A Work at Home Mom’s Blog

I just realized that I haven’t posted here in just over a week. But this time it’s not because I’ve been particularly out of sorts. I haven’t been quite as cheerful as has been the norm lately, but I think it’s had a lot to do with the sinus infection I’ve been contending with. That, and not having learned that I have to stay completely away from alcohol if I want to be in the best possible mental state until this past weekend. Not just one or two drinks here and there, but no drinks, ever, period.

Anyway, I went back to the doctor for my follow-up today, and he was happy to hear that I was doing so much better. I had a few minor things to discuss with him, and the sinus infection, but other than that I could honestly say that I felt great. He upped the dose on my Ativan so it would be more effective against insomnia, gave me some antibiotics, and told me to come back in four months. It’s good to know that, barring any major episodes or other health problems, the monthly visits are over for now. I like my doctor and all, but I’ll be glad to see less of him!

So now I’ve just got to work on getting my life back to some resemblance of normal. I’ve made progress, but there’s lots left to do. I still have a ton of laundry to catch up on, and I hope to get that done this week since it’s supposed to be warm, dry and sunny. I also need to do some serious cleaning and organizing in my office. My document management system leaves a lot to be desired. Well, actually, it’s pretty much nonexistent, unless you consider a zillion piles of papers in no particular order a document management system. It’s going to be interesting trying to sort through it all and deciding what to file and what to trash.

That’s all the news that’s fit to print, for now anyway. But I’ll try not to let another week go by with no posts.

I already got most of the stuff for Pumpkin’s birthday, but there were two more things I wanted to get for her. One was a pair of earrings for her newly pierced ears, and the other was a jewelry box to put those and any other nice jewelry she accumulates over the years in. I planned on giving those things to her on her birthday, and the PSP and games on the day of her party.

Well, I’ve been looking for a jewelry box for some time, and I can’t find one anywhere locally. I found a few small trinket boxes and some larger boxes without any compartments, but I wanted something that would help keep stuff organized. I went to over half a dozen stores, and none of them had anything remotely like what I was looking for. Strange, because it hasn’t been long ago that it seemed like they had them everywhere.

I looked online too, and while there’s quite a bit to choose from, I still couldn’t find what I wanted. Everything was either too big, too small, or too expensive. I found one that might possibly work, but there wasn’t enough detail about it on the website for me to make an informed decision.

I think I’ve just about decided not to worry about the jewelry box, and just get her the earrings. I’ve found a pair I think she’ll really like that doesn’t cost too much, so that much is out of the way. I’m just waiting to see if I get a coupon so I can save some money on them before ordering. As for jewelry storage, she’s got a little plastic organizer that might work. If not, I guess I can clean out one of my jewelry boxes and let her have it. I’ve got a few small ones, and I’m sure I can make room in my big one for what’s in them.

I thought I was doing well to have Pumpkin’s birthday shopping nearly complete. Yes, I finally got a deal on a used PSP and some games to go with it, and a memory card. All together, I spent just over a hundred bucks on it all. Not too shabby if you ask me.

But the other day I overheard her talking to her friend on the phone about what she wanted to be for Halloween. Are you kidding me? Halloween is over two months away! Grar.

Since she’s a big girl, she has no interest in those adorable little infant Halloween costumes or anything like them in her size. She mentioned wanting to be a zombie doctor or a werewolf. I guess I should probably go ahead and start looking for such a costume. Because most years, I wait until the last minute and she ends up being whatever we can find in her size.

I should probably enjoy the whole Halloween thing while I can. It was always one of my favorite holidays when I was young, and I still enjoy taking her trick or treating. And she’ll probably be ready to give that up within a couple more years, so I’ll be relegated to handing out candy to the few trick or treaters who venture out to this neck of the woods. Unless I can talk Hubby into getting out and doing something on Halloween night, that is.

Yesterday Hubby and I spent the day together. We had some business to attend to, but I had intended to let him sleep in since there wasn’t anything that we had to get done early. But he got up around 8:00 anyway, much to my chagrin. I didn’t feel like being in any hurry to get ready, but when he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go. So I begrudgingly got in the shower, got dressed, put on my makeup and fixed my hair. Still, by the time we left the house, it was nearly lunchtime.

