31 posts tagged “life”

With all the wonderful things the Internet has brought us, the ability for people to insult you from thousands of miles away isn't one of my favorites. I had such an instance yesterday afternoon, and it just about ruined my evening.  It isn't worth going into the details.  Since it was based on emails back and forth, it would be a pretty boring story.  The main thing I took from this experience yesterday is how the Internet has not only created new ways to help us relax and make new friends, but also ways to stress us out and piss us off. 

I've cut myself off from that service.  There's no sense in letting people online bother you when it is so easy to just throw the switch.

Tonight we went out to eat to Applebee's for my dad and brother's birthdays (they are pretty close together).  Grace was particularly obnoxious for a good portion of the evening.  I got really frustrated with her because she was throwing EVERYTHING in the floor, including her drink. While my grandmother was taking issue with the fact that I said Grace was being a "monster", my dad overheard and said, "Just wait until she's a teenager,"  to which my 16 year old brother said, "Hey, wait a minute."  It was actually pretty funny, and helped put me in a better mood. 

Grace started behaving once our food got to the table.  That is one reason it is such a pain going out to eat with my whole family.  There are about 12 of us, so it takes forever to get our drinks, food, whatever.  Grace just doesn't have the patience for waiting, and I don't have the patience for Grace when she starts screaming because I won't let her saw her hand off with a steak knife.  I really didn't know what to do with her tonight.  I didn't want to take her to the car, because I was hungry and I think Grace would see that as a victory (she likes being in the car, usually).  At the same time, I couldn't let her keep screaming.  Fortunately, she straightened up and I was able to enjoy my dinner.

As we were leaving the resturaunt, I saw the stragest scene.  There was a very well dressed man and woman sitting at a table.  The guy was decked out in a suit and tie and his wife was in her Sunday best, which really seemed out of place for Applebee's, but that wasn't even the strangest part.  As I walked by, I noticed him eating a nice steak with green beans (or asparagus) and some other side item.  His wife sat staring at him as he ate, with no food in front of her.  I couldn't help but think, "It's not her turn."  I am hoping the poor woman wasn't hungry or was waiting on her food to be brought out.  All I know is she didn't appear to be too happy about the situation, whatever it was.

My custom theme is back.  I only put the other theme on here because I wanted a change and I intended to create a new theme to use, but hadn't had time to get around to it.  Much like my blogging in general.  Honestly, I don't know why I lost the desire to do it, but it really doesn't seem to have the draw to me like it did early on. 

So, we had our trip to Michigan and have been back for nearly two weeks.  It was a good trip.  We took Grace to a train museum and she absolutely loved it.  We have a video of it, but I really don't want to wait on it to upload right now.  I'll get it started before I go to bed though, so just check my videos section.

The vacation zipped by.  I don't know where it went.  It was nice to get away, but it was gone before we knew it and it really didn't feel like we did much.  Just getting away and not having to work was good though.  We went and saw Transformers while we were on vacation, and I thought the movie was great.  There are probably plenty of people that would disagree, but I thought the movie didn't take itself too seriously and did the cartoon justice.  I mean, if you are looking for a serious dramatization of giant cartoon robots, you'd probably be disappointed, but for me, it worked.  It would probably be a lot better if some of these similar movies didn't take themselves so seriously.

This week has been Vacation Bible School at our church and both Jennifer and I "volunteered".  My mom was one of the folks in charge this year and called up and begged us to help.  I helped out with the 5th and 6th graders and I actually had a good time with it.  Of course, I started realizing my age when I was talking this 17 year old girl that was also helping out with the class.  I was talking about a band and she made it known she had never heard of them.  Ouch.  Anyway, the week has been totally crazy with us having to be at the church at 6:15 or so.  We have pretty much been leaving as soon as I get home from work and getting home around 9:15 PM or so.  Actually, that is why I am up at 11:30 PM, which is passed my normal bed time.  I just needed some time to chill tonight, so I am typing on my blog and listing to Pandora. 

Anyway, that's a quick little update about what's been going on in my world.  One of these days I'll get around to keeping this blog updated again.  Don't hold your breath (unless you like the idea of suffocating).

It has been another few weeks since my last post.  You can get an update of what has been going on over at Jennifer's blog.  She is actually been better about blogging than me lately. 

