Queen B

Archive for the ‘Badass Ideas’ Category

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Monday again?

In Badass Ideas, Punishment for what?, The little roomies on April 23, 2012 at 7:40 pm

As grandma said, don’t wish your life away. Boy, it sure is hard sometimes, when the weekend flies on by and Monday lasts forever. The weeks seem to just crawl lately.

Most recent f-up: I thought we were supposed to go to Madison this past weekend for an Ultimate Frisbee tournament that my son’s high school team is participating in. It wasn’t until Wednesday that it finally clicked in my head that the date of the tournament and the date of the weekend WE planned to go weren’t the same. I immediately called my husband in a panic to have the hotel reservations changed (which was met with some “raised voice” response which ordinary people refer to as YELLING, and a moderate amount of swearing, and in my modest opinion, a rather accusatory line of questioning about how this happened). I understand that reservations made through Priceline are non refundable and non negotiable. Bummer. Two minutes later I got a callback (with no yelling at all) to tell me that the reservations were actually made for the correct weekend, which would have been the incorrect weekend if anyone had been listening to me in the first place. It was absent an apology. Somehow everything righted itself in a completely wack comedy of errors. Needless to say, we’re going to Madison this coming weekend and we will have a place to stay.

A motley crew

My husband has reserved two lenses for my big-girl camera for the weekend, as well! Really, he made a reservation for last weekend, but they have gracefully allowed for a date change, since he didn’t reserve them through Priceline. I haven’t seen them, but I believe he got me a zoom lens (70-200mm) and also a fish eye lens (8-15mm). I’m told the fish eye can take a 180 degree shot at 8mm. We plan on having fun playing with that one, for sure.

First though, we have to get through this week. The little one is hoping to have a new cast for the weekend, maybe below the elbow if she’s truly lucky. The boy has some ACT prep testing, a free day anticipated to be filled with golf (sounds rough, right?), and some tough Ultimate games in Naperville on Thursday . The hubby and I have to work like jerks, as usual. Plus packing. Mini dog is joining us, not like she’d be any help watching over the house anyhow.

I have to hire out for EVERYTHING!

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Difficulty

In Badass Ideas, Nothing to it but to do it, Serious Fun on March 13, 2012 at 7:42 am

20120313-073753.jpg

This is hard. My fingers hurt and sometimes my pride as well. Time to swallow some of what I preach: ‘you can do anything,’ ‘practice practice, practice,’ and my personal favorite ‘you will be awesome today.’

I’m trying my hardest, maybe today will be the day.

And YES, I really do say those things to my children on a regular basis.

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Small requests

In Badass Ideas, The little roomies on January 2, 2012 at 12:47 pm

It’s funny, the things that make children happy.  I’m sitting on the floor of the bathroom right now and feeling OK with it.  My darling daughter is in the shower, and it makes her outrageously happy to have company while she showers for some reason.  If only we were all so easy to please.

This morning there was a mess in the kitchen that we didn’t feel like cleaning up from last night.  We were sooooo bad last night.  There are two New Year camps out there.  Those that make changes for the better, and those who have one last hurrah.  We’re of the second.  We had a FRY DAY.  As in deep fry.  We fried sweet potato fries, homemade onion rings, spicy buffalo wings, and my personal favorite from my childhood, battered deep fried cauliflower.  Hell yes I did.  I got flour and batter and oil splatters all over that we left until the morning.  This how bad we are in the new year.  I was OK with this, too, because Hallelujah we had already boxed up and put away all of Christmas way back in 2011.  **pats self on back AGAIN**

Truth be told, I had cold fried battered cauliflower for breakfast, and it took a lot of will power to keep from having cold buffalo wings with it.  Which almost looks like I’m eating healthy or something.  So there.

After the morning cleanup, courtesy of the dear husband, I made pancakes for the kidlets.  Why the hell not, it’s a new year… and how often to you have the luxury of fresh hot pancakes on a Monday, anyway?  I refrained from the cakes myself, because I’m trying to avoid the glutenous flour to see how it helps my fancy non-condition (as in my blood says I’m a pillar of health) and also because I had already eaten cold fried cauliflower.  BTW we also used gluten free flour for our fantastic beer based frying batter if you must question.

I know that I’m the queen of contradiction, no need to point it out.

