i'm a working mom...

This morning I promised Rebecka that I would come eat lunch with her - no matter what... and I would bring McDonalds (that's what all the other parents do).

Of course, my boss schedules a meeting 45 minutes before I'm supposed to be seated in the cafeteria with above mentioned McDonalds lunch, and ready to eat. No problem - it won't last more than 30 minutes...

Lunch is at 11:45. At 11:35, I'm getting in my car and racing like a maniac to the nearest McDonalds where I know there is an ATM inside. The ATM is broken... so are the card readers at the counter.

"You don't take cards?" I pant, as I pour out the contents of my coin compartment.

"No," comes the cold answer.

"Do you need money?" asks a friendly voice. An angel is standing in line next to me.

"Yes!!!! Could I have a dollar?" He hands me a $5 bill. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll give you the change as soon as I order..."

The kind man pays for my child's lunch and I run to the car after grabbing a straw and two packets of ketchup on the way out. Ketchup is a very integral part of a Happy Meal.

For security reasons, parents must sign in at the front desk before entering the school. Today, I'm not a fan of security. The lady tries to make small talk - I don't have time... I dash through the hallway to the cafeteria... "Ms. Green! Rebecka's class is eating the the classroom today, but she still wants to eat on the stage." It's Mrs. Force - environmental nazi and cafeteria police. I rush to the classroom. Whew! Just ten minutes late... I mumble something about being stuck in a meeting. There is still time to eat on the stage... "Take your time!" says Mrs. Hughes.

We took our time and it was a great lunch. I need to do this more often - just with slightly more time and cash...

9.60

That's right kids... It's amazing how if one has a good movie to watch, long runs can be quite pleasant... Sometimes I even forget that I'm running.

Saw Raising Helen today - it was CUTE! I don't get to watch cute movies very often... ;) And I have to admit I would probably tire quickly if that's all I watched, but every now and then it is fun... and there was a hot Lutheran pastor in this one... Not quite as hot as the Presbyterian one I have at home tho...

Happy Sunday! :) I need to go find some fuel!!

music is all around

I'm surrounded by music... Overwhelmed almost. There's so much to hear - so much to play, sing, teach...

Went to hear some innovative music last night... It was the Fognode All Stars (friend Fog and his star friends). Thanks for that - I enjoy broadening my musical horizon (you've provided much there).

Miles away from that - I've been rediscovering the original Destiny's Child. Yes - all the songs sound pretty much the same... But some great harmonies in there. I'd forgotten how awesome the Gospel song at the end is. Melissa, can you work on getting that arrangement on paper?? We need to do that one somehow.

Also looking to do some recording down the road - starting to form thoughts and plans around that... Won't be until summer.

Hoping to go hear some awesome artists on Valentine's Day at the Belcourt. Just trying to find a babysitter... Any volunteers out there?!?! Heck, it may be sold out by now... Who knows?

Plans for tonight: Watch Star Wars on DVD with Todd... Now there's some swell music... ;)

today...

...i left work while there was still daylight outside - it was really cool! :)

so much to do...

...so little time.

Thankfully I managed barely to escape this highly irritating girl that has been following me around the dressing room the past couple of days and extending my time in there to almost an hour. Most irritating thing about her: She uses the locker RIGHT NEXT TO MINE when there are one million other lockers available.

Bottom line: If you're going to talk to me at the gym, limit it to one sentence... and don't use the locker on either side of me!!!

work, work, work...

Just got home from dinner with clients at Mirror - a hip, "fusion" restaurant in Nashville. Had perhaps the best meal I've ever had in my entire life. Man that place was awesome! Cute, little appetizers (that were real appetizers, not meals in themselves), fish of the day (baja) for the main course (light and tasty), and rum carrot cake with cream cheese & fruit/nut mixture plus a sinfully delicious chocolate dessert with a fancy name to satisfy the sweet cravings...

I don't mind that kind of work...

YMCA trauma

I had my morning perfectly planned out... I got to the gym right at 6 am, did my workout, and had 40 minutes to get ready and be at work by 8 am. This particular morning I really, really needed to be at work early b/c new and very important clients would be in the office and expecting a meeting to begin at 9 am. Before that, I needed to go over all the material that they had sent us and (most importantly) have breakfast.

