Shimmery fabric, a need for

I know, it's been ages and you all thought that I had fallen off the face of the earth.  But not so.  I have been busy with my sewing machine, Christmas, guests, guest's dog, planning new sewing projects, taking advantage of fabric sales, and dreaming about the mending that awaits me as soon as my guests vacate my sewing room.

I have 3 or 4 projects in the works, and I need a small favor from all you fabricaholics out there.  I am looking for a piece approx. 7"x 14" or about a fat eighth of shimmery gold or silver fabric.  I need to make a 6.5" star and I am just not finding what I want at the fabric store. 

Email pictures of fabric to me with the link in the right sidebar.  If I like what you show me I will compensate you with in-kind fabric, money, or some other prize (I even FEDEX fresh pumpernickel if you want).

Who's Driving You?

First, lets think of family vacations you took as a child, all crammed in your parents car.  U want you to remember who had the power to make decisions and influence your vacation.  Who had the most influence?  Who had the least?  Now imagine your favorite spacious 5-seater.  It may be the 1979 Chrysler New-Yorker your friend once had, or that '69 Charger parked out behind the house.  Maybe it's your friend's Town & Country Station Wagon or a late model Continental, no matter, just pick one and picture it in your mind very clearly.  Now imagine that there are 5 people in the car, and that all 5 of them are you.  These are the 5 aspects of yourself that influence decisions that you make: Social, Emotional, Intellectual, Physical, and Spiritual.

Each of these 5 aspects occupies a position in your car.  Let's talk about the 5 positions in the car and the power to choose that each one has.  

• Driver.  This is the ultimate decision maker.  This person is in control of where you go or don't go.  From this position all turns, stops, reversals, and chinese fire drills are controlled.  
• Navigator.  This position exerts the most influence over the Driver, and Driver is probably inclined to take Navigator's opinion over any other.  This person can see everything the driver can see.  This person can read the map, street signs, check for clear lanes, etc.  They also have influence over those in the back.  
• Left Rear (behind Driver).  This position holds little influence, but does have a direct angle to Navigator, and the power to kick Driver's seat.   This position can also give  Driver key information about Driver's blind spot.
• Right Rear (behind Navigator).  Again, a position of limited influence, but with angles to the Driver, and within reach of Navigator.  This position can also give Driver key information about Navigator's blind spot. Both outer rear positions also have a good view of what you are passing, but limited amounts of information on what is upcoming.
• Center Rear.  The most cramped and uncomfortable position.  This one can see much of what Driver and Navigator see, and is within easy reach of both Driver and Navigator. 
  

Obviously, Driver has the most power and Navigator the next most.  I think Center rear has some power, but because it has the least exclusive information it has the least power.  The other 2 positions each have about the same.

The 5 aspects each have a different perspective based on what they can feel.  

• Physical feels hungry, tired, awake, pain, etc.
• Social feels peer pressure, rejection, envy, the need to impress, and nervous.
• Emotional feels sadness, worry, happy, joy, laughter, excitement, etc.
• Intellectual feels the influence of information (be it fact or fiction).  Intellectual is the part of you that reasons and is really void of "feeling."
• Spiritual feels the influence of the Holy Ghost.  All things that are learned through the Spirit are under Spiritual's jurisdiction. 

Emotional and Social are closely related and tend to sit near each other and hold similar positions of influence. Spiritual can have understanding and feelings that each of the others can, but it also has the ability to feel the Spirit.

I think that there are times when each aspect should be at the helm, or finds itself at the helm.  This isn't neccisarily bad, but just the way it is sometimes.   I do think that most of the time we can control where our aspects sit in the car and how they influence the choices we make.

Who is driving your car?  Where is everyone else sitting?  Do you want to change the seating arraingement?

New Character Photos.

Actually, just new photos.  I thought you deserved to look at a picture of me that is a little more current.  The old one was taken in Summer 2003 at Cape Hatteras, NC.  The one of B.A.R. was from this summer.  These new ones were taken at Thanksgiving this year. 

Calculating

Sorry, I haven't felt like I have had much to blog about recently, but when I did finally think of something, I had to round up all the items to take photos.

This post deserves a little introduction. I am, as an adult, coming to truly appreciate who my father was. If you don't know, he died when I was thirteen. I find myself figuring things out, finding reasons why he did things, finding answers to questions that I can no longer ask. I enjoy the "Ah-HA" moments when they do come. It's like sharing a moment with him even though he isn't here with me.

