Monday Mumbles

Doing something weekly like the Mumbles has really sped time up for me. I cannot believe how quickly it comes around each week. And that I actually have ten random thoughts to give you!

1.  Last night Owen and Turner were going around with microphones (that didn't work). Owen kept chanting, "JUMP AROUND GOLLY!" And after one round of his sing song chants, threw in, "WHAT Y'ALL SAYIN'? I DON'T CARE!"

2.  Hubs and I finally went on that date we were supposed to do. We had dinner with my girlfriend and her husband.  YUM to twice baked poatoes.

3.  I've decided I will NOT be talking about work when we go out anymore. Even with the best advice from people who are quality managers, no one can fully comprehend all the pieces of the puzzle with which I'm dealing.

4.  Our basketball team only has one game left.  My lower lip is sticking out. These kids have been fantastic.

5.  Today I get to be two people at work...and being myself is not included in this equation. One of my gals was scheduled for vacation, another got called for jury duty. FANTASTIC for me.

6. While watching a movie last night, there was a quote that explained perfectly why my character and make-up may or may not be made for corporate America.

"You can't make yourself happy bringing misery to other people."

7.   I'm late to the party, but in celebration of Black History Month, and in an effort to use it as a tool for education....here is a link that I ask and encourage you to read.  Many Blacks today continue to pass this knowledge down to each generation, but Whites do not.  Therefore, Whites walk around in ignorance and do not know that they may be offending without intent.  It is important to know where someone different from ourselves is coming from before we pass judgment that they are being sensitive without cause. Please read.

8.  There are many other things to learn from that site, so please take time and browse.

9.  It wasn't until I missed a very personal post by a dear friend here in Blogland that I realized how much I've MISSED in general. I need to catch up. I need to try and find time. Just know that I miss you if I haven't been around in awhile!!

10.  Mom, thanks for making it up to so many of Turner's basketball games. It's meant a lot, especially since you've been busy quilting over the past months. Looking forward to seeing you Saturday, and I hope you're staying for the pizza party!  :)

Happy Monday all.

Funny Faces Friday

 It's so easy to make OJ my featured Funny Face.  He's classic. He's cute.  He's fun.  He's two.

What I've Learned.....Lately

1.  Sometimes, it takes an extra long hug to make a child feel secure some days. And that's okay.

2.  I often believe that children act like children because they fully comprehend that mom and dad need that dependence. Not the other way around.

3.  By the time you get done describing to your husband what it is you want from the store, you could have been there and back and started cooking.

4.  The practice of tit for tat is a very, very strong impulse. Avoiding it takes mucho, mucho, mucho willpower.

5.  The sound of people sniffing will never, ever NOT drive me insane.  Blow it already. Seriously.

Monday Mumbles

Hi. It's Monday. Did you miss us on Friday? What? You didn't notice there were no funny faces?  Well my brother and sister did, so that counts for something.  Happy Prez Day. Yup, I'm off work.


1.  I might be off work and TO might be outta school, but he and I actually went into my office for about an hour and 45 minutes. There were two things I literally could not find time for in my work day, and I wanted to prep the work and get it out of my way. So I did.

2.  And then we went grocery shopping. TO was thrilled about this, but he ended up pushing the cart for me the entire time.

3.  Speaking of helpful, I'd like to help my little brother by pimping him out. He's got a newspaper job with a paper that will inevitably be cut from it's "head family" paper bosses. It's only a matter of time. Anyone know a newspaper that needs a sports writer? He's a pretty good photog too, and since he's essentially THE sole paper producer, he can do layout, social media updates, web page content...the list goes on.

4.  Does anyone else laugh at the AT&T ski lift commercial when one friend wants to ask out the other friend's ex, Sheila?  And the ex ends up chucking the phone out into the snow?  Love it.

5.  At my grandmother's yesterday, OJ was offered meatballs. He declined, and then later went to my aunt asking for something. She requested my interpretation abilities, and while listening to him I deciphered, "I ball".  He decided he did indeed want some meatballs after seeing TO eat them, but of course knowing correct pronoun usage, and knowing that he doesn't call himself "ME"...he calls himself "I".  So he asked for them properly...he asked not for "me"balls, but for "I"balls.  That's my OJ.

