There’s Gotta Be a 12 Step Program for This

I think I have a serious problem. I haven’t watched any of my shows in about a week because of the Thanksgiving week craze. Tonight I just started to itch like a heroine junkie starting to go through withdrawals. I couldn’t wait to get Baby J to sleep so I can turn on my DVR and get watching.

When I finally heard the very familiar Da-Ding of the most recent episode of Law and Order I just let out a big sigh of complete relief. Ahhhhh. I feel better now. I really don’t know what I would do without my Law & Order lineup. I seriously would be lost and might actually have to say that there is nothing worth watching on the tube.

The Tale of the Handhelds

The trouble with marrying a man obsessed with gadgets and all sorts of technology is that it is typically what I get as presents. Some men buy flowers and candy and sometimes jewelry. Me, I am showered with hi-def televisions, laptops, alarm clocks that do everything except put you in the shower. Just think of anything that appeared on The Jetsons and its most likely in this house. Either that or R is working on getting it in the house. I think you get the idea.

Recently R bought me the Game Boy Micro in his attempts to get me to watch less TV at bedtime so he can sleep better. I think it’s a great idea, except that I can’t seem to find a game I can actually play. I am terrible at video games. I do like to play Mario Party because it’s not like a real video game to me.

All weekend R was on the search for something very difficult to find. And as usual, especially when it comes to something like this, if he can’t have it, he wants it more than sex. He finally found and bought me a limited edition Nintendo DS in teal bundled with a special version of Nintendogs. Last night before we went to sleep, we were playing with this game. R has a DS in royal blue. We set up the dogs and some commands. It was fun. Then R was ready for sleep and I still had at least another hour of wake time left in me. So I continue to play. The problem with this game is that it uses a lot of voice commands. So there I am in the dark with my brand new DS that matches my VS jammies repeatedly holloring, ‘lay down’ until my pup learned the command.

I guess this game totally defeated the purpose of R getting a good nights sleep.

Whatever Floats Your Boat

Have you ever seen those Gain laundry detergent commercials that make people practically glue their face to whatever it is that was washed. The new one is the middle aged guys watching football and when their team scored they do that congratulatory dance and the one guy keeps hugging his friend. Keep that in mind.

I go into the basement to put up a laundry and I see R sitting at his computer desk holding a blank DVD to his nose. I asked him what he was doing and he held the disk up for me to smell.

‘I don’t smell anything.’
‘How can you not smell that, it smells so good.’
‘It’s a CD.’
‘Oh, but its so fresh out of the package. Ahhhh.’

Ok, who agrees that my husband is crazy?

Madaga..What?

We just finished watching the movie Madagascar. I am sitting here wondering if there is a part 2. R is searching the DVD as I type. It was a good movie and it was freakin hilarious but we kinda wonder what happened. The lion doesn’t eat for days and finds satisfaction in sushi? Um, I don’t know if this is such a great message. I know lions eat fish, but, uhh?!? Each animal has such specific instincts that you can’t change them or alter them. That’s why we can’t keep baby tigers as house pets even though they are so cute. I would have loved to see this movie end in a way that the lion recognizes that he is a predator and his friends understand that and accept it. Oh, and the lion just knows not to eat his friends because that would be bad.

Sometimes I just think that these animators are dying to make movies that look really cool that the movies and their stories are leaving us hanging. Now sit me infront of Monsters, Inc. or Finding Nemo and I’m a happy camper.

Bedtime Routine

Bedtime around here is quite an event. It used to be just a simple routine, but for someone watching from the outside they would probably want to put it on tape and send it to Americas Funniest Home Videos.

We do the usual and typical routine. Take bath (on bathnight of course) and R goes upstairs with Baby J in his towel and starts to dry him off as I get the sippy ready and meet them in the bedroom. Lights dimmed, soft music on… yadda yadda yadda. So after brushing the teeth and saying goodnight to everything in to room starting with the lamp, moving onto the fish and so forth we say goodnight to mommy and daddy. We take turns reading books to him and putting him to sleep. Tonight was daddy’s turn.

We have this wireless video feed from Baby J’s room. It’s really a wonderful thing to have especially when you know they can sit up and stuff. I love being able to check up on him without having to actually open up the door which almost ALWAYS wakes him up. So tonight I am watching them on the TV while I feed ChoCho his nighttime treats. I couldn’t hold myself back and was laughing so hard I was crying. After J gets in bed he does about 10 jumps in the air like his bed was a trampoline. Then he was laying down in his crib and as daddy was reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear J’s legs were flying in the air and slamming the bed. One foot, two foot. One foot, Two foot. Polar Bear, Polar Bear was a little better while he was sort of paying attention throwing his blanket around like it was a little white flag. As soon as daddy got to the Walrus page I hear a great big ‘wa-wus’ and daddy bellows out ‘since when do you know walrus??????’ Daddy was so amazed that Baby J knew the word he kept saying it and J kept repeating it. The tone in daddy’s voice was amazement but it was just too funny how this was all going down. Then after the three books were read, it was time to go to sleep and say goodbyes. After a few moments of whining, daddy gave in and read the 4th book, which he was lucky to get away with only that few. During this final book you would think J would pay attention. I mean, he did ask for daddy to read it to him, right? Nope. The legs flailing and the cup flying, I don’t think he heard a single word. After this display one would think that this child would never go to sleep, but after ‘goodnight’ and ‘I love you’ baby J rolled over, snuggled with his Tigger doll and his cup and went to sleep. We are so blessed.

