My day as a waste of human life

My accomplishments for the day include:

1. showering
2. eating 2 meals
3. 
   

(#3 has been intentionally left blank)

Yup, that's it. I am at work, but that should not imply that I am working. This week and weekend were just too hard and I've turned off.

In order to provide actual content and avoid turning this blog into DeuceMom-feels-bad-for-self-and-rants-until-world-is-miraculously-fixed, I would like to present to you my plan:


Yes, this is an old-ass Palm Pilot. Mine has been classed up with a Coach case.

I have run hot and cold with using my Palm, and over the course of the several years I've used one it has been everywhere along the usefulness-continuum from indispensable to lost in an old purse. What I love about it is that it allows me to organize my thoughts any-which-way and at the end of the day, check finished items off. If only I could get it to clap for me. What I dislike is that, well I guess I don't dislike anything about it particularly. Sometimes life is simple enough that I don't need a little electronic helper so it gets set aside.

Life is not that simple right now so I'm back to it. How, specifically, will this device be used to improve my life? Thanks for asking!

• Record numbers for all contractors (instead of relying on "recently dialed numbers" in cell phone)
• Note dates of all appointments and set audible reminders. Automatic feature displays tomorrow's appointments too, to avoid being caught short.
• Create memos of window measurements, fabric requirements and little side pocket can store paint color samples so I'm prepared to buy decorating materials at any time
  
• Shopping lists organized by store type (Target, Home Depot, Wegman's), to avoid making unnecessary trips
  
• Finally, for my sanity, the "big rocks." This is something I did after taking a Franklin Covey time management course (which I was late to, but that's another story). I created a to-do list category for my "big rocks" (I am a: wife, mother, friend, employee, etc. I need to focus on my: social, emotion, physical, spiritual well-being) and add an item for each. That way I'm not neglecting the things that are important to me.

Now that a plan has been formulated, I just have to do it!

The movers are coming! The movers are coming!

I'm so happy to say that we have a date when we're moving into our house! Movers are doing their thing on July 31!

In the mean time, floors are being refinished (starting today, finished by Monday at the latest), we picked a tub and surround, and the kitchen and entry flooring is ordered and scheduled to be installed August 2!

We have a lot of work to do. But let's face it, most people end up moving into their "fixer upper" and living there while all the destruction is happening. We've had the benefit of being able to clean and fix a lot of things while living in relative comfort at my parents'.

Yes, that word was relative.

This week has been really stressful while Grandma Millie's funeral is being planned. But aside from the acute stress, there's a definite undercurrent of everyone needed some space. It's been a really good 3 months, but I think everyone will breathe a small sigh of relief when we can walk to the bathroom naked again.

Ah, naked.

A-B-C about me

A is for age: 27

B is for burger of choice: SUllivan's Charbroil

C is for the car I drive: 2000 Chevy S10 (I've been working on a post about this one)

D is for your dog's name: I have no dog

E is for essential item you use every day: Diet Code

F is for favorite TV show at the moment: House Hunters (HGTV)

G is for favorite game: Sorry

H is for home state: NY

I is for instruments you play: piano and guitar in the past

J is for favorite juice: Ruby Red & Tangerine

K is for whose bum you'd like to kick: so many bums, so little time

L is for last restaurant at which you ate: Grandpa Sam's

M is for your favorite Muppet: if Sesame Street counts, Snuffy

N is for number of piercings: 4. 2 in each ear

O is for overnight hospital stays: 1 for Deuce's delivery

P is for people you were with today: coworkers, later - DeuceDad, Deuce & my parents

Q is for what you do with your quiet time: sleep

R is for biggest regret: the frozen pizza I ate for lunch last Wednesday that made me sick. Ugh.

S is for status: Married

T is for time you woke up today: 6:30

U is for what you consider unique about yourself: I enjoy the Backyardigans more than my son (they have a character named Uniqua)

V is for vegetable you love: tomatoes

W is for worst habit: picking at blemishes

X is for x-rays you've had: teeth

Y is for yummy food you ate today: nothing of note yet. Yesterday's caponata was delicious though

Z is for zodiac: Sagitarius

Why don't ya do somethin?

