Diane Keaton in "Poms" > Snake Plissken

Right now, at this moment, I'm watching "John Carpenter's Escape from L.A." I'll tell you that I've never seen this movie. But having watched exactly five minutes of it, I have an excellent idea where Christian Bale's Batman voice got its inspiration. Kurt Russell is chewing the hell out of this movie.

    I also watched the last hour of "Poms," starring Diane Keaton, where she and a group of women start a cheerleading club in their retirement community. Of course, in missing the first half of it, I was a bit lost as to the antagonist and why she's a bitch, but the basic crux of the movie I picked up. Anyway, it has a very "Golden Girls" vibe, which as you know, is a thing of mine. I love the idea of all those old ladies growing old and getting into trouble together, and eating lunch and having drinks, and doing random adventures. It's my dream to have that existence with my best friends as we age, and I'm here for any television show or movie that shows it to me as a goal. The movie even tugged at my kid's heart strings, so you know it was adorable, and it made me cry a couple times, too.

    Also I tried to talk Sydney into watching "Coming to America" with me this afternoon, but was rebuffed. She said she's watch it with me tomorrow, but we'll just shave to wait and see about that.

It will be a delicious cake, for certain

As a mom, I've had a rough couple days. I think it's harder now, when all my information is filtered through the lens of a 14-year-old who only tells me some things, than when she was a kid and I could describe, interpret and decree things as I saw fit. Now she knows her own mind and feelings, and it's not possible to tell someone how they feel. So when I ask her something, I have to run with the thought that I have been told all relevant information. When a parent discovers that some information is withheld, whether by deceit or just forgetfulness, it makes the job of parenting more difficult, as well as incomplete. And that is what I've been grappling with lately, just not having all relevant information.

    Still, I think today we had a bit of a breakthrough, and we've made some decisions and taken some actions, and going into tomorrow, it'll be better. Of course, it's not lost on me how many times I've said, "Well, tomorrow will be better" lately. And how many times "tomorrow" is the beginning of a new slate. And how "tomorrow" will be a calmer existence. It hasn't happened yet, though I keep hoping.

    For Mother's Day, I may eat that whole chocolate cake myself because I certainly deserve it this year.

My own house is safe too, and very quiet

I'm happy to report that I had a decent day today. There was stuff to do at work, and that kept my mind busy, and my willpower in check when it came to snacks.

    Right now, I'm sitting here in a silent house because my husband and kid are asleep already, and watching the end of "Safe House." What I should be watching, and what I will start as soon as I'm done here, is the second and third episodes of "The Nevers." I had thought that it would be a good show for Sydney to watch with me, but she's been difficult to settle down for it, so I will move on without her.

    Also, Krispy Kreme is selling their strawberry-glazed doughnuts this week. I am somewhat considering ordering them for delivery at the office this week, as I really want to try some, and feel like that'll be a fun experiment for all of us. Still, I do not want to eat a bunch of doughnuts.

Yep, crab cakes and mushroom linguine

Okay so here's a thing. We found this food company at the farmers' market that produces vegetable/plant-based pastas. The first time we saw them we picked up some artichoke pasta, and some other vegetable that I can't remember right now. But the artichoke one was yummy.

    We ventured away from the company and picked up a box of edamame pasta at Costco, and that was not very good. But yesterday we stopped at the place at the farmers' market again and picked up three more pasta packages. The selection we had tonight with our crab cakes was the wild mushroom linguine. And let me tell you, it was so good. Just the pasta by itself had a yummy flavor, but with melted butter in it? Absolutely delicious.

    I never thought I would be a vegetable/plant-pasta girl, but I have been convinced. Unfortunately, I'm also pretty convinced that this company is the only one that makes good plant-based pasta, so that may end up limiting me at some point.

Also they are stabby and sharp and they hurt

So I have a love/hate relationship with bougainvillea. I may or may not have written about it before, but here I am again, because those particular plants flourish in the desert when watered regularly, so they are pretty much everywhere here. Full disclosure: I have two small bougainvillea in pots in my backyard, but they're little so they are puppies and not big ol' dogs.

