Some Pretty Priceless Passing Points

This has nothing to do with anything, it's just how I feel most of the time these days.

1. I'm sick. Now, I'm not going to lie that I was not upset about this when I first noticed I'm getting sick. (You know how it feels--when your throat starts getting scratchy and your head becomes a little more achy and fuzzy than normal...) In fact, I posted as my Facebook status that I could kind of use the break. Well, what I failed to remember is what a complete pansy I am when I'm sick. I have no tolerance for pain and so when I get sick, I'm fairly convinced that a certain death is right around the corner. I can't sleep at night (which means poor Scott doesn't sleep at night) It's a whole situation. To add insult to injury, Elisabeth is also sick which means she spends a fair amount of her day crying about seemingly nothing. Apparently among the other stellar qualities she inherited from your's truly, she's also going to be a drama queen when she's sick. When she's older and we're both sick, I can see us lying around the house comparing maladies. It'll probably be a pretty special bonding time.
2. So yesterday, before I felt sick, I was talking to my mom on the phone. She asked if I felt okay and I said I was fine. She said I sounded like I was getting sick. I assured her that I felt perfectly fine. She asked me again later in the conversation and again, I assured her I was just fine, my nose was a little runny for some strange reason, but other than that nothing to report. So then I took a nap and when I woke up, I felt the scratchy throat and other exciting things that tell me I'm about to get sick. This means one of 3 things: 1. My mom has a Peggy Voo-Doo doll upon which she's been practicing the "Dark Arts." 2. The power of her persuasion made me sick. 3. She's my mom. Those of you who know me well know that my mom has her own issues. Most of the time, I feel like I'm HER mom, but at the end of the day there is something you just can't deny between a mother and her daughter. She will always have an insight that I can only understand because I have it with my own children. She will always have that "sixth sense" when it comes to her children, regardless of whether or not she has the ability to do something about it. It reminded me that, whether we've ever been super close or not, she is my mother. She brought me into this world and she loves me more than I'll ever know. I can make my own choices about how I feel about her on any given day but she will always love me more than anyone in the world will ever be capable of loving me. I think that was a lesson I needed to learn.
3. I am the place all spray bottles go to die. I swear I have 5 different products in broken spray bottles in my house. It's so frustrating! They work for awhile but when the garbage can is REALLY stinky and it needs a healthy dose of Clorox Anywhere Spray, of COURSE the spray bottle won't work. Sigh.
4. How does anyone live farther away from their kids' school than across the street? If you do (and chances are, you probably do) allow me to express my sincerest condolences. It just seems so inconvenient to take Jack to school and to pick him up! Do I take Elisabeth out in the bitter freezing cold or do I leave her in the house and watch him walk to the crosswalk so I can wave him across when it's okay to cross then watch him walk towards his class until I can't see him anymore? (Clearly I most often choose option B) but after school I HAVE to go get him. He's still too young to walk home by himself, even if it is just across the street. This is especially difficult when Lizzy is in the middle of a nap and I have to wake her up just to go across the street to get him. I can't imagine how hard this would be if I had to actually DRIVE somewhere. I'm ridiculously spoiled. I get that. Don't judge.
5. Speaking of driving, my Facebook friends know that we just got a new car. Well, it's a van but I might still have be just a scosh in denial. We went on Saturday to look at cars, we were trying to decide between the Pilot, the Sienna and the Odyssey. We went to this little car lot in Draper and it was the strangest car shopping experience. There was literally NO pressure. I won't go into the whole long story, I'll just tell you that if you want a car (specifically a Honda) go to Millenium Auto Network in Draper. The cars are super cheap (because, as the finance guy said, "We have no overhead. Look at this place--it's a dump! If we make $700 in a day we're happy. I'm not even a full time employee here!") They took it to a Honda dealer for us so we didn't have to go all the way back down from our house and do it to have it completely checked out by a 3rd party. Just a great experience. So we're driving home and Jack is just AMAZED at all of the features. It has a sunroof! You just push a button and the doors open! He has his own heater controls! And a light--he just pushes a button! FANTASTIC!  He told me he feels like a fairy built it just for him with everything he's ever wanted. Ha ha ha. What a funny kid. So I'm a minivan mom now and it doesn't hurt nearly as bad as I thought it would.
6. Let's talk about phones. I have this phone that I hate. If you even look at it wrong, the back falls off and the battery flies out and it's a whole situation. Unfortunately, I'm not willing to spend a significant amount of money on a phone. It just doesn't make sense to me personally. FORTUNATELY, I have a brother in law who has no problem at all spending money on a phone. So when he moves out of state and changes carriers and gets a new phone I inherit his old fancy one. This is normally a wonderful thing--unless of course it's a Windows phone that, generally speaking, doesn't work. I need to make a phone call but can't get the phone feature to come up. I press the button (touch phone--I can't tell you how many people I accidentally hung up on because my cheek touched the "end call" button) and nothing happens. The little Windows colored dots are moving in a circle, but nothing else is happening. And then the screen goes dark. And I curse. I shut the phone off, I remove the battery, I try again...same song, second verse. This happens 4 or 5 times and I realize that if my house were on fire and I had to call 911, I would REALLY be up the creek! So I'm using my old phone again and wondering if my sweet brother in law really had good intentions or is trying to get back at me for some unforgotten grudge and his plan is to torment me into a slow and painful insanity trying to get the FRIGGIN PHONE FEATURE TO WORK!! (Disclaimer: I'm sure it's answer #1--he had good intentions. But on the off chance that it's answer #2, well, revenge will be mine.)
7. I just want to cry for children whose parents think it's a good idea to give them a weird name so they'll be "unique." Most of you have seen my maiden name...ai ama. I love it, don't get me wrong, it's my heritage and part of who I am but having spell it to everyone in the world my whole life got so annoying. "Z as in zebra, u-b as in boy, i-z as in zebra...) That's not even getting all technical with pronunciation where the "z's" should be pronounced as an "s" and the "i" is silent...you see why our children are named Jack and Elisabeth? I still have guilt from spelling Elisabeth with an "S" but there was a specific reason for that. The names we've (likely) chosen for THIS little nugget are also normal and easy to spell. People, if you want your kid to be unique, dress them in clothes that don't match for a few weeks and teach them how to fight.
8. Nugget report: I'm still sick (not cold sick, which I've already whined about) but am dealing with it. I'm 16 weeks along and we're both mostly doing okay. I'm a WHOLE lot more hormonal with this little fern than I have been with my other 2 pregnancies, which makes it interesting dealing with my other 2 children. Specifically the girl-child. Her drama+my hormones =a recipe for disaster. We're still feeling grateful for this new little friend and I'm REALLY looking forward to being able to enjoy pregnancy. (in other words, I'm looking forward to snarfing down mass quantities of whatever food and/or beverage I happen to be craving without fear that I'm going to "see it again" if you know what I mean.)
9. I'm pretty convinced I'll never see an acceptable dramatization of Mansfield Park and that is so devastating to me. (I mean, I get that in the grand scheme of things it's more inconvenience than travesty but with raging pregnant hormones it's on the same level as people still pegging their pants.)
10. While I procrastinate real housework blog, Elisabeth is fascinated watching "Sid the Science Kid." These kids have THE most annoying voices. I swear if my kid had a voice like these kids, I would leave him/her at Burger King and never look back.