tuesdays are speshl

I hate Tuesdays.

I don't have anything personal against Tuesday. But the schedule that engulfs my weekly Tuesday usually makes for a less than enjoyable day. I always pick up Zeke and Yana from school, but this year some genius decided it was good idea for them to go to school at 8am, meaning they get out at 2:20. Which means I have to leave to pick them up no later than 2. And Bella's naptime is at 1:30. You can see where I'm going with this.

I try to lay her down for an early nap, but she's just not ready for one. So we fight it out for a while until she finally does, which just means that she's in a little less of a bad mood on our way over to get them and back. What that also means is that by the time we get back home, she's tired again, but she doesn't really want to take another nap because she's already had one.

So...as you can imagine, much of my Tuesday is consumed with screaming. It's fun.

For the past few weeks, and for the next few, I've been doing a bible study with my mom and sister on Tuesday nights. That's usually something enjoyable to look forward to, however, it also means that after Jeff gets off work and gets home, and we eat dinner, he's left with the aftermath of the bad moods. I know this, and it causes me to have a less than enjoyable bible study.

Today has been no different. Bella is currently laying in her bed screaming. I am determined she won't win, but my sanity may get the better of me soon. Yana has knocked everything off of the playroom table about 5 times after I've told her at least that many to put it all away. Zeke, no matter how many times I've told him that the Wii won't turn on and I don't know why, has stood in front of it, pushing the power button over and over saying "The tv says no signal. I pushed the power button and it should come on when you do that, but it won't."

I've had my usually Tuesday rant where I've told them all in the most loving way possible that they are all driving me crazy :) I always follow it up with "I love you, but you are all driving me nuts."

Yana just came and gave me a handmade card that said "I love you Jess" on the outside and "You are speshl" on the inside. So even though I feel like I might lose my mind because everyone is driving me crazy, I can't help but remember that Tuesdays are "speshl" even in spite of their craziness.

Happy Tuesday :)

v. a. c. a. tion: funny update

1) Rear turn signal bulb burned out. Add that to the list.

2) Left to replace the turn signal bulb. Backed over an entire box of scrapbooking supplies that I forgot to take in the house when I cleaned the van out.

3) Arrived at Walmart to have the bulb replaced. Sales associate says to me about the service worker standing right next to her at the desk "You can ask him yourself if we do that." The same associate then proceeds to put my information in their system as "Gassisa McCarty". Really?

Thanks Walmart. Once again your stellar customer service has exceeded my wildest expectations. Not.

4) They kept my keys. I had to go get the kids out of the car after checking the vehicle in. This seemed to anger the anti-theft system when I had them unlock the door for me from the inside, which followed by persistent honking of the car horn for the next 5 minutes.

Overall - you can see how it was a great day. T-minus 18 hours til vacation....and counting.

i heart donald miller

Awesome article by Donald Miller. Jeff has read all of his books. I've never read one. But I like his blog. Sometimes he's out there, but he's real...and I like it.

I’d rather be hated than loved with conditions. I think most people would agree. At least when people hate you, they are being intellectually honest. I mean you know where they stand. But we’ve all shared a political view or a struggle and had people take a half step back, or worse, reveal they no longer want the best for us. When this happens I get a hollow feeling and I associate that hollow feeling with the person and their ideas. So that begs the question, do we actually love our friends without conditions? Are we the kind of friend we hope to have? Ultimately, loving people conditionally is an attempt to control them. We are wrongly thinking that if we can make people “pay” for their faults, or their opinions that don’t match ours, they will have a negative association with their faults or their supposedly wrong opinions. But that’s not the way it works.

When we attach conditions to our love, what we are really doing is attaching a negative association with us! People don’t sit around saying, man, if I just didn’t have this fault or this opinion, that person would love me. What they actually think is this: Wow, that person is a jerk, and all they represent, including their morality and political beliefs must make people jerks. I never want to be like that, so I will seek another community that accepts me as I am.

It’s interesting to me that Jesus never forced anybody to agree with Him. Instead, He has a quiet confidence. He was responsible to say the truth and to be Himself and he let others take responsibility for their lives. He did not use love like money, paying some and withholding from others in an effort to control them. He spoke the truth, He wasn’t offended when people didn’t agree, and He gave them their own will to do as they wish. But what’s more, He loved them regardless. He loved them whether they followed Him or tried to kill them. He even loved them while they were killing Him.

If you have an opinion, and somebody disagrees, let them. Just make it know what you think about the issue, listen to them closely, and then love and care about them regardless. If they keep trying to change your mind, gently explain to them that you simply don’t agree, but you don’t want it to interrupt your friendship. If people can only be friends with others who think the way they think, this is a weakness in character.

