Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Dilemma of the Hour

Did you know that in nearly seven years with Jason and the boys (most of that time) I have never been away from them for more than a night? My outings usually consist of two-three hours shopping excursions while Harrison naps or working out at the gym while the boys are in their onsite daycare. No girls' trips away. No airplane rides in peace to listen to my ipod or read a periodical. I don't recall the last plane trip I took where I wasn't occupying a child in near exhaustion. Ok, yes I do. Jason and I did go to Grand Cayman when Jake was 8 months old. But that wasn't "me time".

Jason has been to Vegas, New Orleans and New York more times than I can count. At least three of those trips were booby, oops, I mean bachelor parties. I'm seeing an inequality here that I think needs to be remedied.......soon!

Not that I haven't been invited elsewhere. I've been invited to Vegas to desecrate my body in more ways than one I'm certain, and I've been invited to Panama to cleanse my body in more ways than one (yoga trip), but I've always justified my way out of "needing" to go.

Until now.

Jason asked me Sunday if he could go to Ohio to visit a friend (Jay, if you're reading this, yes, that's you) in July when his baby is born. I never said "no" but did remind him that not only am I waaaaaaaaaaaay overdo for a girl trip, he also vetoed every trip I suggested before due to lack of funding. If there's funding for only one trip......I'm now prepared to fight for it.

I am always very supportive of Jason's boy trips. He does what he wants. I don't care and he's the only one bringing home any bread, bacon, sausage and eggs, so who am I to say he can't go?

Who am I to say I can't go? Kinsey Lynn, pack your bags, give your baby to his daddy and let's roll.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Call Me Slack Ass

Sorry to all of my faithful readers (all two of you, including me) for being such a slack ass on posting a new entry in this world.

School started a couple of weeks ago and I am dying a slow death from all of the reading and articles the prof is making me read. To top it all off, the topic is marketing research. Yuck. I hate research. Any class that requires statistics as a prerequisite is not for me. I can do math, but prefer to delegate any necessary math computations to an electronic device of some sort (calculator, computer, even my phone).

I did have a post in mind from last Tuesday (5/16), but there was a mission involved and the mission was a failure, so I will wait on that topic for when the mission is complete. Some of you know what I'm referring to. The rest of you will have to bite your nails in suspense until at least July. The mission has not been rescheduled until at least then. There will be before and after pictures, so let that be a teaser for you.

Today is Friday (I'm certain of that because I checked my calendar today-counting down the days until our Disney Cruise) and it really feels like any other day. I should feel for all of the working drones out there who count down the days from Monday to Friday and the excitement they feel over weekend plans.

My weekend plans are to be in school ALL DAY tomorrow, but other than that the weekends are like any other day, except that instead of cleaning after the kids, I also have Jason to clean up after as well.

Please keep checking things here. I will come up with something muy exciting to share very soon.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Budget Schmudget

I am unemployed. Our household income has been cut by a third. Jason makes himself sick worrying about our finances and demands that every receipt be kept and pennies pinched. To date, no receipts have been collected and I'm still finding pennies neglected in cushions, at the bottom of toy chests, on the garage floor and the bottom of my washing machine looks like a piggy bank, so clearly no pennies pinched either.

Neither of us have really ever had to budget. Yes, we've been spoiled and its a fact. No bragging here - I haven't put my "I'm Rich" button on today and my black underwear with glow in the dark dollar signs have been wadded up in the back of my dresser*, because we are relatively poor now. At least that's what I tell people when they want to go shopping or go to lunch. That's what Jason tells me when I mention going on a trip to San Antonio as we drink coffee and look at the Sunday paper yesterday.

I finish my coffee and put the mug in the sink as I step in a puddle of water on the floor by the dishwasher. "Jason, the dishwasher is still leaking everytime we run it. It probably needs a new seal."

Jason gets up and dismantles the dishwasher, ripping the seal out, examining it and agreeing that yes, it could use a new seal. He goes to Home Depot to buy a new one. They tell him he has to order a new seal from Maytag (so much for reliability - its not even six years old). He comes home and decides he can rig it. He and Jake get their tools. Jake takes his shirt off because you can see his muscles better without his shirt on (he didn't get that logic from Daddy). Thankfully Jason leaves his shirt on. They take the dishwasher completely apart to find corrosion, a thick piece of cardboard used as some sort of insulation and other dishwasher parts that mean nothing to Jason or his 5 year old assistant.

They put the dishwasher back together and for some reason, decide to run it. It leaks again. SHOCKING! Jason says, "Happy Mother's Day! You're getting a new dishwasher!"