I had one of these moments the other day. I don't remember what I was doing, but I suddenly realized why my dad gave me this:

for my fourth birthday. Incidentally, it still has the original batteries. I realized that he gave me a calculator so that I would stop stealing his:
and running the batteries down. I loved to punch the buttons and watch the numbers change. I couldn't get enough. Even now I love to just play. That may be the reason that I still have this:
and this:
and that B.A.R. kept this:
We both want an HP 48G, but they are really expensive. In my search to find a good photo of one, I learned that the newest model is a HP 50. Now I want that instead. I wish I had all different calculators that my dad had over the years, but I don't and it makes me sad. I know now that he was a calculating man (pun totally intended). Mostly he was calculating how to keep his batteries from being used up by someone who didn't even know how to multiply!

Contest Winners Announced.

First, for all the entries:

Alice--  People often misunderstand my name as this and I don't like that.
Victoria-- My friend's daughter
Betty--  
Mary-- Have a friend named that, and fairly common

Sally-- My grandmother's nickname, and from Peanuts (against the rules)
Lois-- I have 2 friends named that!

Lola--  Isn't that a song by the Kinks?
Jane-- Doesn't she come with Dick?
Paige-- Friend
Nancy-- Person in my ward
Opal--  Car
Daisy--  Flower
Veronica
Margaret-- Went to high school with someone named that
Blondie-- Not classic enough
Pepper--  Went to high school with someone named that

Dilbert--  Not classic enough
Clark-- Dated a guy named that
Milo--  Isn't that a cat from a Disney movie?
Frank-- Person in my ward
Ernest-- Person in my ward, and my friend's husband
Wiley
Oliver Wendell Jones-- Maybe without the Wendell Jones part.
Arlo (2 entries)
Abner
Jasper
Gunther-- trendy

Dennis-- Father in Law
Henry-- Person in the ward
Jake-- Nephew
Sam--  Too common 
Walt
Heathcliff--  Possibly too obscure
Garfield-- Presidential, like Tiger's name
Ziggy-- Marley?

Odie-- 

And the winners are:  Margaret and Abner.  I like Frank, Oliver, and Ziggy too. 

So Birrd and Osborn6 send me a prize requests.  I will even FEDEX you fresh bread if you want.

How to eat birthday cake.

He did a much better job eating it than Tiger did with his first birthday cake. He did try and put his finger in the candle flame. He didn't care that we blew the flame out repeatedly (but throws a fit every time the candle is blown out in the Blue's Clues video). He took his birthday seriously: he learned to scoot the very next day.

Congress

I thought that this would be another good nickname for Blanket. If you give him anything in good working order, he can break it. If you give him a mess, he can make it far worse. When you turn your back he makes a great big mess out of something that isn't any of his business. He is always putting his hands in things that don't belong to him. And finally, if you ask him to fix something you can be assured that he will break it, not fix it.

Entropy

Blanket's new nickname is Entropy. He takes anything he can get his hands on and makes the biggest mess possible with it. I helped him with this mess. I put the blocks on the stool one at a time, and he knocked them across the room. I remember Tiger went through this phase and I didn't like it at all. I have accepted the mess this time, but I will be happy when this phase is over.

Blanket has another new nickname: Scooter. He doesn't crawl, but he has finally learned to scoot around on his bum. He pulls with his hands and wiggles his feet. He can get as far as he wants, but it takes a long time to go anywhere like that, so he mostly stays in the same room. This new skill makes him a more dangerous disaster maker.

1

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to You, You, You.

My Baby Blanket is 1 year old today.  I promise to post pictures of the party and the boy after all the craziness happens today and tomorrow.  I did want to take time to remember my Blanket, when he was so tiny.  I miss him that small.

Happy

"I'm happy.  I'm sick!!!"

That's what I said after I got off the phone with my doctor yesterday.  I never thought that I would be so happy to have a diagnosis.  After being miserable for a few days I had actually started to feel a little better yesterday, not right, but better.   I know the doc told me the official name of what I have, but I don't really remember.   It is some sort of amoebic parasite.  Supposedly, it is really common if you drink the water in the mountains.  Every year a handful of people along the Front Range (the name for the area that I live) get it although they didn't drink the water.    Officially it falls in the "amoebic dysentery" category, but I am not that sick.  In fact, I feel better just in time to pull off Blanket's birthday and Thanksgiving.