So the first order of business was to get something to eat. We went through the Hardee’s drive thru and ordered, then parked the truck and ate in it. (By the way, if you haven’t tried their new hand-breaded chicken tenders, they’re awesome! And no, they’re not paying me to say that.)

Then we went to the hardware store to get a chain for his chainsaw. When we got there, I saw that the mother of one of the girls who use to be in Pumpkin’s girl scout troop was working there. We chatted with her for a bit, and Hubby selected a chain and also ended up picking up a new file for it. I had to restrain myself to keep from looking too closely at the great LCD TVs they had on display. If I had my way I would be posting one of the greatest TV reviews of all time right now, but unfortunately that will have to wait. As much as I would love to have a new television, it’s just not in the budget right now.

After that, we went to the cell phone place. Hubby’s phone has been busted since not long after he got it a couple of years ago, but it still functioned until recently. First the earpiece speaker went out, which meant you could only use it if you put it on speakerphone. Then the speakerphone went out, rendering it completely useless. So we went and picked out a new phone. I couldn’t get him to settle on anything, so I pretty much made the decision myself. And then I conned him into letting me have the new phone and him taking my old one.

I know, I’m such a bad girl. But my old phone is a much better fit for him. The new one isn’t a flip phone, which he insists on having, and the old one is. The new one also has a full keyboard for texting. I’m not a big texter myself, but he’s always making me do his texting for him, so I might as well keep the best phone for it, right? Right.

When we got done at the phone place, we went by the convenience store so he could get some cancer sticks, and he ran into his cousin. They stood and talked forever while I waited in the truck. When he finally got back, he said he needed to meet him at his house at 2:00 to see about getting some wood for the winter. So we goofed off for a bit, got some stuff from the store for his brother and delivered it, and went back out to see him.

After we got done there, it was time to head home so we would be here by the time Pumpkin got off the bus. And home is where we stayed for the rest of the evening, with the exception of some dirt bike/ATV riding nearby.

All in all, it was a nice day. I got a new toy – er, phone – and Hubby and I enjoyed each other’s company very much. Now that I’m not so depressed/anxious, I can tolerate his constant joking, ribbing and horseplaying much better, and can even give him a run for his money at times. And that makes the time we spend together much more enjoyable.

I know, that’s probably one of the top ten cheeziest songs ever made. But I was just thinking about what an awesome husband I have, and it got stuck in my head. Sorry.

But honestly, I feel really lucky to have such an awesome man. I haven’t exactly been the easiest person to live with lately, thanks to the emotional problems I’ve been dealing with. But he has not once failed to be there for me through it all. I’ve felt incredibly guilty about not being able to work and help pay the bills, but every time I’ve gotten upset about it, he has told me not to worry about it and to focus on getting better.

Now that I seem to be getting back to my “normal” self, I feel like I should do something extra special for him. I’m not sure what, though. I could do what I usually do and cook him one of his favorite meals for supper, but I’d like to go beyond that. Maybe get him a nice personalized gift like a watch with an engraved message about how much he means to me or something. Given the current state of our finances I probably won’t be able to do that right away, but maybe it will seem even more special to him if I give it to him later on when he’s not expecting it at all. In the meantime, I guess I’ll just have to make sure to be extra-good to him.

I have never, ever liked grocery shopping. I even hated it when I was a kid. Sure, I would beg for toys and sugary cereals and all that stuff when my mom took me along. But I also ended up on the verge of tearing my hair out by the time the trip was over. Because it was not at all unusual for it to take dear Mom an hour or two to get through the store. Not because she was such a cost-conscious shopper, but because she always ran into at least 4 or 5 people she knew, and would stand and talk to each of them for what seemed like an eternity.

When I got my driver’s license, she would often send me to get the groceries in her place. That I didn’t mind so much. She always gave me a detailed list, organized in the order in which I would find the items in the store. So I could zip through there in, like, ten minutes tops, and after that it was simply a matter of finding the shortest line, having each thing passed over the barcode scanner, grabbing the bags and going.

In fact, I got so fast at getting groceries, I would often ride around a bit and talk to a friend or two before I even went to the store. It came in handy for keeping some small semblance of a social life while grounded, because no one would ever be the wiser. Oh, and my high school sweetheart also happened to work at our preferred grocery store, so I’d often call ahead and see if he could schedule his break around the time I would be there.