Ugh, Britney Spears songs are so catchy

Anywho... Just a quicky between insane work meetings. I'm getting really restless, antsy... Oh, I'll just come out and say it. Bitchy. Why? ("why this time?" is a better question)

Because in the last week there is so much to do and I haven't actually done anything about anything.

The house? Not painted.
The flooring? Not scheduled.
The scrapbooking and crocheting I love? Ha!

I have to cut myself a little slack because I let my sinus infection get so bad and I finally went to the doctor when I couldn't function any more which meant I spent part of the weekend recovering. We also took Deuce to a baseball game and an amusement part this weekend (trying to actually get out and do things that we said were perks of living in a bigger town).

I was dealing with it okay until my Great Grandma Millie died. She passed away Saturday at 2 AM at the ripe old age of 97. She was an amazing person and will be missed. The thing is, her daughter (my Grandma) just had heart surgery and her doctor won't let her go to calling hours/funeral until next weekend. So we're in the weird limbo of going on with life and doing the fun things we planned while we're really sad and should be having the funeral service... It just feels like I should be doing something.

It's just part of the emotions when someone dies I think. We have so many exciting things happening, but there is still this feeling that something isn't right.

She was a hard-working, no-nonsense that never would have whined to the internet about how busy she was. So here I go to apply myself. I'll accomplish something in her honor. Even if it's just hugging my baby.

The Modern Woman

Get down with my bad self -

39 As a 1930s wife, I am Poor Take the test!

I'm lacking in the "dainty and feminine" categories, and the "doing housework" categories, along with many other delightful traits, and would have made some poor sap in 1930 a real miserable case.

I'm actually a poor example of a 2000s wife, let alone a 1930s wife. Me and my cold feet slapped against DeuceDad in bed really give the modern woman a bad name. I'm not going to give you the woe-is-me, I'm a WOHM song and dance, because I wasn't a model wife before Deuce was on the scene. Let's face it, I love lounge pants.

Instead of getting heavy into the division of labor in DeuceFamily, I'll just say this - I'm not vacuuming in heels. No way. No how. End of discussion.

Work 'til it hurts

Physical labor (or movement of any kind) is not on my to-do list most days from 8-5(ish). I go in to the office, sit at my desk, and occasionally walk to another person's office where I then sit down. Needless to say, after 3 days of lifting, ripping, pulling, prying, scrubbing, and constantly running up and down stairs, mommy's tired.

We're taking lots of before and after pictures, which I will share just as soon as we find the elusive computer-and-phone-cords box.

Until there are photos, allow me to step you through the high points.
Friday:
The closing was super easy and we didn't have that nerve-wracking "I'm signing my life away" feeling we had with the first house. Had a little lunch, called a flooring guy, took some before pictures, changed to work clothes. And then the fun began. The odor in the house improved immediately after the carpet was removed. I gave the bathrooms the once over. My mom brought dinner and we ate on the card table in the front yard. (In other words, we started classing up the neighborhood right away.) Eventually we couldn't stand tack strips any more and went home.

Saturday:
The sun rose on what would be a hot and humid, disorganized and, for me, somewhat demoralizing day. High of 94 with high humidity and no A/C. Awesome. We had a short term plan going in - focus on the main and upper floors, then move in and then do the lower floor (family room, office, 2nd bath). The plan was being adhered to until my boss showed up, started peeling old self-adhesive tiles off the downstairs bath and all but kidnapping me to Home Depot to buy tile. We wanted to tile the downstairs bath eventually, but he was there and volunteering and the new me does not turn down offers of help. Despite working through the worst part of the day (which we had intended to spend floating in the pool), it came out awesome and really gave us a leg up (ha ha pee joke) on fixing up that bathroom. The upstairs bathroom also got (re)scrubbed 3 times, and an entire bottle of Simple Green was used to get greasy mess of the kitchen. Fun was had by all. At about 9 we managed to get home and cool off in the pool.

