323rd Friday Blog Roundup
This was a crap-assy week that started with Josh being assigned to a multi-month trial at jur.y d.uty (because this is soooooooooo our luck) and ended with our bouncey ball pit popping. For those who have been to our house and know the said ball pit, they can attest that it is the heart of our playextravaganza. I thought we’d grow old with that thing. And I had just promised it to my BIL when the twins were done with it — their daughter loved this thing hardcore. So I was in tears when it popped. I know the tears were more for the frustration that was this week as well as the fact that I didn’t want this to be the way that era ended. Josh and I stayed up last night trying to tape this thing back together. And when I came down this morning, it was deflated again.
It was ridiculous, but the ball pit popping felt like the last straw.
Actually, the last straw was after we stopped working on it, Josh picked up the air pump and the sharp end of it swung up and hit me straight in the middle of my glasses lens. It was plenty painful, but if I hadn’t been wearing my glasses, it could have been a trip to the emergency room. That one was really the last straw. I’m ready to end this week and start a new one.
Anyone else want to say “fuck all” to this week?
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Weekly What If: What if you could remove one date from the calendar? Everyone would know that date once existed, but now it’s gone. Would you remember someone by removing their birthday, making everyone mindful of their existence? Would you get rid of day that has bad memories attached? What would you do?
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I am beyond excited about the Grateful Said (thank you texacali/mexicali girl!). Pretty much as excited as I was for the Creme de la Creme. It is very moving to see which words you left on a post meant so much to the other person that they highlighted them on the list. Two weeks until the Grateful Said is live (February 1st), and then it will continue to be open for submissions through February. We’ll have it go hand-in-hand with the Creme next year.
I know you’re probably struggling with this one because you have more than one comment that means the world to you. But the point is not to drive yourself crazy, but instead to simply choose one and celebrate the almighty comment. What else sends a message to the world that comments are important than celebrating them with their own list? And this is a great way to publicly say thank you to the other person.
We all know that your other comments mean a lot to you too; that this was just one of many that touched you. So take this weekend to scroll back and find one that you want to show to the world.
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And now, the blogs…
Searching for The Missing Piece has a post about being the last person to reach parenthood. It piqued my interest because I currently have The Hunger Games as next up in my to-read list. She writes, “Lately, I’ve been feeling like that victor. The last one standing. However, it’s not that everyone else has died, but has gone on to become parents. They’ve gotten out of the games. We’ve all endured the challenges that years of infertility brings. They may not include poisonous gas or bees that cause hallucinations, but the lasting scars can be just as deep.” She worries about posting these thoughts, but I find them very honest and very thoughtful. And helpful for others to hear.
Finding a New Normal has a post about finding an old slip of paper from a fortune cookie. I won’t spoil the post by telling you what the fortune said (hint: click over and find out), but I hope that she frames it and places it in that not-yet baby’s room one day.
Lastly, I really like Infertility Unexplained’s thoughts on the latest rash of infertility news; from the twiblings to sex selection via IVF. She writes, “But as I read Thernstrom’s story I realized that what she is doing is rewriting the fairy tale birth story that many women (and some men) invent before we start trying to conceive (or like, when we’re 8 and playing house and then again as young feminists reading Our Bodies, Ourselves), before we know anything about infertility–the fairytale we realize we must grieve when we can’t get pregnant on our own, and then grieve again when fertility treatments fail. She is rewriting this fairytale for her children, and herself, so that her children will understand and value their birth story.” Go over to read her thoughts on both stories.
The Weekly What If: I’m having a crappy week, are you? Answer the Weekly What If. Have you submitted a comment for the Grateful Said yet? And lots of great posts to read.
21 comments
So if I get rid of my birthday I don’t grow old, right?!
My friends had their baby, and not they don’t. This week gets way WAY more than a fuck all.
I would like to say “fuck all” to the whole of 2011 so far…so yeah, saying it to this week, fine by me! 🙂
Sorry to hear about your crappy week.
I wonder could you use a bike puncture repair kit to fix the pit?
This week was shit. I am so happy to put it behind me.
