Insomniac's blog

Darling Husband gave me some money tonight to buy myself a few things. He makes the money so in order for me to spend it on myself I need to wait until he is in a giving-sorta-mood. Anyhow, I went and dumped some major bucks (well, maybe not major for some, but for me it seemed like a lot). I went shopping at the Eddie Bauer Outlet and The Gap Outlet. Yes, I am an outlet shopper because I can't afford the normal store prices. I bought a pair of jeans, a black pair of chinos, and khaki pair of chinos, a dark blue jean skirt, a sorta gold colored skirt that is dressier, a fern green V-neck sweater, an orange long-sleeved T-shirt, a new pair of black dress shoes, a black newsboy hat, and a brick red polo-style shirt. Oh, and also two comfy weekend style pants. Yes...lots of shopping.

After all this glorious clothes-trying-on in those too small and too bright fitting rooms, I decided to go to WalMart. I love WalMart...and I know it is a redneck thing to admit, but I do love it. I simply had to have a new bra. All of my bras are getting all stretched out and sloppy feeling. Nothing is worse than feeling like your boobs are about to flop out at any given moment. Anyhow, I picked out about twelve bras to try on--all different makes and models. After trying on bra number three I began to get pretty pissy. I swear, I think men design bras. Only one of the blasted things fit decently. With the rest either my boobs were squishing out or were in danger of being forcibly pushed into my chin. NOT comfortable. Plus, I can not buy cute or dainty bras. Some of the women who read this know what I mean. Any woman bigger than a 36C can not find any bras that don't have 37 hooks in the back and uber-wide bra straps. Because I am, shall I say well-endowed, I have to get the granny-style bras. Yep, that's right. You may know what I am talking about...the kind with at least four hooks, gaudy lace, gel-straps, and a little bow in the cleavage area. Ughhhhh! I just wanted your basic bra. No embellishments, no fancy crap, no special features for the fuller-figured woman...just a plain comfortable bra. Is that too much to ask for??!!! Apparently so. I ended up getting a white bra with some minor embellishments and a stupid little flower in the cleavage area. I'll cut the flower off later. At least I didn't have to buy an underwire. Underwire bras are a curse from hell. I detest the dreaded underwire. It is absolutely miserable to wear. The thing has wire in it...imagine how that feels cutting into your soft flesh?! But underwire is supposed to lift and seperate...hah! More like gouge and poke. Horrible things.

Oh well. I did get one bra. Too bad I had to spend 45 minutes searching the racks to find what I hoped would be the right size and another 15 minutes trying on the wretched things. Too bad I am too big to go bra-less. Damn A-cuppers. I'm jealous. As a friend of mine said, "Those who don't have big ones want them and those who do have big ones, don't."

I'm bored. I know I shouldn't be, but I am. I have mass amounts of homework to do (mostly foreign language) and some revising to do on a paper, but I have absolutely no ambition or gumption left in me. I had a fairly good day though...just a long one. Tuesdays are always hard for me because I have my late night Monday class and I usually get home around 9:30 at night. Then I sit and talk to my mom who babysits for me. The chit-chatting with Mom lasts until about 10 or 10:30. After that I talk to Darling for a bit (he's usually working at night). Then I try to do some homework. Before I know it, it is midnight and I have to be up around 5:30am in order to get half-way decent looking before my early morning Tuesday class. Anyhow, by Tuesday evening I am tired.

I know the two people who read this are really interested in knowing what I did today that made me so tired, so here goes... I got up at the above mentioned time, showered, dressed, put on my face, got The Boy's soggy Pull-Up off, put a new Pull-Up on The Boy, got him breakfast and a sippy o'milk, lit a fire under Myah's rump to get her moving, threw Myah's bike in the back of the mighty mini-van so she could have it for biking in gym class, packed my bag for school, folded a load of laundry, kissed Princess and The Boy bye, dropped Myah off at school (while I was blaring Hell's Bell's by ACDC in the public school's parking lot, hey maybe I am still cool?!)...all before 7am.

8:30 AM--By now I made it to GVSU, went to Einstein's to get my morning cup o'caffeine, and managed to wedge my wide arse into one of the desk/chair combo seats from hell. No one over 150 pounds should ever be forced to squeeze into one of those medieval torture devices. Anyhow...class ended at 9:30 AM, just a few minutes early.

