Winter

It is cold outside.  Man, is it ever.  It's so cold that going outside becomes a huge production - you've got to start the car, get the kids bundled up and make sure you're not going anywhere for a long period of time so the car doesn't get too cold on the trip home.  Fortunately, we're not going too stir crazy - yet.  But maybe it's the prospect of this continuing for the foreseeable future, the dry skin, chapped lips, static hair, or a combination thereof, but I find myself generally annoyed.  Particularly, these are the things that bug me:

1.  People who identify with a political party based upon a single issue.  Longstanding issues with this.  See me if you'd like to hear the rant.  

2.  Along those same lines, people who form opinions based upon incorrect information or skewed "facts" from news stories.  I was on Facebook the other day and saw an article someone had posted about how being gay wasn't genetic - and I was like, duh.  But the thrust of the story was the fact that a person's sexual orientation was a choice because of the fact it wasn't genetic and that's what made me annoyed.  

3.  Anything related to Kim Kardashian.  

4.  The way that Justin Bieber tries look sexy every time his picture is taken.  It looks like someone is plucking his leg hair.  

5.  Articles on Facebook that start off, as an example, "She put fruit in a mason jar but what happened next was something you would never expect."  

6.  People who dispense unsolicited parenting advice or make comparisons of my children.  

7.  Selfies in the bathroom.  I don't understand what it is about a public restroom that inspires people to whip out their phones and snap a picture of themselves with a toilet in the background.  It's a bathroom.  People do business in there.  

8.  People who push the button to close the door in the elevator when it's obvious I'm trying to hustle to get ON the elevator and my hands are full.  Do you really want to get to work that badly?  

9.  Facebook posts that act like a running commentary for a football game - are you really not watching the game with anyone so you need to post your angry rants about that "awful call" to the public for consumption and comment?

10.  Grown women who insist on talking like a little child because they think it makes them look cute, little, and defenseless.  A 34-year old woman should not use words like "punkin" or the letter "w" in place of the letter "l" in words like "little" or "love."  It just makes you sound ridiculous and demeans an entire gender.  Saying sentences like "I just WOVE punkin wattes!" makes me want to punch you in the face.  And yes, this is a true story.     

11.  People that call and yell at me for doing my job.  

And perhaps that last one is why I'm in such a foul mood today - I just got off the phone with a woman (not another attorney) who called to yell at me and ask me why I'm denying something for her mother.  I can't really go into the details about the case or the call, but she really set me off.  Actually, this is yet another longstanding issue that drives me batty.  I hate television shows where the attorney gets kidnapped or killed for doing their job.  Most attorneys aren't personally involved or emotionally invested in their cases and aren't out to "get" the other party.  Maybe the general public believes otherwise, I don't know.  But, personally speaking, I'm not out to make your life miserable - I'm just doing my job to the best of my ability.  In fact, I had to take an oath saying exactly that to even get the job I have now.  And chances are, if you're calling to yell at me, I'm doing a pretty great job.  I don't yell at the Target cashier because she checked me out quickly and efficiently, right?  So why do people yell at attorneys and believe that we've got a personal vendetta against the other side?  I don't know.  But I'll tell you one thing - yelling at me and calling me names doesn't make me like you more or want to bend the rules on your case.  The opposite tends to happen.      

Anyways, I'll take the advice of Taylor Swift and try to "shake it off" and get back to business.  But generally, I'm just crabby today.  I think my mood is also enhanced because it's Monday and we had such a wonderful weekend.  Jeff's schedule has finally slowed down a bit and we've had lots of really great family time.  It makes it tough to leave the house after a happy weekend to venture out into the cold to go to work.  

Last week, Nora came down with the flu.  She started throwing up on Tuesday night.  I slept with her all night in Jack's bed while Jeff and Jack slept in ours.  She was pretty sick, although you couldn't really tell.  But when she woke up on Wednesday morning, she had a dry diaper - meaning she hadn't peed in roughly fifteen hours so poor girl was dehydrated.  I called the pediatrician who sent us to the emergency room at Children's Hospital.  They gave her an IV and Jeff and I played tag team so we could go to work/court/get lunch.  

We stayed home on Thursday and it was the best day ever.  She slept almost the entire day away and I worked like a mad woman - I think I got more done on Thursday than I had in a week.  It felt wonderful.  It was also a frigid and snowy day, so it was perfect to stay at home.  On Friday, Jeff and I got out of work early and came home to make some pancakes.  We had an early evening and all snuggled in the basement.  

On Saturday, Jack couldn't go to the gym because he'd been suspended for hitting another kid last week.  Like I said, Lenny the Vigilante.  So, we went to get a hair cut and to the store while Jeff went to the gym.  And then it was all nice and quiet for the rest of the evening.  We got some take-out and snuggled in the basement to watch a movie.  

And on Sunday, it was more of the same.  I put Nora down for her nap and Jack and I went to play with some puzzles in the basement while she slept.  I told Jack that we could go to McDonald's after Nora woke up from her nap.  He heard her over the monitor as she woke up and he ran upstairs to her room.  I heard him run in and tell her, "Nora!  Mommy is going to take us to McDonald's to go on the slide!"  He kept talking to her while I picked up the toys and eventually, he started telling her about Donald Duck, Goofy and Mickey.  I couldn't figure out what he was talking about, but when I got upstairs, he was sitting next to her crib with a book in his lap.  It melted my cold, frigid hear and then he told me, "Look, Mommy!  I'm reading Nora a story!"  And she had her little face pressed up against the bars of the crib, looking down at him in complete adoration.  

It's not going to be all fun and games though and happy moments like this won't always be the norm, I know that.  But I'm soaking them up while they're here.  He's going to get annoyed with her, I know that too.  It's already started.  She's developed a Vulcan death-grip - when you're holding her, she grabs onto anything with her little hands and just pinches.  I've got scrapes along my neck from her little hands.  And when she's eating - yowza, watch out.  The other night, Jeff and Nora were sitting on the couch while I fixed everyone's supper.  Nora was playing with Jeff's phone and Jack came over and asked to watch Mickey.  Jeff got the two of them sitting together on the couch with the phone, but Nora kept grabbing at it, which drove Jack insane.  He kept telling her to knock it off and we keep repeating that she's a baby, doesn't know what she's doing and isn't trying to upset him.  But of course, it falls on deaf ears.  

And that's it for the weekend - it was nice, quiet, and no one went to the emergency room.  Our streak has lasted for five days, I think.  Woo hoo.  I'm going out of town on Wednesday for work and staying overnight - it will be Jeff's first time flying solo with the two of them, so it should be interesting.  And now I'm going to go and pick the kids up from Grammy Camp.  No matter how awful my day has been, they always seem to make it better.  Even if they're tiny terrorists sometimes.