I’m Beautiful Like Me.

I did so much today. We did so much today. Well, it has been a long-ass day, seeing how it started at 6:30am for me and it is now after midnight. I would be done with this post already if I hadn’t turned on the Olympics (or if the girl’s gymnastics weren’t on - they are, by far, my favorite event to watch. I become completely transfixed by these young ladies flipping about gracefully with this serious and hard look in their eyes).

The title of this post is inspired by DJ Lance. That’s right, we watch Yo Gabba Gabba! It’s a great show, dammit. “It’s almost time to go. But first, let’s remember what we did today! Can we do it? Can we dance? Let’s do it! A-break it down!”

• Got Joy off on the school bus for her first day back to school. No snags.
• Made coffee, woke up Husband and apologized for being an ass. He accepted.
• Husband made breakfast.
• Put away clean dishes.
• Washed up dishes from last night’s dinner and this morning’s breakfast.
• Turned and finished laundry.
• Stripped the linens and washed ‘em, too.
• Took lunch and the rest of Joy’s school supplies up to her school.
• Husband replaced the bulb in Joy’s room with a CFL bulb.
• Husband repaired the stupid laundry closet door.
• Took Buddha outside for about a half an hour.
• Husband cooked dinner and washed the dinner dishes.
• Straightened out the pantry and the cupboard where all our dry baking goods are kept.
• Took out the garbage. Twice (UGH! I wish they’d start recycling for our complex already).
• Filled out a mess of paperwork Joy brought home from school.
• A ton of virtual cleaning:
  • Cleaned email box
  • Moved 15 GBs of files (mostly pictures) from OS to partition
  • Defragged
  • Ran CCleaner
  • Emptied recycle bin
  • 300+ items in Google reader
  • Unsubscribed from a number of blogs that have not kept my interest.
• Knitted several rows of my Ribbed-for-Her-Pleasure scarf in between everything else.
• Started black beans soaking for some meal tomorrow.
• Gave the boy a bath.
• Stayed on the girl’s ass about keeping her room clean. She did a pretty good job, but not without promises of Klondike bar (what would YOU do for a Klondike bar? …grumble).
• Set coffee pot for early morning.

And now that I have listed out all the things I’ve done, I’m compelled to list the things I need to get done tomorrow!

• Pay some bills with Husband’s last check. Decide which.
• Husband should find out the status of his employment.
• Vacuum.
• Fold laundry that was washed and dried today. And - UGH - put it away.
• Find something - anything! - to knit or crochet. I am almost out of yarn for this scarf and won’t get more anytime in the foreseeable future. I need a project.
• Eliminate the stack of things I’ve set aside for donation some time ago. I’m tired of looking at it!
• Catch up on Plurk. I’ve been neglecting it.
• Maybe wash Joy’s linen, too. Maybe not, I’m pretty over laundry.
• Make some zucchini bread with the last of the zucchini.
• Dishes and garbage, I’m sure.
• If weather is accommodating, go to the park.
• Pick up reserved book at library.
• Other stuff I’m prolly forgetting.

For now, I’m off to bed. Morning comes early! Goodnight!

Joy arrived home on Monday. It’s really nice to have her home, but the child is such a slob! No sooner than she dragged her suitcase into her room, it was a disaster area. She’s like a hurricane. Hurricane Joy.

Last night, P took both of the girls for the night. Husband and I hit the grocery store and came home for a quiet dinner. He entertained the boy for a bit and I nursed him to sleep. We enjoyed the quiet of the evening. It’s been rare this summer!

Some time in the past few days, Buddha has become a complete nightmare. He started squealing this high-pitched squawk that hits that nerve. He is into everything. I cannot leave the room to pee without him sneaking ink pens out of the desk drawer or trying to unplug the outlet covers. He climbs the furniture, knocks down the lamp, and whines incessantly all.day.long. Yesterday was awful. He fought nap time vehemently, nursing one moment and squirming off the bed the next. And our bedroom is so not child-proofed. There is the stereo (buttons for him to push which could deafen the neighbors), Husband’s guitar (which he likes to strike with whatever heavy object might be lying around), the box fans to help circulate the air (missing fingers, anyone?) not to mention the girls are terrible about keeping the bathroom door closed (let’s not even humor those thoughts). He’s crafty: he has managed to pass most barriers we’ve erected to keep him in or out. He’s fast, too. My sweet boy has become possessed by demons, I think.