Everything is getting back to normal around here (knock on wood).  The memory of Grace's hospital stay will stay with us, but continues to feel more and more like a bad dream.  Grace is doing great.  As I tell everyone, she got over it much more quickly than we did. 

With everything going on, my diet and exercise have suffered, but I am pleased to say that it hasn't had the affect I thought it would.  Since my last post, I have lost 5 more pounds but put 2 pounds back on.  I got on the scale the other day and was a little nervous about what I would see, but was happy to see I had only gained a couple of pounds.  With everything going on, we have depended on fast food and carry out to keep us fed, so I was pleased that I hadn't gained more.  I have been managing to make to the gym at least 2-3 times in between the trips to doctors and hospitals, so I am sure that kept me from gaining more.

Anyway, I am actually looking forward to getting back into my routine and enjoying some of Jenny's home cooking.

EDIT -

Also, I may not be commenting much lately, but I am still listening.  I have an RSS Reader setup that shows me the most recent post from my neighborhood.  I use that almost exclusively now to read what is happening in my neighborhood.  Just thought I would let everyone know I am still around.

Today was a pretty rotten day.  It wasn't the worst day, but there wasn’t much fun about it.  Today I was supposed to get off of work around 12pm so we could leave for a college graduation in West Virginia.  I received a phone call around 11am.  It was Jennifer, and she was obviously upset.  She informed me that she had suddenly been hit with horrible back pain.  After a short conversation, we hung up.  I felt awful about the situation, but she wanted to try and manage it.  It was probably less than 10 minutes before she called back and told me I needed to come home.  She said she could barely move and she wasn’t able to pick our son up off of the chair he was lying in.  I left for home as soon as I got off the phone.

When I got home, Jennifer and Grace were huddled around the recliner Logan was lying in.  Jennifer was standing there, unable to pick him up, but positioned in such a way that he couldn’t role off the chair.  It was remarkably calm.  Both Grace and Logan were quiet, though you could tell Grace didn’t know what to think about everything that was happening.  Jennifer had also called my mom and she arrived at our house not long after I got there.  Once my mom was settled in, I got Jennifer to my car and we left for the Emergency Room.  

When we got to the hospital, I helped Jennifer through the ER doors.  I offered to get a wheelchair for her to get into as soon as she got out of my car, but she said she wanted me to stay with her.  When we got inside, she wasn’t shy at all about me grabbing the only wheelchair in site.  It made getting around MUCH easier.

At one point, this elderly lady walked in with an older man I assume was her husband.  Though they both moved a little slowly, they didn’t seem to have much trouble getting around.  The elderly woman was making quite a fuss about there not being a wheelchair around for her husband to use.  When Jennifer heard this, she started to try and get out of her wheelchair so I could give it to them.  Though it may have been a kind gesture, it would have been completely unfair.  Besides, I am sure they eventually got the guy a wheelchair.  I wouldn’t know.  As luck would have it, a nurse called us back while this scene was unfolding, and that quickly put an end to Jennifer trying to get out of the chair.  Although, when I slammed the wheelchair into the narrow doorway on the way into the nurse’s office, she probably wished she had given up the chair.  After we finished talking with the nurse, she made it clear that I wasn’t to push her anymore.

No sense of adventure.  Psst…

When Jennifer was examined by the doctor, she explained that she was sure it wasn’t a bone issue, and that an X-Ray would be a waste of time and money.  It was most likely a muscle/tissue issue such as a slipped disc or pinched nerve.  She mentioned that she was going to give Jennifer a shot to provide immediate relief as well as a prescription to help at home.  In the middle of talking to us, there was this dramatic moment where the intercom started blaring some gibberish and a nurse came up to the doctor and said something to her like, “Code red.”   The doctor looked at us and said, “Excuse Me.”  She ran off and I half expected her to rip off her scrubs to reveal she was, in fact, Wonder Woman.

After 20-30 minutes, a nurse finally showed up to discharge us and had the prescription.  She didn’t seem to know anything about the shot the doctor mentioned.  All she said was, “The percocet will last longer.”  Jennifer wasn’t happy about not getting the shot, so after the nurse left, she told me to ask to speak with the doctor.  Long story made short, the nurse came back in after a few minutes and told us the doctor did want Jennifer to have the shot.  Jennifer was happy about that.

