A Huge Whoops!

I made a huge ^&$#-ing* boo-boo yesterday. There is a glaring ommission from yesterday's blog. And to that person, I owe a big $%#%-ing apology. Because #&*$ - it all, momwhodrinksandcusses a/k/a Rho Rho - you $%$#-ing deserve to have been on that list.

I don't know what the #$^& was the matter with me. I can't believe I #$%-ing didn't notice you weren't on there. I am a total #$#*-ing #^&%-head.

All of the blogs I read seem to have a common theme...they're hysterical and she is no exception. But if you don't drink and you don't like cussin'...aah...still go visit her. She'll probably STILL make you laugh.

So go visit Rho Rho - she's the best $##%-ing momwhodrinksandcusses around.

**Disclaimer: In the interest of this remaining a family-friendly blog, please insert whatever word you'd like in place of the symbols. But for what it's worth, I sound a lot more passionate with an actual "cuss" in there.

You Like Me...You Really, Really Like Me

...well, at least one of you does.

I received this from HappyWorkingMommy a couple of weeks ago and it made me feel happy.

It's an award that she gave me. And who doesn't like awards. And when accepting an award, it's logical to thank the person that awarded you. So HappyWorkingMommy..thank you. I adore your blog and love your points of view. I wish you'd post more (but really..who am I to talk?) because your writing is adorably cute as are you and your husband. Thank you....I'd also like to thank the Academy and God. (uh..sorry. I accidentally launched into my "accepting an Oscar" speech that I play in my head from time to time).

What?

In any case...the award comes with some rules. They are as follows:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.

2. Link the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve nominated.

Okay...I don't know if I have seven. I'm pretty new to the blogging world and I think I read a lot more blogs than read me. But I'll give it a whirl for a few. Maybe I'll try to hit five. The question is...like an email, if I don't forward to at LEAST 7 bloggers, am I going to have horribly bad luck and possibly die in the next 24 hours???

Anyway...here are my nominees.

1. An Amber-Colored Life - by Amber - she's super busy writing a novel but I'll pass this along anyway. November is almost over. But she's so dang funny...her blogs never fail to make me laugh.

2. Sarahs Randoms - by Sarah - except she hasn't posted in about three weeks. So maybe I SHOULDN'T nominate her. But I still will..because I love her and because otherwise, I'm only gonna have four nominees. But Sarah, Sarah..wherefore art thou Sarah?

3. McTwins and Co - by Amy - the best fantasy football partner and friend ever. I'm so happy she started a blog because her writing makes me laugh...which is a huge point in my book.

4. It's a Wonderful Life - by Deb - I've gotten to know her better in the last few months via our blogs than we ever have. And I LOVE that. She's so awesome and we share very similar lives in a lot of ways. And she has this crazy sense of humor that just floors me.

5. Pearl, Why You Little... - by Pearl - I have a sneaking suspicion she's already received this award but I'm too lazy to go check. In any case, I'll say this anyway....this woman is HYSTERICAL!!! And she pretty much blogs daily...which I love and is all I aspire to be...and her blogs are always interesting things...not random thoughts. She impresses me.

Mamalogues, Lillys Life, Backpacking Dad, Clever Girl Goes Blog...I'm thinking that since they're followed by so many, they get a TON of these things and they probably don't mean as much to them. Maybe they do, but they have SO many blogs to read....I can't expect them to make it here. But their blogs are fantastic...as are all the rest on here. If you've got some time to check them out, you should really do that. I am but a small fish in a big pond.....And this big pond has some DOOZIES swimming around.

You'll be as entertained as I am very quickly.

Brainstorming

You know how when you were in the school and the teacher would say that you needed to have a "brainstorming" session? And you'd all blurt out thoughts in your head and hope they'd form some sort of cohesive idea?

That's what I'm doing today. Random thoughts. Brainstorming. And hopefully I'll be cohesive.

1) We finally got a new camera. I love it. It's similar to our old camera but very user friendly. I have take a few pics but as luck would have it, forgot the cord to upload the pics today. I'm happy to announce, though, that any pictures going forward will hopefully not come from my phone.

2) You know my Zac Efron fascination (obsession - cough) I had going on a couple of weeks ago? Yeah...well it's been replaced. By Robert Pattinson of Twilight. Yes...Twilight. I don't remember if I've went into too much detail of my reading of the Twilight Series, but I read it fast, and I was sucked in, and it was ridiculous. But I'm Tami and that's how I roll. And now...going from Zac Efron to Robert Pattinson a/k/a Cedric Diggory a/k/a Edward Cullen...I think I just might be a 13-year old stuck in a 36-year old body. Seriously. I'm starting to scare myself. And Rob..well he's hot...but in a weird way. His face is a little bit whacked..but it all works.

