Author: Erin

I'm just your average woman, who is trying to figure this life out. I really have no idea what I'm doing and most times I'm discovering what no one told me.

Big Fight Over Little Woman

On By ErinIn Can't Make This Shit Up, LifeLeave a comment

So my mother-in-law is here. Has been for over a week. I have no idea when she will be leaving and I’m about to lose my fucking mind.

First barrier…she speaks zero English and makes no attempt. At all.  I know enough Spanish and at least make an effort to communicate with her even if I have to bust out Google translate. Or play charades and look like a total fucking idiot. She doesn’t have to try apparently because she’s ’embarrassed’ she doesn’t understand or know English. Somehow that exempts her.

Second barrier…she is the one my husband caters to. Which I get to some degree, but for a marriage already struggling, this is not good.  I’m so fucking sick of being last and not having my feelings accounted for. It’s my house and my husband doesn’t seem to give two shits that I don’t feel like I have space in my own home.

Two examples: this Sunday I was looking for a cheese tray. An $8 cheese tray. It’s seemingly disappeared from our house. MIL saw it but after rearranging our fridge it’s no longer anywhere to be found. I can’t find a thing in my own kitchen because she puts everything away where she thinks it goes. She doesn’t bother to ask where it should go.  Why should it matter, just because it’s our house?!?  And then when I went to make breakfast she immediately started making something too. It was like Food Channel, but way more passive aggressive.  What in the actual fuck.

Third barrier…we don’t have any time for ourselves as a couple because she stays up and sits in the living room.  Wherever we are, there she is.  No fucking alone time whatsoever.

What the hubs doesn’t understand that I am not keen on having a virtual stranger in my home. We saw her a year ago and only because we traveled to her. Before that it was a year ago. This is only her second time even seeing V and she is almost 2. We’ve been married 8-1/2 years and this woman has made no attempt to get to know me. Her other daughter-in-laws?  She has them as contacts in her phone and speaks to them regularly. But not me. That part has been hurtful to me, and I feel as though I’m beyond attempting to be the one to make the effort or try.  I am done trying.  The kicker out of all this?  She typically has nothing to do with the hubs either except when he can do something for her, like fly her to see a different sibling.  Isn’t that nice?

Even now, I am sitting at our dining room table, while she is sitting by my husband, talking to him.  There’s no attempt to engage me in the conversation.  She can fuck off as far as I’m concerned.  I’d be counting the days until she leaves…but I don’t have any clue when she is fucking leaving.

I sincerely apologize for the amount of fucks in this post.  It’s either that, or lose my shit.  Although I may have already lost my shit.

Holy Exhaustion

On By ErinIn LifeLeave a comment

From the lack of sleep the past few nights, the recent travel and stress in general are creeping up on me, this morning I had two episodes that were a little concerning to me. 

The first was making coffee.   We have a little one cup brewer. I got the grounds set, put my cup underneath and pressed the power button. It lit up for a few seconds and then turned off. I tried again. Same thing. I even tried unplugging it from one outlet and into another. Same thing. By this time I was frustrated, said “fuck it!” And went upstairs to take a shower. Even told the hubs that the coffee machine was broken. 
After he left for gym I went back and looked again. It suddenly dawned on me to check if I had put water in the machine. I flipped the top up and there was no water. No wonder it wasn’t working!  

The second episode occurred when I was dropping my daughter off at school. You have to enter a 4 digit pin to mark them as dropped off, which are the last four digits of my phone. I kept pressing in the digits and it kept telling me “invalid code”. I did this like 4 times with the same result. I  had to move to the side and say my phone number to myself before I realized I had transposed two of the digits. What the fuck is going on with me?!?

Texted the husband, who called me to assure me I was just tired and not having a stroke. Because he knows how I am. 

There is not enough coffee in the world that could fix this. 

A New Toddler Experience

On By ErinIn KidletsLeave a comment

I had found The Little Gym and decided to try out a class with V.  We went as a family.  It is a movement class for kids from 19 months to 2.5 years old.  I cannot believe what a great time she had!

