January 29, 2009

I Went Out in Public Wearing My Pants Inside Out

Last night my parents invited Dawson and me to go sledding and tobogganing with them.   My sister Rachel and my brother Frank came along, too.  Their church was hosting a sledding party at Iverson Park and since Dawson had already been to the winter park twice before, I couldn’t say no.

Now before I go any further with this story, I must confess that I had never been down a toboggan run before.  I’m nearly 30 years old and last night was my first time.  I was a toboggan virgin.

Iverson Park is beautiful in the summer, but it’s full of snowy action in winter months.  They have a sledding hill which is BYOS (bring your own sled) and two toboggan slides, each 300 feet long.  When we got to the park and my dad asked if I wanted to go down, I hesitated when I discovered we’d have to climb to the top of the platform.  I was freaked out because this is what the drop looks like:

I. Was. Terrified.

My fearless Dawson looked at me and said, “Mommy, you can’t be scared.  It will be so much fun!”

I declined to go down with Dad, Mom and Dawson.  Instead, I went down with my brother Frank first.  I didn’t want my son to see me cry.

So we climb up to the top, I sat down on the front of the toboggan, with my feet directly under the curl and my little bro (who’s 6′ 3″ and a good 250 pounds) sat behind me.   I felt safer knowing there was an anchor behind me.  The slide attendant instructed me to keep my body parts on the sled and to hold tight to the rope.

“Ready?” she asked.

“I think so,” I said with a stutter.

“Have fun!” she yelled.

Next thing I know she dropped the hatch and down we flew.  Picture me screaming, eyes closed, and tears streaming down my rosy cheeks.

“Hooooollleeeee Craaaaapppp!” I screamed.

When we got to the end and started to slow down, I opened my eyes, and sat there frozen with fear.

“Are you okay?” Frank asked.

“Am I alive?” I replied.

“Yeah. You made it.” he said.

“Okay, then I’m okay.  I’m okay, right?”  I couldn’t believe I didn’t die.

As we walked back up the hill, I saw my parents, my sister and little Dawson going down for the second time.   My son, fearless and smiling, was screaming with delight.  He loved it.

“Mumma!  Poppa, Nonna and Rachel and me won the race!  Woo hoo!” he shouted.

“You did!” I said.

Dawson asked me if I liked the “noggin hill” and I told him as long as I didn’t break my own noggin, I would be fine.

I managed to get up the courage to go down again, but with my Dad, Mom and Dawson.  This time the sled crashed and we all went rolling.  I was so happy I wore three pairs of pants because I had some major butt burn.  That wasn’t the first time we crashed either (can you believe I went down a total of 12 times?), and this morning I was so stiff in the buttocks and lower back.

Dawson had preschool this morning, and I realized we were running late.  I quickly threw on one of the pairs of pants I wore last night and drove my boy to school.

When I got home, I sat down on the couch to take a rest and noticed my sweats were inside out.  I can’t believe I was out in public dressed like that!!

If anyone noticed, I’ll blame it on Noggin Hill and my butt burn.  It could have been worse.  I could have broken my arse instead of just getting a bruise on one cheek.  No seriously, it’s black and blue!

Dawson has been begging to go sledding again, and I think I might just do it.  As scary as it is, it sure is one hell of an adrenaline rush!

January 26, 2009

I Can’t Think of a Clever Title

I took some time away from my blog, I’m sure you’ve noticed.  Lately, I’ve been feeling a little burned out.  It’s mostly because there are so many things to do and so little time to get them all done.  Alas, blogging fell to the wayside and I’m feeling guilty about that.

It was nice to have a few days off.  I wasn’t worrying about what to write each day, and instead focused on many other important things in my life.

Friday night I went out for drinks with my BFF, Amanda.  We hit a few bars in town and spent several hours catching up on the goings-on in each other’s lives.  I finally met her boyfriend (and he’s a doll) and we dished about people we friended on Facebook.  It was hilarious to gossip about people we knew in high school and what they are up to now, twelve years later.

