Latest news, not that there's much of it
Well, another lengthy period has passed since I last posted here. Since not much changes on a daily basis around here it would be pointless to post much more often (ok, I'm rationalizing).
Alice is doing very well, growing like a weed and gaining ground on all the things she'll need to know and do to properly be called a toddler in the near future. She's now giggling and sitting up, though not without a little help. She has also recently discovered her feet and she seems to be upset with them for not making their presence known before now because any time you sit her up, she glares at them and then lunges for them. I'm sure whatever it is they did to upset her, they'll regret it. I have a feeling that when she has teeth they're in real trouble. On top of all this, she's now making strides toward sleeping through most of the night, which is a major help to Julie's mood and my sanity. She hasn't quite made it yet but we're using some tried and true Pavlovian techniques to help her there. Let's just hope she doesn't turn the tables and do the same to us. She is my daughter, after all.
In non-baby news, I'm still working for the same place and they still like me. This is a first, considering that the downhill slope is usually right at 6 months with most of my jobs. Who knows, maybe I'm growing. Then again, the position I'm in now is pure contract with no possibility of it becoming anything else so maybe with the removal of the ambition side of things, I've hit upon a winning formula. I'll let you know with my next post how this theory turns out.
Aside from that, everything is ok. We could do with some more income but that will return to normal when Julie returns to work from maternity leave in October. Until then, we're stretching pennies like they've never been stretched before. Those of you with an in-depth knowledge of Misterjohn's money-handling abilities would be amazed. I know I am. Still, I know it's temporary and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, so I'm much more at ease with the restrictions. It's like when T & M were saving to move to New Orleans. I recall vividly an entire afternoon spent with T, discussing the pro's and con's of just ordering a fucking pizza, just this once, without worrying that we were setting the move date back by a factor of years. In classic T & J fashion, we cut the simple "to pizza or not to pizza" question into the tiniest of slices to examine, pontificate over, re-examine and re-pontificate over when, without warning, M walked in and announced that we were ordering a fucking pizza and Pepsi and her fucking friends were going to fucking pay for it. I don't know if I can describe the looks on our faces because they were a mixture of so many emotions that they must have looked like etch-a-sketches being shaken extra hard. I don't know about T, but that's when I fell in love with his wife.
Funny, I started out discussing saving money and I find myself strolling down Memory Avenue. I suppose it's fitting because money, the lack thereof, was such an explosive and ever-present issue in the earliest days of the JTM experiment. If there was one topic that could make M cry in the middle of St. Peters St., it was money and what the fuck were we going to do about having some coming in as opposed to just going out. I recall one afternoon,, walking down St. Peters, having just come from the Blacksmiths and talking about going out for a pleasant dinner, M just stopped in her tracks and stared at T with tears in her eyes. I remember rolling my eyes and just walking away, figuring that one more 10 hour round of solitaire would make it all better. This sort of thing happened fairly regularly in those days. Admittedly, M had come from a very different financial policy school than I or T had and the differences were frustrating the living shit out of her. Where she used to save and save and spend tiny amounts only to have it broken or destroyed by asshole husband, T and I had always lived on what can best be described as hopes and panic employment. The stability provided by having money in the bank, furniture to lounge on and a definite, regular source of income was a foreign concept. In fact, it was seen as almost freedom-reducing and so it was not to be relished but avoided. I think you can see where all of our frustration came from, at least as relates to money.
As I look back now, I can see that some of M's philosophy rubbed off, just as some of our philosophy made it's way into her. I like to think that the more ridiculous aspects of either were shed and a more reasonable balance of the two was acheived. I'm certainly not as careless about such things as I once was and I'm pretty sure that M is not quite so freaked out by bumps in the financial road anymore. I admit that I like some of the virtues M was espousing in those days, particularly the ones I used to roll my eyes at.
And that's it for me in the outing. I can hear the Evil One stirring, meaning there's some nasty nappy changing in my immediate future. Oh how the mighty have fallen. :)
Alice is doing very well, growing like a weed and gaining ground on all the things she'll need to know and do to properly be called a toddler in the near future. She's now giggling and sitting up, though not without a little help. She has also recently discovered her feet and she seems to be upset with them for not making their presence known before now because any time you sit her up, she glares at them and then lunges for them. I'm sure whatever it is they did to upset her, they'll regret it. I have a feeling that when she has teeth they're in real trouble. On top of all this, she's now making strides toward sleeping through most of the night, which is a major help to Julie's mood and my sanity. She hasn't quite made it yet but we're using some tried and true Pavlovian techniques to help her there. Let's just hope she doesn't turn the tables and do the same to us. She is my daughter, after all.
In non-baby news, I'm still working for the same place and they still like me. This is a first, considering that the downhill slope is usually right at 6 months with most of my jobs. Who knows, maybe I'm growing. Then again, the position I'm in now is pure contract with no possibility of it becoming anything else so maybe with the removal of the ambition side of things, I've hit upon a winning formula. I'll let you know with my next post how this theory turns out.
Aside from that, everything is ok. We could do with some more income but that will return to normal when Julie returns to work from maternity leave in October. Until then, we're stretching pennies like they've never been stretched before. Those of you with an in-depth knowledge of Misterjohn's money-handling abilities would be amazed. I know I am. Still, I know it's temporary and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, so I'm much more at ease with the restrictions. It's like when T & M were saving to move to New Orleans. I recall vividly an entire afternoon spent with T, discussing the pro's and con's of just ordering a fucking pizza, just this once, without worrying that we were setting the move date back by a factor of years. In classic T & J fashion, we cut the simple "to pizza or not to pizza" question into the tiniest of slices to examine, pontificate over, re-examine and re-pontificate over when, without warning, M walked in and announced that we were ordering a fucking pizza and Pepsi and her fucking friends were going to fucking pay for it. I don't know if I can describe the looks on our faces because they were a mixture of so many emotions that they must have looked like etch-a-sketches being shaken extra hard. I don't know about T, but that's when I fell in love with his wife.
Funny, I started out discussing saving money and I find myself strolling down Memory Avenue. I suppose it's fitting because money, the lack thereof, was such an explosive and ever-present issue in the earliest days of the JTM experiment. If there was one topic that could make M cry in the middle of St. Peters St., it was money and what the fuck were we going to do about having some coming in as opposed to just going out. I recall one afternoon,, walking down St. Peters, having just come from the Blacksmiths and talking about going out for a pleasant dinner, M just stopped in her tracks and stared at T with tears in her eyes. I remember rolling my eyes and just walking away, figuring that one more 10 hour round of solitaire would make it all better. This sort of thing happened fairly regularly in those days. Admittedly, M had come from a very different financial policy school than I or T had and the differences were frustrating the living shit out of her. Where she used to save and save and spend tiny amounts only to have it broken or destroyed by asshole husband, T and I had always lived on what can best be described as hopes and panic employment. The stability provided by having money in the bank, furniture to lounge on and a definite, regular source of income was a foreign concept. In fact, it was seen as almost freedom-reducing and so it was not to be relished but avoided. I think you can see where all of our frustration came from, at least as relates to money.
As I look back now, I can see that some of M's philosophy rubbed off, just as some of our philosophy made it's way into her. I like to think that the more ridiculous aspects of either were shed and a more reasonable balance of the two was acheived. I'm certainly not as careless about such things as I once was and I'm pretty sure that M is not quite so freaked out by bumps in the financial road anymore. I admit that I like some of the virtues M was espousing in those days, particularly the ones I used to roll my eyes at.
And that's it for me in the outing. I can hear the Evil One stirring, meaning there's some nasty nappy changing in my immediate future. Oh how the mighty have fallen. :)