Wednesday, October 08, 2008

I blame it on Mommy Brain

When I flipped over my calendar to October last week, I scanned it like I always do to make note of any appointments I had coming up.

One on Tuesday and one on Thursday this week. The first was a checkup with my periodontist, in the hopes that she would look at my gums and pronounce me good to go. The second, with my chiropractor, and I feel the need to stop right here and proclaim how much my back loves this man.

My periodontist's office is always very good about calling the day before to remind me of my appointment, but Monday came and went, and there was no call. I double checked my calendar to make sure that I didn't have the wrong date, but no - it plainly said Tuesday.

So on Tuesday morning as I was getting ready, it occurred to me that it might be prudent to give them a call. Of course, I had no doubt. My appointment was most definitely that morning. For sure. They had just forgotten to make the courtesy reminder call, which irked me a tiny bit, but nothing that a call to them wouldn't clear up.

"Hi, I have an appointment today and I just want to verify the time," I said when the receptionist answered the phone. I gave her my name and there was a pause as she looked me up.

"Um, yes. We have you down on Tuesday, October 21."

Weird way to put it, I thought. October 21 IS today. I was looking right at my calendar as we spoke, and so of course I could see that it was the 21st. Today. One and the same.

"Right," I said, "October 21st. That's...." Today. My voice trailed off as my brain scrambled to catch up to the fact that that I was way, way off. "That's in....two weeks??"

I hung up and stood looking at my calendar, completely bemused. How was it possible that I had looked at my calendar no less than 10 times and every single time I had thought that my appointment was today? Even though it was clearly written on the right day?

My brain, people. I am starting to get concerned. And as if this were not enough, let me present to you Exhibit B:

When I was in school, my favorite subject was English. I love words, I love the rules that go along with them, I love stringing together a sentence, a thought, a story. I was always fairly decent at it, at least back then.

But back then...that was a long time ago.

I found a Grammar Girl quiz a while back (they have since changed it, but if you want to see the new version, check it out here) and since another way that I love to waste time is to take quizzes, I was excited. I was pretty confident that I would do well, because after all, this was my best subject.

So I took it. About halfway through, a question popped up, something along the lines of:

Verbs that end in -ed are regular verbs, irregular verbs, or triangular verbs?

My mind utterly and completely blanked out. It sounded familiar. In fact, they all 3 sounded familiar. Regular. Irregular. Triangular. Yes. All good choices.

But I could not remember for the life of me what they meant, and which was the right answer.

You know what is coming, right? I chose triangular verb, oh yes I did, and then held my breath as I clicked to see the answer revealed.

Wrong! It was more than happy to inform me. The correct answer is regular verb. And then to add to my humiliation, it added in no uncertain terms, There is NO SUCH THING as a triangular verb.

Well, then.

Sure, sure, I know you knew that. Your 5 year old probably knows that. Everybody knows that there is no such thing as a triangular verb.

To make myself feel a little better, I have started doing what I did when I was in school; every time I hear a word that I do not know the meaning of, I add it to a list and then look it up and try to commit to memory its meaning. We'll see if this helps sharpen my brain a little.

Any words that you want to help me out with and add to my list? I need all the help I can get.

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27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this-I'm glad I'm not the only one!

Sara@iSass said...

I blame it on the pregnancies. The children took all my brains. BTW thanks for not grading my posts! I am a terrible speller and worse at grammer. Thank God my children have a smart Daddy. No, really I thank God daily.

sara said...

oh how I wish it WERE the 21st....I would be winging away to Italy!!! I hate to inform you that this issue will only get worse with time.....ya, sorry!

SmilingSally said...

I always tell my periodontist that I pay them to find NO problems. See, we match!

Wendi@EveryDayMiracles said...

Oh my goodness Jackie I so needed to hear that I am not alone today. Mommy brain has been hitting so bad for me.
I did about 4 really stupid things today. Really. Mindless. I don't really buy into the whole hair color dictating your ditz factor thing, but if I did I would say that I was such a blond today...

Miss Lisa said...

