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Weblog Archives April 30, 2004 Quote du Jour: point your fingers and do the twist. The Wiggles I don't get where all the Wiggles hate comes from. I love the Wiggles - they're willing to entertain my child when I am not. Sadly, that can be fairly often. Yeah, I'm ruining his life. I've gotten over it and so should you. I love my son but there are only so many two year old games I can take. So when life gets harsh, I get the Wiggles. They are my new best friends. Actually, we've been good friends for a while now. This stay at home mom business is a real challenge. I mean what is an adult woman supposed to do with a kid all day? Sure you can play enriching games for a while, and go for a walk, and do some reading, maybe do some housework (with a toddler's 'help' of course) but there are a lot of hours in the day and a lot of days in the week. The mind can only take so much. So sooner or later I turn to the TV to babysit. And mostly I don't feel guilty about it. There are two people in this mother-son relationship and it will go a lot easier if we both emerge with our sanity. I will not sacrifice myself on the altar of motherhood. I'm not that good. He learns things from TV and he enjoys it so the Canadian Pediatric Association can shut up. Or come babysit. Thus endeth the diatribe. April 27, 2004 Quote du Jour: Feeling screwed up at a screwed up time in a screwed up place does not necessarily make you screwed up. Mark Hunter (Christian Slater) in Pump Up the Volume Yeah, so I'm not one for movies generally but Pump Up the Volume is probably my favorite movie. Aside from the fact that it was the right movie to see at a really unpleasant time in my life, it's also really reflects how I feel/felt about the social struggle of being a teenager (which I still was when I saw it - yes I really was a teenager at one point). Besides all of that though, I think Mr. Hunter up there has a point. Look at your damn context before you decide that you're the problem. Sure it's easy to blame yourself, and figure that you've dug your own grave in whatever bad situation you're in, but you might have been just taking the only route open to you. People get in bad situations that get beyond their control , and it's easier for everyone else if you blame yourself but that doesn't mean it's the right or healthy thing to do. Whoa! Holy Rant! Anyway, so I managed to be a rotten mom to both of my kids today and one of them is just an embryo so far. Yeah, The Boy was in his stroller watching Blues Clues, I was upstairs drinking Pepsi and reading the TomatoNation essay. So not only was I ignoring my son, I was flooding an embryo with caffeine. Someone call the authorities, I totally suck. It's really hard to get some brainspace when The Boy is around these days. He has never required any personal space but now he not only sticks close to me but he's started talking loud for fun. In a way that crowds my brain. So my physical space is limited and my brain is chockablock with the sound of my kid's name or my own or the fact that Teletubbies is on. They don't tell you these things in the parenting books. They also don't tell you that the main hazard of wrangling a toddler while you are pregnant with the toddler's sibling is that toddlers are most cuddly when you are most nauseated. It's a fun ride ladies and gents, step right up. (well probably only the ladies should step right up, a pregnant gent is a little beyond our technology). Thank you and good night! April 25, 2004 Quote du Jour: Discussion is irrelevant. Comply. - Seven of Nine - Star Trek:Voyager So you probably wouldn't think that someone who likes to talk as much as I do would agree with Seven on this one but there are indeed times when discussion is irrelevant and you should just shut up and get to it. Yeah, sure it applies to sex (I know that's what you were thinking) some of the time but that's not the main situation I had in mind. Being a leader-type person, and a fair one, I often find myself in situations where I have a bunch of people with valuable opinions firing suggestions at me but if I listen to them all nothing will get done. So that's when I invoke the Borg rule and fire the above quote back at them. There are times when you can listen to suggestions and opinions and then there are times when suggestion taking undermines your authority. And hell, someone has to be in charge - so why not me? Anyway, so life has vastly improved 'round here. The Man returned from the wilds of Toronto this afternoon and damned if I didn't feel better as soon as I saw him. It's a good thing I'm already married to him or I'd be in the unenviable position of having to steal someone else's husband. Because if I hadn't been smart enough to snap him up, someone else would have. And now I'd be plotting her murder - that'd be unfortunate. But I'd probably get a lot of writing done in prison though. Presuming I got caught of course :) Which I might not, because I've got lots of the sort of friends who would help me hide bodies. (so don't cross me! muahahahahaha) Now that I think about it, why the hell am I up here alone when I could be hanging out with my husband? I'm outta here. April 24, 2004 Quote du Jour: Imagination is more important than knowledge - Albert Einstein I really hope you're