Tv Characters and Animal Sounds

There is nothing more rewarding to a parent than to watch and hear your child have a word explosion, especially in front of a parade bombarded with TV characters. Any stranger would have thought that all this child does is watch TV. He knew almost every character displayed in the Thanksgiving Parade. He even knew Dora from Dora the Explorer and he has only watched that show maybe 2 times.

It was quite an amazing sight. Words, words, words. It was like he was holding all these words in that little busy brain of his and then, BOOM! here they are. My father in law told him once the sound a donkey makes and now everyone knows. The donkey sound will never overpower the force and fury of his lion sound. That one is so furious it will knock you off you chair. At least it knocks grandpa off of his. He is so damn smart.

When Not to Watch Lord of the Rings

“I’m going to make popcorn.”
“Now?”
“Yea, I’m hungry.”
“Its one o’clock in the morning.”
“I still have another 2 hours of this movie to watch.”
“I’m going to bed then.”
“WHAT? You’r not going to sit with me?”
“That’s right! I am a terrible wife.”

Survival of the Human Race

I find it quite amazing that the human race has actually made it this far. Seriously. I don’t know how kids live past the terrible twos. Last night was one of those 'I'm gonna kill my kid' nights. R was home and we decided to go to the supermarket for a family outing. Yes, we are a VERY exciting family. I needed to pick up a few odds and ends for the holiday and for baby J not to eat. As soon as we walked into the market the explosion began. Flailing his arms and screeching to get in or out of the shopping cart, whatever the case may have been. Somehow he has an impeccable sense for the most fragile item in the shopping cart. The eggs. When he was told many times and then very firmly by his dad that he cannot play with the eggs, his fit skyrocketed to a level that the aliens on other planets could hear. No wonder they leave crop circles in our fields. They are probably trying to tell us ‘Shut up!! I can’t hear myself think.’ We quickly checked out because there was no way that I went that far that I was going to leave my full shopping cart.

Getting to the car he calmed down a little bit. R started to put the groceries in the trunk while I got Baby J into his seat. You would have thought I put him into a tub of hot lava with the way he reacted to his seat. Somehow R got him strapped in to his chair of torture. We made our way 2 blocks down to go to one of Js favorite places, Chilis. He doesn’t seem to know the difference between and big red hot Chili and an apple, but we weren’t going to rain on his parade at this time. Crying and howling, we brought him in and asked for a table. I could have sworn he was hungry. R could have sworn he was hungry. We couldn’t get him in his high chair so I let him sit next to me in the booth and he was playing nicely with a truck that I believe is from Bob the Builder. He demanded to play with the strings to the blinds and I guess because we refused to let him do that, his delicious plate of wholesome macaroni and cheese found its way to every part of the table but his mouth. I think Daddy ate his french fries. The only way we were able to eat in peace and get the burning stares off of the back of our necks was to give him a nice size helping of the good ‘ole chocolate milk. Seems like it’s the only thing saving this kid from wrath worse than death. Maybe that is how this race survived. Chocolate milk!?

A New Age for Reds Blogging

I have been blogging for over a year now. I started in October 2004 because I needed and outlet for me when we discovered my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Before that, my husband and I were facing the troubles of a house fire and having to live with a baby under the age of 1 in a small hotel room for a long period of time. So you can say that I really needed an outlet.

I was instantly addicted to blogging. I was able to talk about all of my feelings. Feelings of the moment or things that were deep down, they all seemed to find a way onto the page. It has been very therapeutic and I felt that the most helpful part was that I knew there was at least one person reading and I can tell that person anything.

It was about time that I made something that was public. I plan on telling stories, talking about my life of memories and experiences. I am married to a wonderful tech geek who has his own blog writing about all things technical. Go figure. We have a 21 month old son and I have to admit that we are not done with our family. We have 2 cats and we just adopted my mothers’ cat who seems to be trying to rule the house. Before I became a mom, I was a graphic designer with a pretty well known magazine and I honestly do not miss it one bit. I have the toughest, yet most rewarding job there is and it pays crap.

You can say that I am just another run of the mill housewife, but I am willing to put it down on paper, or in a blog. My writing cannot compare to some other blogs I have been reading, but I will be trying my hardest to keep it interesting.

Keep your eyes open for many changes to the site in the near future. I am just learning how to do all of this. My in house geek is going to help me learn what I am doing.