Hanging In There

You may or may not have realized this, but work, apparently, takes up a lot of time. Like, a lot. As does parenting a small child (and dog). Thankfully I'm currently only a part-time wife due to DOH's intense work schedule, leading me to seeing him, like, never. However, I still wind up cleaning up his crap...hmmm... (You'd think with only half the wifely duties I'd only have to clean up half the mess.)

And speaking of messes, there is my house. Or, the house underneath the mess that currently occupies it (Occupy Wall Street, you've got nothing on my dirty laundry). I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed. No body enjoys coming home to a disaster each day, but, also, no enjoys cleaning up a disaster when they've been up since 5:30 AM and aren't getting home until 5 PM. I'm sort of feeling like I'm fighting a battle, and a battle that I'm losing badly.

Now, of course, I tell myself that maybe more would be accomplished if I didn't spend so much time, you know, going on Pinterest (and thereby somehow feeling like a productive person without actually having to do anything) or Facebooking. But, of course, both of those activities require limited energy and I can still play babies with Lizzie at the same time (for the record, I do not Facebook or pin stuff the entire time I play with my kid...just most of it). Plus, I can't cut out the real quality time I spend with my daughter and husband (when he's actually around). The bedtime routine is crucial on so many levels, including ensuring that my kiddo actually sleeps. Cooking and eating a vaguely wholesome dinner is important, too. Even if we can't all make it to the table at the same time, it's nice to have a meal and to sit down and eat and and talk to one another. Those both take up a lot of our evening time (and forget the morning--I'm all ready running around like a crazy person).

I'm just feeling as though I don't have time to do anything else that matters to me. In addition to, like, wanting to clean the house, I'd love to do some projects around here, too. Like finally wallpapering and/or painting the downstairs and upstairs bathroom and hallway. Or working the piece my mom and I started together (super cool, but totally top secret). Or sewing the advent calendar I want to be finished in time for December 1st (yeah, good luck with that one). OR actually writing here, on my blog. There is a whole huge list of things I'd like to be doing but am having limited luck doing. It sorta blows.

Well, before I take up more crucial moments of actual energy, I should go do something...else.

Is anyone else feeling like their precious time has been sucked up by some sort of vortex. (And have I asked this question before? Clearly I need better time management.)

Hello Snowtober!

Well, some of you may have heard about (or experienced!) the little Nor'Easter we got here in New England. Wow, did we get nailed at our house. We woke up this morning to about a foot of snow in our yard, which, by the way, blows away a huge record for snow this early in Maine. White Halloween's are not unheard of here in Maine, but not stuff like this. Some parts of the state reported getting as much as 18 inches (and parts of New Hampshire and Massachusetts reported as much as two feet!).

Anyway, here is how we spent our morning:

I. Am. MAD!!!! Halloween Edition

Okay, so, all three of our pumpkins, including Lizzie's special one from my mom and our jack 'o' lantern are gone. Stolen and smashed on the side of the road.

I am *insert expletive here* livid.

So, so, soooooo freaking mad.

I know it's Halloween. I know it's what some jerk-off, a-hole people do. I know some people think it's funny.

But I don't care.

What kind of idiocy/cruelty does it take to trek down a looooong, completely unlit driveway to someone's house, steal their pumpkins (including a jack 'o' lantern, which, to me, implies there are little kids involved, and you are therefore stealing a young child's pumpkin, which is just plain MEAN), and then pointlessly smash them in the road in front of their driveway.

Honestly, and I'm sorry if this makes me sound totally lame and over the top, but it makes me feel unsafe. If they don't have a problem coming up on my porch, why not in my house?

Again, I know that this can be something that "just happens" this time of year, but it's really disheartening to know that I can't put a fricking pumpkin on my porch without worrying it's going to lure in some jerk who will smash it to pieces.

And poor Lizzie cried forever over it. I'd like to make who ever did this sit and watch a poor little three-year-old girl ball her eyes out, crying for her pumpkins, saying that she'll never be able to have a pumpkin again because they'll "get lost" again.

I AM SO MAD ABOUT THIS!!!!!!

And I know there is nothing to do, so I'm writing this completely pointless blog post, that will solve nothing, but maybe make me feel a little bit better.

Perhaps I'll just leave this note taped to our next jack 'o' lantern:

#8 is sort of my favorite. 

Uh-Yuh

I have a small obsession with accents. There are some I love, some I hate, and I love talking about cultural differences in speech (as you'll see from the beginning of the above video). I was inspired by this blog, which was interesting to read/watch, because the author is Canadian (so there are definitely a few differences in pronunciation). I know my accent probably doesn't come out as strongly in this video, but seriously, you get me going (especially at work), and the New England-y sounds come out. I can't say I have a Mass. accent any more, but my way with words hasn't quite formatted itself to the Mainer ways, so I tend to just say I sound like I'm from New England.

Anyway, go ahead and take a listen and let me know what you think! Oh, and please excuse the sort of creepy internet stalker lighting, my webcam blows.

Maybe A Cool Idea

When my family first moved to Maine, we lived with my grandpa for a year. He lived down a dirt road, where the houses were spread out, most of the neighbors were gone during the year, and the road ended at a nice sandy little beach. If that doesn't sound enough like a kid's dream land, get this: there were these really pretty little paths that snaked through the woods, starting just after my grandpa's house and ending just before the lake. What's more, they were open to the residents of the "neighborhood", so it was perfectly fine for me to run up and down those paths by foot or bike as much as I wanted. They were maybe the coolest part of living with my grandpa (besides, you know, getting living with my grandpa--who is, coincidentally, really cool).

