Welcome to the Commenting Pixie Party!
I'm first! I'm first!
OK, now I can comment . . . I wanted to post before someone sniped me, LOL.
Poor, poor LG, and poor, poor Phantom. It's the quintissential whine.
Do you not like playing games in general, or have you just not found any that you and the kids all enjoy doing together yet? DH and I love games, but we have friends who aren't really game people . . . I respect their feelings and don't try to make them play games, but I can't quite comprehend not liking to play any games, ever.
Can I whine that before I had kids I never really needed spellcheck, so I never used spellcheck. Now I can't quite get used to the fact that massive sleep deprivation and typing in 2-minute increments leads to constant, embarrassing typos?
Because I don't bother to proofread, I end up looking a lot more stupid than I really am.
I do know how to spell quintessential, BTW.
I'm not really a game person, and I never have been. Though when LG says "games" he usually means games of let's pretend in which he is the Dictator for Life.
It's killing me, though. I try so hard to be there for him emotionally, to see what he's about and give him what he needs, to converse with him to the limits of my (introverted) ability. That it's not enough is "very upsetting" to me. I just don't have the ability to entertain him all frickin' day. Crap, no one ever entertained me, and I considered that the very least of my problems when I was growing up. But I must have been wrong, because here I am being axe-murderer inattentive mom.
Oh, and Mr. Blue feels like an axe-murderer, too, because usually he's the one who entertains LG from 8-10 PM. But he had a really busy day at work, and had stuff he needed to get done this evening. And then he wanted to relax for a little while. See what happens when he relaxes for a little while? LG is miserable, I'm miserable, Baby Blue is miserable (teething), and the UCONN women lost in overtime.
Guilt for everyone! Two-fer Tuesday! Except now it's Wednesday! And I want to cry!
Awww, Phantom! Despite the drains on you, I think you should be proud to be raising such a fun and creative kid.
Phantom, I don't think you're a bad mom, even if poor, poor LG thinks you're only good at being on the computer. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and look how delightful and creative and well-balanced your kids are!
Anyway, no whines from me this week. The new job is going well and Matt and I bought our one-way tickets to Scotland today!
I brought vanilla bean ice cream and homemade fudge sauce! Yes, my chocolate craving was so bad today that I made fudge sauce for my ice cream. Maybe I should whine that I'm only creative when I'm PMS-ing.
Oh, PS, hugs to you. It's obvious from your kids that you're doing a pretty good job as parents. I almost never play games with my kids, either--they entertain each other so well most of the time, anyway. I do often feel guilty about the fact that I say "Not right now" and "I'm busy" so much.
We just do the best we can.
Remember, kids are kids, and one day it will be "poor, poor LG" because you won't play whatever game he wants at the moment, while the next it will be "poor, poor LG because you won't let him have caramels for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
You really can't judge your parenting success on whether your kids are happy at the moment or not. Because, sometimes, they won't be happy at the moment. And that's a good learning experience for them too.
LG needs to learn that the world doesn't rotate around entertaining him and that everybody isn't going to do what he tells them to all the time. It doesn't necessarily have a single thing to do with whether you're doing "enough" listening, connecting, etc. It's part of life.
I could whine that I'm having a whirling dervish of a week. But I don't really feel like whining about that, since I'm so glad to finally have the energy to handle it, and glad I cn help out some friends who really do have reason to whine (such as an emergency appendectomy).
Instead, I'll whine that Baby E and I are coming down with colds again. Haven't we been sick enough this season yet???
But if you weren't so good at being on the computer, how could all the commenting pixies have a chance to admire LG's artwork?
Perhaps he needs his own artblog. The family that blogs together, um, clogs together? Jogs together? Slogs together!
Aw, man, Phantom.
My only whine is that I've been trying to get a phone line working here for almost a week, and still; niente. Hopefully today.
Oh Phantom, I agree with what everyone else said, it's so clear from how creative and balanced LG and BB are, that you are an awesome Mom. That said, I can imagine it hurts when LG says something like that, which he probably won't even remember tomorrow. I know that when I was a child I used to say a lot of things on the spur of the moment which I didn't mean in any deep way. Also, don't forget, it's really important for all children to learn to play and amuse themselves on their own at times - it's a skill LG needs like anyone else, so you're helping him with that by taking some time out from games etc. Anyway, I'll shut up now given that I don't have children! 
As for my whines...
My period finally decided to make an appearance last night after 50 DAYS! I've never been more than a couple of days late ever before, and have felt like I've now had PMS for over 3 weeks! And, oh yes, it's definitely back with a vengeance! So, yes, it was me that left the gigantic box of chocolate bar at the door of the pixie party, please help yourselves.
My husband has a terrible cold, which I seem to have caught because when he's ill, he seems completely inable of staying more than a few centimetres away from me in bed and breathes directly in my face. Ugh!
We also have a friend coming to stay tonight, which is nice, but our home looks like a rubbish dump and I'm not looking forward to hauling my cramping, sniffling body around with the vacuum cleaner!
Final whine is that our wireless internet won't work, which mean's I can't follow Wednesday Whining from the comfort of my sofa. Terrible! 
Anti-whines:
I finally got around to subscribing to bloglines. Now that I won't have to click on each blog a million times a day to see if it's updated, I won't look like a stalker anymore! Yay! I'll also have way more time for reading more blogs. Double yay!
I'm going to go grab coffee in a little while, and I'll be able to walk past the sea. I don't think I'm ever going to tire of living right by the sea.
Ooops - obviously meant 'unable' not 'inable'. Apologies for any other typos too - blame the sleep deprivation!
Phantom, hugs. But really, it is the age. Every person I know with a 4 to 5 year old has been told "you don't love me, you don't listen to me, you make me so sad." I think they are learning the power of their words and are trying them out to see how you react.
Or else I hang out with horrid mommies. But I don't think that is it .
Yesterday C told me that he wished he had been born into a different family because no one ever listens to him.
You are a great mommy.
I bet nobody will sympathize with my Wednesday whine, but maybe you'll remember it: my kids are too grown up to pester me, and my grandchildren are too far away to play with. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side of Time (sigh).
I don't have much to about this week. Right now I'm just anxious because Joe has a job interview today, and if he gets it and if it pays well enough, I might be able to quit my crappy job. Cross your fingers.
Anyone want some snacks? I could whip something up real quick? Guacamole, maybe? How about some of those mini quiches they sell at Kroger?
And I agree with the others who've said LG's age is probably to blame for him being very upset. The other day, I heard my nephew whining about how my sister wouldn't play some random game with him. I think he said something along the lines of "But Mo-om! You're my best friend!"
What everybody else said, Phantom!
My whine for the day is that I have a huge load of homework for today's classes and...
...a three-page paper due Friday morning and...
...Three 6 to 8 page papers due at the end of April and...
...my Advanced Composition professor is still crazy and...
...is undermining the work we have to do in her class by requiring that we stop in the middle of READING our research to do more research in a particular way....by bringing in physical evidence that we used the library. And photocopying the Works Cited page in a book and circling a journal that is cited more than once, blah, blah, blah, blah...Hello, we know how to do this. This is how we did our research in the first place. Doesn't this sort of activity belong at the beginning of the semester, not AFTER WE'VE ALREADY WRITTEN A LIT REVIEW FOR HER??????
