Happy New Year!

So I haven't been doing much posting as of late, but it's not because there's not much going on. On the contrary, there's loads going on!

Work is better; it's been 3 weeks since I cried. I flew to Ft. Lauderdale for work one day, and I had planned on going to Jacksonville but that rescheduled until the end of this month. In two weeks I go to Panama City -- do I know anyone there I can see? Let me know! :) Traveling for work makes me feel like a grown up. Now if there was a little less work needing to be done. I had today scheduled off and I really didn't want to work, but there were things I had to have done by end of year. So yesterday I got in at 6:30am, ate breakfast and lunch at my desk while I worked, and stayed until 7pm. I didn't finish quite everything, but enough that I felt really good about how I left my desk. The things that they said "this will be done by end of year" are done. That's the important thing.

Today Spencer had his second flu shot, and I took him to daycare afterward (I kind of guilted her into staying open past 12 so I'd have some time ...) and I came home to the Invisible Fence guy. He's installing it now! I talked them down in price over the phone by $300 (I told him I wasn't willing to pay that much and I'd have my friends come over to help for beer, and he lowered his price to what I told him I'd be willing to pay) and he got here an hour early to get it done, I imagine so he would have the rest of his NYE to himself. While he was setting up I decided to cut down the jasmine against the back fence of my yard. It was so overgrown and I couldn't figure out how he was going to get it done through the jasmine. Wow, what a job! I should have bought something electric or at least a machete, but instead I did it all with my hedge clippers. My arms are a little shaky now, but it took me 1 hour 15 minutes to cut down 64 feet of overgrown jasmine. I'm not sure how I'm going to get it over the fence now, but it's off the fence at least. I'm glad I did it now that it's done; it was so overgrown it was starting to break parts of the fence.

Anyhow, I keep starting and stopping this post, so I'm going to go now. Have a safe and happy new year!!

Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas morning, and we hope you did too. Have a great day!

Happy Christmas!

These were hard pictures to take. For some reason, Spencer decided today of all days that he didn't want to leave Momma's arms. It was a little bothersome. Plus, I really wanted some Christmas pictures that I didn't spend an arm and a leg having someone take for me.

In other observations, has anyone noticed they renamed Pachabel's Canon as "Christmas Canon" and plays it on the Christmas channel? Ugh, I hate that song.

Anyhow, I photoshopped Spencer's black eye out of his Christmas pictures. Well, most of them. It wasn't a terrible bruise, but it was yellowing. I don't even know how he got it this time (it's the exact place as last time, right on the occipital ridge of his eye). His daycare provider said it was just like that when he woke up from his nap. He probably clocked himself on the playpen or something. Could have been worse, but every time I plan on taking pictures this happens!

greetings from the 'hood! crazyhood, that is ...

It's a good thing I remembered to water the grass last night!
 
It's raining terribly today. A dreary, nasty, hard-to-find-a-satellite-signal day. And damn if my "40s on 4" station isn't coming in! It was hit-or-miss early this morning, but now I'm rocking to Jimmie Lunsford and Bing Crosby.
 
I hate to breathe a sigh of relief since it's only Thursday (read: a day and a half left for things to go to shit), but this week has been light years better than yesterweek. Things are looking up. Tuesday I decorated the tree and put up some decorations throughout the living room convincing me that it is, in fact, the holidays. We still haven't decorated outside (well, I built 3 one-foot light trees, but I don't know if they count; they look lonely) and I told Christen we could forgo the outer-baubles. He disagreed. But next year -- weekend after Thanksgiving, man. I want them up :)
 
I meant to start Jazzercise with April this week (yes, it is 1985 again) but I couldn't get my butt in gear on time, so instead I jogged/power walked the loop from my house to Target and around again. I think it's about 1 1/5 miles. Knowing me, if I clock it, it's probably only 1/2 a mile. But I'll believe in wishful thinking and decide that as long as it was a little difficult, it was worth it. If I can keep it up I can always extend the trip once I get better at it. If it's not raining I might take Spencer with me in the jogging stroller today. Maybe.

Teetering

It’s been a rough and tumble couple of weeks these weeks past. I hope yours was good. Mine, well, not so good.

Spencer’s been doing well; a little crabby here and there. With the teething, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Evidently he’s doing better than some babies (my mom says one of us wouldn’t stop crying through most of the teething stage). He doesn’t cry a lot, but he can get crabby at the drop of a hat, especially if he’s not getting enough attention. With attention, he doesn’t even worry about his teeth. I guess that’s most babies too, right? He cut a third bottom tooth this weekend, but those two top ones have been threatening for weeks. Hopefully they’ll come in soon and we’ll be good for a little while.

I have been under a ridiculous amount of stress with my job. Most of it is my own making, I know, because I can’t stand that I’m just not up to speed on most of my files. I open them and there’s so much I don’t know and it scares me. It’s not like you can Google lawsuits to get an overview of the system. What’s involved in appellate decisions, what the proper time periods are for different filings. I thought I knew a good bit before taking this position, but I only knew the tip of the ice berg. And I know it’s going to get better, and I know that there are people there to help me. I’m so scared of missing something I constantly feel like I’m in the dark. I know it’s a learning curve. I know it gets better.

And then, on top of the work stress, when something happens at home to cause more stress, I shut down. I didn’t know I could do that. My mom does it on occasion, but I’ve always been so much better at handling my stress. It turns out I can shut down too. Wednesday I stopped eating for a couple days. Nothing I did eat would stay in me. I slept for 12 hours at a time, or I didn’t sleep at all. I broke down in hysterics at work, on the phone with attorneys’ secretaries. I haven’t been that way in, well, never. This weekend was a mending time for me. I tried to start eating again (note: wings and beer on a fragile stomach are not the way to go). I tried to start paying attention to my husband and son again. We went garage saling, and went about our normal routine. It all helped. I think I’m better. Still teetering on the brink of craziness, but hopefully better.

One thing that did happen while I was breaking down is that I immersed myself in the Twilight books. Vampires have never really been my thing; I’m not a big fantasy reader. But I consume books; once I start, if it keeps me entertained, I’ll read until I finish. I’ve never been one to read at bedtime because it’ll keep me up all night (I take that back; I’ll read at bedtime but it will keep me up at night. I have to do it when I’m willing to stay up). However, I often start picking at what I read. I’m a constant editor – loopholes in sense, grammatical errors, typos … these things take me out of a story more than they would most people. (Please don’t use this to critique my blog; I write almost in stream of consciousness here). I had none of these problems with the Twilight saga, and I don’t know if that is because they didn’t exist or because I was that obsessed. I didn’t think I’d get sucked in, but I did. I read the first book on Monday. Thursday, I read the second and third (not nearly as good, but I wanted to know more of the story). Friday, I read the fourth. Sunday, I re-read the fourth (I think it was better than the first). Monday, I found the draft of the fifth that she posted on her website half-finished, and read that. I can’t get enough. I hate to say it, but it’s all in how it makes me feel. And how I feel is obsessed. Christen might get me my own copy (I borrowed them from a friend), but I kind of hope he doesn’t. What’s to stop me from re-reading them over and over then? I’ve heard mixed reviews about the movie, so I’m torn about seeing it.

Anyhow, there are only a couple weeks until Christmas, and I’m taking most of the holiday off. I’m taking Dec 22-26 off, and then Dec 31-Jan 2 (So basically I’m working 2 days out of two weeks). I’m super excited, although I think I’ll have anxiety about my desk the whole time I’m not at it. Spencer and I will be able to finish our Christmas shopping (I’ve been doing some, but mostly I’ve been putting it off terribly, and unlike in previous years) and maybe see some relatives that haven’t met him yet. Before my vacation, I only have one trip to Ft. Lauderdale and one meeting in Clearwater , and otherwise I’m at my desk non-stop, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep everything under control over the next two weeks. It would be so nice to be breakdown-free through the New Year.

Happy Black Friday!

We went ahead and did the Black Friday thing. We actually did very well. My mother-in-law met us at our house at 6:30am, where we had pumpkin coffee waiting. We headed out and hit Target first (got a new vacuum cleaner, sorely needed) and then Best Buy (nothing bought). We then braved the mall, hitting Toojays for breakfast first before trekking through. I am of the mindset with these kinds of sales that if it's not there when I get there, it wasn't meant to be. We got a train set from KBToys for under the tree, and some clothes for Spencer and a $20 bluetooth headset for me from Sears. I got a cute pair of earrrings at some cheesy mall store. The piece de resistance was a ring, for me, for Christmas. I'm so freaking excited for Christmas now :) I mean, I was for Spencer but I never really cared about what I was getting because my husband had a habit of waiting until the last minute. I get lots of cookbooks. I always hint for something shiny, but I don't usually get it. I don't really mind, but anyhow, this time! This time I picked out my own shiny trinket. Whitehall Jewelers is going out of business and I picked out the most beautiful garnet and diamond ring. It was 70% off! It was still a little expensive, but I don't mind if I get nothing else. I'm content.

(something like this, but the middle stone is prettier)

Christen also got a Jawbone headset for himself, on sale for about 1/3 of the normal price, and we got a few odds and ends clothes at Old Navy and a bouncy ball for Spencer at Toys R Us. We didn't go overboard, and we didn't buy things just because they were on sale. We did, however, spend far too much time in the mall so we didn't get to some of the places we wanted to hit because we were just too tired. We might go a few places tomorrow, especially the places that are going out of business anyhow (read: Sound Advice) to see if we can get good deals on anything we have been in the market for, but generally, we're happy. I'm happy, so we're happy. :)

Thanksgiving and the holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was an interesting first Thanksgiving for Mr. Man. We had lunch time meal at Cracker Barrel, and there was a little bit of a blow-up which cut our party from 15 to 10 and begat a whole lot of unneeded grief. Unfortunately some family members (well, one) doesn't know when to shut up. Spencer was cranky from lack of nap and teething issues, everyone was cranky from the previously blow-up, and the food was really so-so. It was good to see everyone though -- we really shouldn't wait so long between visits. We all live in Tampa, for goodness sakes.

