NaBloPoThankGodIt'sOvo

Well, I did it. I posted every day for a month....sort of. Last year I went for content, and this year I definitely feel like I was only proving endurance, not writing skills, but oh well.

There's always next month...the theme for next month is "THANKS!" so I think that will be fun. I won't worry too much about missing a post, either, since I managed to make it through November even though I had several days without internet access. Thank you to Mom, Amber, and Sandra, who might or might not have helped me put up posts during those times. ;)

So anyway. I had a post I was going to publish on Friday, but it's equally appropriate now, since tomorrow is December 1 and I can hardly believe Christmas is upon us. Here you go:

Welcome to Black Friday. In honor of today’s traditional rampant consumerism and insane American shopping antics, I bring you a poem I wrote in the sixth grade. It also happens to be a Christmas poem, which is nice because HOLY COW IT’S LESS THAN A MONTH TILL CHRISTMAS. I will still always be surprised by how fast time flies.

Anyway. Poem. Here it is, and I’ll let you be the judge of whether or not I *might* have had a little bit of pent-up aggression:

Holly Jolly Limerick

Christmas brings trees, and toys
For good little girls and boys.
For a bad little one,
There isn’t any fun,
So SHUT UP!
Um…keep down the noise.

(Note to my dear readers: This poem was required for my class. If you know me, you know that I certainly at no point in my life have felt like little children should shut up...but will refrain from commenting upon whether or not that attitude might have been turned upon me at some point in my life...)

fun times at the cabin

think cozy. cabin. family. long weekend. Oklahoma. that's where I am and someone else has internet access tonight and is saving me from skipping a day of NaBloPoMo.

Dang Internet

So this is Amber...Susan has asked me to post for her since she is at the cabin...WITH NO INTERNET!!!!  Dang internet!  Hopefully she is having lots of fun though!  And will be back very soon!

Thanksgiving

Today Ben, James, and I are at the cabin with Grandpa Clint and Grandma Jane. Sitting in front of yet another fire with yet another cup of tea, watching my beautiful son play it up with his loving grandparents and their big dogs, I'm reflecting on how incredibly thankful I am.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. I hope you have as many things to be thankful for as I do.

Always Behind

In about 40 minutes, we'll be heading out of town for a Thanksgiving extravaganza of family, fun, and food.

And I am running around like the proverbial chicken without a head. Why is it that the second you become a mother, you give up your ability to be ready, to arrive anywhere in a timely fashion? Pre-James, I was one of those people who was perpetually 10-15 minutes early. Organized. Ready to go. And now? Not so much.

Of course, it doesn't seem to have affected Ben any. Could this perhaps be because somehow the entire brunt of getting James ready and packing for him always falls to me?

Ah, well. I'm incredibly thankful for 'em, regardless of how late they make me. =)

Big Evil Superstore

I hate it. That big evil superstore just down the road from my house. When I have to shop there, it actually makes me feel physically ill-the combination of bad lighting, questionable air quality, and soul-sucking consumerism. UGH.

And lately we've had to go there a lot more, as we haven't yet found our niche and figured out all our alternatives and planned well for meals and blah blah blah we're lazy and it's close by. And you know what? Every single time we've gone there, James has asked to go potty and....successfully carried out the mission.

Is that not the most disgusting thing ever? A bathroom in You-Know-Where is almost guaranteed to be in a state of disrepair that I can only liken to the U.S. economy....dirty, dusty, unhygienic, you know where I'm going with this...crap everywhere. Yet it seems to be James' favorite place to go potty. And since we've really lightened up on the pottying since we got thrown the curve ball of moving across the country...it's nice to have a place I can absolutely count on James going potty "own self."

Is that not the saddest thing you ever heard? Wally World helps my child pee? Seriously.

Fireside Reflections

It's funny how all day long ideas for potential posts and thoughts I'd like to share with you, my internets, flow through my head, but at the end of the day, when I'm sitting in front of the fire with a delicious cup of tea in my hand, I can't really think of anything at all urgent or important or even coherent to say.

