It's been a long time.

Monkey see...

They say that mimicry is the best form of flattery. That is unless its your kids mimicking the not so good things. Like when Zoe starts shushing Sarah when she whines (cute, but it really annoys Sarah). Or the way she crosses her arms like me when we were walking around the furniture store. I was doing it because I was irritated with Doug's lack of parenting. Still cute on her though.

My latest look in the mirror that wasn't so cute was when Sarah dropped the big "J.C." after I was scolding her for taking Zoe's toy. I know I say this when I'm frustrated; when I've had enough. I just didn't realize how much I said it or how much Sarah was listening when I did. I've made a point not to say this in front of most people as I know it is offensive to them. Its sown-right vulgar to hear a little girl like Sarah say that with such vehemence, I never even thought it might sound the same way from me until now.

What other habits to I need to correct before they become an ugly habit of my daughters?

What a pain in the...

Back.

Literally.

I have had problems with lower back and nerve pain since I had Sarah. It got much worse after having Zoe and make doing even the simplest of tasks difficult, if not impossible. I've tried pain medication (of the over the counter sort) which did absolutely nothing. I've been to a Chiropractor, which helped the upper back pain I was having from preganancy and carrying babies, but not the lower back pain. The doc even tried electro-stimulation, but that did nothing. I've tried hot pads. Now I'm trying excersize. I'm afraid that if this doesn't work, I may be stuck. Again...literally.

The worst thing about it is that I never know what will set it off. Vacuuming is a for sure way to end up in pain for the next 6-8 hours. But sometimes its as simple as moving the laundry from washer to drier. Or standing still for just a few minutes. Or sitting at my desk. Its seems to me, it could be anything and everything that makes the pain rev up. There is always a dull ache present to remind me that it could always get worse.

I fear I may be shelling out the cash for an MRI by spring if this doesn't get better soon. And that is a whole different kind of pain.

Question: Why I don't have girlfriends?

Answer: Because most women are still stuck in Jr. High School when it comes to social interaction.

Example 1) Today my coworker and I passed another worker. All I know about this other person is that she is a manager of some sort because she has an actual office, not a cube. As we passed we all did the required "hello" and head nod acknowledgment of each other. When she passed out of range of hearing, my coworker made the comment "I don't like her very much". I asked who she was only to get this answer (and, yes, I quote) "I don't know her name. I've never worked with her actually. I just don't like her."

Example 2) We have a morning meeting every day at work in the large boardroom at the office. On either end of this board room are counters, meant to hold papers, binders and such. Inevitably, people sit on them during our short meetings. I have two female coworkers whom I find particularly annoying who will sit on the counter in the back and make comments about the clothing/appearance/etc of other people in the meeting.

At least guys aren't this catty...at least not the one's that I've met.

Blown out of proportion

This past weekend, my in-laws were over at our place to watch the Vikings game with us and our friend Jeremy. As usual, the conversation turned political. We mostly were talking about Jeremy's brother asking Jeremy who he should vote for and how this is how, we fear, most people are voting. They just go by what someone else tells them to do without doing any research themselves. As the conversation went on, Doug's mom made a remark about how Doug's brother and our sister-in-law are very much in favor of Obama and they barely know anything about him.

Keep in mind the following:

1) Most of Doug's family is Republican,

2) Our sister-in-law is a political science major in college and the likelyhood of her jumping on ANY politician's bandwagon without looking into where they stand on the issues is nil, and

3) Jeremy is married to our sister-in-law's sister.

As is easily deduced, the sister-in-law got wind of Laurie's comment. Doug's brother called his mom to lay into her, which lead to Doug's mom calling us to claim she never made the comment and why would we say such an awful thing about her.

If you say something about someone behind their back, please, DO NOT be surprised when they find out from the person you told. Gossip is an ugly habit, but a strong reality. More likely than not, someone's going to tell on you.