Holiday Weekend

I had a nice 4-day holiday weekend, so that was why there was no posting. :)

On Friday, DH & I cleaned the house. I started in DD's bedroom, with her help, putting away her toys and clothes, which were scattered all over the room. It was gearing up to be a really hot day. I was sweating by the time we were finished. (DH was mowing the lawn at this time.) After we finished in the bedroom, it was time to attack the upstairs bathroom. It had been awhile since I cleaned it. DD helped me by cleaning half of the sink, while I did the other half; then we swished the toilet and wiped off the exterior. Last was the mirror above the sink. DD enjoyed herself. I guess I will have to clean more often.

By this time, I was really hot, so it was time for a break. We watched cartoons for about an hour. I also made out bills. Then I told DD to start getting her stuff in the living room picked up and put away. I dealt with the weekly accumulation of papers and junk that seems to never get thrown away. DH had finished the lawn by this time, and he came inside to start working on the back porch. Let's just say it's been a long time since we cleaned out there. He did a great job, even sweeping and mopping the floor.

A friend of DD's called and wanted to know if she could come over for awhile, so DH took her over there. I needed to run errands, so I left DH cleaning the back porch while I went to the grocery store.

At 2pm, when I got back, we took a break and had lunch. DH had finished with the back porch and started on the kitchen, so he worked on getting the stuff put away after we ate. At 3pm, he picked up DD. I gathered a pile of magazines to donate to the library. I thought about cleaning off my desk, but decided I'd had enough cleaning for one day. DD was off again at 4pm, with DH's mom, to spend the weekend. I had rented a couple of movies so we watched "Big Momma's House 2" (mediocre) and "When a Stranger Calls" (somewhat scary but just weird at the end).

On Saturday, DH & I went to see "X-Men: The Last Stand." It was a great movie! Both he and I thought it was the best out of the three films in the series. There were a lot of surprises that we didn't see coming, and the special effects were fantastic. I highly recommend it if you like this kind of film.

Later in the evening, we watched "The 40-year-old Virgin." That movie was HORRIBLE. DULL. BORING. Not even very funny. I didn't get it, especially the end. What was with the singing of the "Age of Aquarius" song? The characters were trite and one-dimensional. The few funny parts were only mildly funny. I think I've seen this movie before in like some teen comedy. *shrugs* DO NOT rent this movie.

The second movie we watched was "Aeon Flux." Most critics did not like this film. I used to like the Liquid Television cartoon but didn't really understand what it was all about. I don't know if the movie and cartoon have the same plot, but DH & I liked the film. It wasn't nearly as bad as what the critics said. I didn't think it was too predictable or boring. Although it could have been an episode of "Andromeda," or some other sci-fi series; it also needed a little bit more plot development/characterization. Maybe that was why the critics didn't like it.

Sunday we did nothing. DH went fishing and picked up DD on his way home. I was going to clean off my desk, but basically didn't move off the couch. They took a nap in the afternoon. I watched BBCAmerica's marathon of Gordon Ramsay shows, "Boiling Point" and "Beyond the Boiling Point." And some of the Indy 500. DH grilled out, and we had hamburgers and hotdogs for supper.

Monday we also did nothing. DD had a cold and she and DH took another midday nap. I wanted to spend some time reading, but instead watched "Kitchen Nightmares," another Gordon Ramsay show on BBCAmerica.

And today it's back to ye olde grind.

Addendum to Waking Up

First of all, I guess I should surf BlogExplosion more often. Thanks for all your comments on my last post.

Grokodile suggests to schedule explicit time for activities. Thanks for that great suggestion! I think I will have to schedule our fun stuff, especially the stuff like camping and if we go to the zoo. Otherwise, it will never happen. Like others out there, I just figured quality time would occur magically, but it really doesn't. You have to make the time, and that was a difficult--yet stupidly simple--thing for me to realize. Yesterday, after her kindergarten graduation, DD and I played outside. She rode her bike on the sidewalk and we blew bubbles. I had forgotten how much fun blowing bubbles could be. I guess I thought that "someday" we'll do the stuff that parents and kids do, but someday never comes, unless you specifically plan for it.

Sasha found my post to be inspiring. Thanks, Sasha, for commenting. I like to know that what I write makes an impact on others.

EverydayEconomist suggests flylady.com. Heh. I like Flylady's ideas and I have tried to implement them, but her system doesn't exactly work for me. I've implemented them in my own way, such as using baby steps to get things done and I keep a calendar. The problem is that I am a semi-reformed packrat who is married to a somewhat materialistic-type person. We have a bunch of junk that we can't bear to part with (yet). DH does most of the housework, actually, because he only works part-time, while I work full-time. Plus, housework is not important to me. I could care less. I am just self-absorbed, wanting to do my own thing. Good thing I realized it, though!