I feel better now.
Oh, Phantom, your conversation breaks my heart. My first was an introvert like myself and entertained himself. When the second came along who needed to be entertained, the first entertained her. Now they're starting to like different things . . .
My whine is really more nervous anxiety. My annual review is tomorrow. I've asked for a promotion. Or something. Some kind of career path, a plan. I'm nervous that my boss will say I'm doing a terrible job. Because being the self critical person I am, I can see all kinds of ways I could do a better job. I see things that I do really well, but I also see that maybe my boss doesn't value those things. I'm also afraid she might restructure my job in a way that I hate, so I'll have to quit and look for a new job. Also, two of my colleagues hate each other and I'm stuck in the middle. On the plus side, the angry one moved out of the office and the other guy and I had a very nice heart-to-heart conversation about what the hell was going on with the angry one. The angry one, imho, is being stupid and immature. He has issues.
Whine #325 about the dissertation. STILL have not started writing chapter 1. I will. I will. Tonight. I promise.
Anti-whine: it's finally getting warm here!
I bring a whine for A, who can't get out of bed at the moment. Two words: stomach bug.
My whine: I hate pretty much all the work I'm doing this term.
anti-whine: my final four bracket on the women's side is pristine.
[JANE DARK: if you're reading this, this would be my email to you prev discussed...]
[TO EVERYONE ELSE: this does not involve kids or bodily fluids, but I can't whine about this on my own blog and it's driving me nuts. Feel free to skip.]
whine: I have a prof who is out to get me. I de-volunteered from working on her project (which is not in my field anyway -- was helping her to help someone else, and she dragged her feet and didn't understand the stuff she was getting into, and I knew it would be a long, bad deal, so I de-volunteered before we actually _did_ anything) and that prof is my Romanticism seminar prof. My friend Mel (tenured lit prof in her own right) is the one who confirmed she's probably out to get me now AND is acting like an ass AND runs a terrible class AND doesn't know what she's doing. I had been trying to give her the benefit of the doubt all semester, but no more.
The seminar sucks ass -- not because it's Romanticism, which I like even if it's the British sort, but because she doesn't have the foggiest idea what she's doing....it's her first time teaching a grad seminar and her second semester at this school, period.
The course is supposedly a seminar course, to familiarize us with stuff we'd need to know to perform well on the MA comprehensive exam and in future seminars. The course has a theme -- gender -- and that's fine, except it is almost _wholly_ gender-oriented, including a heavy dose of non-canonical authors, to the point where it all overshadows the core elements of Romanticism and the six dead white guys -- who, white guys though they may be, are very important for understanding the period. Basically, if I hadn't had a Romanticism course before, I wouldn't know anything about it, based on this class. I think it would be a fine "special topics in R" seminar, except we don't have those: this is the only R seminar and it comes up only once a year. So people who have no R background are _still_ screwed for the exam.
The reading load is triple that of any other seminar I've been in. I'm all for work, but this is outrageous especially when we never discuss any of it.
We have to do _busy work_, which is for undergrads, not grad students. The whole purpose of seminars is to introduce students to the topic, foster independent thought, and spark independent research...and in this class we have to write "feeling" responses and reply to other students' "feeling" responses...and if we write responses to works that show good grad student-ness what with the research and the argument and what not, we get shitty grades on it, because we're "being good grad students" (her words).
Finally, the final paper. This is where she's out to get me/making my life hell. The rules for the paper were simply: " Your final 15-page essay will be based on a topic of your choosing that incorporates Romantic-era literature and secondary research." Period. Proposals/partial annotated bibs were due last week. I had a topic that was sort of transatlantic romanticism-ish, but rooted in British R (note: throughout the semester, she's had discussions w/ me re: transatlantic stuff b/c I'm an Americanist, and has given me no less than two transatlantic anthologies). She said no, didn't adhere to the requirements. So Mel and I thought up another topic, purely British: how Blake creates his own ecology in Songs of I & E. She said no, didn't adhere to the requirements "because the course is about the constructs of gender."
Uh, it doesn't say that's a requirement for our essay. So basically, she is requiring us to write on a very narrow topic, preferably with a viewpoint that matches hers. That's unheard of in a grad seminar for a first-year prof esp. when we are not warned that is going to be the case ahead of time, such as by cross-listing the course as a _gender studies_ course (which I wouldn't have taken because I don't dig that theoretical perspective (not as a concept, just for my own work)).
So we came up with a third topic, assuming "constructs of gender" is code for her for "must write about women," which is: the construct of masculinity in Byron's Eastern Tales.
She hasn't said yes or no, and now I'm behind on my work because of it -- research already down the drain from the first disallowed topics -- and I'm _sure_ she's either goingt o say no until I come up with the magic topic she wants me to write about, or she'll give me a terrible grade no matter what I write or how well I write it.
Shit like this really pisses me off and totally damages my calm. Thank you for letting me take up whining space.
Aw Phantom, that's a rough conversation. You and Mr. Blue are awesome parents. It sounds like LG was having a rough night and pushed a tender button in response -- all perfectly normal in a preschooler. Sending hugs to the whole Scribbler/Blue family.
I have two whines:
1. Migraine. I'm trying to eliminate typical migraine triggers such as caffeine, chocolate and aged cheddar (and red wine, but I don't drink it anyway). The pain is pretty bad, but I'm off to work anyway.
2. My favourite niece is moving away on Saturday. She and I have been watching each other's backs at our family feast day dinners for seven years now. The Designated Family Terrorist (one of my siblings) tends to find fault with either my niece or myself, usually for the crime of free and previously unapproved thoughts, so we cover each other to minimize the psychological damage.
Who's family dinner requires a 2 hour debriefing every freakin' time? Hey, that would be me. Only now I don't have my niece to debrief with. Damn.
She is such a delightful young woman, and I'm going to miss her lots.
I totally think that Phantom gets a prize this week!
And I feel for JM, I've had a prof out to get me before. Not as bad as what you are dealing with, but it still wasn't any fun.
My whine is somewhat minor but I need to get it out. I'm sick. It just crept up on me out of nowhere. I have no idea where I got this illness and I fear that it's something more serious than a simple cold. Only time will tell on that score though.
Last night around 5:00 I developed a cough. It wasn't bad so I thought it might just be some slight throat irritation. However, this is not the case. The cough has been very persistant since then and kept me from getting any good sleep even though I was only asleep, if you can call it that, for four hours. My throat is sore too. I hardly ever get sick like this. The most I get it where I feel slightly under the weather for about a day and then I'm all good again, but at least once a year I have a definite, very apparent illness. This is one of those times.
Normally I wouldn't be all that upset about it but I just barely made plans to see my friend, whom I haven't seen for quite some time, and her new baby. The little guy is only about 6 weeks old now. And now, unless I get better before Friday, I won't be able to go and see them. I can't risk getting the cute little guy sick!
