Archive for September, 2007
My parents went to Las Vegas several years ago and totally *loved* it. They can’t wait to go back! Today’s sponsored entry is about Caesars Palace, and it reminded me of how much my parents enjoy casinos. hehe :) They usually have pretty good luck, too! I’ve only been to one casino before, and it was Turning Stone (between Albany and Syracuse). I’m thinking that we could take my parents there sometime when they come visit us. I remember playing keno (that game is always fun, and my friend thought that I would provide “beginner’s luck” ~ unfortunately it didn’t work out that way!). I couldn’t get over all of the lights, noises, etc. And no clocks in there, of course. :) Anyway, I’d enjoy seeing Las Vegas sometime. Seems like an incredible place (and I would *love* to visit “Paris”!).
I thought about posting a *long* entry today describing how this past week pretty much *sucked* for me. I wanted to tell you about my nervous breakdown on Wednesday, due to Lucas’s atrocious behavior (and my PMS-induced state). I thought that you might enjoy hearing about how he poured an entire bottle of Tilex over his sister’s head, causing her so much pain that she couldn’t open her eyes for a while. Perhaps you would have been amused to know that he took a bag of flour from our pantry, scattered it all over our kitchen and living room, and then dumped the rest over Meredith (just after the on/off switch on our vacuum broke, of course). I’d also planned to tell you about how I started feeling a strange tightness in my chest on Wednesday night, and by Thursday morning I had convinced myself that I was experiencing the beginnings of a heart attack. (Yes, that’s how much this anxiety disorder paralyzes me ~ hence the reason why I felt kind of scared for my husband to leave on Friday.) And then, there’s the therapy appointment on Friday that I canceled because I felt too scared to go anywhere ~ ironically, when I needed my therapist the most. Oh, and I was going to mention the body aches, headaches, lack of energy, upset tummy, and total anxiety that I started feeling yesterday ~ making me realize that I’d come down with some sort of flu bug. And that caused me to cancel my “chocolate decadence” manicure scheduled for this morning ~ which I’d only been looking forward to for months now. Now that I know that I’m not dying, I want to reschedule my weekend break!
But you know what? I think that I should just wipe the slate clean, start over, and move on. I need to shake myself out of this constant panicky state (ah, if only it were that easy). I can’t let it ruin my life. Hopefully, though, this Tuesday will be a turning point for me. I have a doctor’s appointment, and I want to start taking some kind of anti-anxiety medication that will help. I can’t keep living my life this way. I’m scared as *hell* to go to that doctor’s appointment, though. I seriously think that my husband will have to drag me there. I can’t tell you how much I’m completely *dreading* it.
Tomorrow starts a new week, and hopefully it’ll be *tons* better than this last one. Time to take a deep breath, relax as much as possible, and keep going with this thing called life. (At least, hopefully now that I’ve written those words down, I’ll stick with them.)
I’m all alone. Oh my God.
It doesn’t feel how I thought it would. I had visions of myself running around our house the moment that Jeff, Lucas, and Meredith left, leaving open every single door and baby gate just because I could. Or recklessly sitting a bunch of stuff (crayons, Sharpies) on the kitchen counter, close to the edge. Or taking a long, relaxing bath and then spending the rest of the evening catching up on e-mails.
Instead, I bawled my eyes out when Jeff gave me a hug as they were leaving. I came back inside and fixed myself a bowl of microwaved macaroni and cheese for dinner. I went upstairs and took a bath in our whirlpool tub (yeah … nice, I’ll admit). And I plopped down on the futon in our bonus room to watch one of my favorite movies, “National Treasure.”
But … it just doesn’t seem right to see Lucas’s and Meredith’s bedrooms completely dark tonight. No stories to read, no bottles to prepare. I actually missed all of the bath toys that Lucas throws into my bathwater while I’m in the tub. And I missed Meredith’s little hands gripping the side of the tub, trying to peer over and see what I’m doing. I miss the kisses before bedtime. All of the sudden, it just feels kind of freaky to be here by myself. And I know that when I slip into bed tonight, I’m going to *desperately* miss my radiator and blanket stealer.
Jeff called just a while ago and said that the kids fell asleep in the car on the way there, and now they’re in the hotel trying to wind down for the night. (Oops ~ Mommy forgot to pack the pacifier!) He put the phone up to Lucas so that I could hear him count: “One, who, hee, four, five, hicks, heh (he hasn’t quite mastered seven yet), eight, nine, HEN!” And I heard Meredith babbling and making some cute sounds. They’re only an hour away, yet it feels *so* far.
I asked if maybe they could all come home tomorrow.
If you get a chance today or this weekend, please visit Margie’s blog and congratulate them on the arrival of their son! Yay! :) He’s a cutie! I can’t wait to hear more details. So exciting!