right, Albert, my friend, because while I know a little bit about a wide variety of things I don't know a lot about any one thing in particular. I do however have a giant sized imagination. And if that's good enough for Einstein, it's good enough for me. I am really too tired to be writing. The Man has been away since Thursday and the Boy has been testing my endurance ever since. He flatly refused to nap yesterday afternoon and then fell asleep at 6:40. I had to soothe him back to sleep at 10 or so and then around midnight he decided to get up for a couple of hours. I fell asleep at 2 and he woke up at 6:30. Gah. So I should be industrious right now but I may just go sleep. In fact I definitely will. April 20, 2004 Quote du Jour: What fresh hell is this? Dorothy Parker (usually said upon hearing the phone ring or a knock at the door) Or in my case, I said it upon waking this morning. Man did I feel lousy and to misquote Dorothy Parker not just plain lousy but fancy lousy, lousy with raisins in it. I'm not having morning sickness per se, in that I don't get a breakfast review or anything, but I do have much queasiness, dizziness and general unpleasantness. If you're looking for something to do in the mornings, I don't recommend this. Hell, it's interesting for a while but the excitement wanes quickly. I have seasickness bands and they help me all day but they're tight around my wrists so I don't like to wear them while I sleep. Why? I don't know. It just feels weird. Anyway, enough about that. The Boy has been a serious challenge today. Do you have any idea how hard it is to write while a two year old is trying to pry your jaws apart to see your tongue? No? Well, it's hard, trust me. I can't even make an analogy for you (and I'm the analogy queen*). Yeah, sometimes I wonder why I don't get more writing done. Then I spend the afternoon fighting to keep my jaws within, say, two or three inches of one another and I realize that Mark was right (again!) : I've decided that The Boy is my main priority right now so getting any writing done is a bonus. It's a matter of perspective and once I look at it that way I feel a lot better. I can't even imagine what having two kids to wrangle is going to do to my writing. But hey. I'll manage. I usually do. And perhaps by then I'll be rich and be able to afford childcare. I live in hope. Well actually I live in a duplex but you get my meaning. *this is no way detracts from my other position as empress of the unknown world so don't go eyeing that position. (that means you, Chantelle! :) perhaps I'll bequeath my empressness to you in my will) April 18, 2004 Quote du Jour: The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a very creative mind to spot wrong questions. Anthony Jay Well, Tony, old pal, one thing that feminist theory has taught me is that sometimes the questions are wrong. And I pick those suckers out all the time. I must have a very creative mind (imagine! a writer with her own website being creative, who'd of thunk it?). Anyway, this has not been an exciting day for the mombie. I did venture out in search of some drawstring pants but was unsuccessful (yeah my other pants are already tight but I'm way too small for maternity stuff yet - thankfully). Oh wait, something exciting did happen - I ran into the Phil. Well not literally, I was heading to my car and he called out to me. It was nice to see him unexpectedly and I think he was glad to see me if only because I could drive him home :). In other news, The Boy and I visited my parents and Ange and when we returned home, Hil and Chad and Raevyn were here to visit. So that was exciting. I guess I lied about the lack of excitement in my day after all. Bad Mombie! Now having bored you all to tears, I'm outta here. April 17, 2004 Quote du jour: You been around enough to see That if you think you're it You better check with me. Liz Phair (Girls Girls Girls) Today, for a change, the quote has nothing to do with the entry. I just like it. So I've discovered at least one thing different about this pregnancy. I'm less worried about dumb stuff. Last time, if I was thirsty I immediately ran to get a drink. I was afraid that that was the precise moment something crucial was happening and I would ruin it because I didn't down a glass of water when needed. Now even at the time I knew this was irrational but I couldn't shake it, I knew if the irrational fear was correct I would never be able to live with the guilt. This time, I still drink the water but I know that the timing is not really that precise so I don't need to drop everything and run. It's nice to experience all of this in a more relaxed fashion. After all, a lot of the process is out of my hands so there's no point getting worked up about it. I'll just do my best and if something happens, I'll deal. I promise not to make this weblog all about my pregnancy for the next nine months but it's going to come up quite a bit. I'm warning you in advance so there's no point in complaining to me about it. Peggy: Happy Birthday! I hope you're having a most excellent time! April 16, 2004 Quote du Jour: If pregnancy were a book, they would cut out the last two chapters. - Nora Ephron And that's one to grown on! So in case you're wondering, yeah, the quote does have something to do with this entry. Everything to do with it in fact. My