We go to Lowes, where we're faced with twenty different dishwashers. I quickly realize OUR criteria for selecting a dishwasher is threefold: color, quietness and appearance. MY Mother's Day present must be stainless, quiet so WE can watch TV while it runs and not have a bunch of cheap buttons and knobs on the outside that Harrison can manipulate at will.

Jason narrows it down to a Bosch and a Kitchen Aid. I'm pushing the kids around in the cart - fast - to keep Harrison sitting still and from trying to climb out. Jason decides on the Bosch. Budget Schmudget, I guess he'd rather spend $800 than $20 for a new seal. Why didn't we just try to replace the seal?????

I always wanted a dishwasher for Mother's Day. Nothing says, "I love you, Mom" like a new steel appliance chosen by Dad.





*I do not own a pair of black underwear with glow in the dark dollar signs on them.....or an "I'm Rich" button. Humor only people.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Wow-This Post Really Sucks

I've been home for nearly three weeks now. I know you will be disappointed to know that my disasters in the kitchen are few and far between, although I have had some horrible visuals of the oven exploding from a gas leak or my stove going up in flames from hot oil that splattered beyond its limits of the edges of the pan. Sort of the same visuals as when we first moved into the house and Jason was going to build a fire with the gas fireplace for the first time - I couldn't help but think the house would explode. It hasn't and my paranoia over the kitchen appliances will settle down eventually too. Hey, I got over my fear of using the Kitchen Aid mixer. Yes, I used to be afraid of that - compared to the wal-mart grade mixers my mother had when I was a kid, the Kitchen Aid is a SERIOUS mixer. I kept picturing it would gallop away and off the counter whenever I turned it on. That hasn't happened either.

Wow, that was a serious detour from the purpose of this post.....

Since I've been home, I have had three job (sort of) offers.....the first was a product marketing position with a very large, global telecom company. Would have been perfect three months ago, but I declined. The second was through networking at the AMA event I volunteered with two weeks ago. Nothing specific, but the person's co-worker mentioned how well connected he is and he did ask for my resume now and when I'm ready to return to the workforce. The third I have yet to get details on, but I'm just baffled at all of the interest now. Three months ago, I was whining to Jason about how no one wanted me and I had no skills, but I guess that's because I was emailing my resume blindly through internet job postings and most of these are coming from the "who you know" job recruiting process.

Its great to know I'm wanted - somewhere - but really, I'm still liking being around my kids. They've grown on me and I think Jason enjoys having me home. I asked him to do the dinner dishes last night (which used to be his job) and he put the dishes in the sink and filled them with water. He's spoiled.......he hasn't had to ask for clean underwear once.

Maybe I should have ran with the tangent I got off on at the beginning of this post - it was more interesting.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Harrison & The ER: A Natural Match

Sunday. 6:20p.m. Carolyn's (Grandma's) house.

Jake has a teddy bear that appears to be one of Jason's when he was small. It definitely had an early 80s vibe (and possibly smell) to it, but Jake had it and Harrison whined for it in jealousy.

"Harrison, do you want one?" Jake says. He heads from the living room to Grandma's antique toy closet with Harrison on his heels. Jason was in the kitchen helping Grandma cook dinner. I was watching "The Office" (Season 2) on DVD in the living room.

BOOM! I turn around to find Harrison face down on the bottom wooden stair as he was following Jake to secure an acceptable teddy bear replacement. Appears he lost his footing and bit it. I picked him up, calmly, until I realized his chin was spewing blood. I took him to the kitchen, ordered up some paper towels and ice and as Jason spun in circles three times trying to get his bearings, I realized this was no ordinary cut. It was a gash that probably needed stitches.

By the time we got Harrison into the car, the bleeding has slowed and he stopped crying, but I sat with him in the back seat trying to keep the ice on it. Ten minutes later we were in the ER of the hospital Jason was "borned" (Carolyn's term) in, where the first question the receptionist asked me is, "Has he been here before?"

What? He's two. Should he have a record by now?

Two and a half hours later, Harrison was seen by two med students, a doctor to approve their diagnosis and the discharge nurse. The med students teamed up to essentially glue Harrison's chin together with dermabond and after a couple of entertaining rounds of the Hokey Pokey, the discharge nurse let us go.

Could Harrison have had stitches? Yes.
Could Harrison have healed virtually fine if we'd stayed at Grandma's for dinner and put our 2 1/2 hours to better use? Probably.
Did we overreact? Maybe....we didn't think so until the Doctor and the med students kept calling his cut "superficial." I almost asked them to stop using that term. I would have preferred "shallow" or a "minor laceration".
Will Harrison be visiting the ER again? I think the odds are yes, he will develop a record somewhere where they'll know his name when we walk in the door.