06.28.09
Puberty
I hate it. And she’s only 10…. already moody like a 15 year old. Oh joy. Seriously, I hate puberty.
06.25.09
Varied long mess…
Yesterday D threw a hissy fit because I wouldn’t let her borrow my glitter eyeshadow and dark lip-gloss to wear to practice. The kid is 10. If she was having a performance in something like dance, gymnastic or figure skating, it would be acceptable. But for regular Wednesday night Tae Kwon Do practice? No. I am against small children wearing makeup in general, and I know her dad and mother is too. I still managed to look like the evil bi*** though.
I am so excited about moving. I really can’t stand the house we are living in right now. It feels like a dark prison compared to the the bright open floor plan of the new place, with its excellent location (meaning we can actually keep our windows uncovered without people seeing our every move). I am also excited, since I am positive that our electricity bill will go down. It is currently ridiculously high, seeing as it is hard to get air to circulate in our two-story town house. It is also not very well insulated, and there are small cracks everywhere by the windows and doors, letting the air out. I am telling you, I can’t wait for the 18th of July. Sure, we get the keys on the 16th, but I am in school both the 16th and the 17th, and hubby is going to need my help moving, as we don’t have a lot of friends to help us. Hubby will start driving “stuff” in the car though, for the first two days, and on the Saturday, we’ll get the truck and do the big and heavy stuff.
I start my second mini semester tomorrow. I am finishing up Mini A today. Seems as if my 4.0 is sticking around for now. There’s a wall in the main building in school which I’d like to get onto, which is for people with great grades, pictures and all. Don’t know how long you have to keep a 4.0, but hey, I can still hope, can’t I? Anyways, tomorrow I start American Sign Language and Critical Thinking. It is going to be really nice to get out of the house for almost 6 hours every day (seeing as I will leave home at like 8.30 and be home at about 2.30), REALLY nice. D is an energetic, sassy handful and hubby is very very bored (he just graduated with his MA in technical writing), since he is out of school until the end of August (he’s getting a second MA, this one in information technology). This house is small, and I need some time to breathe and some personal space, and if that personal space have to be in a classroom with like 20 others, than so be it.
I have my piano lesson today. This week’s homework has been tough, and I felt like an idiot much of the time working on it. Goodness, I’m terrified of what she will give me for next week’s homework.
Hubby was looking at me yesterday and said “You are getting skinny” which initially felt like a compliment, but his voice wasn’t terribly complimentary. Then he went onto say that “You’ve lost muscle mass…” which definitely wasn’t a compliment. No shit honey! I went from being on the ice 7 days a week to going to the gym maybe once a week. You thought it would just stick around? It’s been over a year since I stepped off the ice, I’m surprised it hasn’t disappeared faster! I am also surprised (and I know you are as well) that I haven’t gained more weight (you and 90 % of the people I met in Sweden….). Men can say the stupidest things, thinking they are not insulting, when really, they are.
It’s going to hit over 94 degrees today (about 35 Celsius) if you believe the local news, and they are usually very correct, and the worst humidity yet to be seen this year. Yay. I will have to prepare for melting today then. Oh joy. And apparently it is only going to get worse as July comes around. I hate the South.
06.20.09
Tomorrrow…
Listening to Yann Tiersen’s CD Tabarly from 2008, it’s amazing.
Tomorrow is father’s day here in the US. I feel kinda awkward about it. Even though hubby is not MY father, I got him a present, and will say it’s from D and me both. It’s a memory foam pillow, for his injured neck, he really needs one according to his doctor. I’ve told D multiple times to make him a card, but so far I don’t think she has. I’m not going to bother her about it more, as said, he’s not MY dad. It’s her responsibility, not mine, and it’s not like I haven’t reminded her either.
I do feel a little split about it though, giving him a gift for father’s day. I really wanted to get celebrated this year, on stepmother’s day, and had pretty much told him so. I reminded him again and again, yet he still forgot. I even told him the day before, “Tomorrow’s stepmother day.” The way he was speaking about it with D, I really thought I’d get acknowledged. I didn’t expect any kind of recognition on mother’s day, since I am not D’s “real” mother, and besides, mother’s day happened to be the day my father died this year.
But I really was hoping for something on stepmother’s day, but nothing. It did hurt my feelings, it actually did. I do so much for that child, for HIS DAUGHTER. And in reality, I’m not obligated to do shit. I didn’t marry her, I married her father. There are no legalities that say that I have to feed her, clothe her, hug her, love her, keep her entertained. As far as the legalities go, as long as I don’t abuse her or kill her, I’m generally good to go. But I chose to care. All I ask is for is during one day a year, just one simple day, get a little bit of recognition, a thank you.