Instead, my mind goes something like this: Aaaaaahhhhhhh, fire. So warm. So toasty. So...warm and toasty and pretty and aaaaaaaahhhhhhh. And mmmmmmmm, tea. So good and soothing to my throat and.....yummmm, tea. I love tea. I love fire. I love Ben. I love James.

So.....relaxed....so....warm....so....happy....I....think I'll go...to sleep now.

Good night!

Carp!

Well, CARP. Somehow my timestamp is off and it says that I had two posts on Thursday and none on Friday. As you well know, this is not how I operate, so does anyone know how to fix it? I KNOW I wrote that second post on Friday.

GOOSFRABA!

Edit: FIXED! Thanks, Kara, and also Blogger people for trying to help. The world may never know why that post had the wrong timestamp. The only clue is that that's the first post I wrote on our computer at home after we got internet here on Friday. I'm telling you, Cox is evil and crafty...and I wouldn't put it past 'em to try to change the calendar just so they could charge us for one more day of service, ha ha ha. =)

We've Been Here How Long?

Today we went to our old church, the church in which Ben and I were married. It was lots of fun, especially taking James in the nursery where I used to work, and of course running into all these HUGE people that I used to take care of when they were James' size. Many of the people we saw at first thought we were visiting, and when we explained that we were back for good, they asked how long we'd been back.

It's funny, because to me it feels like a very short time, but Ben says it feels like we've been here for quite awhile. I attribute this to the number of days James and I were stuck alone in my mom's house compared to the same number of days Ben was doing exciting things at his new work...James and I really still feel like we're on extended vacation. Hopefully things will start to feel more settled, since we finally moved into our OWN home, IN Norman, on Monday. So to me it feels like we've been here almost a week.

And yet it feels like sooooooo long since we got to see all our old friends in Raleigh. I can't believe we've been here a month. It's very hard not to have James' friends around, and not to have his friends' moms, who became my dear friends, also just around the corner or across the street or around the Beltline or whatever. We are still definitely in Raleigh withdrawal.

But things are starting to look up as we get settled in to our new home and slowly get things unpacked. Now I just have to start thinking about whether or not we'll be unpacked before...CHRISTMAS? Holy cow, when did it get to be the holiday season already? I still partially feel frozen in that late-summer, early-autumn time we were in when Ben decided to apply for this job.

I'm a little disoriented, can ya tell?

But on a happier note, I can't WAIT until we get to have ALL of our family down into our new home for the holidays...as long as I have a workable home to have them in! =)

The Problem with Contentment

I had in mind a mad post, a post about how horribly depressing Wal-Mart and the like are, how thoughtless people do so much harm every day and why oh why don't they think of THE CHILDREN; they can't even be bothered to care about themselves.

But. I cooked some delicious comforting beans and cornbread for dinner while Ben built a fire. We had a lovely meal together, and now I have a great internal as well as external glow to keep me warm. And I am feeling too happy and relaxed to go on any great rants tonight.

This is why we have PMS, people, to shake us out of our contentment and get us working for positive change. But in the meantime, I'm going to go enjoy my family and count my many, many blessings.

Including internet in our own home! =)

Driving Around Town

The other day, James and I were running errands. I was about to make a turn when I realized I had to wait longer, and I said some nonsense word like, "Oh, schmurgle."

James said, "What Mommy say?" so I repeated it to him. He looked thoughtful for a few seconds and then calmly informed me, "Daddy say oh scheisse."

I just about died laughing.

They are always watching you.

Oklahoma driving

Today I'm up at my mom's because I ran out of insulin syringes at "our own home," as James likes to refer to it. So, free and easy internet access, hooray!

On the way up here, I was almost plowed over by a good ol' boy on the highway. This led me to reflect upon a possible post concerning Oklahoma drivers. I've always heard complaints about them (us?) but for the most part ignored them. The truth as I see it is that drivers from ANYWHERE have their own special set of problems, so it's not very fair to complain about Oklahoma drivers.

But.