    My neighbor behind our backyard and on the other side of my fence has a big ol' dog bougainvillea. It's so large that her gardeners can't get to the back of it for trimming. So they trim back as much as they can reach, but then just kind of shrug their shoulders and leave it be. Herein is my issue. That part that they can't reach? It grows over my fence and into my backyard, and drops all its fucking flowers in my garden bed. And it's just generally being very annoying.

    Last night and tonight, Brian and I have been trimming back at our own backyard tree so I can have easier access to the bougainvillea. I've got most of it trimmed back, but there's a couple really big and thick branches that are too tall for me to get to right now. I'll try again tomorrow, and I made some real progress today, so perhaps I can actually finish it and make my yard look normal again.

    What else is cool is that my gardenia is growing and budding and blooming like crazy. And Sydney had not smelled a gardenia in the yard in a long time so she'd forgotten how awesome they smell, and now she loves our flower baby as much as I do. Gardenias are the bomb. Bougainvilleas are not.

Just a very, very slow day

Let me tell you something about my mom, you guys. She's always right.

    Well, okay, not always always, but more times than not always. Today was one of those days. She and I were on the phone as I made my way towards work this morning, while I basically told her everything I said in last night's blog post. Also, I added the fact that I didn't really have anything to do today. Her advice? Call in sick; go back home.

    I was almost to the office while this conversation went down, and my better angels told me that no, work was what I should do today. Well next time I'm going to tell those angels to shut the hell up, because my day was a snail. I was done with everything on my task pile by 9, and had naught but "whatever comes up" to get me through the rest of the day. And hey, guess what, little to nothing came up.

    This was the case both today and yesterday, and I really should have listened to my mom.

I need a day with my hormones, I guess?

I keep thinking that I could totally use a day at home with no one else here, and that I really should have played sick after my second shot so I could have had that. Not that I have anything that I don't want anyone to see, but I just could use the time in my own space, with my own head, and doing my own thing. Probably anyone who lives here wouldn't even notice all the stuff I would do during that day, but I would, and I expect it would have felt glorious. Random corners and tasks would have been cleaned out and cleared up. Little things would have been fixed; little irritants would have been balmed. But as it stands right now, I will go to work tomorrow and be bored with little to nothing of interest to do, and keep growing the list of things I'd like the time and energy to do in the afternoon or over the weekend.

    I'm taking my weight tomorrow morning, and even though I was better this week than I have been lately, I'm concerned about my body and how it is reacting/will react to the new hormones I'm taking. I'm trying to flush my system and have been drinking a ton of water this week, but the jeans I wore today felt just a little bit too tight for my liking, and I'm quite concerned about tomorrow. I'm trying hard enough to get my number down, and I don't need these frickin' hormones screwing it up for me.

    Also, I've made the kind of plans for the weekend that will keep me from sleeping in properly, so while that is a drag, I'm looking forward to doing the cool, fun stuff.

The short, short version of literature

I had a moment of clarity this afternoon in regards to being helpful to my kid. She's starting a new book in her English class, and while we had just began chatting about it, she mentioned that she was having a hard time understanding it. I asked a couple more questions about it, and she complained again about not getting it. I looked at her and said, "Do we need to buy the book?" She said yes, and then I asked, "Well, is there a Cliff's Notes for it?" She had no idea what a Cliff's Notes was, and I realized that I had unintentionally been keeping a valuable resource from my baby and her understanding of fine literature.

    We hopped on Amazon, and yes of course there were copies of the book ... and the Cliff's Notes versions. As we scrolled through the Cliff's Notes listings, we found that, also, yes, there were Notes versions of every book she'd read this year in English, and probably could have used to help understand them better.

    So, I've failed her. Because the idea of the Notes came so quickly and easily to my mind that she said to me, "Really? You didn't think of this before?" I can't imagine why I didn't think of it, but then I did, and, not to brag, but I never had to use them. So I'd never bought one. But as of now, I've bought one, and it will be used. And now that the Notes are fresh in mind, I have a feeling we'll be making an investment a few more times before graduation.

A non-reaction, and lots of water

Alright, you all, I still feel fine. It's been 48 hours now, and I think I'll just go out on a limb here and say that I'm not having a reaction to the second of my COVID vaccination shots. Am I a little disappointed? Perhaps. It would have been nice to have a day at home with no one else there. I won't lie about that. Still, I'm glad to be feeling well, and am optimistic that perhaps Sydney's experience will be more like mine and Brian's than anyone else's. And that would be even better.

