I'm Back! Highlights - Halloween Edition

Well, Halloween is now over. We’ve all got chocolate smears around our mouths, candy wrappers litter the floor and the empty shells of costumes are slung over the dining room chair. Sigh.

Violet was just the right size for Langston’s old pumpkin costume. I can’t believe it was 2 years ago that Langston wore it…it seems like yesterday! We are really getting our money’s worth out of the $5 Jeff’s mom spent buying it while I was still pregnant with Langston. It is my plan to just continue dressing Violet up in Langston’s hand-me-downs until she becomes old enough to say for herself, “Hey, I don’t want to dress up as Batman!”

Langston dressed up as a dragon. Jeff called me from Costco and said that they had costumes for $10 and should he get one for Langston. Heck yes! It was actually very cute and we felt sure that the “2-4 year” size would fit him, as even though he’s big, he’s not as big as a 4 year old. Well, I guess these were sized for Chinese children because when we finally put it on him it was substantially too small. To the extent that about 4” of leg showed out the bottom, he had a massive wedgie and we had to cram the hood over his melon. But, rotten parents that we are we figured that he would only have it on for a short time and it wasn’t worth the trouble of returning it and trying to find another one. So, he went as a crammed in dragon.

First we went to Jeff’s mom and dad’s because Jeff’s mom is recovering from knee surgery and is still housebound. We thought it would cheer her up. We zipped both kids up in their costumes and took them outside for photos. Violet’s face pretty much told the tale of resignation and demonstrated a grim effort at quiet dignity. Which is hard to achieve when you have a pumpkin stem on your head. We did manage to get some cute pictures of the kids, though….particularly ones of the 2 kids together. It seems so weird that I now have 2 kids!

Langston then ran off wildly to the jungle gym and defied the constricting constraints of his costume and climbed all over, went down the slide, launched himself up the ladder…basically insured that when we unzipped his costume we would find him awash with sweat and stink J

Then we went home for some trick or treating. I had really been looking forward to this. I couldn’t wait to just swell with pride at my sweet darling boy and watch him thrill at the fun of his first time trick or treating. We drove separately, so I was waiting on the front porch when Jeff and Langston arrived home. They had stopped at Jeff’s sister Jill’s house since she had a little present for him. It was a Thomas the Tank Engine pillowcase for candy collection. I think he was more excited about that than anything else that happened that night. Anyhow, I knew we were in trouble when I could hear Langston wailing as Jeff opened his door. “I just want to go home! I don’t want to go to houses! I don’t want to trick and treat!” Oops. Um, sorry kid…you’re going and you’re going to have the time of your life!!! After a lot if cajoling and empty promises and what amounted to dragging him out of the house, we began our exciting night of trick or treating.

Langston is fascinated by our next door neighbor’s dog, so meeting Dizzy got the night off to a decent start. I don’t even think Langston had any idea what was going in his bag…he was too obsessed with “talking to Dizzy.” “Bye, bye Dizzy…I will see you later!” he yelled as we headed off down the street. This began the night’s fixation on what pets he would meet next. We went to about 6 houses (we had to keep promising Langston, just a couple more houses and then we’ll go home, I promise) and he had more fun getting to know the cats and dogs around the house than anything else. And, of course people appreciated this squashed little dragon petting their pets saying, “Don’t fall down, Maxwell…I’ll see you later, Snickers…etc.” So, he got massive amounts of candy.

We finally consented to let a glum little Langston go home…Jeff put him up on his shoulders and I just about teared up at the sight of Jeff toting our own little dragon through the fall leaves. So sweet.

He was so relieved to finally be unzipped from his costume…he ran around the house with glee. But you should have seen the look of joy on his face when we dumped out the bag onto the table…his eyes glazed over in ecstasy. We agreed he could have 4 pieces before bedtime and in between bites he told his Aunt Julie (who had stayed home with Violet, who had said “uh-uh” to the prospect of going out with us) all about his adventures…Dizzy the dog…boys who “scart” him…riding on daddy…brown suckers! And then he went off to bed while the adults helped themselves to left-over candy.

I can’t wait for next year when Violet gets to wear Langston’s old dragonfly costume…and who knows what Langston will decide to be (I mean what his cheapo mom and dad find on sale).

Thursday Highlights, April 24, 2008

Well, the day started out fairly good. After Jeff woke me up on the couch (yes, the snores had once again exceeded the volume of the fan by my head and the sound protection of the ear plugs in my ears) I struggled into the shower and into my clothes (Only took two tries today! I typically have a daily clothing crisis that usually means trying on like 3 different outfits to find the one I think I hate the least...today I had outgrown shirt #1 - shoot - but shirt #2 actually worked, so, cool.) and then back into the rainforest of a bathroom to complete my power pregnant look. I always forget that as the weather gets warmer the bathroom gets hotter and steamier...can't we both just take cold showers?...to the point where by June I've got a fan blowing on me and still sweat my way through "hair and make-up." There must be a better or cooler way.

