Thursday, July 31, 2008

Further evidence that I am, in fact, a bitch

My mother-in-law is here, to play with Kali and keep her entertained and happy while I finish up some things that really need to be done. I'm thankful that I have help and that it's someone who loves Kali so very much. Sure, Kali's napping right now, but MIL is waiting patiently for the moment she wakes up. I've got James Taylor playing, and she's enjoying it as much as I am.

Why, then, am I a bitch?

Because she's singing along under her breath. And she's tonedeaf.

Please just knock me out, wouldja?

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Shiny happy people

My sink is still shiny. Amazing. Other stuff isn't necessarily always clean, but the bed is made, the sink is shiny, and the bathroom has been wiped down. Every day. I feel somewhat sane again.

Oh, and I did some menu planning, which means that making dinner no longer requires any brain power at all. Just the way I like it. Tonight we had turkey soup (using turkey carcasses from last Friday) and schnitzel sandwiches on homemade foccacia. The whole thing probably took about an hour of prep time, and that's an over-estimate.

We have new laundry hampers, which I absolutely adore and were totally worth what I paid for them at Ceramic Silo Children. They make doing a daily load of laundry almost enjoyable. Hey, anything to get the job done... right?

Miss Kali is sitting up like a champ. She doesn't even fall over anymore... so now we can sit her in her ball pit and she'll amuse herself for 20-30 minutes. It's rather amazing, really, how if she drops the ball she goes looking for that exact one, even there are a ton of identical ones all around... and she finds the one she's looking for. Hmm, maybe she just touches it to confirm the presence of drool.

And Mr. December and I have set a bedtime for ourselves. It may not seem early to you folks, but we're always in bed with the lights out before midnight, sometimes substantially earlier. We're happy campers.

Lest you think everything is just perfect over here, allow me to remind you that I'm still fat, my brother's wedding is coming up, and I'm dreading the fitting for my bridesmaid dress.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Strep Poker

I think I finally see a flaw in my laissez-faire parenting plan: if you keep on sticking your kid's pacifier in your mouth for sanitization, one day your throat will get the sharp end of a poker. A strep poker.

OK, sorry. It was the only way I could think of to work in that lame-ass joke. Perhaps Julie could have done a better job. Just be thankful that I didn't regale you with stories of my trip to a seedy Strep Club, Or whine about how the Strep Malls are taking over suburbia, or rasp in an adorable cockney accent, "'ey, sweet'eart... a quid to see me strep?"

I'm done.

The antibiotics are making me feel better. I'll be sure to tell my dad that... tomorrow. Tonight is the last night he's in charge of Kali. He's managed the impossible, getting Kali to take a bottle of formula, so I'll be getting a good night's sleep. Possibly my last for months to come. I'd better milk it for all it's worth.

Monday, July 21, 2008

I'm sick.

Yesterday I was feeling a bit tired, so I went to lie down. I woke up an hour later with a full-on fever (103) and chills. Swallowing is torture. I haven't been upright except to go to the bathroom, and my obligation to Kali has been reduced to that of "Wet Nurse". I'm holed up in my bed at my parents' house, where Kali is being played with and spoiled til there's no tomorrow. There's no way I'd be able to manage at home with Mr. December at work all day.

I haven't felt this ill since I had Mono. What the hell is this?

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Echo... echo... echo...

No, I did not get buried under a pile of clutter and have to dig my way out again. I've just been busy cleaning my house... very slowly. My living room is so much emptier that the acoustics are audibly different (at least to me) - everything seems to echo.

In the end, I did what Shelbel suggested: I went back to Flylady. I shined my sink, left the rest of the mess, and went to bed. The next day I did the bathroom "swish and swipe" in the morning and kept my sink shiny all day. It's snowballed since then, and while I'm far from on top of everything, the whole house feels a bit neater and a bit more manageable. I can breathe.

Kali broke out in a rash today, all over her chest and tummy. I hope it's not a food allergy - but it's hard to tell. Despite the fact that I said numerous times that we have to introduce foods slowly, i.e. once every 4-5 days, my mom fed Kali some watermelon and something else - can't remember what - so it's hard to know what, if anything, the rash is from. Dammit, I might have to go right back to rice cereal and bananas (she was fine with both of those) and try to figure it out. Why can't the grandmas just listen sometimes? Sigh.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

there's gotta be a 12-step program for this

Last night I had a total meltdown. In what is evolving into a theme here, I tried to find something, couldn't find it, wanted something to eat, couldn't see anything in the fridge that wasn't rotten or otherwise unfit for consumption, decided to go to bed and had to wade through an ankle-deep pool of clothes to get there.

I am so tired of being a slob. I have to dig through a huge pile of shirts to find the five - count 'em, five - that actually fit and flatter me. Every night I pick up and shake 5 or more pill bottles to find the one with pills in it, because I'm too lazy to throw out the empties. Kali has 8 pacifiers. Right now we can only find one.

I've done FlyLady before, never for long. I suck at "baby steps". I don't know exactly how this is all going to change, but something's gotta give. I can't live this way.

Does anybody know where I can find a meeting of "Slobs Anonymous"? And is anyone coming with me?

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Vegas baby

We just got back from Vegas. Kali loved it all, from splashing in the pool to kicking back at the girls' pajama party. She especially loved the part where we ate cheesecake and watched Sox and the Citee.

We are, however, exhausted. Will update more when we've recovered from the red-eye flight.

(oh, and I've discovered that I love baby rice cereal. a lot.)