I've Been Likened To......

....a chihuahua....Was assured that it was not meant in a bad way, but I'm not so sure how I feel about that.

Life's been surrounded by work, kidlets, and reading lately. Work's work.

Reading is courtesy of Bob Woodward and Barack Obama. I'm moving on recently to more fluffy stuff, though, and have added Sophie Kinsella, Candace Bushnell, and Ken Follett to the pile of books to be read. Gotta love Half-Price books. Am totally digging the memoir/political books right now, but it sure is nice to read a bunch of mindless natter, too.

And the kidlets are a big mixture of stress and loving laughter. Isn't that what parenting is all about? Erin has become a momma's girl. Big style. She loves to do my hair. She loves to snuggle me when I get home. And I'm so going to bask in this limelight for as long as I can, for I know that some day, it might not always be such smooth sailing. She is MY daughter, after all, and shares most of my personality traits, both good and notsogood. Today, she picked out what hair thing she thought I should wear. I love that.

Collin....oy. 10 years is such an awful age. Sometimes he's so sweet and marvels me with his strength. Yesterday he completely wiped out on the ice in front of the grocery store. He didn't shead a single solitary tear. Just dusted himself off and went shopping with me. Of course, this also comes on the heals of attitude and faltering grades, too.

And Griffin. One minute, the sweetest little thing to grace our house. The next minute. Devil incarnate. He will go from happy-as-a-clam to pissed-off-beyond-all-reason in about two-point-five. And sometimes I do not know how to deal.

Ahh, the joys of parenthood. Despite my fleeting urges to eat the ones who piss me off, I would not trade this for the world.

Freaking Busy....

....so in the past two weeks, or however long it's been since I last visited with you guys, I have been the ONLY one in my family who wasn't struck with the virus that's been plaguing this area. So you may think that I'm ignoring everyone, but you now know that I'm having no fun.

...hope that you all are well.

"Mommy's Don't Bite...."

...so in every family, you have silly little traditions, right? One of ours is at bedtime.

Mommy: "Night-night. Sleep tight."

Thing 1 or 2: "Don't let the bed bugs bite." (or some alternate pronunciation...I so wish I could re-create how Erin says it...it's too cute)

Mommy: "Or your Mommy!"

The kids think that this is hilarious. Collin notsomuch, but the twins giggle each and every time. It's one of those things I don't get tired of. Well, lately, they've taken to saying "haha, Mommies don't bite." I asked them one time..."Well, what do mommies do?" "They work at their computers." was the reply I got from both of them at different times. Too cute.

Another thing I tend to do is to shower my kidlets with kisses at night (and at any other time they'll sit still long enough for me to kiss them and sniff their heads). Griffin stops reciprocating the kisses after one and just smiles. Then after I stop he says "I just want one kiss." And then puckers up for one last smooch.

Collin's too big to participate in such antics.

....in other news around the Land-Formerly-Known-As-the-Zoo, I tested on Wednesday and received my yellow belt in karate. On the 31st, I shall test for my orange belt. Only seven more belts until black! *grins*

While the Cat's Away.....

....in my case... cats, since I've about ten people telling me what to do. But...they're ALL GONE today. I'm more lonely than usual! Given some of my other friends and co-horts have it much worse than I do, I should not complain at all, I suppose. But I'm one of those people who needs someone to talk to. I'm all good with putting my nose to the grindstone and getting shit done. BUT, it would be so nice to have a laugh every so often.

...I do, however, have quite the conundrum going on here, though. I was so stoked to secure the copy of Dreams From My Father, right? Well, the library called and now I have State of Denial, too. SOD is due in two weeks, and is fairly large, so I'm going to have my work cut out for me! *grins*

Nerd Potential

My nerd potential knows no bounds. I am stoked to report that I have secured from the library a copy of Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama. Stoked. I also checked out Season One of "The Office." BBC style.

On a not-so-happy note, I had a headache from hell last night. Only Satan could bestow upon me the pain I felt last night. Equate's finest Excedrin Migraine knock-off did the trick, and I was able to feel better. But I seriously thought I was checking out.

The owner of my company is back in the office for some big doings here. So I need to get back to work doing things like making coffee and bringing him Post-It Notes. It ain't changing diapers or slinging hash, so I'm going to quit bitching now.

But, before I go, you'll want to hear about my kids. You do. Say it. Anyway, their birthday is exactly one month from today. Griffin says to Aaron yesterday "I want a blue Mater on my birthday." Erin pipes up that she wants a Barbie. Griffin tells her, "No you don't want a Barbie, you want a big Barbie car. I will drive it and you can listen to the radio." Hmmmm....he's so much like his father it's scary.

