Royal Wedding

Yes, I admit it- I watched the Royal Wedding yesterday morning and it was utterly lovely!! I actually woke up around 5:30 am without an alarm (my new reality-waking up way too early every friggin' day!) and proceeded to watch until about 7:30. Some things that struck me: Catherine was sublimely elegant, composed, regal and completely in love with William. He in turn, looks totally like Diana, especially when he lowers his head and looks up with his big blue eyes. And he is madly in love with her. I can totally tell! That is the difference between this wedding and his parents' wedding. How young was Diana- 20?? What did any of us know when we were 20?? Good call, waiting until both were ready. I think these 2 will make it.
Oh- how sad that Diana wasn't around. Wonder what she would have looked like now, at 49. Yikes- that's still young! I liked looking at the other royal families who attended. I lived in Spain my junior year in college and took an interest in all the royal families of Europe so it was fun to see them all as well. Ah, a great way to start the day yesterday. Back to reality now!!

Changing Priorities

Wow- things are getting more complicated!! I apologize for the lack of postings, but it is honestly tough to find time to do so. When I came into work on Monday, my whole desk was covered in paperwork with post-it messages for me. And no boss! He called and proceeded to explain everything that I needed to do while he was in court. GAH- there were phone calls to make, information to elicit, emails to acknowledge, faxes to send, scans to save, new files to set up, appointments to make, incoming calls, visits from friends and relatives who are coming to see the new digs, and I'm all alone!! Thankfully he is incredibly patient and understanding with me. So I am busy, learning a massive amount, trying to navigate the court system, and still have to plan Uki school and Plast and I gotta be honest, I am starting to care less and less for those jobs. I know they are important, and I have given so much these last few years, but I gotta prioritize. On top of this, tomorrow I have a middle school parent orientation right after swimming and have to practically feed the kids in the car. OH- and I totally forgot that my son is going away for 4 days for this "Nature's Classroom" thing on MONDAY!!!! GAH- I have to pack him, and drop him off at 7:45 am!!! GAH!! It is in times like these that I remember the words my freshman advisor in college told us- "Think of all the time you'll have to rest when you're dead." True, so true...

Update

My giant desk got giant-er with 2 side sections and we both decided it will probably get full quickly. He ordered a typewriter for me- yes, people still use typewriters!! I was surprised. My learning curve is HUGE!! I have so much to grasp and try to remember it's astounding. I hope I can handle it all!! I donated my cafe table and chairs to furnish the landing outside the office and they look great. I am on a massive purge and want to get rid of tons of stuff from my house. Still swimming and hockey-ing, but it's spring break so no school. And that is what's up. This is getting harder to do here, so bear with me as I start this new phase of my life!! Thanks to all!!

Last $7

Well, I have one work week under my belt! Love my commute (about 90 seconds), love my gigantic desk, love my office, love it all!! And I even got paid! Good thing, as I was literally down to the last $7 in my wallet. Whew! All is good for once. Now the worst thing I have to figure out is what to do with my kids when I am at work this summer. I'll have to find some camps or activities they can do while I toil away. Not a really bad problem to have, just a logistical one. Any help, advice, or thoughts out there? Thanks for all your kind words and support!

Jesus Monster trucks

I had to stop at Walmart to buy little bowls for the Easter eggs we will be decorating in Uki school this week. I have the Paas dyes, cups, vinegar, and fake grass but I just needed the bowls. You would not believe the crap there in the Easter aisles!! Rows and rows of toys, candy, plastic eggs, stuffed animals, dyes, baskets, totally crazy! And above all I LOVE the pre-made baskets with candy, toys, and the plastic grass already put together and shrinkwrapped. These things are HUGE, totally cheesy and tacky and have Easter related themes like, Hot Wheels Monster trucks, Bratz dolls, Football, Hippie Peace Signs, etc. What the heck does any of this crap have to do with Jesus dying on the cross and resurrecting three days later? Plastic camouflage eggs? A basketball shaped basket? Sidewalk chalk? Bubbles and jump ropes? Don't get me wrong- I don't even believe in any of this stuff, but come on, give the event SOME respect!! When did it become about egg hunts and chocolate bunnies? So sad. I'm trying to do something different this year at my parents' house where we go to celebrate. No candy! No stuffed chickadees! No musical chocolate candy eggs!! My cousin-in-law is on board, now I'm hoping the others will agree as well. I was telling said cousin-in-law that I just threw away the Valentine's Candy my kids got 2 months ago!! It never ends...