Then it's time to save Langston from the torment that is hanging out in his crib while he KNOWS both his parents are up and having fun without him. His protests gain force and volume as time goes by. But, all is forgiven and he gives me a long hard snuggle...head on my shoulder, arms "tucked in", saying "mah-me...mah-me..." and then "dah-dee...dah-dee" (the little traitor!) Whoa! Skunky stinky diaper this morning! It took the curl right out of my hair! The anti-biotic he's on is doing a bit of a tatoo on his tummy and the results are in the diapers. How many more months until potty training begins???

Langston is more than happy to head out for the car, toting 2 puzzle pieces (he always has to bring one or more friends with him on his rides). He gets a little frisky on me and starts heading out to frolic in the lawn. I lure him closer by holding out his blue beaded necklace (hey, he's a metrosexual in training!) and he get's just close enough for me to pounce. Oh Langston...maybe one day this won't be true, but for now I'm more cunning, stronger and bigger! So with a few shouts (either from me or him...I can't remember) he's clamped into the seat.

Drop off goes fine as he seems willing to abandon his dear mom with the promise of cheerios (I laughed as I watched him go up to a set of chairs that were stacked 3 high, wrestle off the top chair and carry it over to the breakfast table...I forget what a macho baby I have).

Then I headed off for my last appointment with the physical therapist. She reassess me to find that while my flexibility has improved, my pain level has actually gotten worse. We both think it's because the baby is growing and putting more and more pressure on that nerve. I'm almost a little teary when I realize that there's nothing really that any of us can do about this and that more PT is not going to solve anything. I think I'm also a little depressed because while it's somewhat awkward to have the lovely, tiny Nancy pushing on my butt to relax the muscles, at least she's a paid professional and kind of HAS to do it...it's harder to get anyone else (yes, I'm speaking to you Jeff Holquist) to push on my butt for 15 minutes. Or even 2 minutes. My poor butt.

Work was basically tomb-like. Our boss is gone and a couple people are traveling and the rest of us are apathetic. And, it's about the last gorgeous day we're going to have for awhile. I pulled Laura over and told her that we're both fools if we work from the office this afternoon. We'll see!

I then met with our vendor for our NeoCon press kits. We've worked with them for years and they wanted in the worst way to bring us lunch. So, Laura and I each got a random sandwich at our meeting. Whatever.

Then, since I "worked through lunch" I took my lunch hour and went home to quickly do some chores. Jeff and I bought one of those booth/nook dining sets off of craigslist last night. It's really nice quality and we think it will be a better solution for the random space we have to eat in now that the dining room will become the baby's room. We had not really intended to be a full on family in this house...but then the real estate market totally tanked and we decided it was a better idea to try to wait it out a little bit. So, we're having to get creative with space. Anyhow...it needed to be moved into position and some other things moved around...vacuuming, neatening up for our Bible study group to come over tonight. I was kind of glad to get that done this afternoon because now I can come home from work and just relax for a little while with Jeff and Langston - maybe even take a walk. Even though it's windy, it is warm. Which we may not be able to say tomorrow :(

And then I headed out to the car wash for a full on cleaning of the mini-van. Pulled all the carpets out, climbed around inside, just went nuts. And oh how it sparkles! It looks just as fancy as when I bought it :) Oh Odyssey...I -heart- you!

Now I am sitting at Grand Traverse Pie Company, drinking ice water, nibbling on some apple pie (hence the desire for a pre-Bible study walk) and using their free wi-fi. I love laptops. I love working remotely. I love pie (even Felix Pie on the Cubs...he got a homerun the other night!). I've sent all my emails, updated my calendar, made some lists...and am finishing my highlights for the day.

Sorry it's been so long.