tin roof is rusted, I'm in the club, I'm up the spout, there's a bun in my oven, I'm 'in trouble', I'll be visiting an aunt, I'm knocked up, I'm in a delicate condition, I'm awaiting the pitter patter of little feet, I'm expecting a visitor, I'm in the family way, I'm refueling at the gestation station*. I'm pregnant in case you haven't figured it out. And I'm due Christmas Day (convenient,huh?). It's like a re-run of when I had The Boy. Except that time I took Nora Ephron's advice (or perhaps he did) and he came 7 weeks early. I'm hoping to go the distance this time. But dammit, come the first of November, I'm going to be ready. So to answer your questions: 1) No, I don't care if it's a boy or a girl. A girl would be cool for variety, a boy would be cool because I already have the clothes. I'll just take a healthy baby please. 2) If it's a girl, she'll be Katherine Annie, if it's a boy I don't know but I'm thinking one of his names will be Mark. (a shout out there, bro!) 3) Yeah, I feel mostly okay. No puking, but some nausea. I bought seasickness bracelets though and those are helping. I never did have morning sickness last time, I just felt sorta hung over for the first three months (that is when I wasn't sleeping) so hey, here's hoping! So there's the reason I've been so sleepy lately. And apparently it also explains my headaches. I've actually suspected for a week and a half and confirmed it by peeing on a stick (not just any stick, folks so don't blame me if your twig is inconclusive) on Tuesday. I was just maxing out on the good feeling of telling people by doing it slowly. And on that note, I think I'll head off to bed. * Thanks for that last one Jason, you are too funny, dude. April 14, 2004 Quote du Jour: It behoved that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. Julian of Norwich Okay so the reference to sin leaves me cold ('cause, you know, I want to know who gets to call what a sin) but otherwise, I like the idea that, well, you know, all shall be well. 'cause often, it is, it's just a matter of time. Or maybe the quote refers to how even the outcome of sin can turn out well. Hmm... I can see that. Anyway, on to a different topic. I have the cutest kid ever. We were on an 'abenture' today and we were playing the Wiggles CD in the car and he was singing along. Well his own version of singing along. So Six Months in a Leaky Boat became 'youn boy dadadadada leaky boat' It was too adorable. Luckily he doesn't have my singing (non) talent, he was almost on key. I'm still tired so I'm signing off. April 13, 2004 Quote du Jour: Life is always either a tightrope or a featherbed. Give me the tightrope. Edith Wharton Yep, I'll take the tightrope too there, Edith, so keep moving. I don't want to get all comfy and complacent, I'll bore myself to death. And besides, I'm allergic to feathers so I probably wouldn't have a chance to die of boredom, I'd die from hay fever. I presume untreated hay fever could kill you? Well, anyway, it would suck. Anyway, so I am soooooo tired. I got lots of sleep last night but I am still beat. I wonder why that is? Perhaps the fact that I'm cutting down on caffeine has something to do with it? Maybe it's the long walk I took today? Maybe 2 years of mombieness is still catching up with me. And the funny thing is, it's not like my brain is tired, it's mostly my eyes. The lids weigh 500lbs, well, about 500lbs. Perhaps 498lbs or so. And perhaps that's my signal to clue up. I'm not making any sense. April 12, 2004 Quote du Jour: I am one of the people who love the why of things. Catherine the Great Well, I'm with you on that one, Cathy my dear. I must know why. In all cases. It is not enough to know the other 4 Ws, I must also have the reason for it. I think that's why I loved university so much (and still would) university is all about the why. I mean, I get why people would get annoyed by the theorizing that takes place at university but for me, motive is everything. Why did they choose that path? Why did they separate people that way? Why does that group have those beliefs? I'll take it, in doses large enough to kill (to quote Liz Phair in Johnny Feelgood). Sure, I know that most people are keen on the how. They want to be told how to do what they want to do and how to apply it and then be left alone to do it. But inside I am still the grade four girl who refused to learn long division until I was told it's purpose. "No, I understand HOW to do it, now just tell me why I would?" And I think I would have rocked Math if someone had of explained why those formulas and whatnot were useful. If they had said you use logarithms for X purpose, that's why they exist, I would have delved into them. Alas, I couldn't care about them and my knowledge of them languished until it was time to do my MA thesis. They still gave me a little trouble then because I had trouble understanding WHY I was using statistics to explain patterns in a group of 87 artifacts in the first place, let alone what place logarithms had in the explanation. {Statisticians in the readership, I apologize for my abuse of your field and the abuse that many of my fellow archaeologists continue to perpetrate.