It makes you feel dumb

This past week has been interesting.  I am surprisingly unattached to my phone.  There were times when I wanted to text someone or give someone a call, but I couldn't because I didn't have my phone.  I still had a house phone, which I used more than normal, but I didn't have phone numbers for a lot of people.  I think that we memorize things less because of the easy access we have via our phones to information.  I used to have all of my families phone numbers memorized.  Now I only know the numbers that are the same as before I got a cell phone.  The irritating thing about losing my phone was the stress I felt. I was constantly obsessing about where it could be.  Going over my day, and trying to remember where I had gone. Compulsively checking pockets, bags, cubbyholes, even places I logically knew it couldn't be.  I went to the phone store, and it turns out I am not eligible for a new one for six months.  I was still hoping to find the old one, but now that option was gone. . I did find an old one we had gotten for free that was only slightly better than no phone.  The other benefit of searching was the cleaning that went along with it. I was going to do a post titled: Thing I found while looking for my phone.  Just in the couch I found my daughters brush, Candyland cards, a bracelet, play food, old popcorn, a new package of cross-stitch needles. Under the bed I found the Jasmine figure from the princess plays set and my Nintendo Gameboy. I felt like I had looked everywhere.  There was no where left to look.  I even looked on the security video at work to see what I was wearing the day it was misplaced and what bags I had with me.  I was wearing my tan pants and the brown striped shirt which is what I thought I was wearing before I watched the video.  I knew I had checked those pants multiple times, so watching the video was a waste of time.  I tried to think logically.  It wasn't going to be somewhere I hadn't been that week.  I really should be somewhere I would have been that day.  Where would I have put a dead phone?  I had already looked everywhere.  I kept coming back to the falling out of my pocket theory.  In that case it could be anywhere.   Again, I tried to think logically.  My room or my closet.  I had cleaned most of the room, so I headed for the closet.  I sorted through the dirty laundry.  I refolded all of my sweaters.  I made sure everything was off the floor.  It wasn't there.  The only thing left was my husbands pile of work clothes.  I started to sort through those.  The whole time I am thinking "this is such a waste of time.  It isn't going to be here.  I am never going to find it."  Suddenly I notice the fancy embroidery on the back pocket of one of the pairs of pants.  These are not my husband's pants.  I check the pockets.  Want to guess what I found?  Thanks right.  My phone was still in the pocket of the pants I had worn the day I "lost" it.  The pants I remember checking the pocket of.  I think that I must have checked my skirt that is the same color.  I was super glad to have my phone back, but it made me feel dumb to find it where it was supposed to be.  I guess I should have done that batch of laundry sooner.

Blog, Blog, Blog

I am surprised by how much I have enjoyed blogging.  Both the reading/following aspect and the writing of my own stuff.  I often read other blogs while I am feeding the baby.  At this point I usually feed him in the morning and at bedtime. Sometime when we get home in the afternoon as well.  I get irritated when there isn't anything new to read.  I am getting quiet a few that I am following now, and it seems like they miss posting on the same day.  Then when they do post everybody does.  It's that whole feast or famine things.  One of the blogs I follow wrote a post recently about finding the happiness in your current situation. Here Since I read it, I have been trying to have a better attitude.  I even made my students write in their journals about the good things in their lives.  Today their journal was a free-write, which means that they can write about whatever they want.  I have some students who love free-write, and others who hate it.  Those who don't like it usually can't think of what to write about.  I told them not be bloggers because when you blog every post is a free-write.  No one ever tells you what to write about.  I find that sometimes there are topics I am excited to write about and to share,sometimes I struggle to come up with a topic, and other times the posts just ramble with no real topic. When I start to write I usually end up with a lot more than I planned on.  The writing can go in a completely different direction than what I planned on.  There are also back stories that need to told before I can get to the point of what I wanted to share.  I used to write fairly often.  I enjoyed writing stories.  I think that I did pretty good with characters and settings, but struggled with coming up with the conflict, complications, and other plot elements.  I also enjoyed writing in my journal.  I always wrote with the idea of an audience, maybe a granddaughter or some other as yet unborn family member.  I like the idea of sharing what I write with others. I love it when someone says, "I saw that on your blog."   I hope that people will enjoy what I write, and I will continue to enjoy writing it.

One finial thought: Babies are so cute and sweet when they are sleeping.

Phone! Where are you!

