Yesterday was spent rather quietly as my oldest little person attended take-your-kid-to-work day with his father. I bonded with the girls. I also tried to log as much of his work as I could from the past month, but it is so freaking boring. I am glad I am not any sort of data entry person. I missed him. It was the first time he had been away from me in a very long time. I think it was very good for him though. He needed some interaction with other children as well as some bonding time with his dad.
At any rate, he had a grand time. He was among approximately fifty children. There was a tour by "the leader" of the company that included the roof of the building (he said something about that being part of a dream the leader had so he took them up there). There were lots of games and sugar. There was even a clown who taught them how to make their own balloon animals. He went out to lunch alone with his dad. Then later in the afternoon he hung out in his dad's office and played games on the computer. He was very wired when he got home.
I spent the afternoon thinking about how much I really want to get out of here for awhile. I need some wide open spaces. The problem isn't coming up with the money or the time. The problem is that it isn't part of the "big picture" right now. It probably won't even be an option for at least another year and a half. It is going to be a very long wait. I hope I find some patience.
Posted by gwendolyn on April 27, 2001 at 09:12 AM
I forgot to mention that my little person's tadpole committed suicide this past weekend. It was awful. We had to keep it in the little plastic clear container with a lid that just rested on top while it was a tadpole. We couldn't transfer it into the habitat until it grew all of it's legs and lost it's tail. It had back legs when it came in the mail.
So we had been feeding it and changing the water and all of that stuff without too much happening. At some point (while we were all in the room with it) on Saturday morning, it had somehow jumped around like it usually does and shifted the lid off of the top half way. Then a few minutes later it must have jumped again and it ended up out of the container and slid down the wall and onto the floor. I don't know how long it was like that before I noticed it was missing from the container, but when I found it, it was still breathing. So we put it back in and it lived for about three hours and then died. It was sad.
My babies were heartbroken. My oldest little person is now lamenting that he "just isn't a pet person". His goldfish died within a week after we got it. His sisters is still growing even after a year! Now his tadpole died shortly after he got it, and the poor thing had been waiting on it to get here since Christmas. I don't know what to tell him except that he has to realize that to have pets means that you have to accept that these things happen. He has such a hard time dealing with it :(
We were walking through Walmart today and happened to pass the pet department. He gave me a funny look and said, "Don't tell me you are thinking of getting me another pet." I wasn't thinking of it. We were just passing through that section. I felt awful.
Posted by gwendolyn on April 25, 2001 at 06:36 PM
I have somehow managed to make it onto the entire universe's "Do not email. Ever. For any reason!" list. I wonder if it was something I said...
Posted by gwendolyn on at 10:13 AM
I finally recovered from the enormous headache that the cigar gave me yesterday afternoon. I guess that is why I don't sit around anymore drinking booze with a cigar hanging out of my mouth all of the time. Not to mention I would look very unhouswifeslashmotherly like.
I guess I have to come to terms with the fact that I am getting old. I can't just run to the grocery in my Misfits T-shirts and Dr. Marten ten holes (although my monkey would be tickled pink if I did). These days I am Supermom. That stuff would clash with my red pinstriped apron and matching hair scrunchie. Imagine me and the whole tribe of little people pulling into the parking lot of Publix with the windows rolled down and Violent Femmes blaring on the CD player, me and the little people dancing and singing along...oh wait, that has happened. Hee :) Okay, so I am not June Cleaver, sue me. You'll never find a Barney sing-along in my vehicle.
We do, however, enjoy our Disney mp3s a great deal. So I guess I'm not all bad :)
Posted by gwendolyn on at 09:23 AM
Are you a redneck if you like George Strait, own (not one but two) sexy pairs of cowboy boots, watch that new show with Billy Ray Cyrus every Sunday night, consider spending Sunday afternoons in front of the television in your pajamas rooting for #8 mandatory, and dream of someday living in a camper? Okay, I didn't think so either. I just have this friend...and she was kind of wondering.