I am still marveling at how relaxing New Year’s day and the recovery day can be when you don’t have the dreaded Christmas disassembly looming overhead.  Even if one day finds you hung over and eating deep fried foods exclusively.

Tomorrow is always another day, and I’m 99.9% certain it will be free of fried foods.  Probably.

This is the best I can do while sitting on the floor of the bath listening to the chatter of a happy girl who loves company while showering.  Happy New Year.

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Summertime

In Badass Ideas, Nothing to it but to do it on July 19, 2011 at 10:45 pm

It’s summertime in Chicago, and finally, FINALLY the livin’ is easy.  Well, easier, anyhow.

The party went off without a hitch, but not without a LOT of work.  Of course there were helpers.  Lots and lots of helpers, which is unusual for me because I have trouble accepting help, and find it even worse having to ask for it.  But we certainly needed it and without it things wouldn’t have been half as good.  Or perhaps it would have been twice as bad.  Either way, it was new for me, and a tremendous feeling being lifted up like that.  The support puts a smile on my face and makes my spirit shine (like a disco ball).  You know who you are and what you’ve done for us.  Thank you.

I have to say that attending a party is much less work than throwing one.  For the record.

Once the party and the cleanup were behind us, I had an opportunity to actually relax.  It has literally been months since we could rest.  There has been no sitting, no television watching, no leisure whatsoever.

I’ve been making up for that today.

Welcome to Chicago, summer!  We’ve been waiting on you.

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Like it’s 1999

In Badass Ideas, Nothing to it but to do it, The little roomies on May 17, 2011 at 10:57 pm

We’re throwing a party in honor of my son’s 8th grade graduation.

In the midst of a basement remodel, a yard rehab, and a lack of housekeeping in general, we’re throwing a party.

I’m so excited I haven’t been able to sleep, yet slightly nervous because we’ve invited around a million people, and oh shit, what if it rains?

I’ve already started buying alcohol, and I’m taking up a collection of tents to set up tent city in the woods for those who wish to indulge.  My husband reminded me how treacherous it is to cross the creek on our bridge in a sober condition during the daytime hours.

This should be good.

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Rock out

In Badass Ideas, Serious Fun, They're... family? on February 26, 2011 at 9:31 pm

My darling husband made an appearance at the open mic night at our local Borders this Friday.  I love his original stuff, but sometimes a girl’s gotta make a request.


Like attracts like

In Badass Ideas, Nothing to it but to do it on October 14, 2010 at 9:07 pm

Did you ever notice that like attracts like?

Last week sometime  we got a new phone system at work, so now I have caller ID on my work line.  I also have a direct number, which I never had before.  I can give someone my number and they can call my very own phone, or I could give the main phone number and they will be transferred to my line, or parked and picked up from anywhere in the office.  It’s fancy stuff.

A couple of days ago my phone rang and Lynn Weekly popped up on the caller id.  It was fairly early, the first call I’d gotten that morning.  I kind of joked about having caller id.  ’Hmmm, wonder what Lynn Weekly wants this morning!?’ When I picked up, Lynn Weekly was not a lady in the mood for jokes.  I won’t say what company she works for, but I can assure you that I will never, ever do business with that company.  Not if my life depended upon it.  Apparently Lynn Weekly had requested a document.  From ME specifically!  No less than FIVE times.  I am so incompetent, apparently, that I had BLOWN her client’s deal with the lender, and I was to produce said document IMMEDIATELY if not sooner.  That’s when she started barking out information that I had no interest in hearing, whatsoever.

I have to be honest and tell you that it’s not my favorite type of call to get first thing in the morning.

However, when it is blatantly obvious to me that the evil person on the other end of the phone is so obviously wrong in what they are saying… well, I do tend to mess with them just a little bit.  I’m not saying that my blood wasn’t boiling, but it’s a lot more fun when you keep your voice rather cool.  It’s all rather boring drivel to rehash word for word, but basically I called her bluff, and when she couldn’t produce anything to counter (and was clearly not getting her way) she said that she couldn’t deal with my level of incompetence any longer.  I was happy I had the time to reply ‘I agree that there is a great level of incompetence here, but I can assure you that it isn’t coming from me.’ before she hung up on me.