Thursday Highlights - March 27, 2008

-There is really nothing better than those malted milk eggs they sell at Easter.
-Langston doesn’t really enjoy going in to get his picture taken. I kind of think it’s that he feels he’s grown too sophisticated in his tastes for trips to JC Penney – so, next time I may try Walmart just to show him that it can get worse and he should just suck it up and stop being such a snob.
-After all the snow melts, your lawn and yard look really, really gross. I didn’t realize, for instance, that under all the snow in the backyard was a big empty Kirkland diaper wipes box. I was blissfully unaware it was there all winter, but now that it’s all exposed, I think the neighbors will expect me to actually dispose of it.
-Those city trash containers you can get are really awesome. And the secret of getting Jeff to enjoy dealing with the trash. He now gleefully trots out there all during the week with little random trashes chortling every time how much he loves the new curby. Before, he used to weep tears of bitterness as he grimly gathered up the trash on trash day literally minutes before the truck was due to arrive.
-There’s no better way to start Easter Sunday than going into Langston’s room first thing in the morning and bellowing out the old hymns of my childhood – Up From the Grave He Arose…and Christ the Lord is Risen Today. He listened politely and even applauded and gave me a “yay!” when I was done. He’s such a nice kid.
-No matter how many new varieties of day planners I have tried in search of perfection, about this time every year I will realize that the one I’ve got “isn’t it either.”
-Any time that it takes an hour to get from Woodland Mall to the stupid Applebee’s on the Beltline you know that you’ve just crossed over some kind of very scary line. Stupid snow storm! Stupid traffic! Stupid me for soldiering on to actually go through with this utter waste of time, when anyone with the brains God gave a goose would have turned back.
-Those new refrigerator pickles that Jeff got are really addictively yummy. Langston agrees.
-It appears that my butt doesn’t like to be pregnant. I got sciatica with my first pregnancy and it has roared back again with the second. Many people get pregnancy sciatica in their legs or back…I am one of the outliers who actually gets a nearly constant burning/piercing pain deep within the butt-cheek…making it quite literal when I say that pregnancy is a pain in the butt.
-I just realized that my dentist is really pretty. I went and got my teeth cleaned this week and when she came in I was kind of blown away. Of course she’s younger than me and also much cuter. When I told Jeff that I had just noticed today how pretty Dr. Dial is, he said…You just noticed that?? Apparently I am slower on the up-take. No wonder Jeff never complains about going to the dentist any more.
-To Langston, raisons are crack cocaine.
-In Jeff’s warped, geek-like mind he has come up with some kind of home-computer network-bridge device that, when completed, will enable us to save our TiVo’d programs onto the network and download them to our Ipods. I didn’t even know what to say, except that sometimes my husband is really smart.
-If you’re feeling sick to your stomach, eating over-easy eggs will only make you feel worse…much worse.
-Getting a mismarked bottle of contact lens cleaner for 6.99 instead of the 11.99 usually charged makes me feel really rich.
-If I get up early and think I have all the time in the world to get ready for work, I will end up late. If I oversleep by half an hour and tear around like a freak, I will usually leave for work right on time.
-There’s nothing that feels much better than getting our tax return checks!
-There’s nothing that spends faster than our tax return checks!
-No matter how many times I clean my bathroom, it will need to be cleaned again.
-If both Jeff and I are sick with the very same virus, believe me when I say that Jeff is sicker.

Yesterday's Highlights Today - February 22, 2008

I seem to be falling into the nasty habit of waiting until the next day to hit the Thursday highlights. Oh well. At least that way you get the full day and not just backwards from whenever I felt like typing.

So, here’s how it started. I started by taking Langston over to the Staybridge Suites to pick up Tricia (who is visiting from Chicago and works for our PR agency, Peppercom. I have worked with her for the nearly 8 years I’ve been at Steelcase, so she is a friend as well as a “colleague.” She always wants to check in with Langston, so I thought this was a good opportunity to have her see him but not do anything too prolonged where I might worry that Langston will puke on her, or start screaming, or similarly embarrass me.) We got there a little early so I took Langston in and we checked out the hotel together. Langston was totally jazzed by this. He could wander up and down the long hallways…only occasionally trying to knock on a random room door or steal the USA Today from the front of another…and then going “boneless” when I tried to steer him back to the lobby. Good times.

It’s a pretty nice hotel. We checked out the breakfast bar (tasty!) and the TV room (comfy!) and the library (plants! chairs!) while Langton squealed with delight at each new thing.

Tricia found us and after hugs and squeezes, we all headed out to drop Langston at daycare on the way to our morning PR meetings.

After all the excitement, Langston wasn’t so excited to go into his classroom. He didn’t cry…just the boneless treatment again…this is becoming a nasty habit.

We visited the Learning Center breakfast bar (blueberry bagel…and donut “nub” – if you just hack off a bite, does it really count? - …and glass of ice water…ever since I became pregnant I crave ice water…seems very strange to me, but I guess I’ll just go with it) and then the meetings began. We are spending a couple of days meeting with all the product groups, service groups, design teams, research teams, etc. to find out what will be going on in the next year that will require PR. Without my blueberry bagel to comfort me it would have been a pretty long morning I tell ya.

And then our meetings were over and it was lunch time! Yay…it’s chili Thursday at the Learning Center!!

After lunch, Tricia headed for the airport and I headed for the doctor’s office. It was my first real appointment of my pregnancy…two weeks ago I met with the nurse, but that’s just for health history, blood work, etc.

So, the first thing I had to do was get weighed. Of course. Blech. It has been a tough first tri-mester…where basically the only thing that kept my nausea at bay was, curiously, eating, so I was fearing the worst. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. Turns out I am 10 pounds heavier than I was before getting pregnant with Langston. So, not great…but not to despair levels yet. There’s plenty of time for that. Especially since I spied my records and I could clearly read the notes made during my previous pregnancy “watch weight gain.” Sigh.

Then the nurse took my bp and the doctor came in. First of all, he says, what’s up with my high bp? Oh good grief, are you kidding me??? I don’t know if you remember last pregnancy, but my last tri-mester I got this insane bp that resulted in me having to spend 3 weeks on bed rest, having an oxygen mask on me during my whole labor, and having to “push” while laying on my left side…and after all that having to have a c-section anyway. Good times. Anywho, two weeks ago when I met with the nurse my bp was perfect – 120/70…today, it was over 140. Eek!!! Yeah, the doctor was concerned that with my previous history and that it has gotten this elevated prior to 20 weeks…well, they are going to have to monitor it very closely. But, there’s not really anything I can do to stop it. It’s gestational hypertension and I’m hoping it was just an aberration and that it will be normal at my next visit.