6.  But of course I couldn't let him go around in ignorance, so I explained that hamburger that we use to make meatballs is a MEAT, the body of a cow..emphasis T.  MEATTTTT.  That is why, dear OJ, we call them MEATTTTballs.  So when he requested more, he properly referenced them by asking for "a "ME"BALL with an EYE" and yes...he pointed to his EYEBALL. Body parts covered.

7.  I received a special surprise in the mail on Friday and want to send a great big THANK YOU to Emily.  What fun to get home and find something FUN!  Evie is going to love it. When I can bear to hand it over and watch it get slobbered on.  :)

8.  I've realized if there is one thing I can do, it's teach little people. And after coaching basketball this season (only 2 games to go, boo!), I believe it only requires a few things:
          a.  Break down the terminology into simple actions that they can understand
          b.  Repetition.  Repetition.  Repetition.
          c.  Awareness to recognize when you're about to lose them, regroup, stop lecturing, and direct
              questions at them so that they can become re-engaged.

9.  What do I really know, though? I'm just a "banker".

10.  I got to hang with this dude today.  He's alright.

Friends in Low Places

While there might or might not be stories in my past about friends who WERE in low places, I prefer to stash them in my memory Rolodex as friends in growing pains places.  I might or might not be able to regale you with stories of driving around my countryish hometown listening to country music like Garth Brooks' Friends in Low Places, but those stories are filed under The Thunder Rolls memories instead.

No, this isn't about such things. It's about my friends. Yes. It's about low places. Yes. It's nothing to do with country music, I'm afraid.

I was reflecting a lot this past week. Job stuff, you know. It's ever-consuming. But what keeps popping up, a recurring theme it seems, is that no matter how the job turns out, friends do.  My work places have been friend factories. And for that, I am grateful. What a wonderful thing to gain from a place that otherwise mentally tortures you day in and day out.

My first true pit stop on the professional road was the most fruitful, ironically. Not only do I still get to occasionally chat with my first manager there, I talk frequently with the second manager I had, who was my senior before that. The guy in the group who picked on me like an older brother? Check. He emailed me today. And the best memory from there, my very first day, I met a great friend in orientation and to this day stay in touch. We now work together again, for a different company. Through her I met another guy, and we're now working together again as well. Five. Five wonderful people that I love to chat with, stay in touch with, and see frequently.

My second pit stop was less exciting in the way of friendships, but one guy in my group was someone I respected and felt could do great things. We aren't in touch that often, but we "see" one another on Facebook and occasionally catch up a bit. He pursued the teaching degree that I always coveted. I envy that he had the wherewithal to follow through and take the time and DO it.

Now? My third stop? I have reconnected with one great friend and one who has become one. Ironically he and she were cube mates at my first stop and are in the same department once more. I look forward to seeing them and talking with them daily. In addition, I have found another great friend despite all the obstacles she and I have hurdled together on the job. We have had interesting conversations, knowledgeable and thought provoking. Some days we see eye to eye, others I'm sure we don't. No matter the topic or conclusion of each discussion, I feel privileged to have found someone that makes going to work a lot easier. Each and everyday.

No matter what happens with any of my professional duties or bosses or paycheck writers, I have taken so much more from them. Friendship. Trust. Loyalty. Compassion. And while my places of business have been on the receiving end of my hard work, my tears, my pride and effort and loyalty, I pulled the bigger piece of the wishbone. Every single time.

Monday Mumbles

What a glorious Monday we're facing this morning, people. Why, you ask?  Why, the weather of course!! (You thought I'd say Valentine's Day, huh? Suckers.)


1.  Here's the forecast for our area. Finally.

Monday - most sunny, 47 high

Tuesday - cloudy, 52 high

Wednesday - partly cloudy, 62 high

Thursday - a.m. clouds/p.m. sun, 66 high

Friday - partly cloudy, 58 high

2.  Now, even if some of these numbers deviate, and they will I'm sure, none of them will drop to a high in the 30s. It just can't.  Beautiful, I say!

3.  As for the 'other' part of this day - Vday. Yeah yeah, happy heart day...happy chocolate day.  I'm all for it. Silly holiday be damned, I think it's fun. I plan on bringing a small little surprise for my basketballers tonight at practice.

4.  I found myself very, very confused yesterday without football.  While college basketball is still going strong, Sundays are far less exciting without the NFL droning in the background during my Sunday activities.

