Well I’m the worst at taking a break from the blog because here I am and it’s only been two days.
But I felt compelled to come write because how else would you know that I took Caroline to the dentist yesterday? I owe it to you to keep you up to date on that kind of not at all interesting or important information.
In truth I think I just had to give myself permission to step away because otherwise writing just feels like one more thing I have to do instead of remembering that writing here is a part of my day that I usually look forward to. Sophie and I even recorded a podcast on Monday that we decided was just too boring to put up and, based on the podcasts we’ve put up in the past, you know how bad it must have been. I believe at one point I talked about Caroline’s upcoming dentist appointment like it was an actual story.
One of the things several of you asked about in the comments on Monday was my thoughts on Johnny Manziel being drafted by the Cleveland Browns. I’m not going to lie, it was a sad moment for me. I’d told P before the draft started that I was going to immediately purchase a t-shirt representing whichever team picked Johnny. But Cleveland’s colors are orange and brown. I just haven’t been able to make myself pull the trigger on a Browns shirt yet, but I’m sure I’ll get there eventually. The upside of all of this is that I can officially continue my hatred of the Dallas Cowboys post Tom Landry and now the Texans are also dead to me. However, considering that my basic viewing habits regarding the NFL pretty much consist of the Super Bowl, I don’t believe any of these teams are particularly concerned about securing my allegiance.
One more thought on the draft and then I’ll move on. I absolutely believe that Johnny Manziel is going to succeed in the NFL. And I also believe that Jadeveon Clowney will prove to be a bust. That’s just my opinion. That and a nickel won’t buy you anything. But I want to declare it in case it comes true because then I can say with all authority that I knew it all along.
In other news that no one probably cares about, I never mentioned that when I went to Houston two weeks ago that I left my pillows at Bops and Mimi’s house. And, yes, I said pillows. Whenever possible I travel with my regular pillow and my body pillow. I would truly travel with four pillows and a box fan if I could justify it, so the fact I’ve narrowed it down to just two pillows feels like healthy progress. But it’s all fun and games until you get home and realize your pillows are three hours away in an empty house. I would describe the level of panic I felt at that moment, but I’ll sum it up by saying I just counted to ten and took deep cleansing breaths as I reminded myself that leaving behind two pillows falls on the spectrum of real problems right after bad weather causing a T.V. show to not record on the DVR.
(This also happened to me this week which I why I feel I can properly account for where it falls on the spectrum.)
(I should say that it was “Blacklist” and, thankfully, not “24”. That would fall significantly higher on the scale.)
Anyway, I found two substitute pillows for the night. One was off Caroline’s bed and the other was a body pillow she has from Target covered in faux zebra fur. The first worked beautifully but the faux fur proved to be a bad addition for a woman in her 40’s who is prone to night sweats. So I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond the next day and bought a new body pillow and, I have to say, I think I’m sleeping better with my new pillow configuration. In fact, Mimi and Bops went to Houston this past week and brought back my pillows and I haven’t even remembered to get them back because I think it was time to let them go.
And so after all the angst I felt about replacing what is probably a fifteen year old pillow, it only took being left with no other option that grabbing a pillow off Caroline’s bed that probably cost $15 at Steinmart. Maybe I’m more low maintenance than I’ve led myself to believe. It gives me hope for the future.
Other than that, it’s been a lot of going to the grocery store and Target and trying to write. My whole day on Tuesday was spent carting Caroline to various doctors, so that was super productive. However, it turned out to be a good thing because she’s been complaining on and off about her knee ever since she fell on it back in February. But I kept thinking it would go away and went with the whole medical philosophy of continually declaring, “It will be fine. Take an Advil.” in the hopes it would go away.
But I finally decided we should go get it checked because it’s always fun to spend money on co-pays and X-rays. As it turns out, I’m glad we went because the doctor looked at the X-rays and Caroline’s leg and basically said, “It will be fine. Take an Advil” which just confirms for me that my ten years in pharmaceutical sales were practically the same thing as going to medical school.
She also said Caroline needs to stretch more and sometimes leg pain can be growing pain which makes sense because Caroline’s legs are now approximately six feet long.
And so that’s what’s been going on around here. You can see where it’s all been so terribly exciting that I couldn’t keep it to myself.