Red Pencil Diaries

So it’’s 9 pm. Most decent stores are closed right now. I just got Zack down for the night. Sometimes I will venture out to WalMart of Meijer after I get him to sleep, just to get out of the house by my self. I wander around. Pick up things for the house. Some groceries… tour the housewares… see if there’’s anything good on clearance. But I really wish more stores were open later. I think Target is open until 9:30 or 10. But that’’s not late enough. I want more late night book stores and department stores. Why not stay open a couple of nights per week until 11 or midnight? I think a lot more people would enjoy that. People who work second shift. People who have kids. People who are simply night owls.

I love being out and shopping by myself. I can spend hours in stores like TJ Maxx or Marshalls… sorting through the treasures to find that one thing I want. Walking through the isles of a bookstore… perusing the stacks. Am I sounding pathetic yet?

One of my favorite favorite things… shopping. sigh

Yesterday we took Zack for his first haircut. He was remarkably good for a near 10 month old baby. He got to sit in a cute little car and watch baby einstein videos while the stylist clipped off his curls. We got a cute certificate with his picture and a small plastic pouch with some of his curls that had been snipped in it. They also gave him a balloon—which he absolutely loved. While I watched him sitting there and his curls falling from the scissors, I teared up. He was so cute, and just such a big boy. Seeing him sitting there on his own, not being held up… it’’s amazing how much and how fast they grow in the first year. I’‘m tearing up as I write this. My baby now looks like a little boy. Wow… children are amazing miracles.

So on Thursday, Zack and I are going to the aquatic center to meet a friend and her daughter for swimming. It wasn’‘t until just a bit ago that I realized… I haven’‘t bought a bathing suit in like 3 years. I spent two summers in a row pregnant, so I didn’‘t have much need for a new suit. And now, I’‘ve lost some weight and nothing fits right. I have an old old suit that fits ok, I guess. but it’’s not exactly beautiful. sigh I wish I’‘d have just ordered a new one from JCrew at the beginning of the summer. But I have this suit phobia… always afraid of what people must think of me in a suit. I guess maybe I’‘m not the fattest woman out there in a bathing suit, but I’‘m not exactly thin. lol… I guess I’‘ll just get over it and put on my old suit and go. Zack will have fun and that’’s what counts. And I guess I might get a little bit of sun, too. At least now my legs look better. I have actual muscles and that pocket of flab on the insides of my knees is gone. lol… But ugh… my thighs are still not quite there yet. It’’s tough being a woman in summer. It really is.

Today, Dave and I took Zack to the Kentucky State Fair. We’‘re all now officially exhausted. We parked in BFE and walked about 100 miles total. We toured the booths, shared a pork chop sandwich, visited with the cows, bunnies, roosters, and goats… tried to stay indoors as much as possible. It’’s just too dang hot outside. Oh, and we shared a deep fried snickers bar, which was really gooey and good, but wow… so bad for you. But it was one of those things we figured had to be tried in our lifetime. Now we can say we’‘ve had one. Since it was Sunday afternoon, we saw tons of families with strollers and kids. But not as many mullets as you’‘d see if you were there in the evening. I think mullets are nocturnal. Zack enjoyed people watching. He attempted to make friends with a few babies who passed by. He seemed to enjoy the culinary exhibits—he kept trying to grab the cakes, thank god they were behind glass. He was a bit fussy as we wandered through the photography displays. I was very shocked at some of the images that won and that got honorable mention. I really should have sent in some of my stuff. I just didn’‘t feel I had anything good enough. But wow… some of my pics looked at least as good as the stuff exhibited there. So next year… I’‘m sending in photos in every category. I’‘m planning for it now. lol… maybe I need a new camera first. But hey, I have a whole year to prepare.

Hi, my name is Kim and I’‘m an addict. I’‘m addicted to eBay auctions.

I buy, I sell. I can’‘t stay away. Sometimes I just sit and wander through the site, going from one item to the next. Searching for things. Designer bags, old collectible tins, vintage table linens, baby clothes. I’‘ve bought everything from shoes to table cloths there. And I’‘ve sold several items of clothes there… it always amazes me when people run up the bids at the last minute. I sit and refresh the pages over and over to see how much the bids are up to. The only part I hate about selling items on eBay is shipping them. But the fun part is when people deposit the money in my PayPal account. Then I turn around and bid on other auctions and use that money for myself. Then, it almost feels like I’‘m getting something for free. Even though I know I’‘m not.

I guess it’’s not such a bad thing. I mean, I never bid too high. I know my limits. And I have such fun looking around. It’’s like window shopping from the comfort of my couch!

