I can barely contain myself.

I just got back from The Container Store. Talk about good marketing. I can barely believe how many things I need that I didn’t even know existed! Each aisle was more alluring than the last. I bought recycling bins. (The cardboard box we’ve been using is falling apart.) I bought desk accessories for my new office. Oh, and flatware holders for the kitchen drawers. And a really cool knife holder that goes inside the drawer. Oh, and I also NEEDED magazine holders – who wants to see unsightly Real Simples laying around? That would be unsightly.

Stepping back…who would have thought that an entire store full of empty containers could be so interesting. AND BUSY! The place was mobbed, as if they were giving stuff away. The merchandising is beautiful. They clearly show the need and the solution for all this shit. It’s an awesome sight.

And they sure got a big chunk of my disposable income.

Chutzpah.

(If you don’t know what that means, click the title. I’m talking to you, Andi.)

I’m working today. That’s because it was not humanly possible to get my work done last week – see yesterday’s post if you don’t know why. So, I’m plugging away, looking for fascinating trends in the design world (I can’t believe I get paid for this – it’s so fun!) and I get the Outlook ‘ding’…. Being a bit neurotic about my email, I have this need to stop what I’m doing and see if it is important. Or fun.

What I found was a long, detailed email. From the father of one of my kid’s friends. Whom I don’t think I’ve ever met. Maybe I have at a birthday party, but I didn’t know his name, so clearly we’re not close. I can picture him, though. He’s kind of cute. I do know his wife – we’ve had a couple conversations at PTA functions. She’s very nice. But I digress.

The email wasn’t just to me. It was to 100 people. ONE HUNDRED. Maybe he knows some of the others better than he knows me. Maybe not. The email described a professional project he has published. He is asking for help with the marketing and strategic development moving forward.

Here’s the rub. I do know a fair amount about what he needs. I’ve done work like this before. For a hefty fee, I might add. My impression from the email is that he is reaching out for advice, for guidance… not to hire.

Wouldn’t that be something you’d ask your friends or family?

I suppose I could send him a proposal. But that seems awfully tacky. Tackier than asking for free advice from strangers? Hmmm. Interesting dilemma.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

I had big plans. Big plans, I say.

Andrew went to the Rolling Stones last Wednesday night. I could have joined him, but didn’t. As I mentioned recently, concerts really aren’t my thing anymore. I think I’m just too claustrophobic. He had a great time – sat on the sound risers with his cousin who works on the tour. Wednesday nights are really busy around here. There is Hebrew School until 6:15 and then Max has basketball practice.

A couple of weeks ago, I said I had finished registering the kids for camp. Wrong. There were a couple weeks to fill in and the county camps registration started on Feb 2 at midnight. (Those people are truly sadists – do you know how many people stayed up until midnight for the online registration and then were hit with a system so slow that it brought me back to the 1200 baud modem days!?) But I did get the kids enrolled in a Marine Biology camp and a really neato new Camp Invention. Now the summer is all planned – including a trip to Maine to see my brother and his family!

Anyway, when Andrew got home from the Stones, I was online and talking to Ellen on the phone – who was having a screaming match with her computer, too. It was 1:00 am.

On to Thursday. Andrew left at 6:30 am to pick up a friend and head to the airport. Three of them were going to Austin for a couple of days off. In reality, this sounded like time off for me. Yeah! I was really looking forward to some peaceful days and quiet nights. Melissa (one of the wives) and I made plans for dinner with the kids on Friday night.

Thursday did not turn out how I expected. I had rush jobs and the phone rang all day. No peace here. Thursday night. Max woke me up THREE TIMES with nightmares and Reed was walking around the house (asleep) freaking me out. So much for that wonderful first night in ages sleeping alone, all spread out thing I was so looking forward to enjoying. But that’s okay, Friday would be another day.

And it was.

