Friday, January 22, 2010

What Have I Been Up To? About 5' 5 1/2"


So I went 4 days without posting. In my defense, because Monday felt like Sunday, today feels a little like Thursday, so the week isn’t really over yet…

Anyway, lest you imagine that I was busy exercising and decorating and volunteering and meditating and generally making the world a better place, I will fill you in on a few things I HAVE been doing this week:

1. Staying up way past my bedtime watching Lifetime movies, including, but not limited to:” The Mary Kay Letourneau Story.” Yes, I feel dirty.

2. Being in a grumpy mood each morning (see #1)

3. Refereeing two kids who have gotten along beautifully for the past 8.5 years but who now are at each other’s throats.

4. Obsessing that putting them in different schools this year has destroyed their sibling bond.

5. Trying to convince my underweight son that his winter coat does not “make him look fat.”

6. Trying to convince my son that he is not ugly, stupid, unathletic and generally terrible at everything (I remember starting to feel this way in 6th grade, not 5th. He must be advanced in the self-loathing department.) I think the sex talk was easier.

7. Being gentle and kind and understanding when my (8 year old!) daughter couldn’t put on her own socks and shoes because she had already brushed her teeth and it made her socks “feel weird.”

8. Getting so pissed at my daughter when she was screaming at me for putting on her socks and shoes WRONG that I said, “Well, how would you feel if you were dead in an earthquake?” then showing her a gruesome front page photo that no child should see. Aargh.

9. Grunting hello and goodbye to my husband as we said barely 2 words together all week (see #’s 1-8)

10. Remembering the Brownie meeting 20 minutes away 45 minutes after it started

11. Forgetting my dear friend’s fundraising dinner until…the day after.

12. Wondering why so few of the bloggers I read were posting this week, and then realizing that they just weren’t showing up in my reader. Thanks, Google.

Oh yes, I also went to work, did a lot of carpooling, laundry and wiping of muddy paws and nether regions of our dog, seeing that our yard has turned into a muddy swamp.

But mainly, despite my complaints, grumpiness, acne and general malaise, I spent time praying for the people of Haiti, reading their stories, and trying to remember to be grateful for this charmed and wonderfully messy life I have in a world where others are suffering so so much.

Forgetting a Brownie meeting is one thing, forgetting my blessings is another.


On the good news front: Things are coming together for our Well Project! Look for more news soon on this blog. The kids and I have already found $130 in change in the house that we had been saving for Disney and a generous donation has come in via mail from an awesome blogger. Thanks for your encouragement on this!

16 comments:

Kristina P. said...

I really hope you'll be watching The Pregnancy Pact on Lifetime, tomorrow!

Lynn Kellan said...

I'm still depressed after spotting OctoMom's bikini body. I only had one kid at a time, so now I have NO excuse for the junk in my trunk.

May I say that your week sounds like it was a lot of fun?

I can't find my blog said...

Your week sounds like mine. Skinny boy, forgotten outing, wet floors, late-night tv, tired. Hopefully some sun this weekend will remedy all of that!

Christy said...

I'm hoping your weekend is more fun than your week! ARGH. And we now keep a bowl of water and towels by the door, for our dog's paws. Fun, fun.

TheLab said...

#7 is the BEST! That is the reason I love kids so much. Their strange logic. It's the source of most of my entertainment.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

#8 sounds like something I would have done... except I was sick in bed this week. My children didn't have to look very far for an example to illustrate how much worse things could be. But I did have to remind myself about Haiti to appreciate the all those trips back and forth to a relatively clean bathroom with functional plumbing.

Why is it that we so often forget to count our blessings until the misfortune of others becomes so apparent?

Debbie said...

Don't you love getting so frustrated at your kids that you hear things come out of your mouth that shock you? Me too!

Gretchen said...

Do you ever have one of those days where you ask yourself, WHy is NO ONE commenting on my blog post today???

Or, after reading a blog and seeing like a zillion comments, you wonder, Why does that person get so many comments? Their readership isn't really that big.

I'm having a day like that. Those days kinda suck.

Masala Chica said...

We all have so many blessings that we forget. Watching the news every night is an exercise of pain for me right now. Watching what is happening and the children more than anything, makes me want to cry. and then I want to turn off the television. and then i realize that another blessing I have is that i have the option to tune the pain out and turn off the television.

while they can't.

You are blessed Anna - thanks for the reminder :-)
Kiran

Glennon said...

please tell your sweet daughter that brushing my teeth always makes my socks feel weird, too.
loved this post.

Kate Coveny Hood said...

I think it sounds like you've been kept pretty busy... I can't believe that kid talks about looking fat...

Anonymous said...

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is off topic, but I thought I'd ask. Thanks...oh also, I have some video game writings if you want to check them
out. Here are a few of them

WoW Hunter Pets
Shaman Builds
Feral Druid PvP

purejoy said...

counting blessings is a wonderful thing to do when you're growling. . . hope your week gets better (i had to laugh at wrong socks… my daughter had sock issues for YEARS!)

Heidi said...

Is it bad that I laughed when I read #8?

Anonymous said...

Keep posting stuff like this i really like it