I got pregnant

It is so sad that I haven't posted, blogged, or read blogs in eight months. I miss this part of my day. I got swept away with so many distractions, good distractions, that I couldn't keep up. Even though I am posting now and thinking I will start posting regularly again, there is a voice in my head telling me that I am not being honest with myself about the number of hours in the day and the number of directions I have split myself.
The list of good distractions includes a few good experiments and the race for manuscript preparation so we can stay funded, pregnancy in the middle of March, and somewhere between 2-3 students in the laboratory all summer with lots of needs and questions. I raced through every day and to meet the immediate needs at work and home and I don't remember looking at anything on the internet unless I absolutely needed to. Half the manuscripts are published now, although we still have two more to do in the immediate future. I am due in 6 weeks and, aside from a little diabetes, this has been a pretty easy pregnancy. The students went back to school and are here far less often. This little extra time may give me the opportunity to blog, or this may be the lull before the next storm.
If it matters to anyone reading (and it might have mattered to me if I were reading this), I was struggling with infertility and it was very frustrating. My husband and I tried more than 20 times (like two years) and the disappointments were overwhelming. We made a decision to not pursue invasive, expensive fertility options even though the fertility doc who checked us out recommended some. It happened for us and I am very glad that we did things the way we did. I am not saying we were right and everyone else who handles infertility differently was wrong, but I am comfortable with the path with took even though it was painful at times.
Hubby and Manther (the 3 1/2 year old) are doing well. Hubby is extremely active in AA and runs two meetings and is going to a men's retreat this weekend. His performance at work has apparently been great (at least in my mind) and he is now top salesman and store manager. He has a lot of pressure, but handles it well most of the time. Manther is quite a big girl now, even though she refuses to cooperate and use the potty, and seems very happy in her older preschool room at daycare. She is not happy about having a little sister, but she is a diva/princess and I did not expect gracious acceptance of a new sibling to share stuff with. She will adjust and in 20 years she will probably love her new sister.
I go to my one AA meeting and week and church on Sunday. I am not as active in AA as hubby is, but that is where I am right now and life will change when the kids get older and I will have more free time for meeting and fellowship. I get lots of phone calls in to friends and family members and I feel happy and not isolated.
That's it for now. Today I look forward to finishing my day at work and going home to delouse my child and my house after a note a received regarding an outbreak at daycare. Always something to look forward to...

A mother's movie review

This weekend my husband and I rented a movie and watched it, "The Departed". I know this movie is very old and everyone except for hubby and I have already seen it. I am the working mother of a toddler and I can't be expected to stay current with movies. If you want current, go to Siskel and Ebert's website. Wait, is one of them dead now? I guess I can't stay current with pop culture, either.

The movie opens with Costello (Jack Nicholson) extorting money from local business men as the head of the Irish mafia. In this scene, he meets and takes young Colin Sullivan ( Matt Damon) under his wing. Colin starts working for Costello and eventually joins the police academy and becomes a mole on the police force for Costello (Matt Damon in uniform, yummy). Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) comes from a family of ill-repute and also joins the police force (not as hot a Matt Damon, but still sort of easy on the eyes). Despite his family connections, he's an honest guy.

At this point, I leave the movie to lay in the bed with Manther because she refuses to fall asleep on the couch watching movies. I miss 40 minutes of the movie (hubby doesn't want to pause or we will be up all night) and watch 40 minutes of 'House'. Although this show is entertaining, I probably won't be able to watch it again because the main character is a jerk and he makes me angry.

I return to movie and hubby fills me in. Colin moves up the chain of command in the police force and becomes a part of a special forces unit on organized crime with the state police. Billy does the same, but goes undercover as part of Costello's crew so Colin and Billy don't really know each other. It becomes apparent there is a security leak in both groups (the cops and the mobsters) and steps are taken within each group to uncover the mole or rat. Then, there's about 30 minutes of cat and mouse stuff between the undercover cop in the mob and the undercover mobster in the police force that is okay, but does get a little slow. In the end everyone, and I mean everyone, gets shot in the head and there is a strangely perfect and symmetrical blood splatter pattern with each head shot. Maybe that is what real life blood spatter looks like. I don't know.

I give this move a 'B'. It was pretty good. It dragged a bit in the middle and there was a little too much death at the end, but overall it was entertaining.

Finally, why is this a mother's movie review? Because it got interrupted, of course!

Victory

I am feeling victorious and a little bit smug today. I wrestled with Vista and won. After turning the computer and printer off and on about a half a dozen times, I managed to delete the test page that had been printing or canceling (I couldn't tell which function crashed everything) for 72 hrs. At this point, Vista agreed to recognize my printer and digital camera. ha-HA.
Then, my husband got out of bed this morning after a sleepless night due to Manther's 4am tantrums. He admitted he came very close to spanking her himself last night. ha-HA again.
Of course, Manther is still a rebellious monster and I could barely get her to wear shoes this morning. I guess I can't expect to win all my fights. At least she's still small enough that I can physically maneuver her when necessary;
TAGS:
family computers Vista parenting mom kids parents

Feeling good

I haven't been able to blog for a few days because I have no home computer and I was home sick with Manther. I did virtually nothing for the past two days and I can't remember the last time that happened. I didn't clean because I cleaned last weekend. I didn't cook because Manther wasn't eating and my husband and I had leftovers. I was caught up on laundry. I have no computer. So, I sat around. It was fantastic. I used to do the sitting around thing a lot, but I got away from it with work, meetings, and a family. I took a long bath and several long naps with Manther. She wanted to be held constantly and I gladly accommodated her by planting my soft, round butt on the couch in front of the TV. I had to return to work today and I am grateful because the sloth lifestyle was already becoming a habit for me. Manther thinks the TV should be on all the time now and it will takes months to deprogram her.
TAGS:
family parenting mom kids parents television

24

I watch very little television as a working mother, but last night I watched part of the television show '24'. I saw the leader of the Islamic-American Alliance being unjustly accused of obstructing official business and placed into a detention center. Apparently, these detention centers were put in place to restrain Arab Americans during bomb threats from Islamic militant groups, something that is an act of racism on the part of the government and a huge violation of civil rights. As I drove into work this morning, I was listening to the radio (101.1 WRIF) and they were discussing that the episode of '24', the Arab American racism portrayed there, and how it reflects the racism in our country today.

This brought up a point that I think is very interesting. I believe (as did the radio show hosts and I hope most other people) that the radical Islamic groups that are committing acts of terror represent a tiny minority of the nation of Islam. However, the nation of Islam does appear to be divided on whether or not they should speak out against these groups. There are definitely Muslims who are frustrated that the radical terrorist groups use Islam as their motivation and justification for these behaviors and have stood up and openly stated this is not representative of the teachings in the Quran. The other groups seems to be perhaps more traditional in their beliefs (I am a bit uncertain as to what traditional is in this religion, but the aren't the modern Muslims so I will call them traditional). Apparently, they feel strong alliances to the Muslim world and are hesitant to speak out against terrorist groups that have their roots in the Muslim world. If I relocated to a foreign country, I am sure I would be homesick and the culture and beliefs of my homeland would become very precious to me. I can understand why it might be difficult for me to speak out against others who were part of my homeland. However, if I feel that I am under attack because my countrymen have committed hideous, violent actions and I am being grouped with them, I am certainly going to stand up to defend myself and my family. I am a bit confused by the innocent Muslim contingent that is hesitating to speak up for themselves.

If I have any readers, I am sure they will jump all over me for my ignorance of Islam and current events. I certainly didn't intend to offend. I was just pondering a question. You're still welcome to jump on me.
TAGS:
24 current events Arab Americans terrorism