Unseasonably Beautiful Weather

We've had a couple of days of absolutely beautiful weather here (highs in the upper 60s, maybe even low 70s) lately, and Lily and I have made the best of it. We got out the big stroller and spent quite a bit of time in the backyard. Lily got to play, and I got some work done. (We had a terrible windstorm about a month ago that took one of the trees in our backyard down and brought down limbs off of several others. We have quite a mess to deal with out there.) While Lily enjoyed the fresh air and watching the world around her, I picked up small limbs and branches so as to start the process of making our backyard pretty again.

Studio Mommy vs. Walgreens

I'd spent the last week or so thinking "I really needed to get out my backdrop and take Lily's Christmas pictures if I want to include pictures in my Christmas cards this year...." And this came after several weeks of debating with myself over whether to do Studio Mommy pictures or take Lily to a professional studio for pictures. Since I was relatively unhappy with Lily's last/only set of studio pictures, I opted for the Studio Mommy option. A couple days ago I actually did get out the backdrops and get Lily all dressed up and take a whole bunch of pictures. (I think I took over 70 pictures in an attempt to find one where the lighting was decent, the baby was looking at the camera--maybe even smiling, and nothing was blurry due to the moving subject.) I spent another day or two trying to decide which picture to print, and then yesterday I finally went online and placed my order for prints. I went in to pick up my prints this evening, and the photo people at Walgreens wouldn't give me my prints because they claimed that they were professional photographs and that I needed a copyright release from the studio before they could give me the pictures. After trying to reason with the photo people, I ended up leaving the store angry, confused, and without my pictures. When I arrived home, Jimmy went to Walgreens to try to reason with the photo people and retrieve my pictures, but he was also unsuccessful. I then wrote a very articulate but perhaps not-so-polite letter explaining that I give myself permission to print the pictures that I have taken. Anyway, after providing the photo people with the letter, I finally got my pictures. I think I'll be finding a new place to print pictures in the future....

Carrots!!

We're beginning to introduce vegetables into Lily's diet, and we started with carrots. While she didn't seem particularly fond of the carrots, she certainly didn't mind smiling for the camera....

Duck Thief

I believe Lily's filched a rubber duckie. I picked up Lily from her babysitter this afternoon and then went to a local coffee shop (my normal Thursday place actually) to get a late lunch and hang out with Lily before driving back home. When I took Lily out of her carseat, I found that she was sharing her seat with a rubber duckie (and it wasn't one of her rubber duckies as her duckies stay in the bathtub). As far as I can figure, Lily filched the duckie from one of two places: the babysitter's house or the foster care shelter/office. (Lily's babysitter does short-term foster care for infants, and sometimes she has to take Lily with her when she takes her other baby for doctor's appointments or parent visits or whatever.) I hope the duckie came from the babysitter's house, because stealing toys from foster children is just wrong on so many levels....

Thanksgiving Break

My poor blog has been neglected this past week as we were out of town. Lily (and Jimmy and I) got to go visit her Grandpa and Grandma B. (my parents) in Kansas for the week. They don't have the internet at their house, which explains the lack of blog updates for the week.

Anyway, it was a wonderful trip. The 8 1/2 hour drives each way became 12 hour drives because we made quite a few extra stops for Lily. She actually traveled pretty well considering the amount of time she spent in the carseat. The trip was pretty exciting for Lily. She got to meet all of her aunts and uncles and most of her cousins on my side of the family, and she got to spend time with her Grandpa and Grandma. (Isn't the Lily and Grandpa picture cute!!) The trip was also filled with lots of those little baby "firsts": first trip to the farm, first time to sit in a high chair, first real food (baby cereal--and whatever else Grandpa snuck to her while Mommy wasn't looking), first time to ride like a big girl in the grocery cart, first snow storm, and a first pair of shoes.

Jimmy and I enjoyed the trip too. It was the first real time off that Jimmy had from work since our trip to New Orleans this past August. (He has days off here and there, but he lives only a few houses away from his office and often ends up going in for things even when he is technically "off.") I spent a few days working, but I took plenty of time to relax too. I managed to sleep in a couple of days since there were other people around to play with Lily in the mornings. Jimmy and I even got to go out (together!) for beers one evening; we figured out that we hadn't done that in at least 15 months!

I always like going to visit everybody; it just makes me wish I lived closer so I could visit more often....

Happy Half-Birthday Lily!!

Today is Lily's half birthday. It's hard to believe that she's 6 months old already. She's grown and changed so much, and her personality's really starting to show. She's still a very happy and easy-going baby, which helps Mommy to be happy and easy-going too. We did some 6 month pictures at Studio Mommy yesterday; this one is a favorite....

Strep Throat

I have strep throat. I started feeling yucky on Monday, still felt yucky on Tuesday, felt a little worse on Wednesday, and on Thursday I called in sick to work and went to the doctor. The doctor did a strep test, which came back positive, and then gave me drugs (which was not a simple task since I'm still nursing Lily and am allergic to penicillin and all it's moldy friends). After my trip to the doctor, I took Lily to the doctor since she and I had been sharing symptoms since Monday. The good news is that she apparently has just a cold. (From what the doctor told me, it's very uncommon for babies to get strep because they don't usually have the proteins in their throats that strep feed on or attach to.) I spent most of Friday resting, and now I'm trying to get back in the swing of things so I can still get some stuff accomplished this week....

