Derby, Derby, Derby!

(If you're scoring at home, this is a shameless plug.)

Come out to Christian's Tailgate on White Oak next Saturday the 24th (6pm - 12am) for some derby-related fun!
I will be there with my team, the Machete Betties as we host our annual fundraiser. There will be a karaoke contest, silent auction, bake sale, and other fun entertainment. Where else can you drink Bettie Bombs with your favorite derby girls? ;)

Mini Parent Vacation

Hmmm, I think I need to put more thought into my titles. This could be read as I intended - a mini vacation for Jason and I who are parents, or it could also be read as if we are mini parents. Which, although I am very short, we are not. (Though this post is not long, it is a mini post. Does that count?) I'm talking about Labor Day weekend! Hope everyone had a great holiday, I really enjoyed the small break and it was hard to drag myself back to work today.

My parents took Jakob up to the lake for the weekend, so Jason and I took full advantage and did absolutely nothing all weekend. Okay, so we didn't just sit around staring at each other the whole time, but we did do things like catch up on sleep - which is hard to do when you have a 4 year old. ("Good morning, Mommy! The sun just woke up so you should too!")

We caught up on a bunch of movies that we haven't been able to see and enjoyed the nice weather. Finally! I am so ready for Fall. We went window shopping and shared jokes and I even got to play nurse, though not the fun version. I got some good experience learning how to start Jason's IV and while I'm still not super quick at it, I'm getting better (and less squeamish). He still does the actual needle part though, because eek! We have stopped relying on the home healthcare nurses becasue they either don't show up, or don't care, or it takes them 20 sticks to start an IV. So since Jason knows how to do it, we're handling it on our own which is much more convenient.

We did do some actual labor on Monday (gasp! I know!) and cleaned up the house. But that was the extent of it. It was a very relaxing weekend, and just what I needed. I may be somewhat agreeable at work this week!

Zombie Kate

As you can see from my illustration, this is how I feel today.

Disclaimer: I will not be responsible for anything I may say or do today because I am running on about three hours of sleep.

Last night I had a great derby practice. The advanced group was awesome and we all kept together and communicated well and were on top of things. It was really enjoyable. We did some endurance, so my hip was yelling at me but I pushed through it and hung in there. I'm paying for it today, but it was worth it. I came home feeling good tired because it was such a successful workout.

I walked in at 10pm and got everything unloaded, then I helped Jason start a new IV because the one he already had blew out, and there was no way we were getting a home healthcare nurse to come to our house at that hour. (But that's a whole different story in which I will rant about the lack of healthcare that is provided by home healthcare nurses these days - or at least all of the ones we've come in contact with.) Being around IV's and hospitals for so many years, Jason and I can start a new IV if he gets into a bind and there's no nurse around to do it. Acutally, when we do it it's done quickly and usually only takes one needle stick, as opposed to the 10-20 tries that the nurses do. But again, that is a different post for a different day... I got my work stuff ready for the next day while he started his medicine and then I jumped in the shower.

Jason's medicine finished around 12:20 so we got in bed. Just as I got in a super comfy position and started falling asleep, I heard Jakob get up and climb down his bunkbed ladder. I glanced at the clock and it blared 12:45 at me. So I got up and met him in the hallway to take him back to his room. I got him in bed and he was restless, but finally fell back asleep around 1:15am. I quietly snuck out of his room and got back in bed. But now I was wide awake. Crap.

Tossing and turning, I couldn't get comfortable. My left hip was yelling at me from practice, and my right arm kept going numb if I tried sleeping on that side. I finally got up and did some yoga stretching (the triangle stretch hits my hip just right!) and deep breathing. Got back in bed and looked at the clock. It was 2:45am - le sigh. I eventually got comfortable again and started to drift off. Oh no, what's that noise? Yep. Jake is climbing down his ladder again. GAH. I went back into his room and he said he needed help falling asleep again. At this point I was so tired that I helped him back in bed, and told him that Mommy needed sleep so he had to go to sleep and STAY asleep. He closed his eyes and thankfully was out within 10 minutes. At which point I tried to quietly stumble back down his ladder and shuffled to my room. I practically fell in bed and yep, by that time it was after 3am. 

