|
Monday, November 25, 2002 Monday, Monday It's a true Monday and the frustration levels are high. I still haven't heard back from the gentlman I'm freelancing for - his project has been a mish-mash of delayed miscommunication between us that has resulted in me doing a lot of work for free (cause I am a sucker) and I still have not seen the payment that was supposedly on its way last Friday. Grrr. Meanwhile, my plan to make money on Cafepress was stymied by the fact that I am only allowed one items of each type in a free store - ergo, I'm probably going to buy a site to build up today. It'a a small price, but pennies really count right now. Perhaps I'll see if the Plasma Center is open... :) ------------------------------------------------
Friday, November 22, 2002 Take This Job and Shove It One of the individuals I hang out with everyday a work has decided to leave after a haranging she received from her boss yesterday. Although it has building for some time, I feel that having her over in my office yesterday precipitated the whole fiasco, so I hope she finds alternative employment soon. ------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, November 20, 2002 Designer on Crack We're all sick here now. Parker has another ear infection and is back on the nebulizer. as he's finding it difficult to breath. I've missed two days of work, only to bring myself in at the end of the day to see if which logo design the UF committee I am on would choose for its new logo. As I wa gathering the votes, I heard one of the committee members say "It looks like two of the logos are on drugs". Well how hurtful is that? Lady, I spent a lot of time coming of with creative executions of the committee's names, and worked hard in developing designs that might appeal to the students of this University, who are our primary targets in information campaigns. I didn't lazily throw these out, and they aren't anywhere as wild or freakish as you may think. After looking at the votes, it looks as though the Committee voted to keep the original logo I designed, which in my opinion is pretty weak and won't appeal to students in general AT ALL. But I guess the community has spoken. Maybe I'm being too critical of my endeavours and finished products. On the way to work, I had to swerve to miss two neighborhood dogs that were in the middle of an intersection. This was made worse by the fact that a car was coming from the other direction as well. He swerved to miss them, and in the process rolled down his window and spat on them. Then, unbelievably, unless my sight failed me, he pulled into the driveway of the house where those dogs live. They are his own dogs! What kind of sadistic moron is he? ------------------------------------------------
Friday, November 15, 2002 Kornbluth was Right As marine biologist Walter Kornbluth said in Splash "What a week I'm having!
Meanwhile, the whole work week has been dominated by a project with dozens of little idiosyncracies and errors, and my freelance work has been dominated by two large projects in which the buyers have yet to really communicate with me or provide the retainer fee, let alone agree to the contract. Susan says this is what happens when Mercury is in retrograde. To me, it seems Mercury has gone so far into reverse in must've crashed into the sun. ------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, November 06, 2002 Gimme a Mess of Ballots! I'm a-Votin'! ------------------------------------------------
Did You Miss Us? The site is finally back up. Some time this week our hosting company decided to move many of their accounts to a new server. The transition went smoothly, except quite a few of the website domain names went kaput for a few days. It's truly funny how you don't miss something until it goes away - I was getting more and more frustrated every hour I couldn't blog or view the site! ------------------------------------------------
Monday, November 04, 2002 Happy Belated Hallow's Eve!  ------------------------------------------------
Mad-Max in the Parking Lot This morning I parked in a lot I like to call the Sardine Can. To turn in, you must make a 360-degree right turn. Invariably, the first cars in that take the first space overshoot the spaces, but never back up and try again. The result is that the first two cars typically take up three or four parking spaces, or some fraction thereof, thereby making each car after them fit in ever more tightening spaces. When I arrived today, only two or three spaces were left open. These spaces are generally about as wide as five Gwyneth Paltrow clones standing back to back. I believe at Rock City they call these types of spaces “Fat Man’s Squeeze”. Luckily, I still drive an 89 Honda Accord, the Dom Perignon of the compact car. It can fit in any space, some so tight that I have to leave the car via the trunk (which I have, by occasion. Must be the Mr. Bean in me). Today this was not the case, and I managed to extricate myself through the two inch gap of my open door by contorting in a way that I only thought Transformers were able to do (Transform from 15 foot-tall-robot to cassette tape). Unfortunately, I believe the gentleman seated in the car to my right is unable to perform such acrobatic feats, based on the icy, hateful glare he gave me as I pulled into the space. Hey, don’t look at me, Buddy. You’re the one who chose to read his paper in his car while drinking coffee while your doom was approaching. Perhaps he’ll get out through his door. Perhaps through the passenger door. Or the sunroof. Or the trunk. You’ll still have dignity – sort of. Then again, maybe he’ll still be sitting there when I come back. If I am still at the University come next renewal phase, I think I’ll consider getting rid of my parking decal altogether and park exclusively down at the pothole-ridden Trophy Shop back lot. It’s free, only three blocks farther, and no double-jointedness is required. ------------------------------------------------
