Cheese With That?

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

Why, Yes, Yes I would.  Maybe some Brie with dried cherries and pecans.  Or maybe some really good Gouda.

I am a big o'whiney hot mess right now.  What I initially thought was allergies was not allergies and has turned out to be a nasty little cold.  It started out as a head cold and has now moved down my throat into my chest leaving me with a burning and the feeling that little tiny bee bees are rattling around in there when I cough, ricocheting all around.  Whenever I blow my nose my ears plug up and now I get dizzy.  

I'm trying not to sit around all day.  Yesterday I got it in my head that I wanted a smoothie and that turned out a mess in itself.  I spilled half my darling Clover's Strawberry Whirl all over the back seat of my Hubby's new car.  I had a minute where I was about to have a total meltdown.  I had convinced myself that  smoothies in the car would be fine.  It was totally my fault and I admit that.  I was sick and all I wanted was a darn Purely Pineapple.  So instead of crying, I drove right over to the car wash and gave them my sad story and they totally came through for me.

Of course I was honest with my husband and told him.  I was going to anyways but my tattling little daughter decided she was going to break the news to him first.  Of course when she told the story it was ALLL over the back seat and not just the passenger side.  She tells stories like her Daddy!  I still got the disapproving look when I told him but I think he took pity on me since I was a hot mess yesterday too.  I think he was happy that his car was cleaned and detailed too, despite the reason why.

Usually I work through whatever is bothering me but this cold has knocked me on my butt-butt!  I'm trying really hard not to sit around all day eating ice cream.  I feel guilty for having the TV on but I really have no energy to do anything else.

Right now I am still in my jammies.  My coffee is gone.  My hair is unbrushed and I smell like Vicks (the cream kind not the vaseline kind).  I'm not seeing very much getting done today but as much as I want to sit on the couch, guilt will eventually get the best of me and I will at least do a round of dishes and probably laundry.  Although I still want a smoothie, staying at home is probably in my best interest for today.

I am very appreciative that the timing of my cold was this week and not last.  I would have hated to be wondering around Disneyland with this.  So thats a positive.  Another positive is that the average cold only lasts 10 days or a week and half.  A couple more days and I should be somewhat functional and a few more days after that and I should be back to my normal less whiney self!

Missing

"Mom!  Soda is lost!  I can't find him anywhere!"

Apparently he was lost this morning!  Clover filled me in on the details for the poster.  But not to worry folks, we found him.  He was hanging out at the Costco gas station.  Where else would an imaginary dog hang out?  He followed us home.  

Me:  He's behind us?

Clover:  Yeah he's behind us.

Grandma:  He runs pretty fast!

Me:  Yeah like over 50 mph!  

When we got home Clover told us we left him outside so of course she had to go get him and bring him in. He's not in trouble or anything.  We are glad to have him home.  I feel bad that I didn't notice he was missing.  

If you are confused by all this just fill in the blanks here.  

The House of Mouse

I think that July's Reverb post fits in nicely with this blog post.

What new thing will you try this month?

I struggled with this one.  Other than recipes, I couldn't think of anything.  Writing about recipes just seemed to be a little boring to me.  That, and I already write and share new recipes so how would that be different from my other jibber jabber?

So, since we just got back from a quick (2 days in the park) vacation at Disneyland, I have some new stuff to write about.

I not only tried some new places to eat while at the parks but I also got on some new rides.  I'm not usually a Disneyland in Summer kind of a gal.  It's too hot for me!  I know it wasn't THAT hot but all that walking and sun and I got a little warm.  My powder sunscreen was no match for the sweat.  Between sweating and wiping my forehead I got a mild sunburn on my forehead and nose.  I was disappointed to say the least because that meant that for day number two I had to wear good ol fashioned cream sunscreen.  I knew I HAD too or risk an even worse burn.  But I didn't like it.  I already acknowledge that I am weird with sunscreen.  I don't like that it sits on top of your skin and doesn't rub all the way in like regular lotion does. I can't stand the sticky feeling on my skin.  Which is why I am so partial to the powder.  I wig out when I have to put regular sunscreen on.  I don't even know why but it gives me the heeby geebies.

