my pink toes

Warning: Long Whine Ahead, with a dose of TMI. Feel free to skip this entry.

I was up the first half of the night with Peter, who threw up six times (the first of which tagged the comforter, the sheets, the pillow, the bedskirt, and the wall - pooling into a giant, disgusting swamp on the floor.) Dave gave Peter a bath and I cleaned the room. I then offered to take the rest of the night, as Henry had the same thing on Friday night and the Amazing Dave got up every time, changing sheets 3 times and helping Henry.

Peter stopped barfing around 2:30am. Unfortunately, I woke up barfing at 3:15 am. I was throwing up and not sleeping until 6 am, when I finally dozed until 9am. I am also in the middle of a huge Fibromyalgia flare - my arms, fingers, wrists, hips and back hurt so much that I couldn't fall asleep even though I was exhausted. I threw up the meds I took for pain relief last night and figured they'd just come right back up this morning (good call, as I kept throwing up all the way to 3pm). And on top of everything else, I'm having my period. I am as sick as I have ever been.

I had to lay in bed all day and finally got some liquid Vic0din down around 4, and it stayed down. I finally slept, until about 6 - just in time to catch the State of the Union address.

I have not been this sick for as long as I can remember. I couldn't even check email until 6pm - you know that's sick for me! I was far too sick to even watch TV - I could only lie there and listen to podcasts. God bless Dave, for staying home and working while taking care of the kids. God bless Henry's friend, who invited him over to play in the snow for the day (I already have big guilt on snow days because I can't go sledding with my kids or play in the snow without putting myself into a big flare - I started in a flare and quite literally could not get out of bed).

Water is staying down, and I could actually follow some of the State of the Union. I hope I feel better tomorrow. It makes me envious of small children - Peter feels fine now (aside from the lack of sleep).

I'm so grateful to have a support network to get me through days like this.

Filed Under "Dave Smith: Wonder Husband, Fibromyalgia, Motherhood and Apple Pie" on January 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

In his (wonderful) guest post, Dave called me She Who Must Be Obeyed. Hmmm. He definitely listens to me, supports me, cherishes me, and loves me. But obeys me? Not so much. When it comes to House Projects, I become She Who Must Be Ignored.

But this weekend, Dave came through. For a long time, I had wanted the center cabinets in our kitchen removed to open up the space. They bifurcated the kitchen, making it difficult for us to talk to our guests, and forcing them to clump up in the doorway, or lean sideways in order to talk with me as I finished up in the kitchen.

No more leaning and clumping! Just in time for Thanksgiving, I present: the Smiths' Open Kitchen.

Yes, we have a giant hole in our ceiling. Yes, we are crazy to do a major house project the weekend before we host 14 people for Thanksgiving dinner at our house. But I'm so excited! When our guests arrive on Thursday, we'll be able to talk and hang out. Maybe they'll even sit at our ktichen table and chat before dinner instead of clumping awkwardly in our doorway.

Filed Under "Dave Smith: Wonder Husband, In the Kitchen" on November 18, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Dave Smith wonder-husband here. She who must be obeyed is recovering from the slingshot effects of her latest concoction, the Singapore Sling. But from her debilitated state, lying lifeless on the sofa she was able to utter the words, "I have idea! You post my blog entry for the day."

Every once in awhile I think of something fun and edifying I could post in a blog, but then I end up spending the time searching for the perfect open source content management system. See that's where me and SWMBO differ. She's all about content and making stuff look nice. I like how things get stored in the database and passed through the framework to be displayed on the page. She just wants stuff to work. Psh! Whatever!

I turn 38 tomorrow; that's about 500 in computer years. Thirty eight! That's just two years away from 40. I know some of you are closer than I and for some of you it's long past the horizon in your rear view mirror. But it seems so odd to be at 40 minus 2. Does anyone actually feel their age? I look down at myself and yes it's a little flabbier, a little paunchier, but inside I feel mid-twenties. How can I be this close to 40?

I've never had a lot of goals in my life. I've been quite content to share in SWMBO's goals. In a way not setting those goals makes it easier to be here. If you have no expectations, you can't really be disappointed, can you? My best friend from college wanted to make a million dollars by the age of 30 and I think he made it. Another friend wanted to run a marathon and he did it. Another rides his bicycle around Mt. Rainier in a day and another is preparing to take over the family business. My ambition doesn't work that way.

I move day to day living in the moment. I come to a weekend and I forget all the projects I'm supposed to be doing. I look forward to the next delivery from Netflix and folding the laundry into mysterious stacks. I love technology. I love tinkering on Linux machines and getting an old machine to run some new piece of software. Most of all I love my family. They are my joy. I can forgo the trappings of the elite if it means making pancakes and sausage for my boys, or giving SWMBO some time to write or read. My lack of planning frustrates her, but my idle presence is there and available to her. While I am not moving and making things happen, I am here where God wants me to be, serving the family I love.

