170: an ordinary day

what was your sunday like? was it fun and exciting? chill and laid back? boring and sleep-inducing?

mine was... ordinary.

i wanted to go to church today but baby bliss and i overslept. not surprising since we were up late. she watched mission impossible 3 until the sandman dragged her away 3/4 of the way into the movie.

mr. bliss had gone to church, come home, and gone out again before i could crack my eyelids. he called to say he was out with my family and asked if i needed anything while he was out.

soon after he got back, baby bliss and i got dressed and we all went to the dollar store then sam's club. on the way home, the mermaid decided she needed a swim. she begged mr. bliss to cook dinner on the grill at the pool but he refused, saying dinner would be ready when we returned.

so baby bliss and i headed out to the pool. the sky was overcast but the temperature was still warm and a bit muggy. thankfully the pool was nearly empty. my auntie joined us later, for about an hour.

most of my time was spent watching them swim from my perch on the covered porch. (i also played a few games of pacman.) eventually the heat and mosquitoes forced me to the water's edge. i hiked up my skirt, plopped my patootie poolside, and dangled my legs in the cool water. it felt good but the smell of chlorine was almost overpowering. yuck!

soon baby bliss and i bid auntie farewell and we all left for our respective abodes.

dinner was still sizzling on the grill when we opened our front door. i helped hubby dish up the vittles (rice, grilled barbeque chicken, grilled salmon, corn on the cob, raw spinach) and we all sat down to a scrumptious meal.

i'm not sure how hubby managed to eat a big bowl of rainbow sherbet after chowing down like he did on dinner. i didn't have an inch of room to spare when i was done. mr. bliss ate full-sized portions of salmon and chicken. i started out with salmon and 1/4 of a chicken breast but only ate 3/4 of the salmon. i usually prefer salmon but the chicken tasted better this time. so i pinched some of baby bliss's chicken when she wasn't looking. (she doesn't eat salmon.)

during his sherbet sortie, mr. bliss announced that we would be taking a walk to help our food settle. *groan* i knew i needed to but i wasn't really feeling good. i had taken a bunch of vitamins/supplements with my dinner and it felt like they were fighting it out in my belly.

baby bliss didn't wanna go either but in the end, we all went. thankfully we saw mr. and mrs. neighbor (the ones who had the shindig July 7 weekend) coming outside just as we got to their door. they were heading out too so we all walked together. it was nice to have another adult to talk to. baby bliss had the neighbors' dog for company. :-)

back home, mr. bliss and baby bliss headed straight for their bedrooms. i talked mr. bliss into giving me a massage before he turned in. (ahhhhhhhhhhhhh...) i dozed off and was on the verge of the abyss of real sleep when baby bliss banged on the door, demanding my return.

seems she was happy playing with her dolls until she noticed i was missing.

i left mr. bliss sleeping and now baby bliss and i are watching our favorite shows (eastenders and as time goes by) on telly.

i'm hoping she goes to sleep soon. i've got some overdue business to tend to with mr. bliss.

169: bliss baubles

hey y'all.

not much to say... just wanted to post some photos of a bracelet i made in the wee hours of friday morn.











i think it's delicate and girly without being overly frou-frou. what do y'all think??

the main beads are glass seed beads in sky blue, cobalt blue, and apple green. the small gold-plated beads are the teasers. there are also a few 3 mm glass beads in apple green, sky blue, and royal blue sprinkled around.

some of the bigger metal beads are small brass bells. the others are (approx.) 6 mm brass rounds that i recycled from an old bracelet i broke. the 3 big blue glass beads that were recycled from the same bracelet.

i call this the Fertility Bracelet cuz there's a small fertility symbol swinging from one of the coils.
here she is:
i think i'm gonna start selling my jewelry online as soon as i get a few more done. i've ordered more supplies (wire for the rings) from my source and i'm waiting excitedly. i didn't order anything for more bracelets though. i guess i'll wait to see what the demand will be for those...

and thanks baby bliss for being such a patient hand model. mommy appreciates your hard work.

uh oh. i've just been summoned for a trip to the library. gotta run y'all.

more later...

168: friday

hubby brings home the bacon and i take it to the big skillet (the bank) every friday.

this friday was business as usual.

baby bliss and i went to grandma's for a late breakfast and a nap after our bank run.

grandma is funny.

it was about 90 degrees out. grandma and baby bliss got into a discussion about the fastest way to cool off. grandma said baby bliss would cool off if she sat still and waited for the fan to turn in her direction. (that might be true for some folks, but not baby bliss. she seems to have a furnace somewhere inside. i've seen her sweat in the freezing cold.)

b.b. thought it would be better if the fan didn't oscillate and she would sit right in front of it. i'm not sure why  grandma thought that was a bad idea. *shrug*

i didn't want to hear it so i pulled out The Hindi Bindi Club and plopped in a chair for a good read. before i knew it, i was looking at the inside of my eyelids. i wanted to sleep in the chair but it was soooooo uncomfortable. i swooshed myself over to the couch and sank into a noisy sleep.

the snooze wasn't long enough and i got up feeling drowsy and irritable.

baby bliss wanted to go to the library too (now that she's no longer relegated to the kid's computers, she's a library fanatic) but we ran out of time: mr. bliss knocked off at a decent hour so we three enjoyed an early dinner-and-a-movie family night.

we saw the latest harry potter. i won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but i will say it was extremely disappointing. it seemed like an overlong chapter or short story, stretched into a movie that could have been truncated and bundled into the next one.