9:30 AM--I exit class with another classmate. Classmate and I walk, talk, and smoke our way over to Mac Hall at GVSU main campus. I get copies of last week's notes from classmate. I stop and see Friend of Mine...talk for a few minutes...schedule meet-up for lunch.

9:45 AM--I run into Dr. Muscles. I talk about nothing in particular with him for about 10 minutes. I cautiously admire his pipes. Dark hair, blue eyes. Perfect combo. I remind myself...professors are off limits. Bad, bad Nita.

9:57 AM--I enter Einstein Brothers yet again for more caffeine. It is a drug of sorts and I am heavily addicted. I sit and drink coffee and try to work on amazingly confusing Russian sentence translations. Get the buzzing feeling in my head...think I am stupid for taking two hours to translate 14 Engish sentences into Russian.

11:00 AM--Russian class. Went well, lots of digression. We talked about getting tenure at GVSU, what makes a good prof, and other non-Russian schtuff. Spent 10 minutes on translations. Overall, I was happy that we didn't do too much. My brain was hurting already before I went in to class.

12 noon--Spend about 15 minutes talking to Russian prof. She tries to persuade me to take a history course with her wonderful husband. I would love to but his available courses just won't fit into the winter schedule. I think I disappointed her but I am too selfish right then to care much.

12:20 PM--Run into another known prof in parking lot (no, not literally). Talk with him. He shows me his nice new Mercedes. I make all the appropriate ohhs and ahhhs. I say nice things and stroke his ego a bit. He has his hands full so I volunteer to help him carry a few things into his office. What can I say? Sometimes I am helpful...

12:35 PM--Off to meeting with one of my three advisors. Meeting was cancelled about half-way there. No big deal. I wasn't too geeked about going anyway. It was just one of those things that you have to do which are actually quite worthless. I head back to campus.

1:10 PM--Meet up with Friend of Mine for lunch at Einsteins. I'm beginning to wonder if I should just buy stock in that chain of restaurants. Sheesh...three times in one day. Hey, but two were just for coffee. Ate lunch with Friend of Mine. Had a good time. Friend of Mine looked tired too. Perhaps we both needed a nap? Anyhow, Friend of Mine and I people-watched and commented on them, chit-chatted about schtuff at GVSU, and basically relaxed for a bit.

2:05 PM--Off to home.

2:30 PM--Home. Talked to Mom for a few minutes. Packed up Princess and The Boy and headed off to the grocery store.

3 PM to 5 PM--Grocery shopping. Yes, two hours. Princess and The Boy kept climbing out of the semi-truck length cart. Plus, we had to stop and look at the Monsters (lobsters) for like 15 minutes. The guy at the seafood counter actually took one of the Monsters out and tried to let the kids see it. The Boy freaked out (he is only 3 years old). Took me about 10 minutes just to calm him down.

5:15 PM--Home from store, unpack groceries, clean out 'fridge, make crappy dinner for Princess and The Boy. Declare "Get-yer-own" night for Darling, Myah and myself. Eat a frozen burrito (nasty) and a handful of salt-n-vinegar tato chips. Mmmmm, what a good diet I have.

6:40 PM--Take Princess and The Boy outside to play, ride bikes, kick soccer ball, play tag, and color with sidewalk chalk on the driveway. Oh, Darling left for work at 6PM so I was the sole entertainer for the troops tonight.

7:50 PM--Princess and The Boy take/are given their baths. I wash their hair, scrub them, squirt water at them, dry them off, put lotion on them, dress them. Then, it is movie time. I get half an hour to wash my makeup off and make a phone call.

9:07 PM-- All of the kids are in bed. I sit down and watch five minutes of TV. Nothing on but a really tempting commercial for IHOP. I want french toast. Check email. Start this posting.

10:30 PM--To bed...hopefully.

Yep. Life is officially in a routine. Not that I'm complaining. Heck no. After the hectic pace of summer classes and all the kids at home, the routine of the fall semester is a nice break. Of course I am still as busy as the proverbial bee, but I have come to the conclusion that if I wasn't running around like a chicken with my head cut off (sheesh...another cliche!) that I would probably die of boredom...or sit and eat chocolates from Holland Peanut and watch the History Channel all day long. Hmmmm, perhaps I do need a little boredom?

Anyhow, my special Monday night class at GVSU went rather well. Everyone seemed to at least attempt to participate tonight. My foreign language class is slow-going on my part because I have the damned-est hard time trying to figure out cases and genders and all that foreign language schtuff. My psych class is okay. I'm not too geeked about it so I am getting out of it what I put into it. It isn't a bad class, just not what I'm really interested in. I have to take it because it is a requirement. Oh well.