For the second meal, we trekked out to Zephyrhills bearing wine, rolls and apple dumplings (they're good, but I'll be, I'm actually getting a little tired of them since we seem to bring them to every gathering). Spencer had still not had a nap but he finally fell asleep part way there and got 45 minutes in before playing with cousin Avery (11 months) and Dylan (not exactly sure who Dylan is, but he's 3 and his fam was there too ...). He ate a lot of dinner off my plate instead of eating his jarred stuff and he really liked it. Sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, olives (he loves black olives), rolls, turkey and part of a pickle. Also he got a little ice cream for dessert!

Next year it's been discussed by both sides of Christen's fam that Thanksgiving might be at our house. I personally would welcome it. I love doing the cooking, and miss it. It's been years since I was able to do any of that. Visions of turkey brines and stuffing and cranberry sauces dance in my head ...

Sirius started playing Christmas music last week, and I've been a faithful listener. It's awesome! Not much repeats, beautiful music ... My absolute favorite is Greg Lake's I Believe in Father Christmas. There are a lot of great songs out there. Baby, it's Cold Outside, the Bells song from Home Alone, and really anything that puts you in the mood for Christmas. What's your favorite holiday song?

A beautiful day with plenty of clouds

The cooler air has come through Florida, and while there was about a week of near-freezing temperatures, it's now hovering around 70 degrees. The air and heat is off, the windows are open, and it feels great. I started chili in the crock pot, but really only because I promised Christen. We even eat chili in the summer, so it's not really a reflection of the weather although I'm hoping it gets a little chilly tonight so I really enjoy my dinner.

I also have a loaf of banana cranberry bread in the oven. I messed with the recipe a lot, so I'm hoping it comes out well. Last week I picked up a full bunch of bananas figuring I would have leftovers by this weekend for bread. Christen almost threw them away thinking they were bad (no, they're perfect!) but huzzah, I saved them.

Spencer has decided he does not need naps anymore. I think 9 1/2 months is a little early to stop taking naps, but tell that to the little one. Yesterday he took 20 minutes while I carried him through the mall and that was it. Today we're still trying to get him to sleep some. He has been sleeping a lot at night -- 7:30 last night until 8:30 this morning. Still, please?

Last week was a rough week. I started my new position, which was a lot harder than I thought it would be and I broke down and cried by Thursday. I'm fully overwhelmed and feeling under-confident about my abilities. I'm sure it will get better (all things do, right?) but right now I'm just dreading every day I go in. When I came back from maternity leave it was difficult for awhile until I got my confidence back. I'm hoping it's the same here, I'm just hoping it takes less than 2 months to feel good about my job again.

I'm getting excited about the holidays, but everytime I start feeling good about them something family-related happens to make me feel more like throwing up. My sister and mother fight so much, and my sister runs away I just don't know what to do about everything. I'm afraid I'm going to lose my sister, that she's decided her friends are more important than her family. She's going to end up dead or in jail, and I just want to cry. Why can't everyone start acting normal again?

I got to see Shelley again Friday, and that was nice. It was refreshing how easy it was to go back to how things were before. We're not the same people we were, and our friendship will never be like it was, but it was nice easy conversation and it was good to know that we can still be there for each other. I can't believe she's moving to Texas ...

Anyhow, now that I'm perfectly depressed, I'm going to go clean house before I cry. Toodles.

Catching up

It's been a long time. Sometimes I just decide I don't have enough time to update, and then by the time I get around to it, so much has happened that I don't know how to update without going through everything that has happened.

But really, a lot has happened and nothing has happened. Spencer is still cutting his third tooth. It's been a painful experience for all of us. I start my new job on Monday, which will be a welcome change from right now, as I've had a foot in each position for the past month and I've been working with a constant state of anxiety, afraid that I'm going to miss something on one desk or the other. I have a case of senioritis right now, and I'm staring at files that should be worked but I can't stand to open them. The important stuff gets done, but the follow up ... eh, the next person can do that. It will get her fully acclimated to my files. Hehe.

The past few weekends have been really nice. It's just chilly enough in the mornings that Christen has been making fires in the fireplace and we've hung out at home in the mornings, eating muffins and playing Fallout 3. It's picturesque, really. We went to Art Harvest with Dad and Zana two weekends ago, and I went to NKOTB with the girls that Sunday night ... awesome! Super cheesy and fun! I stayed out far too late and stopped drinking right when I felt like another sip would make me hurl. It was great! I was not the DD, thank god, and I had a great time. This past weekend we shopped for baby clothes (never enough!) and I went to the Junior League gift boutique sale and got some great jewelry cleaner (Shea and Suzanne also got the same stuff ... it rocked!) Anyhow, nice weekends with just enough stuff to do to not feel like I spent all weekend indoors, but not too much that I felt like I needed a vacation from my weekend. No matter what my Facebook status may have said :)

Last night I made Mexican Lasagna and it was delicious! The only change I made was that I used black beans instead of refried (yuck) and I used larger wheat flour tortillas so I only needed 4. Yummy! We ate tons last night, and then each brought some for lunch today at work, and there are two more portions in my fridge.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas! Two and a half weeks until Thanksgiving ... what's that all about? I want to decorate my house this year. I haven't decorated in years, and I never feel Christmasy. This year it's Spencer's first Christmas, and I'm super excited! I want those huge ornaments I can hang in my palm trees ... ha!

Happy Halloween!

Have a safe night!

???

I'm confused. I swear one of my regular reads included a meme a few days ago in which I was tagged. But I don't remember who it was, and in going back to check them all, I couldn't find it. Hmmm ... anyone remember doing one and tagging me? :) Let me know! I can't find it!

In other news, Christen got Fallout 3, and I played it tonight. Very fun, although I get very nauseous trying to play it on the 22 inch screen he's bought since last time I played computer games. Blah! I need to look into getting Dramamine just to play video games!

La tee dah

I'm on my third cup of hot tea this morning. I decided on my drive to work today that I was going to stop drinking soda, because I started a year ago drinking one 20-ounce Dr. Pepper over three days or so. Now I'm up to two a day. I don't otherwise consume caffeine, and I definitely drink too much soda. So I'm going cold turkey. There are about 4 root beers in my fridge, but I think Christen will probably drink those if I don't. I never drink water, so maybe this will force me to do so.

It's been a long week. Today doesn't feel like Monday, it feels more like Wednesday. And it just started! Is that possible? Thursday I had to drive down to Ft. Myers for work, and I got a ticket at a speed trap 10 minutes from my destination. She said I was going 79 in a 65. I don't know how, since I didn't go above 72 or so the whole drive, most of which was 70 mph anyhow. But I can't really contest it, because I then forfeit my chance to get the points taken off. I'm just going to pay my $174 (ack!) and take the online course and be done with it. I have never in my life been let out of a ticket. When I was in college I had 11 points on my license, and at 12 it gets suspended for 6 months. I haven't had a ticket in at least 7 or 8 years.

This weekend the weather turned beautiful! Saturday was still a little hot; we went to the pumpkin festival in Bradenton in the morning. I got ant bites all over my ankles, but I tried not to let the burning ruin my day. Spencer didn't really care one way or another about the festival, but he liked the people watching (yes, he's most certainly my son). We walked around for a couple hours and ate the tasty festival food, and then hit Ellenton outlets for a little while too! We technically went to get Christen some shorts, but I ended up with a few bras (shut up, I usually just wear the same couple until they die, so it was nice to have a few new ones), a dress for court, and a cute little purse. Christen got nothing. (You get nothing, good bye. hehe).

After Ellenton we went home to relax a little and I made PW's Apple Dumplings again for a World Series party and Andrew and Theresa's (Andrew's request for the dumplings). The rain delay made watching the game unbearable (not to mention the score) so we went home somewhere around the 4th inning, but otherwise it was fun! Spencer enjoyed exploring someone else's house, although he couldn't play with Cash too much because Cash was sick, and then he slept in Theresa's room in the playpen once it got too late (although he stayed up an hour past his bedtime because of all the people).

Sunday was a lazy day. We went for breakfast at Lenoce's, which seems to be a bit of a habit of ours, and did our grocery shopping. Christen put a pork roast on the rotisserie on the grill for about 3 hours and basted it with mopping sauce and it was fantastic! We grilled corn with lime butter and creamed spinach and ate out on the porch while the mosquitoes feasted. I need to find a good mosquito repellent, because I'd like to actually be able to spend time in my back yard when it's nice outside. I've read that some plants will act as mosquito repellents, but the research I've done seems rather mixed. Anyone have real results?

Now it's Monday. Blah for Monday. Christen took a vacation this week so it was even harder getting out of bed when I was the only one leaving. Hurray for Friday, hopefully it will come soon!

Getting Better All The Time

Does this:



Remind anyone else of this:



Or is it just me?

Mouth full of Numby (not Yummy) goodness

To continue my dental saga, I went for two fillings today. I'm not going to tell you how many cavities I have from not properly taking care of my teeth over the years, but I'll tell you that I'm getting dental work done every 2-3 weeks for the rest of my natural life. Then they may keep me on life support to continue (although hopefully by then they can lay off the Novocaine).