I waited all day for her to realize that she had no idea what she was talking about and call back to apologize.  She never did.  However, her coworker did give me a call, because their problem wasn’t resolved.

She was too chicken to talk to me again?  Crazy.

I explained to him that I had tried speaking with his coworker about their problem earlier.  He claimed to have NO IDEA who she was, that she didn’t work for his company as far as he knew, and he had never heard of her.  Really?!  I let it go, but I did let him know that the document they were referring to was not actually the document they were asking for (if that makes any sense, basically a nice way of saying they had no idea what they were doing), and that they weren’t phoning the correct department.  I’m hopeful that I got the message across.  But nicely.  He responded in kind, and it almost made me feel bad that I had already decided that I was officially boycotting their company forever.

I have a feeling that Lynn couldn’t possibly be a happy person.  How can someone spew such hate without having some of it store up in their psyche, or soul, or heart, or wherever.  There is no way that I could treat someone so poorly, realize that I was completely and utterly WRONG, and then refuse to call to apologize or take responsibility and own up to my ignorance.  There are a lot of people out there who feel justified in treating others like shit, and it is incomprehensible to me.  In this case she called me incompetent when she should have looked in a mirror.  Like attracts like, she drew it to herself.

Today a coworker told me that she was noticing a new spring in my step.  I seemed different.  She liked it, my new vibe.  She said it was infectious and she liked being around me.  She said that I seemed happier, more positive.  As if I was on a different path.  I have some very nice coworkers.  I agree that she’s right, I do feel like I’m on a different path.  I told her that I had decided it was time to quit wallowing in it all and make some changes.  Shake things up a bit.  The Lynn Weekly’s of the world were not going to weigh on me any longer, because I am officially a duck.  She and I made a pact.  We are not going to wallow in it anymore.  It’s our motto, now.  She called it.

Happiness can be contagious, just as misery.  Like attracts like.  I’m done wallowing in it.  You?

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No fair

In Badass Ideas, Serious Fun on September 23, 2010 at 10:51 pm

Here is the deal.

I was riding in the car with my kids and my parents, showing my mom the trampoline pictures in my camera.  There were about three hundred.  She said that it looked like the pictures that they take on America’s Next Model.  Of course she meant the jumping for a shot, not so much the looking like supermodels.

*** In case that was unclear ***

I looked over her shoulder at the photographs to try to see what she was seeing, and couldn’t help but burst out laughing.  My friend looks like she is posing for the camera in midair.  Me?  I look like I’m pooping.  For real?  Whenever I am in the frame, something comes over me.  It just doesn’t seem fair.

Be good, everyone.  Be happy.

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Endeavors of improvement

In Badass Ideas, Nothing to it but to do it on March 17, 2010 at 8:37 am

I am notorious for making broad, sweeping, rash decisions.  I decide that I want to do something, and I can be both stubborn in my insistence that it is probably my best idea ever, and utterly committed to moving heaven and earth to get it done.  A girl knows what she wants.  Seriously, I have will power and resolve to spare.  At least until I’m bored with it, whatever IT happens to be at that time.  This happens much too often, I’m sad to admit.  Apparently I’m full of big fat ideas, with a heaping helping of short attention span on the side, just for fun.

When I was working for the telephone company, when my husband and I just started dating, I used to travel sometimes for business.  By the way, he’s lucky to have made it past the boyfriend stage, as he didn’t believe in meeting his girlfriend at the gate, but instead sat in arrivals.  In. The. Car.  Um, did you think I said GATE?  No.  I said CAR.  This was the pre-cell phone “hey, I’m here” era, the pre-9/11 airport restrictions – as in anyone can go anywhere they want in the airport (including to the terminal to meet someone as they get off of the plane AT THE GATE) era, the pre-she’s committed to me for life so I don’t have to try era.  The time period when he should have been trying to WOO me.  Apparently he used to do all of his wooing from the driver’s seat of the car, outside, while his beloved girlfriend looked through the entire airport for him for over an hour, struggling back and forth in the terminals with all of her large, heavy, wheel-less suitcases and a bum knee.  It was also the pre-all luggage comes standard with wheels era.

Sorry… I lost track of myself there for a minute.