Needless to say, I overslept my alarm (didn't wake up till almost 7 - yikes!) and was late to work this morning. Houston traffic also contributed to my lateness, I sat in a standstill on the freeway ramp for 15 minutes. Merge, people! Use your gas pedal!! Move out of my way!

This morning my BFF, Coffee, has abandoned me. What a B. She never comes through for me when I really need her... I need a new BFF.

I hope that sometime today I wake up and shake this fog that I'm in. Because as I mentioned in my disclaimer, I'm not responsible for my speech or actions. If you ask me a question you may receive a dumbfounded look in return. I'm surprised myself that I was able to write this blog entry and it sound mostly coherent. I think. Or rather, I don't because I'm too tired...

In Which I Temporarily Turn Into A Guy

Okay... maybe I could have picked a better title. As this one is quite misleading and you are probably wondering if you should actually continue to read this post. It's safe, I promise.

I picked such a title because I'm pretty girlie in most things I do, with the exception of roller derby because I'm not afraid of being hit on the track, and building classic cars with the hubs because I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty (or breaking a nail). But on a daily basis I can be a bit prissy. Just ask Jason who can attest to the fact that I NEVER leave the house without makeup on, and how it takes me about 45 minutes to an hour to get ready every morning. (Though he'll say 2 hours, it's not true. I swear!)

So you'd think I'd enjoy one of the most girlie things to do - shoe shopping. The fact is I hate it. I know, slander me now. I happened to put that as my status update on FB during my shoe hunt, and got all sorts of surprised and outraged remarks. But it's true. I absolutely loathe shoe shopping becasue it always takes me forever to find something. Either I will love the shoe and it won't fit properly, or they won't have my size, or everything is hideous or completely out of my price range. I'm sorry to say I don't like spending more than $30 on a pair of shoes. I know, again, total blasphemy in the girl world. (Also, I don't own a whole closet full of shoes. I figured I'd get that out there too since you're already thinking I'm completely crazy.)

Because I try to avoid shoe shopping like the plague, I am the type that will have several pairs of good solid shoes, and I will wear them until a pair happens to wear out and I have to find a replacement. I.E. When it comes to shoes, I turn into a guy. I think it's a necessary evil, because I don't have a ton of time to spend getting frustrated over something. Why torture myself?

Yesterday I reached the point of needed a new pair of work heels. Oh, I do have to point out that I have a few pair that I rotate around with my outfits, it's not like I only have one pair of heels that I constantly wear. Give me a little credit. Nevertheless, I reached the critical time where I couldn't put off shopping any longer. So I reluctantly kissed my husband goodbye, and said I'd eventually return depending on how painful this trip was going to be. Yes, I'm that much of a drama queen.
I headed out into the scorching Texas heat to begin the unwelcome errand. At least I had my mp3 to keep me in high spirits, I was currently playing a Me First and the Gimme Gimmies album. I figured I'd start at Kohl's, a store I never shop at, but my boss gave me a 20 percent off coupon. Why not? At least I'd save some money in the process.

I made a beeline for the shoe section and started my hunt. I found several cute pairs but of course they were either out of my size, or they didn't fit me comfortably. And it's not like I have giant feet, I usually wear a 6 1/2 - 7 depending on the shoe. Aisle after aisle the same thing happened. I had already been there a good 45 minutes trying on shoes and huffing in frustration. Then I found a cute pair of three inch peep-toe heels that were black and gray plaid (they called it "Boston print") with a black patent heel. Reserved enough to wear to the office, but sexy enough to dress up and wear on the weekends. Perfect! Now I just had to find the right size... Oh! They have it! Okay, how's the fit? Hmmm, not to bad. I decided to walk all over the shoe department to make sure they'd feel good. I realize buying new shoes requires breaking them in once you've bought them, but I wanted them to feel somewhat comfortable before I committed to a $32 pair of shoes. After spending another 20 minutes walking, turning, stopping, and walking again (I can't deny that I didn't pretend I was a runway model at any point during that time) I decided to purchase them. Success! I finally found a pair of shoes, and it didn't take all afternoon or the need to visit several stores! And with my coupon the shoes were only $28 with tax so they came in under my $30 preference. Even better!

