Casual Thoughts
Is this thing still on?
Nov 7th
Man, I am a slacker. Here I drop a bombshell of sorts, and then I up and disappear. I don’t blame you if you all left. Although if you are like me this will show up in your RSS feed reader or whatever, so even if it had been 6 months instead of only 1.5 it would still be there for you to see as I eventually make my way back.
I got another job. A better job, by far, for me. Especially at this point in my life. I work for a promotional products company, and the atmosphere is relaxed and the people are awesome and funny and friendly, and I think that I will be good at the job. I started in mid-October, so I’m still learning, but I think it’s going well.
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We’ve had a busy fall, and things are just getting going. We were in the cities the past 2 weekends, and we have to go down this weekend again for a family wedding on Ryan’s side. That’s a lot of traveling to the cities (or Rochester, in one case). James has spent a lot of time with his Auntie Lisa and Grandma and Grandpa on that side, that’s for sure. We are home the weekend after this coming one, and then it’s Thanksgiving, which is in Roseau this year. More driving.
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Halloween was fun this year, although our costumes were not as high caliber as years’ past. Ryan was some kind of crazy, murderous doctor, and I was one of those pictures where they eyes follow you around. Needless to say we didn’t win the costume contest. James was a cowboy for halloween. When you would tell him he was a cowboy he would say “Moooooo!” HAHAHA. That was fun. He was a little unsure of trick-or-treating, but by the end of the night he got the hang of it and enjoyed himself. It helped that we were with our friends/neighbors, and their son had done some trick or treating the weekend before with family, so he knew what was going on.
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What else is going on in my life? Hmm. Not much. I’m working, Ryan is working, James is going to daycare/staying with our friends during the week. It’s Ryan’s birthday this week, so we’ll go out for dinner for that. It’s kind of a laid-back year for birthdays for us. By necessity in part (since I was unemployed for a month and a half), but it’s good. It’s also going to be a small year for Christmas, but I am hoping to do some hand-made gifts (I love you, Pinterest), so that will be fun.
New and improved! Now with less MSG!
Aug 27th
After reading a friend’s blog post I’ve added a plug-in to our blog that automatically presents a mobile version of our blog to smart phones and other mobile devices. What does that mean for you? Now it’s easier to take us with you everywhere! You know you’re excited!
p.s. If you’re curious, the plug-in is called wptouch
Knees and Things
Aug 26th
My knee still hurts. A lot. I had Ryan pick me up a brace at Target yesterday, and that helped a little with walking around the office. That’s about all I can do for walking though. I tried going to the YMCA on Tuesday (or maybe Wednesday?). It’s only 2 blocks from my office, so I thought it would be ok. I went, did some gentle riding on a stationary bike and some stretching, and then walked back to work. And my knee hurt worse than before I went. The bike riding and stretching were ok, but the walking there and back were not good. Since then, I have talked to a friend who is a physicians’ assistant and used to work in sports medicine. He advised doing some leg strengthening exercises, not stretching, and avoiding ibuprofen. Apparently you want your body to do its thing re: heating up while repairing itself. Which makes sense. So I’ve been taking tylenol and staying off my leg as much as possible (he said to avoid doing things that hurt, and walking at all hurts). I plan on doing the leg exercises when my knee stops hurting so much.
I feel like a wimp. So many people run and don’t have problems like this, and I wasn’t running that hard. I feel like it’s ridiculous that I am in this much pain for this long. That people probably think I’m either faking it or making it seem worse than it is. I hate that idea. I want to be better.
My other knee and back have started to bother me a little because of how I’m compensating for my left knee. I’m not really sure what to do about that other than try to maintain good posture and stay off my knee. Wearing the brace seems to help some too, as I don’t limp as badly.
Anyway, sorry for dumping all of this. I said earlier today, someone needs to start an email address where you can send all your whiney messages and they just get trashed. I can’t email myself because I know that I’m just talking to myself. It doesn’t work. And I don’t want to direct this whining toward anyone who would feel obligated to read what I say. So I’m dumping it here instead.
Other than that, there isn’t much going on around here. I’ve been rendered lame, and Ryan’s been taking care of me and James. Good thing we have him around here. James is being a typical 18 month old (it still boggles my mind that he’s that old already). He is alternately adorable, hysterical, and immensely frustrating. Sometimes he is all 3 at once.
On a closing note, what is with all the mosquitoes in our house this summer? We’ve never had this problem before, and they are positively annoying. Ryan thinks they might be coming in where the air conditioner is attached. Wherever they are coming in, it’ll be closed up soon enough. The evenings are getting cooler and the daytime temps are coming down, slowly but surely. Fall is coming. I’m not sure if I’m happy or sad about that. On the one hand, football, chili, hot cider, pretty leaves, snuggling under blankets. On the other hand, end of camping weather (for me, anyway), less amenable weather to being outside with a toddler, and daylight is leaking away.
Go Bulldogs!
Apr 9th
As nerve wracking as a tied hockey game can be to watch, what better finish to a championship game can you have than a hard fought tied third period followed by an overtime win? Congratulations UMD Bulldogs on winning your first NCAA hockey championship. I wish I could have been at the game.
