File This Post Under Gross

Brace yourselves because this post is gross. I debated on even writing about it for fear that people would find me disgusting. But my dog is in heat. This means she's on her period and this folks, is quite nasty.

First, let me put it out there. The last thing I want to deal with is another woman in my house having her period.

Second, a dog on her period. NASTY. Luckily, she's not having a heavy flow not leaving spots all over the house. (I can't believe I'm writing thissss!!!). Yet, at least, because this can change in the next few weeks.

My mom told me not to get a female dog for this very reason but I figured I would get her spayed and we would be okay. Thanks to me not doing my research, I didn't even realize that she would have her first heat between 6-14 months of age. We are at nine months of age.

So here I am, on Google, looking up what to do about this situation and learn that she can be in heat for as long as 21 days! Who wants to deal with this for 21 days? Then I came across an ehow.com article that summed up the situation in a few simple steps. The last step was to put a child size under garment lined with a pantyliner on your dog to avoid a mess.

Seriously?? Because the day I find myself putting a pantyliner on my dog is the day my career has hit an all time low.

I should have listened to my Mom!

Bumper Stickers That Annoy Me

The bumper sticker below is officially annoying. Someone at my son's school has this on the back of his Toyota Rav 4 and without fail, I always end up behind him in car line. I mean seriously, do you think this man put this on his car or is it safe to say his wife bought it and "surprised" him with it and one day he walks to his car and it's there?

"Surprise, honey!"

Even if he was out somewhere and found this bumper sticker and just had to have it, I always end up wondering about this man and the wife that he loves so much.

Now, I'm not hating on this man, or his wife. In fact, last year Mr. Jonesie ordered a personalized license plate with my name and the year we met on the front of his car. Needless to say, the plate is now in the garage.

This bumper sticker is officially annoying though. It's the gag me with a spoon type of annoying. Kind of like when people feel the need to engage in P.D.A. in front of others.

One word-- annoying!

I Gave Up

I'm still fairly out of sorts from being overwhelmed lately. And life doesn't seem to be easing up! Over the weekend I ended up in urgent care after experiencing terrible pain; I was prescribed antibiotics and am feeling a bit better. After pushing through the Sunday Dash, I woke up this morning, made it through the Morning Madness and was walking out the door, only to discover that the car keys were nowhere to be found. You might recall that we carpool. Hubby had left for work really early to make a morning meeting. He took the bus, and left his car for me, but he took one set of keys with him. (The spare, I suspect, he has too although he denies it.) The nanny had already left with my car to take the girls to school, so I was all dressed up, late - after tearing the house apart looking for the keys, and stuck. Feeling the meltdown coming on, I took a deep breath and...gave up.

Changed into my jeans and sweater, logged on to tell the office I would be working from home, and parked it on the couch.

Now I know it's not a huge deal and you're probably thinking "get it together, woman." But it just seems like it one thing after another. What scares me is my reaction to the little mishaps; these days I constantly feel like I am going to fall apart. It's so not like me at all. What's wrong with me?

Cheating Celeb Husbands: I've HAD it!

I've kept my mouth shut for far too long. I didn't say anything about Elliott. I maintained my silence about Tiger (did you see the freakin' latest, btw??). I've bitten my tongue about John. I zipped it about David. And there were more. Through it all, I silently fumed and cursed. But today? When I heard about Jesse? I decided I couldn't take it anymore. So I'm breaking my silence.

WTH is wrong with these men? Do they think that having power, success, fame and money gives them license to be jerks? Is infidelity really innate? Is it because they're treated like spoiled brats and never told "no"? They have beautiful, intelligent, loving wives that are good mothers to their children. Is that no longer enough?

Someone please help me out here. I.JUST.DON'T.GET.IT.

The Great Basement Flood of 2010: Finale

Tall, For a Mexican and 2010 Census

So I'm out to eat with my sister-in-law on Saturday and we start talking about my brother-in-law's new girlfriend.

Me: What's she like?

Her: Nice, really pretty. She's actually normal.

Me: Normal- thank goodness. Where is she from?

Her: She's Mexican, but she's actually tall for a Mex.., um, tall.

Me: Were you just going to say she's tall for a Mexican?!

Her: Yes...

