NOT a Compliment

Some people - guys especially - are just really ignorant.

This morning I'm sitting in my office, minding my own business. This guy comes in and talks to my co-worker across the hall, and I can tell he keeps looking at me. We knew each other from about 10 years ago when we both went to the single's group at the church I work for.

I really was not in the mood to talk so I didn't really act like I noticed him. Too bad for me. He says, "Hey, weren't you in the singles group a while back?" and I'm all, "Yeah! Hey, are you the guy that lived with so and so?" blah blah blah. And do you know what he says?

"I thought that was you but you are about half your size now!"

Huh?????

And I gave him a look that said, "Oh my gosh...did you REALLY just say that?"

So he says, "I mean, your face is just all tight [did unhelpful hand motions pulling his face back to demonstrate] and you just look really healthy."

Oh, thanks. Because that sounds so much better.

For the record, I weighed 10 pounds more than I do now. I went from 110 to 100. I was such a fattie, geez.

In my early twenties I did not know how to eat. That, plus I had baby fat that literally just dropped off around the time I got married. My friends were astonished, everyone wanted to know what my secret was...I have no real explanation. I started working out and making better food choices. Yet, when I stopped working out (after the wedding was over, of course) the weight never came back. I've had 2 kids and it's still the same. The stomach's not, but that's a whole different issue reserved for a discussion with my future tummy tuck surgeon.

I, for one, pretty much never comment on a person's weight. Kind of like I don't comment to a pregnant stranger about the fact that they are pregnant unless they are literally giving birth. It's just too risky.

A simple "You look great!" will do just fine.

Real Housewives of OC is Back!

I just remembered that Real Housewives of Orange County starts back up tonight! I'm so excited! But seriously, did all the TV executives get together and decide to put every single show I watch on the same night? Thank goodness we have three DVRs. I mean, really.

I did watch the premiere of V on Tuesday night and loved it! I am a closet sci fi geek - that would probably surprise a lot of people. I had to drag my husband to the Star Wars prequels through the years. And I was on my own when the Lord of the Rings movies came out.

I am dragging today. Four hours of sleep last night. I've been awake since 4:50am and am now about out of steam. It was a combination of getting woken up when Rylan went to the restroom and then laying there for 3 hours while I pondered all of my life's problems, and then two hours after I finally fell back asleep the same child woke up with an earache. I just couldn't ever turn my brain back off after that. (But he woke up feeling fine, thank goodness.)

1.5 hours until the crazy girl naps and hopefully I can at least shut my eyes! I have lots of TV watching to do tonight! It's all about priorities.

Strange But Serious Question

Last night at bath time Presley starting pinching her little - here's where my dilemma is, not sure what to call them - I guess her titties? and she was very curious about them. She said, "What's dis called???"

I totally drew a blank. You totally hear about what to call the other, but it has never crossed my mind to have a name for these.

So I'm asking, what do you tell kids this is called? I really want to know.

Hoodlums

Before I get to the McDonald's story I have to mention that this afternoon we were in Target and Presley points to a doormat that has Santa on it and says:

"There's Jesus!"

For the record, we go to church most Sundays, read from a children's Bible at home, and she attends a Christian Mother's Day Out. Not sure where the disconnect happened. Hmmm.

Anyway, on Sunday after church I took the kids to McDonald's since Daddy had to work. Presley was on the toddler slide when these two brothers, about 5 and 7, surround her and point their new Happy Meal Astro Boy toy at her and the older one says, "Shoot her!" and before I realize what was going on they launched their little plastic poles.

Rylan, about the same time as they were getting ready to aim, shoot, and fire, says, "That's my baby sister! Don't shoot at her!"

But they did anyway and they were ready to go for round two (by now Presley was looking more than a little uneasy) when I said, "Hey, that's my baby, and you may not shoot at her."

Let me also just mention here that these boys were looking at her with the most menacing looks and it really rubbed me the wrong way. They were literally ganging up on my little two-year-old girl.

So the older one gives me a really nasty look and says, "You're not the boss of me."

