life

Insert Cool Subject Title Here (Picture)

/ aidan, life, pictures, to do

I really enjoyed the weather we had the end of last week. 🙂 Warm, sunny, and so springlike. I went downtown again, met a friend for lunch, and even had a massage. I went to Cortiva and got a student massage. $35 for an hour of bodywork. Awesome.

Of course, it snowed Saturday, the first day of Spring. There’s Chicago for you. 60 on Tuesday, though. And sunny! 60 seems much less cold when it’s sunny out. 🙂

The no-pop thing has been going well! I almost slipped up a few times (falling for the “harmless” stuff like orange or fruit punch pop) but it really is pretty easy to drink juice instead. And I am making a point to drink 100%, no sugar added juices. Not juice drink or anything like that. I still need to drink more water, but this is a good starting point, I think.

I need to make a to-do list. Otherwise, I just won’t do the stuff I need to do to prepare for Aidan’s Spring Break.

1. Clean Aidan’s room I hate this chore. I don’t do a thing in there, but Adam does and I have no idea what, but it’s always a mess by the time Aidan’s next visit rolls around. So I have to go make it presentable again.

2. Get groceries. The word out on the street is that Aidan’s going through a growth spurt. This means that he will be doing a lot of eating and sleeping if he’s still dealing with that the next few weeks. Not only do we have to pick up some food he likes (chicken nuggets, fruit snacks, mac & cheese, pot pies, etc.), but we have to get a LOT of it! I’m also going to be encouraging him to try new things. Like BEEF. I understand that kids can be kind of meh about beef–Lord knows I was–but it’s so good, and he likes the beef flavored Ramen noodles.

3. Plan Easter. I want to have a cute little Easter celebration for Aidan. I plan to make a basket for him, and I have some of that YUMMY ham frozen from Christmas which I will thaw for dinner. I’ve had some interesting Easters over the years. The main thing was that the weather was always nice and warm and sunny by then. I remember the big old Easter egg hunt we had when I was about 11 or so. When I was in college, I was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic church at an Easter vigil. I remember being at an overnight retreat not so long ago, and participating in a sunrise service–the first time I ever prayed out loud in a group.

Here’s a picture of Aidan from Easter 2004!

Aidan's Easter Basket

I won two book contests recently, which means more books for me! 🙂 I just finished reading TWENTY BOY SUMMER and SKINNED. Getting ready to start on GIRL STAYS IN THE PICTURE. I really should check when those books are due back. I’m tearing through them, but you know how time sometimes gets away from you.

I must sleep. Adam and I are going to watch Alice In Wonderland with Claudia Gray tomorrow/today and I should at least TRY to be awake during it. *grumbles about being a night owl again*

Night!

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Tastes of Spring

/ life

It’s supposed to be 65 degrees today. How wonderful is that? Sixty-five and sunny! 🙂 I am definitely going out and about. I will enjoy it until the snow starts flying again this weekend. Trees aren’t budding yet, so I am pretty sure more snow than what’s forecasted this weekend is on its way. I hear birds all the time, though, so that’s encouraging.

Lately, whenever I try to comment on Live Journal, the page freezes up before I can scroll down to the submit button, and when I try to reload, it goes extra slow. Is anyone else having this problem? I wonder if it’s a Google Chrome (my current browser of choice) issue.

I have some serious cleaning to do. Not only do I need to clean my bedroom, but I also need to clean the living room and Aidan’s room. Cleaning. Moof. And then there is the trip to the grocery store, because we’ll need to get food for Aidan, and beef for me. I can’t get enough BEEF these days. I am probably low on iron or something. Mmm, beef.

Chicken, though, I can take or leave these days. I like it once a week or so, but other than that, blech.

For a while, I was sleeping at night and being up in the day. Now I am easing back into my normal night owl tendencies. I just love the middle of the night. It’s peaceful. I can listen to new music. Nothing’s open, I can’t call anyone, I don’t relish walking around in the middle of the night, not in this neighborhood. I love the middle of the night. I don’t feel pressured to do anything except BE.

I’m trying to decide which book I want to read next. Oh, I know. I think it’s going to be Twenty Boy Summer. It’s in my room next to the bed waiting for me. 🙂 I just read North of Beautiful, which I enjoyed. A LOT. 🙂

What are your plans for the weekend? I have none, except for preparing for Aidan’s visit. And reading, reading, reading.