I'm just really upset that I will probably have to cancel my plans now!! And I was really looking forward to it too!!
Really trivial minor whine: This morning when I stopped at the local 7-11, to get some cough drops for the day, I saw a guy that I was really interested in dating about a year and a half ago. I didn't even say hello. I should have, but I just felt stupid saying hi at 5:45am while looking like hell and coughing all over the place. I don't even know if he saw me. I have no idea if he would even remember me. I haven't seen him for a long time and we only worked in the same building for about 4 or 5 months. I'm such an idiot about things like this. I should have just said hi. I'll be beating myself up over it all day now.
Oh Julie, I'm sorry that your professor is being such a terrible pain (read: bitch). That's just not fair, especially when the syllabus/assignment requirements are clear, and you are clearly putting in a lot of work to come up with a thoughtful topic. How childish is she to hold a grudge because you de-volunteered from something totally separate for good reasons before it had even started!!? I hope it works out and that you get the grade you deserve. If not, we'll set the pixies on her!
Phantom, you are an excellent mom! LG might want someone to play w/him b/c he feels bored (is he really not getting enough attention?! That's absurd), but boredom really isn't a bad thing, right? It is where great creativity comes from, as I think you yourself have said somewhere on this blog. So, really, you and Mr.Blue are givin LG a great gift here in helping him be bored sometimes.
Not, of course, that the situation isn't heartbreaking. It's entirely horrible to have one's child say such things to one. Poor Phantom.
I, however, AM truly a terrible mom. I injured my little girl's foot. We were going down the slide at the playground (she on my lap) and I neglected to tuck her legs between mine properly. Her foot got caught between my leg and the side of the slide. She cried for over an hour, and she has refused to walk for 2 days now. The X-rays say nothing is broken and there isn't really any swelling . . . yet she refuses to walk ("my fut hur"! "My ank hur!").
Plus, of course, she's a crank. And, so I've ceased feeling all-that sorry for her (although my guilt and self-laothing are still going strong as ever).
AND, as she's been home from daycare I'm not getting any of the work-I-get-paid-for done. So, I'm not ready to teach today, and I'm starting to have extreme anxiety about the conference paper I don't have ready for the conference I'm going to soon. (And, I get 90 papers on Friday).
Phantom, don't beat yourself up over this. One of the greatest gifts you can give your children is the ability to entertain themselves. You're doing a fantastic job as a parent and you'll find all kinds of ways to connect with your kids that don't involve "playing games" with them.
Oh, and my weekly whine:
still.haven't.heard - damn.
Oh, Mommy-guilt strikes the Phantom household! That's pretty awful stuff. My kindergartener told me this week I'm no fun and never play games with her anymore and she's so bored and lonely everyday waiting for her sister to come home from school. I could hear violins playing. I was too tired to sympathize, however, so I asked her if she'd like to take a nap like her toddler brother while she waited.
I'm mean, and apparently I have no conscience about it. But that's not my whine.
This is my whine:
1. I am only 23 weeks pregnant and already swelling up like a Romper Room punching clown. My feet and legs up to my knees are all puffy, and my fingers look like sausages.
2. Oldest daughter had three pieces of artwork selected for district-wide display. Hurray! Er, but one of them is cheese/fart-themed. People I'd never met before kept approaching us last night at the art show reception to let us know they saw my daughter's fart picture. I don't know whether to laugh or cry about this development. (lurid details at my blog, photos of said artwork will be forthcoming).
First my whine- iBook dying and tons of stuff to write, including a catalog for a charitable auction and letter to various VIPS inviting them to the event. Plus you know, blogs.
Main computer has an "o" key coming and going. Also sitting at said computer for three days has given me real back and shoulder pain. We need a better office set-up.
Plus it's raining again (we are at 130% of our water table for the year) and it's spring break! We aren't going anywhere, and here I am with 4 rug rats who can't play outside and are bugging me for the only computer. Sob.
I took Rory shopping yesterday and she needed white pepper for a dish she is making tonight. She wanted to buy two jars. I told her we didn't need two jars. She said "Aren't we stocking up for the apocolypse?" So Phantom, when the bird flu hits,be assured I will be fine in the spice department.
Oh and LG's complaint ? They learn early how to get to you don't they ? One day he will appreciate all the things his smart mother was doing on the computer, and he will be able to list about 2 million things you do well.
Oh, PS! What a sad conversation - sad for you, I mean. You ARE a good mom, and LG is just figuring out how to push your buttons and feeling sorry for himself. He will get over it! I had to laugh a little bit because to me one of the key messages in the conversation was NOT Mama, you won't play with me, but right at the beginning: It makes me sad when you won't do what I tell you to do. Now, I can understand that feeling, and it's a total older child thing (I used to just fall into a frenzy as a kid if my younger sister didn't do something I wanted her to do, because darn it, I was the older sibling and that meant she had to do what I wanted!!), but LG *can't* spend his life telling you - or anyone else - what to do and expecting you to do it all the time, and I think this is just about him learning that (tragic!) fact rather than about being lonely or deprived or ANYTHING that might suggest you're a bad parent.
As for whining: actually, I'm in a pretty good mood, but you could always insert a generic whine about grading here. (Oh, and that I'm behind schedule this morning because of reading interesting blogs like the whining party!)
As for "Dictator for Life" games, I'm up to here with them. The Drama Queen is all about playing dress-up, princess, etc. Usually, Daddy gets to play the Prince, Aladdin, etc. Me? I get to be The Evil Queen. Or Jafar. Lucky me.
Phantom, you can't - and aren't expected - to do everything. And if you did, we would all hate you and throw green darts of envy at you and probably wouldn't read your blog because we couldn't relate to you.
I work. I don't cook. And I hate "imagination" games. And one day my little girl will probably pitifully explain to me why that makes me the worst mommy she knows.
And I will just have to realize that I do the things I CAN, and I do those the best I know how. My mom has all sorts of guilt about the things she did and didn't do (she never played "pretend" with us either), and I could never figure out why she felt that way because I thought/think she was a fabulous mother.
Your children think you are a fabulous mother too and you can tell because they WANT your attention and interaction 24 hours a day.
Even though I feel for LG's comment, something tells me you are quite impressive at more than just being on the computer, dear.
Errrr...but wait. I think I believe that because of things I know about you from you being on the computer.
Still...you get what I'm sayin', right??
(Grin)
No whines today. It is sunny and 60 out. I will spend my lunch taking a nice little walk outside, and the daylight lasts long enough now that it'll be sunny out when I get home! Oh glorious sun!
Julie, that's awful! *grinning innocently* Hey, I'm pretty handy with explosives, so, you know, if you ever need me....
Just kidding (though I am good with them), but seriously, that sucks.
PS, you are not a bad mom. LG is simply showing advanced skills in locating the parental guilt button.
whine: SIL and nephew are still here.
antiwhine: they are moving to an apartment nearby this weekend.
whine: she is so flaky, i worry for her young son. she'll need to feed him, pack his lunch, let him read to her, make sure he does his homework, let him do artwork, take him places to run around, read bedtime stories, play with him, etc., all things she is not currently managing.
