How do I fill my days?

The Great Grandma Showdown: Leavenworth Grandma (LG) and Olathe Grandma (OG) went to lunch together this week! They have never been the best of friends, but LG has had a wild hair up her ass that they should go to lunch. First, a backstory. My mother’s maiden name, C___, was also MY middle name (before I changed it after getting married). My sister decided to give HER daughter this name as a middle name to honor my mother and because it had been my name as well. However, we have all dreaded LG’s reaction because she still resents my grandfather even though 1) he has been dead for over 5 years and 2) they have been DIVORCED for over 50. So, yesterday at lunch, OG took it upon herself to tell LG what my sister was planning. As expected, LG started railing on my grandpa. However, she was stopped short when OG declared emphatically, “Well, she [my sister] isn’t naming the baby after him, she is naming her after her grandmother and aunt.” [meaning my mother and I]. Apparently, that shut LG up right then and there. OH, how I wish I could have been there! As my OG said later, “I am not afraid of her - after all, I am OLDER than her!” hee hee
Go, Go Grandma!

Rancid Rave: Anyone that knows me in real life knows that I am not a makeup fiend. I gave up years and years ago on trying to look cute or gorgeous. However, I have to rave about Loreal’s True Match. You take a plastic card with sample colors on it and put it against your wrist. Whichever color disappears, is the color to go with. Yes, I know the experts say the wrist match isn’t the way to go, but THIS WORKED. The ultimate test? After applying the foundation for the first time, I got into my car to head out. I flipped down the visor and lo and behold - the foundation DID match. Gals, you all know what I mean by the “natural light test”. The foundation itself was pretty good, too - very light and it held pretty well.

Fill ‘er up!!:
Warning: The rest of this post is where I talk mostly about me, me, me. One of my favorite topics!

I’ve had several people, including X, ask “So, what do you do all day?”. In short, I am unapologetically enjoying my free time! I have worked non-stop since I was 16, so I am looking at these few months as a way to catch my breath before a new type of madness takes over. For the most part, I have used this time to get all the stupid, small household chores done that I had been wanting to do since we moved it. For example, I am working on organizing the garage. Truth be known, all the tools and gadgets are MINE and it drives me crazy when I can’t find what I need. Also, I recently replaced all the door pulls in our kitchen - there were 45 of them, so that was no small task. I am also going through all my storage boxes again in an attempt to see what else I can get rid of. And of course, I have been working on the Freeloader’s room. At this point, it is 50% Kid Room and 50% Junk Room, so believe it or not, that is considered PROGRESS. Yesterday, I did my first load of baby laundry, which was a bit disconcerting. It’s one thing to have the little guy kicking (and screaming?) inside of me, but it’s another to wash his clothing. In short, this guy is COMING OUT someday. Eek. Also, I did stock up on the necessities like baby wipes, diapers, etc. At this point, we are ready - the Freeloader could come tomorrow and I would be fine with that. The nursery is not really critical at this point, because he has a place to sleep in our bedroom. I am certainly not going to stress over decorating a room that he won’t even be using until next year. I am more concerned with getting our HOUSE, my OFFICE, and our PHOTOS in order. The house is almost done, the office is a nightmare and the photos frighten me a bit. The photos are particularly important to me right now, because as much as I love taking pics of the cats, the little Freeloader is probably going to be used to lights popping in his little eyes (um, just like the cats are now, come to think of it). (Rancid Reader Request: How do YOU organize your digital photography? Do you name each individual file? I have folders named according to subject and year - for example, 05 Nephews, 04 Christmas, etc. I used to name each file, but this new system on the Mac isn’t letting me do that so easily. I am wondering the importance of naming each file since I am very organized according to year and subject matter.)

For the most part, I have noticed that I have settled into a routine. I try to be up every day by 7:30am and I go downstairs for what I like to call “The Changing of the Guards”. The Inside Cat goes out and the Outside Cat comes in - usually, in their rush to exchange positions, they will bump into each other nearly every time. I make a pot of coffee, then I meander upstairs to my office for email, blogs and news. At that point, I enter some sort of time warp and the morning flashes before my eyes. Sometimes, I forget to eat and that isn't helping this whole "3rd trimester nausea" thing. Sigh.

