It's a Grand Old Life*

My attitude lately has not been great. I have been feeling very overwhelmed with schoolwork, house, kids, kids' appointments, meal prep, life, etc., etc., etc. I have been really whiny and feeling the need to tell everyone how busy I am. Yeah, like everyone else isn't. And I've been stomping around the world feeling very put-upon and babyish and petulant. Most especially to Tim and the boys, since they live here, I own them, and they probably won't leave me just yet. But I shouldn't push it.

Anyway, I was praying about this, and trying to use "The Power of Positive Thinking" and getting rid of all my negative garbage, and here's what I've come up with: I have a great husband who is willing to let me take off during the busiest time of every weeknight so I can take required courses to get my nursing degree. He feeds the kids, takes all three to baseball practice, waters the garden, cleans the dishes. You get the picture. And I'm just mean to him.

I get to learn really cool things (even though I'm kinda done with the coolness of Anatomy) and all I have to do is make dinner to put in the crockpot so it's done when the guys wanna eat. Waaah.

I always hear people talking about God speaking to them in prayer. It's funny, but I always hear my mom's voice. As in, "It seems to me like some little girl could be appreciative about the good stuff she has." Or, "At least you don't have to go to school, work, and raise your kids on your own, like other people in your classes."

So, as I sat on the deck today, studying in the sunshine, I decided to count my blessings instead of my chores. Number one: sitting on the deck studying in the sunshine while my husband works to provide for all of us.

Number two: sitting right next to a big lilac bush that is stinkin' up my whole yard like Heaven.

Number three: Having a sweet bunch of little boys who need and want me even when I'm a raving shrew.

*The title of this post is a quote of my mom's: "It's a grand old life if you don't weaken."

I miss her.

Life's Messy...Clean It Up!

OK, so today, I have done something that I have overlooked for the past 18 weeks as I have exhaustively (or should I say exhaustEDly) been studying anatomy.

Lately, I have become aware of a certain, shall we say, funky odor in my house. I don't know what it's from, but there comes a time when you have to get rid of the stinky smell in the house. So, I made Tim and the boys move out. No, not really. Because as cute as they are, they really have no skills for survival that I have seen, so to throw them out would be really cruel. (Tim would probably do OK, though. He's a grownup.)

No, what I did was: CLEAN MY HOUSE. Again, just because I stay at home does not mean that this happens regularly. Today, I filled my little bucket with Pine-Sol and actually mopped the floors and dusted the furniture. I know, it sounds simple, but I'm not kidding when I say that I had dog-hair tumbleweeds blowing under my furniture the size of a Shi-Tzu.

So now I feel like I do after nookie: I wonder why it took me so long to do it again. Because although I could have done a lot of other things, it is strangely satisfying when you're done.

Although I think that having a two-foot human trailing after me chanting "Mama, Mama Mama Mama" (his only clear word; believe me, the magic of hearing "Mama" is gone) is part of the experience I could do without. My semi-mute son delights in standing on the step I'm trying to sweep, or standing behind me as I whirl around to wipe something off, then gets outraged when I scream, "Move!" Or he will try to dip the broom into the mop bucket. Or throw his cars under the dining room table that I just put back in his toybox. Sigh.

So now I'm off to Border's to buy a book that purports to explain why my husband and son think and read so slowly, and fix it. (Here's a thought: FOCUS! But that's just me being negative.)

Clean Living

So I'm reading a lot of stuff lately about organic food, and how good it is for you, how important to make life changes, blah blah blah.

My question is this: Why should I have to pay more for food to be grown the way it is supposed to be grown in the first place? I read a story a couple of years back about people getting e.coli poisoning from green onions that were tainted with soiled water in the fields. These were later sold, and got into salsa that the people ate.

I imagine a conversation something like this:

Veggie Guy: "Well, ma'am, we have two types of vegetables available for you to purchase. They both look green and healthy, but if you want the ones that did not get irrigated with water from cow feces, it's gonna cost you a couple of bucks more. So, which will it be? Fecal veggies or non-fecal veggies? Your choice.

Me: "Um, I guess the fecal veggies. The organic ones just seem to cost so much more..."

No, I don't think so. So now I have to go be a health nut and start shopping at the local Whole Foods store so I don't have to consume poop in my food, along with pesticides and other non-tasty comestibles. That sucks, if you'll pardon my scatological language. (Scat pun intended.)

I have a crazy idea! Why don't America's farmers get some of their pride back and just quit selling crap that shouldn't be broken down by human bodies? I don't want a bunch of rainbow-colored additives in my family's food. I just want to feed the little buggers a couple of meals a day that won't cause them to get cancer when they're 40. Is this too much to ask?

Until then, does anyone know how in the h**l to cook amaranth or quinoa?

Real Mathletes

I have been astounded lately by the stuff I hear while I'm quietly going about my business. The other night, I heard an Allstate commercial that was talking about the need for retirement planning and how they can help. The tag line was, "We can help with the third half of your life."

Huh?

By definition, there is no such thing as a third half. There can really only be two. At least, that's what the nuns told me at St. Alphonsus, and I have no reason to doubt their veracity at this juncture.

It's the same thing as people who proudly claim, "I give 110% in everything I do!" Good for you, pal. Maybe you could give 120% to learning math. You cannot give more than 100%. It's just impossible. 100% is the most that there is. What's so hard to grasp here?

I know that I'm being a nitpicking dork, and I am certainly no math booster (If you can't be a mathlete, you can still be a mathematics supporter.) but come on, people! Get a little specific with your figures, huh?