It is Tuesday. I have blender head. This? Is not news.

• I need my calendar. NEED NEED NEED. Without it, I wouldn’t have a fricking clue what day it was, and where I was supposed to be on whatever day at whatever time. So, we have this whiteboard calendar in our kitchen, where I can write what’s going on for who and when, and plan out projects and meals and schedules… and today I realized it is not big enough. OMG I NEED ONE OF THOSE BIG WALL PROJECT PLANNERS. I was trying to schedule into February and the calendar says January and I JUST DON’T KNOW. And also? If anybody has a way to write on a whiteboard and not rub off whatever is already written there with your had when you go to add something, PLEEZ PLEEZ tell me your secret. Because it’s getting to be challenging, writing in the days of the month and then all the things I know at a glance are happening and then ADDING stuff in. And if you are one of those people who wants to plan something with me, and it is potentially in February? I AM SO SORRY YES I AM A BASTARD BUT IT IS NOT BECAUSE I HAVE FORGOTTEN YOU MY CALENDAR SKILLS ARE IMPAIRED.

• I keep taking things out of the fridge and freezer and cupboard in the morning to do some baking, maybe banana bread or pumpkin bread or some icebox cookies. But then the day gets busy, and things need doing, and I turn around and it’s almost dinner time. And back the ingredients go into fridge and freezer and cupboard again. Until the next day, when I take them out again in the morning in hopes of doing some baking THAT day.  Lather, rinse, repeat. Talk about your eternal optimist.

• So, here’s the thing. My daughter got a cold a few days before Christmas. It ran its course in a week or two for the most part, but she still has this dry cough just hanging on. Is this normal? It doesn’t bother her except when she is sleeping/napping she may wake up and cough, or if she gets running around a lot she coughs. I don’t want to schedule her a doctor’s appointment if I don’t have to because OMG CALENDAR IMPAIRED (see previous point). However, I don’t know if it should just be hanging on, either.

• I’ve been working on a project for work, to get a new client directory together. It’s not difficult work, but it’s time-consuming and tedious, involving going through an online database, and some websites, and some spreadsheets, and an old copy of a past directory, in order to make sure the list I generate for this year is as complete as possible. It’s been ongoing for weeks now, and it’s safe to say I am ready for it to be done. DoG knows my boss probably is ready for it to be over, too, to get the damn thing published. I hope I can see the end of it this week, as my eyeballs begin to spin in their sockets and I am beginning to doubt myself after seeing some company names time and time and time again.

• Does anyone else talk to inanimate objects? Because we have baby monitors that seem to be dying a slow painful death — either that, or I have a metal plate in my head that nobody is telling me about that causes the monitor to periodically erupt into fits of interference. Either way, I just told the monitor to fuck off. (And you don’t want to hear the language I use with computers that are uncooperative, but as far as I can tell that is just normal.) So perhaps a grip on reality is what I am lacking, and I need to get one.

• I am 6 days away from the end of the month, which means I have to finish my first knitting project of the year for my 11 in 2011 dealio. And OMG GUYS GUYS I am about 7 rows of pattern from the end. THAT’S 42 KNITTED ROWS. Ish. The never-ending scarf is ending! Just in time for spring. Yippee!

• I spent an hour with Stinkerbelle, just sitting in her room reading storybooks after naptime. Yeah, there are things I *should* have been doing, but cuddling up reading storybooks together is the best way I can think of to spend an afternoon.

It’s another long, busy Thursday, and I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING INTERESTING TO SAY.

(Lookit that. Up there. I am SO BORING I could not even think of a title for this post. Loser.)

Thursdays are hard. We get up early, rush around getting ready, drive like a bat out of hell for an hour, work for a few hours, drive like a a bat out of hell for an hour home (if I am trying to get That Baby home to nap in her own bed) or drive like a pokey old fart for two hours (if That Baby dozes off in the car and I want her to get the longest nap in that she can), scramble something for supper, and then crash. Usually, by 4 pm or so, I am burned out, and Stinkerbelle and I sit like bumps on logs for a couple hours watching something vaguely educational (or, to be competely honest, NOT) and wait for Daddy to bring home take out for dinner. Not my finest Mommy hour, to be sure. But after a full day we don’t care so much.

At least it’s not a day where poo features prominently. Stinkerbelle did her business at her sitter’s house, so that gets me out of Poo Duty. BDH cleaned the litter boxes last night, so that’s good. And BDH talked with Mr. Young Doctor about the Dog Poo Incident (who was MORTIFIED — he had hired someone to clean his deck for him and was NOT IMPRESSED) so I don’t have to clean up outside, either. So there’s one upside to my day.