I do have to take 10 days worth of medication I have to take.  All is not perfect, but it is looking  a lot better.  

I am glad I asked to be screened for botulism.  Although that is not what it turned out to be, it is that wide-spectrum test that found my illness.  I am not sure I would have the patience at this point to keep looking for a cause.  I am thankful for medication and for a diagnosis.  I am happy even if I complain about how nasty my medicine tastes.

Malaise

Sorry, I have been missing from blogland lately.  Thursday I woke up very lightheaded and feeling like I had food poisoning.  Since then I have not been feeling myself.  I still don't feel right and need to go back to the Dr. before I feel worse.  I haven't had much to blog about and promise to write more when I feel better.

Frankenfinger (grossness follows)

I'm sitting here looking at my finger in its new form.  The last of the sliced skin has been removed and I have been contemplating my new "frankenfinger."  I noticed that most of the repaired area of skin is still void of fingerprints, though they are starting to develop out where the old joins the new.  I notice that I am missing most of my feeling in the repaired flap, but right at the tip of my finger all the nerves work overtime.  The Dr. did warn me that it may take a year to regain total feeling in the repaired part, and until then I would have strange sensations as the nerves find each other again.  It does appear all the bruising has cleared up and blood flows normally again.   It is still very grotesque so I am not ready to take a picture of it yet.  I will post one when I feel it has normalized more.

Maybe the best part is: it will make a great conversation piece for the rest of my life!

The Contest.

I am still running my contest through the end of November.  I am still looking for more entries. I will choose two winners.  One boy name and one girl name.  Hurry and get your entries in befofre it is too late!  If you have already entered please make sure that you have requested a prize in case you are the winner.

My year's supply at work.

Most of you who read this are aware of the admonition to have a year's supply of food and other neccessities for your family.  Thursday, Tiger helped me realize that some of it can be saved and used at the same time.  

I have heard of people making end tables out of 6 cases of #10 cans or other ways to store it and use it at the same time, but I couldn't believe what Tiger did.  I gave him 2 rolls of paper towels to restock the kitchen with.  He started stacking them up "to build a tower."  I gave him the rest of the Costco pack to build with.  He knows they are "wipes" but they are "blocks" until they are unwrapped.

They have been towers, trains, walls, and pillows over the last 3 days.  Endless fun with "food storage."  Who knew?
This was my project this afternoon: homemade finger paint.  It was really easy.  I got the recipe here.  I did the original one because I thought that cooking it would give it the consistency I wanted.  The only thing I would add is cook it just until the mixture turns to pudding.  It happens really fast and it takes longer than the directions say it will.  I used food items that I had on hand for "food storage."  It isn't toxic and is made with food coloring, cornstarch, sugar, salt and water.   Your kids can eat it and you don't have to worry about what chemicals it was made with. 

I am so excited to try it out.  Tiger saw it before he went to bed and he really wanted to play with it too.   I don't know how well it is going to go though.  He doesn't like gooey things on his fingers and is always wiping PB on his shirt while he eats his sandwiches.  Maybe I'll give him an old shirt to wear to avert disaster.

In other news, today I took the boys outside to play and was raking leaves.  Tiger wanted to help so I raked him a really big pile to run through and to unrake.  I raked a small pile around Blanket.  Normally he eats leaves when there is only one or two near him, but being seated in the middle of a pile was enough for him to make a "leaf angel" and shriek wildly about how much fun it was.   I reraked the pile around him a few times to continue the fun.  Tiger helped me fill a garbage can with leaves.  His favorite part was getting to jump on the leaves to tamp them down.  He was such a big help and didn't even care about getting to "play" outside.

Election Reaction

I have much to say on the topic that I could say here, and much more that I think should be said on my other blog so I said it all over there.  Please follow the link to continue reading.  Click here, here   here

here   

 or  here.

4-4-4 Tag

This is from the summer we spent in VA. This is from the little trip we took to the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach. It was late afternoon on a Saturday in May.

These are the rules:
1. Go to your pictures.
2. Upload the fourth picture from the fourth folder.
3. Post.

Iff'n you feel like it do it again.

Vanishing Act

The vanishing act really started as an "appearing" act. Our friend (Herrod) asked if we could put up his parents overnight while they drove across the country. That was a couple of weeks ago. I remember because 2 hours after they vanished I cut my finger. The whole situation was a little wierd, but we did have 2 days notice, sort of. L and K did say they would need a place to stay on the way back (whenever that was going to be).