There was gymnastic equipment everywhere….tumbling mats, balance beams, bars, etc.  The instructor had us sit in a circle and work on the main mat, but told us to let the kids go if they felt comfortable enough to explore.  She said the only time we should really go get them is if we saw them doing something that was a safety concern.  As hard as it was for the hubs, we let her be.  Eventually she found her way back to us while we were playing with the other kids and families.

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Kiddo in an action shot!

We walked in a circle, ran, jumped, and galloped.  We got out a parachute and shook it, and then gave the kids a ride while they sat in the the middle of it.  We played with balls.  e did some trust exercises where we rolled down a ramp with our kid, using our arms as a container so we didn’t squish our kiddo.  We also did some exploration, where the instructor was encouraging us to try new things with our kadiddles.  V was on some low bars, and the instructor told us to lift her hips up so she could put her feet on the bars.  We showed her once, and then every time she went back to the bars, she put her feet up and basically bear crawled across them.  It was awesome to see her doing things that we wouldn’t have normally encouraged her to do…or even thought to have her try!

The coolest thing was watching her hang from an uneven bar.  She wasn’t even tall enough to reach the bar herself, so one of us had to lift her up.  But she was so strong, hanging around like a monkey.  And then, without warning, she let go and fell to the mat in a fit of giggles!  She immediately wanted to get up and do it again.  Another kid even copied her, falling to the mat right after her.  We were both amazed at her feat.  I forget that little kids have no fear.  It was awesome to see her enjoy herself so much and I know we will definitely be back for more fun!

Finding Your Tribe

On By ErinIn Life, RelationshipsLeave a comment

How many of you feel that you have found your tribe?  Like your group of peeps that are “ride or die bitches” as my one girlfriend says.  The ones that you know will be there not just for the good, but also for the shitty, messy, ugly parts of life?

If you answered yes, I have this to say to you:  I’m jealous and be grateful.  Since moving to Hotlanta, I lost my (local) tribe.  I had a terrific group of close girlfriends in LA.  Ones that I could call on a moment’s notice and go over to their house if something was happening with me.  Since becoming a mom, I’ve really struggled to find a new tribe that I identify with.

Case in point – this weekend I went with 3 other acquaintances to Bad Moms.  The movie was fantastic and hysterical at times, but there were parts of it that made me really emotional, thinking about my daughter, and I was tearing up/crying.  Because in the movie, the lead character finds her tribe of weird mom friends.  Genuine friends that care about her!  The message really hit me.  I cried.  A lot.

Not one of them asked me if I was OK during or after the movie. Not one of them said a fucking word about my tears.  None of them cried.  During the movie credits, the actresses were filmed chatting with their own moms, and I cried even more.  That part hit me especially hard because of my shitty (non-existent) relationship with my own mom.  I couldn’t wait to leave to get away from them and be with my family.  I cried the entire drive home, thinking to myself, “None of these women are your real friends.  Not a single fucking one of them.”  Superficial.  They are what I like to call good time friends.  You see them when it’s a good time….but when it gets rough, they scatter and are nowhere to be found.

If I’m going to spend time away from my daughter and my husband, I want it to be with quality people.  People that want to know what is honestly going on with me.  People who want the real story of my life.  Not the glossy, positive only Facebook type picture of my life.  Because that shit ain’t real.  And I don’t have time for people in my life who are fake.

For those of you that have found your tribe, how’d you do it?  Especially you moms…how did you find a good group of women that help to support and love you?  I need any advice or suggestions you may have.

Mean Girls

On By ErinIn Can't Make This Shit Up, LifeLeave a comment

Last night, we were at a friend’s house watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics.  The usual group of suspects.  As we were watching the parade of nations, we happened to keep noticing people in the march that didn’t look like athletes.  They typically were older, not as an in shape as an Olympic athlete would be.  One of my girlfriends had said, “Who are these people?”  But her commentary didn’t stop there.

