Wednesday~September 16, 2009 This is getting ridiculous. Really. I screamed today. At myself. Hands up in the air, flailing about and then down to my face to cover it because I was SO FRUSTRATED WITH MY FREAKING BRAIN. I was saying “NOOOOO….NOOOOO you DID NOT!” All by myself with no one around, just me yelling at me. Last week Asher’s pediatrician looked at me and told me I have Attention Deficit Disorder. He’s not even my doctor, but he can tell. THAT’S not embarrassing AT ALL. I said, “Yeah, I know.” He said, “Do you get help for it?” I said, “Um…no.” He said that it might be a good idea, and to try to not be ashamed, and then I almost cried. Then I was all, “yeeeaaaah, you’re right, I should,” but my mind had already wandered. So it was too late, how would I remember to get help later if I […]
Monday~September 7th, 2009 Yesterday, while at the state fair, we happened by a sea of cars on display. So the boys spent a good half hour climbing in and out, grabbing steering wheels and shaking them from side to side, Ryan included. Meanwhile, I went to get buffalo chips. (No, not actual buffalo, the animal, but buffalo like buffalo wing sauce but on fries, not wings. With sour cream. End of explanation.) I’m not all that into steering wheels or climbing in and out of cars, but I sure am into pretty much any fair food. Except alligator on a stick…not that. Anyway… When I got back, Ryan excitedly told me there was something new with some of the display models they were climbing in and out of. He said that the speedometers can be set so they won’t go over a certain speed. Then he went on to say that there’s also […]
Sunday~August 30, 2009 The computer I use is in our kitchen. I’m rarely alone while at the computer, and let me tell you this…it’s almost never quiet when I’m at the computer. So I had this grand idea to use some open space in our bedroom to create a little office just for me. With a door. Our bedroom has a door, so I thought that would be cool. We’ve been keeping our eyes open for a desk of some kind and yesterday we hit the jackpot at a garage sale. So now I have a desk. Wanna see? I’ll need to clean it up a bit and slap on some new hardware, but I love it. It’s handmade and sturdy and purty. Just like me! Wait…forget that. Anyway. There is just one tiny little problem, which may have contributed to the exceptional price. Wanna see? Um…yeah. I realize this is a terrible […]
You take pictures in a mirror… and then you try to capture your child in the shot while hoping it will look artsy… while playing peek-a-boo… and standing on the toilet,totally confusing said artsy shot child. The End. Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
Tuesday~August 11, 2009 The insides of my cheeks are really fat. I can hardly rest my top teeth on my bottom teeth because I end up biting my fat cheeks. It’s annoying. Just last night I bit my cheek while I was sleeping and it woke me up. Apparently I feel that this is exceptionally interesting blog fodder. While I’m at it… I only grow hair in one armpit. I’ve never grown hair in the left. No idea why. Sometimes I wonder if it’s growing and growing and growing under the surface. (Yes, I’ve asked the doctor. Something about no hair follicles in that part of my body.) It does save shaving time, which is how I see the silver lining around being this weird. I broke the middle toe on my right foot once, right after I saw that Charlie’s Angels movie with Cameron Diaz in it. I was trying to do […]
Tuesday~July 14, 2009 Why is everything underlined? Why won’t Blogger stop underlining everything I’m typing? Why did I somehow type YOU’RE instead of YOUR in my last post in a very obvious grammar FLUB? Sheesh, the underlining!!! All I did was upload some pictures and now the underlining won’t stop! Why are pictures a call for underlining? Everything has to be underlined???? Really Blogger? WHY? And also…Why are there so many power cords dangling around my goof off work space? … (You wanna know what blog I was reading? GOOD. It’s called It’s Your Movie and it rocks.) Oh look! The underlining stopped! That’s nice. So um…where was I? Oh yeah…Why am I not sure I should say “underlined?” Under-lined? Under lined? NO, that can’t be right. Must be underlined then. Good! I think…. (Deep breath) Everything is FINE. Except for that whole thing with somehow typing YOU’RE when it should have been […]
