Saturday, December 29, 2007

Reunion Recap

We all had a great time!

It ended up being Steve and Steve, Kevin and his wife, Heather, Tom and his girlfriend, Stacy, Dawn, someone I used to work with that came to the diner with us on occasion back in the day, her fiance, Nelson, and myself. Lea ended up not making it; her car got sick, as she put it. We'll get together after the New Year instead.

The waitresses, namely Jackie and June, were so happy to see us. It's been about 7 years or so since Tom, Kevin, and I were all there together. They went on and on, telling everyone else at the table about how we practically lived at the diner when we were younger. It would have been funnier if it was actually an exaggeration. We really WERE there for hours on end.

We fell into quick conversation, practically talking over one another just to catch up on all that's gone on. Steve B has been out of work since the writer's strike began. He said he may have to actually go over to the dark side and work on... dun dun dun... REALITY TV PRODUCTION. Noooooooooo! Let's hope the writers get what they deserve soon so Steve doesn't have to sell his soul.

Everyone else is just truckin', workwise. We're all still at our respective companies, and we're all doing pretty well. We all talked about books, movies, our kids, television, new places to go in CT, the norm. We fell into our old patterns easily and comfortably.

With one exception.

We left the diner at 10pm instead of 5am. We were all kinda tired.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Reunion

I've managed to keep in touch with friends from high school over the years, either IRL or via email since some have moved across the country. It's always nice to see or hear from them.

There's Lea, who I've known since the 3rd grade (22 years ago!) and still lives in CT. We get together whenever we can for a little coffee talk. She's just bought her first house. I'm jealous (in a good kind of way). Lea and I are now the most alike, the "old married ladies" of the bunch (our own little joke).

There's Jess, who now lives in Oakland (San Francisco before that, LA before that, and Boston before that). We've known each other for 20 years now and manage to send emails a few times a month. We were VERY close in high school and kept in constant contact with each other through college and a few years after, as well. As time marched on, and we grew up, the calls became more infrequent until they pretty much stopped (mainly because I now loathe talking on the phone).

There's Kevin, who I've known for 18 years. We were lunch room friends in high school. We didn't hang out all that much outside of school, and we didn't have any classes together, so we sat together at lunch time. It's funny how you belong to all these different cliques, compartmentalizing all your friends during your formative years. After high school, we started hanging out more, and we ended up being inseparable for years after. We saw each other nearly everyday until we met our current spouses. Now we see each other a few times a year. He still lives in CT, about a 25 minute drive from our hometown.

Tom was also more of an "after high school" friend. We've known each other for 16 years, but we didnt' start a friendship until about a year after high school, even though we had classes together, mutual friends, AND we did theatre together. Kevin, Tom, and I spent pretty much every evening together for about 3 years during our college years. Tom and I made a miserable attempt at some form of a romantic relationship and ended up killing the trio.

I've known Steve A for 18 years. We had many classes together (we were honors geeks:) and we also did theatre together. Again, I didn't really hang out much with Steve, but we talked in class and at play practice. He's super smart and really funny. Last year, I found him on myspace, and we've actually been able to get together a couple of times this summer, which is pretty cool. He now lives in Mass., about 2 hours from our hometown.

Last, but not least, there's Steve B (and yes, the Steve's last name initials are actually A and B; it's not just like Steve #1 and Steve #2 - LOL), who I've known for a whopping 25 years. We met in kindergarten. We lived about 1/2 a mile away from each other growing up. We had LOTS of classes together (he's an honors geek, too). We even stayed in touch after high school. He graduated college a whole year early, spent the summer in CT (and hung out with Tom and I), then moved onto LA, where he's been working in TV production ever since. The last time I saw him was over 7 years ago, when I made a trip to LA to visit Jess.

We never had any high school reunions, so we haven't all gotten together in years.

That is, until tonight.

With the exception of Jess, who couldn't make it home for the holidays this year, we're all meeting tonight at our diner. Yep, OUR diner. The diner Kevin, Tom, Steve, and I spent many an evening downing cup after cup of coffee and stimulating our senses with interesting (and sometimes extremely wierd and/or disturbing, and occasionally mundane) conversation.

Steve B wrote me the beginning of this month to tell me he'd be home for about 2 weeks and asked if I could get everyone together. I immediately emailed everyone, and VOILA! We've got ourselves our own little reunion.

I'm so excited to see everyone again.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Favorite 2007 Christmas/Holiday Memories.

After the fiasco with my dad at my sister's house on the 23rd, the rest of the supper was a little walking-on-eggshells-like. EVERYONE was trying not to disagree or get my dad angry again. Easier said than done. He'll fight you tooth and nail when you say "the sky is blue" and he KNOWS it's actually green.

