Blogward

A while back, my dear blog friend Anxious Mummy presented me with the Versatile Blogger Award. To show my appreciation, I will answer the call.


1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Tell 7 things about yourself that readers may not know.
3. Pay it forward by nominating 8 bloggers you’ve recently discovered.

Seven things about me you don't already know huh? This should be fun.

1. I don't think I am transitioning well to going off the meds. I have been very lethargic, have a major case of apathy regarding most things, and have been generally cranky, but mostly while at work. Now that I think about it, the lack of meds may have nothing to do with any of those symptoms at all, since they only seem to be present while at work. Hmmmm....
2. Since I can no longer spend money willy nilly, due to finally combining finances with my husband in an attempt to rid ourselves of debt, I have replaced my need to spend with a need to clean. Instead of getting a high off of buying something, I now get a high off of cleaning a space or decluttering. My house has never been so constantly clean, and DH likes the decluttering.
3. Despite my newly found lethargy and apathy, I am extremely excited to start BDing with a cause in the next couple of days. It has been so long since we were able to do that, and I am really looking forward to it. I feel as though a gate has been opened, and my horse has been cleared to race after a long stint in the stall due to injuries.
4. I hate Texas summers with a passion. I was totally over this summer the day summer left last year. I have honestly been dreading this summer since last October when things finally cooled down, and enjoyed each and every day where the thermometer didn't get over 85 between then and May of this year. These 100 degree temps have my permission to make a very early exit.
5. Infertility never affected anyone close to me until I moved to Texas. Now I have two friends, one of them a best friend, who are fighting the good fight.
6. I like plants. I can't always keep them alive, but I love having them around. I have 7 plants on my desk at work and 9+ plants at home. I think that is why my house doesn't smell like dogs, because the plants scrub the air. I am always on the lookout for new plants.
7. My husband and I are relandscaping our back yard, and he is putting in a fish pond just for me. He knows I love the idea of having a fish pond, so he is willing to spare the expense of time and money to give it to me. He's the sweetest.

There you have it, my 7 things. This is where my lame apathy comes in. I am just going to say that if you feel like being presented with this award, leave me a comment stating as much, and I will pass it on. :)

A Case of the Mondays

To do:

My Mama Car

You know how I recently upsized my purse and am now ready to upsize my car too? Well after just a few hours of searching online and car shopping over one weekend, I have decided this is the car I will get.

This, my friends, is a Ch.evy Trav.erse. It has all of the amenities of a minivan, but it doesn't look like a minivan. The only other thing it doesn't have in common with a minivan is a ton of space, but I am willing to give up a bit of space for a car that doesn't automatically stereotype me as a woman driver in a minivan (e.g., stupid, unable to drive and think that the same time).

This is exactly the color I want too. It can come with all the amenities such as a DVD entertainment system for the kiddies and climate controls in the back seat, which is a huge selling point for me. I want one RIGHT NOW, but not only do I not need it right now, Hubs and I are very diligently paying off our credit cards and heading toward getting out of debt in the next few months. Once the cards are gone and there is a bun in the oven, this baby will be mine. I salivate and dream about it daily.

Just a side note, I am behind on commenting and reading, again, but will be catching up this weekend. :)

Upsizing and Loving It

No, I'm not talking about my waistline, although with my impending AF visit this weekend, my waistline has felt the need to upsize, much to my extreme dismay and upset. What I'm really talking about my preparations for a bigger family.

Over the past weekend I took the Munchkin to get some new sandals. We still have about a billion more days left of summer here in Texas, and she just outgrew her two existing pairs. Believe it or not, even though summer is ENDLESS in Texas, people quit carrying sandals already. This didn't bother me one bit though because I knew exactly where to find some, and I knew they would be on sale. I was right. Not only were they on sale, they were buy one get one half off, which meant I basically got the Munchkin a free pair of sandals when I also decided to buy myself a new, larger (e.g., mom) purse.

I didn't used to be a purse gal. In fact, when I met my husband I kept my keys, wallet, and chapstick in my pocket. He somehow convinced me that keeping all of those things in my pockets wasn't "hot", so I finally broke down and bought a purse. I've had them ever since. The caveat there is that I refused to carry anything bigger than a small purse. As in, just big enough to carry my phone, wallet, keys, a tube of chapstick, and a pack of tissues. However, I recently came to the conclusion that I should carry a bigger purse if for no other reason than that I could carry snacks for my daughter in it to help prevent hunger meltdowns.