Next he tells me that I now have some new antigen in my blood that I didn’t have at my pre-Langston blood tests. This means that I got it from either a) being a prostitute or b) getting a blood transfusion. Since I could honestly rule out a), that means that the transfusions I got after Langston’s botched c-section came with a little something extra. He was going to do some additional research on this “E-antigen” but it seems like it’s something similar to having negative blood when the baby has positive blood. The danger lies in my and baby’s blood crossing…I would view the baby as an invader and start attacking it. Again, it looks like it’s just something they are going to have to monitor with a bunch of blood tests throughout the pregnancy to keep track of the levels.

It seems like my body does a bait and switch with me…on the one hand it can’t wait to get pregnant but then as soon as I do, it starts making things as miserable as possible.

Oh well. At least none of this appears to mean much risk to the baby, so that’s a good thing. Mom will just have to be tough. And complain a lot. And require more than the average dose of chocolate…and pity.

I also got to see the baby since I looked to be “higher” than seemed right for my current due date – he thought I might be further along than they originally thought. So, they pulled out the ultrasound machine to measure the baby. Hey! There’s really a baby in there! And, thank you Lord, just one! But there it was just breathing and heart beating and floating around…hard to believe that he/she is only a few inches big at this point. He wanted to measure the “head to rump” distance but, as he is not a professional tech, was having a little difficulty being totally confident he had found the rump…so, he took the measurement several times just to account for his “fudge factor” and, I’m actually right where they thought I was…about 14 weeks. The real ultrasound will be at about 20 weeks…so in about 6 weeks I hope to know if we are having a boy or a girl. When I told Jeff about it he asked if they could tell the sex yet…I said, Jeff, the man wasn’t sure he could find the butt…I doubt he could hone in on the various pieces and parts J

Back to work. Nothing happened. I got scheduled for a 4:45 conference call on our aviation department…web surfed while “listening” in on this riveting conversation. Then headed home.

Fabulous microwave dinner followed…lasagna and garlic toast…hey, I got home late, sue me!

After dinner Langston got a bath (which he LOVES) and then ran around the kitchen in his pajamas…literally in circles…he was reminding me of a dog chasing its tail. He was holding on to a favorite truck, running in circles until dizziness forced a fall, then some wailing, then back up again to repeat the whole thing. It was hilarious. He is in a phase where the more tired he gets the punchier he becomes. By the time our Bible study people showed up he was dancing around the living room laughing maniacally. Of course he cried when I put him to bed. But only for a few seconds…then his eyes lost their focus and he practically fell asleep in front of my eyes.

Bible study pooped me out. Long day, I guess. The apple cinnamon bread Mike brought was yummy. Took the plates in to the kitchen. Washed my new “old fashioned hot dog roller grill.”

I bought this on a whim for something I wanted to do for Jeff…I was trying to be a good wife and give him some extra TLC (I think the last few months have been hard on him too). I know that he is bummed that he is not going to make it to Spring Training to watch a Dodger’s game their final spring training at Vero Beach (before they move to Arizona) this year. So, I thought that on the date of the final game at Vero Beach I would try to create a “baseball experience” to commemorate it. So I bought this grill thing. But now it looks like that will fall through anyway…so, I had decided to take it to work for Friday’s (today’s) summer themed potluck. (Can I say that the thing worked like a charm? Very fun. The roller things worked, the hotdogs were great, the aroma of sizzling hotdogs filled the office. What could be better?)

And then off to bed. Boy, sleeping sure feels good. I could just do it for hours.

Yesterday's Highlights - February 14, 2008

I guess better late than never...here are yesterday's highlights:

Well, the morning started early. Way too early. I had an 8 o’clock meeting that I was leading across town and I also needed to pick up some things for it on the way. So, I ended up at headquarters at 7:15 and then wanted to stop and pick up some pastries for the meeting on my way there. When I was about 10 minutes from my final destination, I got a call from Brad. He had heard from 2 other people that they couldn’t come to the meeting now and should we just cancel. Um…hello…I got myself to work at o’dark-thirty and picked up treats and we are DEFINITELY having this meeting. I was also kind of peeved that these people didn’t let me know – since I was the meeting convener. I just thought it was rude. But, the meeting proceeded with those who could attend and it actually went very well. A reschedule with the other 2 people is now on for next week. But I’m not bringing treats. Ha.

Then it was back to headquarters and one of the worst discoveries I’ve ever made at work. It nearly devastated me. My heart was in my throat and for the first time in 8 years I seriously considered quitting my job. It was Sherrie who broke the news to me: our favorite website, televisionwithoutpity had been blocked by our IT department. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! What will I do now with my lazy afternoons? The long, boring summer? Ack! My favorite work time waster is now gone. In a total fit of hysteria I wrote to Jeff to tell him that I might have to quit my job. His “don’t panic” email gave me several suggestions of how he might help me beat the man and live to indulge my time waster again. I can only hope. Really.

I lost all motivation to go out to lunch and ended up just reading a book downstairs in the cafeteria. But not before I had gone out and moved my car to a better parking space. I’m just that petty.

After lunch I looked out the window and despaired at the snow. Spent a few more minutes wondering how long it will be until summer…I settled on about a year.