FragileIndustries, thanks for saying my blog is fun and thoughtful. That is the best compliment I've received yet! :) I started scrapbooking about 6 years ago, right after my DD was born. (My aunt had a Creative Memories party.) DD has a semi-completed scrapbook of her first year. :) Although I have other photos in albums, I have not taken them out to scrapbook them. They are in non-magnetic albums, so I figured there was no point in re-doing them. Now we have a digital camera and we only print the ones we like, so there is less waste--but since we've had it, we haven't taken many pictures! I love scrapbook supplies, which are overrunning a corner of the dining room. I think I would enjoy the hobby more if I had a specific place to do it in. I just haven't gotten around to cleaning out part of the computer room so that I can put my craft supplies in there. I have an altered book in progress, with a flower motif, but the problem is that what I do never looks as good as what I see on the Internet or in Somerset Studio magazine. Sigh.

Orikinla Osinachi wondered if I was satirically addressing non-involved parents. Sadly, Orikinla, no I was not. I was being honest. I plan to work on the scrapbook together with her; she is always begging me to do crafts. Part of it will be written by me, and I definitely want to include her handwriting and artwork at this age, so it will be a labor of love by both of us. I love your suggestions for titles, especially "How Many Summers More" before my daughter is a woman. :) There is a commercial on tv, a Visa commercial I think, where the guy marries the woman, they get their first home, then they have kids, and watch them grow up, etc., and it brings me to tears every time. Time flies.

Cityflowergirl says it's not too late to start enjoying time with DD. Thanks for the encouragement!

And thank all of you who read my blog recently!

Waking Up

I'm a terrible mom. My darling daughter is six years old and I look at her, wondering who is this stranger? When she was born, I wanted to keep a journal of her first years of life, but typically, that journal sat on a shelf to rot. When I did write about DD in my regular journal, it seemed to be me complaining about her crying or her behavior.

Where were the fun times? I rarely made note of them. I have somehow become remote and distant to her, even though I swore I would never treat her like that.

Time flies and here I am, six years later, still remote, still confused.

She begged me to play a game this past weekend, a beautiful gorgeous weekend when we should have been playing in the yard--but instead, I wanted to take a nap. I made her take one, too.

Sunday night, I went to bed feeling guilty that all my daughter wanted was a little bit of my time, and I was too self-absorbed to give her any. Self-absorption should be my middle name. I let myself get bogged down in the daily grind and forget the important things, like taking time to play Candyland or Go Fish. I wanted her to play by herself, to entertain herself--she has a million toys she never even plays with--but then I realized later that she has no idea how to play pretend or to play with Barbies because I never (or rarely) bothered to do that with her. I guess I thought she would automatically learn.

Her entertainment comes from Nickelodeon and Disney cartoons. She does not know what to do with herself when the tv is off. On Saturday afternoon, I shut off the tv, and instead of playing, we took a nap (although, we had gotten up around 5:45am that day). Too much sleeping, all the while life is slipping away.

Thankfully, every day is a new day, and I can work to make our lives more full of joy and fun things. I decided that instead of wallowing in self-pity this summer, I would make a conscious effort to do more activities as a family. For instance, last night we made up a list of ten things we will do this summer:

1. swimming
2. camping
3. fishing
4. go to the library
5. go to grandma's house
6. go to the zoo
7. play
8. go to the park
9. go on walks
10. go to bible school

Then after she went to bed, I thought of another list of things:

1. ride bikes
2. play dress-up
3. do crafts
4. hopscotch
5. paint
6. redecorate her bedroom
7. watch movies
8. go to summer festivals
9. sing
10. dance
11. play with a Frisbee
12. go to the local state park

That's a lot of stuff to pack into one summer. At the end of the summer, I will collect all the photos I take of our activities and compile them into a scrapbook. I will write about the fun things we do, and DD will contribute her own writing and artwork as well.

I have to wake up to my life, instead of sleepwalking through it.

Books I've Read so far this Year

My 50 Books in 2006 list

At the library, I checked out four more books: "The Constant Gardener" by John le Carré; "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb; "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion; and "Our Lady of the Forest" by David Guterson. I am also reading "Saving Fish from Drowning" by Amy Tan.

My most recent finished book is "Anansi Boys" by Neil Gaiman. It was an interesting book, much easier to read than "American Gods." If you like myths brought into a modern day setting, then you will most likely enjoy reading "Anansi Boys."

