Livin' it up in the Penthouse Suite....(not really).

I am typing from my borrowed staff laptop. I am sitting cross-legged in an uncomfortable straight backed chair with slightly uneven legs and bad upholstery. The muffin is snoring in his travel crib in the next room, and I am attempting, (unsuccessfully as you might gather by my blogging) to finish my Management paper that was due last week. I am in essence, but not technically, homless. The sad story:

Last Saturday, the Muffin, Baby Daddy, and I went to out to have a fun evening together, (which we never get to do). Upon returning home, the Baby Daddy was unstrapping the bebe' while I went to unlock the door for everyone. I remember noticing a thin rivulet of water running from the door down the steps, and across the sidewalk. "Hmmm...", I thought, "That's odd, why would water be running out of the front door?" The obvious answer became clear to me once the key turned in the lock and I pushed the door forward. The first thing I noticed was a sound not unlike what I imagine Niagra Falls to sound like, a sort of whooshing roar. The second thing I realized was that I had icy water running over my shoes. Great. Just smashing. Baby Daddy shoved the bebe' into my arms while he tore through the house toward the waterfall sounds. I heard some cursing, some squeaking, and then silence. I bet I said, 'you've GOT to be kidding me', at least a thousand times while we were sloshing through each room. Their was not a dry inch of floor space in the entire house. At this point, we remembered the dogs. Bless their little hearts, they were huddled together on their soggy dog bed looking like the two strays Noah forgot to get off the ark. We got them taken care of, with me holding the Muffin all the while, because we couldn't put him down anywhere. The Baby Daddy went to the garage to retrieve the Shop Vac, (which only held 5 gallons. Heck, my coffe mug holds more liquid than that piece of crap...) and began the long process of trying to clean up. I fell into bed with the bebe', and the next morning, I rolled over to find Baby Daddy fully clothed, with his wet muddy feet still in his shoes.

Jump to today: We currently reside in the 'Penthouse' Suite of a local hotel. (Yes, it really is called that, I'll take a picture of the darn plaque if you don't belive me.) The name is a bit deceiving. It is a suite, as in, there is more than one room and we have a fridge. But don't even THINK we are sleeping on Egyptian Cotton, (more like stiff polyester), or using fancy little soaps wrapped in gold foil, (we actually only found a plastic shower cap upon our arrival). It could most certainly be much worse, so I am not complaining. There is a decent sized living room, a tiny kitchen, a bathroom with the toilet, a stand-up shower, and a pedestal sink, a bedroom with a two-person Whirlpool tub, and a decent closet. Home Sweet Home. And let me tell you, the muffin is all about it. He has tried ever door, opened every cabinet, and flushed the toilet about a hundred times. But his favorite thing is by far the Whirlpool tub. In order to bathe him, I actually have to get in with him. Lucky for me, there's a tiny ledge on one side, room enough for about half of a butt cheek. I roll up my jammie-pants and perch on this ledge while the bebe' makes engine noises and pushes his tugboats under the 'bridge' of my extened leg. They told us we will have to be out of our house for 4 to 6 weeks. I said, 'Not on your life'. Fortunately, the contractor working with us is an aquaintance of the Baby Daddy, and so I'm hoping he'll rush things along. The silver lining in al this is that we are planning on selling our house this year, and were prepared to put down all new floors/carpet in our house anyway. Now, we just have to pay our insurance deductable and we still get our new floor. Unfortunately, it's a small consolation in my otherwise traumatized world. But I'm keeping my head up!!!

Must. Wake. Up.

It is now 7:38 AM. I have been awake since approximately 5:30 AM. Apparently, even though this is Saturday, Mommy's 'please God let's sleep in' day, and even though I stayed up late last night working on a proposal for my class and all I got done was the cover page and the executive summary, and EVEN THOUGH every day last week, I had to literally drag the muffin out of bed to go to the sitter's, he decided that today is wake up and play at 5:30AM day!! **sigh**. I'm getting ready to head back to the kitchen and pour cup number 2, so as to bravely attempt normal human functioning for the next 20 minutes. Today is going to be a looooooong day. But hopefully, after my neurons start firing again, it will be salvageable. We have planned a "let's drive ourselves really crazy and take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese again" day with A.S., her other-half, and my fave lil' diva. (I know, what the CRAP are we thinking?!) Then, as long as we all still have a firm grip on reality, we're going to head back to the Family S. house and wage war on each other playing 'Battle of the Sexes'. (Prepare for another embarrassing loss boys!) Now, I am going to refill my coffee mug, kick Baby-Daddy in the pants, (he's currently flat on his arse watching Playhouse Disney and pretending to be minding the Muffin) and try to get something productive done on my proposal. Power to Mommy!

New Year, Not-so-new Me, new posts!

Welcome 2008, and welcome changes!! This year, I am sure, will go by just as insanely fast as the last 24 of my life have seemed to go, so I am determined to make the best of it! In the years that I have even bothered to make resolutions, as most, I have broken them. Usually by the end of January. Lose weight, eat better, clean more, whine less, don't wear sweatpants to bed every night (poor Baby Daddy). My list of resolution failures is endless. This year, my resolution was about resolutions. Make less of them! And for the one/s that I do make, they must be realistic enough that I can keep them--at least until March. Hey, you gotta start somewhere. So far this year, (and we are THIS CLOSE to being in February mind you), I have done relatively well. Following are a few of my goals: (Notice that I didn't do so hot with the "make less resolutions" resolution....)


1) Answer my cell phone when it rings. And when I can't answer it, listen to my voice-mails at least once a week and return ALL my calls.

