Saturday, January 21, 2006

Friday, January 20, 2006

Can I please have some cheese with my whiiiine?!

Do you ever catch yourself, after a day (or days) of constant bitching and think "You know, if somebody were recording everything I said and played it back to me I'd probably want to smack myself!!"?? Welcome to my world of whine as life around the Hood household hasn't been very conducive to happy thoughts lately.

The good points of the last few weeks: 1) USC LOST!!!!!! WooooHoooo!!!!! No matter how cute Matt Liener (however you spell his name) is, I wanted to smack him when he stated after the game "Well I still think we're the better team......". Oh good Lord; just get over yourself, would you?? It all just supports my grudge against a team who thinks they all float somewhere above the rest of us, especially those hicks from the Big 12. Ugh. Almost makes me consider sporting some orange and white, but not quite. 2.) We all survived Christmas break intact. 3) OU made a decent showing at the Holiday bowl and managed to win. 4) I did get to spend a little time with the hubby.

Now for the main reason I blog, to vent about life in general. First of all, we decided to hire a new financial consultant. I'm all for this, as our spending habits have gotten out of control lately and we need to be putting that money towards our retirement. But all the pressure is on me to produce a budget, list of expenditures, etc. and right now, being in the middle of changing my billing software, I haven't had time to deal with it. Jeff just doesn't get it. I work at home so I should have time, right??!! I'm trying to cut back and be sensible about things, and I know that we both went towards convenience because we've been so busy lately. Then Jeff sees this PBS special about healthy eating, etc., and wonders why our kids don't get more home-cooked meals, healthier foods, etc. Because they require planning ahead?? Preparation?? Cleanup?? If he wanted June Cleaver he married the wrong person. I'm trying, OK??

I just got the Christmas decorations put up last weekend. I love to decorate but putting everything up bums me out, so I tend to procrastinate where that's concerned. The house just isn't as colorful now. I did leave out all my nutcrackers in our new spare bedroom downstairs; I think they're just too cool to pack away and have out one month a year. So there.

Then there's the stomach bug that's going around. Both kids have had it (ask Jeri how Kendall managed to puke across the entire length of my kitchen Saturday night), but were over it within 48 hours. Jeff started feeling bad on Wednesday and from about 4:00 am to 11:00 am this morning couldn't get more than 10 feet away from the bathroom, and I'm not talking about vomiting. He's a typical guy when he's sick, whiny, needy, and basically another child for me to take care of. Is it bad that, him being #3 this week, I'm getting a little resentful having to be the one to meet everybody else's needs all the time?? I love my family, but I'm in need of some serious alone time where I'm not constantly wiping things down with Clorox and anti-bacterial gel while trying not to breathe through my nose. I have managed to escape my family's fate so far (knocking furiously on wood here) and I hope to stay that way. Please keep your fingers crossed for me; our pharmacist says this is one of the more virulent stomach bugs he's seen in a while, and a lot of the hosptial staff has been dealing with it. Wash your hands everybody!!! Antibacterial hand gel is your friend!!

Jeff was supposed to leave today on his boy's ski trip but is wisely backing out. Somehow the thought of having the runs while driving through rural Kansas doesn't sound appealing, and I'm sure his driving-buddy-to-be appreciates this. The ski trip itself has been a bone of contention between us for over a month. This weekend was supposed to have been the girls-only scrapbooking trip to Norman, as scheduled months ago, but the boys managed to 'forget' that when they planned their trip. How convenient for them. When I saw the OR call schedule for this month and noticed that Lad & Jeff were both off this weekend I knew I'd been screwed. When I confronted him about it, he just threw his hands in the air and said "Sorry. Had nothing to do with the scheduling." with an undertone of 'get over it". I feel bad for Jeff, because this stomach bug is really kicking him in the butt (no pun intented) but when he whines "This sucks!! I never get to do anything!!" I'll admit I have to fight the urge to smack, if only so I won't contaminate myself. Arrrrgh. Here's my idea: once we decide on another date for the scrapbooking trip, we need to show up as a group to a poker night , announce our plans and the date, and hand out reminders to everybody there. I'm willing to be obnoxious if you are. Sound good??

Lately I've been identifying with Pablo on the Backyardigans (he's the blue penguin). Pablo has a habit of panicking under stress; I swear it's like looking in a freaking mirror. Just ask Kiah and Kami about my whirlwind entrance into gymnastics. It's like I lose control under stress, and that drives me crazy. Pity the soul who innocently asks me at that moment "So how are you doing?" because they are unknowingly giving me permission to vent uncontrollably. (sorry Kami & Kiah). Really starting to wonder if the dose of prozac needs upping. What bothers me is that I can't pinpoint why my stress level is up and my anal-retentive nature is being driven crazy by that.

Sigh.
I need a vacation.
From my family.
Just kidding.
Kind of.
Drinks at the Martini Bar, anybody??

At least I can say I feel better now. I've been wanting to blog for a while but the site has been slow (couldn't be that I'm impatient, no sir!!!). This has become my sounding board and allows me to vent without trapping some poor soul into listening to it against their will. Thank you to my friends who keep checking on me and keeping me in line. I don't know what I'd do without you guys!!!! You rock. Thanks for putting up with me. Stay healthy.