Mello

This is my debut post to the "Me and My Monday" group.

This is me and my junior gardener, aka my son Joey.  I wish I could say that he's helping me garden out of the sheer joy of getting into the dirt and beautifying our yard - or in this case because of the promise of delicious dishes later this summer - but not really.  He's doing it to earn money to buy his next Webkinz.

Me and My Little Gardener

(I could've also titled this post "Me and My New Haircolor" but I didn't think that would be that interesting, especially given that it's not drastic enough for anyone who doesn't see me every day to notice.)

Even though Joey pretended to be all about the money, I think he secretly enjoyed labeling my herb pots. 

This could be the next hit for Simon & Garfunkel

I painted the bottom parts of each pot with chalkboard paint.  Fun, huh?  It's hard to see, but in addition to writing the name of each herb, he also drew a picture of each.  Being a realist, he looked at the picture on the front of each seed packet so that his drawings would look like the actual plant.  He's so my kid.

What are you most sensitive about? 

Two things.

1 - Anything that anyone might say that might imply that I'm not doing a good job at something.  Obviously I know I'm not perfect, and of course I want to know if I need to improve the way I do something.  But the message is sometimes hard to take.  I take a lot of things personally that I shouldn't.  But I'm getting better about it, slowly.  I'm learning to look at criticisms more objectively, especially when they really aren't criticisms.

2 - On a much more serious and important note, it just kills me when I hear stories in the news (or anyplace else) of children being abused.  Just looking at those words I just typed makes me want to cry.  I seriously had to stop reading FOXNews.com except the headlines because there were just too many horrible things happening to kids.  I feel like a jerk for burying my head in the sand, but what can I do?  I just want kids to not have to hurt.  They don't deserve to be mistreated, especially by the people they trust.  How can someone mistreat their own child?  Selfish, selfish parents.  You need a license to cut hair but any moron can have a child.  It's just not right.  Ugh.

When I was in Savannah a couple of months ago, I forgot my sunglasses and bought a new pair.  Since I didn't need two pair that turned out to be basically identical, I gave my old ones to Bailey.  So Joey wanted some too.  He hasn't had any sunglasses since he lost his Hot Wheels ones at the race in Indianapolis two summers ago.  So we were at the store the other day and I asked him if he wanted to look for some.  He walked over to the display and first picked out a pair of "Cars" ones.  I talked him out of those because they looked too small.  I pointed out a rack of Transformers ones.  He immediately picked out a pair and put them on.

P5070198

Notice the cool Borg-like eye thing:

P5070199

I tried to talk him into a more normal pair, but he said:

"No, Mom, I need a pair that fits my lifestyle!"

Alrighty, then.  I'm not sure if he's fighting crime when I'm not looking or what, but whatever.  :)

I love my boy.

As I continue along my new adventure of commuting via city bus, I've developed a mission statement:

I will ride the bus to work to save money on gas, as long as it's not too cold, too hot, too windy, raining, snowing, hailing, or anything else that would otherwise make me uncomfortable or ruin my hair.

Pretty giving of me, don't you think?  Just doing my part.

This morning's weather was absolutely gorgeous.  That lasted until about noon.  I'd read the forecast this morning that there was a chance of rain this afternoon starting around 4...right around the time I'd be making that 4-block walk from the afternoon bus stop to my house.  I decided to take the risk today, though.

Because I was armed.  Armed with an umbrella.

For ten bucks I now have a cute little bright pink guarantee that I will not get rained on.  To be sure, when I got off the bus this afternoon, it was dark & overcast, and there was thunder & lightening, but no rain.  No rain!  Hah!  I don't even have to open my umbrella in order to not get wet.  I just have to have it in my bag.

It's the same deal with car trouble, or should I say, the lack thereof.  As long as I have my cell phone with me, I will not have car trouble.  It doesn't matter that my van is (likely) in need of a new starter, or that my commuter car intermittently shows me its "Check Engine Soon" light.  All I need is my cell phone, and my vehicles will work just fine.  And like the umbrella, I don't even have to use it.  I just have to have it with me.

Oh yeah, and may I mention that now that I'm safe inside, it's pouring rain?

It's really quite empowering to have this kind of control over time & space.

