A Pox on Springing Ahead

§ March 16th, 2010 § Filed under Soapbox § Tagged § 5 Comments

I’ve got a bone to pick with George Vernon Hudson, the man who first suggested Daylight Savings Time. He made this suggestion, mind you, so he would have more daylight hours in the evening to study bugs. Yup. B.U.G.S.

 

Head-and-shoulders portrait of a sixtyish man in a wingtip collar and tie and a three-piece suit. He is nearly bald and wears a mustache. He looks directly at the viewer with the vestiges of a smile.

George Vernon Hudson (Wikipedia)

 

But I think the night we spring ahead is just about the the worst night of the year. 

I hate that night.

It is the night that the “powers that be” punish sleep-deprived mothers in favor of…. well, I am not sure what we are actually supposed to gain from SKIPPING an hour ahead. (See? Just saying that… writing it… feels wrong.)

I know what I gained.  

First, my baby is totally thrown off her sleep schedule.  Ya know, the one we carefully crafted and molded into something we could all tolerate. Yeah, well that nano-moment of bliss is over.

Next, I am pretty sure I overdosed on caffeine Sunday morning.  Resulting in the jitters. Which resulted in a lot of pacing around.  Which hurt my foot.  So, now I have a hurt foot. Well, to be fair, my foot already hurt. But now it hurts more.

The whole day reached confusing levels when we kept using the terms “body clock” and “actual clock” back and forth in an attempt to decipher what time it really was.  

And how should we refer to this day?  As a “holiday?  Well, as far as holidays go, this day is really lacking. Really, FLAG DAY is better than Spring Ahead day.  Even LABOR DAY which is a day dedicated to, well, labor, is better that losing that precious hour.  In fact, I am pretty sure this day ranks below NATIONAL CROCHET WEEK and NATIONAL BUBBLE WEEK — which were both last week.  I kid you not.  In fact, here are a bunch of holidays in the month of March that I am sure I would rather celebrate than losing that precious hour of sleep.

March 1 – National Pig Day.  Who doesn’t love bacon?

March 6 – Dentist’s Day (and you all know how I feel about dentists…)

March 9th – Be Nasty Day.  This one actually sounds good, if you can pull it off. I pretty much honor this day each morning in the minutes between waking up and my 8th cup of coffee.

March 10 – Middle Name Pride Day.  Mine is “Lynn.”  Woo-Hoo… Go LYNN!

March 13 – Ear Muff Day, strategically positioned the day  BEFORE Spring Ahead.

March 23 – National Chip and Dip Day.  Now we’re talking!!!  

March 31 – National Bunsen Burner Day.  Dave will love this.  It’s a chemistry teacher’s dream come true!

But my favorite day, the day I most look forward to (and my husband will attest to this) is the day we FALL BACK.  Now, that’s a day I can fall in love with.

The OOMPH is Gone

§ March 15th, 2010 § Filed under Reflections & Confessions § Tagged § 11 Comments

It’s been a rough two weeks . A very rough two weeks.  So, I have been mostly off the grid — not even able to update Facebook!   I have come to the blog several times with ideas about what to write about, but nothing seems to really flow right now.  It’s not writer’s block, it’s just that the wind has been knocked out of me and I am not sure how to get the sails up.

Two weeks ago Dave lost his swim coaching job.  

Now, I know this is not THAT big of deal in the scheme of things.  I do.  I really do.  I have friends right now that are facing much much worse. But it has just sorta been awful dealing with it anyway.

So the last two weeks have amounted to an emotional roller coaster with a dash of personal betrayal thrown in to make the ride even more stomach clenching.  And what we have at the end of it is one more person that we can scratch right out of our wedding pictures (if you are wondering, the scratch count is now at 4…).  And one less job.  

I would love to go into more detail, but that would be a firmly planted footstep traveling down the LOW road and I am trying to stay if not on the HIGH road, than at least hovering somewhere around “middle road” or “trying-to-avoid-feelings-of utter-vengence” road.  

