Monday, July 31, 2006

Because I said so.

I wouldn’t have thought an 18-mo old would be in the “why” stage yet, but somehow Kyan has caught on that he can keep Mommy’s attention and keep Mommy talking by saying “why?” after everything I say. I can’t imagine he can understand every answer I give to his whys, but I answer him anyway. To a point. Then it becomes, “Because I said so.” Sometimes that satisfies him, sometimes it doesn’t.

So the other night I tried to turn the tables. He said why, I explained. He said why again, I expounded on my explanation. We continued this way until I finally said, “Because I said so.” And again he said, “why?”

Being the smart (stop laughing) Mommy I am, I said “why?” back…. And this incredibly smart 18-month old child of mine said, clear as day… “Said so.”

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Blogging without a purpose

I have no idea what’s going to come out here, so bear with me. Kay? Thanx.

Jaben is now in possession of his first… um… athletic supporter. Yay to M for taking him!! I know it was more comfortable for him this way… and it was more comfortable for me, too.

Kyan has begun calling my mom by her first name. Hehehehe!! I know he gets it from hanging around all day with my cousin’s little boy, but that doesn’t make it any less amusing. It does kind of bother her, but I think even she thinks it’s kinda funny… until he came into the kitchen with his cup and said, “D – MILK!” HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

My car still isn’t finished. They thought they had it yesterday and I would’ve had it back last night, but then they discovered something wrong with the compressor (don’t ask me, I still don’t know), which requires another part, more money, and more time. This. Really. Sucks. sIt’s going to take me forever to pay back the money I have to borrow to have this done, I have to use my mom’s car and I know this is a real pain in the ass for her, and I really just want my car back. I know why it’s taking time, I understand, and it still stinks. I wish they’d make a car that wouldn’t break. Disposable vehicle, anyone??

Oh and … Who watches Big Brother All-Stars? Did anyone else want to hand Jase a binky last night? Or was that just me?? YES, James was a dillhole for the way he did things, but SO WHAT? It was KAYSER who just haaaad to tell Jase he was going up and why. And then to attack Marcellus for it? Um…. Marci had NOTHING to do with it! Get over yourself, Jase. You’d have done the same thing. Also, you’re not being backdoored! No wonder you can’t win this game! You don’t even understand the terminology! Backdooring is when you’re the target, but are not put up so you can’t win the veto and remove yourself. The group who is targeting you wins the veto themselves and removes one of the people on the block so YOU’RE put up and cannot save yourself. You are NOT being backdoored – you’re a replacement nominee because YOU HAD A CHANCE TO WIN VETO YOURSELF but instead of sucking it up you all – except Kayser – basically handed it to Chicken George. None of you who were in that comp have any right to bitch. Except Kayser. And interestingly enough – he’s not complaining… he’s just trying to work with what’s left. Dr. Will might not be even remotely as amusing as he was on season 2, but he’s a HELL of a lot better than Jase… if I want to watch temper tantrums, I can take candy away from my 18 mo old.

Hm… that was an interesting rant. I don’t think I normally get so worked up about reality tv. Maybe… but I don’t think so.

I think I’m going to try and update my blogroll again. If you want added, let me know. And if you’re reading this and have a blog, or request a link, please add me to your blogroll too. Thanx, everso!

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Some things require a male touch…

Jaben begins football on August 1st, so we went the other night to have him fitted for his uniform. Size medium helmet, size medium pants, size LARGE shoulder pads (he takes after his mother on this one). Being a non-football kind of girl, I asked a lot of questions, mostly regarding the likelihood of my little guy getting hurt. I’m trusting the coach on this one and expect my little gridiron star returned no worse than bruised and banged. I was told to buy several mouth guards… preferably the kind that attach to the face guard because kids this age tend to lose them. They can be bought at Wal-Mart and apparently are surprisingly cheap. Cleats are not required, but c’mon… the kid’s gotta have some cleats.

And then he said it.

“You also might want to buy him a jock strap. You know, for protection.”

