WHAT day is it? Tuesday, you say???

I really have no idea what day of the week it is.....The calendar says it's Tuesday but I'm so thrown off from all the schedule changes lately....richie being off work, bella being at her grandparents for a couple of days....among other things...

But Richie is back to work today and Bella is back home so things should be getting back to normal around here.

When Richie read my last entry he wanted me to correct that the Verizon buyout is technically a rumor and not yet fact. He thinks that if it IS indeed going to happen, they will likely announce it this week. Nothing like a bit of DELAY for stress. *wink*

Let's see...what have I been up to since I last posted.....

I moved around my craft area part of the playroom. Brought a bookcase downstairs that was being stored upstairs till we decided what to do with it. I cleared off a lot of the stuff piled ON TOP of the furniture in there and put it into the bookcase and of course had to move the existing furniture around to make room for the bookcase. But I'm fairly happy with the new layout. Then I decided to knuckle down and index my baskets of stamps that I had gotten in the last year or so. So that project is about 3/4 done.....

I cut Bella's bangs but she kept moving her head because she didn't want those scissors near her face and now her bangs look like they were cut by a dull hacksaw. Poor little thing....

The boiler man came and serviced our furnace and figured out the mystery of the zone of our heating that didn't work (the bathroom and office have always been the temperature of the outdoors since the heat didn't work over there). So we actually have some heat in there now. YAY! Unfortunately, the office is still pretty drafty so i'm having trouble typing due to icy fingers at the moment.

Bella's grandparents got her a two wheel bike .....i can't believe she is so big already....*sigh*

That is all for now....

MAN OH MAN

Let me give you a glimpse into my day so far and you'll get an idea of where my mind is....

First, was having stressful dreams but dreaming them on our new firm mattress which I LOVE and is wonderful! It was a handmedown from a neighbor of a friend and appeared to be just about new so instead of putting it on our guest bed like planned, we swapped it out for OUR bed. It cost us five dollars to dispose of the old mattress and boxspring that was on our guestbed (we put ours on it instead when we switched them) soooo basically it cost us only FIVE DOLLARS for a new mattress set. How sweet a deal is that???

Anyway....so the phone rings (i needed to get up anyway) and it is Richie. He tells me that he just found out that his company (verizon) plans to sell his division (Maine) next week to a company that will most likely pay only HALF of what they are paying now.


I don't need to tell you how scary that is for several reasons. How are we going to pay our mortgage/bills/groceries/medical insurance?????? I'm scared.

THEN.....apparently I was moving about in more of a fog than I thought because I got up, changed Mia and then decided to take her downstairs.....At the top of the stairs, my legs fly out from under me (yes, while I'm holding her) and I start tumbling down the stairs.

I used my right hand to grasp for the banister. I finally caught on about five or six steps down. I'm pretty sure her little body never made contact with the stairs cause I had her cushioned with my arm/body but we were both pretty shaken up. She started bawling because it scared her. Me on the other hand, I'm bruised on my whole left side where I went crashing down....

....so it's Friday....and that's my day so far.

I won't ask what else can happen because I've learned from experience that it can ALWAYS BE WORSE....

*cheers!*

And So It Goes....

So much has happened in the last couple of weeks....we crammed so much into the time that it feels more like it's been a month since I've written here.

Physically, I feel like the moments after a heavy storm has struck and then moved off towards the horizon....the smell of ozone is still in the air from the lightning and the little bits of dust are still flying about but starting to settle. I'm looking about and seeing tattered remnants of our week everywhere.....seriously.....a week and a half's worth of dusting, laundry, dishes and toy pick up to be done. Oddly enough, we DID work on all those things during the week. At certain points, the laundry was folded and (mostly) put away. Dishes were done and the sink was empty enough that I bleached it....so where did all this mess come from???? (and don't even get me started on the hairballs in the corners of the rooms left by our dear long-haired cats...)

I'm SO tired.

The word 'tired' is somehow empty of meaning.

My face and eyes are puffy from continuous lack of sleep (see above picture taken at the airport of me and mom....surprisingly good given the fact that I held the camera up and took it myself).

My throat and eyes are dry, scratchy, and sore. I'm sitting here with a steamy mug (for the sake of accuracy, soup bowl sized coffee cups are the only thing I use) of home-brewed mocha with an extra heaping spoonful of organic cocoa tossed in for a teensy bit bigger caffeine kick and although it is full of frothy chocolately goodness, I'm sort of too tired to drink it.

THAT my friends, is TIRED.