Tuesday~July 7th, 2009 Things have been so serious around here lately. I need to lighten up a bit. So I became a (pretend) rock star! Here’s my first (pretend) album: Look what I made! (OK, it’s not a real MUSIC album, it’s a made up one, but it’s so much fun to pretend.) I guess this has been making it’s way around facebook, but I saw it on my friend Motherboard’s blog and had to do it because I’m very easily distracted from what I should be doing so creative. It’s one of those random search things, like shuffling your ipod and having the songs answer your questions…only it’s different than that. (The directions are below, if you want to give it a try.) Because I’m sure you can’t really see it, my band name is Diaspora Minister of Israel. That just totally cracks me up. And the album is titled Scandal is […]
Monday~June 8, 2009 I think this might be a meme, I’m not sure. I just wanted to do it. I thought to myself, “I wish all the blogs I read could get more recognition, they’re good stuff.” And then I thought, “I wonder if people who know me and only read my blog know that there are other blogs out there that they might totally love?” And then I thought about Chipotle and got distracted, dreaming about guacamole. And then it was nap time and I had a moment to share this with you. SO BEHOLD! A meme-like list. A list meme. A blog recognition meme. A linky love meme….Whatever. Let’s just do this: A blogger who makes me think (and I love it): Jennifer at Conversion Diary A blogger who makes me laugh (A LOT): Amy Lawson of The Lawsons Did Dallas A blogger who has been known to make me cry […]
Friday~June 5, 2009 1. I’ve been thinking about politics a lot lately, or how people handle their opinions about politics anyway. It’s not that this is entirely new, but I guess I’ve been a bit more focused on it than usual. I’ve even been tempted to do a post about what I’m thinking, which I never ever thought I would do. Lately there’s so much bumping around my head and heart on this topic, but…I don’t know. 2. Ryan and I are leaving, heading off to our dear friend Shannon’s wedding in Wisconsin tomorrow through Sunday. We are not bringing the small people. They’ll stay at home with Nanny and Bapa, and then Uncle K and his girl, D will take over. Yesterday, I said something to Uncle K about getting up at around 6 a.m. with Asher, and he just stared at me with a bit of a glazed over shocked kind […]
Tuesday~ May 26, 2009 On Thursday, we’re heading Up North for a little vacation. We’ll be gone through Sunday, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be going through internet withdrawal. I will be unable to play Word Twist on facebook. You might hear me crying, but this is actually good. Everyone needs a little detox every now and then. Maybe I’ll stop unscrambling words on street signs after this break. STOP. top-pot-spot-pots-sop-tops (Yes, you can even make a lot of words from the simple word STOP.) Yes, I’ve stared at a stop sign, finding those words. Why does the list of things to get done before you go on vacation have to be so terribly long? And why do I have to take it so far? Can’t I just shop for vacation needs and then pack like normal people do? And just leave it at that? OH NO, not me. Why must I also […]
It just so happens that I was born on the 22nd of May a mere 34 years ago. This isn’t all that monumental. I mean, everyone has birthdays, and it’s not like it’s my 40th or something. But of course, it gets me thinking about my life… If I were “living my best life,” as Opie (that’s short for Oprah, only Gail and I get to call her that) likes to say, I think I’d be a vegetarian and a long-distance runner. I can feel both those things buried in me somewhere, but I like to ignore them while I eat steak and sit around. It’s not that refraining from meat and strapping on the cross-trainers are things that define the well-lived life for everyone, I’m just talking about me here. Because it’s my best life we’re talking about, and I can make up whatever I want because I’ve been around for 34 […]
Saturday~May 9, 2009 Here I am at a coffee shop by myself on a Saturday. Blogging must be done. The last couple of days were interesting, friends. Interesting as in totally weird and really quite humorous. Three different strange-ish things have happened. Let’s pretend like you’re dying to know what they are, bullet-style: I had a catscan recently because of some concerns about my belly. I assumed that my belly is weird because a 10 pound, 10 ounce Asher changed things up in there, and it turns out I was correct. Due to my second pregnancy and the incredible stretching it called for, I now have diastasis. Here, let wikipedia explain: “Diastasis (also known as abdominal separation) is a disorder defined as a separation of the rectus abdominis muscle into right and left halves. [1] Normally, the two sides of the muscle are joined at the linea alba at the body midline.” So […]
