Archive for October, 2010
Day 26- What you think about your friends
Oct 31st
My friends are pretty much awesome. But don’t most people feel that way? And if not, why are you friends with them?
Our friends are great because they are thoughtful; kind; willing to let me vent to them about stupid stuff; willing to vent back to me about their stupid stuff, therefore making me feel less lame for needing to vent; like having appetizers for dinner occasionally (who doesn’t!?); ok with just hanging around the house all weekend when they come to visit; ok with going out and doing touristy stuff when they come to visit; ok with the fact that our house is a disaster area 95% of the time (other than right when the show up, usually); awesome about understanding that I’m not a phone person, and so I don’t keep in touch like I should; willing to encourage our (bad) habit of go out to eat too often; and genuinely good people. How’s that for a long, confusing sentence?
Ryan and I are pretty lucky. We have a lot of great friends, and they are almost all both of our friends, even if they started off as one of ours. I like having friends that feel like they are my friends too (if they started as his) or his friends too (if they started as mine). It makes it much easier to hang out with them. No one feels left out, and everyone has more friends.
Day 25- What I would find in your bag
Oct 30th
- 1 wallet, containing check card, credit cards, drivers license(s) (one with married name and my maiden name one in case I have to use a credit card with my maiden name on it…maybe I should get those changed…), store reward cards, gift certificates and a few receipts.
- 1 pair of gloves
- 1 book (Fragile Beasts, by Tawni O’Dell)
- Various paper (401k Statement, paystubs, bills, various receipts, coupons)
- 2 disposable diapers
- 1/2 pack of Thank You cards
- 2 sets return address labels (one for Ryan, one for me)
- Mom’s birthday card that I keep thinking I mailed and apparently haven’t (daughter FAIL)
- 1 changing pad
- 1 pair sunglasses
- Birth announcement for our friends Dave and Jess’s son, Peter (needs to go on fridge at home)
- Cell phone
- Keys
- 2 copies of a picture of a parrot, for my Halloween costume.
- 1 baby teething toy
- Hand sanitizer
- Cough drops/vitamin C drops
- Random loose change
- 1 bib
- 4 pens
- 1 necklace (THAT’S where that is!)
- Lipstick (which I hardly ever wear) & chapstick
- An old prescription bottle filled with (not prescription) ibuprofen
- A purse hanger thingy
- 1 barrette
And a partridge in a pear tree. No wonder my purse is so heavy these days!
Day 24- A letter to your parents
Oct 29th
Dear Mom & Dad,
I miss you. A lot. I wish that I could see you more often, and that we had more time when we do get to see each other.
Thank you for doing such a great job raising us (if I may say so). You showed us the value of hard work, and that you don’t need to be rich to have a great life. Those are two lessons that are very important, and that I hope I can pass on to my children.
You both mean so much to me. I wish I was better at expressing it. Whenever I have a question about what I should do, I think of you. What would Dad do? What would Mom do? What would they tell me to do? I don’t always listen (what else is new?), but I do always consider what I think your opinions would be.
I love seeing you with James. I know you have many grandchildren, but seeing you interact with him gives me a whole different perspective on how much you love all of them. They are lucky to have you as grandparents. Since having a baby I have a much better idea of how much you care about us kids. I don’t think I could have ever fathomed it before. I feel so lucky to have you to care so much for me.
I love you,
Becky
ps. The next time you are going to do something crazy (like pull the pontoon boat full of people behind a 6-wheeler (ATV) at night on gravel roads) give me a call, would you? I hate missing that stuff!
Read this
Oct 29th
There will be another post coming shortly, but I read this post from Daughter Number Three this morning, and it’s got some really good stuff summed up quite accurately. It’s about politics, but it’s not inflammatory in any way. Mostly talking about what people say vs what it would mean if implemented in real-life. You should check it out.
Day 23- Something you crave for a lot
Oct 28th
I copied that from the meme, but it looks wrong. Shouldn’t it be “Something you crave a lot”? (Also, in that instance, should the question mark go inside or outside the quotation marks? I must know! Aunt Janice, help me out here!
Besides chocolate (I could eat chocolate all day), I crave time with people I love. I wish that we could spend every weekend with family and friends. Of course, when we DO travel a lot on weekends, then I crave time at home. I think the perfect solution would be if everyone just moved to Duluth. That way we could all see eachother whenever we wanted, but there wouldn’t be any pressure to get the most out of what time you have.
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Another sewing project completed last night (a cloak for Ryan’s costume). 2 left (a carpet bag, and a vest for Ryan). Think I can finish them up tonight?
