Oh, I am so very, very behind on blogging. I had a mental list of all the things I wanted to write about, but of course I can't think of much of it now.
I didn't have a computer for a while after it was stolen, so that's the main reason for my lack of posts. Also a lack of time, of course, due to being mom to a 4.5 month old and working.
Wait. I have a 4.5 month old?! WTF? Seriously... when people say it goes by fast, they're really not kidding! For anyone out there who's still waiting to be a mom, please know that it really, truly does go by SO INCREDIBLY FAST!!! I've been trying to figure out some way of stopping time for a while, or at least slowing it down, or how to make sure I'm making the most of it and enjoying every moment (like people are always telling me to do!), but I can't figure out how to do it. I mean, I AM enjoying it. I just can't figure out how to stop or slow down time. And I really want to! It's weird, I'm actually pretty conflicted - as much as I'm looking forward to seeing Jordyn continue to develop, and seeing who she's going to become... I also already miss the early days. It's crazy - she's *only* 4.5 months old, but yet she's *already* 4.5 months old!
When I was still pregnant, especially as I was nearing the end of my pregnancy, and in the early days right after Jordyn was born, there was this excitement, this newness to it all, this period of anticipation and surreality (is that a word?) and the figuring-it-all-out when she was first born. And now, all of that has settled down, and there's just this sense of day-to-day, "new normal", going about our business kind of thing. And you know what? I'm sort of embarrassed to admit this, but I kind of miss that time of anticipation and excitement and figuring-it-all-out. I don't know why, exactly - it's not that it was easy! I guess it's just because here I was, entering this brand-new, exciting time in my life, and now it's just how it is. La-dee-dah, just another day.
I hope that doesn't sound bad. I don't mean for it to. It's NOT that the days are boring or that I have any regrets whatsoever! Nope, not at all! I am absolutely LOVING motherhood! It's just that maternity leave is over, I'm back at work, and the initial excitement is over. But I know there's so much more excitement yet to come as I watch Jordyn continue to grow and develop and have all kinds of new experiences and adventures. I'm so excited to share that with her and to show her the world!
Speaking of the world... Oh, the world... What is it coming to?! I can't stop thinking about the families in Newtown having to celebrate Christmas today without their loved ones who were killed in the elementary school massacre so recently. I can't even begin to imagine what they're going through, and when I start to imagine it - to think about something happening to Jordyn - it physically hurts my heart and I have to stop. I'm scared - SO scared - of something happening to her. Because I know I wouldn't want to live. She is my everything. It's so amazing, the *intense* love for your child that develops so quickly.
I don't know what needs to happen to change what the world (or, at least the US) is coming to, and I most certainly don't want to talk politics... but something needs to change. I can't imagine the Newtown parents having to send their children back to school, or any parents who have kids in school these days. The Newtown situation makes me want to homeschool, something I've never, ever considered before. Not that I could; as a single mom, I have to work, of course. I just don't want to have to worry about her safety every single day, all day. And then again, considering someone broke into our house recently, during the middle of the day... you're really never safe. Nowhere, ever. And that's just a scary, scary thought. And then, of course, there are things like car accidents, cancer...
Yeah, ok, so maybe I need to make an appointment with my therapist!
There's just so much to worry about, and the Newtown thing just brought it all to the front burner, I think. And my job doesn't help - working in a pediatric emergency department. When I was pregnant, I had a mantra I said to myself over and over - "Most babies are fine. Most kids are fine." Because almost every single kid I meet has something going on - developmental delay, cancer, seizures, physical disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injury, a congenital cardiac defect... you name it. Even something as minor as a broken bone or a laceration needing sutures or appendicitis... *Every* kid has some kind of medical something or other they're dealing with. And it's scary. And school shootings are scary. And there are *way* too many of them. So, it's hard to think about sending Jordyn off to school in a few years, not that I can protect her from the world, regardless of how much I try.
