jessica

okay, minus one

i have a $5000 printer, purchased years ago,  that needed to be moved from upstairs (that's where my office originated) since the ex-boss took her computer equipment and her fancy printer. it is probably 2 1/2 feet square and weighs about twice as much as i do.  it made it safely down the stairs (i should have taken photos) and down the hall and oooooh around the corner into the new office down here....

and he dropped it. it made a nice crunch.

i didn't know whether to cry or to laugh. i just stood there, stunned.

i'm hoping that replacing the bottom paper tray will do the trick.

now why would he turn down help from his hulk of a wife?  who wouldn't be much help anyway, but, you know.

another point (or two) for the hubs

what happens when you have a trip booked to hawaii through orbitz travel and the airline that is supposed to actually take you the last leg of your trip across the ocean to that tropical paradise files for bankruptcy? 

you'd think that orbitz would book you on another flight. after all, they have done flight switcheroos THREE TIMES up until then.  i've got the email pile-up to prove it. so then, what's the big deal?

apparently it's up to YOU make other arrangements.

but what happens if you call and they keep giving you the run around: call this airline. call that airline. call orbitz because "it's their responsibility to rebook you". ??

after what feels like forever on the phone with any one of three parties, orbitz wants to charge another $1000 EACH for rebooking you on another airline.

what happens when you give the hubs the phone in exasperation because you just can't take it anymore and are willing to just shell out the 2K because you're sick of it all and just want to GO ON VACATION?

i'll tell you what happens. he spends another two hours on the phone, uses phrases like "contact my attorney"  and "cancel my reservation" (both of which i am frantically gesturing NO!!) but he is playing the game and winds up with everything juuuuuuust hunky dory.

i hope.

thought for thursday: thank you and acknowledgement

is it thursday already?  i've got a million topics i could tft, but this one is on my mind most i guess.

yesterday i tried to send out the thank you notes for monkey girl's birthday party. i say tried because unbenounced to me the stupid USPS decided to up the priceage for the stampage earlier this week by one flippin cent. meaning i have to make a special trip to the post office for one. cent. stamps. lame. at least bump it three or even five because this is just silly. i'm the lazy one who will put another 41 cent stamp on it just to get it done and not have to make the special trip.

ok. my post isn't supposed to be about the post office.

i have always tried to thank people in writing, via the mail, the old fashioned way.  for any sort of gift for any sort of occasion. and promptly. for example, i feel as if i'm behind the eight-ball on monkey's thank yous because it's been three weeks. that's pushing it for me.

i think it's just courtesy.  to tell the person who gave the gift or did the nice deed that i appreciated that they took time out of their schedule, out of their day, to think of me or my kid.  i know how much effort it takes, to 1) find the gift 2) wrap it, possibly  3) get a card (this is something that i hate to do because i hate to spend $3-5 on a card when i know it costs target $0.10.  and 4) package and send the gift.  this one is key, because without this step, the package never gets sent.

i have sent gifts and never even known if they were received. really the only situation i think i don't expect a thank you for is a newborn gift. i know what it's like to be a new mom.

i guess the post is supposed to be more about acknowledgement. i get a little anxiety if i don't remember somebody's birthday. or thank them properly and promptly. it's just how i am.  i even used to take pictures of the item that the person has gifted to me or my kids in action and send it to them. since i got pregnant with the monkey my brian went somewhere else and i'm trying to get back on track, because aside from like five people, i fell off the wagon here. i had a huge spreadsheet of names and birthdates and for years i made sure the card was in the mail.

let me know your thoughts on this. tell me how you thank people for things, or if you do... 

i also need some help here. i always struggle with this one. how should i tell j-man's bus driver and teacher (male) that i appreciate them and their patience with my son and other kids??  the school year ends soon!

check out the other thoughts for thursday participants: jenny, kristi, denise
 

where are my pop tarts

i'm trying to control my sugar intake. (it's usually a feeble attempt when i do try)  so when we were at the grocery store, instead of saying "no" when hubs held up the pop tarts.... knowing full well that i will eat the whole box, probably in one day, i said "you'll need to hide those from me." 

you know what? he did.

and i am not amused.

i have searched high and low for the pop tarts. they are not in the usual places in which he hides stuf.

does he really think he's being  helpful?

good thing i still have my jelly belly stash.

the conquerer

little jimmy and the eagle

since j-man was four or five years old, he has been extremely competitive. that is an understatement. competitive should be his middle name. it started before four or five, but it really kicked in about this time.  so, because of the competitiveness, to get him to do anything that he might be slightly hesitant to do, piece of cake. make it a competition. he would try his hardest every time.

