Random thoughts strung together

Missing Mooch

On our upcoming trip, we've decided to ask my parents to dogsit for us. It's a long trip and we need to bring so much stuff for Intrepid, that there's just not much room in our Jetta. Besides that, I'm sure that Mooch will have a much better time with my parents and her uncle (a border collie / shepard / who-knows-what-else mix who may or may not be excited to have his young niece dogging (pardon the pun) his footsteps) than traipsing all over with us. I'm going to miss Mooch. Sad to say, I take her for granted. She's my dog, through and through. She follows me around from room to room, and whenever I stay in one place for more than a minute, she lays down at my feet. It's a comfort, to know she's always there. When I'm feeling playful, she'll delightedly roll around with me on the ground. When I'm putting something together on the floor (Ikea furniture for example) or putting DVD's in the player, she's always there to assist me. And when I'm feeling down, she gives me gentle kisses and snuffles, and stays reassuringly close. The only times I've been away from her (once when she stayed overnight at the vet, and the two nights I was in the hospital after having Intrepid), I've found myself missing her very much. What can I say? I love that pooch.

I've Been Paying Men To Touch Me

Ok, so it's only one man, who also happens to be my husband. And I only paid him a dollar. My sciatica has been acting up recently you see, and the other day, desperate for relief, I offered to pay Comic for his back rub services. It worked, I got a nice rub (and he forgot to collect, not that it matters because my money is his money and vice versa). Certainly cheaper than going back to the chiropractor, which I could definitely benefit from, but just as definitely can't afford (especially going three times a week at the beginning to get cracked back into shape). No, I spent that money this month, on a nice expensive haircut, which in turn makes me feel sexy again, which in turn makes me walk more upright, which in turn helps my back. See? I'm always thinking.

Communication

It's everywhere. All around us. All the time. One of the many things I've learned by having a baby as company every day, is that words are overrated. Yes, there will come a time, not too long from now, I fear, when Intrepid will babble incessantly about this or that, but for the time being, he can tell me perfectly well what he needs by only body language, hand gestures (only occasionally rude ones), the odd grunt and of course his different cries. For that matter, so can Mooch (only replace the word 'hand' with 'paw').

A Keyboard, A Lap And Some Drool

Intrepid just had a fight with Freddy The Firefly. Everything was happy happy, then all of a sudden, Intrepid was giving Freddy a stern talking to. Then came the cries. Heck, I don't like hanging around with someone when I've just had a fight with them either. So he moved onto my lap. Blogging is so much easier when you have a baby in your lap and have to poke one-handed at the keys. Intrepid loves sitting with me at my desk. He'll be a great boss one day. Or maybe a judge. He bangs those pudgy little fists down on the desk with conviction. Then he chucks my ruler over the side and reaches for the post-its next. That's when he's finally content. A crumpled post-it in one hand and slapping the desktop with the other, and throw in some kicking of the underside of the desk for good measure. Then the flood gates open and dump puddles of drool all over the desk for my elbow to slip on. I only wish he would always be this easy to please...

Late Night Musings (accompanied by good tunes)

It hasn’t been often that I’ve stayed up late the last little while. I seem to be, if only temporarily, devoid of my insomnia, which is a rather great thing. It’s nice to walk through the world all day with your eyes more than half open. But tonight, I found myself meandering toward the computer on my way to bed (although my computer is not literally on my way to bed). And after turning on iTunes and picking out some great late night mellow songs, I went straight to my blog, because of all of my websites, I have been neglecting this one the most lately, although it has been getting the most attention.

So what to blog about now? Well, the mundane, of course.

A few days ago, while updating my firefox web browser, I found a great little add-on called FoxyTunes. This is a wonderful little gadget, that when installed, puts a little control panel in the bottom of your web browser so that you can play, pause, stop, skip tracks, and even eject in whichever music program you happen to use. For iTunes, this is especially great, because with no controls in the taskbar, I have to keep flipping back and forth to the program to change songs, etc. So that is just one of the little delights I’ve had this week.

Other snippets of pure happiness this week: Intrepid repeating my name (Mama) after me and giving me the sweetest, most heartwarming smile afterward. Going for walks, Comic walking Mooch, me pushing Intrepid in his stroller, around the back streets of our neighbourhood around sunset. An amazing time in my husband’s arms, that lasted two hours, just holding each other and talking and laughing like we used to when we first fell in love. (I remember going through withdrawal if we didn’t cuddle at least once a day). Getting my haircut and feeling sexy again. A now rare middle of the night cuddle and play with Intrepid one night when he woke up crying. Finally putting together a photo album of all of Intrepid’s pictures thus far. Visiting with my Grandparents (who I love like parents and whom mean everything to me).

