Still busy

I've come home very late every night this week. Not cool, but unavoidable. Fortunately, I made it through mediation and finished up an MSJ response, so (fingers crossed) the rest of my week will be low key.

I'm feeling very emotionally fragile lately. Work has been super-stressful, and then dealing with the car issue has me stretched way too thin. And DH's best friend from high school's dad passed away last night. He had a stroke a few weeks ago and went into hospice a couple of days ago. Of course that just brought back our experience of the last few weeks. And a 1st grader at the kids' school has leukemia. Tonight they went to a fund-raising dinner, and the line was stretched half-way down the block. Even the local news channel showed up. I got teary when DH was telling me about it on the phone. Every little thing makes me teary--so not like me (DH calls me an emotional robot). And the women are already throwing themselves at FIL. It's only been a month. I just can't get over how tacky and disrespectful it is.

On the lighter side of things, we did decide to ditch the Suburban and I picked up my Nissan Armada this afternoon. It is sweet. Bluetooth so I can send and receive calls from the car, a rear camera and sonar for backing up, no keys--just an RFID chip embedded in the remote (I feel like George Jetson with no keys). I love it, but haggling over it was such a PITA. I've settled 3 or 4 lawsuits this year and none have been as much of a pain as negotiating this car.

But in case anyone's jealous of my awesome (gas guzzling) new car, here's a story for ya. We were walking down the stair, leaving the car place when I caught the heel of my shoe in the cuff of my pants. I lost all control and pretty much threw all of my weight into DH trying to maintain my balance. Thank goodness he was there, or I definitely would have fallen all the way down the concrete steps. It was not pretty, and I swear I pulled every single muscle in my body and banged my knee into something. I have a bruise popping up on my knee cap and my back, rib cage and neck are all throbbing. May have to go take a hot bath before bed.

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, my work event went well. My outfit was perfect, although there were so few women there I could have gotten away with almost anything. There was literally a 10/1 male to female ratio. I think I've discovered the perfect place for single girls to meet eligible guys. Anyway, generally loathe schmoozy events, but this went well. I met several clients with whom I had only corresponded by phone or email, and several others with whom I have no direct involvement--yet.

Cursed, I tell ya!

So the problem with the Suburban is indeed the tranny. The cost for a "major overhaul" is $2200. So now we're trying to figure out whether we want to put that kind of cash into an 8 year old vehicle with 150,000 miles and a bluebook value of $5K or just buy a new one.

We weren't really planning to keep the Suburban more than a few more months anyway, but I really don't have time to car shop right now, and we were trying to knock out a couple of bills before car shopping again.

I guess we'll get a couple more quotes for tranny repair tomorrow, and I've already gotten a coupe of quotes on a new (used) vehicle. I just can't bring myself to buy a new (new) vehicle, but there's an '07 Tahoe with 32K miles at the dealership down the road that might fit the bill.

I think I'm cursed

So I headed out to frou-frou mall this afternoon in search of a dress. Fifteen minutes into my journey I realized that my engine was revving hard and not switching into a higher gear. And I couldn't go any faster than I already was. So I took the next exit, and found that my Suburban seems to not be switching from 2nd to 3rd gear. Once I got off the highway, I couldn't go more than 30 mph, and within a few minutes I was topping out at 20 mph.

DH gave me directions to the nearest transmission shop, and I slowly made my way there at 20 mph. Fortunately I was in the 'burbs and didn't have to take any super-busy streets.

Once DH retrieved me, we went to the nearby not-so-frou-frou mall, where the highest end store is Dillards. My options were very limited, but I managed to score a basic black shift dress with matching bolero jacket for $27 (no, that is not a typo--it was 70% off!). It is cut like this one, but the jacket is solid black with 3" black-sequined cuffs. Just enough sparkle for an after-five business affair, and I can top the dress with a cardigan or suit jacket for day wear.

I also found a 60" strand of silver pearls for $15 (also 70% off) that look fab with the dress when triple-looped. I wasn't sure these would go well with the dress, but I figured they were versatile enough to work with lots of things, so i bought them anyway. As it turned out, they look great with the dress!

For the final touch, I picket up a pair of rhinestone barrettes at Target for $6.

