What up, Internet?! How about me, not posting once yet this year?!
I been busy.
Crazy thing: my hiatus from gainful employment, followed by getting a job in which I’m actually invested and busy (WEIRD) created a bit of a rift between me & social media/blogging. I still love me some Instagram and Twitter and (god help me) Facebook, but I can go longer and longer stretches without wanting to open any of those apps on my phone. And, nine times out of ten, I have about 3475629563 more pressing things to do besides blogging AND I HATE SAYING THAT, I DO, because I love this blog – not just because of all the awesome people it’s allowed me to connect with and the creative outlet it’s given me, but also because it’s been a nearly six-year archive of my fucking LIFE. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to spend an hour in my archives, reading about all the little details I’d long since forgotten…especially when those details involve this one:
Anyway, I’m not intending to take down this blog or to stop blogging altogether – I guess I just felt the need to share that I’m a little less connected these days (for now, anyway – this shit seems to operate in cycles), and that might mean less posting here for the time being. Maybe. I dunno. At the very least, I’ve made a promise to myself that I’d only stick to the positive side of the Internet from now on. Not that I was a giant troll or engaged in arguments in comments sections across the land, but I definitely LURKED in those comments sections, and…fuck that shit. The real world is ugly enough without me seeking more ugly out online.
(You should know that this rule means I spend an inordinate amount of time on pretty lifestyle blogs, reading about crafts I’ll never make.)
AND NOW! I shall attempt to update you on all the events of this brand, spanking new year:
Sadie got a new bed. The mattress she’s been sleeping on since her third day on Earth had become far too small for her rapidly increasing height, and the frame that has converted from crib to toddler bed has now reached its final destination as an honest-to-goodness, full size, grown person bed. I was a total mess over this.
I don’t know why my brain chose this particular event to get all weepy and Sunrise-Sunset about, but there you have it. Maybe it’s because I have suddenly realized that my baby is actually a little girl who will turn five next year (!!!) and who says words like “apparently” in the right context and—with the addition of her new bed—is sleeping in a room that has absolutely, positively no traces of baby left within it. No changing pad, no diaper storage-thingy on the side of her crib—hell, no crib at all. No little girl bed. All big girl bed. With the exception of her “wall of awesome” (a designated wall on which we let her display stickers and anything else she sees fit) which I imagine will come down well before the teen years, this is pretty much how her room is going to look until she leaves home.
BRB SOBBING.
I mean, yeah, the Rapunzel bedding she chose (GOOD GOD MY EYES)…
…will likely not make it past age 10 (and the questionable quality of that set tells me it won’t last a full damn calendar year), and I’m sure the giant plastic vanity will be given away before she hits 2nd grade, but furniture-wise, she’s an adult now YES I KNOW HOW DRAMATIC THAT SOUNDS, LAY OFF I GAVE BIRTH TO HER.
The weather so far this winter has been GLORIOUS. Last winter was pretty mild, which was total bullshit, because it only afforded us one opportunity to sled down our enormous hill at breakneck speed. We’ve already had more snow in late December-mid-January than we had all winter last year (not a fact, just made it up based on my own perception, it’s my blog I’m allowed), and although I HATE HATE HATE bring cold, I’m really digging the coziness of all the frigid temperatures and snow. Also, we’ve had a couple really mild, global-warming-style days here and there, which really helps me remember that spring is not far away (but still far enough away for my gross, dry, cryptkeeper hands).
Work is good. Busy, but good. Working for a smaller company is different in all sorts of ways (good and bad), and two months in, and I’m still adjusting. The good part is that—even though I’m still working the same hours as I did at my old job—it doesn’t FEEL like I’m wasting the bulk of my life away when I’m at work. Basically, I’m busy and I feel valued and I’m able to make a tangible difference, which means I don’t feel like 40 hours/week away from Sadie is all for naught. This doesn’t mean it’s easy to be away from her (…and it never has been), but I manage. And then my ass goes and stumbles upon pictures like this:
Aaaaaand I want to hold her close to me for the rest of my life. Motherhood, you dumb sometimes.
I got my hair did. It’s kind of really dark, and I like it. I’d show you a picture, but it appears I haven’t taken one. Why start now?
I thought I was 37 years old for about a week or so. Seriously, every time someone brought up age, my brain would sort of subconsciously confirm to itself that I was 37, until sometime this past weekend when age came up again and I was suddenly like WHOA, BRAIN, I’M 36. But I apparently have the memory of a 92-year-old. Score.
Family stuffs. Everyone in the extended family is healthy again after some medical foolishness around the holidays, and drama is at an all time low. I’d be happy except that I’m sure expressing happiness is likely to jinx the whole thing.
Downton Abbey is back on the air, and I forgot how much I enjoyed watching stuffy rich white people fret about their stuffy rich white people problems. It is some quality entertainment, I tell you what.
I made red beans and rice in the crock pot today, and I am deeply afraid of the results. Let me put it to you plain: red beans and rice = a southern dish this Yankee has never made before, and I am fully anticipating that one or both of the following things will happen at dinner tonight: 1) my red beans and rice will kind of suck, 2) Sadie—who will always TRY new foods, but will not hesitate to let you know if she doesn’t like it—will haaaaaaate it. Also, while this dish is extremely cheap to make, it requires you to use actual, not-from-a-can, soak-overnight beans, and that is some kind of thinking ahead bullshit. I cannot remember how old I am, but I remembered to soak those motherfuckers, so this shit BETTAH BE GOOD.
(Probably won’t be. And I made a metric asston of it. Anyone hungry?)
I saw Django Unchained. Twice. I love it a lot. We also watched Beasts of the Southern Wild this weekend, which was also really good. Brad is on a mission to see all the Oscar-nominated films before the awards, but—as per usual—my only Oscar-related goal is to make sure I see the dead people montage. Love me some dead people montage.
OK, Internet. That’s about all I got. Hopefully I will be back soon.
I trust this will keep you company in my absence.
“motherhood, you dumb sometimes” THIS times infinity! i can’t stand that we are going a’bed shopping for mah tiny wittle boy (who is so about to all Hulk out of his toddler bed), it makes me a little ragey. and weepy. but mostly ragey, at my ineptitude to realize that the toddler bed converts into a FULL SIZE bed which will most certainly not fit in his shoebox room. ah, first world problems…
I am lovin’ me some Downton Abbey! Whew Edith! Matthew, what the hell?! Ah white people problems… If we all had to only worry about having the proper suit coat for dinner.
I am so happy for you and all the new job wonderfulness! However I am missing my Jive Turkey Internet fix. Don’t be a stranger. The Internet is a much funnier place with you in it so don’t you dare close up shop!
Congrats to Sadie on her sweet new bed. We dodged the Disney Princess bullet on bedding here, thank God! I have the feeling though, My Little Pony bed sheets may be in my girls future. Purple is more our color scheme and that screams Twilight Sparkle.
Oh em gee, that newborn picture. Anybody got a tiny baby I can snuggle? I promise, I’ll give it back when I’m done.
Totally hear you on the busier/more fulfilling job = less Internet time. That’s happened to me too. I have to wrestle an hour out of my week to throw up a (mediocre) blog post, but I do it because there are so many life and kid-things that I don’t want to ever forget. And of course because I still love my bloggie peeps. It’s cool. Whenever you have something to say, we’ll be listening.
I haven’t blogged in 2013 yet. I feel very weird about it.
My son turns 10 next month and today I had a sudden onset of Sunrise, Sunset Syndrome. He growing uuuupppppp. Of course this is likely due to the arrive of PMS (again), but still.