Posted by gwendolyn on April 24, 2001 at 03:36 PM
Oh yeah...now I remember why I am here. Sitting on the balcony, watching the palms blow in the breeze, drinking Captain Morgan's and OJ, smoking a Dominican cigar and listening to Jimmy Buffet. Suddenly it is all rushing back :)
Posted by gwendolyn on at 03:02 PM
I have to do more cleaning today. Who thought up the idea of three full bathrooms in a three bedroom apartment? For that matter, what idiot approved that plan? Unless you have three adults living in one apartment who are willing and able to clean all of these bathrooms, it isn't a good idea.
Note to all housewives and moms out there: You might really want to think hard about how much you like to scrub toilets before you agree to three bathrooms in one home.
I sort of abandoned the "spring cleaning" portion of this little adventure. I am really not up for washing down all of the baseboards and walls and shampooing the carpets again already. It is hard enough to just clear a decent path through some of these rooms.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 09:03 AM
Mercy! I haven't updated for over a week! It has been a horrible week for our tribe. My monkey ended up being very sick. He spent the entire week in bed and in pain. I finally convinced him to go to the doctor on Tuesday. By Friday he was a lot worse and the doctor he went to didn't seem to concerned about him going through the weekend like that. So Saturday morning he finally agreed to go to the ER. I guess when you wake up with a fever of 102F and your feet are no longer just red and swollen, but are also black and blue and you still don't know why...you tend to be more cooperative about the whole needing medical attention thing. Thankfully, the ER doctor and nurse were pleasant and seemed to actually want to help. By Sunday night he could actually walk around for a few minutes at a time. He is now going on day three of steroids, antibiotics, and pain medication. They still have no idea what is wrong with him though. That isn't very comforting. He went to work this morning. He probably shouldn't have. I hope he is okay. I have a feeling that he won't come home even if he is too sick to stay there :(
I am going to be spring cleaning this week. I have visitors coming from Indiana this coming weekend and I am just now freaking out about the way the apartment looks. It is pretty trashed because of the events of the week. Everything could use a good scrubbing and airing out. So I am off to tackle that. I am estimating that it will take me the whole week to get this place in tip top shape. The idea of cleaning ALL week blows though.
Posted by gwendolyn on April 23, 2001 at 09:41 AM
I am very disappointed to report that there is no race today. I had even showered and put on fresh pajamas just for this race too! I am sitting here flipping channels and watching my sickly monkey sleep. My little people are entertaining themselves with a Jack Hannah Animal Bloopers video in the girls' room. My oldest little person is curled up in his Rugrats sleeping bag reading X-Men the Movie for the fourth or fifth time. All is peaceful, at least for the moment.
We did the Easter bunny thing this morning. It was pretty cool. I threw out all of my convictions and ate enough candy to make me repent for at least a year. I am already paying the price. I feel like a truck hit me.
I am not sure what is wrong with my monkey. It is starting to worry me. It took him about five minutes to walk down the stairs this morning. He is experiencing severe joint/ muscle pain all over and his wrists, feet, and ankles are swelling and red. I gave him some pain medicine and he went to sleep. I am thinking it is an infection in his blood. But, of course, I am not a doctor.
My maternal instincts say I need to watch him closely today. He won’t go to the doctor. He is a very stubborn primate. Sometimes that makes me SO frustrated! Men are very infantile when they are sick, but they are very reluctant to take measures to prevent sickness or cure themselves. They would rather wallow in self-pity and demand attention. Sorry for the generalization, I am just venting…I love my monkey… even if he is making me nuts.
Posted by gwendolyn on April 15, 2001 at 02:01 PM
I found a website of a woman who makes these sort of gift baskets and she averaged the cost at approximately $20.00 per basket. I just did the math, and if even if I could swing keeping the average cost of supplies at $20.00 per basket for the women, $20.00 per basket for the children, and $40.00 per basket for the men (higher considering the liquor cost) it would cost me approximately $1,010.00 to make them!