No new shoes required. I have a fabulous pair of strappy black heels, but I think I will wear my basic black work shoes (3.5" stilettos) and probably add a pair of black hose. I HATE pantyhose, but the dress is a petite and just a tad short for business. And my legs are pasty white.

So, the whole outfit was less than $50. A good thing, since I am afraid to hear how much it will cost to repair the transmission in the Suburban.

Fashion Advice Needed

I must attend an awards banquet next week for an association that my firm is very involved with. There will be many clients and many more potential clients in attendance. It is "cocktail attire" and I will have to leave straight from the office.

So, what the heck do I wear? Anything in my current wardrobe that might approximate cocktail is definitely not work appropriate, nor something that I would want to wear in a business setting. (I have ample cleavage and it is hard to find cocktail attire that does not draw attention to this attribute. Not that I mind too much since I was called "2x4" in high school and the girls are holding up pretty well considering I breastfed three children. But in business settings I prefer to be noticed for my brains and not my other assets.)

Can I get by with wearing a suit, or do I need to wear a dress? It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to go find a little black dress that I could throw a cardigan over during the day and remove for evening--but I don't have a ton of time to go shopping before this event.

And, no, there's no one to ask, since I'm the only girl in the office. The guys will definitely just wear their suits. Also, this industry organization is heavily male-dominated, so nearly all of the other females in attendance will be spouses--not sure if that makes a difference or not.

P.S. This is my 750th post--woot!

LC is too busy to blog.

Work has been insane. Between a mediation the end of this month, a trial in early May and a whole mess of other cases, I am barely keeping my head above water. I've been trapped in doc review hell for the last several weeks, and every time I turn around there are more documents. I've been doing electronic review every night from my laptop trying to get caught up. And then today I learned that the other side is producing a 145 gig hard drive. Sigh.

Yesterday, I f'd up big time and inadvertently produced privileged docs. Fortunately, opposing counsel was kind enough to point out my mistake (because there was a big green stickie on the docs that said "Privileged") and swears he didn't review them. And my boss didn't even yell at me. He just said "it happens, and we were lucky that opposing counsel was honest." Then when I joked that I was afraid I needed to start packing up, he assured me that I was very well regarded in the firm and that my hard work was very much appreciated and I was not going anywhere anytime soon.

Our new attorney is supposed to be taking some of the heat off of me, but I haven't noticed it much yet. But he did accompany me to an offsite doc review today. I felt like I had a bodyguard. He's a 6'6" bodybuilder and was wearing a black suit. He definitely gets the attention of every passing female.

I will definitely be going in to the office this weekend--something I've avoided since I started with this firm in August. But I have to work on our position paper for mediation and ID our exhibits. I guess the good news is that I am making up for all the hours I was short over the past couple of months while travelling during MIL's illness.

Tomorrow I'm getting sworn into my 2nd federal court bar. Partner said to review the local rules tonight because some of the judges will quiz you. Like I have nothing better to do. Fortunately I'm pretty well acquainted with the local rules because I am anal retentive about following procedure.

So this was rambling and random, but it's all I've got.

Trying to get back to normal

We are trying to get some sense of normalcy back in our lives. We spent the weekend running errands, picking up the house, fixing the bathtub issue, paying bills and just generally trying to get back on track. I spent a good part of Sunday cooking meals for the next couple of weeks. It is so nice to have homecooked food. We have really been eating a lot of crap lately and have the extra pounds to show for it.

We took PS to see Alice in Wonderland Saturday night. She is a huge Tim Burton and Johnny Depp fan and loved it. I thought it was ok, but expected it to be better than it was.

I also booked us in a cabin for Memorial Day weekend. Right on the river, with fishing off the back deck. I'm not so big on fishing, but spending a weekend at a cabin in the woods, relaxing on a deck overlooking the river sounds like the best vacation ever right about now. We'll wait a few weeks and ask FIL if he would like to join us.

Work is ok. We finally hired another attorney, which takes some of the heat off of me (and means I'm no longer the low man on the totem pole--good news in this economy!). I had been working my tail off last month trying to stay ahead of my deadlines since I knew I would be out for several days at some point. Now I can maintain a slightly more relaxed pace, but I have a mediation the end of this month and a trial that is 85% sure to go in May.

Hopefully no more chaos will be thrown our way for a while, because I have been operating at maxium capacity and really need some down time. (And by down time I mean only raising 3 kids and working 10 hour days.)