Ding-Dong, Ding-dong!!

I've been recruited for our church bell choir this year. Our first rehearsal was yesterday, and it went pretty well. I'd never played bells before, so I'm just figuring things out. We practice on Wednesday evenings when Jimmy has youth group, so Lily had to go with me. Practice starts at just about bedtime, so I gave Lily a bath, put her in jammies, gave her an evening snack, and drove around the block a few times before arriving at the church. She was asleep when we got to the church, and she slept through the entire practice. Jimmy took her home when he finished work for the evening, and I transferred her to her bed when I got home.

Do I Love Lucy?

Lily woke me up earlier than I would have liked this morning, so I watched two episodes of _I Love Lucy_ as I was attempting to doze on the couch while she played on the floor. I didn't really grow up watching _I Love Lucy_, but I know I've seen a few episodes every now and then. Anyway, I was a little bothered by the episodes that I saw today. The first episode was okay, but it didn't really conclude. The second episode didn't conclude either, but this time the lack of conclusion was a bit more troubling. The episode ended with Lucy trapped in a walk-in freezer. Now, the problem with this ending is that the freezer has a key lock on the outside, has only one key, and cannot be opened from the inside. At the end, Lucy is locked in the freezer and she has the key, and that's where the episode ends. So, my question: how does Lucy get out? Shouldn't her getting out of the cooler be a part of the episode? If the episode ends with Lucy stuck in the freezer, does she end up stuck there permanently, thus ending the series?

So, do I love Lucy? I'm not so sure....

Cake

I baked a cake today. Now, for most people, that probably isn't a big deal, but I don't make cakes. I'll bake pies and breads and maybe even an occasional batch of cookies, but I almost never make cakes. (I think I've made one other cake since I've known Jimmy, and that was a coffee cake.) Anyway, I made a cake today. Granted, it was from a mix and the frosting was from a can, but I still built the cake. When I was making it, I realized that I've never assembled a 2-layer cake before, and I don't think I've ever frosted a cake that has been taken out of the pan. (Luckily, I remembered a few frosting tricks from frosting Christmas cookies with Mom and Dad when I was little.) Anyway, the cake looks nice, and Jimmy says it's yummy....

Not Quite a Freshman....

Lily spent part of the day today on campus with me. Actually, she spends a few hours with me on campus nearly every Thursday. Jimmy drops her off on campus and that lets me stay on campus for a while and run errands or work. Today followed our normal routine: we spent an hour or so at one of Mommy's favorite coffee shops, and then we went to Mommy's work, the library, and Mommy's office. The people in the coffee shop now know Lily by name, the the library ladies like gushing over the little baby. (She gets a lot of attention on campus.) I'm very glad that Lily's such a happy baby; it makes days like today easy.

Happy Halloweening

Happy Halloween!!

Lily and I went "Happy Halloween"-ing this evening. Since Lily's too little to eat candy and I don't need to eat candy, we (okay, I) decided that we would go "Happy Halloween"-ing instead of "Trick-or-Treat"-ing this evening. We made up little gifts (pairs of Halloween cookie cutters wrapped in pretty orange tissue paper) and took them to our neighbors. We only went a few places; we went to see the families next door and acrossed the street, the lady next door, and the hummingbird ladies down the street. Though I hadn't really anticipated being out and about for more than a half hour or so, we ended up visiting just about everywhere we stopped and our outing lasted nearly 2 hours. Lily was a little tired and fussy during the later part of the evening, but she did exceptionally well considering she had shots at the doctor's office earlier today.

Lily's First Post

> nncl/ b/m lllllllllm, jj 8.

I had help with this one. We'll consider this Lily's first blog post. She "talked" (IMed, essentially) with one of her cousins on the computer briefly last night. It's hard not to introduce her to technology this young....

Wardrobe Shift

Today was the day of the great wardrobe shift -- the day where all of the spring and summer clothes get packed away in boxes and all of the fall and winter clothes come out of the aforementioned boxes (before the spring and summer things get put in them, of course). I also packed up a few things to give away; a group at the church is collecting clothing for a charity donation project, so I sent a box of things that direction. I also boxed up some of Lily's not-yet-too-small summer dresses. It seemed a little strange boxing up all of her summer things knowing that I won't be pulling them out of those boxes 6 months from now. I've boxed up things that she's outgrown before, but it's strange to box up the things that still kinda fit.

Lily helped me with my little project. She played on my bed for a while, and then we moved her to her little bouncer. Lily and I talked for a while, and then she played with Tucker. Tucker really just sat there and looked at Lily, but she found that entertaining enough. She giggled and laughed--not the delicate baby laugh, but a full-fledged guffaw--and seemed to have a wonderful time talking with her Tucker.

