Everydaystranger

Schadenfreude.
A German term, it means taking pleasure from someone else

Le Building Nightmare 2008 continues. There are a lot of things that they don’t tell you about what building work does to your life. I vacuum every 20 seconds or so to keep the dust under control. It’s a constant battle in the kitchen – once you disturb the earth around the [...]

There are about one million things going on, not least the fact that I’m in London tomorrow, the skin is sloughing off my hands thanks to all the building work we did today, and the delivery guy bringing our curry will be here any minute now, and my God the priority he’s been given is [...]

Day 1 – Period has ended. Whew. Glad that housecleaning is overwith. Like clockwork here – Helen changes the sheets every Sunday, I turn up and clean out the uterus every 28 days. And I like to come on in and fuck up Helen’s Sunday sheet changing a little, too. [...]

I’ve spent my life feeling like someone who was on the move. An itch would get under my skin and inflame the hairs up and down my arms, tingling through the back of my neck. Little imperfections in my environment would become huge gaping holes propelling me to go, to move, to change [...]

Two days ago I heard the words: “You have a choice – the washing machine or the dishwasher.”
A no-brainer really, especially with teething twins who have teething-styled diapers. My folks never saw this one coming. It’s so great to see you! I love you! Hey, how’re your plumbing skills?
The builders are ahead of [...]

Happy Birthday to the love of my life.
The journey has been amazing. There are lots of lows, but more highs, and for that I never let go.

I love you.
-H.
PS- it may be your birthday but it’s definitely your turn to empty the babies’ nappy bucket.

The Clampetts have arrived for a short visit before the builders come inside the house, which, although the builders had accidentally knocked a whole through the fireplace and had to brick it back up, will start next week.

My folks don’t even mind that the babies are thoroughly cranky with teething and colds.
In fact, my dad [...]

Sometimes I wish I could just be a kid again.
You know. Bomb pops melting over a fist in the summer. Giggling over typing “boobless” in the calculator screen. Not needing to know when paychecks hit bank accounts, not needing to make sure the garbage cans are out on collection day, not having [...]

Sunday I sat on the floor just inside the front door, my finger holding a leaking radiator closed.
“I feel like the little Dutch kid,” I said over my shoulder to Angus, who was frantically getting bits and pieces together to stop our hallway from a flood of Biblical proportions (OK, it wouldn’t be Biblical. [...]

Sometimes amazing things happen and you forget that you’re a cynic, that you inherently feel that people are something to be wary of, the tiger in the cage, the bear with a hunger pang.
I’ve been surprised by people before. This blog is one giant gateway to how kind and empathetic people can be. [...]

It’s book tour time again, and this time we read AM Homes’ The Mistress’s Daughter. This is a memoir written by a woman who was adopted, and when she dug into her past she found a not ideal situation – she was born to an unwed mother who’d had an affair with an older [...]

OK, I need some help here.
A lovely, big-hearted woman named Vicki (who comments here) just delivered her twin sons. Her boys were conceived after many years and many IVF attempts, and she delivered them a few days ago, several weeks premature.
Vicki’s boys are in NICU now. She had a rough delivery, which quite [...]

Pru (Pru again! Damn her!) hit on something that I’ve been thinking about myself.
I lay everything out here on the blog, and by everything, I pretty much mean everything (please, I even told you about a failed mooncup incident. If that’s not sharing then what is?) Names and specifics are changed on the [...]

When you have kids you learn kid things.
Not that your child may like certain foods or certain toys, and not that your child may want to be held a certain way.
You learn about children’s entertainment.
And I’m not talking about clowns (which are banned in this household no matter how much I love our children, banned [...]

Last Tuesday the builders showed up and dropped off scaffolding. Our builder – who we call The Cowboy – grinned.
“Welcome to the building site!” he said, waving his arms at our house.
And he was right.
This was the front of the house last Wednesday:

That big green thing on the right is the shipping container which [...]

On Sunday Jeff started projectile vomiting. He nailed the bed, the bathroom, and all of his clothing. He would puke and then tell a joke and laugh then take a nap. Lather, rinse, repeat.
On Wednesday the twins started projectile vomiting. In one sitting Nick nailed his entire outfit, the bouncy chair, [...]

Today the babies are 6 months old.
(Or, to be technical about it, they’re 5 months old as they were 4 weeks premature. But that’s being nitpicky.)
It’s strange to think that 6 months ago my whole entire world changed with the arrival of two little ones. It’s also hard to believe it’s only been [...]

Every once in a while, you get to do something for someone else.
When that day comes, you kick yourself and ask why you didn’t think of it before. You also try to find ways to do more. And above all, you want it to work so very much.
I’ve said it before and I’ll [...]

This morning I got handed coffee and babies in bed (two seperate deliveries, of course). Presents were opened, kisses doled out, and after the babies were fed we all hung out on the bed in our pajamas.

This. This was the stuff my dreams of family were made of. Not the parties or [...]