You know what's worse than ...

You know what's worse than being supremely negative and pessimistic?

Being right!

Karma in action

I went to work on Monday. Business as usual. I'd worked all weekend too, and was just starting day 8 of my likely 15-day stretch at the office. As I walked through the parking lot, I was approached by a young man who was obviously in a bit of a tough spot. He stood about 10-feet away from me, not wanting to frighten me but desperate for help. And he explained to me that he'd run out of money in our city and was $18 short for a bus ticket to go back home. He'd been walking around all night, had gone to the police station, and had just been trying to stay safe. And now, he was walking through the parking lot offering to wash cars in order to get the money. I said "Don't wash my car; let me see what I have".

Sadly, I didn't have a $20. But I had a $5 in my purse, that I gave to him. He seemed like a nice fellow, and anyone can get down on his or her luck. I hope he managed to drum up the rest of the money he needed to go home.

Then I headed into the office. Where I found that my lost $45 earring had been placed neatly on my desk sometime Sunday night/Monday morning.

Karma rocks! Now, if someone would just return my lost flashdrive ...

J, you are 2!!!

J will not tell us his age. He refuses to talk about it at all. He does not even acknowledge that he has an age. Apparently, J is ageless.

H: How old are you?
J: NO!
H: How old is J?
J: NO!
H: Are you 2?
J: NO!
H: Are you 1?
J: NO!
H: Are you 3?
J: NO!
H: Are you 75?
J: NO!

Time passes ...

H: Did you have fun today?
J: Yeah.
H: Did you play?
J: Yeah.
H: Did you lie on the floor under a towel?
J: Yeah.
H: Did you play peekaboo?
J: Yeah.
H: Did you eat soup?
J: Yeah.
H: Was it good?
J: Yeah.
T: Are you a bunny?
J: Yeah.
H: Are you 2?
J: NO!

Time passes ...

H: And there were how many little bears?
J: Three bears.
H: Sitting on how many chairs?
J: Three chairs.
H: And how many little kittens?
J: Two kittens.
H: And how old is J?
J: NO!

Clearly, he is a force to be reckoned with.

**********

In other news, I have to work tomorrow again. April is rough for me, and I have to put in a lot of overtime. It's been a long week. I'm still feeling sore. And I'm extremely temperamental. Cranky, if you will. Medication ... car accident ... stress ... exhaustion ... there's no need to decide. I couldn't, even if I wanted to. I swear, the entire house reeks of cat pee, and I just can't wait to get rid of this carpet and lay down the nice laminate flooring we've bought. I lost one of my expensive earrings today, which ticks me off something fierce. This is my lot; metal allergies make jewelry costly, and it's a nuisance when it gets lost. And tonight, J decided to sit in his little plastic sandbox wagon which is not sturdy at all; it toppled and he put his tooth through his little lip when he landed. And now, I have reflux. It's been a rough day. Next week is going to be terribly busy. And I can't wait for it to be May!!!

Breathe ... sleep ... tomorrow is another day ...

Another day of work ... oh well ...

The physioterrorist hates me

Yes, I was prescribed physiotherapy to deal with the injuries from the car accident.

Seems I'm hurt pretty badly. Many headaches, ranging from minor to migraine. Some blurred vision. Terrible pain in my neck, back, ribs, hips, thoracic cavity. Pain when I walk, especially up or down stairs. Pain when I change position, like from sitting to standing. Pain and numbness in the arms and hands. Weakness in hands. Loss of grip. Loss of coordination. Loss of dexterity. Muscle spasms. Burning sensation in shoulders and between shoulder blades. Restricted head and neck movement. Sleep disturbance. Exhaustion.

The muscles in the neck are badly injured, and the injury can be felt by just touching my neck. There are lumps the size of apricots that bulge outward. My shoulders hurt so much I want to cry. I keep having to take codeine to deal with the pain. But I can't take it during the day, so I have to function without pain meds until nighttime. I use anti-inflammatory cream, heat, ice, jetted baths, pounding showers, and the codeine to try to deal with the pain. And I see the physioterrorist a couple of times a week. He's mostly doing manipulative therapy just now, and is focusing on trying to correct my loss of strength issues. The therapy hurts pretty badly, too. But I guess that's normal. I move very slowly these days; if I walk faster, my hips go out of alignment and it hurts even worse.

This kind of thing would have to happen at tax time, wouldn't it? I'm far too busy at work to have pain interfere with my day. And yet, it does. I guess there really isn't much I can do about it.

I feel helpless.

The J and the Jellybeans

Jellybeans are J's favorite candy. Apparently, they are manna sent from heaven. They must be. I have no other explanation for why he will eat them when he eats absolutely nothing else.

The Easter Bunny left jellybeans (and a few other special treats) in a basket on J's slide on Easter morning. J insisted on jellybeans for breakfast. We insisted that he would not have jellybeans for breakfast. It's hard to know who won the argument; he ate a paltry few jellybeans and refused all of the other food we tried to give. Did he have jellybeans for breakfast? Or did he skip breakfast entirely? Who can tell.

After the early morning Easter fun, we went to get bloodwork done. J and I both needed to get bloodwork. We reasoned that the lab would not be busy on Easter Sunday, everyone assuming they would probably be closed. We were correct; there was no wait at all.

