My week was insane, between coming back from vacation and then immediately getting sick. DH and I both think it must have been something I ate at the tail end of our trip that triggered it. I'm feeling better today, but still on the broth/jello/toast diet for now.
Tonight the girls and I are going to see A Christmas Carol at our local theater with my mom and sister. We went last year and they loved it so much they declared it had to become an annual tradition. The boys are doing paint your own pottery and then hanging at the house after to play board games since that's what DS settled on for his activity choice. My parents will spend the night here since we're hosting a holiday party tomorrow and they live so far away, it doesn't make sense for them to drive back and forth.
Tomorrow's party will be great! DH has an amazing menu planned and we have about 20 people coming by. It's a mix of friends and family and we're really looking forward to it. I probably won't be able to eat anything, but I'll hoard some leftovers for myself. And my mom made me a gluten free pecan pie, so that will be waiting for me when my stomach is better.
Sunday will be a chill day. I was hoping to put up all the outside lights and decorations, but I think it's supposed to rain all day so that's probably out.
We may rearrange our kids’ bedrooms this weekend. Trying to decide when to bite the bullet and risk poor sleep during the transition period. DD is 11 and still shares with her 17 months younger brother. We had tried to give her her own room when she was 8 but she got lonely and convinced him to move back in. Now she says she wants her own again, and that makes sense as she gets close to puberty.
DH and I ended up buying a new bed (a split king adjustable one) and will give our current queen to DD. But that will mean moving our toddler in with our 6 year old. So toddler has to give up his own room, and 6 year old is the one who shoots out of bed by 6 am, while toddler takes longer to fall asleep and likes to sleep later. I think my oldest son may be lonely on his own and want to move in with his brothers (which is possible, because we have bunk beds and a futon in one bedroom), but that will just complicate the sleeping further. DH and I can’t put together our new bed and start using it till we transition though, because we have nowhere to put our old bed while it waits for us to use it for DD.
Anyway, otherwise DD has a softball tournament with 3 really late games tomorrow and then may need to be back at the crack of dawn sunday. DD and DS1 also each have a basketball game Sunday.
twinmomma, I hope you're starting to feel a bit better!
We have a pretty quiet weekend planned. We had a late-ish night last night with DD1's art display and DD2's play. DD1 was home sick for part of the week and she's still not 100%, so she's already asking to skip basketball practice (no cares - hate her coach and she has no friends on the team). Tomorrow both girls have basketball games, back to back, at the SAME GYM!! The stars have officially aligned for this winter!! They play at the same location and most games are either back-to-back or at the same time (there are 2 courts). And even if we have to go back and forth, the gym is 3 mins from our house!
DH and I are going out tomorrow evening. We had our first counseling session this week and he's been making a huge effort this week. It's been really nice. So I want to spend some time with him without breaking up an argument.
Sunday I'm going to visit my parents, probably with some combination of the kids. They're prepping for my sister's arrival with her two young kids and my mom looooves her knick knacks... so I will help with finishing up babyproofing and bring a few things down for the kids. We will also finish decorating our own house at some point.
sdlaura, other than your daughter, have any of the kids expressed an opinion? Can you put it to the boys? Could the 9 and 6 year olds share a room? Would they enjoy that?
We are seeing A Christmas Carol at our local theater with my MIL on Sunday. And I’m putting up our tree either tonight or tomorrow. Also we have several boxes of toys to put in the attic. I know I’m saving too many for future grandkids, but I have nothing from my childhood except a couple of dolls, and I don’t want my kids to have the same thing happen.
Post by supertrooper1 on Dec 1, 2023 11:41:59 GMT -5
The week was good other than dealing with our stomach bug. Beau had a retirement party last night for one of his coworkers, and only 1/3 of their employees made it because the stomach bug is going around. So he told his coworker that we'd go out for drinks tonight. Other than that, we don't have much planned since it's supposed to be miserably cold and rainy for the foreseeable future, even with a possibility of flooding in our area. We're going to try to finish our Christmas shopping and Beau needs some new clothes. He has lost almost 50 pounds since this summer and had given his smaller clothes to his son. I hope to hit the gym both days too since we only went one day this week.
Post by librarychica on Dec 1, 2023 12:20:41 GMT -5
I am decidedly meh on how this week went. I feel like I’ve been at 100% effort at work and home and yet have made maybe 10% progress. Hamster on a wheel.