I love when I am exposed to new music AND I LIKE IT. Some stuff I’ve been turned on to recently: Pixie Lott, Alexz Johnson, Jason Derulo, and Sirenia. 😀 And… Matt Morris. He used to be a Mouseketeer. Now he’s blowing up and his song The Un-American is INCREDIBLE. YAY for having music to write to.

I should go to bed. I have a noon lunch date, and I know it’s going to be hard enough rolling out of bed in time to make it. I don’t need to push it. Time to get the cats out of the bedroom (or else Helena will decide that my feet is something to pounce on and keep doing it over and over and over) and snuggle Adam under the covers.

‘Til next time.

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Random Fried Bullet Points (Pictures)

/ books, life, pictures, ronni

Aidan Gives Me A Kiss!

· Aidan’s in town. He flew in Friday night (YAY) and has to go back this evening (BOO). Never seems to be enough time with him. Even if we’re not interacting, just having him in the house is nice. He doesn’t have his two front teeth anymore. My little boy is officially a snaggletooth! 😀

· Aidan’s in love with Star Wars. Darth Vadar’s his favorite. :O

· Claudia Gray (who is super duper awesomesauce with cherries on top) has gotten Adam and me (and indirectly, Aidan) hooked on Doctor Who. I’d never seen it and felt that I couldn’t be a proper geek without having done so. We have a TiVo and Netflix and Dr. Who is on Instant Q. We watch many episodes a day. Adam wants to turn our closet into a TARDIS. And he wants the coat that the 10th Doctor wears, but it’s $300. I told him to get it anyway. You really can’t be too cheap when buying coats for a Chicago winter. But he’s being smart and frugal.

· When I read to Aidan before bed, I read each page in a different voice, determined by Aidan. Tonight, I read him HIPPOS GO BESERK, and I used the voices of Laura and the dad from The Fuccons, Spongebob, Patrick, Squidward, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Doctor Who, and Rose.

· I am reading POP PRINCESS by Rachel Cohn again. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve read it, but it blows me away every single time I do read it. Wonder’s voice is like no other. I feel the same way about Audrey’s voice in AUDREY, WAIT! by Robin Benway.

· Cover and title released for the latest Hunger Games Book!!! YOU SHOULD ORDER IT FOR ME! I mean, you should order it now!


Can’t believe there are still 190 days until it’s out!

· I went to the library last week and checked out 18 books. I’ve already read several of them.

· This Saturday, I am going to Anderson Bookshop’s 8th Annual Children’s Literature Breakfast. I’m really excited. Last year, I got to meet Meg Cabot, Sharon Draper, and Peter Yarrow. This year, I am ashamed to say I don’t really know the speakers, but there will be plenty of local authors there to chat with. And bacon to eat. And librarians to schmooze.

· I’ve been half-heartedly entertaining the thought of going back to school. I don’t know if I could get a Master’s–my college GPA wasn’t the greatest. It just seems so much hassle and there’s the money issue and the homework. But the learning and the advanced/extra degrees seem so appealing. I just don’t see how it can happen, though.

· Because I’m still really not sure what I want to be when I grow up. When I worked in advertising, I LOVED the work. Absolutely LOVED the work. I’m still running across ads that I’ve worked on and feeling a bittersweet pang of accomplishment and also missing it. But the pressure. The atmosphere. It’s just too much. When I did my Schawk stint again, the long days in the office about drove me mad, but again, I loved the work. And I especially enjoy my Loyola work, because I get to do what I love, but from home. They send me the work and some instructions and a due date, I do the work and send it back. Easy-peasy and also very inspiring because I’m reading MARKETING brochures for heaven’s sake so OF COURSE I want to go back to school. Their writers are very good! So, I love proofreading/copy editing and I’d love to be able to stick with that somehow. I’m also passionate about books and reading, so it would make sense for me to do something with reading/books/literacy/reading recovery, right? I am not sure if teaching would be the answer, but working on materials to encourage literacy–like the stuff I did at Zaner-Bloser–would be amazing. I also love children’s books and teen novels. I feel like my calling is to be some sort of proofreader/editor for a book publisher where I am working on novels, but those jobs are in New York and hard to come by. *sigh*

· I wish I had more unique talents or skills. Writers, proofreaders, secretaries…people with skills like me? We’re a dime a dozen.

· How much do I love the show Modern Family? I mean, hello. The amount of talent on that show blows me away. I watch Make It Or Break It, and I enjoy it, but I can tell most of the people are acting. I am aware that I am watching a TV show. But Modern Family? It flows so well. I feel like I’m looking in the window of someone’s house and seeing the families interact in real time, but not in a “reality TV” sort of way.

