Fall... stolen

Here's a mini rant on the fact that I have been ROBBED of my fall! Seriously, September was in the 80's, warmer than most of the crazy summer, making it miserable for the kids going back to (the non-air-conditioned) school. Our apple picking session, normally the last weekend in September, would have been more comfortable with short sleeves and maybe even shorts.

I was dealing with all of that, figuring that I would get my weeks of beautiful fall foliage, 50-60 degree temps... and then I woke up Saturday and saw this.

I know this is Minnesota and all, but people... it didn't go away until late in the afternoon! On Sunday night, we actually had an accumulation, that is still on the ground on Tuesday. There is a SNOWMAN on my front lawn! In early OCTOBER! grrrrrr.....

I walked Madilyn to school in a significant snowstorm on Monday, and muttered and grumbled as I arrived home drenched from the wet, sticky stuff. IF I knew that the snow would stick around long enough and thick enough to be groomed for skiing, I could have been appeased, but this is just... wrong.

I was robbed. Where is my autumn????

The newest Poulsen!

Welcome to Marbles, the latest addition to our family! Apparently, I was killing off fish too quickly, and my friend Ann took pity on my children and offered us their rabbit. Thinking perhaps, that warm blooded mammals are harder to kill than cold blooded vertebrates??? Sheesh, I sure hope she's right! This one might be hard to flush... (ugh)

My friend Kate is not so sure; she's sticking by the "Toxic Girl" nickname that I earned during the fish debacle. I hope to prove her wrong... and hey, they didn't all die... just 9 out of 11. Okay, that's a 81% mortality rate, but still. The remaining two have survived for 45 days.

Back to the bunny. Marbles is a very healthy sized English Spot rabbit; she's larger than most cats. (For reference, the arm of the couch is 9 1/2" tall). She's been with us for about a week on a trial basis, and we've officially confirmed that she can stay. Despite the fact that she has a lot more personality than goldfish, Sarah remains attached to Goldie and Nemo. So, Marbles has become known as Madilyn's rabbit. Fine by me, since she feels ownership for the food and litter box as well! We'll see how long that lasts...

Here's a picture of her, with all her rabbitude...

And no, Marbles can't shoot laser beams from her eyes. That would be cool, though.

A Trip to the Principal's Office

So... the three of us are driving home from picking up Sarah after her "hang out and do stuff" club at school, and she announces that she was sent to the principal's office today. What??? Here's a rough transcript:

S: "I had to go to the principal's office today. I was very bad."

L: "Really? What did you do?"

S: "I spit."

L: "You spit? Why did you spit?"

S: "I spit on the floor."

L: "Well, that's not OK. But WHY did you spit? What happened?"

S: silence. "I was bad."

L: "What made you spit?"

S: "I spit."

L: giving up on trying to figure out "why", because I NEVER get an answer on that one... "What happened when you went to the principal's office? What did he say?"

S: "I shouldn't spit." (OK, I guess I should have seen that one coming)

L: "Do you have a punishment? What happens next?"

S:"I won't spit on the floor anymore."

L: "Well, that's good. But there must be consequences. What do you think your punishment should be?" (Now, at this point, I'm not willing to commit to anything, because I don't even know if this story is even true. My girl has a hazy line between fiction and reality...)

S: "I do not know." (Default answer for anything she doesn't want to answer. Again, could have seen that one coming...)

L: "Well, I'm going to have to think about this, and we'll decide your punishment later." (At this point, I'm thinking... I'm SO going to open her backpack the minute we get home and verify all of this...)

Long story short, I couldn't find confirmation of this incident anywhere in her bag, nor online (all school records are online), but Sarah and I decided that no TV the next day would be an appropriate punishment.

I emailed her teacher, who then related the true story... Sarah didn't spit on the floor, she spit on another student! (no reason, no provocation). Then, after announcing that she was bad, she spit on the floor. She declared to the teacher that she was very naughty, and insisted that she had to go to the principal's office. Apparently, all of the staff were trying to keep a straight face as Sarah wailed about how naughty she was. She actually broke into tears on the way down to the principal's office, and her para turned her around to bring her back to the classroom (boo). Her teacher said, "Nope. She needs to go." and marched her down there (YAY!). So, Dr. Schmidt got a chance to lecture Sarah on not spitting, and she was free to go.

Sigh. What a drama queen. I have no doubt that this was all orchestrated by her, and I'm left with the question that always goes unanswered....WHY??

Personal Revelation

I've been greatly concerned regarding my lack of progress in... well, everything.. in my life lately. Although not concerned enough to actually do anything about it, I did feel a little better after reading an article on procrastination in Psychology Today. The difference between laziness and procrastination is that one involves guilt and the other doesn't. Since my life seems ruled by guilt...

YAY! I'm not lazy!!! I'm just a world-class procrastinator!!!

Again to the saying on my kitchen wall... "If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done."

This week's tunes

What's on repeat on my ipod: Leave Out All the Rest by Linkin Park

Also recently discovered the following groups (yes, I know I'm behind the curve!):

• Shinedown (Breaking Inside, If You Only Knew, Second Chance)
• Theory of a Dead Man (Not Meant to Be)
• Train (Calling All Angels)
• 3 Doors Down (Here Without You)

and, a big departure from the above, Chris Brown's Forever is also getting a lot of play during my workouts. Man, I wish I could dance.

Twisted, Confused, and Completely Lacking Credibility

At my recent physical, I learned quite a bit about myself.

First off, I am (physically) twisted. Not withstanding my mental status (see item 2), I'm a wreck. After telling my doc that I felt "out of sorts" and "not aligned", she referred me to a physical therapist. The therapist, whom I love, declared that I resemble someone cut in half and reassembled by a drunken magician. Apparently, my hips point in one direction, and my upper torso in the opposite... which explains the 7 months of pain in my glute, and my bum knee. So I'm doing some pretty bizarre exercises to "balance" me out, and I go once a week for therapy. I swear I will end up with my left arm longer than my right with how hard they pull on it, but for now, I have faith that I will eventually straighten out.

Secondly, my mental status, or lack of coherent thought. This has been a big problem lately. I am simply in a deep fog... I just sit around (see previous post regarding "potato" status). Anyway, this, combined with my persistent lack of weight loss, has led my doctor to suspect insulin resistance (or pre-diabetes). So now I'm taking metformin to help my body properly use glucose. She started me out on a very low dose to minimize side effects, so it will take a while to know if this is a successful treatment.

And finally, and most depressingly, I've learned that I am indeed, perimenopausal. So the rollercoaster ride of hormones has begun... leading to the loss of all credibility with my husband. After all, if I have a complaint, it's a lot easier to blame the hormones...

So, as I stated... I'm twisted, confused, and completely lacking credibility. Gotta love it.

Morning Manipulation

It's Friday morning, and both kids need a bath before school. This announcement is met with groans and moans.

Sarah opens the volley by telling her sister "You go first."

"No, you go!" Madilyn responds.

"I do not want to go."

At this point, I declare "Someone's got to go. I'm going upstairs right now to start the bath."

As I turn and begin climbing the stairs, I hear Sarah say "I'll go first."

Madilyn quickly responds with "NO! I'll go first. Mom! I'm coming!!" and passes me running up the stairs.

I turn around to see Sarah settle back into her chair with a small smile and quietly say to herself "OK, I'll stay here."

This might sound like a fairly commonplace sibling exchange, but that is EXACTLY the point! And even if it makes me a bad parent, I am proud of my oldest for shamelessly manipulating her younger sister.