I have sitting in my desk drawer the first cell phone I ever owned.  I used it for about four years before it died.  I loved that phone, and I would probably still be using it if it worked.  My second phone I didn't like as much, but it was growing on me.  It did have some features I liked that my old one didn't have.  Unfortunately after only having the phone six months I lost the phone.  It was very irritating because I went back over the day I thought I had lost it, and I realized that the last time I had used it was at home.  That meant that the phone should be in my house somewhere.  I looked everywhere.  I cleaned everywhere.  I could not find it anywhere.  Days went by and I could not find it.  It has now been about two years and that phone has never been found.  I still think we are going to find it some odd place when we move out of this house.  There are also some theories about my daughter (who was just over two) and  a garbage can.  Oh course the phone's battery had been low when misplaced and was dead by the time I thought to go looking for it. I didn't need it while I was at home all weekend. I am not one of those people who are attached tho their phones in an "I can't live without it" kind of way.  I of course was not yet eligible for a new phone, so I had to use a phone that had been discarded by another family member. People that have phones that work that they love don't generally upgrade.  This was a stupid phone, and I hated it. I counted down the months and days until I was eligible for a new shinny phone of my own. 

I have liked my new phone.  My husband opted to get an i-phone.  He had wanted one for a really long time (probably since they were announced.) Since he was about to graduate college and hopefully get a better paying job, I gave in.  Along with the phone upgrade we added texting.  I was not a big fan of texting. I am still not a huge fan.  Partly I don't understand the point.  I would much rather just talk to someone. It could also be that I don't have very many people that text me. It also isn't something I can do at work since we expect the students not to be doing it during class. 

My phone started beeping at the beginning of the week.  The battery was low.  I kept meaning to charge it, but always forgot.  Wednesday, just before it was time to leave work, I called Thomas.  The call last 39 seconds before the battery died.  I put the phone on my desk and called on my work phone.  That night I again forgot to charge the battery, so I threw the charger into my bag I take to work.  I forgot to charge it at work. That night I finally remembered to charge the battery, but I can't find my phone. I must have left it at school. The next day I again take the charger, but I can't find my phone at school. Where is my phone?  I have checked the pocket of every outfit I wore this week.  I have checked the pockets of all my jackets.  (Which ones did I wear this week?) Today I cleaned my room, the kitchen, the family room.  I found some missing pieces from Candyland. No phone.  I still need to clean out my car.  I seems to have accumulated a lot of junk lately.  Why is my phone always dead when I lose it?  Maybe because when it isn't dead I use the ringer to find it.  Of course there was that time I left it in the pocket of an apron and then put it away and couldn't hear the ringer.  I really hope it shows up.  I don't want to go through the trauma of picking out a new phone, although I think that I am eligible for a phone this time.  You never know if you are going to really like a phone until you have used it for a week,  and they charge an arm and a leg to return them.   Well I guess I better go clean some more.  If you see my phone, let me know.  Also if you are irritated because you have tried to call and I am not answering, it isn't because I am avoiding you.  Although most people know that if I don't answer they should call Thomas since I probably don't have my phone with me. 

Project Basement: Phase One

Apparently, I was right. Making a plan is the way to get things done.  Although Thomas originally told me he didn't have any days off this week, it turned out that the meeting he thought he had on Thursday was really next week.  I asked if he remembered why I wanted him to take a day off and he responded that yes he remembered that I wanted to do some work on the basement.  The plan was to go to the store for supplies in the morning.  When we got home we could start working and be almost done by dinner time!  One thing I didn't think about was the fact that our van battery was having problems.  We had to run it over to the Autozone, but they couldn't test it when it was dead. Consequently we had to wait an hour for it to be charged.  They didn't say the battery was bad like we expected.  It charges just fine, but it won't hold a charge.  We decided to buy a new battery. We can't charge it every time we want to drive the van. We finally got to Lowes at about 2:00.  We selected our wood and went out to load the van.  Now, I did mention that it is spring break.  Well the first of the week was a little stormy, but not bad.  Thursday it started raining.  When we came out of the store it had turned to snow! (It actually snowed for three days! I thought this was spring break - not winter break!)  We stopped at my brother's house to borrow some tools.  We then dropped Isabelle off at my Mom's.  She was having a grandkids's slumber party. We are home with all of our supplies and missing one child. It is 6:00 and we have all evening to get work done. How much did we get done you ask...nothing.  We made dinner (some very tasty grilled chicken) and watched Remmington Steele.  When Isabelle is here she almost always insists that watch Star Trek, so we thought we would take advantage of her absence to watch something else.

Day two was Saturday.  Again we have the whole day ahead of us and I thought that we could jump in and get a lot done.  Thomas got out his measuring tape and measured.  Then he measured some more. Then he thought about his measurements. I wanted to start cutting boards.  He said that we had to have a plan, or we would ruin our wood.  I would have disagreed with him.  How hard can framing be, but the wall we are starting on has two pipes, so it actually is kind of complicated. So instead of cutting wood, we made a plan.  After a while I decided that making a plan was not a two person job and I went upstairs to clean. Finally after more measuring, planning, and watching some videos on the internet, some boards did get cut. He finished what is probably the most complicated part of the wall.  So the one day I thought it would take for this part of the project will probably be several more, but I am super excited that we have started.  That we have moved past the thinking about it stage.   Also while Thomas was working Isabelle made a castle and played princesses (her favorite activity) while her daddy worked.  It was very cute.