Me: “Uh yeah… that’s a good idea. Um, yeah we’ll do that…”

Coach: “I don’t require it, but if he doesn’t have one he could get hurt so he’s gonna want one.”

*gulp *

I don’t remember much of the conversation after that.

You know, you think you’ve got it down… I’m the mom of a little boy. We’ve survived circumcision, knocks to the privates, toy trucks, dirt, guns, and other things he’d probably kill me for mentioning here. But now… only now do I truly understand greatest hurdle to the single mom of a boy. The first jockstrap. I wouldn’t know where to buy one, how it would fit…..

Okay, this requires a male. So on the way home, we “chatted.”

“So Jabe… you want me to take you to buy a jock strap?”

Him: “I don’t know, what’s it for?”

Me: “It protects your privates, in case you get hit there.”

Him: “Wouldn’t a cup do that?”

Me: “Um… the cup fits into the jock strap and holds it in place…” (I think?!?)

Him: “Um…. Okay…. Do you have to do it?”

Me: “No, we can find somebody else. Would you rather have a guy take you?”

Him: “YES.”

Me: Oh thank God.

Wait, I didn’t say that part out loud.

So, after some discussion, it was decided I would call my cousin and see if her new husband would be willing to take Jaben on that all important shopping trip for his first jock strap. I wonder if it’s anything like a girl’s first bra-shopping trip?

“Hello?”

“Hey, how’s it going?”

Her: “Good. What’s up?”

Me: “Well… I wondered if your new husband, of less than a month, would be willing to take my son shopping for his very first jock strap?” Welcome to the family…

Her: * laughs * “Well… I could ask him….”

Best. Conversation. Ever.

So it was decided. My cousin’s brand new husband, the only adult male in the family who lives close enough to do this kind of thing, will be welcomed into the family by taking his brand-new 10 yr old second-cousin-by-marriage to buy his first jock strap.

But like I said… some things require a male touch. I think he married in just in time.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Explanation of 12 of 12 n stuff

I promised to explain what 12 of 12 was and didn’t do it, so now I am. I read about 12 of 12 at Erik’s blog, My Year of New Things in this post. I love Erik’s blog because the well… I just do. Go check him out and you’ll see what I mean. Basically, a 12 of 12 is where you take 12 pictures during the course of your day on the 12th of the month, and post them with short captions of what each picture represents. It’s pretty interesting, really!

So anyway, I thought I’d do a 12 of 12 myself and let everyone in on the mind-numbing routine that is often my life – during the week. Unfortunately, I thought I’d use the camera (digital) I got at Wal-Mart for $20 instead of the nice, expensive one my mommy bought me for Christmas a couple of years ago. The cheapy camera looks just like a small film camera… in other words, it doesn’t have the handy screen on the back to you can see your picture immediately. Which is why most of my pictures that day didn’t come out. If they had, I was going to be all creative and do a 12 of 12 of my life this month, then maybe next month have Jaben do 12, then the next month have someone else do it, and eventually have a 12 of 12 each month by a different poster. It’d be cool, I think.

I’m probably going to still try that… IF I can get my stupid pictures to come out! So don’t steal my idea, okay? ;-) It’s probably not an original idea as it is, but guest 12’s would still be cool. So maybe down the line I’ll still have a bunch of guest 12’s. So if anyone who knows me (does anyone read this??) wants to volunteer to do 12, let me know and we’ll hook you up! Pics and descriptions can be emailed – for anyone out of town.

In other news, I cut my hair off. It was bugging me, it was too long, it was out of control, and in short – it looked bad. It’s about shoulder length now, many layers on the ends, and the pain in the ass bangs are blended so they can now grow out – out of my way!! Who knew that with a toddler I’d be too time-crunched in the morning to mess with them?

And, Cub Scout day camp is Thurs and Fri for Jaben, then we have the overnight on Saturday (I think!!) so busy week. Tonight we go to have him fitted for his FOOTBALL uniform – I can’t believe he’s going to be playing tackle football. I’m very conflicted about this in so many ways, so let’s not talk about it anymore. Also on Thurs we’re going to meet with a potential new daycare provider for Kyan… fingers crossed. He’s a fussy-boy, so whoever takes him has to be special. 2 phone calls and I like this woman already… I hope we click and we like her and she likes us and can/is willing to handle a fussy-boy.

