tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60813192009-10-01T13:10:09.813-04:00Innumerable Jennifers in this world, but only one me.Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.comBlogger464125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-89958412425107751982008-09-08T20:59:00.004-04:002008-09-08T22:48:21.906-04:00

My mom tells the story about how angry her father was with his father. My great-grandfather was quite the womanizer, evidently, and made my great-grandmother's life fairly miserable with his sleeping around. He never stopped, either. He died when he was 91, living with his much younger girlfriend, who supported and took care of him, even though he supposedly treated her very poorly.Just the other

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-37037227400638496062008-01-20T03:05:00.000-05:002008-01-20T03:17:22.546-05:00

Aaarrrggghhhh!! It is three a.m. I am up, writing this, because I am waiting for my youngest to go back to sleep. She woke me up an hour and a half ago, sobbing next to my bed. I'm not sure why she was up - she was too upset to give me a straight answer - but by the time I got her calmed down and ready to go back to sleep, she had to use the toilet. Which is when she had a massive diarrhea

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-47788635712376791442008-01-03T08:08:00.000-05:002008-01-03T08:20:13.091-05:00

Arielle started school this year, her first experience with going to school all day. She's been loving it and is absolutely thriving.Today, though, her first day back after Christmas vacation, we had a little meltdown. Her teacher sent home a note before Christmas, announcing that she was modifying the discipline structure. She's been having some problems with a few of the kids excessively

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-88486093216181697742007-12-28T20:40:00.000-05:002007-12-28T21:11:10.670-05:00

Gabrielle asked me if she could have a butter sandwich for lunch today.Now, if it had been Arielle asking, I would have known immediately that she meant peanut butter. Gabrielle hates peanuts and peanut butter, however, so I cast about in my mind and came up with, "Do you mean bread and butter? The yellow butter, sweetie?"She nodded, and I replied that she certainly could. And then I forgot about

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-72311917397874536852007-04-16T09:45:00.000-04:002007-04-16T13:57:15.310-04:00

Michael's grandfather died from Alzheimer's. It was diagnosed not long after the divorce, and the husband's ex packed up and moved to her father's home state without telling us. (Which wasn't a problem, except that she had Michael and we didn't know where he was for a few months. Which was a huge problem, but that's another story.)So, Michael got to spend about five years with his grandfather

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-7891369503629434392007-04-13T00:13:00.000-04:002007-04-13T00:51:16.379-04:00

You know, normal is really just a way of saying, "This is what I'm used to."What's normal is what's typical. It's the expected, the customary, "this is the way we've always done it."But if you change all that, if you take the customary and expected and change it - maybe a little, maybe a lot - and then hold it there for awhile, not letting it go back to where it was until it's set up like molded

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-81030218343531080602007-04-06T08:45:00.000-04:002007-04-06T08:55:35.610-04:00

So there I was yesterday morning, standing at the kitchen sink, washing some pots and pans, looking out the window at the gray and gloomy day outside. It was such a change from the day before, which had started out cloudy and rainy, but turned out sunny and beautiful. It had, actually, been rather hot the day before, but that morning was cold enough to require a coat when I took my Netflix DVD

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-49374774877759955512007-04-04T06:20:00.000-04:002007-04-04T06:51:15.165-04:00

Overheard from the extreme back of the minivan as we carpooled to preschool:Arielle: (Said with great relish and enthusiasm) And then I stopped it, so that Swiper couldn't steal Dora's backpack, and then Dora and Boots had GUNS! And they killed Swiper! Because he was naughty.Whereupon, I stopped breathing for a few seconds while I 1) tried to process that those words had, really, truly, just come

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-76101623929903487352007-03-17T11:43:00.000-04:002007-03-17T12:12:58.841-04:00

Last year, only a couple of weeks after we moved into our new house, I was woken up in the middle of the night by a small, sobbing person, who had thrown up. I got her cleaned up, changed her bedding, put her back in bed - and then the other small person in the room woke up and starting vomiting also.By the time I got Gabrielle taken care of, Arielle had thrown up again. Then Gabrielle again,

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-26580188896328556722007-03-14T13:36:00.000-04:002007-03-14T13:53:30.514-04:00

.. and just gets dumb.I swear, Michael is going to drive me crazy yet. He won't be graduating with the rest of his class, because of refusing to participate in high school the first full school year he was with us. Which means he still has a full year of high school to complete. I think that's what my parents called, "cutting off your nose to spite your face." (Drove me crazy when they used to

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-47149229214311364712007-03-11T11:57:00.000-04:002007-03-11T12:49:56.467-04:00

On one of my email lists they've been discussing nicknames lately. Joshilyn sent in a (naturally) well-written letter about why she hates to be called Josh instead of Joss.It got me thinking about my name and nicknames and how that's played out in my life. As I read her letter, Joshilyn basically put nicknames into two categories - ones given to you by people who are close to you and who love you

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-51120249181782510602006-12-29T11:44:00.000-05:002006-12-29T12:01:22.774-05:00

Good news! I have a chance to do some copywriting over the next few months. Since I've been interested in this field, I'm pretty excited at the opportunity. I just have to make sure I actually do a good job ...Christmas was full of excitement. For once, the husband actually got me what I asked for. I accomplished this by tearing out of the ad pages the pictures of the specific items I wanted. It

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-19540231043793771372006-12-24T11:01:00.000-05:002006-12-24T12:00:57.179-05:00