I’ve always wanted to learn another language, because I envy people who are able to speak and understand multiple languages.  I don’t know if it makes you smart or anything, it’s just something I always wished I could do.  I ALWAYS wanted to learn French, because I think that the language is beautiful sounding and I would LOVE to go to France eventually.  Doesn’t hurt that it’s the official language of the Olympics!!!  I’m just sayin’.  My step dad hates anything to do with France and very rationally convinced all of us kids that Spanish was the way to go when it came time to pick a foreign language in school.  You know, on account that the country borders Mexico and all.  Plus there’s that whole bilingual job market thing going on.  The problem with me is that if I don’t have some keen interest in doing something, all hope is lost.  I took 3 years of Spanish in high school and cannot speak, read, understand, or write a LICK of Spanish.  Tu es muy rapido.  That’s it.  I’m a one trick pony and you’ve now experienced my one trick in Spanish.  I had this crazy teacher in high school that gave me C’s in Spanish class even though I never did the homework, didn’t study, didn’t pass ANY of the tests or quizzes, and was completely asshole-ish and disruptive in class.   Three years of C’s somehow.  Tu es muy rapido.  That’s sad.

Anyhow, I spent some time at the airport.  I had a little time to kill.  I saw a Rosetta Stone kiosk at some point.  Do you know how convincing those people are?  Do you know how expensive those programs are???!!  Of course I always secretly wanted one, because they had convinced me that even I could be taught.  The unteachable.  Did I mention my inability to think in another language?  That was what my failure to comprehend hinged upon in Spanish, according to my teacher.  That little pearl of wisdom fueled a long time belief that I DID NOT POSESS THE ABILITY to learn a foreign language.  That and having no interest (in Spanish) to begin with.  Well, I never could afford Rosetta Stone, even with my absolutely sick $17,000 annual salary of the time.  How I paid a mortgage on $17,000 is seriously beyond me.  Marriage, and a baby, followed by NO SALARY at all and zero trips through the airport, I eventually stopped thinking about it.

Until last week, when suddenly this all came back into my consciousness and it was duly noted that I love the French language, I will eventually see France with my two very own eyes, dammit, and I must now GET OVER IT and at least TRY to learn.  Because I want to.  And truly, no one is unteachable.  Right?  So on Monday my hubby made up for not coming to that gate back in the day (he has no problems whatsoever with the new restrictions in the airports, btw.  Shocking, I know.), and stopped by the Northbrook Library to pick up the only copy of Rosetta Stone French, Level 1 available in the Chicagoland area.  For me.  Because he is nothing if not supportive of my crazy, to a fault.  Oui?

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Glorious Monday

In Badass Ideas, The little roomies, They're... family? on January 18, 2010 at 10:08 pm

Today has just been a joy, I must say.  Yes, I woke up and my Ph is still the same (as is the weight, dammit), but when I wake up on a Monday and there is NO ALARM, and I can put on SWEATS and NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE… well, all is right in the world.

What I do on a weekday off is pretend like I don’t work at all, and this is just a regular day for me.  Yes, I have to work tomorrow, but for today I was just some random stay at home mom hanging out doing everyday things.  I made dinner for tonight, and tomorrow, too!  I hung with the kids, I made popcorn, I cleaned, I did laundry.  Things I honestly might complain about, normally, but which take on a certain charm when I get to do them leisurely on an extra day off.  If I was home all the time, I would probably learn to complain about them again, no worries.  I’m not THAT abnormal.

Right now is the best time of my day, I have to admit.  My boy is downstairs in the basement hanging out with a couple of chicks from school.  He taught one how to play bass, and now they’re practicing and writing songs, and forming A BAND.  Of course this is all cute and cool and fun and fantastic and wonderful all wrapped into one for me, but I’m sure the fact that I have even acknowledged it would be a horrific nightmare for him if it ever got out.  Man, it’s taken all my willpower not to ask to take a picture of them!  Anyhow, my girl CC and I have a couple of times stopped and said to each other “Hey, that sounds pretty good!” and he’s beaming from ear to ear every time he pokes his head back upstairs, and having a great time.  All of his lessons and practice are paying off.  I can’t wait to hear what they decide to name their band, and I am inspired to really put some effort into getting the basement put together (finished) so that my freshly minted teen has a cool (laid back, safe, trouble-free, close!) place to hang out with his friends.  Because it’s always great when home is the best place to be.

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