Walking back out into the sauna that is Houston humidity, I had a spring in my step. I had shoes. And cute ones! Yesssss! Okay, so this part of shoe shopping I admit is fun. When you actually find something you like and you get to take it home and wear them and plan which outfits to wear with them. I can get into that. I guess I just need a shopping buddy the next time I need shoes. That way if I don't find shoes, at least I had a good afternoon with a friend. I may end up actually enjoying the process and then I can turn back into a girl when I have to shoe shop. Yeah, next time I'll bring company. I will no longer be a guy when it comes to shoes!

Unintentional OCD Tendencies

[This post brought to you from the North Pole.] Brrrr, it's c-c-cold in here!

Okay, so I'm not really at the North Pole. It's too far away, has no internet access and hello, it's way too cold there. Only crazy people go there to explore. However it feels like I'm working at the North Pole (Was that a penguin that just waddled by?) because all week it has been freezing in my office building. I swear I'm cold-blooded because I will literally wear jeans and a sweatshirt in the middle of the summer. Okay, you can stop laughing now. All the older women around here say it's because I have no body fat (they're always complaining it's hot because they're going through the change), but I'm ALWAYS cold even when others are comfortable.

So you can imagine my distress when the temperature dropped enough that even said menopausal women in my office building were running around in bulky sweaters, and taking more smoke breaks than usual just to get outside into the blistering heat and away from the frigid office. Yes, as I type this I can't feel my fingers. I seriously thought about bringing my big ski jacket up here to keep warm. No, I'm not exaggerating how cold it is in here. It is REALLY COLD. I keep flashing to Bruce Willis' line in The Fifth Element, "Negative. I am a meat popsicle."

Today I found out why someone thought it would be a good idea to turn the thermostat down as low as possible - there was a diesel spill on the floor above us in their maintenance room. Wait, what?! Did I hear that right?! Yep. A diesel spill. So to counteract the fumes that were wafting around, the building staff decided to turn on the AC full blast and put giant blowers in all of the lobbies. Understandable because we did notice a funny smell a few days ago, but now it smells weird (lightheadedness? check.) and we're all freezing our butts off. I realize that the potential fact that the building could catch fire is more critical than losing feeling in one's extremities, but if that happened, at least we'd be nice and warm. Just saying.

My method of keeping warm in this harsh environment has been copious amounts of coffee - I actually lost count at how many cups I've had - and OCD-like hand washing. Yes, my co-workers are beginning to give me concerned glances because it seems every 5 minutes I'm in the ladies room washing my hands in scalding water. I've tried explaining that I'm only doing it to keep warm, but then they just nod their heads in agreement as if they know I'm not being honest with myself. You know the look that says, "Poor Kate. She can't even admit she has a problem." I'm not OCD, I'm COLD! And I just happen to like keeping my desk neat! It's not like I'm muttering, "Out damn spot, out!" while scrubbing. Sheesh.

We're not allowed to bring space heaters or heating pads due to the possible fire hazzard. Again I say, would that be such a bad thing? But maybe I need to find another way to keep my fingers from getting frostbite. Perhaps I could bring gloves to work, but that would probably make typing difficult. As I brush ice crystals off of my shoulders, I fantasize about hot tubs, saunas, roller derby warm-ups and the triple digit weather outside. I would be out there right now except they'd notice I wasn't at my nice, neat desk. With my color-coded folders (Hey, I went to school for art. I like colors. Sue me.) and everything in its spot.... I guess I could get some of those hand warmers that hunters use, the pocket-sized pouches that heat up when exposed to air. If I sit on my hands that works, but then again I can't type. And it actually makes me look like I'm not busy at all. I need my job security, so even if I'm not busy, I am good at looking that way. Um, just don't tell anyone, m'kay?