We had originally planned to go in May.  I was really excited but due to the untimely passing of my Mother in Law, we rescheduled.  Then due to a scheduling conflict with Hubby's work, it once again got put off.  Which actually worked out in our favor because we all got the stomach flu that week.  So maybe I was itching a little to go.  So when were invited to go with some friends celebrating an anniversary, I jumped.  I wanted to go so much that I broke my "I'm not going back in the Summer ever again" rule.  We would also be going with Clover's best buds so I caved on the Summer thing.  We totally had a blast hanging out.  It was a great vacation.  Clover and I also got to do a lot of new things on the trip.

We have our favorites...

We did the early morning entry and got into Fantasyland an hour early.  Being able to get on the more kid friendly rides with little or no wait is awesome.  It's worth getting up early for.  The look on Clover's face when we asked to stay on the horses for another go around was priceless.  She was all about it.  Hubby decided to stay in the room and sleep in.  I don't blame him for wanting to rest and have a quiet room.  I have come to realize that my husband's Disneyland speed is not my own.  I'm a little faster than my husband and a little slower than SuperNova.  I am a medium.

We tried a character meal which we had never done before.  I was a little hesitant.  I have never really had very much luck with park food.  If it wasn't for the gentle nudge from our friends, I would have missed out.    I was sooo pleasantly surprised.  My tri tip lunch was totally awesome not to mention the desserts.  The break and hanging out with everyone gave me some much needed energy for the rest of the day.  Meeting the princesses was fun too, I don't mind getting silly.  I kind of felt bad since Clover only knew a couple of them.  Sleeping Beauty and Snow White are a little scary to me so we haven't really watched them yet.  She did see Snow White on the "Princess Bedtime Story" channel, so she recognized her.  

Having all these new experiences have opened my eyes a bit.  I guess I get focused on my favorites that I don't look outside my tunneled view.  I think I will have to expand a little bit more the next time we go back to see what I am still missing.  For the sake of this being a mile long, I tried to focus on the new things we tried.  I will throw and ellipsis in here and work on my other thoughts in another post.  I will write later about how much I love people watching at Disneyland...     

More to come...

Just got back from vacation.  I have lots of thoughts to post about and I am trying to catch up.  For now however I am attacking the laundry monster.  I also have to go grocery shopping so when I get a minute to sit down I will let my fingers dose out all of the thoughts currently taking up precious space in my brain.  But for now I have to go buy important stuff like baby wipes and bread.  Maybe I will go by Wendy's and get a Berry Tea.  Have you tried it?  It's yummy!  I love bribing myself to do stuff I should already be doing.  It's called motivation people!  

Re-Affirmations

Affirmation by Savage Garden via Grooveshark.  I had originally put a youtube video in here but thanks to Sony Music I can't play it on my blog so I decided to use Grooveshark instead.

There is this line in the song that goes "I believe that beauty magazines promote low self esteem".  That lyric has been stuck with me for about a week now.  It all stems from and interaction with my darling Clover.  I sat down and Clover pointed to my belly and and asked 

"What's that?" 

 "My roll"

"Oh."  She sat there for a minute.  "I love your roll, Mommy"

I had to laugh.  Once again my daughter had left me dumbfounded and at a loss for words.  What do I say to that?  My first thought was something self deprecating.  I as quick as possible had to move that thought out of my head.  I told her Thank You and that I loved her.  

So for the last week or so all these thoughts have been circling around my noggin.  I don't want my negative thoughts about my body to affect my daughter.  I know I have things I need to work on and I am making positive steps in that direction.  But I still have my days where I'm not all that confident in what I am wearing.  This isn't the first interaction with her where I have had to stop myself from making comments about myself.  

I am becoming more conscious of what I say.  Right now my daughter sees herself as perfect.  She doesn't see her scar.    Right now she sees her Mommy as perfect.  She doesn't see any imperfections.  She just sees me and she loves me for that.  Why would I tell her otherwise?  

So where does our self esteem comes from.  Is it influenced by outside sources?  Is it one of those temperaments that we are born with?  This is the part where I reference back to the song because there are some times when I believe that beauty magazines promote low self esteem.  They all at some point or another tell us that we should be comfortable with ourselves, and then offer a contradictory article on the opposite page.  Luckily, I have a few more years before she starts diving into Cosmo.  

For now, I am her first role model.  I know that all I can do is the try the best I can.  I can't be doing that bad of a job since she just came up and told me how pretty I look as I just get up in the morning and haven't had a moment to run a brush through my hair. I gave her a kiss and told her how beautiful she looked this morning.  One of those moments where I love my job.  