    I've been drinking a whole lot of water the last two days, and hoping that it will make a difference for my weigh-in on Friday morning. I'm trying to get back on the Weight Watchers wagon, and while I'm having a hard time actually counting my points, it is easy to just be more diligent with my water intake. Also I'm not snacking between lunch and dinner, which is my main Weight Watchers issue on any day. So this week I have been trying to be as good as I can be, and with the increase in water, I may have made some real progress. I'll know Friday.

Awaiting the reaction everyone is talking about

So I got my second shot last night! I went with my friend, Deanna, as we both had our appointments on the same night and within an hour of each other. There was far less traffic than there was two weeks ago, and since we both had the same terrible traffic two weeks ago, we were super quiet about it so as not to jinx it. My appointment was later, about 9:30 p.m., so the late-night traffic was minimal. I have a very sore arm that I can't lift all the way, and haven't since I got the shot, same as the first shot actually, so it feels just like I'm practiced at this.

    But now, I sit and wait for any bad reaction to the shot. All day today, as I sat at my desk, every little twinge, ache or movement made me wonder, "Is this it? Is this my bad reaction? What if it goes terrible right now?" And then I'd be okay. I started getting a headache, and swore this was it. I drank water, and felt better almost immediately. So, rather I was thirsty. Any random aches and twinges have gone away once I recognized them.

    At this very moment, I am three minutes past my 24-hour mark for the shot, and I'm still feeling okay. I think maybe my sore and achy arm is progressing the pain up into my shoulder? But who knows if that's actually it or if I've just been sitting weird. Also my back hurts a bit, but Sydney and I did flexibility yoga for 15 minutes this afternoon, so that's probably the cause of that. So really, whatever. Let's just ride it out.

That's me in a bit; yay!

I'm off to get my second vaccination shot tonight, so I'm posting a bit early, just in case the wait times get me home too late and tired to post later. But I am very excited to get my second dose. I sure hope that you are getting your vaccinations. It's super important, and it keeps the people around you safe.

    I have a friend who is very anti-vaccination, not the already mainstream vaccinations, but this one in particular, and I worry about her and her family. But of course, she'll probably be fine and will go about her life and business forever proclaiming that the whole thing was a ridiculous dust-up and no one ever had to worry from the beginning. Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of people who died and their families, but whatever, you do you. Most everyone else in my immediate friend group and family has been vaccinated, so I'm crazy pleased with that.

    Soon, we will all be able to go to the movies again.

I like madeleines; I need to eat more of them

I'm cracking up because the post that had "haiku" in the title only had six reads yesterday. Not that I get a whole lot of reads anymore, but six is like half of what I normally get for readers. I will continue to write haikus though because I enjoy them.

    So here's something weird. Brian and I did our Costco trip today. We didn't have much on our list, so we ended up getting a bunch of random stuff. Brian picked up a box of madeleines for his snacking. Here's the weird part. I don't think I've ever tried a madeleine, so when Brian opened up the box and opened a cookie bag and had me try one, I was pleasantly surprised by the taste and texture of the cookie. It was so tasty! I had a second bite of his before he finished it, and I wish I had more of it. I had thought that madeleines were a crunchy cookie, and a somewhat dry one. But these were soft and, as Brian described it, like a pound cake even. And it tasted yummy. So maybe he doesn't take them all to his work. Perhaps some of them should stay home with me.

    I remember seeing them with chocolate on them in many places, but in doing an image search just now, I was shown the gross possibility that they can be made with aspects of coconut. That is unacceptable, but logically, I know that many people like that disgusting food stuff, so I won't make a big deal about it. Especially since I am so new to the madeleine fan club. I definitely need to try one with chocolate on it, though.

Looks like a day for a haiku

I'm so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning, that I am inexplicably staying up too late tonight. I've got the yawns, and I'm super tired right now.

I love Friday night

Good sleep and a late morning

weekends are the best.

Weird = Overwhelmed with contradictory emotions

What a weird f*cking day it was for me as a mom. I honestly don't have the patience, finger control or desire to type it all out here, but just to say that the day did not go the way I thought it would, and I'm pretty sure I've been strategically outmaneuvered, but if it's to be a battle of wills, then I guess it is. Parenting is very weird and can be very weird. And startling. And surprising. And frustrating and difficult.