So we're all sitting and talking, and my dad raises his voice yet again about something that actually has nothing to do with the topic at hand (surprise, surprise). He's going on and on, and everyone else is just sitting there waiting for it to all be over. Suddenly Ellie pipes up and says, "Be quiet". Luckily, Dad didn't hear it. But Mom, myself, and my niece, Jes, sure did. And we laughed ourselves silly.

That's my favorite memory from this Christmas.

These are a few of my favorite things...

I didn't really need anything this year, so I told Harry not to go overboard and just get me one thing from him and one from Ellie.

I'm so glad I told him this.

Because of these guidelines (along with not spending over $30 on either gift), he really put some thought into what to get me.

I opened Ellie's present first and proceeded to cry big sopping tears for 10 minutes. I collect these beautiful figurines called Willow Tree. I have one we got for our engagement, one for our wedding, one for fertility when we were trying to conceive Ellie, one for pregnancy, and one for when Ellie was born. Ellie's gift added to my collection...



It's called "Child of my Heart". My crying made Harry cry. It's just so beautiful.

From Harry, I got this...



I am a huge Gaiman fan, and this JUST came out. I am SO excited to read it.

He did good this year. REAL good.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

A new adventure

Co-sleeping.

Last night around 5:30pm, Ellie did something she hasn't done in months. She fell asleep. 2 hours before her bed time. Before she had dinner. And she was resting on Harry.

We let her snooze for 15 minutes or so till dinner was ready. When she woke up, her cheeks felt hot. We checked her temp... normal. So we went about our nightly routine, playing, bath, milk, brush teeth, bed. She seemed OK, just tired.

Around 2am, she woke up crying. The minute I picked her up, I felt the heat coming off her. We checked her temp... 101.3 (rectal). Not too high but enough so she was obviously uncomfortable. Nothing else wrong with her so I'm thinking it's that molar doing its final push through. Poor baby.

So we gave her some Tylenol and teething tablets, and Harry walked her for a few minutes. She fell back asleep quickly.

1/2 an hour later, and she's crying again. Harry goes back in to get her. She's not hot anymore, so that's good. She just wants to be held. Harry sits on the sofa with her and lets her snooze on him for a little while. He tries to put her back in the crib, but she immediately wakes up and starts crying again.

So I told him to bring her into bed with us. And she sleeps peacefully and soundly for the rest of the night.

I, on the other hand, sleep with one eye open, praying the cat doesn't accidentally jump on her. I should have, obviously, kicked the cat out of the room and closed the door, but, well, it was like 3 in the morning. Not at my all-time awareness level at that hour.

I'm a little groggy this morning, but Miss Ellie seems OK. No fever and she ate a good breakfast.

And I must admit, even though I didn't really get a good nights sleep, I liked having her there with us.

We don't plan on making this a habit, but when she's sick, she's more than welcome to cuddle with us through the night.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Photo Challenge: Holidays Past -- Me as a Child



This is Christmas 1978. I was about one and a half years old (Ellie looks A LOT like me as a kid). Pictured with me is my older sister, Debby (holding me), and my paternal grandparents whom I called Nana and Pop. I love this picture. Nana and Pop practically raised me. I spent every single day at their house until I was 12 when I was allowed to stay home alone. At the age of 20, I moved into the house next door to them.

Nana passed away June 2002, and Pop followed her Thanksgiving 2004. I miss them so much. They never got to meet my daughter, which truly saddens me. I know she would have loved them as much as I did.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Sugar

It may be the culprit.

A few months ago, I cut sugar out of my coffee.

People noticed a difference in me. Not the way I looked but the way I acted. I was more calm and in more control. I wasn't stressed or frantic.

I didn't notice that the change in my personality coincided with the lack of sugar in my diet.

A few weeks ago, I decided to put a little sugar back onto my coffee. This was probably due to the fact that I started drinking it hot again (I drink cold coffee 3/4 of the year, and it's sweeter than hot coffee for some reason).

Do you see where I'm going?

After the heart to heart Sunday night, I had an epiphany.

Maybe it's the sugar.

Sure enough, it's been 3 days without the sugar, and I haven't snapped once. Not once.

My stress levels are way low again, and I can finally relax. The stress/pain in my back has even started to dissipate again.

Who would have thought 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar in my morning coffee would make me insane?

I just googled it, and sure enough, sugar DOES cause anger problems.

So I think the mystery is solved. No more sugar for me.

A MinneMom-like Journal

Another First

Ellie's got her first molar pushing through! She's handling it really well so far. It looks like it's almost completely broken through already. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow.