T’s report of last night’s events at P’s house sounds standard. Joy and her friend, L bickered all night long. Why do these kids beg relentlessly to hang out when all they do is fight?!! I’m considering sending P flowers and a well-crafted letter of apology and thanks for tolerating that non-sense. The girls forgot to turn everything off and to feed the cat before they left last night, too. So when they returned home early this afternoon, I put them both to work.

While I scrubbed the bathroom and vacuumed the house, T cleaned the kitchen while Joy cleaned their bedroom. This morning, I cleared off the entire desk and dusted (while fending off the aforementioned persistently curious and grabby toddler). I got rid of Husband’s monster-sized stack of paperwork, which we still need to pore through. I balanced the checkbook, got our prescriptions filled and portioned for the next week, folded 3 loads of laundry and cooked dinner. I feel rather accomplished, thank you very much. But I am also grumpy. I’d rather be playing on Plurk or crocheting or spinning or reading or sleeping. And of course, by tomorrow, all of my work will be undone. I hate housework.

The rest of this week will be busy. On Saturday, I am going to Indianapolis to see Daughtry with Monkeytoes. I’d hoped we could all go, that we’d get an overnight room at a hotel with a pool and Husband could entertain the kids poolside while I attend the show with Monkeytoes. Unfortunately, things aren’t going to turn out that way and I will drive myself up and back home. Sunday, T is flying home around 2pm and afterwards, I am taking Joy to my mom’s for the night. Mom is taking her shopping for school supplies and uniforms (thank God, as we are so farkin’ broke). And school starts back on Tuesday!

Oy, whadda day.

This morning, I started a load of laundry and sat down to pay some bills. I got quite a lot accomplished.

After having breakfast, T and I took Buddha with us to do some shopping. I bought enough yarn from the Hobby Lobby to make 4 baby-sized blankets. I wanted very badly to spend more to get some Alpaca yarn and some wool yarn, but I refrained. Afterwards, we hit up Wal*Mart to get some groceries. T bought herself an ear-piercing kit (with her mom’s approval) and later had Husband pierce her ears.

When we got home, Buddha took a short nap. While he was sleeping, I got started on another Neopolitan baby blanket for an online friend. I didn’t get far (starting is always a total pain in the ass and time-consuming, what with all the counting and getting that first row done). When he got up, he would not stop trying to steal the hook or carry off the yarn. I finally gave up. From there, the frustrations started piling on. At least Husband and I got some chores done and all caught up on the bills. Husband left for work and my brother dropped off his daughter a bit later for the night. His daughter has been a total angel, but T and Joy have been bickering and carrying on all damn evening.

And some flowers I ordered for another online pal of mine were delivered on the wrong day so I spent more time that I care to even think about, let alone discuss trying to get things sorted out with the florist. Suffice it to say that I’ve been using teleflora.com for 5 months and spent well over $200 and I was treated like shit. I will never use them again and I will tell anyone that will listen that they shouldn’t use them, either.

Around 6:45pm, Buddha got SUPER grouchy and drove me crazy with his fussing until bedtime at 8pm. We lied down together and dozed while he nursed. I haven’t wished for a Xanax like this in a grip. I wanna be sedated.

I’ve been busy crocheting blankets! I’ve made three blankets since the 5th of March! The first one is featured in my last posting.

I made a pastel green basket-weave blanket with light blue shell stitch border lovey-sized blanket for the boy:

It was a total pain in the ass. Firstly, the yarn is very fine and the hook I used was pretty small compared to hook I used to make the first blanket. I developed several new blisters. It also required counting. Erg. I unraveled the first 6 rows at least 5 times before I found a good groove. When I completed the body of the blanket, I tried several different stitches for borders and unraveled each of them (about 4 times) after deciding I hated them all. I finally got ahold of my friend who inspired me to take up crocheting in the first place and she suggested the shell stitch. Of course, I loved it (she’s so farkin’ brilliant!!!) and did one row on either side of the blanket.

I finished Buddha’s blanket on April 8 and the same evening, started a blanket for my niece’s first birthday. I knew it would be late, but I had no idea how quickly I could work under pressure! I finished the entire blanket in 3 days and finished it *on* her birthday. I’m really very proud of it. With aforementioned friend’s help reading the pattern for the border, I whipped it right out. The colors don’t appear nearly as beautiful in the pictures as they do in person. It’s Neopolitan: brown, pink and off-white. The body is double crocheted, the border is mostly single-crocheted all the way around (man, that was hard!) and there is a fat braid that goes through the top and bottom. Best of all, there is a seat belt hole, which I thought would be really hard, but friend talked me through that one and it turned out to be pretty damn easy!