I had picked out an outfit that would fit the occasion, which involved a shirt that needed to be ironed. No problem - there's an iron in the YMCA dressing room (at least for the women). However, when I started ironing... panic! It wasn't working... For some reason the iron wasn't getting warm enough to make the material non-crinkly and making it worse by leaking water everywhere...

I finally gave up and made the desicion to go home and shower and find another shirt. I was so mad and frustrated that I called Todd in tears on the way home... Then I thought: How spoiled am I that I'm crying because a damned iron isn't working and my morning isn't going to be quite as organized as I had planned?

I need to look at the bigger picture more often... And do my ironing at home.

8.75

That is how many miles I ran this morning. My Christmas Thorlos held up quite well - just a tiny blister on one toe... Can't wait for my new shoes to arrive. They already shipped! :)

OK, time to go put up some laundry and sing along to my playlist. Everybody have a great day out there!

getting back into fitness...

I had this thought today: It's almost worth getting a little out of shape to experience the thrill of "getting back in shape". It is so great!! I just ordered these $100 shoes for $59 to replace my current Glycerines that I'm sure have a lot more miles on them than the prescribed max of 500...

zappos.com is the coolest online store ever. they're cheap, they're fast, they have free shipping, and stock a gazillion shoes! just awesome.

PS. This story about SpongeBob and Focus on the Family makes me want to let Rebecka watch that show... I think Focus on the Family needs to start focusing on all types of families, not just the traditional "working dad, stay-at-home mom, two kids, golden retriever, and Volvo" family...

coming home...

How cool is it to come home to this!?!?!



Yesterday there was a book fair in the living room - including a reading contest that Fluffy won (because she cheated). Today, there was an animal shelter pet parade and show. I got to adopt a golden retriever named Maggie and a little bitty dog of questionable breed named Katherine.

They're sweet dogs.

morning feat

This morning, I managed to get myself and Rebecka ready, pack our lunches, do the dishes, throw a load of laundry in the washer (could you switch it over to the dryer (gentle cycle) when it's done, honey??), remember to bring more soymilk, extra shoes for my walking lunch date with Joanne, and saffransbröd for my pal Brian, AND scrape the ice off the car in time to take Rebecka up to the bus stop.

All this in one (1) short, teeny, little hour... I really impressed myself... It will probably never happen again. :)

I love getting to work early... More time for blogging...

PS. I find it interesting that in my last post, people were a lot more interested in my PS and PPS than the actual content of the post. Hmmm. Maybe I should always reverse the body and the PS and make the PS the post and the post the PS... Perhaps not today though... Perhaps not ever... Is "never" short for "not ever"?

socitety's rules are confusing...

This morning, as I was standing in the YMCA dressing room, innocently putting on makeup, one of the YMCA workers (or the "Nude Police" as we call them - long story) told me that I needed to move to another part of the room. Reason: There was a man coming to check the thermostat and I was wearing only panties (very cute with snowflakes) and a bra.

So, it's OK for men to see women with this amount of clothing (or less) if there is a pool nearby, but not in a dressing room? Who decides these things? And aren't there any women who can check thermostats?

PS. It makes me ill to watch Fox & Friends talk about Howard Dean as the possible new leader of the Democratic Party...

PPS. It makes me ill to think about that the Democratic Party cannot come up with a leader who will not go nuts under pressure...

what feels good...

going back to the gym after 8 days of exile and realizing that you can still run and do biceps curls with 20 lb weights...

do i look older?

movie talk

Watched back-to-back movies last night... without falling asleep - even once(!) For those of you who know me well, you know that this is a great feat indeed. I think it had something to do with the fact that I spent the better part of the week sleeping rather than working...?

Anyway, Shrek 2 was the first one. I've seen it several times, but not in a fully conscious state. Man, that movie is funny!! The family's favorite character is Puss in Boots... Especially when he turns cute to get his way. We always pause the movie and laugh our heads off at those parts. We frequently try the cute trick on each other with varying degrees of success.