SIL spent all of two hours focused on her son this past week -- they went shopping, and he came home with 3 more action figures, one video game, and the sugar high from hell. my husband and i spent the next 2 hours peeling our nephew off the walls and trying to work off some of that energy. then she got mad at me for not giving him the coffee ice cream he wanted right before bed -- but not mad enough that she personally gave him a bath, saw that his teeth were brushed, tucked him in, read a story, or got him back to bed any of the 6 times he bounced out asking for something.
It's really nice of you guys to buck me up by telling me that I'm a good mom (though of course, you only know what I tell you, so for all you know I'm actually making the kids peel potatoes and scrub the floor all day while I blog). Thanks. I appreciate it. It's also good to hear that other people who ARE good parents get similar accusations sometimes.
I wouldn't have felt so hopeless about it if yesterday had been a five-hours-of-TV day. Then I'd just feel appropriately guilty. But we spent all frickin' afternoon outside. I was exhausted. It's when I knock myself out and it's STILL not enough that I feel like packing it in and joining the circus.
lostinthemiddle, I didn't even know you were supposed to tuck in your kid's feet if you sat with them down a slide. What a rotten thing to happen! I guess I'm lucky that the last time I took a kid down a slide, I only injured my own damn self. But in any event, you're not a terrible mom -- you're a great mom. That's why you were out playing on the slide with your kid. Unlike my kids, whose mother is going to make them spend the rest of their minority watching television.
Whine: allergies
Anti-whine: crocuses
OK, now that I've put in my entry for the succinctness award as planned for the last two days, I can go back to being my verbose self!
Phantom, big hugs. You know I can relate on the Mama's no fun, Daddy's the Hero thing. Sigh. But I agree with New Kid that this is about doing as you are told, and if he had read his Usborne Feminine Mystique more carefully he'd know that modern women don't.
Since we have very little bodily fluids this week, I've got this whine to add to my itchy eyes from allergies:
Woken at 6:15 by the 5-and-2/3 y.o. using the phrase "pee-pee accident." She hasn't peed in her sleep in probably 2 years, so I am officially Not Going To Worry unless it happens again. So really just some clean up and 45 min or so of sleep lost.
Lostinthemiddle -- small children's feet have a lot of cartilage, the bones form gradually by the age of 12 or so. I know this because I saw an exhibit at the Science Centre, but also because I dislocated my daughter's baby toe when she was 5 weeks old. It popped right back into place, but we went to the ER anyway, fun fun.
So she may be sore but she will be fine. Sorry about all the time lost and the drama . . . Maybe a dose of Advil and the confident assurance that it will solve the problem can get her over the hump?
I'm going to go insane today. I've read every blog on my list...twice...and still have nothing to do as I sit here at my desk beating my head on the computer monitor. Things have GOT to pick up at work or I will hurl myself out the window. If you guys hear a vague "Wheeeeeee" from far away, it's just me spinning around in my roller chair, celebrating the loss of my sanity.
I don't do DOWN TIME that well.
Anti-whine: Little Button got to come to work with me yesterday because I didn't have a babysitter. I set her up in her little "desk-shaped" activity center and she "worked" at her desk while I worked at mine. The music almost drove me batty, but we had a lot of fun.
Whine: 40 days of rain=crabby me, crabby kids. Insomnia the last two nights is kicking my butt when I go to teach my morning classes. Daughter told me last night, as we were helping her brothers with schoolwork, that I "hurt her feelings" because I wouldn't play "you be the kid and I be the mom" (a game which sounds eerily similar to LG's games, Phantom).
Anti-whine: Friday is Cesar Chavez Day, and husband and I are off work together while the big kids are still in school!
Awww that's cute. Funny how they say things like that. I to am not great at games but Daddy is. I was told recently that I work too much on the computer. Broke my heart. So I have been trying to spend more time with him.
Kids I'm sure glad, at times, they say what they think.
Phantom, sometimes I think you must be my long lost baby sister or something! I so totally relate to how you feel aobut the games thing, and like you, I grew up entertaining myself for the most part, so the notion that I had to be the entertainment took some adjustment. But like everyone else has said, you do an awesome job, and LG is at an age where a) he can push your buttons and b) he's learning about being independent.
My whine--I am feeling increasingly frustrated about a couple of things at my job that have to do with my boss (the rector for church types). I made a suggestion this morning that led unexpectedly to a whole conversation that revealed a huge philosophical difference between us on one part of parish life. I don't think I can elaborate more here now, but I really need to find a way to process this. Part of what gets me is the way this conversation and a few others have made me feel like I was trying to talk with my mother, which is never a good thing. So I need to figure what is going on here....is it me, or what...sigh.
guacamole sounds good -- here are some chips to go with it!
JM, ick about your professor. how frustrating.
allison, sorry about the swelling, but on the up side, it sounds like your daughter's work is not only artistically great, but it expresses a theme of importance to her people.
lostinthemiddle -- it is so horrifying to see our babies hurt! but they aren't called accidents for nothing. fortunately, kids are really resiliant, and those ouchies and oopsies [even most of the scary ones] are useful in their way: [1]things happen sometimes that nobody wants, and [2] when something bad happens, it will get better.
i propose "get out of guilt free" cards for PS and lostinthemiddle, and any others in need.
the "master of the universe" game sure is a popular one!
this subversive suggestion will probably earn me the bad mom of the century award, but when my kids were little [later preschool, early elementary], we had an occasional game called "meanest mommy in the world." using a silly growly voice, i'd shake my finger and announce: "i'm the meanest mommy in the world! you have to do what i say! *whatever* you do, DON'T [insert thing i wanted them to do -- take bath, clean up mess, etc.]" it was so different from my usual boring mommy self that my kids would dissolve in hysterical laughter, then run off to be oppositional and do what i "told" them not to do.
p.s. on subversive suggestion -- this works with kids old enough to understand the regular rules, to understand "pretend," and who have a sense of humor along with the independent streak. regular boring mommy followed up with kudos for good work.
OH, PS! Hugs for you! Not fair of LG to make you feel so bad! And, as everyone else has already stated, you are not a bad mom. Not by a long shot, dearie! Not many "bad" moms I know of who spend such quality time with their kids. I'm sure he was just feeling grumpy as all get-out, and that you'll soon be back to being the SuperMom we all know you really are.
As for my whine, it's my grandmother. She's 86, and up until recently, an unstoppable tour-de-force. My dad phones me the other night to tell me that Grandma fell in the bathtub and broke her arm. As if this wasn't bad enough (a senior with brittle bones, breaking an arm), apparently, it caused a depressive episode. She wouldn't get out of bed, wouldn't eat, and started saying things like: "I'm ready to die. There's nothing worth living for anyway." I was very alarmed and asked Dad to keep an eye on her. He tells me there's actually more to the story, but he's not where he can talk, so call him back later for the rest of the info. We play phone tag for a day or three, and I finally nail him down. She's recently been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, and has been very depressed and embarrassed because she's been soiling herself. She thinks that she's outlived her usefulness, and that the Crohn's is God's sign that her time is up. So, she's not been getting out of bed *and* lying in her own fecal matter, not telling anyone what the problem is. By the time my Dad figured it out, she was well and truly in a funk.
