Saturday, September 29, 2007

Get the Funk Out

I woke up this morning, and the sky is conveniently reflecting my mood. I thought it was rather dark for 7am, and when I went outside, the sky looked like this: brooding, cloudy, and in what appears to be a general funk. I don't have a lot of reason to feel this way, but thank you, Mother Nature for adding the icing to the gloom cake.

On a mixed high-note, I weighed myself yesterday for the first time since delivering the baby. I didn't know what to expect, since my clothes aren't fitting as baggily as I'd hoped - in fact, my pre-preggo pants are fitting me rather well, which ordinarily would be a blessing if they weren't so darned large to begin with. Well, I was shocked to see that I'm down 30 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. Okay. This is fantastic. More than I thought. So why am I pissed? Because I bought a pair of size 24 pants the other day (thinking, I wore 26 before the pregnancy, and those were baggy on me) and the buggers didn't fit. And when I say "didn't fit" I mean they didn't want to make it over my hips. Now, I know that sizing varies from store to store and brand to brand (which is a neverending source of irritation for me) but how is it that I'm basically no smaller than when I started out, thirty pounds heavier? WTF? I mean, my face is thinner, other people comment that I look like I've lost weight, so why oh WHY is it not evident in my pants? The only thing I can think is that the stretched out belly-ness is less fatty, but still, quite abundant.

I'm still not done with Mona In the Promised Land by Gish Jen, which to me indicates that the book sucks, because ordinarily (baby or no) I'd be done with a book that size in 48 hours, and it's been a few weeks. I've only had two or three books in my life that fell into this category of "laboriously difficult to read" and those were The Liars' Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr and We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates. I finished the former but just couldn't wade through the latter. I just hate reading books when the style or content just doesn't appeal to me. Why can't there be an English Class with books that get more than three stars on Amazon?

My boy's got asthma. Nico had a cold for three weeks which seemed inordinately long to me, never mind that frankly, there weren't enough Kleenexes in the county to sop up the ever-present mucous streaming from his nose. So I brought him in again (the first time was at the beginning of the cold since I thought he might have an ear infection) and the nurse tells me he has asthma, which is keeping the cold from getting better. Mat has asthma, and he too is having a hard time breathing these days, so I think it's just a weather/time of year thing. But really, doesn't the pediatrician know that all I ever want to hear from them is "He's perfect!"? Grr.

I'm playing CSI: Hard Evidence for the XBox 360 right now (yes, I know, I'm an anathema to the legions of Halo 3 devotees). It's no better, but also no worse, than the previous editions. I had to get my fix in since I have no TV right now, and this past Thursday, I became the only CSI fanatic who has no idea what's happened to Sarah. And no, I don't want to know. I'm waiting for it to be downloadable on the 360, so don't post any spoilers, chickee-monkeys! One thing is certain though, Grissom is no where near as hot rendered in blocky 3-D graphics as he is on the show. 'Nuff said.

Anyway, the sky is brightening ever so slightly, and shortly, my quiet morning will be filled with the whoops and hollers, shrieks and cries of three little boys. It's much harder now with the baby, particularly since Nicholas' cold has got him in double-bad sorts which only compounds the jealousy. He's the neediest little pain ever right now, and I spend most of my day with both of the babies in my arms at the same time -no small feat. I've unfortunately also had a headache ever since I had Joseph. It varies in intensity, but with rare exception, it is always there. I'm going to set up an appointment soon if it gets much worse, because I don't know if I can wait out the six-week appointment. Then again, what can the possibly do for me? Most medication that will help with headaches is counter-indicated for nursing. So, with head a-throbbing, I bid you adieu until next time!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Dog update

So yesterday, before I left the house, I ran into my neighbor outside and he was telling me how his dog must like the bark collar, because he'd tested it, it was working fine, but the dog was still barking as much as ever. He told me the dog would be staying inside from now on.

