tiny - photo friday

today is photo friday. it's also good friday. and at micah's school, it was petting zoo friday. so, i went for a visit and this is one shot that i managed to snap between all the little kids running around and trying to rip the heads off the poor baby animals.

bagel fiend

i took it out of her mouth after i took the picture, of course. half an hour later, she stirred, chewed the piece of bagel in her mouth, swallowed it and fell back asleep...

grand theft bunny

the bunny that micah stole

roasted red pepper

we recently painted the kitchen red. err... roasted red pepper red, according to behr. and we painted the trim and caulked and everything. it looks good. we rent this house so there are MILLIONS of things i would like to change but i don't want to pour my money into a property that i don't own. so, for now, we're slapping paint and personality on all its walls!

.

i found my calling - horror movie star

ordinary boy and i had the mother of all fights tuesday night. sometimes i just get so overwhelmed. and isn't he in this with me to support me and help me and be my partner? on days like tuesday, i can feel myself getting overwhelmed; can feel the anger and frustrating rising inside. usually, by the time i expolde, i've *almost* exploded numerous times but have been able to take that deep breath that gets oxygen to my brain in time for me to think - hey! - cool it before you do something stupid like yell or throw something.

not tuesday. tuesday was different.

o. boy and i work together which can be difficult and late in the afternoon he was grating on my last nerve. but when i got home, i tried, as i always try, to separate *work* ordinary boy from *home* ordinary boy. i guess i wasn't successful because the first mildly annoying thing he did (which was to place the food we were going to cook for dinner on top of the paint cans that are still sitting on the counter b/c he has *touch-ups* he still wants to do) already required me to breathe deep.

i really didn't feel it rising up inside me though. the baby was whining, but what else is new? i had been home maybe a half an hour when i knocked over these 2 metal chairs that are in the kitchen because he still hasn't moved them into the garage which knocked over the trash which knocked over the paper bag we were using for *paper* trash which he had put left-over bread crumbs and other food waste into which spilled all over the floor and the whole reason i was backing up was because the baby was whining at me and trying to grab hold of my pants and i didn't want to erupt on her so i was trying to ignore the whining and that's when i caused all this and that's when it happened...

it.happened.

i screamed. i screamed so high and loud that jamie lee curtis would've been proud.

the baby just stared at me. o.boy said, "why would you even do that? that's just crazy."

wrong.thing.to.say.

now with haloscan

a lot of blogs i read have been adding Haloscan; especially blogger users, like kb, because blogger has been so slow lately. it's been annoying me that i can't comment on anyone's site so i figured i'd at least make my own site less annoying.

hopefully, this helps!

**UPDATE** damn, i suck - whatever i did deleted all my old comments... now i have to redo. aargh... i hate being html challenged!!

ps - advise on this is MOST WELCOME!!

well, that and the fact that i was half an hour late.

this morning, micah was a crank-bot. ob-noxious. i didn't feel like putting up with it, so i put a dora dvd on for her.

and wouldn't you know it, i'm not only dressed business casual (instead of the same jeans and hoodie i've been wearing for 2 weeks) but my hair is straightened and i'm even wearing MAKE-UP! (hey! don't laugh! mascara totally counts!)

boys rock

saturday night, micah had a friend come over to play. it was adorable to see ordinary boy with someone else's kid. when the friend woke up around midnight, crying for mommy and daddy, ordinary boy went and got him and cuddled with him on the couch until he stopped crying. then, he sat on the couch holding the sleeping baby boy until the boy's parents came because he was afraid that if he put him back in bed, it would wake micah.

and me? i got to SLEEP through the entire thing!

boys suck

it took me 15 minutes to get you off your ass to get ready to get out of here. i was trying to do my hair while the whiny 2-yr-old asked me 815 questions. then, i ask you, "do you like my hair?" and you LAUGH IN MY FACE. then, while i'm in the bathroom trying to fix it, you ask, in all seriousness, "do you not want to leave now? did you change your mind?"

the contender

my new favorite show. is anyone else watching it? it's timeslot sucks. 8pm sunday nights... but last night it was on in place of er and it sucked me in.