Happiness at last

I went to Court today (got to observe my boss argue a motion), to the Secretary of the State to file a corporation form, to a Housing authority to meet staff members, and I got to set up the stationery for my office!! I actually got dressed up, at least professionally dressed up, took my grandfather's old alligator doctor's bag as a purse, and I felt like I mattered! He even set up me up with Pandora- that's like a personalized radio for your computer! How can this blog go on if I'm so happy??

Update

Wow- where is the time going?? These last few days have been crazy and the next few will continue to be so as well. My office is almost ready- we are set to open for business this Thursday!! I am really excited and can't wait to get started. Around here we've had doctor appointments, dentist appointments, haircuts, clinics, banquets, Uki school, plast, field trips, and on and on. Some explanation: At the swim team banquet last Friday, my daughter was named MVP of her age group!! That was so exciting, and she was just beaming. My teeth were super clean, but my eye glasses suck like nothing I've ever seen. Literally, I put them on and everything is blurry. They are "progressive" lenses and I hate them. I will need to get them changed this week. My son went to Sturbridge Village last week (it's like a trip back to colonial times) and bought a HARMONICA- you can imagine the sounds coming from here! Uki school was ok, plast was good, and yesterday I took the kids to the Norwalk Aquarium. We had a lot of fun - we saw seals and sharks, petted stingrays, watched an IMAX movie about abandonded baby elephants and orangutans (I bawled like a baby- very powerful film!), spent $$$ at the gift shop, then came home. Massive food shopping today, I'm going to court tomorrow, dentist for kids tomorrow, hockey and swimming in between, GAH!!! Nonstop action around here.

That's that

Ok- I vented yesterday, so now just good news. Our office is coming along nicely! I am going to visit my new chair and phone tomorrow!! This is so exciting, but I'm not letting myself get carried away until I'm actually in and doing work. We will be going to court next week where I'll meet his current clients and I'll start familiarizing myself with his files and programs. Oh- and I went to Target yesterday and got myself some new clothes!!! Don't worry, I used 3 hoarded gift cards, so it only cost me 94 cents!! My son started a new hockey clinic with some famous ex-player named Ivan and my daughter started her spring swim clinic yesterday. Her records have been updated on the wall at the Y so I went to take another photo. At clinic another swimming mom and I began to sort awards and ribbons that will be given out at the banquet on Friday. Squirrel man is coming today to help get rid of the critter in my attic, and that's that.

Nice, huh?

So this past weekend when the kids were with dad, they went to a 50th birthday party for a friend of his. When he brought the kids home, they were joking about the gift they got her. It was a bucket filled with jokey things. Ha ha. I go online to do my banking and I see $85.00+ spent at Walgreens. Walgreens!!! I ask the kids yesterday if they were with dad at Walgreens over the weekend. "Yeah, to buy those gifts for Pani _____." Ho HO- $85.00 for a gift for a friend. And not even anything NICE- it was all JOKEY STUFF!!! Let me tell you- he never spent $85 on me on my birthday!! Maybe when we were dating. Once we got married, thwpt. Nice, huh? $85 on crap. I swear to God, the second I can get some financial independence from this tool, he can pay his bills himself.

Then, when we were driving home from Hockey (new clinic) my daughter asks me (she loves to ask random questions out of the blue!) "Mama, what is the worst thing that happened to you as an adult?" And I'm thinking how can I tell them that when their dad left me/us and my marriage disintigrated was the worst thing. But I say, "Hmmm, I'm not sure. I'd have to think about that." So she says, "How about as a kid?" and I say when I was sick (I had an autoimmune disease when I was 13 which SUCKED and scarred me for life) and she says "OK, but how about as a grown-up?" and then my son says, "Let me guess, the day you married Tato." Nice, huh? I'm thinking that isn't something a 10 yr. old could generate himself, so I'm sure he's hearing that type of talk from good ole dad. Nice, huh?

Quitting Time?