Now that I've lived in another place and experienced the insanity of North Carolina drivers, I feel my time to complain has come. Are ALL Oklahoma drivers paranoid and reactive? Or is it only half of them, and the other half are oblivious and content to drift into and out of lanes at will, and to drift 20 miles over and/or under the speed limit as well? These people are going to give me fits if I'm not careful.

I'd also like to complain just a LITTLE bit more about how frustrating it is that in Oklahoma you have to drive EVERYWHERE, that things are SOOOOOOO spread out. I hate it. That is one thing I learned I love about the East Coast--cities there weren't necessarily designed for The Car Gods, and they often turn out better because of it.

Welcome home?

Ahead of the Curve

Why is it that I always thought kids didn't do things anywhere NEAR so young that James does all the time? He's been calling me "MOM!" for a good six months now, and recently he's started asking, "Why? Why? Why? Why? How?"

I seriously thought these were at least a year or two off. Hm.

Gotta run. Am using Panera's internet during lunchtime. Not good idea.

Yammering

Right now my husband is yammering on about how I better win something in NaBloPoMo this year, since I’m working really hard to get to post everyday. Since we don’t have internet at our house yet, and we are at the mercy of the ever-unmerciful Cox Cable to hook our internet up, I have an undetermined number of days ahead of me in which I have no easy way to get on the internet and post. Thus, today we’ve come to Panera, which is all the way across town from our new digs, so we can use their free internet. There are surely other free places, but we either don’t know of them or they’re not currently open. So, Ben complains about how much WORK it all is! ;)

I, on the other hand, feel somewhat relieved to get out of the house. I’ve been unpacking and moving boxes and furniture like crazy all day and I admit to being slightly tired of it. But things are coming along well. It just always takes some time to figure things out, and it turns out that there are a lot of things we have to do before we can get comfy in our new house…like fix all the window screens because someone left them out of the frames, for example. *sigh*

Anyway. Ben feels like I’m working hard to post this month. I feel like I’m hardly posting. Last year was so much fun, and I got to do some creative writing stuff and experiment with using photography as part of my writing and creative expression. I planned out my posts and put some thought into them and had so much fun. This year I can barely manage to get online every night and let you know we’re still around, that we haven’t peaced out and moved to Fiji or something.

So…As usual, lately, I feel like I don’t have much to say, but by God, I’m gonna say it anyway! Here’s to free stuff!

Have a nice night, and see you tomorrow, hopefully!

FINALLY!

We moved into our new house today! HOORAY!

(Well, mostly. Quite a few of our small and "unnecessary" boxes are still at Grandma's house. But to me it's just amazing that we got the keys and we're even sleeping there tonight!)

Unfortunately, the internet isn't connected there yet, and who knows how long it will be until it is?!? My NaBloPoMo is in peril. Stay tuned for further developments!

And I'll be emailing people to let you know our new address/phone number as soon as we have a phone number. =)

What I Want

I am so appallingly lazy. Today I'm taking the ultimate cop-out route and bringing you a fun meme that's been floating around the internet for over a year now. You just type "(Your Name) wants" into Google and then see all the fun things that come up...

Susan wants to make your life easier
(Of course, dear heart. Anything I can do to help!)

Susan wants a discussion on flea and tick control
(It's about darn time!)

Susan wants to know: what's reading done for you lately?
(Because it's saved my life a time or two.)

Susan wants to open Canada's first-ever brothel
(Right after closing down Mexico's first-ever moose wildlife sanctuary?)

Susan wants a trophy this size
(Hm....)

Susan wants more and more
(Granted.)

Susan wants to contribute something positive and loving to the world
(Go me!)

Susan wants to go away for her and Ben's wedding anniversary
(Ironic, isn't it, since this Susan never got to go away for her and Ben's honeymoon.)

Dr. Susan wants you to become a strong and powerful young woman!
(You go, girl!)

Susan wants your opinion
(But only if it doesn't irritate me too much.)