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A friend of mine at work keeps wishing me "Merry Christmas" even though she knows full well I'm Jewish and don't celebrate Christmas. Isn't that kind of weird? I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I don't think I like it. Her take on it is, it IS Christmas, whether I celebrate it or not. My take on it is, yes, it is Christmas, but if you know that someone doesn't celebrate it, you should respect that and not say "Merry Christmas" to them. I have no problem whatsoever when someone wishes me a "Merry Christmas" when they don't know that I'm Jewish. But when someone *does* know? I think it's kind of wrong to still say it. I don't walk around on Hanukkah telling everyone "Happy Hanukkah". I don't walk around on my birthday telling everyone else "Happy Birthday". Right?
This same friend also said something about how she wished Jordyn would get to celebrate Christmas, have a Christmas tree, get to open presents, etc. I said, but she celebrates Hanukkah and gets presents then. Christmas just isn't our holiday. She thinks of it as an American holiday, in a way, and I explained to her that it's really based in Christian beliefs, it's just become very commercialized. But I don't like that she's sad that Jordyn doesn't "get" to celebrate Christmas. It's not like I'm denying her this fun thing everyone else gets to do - it just simply isn't our holiday. We're Jewish, and we celebrate Jewish holidays. If we were Christian, we'd celebrate Christmas, and other Christian holidays. It's that simple. I think I may need to explain my feelings to this friend, because it just doesn't feel good to me for some reason, that she keeps kind of insisting on wishing me a "Merry Christmas" when she knows it's not my holiday. What are others' feelings on this? Am I making too much of it??
On a related note, though... I don't mind working a 12-hour day and getting paid time-and-a-half on a holiday I don't even celebrate! :)
Hope everyone who DOES celebrate has/had a very Merry Christmas, and I hope everyone else enjoyed their movie and Chinese food, or whatever they did/do on the 25th!
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Robbed! (and Related PSAs)
Last Thursday, I arrived home from work (after working "the princess shift" - 11:30am-6pm) to find that I'd been robbed.
Yep, someone broke into my house and stole my laptop and some of my jewelry.
Seriously... WTF is wrong with people?!?
Since I worked the early shift, my mom had brought Jordyn to my house and we were going to order in and I was going to get to spend some time with Jordyn before she had to go to sleep. They arrived at 6pm, and I got there at 6:40. I was focused on getting to Jordyn ASAP, so I didn't notice my laptop wasn't on the coffee table, where it lives, until a few minutes later. My mom had brought her upstairs to change both of them since Jordyn had just slimed them both. I found them up there, got my mom a t-shirt to put on, got Jordyn changed (she'd pooped, too), and then we went back downstairs.
I walked back into the den, saw that my laptop wasn't there, and asked my mom where it was. Since she'd gotten to my house before I did, I figured maybe she'd moved it somewhere. But of course she hadn't. I started to process what this meant... I was absolutely 100% sure the laptop had been on the coffee table when I'd left for work at 11am, because I'd used it shortly before leaving. I called my dad, thinking maybe he'd borrowed it (which makes almost no sense, but I guess I was in denial), and of course he hadn't. I started to cry, and said I thought it had been stolen. He told me I needed to call the police, and also see if anything else had been taken.
I walked around the house, and everything looked fine until I got to my bedroom and noticed that some jewelry was missing from my top dresser drawer.
PSA #1- The top drawer of your dresser is a completely stupid place to "hide" your jewelry (no offense intended - I did it, too!). If you currently have jewelry there, go hide it somewhere else. I don't know, in the guest room closet, or a kitchen cabinet, or a box marked "old junk" in the attic. Anywhere but your dresser drawer!
I only had some of my jewelry in my top dresser drawer, the rest of it was in a better hiding place that they didn't find. But what I had in my dresser were the things I'd worn more recently, and of course that means it was the stuff I liked the most. Best I can figure, they got three necklaces and a ring. Two of the necklaces were silver, so not worth a huge amount, but I really liked them. The third necklace was gold and a diamond, and my parents had it made for me a bunch of years ago. It was probably worth around $3K. The ring... oh, the ring! It was platinum, with a ruby (I think - a pink stone) and little diamonds, a one-of-a-kind (I think) estate piece that my grandfather gave to me, and he's since passed away. It was appraised at almost $9K several years ago, so probably worth more than that now with the current price of gold.