The latest development is that she was supposed to go into the hospital yesterday to have some pins put in her wrist. She has a history of not dealing well with the anesthaesia, so the docs hem and haw for several hours about whether to go ahead with the wrist surgery or not. At this point, my dad snags another doctor, and starts laying out all of Grandma's symptoms, and the depression, and this doc decides to do an angiogram. They do the angio, and discover that Grandma has a blocked coronary artery. Instead of putting pins in her wrist, Grandma gets a stent instead. The doc who put in the stent said she would have been dead inside a month. I guess the plan is to wait for her to recover from the angio and stent, and then maybe put the pins in her wrist.
But, the worst thing for me is that I live three hours away and can't get up to her to see her. I have to settle for phone calls and maybe some flowers.
Quick story about my nephew BT- at LG's age BT told my sister DL that he loved his dad more. DL told him that really "hurt Mommy's feelings". BT said that was just too bad. My sister
DL felt bad for weeks. It's amazing, the buttons kids can push. Course, parents push the kids' buttons too. And anyway, LG needs to go to therapy for SOMETHING when he grows up! I get the feeling you are a fantastic mom, but no amount of us pixies telling you that will probably help since guilt is not exactly rational!
I have no whine (or anti-whine) for today. It's rather ho-hum day but not bad. Which in and of itself is GOOD.
KLee! That's terrible. I'm so sorry that your grandma is having one thing after another. But so glad they did that angio. I hope you get to visit her soon.
Phantom, you could turn around and say "it makes me sad when I play outside with you all afternoon and that still isn't enough for you. It's very upsetting when I don't have some time to myself" or would it be evil to try to guilt him back?
You are a good mom, anyway. *hugs*
Oh, the guilt, for once again posting without carefully reading all the whines that preceed mine.
I wasn't going to whine about this, but I had to share with you, Phantom, given what you posted.
A conversation in the car earlier this week, as we are returning from the grocery store, where I have not only bought Tristan new Batman jammies and a box full of fruitsnacks (his current addiction of choice) but a sheet of superhero stickers, just because:
Tristan (admiring stickers): There's Batman! And Spiderman! And... and... and that red guy.
Me (suppressing laughter): You're so adorable, Tristan. I love you!
Tristan: And I love BATMAN!
(pause)
Me (carefully): And do you love me, too?
(yes, yes, it is very wrong of me to project my neediness onto my child. It was a moment of weakness. And my payback for that vulnerability will become painfully obvious in just a few keystrokes.)
Tristan (oblivious): Maybe.
Ouch.
A day or so later, we were all four in the car together. I was trying to keep Simon awake so we didn't blow off his afternoon nap, so we were bellowing Old Macdonald's Farm. Except the boys have a new game where instead of animals, we name a person we know (Granny, Daddy, whatever) and a character trait about them.
So Tristan sings, "And on this farm he had a MOMMY! E I E I O. Angry mommy here and angry mommy there..."
Did I mention ouch?
The spring quarter started on Monday. I didn't realize that until today. Yes, it's Wednesday. Which means that the class that I really should be auditing (so that I can keep up my language skills in anticipation of my return to full-time grad student status next year) has already met twice.
Oh Danigirl, I laughed so hard. I keep saying that I can't wait until Little Button starts talking (you know, in ENGLISH), but there is a part of me that is very, very afraid of the things that will come out of her mouth!
It's a good thing it's Wednesday, because I'm feeling whiney. I'm wrapped up in a blanket, surrounded by kleenex (scratch that -- my kleenex box just ran out), with my house in chaos, and three urgent and unfinished projects strewn about me.
I've caught a bad cold, during the second-last week of the semester, a.k.a. "the worst time to catch a cold". I had to miss my class yesterday, meaning that I had to miss giving a presentation that was worth a lot of marks, and I hope there's time for me next Tuesday.
And now I'm going to stop whining, because it's making me more tired. How am I supposed to get to the University this afternoon, to return an ILL book and to get my Friday readings?
anti-whines: I just got an acceptance of a conference paper proposal, to a really fun conference. That makes me happy. And my Northern Exposure Season 4 DVDs should be here any day now.
Phantom, what makes me laugh (though I know it's no fun for you) is that he's so darn articulate while he's pushing your buttons!
aww... hugs phantom
whine: my mother in law (MIL) - 2 examples...
so last week, MIL came over to keep my 19 month old and asked why we werent telling everyone we were pregnant, and then she proceeded to try to make us feel guilty about it and even told us that it was going to backfire on us.... then she calls and asks us to have lunch with her today, which she never does unless she wants to discuss something, and again, she tried to make us feel guilty about not telling... luckily, my husband stood up to her this time
(just for the record, we arent telling b/c my cousin is pregnant after trying for a long time and we dont want to take away from her)
-------------------------------
ok, a few years ago, MIL kept saying how she had always wanted a dining room table and thats what she would love to have - they were using a fold up table for a dining room table, so Daniel and I bought her a pretty, solid wood, antique dining room pedestal table (it was worth about $200, if I had to guess), we got it for about $60 at an auction, so I was quite proud that we were doing something nice.....
so what does MIL do? complains that its too uneven to read/write/eat on, so she puts this nasty wood cement in all the seams - pretty much ruining the table.... I was so mad, but didnt say anything, but I was steaming
then, last week, she tells me that they found a cheap beige plastic-y table at the thrift store for $40, and if they get that, then they will use that one for the dining room table and take the other one, seal it, and put it outside for a patio table..... can you imagine an antique, solid wood pedestal table covered in sealant and stuff outside... where they dont even have a patio, they have a concrete slab with 3 big dogs outside.... turns out, the table at the thrift store didnt have any legs so they couldnt get it....and MIL wanted me to think all of this was the most clever idea ever... ugh
so Im still not saying anything, but I was sooooooo angry, and upset... and believe you me, I do not intend to buy them anything nice ever again
Well, damn. Damn damn damn. Joe went to an interview for a marketing manager position for Big Bakery Chain. And they offered him a job. . .as an entry level baker. Yeah. He's already a baker. At an actual bakery, not one that just throws frozen dough into an oven. That job offer is like offering an artist a position at a Thomas Kinkade store at the mall.
It's just so disappointing. I keep trying to tell myself that we haven't lost anything, but for a few hours I let myself believe that something was going to change. Joe could stop being sad and I could quit my stupid job. And now here we are, still stuck.
Poor Joe. He cut his hair (which was down to the middle of his back) and shaved his sideburns for this interview. Damn damn damn.
Whine the first: D. is sick and playing Sims and wants to talk with me about them while I'm trying to read the whines!
Whine the second: This is spring break, and while it's spring, it's not really "break." I'm having to come in this week as usual, but no one's around, there's not that much to do, and I'm booooooored.
Whine the third: One aspect of the "break" is that my usual on-campus coffee-food-and-wireless place is closed.
