Category: One of those days

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Karma

I must have done something to really tick her off, because man, am I having some bad juju over here. And just in time for the holidays, whee!

First off, I was just thinking the other day how happy I am that my skin is nice and clear right now, seeing as so much of it will be bared on the beach in just a few days. It may be pasty, but hopefully that will be remedied soon, and at least it’s blemish-free. Ha! Not so fast there, young lady. When what to my wondering eyes should appear yesterday morning? A nice big zit, right in the middle of my chest. Come on, gross! And just in time for bikini season, too. Fan-flippin-tastic.

Next up? This ridiculously terrible cold I caught a few days ago, which has allowed me only 1 workout this week. 1 week before I strut around in my new bikini, mind you. I started feeling a little lousy on Monday, and since then things have gone downhill at a rapid speed. I got some Sudafed yesterday, though, to try and get my head cleared before I have to endure the pain of changing cabin pressures on airplanes this weekend. Hopefully it will kick in in time to banish the worst of it.

I also took NyQuil last night so I could get some sleep. Ah, NyQuil, it’s been so long. I couldn’t take it while pregnant or nursing, and fortunately since then I haven’t needed it. See – right there. That’s where Karma got me. Just the other day I was thinking again (maybe that’s the problem – i should just stop thinking!) how it’s been a really long time since I’ve been truly sick, because R was going into the doctor for a physical and weird headaches he gets all the time. I was musing that he seems to get sick a lot more often than I do, then whaddya know? BAM! Who’s sick now, kid?

And just to top things off, my friendly monthly reminder of how magnificent it is to be female kicked in this morning. Yay!! Just what I always wanted – a Hawaiian vacation with my bestest pal. She really is such a treat and an absolute joy to be around. Especially when I’ll be wearing a bikini more often than not this coming week. Ah well, c’est la vie, non?

So, Karma, please let me know what I can do to get back on your good side. Because this right here? Not so nice. No matter what you throw at me, though, I’ll keep my chin up, because I have this to look forward to in 2 short days…

 

 

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When it rains, it pours

Ok, hmm. I’m not really even sure where to start with this one; I’ve just got a lot of shit swirling around in my head right now. So this is going to be one of those brain drains again. It’s your lucky day! Buckle your seat belts, this could be a bitchy ride.

First of all, sweet baby D has hand, foot, and mouth disease. What? Gross! I know. She developed a bunch of little blister-like sores on her hands and feet starting Sunday morning, and her legs and arms had more tiny red dots all over them that weren’t raised. Some of the hand/feet sores looked pretty nasty, almost puss-filled, so that prompted me to call her doctor yesterday. Diagnosis confirmed – the doctor found some little sores on the roof of her mouth that I hadn’t seen in there, so that solidified it. Awesome. And since it’s viral, there are no antibiotics, so we just wait it out. Double awesome. So I’m home with her today because doctor’s orders were a day out of daycare. Oh wait, that part’s a good thing. I’m certainly not missing my desk at work right now.

Next, I found out some most ridiculous news yesterday. So we have this big trip to Hawaii planned over Christmas. Ok, cool. It’s all of us on my mom and stepdad’s side – me, R, and D; my sister and her husband; my other sister; my mom and stepdad; and his 2 kids. Well, youngest sister announced to my mom yesterday that she’s now not going. WHAT THE FUCK? Oh wait, it gets better.

Why isn’t she going? Um, well, apparently last week sometime her boyfriend’s ex dropped their 2 kids off at my sister and boyfriend’s apartment and left. So now my sister has had to quit her once almost-full-time job to stay home and babysit these kids all week while her boyfriend works like 12 hour days, then he watches them on weekends while she has picked up a new Saturday/Sunday part-time job. And they’re moving into a slightly bigger apartment this weekend I guess to accommodate the new uh, living situation.

Ok couple things here:

1. I love my sister more than she could possibly know and only want her to be happy, but what?? Am I crazy for being shocked by all this? They’re almost-27 and almost-26, and now she’s suddenly playing pseudo-mom to a 6- and 5-year old? Shit, if someone dropped 2 kids off on my porch and said “see ya”, I’d be a little pissed, donchya think?

2. Without getting into all the specifics, there have heretofore been some extenuating circumstances that prevented boyfriend from even seeing his kids. And now he has them full-time? If that doesn’t qualify for things that make ya go hmm… I don’t know what does. What’s gonna happen when the ex flips a switch again and suddenly wants them back? I said I feel worst for the kids in all this – they don’t deserve to be shuffled back and forth between 2 apparently inept parents, who were basically kids themselves when they were born. (i’m not knocking all young parents here, but at age 19 you are still a kid, whether you’re a parent or not)

3. I’m afraid my sister is going to quickly find out she might be in just a little over her head with all this. She’s admitted that she’s pretty overwhelmed, since this all got dumped in her lap, turning her life upside down in kind of the blink of an eye, and without her asking for it. I mean seriously – being home with these kids all day, walking them to/from school (after getting them enrolled, that is, which could be difficult in and of itself when lacking any sort of legal guardianship), etc., etc., starting like RIGHT NOW?

