit about the woman who put up with me for oh so many years.

She grew up with three brothers, not easy. She was (and still is) a beautiful woman (I look nothing like her). It’s my understanding that she has a wonderful singing voice. I don’t recall ever hearing her sing, but I remember when we would clean the house listening to her Gordon Lightfoot and John Denver records, she hummed quite a bit. By the way, I still know every word to every John Denver and Gordon Lightfoot song. I will sing them whenever I hear a song, regardless of where I am or who is around, even when they ask me to stop. If she sounds anything like I do when I sing, then whoever told me she had a great voice is a big fat liar.

I remember our holidays were always fabulous – Christmas was filled with music and laughter and way too many presents. I don’t know how they did it, but we were never disappointed.

I remember watching old black and white movies together. I don’t know what they were, but I know that the appreciation I have for the classics is a result of that.

I remember going to church every Sunday, even when there was three feet of snow on the ground and we had to walk there. That’s dedication. I also learned to sit still and keep quiet when you’re really bored, because my mom can squeeze your hand harder than any vice grip if you complained about it. She also can shoot you a look that will truly put the fear of God in you. Quite apropos for church, I guess.

She taught me the importance of being polite and using manners, to open doors for people and to always treat people with respect. I’ve taught my children the same. Most people don’t teach their kids that anymore and it makes me a little sad.

She worked her entire life at the same company and retired just a few years ago; I don’t know anybody who can do that anymore – no such thing as job security – I got laid off after 6 years. I don’t think I could last anywhere for over 40 years like she did, even if I wanted to (which I really don’t). I know she would have rather stayed home with the three of us kids, but she had to work and for that, I’m very appreciative. She loves her family and her grandchildren mean the world to her.

So for that and so much more, thanks Mom – I love you and I hope you have a great day!

April 21, 2010

Awkward Much?

Filed under: kids,Me,Random — jen @ 6:23 pm

I guess it could have been worse. For me, that is.

So you know how you’re standing around with people you kind of know, but not really, so it’s mostly just all small talk? I’m not very good at it; I get nervous and usually say something stupid or something that doesn’t make sense.

I was standing in the hallway at Tess’s school, waiting for them to finish up for the day. I was standing between two moms, listening and nodding along. One mom is a teacher at the school, and she always comes down to say “hi” to her son who’s in the preschool class. She’s really nice and actually went to school with my husband. The other woman is one of those moms who knows everybody and is always “willing to offer” advice, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, so they were talking about joining the neighborhood pool. From what I understand, it’s a nice little pool and they have parties and things like that, but there’s a very long waiting list. It’s the first thing everyone in the neighborhood asked me when we moved in. It’s the place to be and be seen around here. Let’s be honest, I have no intention of spending several hundred dollars to chase Jack around the pool while I get burnt to a crisp (translucent skin – I’m a redhead, remember?) and make sure none of the other kids pick on Tess. I am not above shoving a snotty little girl down, people, and blaming it on my clumsiness.

So the teacher mom says they were number 73 on the list, but actually got in. And I said something like, “Yeah, we were going to put our names on the list but I didn’t get to it this year.” She apparently heard something totally different and said, “Oh, you didn’t get in? What number were you?” Now, because I get nervous and don’t like to correct people I don’t really know (or who may play some part in shaping my children’s future), I didn’t repeat what I said. Instead, I chose: “Oh, I can’t remember, I just know we didn’t get in.” She looked at me like I was the biggest weirdo-liar she’d ever met. An extremely long, awkward pause followed.  Awesome.

The conversation between the two moms continued and I tried to kind of slink away from them, but the hallway is really narrow and Jack was holding on to my leg, so I looked more like a peg-legged pirate trying to avoid the spotlight while escaping from the prison yard. Yeah, totally nonchalant.

So, my only option now is to pretend like that never happened. But I can’t do that, because now whenever I see either of them, I’m going to be thinking that they think I’m a weirdo-liar, which means when I do see them, my face will turn bright red and I will upchuck a bunch of words on them which will further the notion that I am indeed a weirdo. Thank God there’s only a month left of school. I think putting three months between us will lessen my weirdo-liar status. Of course, when school starts in the fall, I’ll have another whole year to present my awkwardness to a new group of parents. My poor kids are so screwed.