Hi!  Remember me?  It's Mello!  I'm back!

No, I didn't go anywhere.  I just haven't really had anything to say over the last week or two.  I've been feeling kind of like what I imagine a rock might feel like.....just sits there, stagnant, no original thoughts...just....blah.  Don't necessarily believe anyone who says that not being in school will make you less busy!  This has been a rather exhausting week.

Most of the week has been spent getting ready for a HUMONGOUS garage sale.  I usually want nothing to do with garage sales.  I used to shop them occasionally when the kids were little.  It's a good way to get clothes for them when they're at an age when they outgrow their clothes way faster than they wear them out.  These days, I just don't want to take the time to go to garage sales.  Most of them open on Fridays, when I'm at work - and I'm not about to sacrifice the only day I can sleep in (Saturday) to go look through someone's picked-over junk.

So why did I have a garage sale when I hate them?  Well, a bunch of us from my church decided to do it as a fundraiser to help raise money for gas to get all of the kids to and from camp this summer.  The math goes something like this:

2-3 large vehicles/camp session   X   400 mile round trip for 3-4 camps   X   gas prices over $3.50/gal   =   EXPENSIVE!!!

For the last several weeks we've solicited donations from the church body and we got a TON of stuff.  It just so happens that my friend Patty lives across the street from me and also attends my church.  The sale took place in both of our garages.  Patty had the household & furniture-type stuff, and I had toys as well as kids' and adults' clothes.  On Friday we planned to start at 7 am, but actually ended up opening the doors around 6:50 because there were people sitting outside at 6:30!!  There are some hard-core garage salers out there! 

There was a 90% chance of rain on Friday, but thanks to a LOT of praying, it only rained lightly & intermittently throughout the day.....and poured literally ten minutes after we closed up shop for the day. Today it was c-c-c-cold out there at 7 am, and business was quite slow.  It was rather miserable, actually.  We made a few sales, but stuff really started to fly off the shelves after we declared around 11:00 that everything was free.  :)  We figured the more they took, the less we'd have to pack up.  We'd declared from the start that anything that didn't sell was going to be brought to the Salvation Army, so we figured we'd make our lives easier.

At the end of the day, we'd made $969.00!!!!  If that doesn't pay for all of the gas, it'll come darn close.  And as a bonus, I didn't have to help clean up since I had to take Bailey to her soccer game (a very cold, ridiculously windy experience.  Bailey twisted her foot but was back in play by the second half).

In other news, we're getting DirecTV installed today!  We've been toying with the idea for years, but ever since we got the big HD TV, Brian's really been chomping at the bit and the other day finally just bit the bullet.  We currently have a bundle deal for internet, phone & cable through Charter, so we were a little afraid that cancelling part of that would cause the other components to skyrocket.  But Brian called and actually it'll cost about the same overall, so there was no reason not to do it.  The guys just got here, and I had to call Brian to get his butt home so he can "make sure they know what they're doing."  He wanted me to do it but I refuse to micromanage professionals.  Really, the only thing I care about is that it works and that it's done by the time the race starts tonight.  Woo-hoo - short track racing at night in HD!  I can hardly wait!

Bailey just got her first mp3 player.  I decided to try for one in that Pepsi Stuff promotion that's going on right now.  I had to save up 175 bottle caps, and thanks to a couple of coworkers, we made it there in record time.  It just came today.  Right now it's charging so she can't use it quite yet, but she's already chosen a CD to download.  I think - I think - I've figured out how to also get it on my iPod.  It takes a bit of doing, though.

Today I took public transportation to work. I've done this once before, about a year ago when my car died and Brian had already left for work.  That day I didn't really have a choice and I was just lucky that I was able to scrounge $1.25 or whatever it costs.  (I rarely have cash, and usually when I do it goes quickly into a pop machine.)

But here's the thing.  On Monday evening I had a meeting to go to and Brian asked me if I'd fill up the van on my way home.  Now usually the van is his commuter car (he carts the kids) and he takes care of filling it up when necessary.  My commuter car is a 1997 5-speed Geo Metro Sedan. Kind of dorky and definitely uncool, but it's paid for and cheap to own & operate.  It's also easy to park in our packed, perpendicular-parking lot.