Well, later, I was getting the kids out of the car and saw him "walking" his dog, which amounted to him standing on the porch, yelling at it while it was supposed to be going potty. Vinny got Nico out of the other side of the car, and then the dog came into my yard. I asked, "Do I need to worry about that?" as I started walking around to where the boys were. I came around the side of the car to see the hound on top of Nico who'd fallen under the dog's weight as it tried to kiss him. Now, Nico is a little dog-phobic to begin with, so I wasn't happy at all. Then I became VERY unhappy, as I told Nico (whom I'd picked up by then) "Oh, the doggie was trying to give you kisses, you're okay!" (Which he was - no physical harm done). My neighbor says something about what I'd said, I don't remember exactly what, but then he proceeds to grab the dog, and bodily slam it against the side of his truck. WTF? He hits it twice into the truck, asking "How do you like it?" After putting the dog inside, he comes out and says, "I'm SO sorry!" I told him it was okay, no harm done (except for the potential psychological trauma to Nico) and he said, "Oh no, that dog is gone, I'm not going to have a dog that knocks down little kids!"

Here's my theory: Maybe, just maybe, if you're trying to potty train an approximately four-month-old puppy and you KNOW you don't have him trained well enough to stay in your yard, PERHAPS, I know, I'm going out on a limb here, PERHAPS, a leash would be in order? Ya think?

My hope in all of this is that my neighbor is true to his word - that he finds a new home for that poor puppy, and in doing so, eliminates the noise problem AND gives that dog a chance at a happy life. I'm no PETA member, but I don't abide that kind of crap.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Charity

I'm a big fan of charitable giving. My bank account doesn't always let me be as magnanimous as I'd like, but I give when I can and volunteer when I'm able. One thing I like to do is donate blood every 54 days (when I'm not pregnant or nursing), as that's as often as you can donate. It doesn't cost me anything and it saves lives (I'm O+ so I'm almost a universal donor).

Today I saw a featured video on YouTube.com. The guy was pretty annoying, but I thought, in contrast to the billions of "hey, lookit me!" videos out there, using youtube for good instead of evil appealed to me.

Then, today, I walked 1.6 miles to pick Vin up from school with Nico in the stroller and wearing Joseph in a wrap. I forgot that I'd transferred all of my purse stuff into the baby bag, and so when I went to get a soda out of the machine at the grocery store, I found I had exactly $.22 to my name, and the sodas were $.25. I said, oh well, and went to walk away when a lady said, "Excuse me," and handed me two quarters. "For your son," she said in stilted English. I thanked her, put in the two quarters and heard one hit the change return. She thought the soda's were $.50 (as they are at a minimum anywhere else, but this was Shasta soda). The change return was full of the extra quarters her daughter had pumped into the machine. I handed them back to her, thanking her again, and thought to myself, I guess there are people out there who still do nice things for one another. It'd been a long time since I'd witnessed it first hand, and in a "shout-it-to-the-universe" kind of way, I'd like to publicly thank her again for showing a fellow person the kindness of a cold soda on a hot day. Thank you!

Monday, September 17, 2007

You ain't nothin' but a hound dog...

I hate my next door neighbor's hound dog. The bloody thing howls/bays all day long, and now, it's 8:45pm, my kids are in bed, and he's at full throttle. We've talked to the neighbor, and he assured us he was getting a bark collar, bringing the dog inside and if all else failed, he sure wasn't going to keep a dog that barked all the time! Liar.

I registered for classes today! I'm going to be taking a basically three classes plus two that I have to take because I'm going to school online (they're 2 credit educational planning classes - yay.) So I'm taking a class on the Enlightenment, World Religions, and Multicultural Lit. I started reading one of the books for the lit class, Mona In the Promised Land by Gish Jen. It's okay so far - she's got a pretty sassy voice, and when I say she, it's only because I don't know if Gish is a male or female name, but the first person narrator is female. I start back to school in November, but I figure getting a head start isn't a bad idea.

