Overwhelmed

I'm home.  My kids were delighted to see me.  My husband was delighted to see me. I was delighted to see them all.

But, ye cats, people, I'm tired and there is SO much to do.  A giant tornado came through my house, we are out of bread (I ate the last two pieces with peanut butter on them for dinner at midnight last night) and I have work!work!work! ahead of me. Not just housework, but connecting with my kids, laundry, a couple of product reviews (only a couple - like two), laundry, planning a birthday party, schooling stuff for next year, laundry, unpacking swag (yes, I did get stuff, but I swear I didn't grab and run or elbow anyone's baby for it and I wasn't greedy), a broken blender and desktop computer to try to repair, little bodies and big bodies to hug, stories to hear, laundry, picking new eyeglasses for myself...

Wait.  THAT'S what I need to ask you.  Anyone have a great ability to pick wonderful frames?  I have an opportunity to review an eyeglass distributor - and I DESPERATELY need new glasses, as mine are - wait for it - FIFTEEN years old - but I don't know what frames would look good on my face, with it's lack of cheekbones and giant block of squareness.

I MUST thank my husband, who took two days off work during his busiest time of the month to stay home with our kids so that I could leave.  I would be TOTALLY REMISS if I didn't thank my mother, who took five of my kids CAMPING - God love her, she's the only way that my kids will ever get to go camping, I won't be doing it - for three days AND took them to the beach.  I looked online at my bank balance and it appears that my husband and oldest son had a ball of movie watching, pool hall frequenting, and fast food eating.  You'd never know that the morning I left for Chicago, I frantically cooked five pounds of panko crusted baked chicken for them to eat while I was away. 

For the next two days, I'm going to be reflecting on some things I learned about myself while I was away, answers to questions my mind has been pondering, and generally getting all introspective on you.  That's what time away does to me.

What have you been up to?  What did I miss?  Give a sister the scoop!

Comments

[Pearl]

Welcome home! As great as it is to get away there's nothing like coming home.
I wish I could help you with the frames thing but I hang on to glasses until I have no chioce but to replace them. I have two pair now (because i refused to get progressive lenses again) one for driving (everything close is fuzzy) and one for general desk and walking around (must take them off to see computer but then the keyboard is fuzzy, thankfully the letters are big!) Anyway, they're both over five years old and will have to last quite a while longer.
As for keeping busy while you were gone, I tried something new last week. I made menus for a MONTH and then did marathon shopping for the month as well. Boy, were my puppies tired. It took me two days to recoup. Today I've been repackaging into smaller portions so we don't blaze through a month's provisions in one week! :) I realize that you'd need a small warehouse and a local Brinks truck to do this but with only three of us I'm hoping it helps the budget.
I'm glad you had a great trip and I'm looking forward to hearing all that you learned! Well, at least SOME of what you learned. :D

[Sylvia]

When I buy glasses, I usually take a guy friend with me and make him watch me try on 10 pairs that I think look best. I can't trust my husband because he thinks I look good in a men's t-shirt and boxers. I always pick out 2 very different frames so if I'm having a bad hair day I can throw everybody off with a new look. I have decent cheekbones but a ridiculously large forehead...so I usually go for colored frames. I'm actually not sure why I think this works...hmmm...

That was no help at all, was it? Sorry. I tried.

Anyhow...the baby started crawling. So I spent my weekend being shocked and trying to remember how to babyproof everything. On Sunday I indulged in several Mimosa's. And did laundry.
Yawn...

[Jessica]

Welcome home! While you were gone I did something that I have never done before and went to New Market and golfed for four days! I have muscles I never knew I had until this morning. I loved playing and I did a fine job too. The weather there was wonderful while here in Northern VA it was hot and muggy and gross. With my raise from work I bought me a sewing maching from HSn that embroiders and quilts as well as sew... now if it could only dry me off after a shower I would be happy! But I bought material today to make some bags for my breast cancer picnic to give to people who donate money and I am so excited to play with it. I accidently bought a pack of scissors for 63 bucks but promptly retunred them. Hancock Fabrics now puts a bad taste in my mouth becuase of the way that they advertize their specials. I have also been using my cricut to make things for other people, like a calendar and titles for the women's board at the moose! Go me!
See how I did much walking training for my 3 day walk coming up soon?? yea i thought so LOLOL
Have a great week!

[mm]

Welcome back. I am amused that you have entitled your blog for today "Overwhelmed" as that is exactly the subject line of the email that I sent my supervisor at some point today. It reflected exactly how I was feeling.

To all parents of teenagers out there- I removed, believe it or not, 8 1/2 full garbage bags from my 15 year old daughter's bedroom on the weekend. Old magazines, school work etc. She is a real pack rat but wants her room painted this hideous green color and decided some stuff just had to go.