We both started cracking up because this happens a lot - people forget that I'm Mexican and they have a little slip of the un-politically correct tongue. Half-Mexican or not, I'm a Chicana. Was born there and until 2007 still had my Mexican citizenship. Although I wasn't offended by her comment, it's easy for people to forget or not even think that I'm (a short) Mexican or of Latina background. I've chalked it up to me thinking that it's because I look more like my dad, who is Haitian. Because of this, I've heard my share of inappropriate comments about Mexicans enough times to not be surprised when it actually does happen.

The bigger issue here, I wonder what options I'll have on the Census form this go around? This can always be a tricky question for me. I've seen some chatter on Twitter about the options for the ethnicity/race/nationality type questions. I hope that this decade they got it right because for the longest I was really confused by the "hispanic non-white" or "hispanic non-black" type choices. I know many hispanics that are black, ie. me. But, even if I wasn't half Haitian, there are plenty of black hispanics. Plenty as in, like islands and countries full of black hispanics.

Keeping my fingers crossed on this question...

The Great Basement Flood of 2010: ACT II

When It Rains, It Pours

Oh that post title would be hilarious if only the situation weren't so sad.

On Saturday night, not 3 days after writing this post, I was enjoying a fantastic evening at Momz Share (more on that soon), when I got a text from my sister who had so graciously agreed to babysit for me while Hubby was out of town. The text read something like this:

"Emergency! The basement is badly flooded."

Ok, so that's exactly what her text said.

All I could do was laugh. I mean really, what else could I do? Ask TeachMama how calm I was. She was in disbelief.

And really so was I. Anyway, I decided to vlog the aftermath. Enjoy the show.

Adding memories to your daily ritual

I am by no means a beauty person but I've found a beauty staple that is doing the job while conjuring up some great memories. How many of you remember Noxema cream?

Growing up in Trinidad, Noxema was a staple in most households, including mine. It was the go to product for my late grandmother, with whom I spent a great deal of my childhood as we lived as an extended family for many years and even when my mom moved out, we moved about 5 minutes away. I think her entire beauty regimen consisted of washing her face with Noxema twice a day! What was even more alluring about Noxema was that it was the only "grown-up" product that my grandmother would allow me to use even as a child.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were talking about our family's skincare rituals and realized that both my grandmother in Trinidad and his in Pennsylvania, religiously used Noxema. Well, we got a bottle - just because. On the first night of use, hubby remarked about the wonderfully pleasant familiar medicinal scent of Noxema! I laughed because he was right, and much to his dismay, I have continued using it.

I have the cleanser and it's doing the job without drying my skin out. But, in all honesty, the real reason I continue to use it is because for that 137 seconds while washing my face, it reminds me of my childhood and it reminds me of my grandmother. What a wonderful ritual to re-institute into my daily regimen? I love that the scent takes me back on each and every use without avail. It makes the day so much more pleasant to be reminded of a loved one when time otherwise does not permit. I hope you can find something to re-integrate into your daily rituals that conjures up beautiful memories too!

Overwhelmed

I am feeling very overwhelmed right about now. It seems like things are in overdrive in all aspects of my life. At work I am bogged down with 2 cases for which I am the lead. In addition, I am on a major taskforce and council that are both in overdrive at the moment. I'm so backed up that I just end up floundering around uselessly from conference call to meeting hoping to make it through the day. At home I am trying to keep my family running semi-smoothly, which is hard when I only have about 2 hours per day, along with weekends, to do it. Homework needs to be done daily, groceries need to be purchased, meals need to be made. Hair needs to be braided, doctor's appointments attended, school reading logs need to be completed, recital lines need to be rehearsed, and box tops need to be collected. Dance classes need to be attended, summer camps scheduled, wedding gifts purchased and quality time spent. Volunteer committments need to be met, fitness routines done, personal invitations honored and phone/email messages returned. With our company, there are conference calls to be had, agreements to draft, events to coordinate, a site to launch, and oh yeah, a conference to plan.

I definitely need a break. Spring break is coming up soon and for that, I am grateful. However, that trip requires lots of planning too! We are headed to Disney World and, while I know we're going to have a great time, just getting there - with the right tickets booked, the right size strollers packed, the right size car rented, and a manageable itinerary planned (complete with the right Disney character breakfasts reserved) - adds another host of things to my already overburdened To Do list.

Breathe, Fergie. Breathe.