*sigh*

i've heard the rumors of plagiarism on the part of potter's penner. of course she was found innocent of all charges. i'm not saying the innocent verdict wasn't fair. i'm just wondering how the other movies were good and this one was just... okay.

maybe the director is to blame? i'm not sure... i am sure we won't be getting that one on DVD. baby bliss will have to read it.


.

167: iiiiiiiiiice creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam

this week's Crazy Hip Blog Mama Collaboration (formerly the Crazy Hip Blog Mama Carnival) is ice cream.

they said we could be creative and do something other than write about it. that would be cool 'cept i don' t have any pics of ice cream, people eating ice cream, the ice cream man, or any other ice cream stuff.

i don't have any funny ice cream stories either. or none that i can think of right off the top of my head any way.

so i'll just say i loooooooooooooooooove ice cream. but not all ice cream and not any ice cream.

and i'm a fan of banana splits. or just ice cream with bananas. i also like ice cream with nuts. or ice cream with nuts and cherries, hold the whipped cream, hold the sauces.

hey, i know! i'll just do an ice cream list.

here are my faves, in order from "most fave" to "i dig it".

1. cherry vanilla (but not the kind with the real cherries)
   
2. cookies and cream
3. banana split ice cream
4. orange and white something or other (a hold-over childhood favorite)
   
5. birthday cake

i'll eat ice cream from a bowl, a cup, a cone, a waffle cone or bowl, even the tub it comes in.

i also like sorbet, sherbet, gelatto (every so often), and Tofutti's frozen desserts.

i don't eat ice cream too often. not cuz i don't like it. mostly cuz it's dairy and sometimes gives me a headache.

now i'm gonna scoop my way over to see what my sister Crazy Hip Blog Mama's had to say about ice cream. join me y'all!

166: updates

could y'all tell from the previous post that i was seething with threatening-to-erupt rage? 

i was afraid i'd want to spit in one of non-custodial's eyes and pull the other out with a fork. 

but lunch wasn't so bad. we made small talk while we ate. a casual observer wouldn't have known i'd been contemplating evisceration just minutes before. baby bliss was happy with the short visit and that's all that really matters, right?

***

last night's soda run was a bust. i think the doors only open until a certain hour, after which access is cut off. i no longer crave that sugary dr. pepper taste, thank goodness. now i've got a hankering for watermelon and pineapple tidbits, both of which we have in the kitchen already. (we're at the library right now so i won't be able to partake for another 1 1/2 hours, at least.) 

i'm supposed to be working (read: writing some part of my Work in Progress) but i'm sitting here doing this. LOL what better way to enjoy my time at the library while waiting for baby bliss to finish her time on the PC than by blogging?  :-)

i'm also listening to music. i don't have my headphones and my volume is low but all of a sudden it got very quiet in here. i 've been turning the volume down in increments but it seems to get quieter every time. am i in trouble? will i be singled out as the culprit and be banished from the library? 

i should think not.

there was a young woman sitting in front of me who seemed to relish the thought that we were all taking in her cell phone conversation. i wasn't (this time) and her loud voice was damned annoying. that was part of the reason i turned my music on. i do like to eavesdrop every now and again but her conversation was ordinary.

my ears are tuned to take in more juicy, gossip-y kinds of details. tsk tsk y'all. i sometimes feel sorry for those who have no scandals to be overheard whilst talking loudly on the cellular. 

personally, i take pains to occasionally shock my listeners with loudly whispered words like "g-string" and "nipple", and phrases like "how big was it?!" and "she did what to your...?!" 

everyone needs a lil bit of titillation in their lives. some days i feel i'm here to provide that service.

165: lunch with the non-custodial parent

i left my ex before baby bliss was 2 years old (8+ years ago) to return to my hometown (over 2,000 miles from the ex). i left because finding the middle ground for living a peaceful life seemed to be impossible for the two of us.

we divorced several years later, amicably.

fast forward to the ex's re-marriage (a few years ago) and problems began to creep in.

they were subtle: baby bliss returned from a visit with tales of parental squabbles (normal). baby bliss gets into it with the step-momma about step-momma's heavy hand when doing baby's hair (which i specifically told step-momma not to do) that turns into a hair-pulling session (not good) bestowed upon baby bliss by the step-mommy. (time for momma bliss to put her foot down. or up somebody's @ss if necessary).