Halloween/5 Month Pictures

Lily had some pictures taken at Studio Mommy this afternoon. In other words, I took pictures of Lily today. I dressed her up in her Halloween costume and we did some outside fall shots. She's going to be Winnie-the-Pooh for Halloween; I got her costume for $3 at a thrift store. (I couldn't justify spending $30+ on a Halloween costume when she won't remember the occasion.) Anyway, the pictures turned out pretty cute; now it's just a matter of deciding on which one I want to have prints made of and send out as Lily's 5-month pictures. Here are the three favorites; any suggestions?



(This last one should be rotated, but my computer is being uncooperative this evening.)

One of Those Days....

The day isn't over yet, but it's certainly been a long one already.

Lily didn't sleep through the night; she woke me up at about 2:45 this morning. She fussed for about 45 minutes before she went back to sleep. Sometime during those 45 minutes I acquired a case of the hiccups. Then I had trouble going back to sleep because of the pesky hiccups. My 6:15 alarm seemed to go off way too early. My hiccups didn't go away during the night. I was about 10 minutes late getting out the door this morning, and I had to stop to get gas on the way to school. I picked up a big hot cocoa at the gas station, and I managed to spill some of it on my shirt (my white shirt, nonetheless) during my commute. I pulled out some napkins and my bottle of water to try to blot out the spots, and then I promptly spilled the water all over my lap. The good news was the hiccups went away. However, they came back. They did go away again and I haven't spilled anything on myself in the last 3 hours, so I guess the day is getting better....

Birthdays

Happy Birthday Mommy!! (It's my Mommy's birthday today. YAY Mommy!!)

Also, Happy Belated Blog-Birthday to Me!! While I won't disclose my Mommy's age, my blog turned a whopping 3 years old earlier this month.

New Layout

As you can see, I now have a new layout for my blog (and I'm not sure that I like it). I decided yesterday that I wanted to enable a few new features available on blogger, and I was required to update my template in order to do so. I checked to see that the template I had been using was still available, and I proceeded. However, I soon discovered that, though the basic elements of the template remained the same, there were some rather obvious changes: the formerly beautiful and balanced page was now cramped and smooshed and certainly not aesthetically pleasing. Thus, I decided to select a new template. (If I knew anything about html I probably would have attempted to make changes to the old template, but all of that code looks like a garbled mess to me.)

Anyway, my blog has a new layout. Does it work, or should I try again?

Mommy's Little Helper

Lily's been helping me with all sorts of things today. She helped me with a little laundry this morning, and she helped me with some yard work this afternoon. (She likes being outside, and she really likes to watch the trees. I tried not to keep her out too long today because she's been fighting a little cold for the last few weeks.) She already worked so hard that she decided that it's time for a nap....

Coupons

I like coupons. My mommy sends me coupons in the mail, and I try to remember to sort through them before I go shopping. Today I made a conscious effort to go shopping with my coupons. Actually, I made out my shopping list based on what I had coupons for since the grocery store currently had a 'double coupons up to and including $1.00' promotion going. Anyway, between the store sales and the coupons, I actually cut my grocery bill in half. (The 'Total Savings' column at the bottom of my receipt read '50% off.') It was totally worth the extra 15 minutes of planning that went into this trip to the store....

$2.95

That's the gas price that I saw on my commute to school this morning. It's amazing to think that 5 years ago we never would have thought that gas prices would ever go over $3 per gallon and 5 months ago we wondered if gas prices would ever drop below $3 per gallon again. Even though I sill have half a tank of gas in my car, I think maybe I'll fill it up again today....

Mina

No, we didn't get another kitty. We're kitty-sitting this week for Mina, a kitty who belongs to one of our friends. (The friend who typically kitty-sits for Tucker when we go out of town.) Anyway, Tucker and Mina have gotten along wonderfully this time. (And that hasn't always been the case.) Tucker was initially a little protective of his humans; he slept in the hallway during the first night Mina was here, presumably to keep her out of the bedrooms. He's been a little better about sharing his humans lately, though he still seems to get a little upset whenever Mina gets too close to Lily. Mina's been doing well too; we haven't had any reason to refer to her as 'Meany' at all this visit....

Weight Vs. Clothes

I'm now officially down to my pre-baby weight!! YAY Me!! However, I'm left pondering what I'm guessing is one of the great mysteries of the world: if I'm at my pre-baby weight, how come my pre-baby clothes don't fit?

4 Months

As of yesterday, my baby is 4 monthes old. It's amazing how much she has grown and changed in those 4 short monthes! She's now considerably heavier than Tucker and is growing like a weed....

Football and Cell Phones

Lily went to her first football game this past weekend. Since we live less than two blocks from the high school football stadium, we decided to take in a game while the weather is still nice. Lily seemed to enjoy the first quarter well enough, slept through the second quarter, woke up for the half time show, and then got a little fussy during the third quarter. Since Lily was fussy and it was already passed her bedtime, we left midway through the third quarter.

As I was leaving the game, I dropped my cell phone. However, I didn't realize that I dropped it until about 5 minutes later. We went back and searched for it, but it was nowhere to be found. The lady who I was sitting next to hadn't moved and hadn't noticed anything, but the phone was gone nonetheless. I got a new phone, but I lost all of my contacts. Thus, if I had your number and you want me to have it again, please call me, text me, or send me an e-mail....