PSA #2 - Take a picture of any jewelry you own that's worth a decent amount of money. The police asked me if I had a picture of the ring, even just a picture of me wearing it, like at a wedding or something. I don't think I do. Plus, all my pictures were on my laptop...
PSA #3 - BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER. I'm an idiot - I didn't. I'm lucky in that my dad has pretty much all the Jordyn pics on his computer, plus I put a bunch on shut.terfly, some are on face.book, and most of the ones I took are still on my phone and camera. But all my other pictures, and email, and documents... gone. :( It's unlikely that the police will find my laptop, and even if they do, it'll likely be wiped down to factory settings, with none of my personal stuff on it anymore.
PSA#4 - Password protect your computer. I had a password on mine, and I'm SO glad I did. I feel *slightly* better that whoever has my computer can't just easily open it up and use it, and see all my personal stuff like pictures and email, and can't get onto all the websites I have set to automatically log me in.
PSA#5 - If you don't have an alarm system and don't want to get one, at least make it LOOK like you have one. That's my plan. I'm going to figure out how to get A.DT signs and stickers and make it look like I've installed an alarm system.
So, anyway, I called the police, they came, looked around, listened to my story, asked questions, etc. They had a detective come by later, who did basically the same thing. He was supposed to come back on Friday morning to try to get some fingerprints, but he ended up not being able to come before I left for work, and was going to come later, and my downstairs neighbor (who'd also been robbed - it's a two-family house and the asshole got into both units!) would be around. Apparently, he ended up never showing up at all, so I have to follow up on that tomorrow.
PSA #6 - If you have decent jewelry, insure it. Because of that ring, I was paying extra for a rider on my insurance policy for jewelry coverage, up to $10K with no deductible. It probably won't cover all that I lost, but it'll cover most of it, although I'd really rather just have the jewelry back!
In case you're wondering, the front door to my unit was locked when my mom got there, so she had no idea anything had happened until I got home and noticed my computer missing. There's damage to the back door, which is how the guy got in. He apparently popped the lock somehow on my neighbor's front door (which was open when he got home that evening), went through his apartment taking stuff, then up the back stairs and broke in to my place.
One other random thing - When I walked through the kitchen on my way upstairs when I first got home, I noticed the fridge door was open about 3 inches. I closed it, and thought, "geez, mom, you gotta close the fridge door all the way next time!", and was going to say something about it to her when I got upstairs. I forgot, but thought about it later when the detective was there, and my mom said she hadn't touched the fridge. He wasn't at all surprised, and said, "yeah, these guys come in and eat". Which made me happy that I hadn't gone grocery shopping in quite some time, and that there was absolutely *nothing* to eat in my fridge!
I keep reminding myself that it's just stuff, and that at least no one was home and no one was hurt. Jordyn's fine, I'm fine... But it still really sucks, I'm still really pissed off and upset, and the worst part? Some fucking asshole was in my house, in my BABY'S house! Every time I stand in front of my dresser, I think about the guy who stood there while he was stealing my jewelry. UGH!
Yep, someone broke into my house and stole my laptop and some of my jewelry.
Seriously... WTF is wrong with people?!?
Since I worked the early shift, my mom had brought Jordyn to my house and we were going to order in and I was going to get to spend some time with Jordyn before she had to go to sleep. They arrived at 6pm, and I got there at 6:40. I was focused on getting to Jordyn ASAP, so I didn't notice my laptop wasn't on the coffee table, where it lives, until a few minutes later. My mom had brought her upstairs to change both of them since Jordyn had just slimed them both. I found them up there, got my mom a t-shirt to put on, got Jordyn changed (she'd pooped, too), and then we went back downstairs.
I walked back into the den, saw that my laptop wasn't there, and asked my mom where it was. Since she'd gotten to my house before I did, I figured maybe she'd moved it somewhere. But of course she hadn't. I started to process what this meant... I was absolutely 100% sure the laptop had been on the coffee table when I'd left for work at 11am, because I'd used it shortly before leaving. I called my dad, thinking maybe he'd borrowed it (which makes almost no sense, but I guess I was in denial), and of course he hadn't. I started to cry, and said I thought it had been stolen. He told me I needed to call the police, and also see if anything else had been taken.