then comes the step-momma's pregnancy. baby bliss returned home from a visit upset because the other parents were showing pictures of their recently acquired abode to all who would look. the descriptions of the glorious rooms were festooned with titles of ownership like "little man's bedroom", "big man's office", "the parents' love nest", "little man's nursery".

baby bliss said she asked, "where's my room?"

to which the biological non-custodial was said to have sputtered, "ummm, yeah. haha. we'll just work that out when you come for a visit. haha."

okie dokie.

nine (9) years of parenting with mr. bliss as my partner and now hubby... either and/or both of us: did almost a year of potty patrol; slept with one ear on standby in case baby fell out of new bed; kissed a google of skinned knees; have been sleep-deprived as necessary to battle nightmares and under-bed baddies; accompanied baby bliss for her first day of school (every time, from Pre-K to 2nd grade, after which we began home schooling); volunteered countless hours chaperoning class trips/playing teacher's aide/offering general school-wide help; took the child to doc visits (wincing at all appts requiring needles of any kind); played tooth fairy too many times to count; read countless bedtime stories; consoled said child with hugs and kisses (and the occasional Tofutti cutie or bowl of sorbet) when some eyes-squinted-in-prayer wished-for event or situation didn't pan out; washed a ton of kiddie-sized laundry; hosted at least one birthday party every year (some years there were 2)...

y'all know what i mean.

the real mess started after i filed to change the jurisdiction for child support last fall. a month later i get a phone call from the non-custodial. it started out with general chit chat. then he requested permission to speak on a more serious matter.

the matter turned out to be a "concern" for baby bliss's education. the other parents "noticed" that baby bliss never wanted to read when she was with them. ummm... okay...

i'm pretty sure i was among the exception(s) when i was a young girl cuz i loved to read any and everything i could get my hands on. at any time, day or night.

that's not baby bliss though. although she reads quite proficiently for her age, she's not a huge fan of the written word. i'm past making a big deal of it tho. she knows the reading requirements for this house and tho we sometimes struggle with it, she's doing well. her test scores say so too.

the "concern" for baby bliss's education is peeled away layer by layer to reveal something deeper: the non-custodial says he needs "more say" in baby bliss's life.

LOL yeah, okay. from hundreds of miles away, you need more say in the life of a child who's being raised by other people. people who's child-rearing has been satisfactory for all the years previous...

i was already suspicious of the conversation and wondered where it was really leading. because what i also heard were suspicious pauses in the conversation, as if the non-custodial was reading from a script or being coached.

when i requested clarification of the words "more say", i was met with frantic tongue-tied hemming and hawing. until the meaning was clarified by the unknown coach(es).

the conversation got a little tense and heated. not (too) ugly. but it did end with me advising the non-custodial to seek legal counsel. he couldn't agree to disagree on a situation that was previously to his liking but had somehow ceased to run smoothly at some point from his (or their) point of view.

in the early part of this year, a sheriff's deputy knocked on my door and handed me a summons. i was being sued for custody and child support. the only allegation: baby bliss is receiving "an inadequate education". without ever having requested or seen one report card/progress report (well, maybe only one) since Pre-K, the non-custodial makes this allegation.

okay. they had now pulled out the big gun (a lawyer) so i'd have to get one too. for protection of course.

if any of you have ever been thru this kind of madness, then y'all already know what a mess it is. let me just say that prior to this nonsense, i have always been cooperative with visitation between baby bliss and the biological non-custodial. my own mother took baby bliss to see her dad for a week-long holiday a few months after i left him. (which she never did again because he showed his behind so much that an older relative of his--who was there at the same time--reprimanded the ex for his behavior and the way he treated my mom.)

after that, he was always welcome to visit her at my home. i even allowed him to take her with him to his home (several states away, after he moved back to the east coast) and i didn't even have his address. i allowed him to take her with him to spend time with him and his girlfriends. because i've never been the don't-have-my-baby-around-your-woman type. (one of his girlfriends and i even became good friends thru phone calls and e-mails.)

mr. bliss and i have always been gracious hosts and the ex has been warmly welcomed at our house (and homes of my family members) with his girlfriends (and even their children)--for many years.

yet my daughter is now a member of a statistical group that i never imagined she would belong to: children who are caught in custody battles.

fast forward to now: we're on our way to have lunch with him. no more unsupervised visits until this mess is over. i'll detail more about it all later cuz i gotta run.

164: i'm sneaking off...

to get a soda from the machine up by the gym.

heehee hawhaw

i don't drink sodas (pop) often but every now and then i get a taste for one. tonight i want a dr. pepper and i hope they have one. i've never used that machine so i'm not sure what's in it.

shoot, i hope i can get in the darned building. i have a key fob but i'm not sure if it grants 24-hour access.

i'll know in about 2 minutes cuz i'm driving up there.

the first month i lived down here, i thought this was a super safe place to live. baby bliss and i would go out in the wee hours to make a mc dee's run or get stuff outta the trunk. then i realized that i was in the south, not on the moon.

there's crime here just like up north. maybe not as much but still, crime.

so i'll be extra careful when i make my soda run.

brb.