She went on to say she didn’t know fat people could participate in the Olympics.  Then she looked right at me and said, “Robin, who knew?!?  Someone should have told us that you could be fat and be in the Olympics!  We may have been Olympians.”

Fuck you.  Fuck you so much.  I wanted to cry at her comment but somehow managed not to.  I was, however, stunned enough, not to utter a single reply in return.  I simply stared at her in disbelief that those words had just come out of her mouth.

Why do girls have to make such mean comments to each other?  Admittedly, I know that I am overweight, but for fuck’s sake, do you have to straight out call me fat to my face?   And in front of a big group of people?  Hearing those words really stung.

I have struggled with my weight for my entire adult life.  I don’t need someone to remind me that I’m overweight.  I don’t need someone to put me down.  I’ve had a lifetime of dealing with family that have put me down and made fun of me for my weight.  I don’t want or need to be “included” in someone’s insults or putdowns because they don’t feel good about themselves.  Hell, most days I don’t feel that great about myself, but I sure as shit don’t go around calling myself fat.   That helps nothing and no one.  Ugh, I’m still so upset about it today that I could cry again.

I don’t believe she was trying to be intentionally malicious.  I really don’t.  I do think she was trying to do a whole sister solidarity thing by lumping us together in the fat girl camp, but what she doesn’t realize is that she lost a friend last night.

And one last time, I want to say to her (if only in my head) , “Fuck you for hurting my feelings.”

What is Going On With Me?

On By ErinIn Relationships, SexLeave a comment

Last week we had a sitter and were able to meet up with a large group of friends for drinks. And we uber’d there so this momma could drink!  And there were several scintillating convos from that night that have my brain working overtime.

First convo was with the Hubs’ director.  We got to talking about swapping babysitting each other’s kids since we both don’t have  family in the area. To which he replied something about wife swapping and how he’d need to get to know me a little better. In my tipsy state I told him not to tease. Later on in the night, after a few more beers, I told him “well fuck you then”. I honestly cannot recall what the specific topic was that prompted me to say that to him but I remember it being playful banter. He made a smartass comment in return. And now all I can think about is screwing my husband’s director. LOL  To be honest there are a few of his male colleagues that I think are attractive for various reasons.

Inappropriate?  Totally!  But my husband’s director is my age, good looking, completely driven and has a great sense of humor. I’d totally sleep with him!

The other convo was with a girlfriend that was with us and she told me she “Netflix’d and chilled” with another mutual girlfriend. Go to urban dictionary if you don’t know the phrase. But be warned – that site can be quite vulgar. I was shocked and asked, “For real?”  My friend excitedly shook her head yes.

When the hubs and I discussed later that weekend we were bummed as we always thought we were the most scandalous Couple out of our group of friends. Hearing about this made us wonder if we really were?!?  We talked about wanting to up our game on the freak front. Truthfully we’ve been talking about this on and off for awhile but this has fueled that fire.

I’m not sure how we will engage in more scandalous behavior, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted…

The Forever Struggle?

On By ErinIn Exercise, LifeLeave a comment

I’ve been up since 5am with the kiddo and instead of just walking the dog I decided to get in a run. Running has been a wonderful stress and anxiety reducer so I’m not sure why I’ve been avoiding it?  Since my half in April, I’ve done a handful of runs.  That’s it.  I am continually amazed at how my body responds. Like “Oh yeah I remember this…it feels good!”  My pace for the run today was 12:34, which is great considering how little I’ve ran in the past 4 months.

With all the health stuff that had been going on (read about it here) I’ve managed to emotionally eat my way into gaining 10 lbs. in about 8 weeks. I was on the scale last night and it said 200 and I could have sobbed. (I gave the scale the middle finger.)  I was down to 188 not that long ago. I am so disappointed in myself.  And I wondered if this is something that I will forever struggle with?  I mean, c’mon, I’m gonna be 39 at my next birthday.  Will I always have issues with food?  Will that always be my ‘go to’ in times of stress and anxiety?  It’s depressing to think this might be a lifelong struggle.  Especially when I look at the face of my daughter, who at 19 months, is starting to imitate every single thing I do.  This is not something I wish for her to inherit.  My sense of humor?  Absolutely.  My ability to learn things quickly?  Yes, I’d love if she has that same ability.  My penchant for emotional eating and being overweight?  Not a fucking chance.