Darling Husband and His Best Friend are taking off to Detroit in a few weeks to watch the Lions play the Carolina Panthers. I like to call it The Battle of the Pussies. Hee hee hee. Gawd, I am a vulgar woman, but I can't seem to help it! So, because Darling and His Best Friend are going to have a wild weekend of debauchery in the big city of Detroit watching pussy-cat teams fight it out on the football field, I decided that I too shall have a few wild days of debauchery. I think I will go to the Phi Alpha Theta National Conference in Philadelphia. I know...I'm such a partier. Actually I do like going to conferences and all that. There is something stimulating and exciting about learning new things in history. I think I am doomed to be a pastey-white historian who spends most of the daylight hours in archives and looking through dusty tomes in basements. Ah well, there are worse things...right?!

And now, to satisfy those of you who like to be pedantic...according to Merriam-Webster's Online the word of the day is...

clarion • KLAIR-ee-un  • adjective
: brilliantly clear; also : loud and clear

Example sentence:
Frances issued a clarion call to action, convincingly describing the flaws in the proposed legislation and detailing actions people could take to stop it.

Did you know?
In the Middle Ages, "clarion" was a noun, the name for a trumpet that could play a melody in clear, shrill tones. The noun has since been used for the sound of a trumpet or a similar sound. By the early 1800s, English speakers had also started using the word as an adjective for things that ring as clear as the call of a well-played trumpet. Not surprisingly, "clarion" ultimately derives (via the Medieval Latin "clario-") from "clarus," which is the Latin word for "clear." In addition, "clarus" gave English speakers "clarify," "clarity," "declare" ("to make clearly known"), and "clear" itself.

Thank you Merriam-Webster for keeping all of us pedants happy.

Today I decided to take The Boy and Princess to the park to play. The Michigan weather was actually fairly nice and the kids desperately needed a break from playing just with each other. There is this great park about 4 or 5 miles from my house and there is always at least a half-dozen kids there, so that is where we headed. I had been cleaning house and decided not to change out of my raggedy cropped sweats and way too big T-shirt left over from my days before the 50lb weight loss. I figured, "Who cares what I look like?" Most of the other moms who are usually at the park look as homely as me, and just as preoccupied with their kids.

Anyhow, I chose the wrong time to visit the park. Some sort of pre-school moms' group was meeting there for a mass playdate and picnic. When I arrived with my hastily dressed, mis-matched clothes wearing kids, and my Poor White Trash ensemble that I was wearing, all the other moms turned around to see if another one of their elitist friends had arrived to join in their festivities. Alas no, it was just me and my progeny. These moms were like something off of a Jif Peanut Butter or Ovaltine commercial or something. Every one of them were dressed like they were going to church or a Bar Mitzvah and they all had their make-up just so and their hair mussed up perfectly. Me? Besides the nasty house-cleaning attire I had on, I had my hair slapped back in a twisty-ponytail looking thing with my husband's Carolina Panther cap on, no make-up, and just two bags of fruit snacks for my kids' picnic. Ughhhh. I hate it when things like this happen. I am usually, almost always, comfortable in my own skin, no matter what I am wearing. But, this collection of about 20 perfect moms made me ungawdly awkward-feeling.

But ya know what? Throughout our whole hour at the park I noticed something. While I bounced on the teeter-totter and balanced on the tip-toe bar and slid down the slides with my kids, the other moms just stood and watched their kids. They did not play with them. Some moms even scolded their kids for getting dirty. Sheesh...it IS a park! I guess the moral of this soapbox is not to care so much what other people think but to do what is important. And today, playing with my kids was more important than looking good for people I don't know.

It has been awhile since I did a top ten list, but I think I am sufficiently irritated enough to spout one off. Here's my top ten reasons for hating the month of September...

10. Damn Michigan weather...need I say more? 80 degrees and high humidity one day followed by 50 degrees and rain the next. It is true that in Michigan if you don't like the weather just wait a minute and it will change.

9. Hay fever.

8. Manure spreading on the fields next to our house. Ewhhhh, yuck.

7. Extracurricular activities start. Yes, my oldest is one of those "gotta-do-the-extracurricular" types which is fine but with gas prices I am going broke. Plus it is just tons of fun spending five hours a week watching tennis matches.