I was surprised to find that I watch very little TV. I was worried that I would get sucked into that. While, I will occasionally watch something the DVR recorded the night before, I have found that DAYTIME TV SUCKS ASS. I get frustrated with the news channels and would rather READ my news, than WATCH my news. The silly talk shows irritate me (Star Jones, why oh WHY are the tabloids following YOUR stupid, inane, shallow, vapid, egotistical ass?) I even tried to watch some children’s programming just to see what is out there. SCARY. I realize, I need to stock up on some DVDs - the Freeloader can’t live by Wallace and Gromit alone OR alternately, with a mother hopped up on tranquilizers to stem the seizures caused by all the shitty animation out there these days. Cripes.

I had hoped that with my not working, that I would get to see my family more and by god, I HAVE been to the nursing home THREE times in a span of a week. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you view it), my Great-Aunt P is in the home for right now. The jury is out if she will remain there. This place is a kick-ass nursing home, folks. Very clean, smells nice and has tons of amenities (yep, all you Sopranos fans out there, repeat after me in a Jersey accent “It’s a retirement COMMUNITY”). However, my great-aunt has a slight addiction to the TV show Law and Order and the HOME DOES NOT GET TNT. I seriously doubt she is going to make it. It is actually a bad situation because she can’t live on her own anymore and she has no living relatives to take care of her . Well, we are taking care of her, but we are actually her in-laws and have no legal authority to step in and take over. She is on her own, so to speak. Also, I should note that in my family, if you are in a nursing home, you are guaranteed at least 1-2 visitors daily - certainly more on the weekends and the holidays. A nursing home doesn’t HAVE to be a dumping ground and it is truly a travesty that many people ARE just dumped into them. I can tell you for a fact, that residents are not mistreated when they have daily visitors and have obnoxious family willing to get into the administration’s face. We have had great experiences with 3 of the nursing homes in our town.

Finally, the thing I love most about staying home, is that I feel like I am getting to really enjoy this pregnancy. For the most part, it has been a great experience. I love playing my favorite game, BellyWatch 2005 - if the little guy starts kicking, I am free to just sit and watch! If I was working, the Not-So-Supervisor would have surely frowned on that. I guess, for me, because I really doubted this would happen, I am still SO appreciative that I get to have this very cool experience. In fact, at the very end of her pregnancy with Older Nephew, my sister commented that she was a little wistful at the thought of not being pregnant with him anymore. I thought she was insane at the time.

However, now I understand completely.

Which little piggy went to market?

I have had a Flickr account for ages, but hadn't actually fiddled with it. I really feel sorry for the Freeloader. As much as I love taking pictures of the cats (the camera doesn't even phase them at this point), imagine how much I will love taking pictures of my own little guy.

Anyway, I am off to the Leavenworth Grandma's house for the day tomorrow. I have to leave at the crack-ass of dawn to make it there because we must be IN LINE at the tea room for lunch BEFORE 11:00am. You know, to beat the CROWD beating at the doors. I AM taking my camera with me. Maybe I can get a pic of the madness that is her house. She likens her decorating taste to "Early Attic". I liken it to "Southwest Flea Market". In the meantime, enjoy my inaugural post with Flickr.

Here Piggy, Piggy,
originally uploaded by Cagey333.

This is why I don't go to my Olathe Grandma's house and instead, prefer to meet her in restaurants. It prevents her from foisting crap like this onto me. The last time I popped by her house, she hands this to me and says "here, you said you wanted this once". Good grief! How OLD WAS I when I said I wanted it? Like, 2 years old? Was I really stringing together complete sentences when I expressed my desire for this piece of piggy plastic from the 50s? Maybe I should start pointing at her car and television to see what else I can "score".

The Big Boppy,
originally uploaded by Cagey333.

Do you think this furry little menace is going to be a tad upset when she realizes the boppy is not really intended for her new sleeping quarters? You think?

The Monster,
originally uploaded by Cagey333.

