Balancing Act

The title of this post might suggest that this entry will contain some philosophical musings about balancing work and school and mommying and life in general...but that would be incorrect. This blog is, instead, simply about the cat. I was doing some cleaning in the bedroom the other day, and Tucker decided that he wanted to get to the top shelf of my closet. He went from the floor to the chair to the dresser to the top of the door, and then he got stuck. (Not literally. He got stuck in the sense that this was as close as he would get to reaching his goal. He did not literally get stuck on top of the closet door.) He tried for quite a while to figure out how to get into the closet from atop the door, but he finally gave up and descended from his perch....

Ice, Ice, Ice

It's the ice storm time of year again.... Last year we got hit with one in December, and this year it waited until January. So far this one isn't as bad as last winter's storm. We've had a couple inches of ice during the past few days. It's slick and yucky outside, but absolutely beautiful at the same time. Everything's white and beautiful; it looks like we've had a few inches of snow, but it's simply a few inches of ice. We haven't lost power yet, but other parts of town have. I wouldn't be surprised if we do lose power, so we're somewhat prepare--or at least much more prepared than we were last year. The ice has done some damage already. A big limb from one of our trees came crashing down this afternoon. It hit the house and took out the TV antenna, and then it bounced off of the house and crashed onto our patio table, destroying it and also ruining our lawnmower. I guess if that's all the damage that happens were, then we're probably in pretty good shape....

Happy Robert Burns Day!!

Bring out the bagpipes and haggis, it's Robert Burns Day!! So, read some Scottish poetry, listen to the pipes, wear a kilt (or at least a tartan), and celebrate all things Scottish. (Eat some haggis if you can find some, but if you can't, you're not missing much....)

Obama Llama Duck

I know this is a campaign video, but given that tomorrow's the inauguration, I thought I would post it anyway. Some time ago, I posted a link to the Llama Song, and this one's a parody of that one. I don't necessarily consider myself an Obama supporter, but the video's fun anyway....

Reading the Paper

I picked up a newspaper at work yesterday, and Lily managed to pull it out of my bag earlier today. (I frequently pick up a paper at work, thinking that I'll read it when I get home, but that seldom happens. Sometimes I actually do read the comics or work the crossword puzzles.) Anyway, Lily decided that she wanted to read my newspaper, and she managed to make quite a mess of it. (This picture is from early on in the newspaper-reading experience.) She had fun with the paper, and I was amazed that Tucker let her have so much fun without joining in as he likes newspapers too.

Back to Work

Well, my holiday break is officially over. I went back to work today, and Lily went back to the babysitter. (She goes to a babysitter on Tuesdays and has a Daddy Day on Thursdays.) It was wonderful to be back at work, and I'm really looking forward to this semester. From what I'm told Lily did okay at the sitter's today, though not as well as usual. She generally likes the babysitter's, though this was the first time she'd been away from Mommy for more than an hour or two in the past month and the first time she'd had a bottle in just as long. I'm guessing she'll do even better next week.

When Daddy Babysits....

I plopped Lily down with Jimmy earlier this evening so I could go do a few things (toss in a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher, and get everything ready for Lily's bath) without small hands attempting to assist me. When I returned to take Lily in for her bath, I found Jimmy asleep and Lily in possession of the remote control....

Painting Pants

I've been doing a couple of painting projects lately, and I just washed my painting pants today. As I was washing them, I noticed all of the different colors of paint that were splattered all over them and began recalling all of the painting projects.... There was bright yellow paint from painting lines on a parking lot as s fundraiser for the WYD trip to Toronto in 2002. There was grey-blue paint from helping a college friend paint her parents' house in the summer of 2003. There was off-white (54-11) paint from repainting my college dorm room back to the standard university-approved color following a prior painting project (which wasn't reflected on the pants). There was white paint, presumably from a slew of different projects: the bathroom and vanity at my last apartment, the laundry room at the previous house, and the office at school that I painted this past week. There was grey paint from the trim at the last house, and there was black paint from the current painting project: the shed (which will no longer be a garage when we're through with it).

Several elements of this whole thing amaze me: the number of painting projects that I've undertaken in the past 7 years, and the fact that I've had the same pair of painting pants for the past 7 years (not to mention that they still fit after 7 years)....

Bookshelves and Bedtime

I think I may have made a decorating mistake.... I moved a bookshelf into Lily's room earlier this week, and the only place that it could go was right behind our rocking chair. (Or at least that's the only place that it will fit without a major re-arranging of all of the rest of the furniture in the room.) While the arrangement is aesthetically decent, I'm not sure that it will work out: Lily has gotten very. very excited every time she has managed to peek over my shoulder and see all of her books. This hasn't had a big impact on bedtime yet, but I'm wondering if I should move the bookcase as a preventative measure....

My Neglected Baby (and Personal Assistant)

No, wait, don't panic...I'm not talking about Lily!! Lily's pretty much the princess of the house, which means that Prince Tucker has essentially been dethroned. Though the two of them are still getting along well, it's obvious that Tucker's feeling a little starved for attention. He acts out sometimes (usually either hovering underfoot or running through the house at top speed) and tries to sit on my lap whenever it's not otherwise occupied (and sometimes when it is). He frequently takes up residence on top of the computer monitor when I'm working in the office. He tries to help me, but he's not much of a typist or a proofreader....