It's funny because on one of my many gossip websites they had a video of Zac today, and he didn't have any but two paps around him...and someone thought he was in Harry Potter. Then they had a video with Robert Pattinson, and there were THOUSANDS of screaming girls just going nuts. Rob is the new Zac apparently.

Oh who am I kidding? I still love Zac.

3) I have to pee. There. I said it. Hey...it was a random thought. I said I'd put them all out there.

4) I had a good hair day today. You know...I don't have many. In fact, it seems like I have more bad than good. But I'll take today...it looks allright.

5) Big A and I got in a fight this morning because she didn't want to put on a clean pair of underwear this morning. WHAT?!?!?!?! Seriously - she told me I was SOOOOO mean because I was making her do that.

Should I give up now on her or what??? ;) We remedied it...she took a shower and I put all clean clothes out. She's not a dirty girl, I swear. She's very into fashion. But trying to explain just WHY we change our underwear every day...it's not real easy. I hemmed and hawed and finally said something like, "It's just not a clean thing and I don't want you to be the dirty girl!"

I think I could have phrased it better than that in retrospect.

6) I have to leave. It's 4:15. I had no idea of the time. Dang it all....how lucky was it that I JUST ran out of random thoughts. How lucky? Huh? HUH?

Ciao bellas!

Choices

I made a decision this week. I've been thinking about it for a while but I finally did it. What is it, you ask? Well...a little background first.

Essentially, I work three jobs. They're all in the same realm of financial planning and insurance, but I work for three different companies in a five day work week. Mondays and Wednesdays I work for my dad, Tuesdays and Thursdays I work for a wonderful person that I've been with part-time since Big A as born and on Fridays, I work for a woman in Minneapolis who sails in Panama each winter...and I run her business while she's gone and am her support person while she's here.

As one might imagine, although I have great flexibility with all of these jobs in terms of when I get to work, when I leave, children's events going on, etc...it still can get a bit chaotic. And quite honestly, working full time...my house is suffering. We get home at 5:00ish and it's pretty much three hours of trying to cram everything in until the kids go to bed. That's dinner, baths, homework, fun time, relax time and any events from school, church, etc that might be going on any particular evening. By the time I get them to bed, I really just want to zone out. And I usually plant my butt in the hot tub with a glass of wine and a book and I'm set for the night. Thusly, weekends are generally spent furiously doing ten loads of laundry and cleaning my house. This is not how it should be.

So this week I made a choice. I'm taking Thursdays off. I'm giving myself a day at home. Or a day of flexibility. If I'm needed at any job for a meeting or something else, I can be there. But if I'm not...I can be home. I can keep Little A home with me and we can have some mommy/daughter time. Big A can come home from school and join us. I can get all the things done that I can't get done with my present schedule.

It seems minute. It seems like a minor choice. But for me...it was huge. Honestly, I really do love all of my jobs. And the one that I'm backing out of slightly is for a woman who I admire and respect so much, that she's more than just an employer to me. She's a great friend. And we've developed such an amazing relationship over the past years. But an opportunity in a family business presented itself, which is an opportunity I will not squander, and she understands that and has been very supportive in my move from being with her almost full-time...to now being there one day a week. For that, I thank her.

Maybe this also means I'll have a day for my brain to reboot. And all these jumbled up bits and pieces in my head I have for blog topics will take shape and actually form into something. I hope so...I don't just do this for the people that read this blog. I also write this blog for myself. It's therapeutic for me to write...and even if not one single person read this...I'd still do it for me. So I'm bugged at myself when it doesn't come naturally (and ironically, inspiration always strikes in the most inconvenient of places).

Here's to Thursdays. What's a good TH word to put in front of Thursday that would be what I could call that day. You know...like in college we had Thirsty Thursdays...which means people drank a lot of...soda. Uh-huh. I need something to call Thursday. TH words...TH words. Are there any?

Maybe I should move Friday work to Thursday thus giving me Fridays off instead. Why didn't I think of that??? Fun Friday, Fabulous Friday, Fantastic Friday....there's so much more to work with title wise.

In any case...I get a day. MY day.

I think it was a good choice.