Whine the fourth: The only other place on campus that serves food was closed today. Even though I got there a full half hour before it was scheduled to close, and that's even taking break hours into account.
Whine the fifth: the coffee I made at home is absolutely nothing like the coffee I get on campus.
Whine the sixth: Because I could not find food on campus, I'm eating at home. With dialup instead of lovely fast wireless.
Grumble grumble. I really don't like changes to my daily routine!
Phantom: I think modeling computer use is a most excellent thing to do. See, he's gonna want to be a most superb blogger just like Mama when he grows up. You've given him motivation to learn how to type
My whine? Yes, in rhyme. It is both whine and antiwhine, I guess.
State of the profgrrrl
In this report
Loosely in rhyme
As time is short
The major theme
that's labeled whine?
All about having
not enough time.
I need to write
I need to grade
I need to code
and all in spades.
I'd do without
meet and confer
but those I must
do too. Grrrr.
There is no time
to watch my buffy
play with GG
make laundry fluffy
I wake and shower
eat and run
work and work
there is no fun
And next week
On a plane again
Never at home
D'you feel my pain?
But wait, there's more
An antiwhine
Because some things
may turn out fine.
Last week I whined
'bout a rough trip
and lack of love
you know the schtick
But really, things
are not so bad.
They first get worse
and make you sad
But then you see
all that you've got
and make amends
cool tempers, hot
And so these things
still have a chance
As sure as nipples
Aren't covered by pants
I would say more
but back to whine:
Wednesday already?
Where goes the time?????
So...my husband thinks he's going to get fired today.
Basically Big Unethical CEO got caught in the middle of trying to go behind someone's back because hubby ASSUMED that he was doing things the ethical way and told Third-Party-That-Should-Be-Involved what was happening, only to find out Third-Party didn't know and was getting screwed. So Big Unethical CEO is pissed at Hubby and has mentioned that this "Raises concerns about whether or not this is the right place for" him. Which is usually code for "You'll be out of a job within the week."
Freakin' Fabulous. Every time we get things together financially, everything start to crumble again. (pout, pout)
Phantom, when I read that last line, I didn't know whether to laugh or say "ouch." Both, I guess. I know everyone's already said this, but this has so little to do with you, and much much more to do with LG adjusting to the fact that, much as he might disagree, he's not King of the World, and there will be days that are boring, boring, boring, and a mama who doesn't play games is the very least of the troubles he could be experiencing.
I think I agree on New Kids' take -- it sounds more like LG's still working out the remnants of the terrible twos than anything to do with you. Problem is, he's smart, and thus can prick you where it hurts most, very deftly.
Still, the very fact that he feels comfortable poking at you, and that you are upset when he does, means that you are an _excellent_ mama, because only a little boy who felt safe and secure could do that, and only a mama who cared could feel hurt by his poking. (((Phantom)))
Pink Cupcake - how terrible that your spouse is cuddly when he's sick! Agh! Germs!
liz - that sucks. I can only supppose that there were enough people who screwed up the first time that she wants to make sure the class knows better? Still, it stinks for the people who did manage to do it right!
Laura - fingers crossed for you!
JM- man. That sucks so hard I don't know what to say. Perhaps you can figure that this is a class in which you can blow off a lot of work, seeing as how it seems likely that you'll never discuss it, or she'll hate it no matter what you do?
Another thought, if you'd rather not blow off the class -- I think you ought to go ahead and write a paper you want, on a topic that's in line with the assignment description, not some vague unspoken notion she has about it. You might as well write something that's useful to _you_ and if she gives you a bad grade on it, I think you'd be justified in taking this up with her chair.
knightjorge - good luck with the cough. No fun, that.
SuperMom - I soooo feel you. Dead time at work, when you have to sit there, doing nothing -- the WORST!
Oh, KLee -- that sounds so hard. (((KLee)))
Addie - yug. Well, I suppose its good to know in future that you don't have to knock yourself out looking for something nice for them.
Aw, Casey. And Joe.
Crap. HaloScan ate my comment. Forgive me if this posts twice, but I said that I voted for SuperMom in the "it just keeps coming..." category, and for substance, all of us with children who've ever been verbally bitch-slapped by them. and, for the record, that's probably all of us. They sure don't pull any punches, and that's precisely why my last post at my place is entitled "Our Kids Are Cute So We Won't Kill Them."
i got a flower from a friend
a pretty pink and white hyacinth
the pot is heavy, strains my back
and in the bottom is a large crack
to keep them watered i did my best
but it just poured out onto my desk
the stems turned an unsightly brown
and promptly bent towards the ground
my beautiful flowers, they just died
and so i submit my wednesday whine
Hey, I know. I'll whine *again* that I am *still* sick. I am dizzy and headachy and now I feel nauseated too, and I can't concentrate on anything because I'm so dizzy and headachy and so I can't work which I cannot afford.
Anti-whine: my doctor says it's not a brain tumour.
"As sure as nipples
Aren't covered by pants"
Hahahaha! Profgrrl wins for "Most Creative Integration of What It's All About".
Casey, that stinks.
And I agree that this week there should be some "When Good Parents Go Bad" Award. I know my nephews have said stuff like that to my sister before! Ouch, indeed.
KLee: You can send your Grandma books from Amazon and fruit from Harry & David. Much more cozy than flowers, though flowers are good too. I hope she feels better soon, physically and emotionally.
JM: I agree that taking it up with the chair seems like a good option.
All y'all with guilt-inducing children, I'm right there with you.
Casey & SuperMomInTraining: That sucks so badly.
And those also count as my votes.
thanks for your support, folks. I was concerned after I wrote it that those of you are are in the prof field would think I was one of those whiny complainy students, but I'm totally not. This is just one of those sucky situations.
It's a little less sucky now because she wrote to say that my third topic was ok and she looked forward to reading it. whatever. It's a fine topic and I won't mind writing it.
But Rana - what you said about blowing off some of the work? I totally decided to do that. Let's say there are 12 things to read for the day -- I'm going to read like three or four and write my weekly response (ugh!) on that, and then will be prepared with discussion questions for the things we actually read. everything else? if I get to it, I get to it...there are more pressing things to do.
Onward and upward!
Awww, Casey... you got my vote today. It will get better soon.
Profgrrl, even when you're in a hurry you're great!
Hugs to you, Phantom. You're a fabulous mom--it comes through in all the details you share about your family. Don't let the little guy get you down!
Antiwhine: I finally finished the syllabus for my American Studies course on the 1890s.
Microwhine: I have a sinking feeling I kind of rushed it too much, and didn't pick the best books for the course.
Antiwhine: The class looks to be filled with good students. And they didn't freak out when I told them we have a class blog.
Well, it's official (re: previous post). Hubby is out of a job. Sigh.
Oh SuperMom in Training, I'm so sorry. That totally bites. I hope things pick up soon.
SuperMom, I'm sorry. Is there some sort of upper boss that should know about these ethical issues? I hope husband finds a better, less morally sticky job soon!