Filed Under "Dave Smith: Wonder Husband" on November 13, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

It was Dave's Fault!

On Tuesday, Dave caught his bus at a different Park-N-Ride and apparently parked illegally. The lot was full, so he joined the line of cars who were parked "creatively" at the edge of the lot. The Certified Letter informed us that if he does it again, his car will be towed.

So, not only do we get to keep the house and cancel the lawyer, but I also have something new to tease my husband about. The same husband who got a warning from the city on Friday for the way he had parked his truck around the corner of our house, and who also got a warning from the city last year because he had failed to prune the trees I'd been bugging him about.

The irony is, I'm the crappy car-parker. He just gets caught.

Filed Under "Dave Smith: Wonder Husband" on June 23, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

How did Dave and I spend our Friday night? Making rss buttons, comments feeds, and favicons. Yes, we've been married 14 years. Yes, we are nerds. (I have to admit, all his nerdy help tonight makes him waaaay attractive to me. That, and the fact that he put both kids to bed...)

So, check it out! Up in the top right, I've got fancy-pants new RSS buttons and a spankin'-new comments feed. If you look in the address window of your browser, you'll notice I have this cute little graphic (called a favicon) instead of the default "blank page" icon.

My adorable, fabulous husband made my new favicon. He made my day.

If you had asked me 18 years ago what a perfect Friday night would look like, this would not have been it.

I had no idea what I was missing

Filed Under "Dave Smith: Wonder Husband, Meta" on May 11, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Henry: Daddy, I need some goodnight kisses
Daddy: But I just gave you a bunch of goodnight kisses
Henry: Yes, but I didn't feel any water

Filed Under "Dave Smith: Wonder Husband, Henry, Overheard" on April 16, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Whew! It's been a crazy couple days here on the back end of my pink toes! Tech-savvy husband upgraded my harddrive from a measly 20G to a robust 80G (an $80 solution, instead of the $2500 new-laptop-solution).

Since he's a software developer, I am very lucky to have him doing all my IT. At the same time, it's kind of like having a best friend cut your hair - it removes the ability to have a nameless entity to rage about when things get frustrating.* I can't complain about the crazy nitpicky IT guy who is so perfectionistic and therefore is taking forEVER to upgrade my harddrive because, well, I'm married to him. And he has feelings. (Ok, so I CAN complain about him...I just have to do it nicely, or on my blog...)

Anyway, I'm pretty much up and running now. I've also spent the entire day (sorry, kids) learning more HTML, CSS, and Movable Type code. (Check out my fancy new archive styles that actually display my masthead and show links on the right – cool, eh?!)

Coinciding with this technical upgrade was the decision to let a few “real life” friends know about this blog. Having my computer down and giving my friends my URL has made me feel a little, well, vulnerable. I hadn’t realized how personal my computer is to me. I have(had) it all set up the way I want it – visually and technically. And by extension, my blog is extremely personal as I put my writing out here for everyone to see, even though it’s not necessarily the way I want it yet.

In all areas of my life, I am evolving. I have spent my life waiting. Waiting for what? Waiting to be “perfect enough” to let others see the REAL me.

I’m finally realizing that true relationship comes when we reach out to others and share in the process. We are always in process; this is what it means to be human. It is to be celebrated instead of lamented.

I’m also learning this over and over in my faith. I’m convinced God is much more interested in the process than in waiting for the forever-elusive “perfect” result.

I’m sure I’ll need to be reminded again.

* Actually, one of my best friends DOES cut my hair. And she does a fabulous job, so I don’t miss having someone to rage about. Really, Shona – it looks great – always!

Filed Under "Dave Smith: Wonder Husband, Faith, Journey, Meta" on March 11, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

For a while, I checked all the time to see if new comments arrived. Kind of like waiting for the phone to ring in high school. And, as then, there was no news.

Then a friend told me that she tried to leave a comment and it didn't work. My tech-savvy husband and I realized that I'd messed something up on my Movable Type settings so that the comment thingy didn't show up. Hooray! So, then the phone started to ring. I mean, I got a couple comments!

Then, silence.

Continue reading "Comments on Comments" »

Filed Under "Dave Smith: Wonder Husband, Meta" on February 14, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Sometimes, getting married young is a terrible, awful idea.
But once in a while, it is the best idea of all.
I love you, David! I'm glad we have had so much time already to grow old together.

Filed Under "Dave Smith: Wonder Husband" on November 14, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)