Foul moods and other stuff

I was in a truly rotten mood last night, for no real reason other than not being able to get to the library yesterday. In a 9-hour day, you'd think that I could manage to get El Burrito packed up and get both of us to the library for half an hour. Considering that it's at most 2 miles away, I can't figure it out, and it bugs me more than you would think. I guess the main reason is that I seem to suck severely at time management. By the time El Burrito eats twice and has a nap, and I eat twice, we seem to have at best a two hour window in the morning to go out and about. Unfortunately, I'm not a morning person, and that two-hour gap doesn't coincide with the library sale.

And, since we didn't go to the library, we also didn't stop at the thrift store on the way home to see if they might have jeans in case I get the nerve to take those riding lessons. (Thanks for the idea, Jan. Don't know why it didn't occur to me. Duh.)


I also didn't make it to the monthly condo lunch today, and couldn't find my phone list to let the ringleader know.

The Not Getting My Act Together bit also means that instead of doing the shopping during the day (a la the pre-El Burrito days) means that it gets done on the weekends, and it somehow takes all Freaking day, which means no time to do the things we used to do on the weekends - like the bigger errands, house-hunting, and so on.

And we need to spend some time researching and shopping for a new car seat and stroller, since El Burrito is about to outgrow his first car seat. It snaps into a stroller frame, which is the only stroller we've got right now. And no, we don't get out much, or this setup wouldn't have worked this long. Stroller shopping is something I'm dreading, since there are so many insane options to choose from, and there are very very few places locally that carry strollers and actually let you test-drive them in the store. (Walmart, for example, has theirs on a 3-foot-high shelf, tied down, with the front wheels missing. Hard to try one out that way.) Maybe I've been lurking on the diaper-bag fanatics group too much, but when people start talking about buying their 8th or 9th stroller, and mentioning prices upwards of $400, I start to worry.

The car seat will be another pain. Right now we've got one of the seats with a handle, and a base for each car. That's not going to happen with the bigger seat. So, we have to decide: shell out the $$ for two seats, or get only one and swap it from car to car? Assuming we can find one that will fit both cars, since the Escort (aka my car) is smaller than the Taurus. DH takes the Taurus to work, so if I take El Burrito out we go in my car. But for longer trips or weekend errands, we take the Taurus - DH can't drive a stick shift yet.

In other news:

1. An old college roommate just had her first baby, a girl. A few weeks early for some reason involving unexplained low amniotic fluid, and she'll be in the NICU for a few weeks. I plan to send a card.

This bugs me a little too. When I found out I was pregnant, I emailed my friends to let them know the news, and actually sent letters/cards to my two closest friends. Of those two friends, I got a letter from one (with a gift card, which was unexpected). The other friend, who I roomed with for two years and see once a year? Not a peep. Yes, my feelings were (are) hurt.

The friend who just had a baby? Also not a peep, until I and 15 other people started getting regular impersonal announcements regarding her pregnancy. I did get invited to her baby shower, but I didn't get to go (it would have meant about a 4 hour round trip). I've sent periodic emails to her, asking how things are going with school and such, but at most I get an email with a 4 word reply.

(I am also still bugged that of DH's 5 siblings, only one (his sister & her husband) stopped by during my 5-day hospital stay. And her husband works in the hospital, so it's not like it was out of the way or anything. After we came home, same thing. One brother visited on Memorial Weekend, and it ended up costing us $100 because he parked in the neighbor's space, alcoholic neighbor had the truck towed, and brother was too broke to pay the tow bill. The other three brothers didn't even freaking call on the phone. Yes, I need to let it go. Give it another year and we'll see.)

2. My brother-in-law found out that his ankle bone is deteriorating and he'll have to have it replaced in the next year or two.

It's the result of an accident he had last fall. He got a small motorcycle (not one of the big Hondas or anything) to commute on. He went to visit a friend nearby, and while he was leaving to head home, in a residential-type area, some woman backed out of a driveway and hit him. She, of course, had little or no insurance despite driving a new SUV at the time. (Which must have been paid for, or the lender would have required more insurance.) He came thisclose to losing his foot, I guess, and they're still fighting with the insurance companies.

3. El Burrito is having two birthday parties, one at each grandparents' house. On two separate weekends. Which is why this weekend is our only "free" one this month. Because it would be too freaking simple for us to have, say, a house, and be able to have one party, you know. Not to mention, that would be the only way I'll ever get anyone to see my house. Right now, the UPS man spends more time delivering boxes here than our families do.


And now a young man is wanting some attention.