Graduation, airshows, Batman, overflowing toilets and Haiku, Oh my!

So, here is my weekend in a nutshell...

* Went to a client's son's graduation party on Saturday. I love the family and am so proud of him. I normally do not get to go to family functions for clients due to the ethical issues involved, but in this case, I said 'fuck it.' I was so proud of him, of this entire family, and all they have overcome that I didn't feel I could turn down the invitation. It was a pretty amazing celebration. Everyone was dressed to the nines and even our state representative was there. Ryan also found a little girlfriend who we spent the entire party with.

* Sunday was Mark's only day off for the week, since he's been working at least one day of overtime a week. So, we filled it with as many activities as possible. First, breakfast. Second, airshow. We got to see the Thunderbirds. I was afraid I'd be bored to tears but went because we though Ryan would like it. Well, I was far from bored but Ryan was done after the first jet flew overhead. Here he is pre-jets.


I didn't get any pictures of him afterward because I was too busy calming him. But here's one of the jets in formation:
Which brings me to my first haiku, Jae's photo challenge for the week:
Army, Navy, no
Marines, Airforce, can't have my
Boy with his jaw dropped

Never said it would be good. My second haiku is also courtesy of the air show and is almost hilarious considering yesterday's "shitty" situation.
Porta-potties stink
Close those legs tightly or else
Rather self-combust.

After the airshow, we dropped Ryan off at home with his Nana and went with our friend's, Cara and Chuck to go see (3) Batman and go to (4) dinner at Macaroni Grill. The movie was awesome, and I give Heath his props, but Christian is still my man. Dinner was good but the company was better. I can't wait to go on vacation with Cara and Chuck next month in North Carolina!

*Monday Mark left for work and I went to go use the bathroom (TMI- but just pee) and when I flushed, it almost immediately began overflowing. I have an enormous fear of this event. ENORMOUS. Nothing scares me more. I freaked and tried to have to friends help me over the phone, but after that didn't work, my friend Amy came over to offer up her help. She couldn't fix it, but at least the water stopped. Mark had to come home from work early and fix it while I took a valium and went to bed. My anxiety had been doing really well until this. Damn toilets.

After my day...

This is all that can save me.

New Do

I love Joey (my stylist not my boyfriend, his boyfriend might mind). Besides my monthly intake of gossip, he always make me feel better. I said I wanted to do something more drastic than my norm, and since I want to grow it out, we (he) changed the color instead of cutting. I could not go as bold as Manda or Jae, 'cause I am chicken shit, but look, it's red!
It will never look like this again. I will go enjoy it now.

Me time

Ahh, sweet me time. Sadly this took me way too much thought. What do I do with any free time I may be lucky enough to come across? There is the stuff I feel like I should do: my meditation table complete with pillow and yoga mat, and my easel and brushes (paints are being stored elsewhere to prevent any more nap-time problems)
or tending to my plethora of gardens. I actually hate gardening though so I usually just end up with a book in the chair and watching Ryan play.
Once Ry goes to bed, you can find me doing one of two things, reading a book, of which this is only a tiny of sample of what I have not read. The ones I have read are all over the house. I have a book buying problem.
Or I have my feet up, with my laptop on, iTunes playing, complete with background noise from the TV, and a beer at the ready. I have a short attention span and TV typically can not sustain me.
I would have added a picture of Mark and I, because he is something I enjoy in my free time, but I rarely see him at night so he'll have to sit this one out.

Camera happy fool (or an abnormal day in my life)

We decided to go for an inprompto picnic at Mark's co-worker's house yesterday afternoon. When a child doesn't sleep we keep him busy to avoid further destruction. He had a blast with Ralph's two daughter's, Juliet and Analise, and on their jungle gym and the pool.


We also discovered that sunscreen and water makes an excellent gel for a mohawk. Oh, and the man above is the hubby. He usually takes pics, not poses for them (unless being geeky, for those who remember the faux marathon shots from last year).

On the drive home we saw the coolest thing, a rainbow with a strike of lightning over it. I couldn't get the lightning, but I kinda got the rainbow.


Since Ralph lives right on the lake (Ontario that is), we decided to stop at our favorite sushi place on the way home for some all you can eat sushi. One thing is for sure, we can consume a lot less than we used to. While we were on the lake, we discovered they were also having an outdoor concert, so we ate on the patio, which helped keep Ryan entertained while we had some saki. We then went to go get Abbott's frozen custard - YUM!

One the drive home, Ryan was seconds from passing out in the car, so we told him to dance. He loves to dance in the car. Does he look pooped or what?



He went to sleep pretty much immediately upon entering his bedroom. No destruction, no temper tantrums. Then mommy went to bed. The end.

Thank you Homey!

Cristina's advice worked today, like a charm. For some reason it never occurred to me to sit in his room until he fell asleep. I did it today and within 15 minutes - Voila! He was sound asleep. And is still sleeping. Perhaps refusing to sleep for a week has made him extremely tired? Maybe I should wake him? Ah, no, forget it. He can sleep.