Little A and the Dentist

Last Friday, A-squared (better known as Big and Little A and I wanted to type an A with a little 2 in the upper right corner but couldn't figure out how) had dentist appointments. Big A has had cleanings before. In fact, she's even had a frenulectomy and a filling. Little A has been there but the most we've gotten out of her is a counting of her teeth...due to the fact that her head was about turning around Exorcism style as a a roar only the Devil could make bellowed out of her tiny body. The Dentist was NOT someone she ever wanted to make a friend.

But this time was different. Maybe four is the magic age. Maybe the fantastic light-up toothbrushes that Big A brought home in the past finally tempted her just enough. But this time...she walked off with the hygienist without giving me a backwards glance. She walked off hand in hand as if she had found a new lifelong friend. In fact, I questioned whether to stay with Big A in the x-ray area or go with Little A. Big A looked at me like, "Duh mom..I'm fine." So I followed Little A - feeling a strange sense of "my-little-one-just-took-one-minute-step-in-growing-up-and-I'm-happy-but-also-strangely-melancholy-about-it."

She climbed up on her chair, accepted the pair of black shades that made her look uber-cool, and grinned at the hygenist. The chair lowers and Little A - in her cool black shades, ripped jeans, tennis shoes and fuzzy sweater - was just about the cutest darn thing I had ever seen in my life. I was sitting at a point where her little feet pointing towards the ceiling were just adorable. It was something about her feet. And this little tiny body on this big adult-sized dentist chair (which is kind of funny considering it's a children's dental office). She picked out her flavor or fluoride treatment, she giggled when they cleaned her teeth, and she LOVED the water gun and sucker-thing that sucked up all the water from her mouth. She loved the Ariel toothbrush she received as well as the really cool pink star glasses that she picked out at the end of her cleaning.

She was smitten. She LOVED going to the dentist.

Then the hygienist said that the DENTIST had to come look at her teeth. The DENTIST was a man in scrubs and a mask with a deep voice, working in another room on another patient...and the sound of a drill coming from that room was somewhat loud.

And Little A's face changed.

I could see the tears welling up. The hygienest and I were both telling her it was just fine...he would just count her teeth and make sure they got cleaned well. She wasn't buying it. The bottom lip started to quiver, the eyes got bigger and bigger and she finally looks directly at me and utters these words:

"Mommy....I don't want the dentist to grill my teeth."

Need I tell you that for as naughty as that child can be, for the temper tantrums she's thrown in public places, for the tormenting she's done of our poor cat (none terrible - mostly just chasing and shouting), for the sass she's given me at such a young age.....I was irrevocably, instantly and fantastically charmed by this adorable statement. It was all I could do to not giggle...and it was all I could do to not sweep her up in my arms and smother her with kisses.

I calmly explained that he wasn't going to grill her teeth...or even drill her teeth. He was only going to look at them. And I finally convinced her. And he came an looked. And he's kind of cute and very nice and Little A seemed to warm to him. After all..he's a children's dentist. You don't take that job if you don't like kids. At least...I would HOPE you wouldn't.

Big A did fine. She's a seasoned pro. She didn't even wear the shades this time. Just plopped down like she owned the joint.

And Little A - she's fine with the dentist now. At least right now....because as good as she did during her visit....she still had two cavities. Fruit snacks and really deep grooves in her back teeth do not a happy partnership make.

She's got another appointment on December 4. In the "grilling" room.

I haven't broken that news to her yet.

And so it goes....

Halloween has came and went. As has the election. We stashed away our costumes (or maybe we just don't really know where we put them, which is probably the case) and the political ads will no longer adorn my television set...for which I am grateful.

My thoughts are sporadic today. I've been home with a sick Little A. Not major sick...but kind of sick. Sick enough where she couldnt go to daycare. If one gets even an inkling of a fever, the rules state they must remain at home. So there we stayed. We made one trip out...Big A forgot a book she needed at school. What are the odds she'd forget one she needed on a day I'd be home? So we dropped that off. Then we headed to the Mecca...Super Target. We got some Motrin for Little A and a gift for a birthay boy who's party is tonight. Whether we attend or not is another story. See...Big A really wants to go and she COULD go...she's not sick. Little A, on the other hand...sick. Like I said..not major sick..but still sick. Yet Little A is going to freak out if Big A goes without her. And the kicker? The birthday boy is Little A's "husband", who she "married" just a few weeks ago.

