Silver Linings and Lemonade in a Red Solo Cup

So. Back from vacation. The one thing you look forward to for 51 weeks is over like *that* and in the midst of unpacking and still finding sand in the damnedest places, it's easy to sink into a real funk. The days of sipping cold beers in a beach chair by the water, trying to be heard over the roar of fighter-jet engines, and telling yourself that it's really okay to let the kids eat ice cream for dinner mean it's that much harder to return to reality and when you do, everything look bigger and worse than ever. Even my sunny self is not immune to it. So I'm trying something different this year: finding the silver lining in the stuff that's getting me down.

1. Vacation being over.
Silver lining - Got to dance to 'Red Solo Cup' and 'Handlebars' with my family at my cousin's 10th anniversary party. Also, I do the 'C' of the 'YMCA' backwards. Who knew?

2.  Back to work where things went 'kablooey'.
Silver lining - Okay, this took more thought but at the very least, my job is secure for years to come as no one wants anything to do with it. Also, I have another year before this clusterfuck happens again.

3.  The kindergarten teacher I was hoping Noah would get isn't in the school anymore.
Silver lining - She took a job at a different local school so I'm happy for her. And it's not like I won't see her; two of her kids are at Franklin, one in the same grade as Noelle. Even better, no more day care payments! Ever! And we've made a date to meet at the local ice cream stand The Cow. So really, it's still a mostly-win.

4.  Noelle didn't get the teacher she wanted either.
Silver lining - The same thing happened last year and she ended up loving her teacher. I just hope that some of her close friends are in her class this year.

5.  Jinx is not consistently peeing in the litter box. Poop, yes, but not pee.
Silver lining - Well, we found an awesome pet sitter for her. And as she prefers to pee on piled up papers and plastic bags, it's forcing us to keep the clutter down. Her secret peeing spot is somewhere in the basement where the carpet was already ruined by my old cats so it looks like we're moving up our timetable of replacing that carpet too. Oh darn, that means we need to organize and THROW STUFF OUT.

6.  Friends are fighting and things are changing.
Silver lining - This was the hardest one as I think the world of everyone I *think* is involved but I need to let it go and not obsess about it. It just means I need to alter the ways I check feeds and has nothing to do with me. On the bright side, I get to *meet* with two twitter friends face to face this month which I'm so excited about. One to give her daughter some coveted dolls and the other to share our city with her family.

Change is hard yo but on the bright side, NO MORE DAY CARE! EVER! HUZZAH!

(Did I mention no more day care? Because that makes me happy.)

(Also wine. Really, anything in a red Solo Cup. But that was a given.)

Monday Brain Dump

Coming back from a long holiday weekend always tends to scramble my brain a bit. I was just lucky that that remembered to set the alarm for this morning. Or maybe cursed.... Either way, we're now on the backside of summer (if you listen to the marketers) but it's soul-meltingly hot today so in lieu of actual coherent content, I'm pleased to present a random list of things that have crossed my mind today. You're welcome.

1.  I have five different 'Words With Friends' games going on right now and I swear that at this point they're just making shit up.

2.  Speaking of summer being 'over', I should probably get the kids' school supplies now, you know, before Wal Mart sells out of everything by next week.

3.  Did I mention that it's only the beginning of July?

4.  How is it that my neighbors who drive a small car are completely unable to park inside the lines? I mean, I know they're from Russia but there are cars there too. It's not that hard people.

5.  There is a house for sale two doors down from us and we're trying to convince my mother-in-law to buy it. Seriously, this is the best idea ever!

6.  I have avocado slices on my sandwich today so I win.

7.  Three more weeks until vacation/family reunion time! I should probably start trying to find 'The Ba-boomp-ba-boomp song' (otherwise known as 'The Thing') for Rob. If he doesn't appreciate it, I know his kids will.

8. We'll probably need to rent a trailer for the beer.

9.  Noelle actually tried some new foods! Chicken legs are a go but red/green bell peppers are on the fence. With any luck, she'll eat more than 10 things by the time she graduates high school.

10. It wasn't a complete win as she's still terrified of any dog that weighs less than 90 pounds.

11. She and Noah are stupidly tall as she is a full head taller than her second cousin Raine who is the same age as her and Noah is the same size as Raine at three years younger.

12. Really, we're already doing back-to-school? What's next, Christmas in August? Oh wait....

13. I was very glad to send them both off to camp this morning as I couldn't take another day of playing Evil Decepticon Brains And Their Assorted Super Pets in the Star Cup Mario Kart Race.

14. If loving sangria is wrong, I don't want to be right.

15. Up yours marketers; you can take summer from me when you pry it from my cold dead fingers.

16. There is only one episode left of We're Alive - A Story of Survival and if you've never listened to this radio drama podcast, you should. It's amazing. It has zombies. Go listen. Now.

17. It's SUM-MMMMMERRRRRRR!

Leggings are not pants and other random musings

1. They look like pants. They are put on like pants and yet, unless you are layering them under a skirt or pairing with a long shirt, thou shalt not wear them as pants. (Babies and toddler are exempt from this of course because RUFFLE BUTT!)

2. Why is it when you go to bed late and you have to get up early you are compelled to wake every 45 minutes or so to make sure you haven't overslept thereby negating any 'sleep' you do get? Also: still tired.

3. If the 'ladies' on Maury Povich want an easy way to identify their baby daddies, perhaps they shouldn't sleep with so many different men in the first place. (What? Isn't every break room TV tuned into Maury?)

4. Never, ever, EVER argue with the judge hearing your case. It's like the people on Judge Judy have never actually watched 'Judge Judy' before. You only piss her off and make yourself look stupid. Stop it.

5. We're big fans of quality talk TV here at work.

6. Recent dreams have included walking around Old Navy in my underwear and last night added in walking around topless. It was beyond weird but man my boobs looked great.

7. While Triscuits and peanut butter are a delicious combination, choosing to make them dinner two out of the past four nights probably didn't help with the dreams.

8. Related, someone needs to study the link between making extremely poor dinner decisions and dreaming about the lack of clothes. I'd try it again tonight (for SCIENCE) but alas, am almost out of peanut butter.

9. It does not matter what time I leave work in the afternoon; I will arrive home at 5:55 pm due to weather, traffic, stupidity (mine or others. Usually others), or some unholy combination of all three.

10. One word for you: Battleshots. Look for Riskbong to be a thing next year.

You drank my battleship!

Have a great day! Phases on stun, good luck, Kirk out.