Random thoughts that need out of my head.
OMG can the days get any slower or more stressful? It's insane around here. FedEx trucks constantly breaking. Back to back field trips, plays and awards ceremonies.
I got our tax refund yesterday, bought some tickets to some shows.
We'll be seeing Jimmy Eat World May 4th here in Flag, and then seeing Black Rebel Motorcycle Club the end of May in Vegas.
I'm thinking about upgrading to a new iPhone 5 before we leave on our trip.
I'm really not sure about this smelly dog laying next to me. She's cool sometimes, but I'm really tired of cleaning up her shit.
I'm behind on laundry.
I kind of want to go to Olive Garden just so I can have one of those little pudding-cookie desserts they have.
I'm getting my hair trimmed up tomorrow afternoon and sweet Amelia's professionally cleaned up after her haircutting accident.
I'm thinking about starting a new blog just for librarian type things. I do have a writing blog, but I'm not happy with it and want to do something more library focused.
I still have to go out tonight to pick up my oldest from a band field trip.
My house smells like dog.
I bought 2 bags of marshmallows at Target today. They are still sealed and in the pantry. For now.
On payday Fridays at school we rotate who brings breakfast. The email for my group that circulated this week indicated we were supposed to bring a Cinco de Mayo themed item. (How that is possible for breakfast I have no idea.) I just bought some Entenmanns donut holes and chocolate donuts. I will be shamed by all the elaborate casseroles and meatballs everyone else will display in the morning.
Europe.... I hope you are the stress relieving vacation that I need and that I am hoping you are going to be. Don't disappoint me.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Driving Advice for England
Three weeks from right now I will be boarding a plane to Europe!
3 Weeks!!
I know I can I hardly believe it.
We will arrive in London, pick up car and drive to Bath.
Isn't it just the most beautiful little town you've ever seen.
Of course I will not be driving. I will leave that up to my professional driver husband. I am hoping that his years of driving experience and years of watching Top Gear will enable him to conquer driving on the left side of the road. I'm a little anxious about it, but then again I'm anxious about the whole trip. Flights, cars, trains, getting my money's worth, eating, sleeping, walking, it's all making me anxious.
I've still got 3 weeks left to work myself up into a tizzy. I'm going to try and just roll with it. My last European adventure was traumatic and involved many panic attacks and terrors over ever making it back across the ocean. I'm nervous and excited.
In other news I just found out tonight that Rick Steves divorced his wife Anne. The Anne we've all travelled with across Europe, the Anne I've listened to Rick talk about and joke about for years. I was devastated tonight while reading Rick's blog to find out he was getting his initials engraved on a bracelet with his new partner Trish. See here for details and see here for his new girlfriend's blog that is all about her travels with Rick.
Of course I can't even begin to imagine what problems Rick and Anne had that led to divorce, but I'm disappointed. It's always sad when people get divorced. I'm a little late to the news since they were divorced in 2010, but I will still mourn for them today.
3 Weeks!!
I know I can I hardly believe it.
We will arrive in London, pick up car and drive to Bath.
Isn't it just the most beautiful little town you've ever seen.
Of course I will not be driving. I will leave that up to my professional driver husband. I am hoping that his years of driving experience and years of watching Top Gear will enable him to conquer driving on the left side of the road. I'm a little anxious about it, but then again I'm anxious about the whole trip. Flights, cars, trains, getting my money's worth, eating, sleeping, walking, it's all making me anxious.
I've still got 3 weeks left to work myself up into a tizzy. I'm going to try and just roll with it. My last European adventure was traumatic and involved many panic attacks and terrors over ever making it back across the ocean. I'm nervous and excited.
In other news I just found out tonight that Rick Steves divorced his wife Anne. The Anne we've all travelled with across Europe, the Anne I've listened to Rick talk about and joke about for years. I was devastated tonight while reading Rick's blog to find out he was getting his initials engraved on a bracelet with his new partner Trish. See here for details and see here for his new girlfriend's blog that is all about her travels with Rick.
Of course I can't even begin to imagine what problems Rick and Anne had that led to divorce, but I'm disappointed. It's always sad when people get divorced. I'm a little late to the news since they were divorced in 2010, but I will still mourn for them today.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Hair Attack
So imagine a pleasant Sunday afternoon... I'm sitting on the couch reading quietly for a few minutes before I start making dinner when my beautiful just turned 7 year old daughter walks up to me with her hands full of hair, crying.
Now imagine me having an instant panic attack. Heaving chest, palpitations, sweats, swirling eyes, the whole deal.
She had a scrunchy in her hair and then there were bits of hair all around her, hanging down lower than her already long hair, there were clouds of hair everywhere, puff balls, trails of hair. It was terrifying. I followed her to the bathroom upstairs to figure out what was going on.
Alopecia! That was my first thought. Then cancer, and other un-named things that could be wrong with her.
Once in the bathroom where there were more strands of hair on the counter and in the trashcan, I started combing through her hair to find the source of the hair loss. Finally after pulling out all the loose strands I saw on the side of her head the signs of a scissors attack.
Now I lost it.
After sorting it all out it seems that my daughter used some new hair clips that she got for her birthday. They are little stars with Velcro on the back. Once you affix them into your hair they are pretty stuck. In order to get them out you have to pull them down the length of the hair, which for her is about 18 inches. She however did not know that. She thought they were stuck so she got out the scissors and CUT THEM OUT HERSELF!!!!! Herself!
I was in hysterics and so was she. I was so mad and disappointed that she didn't come and tell me and ask for help. She was so embarrassed. And all that gorgeous hair.