I walked around the house, and everything looked fine until I got to my bedroom and noticed that some jewelry was missing from my top dresser drawer.
PSA #1- The top drawer of your dresser is a completely stupid place to "hide" your jewelry (no offense intended - I did it, too!). If you currently have jewelry there, go hide it somewhere else. I don't know, in the guest room closet, or a kitchen cabinet, or a box marked "old junk" in the attic. Anywhere but your dresser drawer!
I only had some of my jewelry in my top dresser drawer, the rest of it was in a better hiding place that they didn't find. But what I had in my dresser were the things I'd worn more recently, and of course that means it was the stuff I liked the most. Best I can figure, they got three necklaces and a ring. Two of the necklaces were silver, so not worth a huge amount, but I really liked them. The third necklace was gold and a diamond, and my parents had it made for me a bunch of years ago. It was probably worth around $3K. The ring... oh, the ring! It was platinum, with a ruby (I think - a pink stone) and little diamonds, a one-of-a-kind (I think) estate piece that my grandfather gave to me, and he's since passed away. It was appraised at almost $9K several years ago, so probably worth more than that now with the current price of gold.
PSA #2 - Take a picture of any jewelry you own that's worth a decent amount of money. The police asked me if I had a picture of the ring, even just a picture of me wearing it, like at a wedding or something. I don't think I do. Plus, all my pictures were on my laptop...
PSA #3 - BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER. I'm an idiot - I didn't. I'm lucky in that my dad has pretty much all the Jordyn pics on his computer, plus I put a bunch on shut.terfly, some are on face.book, and most of the ones I took are still on my phone and camera. But all my other pictures, and email, and documents... gone. :( It's unlikely that the police will find my laptop, and even if they do, it'll likely be wiped down to factory settings, with none of my personal stuff on it anymore.
PSA#4 - Password protect your computer. I had a password on mine, and I'm SO glad I did. I feel *slightly* better that whoever has my computer can't just easily open it up and use it, and see all my personal stuff like pictures and email, and can't get onto all the websites I have set to automatically log me in.
PSA#5 - If you don't have an alarm system and don't want to get one, at least make it LOOK like you have one. That's my plan. I'm going to figure out how to get A.DT signs and stickers and make it look like I've installed an alarm system.
So, anyway, I called the police, they came, looked around, listened to my story, asked questions, etc. They had a detective come by later, who did basically the same thing. He was supposed to come back on Friday morning to try to get some fingerprints, but he ended up not being able to come before I left for work, and was going to come later, and my downstairs neighbor (who'd also been robbed - it's a two-family house and the asshole got into both units!) would be around. Apparently, he ended up never showing up at all, so I have to follow up on that tomorrow.
PSA #6 - If you have decent jewelry, insure it. Because of that ring, I was paying extra for a rider on my insurance policy for jewelry coverage, up to $10K with no deductible. It probably won't cover all that I lost, but it'll cover most of it, although I'd really rather just have the jewelry back!
In case you're wondering, the front door to my unit was locked when my mom got there, so she had no idea anything had happened until I got home and noticed my computer missing. There's damage to the back door, which is how the guy got in. He apparently popped the lock somehow on my neighbor's front door (which was open when he got home that evening), went through his apartment taking stuff, then up the back stairs and broke in to my place.
One other random thing - When I walked through the kitchen on my way upstairs when I first got home, I noticed the fridge door was open about 3 inches. I closed it, and thought, "geez, mom, you gotta close the fridge door all the way next time!", and was going to say something about it to her when I got upstairs. I forgot, but thought about it later when the detective was there, and my mom said she hadn't touched the fridge. He wasn't at all surprised, and said, "yeah, these guys come in and eat". Which made me happy that I hadn't gone grocery shopping in quite some time, and that there was absolutely *nothing* to eat in my fridge!
I keep reminding myself that it's just stuff, and that at least no one was home and no one was hurt. Jordyn's fine, I'm fine... But it still really sucks, I'm still really pissed off and upset, and the worst part? Some fucking asshole was in my house, in my BABY'S house! Every time I stand in front of my dresser, I think about the guy who stood there while he was stealing my jewelry. UGH!
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