Author Archives: midlifenatalie

Yesterday I had all kinds of reasons to be on the internet.  There were things I needed to look up, questions that needed answers, and social media sites that needed to be checked.  I had reasons to be on the internet, but I couldn’t actually BE on the internet.  My youngest had a friend spend the night, and they wanted to watch a movie.  We have a DVD player and a Playstation 2 that will both play DVDs.  DVDs from Region 1.  Like the USA and Canada.  The problem was that she wanted to watch a DVD from Region 2 which includes Europe, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, Japan, South Africa and a few others.  Because we lived in Turkey we have several DVDs with that region code.  I set my computer’s DVD player to Region 2 so that we could bring back some of those DVDs to watch in the states.  Last night the movie pick was Grease.  In fact Grease had been on the radar for about a week.  There was much talk about how they were going to stay up late and watch it on Friday night.  So Friday night rolls around, and I think I’m ok giving up my computer.  I mean I had a week to prepare myself so all is well.  I had a million papers to grade, and I actually turned my TV on, a big SHOCKER if you know me.  As I watched Dateline I wondered about an event they mentioned so I decided to look it up online.  Oh…right…the girls have my computer.  Then a commercial came on that reminded me that I had been meaning to look up something concerning a driver’s license.  Wait…can’t do that either.  Then I wanted to tweet about how my kid had taken over my computer and about how handicapped I felt, and I couldn’t even do that!  I learned an important lesson last night.  It wasn’t that I’m addicted to the internet.   It’s that I need to buy an iphone so I can make sure I have an immediate connection when the need to give up my computer arises again.

Then I woke up this morning and thought about how when we lived in Turkey our DVD player played all regions because the store “fixed” it for us.  So I looked up a way to bypass the region codes for my DVD player and within a minute had it fixed.  Why didn’t I think of that last night!?!  And no I don’t consider it illegal because I bought all the movies I plan on watching at a reputable store in Turkey.  None of my movies are street copies so there.

And now I’m off to “fix” the DVD player at the house so any movie can be enjoyed there as well.

I still might want an iphone.

While surfing the web today I found this article.

Knapp is an award winning Christian folk rock singer.  Her new album is out May 11.  I plan to get it.

Here’s a sampling of what she does.  I particularly like Undo me which for some reason was added twice and Lay it Down.  Click on the pop-out player if you can’t see it here.  It is well worth it!

Officially stressing out.  The migraine I’ve had for the past 3 days is a testament to that fact.

So far today I’ve eaten bacon.  Now I’m contemplating cake.  Another sign of stress.

I have gnats in my houseplants.  I’ve used insecticides for the past 2 days and not much has changed.  I’m trying vinegar jars placed near the plants to see if that does the trick.  Of course the only vinegar I had on hand was apple cider vinegar so there are small jars of what looks like very dark urine around my living room.  Nice.  I realize that the gnats won’t go away completely, but I am sick of seeing them in my house.  If the combination of vinegar and poison doesn’t at least alleviate the problem I might have to buy a small plant stand for my porch and keep them out there.  At least until it gets too hot for gnats.  I wonder if the stray cats that roam the neighborhood would leave them alone.

It’s a quarter after one, I’m all alone and I need you now.
And I said I wouldn’t call but I’m a little drunk
and I need you now.
Well I don’t know how I can do without.
I just need you now
I just need you now.
Oh baby I need you now.

How many of us actually ask for what we need?  I am not good at it.  I guess I fear rejection.  Sometimes I ask, but I am always hesitant.  I’m also not very good at figuring out what others need.  Sometimes it’s obvious, but when it isn’t I need them to tell me.  Sometimes I suck.

The weather’s getting hotter by the day and my kids are getting excited.  Hot weather means swimming.  They are very excited that I have a pool easily accessible.  Now swimming won’t just mean trips out to my parents’ this summer.  The only problem with my pool is that they have to be monitored.  I’m not a big fan of short shorts or sleeveless so I’m guessing I’ll have the best farmers tan around.  Either that or I’ll have to wear my swim suit.  I’m not a big fan of wearing my swimsuit either.