Posted by gwendolyn on April 13, 2001 at 02:35 PM
And it went a lil sumpthin' like this:
eatonte: I just ate a piece of chocolate from Paris.
gw3nd0lyn: you suck
eatonte: *Someone* bought it near the Eiffel Tower.
gw3nd0lyn: well she sucks too :) just teasing
eatonte: She just came back from there yesterday and was letting people have some.
gw3nd0lyn: people who have been to cool places that I haven't been to all suck
eatonte: hehe
Posted by gwendolyn on at 01:47 PM
Yesterday, I came up with the idea of creating gift baskets for people in our family and our friends for Christmas. I would like to give gifts that are not something that get thrown into the closet. For example, this past Christmas we got my brother-in-law a refill pack of blades and a stand for his Headblade that we bought him the previous year. I had no idea that in the few weeks before Christmas he had decided that he was not going to be a bald man any longer.
I came up with a few ideas. It was fairly easy because I have been contemplating the ever-popular gift-in-a-jar idea. I see these gifts in stores and they appeal to me. I am very fond of presents that are either very small and pricey (Jewelry, Victoria’s Secret) or consumable (Godiva, The Body Shop customized gift basket).
So, I was trying to think of something really personal and cool to make for the ladies. I came up with the idea of making baskets up with sort of a theme to them. My personal favorite thing to do is sit in a hot bath with candles and smelly good stuff and read while sipping on flavored coffee or cocoa. So I thought that a relaxing bath would be a good theme.
Each basket will contain a decorated jar of bath salts with a little scoop attached with ribbon, a decorated jar of either cocoa or an herbal tea blend with a recipe and a measuring spoon attached, a scented candle coordinating with the fragrance of the salts, one huge pretty mug and saucer, coordinating decorative soaps, a small book, and possibly a bath sachet (like a tea bag of herbs for the bath) depending on my ability to find the materials to make them. I am also debating making a cake-in-a-jar to add to it, but I haven’t decided yet. It will be kind of like a “picnic basket” for one.
For the children, I have come up with a gift that will have to be sent well in advance and opened on Christmas Eve morning. It will contain a jar of sugar cookie mix with a recipe and assorted cookie cutters attached to it with ribbon. An envelope containing “sparkly magic dust that you sprinkle on top of the cookies you bake for Santa, and make your Christmas wishes with” (colored sugar) and an attached poem that I will have to make up when I think of a good name for it. Also, a decorated container of “Reindeer food” with an attached poem for how it works, some soap crayons (I am going to try to incorporate a silly poem or story or something into that about having to be squeaky clean and wash behind your ears or else you might just get a lump of coal in your stocking), a small book with a Christmas theme, and several “candies” that I am going to make (gift wrapped cardboard tubes filled with various Christmas candy that are shaped like huge wrapped candies).
As for the men, I don’t have a clue. I had thought of the idea of going with a New Year’s Eve theme because it comes up right after Christmas. The only thing I could think of was various little bottles of liquor (and I could print out various mixed drink recipes to go with) and a shot glass along with some party mixes of nuts and snack food, a mix-in-a-jar for some party dip type things. Most of the men I know drink. They drink a lot! There are usually various parties going on and this would seem to be a good idea. I could even incorporate a Super Bowl theme into it if I got really creative because that comes up in January. Right? I am just not married to it because of the cost of the bottles of liquor. Besides, it may be a really stupid idea. I just don’t know.
I thought that this would be a good project to get the little people involved in. How thrilling it would be to them to get to actually help make soap crayons, reindeer food, and cocoa mix! Plus, they could help me decorate the jars and that sort of thing. It’s just an idea.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 01:25 PM
Unless you personally help coordinate an Easter Egg hunt yourself, making sure that the littlest people are allowed to get at least a three minute head start on the biggest little people, and you also make sure that there are more then plenty of eggs for each child... then don't bother. My little people didn't have a chance. I had forgotten that it is spring break for the public school children. This meant that even the most ill mannered heathen child would be there to participate even though they were clearly too old to be allowed to plow over the toddlers. My three little people found a total of three eggs. They were a bit disappointed that there weren't more, but were still easily convinced each egg with a piece of candy inside was indeed a grand treasure and happily we trotted home. The prizes for finding the six eggs that contained smiley faces were a prepackaged basket full of goodies for each egg. I happen to catch a glimpse of one of the proud winners who was approximately three. That made the event a little brighter for me. At least a twelve year old didn't walk away with all of the booty.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 11:21 AM
Yesterday I wrote this HUGE heartfelt, soul searching, huge, meaningful, huge, inspirational, (did I mention it was huge?) entry about realizations I have been having about being myself, being the mother that I am, being the "teacher" that I want to be, and being the nurturer that I am trying to be. It took a long time and a lot of energy to write all of it down. So when I got the error message saying that "blogger was full..." (yeah, full! can ya believe it?) and I had just shut down Word and not saved it as a document, my mouth hung open in terror for at least a full thirty minutes. My "best of the cool" monkey suggested I retype it all, but I was so heartbroken and mad at blogger that I just didn't feel like it.