April 14, 2010

Prom Before Time

Filed under: kids — jen @ 8:49 pm

You can't see the flowers she has in her hair, or the curls I put in, but she's still adorable.

I love Tessa’s preschool. Today they had their annual preschool prom, and the theme was, you guessed it, “Prom Before Time.” Now, I thought that meant you know, they’re way too young to be having a prom, so yeah, it’s before their time. But it was actually a take on the movie “Land Before Time.” Dinosaurs. Not forcing teenage rites-of-passage on pre-k kiddies.

All I could think of was a bunch of four year-olds planning post prom parties: “No, you totally look at least six – I bet you could get us some candy from Kwik Shop.” All the little ones lying to their parents about whose house they’d be staying at, when really they’d be hopping the fence at some park after hours so they could get some sandbox and slide action.

But I digress.  Their preschool room was decorated with streamers, there was a place for pictures AND the girls got corsages and the boys got boutineers. Seriously – how cute is that? They did in fact have post-prom activities, which included making dinosaur “fossils” and Wilma Flintstone-esque “bone” necklaces.

Jack and I got to school early and watched as all the little girls, dressed in their fanciest dresses, twirled and danced to some Raffi-type version of “Walking on Sunshine” (total prom song!).The little boys had all taken off their ties and were throwing them around and kind of slam dancing with each other. A few girls were sitting on the “bleachers” crying. So I guess maybe it wasn’t before their time. It was exactly like my high school prom, only my daughter was having a good time.

Jack made his way out to the dance floor and was shaking his moneymaker with some blonde girl and ignoring all the other kids who were trying to cut in. He finally spotted Tessa and ditched the blonde to go be with his “T” (that’s what he calls Tess, “Sweet T”). It was glorious.

One of the teachers came up to me to tell me how proud she was of Tess.  There’s a little boy in the class who has some developmental issues. He didn’t speak at the beginning of the year and he mainly associates with his teacher. Interacting with the other kids is very hard for him, but he’s taken a shine to my girl. She’s the only one he will sit near and I believe he’s even said “bye” to her. The teacher said he’s up to about five words now.

When the promsters (prommers? promenaders?) paraded through the school to show off their Sunday best, this little boy walked over to Tess and held her hand during the parade. The teacher said she is always very patient with him and very kind. When it came time to have prom pictures taken, the little boy walked up to Tess and they had their picture taken together. The teacher said he had a very big grin on his face. Tess has always been so mature for her age and kind hearted, it doesn’t surprise me at all. What surprises me is that she came from my womb.

So there you have it. Preschool Prom. Graduation is on May 19th. We’re going to have the biggest Kool-Aid kegger you’ve ever seen.

April 7, 2010

Randomicity

Filed under: kids,Random — jen @ 10:09 pm

No More Potty Breaks

As every parent knows, you really can’t leave your little ones alone for more than a minute. I made the unfortunate mistake of emptying my bladder this morning, thus leaving my children alone for that one, crucial minute. In that time, my son had become parched, wandered into the kids’ bathroom, found a plastic tea cup that we use as a bathtub toy, dipped it into the toilet and took a nice big swig.

Tess burst into my bathroom and yelled, “Jack’s drinking from the toilet, just like a dog!” and ran out. So, with my pants almost up to my waist, belt jingling,  I rushed to the bathroom just as Jack was going back for seconds. I screamed “NO!” which scared him into dropping the cup and he screamed back at me “NO!”  Let me tell you, there is not enough toothpaste in the world to make a mom feel better about her child not having toilet germs in her toddler’s mouth. I still gag a little bit when I think about it. I think he’s okay, but I’ll be brushing his teeth for the 46th time when he wakes up from his nap.

Seriously, I was gone for less than a minute.

This is a good lumberjack and he's okay!

This is a good lumberjack (and he's okay)!

Lower My . . . what the. . . ?

Have you seen the pop-up ads for lower my bills dot com (I’m not giving them free click-throughs)? The bold headline screams to you that “Refi rates are at the lowest they’ve ever been!”  or something exciting like that. But have you noticed the pictures they use? One looks like a lumberjack rapist and the other is an old man who looks like he’s trying to figure out who the hell that person is that’s standing in front of him and why they’re trying to steal his soul with that magic light box.

