Glamorous Anonymity

I was talking with a fellow Glamorous Redneck (those of us city girls stuck out here in the country) last week about what we miss out here. Our biggest thing was that anonymity that comes with living in bigger cities. I really like going to the store without running into 500 people that I know. It was fun to be able to run across the street at 11 at night just because we wanted chocolate ice cream. We would run over there in our pajamas, duck in and duck out with no one being the wiser. Now, if I were to do that I’d have to first drive a half an hour away and it would be tomorrow’s big event. (Gosh, did you see CARRIE last night? She was out really late getting ice cream. Surely she’s pregnant!)

Now, as a parent, I love that I will be able to find my kids within no more than three phone calls should they disappear on me after school. And I’ve said before that I like the fact that there’s not that awkward “I have to meet the parents first” conversation before slumber parties. I know the parents of the kids that are in my kids’ classes. I went to school with some of them.

So, I guess there’s good and bad no matter where you are. What are your thoughts? Are you a city mouse or a country mouse? Have any plusses or minuses to add to the list?

Piranha Hour

When I first started working where I am now, my co-worker would always talk about piranha hour. At that time, all I had was a six month old darling little baby that I couldn’t wait to get home to. I had no idea what she was talking about.

Basically, piranha hour is that first hour when you get home from work. The kids are trying to tell you all the fun things they did at school that day, the hub is trying to talk to you about his day and all you want to do is get your butt in the door and upstairs to your dear friend Calgon. Think about a piranha feeding frenzy. It’s the same idea, only not so bloody. So see? With a six month old, I had no idea what she meant.

Then CJ started school. I would have to pick Diva up from daycare, then drive back to town to grab CJ from my dad and get home so I could hurry up and make some dinner. Even then it wasn’t so bad. I had ten minutes with Diva in which she would tell me who spit on whom, who had an accident and who had THREE timeouts that day. Then we would get CJ and he would tell both of us who spit on whom, who had an accident and who got THREE warnings and had to go sit in the principal’s office. By the time we got home, the kids were done telling me everything that they needed to tell me, so I could come in the house and make dinner without much fiasco.

That has all changed now that they are both in school. And I truly understand why Co-worker calls it piranha hour. It’s not uncommon for me to have three conversations being directed at me at any one point in time. I spend the first fifteen minutes home clenching my hands to my sides just so I don’t start screaming and ripping my hair out.

However, it’s not as bad as it could be. See, I only work part time now. Monday through Thursday I get two blissful hours all to myself before the kids get home. After that, I get two hours with just the kids who will stop the feeding frenzy with a simple reminder that Mommy can only listen to one conversation at a time. But on the rare day (yesterday) that I have to work all day, it’s like it shifts into overdrive.

Most days, I find it all kind of comical. Especially when CB gets it when he gets home from work. I like being the outsider on the conversation. By the time he rolls in from work, the kids are tired of talking my ear off and are ready for a new audience. When they hear the doorknob turn, they are off and running. All I can hear is a chorus of “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”. And I know just how he feels.

So yesterday was just a very blatant reminder of how much I love my new schedule of getting time to myself before anyone else is home. Because I think that that down time is insanely important to my well-being. I had all these insane plans for what I was going to do with my extra time off (Exercise! Make gourmet meals! Bake cookies every day!), but in the six months or so that I’ve been doing it, all I’ve gotten accomplished is reading some really good books and taking a couple of naps. Maybe I’ll get to the point where I want to spend the whole afternoon cooking. But maybe I won’t. And maybe just the fact that I’m a little bit more relaxed when dealing with the famdamly is worth missing out on a couple of Chez Carrie creations.

Two days in a row? Surely Hell has frozen over

If the weather outside lately is any indication of hell freezing over, ol' Lucifer himself just might be investing in some muck lucks and a fur coat. It's been insanely cold over the past week and a half! Yesterday it was a balmy 25 outside. It felt like summer!

