We're waking up at 2am to get out the door for our 5am flight.
Why in the world did I put us on the 5am flight? It was cheapest, and I am a crazy person. I don't think I've EVER purposely woken up for the day at 2am. And then we get to do it with a 4-year old.
Never fear my blogging absence, I will be taking my laptop. My husband's taking his iPad. And we have 2 iPhones on us. That is the upside of technology.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
20 Questions
1. Share something that you enjoy doing when you’re alone.
Stare at the ceiling and just think.
2. What do you plan to eat next?
I made an interesting concoction a few days ago. It's a casserole: quinoa, broccoli, peas, tuna, cream of chicken soup and some cheese. I've been eating it for breakfast and dinner for the past 3 days. I'm almost done with it, so I think I'll have it for breakfast.
3. When did you first travel on a plane? Where did you go?
There's a picture of me at age 2 or 3 in Solvang, CA so I would hazard a guess that it was my first plane ride since I lived in Pittsburgh at the time.
4. Do you currently have a crush on someone? If so, share a few of the reasons why.
My husband
Celebrity crush for the past decade: Will Smith. Smart (MIT smart), funny, tall, dark, handsome, can sing, can act. He can do everything and does it all well.
5. List one thing that disgusts you that probably wouldn’t bother someone else.
I'm not a fan of wet, white food: cottage cheese, salad dressing (especially ranch), and mayonnaise
6. If you could buy a new car tomorrow (and money was no object) what would you buy?
Porsche 911 Turbo or an Acura NSX. Back when I was a teenager, my somewhat attainable sports car was a Toyota MR2. They only made a few in 1995, you can tell by the circular taillights, and I'd want one of those too for nostalgia's sake.
7. Who was the first person who broke your heart?
Even though I technically broke up with him, Shane for giving up on himself.
8. If you could spend the night with a celebrity tonight, who would it be?
I used to have a thing for Josh Hartnett, but he seemed to drop off the face of the earth and was replaced by a buffer version called Channing Tatum. Yep, Channing will do. :)
9. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Night night night night
10. What’s your favorite board game?
I'm a huge board game fan. 80s music and board games are my 2 favorite topics. I recently started playing Dominion and liked it. Eurorails is awesome. Taboo is great. Trivial Pursuit and the 923 offshoots are good party games. Cards Against Humanity is the new rage.
11. Can you play an instrument? If so, what do you play?
Not really, just Lean on Me and the Rocky Theme on a keyboard. Holla, 5th grade music!
12. What is the last thing you ate?
lollipop for dessert
13. Do you wear a watch?
No
14. Do you go to church?
Not really. But if you talk to my in-laws, tell them I go every week.
15. Do you ever wish on stars?
Not anymore
16. Have you ever been on a motorcycle?
Yes. I think every girl should date a guy with a motorcycle at least once. ;-) Or have one herself.
17. What is the last thing you purchased?
Yesterday I realized that J is taking 2 dresses to the east coast, and I'm unsure of the weather and wanted to get her a white sweater to go over them. I went to Ross, and they didn't have ANY sweaters and coats. Then I went to Target, and I found a white sweater but it was $16.99, which I think is highway robbery for sweatshop clothes. So then I went to the thrift store and found what I wanted for $3. Goodness gracious, I am cheap. Oh well, I washed it with lots of soap and hot water when I got it home.
18. How big is your bed?
Queen size, which is fine except when we have a visitor who is physically tiny but somehow hogs 60% of the bed. Then it would be nice to have a king.
19. What size shoe do you wear?
9
20. What are you looking forward to most in the coming week?
The plane ride to see a little girl's face when she's in the clouds and then see her face as she looks at the T-Rex skeleton (provided that we win that argument)
Stare at the ceiling and just think.
2. What do you plan to eat next?
I made an interesting concoction a few days ago. It's a casserole: quinoa, broccoli, peas, tuna, cream of chicken soup and some cheese. I've been eating it for breakfast and dinner for the past 3 days. I'm almost done with it, so I think I'll have it for breakfast.
3. When did you first travel on a plane? Where did you go?
There's a picture of me at age 2 or 3 in Solvang, CA so I would hazard a guess that it was my first plane ride since I lived in Pittsburgh at the time.
4. Do you currently have a crush on someone? If so, share a few of the reasons why.
My husband
Celebrity crush for the past decade: Will Smith. Smart (MIT smart), funny, tall, dark, handsome, can sing, can act. He can do everything and does it all well.
5. List one thing that disgusts you that probably wouldn’t bother someone else.
I'm not a fan of wet, white food: cottage cheese, salad dressing (especially ranch), and mayonnaise
6. If you could buy a new car tomorrow (and money was no object) what would you buy?
Porsche 911 Turbo or an Acura NSX. Back when I was a teenager, my somewhat attainable sports car was a Toyota MR2. They only made a few in 1995, you can tell by the circular taillights, and I'd want one of those too for nostalgia's sake.