Oh, Phantom....I think you're forgetting my post about the time Curious Girl looked at me when I was buckling her into the car, and Politica was driving, and I needed to get into the navigator seat, and said, "Mommy, let's go. You can go." Politica said, "But Mama's not in the car," and CG said "She can walk home." And Scrivener's posts about that string of days when Chloe thought he was the meanest.parent.ever. LG is testing, getting more independent, figuring out what that means, pulling and pushing and figuring out boundaries and limits and language, in his inimitable and eloquent way. Just ride him out and you'll all be fine, but it certainly doesn't always feel good along the way.
Julie, on behalf of my people, I apologize. What lousy teaching! I have to say, though, that department chairs are unlikely to intervene in a grade dispute that turns on interpretations of assignment sheets--I mean, maybe, it could happen, but I can also imagine a chair simply saying that there was time to get the topics approved and that was that. It's a tricky issue, questions like this that grow out of essential incompetence esp with someone so new...I don't at all mean to defend lousy teaching or the practice of going after students, which is totally and utterly despicable, but this is the sort of situation that doesn't lead to easily-resolved student complaints.
All of which is a wordy windup to my whine: my peeing cat is continuing to pee somewhere in the kitchen or mudroom. I've gotten bunches of it cleaned up but there's a lingering odor and we can't quite identify the source. (Maybe if my sinuses weren't so clogged I'd have better luck.) Our contractor said to Politica, "can't you do something about the cat? It's hard to take pride in your work when a cat is peeing all over it." Which irritated us. I mean, it's not like we're encouraging the cat to pee. And it's unwise for a contractor to peg his pride-in-work on the behavior of a moody cat (an analogue to not pegging your maternal self-image on every conversation of a 4 year old; see above). Sheesh.
That totally sucks, SuperMom in Training. I'm so sorry!
Julie, dare I suggest that *you* have more of an academic presence than your sucky prof? Maybe she's jealous of how much you rock. In any event, I'm glad that you're going to blow off some of the work.
Casey, I'm so sorry about Joe's insulting job offer. Shall we pelt frozen bagels at their headquarters?
Trillwing, your class sounds very cool.
Dani, you made me laugh out loud. Isn't that just my life right now? Yesterday at dinner, I was snapping at LG about how he had to learn to take turns with talking, and let other people at the table have a word in edgewise, too. He responded, "Oh, Mama. You've done so great today. You don't want to get into trouble now, do you?" Gack.
Anyway, I officially take myself out of the running, because we have gotten through most of our day without any major guilt-inducing moments. And now Mr. Blue has both kids out at the mall. Hallelujah.
Can I just whine that I used a few precious microliters of our remaining stock of RalB antibody in hopes of getting a publication quality figure for a paper I thought I was finishing up, only to have the Western blot look more like a Rorshach inkblot? And that I can't come up with any way to make nipples relevant to this whine?
SuperMom - that sucks. Really, it does.
Susan - have you tried the black light trick? Cat pee glows in the dark when you shine a black light on it! (Yikes)
JM - I'm glad it's going to work out... sorta, kinda... It really does stink that she's so insecure, but what can one do? (Other than just get through the class with as much grace and as little pain as possible.)
(fwiw, I once had the misfortune to take a class from a woman who was also threatened by my work -- she was a decent teacher to those who agreed with her, but she wrote me one of the nastiest notes I've ever seen a person write on a paper -- it had little to do with the paper itself (except that it didn't toe her little party line), just opining about how sucky I was as a scholar, and that I should just give up and go home. (And this was in reaction a paper on material that I wrote another paper for, and which got raves from _that_ prof, so I know it wasn't me who had the problem.) So I appreciate what you're going through, and how much it can suck. :P )
Phantom,
The very thought of actively parenting a pre-schooler at 10:47pm makes me loopy. I probably would have told him to get into bed and read at 8:30 and not to reappear until 7 the next morning. None of these late-night guilt sessions.
Whine: 38+ weeks pregnant, hurtling towards either being in the hospital with a newborn babe over Passover (read: with not a hell of a lot to eat) and/or a repeat C-section. Neither of which I want. Contractions all damn night, but leading to nothing (nothing!).
Anti-whine: Sunny.Weather! Let's go to the park! Twice a day! Yay!
Kate, Songbird made that very self-same suggestion to me! I can only hope that one day, when LG gets around to learning to read (another self-flagellating post for another day, as I think he's deliberately *not* learning to read just as a way of sticking his finger in my eye), we will indeed be able to send him upstairs with a book, and not expect hysterics in return.
The idea of coping with a newborn over Passover is making *me* loopy. As is the thought of taking a toddler to the park twice a day while 38 weeks pregnant!
Gosh, it's another rough day at the pixie whining party....hugs to everyone.
My second whine of the day: my kid is officially at the teenage "mom can you walk ten paces behind me 'cause I don't want to be seen with you" stage. I should expect it--he's 14 and in his first year in high school, but tonight was the first time when it was flat out obvious. He asked me to go with him to a science exhibit at school and then when we got there totally didn't want to be seen with me. Sigh...."Next time," he says, "just drop me off and pick me up later". Well, fine. I'll go for coffee and then he'll say I'm not interested. See Phantom, it never ends...
Oh Phantom! The heartbreak! I have to admit, I did laugh just a tiny bit about him saying it makes him sad when you don't do what he tells you to do. My nephew once threw the mother of all tantrums because I wouldn't jump when he told me to.
These whines are so sad this week! Where are the nipples? The bodily fluids? These are real problems people!
I, for one, have a zit that is about to eat my face. One on each cheek for good measure.
Phantom you deserve an award after that conversation. Kid L and I had this issue b/c she only wanted to play if she could dictate everything including dialogue.
A vote for Sue and her migraine.
A vote for Allison b/c her pregnancy related swelling made me laugh. My feet are currently swollen so I,literally, feel her pain.
Rev. Dr. Mom: Ooooh, that's painful.
PhantomS: I'm with Kate. You deserve a freaking medal. I actually send my kids to bed by 8, or 7:30 when my husband's out of town. Because I'm Really Mean. And because no matter how late they stay up, they are always wide awake by 6 a.m. (also, I have a scary suspicion that if I tried to be a parent after 9 I might lose it and start beating them with their art supplies, which I always seem to find in the worst places imaginable).
Supermom: You get my vote for whine of substance. That's just awful.
Woah, I vote for Supermom. That totally sucks--and Casey. There seems to be a job theme here somewhere.
I have a new whine. Mr. Geeky is mad at me. Because I didn't ask him about his day. He's behaving like LG (apologies to LG).
Yeah, okay, I've been a little self-centered, but he's been gone and I've got a ton of shit to deal with. I'm procrastinating on the diss (that takes effort; the rationalizations alone take hours). I'm interviewing students. I've got my annual review tomorrow which could be good, could be sucky. I have no idea. I'm leaving for a trip myself. I mean, what the hell. We're busy. I'm not pissed he didn't ask me about my day. Cause he didn't. We're just muddling through. Damn.
For the record, we fight maybe twice a year. And this doesn't really qualify.
profgrrrl! HOWLING!!!!
Oh good, I have time to squeak this whine in.