Well, I had an extremely quiet weekend. Kids went to dad's Friday after school, and I was all alone! Killed some time, then ordered a Stellas pizza for dinner. My kids don't like this kind, so I was glad to finally be able to eat it for myself! Saturday was Uki school and Plast. My school kids are a real piece of work. First of all, this was the first time in forever that no one was absent. I have kids who cannot sit still, one who I am convinced is on the autism spectrum, kids with crippling speech impediments, with a couple of good ones thrown in. So during lunch, one boy spilled some yogurt. He asked nicely for me to wipe it up and as I was he says, "Pani Wesia, I wuv you!" See, it happens every time! Just as I'm ready to throw this kid out the window after the 500th time he hit himself in the head with his own hands and interrupted me for the millionth time, he goes and says "I wuv you." Then another little one said, "Me too!" and another one said "Me too" as well. Just as I'm ready to quit....And Plast went well too! It didn't feel like I was stuck in a black hole of time suckage. Then, the assistant principal presents me with an offer- because the group I have this year is such a challenge, they want to give me a break and have me teach third grade, with really nice kids, next year. See? Just as I'm ready to quit, they go and give me a viable option. Crap. I don't know what I'm going to do. With my new job, I won't really need to work there, but I feel like I should try and keep active in the community and teach what I can. GAH! What a dilemma.

Plugging away

Yesterday was a wacky day- sorry for not posting!! I had a meeting with my boss in the morning. We met at the new office and started thinking about furniture layout and he gave me a bunch of tasks to start to get myself ready for work. I am so excited I can't stand it!! Then, my kids had an early dismissal for parent teacher conferences so I zipped over to school. Both went well. I promised the kids if the conferences were good that I would take them to the movies for a treat. When we came home around 3:15 they did homework and then we went to see "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules." All 3 of us have read the whole series so I felt like we had to see the movie in the theater when it came out. We got home late-ish, so dinner was late as well. And that was my day! As for today, I turned in $21.55 worth of cans and bottles- YAY!! And I still have to plan some Uki school stuff and a Plast lesson. Kids are going to their dad's after school. They haven't been there in a long time, so I have to admit I'm looking forward to some quiet. Never ever would I have thought I'd admit that 2 years ago when this whole mess started. I love them more than anything, but they absolutely exhaust me. And that's that! Thanks for your support, your nice words, either on here or in my email, and I hope you are still finding this entertaining.

Clean up

I am in major cleaning mode. Maybe because it's spring, maybe because I'm sick of looking at all the crap everywhere, maybe because major changes will happen here- I don't know. But I'm in the zone. First, I decided to tackle my Ukie school stuff. There are boxes and bins and plastic baggies and folders and baskets filled with markers, clips, tape, post its, construction paper, stickers, albums, pens, pencils, rulers, copies, drawings, cut outs, photos, puzzles, yarn, all in my dining room! GAH! What a turn off. Also, because I've been to two houses of my daughter's teammates and they were spotless, I think I'm feeling like I can part with a lot of stuff. So, I'm trying. I will tackle one area each day, until it gets to a point that I can comfortably live with it. And maybe feel like I can invite people over for a nice dinner. Maybe...

Frugal Living

So things seem to be on an upswing around here. About friggin' time! Swimming was fantastic and I am going to have a job! WOW! Good timing, as I am almost out of money! Thankfully I am one of the most frugal people you'll ever meet. Let me give you an example- last summer I worked in the camp kitchen where my kids went for a three week Ukrainian Scout camp. I made a decent amount of money for those 3 weeks. I took out the last $100 I made a few weeks ago!! Granted, that money isn't being used to pay bills or the mortgage, but it's used for what I call "Wallet money"- cash for small purchases, like if I run out of cream for my coffee, I need 2 rolls for hamburgers, Dairy Queen for the kids, hot lunch at Ukie school, that kind of stuff. I know that may sound stupid, but I am an envelope/pile/compartment kind of money person. Earnings from Ukie School go in one place for certain purchases, money from gifts for other things, earning from a primary job go for something else. So, can you believe it- my last $100 just taken out, and I still have $23 left. I think I'm going to need some nicer clothing too. I have stuff, but I think I'll need to suplement a bit. Target gift cards!!! See, Ms. Frugality to the rescue!

Results!!!!

For those of you waiting with baited breath to find out the results, here we go!!
How best to describe the afternoon at Harvard?? It was undescribeable!! I do not really have the words to explain how great it was. I'll start with a simple rundown of the meet.

First event, 25 butterfly. My daughter is seeded 6th. There are 8 lanes rather than the usual 6, so more competitors per heat. 6th is a tough spot to be in. Someone in an earlier heat could knock it out of the park, you have a mediocre swim, and you drop to like 10th. But not my girl- she WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She came in FIRST in the 25 fly!!!! It was flawlessly gorgeous!! She is the best in NEW ENGLAND in the fly!!! AND her time set a new record at our YMCA- 16.24 seconds. UN-BE-LIEV-A-BLE!!!!! After the boys swim their 25 fly, they announce and award medals to the top 8 and when the announcer said "And your New England Champion in the 25 fly..." it was friggin' awesome!!!!