When we got home, my mom took Grace home with her to spend the night so it has just been Jennifer, Logan, and myself at home this evening.  Fortunately, Logan has been a very good boy.  Jennifer slept most of the evening, and her drugs are keeping her pretty drowsy, but she is doing better. 

Clearly, there will not be a trip to West Virginia this weekend.  I’m just thankful this didn’t happen up in West Virginia.  I think the scene would have gone something like this:

Last night we had a major break through on potty training.  When I got home from work, I was determined to get Grace to use the potty.  Up to this point, it has been an extremely trying process.  Grace would sit on her potty until she had to pee.  Once she had to pee, she would get up and start screaming to have a diaper put on.  

To try and get her to stay on her potty, I came up with an idea.  I put on Finding Nemo and told her to sit on her potty.  Whenever she got off of it, I would turn off Nemo and tell her to get back on it if she wanted to keep watching.  This went very smoothly and worked like a charm.  She never whined about getting back on her potty.  She would happily sit back on it and I would turn the movie back on.  After a while, she started to think it was a game, which was what I hoped would happen.

I was thinking if I could get her to stay on her potty and focus on Nemo, she might pee in the potty without thinking about it.  We could then praise her and reward her for peeing in her potty.  So, my goal was just to get her to stay on the potty until she peed.

After she had held her pee for 3 hours (I didn’t even know toddlers could hold it that long), I decided to get her a cup of warm water to put her hand in.  Yes, as rediculous as it sounds, I thought that maybe if she played in the warm water it might make her go.  The problem was she had no interest in playing in it.  She rarely gets to drink from a normal cup, so she was much more interested in drinking the water.  I figured it couldn’t hurt.  It would just make her have to pee worse.  

Not long after she got the cup, she started saying, “Ow.”  She was clenching her legs together and got off her potty and starting whining.  It was obvious the poor child had to pee BAD.  I tried to get her back on her potty, but she wanted nothing to do with it, as usual.  I said, “Let’s go to the big potty.”  So, Grace, still clenching her cup of water, runs with me to the bathroom.  I put her seat on the toilet, sat her on it, and she started to pee.  At first, she whined a little, but it quickly turned to a grin when I praised her for what she was doing.  She was very excited and wiped herself a dozen times before she finally got off and washed her hands. 

We put her in her high chair, gave her a fudge bar, and let her watch her favorite cartoon, Jojo's Circus.  Not long after she finished the fudge bar, she started saying, “Pada.”  That’s her word for potty.  We took her back to the bathroom and she peed again.  She clapped and giggled this time as she peed.  She had finally figured out it was a good thing to pee in the potty.  This time we let her eat some juice treats, but she came back while she was eating them and peed a third time.  We praised her again, and that was the last trip to the “pada” before bedtime.

This morning, Jennifer called and told me Grace had gone again.  Apparently, Jennifer couldn’t get Grace on the potty all morning.  Finally, Jennifer decided she would try giving Grace a cup of water to see what happened.  As soon as Grace got the water, she ran back to the potty, hopped on, and peed.  How cute is that?  I don’t even care that it is a little odd.  She is peeing in the toilet!!!   

Oh, the one other thing we are dealing with now.  She won’t wear her training pants or the panties we bought her.   She seems to want to go commando.  We have some pull-ups and she seems to wear those a little, but we’re concerned she’ll just pee in them.  I told Jennifer not to stress about the underwear thing.  We’ll focus on one thing at a time.  Besides, after months of telling her to keep her clothes on, we’ve shown her it is ok to take them off.  I think she’s just confused.  We have to teach her when it is OK to take of your clothes and when it isn’t, but we are just going to focus on the potty training at the moment.  I don’t want to overwhelm the poor child or jeopardize the progress we made simply because some people would freak out if they knew we let our daughter run around bare bottom.

I actually typed most of this back on Monday, but never got around to posting it.  It is an overview of what went on last week.

I promised a post about last week, so I guess I'd better get started.  First, last weekend Jennifer and I went on a date.  It was great.  I forgot how much fun dates could be.  It wasn't anything extravagant.  We went to TGI Fridays and a movie.  Before and after the movie, we did some shopping.  Mostly we bought clothes for the kids, but we also stopped by a few other places.  I forgot how enjoyable shopping can be when you don't have a two year old constantly demanding food, juice, balloons, or whatever else has caught her eye at the moment.

