Tuesday, July 13, 2010
labels
When I started this blog, I had labels for my posts. Since it was generally a place for me to gather ideas for wedding plans, I used them a lot. I could easily go back and see, for instance, the bridesmaid dress options in various posts. After the wedding, I stopped that. Then, I imported my old blog (justrachet.blogspot.com), which I probably will delete, if I haven't already. I kept two blogs up for a while, but I'm consolidating. And now there are a whoooooole lot more posts here about many, many different things. So, in a burst of organizational energy, I reinstated labels for my posts. And I relabeled all the wedding-related posts to simply "wedding," rather than "dresses," "venue," etc. The labels are all displayed <-- over there. And I'm going to try to keep them up. FYI: Most of the imported posts are labeled "doulos" or "life."
Monday, July 12, 2010
where is it?
Rodgers has a habit of falling asleep in our chair-and-a-half. It's so comfy with the ottoman, after dinner, he just can't keep his eyes open. Usually, when I go to take a shower, he'll fall asleep in the chair. I make him get up and come to bed once I'm done. Whether he falls asleep before or after I go to shower, I tell him, "I'm going to shower now." That way he knows I'm not around for baby duty, if Nate happens to wake up, which he doesn't.
Monday night, I went to take a shower. Rodgers was already partially napping, but I told him I was going.
I got out of the shower, got ready for bed, and was sitting in bed updating my chart (for FAM - info here if you don't know what that is), when a car alarm started going off in the parking lot. It wasn't one of those siren types, it was just a repetitive blaring of the horn. It went off for a long time.
After a few minutes, Rodgers stumbled into the bedroom, looked at me, pointed his finger, and said, "Where is it?"
"What?"
"Your thingy!"
"...what thing?"
"beep! beep! beep!"
"That's a car alarm. Are you still asleep?"
He went back to the chair and laid down again. He does remember the conversation, so he wasn't totally sleep walking/talking. He swears I told him to listen for my alarm while I was in the shower because I wouldn't be able to hear it go off.
Ok, so maybe it's not funny to you. We cracked up. Sleep does funny things to the brain.
Monday night, I went to take a shower. Rodgers was already partially napping, but I told him I was going.
I got out of the shower, got ready for bed, and was sitting in bed updating my chart (for FAM - info here if you don't know what that is), when a car alarm started going off in the parking lot. It wasn't one of those siren types, it was just a repetitive blaring of the horn. It went off for a long time.
After a few minutes, Rodgers stumbled into the bedroom, looked at me, pointed his finger, and said, "Where is it?"
"What?"
"Your thingy!"
"...what thing?"
"beep! beep! beep!"
"That's a car alarm. Are you still asleep?"
He went back to the chair and laid down again. He does remember the conversation, so he wasn't totally sleep walking/talking. He swears I told him to listen for my alarm while I was in the shower because I wouldn't be able to hear it go off.
Ok, so maybe it's not funny to you. We cracked up. Sleep does funny things to the brain.
Friday, July 9, 2010
the freaking toilet
Our lease ends in August. If we're moving out, our time to notify the apartments was last week. We don't plan to move, but Rodgers said, "If they don't fix the freaking toilet, we're outta here!"
A long time ago, when I was pregnant, I got home from work, and there was a note from maintenance on the door that they had come to fix our toilet, since it was leaking into our downstairs neighbors' bathroom. No biggie. But ever after, we've had issues with that toilet.
It went through a phase where the water would randomly run for a few seconds, then stop, and repeat a few minutes later. The hall toilet was doing the same thing. So we got maintenance to come out and fix both toilets. Great.
Then, the master bathroom toilet started doing it again. We reported it, but no one ever came out. This was around the time that Nate was born. I just didn't care enough to pester them, and since I didn't care, Rodgers didn't. I really only cared about having a baby, and when that was done, I only cared about moving around as little as possible. Rodgers looked at the toilet, and realized that this little screwy thing could be screwed in or out or something, and it helped.
That worked for a few months, actually, but then it started acting up again. The day that we got the notice about our lease ending soon, the toilet ran ALL NIGHT LONG. Seriously. It just wouldn't quit. I looked in the tank and saw that the floaty thing no longer floated. It was a Sunday. No one's in the office on Sundays, and we can call for emergencies, but I didn't feel it was. (Actually, maybe we got the notice Saturday...but the toilet ran all night Saturday night/Sunday morning.)