· How lucky am I that I am able to connect with former Mousketeers on Facebook or through their blogs? I mean, seriously. I know I’ve gushed about them before, but they really were a huge part of my high school years and to be able to exchange messages with them is simply awesome.

· *Sigh* I was sleeping but I was awakened by certain noises coming from above. And a wicked case of heartburn. So here I am, 4am, awake. *Double sigh.*

· My appetite for chicken has been REALLY weird lately. I don’t want any kind of teriyaki chicken, or citrusy chicken, or Asian style chicken. Fried chicken (like legs and wings) sound disgusting to me. But chicken nuggets seem OK. Or chicken parmesan (but not grilled, has to be breaded). It’s driving Adam crazy because he always wants to make chicken and my stomach immediately says NO WAY.

· Crunchy tempura shrimp sushi rolls = YUMMMMMMM!!!!!! And saki, too. Mmmm sushi. I decided to try some different stuff this time around. I didn’t care for the octopus and red snapper, though. Next time I’ll try eel. Maybe. :O

· I FOUND OUT THE GAS STATION RIGHT DOWN THE STREET HAS THE DOUBLE CHOCOLATEY CRUNCH RICE KRISPIE TREATS!!! I can walk and get some anytime I want, folks! WOO-HOO!!!

· The word “underpants” is funny.

· And finally, a question: Do you ever find yourself recalling some unpleasant event from the past… something that hurt you but you thought you were over… you recall this event and you get all upset again? I hate that. Sometimes I have some really mean thoughts and I don’t like it. 🙁 I don’t want to put negativity in the world anymore. I like being happy.

And that’s all for now. ‘Til next time!

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Hibernation (Rambling, Long, Pictures, Survey)

/ christmas, life, pictures, positivity, ronni, survey, year-in-review

The holidays are winding down. Aidan will be going back to Ohio soon. :( And all that’s left is the cold winter months. Is it any wonder that I feel less inclined to go anywhere or do anything except curl up with a blanket, an electric heater, and a large stack of books and read and sleep? Ack.

Today is Aidan’s birthday. My little boy is seven. Last night he told me he wouldn’t stop cuddling with me until he turned ten. So I guess I have three years to soak up all the cuddles and cheek holds. Right now, that little guy who was just a tiny newborn is now sitting beside me playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii and loving it. He’s a night owl just like I am, and he is a funny eater like me. We both latch on to something we like and we can eat it over and over and over and over without getting tired of it. He’d prefer to wear pajamas and hang out all day than run all over the place. He reads like a maniac. He loves Disney. And spaghetti. He’s such an amazing, incredible child.

We had a wonderful Christmas! We spent the week leading up to it trekking to the UPS store to pick up many packages, and we got our ham from Honey Bear Hams. It was amazing and delicious! Holy cow it was good! I got two pounds, and I am freezing one pound while we plow through the rest. It’s expensive but SO WORTH IT. Guess what I’ll be getting for Easter! Yum. When we got to the store, the bear was out waving, and the place was so festive and bustling. The owner gave Aidan a free stuffed Honey Bear! They had samples out and snacks. It was a fun trip. Christmas Eve, I made chocolate-cherry truffle cake, sugar cookie cutouts, and chocolate chip cookies.

Christmas Cookies! Chocolate-Cherry Truffle Cake

I also made part of the Christmas dinner so Christmas day would be more about relaxing than rushing. AND IT WAS! We didn’t have to go anywhere! Adam was the first one up, then I got up about 830 or so. We had to get Aidan up at 930 because we were too excited! Aidan was so excited and happy with his presents!

Aidan on Christmas Morning
Still a bit sleepy, though.

We had a good Christmas. I got Planet Earth on Blu-ray Disc™ (oh yeah!), The Boondock Saints, and Sleeping Beauty as well. Wii Fit Plus, gift card to Barnes & Noble, shirts and sweaters, more Wii games, pots and pans, The Sims 3 World Adventures, Kit’s Desk (American Girl), The Game of Things, tea from Lupicia, the new Enya CD, a Proofreading Exercise book, so much stuff that I’m not even remembering! But the best was that my little boy was here with me!

The food was yummy and seems like making Christmas dinner was way less stressful than making Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe because I did some of it the night before. Hmmm.

