Ok, how many of you have seen the movie Meet the Parents? This morning, I had a Meet the Parents moment. You know the part where Greg is on the airplane and they want him to check his bag, but he doesn't want to, so he gets into an argument with the flight attendant? Well, here's the exact quote from the movie, and then I'll explain how it relates:
Greg Focker: If you would take a second...and take the little sticks out of your head and clean out your ears, maybe you would see that I'm a person who has feelings, and all I have to do is do what I wanna do! All I wanna do is hold onto my bag and not listen to you!
Hahaha...just thinking about that part of the movie makes me giggle. But, this morning, I seriously thought I was going to have a meltdown. Here's a very condensed version of the backstory:
Last night, the girls didn't go to bed until around 3:00 a.m. Then, Finau woke me up at 4:00 when he went to work and I didn't get back to sleep until around 5:00. Then, Ilaiasi had to be at the bus stop by 6:30 (I'm ashamed to admit that I slept through my alarm, and Ilaiasi had to come and wake ME up at 6:15 to tell me he was ready for school...love that kid!). And, to top it all off, Ovaka woke up at 7:00, just as I was drifting back off to sleep, and I had to get up for the day. DANG IT!!! So, needless to say, my morning has been a little rough since I'm running on almost no sleep. Anywhooo...at one point this morning, all three kids were screaming their adorable little faces off, and for just a split second, the Meet the Parents scene flashed before my eyes and I wanted to crumble up in a little ball and do my own version of Greg's airplane rant. In my mind, I screamed, "I'm a person who has feelings, and all I have to do is do what I wanna do! All I wanna do is GO TO SLEEP and not listen to you!" Hehehe...the moment has passed, so I can giggle about it now, but there was definitely a second there when I was seriously contemplating throwing my own little fit, sticking every baby in a crib, and crawling back under the covers for a little mid-morning snooze.
So, three cheers for me for NOT neglecting my sweet babies this morning! Sadly, it's come to that: me patting myself on the back for doing just slightly more than the bare minimum. Pretty much all day long, I give myself little pep talks and kuddos for things I totally took for granted once-upon-a-time-in-a-lifetime-far-far-FAR AWAY. I vaguely remember the days when I was able to clean my entire kitchen -- or, heck, my entire HOUSE if I was ambitious enough -- without interruption. Now, I feel like I deserve some grand award if I'm able to do multiple loads of dishes and/or laundry in the same day. Seriously. No, SERIOUSLY. It's either very comical or extremely depressing, depending on your viewpoint. I'm choosing to see it as funny. The smell eminating from my undone dishes...somewhat less funny. Luckily, I got one load of dishes done yesterday and another done this morning, so I only have about half a load left, and my kitchen is decidedly less smelly than it was yesterday. What's that, you say? You'd like to congratulate me on my awesome time management and parenting skills? AND you want to give me an AWARD for my efforts? Well, WOW...I don't know what to say...this is so unexpected...HAHAHAHA...yes, I am having another mental conversation with myself. I'm really hoping the continuous mental dialogue is a side effect of the sleep deprivation and not a permanent personality defect. It may also have something to do with the lack of adult interaction in my life...I'm not sure. At any rate, it's nice to blog because then at least it FEELS like I'm talking to someone besides myself...whether or not that's actually true is a bit irrelevant to me at this point.
So, to update you on my Christmas presents from Pod (if you don't know what I'm talking about, read the previous blog post), I did, in fact, get a soldering iron, a MINI blowtorch (thank goodness it's tiny...not at all what I was picturing, and much more useful than what I had envisioned as well!), some solder (I don't think it's the right kind for my jewelry, but I'm not sure yet), some flux (used with the solder to fuse pieces of metal together), and he also threw in some random junk for good measure: wood touch-up markers in varying colors, a $15 Olive Garden gift card, and I know there's something else I'm forgetting, but I can't think of what it is just now. Have I mentioned how much I love my dad's presents? I mean, come on...how many of you got an assortment of markers designed to touch up any nicks or scratches on your wood furniture from YOUR dad for Christmas? I'm betting none of you were so fortunate. I love my Pod...he's NUTS. Anyway, my stepdad Bryan came over and showed me how to use the soldering iron. Not nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be. It seems pretty straight forward...you heat up the item you want to stick something to, slather on a little bit of flux, melt the solder onto the flux whilst holding your two pieces together, and voila! your pieces are joined for good. Bryan made it look easy. I'll be honest...I'm still kinda scared. I'm going to go to the little bead and jewelry shop that I frequent and see if they can give me any tips. They have a soldering class that I want to take, but they only do it once a month, and this month I have to coach a tournament on that day, so maybe February will be my month. We'll see. Until then, do any of you have any words of wisdom or good soldering advice for me? Does anyone out there know if it's even possible to solder non-tarnish wire without ruining the color of the wire? I may have to get some new wire...I'm not sure yet. I'm very eager to learn, though, and can't wait to get started. One of these days, when my kitchen is FINALLY clean and the 3 ft. deep pile of laundry is done, I'll start making jewelry again. Don't worry...it's one of my New Year Resolutions...along with my resolution to "keep this year's resolutions." No, really...I'm going to do it this year. No, REALLY. What, are you calling me a liar? Oh, sorry...conversing with myself again. Another resolution? POSITIVE SELF TALK. But, let's save my resolutions for another post. Until then...HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody!! Have a marvelous day. Get some sleep if you're fortunate enough to have that luxury. And feel free to leave me a comment so that I know I'm not talking to myself on here, too. ;)
Showing posts with label soldering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soldering. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
If you want a surprise, don't tell my dad.