Anyhow, two fillings. Wouldn't be so bad (well, maybe it would -- who am I to judge?) except that they were my back bottom molars. Left side, biting surface. They shot me full of two syringes of Novocaine (my needle-phobic friends are cringing) and then it didn't numb enough so they did two more shots (now they are turning white and deciding to stop reading). Friends, it has been 2 1/2 hours since the shots and I believe I'm more numb now then I was then. I tried to drink some cold tea and I was afraid of dribbling it down the front of my shirt because it feels like I have a hole in my lip where the left side of my face used to be. Novocaine makes me shake, so I was sitting there with my hands clasped on my stomach trying not to shake while they shaved my teeth down and filled them back up with fake teeth. I feel a little sick to my stomach, and we've decided to go out for dinner tonight instead of tomorrow because I have a good coupon for Cody's. Woohoo for numb!

Can I get a Hallelujah?

I woke up this morning, and it was so chilly I actually wore long sleeves! It's warmed up to the 70s (78 degrees by the weather channel), but it's beautiful! Air conditioning off, windows open! Tada! The beautiful weather has made me feel productive, so I've been cleaning the kitchen, going through piles of junk mail to find my kitchen table, sucking up dog hair from seldom seen corners and roasting a large pumpkin to make pumpkin puree. Next I'll be roasting the seeds ... ah, pumpkin seeds.

We tried to take Spencer to a pumpkin patch, and he hated it. My little man who never really fusses would cry every time I set him down next to the pumpkins. I might try again next week so that I can get cute pictures, but this is the only one I got:

He's crying here, but since he's looking at the ground, it was an okay shot. I tried sitting down with him, but he wasn't having it. Sat him on a pallet (since when did everyone start putting the pumpkins on pallets? So un-halloweenish), he cried. It was a disaster. But we bought a pretty pumpkin anyhow, and we'll hopefully carve it tonight so I have more seeds to roast. Mmm, roasted pumpkins seeds, my little tasty friends. Sorry, do I keep going back to that?

We also got a new GPS this weekend, since my old Tom Tom broke coming back from Gainesville last week for work. We got a Magellan Maestro 4040, and it's great! The only thing I don't like is that I got a refurbed one, which has old maps on it and they want me to pay $80 for the new maps. So I haven't decided if I'm going to pony up the extra money for the new maps or if I'm just going to take it back and get a lower model that has updated maps.

Anyhow, back to work! Woohoo for productivity! It doesn't really happen often, so I need to relish the feeling :)

Promotion granted.

So last week I interviewed for a position I really didn't think I'd get but coveted greatly. I thought I'd be good at it. I thought the job fit my skill set. There were other applicants, and all were qualified, but differed greatly. If they wanted great negotiation skills, there were applicants that fit that. If they wanted someone who had good organization skills and was thorough with paperwork and behind-the-scenes sort of things, there were applicants for that. If they wanted someone who had been doing that type of job for 8, 10, 25 years ... they were there. If they wanted someone who was relatively new to the scene and maybe therefore adaptable, yep, they applied.

Okay, so there were five applicants. But really, whatever they wanted, they could get . We all filled different needs, so it really depended on what they were looking for to fill the position.

I got the job.

I'm super excited, but still a little shocked that I got it. It's not that I don't feel qualified; on the contrary, I think I'd be excellent there. And I thought the interview went very well. I just thought that the other people were equally qualified in different ways and I didn't know that I would prevail.

Here's my only issue right now: I knew there was travel, but somehow I didn't know it would be so soon or for so long. I may have to go to Ft. Lauderdale for 3-4 days in a week or two. I can't imagine leaving Spencer for so long! I'm nervous about the job, I'm nervous about leaving my family for so long.

Cooked out.

I, my friends, am exhausted. Except that I drank tea too late in the evening and forgot to take my Unisom an hour ago and if I take it now I'll be drowsy in the morning.

The plague seems to be making its round in the household. Christen is now sick, and I'm not letting him so much as touch me. I seriously pick up everything, and I'm finally feeling like my regular self.

I'm feeling so much like my regular self that I overdid myself tonight. Since the hubby is sick, I took to taking care of Spencer while trying to cook. Thankfully I got home before they did and was able to start dinner ... I made that white bean chicken chili, and was really good! Not something I'd usually make, but damn tasty. If you follow the recipe, I say this: don't be scared of the peppers because it wasn't spicy at all; use every bit of what it says. Also, it needs salt and pepper, so ... salt and pepper liberally (but taste it, don't oversalt). Then I made four dozen Pina Colada cookies, fed Spencer his dinner, and then made a triple recipe of baked macaroni and cheese. Why all the cooking? Our favorite support has macular degeneration and had to suddenly retire, and tomorrow is her last day. We've decided to do a potluck for her, so I volunteered for the cookies and mac & cheese. One day I'll start only signing up for one item. One day. I always make a double batch of mac & cheese for potlucks, but my sick husband told me I couldn't tease him like that, so I had to make a single batch for home as well.

Thankfully, tomorrow is Wednesday, and Wednesday is Restaurant day. I'm voting for Mexican (Guadalajara here I come!) but I think that sicky over there is going to want to go somewhere he can get soup, so we'll probably end up at some chain restaurant. Oh well. A girl can dream, right?

A week goes by ...

It's been a crazy week. Spencer is sick, again. Part of it is because of his teething, but I do wonder if he has allergies or something. He's always sick more than I'm always sick. Monday his second tooth popped through, and he was in a good mood despite it. Then he stopped sleeping. Christen was up all night with him that night, but Tuesday he was still in a good mood for my in-laws. Tuesday night he kept me up super late, and Wednesday he cried all day at daycare. I had to be in Gainesville for work that day, so there was no staying home with him.

He finally got some sleep Wednesday night but then he was still crying at daycare, and he started to get a bad cold so she made me come get him (I'm done whining about how a daycare provider should be used to a teething child). I took him to the doctor to confirm that there was nothing seriously wrong, which there wasn't, and then kept him home the rest of the day so he could catch up some more on his sleep. Friday he finally started feeling better, so he was able to stay at daycare all day okay.

This weekend has been a bit up and down. I've been irrigating his nose so that he can breathe, which he hates, of course. Saturday we did a bit of needed shopping (although I realized this afternoon that some of the things I really wanted I didn't get). We did get Spencer a Halloween costume, which is adorable. It was hard to find one that we both liked, and even though Christen still wanted the penguin one more, this is pretty damn cute. Today we did our grocery shopping and spent the rest of the day hanging out watching football. Well, Christen has been watching football, and I have been puttering around the house cleaning and pruning the trees out front and doing some weeding. I hate yard work. I like the end result, but I hate the heat and the itching (the weeds rubbed my arms and legs and gave me a light rash) and it's hard! I asked Christen to bag my scraps and he said he'd do it tomorrow so I raked it all into a huge pile and left it in the driveway for him -- boy is he going to be surprised! It comes up higher than his truck bumper ... hehe.

Saturday night I went out to Ceviche for Stacy's birthday -- yum! I ordered the duck in chocolate port sauce (my absolute favorite), the stuffed artichokes and the snails with tomato and pastry. There was lots of sangria, and an almond croissant for dessert -- we all had so much fun!

I made Publix's Apron String recipe for Buffalo Chicken Chimichangas tonight and they were delicious and super easy! I substitutes black beans for the refried because I don't like refried but they were wonderful. Not something I would normally even think to try, but Other April made them a couple weeks ago and told me how good they were. I recommend -- two thumbs up!

I subscribed to Rachel Ray's magazine a last month, and this makes Christen happy because I can try out more of her recipes but he doesn't have to listen to her. And I have to admit, reading EVOO and Yum-o is much less obnoxious than hearing it. This week I'm trying her White Bean Chicken and Poblano Chili which looks tasty and super easy. Also making the Twice Fried Chicken Wings (Asian sesame wings) and September's Coconut Curry Chicken.

Also because of RR's magazine, I've found what I want to get Shea for Christmas! Now I just have five million other people to figure out and figure out how to pay for it all.

Pasta Milano a la Macaroni Grill

I don't usually post my own recipes, but I was so excited by how good this came out that I had to. I just had to.

Pasta Milano

• 12 oz farfalle pasta (bowtie)


• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream


• 1 1/2 cups fresh grated parmesan cheese


• 2 oz cream cheese


• 3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 1/2 heaping tsp minced garlic)


• 1 pint sliced mushrooms


• 4 oz julianned sun-dried tomatoes in oil or dry (if dry, soak in water to hydrate and drain)


• 4 Tbs butter


• 1-1 1/2 lbs grilled chicken, roughly chopped


• salt and pepper, to taste


• fresh grated parmesan cheese to taste

1. Grill chicken (salt and pepper to taste), roughly chop and set aside.


2. In a large pot of salted water, cook bowtie pasta as per directions.


3. While pasta cooks, combine cream, parmesan cheese, cream cheese and garlic in a sauce pot. Cook over medium heat until cheeses are melted. Add a little salt and pepper as you see fit.


4. In a large pan, melt butter over high heat and saute mushrooms until almost tender. Add sundried tomatoes and continue to saute until all are cooked.


5. Take pan off heat, add cream sauce and stir to combine.


6. Once pasta is cooked, drain and return to pot. Add mushroom cream sauce and grilled chicken to the pot and stir to combine completely.


7. Serve with a little grated cheese over top.

Enjoy! Serves at least 4 hungry mouths.

Seriously, I know there's a lot of steps and it used three whole pots, but make this and your SO will gladly clean the kitchen. I think mine is deciding which day next week we're having it again, and he hasn't even finished cleaning the kitchen yet!

I don't have any pictures -- We dug in before I had a chance to take one, and leftovers are already set for lunches tomorrow.

Unamerican and feeling ancient.

At the risk of sounding (or feeling) un-American, I have to say that I am already getting seriously sick of football. This is coming from someone who actually likes football. My problem is this: I hate college football. I always have, I don't know why. I'll watch an occasional Gators game, and as USF started getting national recognition, I've watched their games. You know, alumni spirit and all that. Otherwise, give me my NFL or give me death.