After Rebecka was tucked into bed, Todd and I watched Wimbeldon for the first time. This British comedy did not let us down. It was fairly off-beat and had several funny moments. We have high hopes that Paul Bettany may be able to fill the void left by Hugh Grant (since he so stubbornly says he's done with acting).

PS. I haven't been to the gym in a week. And yet, I'm not freaking out. This is good. Looks sunny today. Perhaps I'll take Rebecka for a nice long walk later...

milking it...

I finally went to work today. Amazingly, the business had not collapsed in my absence. Spent lots of time testing software and logging lots of bugs. I enjoy logging bugs. The software engineers do not enjoy when I log lots of bugs.

Anyway, when I got home, Rebecka asked if she could keep doctoring me as she had the past three afternoons. Of course! I crawled into bed and enjoyed an evening of pampering.

The Cart Lady brought me water.

Doctor Green examined me using a veterinary medical kit (I had a 100.4 temperature).

The Story Book Lady read me the book "A Bad Case of Stripes". She also read me 3/4 of the poem "This is the House that Jack Built". I didn't get to find out how it ends, because the Story Book Lady got tired.

ergonomic break reminder

Rebecka borrowed this computer game, Roller Coaster Tycoon II, from her friend Brianna. It's something about creating and managing an amusement park (sounds kinda capitalistic, but that's not what this post is about)...

Anyway, after a certain amount of time of playing this game (I'm guessing 1 hour), it pops up an *Ergonomic Break Reminder*, and says: "It's time to take a break and do some stretches." Thereafter, it proceeds to guide the user through some stretches and other tips for healthy computer usage.

I think that is so awesome! Imagine if Dreamweaver or MS Word had something like that.

third movie...

Just finished watching Pippi Långstrump, the 1969 TV series, with Rebecka. I have a couple of connections to that movie...

First of all, I've actually been inside the house that they used for "Villa Villekulla", Pippi's wacky home. It's located on a beautiful island off the east coast of Sweden called Gottland.

Secondly, I've played in an orchestra with the composer, Georg Riedel, while performing some of his original (and very experimental) music. First (and last) time I ever played 13/16 time. If you like crazy music, you should check his stuff out.

PS. Why is the dosage for Ibuprofin behind some sticker that you have to peel back? Isn't this the most vital information?

PPS. Apparently, you can give Ibuprofin to your dog...

how do you sleep at night?

I'm sick. So sick, in fact, that I didn't even try to work today (except answering emails with '!' and related to my 2.0 release, which is in QA). I watched movies instead.

Both movies involved Hugh. Of course. The first was one of my favorites - Sense and Sensibility - for which I heard the audio commentary for the first time. Marvelous.

The second was Two Weeks Notice, which isn't quite up there with Four Weddings and a Funeral, About a Boy, or Love Actually, but also not quite down there with Nine Months or The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. It does have a few good points though. One, naturally, being that it stars Hugh. Also, it features the Counting Crows version of the song "Big Yellow Taxi" multiple times.

Finally, I have to share some great dialog between the Trump-like George Wade (Grant) and his liberal mother-in-law-to-be, Ruth Kelson (Dana Ivey):

George (talking about his latest building project): "...It is over $50 million in profits."

Ruth: "Nothing personal, but I think it's immoral that any human being should acquire that much wealth. I don't know how you sleep at night!"

George: "Well I have a machine that simulates the sound of the ocean..."

How do we sleep at night?

idea...

I had this idea while I was stirring my morning oatmeal and thinking about our YMCA membership and how I would go without cable before I terminated that membership. This led me to think about how in Middle Tennessee, the YMCA membership fee is calculated on a sliding scale based on the member's income.

Why is this not more wide-spread in society? What if all major services (like water, electricity, medical, childcare, etc) were charged based on the individual/family's income? Then people who could only afford to pay $20 for water could pay $20 and those who could afford to pay $100 could pay $100...

Does this make sense to anyone else?

and on the seventh day...

...Tabita got up too late (7:05), took a shower, ate breakfast, dried her hair, put on makeup, got dressed, drove to church, sang in the 8:15 service, went to Panera with her pal Melissa (who plays the guitar - heavenly) and drank steamed soy milk and ate a cranberry/walnut bagel, sang in the 11 o'clock service, drove home, gulped down leftovers (good leftovers) for lunch, planned the spring choir schedules while chatting with pal Steve, drove to church (while munching on dinner #1), conducted choir rehearsal #1, conducted choir rehearsal #2, drove home, ate dinner #2 while writing this post...