BOOOOOOO-YAAAAH!

....I got the Design Team position! Am way stoked. So....go here and shop. ;) By the way, the owner of this store is the guy who wrote this for Simple Scrapbooks. And I about died laughing when I opened the back page and saw that it was none other than the owner of my scrapbook store. "Hey, Aaron! I know him!" heh.

....Not much else ado around the household-formerly-known-as-the-Zoo. It seems that we're up to our eyeballs in things to do. Weekly schedules are becoming essential with all the things we have planned.

Monday: karate
Tuesday: Cub Scouts
Wednesday: karate
Thursday: karate
Friday: NOTHING.... WOOT!

...I do have to say that I am partially to blame for some of the scheduling mayhem. If I hadn't worn Collin's black belt with my gi on Halloween, I would never have signed up. Ok, I probably would have eventually, but I might not have signed up if I hadn't received so much freaking attention from the diappointed masses when I told them it wasn't my black belt. *giggles* It's all about how much attention I can attract for myself, no?

Funnies from the Farm....

...the funny farm, that is.

....so our morning routine consists of this:

6:15 a.m. Aaron gets up, gets shower.
6:30 a.m. He gets out of shower and turns on television and lights and starts to get ready, while I piss and moan about how tired I am.
6:40 a.m. I get twins dressed and send them down to fight with Aaron about breakfast choices.
6:45 a.m. I get into shower.
7:30 a.m. We get kids' shoes on and argue over who will take them to daycare that day.
7:45 a.m. I leave the house, whether it be en route to Julie's (daycare provider) or to work.

Now, if I leave at 7:45 a.m., this puts me WAAAAY ahead of schedule in order to be to work promptly at NINE. I do not have that BIG of a commute. So I'm usually early. No big deal. But despite my nice raise, they still pay me a pittance, so what is the point of working more than the requirement? So, today I decide to hang out with Jen. I read and read, and decide finally to get up off my sorry ass and head out the door already. But....you guessed it.... I can't find my keys. Nope, no clue. Am searching high and low. Am about ready to call Aaron and ask him where my keys are, but then realize that it's a bit nippier out than the usual tropical temperatures. So I go outside, seeing the dollars just blowing out the tail pipe. He started my car for me. Do you know that if you leave the car running for 45 mins before getting into it, what otherwise is usually a chilly ride in to work is toasty warm??

....OK, so enough about me...let's move on to my kids. Cos you know you want to hear about them. We have a one-animal rule in our house when it comes to snugglies at daycare. One. Not two. One. Never to be broken, for we know that daycare providers have enough to deal with than to find more than one stinking and over-loved stuffed animal. So yesterday, Griffin manages to smuggle both doggie AND ducky out the door. So I tell him that he needs to choose. He chooses doggy, and ducky comes with me to work. Fast forward to this morning, when we're getting ready. Griffin grabs both of the bed and tells me "I'm taking ducky with me today, so you can take doggy to work."

happy friday!

nothing much ado in Office Monkey-land. I'm happy to report that I do not have to work tomorrow. My wallet might be adverse to this, but my spirits aren't! Kind of nice to have a weekend off here and there.

...Aaron's parents gifted Collin (and us, I suppose) with an air hockey table this Christmas. We have been playing on it quite often. So often that I've pains in my back. Go me. It's fun, though, and I am playing hard-nosed like my Gran did with me as a kid. Never let a kid win. Never. They really learn to play the game that way. Ask anyone who's ever played me in Scrabble. They'll tell you. I'm competitive. I don't always win, but I win a lot. hehe

....Am so ready for the weekend. I feel so tired today. And really...I don't think I should. Have been taking the old vitamins again recently and have been trying to get to two karate classes a week. It's not going to dump off the pounds, but I would think that I should feel better. I know, I know....the vitamins take six weeks to fully kick in...twice a week should be more like four a week...blah, blah, blah...cut the diet Coke consumption...blah, blah, blah..... *sigh*

Happy New Year....

....so the New Year started with a hangover. Isn't that how it's supposed to be?? ;) We had our annual 'do, sharing the fun with Matt and Renee, Danny and Carrie and their kids (yes, you read that right...), Curt, and Rebecca. It was a lot of fun, and the moratorium (sp?) on my mother stuck. Happy memories were made that night, to be helped along by Renee and Danny as they duped me with the "never-ending glass of wine" trick. Ooooh, I was drunk! And you know what? That second bottle of wine went down much smoother than the first! ;) Good times. And I still have two bottles of wine leftover, which shall not go to waste, so methinks another dinner party Chez Byers is in order!

...other than that, nothing much ado here. Work's work, kids are kids, Aaron's Aaron.....