Yes, everyone is doing “2008-in-review” posts… I have no idea why I feel compelled to do it too, seeing as how I’m a little BUSY these days with MUCH more important things…

So I’ll keep it brief; Jamieson is asleep in his sling now, and much as I love having his warm little body pressed up against mine, I know I’m on borrowed time here.

JANUARY

January began with a wonderful little secret. I was pregnant! Our families and close friends knew, but I hadn’t told anyone at my office yet, which was good because near the end of the month, I miscarried. I was 12 weeks along, which made it rather physically traumatic, requiring a night spent in the emergency room and then surgery a few days later. Emotionally, it was very difficult for us.

FEBRUARY

We early-voted in the Democratic primaries…. Um…. not much else…

MARCH

I don’t think we did anything in March.

APRIL

Screw this. My life is boring and no one wants to read about it a second time. Anyway, it’s almost time for me to feed Jamie. He’s rustling about in the sling.

Jamieson in his father's hands

Doc took some great photos of Jamie. He’ll be adding more as he gets them edited. Check them out!

Birthdays become less and less exciting each year. I’ve been telling people that I no longer have them. Which, I now realize, makes me sound REALLY OLD. That’s one of those jokes that old people use… “I stopped having birthdays at 39″ or “I’m aging backwards now.” I’ve gotta stop using that line.

35 has been blessedly uneventful so far. I’m at work today, going to yoga at lunch, probably working tonight on freelance work. I think that stomach virus is still hanging around a little bit, too.

It looks like my life of crime has come to an end…. or at least that of my evil twin, who apparently lives in Grapevine.

GRAPEVINE, Texas — Grapevine police have in custody a woman accused of going on a shopping spree with her boyfriend using a stolen Target credit card.Irving police arrested Honey Bowling, 27, and she is now in Grapevine police custody. She is accused of opening the store card with a victim’s personal information. 

If you know me, you know that she looks enough like me to be my twin. I’m kind of freaked out by the similarity!

Sometimes you just have an empty feeling inside. Know what I mean? But I think there is a way for YOU PERSONALLY to save me from that awful fate. I think that my life would be fulfilled, joyous, and complete if y’all would leave me more comments! Come on, whip out that keyboard and type away! I know you’re reading this and I want to hear what you think! It doesn’t even have to be related to the post you’re reading!!

Here are some topics for conversation, if you’re having trouble coming up with anything. Discuss.

1. Brazil and 1984
2. Should I keep running if I have a stress fracture?
3. Snakes on a plane
4. Chocolate chip vs. oatmeal raisin
5. Elvis Costello’s “Alison”

If this makes no sense it’s because I’ve been working at a computer for nearly 16 hours now and can’t even see straight anymore. If it doesn’t make sense, leave me a comment about that!

Sitting in the courthouse, waiting to be called for jury duty. BORED. Maybe I’ll be dismissed.

My day has not started off well. I was late for work because of nasty traffic. A cherrypicker construction truck was too tall for the Skillman/Northwest Highway underpass, and broke the bridge. Chunks of concrete everywhere and about six fire trucks blocking all but one lane of traffic.

As I was walking from the parking lot to my building, I tripped over a broken sidewalk and took a skidding face plant onto the pavement. I simply couldn’t catch myself, and my purse, gym bag, and coffee mug went flying as I landed face down on my chest. I skinned my knee, elbow, and knuckles pretty bad, and am just now finding other minor scrapes and road rash on my arms and legs. The worst part was, it happened right in front of somebody. She was very nice and helped me pick up my stuff, but I was mortified that someone caught me in such a completely graceless mistake.

The first aid kit seems to be missing from the office. So no bandaids.

Then, about 20 minutes ago, I spilled what was left of my coffee down my front and onto my lap.