But somehow this season somehow football has exploded onto my television. I think at this point if the only football on was a local high school game, it would probably be on my tv. Especially if it was broadcast in HD. Please won't someone make it stop?

I am sick again. I know it's Spencer's fault. But really, it's not. I have a terrible immune system. I don't know why, but if I brush up against someone with the sniffles in Target I come down with the plague. I think this one came on because of the new holes in my mouth, because when the dentist was yanking them out of my head it bothered my sinuses. This really isn't very farfetched; those roots were crazy deep.

Spencer's getting his second tooth. He's not nearly as cheery about this one, and I can see it under the skin so I'm hoping it cuts tomorrow. He's a whiny cranky mess this weekend. He would only nap laying on me, which meant I had to deal with hand sanitizer so hopefully I keep my plague away from him.

But (okay, I'm going to say it), yer darn right I'm going to get some sleep tonight. I've taken Sudafed and a Unisom, and I better get a full 8 hours of sleep tonight. Christen will just have to get Spencer when he wakes up 10 times through the night. Sadly it's 9pm and I'm thinking of hitting the hay. I do this every night. When did I turn 60?

A Mouth Full of Ow.

I went to the dentist today. My first visit in five years or so. I was a little worried. I needed some work done last time I saw a dentist, but all they did was berate me for not taking good care of my teeth so I didn't want to deal with it. So ... I just ignored it.

Over the past five years, I've had two cavities that have gotten worse. I knew they were worse. If I left them alone, they'd be fine. But if I did something to them, like chew on that side, it was not good. It didn't help that one was on the left, and one was on the right.

So finally I got up the nerve to see a new dentist. I've never been scared of the dentist, I just don't like being "yelled at". Tell me how to fix it. Let's make a plan. Don't just sit there and tell me how all my teeth are going to rot out because I don't get them cleaned every 6 months. But I chose a new practice near my house in a good part of town.

I went today. And for $12, they kept those two teeth.

Surprisingly enough, I still like them, and I'm going to go back to get the rest of the things done that need doing.

Now, if only the gauze would stop the bleeding.

Wanted: A Longer Weekend

It was such a nice weekend. When did the beautiful weather decide to grace us with its presence? Weather like this makes me forget how much I want to leave Florida.

We had a wonderful time at the park on Saturday with Theresa and little Cash. He's getting so big, at fourteen months! My little one decided he didn't need a nap before the park and played in his crib for an hour instead, and was not the happiest little one while we were there because of it. The playground that we originally went to only had one baby swing so we went to another smaller one and that was definitely a good decision. Pictures are below, and we all had a fantastic time.

Later we came back to the house and the boys joined us for dinner. I made Chicken Bryan, steamed broccoli, couscous and Caesar salad, and then the boys decided that PW's Apple Dumplings were a must to complete the evening, so they went out for supplies and I popped them in the oven while they went out to smoke cigars.

Today! Spencer was in an awesome mood today, and we went to Lenoce's again for breakfast and then for groceries. Came home and realized Mr. Spencer cut his first tooth! I was super excited and made sure to update the baby book (I'm not so good at that) and then he was crawling around and decided to pull himself up to his feet on the coffee table! Another First!

I made Alosha's Taglierini with Bay Scallops tonight for dinner, and it was fantastic. I had to make a couple changes out of neccessity. I used fettuccine nests instead of taglierini because they didn't have tag at Publix and I don't like linguine, and I didn't have french bread or bread crumbs, so I toasted a couple pieces of potato bread and ran them through the food processor. I couldn't find chervil anywhere, so I put Italian parsley. It was still fantastic! Served with a simple salad and white wine, and I have a little leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. Yum!

Can't wait for next weekend already!

Park pictures

A Beautiful Saturday

How is it that I sweat my butt off, and as soon as it "technically" turns to Autumn the weather is entrancing? I'm sitting in my backyard in the grass because I don't have a decent (or any) lounger while the dog stares at the palm tree daring whatever's up there to come down. There isn't anything in the tree -- a slight breeze is blowing and the fronds are rattling and she assumes that some critter is moving among the tree tops.

It is an amazing Saturday afternoon. Christen is working an extra shift today, and usually that means I'm finding nothing better to do than troll Target or the mall, looking for something to do. But today Spencer and I went over to the in-laws' house for a little bit so they could adore him some more, and now he's laying down pretending to take a nap while I hang out here and continue to be amazed by the weather.

The plan today is that Theresa and Cash are supposed to come over and we'll go to the park so the boys can play and we can adore them. Of course, considering that pictures are supposed to be taken, Spencer went and smacked his cheek on the coffee table last night and gave himself a little bit of a black eye. Today it's just a red scratch, but I was worried that it was going to be worse. I'd say he lost his footing, but wouldn't it be more correct to say he lost his handing? He was trying to fit himself under the coffee table and his hand slipped and bam! No worries though, it doesn't even hurt him when I push on it. But so much for flawless pictures! :)

I drove through Pollo Tropical for lunch today. They're more prevalent than McDonald's on this side of town, and I've always wanted to try one but never had the guts (don't ask, I have trouble with such things). So today I drove through and got a cuban sandwich wrap and a large sweet tea and it was delicious! You should all locate your closest one. :)

Anywho, my feet are falling asleep so I'm definitely going to need to get a lounging chair for out here, but for now I'm going to have to get up and move around. Hopefully later I'll post park pictures!

Free Handbags!

I'm excited, and I never win anything so I doubt I'll win this either. But still, free handbags! Go there or be square! Handbag Planet!

Love me, cancerously (God, I love Ludo)

I changed my mouse out on my office computer, and I swear it’s worse than before. They supplied us with the old ball-roll mice, and finally after almost four years I changed it to an optical mouse and the scroll is so stiff! I’m giving it a couple days to see if it’s just because it’s an old, unused mouse, but gee wiz.

We’re adapting well to Christen’s schedule change. I usually get up first because he’s still incapable of getting up right away, so I get ready and then he stumbles into the closet to start getting ready, and I get Spencer up and changed. He’s usually awake when I go in, and it’s nice to have a few minutes with him before I have to leave. I used to look in on him before I went to work but he slept late so I didn’t get any interaction. I get him ready for the day and put him in the playpen so he can watch Daddy getting ready, and then I leave. Christen has been having daycare feed Spencer, so his mom gets the honors this morning. It has made the morning a little less hectic. Spencer doesn’t freak out if he doesn’t eat right away, so it’s not really a big deal, and I usually have his bag packed the night before so changing his diaper and his clothes is the only “getting ready” that he requires. I hate getting ready around someone, so thankfully the delay of Christen getting up helps me get moving so I don’t have to deal with someone else.

Work is good too. I’m surprised at myself when I realize that, although I hate leaving my family, I actually really enjoy my job. I’ve never really disliked it in the 4 years I’ve been here, but I really have started feeling less stress and more hunger to know more, to do more. I think the change came when I came back from maternity leave, but then I was so stressed because I hadn’t done it in three months that it took a little while to feel comfortable again. They’ve been laying more on me, and usually that would stress me out but instead I kind of feel like knowing how much I can handle. Being able to handle it really makes me feel like more of a grown up. I’ve also started keeping cases that will eventually necessitate some travel, and I’ve discussed that with Christen and he’s amiable to the idea that I might have to be out of town for a day or two every once in awhile.

I made Pioneer Woman’s Penne a la Betsy last night, and it was delicious! I had made vodka cream sauce before and thought it was going to taste like that, but since there’s just a little tomato in this sauce it really has a completely different flavor. Especially with the shrimp and basil … mmmm …! Tonight I’m going to try my hand at her enchiladas. If those go well, I’m going to try them as chicken next time but I didn’t want to mess too much with the recipe until I know what it’s going to taste like since I don’t know Mexican flavor combinations too well. I could have used ground turkey, but I don’t have any in the house after the last meat run and I really don’t feel like buying yet more meat right this very instant.

Pics of the Boy -- you know you wanted them

I finally got Digital Image Pro on the new (ish) laptop, and I'm therefore gracing you with pictures of Spencer. You know you wanted them :)

3 months (5/31/08)



4 months (7/4/08)



5 months (7/17/08)



6 months (8/13/08)



(8/21/08)



(9/7/08)



7 months (9/14/08)



Enjoy!

Meat, oh glorious meat!

`So I went to a butcher yesterday to check out their prices on the three staples in my cooking: boneless chicken breast, ground beef, and shrimp.

I left with $60 in meat.

Chicken was $2.99 a pound. But if you bought 10 lbs, it was $1.49 a pound. Done. Beef was on sale for $12.99 for five pounds. Done. I decided to make Chicken drumsticks stuffed with ricotta and herbs (although I might change it to goat cheese) for Sunday football. 99 cents a pound for five pounds. I bought 2 thick cut pork chops for sometime next week. And they had peeled and deveined large shrimp, so I got two pounds. I’m highly allergic to the raw shellfish proteins, so I was excited for that, and it was about the same price as if I bought them shell-on in the grocery store.

I came home, split all the food up into individual freezer baggies. I now have 18 meals of meat. Well, 17. I made beefy mac & cheese last night for dinner.

Sadly, I still have to buy fish tonight because I only buy that fresh and I planned on making fish tonight for dinner. Tilapia with browned butter sauce, asparagus, and wild rice. Yum!