Rodgers turned the water supply to the toilet off, but it drips on the floor when you do that, so that wasn't a good solution.
I found some shoe laces. (This is genius.) Our hand towel hook is right above the toilet. So I took the lid off the tank and rigged the shoe laces up to the hook and tied them to the floaty thing so that it would have no choice but to float. The water still ran a bit, like a trickle, but it was much better and not as loud. To use the toilet, we could unloop the shoelace from the towel hook, flush, then reloop it when the tank was full. (Dang! I should have taken a picture to send to "There, I fixed it.")
Monday, Rodgers and I both went to the office and reported it. We had a busy week, and didn't have another chance to go by or call or anything. By Friday, no one had come to fix it. (Fixing things has been slow since we got this new manager, but it's not bad enough that we want to go to the trouble of finding somewhere else to live and move.) Rodgers went into the office Friday morning and said, "Send someone to fix this NOW. Our toilet has been broken for A WEEK!" That was just the motivation they needed.
The guy was at our apartment before Rodgers made it back there from the office. Our toilet is fixed again. For now, at least.
A long time ago, when I was pregnant, I got home from work, and there was a note from maintenance on the door that they had come to fix our toilet, since it was leaking into our downstairs neighbors' bathroom. No biggie. But ever after, we've had issues with that toilet.
It went through a phase where the water would randomly run for a few seconds, then stop, and repeat a few minutes later. The hall toilet was doing the same thing. So we got maintenance to come out and fix both toilets. Great.
Then, the master bathroom toilet started doing it again. We reported it, but no one ever came out. This was around the time that Nate was born. I just didn't care enough to pester them, and since I didn't care, Rodgers didn't. I really only cared about having a baby, and when that was done, I only cared about moving around as little as possible. Rodgers looked at the toilet, and realized that this little screwy thing could be screwed in or out or something, and it helped.
That worked for a few months, actually, but then it started acting up again. The day that we got the notice about our lease ending soon, the toilet ran ALL NIGHT LONG. Seriously. It just wouldn't quit. I looked in the tank and saw that the floaty thing no longer floated. It was a Sunday. No one's in the office on Sundays, and we can call for emergencies, but I didn't feel it was. (Actually, maybe we got the notice Saturday...but the toilet ran all night Saturday night/Sunday morning.)
Rodgers turned the water supply to the toilet off, but it drips on the floor when you do that, so that wasn't a good solution.
I found some shoe laces. (This is genius.) Our hand towel hook is right above the toilet. So I took the lid off the tank and rigged the shoe laces up to the hook and tied them to the floaty thing so that it would have no choice but to float. The water still ran a bit, like a trickle, but it was much better and not as loud. To use the toilet, we could unloop the shoelace from the towel hook, flush, then reloop it when the tank was full. (Dang! I should have taken a picture to send to "There, I fixed it.")
Monday, Rodgers and I both went to the office and reported it. We had a busy week, and didn't have another chance to go by or call or anything. By Friday, no one had come to fix it. (Fixing things has been slow since we got this new manager, but it's not bad enough that we want to go to the trouble of finding somewhere else to live and move.) Rodgers went into the office Friday morning and said, "Send someone to fix this NOW. Our toilet has been broken for A WEEK!" That was just the motivation they needed.
The guy was at our apartment before Rodgers made it back there from the office. Our toilet is fixed again. For now, at least.
Friday, June 25, 2010
pie chart of my day
I'm reading Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom on my lunch breaks these days. One of the terms is "Pie Chart of You" in which she describes the following phenomenon:
As a kid, we have all the time in the world. Time moves so slowly. We have nothing but time, and it seems we'll never grow up. In our mid-twenties we realize that time is limited, and we don't actually have all the time in the world. She says, "you still don't really know what your adulthood looks like, but you have begun to realize that time is not infinite." Then you become a mother and have no time to think about such things.
Her main point in this definition is all about sacrifice. In order to do this you often must sacrifice that. What she sacrifices is her gardening.
I've been wanting to start some sort of exercise regimen to do away with this lingering baby weight (or at least the loose belly). And also, it's healthy or something. I decided to make a pie chart of my typical weekday to see if there is, in fact, time somewhere that could otherwise be spent exercising. In other words, what must I sacrifice from my day to do this? Here it is:
The 8 hour chunk called sleeping would be more aptly called "bedtime to get-up time" because Nate often disrupts the sleeping part.
I work 8 hours a day.