That same night, my brother, Nate, and his girlfriend, Becky, came out, too.  It was nice to hang out with Nathan.  He’s four years younger than me, and when we were kids we fought a lot, but now that we’re older we get along great.  I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with him before he left for Kuwait, and when he came back home in November of 2006 I was a busy mom to a two year old and rarely got to hang out with him.  Over the last year we’ve been growing closer and it’s nice.  I really like Becky, too.  I hope he marries that girl.  Even Dawson loves her.  He’s already calling her Aunt Becky.

Saturday was a crazy day.  I had to work in the morning, but I didn’t get much sleep because I got home too late (bar time sure comes quickly when you’re having fun) so I was dragging for most of the day.  I took a catnap at noon and then I had to meet my mother for a Lia Sophia Extravaganza show.  It was awesome.  Mom and I both bought $10 in raffle tickets and we both won two pieces of jewelry from the new line (with a value of about $66) and I won $75 dollars in gift certificates, too.  It was a lot fun.  At one point during the party, the jewelry adviser asked for volunteers to model the jewelry and do some turns as if we were on a catwalk.  It was hilarious.

Yesterday my parents, Nathan, Becky, my sister Rachel and I participated in the Walk for Life in town.  We marched from City Hall to the Dreyfus Center at UWSP and then stayed for a Pro-Life Rally at the university.  They had some wonderful speakers and I’m really glad I went.  I’ve got some notes for a post that I’m working on.  Hopefully I’ll publish it by the end of the week.

Today was a very long day.  I was so tired from the lack of sleep and I was feeling tense and stressed out.  I had the worst migraine and I truly thought I was going to die.  Thankfully, Doug took care of Dawson so I could rest in the dark and quiet bedroom and now I’m feeling much better.  Groggy, but not in pain anymore.

In other news, Doug sold his truck yesterday.  He put it up for sale last spring, but with high gas prices we didn’t have any bites.  But a high school kid from Eau Claire was really interested and he came to look at it yesterday morning and bought it on the spot.  We didn’t expect that it would happen that quickly.  So, we’re down to just my vehicle and the carpooling is kind of a pain in the ass.  But we are saving money in gas and Doug and I are communicating better so that we can coordinate our schedules — so that’s a bonus.

Hopefully things will calm down soon.  I’ve got lots to say!

September 6, 2008

Saturday Update

I’m so happy it’s Saturday.  The week was long and I felt as though I was constantly being rushed to complete chores and tasks and errands, both at home and at work.  Alas, I can relax a bit before the start of next week.  Or so I thought.

Last night I got a wild hair on my ass to clean the house.  That’s good right?  Well, no, not really — the urge to clean began at 11:46 p.m. and I actually ran the vacuum cleaner closer to midnight.  The funniest thing?  No one else in the house woke up.  Doug and Dawson sleep like bears in hibernation.  I wish I was so lucky.

Today, I’m working online for a few hours and then this afternoon I’m taking Dawson to Panacea, the fundraiser put on by Pacelli High School and the Stevens Point Area Catholic Schools.  Doug is alumni (even though he graduated from the public school, SPASH) and because we’re good Catholics, we go every year.

Dawson’s main attraction is the carnival rides.  I see a carousel, dragon coaster and ferris wheel in my future.

Tonight, my husband and I have plans to have dinner at the Red Mill, a local supper club that we both love.  We haven’t been out to dinner at a fancy restaurant in ages, so this will be very nice.  I’m so excited because the Red Mill has a wonderful prime rib on Saturday nights.  I’m jonesin’ for a slice of that.

Last weekend, I bought Dawson a new video game for the Nintendo DS called Mater-National.  We haven’t been able to put that game down.  Doug and I are competing against each other and it’s getting ugly.