It was a day with so many workmen in the house, I barely got any work done. The highlight (aside from some great progress on the house) was that I finally found the tile I want for the backsplash in the kitchen. This may not sound like a huge deal to you, but to me it was. Everything else in this entire renovation has been a snap. I didn’t deliberate on anything. I knew exactly what I wanted. But I was baffled by the backsplash. Until I found these. But then I got the price. Even I couldn’t justify it. Out of hand. So Troy (the general contractor – though he hates that term) was working on how to duplicate the look. It was getting complicated and it wasn’t working out how I was hoping it would. Plus it wasn’t all that reasonably priced anyway. So I started looking again. This was giving me a sick headache.

But then I found these. Cut to 6×6, I think they are going to be perfect and they fit in my budget! I had to drive to Rockville to see them, but it was worth the trip. I can get my work done over the weekend, right?

On the way home, I stopped at the cute little neighborhood grocer (a dying breed) to pick up ice cream, snacks, salad, nice Chardonnay, and Mike’s Hard Limeade for dinner with Melissa and the kids. So $72 later (can you believe?) , I’m back in the car and heading home. So I’m 2 miles from home and the elementary school is about a block ahead of me, my phone rings. It’s the fricking school nurse. Well, you know what that means. At least I was geographically advantaged, and pulled right into the lot. I think I broke the ‘pick up the sick kid speed record’. Max has 102.8.

So the next hour was spent canceling plans. Cancel the dinner with Melissa and the kids. (Now I have to drink all that wine by myself?), cancel the visit with a friend for Saturday, cancel, cancel. Then arrange. Arrange a ride for Reed to basketball practice Friday evening. Arrange a ride for Davis for art class Saturday and a ride for Reed to his basketball game. Oh, and let Max’s coach that he won’t be there for the game on Saturday.

Poor little Max. He needs some Advil. Knowing that he has a propensity for throwing up any medicine he takes, I decided to give him a choice. He can have a pill (1 generic ibuprofin), a small cup of liquid Advil, fruit punch-ish flavor but that’s a bit of a stretch if you ask me, or 2 orange chewables which aren’t nearly as good as I remember St. Joseph’s aspirin being, but not too bad. An hour later, he decided on the liquid. But all he did was stare at it. For a long, long time. So we moved to the chewables. He took a micron of a taste and declared it unacceptable. The pill. Again, the staring. Finally, I got some applesauce to put it in. I’d medicate him like I do the cats. But no go.

Fine, Max. Go to bed. Deep sigh.

The rest of the day and night was much the same. Friends pitched in to get everyone where they needed to be. I decided to paint the coffeetable for the new den. I guess I was just feeling antsy. Max finally took a pill before bed, but that didn’t keep him asleep. He was up half the night.

Now, Max is cuddled in a nest of pillows and blankets watching TV. Reed is at his basketball game (thanks to the coach for taking him!) and Davis is at art class (thanks to another mom for taking him, too) and I’m online. The universe is at peace.

Andrew will be home before dinner. I didn’t even have time to miss him.

Strings.

This is the 1st year orchestra class at our school. Most of the kids are 3rd graders. I put it here for 3 main reasons.

1) Jeff Risley posted yesterday about noticing good things around us. I love that my kids take music lessons.

2) One of the main reasons we chose this area is the diversity. So, seeing this group of kids makes me smile.

3) Don’t you remember posing for these stupid pictures? The memory is so vivid to me.

It was a scratch!

So I’m in downtown traffic coming from a lunch meeting at The Capital Grille… (I had the Lobster and Crab Burger and a Diet Coke – They describe the “burger” as a chunk lobster and crab cake blended with Old Bay seasoning and served on a toasted brioche sweet roll. Freshly prepared tartar sauce cools off one of the hottest things going at lunch. It was truly delicious.) But I digress.

So I’m at the traffic light facing Camden Yards. (I love that place! Go O’s!) Next to me is this beautiful Corvette. I glance surreptitiously to my right and see this handsome 50-something guy. Silver hair. Dressed great. I contain myself and don’t smile or flirt. That would be inappropriate, right?

So then it happens. With his right index finger he starts to pick his nose. Not a little pick. A big, seriously exploratory pick. It happens. I can handle it. I live with 3 little boys. Boogers don’t scare me.

But then he eats it.

Somehow, the car seems like a waste of money.