Including dropping Nate at daycare and picking him up, my commute is more or less 2 hours, roundtrip.
Time with Nate is roughly 1:45 each day. This is my most unsatisfactory slice of pie. This includes feeding him, playing with him, getting him ready for bed, and sometimes dressing him in the morning (but Rodgers usually does that part).
Time spent on chores and cooking varies day to day. I prepare as much for dinner ahead of time as I think to do, so that we can eat sooner in the evenings. Rodgers usually does dishes, so I don't do a lot of the cleanup part. Then we do our chore from the chore calendar for that day, and prepare certain things for the following morning. Total is about 1:45.
I usually do something else while I'm eating, to be more efficient. I spend 15 minutes in the mornings eating breakfast and reading my Bible or a short devotion. I read for leisure on my lunch break (except for today, when I blogged instead). I take 30 minutes. Then 30 minutes for dinner with Rodgers, which is one of our key quality times every day.
Hygiene includes getting ready in the morning, getting dressed, putting on makeup, and showering and getting ready for bed. About 45 minutes per day, sometimes more.
My down time is from about 9 - 9:30 p.m., after the chores are done, my lunch is ready to be thrown in my lunch box in the morning, and the coffee pot is set to brew at 5:45, but before I drag myself to the shower. This time is usually spent playing on the computer, laying in my chair talking about how tired I am, planning a weekend trip, or paying bills (but I try to do that only one night a month).
So when do I exercise? If I use my down time, will I have to go to bed later so that I can unwind? Do I say "to heck with cooking" and order in every night? I'm very seriously considering getting a postnatal pilates DVD, which incorporates the baby, and doing that during Nate's and my playtime. Generally they seem to be 20ish minutes, which I think I can handle. I'm not sure how much of it Nate will tolerate, though. We will see.
As a kid, we have all the time in the world. Time moves so slowly. We have nothing but time, and it seems we'll never grow up. In our mid-twenties we realize that time is limited, and we don't actually have all the time in the world. She says, "you still don't really know what your adulthood looks like, but you have begun to realize that time is not infinite." Then you become a mother and have no time to think about such things.
Her main point in this definition is all about sacrifice. In order to do this you often must sacrifice that. What she sacrifices is her gardening.
I've been wanting to start some sort of exercise regimen to do away with this lingering baby weight (or at least the loose belly). And also, it's healthy or something. I decided to make a pie chart of my typical weekday to see if there is, in fact, time somewhere that could otherwise be spent exercising. In other words, what must I sacrifice from my day to do this? Here it is:
The 8 hour chunk called sleeping would be more aptly called "bedtime to get-up time" because Nate often disrupts the sleeping part.
I work 8 hours a day.
Including dropping Nate at daycare and picking him up, my commute is more or less 2 hours, roundtrip.
Time with Nate is roughly 1:45 each day. This is my most unsatisfactory slice of pie. This includes feeding him, playing with him, getting him ready for bed, and sometimes dressing him in the morning (but Rodgers usually does that part).
Time spent on chores and cooking varies day to day. I prepare as much for dinner ahead of time as I think to do, so that we can eat sooner in the evenings. Rodgers usually does dishes, so I don't do a lot of the cleanup part. Then we do our chore from the chore calendar for that day, and prepare certain things for the following morning. Total is about 1:45.
I usually do something else while I'm eating, to be more efficient. I spend 15 minutes in the mornings eating breakfast and reading my Bible or a short devotion. I read for leisure on my lunch break (except for today, when I blogged instead). I take 30 minutes. Then 30 minutes for dinner with Rodgers, which is one of our key quality times every day.
Hygiene includes getting ready in the morning, getting dressed, putting on makeup, and showering and getting ready for bed. About 45 minutes per day, sometimes more.
My down time is from about 9 - 9:30 p.m., after the chores are done, my lunch is ready to be thrown in my lunch box in the morning, and the coffee pot is set to brew at 5:45, but before I drag myself to the shower. This time is usually spent playing on the computer, laying in my chair talking about how tired I am, planning a weekend trip, or paying bills (but I try to do that only one night a month).
So when do I exercise? If I use my down time, will I have to go to bed later so that I can unwind? Do I say "to heck with cooking" and order in every night? I'm very seriously considering getting a postnatal pilates DVD, which incorporates the baby, and doing that during Nate's and my playtime. Generally they seem to be 20ish minutes, which I think I can handle. I'm not sure how much of it Nate will tolerate, though. We will see.
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