It's time for bed, but I'm watching "Burn Notice"

I think I'm going to roll with an early bedtime again tonight. Every morning I've woken up hoping that I'd get another two hours of sleep, and it hasn't happened yet, so I'll just keep going to bed earlier and hope that I can make it up incrementally and then just grab an extra hour or two on Saturday and Sunday. That's the plan, I suppose, if there is one.

    As for other things going on, I finally got all the Easter decorations packed up, though the bins are still in the dining room. I'll hope to get them into the garage tomorrow. That was a task that I was not looking forward to finishing, nor did I even want to start it. I wish I could be content with shit just sitting around, but I'm not, and I knew my neuroses wouldn't allow for it all to just chill on the table for much longer. Today, the neuroses won, and the task is done. Mostly.

    Also, I have fallen in love ... again ... with "Burn Notice." I've started rewatching the first season, and I'm currently on the sixth episode. Brian sighs and rolls his eyes whenever he finds me watching it, but I am unapologetic about my enjoyment of this show, and I will sit through the entire series again. This show is good stuff, and I'm happy to be watching it. Also, Michael Westen is super cool, Fiona is the best part of the show, and Sam is fun and sassy but he wears a necklace. 

Kitchen appliance replacement #1

We have a Keurig. Many people do. Ours was a Christmas gift from Brian's parents because we didn't have a coffee machine for them when they visited. It's super funny because everyone got a Keurig that year because of our lack of coffee machine. We weren't too impressed all those years ago, but we quickly found that we loved the little machine, and used it quite often: Brian for his morning coffee for work, me for hot water for my tea.

    I think we got the machine in December of 2013, or maybe 2014, but definitely one of those two years. We didn't baby it, we didn't coddle it. When it got cranky, I descaled it with vinegar, and then it would be fine for a year, and then it would get cranky again.

    This time though, the descaling didn't work, and the electronics were wonky and the machine itself wasn't pulling in water, or it was but not draining it, and it just moaned and groaned and wheezed. So yes, it was time to say goodbye to our trusty machine and get a new one. Best Buy gave us the selection we wanted to check out, but Amazon gave us the $40 savings as well. So we'd been able to check out the machine we wanted, and then pay less for it with free delivery. I ordered it Sunday night; it arrived today.

    It's definitely a new machine, all shiny and pretty, and way lighter in weight. Brian put it together for usage, and we've already brewed a cup of hot water to be sure it was working correctly. So tomorrow, the Keurig will be king again in our house, and brew up the goodness.

Just so puffy! Like, super puffy

I am back home, and I had a wonderful weekend. We hung out, danced, drank, talked, laughed, swam, played games and just generally enjoyed each others' company. It was awesome. And it was exactly what I needed. I feel, well, I feel tired. And puffy. And in need of a bit of a detox. But I feel good about myself, confident in my sisterhood, and pleased with the state of things with all my girls. We had so much fun. And I can't wait until next year.

    But then I had to go to work this morning, and that was fine, but still, not what I wanted to do on a very-definite recovery day. I hadn't even considered staying home from work today, and still think it would have been a ridiculous thing to do, but it would have been nice to do. I'm feeling like tomorrow I need to increase my water intake, though, after my tea of course, and be a bit more aggressive in flushing my body of the alcohol and gummy toxins.

    Also, I'm 12 days into April and I haven't got a book to read to meet my EXPECTATION, and I still have stuff in the guest room that needs to be donated and sent off. And the Easter decorations are still on the dining room table. But I have emptied a bin and all the tissue paper is ready to pack it up, so I've made a first step. The tasks are starting to pile atop each other again, so this may just be a busy weekend.

Time for a girly-girl vacay

So tomorrow I take off for a much-delayed girls' weekend, and I'm looking forward to getting out of town. We'll be careful, of course, but there's something decadent about spending an entire weekend away from all the responsibilities of motherhood and wifeness. And then to also spend it laughing and hanging out with my best friends? This is destined to be the best weekend I've spent anywhere in a long time.