And my car is sick. My friend’s husband thinks he can fix it… I hope he can. I hope it doesn’t break down on me before it gets fixed… I don’t want to get stranded on the side of the road!! I hope it doesn’t cost as much as I’m afraid it’s going to cost. I’d be willing to take donations! (just kidding)(sorta)

And that about does it for today’s update. I managed to only start 3 paragraphs with and…. Not to bad. Ha!

Thursday, July 13, 2006

[insert foul word of your choice here]

Okay, so most of my pictures didn't come out. So much for 12. But, I'll post the ONE picture of Kyan eating that came out. Except he's not eating, he's posing. But he's still cute as hell.



Oh, and while I'm at it, how cute is this...



AND... so nobody thinks the 10-yr old isn't JUST as cute (in a different way), take a look at this cool kid...

I'm so hungry right now!

Tonight I’m planning to post a 12 of 12, which I will explain later and should’ve probably been posted yesterday, but I didn’t get around to it. I’m actually just amusing myself while I wait for it to be lunchtime. Not that I have a designated lunch time or anything, but it seems weird to eat lunch before noon since that’s when everyone else eats. But I’ve been hungry since like 10!! I know, I know, I could’ve eaten something, but since I’m trying to eat less and get used to feeling a bit hungry sometimes I’d really rather not do that. And please don’t anyone tell me how you should eat when you’re hungry… that’s not really the best thing for me, personally. It’s a process and this is how I reduce how much I eat.

Anyway, so I’m starving and I have a lovely chicken sandwich sitting in the fridge waiting for me to come eat it. Or dreading for me to come eat it. Except I’m sure chicken sandwiches don’t have thoughts… or feelings. Well, maybe they once did, but…

Okay, now I’m just going to gross myself out, thinking about food-chicken vs. animal-chicken and I really, really don’t want to go there 5 mins before I plan to eat. Ew, ew, ew, ew!!

Oh – you know who’s really cute when he eats? KYAN. It is absolutely adorable to watch him eat – seriously. He’s at the table now, in a booster seat and he just sits there with his little (strong) paper plates with little designs on them, fork in one hand, fistful of food in the other and just…. eats. I know, I know, only his mom could think watching him eat his dinner is * that * cute – or even cute at all probably, but it IS! I took a picture of him last night for 12 of 12 and if it came out I plan to post it later and everyone can see how cute Ky is when he eats. It’s just plain adorable… I promise!!

Ooh! I can eat now. Time to post and have my lunch!!

Monday, July 10, 2006

The one where I talk about Jaben

I love my son.

No, amend that – I love my sons. Both of ‘em. And I’m sure I’ll have something about Ky when it gets closer to the time his daycare is switched, but right now I’ve got Jaben on my mind.

I’m happy he’s got friends and is, for the most part, doing well. This weekend he had 2 buddies sleep over and I know that at one point he felt left out. They were playing with the Playstation2 the one boy brought with him and they never gave Jabe a turn. I’m not sure why or what they were thinking, but they wouldn’t let him play. Now I know they’re 10-11 yr old boys and fair doesn’t really factor… but it was our home, our tv and even if it wasn’t his Playstation2 – I still feel like it was crap that he didn’t get a turn. I know it bothered him because he mentioned it to me. He also said he was just trying to get me to buy him a Playstation2 (not happening). So I’m not sure how he was feeling about it.

But I’m also very sensitive about this kid. I do NOT want him to go thru what he did in the third grade. I can’t let him have to live thru that again, and next year he’ll be at school with some of the kids who tormented him that year. I’d like to think that better teachers and a better principal will make sure that doesn’t happen. But what if it does? I’m sure all of that stuff that went on is what makes me worry so much about how he’s doing, socially, and probably why I say yes to practically every sleepover… but it’s not unfounded and I don’t want to see his self-esteem plummet again, I can’t hear him begged to be homeschooled every day, I don’t want him to think or feel that he’s not as good as the other kids or to think less of himself.