I’m out of Diet Coke.  I’m drinking the last regular Coke in my fridge.  It’s Fleur de lis’s Coke, but I don’t think she’ll mind.

I still need to pay rent.  I usually pay early, but April just got away from me.

My head hurts.

I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since I blogged here. I know I was out for a bit, but I had planned to blog more often. I just got busy I guess.

So I’ve had a migraine for 3 days. Even on medicine it hasn’t totally gone away. I woke up with it on Friday and took drugs to fight it. I was fine all day. Woke up Saturday morning with it again. Took drugs. Took drugs Saturday evening. Took Excedrin this morning in hopes that it will knock out what little bit is left. We’ll see.

And because of that nagging headache I’m going to get off the computer. I’ve already skimmed all of your fabulous blogs and now my eyes are tired.

I think I am about to stress out.

This week at school is going to be hell.  I will have my kids from the time they walk in the door until the last bus comes to pick them up.  No break at all.  Thankfully we will still be allowed to go outside so we might have to have extra recess time for my sanity.

I think I might have a bowel blockage.  Normally I don’t pay much attention to my bowels, but I’ve been having a strange symptom for the past several days.  Around my belly button I feel movement and at times I can even see it.  It doesn’t feel like gas pains at all.  In fact it feels like I felt when I was pregnant and the baby would move.  There is no way I can be pregnant so I finally started looking online for what it could possibly be.  Turns out I have several symptoms for a bowel blockage.  I need to go to the doctor and have an ultrasound, but I have no time to do that.  I read about the treatment and it includes putting a tube through your nose into your stomach to try to fix it or surgery to remove it.  I don’t have time to do either one of those.  Not until summer.  I’m not sure if this is something I can put off until summer though.

Fleur de lis has a few big things coming up as well that have my mind in a state of flux.

And last, but most importantly I am at the beginning of a 6 week waiting period.  I can’t tell you what I’m waiting for, but it is going to be difficult.  And long.  And with all the other stuff going on it’s going to feel much longer than that I’m afraid.

I wish it was June.

I think I need a break.  This day knocked me on my ass.  That surprised me.  So much that I want.  So much that I’m scared of.  I didn’t know it until today.  But I still want.  I know it’s not fair to others.  I don’t want to hurt anyone.  But I am.  No matter what I do I am.  I’m not nearly as brave as everyone said.

I know I really don’t have any right to complain, but brace yourself for the whining anyway.

After I moved out of the house the laundry has never been done the same.  Dirty clothes are never sorted by color or type or anything.  Everything is just thrown together and washed.  Clean clothes are piled in huge piles in the upstairs loft and folded when someone gets around to it.  They will probably be there several days.  After they are folded they sit in piles waiting for their owner to decide to put them away.  This could also take several days.  During this time the piles might be dug through as kids look for their favorite shirt or a clean pair of underwear.  After the piles have finally been put away there are remnants of laundry scattered all over the floor.  Socks without matches, used dryer sheets, random underwear, kitchen towels and who knows what else.  These things stay scattered around the room until they are deemed dirty again and rewashed.  It is a never ending cycle.

The loft on a good day.

The other day I picked up the loft.  I threw away 12 dryer sheets.  I folded what laundry was left choosing to rewash most of the socks because by that point several dirty ones had been discarded around the room as well.  I wasn’t about to do the sniff test on them.  Really…it’s insane.  It’s gotten to the point where at least 2 of my kids wear mismatched socks to school on a regular basis.  Now I understand that kids are lazy and oftentimes don’t care about their socks.  When I did laundry on a regular basis they wore matched socks because I either made them match them or I did it.  There was never opportunity to wear mismatched socks.  I guess I shouldn’t care much, but it bothers me.  In fact the condition of the house as a whole bothers me greatly.