Having Mom leave was hard on me. I was really depressed for a couple of weeks and didn't do anything but sit around. It was hard to let her go.There have been good things happening in the last few weeks, though! Just last week, in fact, Gabrielle became daytime trained! It was very much against her will, but I was fed up with knowing she could exercise control, but chose not to. We had one day

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-1164767504529027322006-11-28T21:02:00.000-05:002006-11-28T21:31:44.670-05:00

First of all, my mom has been visiting, so I've been pretty much offline the whole time she's been here. Six years since I saw her! It was a great visit, she really bonded with the girls and we sent her off today with great struggles to not break down in tears in the middle of the airport terminal.Best of all, Mom made it clear that she approves of my family and my home and me and how I'm living

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-1163095853858071972006-11-09T12:34:00.000-05:002006-11-09T13:10:54.070-05:00

So, that acetaminophen recall? We have two of the effected bottles. Luckily, they are both unopened, and the open bottle we have (with just two pills left) is a completely different brand/manufacturer.Which brings us to the Great Cookie Scandal of the summer of 2006.I won't tell you the brand, because I have no desire to harm the company that made the cookies and I do believe it was a complete

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-1162487743621864922006-11-02T12:08:00.000-05:002006-11-05T18:54:47.116-05:00

Gabrielle just walked up to me and earnestly explained how very, very important it is that she have candy, "in her mouf." Also cake and applesauce.In previous years I have doled out the Halloween candy, feeling like quite the responsible mother, a piece here, a piece there, never more than two or three pieces a day. Of course, what happened is that last year the girls started assuming there was

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-1162487024088820282006-11-02T11:47:00.000-05:002006-11-02T12:03:44.116-05:00

I had my period the other week. (Yep, now that I am no longer trying to have babies, I'm menstruating like clockwork. Granted, a clock that only strikes midnight once every three months, but still, excuse me? Irony is much more interesting in someone else's life, OK?)Anyway. Digressing, digressing.The point is that all of a sudden my clothes started getting tight. Not just the clothes that I have

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-1162008491574198682006-10-27T23:25:00.000-04:002006-10-28T00:08:12.036-04:00

I have talked before on here about my relationship with my father. Well I got a call from him tonight.He has a tumor on his back. (As he says that my mind pictures the word. "Tumor." There it sits, in front of my eyes and I think in a vague way how it is tumor, not tumour, in America and how I always have a hard time remember to use American spelling not British, which is probably because I read

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-1161957807224729612006-10-27T09:42:00.000-04:002006-10-27T10:03:27.256-04:00

In my heart is endless summer.As in, I can't believe it's already gotten this cold! Where did my beautiful summer weather go? How did winter sneak up on me this way? It's rotten and I'm not standing for it!Kira and AGK both have pictures up about snow and I have to say, I only shudder to look at them. I heard yesterday that a nearby town, only a little higher up in the hills than we are, had two

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-1161769376232057722006-10-25T04:46:00.000-04:002006-10-25T05:56:46.283-04:00

Gabrielle woke up with a wet bed, and now I can't fall back asleep. I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep. I hate it when that happens.Rather than just lie there in a dark room, listening the husband snore and worrying myself sick about everything bad in the world, I thought I'd come out here and do something useful. Or at least entertaining. I don't know if I would go so far as to call updating this

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-1161663045832332142006-10-23T23:35:00.000-04:002006-10-24T00:10:45.866-04:00

Well.Hi, there.Got a new look. See?Feel free to look around. We haven't seen each other in a long time, and pretending an intense interest in my new wall art is a perfectly legitimate way to gloss over the temporary awkwardness.What's up with me?Well, it's been a busy summer around here. Somehow it just flew by and before I knew it school had started and the maples in the neighbor's backyard were

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-1148732753991636902006-05-27T07:33:00.000-04:002006-05-27T08:26:47.816-04:00

I am not the person I used to be.As the months pass, and I increasingly throw off the effects of the postpartum depression I suffered through for so long, I keep finding that certain things about me are different.This isn't the sort of change that occurs when you grow after going through some extreme experience. No, this feels more like something inside me has broken. It's hard to put into words.

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-1146837066945976372006-05-05T09:15:00.000-04:002006-05-05T09:51:06.966-04:00

It turns out that all the kids near us are older than Arielle by at least three years. They tend to be in the latter half of their elementary school years, up through high school. Which is becoming painful.Next door there lives a little girl, Jasmine, five years older than Arielle. She has been over here playing with the girls a few times, as have other of the neighborhood kids, but only a little

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-1146181196864190132006-04-27T19:24:00.000-04:002006-04-27T22:23:16.433-04:00

Okay, Kira and Mia! How about some pictures to show you what I've been doing?This is Arielle's and Gabrielle's room. It is a light yellow, which looked much more lemony when it was wet, which caused a certain amount of consternation in the husband. But, it looks great now, and the Disney princess wall stickups look very good in there. The husband, when I got it all done, said it was the ultimate

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6081319.post-1144032551484000072006-04-02T22:20:00.000-04:002006-04-02T22:49:11.556-04:00

I am so tired.We got a truck the Saturday we were moving. Not the 24 foot we had reserved, but a 17 foot, which had the advantage of being easier to maneuver when you're trying to back into a driveway. So that was nice.What wasn't an advantage was that we wound up doing 2 trips, after which our helpers were too tired to go on. So, I spent all of last week trying to empty the rest of the house on

Jensgalorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08835640902319088468noreply@blogger.com0