Over the weekend, my throat started to feel scratchy.  By Sunday night, it was obvious I had a cold.  I decided to go to work on Monday and feel like I spent the whole day just staring at my monitor.  My mind wasn't there, and I wasn't feeling good at all.  After Monday, I decided to take Tuesday off to get better.  Meanwhile, Grace and Jennifer weren't feeling good either.  Grace was VERY grouchy.

On Monday evening, Grace was in bed and we were sitting in the living room watching TV.  Suddenly, we heard a crash and Grace started screaming.  She had gotten out of her crib and landed face first on one of her toys.  The rail to her crib was down, but we're not sure if we left it down or if she managed to shake it to the point it dropped (she can be pretty rough).   Her poor face had several cuts on it.  We brought her out to the living room and she sat in my lap for about a half hour and watched TV.  She's OK now.  She doesn't seem to jump in her bed as much, but other than that, she was unscathed by the event.

Jennifer was kind enough to let me lie in bed and rest for the first half of Tuesday.  I was feeling a bit better around lunch time, so I offered to go pick us up lunch so she wouldn't have to worry about making anything, and the rest of the day I helped out with the kids where I could.

By Tuesday evening I was feeling so much better that I decided to undertake a project I have been meaning to do.  Remove Linux from my computer.  When I first got my new computer, I was on a Linux kick and was convinced I could give up Windows.  The problem I ran into was how much time I had to spend to get things to work.  Simply installing Firefox 2.0 was a chore.  I was spending hours researching and trying to do things that I could do in minutes in Windows.  While a single guy with nothing better to do might have that sort of time on their hands, I don't.  I eventually set Windows as my default operating system, and Linux has been sitting on my hard drive with no use for 9 months or so.

Getting Linux off was the easy part, but my computer wouldn't boot up after I removed it (which was expected).  I tried doing a repair install of Windows XP to fix the problem, which didn't accomplish anything but to screw up my installation of Windows.   I finally got my computer booting again and then the process of fixing my screwed up installation of Windows started.  I had my computer working normally again by the weekend.

So that about explains my week.  From Tuesday on I was pretty much working on my computer when I could, so there wasn't much time for blogging.  Fortunately, everything seems to be back to normal now. 

OK, that's a bit dramatic.  It has only been 4 days since my last post.  I've been dealing with sickness and computer issues that have kept me from my blog. I'm on my lunch break now, so I thought I would do a quick post or two, but I'll be doing a big post tonight or this weekend to review my week.  There'll be something to entertain (and bore) everyone.  It has been quite a week. 

I’m finally going to do it.  This evening, on the way home, I am going to be joining a gym.  I’ve found this place on the way to work that has an extremely affordable rate ($25/month) and it even includes a consultation with a personal trainer to get you started. 

I’ve been overweight most of my life.  There was a brief period in high school where I was in really good shape, which is when I played soccer and basketball at my small, private school.  When I graduated, the weight started piling on, because I was no longer active in sports and my family has notorious metabolism.  The first few years of mine and Jennifer’s marriage were my heaviest.  Let’s just say I broke the 300 barrier.  The good news is you would not have guessed I was that heavy.  The bad news is I was.  In fact, I have always been heavier than I look.  I always win at those "Guess your weight or age" things you see at amusement parks, but I digress.  Over the past few years, I’ve managed to put some weight off and get below 300 again.  I have pretty much stayed where I am at for a while.

Since Grace was born, I’ve really been feeling down and out about my weight.  I want to make sure I am around to see my grandkids grow up and want to meet my great grandkids.  We don’t have many horrid diseases that run in my family, so I probably have a pretty good chance of living to an old age if I get this weight off and avoid crossing busy intersections.

I actually feel really motivated and excited about what is going to happen at this point, but I haven’t even started.  The key will be to keep motivated about this after the aches and pains set in.  Getting through the first month or two will be the hard part.  I haven’t been that active since high school, so God only knows I am terribly out of shape.  Still, I was one of those people that enjoyed working out in high school and always loved the feeling you get after a good work out. 

Hopefully, in a few months, I’ll be sharing how much weight I’ve lost and how much better I am feeling.  This won’t be easy, but I feel much more determined than I ever have in my whole life.