"Giving Meaning to a Meaningless Life"

Okay, the title of this post is the most interesting thing about the next audio book I listened to. The Power of Love, by Dr. Laura Schlessinger was not what I expected it to be. What I failed to do is pay attention the description and focused too much on the title. Here I thought I was going to learn about how powerful love is, maybe get a profound, philosophical meaning of love and how love is this or that. Nope. Really, all I got was a summary of the ten stupid things that couples do to ruin a relationship. Then the ten stupid things women do to mess up their lives. And finally, surprise, the ten stupid things that men do to ruin their lives.

Yawn.

I agreed with all thirty things she described as stupid were just plain stupid. Yes, it's stupid for a woman to intentionally impregnate herself to keep a man. Or for a woman to think that living with a man will make him want to marry you if he didn't have that desire before. Stupid. It's also stupid for a man to get married only because it will complete his resume; or for a man to think that protecting his woman means to beat up any guy that looks at his woman the wrong way.

I think a better book would have been to summarize the ten best things women, men, and couples do to make love work.

So the quote in my title is the one thing I walked away from this book with. Some men have stupid independence and believe that they don't need women, women need them. One woman's response to this was to say that women are what give men meaning to their meaningless lives and without women, men would be nothing and couldn't get anywhere in life. Hence, this is why we have to tell them what to wear, what to eat, etc.

Hmmm. This is interesting. This very subject just came up in conversation with a woman I know. She was telling me how frustrated she gets with her husband of 25 years because although he's this great, successful business man that manages several businesses, makes big deals, is involved in various influential organizations around town and Florida, when he walks through the doors of their home, he is clueless and helpless about so many things -like one their kids. Ouch! Don't get me wrong, she loves her husband. But she knows who she's dealing with and knows that she has to completely take care of him.

Do you think women give men meaning to life? Is it fair to say this?

My Bang Up Weekend

{I'm like 2 weeks behind in my posts, so bear with me}

Generally my weekends are a mishmash of errand running, the occasional meal at a "family-friendly" establishment and lots of housecleaning. This past weekend as a nice change from the ordinary. It started with a Saturday afternoon lunch with my JLW small group. How luxurious I felt; lunching with ladies in the middle of the day at a place where you can't order a kid's meal! It's funny, because I almost didn't go. You know...Mommy Guilt. here I was leaving behind my babies on one of the only 2 days per week that I have to spend all day with them. I convinced myself that they wouldn't miss me since they would be napping for most of the time I was out.
Lunch was lovely. I always enjoy meeting new people and I enjoy a good meal even more. {More about my meal in another post!} I even met another blogger and left with plans for a Real Housewives of DC premier party. After that, we hit the pavement and headed for another afternoon indulgence: Georgetown Cupcake which recently opened a location in Maryland - Yippee!! These cupcakes really are sensational. I got some for the girls {Mommy Guilt} and one for Hubby {because I'm nice like that} and headed home.
On my way home I got a call from one of my friends inviting to me to go to a CLUB. In DC. I was like "a what? where?" I have become such a homebody that the prospect scared me. As it turns out, she was feeling the same way and wanted to me come out with her for back up. It was her sister's 25th birthday and she didn't want to be the old lady in the club all alone. And so three of us old ladies ended up having a night on the town that was totally unexpected and a blast.

It started by us going to a game night hosted by a friend of a friend. It was hilarious to be transported back to the days of the booze-laden game nights that I used to go to, replete with single guys and girls checking each other out and hoping to get hooked up. The hostess had even posted a sign in the window written with: "It's GAME NIGHT, Bitchez!!" Ah, youth. Since, "hooking up" was totally not our focus, we were able to sit back and have a great time playing Taboo and Pictionary. The most I drank was a Coke. BUT. BUT! The highlight of the game night was meeting the one and only Carla Hall from Top Chef. She was there with her husband enjoying the festivities. And yes, I was a total lame and told her what a big fan of hers I am and asked to take a photo with her. She was a doll about it and even Tweeted me later that night. Swoon!

Onto the club. We changed into our party clothes and headed to the club. It was a nice venue and we had a good time. I spent most of the evening checking out what the styles and trends were that the "kids" were wearing these days. Freakum Dresses are definitely "in" right now. Too bad for me. To add insult to injury, I saw my co-worker's daughter in the club and she said: "Oh, hi! I should have brought Mommy! LOL." Ha ha, hell. I was thinking: "I am only 10 years older than you chick. Slow your roll." I rounded out the night sweating from dancing and the satisfaction of knowing that even though I was not 25, I could still identify the latest tracks by Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame. We left the club around 2:00am feeling refreshed and revived.

I should be good until 2011.