At 5:00 pm on Halloween B.A.R. tells me L and K are arriving in an hour. I was a little put out because I had already made dinner for us (and not them), my house was still a disaster, I had lots of unfolded/dirty laundry. The appearance of L & K was so going to put a damper in my holiday. Then the other shoe drops.

B.A.R. says that their car needs to be fixed. FIXED? Are they staying with us until it is fixed? I'm so going to kill Herrod for this!! They had borrowed Herrod's Ford Focus for the trip and B.A.R. works for the blue oval, so he has tools to diagnose this problem.

He finds out that it needs a fuel pump, and that we can definitely get one on Saturday. :)) So while I am trick or treating with the boys, and passing out candy after we came back, B.A.R. is out in the garage making a smelly, grimy mess getting the tank empty and the pump out. BTW: my garage and washer still smell like gasoline.

At 7:50 am he leaves to go get the pump (another nightmare) and returns at 8:45.

At 9:30 am I put Blanket down for a nap and a movie in for Tiger. I commit the vanishing act and go to get my stitches out, finally. I wish my stitches had joined in the vanishing painlessly. When I returned at 10:15, L & K were gone (and Tiger had just figured out that I had vanished).

HOORAY HOORAY for B.A.R. That car couldn't have been fixed any faster if we had taken it to the dealer to get it fixed. He made them disappear just 2 hours later than if they weren't having car trouble.

B.A.R. suggested that Herrod and his family come visit us for Christmas as payment for fixing his car. Can I make them vanish too?

Oh, the irony

This year's halloween get-ups. Both are repeat costumes. Blanket wore the tiger costume I got for Tiger when he was a baby, and Tiger is Charlie Brown for the second year in a row.

I'm not a big halloween fan, but I do enjoy dressing up my children in cute costumes while they are too young to protest. Tiger likes candy, and was all about the trick or treat thing for the candy. We share it : Tiger gets one, Mom gets one, Dad gets one.

I liked the weather this year. It was about 60 degrees and light at 6 pm when we went out. The other two years we were here it was 25 degrees and 35 degrees at trick or treat time.

The Contest.

So Jenny ran away with my last contest.  Congratulations.  What kind of bread do you want me to bake you?

I have a new contest.  This one is a lot more open ended.  Lots of participation in this one too.  Please request a prize.

Homemade bread

The stitches from my finger

Sewing lessons

Fabric from my stash

A mini quilt

A Christmas stocking

A recipe

Or something else of your own choosing (be creative, but realistic)

The rules: name my potential next child.  No, I am not pregnant.  The name must be classic, uncommon, use a traditional spelling, and be a character in a comic strip or cartoon (preferably the former).  The rules for uncommon are: it should be likely that they will not go to elementary school with someone named that, and probably not high school too.  If  you know only one or two people with that name its probably good.  If you don't know anyone with that name, even better.  Please do not use characters from either Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes for obvious reasons.

I'd like someone else to win this contest so enter often.

Imperfect children.

In case you think my children are perfect, I have proof they are not angels all of the time.  I do, however, have great friends.  Jenny was so good, she even thought to get video of Blanket screaming.  It's just not something that I think to save for posterity.

Check out Blanket's fit over here.  Notice he still doesn't crawl.

Fun with Stitches. Not Fun with Stitches.

The title is a play on my codename, and its new (enhanced) meaning. :?

First, the not fun part.  I didn't get my stitches out today.  They said it was too moist.  I have to wait until Friday or Saturday for it to be dry enough to make decisions about.  They thought about putting SteriStrips on it before opting not to remove the stitches. I may get some SteriStrips on Saturday anyway after stitch removal because of how deep it is.  I just hope I don't need surgery or to be restitched or something crazy like that.

Now, for the fun part.  I have a trivia question I want answered.  I don't know what the prize is going to be yet, but I want lots of participation.  Maybe you can request the prize you want too win in your answer.

As most of you know, I named my children classic, uncommon names.  What 5 movies feature the uncommon name of one of my children?  Please write movies only please (and not the names of the characters) in the comments. 

If nobody can come up with them in the next couple of days I will post a hint.

Nancy Drew strikes again

I must have turned into Nancy Drew, because I have solved two mysteries involving the same toy in the last 6 months.  

