Milestone Moments

Mary Grace wasn't one of those children who got teeth without a lot of fuss.  Oh no.  My girl screamed like they were killing her.  Maybe she thought that if she was loud enough the teeth would change their minds and decide to stay out of her mouth...  Not sure.  We went through a lot of infant Tylenol, though.  A lot.  And I remember saying more than once, "Babies should not be allowed to get teeth until they are old enough to say, 'Mother, may I please have some Tylenol?'!"

Well.  Tonight she came up to me and pointed at one of her teeth and said, "Mom, this tooth is coming in and it's really bothering me.  Can I have some medicine?" and a chorus of toothy angels sang in my head.

Go for the Gold

http://pmgsports.com/davidboudia

There has been a lot of excitement over David Boudia coming to school tomorrow to speak to the kids. They're all supposed to wear red, white, and blue tomorrow in his honor.

Claire came home today with a fever.  When she figured out that she wouldn't be going to school tomorrow, she was crushed.

We tried reasoning, we tried explaining, we tried watching videos of him on YouTube, we tried distraction...  She was inconsolable.

"If the Bloggess can convince Wil Wheaton to collate paper via Twitter," I thought, "maybe I can get an Olympian to call my daughter so she will stop sobbing."

So I did this:

@davidboudia My kid has a fever and is crying b/c she's going to miss your visit @ school. Any chance you could call her or something? HELP!
— Amy Austin (@prettybabies) September 27, 2012

...and he replied!  Long story short, he called and they spoke and she beamed.  He was so sweet.  What a nice person.  He gets a gold medal in making little girls' days.

After we hung up I said to Claire, "I am so happy to see your smile again," and she said, "Mommy, you're the BEST!"

Thank you, David.  You are a class act!

PS - I think she might have a crush on you.  If you start getting love letters from a secret admirer that are written in crayon, you'll know where they came from.

PPS - I think she also thinks that you're her new gymnastics teacher.  Don't worry.  I'll figure that one out later.

PPPS - unless you want to teach her gymanstics.  That would be pretty cool!

I Was Funny

I'm home with a sick Jack today.  My normally independent sunshiney boy has been glued to my lap and miserable since he rolled out of bed.  Bummer.  I plan to get my work done while he's down for his afternoon nap.

So, yesterday when Monica and Juliet and Evana were here, I got a call from our landlords at the office saying, "Um, FedEx Freight is here and we need you to come deal with it."  I called B.J. and said, "Where are you?"  He was farther away from the office than I was - downtown having lunch.  So I left Monica here with the kids (YAY MONICA!) and ran over to receive the package.

The package was two 75 gallon drums.  Thankfully they were empty, but they were huge and really awkward to get through four locked doors and five turns.

I was filthy by the time I got them to the lab.

So I was telling Dad about this, and he said, "What does BJ need two 75 gallon drums for?"

And I said, "I don't know, to go with his 75 gallon guitar?"

What I Learned Tonight

So the Neighborhood Meeting happened.  Most of the people there supported me (note that I didn't say agreed with me, even my own husband doesn't agree with me all the time!).

I (re?)learned something kind of profound. You can either focus on the people who are with you, or you can focus on the people who are against you.  If you focus on the good and the positive, it's much easier to be a happy person.

Two people said that they appreciated what we had done to welcome them to the neighborhood.

One person said that I made the meeting "a lot more fun than it should have been," and that I was doing a great job and I'm hilarious - both in person and in email.

I have done good.  I am not going to let the people who are grumpy win the day.  I am going to remember all the nice things people said, and all the positive things I have done, and I am going to let the rest go.  I can't please everyone.  I have pleased most, and that's enough.

And a couple of beers with my dad afterward didn't hurt.

PHEW!

Things I Already Put on Facebook

BJ and Jack were matchy twins today:

...but they are not wearing "the same outfit" because dudes don't wear outfits.

I have work today from 10 - 2, then MG's scouts meeting, so I put Experimental Crock Pot Meatloaf in the crock pot, and we'll see if it turns out delicious or if we get KFC.

I'm president of the new neighborhood association where we live.  Have I told you about that?  I walked into the meeting late, was asked to introduce myself, said, "I'm willing to take a leadership position," and I was appointed president.  We had one small meeting at my house a couple months ago, but the first real meeting is tomorrow night, and I am super nervous.

I need to stop taking jobs that don't pay.

I plan to suggest that we have a real election, so maybe I'll be able to pass the baton to someone with a little more free time.

So I started this 12 hours ago and forgot to hit post...  Whoops.

The crock pot meatloaf was a success!  However, if you are like me and you like the crunchy edges, you'll want to go ahead and bake yours the old fashioned way.  If, however, you don't like crunchy edges, the crock pot wins.

I'm still nervous about tomorrow.  I'm too tired to get terribly worked up over it, though.  I guess that's the main advantage to having yet another hamster-on-a-wheel day.