The random thoughts that flutter through my mind...
In the year 2006 I resolve to: Start spamming people I do not like. Get your resolution here. |
howard on doing my part for th...
rustymadgal on doing my part for th...
My birthday: April 17
My anniversary: April 25
YIM: downbutterflylane
If I had a billion dollars, I'd give a million to each of my friends and family. I'd have an indoor gym and pool built at my college. I'd pay for teachers aides at my daughter's school. I'd buy every book Nora Roberts ever wrote, and I'd fly to her next book signing so I could tell her thank you for saving my sanity by giving me an escape from reality for a few hours at a time.
.
1,000 Shades of Fool
American Girl
Buddhists Do Scratch Their Heads Too
DJGroovySlug
FlyLady.net
He Wrote, She Wrote
I choose not to believe
I Was Just Thinking...
Jill Shalvis
Long and Writing Road
Miss Snark
Passionate Chaos
Pub Rants
Questions Asked, Questions Answered
Running With Quills
Still I Rise
Sublime Vacuity
The Steal-Me Book
Turn the Page
Woodland Rambles
today
April 2008
May 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
Taken from the ALA website
Books I have read are italicized.
Home again, until 6:30... then it's International Business Environments... which I don't have the book for yet... cause I ordered it off of ebay and it ain't come in yet. Gotta go fix dinner and do calculus homework.
Bwa ha ha... I'm at school right now. I am studiously ignoring my calculus and microeconomics homework, as well as the new book list I'm supposed to be typing right now.
Friday I went to a new-student orientation breakfast at A's school, took M to daycare, and came home and vegetated until Lishy got here to dance. After that it was off to the library for five hours. It's kinda cool- on Fridays I get to leave to go pick A up at her school and take her back with me to finish out my shift. Yesterday she watched the weather channel for an hour and kept running back out front to tell me that we had a chance of rain, or that the high was 82, or whatever. The other librarians thought she was cute.
While I was working, Laine came in. (I forgot to mention that she's also in my Calculus class.) She was wanting to check out some textbooks until hers come in... so I let her copy the homework problems out of my calculus book and found her an older edition of Financial Accounting to check out. We were standing there talking when a guy came up behind her and she says "oh, this is my boyfriend." When I looked up it was Josh E. who has known my hubby (also named Josh) for several years (I just know Josh E. a little, not too well). It was really funny, because she went home after the econ class and told him all about meeting me and us having the same middle name and everything, and I went home and told my Josh about it... and my Josh has met her but didn't realize it when we were talking about people named Lane or Laine... so when I got home last night and told him about running into her again in the library and finding out she was Josh E.'s girlfriend, hubby was like "oh, yeah, and I didn't even think about her when we were talking about it the other day". So that was kinda cool- maybe we have a couple that we can hang out with up here (cause they live here, but most of our friends live a half hour away in or old town.) Hee hee...
Oh, and my boss almost made me cry. she was just being her usual insensitive self, but it just struck me really wrongly because of what she said. The sad part is I really don't think she noticed that she hurt my feelings.
Well, that's all for the week... and now I need to go do some laundry and some homework... the kids are going to my mom's tonight, and Josh and I are going to NV to play cards all night again. He built me a new Test deck last night, and it works pretty well, but nothing is as kick-ass as my Mankind deck. I screwed Trish Stratus all up, but I think I've got her fixed now, so she'll be okay. I'll find out tonight. Plus I need to go get some cash so I can buy more cards... hehehe... unfortunately the store doesn't take credit cards. Argh.
Oh, yeah, and I have a baby shower to go to today. Crap. I haven't even bought her a present yet. Walmart here I come....
Thursday I worked for an hour and 15 minutes in the morning (they needed someone available to open the library, and I don't have a class until 9:30... so I said I would. (Getting there that early means I get a decent parking space, at least.) Then it was off to Intro to Fiction. That is going to be on strange class... the novels she's having us read are Madame Bovary and Ladder of Years. Both are about women who are unhappy in their marriage and go looking for (and maybe find- haven't read them yet) affairs. I guess one ends in a suicide. And then, we read The Story of an Hour in class... that was one seriously messed up story. I'm starting to fear that this will be the theme of the class- empowerment of women, women who are unhappy in marriage... oy.
After that class I was feeling depressed (wonder why... lol) so I went to visit Lishy during my break. Jamie is an ass. Nuff said. Then it was Microeconomics, where I met a girl named Laine, and it was neat ecause it's her middle name, and my middle name is Lane, and she's really funny. I had fun talking to her. The class is gonna blow, though, there is at least one paper due for almost every class- and a lot of classes there are two papers to write.