We may still sit and snuggle under a blankie on the sofa and watch TV. But although it’s a long day for me, I have to bear in mind that 7 hours out of the house is also a long day for Stinkerbelle, so she can probably use a little down time. We can watch How to Train Your Dragon or something equally entertaining and have some snacks, and just have a little girl time. I can even fit in a little therapy stuff if she’s relaxed and okay with it.

And, as far as dinner is concerned tonight, my crock pot extravaganza of the past few weeks means that, rather than fast food for dinner, we can do a leftover night. There’s a bit of cranberry pork roast in the fridge, lots of veggies, some balsamic chicken from a few nights back, and a whole variety of soups and stews in the freezer. Everyone can have what they want, heated to order in the microwave. So that’s nice. Not so much Mommy Fail in leftovers as there is in a Happy Meal.

BDH has soccer tonight (again), this time at 11 pm, which means that he’s going to be out late and get to bed late and he’ll probably want to have a nap for an hour or two before he leaves. So that means, after That Baby is tucked up in bed, I may park my tired self on the sofa with my knitting and a movie and a mug of something warm to keep the chill off, while the snow falls outside. Can’t complain about that. Plus, I’ll be fretting and worrying while he’s out driving across the region in the middle of the night and back again, so that will help me forget and unwind before bed.

So, yeah. What was I complaining about again?

It’s a long day, but not a bad day. And not a bad way to end it, I have to say.

Okay, so. Tova was in here all shouting “Where OH WHERE is the Random Tuesday YOU MUST POST SOMETHING OR I WILL DIEEEEEEE !111!!eleventyone!!11!1!”

It’s so good to know somebody loves me. ::blush::

Well as I said HELLO I AM VERY BUSY AND IMPORTANT HOW MAY I HELP YOU. Here it is. Tuesday. Random. Random Tuesday. In all its randomy Tuesdaylike glory.

• Nothing AT ALL happened today. BWAH HA HA HA HA HA. Kidding! I am a kidder. I kid.

• Okay, so the Dorothy Domestic, it was strong with me this week. Yesterday I made the BEST PEA SOUP EVAH. And a loaf of bread. White bread. Because what screams Canadiana like pea soup and fresh white bread? With butter, obvs. It was tasty and delicious and even BDH liked it. I also took my kid to swimming lessons and did several loads of laundry and worked for a couple of hours and did other domestic tasks. AND I got up early and did yoga. Do you HEAR that SOUND? It is the footfall of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, baby.

• I looked out this morning to find my backyard splattered with POO. Well, not just poo — there were also many chunks of frozen pee as well. It seems our neighbour, he of the Young Doctor’s Wife auditions, owns two small yapper-type dogs, and it is PERFECTLY OKAY with him that his dogs just crap and pee ALL OVER his deck. Periodically, he goes out and cleans some of it up. But apparently, last night cleaning up was TOO MUCH FOR HIM, and instead he shovelled all the frozen pee and snow and fresh turds off the side of his deck and STRAIGHT INTO MY BACKYARD. So, we were NOT AMUSED, and the first thing I did was to march over there in my pajamas to tell his sorry ass off. He did not answer the door. So, then I took my shovel out back and FLANG ALL THE SNOW AND PEE AND POOP RIGHT BACK OVER THE FENCE. And BDH will have words with him later OHYESHEWILL. I don’t care if you are moving soon, Mr. Young Doctor, THAT SHIT IS NOT COOL. Figuratively, obviously, because I can tell you that, having shovelled it, much of that shit was, in fact, frozen. Not the way I wanted to start my morning.

• My kid was in the newspaper! A photographer from the local came into Stinkerbelle’s Little Gym class last week, since they were doing an article on the local business… and they chose a pic of That Baby to put in the paper! I’m so proud. Everyone was all DID YOU SEE and I was all WHUT?? and had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. So I got a copy of the paper from the gym. And now, we can all talk about WE KNEW HER WHEN and how we were some of the people she stepped on on her way to the top.

• My daughter is so much like me, it’s remarkable she’s not genetically related. Today, I got her up from her nap, and she was very tired, and looked at me and said “NO UP”. And all she wanted to do was snuggle with her head on my shoulder. Just like her mama. Only slightly more tanned, and more famous.

This Tuesday, I am tired. My kid is still coughing in the middle of the night and waking us up, as we go about getting Vick’s and medication and warm drinks of honey and lemon to help her. So, that’s been fun.

Being tired is not my best look. It gives me the appearance of a slightly confused and lethargic raccoon. It makes things fairly random, to be sure.

But then, I have been tired my entire life, so who would know the difference?