I stayed up WAYYYY too late AGAIN last night....thanks to a habit of savoring every minute and staying up till the wee hours of the morning while mum was here, I believe that I'm now on West Coast time. Not a big deal if I had any travel plans coming up. But, given the fact that I live on the EAST COAST and have small children that wake up rearing to go at the crack of dawn (okay, lately 8am but they also wake up a lot at night!), I have no time to languidly while away the hours in bed resting and getting my beauty sleep. And did I mention Richie has been out of town the last few days??? I hate these tiny trips to single parenting.....

Woeeee.....woeee....woee is me.....

(Okay, seriously, the whining is getting a bit irritating even to me at this point, so enough on that subject.)

Mom, if you are reading this (and I'm guessing you likely are not since you travelled all day yesterday and dealt with rotating doors that didn't rotate, wheeled luggage that didn't take too kindly to being taken down sets of stairs -those airport folks sure seemed nice though - and flight delays) I just wanted to let you know that I finished boxing up that stuff and it is sitting in 11 neat priority packages on the front porch waiting on our mail person to pick them up. I got a confirmation from the usps that the pickup WOULD be done today. Although, this is a high mail volume time of year so I'm hoping they actually get to you in a timely manner.

Tess, SERIOUSLY NOW.....I miss you. Even as tired as I am, I miss 'hearing' from you on your blog. It's been since Nov. 6 that it was updated. I heard through mom that you've been super busy but I feel like I'm getting the silent treatment! I know, I know.....it's all about me. *smirk* But really, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE....take five minutes and

write something.

It doesn't even need to be cute or spunky or have a great lyric as the title. It doesn't even need a picture. Just PLEASE write!!! And, if you ARE reading this (you've been too busy, haven't you?), thank you. It gets lonely around here with no one ever reading this little ol' blog and no one ever commenting.

(oops, there I go with the woe is me stuff again)

So let's see.....I really need to write about what we've been doing this week....hmm.....maybe later.

Why put off till tomorrow what you can put off today???

Tick, tick....tick....tick....

The clock and calendar are mocking me....


Yet again I have procrastinated on writing a talk.
A talk for tomorrow.


It is 9:55 pm as I'm typing this....I have a large bar of swiss chocolate with hazelnuts torn open and half eaten in front of me, a highlighter and the window behind my browser contains all the research I just did. WELLL....not exactly 'just' did. I did it....then I got some chocolate, chatted online, checked on the baby....got some more chocolate....talked to my mom, talked to richie.....cleaned the litter box, went to the bathroom, nibbled some chocolate.....then I launched my browser, checked my netflix queue....

....are you getting an idea of the place my brain is right this minute?

AVOIDANCE

Yup, avoidance....like if I do something else and don't THINK about my talk for awhile, it will just POOF! up and disappear.

*sigh*

I really need to write that thing.

Ugh.

I have to give the talk in less than 24 hours.....maybe somewhere around 22 hours I'm thinking...

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!!!

YAYYYYY!!!!!

I have SO MUCH news!!!

First, 'yay' item, Lisa is back from her trip! Yay!

Second, my brother in law (who moved back to NY) was reinstated this week! YAY!

Third, my folks are going to be here Friday AND my mom is staying for a week! YAY!!!!!!! I can't WAIT to talk for hours and do art and show her all the crazy things the girls say and do. YAYAYAYYYYYY!!!

And Fourth and most immediate....MY INTERNET CONNECTION IS BACK UP!!!!!! WAHOOOO!!!! I'm seriously almost dancing with relief and joy!!!!

I still have a HUGE long list of things that I need to get done before my folks and their friends arrive tomorrow so I don't have much time to actually BE online but yay it is BACK! Whew! I felt so isolated and cut off from the world. I could send an email if I was willing to type something and hit the refresh button for about twenty minutes. I think I sent two emails yesterday. I called the cable company to find out what was going on.....spent twenty minutes with the guy telling me to type this and that, unplug this, plug it there, okay switch it.....blah blah blah....he had no clue what was going on......then he 'transferred' me to another department and after waiting on hold for OVER FORTY MINUTES I gave up and hung up. Mia was in bed screaming her lungs out and Bella was hungry and come on, forty minutes?????? I had had enough....

So last night after picking up the friedrich's from the airport, I ran around doing the grocery shopping....got home late as usual but was so revved up from stress and caffeine that I didn't get to sleep until around 1. Richie was playing his new pc game so he was pretty awake too. But we were good, switched off the tv and we MADE ourselves go to sleep. Sometimes the clock is just in charge.

Anyway, curtains to wash, dry, and hang,.....pictures to move around, floors to be mopped and vacuumed (not nec. in that order) and laundry to be done.

I'm off!!!!

-sondi

Finallly!!!! Snnooooowwwww!!!!

Well, it being DECEMBER and all, it really shouldn't be a big deal that we had a dusting of snow today.....EXCEPT that these are the FIRST flakes we've had all year! Sooo....that makes it pretty exciting!

Here's a picture of Bella peeking outside....