She is exhausted.

New Years YMCA

I went to the gym this morning to do my first long run in preparation for the half marathon coming up on March 19. I could barely find a parking spot OR a treadmill to run on...

My first instinct was to be all annoyed that it was so crowded, and why were all these people who never usually go here and taking up my spot..? Then I realized - so what if I have to walk for 60 seconds to get from my car to the front door..? And so what if I can't get a treadmill in the Cardio Cinema..? How cool is it that so many people want to be healthy and fit that they spend their Saturday morning at the gym??? I'm not complaining.

The first person on the neighboring treadmill was there with an oxygen tank. Talk about inspirational! Those times when I have trouble rolling out of bed for my morning run, I will think of him...

Managed to run close to half of the half marathon distance - not a bad start. It took 70 minutes - but I wasn't worrying about speed today. Next week will be 7 miles (at least).

today...

...was a great day.

Eddie Bauer emailed me to let me know that my order (bedroom makeover) is on its way!! Yes, I'm sure it was Eddie himself who sent it.

I got permission to leave for four - FOUR(!) - weeks this summer to go to Sweden. I have the best boss ever!!!!

On the way home, I saw the following bumper sticker:

Trust in God
She will Provide

And we solved the mysterious odor problem in our kitchen. There was a science project (very, very old onions) growing behind some boxes at the bottom of the pantry. Our guests this weekend should be really thankful...

joy!

As I was sitting in bad traffic (which drives me crazy!), going to work after having to drop Becka off at her school because the bus was late/not coming, I saw it:

They are building a Panera Bread AND a Cold Stone Creamery within walking distance of my house and within easy access of work!!!

My happiness is complete...

cool toothbrush

Rebecka has this toothbrush that blinks for a minute to make sure that she brushes her teeth for that long (isn't it supposed to be 3 minutes, btw?). Anyway, I think it's a really great idea.

I wish I had been a kid in the 21st century... Wait a second, no I don't... I got to roam freely and play outside from morning to night. Nothing beats that - not even blinking toothbrushes.

spouse manual

At dinner tonight, Todd and I started joking about what would go in manuals that we would write for potential new spouses for the other. I think it started with me not being able to smell some odor in our house and he said: "I need to write a manual for the next person who gets you..." Apparently, it would outline how I think I have an excellent nose, where I really can't smell any real odors, but only made up ones (like chemicals and such).

Thus began an interesting learning experience...

Todd: "And also how you would never know if there was a dangerous problem with your car until it blew up. So, if you're married to Tabita, you should drive her car every now and then to make sure that it is still OK.

Tabita: "And I would write about how she should never try to attempt to persuade you to get a different haircut. It will be the same until he dies."

Todd: "Watch out when you need to walk behind her in the kitchen, because she always sits at the edge of her seat with the chair pushed back all the way."

Tabita: "Don't ever put anything that has been on your plate on his plate..."

Todd/Tabita (in unison): "And definitely never drink out of his glass!"

Etc, etc, etc...

We had fun.

people...

Heard on the news today that a Swedish boy, who survived the tsunami (but lost both parents), is missing. They suspect that he was stolen - most likely for prostitution or pornography purposes...

Apparently this is not the only story of children being stolen or purchased for these purposes after the catastrophe.

So we have a big tragedy and people make it worse by committing these crimes - what kind of world do we live in??

what i learned...

How to scroll between the tabs in Mozilla!! (Ctrl + PgUp or Ctrl + PgDn)

This is going to change my life!

Thanks AnonD... ;)

walkie-talkie fun

Last night I was summoned to bed through a walkie-talkie... Talk about romantic!

Him: "Hey!"
Me: "What are you doing?"
Him: "Waiting for you to come up..."
Me: "Ok, let me just finish up this email!"
Him: "Roger that. Over."
Me: "Heh..."

Whew - what a guy... :)

what feels good...

going swimming after a full day of cleaning and organizing.

the upstairs bathroom had a makeover!

still waiting for the bedroom stuff...