2004-10-07 - 1:49 p.m.

one funky key stroke and I lost my post. Too bad, but it was kind of rambling anyways. Let's try again:
Sumpling is better, following a second doctor's visit, a diagnosis of ear infection and our first ever attempt at getting her to take antibiotics. Let me just say, banana flavored syrup is hard to get out of cashmere.... (OK, fake GAP cashmere, but still!)
And can I ask one question? Why, oh why, did no one tell me that Children's Motrin would get rid of her fever in one dose, after 6 DAYS of Tempra?!?!?! So no more fever, better mood, too much energy for mommy and daddy, who are still catching up on their sleep, but every one is on the road to recovery and we can safely say we have gotten over our first illness. Yeah for me!
Today of course, is REality TV night, which comes after Wednesday Drama night. I managed to watch LOST (I LUUUV JJ Abrams! I'm so totally hooked, again!), Law and Order (Which is not going to survive Dennis Farina, mark my words), CSI NY (not the best plot, but I like the actors) and one unsatisfying episode of Wife Swap. I guess after Jody, everyone will be a let down for me!!!! I still have Kevin Hill on the Tivo, so don't call my house tonight!
We'll be off to Vermont for our first family weekend getaway. It had been up in the air with the Dumpling's illness, but seing as she is back to climbing onto the coffee table and running around the 2nd floor butt naked while screaming her head off, I'd say it's safe to go!

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2004-10-04 - 8:03 p.m.

there are days when mohterhood can be trying. When she won't eat anything, when she won't let me put her down for even one tiny second, when she has a baby meltdown for no reason that I can figure out.... those days, I just sigh and wonder if I will be good enough for her, if I have any clue what I'm doing....
And then, at 3 am last night, when I heard the little wimper and I checked on my little Dumpling, who had gone to bed with 104 fever, and foudn her crying in the corner of her crib, unable to breath through the crust in her nose, sweaty and wet and reaching up for her mama's arms, all those doubts were just gone. The Tempra was bareley doing it's thing, but my arms and the rocking chair were the only things that would calm her down. She was clinging to me for every breath that she took, shaking, unsure what was happening to her, but I could make it allright.
Julie has already written about Karen's heartfelt post. I guess this is my answer to it. Karen, it will be fine. It won't be perfect. You'll have bad days. People will say mean things. You won't always fit in. And you know what, it'll be just fine. Because one day, in an instant, you'll know you are the only person that can sooth your baby's ache away and in that moment, it will all be OK.

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2004-10-02 - 8:20 p.m.

name one, I've picked it up or wiped it off today.... Because it's not enough that we are still dealing with whatever tummy thing she's got going, she's got her first cold too! And she's obviously never blown her nose before. She was not having any part of the tissues anywhere near her nose. She was really cranky all day, the only thing that saved the day was the sea-water nose spray and a shot of Tempra.... But by the time bedtime rolled around, she stunned us by grabbing a tissue out of the box and rather than making confetti out of it, she held it up to her own nose and tried to blow the air out all by herself!!!! Yeah! A Milestone!
Tonight is nothing by boring repeats on tv, so I was surfing around a little and caught the first half of America's Next Top Model.... I've never seen that show before, totally missed the first season, but I was to say, I sort of liked it.... my low standards are getting lower and lower by the second!

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2004-09-30 - 2:04 p.m.

100: number of meatballs I made
2: number of chicken recipes I made
24: number of chicken breast I used
8: number of times I washed my food processor in one day
6: number of times I washed my one and only large meat pot and large sautee pan
1: number of large pots I bought today to avoid having to clean the pot so often next time!

