SPOILER ALERT: If you can get past the whining in this post – there’s some good bits at the end. BUT YOU MUST SUFFER THROUGH THE WHINING FIRST.
I am a pretty consistent blogger writing AT LEAST every weekday morning, often more than that. So, I guess when I miss two weekdays of writing, it’s probably goes without saying that I’m having ONE OF THOSE WEEKS, right?
You know the ones. You bash your head closing the cabinet door because…um…you forgot how tall you were? Or you trip over your kids shoe spilling your FIRST cup of coffee all over the floor meaning you have to mop BEFORE you’ve caffeinated. Or you made your coffee but then it disappeared…have you seen it? OH! It’s in the fridge…OF COURSE IT IS. Or maybe you left your dog outside while you ran errands for three hours and your dog is NEVER outside that long and has anxiety and when you finally get home she won’t leave your side, even when you have to pee.
Basically my week has been filled with all sorts of those moments on top of a few big ones relating to the rest of my life (It’s Teacher Appreciation Week and my job every year during that week is to FORGET EVERYTHING! So far I’m doing great.) and life and did I mention I’m still suffering the allergy season from hell? Because I am. And this means I’m not sleeping, my face is raw from overuse of tissues, and my head is doped up from various medications.
THIS. This is why I haven’t been writing.
I kept telling myself: WRITE! But all of the writing came out: WHINE! WHINE! WHINE!
So I didn’t write.
“So why are you writing today, Kim? You’re obviously still in WHINE! WHINE! WHINE! mode?”
GREAT QUESTION IMAGINARY BLOG FRIEND! Today I’m writing because I do have random bits of good to write about, BUT, it doesn’t all fit into any nice topic point so I thought I’d start off by getting the whining off my chest and then fall back on my favorite blogging gimmick of all time: THE BULLET POINT.
WITHOUT FURTHER ADO!
Things Going On In Kim’s Life That Don’t Make Her To Whine
- D has a job! He’s been interviewing quite a bit so we’ve been feeling good about the future. He found a job he’s excited about AND they don’t mind him finishing out his contract with his current job. Win/Win! He’ll stay with his current company until they officially close down shop in June and then he’s on to the next chapter of his professional career! WOOT! Thank you for all of the thoughts and well-wishes. We were really hoping we wouldn’t regret NOT moving with his company to New Hampshire, and it looks like we won’t now. Life is much better NOT being soaked in regret.
- Nikki is being recognized for various successes in school. I don’t know which other way to phrase that. If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know more about this. Basically? She’s been asked to be in the program for gifted children…but I hate the g-word with every ounce of my soul. It sends me on all sorts of off-topic rants about connotations and children getting big heads and other children feeling stupid all because they do or don’t have that g-word associated with their academic career. HATE THE G-WORD. It makes kids who have been labeled feel like they’re smarter/better than the other kids and it makes the kids who have NOT been labeled feel like they’re dumber. And yes…THIS IS MY OWN PROBLEM and the emotions the g-word inspires in me are probably partially irrational, BUT I CAN NOT HELP IT. I HATE THE G-WORD. ANYWAY…we are still excited. The program here is actually called “S.P.A.C.E.” and I don’t remember what it stands for because I’m not gifted. (I’m just kidding, I totally am, I have the elementary report cards to prove it, QUIT ASKING.) But either way: YAY FOR NIKKI! Boo for all of the kids heartbroken that they didn’t get asked.
- I just finished The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry and it was SOOOO good. I put it on my FAVORITES shelf on Goodreads which means I really liked it, obviously. It was a light and easy read, but had a lot of unusual elements to it. It surprised me in a lot of ways. Have you read it? Do you want to discuss it? I have one specific point I want to discuss because I need other (smarter) people to chime in on because I FEEL LIKE IT MEANS SOMETHING ABOUT SOMETHING, but I don’t know what.
ANYWAY! I hope those three bullet points of interesting/good things were enough to counterbalance they 19 million paragraphs of whining beforehand.
My whine-able thing this week is that I tripped over my cat and am now pretty sure I have a broken rib because I caught my upper abdomen on the bathroom counter on my way down to the ground. So that has been fun. I haven’t been to the doctor because I know there is nothing that can be done about it, but if the pain is still this bad Monday, I might have to drag myself in. Yuck.
Yay for the new job and the recognition of N’s talents! I am sure that the program will be great for her, and at least it has a cute name instead of what my gifted program was called, which was the Gifted and Talented Program. Way to make the people not in the program feel like they were neither gifted nor talented…
So excited to hear D found another job! I’m sure that’s a huge load of stress off of both of you.
I read that one! What moment do you want to talk about?
I hate the G word too. My nieces are in a different district in our town and they’re in the gifted program at their school. My sister-in-law never misses an opportunity to bring that up. The problem is that they were tested, with assistance, going into kindergarten. My kid’s school doesn’t allow any assistance to test (meaning the kids have to read and answer the questions themselves) so they don’t even offer it until 2nd grade. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to hold my tongue when she talks about it.
I think the problem is that I’m SO competitive when it comes to my kids. And you’re right. That’s MY thing.
Congratulations on D getting a job and on Nikki getting recognized for her successes in school! Those are both great things.
Hooray for the job! There’s nothing quite like job stress.
I am so glad you mentioned that book, because I read the first half and stopped. I enjoyed it a lot, but the “big secret” aspect made me so concerned that I wasn’t going to like where it was going, and I waffled about reading the rest until it had to go back to the library. Did you feel that way? Should I try again?
My kid was in preschool from 2-3, then she has been out for the last year, and now she’s starting again this summer. And I am dreading more than anything that I have to do teacher gifts and appreciation because I feel so dumb and klutzy at it, and it seems like I’m doing it again as soon as I finish, and basically I don’t feel old enough to be one of the “parents” yet. And it feels weird to give one of my peers a gift from my kid.
Kim, have you read The Rosie Project yet? Please say yes. If not, please do so. It is a GREAT read.
I had no idea you could favorite books on Goodreads – I’m going to look at all of yours right now!