I am hoping that tomorrow will be the last day I have to endure this deep freeze. I am going to bring an extra sweater, wear some closed toe shoes and probably bring a blanket from home. Anything to keep my teeth from chattering and my brain activity stopping due to the mind-numbing cold. That would also solve my hand washing problem. Because the last thing I need is for more people to look at me strangely.

Even Bees Aren't This Busy!

Whew. I'm exhausted and it's only Wednesday.

This past weekend we had my son's birthday party at the Houston Zoo. It was fun but really, really HOT. I know, you're shaking your head at me right now and saying, "Well duh, it's August in Houston. What'd you expect?!" But honestly, I booked the zoo before we starting having the record triple digit weather.  I booked it for the morning slot 9:30-11:30 (see, at least I didn't book the party in the middle of the afternoon) and although I melted by the time the party started, everyone had a great time.

We served Chick Fil A mini chicken biscuits and fruit salad, and tons of water. I did the easy route and had cupcakes instead of a cake. I had made binoculars for the kids using toilet paper tubes wrapped in animal print paper, and attached yarn so they could wear them around their necks. Then I had a bunch of animal stickers for the kids to decorate them which turned out to be a big hit. After the party was done, we boutght all the kids a round on the carousel and then handed out goodie bags.

The family walked around the zoo (there were 12 of us counting us, parents and siblings and kids) and at 1pm we headed over to the elephant barn where my teammate Kim let us in. She's one of the elephant keepers there and we got to have a meet and greet with a mommy elephant and her baby. They were so cute, and we got to pet and feed them! The baby was still getting used to using her trunk so when they let Jakob hold out a piece of carrot, it took her a few tries to grab it. Of course she left a big trail of nose slime on his hand, and he was slightly grossed out by that. But he still loved the experience.

Monday back to work was nice and hectic as any Monday would be. Luckily it went by quickly and I didn't have to grumble about it anymore. Yesterday was even busier, as one of my customers is doing a huge promotion so I was up to my ears in paperwork and dealing with issues. I was glad it was Tuesday Bruiseday becasue I needed to skate out all that stress!
At my doctor appointment last week, they took x-rays and said my hip joint looks fine, and after explaining all of the details the doctor thinks I strained the muscle pretty hard. He told me to continue icing and stretching and he gave me some Mobic to help with the pain. Told me I could still skate but if the pain was bothering me to scale back and not push too hard. If it still hurts a month from now they'll do an MRI to see if the injury is more severe.

So last night I was cautiously optomistic about practice. The anti inflammatory was already helping (it had gotten so painful that my hip ached badly even when sitting), and I was hydrated and feeling good. I was able to stay in the advanced group for the whole practice, and it was nice being back in my group since the last two weeks I took it easy and skated with the intermediate girls. I got home around 10 and thoroughly worn out, I went to bed.

This morning was another stressful one, I think I got up from my desk a total of 2 times. My mom took me to lunch so we could start planning my sister's baby shower (she's due 2 days after Thanksgiving!) and I'm creating some art to turn into the invites, and also as a gift for her to hang on the baby's wall. Thankfully the afternoon has slowed down enough that I was able to catch up on some other things, not to mention this neglected blog. *ahem* I am hoping that tomorrow and Friday are a bit breezier, but not in terms of indoor temperature, as right now I am bundled up in two sweaters due to the office AC being on full blast. But that is a whole different issue.

I am looking forward to this weekend, my sister and brother-in-law are having their housewarming party and it's also my brother-in-law's birthday. We got to hang out with them at the zoo, but it will be nice to visit with them and not lose 8 pounds in sweat at the same time. But that means I have to do some shopping for both their house and my BIL's birthday present. Yay, shopping! But, maybe tomorrow because I'm ready to fall asleep right now... zzzzzzzzzzz

I Have A 4 Year Old!... Already?!

Today is my little man's birthday!

I know every parent uses the cliche, "They grow up too fast!" but it's true. So much has happened since Jason and I found out we were pregnant, I look back and realize that it really did go by too quickly. And Jakob is only four, the next thing I know he'll be graduating high school and I'll be bawling my eyes out like my mom did when I graduated. (Yes, I'm a crier. Even the Kodak commercials get to me.)

