Mom is Just a Nickname

I’m giving serious thought to moving the contents of this blog to my Mom Is Just a Nickname blog, combining the two and keeping just one blog. It makes more sense, in many ways, to have just the one blog on my own domain. If you show up one day and wonder where I’ve gone, look for me there. Although I’m sure I will direct you on should I make this move.

Almost two years ago, we moved to Florida. It wasn’t the first time I’d lived in the Sunshine State. In actuality, I’m a native Floridian. My parents did most of their growing up in Florida, and I spent my first 8 years or so here.

Still, when I moved back, I started having headaches. In the small town we lived in before, they were more frequent and often more painful. I saw a doctor and ruled out any odd disease or illness. It seems I’m stuck with Migraines which are aggravated by allergies and hormones. (Man, I just love hormones. *roll eyes*)

I bring up the subject because I had another one on Sunday which carried over into Monday. I’m so discouraged by how my house looks after two days of me being out of it. (Well, ok, three…I didn’t do any housework over the weekend!)

Seriously, I spent all of last week working on the house, making it nice and clean so that I wouldn’t have to stare at a yucky house on my anniversary weekend. Now, it’s gross again and I have to start all over again? What a bummer.

It’s Friday! Yay! J has had standardized testing all week long (FCAT and NRT), plus a big project due in her Gifted class on Tuesday. She’s not at all worried about the tests, but the project has her stressing a bit.

X is back to his normal self: Into everything, singing constantly, running here, there and everywhere. We went to Mommy and Me on Wednesday and to Storytime on Thursday. It’s kind of nice to be back to our routine.

Both of the kids are looking forward to this weekend because they are going to see my parents for the weekend. X is particularly excited about it, especially since he found out his Papa has a motorcycle to look at now!

We’re all very sad, though, because my parents had to put their dog to sleep this week. Patches came to our family the summer after my brother graduated from high school (that was in 1991, for the record). She was an exciteable little dog, white with black splotches and a fluffy tail. She loved kids, but hated hair brushes. She was a middle sized dog who thought she was a lapdog. We all loved her very much and will miss her. She lived a long life and always had someone to love on her though.

The reason the kids get to go South for the weekend is because Toph and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary! It’s really hard to believe that we’ve been together that long…it really doesn’t seem like it. We’ve gone through a lot together: lots of moving, job changes, children, illness and the death of our son. I feel like we’ve gotten closer with each storm we’ve weathered together. There’ve been times I worried about the state of our marriage, but Toph has always listened to my worries and we’ve worked through them together. I couldn’t ask for a better partner in life.

So, here’s to ten years together and to many more to come! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Now I’m off to finish my housework so that I don’t have to worry about any of it this weekend!

“Slowly put down the book and back away….slowly……slowly now…”

Some day, I’m going to remember to put down the book at a decent hour. I really meant to go to bed by about 10 last night. Instead, I was awake until 1:30, reading.

I told myself when I sat down, “I’ll just read one chapter and then I’ll get ready for bed!”

Two hours later, Toph made smoochy noises at me and said he was going to bed. I blinked at my book and wondered, “Does this book even have chapters?” I seriously couldn’t remember passing any chapter markers!

Toph jokingly said he’d see me when I’d finished the book. I smirked and rolled my eyes. At 1:30, I finished the book and went to bed. Damn. I hate it when he’s right!

To put this addiction of mine in proper perspective, I started the book at 8:00p.m. when I laid down with X for bed. I kept reading, pretty much straight through until 1:30a.m.. The book had 378 pages. I’ve read it before, but it was long ago and I didn’t remember how it turned out, so I read every word on every page.

I guess there are worse addictions to have. Reading just happens to be mine. I love reading!

Stacie thinks that reading other people’s blogs gives us a glimpse into how they think.
Paula thinks it replaces the social aspects that are missing in real life. (I barely know my neighbors, Paula….)

I think they both are on to something. I’m definitely more open in an online environment than I am in person. When I meet new people in real life I’ll be pleasant, but I won’t do more than small talk unless I’m drawn out by a very outgoing person. Most of my friends irl (in real life) are very outgoing…or are at least very good at cutting through the b.s. to get to the heart of things.

That’s why I love reading other people’s blogs too. They get right to it, and talk about the nitty gritty. I love seeing other people’s views on their lives. To hear how another parent handled a situation similar to something I’ve been through, or to see how a small moment has had a profound effect on someone is a way to be in touch with others in a way I’m not in real life.

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Speaking of funny parenting moments (well, I did kind of mention that!) I have a story from last night. It was around 9:30 and I was getting ready to head to bed. Toph was in his office, doing a last email check. J comes staggering out of her room. She had all of her hair tied into five or six different braids, all of them sticking straight out from her head. I couldn’t help but giggle and say, “Nice hair ‘do, kid!” She grinned back and nodded, and continued on to Toph’s office. I shrugged and went to brush my teeth.

A little while later, Toph came into the bathroom and said, “Our daughter’s a little crazy.” I nodded and asked what she’d needed. He just shook his head and said, “I saw her at the table, getting ready to eat some pancakes.”

“She must have been really hungry, to wake up an hour after falling asleep to eat.”

“No, I think Daylight Savings is getting to her,” he said. I raised my eyebrows at him.

“She must have looked at a clock, saw 6:30 instead of 9:30 and assumed it was time to get up. I was awake, it was dark outside…it all made sense to her. So, she started getting breakfast, figuring she was so tired just because of the time change.”

So, poor J had to put her pancakes into the fridge until morning and head back to bed. Toph and I had to laugh, although I felt bad for her too. How confusing that must have been for her!