One of those days that STARTED out great…and somewhere along the way ended up dealing with a little bit of stress and a LOT of baby vomit.
Day 13:
Something I'm Thankful For: The Discovery Cube. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, it’s a wonderful children’s museum that’s also super fun for adults (now with 3 locations in SoCal). If you’re from NY like me, it’s similar to Liberty Science Center, which I had not gone to in decades but remembered having the best time there! We’re so glad we became Cube members for two years, and we've already taken advantage of it! Plus there are so many wonderful changing exhibits we can look forward to, like Lego and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ones! …Oh yeah, the kids are looking forward to them too!
Challenge O' The Day: Trying to have a happy anniversary, while dealing with one exhausted mama (my mom, not me! Although I’m always exhausted these days too…), a baby girl who threw up 3 times (twice in one car ride! A household record!), and disappointing news regarding my new Wacom Cintiq. I was supposed to receive a new one within a week, so I was trying to enjoy as much of my mom’s stay and my son’s vacation time by planning fun outings guilt-free, knowing that by early next week my tech woes would be resolved. Turns out, I was misinformed. I am first supposed to RETURN a defected tablet on my dime, then wait 6-7 business days for everything to be processed so I can receive a brand new tablet. Well, I can’t work on my storyboard projects without this Cintiq. “Perfect timing”, with hubby still out of work.
Lesson Learned: I guess the positivity has helped me cope better with frustrating kid episodes (aka “The Throw-Up”) than big tech problems (aka “My Wacom Woes"). Handled the baby throw up with patience and no freaking out, which I may have done before the Positive Parenting class and my 30 day challenge. (Especially since it happened in the car…my poor son had to sit next to The Scene of the Crime for a good 15 minutes at least until we were able to pull over somewhere, then again for a similar stretch after we cleaned everything up just to have another explosion). However, the news about the tablet was super upsetting, and I did not handle it well. However, I was persistent with Wacom’s customer service, and now they’re sending me a new Cintiq before I have to return my old Cintiq. Which will only take yet another 6-7 business days… again. *Le sigh* Looking into purchasing an iPad Pro in the meantime, which my art friends have been giving rave reviews, but hesitant to drop down another grand until I’m sure of which version to get.
Daily Insight: Today had so many highs (anniversary date, flowers and cards from hubby, spending quality time with the kids at a really fun museum we love), and lows (let’s see, I mentioned the throwing up…the Cintiq scenario…Oh I definitely didn’t mention having to buy new books for the library for ones we are positive we returned to the library book drop yet somehow got lost… yay for more expenses!) I did think of an interesting way to keep days on the positive side of things: I think I’m going to assign points to every even that happens throughout the day, positive and negative. At the end of the day I will tally the results, and if it’s in the negative (more bad things happened that day than good) I will try to do enough positive things to balance out the day. For example, let’s say eating ice cream would merit 2 points, and dealing with throw up would be -3 points. I’d still be in the “red” by -1 point, so maybe at the end of the day I’ll put on a favorite TV episode (worth 2 points) and I’ll be on the positive side of things again! Should be an interesting way of dealing with my life on a daily basis, and I’m excited to try it out.