Sunday, November 03, 2002 Beat the Flu It seems that the vitamin and juice cocktails have done the trick - the fever is gone and no other signs of the flu or other sickness, except for some muscle aches. I took Parker to the store last night in some too-small sneakers. I was fine with it until someone commented on it, and then I felt a bit self-conscious. Guess its time to buy him some new shoes. ------------------------------------------------
Friday, November 01, 2002 Halloween Horde Halloween this year had more children than last year, but they came in packs of 20-30, flanked by units of multiple parents/chaperones in cars and trucks. Actually, they reminded me of cubs from Logan's Run, so they fit in the theme, but no one ever asked me who I was supposed to be, so hey. We took Parker to several neighbors houses until he finally decided he had had enough of the costume, so we brought him home. Today I started to feel sick, and got a temp of 102. Here's to OJ, Zinc, and Vitamin C - hope they help me stopping this before it begins. ------------------------------------------------
|
|
Monday, November 18, 2002 We live in Florida. It's chilly. Sad part is, the house is only at 70 degrees-F. I used to love cool to cold weather. "Bring on snow!!", I'd say. I'm feeling like a wuss. Of course, it might help if I wore other than my summer wardrobe, hunh? ------------------------------------------------
Parker appears to be sick again. He has a yucky nose, but otherwise seems fine. This cold weather sure has taken me off-guard. I was looking through Parker's wardrobe, and although he has a number of clothes, it seems I was too anxious to get him into 18 month and 24 month clothes. He seems destined to stay in most of his 12 month clothes for a while. He's been in them since about 8 months old, so it is kinda weird. The 18 month pants fit him fine when he's in a cloth diaper except they are too long, and since he's walking, I have to roll up the waist so he won't trip. Poor thing!! I've noticed a lack of sweaters or sweatshirts for him, though, and that is my biggest concern. I guess layers work just as well, excpet most of his shirts (at least that fit well) are short sleeved. I plan to take a trip to the local consignment shops and see if they have some good quality, cheap and yet still fitting stuff. I thought I'd never have to get him more 12 month clothes. And while I'm talking about baby clothes ... socks just don't stay on! I'd hate for him to have to wear shoes around the house (since noone else does), but he only has one pair of slippers, and they are huge (they're little race cars)!! I can easily see how people spend so much money on their little ones wardrobes now. ------------------------------------------------
Saturday, November 16, 2002 Well, the last two days we've been a thorn for Jeff, causing him to leave work early to rescue us one day, and having to abandon him the next. Thursday, after a day at the park with friends followed by lunch and a quick exploration of the children's consignment shop next door to the pizza place, our car wouldn't start. Luckily Salina and Denise, with little ones Xander and Braden, hadn't left yet and were able to rescue me. We tried jumping the car, but of course, that wasn't what was wrong. In the end, Denise drove Parker and me to her house while Salina kept Braden with her and Xander until she came back. So, I was stuck at Denise's house, imposing on her, waiting until Jeff could get off work, get to the LHS, and hope that it would start up then. 3 hours after getting to Denise's, Jeff shows up. Thank goodness Denise is such a friend. Friday, Denise and I plan to take the boys to the Homecoming parade in her car (since our car was shown to be unreliable the previous day), and hatch a plan with Jeff to secure a parking place. He parked on campus in a parking garage, and we were to meet up with him and take his spot. Well, between him and us was the parade route. We tried to get around it, but after 30 minutes driving and two cranky one year-olds in the back seat, we throw in the towel and just look for a place to park. It is about this time I wish we could afford cell phones, since I know Jeff will continue to wait for a while. I left several messages on his work machine, including Denise's cell phone number, and we take the boys to the parade. Parker ate and ate and ate. Thank goodness I packed lots of food!! He ate a whole plum, half a banana, and about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of dry cereal. And half a sippy cup of water! This boy never eats that much, especially after a big breakfast!! Jeff finally calls, and, understandably, is pissy. But, it made me feel plum awful. If I had been driving or if I hadn't been with Denise and Brayden, I would have driven the extra hours worth to get to the garage. Parker would have fussed in the back seat, my nerves would have been frazzled. BUT, I wouldn't have gotten that phone call, and that would have been worth it. Luckily we're all staying in today, so I can't be more of a bother. ------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, November 12, 2002 I'm feeling tons better now. I went in to see a doctor, and had a test done for Strep throat. Luckily it came back negative. Now for the post-nasal drip to go away. Parker had an amazing sleep schedule there for a while, but the last two days it has completely gone away. He was getting up between 6 and 7 am, napping between 11 and 2 pm (for 2 hours max), and going to sleep for the night around 9 pm. That meant 12 good hours of sleep for him, and parent alone time. All gone. Back to chaos, it seems. Parker and I need to rework some things out. One is his need to nurse all the time. The other is his need to throw a tantrum anytime I have to get up from nursing to take care of myself (read: go to the bathroom). I don't want to force him to wean, but I really could do without this headache. He just will not let me comfort him any other way. Several moms in my online baby playgroup are now pregnant. Although we aren't ready, financially able, or Parker-willing, I still feel somewhat jealous. Luckily, I know this will pass. Soon. Handling more than Parker right now would turn me gray. ------------------------------------------------