So last night, Zack got sick. He threw up three times. We finally got him to sleep at around 10:30 pm. I slept with the baby monitor next to my pillow all night. Let me rephrase that… I laid with the baby monitor next to my pillow. I was so afraid he was going to get sick and choke or something, that I didn’‘t sleep very well, if at all. Plus Dave kept waking up too. Then Zack woke up at about 6:30 am, took a bottle and played for a bit. He went back to sleep at 8:30 and I laid back down in bed. Dave got up then and went to work. I slept (as did Zack) until almost 10 am. I have a feeling we’‘ll be going to bed early tonight! So far today, Zack hasn’‘t gotten sick again. He hasn’‘t had a huge appetite, but he has taken a bottle of formula, one of pedialyte with juice, and had some cereal and applesauce. Oh, and my mom called today—she has the awful ick too. She sounded awful—which is probably how I sounded the other day too. I just hope she gets better soon. So apparently, this is some kind of awful deathly puking virus. I don’‘t wish it on anyone else. It really is just the worst.

So Monday evening, we went to dinner… had some great pizza and a pretty good salad. After dinner, we sat around talking and I was playing with Zack and suddenly a little voice in my head said “go to the bathroom now.” I obeyed and just had this sudden sensation that I was going to throw up. I did, but just a bit and felt kind of eased. Then I told Dave we should go. The whole ride home, I knew I was going to be REALLY sick in a bit. We finally got to the house and I barely made it into the basement bathroom when it hit. Ugh. After a few hours, I then had “other symptoms” and Dave was sure it was food poisoning. At that point, we figured it had to be the salad b/c he’‘d eaten the pizza and wasn’‘t sick. I was sick all night and then at around 2 a.m., Dave started to get sick. He ended up moving to the couch to be closer to the other bathroom b/c we were both running in there so often. By 4 a.m., I was so weak, I fell into the floor or else fear passing out. I sipped a few sips of water, and fell asleep, only to be awoken by Zack crying. I crawled into his room, laid in the floor on his teddy bear, and begged him to go back to sleep. Dave somehow managed to get up and give him a bottle a bit later and Zack finally fell back to sleep. I got sick one more time, then continued sleeping in the floor until about 7:30 a.m. when I awoke to Dave getting sick yet again. I managed to get up to my feet, drink a few sips of water and walk down the hall to him. He was asking me to get him a glass of ice water. So I went to the kitchen and as I was getting him some ice, I felt faint and landed in the kitchen floor with the ice bucket on top of me. I rested there for a bit, and finally managed to get him his ice water as he laid on the couch. I knew then, that we couldn’‘t care for Zack that day. So I called my mom. I was in tears when she agreed to come get Zack and take him to the office with her. He was a good boy for her and my dad! Dave and I spent the whole day laying around. We choked down some pedialyte (that stuff is nasty) and passed out in bed after my mom took Zack with her. Later, Dave made some jello and kool-aid. We had some of that and slept off and on until mom and dad brought Zack home at around 5:30. Luckily, he was a good boy last night. After dinner and some playing and a good bottle, he slept all night. And this morning, we woke up and are feeling much better. Dave went on in to work. And I’‘m here entertaining a very rambunctious Zack. Oh, and we finally figured out that my sister was also sick, as was my brother’’s girlfriend and three of his kids. So we’‘ve deduced that b/c no one else got sick, it must have been something we all ate at my brother’’s on Sunday evening. All I know is that I NEVER EVER want to get this sick again. My sister and I both agreed that childbirth was better than this awful feeling. Ugh.

So I’‘m watching TV the other day, and one of those ANNOYING commercials for Darryl Isaacs comes on… the “Heavy Hitter™.” It’’s the one with the older janitor guy wringing out the mop in the mop bucket while waxing romantic about how Darryl has worked so hard for his clients… blah blah blah. So anyway… I notice he’’s squeezing the water out of that mop and in that courtroom, the floor is carpet. What the heck is he supposed to be mopping? lmao…

Happy Birthday to you. Well… tomorrow anyway. I’‘m a day early. But I had some time and thought I’‘d post. August 2, Dave will be 33. On that same day, my brother will be 32. Kinda funny… In my family, Dave and my brother share a birthday; as do my mom, brother-in-law, and Zack. My sister’’s birthday is the same day as my uncle’’s, and my birthday is the day before my brother’’s girlfriend’’s (and we’‘re the same age). I guess it makes it easy to remember most of the birthdays.

I should be good and plan a party for Dave as he did for me, but I’‘m afraid two parties so close together might not be as successful. So I’‘ll wait and throw him a party another day… maybe once we finish the upstairs in this house. lol

Not much new going on. We bought a basketball goal to put above our garage, but we need some more hardware before we can actually hang it. Not much further work was done on the kitchen yet, but Dave is nearly finished with the walk in closet in his office, so that’’s progress. And I’‘ve lost a couple more pounds in the past two weeks. Too slow, but I haven’‘t exactly been breaking my back working out lately. I hope to step up my exercise and keep up my progress. There’’s no turning back now. I’‘ve come too far.