Here's a summary of the last 4 years:

I had a GREAT pregnancy. Seriously, I'm not just remembering all of the good things the way most pregnant women do when they start thinking about having another child - nature's way of making sure those with five months of morning sickness/long labors procreate again. I really did have a fantastic experience and I was one of those glowing, happy pregnant ladies that only gained weight in my belly and wore high heels and worked up until the day Jakob was born. All of my pregnant friends hated me because I was so positive and bouncy and happy while they were all uncomfortable and sick to their stomachs. Sorry ladies!! I feel blessed that I was able to enjoy my pregnancy.

I went in for my 40 week appt with no progress, but my amniotic fluid was getting a bit low so my doctor set the eviction date for two days later, on a Friday. I was a bit worried about being induced because I had heard tons of horror stories, but it turned out to be okay. The worst part of it was we had to be at the hospital at 5am, and I am not a morning person.
They hooked me up to the pitocin at 6 and I made halfway through labor before I asked for drugs. Go, me! Once I got that, labor was pretty fun even though my legs felt fuzzy and I felt like I was wearing a heavy pair of snow pants. Jakob was born at 1:59pm, so it was a normal labor. Thank goodness I didn't have to be in labor for days like I made my mom do. She still reminds me every year on my birthday about how I took my time. Jakob was so clean and pretty when he was born that even the doctor remarked at how beautiful he looked. I'd like to say it's because of good genes, and also the excessive amount of water I drank while pregnant. It's amazing I didn't float away, but in the third trimester I did have to literally pee every 5 minutes. Jakob was so alert and cute! It was so emotionally overwhelming the minute they handed him to me, and I still to this day can't put into words how much in love I am with him.

Jakob did almost everything early except grow hair. He sat up by himself around 3 months, got teeth at 5 months (ouch!), was speaking words at 8 months, walked at 11 months, was stringing 3-4 word sentences at 15 months and so on and so forth. He didn't grow any real hair (other than the cute baby peach fuzz) until he was about two. For his second Halloween - the first one he was only 2 months - I dressed him up as Charlie Brown and he was a spitting image. What was even cuter was when we had a baby Snoopy show up at our door, and Jakob got excited, saying that was his doggie. :)

 At age two, Jakob was again ahead of his age group with speech and understanding/reasoning. He was using words like "Actually" correctly in a sentence. Jason stayed home with him so I credit Jakob's progress to him and his endless patience and teaching. He says the same thing about me, as I was able to stay at home with Jakob for most of his first year. [Insert a lovey-dovey, "Awwwww!" here.] We enrolled Jakob in a preschool for a few days a week so he could get interaction with other kids in a school setting. His teachers constantly remarked at how polite, courteous and attentive Jakob was. I can tell you, hearing from other people what a great kid you have makes you extremely proud and fills you with the confidence that you must be doing something right. Jakob started telling jokes, and the knock-knock ones were the best because they made no sense at all, making them even more funny. It's also nice that we got through the "Terrible Twos" with only a few epic tantrums. For the most part he listened and followed directions well, and didn't push too much if we said no to something.

At three, he got interested in puzzles and could put together some reasonably hard ones by himself. (I'm talking about the kind with small pieces - not the giant pieces, or the wooden ones with the pegs.) His favorite is a Star Wars puzzle - it's 3 puzzles in 1 with each one having smaller pieces than the one before it, and they all fit together to make one big puzzle. He also started coloring and drawing more, and I must say, I think he got both my and Jason's artistic talent because for a 3 year old, the drawings are quite good and easy to tell what they are.
He started showing his slight daredevil side, on the preschool playground he'd jump off the equipment - a good foot or two, and when we took him to Sea World he wanted to do the big water ride where the people watching get just as soaked as those on the ride. His favorite game to play indoors was "Shopping at Target" (Gee, I guess my obsession with Target had rubbed off on him) where he'd line up a bunch of toys and use pieces of paper or a deck of cars as his money, and he'd push one of his stuffed animals in a ride-along toy as his shopping cart. He always liked Batman because it's Daddy's favorite, but he also got into Star Wars and Transformers this past year, along with continuing his intrest in Cars and Toy Story. He told me this Halloween we all need to dress up as Star Wars characters -  he said he'll be Luke "because Luke has a light saver and is really cool, " I can be Princess Leia "because you're pretty like she is, Mommy" [insert another "Awwww!" here], and Daddy can be Han Solo "because he's in love with Princess Leia like Daddy is in love with you." [Here is where you melt from my son's cuteness.]