***

In other, non-meat related news, Christen’s shift changed to 7:45-4:45. I don’t remember if I’ve blogged about this yet and I’m too lazy to check. He started on Wednesday, and so far it’s going well. I’m happy that he’s home early, and I know Spencer is happy he’s home early. That way we can all sit on the floor and he can climb all over us, which is his new favorite hobby. The only real problem with the arrangement thus far is that Spencer is used to getting up around 8am, and now he has to get up at 6am. But he’s not used to going to sleep any earlier, so he threw a fit yesterday when I put him down at 7pm even though he was falling asleep while he ate and was being generally crabby. Hopefully the schedule will even out a little soon, because I really don’t want to have to deal with that as an on-going problem. I love spending time with him; I don’t want him to be crabby, you know?

Events

It was an eventful weekend for Spencer. Friday, he learned to sit up on his own. He can now officially get from his stomach to his butt without me picking him up and putting him there. It was so exciting! His daycare woman told me when I picked him up that he did it for her, but sometimes he doesn’t do things at home that he does there right away. But I took him home, put him on the floor and he was like a giant Weeble Wobble! He just sat right up!

Saturday he started crawling forward on his own. It’s still more of a “Move hands forward, scoot knees forward, launch self face-first into the ground. Pick face up, get back on hands and knees and do it again.” Thankfully we did baby proof the fireplace with foam edge protectors, but that only covers the edges of the top, not the side that he rocks his head into when he gets to that side of the living room.

Sunday he took his morning nap (which I call his morning nap but really it’s at noon). He usually takes a two-hour nap then, but refuses to take an afternoon nap (he just cries for 20-30 minutes until I finally let him up). Around 1 ½ hours into his morning nap, I check on him but he generally keeps sleeping for awhile. Well, this time I looked in and he’s sitting on his knees with his hands on the top of the crib looking over! Looks like it’s time to move the mattress down! It was awfully cute, though. He was excited about his accomplishment.

Speaking of that pesky afternoon nap, does anyone have any suggestions on getting him to take that nap? I’m this close (purses fingers) to just skipping it and start putting him to bed earlier, but Christen doesn’t get home until 7:30, and he doesn’t get to see Spencer if he goes to bed too early. Plus he’s so happy to see daddy when he gets home. I’ve been trying for the past week to lay him down and let him stay there for a specific amount of time whether he sleeps or not, and I’ve been thinking about just putting some toys in there too so if he doesn’t sleep, at least he can play quietly for a half hour and maybe he’ll get some rest that way. Any suggestions?

Anyhow, as far as my weekend (as opposed to Spencer’s), Acie and Tom came over Friday night which was a lot of fun, and the USF game was great! I made mojo pork kebabs and black beans and rice, mini corn muffins and sangria, none of which was very hard so it was a nice relaxing evening with friends. Spencer went to bed before the game even started.

Saturday we did garage sale hunting (I bought a bunch of kids books and some books for me) and did a bit of needed shopping: we walked around BJ’s and got a membership (it’s like the Target to Sam’s Club’s Wal-Mart). They carry Spencer’s formula at a discount, which is great, and it’s nice and clean and well stocked … and they take manufacturer’s coupons, which is nice too! Christen wanted to check out the new Best Buy since he was working when Ian, Spencer and I stood in line, so we walked around there and then headed to Lowe’s where I picked up some more plants and seeds to continue my growing (haha) luck with my plants. When we got home Christen worked on putting in my new radio in, and got it working by the time I had Spencer in his bath. Sunday he put in my Sirius satellite radio, which was significantly easier. The only annoying thing so far is that he didn’t check to see if I had a CD in the old radio, and now my new Regina Spektor album is stuck in the old player. Arg! The rest of the day we watched football … sort of. I read instead.

But all in all, I’m excited about my new radio. I listened to a gamut of different music, from Madonna’s I’ll Remember to White Lion, to some random coffeehouse singer. I tried listening to comedy, but at 6:45am when you’re trying to negotiate the new traffic patterns of the Veteran’s Expressway (!!!! Ack!) it’s no time to try to get in a good laugh. So I sang instead.

Sept. 12

9/11 is the "Where were you when" of my generation. My mother was three years old for "Where were you when JFK was shot?". "Where were you when they first walked on the moon?" happened a full year before I was born. So where were you when 9/11 happened? Here's my story:

My boyfriend and I were supposed to be in German class, but our favorite bands (his was Ben Folds, mine was TMBG) were both releasing new albums, so we skipped class to hit Best Buy as they opened to get the new CDs. We walked in, walked around, and were in the TV section when the news started showing footage of the airplanes. The feed was so grainy we thought it was a joke. We watched for a few minutes, and then decided to leave. We didn't fathom the gravity of the situation, and went across the street to the mall, where we were told they were closing. Who closes a whole mall because there's an accident a thousand miles away? We were also told the colleges were closed, to which we thought, "Hey, we won't get in trouble for missing Frou Lothe's class!"

We went home, and I didn't work that day so I stayed home and my boyfriend went to work. We were sharing a car at that time, so if I didn't drive him to work I was pretty much stuck at home all day. I watch the coverage non-stop. By the time he got home 8 hours later, I was crying inexplicably (I'm not a crier over major things, so it's still amazing to me that I was crying). He scolded me for immersing myself in the news all day because it had depressed me so much, and I think we went to dinner to get away from the TV. The days after are a little bit of a blur. Life went on, I suppose.

So this Sept. 11, I found it fitting that I ended up at another Best Buy, doing my best to contribute to the economy. The Oldsmar Best Buy had their grand opening, and the first 50 people got $20 gift cards. I suppose in retrospect it's probably silly to stand in line for an hour and a half for $20, but hey, free money! I picked up my brother and Spencer and we sat on the sidewalk while we waited, Spencer lathered up in sunscreen and an umbrella shading him. Christen and I had decided to get me a new radio for my car that was compatible with my new Sirius radio. I bought my brother a new CD for waiting with me (The Toadies' new album) and Regina Spektor for myself and we went for Winghouse afterward (the boy can devour wings). I always have a blast with my brother. We can talk about anything, always have been able to. I wish that I spent more time with him. So seven years we come full circle to yet again being in Best Buy, buying CDs.

Tonight Acie and the gang are coming over to watch the USF game, and I'm making mojo pork kebabs with mojo chili sauce, black beans and yellow rice and corn bread mini muffins. I'm slightly worried about the mojo sauce because I made it myself, and I've made it before but I couldn't find the recipe I used last time and I couldn't find a good recipe this time so I sort of winged it. I'm excited to have people over, and none of them have seen the new house yet (well, Tom saw it when he helped us move, but not with things actually put together). Having people over means we get to enjoy our friends as late as we want, but Spencer still goes to bed in his crib on time. If we were to go over someone else's house, we do have the playpen we could take to set him up in a bedroom, but nothing is as comfortable as your own bed, even as a 7-month-old.

How Lucky We Are ...

Listen to this song:



Don't mind the Sims animation.

It's beautiful.

Anyhow, things have been good this week. I know, it's only Tuesday, but I'm being positive! Sunday night we grilled salmon and it was amazing! We used a cedar plank, and I made a fresh basil and tarragon pesto to smother the top and it was heavenly, really. Paired with whole wheat couscous and broccoli rabe (which was a total failure, does anyone have a good recipe for that which makes it less bitter??). Last night I made Pad Thai with some sauce I bought at the oriental market. It really didn't taste anything like Pad Thai, but it was pretty good. I also tried my hand at making poached eggs yesterday which was a disaster. Any help from regular poachers that doesn't involved buying a new pan?

I missed dear Autumn's call because I was out back fighting with jasmine. I love the jasmine on my back fence, but it's overtaking everything back there, and I really really want my electric fence to go up so I don't worry about the dog so much (she's still been digging, but since she only goes out when I do, I catch her pretty quickly). I can't really do anything about the electric fence until I can see my wooden fence since I'm attaching it to the existing fence.

Spencer's been doing the rocking thing for awhile. He can only negotiate moving backward, so he scoots backward around the living room and gets stuck in the oddest places, like under tables, because he can't see where he's going. It's really quite amusing. But we've only babyproofed to the extent of plug covers and bumpers for the fireplace (although he still ends up rocking his head into the side of the brick, nothing I can do about that). We've gotten the other stuff, so I guess we'll get there slowly. He's moving just as slowly right now anyhow :) ... don't everyone tell me at once how I need to get on it because he'll start running around before I know it! I know, I know ... hehe ...

In other news, we got a Wii Fit on Friday. I haven't been able to get on it since Friday with all the football in the house lately, but I'm hoping to start working with it at least through the week. It's so fun! And a bit painful. I'm worse at yoga than I remember ... but hula hoops and skiing is way fun!

So ...

So evidently I like to start my blog posts with "So". Don't worry, I do it in real-speak too. So anyhow ... last weekend I made lemon bars, which were delish. We ate a couple each over the weekend, and I brought the rest of them to work where they were quickly devoured by the crowd. It took me awhile to find the recipe because I have a bunch of foodie websites that I browse regularly but only a couple on my blog roll. So I had to go through all of them and finally came upon them. This weekend I copped out and made cupcakes with boxed cake mix and pillsbury icing, but I bought a cake decorator a few weeks ago and I was itching to try it out. I had one of those ones with the bags and it never worked well for me, so this is a pump. I decided to make mini cupcakes, and I make 6 dozen!! I packed up a couple dozen for work, and a couple dozen for Christen to take to work, and I figure the rest we'll just graze on for the next few days until they're no longer good.

Last week I made a pesto lasagna which turned out terribly. It tasted okay, but it was so heavy and oily and the spinach was so strong that I just felt ill after eating a piece. I'm going to have to tweak that recipe before the next time I attempt it. My chicken tacos were freaking awesome on Wednesday, and we had the leftovers for lunch yesterday and they were still awesome. Freaking awesome. I've given up on beef tacos, for real. Why bother?