So while I was buying toddler sandals, I bought the next purse size up from my current model. It still isn't a large purse, but it is a medium sized one. When I got home, it was sickening how much I enjoyed all of the space and compartments it had. I can fit a diaper, a pack of wipes, 3 disposable bibs, and a bunch of disposable color-on placements for the Munchkin in one pocket! Not only that, but its a side pocket! My husband laughed as I happily stuffed things in there that I had never been able to fit in my old purse. I was so excited as I shoved a baggie of cereal in there, knowing it wouldn't get squished in the cavernous middle pocket. I kept saying over and over that I loved being a mom.

Then I hit him with, "I've got the mom purse, now I need the mom car." :D

A couple of weekends ago we went looking at bigger vehicles. We'll get one when we're close to having our second child, but we wanted to see what was available before then so we could get an idea not only of what we wanted, but the price of the vehicle. The thing I love about cars now is I can walk into a dealership and say, "I want a vehicle that seats 7-8 people, but that isn't a minivan," and they take me to a crossover that does just that.

I REFUSE to drive a minivan.

Happily, they have some awesome crossovers that are exactly like minivans, only without the dumpy van look and without a sliding door. Now all I need is another bun in the oven, and the vehicle I want is mine! Here's to hoping I get my new car in about 8 months. ;)

A Case of the Monday's

To Do:

This Monday was an extra special one. It started out like any other over the past week with my being awoken by Cak.e's Typew.riter (which, by the way, I'm not sold on being woken up to). But the difference today was I got to dawn blue jeans and a comfy, casual-ish shirt. I had to be out of the house by 7:40 because I wasn't heading to work, I was heading to jury duty. Oh yeah, good old jury duty.

Guess what? I'd rather have my foot stuck in a bear trap than go to jury duty. Okay, maybe not, but I really didn't want to go. At all. Some people were envious I had been called, others thought it would be fun, and some were of the same opinion I was, Ugh. I'm all for juries, as long as I'm not on them. I think they're important, so they should want people to be on them who are willing to be on them and who aren't just there out of civil duty or the fear of being tossed in jail for being held contempt if they don't show up.

I showed up on time, barely, thanks to traffic coming to a complete halt several times on the freeway despite the fact I was going the opposite direction of commuting traffic (which did not help my mood [did I mention I'm PMSing today?]). I walked up the marble staircase to the jury room and feasted my eyes upon hundreds (yes 300 of us) of other lucky juror candidates. I checked in, made my way to an empty seat, and waited. Over the next two hours they read over reasons we might be exempted from serving today, and then told us they only needed 72 people. They began calling out the names of the first 20. I laughed to myself as I thought, "I won't be picked simply because they won't be able to say my last name." Just as they were getting ready to call the remaining 52, they told us the case had been cancelled and we could all go.

HURRAH!!!

At 10:00 on a Monday morning, I was free! I had absolutely ZERO intention of going into work. I called DH to tell him I had been dismissed and asked if I should go to work. He said he would. Yeah right, who doesn't use a Get Out Of Jail Free pass when they have one? So I went and did my grocery shopping. After I got home and unloaded, I called my dad, who also told me if he had gotten out early, he would go to work. Dammit! I felt guilty. I needed to be at work. I had deadlines, but, but.... By 12:00, my butt was in my desk chair and my computer was booting. I hated myself for the next 5 hours. I seriously wanted to kick my own butt.

Although today wasn't my typical Monday, it was definitely a Monday, as evidenced by my walking into Subw.ay at lunch and ordering a 6-foot sandwich, instead of a footlong. Wow. After a bevy of other brainless things today, I decided it was appropriate to put, "Stop Being Blonde" on my list of things to do this week.

Happy work-week ya'll!

6 Weeks

I went to the doctor this week about getting off my meds, and it is going to take 6 weeks to be med free. My doctor felt that because of the dosage I was on and for the length of time I was on them, it would be best to slowly wean me off them, which is just fine with me. I was kind of surprised, as I thought he would have me done in a couple of weeks, but I totally trust his recommendation. I have been on half my normal dose for a couple of days now and haven't noticed even the slightest difference, which is great news. I just hope it continues to go this smoothly. Honestly, I think it will. I went my whole life without being on antidepressants, and the only reason I went on them a year ago is because I was having a hard time with Post Partum Depression.