My Little Pickpocket

Well, it looks like I've got a pickpocket on my hands.... When I took Lily out of her carseat following the Thursday afternoon baby swap, I found that she had been sitting on a ring. Not a cheap plastic ring or a piece of costume jewelry, but a very pretty gold ring with diamonds. I showed the ring to Jimmy, and after half a dozen phone calls we managed to figure out to whom it belonged. We're still not sure how it ended up in Lily's carseat. Anyway, the ring will be returned to its owner, but I'm wondering if I should be concerned about the little one who swiped it. Oh well, at least it looks like she has good taste in jewelry.

Moldy Bread

Okay, I have a question.... When the bread begins to mold, what do you do? Do you throw the whole loaf away, or do you throw out the moldy slices (and maybe another slice or two) and continue to eat the rest of the loaf?

Answers and justifications please....

The Mystery of the Missing High-Chair

I'm sure Emily Post and Ann Landers would object to this post, but oh well....

(DISCLAIMER: I'm not aggravated or ungrateful, but simply perplexed.)

About 9 months ago Jimmy and I eagerly registered for baby items at two different stores. Despite the risk of spoiling some surprises, we did periodically check the online registry information at both stores to see what items had been purchased. Among the first items to move from the "need it" list to the "have it" list was a high-chair. Well, the first baby shower passed, and the high-chair didn't appear. The second baby shower passed, and the high-chair didn't appear. The baby arrived, and still the high-chair didn't appear. Now the baby's almost ready to sit in a high-chair, and the high-chair hasn't appeared.

At this point I'm wondering several things: Did someone actually purchase the high-chair, or was there an error on the registry information? If someone did purchase the high-chair, where have they stored it for the past 7+ months? (If I purchased a gift of that size for someone, I would be very eager to give it to them simply to get the big box out of my house.) I know we haven't needed a high-chair yet, but why wait to long?

If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of said high-chair, please let me know....

The Attachment Didn't Come Through....

Have you ever sent an email and forgotten to attach an attachment? Though I don't usually forget attachments, I did miss one on a rather important email that I sent out to about a dozen people today. Within about 2 minutes of sending the e-mail I had received 3 responses. Two included the phrase "the attachment didn't come through" and the writer of the other one explained that "I was unable to access the attachment -- please resend." Having been the recipiant of emails with missing attachments from time to time, I have also sent such e-mails politely requesting that an attachment be "resent" when in fact it had never been sent at all. It's amazing how we try to be polite while still pointing out others' mistakes. Anyway, I promptly "resent" the attachment to everyone. In the body of the email I first typed "I feel stupid," but I utlimately deleted that phrase and opted for a slightly more professional "Let's try again."

Baby and Kitty

Tucker has made a new friend!! Though he generally ignored Lily for the past three months, Tucker is beginning to finally interact with our baby. Yesterday I put a napping baby down on the chair, and I came back to find a napping baby and a napping kitty on the chair. (Notice how Tucker is the one clutching the little stuffed bear.) The same thing happened today, except Tucker was curled up at Lily's little feet. The slightly nervous mommy half expected things to get ugly when Lily awoke, but Tucker just stayed there, purring happily, as Lily stretched her little legs and repeatedly kicked various parts of the cat. Silly little kitty....

School

Well, school starts on Monday and I still have a syllabus to write. Hmmmm....

Baby Bad Dreams

I put Lily to bed about an hour ago, but she woke up crying not too long after I put her down (which is unusual). Since the volume and pitch of her cries were not ones that we hear very often, Jimmy decided that she must have had a bad dream. He then speculated on what a bad dream for a baby might consist of: perhaps all of the milk dried up, or maybe Tucker stole all of her rattles. I often wonder just what goes on inside of Lily's little head....

My Christian Baby

We had Lily's baptism today. She's now officially a Christian!! She was a good baby during church, and she didn't even cry when Father poured water over her head. However, she did cry when Father was giving the Parents' Blessing at the end of Mass. (And I laughed through the whole blessing thinking about what everyone in the congregation must have been thinking: "With a kid who screams like that, these parents need all the prayers they can get!") We had a little lunch reception after the baptism for our friends and family members who came to celebrate with us. (My sister and my niece, who was the godmother, came and brought my mommy and daddy with them. YAY!) We took all sorts of pictures too; Lily looked absolutely gorgeous in her little white dress....

Back Home Again

Well, we returned from our New Orleans vacation today. The drives both directions were tolerable (due to a baby who traveled quite well), and the trip as a whole was quite enjoyable. We spent time visiting Jimmy's family, and we also did a fair share of the 'touristy' things. We went on a steamboat cruise, visited the aquarium and the zoo, went on a swamp tour, and spent some time wandering around the French Quarter. Lily was a wonderful traveler; it's a pity she won't remember the trip....

Hello from New Orleans!