Anyway, back to school (and, by extension, work). My first class was Calculus on Wednesday. Same teacher I had last semester for Finite Math. He's your typical Mathematics professor... tall, thin, stammers horribly unless he's talking about math, tells really lame jokes and has one of the world's dorkiest laughs. The funny thing about it is that he gets up at the beginning of the semester and tells the class that he knows his jokes are lame. He's a really good teacher, though- he explains things so they make sense.
He gave us an assignment the first day that is due back on Monday. (It's a Monday Wednesday class.) Yuck- it was a review of Intro to Algebra... I ended up going online to find the equations because I couldn't remember what to do with them... it's been a year and a half since I took that class.
Then I worked at the library on campus for almost 3 hours, then it was Career Perspectives... oh, joy. We're going to be taught professional etiquette- including how to dress, what colors flatter us, and how to write professional letters... not to mention the $25 a person formal dinner she's having catered for us. I'm seriously considering catching the flu that week... I hate that sort of stuff. That's not til November, though. Next week's assignment, however, is awesome. We're supposed to spend 45 minutes networking at the Ice Cream Social the Alumni Association is putting on... and then come to class. Oh, goody, ice cream and strange people. Oh well, enough about LL and her strange teaching theories.
Oh, before I forget, the story of the weird phone call. The phone rings, and it's a cell number, I didn't pay much attention beyond that as to whose- but when I answered it, it was a little kid babbling about stuff. I finally asked if the kid's mom was home, in an attempt to figure out whose kid it was and why they were calling me... but I didn't get any adult. I hung up and checked the caller id, planning to call whoever it was back later... when I realized that it was my cell phone, and M had somehow called me- from the kitchen. Yeah, my 3yo son used my cell phone to prank call me from another room.
M set a new record today- the rotten kid woke me up at 5:30 this morning. The really irritating thing about it is that the downstairs is clean, so I don't need to do anything down here, but I have all sorts of stuff to do upstairs- where hubby and A are still asleep. It's okay, though, it let me get caught up reading all the blogs I missed over the weekend when I was busy having a life.
Earlier this week the clutch went out in hubby's car, so Friday he got home early from work and we went car shopping. Found a purple Cavalier- '94, I think... but they have to fix the turn signals before we can buy it, so we go pick it up today (supposedly).
The kids went to the in-laws Saturday night, and hubby and I went to some friends house and played Raw Deal all night. It was sooo much fun. Then we came home and enjoyed having the house all to ourselves, and crashed in the livingroom and watched Taking Lives. Unfortunately for me, I fell asleep mid-movie and woke up five minutes before the end, so it made no freaking sense, but I'm not all that into thrillers, so I doubt I'll bother to re-watch it.
Sunday the in-laws brought the kids home around 1, and mil and I went shopping while fil and hubby watched the race (whichever one was one, hell if I know). We took A and left M with the guys. I bought the stuff to redo my downstairs bathroom- it's so pretty now... I might get busy one of these days and post a picture of it... we'll see. Also bought the rest of the stuff to finish the bathroom upstairs, wall border, appliques, and light switch covers for both kids rooms, and assorted other stuff. I'll probably finish the upstairs bathroom today, and maybe the kids rooms. I'm not sure, though, I might end up taking A's back and going with a different pattern, because there's a quilt she really liked at Walmart but it won't match the border she picked out. I don't think she'd even notice if I switched them.
Sunday night, Lishy came over to do a few loads of laundry and she got suckered into helping me put up the border in the downstairs bathroom... hee hee hee. Her apartment doesn't have a washer, so she does laundry here sometimes cause I love her company so much 
and cause I remember the days of being washerless.
It is now 6:50, and time to awaken A, dress myself and M, and get motivated, cause I have lots to do today. More later... including M's first day at his new daycare, and a description of a really bizarre telephone call I received on Friday afternoon.
My scale has been raised from the dead. I stepped on it last night, and lo and behold, a most wonderful thing happened. Little numbers begau flashing across the screen, and it worked!
I went to Walmart last night and bought a whole bunch of stuff. Unfortunately, none of it was playing-type stuff... it was all cleaning, laundry, or personal health related... except for a few school supplies and two new rugs for the kitchen. Oh, and a movie... its the new Angelina Jolie... oh, what's it called... something about a cop who tracks a serial killer who is tracking her. It was funny... hubby asked me to call him from the store to tell him what new movies were out... and he wanted that one. There I was, standing in the electronics department, on my cell, naming all the new releases.
Okay, it's 6 am, and my darling son has awakened me, again, an hour earlier than I needed to be up. It's a very good thing I love this kid. I think I'm gonna go try to catnap in the recliner until it's really morning.