} Anyway, enough blathering. RAEVYN!!!!: Happy Birthday last friday, I'm a jerk and I forgot to give you props in here. Way to rock 3, kiddo! Mark: Have I mentioned that you rock? You are the best brother EVER. April 11, 2004 Quote du Jour: Anything is good if it's made of chocolate. - Jo Brand So I'm not sure about the literal truth of the above quote. I mean in a general sense, yeah, sure but The Boy ate a lot of chocolate this morning and then had quite the poop for himself this afternoon and while that was, strictly speaking, 'made' of chocolate it wasn't good. Not that I tasted it, but it smelled pretty bad. But overall, chocolate is good. But the problem for me is that I'm a chocolate snob. I'm not so keen on milk chocolate (unless it's Milka brand) and I want nothing to do with that chocolate flavoured crap. Give me good rich dark chocolate, or any sort of Euorpean chocolate and we're good to go. In fact my current favourite is Rittersport squares. They have hazelnut chocolate inside and they rock. But you can only get them at Shopper's and they're kind of expensive. But hell, I'd rather have a tiny bit of a Rittersport bar than a huge chunk of crappy chocolate. It's not a case of 'hey, chocolate is chocolate!' it's a case of 'there's chocolate and then there's CHOCOLATE' . Rittersport is CHOCOLATE, baby, and don't you forget it. Oh, I must go take my science defying cake out of the oven. (yeah, Jason, there's no such thing as defying science, whatever :)) Go buy a Rittersport square and I'll catch up with you later! April 10, 2004 Quote du jour: And the trouble is if you don't risk anything you risk even more. Erica Jong So thanks to some eagle-eyed scouting by Ange, I bought a book called Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons. I finished it tonight. I really enjoyed it but at the same time I thought 'I could write more vividly than this' and I think I would rather read more vivid descriptions of women's lives so I guess I'd better write them. It's so easy to resolve to write more, so hard to actually do it. To quote Joel Salzman 'no one likes to write but everyone likes to have written'. For me that's not strictly true, I like getting lost in the process but I don't like having to take a break from the rest of my life to write. I kind of wish I could just keep a schedule and write every Tuesday from 9-12 or whatever but my current duties prevent that. But hey, I guess I'll figure it out. Do you know what's cool? Being the Easter Bunny! I can't wait to see the Boy rampaging around the living room tomorrow on a sugar high. No tubby toast for him for breakfast: it's Easter, it's all about the chocolate, baby. April 8, 2004 Quote du jour: The Fates guide those who go willingly, those who do not, they drag. - Seneca Again, this quote has nothing to do with my entry. I just like it. Even though I'm not really sure about the existence of The Fates. I like to think that I make my own destiny, but I suppose it is immanently (is that the word I need?) possible that my choices either lead me to my greater path or lead me from it. Anyway, it's much too late to go there tonight. I met my second cousin Nicholas tonight, it was really cool to see and hold such a tiny baby again (he's only five weeks old) and neat to have more stuff in common with my cousin Tina. It's really weird how the shared experiences of baby/toddler wrangling help you bond with someone. I mean, tell a parent they aren't crazy, that you've felt the same way, and you're friends for life. Anyway, that's all I have to say about that. Tomorrow - Raevyn's Birthday! and the annual Hennebury JCS watching extravaganza! Whoot! And finally :Welcome to the world, Owen Hannam! You lucky baby! April 6, 2004 Quote du jour: I'd like to have money. And I'd like to be a good writer. These two can come together, and I hope they will, but if that's too adorable, I'd rather have money. Dorothy Parker So if it's only 9:10am and things are already going badly can you write off the whole day as crappy or is that a self-fulfilling prophesy? Does labelling a day bad at the outset make it so? Crap, I don't know, I'm not a day psychologist or anything. In fact, I'm not any kind of psychologist, I have never even taken a psychology course. That doesn't prevent me from being an amateur therapist though. I think for me the therapist stuff is more of a result of being annoyingly sensible and having learned to put things in perspective rather than a natural bent towards psychology. So why is my day crappy already? Well, The Boy has designated today 'Whine Day' and he's not even serving any cheese. Seriously, I couldn't drink my tea because he was hanging off my arm and making a noise like an engine trying to turn over. For someone with a headache hangover* this was almost intolerable. Yeah, I can hear the parenting experts weighing in now: ************************************************* Attachment Parenting Expert: You haven't paid him enough attention, put down the newspaper and your tea, cuddle him, tell him you love him, perhaps read a book. If you give him what he needs, you'll get what you need. And you may find that some cuddle time with your son was actually what you needed. Back up the bus there, sunshine. Telling me what I need? Not flying with the Mombie. I give him plenty of attention, we play tons of games, hell I spent half my days as Big Jake, I can take a few minutes to drink my tea guilt-free. Got it? 