7. Who was the first person who broke your heart?
Even though I technically broke up with him, Shane for giving up on himself.
8. If you could spend the night with a celebrity tonight, who would it be?
I used to have a thing for Josh Hartnett, but he seemed to drop off the face of the earth and was replaced by a buffer version called Channing Tatum. Yep, Channing will do. :)
9. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Night night night night
10. What’s your favorite board game?
I'm a huge board game fan. 80s music and board games are my 2 favorite topics. I recently started playing Dominion and liked it. Eurorails is awesome. Taboo is great. Trivial Pursuit and the 923 offshoots are good party games. Cards Against Humanity is the new rage.
11. Can you play an instrument? If so, what do you play?
Not really, just Lean on Me and the Rocky Theme on a keyboard. Holla, 5th grade music!
12. What is the last thing you ate?
lollipop for dessert
13. Do you wear a watch?
No
14. Do you go to church?
Not really. But if you talk to my in-laws, tell them I go every week.
15. Do you ever wish on stars?
Not anymore
16. Have you ever been on a motorcycle?
Yes. I think every girl should date a guy with a motorcycle at least once. ;-) Or have one herself.
17. What is the last thing you purchased?
Yesterday I realized that J is taking 2 dresses to the east coast, and I'm unsure of the weather and wanted to get her a white sweater to go over them. I went to Ross, and they didn't have ANY sweaters and coats. Then I went to Target, and I found a white sweater but it was $16.99, which I think is highway robbery for sweatshop clothes. So then I went to the thrift store and found what I wanted for $3. Goodness gracious, I am cheap. Oh well, I washed it with lots of soap and hot water when I got it home.
18. How big is your bed?
Queen size, which is fine except when we have a visitor who is physically tiny but somehow hogs 60% of the bed. Then it would be nice to have a king.
19. What size shoe do you wear?
9
20. What are you looking forward to most in the coming week?
The plane ride to see a little girl's face when she's in the clouds and then see her face as she looks at the T-Rex skeleton (provided that we win that argument)
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Percolation
I've been percolating a lot lately. There are things I want to say, but I don't know quite what they are yet.
I'm staying busy prepping for our trip. I'm doing the slow pack, as opposed to the quick pack half an hour before you go to the airport when you toss what you *think* will get you through and then you tell yourself that you'll buy anything you forgot.
The slow pack is much like the quick pack; it's just slow and elongated to over a week. A big part of it is the show. When you have a 4 year old and it's her first plane ride, it's all about the psychological preparation. She knows we're going on a plane (a jet even!) and that we're going to fly in the clouds. She's really, really stoked. We're taking her through all the phases of preparation, starting with her hand-drawn airplane on April 23rd on her calendar. Packing snacks. Packing her medicine. Packing clothes.
Controlling aunt is being controlling aunt. She says we need to go to Franklin Institute. We told her that J wants to see dinosaur bones. She says Franklin Institute has dinosaur bones. We go to the website, and it doesn't say anything about dinosaurs. Then my husband e-mails Franklin Institute, and they respond saying they don't have dinosaurs. There's a science museum that DOES have dinosaur skeletons, including one of a T-Rex, which is her favorite dinosaur. We want to take her to that instead, but aunt really wants to go to Franklin Institute. Via website viewing, the Franklin Institute looks a lot like the children's museum in Seattle; see one of those, see them all.
Everything is a freaking argument, and it's supposed to be a vacation. As much as my mom can irritate me, at least she's not controlling like this. I'm not used to it, so I find it extremely aggravating. Is this why women have the stereotype of being nagging and controlling? I think I am, but then my husband laughs when I say I think I am. I think I'm understanding his laugh now; I don't come anywhere close to the controlling stratosphere compared to the women he grew up with.
I'm trying to tie loose work ends up before I leave, but it looks like I'm going to be doing work while on vacation. Honestly with controlling family, I will be looking for a reprieve - even if it must be work. I just wish my new work laptop didn't weigh 20 pounds. (Ok, it probably only weighs 10 pounds, but it really is far heavier than any other laptop I've had in the past decade.)
I'm staying busy prepping for our trip. I'm doing the slow pack, as opposed to the quick pack half an hour before you go to the airport when you toss what you *think* will get you through and then you tell yourself that you'll buy anything you forgot.
The slow pack is much like the quick pack; it's just slow and elongated to over a week. A big part of it is the show. When you have a 4 year old and it's her first plane ride, it's all about the psychological preparation. She knows we're going on a plane (a jet even!) and that we're going to fly in the clouds. She's really, really stoked. We're taking her through all the phases of preparation, starting with her hand-drawn airplane on April 23rd on her calendar. Packing snacks. Packing her medicine. Packing clothes.
