Three Line Tales: Summer

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Daily Prompt 2/9/2016 | Stats

The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt 2/9/2016 | The Stat Connection

“Go to your Stats page and check your top 3-5 posts. Why do you think they’ve been successful? Find the connection between them, and write about it.”

Hello, friends! For today’s prompt, I did a little digging through my stats for 2016 and 2016, and discovered that the following are my top 5 posts on my blog. My top pages were actually my Home/Archives page, as well as my About Me page, but I don’t count those as posts. I’m actually not that surprised by these results, as I’ve noticed that my personal blogs, as opposed to my prompt posts or reviews, tend to get a bit more attention and feedback. Here are my top 5 posts, with links and descriptions, in case anyone wants to check them out:

1) My Thoughts On First Birthdays
Exactly what the title states. My son was creeping up on his first birthday, and I was feeling a lot of pressure from society, and family, to throw him a big bash. Spoiler alert: I had other ideas.

2) Sinking Ships
A complete stranger attacked my parenting via Twitter, after following the leads of two of my so-called-friends, who had been sub-tweeting about me that morning, all over a completely innocent tweet, which was taken out of context, and blown out of proportion. It got heated. Spoiler alert: I’m an awesome mom.

3) 15 Facts About Me!
Just some more fun with my Twitter followers, involving a graphic, some hearts, and some fun facts about yours truly. There was even a Part 2! Spoiler alert: I’m not very interesting.

4) Most Terrifying Experience of My Life. WTF!
Just another day in the life of living in shitty apartments. Yellow jackets burrowed into my apartment, and my neighbor had to come rescue Liam and I. Spoiler alert: Yellow jacks are assholes.

5) Why I Chose to Leave WoW
World of Warcraft has played an unimaginably large part in my life, and after many years of playing, I say goodbye (for now?). Spoiler alert: Sad post is sad.

So there you have it! If you normally read my daily prompts, or my baby blogs, and want to get to know a bit more about what goes on behind the screen, I would suggest checking those out. I lead a verrry interesting life (no, not really).

Thanks for reading, friends!

Jan

Daily Prompt 1/29/2016 | Wild Night Out

The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt 1/29/2019 | Saturday Night

“Tell us about the most exciting big night out you had recently.”

Brace yourselves, friends… last Friday, I got out of the house. I know, I know, it is shocking. You’d never expect something so wild and crazy from someone like me. Someone who spends every waking moment, of every single day, inside my crappy apartment, wearing yoga pants, tending to the various needs of my one-year old, watching cartoons, and playing with toys on the floor.

Well, last Friday, I decided to be bold, and went to Walmart. I took a shower, stripped off my yoga pants, put on some jeans, and put on a bra for the first time in days (you know, dressing up and getting fancy), slapped on some mascara and cream blush, and headed out for my big day.

Sure, I was only going out to grab some milk, restock Liam’s snack supply, and buy a few food items for myself, but it was still quite an adventure. I even had to change Liam’s diaper in a shopping cart (he does not like changing tables), after he peed on me while scheduling an eye appointment! Then, he got a bit overzealous at Target, and spilled his Cheerios all over the floor, which I cleaned up myself… this is why we never go anywhere. My child is very well-behaved, but boy, does he make a mess. We didn’t even get home until after 5:30 pm! Woo, crazy!

Despite the craziness, I’ve made the decision to go out again today! Wish me luck.

Thanks for reading, friends.

Jan

Daily Prompt 1/28/2016 | Just Another Day

The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt 1/28/2016 | Just Another Day

“Our days are organized around numerous small actions we repeat over and over. What’s your favorite daily ritual?”

I wouldn’t say that I have daily rituals, so much as my life is just one big, repetitive schedule. Being a stay-at-home mom means that every day is exactly the same, yet wildly different, as the day before it. Sleep badly, wake up, feed baby, feed me, watch cartoons, play on the floor, eat a snack, nap time, shower, lunch time, go for a walk or computer time, snack time, nap #2, dinner, playtime, bath, wrestle baby to sleep, watching Netflix, try to sleep… repeat.

