7 Quick Takes Friday

1. And the winner is...


bessieviola!

Whom I adore, and not JUST because she told me I'm great. ;) bessie vee, email me thrash428 at yahoo dot com with your address and I will hook you up with some swag! :) I didn't state any rules of the Pay It Forward, like the winner has to host one of their own. Not required, fyi. This is just something fun for me.

2. I stopped yesterday morning at Dunkin' Donuts and bought myself an everything bagel with cream cheese for breakfast. YUM. I haven't had a bagel in ages -- I stopped allowing myself to eat them. There was a time, years ago, when I put on about 15 pounds, and I think bagels were to blame. I stopped at Einsteins at least twice a week back then. This is what happens when you're single and have income to burn. Anyway, yesterday's bagel, I thought, did not sit well with me. I felt queasy and weak all day. Didn't eat lunch, didn't eat much dinner. Blegh. Turns out AJ was experiencing the same at school (minus the bagel). Apparently he layed around most of the day at school, didn't want to participate, didn't want to eat "special snack" which was ice cream and strawberries. Definitely not normal. So now I'm wondering what bug we have. He felt well enough to go to school today (didn't want to miss show n tell or Friday movies) but we'll see. I'm drinking Rasberry Zinger tea. You KNOW I must not feel good. Tea?! WTH. I am a coffee person. But it just didn't sound that great today.

3. I miss you. I miss blogging. I would like to put a lot more into this blog. Have I said that before?

4. This Saturday, DH and I have a Date Night planned. WOO! Celebrating our anniversary next Tuesday. Eight years of wedded bliss! We're going out to dinner here, perhaps, or here, and after that we're not sure what we'll do. Maybe a movie? What do people do on dates anymore? ;) I kinda want to see that Disney movie "earth." Or The Soloist. Or State of Play.

5. One week from today I'll be packing up and headed to Pensacola for a whirlwind weekend! There's a family wedding. It's going to be fun. Tiring, I bet, but great to see everyone. It will really get me pumped for our beach week family reunion in June! OH MAN, I CAN'T WAIT. BABYSITTERS and a BEACH.

6. Mandy asked a while back about what it is I do at my (still feels) new job. Yesterday was my 2-month-iversary here! I do a lot. Everyone here does, in fact. I think that the marketing team -- 5 people -- does the work of about 10 people. Economy, you know. But here's the scoop. I am the E-business and PR Coordinator for this [link removed - anonymity baby!] company. I manage content for that website, as well as 2 other sites. Yesterday I talked to a consultant about adding a blogging platform, which I think is sorely needed. I'd be psyched if that were to become one of my main duties. :) I am also editor of our magazine which comes out twice a year. My first issue is due out in June. I do some writing, some editing, and some ad sales. I also manage our e-newsletters. (See what I mean about too many jobs?) I'm also supposed to manage our press releases and media opportunities. I don't particularly enjoy that part of it.

7. AJ was accepted to our parish school, did I tell you? I'm excited about August. Uniforms! New back pack! Lunch box! It is going to be so fun. Also, next month is the first of many graduation ceremonies he'll experience -- PreK Graduation. It's cute to hear him pronounce "graduation." He's so careful about it. A word he doesn't really understand, that makes his mommy's heart burst in so many ways.

Visit Jen for more Quick Takes! Happy weekend, friends!

How to play Powerful Dinosaurs

by AJ

"Okay. Our team is Leader, Steggo, Skeleton Dinosaur, and Protocera...tosaurus. Those are our team. If we ever want to change our team, one of our dinosaurs has to get dead. And then we pick a new one. Or, I can review a dinosaur to make him not dead anymore and he can come back." (ed. note: where 'review' must equal 'revive,' hee.)

"Now, who are we going to destroy? There's Mannoth (Mammoth) over there. His power is to STOMP the other dinosaurs and he can freeze them with his ice mouth. But Leader has an ice mouth AND laser-fire-shooting eyes, so he can defeat Mannoth by burning Mannoth's ice. So first, Mommy, you take Steggo and Skeleton. Steggo will puuullll Mannoth out of the green box with his swish-shwang tail, and then Leader will PEERRRRSSHSSHH! him with his laser eyes. And then freeze him with the ice mouth. And you shoot Steggo's laser spikes too. Then Skeleton will scare him away and he'll run, "Ahhhhhhhhhh!" back to his home, and then Protoceratosaurus will tie him up with his rope tail like this."

"Also, if we need to datavate our team I will datavate them."

(no idea but that word has been in my head for three days)

Mannoth (AJ): RAWWRR! I am Mannoth and you don't want none of ME!!!

Leader (also AJ): WHO IS THAT GUY RIDING ON YOUR BACK?

Guy on back (AJ): I AM BR...ANNISH. I AM A HUMAN AND I HAVE SUPERPOWERSPEERSHEWWWW! KPLEWWWWSHHH! KPOWWWGSSH!

