Non Sequitur

I am clutz, hear me roll.

Melissa

Have I mentioned before that I’m a clutz?  Seriously.  I can be standing still and lose my balance.  I’ve actually hurt myself to the point of bleeding while sitting in a chair and putting my hair in a clip.  I have twisted my ankles so many times that I couldn’t even guess how many times.  I did it again this morning.

Monkey and I were walking down the stairs on our way to school when I caught the heel of my boot on the stair tread and went down.  Hard.  I ended up only 5 stairs down because the stairs curve and I hit the wall.  Now, if I were wearing sassy high heeled boots it would be understandable that I’d caught my heel but I was wearing my decade old pair of Herman Survivors ((and WTH, Herman Survivors was bought by W@lm@rt?  Argh, so much for my favorite boots.)), people.  The heel is…oh… 1/4″? Good lord.

The absolute best part?  Monkey was holding my hand when I fell.  He instinctively tightens his grip on my hand when I try to pull my hand away sometimes and he did it this morning which meant that I catapaulted/dragged him down with me.  Ugh.  He was scared but not hurt.

I’ll be fine in a couple days, my ankle is a little swollen and I bet it will be really pretty come tomorrow! 

In other news, Monkey stayed dry all weekend.  He’s been willing to sit on the toilet to go poop and he’s settled on the must-read book for the event.  It’s a book called “Monkey Goes to School” put together by his teachers when he started in this classroom.  It has pictures of all the other kids and of the staff.  Monkey loves to look through the book and name his favorite friends.

Interesting to note, last year Monkey was all about the ladies.  He had 4 favored peers and they were all girls.  This year he has 4 favored peers and they are all boys.  Quite the change of heart!  I think it’s because there were not very many boys in the other classrooom and they were all quite active.  This year there are more boys than girls and they’re much more lowkey.

He galloped his way into the classroom again.  That makes it a full week of ho-hum school drop-offs.  I like.

Just as expected…

Melissa

Overnight we got another 6-8″.  The snow is piled higher than the fence.  I’m not sure where we’ll put the snow expected on Wednesday.

To answer Grammy’s question, Monkey and I did join Duhdee outside in the snow.  Monkey loves to help Duhdee.20090111_280

And there’s always time for a tour of the neighborhood by sled after the work is done.

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Today’s word of the day…

Melissa

according to the little screen in the elevator at work is…

Adj. 1. elysian – relating to the Elysian Fields
  2. elysian – being of such surpassing excellence as to suggest inspiration by the gods; “her pies were simply divine”; “the divine Shakespeare”; “an elysian meal”; “an inspired performance”

inspired, divine
glorious – having or deserving or conferring glory; “a long and glorious career”; “our glorious literature”

Here is hoping the day plays out in a way to deserve it.

MMMmmmm, bread.

Melissa

Santa gifted Duhdee and I with a cast iron bread pan this year so today Monkey and I decided to break it in.  We made a loaf of this bread.  Oh, my.  I highly recommend this recipe for anyone who wants to bake some homemade bread.

It was an absolutely gorgeous loaf and I fully intended to take a picture but I didn’t have the patience.  Monkey even ate the crust…he’s been rejecting bread crusts for the last month or so.  I take that as a sign that he approves.  🙂

An update on the missing toy…

Melissa

Since Grammy asked below, it STILL has not arrived.  UPS says it will be delivered today…we shall see.

**Edited to Add**

I am done with Toys R Us.  That is it.  I finally called to complain, I was hoping to let a little time pass so I would not lose my temper.  FAIL.

First, I was able to get the shipping refunded.  Considering that I paid for overnight shipping (which doubled the cost of the gift) and it’s now been a WEEK and they totally missed the holiday…that seems like the least they could do.  I then asked to speak to a supervisor because it is really not the CSR’s fault.  It’s not the supervisor’s fault either but they get paid to listen to these complaints.

I then spent 15 incredibly frustrating minutes being hung up on and having to navigate their bulky and annoying automated phone system only to be hung up on again TWO MORE TIMES.  By the time I did speak to a supervisor I was furious, so much for waiting to cool off.

