Priorities

Writing is on the wall, and we are considering some big changes 'round these parts. We're not moving or anything, but a career change is quite likely for me. Nothing is settled yet, but the possibility is both real and likely.

That said, I came home from work today after collecting the kids and managed to put together a square meal. (Yay, Dream Dinners!) As I cooked, the kids and Chris played and talked and watched Blue's Clues. Chris set the table and the kids eagerly sat and waited for their plates when they knew it was all just about ready.

They wolfed down their food, all the while nattering on about their days and about how they loved their dinner (except some bits of it, of course), and it was then that I really thought... hmmmmmmm... maybe this whole staying at home thing isn't the worst thing that could happen to me.

I really don't think we can afford it, but as the economy continues to put pressure on the world at large, I'm thinking that if the writing on the wall turns out to be the writing on a pink slip... well... if I can't find something else, maybe I could make it work.

In anticipation of this, we are talking about seriously cutting back. We have talked about this almost every January since we met, but this time, we are really going to have to do it. We aren't destitute. We'll still vacation and take the kids to movies and all that, but we are going to place values on those things. Vacation with the kids... very valuable. Eating every breakfast at Bojangles, negative value. Date night for mommy and daddy while kids have a sitter, quite valuable on occasion. Finding a sitter so Daddy can play D&D while mommy is at work... well, okay... just this once.

But seriously, we have a few months to see what we can do, even with the tremendous debt we have hanging over our heads. If these six months go well, maybe July won't be as bad if the shoe does indeed fall.

A Fresh Start

This is not an apology for not posting very often lately. Hopefully, it's more of an explanation.

2008 was an interesting year. It wasn't so much "bad" as it was "private." Lots of issues in my own head to work out. Work was full of interesting things, but nothing I can post publicly. The kids have been funny and interesting, but again... I start to worry about their privacy. Lots of potty training headaches and behavioral blahs. I think I hit most of the high points in my posts from the past year, but I know it hasn't been a good year over all for The Mommy Librarian.

I plan to plug on with this, in the hopes that people who have stuck with me will continue to do so. Hopefully I will have more interesting things to say this year. The Quest for Hotness saw a setback over the holidays, but I'm rededicating myself before it gets any worse. The string of Disney trips is behind me. My sister has some news that, if it goes through, should make for some interesting blog fodder. Athena starts school in July (we are on a year-round schedule here) so that should be blogworthy. And at the end of the year, Chris and I will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. The tenth anniversary of our first date is at the end of February, so perhaps over the year, I can reminisce about our years together. Won't that be fun?!

So don't give up on me. I believe all my psychological fretting is behind me and I'm running top speed from it. I'm also hoping to launch a blog devoted to Disney travel planning that will be separate from this one. Mainly to spare those of you who think my obsession is unhealthy, but also to put all those recent trips to some use for others. That blog will see regular (semi-weekly) posts and I've begun to stack them so that I won't be under huge deadlines there. We'll see how long that lasts. :-)

Aileen did it! oh... and Ryan too.

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Well, This Explains It...

My lack of blogging lately isn't necessarily because of Facebook or lack of material. It's simply been a wacky schedule with lots of vacation and time off interspersed with working on wacky work things. Since October, I have barely worked a single normal five day week and I've been working every other weekend since Thanksgiving. Breaking it down, starting with the week of October 5 and taking me through the end of January:

4.5 days on, 3.5 off
3 days on, 11 days off (Disney: Family Edition)
6 days on (two of them half-days), .5 off
3 days on, 3 off (MACE convention)
1 day on, 1 day off (Veteran's Day)
3 days on, 2 off (weekend)
5 days on, 2 off (a normal week and weekend!)
2 days on, 3 off (Thanksgiving)
6 days on (two of them half-days), 1 off
5 days on (two of them half-days), 5 off (Disney: Girlfriends Edition)
1 day on, 1 off (comp time for yet another weekend)
3 days on, 1 off
2 days on, 5 off (Christmas)
3 days on, 2 off (New Years)
5 days on (two of them half-days), 4 off (Disney: Marathon Edition)
4.5 days on, 3.5 off (MLK weekend)
4 days on, 2 off
5 on, 2 off (another normal week, and the turning point where life will seem to get back to normal)

That last week mentioned is the week of Jan. 25. No wonder I feel so disoriented!