Grandma gave Tiger the Edward train from Thomas and Friends for his birthday.  Edward and his tender accidentally got thrown away more than once, but they always got plucked from the trash.  In April or May Nancy took on the Case of the Missing Coal.  Edward's tender was missing its coal.  Gone.  Nancy looked for it from time to time, and then one day she moved the trash can.  The coal dropped to the floor.  After some glue to repair a crack and to prevent further accidents, Nancy considered this case: closed. 

About a month later Nancy was put on The Case of Blue Tender.  Blue Tender went missing. After her previous success, Nancy looked in odd places for Blue Tender.  She even looked in the trash can.  Nancy spent 20 minutes or so a day for more than a week working on the case.  Eventually she concluded that Blue Tender must have been thrown away.  There was no finding it.  Nancy and her husband, Mr. Hardy, would ask, "Where's Blue Tender?" but Tiger didn't know.  Tiger started asking us and we would respond in kind.  Nancy was off this case.  

Last night Nancy opened a new case:  The Case of the Missing Photo Album. Mr. Hardy needed some information that was in it.  Nancy looked in all the usual places.  Books tend to wander under our couches, so that seemed like a good searching spot.  Though she did not find the album there (it was in the toy box) she did find Blue Tender under the couch. 

Wow. One good search of the house solved two cases.  Nancy is getting really good at solving cases.  Maybe she should take up cold cases for other people while luck is still on her side.

The Garbage Disposal--Thank You Emily

B.A.R. informed me today that the garbage disposal has a hole rusted in it, and leaks occasionally.   Then he asked if I remembered what we learned last time our garbage disposal broke (when we lived in MI).  I remember what I learned.  I learned that my friends really care about me.

The garbage disposal broke (got broken) one night while we were doing a plumbing inspection of sorts.  I went out the next day and bought replacement.  Around lunchtime I was half done installing it when Emily called.  She invited me over to spend my afternoon making cookies with her and her girls.  I politely declined because I wanted to install this disposer and avoid thinking about something.  Emily demanded (this is not her nature) that I put down the project and come over.   I know why she did it, and I never got to thank her for it.  I really needed that, and I really appreciated it then.  And I am very sorry that I never said so.

A request for family members (and friends of my Tiger and Blanket)

Tiger and Blanket have lots of cousins and friends.  Tiger only knows 3 or 4 of his cousins' faces.  I would really appriciate if you could email me (see the link on the left) pictures of your kids (preferably only one child in each photo).  I want Tiger to learn what his cousins look like even though he doesn't see them all the time.    If you are our friends, and would like to participate with pictures of your own kids please do!

Catching up with the goings on.

Blanket is almost 11 months old and can do lots of new things.  He says "Mama, " "Dada," "uh-oh," (this one is very popular)  "do[g],"  "ba[ll],"  and will even say "all done," but you have to really be listening to hear that.  

He is thinking about learning to crawl. He does a great job pivoting on his belly if you put him on his tummy.  From his back he reaches with his hand and then creeps using his head and shoulder.  From a sitting position he will move 8 or 10 inches by pushing his hands against the floor and dragging his bum.  All his crawling effort comes from the waist up, but he is getting the idea that he should involve his feet.  Maybe by Christmas he will be mobile enough to change rooms. 

Tiger is starting to make up words to his favorite songs.  "The train on the bus goes chugga chugga all through the track." and "The key on the bus goes snap snap snap all around the town."  I really wondered about the last one because he had this pinching motion to go with it.  It took me half a day to figure out that he was talking about my VW key that operates like a switchblade.

I am really tired of these &@^$$ stitches.  It is hard to type, they are starting to annoy, the area needs a really good cleaning, and I am not in nearly as much pain as I was.  I want to be able to hold a book again.  I want to not have to wrap my finger in a bandaid twice a day, and to be able to  wash my hair without help.

Tonight is the ward trunk or treat party.  I have the boys' costumes ready.  Tiger is going as Charlie Brown (his costume last year) and Blanket is wearing the Tiger costume we got for Tiger when he was a baby.  Does anyone remember what time it is at?  I missed church last week due to my finger

Adding insult to injury

So my finger is still the thing running my life right now. I seem to squash, slam, and otherwise inadvertently injure it repeatedly every single day. Even the shelf at the grocery store sent a major shock right through the injured part of my finger yesterday.

This morning I had a scheduled appointment for having some moles removed. It was early enough that B.A.R. stayed home with the kids. The Dr. appointment took longer than anticipated and I was in a hurry to get home so that he could leave for work. In my haste to return, I was speeding. I was going a little faster than I normally do and got nailed in a speed trap. It is the first time I have not been able to get out of a ticket in my life. I was strangely calm about the whole thing. I am just mad that after I got injured Saturday and this morning I had to get ticketed too. I feel piled on.