===================================================================

Acceptance

Ellie's learned something new (or shown us she understands something new, I should say) the past two evenings. Last night, I exclaimed, "Bathtime!" Ellie proceeded to crawl like the dickens to her bedroom door, awaiting her chance to get nakey. We were like, 'Wow! She knows what bathtime is, and she's mighty excited." Tonight, she reinforced the fact that she does, indeed, know what bathtime is. I said, "Ellie, it's bathtime. Let's go." She up and WALKED all the way to her room and tried to turn the knob.

So why the acceptance title?

Well, as Harry opens her bedroom door to let Ellie in, he turns to me and says, "You've got to tell your Maya's Mom friends about this."

Wondercat was right; the last stage is acceptance. LOL.

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Half an US-day

Harry and I are taking half days tomorrow so we can go out to lunch together. After the talk on Sunday, I thought we needed a little alone-time. Harry had already asked for the half day a couple of weeks ago. I've been trying to figure out when to take my last half day left, so when I asked him today if he'd like me to take it so we could go out, he eagerly said "yes!"

I love my husband.

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We have my company holiday party Friday night. Mom will be staying at our house to listen for the baby (she'll be asleep by the time my mom gets here), so we get a little more us-time. Woo hoo.

My company has our annual holiday party at a beautiful country club right up the road from our office. The food is exquisite. THAT'S really the only reason to go. I already see these people 42.5 hours during the week; I don't really need to spend a Friday evening with them, too. Everyone else feels the same way, but, well, we just CAN'T pass up the food.

Oh, and there's a chance to win some bucks too. They choose 10 names out of a hat to receive anywhere from $50-250 (as an AMEX gift card). I haven't won yet, but I aim to this year.

===================================================================

Lots more to write about in the next few days. Stay tuned. Same bat time, same bat channel.

Monday, December 10, 2007

A heart to heart

Harry and I talked last night. REALLY talked.

We have an odd relationship because, well, we don't fight. No yelling, no shouting, no name-calling, none of that. Neither of us are really prone to that. We disagree, we discuss, and if we can't come to a compromise, we agree to disagree (and eventually do what I want - LOL).

As I said the other day, I'm not the same and haven't been for a few weeks. Harry's noticed. He always notices when I'm off.

I've been WAY off. I snap at him for EVERYTHING.

I am a snapper by nature when someone doesn't listen to me or asks me a question for the fifth time. It aggrevates me and irks me to no end.

As I have become snappier in the last few weeks, Harry has become more and more forgetful. We're not sure which is actually causing which.

Last night, I'm snap, snap, snapping because he's asked yet again where something is. Then he comments to Ellie, "I don't think Mommy likes me anymore."

THIS is the crap I can't stand. When something is serious, Harry cracks a joke or laughs.

I walk away.

He sees me a minute later with my eyes closed breathing in and out slowly. He asks what I'm doing, and I tell him I'm trying to calm down. THAT makes him laugh, too. I tell him to go away.

After we put Ellie to bed, I go in our bedroom for a few minutes to get my thoughts together. I know we need to talk, and I don't want to be angry when we do. He's sitting out in the family room, waiting for me.

When I come out, I sit down and tell him we need to talk. He looks terrified.

I explain how I'm having a difficult time controlling my anger lately. We discussed this last week, but I explain a little deeper. And I apologize. And I ask for help.

We're both tearing up, and he's breathing a sigh of relief. He was afraid I wanted to leave him.

That couldn't be further from the truth.

I love Harry. I'm in love with Harry. I love having him as my husband, my friend, my partner in crime.

And I make that perfectly clear. We're SOOOO good together; I'd NEVER want to screw that up.

He admits to zoning out a lot lately, and he's not sure WHY he's doing it, either. Seems both of us have some things to work on.

I'm glad we talked. Glad, glad, glad.

This too shall pass, right?

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Do they make a pill for that?

The last couple of weeks, I've been a completely different person. I hate it. I hate how I feel. I hate the things that spew forth from my mouth. I hate the way my brain has been working.

Ever since my sister got into two car accidents in as many weeks, I'm just not the same. The first one scared me; what if I lost her? Sure, I bitch about her all the time because of our living situation, but she IS my sister. What if she had gotten MORE hurt than she did? How would I have coped?

So when she got into the second accident, I went from shock to worry to anger in 3 seconds flat. I won't go into the details, but it was a VERY BAD ACCIDENT. One that could have been avoided. Hence where the anger came in.

And ever since then, I've been easily brought back to that anger, easily and quickly, for the stupidest things.

I hate it.

I hate that blood-boiling, seething-anger feeling. The one that completely overwelmes you because your husband didn't pick up his socks or your mother called while you were busy making dinner. Why get so angry over these things? Why see red because the TV is too loud or the water isn't boiling fast enough?

How do I get away from this? Is there a pill I can take? A course of yoga? Do I need to start anger management?

Why is it happening? Will it just go away as quickly as it came?

What do I need to do to fix me?

Does anyone have an answer?
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