Monday~ May 4, 2009 Yesterday I went shopping. This is astounding really because I NEVER shop. Well, groceries and all that, sure. But clothes shopping? No way. I had to face the music though, I really don’t have much to wear, and if I’m ever going to look even slightly cute-ish again, I’ll have to shop for a few things. Shopping makes me feel all weird. I just hate spending money, and I don’t like this stage of life in which I find myself stuck in the middle with no options. You know that whole thing where all the clothes out there seem to be for either a pre-teen or a grandma (No offense, Grandma. There’s nothing wrong with your clothes, they just wouldn’t look right on me.) .Anyway, it all turned out OK in the end because I came across a clearance rack and something jumped out at me. It was my […]
Tuesday~April 21, 2009When I was a kid and would finally decide I should clean up my pit of a room, I would pretend there was a reason I had to do it really fast, so I could get it over with. My favorite imaginary reason was that my mother-in-law was coming over. Obviously I wasn’t married, but I was good at pretending. Apparently I had noticed that a person cleans before their mother-in-law comes over. Or when anyone comes over, for that matter. I don’t think there many people who can totally refrain from picking up the house before someone comes over. I mean, unless they have no choice and absolutely no time. I do it too. Even if it’s my best friend in the whole world who could care less about the state of my home, I still rush around picking up toys and throwing dishes in dishwasher. Even if I don’t […]
Monday~April 13th, 2009 I make grocery lists and then I don’t look at them while I’m at the store. I think it’s because I have a mind like a steel trap. Therefore, I remember (almost) every item all on my own, without the list. So I just leave the little list in the diaper bag, or my purse, or my pocket, or wherever it was tossed to the floor by small hands.So yeah, what was I saying? Oh! Mind like a steel trap… Yeah, that’s probably not it. Actually, it could just be that in the midst of all the unbuckling and re-buckling, the chasing, the reminding, the nagging, the answering of questions, the telling not to touch, to hold my hand, to stay by the cart, sit on your butt, and answering of more questions (deep breath)…Yes, I forget something(s), including the fact that I even made a list in the first […]
Posted on Friday~March 20, 2009 Isn’t this crazy? We can even party hop on-line now.Which means I don’t even have to do my hair.I can just sit around looking like this: Except I don’t really look like this because I have brown hair now.But my face? Totally the same.I don’t make this face at real life parties, but I make it a lot at home.So there you have it. This is what I’m doing right now. Most likely.I’m a party animal.——————— Welcome to the Extraordinary Ordinary. If you’re new here thanks to 5 Minutes for Mom, please don’t be scared. I don’t always make that face. Rather, I spend hours on end smiling and playing peacefully with my two boys, Miles and Asher. They’re ages 3 and 1, and we play cars constantly and I never tire of it. (That wasn’t the truth. I love to play with my boys in short doses, […]
Posted on Sunday~March 1, 2009 I don’t think I’ve ever given parenting advice here on the EO. I’m sure you can tell I’m a total expert in all things baby and toddler, but just in case you didn’t know, I thought I would share some tips. Today’s tip will help you more than words can say the next time you attempt eating out with small children. Our children are always quiet and well-behaved at restaurants. They hardly make a peep. They are only three and one, and yet they don’t make a scene at all. People compliment their behavior all the time. Ryan and I just sit and talk and talk, we can hardly ever even tell we have children with us. They simply sit still and quietly mind their own business. There are some things a parent needs to know to achieve such great success in restaurant etiquette. I’m sure you’ve all […]
Posted on Wednesday~February 18, 2009When it’s just one of THOSE days, the kind where I can’t focus and I don’t get anything done and I don’t care and then I’m sad? The kind where my funk is making my boys all funky? I round up the grumpy people (myself included)… And I tell them to get ready… I crank up the music… AND WE DANCE IT OUT! Who can stay funky after a dance-out? It works for us. For more Works-For-Me posts, head on over to Rocks in My Dryer Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