  

Juju Doesn't Schmooze

I've never been the one for small talk.  I feel awkward and at a loss for what to say.  I've never been very good at schmoozing it up.  Hubby however is fantastic at it.  He is the extrovert in this family dynamic.  I am the listener.  Thankfully our daughter got it from him.  

I never feel like I am missing out.  I just feel like I enjoy get togethers as a observationist rather than a participant.  Unless alcohol is involved then I get a little chatty.

This however, does not apply for my own get togethers or with people I know.  Once I get comfortable in a friendship I can chat your ear off!

I'm not sure how other people take it.  I'm not sure if they see me being antisocial or rude?  I hope not.  I do participate in conversations, I just don't say a whole lot.  I hope that it doesn't make me look disinterested.  I guess I have always been like that.  I would rather hang back and watch then blurt out my whole life story.

Maybe I could add it to the ever growing list of things to do to better myself.  "Learn the fine art of schmoozing".  I would place it right under "Perfecting the use of the hair straightener" and "learning how to be more girlie".  Wonder if there are classes for any of that?

    

Lessons of the Day

Lesson's of the Day.  Volume 1

Lesson #1:  Remember...REMEMBER where you put your car keys.  This morning while switching out the car seat, I placed mine on top of Hubby's car.  He was walking out to go to work and I was worrying about being out front in leggings and the horror of one of the neighbors seeing me.  I completely forgot I had placed them on the roof.  Side note:  Leggings don't have pockets.  This never would have happened had I been wearing jeans, I'm just sayin.  About a half an hour later I get a very perturbed Hubby on the phone.  At first I didn't understand why he was so upset and just assumed he was stuck in traffic and needed to vent.  Then the word "keys" came into play and my heart sunk because in that moment I remembered where my keys were.  A good samaritan waved him down and let him know that he was flying a key kite off the trunk of his car.  They had gotten wedged in between the windshield and the trunk.  So he called and told me to wait out front since he was bringing me my keys back.  Which then leads to

Lesson #2:  If you are worried about the neighbors seeing you in your leggings then you should just change.  I should have!  Because although I got lucky minutes prior, I was not fortunate the second time around.  My neighbor across the street got a good o view of my morning hair and pajamas.  Ahhhh suburbia.

 Lesson #3:  Although that kickin Mexican place you used to eat at when you worked at had great take out...that doesn't mean that their dine in service will be kickin as well.  Because it was not.  I thought it would be a good treat after visiting with a friend to take Clover out to lunch just the two of us.  Something that usually only gets reserved for when we are traveling.  So after himming and hawing over what we felt like eating we settled on this mexican place I used to get take out from on my lunch break.  I really wanted a King Nachos.  The problem with that was that we ONLY ordered the nachos and it took them an hour.  Meanwhile I had to entertain a three year old by myself.  I was a little grumpy at the lack of service so I will more than likely not bother to go there again.  Time to find a new nacho place.  Clover on the other hand did great.

Lesson #4:  Even if it sounds good at the time, set the massage chair on medium.  Hard will come back to haunt you the next day.  It felt good at the time to essentially have the rollers beat the heck out of my back yesterday.  This morning, I placed my hand on my back today and felt pain.  Not so good.  Is it even possible to bruise back fat?

Lesson #5:  Open Communication!  It is important to keep the lines of communication in your relationships open and clear.  Since I have been having problems in this category I am convinced I need to carry around a tape recorder and start recording conversations or politely asking the people in my life to send me that in email so that I have a paper trail.  For two weeks, I was under the assumption that I was in charge of dessert.  Tonight Hubby asks me why I am stressing over the cheesecake when I am supposed to be making rolls?  ROLLS?  Not once in this two weeks as rolls been mentioned.  Dessert has been thrown around several times.  Never the word rolls.  So I am making the cheesecake anyways.  It has been my experience that cheesecakes (even if they are bad) never make it to the leftovers plate.  It's like coffee...even if it's bad someone will still consume it.  Which leads to our last lesson...

Lesson #6:  Wash your hands after finishing anything involving melted chocolate.  I guarantee you that you will have that split second mental question while looking at the brown spots on your hands.  Especially if you have kids.  Even if they are in bed while you melted the chocolate...you will still have the "Is that Poo?" moment in your life.  The sniff test is always handy but I do not recommend the lick test unless you are absolutely sure that it is chocolate.  For all those who were wondering...it was chocolate.  I sniffed first.