'North American' Parenting Expert: You've definitely got your son spoiled, he is too dependent on you and is unable to entertain himself. You need to remove yourself from the equation, get him used to being away from you. Yeeeah, Do you know what I like? People who make snap, yet sweeping judgements about things. My kid isn't spoiled, he doesn't get everything he wants (by far). He's just, well, what's the word for it? um right: two, and he doesn't get that life isn't designed by him. ************************************************* Hey, I feel better already. I wonder what my imaginary experts would both say if they knew he's downstairs watching Teletubbies while sitting in his stroller? They'd probably call the imaginary authorities and then I'd be in for it. Today is the day The Man has a meeting at lunch so I have a long day of solo toddler wrangling. I had better figure out an 'abenture' to take him on before we both go crazy. *not to be confused with a hangover headache, a headache hangover is the dazed, stiff feeling you have when a long-term headache has receded but may return if you do the wrong thing. April 5, 2004 First things first: Happy Birthday Denise (aka Neece). You are most excellent and deserving of a birthday of great coolness. I hope you got it, baby! Quote du jour: Lewis says he's got a headache, I look in his eyes and I believe him. Liz Phair, shitloads of money. Unlike yesterday, today's quote does have something to do with something. I still have my godforsaken headache! And if you looked in my eyes you would definitely believe it. They don't match. My eyes that is, my left one looks all weird and small. I'm hating it. It's not bad enough that I feel like crap? I have to look like crap too. Hurrah! This has not been a superdeduper day. The Headache (it's in caps because it's an entity at this point) has been looming, and even medication didn't help, it just dulled the pain somewhat. I hate taking medication that doesn't work. It just feels wrong for some reason. The great bonus of being a headachey Mombie is that not only do I get to feel bad physically but I get to feel guilty for not being fun for my kid to hang out with. Then again, perhaps I'm not that fun to start with so he hardly notices the difference when I'm ill. How can I tell if he thinks I'm fun? Perhaps he's just killing time until he's old enough to run around outside with other kids. 'Yeah, my Mom? she thinks she's cool, but nu-uh!" Anyway, that concludes the whining. I just typed shining by mistake, so I guess on some subconsciously level I feel that I'm not shiny at this point. To quote HHH in Pump Up The Volume: So Be It. Jason: Thanks again, Dude. You rock. Big time! April 4, 2004 Quote du jour: It's nice to be liked, but it's better by far to get paid. Liz Phair, shitloads of money Caveat Reader: I have a nasty headache, this entry may not make 'the sense'. So , you may ask, what does the quote du jour have to do with this entry? Absolutely nothing! (say it again!) I just like it, and it's my site so, there you go. Shitloads of money, there's no downside. I am both tired and cranky today. Nope not just tired. Also: cranky. And sadly it's for no good reason. Well the tired part, I have a reason for, but the cranky? Nope. The Boy and The Man were both delightful today, I got to go on the bad with Krista this afternoon, we had Neecee's birthday party this evening, it's all good. Yet, I have the crank. I'm fine with it, I just pity those who have to spend time with me today. Luckily for me, those unfortunates have been my sisters, my husband and my oldest friend so they either ignored my unpleasantness or didn't notice. I unearthed some of my writing from early 2000 this week and I was quite impressed with myself. Either I'm a good writer or I'm delusional, and either way: I'm happy. The headache wins, I'm done here. April 2, 2004 So, yeah, my in-laws are in Mexico so we have their car. That translates to me having transportation for 18 whole days. I hardly know what to do with myself. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy having access to a vehicle, but it can be a pain. I feel pressured to go places when I don't really have anywhere I need to go. I just don't like to let possible car time go to waste. But then I think about the hassle of lifting the Boy in and out of his car seat and oh, vey. So I'm conflicted about the whole thing. I mean if I always had a car available it would be a non-issue but knowing that it's a limited time offer (order now!) makes me want to drive somewhere, fast. I'm really done rambling about the car now. Having successfully bored my readership, I'm outta here. April 1, 04 So I forgot to mention that I cut The Man's hair on Sunday and now he looks like a much cuter Murray Wiggle. That may not seem so hot to the non-moms out there but trust me, Moms like it! Or at least this Mom does. My Messenger addiction has not improved, in fact I may be getting worse. It's just too cool to be able to chat with Mark in BC and Rick in Calgary and have the sort of funny nonsense conversations that you couldn't have on a long distance call and that wouldn't work via email. And if that's wrong, well I don't want to be right. Anyway I have to wrangle a toddler to sleep so I'm off. Prom-goers : Have big fun. Anti-Prom-goers: Have big un-formal fun. © Christine C. Hennebury 2003 |