Throw in a few loads of laundry and some grocery shopping once every other week, maybe a doctor’s appointment, and that’s pretty much it. The time between meals and naps is spent playing on the floor, trying to find something to distract him long enough so that I can write a post or two, trying to steal the controller/phone/remote back from him, learning our animals and colors, waiting out tiny tantrums, etc. I don’t get to have my morning coffee (I don’t drink coffee anyway), or read the paper, or watch the news, etc… my entire day revolves solely around this tiny human, what he wants to do, and his sleeping and eating schedule. I can only assume that, at some point in the future, I will be able to get some time to myself again, but until then, I’m just along for the ride.

Thanks for reading, friends.

Jan

UPDATE: Comfy Baby Universal Insulated Stroller Weather Protector Review

Hello, friends! A little while ago, I did a first impression review of the Comfy Baby Universal Insulated Stroller Weather Protector, which I received for Christmas, and now that I’ve had a chance to really give it some good use, I thought I would update you guys. In my previous post, which you can read here, I gave the stroller protector a good review, but had to make note that I had a hard time putting it on my Graco Fastaction Fold Jogger Click Connect Stroller, despite it being universal, and it looked a bit goofy. Well, after being told that I had been putting it on wrong, I tried putting it on properly… and that made a crazy huge difference!

On the left is the before picture, on the first day that I tried it out. I hadn’t put the protector on properly, and instead of putting the push bar through the corresponding opening, I just tucked it all into itself, making it look baggy and ill-fitting all around. The one on the right is the after picture, what it looks like now, put on properly. I love it even more now that I did on the first day, and I loved it a bunch even then!

Obviously, I don’t have much else to add, I just wanted to let you all know that it is just as great put on properly as it was put on slightly wrong. The weather has been hovering in the mid-high 30’s lately, so we’ve been trying to get out as much as possible. Just today, the sandwich artist who made my sandwich at Subway, as well as the expectant mother in line behind me, both complimented the protector, and were shocked to learn that it wasn’t part of the stroller. That’s how good it looks! We walked to Dollar General, and as we were leaving, two older women also complimented us, and thought that it was just a fancy stroller! We love it, and have been getting a lot of use out of it already. Even with the weather being in the 30’s, I only have to dress Liam in his lighter winter coat, and a pair of mittens (his fingers get cold easily, but he is still toasty inside his protector), which he usually takes off on his own.

In conclusion, we love our Comfy Baby Universal Insulated Stroller Weather Protector, and highly recommend it to everyone! I can’t wait to see how it performs once it gets warmer.

Thanks for reading, friends!

Jan

Daily Prompt 1/16/2016 | B+

The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt 1/16/2016 | B+

“Write about what you did last weekend as though you’re a music critic reviewing a new album.”

Today, I want to talk to you guys about an album I picked up on Friday called Lazy Weekend. The entire album became the soundtrack to my weekend, which was actually no different than any other weekend of my life… meaning that this album is basically the soundtrack to my life.

The first song off this album is called Crying Baby, and it was the first single released by this group. While this song seems to be the most overplayed track on the album, it was definitely the worst as well. It certainly elicited an emotional response from me, but not a positive one. I thought about just turning off the album, and lying in bed all day, but decided to give the rest of the album the benefit of the doubt, and continued listening.

A few other not-so-great tracks on the album include:
Don’t Steal My Phone
Don’t Steal My PS4 Controller
Don’t Steal My Remote
I Don’t Want To Eat This
Poopy Time Blues
Leaky Diapers and Wet Jeans
Cheerio Hurricane
Rip Your Hair Out By the Root
Do You Want To Eat My Drool?

And one that is sure to be a classic… I Was Going To Take A Nap But My Neighbor’s 4 Kidz Are Demons From Hell.