I totally know how you feel. I brought the girls for haircuts yesterday. I had it in my mind that it was for 1 pm. We got there and there was only one stylist--no big deal we could wait. Then my alarm went off on my phone--the appointment was for 4 pm. Thank goodness the manager was too sweet to point out I was wrong :)

(Seriously if it were not for the alarm on my phone, I would miss just about everything!)

DeeDee said...

I just call it brain overload!!!!
LOL
Blessings,
DeeDee

Jules from "The Roost" said...

Hey I need all the brain sharpening I can get! That is neat about adding it to a list and looking it up....I just hope my memory can hold it then :)

Amanda said...

oh how reassuring to know i'm not the only one! :) seriously...i feel like i lose more of my mind everyday!

Anonymous said...

This was funny! You ARE a great writer and good with words! And don't worry, these types of crazy things happen to me, too, and I don't even have any kids yet!

Blessings From Above said...

Don't worry, we all have Mommy Brain! In fact, Oprah even did a segment on Mommy Brain this week. Seriously.

Mozi Esme said...

I can so relate to this - ever since I got pregnant . . . I've started subscribing to word of the day emails and stuff like that to shake my brain up a little!

ttm said...

You are too funny! I love that you look up words you don't know. I usually try out the word in different sentences to see how Joey reacts to what I'm saying. I can usually tell that I haven't used it right when he looks at me funny or chuckles. Then I'll try it in a different capacity to see if I have it right yet. It can go on for hours!
PS- Love being EJ's Daddy's contibution to your list is palabar, his favorite word.

Rachel said...

When I was pregnant we called it "Placenta Brain." But sometimes I wonder when they took the placenta out did they take my brain with it? :)

Gretchen said...

Two things have irreparably damaged my brain:

multitasking because I'm in a hurry and comparing myself to others.

I need to slow down, t.h.i.n.k., and give myself a break. Nonetheless, it's nice to know I'm not alone.

You're fantastic, whether you remember your peridontist date or not. :)

Growin' With It said...

no way! i had the same surgery several months ago. and the whole english grammar thing? terrible. me? terrible. won't even try to fake it!

Lisa said...

Chuckle, chuckle.

Unknown said...

Oh, I needed that laugh today!

I have issues with calendars as well. I confuse my son's school lunch calendar sometimes and if you knew how picky he is, you'd know that's crucial.

Beachy Mimi said...

Brain? What Brain?

jennifer said...

This post made me laugh! I can SOOOO relate.

I used to consider myself to be a very organized person, but since Avery has been born, I've missed or gone the wrong day to multiple doctor's appointments.

What is with that?

I am a grammar cheater. I check the online thesaurus when I hit the wall for an interesting word. It makes me look all smart and stuff...

Genny said...

I can relate, Jackie! I forgot to bring my daughter to a birthday party a couple of years ago. Just forgot. And it wasn't even like the party was at someone's house that we didn't know. They are good friends of ours! Yikes.

Michelle@Life with Three said...

You have a lot of company in the "mommy brain" boat! I did the same thing this week. The teacher sent home a note telling me Jilly's conference was scheduled for Tuesday morning. She sent the note home Tuesday afternoon. Well, obviously I had missed the conference due to the teacher's failure to get the note to me in time.

Uh, no.

Upon closer inspection I realized the conference is NEXT Tuesday.

mer@lifeat7000feet said...

Oh, friend you are SO not alone. I have embarrassed myself many, many times in this area. It's so humbling.

I have no words for you to look up--sorry!

Alana said...

Oh dear, has no one told you that children drain your brain cells? So sorry to be the one to break the news.

Try looking up the word "um", I'm pretty sure it's a real word, although I'm not sure of the definition ;-)

Chel's Leaving a Legacy said...

I totally agree with the Mommy Brain concept.

Something to sharpen your vocab:

www.freerice.com

It is ADDICTIVE! It's a word game, and every time you get an answer correct, the advertisers at the bottom of the screen give money to purchase rice to send to a third world country. Enjoy! :-)

Lizz @ Yes, and So is My Heart said...

Mommmy brain here too!

The Fritz Facts said...

At least you called first, I went to my dentist appointment last week, two weeks early.

Mommy brain!!