4. I just hope she’s truly ok. Fortunately my other sister and brother-in-law live pretty close to them, so she’s made sure to let her know they’re there if she ever needs them. Apparently youngest sister sounded remarkably calm and accepting of the whole shebang when they spoke today, so I guess that’s kind of comforting. Kind of?

I give my other sister credit, though. When she told me all this before going to talk to youngest, I wanted to teleport out there and punch youngest and boyfriend in the face. Or at least send a nasty text. I’m glad I reigned in my immaturity and refrained, though. That’s a first.

Ok, what’s next? Oh yeah – my dad. He’s engaged. HA! Again, what?? Yeah I know, I told you – downpour. I have mixed feelings on this one. I do really like the woman to whom he’s engaged (they’ve been together off and on for close to 2 years, almost the whole time he’s been out of prison). She’s nice, she’s normal, she’s grounded, she has grandkids of her own and is wonderful with D, and she is a really good influence in my dad’s life. Essentially a 180 from the woman he married after my mom, a psychotic nightmare of a bitch. Trust me, that description is 400% warranted. This current one? Complete opposite and such an amazingly refreshing change.

But here’s the odd part. They were broken up – like him moving all his stuff back out broken up – over the summer and up until about 2 months ago, now just that like he’s moved back in and they’re engaged? Huh? What’s the rush? They’ve both been married multiple times now, so why dive into matrimony again? Plus, neither of my sisters have met her yet, which I told him he needs to give them another chance to do before they actually tie the knot. Not doing so would be incredibly rude and selfish, in my opinion.

Also, she was in the dark about his drinking again even longer than I was. We were talking about it when I was down in Peoria the other weekend, and she didn’t even know about it until what sounds like shortly before they got back together this time. Now, she’s been through a couple bad episodes with alcoholics, so she’s not willing to put up with any more shit if my dad’s on the sauce. He drank a lot at my sister’s wedding in September, which I know was uncomfortable for pretty much all of us. But it was his choice, and it still wasn’t like it used to be. After that trip I told him how I hated his drinking again and showed him what I’d written after D’s birthday party when he was at our house this summer, so hopefully he took my words to heart. He doesn’t drink when we’re with him now, which is an improvement. And I know his drinking at home is significantly reduced as well. A beer here or there? Fine, that’s totally normal. And fortunately his fiance won’t tolerate much more than that anymore. So there’s that.

Next up? Shit at our house. We’ve been working on the damn thing for over 4 years now, and it just won’t end. Nothing like home “owership”, eh? And we’re so frickin’ close, I can’t stand it! We’ve been working on one particular thing for a couple months now, and we just keep failing to get it done. Come on already! I just want to have a finished home for our little family that I can actually see us living in and growing in for at least a couple years to come.

Welp, I guess that’s about it. Thanks for listening again.

 

 

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Deck the… humbug?

As you might know, we’re not going to be at home for Christmas this year. We’ll be traveling. And although it will be a most radical trip, it’s just kind of thrown my whole holiday spirit out of whack this year.

 

I didn’t really feel like getting a Christmas tree, since I’ll probably want to have it taken down before we leave anyway. (we did end up getting one, just a tiny little guy this year. even so, i did manage to get almost all of my favorite ornaments crammed on there. but only 1 strand of lights)

 

 

I really haven’t gotten out any of our other interior decorations, save a winter scene nightlight in the hallway and our mistletoe ball in the kitchen. We have some great advent calendars that I love dearly, but even they remain in the decorations cabinet in the basement because I just didn’t feel like hanging them up this time. Oddly, I felt like the days that didn’t get put up before we left would be lonely. (i know, i’m weird. that’s nothing new) Plus D got 2 chocolate advent calendars from relatives this year, so those have sufficed and fueled her new-found sugar addiction.

 

I did wind our pre-lit garland around the front lamppost and string the real stuff from my grandparents along our porch rails, because I absolutely adore white Christmas lights outside. But the little tree lights to line the walk will have to wait for another year.

 

(please pardon the fake snow. i was just having a little picnik fun)

 

I’m not even really in the mood for presents this year either. I usually love passing out everyone’s gifts on Christmas morning and reveling in the holiday spirit, but just the thought of trying to come up with something for people is kind of grating on my nerves right now. I’m at a total loss for most everyone, and since we’re traveling I don’t really even know if we should do gifts at all. Ugh.

 

At least a lack of decorations means a little less clean up this year, right? I won’t have to traipse around come the start of the new year taking down all the festive flair and making each room seem a little less magical than when it wore its holiday best, which is always kind of depressing. And since the tree only has 1 strand of lights, I won’t have to mess with tangling and untangling all of those as I try to unwind them from said tree and get them back in storage without ending up with a giant National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation-sized knot.

 

I guess one other good thing about a pint-sized Christmas tree and minimal decorations is that most of my upkeep and cleaning this year simply consists of telling D, “We don’t touch the Christmas tree. Just wave hi to him.” And yes, that’s worked just fine so far to keep pine needles off the floor, believe it or not.

 

Anyone have a cup of holiday cheer I could borrow? Something bubbly and slightly alcoholic would do splendidly.

 

 

I’m sharing my holiday home decor (or lack thereof!) and cleaning tips for the chance to win prizes from The SITS Girls and Great Cleaners.