I'm not sure what to do. Bring her? It's at an indoor playground that's probably already teeming with six million bacteria for kids to adhere to...so could she really pass along her sickness? Then again, the chest cough...do I want her running around possibly making a cough worse? I don't know. And D has to work late so there's no possibility of sneaking out with just Big A in tow.

Any advice? You have oh...2 hours and 7 minutes to get it to me.

The camera is still toast. I took it to Radio Shack today to get a new battery but after further information needed, it was discussed that it may possibly be the overall camera with the problem. Crap! A $14.99 battery or the expense of fixing a camera. Is it worth it to fix a $129 camera? Or do I just suck it up and buy a new camera?

So many questions.

But because I feel the need to post a couple of Halloween pics, I'm using the pics I took on my phone. The quality is not wonderful, of course, but you'll get the jist.

Pumpkin guts. Big A LOVED them. Little A...not so sure. We dried all the seeds and made pumpkin seed...well, they're ALREADY pumpkin seeds I guess...but we salted them and baked them and made them highly edible pumpkin seeds. They seem to be a hit.

All Hallows Eve...shortly before departure. Halloween is hit or miss weather-wise here in MN, and luckily we had a pretty balmy evening. Hence..no jackets. D and the husband of a friend have made it their job to take the girls trick-or-treating without complaint (I think it's the "coffee" they indulge in while out and about that leads to no complaints) so I was able to bask in a couple hours of quietness. We live on kind of a quiet street that can be a little dark...so my doorbell only rang four times. And one of those times were my own children.

Little A, however, gets spooked easily. And when a friend of my friends husband tagged along in a devil outfit (he's an adult) that honestly...was pretty scary...Little A decided she had had enough. D brought her home and she watched Phineus and Ferb. Which, I'll admit, is pretty hysterical.

Pumpkin #1 - before finding the pumpkin carving kit and having to carve the old fashioned way - with a big ole butcher knife. I was pretty impressed with my efforts actually, if I do say so myself.

FYI - Boo is our cat and she's black...so she gets special homage paid to her on Halloween.

Hope everyone's Halloween was happy and hope that...whether your guy did or did not win the election...we can all move forward harmoniously.

Peace out!

An Apology

Okay, okay..don't get mad. Allow me to....ALLOW me to explain. It's not what it looks like...really. I really wasn't trying to ignore you my dear blog. I WASN'T! Quit back-talking me...I know you've been bored. Nobody's been to see you. Nobody's written on you for a while. It's hard..I know. Just please...o blog of mine...please listen. Then maybe you'll understand.

1) You know me...I love to just write. But most of the people that come and visit you are coming with some intention of seeing pictures of the family. And did I tell you? Little A decided to play with the camera one night without her parent's knowledge, and when I found it the next day, it was completely drained of power. COMPLETELY. As in..I had it charging all day and it still wouldn't work. She killed it. Or at least we're hoping it's really just the battery she killed...but she killed some part of it. We brought out the ole dinosaur camera we have...no, it's not shaped like a dinosaur...it's just old. And it works...as long as there is daylight available and no need for a flash. Which doesn't leave much flexability.

So there's reason #1.

2) So...dear blog of mine...in case you haven't learned this about me, I can be a bit of a procrastinator. One of the areas I've procrastinated in is the area pertaining to my career. Ya see...every two years, I have to have 30 hours of continuing education in order to maintain my license. 15 of these hours can be company-sponsored or via the web, but the other 15 have to be in the classroom...I know, I know...why do you need to know all this? So you understand! Ya see....I needed to get ....oh...about 15 hours of classroom credits in the span of one week. Yeah..I forgot to mention that the deadline for said hours was October 31. Then I hit a little snafu where I was only going to have 14.75 hours and the Department of Commerce wasn't going to relent on that last 15 minutes. I'll spare you all the gory details (and a lot of boredom) but suffice to say, it's straightened out. My hours are fulfilled, my license is printed and I'm still a legal insurance agent. Thank GOODNESS! ;)

So that's reason #2.

3) In all honesty, I've been so fried lately. I don't know what the deal is. Maybe its too much going on around me but my brain has been wasted space these past couple of weeks. It's been filled with entirely too much High School Musical and insurance continuing education, and I think when there is an abundance of both of those mixed together...bad things happen. It starts to shut down. But I'm working my way out slowly. I listened to real songs on my iPod today. I laughed at a dirty joke. I stopped wondering how many credits I was going to get while talking on the phone with clients. I'm healing, dear blog of mine.

I'm healing. And I"ll be back....tomorrow. I promise.

Thanks for listening.