TGIF! and No TV Night

Yay for Fridays!

Not that I have anything exciting planned for the weekend. I will probably venture out to the library and the grocery store. I have laundry to do. I desperately NEED to clean various rooms of the house and my desk.

So last night was night one of my turning off the tv. It felt weird at first, to be sitting in the living room with the blind eye staring at me. DD and I played a few rounds of Candyland and after she went to bed, I dug through a pile of stuff from college and found my old fill-in word puzzle book from 1992. Yep, from 1992. I had completed 17 of the 68 puzzles in the book. Last night I did 6 more. I had forgotten how much fun and how challenging they could be. However, I am better now at picturing the possible combinations of words than I was then, so maybe they were a bit too easy for me.

After puzzle time, I spent some time writing in my paper journal. I have been rather neglectful of late. After all, I wrote 200 pages in three weeks to complete journal #60, and now in #61, I've barely completed 170 pages out of 400. Sigh. When I don't write, I am annoyed with myself, but yet I sometimes feel I don't have anything to say, other than complaining so what's the use of writing that crap down? In reality, that feeling is just procrastination talking. Kind of like with this blog. :)

Anyway, I ended up writing for about an hour and a half. I was extremely tired for some reason (probably because of the mashed potatoes I had eaten for supper), and ended up going to sleep around 10pm.

It was weird, and quiet, not having the tv on. It was relaxing and calming, though. I didn't have to listen to the shrill calls of Nancy Grace and her pedophile of the day case, or the dulcet tones of Anderson Cooper blathering on about Warren Jeffs and polygamy, or the serious grit of Greta Van Susteren's chatter about the Duke University rape case.

DH & I talked about giving up cable tv altogether, but he doesn't think he can live without football or "Battlestar Galactica." If BSG were on one of the regular networks, I'd give up access to cable. Heck, at this point, I'd give up tv completely (BSG will eventually come out on DVD). TV really is a drain on the soul.

My friend A does not have cable tv. She has a tv for watching DVDs. When I spent the weekend with her, it was a different feeling to not have to worry about what was going on in the world, or just to have the tv on for noise. Her DH said that if they had cable tv, he'd never get anything done around the house. I had to agree with him on that point. It's way too easy to just veg in front of a movie you've seen a thousand times, or to aimlessly flick channels for three hours.

I hope that I can cut back, and then eventually cut out, my own tv watching habit. Maybe my habit will rub off onto my family. :)

One can dream.

I'll wait until DVD

The NYT says that the movie of "The DaVinci Code" is an Unwieldy, Bloated Puzzle. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought so.

Although I haven't seen the movie, I have read the book. It took an interesting premise and churned out schlock of the highest order. This book was written for people who need spoon-feeding, and who like to be told what is happening. I felt like I'd been had after I finished reading the book. Even I could figure out the so-called "code," and I'm horrible at guessing clues in thrillers and mysteries.

I do like that it brings up the concept of the divine feminine and for people who are interested in that aspect, there are better books out there, like "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," and "When God was a Woman." I encourage people to research on their own, and draw their own conclusions.

But, "The DaVinci Code" is fiction. It is possible that the early Catholic Church did suppress the divine feminine. Draw your own conclusions, but don't just read this one book or see this one movie. And, if you're going to be critical of it, at least read the book you're criticizing!

In Heaven with the Baby Jesus

My parents' 8-year-old dog died a couple of weeks ago. He died suddenly, after a short illness. Neither of them were prepared for the gap losing him left in their lives, so they didn't wait too long to adopt another dog, the aforementioned Australian Blue Heeler.

They buried the family pet alongside the other treasured family pets in the front yard. DD and her cousins spent the night with them right after they buried the dog, and so, the kids wanted to put some memorials on the gravesite. My niece, who's 8, said some words over the grave.

As we were driving back home yesterday, DD informs me that Willie, my parents' dog, is now in heaven with Baby Jesus and starts rattling off the prayer they said over the grave, which went something like this:

"Dear Baby Jesus, please take good care of Willie. Be sure to feed and water him every day, and play with him. We left his toys on his grave. These are his favorite toys. We loved him very much and hope you love him too. Amen."

I almost had to stop the car and have a meltdown, and I didn't even care for the dog that much.

It brought back all the memories of all my other beloved pets. I don't think you ever really get over the death of a pet--a boon companion who loves you unconditionally.

Mother's Day

I almost forgot! The best part about coming home yesterday was finding the beautiful card and cake that DH had made for me for Mother's Day. Small gestures mean so much.

