Friday, March 30, 2007

Like the wolf.

Ever have one of those days where you eat strange combinations of food, and nothing seems to fill you?

Yeah. Today was one of those days.

Normally I eat on a very rigid schedule. Breakfast at 7:30-ish, small snack at 10, lunch at noon. Then I get home and eat dinner at around 6. And that's it for the day. I'm very fond of my schedule, and I get cranky when I don't follow it. It upsets my delicate constitution.

Today started out fairly normal. I had oatmeal for breakfast (low sugar apple cinnamon). For snack, half of a soft pretzel - gotta love the Catholic school recess! Lunch was a Weight Watchers pizza (no meat today... it's Friday...) with a sugar-free Jello.

When I got home from work, I was starving. I was also exhausted. The kids were crazy-loco this week, and I had a particularly rough afternoon with one of them involving projectile pencils and numerous pieces of furniture kicked around the room. But anyway. I wanted to eat dinner before I went out tonight, but I also wanted to squeeze in a nap. The nap won. I slept for an hour and then went downstairs to find something to eat. I reheated some leftover risotto (yum), followed by a flour tortilla with melted cheese (what I refer to as a "Mexican grilled cheese").

At that point, it was time for me to head to Holy Family. The honors society was having its induction tonight... a FRIDAY night... and I had already promised my friends that I would go. After we sat through a corny 10 minute ceremony and got our pins, we headed downstairs for refreshments. I had a cup of lemonade, one cookie and a piece of pineapple.

When I got home, I found a movie on TCM ("To Sir With Love") and settled in to watch. About halfway through, I realized that I still hadn't eaten a REAL dinner, but it was already after 9 and I didn't feel like cooking. I grabbed some saltines, peanut butter and jelly and had myself a little snack.

And now it's midnight and I want real food. Like a cheeseburger or spaghetti or something. But I'm tired and I think I'm just going to go to bed.

Just some stuff you didn't really need to know about me.

Friday, March 23, 2007

You better run, you better take cover.

Those of you who know me have probably heard me mention that my godson Kyle is in a boychoir. They go on concert tours every summer, and as a result, Kyle has already been to South Africa, Alaska, Canada and Southeast Asia. (Lucky bastard...)

About two years ago, I heard that the choir was planning a 2007 tour to Australia. I asked Kyle to get me information about chaperoning the trip, and he put me in touch with his choir director. After sending the director an email asking if they needed chaperones, I received a brief response saying they had enough people to chaperone. Okay. No biggie. I emailed him back asking him to keep me in mind if a position opened up. Then I went on to tell him that I sang with three choirs, worked at three summer camps (and was the music/drama specialist at one of them), taught for seven years, and have a lot of experience supervising children of all ages. (I figured it couldn't hurt to sell myself. ) He wrote me back the same night saying I have "terrific experience" and that he wanted to meet me. Cuz I rock. (Okay, he didn't say I rock… but we all know it's true.)


So I went to a tour meeting, talked to the director and long story short (too late), I was invited to be a chaperone on the tour. In Australia. Oz. The Land Down Under. The other side of the world. Holy fucking shit.

It's not exactly a vacation. I'll have chaperone duties during the day (I'll be responsible for about 5 or 6 boys and their belongings), but I will have most of my nights free. And this trip is expensive. But when I found out how much we're doing, I didn't mind the cost so much. We leave on July 1st and fly into Los Angeles (I've never been to the West Coast… wooooo!), and from there we fly to Melbourne for 4 days. Then we fly to Perth for 3 days (the other side of the continent!), and then to Adelaide for 2 days. From there, we go to Ayers Rock (in the Aboriginal desert) for 1 day, and then onto Sydney for 3 days. Then Bathurst for 1 day, Brisbane for 2 days and Bundaberg for 4 days (where we'll visit the Great Barrier Reef). We arrive home on July 22nd.

I'm ridiculously excited about the whole thing. I still can't wrap my brain around it. It's like, I know I'm going, but I can't believe it yet. It's completely surreal.

So that's what's new in my world. :)

Saturday, March 10, 2007

if you've got a weak stomach, skip this one...

When I went to bed last night, my stomach was feeling a little queasy, but I didn't think anything of it. An hour later, I was throwing up in the bathroom. Good Lord. I haven't thrown up in almost 7 years (no lie). I went back to bed, but I couldn't lie down because it made me nauseous. So I was sitting up in bed, lying back against pillows. I slept on and off, but not comfortably. Initially, I was freezing... so I put on my flannel pajamas (pants and a button down shirt) with a long sleeve t-shirt underneath. I also had on a pair of socks and over those, a pair of knit bootie slippers that Melissa got me for Christmas. Plus a comforter and a blanket. And I was still cold. Then sometime in the middle of the night, I woke up dizzy and sweating. It felt like I was being smothered. I peeled off the flannel shirt and the booties and then the socks and then I started to feel cooler. I fell asleep like that, on top of my covers and woke up an hour later freezing again. Sheesh. I put my socks back on and fell back asleep... then woke up at 6 AM and threw up again.

So now I'm sitting downstairs watching "The Soup" (thank God for Joel McHale... even though it hurts to laugh), sipping flat ginger ale and eating stale graham crackers. And praying that everything will stay down.

I HATE being sick.

Saturday, March 3, 2007

tick... tick... tick...

Today I went to Babies 'R' Us to shop for baby shower gifts. I think I've been there once in my life, but I had forgotten how dangerous that place is. Even though I was armed with registry papers, I wanted to buy EVERYTHING in the store. Every pacifer, every onesie, every soft and cuddly stuffed friend, every bedtime board book. It was all SO DAMN CUTE.

And that's not the worst part. There were pregnant mommies-to-be strolling the store making their registry choices with scanners. And there were mommies with itty-bitty babies in strollers and carriers.

One trip to that store was all it took. I want to be one of those mommies. I want an itty-bitty baby in a cute little onesie with a cuddly stuffed toy. I need a husband first, of course. (At least the way I want to do it.)

Sigh. I don't feel like waiting. I hate waiting.