So I've been cooking up a storm for Sukkot, but the good news is, it's all ready and I don't have to touch a knife or a measuring cup until Sunday, and even then, we should be able to skate by on left-overs, so when the next batch of guests come Monday night, that's when I'll have to get busy again.
Dumpling has been having the runs since her vaccinations last Monday. We were unconcerned at first, but seing as it's not getting better, we went to the doctor's office this morning and he sent us to the hospital to have some tests done. You're not really am mom til you've had to do a urine sample with a toddler.... let's just say it involves what looks like a Playtex bottle liner a a horse-shoe piece of double sided tape. Of course, my daughter is quite adept at holding it in, having probably been in split-pants in China, so there was no way she was going to go with that contraption taped to her. So after an hour of waiting, they agreed to let me take her home, where I put her down for a nap, and sure enough, she let go and filled the little bag. Now I must wait for 3 different samples from the other end and return all these bodily fluids to the hospital where they will check agian for parasites (she was checked once when she first arrived). I hope it's nothing. My mom thinks it probably just from eating sand or sticking her hands in the dog's mouth or something like that....
So for the next two hours, I take refuge at work to be able to sit quietly and rest my head, and then, bring on the guests! Actually, my parents came last night ofr the first meal, but it's so not a big deal, they clean up after dinner AND gave the Dumpling her bath while I was able to sip some hot tea (go figure, tea isn't always luke warm!!!) and watch The Apprentice.
Speaking of which: Who Cast These Women? Seriously?!?! This is the best of the best the business world has to offer??? I can't believe I'm going to say this, but Omarosa was more of a business women than these Sorority Girls.... (perish the tought). But how much did I love the men parading the cute boys around for the gay crowd, guaranteeing themselves a better review. At first, I was really offended by the seemingly prejudiced comments about the gay customers, but it became clear that they were really concerned about those guy's opinion and knew to play up the cute boys and lighten up the mood. It worked too!
And CSI NY is my favorite CSI franchise. I love Melina, I've been a big fan of hers since her soap days (how much do I love her hair!!!!) and I think Gary Sinise (spl?) is much better than David Caruso. And I can't really believe it, but I'm really diggin Navy NCIS too, for the light hearted nature and all the snark. Like I needed more TV to watch.....

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2004-09-28 - 2:25 p.m.

Taking a short break at work (man, inventories suck: people steal A LOT!) to regale you with tales of the last few days....
First off, we broke the Yom Kippur fast with chinese food. Dumpling was very, very badly behaved, she threw everything on the floor, screamed her head off, even the nice chinese waiters could barely get her to calm down.... when the meal was over, I picked her up out the chair and noticed 3 large soy-sauce colored stains on her dress: a big horizontal one at waist level and two round ones around her buttocks..... I figured she spilled sauce when I wasn't looking, but I really didn't remember her grabbing the bottle. There was no smell, I just couldn't figure it out. But the stains were very wet, so we took her home in a diaper and threw the dress in my bag. When hubby unloaded her from the car to carry her inside, he commented on how sticky she felt, and that's when I noticed the color of the elastic around the diaper.... Turns out my baby has been having some sort of reaction to the vaccines she got last week and had a giant bout of liquid diarhea, black in color due to the iron she's on..... No wonder she was in a foul mood at dinner.... Let's file this one under bad-mommy for not even once thinking of checking her diaper....
Week two of play group today, at my house. Went very well, although when one mom proceeded to clean the floor with diaper wipes because her son had made crums and I told her to leave it, that the dogs would get it later, she seemed stunned and a little grossed out. It's not like I let them WASH the floors! They just eat the food, then we clean up!!!!
So much TV, so little time to write about it! Wife Swap is better than Trading Spouses, and the first two moms were equally nutty in their own ways.... I can't wait for Wednesday's episode to check out all the footage of Jodi the socialite....
Yesterday, I put up the Sukkah. Sukkot is my favorite jewish holiday. Are you surprised? Not a lot of people actually celebrate it, but give me a holiday with building and decorating any day! So we bought a pre-made Sukkah a few years ago and it sort of bolted together in a 10 x 10 square. But it was a pain in the butt because it was free-standing, so you needed a bunch of people to hold up all the sides while you bolted it in place. Except now at the new house, we have a large balcony, and by some fluke of nature, I was able to use 10 of the 12 panels to completely enclose my large balcony, and with 2 house walls completing the shape, we now have a GIGANTIC sukkah! Even had to buy another roll of bamboo to cover the roof. We took the Dumpling in it this morning while fixing it up and she was just giddy! She has no sense of what it is or what we will do in it, but she just loved the walls and the roof, and the smell of the bamboo. I cannot wait to watch her face when she figures out we'll have picnics in there!
Finally, speaking of food in the sukkah, my dear in-laws will be joining us for dinner Thursday and I will make sesame crusted chicken breast, but I will cut them into strips first, which will be better for the kids. Anyone can recommend a fish that would take well to soy sauce and sesame seeds that I could do the same to? There are some vegetarians and I hate always making plain salmon or making a seperate recipe for them. I would love to just make fish fingers, but I only know very few kinds of fish....

