Just Heather

My little sister has called me 3 times in the last 2 weeks for no reason at all. Every time so far I have thought she dialed the wrong number and felt too bad to admit it. However, after 3 times I’m starting to think maybe she intentionally sought me out. This is not a bad thing since I enjoy talking to my sister, just unusual.

Usually, she only calls me if she has a question about cooking, couponing or needs me to run interference for her with someone else in the family. Maybe she’s growing up. 😉 Or maybe her last phone bill was astronomical and she realized next time she made a call just because she was bored it should be to someone on her free network.

If only our children were so well behaved. I just walked in to find the dog still as can be, poised over some food the girls had abandoned on the floor. Since it’s one less thing for me to bend over and pickup, I told him to go for it. He promptly gobbled it up with —I swear—a smile on his face.

I’m just wondering exactly how it occured to him to stand there and wait for permission. It’s certainly not the norm among the human children around here.

The first of the triplets arrived early this morning. Amber and Mike greeted their firstborn, Eli, at 4:30 a.m. Amber is my cousin-the oldest in a set of 3 11 months apart. I’m the youngest. In a few weeks, Dusty and Jaime—along with big siblings Kayla and Blake—will greet their new addition. Dusty is 6 months older than me. My little one will be last in line, just as I was.

Once upon a time the 3 of us were very close. Over the years we’ve drifted apart, as extended family often does. I see them all at Christmas, every other year at Thanksgiving, and sporadically in between. This year I have seen them more than ever—thanks to family weddings and showers. Our current circumstances have brought us a bit closer together—seated at the pregnancy table.

I’m looking forward to Christmas when we will all be together again, accompanied by the next generation of the Cousins Three. We’ll listen to the adults wax poetic about their deja vu. We’ll chat in the corner as we happily pass off our spawn to anyone and everyone who wants a turn. Well, except for Amber who will probably hover over her firstborn as if his life depended on it. It’s been 11 years since we parted ways, and together once again, we’ll marvel over the circumstances that brought us right back to the same place in life.

Congratulations, Amber and Mike! I can’t wait to meet the first of the Triplet Cousins!

I have a safe haven. A place to hide escape when the house is crazy, my head is pounding, and my every thought is threatening to explode in screams. There is silence—well, muffled noise outside the bathroom door. There is no one hanging on my legs. No one sits on my lap. I’m not asked to find something I don’t own, fix something I didn’t break, or turn on something I don’t want to hear. When they realize I’m “missing,” the inevitable search begins. Mom? Mom? Mom, where are you?! When the panic sets in, it’s time to reveal my position.

It’s not often I get to go there. I rarely make it my throne alone. When I do manage to get into the bathroom all by myself, I lock the door and stay way longer than necessary. Luckily for me, current circumstances allow the opportunity for escape quite frequently. I think all mother’s need a safe haven of some sort. It’s not a retreat, by any means. We are often doing something that we would have to do anyway, but the blessed minutes of peace make the chore a bit more tolerable. When we were kids, the sibs and I could never figure out why Mom wouldn’t answer us when she was in the laundry room. I get it now, Mom. Luckily for her, 4 kids produced lots of laundry.

I will admit to being part-geek, though I don’t come close to my Super!Geek husband. I’m pretty sure the Countdown to Serenity in my head coupled with my intense love of Star Wars—and the fact that I own a $200 lightsaber—qualifies me as half-geek. Our poor kids didn’t have a chance. Need proof, as all good geeks do?

We watched this really funny movie. It was rated E for Everyone!” ~Stacia

Here I sit, wallowing in self-pity, doing nothing when suddenly it’s mail time! What normally consists of bills and junkmail, today had the added addition of presents! Well, more accurately a prize. Adelle ran a fun play-along contest for The Today Show’s Hometown Wedding. Somehow I managed to guess nearly every aspect correctly and won. Dell sent me Betty Crocker’s Easy Slow Cooker Dinners from my Amazon wishlist—a gift to warm my heart and soul!

Maybe now my family will be able to eat this week. Cooking isn’t nearly so taxing when you can toss it in a crockpot and walk away. The timing on this one couldn’t be better. The meetings and activities are in full force starting this week. Tonight it is a Brownie Leader meeting. Tomorrow is PTO. Thursday Stacia has church choir, and Friday she’ll go to soccer practice. Somewhere in the middle of all that I have to find time to get well and hit the post office, bank, and grocery store. Cooking would have definitely gone by the wayside this week.

I already found a few recipes I want to try. Pizza Fondue—who wouldn’t love that?— Swiss Steak, Pot Roast, Stroganaff, and Pulled-Pork Fajitas. I’m not one for Mexican-style dishes, but “it’s always fun to pull your own pork.” I’ll have to check the freezer for what’s on hand and put some of these together this week. Not today though. They’re on their own tonight.

I think it should be completely illegal to get sick when you are already pregnant. It’s just plain not fair to have tons of shit to deal with for 9 months straight and still get the nastiest cold ever! I woke up Sunday morning feeling completely clogged and scratchy. Now a fever has replaced my voice. There’s just too much to do for me to be napping all day. Not to mention a toddler who wouldn’t allow it anyway.