5.  See?  Even Evelyn is sad about the end of football season.

6.  Remember that new gig that Hubs was going for at work?  He got it! Starts this week.

7.  Speaking of new gigs.....

8.  Remember when I mentioned our lost pizza cutter and Owen's reaction?  I found out a week or so after the fact that he got that line from our friend Dora the Explorer's nemesis/sometimes pal Swiper the Fox.  He apparently uses "It's toooooo late! I took it! HA HA HA!" quite frequently....which I of course recognized once it was brought to my attention. I'm surprised none of you mommies out there tipped me off to it.

9.  We had a Valentine's Day movie party last night with the boys. We watched Remember the Titans. I think it was a great love story to share with them.

10.  I fear that our little Evie girl is a bit spoiled. I've gotten tired and lazy in my old age and third child, and taken to nursing her in bed at night. And then we fall asleep. And she stays there for a few hours until I realize what happened at midnight and put her in her bed. And then she realizes what I did and wants to eat again a 1am so she can work her way back to the bed. And she is starting to throw tantrums. Little brat. It's a shame she's so cute.

Funny Faces Friday

Today is OJ's day. I think it's time.  Ornery he might be, but he's all mine and I love him.

OJ playing in the snow with his daddy

OJ playing in the snow at his grandpa's house

Spiderman is all smiles

He is such a ham

He just LOOKS ornery

If You Please

Fingers crossed?
Toes too?
Maybe a few (hundred) prayers?

Just sayin'......

A friend posted this in response to a meeting I missed staying home with my daughter on Monday.  It was clear my boss was implying that I wasn't adhering to the standard she set, and expressed it to my three colleagues.

The expectation came down in a meeting yesterday that in crisis, as a member of management, my job responsibilities come first...ahead of any of my family's needs. Um...well, time for me to express my severe disappointment that THAT expectation (never expressed before I took the job and now I'm 3+ years into it) and my value system seriously do not mesh. No job comes before my babies.

 

It is unfortunate that my boss cannot recall that my attendance record looks like this:

July 2008-Dec 2008:  0 unplanned absences

Jan 2009 - Dec 2009: 1 unplanned absence

Jan 2010 - Dec 2010: 0 unplanned absences

With four children in the home, I think this record speaks for itself. Family/work life balance is a non-factor where I work. So is rational thinking and compassion.  Sorry, Charlie, I will not leave my children with strangers when their daycare closes due to state of emergency for the entire state. Nor will I force my husband to risk his job by calling in AGAIN. 

Time for a switch. I just hoping it's coming down the PIPE...or PIKE. Whatever the hell it slides in on.  I must breathe in...breathe out. And let go of the anger.  Time to dress my babes.

Happy Wednesday everyone. 

Monday Mumbles

Sorry charlies....no full Mumbles today. We weren't home last night and this morning is rush rush. Why don't you leave a few mumbles for me...get them out of your system, shake the cobwebs free to start your day?


1.  Evie was feverish all night long but for fear of my boss's reaction, I am contemplating taking her to daycare anyway. What the hell is this world I'm living in?

2.  Last night I dreamed that I went in, put in my two weeks notice, and left.  Just left.  Without a job to go to, without a worry. Wouldn't it be fantastic if life worked that way?

3.  On an upside, OJ had a great day at daycare Friday.  He even helped the teacher, hugged the teacher, held the teacher's hand. Of course that was AFTER he had a meltdown...but he recovered. I think that's the key.

4.  Our little basketball team won again..."won" in quotes since we don't technically keep score.

5.  TO gets to visit the dentist this morning....his first visit since losing all his teeth. We'll see how good we're doing!

Have a good Monday everyone. Chin up, eyes bright. Kick somebody.

Funny Faces Friday

Snow day.....snow play. Yes Hubs looks like a hick with his overalls, but they keep him warm. And he's not a hick. I don't know why Till is outside in his pajama pants.

Funny Faces with Grandma!

Evie didn't want in on the action, apparently.

OJ is making a face even if he's not looking at the camera. Sissie must be cuter than Mama.

Hair Care

Post-bath hair without pigtails to "shape" it. Lovely.

Post-wetdown and kept in place with headband. Lovely.

Demonstrating how the curls stay "maintained" and in shape with headband. Lovely.

Crazy hair dry and untamed except for the headband, which slipped and became a tiara of sorts. Lovely.

Tiara in full effect with medusa-like squigglies escaping. Lovely.

Semi-tamed after combing and securing with headband. Lovely.