Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Nail Polish Challenge Week 7 & 8

Well, helloooo...

Not that I forgot I was doing this, but I just haven't had the time what with the Single Parent Summer and all...

My latest nail polish awesomeness...


I wrote down the color...uhm...I forgot it...  I didn't want to keep putting this off, maybe I'll remember later and update.  But this was week 7.  I love this color.  It's more reddish than it appears and it looks way better on my nails when the nails are shorter as opposed to longer....

Right, right now, Week 8 is clean and crisp.  No polish.  Just clear.  A layer of base and the Sally Hansen Insta-Dry.  "I put that shit on everything...*

I'm looking at doing another color tonight...but we'll see how that goes... I'll 'splain in another post...  Meanwhile, all my nailpolishes are crying for a chance to be used.  It's almost not fair to them making them go up against eachother like this...


Friday, April 26, 2013

I Waited For The Other Shoe To Drop and It Hit The Wrong Person...

I have work to do , but it's oh so not going to happen right this second...way too much on my damn mind...

Ever since my first single parent summer night started, the kids have been good.  I have tried to make a miniscule mark in the history of the housework.  I made one here, one there...  I try.  I have made a dinner that was delicious and nutritious.  I have gone out for food once.  I think that's pretty good... all the dinner's in between are probably suspect... fine.  Harley's homework gets done, kids get cleaned and rooms get cleaned... sometimes...  but no real drama... but I was waiting.

I put forth a very ambitious night for myself last night.  Usually, Choni gets the groceries with his stadium money and he keeps that money so it feeds us through the winter and by the time he starts at the stadium he is in need of more.  And that's what works for us... Yay!  Well, because of the whole increase in cost of living and he's been on the same wages since he started 6 seasons ago...our food budget gets a little tighter each year and now we have another mouth to feed... and I MEAN IT!!!  The human garbage disposal is a medal I didn't think Choni would be sharing with a child...but he does and it's his child so I guess it's sense making... Moving on... 

Well... 

When your kid mentions how empty your fridge and freezer and cupboards are...it's time to think about things...so I thought about why that is and that we are due for a shopping trip on Saturday and then Daddy will probably be stocking up on things but then I thought about why we were shopping Saturday... cause Daddy didn't have his first paycheck and he didn't want to put gas in the van to go to gma's...  so we would stay put and go grocery shopping... Hmmm... well I thought EFF IT!!  I'm getting food!  So I gave myself a budget, thought about the stuff that I could be making while Daddy is working...and I shopped.  Poor Marysu though...  She was stuck in her car seat all day...

See... in order for Daddy to get to work on time and not infringe on my day as he HATES to do and for us to not have to pay a sitter...  he drives to my work (45 minutes) and THEN goes to work after dropping the kids off with me (15-20 minutes)... so, kids are in the car 45 minutes.  Then they have a return trip with me for another 45 minutes...  That's hard on kidlettes with NO concept of time. 

I mulled over the Surprise Food Trip in my head all the way home.  By the time we got home, I figured it was a go.  Inside it was nice and warm, unlike the outside weather which was gray and storm-like ickiness...  We warmed up inside, kids played a minute or two and then we were off.  I cheated HUGE and the first and hopefully one of FEW times we ate out on Daddy's work schedule was McDonald's in the Wal-Mart.  Talk about one-stop shopping.  We ate, we shopped, we filled the cart.  There were two diaper changes and trips to the bathroom, a spill of apple slices and two cups of juice before we left the store.  By the time we got home it was time to get teeth brushed and pj's on and only a few minutes later it was bed time. 

This is one of the times of my day I absolutely love.  The kids don't always go to sleep right away...but listening to them sit there and chatter...  It's priceless... Harley was so completely utterly meant to be a big sister...she has her moments because she's seven folks... but she is such a great helper and she LOVES her little sister so much...and Marysu just adores the big kid she shares her room with as I'm sure she pictures in her head must be her name...  I folded laundry and put away dishes to chitter chatter that turned into slight whines and then gentle snores...  took my shower, went to bed...the soda I had right before bed didn't agree with me, which was awesome cause it'll keep me from doing that EVER again (Welcome, Thirties!)...

Last night was awesome sauce...  So why "The Other Shoe..."??