Susan wants to play with dolls
(Not really. But I DO want to have a little girl in the fairly near future...so dolls are probably inevitable.)

Susan wants to live for a full year in her cabin
(...with a trophy THIS SIZE.)

Susan wants to have her story told--and truthfully
(But with colorful embellishment, it might become more palatable.)

Susan wants a Brookstone Shiatsu massage
(Who doesn't?)

Susan wants to help people leave their past behind and become empowered to move forward with their lives
(This girl named Susan is pretty awesome!)

Susan wants to teach the world to twirl
(Definitely. Much better than teaching them to sing. Not all people can carry a tune anyway, and twirling, that would make the world a better place.)

Susan wants everyone to serve her all the attention
(On a silver platter. At last, the truth comes out.)

Reality Bites

What I wish this blog was:

Thoughtful,

Slightly poetic,

Funny

Musings on life.

What this blog usually is:

Picture of my kid,

Picture of my kid,

Picture of my kid,

Sorry I haven't posted.

------------------------------------------------

Today it is none of the above. I'm tired. We've been shopping for couches and dining room tables and stuff. My brother is visiting and I haven't gotten to see him much for the last 2 years. My dear friend Becky got to come visit for a little bit this evening. It is really cold outside. The End.

Day of Days

Today is World Diabetes Day. It's also my mother's birthday. So it seems like it should be a big day for me, blog-wise, right? Like I should have all these wise things to say about living with diabetes, or I should write a song of praise to the wonderful woman who raised me, the woman who right now is putting up with my entire household shoved into two of her bedrooms?

Yeah, well. If that's the kind of thing you're looking for today, go read the Tribute to my Mother and my Diabetes that I wrote last year, or check out My Life in Diabetic Moments. Or any of the thousands of other thoughtful, funny, beautiful posts from other members of the diabetes OC (online community).

I, for one, am too exhausted for words today. A steady diet of 5 a.m. wake-up calls from The Boy, followed by a dose of no-nap today, has really wiped me out. Also, the stress of WHEN THE HECK CAN WE MOVE INTO OUR HOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEE* has been getting me down, and I've been fighting off a cold, and oh, the hormones.

You don't want to know about the hormones. They are crazy-making.

Additionally, I did T-Tapp today for the first time in 2 months or more (see above: stress, moving, exhaustion, etc.) and now my legs won't stop shaking.

Mom, I love you. You're an amazing grandma and we are all so lucky to have you!

Diabetes, one day soon you will meet your match and be done and out of my life. I just know it. Until that day...watch out for the soon-to-come pump, which will totally kick your butt into shape!

*We still don't actually know. The answer MIGHT be Monday, but that brings a host of logistical problems along with it. Never fear, faithful reader, you'll know the answer whenever I do.

The Best Things in Life are Free...

...but if you'd like to know what James might want or need for Christmas this year, I present to you this year's Gift-Giving Helpful Hints. As always, please don't feel you have to get anything at all, and please know we're grateful to you just for thinking of us, and grateful for whatever we receive.

That being said...Basically anything from the Cool Mom Picks Safer Toy Guide makes our cut:



Our main goals for gift-giving this year are to be creative, trying not to amass too much "stuff," to give useful fun gifts, and to avoid plastic as much as possible. (For an explanation of why we want to avoid plastic, see here. An excellent post about the myriad reasons to avoid plastic toys when possible.) Also, please try to avoid anything that requires batteries or is a "licensed toy." There will be plenty of those in our future Christmases, I'm quite sure.

So... A year's membership to the zoo or the natural history museum, or a family membership to the Y (so we can go swimming all year...James is really wanting to swim right now), would be perfect this year. Maybe we could even make some new kiddie friends that way!

Alternatively, James would love a gardening set (rake, trowel, etc). Or a kid-sized broom. Or one of those chef's sets with an apron and hat, potholder and rolling pin, that he always asks about when we go to Barnes and Noble. He NEEDS a nice warm winter jacket and some footie pjs. Books are always welcome here. Also, he is beginning to get into the wonderful world of painting, so some nice painting paper (canvas? I don't know what to call it as I myself have not painted since my own early childhood days) or paintbrushes would also be quite useful and fun. He would adore a bike (which at this point would be a trike. This one from Toys R Us was pretty fun in-store.).

