Eat Knit Love

Okay, so I have a couple of things that I believed in rather strongly.  The first is that I would never share my private blog on Facebook.  What if I wanted to b*tch anonymously about you guys after all?  The other is that people who have had the phrase “cautionary tale” applied to them or their children should refrain from doling out parenting advice.  But here I am, sharing my blog on Facebook and I am about to apply that descriptor to myself and then proceed to give y’all some advice.  Hypocrisy, thy name is Sarah today. Oh, for those of you joining us from FB, please do not use my kids’ real names in the comments.  Thanks!

Anyhow, today started out as a very good day.  Bean had her pre-school Mardi Gras parade this morning and it was a beautiful day.  While we were waiting for her to come by in her wagon pulled by an obliging 8th grade “tractor” I snapped this shot of Bubba with his first Mardi Gras teddy bear.  We all love when our kids catch the stuffed animals from the parades.  We beg the riders for them and hold up our babies to show how cute they are and how deserving they are of these Made in China stuffed goodies.  I loved this picture and thought it was SO cute.

A few minutes later, after Bean had gone by in her “float”, I looked down at Bubba and noticed that his bear had no eyes.  Hmmm, that’s strange.  Then I thought about it and realized that Bean’s teacher had been standing next to us, she probably thought they were a choking hazard and pulled them out for him.  So, I didn’t worry about it too much.  The kid was fine, after all.  Anyhow, a little while later, Bubba was fussing and I went to pull him out of his stroller for a little bit of arm-time.  That’s when I saw it.  The little plastic eye.  Just one of them.  Oh. Sh*t!  I searched his seat and couldn’t find the other one.  There was only one place it could be.  So, I immediately called his pediatrician’s office and waited for the doctor to call me back to see how we should proceed.  Yes, I know what you’re thinking, I should just wait for nature to take its course.  But look at the ends of the eye pieces in the picture below.  They are pointy.  They could easily puncture his bowels.  Fotunately, we were past the choking risk, the thing was gone, but there was so much more to worry about.  Plus, how would they do an x-ray to find the thing.  It’s plastic, probably wouldn’t show up.  Oh Lord!  I was freaking out.

Fortunately, while I was waiting for the doctor to call me back, I walked back over to where we had been watching the parade and looked on the ground.  There was the second eye.  We got lucky and he didn’t eat it.  But things could have gone so much worse.  I wasn’t watching for just a few minutes, but I was less than two feet from the kid.  I never even saw him put it in his mouth.  He could have choked.  He could have swallowed it and punctured his esophogus, stomach or intestines.  He could have died.  And it would have been my fault.

So, basically, the reason I am breaking some of my rules today is to let you know the major mistake that I made today in the hopes that it will help one of you make a better decision than I did today and keep the highly-prized Mardi Gras Stuffies away from your little babies and smaller kids.  I hope you all have a safe and happy Mardi Gras!

(Oh PS, please don’t feel the need to berate my stupidity in your comments, I already feel bad enough.  Thank you)

And I also have a Mardi Gras parade coming up this weekend.  This is my first year as a member of the Krewe of Tucks and I’m really excited about riding in the parade this Saturday.  So, of course, I’m catching a cold.  I’m still in the “fighting it” stage, though, so I’m trying to eradicate the nasty little virus from my body.  To accomplish this, I’m ganging up on it with three different home remedies.

The first was at the suggestion of a friend of mine from high school, Laura S, who decided that I needed to swab my ears out with hydrogen peroxide.  Okay, I’m game.  If nothing else, my ears feel all nice and clean right now.  I went ahead and swabbed out my nostrils as well.  Might as well try and kill all the germs in one fell swoop.  I’m planning on doing this one every morning.

The second remedy involved honey and cinnamon.  I got one of those silly, email forwards from my mother earlier this week that claims honey and cinnamon can cure anything from the common cold, to arthritis, to acne.  Again, I’m willing to try anything right now.  I don’t have time to be sick, and with two small children, rest is pretty much a foreign concept around here.  So, I took two tablespoons of honey, two teaspoons of cinnamon and mixed them in a coffee mug of hot water.  It tasted pretty good, but I didn’t really think about the fact that cinnamon doesn’t disolve in hot water and the drink was pretty sludgy toward the bottom.  I drank it down anyway though and if nothing else, my breath is nice and cinnamon-y right now!

Remedy number three.  Zicam!  Okay, so it’s not really a “home” remedy, but it does have a lot of vitamins and it seemed to work this summer when we went to Sweden and I was fighting the symptoms of a cold.

Between these three things I am confident that I will DEFEAT these tiny, nasty germ invaders in my body!  Power of positive thinking, right?

So, Internetz, what tried and true remedies do you have for fighting the common cold?  I’m a pretty willing guinea pig at the moment, so fire away!

I need to work on my PMA.  What is that, you might ask?  Well, it’s my Positive Mental Attitude.  I know it sounds like some sort of corporate catch-phrase, but the first time I heard it was actually when I was at camp in something like the 4th or 5th grade.  Anyhow, lately mine has sucked and I need to get a handle on it.  Sleep lately has been hard to achieve, Bubba hasn’t been sleeping well and Bean has been sick, so as a result, Mommy has been like a creature out of Night of the Living Dead.  I have good days, but somehow I tend to screw them up with my bad attitude and end up angry with Bean, frustrated with Bubba and just pretty much ignore Hubby.  Not good.  For the longest time I have been blaming everyone but myself.  Bean has been a brat, so of course I’m getting angry with her.  Bubba hasn’t been sleeping, so of course I’m tired and cranky.  And really, I only have so much “nurture” in me, so by the time Hubby gets home, there’s really nothing left for him.  Besides, he’s a grown man and can fend for himself.  These things are all valid, but I think I can do better.