Skeleton (Mommy): ROAR! We're going to DEFEAT YOU, BRANNISH!"

(AJ): No, Mommy, you have to use a DINOSAUR voice, not your regular voice. *eyeroll* Like this: RAAAAOOORRRRRRRRGgGGGRRRRrR!!

(Mommy): *sigh* WE ARE THE POWERFUL DINOSAURS RAAAAOOORRRRRRRRGgGGGRRRRrR!

Underwhelmed!

Four people want to win a prize? I'm OBVS not doing Web 2.0 correctly, not linking my Twitter and my blog and my Facebook page and blagh de blah to increase traffic. Pesky, long-ago-ended anonymity. (I still don't need all my high school acquaintances and work colleagues reading the blog, though.)

Aside: I have a work phone call with a consultant later this week, who wants to sell my company his blogging service/SEO strategy. He's going to try to convince me that blogs improve search engine placement and increase website traffic. REALLY??? WOW, that's FASCINATING. I can't wait to tell him I've been blogging for FIVE YEARS and I already know everything there is to know about it. Heh.

Anyway, because I am nice, I'm going to extend the contest until Wednesday. Tell your friends! Leave another comment and increase your chances (which are already PRETTY DAMN GOOD)!

Pay It Forward time! Summer Camp edition

I promised you guys a giveaway and I'm just dying to go stand in line at the Post Office, so let's go!

If you want to win
-- some pampery items from Avon (KT's teacher just started selling it and I love her, and want to help her out)
-- some goodies from our favorite, Target
-- some cookies from the Byrd Cookie Company in Savannah
-- and whatever else strikes my fancy

leave a comment on this post by Sunday, April 19, at 10:00 pm. Tell me what your summer child care slash "summer camp" plans are. If you don't have kids, tell me about YOUR childhood summers.

I'm interested because this year, we'll enroll AJ in our daycare's "camp" for the first time -- he'll be going on field trips nearly every day. We also have a week between that and the first day of Kindergarten... I think I'll be asking a set of grandparents to visit! (hint, hint, Mom.) DH used to spend summers with his grandparents. Any of you do that, or send your kids to do that? I think it's such an idyllic-sounding thing to have in your childhood memory bank. You'd think so too, if you'd been to his grandparents' house in the mountains in Virginia. Anyway, I'm thinking about the topic.

I'll do the random number generator thing and send someone a PRIZE!

Just for the heck of it!

And then... ham saves the day

Of course after posting that WEE bit of PMS stress yesterday (well, PMS and being a normal mom of a 4-year-old), last night I served a kid-friendly dinner (ham, pineapple chunks from a can, and the hallowed Kraft Mac-n-Cheese), he ate it right up, pottied all by himself, and basically made me feel like crap for all the stuff I said.

Of course.

I should note that EVERY night, I serve AJ a kid-friendly dinner. We never eat tofu or quinoa at my house, is what I'm saying. "Fancy" is Uncle Ben's MUSHROOM flavor instead of regular. LOL.

But DH hates ham, naturally. And he can't eat pineapple (too acidic) and he grew up on homemade Mac-n-cheese, not boxed. Sorry, honey.

Still with the mealtime angst

Can I just say this, one time, (loudly), without offending everyone...?

JEEZUS.

April 15, 2009: I am so frakking tired of dinnertime. All of it, frankly. Thinking of what to make, scouring the pantry so I won't have to go grocery shopping for a thrid time this week,* wishing I could just play with KT who won't be put down/ignored at that fateful hour of the day, trying to get it all timed just right to be on the table together (The Drinks! I forgot the Drinksaggggh!), hearing "What are we having?" and the subsequent, "This smells... gross" from the Four-Year-Old Who Never Eats... and the Four-Year-Old, himself. I am TIRED from him.

We try SO hard not to fuss over him (i.e., give him what he wants, i.e. attention) during the meal. He gets up to go to the bathroom, we let him.** He talks and doesn't eat, fine. He doesn't want peaches? No biggie, leave them on your plate.

But it's always something. Last night it was "I can't pull my chair close to the table by myself!! Waaaa!! I want to be a BIG BOY." Wouldn't accept help, don'tchaknow. And thus he spiraled into a whole night of stupidity/tantrums. I never post about him when he has a great week, and I'm sorry for that; he DOES have great weeks. Had one recently, in fact. And so we rewarded him with a trip to the Toy Aisle (he 'needed' more action figures, hee). And then he responded to that with one of the worst Saturdays ever (seems every time he gets a 'reward' it backfires on us), complete with Time Outs and me screaming. I really DON'T like to scream, I prefer the calm, "I'm disappointed" tone, but sometimes it just doesn't get the job done...