6. Back-to-school shopping. Approximately $300 thus far and I still have to buy more for the progeny. One child is done and the other two need a few more things to wear. Too bad T-shirts and shorts don't cut it all year long (see reason #10). And people wonder why I buy clothes for myself at the Salvation Army store?!

5. Deer and other critters. Yes Michigan has an abundance of road kill come fall. And the nastiest thing about it? By three in the afternoon all those deer, 'coons, 'possums, and squirrels begin to swell up in the middle of the road.

4. No more swimming. The beaches are too cold for swimming and most outdoor pools shut down by Labor Day.

3. Beginnings of Cold season. That's right folks. As soon as that thermometer starts to dip into the 50's at night, people's noses begin to drip. I just inherited a nasty cold from one of progeny. I've blown my nose so much that it is getting all red and chapped. I don't have the greatest of complexions to begin with so adding a chapped and raw nose does me a whole lotta good.

2. Classes start. Now officially GVSU starts classes the week before Labor Day but that is considered shopping week because you can exchange one class for another without getting behind. Normally I like the start up of classes but lately I am reminded of how long I've been at GVSU and still I don't have my BA. *sigh*

1. Too many birthdays! Please, if and when you ever decide to have children, postpone the act of creation between mid-December and February 1st. That way there will be less birthday parties to attend in September. In my large and fruitful family we have five birthdays just on one side which means that every weekend is spent at birthday parties. I know, I know. Two are from my own stock, but I really tried to have The Boy in October but he had to be born in September. I guess I should have followed my own advice on postponement.

Well there's the list. I hope you all enjoy. On a happier note, my new darling nephew was born today. Apparently my brother never listened to reason #1 either. Anyhow, the newest member is a healthy little wiggler weighing in at an amazing 8 pounds, 12 ounces and is 20 inches long. The Detroit Lions called and tried to draft him as a lineman, seeing as they need some big new boys on their team. Anyhow, there's yet another reason to spend money in September.

Tonight I went to class at GVSU. I have my special history class and I have been really excited about it. We get to do some pretty spiffy things in that class, namely oral history interviews. The class has about 16 people in it and at first it seemed like a pretty good group. After tonight though, I found myself a little disappointed. The class, as a whole, is heavily discussion based and tonight only about three people in the class besides the instructors were actually talking. This irks me. This class is an intense class and all of us are supposed to rely on the other classmembers to make everything run smoothly. Twelve people tonight didn't even open their mouths and the class is three hours long! This is the third time the class has met and each week it seems as if less and less people talk. I don't know why. The instructors are nice enough and are willing to address even some of the stupid questions/comments that I have.

Plus, I managed to get us permission to see an special exhibit at a local museum which would be extremely helpful to the class as a whole. When I offered up the info on where the exhibit was, when, and what it was, no one except the instructors and two other students seemed interested. Am I asking too much to have people take learning outside of the classroom?! Maybe I expect too much of others...perhaps I expect people to be more extroverted than what they are...I don't know. I hope next week goes better otherwise I am afraid that some of the grand ideas the instructors had for the class will just fall through. Damn, I hate being disappointed.

This has been a week from hell. Everything is accumulating into a big, outta-control mess so I decided to have a little fun tonight. Hell, I had a lot of fun. Call it failure to recognize priorites or denial of deadlines, but all I know is that I needed a little positive distraction. So, I got a babysitter for the progeny times three and took off. I went to the Holland Museum for a special history lecture. The lecture was pretty damn good and I learned some chin-stroking interesting schtuff. But, the best part was that I got to do a little networking for a new research project. I know, I know. I am doomed to be a pastey-white historian with a high demand for incorporating literature into history and history into literature. Anyhow, I did my networking and got myself hooked up pretty well. Sheesh, I love how just stepping out for a night can open all kinds of new possibilities.

After the hob-knobing, a Friend of Mine and I grabbed a decent dinner (yeah! no McDonald's!) and chit-chatted for a while. Friend of Mine and I had a fantastic time (well, at least I know I did), and I had no one calling me Mom for four fantabulous hours. Whew. Breaks are good. Friend of Mine and I haven't seen much of each other lately so it was nice to get caught up on each other's business. Plus I got to laugh. Real honest to goodness laughing which I haven't done enough of lately. Thanks Friend of Mine, you have no idea how grateful I am for your sense of humor.

Anyhow, what a great evening. Now I am off to study my foreign language, read a psych textbook, and wash the make-up off my face. I think I am going to have to take time off just for me more often.

