No Minivan

Hi! Remember me? No? Yeah, me neither. But for those who still read this site now and again, here’s what’s been on my mind lately:

- Been thinking about going public with this site. Well, it’s not private by any means, but there is a certain amount of anonymity from many of my friends, family and coworkers. I think I might write more if I knew people were reading and more people who knew me were reading, not random strangers. A lot of the bloggers I’ve friended on Facebook share links to their new posts there and I often wish I could do that. I don’t really talk about anything ultra confidential and I definitely don’t talk about work since the fiasco at my last job, so there wouldn’t be any harm in sharing my current posts (on the rare occasion I write one) with the folks who know me. However, there are archived posts where I vent about my family and friends that I’m not sure I want them to read. I wish I could password protect part of my archive without having to go post by post. I’ve been writing since 2002. That’s a lot of posts. Still, it’s something to consider.

- I think I may be perimenopausal. I’m only 33, but I’m really starting to wonder. For the last week or two, I’ve been having hot flashes, really bad acne and terrible mood swings. Clearly, my hormones are f***ed up (and I’m NOT pregnant). So I made an appointment with my OBGYN in 2 weeks to find out what is going on with my body. My prediction is he’s going to want to put me back on the pill. The last pill pretty much negated the lovely effects of the Lex.apro so it will have to be something else. I can’t afford for the anxiety to get worse right now, especially since…

- Work is crazy busy! We’ve reorganized and I’m taking on a completely different role. However, I’m still doing a lot of my old job too, which means I’m twice as busy as before. It’s making me feel VERY anxious and irritable. It’s not hard work, but it’s very time consuming and there’s A LOT of it. Plus, all of my coworkers are being stretched to the limit, too, so we’re all anxious and freaking out a bit. It also doesn’t help that our boss is a bit of a control freak (something I’ve told him to his face so no worries if I go public with the blog).

- My cell phone contract is up in 2 weeks and I’m debating if I want to get a better phone and keep my current plan, get a better phone for my hubby under my current plan, or get a pay as you go phone and plan. I never call anyone and I get very few calls either (for an extrovert, I’m very introverted) so it doesn’t make sense to pay for 500 minutes a month that I never even come close to using. However, I would like to be able to access Facebook and check my email on my phone, which I can’t do now. Do you have a NON-smartphone that does that?

Isn’t my life just a thrill a minute?

If you want some beautiful music to chill to, check out Melody Gardot. I’m not really into jazz music as a whole, but her voice is so smooth and the music is just gorgeous. See for yourself…

Another video after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

Random updates for those who might still be reading…

- The Kid has officially been slapped with the label of “gifted”. This means he’s bussed to another school for the all day gifted program once a week. Mrs. O (the gifted teacher) is awesome with him, challenging him and yet remaining firm when he gets out of control. She reported back that he has an IQ of 132, for whatever that’s worth. I’m just glad he gets a chance to get out and learn HIS way without being held back in the areas he excels. I’m not saying these two things are related, but his behavior has improved remarkably in his regular class since he started the gifted program. Imagine that!

- Boo is just as smart as his big brother, in his own way. The moms in playgroup are jokingly accusing him of “showing off” when he starts spouting his huge vocabulary (like “Skeleton!” at the Science Center). Even people at the grocery store today were commenting with amazement on the 21-month-old shouting “Quesadilla!” in the ethnic food aisle. He recognizes at least 90% of the alphabet and has started counting objects up to three on a regular basis. His two loves right now are Sesame Street and Max & Ruby (Max is a bad little bunny!). I do believe that Sesame Street contributes a lot to what he knows. The Electric Company (original) taught the Kid to read. TV isn’t all bad.

- There’s a pretty major change a-coming at work, but I can’t talk about it just yet. It’s a good thing though and I’m excited about it. An opportunity to get back to some of the things I’m most passionate about. I’ll be give more details in about 2 weeks.

- I wore a dress to work yesterday. No, seriously. Stop laughing! Unfortunately (or fortunately), there is no photographic evidence.

- Two things I really want to buy when I get some money: a dressy coat and some knee-high black boots. These things may or may not be related to my former dress wearing. And the fact that I’ve bought more jewelry in the past month than I ever have before. I’m just full of surprises, aren’t I?

- OMG, I got so fat in Vegas. Well, technically I was already fat, but eating those huge meals and sitting in presentations all day did not help. I came back and started 750mg of Met.formin XR twice daily. This should help me lose some weight, if only because I spend half my time on the toilet (TMI!). I’m still not dieting really, but I am working out on the elliptical 3x/week. I do well with eating at work: I eat a sensible breakfast and lunch and don’t snack in between. However, once I get home I eat a carb-laden dinner and inevitably cap the night off with chocolate or ice cream. And weekends are just a wash since I forget to work out and just eat whatever’s handy throughout the day. I’ll get there, but right now I’m slowly easing into the lifestyle changes.

What’s new with you?

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OK, so apparently my hubby is deciding to keep his brilliant observations of our kids on his playgroup forum instead of sharing with all of you. Sorry, that’s just the way he rolls.