Another easy way to get whatever YOU like but still know that it's on our "safe good toys" list is to get something made by Melissa and Doug. Their products are carried in all kinds of mainstream stores, from Toys R Us to Barnes and Noble and Borders, and they make everything: puzzles and puppets, lacing cards and bead mazes, trains and trucks, really cool pretend food, castles and stables, awesome art supplies...the list goes on.

Also, I have to show off two of my favorites:

Here's a beautiful wooden set James would spend HOURS--no, DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS, playing with.

And here's a lovely quirky blue bunny in case you're stuffed-animal inclined.

Happy Shopping, Happy Holidays, and as always, thanks for being our beloved friends and family. You guys are the best, whether or not you read a single other word of this post! =)


Wordless Wednesday: Enthusiast

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Today went by so, so fast compared to most of the other days since we got to my mom's. The secret ingredient? We went down to Norman and spent the day WITH! A! CAR!

Also, incidentally, we went to the bookstore, the toy store, and a friend's house...and that friend happens to have her own swingset. And kitty cats! And an Aunt Amber.

AND I got to have lunch with my friend Rachel, who gave James a lovely new farm toy with a TRACTOR!

And we went to Daddy's work and played around there. And if you want to talk about something making me feel old...I can't even begin to fathom how all the incredibly young, puerile, and slightly deranged meteorology students that I saw all over the place could possibly have been Ben and his friends just SEVEN YEARS AGO. Or actually, I guess that could be four years ago, considering we started at OU seven years ago, but I can't imagine any of the students I saw today were anything other than freshmen.

Except I'm sure they are. It's just that they're all so...hairless and squeaky and confused.

I guess time really does fly when you're having fun....or is that "when you're having kids?"

28 months ago today

I have a confession for the blogosphere: I write a paper journal letter to James every month on his birthday. It's incredibly low-tech and un-hip of me, but the truth is that there's no way I can promise to be eloquent and/or funny on a particular day, especially every single month, so I'd rather get down all the cute fun things I want to always remember, and not worry about form or even coherency.

However, for the sake of the cute pictures I haven't posted yet, and because I just filled up one notebook and haven't yet started another, today I bring you a live version of James: 28 months.

Dear James,

Honey, today you are 28 months old, and although I say it every month, I have to say it again, because it's still true: I cannot BELIEVE how fast the time has flown. You are such a big grown-up kid now, feeding yourself your dinners with poise and aplomb, taking off your own clothes (at almost every opportunity), and chattering up a storm. You say more words in a day than I think I would say in a week or two, if it weren't for the fact that I have you to chat with all day long. You're incredibly verbal for a two-year-old boy, and your daddy and I LOVE how you like to make jokes with us. Tonight at dinner you grabbed your waist, slowly started inching your track pants over your bum and said: "Uh-oh, Daddy! Pants coming down!" (See above: removing clothes constantly.) (Note: your pants do tend to fall down a lot. For some reason, none of them are small enough in the waist. You run around so much!)

My favorite utterance of yours, EVER, is one I blog-posted about already this month: when you woke me up with, "MAMA! MAMA! I LOVE ME MY MAMA!" But I also love that you told me recently that you didn't want a pickle because "It tastes dirty, Mama." And that, because Grandma made cookies the first night we stayed here in her house with her, every night when she comes home you say, "More cookies, Grandma! Again, again, AGAIN!"

And that, of course, is our biggest news, our biggest change of this month. We've moved you halfway across the country again, and although I think I'll always feel a little guilty about that, you have handled it like a pro, mostly because you have "Grandma!" and "Aunt Sandra!" and "Charlie!" and "Max!" and "Grandma Jane!" and "Grandpa!" and "Orion! Merlin! Calypso Kitty!" and all of the family we are so lucky to be close to again, to love on you and tell you how wonderful you are.