Okay, let me just say at the get-go that I apologize for the extreme bitchiness that this post will contain...

I cannot stand the 19-22 year-olds at GVSU (for the most part, Becky..you are excluded of course). I was sitting in Einstein Brothers on Tuesday during my hour break in between classes and I was distracted by some of the conversation that I heard. I swear sometimes I have Attention Deficit Disorder, but there were a few conversations pulling me away from my all-time interesting Educational Psych textbook. One conversation went sorta as follows...

"Oh my God, I shouldn't have partied so much this weekend. I am still hungover and it is Tuesday! I am behind on my homework because I just don't have the time."

"Yeah, I know. What do these professors expect? I mean some of us do have a life ya'know."

"Jeez, tell me about it. I'm working like 20 hours a week, plus taking four courses...it's like when am I gonna have time for a life?"

The other conversation was the same jist, except this one was a little more detailed on how much "life" these young people were having. Apparently having a life requires drinking a fifth of Beam, sleeping with a guy or two, and working out at the campus fitness center. Funny, I thought the purpose of higher education was...well, to get an education. Stupid me.

Of course, if given the opportunity I wouldn't mind being a little carefree either. But I did things a little backwards. Instead of finishing high school, going off to college, partying, getting through grad school and eventually finding a smashing position as a prof at some small college, I decided to have a kid, get married, work in some God-awful factories, go to college, pop out a few more kiddies, and try to maintain a household, keep the kids well-fed and nurtured, and maintain a fairly stable marriage to my husband. But hell, what do I know about having a life? I'm still trying to figure out exactly when I lost control over mine.

I suppose I am jealous of the traditional college co-eds in a way. It isn't there fault that they are selfish. Really, it isn't. What else do they have to worry about but themselves? I guess they should have their good times while they still can, before responsiblities come in and bite them in the rump.

Anyhow, I will try to look more kindly on the younger crowd and maybe continue to secretly envy them their freedom.

You ever notice that certain families seem to have a monopoly of talented people? While I will never be as presumptious to say that my family is uber-talented, I have noticed a certain trend as of late. My progeny seems to be especially good at flirting. I know, I know. They couldn't be like some kids in other families...possessing vastly superior intellects (although mine are smart little buggers), displaying great artistic or musical talents (yes we sound like a bunch of 'coon hounds when we sing), or even the ability to manipulate others (I have a niece who is an expert in manipulation). No, instead my kids are flirts. My oldest used to make eyes at construction workers when she was four. Believe it or not, they would smile back and sometimes even give her a wink. My son, The Boy, has the cutest dimple that shows when he is giving his flirt smile to some little girl at McDonald's playland. However, out of all my kids, my second daughter (commonly known as Princess) is the flirtation prodigy in our house.

Princess has a major crush on one of my profs. I have had this prof for a few semesters and Princess's crush has grown larger each passing week. At first she just took notice of the Prof. Then one day I took her to campus with me when I had to drop off a paper. Princess took one look at Prof and got it in her four year old head that he was "goewgeous" (Princess speak for gorgeous). Hee hee. Yes it is entertaining. Not only that, but everytime I come back from a day at school she asks me if I saw Dr. Goewgeous. Most of the time I tell her no, but when I do tell her yes, I saw Dr. Gorgeous today, she always asks me if he was wearing a tie and if we had coffee. Then Princess looks at me a little sideways, gives me a sly smile, and says, "Doktow ***** is goewgeous."

It seems that Princess has the gift for flirtation. I have no idea where she got it from, but I hope she learns how to practice it with a bit of caution later on in life.

Today Becky, Rob, Jon, and I all met over at Kirkhof at GVSU for a little lunch. We had a great time catching up with each other and chit-chatting about profs in both the History and English departments. Rob had to duck out a little early, but the rest of us stuck around for about an hour. I love talking with other people who are as interested in their studies as I am in mine. Becky and Rob gave me some good advice on who to take for the Shakespeare class. Jon and I had a nice discussion about a prof who we both have had (no Rob, not you, although we all think you rock). And then we talked about what conferences are coming up that we may be interested in.

It is good to stay in touch with past classmates and former profs. I was so pleased to see Becky, Jon, and Rob again. We had such a great class together this last summer that I am looking forward to taking another Rob class. I think Jon and I are signed up for the same Rob class in the winter (watch out Rob, you have been forewarned!). Anyhow, it was a most pleasant day.