The Haps

You know, I really don't have much to blog about these days. No pregnancies, no tragedies, no excitement at all really. And I don't mind. I do have a couple of funny things going on though, and I'm all about the funny.

Sean is about 12 hours into a 10 day cleanse. You might know it, the Master Cleanse. He's miserable and bitchy, and I think it's pretty dang funny. Because I'm mean like that. He needs a diet coke in a bad way, and I just keep telling him I know he can push through the pain. Maybe I'm not mean. I'm supportive.

Gretta buckled herself into Elliott's bouncy seat today, then walked around with it on her back all morning. She thought she was so clever. I remember like yesterday (seriously, wasn't it just yesterday?) when she would sit all swaddled up in her own bouncy seat so she could take a nap. She had a binky and a helmet and she was the cutest little thing.

I colored Meg's hair dark today! It was awesome! It took us three processes; one to fill, one to color, and one to highlight. But we did all that, plus a cut and style in about 2 hours. Pretty slick stuff. It looks adorable. Will all the Noorda girls go dark eventually? Perhaps.

We had a really fun dinner tonight. Meg and Josh and Elliott were here, and we all made soups and Kelli made rolls, and we had dad and Noma over for the evening. It was so nice to be together all as a family. I think we're all sort of getting more comfortable with our new normal, and I'm so grateful for that. I love my family. I love that they love me, even when I say stupid things, and totally embarrass myself. That happens a lot.

So that's about it these days. I need to get running more, and I need to get taking more pictures. My life really isn't this boring, there are a lot of days that I leave in the morning, and don't return until dinner time, but it's very day to day mundane stuff that isn't really blog worthy. But that's okay, I guess.

Loves

Today is Valentime's Day. I love that my kids call it that. Well, not so much love, as despise, but I'm trying to have a good attitude.

Don't worry, my bad attitude is back already. One paragraph was hard enough.

This day makes me think of all the things I love. So many things. Love is hard to contain.

I love my family first and foremost. All of them. I hope they love me back, because I'm nuts, and hard to love.

I love my job. I get to make people look and feel pretty, and that makes me feel pretty darn good about myself.

I love homeschooling. Never thought I'd be saying that!

I love crab legs. It's been too long since I last had them. It's time.

I love baths that are so hot it makes the sweat run into my eyes.

I love my electric blanket.

I love blogging and facebook and twitter.

I love having options at this point in my life. Instead of being stuck on the hamster wheel of corporate America, we have a lot of choices ahead of us, and we can pretty much choose whatever path we'd like.

I love looking back at a year ago, and two years ago, and seeing progress.

Valentime's day is supposed to be all about love. And right now, I'm pretty much feeling the love.

Why I Don't Ride The Bus

When I was a kid, when we would go off-track, (that's a year-round school thing for those of you not in the know) my mom and a bunch of us neighbor kids would all take a day and ride the bus downtown. She did this with us because her mom used to do that with her. It was quite a big deal back in the day. They would don their nicest hat and gloves, and they would pay their $0.5, and ride the one and only bus that ran at that time. While downtown, they would shop, and my mom's mom would always let them get a candy bar, and sometimes a new dress.

See? Big deal.

So we did that when we were kids. We would put on our nicest shorts and sandals, pay our $0.25 to one of the two buses that ran that day, and head downtown. We would always eat lunch, and usually score a couple of outfits. My mom was nice like that.

See? Also a big deal.

So tomorrow I'm taking Maggie on a date. We are going downtown, and I thought I would take her on the bus. Not the train, we're old hats at the train, but the actual bus bus. So I started looking at places to catch the bus. Then I realized every bus (there are like 12 in Riverton now), stops at the train station. But I don't want to go to the train. So I started using the Itinerary link on the UTA website.

It doesn't work. So I called the number. It doesn't work either.

How am I supposed to know where to catch the bus and what time? Seriously, UTA, get your act together. It's no wonder no one rides the bus anymore. You have made it frustrating and inconvenient. And how are good mothers like me supposed to carry on the traditions of our mothers if you make it so difficult to find our way around?

I might just have to resort to driving. But I really want to ride the bus. Or do I?