The Jesus kind of love, the love that speaks the truth and yet does not try to control, is supernatural. It is a very confident position and it comes from God. Will it always win? No, but the point is not to win, the point is to love, even to our deaths. So make this commitment, I will tell the truth to the best of my ability, I will not try to control, and there is nothing anybody can do to get me to stop loving them.

v. a. c. a. tion

I grew up with older parents. Therefore I listened to older music. And I'll admit - I kind of like it. Sometimes. So my blog post - it's a nod to a Connie Francis song. Yup, I'm officially a dork.

My day today further confirmed that we are in need of a vacation. It wasn't a bad day. It was just one of those days when you are ready to leave reality behind and just go.

Thursday, Jeff and I got Droid's. I know, it's really exciting :) To make it even better, I got an incredible deal on them. Last night his went haywire and developed a red line on the display. Okay, so not haywire. But when you have a cool new phone, you want it to be awesome. And a red line down the middle of your display - not so awesome. So...I called the store. Bring it in, swap it out, no problem.

Right. Easier said than done.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love Verizon. I will never leave them. We've had them for years. We spent so much time at the Oxmoor Mall kiosk one year that we still exchange Christmas cards with the sales rep there. (Not really...but we should.) My mom's phone number - the original cell phone number my dad had when he got his first cell phone 20 years ago. Me and Verizon - we're as good as married. BUT...I am overly irritated by how they handle their customer load these days. You walk in, go to a computer, sign in, and 45 minutes later, someone calls your name. It doesn't matter what you're there for - that's how they roll. I was inside long enough getting Jeff's phone switched out that I began to worry my family might think I had been kidnapped or held up.

To celebrate my escape from the Verizon store, we decided to eat at our favorite new restaurant, Senor Iguanas. They just opened a new location at Shelbyville Rd & Hurstbourne so we tried it out. (BTW...it used to be the India Palace. Just incase you were wondering.) Now, we always eat at the Central Station location, where Fernando is always our waiter. You should try it and ask for him. He's awesome. But, we thought we'd a give this one a go, since it was close.

Bad decision.

Crappy service. Full of drunks (isn't it Monday?). Totally disappointed. They seemed more concerned with the table full of young girls with the constant flow of margaritas. Nothing wrong with the occasional margarita. Just give me good service and I give you good tip. Easy as pie.

So, really, this post has nothing to do with vacation. Except that after this day, I am ready for mine. Wednesday, here I come!

there was an old woman

I live in a rather small house. It's a cape cod with a finished basement, and if all of the square footage were on one floor, it could, theoretically, have a lot of space But it's an old house, and it's choppy. So sometimes with the number of people living here, we're busting at the seams. You've heard the old nursery rhyme:

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do;
She gave them some broth without any bread;
Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

Now, obviously I won't be feeding anyone broth or handing out many whippings - as much as I'd like to sometimes :) I do feel a bit like the old woman in the shoe today, though. Today I am watching my nephew, Hunter. Normally my mom keeps him, but she and my dad are on vacation, so I told my sister he could come hang with me today. When you've already got 3, what's one more?! Honestly, he's a very good baby and I am glad to have him.

So if you drive by my house today, and it looks similar to the picture at left - don't be alarmed ;)

images from the weekend

Bella tried on my headband for size...

...and enjoyed a cookie with Sophie.

A bunch of ducks invaded the parking lot by Dooley's Bagels.

hydrocephalus

It's been almost a year since Bella was diagnosed with hydrocephalus. It seems crazy to think that almost an entire year has passed since she had surgery. Since then, she's had her first Halloween, first Thanksgiving, first Christmas, first birthday, started crawling, talking, walking, etc. I look back then and remember feeling like my world was crumbling around me. She's doing so well now, it's hard to imagine sometimes that it even happened, that she actually has a shunt in her brain that's doing this amazing, important thing that her body can't do on its own.

I remember seeing her right after she came out of recovery. It was so sad. She was so lifeless and helpless and I couldn't even hold her. A friend of mine had come to visit and she told me about a friend of hers named Jennifer - who I had actually met on a few occasions - who had a daughter that was born with hydrocephalus and had already had several surgeries. It was good to know at that moment that someone else understood what I was going through.

The next day, I got a phone call in the hospital room. It was Jennifer's mom. She said she just wanted to tell me that they were praying for us, that they understood what we were going through, that she didn't want us to feel like we were alone in our experience and if we ever needed anything or just needed someone to talk to about it, all I had to do was call. I don't think she knows to this day how much that phone call meant to me. I don't think I knew, until this day, how much that phone call meant to me.

Saturday, Jennifer participated in a Hydrocephalus walk in Iroquois Park and her story was featured on Fox 41. The link is below if you'd like to read it.

Jennifer's Story

My sweet little Bella, post-surgery and now.

max

Since March or April, Bella has been "cruising." It's a term used when babies start "walking" but still hold onto stuff, like walls or furniture. It's another one of those bittersweet milestones - you're so glad to see them learning and developing, and yet you realize that once again your life is changed forever. We'd been trying to coax her into walking to us, even letting us hold her hand, but she'd have no part of it. About 3 weeks ago, we were at the park and she saw a little girl close to her age walking around. I put her down on the ground and off she went. Since then, she's been wanting to walk everywhere, but she still holds on to our fingers while she does it. She's made some short strides on her own, but still a little unsure of herself.