I think I am mostly prepared as far as stuff goes. I’ve sure spent a lot of money. Serenity was a big key—and the biggest expense—in going from 2 to 3 children. I least I’m no longer stressing over how to get my baby home from the hospital with her big sisters.

She has no room to come home to, but even if that didn’t get done it wouldn’t be a big deal. It’s not like she’ll really use it at first anyway. I’ll nurse so a cradle right next to me is so much easier than getting up every hour or two and walking across the house. I wanted it done by the end of this month, even though I’m not due for 7 or 8 weeks, to help the girls get used to the transition. Right now the “nursery” is a combination office/storage room/battleground or something like that.

I had hoped to get some work done on it yesterday. And by that I meant I’d sit on the bed and tell him where to put things. Instead I camped out on the couch right after Stacia’s soccer game until someone mentioned dinner. After which, I promptly returned to my horizontal position. We only have 1 soccer game this weekend so maybe something will get done then. In the meantime, I’ll lay around, do nothing, and whine about how nothing is getting done. It seems to be working well for me.

Maybe it will give me some time to surf around and find my Mixmania sender. I received an interesting mix. It fits well with the driving theme considering the name I chose for my new vehicle. It’s all classical and operatic—very serene.

This mix forces me to—once again—admit my musical ineptitude. I don’t know a single song on it. That should make tracking down its originator a bit difficult, though I’m guessing not many people went classical. I’m looking forward to finding the track list. I used to listen solely to classical on study days in college. It was the only way to focus on what I was doing. Lyrics were too distracting and silence only allowed dorm sounds in. In my daily life now, I rarely have cause to focus in the same way so I’ve not listened to much classical since Brenia would only fall asleep to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sendada.

The theme for Mixmania this time around was “Driving” and I chose to take it quite literally. Most of the songs are, in fact, about driving or cars. I have thrown a few personal driving choices into the mix. Also, I sincerely hope I do not offend the recipients delicate sensibilities, as driving brings my potty mouth out in full force. The songs greatly represent the sailor in me. I am hopeful that she was too busy laughing to be offended as the genre tends toward comedy. Here they are, not necessarily in order as I have lost the actual mix (I’ll update it as soon as hubby can point me in the right direction):

  • Adam Sandler—Ode to My Car
    This was in honor of the ghetto car I was driving at the time. It has since been dumped for my new Serenity.
  • Barenaked Ladies—Pinch Me
    As much as I truly love my life there are times when I’d love to get in the car and find that perfect time of year somewhere far away from here.
  • Eagles—Hotel California
    I don’t know. Maybe it struck me as the end destination.
  • Veggie Tales—Cheeseburger Song
    If Veggie Tales or JoJo’s Circus is not playing in my car, it’s not a real road trip. I figured a song about a drive-thru at least fit the theme.
  • Cake—Stickshifts and Safety Belts
    Um, self explanatory.
  • Beach Boys—Fun, Fun, Fun
    Though I never had a T-Bird, my daddy would take my keys away if I had too much fun (and he found out about it). 😉
  • The Playmates—Little Nash Rambler
    A Dr. Demento classic. “Beep beep. Beep beep. The horn went beep, beep, beep.”
  • Maxamillion—Fat Boys
    Busted—this is a carry over from my Summer Mixmania, but as I mentioned then it was our official road trip song so it definitely belongs here too.
  • DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince—Parents Just Don’t Understand
    “Drive fast—speed turns me on!”
  • Heywood Banks—Wiper Blades
    A Bob & Tom classic, and it has me laughing out loud every single time. Probably because it’s so me—I have a bit of a habit of leaving minor details like new wiper blades until after I really need them.
  • Nelly Furtado—I’m Like a Bird
    I guess I’ve got a bit of an escapist theme going on here.
  • Pink—Get This Party Started
    I can go for miles, if you know what I mean.
  • The Firm—Star Trekkin’
    Another Dr. Demento favorite: “Only going forward cuz we can’t find reverse!”
  • Vengaboys—Venga Bus
  • Merideth Brooks—Bitch
    Not at all about driving like the rest. This is just one of those songs that makes me want to roll down the windows, put my foot to the floor, and sing out loud.
  • Todd Yohn—Orange Barrels
    Perhaps the biggest reason for my on the road potty mouth.
  • Crystal Waters—
    Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)

    When I was younger, my sibs and I made up our own little song to the chorus for family road trips—Gotta go pee, gotta go now—which we sang repeatedly until Dad would finally stop and let us go. We had another great song—an original!—about ice cream that got us to the Dairy Queen drive-thru every, single time. It may have had something to do with the fact that not a one of us could carry a tune in a bucket.
  • Queen—Bohemian Rhapsody
    Every time I hear this song, I just can’t help picturing Wayne and crew jamming in the bug. Party on, Wayne. Pary on, Garth.
  • Brak and Freddie Prinze Jr.—Highway 40
    I picked a different version than he did because I think this one is much funnier.