I guess tonight was a self taught lesson. Sometimes, talking about the mundane can make things a little or a lot clearer for you. I realized just how fantastic a week I’ve had and that everything is finally starting to come together for me again, as I knew it eventually would. And now, I think, to bed.

Randomness

I find myself sitting in front of my computer in the late afternoon, and at a loss for what to do. This never happens to me. There is always some kind of demand on my time, but my kids (Intrepid and Mooch) are napping, Comic is playing computer games, and so I am free. Let me take this moment to enjoy it.

There is a fresh, cool breeze gusting through the window. I’m pretty relaxed right now. Well, as relaxed as I can be the day before a visit to my in-laws. They will be hosting a party tomorrow, with a Hawaiian theme, so we’ll be dressing up our little man for the occasion. My sister in law (AKA Snarflap) has put in her usual pre visit phone call to request something of Comic (whether it be money, a CD, or something Comic bought, which she now thinks should be given to her because she has no money). This time, it was Comic’s mp3 player, an expensive one he bought a couple of years ago, that would likely last for about half an hour in her house around the rug rats before being broken. He said no, and then there were the shouts, guilt trips and swear words flowing through the phone, so loud it had to be held away from his ear. Normally, this kind of thing would really bother me, but for some reason it doesn’t today. Maybe I’ve finally come to a point where I can just not give a crap about the dramatic tantrums that go on in his family. This is good news, because I’ve been working toward this point for the better part of 3 years now.

On to a happier subject. Over the past 6 months, we’ve been enjoying watching TV shows on DVD. We started with season 5 of the always riveting 24. From there, we borrowed all 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a show which Comic loved, but which I had never seen) from my parents. We had a blast, following the adventures of the scoobie gang and were suffering through withdrawal when it ended. To ease the pain, we quickly dived into House, M.D, seasons 1 and 2. Eventually wrapping those up, we moved on to Angel (a spinoff of Buffy) which we loved just as much as Buffy itself. And after 5 seasons of that, it was over. After months of DVD entertainment, we found ourselves back to the reruns on TV. Then a couple of days ago, on an excursion, Comic came across season 9 of Frasier (one of our favourite shows) on DVD. Neither of us had seen many episodes of season 9, so we are currently eagerly enjoying the comedic stylings of the Cranes. I have laughed so hard and so loud at times that I have frightened Intrepid, who has shrieked in fear! Poor little guy.

Speaking of him, he has now started howling into the baby monitor, so my time is up. Until next time…I’m sure I’ll have lots of baggage to unload after tomorrow’s trip ; )

At Long Last…

After a two week hiatus from blogging, I’ve finally made it back to my keyboard, driven by a combination of guilt and the need for self expression. It is an incredibly hot afternoon. Sweat is pouring down my face. Comic is doing dishes in a somewhat foul mood. Intrepid is in his crib, enjoying the only ceiling fan in our home and intermittently playing with his favourite toy and napping. For now, it is enough that he is content, and most importantly, he is quiet. Mooch, the only member of our family both covered in hot black fur and completely unconcerned by the drastic temperature rise, has taken up her usual spot by my feet and is relaxing, only lifting her head occasionally to check on the whereabouts of Comic.

We knew this day would come and yet we made no effort to prepare for it. After the heat wave a couple of weeks ago, we decided that the need had arisen to install our air conditioner, which involves quite a lot of effort. We have to go to a store downtown to fetch some waterproof board to cover the area of window that will remain open after wedging the air conditioner into it and affixing it with a bracket. Then, when everything is sealed airtight, and approved of by Comic (who has the mostly endearing and occasionally frustrating quality of being obsessive compulsive), before we can even turn the thing on, we have to rearrange our already perfectly arranged furniture. You see, the air conditioner will blast directly into the back of our TV, so we have to drag our entertainment unit and Mooch’s crate to the far side of the living room and swap them with our shelving unit to get the full benefit of our heavily complicated new installation. And the icing on the cake will be my having to hook up all of the stereo equipment in exactly the same way, bearing in mind that a slight mistake will lead to the entire thing not working. This being quite an undertaking, we have been understandably procrastinating and enjoying a delightfully cool spell in the weather. We knew however, that the day would come when the heat would hit us again, and we would be without anything but our small oscillating fan which merely displaces the hot air around us. So we will now have to grit our teeth, and carry out the whole procedure in 35 degree weather. Oh joy. Oh happy day.