Bless those poor souls who try to call me--It pains me to admit that on one, not-so-long-ago day, I found myself wading through 18 voice messages. "Meg, it's Mom. I just wanted to let you know I made it home safely. Call me when you get this." ****** "Meggie, it's Mom. In case you were wondering, I'm home now. Safely. Just in case you were wondering." ******"Hey Meg, it's Jess. Is your cell working? Call me back kay?!" *******"It's your mother. I'm no longer calling to tell you I'm home. I'm calling now to lecture you about your phone etiquette. Please call me back so I can yell at you. That is all." You pretty much get the picture. Anyway, if you call me, I WILL answer my calls if it is humanly possible, and if I can't, I WILL call you back in a timely manner.

2) Love my husband more. Well, maybe just treat him a little better. But just a little.

I have to hand it to the Baby Daddy. Props to you for putting up with me for five years! (Now, only three of that has been married and living together, which is a heck of a lot harder than just 'dating' me.) I am a self-admitted gossip whore, drama diva, and my favorite quote is, "If it's not about me, I'd rather not discuss it." :) OOOooooh, that's my next resolution -- be less shallow. Anyway, I like to give the Baby Daddy a hard time in life, as he will readily inform you, but I love him more than I ever thought possible. He cleans my hair out of the tub drain, organizes my shoes in rows according to size and occasion, and he does laundry! He only quietly grumbles when I turn the thermostat down to 65, or when I scream at him that because I want to go to Kohls, he should want to go to Kohls too! He makes me laugh when I'm feeling pouty, and he watches endless episodes of bad reality TV when I demand it. (I think I should stop there. He's sounding like he has the soul of Mother Theresa, while I'm beginning to resemble Lucifer himself. I'm not that bad, really!) Just so you know, he has a horrible temper, so there!

3) Be less shallow.

As I've already elaborated above regarding my vices, most of which revolve around my self-centeredness, I don't feel the need to delve into it any further. You probably haven't gotten over hating me from the last paragraph.

4) Blog more -- You do love hearing about my life, don't you? Mmmm, I thought so.

I do love blogging, but I have not been very good about posting lately. I always feel so much better after I do, almost how I would think a good Catholic would feel after confession. I've gotten out all my evil thoughts, so I'm free to return to my regularly scheduled life. Plus, I was inspired by a blog link that my mom sent me this week. http://www.midlifegals.blogspot.com/ (If you love the sarcastic, profanity-laced ramblings of two middle-aged sisters, this blog is for you!) They are too funny!

5) Do something to improve my life--like live it.

Life is too short to be doing things that don't make you completely happy. You may not believe it after all my very loud, very opinionated rants, but I allow myself at times to be walked on. **gasp** I think it stems from my complete aversion to conflict and change. I'd rather do anything to avoid them. So, sometimes I will do things, like tell my hairstylist "I just LOVE the new cut", rather than say, "this style makes me look like Fran Drescher in the bad years of 'The Nanny' and I hate it". Or go along with something like a church or a job that doesn't fulfill me just because I don't want to go through the hassle of starting again. I have made up my mind to be proactive in my life. No more sitting around and going with the flow. I am going to change things that can be better.

Well, that pretty much sums it up. I'll report back in March to let you know how I'm doing. :)

Our thoughts are with you...

To my Canadian 'cousin': I want you to know that I have been thinking of you daily. If I know anything, I know what loss feels like, however I cannot empathize with the added difficulty of a long illness. I know you guys are wearing thin, but please know we are keeping you in our prayers.

Welcome back ME!!

Finally, I'm back again! It's been a great couple of weeks. We celebrated the Muffin's first Christmas with us, (and mourned the loss of our personal space--it's now completely dominated by the bebe's Christmas bounty). He loved all of his presents, but wasn't much into opening them. Once he ripped into the first one, he completely lost interest in opening the others. He was toddling all over the place, much to the delight of our various family members. He really is quite the little walker now. It still sometimes catches me off guard when I see him 'running' down the hall to meet me when I get home from work.

We had a great New Year's Eve as well--we spent it with my fave office buddy AS, her hubby JS, and the Lil' Diva herself. :) The kiddos went to bed, and then the four of us played "Battle of the Sexes" until we almost peed our pants from laughing so hard. Apparently, my baby daddy has a girlie side. He knew all kinds of alarming things that manly men would never admit to. In order to fully comprehend the hilarious-ness that went down, please refer to the following excerpt:

AS: Okay guys, next question. Which is to be applied first, lip liner, or lip-stick?

Baby Daddy: (without a moment's hesitation) THE LINER! IT'S THE LINER! THE LINER IS ALWAYS FIRST!

(We all look at him with blank, somewhat surprised stares, then Baby Daddy turns to JS)

Baby Daddy: So, yeah, you knew that too, right buddy? Right? I mean, you DID KNOW THAT DIDN'T YOU?!

JS: (Like a true man) Uh, nope.

*******

It was truly the most fun I've had in a while. And congrats to us for winning and proving once again that females are superior!! We finished up whopping the boys around 11:30, which is when the bebe' decided to wake up and join us. Miraculously, he was acting like an angel, and not at all fussy. He even watched the ball drop with us for the new year! It was great to be off work and get to spend time with the bebe' and Baby Daddy. I'll admit, I almost got a little teary at the thought of going back to work, but somehow I drug myslef in, and only have one more day until the weekend. Yaaaaaay!

I also began my class this week, which has been interesting. The whole online format is really different for me, but I think I'm going to enjoy it. I just completed my first homework assignment tonight. I am so proud of myself!!