Ha, I did it. It only took ten minutes. I managed to change my mood. I've done it before, but for some reason it wasn't working this time... maybe the site was being updated or something. Anyway, now I'm happy!
It is 9:30 am. So far this morning, I've fed and dressed myself and two children, walked A to school (clutch is going out in hubby's car, so he took mine today), dragged all the dirty laundry downstairs, washed one load, started a second load, made a list of stuff to buy next time we go to Walmart, and been called by A's school and informed that the shirt she is wearing today is 'not school-appropriate wear'. I guess I was having a stupid moment when I put her clothes out last night... she wore a really cute little orange, pink and blue plaid outfit (I know it sounds gross, but it's adorable) which consists of capri pants and -uh, duh, mom... a halter top. The kind that ties around the neck and back. My poor daughter... I really hope they didn't send her to the office and make a big deal about it. I offered to bring her a change of clothes, but they said it wasn't necessary, just don't let her wear it again. Oy. She's had the outfit since last year, and I never let her wear it to school last year, so what was I thinking? Apparently not much.
M has either a head cold or a sinus infection... the nurse-practitioner put him on Dallergy- which is supposed to dry up the snotties... (the poor kid cries every time he sneezes, cause it hangs to his chin) but he has an appointment tomorrow afternoon with his ENT, and the nurse said if he's still all gross the ENT will probably just give him an antibiotic.
Went to a Mary Kay party yesterday afternoon, which was fun- and then picked A up from school. Came home, walked through the livingroom, and was met at the hallway to the kitchen by a very large puddle of water. The downstairs bathroom was flooded, too. I called maintenance, and when Bruce came around the corner of the building he said he sunk up to his knees in mud. Turns out some kids pried the cover off the main drain and shoved a bunch of shit down it. A hand-held garden rake, a softball, two things of playdoh, a bunch of matchbox cars, and assorted other stuff. The drain was plugged, so it overflowed into the bathrooms of (I think) everyone in our building, which would be 8 townhouses. My rugs reeked of pee (which might have been partly M's fault- he doesn't always hit the potty yet), but they can be washed. My scale- my wonderful, electronic, 6 month old scale- is, however, a casualty. My neighbor had just bought new rugs last week, and they were ruined. I haven't called yet to find out if the appartment complex will replace my scale. I need to go see if I still have the warranty- I think it had a 10-year warranty... can't remember.
Stuff to do. More later.
Booga booga booga. If I can think of anything useful or interesting, I'll add it later. For now, the Wiggles are playing, which has M enthralled (Bless you, oh creator of colorful yet educational children's television programming), and I should be putting away laundry and sewing 6 dresses for a wedding September 25th.
I think I'll go check my email. (Must avoid the pink satin... it's evil.)
I am teaching myself html. Okay, let me rephrase that. I am teaching myself to screw around with html someone else has already written.
See the little mood thingy? I figured out how to center it and put a title above it, and above my map. For me, this is an achievement. I am proud of me. (Not however, proud enough to change from PMSy to Proud.)
Oh, and a public apology- sorry Jared, for accidentally deleting your link... I swear I was just trying to change the name (because some people change the name of their blog more ofter than they change their socks)- oh wait, that was supposed to be an apology, wasn't it? 
Anyway... I fixed it- it's all better now.
I passed 1000 and nobody noted it. Should I be happy that I hit it, or sad that nobody noticed? Gah, PMS sucks. I've alternated between ready to throw shit and ready to cry all day. And, really, it hasn't been a bad day at all.
Called Lishy and begged her to go run around with me and the kiddos... hubby was at work and then went to a tournament. We went to the library and Walmart, where I was appalled to learn that yet again, a product I love has been discontinued. Walmart is run by assholes. There was this awesome body scrub sevral months ago... I bought one bottle and then it vanished. (I called the company yesterday after forgetting for months and it's sold at CVS, Walgreens, and Target. Not only that- but they're sending me a coupon for a free bottle because I called about it. Woohoo!) For the past 6 months or so we've been using this yummy-smelling body wash and today when I went to buy a new bottle- you'll never guess what happened. They don't carry it anymore. They have other things by the same maker- but not my cucumber melon wash. Jerks.
Plus there was nobody in the jewelry department who could pierce ears. The only girl there was new and said she had only done one and wasn't trained well enough to do it. (She was pretty cool, though- she had a streak of bright purple in her bangs, while the rest of her hair was jet black- and she had this really cool tattoo on one side of her neck that had to have taken hours and hours to do- there were so many different colors and details... oh, man. The pain, the pain.) Then I found out that they quit selling a bracelet I've been wanting to get (I was just waiting until I had the extra money before I bought it.) Did I mention that I hate Walmart?