• I have not posted any Saturday photos recently. I am taking a little break. I don’t know you read it, but last year, in my Project 365, I took something like 8000 photos. EIGHT. THOUSAND. So it’s safe to say I have been lacking motivation to pick up the camera lately. But, I know I should take pictures, maybe not every day, but frequently, to document That Baby’s life. She might care, when she is older, but then again she might not. But either way, I want to preserve as much of Stinkerbelle’s life and growth and personality as I can. So I should do that. But you know what I REALLY want to do? Post a video of That Baby singing Michael Franti. We took video last night after dinner and OH HOLY HELL I COULD DIE FROM CUTE. But then, it gets to be like going over to somebody’s house, and they just came back from a holiday in Flin Flon, and they’re all “OH LET ME SHOW YOU MY SLIDE SHOW OF FLIN FLON IT WILL ONLY TAKE A FEW HOURS”, and you want to curl up and die. Because, honestly? Nobody thinks your life is as fabulous or your stories are as funny or your kids are as cute as you do.

• I made a turkey on New Year’s Day. Well, the day after New Year’s, actually, because I was too tired on New Year’s Day to be arsed with cooking. Plus it was our 2nd Christmas that day, so, nyah. But I had a bit of a conundrum. I had taken our turkey out on New Year’s Eve to thaw, putting it into a sink full of cold water to let slowly thaw overnight, I awoke on New Year’s Day to find the sink mostly drained and my turkey still fairly frozen. This was a large motivator in putting off our meal, as I just could not face it. So I stuck it in the fridge and tried to forget about it in the hopes it would go away. It did not. So the next day, I pretty much HAD to cook it. Of course, by that time, I was riddled with anxiety about this badly defrosted bird, now neglected and sitting in the fridge, and how he would seek his revenge by poisoning and killing us all with salmonella or whatever. As you can see, he did not, and we ate the turkey. Ta dah. So why am I telling you this now, other than to have you rejoice that I am not, in fact, dead? Well, for Christmas, I got a crock pot cookbook, and one of the recipes was to make turkey stock — which I did. EASIEST THING IN THE WORLD OMG WHY DID I NOT KNOW OF THIS SOONER. And then last night I finally made soup with the stock, and I had some for lunch again today, and OMG TASTY THANK YOU TURKEY-WHO-DID-NOT-KILL-US AND THANK YOU BDH FOR THE COOKBOOK I AM SO HAPPY I COULD PLOTZ.

• We have been busy almost every day since the holidays were over. We have had appointments and classes and lessons, and on the days we did not have these things we cleaned. And I do not see an end in sight until the middle of next week sometime. I think next Wednesday we might be free. Possibly. Unless I have some appointment with some specialist somewhere in town about something or Stinkerbelle has her first hula lesson or maybe will be beginning intensive lumberjack training for preschoolers or something. Dog only knows.

• Is it cool to punch out an ear, nose and throat specialist? Because we might do that, considering that the doctor we saw yesterday for Stinkerbelle’s audiology appointment made the remark, “Her hair looks like broccoli”, as we were leaving, about her cute little puffs done up in bows. O HAI DOCTOR LIN HERE’S THAT PUNCH IN THE JUNK YOU ORDERED.

• Okay this poop Stinkerbelle keeps having in the middle of naptime is starting to piss me off. Seriously. She should be sleeping for, what, another hour? And what’s she doing? She’s in her room, babbling and talking to Abby Cadabby and counting to 10 (without six — she hates six) and saying “What happied?” because she had a mid-nap poop. So, her naptime is cut short. I have things to do during naptime. I hate that poop. I really do.

• A package came in the mail today. LOOKIT ME, ordering two hoodies and a pair of khakis and two pairs of shorts for less than fifty bucks. I ROCK the online shopping. Except yarn and crafty stuff. I cannot for the life of me order crafty stuff online. How do I know what I am getting if I cannot look at the yarn and feel it and be sure of the weight and see the colours in real life? And knitting needles — how do I convert the mm measurement to the regular US size measurement? And what if my project says I need 1000 yards but my gauge is too tight and OMG WONT SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE KNITTERS. So screw that, I will buy clothes and books and household stuff online instead.

• I got gas today. As the attendant was pumping gas, the power went out on his pumps. And he was all “The power is out on my pumps. Is it okay that there’s only $36.34 worth of gas?” What was I going to say, NO? The gas was already in my tank. So I said okay and paid and left and all, but if $36.34 worth of gas does not encapsulate the randomness of a Tuesday then I don’t know what does.

Happy New Year, internet peeps.

It’s a new year, which is the traditional time for change in a person’s life. It’s a symbolic date when people decide to kick off changes they wish to make in their lives. Some people make resolutions; others sign up for classes, or join clubs, or start new projects. I mean, who doesn’t want to make themselves happier or healthier or have some positive things come into their lives?