OH, forget it. It's working me up just rehashing it. Lather, rinse, repeat... It's just that yesterday he told me he didn't eat lunch at school, and then of course he didn't eat dinner due to his chair, and during the ensuing tantrum he was screaming, "MOMMY!!! I'M STARRRRVING!!! FEEEEEED ME!!" which of course tears right into your biological need to feed your child, even when you KNOW you're being MANIPULATED, GOODLORD... so I absolutely refused and sent him to bed huuuuuungry. I know he needed to be sent to bed hungry. I even TOLD him probably every kid in the world has been sent to bed hungry and learned the hard way to eat their dinner (and their mommies and daddies still love them) but I did NOT appreciate his behavior, and blaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and then I died the end.



*We pretty much grocery shop twice a week SOLELY to keep up with KT's milk habit! Girl is a JUNKIE! She goes through a gallon in, like, 2 days! (And yet, she still poops just fine, it's pretty amazing. She does love her veggies, too, which helps.)

**Speaking of poop, we fight about that at dinnertime, too -- about me wiping him. He's FOUR and a HALF!! He SO needs to be handling that himself. And he CAN (we've witnessed it), he just doesn't want to. He's MANIPULATING ME and it's pissing (ha) me off.

Confidence

I have three associates -- two are very new acquaintances -- who share a similar personality that I covet. I mean, I LIKE my personality -- I answer "yes" on quizzes with the question "If you weren't you, would you be friends with yourself?" But there are certain traits I really wish I had.

Whatever it is that makes a person great for sales jobs is what I'm talking about. It's a specific kind of confidence and poise. The ability to sound like you know what you're talking about, even if you've only skimmed the reading material. The charm to offer that firm handshake and make a friend, no matter who the other hand belongs to. The hip-factor to quote movies, or make little pop-culturey gestures or references that are RIGHT NOW, current (as opposed to the late '90s references that I can recall from college). Heh.

I think I have some measure of poise, but it's not accompanied by confidence. I can't figure why. I did well in school my whole life, did some ACTing(!) in high school, went through the sorority process both in college and after, was somewhat of a "leader" of groups and clubs, am a successful working mom juggling "it all"... but still don't feel what I want to feel.

It's not a self-esteem thing. I don't feel "inadequate." On the contrary. I feel like I AM adequate, I SHOULD be able to play that smart, sassy, confident role. But I don't, especially not when I first meet you. I play reserved and cautious. "Don't try too hard and come off sounding like an idiot. Don't say too much." I worry about every comment I make; wonder what should I have said instead.

Is that what they teach you at Toastmasters? The confidence I'm talking about?

My former boss had asked me several times if I'd be interested in a sales position, and I always knew somehow that I wasn't suited for it. The past few weeks, meeting more of this type of woman -- great women, I mean to say -- I've figured out why.

Just an observation, not something I'm worried over.

Master of the obvious

Maybe I've said this before. MAN, sometimes this parenting thing is just work. I mean, physical labor. Ya know? We took them to Chili's tonight for dinner because we haven't been out to eat in what feels like forever (although I'm sure it's not been much more than a week or so), and it was just ex. haus. ting. I was on the side of the table with KT -- trying to keep up with her crumb-tossing, which was an impossible task. I realized that if we didn't have the Dog, we'd have shit all over our floor EVERY NIGHT and after EVERY MEAL and HOW in the world do non-dog-families do it?? I mean, it's just ridiculous! I was bending over every 3 minutes to pick up either her spoon or her sippy cup, things I couldn't just leave there like I left the chunks of Saltine cracker and cereal bar. So, bending over all the time, while trying to pitchfork my own salad into my maw, not to mention entertaining her by blowing zerberts, "chair dancing," peekabooing... tiring work.

And DH, on the other side with the 4-year-old, who you'd THINK was not SO much of a physical labor... he was up TWICE to the potty, which is our Standard O.P. during dinner. Twice. Plus forty fabillion "Sit down"s and "Eat"s -- I mean, the brain and the mouth get TIRED after saying something forty fabillion times.

AJ's a workout when we play, too. (And how is that I still say "we play?" And not just "he plays?" I don't know.) He's all boy, I suppose, and when I'm on the floor he figures he SHOULD come up behind me and climb over my back, onto my head, or "KA-PEWWWW" me with whatever's substituting as a gun. And I'm forever telling him to SHHHH, not so loud, we're RIGHT HERE. I think I get tired because my blood pressure stays high. On alert. Always about to be tackled or climbed.

And then of course, KT gets tired and putting her to sleep is a completely physical workout, too. She HATES being on her back so diaper changes are a wrestling match... tonight she had some cookie or cupcake in her hair (from school - Easter party), so I wanted to just quickly wash it... stupid me, I laid her on her back on the vanity with her head over the sink -- she freaked out. Then the rocking, the walking and bouncing (still, at 13 months), her switching her pacifiers for 5 minutes before she finds just the right one (and thus shifting her weight), 'til she finally gets HEAVY, all 21 pounds of her...

It's just no wonder I can't stay awake past 9:00 pm, ever.