But this extremely long, multi-faceted album boasts a collection of phenomenal songs as well, including:
Your Sweet Smile
Pancake Party
Choo-Choo Chasin’
A Walk In the Park
Baby Rockin’
Zumba Fever
YouTube and Snuggle
The Grimm Adventures of Kyle and Jan
Waving Goodbye

And my all-time favorite, which redeemed this album, and solidified its place on my list of favorite albums ever… Kisses For Mommy.

While there are several songs on the album that I could certainly live without hearing, I feel like they make you appreciate the good songs a whole lot more. And boy, there are some really good songs on this album. Because of this, I had to give this album a solid B+, and highly recommend it.

Thanks for reading, friends.

Jan

Just Take A Break, They Said

Warning, I’m about to get a little bitchy.

Continuing with our recent pattern of clingy, fussy, tantrum throwing baby days, today has been no different. Liam went to bed with a little less fuss than normal lately, but woke up a few hours later, thanks to our noisy neighbors. It was hell to get him back to sleep, but when he finally drifted off, he slept through the night.

And then, morning came.

I woke up to his fussing over the monitor, and got up to make him a bottle. I went to his room to give him his bottle, and was greeted by him immediately starting in on a shrieking, wailing fit. Not exactly the first thing I wanted to deal with at 7:00 in the morning. I gave him his bottle, but he only drank a few ounces before tossing it into his crib bars, and continuing with his cries. I quickly picked him up to calm him down, but even that didn’t work. He pushed away from me, flailing his head back dramatically, and cried louder. I sat in the rocking chair with him and bounced him a bit, but that didn’t help either. After several more minutes, I decided that I (as well as my neighbors and sleeping fiance) was going to have to deal with the noise, because this baby needed a change.

More screaming and flailing as I laid him down on the changing table. Kicking and angry grunting as I took off his pants. Rolling and crying as I tried to put a clean diaper on him. I finally got him dressed again, and carried him to the living room, still sniffling a bit, and sat on the couch. I pushed away from me, and immediately dove for my phone, which had fallen out of my pajama pants pocket. I grabbed it from the couch before he could get it. BIG MISTAKE. This brought on yet another tantrum, which lasted a total of 10 minutes, where he picked up his toys that I had just gotten out for him, and threw them angrily. So I picked up his toys, put them all back in his box, and sat on the couch, staring at him until he stopped.

He eventually stopped, and came over to me, smiling, like it never happened. I wiped away my frustrated tears, and turned on Jake and the Neverland Pirates. At this point, Kyle conveniently walked out of his bedroom, stole my blanket, and laid down on the floor to play with Liam, and I got up to make breakfast.

After venting briefly on Facebook about how Kyle is working SIX 12-hour long shifts this week, leaving me 100% alone with our son, and no escape from our apartment, I was bombarded with comments and messages from Kyle’s aunts, grandparents, and mom, all telling me to just “take a break” from Liam.

Are you joking? Liam has never gone more than an hour without me, and even then, he was with Kyle. Who would I leave him with? The only person would be Kyle’s mom, who lives 45 minutes away, and would have to drive here, and stay in our apartment, just so I could… what? Leave the room? Sit in Kyle’s room and stare at the ceiling? Take a nap? Why? I can’t go anywhere, or do anything. And even if leaving was an option, which it isn’t, Liam doesn’t do well with other people. At all. And I can’t do any housework, because if I’m in sight, and not with him, Liam has a conniption. So, what’s the point? I don’t like when people tell me to “take a break” from my son, as if it’s so damn easy. Especially when they know my situation.

I don’t get breaks. I don’t even NEED a break. What I need, is for Kyle’s first job to respect his availability change that he put in MONTHS ago, stop screwing with his hours, and hire more people so that he doesn’t have to work open to close EVERY day this week. I need my partner, and Liam needs his dad, so that I can get something, anything, done in this damn house. Or, ya know, leave the house.

*Sigh*

Anyway. Thanks for reading.

Jan