On the menu this week is salmon tonight with broccolini (Christen hates salmon, but we're going to try it again and see if he can put his anti-salmon ways aside if he grills it himself), mojo pork kebabs, dirty rice, spaghetti with homemade sauce (I messed around with homemade sauce a few weeks ago when I was sick at home and bored, and Christen has decided we can't have it any other way now ...) and Pad Thai. I picked up Pad Thai sauce at an oriental market awhile back and haven't used it yet, so I bought bean sprouts, a turnip and rice sticks and I'm trying my hand at Thai food. Wish me luck!

Lola got groomed this weekend, so she's half her former self. I love when she's shorn and clean. Tomorrow I put Advantage on her, and maybe her skin problems will clear up a bit.

But anywho, work is going okay, I'm healthy for once, Spencer's healthy for once, Christen's always freaking healthy. Do I use "freaking" too much too? Spencer's been trying to crawl but can only go backwards everywhere, and trying to inhale everything he comes in contact with. He's such a happy baby, especially when he's not sick. He's gotten a little clingy during the week when I pick him up from daycare he won't let me go about my business, and only wants me to play with him. He does thankfully let me cook, but only if he's in the kitchen with me. Otherwise he gets whiny the moment I put him down. So nothing is getting done during the week, but whatever. Keeping the boy happy is more important, right?

Breathe new life into my blouse (I don't like how that sounds)

I'm beginning to have an addiction to Dunkin' Donuts coffee. It's sad, really, but at least I'm only shelling out $1.92 every time I get that craving. A couple mornings a week if I'm running on time (rather than late. I'm never running early) I'll drive through and get a large decaf (I know I'm lame, I just can't handle caffeine) with cream and sugar. Oh god, that's good stuff. I'm really not much of a coffee drinker. Which is to say, I don't need it to function. But it does taste awfully good.

And I need to find a new dry cleaner. I used to go to this place on Busch when I was living with the in-laws, and it was way too expensive, but they always did an awesome job. I don't have a lot of clothes that I dry clean, but I have a fuchsia blouse that I adore that Spencer spits up on or spills his milk on me every time I wear it. It's not even technically a dry clean shirt, but the one time I hand washed it, it looked terrible. So I dry clean it. The last place was always able to get the stain out, but this one doesn't even seem to notice the stain. This is the second time I'm just not happy with the service (and I've only been twice) so it's time to find another one. They're on every corner. Anyone have one that they like, maybe in the T&C area? I drive past 6 through there every time I pick Spencer up from daycare, so it wouldn't be out of the way.

I've been thinking of doing a political post. I don't usually write about politics, mostly because I'm fiercely moderate and I hate when anyone tries to force their politics onto me. Just like religion, I'm suspicious when anyone is too radical in any direction, and I have views that straddle the political line just as I have beliefs that straddle the religious one. But I think that a political dialog really needs to be opened, and people on both sides really need to be able to ask, why do you believe in this? How do you believe this works? Did this policy really work for you? No finger pointing, no hypocrisy, just an honest dialog. I have no problem with someone voting for a political figure they believe in, as long as they are informed and are not voting based on false statements, misconceptions or bold-faced lies. Vote for McCain, vote for Obama, vote for ... who's that other candidate taking Nader's place? Just know your facts and don't be so emotional about your choice.

Anyhow, maybe more on that later, or maybe I'll decide that politics really doesn't have a place in my blog. I'll have to do more research.

Please, no more cowbell ...

So Spencer's finally getting better. He had a fever Tuesday through Thursday, and finally on Friday that broke. He couldn't drink his bottles very well because he was so congested, and he didn't sleep much Wednesday through Friday because of the congestion. He cried a lot, and I cringed a lot. What else could I do? I spent most of Wednesday home with him, and Thursday Christen called out from work and stayed home. I relieved him once I got off work, but I worked a little late and they were both cranky from spending too much time together. Friday he was off anyhow, so I was able to work that day too, thankfully. I needed it.

By Saturday he was still congested but at least in a better mood. He was sleeping through the night, taking his nap, and playing with his toys. His nose was still running like a faucet, and we did the saline a lot trying to get as much out as possible. We were going to the Rays game with Theresa and Andrew, so we dropped him off with the in-laws and had a nice evening out. We had such a good time! The game was great; very close but we still won. The perfect kind. And even though technically I hate baseball, I've been watching the Rays lately because it's always on my tv (Christen watches) and anyhow, it's much more enjoyable in real life.

We were in the all-you-can-eat section, and I can say that I'm glad I cooked hot dogs for dinner last week, because I have a feeling that I'm not going to want any for a long time. I also learned that it can be considered justified for beating on people who wear their hats at stupid angles, women who scream "say hi to the camera!!!" to take still shots, and cow bells. Lots of cow bells. Christopher Walkin would turn over in his grave and he's not even dead.

After the game Christen and Andrew went to the cigar bar and Theresa and I went to the wine bar, and had a great time and a really good talk. Every time we spend time with them I think, why don't we spend more time together? So maybe we'll start that.

The only problem with Saturday was that we didn't get back to Christen's parents house until 11:30pm, and Spencer still wasn't asleep because he was still stuffy and his parents didn't want him to cry so they didn't lay him down. I understand being worried, but he was actually less stuffy then before and he was sleeping as of Friday so I assumed that he would be asleep when we got there. But no. And he was cranky because he was three hours past his bedtime. But he fell asleep on the drive home, and he slept in on Sunday morning and by Sunday his nose was finally starting to dry up. He's been a little snorty, but not nearly as bad, and now it seems he's catching up on his sleep. He slept until 8:30 yesterday and 9:30 today! And I kinda sorta woke him up this morning. I didn't want him to lose his schedule. Plus, I missed him.

Today we haven't done much of anything. I broke down and joined Christen's fantasy football league, so our draft is this afternoon. My team is "Plethora of Pinatas". Woohoo! We'll see if I even care about it after the first couple weeks ...

Exhaustion.

Spencer is sick. He came home from my in-laws' house yesterday with a fever, and he was kind of sleepy and sedate all evening yesterday. So this morning I took him to the doctor just in case he had an ear infection, but they said that he didn't, and they tested him for RSV and he didn't have that, so we've decided that he just has a cold. But today has been worse than yesterday, because I took him to daycare and he cried the whole time he was there and wouldn't sleep and his fever came back. So I worked for 4 hours and then came and picked him back up and took him home. I've tried saline drops, but he's so snorty I know he's having a hard time breathing. I fed him and tried laying him down but all he did was cry for 20 minutes, so now he's in the swing and hopefully he'll be able to take a nap in that.

In the meantime, he's exhausted; I'm exhausted. I had to get up and get him ready this morning so I could drive out to Trinity to the doctor's office (not my regular office, but they had an earlier opening at that one so I made the trek) and then drive him to daycare and got to work by 10. I worked my butt off while I was there, so hopefully I won't be too far behind. And hopefully he's a little bit better by tomorrow so daycare can keep him. I can't lose anymore time from work. It just piles up.

Well, it looks like his eyes are drooping so I'm going to have some lunch and maybe take a nap myself before he wakes up. Hopefully he'll sleep longer than 2 minutes, which is what he was doing at daycare.

**update: He slept for 10 minutes, and has spent the 2 hours since crying. Someone, dear God stop the crying!

Hotdogs for dinner, anyone have the catsup?

Such a nice weekend, but it went by too fast! Lately I've actually felt like I've gotten the most out of my weekends, but this weekend just flew by. Friday, Christen and I worked on getting the house together in a more presentable fashion. We put up curtains, put our pictures on the wall, cleaned up the dog hair that was accumulating in the nooks of the main rooms. Saturday I had some people over for a Taste of Home Entertaining party. There were nine adults and four children (three under a year and a four-year-old) in my living room and it was a lot of fun! The babies played together for awhile and Spencer had a blast with Nathan, the baby closest to his age. Nathan is about three weeks older, but Spencer moves around a bit more than he does. All the excitement exhausted him and he slept for two hours after everyone left, and he never sleeps that long for his afternoon nap. That night we went to Outback and Spencer tried to choke on a coaster, ate a bite of baked potato and was not impressed, and puked all over the floor. It was all very exciting.

Sunday was a lazier day, thankfully. We got up a little late and went to a Linoce's diner down the street for breakfast and they had these on the menu! I was excited; they called them Hole In One, and I had two. Yum-o! We did our grocery shopping after that and went home to veg a bit. I did some weeding and cut back the old and decrepit hibiscus plant in the front yard. I hate that thing, but it's so old I feel bad wanting to uproot it and plant something a little prettier. I hate hibiscus. Maybe I can pot it and give it to my mother-in-law. I made Beef Stroganoff for dinner, and April came over to baby-sit for us while Christen and I went to see DL Hughley at the Improv. It was a great show, and everyone was hilarious. I laughed so much! I am aware that you're suppose to laugh, but you know, sometimes that doesn't always happen. People aren't always as funny in person as they are on tv. But DL was awesome, and the openers were very entertaining. I want to go back in two weeks for Dave Atell, but I won't … too much money!

Christen is working 10-hour shifts this week, so I'm on my own for dinners. I just don't have it in me to cook real dinners when I'm going to be eating by myself even though he'll be home later. I just don't care enough to do it. So I've decided on easy-peasy meals for the week. Hotdogs tonight on the grill, chicken strips tomorrow, peanut butter burgers on Wednesday ...

Anyhow, I'm still looking for a babysitter for Thursday – I need someone for about two hours until Christen gets home. April's got a kickball game, my mom has to work, and I feel bad asking his mom because we're already asking her to baby-sit on Saturday when we go to the Rays game with Andrew and Theresa. It's funny because we never go anywhere without Spencer, but this week and next we're in need of all kinds of babysitters! Hopefully I can find someone for Thursday though … it's important.