Long meeting followed where I was told that the VP of a certain department was really struggling to come up with a viable global strategy for his area and that maybe as his communications person I could work with him and help him develop one. My answer: Um…he’s a VP making like 5 times what I make…can’t he come up with his own strategy for his own department? Good grief.

Even though the afternoon crept by, eventually it was time to go get the little boy. I stopped first at Ludema’s floral to get some flowers for my sister, from Langston. It was PACKED!! And was apparently being highly promoted on the local Hispanic radio station. They were doing a live remote and the place was full of Mexican guys. And also full of incredibly overpriced flowers. Jeesh. What a rip off Valentine’s Day is. I decided instead to get her a flowering plant, which was less than half of the price of the cheapest vase of roses.

Then it was on to CVS. I wanted to get a couple of valentine’s candies for my friend's kids when they came over after dinner. I have never seen such bare shelves! I had no idea how much people bought for valentine’s day…there was literally tumbleweed blowing down the aisles! I found a couple of sad strawberry cream hearts…who even knows if they’ll like them…but it was either that or the one last bag of store-brand conversation hearts. Oh good…they also had one last coconut cream heart too…my favorite! Sure, I’ll be my valentine!

Then I picked up Langston from daycare. He just looked beat! Apparently the wild valentine’s party just did him in. And, if his clothes were any indication, there was a significant amount of candy involved as well…so, I think I caught him during his sugar crash. Did I mention Langston’s hair? Yeah, last week I noticed his hair was getting pretty long and so I just trimmed it quickly back over his ears…giving him…yes, a mullet. I had no idea what I was doing! Poor little guy is “this close” to having a rat tail hanging down his back. That’s it…he MUST get a real hair cut this week-end! Otherwise people are going to start calling him Jimmy Bob, and that’s just not acceptable :)

I got home planning to make something really simple – omelets and fruit salad. Yeah, over an hour later I was still chopping fruit! Why must it be so hard to eat healthy food??? So, my “simple” meal ended up dirtying just about every knife, cutting board, aluminum bowl in the house and it took about an hour and a half to make. Sigh. But the fruit was really good. At least there was that.

Then everyone started arriving for Bible study. I lit a quick paper log in the fireplace (it’s nice even for the effect), Jeff got the coffee started, and I heard from my friend that there was a “lice incident” with her daughter – several girls from school all got it…including her. Oops. It brought back my own lice incidents from childhood. I was a repeat offender…or carrier…or victim…whatever. I remember that my parents discovered it once when we were up north…since we were quite a ways from a town they decided to go with the old fashioned remedy….wait for it…kerosene. Yes…they doused their small child with a can of kerosene. Imagine how nice that felt on a flea-bitten scalp! And massaged through my waist length hair. Good grief…there are camp fires up there! What if a stray spark had ventured near – my whole head would have exploded!!! And sometimes I doubt if I’M a good parent.

So, I involuntarily shuddered for a couple minutes and then it was on to more chatting and then to more serious topics.

Once everyone left and I got the place cleaned up and Jeff & I had finished watching Survivor (OK, it’s our one guilty pleasure…so sue us!) I decided that I missed my son. So, I went and pulled him out of bed (still sound asleep) and spent some time rocking him. He’s such a big boy! It’s a lot different rocking a 30+ pound toddler. But still so sweet. He just smacked his lips and sighed and snored and fidgeted and at one point broke into this huge smile.

And then some reading for me and off to bed. All in all a good day.

Friday Highlights - February 8, 2008

I don’t know if you heard but we had a huge snow storm on Wednesday! It was totally fun and for some reason filled me with unwarranted happiness as I drove home in it from work. Once I got home I was compelled to take Langston outside with me. I thought I might shovel the walk and maybe part of the driveway…I just felt inspired. Probably because I am a new parent and always think that I’m doing something wrong, I had not really taken him out for snow frolicking. But Wednesday I just had to do it. Well…he LOVED it! He was literally spinning in circles giggling. It was very cute. He ate the snow…he blew on it…he sat in it…he punched it…he caught snowflakes in his mouth…he marveled at the neighbor’s snow blower…he got soaking wet and freezing cold and still bawled when I brought him in the house. It was probably the first time that I’ve seen a glimpse of how fun it is going to be to really play with him as a kid. It was probably THE highlight of the week.

My friend brought a blueberry cobbler over for our Bible study on Thursday and it was AMAZING! It was at least half cobbler…which I am a total sucker for. And there was even ice cream to put on top. I was in heaven….cobbler heaven.

I was invited/mandated to attend an all day meeting with an advertising/marketing firm that is going to be handling the messaging and collateral on our new product launches. I didn’t have a problem accepting…I mean, nobody looks forward to an all day meeting…but it did seem like I needed to be there. Then I found out that the meeting is in SANTA MONICA!!!! Oh baby. I’m not sure anything at my job has ever made me happier. I have been so bummed and depressed this winter and there really wasn’t a way presenting itself for Jeff and I to have a little sunshine escape and remain within our “do not exceed” budget. So, we checked and Jeff can get a free airline ticket from some frequent flyer miles he had…and with me being out there for work we will only have to cover 1 night’s hotel. It will be a very quick trip…but so incredibly nice to be in the sun for even a little while.