Posted on Monday~February 2nd, 2009Baroness Black (the one with the cutest accent ever) tagged me for the 8 Random Things meme. This is great practice because I’ll be spending hours and hours coming up with my 25 random things for the facebook tag. Ahhh, social networking at it’s finest… 1. I despise tomatoes. 2. But I love pizza, spaghetti, and chili like crazy. I know, I know. Tomato based. 3. Jodi Picoult is coming to a Borders near me in March and I’m going to see her (and maybe find it somewhere in my brave-ish soul to contribute to the discussion). 4. I don’t worry too much about crazy internet people who might stalk me because we have a pit bull. Sort of. 5. We have an American Staffordshire Terrier. And she would totally kick your patootie, so don’t stalk me. 6. I sometimes have real and actual premonitions. I’ve known that a […]
Posted on Wednesday~January 28th, 2009 Dear Katie, I am no longer fashionable. I don’t really know that I ever was. But I do realize you are a bit of a fashion icon, and I wanted to tell you we finally have something in common in this regard. I used to roll my jeans too! It started around 1985, I believe. (Were you born?) I would fold my jeans over at the ankles as tightly as I could and then roll them up, just like you! The only problem with this was trying to keep them that way. Do you struggle with this too? Like when you sit down, do they ride up a little higher on your calf and sort of pop open, leaving you to have to work really hard again? I hated that. You are so cute. I think I’ve been subconsciously trying to be more like you. I even colored […]
Posted on Thursday~January 22, 2009 I’ve just had a brilliant idea. There’s this teacher at Miles’ school that looks really, really good. Every Tuesday and Thursday when I come to pick Miles up, we pass in the hall as she takes her students to lunch. Every single day she looks REALLY great. High fashion kind of great, hair perfect and everything. She’s so well put-together that I’m starting to wonder if she has a nanny, a house-keeper, and three assistants. Because I’m THAT mom (haven’t showered, half dressed, mascara streaked under my eyes, old Levi’s and a huge sweatshirt…), I tend to shrink as I pass this amazing specimen of fashion perfection. Partly because I hope she won’t notice me, but mostly because I’m HER on the INSIDE. Kind of. I mean I do have SOME fashion sense. I’m usually somewhat aware of the trends and most of the time I even like […]
Posted on Monday~January 12th, 2009 If I had a quarter for every time someone said, “Now you should go take a nap,” after my boys are down, I’d be extremely wealthy. It’s not a bad suggestion. When I’ve struggled my way through half of a day that begins between 5 and 6 a.m., it would be refreshing to snooze a few minutes while my boys nap. It’s a very good idea. It makes a whole lot of sense that the people in my life would make this napping suggestion. They are the ones that have had to listen as I’ve gone on and on and on and on…and on about my sleep deprivation. I like the idea of napping. I just can’t do it. My husband could fall asleep on a donkey. Imagine it. A small donkey with a grown man slumped over it’s neck, feet dragging along the ground. That would be […]
Posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 A long, long time ago in a land far away… Well o.k., maybe it was just a long time ago. It wasn’t far away since it was right here on this very computer I’m clickety clacking on as we speak/type/read. Anyway, I went on a blogcation and there were excellent guest posts while I was blog stalking without commenting taking really good care of my home. Before I took that break, I asked if anyone had any questions. Then you left the questions in the comments. Remember? NO? WHY? Was it THAT long ago? Yes, I suppose it was. Hey! I’ve answered TWO OF THEM so don’t judge. You don’t even remember what you asked and you don’t care, do you? Too bad! I’m a woman of my word! (unless I totally forget things, then it’s just an accident.) And I can’t go into the New Year […]
Posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008Sometimes I like being myself, and other times I don’t. That’s one of the nice things about blogging. No, I don’t mean I’ve been a big fake and my name is actually Hank, a guy with no kids. Not that kind of not being myself. What I mean is that I can at least hide myself from sight. I can sit here at my computer without you actually seeing me in a ratty old sweatshirt, greasy hair, no make-up on, and food on my cheek. So I’m still myself, but you don’t have to look at me. Or hear me. Until today, because I’m taking part in 2nd Cup of Coffee’s, “I See What You’re Saying.” So now you’re going to have to put up with seeing and hearing me in all my frumpy glory. Go check out the other videos, what fun! So yeah..um, HI! Here I […]