Next event- 100 yd. medley relay (4 girls, 4 strokes). We are seeded 4th, we get SECOND (of 40 teams!) with the best time to date, even better than at Championships. Nice...

Next- 25 yd. backstroke. My daughter is seeded 3rd. She ends up 5th, (NOT BAD AT ALL!!) and a teammate is eighth. All is good...

Next- 50 yd. freestyle. Teammate gets 3rd!! Overall standings, Wallingford 95,
Greenwich 83. Yay...

Next- 100 IM- one girl, all 4 strokes. No one in this event, Greenwich goes up against us 97-95. Yikes...

Next- 25 yd. breaststroke. Teammate gets half a point, Greenwich leads 132-95.5.
Gulp.

[Now- we don't actually know the team standings. This is all in the results that I got last night after we came home. Had we known that this was happening, I think I would have needed a defibrillator!!]

Next- 100 yd. freestyle relay (4 girls, each does one lap of freestyle). We are again seeded 4th. After a super close race....WE WIN with my daughter as the anchor!
We get 40 points, but Greenwich is still leading 166-135.5

Last event, 25 yd. free. We have girls in the last heat seeded 4, 5, and 6.
After some tense waiting, our three go 3rd, 4th and fifth, my daughter getting the
5th,and after more tense waiting for the final team standings, here is how it went down--Greenwich 177, Wallingford- 180.5!!!!!!! WE WON THE NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!! I am still in awe of what they did! Proud doesn't begin to describe it. I am so glad my parents, brother and his girlfriend were there to watch it all happen. So, my daughter got a 1st, 5th and 5th in individual events and another first and a second in the relays. If my calculations are correct, she finished SECOND overall as well. This was just beyond words. 6 months of intensely
hard work. And it all paid off. We got to celebrate at the hotel pool with lots of junk food and pizza, and more swimming, if you could believe it, and memories that will certainly last a lifetime!!

Nerves, Nerves

I was like a caged animal today. I couldn't find a space for myself. I walked from room to room, went for a LONG walk outside, went to the library, walked outside around my house, washed dishes, vacuumed, swept floors, just to keep busy and keep my mind off of these New England Championships. I know the kids are all trained to the nth degree and what is going to happen will happen. I just hope it's all good!

On a lighter note, I really can't wait to start this new job. I am SO looking forward to being around people, getting dressed nicely, having the challenge of learning new terminology/vocabulary and finally using my BRAIN for things other than housework and preparing for Ukrainian school. You do atrophy somewhat, taking the stay at home mommy route. I don't regret it, but it's time for a serious change.
I am very grateful to this gentleman for seeing something in me that I think I forgot I was. I feel like I can finally "Exhale!"

Expensive Eyes

I had my annual eye doctor appointment today. I haven't gotten new glasses in two years, so I knew it was time for a new prescription and some new frames. The check up went well, and then I went over to the optician to start picking out something new. It's tricky to pick something that looks good. I am not a shopper by nature, and often I will buy the first thing I try on. As I was looking, the nice lady informed me that I could get prescription sunglasses for 20% off but I'd have to get them today for the discount to apply. So I looked around some more, and decided on one pair of each. And then she sits down at the computer and starts clicking away, for the next HALF HOUR. Grand total-- $1,064!!! I almost fell out of my chair!! I looked at her and she's like, "But with the discount and insurance...your total is $875!" GAH! Uh, not doable, lady! She said she'd go downtstairs to talk to Maribeth or whomever to make sure she did her calculations correctly. GAH! I wait another 15 minutes she comes back and says. "Yup- it's $875." So I said, "No thank you! I won't be getting the sunglasses." Over $430 for sunglasses!!!! Can you imagine?? I can go to Walmart and get sunglasses for less than ten bucks. Not prescription, obviously, but come on!! Forget that!! So at least I didn't break the bank, but I had to pay my copay and for photos of my eyeballs on top of the glasses. Then, I get in my car and the LOW TIRE light is on. What the hell? So I go to the dealer, they fix it for me (almost 90 minutes later, though...)at no charge!! YAY!! So it was a weird day. One more swim practice, kids have a pasta dinner afterwards and then Saturday we're off to Harvard. I'm tired...

Finally!!

