Day Three of My Captivity

I'm looking at DAY THREE stuck in our house.

So yeah, I don't have much of interest to blog about right now.

I've been barfed on six times in the last twenty-four hours. Surprisingly, that doesn't bother me. It exhausts me... but doesn't gross me out like I would have thought. Maybe because comforting my sweet Nils is more important than worrying about the vomit. Or maybe because I've spent my entire life as a barfer (oh man, I throw up easily) so vomit is commonplace rather than totally gross. Who knows.

Chris came home with a huge container of bath salts and a new candle and sent me straight into a hot bathtub. And while I was soaking away the smell of vomit, he dealt with the insurance mumbo jumbo that's been annoying me.

Last night included one vomiting child incident so I slept a portion of the night on his floor. At some point I awoke and wanted to move to my bed only to discover both of my legs were asleep. It was quite painful and comical. I ended up literally crawling to the couch where I once again attempted to stand twice, and collapsed twice, before turning into She-Ra and just using my upperbody to toss myself onto the couch. I slept there until I heard Nils throwing up again. I awoke Chris and upon going to Nils' bed, found that I must have dreamed the throwing up as Nils was fast asleep.

This morning began with coffee, more vomit, and more coffee. I miraculously got Nils to fall back asleep and wound up taking a nap as well. More coffee. More laundry. More of a day inside. I'm getting cabin fever and it might be getting weird around here. I desperately needed to get to the grocery store days ago. And needed a haircut last week that I put off until this week. So... that's a bummer.

If you would like to talk to me conversational choices are limited to Sir Ernest Shackleton, Eric Weihenmayer, Mt. Everest's Death Zone, our upcoming vacation, and Lorna's backstory on Orange is the New Black. Anything else and I can assure you I am only pretending to listen.

Incoherent Ramblings

Want to listen to me obsess some more? I just can't get into my next book. You know the feeling when you loved the book you just finished so much that it seems impossible to move to the next book? Yeah, I've got that problem. Maybe I should just reread Touch the Top of the World. I've started like three books and just can't move on yet. Or maybe I'll just go to an old standby palette cleanser like Don't Stop the Carnival.

If you don't know the feeling I'm talking about then you need to find better books to read. It's the feeling of the book you just finished being so good that you forget that you have finished it. It's the feeling of not being able to move on to the next book because your brain is still stuck firmly in the last one. It's a wonderful and horrible place. Gone With the Wind... yeah... that one will do it to you.

OR maybe I shouldn't start another book and should instead spend my time wisely prepping for the Quiet Day I'm leading a week from today. Hm. That wooouuld be wise. Nah. I'll let Future Casey deal with that.

I was listening to an interview with Yann Martel on NPR recently and he was asked about sending books to the Canadian Prime Minister. Martel (author of Life of Pi) said that he heard the Prime Minister say that he doesn't read fiction and was horrified. Here's what stuck with me: Martel argued that reading fiction is one of the things that brings people to compassion. It is when we read that we enter into the shoes of another person and walk around in them. That is so true. Reading is an escape that watching tv or playing online just isn't. Reading Touch the Top of the World I became a blind man mountain climbing. Reading Gone With the Wind I'm Scarlett watching Atlanta burn around me and just trying to get home to Tara of the past. I've been a middle aged Jewish man in the Caribbean. I like to return to the terror of a world in which people burn books and only listen to ipods. Reading transforms the user experience in a way that watching could never do. Martel is so right. Reading brings the ability to walk in another shoes and truly learn what it is like to be someone else. Reading breeds compassion. The end of the story was that Martel started mailing books to the Prime Minister that he recommended he read. That's awesome.

I think this might be my favorite time of year: Texas Spring. It's technically still winter (ha, winter) but outside the weather is glorious. The birds are singing and the sun is out. The humidity is low and the suffocating heat of the summer is still far enough in the future to seem like it might not come this year (double ha).

Okay, I'm lying. This isn't my favorite time of year. Fall in another state is my favorite. But, hey, this is what were living so this will be my favorite. Minus all of the allergies.

You know what would be a good security system? Putting those little kid door handle things on the outside knobs of your house.

My coffee intake is out of control. Too much coffee. Too much junk food. Ugh. Today is reset day. Well, not reset caffeine day, don't be ridiculous. Future Casey has way too much on her plate to start that crap. *sigh* When will I ever learn? When will I eeeevvvver learn?

What Comes Before Part B?

Part A!!
Ohhh yeah.

