My grievance this week is about my own clumsiness.  Again.

I have bruises on my legs from where I bumped into the kitchen cabinet door. 

I have bruises on my arm from where I bumped into Emma's door jamb while I was carrying her.

I have bruises on my ankle from where I smashed it into my bed frame.

Rogene has been telling me since we first got married that someday he would "teach me to be graceful." 

I think I'll be needing that edjumacation right about now, thanks.

For more Sunday Festivus fun, head over to Terrific Teens.

My grievance this week is with illness.

My baby has had vomiting and diarrhea this week.  The kind that gets all over the place. 

We've been getting up at all hours of the night to change crib sheets and put Emma in the bath (the mess cannot be contained without a full bath). 

I've done more loads of crib sheets, blankets, plush toys, sleepers, onesies and changing table pad covers than you'd care to know.

The rest of our laundry has been piling up while I attend to the most pressing (smelly) laundry first.

Emma seems to be getting better.  I'm so thankful for that, for her sake, and for so many other reasons too!

Have a grievance you need to air this week?  Head over to Sunday Festivus hosted by Terrific Teens to join in the fun.  You'll feel better if you get it off your chest!

My grievance this week is pretty simple.

Nutrigrain Breakfast Bar.

On the bottom of some one's shoe.

Tracked all through the house, including (but not limited to) the kitchen, hallway, living room, dining room and bathroom.

I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed the floor because I couldn't seem to get all of it.

My feet kept finding sticky spots.

Then I checked the bottom of my feet and there was Nutrigrain bar stuck to my foot.  I was tracking it through the house while trying to clean it up. 

There are no pictures of this nightmare.  It was too gruesome to photograph.

For more Festivus fun head over to Terrific Teens.  (You can post your grievance on your own blog and leave the link there too, if you are interested.)

My grievance this week is with spiders.  It is that time of year again.  Spring.  It is getting warmer.  The spiders are back.  Here is a few pictures of what I'm dealing with over here…

This guy was up by the ceiling.  He is brown and smallish, but very quick and jumpy. 

 This guy was in my sink!  Check out his abdomen-thing and his freaky joined legs.

There are good things about winter, people, and no spiders is one of them!

Post your grievance on your blog and then visit Terrific Teens to leave your link and read more Festivus fun.  You'll feel better if you get it off your chest!

**Edited to add:  I hit "publish" and then went to put my baby down for a nap.  I had to kill a spider in her room before I could put her down in her crib.  Can you believe it?  It is like they are trying to take over the house!**

My grievance this week is with my own clumsiness. 

I knocked over a full glass of water.

It was right on the edge of the kitchen counter top.

My purse was on the floor right below the water glass.

Care to guess what happened?

You are correct!  I knocked the glass over, it tipped in the exactly right direction and the water spilled in a perfect arc to splash my entire purse including the credit card slots, the interior pockets and even the little zippered pocket where I keep the lip gloss and the band aids.  Not one area of my purse was dry. 

Actually now that I think about it, it is a pretty good trick.  Anybody can knock a glass over and get water in one pocket of their purse… but can they manage to soak every pocket?

What happened to you this week that grieved you?  You'll feel better if you post it on your blog.  Don't forget to head over to Terrific Teens to add your link and read more Festivus Fun.

 I have a couple of grievances to air this week.

1.  Daylight Savings Time.  Bah!  Does anybody actually like the time change? 

2. Our church has a very small mother's room right off the sanctuary.  It has a changing table, two rocking chairs, and some random toys.  There is a sign on the door that says "Mothers and Infants Only". 

Please understand, at my church this is the only place to change a baby's diaper or nurse a baby with any privacy.  You could change your baby on the counter top in the bathroom, but there is no pad to lie the baby on, the counter top is cold and hard, and it would be easy for the baby to fall off. 

Here is where my grievance comes in.  People in my church use the mother's room as a place for private discussions.  I come barging in the door with my baby and her dirty diaper, and there are two people in there who are clearly in the middle of a very private discussion, and they stare me down until I back out the door and say "sorry".  Then I go to the bathroom and change my baby in the cold hard counter top when there is a perfectly good changing table in the mother's room.

My baby isn't nursing anymore, but when she still was I would have to kick someone out of that room nearly every week so I could nurse in private. 

So, this next week I resolve to not be a wussy anymore!  If someone is in the mother's room who is not either nursing a baby, handling a temper tantrum, rocking a sleeping baby in the chair or changing a diaper I'm going to politely ask them to leave.  Motherhood should come with some privileges, and I feel one of them should be using the mother's room whenever we need to care for our babies.

Please note:  This grievance is not against any one specific person. 

If you'd like to air your grievances on your blog this week, please visit Terrific Teens, home of the Sunday Festivus, and leave your link so we can all share in your Festivus fun.

My grievance this week is about hospital Emergency Rooms. 

I bet you think I'm going to complain about all the waiting.  I bet you think I'm going to say "WE WAITED 7 HOURS!".  Well, we did wait 7 hours, but that isn't the worst part.

The worst part for me was feeling like every surface that we came in contact was germy and going to make us even sicker.  Several times in the 7 hours we were there a cleaning crew came through and spruced things up.  But between those cleanings, people were coughing, vomiting, children with runny noses were touching things.  It just felt like GermLand to me.

They did provide anti-bacterial gel in dispensers on the wall, and we used them many times.

And now I'm going to go burn all our clothes and things we had with us at the Emergency Room.  You know, just to be safe.

P.S.  Tessa was the sick one. She has pneumonia, but is already much better, in case you were wondering.

If you'd like to air your grievances, check out TerrificTeens.  My sister has more Festivus fun going on over there.

The grievance I'm going to air this week is about school "Snow Days."

Now, I have no problem with having a "Snow Day" when the weather is truly terrible, and getting children to school would endanger their lives.  But lets get real here.  In the Pacific Northwest that just doesn't happen that often.  Special allowance should be made for those living in the mountains, because they get more snow and bad weather than we do here in the valley.  But please, when school is closed on a day where there is no ice, no freezing temperatures, no snow and not even much rain, then I find that highly ridiculous.  

This last Wednesday my daughter's school was closed.  I took a picture of the sky and posted it here.  Blue sky, people.  The roads were wet from a little rain.  It was probably 40 degrees. 

For more Festivus Fun, visit Terrific Teens.

Time for Sunday Festivus again.  The grievance I need to air this week is about food.

My sister brought me a healthy casserole during my recent bout of the flu.  I ate a serving and it was very, very good.  There was no guilt involved with eating this casserole, because it was made with only the healthiest low-fat ingredients.

Unfortunately, shortly after eating it I became nauseated and even the smell or thought of that casserole made me queasy.  Seriously, I still cannot even think about that casserole, even though I'm well now.

How sad is that?  My sister makes me a totally great casserole and I not only couldn't eat it, I can't even think about it.  Don't you hate it when you get sick after eating a certain food… sometimes you can never eat that particular food again.  I have a friend who got sick after eating pineapple and to this day she won't eat any. 

Would you like to air your grievances in a postive/funny manner?  Head over to TerrificTeens for more Sunday Festivus fun.