Greetings from somewhere that isn't Oklahoma!! Jimmy, Lily, and I drove down to New Orleans yesterday, and we're here to hang out, visit Jimmy's family, and do some touristy things. We'd planned to make the drive down in two days, but Lily did so well that we decided to drive it all in one day. She was an angel yesterday while we were driving, but she had a rougher day today. I think she misses her own bed and her quite house (and maybe even her Tucker kitty). I'm hoping that she's happier tomorrow because we're planning on going to the zoo....

Pretty in Pink

I've taken quite a few Lily pictures lately, and this is one of my current favorites. (I took two others at just about the same time from different angles and her expression is a little different in each one. I need to do something cute to put them together and display them as a little set or something.) It's just amazing that she's grown and changed so much in such a short time....

Name Sharing

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 87 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

One of my sisters sent this link to me via e-mail. It's pretty cool, so I thought I would share. Apparently there are 86 other people in the USA who also have my name. (That was when I entered my married name. When I used my maiden name, there was "1 or fewer" of me....)

No More Peaches

Today we took a little trip to Porter for the annual Porter Peach Festival. We were only there for an hour or so because we didn't want to keep Lily out in the heat, but we still had fun. There was a car show, a little carnival, and both food and craft vendors. The one thing that I didn't find, however, was peaches. Apparently they ran out of peaches around noon. (There weren't any peaches to buy, and the 'free peaches and ice cream' all disappeared very quickly from what I was told.) The road stands along the highways did still have peaches for sale, but the parking lots were packed and overflowing so I didn't get any peaches today....

The Phantom....

Today (or at least part of it) was a "Mommy's Day Out." I went to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera," which was absolutely spectacular. I have a CD of the music and I saw the movie that came out a few years ago, but this was my first time to see the production on stage. It's definitely one that I'd see again....

A Little Bit of Attention

What's a kitty got to do to get a little bit of attention around here these days?!? Tucker and Lily are coexisting well, but I think the little guy sometimes gets jealous of all the attention she receives. When we let Tucker in the nursery, he likes to lay on the Winnie-the-Pooh rug or curl up in my rocking chair; he generally leaves the baby things alone. (We put a screen door on the nursery so we can lock him out whenever we want and still see and hear what's going on in that room.) The bassinet, which we haven't used since Lily was a week or two old, has been in our bedroom lately, and I think it's probably time to take it down....

BOOM!! (Already.)

The 4th of July is a full week away, but the people just down the street have been setting off fireworks already. (I think it's the same people who have the kid with the 4-wheeler.) While I can put up with regular city noises (traffic, sirens, etc.),the booming noises of fireworks are more difficult to tolerate. I think fireworks should be covered under a noise or nuissance ordinance, but I doubt that's the case since fireworks are actually legal within the city limits here (which I think is absolutely wrong!). If they keep going with the fireworks at the current rate, it's going to be a very long week and my nerves might be shot by the end of it....

Growing Like a Weed

Our little girl has grown so much already!! She's just over a month old now, and she's already grown up and changed so much!! She's gained 2 pounds, and she can hold her head up, creep and scoot around, and roll from her tummy to her back. She doesn't have a real 'schedule' yet, but she's been sleeping a solid 6-7 hours just about every night. (She's definitely a morning person; I'm not!) She's generally a happy baby, which is very, very good....

A Little Stowaway

Jimmy was working at a camp this past week, and he returned home for the weekend before heading back to work at camp for another week. He left this morning, but it was a good thing I checked his bags before he left....

Tucker and the Sand Cricket

Tucker, our darling kitty (now technically a cat), is a mighty hunter of bugs. He stalks flies, spiders, crickets, and just about any other bug that manages to make its way into the house. Among his favorite bugs are sand crickets (a terrible mutant creature that's not really a cricket at all but looks like the worst possible cross between a large spider and a grasshopper). Anyway, a few days ago I found a sand cricket in my closet, and, using a bug-killing stratgey borrowed from my brother, I grabbed the dust-buster and vacuumed up the mutant creature. I set the dust-buster on the floor in the bathroom and promptly forgot about the whole episode. The next evening, I heard strange noises coming from the bathroom. When I went to check things out, I found Tucker pushing the dust-buster all around the bathroom floor, trying to figure out how to get to the still-alive sand cricket. When he decided that the cricket was stuck, he pulled back the area rug in front of the sink and attempted to hide the entire dust-buster under the rug. (Tucker has always stashed things under the little bathroom and kitchen rugs; it's not unusual for me to find coins, kitty treats, elastic hair ties,and bug parts under the little kitchen and bathroom rugs.) Anyway, he wasn't able to make the dust-buster disappear, but the whole thing was quite amusing....

Weather Warnings

With all of the crazy weather that we've been having in the Midwest this summer, this made me laugh....

Normal Pants and Stretch Marks

First, the good news: I'm back in my normal pants again. Actually, I've been back in normal pants for about a week and a half now. I can't quite fit into my "skinny jeans" yet, but most of my pants fit relatively well. I'm not back to my pre-pregnancy weight yet, but I'm getting closer -- less than 10 pounds away. Also, I have now regained feeling in all of my fingers. (The tips of the fingers in my right hand had been numb for most of the past month. It's really nice to be able to button clothes and address envelopes without any pain or difficulty again.)