I am on my way to an Easter egg hunt. On my own, with three little people in a crowd of screaming, frantic children. Yes, I am a glutton for punishment. But my Rockin' Mom points should go way up for it!
Posted by gwendolyn on at 08:24 AM
We went swimming this morning/afternoonish at our friends' house. It is a very nice house. In a pretty tranquil setting. Lots of sunny windows and mirrored walls and everywhere there were sliding glass doors opening up to the screened in inground pool. I wondered if being there in an actual house, at the end of an actual street, in an actual neighborhood would make me want to hurry up and buy a four bedroom house with a pool here.
As lovely as it was, it didn't.
She asked about our intentions, wondering if we were going to buy a house here. How do you explain to someone that you would prefer to be a nomad? It is just the sort of thing that makes people think you are nuts. So I didn't elaborate on it much. I said that I was not planning to buy a house at all. And that we would most likely move around a bit more in the future.
Yesterday, while leaving the park, I took a drive back into the camping area of the park. I just couldn't resist checking out the camping sites and the hookups and the playground and stuff that was back there. There were some really nice RV's back there with slide outs and big awnings all rolled out with hammocks and picnic tables spread out under them. I could smell the camp fires and the charcoal grills...
Posted by gwendolyn on April 11, 2001 at 04:31 PM
Yesterday's park day with the support group went much smoother than last month. The little people were still very introverted but did the best they could to mingle. The other parents there were nice and we had some interesting conversations. I suddenly felt much better. I guess I needed to talk to someone who does the same job I do. Sometimes I start to feel alien about the whole thing.
There are a lot of unschoolers that attended park day yesterday. I really admire their courage in complete nonconformity. I wish I had the confidence to let go of the traditional way of doing this. I am still struggling and pushing him to complete workbooks and write papers. Something that I am noticing he wants to wean himself from. A few days ago he made the suggestion that instead of doing "bookwork" that day he would like to do alternative projects that would still have learning value. Normally I would have embraced this as an opportunity to learn through living, yet instead I pushed for him to do his bookwork first. I guess I am still too worried about standards and fulfilling social expectations of what education should be about. I am still too stuck in that frame of mind. I don't want to fail him. I don't want him to suffer in the long run because I didn't approach this the proper way. I guess since I know that he can do the bookwork accurately and with very little effort, I just assume that he should be doing it.
Today we are invited over to swim at a fellow homeschoolers home and have lunch. This family is the only family we have ever socialized with outside of the support group. That is because, before they bought their new house, they lived in the same neighborhood as us. We met for play dates a couple of times. They are nice people although we don't spend time with them on a regular basis.
On a personal level, I feel very tired lately. My eating habits have become a big blur of disgustingness. For example, mashed potatoes and gravy are very yummy in theory, but they are very polluting. I have that feeling you get after a large Thanksgiving dinner. I have had this horrible full bloaty nasty feeling everyday for the last two weeks. Yesterday I contributed it to the multiple peanut butter and strawberry preserve sandwiches that I had to eat. I ended up eating mine, and most of the girls' because they didn't even touch theirs, out of stupid habit. The really odd thing is, that this morning I have that gross polluted feeling and all I have had is a large glass of orange juice and a couple of saltines to settle my yucky stomach. I have not done anything resembling a workout in months. I think this just amplifies the lethargic haze I am in. I get off balance easily. Then I am easily sucked into that downward spiral that is laziness. My self-confidence and ability to cope with the everyday ordinary emotional happenings is greatly diminished when I feel this way. I hate it.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 09:16 AM
The birthday party went well. My little people were very pleased with the family effort. They helped make the cake and daddy decorated it with a picture of a dolphin and waves and a sun. We decorated with balloons and streamers and everything. I don't think she was disappointed at all with the fact that it was just "us".