Doomy doomy doomy doom….

one thing at a time.

one thing at a time.

baby steps.

things seem so overwhelming sometimes. i think i’m on top of it all because i have 48 little piles of things on my desk or on my floor, and this somehow makes me organized. but nothing gets done. i keep shifting piles and not doing ANY of the tasks no matter how small, because it being in a pile of things to take somewhere or on a list of things to do makes me think that i’m staying ahead of the game.

examples: send this form in. glue this picture frame back together. take these coupons downstairs and put them in the coupon bin. put this pile of things in my work satchel. take this stuff back to the bathroom. throw this pile away. get the songs off this cd. put this pile of stuff in a box for the attic. put the box in the attic. write checks to these charities. send these subscription cards in.

but something being “on the list” does not make it “done.” i make lists and piles all the time but lack the motivation to actually tackle any of the tasks. it’s overwhelming.

so…

i constantly have to remind myself: baby steps. one thing at a time. don’t think about the rest. just pick one thing and do it, that’s all. just one.

i can get a sense of accomplishment out of doing just one tiny thing. really. but i forget that sometimes (ok, all the time) in my quest to be as efficient as possible. it’s like i want to pick up all the piles of things and walk on a route throughout the house, distributing everything where it needs to go, making stops to take any necessary actions, and at the end i’ll be emptyhanded and have accomplished IT ALL! ALL of it in one fell swoop.

which is, of course, ridiculous. i can only do that when i get on a manic swing, which only happens once every month or two.

i actually wrote at the top of the list this afternoon, in big red letters: ONE THING AT A TIME.

and i picked one thing (gluing the picture frame back together) and i didn’t let myself think about all the other things i could carry downstairs on my way out to the garage to get the glue. i picked up the frame, took it to the garage, glued it, and came back upstairs. and crossed it off my list.

it was a start.

last night i got pulled over by a police officer. first time.

the story: doc, brittney, and i had just finished having dinner at picasso’s pizza on audelia/skillman, and pulled onto northbound audelia and then left onto a side street to turn around so we could go south on audelia, and i saw lights behind me. the officer was quite friendly, asked for my license and insurance, and told me he’d stopped me because i didn’t put on my turn signal when turning onto the side street.

which is unlike me, but ok, i do forget sometimes. and how lucky that there was a police car behind me when i did so. (or didn’t so, actually).

he collected my licence, and doc’s license, and then asked me to roll down the back window so he could see inside. i told him they didn’t unroll, and i unlocked the door so he could open it. he shone his flashlight in and asked brittney how old she was. i think she was taken by surprise at that, because she paused before telling him “actually i’m 32.” she produced her driver’s license, and he took them back to his car to run them.

in the meantime we saw another police car cruise by on this side street. doc said that he figured they were probably heavily patrolling that area for drunk drivers or outstanding warrants, and because we were in an older model car leaving a restaurant parking lot, we might have fit a particular profile. my failure to use my blinker gave him cause to stop me to check for open containers or minors under the influence or whatever they were looking for.

a few minutes later he came back to the car, handed me the licenses, and told me to have a good evening and to remember to use my turn signals.

apparently none of us had any warrants, haha. and lucky that he didn’t check my vehicle stickers, because i’m two months out of inspection!

when we got back onto audelia, we saw another police car that had pulled someone over into a parking lot. seems like doc was right. he always is.

ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring…

bananaphone!

i just feel fried.

i really want to write a nice long clever witty post, because i’ve been reading lots of good writing lately.

i think i don’t have it in me right now.

i don’t know how people who work 2 jobs do it. i feel like such a baby for saying that too.

i’m tired, and it’s all i can do to not run out and get takeout for every meal.

i haven’t been to yoga class in weeks. i’m trying to go running a couple times a week, and i do go to swim class and walk at least 1 mile per day when i take the bus and train to work. but it’s a far cry from my 5x week exercise routine.

right now it’s only 9:45 pm and i’m going to just go crawl into bed and watch tv.

maybe i just need a night of nothing… tv and rest and turning off the brain. we’ll see.