Then again, they're open all night, and they carry Dove chocolates, so they aren't all bad. Hubby called to let me know when he would be home and I asked him to please, please, please bring me a Dove bar... or a Hershey bar, I ain't picky- it just has to be pure milk chocolate (no almonds, or caramel, or nougat, or any of that shit- I need chocolate.) Hope he remembers... and hope I'm still awake to eat it when he gets here.
Enough. I have library books to read and a down throw to curl up under... going into seclusion now.
Oops, forgot... M fell asleep tonight in a rather odd place... the bathroom floor, curled up on the fuzzy purple rug in front of the door while I was occupying the porcelain throne. That kid is sooo odd sometimes.
Going now, really. I mean it. Stop reading, so I can quit typing. Dang it, I said stop reading. Fine, I quit. You can go read an old post if you wanna read my ramblings that badly. Damn it, you're supposed to quit now. Cease and desist at once. 
Okay- I typed all this out once, and either I forgot to hit post, or motime ate it.
When we went to Open House the night before school started, we went to A's classroom. The teacher already had all the kid's desks arranged with their names and everything- quite neat- I don't remember them doing that when I was in school... then again, that's been awhile. On each desk was a folder of papers to fill out and return (man, did I ever have writer's cramp by the time I finished...) and a white 3-ring binder. The binder had the child's name on the spine, and inside was an assignment planner and a folder labeled with Return to School on one side and Keep at Home on the other. The kids are expected to bring the Data Binder back and forth every day- parents are expected to sign the binder every day to show that they checked the kid's homework and all that stuff. I think this is cool- its a school-wide program... 1st through 6th grades all have them. Hopefully it will help A understand responsibility and organization.
The bad thing- well... this is where the flying Walmart trip came into the story. we got home with said Data Binder... and it wouldn't fit in her backpack. You remember, the sparkly purple backpack we bought when we took the defective Barbie backpack back to the freaking store? Yeah... that backpack.
Fortunately, I was a clever Mommy for once- and hadn't taken the tags off the little purple one (just in case something like this happened...) so we took bag #2 back and bought bag #3. This time it's a cute, lightweight denim backpack that is fabric (ie washable) and seems to be well-constructed. Only problem I see: figuring out how to put her name on it so it looks cute. I'm thinking of getting my cross-stitch pattern book back from my best friend and stitching her name and a little flower or something on one of the pockets. If I do I'll post a picture.
It was cold here on the first day of school. 55 at 7 am... I think it only got around 70 all day. In August! It should be in the 90s right now. A had to wear jeans instead of the shorts we bought specifically for her first day. Argh.
Anyway, that's about all I know- except that hubby is weird. Lishy said she wants me to go with her to get a full-body massage... which sounds awesome to me- I've never had a professional massage... and she's paying. How could I turn that down? Well... he is just convinced I'm gonna go get rubbed down by some (of course hot) guy... what a dork. As if I'd want some strange guy touching me. Der. I can barely stand to be touched by any guy I'm not related to or haven't known for years and years... and even then I find it uncomfortable a lot of the time. Gives me the heebie-jeebies. So, yeah, I'm really gonna find it relaxing to have a man giving me a massage. What a waste of money. I told him if it wasn't a girl I'd reschedule. I not sure he believes me. Good thing I love him....
We watched the Olympic opening ceremonies... A sat through the whole 4 hours just so she could see the torch. I'm pretty sure she thinks it was worth the wait. I was impressed too. I'd never actually watched it before. Can't wait until Sunday... I wanna watch the gymnasts. Gotta sleep now. Tired... and M fell asleep around 9:30- which means he'll be up by 7 at the very, very latest. Nite, all.
Aaargh. Motime ate my last post. Don't have time to re-type it now. Maybe later. Going to pick A up at school in a few minutes.
A is upstairs brushing her teeth. We leave for school in 10 minutes. So far, so good. No tears on anyone's part- but then I didn't expect them from her. She even managed to eat without covering her shirt in the green icing from her Streudel.
Last night was funny. We got to the school just in time for the principal to introduce every single member of the school staff- from teachers to custodians and office workers... so like 30 people. The phys ed teacher jumped rope across the stage area... big round of applause for him.
Well, she's back down- she still has to sign the discipline guidelines and the internet use agreement pages so she can take them back to school.
Well, time to go, more later... including our flying Wal-mart trip last night. :)
Tonight is the Open House at A's new school- she starts first grade tomorrow. Oh, shit, I'm starting to tear up. Better go do something else.
There's plenty to be done. More later.