Now, I’m back to hating grocery shopping. I still zip through the store pretty quickly, provided that it’s not crammed full of looky-loos that can’t decide which variety of pinto beans would best suit their needs. But if I happen to have Hubby with me, he incessantly rushes me through the store. Every few minutes, it’s “Is that all?” or “We don’t need anything else, do we?” or “Hurry up, I don’t want to miss wrestling!” Not fun, and it often results in me leaving without several of the things I needed most.

I’ll be glad when they start offering grocery delivery services around here. If that ever happens, that is. As far out in podonk as I live, I don’t think I should hold my breath.

Yeah, I know, I’m like, three days late. But did you really expect me to do better than that?

Anyway, I hope everyone had a happy and safe Fourth of July weekend. Mine was nice. Hubby, Pumpkin and I went to my mom’s on Friday to spend the night. We didn’t really do anything but visit with her, but that was fine because we hadn’t seen her in so long. We sat around, talked, watched TV and played cards. And, as usual, had some of her scrumptious fried chicken for supper.

We came back Saturday evening, and didn’t do much for the rest of the night. We sat around the house for the most part on Sunday, especially me, because I wasn’t feeling well. But Hubby and Pumpkin went out and bought some fireworks, and we went to his parents’ house and set them off that night.

Not a particularly eventful holiday weekend, but it was nice. Now it’s time to get back to work, if I can just get my brain back in gear.

I never thought I would say that, but this weekend, it’s true. It has just been a cruddy weekend around here. It could have been worse, but it also could have been much better.

Why? Because Hubby somehow talked me into saying that his nephew, who happens to be one of my least favorite kids, could spend the weekend with us. Now, compared to how he usually is, he was very good. But that’s not saying much. If I had to be around that kid for any longer than a weekend, I would positively be pulling my hair out.

Besides that, it’s been miserably hot. I know, I’ve been dying for some warmer weather, but it could have come a little more gradually than it did. The past few days have been terribly hot and humid. There has been some rain every day, and the showers cooled things off for a while. But then the sun would come back out, and it would get even hotter than it was before. It’s times like these when I wish we had an air conditioner.

Add to all of that the fact that I wasn’t feeling well, and it makes for a rather foul mood. If only I could have spent the weekend productively, doing something like creating a website or picking out new home lighting or even just having some fun. Oh well. Maybe next weekend will be better.

Pumpkin has always had fairly long hair. Up until last week it was nearly halfway down her back. It was beautiful, but she had a hard time brushing it. And she almost always cries when Hubby or I brush it. So Hubby finally decided it was time to give her a haircut.

She reluctantly agreed, and allowed him to cut it to just below her shoulders. I got a couple of pictures of it, but I haven’t gotten around to putting them on the computer yet. Her former bangs are still a couple of inches shorter than the rest of it, but I couldn’t talk either one of them into going that short. But it still looks great.

Pumpkin’s hair is her favorite feature, and she gets tons of compliments on it because it’s a beautiful shade of blond. So I’m surprised that she hasn’t been after me to go to the store and compare prices on hair growth shampoos. But so far, she seems to like it better at its current length. But she still says she’s going to let it grow back out. Maybe by the time it does she’ll be better at brushing her hair. I certainly hope so.

When we bought our house, one of the things we didn’t particularly like about it was the fact that it doesn’t have much of a yard, in the front or the back. The house is situated on the side of a hill, and it’s pretty close to the road. There’s enough level space in the front yard for a couple of people to throw a frisbee back and forth, but that’s about it.

There’s even less room to do anything out back. There’s a tiny patio and a clothesline back there, and the rest is pretty much all uphill. So at first, we planned on eventually dozing out a larger back yard.

We recently got an offer from a friend to borrow his grandpa’s dozer and get that done. But now I’m not so sure that it’s a good idea. With Hubby’s back in the shape it’s in, we don’t really need more mowing to do on a regular basis. And Pumpkin won’t be at the age to do a lot of playing in the yard much longer.

I wouldn’t mind having more space back there for entertaining in the summer. Our living room isn’t huge, so if we have a lot of people over, it gets a bit crowded. It would be cool to have room to put an outdoor fireplace and some furniture out back.

We haven’t decided for sure what we’ll do yet. If we do doze it out, we probably won’t make a great big yard or anything. But a little more room to enjoy the outdoors would be nice.