Year 3 we had a few more tantrums than when he was 2, including the record-holding 2 1/2 hour one where he was sent to his room and he wailed non-stop saying things like, "Nobody loves meeeee! Nobody will give me a hug! Why won't you guys come talk to meeee?! Please somebody out there just come rescue meeeeeeeeee!" Fun times. You know, when your kid is throwing a tantrum it's not nice to giggle at them no matter how funny they are. It just makes them more upset... Which is why I stayed out of his room until the tantrum was done.
Speaking of funny, my kid is a riot. The things that come out of his mouth crack me up on a daily basis and Jason says we seriously need to get him into acting or something of the sort. If he doesn't end up in show business when he's older, I will be surprised. He is clever and witty and quick. He's not like me where I think of a great one-liner long after an event has occured, and then I'm saying to myself, "Man! I wish I would have said that!!"

That was about as quick of a summary as I could get, if you're still with me you can slap yourself awake now because I'm done gushing about how smart, cute and funny my child is. (Or not.) It has been quite an adventure so far, and I've really enjoyed being part of this amazing kid's life. He has taught me so much about the world around me, helped me remember what it's like to see things through a child's eyes. He helped spark my creativity again and get me to start drawing more often like I did before life got in the way. I am truly proud of the person he is becoming, and feel honored to call him my son.

Happy Birthday, Jakob!! Daddy and I love you so very much.

The Lesser of Two Weevils

The answer to that my friends, is a dead one.

I am a reasonably neat person. I will admit I'm OCD organized at work, but at home I'm a healthy level of clean and organized. At my house you don't have to be afraid of sitting on the furniture or using a plate or a glass, but at the same time, my house is not a pigsty. Even if my kitchen table becomes a catch-all more often than not, it's always organized piles of mail, papers and other things. Pretty clutter, as I like to call it.

The one exception in my house is my pantry. I am psycho particular about having everything in it's exact place, and take care to arrange/rearrange when I find items on the wrong shelf. (I swear, Jason does that sometimes just to see how long it takes me to fix it.)

Last night I was unloading groceries while Jason gave Jakob a bath and put him to bed. We make a good team, always splitting bedtime duties. But I digress... While happily feeding my pantry OCD, you can imagine my surprise when I found a tiny bug walking on the cereal/pasta shelf. Gasp! No. No, no, no, no, no! What is that doing there! OMG, there goes another one! HOLY CRAP, it's an invasion!! (Picture me running around in circles pulling my hair out.) And I really did freak out when I found out that the culprit was a bag of Orowheat mini sandwich thins. Damn you Orowheat for making me think I'm being healthy, and then planting BUGS in my house!

I proceeded to go through the entire pantry and throw out anything that I thought may have been a snack for those little guys. I would have vacuumed too, but seeing as how Jakob was going to bed I thought it best not to make too much noise. So once Jason came out of Jake's room, I burdened him with the task of vacuuming/washing out the entire pantry while I'm at work today. Who says I'm not generous at sharing household chores?

Needless to say, having that kind of experience right before bed did not bode well for my quality of sleep. After Jakob woke up at 3am needing to go potty (I am seriously cutting off his fluids at 7pm) and getting him back to sleep, I myself fell asleep quickly but not peacefully. I tossed and turned, first dreaming of a giant spider trying to trap me in its web, then I dreamed of a scorpion chasing me (though I've never seen one in Houston), and finally I had a dream that a wasp kept swarming me trying to sting me. Part of that could have stemmed from me accidentally stepping in a fire ant bed the other day and not breaking free unscathed. Uh, I mean un-stung.