I know that advertisements aren’t cheap, but really, there are a lot of sites out there that offer stock photography that wasn’t taken in a prison or by someone who likes to sneak up on dementia patients in a nursing home. Am I, your audience, supposed to relate to these people? Because all I’m wondering is if either of these people even lives in a house. I’m guessing Lumberjack is serving 5-10 in Chino and I think it’s safe to say the old man doesn’t even know what town he’s in. (I am not making fun of the elderly, I’m making fun of the picture, so back off.) It doesn’t create enough curiosity for me to click on your ad. It makes me feel sad and dirty.

Let’s spend the extra $8 and buy a picture that has someone who looks like they haven’t committed a felony recently and make sure they’re under the age of say, 90.

I know everyone uses this picture. I'm okay with that.

Dedicated to the Whore Who Stole My Shoes

My husband ordered something from zappos.com and it was delivered to our old address (we haven’t lived there in over a year). So, I thought I would zip on over there to see if I could get it from the “new” owners.  It was almost 10 o’clock in the morning, so I assumed if anyone was home, they would be up, right? I mean, I’m up, so you should be too.

I parked the car and ran up to the door – I saw the flower pots I left were still there and that they really needed to trim the bushes under the window, but whatever. I rang the doorbell. I heard a dog bark. I heard someone whisper-yell “shut up!” I looked through the window next to the door – I saw a woman poke her head around the corner of the staircase. I rang the bell again. I thought, I know you’re there – I used to do that same move, lady.

She finally threw the door open and in a very unfriendly tone said, “Yeah?” I replied, “Hi there, sorry to bother you, but did you get a package delivered here yesterday by chance?” I gave her my nicest fake smile.  “Uh, yeah, my husband gave it to the neighbor.” I said, “He. . . gave it to a neighbor? Do you know which one?”  “NO!” and she slammed the door in my face.

Can you guess what I thought at that moment? I bet you can. You would have thought it too.

Who slams a door in the face of someone who is inquiring about a package that they’re missing? I mean, I know 10 a.m. is early and all, but you could have just NOT gotten out of bed and waited until you heard me drive away if you didn’t want to deal with the whole ‘open the door and use my words’ thing. It’s obviously mine – it’s not a new scam – there’s no gang of ordinary looking women wandering around neighborhoods ringing doorbells and asking if a package was delivered to you by mistake. And really, you don’t know who your husband gave it to? When he said, “Hey we got this package and it doesn’t have our names on it” did he put a blindfold on you and spin you around so you wouldn’t see which neighbor he was giving it to? Weren’t you curious as to whom he gave it to you and why?

And who gives a package obviously sent to your house in error to their neighbor? “Hey, Phil. Say, I got this package addressed to somebody else, do you want it or anything? I thought it would be easier to wait until you got home, walk all the way over here – of course I didn’t tell the wife where I was going – and ask you if you wanted a package that isn’t mine. I don’t have enough time to call the toll-free number right here on the address label.”

Isn’t tampering with mail a federal offense? Can I have them arrested?

By the way, zappos resent the package – overnight, actually – at no charge. It was a new pair of Converse sneakers my husband bought for me. Awww. . . had I known that before I went to the old place, I would have made sure I had it in my possession before I left.

Now I don’t feel so bad about all the crap we shoved under the back deck before we moved.

April 2, 2010

Check It Out

Filed under: Random,Writing — jen @ 7:37 pm

I like your moves.

Wasn’t that a sitcom in the 80s starring Don Adams – the guy from the original “Get Smart”?

Anyhoo, I found two great blogs and want my two favorite readers to know they’re out there:

http://www.scarymommy.com/

Found Scary Mommy on Twitter, and I’m totally diggin’ her style. She seems like the kind of gal I’d be friends with, or at the very least, get drunk with at some company function and sit in the corner making snarky comments about people with her.

The other blog is http://playgroupsarenoplaceforchildren.com/  I found this blog through Scary Mommy.

This one is very well written, she seems a little sassy and she has some good tips and advice for all us mommies.

So, next time you’re trying to look busy at work, check out these two bloggers. I know I will the next time Jack is fumbling through the cutlery drawer and Tess is painting the walls in my bedroom with neon colored poster paints.

Have a super Easter weekend!

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