okay, "favorite" might be stretching it - lost is the best show i've ever seen. i'm addicted. but alias is becoming a bit... "meh" lately and i do like the apprentice and the amazing race... so, really the contender comes in say 3rd.

but my god, this is a great show! the man who lost the fight in last night's episode, jonathan, seems like such a good man. and he has 4 kids and his wife is like 9 months pregnant with number 5 and he's such a cute daddy and a respectable human being... yes, yes, i cried when he lost.

seriously, check.this.show.out.

now.

fascinated

yep, we're in ny. it's like 2 degrees and we're expecting snow at noon. but last week my brilliant self asked micah to try on the baseball cap i bought her at old navy for this summer and now she won't wear anything else.

"no, mommy, i don wanna wear my hood. i wanna wear my baseball hat."



you can't blame her. it's damn cute.

bzzzzzzzzzt

ever since ordinary boy and i met, we've been able to read each other's minds. one of us would say something and the other one would say, "hey, that's just what i was thinking."

one of the first times this happened, ordinary boy said to me "bzzzzzzzzzt." because, apparently, that's the sound linking minds make.

or didn't you know.

(today, the bzzzzzzt was peanut butter filled pretzels from trader joe's. mmmmm...)

"ding-dong, the witch is gone."

she is gone.

my mother and i have never, absolutely never gotten along. i parent very differently than she and my father did. and my daughter is very much like me. (just a little easier than i was - but i often ask myself - could part of it be that i understand her and don't judge her and parent differently?...)

so, i found myself getting very defensive of micah. my mother yelled at her sunday afternoon. (granted, micah hadn't napped and was in full brat mode, but give me a break. she's not your kid - you see her for 3 days or so every 6 months - you shouldn't be THAT frustrated with her.) micah actually yelled at her first. you see, my mother doesn't listen to anyone and compound that with the fact that 2.5 year-olds are hard to understand and they both got frustrated. micah screamed, "no, gammy, i wan NAM-KIN!! my hands is STICKY!!" (poor kid had already said it 3 times politely) and my mother screamed, "DON'T yell at grammy!"

when micah returned with the napkin, i asked her what happened. "i yell at gammy, mommy." and i asked her what she should do. so, she went and said to my mother, "i sorry i yell at you gammy, an i sorry i hurt yo feelins." and my mother didn't even apologize back!

see, differences in parenting. in her parenting world - the adult is always right. it's okay that the adult yelled because the child "provoked" it. but in no way was it appropriate for the child to yell because the child yelled at an ADULT!

aargh!!! so.angry. well, i was last night until milan looked over at the smoke coming out of my ears and gave me a "i'm-so-sorry-i-never-fully-believed-the-devil-that-is-your-mother" look and i felt much better that someone felt my pain.

ps - okay maybe the wicked witch link is a little harsh, but this woman puts me through hell in my own house!

boys in cars

to the guy in the car next to me who witnessed me flipping out on ordinary boy. i'd just like to say thank you. after making the universal "roll down your window" sign, thank you for saying to me (with a BIG ASS GRIN ON YOUR FACE) "you fightin' with your boyfriend?"

although you didn't know it as i drove off after saying "you bet your ass i am." i was laughing my ass off!!

thanks.

i needed that.

fish tacos and threatening to kill boyfriends

my mother arrived thursday evening. (which the same day i decided to "read up" on my cousin's condidtion.) the airport is only a couple of miles from work, so it was very convenient. ordinary boy's job was to switch our cars (we work together so how easy is that) so that he'd have the carseat and then go get the baby. i was to pick up my mother and then run to the store to grab some last minute ingredients to make "flicken fish tacos".



he was supposed to leave at 5pm and i was supposed to leave at 5:40pm. at 5:45pm, when i went out to the parking lot, i see my car waiting for me instead of his! well... let the games begin.

he had driven all the way to daycare in his car WITHOUT A CARSEAT before realizing his mistake and so was 25 minutes away. so, i had to go pick up my mother at the airport and then drive to daycare to get the baby all within 35 minutes. i was furious. (wow, looking at that word "furious" doesn't even begin to describe the let-down and stress i was feeling.)