I wish you could always remember the wonderful friends we've left behind. It breaks my heart that now you won't get to share growing older with Miss Olivia:

Or run around with the Enfingers:

Or play with Colby on our very own personal ginormous playground:

But perhaps the hardest loss for me is that of Tyler. (CRAP, COMPUTER ATE THE TY TY PICTURE AND NOW I CAN'T GET IT) I am seriously having baby withdrawal, and I feel in some ways like I went from a Mom of Two to a Mom of One again. This might foreshadow a certain future for you involving younger siblings, although not for awhile yet. But you ask all the time about Ty-Ty and Viva and Ayeesa and David and Angel and Trinny and Colby and everyone else I couldn't put pictures up of because of our computer's tenuous connection to the internet as well as my lack of free time. And I have to admit, I will be sad to see that stop, because I loved living in Raleigh, I love the friends we made and the great times we had, and I miss it with all my heart. But most of all I'm just excited, every day, to get to be your Mommy and spend my life with you and your Daddy.

You have delicious, fun, wonderful, exciting things in your future, and as always, I am honored and amazed that I get to be a part of that.

Thank you for being mine, James. I love you more than any words could say.

Mama

Paranoid

Our internet connection has been extremely shaky today. I'm so worried that I won't be able to get around to posting and then I won't have the chance for a fabulous prize and then I will also feel like a failure and then I will not get out all the words that are running through my mind...

So here I am posting this nothing-post just to relieve the anxiety. I REALLY hope I can come back and add something a little more interesting tonight.

Can you tell I'm a little stressed these days?

See you soon, I hope!

Empty

I have so many interesting thoughts going through my head throughout the day--memories of James I want to share with family and friends, questions I want to pose, ponderings I want to get out. The melody of prose flows through my brain, but it seems I'm never in a good place to get it down, and by the time I get to the computer I have nothing left.

Today I just feel used up. I think I'm depressed because it's almost Monday and for another week we'll be stuck alone in my mom's house all day, not getting to settle in and live our lives in our new place, not getting to make new friends or see old ones, not getting to make contact with the outside world, really. Just stuck.

I had so many posts planned, or considered, or flying through my head, however you want to look at it. But I am dry and shriveled right now, so I just have to go to bed and hope for a better tomorrow.

Then again, maybe you're relieved you didn't have to sit through another rant of mine. Who knows? Either way, it comes as no surprise to me that this November/NaBloPoMo I'm in a hard place for creative writing. I'm exhausted, stressed, frustrated, and I have no time to myself. Sorry for the lack of enlightening content again, but such is my life these days.

Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow~

Black

One thing you may have noticed about me is that I don't really like to share my opinion on anything that could be considered controversial. Part of this is a natural dislike of conflict, part is related to my anthropological leanings and my ability to understand, or at the very least allow, points of view other than my own, and part is related to the fact that I can't stand people trying to persuade me to their point of view and would rather just shut up and let them think whatever they want to think without bugging me about it.

But as my son grows older, I feel that I have to be bolder. I have to start voicing my opinion in meaningful ways, not letting things slide, because I don't want him to grow up absorbing all the messages I don't believe in, or worse, thinking that those are things that I do believe.

So I have a few things to say about recent political events and what people have been saying about them. My comments will be political in some ways, but you can be assured that even when I do share them, it's not going to be a bunch of party-line b.s. or hating on certain groups. Regardless of what you think of the recent events in a Democrat or Republican way, there are some things that have been said about Obama lately that deeply trouble me. Again, not because he's a liberal Democrat. So tonight I'd like to address the first issue I have: people saying Obama is "not really black" or "not very black" or what-have-you.

This is seriously offensive, people. If Obama had a family tree that consisted solely of Kenyans, he would not be any more black. To argue the extent of his blackness is to be racist. Blackness is not about pedigree. It is a social issue, a way people look at you and treat you, a piece of a person's existence that colors their perception and experiences in a certain way. It also does not matter if you have Muslim relatives or not (another argument I've heard--"he's not black, he's Muslim")--being Muslim and being black are not mutually exclusive. Nor are Cuban and black, Brazilian and black, English and black...Neither is being Kenyan and being white, for that matter.