And I too bought a sewing machine last week. I got a great sense of satisfaction yesterday in just fixing a few pairs of kids's shorts and getting a thank you from the kids.

Don't forget- Rome wasn't built in a day. You'll get to it all sooner or later.

[Young Wife]

Sounds like you've got a wonderful husband and mother. I'll bet the kids had fun camping. I have no advice to give you about the eyeglasses. While you were away, our realtor told us that our house was priced way too high, even though it's priced exactly as he suggested. We've decided to ride out our contract with him and then try renting it out until the market is a little better.

[ggroszek]

I always liked the new glasses Paul Newman got in 'The Color of Money' actually wired frames but multi-colored, sorta like half sun glasses. I think those wood look good with the new ink, :-)
Watched the video about the smoothies, made me thirsty. You did a good job, but the sound quality was very poor, and your lip syncing was off just a hair. :-/
Glad your back safe and sound.

[Kate's Mama]

I am so proud of my 4th year old. The two of us went through her toys and she told me which ones she wanted to keep or give away. We ended up with 10 grocery-sized bags we donated to CHKD. After that, her cousin and Kate actually played more with the toys that were left. I felt great, it's the little things that make me happy.

[amie]

Been on vacation in CO for a week. Awesome trip & am happy to be home to dirty clothes, dirty dogs, empty fridge & stack of mail -LOL.Thats pretty much my agenda for today :)

[Stephanie]

I'm not a blogger, but I want to go to BlogHer some year just because it sounds so fun! lol Welcome back.

As for glasses, here are a few links that were helpful to me when I bought new glasses recently. These are the first glasses that I've truly loved after 20 years of wearing them, so clearly I did something right in choosing. ;)

http://www.allaboutvision.com/eyeglasses/eyeglasses_shape_color_analysis.htm

http://www.framesdirect.com/face-shape.asp

http://www.ehow.com/how_3248_choose-flattering-eyeglass.html

Good luck! Can't wait to see what you pick!

[Nicki]

No help with the glasses here. I cannot pick out a frame(s) to save my life, and my husband is no help whatsoever. Unfortunately, I need to get a new pair soon, and sunglasses as well, so pity whomever I corral in the store asking their opinion. :)

As for what I did...We are out of the house and spending this week in a motel before we drive to our new home in Nebraska. Have to love the military...no, really. :) The even better part, when we get there we have to spend 2 more weeks in TLF/motel room until we can close on our house. I may very well end up with less children than I started out with at the end of this trip. :) Nah, I love them, but it's a good thing this only happens every 3 years.

As an aside, to the poster above who cleaned out her teen daughter's room, I feel your pain. My 17-year-old is a pack rat as well, and I periodically do sweeps through his room and take out a ridiculous amount of crap each time, only to have it regenerate within a week. Go figure. *shrugs*

Glad you had a good time on your trip!

[Pat]

Glad you had a good time.

As for glasses, I desperately need frames and have been in six stores this summer. It appears it doesn't matter what shape of frame would be most complimentary to an individual's face, there is only one shape available. The eyewear trend right now is small, rectangular glasses (about the size of drug-store reading glasses) for all purposes. Even though this shape is too small for bifocals and the small rectangular shape looks terrible on me, that's all I've been able to find. I've been to chain optical stores, stores inside optometrists' offices, and department store optical departments. They've all just had the one type of frame.

Granted, they are in different colors and materials, but still just one shape.

This is all I see everywhere I go:

http://www.lenscrafters.com/eyeglasses/1/womens-frames/

Maybe things are better in your part of VA.

Pat

[Issa]

I am so, so, so tired. Any idea when that ends?

Am so bummed that I didn't get to meet you. I had the shittiest phone service and never saw your tweet at me. I was at the CB party, but dang it if you'd been right in front of me, I may not have seen you. Hai, overwhelmed.

I had a blast, I so did. But I need five days to recover at least.

[amy]

Welcome Home!

I LOVE buying new glasses. I have such pricey tastes though...the imports from France @@ It's like jewelry for your face. A local optical shop actually gave me a discount because of buying glasses there and they are not BORING and I send people to them all the time.

Next to tattoos I could probably spend all my $ on glasses to match everything

[jami]

No advice on choosing frames, but I just bought from eyebuydirect, and they were fantastic. I bought four pairs - 2 regular, 2 sunglasses, and love all of them. Now, I happen to like the current trend of small rectantular, or half rimmed, so that's a help. But the bigger help was 4 pairs of glasses for around $100. Can't recommend them enough!

[kyoot]

One of my mom's eye drs (cause I can't spell theother word) told her not to buy anything that would hide her eyebrows :)

[Camille]

Carmen, have you checked out goggles4u.com? Last week I was working at a convention with one of my co-workers and every other person commented on her glasses. They are very stylish and she ordered them from there. I think all you need is your prescription and someone to help you measure your eyes. It might be worth checking out!