so, he had to go to the laundry mat and the grocery store for me.

on my way home from daycare, i called him and he still hadn't gone to the grocery store, so i did. when i got home, i double-checked the recipe and realized i'd forgotten 2 essential ingredients so i sent o.b. out to get them. i added a couple of other things - like beer which by that point had become essential. his list included 4 things. he called 3 times because he couldn't remember anything. (hmm... maybe we should've written down as i suggested?)

the last phone call was whether to get lemons or limes. "the recipe calls for limes," i said. "to help you remember, we also need them for the corona so get 3."

well... he came home with lemons.
i sent him back out.
he comes back with limes but says that while i'm cooking dinner, entertaining my mother and taking care of the baby, he wants to run back out to see if his prescription is ready. fine. whatever.

he comes back and while i'm still cooking dinner, entertaining my mother and taking care of the baby decides to immediately get on the internet.
"hey, ordinary boy, want to help me with dinner??"
he says, "in a minute, i want to check something on ebay."
and as my friend put it - "them's fightin' words!"

at the end of the day - the fish tacos were INCREDIBLE!!!!! thanks chicken flicken!!

gammy

my mother came to visit for the next few days.  she arrived last night (more on that later).  this morning, when micah woke up i asked her the same three questions i ask her every morning.

 

"did you sleep well?"

 

*nods yes*

 

"did you have nice dreams?"

 

*nods yes*

 

"what did you dream about?"

 

*smiles*  "gammy." 

every little bit helps

please follow the link in the title to sign the petition (if you feel so inclined) for legislation to stop "drive-thru" masectomies. i remember receiving an email about this many months to a year ago, but hey, i'll sign it again.

thank you
thank you

WARNING - this post might be tough to read

yesterday sucked.

ass.

big fat smelly ass.

so, i have this cousin whom i'm very close to. she's like a sister to me. we'll call her sunny. she has breast cancer and it's metastasized to her brain. that's old news. come to find out, it's still spreading in her brain despite the chemo and radiation and acupuncture treatments. but if you ask her, or her mother, my aunt, how is she - the answer is always "GREAT!" now, i know this is because they both are under immense stress and feel like this is the only way for them to hold themselves together but i am one of those INSANE people who wants to actually *know*.

so, i went online. (carol - if you prefer NOT to know - please, please stop reading.)

i learned some scary news through this site.

something that really hit me was this:

Breast Cancer Survival Rate by Stage

Health care professionals are able to be predict a patient’s survival rate based on the determined stage of breast cancer. The following chart is an approximate survival rate for each stage of breast cancer. Percentages will vary depending on individual medical situations, etc.

Stage ----- 5-year Survival Rate
0 ----------- 100%

I ------------ 98%

IIA ---------- 88%
IIB ---------- 76%
IIIA --------- 56%
IIIB ---------- 49%
IV ------------ 16%

Source: American Cancer Society

A five-year survival rate refers to the average number of patients who are still alive five years after diagnosis with a specific stage of breast cancer. After seven years, the survival rate decreases for each stage. The average Stage I breast cancer survival rate is 92%. The Stage II survival rate is 71%, Stage III survival rate is 39%, and the Stage IV survival rate is 11%.

then, i got in a fight with someone at work even though i wasn't trying to fight and it made me cry because it was like 15 minutes after i'd read this.

then, my boyfriend happened. that'll have to be it's own post.

good people

today we had lunch at sakura, this cute little sushi place near work. the people who own it/work there are the nicest people i've encountered in new york. we've been going there for 2 years now. they say hello and goodbye to everyone, they are always smiling and because of that, they have a lot of regulars and a very steady lunch crowd all week long. well, and because they have the best, absolute BEST, sushi, miso soup and ginger/sesame salad dressing.

on our way there, some idiot who was merging from the right hand turn lane to the left hand turn lane in about 10 feet, ran us off the road and almost slammed into us. then, we eat at sakura, and it's like, what idiot in the mercedes?? love this place!

"where everybody knows your na-ame... and they're always glad you ca-ame..."