There's a Monkey on That Dog! and Other Hockey Weirdness

We never know what sort of "extra" entertainment we'll get at any given hockey game. Sometimes, it's nothing more than Chris getting an exceptional view of one of his favorite cheerleaders. Sometimes there are celebrity sightings like Clay Aiken singing the National Anthem or Squirrel Nut Zippers performing on the ice. Sometimes it's human bowling or hamster ball races. Really, the entertainment runs the gamut.

But every now and then, something really unusual happens. For instance, back in first or second season of the ESA, (now the RBC Center), the classic film "MVP: Most Valuable Primate" opened in theaters. As a special treat, the ice skating chimp who starred in that film made his rounds to all the NHL arenas. If I am not mistaken, the first arena he visited was ours.

Our seats are very close to where the national anthem is sung, which is also where most of the entertainers come out onto the ice, so we always get an up-close view of whatever they are dishing out that night. Now, monkeys of all sorts give me the heebies. They are right up there with clowns and other things that look "almost human." I don't like 'em. Euw.

So super-chimp hits the ice and does his skating schtick. I leaned as far away from him as possible as he entered then exited the ice. When it was over, I breathed a sigh of relief. But then, Chimpy McSkater's handlers approached us. They wanted to take a promo shot of the chimp in the seats like he was watching the game. More specifically... MY seat.

So we moved down to the front row and allowed the chimp to sit and have his picture taken. If Chris weren't so superstitious about sitting in his actual seat at all times, I would have asked him to switch chairs with me for the rest of the game. Instead, I faced my fear and sat in monkey germs for the final period, thinking the whole time about that hairy monkey butt on the very sit I was currently perched in.

Fortunately, there hasn't been another monkey at a game. Until Friday night, that is. The rodeo was in town on Saturday, so they were promoting it at Friday's game. One of the featured acts is a little tiny organ-grinder monkey that rides a dog. A border collie. With a saddle and everything.

When they rolled out the carpet onto the ice, I knew it must me some rodeo performer. I peeked over my neighbors and saw the dog. "OOOOOO! A dog!" I said, excitedly, hitting Chris repeatedly on the arm.

"Yes, it is a dog," says Chris, affirming my astute observation.

"Oh my God, there's a monkey on that dog," says I.

"So there is," says my husband, non-chalantly. Then we watched in fascinated horror as the monkey rode the doggie out onto the ice and back again. Weirdest. Thing. Ever.

In other hockey news, last week we attended a game and sat in Chris' boss' seats at center ice with Athena and Marcus. My sister and her husband had our seats. Since our seats are behind a goal, there is a big net to prevent stray pucks from shooting out into the crowd and ultimately through some innocent person's head. But the sides of the rink are net-free. It's rare that a puck will head off into the crowd that way, just because of the way the players shoot the puck, but it does happen. In fact, by some crazy, random happenstance, it happened last Saturday while we were sitting center ice.

I was looking down tending to Athena in some way or another. I looked up just in time to see the puck heading right for us. Chris was first in line for the trajectory of the puck's flight, so he turned his shoulder to block it from hitting either of our children (or me, I'd like to think). As luck would have it, the gentleman next to Chris took the brunt of the hit instead... right on his thumb. It bounced off Chris's shoulder, then my hand, right into the empty seats in front of us. Some jerk-face jumped into those seats from across the aisle to snatch the puck, and didn't even consider offering it to the guy whose thumb was now as black as night and as big as a zucchini. Honestly, I've never seen a bruise form so quickly in my life. It must have hurt like a mother.

So two oddities in one week of hockey. Not a normal week at all. But I'll always prefer a guy taking a hit with a puck to a dog-riding monkey. Always. Euw.

May I Feed Your Addiction?

A coworker got me hooked on a blog called Cake Wrecks. I've been hooked for about a month now, and I simply can't keep this fabulous site to myself any longer. Go there. But I warn you... don't take a big sip of soda right before, because you will laugh so hard it will come out your nose.

Or in some cases, your jaw will drop in disbelief. I don't think there is a single reader of mine (out of all ten of you) who would not LOVE this blog.