I have been sitting and waiting... apart of my brain has been 100% on alert to deal with "kid business" of ANY sort... spilled drinks, spilled ANYTHING, dirty ANYTHING, crazy cranky ANYTHING... and nothing... I'm fine, kids are fine, Choni is fine...

My coworker is NOT fine..her hubby is NOT fine.  I feel like I'm on the other side of the desk from my MIL this time last year...or maybe even further back than that cause they're not there yet... but I feel like they're going there...and I don't want to go there again with ANYBODY right now.  I want them to be fine...  I have been waiting and anticipating the other shoe to drop on me...but it seems to have aimed poorly and hit my rad awesome coworker.  I would be DEVASTATED if something happened to Antonio...  no matter what no matter when... 

My horribly cynical self was trying to save me from this...this right here... I felt the "What if I lost MY husband??" for two years...and Now I'm feeling it again...and all it does is prove that few things are scarier in life than losing the things that you LOVE so much that there really isn't a word worth the description of the feeling you have... LOVE is not enough... it's just not..but it's the closest I can get... there are people that you lose in your life and you go on...and life goes on..and that's fine...but there are some people, I know that if I lost them... My world would fall apart even for a moment...  it would happen...  I might comeback and bounce back and what comes out will be a version of me, but not he same me, because the same me would require that person to be around...and they're not...  I can't imagine if I tried what she must be going through.  I feel for her kids... I can do that... but I can't help her or be there for her FULLY because I don't know.  I'll do what I can, I'll do her work.  I can do THAT...at least...  but just when we thought things were going to be great... they're not... and now my day has been funkified all day because I can't get them out of my head...  These are damn good RADASS people...  and I literally am sick for them... My heart literally hurts for them... Like, I-could-be-dying-of-heart-disease kind of hurts...  Or I-probably-just-need-a-tums-because-I-had-coffee-this-morning hurts...but it started the second I heard...and some things you just can't un-hear... dammit...

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Type, Type... Erase... Type... Erase...

Trying not to be the Billionth person to talk about it...

That's my response to Boston so far...

To sit at my desk and see madness down a street I have walked... down a corner I have turned...  driven down... albeit in the back seat but still...  And be utterly helpless...  To sit here and try to find the words... the collective, coherent thought to take that in and not go completely mad...  We are not an old country, but for our immediate purposes, Boston is our version of an ancient city...

Excuse me while I go in the Way Back Machine to that fateful Tuesday Morning in 2001 when I saw something else happen in a spot I have walked in, sat down on a bench and looked up at those immense buildings and have a feeling I was in the presence of greatness and world power... apparently I wasn't the only person that knew that...

I feel the same way about Boston...I felt the same way yesterday...  Of course there is the "Why? What the FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!?!"  Ok, someone is making a point...  but really?  That's how you make your point?  Fuckin pussies...  sorry.. but they are...  I can't stomach acts of violence.  I REALLY CAN"T STOMACH FACELESS ACTS OF VIOLENCE!!!  MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN YOU COWARDS!!  So we can catch you and bring you the justice you deserve.  Actually, we don't Constitutionally ALLOW the kind of justice these people would truly deserve, but anyways... I believe in Capitol Punishment, so sue me.  I'll never commit a crime that would deem me deserved as such, so I don't care if they euthanize people.  I REALLY REALLY don't.

A question I brought to myself: do I tell Thing 1?  We don't watch the news per se.  We don't sit and watch it together as a family... I watch it...  I choose to.  It's MY choice.  I know my children should grow up to be learned adults...but I'm choosing not to start it now.  If Harley comes home from school and asks me about something her teacher brought up we will talk about it...but I'm not going to sit her down and tell her about everything that happens and then attempt to possibly counter that with something good so that she doesn't give up hope in humans so early.  I would literally spend ALL day talking to her if that were the case. 

Meh... super miffed.. super sad... and super effing miffed...

I had nothing fresh or knew to think I was so stunned...appalled.  So I dug down into my 'serves.