So how do you help that not to happen? I have absolutely no idea. It’s not as if it’s not hard enough to be 10 yrs old as it is, but to have all that in your past, and to worry about going to another new school where kids from the school you left to stop being bullied will be going… it’s a lot to deal with. I don’t think he’s really thinking about that now, but I am. I just want him to be happy and have 3-4 good friends he can rely on. I’d like to think that’s what he’s got now, but I honestly don’t know for sure. There’s no way to be sure about anything. I guess all I can do for now is hope, and make sure he continues to have a great summer.
But if anyone has any suggestions, I’m listening.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Happy 5th of July!

Since I missed the US Independence day and Canada Day… happy 5th of July to everyone!

We had a great day yesterday! Got up and got ready for the parade, where we sat and had breakfast. McDonalds, you know – nothing but the best for me and mine! Kyan totally didn’t understand why we were sitting on blankets (laid over a tarp, darn wet ground!) on the side of the road, but he certainly thought it’d be fun to run into traffic! Luckily, he has a cute little monkey backpack with a long tail that doubles as a safety harness, so I put that on him and Turkey Face was as safe as can be! He would get a little mad when he’d reach the end of the line, but since we were passing the tail to whoever was closest to where he wanted to go, he had a pretty large area to travel in. And he couldn’t get in the road!

Anyway, the parade was so much fun! We yelled for candy for the kids, got all kinds of useless business cards and pamphlets, and only got sprinkled on a little bit. Not too bad – plus the rain kept it fairly cool. Much better than the sweltering heat I usually associate with the parade.

After the parade, we ran home to change and clean up – Jaben was covered in mud - to go to my cousin’s house for a cookout. I hadn’t been there before so I was excited to see her new house! And oh is it a cute house! They’ve got tons of land – I had visions of wooden play areas with vast sandboxes….. * sigh * I think they’re going to have a garden or something? I think I heard her husband say something about sweet corn. The weather actually held out pretty well for most of the time. We were able to eat outside at their pretty, new picnic table and everything. It was really nice.

Of course it * did * eventually start raining, and so most of the adults went in the house while some of us hid in the garage. With the kids. My boys and my (other) cousin’s son. Well actually the kids weren’t in the garage long – they went to play in the rain. The 3 of them had a blast!! They got soaked, Xavier got covered in mud – but they absolutely, completely enjoyed themselves! I will admit, I wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of them playing in the rain at first, but I got over it when I looked at their little faces. Jaben was actually enjoying himself for once (anyone want a moody 10 yr old??), and the little guys seemed to think they were getting a special treat – which they were. So it was fine.

It wasn’t long after that tho, that I had to change Kyan into his dry clothes and we headed out. Jaben only had a dry swimsuit with him (in case we decided to let them run thru sprinklers – not to be confused with sprinkles), so he went shirtless, but it was plenty warm enough for that.

When we got home, we turned on the AC and had some much needed downtime before heading off to the fireworks! We weren’t totally sure they’d still have them, given all the rain, but since it was clearing up and we were used to being rained on by that point, we went ahead out.

And I’m so glad we did! Not only did they still hold the fireworks, they were wonderful!! They had lots of little ones close to the ground – which were awesome from our place down front. And no worries about Kyan being afraid – he slept thru the whole thing! Of course he woke back up the second I put him in his stroller to go home (little booger!) but I was able to enjoy the fireworks without worrying about him being frightened. And I was able to watch Jaben’s face and enjoy his reaction – which was just an added bonus.

All in all, it was a very nice 4th of July. I would prefer to have a sunny day, but the rain was nice enough to pace itself and only fall when it was convenient for us, so I can’t complain. Hope you all had a happy, fun, and safe 4th!

Monday, July 03, 2006

Meme(ic) Monday

It’s been a while and since I’m feeling a bit PMS-y (can also be read as pissy) I’m going for the cop out…. Welcome to Meme(ic) Monday!