Looks like this except mine is green - very 90's!

When I fill up my car, I go to a gas station that gives me 15 cents off per gallon if I buy a car wash.  I get the cheapest one for $6 and still come out having paid more for the car wash than what I save on gas with an 8-gallon tank, but I like the convenience of the fill & wash all at one time.

So back to Monday night.  I'm used to about a $25 bill when filling up my car, and even that was starting to feel pretty steep.  When I filled up the van, I found myself staring straight into a $51.59 total. 

~~Sticker shock!!~~

I know that probably pales compared to what some of you are used to, but it was pretty scary for me!  I decided then & there to look into my employer's city bus pass program.

Because parking for both patients/visitors and employees is at a premium in downtown Rochester, one of the things that my employer has done is to allow employees who live in town to get free bus passes.  They also sell passes to people who live out of town at a reduced rate.  The goal is to help alleviate parking congestion downtown.  I know a lot of people who take the bus because they don't even have parking privileges downtown, because those are given out by seniority.  After 11 years, I do have parking, so I've never considered taking the bus.  Now I'm going to do it, at least some days, in order to alleviate our gasoline bill.  On days I take the bus, Brian will take my little car.  Hopefully this will make a difference.  We'll see; I told Brian that I'll only take the bus on days that aren't too cold, too windy, or raining.  So the rest of this week may be out already.

This morning went pretty well.  I was worried that I wouldn't make it to the bus stop in time, and as it turned out I had plenty of time.  Eventually I'll have it down to the exact minute that I need to leave the house.  This afternoon will present a different challenge.  Not only do I have to make sure I'm ready to leave work at the appropriate time (I can be a dawdler), but I have to take a different route home.  My neighbor/friend Matt, who rides the same bus, told me this morning where I need to be in order to take Route 2 home, which was nice.  The good/bad thing about Route 2 is that it's going to drop me off about 4 blocks from my house.  Today that will be awesome as it's supposed to be sunny and 75, and I don't anticipate having to carry anything heavy or bulky home.  I'm such a baby.  :)

So yes, now I feel more like an official member of the rat race.

I wasn't going to do this today (because if I do it every week I'll become predictable), but what the hey.  Here goes:

Today I loathe:

• Spending all day at work reading about FDA inspections.  I'm writing a mock inspection for our students to do as a learning tool.  Important stuff, but reading about the FDA all day sure makes me tired.
• That I slept horribly last night and as a result am quite tired today.
• That it's only Tuesday (see above bullet item).
• Being unmotivated to study for my coag final.
• Bad hair days.

Today I love:

• Red wine.
• The killer lasagna I have in the oven.  I can't wait to eat it!!
• That I fixed a door at work today.
• Long, painted fingernails, makeup, great shoes, jewelry, and other things that make me feel like a girl.
• The color scheme we've decided on for our bathroom.
• My kids.
• Spring - finally!  I'm even ok with those fabled April showers, as long as they're not snow showers.

That'll do it.  :)  Gotta go get my lasagna out of the oven.

I'm on a conference call........they can't see that I'm playing on Vox.......I'm typing very quietly................

:)

Today I'm liking:

• Sunshine and 62 degrees.  Finally!
• Fitting into jeans that used to be indecently tight.
• Feeling better than I did last Tuesday!  :)
• My new red patent shoes.  I've wanted a pair for a long time.  They're just cheapies for fun, and fun is what they are.  I wore them to work today and got several compliments.
• Speaking of work, I love lab teaching exercises that work the way they're supposed to.
• Green and red peppers.  They're so pretty and make a good afternoon snack.
• My new haircut.
• Being able to grocery (& other) shop with Brian while the kids are at Awana.  It's a pathetic excuse for date night but we'll take what we can get!  Besides, it beats the heck out of doing the shopping with the kids.
• This cool razor I got Brian for shaving his head.  He hasn't used it yet but I can't wait for him to try it!

Headblade Sport

Today I'm not liking:

• Being obsessed with my weight.
• Not losing pounds this week.  I think I know the reason why I'm not losing but I'm not sure how to solve it in a healthy way.
• Having my coag final looming over my head.  I need to force myself to buckle down & study.
• Nothing else, really.  Today was a good day!