*Sigh* So it is with mixed feelings I look at tomorrow. He will get a present, and I will cook a decent dinner, like I do most days, but nothing more. He’s an awesome dad, I’ll give him that, and D is lucky to have him. But she also has a pretty awesome step-mom. Who does a hell of a lot more than she gets credit for.
06.19.09
Happy midsummer!
Today it is midsummer in Sweden, which happens to be my very favorite Swedish holiday. It is tons of fun, at least I think so, and it is one of the few Swedish national holidays that hasn’t been scaled down in fear of insulting immigrants… Anyways, I’m not going to explain it too much further, if you want to know about Swedish midsummer, look HERE. It is also a great opportunity and excuse to win and eat tons of chocolate!
Unfortunately, I can’t make it to any of the celebrations that are being held here in the US, it’s just too far to go. Oh, well, maybe another year. Well, happy midsummer to all of you!
Me in traditional Gallersta costume.
06.17.09
Update on “evil”
D is currently in rooms-arrest, forbidden to leave her room. After multiple sassy comments and disrespect and ignoring to do what I strictly told her FOUR times, she got heavily reprimanded and sent to her room until we are to leave for martial arts.
Oh the joys of puberty. And she’s only 10. She’s been bouncing on my nerves for two days now, testing me. Well, sorry kid, I have got authority in this house too. Way more than you think. Oh, golly, I can only imagine what her mother will do when she finds out…. Hopefully hubby will back me up on this, as he is not here right now, but her mother will be furious. Oh joy. I might even take away the movie I promised to take her to tomorrow (Regal Entertainment offers free movies all summer, fabulous). We’ll see how she does tonight….
I am surely evil now.
06.14.09
Men…
Ignore commercial part, it’s the comedy part which is my point. (By the way, uterus=livmoder)
06.12.09
CSM-pride and piano lessons
I promised my little girl not to tell her dad, but I just had to share, which is why I am telling you people. Last night, D worked up the courage to tell me she wanted a bra. Apparently she had told her mother, who hadn’t answered and just ignored it. So she told me. We had been beginning to start talking about the whole puberty thing, and had bought the great book “The Care and Keeping of You,” so we were right at that point. So I said yes. This morning, we went to Kohls to go shopping for D’s very first bra.
I wanted to let her have a nice and normal first-bra-experience, without too much embarrassment or humiliation. My very first-bra-experience was much more traumatic. It was Christmas, and me, my sister, and my two cousins (one the same age as Cathy, the other a year older than me) all received bras and matching thongs from our grandmother. Now, three of us were MILES away from actually needing said bras, and opening them up in front of a lot of people was terribly embarrassing. Normal grandmothers don’t give their grandchildren bras and thongs for Christmas, but my grandmother has always been one for giving odd gifts.
So we went and while D was fairly embarrassed, we did surprisingly good. We ended up getting her two different ones, one white for general use and one cool hot pink one with orange straps. I am very proud of getting to experience this with her, and that she chose me as the one to take her, instead of just dropping the subject when her mother decided to ignore her. Very nice CSM-moment.
I had my very first piano lesson today. The lady is in her early 40’s and look kinda like a cross between princess Diana and Dorothy Hamill. She’s really nice, and I think it is going to be great. I’ve got homework of course, and like five songs to learn. We’ll see how it goes, but I am being cautiously optimistic. She said I did really well, but I am paying her…. As said, we’ll see.
06.11.09
Holy Grail…
I’ve managed to find one of those holy grails of music for me. The soundtrack to The Neverending Story II! I didn’t even know it existed! It totally made my day yesterday. The music itself is so superior to the first movie, although I have such sentimental ties to that one. I am so thrilled! I was squealing like crazy, and hubby thought I was insane.
Oh, on the topic of music, I have my very first piano lesson tomorrow. I’m really excited!
06.01.09
Summer classes
This first period of the summer, I am taking two classes; “Literature Based Research” and “Myth in Human Culture.” The second one is great. Great professor, decent workload, easy to understand tasks (not easy to do, just to understand), very comprehensible…. all in all, great. I’m on a 100% average.
The first class is awful. The professor is unorganized, confusing and does not respond to emails. I have no idea what I am supposed to do half the time. And worst of all, she makes up her own MLA rules. Here’s the thing, even though my English professor last term might have been nuts and rude, at least he stuck to the proper citation rules given by the MLA manual (MLA deals with how to format papers, for those of you who don’t know). This lady has made up her OWN MLA rules. While they are posted as one of the course documents, they are inaccurate and any other professor would have my head for using them. It’s lunacy. If she wanted us to use HER rules, why were we given the same MLA book to use as we used in the previous English class? We were TOLD to follow the book, not her stupid rules.
Since she just happens to be my advisor, it’s not like I can go and complain somewhere. Bye bye 4.0 GPA.