And, the bad news: I now have stretch marks on my tummy. While this really shouldn't come as any surprise, it does. I didn't have any stretch marks on my baby belly while I was pregnant, but now that I'm back to a relatively normal size I have yucky looking stretch marks on my tummy. Something just seems wrong about this whole thing....

Baby Lily (Part 2)

Here's the promised baby picture. This one was taken while we were still in the hospital, but it's our favorite picture of her so far. In general, everything is going well. Daddy is proud of his little princess, and baby is happy and healthy. Mommy isn't as sleep-deprived as she excepted to be, but is still fatter than she had expected. (If baby weighed almost 9 pounds at birth, how is it I managed to come home from the hospital only 10 pounds lighter than when I went in? Something just doesn't seem right here....)

Baby Lily

Baby Lily has arrived. (Actually, she arrived a few days ago.) We came home from the hospital today, and I'll try to post a picture or two soon....

Renaissance Festival & Sunburn; Onions and Mosquitoes

Jimmy and I took a little trip to the annual Renaissance Festival at the Castle in Muskogee today. It's fairly well-known event, even though I'd never been before. (I'd been to the one in Kansas City, but never the one in Muskogee.) Anyway, we went and spent several hours walking around and looking at everything. We admired the period costumes, and decided that if we're going to go back next year we need to dress up. (I do have a Renaissance outfit, but it's in a box way up at the top of my closet; also, I'm pretty sure the corset wouldn't fit right now anyway. We'll either have to buy or make something for Jimmy before next year.) We had turkey legs for lunch and contemplated getting a funnel cake, but we were too full from the turkey legs. The event was a lot of fun even though I ended up with a mild sunburn (very mild -- only the tops of my shoulders and my nose are a tad pink) and slightly sore legs and ankles.

Later this evening I spent some time working on my garden. Given the circumstances, I'm not being very ambitious this year. I'm doing most of the garden in pots. So far I have 2 pots of tomatoes and 1 each of basil, peppermint, oregano, cilantro, and rosemary. I have 1 empty pot left, and I think I'll plant a bell pepper plant in it. This evening I cleared a little spot in the yard for my onion patch. I had hoped to get the onions planted today, but that didn't quite happen. The mosquitoes outside were trying to carry me away, so I gave up on the onion patch for the evening. I guess I'll try to get out there and finish it sometime tomorrow....

Baby Day?

Today was supposedly Baby Day. Still no baby....

The Letter Between 'L' and 'N'

The darling husband's laptop has suffered a bit of an oops, which has resulted in new challenges in typing, working, and surfing the internet. Our desktop is functioning as usual, but the laptop has one large issue: the letter between 'L' and 'N' is no longer operational. The key won't work, and the only other option is to cut-and-paste the letter in when needed. While I didn't think this would be a large issue, I find that I've been surprised by the things that I can't type on the laptop: a plethora of internet addresses, darling husband's general address, the titles of the towns in which we reside and in which I grew up, and several of the logins and passwords that I use regularly for various things online.

Though this post is certainly brief, I have been successful in drafting the entire piece without said letter between 'L' and 'N.' I have, however, had to stretch the vocabulary a bit and think considerably longer than usual to finish this relatively brief post....

At Least it Wasn't a Purple Cow

I was craving an Orange Julius earlier this evening, and since there's no place to buy one where I currently reside, I decided to make one. I assembled all of my ingredients, put them in the blender, pressed the button, and was suddenly wearing about half of the contents of the blender. I'm not precisely sure what happened, but the glass pitcher broke and there was a terrible mess of glass and Orange Julius all over me, the cabinets, and the floor. While cleaning up the sticky mess, two things came to my mind: 1) I needed to mop the floor anyway, and 2) at least it wasn't a Purple Cow.

After I cleaned up the mess, I managed to find the blender that Jimmy and I received as a wedding present last year, and I thus proceeded to make myself another Orange Julius which, just in case you were wondering, tastes wonderful.

My Little Assistant

I got out my sewing machine to do some work today, and I've had a little more assistance than I had imagined. There were several little projects that I had hoped to tackle today, but at this point I'll be satisfied if I just manage to finish the curtains....

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

Okay, I know Cinco de Mayo was yesterday, but today was a better day to celebrate. I had lunch with Jimmy at his work--authentic Mexican food, which was fabulous. I also get to celebrate the end of the semester today. My last day at work was yesterday, so today seemed like to good day to celebrate. I still have some things that I need to work on within the next few days/weeks and over the summer, but yesterday was my last day in the office for a while....

State Governments

So this is what state governments do.... Remind me why we pay state taxes again?

Red Wine and Rootbeer Floats

Red wine and rootbeer floats are the two things that I've been craving lately. (I haven't really had any of the rumored strange pregnancy cravings. Everything that I've wanted to eat has been pretty normal. No "pickles and ice cream" combinations or anything like that.) Early on I wanted popsicles all the time, and then for a while I wanted Arby's roast beef sandwiches. Now I'm finding that there are two things that I want: red wine and rootbeer floats (well, sometimes it's just rootbeer). Given that alcohol consumption is strongly discouraged during pregnancy, I haven't allowed myself to have any red wine. However, rootbeer floats are becoming something commonly seen around the house. (And even though there's quite a bit of sugar in the floats, I'm at least making them with caffeine-free rootbeer.)