I went to a fiber festival yesterday and bought some wool yarn. Now, although I'm glad to have decent yarn instead of the acrylic crap I normally buy, I'm having a hard time figuring out what to make with it since it's wool and can't be washed in the machine. Not being able to wash something in the machine renders almost any garment unworthy of existing as far as I'm concerned. I can't tell you how many "dry clean only" items I've bought and threw in the wash because if they didn't make it through the wash and dry, they simply weren't meant to be in my wardrobe. I've toasted a number of dresses that way. Anyway, I'm thinking hats might be the way to go, otherwise, I'm going to knit some wool soakers for cloth diapers to sell online. May as well make a shekel or two.

I seriously hate this dog.

I was quite domestic today. I got up, and got the boys situated and did the dishes. Then, I threw some white bread fixings into the bread machine to make dough while I grated up some zucchini for some zucchini bread. When my mom came to visit, I made the same bread and forgot to add the margarine. This time around, I forgot the 1/4 cup of sugar. (It still had 1 Tbsp. of sugar that I proofed the yeast with, but still, WTH?) So with my head clearly NOT on my shoulders, I finished the three loaves, and they came out okay. Dinner was a much better success. My friend gave me a slew of tomatoes and some basil and parsley from her garden, and I made a delish pasta sauce for dinner. I browned some ground Italian sausage, pureed the tomatoes with some olive oil, the basil and parsley and a pinch of salt. I mixed it all together, fried some garlic in a olive oil and tossed it in as well. I served it over Rigatoni and used the sugar-light bread to sop up the sauce. So yummy!

I sent Mat over to ask the neighbor to deal with his dog. He did, and now, blessed silence. The guy apologized said the dog has a bark collar. The dog must be a masochist.

I was going to walk to pick Vin up today, but I was chatting w/my brother on the phone, and realized I had 20 minutes to get to the school .8 miles away, and Nico was still napping, and the baby needed a diaper change. There was no way I was getting there in time, so Mat left work to pick him up and had lunch at home instead. Tomorrow I'm walking because Mat is closing, and I'm not piling the kids in the car at 9pm to go get him if I keep the car. He can take it.

Today was not easy, since it was my first day home alone with the two little ones. Nothing is more frustrating than settling in to nurse, and when the baby finally latches, your toddler decides to dismantle your DVD collection. That happened at least five times today. We're moving the DVDs.

Oh, AND, I tried to make my curtains today, and my sewing machine isn't stitching right. Not sure why, but I don't have the know-how to know what to look for. Oh, AND, I'm on Mat's computer, because, that's right, mine took a dump yesterday. I do have the know-how to troubleshoot it, but not the patience. I think it's the power supply. We're going to get one tomorrow.

Now, it's off to wrap up the first season of "Heroes" on DVD. What a great series. I hope they don't cancel it. (Damn you, HBO! I'm still mourning "Deadwood"!)

Night, all.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Back in the saddle again...

Fall is a-coming! I can smell it. The mornings are crisp and the evenings sublime. I'm back to blogging for a number of reasons:

1.) We had our baby. I did most of the work, but we are now proud parents of baby boy Joseph Anthony Martinez! He weighed 7lbs. 13oz. and measured 20 inches long. He's a VERY good baby, and I'm actually getting decent sleep (please take a moment to knock on your nearest wooden surface or object). Here is a picture of me and my boy:

2.) I am starting classes in November. I'm hoping that in two short semesters, I will be the proud owner of a piece of paper saying I have a B.A. in English Lit. I'm registering next week, so here's to open classes!

3.) Walking will be back on in the next few days. I feel better after this delivery than I did with either of my other two boys, and anticipate that within the next week I should be able to start logging some more walking distance. I've deviated from my original one-year plan, but who cares? I anticipate that I've lost about 25lbs. since the start of my pregnancy (I don't own a scale because I obsess, so I have to wait for my 6-week doctor's visit).

Anyway, that's my current events info, and I will endeavor to keep this blog rolling so that when the netizens of the world are bored, there's one more self-absorbed blog out there with fresh material.