Yeah, I usually skip these things too……. * sigh *

1. Have you ever been searched by the cops?

Nah

2. Do you close your eyes on roller coasters?

Not roller coasters. Other way-too-high rides, yes. But roller coasters? No.

3. When’s the last time you’ve been sledding?

At least 2 winters ago. Didn’t get a chance this past winter and the one before that, I was pregnant.

4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone?

Considering I’ve been co-sleeping since… forever, I think, I’d love a night alone in my bed!!!

5. Do you believe in ghosts?

Yep, absolutely.


6. Do you consider yourself creative?

I’m a graphic designer… I’d better be at least a little creative!

7. Do you think O.J. killed his wife?

Yep.

8. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie?

Jennifer Aniston! Who can stand a woman who does what Angelina Jolie did? She’s incredibly repulsive!!

9. Do you stay friends with your ex’s?

Not usually. An ex is an ex for a reason

10. Do you know how to play poker?

No, never really cared for any kind of games.

11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?

Close, but not quite 48 hrs. I think my best (worst?) is somewhere around 35?

12. What’s your favorite commercial?

I can’t think of any good ones offhand

13. What are you allergic to?

Cats and excessive pollen.

14. If you’re driving in the middle of the night, and no one is around do you run red lights?

I have, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you live in the middle of nowhere, like I do.

15. Do you have a secret that no one knows but you?

I don’t think so.

16. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees?

The who or what now?

17. Have you ever been Ice Skating?

Yes! Used to do it all the time as a kid and loved it!!

18. How often do you remember your dreams?

Very, very rarely.

19. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?

Yesterday, when thinking about that time I thought about the time that was really funny.

20. Can you name 5 songs by The Beatles?

Of course!! Hey Jude, Yellow Submarine, Day Tripper, Hello Goodbye, The Long and winding road

21. What’s the one thing on your mind now?

ONE thing?? You’re joking, right? Kyan’s daycare situation, Jaben’s attitude situation, and how damn long it’s going to take Tracfone to port my phone number when Boost did it with NO WAIT!!

22. Do you know who Ghetto-ass barbie is?

Um… no, can’t say that I do. The things I miss, having boys! haha (?)

23. Do you always wear your seat belt?

Yes, always.

24. What cell service do you use?

I’m switching from Verizon to Tracfone as we speak. If they move it and get my damn number ported, that is!

25. Do you like Sushi?

I don’t even like cooked fish.

26. Have you ever narrowly avoided a fatal accident?

Just the other day I think I actually did.

27. What do you wear to bed?

Isn’t that kinda personal? Heh… yeah right, I sleep with my kids. I wear a t-shirt and sometimes sweats or shorts too.

28. Been caught stealing?

when I was five…… tell me you know that song!

29. What shoe size do you have?

I gots big feets for a girl…. Size 10 thank you very much!

30. Do you truly hate anyone?

Yes, I do hate 3 people. But they are people who have earned it… hate is an extremely strong emotion/word.

31. Classic Rock or Rap?

Classic rock! Never ( c)rap!

32. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be?

Keanu Reeves, if what I’ve heard about how he smells isn’t true!!

33. Favorite Song?

That honestly depends on the day and the mood.

34. Have you ever sang in front of the mirror?

Sure!! That can be a lot of fun, especially when the baby is boppin with me!

35. What food do you find disgusting?

fish, brussels sprouts, the texture of an orange… I could go on and on!

36. Do you sing in the shower?

Noooooooooo!!! Nobody wants to hear that – especially me – especially in those kinds of acoustics!!!!

37. Did you ever play, “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours”?

At what age? * wink *

38. Have you ever made fun of your friends behind their back?

I find that it’s better to crack jokes about friends when standing behind them, rather in front of them…

39. Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly knew?

Yes… sometimes you just have to.

40. Have you ever been punched in the face?

My first instinct was to say no, but then I remembered being punched on the playground when I was a child… so yes, I have.