TheMommyBlog

Tuesday, August 05, 2008 Family

The kids and I caught the tail end of Finding Nemo on TV a couple of times this week, and I’d forgotten how funny it was. A lot of the humor is for the grownups; the kids know Marlin’s annoyed with Dory, but don’t always know why. For instance, when they are in the whale’s belly and Marlin starts to panic when the water level goes down.

Marlin: The water’s going down. It’s-it’s-it’s going down!
Dory: Hmm. Are you sure about that?
Marlin: Look! Already it’s half-empty.
Dory: Hmm… I’d say it’s half-full.
Marlin: Stop that! It’s half-empty!

And then someone wrote to me this morning from Smile Therapy, a profoundly cheery site, asking for my feedback. Anyone wanna go get popcorn for this? No, no, I was very nice, but in my present mood I was also totally candid:

Hi,

I know there are a lot of bloggers who would love this and be better at promoting it than I would.  Unfortunately, I’m an incorrigible cynic who manages to put on a sunny face. It just wouldn’t be sincere coming from me, esp considering my present circumstances.

As soon as I hovered over send I felt guilty, so I gave him the URLs of a few blogs that seem to be aligned with his vision. I didn’t expect to hear back. I was wrong.

Mindy,

Got to LOVE your 100% honesty. How Refreshing!!!!!  What’s wrong at present, if I may ask?? Anything I can help out with?? I appreciate the contacts. Will follow up with them.

I should have walked away, I really should have. But I’m feeling entitled to self-pity these days, so I laid it out:

Oh, just unemployed, single mom of three grade schoolers, huge mortgage, like that. I always come through, looking ten years older, but I come through!

And then, I felt a little irritated with myself. Bitch, bitch, bitch. It’s not so bad, I’ve been in worse shape, like when I wasn’t sure if I had breast cancer and had surgery to check it out, or when Dylan was on life support and in an induced coma for ten days when he was only a week old, or when I was in the depths of postpartum depression, the likes of which no one could possibly understand who hasn’t been there herself, or… let’s face it: if you’ve been reading here for any length of time you could finish the list for me.

So, I thought that I’d review the day with OPTIMISM and ENTHUSIASM for a change. Shut up, you in the back.

All the children went obediently to camp this morning after giving me fierce and lovely bear hugs and kisses! I told them that we had been given this week of bible camp free, and that we weren’t going to insult them by not going no matter how agonizing it was to do crafts like painting and wood-burning and only being allowed to use decorations like crosses or “Jesus,” and I couldn’t afford any place else, and I needed to find a job so we could keep our house, eat, sleep in beds, etc. By the way, Logan came home so pleased with himself because he managed to slip a comet into his wood burning craft, and it was allowed because it was close enough to the star over the manger. Took a loooong time to get my face back under control.

I applied for unemployment benefits and will most likely get them! Also, a reader (God, I love you guys) wrote and said she had a friend in the EDD, and asked her about my situation and what I should do to maximize the odds. She went completely out of her way to find out the processes so I would know what to do if denied. I almost cried.

I finally get to try out my grout pen! Daphne dropped a bottle of Bus Stop Red nail polish on the white tiles in the bathroom tonight, after I told her to put it back, stat, because if it got on the floor it would destroy the hardwood. She was terrified to tell me, but I was unbelievably happy it happened on the tile and that she learned her lesson without costing me thousands in refinishing costs.

I’m looking forward to cleaning out the garage! It’s the only way I’ll find that grout pen. I’ve been tripping over it for a year, and now it’s vanished. Poof. Oh! And I’m cleaning out the linen closet! Bus Stop Red is not very kind to white towels or bathmats. However, it did make the glass shards easier to find. Follow the sparkly red trail!

I get to see an old friend tomorrow! He does my life insurance and I have to get my tush in there before I turn forty in order to keep the premium from skyrocketing.

My sheets smell like sunshine! They aren’t quite dry yet, as today wasn’t particularly sunny and the dryer is still broken. The repair man has been here twice, and STILL keeps finding broken pieces. Thank goodness (well, thank Phil) we got a home warranty insurance policy, and it’s only costing sixty dollars. Otherwise, I’d have to wheel that $800 LG to the curb.

I have tons of books to read! But I’m supposed to review them, and my retention isn’t up to par these days. Instead, I found a couple of Danielle Steele paperbacks while cleaning the garage and decided they will be perfect for the twenty-four hour flights to and from Beijing next week.

Speaking of travel, we get to visit four world-class cities between Sunday and Friday! The trip I won to the Olympics had a few non-negotiable stipulations, most notably flights that originate in LA or NY. So, we get to fly from San Jose to LA on Sunday night, spend the night at the airport, and hop an early flight back up to San Francisco for our connection to Beijing. Coming back will be almost as fun, possibly more. Beijing to San Francisco, San Francisco to LA, LA to San Francisco, San Francisco to San Jose. Whee! We could not get around the “Originate in and return to LA” rule, and skipping one or more of the legs will only create security issues I don’t think the good people who are hosting us deserve to have.

How was your day??? Sunshine and kittens? Yay!