Anyway, the rest of break has been relaxing. Reading a lot (for my birthday I scored $75 in bookstore giftcards!), hanging with Aidan, cat sitting, all that good stuff. The other day, we lost Helena! I’d thought she’d gone in Aidan’s room to sleep, but nope. Crookshanks was pacing and wailing like his cat world was ending. That’s when I realized she was missing. Snowball was out and about, which should have been my first clue that something was off. She’d been mostly hanging out in my room under the bed. We figured that Helena was hiding (there are a lot of hiding places here) from Snowball and that she’d come out when she was ready. Then I heard a big catfight from above and instantly knew that Helena had somehow gotten upstairs with Stinky and Stinky was unhappy about it. I found her hiding behind a counter and lured her out by banging a spoon on a can, picking her up and bringing her back downstairs where she ran back inside her true home. Silly kitty.

Little Helena

I don’t know when I’ll get time/inspiration to journal again, so I’m gonna do my 2009 Wrap Up stuff here:

Read the rest of this entry »

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Happy! :) (Pictures)

/ aidan, christmas, life, pictures

Aidan’s here! YAY!!! That was a bit of drama. The airport was crowded in theSouthwest line, but we’d gotten there early so whatevs. Plus Aidan’s flight was delayed so double whatevs. They had a separate line for the UAs, and I learned that on a regular day, about 10 UAs come through. During the Christmas season, about 200 UAs go through! Aidan was the only one on his flight, though. The ticket agent let us both go to meet him (which they sometimes do if you ask nicely–but the rules are that only ONE parent can meet the unaccompanied minor which annoys me because the first thing Aidan does after he hugs me is ask for Adam on the times they don’t let him wait with me). Because of his flight delay, we had to move from gate to gate trying to figure out where he was coming in. I was freaking out. But we got him and all was well. And as always, someone came up to me and complimented me on how well-behaved and polite Aidan was on the plane. I have a good little boy. :)

Aidan's Here!

After getting lost on the way from the airport, and then a Target run, we finally made our way home. Aidan was super excited so he didn’t go to bed ’til late, then he was up early the next day…. MY BIRTHDAY!

I slept until about 10:30ish or so, then came into the living room in a haze. Adam and Aidan were both staring at computers, but they saw me and gave me big big smiles and hugs. Then Aidan made this for me:

Birthday Cake
Toy Melissa & Doug birthday party set

And Adam got me this:

Birthday Present from Adam
Martin backpack guitar. It’s small and light and I can learn to play guitar for real this time! It also smells amazing.

We went to Naperville, where we hung out at Anderson’s Bookshop (I really do love that place) and we met my friend Theresa and her family and we ate dinner at Five Guys.

Prune Faced!
Aidan at Five Guys

Then we had dessert at Cold Stone Creamery. After the two families parted ways, Adam, Aidan, and I drove around and looked at some lights on houses, then we headed home and watched Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. It was a WONDERFUL birthday! I’m 35 now, and I have a feeling life’s about to get even more awesome!! :)

I had a little bit of eBay drama as well. I looked on Adam’s wishlist and saw it on eBay… the price was too good to be true. The seller had 100% feedback, though, so I wasn’t worried. I ordered it and paid right away. Then, after not hearing from the seller at ALL, I went to her profile. Her feedback had plummeted to 76%! I looked a few days later, it was down to 50%. Now I was getting concerned, but I knew that eBay had that buyer protection thing going on. So, after seven days and after contacting the seller, I opened a case. Still no info from the seller, her feedback was in the TOILET. I went today, and her feedback was -2. I have NEVER heard of that before! But there it was. And she was no longer a registered user. I ended up getting refund from eBay though, so YAY for buyer protection. Unfortunately, I won’t be getting that gift for Adam, but I think that what I got in place of it will make him happy.

So, it’s way after midnight, so that means THREE days until Christmas!!! :) YAY!! Here is my all-new to do list.

01. Go to grocery store to get wax paper, powdered sugar, shredded cheese, gravy, green beans, and a triple berry torte. Oh yes.
02. Read A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens.
03. Bake cookies with Aidan!!
04. ……

Wait, what? That can’t be it. It really can’t. Oh well. I’ll take it. Because yup, cards are all sent, presents wrapped (except for a few that might or might not be coming still), shopping’s done, menu’s planned, place is pretty clean (just needs to be straightened up). This is good. :)

In about ten hours, my friend Deborah is bringing a kitty cat for us to watch for a few days. The cat’s name is Snowball, but she’s a black cat! I’ve met her before, but she is shy. I’m sure that Helena and Crookshanks will be happy to have her, but she might not be so happy to have THEM. I hope it goes well. And I hope she doesn’t destroy the tree!

I need to get to bed. I have a kitty to welcome tomorrow. ‘TIl next time!

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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