After church yesterday, we headed to semi-civ to spend some time with the Army BIL who is home on his two week R & R. We all went bowling and I sucked it up hardcore. I used to be on a league and would bowl an average of like 125. Now, I finally got an 82 the second round and that was my high score. Sad, right? It was still fun though because the kids LOVE bowling. They didn't enjoy it quite as much yesterday, but that was because we couldn't get a bumper lane. The place was ridiculously crowded. And I get just a touch of claustrophobia (seriously what is it with all these new maladies of late? Evidently my body and psyche were only on a 25 year warranty and since it's expired, all the parts are starting to crap out). So I was trying really hard to just stay away from people, but it was impossible. Finally after our first game, a bunch of people left, so I didn't feel like I was going to implode anymore.

When we got home from that, CB had to hurry back out to practice bass with the group he's been playing with. We were looking at guitars for him last night and are probably going to purchase him his very own in the very near future.

I had so much fun on Friday night! It has been forever since I've been able to dress up for anything, and I must say, we looked pretty darn cute (obviously, or we wouldn't have won first place, right?). I had a cute purple poodle skirt, cat eye glasses, a purple scarf and got my hair cut so that I could rat the back and flip the bottom. The lady who plans the party even asked me to sing. So I busted out "Stupid Cupid" and got lots of applause. I didn't think I sounded half bad, either, but I did end it early because there's a little instrumental in the middle and everyone thought I was done. So I felt like a freak, but that's all right. :)

This week is super busy, as most of them have been lately. Which is why the blogging has gone to the wayside. Tonight Diva's got dance practice, tomorrow I'm going to keep a friend that's moving company, Wednesday is Diva & My dance practices, Thursday CB and I are going to Minneapolis for a late Valentine's getaway (actually, we're going to see a financial guy, but CB says we're doing Valentine's stuff so I'm going with that) and bible study, then Friday Diva is going with my mom to Minneapolis to watch the big girl's dance at the State competition. Saturday the Army BIL is supposedly cooking us a completely vegan meal (oh. Joy. I can hardly wait.) (now watch, it'll be ridiculously good and I'll be converted). Sunday will be church and maybe--just maybe--a nap. Cuz if I can't get this sleep thing figured out, I get the distinct impression that I'll need it.

My goal is to make it one whole week of blogging every day, but as you can see by this, I'm not going to make any promises.

Also, don't forget to let me know what pictures you want to see. Either post it in the comments or email me at glamorousredneck@gmail.com!

Nope, still not dead

I haven't even looked at blogger since my birthday (what is that? Like almost three weeks ago?), and to tell you the truth, I didn't really miss it. In fact, when I tried to come here, I accidentally typed in "blooger" and was all "Holy crap, they've dismantled blogger!" until I remembered that I cannot spell to save my life. But now it's Sunday Monday morning (12:00 on the nose to be exact) and I am officially out of ideas for things to do. Why am I awake you ask? Well, I had a couple of little anxiety attacks (a new onset here on this other side of "mid-twenties") that kept me up until two in the morning last week, and evidently my body has decided that it doesn't need that much sleep anymore. So I go up to my bed, toss and turn for a couple of hours, then finally give up and come back down. Let me just say that there isn't a damn thing on once you get past 11 on Sunday night. I'm so bored I can't even bring myself to play interweb games. I feel like just screaming at myself "GO TO SLEEP STUPID GIRL!" but all the screaming would just wake me up even more. And here's the worst thing. . .sleeping pills don't even work. The hell? Normally I have to take sleeping pills at like 8 so I can be in bed by 8:30 and don't feel right unless I get to sleep in until noon. Now? Nothing. Methinks there's still a little bit of the panic-attack inducing worry plaguing my mind, and that's what's keeping me up, but I stll don't know how to stop it. Any clues?

In other news, here's what I've been up to:

Diva danced at a dancing competition the high school dance team held and I got to watch the passion for dance light up in her eyes. Good to know that she's really looking forward to dancing like the big girls.

Getting ridiculous amounts of compliments on the new hair. Had I known I looked so horrid before, I would have dyed it sooner (I kid, I know I didn't look that horrid. It's just a big change).

Dressing up in 50's garb and winning first prize in the costume contest at our church's annual Valentine's Banquet. I'll have pictures just as soon as we figure out how to get them off the hub's phone.

Buying my very first digital camera! Yay! I'm finally going to be one of the cool kids!

So, my camera should be here by next Friday. That means I'm throwing it in your court again. What kind of pictures would you like to see? I'll have to test the new camera out, and will need ideas for (G rated) pictures.