Controlling aunt is being controlling aunt. She says we need to go to Franklin Institute. We told her that J wants to see dinosaur bones. She says Franklin Institute has dinosaur bones. We go to the website, and it doesn't say anything about dinosaurs. Then my husband e-mails Franklin Institute, and they respond saying they don't have dinosaurs. There's a science museum that DOES have dinosaur skeletons, including one of a T-Rex, which is her favorite dinosaur. We want to take her to that instead, but aunt really wants to go to Franklin Institute. Via website viewing, the Franklin Institute looks a lot like the children's museum in Seattle; see one of those, see them all.
Everything is a freaking argument, and it's supposed to be a vacation. As much as my mom can irritate me, at least she's not controlling like this. I'm not used to it, so I find it extremely aggravating. Is this why women have the stereotype of being nagging and controlling? I think I am, but then my husband laughs when I say I think I am. I think I'm understanding his laugh now; I don't come anywhere close to the controlling stratosphere compared to the women he grew up with.
I'm trying to tie loose work ends up before I leave, but it looks like I'm going to be doing work while on vacation. Honestly with controlling family, I will be looking for a reprieve - even if it must be work. I just wish my new work laptop didn't weigh 20 pounds. (Ok, it probably only weighs 10 pounds, but it really is far heavier than any other laptop I've had in the past decade.)
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Childhood Flashbacks
Childhood Flashbacks
1. Did you have a set bedtime as a child? If so, what was it?
Nope, my mom is the most laissez faire lieutenant colonel you will ever meet.
2. Were you taught to be a member of the “Clean Plate Club?” Did it have affect your eating habits as an adult?
Yes, I believe I'm one of the founding members.
3. Share one thing that you were not allowed to do as a child.
Umm...use guns?? Again, the laissez faire parent thing.
4. What is the cheapest gas price you can remember?
96 cents per gallon in 1998
5. What was your favorite thing on the playground?
That big jungle gym over the concrete
6. Share one thing that your parents always made you do that you didn’t like doing.
Clean the bathroom
7. Do you remember your first kiss? If so, share the details!
I was 15; he was 18. It happened in my living room. Memorable
8. Did you prefer to play inside or outside?
Both, for different reasons except when I lived in Texas and Nevada - it was barren and hot outside there
9. What was your favorite TV show growing up?
90210 (the original!)
10. Share one awesome childhood memory.
Going to Hawaii when I was 8 years old
Bonus: Share a picture of yourself as a child.
1. Did you have a set bedtime as a child? If so, what was it?
Nope, my mom is the most laissez faire lieutenant colonel you will ever meet.
2. Were you taught to be a member of the “Clean Plate Club?” Did it have affect your eating habits as an adult?
Yes, I believe I'm one of the founding members.
3. Share one thing that you were not allowed to do as a child.
Umm...use guns?? Again, the laissez faire parent thing.
4. What is the cheapest gas price you can remember?
96 cents per gallon in 1998
5. What was your favorite thing on the playground?
That big jungle gym over the concrete
6. Share one thing that your parents always made you do that you didn’t like doing.
Clean the bathroom
7. Do you remember your first kiss? If so, share the details!
I was 15; he was 18. It happened in my living room. Memorable
8. Did you prefer to play inside or outside?
Both, for different reasons except when I lived in Texas and Nevada - it was barren and hot outside there
9. What was your favorite TV show growing up?
90210 (the original!)
10. Share one awesome childhood memory.
Going to Hawaii when I was 8 years old
Bonus: Share a picture of yourself as a child.
 |
| Age 6 or so |
Friday, April 5, 2013
My Strange Addiction
Shall I talk about my maladies? No, you're not interested? Okay, point taken. I'll skip my maladies for now.
A couple of weeks ago when I was across the state, there were a number of things I did that I don't normally do - namely sleep in a bed by myself. Dang that's fun! I forgot how fun. Another thing was watch cable TV since we don't have cable. What does an oh so classy girl like myself watch?
Hoarders and My Strange Addiction - exploitative reality TV. My co-worker actually picked Hoarders while we were in the gym, and then My Strange Addiction came on after it. I think the point of these shows is to convince you of your mental stability unless you live with 32 cats, of which a few may be dead but you haven't yet realized it because you haven't found their carcasses or smelled their carcasses among the rotting garbage sitting in your house.
While Hoarders gets horribly repetitive, My Strange Addiction is actually kind of interesting. The first two seasons are on Netflix, which I then had to watch after seeing a woman addicted to drinking other people's blood.
