From the category archives:

Life Unscripted

Shifting focus. Parteee Tyme.

by Claire on March 7, 2010

There’s an end in sight to what I should call my daughter’s never-ending pregnancy. The doctors had us convinced that she would deliver early due to risk factors in this pregnancy and early contractions that started back in January. So we’ve had false start after false start, only to be sent home and my daughter told to take a hot bath and relax. It’s been very frustrating not to mention that the contractions has caused my daughter’s fibro to flare too. (Yes, we both have fibro. Great, eh?)

However, the great news is that baby Laila has proven everyone wrong. She is strong and healthy, and the doctors are estimating (as of last Friday) that she’ll be a “chubby” 7 and a half pounds or so. (They admit their estimates based on her size can vary by 15% or so.)

My daughter is now scheduled to be induced on her due date at 40 weeks. That’s this next Tuesday, March 9th.  Ah, the luxury of knowing something, at last. My oldest daughter had scheduled C-sections so we just knew on X date, she was having her baby. I really enjoyed planning for those dates. Not knowing is killing us!

This is good for me because once the baby gets here, my job of caring for my own daughter is mostly done, and the focus will shift to my daughter caring for HER daughter. I can get my life back to a somewhat normal routine of work and play.

Until this next party is over, that is.

Partay???? PARTAY!! My mom is turning 90 on March 30th, and I’m organizing a big party for her on March 26th.

For that event, I’m going to need a pretty new dress. Every girl needs a pretty new party dress, right? And considering I’ve had no time what-so-evah to sew, and what time I did have to sew for myself ended up in a major FAIL, I’m buying. (This is good news too cuz now I have a body that I can fit more easily! Go me!)

So, I went to Kohls.com (my favorite store these days as they seem to have clothes that fit me pretty well) and picked out three new dresses. Gotta love free shipping and Kohls Cash. I purchased all three of these for $132 (including tax) and got $20 Kohl’s Cash to spend in a store – thinking I’ll be needing some cute shoes to go with these dresses.

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Not sure which one I’ll pick to wear that night, but most likely the pink one. What thinketh you?

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{ 9 comments }

I should call this…

by Claire on February 28, 2010

The year of broken things.

Well, really since the end of last year things have been falling apart around me. Material things, not family or emotional things. Last October, my daughter’s car died and it’s still dead. It needs timing belts, crank sensor, spark plugs, and a valve gasket replaced. Yeah, it can wait as long as the dealer will let me keep it there.

Then, just before Christmas, my work laptop died – a laptop I have to provide for myself, not company provided. I had taken it in to work to have the Windows 7 operating system installed on it when the motherboard crashed. Luckily I was able to commandeer my daughter’s identical laptop and got that up and running. Now, two months later, that laptop died. Same problem.

(As an aside, I found it rather interesting that both HP Pavillion dv6500 computers died almost exactly 2 years from when I purchased  them. Coincidence?)

So this last Monday I had to go out and buy a new computer. My job is dependent on me having a working, reliable computer. If I don’t have a laptop, I can’t work. If I don’t work, I obviously don’t get paid. So this time I opted for a more powerful (read: also more expensive) laptop. This time, I veered away from the HP and landed with a Sony Vaio with an HD widescreen monitor and all the bells and whistles. I love it – all except for the slightly squeaky keyboard.

Then today, my cell phone, which was limping along just fine decided that all I would be able to do was text people with it. I couldn’t hear anyone when I placed or received a call. So off to Verizon Wireless I went. I had been avoiding this for a long time because a) my contract had expired and I didn’t want to get locked into another one and b) I hate paying my astronomical cell phone bill every month and had been considering getting rid of it altogether, and c) if I was going to have a phone, I really, really wanted to hold out until the new Windows Phone 7 is released and I’d get that.

Have I mentioned that I am a sucker for all things techy, shiny and geekified? Well, I saw the HTC Droid and played with it for a few minutes and it wooed me over. I forgot all my resolve of not renewing a contract, my temptation to chuck the whole cell phone addiction in the toilet, and I walked out with a new phone and all the accessory gadgets.

Did I mention the PINK cover I got for it?

That just makes everything better now.

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I keep going, and going, and going…

February 13, 2010

Here’s a news flash for you: I’m an overachiever. That really surprised you, didn’t it? I’ve always been that way – it’s just who I am. This works out great for me in my career because I can do the work of three people in a third of the time and this keeps me employed, [...]

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5 comments The rest of the story →

Amazing, really, but it’s more than parental pride

February 4, 2010

**Apologies to my Facebook friends who have already seen these photos ad-nauseum**
My oldest daughter, Cindy, is an amazing photographer. The word “amazing” is often overused these days, in my opinion, as the go-to adjective to describe anyone or anything with slightly more-than-mediocre or impressive skills, talent, or results. In fact, I heard it in abundance [...]

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Coming up for air

February 3, 2010

Phew… there’s been so much going on lately that I’ve been a neglectful blogger. Sometimes I don’t blog because the hugely disparate thoughts that go through my mind are hard to congeal into any sort of substance that might make sense to my peeps. So I stay quiet. That, and I’ve been swamped with work [...]

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I had to do it.

January 23, 2010

Really. I did. Not that I was on any sort of self-imposed restriction or anything like that. But when I saw this in my inbox from Lucy’s Fabrics, I couldn’t resist.
What I love about this is that it’s chocolate brown and pink and has a border print. This fabric is also 58-60” wide, so [...]

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No Rain for this Shower!

January 10, 2010

We started by posting signs wrapped in plastic wrap (it’s called the low budget version) anticipating rain and wind all day, but the Baby Shower Gods smiled on my daughter and the clouds parted and sun poured forth. We still had some wind, but we’re not complaining.
We had a great turnout. I think [...]

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15 comments The rest of the story →

We are not tidy crafters

January 9, 2010

Thursday night, my youngest (the mommy to be) and I went up to my oldest daughter’s house and we got the party favors ready for the baby shower. What a fun time that was. When my first grandson was born, we spent time at my house making candles. I remember my son-in-law and daughter working [...]

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4 comments The rest of the story →

Resolutions or Solutions?

January 2, 2010

Anyone who knows me knows I really don’t do New Year’s resolutions. I really think they’re silly for the most part. Being the editor and writer that I am, I also like to play with words. If you think about the word “resolution” it has two parts: re and solution. “Re” implies doing something over [...]

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8 comments The rest of the story →

Pre-Christmas Picture Fun & Wishes

December 24, 2009

Thought I’d share with you some random pics of the last few days before Christmas. Other than that, I don’t have much to say besides I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, whatever your religious affiliation or lack of one, whether it’s summer or winter wherever you are, whether you’re with family or single, [...]

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1 comment The rest of the story →