An open letter to the House of Representatives, Senate, and President of the United States
Apr 6th
Dear Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen,
The time for polarized political views in regard to the budget is over. This isn’t a black or white, right or left, right or wrong issue. You need to realize this and start working together to find some common ground. Bargaining in good faith and compromising is the only reasonable solution to the budget stalemate. While everyone has the right to their own opinions and idealogical views please don’t let them get in the way of being open minded. Nobody wins if the government shuts down and the lives and livelihoods of many who are less fortunate than yourselves hang in the balance. Please get it figured out.
Sincerely,
A concerned and frustrated voter
Random thoughts
Feb 11th
I thought this was really interesting.
Group think has always intrigued me. I was a good kid in school; never really got into trouble, but I’ve still experienced this to a point. You get with a group of people and you do things you would never have done alone. In some cases it can be good (exercising comes to mind), but in many cases it is disasterous. I am certain that without it there would not have been the historic changes that have taken place in Egypt.
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Also, I found this blog today: The Feminist Breeder, and this post in particular, about her 2nd son’s birth (a VBAC). Every time I read about this kind of thing it gets me worked up. I have so many thoughts about childbirth and breastfeeding, and I love reading people’s stories. I wish I knew what to do with all of that emotion and energy for those topics. Some times I think I should go into some kind of line of work that involves that stuff, but I don’t want to be a nurse or doctor. I’m not sure what I want to do.
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Speaking of, I recently took the Strengthsfinder 2.0 quiz, on recommendation of my aunt Marcia. My strengths are Harmony, Includer, Consistency, Context & Restorative. Basically, I want everyone to be treated equally, I’m very sensitive to people being left out of groups, and I like to have everyone at peace. There are some other things, but those types of statements were repeated over and over, and they are very true. I’m a people pleaser, and I have always been EXTREMELY sensitive to things being fair. Note I did not say equitable; I said fair. They are different. Now to figure out what to do with that information.
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The Bulldogs are playing hockey against St Cloud State tonight, and they are not doing well at all. The beginning of the game started off alright, with both teams scoring a couple goals, but it’s now 7-2 in favor of St. Cloud. Pull it together, ‘Dogs!
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That’s about it. I’m very glad it’s Friday and that we have a weekend with no specific plans.
I could have told you that.
Feb 4th
Someone on Facebook linked to this article from the Farmers Almanac today, about the 5 coldest US cities. As I read the article, along with being shocked that no cities from Alaska were listed (maybe it’s being near the ocean?), I was laughing. This is why. The line is directions from Grand Forks to Hibbing, passing through Baudette & International Falls. I left Fargo out because it’s basically a straight shot south of Grand Forks. And I forgot.
It's a long drive for me to get home. In case you were wondering.
I tell people that I’m from Northern Minnesota, but I don’t think they really get it. Even to most Minnesotans, the state ends at about Duluth. They don’t think there’s much North of that other than Canada. But, as you can see, there is. It’s about a 3 hour drive from here to Canada. And it is DEFINITELY cold. Thanks, Farmers Almanac, for pointing that out.
So, so dry
Jan 25th
My hands are always dry these days. Between the regular washing, the washing after diaper changes, and the getting them wet to wash James’s face they are terrible; scaly and cracked. It’s somewhat painful, and definitely unattractive. I try to put lotion on them, but it doesn’t seem to help much. I know I need to be better about doing it all the time. Same goes for the rest of me. My legs are a bit frightening, in particular. I kind of feel like a lizard.
I am so tired these days. Once again, I’m falling asleep at the computer. Probably it means I should go to bed. In reality, though, we will finish watching Fringe and then MAYBE I’ll go to bed.
How embarrassing is it?
Jan 17th
To admit that I just today heard about Flash Mobs and what they are? Am I hopelessly behind the times for someone who claims to like social media?
My friend Adrienne saw this one today at Target Headquarters:
What day is it?
Jan 16th
I had a big paragraph about James’s sleeping schedule today and then about how even though I complain about having times when Ryan’s not around, I know it’s nothing compared to people who actually have to do the single parent gig. And then I realized that I was whining and deleted it. You are welcome.
I met my goals of making dinner twice last week (ham, mashed potatoes and peas one night, and quesadillas the other), and drinking 3 bottles full of water most days (at least 2 every day). One bottle is 24 oz. I’m pretty happy about that. I also have to pee a lot more, so there’s that. I also went through my clothes and sorted out the stuff I want to give to Goodwill, what needs to be packed away as pregnancy clothes, and what goes in the Halloween costume bin. I’m feeling pretty good about getting all that done, even though the kitchen needs cleaning, the living room needs vacuuming and the bedroom floor hasn’t been swept in an embarrassingly long amount of time. But at least we can see it now!
It is now time to finish this episode of 30 Rock and go to bed. Ryan tried laughing at me today for going to bed at 10:30 last night and Friday night, but then I pointed out that I would go to bed later if he wanted to get up at 7am with James. He rejected that pretty quickly.
