May 7, 2008

the Great Mascara Road Test returns

Things my random Clinique mascara has outlasted today:

Torrential rainstorm during carpool.

Half an hour of having Chris try to explain how I can change my blog’s header (still not changed! not Chris’ fault though).

Six minutes of the Today Show pointing out that mommyblogging is the Next Big Thing, and an Easy Money Maker! Plus the added bonus of Kathie Lee Gifford telling the world that she doesn’t know how a computer works and she isn’t sure Heather Armstrong should be talking about her daughter in such a public way — woo good thing Kathie Lee never talked about HER kids in a public forum (banging my head on the table repeatedly did NOT hurt the mascara! amazing).

Hair cut and color (it’s even this time! woo! and since I’m a “mommyblogger” I get to write about things like that).

Forty five minute conference call, during which I did laundry (multi-tasking, you all).

Eye doctor appointment for kid (because we don’t go to the doctor ENOUGH around here).

Playdate with cute neighbor child (honestly an extra kid is SO MUCH EASIER — like a wee affordable babysitter).

Tornado emergency, which included strapping the bicycle helmets on the kids and piling them into the bathroom, where Henry IMMEDIATELY decided he needed to pee and my cell phone stopped working and Charlie finally realized that tornadoes are SCARY SCARY THINGS.

The tornado emergency was the real test: 125 mph straight line winds! and actual tornadoes! in my neighborhood! or close at least, but it was hard for the Storm Trackers to see because of the torrential rain and the fog! Either way, it was hard not to wonder if we were going to die. Or just lose our roof. (Neither happened, although my neighbor and I are mad that we didn’t run out and push the fence between our houses over, because we really want a new one, and 125 mph winds seem like a fence disaster waiting to happen.) My mascara was most certainly tested to its not-waterproof limits.

Tonight, when Wade got home, I said, “These are the days that you should be glad we have a good marriage. Because under different circumstances, a storm like that very well could be the last straw.”

Oh no wait, the Today Show already WAS the last straw. My bad.

May 3, 2008

recharged

For the last little while, by which I mean, oh, as long as we have lived in this house, which is nearly a YEAR now, you all, my laptop battery has been crapping out on me. Recently, like since my trip to New York, it started lasting a total of 11 minutes from the time I unhooked it from the wall plug (does that thing have a name? I’m sure it does) until it went into the Sleep of Death and demanded that I plug it back in if I wanted to finish whatever I was working on. I constantly had to find a plug if I wanted to work, which kind of limited where I could sit during the work day.

Oddly, this didn’t really bother me, because apparently my memory is very short and I had completely FORGOTTEN how much I loved things like taking the iBook into the sunroom to read my email or browse at J. Crew or sit on the sofa and IM with Chris about things we had talked about on the phone an hour earlier.

Oh and work. That too.

On Friday, I finally dragged myself to the Apple store and had a Genius diagnose the problem (the battery, she is dead! shocking, I know). As an aside, this is my second Apple Genius Bar experience, and while both Geniuses were professional and helpful, they both had the personality of a turnip and absolutely NO sense of humor. I’m funny, you all, especially when I am talking about my relationship to technology, but neither of these guys so much as cracked a smile. Apple, would it KILL you to teach the Geniuses to be smart AND funny? I think not.

Then again, the Geniuses fixed my beloved iBook, twice, so what am I bitching about? I have no idea.

Also last week, I was offered a job, a really good job, but in my dead battery state I didn’t think I could commit to it. And then I started to think that I couldn’t even keep up with the work I was currently committed to do so I cut back on a few things, and then I started to have some kind of Existential Crisis about, oh, I don’t know, EVERYTHING because OMG I CAN’T KEEP UP AND MY BATTERY IS DEAD. And I said no to the job.

And while I knew that it was the right thing to do, I also wondered if it was the wrong thing to do.

I lucked out, because after I declined the job they came back and offered it to me again. And when I told Wade, he said, “Take it. You know you want to.” And I realized that he was right. I do.

You know, now that I’ve got that new battery and everything.

April 25, 2008

he got me a lifetime supply of Tylenol

Me: I have the WORST headache today.  Seriously.

Him: Oh, didn’t anyone tell you?  After 40, it’s just ONE BIG HEADACHE.  Welcome to the rest of your life.

Me: Great.  Just GREAT.

February 1, 2008

next up: Proust!

Wade: I finished reading War and Peace.

Me: Good for you.

Wade: Ask me how it was.

Me: How was it?

Wade: Meh.  It was fine.

Me: Weirdo.

January 22, 2008

I will probably not live long enough to care about the dining room paint

Henry woke up at 5:20 yesterday morning, apparently yelling about how he was going to THROW UP. I missed this because I was already up and dressed and downstairs working.

Good morning!

He did not throw up, but by lunch time he was running a 101 degree fever and was listless and quiet, which is a clear sign that he’s sick. We loaded him up with Tylenol and called the pediatrician to check in, only to find that the office was closed for the holiday. So we assumed that he didn’t have the flu and got on with our lives, which mostly consisted of plopping the kids in front of the TV so that I could work and Wade could nap.

By bedtime Henry was feeling a little better, but still not back to himself; instead of strapping on his headlamp and crawling under the covers with a book, he begged me to snuggle with him and then curled up in my lap, where he proceeded to rub his germy, Vaseline-covered face all over my cashmere sweater, and use my arm to cover his mouth when he sneezed or coughed.

(more…)

December 11, 2007

snow day, the sequal

I’ve realized that it is misleading to call these “snow” days, since there ISN’T ANY snow, only ice, or now big puddles with branches (or entire trees) laying in them. But in the school accounting, they are snow days, and my children have had TWO so far this week.

We spent today’s snow day eating brunch out and playing 54 holes of mini-golf, at the indoor place at the mall, the one with the black lights. I do not have anything else to say about that, except that when the kids go to claim the FREE rounds of golf that they WON today, Wade will be taking them because I am NOT going back there. Ever.

And now it is after 10:30 and I am WAITING to see what tomorrow will bring. The public schools are closed, but there is no word on my children’s Catholic school, although I am not optimistic. There’s no way those kids are going to school tomorrow, is there? No there isn’t.