The weekend went very fast. It was spent cooking in our pajamas. I think we have come to the conclusion that tofu isn't ever going to be a part of our vocabulary. I am finding it very hard to adjust to vegan cooking. I think this is primarily because I grew up on fried chicken and mashed potatoes with brown gravy and real butter. Eating vegan recipes with their unusual ingredients is definately an aquired taste. I have been doing this for awhile now. I have decided it would be best to save my time and money by just sticking to the basic veggies and fruit and store bought whole grain breads. I made some relatively easy recipes for green onion cornbread stuffing, vegan mayo and vegan "ranch" dip for veggie trays this weekend. All of which went into the trash. I don't think it is my fault. They just didn't taste like they should have. I guess I am just not willing to settle for food that doesn't taste good to me. I would rather just eat salads and veggie subs and skip all of that tofu crap. The stuffing would definately have been good had it been made with regular cornbread! The fresh spices and celery and onion rocked. It was the bread that I had to make to use in the recipe that was gross. So, that is my take on the whole thing. I would rather have to eat a product containing eggs than eat yucky food. I will continue to avoid that though.
The Nascar race came and went and I missed most of it because I was cooking :( Next Sunday we are just eating smoothies for breakfast and breadsticks and pizza sauce for lunch! I am sure my monkey and all my little people will be happy to hear that!
Posted by gwendolyn on April 09, 2001 at 11:20 AM
Not to mention Harry Connick Jr. could sing the phone book to me and I would still swoon.
Posted by gwendolyn on April 05, 2001 at 02:31 PM
Why can't I sing "When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2 just like Sarah? It just isn't fair.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 02:09 PM
Tomorrow is my middle little person's fourth birthday. It just kind of hits me like a brick. I am not sure what was going on over the last four years that made me not realize she was suddenly growing up. But she did. And as thrilled and proud as I am that she grew into a beautiful bright princess, it is breaking my heart into a million pieces that she isn't my little toddler anymore. I want to hit the rewind button and watch it all over in slow motion.
Posted by gwendolyn on April 04, 2001 at 10:48 PM
Okay. I am fighting the temptation to add all of my RV links to Other Voices :) I guess not many people would be interested in GVWR ratings, GAWR ratings, payload capacities, diesel pushers vs. gasoline, towing packages, floorplan options...nah I didn't think so :)
Posted by gwendolyn on at 03:02 PM
I am noticing that my Other Voices list is fairly short. I am also noticing that out of those very few...only a couple of them are updated regularly. I have a whole list of bookmarked things I read. I just only listed a few here. I had originally decided that I would not keep links on there that weren't updated daily, as looking at the same entry a hundred times is very boring. So, I am going to have to think about that for a bit and make some changes.
Posted by gwendolyn on at 10:02 AM
I have probably never mentioned that I am not what you would call a "pet person". Meaning, I do not really like pets all that much. I have considered getting a puppy over the last year. I still don't have one. Why? Because dogs fart a lot and lick themselves and there really isn't anything you can say to them that will humiliate them enough to not do it in your presence.
So anyway, we have had a goldfish for the last year. It is a smelly, slimy goldfish whose tank is disgusting to clean. Guess who has cleaned it every single time? It blows.
My sister-in-law purchased two gifts for our little people this past Christmas that I hadn’t really dreaded until now. One is a butterfly observatory type thing. The other is a tadpole/frog habitat. Yesterday the tadpole came in the mail. ‘nuff said.
Posted by gwendolyn on April 03, 2001 at 10:10 AM
Here is a picture of our tribe from the wedding we went to. I wish we had thought to take some pictures of all of us dressed up. I guess we put it off because we were so busy chasing the little people and then we ended up not getting to stay dressed up for long. But we looked pretty good while we were!
Posted by gwendolyn on April 02, 2001 at 11:33 AM