I just spent fifteen minutes on my computer, changing the color scheme of my blog. You might not notice all the work I put into it because just when I had it all set, and when I looked at it in its neutral, white, readable, not candy-colored glory I decided to change it back to the same colors it had before.
In a way that’s very typical of the things I’m doing these days. I agonize about the color scheme, I imagine people being put off by it, resorting to reading it in a feed reader because all the pastels are hurting their eyes, or deciding they don’t like the blog at all because of all these colors, and pictures, and on top of that flash ads. Hrmph. And knitting content, or not enough knitting content, and silly fictional stories, and not enough posts about my son, and being a parent, and whatever.
So for now I declare that I won’t bother with the theme, and color scheme of my blog any further until I either a) have the urge to make a new header picture, or b) about 50 people tell me that they hate it and that it takes forever to load. Which it does. Thanks to the tasty flash animation. Sorry.
I’m feeling a bit down, nothing unusual, it has been raining, and raining, and raining, I have a cold that’s getting better very slowly, my son is cranky and has a cold too, and my period came about every three weeks for the last two months which is a) too much information, I know, and b) highly unusual. I went to see my doctor because of this, and she told me very kindly that this isn’t unusual at my age. I’m taking some herbal medicine and vitamins and hope for the best.
My son is a bit unhappy and therefore quite cranky. His best friend will start elementary school in September and he is already very sad about it. Which he then expresses by telling that he doesn’t want to play with his friend anyway. And for every day that they play happily at kindergarten there’s another one where they are telling each other that they are not each other’s friends anymore. Consequently my son has been either very clingy with me or acting up. Usually he’s clingy when we have to part, or when I can’t spend time with him, and then he shuns me when there would be time for us to be together. Fun!
All that together with the traditional “fight about getting up”, “fight about getting dressed”, “fight about eating breakfast”, and “fight to get out the door on time”, in the morning, and the equally traditional “fight about eating dinner”, “fight about getting into pajamas”, “fight about brushing teeth”, “fight about how long to read before bed”, “fight about when mother can leave child’s bedroom”, “fight about how long mother has to stay in the adjacent room”, and “fight about whether child has to stay in bed”, and “fight about whether child has to sleep at all”, and, finally, “fight about how often child can get up after sleeping time before mother totally loses it”.
I know, I’m the adult, I should be able to stay calm, and patient, and nice through all of this but, well, it’s not easy. If he hadn’t been sick this week I’d told him to just stay up as long as he wants to, I don’t care. Somehow he has to understand that sleep is not some cruelty that I force upon him but something very much in his own interest.
I started this blog post just before lunch, and now I’m while I’m waiting for my last student who obviously doesn’t come life looks a bit brighter. My dear husband is vacuuming in the background, for which I’m very, very grateful. (He just asked why I’m the one blogging, and he’s the one doing housework. It could be the other way around. Seems I’m a mean chauvinist pig. (I dusted! And did the grocery shopping! And I’ll upgrade his blog on the weekend!)
I have a nice little blog post that I wrote into my notebook more than a week ago while waiting for the train at midnight. I thought that would be the next one to post but then I’d have to type it into the computer. It’s not that I’m completely disorganized. The notebook has been sitting next to the computer for that past week.
I’m still doing more thinking about all the things I should be doing right now and will have to do until the end of the year than actual doing the things I should do. I can tell you that’s really exhausting. I don’t know if I’ll ever learn it. Doing the things one after the other really needs much less energy. I have been making progress, some things have moved and are looking better but I’m still at the point where every heap of stuff that gets done reveals another heap underneath.
This weekend at least we’ll be home, no parties, no visits, well, almost no visits, no vacuuming or dusting or grocery shopping, I bet I can do everything on my list and start a few new projects.
What do you think?
Awww, hugs to you! Hope you and your son get well soon! Some days are just so frustrating, but it makes the other days seem all that much better! 🙂
I’m escaping in murder mysteries, waiting for my energy tank, presently on zero, to retank. Hope your cold goes away and your son “Trennungsangst” diminishes.
5 year old boys arent they a pleasure!!!! I am being nice to mine at the mo as he had to have emergency surgery on thursday(that was a stressful day) but normally moaning is his one constant. Apparently they grow out of it by the age of 6.
Ugh. I have a touch of a summer cold, too, as does my wee one, and it really sucks. Plus, it’s making me really grumpy with the boys. So I feel (some of) your pain.
Hang in there.
Well, it’s Monday now and while I don’t know if you completed much on your list, I am sure you started some new projects.
I like the colors on your blog. I really love the orchid color. I guess for some it might load slowly because it is one of the few that takes a little while on my very, very high speed connection. As far as the content? You’ve really got to just post what you want to and forget about whether other people care. I’m done allowing the blog to have an impact on how I feel about myself. How I come across on the blog is not equivalent to who I am.
Kids are difficult. I find myself having very little patience right now with people who are having or wanting babies. They’re trapped in a windowless room and have lost their perspective. Well, to be fair, so have I, I suppose, it’s just a different room.
We had the two girls who used to be our neighbors over for the afternoon last week, and Fiona was absolutely bratty with them. The idea of friends is one thing; girls her age who cannot be bossed around like her little brother are something altogether different. I only had them over because I had to patch things up with their mother, whose calls I ignored for six months while I was depressed over the winter, so perhaps now this relationship can be laid to rest.
I have grand plans to circumvent Tony’s prohibition on painting inside the house, and also to buy a new mailbox. Wish me well.