What I’m struggling with is how do I make this a lasting change?  How can I really start to cut new grooves in my brain and react differently?  I’d researched google and the interwebs but the advice is very simplistic.  Drink a glass of water before your meals.  Eat on a smaller plate.  It ain’t that people – my problem has nothing to do with food!  It’s all about the emotional aspect.  Trying to figure out how to comfort yourself in the moment without food.  A friend and I were chatting about this the other day…it’s this overwhelming need to consume anything, everything…mostly in an attempt to cover up whatever uncomfortable feelings are happening.  When I think about that thought, let it really sink in, it makes me sad.  Food has been the thing, in my mind, that has always been there for me.  Not family.  I have a few close friends that have been there for me, sure, but I always try to limit how much I share/tell/admit what I’m going through.  In the back of my mind, I tend to think that if they hear/know too much, they will no longer want to be my friend.

And all this brings me back around to the bigger picture.  That I don’t want to repeat this cycle for my daughter.  That even if I get knocked down or off-track, the most important thing is that I keep getting back up.  Keep trying new approaches.  Keep trying something different.  Because eventually what is new now will eventually become a habit right?   At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

Whatever you may be struggling with, I hope you too, have the courage to keep trying.  To keep running.  To keep going.

Do You Even See Me?

On By ErinIn Can't Make This Shit Up, Life, RelationshipsLeave a comment

I’m sitting here, it’s barely 8AM, and I’ve been awake for over 4 hours already.  Our kiddo has been having frequent wake ups, which I attribute to our turn and burn Seattle trip.  And I am fucking exhausted.  Her last wakeup at 3:45AM the husband got up to soothe her, but after about 30 minutes of her crying for momma and boo boo, he relented and she came running into our bedroom.  And yet, in a middle of the night parenting conversation, tells me he doesn’t want her to be nursing all the time.  Um, OK.  You let her come nurse because you couldn’t get her back to sleep…so do you not want her to nurse at all, or only when it’s convenient for you?  Do you even see my exhaustion?  Do you even see that I’m completely out of gas?

I’m the kind of exhausted where you feel drunk without the alcohol induced euphoria.  Everything feels woozy.  I feel sick to my stomach.  I tried to get her back to sleep around 5:30, when the hubs left for the gym, but she only slept for about 45 minutes.  Momma did not sleep.  Laid in bed with that tired wired feeling where you are too amped up to get any shut eye.

The day trudges on and gives zero fucks about my tiredness.  I discovered yesterday that our dog has blood in his piss, so I have a vet appointment at 9AM.  At 1PM, I have a 2 hour appointment for paperwork and other stuff related to my new job.  Dinner needs to get made because the toddler probably wants to eat.  The house really needs to be cleaned but that ain’t happening anytime soon.  I’m trying to find backup childcare for V because my husband told me 2 days ago that he plans to head to the Netherlands next week for work.  Monday night.  Thanks for leaving me alone for my first week on a new job.  I want to find someone in case she is sick or needs to come home from daycare, because I do not want to have to leave early during the day from my new job.  I want to scream at him, “Do you even realize all that I’ll have to do on my own while you are halfway around the fucking world?!?”  The answer, of course, is no.

He doesn’t see that I’ve quit asking for a date night, because I’m tired of telling him that it’s important that we have 1-1 time together for our relationship.  He doesn’t see that I’ve quit asking to go to couples therapy because it obviously isn’t a priority for him.  He doesn’t even see that I’ve stopped asking to have weekly discussions on finances and parenting because I’m the only one to initiate and I’m sick of bringing it up.  He doesn’t see that I have no energy or desire to fuck him at all.  He doesn’t see how tired I am of asking and asking for him to help me with things around the house that I’ve decided it’s a waste of my breath and precious energy.  He doesn’t see the imposition he puts upon me when he decides last minute to travel for business.  He doesn’t see all that I do.  Nor does he appreciate it either.  He doesn’t see that not only am I running on fumes, that our relationship is running on fumes too.