Hurricane? Really?

I'm never ever up this late, but this sickness has done a number on my sleeping hours. Sunday I bucked up and went to the doctor. Well, the walk-in. The Little Clinic in Publix takes my insurance so I made a visit and he said it was a bad sinus infection and gave me heavy duty antibiotics and heavy-duty anti-inflammatories for my throat. I'm feeling better, but not in the areas that the pills should be helping. Throat still pretty painful, nose still pretty clogged, and stomach problems that go down and thankfully not up. It's not pretty. I'm almost convinced that whatever's wrong with me has skipped Spencer, but I've been pretty vigilant about my handwashing and sanitizing. I can't not take care of him. When I was at my worst over the weekend Christen took over all of the caregiving and they were both pretty cranky by 5pm Sunday. I was awake for no more than 5 hours total of Saturday, and I wasn't particularly coherent in those hours, and Sunday I was scared to do anything but lay on the couch in misery. I worked for 2 hours today and then came home to rest some more and I really think it helped. I didn't do anything, but maybe that's what I needed.

Tomorrow the building's closed for the hurricane, so I'm off again. The wind is picking up, because I can hear it in the chimney. I thought it was the dog -- her stomach's been making some weird noises lately; I'm thinking of taking her to the vet. But now that I'm out on the couch I can hear the moaning in the attic and we're due for some decent rain.

I'm not worried about the storm though. I guess you can tell a true Florida native when you don't realize there's a storm until someone asks if your building is going to be open. Why on earth would the close? Turns out we're in a mandatory evac zone. Oops! I really didn't realize it was scheduled to hit so close to here until today, and I went to Target and all the water was gone except Aquafina ... so I bought some Lemonade and Gatorade and some chips. I'm wondering if I can go out between bands of rain to Bed Bath and Beyond and get my curtains so I can put those up as long as I'm stuck at home. I won't, of course, because I won't take Spencer out in the rain like that. But I can dream. In the meantime, I went out tonight and picked up grape tomatoes and garlic and the makings for cherry pie, so tomorrow I'm going to make slow-roasted tomatoes and cherry pie, as long as the power stays on. When we were moving in, there were a lot of brown-outs, but the power hasn't gone out since we moved in so I'm not sure how things go over here.

Spencer just made a yelp -- I wonder if he does that a lot anymore. We gave up on the monitor when we moved in, because sound carries with the wood floors anyhow, and we were getting up far too often. He sleeps like a dream now (no pun, really) but I can sleep through anything so I often wonder if he wakes very much. (Whoever said, and there were several who did, that I'd wake up at the drop of a pin in his room the moment he was born really didn't know my sleeping habits very well.) But he has his Bambi and his light-up teddy bear and that seems to make him happy.

Anyhow, I'm just rambling because I have nothing better to do. Autumn got me started on re-reading Beach Music, and I'm about halfway through (I read some of it to Spencer and he was surprisingly receptive) but it's so aching beautiful that I feel like crying with every word so I'm slowing down my pace before I stay up all night reading it. Next will probably be Prince of Tides, and then I'll be saddened because I know of no other two books that make me bleed with sadness with every slice of the page.

Sick

Some days it feels like I just can't win. I had pink eye last week. All week I felt like gouging my eye out. I rotated 3 different kinds of eye drops. Nothing really helped. So my eye is finally better (still crusts shut, but doesn't hurt anymore) and I'm freaking sick as a dog! Thursday I started getting a little run down. Friday my throat swelled up, and by the time I finished work I felt like I was going to fall down. I called my mom to make sure I could get all the way home without falling asleep. I figured driving with the phone was better than driving while sleeping.

By Friday night I had a 102 fever. I had the house at 82 and I was still freezing. I read part of Beach Music to Spencer (he liked it), and Christen brought me home some Chickfila soup and Nyquil.

I've been on Nyquil ever since. I count down until I can take some more. I still have a fever. I feel like death. We went to Linens and Things to get out of the house and I had to go to the car because it was so freaking freezing in there.

When will I start feeling better?

La casa de la pink eye

So I have pink eye. Sunday my eye started getting a little itchy, but I didn't really worry about it because we had been working on cleaning the office up, and I have pretty bad allergies so I figured it was just related to that. Then Christen's eye swelled up, and his manager at work decided he had pink eye and sent him home on Monday. By then mine was itching a little more, so I went to the Little Clinic and got checked out and they agreed that I had pink eye and prescribed some eye drops. Tuesday was bad, Wednesday was a little better. Today is terrible. It's the worst day ever. I tried making a patch for my eye out of tissue and scotch tape, but I think I've decided to go to my regular doctor and see if anything else can be done. I've been vigilant about my hand washing and have gone through 1/2 a bottle of hand sanitizer so as to make sure that Spencer doesn't get it, but I've never wanted to gouge my eye out more than I have this week. And I get pretty hefty allergies.

The funny thing is, I'm pretty sure Christen didn't have pink eye. His eye was swollen for a day or so, but it never got red or itchy. I don't know what it was, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't pink eye. And he's over it.

I took some adorable pictures of Spencer last night. I was going to take him to a photographer for his 6 months, but the pictures I took last night were so damn cute that I might just get some backdrops and take them myself. I have very good camera equipment; the only thing I don't have is good lighting. The ones I took yesterday were outside, so I might get cloth backdrops and attach them outside to the patio ... hmmm, possibilities ...

Anyhow, they can't get me in today to see the doctor so I'm going to go ahead and go crazy. See you shortly!

Gibberish

I wrote a post from work last week, but when I emailed it to myself it didn't transmit and came out as spam. Imagine, me sending myself spam! It got mixed in with the other 63 emails I had received in my spam box in the previous 8 hours ... arg! This is all attributed to that stupid Free Diapers thing that I filled out months ago. I'm never going to be free of that dern thing.

Anyhow, I'm sure all I wrote was a bunch of fluff. I've retained part:

Love songs. PW had a contest on her site last week where she asked, "What's you favorite love song?" That's such a hard question! There are songs that mean different things to me. "Angel" by Aerosmith, tugs at my heart and reminds me of high school, an illicit make-out session on my couch. Every time it plays I think of that (and it plays a lot on those oldies stations). "Do You Remember" by Jack Johnson makes me think of Shelley (and we all know my fascination with JJ -- it's also on a lot). Any love song by certain artists makes me think of people that were in my life with fondness. So I decided to submit the first song that Christen and I danced to at my wedding. But then I couldn't quite remember! Geez, it's only been a little over a year and I can't remember what we danced to? I know good ole Louie Armstrong was there. And Ella, dear Ella. I'm pretty sure it was "Our Love is Here to Stay". And I'm also pretty sure that my deejay did not have the version that we wanted, so we went with an extended version of Louie's. Can anyone that was at my wedding confirm this so I don't feel like I'm going nuts? I do know that "Come Away With Me" by Norah Jones was our last dance. I know that. Christen wanted "One for the Road" by Frank Sinatra but we didn't get it, so I got to pick.

I also wrote about how I got to meet Becky on Tuesday and how much fun we had -- so glad I got to meet her!! She has a lot of the same mannerisms as Autumn, and a couple days later Christen and I were hanging out and out of the blue he says, "Your friend Becky is just likst Autumn" .... hahah, and I hadn't said a thing about thinking the same thing! It's totally a compliment; Christen really likes Autumn.

Anyhow, I took Friday off work because I wasn't feeling good and I hate to waste that kind of time, so I spent the day painting both my bathrooms. They look awesome! I'm so excited. I did both in the same color, a dark taupe/light brown, and I did the guest bathroom in blue and brown accents, and the master bathroom in wine/tan accents. Beautiful! I'll take pictures this week. We also put up my shelves again in the library, this time with concrete anchors so my antique books don't fall again, and got started on clearing the floor. Saturday morning my mom came over and helped Christen get a bunch of stuff to the dump so I can now park in the garage! Hooray! We also went to see Dark Knight Sunday afternoon, and I was pleasantly surprised. Usually a movie doesn't live up to the hype, but I wasn't disappointed which is a rarity. We came home and I made chicken tacos and a blueberry pie. Yum!

Note to self: Leave the back door open.

So I met Don today, who lives four doors down. Don, the locksmith. Nice to meet you Don, the locksmith. Pardon my crying, but can you unlock my door for me so I can get back to my 6-month-old?

I know better than to close the sliding glass door behind me when I take the dog out for her afternoon pee. I had no sooner felt the click when I realized my mistake and tried to open it. However, the stupid lock fell right with the click, and I was fashionably locked out. Of my house. No keys, no phone, baby in the crib (okay, that was the right thing to do -- I had just laid him down for his nap; he wasn't asleep but he was quietly meandering around his crib while deciding to sleep or not). I went to the neighbors that I do know, borrowed the phone. But Christen's cell is broken and we are in the middle of deciding about new service, and I don't know his work number by heart. So I called his parents. Do you have a key to my house. Nope.

Thankfully, my neighbor is a locksmith. I think I even like that better than having a cop there.

Woohoo for babies on the same side of the door as me.

And air conditioning.

Hmmm...

I’m wearing cream-colored trouser socks today. I feel old. Age is creeping up on me like a trouser sock, sagging down my leg as the day goes on. I know I’m not as old as some of my friends but I still feel it, some days more than others. I don’t usually wear stockings, but my pasty feet looked so silly in loafers this morning and I didn’t feel like wearing strappy shoes because my heels are feeling the effects of the hot summer.

