McGrath Moments

Wow! KU lost tonight. I am still numb. Each year we invest so much time into watching games and into being such huge fans and with one game, it is ALL OVER! Such a disappointment!

With that, I guess I will have more time to catch up on our blog. Ed and I went to Puerto Rico last week. We had a fun time enjoying each other's company and enjoyed a little time away from the daily routine. I'm sure everyone read my whiny blogs about the trip, but overall we had a great time.

This was our hotel.

This was the view from our hotel room.

A rainy day, but still trying to enjoy the beach.

We were actually able to sit in First Class on the flight home. We were so excited!

I know this is a silly picture, but the meal in First Class absolutely beats the bag of peanuts you get in Coach. We even got FREE BOOZE! See my glass of wine! I had THREE!!

Puerto Rico was a beautiful place to visit and I am so glad we had the chance to go. It really makes us look forward to the nice weather that we will soon experience...I hope!!

I have come to accept my role in Ed's work life. He goes out of town and I take care of the kids. He takes clients out to dinner, goes to business seminars/meeting, goes to conventions and I go along as "his wife" to look good, be charming, and paint a smile on my face. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed a lot of fun trips with Ed's work, but I know my role.

I have asked Ed before if he is ever embarrassed by the fact that I am a Dental Hygienist. He said he absolutely was not and asked me why I would even say that. It was because I always get the same reaction, especially from engineers. It is the "Oh...that's nice, she must be kinda stupid" look. Well, I got it last night and I about lost it.

This female engineer asked me what I did and I told her I was a Dental Hygienist and she replied with, "Oh...that's fun." FUN? What in the world is fun about it? I clean infected, bleeding, odor-filled gums with week-old food lodged in-between teeth. Except, she didn't really mean "fun". With the drawn-out way she said it and the stupid little grin on her face, I know what she meant was "what a stupid little bimbo." After she replied that way to me, Ed just looked at me because he knew how I felt. I am not a violent person, but I wanted to slap that stupid grin off of her face.

Am I to assume that she is a dorky nerd because she is a female engineer. She clearly thinks she is better and smarter than other people and I cannot stand that attitude. I told Ed for the remainder of the evening, I was just going to say that I stay home and take care of the kids. It would just be an easier response and one that is acceptable. But, then I decided that I couldn't do that. I am who I am. I do what I do. I know that I am a smart person and that my career deserves respect.

Getting accepted into hygiene school is very competitive and my job completely exhausts me mentally and physically everyday. I deal with lots of attitude from the public. I make sure that people's mouths stay as healthy as possible because it is connected to the rest of their body. The links between periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, preterm birth, and lots more cannot be ignored. There has to be a reason that the average full-time dental hygienist in the Kansas City area gets paid an average of $75,000/year. It's not because we are stupid or a bimbo who sleeps with the Dentist, as most often seen in movies. We deserve respect and from now on I will let anyone know that who says differently. Except, of course, Ed's clients because they are always right, no matter what. Don't you love it?

Here I am, sitting in San Juan, Puerto Rico in my hotel room updating my blog. Clearly I am not laying on the beach as I had planned. IT IS RAINING!! What is going on? March is one of the least rainiest months here and I don't get the opportunity to relax on the beach by myself everyday. Again I ask, WHAT IS GOING ON? I know I sound like a complaining brat, but I have been looking forward to laying in the sun and aging myself with the UVA and UVB rays for months now (just kidding about the last part!). Now my entertainment is the Internet and ESPN and the Jayhawks don't even play until 1:30 here. If there is any crack in the clouds at all and I see one sliver of blue sky...I am going to be the first one on the beach. Life is so unfair and I am going to be having myself a pity party here in my room. I know how pathetic I sound and I don't care. Woe is me!!

Yesterday I was able to enjoy a morning at the spa with my friend, Tiffany. For my birthday, Ed gave me a gift certificate for a full body massage (an hour) and a 30 minute facial. He actually gave me two gift certificates so I could take a friend. It was a lot of fun and really should have been a very relaxing time. The massage and facial felt great, but I found it very interesting that I could never relax my mind. It was going a hundred miles a minute on what I had to do when I got home and if the kids had homework to complete by Monday and all of the packing I have to do for next week (we are going on vacation). I kept trying to clear my mind, but it just wouldn't work. I will need to figure out some mind relaxation techniques for my next spa adventure. There must be a way to escape being a mother and wife for just a few hours!! :)

We also went to the Auto Show Saturday at Bartle Hall. Braeden LOVES the Transformers movie and Chevrolet had their new cars there that are transformers in the movie. You would have thought Braeden had seen a movie star the by way he reacted! We passed Bumblebee (the yellow transformer/camaro) as we were driving to park and Braeden immediately rolled down his window and started screaming, "BUMBLEBEE, BUMBLEBEE!!" I guess to him these cars are movie stars! We were able to take his picture with some of the cars/transformers inside too. Lots of fun!!

Posting on this blog has become less and less. Two to three evenings a week, my sister and I are working with our personal trainer and trying to make time for spinning class...usually 6am on Fridays. Brenna, our two year old, brings home 6 pages of homework to be done each week and a "sound sack", which has to be filled with items that begin with the letter of the week. Not to mention the baths, breakfasts, dinners, laundry, bedtime stories, and of course TV watching that we need to cram into our evenings. Things have been BUSY. So the blog has suffered!

What's going on with Braeden? He is having his first sleepover with a non-relative tonight. I do not know how I feel about that. Zach is Braeden's best friend from school and he has stayed at our house, but there is just something about letting my child go to someone's house (that I don't know very well) and be under their care that makes me feel uneasy. I'm sure all will be fine, but I am just nervous. I guess this is how I am going to feel about all of his "firsts" as he gets older and does things away from his father and I, but it makes me sad.

What's up with Miss Brenna? She has been saying the funniest things lately! A couple of nights ago at dinner she asked if she could have a treat. Ed said if she finished her dinner she could pick out a cookie. Her response was (with her eyes rolling), "don't tell me that!" Oh my! YOU ARE TWO YEARS OLD!

Last night we were waiting for a table to eat at a restaurant and I was holding her and she farted. I felt it and heard it. She looked at me a said rather loudly, "Mama, I farted. Excuse me." Yes, she was polite about it.

Brenna was doing one of her homework papers this week, which was trying to write her name and Braeden was doing his best to help her, but was getting frustrated. She looked at him and said, "Braeden, RELAX!"

My goal is to try to keep up better with this blog, but who knows!!

After church this morning we went to have breakfast at Danny's. I went to the bathroom and noticed that I had a rip in the seam of my pants. I bought the pants from Ann Taylor-so NOT cheap. I was kind of upset, but my Mom looked at them and told me they would be easy to fix and she could do it for me. When we got in the car, I told Ed that my Mom said she could fix my pants. Here is the rest of the conversation:

Ed: You have a sewing machine. Why can't you fix them?

Me: I don't even know how to load the thread onto the machine.

Ed: You are a woman. Weren't you born with that kind of knowledge?

Me: (I gave him the "You did not just say that to me" look)

Ed: Before you get all upset, just forget that I said that.

Yeah, I'll forget it for now. In his defense, I did beg him for a sewing machine and still have NEVER used it and really have no desire to learn, but if he EVER says anything like that to me again, I just may have to learn to sew his LIPS shut!