He doesn’t even see.  He doesn’t even see me.  At all.

Mixed Reviews

On By ErinIn Kidlets, Life, Relationships, SexLeave a comment

Sharing a few updates…some positive, some meh.  Let me set the stage for you on the marital bliss front tonight:  I’m on our deck, paying bills and enjoying watching the storm approach, while the hubs is couch surfing, on his phone (as per usual) while the TV drones on and on in the background.  I think he’s barely said 10 words to me since he got home at 7PM.  I’m trying not to take it personally…he’s had a long day and I’m guessing he wanted to unwind in peace.  It’s ok honey, let me cook dinner and clean up, get the toddler ready for bed and walk the dog.  You just sit there!!!!!

The good update – I’m no longer jobless!  YAY!!!!  I start my new gig next Monday the 18th.  It was a long process…I had interviewed last month (6/10) and am only starting now.  Offer negotiation, drug screening, pre-employment health screening and then finally orientation!  I’m really excited about the new role, as I’m doing business intelligence work in a clinical/healthcare environment.  This is a new area to me, but am SO geeked that I will be learning about it.  I’m going to get certified in EPIC, which is the electronic health record most hospitals and healthcare organizations use, so I figure this is my insurance for being able to get a job anywhere.  Anytime.

I’m a little nervous about starting back to work, because, well, it’s been 6 fucking months since I worked.  6 months!  My friend said it seemed like yesterday….and I wish I had felt that way.  This time has really dragged on for me and has been fraught with worry, so I’m happy to get back to some type of regular routine. And paycheck.  Fer real on the paycheck.

Which brings up a not so great update.  I filed for unemployment in early June, and have yet to receive a determination.  How incredibly shitty is that?  I mean, I’m thankful that we weren’t (and aren’t) living paycheck to paycheck, but for fuck’s sake, how would anyone survive having to wait over a month to know if you’ve been approved or not?!?  It is not something that anyone could even rely on and that’s a sad fact.  Much about our country seems sad these days.

Our Seattle trip was overall good.  We had a huge fight on the trail to Poo Poo Point.  And I’m seriously not shitting you on that name.  (See what I did there?!? Ha!!!!)  It is totally legit and I think it’s fabulous that our family hiked that trail.  Mind you, we did not make it to the top of Poo Poo Point.  You could say we had a blowout of sorts.  Husband had told me we were gonna hike for “an hour or so” and after 2 solid hours of hiking, I discover we have a scant amount of food for our toddler.  Who was scream crying for more food.  I became the bad guy for wanting to turn around and not try to make it to the summit because our daughter was hungry.  We resolved our fight on the way back, and I’m glad that we did.  I’d also call it progress for me because I didn’t really give a shit in that moment if I was the bad guy.  And usually I acquiesce if I’m feeling like the bad guy.

And our relationship has been kind of meh these days.  I go back and forth with how I’m feeling.  For those of you that have been married longer (we are going on 8+ years) do you often feel this way too?  I wonder if we’re going through a difficult season, or if something has fundamentally shifted in our relationship?  I know that having our daughter was a huge adjustment (and we’re still adjusting) but does it ever get easier?  It feels hard these days, and often I’m too tired to want to put in any effort.  Like I’m schlepping through wet cement.  I think this is a woman and mom thing more so….I mean for gawd’s sake, the kid needs constant care and attention, the dog is whining to get walked, everyone has to eat, people gotta have clean clothes, then it’s time to go night night, etc.  Plus I need to work out and try to do some shit for myself….and at the end of all that, sometimes I think to myself, “Husband you want to what?  You want to fuck me?  I have no energy left for that…”

And on that note, I’m taking my tired ass to bed.