Chiming in late, but damn, msbelle, what you manage to do is amazing. Your patience and forbearance are tremendous and you are totally the right mom for mac.

msbelle, I think you're pretty wonderful and am in awe of everything you do, day after day.

Which means up at 6 at the absolute latest.

ita and Cashmere, your response to this killed me. Seriously. Granted up at 4 is not normal and yet? still my life.

(Not an Onion article!)

Swearing helps to relieve pain, according to one motherfucking study.

The idea for the study first occurred to psychologist Richard Stephens of Keele University in North Staffordshire, when he hit himself on the finger with a hammer and let loose with a few choice words. It solidified when his wife swore gustily during a breech delivery of their daughter and one of the midwives “mentioned that women often swear in childbirth, which I found intriguing,’’ said Stephens in an e-mail.

So he set up an experiment in which he compared the pain tolerance of 67 male and female undergrads when they uttered neutral words and when they cursed as they endured a painful stimulus, in this case, putting one hand into icy water and leaving it there as long as possible. In most people, swearing increased pain tolerance - they could keep their hands in the ice water much longer - and decreased perceived pain compared with not swearing.

I have a date with a plumber and my ankle is all jacked up.

It's monday.

I have applied for a job and reached out to a headhunter. I guess now I should do work...

You all are doing wonders for a Monday mood.

I am wearing my Fluevogs for the first time ever - all reports said they come half a size small, so I ordered bigger, but they are biggish, so I put in heel cushions and no-slip pads under the ball of my foot to try and compensate. Not sure if it will work.

Gronkies. Thanks for the epsom salt advice last night. We did that, which helped some (plus some grossness). He is bandaged up and off to school. Will see what this afternoon brings.

We are going to see Wicked on Saturday and I'm all bouncy in anticipation. That is going to make this a looooong week, must concentrate on work first. If only I could find the motivation.

Did everyone everywhere insert "hey motherfucker get laid, get fucked" into "Mony, Mony"?

ours was "Hey! Hey what! Get laid, get fucked!" We also chanted "Drunk and hor-nay!" (or a regional variation of "fuckin' bullshit") along with the "Mony, Mony" chorus

y'all don't know when I am a mess as much, that let's me fake it til I make it.

Isn't this kind of the definition of parenting? :)

As things gets better, I am just jumping to expect "normal" and well, my upbringing "normal" is just not even on the map, so I need to redraw expectations for myself.

MsBelle, as a non-parent, I am constantly amazed at how hard you work with Mac. I often think "wow, she is so much stronger than me, I don't think I could handle that".

Could it just be irritated from the bump rubbing against his shoe, Suzi?

Warts can infected. I had one between my toes that rubbed and got infected and swollen and gross. the doctor ended up having to draw the pus out with a HYOOOGE needle and I limped around for a few days. I also had the added joy of being told that warts were a form of herpes. My brother overheard and started calling me "Herp toe" Ah, sibling love.

I often think "wow, she is so much stronger than me, I don't think I could handle that".

Totally this.

FWIW, I've more than once told my therapist about msbelle and mac, and how much I admire msbelle's fortitude.