So yes, I’ll join you in that “fuck all.” I hope that next week is better for both of us. xo
I’m having a fairly neutral week. My husband and daughter are trying to make it crappy – they have several hours left to succeed. (My daughter, who is 4, claims that her 30 minute tantrum was mom’s fault – sure, because I expected her to do the same thing she does every day. ???? My husband is contemplating extending his next deployment to 90 days instead of the previously discussed 60). Ending the week won’t end these sorts of behaviors, though.
I don’t have any dates I’d particularly like to remove from the calendar.
I’m having a fairly neutral week. My husband and daughter are trying to make it crappy – they have several hours left to succeed. (My daughter, who is 4, claims that her 30 minute tantrum was mom’s fault – sure, because I expected her to do the same thing she does every day. ???? My husband is contemplating extending his next deployment to 90 days instead of the previously discussed 60). Ending the week won’t end these sorts of behaviors, though.
I don’t have any dates I’d particularly like to remove from the calendar.
Hope next week improves. That trial sounds painful and annoying. Jurors can barely stay awake during my always riveting (HA!) Half hour of testimony. I can’t even imagine listening to weeks of tedious details.
I love the ‘f’ word in posts. It feels so good saying…
FUCK! Did I ever have a shitty day and experience yesterday!!!
Perfect timing, Mel.
I’ve had plenty of those weeks! Like right before the holidays when the dishwasher broke, the dryer broke and we discovered mold and rotting wood on two of our window sills. All I can say is something a pretty smart woman said once. “Just wing it” You’ll get through. Hope next week is better.
I’ll say that this week started out fucked but turned itself around by late Wednesday/early Thursday and will end up being neutral to good because our outside temps will start with an 8!
Not the ball pit!!!!
I am so so sorry for your craptastic week. Want to do something next week to make it better?
I’ve been snowed in all week and bored out of my mind. We got out today, so I declare the bad week over!
Mel – sorry it was such a sucky week for you, I hope next week is a complete turnaround. Thanks for sharing my fortune cookie post, I think your idea is terrific about what to do with it once we have a little one in the house. Until that day, it will remain in plain sight on my desk as a daily reminder to remain steadfast in efforts.
I hope next week doesn’t suck <3
The Hunger Games is EXCELLENT!
It was kind of a “meh” week for me overall. I can’t imagine a multi-month endurance test! I feel for you.
It started out OK with no real incidents and ended on it a bad note, so I’m halfway between normal and crap week myself.
Question about the Grateful Said, what if it’s a funny comment? I have had a couple where the humor really just lifted me right out of my funk but I feel like maybe it would look odd. But I guess I just have to choose carefully. OK, I just answered my own question.
I know this is risking a public lashing, but I’d say whatever day would land the day before a huge deciding game for the Phillies. It’s all you hear about around here. It becomes incredibly annoying.
This week has been fairly crappy out a year of crappy weeks. This marriage stuff, I tell you, it is hard. Especially when one is on the receiving end of the Silent Treatment. Here’s my thing: wallow all you want, just GET THINGS DONE.
I never knew I was going to be a married single parent.
I agree with Delenn, 2010 was a pretty fucked year.
So if I got rid 11th of May 2010 Max would still be alive? I would definitely scrap that day. That day was truly fucked and if there was a more powerful word than “fucked” it would certainly be that.
I so feel your pain over the bouncy house ball pit going ka-put. Ours did too, the day after Christmas when we had 6 kids in it going crazy and it’s built for 3. So sad.
I am not having a crappy week. I spent the first four days in Paris, and really, who can have a crappy week in Paris?
But I really and truly love you, and everything you write, and I LOOOOOVED your most recent book. Such a happy read for me. And yes, I’ve had a few adult beverages tonight, but that diminishes only my usual reserve. Really mean it–you make a real difference in the universe. Does that make your crappy week at all better? And, jury duty is the ultimate in community service/civic involvement, so Josh should totally be proud of what he’s doing. Just promise you won’t blog about it and create appellate issues. . .
Other than my week being all day shift which started much to early it wasn’t too bad last week.
As far as dates to remove? There might be too many to mention. The day my dad died is up there though. That and the day I realized that inspite of the positive pregnancy test my first IVF wasn’t going to work.