In The Middle

This week we have quite a milestone. We have middle school orientation.

I'm so not ready for this.

I've been dreading the day my kid goes off to middle school, practically since the day she was born. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Lots of good memories, some bad ones, but mostly good.

Still, I am having major reservations about her walking into that giant school, her being a little bitty thing for a prospective 7th grader. All those 8th and 9th graders will look so much bigger than her, and I'm sort of associating bigger with meaner. I don't know why I'm doing that.

She's a good girl, she has good friends, and she makes good choices, so I don't really need to worry about her. But my mother bear instinct is really strong, and I just want to protect her from all the things she'll see from this point on in her life.

Homeschool is an option, but not one I'm putting much stock in. She isn't really interested in that right now, and I can't say I blame her.

Can someone please make time stop? Maybe for just a year? Or a day? I'd even take a day.

Backseat

Is it just me, or have blogs become old fashioned?

I used to picture my blog as a sleek new toy that everyone envied. A place where I could spew my thoughts and troubles and life lessons in a safe, public environment. Does one preclude the other? Perhaps, but it felt good either way.

Now I sort of picture my blog to be a flip phone version of what it used to be. You know, it's still useful for certain, if not limited, purposes, but for the most part it only does one thing. It's starting to look more and more like the brick phones of the early 90's.

Has Facebook taken over where blogs once reigned supreme? Honestly to me, it sort of has, and I'm saddened by that. I like reading back through my old posts, that are neatly sorted by date, rather than having to search page by page through old Facebook updates. So in that respect, I would rather blog. But blogs are technologically cumbersome. You have to type in a blog address. So much wasted time. Where as Facebook is a one-stop shop for all life's need-to-know moments.

I'm not saying my blog is falling to the wayside permanently, but as you can tell, it has definitely taken a back seat. If you just can't live without my witty comments on the ups and downs through life, find me and friend me on Facebook. Or just learn to live with the sporadic posts on this blog, which are few and far between as of late. It's a sad day, but I feel like it's time to go that direction. Sniff sniff.

Bigger Isn't Always Better

Yesterday I had to have my eyes dilated. Maggie giggles every time she hears the word "dilated". She's obsessed with babies and labor and delivery. It's creepy, but she knows a lot about it, so I guess that's good. But I digress.

I had to get my eyes dilated. First time ever. Not fun. I had no idea how crazy weird it is to have your eyes messed with. But it was pretty necessary, so I'll tell you my story.

I woke up, just like any regular day, but when I stood up, I noticed flashing silvery lights creating a halo effect in the very middle of my vision out of my left eye. Kind of like when you stand up too fast, and the blood rushes out of your head? It was like that. But it didn't go away. In fact, after a shower and doing my hair, it was getting worse. I had completely lost my peripheral vision on my left side, and the silvery halo was still there. It was giving me a headache.

We called Moran Eye Center, just to see what they said about it, and the nurse said that is a sign of a retinal tear or detachment, and that it warranted immediate care. I was totally freaking out at this point. So we headed up to the U, and got in to see the eye doctor. After a battery of tests, all of which freak me out because I have serious eyeball gross-out issues, it was confirmed that I did not have a retinal tear or detachment. Thank goodness.

So I had a little chat with the Neuro Ophthalmologist, and we concluded it was most likely what they call an ophthalmic migraine.

Basically, it's like when some people get migraines, they get the weird auras and light sensitivity right before the pain sets in. Only with this kind of migraine, all it is is the auras. I guess it's pretty common, but I had never heard of this in my life. It lasted a good 6 hours, and then as it subsided, I was left with a groggy, heavy feeling like I had been run over by a truck. It wasn't my best moment.

But really, all in all, I would take the auras and lights over having my pupils dilated to the size of baseballs any day. Not being able to read (Facebook), and the searing blinding sunlight really turned me off. I like my regular sized pupils, thankyouverymuch, but I am grateful for the technology that allows the doctors to see things like detached retinas and whatnot.

Today I'm fine. No more auras, no flashing lights and not too much light sensitivity. But I do need to keep an eye out ( ha ha) for another attack, because apparently once you get one, you are very prone to more. Weird.