The reason I bring this all up is because I would really love for their to be paths on our property. You see, we have about three acres going here, and while much of it is opened up (and filled with crazy huge gardens that are going to take the rest of my life to tackle), we have nice little swaths of woods that are within our property line on either side of the house. 

Wouldn't it be neat to create a little path that travels along the outskirts of our property, line it with pretty shade-loving plants, and maybe even lanterns and solar-powered string lights? I think that would be so freaking awesome! It also might make us the coolest house to hang out at in the world. It has such a wimsical fairy-Harry Potter-Midsummer's Night Dream groom to it. 

Okay, as if I wasn't convinced before, I am now. We're totally doing this. 

When You Feel Like Caca...

I deem this to be a seasonable suitable picture to describe how I currently feel, though I am not puking.

Do you:

a) Curl up in a ball and cry
b) Tell your husband, even though it's completely unwarranted, that he's a big loser (you even do the whole L on the forehead thing--feel free to start singing "All Star" by Smash Mouth)
c) Call your mom up crying and beg her to take your small child, mostly because you're sick, but also because she ripped your diploma and when you got mad she simply replied that if you put her in time out she'd rip up more of your diplomas (ha, as if).
d) Take it like a woman and just deal and move on with your day.
e) You do a, b, and c and tell anyone who can actually do d they can go take a flying leap.

Yes, yes, I'm proud to say I selected e from that little quiz. Do I get an A or what? I hate feeling like crap, and I hate feeling like crap because I feel like crap even more, if that makes any sense. Basically, I hate succumbing to my weaknesses. I've been sick for about...a month now. Whether it's a persistent bout of colds I'm receiving from my little snot rag friends at school (I say this with love), seasonal allergies, or a combination of all three, at the  moment, I'm left with what could very well be the onset of bronchitis and an ear infection.

Woot.

Now, that all sounds pretty cruddy, and it is. And up until today, I've powered along. I've showed up at work. I've taken care of my family (though the house is in a bit of a decline, mostly because I slog my but home at about 5, cook a meal, then crash somewhere until Lizzie's too tired to play any more, then drag her to bed with me). I've been attempting to help my husband with the house training of our new puppy (some success at this point, but it's been really hard to remain consistent). Anyway, all this requires a lot of energy, of which I do not have a great supply.

So, now, as I begin to see the very rocky bottom of this situation (possibly getting just a tiny bit sicker than I've been so far) these two things occur to me.

1. DOH goes back to work today, rendering him virtually useless until Wednesday night (long 12-hour shifts doing incredibly stressful work--I tend to let him be on work days). 
2. There is a very good possibility my car will not start in the morning. Just sayin'. 

I'm trapped. And alone. 

The alone part (at least I'm alone for now) doesn't bother me so much. Mom came and took Lizzie for the day. I slept for a couple hours (hence how I am able to muster the strength to write this blog post). It's actually kind of nice, though I did end up feeling really bad/guilty when my mom showed up to get Lizzie (who, of course was thrilled to be rid of me). As crazy busy/into things Lizzie is now (it's actually worse than when she was a toddler--the smarty-pants and curiosity factor have been boosted times a million, and she's so independent, so she's into every freaking thing), the house feels empty without her in it. And the car business? Let's just say I'm dumb and it could have been avoided had I taken certain precautions (like stopping to get gas), but I'm sure the situation will resolve itself...somehow. I just don't like the uncertainty of the availability of my car. 

Maybe worst of all, DOH is sick, too. And I want to cuddle when I'm sick. He doesn't want to be touched. We spent a half an hour of me slowly trying to rest my arm across his chest or trying to snuggle up to him, and him then pushing me a way, saying, "Stop. Watch this show with me." Larry the Cable Guy? He can git himself done (that sounded way wittier in my  head...). Somehow DOH thinks watching a comedy special with him is the same as being tenderly wrapped in his arms. Not so much. 

Okay, well, now that I've hacked my brains out and can see that according to the clock I have now let enough time go by that I can use my inhaler (thank goodness for drugs), I'm going to go do that. 

If you don't hear from me soon, assume I've been affixiated (I really feel like this is a word, but spell check keeps telling me otherwise--I am choosing to ignore)  by my own windpipe. 

What I've Never Done

Here's a prompt (I haven't done one in a while) from Mama Kat.

I'm 23 years old.
And I've never:

1. Left the United States (sad, I know

2. Eaten a kumquat

3. Gone surfing

4. Read Gone with the Wind

5. Appeared on television 

6. Spoken a foreign language fluently

7. Occupied Wall Street

8. Remained unshowered for longer than a day

I'm pretty sure this is my mother-in-law

9. Permed my hair

10. Seen Forrest Gump

11. Supported the New York Yankees

12. Gotten into a fist fight

13. Been to the top of Mt. Washington

14. Made fudge successfully

15. Been to Disney World or Land

16. Gone clubbing

17. Peed in public (like, in the open--I use public restrooms all the time)

18. Lived on my own

19. Been tattooed 

20. DIY'ed a really cool project

21. Served in a political office

22. Purchased a gigantic chicken