No Boys Allowed

First, let me preface this by saying I am not anti-men. I love men. I'm can change my own tire, mow my own lawn and kill my own spider, but I have no problem admiring a man who does it for me, especially without me having to ask. Quite frankly, I'm pretty impressed when they do it without expecting a pat on the head. Did I get a pat on the head when I cooked your dinner, washed your underwear, or birthed your child? Yeah, I didn't think so.

In the few months that I haven't had a man living in my house, I've noticed some things. My laundry piles have been cut in half. Who knew he wore that many clothes? Cleaning the bathroom is a breeze now. In fact, it stays cleaner longer now. Ditto on the rest of the house, and if I get the urge to vacuum at 9:30 at night, I can and not fear that I'm interrupting his TV coma.

I've also taken care of some a lot of little stuff around the house that we'd talked about doing but for some reason they never got done. Like sealing the kitchen door, re-grouting the bathtub and winterizing the lawn. I'm Annie Oakley with a caulk gun.

Don't get me wrong, it sucks sometimes that I now have to do all that stuff, in addition to the long list of mom stuff I already had, but I don't mind in the long run, because I have a sense of accomplishment when I'm done.

I'll be honest, I hired someone to clean my gutters. It's a two-story house with a pretty steep roof. In the end, I got it taken care of, so I can still claim a sense of accomplishment.

Vacation...All I Ever Wanted....

I recently started at my new job, so I don't get any vacation time off for a while. However, that doesn't mean I can't have a mini-vacay, so that's what I'm doing Saturday. I found a great rate on a nice hotel near the outlet mall, and I'm going to do some Christmas shopping Saturday and stay overnight, and maybe get up and do some shopping Sunday before I come home.

I like staying in hotels...nice hotels, that is. I've been lucky in that I've never stayed in a dumpy hotel. I've read hotel reviews online and sometimes the reviews are less than favorable. Some of them are downright scary.

I think my favorite hotel so far was the Marriott in Chicago. It had a comfortable bed, it was nicely decorated, and I could see part of Lake Michigan from my window. Oh, and it was a block from the Magnificent Mile and from Rush Street. That might have something to do with it being my favorite.

What's your favorite? Or your horror story?

Wednesday Bites

Not in the sucky "this bites" way, but more like little random bits of thought. I think I'm coming down with a cold and I'm tired and I can't really think of much more than two or three sentences at a time so...

****

I took my 8-year old daughter to see Bee Movie on Friday. If you liked Seinfeld, you'll like the movie. It seemed to me to be one long standup routine. I amused myself by guessing the voices. Oprah is a judge. Chris Rock is a mosquito.

*****

Thanksgiving is a week away (technically 8 days but I have to start baking pies on Wednesday so it's a week to me). My dad and his wife are coming to my house. I'm very excited that I got my dining room re-decorated before they came. I was writing out my menu and realized we are having three kinds of potatoes - mashed, sweet and cheesy hashbrown casserole. Starch overload, anyone?

*****

I can't find any casual shoes that I like. I can wear jeans to work every day, but on days I don't wear my heels I have either my boots or my clogs. I went shoe shopping at lunch and couldn't find anything. I don't want a ballet flat and I don't want a grandma heel. Suggestions?

Update - Still Angry, Still Irrational

My brother isn't coming. Bring on the disappointment.

Oh, and for those of you thinking "why don't you just go there?" - in order for me and my girls to fly to California I'll need $1200. I'm sure I can crap that between now and January.

Grrrrrr. Why does it have to be so difficult?

I'm going to drown my sorrows in deep fried cheese.

Irrational Anger

My brother is going to Iraq in January. He'll be gone for a year. He's currently in Virginia for training, and he'll be done this Friday. About a month ago, I suggested that he try to change his flight to stop over here for the weekend before he goes back to California. He thought it was a good idea, and he said he'd do it. Well, fast forward to T-minus 4 days and he hasn't done it yet and everytime I ask him, he tells me he'll do it later, or the travel agency said to call back in a day or two, blah blah blah.

If he doesn't come here, I won't be able to see him until after he gets back from Iraq. I can't afford to fly to San Diego, and it's not just me that won't see him - my daughters and my dad and his wife won't see him, either.

So, I'm angry at him for suggesting it in the first place and getting my hopes up; for putting it off; for not giving me a straight answer; and for making me so mad in the first place.

I'm being selfish and irrationally angry. I can't help it.

Traditions

With the holidays approaching at breakneck speed, I'm thinking about holiday traditions, and how I've passed on some of what I did when I was younger, but added my own to be something special that my girls and I do.

Growing up, we had ham for Thanksgiving. I don't like turkey, and my parents weren't big on turkey either. We also had mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, yeast rolls, and pecan pie. Now that I'm hosting Thanksgiving, we have the above, plus green bean rollups (green beans rolled in bacon and covered with melted butter and brown sugar - yum!), and Jessica salad (pistachio pudding, pineapple and cool whip mixed together). I only make sweet potatoes and cranberries if my dad comes for dinner. Otherwise, they're nixed because no one else likes it. I still don't make a turkey. It's not tradition.

When I was younger, my mom would put up the tree, and then she would string the lights and the garland. She used pearls for garland. I have a garland of pearls and gold cord that I use now. Once she was satisfied with that, she would let me and my brother hang the glass balls, but we had to make sure we didn't have too many of the same color together, or too many in one spot. Because she was anal that way. Then my brother and I would hang our ornaments - Snoopy on a sled for me, and a tiger in a circus cage for my brother. As we made ornaments in school, we would hang those, too. I still have my Snoopy (he lost his sled a long time ago), my brother's tiger, and some of my school ornaments.

Now for Christmas, I put on the Charlie Brown Christmas DVD and, I put up the tree, string the lights and the garland. I let my girls do the ornaments. Each of my girls has their own set of ornaments that they hang. Now that my oldest daughter is, well, older, she hasn't been around sometimes when we decorate, so she tells me to hang them. It's just not the same, so I wait until she is home and make her hang them. My kids hang some of my older ornaments if they want, but Snoopy is mine. I hang him, in the same spot, every year. It's a tradition.

As my girls have gotten taller, the ornaments have been spaced out more evenly. But I loved it when they were shorter - they would hang them all in one space, or all along the bottom of the tree. And yes, I would eventually space them out. Because I'm anal that way.

My girls get oranges in their stockings, because I did when I was little. Kelli doesn't even like oranges, but she gets one. It's just a tradition.

Finally, my girls and I get into the car, put on the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, and drive to Our Lady of the Snows (www.snows.org) to see the lights. Last year was the first time that Jessica, didn't go with us. I may have cried a little, but don't tell her that.

I've kept some of the traditions from my childhood, but incorporated some new things that I hope my kids will keep doing, and add their own traditions. I bet Kelli won't give her kids oranges. Just a thought.

This Can Only Lead to Some Kind of Visit by the Authorities

Last February, one of my dear friends had a divorce celebration party at a spa. I met a wonderful group of ladies (girls, chicks, babes!) and we had a fabulous time drinking wine, getting facials and massages, and just generally being loud and obnoxious. All while wearing robes.

Now that I'm the divorced girl, I can't duplicate Tawnya's generousity, but I can cook. And mix a mean cocktail. So, we're planning a get-together for December. I hope we can all get together again and drink some more and be loud and obnoxious. We'll wear clothes this time.