D-25 and counting....

Mommys

My mommy, along with two of my sisters, came to visit over this past weekend. Jimmy's mommy's friends hosted a baby shower for me ('cause I'm going to be a mommy soon), and I was excited to have my mommy there for the occasion. Though my mommy and my sisters (who are also mommys) didn't get to stay very long, it was nice to be able to show them the new house and just spend time visiting with them.

Dallas and Dead Presidents

For a little anniversary getaway, Jimmy and I went to Dallas this past weekend. We found very good rates at a fancy hotel, visited the big mall and the neighboring American Girl store (which Jimmy found a little overwhelming), and visited the Sixth Floor Museum. In retrospect, I think it's kinda funny (and interesting, and perhaps a bit morbid) that we visited Ford's Theatre, the place where Lincoln was shot, on our honeymoon and then visited the Sixth Floor Museum (which was formerly the Texas School Book Depository) and the grassy knoll, the place where Kennedy was shot, on our first anniversary. Maybe we'll have to try to make a trip to Buffalo, NY or back to Washington DC to carry on the trend....

I Know This is Really Mean, But...

...I almost wish the kid acrossed the street would wreck his 4-wheeler. I mean, I wouldn't want the kid to get hurt or anything (that would just be evil and malicious), but the noise is about to drive me batty. I usually try to work in the evenings, and I'm stuck with a rather loud 'vroom-vroom' in the background for about 2 hours each evening. Not plesant, not fun, and I'm not happy.

Movies = Headaches

Jimmy's been renting movies lately, and I've been watching them (or at least some of them). The movies that he's rented are generally ones that we've both wanted to see, but we've both been somewhat disappointed--or at least perplexed--by them. Both of the movies that I watched were brilliantly made, but I can't actually say that I liked them....

No Country for Old Men kept me on the edge of my seat, but I'm not really sure why. The most intriguing thing about this film was the soundtrack--or lack thereof. (It was directed by the same guys who did Fargo, and there were certainly a lot of similarities in style.) Overall, the movie was well-made and the story was interesting, but I'm just not sure I really 'liked' the movie.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, though a beautiful film, actually gave me a headache. The acting was excellent, the story was good, and the filming was amazing. (This movie should be studied by film students everywhere because the cinematography was so fabulous. The scenes, the lighting, the visuals were astounding.) The main problem I had with this film was that there were too many characters who all looked quite a lot alike; thus, it was difficult to keep the characters straight and, consequently, difficult to follow the main storyline. Though the movie was quite long (just over 2 1/2 hours), it didn't really feel long.

Rain

Well, it finally stopped raining here sometime during the night. Today has been beautiful...lots of sunshine outside. However, it rained all day yesterday and part of the day before. There's been quite a bit of flooding in the area, and our backyard looks like a little lake. According to weather.com, our area got somewhere between 5 and 5 1/2 inches of rain yesterday. Wow; that's a lot of water....

The Sky if Falling!! (Or Some Sort of Similar SNAFU....)

Talk about a little mistake...just follow the link.

New Phone

YAY!! I got a new cell phone this weekend!! I wasn't particularly happy with the one that I had, so the whole 'new phone' thing is quite exciting. I'm going to download some ringtones and things like that sometime this week. However, I need to figure out what songs I want my phone to play. I still like "If I Only Had a Brain" as the ringtone when people from school or the office call, but I don't know what other things I want this time. Any suggestions?

RIP Mrs. Rip

The little old lady who taught me how to knit nearly 15 years ago passed away this past week. Though not her real name, she was affectionately known as "Mrs. Rip" because she would 'make' you rip out your work in order to correct mistakes and to make a perfect project. She was 94.

Happy Frog Day!!

If it's Leap Year, then I guess that makes today Frog Day!! YAY Frogs!

More House Stuff

Wow, where do the days go? It seems like the last week has completely flown by, and this week is going just as quidkly. We're finally just about completely moved. All of the house stuff is moved; only a bit of garage and outside stuff remains to be moved. The house that we moved into is larger than the previous residence, but there isn't as much storage space inside. There is, however, a shed, so we're storing quite a bit of stuff there. Though the storage situation isn't wonderful, I certainly will admit that is very nice to have a dishwasher again.

Albuquerque...and Valentine's Day

I spent a few days in Albuquerque, NM this past week for a conference. Overall, it was a nice trip. The conference was both educational and enjoyable, so that was an overall good experience. I gave a presentation, and that that went well too. (The presentation was over a paper that I had written a few years ago, but hadn't done anything with yet. It was nice to be able to share it and to get feedback on my work.) In addition to the academic work, I did have part of a day to do touristy stuff; I went to the American International Rattlesnake Museum, the San Felipe de Neri Church, and just wandered around the University of New Mexico campus for a while.