And how fitting … today’s sponsored entry is all about baby clothes. :) What a neat site … there are all kinds of funny sayings (on onesies and T-shirts) for newborns, boys and girls, and older children. Some of them totally crack me up. I love the “Copyright 2007″ onesie, hehe :)
Today was pretty much a rotten day. :( Lucas’s behavior was *not* good, to say the least ~ and I’m PMSing on top of it. Things got better late this afternoon, though, after Meredith woke up from her nap and I gave both of them baths. We relaxed in the bonus room, watched some “Blue’s Clues” and “Wheel of Fortune,” and played with some toys. Now, both of our children are in their respective beds ~ and I’m planning to Swiffer our bonus room floor. Yeah, I’d rather be relaxing on the futon with a good book, but I’m *so* tired of our dirty wood floors. (And Swiffering is next to impossible with a two-and-a-half-year-old and an 11-month-old all over the place!) I hope that tomorrow will be better.
What happened to our autumn weather? It got crisp and cool for a while, but here lately we’ve had *hot* temperatures. I actually had to turn on the air conditioning today. It doesn’t seem right to visit the local orchard to pick out a pumpkin while wearing shorts, a tank top, and flip-flops! LOL! :) I’m ready for fall weather to get here and *stay* here, I guess.
Guess what *sweet* thing my mom did? She made Lucas a “Blue’s Clues” denim tote bag, complete with a miniature Blue tied to one of the handles. Her idea was for him to place Blue and his notebook into the tote bag so that he can wrap it around his arm while swinging. And you know what? It worked like a charm! Yesterday, we visited our local playground (our first time after “the incident”). Luke was a bit hesitant at first, but when he discovered that he could keep Blue and his notebook close by, he *loved* it. He was able to swing with both hands and hold on tightly! Yay! :) My mom is *so* creative and *extremely* thoughtful. (By the way … Lucas got right back onto the swings without missing a beat. Mommy, on the other hand, was more than a little nervous.)
Tomorrow, I’m dropping off a bunch of baked goods at my friend Marilyn’s house for our town’s last farmer’s market of the year on Friday. I made dark chocolate-ginger scones, lemon poppy seed muffins, and lemon-lime sugar cookies (which I ate *way* too many of today ~ see my note above about PMSing!). I just need to package everything up in some cute fashion. What do you guys have going on tomorrow? Whatever you do, I hope that you enjoy your day.
Finally ~ a sponsored entry that I’m excited to write about! :) My husband and I have *so* many things that we’d like to do to our house, and landscape lighting is one of them. Check out this website ~ it’s amazing! Personally, I wish that we had a pretty garden staircase like this one. How gorgeous is that? Our main task for the not-so-distant future is illuminating our driveway. We’re not sure what type of lights to buy, though. These are really pretty. What a fun website for ideas!
I’ve done this “meme” before, but Girl in Georgia tagged me … and there is no shortage of weirdness on my part! LOL! :) So, here goes … six strange/quirky/random things about me:
1] I will absolutely *never* eat fruit salad as leftovers. Blech. I will only eat fruit salad the *exact* day that it’s made ~ and preferably *right* after it’s put together.
2] Sometimes I enjoy sleeping with my head at the foot of our bed. Just a change of pace, I guess. I like a different perspective every now and then! And yes, my poor husband has to smell my stinky feet. :)
3] All of the money in my wallet has to be facing the same direction (i.e., all of the Presidents’ faces must be aligned). I got that from my husband. :)
4] Many times, I like to roll my car window down (in order to enjoy the fresh, cool air breezing by) while also turning on the heater (because my feet get cold, LOL!). Such a waste of energy, I know.
5] I like to curl up with blankets (preferably the ones that my grandpa has made) year-round, even when it’s 90 degrees outside (while blasting the air conditioning inside, LOL!). It’s just all about the comfort and soothing feeling of blankets. I also like to drink hot tea year-round, even when it’s the height of summertime. (But I couldn’t *stand* hot tea when I was pregnant with Lucas ~ so strange!)
6] On the rare occasion when I order a hamburger at a restaurant, I’ll ask for extra pickles and then pick most of them off. I only want the *flavor* of pickles ~ what I call “pickle essence.” LOL! :) I love pickles, just not a *lot* of them on my sandwich.
Not too long ago, I joined our county’s Freecycle e-mail group. Just the other day, someone in our town posted a notice about a Barbie dollhouse (complete with all of the furniture and accessories). She said that her 10-year-old daughter no longer plays with it, and she would like to give the dollhouse a good home. I totally jumped at the offer. Meredith is way too young yet for all of the small pieces, of course, but I knew that she would really *love* playing with the dollhouse itself. And as she grows older, I think that she’ll really get a *lot* of use out of it. The problem is, people are quick ~ and sometimes I don’t send an e-mail fast enough in order to snatch up good Freecycle deals. But this time … I did! Yay! :) So this morning, I went over to the lady’s house and picked up Meredith’s very *first* dollhouse.
Want to do a colon cleanse? I must confess, I don’t know much about that kind of stuff. But it has to be good for you, right? I shudder to think about the junk food that I’ve eaten over my lifetime and how it has affected my poor colon! LOL! :)
Here’s some more travel information: travelpro. Check it out … there’s luggage and all sorts of tips for traveling. Are you planning an upcoming vacation? This website might be of some help. Gosh ~ now it’s got me thinking about our next trip, which is visiting Indiana for Christmas.