As for life lately, well it has just been plain busy. I am definitely not on the blogs as much anymore, but I do catch up whenever I get the chance. I have taken the pressure off of myself to read each and every single update on both of my blogs, as well as my need to post frequently. If I don't feel like getting on to post or read one day, I don't. It has been so nice to allow myself to enjoy life without adding stress of keeping up on 85+ blogs and posting on 2. And honestly, I don't think anyone really notices all that much. They might think, "Hey, she hasn't commented on my blog for a few days," but I doubt any of you get upset about it. I know I don't when it goes the other way. I just figure you are living life, and you'll catch up when you have time. I do still have nights where I tell my husband I want to blog after we put the baby to bed, and he is okay with that as long as he gets the majority of my nights all to himself.

Not much has been going on lately. I'm just waiting for AF to rear next week, and then its full tilt to baby production for the first time in over 2 years. I am excited and hopeful to be back in the game. I've been gearing up and lining out battle plans. DH is aware of his responsibilities in this task. I told him just when and how many times he will need to perform, and I have given him plenty of notice so he won't have any excuses when the time comes. I've been trying to pump him up. lol

That's it on my end. I hope ya'll are doing great!

A Case of the Mondays

To Do:

I woke up this morning to a new CD. My daughter had taken my Frank Sinatra CD out and run around the house with it. Rather than try to find it, I put in the sound track to Or.ange Cou.nty. I was a little perplexed when Ca.ke's Ty.pewriter started playing to greet me to another Monday morning. What had I done to deserve yet another weekend disappearing into oblivion all too soon?

You know the drill. I got out of bed, got ready for work, and all that jazz, but today was a little different. You see, Hubs and I had a semi-argument this weekend about whose fault it was we had been getting out of the house between 7:45-7:50 during the week, so today neither of us wanted it to be our fault if we weren't all out the door by 7:30. The stink actually got up 20 minutes early just to try to beat me! And then he didn't do the Munchkin's hair in anyway that would keep it out of her face for more than 5 minutes. I made him wait until I could pull it back into some braids before he whisked her off to daycare.

I got into work feeling pretty good for a Monday. Made myself a blueberry English muffin with butter, but before I even had the chance to sign into IM, I got a meeting request to remind me today was the Q2 Quarterly review. Dag nabit! Can't a girl take a second to gear up for her Monday before being thrown into meetings?!

The review was a joke, and I had to try not to scoff through half of it. Morale at my company is pretty low, what with their recent downsizing of not only our shoe boxes, er cubicles, as well as staff. Then the VP talked about how proud he was of Gary's team for launching their product on time. *SCOFF* *SNIGGER* *Try not to choke on your own spit please* Gary may have released on time, but let's just say things have not gone swimmingly since he did because he rushed the project rather than taking the time to do things right. Way to go Gary. Pat yourself on the back... with a mace....

By the time that painful meeting got over, it was time for the meeting with Gary's team. The one in which I doodle the lovely To Do List above. Shortly after I walked in, so did Gary. The meeting commenced, along with said doodling. At one point something was said that made me want to give the commenter a serious high five. After it was said, I looked at Gary to see his reaction (because I was sure it wouldn't make him happy). Gary looked like he had been hit by a bus. His eyes were all blood shot, he looked like he had aged 10 years, and he looked like complete crap. It shocked me, but I actually felt bad for him. I wondered what was going on that would cause him to look so horrible. I even thought about asking him if he was okay. (Holy shnikies, I was going to ask if he was okay!) I didn't though.

My day went on, and I muddled through. The company provided lunch, as they do with every quarterly review, and I enjoyed the company of one of my two BFFs, J. Together we snarfed down chips and salsa and enchiladas. All too soon, it was over and we were back to work. But the best part was yet to come!

At 7:40 tonight, I headed out the door for an hour-long massage. Oh yeah baby! Who is the smart, sexy gal who thought to schedule herself a massage at the end of a Monday? That would be ME because I rock like that.

Can I just say, the massage was AWE-SOME! I gave up each and every muscle to the masseuse's fingers. I didn't fight her touch once, no matter how uncomfortable some of my muscles were. I let her take each and every knot. Then she got to my feet, and holy cow I was in HEAVEN! She worked my feet like they have never been worked before. She rubbed each little piggy up and down and all around, and it felt so incredible. I don't remember the last time my shoulders felt as loose as they do right now. I only wish it would last.

That brings us to now, my favorite part of a Monday, sitting in bed, blogging, and getting ready to say good night to all the world. And with that, I bid you all good evening.

P.S. Today's effigy is me holding Gary The Snake by the throat as an arrow pierces his side while telling him to, "Testify!". Next to us is a sequence of clocks in which time stands still, and then goes backward during the wrong part of the day.