Saturday, January 27, 2007

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful

So a week or two ago the Midwest was blasted with ice and snow. My mother (lord help me) lives in an area that got mostly ice with a little snow. She called me on Sunday afternoon and said she was bored. Her power had gone out sometime Saturday evening. She was cold, hungry, bored and lonely. The plan was to barricade herself in her bedroom until the power came back on. For breakfast she had dry cereal (she has this everyday so no big deal), but no eggs or bacon or toast. For lunch she dined on Peanut Butter and Crackers. Dinner was some sort of thawed lunch meat. Yum. Yum.

I told her to get out and go somewhere. The power wasn't expected to be fixed for days as most of the town was without power. My sister lives in the same town and I suggested she go there. Long story short she lost power that night. So now my mom and sister are without power. A friend of my mother's, S. offered to go get my mom and let her stay at her house. S had no power either, but had a wood stove and frequently cooked on it. She also had lanterns and other stuff to make no power a little more cozy. Mom didn't want to go. She didn't want to be stuck out there. I told her to go. Better off stuck somewhere you can eat warm food, sit next to a fire and have a friend to chat with. She still didn't want to go.

I suggested a hotel, but she is so cheap she would never pay the money. At this point I felt like I was talking to a child. Finally I reminded her that this is the type of weather people die in when they try to "wait it out". I did not want my mother to be the one to die because she was too cheap and stubborn to go somewhere or accept help.

Finally, she and my sister went to stay with S. She ended up giving them a truck load of wood and they hid out at my sisters house sitting near the fireplace. At least they were able to make some food over the fire too. Am I the only one that would have just gone to the local Holiday Inn to live in comfort? They were without power for nine (9) days. They were going to 'wait it out' for nine days. I almost lost my mom and sister to stupidity.

P.S. Z is for Zamboni. Everyone needs one of these.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Sucker

So I bit the bullet and went to Sephora. As I walked through the door a mechanical arm flew at me and stamped the word 'sucker' on my forehead. I'm mostly a cosmetics virgin. Yah, I've tried tons of stuff, but I really don't know this from that. The sales people knew this the instant I walked through the door.

The girl was nice and asked what I was looking for. I thought I should start easy and asked for foundation. I told her of my skin condition and she led me to something called Lorac. Anyway, it's sort of a creamy liquid so this would work for my dry skin. She dabbed a few different shades on me and proclaimed me to be Light. Being the savvy shopper I am I asked for another option. I don't remember the second one, but it was $10 more so I sort of eliminated it based on that. I put my creamy foundation in the giant basket, thanked my sales lady and began browsing.

What is all the rest of the stuff? There were perfumes, creams, lotions, sprays, make up and soaps. That was just in the first isle. I quickly felt out of my league. I shop at Target. I buy CoverGirl. I spend $6 so that when it's the wrong stuff I haven't spent the same amount of money as new sneakers.

Here is the ironic part. I bought the Lorac foundation. I can't get it out of the jar. It is SO creamy that it doesn't pour. The bottle is glass so it doesn't squeeze. So my mondo expensive foundation is stuck in a little bottle. I went back to Target and spent $6 on some whipped foundation by CoverGirl and I love it. The jar is large so you can get the stuff out and it blends really well. The coverage is good. The only downside is the smell. It's awful.

I think I'll stick to not knowing about that other stuff. I may be missing out on something, but my wallet can't handle the testing phase. I'll go broke

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Maybe Not.

Maybe it's because I'm more hormonal right now. Maybe it's because of my medicine. Maybe it's because Peanut has entered the realm of the temper tantrum. Maybe it's because I'll be 32 this year and still have no idea what I want out of life. I have always been something other than me. When I was young I did what I was supposed to do, not what I wanted. In college I did what got me out of there, not really what I wanted. Now I do what has to be done, not what I want. Truthfully, I don't know what I want.

I have a great husband and a great kid. We live in a nice house with nice stuff. We have nice friends and family and all that stuff. Then why am I not happy? Why do I feel less than alive? Why do I feel like there is some alternate life out there for me? Is there?

Anyway, Peanut and I went to Borders today. Husband wanted me to get a Zamboni book for Peanut. We went and walked around a lot. I finally got Peanut to go to the kids department. I found the book and a few others. Then it was time to check out. We made it to the check stand and there were a handful of people in line. This is where it all went wrong. Peanut did not want to be held and voiced his opinion about it. Loudly. I couldn't let him go and could not get him to quiet down. I ended up putting the books down and walking out with him. I was so angry. He stopped screaming as soon as we reached the car. We went home anyway. I know in a few years this will be a good punishment for him. Right now he doesn't care. He has no idea what he missed out on. I do though. I was sad and angry. Why couldn't we just buy a book? Anyway, this whole incident got me thinking today.

Monday, January 15, 2007

It's Been a While

So much to say and yet nothing worthy of writing. We survived the Holidays. Peanut has a cold (again) and life goes on.

I feel blah. This is sort of becoming a blahg instead of a blog. Anyway, I'm not sure what to do about it. The babysitter we had is starting a new semester at school and has no time for us. This might be a problem. I've come to rely on the breaks and time to myself. Spending every moment with Peanut is a joy, but also kind of overwhelming. I have done it and will do it, but it still worries me a little. You see, when I don't get enough sleep it's very hard for me to be patient. Little things blow up to big things and then I feel stupid for not handling a little thing with ease. If I'm well rested the days go pretty smooth. Here is the bump. I'm not sleeping well. I'm not tired at night and I wake up a lot during the night.

The bad taste in my mouth is gone. I stopped a pill and that fixed it. I kind of wanted to keep taking it, but it wasn't a big deal to stop. I may try to find a different one that doesn't make me ill. The other pill got switched a bit too. It was twice a day and now it's once a day, but it's the same dosage. So far I like it much better. No daily headache or nausea. I still don't sleep well though.