Now is the time to reflect on the success of last year's resolutions. Based on my blog this time last year, I had five pretty solid resolutions. Let's see how I did...
1) Fix Body. I gained 12 pounds this year and almost passed out bringing the laundry upstairs. Guess we can say I did meet this one.
2) Fix Person. Really? For the first time EVER I actually hit my son. Oh he deserved it and much more, but that is certainly not the intent of being a better mom. Second one down.
3) Fix House. Well I hired someone to replace the driveway, does that count? Never touched a paint brush there year. Strike 3.
4) Fix Mind. Mainly I wanted to be calmer. Although my son and husband kept me laughing - does that count. We' ll say maybe to this one.
5) Fix Career. I did start a new job but I did not publish anything. I submitted a short story to a contest - didn't win but let's call this one a success. Baby steps.
The bad news is I am still screwed up and need to address the same things in 2011. The good news is I don't have to write a new list, the old one is just fine :-).
Happy New Year.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sick Puppy
If you know me, you are aware that I am not what they call an animal person. Not the one to coo in front of the SPCA outlet in the mall or to pet every dog I see when walking mine. It's not that I am against them, actually I am quite fond of them especially in the form of coats, belts and boats.
Today however I experienced the epitome of emotional turbulence surrounding my pet. My head split into two parts: compassionate and annoyed. On our early morning walk, the dog experienced constipation. Understanding what my husband does for a living, you know who made the diagnosis. Actually the dog squatting with his back and tail arched, while he did a little two step hop across the lawns of Ashland, gave us the first clue. He continued like this for about 20 minutes. Keep in mind it is cold out and I was losing patience (annoyed) but I did feel sorry as he looked like he was in pain (compassionate). Eventually he was...how shall I say... a bit successful in his endeavor. Now he is having trouble and making quite a mess of himself.
I can't let him in the house while he is doing this. So he stays outside while my husband and I take a shower ( Sounds like we did that together - not today, too much to do). Anyway, we come downstairs and the dog us outside; he has made a mess of himself but is shivering from the cold. My fabulous husband cleans the dog, brings him in and goes off to work. Hopefully this is not a prelude for the rest of his work day.
I decide to work in the kitchen today so as to keep an eye on the pet. Well he starts "messing" the kitchen. I rush to take him outside. Now he has made another mess of the backyard and himself. I go outside, shovel the yard and clean the patio. Now I try to clean the dog. As I do that, he proceeds to bite me. Of course no one is available to fix this, so I need to take care of it. Ugh.
I bring the dog in the house, take him into the basement washroom and give him a soak in a hot bath. If you have tried to wash your pet, you will know this is not an easy or clean task. While bathing him, he bites me two more times. Maybe I should just leave him in the tub (annoyed). I proceed to lather him up with my specialty shampoo (could not find dog shampoo in the house because we take him to the groomer for baths). Dry off the dog, place him in his bed and finally get to go back to work.
Kid wakes up and we both go upstairs to check on the cleanliness of his room - its not, surprise surprise. Unfortunately we left the kitchen door open, the dog followed and proceeded to make a mess in my son's room. Grab him and take him outside AGAIN. Kid cleans up the room. I am back to dog sanitation.
Dog is shaking now. We cover him with a blanket and Max holds him trying to make him feel better. Now the dog is looking bad. He is moaning. Max gets the blow dryer and proceeds to dry him off. Keep in mind he has only been outside for 5 minutes tops. Dog then proceeds to vomit all over the place. I get to clean up the floor, the kid and the dog.
I text the husband for help. He is operating and not coming home. I go online to see what is wrong with the dog. No clue, call the vet. Max continues to hold him - we switch off (compassionate). We finally calm the dog down and now he seems exhausted. He is resting by my feet as I work and gets up to follow me whenever I get up. I let him sit on my lap as I type (compassionate). We decide to keep an eye on him tonight and call the vet if anything changes. Looks like I will be bringing him in this week.
Dog seems ok now but will have to wait until tomorrow to be sure. This all took place before 9:30 am. Plan on rewashing, polishing the hardwoods after work and buying a new dog bed. As much as that dog annoys me, I love him as part of the family and although I am disgusted by the clean up, I am relieved that he is resting comfortably. Maybe I am more of an animal person than I thought...no, I am not.
After thinking about it, this is the perfect end of year metaphor. Cleaning up the sh#$ but relieved that everyone is ok.