Saturday, November 09, 2002 Jeff said that people referred to Parker as a girl when they ran to the store earlier today. I'd mentioned his needing a haircut before, and I asked Jeff what he thought, and he'd always said he liked it the way it was. Now, he's thinking it might be time to cut it again. I think part of the problem was that he was in a unisex outfit. Parker is such a beautiful baby that if gender isn't clear, you assume female. So, he'll probably be getting a haircut soon. ------------------------------------------------
The past 24 hours have been somewhat of a blur. I have been hit by an illness that just zapped me. My temperature rose to 102.7 degrees-F, and I shivered under blankets until it broke at which time I started sweating profusely. Parker has wanted to nurse all day today non-stop, which makes me wonder if my supply is lower than normal, or if he is trying to fight off an illness himself. I know he's teething like a maniac, but I just can't take it. So, I've shut myself up in the computer room and have left him out in the rest of the house with Jeff. Jeff is an amazing man. He has managed to clean the house up while essentially taking care of Parker today (though even I have to admit that this morning Parker was abnormally peaceful). If this is the same thing that hit Jeff, I wonder why it is still with me when it left Jeff after 24 hours. ------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, November 06, 2002 Yesterday's playgroup ended up not being Halloween party. I was disappointed. I arrived after everyone else was already there. Three other mommies, and not one child in costume. I had brought Parker's in his diaper bag because it was too hot to wear Tigger for 30 minutes in a car when the outside temperature is 82 degrees. Then, the house was sooooooo not child-proofed, it was ridiculous. And to top it all off, they decided (somehow) that next week, instead of having it at someone's house, we'll have it at a park, please eat beforehand. For only 2 hours. Now, we had talked about doing something like that on Friday, in addition to Tuesday, but apparently that didn't fly with the other moms there. I'm a little upset about that. I think being in the comfort of a home (with facilities!!) is nice, letting the children just play while we supervise while talking. At a park it will be much more chaotic, I just know it. ------------------------------------------------
My child has learned about Teletubbies. They aren't that bad, actually, except that they say Eh-Oh for Hello ... yet they say other words? I would want my child to learn that word properly if nothing else. I'm having issues with his television watching, but honestly, it is one thing that gives me a break during the day. I just recall not wanting the television to be an issue with my child, and it already is ... Part of my reasoning is that Jeff gets this glazed over look when the television is on (and can't pay attention to anything you say ... it is almost as if the television is more important than us), and I definitely don't want that with Parker. I know for several years (especially when we lived overseas) we didn't have television. I don't recall missing it, though I am sure we did. I've toyed with getting rid of it completely and have even asked Jeff what he would do if I just went to City Hall and had them turn it off. He said, "Get upset and call them to turn it back on." So, that isn't an option. Have I mentioned I think television is eeeee-vil??? ------------------------------------------------
Saturday, November 02, 2002 AF returned this morning (and thus ends lactational amenorrhea). I guess it explains my wanting to eat the entire house and why Parker's been eating a lot more solids the last few days (besides really starting to feel better). I had been sooo happy not to deal with it for so long, I guess I should be glad. 22 months without it. Sigh. Now come the mood swings. I already caught myself snapping at Jeff, poor guy. If I can only keep it in check .... ------------------------------------------------
Friday, November 01, 2002 I need to do something different to my hair. It is beautiful, but lifeless. It is rich but non-dimensional. Sigh. Here is a "scary" before (first wake-up) and after (brushed and made-up). I think I look better before I bothered.  ------------------------------------------------
Well, Parker is pretty close to 100% again, but Jeff had a high fever this evening. Our house is a wreck, and I was looking forward to a second set of hands this weekend to watch Parker so I could finally get some stuff done, but now he's sick. Oh well ... as the phrase goes "The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow, for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow. So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep." ------------------------------------------------
|