I heard from my very random hair stylist that he had changed styling locations. You may or may not know that my relationship with this guy began about a year ago when, downtown dropping off some reporter at the Amway and filled with despair, I thought to myself, if I encounter a hair salon between here and home I’m just going in and getting my hair cut. Well…I happened upon this place and they took me as a walk-in and I’d been working with Eddie ever since. I always felt like he was perhaps one hair cut away from being homeless. His stories were always very alarming and entailed things like chauffering someone who had lost their license due to a DUI because they would let him use the car and he couldn’t afford one of his own…or sleeping in someone’s closet because the rent was cheaper. I really felt like I had no choice but to keep going to him. Plus, he gave a pretty good cut. Well…my ill advised decision to grow my hair out one more time had left me lank, aged, depressed, totally lacking in sass. So, when I heard from him that he had switched salons but was moving but was also available to cut my hair…well, I gave him a call back and scheduled a life changing cut. Turns out that he is no longer working at the old place and trying to get out of his new place and possibly moving to another city…and the long and short of it is…could I just come to his house for the cut. Well…of course I can. So, I headed to the house he shares with like 8 other people and was met with a kitchen chair alone in the center of the dining area…next to it…a single pair of scissors, a comb, and a cape. I washed my hair in his sink (although he did offer to shampoo it for me…that just felt way weird in an already sketchy situation) and he commenced cutting. There was a lot of “stand up,” “turn this way,” “sit down”…cause, you know, it was just a kitchen chair. Then there were the stories of how he had lost his last job at the salon because they thought he was stealing…and how they were now telling all his clients that he was a cocaine addict…and, oh Eddie. Oh my. And, of course, there was also no mirror. So, I had no idea how this mood altering, whole new ‘do was coming along. He went upstairs to retrieve a hair dryer and some aqua net hair spray (his own?) and commenced styling. Of course he told me that when I do this at home I should definitely use a round brush and some product…but “Lucky you…I can do this without all that…” Anyhow, this other random guy came in toward the end, waiting for his cut, and he assured me that it was looking “very nice” …as only a random 50 year old man sitting in some strange guy’s living room watching a stranger get styled could say. Well, I walked over to the hall door, where a mirror was mounted, and actually liked what I saw. He did a great job! It is a whole new me! Although Eddie assured me that even after he moved he would likely be coming back every month or so for his clients here…I just sense that this was perhaps our last strange encounter.

So, those are the highlights for the week.

Thursday Highlights, January 31, 2008

Well, here I am again, back on Thursdays. Although, I wouldn’t exactly expect that these particular highlights are going to rock.

I overslept this morning. Almost a little on purpose. It’s just so cold out and bed was so warm and cozy…and Langston was still asleep…and I just couldn’t bring myself to get up. Jeff had the same problem, so we didn’t exactly help each other get motivated. It was just a lot of, “Oh man, I don’t want to get up.” “Yeah, me neither.” “I’m so sick of how dark it is in the morning…it makes me want to sleep in.” “Yeah, I agree.” Hey, I didn’t say it was interesting…just the ramblings of those postponing the inevitable.

Finally got out of bed and threw Langston in the shower with Jeff. Little boy is just a riot with that! I woke him up asking if he wanted to take a shower with daddy and he practically scaled the crib rails. When I picked him up, his feet were literally peddling, like Fred Flintstone, to get to the shower. So, I laid him down to strip him and he gets all worried, thinking that all of a sudden we stopped heading for the shower…and he’s going to get gypped of his shower…wild thrashings ensue. Finally I get his clothes off and I carry a dancing and giggling little boy to the bliss of the morning shower. It really is pretty funny.

Then when I got him out of the shower I had a genuine “awww” moment. I wrapped up this wet, naked little boy in a fluffy white towel and he just put his head on my shoulder and snuggled in…oh…does it get any better than that???

Laughter quickly turned to tears as I wrestled him into his clothes for the day. Cooperative he was not. He ended up with 2 stern warnings and then a firm crack on the thigh. Welcome to Thursday.

After dropping off Langston I was looking forward to driving to my meeting at the Learning Center. I hadn’t had time for breakfast (that oversleeping will kill ya) and I thought I could grab a quick snack there before my meeting. Well…about 2 minutes later I get a call from a co-worker asking where I was – our meeting was supposed to have started 15 minutes ago. Uh…wha? Yeah, my Learning Center meeting had been cancelled and I hadn’t put the new meetings in my schedule. So, no breakfast…I race to this meeting only to find that the 3rd person hadn’t even shown up yet. The guy finally gets there like 45 minutes late and the meeting goes just long enough that my stomach begins semi-audibly growling (it was like 10:00 at this point). I say semi, because I definitely heard it but I’m not sure anyone else did.

Thank heaven that meeting finally ended and I could have one of my new favorite special K bars…nutty honey. Fabulous.

Blah, blah, whatever, work, yeah, email, answer a call, blah, blah…when do I eat again? Oh yeah, I’m meeting a friend at a great new restaurant. And it was delicious! I had a cup of tomato soup (a winter classic) and a Michigan harvest salad and we topped it off by splitting a piece of Zingerman’s pecan pie. Oh, delish! And the conversation was great too. I’m so fortunate to know such smart, fun people.