Maybe Bean is being more of a brat because I have been more of a bitch.  Yes, I said it, I’ve been a big ol’ bitch lately!  My temper is short and I’m quick to snap at my daughter.  Why should she have a PMA if it’s not being modelled for her?  So, I’m going to try and be more pleasant to her and see where that gets me.  She’s been really whiney and cries for stupid reasons and I think maybe it’s just because she wants attention and at this point, she’ll take whatever kind of attention she can get.  Poor kid!  This one will take some work because she’s certainly learned how to push my buttons lately, but I think we can get back to our good relationship.

As far as Bubba and my lack of sleep, well, there’s not a whole lot I can do there, but last night was a great night (10 hours of sleep for him!) so I’m hoping we’re turning a corner.  But, if not, I just have to suck it up and use a little Mind Over Matter.  If I don’t mind, it won’t matter.  Right?  I know, easier said than done, but I can’t walk around cranky all the time!

So, today I am working on my PMA, which is beginning with getting my house a bit more in order.  Over the past month or so I’ve really let things go.  It’s not dirty, I have a housekeeper that takes care of that, but it is untidy, which is my job.  So, today I’m going to work on getting things together.  When my house is cluttered and disorganized, it reflects in my general sense of well-being and can make me feel like things are spiralling out of control, even if they aren’t really.  Today is a good day to start since I am more rested and feeling better, so if I can get a lot done, it will make the next time that I’m not so rested easier to deal with.  That’s the plan at least!

Today I am going to go room by room in my house and get things tidy.  Each room that I finish will be treated like a little victory in my head.  Instead of saying to myself, “damn, I have X number of rooms left to go!”, I will take joy in the fact that a new room is done!  So far today, I have gotten the kitchen cleaned and tidy.  It looks wonderful and makes me happy.  I also took down the tent that has been up in our soon-to-be  piano room (formerly the pool table room) and put away the multitudes of toys that Bean had stockpiled in there.  Then I moved on to the playroom.  Three rooms in my house are clean and organized!  How cool is that!  Plus, Bubba is down for a nap!  Maybe I’ll take a minute or two to knit….after I clean one more room!

Although I know I still owe you four restaurant reviews, things have been a little crazy around here lately and I will have to beg your indulgence for a little while before I actually get to them.  I can always tell when I start getting a little stressed or feel like my world is spinning a little out of control because it starts to reflect in my dreams.  Last night it was play-doh yarn.  Apparently I was in a speed knitting competition with three other people on my team (yeah, team speed knitting, my dreams are a little kooky).  The last round was a charted lace pattern with cables and my team member who was supposed to to that round declared that she couldn’t do it, and that I would have to take over.  “No problem,” says I, I love knitting from charts, lace and cables.  She hands me her ball of yarn, which is already cast on for another project and that really annoys me since now I have to take time, rip it out, rewind the ball and cast on, but okay, I do that and get ready to cast on for the round, knowing I’m already far behind the other competitors.  Next thing I know, I look down at my hand and have a bunch of play-doh, which I’m supposed to “spin” into yarn.  Now normally, I know (in my dream) one would need to wait for the play-doh yarn to dry before trying to knit with it, but I’m in a hurry so I start knitting with it while it’s still wet and my stitches blur together as of course stitches made out of wet play-doh are wont to do.  At this point, completely frustrated, I woke up because the baby was crying and it was time to feed him.

As I was sitting in the nursery feeding Bubba (yes, we finally have a nickname, and isn’t it oh-so-Southern!), I was reflecting on this very strange dream and realized that it really reflected how I’ve been feeling in my life lately.  I’ve been spinning my wheels and working just as hard as I can, and still feel like there is so much left to do.  The play-doh is holding me back.  In additon to having a new little baby, who is a joy, but not allowing me much sleep, I have a four-year-old who requires a great deal of attention as well.  More than normal because we need to make sure she still feels valued even with the new little man in the house.  Plus, we have finally completed an addition to our home that we began back in July which has been the main contributor to my workload increasing so much.  Who knew that such a good thing could cause me such stress?  Daily I’m working on projects to set up the addition, which includes two bathrooms, a guest room, storage closet, an office for my husband, and a recreation space with a bar.   Plus, I’m trying to keep the rest of the house in order.  Each evening I put together a to-do list of the things I can think of that need to be done and work as hard as I can getting them done during the day.  That evening, I go back over the list and am usually pretty proud of what I’ve accomplished.  And then I add the new things that I’ve thought of during the day….and the list grows…

Over the past two weeks I’ve put together a ridiculous amount of furniture.  Outfitted bathrooms with all the things they need.  Set up a guest room (okay, not totally set up, I still haven’t picked the furniture I want).  I’ve been going through closets sorting out the things that can go out to the storage area.  Setting up a play room and a knitting room that I’m starting to wonder if I will ever be able to use.  Oh, and kept myself, my husband and my two kids alive, clothed and fed!  All of these are good things, all of them are blessings, so why do I feel so crazed and why am I having anxiety dreams?  I’m hoping it’s just because I am very, very tired right now.  My poor husband came upstairs last night to find me face-planted in our bed after my shower.  I really didn’t mean to go to sleep, I was still putting my pj’s on, but two hours later he found me diagonal across the bed drooling.  Maybe soon, when all the projects are done and the baby is sleeping better, I can sit back, reflect on all that’s gotten done and smile because really, my life is goodl, but for now, I’m going to sign off and start another list!  Wish me luck, I promise I won’t always be complaining like a little whiner.