I hate all bugs today. Even the cute ones like ladybugs. If you are of the insect variety, avoid me like the plague. For if not, my shoe may end your life.

Oh, Monday. It's You.

Once again, that creep Monday has shown up at my door. I know we all give Monday a bad rap, and unfortunately that's his lot in life. Nobody enjoys the weekend ending and the work week starting. Well, unless you really love your job. In that case, consider yourself lucky.

I woke up this morning with the same familiar dread after turning off my phone alarm three times. If you couldn't tell, I am not a morning person. And if you talk to me before I've had my first cup of coffee you'll realize I'm no Suzy Highschool. It's really hard for me to physically get out of bed since I'm usually woken up at least once a night by my son. (Last night he was bright eyed and bushy-tailed at 2am for a potty break. Luckily he did not have an accident, and thankfully he went back to sleep pretty quickly afterwards.) But I did finally get up and start getting ready. The drive in to work was surprisingly uneventful, and in Houston that's remarkable since there is always traffic at any hour of the day. Already I'm thinking this Monday won't be so bad.

When I got to work, I got some coffee and became a productive member of society. I had an interesting conversation with one of my club depots, the receiving clerk couldn't understand me when I said I wanted to schedule a delivery of rice - he thought I said lice. Oh the fun times I have here!

The zoo called me and said that everything is ready for Jakob's party on Saturday. Yay! We decided that four was a great age for a party at the zoo, and the price was comparable to a party at one of those inflatable jumpy places. (And we're all jumpied out.) One of my teammates is the elephant keeper, so she said after the party we could bring Jake and his cousin to the elephant barn and she'd let us in to pet/feed the elephants. Jake is really stoked about that, and so am I.

So this will be a busy week getting things finished for the party. I have been collecting toilet paper and paper towel tubes to turn into little binoculars for his party so the kids can use them the rest of the day to "view" the animals. I need to decorate the tubes in different animal prints, attach yarn so they can hang them around their necks when not in use,  and then at the party I'm going to give each kid a sheet of zoo animal stickers to decorate their binoculars. It's as close to Martha Stewart as I can get. And yes, I stole the idea from Jakob's preschool class when they made "birdwatching binoculars."

Tonight we'll go grocery shopping because our fridge is crying to be stocked back up, and we'll get some cupcakes that Jake can take to school on Wednesday for his actual birthday. I'm going to do cupcakes on Saturday as well, because those are easier to transport than a whole cake. Plus I'm sure there are several other last minute things I'll need to grab between now and then.

Tuesday is my derby practice, Wednesday is Jakob birthday so we'll do a family thing in the evening, Thursday will be occupied with party stuff and Friday I have a doctor appointment to get my hip looked at - a stubborn ache/pain that hasn't gone away in over a month. I don't know if it's muscle or joint related, but normal heat/ice/stretching therapies have no effect.

So Monday, you had the nerve to show your face this morning. But this week is going to be busy and fun (mostly) and I will soon forget about you. I know you're a stalker though, so we'll probably do this again next week. Oh well.

Work, What's That? And Other Things

Okay, so since today was slow at work, I basically played on here all day creating my blog. Shhhhh, don't tell my boss. Well, if you do I won't care. She's only my boss for a few more months while our company is splitting in half. Not as scary as it sounds, but that means I'll have a new boss at the end of said split, and I like her better. Yes, I just said that out loud.

I had a blog when I was in college and decided to take the plunge again. It's a good way to get my artwork out there since I have yet to get an Etsy store or anything similar, I can type long stories unlike on Facebook, and also it's fun. Wheeeee! Look at me go!

So there. I'm back in the blogging world under a different name and I think I'll stay awhile. I can't promise that this blog will be updated every day (as my title states), or that I'll be super entertaining (if you see me rambling in a corner don't call the men in the white coats). But if you happen to stumble across my little project here, I hope you enjoy your visit.