This weekend I had the kids to myself, because their dad was out of town.  I planned to make them help me clean the place up.  On Saturday morning before we had a chance to get started my dad showed up to do a few repairs.  He was not a happy camper.  You see the house is his.  He bought it for us when we moved back to the states.  He knew how much I needed to have my own place when I got back so he made sure I did.  The house was beautiful.  The yard was immaculate.  It was perfect.  When I decided to divorce my husband I knew that I would be the one moving out of the house.  I knew that there was no way he would agree to it.  I was ok with leaving it, because I knew I couldn’t really afford to pay the rent on it.  I knew my dad would agree that me moving out would be the best thing.  So the house has slowly fallen on hard times.  I come over and cook, and help pick things up, but I rarely have time to do much cleaning.  Part of me gets frustrated that it doesn’t seem to matter if I clean or not, because it will never stay that way.  After my dad left we cleaned.  We folded clothes.  We dusted and wiped and vacuumed and mopped.  Every room in the house was cleaned.  I did loads of laundry as well.  By the time Ross got home on Sunday afternoon the house was done.

Ross says he’s going to hire someone to come in and clean for him.  I don’t blame him.  He works long hours.  He can afford a house cleaner.  I just hope he actually does it.  He’s not so great at following through on stuff like this though so I’m not holding my breath.  I just know that I don’t want to keep cleaning his place and mine.  If a housecleaner does come the kids will have to pick things up before she can clean, but maybe knowing someone is coming to finish the job will be the incentive they need to start it.

Many of you know about my love affair with peanut m&m’s. It’s been going on for years. I’ve tried some of the other candies in the m&m’s family…peanut butter, coconut, mint, pb&j, wildly cherry…and so far nothing has been able to steal me away from that bright yellow bag. I guess that’s a good thing considering most of those other flavors are for a limited time only.

As you know it is my job to find and report* on new food (ok…mostly candy) discovered in my stomping grounds. Well yesterday I ran across these babies.

Pretzel m&m’s.

Now I love me a good chocolate-covered pretzel. The combination of sweet and salty just does it for me every time. I am uber excited that m&m has decided to join the fun.

Inspecting the color palette*.

And I tasted them. Actually I ate all of the ones you see pictured. I would have eaten more, but that was the entire bag’s worth.

So how did they taste? Pretty much like you would expect a candy-coated, chocolate-covered pretzel to taste. I do think there was a tad too much salt flavor, which is surprising if you know me at all. I love me some salt. The chocolate to pretzel ratio* was completely in line with what an m&m should be, but I’m thinking they would have been better with a bit more chocolate on them.

Verdict* – I wouldn’t turn them down if they were offered to me, but when I’m standing in line at the grocery store making my own choice I’ll still be picking up the yellow bag.

*I realize that m&m’s are supposed to be a fun candy and that my post sounds quite serious. Product review…it’s a serious business. Of course it would be so much better and easier to remain serious if I got a paycheck for all my research. I could have a spot in my house to actually do reviews. There would be a photo studio so I wouldn’t be tempted to take pictures of the products on my unmade bed. I can’t promise I wouldn’t eat the candy in bed, but at least you wouldn’t see the sheets in the background.

This past week I was able to participate in an event of epic proportions.  I attended a nonsigning on Bossy’s (no)Book Tour.  Because of the monumental nature of the event I have decided to do something that I’ve never done here on this blog.  Get ready because for the first time in the history of Midlifenatalie I am going to post pictures of myself.  Pictures of myself with some of my adoring fans.  Wait…I mean pictures of myself with some blogger types I stalk on a regular basis.

Here you have me with the one and only Bossy.

Chookooloonks was a beautiful and gracious hostess.

And there was The Bloggess…a personal favorite of mine.  She’s funny and fabulous.

Now wait a darn minute.  Looking back at this picture now I can see that she was mocking me with her phone.  I can just hear her now.  “Look at my fancy, shmancy phone.  My phone’s better than your phone.  Like where did you get that thing?  Your grandma’s house?”

Seems like everyone was mocking my sweet little flip phone all night long.  The other phones gathered around and taunted her.  Called her names.  She was so sad that she didn’t ring all night.  No messages or phone calls.  Depression set in.  And things between us haven’t been the same since.

I blame the Bloggess.