We all have different ways of soothing/calming ourselves. Mornings are particularly rough for me, so I try to stick to my morning routine as much as possible to make the day start out okay. If something weird is going to happen to me, it becomes 5x worse if it happens before 10am. So I try to make the mornings go as smoothly as possible for my own sanity, and this includes a few rituals and possibly hugging the pillow I've had since I was a kid. And perhaps I still sleep with that pillow too. (There's an episode about a woman who takes her childhood pillow everywhere, not that it at ALL reminds me of myself...but I don't take my pillow grocery shopping or even out of the house.) Then there's an episode about a woman who sleeps with a blow dryer on, and as I type I am not looking over at the space heater that is blowing hot air on me and humming.
So maybe some of the oddities hit a little bit close to home. There are two categories of oddities featured on the show that creep me out:
Ingesting Non-Food Items: Eating drywall, glass, other people's blood, animals' blood, laundry detergent, bullets (doesn't he know those aren't digestible???) and Comet bleach seem extremely hazardous to your health. Glass? Really? This guy ate wine glasses. And then I remembered that I used to eat pencils when I was a kid...not quite as bad, but still it's not like I should be throwing stones.
Things As People: What broke my heart was when people substituted things (not even animals) for other people. Like one girl was a ventriloquist, and she took her puppets everywhere and talked through them. She got horribly anxious when she wasn't allowed access to her puppets because she didn't know how to function on her own. Another sad story was this guy who was married to a mannequin. He named this mannequin, dressed her, took her with him everywhere, and - ugh - had a "complete" relationship with his mannequin. Can you imagine having this guy and his mannequin over for dinner? Yeah, he didn't have any friends and just had his mannequin. In both of these instances, both of these people said that dealing with the puppets/mannequin was a whole lot easier than dealing with real people. It's so sad, but in some ways I can see exactly where they are coming from.
Going back to my space heater and pillow now... at least I don't have a mannequin that I carry around and take to work. (Can you imagine?!)
A couple of weeks ago when I was across the state, there were a number of things I did that I don't normally do - namely sleep in a bed by myself. Dang that's fun! I forgot how fun. Another thing was watch cable TV since we don't have cable. What does an oh so classy girl like myself watch?
Hoarders and My Strange Addiction - exploitative reality TV. My co-worker actually picked Hoarders while we were in the gym, and then My Strange Addiction came on after it. I think the point of these shows is to convince you of your mental stability unless you live with 32 cats, of which a few may be dead but you haven't yet realized it because you haven't found their carcasses or smelled their carcasses among the rotting garbage sitting in your house.
While Hoarders gets horribly repetitive, My Strange Addiction is actually kind of interesting. The first two seasons are on Netflix, which I then had to watch after seeing a woman addicted to drinking other people's blood.
We all have different ways of soothing/calming ourselves. Mornings are particularly rough for me, so I try to stick to my morning routine as much as possible to make the day start out okay. If something weird is going to happen to me, it becomes 5x worse if it happens before 10am. So I try to make the mornings go as smoothly as possible for my own sanity, and this includes a few rituals and possibly hugging the pillow I've had since I was a kid. And perhaps I still sleep with that pillow too. (There's an episode about a woman who takes her childhood pillow everywhere, not that it at ALL reminds me of myself...but I don't take my pillow grocery shopping or even out of the house.) Then there's an episode about a woman who sleeps with a blow dryer on, and as I type I am not looking over at the space heater that is blowing hot air on me and humming.
So maybe some of the oddities hit a little bit close to home. There are two categories of oddities featured on the show that creep me out:
Ingesting Non-Food Items: Eating drywall, glass, other people's blood, animals' blood, laundry detergent, bullets (doesn't he know those aren't digestible???) and Comet bleach seem extremely hazardous to your health. Glass? Really? This guy ate wine glasses. And then I remembered that I used to eat pencils when I was a kid...not quite as bad, but still it's not like I should be throwing stones.
Things As People: What broke my heart was when people substituted things (not even animals) for other people. Like one girl was a ventriloquist, and she took her puppets everywhere and talked through them. She got horribly anxious when she wasn't allowed access to her puppets because she didn't know how to function on her own. Another sad story was this guy who was married to a mannequin. He named this mannequin, dressed her, took her with him everywhere, and - ugh - had a "complete" relationship with his mannequin. Can you imagine having this guy and his mannequin over for dinner? Yeah, he didn't have any friends and just had his mannequin. In both of these instances, both of these people said that dealing with the puppets/mannequin was a whole lot easier than dealing with real people. It's so sad, but in some ways I can see exactly where they are coming from.
Going back to my space heater and pillow now... at least I don't have a mannequin that I carry around and take to work. (Can you imagine?!)
Monday, April 1, 2013
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