All posts by ihatehardware.

Digging Out

I honestly feel like just about every day I take 3 steps forward and 10-15 steps back.  I get a few things done and add a bunch more to the list.  How can I possibly make any progress?  I have said no to some requests lately, and I have sat on my hands when the call went out for volunteers.  It’s hard, but at this point I really have no choice.  I AM NOT SUPERWOMAN!!!  I CAN NOT DO IT ALL!!!

I have to focus on the positive or I will go insane.  Baby steps.  Today I had my car cleaned, which meant that I had to empty all the junk out of it.  Tomorrow the house will be professionally cleaned, which means I have to put all the junk away.  By tomorrow night I’ll be celebrating the fact that I am surrounded by cleanliness, at least until the kids wake up Saturday morning.

Last weekend I decided to make a concentrated effort to get rid of some of the piles.  I had SO MUCH STUFF that was on its way to somewhere else, and it was driving me crazy.  This week my goal was to get rid of one item from that pile each day, and I did way better than that:
a) I returned a down comforter, a pair of socks, ice skates, a too-small hockey helmet, a pair of shoes, and an iPod dock – $255 back in my pocket.
b) I returned 6 defective water bottles to Old Navy (the paint peeled off), got a credit for $31, and spent that plus my $20 coupon on kids clothes that were an additional 50% off the clearance price, including Christmas-photo outfits for less than $10 each.
c) I mailed out a fleece that we accidentally brought home from mother/daughter weekend and my camera that needs to be repaired (under warranty because I didn’t procrastinate!).
d) I donated a bag of books to the library for their book sale (drop them off any time in the alcove next to the Costin Room), and 3 bags of winter coats and snowpants to Pathways (Thursday night is drop-off night for donations).
e) I organized Ben’s clothes and threw away the super-holey stuff (don’t tell him).
f) I asked the kids’ teachers whether they could use certain items I unearthed, and sent them to school.
g) I cleaned out my wallet and got rid of all the receipts and garbage.
h) And last but not least, I found a permanent home for the panic device that I took on vacation, and got it out of the garage. 

This weekend we’re tackling the playroom, and next week I’m going to paint some of walls and trim that we painted 10 years ago.  Baby steps.

I am not Superwoman.
I am not Superwoman.
I am NOT SUPERWOMAN!!!!!!!!!
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Mary Imogene Basset Hospital

This morning I was talking to the facility manager from Bassett Hospital about my favorite work-related topic, fire door inspection.  His facility has a plan in place and I’m hoping to use some of their ideas in the pilot program I’m creating for Beth Israel.  When I found out that Bassett Hospital was in Cooperstown, New York, I said, “I think I was born in that hospital!  How many hospitals do you have in Cooperstown?”  Just one.  What a coincidence!

I happen to have the receipt my mother got after paying for my birth…the stars were aligned today and somehow I actually found it without looking very hard.  At first I got a little freaked out since it was dated in April of 1967 (my birthday is in August), but it was a prepayment.

Total Amount:  $25!  

Since my father was in the Army, all of the expenses were covered by the Army – except for food.  Isn’t that crazy?  Why wouldn’t they cover food?  Anyway, she paid 25 bucks and she got me.  What a bargain!
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Adlani

We had Adlani’s parent-teacher conference last week and luckily his teacher hasn’t given up hope on him (yet).  She is trying various strategies to get him to finish his work, and is hoping that good behavior will follow.  I’m not quite as patient.  I don’t know why he can’t just FOLLOW THE RULES!!!  We were obviously spoiled by Aliya.

1) He fibs. (I am only using this word because Viviana gets mad at me when I say bad things – which happen to be true – about Adlani.)  This morning I asked him if he had socks on. (Why should I even have to ask him this question?!)  He said, “Yes.”  When I saw bare ankle peeking out of his pant leg at the bus stop, I realized that he DID NOT have socks on.  A couple of weeks ago the school nurse told me that he had come to her because he has a plantars wart and was not wearing socks then either!  What kind of mother am I?!  Don’t answer that.

2) He uses bathroom words.  Aliya went through a potty-talk phase too, but I think she was around 3.  His teacher told us that he says “butt,” “poopy,” etc. at school to get a laugh.  He’s not getting laughs at home and he’s still using them.  The other day I yelled at him for saying “poopy” and he started the indignant cry and went on and on, wailing that he didn’t say poopy.  I said, “OK…what did you say?”  Adlani:  “Boobie?”  Me:  “BOOBIE IS ON THE BAD LIST TOO!!!”

3) He tries to spell swear words since he can’t say them.  He has recently realized that people spell things they don’t want to say out loud and somehow he figured out how to spell A-S-S.  He got in trouble for that (at home), and a few minutes later I heard him say to Aliya, “I’m gonna kick you in the O-S-O.”  I asked him what that meant and he said, “I’m gonna kick you in the bear.”  Oso is the Spanish word for bear.  Maybe I should just be grateful that he’s learning to read.

4) He’s sneaky.  Over the weekend I told him about 10 times that he needed to clean up his room.  Last night I finally lost it and decided to follow through on my threats of picking up everything left on the floor and putting it in “Toy Timeout.”  In the process, I realized that he had shoved EVERYTHING under his train table, so all of that went into Toy Timeout too.  I now have 3 king-sized pillow cases full of stuff for him to earn back.  Judging by his ability to control his actions, I think I should probably just pack it up for the spring yardsale.

5) I don’t know what goes on in his head but it doesn’t resemble logical thought.  Last night our neighbor said she liked his milk mustache and he ran off to the mirror to look at it.  He came back to the table and said, “I’m going to make myself a milk beard!” and poured the milk straight down his chin.  WTF?!?

I’m really getting worn out.  1-2-3 Magic worked for a while, but it’s losing its effectiveness.  Last night I heard him say, “One…two…don’t MAKE me get to three!”  Yes, I do realize that this is all my fault.

The newest habit that’s driving me toward the liquor cabinet is the constant singing.  He does it at school too, and his teacher is using it to help him learn to read.  Again – patience that I just don’t have.  Since Adlani and Aliya are both in the Drama Club which is rehearsing for a production of Seussical, he and Aliya are constantly singing the songs.  Even Norah knows them.  I like music and I don’t want to stifle their passion but how many times can one hear Solla Sollew before jumping off a bridge?!

This morning at breakfast I asked them at least 10 times to stop singing so they could answer my questions about what they wanted for breakfast, snack, etc.  After the 10th time I was so exasperated, I asked Aliya, “Do you ever notice that I go out to a lot of PTO meetings, Zumba, and computer classes at night?”  Aliya:  “Ye-es.”  Me:  “Why do you think that is?!”  Aliya: “Because we’re so annoying?”

Bingo.  The picture at right is Adlani’s “singing face”…at least he’ll have an alternative to soccer.
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