ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

A cliché (from French, pronounced [kli'ʃeɪ]), or cliche, is a saying, expression, or idea which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning, especially when at some earlier time it was considered distinctively meaningful or novel, rendering it a stereotype.

Clichés are used by everyone because they make it easy to not think. Saying something you've heard over and over again without stopping to think what it means or how you feel about it is the easy way out.

Among the clichés I hate the most:
- It's the thought that counts. No, it isn't. It's the execution. I think a lot of things but it takes a lot more work to follow through.
- Parenting is great, kids are wonderful. Not always true. The typical thing seems to be that parents don't want to share the negative sides of parenting and just want to say how awesome their kid is. If we were all a little more honest about it, we'd spare other parents the heartache of feeling like they were the only ones finding it difficult.
- Marriage sucks. If it sucks so much, maybe you shouldn't be married? It's a choice to be married and I certainly don't want to cause someone to sit around and complain and be unhappy. Maybe if you used that energy on your marriage it wouldn't suck so bad.
- Countdowns until the weekend. My Facebook screen is often filled with people counting down until the weekend. Why? If Monday - Friday sucks that bad for you on a regular basis, maybe you should change what you're doing during the week. Weeekends can be fun but let's not constantly complain about what we are doing 71.42% of the time.
- The last election was the choice between the lesser of two evils. Nope, not true, although I heard it several times. We had two great men running for President and we are lucky to have had the choices we did. Saying this just kept people from having to think and engage in an intelligent discussion.

I'm sure there are others that I'm not listing but these are the ones that come to mind. The bottom line is that I wish people would just THINK more and avoiding clichés is a step in that direction.

I'm an unapologetic feminist. Not the kind that hates men but the kind that thinks women should have equal treatment as men. When we got married, I didn't want to be introduced as "Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Albert" but instead we were introduced as "Andy and Shannon Albert." I wasn't trying to make a statement; I just wanted to retain my own first name (at least!) and not be identified by my husband. I also took a year to get used to having a new name. In fact, my legal name is Shannon Rae Barnes Albert. I feel like getting married added on to who I already am vs. changing myself to be identified by my husband.

It is surprising, then, that I never questioned my salutation changing due to being married - especially since men don't change theirs. I'm about 30 years behind on this topic but it makes so much more sense to just call all women Ms. rather than changing from Miss to Mrs. due to marriage. Why do we identify women according to this anyway? It makes no sense. I will address Christmas cards to other women without the Miss or Mrs. from now on and would request that letters written to me do the same.

Hat tip to Blake for asking me about this. Same boy who asked me "can men be doctors or just women?" If male Republican feminists exist (surely they do), he's well on is way to joining them.

Many have asked what Andy's current job situation is so I wanted to let you all know what we know. Included in the inquiries was Blake saying "Dad, are you losing your job?" which was especially interesting since we don't watch the news and don't discuss these things with him until there's a reason to. Guess he's more aware than we thought.

On Thursday, Andy's company announced 1,300 more layoffs and also extended the required time-off in July from 2 weeks to 4 weeks for everybody. In addition, 700 more layoffs are expected to be announced in June. Andy was NOT affected by Thursday's layoffs but there's a much better chance he'll be affected by the June layoffs. We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, we'll be discussing what we'll do either way. Job searching is almost certain to be included regardless of what happens.

I'm feeling much better this morning and planning to go into work around lunchtime today to give the meds a chance to work.

I've been sick a lot lately and it's because I'm not taking care of myself. When I was training for the half-marathon, I was also eating healthy and never got sick once that whole time. Of course, it helped that I was doing that May - September which isn't peak sick time. (btw, got very, very sick a week after the half. Coincidence? Not sure.)

So, I'm re-evaluating and committing to taking care of myself so I can stay healthy. Things I need to do:
- Exercise. Haven't done much of that since the half-marathon in September but the weather is nice again and there's no reason I can't start running again.
- Eat healthy. Doing Weight Watchers helps me to eat healthy so I may rejoin the online version.
- Sleep. Been doing better on this but I'm fairly inconsistent.
- Daily multi-vitamin. Also been inconsistent on this.
- Work/life balance. This has improved recently and I'm not working more than I should. Need to try to keep it that way.
- Stop biting nails. Such a disgusting habit. I wash my hands a lot but that's not good enough. I have some nail stuff in my purse that keeps me from biting them and I just need to use it.
- Drink more water. Not a huge fan of drinking water but need to become one.
- Use the neti pot. I was reading that people prone to sinus issues (me! and Andy! and Blake!) can benefit from daily use of the neti pot. It keeps the sinuses clear and free from infection.

Other tips you have? Some people have suggested Zinc so I'll look into that. I need to figure this out. No more sick for me!

On Sunday, I had to drive home 4.5 hours with the kids and started feeling terrible earlier in the day. Porcupines in my throat, left ear hurt, fatigued. Made it home, only to have the symptoms get worse. Missed work Monday and Tuesday as my nose ran uncontrollably and got rubbed raw.

I asked Andy to pick me up a few things at the store, including a Neti Pot. I've read about them for a long time and would like to avoid going to the doctor yet again if possible. I HATE that place. All the doctor knows how to do is write prescriptions and half the time they are the wrong ones.

This is how the Neti Pot is supposed to work.



So I got the Neti Pot out of the box, prepared the solution and started pouring in one side of my nose. I'm pretty sure someone could drown this way. Water flowed down the back of my throat as I tried to breathe normally per the instructions.

The system in the video works just fine if your nasal passages are clear and free. Mine aren't.

Blew my nose to try to clear the passageways and actually had some success and a flow going. Tried the other side and no luck. That side is too clogged and can't be fixed.

I went through as much of the solution as I could and decided to stop and let the remaining solution drip out and get everything cleaned up.

So I'm waiting now to see how it works. My nose did stop running for at least 5 minutes afterward. Considering my nose is raw from going through 3 rolls of toilet paper (Andy got me boxes of soft, lotiony tissues to use now!), 5 minutes of no rubbing sounds good to me.

If things don't improve tonight, I'll be headed to the awful, awful doctor on Wednesday. Crossing fingers the Neti will help me avoid that.

Went to KC over the weekend and had a chance to tour Dan's restaurant which is under construction. Set to open within 6 weeks. Dan and Katrina also have a baby due any moment now. Busy and exciting times for them.

I don't like watching sports but love musicals and my kids are the same. Makes me wonder how much of our kids' interests are determined by us. We could have the next Michael Jordan in our house except he's too busy memorizing the choreography from Annie.