I think Spencer is getting used to his sleep schedule a little better. After a discussion with a friend who has a little girl a few months older, I think I’m not feeding him enough and maybe that’s why he’s been cranky lately. He usually eats about 24 oz of formula where he used to eat about 32 oz, and he eats once a day about ½ a baby food container w/ a couple tbs of rice cereal. Today we started feeding him in the morning too, so he’ll be getting more, and I think I’m going to at least up his feeding to a whole container for dinner. Workin’ it out :) He’s still not getting better about going to bed, but it’s almost like he gets frustrated trying to find a comfortable spot on the bed, because last night he cried for 45 minutes and I went in there and he was on his tummy so angry, and I popped his pacifier in and he fell right asleep. I want to put him to bed on his tummy so that he already has a comfortable place and maybe he can go to sleep easier, but then I’m worried because they (the formidable “they”) say never to lay babies down on their stomachs and to let them turn over instead. Why? What’s the big deal?

The thunder is taking over here. I sit next a wall of windows at work and whenever it gets dark and foreboding I just want to sit and stare at the impending rain rather than work. I do it at home too. Can’t I bring a futon and a small tv set and lay down and watch old movies when it rains?

The Art of the Rollover

Now you thought I was going to talk about my predilection for sleeping facing the outside of the bed, didn't you?

Nope, Spencer has learned to ROLL OVER. It took him a little more time than it would have taken a dog, but I didn't send him to obedience school. He turned over from tummy to back about a month ago once but it seemed really by accident and he couldn't figure out how to do it again, and then on my birthday he turned over twice! So I was excited. When oh when would he start turning over from back to belly? Not long at all, actually.

This weekend we had a lot of sleeping problems. We actually thought it was teething issues, and while they might be bothering him (who would notice a difference with that drool factory?) I the real reason seemed to be that he kept trying to turn over and couldn't figure out how to keep moving. So he would get stuck up against the side of the crib. Ha! So Sunday night was super bad (Fogell... shut the fuck up. And take off that vest. You look like Aladdin. ... oh wait, not that Superbad ... damn it, I digress) but it was Christen's night (haha, sorry), but last night he finally figured out how to scoot away from the side of the crib and he fell asleep on his belly clutching his light-up teddy bear. God bless that bear (thank you Joy, it didn't help in the car but he sure likes it in bed) because I got a damn good night's sleep on my night.

So that's the deal-eo. You know you wanted a Spencer update, so really instead of being a total mommy-blogger I'm just giving my public what it wants. Next I'll try to move onto pictures. He is five months now, after all. Where does the time go???

Good weekend

It was, actually. We got a ton done on the house -- I've unpacked all my books and found places for almost all of them, and we bought and put together the new desk (our last one was an OD display and was falling apart from all the moving) and the library/office is looking so cozy! Once I get my loveseat in there and art on the walls I'm never going to want to leave that room! I need to build floating shelves above the loveseat for my antique books so Spencer can't get to them, and get a filing cabinet for our bills and house stuff and my writing so I can get back to submitting things to journals and filing my rejection slips.

Somehow it felt like a really long weekend. I still didn't want it to end, but at least I felt like I sucked all the marrow out of the time I had. At the end of the day there were still things I wish I had done (like finishing the laundry) but I still feel like I've made progress.

I think Spencer is teething. He had a horrible night last night -- Christen was up all night with his screaming. He's also figured out how to turn over from his back to belly this weekend, but he can't figure out how to scoot away from the crib walls so he gets stuck on his side against the bars. And for all my worrying that the swaddle was going to prevent him from learning -- he does it in his swaddle.

So this week's menu:

• Monday: stuffed pork chops w/ spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese and fried okra (using up the last of the fresh okra from last week before it gets slimy)
• Tuesday: General Tso's chicken with white rice and snow peas (we nixed it from last week's menu)
• Wednesday: Beef Stroganoff and a side salad
• Thursday: Kikkoman stir-fry w/ brown rice
• Friday: brown sugar bacon-wrapped shrimp with vegetable skewers

I've decided to not plan the weekends because we usually eat out at least one night, and the other night we can have leftovers from the week. That's what we did last night -- I broke up the meatloaf into mac & cheese for me, and sauteed the leftoever pork tenderloins in medallions for Christen. He's supposed to take the pasta from Thursday for lunch today and then we are leftover-free for the week and I only had one pork chop that got thrown out. Amazing. I know that won't happen all the time, but I'm also trying to make smaller meals so we don't feel compelled to eat seconds and thirds to eat things up. For tonight I only bought two pork chops, and I asked the veggie lady at Publix to split squash packages for me so I only had 2 each of zucchini and summer squash. Beef stroganoff is a big meal, but I have no problem bringing that to work every day for a few days to eat it up -- delish! I don't mind buying larger packages and breaking them up at home, but it seems that nothing is on sale like that lately, so why bother. I have a smaller fridge anyhow, so I can't pack it particularly full.

A book of firsts

I did something this morning that I haven’t done in my entire work life. That would be 13 years, sometimes working 2 or 3 jobs.

I made coffee this morning, and brought it with me to work.

I know some of you can’t live without your coffee – my mother included, which is actually why we bought the coffee maker. But although I like coffee, I’ve never felt the need to have it every day, and usually drinking hot liquids in the morning gives me a stomachache so I generally stick to milk with breakfast. This morning I felt like coffee, and the coffee at work is terrible so I ground myself some decaf beans and started up a small pot. I didn’t drink any in the car, because I’m wearing a white blouse, and I still drank milk with my breakfast. But it was a welcome addition to my morning routine today. Not that it will likely become a routine, but it’s nice to know I can get that done before work if I want.

Other firsts are that I made meatloaf last night for the first time ever, and fried okra (and wax beans and rolls). Christen’s request. This week we started making our menu on Sunday and shopping for everything. If we can truly make this a practice I will be thrilled. Tonight is stuffed pork tenderloin which I love to make and is very easy, tomorrow are tomato and mozzarella panini sandwiches (Spencer has a doctor’s appointment to check his croup and ears and I know I won’t have time for much of anything). Thursday is penne with vodka sauce and Friday is scallops with orange sauce (Christen’s birthday). General Tso’s chicken is somewhere in there if I decide I don’t feel like making something in particular because that’s something Christen makes (it was originally Wednesday’s meal but I’ve already substituted). Saturday we’re probably going out with his family for the birthdays so I didn’t bother planning a meal, and next week we start again! It was actually really easy, just took an extra 20 minutes of planning before going to the store on Sunday and since I had a purpose it didn’t even take much longer to go shopping even though I did the whole week of shopping instead of just a day or two. I don’t have much room in the freezer for any pre-made dinners, but I may try to fit some in just in case. I also got fat free cool whip and berries, and I’ve been eating a little for dessert every night to curb my sweet tooth and it’s delicious! And much better than ice cream which I’ve truly been craving.

I haven’t bought any snack food since we’ve moved, and hope to keep that up. We have some baked chips, but I’m not a chip girl so they’re safe. I also have found that I don’t have the time to snack. Isn’t that wonderful? The baby keeps me so busy, and with work and feeding him his solids I make time to sit down and have dinner with my husband but that’s really it. Eventually I plan to start getting up earlier to run and give myself a little time to myself, but I’m okay working on my eating habits first and giving myself time to get settled in the house first. I’ll just make myself sick if I overdo it, and I know that.

Spencer’s doing better, although yesterday he got clingy and cried bloody freaking murder every time I set him down so that I could make dinner or go to the bathroom or anything. I can’t figure out if it’s behavioral or if his ear infections have come back (which I was told could happen with the croup). It makes me feel so bad, but things have got to be done so sometimes he’s just going to have to cry. His follow-up appointment is on Wednesday and they can tell me if he’s really doing better. Last night he woke up at 3am and started yelling. No crying, no screaming. He would yell out like, “Hey, I’m awake – come get me!” Ugh. He needs to start learning to sleep through the night. All these bouts of sickness set him back on that front and I’m getting so tired!

Anyhow, work is doing well; I’m starting to enjoy it again. I’m still not caught up a little more than 2 months back, but I’m getting there slowly. In my profession you’re never really caught up anyhow, so I’m getting used to it. Before I left I was always caught up and sometimes I got bored so I guess slightly behind is better. They’ve started this silly customer service competition and I’ve been working on that and I’m way in the lead for my group, which makes me happy. I’m so easy.

Ahh, fireworks

Happy Independence Day! I'm always reminded of the mind bender question of yore which asks, "Does England have a fourth of July too?" to which the answer is "Yes, and a fifth of July, and a sixth ..."

Anyhow, We're officially in the house. I'm pretty sure I've said that. It's not in the least pulled together, but the nursery is completely done -- we bought the rug today (which Ikea does not have on their web site for me to show you). We also brought my new china cabinet in from the garage and I got to fill it, which totally excited me. I love organizing. It's really sad.

Spencer has croup. He started sounding hoarse Wednesday night and he didn't sound any better Thursday morning so I brought him in to see the doctor before the long weekend and it's a good thing I did. We caught it early; he never got the barking cough, just very hoarse when he cried or laughed and a dry cough. Too, since we caught it early it doesn't seem that the steroids they put him on haven't adversely affected him either; he hasn't been especially cranky or had any diarrhea.

Since he was feeling okay we went ahead and went to Ikea today. I'll be so happy when the one here gets built. We drove over for this cabinet and left 4 hours and $700 later. I wanted two of the cabinets but I couldn't bring myself to drop that much money on cabinets when the rest of my house isn't put together yet. Plus, we've been toying with the idea of building a library with Ikea bookcases, and that's far too much money to actually happen right now. I'm sticking with all my old bookcases.

And Spencer had peas tonight, and loved them -- it was so funny; I took pictures and hopefully I'll load them up tomorrow.

Anyhow, Toodles! PS- tomorrow is my birthday! So actually, 46 minutes from now ...