Barack Obama grew up black. It is petty and uneducated to suggest that because of how white folks living in small-town America who have very little contact with any black people perceive his parentage, he doesn't count as a black person. Read this or this and then tell me you can still believe that he doesn't know what it's like to be black because his mother was white, or whatever argument you want to use that doesn't make any sense to me.

If this is your opinion, I suggest you read a few books about race. Better yet, read books by black people that talk about their experience of being black. Or meet black people, and treat them like you treat non-black people, and learn about their lives. Or just keep your mouth shut, especially when you're around my son.

Just a thought.

Lame but Legal

Last night James didn't go to bed until 10:30, then he was up from about 2:30 to 5...and so were we.

I have all these great posts floating around in my head but if I wait until then, I know I'll miss posting tonight and then be mad at myself.

My sister and mom are hanging out with me here in the living room for a rare family moment, so this is it for now. If by some miracle I manage to make it back to the computer later, I might post something a little more thoughtful, but don't get your hopes up.

The weekend will be better. Probably.

Hallelujah!

WE FOUND A HOUSE! WOO HOO!!!!

Our application is in, and assuming that no one's been stealing our identities lately and our credit check comes back sound, we'll most likely be moving in next weekend.

Words cannot express the relief. Or, for that matter, the exhaustion. James and I looked at 7 houses today alone, and were supposed to look at 8 (one landlord was a no-show). I'm going to bed now.

YAY YAY YAY!

More updates soon.

Ironic

So, we're in Oklahoma, and it's NOVEMBER, for cryin' out loud, and there are TORNADO WATCHES. WTF, mates? Tornadoes are for spring. This is freaking me out. So I turned on the TV this afternoon to watch the weather reports so I'd know if James and I needed to play puzzles in the closet for awhile, and I caught some news show reporting on the phenomenon of "election withdrawal." You know, where people are depressed now that the election's over, the way some people feel the day after Christmas.

AS IF.

Tom Brokaw was quoted as saying something along the lines of " I don't think anyone really wants this to be over. We all want to be doing this forever."

HAHAHAHAHAH. He obviously forgot to read my blog yesterday.

Election withdrawal? Puh-LEASE! I know there are people who feel that way but I simply cannot relate. I am just so glad it's over. I was so stressed out last night because Ben was locked onto the TV like it was the SuperBowl or something and that kind of suspense is the LAST thing I need in my life. (Side note: I wish I had enough energy to post all my wonderful thoughts on the election and such, but no such luck. About the best I can do tonight is some tired YES WE CAN theme, so I'll spare you. Another day, maybe.)

Today was pretty awful. TruGreen ChemLawn came out and sprayed Mom's yard with no warning, and also sprayed with the freakin' dog outside, which is even more of an atrocity than the regular spraying. So we couldn't play out in the yard, or with the dog. And the threat of downpour and vortices was pretty constant, so we couldn't take a walk. And we were stuck without a car and with no visitors and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I am going crazy.

People, we need our own house PRONTO.

But I do not need election coverage to excite me. =)

TGIVD

For those not in the know, that would be Thank Goodness It's Voting Day.

Because I seriously cannot STAND another day of recordings of someone's voice asking that I vote for someone ELSE because said someone else can't even be bothered to record their OWN voice to ask for my vote, and said someone can't even be bothered to actually call me personally to ask for my vote, which I couldn't even bestow upon them anyway since

1. I VOTED ALREADY so please God make it end

and

2. I AM NOT REGISTERED TO VOTE HERE so please leave me alone.

Yesterday I was sitting outside while James was "gardening" in Grandma's flower bed. Two people walked up--an older woman and a younger woman--and I groaned inwardly, since, as you might have guessed, I am SICK of the campaigning. No, people, I am NEVER going to "vote Kern-servative," so please for the love make it stop. (And yes, part of me is dying inside that THAT is one of my choices as a voter here in Oklahoma....ouch, just ouch.)