Happy birthday to me. I finally have embraced the (perhaps obnoxious) reality that I love my own birthday. Party! Party!

The festivities kicked off yesterday when one of my favorite friends met us at the park. C's bff's mother surprised me with a birthday picnic. I was so shocked! A nice tablecloth, a fancy delicious cake, snacks, drinks - it was seriously one of the best surprises.

OHMYGOODLORD - It's 5freakingAM and Olive keeps meowing and chirping and scratching at the kids' doors. She's been at it for the last half hour and I now am beginning to suspect SHE is the reason they've been waking up so damn early. GRRRRR. Olive, hell hath no fury like a mother of children awakened too early in the morning. You have been warned, cat.

Oh hey, I like my cats again. Remember how I was so annoyed with them all of the time? Yeah, that's over. At the moment I'm in my favorite seat in the house ("my" armchair) with a cup of coffee on one arm and Max on the other. But, alas, I have to go chase Olive away from Nils' door.

Okay, back to my birthday. Sorry for that not-so-brief interruption. After my surprise birthday picnic yesterday we spent all morning at the park. The weather was perfect and that mom is perfectly content to talk about Everest, and Erik Weihenmayer, It's Sunny, and all things that are fascinating. We have very similar tastes. Then C and I spent the afternoon eating popcorn and reading library books. Eating popcorn and reading library books is a ritual for us. Sometimes I like to ask her if she's going to do that with me forever. Can't you just see the two of us with a bowl of popcorn and some good books through out all phases of life? Yeah, me too.

Chris came home early with proclamations of birthday celebrations and we went to my favorite restaurant (Alicia's). I'm sure they hate us there as we order queso and fajitas for one... but we tip really well to make up for it, go at like 5, and really - fajitas for one is a ton of food. If you are going to serve enough food for four people then don't be surprised when four people order it.

Oh! AND - Chris cut our cubbies to fit into our entryway!!! Remember how I brought home kindergarten cubbies from my parents' house? They're in! Woo! They are so so so awesome. All I need to do is get hooks and put each of our names on a spot. I'm giddy with how cool and functional it is.

All of this fun and it wasn't even my birthday yet! Today: coffee, zoo, birthday homemade pizza dinner, cake! Tomorrow: gardening and dinner with c's best friend's fam. Things are looking up (remember that commercial that I always quote from when we lived in VA but it didn't play here?) "Things are looking up!"

Also, awesome side note - I was thinking about my friend Katie and realized that they are our friend family in which EVERYONE is friends. Chris and her hubby are friends. Katie and I are friends. The kids are all friends. How often does THAT happen? Awesome.

Oh, damn it, Olive... again? Really. I take back what I said about liking my cats...
Sigh, we'll at least while I'm up chasing her I can get some more coffee.

Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! I look like a walrus, and I swim in the sea!

ABCs of today

Addicted. It's Sunny in Philadelphia. Netflix. Need I say more? Okay, I'll say more. I love Charlie Day. I think he is so adorable and told Chris that if there were a movie version of our lives Charlie Day would play Chris. I then reenacted a scene from It's Sunny in which Charlie's teeth fall out because he never brushes them... Chris was not amused but rather bemused (Chris brushes his teeth). "It's the actor! Not the character that reminds me of you!" I'm not sure he bought it.

Back and Bootcamp and Birthday- I strained a muscle in my upper back yesterday (no, Mom, no tooo badly. Just like a big knot) and it's too sore to go to bootcamp tomorrow. I'm totally bummed about this as tomorrow is my birthday. Does that sound crazy to you? For people's birthdays in bootcamp we do everything in sets of their age. So tomorrow we were going to do 33s. I'm bummed.

Coffee, what else? Despite my neurologist's recommendation to keep caffeine to two cups of coffee a day, I've been letting it creep up again. It's always a caffeine roller-coaster around here. Not really a caffeine roller-coaster... coffee. Just coffee.

Dirty. Well, maybe not dirty but messy... our house that is. I've been trying to clean all week and it's messier than when I began. How does that happen?! I think because I'm trying to clean out and reorganize and not just hide away all of the crap. Our house is weird because we have several areas that are basically empty (like the cabinets underneath all of our bathroom sinks) but then we have crapola everywhere that doesn't seem to have a place to go. Reorganizing makes everything so messy. Messy, not dirty.

