It is really cold today. It is 40°F, which is damn cold considering yesterday was in the 70s. As in, I-should-have-worn-shorts weather. Now, I know some of you who live in foreign lands where there are periodic occurrences of something called “snow” – will probably laugh at my “really cold” description. You people may consider this weather “spring” for all I know. But I am not KRAZEE like you people. I am normal and get cold when the weather drops below 60°F.

But when the cold sneaks up on me, like it did today, that just pisses me off. Yesterday was all, “La La La – Warm Fall Day” and today I’m all “Holy SHIT. Why didn’t I wear a damn coat?” I feel like there should be some sort of warning when the weather drops 30 degrees in 24 hours. Is that too much to ask? Jeez. Who is the support person in charge of this stuff? Can I submit a help ticket?

But, I had scheduled the follow-up for her ear infections anyway – which I’m happy to report are gone! Yay for happy ears! And clueless moms!

Unfortunately – she’s still really pissed off (probably has something to do with the whole being up since 4am thing) and screaming bloody murder so I’m going to cut this entry short so I can put cotton in my ears to block out the screaming.

My cats, on the other hand, are not that impressed because when I’m home I kick them off the back of the couches – their favorite napping spots. They know they aren’t allowed to sleep there, but they also know when we’re not home we can’t beat them. So, they sleep there all day while we’re at work. We know this by the tons of cat hair left behind as evidence. Cats are too smart to be obedient, but also too cute to eat for dinner.

She is also playing with the new pens I saw at Staples and of course, had to buy. I really like them! The tip is a little wide for my liking (medium point) but other than that – they’re great. Since many of you are pen addicts like myself, I thought I’d tell you about them. They are Uni-ball SIGNOs. Have you tried them? Very smooth and quick. I really like them. And of course I bought the pack with 19 different colors because I can not resist the power of a purple pen. It’s a disease.

NikkiZ woke up at 4am this morning. By the time I left for work at 6am, I was exhausted and bitter and irritated and bitchy. It is not unusual for me to get up between 4-4:30am on the weekdays, but when I’m forced to get up because some kid I brought into this world thinks it’s time to be awake? Then I suddenly have the urge to sleep until 9am.

Around 5am – when I was really started to feel the pain of the day to come – I gave her the following lecture:

Listen, kid. If you sleep past 5am either of the mornings I’m in Arizona, keeping your father from experiencing the true potential of pain you can inflict on a tired adult, I’m going to be pissed. I want you to get up around 4am, and then I want you to scream all day. Maybe add some pooping on clothing (his) or some throwing of food (something that stains) on the floor. If I hear you’ve slept late and been smiley for the entire time I’m gone? You’re totally grounded.

I’m either bitterly exhausted, or losing my mind. We’ll keep an eye on the situation.

They were tricky, those organizers. They squeezed in PTA business right before the performances because they knew the majority of us wouldn’t come to a PTA meeting. The woman in charge was all, “Not only are we watching your children perform tonight, but this is also our monthly meeting so…” And you could actually feel the moans in the audience. Sometimes adults are worse than kids when it comes to getting cranky being places they don’t want to be. I may have actually turned to MrZ and said, “But I don’t wanna hear about the PTA budget!” And he offered me cookies if I would just sit there and be quiet until it was over.

We had to get LilZ to the performance early, so I got to spend a good 30 minutes watching the Junior High population before we had to settle in for the show. I was amazed by how grown-up these kids looked. Of course, they were wearing faux-tuxedo type ensembles (boys) and sleeveless black satin dresses (girls) – but still. I felt like I was at a high school function, not middle school. There were several girls there who could have passed for 16 easy. They had perfectly pedicured feet with slinky high heals and make-up applied in a manner I’ve never mastered – Even at age 31.

Of course, as grown-up as they all looked – the behavior of Junior High kids has not changed since I was hanging pictures of Corey Haim on my bedroom walls. The girls were annoyingly giggly and spent more time primping in the bathroom than I think is legally allowed in some states. While the boys (especially the 7th and 8th graders) were waaay too cool to be singing in a choir performance and spent the night making sure everyone knew it.

It was fun. I actually thought the 6th-graders did the best, and I’m not just saying that because that’s the group LilZ was in. NikkiZ spent his entire performance dancing in the aisles and when the audience clapped after each song, she looked around obviously thinking, For me? Really? For that little dance number I just did? Why – Thank You!. After the performance was over LilZ carried her around because he really wanted to show her off to his friends. That right there was enough to make up for having to sit through fundraiser announcements.

[Thanks Sundry Buzz]

Well, it turns out my Canon is broken beyond repair! Yay! Do you know why I’m happy about that? Because that means we can get a NEW one since we ordered the repair plan from Best Buy. This rocks my socks because we have actually been wanting a much slimmer version since the S2IS gets abused in my purse on a daily basis. (Hence the four trips to the repair shop.) Brand new – that camera is $280 dollars by today’s standards, so we’re not sure how that will translate to the models they currently have on the shelves. We’d love the SD 800 since it is more streamlined for purse storage, but the price is a bit higher, so we may have to settle for the SD700. Either way – we’ll be getting a camera much better suited to be bounced around between my keys, my cell phone, and any number of cookies stashed in my purse for Emergency Toddler Freak-Out Management.

I tried out one of the pairs of shorts on the Dam-Bridge Run last week. I did a GREAT job on the race and actually thought at one point, Damn. These shorts are awesome. They make me a better runner!

We went to breakfast with my friend Stacey after the race. When I went to use the bathroom I noticed something: I was wearing my shorts backwards. And since they had built-in underwear, I was essentially wearing those backwards too. I ran 6.2 miles with my clothes on backwards. I knew at that moment that I would never be President of the United States. I’m certain it doesn’t take a lot of brain power to rule the country, but I’m fairly certain you have to be able to dress yourself properly. Unless they hire people to do that for you, in which case I’d be okay.

Of course I cracked up as I told MrZ and Stacey what I had done. MrZ deduced that since I had run such a good race, then maybe wearing my shorts backwards is the secret to my running potential. “You always say it’s about finding what works for you.”

Yeah, I kind meant that theory to be used when deciding between wearing ankle socks and full-length socks.

(Don’t ask.)

Anyone know where I can get a good set of full-body armor made of cotton balls? Preferably in size 12m?