1) I'm overloaded with work. Anti-whine: my business is doing very well. However, my computer tech guy installed a new font manager, and now none of the fonts that I need for the jobs I have to get out are working. He's in Washington DC for the week and can't help me straighten this mess out.
2) We're trying to buy a house and sell a house. Which would be great except that no one will even come LOOK at the house we're trying to sell. So we dropped the price. A lot. Then, because the realtor said "you should rip up all the carpeting and show the wood floors" we did so. Now we have to pay someone to come and sand all the floors. And then paint all the trim, which is two different colors (above carpet line, and below carpet line). So we have all the furniture stacked in the bedrooms and kitchen. The house is a mess. Even if someone wanted to look at it I wouldn't be able to let them. In the process of moving all the furniture we uncovered an old box of mouse poison. While I was moving the heaps of stuff in the bedroom, I turned around to see my adorable Cairn terrier come walking in the bedroom with the open box of poison in his mouth. So we ended up at the vet, where Buster had his stomach pumped. The vet told us to watch him for two weeks for signs of internal bleeding, like blood coming out of his nose, mouth, or around his toenails. I feel like such a terrible mother/dog owner. My puppy seems to be fine, they think they got it all. But I'm so scared.
We found a house that I loved in MA, and went into negotiations with the sellers, back and forth, only to finally lose the house because they wouldn't wait until midsummer to close.
So far, this week sucks.
My husband, he is still away
We didn’t even talk today
Because I had a meeting at
The time we generally chat.
My dogs are tired of little walks
They miss big hikes like I miss talks
That take place on the pillowside
On our big bed so soft and wide.
Meanwhile at church there is much work
Pastors at Easter may not shirk
Much too much worship must be planned
Flames that arise must not be fanned
Although sometimes a blaze might do
A world of good, a thing or two
That might be said could shake the dull
And wake the dead—Life is too full!
Demands too great; I’d like to sleep
But things I need to do will keep
My eyes from closing: dirty clothes
The fact that I now have no hose
The episode of Lost I crave
The cans I need to wash to save
The Earth—the column I must write,
which I must finish now, this night
to send off to the Herald Press
they’ll give a title that’s a mess).
My time is short, the hour grows late.
Do you my whine appreciate?
Very much, Songbird!
Hugs to you, Grandma Blue! But there's still a house for sale on our street...
Phantom, I didn't mean reading so much as "reading." Or playing quietly on one's bed. Whatever works. My former husband once suggested teeny little strait-jackets, but that's not why we split, I swear.
My first comment - I'm so geeked!
I've been reading for weeks, not had the time or nerve to join. I hope I'm not too late today!
WoS: I agree with others - tied between SuperMom and Casey.
Momma Guilt Whines: All, esp. PS. My son is only 2.5 and he's hit me with a few doozies too.
Whine:
Funnily enough, I have much less to whine about this week. Just that my spring allergies have started - but it's only March!!!!
Oh - and I hate myself for having a work ethic and caring about my job. They've already announced that we're not getting raises this year - so it's not like it matters how well I perform. Except it does. Because I care.
Anti-whine:
Despite the stupid hours I am enjoying my job & career more than I have in years. Who knew?
Chili.
Oh, so many excellent whines! Brava to Songbird and all the poets. And everyone, really.
I have one brief whine and antiwhine combined, which I only include at this late hour because it contains the requested bodily fluids (though no nipples):
MG had terrible stomach flu last night. Much vomiting. But-- she's better today, and reasonably chipper even though she had to miss school, which was library day *and* her sharing day *and* class picture day. And she kept down all her dinner. Whew!
Ooh, late votes go to Songbird and Grandma Blue!
Although it doesn't really matter, I can't post this own whine on my own blog so I'm going to post it here, on behalf of two of my friends:
My friend "The Z" is married to "Whoa He's Great". They got married after a short dating relationship, even though they are two people who are known for hasty and rash decisions. Now, they are having Big Serious Problems in their relationship, and they are BOTH calling ME (at different times) to help them sort it out.
Problem 1: Even though TZ has been one of my best friends for 5 years, and I only met WHG recently, I know TZ well enpugh to suspect that she might be the origin of their problems. Not ALL their problems, but many. But when I very gently suggested this to her, she accused me of "being on WHG's side".
Problem 2: I AM NOT A COUNSELOR!! WTF? Why are you guys calling me when I have told both of you repeatedly that y'all need serious professional help? Grraaarrgghhhh.
Anyway, just needed to vent. Thanks.
I think we need an award for the best child whine. I nominate LG for that one.
That way, when our kids start the it's-not-FAIR-you-never-let-me-do-anything routine, we can smile serenely and say, "So sorry, my dear. But look on the bright side: at least this gives you a GREAT chance to win the 'It's a hard-knock life' award over at Phantom Scribbler's place this week."
Songbird for style and Grandma Blue for the guilt/worry of a dog who ate poison. I hope the dog is ok!
Klee, so sorry about your grandma--I hope she will be all right.
I'm really tired, so I'm going to take my exploding head to bed without thoroughly re-reading all the whines to make sure I voted for everyone I had intended to. Oh, well.
Ouch, Phantom. Go eat a Frango or two.
Swissmiss! That's exactly what I did. Followed by a larger medicinal dose of dark chocolate later in the evening....
Rana & Scriv, thanks. I had no plans to go to the chair, even if she gives me a shitty grade. I know that grade-related complaints are pointless and in the grand scheme of things for me, useless. Anyone who looks at a transcript with all As and one shitty grade (should it come to that), isn't going to hold that against me, I don't think.
Anyway, yeah - get through the class with the minimum of work and without appearing a jerk to _her_, no matter what she does to me. I'll take it as a challenge.
Phantom,
Yesterday, I took the kids swimming for 45 minutes and we went to the dairy and had ice creams together. In the morning, while I mulched the garden, I played "garden servant" (marginally, I admit) to the local king and queens. I was on the computer for about 90 minutes in the morning, had a meltdown over another poopy underwear incident for 30 minutes, checked e-mail for 20 minute after the dairy, and read five chapters of Betsy-Tacy over the course of the day. When I'm on the computer, I'm answering requests for craft supplies and puzzle help and Light-Brite access often.
At bedtime, Elba announced that she'd had no fun because I never play with her.
So, er, yeah, I think it's the age, and I think LG is probably just a tiny bit full of let's-mess-with-Mommy energy. Also, we've been reading Betsy-Tacy (we're on our second read-through) and those kids NEVER spent time with their parents. EVER. It was all about the independent play. Of course, the book opens with Mrs. Ray hoping pretty desparately that the new neighbor family will include a playmate for her about-to-turn-five daughter Betsy. So I'm guessing that Betsy had, before Tacy turned up on the scene, been driving Mrs. Ray (who knows how to scold as well as smile) just a tiny bit NUTS.
Now I have to get back to poop patrol. I would have whined about that yesterday except that I don't think whines should include epithet-laced rants, and I was worried that I might type the words so hard, I'd break our last working computer.
Yours in waiting for kindergarten to start and friends to be made while we're not around, no matter how ambiguously we might feel about losing our babies,
Jody
LG......what were you thinking?
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