Yesterday, me and the kids went to a friend's house. They have two older boys who Zeke and Yana are friends with, and my friend, Michele, also keeps her cousin's little boy who is 21 months old. When Max woke up from his nap, her walked over and gave Bella a hug. Apparently, that was all the coaxing she needed! She decided to strut her stuff and show him what she was made of, and off she went. (Should I be worried?)

Since yesterday, I can't get her to sit down. She's walking everywhere! And pretty well at that!

Ignore the nut hollering in the background. ;)

monday confession

I hate my neighbors.

Okay...I won't say hate. It's a strong word and we shouldn't hate anyone. But they drive me crazy. Everything from parking cars in the front yard, a chicken coop in the back yard, a week of fireworks after the fourth was over, building a cover over their back porch so they can party late into the evening - even when it's raining, trash all over their backyard (and mine), letting their kids use our basketball goal without permission when we were not home...I could go on.

Yesterday a pile of branches with leaves appeared in the backyard. Tonight when we left they were working on some type of framing. When we got home, this is what we found:

I'm not sure I want to know what it's going to be used for. I'll keep you posted.

tree trimming

Perhaps Central Park should consider trimming their trees once in a while. This is terrible:


Falling branch kills baby in NYC's Central Park

NEW YORK — A 6-month-old baby was killed Saturday and her mother injured by a falling tree branch at New York's Central Park Zoo.

Police said the 33-year-old New Jersey woman was posing with her baby in front of the sea lion exhibit and her husband was taking their picture when the branch fell.

The woman and infant were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where the baby was pronounced dead. The mother was listed in stable condition. Police identified the baby as Gianna Ricciutti of Union City, N.J.

Max Pulsinelli, a spokesman for the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the zoo, said he could not comment on the accident beyond what the police had said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family," he said. It's the second fatality caused by a tree branch this year at Central Park.

A 46-year-old man died in February when a branch heavy from snow fell and hit him.

In July 2009, a Google engineer was knocked unconscious after being hit on the head by a rotted tree branch at the park.

fu manwhat?

For a still undetermined reason, my husband feels the need to change the style of his facial hair quite often. It's sort of like when I get bored and move the furniture - only it isn't on my face.

This is his latest idea. He did it once before. I told him not to when he asked me what I thought, so he locked himself in the bathroom and did it anyway. Now he's trying to talk me into it again. Bet you can guess what my answer will be again.

Shower #1

Baby Shower #1 is over.

I have (had, really) 3 baby showers, 3 weeks in a row. Yikes.

Today was a shower for my sister, who is due to have a baby boy at the end of April. It was the first shower I've ever given.

Actually, that isn't true. Four years ago, I gave a personal shower for a friend of mine who was getting married. The shower was a success. The marriage - not so much. I don't think that's any reflection on me, just thought I'd throw that in there :)

Anyway, it was the first BIG shower that I've thrown where I didn't know everyone in attendance. I don't particularly care for speaking in front of large groups. I'm sort of a dork. I get nervous - hot and sweaty - and I fumble around my words. I try to be witty and funny, and I feel like people look at me like I'm stupid. Planning the event - I can knock that one out of the park. Faciliatating games, giving direction....not so polished at that part.

All that being said, I think it went well. There was a great turnout and Shannon got a LOT of good stuff. I'm super happy for her and can't wait to meet my newest little nephew!

Cabin Fever

Day 2 of being stuck in the house. (We did venture out to Taco Bell today to get lunch, only so I didn't lose my mind.) This will be the end of it for a few days - tomorrow I work, and even if I didn't, Z and Y are going back to their mom's house this evening. Not that I want them to go back, but I do need a little bit of peace and quiet. I have seen more episodes of Phineas and Ferb then I care to talk about it, and I'm pretty sure I'll be hearing the Mario Bros. theme in my sleep for the next few days.

I e-filed our taxes Monday, only to have it returned saying that - BIG SURPRISE - "someone" claimed Z as her dependent again. Every year for the last 3 years - and it's obviously going to keep happening.

Last night, Z and Y were due to be dropped off with their mom at 8:15, which even under normal circumstances is stupid. Considering, however, that the roads were very possibly iced over we made the decision to not drop them off and keep them until this afternoon. We offered up that she could have the whole weekend of her birthday instead since she was only supposed to have them from 9am - 9pm that day. She responded and said that she doesn't want it. WHAT? What kind of mother doesn't want to see her kids for her birthday? Instead she wants to take an entire day of parenting time from us so that we don't see them for a full week. Not to mention that in a month, she will have them 3 entire weekends in a row, plus a full week for spring break. What a stellar parent.

It's only Wednesday and I'm ready for this week to be over!