A Revolution is coming, my little orange friend. Your days as Ruler Divine are numbered. Hello? Are you listening??

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Note: Thanks, Goofy Girl , for that incredible quote in today's subject title.

The class yesterday on retirement investment strategies was not as dry and droll as I thought it would be (or conversely, I’m more dry and droll than I thought myself to be. Nah. Perish the thought!) Anyway, the class did get me to thinking long-term. Generally, I tend to think only about 5 years out. As of late, I can barely think past this fall - occasionally I’ll wander to next year, but primarily I'm pretty fixated on Fall 2005, for obvious reasons. Yesterday was a good opportunity for me to think “Okay, I shove Kid #1 and Kid #2 into school - what’s next?”. I know I don’t want to go back to the grind of 50 hours a week, being on-call 24/7, and having to travel. These past 2 blissful months of not working have certainly verified THAT. X and I don’t think daycare is evil, but working for Big Al under the above conditions is not worth putting our kid in daycare, for sure.

I am hoping that when our kids are in school, I can go back myself. For me, I see this huge life change coming as an overall catalyst in many respects. I am hoping to take these next years as serious thinking time - WHAT THE HELL DO I WANT TO DO??? Because bein' a CPA, doing information security or software development just ain't cuttin' it, folks. Depending on our circumstances, and if we have moved from Kansas City by then, I would love to either get a Ph.D. and focus on international business with a specialization in privatization OR I would LOVE to completely “start over” and pursue my true love - languages - either a specific language (Spanish or Hindi - I would love to finally be fluent in one of them) or just linguistics in general. Whatever comes after the kids, I want to ENJOY it and retirement should NOT be a goal. Both of my parents are not particularly excited about their jobs and my dad actually DESPISES his job. In his early 40s, he actually tried to change his career path, got frustrated, then gave up. That has always saddened me. He now spends a good portion of his time griping about his job and dreaming of his future retirement. It's very depressing to hear him.

How many people do you know are in jobs they hate, just marching time until the magic age of retirement?

Are you one of those persons yourself? If so, what can you do to change it?

Do foreigners do it better?

I did not mean to insinuate on Monday that my international friends were better parents than my American friends. I was just interested in the differences, that’s all. I realize my post may not have come across that way. It was an encouraging experience this weekend to see there ARE various ways to approach the same situations. That’s it. Much of this observation is being driven home by the fact I’m reading some books on the whole subject of motherhood, societal expectations, and how, ironically, other Mommies can be the worst enemies. The judging starts early, my friends, and I was shocked. If my doctor says I can eat brie, drink coffee and have the occasional glass of wine, who’s business is it anyway? And this is just the beginning - I can only imagine the comments heading my way. So, I thought I should clarify where all that came from. It was a nice relaxing weekend of non-judging.

Finally, I am well aware of the fact that my own house will soon enough be cluttered with ugly plastic toys that seem to come in only crap-ass primary colors. God help me.

What was I thinking?

If I wasn’t pregnant, I would think that maybe I was drunk when I signed up for the class I am attending today. It’s called “Avoiding the Train Wreck: Helping Clients Manage & Protect Retirement Assets” . Good grief - could there be anything more boring??? Why did I sign up for this? The only great thing about these classes, other than getting the credit is that it makes me appreciate my life -- 1) Hopefully, I will never have to actually do anything accounting-related ever and 2) Sitting at home with a colicky baby would surely be more soothing to one’s soul. I feel like such a fraudster sitting there trying to pretend as if I care. I think the worst part of these classes is that sitting for extended periods of time is getting to be extremely painful. I will spare my male audience the gruesome details, but suffice it to say that it is hard to walk now after sitting for 8 hours in a hard chair. However, I will really try to remember all this if indeed the little guy ends up being a colicky baby. As is usually the case, things can ALWAYS be worse.

Oh, speaking of drunk, I got to go to a liquor store over the weekend! I needed to pick up some wine as hostess gifts for our little dinner outings. It was a little disconcerting to be so hugely pregnant, waddling through a liquor store. It cap the experience, I really, really wanted to pick up a jug of Jim Beam for good measure. Just to gauge the reaction, of course.