Not Me Monday

Not Me! Monday is a blog “carnival” started by MyCharmingKids.net and McMamma uses this as a chance to deny things that happened over the week.  Go over to her blog (or click on the link on the left) and see the entire rules and hundreds of other people who play along…  [update: She is not doing the Not Me! Monday this week because her baby is pretty sick.  Please lift a prayer for baby Stellan.  You can the details at her blog...]

But my game shall go on...  A whole week off of work and spent with 2 children that I love dearly…  Go grab a cup of Chai tea and settle in for awhile.  This is a long list…

I did {not} almost pee my pants when Mark told me about a recent trip to the playground.  The boys were playing with this other boy and Mark asked Ryan if he wanted to go down the big slide.  Ryan answered, “No.” in his usual way.  This other boy said, “I’m surprised he said ‘No’ to you.  I wouldn’t say ‘No’ to you, you’re scary looking!”  And Mark, a.k.a, Scar Head thought he left that reputation behind when he left his job in Corrections. 

I did {not} find my children’s main Christmas gift at Goodwill for $2.  I did {not} buy a similar toy at Toys R Us for $49.  Mark and I did {not} decide which one to give them until we opened the box of the new one.  We did {not} see 10,000 pieces and decide that the Goodwill toy is the one they get.  I did {not} have to search everywhere for the receipt of the expensive one.  I am {not} excited about the fact that I totally cheaped out on two gift giving occasions in a row – Ryan’s birthday and Christmas.

I did {not} drag a feverish child to 4 stores in search of Mark’s Christmas present - the day before Christmas.  I was {not} thankful that Ryan was sick because he was so mellow.  Shopping with a mellow 4 year old is {not} my idea of the way to shop.  Zach does {not} feed off Ryan and if Ryan is well behaved so is Zach.

I did {not} have to take Ryan for stitches on Monday.  Ryan did {not} get a big gash under his eye and a purple shiner.  I was {not} a freak at the hospital because I was upset that Ryan needs stitches.  I was {not} more upset about sending Ryan back to school with an injury than the fact that he was hurt.  I was {not} mildly concerned that Ryan wanted to be held the entire time; I am {not} used to him running around like a maniac in the ER.  I was {not} excited that we were in and out of there in record time – like an hour and a half.  I did {not} have as my only goal for this break to send Ryan back to school injury free.  If I had been able to do that then I guess pigs could fly…  I was {not} frustrated when he scraped the other eye at Mayakka River State Park.  I was {not} relieved that he spent an entire day playing – sometimes near sharp corners, hot grills, and other hazards - and only scraped his eye.

As a result of the stitches, I did {not} have to take Ryan to Zach’s autism appointment.  I am {not} frustrated that medical professionals don’t seem to see the signs of autism in Zach.  I am {not} frustrated that it is only parents or teachers of autistic children that see it.  Ryan was {not} a horrible little urchin at this appointment.  He did {not} rip a certificate off the wall of the doctor’s office.  He did {not} grind pretzels into his carpet.  I was {not} completely horrified.  And thankfully, the doctor was {not} a saint and completely patient.  We did {not} later send Ryan to the waiting room to play.  He was {not} perfectly behaved until Dr. Kadison was around.  I think Ryan was {not} showing off for him!  I’m serious, every time Dr. Kadison was around, Ryan was a stinker.  Dr. Kadison would go away, Ryan would settle down…

I am {not} in a total clean out mode, again. I did {not} get rid of any Christmas ornament that I’m not emotionally attached to.  I do not get emotionally attached to objects, so I did not only get rid of 7 ornaments.  (We do {not} throw our old tree in the wooded lot next to our house.  We do {not} justify it by saying we are creating a habitat for squirrels and birds.)  I did {not} make Mark spend a good chunk of Saturday afternoon putting up a cabinet in our laundry room.  He did {not} use his drill as a stud finder.  We do {not} have about 30 little holes all over the wall.  They are {not} in plain view.  We do {not} have to go back and repaint and patch that wall.  A free cabinet has {not} turned into a painting project.  When we put the cabinet up, we did {not} accidentally remove the washing machine hose from the drain.  When I did laundry on Sunday, water was {not} spilling out of the washing machine.  It was {not} at least 3 minutes before we realized this.  I did {not} have a wading pool in my laundry room.  I did {not} have to move my appliances to clean.  I did {not} find gobs of dog food under both appliances that have now expanded into dog mush.  I was {not} thoroughly grossed out.  Moving the dryer did {not} prompt Mark to clean the lint out of the dryer vent.  This did {not} further cause him to go get a new attachment that has {not} made our dryer more efficient.  We did {not} make at least 4 trips to a home improvement store in the last two days!  When we bought the paint for the laundry room, I did {not} find out that the stuff we are using for our closet re-do is on sale!!  Mark is {not} dreading the size of his honey-do list.  Speaking of {not} redoing our closet…  I am {not} excited about little bins, drawers and baskets.  I am {not} thankful that I have most of that stuff anyway, it’s just a matter of getting rid of junk!  I could have a garage sale, but the last one only lasted 2 hours…

I am {not} frustrated that Mark has lost our only garage door opener.  We do {not} have to spend $70 for new ones because our garage door is {not} some fancy-shmancy type…  I do {not} think we even need a garage door opener – have you seen our garage??  I do {not} want a basement to store all this stuff.  Hmmm… junk?  Garage sale?  Good idea…  Oh wait – too much work for 2 hours!  Anyone having a garage sale out there?

I did {not} have 3 hours Saturday of uninterrupted think time as I ran 14 miles without my iPod or running partner.  I did {not} have a chance to really think about what I could do to be a better wife and mom.  I am {not} excited about some of the ideas God put on my heart.  I did {not} choose to play Dominoes with Zach over cleaning my house.  I do {not} think that is the best use of my time anyway…  I am {not} making my “Not To Do list for 2009”.  (Please note that this list is breaking from the style of Not Me Mondays.  These are things I really won’t do in 2009).  I will {not} post it on my blog when I’m finished.

So how about you, what did you {not} do this week?