I may as well let you in on some good news. I got a job! Part time to start, but it could turn into something awesome!! A friend of mine, whose daughter swims with mine on the team, is a lawyer and he is leaving the practice he's at to go out on his own. He thought of me (ME!!) to become his assistant/paralegal! I will start next month once he gets his new office put together. I saw the place today- it's an old house in the center of town and we will have 3 rooms there. I even get my own office! I'll be starting with about 4 hours a day, and if things go well, I'll work more. Yay me!! What a relief. Maybe other things will start to fall into place for me too. I have a couple of funny stories- I thought I'd be a good employee and take some paralegal classes and that turned into a disaster. I'll tell you those soon. If you don't mind, I'd like to take some time now and bask in my own happiness.

TV, kind of

I watched Dancing with the Stars last night. It was the season premiere, and I haven't watched in a while. It seemed like they were having lots of Playboy Playmates, ex-cons, idiots from MTV, and serious ringers, so I stopped watching. Last night was a really refreshing batch of stars and there were some surprising performances! Except for that ho-bag from the Playboy mansion, I can let my kids watch all the others. There's even a guy from WWE that my son knows. Blast from the past- Ralph Macchio, The Karate Kid, is 49!! He was great, as was Kirstie Alley.
I'm not a huge fan of hers, but she did alright. It was funny- as the scores were being given out, my kids were asking if they were good or bad. Someone got a 24 out of 30 and I said that's like a B, and when someone elso got a 17 out of 30, I said that's pretty bad, like a D or an F. My son said, "A B is a good grade, right?" and I said "Yes. But if either of you ever gets a D or an F, YOU don't get to play hockey, and YOU will not swim." The blood drained from their faces, but they got the message! The other show I let my kids watch during the week is The Biggest Loser. We enjoy watching the challenges and then we try to guess the weight losses the contestants are going to post. We also enjoy seeing the transformations of the booted players at the very end. Other than that, there isn't much on that I'd let them watch. If they could they'd watch SpongeBob all day long and I know they've seen every single episode! It's too easy to turn on the TV and just have it on for background noise. They have to learn to do things with their time that doesn't involve the television!!

News

We went skiing yesterday with my dad and it was AWESOME!! I figured we could go one more time and the kids were game and then grandpa decided to come, so we met up and skied together all day long. Kids made great progress. Weather was terrific as well. Got in some really good skiing.

It snowed today. Yay. First full day of spring????

I was at another swim team party last weekend and mentioned to a dad that I still had some huge branches on my lawn from the ice storm. He said he'd gladly come over and use his chainsaw to chop them up. When we came home from skiing yesterday, the branches were gone, only some sawdust left on the grass. How cool is that?? Someone said he'd do something, and he did it!! These people are all so nice and honorable it makes me sick. Just kidding...

Tiger Woods apparently said "It's hard work being a single dad!" EXCUSE ME?? Say WHAT?? Boo hoo you Tiger. You couldn't keep it in your pants and now you're saying it's tough being a single dad? You had a choice, asshole, and don't act like you have no help either. Call me, I'll tell you what it's like being a single parent. Go whine into your billions.

Ukrainian School was awful last Saturday. Confirms my desire to leave when this year is over.

And that's that. Not much going on here.

Bad Mother!

So last night, I caved and basically blew off almost all learning here. My daughter had swim practice, then I had a swim team parent meeting. We came home before 7. Quick dinner (pork chops, brown rice, broccoli) and then my son did homework and my daughter was playing and drawing. Before I knew it it was 9:00. I told them to go upstairs and get ready for bed. They both blew me off, so I went upstairs and turned on the TV. "District 9" was on- LOVE that movie- so I decided to watch it until Top Chef All Stars at 10:00. Kids came upstairs and started to play with their
Zsu-Zsu Pets and I let them. No yelling, no begging, no screaming. At around 10 they both realized it was time for bed, but before getting there they got into a huge fight. Nice. Flash forward to this morning- at breakfast I realized that A. my son did not practice on the saxophone and B. my daughter did not do her subtraction practice for her weekly quiz on Friday. I was so mad at myself and them. I told them that today, the axe falls. No friends, no street hockey, no Zsu-Zsu pets, just homework, saxophone, recorder, and bed. Some days I just do not have the strength!! I can't be one of those moms who yells all the time. But it's just me, I have no back up, no support, no help, so it always falls to me. It would've been nice to go upstairs and have a strong dad be the one who doles out the discipline and acts as the adult while giving mom a break. I know that I took the break anyway, but I'm tired of the constant monitoring. Bad mom?