For awhile, Doug was kicking my tail, but then I practiced after he relinquished the DS and now I’m beating the snot out of him.  It’s quite silly for two adults to be so involved in a video game, and poor Dawson is pissed off that his parents play it more than he does, but seriously – the kid will live.  Mommy & Daddy have some fierce competition going on.  Loser has to do all the housework, by HIMSELF, for six months, WITHOUT COMPLAINING OR MAKING THE WINNER FEEL GUILTY.

But really, if you have a DS and want a fun game to play, Mater-National is the bomb.  We loooooove it.

In other news, Dawson starts preschool next Tuesday, and as a last hurrah before life goes back to it’s normal insanity, Doug and I decided to take the Doodlebug to a Brewer’s game on Monday night.  This will be my fifth game this year, and Dawson’s third….and Doug’s first game this season.  He’s been so busy with work and his fishing excursions that he couldn’t make it to a game thus far.

We’re very excited because our seats are in the first concourse at left field (perfect for ogling Ryan Braun.  Me, not Doug.  Doug will probably ogle the cheerleader girlies).  It will be the last baseball game of the season that we’re able to attend, so I hope the Brew Crew kicks some behind.

Okay.  That’s pretty much the scoop around here.  What are y’all up to this fine day?

February 29, 2008

The Mean Girls

Yesterday afternoon, Dawson and I headed to the public library in town. What used to be a weekly occurrence has now become an every-other-day-thing. Dawson loves the children’s department because they have two train tables with his favorite Thomas the Tank Engine toys. I enjoy the time to read quietly while Dawson is occupied.

On this particular visit I was caught up in observing others. Okay, I’ll be honest, I was people watching. Mostly because I like to see how other parents interact with their kids be nosy.

There were two little girls making plastic french toast in the play house, while their grandmother caught up on Midwest Living back issues. Every so often, Grandma would ask the girls to bring her another pretend cup of coffee. It was so cute.

The oldest girl was probably 7 years old, and her sister looked about Dawson’s age. The older girl had long brown hair and wore glasses, that she pushed up her nose every so often. Her smile was contagious, as well as her upbeat attitude, and I smiled when she came over to me and said hello.

“Hi! I’m Rena! That’s my sister Angela!” she said.

“Hi Rena, I’m Dana. It’s nice to meet you!” I replied.

“What’s your little boy’s name?” she asked.

“That’s Dawson. He loves trains.” I said.

With that, Rena went over to Dawson and introduced herself. My little bug is still kind of afraid of girls, so he started to blush and then went back to his trains. It was adorable.

After we had been at the library about twenty minutes, another mom came in with her daughter and the daughter’s friend. The two girls were most likely 7 or 8 years old as well. These girls went over to play with the doll house and I watched as Rena went over to say hello to her potential new friends.

“Hi! I’m Rena! What’s your name?” she asked.

“I’m Hayley,” said the first girl.

“I’m Karissa,” said the second.

I watched intently as Rena tried to befriend these two girls. She asked to play with the dolls, too, and the new girls reluctantly agreed. After a few minutes, Rena’s grandmother said it was time to go. After Rena and her family disappeared into the elevator, I listened to what Hayley and Karissa were saying to each other.

“I don’t like that girl, do you?” asked Hayley.

“No. She’s weird. I don’t like her either,” Karissa replied.

I was stunned. Those two little brats! What a rude thing to say. When did little girls become so gosh darned mean?

“Why don’t you like her?” I asked the girls.

They looked surprised that I was speaking to them.

“Uh…we don’t know her. She’s different.” said Hayley.

“Well,” I began. “Being different, and being yourself, is a wonderful quality. If every little girl was the same as you, this world would be very boring, and not very friendly, now would it?”

Both girls shook their heads and went off to play with something else. I don’t know what compelled me to speak up. Maybe it’s because I saw a little bit of myself in Rena. I was always teased for not being like everyone else.

Kids can be cruel to those they think are different, simply because they are too afraid of what others think. Rena didn’t care what anyone thought, she wasn’t afraid to be who she was. Rena, where ever you are, keep being your beautiful self. It truly was nice to meet such a sweet girl like you.