I told him the situation and he acknowledged that they dropped the ball.  My order was placed in time they just totally screwed up.  He apologized and I said an apology doesn’t go very far in this sort of situation.  It was a Christmas gift for a 4 year old, the ONLY gift he had asked for.  He was quiet for a moment and then inquired if I would be interested in a promotion to come back to shop with them again.

I might have cursed at him and slammed the phone down.  I don’t lose my temper that completely very often and it didn’t help…much.  They’ve seen my last dollar though…that helps a little more.

I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend!

Melissa

We had a very nice weekend here. We were totally, utterly lazy on Saturday. I think the only person to leave the house all day was me when I walked the dogs. Otherwise we just lay like vegetables all day long. It was glorious!

On Sunday morning, we drove Monkey to his Grammy and Grampa’s house for a sleepover.  Duhdee and I had been invited to the wedding of a very dear college friend and we could find no babysitters! 

The drive up was a lot of fun.  I sat in the back seat with Monkey and we made up a game of going under bridges.  I learned that Monkey can say “bridge.”  When I told my mom she wondered how many other words he can say that we just haven’t asked him about.  That’s a very good question, I guess I had better start asking him more often!

Another “game” we’ve made up recently is that I’ll say a word and pause, Monkey will then give it his best shot.  This is how I discovered he can say bridge, lol.  There are two sentances that we’ve been concentrating on for the most part, two sentances that are very appropriate for Monkey.  One is “I love you” and the other is “I am funny.” Lately Monkey has been repeating the first word or two after me and then jumping in and offering the third word without prompting.  I find that very encouraging.   Yesterday I started with “I” and he prompted me with an “am!”  After I repeated “am,” he finished with “funny.”  I’ll have to get his version of “funny” on video because it’s adorable.

After we dropped off Monkey, we drove home and relaxed for a little while.  Then we took a cab over to the hotel where the wedding was being held.  We had so much fun but I forgot my camera!  Argh!  Duhdee even bought me a new one for Christmas that would have fit in my itty, bitty purse.  Bummer because I really wish I could have gotten a picture of Duhdee as he nearly strangled himself while trying to break open the pinata! ((Seriously the most fun I’ve ever had at a wedding!))   I will have to see if I can get copies of a few of the pictures because the brides looked beautiful and it’s not that often that there is someone to take pictures of Duhdee and I together, all dressed up even!

Duhdee is off picking up Monkey, he seems to have enjoyed his overnight visit according to the early reports but this is no surprise.  He loves staying the night up there.  He knows where the peanut butter is stored and they have two little doggies who will play “fetch” (as opposed to our medium sized doggies who only play “keep away,” which is not nearly as much fun!)  What more can a boy ask for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Melissa

I’m sure most of you are gearing up for your celebrations.  We are 1/3 through our Thanksgiving holidays already!  Last Saturday, my mother hosted Thanksgiving dinner.  Monkey had a great time and was very relaxed despite the crowd.  He has come to expect crowds when we visit my parents and so it doesn’t seem to upset him any more.  4 of my 5 nieces/nephews were there along with my 2 youngest cousins (they’re the same age as the nieces/nephews so they get lumped in with them.)  Monkey really loves his cousins, the girls all dote on him and he follows them around and tickles them.  It’s very cute. 

Monkey even wrestled with my grandfather over his cane.  No worries, Papa was sitting down and instigated the battle by poking Monkey with it (the troublemaker) and Monkey won.  Later he went back and grabbed Papa’s cane and handed it to him so they could have a repeat match.  I’m pretty sure Monkey let Papa win that time.

Tomorrow, Duhdee’s grandfather will be joining us for rack of lamb.  We’ll host Duhdee’s family for “Thanksgiving”  the second weekend of December…we really like to spread out the feasting!  Some day when we build our weekend place we’ll host both families at one giant meal.  I’m really looking forward to that.  In the meantime this works.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!