Anyway...as I was saying, two people walked up, I grimaced, and then? And then?

I was RELIEVED to discover that they were ONLY Jehovah's Witnesses.

I never thought I would feel relieved to see some JWs walking up to me like that, but there you have it. A symptom of all that is wrong politically in our country? Maybe. More likely it's a sign of my ever-shortening attention span and my inability to digest the crap the politicians are throwing at me on a regular basis.

So go VOTE and just maybe there will be one or two people on the ballot who can make a difference.

And then tomorrow, blessed silence on the campaign front. YES!!

Boo sick mama

Hi everyone, it's Ben.

It's NaBloPoMo and Susan has food poisoning. But wait you ask, "Wasn't James just sick over the weekend?". Yes you would be right, but he's feeling much better now so we're trying to love on mama (not too close) so she will feel better.

Stray Thoughts

So, here it is, NaBloPoMo. I was looking forward to this month so much! I had such a great time doing it last year, and I was starting to collect ideas for different posts, or maybe even work on a theme, like "My Top 30 Parenting Books" or, you know, something. But instead I find that half the time my mind is completely blank, and the other half, I have a string of only-very-tenuously-connected thoughts running through my head that don't make up a coherent post.

It is very strange to be back in Oklahoma. I LOVE being near to a lot of family, and having James get to see Grandma Jane and Grandpa Clint and Grandma Stephanie and Aunt Sandra and Cousin Charlie and....so much of our family all the time. He really will get to know them so much better now, and for that I am very grateful.

But I've also learned why people say you should move away from home at least once. I can see so much more clearly all the things about Oklahoma that are not so great. Like how spread out the place is, how you have to drive EVERYWHERE, how few great open and accessible green spaces there seem to be. How expensive the organic foodstuffs are, and how small the selection is. How much harder it is to have a good community of friends for James and for us that have similar values and seek similar lives. How little shade there is!

Of course this will all get better with time. Of course it's hard to make new friends when most days James and I are stranded alone in my mom's house all day with no car and therefore nowhere to go (see above--no sidewalks, even! It's horrible!). And I know that part of the reason I'm having trouble thinking of an interesting post is that too much of the space in my head is occupied with the mourning I have to go through, leaving all the good things about Raleigh that I can' t have here. And of course there are a lot of things about Oklahoma that I like--I just wish I could have my Raleigh right now.

And yes, that's right, I am sad to have left Raleigh. If I wasn't, I don't think I would be human! That's a human emotion. I get very tired of being told a bunch of versions of get over it. It's not like that. I' m not stupid or whiny or whatever else. I happen to just have a LOT of moving experience, and to know intimately the ways I have to process a move, how hard it can be on my child to move, and that for every great thing about the new place, you have to leave great things about the old place, and that's sad. And we miss our Raleigh friends terribly. So if you don't want to hear about that, it's probably best if you just leave now. I don't mean to be harsh but I need the emotional space, so seriously, if it bugs you, just come back later.

So. Hopefully as the month goes on I'll be able to get past all this and be able to use this blog to focus on writing rather than this crazy thing called Our Life Right Now. I'll keep you posted!

(Ha ha. "Posted." That's as far towards *witty* as I'm capable of today. Maybe the illness and lack of sleep is also contributing to my slightly bad mood...?)

Very Funny, Universe

It's the first day of National Blog Posting Month.

I just moved cross-country with a grand total of THREE WEEKS' notice.

And then I got sick on Ben's first day of work (Monday).

And then, last night at 1:00 a.m., James started puking, and puked all night and into the day. He stopped at about noon, so we thought we were good, until about 30 minutes ago, when it started again.

So I'm calling it a night. A very long, stinking, horrid night, perhaps. I may or may not be back tomorrow, and there is a high chance I might be cranky.

Seriously. I feel that at this point I must have some bad karma that I need to shake off. Anyone need a good deed done?