And then back for more work. Interview here. E-mail there. Press statement here. Catch up on the on-line celebrity gossip there. And the day is drawing to a close.

Hmmmm…what should I make for dinner????

Wednesday Highlights - January 23, 2008

Since I have been terrible at keeping up with Thursday highlights lately, I thought I would get a head-start this time and go with Wednesday instead.

This morning I woke up on the couch. Jeff’s snoring had hit an ultimate low (or high, I guess) and sighing dramatically I flounced to the living room with my blanket and pillow and huffed loudly as I laid down on the couch. This high drama was wasted, however, since Jeff snored through the whole thing. But, at least it made me feel a little better. I get to sleep in an extra 15 on Wednesdays because Janice comes to the house and I get back the time it takes to get Langston to daycare. Jeff, however, doesn’t get an extra 15 because he actually has to get to work at 7:30 these days because of a sick co-worker. This morning he actually lost 15 because he was still snoring away when I went in the bedroom at 7:10 and woke him up. Oops. Well, because he was late that meant I started to run late because the whole delicate balance of the morning schedule was now out of whack.

And then Janice called to say she was going to be a few minutes late. All this insane snow we’ve been accumulating daily makes for extended commutes. This would be fine on any other Wednesday. But, I was supposed to facilitate an interview at 8:30. And it was now 8:20. Again, oops. So, she finally got there and I went flying out the door and …insert banana peel whistle sound here…fell down our snow covered front stairs. I ended up on all fours in a snow bank in our front yard. Very nice. At that point I wanted to go back in the house, lay down and cry for a few minutes. Instead, I kind of whimpered and limped to the van. I think what was mostly hurt was my pride…but I did kind of hurt my foot too and it’s been bugging me all day. But, since it was now 8:35 I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself, I had to connect those 2 fools via my cell phone and hope the connection held.

Imagine you are watching the second hand of a clock. Around and around and around it spins…ticking off a minute every 60 seconds…imagine watching the hand sweep around 90 times…because that’s what I was doing as I listened to this endless interview on my cell phone of all things. 90 minutes? Are you kidding me? Really? You’ve got that much to say…and ask???

And, I was starving. I hadn’t had time for breakfast and I thought the interview would be 30 minutes max and I could have a snack. Um, not so much. By 10:00 I was ready to eat my own arm off.

Thank you Steelcase for having a cafeteria. I went downstairs and toasted a blueberry bagel.

Next I worked some on a power point for one of the breakout sessions for this year’s Strategy Forum at work. I am not a designer. I am not a power point genius. These things are kind of hard for me to do and, in the end, produce a product that is barely above average. Not very fulfilling work.

Then it was off to lunch at Tokyo Grill. Mmmmmm…ginger hibachi….very yummy.

Then off to a meeting at the pyramid building. As NeoCon gets closer and closer there are more and more weekly meetings to get the product launches queued up. Fascinating stuff. I brought my laptop so I could surf a little bit to stay alert during the meeting.

Driving back to headquarters, shivering in the old Odyssey, waiting endlessly for the heater to warm up from 2 degrees to the 88 I had set it to, I couldn’t help but to ponder how freaking cold it is outside and wonder when and if it’s going to let up. I set a very limited budget for Jeff and I for vacation this winter – if we can make it happen for that amount, then cool. However, the longer this cold snap endures and the more and more and more snow we get…I feel like, forget it! I’ve got to get out of here!!! Is there anywhere in the world where the sun is still shining??? I saw a great 24 hour sale for AirTran out of Flint…maybe we can make something work with that. Otherwise, I may have to go into hibernation for a few weeks.

Well I guess my plans for tonight are to put on my flannel pajama pants nearly immediately upon getting home, throw on a polar fleece pull-over, fuzzy sock and earmuffs (if necessary)….build a fire in the fireplace and watch American Idol and Project Runway. Perhaps I will also cuddle my young son for as long as he’ll let me…and maybe occasionally hold my husband’s hand….if I can pry it off the mac. Is it really only Wednesday???

Holiday Highlights - January 3, 2007

Well, since I’ve been absent for so long (which one of my possibly three, readers remind me of) it seems like I should begin the new year with a short list of holiday highlights:

*The Christmas carousel. After Christmas 06, dad Holquist passed along an old carousel he had found in his basement. You plug it in and it lights up, the horses go around and up and down, and about 10 carols repeat. PS, there is no way to disable the carol portion of the experience, which will make sense that I noted as you continue to read. So, I brought it upstairs with the rest of the decorations, thinking that Langston would get a kick out of it. I plugged it in and turned it on in front of him…and I witnessed Langston falling in love for the first time. Yes, the carousel inspired the first fiery, all-consuming love that Langston has ever known. He woke up in the morning thinking of it....running into the darkened living room to sit in front of it, turn it on and gaze lovingly at it. He went to bed crying to be separated from it. It was never far from his thoughts. He could sit and just watch it for like 20-30 minutes at a stretch -- I'm not kidding. It also played those blasted Christmas carols over and over and over - so, when Langston was out of the room or occupied, I would sneak over and turn it off. Mere seconds would pass before Langston would crook his head towards it...run over, and turn it back on. The slightly off-tune, tinny, calliope Christmas carols were the soundtrack of the Holquist holiday season and beyond. Sometimes at work I think I can hear it. I’ll wake up in the night sure it’s still on only to find that I’m losing my mind. It's the one thing from Christmas we haven't been able to put away yet...I hate to think of the drama when we finally do!