    The trunk of my car is full of food and booze, and my bag is full of swimsuits, dresses and cozy clothes. If there's anything fancy planned, I don't have anything to wear for it. Well, I've got a black sundress and a sweater, so I guess I d have something, but I'll tell you a secret. I'm glad there isn't any clubbing planned or available for us. Eating and drinking is good enough for me.

    Tomorrow's work day is going to be amazingly long, whether I'm busy or not, and I can't wait to be done and on the road. So, suffice it to say, I won't be blogging for a couple nights. :)

Outside, where they belong

The pest control guy came by today, and now my home is impervious to all manner of crawling animals, be they cricket, roach, ant or SCORPION. The young man asked me when he called, "What in particular are we dealing with today?" I said, "I found a scorpion in my sofa yesterday." He made the appropriately horrified noise and then said, "Yeah, I'll take care of that for you." So does it now take a while for the bugs to move away? How does this work? Do I have to wait for all the bugs that are already inside to die? And then we can have an officially clean home?

    I will say that I kind of threw the house cleaners to the wolves today by having the home cleaned and not knowing what they may or may not find. I needed the house cleaned, for sure, but one never knows what one may discover lurking under a blanket or chair or in a dust bunny. But there were no notes saying that anyone got stung while they cleaned the house, so I'll assume that they didn't find anything unsavory. So maybe the house is clean.

    Honestly, I'm thinking perhaps I should do a smudging to officially clean the place of any bad vibes.

Bug spray is coming

I had some time this week to leisurely go about my life, with nothing but a visit from the house cleaners tomorrow and a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon. But then life happened, and all of a sudden, there are appointments and tasks up the wazoo, and my leisurely week has gone kablooie.

    First, a trip to the vet for something that is probably nothing, but I need the peace of mind. Second, I found a scorpion in the sofa in the living room, and now we're having a bug/pest control company come by tomorrow afternoon and spray around the house. Third, I'm definitely ready to take a couple days off from being a mom, wife and house queen.

    Ah yes, another scorpion sighting in my home. I shift and rotate the cushions in the sofa every Monday, and today, when I pulled out one of the back cushions, there was a scorpion on the sofa portion of the back. It was good size, about 1 1/2 inches long, and super chill. It didn't move when I put the glass over it, and only got mobile as I slid the card under its feet. Then it got super agitated, and then super mad. I flipped the glass, took it outside and threw it over the fence. I didn't want to kill it, inexplicably, so that's what I did.

    And then I texted around for a pest control company recommendation, and then I called Brian, and then I called the pest control company. And they are coming tomorrow. On a related note, I had to pause my blogging so Brian could turn off all the lights and scan the bedroom with a blacklight in search of any other rogue and adventurous scorpions. There are none.

Tonight's creativity level: LOW

And with today being Sunday, a new week begins tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'll have to keep me busy for the day, but I've got stuff to cross off my list of to-dos, for sure. Phone calls to make, lists to create and random things to think about. I had a relatively productive weekend and I'm feeling pretty good about that.

My thumb hurts; everything else is better

I totally just super hurt my thumb on a picture frame tonight. I was using scissors to move the little metal grommets on the back of the frame to open it and put in a new picture, and the scissors slipped and slammed into my thumb. There's no blood, so it's obviously not too bad, but it does hurt. It's actually more achy now, and I wonder what the blood blister is going to look like tomorrow.

    Also today, I can cross off another 2021 EXPECTATION. I have replaced some of the photos on my bedroom dresser, so they now better portray my weird little family unit here. I also have a couple new pictures that I'd like to put out, but there's really no more room on the dresser, so I'll get to figuring that out  this weekend. I have a little bin of empty frames, so I'll definitely get the whole thing taken care of in the next day or two.

    Brian finally got his PlayStation 5 tonight, and my subterfuge and lies was perfect, beguiling and most excellent. He fell for my story hook, line and sinker, and I am so happy with how we were able to surprise him. And he is very happy with his awesome gift. And I'm Best Wife Ever now for a while.

Day one: Ready to go

We have a pretty busy April, with many appointments sprinkled throughout the weeks. That's why my avatar looks like she's ready to get shit done. No nonsense April, I guess we could call it.

    Today's no-nonsense activity? Getting my hair colored. Once again, the delightful shade of red that I've loved for the past year. And now I'm ready to tackle the month.