My dad is a mixed bag of enigmas. Sometimes I go years thinking he does things for absolutely no reason, only to glimpse the illogical logic in his thinking years after the fact. But that's neither here nor there...I'm just prepping you for the ridiculousness to follow. Bottom line: my dad does awesome, crazy things, and the way he gives gifts makes me laugh.
Let me just say, first of all, that I really do love the presents my dad gives. They are usually thoughtful -- or at the very least, they are purchased from my list so that I will definitely like them, and, depending on whether he went shopping on his payday or not, they are also frequently rather...um...bounteous. The best example I can think of to illustrate this point happened on my 16th birthday. The year that I turned 16, sweater vests were the "it" item of the year. Argyle, solid colors, flowers...you name it. Sweater vests of all colors and varieties were very in style. So, a couple of weeks before my birthday, my dad and I were window shopping at the mall, and I happened to point out a sweater vest or two that I really liked. Fast forward to the morning of my birthday. I distinctly remember sitting on my parents' bed, anxiously awaiting my presents (because I knew that one of them was the paperwork for my DRIVER'S LICENSE!), and in walked my dad with a MOUNTAIN of presents in his arms. I was speechless. As I tore into the gifts, I was really excited to find that he had purchased BOTH of the sweater vests I had taken a liking to when we shopped at the mall. So, I opened the next box...score! another cool sweater vest! And another box...wow...ANOTHER great sweater vest! I'm sure you get the idea by now, so let's skip the rest of the unwrapping and I'll just tell you the end results: Ten. Ten sweater vests. TEN SWEATER VESTS. And the best part? My mom said, as I was opening the last box, "If you can believe this, I made him put back HALF of the ones he picked out." HAHAHAHA...yep, that's my dad. Why settle for one when you can find ten?! So, keeping this story in mind...
This morning, I'm sitting on my couch chuckling to myself about another facet of the way my dad gives presents. I think I've mentioned my little brother Steven, who sometimes wraps his gifts in whatever random nasty thing he finds lying around when he goes to look for wrapping paper: old blankets, trash bags, stuffed inside the pocket of an old pair of pants...you get the idea. He typically gives AMAZING gifts, but you'd never know it by looking at the wrapper. Well, the more I thought about it, I realized that Steven comes by this crazy habit quite naturally because my dad does the exact same thing. The only difference between them is, Steven can keep a secret when it comes to gifts, whereas my dad is THE WORST secret keeper EVER. No, really...this guy cannot keep a secret to save his life as far as gifts are concerned. He called me last week, and the conversation went something like this:
Me: Hi Pod...what's up? [I call him "Pod," which is short for "Padre."]
Pod: Hey...I got your Christmas present today! Wanna know what it is?
Me: Nah, I think I'd like to be surprised on Christmas Day.
Pod: Well, I'm not gonna wrap it, so it really won't be that much of a surprise. I think you'll really like it. You'll probably want to know what it is ahead of time, that way you can ask for stuff to go with it. Wanna know what it is?
Me: (realizing that he is going to keep harassing me until I cave and let him tell me what he bought) Ok, Pod...what's my present?
Pod: A SOLDERING IRON! I got it for your jewelry so that you can make lots of different stuff!
For those of you who aren't familiar with soldering irons (as I wasn't before I got back into this whole jewelry making world), a soldering tool helps you fuse two pieces of metal together. It's basically sort of a miniature hand-held welding device. I'm really happy my dad is getting this for me because having access to a soldering tool will open up a whole new world for me in terms of jewelry design, and I am REALLY excited about that. So, Pod and I discuss some of the great things I'm going to be able to do with this tool and try to figure out what other accessories I might need in order to take full advantage of this amazing present. A couple of days later, I get another call from him:
Me: Hi Pod...whatcha doin?
Pod: Oh, just driving to work. Guess what I have sitting here in the front seat with me????
Me: My Christmas present?
Pod: Yep, and you're gonna love it! And guess what?
Me: What?
Pod: I got you TWO soldering tools. A big one and a smaller one...just in case you need to work on different sized projects. And then, while I was at it, I also got you a BLOWTORCH!