Sunday:
So tired. Had to go to Lowe's for plumbing supplies which took about 2 hours in our exhausted state on a rainy early morning. DeuceDad grouted while my father attacked the dripping upstairs tub faucet. The grout went well and looks great. The bathroom... well let's just say my dad sawed 2 holes in walls, broke off one of the knobs, determined there are no shutoffs to anything (save the house) and no actual progress was made. The problem is now understood and a plan is in place. While he was back and forth to his house for tools, I decided to work on the lingering old-man-urine odor. The house has hot water baseboard heat and there is a heater next to the toilet. Probably a good candidate for a source of the smell. I took the cover off and almost got knocked on my kiester by how bad it smelled. I cleaned it with Clorox Cleanup with Bleach (not environmentally friendly, I know, but I needed to bring out the big guns). I scrubbed and rinsed for an hour, and the smell was better but not gone. I was nauseated from the pee smell, dizzy from the cleaner and generally disheartened by the thought that I now own a house that some old dude peed all over. We got more work done, but my heart just wasn't in it. Luckily, by best friend came by for dinner and some work, so while DeuceDad hayed mowed the lawn, she and I sang to the Boyz II Men greatest hits CD and put on the new kitchen cabinet knobs and papered the shelves.

You'll notice that Deuce didn't get mentioned in there. My mom watched him all weekend, which was wonderful because we got a lot done. But the weekend is my time with him. My dad put it into perspective saying that the faster we get our stuff done, the sooner we can all live under our very own roof again. He has a point. But I miss him... so tonight I am taking the night off. We're going to go for a walk and hang out together. Then tomorrow, back to the grindstone.

Wow, congrats if you read all that! As a special prize, I'm offering bags of vinyl flooring scraps that were used to line every shelf in the house!

Now may be the time when I question my sanity

A quick one before I leave for a long weekend of ripping up carpet, cleaning, sanding, painting...

Our first house was beautiful. All remodeled, move in condition.

The new place has a school-bus yellow eagle nailed above the garage.

I'm slightly daunted by the work we have ahead of us. I'll post again on Monday to share results, and hopefully some in-progress pics.

Return of the Broccoli

After Deuce weaned himself, I made a tongue-in-cheek list of things I had given up while breastfeeding. In an effort to convince myself I've accomplished something with my life lately, I'd like to revisit.

1. Wear non-nursing bras (long overdue considering he's only been nursing at night/in the morning for weeks now) Oops. I may have packed all my clothes and not even laid eyes on a regular bra. Where are they???
   
2. Put away nursing pajamas I haven't put them away (because the bags of maternity closes are buried in the storage unit, but I did stop wearing them and treated myself to a new summer night shirt.
   
3. Go back on real pill Check
   
4. Eat broccoli I had no idea how much I like fresh broccoli! Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I suppose.
   
5. Eat egg rolls Sadly, a disappointment. Haven't found a Chinese restaurant we love here
   
6. Eat reuben sandwiches How did I let this slip by me?
   
7. Drink hard liquor One pina colada, one strawberry daquori (sp). Long live frozen drinks in summer!
   
8. Other stuff you don't want to know about, but it has to do w/ DeuceDad I don't kiss and tell, but let's just say, Check and Check.
   

5 of 8. Not so bad. I'm pretty sure that would be a passing grade in public high school, so I'm counting this as a win!

Babywearing - more than an accessory

Missy recently did a great post on babywearing and then found an awesome give-away! (Front seat of the MarketingMama bandwagon is official occupied)

I think I've discussed babywearing here before. Deuce wanted to be held constantly and I found a little freedom in a borrowed Baby Bjorn. (Freedom, ha, I could push the vacuum. But you get my drift.)

I had success with the Bjorn, but I didn't feel that it was the most comfortable option for him. His legs were kind of extended to the sides to fit around my belly. There are lots of reviews of other carriers and I plan to expand my horizons with theoretical-next-baby.

I hope to...
Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

Eats Shoots and Leaves

From an email sent to DeuceDad today:

Go ahead and eat/feed Deuce

His response:

I am not going to eat Deuce.  You are sick.

Watch your grammar, people!