Erik Weihenmayer aka My New Hero. Remember how I only want to talk about Everest or Antarctica? Well, guess what... Erik Weihenmayer has been to both. He's done the Seven Summits and is so lovable and, oh by the way, he does all of this blind. I need everyone to read his book so we can talk about him all of the time. I emailed his facebook contact page and got a reply from his manager (or some such person). She asked me where I live so that they can consider inviting me to an upcoming talk. Oh my gosh I reeaaalllly want to go hear him speak. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to do to sign up for his No Barriers commitment. Let's all do it. It doesn't have to be a physical challenge. Anyone else want to sign up?

Freaking stalker... yikes. If all I want to do is talk about Sir Ernest Shackleton that's fine. But somehow having my new hero be someone living makes me sound like a stalker... I'm not, just to be clear. Although if Erik Weihenmayer lived nearby I would invite his family over for dinner... sooo... hmm. Just read the damn book and you'll feel the same way. Trust me, I never throw out a broad "you have to read this" to everyone I know, but this one. Yep. Read it.

Girl Scout Cookies. I think the solution to the "I want to buy a bunch but not eat a bunch" problem is to purchase the "Thanks A Lots" and give them to people for whom you are thankful. We bought four boxes of cookies, ate two, and have two to give away. Perfect solution. I can't wait for kids to join scouts (years from now I'm going to be up to my eyeballs in cookies and popcorn and look back on that sentence and roll my eyes).

Hoopla. We just realized our library has Hoopla and we can borrow digital media - ummm awesome! So at the moment we're listening to Disney audio books. C is snuggled up on the floor and Nils is wandering around with Pup-pup and King Julian (his two lovies).

Ingredients. The ingredients we always have on hand? Ingredients for red beans and rice, homemade pizza, pasta, and stir-fry. These are my go-to meals when I don't feel like going to the grocery store. Except that I always forget about stir-fry so we pretty much never have that.

Jimmers. When I went to Beaumont this week the plan was to come back with Jimmers' boyhood dresser aka my childhood dresser aka Nils' new dresser. With Jimmers' help I filled the entire bed of the truck. I came back with the dresser, an awesome ancient trunk, a small table for the backyard, two huge cubbies from my old preschool, and two blue velvet wing-back chairs. Needless to say, Chris was surprised.

Katie. Oh thank God for Katie. Katie is the first friend I made after we moved here and she is fabulouso. We have kids around the same age and they all love each other so that works out nicely. Nils talks about her boys pretty much all of the time. Last Friday while our husbands were at Dio Council Katie had us over for pizza and ice cream and when bedtime came I tossed my kiddos into pjs and one out of two fell asleep on the drive home. Since Friday every single time we've gone anywhere at all Nils has cheered "Cooper and Charlie's house!" and is disappointed ("ooohhh") when we pull into anywhere that isn't their house.

Lent. The day before Ash Wednesday this year I was still like, "Oh yeah... Lent... I don't feel like it this year" but then I recalled that Lent is about remembering that I am not the Creator. I am the creation. So, perhaps the years when I'm "not into it" are the most important years of all. Perhaps those are the years when I most need to remember that I am not God. So, I'm doing it. Lent, that is.

My mom. I'm in the mood for my mom to come visit. We can go thrift-storing and hang up pictures in my house and rearrange furniture and watch chick flicks. Come over, Mom! It will be fun fun fun!

Nils. That little guy is hilarious. Like, purposely hilarious. Yesterday evening the kids went to the neighbors' house to play. I made dinner with our back door open and listened to the squeals of happiness coming from the yard next door. Being old enough to go play with the kids next door? What fun for all of those kiddos!

Oatmeal. My current breakfast. Old fashioned oats, a sprinkling of chocolate chips, and a spoonful of peanut butter all stirred together. Yum.

Piney Wood Fever. We came back from Beaumont with sore throats and itchy eyes. Why is that always the case when it's the same eco-system? Carolena walked through the kitchen yesterday and said in a croaky voice, "Well, it feels like I've got the Piney Woods Fever." Ha! Piney Woods Fever! That kid. From henceforth all southeast Texas allergies shall be known as "Piney Woods Fever."

Quest. I'm on a quest to find a bicycle built for two. Not a quest like I'm looking online and going to buy one for a couple hundred dollars quest. A quest like I'm checking Goodwill often and hopefully this quest will end with me paying like $50 and laughing manically every time I ride it that someone marked it $50. That kind of quest. I'm also on a quest for vintage hats. 