It’s going to be a bit of a strange weekend. My parents wanted to spend one on one time with each kid so DD1 is helping them Christmas shop Saturday, then Sunday dad is dropping her off at home and picking DD2 up for a movie.
For H and I, there’s some gardening I want to get done and Sunday we have a couple of friends coming over for brunch and board games .
I'm officially moved to my new office. I feel a bit like Milton being moved down the basement. My old floor, we have the whole floor. It is loud and people are social and stop to chat). The new floor is mostly empty and very quiet. It will obviously be louder with the 4 of us moving in, but I am quite confident that I will be going weeks without seeing or talking to anyone at the actual company I work with outside of my division without coordinating it. I've always felt my like division was the odd man out in our company and that we were isolated, but now I am feeling that times a million.
The office itself feels a little more homey with most of my stuff moved in. I'm waiting to find out who takes my old office before I decide if I bring my artwork down or buy something new (when we moved into the building, they thought my personal artwork was company provided and mounted it with screws into the wall. It's an awkward shape, so if I take it down, the wall look ugly. But I'm also a petty Betty, so if it remains empty or someone I don't like takes the office, I will pull my art.
DD has a birthday party tonight. This is notable because DS averages invites to more birthday parties per month than she gets in an entire year. I think part of it is just the difference in their personalities/ability to make friendships, but also covid school closures derailing so much social development. DD's teacher said that she is really sad about the state of the kids relationship skills - across the board, DD's grade has the most poor social skills she's observed in her 25+ year history of teaching.
We go out to DH's parents on Sunday to celebrate Christmas with them. I am not sure how I hide my annoyance as they open an amount of gifts from them equivalent to what each child should receive from their entire family and extended relatives.
I am feeling very blah. I know at lot of it is just that things were very emotional with my mom. She is in a good place and doing better than we expected, but I think I've got hangover from that. DH's snoring is worse and worse. I either lay next to him and want to murder him or sleep in the office, which is better, but not comfortable and takes me too long to convince myself to do. So I think the lack of sleep is what's worse. I'm mainlining tea to try to function, but terrified of what happens when bitchy me has to interact with MIL/FIL who I am already horribly annoyed at on Sunday.
mommyatty, for the boys, it totally depends on the day as to how they want the rooms to be. If it were up to me, I'd put the oldest and youngest boys together, because their sleep patterns are most similar and they fight with each other the least, but I know middle brother would feel left out if we did that. Most of the time, they say they all want to be together, but then oldest will get annoyed with middle and say he doesn't want to share. I think to start, we'll keep oldest's room as him alone, but two littles together (along with futon so oldest can join if he wants), and see what happens. We've told middle that if he can't sneak out of his room without waking up youngest, he will have to be by himself
k3am, did your firm end up getting you the modesty panel things? Just curious.
sdlaura , I wussed out and didn't ask. I'm being kicked out of the core area of the company, and nothing on the floor is as nice as what the core company has. I have decisions to make soon, and my industry is in the shitter, so I figured it wasn't worth the hassle. Especially if the answer is no, that's just one more thing for me to be bitter about. (My boss is being 'downgraded' as well - he went from a corner office to a small office the same size as mine and he's doing his best not to complain as well.)
k3am, I hear you on the social skills. DS is doing much better than 5th grade (he’s in 7th now), but I feel like his initiative skills in particular are lacking. I have to scaffold some of that. Some can be part of his executive function. We’ve done tutoring support in that area which has improved a ton but I just don’t feel like he’s on grade level. Maybe a year behind? In some ways that’s good because he isn’t getting in trouble like his one troublemaker friend but I scratch my head sometimes at the lack of initiative from him to hang with friends. At least he has friends and is content but I still wonder what life would be like if he didn’t miss a year of school.
Can you bail on Sunday? Take yourself out of the house shopping while they are visiting, book a massage, anything?