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2004-09-24 - 9:28 p.m.

Did anyone see today's Oprah, about the upcoming show Wife Swap. you know that millionaress named Jody who has to make a point of spending one hour a day with her three kids, who each have their individual nannies? Well, gals, meet my inlaws! OK, not actually them in person, but you get the picture! and you know the really scary thing, one of my SIL is actually named Jody!!!! It was very spooky to watch, and guarantees that I have added yet another show to the Tivo....

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2004-09-24 - 1:49 p.m.

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. No I haven't forgotten you gals. Yes, I'm a mother!
Between the inventory, bringing out all the new stock, getting her first full check-up (including 3 vaccines that have made her very, very cranky) and my reality television addiction, blogging has fallen to the bottom of the list, both in reading and writing.
So if something big's happened in your life and you're wondering why I haven't congratulated/supported/comforted you, I'm sorry, I haven't been online much.
So, hopefully, next week will be a bit smoother and I can go back to my daily hour of online time!
Beofre I go, let me mention, in no particular order:
- yeah Chip and Kim! and shame on you Colin, for trying to steal their thunder with your asshat proposal....
- Dolly the sheep... famer, we hardly knew you! Too bad, I liked her lots better than Eliza, but she didn't learn from Christy's mistake as the swing voter.
- CSI NY totally rocks and puts Miami to shame. But why oh why is everything so dark and grey? I know it's the feel of the show, but compared to the Vegas and Miami labs, NY is a dungeaon (on the top floor!)
- Lost: ha! Charley Salinger returns as Dr. Jack.... yummy, but the premise is totally unbelievable. Dead and decapitated people next to people who look like they were bvarely rear-ended in the WalMart parking lot! But I'll give it a 3 week chance to make an impression (Unlike LAX, which totally lost me with the 2nd episode).
-Veronica Mars: promising, but I'll have to wait and see.
- and biggest shocker of all (NOT!), none of the Amish went back.....

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2004-09-21 - 6:47 p.m.

I've got numbers dancing in my head. We're in the middle of the annual inventory at the store and I've been couting greeting cards and magnets all day..... If all goes well, we'll be done by lunch tomorrow and we can start unpacking all the new merchandise.

Tonight, of course, is the big ending to TAR5, fittingly involving a leg in Canada! yeah! I can't wait!!!!!

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2004-09-19 - 11:37 a.m.

aaaahhhh! that's the sound you make after the first round of high holiday meals and festivities!

This year, the sbiggest stress didn't come from my inlaws, surprisingly, but from my complete and total lack of anything appropriate to wear. Seams like I amassed a large collection of cute summery dresses and lots of cargo pants, but nothing remotely suit-like or appropriate for services in colder weather. So I made a run to the mall before starting all my cooking, only the realise that the only two options were the darn pink tweed suit that EVERYONE is wearing this season, or plain black, which is just too boring for me. So I ended up with a pink tweed-ish skirt from GAP with a purple cardigan and oversized flower pin (Which I already owned from last year).

But I just put my hands on a suit for Yom Kippur, it's not tweed but it's got a pattern, and it's not pink, but rather light grey, beige and turquoise, with a beige ribbon around the waist. But the jacket is long, not short, and it's got a definate vintage retro vibe, which I love!

Dumpling was spectacularly behaved throughout all the festivities. She lasted over an hour at services and almost didn't drop any food on the floor at my inlaws. The best is having 10 cousins to watch her during dinner. Ranging in age from 4 to 12, hubby and I were really able to sit and eat, there were enough little ones to keep her from tumbling down the stairs AND keep her laughing through the night!

Today though, she is miss cranky pants, either from accumulated exhasution or the total lack of interest in speding her day with hubby and I after all these kids she's had to play with!

I did see Survivor and I was very disapointed. The first hour was soooooo boring! Brook left before I even figured out who was who. But the surprising firing on The Apprentice made up for it. That's what you get for trying to bluff the Trumpster!

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