hubs likes to have fun with this competitiveness.  around the time j-man was four or five, hubs made up this character. he named him "little jimmy". whenever j-man would refuse to do something, hubs would say "little jimmy would do it and do it FASTER than you"... or something similar. that's all it took to get him to do anything. seriously.

aside from living in china, little jimmy and the j-man were surprisingly similar.  little jimmy was the EXACT same age as j-man. even had the same birthday. had green eyes. loved hockey.

now this "little jimmy" business has worked for several years. when j-man was a little older, hubs explained to him that little jimmy was his alter ego. explained essentially what an alter ego was. he explained that little jimmy WAS him.

j-man accepted this and chose to believe there is a little jimmy.

little jimmy has come up periodically in our conversations. not for a while now, but most recently, at dinner tonight.

j-man:  hey, do you think that little jimmy likes sausage on his pizza?

hubs: what?

j-man:  sausage. do you think he likes sausage?

hubs: who?

j-man: (annunciating because obviously he is talking to someone who is being dense):   YOU know. little JIMMY.  my ALTER EAGLE.

the floor and the cutie

here's the floor.  after it acclimated for five days, the longest part was to get that first row nice 'n straight.  about half done!

not bad considering it looked like this not long ago:

the trim is stained and ready to go.  soon, soon!

and just for good measure, a monkey girl in her monkey shirt:

i got some of her climbing the climber she got for her birthday, but it appears my camera sucks batteries faster than i can download. so off i am to buy an a/c adapter for downloading.

happy mother's day

last night,  as i put him to bed, i asked the j-man, "do you know what tomorrow is?"

j-man: "um, sunday?"

me: "well, yeah, but what else?"

j-man: "i don't know."

me: "something to do with mommy, maybe?"

j-man: "hmmmmmmm. i think i forgot"

me: (feigning hurt) "it's mother's day."

j-man: "oh, yeah."

me: "did you get me anything?"

j-man: "no. i forgot."

me: "what if i forgot YOUR day? as in, march 16!" (his birthday)

j-man:  "nooooooooooooo!  wait!...... (long pause, then he remembers)  wait, go look in my backpack".

i'm pretty sure that he would have never remembered. he doesn't remember to put on underwear. he's that kind of kid.

this is the card he made me:

and you probably can't read it, but it says "mom, your the best! thank you for rock band"

what about, "thank you for life?"  or "thank you for doing my laundry??"

yeah. i rock.

happy mother's day to all of you slightly underappreciated mommies out there!

thought for thursday: schedules, sorta

these days, i don't have a "set schedule".  i keep monkey girl on a nap schedule and eating schedule and we work around that, essentially. i've worked at home forever and have had a pretty decent set schedule with that. i knew what i needed to be doing and when. but now that i don't have a straight 9-5, i feel as if i'm a little lost sometimes.

i can make lists, i can set goals. and i do. i just feel that without my "constant" schedule, my days just slip right on by and it can feel though i've not accomplished anything. even if i have! again, that can go back to not having my 9-5. an adjustment period, perhaps? i can be working on proofing a shoot, i can be working on new art for licensing, i can be working on laundry... a myriad of things. but for some reason i feel like my time is not well managed. i guess i'm just really trying to adjust to being a more flexible chick!

yes, i know this is just plain life. every day is different.  with summer coming, j-man will be home and i will have to factor that into my scheduling. my studio *should* be done very soon and i will be scheduling clients there, and scheduling someone to watch monkey girl. 

this post may not even make sense in some places.  but i do miss some sort of structure. i'm hoping that after an adjustment period all will be running smoothly.

do you follow a strict schedule? tell me about it. if you do or if you don't have a 9-5, how do you make sure you feel productive at home?  set priorities?  give me all of your thoughts. they might help a girl out.

please enlighten me and then check out the other tft'ers this week: kristi, cass, jenny, heather
 

eeeeeeeeeek

hubs called me after he left this morning and said "oh, we have a mouse. in the garage. i chased him. he seemed sluggish but was still faster than me". 

and now i'm looking everywhere for this little dude's brothers and sisters that might be IN MY HOUSE.

i need to clean today. a lot. but a few of the neighbors are having garage sales and i know for a fact there is some good baby girl stuff sitting on tables down the street calling my name. decisions, decisions.

i am so running out right now to get some good poison.