jessteronimo

Forgotten Freaky Friday

As my day was winding down, one of the girls in my office said to me, "Now, you're dressing up tomorrow too, right?" For a moment, I was truly confused. Dressing up? I thought. I sort of dress up every day--because business casual IS dressing up for me. But then I realized what she meant. Oh my crazy word! I completely forgot tomorrow is Halloween! HOW does one forget about Halloween?! I truly am working too damn hard if I forget one of the best kids' holidays of the year. So, trying to redeem myself as the good mommy, I left work a half hour earlier than usual and hurried home to spend the hour I had between work and karate class shopping for Halloween costumes for my kids and candy for everyone else's. My oldest is being a shadow--she's dressing in all black and wearing a black cape. She had all she needed. My youngest had nothing--or so we thought.

We blazed over to Target. The girls knew we were short on time, but they couldn't find costumes that were their size and gender. So rather than get frustrated, we got creative.

We headed towards the girls department and started brainstorming what from there we could make into a costume for my youngest. Pajamas? I think not. Veto on anything Hannah Montana as well. Then we came across some pretty princess-like dresses, but that led to the realization that we had purchased the girls pretty white dresses for Ben's brother's wedding in the summer. We could turn that into a bride costume. I offered up the veil from my wedding, which made her giddy. All we needed was a bouquet. We found some silk flowers and ribbon that would do nicely. Voila! Low-cost costumes that involved NO sewing at all (I don't sew, btw).  Necessity truly is the mother of invention. I can't wait to take pictures of the finished products tomorrow!

Fight Junk Mail

Do you get slammed with piles of junk mail each time the postman arrives? Do something about it. Check out this stamp: http://greenupgrader.com/1505/return-to-waster-junk-mail-stamps-at-etsy/

I don't believe that my household receives an inordinate amount of junk mail, but my company--that's another matter. In the marketing world, direct mail is one of the most expensive avenues for advertising. Companies keep doing it because, well, it works, apparently. But if you hate it as much as I do, returning their mail with some message of protest seems like the most effective way to stop the waste--or at least stop you from getting it (one step at a time, eh?).

Having worked in the internet industry and computing for years, you would think that a paperless office would be ideal to me. But I'm not one of those raging paperless freaks. I like to write, and I believe there are reasons to print something out still. But I think being conscious of the problems of waste is the best course. As one of my fellow coworkers points out, it's a cycle. Man takes nature and uses its resources, then returns it to nature to start over. The problem is that man is taking too quickly. We need to slow the cycle down. And junk mail forces us to process it, which is annoying and time wasting. I don't know that I'll order the stamp yet, but I'm going to start asking that it be returned to the sender, sans nasty note . . . initially.

More ideas: http://green.yahoo.com/blog/huddlergreenhome/23/junk-your-junk-mail.html

Babysitting

I agreed to watch my best friend's three-year-old daughter today while she is taking her final CPA exam (good luck, girlfriend!). The little girl arrived early this morning while my family was still asleep, but my youngest must have sensed the presence of a playmate and woke up the moment they walked in the door. My daughter has been giddy ever since the arrival of her personal live doll. She's fed her, dressed her, done her hair, entertained her, carried her around (the little girl is tall but tiny and remarkably light) and chattered to her nonstop, even though the little girl is being shy and hasn't said one word since she got here (I know she's not always shy because I've seen her chatter just like my girls). It's strange having a little person in the house again. I'd forgotten what young ones are like. And it warms my heart to see my youngest's mini mom skills in high gear. She's going to make a great mother one day. In the meantime, we'll just borrow other people's kids for practice and playtime. ;)

Insult to Injury

Last night was the craziest karate class I've ever attended. The instructors worked us harder than ever. It was brutal. We were all sweating, sore, wheezy breathing, and swearing under our breath by the end of class. We spent an hour getting yelled at, belittled, rattled, and angry. Towards the end, while we were running a technique line, I threw an attack at a huge guy in the class, and he blocked my arm so hard that my arm immediately went completely numb and fell to my side like dead weight. I had to step out of line for a while trying not to cry, holding my arm protectively as the pain intensified to a crescendo. I knew it wasn't broken because I could rotate my arm, but it sure felt like it. I got back in line and faked the pain away for the remaining techniques, but I knew I wouldn't be able to move my arm today. Sure enough, I woke up this morning with a swollen bulge on my bicep. No bruise, though. *pout* I can't make a tight fist, can't squeeze, and can barely move my fingers. I'm making a point of pushing through the pain today, with the help of some substantial amounts of ibuprofen, but I have a feeling this will be a slower recovery than I'll let on. Good times.

Warmth

The weather is getting gradually colder, the mornings and evenings darker. When my little family awakens in the morning, it's chilly enough that the girls don't want to get out of bed, and they certainly don't want to part with their warm blankets to shimmy into cold clothing. This morning I watched as my adorable husband lovingly carried each child from her bed still wrapped in her night blankets and placed them on the couch to enjoy a little TV while they woke up. Then he carefully heated my children's clothing in the kitchen's microwave and helped them dress under their warm blankets. It was truly one of the most heart-warming rituals I've ever witnessed.