Rush. I'm really excited about our birthday present for my nephew Rush this year. I had to clear it with my sister, but if you don't want me to ruin the surprise then stop reading. Ready? A jar of worms. Hahaha. Really. Yeah. I think I'm going to make one for us too. I'm going to put layers of dirt into a big jar (with holes in the lid, of course) and then fill it with worms. It's going to be awesome. Don't you wish I were your aunt too?

See America First. Oh my gosh - while at my parent's house my mom gave me a big trunk with a See America First sticker on it. I'm giddy. See America First?! That trunk must be like 100 years old. I wonder who put that sticker on it. I wonder where they went. My RPTS side is geeking out.

Too damn early. Why are my kids waking up too damn early everyday?! Stay in bed! Sleep! Geeze Louise.

Under our bed. We have more things stored under our bed than under my bathroom sink. That seems strange to me.

Vacuum. Yep, we got a new one. Again.

Walrus. "Carolena, if I didn't know any better I would think you were a baby koala" I said to which she innocently replied, "Mommy, if I didn't know any better I would think you were a big fat walrus swimming in the sea." Evidently if you are 4.5 then baby koala and big fat walrus are comparable in the list of okay things to call another human.

X - x was Carolena's letter of the week this week and she brought in a T-Rex. We thought and thought and thought about what to bring. The morning her letter bag was due we still had nothing for it... until I tripped over the T-Rex, picked that sucker up, and tossed him in the bag. Thanks Carolena's school homework guardian angel!

Yesac. That's my backwards name. Amileen and I used to love figuring out how to pronounce everyone's names backwards in elementary school. Huh, Amileen is now probably what you think her name was... it was Neelima. Or was it...? Now you're confused... bwa ha ha!

Zoo! Tomorrow is my birthday and we're going to spend the day at the zoo. I can't wait. I love my birthday (yeah, I'll admit it) and I'm going to live it up. I was going to start the day with bootcamp, but alas, I guess I'll start the day some other way. I'm definitely getting Starbucks though. Probably. Maybe. Eh... I'll just make coffee at home. And then we're going to the zoo! Hooray! The zoo is one of our family's favorite outings. Everyone has a blast. We get to be outside. Kids are consistently well-behaved there. Zoo! Zoo! Zoo!

Friday

I'm currently reading Touch the Top of the World - the firsthand account of a blind man who is a mountain climber and the only blind person to have summited Everest. He also climbed the Seven Summits. So, yeah, he's basically my new hero. I found a signed copy at Goodwill, and as that sounds right up my alley, I of course tossed it in my cart. I'm totally sucked in - it is fabulous and fascinating. Weihenmayer lost his vision just before high school so he talks about what it was like and how he got into mountain climbing. The thing that makes the book so insanely good isn't that Weihenmayer talks so frankly about losing his eyesight, or even that he is so inspirational - it's that he's just so freaking likable as a person. Fabulous book.

Speaking of vision, Chris and I had a lunch date this week! What fun! Kids were at school and we met up at the eye doc to pick new glasses for Christophe. We were successful (too successful as I also picked out a new pair for myself and wore them around for a while. I'm thinking about going back to get them. They may or may not be basically a pink version of something similar to what I have now. PINK!! Oh, I love them) and then we went out for lunch. I think we need more lunch dates in the future. I'll wear my (yet to be purchased) pink glasses.

We bought a bike helmet for Nils this week and the kids and I rode bikes in the cul de sac. Well, they did. I don't have a bike so I just hung out and helped Nils. I think I'm going to ask Santa to bring me a tandem bike next year. Can't you picture me and Chris on a bicycle built for two? Yeah, me neither... we rarely fight but I have the feeling that would draw it out. Eh... worth it. Goodwill shoppers of the world keep your eyes peeled: Casey wants a tandem bike!

Yesterday I saw a baggie full of ashes on our kitchen counter and the thought immediately came to mind, "uh, why is a cremated person on our counter? That is so going to get lost" and then I quickly remembered the day before was Ash Wednesday. Whew. I thought Chris had lost his mind.

We got one of these things and set it up yesterday. Chris hung upside down by his legs on it. I was impressed and tried but chickened out. Turns out my dream to join the circus when I go back to work might not be the best option for my talents (or lack thereof).

Well, I just got home from bootcamp so I'm off to drink more coffee. It's spring weather outside so I'm feeling upbeat and carefree and thus my coffee intake has increased drastically. I'm okay with that seeing as how Chris will be out of town for the weekend and I'll have two little monkeys to keep up with all on my own. Wish me luck!