And since I’m all boring now that I’m medicated, I don’t have much to share anymore. I’m entirely too mellow to get all up on my soapbox and rant about politics or crazy news stories. I’m enjoying feeling sane, but it does make for a boring blog.

So work is good. I’m a busy little bee trying to implement our learning management system for about 150 people and their hundreds of documents. It’s tedious work, but it keeps me busy and it keeps me connected to my customers, which is very nice. I’m moving cubes next week (again). It’s just up one floor, but I’ll have lots of storage space and a whole wall of windows. Yeah, it’s a view of the parking lot, but it’s SUNSHINE! (When there is sunshine to see.) It’s in the lab area and that’s a little disconcerting, but I know you all will tell me if I start growing a fifth limb or third eye.

The kids are doing well. Everybody is healthy at the moment (*knock on wood*). My little geniuses are blowing my mind every day. The Kid is reading full on chapter books now (he’s read the entire Magic Treehouse series and the Captain Underpants books, he just started the My Teacher is an Alien series). Baby Boo can recognize and name at least 3/4 of the alphabet. He’s speaking in 2-3 word sentences and repeating every other word we say. It’s amazing how their little brains just soak everything up! Needless to say, I’m very proud of my smart little guys.

OK, enough bragging. Here’s a little something I saw while Boo was watching Sesame Street the other day. I like how they kept so much of the original song lyrics and changed it into a great little kid song. Plus, it’s cool that Jason Mraz is so comfortable singing with the puppets.

I don’t have the slightest clue what to do with the Kid. Sell him to the circus? Send him off to military school? Ground him until he’s 25? Seriously. What do you do with a 5 year old who thinks he knows everything and refuses to listen to anything his parents or teachers say?

Here is an actual email from his Kindergarten teacher:

[The Kid] has started going to first grade now for guided reading and Mrs. [X] says he really enjoyed it. I also want to keep you updated on his behavior. He had 3 really great days last week. This week he has been very disruptive. He is constantly (not exaggerating) yelling out ho ho ho. He also has been disruptive at rest time (even when I give him a book) and during work time he is barely finishing his work b/c he is falling out of his seat or yelling things to me and the class. I just wanted to touch base. If you have any questions let me know.

The other day he was given a writing assignment to review a book he’d read. His teacher has been trying to get him to write at length instead of just one short sentence. So she gave him the direction that he had to write enough to fill up all the lines on the page. So this is what he wrote:

I like the storey bcuse it was funne and it was fun. It made me go ha ha ha ha ha ha [with the ha's filling up the rest of the paper].

When he doesn’t have a book in his face at home he is crazy out of control. His voice has no volume switch and everything must be said at eardrum blowing decibels. Unlike most kids who get quieter the more they’re misbehaving, the Kid gets louder the worse he’s behaving. Punishment/discipline does not impact him. Even when we take away his most prized possessions, he may get upset for a brief moment then he just doesn’t care. Sending him to his room is pointless since it’s completely full of books and toys. Time outs in the hall seem to make somewhat of an impact, but he’s over and misbehaving again the second he’s released. It’s like nothing gets through to him long enough to make an impact beyond the very short term.

We manage fairly well at home. Usually there are enough activities (between books, TV, computer, toys and chores) to distract him from the bad behavior. Plus there are two of us to wrangle him. But at school his teacher is entirely too soft spoken to get a firm handle on him. Not only that, but she has 20 other students to worry about. I know part of the problem is that he’s bored, but he’s not even completing the work before he’s acting up and disrupting the class. I just really don’t know what to do. Nothing seems to get through to him. Punishments don’t work, rewards don’t work. I want him to enjoy school, but I know he needs to learn to tolerate the structure of school and to thrive in spire of it.

And he’s such a brilliant boy, I know he’s smart enough to follow directions. Within the last 2 weeks, he’s read almost the entire “Magic Tree House” series (that’s over 25 short chapter books), not to mention all the other books he’s read lately. He’s in the advanced math group in Kindergarten adding, subtracting, counting by 5s and 10s, and working extensively with money. The child is so smart. And I know his intelligence makes us and his teachers expect more from him. He is only 5 (6 in April) and 5 year old boys are high energy by nature. I’m not interested in putting him on ADD/ADHD meds, but I do want to look into other avenues for helping him focus and be more productive with all that brain. I would like to take him to an expert for analysis and to give us some guidance in that arena, but I’m also afraid to have him be labeled so young.

Luckily, for the next 2 weeks everyone will be home and maybe we can give him more attention than usual and see if that helps at all. Plus, the Christmas crazies will get an opportunity to work their way out of his system and maybe things will be settled down more by the time he goes back to school.

Be on the look out, folks. I’ve given my hubby his own account on this here blog so he can regale you with tales of our little darlings and his life as hubby to one as challenging as myself.

He goes by the name of Zez and he’s been my best friend and love o’ my life for over 13 years. When he finally gets around to posting something, be sure to make him feel welcome!

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