Friday night we had started watching Sound of Music.  We were almost half way when Thomas' brother called.  They were having a brothers night and watching True Grit.  He had forgotten all about it. We paused the movie and he went to meet his brothers.  I tried to watch my own movie, but I was too tired, so I just went to bed.  Saturday when we were tired of working we finished watching Sound of Music. I really enjoyed the movie.  My daughter liked it too, at least the parts where they were singing or wearing fancy dresses.  Her favorite part was the wedding where Maria became a princess (because of the fancy dress) and got to be with her prince. 

On the whole I am pleased with the progress we made on this first phase of working.  Hopefully we can get more done in the weeks to come and it won't be one of those never ending projects.

Little Bud Needs a Space

I have not had a good post in a while, and I am not sure that this will be one either.  Part of my problem is the time.  I have trouble finding time when I can use the computer.  This is mainly because of one small boy.  Before he came along, we had two bedrooms and an office.  It worked out well. Husband and I had a room, Daughter had a room, and the omputers had a room.  Along comes my little man who must also have a room.  Since there isn't a room available, he gets to shares with the computers.  Now, I can't say that this doesn't have some advantages.  For instance, computers put off a lot of heat.  Having my baby sleep in a room with two computers, at least one laptop, and various other computer clutter, I don't usually worry about him getting cold, even when other parts of the house are a little bit chilly.  Despite this advantage, it has the huge drawback of being unable to use the computer when little buddy is sleeping, a prime computer using time.  I can only use the computer when he is being entertained by his toys, which generally only happens in short chunks. Frankly, I am surprised how long this particular moment has lasted. Not that he doesn't love his toys.  He also goes from perfectly fine and happy to inconsolable when he sees his mother. Despite how much fun he is having, he realizes that he isn't being held and he should be. Although lately I have had a harder time holding him because he has decided that I am in fact a jungle gym.  I think that we will all be happier when he starts to crawl.  However, that will bring its own complications.  Anyway, to get back to the computer issue, it is not meant to be permanent. The computers want to live in the basement.  The basement is currently unfinished and lacks a couple of key items.  1) heat 2) power outlets in the area where the computers will go.  I was hoping to do some framing over spring break.  Thomas was supposed to take a day or two off, but the person at work who does the schedule told him that this was a bad week and it just wouldn't work out.  (Did I mention that Thomas is the manager and is the one who does the schedule?)  We did finish up our taxes last night and we are getting a refund.  Maybe we can use some of that on the basement project. The biggest problem is really just finding time.  I think that is one of those things that needs to be planned and scheduled, or it won't ever happen.  Plus there is the part where I mentioned Tristan is getting ready to crawl.  Not being able to crawl does not make him stationary.  He is developing a fascination with cables the extend out the back of computers, off of desks, and anywhere else that is in his reach.  This to me says that something must be done soon.  He has become very talkative lately.  I can hear him now talking to his toys. Currently his favorite consonant is B. "Bababab Babababa." I did hear a "Ma" yesterday, but is was only once.  I tried to get him to repeat and get a "Mama," but no such luck. 

A couple of unrelated side notes:

1) I was really wanting something chocolate and snackish the other day, so I decided I would make brownies, "to share" with the new neighbors.  I felt like that was a valid excuse to make such a horribly delicious and fattening recipe.  After much anticipation, they turned out horrible.  I forgot to add the flour.  I have never done that before. I couldn't believe that I had done such a thing.  I had to throw out most of them.  The crusty parts tasted OK, but the rest was gross. It made me so sad because I was really looking forward to them and because they are kind of expense. (An entire box of butter, 8 eggs, the cocoa and vanilla!)

2) Saturday when we went swimming, I made it an entire  length of the pool without stopping.  I really wanted to stop, but I pushed through.  Now I just need to be able to do it consistently, then I can start working on going down and back, which most people consider a single lap.

3)  We actually made a plan to do some yard work on Saturday as well, and it happened.  Maybe making plans is the way to go.  I have a whole post I need to do about the yard, but that will have to wait for latter.  Child #1 finally got out of bed and is asking for breakfast, and Child #2 is no longer entertained by his toys.  He says that someone needs to come pick him up.  I guess we will go and make breakfast.

Update

I finally downloaded my camera and added the pictures I promised on the post from two weekends ago.  Check them out here.

Spring Break!

It is officially Spring Break!  I am looking forward to a week at home. It is not quite a week off, because I have some homework to do.  Then there is the housework.  I am planning on getting some deep clean things done like the fridge and the freezer.  (Both of which were on the to do list for winter break.) Additionally, I need to put away the food I bought at the case lot sale a couple of weeks ago.  I would also like to do some work in the yard.  The yard was kind of the plan for tomorrow, but it is also conference. We will see how it goes.  Mostly I am looking forward to sleeping in and getting some needed time away from school. We will see how things go. I know one thing for sure.  It will go much quicker than I want it to.