We saw Hamilton last night which of course is always good. I took today off and got my outside decorations up. I had to brave the stores to get some decorations for my planters which was anxiety inducing but I did it. I got the advent calendars and elf out and am all ready. We have shopping and soccer game Saturday and Sunday I work. DD has a soccer game and pool party.
waverly, I bailed on the last trip. I keep trying to remind myself that these trips aren't nearly as bad as they used to be. We have the dog as distraction, so I can leave with him for walks to avoid saying anything. But really, FIL has lost most of his hearing and doesn't really participate in conversations asmuch, so he doesn't get his foot in his mouth the way he used to. I also weirdly find it important for my kids to see me grin and bare it. DD didn't realize until recently that there is friction between us. I want her (especially her!) to know that she will spend her life having to deal with people that annoy her, she can't always avoid them, and that there are some times in life that we suck it up and try to make the best of things vs. making them miserable for everyone involved.
sdlaura, it's weird how attached we become to our office locations. I will have a door. I will have a window (that I can't see out, since they covered it with frosty glass for some reason). I will have more than enough room for what junk I've accumulated. (WHY DO I HAVE A PAIR OF YOGA TOES AT MY DESK?!?!) 1 co-worker is losing her office. The one with the office and the one currently in a cube will now be in a bullpen. It will be an adjustment is all.
I think I'm more annoyed that they've given us a perfectly good reason for why they've decided this move is necessary. And maybe that is the reason or part of it. But I have some others that feel more likely. It's like telling DD I need her in bed by 8:45 because it takes her a while to wind down and go to sleep. It's 100% true. But also, I need her in bed so that I can read for a while and still have time to wind down and go to sleep. It's more about the second reason than the first, but the first is more palatable for her.
mommyatty , I don't know if I missed it, but how did your last interview go? Are you feeling better about the job or no?
It went well, I think. I liked them a lot, but they had rejected another candidate because she wanted to eventually move to another part of the company. But then they spent my whole interview asking what I wanted to do beyond this job since I was obviously overqualified for it. Like would I consider a leadership position. So I don’t think they’ll offer it to me, but I could be surprised.
Post by librarychica on Dec 1, 2023 18:30:01 GMT -5
I had a particularly frustrating afternoon and so left at 4 and spent the remaining daylight gardening. I feel much better now. I needed the physical activity and to feel like I accomplished something. Sometimes I miss the office, people, and structure of my old job but it’s also nice to just be able to cut out when my head isn’t in it and not have to watch a clock. Later this weekend I will return with more focus and finish the task I would have just stared blankly at this afternoon.
My DD1 had two friends over this afternoon and never would have I believed how LOUD 3 11/12 year old girls can be. Like they were running around outside on one side of the house and I was gardening on the other with my headphones in and I could still hear the shrieking. At one point I had to tell them to cut the roughhousing out because they were upsetting the dog, lol. She was just running around barking like maybe she was supposed to bite someone but didn’t know who.
No school day here and DD practice got cancelled. We ran a couple errands this morning then we got the tree out and put it up and half decorated it while watching White Christmas.
Saturday DD competes 3 hours south of us at noon so we have a long day as we will drive down, compete and then drive home.
I somehow missed this and started ankther thread lol.
I took off today to spend with Ds. So far he has made me go with him to visit the grandparents, and then I helped him finish his Christmas shopping. I started the day needing to do a quick conference call, and my internet was down so I had to do it on my phone, annoying.
Tomorrow, we are taking Ds to Dds university and we are all going to a basketball game. Speaking of trips in the previous thread, this little weekend trip was $$$ between the basketball tickets at a major basketball university, hotel, and of course a few meals at some of Dds places she has found.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Dec 1, 2023 22:33:06 GMT -5
My sister moved in with my dad yesterday. The night before she texted me that she was freaking out so I left the house at 10pm and packed her until 2am. She's been having such a hard time mentally that I find myself doing what I can to try to make sure she doesn't spiral.
During the actual move I was there for moral support but ended up being on the phone the whole time dealing with a crazy work issue. The main thing I contributed was paying for the movers at the end, which is quite helpful I think.
Now the house looks like it has exploded because my mom's house is small and was fully stocked with all kitchen things etc that she needed. They aren't doing a good job of choosing a set of one thing and getting rid of the other person's set. Like rationally, my sister should just be looking at my mom's stuff and her stuff and realizing she should just keep whoever's is nicest because my mom is never going to live on her own again, so my sister will take everything when this season is over. But I think emotionally that's hard for everyone to wrap their minds around.
Tomorrow I'm going to go over there and try to help them get a system of unpacking and purging.
Tomorrow night we're going to Zoo Lights at our city's zoo. We've ever been so I'm excited to go. Sunday is a chill out day. Maybe we'll try to do something with the kids or maybe we'll literally just chill.