Wiped out!

DD & I spent a wonderful weekend visiting my college roommates. She had a great time playing with A.'s two-year-old son. She wanted him to come home with us. Although I like to travel, I prefer getting home. It was an exhausting weekend.

A. lives about 2½ hours away from me. I drove down on Friday afternoon, after work. Rain sprinkled down for nearly the whole drive, but at least it wasn't a downpour. It was cool and rainy the entire weekend. We arrived around 7pm on Friday night and it was still light enough out to see. I don't like driving in the dark. A. had had a busy week and was tired, so we didn't stay up too late. She is also 8½ months pregnant. :)

We got up early on Saturday morning. S.'s shower was at 11:30 and we had to drive over on the east side of Indianapolis for it. A. needed to buy a gift before we headed out of town. So, in spite of that, we got there about a half-hour early. S. was glad to see us, and said it made her day. For lunch, we were served quiche, salad, fruit, and other veggies. It was yummy. And there were two types of cake, chocolate and white. Then S. opened all her gifts. It was her third shower, and she got a ton of stuff--so many clothes that the kid will be able to wear one outfit every day for the first three months, with some he'll probably never wear.

It seemed like we were there forever, but it was probably 2:30 when we left. I wanted to go to a mall that we passed on our way to the shower, so A. was a good sport and took me to the mall. However, we weren't in there very long because it was hot and crowded and A. forgot to bring the stroller for her son. Not to mention, pregnant ladies tire out quickly! :)

So, then we were off to a birthday party. DD had fun playing with the other kids, having cake and ice cream and generally making mayhem. I thanked A.'s friend for letting us come to her son's b-day party. DD would have liked to stay longer, but we had to get back to A.'s house. For dinner, A. fixed pizza. After we ate, she lay down for a short nap. It had been a long day. DD & I watched "Monsters Inc." and "Madagascar."

On Sunday, we didn't get up so early, but A. got a call about her grandfather-in-law being very ill, so they were going to have to go to the hospital. We left around 9:30. Driving home, we stopped at the Honey Creek Mall in Terre Haute. I needed a last-minute gift idea for my mom. (I got her these chocolate bath truffles from Bath and Body Works.) Then we headed to Mom's house. It took about an hour to get there.

Mom and Dad got a new dog, an 8-week-old Australian Blue Heeler they named Sugar. She was a little shy, but cute. DD wanted to play with her but she wasn't very playful at first. Surprisingly, both my sisters showed up as well. So we sat and visited for the rest of the afternoon.

I finally got home around 4:30. DH had just gotten home from a fishing tournament. I was exhausted. For supper, we ordered some Chinese food. DD went to bed early, and so did we.

In spite of getting 9 hours of sleep, I am still tired today. It will take me a week to feel normal again!

Just So You Know

I have been working on getting my new online journal set up. It is currently a work-in-progress, with like only one entry, but never fear. Before you know it, I'll have it set up the way I want it and regular entries shall resume. I will also be putting up whatever old entries from "she utters not a sound" that I deem worthy of keeping. :)

It's funny how you miss something when it's not there, but when it was there, you hardly ever spent much time with it. As I might have mentioned before, I was only able to recover 38 journal entries using the waybackmachine, and a lot of those entries were not very substantial.

Kind of like this blog. :)

(Just last week, I finally passed 10,000 page views. Thanks for visiting!)

Getting Away for the Weekend

A friend of mine is having her first baby in July, and her baby shower is this Saturday, May 13. Another friend, who will also be attending the shower, is 8 months pregnant with her second child. Babies are busting out all over!

A few weeks ago, DD and I went shopping at the outlet mall to find some gifts. Both of my friends are having boys, so I decided that the easiest and best idea for the babies would be clothes. So DD helped me pick out a couple of cute outfits.

I have a million things to do, even though I'm only going to be gone for two days. The shower is in Indianapolis, so it's not like I have to go across country. It's been ages since I've visited my friends, though. It's been ages since I've traveled anywhere (last time was St. Louis in August 2005). I have to do laundry, read two library books, watch a rented movie, decide what DD is going to wear, get her stuff together, get my stuff together, &etc. I also need to buy a few groceries so that when we come home we will have something to eat. I also need to buy a birthday gift for my friend who I'll be visiting, and Mother's Day cards, and get those cards mailed.

I procrastinate too much. Hehe.

Different Concepts of "Family"

This family in Georgia was worlds apart from this family in San Francisco.

Taking care of one's family is hard work, especially if the elderly person needs a lot of care. If there's no one else to help out, do you just give up?