Dave losing this job has taken its toll on us.   It wasn’t enough to watch the athletes left behind sob their eyes out or to feel Dave’s passion for swimming fall on unappreciative-boss ears.  But now we are left with that emptiness that follows an upheaval.  That question of “where do we go from here”?  And none of the answers feel that great.  

And, I am not good with limbo… with the unknown… with the “what nows?”  In fact, I would venture to say that I am very very bad at handling those things. So, a lot of my OOMPH is gone.  I know I will come around.  I always do. But this is one of those fall-down-scrape-your-knees-and-get-dusty experiences where you just sorta lie in the dirt for a bit, then ya sit up, then you cry, then you crawl over to the grass, then you call your family on the cell phone, and THEN you finally get up, limp home, put the bandaids on, and drink yourself into s stupor before trying again.

But we will try again.  Soon, I hope.

MamaBloo Book Review: Gone

§ March 12th, 2010 § Filed under Book Reviews § Tagged , , , Comments Off

In an instant everyone over the age of 14 disappears.  Poof. Gone.

And there is a border… a wall… or maybe a dome that surrounds the town of Perdido Beach, CA.  A barrier that no one can break through.

And (as if all of that wasn’t enough) the animals are morphing, evolving.  And so are the kids. Developing supernatural powers.

In the vein of The Lord of the Flies the kids don’t all agree on how to survive, who should be in charge, and what they should do to keep order.  The bully from the private school, Caine (aptly named, by the way), soon takes over and rules without mercy due to his developing powers.  Sam also develops powers, but is reluctant to step up and lead — even though he is morally and ethically the “good” guy in the story.  It really gets eerie when the local coyotes start organizing, talking, and then stalking the kids.

As a mom this book scared me to death.  To think that 13 year olds would be in charge of everyone and everything was powerfully disturbing.  And the author stays pretty authentic to how this might play out. Cars crash when the driver disappears, gas stoves ignite fires in homes, children cry for their parents.  It takes the kids a long time to get organized, the candy is eaten first, and they forget to check on the babies…. with tragic results.

Because of the gruesome and also the very scary encounters in this book, I would recommend this for older teens or maybe younger teens who can handle Stephen King-esque storytelling.  However, there is a bit of a disconnect because older teens may not be as interested in a book about 13 year olds, but I think the book will still hold their attention as the book is very gripping and hard to put down, if for no other reason than the original and terrifying paradigm of the story.  I have heard some say that it slows down too much in parts.  But as the first book in a trilogy, I am a bit forgiving as the author sets up the round characters and allows the story to pace itself.  If you or your kids liked Hunger Games, you’ll probably like this one, too.

Book By: Michael Grant

MamaBloo Wants to Know: Where Would You Go?

§ March 9th, 2010 § Filed under Questions for my readers § Tagged , , § 2 Comments

I am loving all this Spring weather around here. Bring on the Global Warming, if it means more sun! All this sun — even in patches — has gotten me in the mood for a vacation. So, my question for you all today is:   What is your dream vacation? or if that is too much to wrap your mind around, how about this:  Where would you just love to go for Spring break? 

For me, I will take anywhere that is not my house.  I’m thinking like down the street in someone else’s house while they are away would probably re-charge me.  But, to be true to my own question, I will say that my dream vacation is a toss up between Italy and Greece.  I’ve never been to either, but I have wanted to go to Greece ever since a college buddy told me about his adventures in Greece one of which involved another friend winding up in the back of some local’s truck and driving off into the darkness after … well… indulging in the local greek beers a tad too much. Of course, that isn’t why I want to go there. He also described the beaches and the food.  And Italy… oh please just get me to Florence where I can feed he English -Teacher-Nerd-Esque part of me by walking where Dante walked.  That and the gelato. And the art.  And the countryside.  I will stop now.

How about you?

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