The Future Looks Bright, But I Can't Wear Shades

Last night I went to help paint and work on my karate studio's new building. While I was there, I got some paint and debris in my left eye. It was pretty irritated by the time I got home, so much so that I had to take my contacts out immediately. It was pretty dang red, but I'd been rubbing it, so it didn't think much of it. It was just as bad after a good night's sleep. I headed to work anyway because it's really busy right now. But a couple of hours into the day, I found out that one of my coworkers was diagnosed with conjunctivitis, more commonly known as pink eye. And I was pretty dang sure that's what I had too. I ran to the bathroom to look in the mirror. By that time, it looked like someone had shoved a stick in my eye--a horror scene just in time for Halloween. The other girls in the office noticed and freaked out because of how contagious the condition is. So I found an instacare and packed up enough work to do from home to keep my busy for at least a day. I knew I wouldn't be back.

Sure enough, a half hour later, a doctor confirmed it: a big positive for bacterial conjunctivitis. Luckily, I have a bacterial form, not a viral form, so it will respond to antibiotic eye drops in just a few days (two drops every three hours, ugh). But I had to chuck my disposable contacts and won't be able to wear them for several days. Which means I'm stuck wearing my glasses. Which means I can't wear sunglasses outside. :(  My eyes are super sensitive, and my glasses glare and aren't quite strong enough compared to my contacts. It's more buggy than prolonging the swollen, teary, bloodshot-red eye. I may violate doctor's orders. I'm planning to go to work tomorrow if only to scare the pants off of everybody with my Thriller-esque eyeball. *wicked grin*

Locked Out

What a great way to start my day. I locked my car keys in my car when I got to work. There's supposedly a hide-a-key, but I don't know where. So I'm waiting for my sister, who owned the car until a couple of months ago and who hid the key, to return my call so I can bust into my car.

I'd say I never do this, but since I just did it, I suppose that means that I can't say "never." *pout*

Great way to start my day. I think I'll hide out today and avoid touching anything.

Sick :(

I spent the weekend fighting off a cold, but I woke up this morning feeling like death warmed over. I could barely swallow, I was sneezing and coughing, my already deep voice was down a few octaves, and I was generally feeling like crap. Mondays suck at my work, so I pulled on a pair of jeans (which I never do anymore) and went to work for a few hours. But finally I couldn't take it anymore. One of the attorneys called me "Typhoid Mary," so I figured that spreading my sick germs around wasn't the best idea, especially since one of my coworkers just had surgery and has a precarious immune system right now. I didn't want to share my illness. I packed up my crap and headed home to work. I've been able to accomplish quite a lot this afternoon, surprisingly. But I still am afraid of tomorrow.

The Consequences of Natural Cooling

Ben likes to leave the windows open all over the house, especially at night. He loves the feel of cool air circulating throughout the house, and I suspect he likes saving the money by not having the air conditioning running. I hate it. I like to feel warm and cozy. So we have this constant temperature battle going on. I lose the battle a lot because I'm almost never home anymore. It's his domain, so he thinks, so he'll heat or cool it to his comfort level. I'm okay with that during the day, but at night, he has to consider me and the girls. I know that in the winter, he turns the heat way down all day and only turns it back up a few degrees when he knows I'm on my way home from work. How sweet, huh? But I spent half my summer in warm fuzzy socks and sweatshirts or jackets while he basked in his perfect temperature with the air conditioning running all day long.

So here we are in Fall. In my opinion, October is too late in the year to have the windows open at night. Ben disagrees. Even with two comforters on my bed, I get so cold at night that it wakes me up too early in the morning, and then I can't go back to sleep. This morning I woke up at 5:30 and went around the house closing all the windows and turning off fans--yes, fans! When I went into the kitchen, a noxious smell blasted my not-so-sensitive nose. Apparently a skunk had been startled somewhere outside our windows. Now, even hours later, the whole living area of the house smells like skunk stink. I keep gagging on the smell. I have all the scented candles I own burning furiously and have already gone through one can of air freshener and am working on another. This does it. I'm putting my foot down. I know who will win the window battle tonight!

Ta-Da!

As promised:

http://www.arrowheadkenpo.com/blog/evanston-belt-test/

See? I'm not a total flake. My instructor, Mr. Wheaton is on the far right. His instructor, Mr. Mills, is to my right (yes, I did that on purpose). And see? My name is listed first on the blog post! Yeah! Aren't I cool? Okay, so I'm a kenpo geek. But I'm loving it!

Last night I got the unique opportunity to start assisting in instructing in the beginner's class. The higher colored belts moved to the advanced class, so I was in both classes last night. It was very eye-opening. I sure have a lot to learn, but I'm liking the direction I'm headed.

Onward and upward!