Here is the finished blanket!

Karma holding it to show size:

Other stuff and updates:

Buddha is finally over his sore ankle. He’s also back to full-on appetite. He’s a really fun baby most days, but everyday around 6pm-ish, he gets really cranky for about 30 minutes. Sometimes it abates, but sometimes it lasts for the rest of the evening.

Joy had Spring Break last week. She thinks that she should do something special every day when on breaks from school. I don’t usually mind, but when there is an evening when someone can’t come over and no one’s invited her over, she complains incessantly of boredom. As one might imagine, I hate that. She spent a few nights at Oma’s, a night at her friend L’s house, a night at A’s and each of them both spent a night here. We went to the park on a few pretty days, too. Unfortunately, the temps have dropped again. She and I spent about two hours cleaning and rearranging her room on Thursday. We got rid of two-thirds of her clothes, too. Wouldn’t you know it that it’s already a huge mess again?!

On Friday, I picked T up from Oma’s. Oma’s pretty pissed at me over it, but I fail to understand why. She tells T the entire time that “it’s really not that much work,” but if that were the case, then why is she so upset with me for getting her a couple of days early? I’ve done the work - it’s fuckin’ hard as hell. I know mom: she wants to justify to herself paying T in peanuts while working her ass off. Whatever. She’ll get over it eventually. I love my mom, but sometimes she is just way over the top.

Anyway, T is happy to be back, as are we. She’s a huge help around here with chores and the kids. And she likes the fact that she can go online pretty much as she pleases for a couple of hours per day. She’s about halfway through her book now, too.

The glasses are still weird. I forget to put them on sometimes. I do not like wearing them while I eat. I’ve been getting headaches, too. I think it might be from taking them off and putting them on a lot. The baby likes swatting them off of my face, which annoys the snot out of me. It’s just going to take some adjusting. But at least I look a little more like myself with them on and curly hair!

Slept well last night for the first time in ages. Took forever to get there (2am-ish), but Husband got up with the boy in the morning and let me sleep in. I slept until NOON! It was divine, I tell you.

D called and was struggling with her decision to send T here. Certainly understandable. I listened patiently (can you imagine?!) while she basically sorted her thoughts and feelings out loud. I suggested she have a good, long sit-down with her husband and figure out what she wants to do. She called me later and said that she instead had a long sit-down with T and felt much better about her coming here.

So, Husband and I spent the afternoon making preparations for T’s arrival. I’ll be picking her up from the airport at 11:55am tomorrow.

I felt good enough to do quite a few chores today. I sorted, washed, dried, folded and put away 3 loads of laundry, washed dishes, vacuumed and made dinner. Mom dropped the girl off and I took some pictures of mom holding the baby.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time uploading photos and videos of the family to the family site. Hopefully it’s appreciated by more people in the family than just me!

Today was shaped (as most days are) by my mood. Not good.

I’m really loving the Diva cup, but second day visits from Aunt Ruby are heavy and there was a mess. Helluva way to wake up, lemme tell ya. All things considered, the Diva cup did a damn fine job. At least I got to clean up before the boy woke up.

Joy and her cousin were already up and already had breakfast. They went out to play. The temps were mild today. The boy ate like he’s got a tapeworm again today. Pint-sized garbage disposal, he is. He had fruit and bread and Chicken & Dumplins and biter biscuit and two(!) slices of pizza. Husband woke up at around noon, just after getting the boy down for a short nap. I laid down for a nap, too. Just feeling headache-y and generally ick all day. I read 2 chapters of “Restaurant at the End of the Universe” before conking out.

Friend stopped by and picked Joy up for a short trip to the park while I was asleep. Later, Husband prepared and made dinner and washed dishes while I entertained baby. He packed his own lunch today, too. But I did make him coffee, so I wasn’t totally useless to him today!

Buddha’s late afternoon nap didn’t go as well this time. It took 20 minutes of standing beside his crib before he fell asleep and he only slept for 20 minutes. I figured it was just as well, since it was so late in the day. We played a bit, he played with sister and cousin a bit more, I gave him a bath and laid down with him to nurse and then I put him to bed. An hour and a half later, he is still awake and not cooperating. Sometimes, it seems my kids pick thee worst possible time to be difficult. I sat down on the bed and cried from frustration. I finally walked away and let him cry to sleep. I felt (and feel) bad for him… but worse for me.

I’m not typically a very patient person and I exercised so much patience this week, getting him to sleep in his crib. Tonight was such a challenge. I think Aunt Ruby’s visit plays a part in it.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.