The grownup who brought this brat was not eating in the play area. I pretty much growled back, "I'm the boss when it comes to this baby, and you will NOT shoot her. If you have a problem with that you need to go talk to your parent."

A random dad sitting nearby said, "That's right!"

I stood in front of the play area the rest of the time and they just kept trying to push the envelope - they'd go right up near her to try to prove a point, daring me to say something. We left about 5 minutes later.

Stupid mean kids.

Weekend Update

So on Saturday I almost thought I had officially become "that mom." The flaky, lost-her-brain, undependable kind of mom. The kind I swore I'd never be.

We got Rylan's soccer schedule at the beginning of the season and I wrote all the times in on both my paper calendar and my phone. I knew the game this week was at noon, so at 11:52 we walk onto the soccer fields and look around for his team. No sign of them. After a few minutes we went to the concession stand to look at their schedule. Our team played at 10am.

Oh crap.

I screwed up.

And since we had to miss a practice and the last game due to Rylan's swine flu I really felt bad. There's only 5 kids on the team and 4 have to be on the field so it is exhausting when everyone's not there.

I literally felt sick. Rylan didn't seem to mind too much, so that was good. But Lance had driven all the way home from Arlington where he was doing some work just to go to the game and then planned to drive back. Wasted trip.

We got home and I looked at the calendar on the fridge. I was exonerated! The schedule says noon!!! Hurray!!! Then, of course, I became indignant.

I re-read the coach's email from Thursday saying practice was rained out (again) and saw a little mention of "Game at 10, field 5"at the very bottom, which did not grab my attention since there was no mention of a time change.

Turns out the coach lost the schedule she passed out to us so she goes to the league's website each week for the time of the game and apparently they changed it. Somehow I'm the only person who missed out on this fact, which is still beyond me.

Sometimes you just can't win.

I'll save my McDonald's story for tomorrow. I had to get medieval on a couple of hoodlums. Still getting worked up when I think about it. But right now I have to go give some baths.

Still Alive

Just a quick post to say that Yes, I am still alive.

Rylan had swine flu and then got a secondary infection. About the time he was recovering a week later, I came down with a nasty cold/cough and have been rendered incapable of an original thought, much less anything interesting enough to post in this blog.

So bear with me, hopefully I'll be back to my normal self in the next few days.

Little Moments

After yesterday's doomsday posting I figured I needed to follow it up with something more positive. This is mostly for my own personal records since I don't really write these things down any place else.

In the midst of all the rain, sickness, and boredom of the week, here are some memorable moments that I hope to store inside my memory so that I can retrieve them when my sweet angels turn into teenage hellions with major attitudes.

1. Presley has been wearing my black hoodie sweatshirt (actually, it has been wearing her) with the hood on her head and looking like the Grim Reaper. And she has to wear this each and every time she watches the Ralph's World DVD while she dances around to the songs. We have played this 14 minute video about 30 times or more this week. Excuse me, that's 30 times PER DAY. But she is just so darn cute while doing it. And getting some great exercise, too.

2. Rylan was showing me a family project he made at school. He pointed to each picture and said, "First, you're a baby. Then you grow to a kid. And then, (pointing to a picture of an adult) you turn into a human!" Well put.

3. Presley was looking into the Viewfinder that had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse disc inside, and she kept squealing "Hi Mickey Mouse! Hi Mickey Mouse!" She was so excited. You probably had to be there.

4. I was getting ready to make them quesadillas for dinner tonight and Presley was shrieking with delight. Then she saw the candy bowl and said very seriously, "Mommy, I don't want a quesadilla. I just need a sucker."

5. Tonight the four of us were on the bed with the kids bouncing all around us (Rylan was on an upswing moment of his flu) and they were laughing hysterically and having a ball. My husband said to me, "Is this what you always dreamed about?" half sarcastic/half serious. And I had a flashback of sitting on this same bed seven years ago, crying my eyes out because I wanted kids so badly and was told it would be a hard road to get them due to fertility issues.

In the midst of all the "blah," my heart is so grateful. I hope I don't ever forget how lucky I truly am.