Posted by Heather of the EO~Monday, December 22nd, 2008 Asher had his follow-up appointment last Friday. The Nurse Practitioner thought he looked great. He’s a total post-surgery rock star. He does put his head down on the floor with his butt in the air, trying to feel the pressure he used to feel, but I was informed that this is absolutely normal. I assume it confirms that he’s a genius. He doesn’t know how he feels about his new brain, so he tries to bring back the comforts of having a full head by letting the fluid rush in, like when you do a head stand (I’m pretty sure everyone does those on a daily basis). Turning himself upside-down is fine for now, but the RN did advise that if Asher continues to do this, he will need his shunt adjusted so the fluids move at a slower pace. In short, everything’s cool […]
Posted by Heather of the EO~Thursday, December 18, 2008 If you’ve been around here long, you saw the wackypictures of me posing for my Mama Manifesto bio.So yeah, you know what I look like. Until today. I’m a brunette now. (This is not a wig) I’m still in shock. I’ve totally traumatized my kids, by the way.And my husband. Oh what fun it is to be in disguise. Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
You know it’s cold when your husband goes to warm up his car and the door is so frozen, it stops working. It becomes a non-closing door. Then you have to bundle up your kiddos at nap time and drive the needs-to-fly-away-for-work-again husband to the airport. And even though it’s totally annoying, you know it’s not his fault. You graciously forgo naps so he doesn’t have to drive away in a car with an open door, freezing wind blowing across his face. This surprise trip to the airport does cause a missed nap for the youngest, so you spend the cold day indoors while he does this: And this: (He’s actually feeling much better these days, by the way. We’re all so relieved for him. He’s more content and playful. At least when he’s had his nap. So we’re pretty sure his noggin is adjusting to the shunt. (Why does that have to […]
I’m copying welcome to my brain (excellent blog by the way) and doing a little thingy. A thingy that will make my day. My day needs to be made. This is your chance to leave a random comment that has nothing to do with anything. Such fun.————————————— Rules: *Grab the book nearest you. Right now. *Turn to page 56. * Find the fifth sentence. * Post that sentence as a comment. * Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST. Why are you still looking at this? Grab the nearest book and leave your random comment! Go! Do it! It’s funny! :) Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
There is something entirely and completely broken about me trying to post a video. So, NO NOGGIN FOR YOU! (I said I would post a video of Asher post-surgery, but no, I can’t figure out what in the world is wrong with uploading it and I’m sick of trying. So, NO SOUP…er, I mean… no NOGGIN for you!) STINK. Which means I have to share some random thoughts from my head instead. Sorry… Miles just walked over here and said, “We are using this house SOOOOO much, it’s going to get old, but we’ll still live here.” Hope so. Today Ryan (husband) said that the neurosurgeon “must have found the ‘on’ switch…” That was his nice way of saying that Asher is currently OUT OF CONTROL. He’s all over the place! (He was fussy and kind of sleepy before the surgery…now he’s fussy and kind of all over the place! Oh my. We […]
This Thanksgiving I was struck with a startling thought. And then I even had an epiphany of sorts. I’m pretty sure it was divine intervention. I’ve noticed something through the years. It seems (and maybe this is just in my circles) that in most families, when it comes to holidays, the wives usually call the shots have the final say on where the family’s time will be spent. There’s usually that whole “compromise” thing, wherein the wife says that the holidays will be spent with her husband’s family the next year, but this often does not happen. She can’t actually bear the idea of not seeing her side of the family when push comes to shove. And husbands are usually a little more…easy-going about these things. Or maybe they’re…less emotional. (Like I said, this is not true in all cases. But it seems that it is in a lot of cases. Or maybe […]
