Weasel Of Doom

Bill lost his job on Friday. On the game board of life, we are back on “you are so screwed.” And I am so tired of being there.

But you know what? It can be much worse. (God, if you are listening, please don’t take this as an invitation to show me just how much worse it can get. You gave me a good imagination, and I have been using it, to the detriment of my mental health.)

So I am shutting up. Here, enjoy some songs from my young adulthood instead. Have you ever heard of Fancy?

And you very likely have never heard of Kino (“Legend”):

Or DDT (“Autumn”):

Or Nautilus Pompilius (“I want to be with you”):

(Masha, if you are reading this – you are Russian, of course you know these songs :P)

1. Sleeping in
2. Talking to my parents on Skype
3. Kids are adorable when they sleep
4. Pizza Hut = not having to worry about dinner when not feeling well
5. Books

1. Lynne is coming to visit at the end of January!
2. I survived shoveling two driveways (mother-in-law conveniently gone for the weekend).
3. Kids had fun at Alex’ and Beth’s birthday party.
4. Packers won!
5. Ferrets and pie :P

1. Bill took X swimming, so I didn’t have to. Little guy screamed that he wanted Mommy all the way to the pool. When I take him swimming, he screams for Papa all the way. Good to know he likes to mess with both parents.
2. Friday = we have a baby-sitter. At one point, the ratio was 8 kids to 1 sitter. At the time of writing, it’s 6 to 1 (one kid left, and X fell asleep).
3. I baked oatmeal cookies, and the kids made a sizable dent in them.
4. Got a few things done at work, despite taking off 1/2 day (still a bit sick).
5. Sleep.

1. Got two time-sensitive projects out of the door at work. Another hundred or so to go :(
2. Saw Shannon’s parents again
3. Kids weren’t acting too bad at Shannon’s
4. Windshield wiper fluid
5. Bill still has a job, hopefully for at least a few months

1. I have sick days at work
2. Sleeping until 2 pm, and then reading in bed until it was time to go get the kids
3. Karen Moning’s “Fever” series – it’s good to have something engrossing to read when you are not feeling well
4. Sergey had a good time at gymnastics, and I caught up on my emails while he was in class
5. Mel brought over some chili yesterday, and it was yummy

(I have not been feeling well, physically and mentally. *sigh*)

1. Pretty fluffy snow (even though it means shoveling, slippery roads, and idiot drivers)
2. My guild won a very close battle the other night (4/42 vs 3/97 left standing at the end. We are small but fierce.)
3. Froot Loops cereal
4. Catching up on my blog reading (about 40 to go)
5. Chocolate
6. Painkillers
7. I did not rear-end the idiot who decided to stop at the intersection and just sit there
8. Nice big pile of books waiting to be read
9. Almond Joy pieces
10. Occasionally, my kids listen to me

1. Get back on antidepressants. FAIL.
2. Apply for American citizenship. FAIL.
3. Renew my Russian Foreign passport. FAIL. In my defense, all Russian government agencies are closed for New Year and Christmas until Monday, January 10th.
4. Apply for Russian citizenship and passports for the boys. FAIL. See excuse above.
5. Lose 30 pounds. FAIL. Baked cookies four times, and ate most of them. Also ate three boxes of Cheez-Its. Not proud.
6. Teach the kids some Russian. FAIL.
7. Stay on top of things at home. SO-SO. RSS feed down to 250, dishes are clean, and laundry is done. But kitchen floor is disgusting, house is trashed, and bills are unopened.
8. Play with the kids more. FAIL.
9. Yell at the kids less. FAIL. Been a bad week for dealing with kids.
10. Go to church at least twice a month. FAIL. Though we still have three Sundays to make this one into whatever I will call non-failing. (Suggestions? I don’t like WIN. SUCCESS, perhaps? Share your thoughts.)
11. Get together with friends more. Finally let people know that DSX will have a birthday party on the 29th. Saw Karen on Sunday. SUCCESS, I guess.
12. Do some fun personal projects. SO-SO. Managed to create one square for Share-A-Square, and made a GiST post more or less every day. Read a bunch of books, but haven’t posted reviews.
13. Be a better friend and partner. FAIL.
14. Take better care of myself. FAIL. (Writing this at 1 am on a Sunday night.)
15. Be a better employee. FAIL. Got in trouble for not having something done on time, actually.

Verdict (with apologies to Simon and Garfunkel): Hello failure my old friend, I’ve come to talk to you again…

1. D&S really enjoyed their ice skating class
2. Talked to my parents on Skype; they got to see S&X running around being goofy
3. Packers won (this has been a rough week for things to be grateful for, OK?)
4. Painkillers
5. Friends had a healthy baby girl (their third)

1. OldestOne had fun at Brycen’s birthday party
2. My new library books are a four-week check-out
3. Laundry is done
4. I have until January 23rd before the village starts collecting Christmas trees, so my undecorated tree gets to stay another two weeks
5. Mel came over to play with the kids

1. Talked to my grandpa today
2. Beautiful snowfall
3. Xavier condescended to swimming with a noodle around him
4. Fireplace that heats up the whole great room
5. We have a friend who thinks highly enough of us to give us power of attorney rights. I hope we’ll never have to use that power!

Well, this did not take long. Four days in, and I missed a day already. And since these particular couple days have not been good ones, it is harder than usual to come up with 10 good things, let alone find the motivation to post them…

1. Friends
2. My new Fergalicious Roughriders boots
3. Book blogs
4. Libraries
5. Not throwing up
6. Pot roast was edible
7. Libraries
8. Books to escape into
9. Funny Facebook conversations
10. Sleep

1. Wore the “beatings will continue until morale improves” t-shirt to the staff meeting. It was appreciated.
2. Cookies were appreciated, too.
3. The vast majority of people I work with are really nice. I should focus on that, especially on bad days like today.
4. Kids cleaned up the great room (after some dire threats, but still :-)
5. Got to talk to BIL and SIL on Skype and see their two-weeks-old baby. So adorable! I miss having little babies…

1. My hair is burgundy again
2. Bill made lasagna for dinner – yum!
3. I have some very nice guild-mates in Castle Age (do not judge)
4. At least some of my oatmeal cookies turned out OK. No idea why after 5 perfect batches flat and dry cookies started coming out of the oven
5. Picked up “Bloodfever” and “Faefever” at the library – I like finding new book series to enjoy

1. Sleeping in
2. Hanging out at Karen’s apartment while mother-in-law took all the kids to see a movie
3. The males of my household let me cut their hair
4. MiddleOne informs me that when he gets a cat, he will name it Cosmo Buttercup Gordon. Compare and contrast with OldestOne, who wants a boy dog, whom he’ll name Mr. Cuddles (incidentally, same name he gave to the paper turkey they made for Thanksgiving at school)
5. Snuggling up with the baby at nap time