September 11th, I didn't know what to do.  I didn't know if the country would feel a sense of comraderie that would bring us all to not go to school, to not work.  I just dared to go on my day and see what everyone else thought.  I didn't feel like, as a Californian, I should feel a sense of entitlement that allowed that horror to affect me directly, not sure yet if would in anyway, just that sight of those awesome buildings falling...  I got my other sock on, put on my shoes and drove to school...  I wasn't the only College student unsure.  Doors had signs on them of class cancellations... I made it INTO my class and my professor was explaining how she was going home and she bade us do the same...so I walked out with everyone else.  And I remembering seeing a Marine Reservist shaking his head...he just got done with his requirements and he pretty much knew then...he'd be going over somewhere...
I saw my husband by my car... He was writing me a note (no cell phones) and he grabbed the paper off my windshield and ran up and hugged me and we talked a minute... all of our classes were cancelled... did I still go to work?  did I still dare to pretend nothing happened??  Even the radio was rife with discussion...  I went home... waited for work to begin.  He came with me to my house for a bit and went on to work himself.  He said it was DEAD at his video store.  Mine wasn't DEAD.  But my manager, Stina, was on board with keeping a low profile that night and we turned all the TV's at my store and sat on the counter and watched...  The patrons didn't mind.  There were 5...all night. And one I will never forget.  Not ever.

A homely woman comes in after there is already a man with his son in the Sci-Fi section mulling over which Alien movie to rent... there are so many choices!

Woman is unhappy...  She grunts upon her entry and exasperates at the wall O' Tv's...  Uhm... Okaaaay....

I look at Stina, she is sitting on the counter watching... I follow my manager's lead and only get up when someone approaches attempting some miniscule amount of professionalism, but they don't care about that... they are all glued to the news.

I am helping man and son with their rental and woman comes up, Stina jumps off the counter and helps her.  She leans over towards Stina...  reading her Manager status on her glorious Employee Badge... 

"Oh, so I guess putting this on was your idea?"  Woman says.

Stina:  "Uh yea...  your total is..."

Woman: "Ugh, hopefully these are good enough to replace what's on... I can't believe SURVIVOR ISN'T ON TONIGHT BECAUSE OF THIS!!" (waving her hands at the TV's)

Stina:  "Your movies are due back ____....And I suggest that you go home and hug your kids because obvoiously there are WORSE THINGS GOING ON THAN MISSING SURVIVOR!!  Have a nice day." 

Stina... my hero that night... I will never forget that...  Not ever...

My immediate response to yesterday; I gave my kids a giant hug and we stayed in and hung out until bedtime... then I did my laundry and I relished in the things I was able to do because you just never know when you won't be able to do them again... 

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

25 and a Half Hour Countdown to Single Parent Summer....

Not that I'm counting down or anything... not all ....

I mentioned before about the Single Parent Summer and here we are again....

The season is well into swing and the first home game is tomorrow, which means the hubby goes back to his fab part time job tomorrow...and just as every year since he's done it, it's in the knick of time, too.   Not that he doesn't LOVE being home with the kids, who doesn't?!  Right?!?!  Right! 

I think that it's important for him to have "him" time, so I embrace the next less than five months.  As long as it makes him happy.

Last season was not happy making due to employee changes WAY THE FUCK beyond his control... cause he's basically a glorified meat puppet...but a glorified meat puppet that gets to watch baseball all evening... So there's that...

I am already getting special requests of things to do from Thing 1...  Fantastical...  We are on a tight budget this year with our Seattle trip postponed to summer due to, well... we want to be there when there is a better chance of the sun being out.  Wouldn't that be nice?  We think so, too!  When you have kids' schedules to work around, the possibilities for time off needs to be grabbed.. HARD! 

I also just came to the realization that my foot hurts and it's not going away and then my tends-to-be-right and amazing Choni told me to change my shoes... well.... I didn't... no esta bueno...  And I realized something else...

I haven't bought new shoes in 7 years... no wait... 7 and a half (don't forget the half!).

When Thing 1 was born it was stunning to me that I gained a shoe size!  I had to shit-can SO many pairs of RAD shoes that I LOVED!!!!!  And my Choni LOVED them, too... It was heart breaking to see all those shoes given away for donation since for some reason I don't tend to wear them out.  All new shoes for my birthday and Christmas later and I still have them all....