Hey, winter, what’re you doing here so early?
Oct 27th
I had to drive Ryan up, over the hill this morning (he had to be at the meeting place at 6:30…we made it by 6:50, which is pretty good for us these days; especially in the morning). When I went out to the car, it was raining/snowing some, but nothing was sticking. When I got up by the University (about half-way up the hill), it was sticking a little. When I got up near the meeting place it was a full-fledged snowstorm, with inability to see what lane I was in, slippery roads, and plows out. Like this, only less pretty and more dangerous:
Photo from the Duluth News Tribune website.
The Duluth Public Schools are closed (“Pansies,” Ryan called them). Several other schools in the area have late starts.
I am not ready for winter. I am especially not ready for 5 inches of snow. Thankfully, by the time I left for work it had turned entirely into rain down by my house, and so I don’t have to look at it (I also work at the bottom of the hill). Hopefully this is a freak storm, and we will have warm days again before winter really arrives.
Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else
Oct 27th
I don’t know. I think that, as Temerity Jane says, “I realized my own absolute, complete and total averageness. I’m not boring and I’m not plain, but I’m not unique or special to anyone except my parents, as it should be.” Sure, we have little variances in our personality or whatever, but generally speaking I believe we are all a lot alike. So picking out something that I think makes me unique is a little difficult.
One thing I notice about myself that I think is a little unique is that I have an excess of empathy for other people. At least I think that’s how you would describe it. Most people feel empathy toward people they know, in sad situations. I feel empathy toward everyone, all the time. It’s pretty inconvenient a lot of the time. It means I cry even during sitcoms on tv, when people are laughing at some one’s expense. And I’m no good at funerals. There are just too many sad people everywhere, and I hurt for them. I don’t know if empathy can be felt in a positive way as well, but one benefit to all of this is that if the people I’m around are in a good mood, I tend to be in a good mood.
I don’t know if I’m explaining this very well. Basically, I reflect the emotions of the people around me. If they are happy, I’m happy. If they are sad, I’m sad. It’s something that I’ve learned to deal with. I try to distract myself at places where it might be inappropriate to reflect too much emotion (having a baby is great for that).
And if all of that isn’t different enough…I don’t know what to tell you.
Question
Oct 26th
Does anyone else find it romantic when books/people describe their grocery shopping and all they buy is “milk, bread, fruit and cheese”? Because I wish that’s all we had in our fridge/all we wanted. It sounds so simple (and so European!). And yet our fridge also has juice, 13,000,000 condiments, jam, butter, meat, various leftovers, and some old yogurt.
Do you buy just milk, bread, cheese and fruit? Is it delicious?
Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy
Oct 26th
He makes me happier than anything else.
My sweet, sweet baby James
Have you seen my brain?
Oct 25th
Ryan just told me that we short-changed our daycare person by a day, because apparently I can’t keep track of when we are bringing our son to his house. In my defense, we bring him there 3 days a week and somewhere else 2 days a week, and we recently switched which days we bring him each place. But still. I feel awful that we forgot; like he thinks that we did it intentionally (I’m sure he doesn’t think that, but I still worry). It’s worse, somehow, because he is a dear friend of ours. I don’t want him to think we are trying to take advantage of him. We aren’t; I just can’t keep track of ANYTHING lately.
I feel like my brain is in a permanent fog these days. I don’t know why, or how to fix it. I would love some time off – I think that would help, and so I’m looking forward to our vacation next month. But I wish I didn’t have to feel like that. I never used to. Before I had a baby I could work all the time and not get mentally exhausted. It wouldn’t phase me at all. Feeling like this is hard on me emotionally. I feel like I’m no good if I can’t keep up with things as simple as how much to pay the daycare person and what I need to do at work today. I’m useless lately without a list, and I hate it.
I wish I could take even a day off, but EVERYONE is gone lately (out of our office of 12, 3 are gone today – all Commercial Lines (my department)), and as I mentioned I’ll be taking a week off in less than a month, so this isn’t a good time to be gone. Plus, I don’t want to use up my vacation days. They have to last me until March, and I only have a week left (after our vacation, of course).
Any tips on increasing my brain power without taking time off work? I take a prenatal vitamin still, since I’m breastfeeding James, so I don’t know if more vitamins are the answer or not. More sleep would probably help, but if you can get James to understand that waking up at 2, 3 and/or 4 am is not conducive to a positive mommy mental state, please; have at it.
In the meantime, I’ll be writing another check while apologizing, adding who has James on which days to my Google calendar, and trying to get a handle on my other to-do lists.