Today however I experienced the epitome of emotional turbulence surrounding my pet. My head split into two parts: compassionate and annoyed. On our early morning walk, the dog experienced constipation. Understanding what my husband does for a living, you know who made the diagnosis. Actually the dog squatting with his back and tail arched, while he did a little two step hop across the lawns of Ashland, gave us the first clue. He continued like this for about 20 minutes. Keep in mind it is cold out and I was losing patience (annoyed) but I did feel sorry as he looked like he was in pain (compassionate). Eventually he was...how shall I say... a bit successful in his endeavor. Now he is having trouble and making quite a mess of himself.
I can't let him in the house while he is doing this. So he stays outside while my husband and I take a shower ( Sounds like we did that together - not today, too much to do). Anyway, we come downstairs and the dog us outside; he has made a mess of himself but is shivering from the cold. My fabulous husband cleans the dog, brings him in and goes off to work. Hopefully this is not a prelude for the rest of his work day.
I decide to work in the kitchen today so as to keep an eye on the pet. Well he starts "messing" the kitchen. I rush to take him outside. Now he has made another mess of the backyard and himself. I go outside, shovel the yard and clean the patio. Now I try to clean the dog. As I do that, he proceeds to bite me. Of course no one is available to fix this, so I need to take care of it. Ugh.
I bring the dog in the house, take him into the basement washroom and give him a soak in a hot bath. If you have tried to wash your pet, you will know this is not an easy or clean task. While bathing him, he bites me two more times. Maybe I should just leave him in the tub (annoyed). I proceed to lather him up with my specialty shampoo (could not find dog shampoo in the house because we take him to the groomer for baths). Dry off the dog, place him in his bed and finally get to go back to work.
Kid wakes up and we both go upstairs to check on the cleanliness of his room - its not, surprise surprise. Unfortunately we left the kitchen door open, the dog followed and proceeded to make a mess in my son's room. Grab him and take him outside AGAIN. Kid cleans up the room. I am back to dog sanitation.
Dog is shaking now. We cover him with a blanket and Max holds him trying to make him feel better. Now the dog is looking bad. He is moaning. Max gets the blow dryer and proceeds to dry him off. Keep in mind he has only been outside for 5 minutes tops. Dog then proceeds to vomit all over the place. I get to clean up the floor, the kid and the dog.
I text the husband for help. He is operating and not coming home. I go online to see what is wrong with the dog. No clue, call the vet. Max continues to hold him - we switch off (compassionate). We finally calm the dog down and now he seems exhausted. He is resting by my feet as I work and gets up to follow me whenever I get up. I let him sit on my lap as I type (compassionate). We decide to keep an eye on him tonight and call the vet if anything changes. Looks like I will be bringing him in this week.
After thinking about it, this is the perfect end of year metaphor. Cleaning up the sh#$ but relieved that everyone is ok.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Putting Away Christmas
The only holiday I decorate for is Christmas. When Max was younger I used to do all of the holidays from paper Valentines on the windows in February to semi-scary looking witches on the front lawn in October. Slowly but surely the joy of holiday decorating turned into a desperate need for a ride to parties in the burbs and an open palm for "spending money". Without Max's desire to decorate I let it all go...except of course for Christmas.
Because I host Christmas Eve for about 30 guests each year, I feel obligated to make the holiday festive and that includes full on wooden soldiers, sparkling ornaments, huge fresh tree, Victorian elves and of course lights. Painstakingly I unpack each ornament and relive a former Christmas. There are the red threaded apples that my sister and I always hid in the back of our tree growing up because they weren't colorful or sparkly. There is the paper ornament with Max's photo as a three year old in a cowboy hat - he wore that hat for 2 years straight. There is the ornate Madonna ornament Matty and I purchased our first holiday in Michigan. I continue with each room. Green feathered trees and silver beads for the family room; red/gold ribbons with towering amaryllis for the dining room; Radko ornaments for the silk tree; old time Santas for the mantle, the boxes are everywhere. It only takes a couple of days to put it together and I actually love the time sitting with a holiday cocktail admiring the effort upon completion
Then it is December 26th and I want it all gone. I find the decor unbearable. The soldiers take on an evil clown quality and the lights remind me of flashing strip club signs. The whole house looks tacky and cheap. How quickly it all changes. It needs to be out of sight..the holiday is over and I am ready to start a new year - one without those obnoxious decorations.
