Tech Support

I had to call Dell Technical Support today because my laptop charger has been giving me grief. Sometimes it works, but mostly it doesn't, so I can use my computer for 3 minutes at a time in between battery charges. When I got home from work I had a raging headache from what I know is a sinus infection, but my dr. won't write a prescription without seeing me and I can't see him for another a week. My whole entire face hurts and my teeth hurt when I walk. What this has to do with tech support? Nothing. Just talking.

But anyway, I am trying to convince Ramesh that it's just my charger and not my computer. He does not believe me and he repeats everything back to me but spells it using the ham radio alphabet. It's taking forever and I know I only have moments before Charlotte wakes up from her nap and also I really need to pee.
"So that's Echo Mike India Lima Yankee dot Romeo India November Golf November Alpha Lima Delta Alpha at gmail dot com?"
"I guess...."
So we ran a teensy diagnostic test which didn't prove anything, and now he tells me I need to send in my laptop and it will take 10-12 days before it is returned to me. All I wanted was a warranty replacement battery charger because the manufacturer brand is super expensive. I know I can get one on ebay for 1/4 of the price, but free is free. But now it's not. Now it's 10-12 days. He tells me that I may want to go get a glass of water (?) because it's going to take several minutes while he gets my dispatch number and whathaveyou. He tells me that I am going to on speaker phone so he can hear me, but I will not be able to hear him.
I still really have to go to the bathroom.
I also put him on speaker and think about muting it so maybe I can haul ass to the ladies. It's only been about 4 minutes and he said it could be up to 10, so  take my opportunity. I kind of laugh to myself because being in customer service, I've taken calls knowing that the person on the other end of the line is using the bathroom. It's totally weird, but most of the time the people I speak to are either elderly or sick, so I give them the benefit of the doubt and just sorta laugh when I can hear them tinkle...or more.
So I go for it. Ahh....sweet relief...."IMILY? THANK YOU FOR HOLDING"
ARE YOU SERIOUS?
I take 1 minute out of my day to pee and if it's not my child interrupting, it's Ramesh.

Did you know it was going to head in this direction when you began reading this post?

My Little Cuddle Bug (In Training)

Before I was a mom, I thought "I don't know what I'll ever do if my baby isn't a snuggler!!" (I probably thought of other things too, like "I can't wait to go bathing suit shopping" and "sure, I'll have another drink, it's only 1am.")
But seriously. I have friends who had children that would. not. sit. still. and I was all "dude! sit still!" And I would say "I really hope my future children love to snuggle!" and my friends would be all <eye roll>.
Charlotte doesn't sit still. She does not cuddle, she does not brush my hair for me, what is she even good for?
Well, this was all true until about 3 months ago. She was always the type of kid that when she woke up, it was time to go! always exploring, pulling things out of other things, getting into general mischief. She would simultaneously steal the remote control, find Darby's "shock" collar, and put my toe in her mouth. But one day, a miraculous thing occurred. Charlotte got sick. She sat on my lap and cuddled! I loved it! I started to  bring her to the Y in hopes that she would catch a bug. (just kidding. I don't even have a Y membership.)
But ever since that day, she has slowly accepted that sometimes it's nice to chill. Especially when mommy has a hangover. She is usually hesitant at first, not completely relaxing. It's as if she feels like she needs to be at attention at all times, and would lay down, but have her neck and head strained like she was doing crunches. And I tell her, "honey, look at mommy. do you see how relaxed I am? It feels so good to lay on the couch all day and eat bon bons." and "go get me some bon bons before you come and cuddle." (where do you even find bon bons? I've been settling for truffles for months.)

So now, she's learned she can lean over and rest on me, and sometimes she even sits on my lap and lays on my chest (after I hold down her head.) We're making progress over here, and soon we shall be a sedentary household.

Dreams can come true.



Picking out the perfect truffle for mommy dearest



Snuggling - for now.

It's Been a While!

Life lately has been sorta busy. Okay, not that busy, but I just haven't kept up on the blog.

Charlotte has started walking and it's absolutely awesome. She's so stinkin sweet (in my humble opinion).
The only real difference so far is the likelihood of falling, but there have been no injuries so far. She manages to have a look on her face that says "don't throw that at me!!" even though I'm not holding anything. She's always prepared to make a crash landing.

Marcus and I went to Las Vegas about a week ago for a long weekend. His brother and his wife joined us in the fun, and boy, was it fun! (I never know to say: my brother in law and sister in law, or marcus' brother and sister in law or what. i could say my brother and sister in law, but that isn't exactly the relation...whatever - they're close family.) We stayed at THE Hotel at Mandalay Bay for the 3rd time. We really like it there, but decided for future trips it's time to check out some place new! We just get so many good email offers it's hard to pay 3x as much some where else.
Anyway, the food just about everywhere is the best quality and absolutely delicious. You end up paying a premium for drinks most places, but there are lots of happy hours with half off stuff! We met up with a friend of my brother in law who works for a club in Vegas, and that was an adventure in itself. Ha! He took us to a club where we had our own table with bottle service. The Vegas club scene is serious business, folks. There is no joking around, you must either be looking hot or attempting to look hot the entire time. That's exhausting. I was wearing a short strapless dress and still managed to look like a grandma compared to some of these girls. An amazing grandma, maybe. :)

We were more than ready to come back home to our sweet little nugget of a child and get back to work.
A few days before we left for our trip, my old boss contacted me to see if I would be interested in working there again. I used to do massage therapy, but over time it got to be very wearing on the ol' joints. So about 3 years ago, I left that job for a complete career change. I grew to really like the job I have now, but thought maybe doing a couple days of massage would be great!  I would work two afternoons a week. The stars aligned and everything seemed ideal. I had childcare all lined up for the additional 8 hours a week. So I agreed to it! The day after we returned from our trip, I went in to my old work place, and it felt great. But as soon as I started working, I could feel the pain in my wrists immediately, but I completed my afternoon.
And that weekend, I was looking ahead on my calendar, and discovered not only did I need to find child care for the last two weeks of February for my current 20 hr a week job, but now I had to find someone for the extra 8 hours I just took on. I had a handful of people who could help out an hour here and there, but many of them are several miles away. It started to fall apart. Everything that lined up so perfectly was pulling apart and it was a struggle to make it work. So I had to let them know it wasn't go to work. It was so quick, and I felt super flaky. This isn't something I normally do, but at the same time it's what I needed to do.

So that's life right now. I'm starting to feel more settled with my decision, and life shall resume as usual.
Right?