December 2010
39 posts
1 tag
4 tags
1 tag
11 in 11
Find Time for Regular Exercise-While I would love to lose weight (and according to the BMI charts, I should lose about 25 lbs.), what bothers me most is how hopelessly out of shape I am. I strained my back just by getting into the car a few weeks ago-not good. So finding time for exercise it is!
Organize my Home/Time-I like to think of myself as a creative free-spirit, but the facts are that I...
You May Be Getting Old When
Your 13 year-old has to explain the joke to you in an SNL skit. It’s a sad, sad, day.
1 tag
Thoughts on Getting Through Today
This is where I should post something thoughtful and profound about life and death and the love of family following my uncle’s funeral today. But the truth of it is that I’m feeling a little tired by the late hour, a little dehydrated from the crying (which I did not think I would do), and a lot emotionally drained from not only coping with my own feelings, but those of my kids, my...
1 tag
That Awkward Moment When...
you find yourself trying to pick out an outfit that looks nice, but that you don’t necessarily love just in case you never want to wear it again after today.
My Lucky Number
I looked at my dashboard this morning and it says that I am now following 69 people. 69! Hee Hee! (I would say I have the sense of humor of a 13 year-old, but my oldest just had that birthday and I think hers may be a bit more sophisticated than mine.)
Another Funeral Post
My uncle’s funeral is tomorrow. The family viewing was tonight. He looked amazing. I thought he could just wake up at any moment. I surprised myself by bursting into tears when I saw him which is very unlike me. But he looked so peaceful and his coffin has playing cards etched on it which he would have loved. The bouquet across the coffin was daisies, sunflowers, and a royal flush sticking...
1 tag
10 in 2010
Yet another participant in Toni’s New Year’s Meme:
I can be forgiving without being a pushover. In fact, my ability to forgive is probably my greatest coping mechanism from having grown up in such a dysfunctional family. (My uncle’s death really gave me some insight into this.) Forgetting is a whole different story, and that is what keeps me from being the aforementioned...
And with that round of photo spam,
I hit 100 posts.
WatchThis was what my uncle intended to give my son for Christmas. (It’s OK to click, it won’t make you cry. It will, however, explain a lot about my family.)
2 tags
Right now I can hear three of my kids fixing breakfast together and planning their day. Everyone is happy and getting along fine because they think I am still sleeping and am unavailable to mediate their disputes. In a few minutes when I go in there, all hell will break loose complete with teasing, whining, and tattling. I’ve noticed this particular phenomenon at every school break...
1 tag
Because a Dead Uncle Wasn't Enough
Now, I have a puking kid. Of course it is the baby because a kid who can usually hit the toilet or trash can might make things easier. I’m not sure what I did to piss karma off like this, but I do know I picked the wrong day to quit drinking.
2 tags
Moving On to Sad Now
My mother, who has been surprisingly unhysterical about losing her brother, did tell me that when she went into his apartment to identify the body; it was full of Christmas stockings loaded with Dollar Store goodies for my children. He may not have been much of a father, but he was always good to my kids and he really was serious about making amends and being a part of this family again.
...
I just talked to my cousin in Seattle. Grandma seems to be processing the news about my uncle as well as any woman who has just lost a son can. Considering the years she spent fearing she would get a phone call about finding his body flung in a ditch somewhere either due to drugs or gambling debts gone wrong (or both), I guess she was more prepared for this than we realized.
I am slightly...
A Credit to Themselves
My uncle was a terrible father. There’s just no way to sugar coat that fact. He preferred gambling to a steady job, was never there for his sons, and wasn’t too nice on the rare occasions they were together. Envision “Uncle Larry” from the original Parenthood movie and you’ve got a pretty good picture of the kind of man my uncle was. At least when his two sons were growing up.
A mild stroke last...
In our family, the phone never rings at 3 a.m. unless someone is dead. So I was both stunned and completely unsurprised to pick up the phone and learn that my mom’s youngest brother died in his sleep just a few hours ago. With my 100 year-old great aunt and my 80 year-old grandmother still going strong, this is not what I expected. See also: Oh God, how is my 80 year-old grandmother going to...
So maybe a weekend viewing of the Toy Story trilogy wasn’t my best idea considering that tomorrow kicks off the big pre-Christmas toy purge in our house. Oh well, what’s done is done.
(Why yes, I am re-posting from Facebook. What of it?)
frageelay replied to your video: For Toni and Dan I know he’s no Snowbaby of Doom,…
We have a frog kind of like this. Together we could create our very own Christmas Nightmare!
There’s a frog?! Must. Have. Frog.
WatchFor Toni and Dan
I know he’s no Snowbaby of Doom, but I’ve been dying to show this bad boy off since you posted yours.
Someday
I’ll think of something particular witty or particularly poignant and I will post it. Until then, I’ll just read everyone else’s posts and hope for inspiration to strike. OK?
Thirteen
We have conversations like this:
Natalie: Mom? Isn’t so weird how sometimes 5 minutes ago seems like it was a long time ago and other times something that happened years ago seems like 5 minutes ago?
Followed by things like this:
Natalie: Mom, I have a VERY important question for you. Me: (Stealing myself for something serious) Ask me. Natalie: How long do I have to wait before I put on...
Irony
When the tween you have to beg to get into the shower uses up all the hot water just before you take yours.
Ok, so there may be many examples much more poignant than that. But none quite so relevant in my world right now. Brr!
Nothing like kids and their surly morning attitudes to bring you back down from your “I did a good job yesterday!” high. Apparently, I have “no right” to suggest that my teen might need a shower and when my son got in trouble for losing my car keys, his retort was to tell me “I wish I had NEVER done anything in my life that made you happy.”
Oh well. I DID do a...
So I Was on the Early Morning News
And I didn’t die. Yay me! One more interview to go. And then an entire museum-wide event to run tonight. But it’s the 10 minute webcast interview that scares me more.
I Could Have Sworn I Wasn't in PR
I am a Museum Educator. Specifically, I am the Education Director at the Harn Homestead Museum. (I’ve taught over 1250 kids since starting the job in August. Exhausting, but rewarding!) When it came time to specialize in a certain area during my Master’s program, education seemed obvious. Not only is my undergrad degree in Education, but I am NOT an administrator. I do not like being...