For me, the end of the binging and excesses of the holiday season — well, all of December, really — means it’s a good time to get life back on track. It’s that general “Okay. No more crazy spending or eating everything in sight” attitude that comes with the end of the big New Year’s Day meal. I used to try making resolutions, and usually always failed miserably.

But general changes are a little different. I find if I start the new year with some sort of plan, something gradual or incremental, I do a little bit better. I may only get so far, but at least I can make some progress before life derails my plans.

Last year, I made a plan to do a Project 365 project, taking a photo a day for the whole year. And, for the most part, I did pretty well. I failed miserably at posting my photos here on my blog, getting only to April or so before it went pear shaped. The problem was that it took too long to post the photos. So, lesson learned. However, I DID do very well on the actual project, taking photos maybe 300 days of the year. My motivation was to take a photo of That Baby every day so that she would have a year in her life in pictures. And I did — the year in photos worked out to just under 8,000 photos and about 34 GB of drive space.

So, while storage space and time make it a challenging project, I think overall it was a success. So… WIN! And, most importantly, I have a year in Stinkerbelle’s life captured for her forever. Which makes me wonder if maybe I should do it again this year. I’ll have to think about that one.

My second project of last year was around health and fitness. I failed spectacularly, a couple of times. First off, I was doing some exercise challenges, including 100 Day Exercise Challenges. I had done one in 2009, and it went well, so I decided to carry on into 2010. And I started the year really strong, too… until I ran headlong into some injuries that caused my plans to grind to a halt in the summertime. Part of my problem is that I go too hard, too fast, and with years of chronic injuries dating back to my competitive athlete days, it’s a recipe for disaster. So I started and stopped some more mini challenges throughout the rest of the year, and when that didn’t work, finally resigned myself to ice packs and rest in the fall. So, that sucked. FAIL.

The other health and fitness project we set for ourselves around here was to really, truly make an effort around eating healthy and, specifically for the diabetic in the family, trying to watch our nutrition to help bring his blood sugar into reasonable levels. And that went… okay. I lost a little bit of weight, not nearly what I had hoped — but then again, I didn’t follow the plan as strictly as I should have done. BDH got really busy and really frustrated with tracking and so that stopped maybe a month in. And so, that made it really easy for me to slack off, and so my eating went to hell about a month later.

Not an excuse, I know that. But one thing I suck at? Is willpower. So, when it comes to healthy eating… EPIC FAIL.

Le sigh. Looking back, it really makes me wonder why I would want to do this to myself AGAIN.

And yet? Here I am.

2011 is a new year. It’s as good a time as any to get started. So we have kicked off our healthy eating and tracking plan once again. BDH is already miserable, and being busy doesn’t help his motivation to keep it up, so I don’t hold out a ton of hope. But to be honest, I shouldn’t really rely on him to help motivate me — I have to learn to do it myself. So I have to try again. I need to change my lifestyle, not just for me, but because I have That Baby to think about. I want to be here in this life with her as long as possible. So I’ve set up my plan, I’ve set some goals for myself, and I’ve begun.

I’ve also decided to set some mini exercise challenges for myself. I am going to do things in smaller increments, mixing things up regularly, in the hopes that it will keep me motivated but also keep me from being injured. Sometimes it’ll be yoga. Sometimes, walking. Sometimes, the exercise bike. Maybe if I make some progress, I can mix in some running or something. Who knows. But first, the goal is just to build a consistent (and injury conscious, and affordable, and lifestyle-friendly) exercise plan. And then we’ll see. So, that will be an ongoing project.

My third project for the year is just for fun. A group I am in online is doing an “11-projects-in-2011″ knitting challenge. It’s basically to push you to finish 11 projects during the year. I love to knit, and I have a ton of projects on the needles that I need to finish, so this will push me to get them done, and maybe then I can start on something new. I have a scarf to finish, and some squares for a quilt for Stinkerbelle, and another baby blanket, and some charity knitting… I have a lot. And it takes up space. That shit is EVERYWHERE. So not only will I get things done, and have clothing and blankets and items to show for it, but I will ALSO clean out some yarn stash that’s all over the frigging place. It’s a win/win thing.

I’ve been thinking about some other changes, too. Little things. Things to start the year off fresh and bright. I’ve got some changes to make here, rearranging and reorganizing my blog space. I need to make some headway in some decorating and decluttering projects around the house. I have to do some organizing around finances and budgeting. And I need to get some recipes organized, maybe even put them online. Who knows. But there are things to be done. I have to renew that ongoing “wish list”, as we do every year. That will be fun, too.

It’s another year. Another year, shiny and bright, full of optimism. Might as well take advantage of the newness and add some shine and sparkle to my life, too.

It may be optimistic, but there’s plenty of time in the rest of the year for things that are dull and gray and difficult and challenging. Might as well enjoy the shiny while it’s here.