Aside from all of this, things have been going fairly well recently. We have started Intrepid on solid foods and he has developed quite the demanding temperament; I can hardly get the spoonful to his mouth fast enough. He has also started rocking back and forth a lot whenever we have him on our laps, giving one the impression that he is riding a mechanical bull. And, as so often happens around the six month mark, he has begun to make strange with everyone but us, only doling out a few shy smiles before a large pout crosses his face, signaling the terrified screaming that is soon to come. This last development should be a joy when we make our trip to visit my in-laws this coming weekend, a trip which has been getting closer and closer, corresponding with the tightening knot that resides in my gut. I will not describe my relationship with my in-laws here. There is simply not enough time or room. Suffice it to say, that while most of them are OK, the few that despise me for simply being married to Comic ruin it for all of them. My only comfort, however petty, is imagining the look on my dear mother-in-law’s face when her precious grandson takes one look at her and screams to high heaven. I would never go as far as to be vengeful in any way, but when an opportunity arises such as this, I can’t say that I won’t show the slightest bit of enjoyment.

And now I’m hearing the calls of my family. I believe a trip in the car is in order to get us all cooled down. So I’ll sign off until later…

On Writing

I’ve been reading up on blogging a bit so that I can become a better blogger. I’m pretty new to this whole gig. The one thing that stands out is that you must blog often, so even though I am currently suffering from a severe lack of inspiration for anything resembling a great piece of writing, I’m going to write anyway.

I’ve had journals in the past. I’ve gotten excited about the idea, gone out and purchased a suitable book to write in, come home and made it my own, but I’ve never really stuck to it for longer than a couple of months at a time. My parents gave me a journal on my 19th birthday and my Mom, who is a calligrapher wrote quotes along the side of every single page to inspire me. I thought it was fantastic and I cherished it so much, in fact, that I carried it with me through two moves, and around Australia and back again without even writing in it, because I couldn’t seem to come up with anything I thought was worthy of this great book! This was very foolish of me, because when I write regularly, first of all, it’s very therapeutic and second, I actually come up with some decent content! (I have since written in said journal)

Although writing in a journal has its rewards, I prefer to type my thoughts, mostly because I can type almost as fast as I can think, whereas when I’m writing on paper, I get frustrated because I can’t seem to write fast enough to keep up with my mind. Hence, this blog. It’s great to be creative, to stretch my writing muscles and write about all kinds of profound subjects, but on occasion, it’s just good to write about the mundane. Sometimes I get this head rush, where everything swirls around in my mind like a tornado of thoughts and I can’t slow it down until I pour it all out onto paper or into keyboard. Then I breathe a sigh of relief and resume living.

Facebook Addicts 101

About 2 months ago, one of my best friends sent me an invite via e-mail to join a website called ‘Facebook’. I was curious, if a bit skeptical, but I signed up, not knowing what I was getting myself into. Dear lord. Let’s just say that Facebook is now at the top of my favourites list in Internet Explorer (just above my shiny new WordPress blog link). Every day I sign in, head to the home page and scan it for all the delicious new tidbits of my friends’ lives. It’s become a ritual, like checking e-mail in the morning. Get up, change and feed A, check e-mail and facebook, eat breakfast…I have been able to catch up with so many people I’ve lost touch with…friends from school, buddies from sports teams, past teachers and coaches…the list goes on. And this isn’t just some catch up e-mail and then it’s over. We’re a part of each other’s lives again, even if it is over the internet. We can see each other’s everyday status (MR is yet again unable to sleep…GRRR!, JB is planting flowers at grandma’s house, JM is eating pineapple), keep up to date with pictures and posted items, write on each other’s ‘walls’, tag each other in old photos, share laughs over the same videos on YouTube. You can even join groups and meet new people to share discussions with. ‘Little Bundles of Joy’ or ‘Addicted to House, MD’ or the always thought-provoking ‘I will go slightly out of my way to step on that crunchy looking leaf’. The possibilities are endless! Perhaps this will be just another internet phase, but maybe, just maybe, there is some deeper meaning to this time consuming website. It could just pluck us out of our heads down, eyes on the road, every day life, and open us up once again to the people we used to call friends.