I've gotten used to the whole bloodwork thing; being anemic, they check me often. But I'm not good with anyone poking a needle into my little boy's arm. J screamed and cried. H held him. I sang to him and tried to comfort him as best I could. Three nurses held his arm and tried to find a decent vein. Eventually the blood was drawn. J's reward was, of course, more jellybeans. And a nap; he'd really tired himself out fighting with the nurses.

J received finger puppets, jellybeans, Hershey's Kisses, a couple of sports balls, and the cutest stuffed bunny rabbit ever for Easter. He was a happy little guy!

Today, J's daycare celebrated his birthday. They let him wear a construction paper hat with a big "2" on it. And we took birthday cake for his class to share. Very cute! If we can ever convince J to wear his hat again, we'll post pictures. He refused to wear it when he got home. He's really not a "hats" kind of kid.

Things you never thought you'd hear yourself say

My contribution to the details of yesterday's party:

"Finish your chips; then you can have some fruit."

Also:

"J, stop doing ... whatever it is you're doing, that's bad."

Happy birthday, my sunshine!

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday. Busy, busy. 'Tis the season, you know.

Yesterday was J's second birthday. We had a party in his highness's honor. A few close friends came by. A few others couldn't make it. Some family came. Some couldn't make it. Such is life for a child born in April. Sometimes, we're bound to hit the Easter long weekend.

I actually got yesterday off work. (Shock! It was tax season! And I took a Saturday off!) I worked Good Friday, though. And a little bit today also. But yesterday, I hung out with H, J, and a few well-wishers.

J enjoyed his birthday party tremendously. He especially enjoyed playing with his little friends. Robbie came from daycare along with his mommy. I'd never met her, and I quite liked her. Sadly, she's moving away soon. She seemed so nice, and I'd love to add her to our circle of friends, but she'll be all the way across the country in a few short months, so I guess it's just not meant to be. Draya, Brandon, Michael (the "big boy" of the group), and J's two little cousins came and played with him. The new slide we'd bought J was set up in a corner of the living room, and it was a big hit. The kids all seemed to have lots of fun climbing up and sliding on down. Robbie loved playing in J's ride-in car, and Michael and Draya both seemed to quite enjoy his motorcycle.

There was pizza, and J had a chocolate and custard "Bob the Builder" birthday cake, topped with Bob and Wendy stampers filled with edible ink. He played hard, ate nothing ('cause that's what he does), enjoyed all his new toys, and eventually went to bed a very happy little guy.

As Lee said: "The party was a success, because J didn't cry during Happy Birthday".

Thanks, guys, for making the day so special for us and our little sweetheart!

Happy birthday, my sweet little man. I love you so much.

It's a political statement

Need something lighter?

Ribbit.

Beavers and Ducks!!!

Have you ever seen "Bandits"? Remember that scene, when Billy-Bob Thornton's character woke up screaming absurdities? That character now lives in our house.

These are the latest phrases that we have awoken to. J randomly screams these things, and then falls immediately back to sleep. Here we go:

Blue nenaw!
Mommydaddy!
Grannie gone!
TV on!
Dirty bum!
Panda coat!

("Panda coat" is a personal favorite).

**********

On another note ...

You know you order in too much when:

You are all sitting at the dinner table, having a pleasant meal. Suddenly, the doorbell rings. At the sound, your toddler perks right up, lifts his head, and yells "Pizza!"

Seriously annoyed

I have concluded that both Home Depot and the manufacturers of their special order blinds are equally useless. Tonight was so ridiculous I had to laugh. I couldn't stop. It was just so incredibly stupid! H is angry. He cannot laugh just yet. I'm sure someday the sheer insanity of the situation will win, and he will see the humor. Really, there is no option.

Seven blinds ordered, paid for, and picked up. So far, we have tried to install five of them. One of the five is okay. The others have glaring defects.

One is over an inch shorter on one side than the other and hangs at a bizarre lopsided angle. Two have controls mounted too far to each side, so they cannot be hung with the brackets supplied (the controls are in the way of the brackets), and one of those has a broken cord. And one doesn't come down at all; the cord simply does not work.

We still have to check the other two. But we took back the four with known problems and asked that they be re-ordered in correct form. And I can't even begin to describe the series of incompetent blunders that we encountered in the next two hours while we tried, desperately, to get this done. It was so ridiculous I broke down into hysterical laughter and just couldn't stop. H is still not laughing. I hope that he will see the humour in the situation ... someday. Just now, he doesn't see it.

I won't detail the evening here. It would be too long. But just know it was probably the dumbest and most ridiculous thing I've ever experienced. (And yes, that includes the guy who once told me that towels were too heavy for a towel bar.)

Toward the end of my two hour experience at the Home Depot, some poor sot came up to customer service and said: "I'm here to pick up my blinds". And I just started yelling "Don't do it! Whatever you do, don't buy your blinds here! Just run! RUN!!!" (I'm not even kidding; I actually did this. And the people working on my situation actually understood my frustration and laughed outright. It was that bad.)

It's still not all done. It's only half done. The return has been processed. The re-order will need to be done tomorrow. Apparently, the only person who knows how to do this works days. Convenient for us, no?

No.