How do you put it all away? Boxes and boxes and boxes. This time I don't wait until I am finished... I start the cocktail as I take down the first piece of garland. Seems so depressing. I close my eyes and pray the holiday fairies will clean it all up while I sleep. No such luck. I must put Christmas away. This takes the entire week between Christmas and New Year. Mainly because I hate doing it but also because Matty would prefer the decorations stay up until Three Kings. Ugh. So I find myself putting away a little at a time so he won't really notice. Pretty sad but by Jan.1 - the house is back to normal.
No time to write, time to put away more ugliness. Be gone poinsettias; back to your cabinet wooden soldiers. With the decorations, pack away the year. But the bad in the box and store it deep in the basement. Pour another cocktail and fill another box.
Because I host Christmas Eve for about 30 guests each year, I feel obligated to make the holiday festive and that includes full on wooden soldiers, sparkling ornaments, huge fresh tree, Victorian elves and of course lights. Painstakingly I unpack each ornament and relive a former Christmas. There are the red threaded apples that my sister and I always hid in the back of our tree growing up because they weren't colorful or sparkly. There is the paper ornament with Max's photo as a three year old in a cowboy hat - he wore that hat for 2 years straight. There is the ornate Madonna ornament Matty and I purchased our first holiday in Michigan. I continue with each room. Green feathered trees and silver beads for the family room; red/gold ribbons with towering amaryllis for the dining room; Radko ornaments for the silk tree; old time Santas for the mantle, the boxes are everywhere. It only takes a couple of days to put it together and I actually love the time sitting with a holiday cocktail admiring the effort upon completion
Then it is December 26th and I want it all gone. I find the decor unbearable. The soldiers take on an evil clown quality and the lights remind me of flashing strip club signs. The whole house looks tacky and cheap. How quickly it all changes. It needs to be out of sight..the holiday is over and I am ready to start a new year - one without those obnoxious decorations.
How do you put it all away? Boxes and boxes and boxes. This time I don't wait until I am finished... I start the cocktail as I take down the first piece of garland. Seems so depressing. I close my eyes and pray the holiday fairies will clean it all up while I sleep. No such luck. I must put Christmas away. This takes the entire week between Christmas and New Year. Mainly because I hate doing it but also because Matty would prefer the decorations stay up until Three Kings. Ugh. So I find myself putting away a little at a time so he won't really notice. Pretty sad but by Jan.1 - the house is back to normal.
No time to write, time to put away more ugliness. Be gone poinsettias; back to your cabinet wooden soldiers. With the decorations, pack away the year. But the bad in the box and store it deep in the basement. Pour another cocktail and fill another box.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Time to Revive
You probably thought this blog was dead. But no, it has simply been in a coma deadened by a new job, a son starting high school, an overworked husband and frankly a lack of interest. However, with so much to say and no other outlet, it is time to defibrillate.
I'm thinking of ways to make it better... mainly for me ... but also to elicit more comments. Seems I am more annoyed than ever with the news, with the general population and with daily encounters. Maybe the older I get, the more cynical I become or maybe it's just that everyone is getting dumber. Hmm, probably shouldn't "revive" with such a bitter attitude. Looks like there will be plenty of fodder.
You may have also noticed that I changed the photo and caption to the right. Max and I are being silly in Disney when my family went over Thanksgiving. There were 20 of us, 16 from Buffalo. Quite the adventure, but that will be another blog. With all of us in the most magical place, I had visions of family photos chronicling this once in a lifetime vacation. My camera had other visions, all of which were dark, red images. Guess how many family group shots I have...big fat zero! Anyway, I will be showing more personal photos on this blog. Of course, I will need to get a new camera.
So let's start 2011 with some observations and ruminations. Hello Again Blogosphere. Round two.
I'm thinking of ways to make it better... mainly for me ... but also to elicit more comments. Seems I am more annoyed than ever with the news, with the general population and with daily encounters. Maybe the older I get, the more cynical I become or maybe it's just that everyone is getting dumber. Hmm, probably shouldn't "revive" with such a bitter attitude. Looks like there will be plenty of fodder.
You may have also noticed that I changed the photo and caption to the right. Max and I are being silly in Disney when my family went over Thanksgiving. There were 20 of us, 16 from Buffalo. Quite the adventure, but that will be another blog. With all of us in the most magical place, I had visions of family photos chronicling this once in a lifetime vacation. My camera had other visions, all of which were dark, red images. Guess how many family group shots I have...big fat zero! Anyway, I will be showing more personal photos on this blog. Of course, I will need to get a new camera.
So let's start 2011 with some observations and ruminations. Hello Again Blogosphere. Round two.
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