*Christmas presents. Jeff and I wanted to exchange one nice gift. Nothing outrageous. Nothing too budget-busting…just something kind of nice and thoughtful. We finally confessed to each other that we couldn’t think of a single thing to buy for the other person. When we changed tactics and thought to combine our resources and get one thing for us to share, we still came up empty. How pathetic is that? So, we ended up just buying just some smaller items and at least having something to open on Christmas Eve.

*Christmas Eve at the Holquist’s. It was a long and busy day. Langston was becoming increasingly not himself…with lots of crazy running around and screaming and flailing around when I tried to corral him a little…not his finest moments and not mine either as I was really starting to lost patience. So, I was already clinging to the end of the rope when after dinner I happened into the small office adjacent to the living room. They have a lovely cream colored wall-to-wall that went from the living room into the office. And I happened to notice a nasty glob of mustard on the carpet. We had just had dinner – with sandwiches included – so I wasn’t totally surprised, but a little shocked that someone had just glopped some mustard and walked away…then I noticed another blob…and another…and then, in horror I realized: THAT’S NOT MUSTARD!!! And I saw the back of my young son with smears of yellow poop from the middle of his back down to his little poopy buns!!! Like my life flashing before me I could picture this wild, out of control spazzy boy throwing himself down on the floor and rolling around (NO!) or flinging himself onto the sofa (NO!!) or running crazily through the house dripping poop behind him like Hansel and Gretel (NO!!!) So, I shouted, “Langston, freeze!” and then ran up to him…picked him up…held him at arm’s length, and ran through the house to the bathtub and dropped him in it. Of course he was not excited about this and was twisting and jerking all around and yelling. As was I. After a VERY difficult clothing extraction and then wash down and diaper removal and further washing down and then rebuilding (good thing he got some clothes as a Christmas present)…I was all…that’s it…we’re going home! Christmas Eve is officially over.

*Christmas Day with the Hills. Everyone came over to our house, which should have made everything easier. And it did…but I just didn’t feel myself (see next story to follow)…extra tired, extra crabby (which I tried to hide) and just a little extra impatient. But even I had to laugh at this…while Langston napped we (Julie, dad and I) decided to do a puzzle while we watched Elf. It was just a 300 piecer and we thought we had plenty of time. Which, it turned out, we did. Except, we were missing a piece. Augghhh! How can that be? It’s so unsatisfying! We looked under all the furniture…looked in other rooms of the house…got all disgusted at the cheap manufacturer who missed a piece and probably loaded the puzzle with lead paint, too. This continued until Langston toddled in from his nap, went up to his grandpa and placed in his hand, the missing puzzle piece. We just cracked up. Turned out Jeff had stolen a piece at the very beginning and kept it for when Langston woke up. He’s a sick man.

*Day after Christmas….5:00 AM. I wake up…Jeff’s not in bed…but, he’s had a bad cold and lately gets up if he can’t stop coughing, so I’m not surprised. I also realize that I am horrifically nauseated and noting a distinct rumble in my tummy that means all is not well. After an extended visit to the pink palace bathroom I lurch into the living room and mumble to Jeff that “I’m really sick…” and he returns the comment. Seems he’s been making his own visits since about the same time. We were both in total intestinal agony. And then we heard Langston wake up! Thank goodness he was not sick…but his cheerful energy was almost worse. Realizing that neither of us was well enough to care for him we were praising the Lord for daycare. But that meant one of us had to actually take him there and get home without getting sick. Neither of us felt at all confident. But, Jeff took pity on my crashing waves of nausea (getting worse by the second – and in fact, I did puke my guts out about 30 seconds after he left…so it was a good thing he volunteered) and took Langston in. We spent the remainder of the day in bed. Then there was the fight of who had to go pick him up! Jeff is quite the husband (or I was quite pitiful – either could be true). We found out the next day that 80% of the Holquist family was similarly struck down at the same time…we have racked our brains to determine if it was a virus or food poisoning. Based on what we’ve been able to figure – it looks like a nasty virus. Yuck. What a way to end the holiday season.

*New Year’s Eve. Dave (my brother-in-law) got free tickets to the Griffin’s hockey game, with parking pass and food coupons, so we joined their family for a night of very minor league hockey. Although the people watching was worth the price of admission. We also enjoyed the cover band that performed during the period breaks. This was a very family-centered crowd so we puzzled a little when they broke out with “50 ways to leave your lover” (Mommy….what’s a lover??) and then really laughed when they had the crowd “sing along” on the chorus. Is this really a message we want to send to this crowd of happy families? Hints that they should ditch? Not much singing along, but a lot of laughs. But, the fireworks were fun and it was something nice for the family to do (I have to keep this in mind now) together. Bring on 2008.

And now here I am back at work. A new year. Major post-holiday blahs. No resolutions. Just hanging on. You?