Now imagine me having an instant panic attack. Heaving chest, palpitations, sweats, swirling eyes, the whole deal.
She had a scrunchy in her hair and then there were bits of hair all around her, hanging down lower than her already long hair, there were clouds of hair everywhere, puff balls, trails of hair. It was terrifying. I followed her to the bathroom upstairs to figure out what was going on.
Alopecia! That was my first thought. Then cancer, and other un-named things that could be wrong with her.
Once in the bathroom where there were more strands of hair on the counter and in the trashcan, I started combing through her hair to find the source of the hair loss. Finally after pulling out all the loose strands I saw on the side of her head the signs of a scissors attack.
Now I lost it.
After sorting it all out it seems that my daughter used some new hair clips that she got for her birthday. They are little stars with Velcro on the back. Once you affix them into your hair they are pretty stuck. In order to get them out you have to pull them down the length of the hair, which for her is about 18 inches. She however did not know that. She thought they were stuck so she got out the scissors and CUT THEM OUT HERSELF!!!!! Herself!
I was in hysterics and so was she. I was so mad and disappointed that she didn't come and tell me and ask for help. She was so embarrassed. And all that gorgeous hair.
And this photo is from last year.... add 6 more inches to this.
I am still recovering today. I am still seeing flashbacks of strands of hairs on the floor. It's like a nightmare. Her hair is okay. You don't notice unless you pull it back that the left side of her head has hair that is only 2 inches long. We will not be doing any ponytails or pigtails on the side of her head for a while.
After thinking about it, it's not so much the hair, but the fact that she didn't come and ask for help. She always asks for help, but this one time she didn't... this one very important time. It just breaks my heart that she was to scared or embarrassed or what ever to come and ask me to help. Or did she just think she could do it herself like when we trim/cut her Barbie's hair? I don't know, but we've discussed it many times since yesterday, about how if you ever need help, or get into a big mess, ASK for HELP!
Oh the joys of parenting.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Insolvency
So a few weeks ago I posted that I was waiting to hear back from my accountant about whether we were going to owe a whopping $22,000 in taxes this year since our 2nd mortgage was forgiven. The fabulous answer is NO we do not owe $22,000. In fact we will be getting back $2,200.
How is this possible?
Well I have a fabulous accountant, Nordstrom and Assoc., here in Flagstaff, but also because we had to declare insolvency.
That sounds like a really scary word. It sounds scarier than bankruptcy, but it's not.
Insolvent just means that you have more debts than you have assets. There was a cool worksheet to fill out that listed all of our debts and all of our possessions including the worth of our house and our business.
What saved us was the low value of our home. According to Zillow, the house we paid $680,000 for back in 2006 is now worth only $435,000. Yeah, I know. Where did my $245,000 go? I feel the same way.
I thought our numbers were going to come up looking horrific, but it wasn't so bad. We were really only about $80,00 upside down, almost exactly the amount of the 2nd mortgage debt that was forgiven. That means that if we now sold everything we had we would break even at $0.
Pretty impressive.
So as tax day looms, I am happy and insolvent.
Things can only get better from here, right?
How is this possible?
Well I have a fabulous accountant, Nordstrom and Assoc., here in Flagstaff, but also because we had to declare insolvency.
That sounds like a really scary word. It sounds scarier than bankruptcy, but it's not.
Insolvent just means that you have more debts than you have assets. There was a cool worksheet to fill out that listed all of our debts and all of our possessions including the worth of our house and our business.
What saved us was the low value of our home. According to Zillow, the house we paid $680,000 for back in 2006 is now worth only $435,000. Yeah, I know. Where did my $245,000 go? I feel the same way.
I thought our numbers were going to come up looking horrific, but it wasn't so bad. We were really only about $80,00 upside down, almost exactly the amount of the 2nd mortgage debt that was forgiven. That means that if we now sold everything we had we would break even at $0.
Pretty impressive.
So as tax day looms, I am happy and insolvent.
Things can only get better from here, right?
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Wallowing in my Mental Illness
Today I am at home because I'm mentally ill, so technically I can still call it a sick day. Yeterday just got to be too much for me. Not so bad that I had to take a Xanax, but bad enough where I felt I needed to take a day to recover.
It was a deeper anxiety that what a Xanax could cure.
I get anxious when there are things out of place. While I was at work all I could think about were all the piles of laundry that were lying around the house, the dishes that needed washed, the knee deep crap in the playroom, the bills that needed to be paid, and the files that needed filed. I know everyone gets anxious about that kind of stuff, but mine was debilitating yesterday. So far I've gotten a grip on the household clutter and I feel much better, well enough to sit here and write this even though I am surrounded by piles of books and papers that I have yet to attend to.
Sometimes I need a day to wallow in my mental illness. I need to stop and refocus, and clean up both physically and mentally. Does that make me mentally ill? I think it just makes me human.
It was a deeper anxiety that what a Xanax could cure.
I get anxious when there are things out of place. While I was at work all I could think about were all the piles of laundry that were lying around the house, the dishes that needed washed, the knee deep crap in the playroom, the bills that needed to be paid, and the files that needed filed. I know everyone gets anxious about that kind of stuff, but mine was debilitating yesterday. So far I've gotten a grip on the household clutter and I feel much better, well enough to sit here and write this even though I am surrounded by piles of books and papers that I have yet to attend to.
Sometimes I need a day to wallow in my mental illness. I need to stop and refocus, and clean up both physically and mentally. Does that make me mentally ill? I think it just makes me human.
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