I finally did it... I wore my 5 pairs of shoes so far down that my foot hurts.  I mean "foot cancer" kind of worry hurts.  Ma gave me a pair of her old trainers and by old I mean a pair of shoes she bought 5 years ago or so and NEVER EVER WORE...not once... maybe when she tried them on in the store before the purchase...but NEVER EVER EVER wore...  I wore those yesterday and I felt like my feet were being massaged all day.  The pain isn't GONE, but it's not as bad and I was able to go on my walk again today!  Like I need another reason not to get exercise (rain, wind, cold) I haven't walked since my foot started hurting and what started it was a day where we walked ALL day.  Since then, no bueno....  And I even wore a pair of shoes that I thought were the end all be all of my shoes.  My foot hurt SO bad... and it's been off and on, but still a consistent pain...  well, I think we got it now folks.  New shoes!  I bought a pair of Airwalks at PayLess...but I don't think that's what I need.  I need REAL support... frikkin old lady I am now.  I hate this.  But hey, if I have to buy walking shoes for an orthopedic purpose, you bet your ass they're gonna rock!!!  So I'm already putting my feelers out there for something ON SALE mind you.  Good pair of trainers these days run in the high 10's ... not where my price range tends to settle.  Plus I feel by going Clearance rack it requires me to go outside the box and get something more FUN :) 

I have so many ideas of things that the childrens and I can do together while Daddy is working...  I also have to feed them myself sans wrangler... hhhmmm....  that will be trickier than the tricks I've been doing, but I'm sure it won't take much time to get into the swing of things... Thing 1 is back to softball this year and I am excited for that.  I know Daddy is too, especially since she promised she would be more into the practicing at home part.  Last season, not so much...  Of course, it wasn't required in her league, just encouraged.  Now it will be more on the requirement side of the pie I'm sure.  We'll see...  I pretty much just like the Pancake Breakfast and the Opening Day Ceremony... It's so.....ceremonious :)

Monday, April 8, 2013

Nail Polish Challege, 4, 5, 6....

I know I'm so awesome at this, right?!?!

Week 4:

My absolute favorite of all my colors....  It's starting to goop and gunk and sludge.  So I did what my Ma taught me and I added just the eensiest teensiest bit of nail polish remover to fix it...and it did but it still made it light.  I wanted it to be smidge darker, but I don't like to do TOO many top coats of my nail polish.  So this is the result from Week 4.

Week 5:

This is Rimmel Torrid... I have the first bottle that came out, it doesn't look like this...
I also failed to get a picture because we have had a busy week of spring break awesomeness with the kidlets being home and a trip to Universal Studios on a Monday that made us all feel like we are onsome grand adventure to a place a whopping 95 miles away...  Basically, it just wasn't in the cards!  Plus, I couldn't take the picture with the lovely bottle as I have BEEN doing for the plain and simple reason that the bottle committed soboku and jumped off the night table to the abyss behind it.  I couldn't see it to stick my hand down there, so I am NOT sticking my hand down there... 

We redecorated our kids room on Saturday.  We started preliminary measures and I thought, "Why do my nails now, Friday night, when we are doing so much work tomorrow, Saturday... I should wait!"... And in waiting, I had my hands in moisture hell all day (forgot gloves like an ass) and after my shower I was supposed to sit down and do my manicure at 10pm... we did ALOT on Saturday.
After my shower my nails were so brittle and peely that I went to grab something and my thumb nail caught and boom... nails all had to be taken down...down...waaaaay down... and after I used the nail polish remover I came across a total DUH moment.

I used the nail polish remover to extend my goopy gunky junky nail polishes...  Both the Big Night Out and Torrid... Unfortunately, I failed to remember the critical rule in doing so... You MUST use a base coat before putting on the "Extended" nail polish ... or THIS happens...

Week 6:

The Clean(ish) Look...

Short funky nails on my now sausage looking fingers... Part of the reason why I try to keep length to my nails is to prevent the "sausage fingers" look...  Stained they are.  Not polished.  So now, I will be feeding them Vitamin E oil, buffing and polishing and for Next week's challenge, there will be color.  It probably also helps that because I am firm believer in waste not want not, I still have Prenatal Vitamins that I am taking... I almost never remember to take them on the weekends and I bought this bottle right before I had Marysu (at which time I ALWAYS remembered to take them)... so this bottle has lasted quite a long time as a result.  But when it's gone I'm going to find a good vitamin mix to take to help my nails cause they need a little extra OOMPF once in a while :)

Thing 1 just got softball signed up and ready to go... so the busy bee life will be in full swing and my Single Parent Summer starts all over again :)  This year a little different from last because the wee one is a Toddler in full swing!  I feel a lot of non-house cleaning nights coming on and more keep the children entertained and fed nights...  Awesome!