My baby's growing up

PS is finishing up her final year of elementary school and will be heading off to middle school next year. I can't believe that my curly-topped chubby baby isn't a baby anymore--or that I am old enough to have a child in 7th grade.

Last week her school sent home packets of information about scheduling and elective selection for next year, and Thursday evening PS and I toured the school. They are in a brand-new school with every amenity (including a $13 million natatorium right next door) and all of the kids are issued laptops. This school district is the reason I have a 45-minute commute to work.

We met her GT English teacher for next year, and the class sounds like it will be lots of fun. As soon as we walked in, we saw that the kids were assigned "The Giver" to read over the summer. I exclaimed, "Oh, look, we already read 'The Giver' trilogy, so you'll be a step ahead," and was quickly admonished and told that I should review the published suggested reading lists for schools in my state and avoid those books. Umm, ok, whatever. So I'm not supposed to let my kids read great books because she might read them later in school? I received a similar lecture from PS's second grade teacher because she had already read all of the Ramona Quimby books.

Overall, I was quite impressed with the middle school course options. Pre-AP courses are available in all core classes, and electives included the standards like band, art and theater, but also some that sounded more like high school courses like "Aerospace Career Portal."

Our only hang-up for choosing electives is the PE credit. PS wanted to take soccer, but it is not offered for credit. Her athletics choices are basketball, volleyball and gymnastics, cheer and drill team. Basketball, volleyball and gymnastics require try-outs and it seems unlikely that PS would make the teams without experience. Of course she could just take PE, but none of the "cool" kids ever take PE. Which leaves her with the choice of cheer or drill team. Neither is especially appealing to PS, but I think she is going to go with cheer.

I don't usually care what the cool kids are doing, but PS is a bit socially awkward and I'll do whatever I can to give her a boost through the tough middle school years. I hope joining a team will help her make a core group of friends, because I'm afraid she'll end up a loner if she only takes classes and electives that don't require a lot of group involvement. Now is when I question my decision to accelerate her in kindergarten. She is the youngest and shortest in her class. I wouldn't say that she is immature, but she's the nerdy smart kid who just isn't interested in the same things as her peers. I know that she'll come in to her own eventually (probably in college), but I fear the middle school years will be really, really hard on her.

So I'll continue to push her academically (I've already informed her that all of the pre-AP courses are non-negotiable), but I'll also encourage her to do cheer and theater and other classes that will help her make friends and give her confidence.

Seriously???

We had the rosary for MIL on Tuesday and the funeral on Wednesday. We drove home Thursday. We probably would have stayed through the weekend, but PS had her "transition to middle school" program Thursday night, and it seemed like something that we really needed to attend. (And it was, but that is a whole other post.) We got home yesterday with just enough time for me to drop off DH and the twins and head over to the middle school with PS.

I returned to work today, and met the family for dinner this evening. DH and I planned to watch a movie together tonight and to spend our first weekend at home in a month relaxing. The best laid plans...

Shortly after arriving home from dinner, TT informed us that there was dog barf in the upstairs hall . . . and the game room . . . and their bedroom. Then, when PS was headed to the pantry to look for carpet cleaner, I heard, "Mo-oommm, the ceiling is dripping."

Oh yes, a huge water stain on my kitchen ceiling. Which just happens to be directly below the upstairs bathroom. And of course, there is no easy way to access the kitchen ceiling--there is only about a 10" gap between the first and second floors through which the HVAC, plumbing and electrical lines are run and the only access is either through the ceiling downstairs or through the floor upstairs.

We suspected that the upstairs bathtub is the culprit, so DH sawed a hole in the wall of the linen closet to investigate. As suspected, the floor beneath the tub is soaked, and it looks like the drain is leaking. We can probably repair the drain without too much trouble, but it is nearly impossible to tell the extent of the damage between the floors unless we remove the bathtub and cut a hole in the floor below. Or cut a hole in my kitchen ceiling. The floor beneath the bathroom will be less noticeable, but removing the tub doesn't sound like fun.

Let's see, in the last week my MIL died, my car was hit, I got a speeding ticket, my animals barfed all over my carpet, and my bathtub is leaking through a floor and ceiling. What have I done to upset the cosmos?