While the trip was generally enjoyable, there were two not-so-plesant things: Valentine's Day and the flights home. Valentine's Day wasn't necessarily bad, it was just a bit odd to spend it by myself. Since this was my first "married" Valentine's Day, spending it alone was strange. In contrast to the not-so-wonderful Valentine's Day, the flights home were absolutely dreadful. When I arrived at the airport on Saturday, I learned that all flights going from Albuquerque to Dallas for that day had been cancelled due to bad weather in Dallas and that the earliest flight that I could possibly get out on was a 7am flight the following morning. Needless to say, I wasn't happy. After several hours of being frustrated and checking with other airlines, I managed to get my flights switched: I would now be flying through Denver (which I had intentionally avoided when I booked my flights because of the general likihood of bad weather in Denver this time of year) and would be arriving home about 6 hours later than originally planned (but hey, at least I'm arriving on the same day). While the whole experience was frustrating, things didn't get much better when I got on the planes. Both flights were extremely bumpy, and I ended up feeling sick for much of the trip. Not plesant at all. But anyway, I did manage to get home safely and I felt much better when I ended the day curled up in my own bed after a nice bubble bath.

Apostrophes

I read a news article (follow the link) that made me think of a poem I once heard entitled "The Death of the Apostrophe." I wish I had a copy of the poem to share, but the article's certainly worth reading....

Kansas

I received this in an e-mail forward from one of my sisters. And even though I don't live in Kansas any more, I still find it funny (and largely true)....

Jeff Foxworthy remarks on being from or living in Kansas:

**If you're proud that your region makes the national news at least 96 times each year because it's the hottest or the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Kansas.

**If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Kansas.

**If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Manhattan, Kansas.

**If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Kansas.

**If you measure distance in hours, you might live in Kansas.

**If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you might live in Kansas.

**If you often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again, you might live in Kansas.

**If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching, you might live in Kansas

**If you see people wearing camouflage at social events, (including weddings), you might live in Kansas.

**If you install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked, you might live in Kansas.

**If you carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them, you might live in Kansas.

**If you were unaware that there is a legal drinking age.., you might live in Kansas.

**If "Going down South" means Oklahoma, you might live in Kansas.

**If a brat is something you eat, you might live in Kansas.

**If your idea of going out to eat is a tail gate party every Friday, you might live in Kansas.

Cleaning and Painting

Cleaning and painting, painting and cleaning....that's what I did all weekend. I managed to get a lot accomplished, but there's still a lot of painting and work to do. Tucker went with me to the new place, and I think he also found the whole experience exhausting. He wasn't too fond of the nearly hour-long car rides there and back, and he seemed somewhat traumatized by the amount of people who seemed to be coming in and out of the house and by being in a new environment. He did manage to find a few 'safe places' though: behind the toilet in the bathroom and beside the tea in the kitchen cupboard that's just above the dishwasher.

Deadlines....

Ahhhh!! It seems like all of my deadlines are here!! I have an grant application packet that's due Friday, and that's nearly ready to be submitted; I only have to track down one more signature on my forms. (I've been working on that one for a while.) I also just learned that, in order to apply for a summer position, I need to have my portfolio updated and submitted by Friday. The problem here is that my supervisor has had my portfolio in his possession for an entire year, and I haven't been able to update it regularly. Thus, I frantically retrieved my portfolio this afternoon, and now I have a mere 2 days to update it...only to be resubmitting it to the same supervisor who will probably keep it another year before returning it to me. I also have a few other forms to fill out for the summer position, but those should be relatively painless in comparison to the portfolio updating. Okay, I've vented; now back to work....

Painting and School and Stuff...

Still busy.... I was hoping that things would settle into some sort of schedule once the school semester started, but not so. (And how's that for alliteration!) I had a long weekend this past weekend, and I spent most of it just relaxing with the kitty and doing house-related stuff. We didn't buy a house, but we do have a new place to live (the church has a house); we're now in the processes of packing the current residence and preparing (painting, cleaning, etc.) the new residence as well. Being that I'm not a particular fan of either packing or painting, I'm not enjoying the whole process. Thus, at the given moment, both places are in slight states of disarray (to say the least)....

I'll quit on my little blog for today; I feel as though I'm rambling....

Cows With Guns

One of my friends showed this to me. The song brought back some memories, and the video is great.... Just follow the link....

Time Flies By....

Wow, how time flies.... Things have been crazy lately and the days have somehow gotten away from me. School started today, and Jimmy and I are just beginning to get started on our big move (which is turning out to be bigger than anticipated in some ways). We cancelled our internet at the house, so I've been doing only mimimal computer stuff for about the last week. Hopefully I'll be returning to the world of technology relatively soon....

Happy New Year!!

Well, Happy New Year!! (In terms of hours, I'm a little late; but, in terms of days, the greeting is right on time.)

Anyway, I just got home after a trip to visit Mom and Dad back at the (wonderfully) technologically deprived farm. (Thus, my several-day absence is explained.) Anyway, I've spent most of the evening just sitting around with the kitty, who seems very happy to be home after experiencing his first sleep-over at a house with other kittys.