Ahhh, sweet mommy downtime. Thank you thank you thank you!

Oh,and I got a 2 hour nap. I woke up and was like "Whoa, it's 5:30 already? Shit." Yes, I talk out loud to myself. Topic for another day. This nap was dedicated to Homey and her fountain of brilliance!

Duct tape sounds good

The nap time bandit was at it again yesterday, and this time I maintained my cool and got pics. He's not crying because of me, but because he was about to drop a filing cabinet (plastic and mostly empty) on his head.

After rescuing him from the cabinet, I then noticed what he'd done. You got it, he emptied his entire closet.

I then looked down and saw that everything was in piles on the floor and in his bed.
Notice he was naked? Not my doing. He had peed all over everything, EVERYTHING, in his bed, so I needed to do tons more laundry and buy him a new pillow.

He did follow my rules though: "stay in your bedroom and stop destroying mommy and daddy's things." I will be more careful with how I put my instructions next time.

I'm laughing on the inside. Really. Seriously. Not.

Things to do when you aren't sleeping, by Ryan

Here is a recently compiled list of things my son has done while having his bedroom door left open at night. Most kids come in and wake their parents, but not mine. He gets completely silent and moves in stealth mode. I'm not a heavy sleeper by any means and yet I don't hear a thing.

• Went through my "memory box" pulling out every letter and picture, including ones of my ex still in a frame, which my husband found, and was OH so thrilled to see. Maybe it's time to get rid of the box.
• Went through my art supplies including markers, paints, pencils, chalks, and scissors. They were 4 feet off the ground in a locked box, so I thought they would be safe. Uh, no.
• Our tax returns for the past several years, cut with scissors, into confetti. Who needs those anyway?
• My mom gave me a collection of things from my great grandmother when I got married. I don't think I'll be passing those on.
• I made a photo album of all the pictures from Ryan that friend's and family gave us, aka. not stored on my computer or replaceable. He decided it would be fun to taste them. Don't ask me why, he won't tell.
• We had cans of paint left out to finish painting the hallway (which, yeah we started 2 years ago. What's your point?) that thankfully were only turned into drums.
  
• Surfed the internet. Let's hope he avoided porn. We'll be installing the net nanny software soon.
• Used bathtub cleaner to take a bath in. Thankfully it was organic and safe for him, but he didn't smell so good. That shampoo is looking better and better (to clean the shower, see Zen post from last month).
  
• and his piece de la resistance? While I napped today, with my door open, he went into the bathroom and painted every surface with my makeup. Everything. I thought I was done cleaning until I had to use the bathroom, turned and realized the toilet seat, which he had kindly lowered for me, was covered in blush and eyeliner. I would have gotten pictures if I could calm myself enough to see the humor in it. That took several hours.

I'm sure he's not done, so I will update as he gets more creative. In the meantime, grant me the patience to cope with this. 'It's just a phase, it's just a phase, it's just a phase.' It's not helping.

Can someone please take this elephant off my chest?

I haven't been able to breathe right in days. For some reason I can't explain my asthma is kicking my ass. I haven't done anything all weekend and then called in sick today because I don't have the energy to get out of bed. I am such a wuss. I know I need a vacation but a planned one in Tahiti would be much preferred. Oh well, watching the travel channel in bed and having Mark take care of me ain't all that terrible either.

I found a new toy

I am not a scrapbooker. Let me say that up front. I don't have the patience for it and whatever I do always ends up looking like crap. I found a new site though that's good for even scrapbook failures like me!

Here's one from Texas this past February:



Thanks www.scrapblog.com !

Day of the living dead

Or at least it feels that way. For about a week now, Ryan has had no naps. Hell, but I'll deal. The hardest part is he's now having a difficult time going to sleep at night too. He insists on having his door open. Fine. Then he keeps getting out of bed. After about 20 times walking him back to his bed he finally stays, but it's typically 2 hours after I started. He also suddenly develops every possible ailment in the book requiring my immediate attention. Then, he is up literally at the crack of dawn. This morning, I went to the bathroom at 6am and he was in his room LOUDly reading a book.

So, what do I do? He is obviously crazy tired, has bags under his eyes, and is beyond cranky all day long. Please tell me this is just a phase because losing all this sleep is turning me into a zombie. I've been fairly blessed so far with sleeping (past the crazy infant stage) but lately I have become the miserable mommy because I am so tired. Help!

Just when I am about to curse...

My baby boy falls asleep in my arms. He hasn't done this since he was an infant. He had no nap - the last four days, I'm about ready to croak - and was sooooo miserable, but the second we got in the rocker, his eyes started drooping. He fought it, giving me the big doe eyes, until, ever so sloooooowly, out he went. Smelling his little head brought me back to equilibrium.

So did the first second of alone time I've had all day - yay!