HOLY CRAP. A BLOWTORCH??!!! Seriously? So, basically, there's still two weeks until Christmas, and I'm thinking if he doesn't slow down, I'm going to have full blown welding gear to open (read: look at, since it won't be wrapped) on Christmas morning. Again, why stop at one when you can have two? And really, while we're at it, why stop at a soldering tool when you can have a BLOWTORCH!? Oh, how I love my funny dad.
Anyway, I added a coupon to my Etsy shop for those happy few of you who take the time to read my ramblings. Type "BLOG12" in the coupon code at checkout and get free shipping! Be sure to look for my new SOLDERED jewelry after the holidays, and until then, here's some of my latest stuff:
Let me just say, first of all, that I really do love the presents my dad gives. They are usually thoughtful -- or at the very least, they are purchased from my list so that I will definitely like them, and, depending on whether he went shopping on his payday or not, they are also frequently rather...um...bounteous. The best example I can think of to illustrate this point happened on my 16th birthday. The year that I turned 16, sweater vests were the "it" item of the year. Argyle, solid colors, flowers...you name it. Sweater vests of all colors and varieties were very in style. So, a couple of weeks before my birthday, my dad and I were window shopping at the mall, and I happened to point out a sweater vest or two that I really liked. Fast forward to the morning of my birthday. I distinctly remember sitting on my parents' bed, anxiously awaiting my presents (because I knew that one of them was the paperwork for my DRIVER'S LICENSE!), and in walked my dad with a MOUNTAIN of presents in his arms. I was speechless. As I tore into the gifts, I was really excited to find that he had purchased BOTH of the sweater vests I had taken a liking to when we shopped at the mall. So, I opened the next box...score! another cool sweater vest! And another box...wow...ANOTHER great sweater vest! I'm sure you get the idea by now, so let's skip the rest of the unwrapping and I'll just tell you the end results: Ten. Ten sweater vests. TEN SWEATER VESTS. And the best part? My mom said, as I was opening the last box, "If you can believe this, I made him put back HALF of the ones he picked out." HAHAHAHA...yep, that's my dad. Why settle for one when you can find ten?! So, keeping this story in mind...
This morning, I'm sitting on my couch chuckling to myself about another facet of the way my dad gives presents. I think I've mentioned my little brother Steven, who sometimes wraps his gifts in whatever random nasty thing he finds lying around when he goes to look for wrapping paper: old blankets, trash bags, stuffed inside the pocket of an old pair of pants...you get the idea. He typically gives AMAZING gifts, but you'd never know it by looking at the wrapper. Well, the more I thought about it, I realized that Steven comes by this crazy habit quite naturally because my dad does the exact same thing. The only difference between them is, Steven can keep a secret when it comes to gifts, whereas my dad is THE WORST secret keeper EVER. No, really...this guy cannot keep a secret to save his life as far as gifts are concerned. He called me last week, and the conversation went something like this:
Me: Hi Pod...what's up? [I call him "Pod," which is short for "Padre."]
Pod: Hey...I got your Christmas present today! Wanna know what it is?
Me: Nah, I think I'd like to be surprised on Christmas Day.
Pod: Well, I'm not gonna wrap it, so it really won't be that much of a surprise. I think you'll really like it. You'll probably want to know what it is ahead of time, that way you can ask for stuff to go with it. Wanna know what it is?
Me: (realizing that he is going to keep harassing me until I cave and let him tell me what he bought) Ok, Pod...what's my present?
Pod: A SOLDERING IRON! I got it for your jewelry so that you can make lots of different stuff!
For those of you who aren't familiar with soldering irons (as I wasn't before I got back into this whole jewelry making world), a soldering tool helps you fuse two pieces of metal together. It's basically sort of a miniature hand-held welding device. I'm really happy my dad is getting this for me because having access to a soldering tool will open up a whole new world for me in terms of jewelry design, and I am REALLY excited about that. So, Pod and I discuss some of the great things I'm going to be able to do with this tool and try to figure out what other accessories I might need in order to take full advantage of this amazing present. A couple of days later, I get another call from him:
Me: Hi Pod...whatcha doin?
Pod: Oh, just driving to work. Guess what I have sitting here in the front seat with me????
Me: My Christmas present?
Pod: Yep, and you're gonna love it! And guess what?
Me: What?
Pod: I got you TWO soldering tools. A big one and a smaller one...just in case you need to work on different sized projects. And then, while I was at it, I also got you a BLOWTORCH!
HOLY CRAP. A BLOWTORCH??!!! Seriously? So, basically, there's still two weeks until Christmas, and I'm thinking if he doesn't slow down, I'm going to have full blown welding gear to open (read: look at, since it won't be wrapped) on Christmas morning. Again, why stop at one when you can have two? And really, while we're at it, why stop at a soldering tool when you can have a BLOWTORCH!? Oh, how I love my funny dad.
Anyway, I added a coupon to my Etsy shop for those happy few of you who take the time to read my ramblings. Type "BLOG12" in the coupon code at checkout and get free shipping! Be sure to look for my new SOLDERED jewelry after the holidays, and until then, here's some of my latest stuff:
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