Oh, and B.A.R. won't be back until Thursday night.

Blame it on the hair.

Warning: if talk of blood makes you light-headed GO BACK NOW!!!

All you with strong stomachs: Welcome.

I did something today I haven't done in 15 years.  Well, 14 years and 11 months.  The last time it happened I had really long hair.  In fact, I only know 3 people who read this blog who knew me way back then.  I am convinced that the strain put on my head by my long locks must have contributed to my accident then and now.  But I digress.

Today I got 5 stitches in my left index finger for the second time in my life.  I would have had more, but they don't stitch fingernails. And, yes, typing this is harder, and more painful, than it used to be.  And, no, I have never had stitches anywhere else that I got due to an accident.  The best part is: it could have been a lot worse.  

I had just put Blanket down for a nap and I had gone to the basement to quilt.  Well, to cut fabric so that I could quilt.  Tiger was down in the basement shoeless.  B.A.R.  was assembling his stuff so that he could go to the gun range with his friend, G.T.D. (who was expected imminently).  I was cutting with my razor-sharp rotary cutter.  I had probably been cutting for 5 minutes or so when I somehow managed to run the cutter up onto the ruler and tried to take off  the right third of the tip of my left index finger.  I knew it was bad before I even put the cutter down. (No blood on the fabric, etc.)

I bolted for the stairs and Tiger followed.  I had my finger in my mouth so that I didn't bleed all over the floor and tried to explain to B.A.R. that a trip to urgent care was in order.  After 2 minutes and the use of the word, "stitches," he grabbed the baby from his nap and put both boys in the car as-is.  I managed to get a paper towel for my finger and open my own car door.  

We assumed the hurried pace we always take to the urgent care.  When we got there B.A.R. operated my door for me before the car was even off.  I somehow managed to PULL open the door to the clinic with my elbow.  At least there was no waiting for me.  Nope, he took my name and took me to an exam room.   Then he gave me a basin of water to soak? my finger in.  I dropped 4 huge drops of blood on my pants in the 1.25 seconds between pulling off the "bandage" and dropping my hand in the basin.  The finger actually bled that bad for the next hour until they got me all stitched up.

I will save you the particulars of our 75 minute visit to the urgent care.  I will say B.A.R. died a slow death while waiting for me.  He had NO CLUE what was going on, why it was taking so long, whether I still had a finger, or whether a trip to the E.R. was coming up.   When I walked out he still had to ask how the finger was cut, etc.  He really had no idea.  He did keep the boys happy in a waiting room with a fair number of toys.  He actually thought he was going to have to leave with them and come back for me because I was gone and they were running out of happy. Thankfully, they did fabulous.  

I am not supposed to be doing much of anything today.  Good thing I just got a bunch of old movies and quilting movies from the library that I was wondering when I was going to watch.  B.A.R. did go out on his shooting trip after we got back.  I am glad he was home when the accident happened.  His trips are usually 4 hours (1 hour each way and 2 hours at the range).  He is out of cell range most of that time.  I really don't know what I would have done in that case.  I probably would have called 911, because I couldn't drive, and I was bleeding like mad.

25 sq ft to quilt, sew, craft and create.

I have had a request for pictures of my sewing table.
You know, that one I got for free a couple of months back. The one that I cleaned and cleaned the basement to make room for. It is really just 2 steel cubicle desks pushed back to back. It is far from perfect, but I don't live in a perfect world. It is however, much better than working at the kitchen table. It does have lots and lots of storage the 10 large drawers on the sides are each 2.5 feet deep. Any questions?

The rest of the clothes

So here are my other 3 triumphs of fabric. If I was smart I would have chosen fabrics that hide mistakes and flaws. I however, love plaid, and those can show your mistakes if you don't take great care to match lines and such.
This second one was even harder. Not only is it argyle, it is corduroy too. It means you have to pay super close attention to the pattern, and the direction of the fabric.
This last one is a wrap skirt, and the only one not to feature either black or green. It is plaid though, and I found some nice ribbon to accent the top.
If any of you, besides Jenny, were paying any attention; I wore the top one on Sunday. Thanks for noticing Jenny.

Sidney, Nebraska.

One might wonder what there is to do in Sidney, Nebraska. Well, there is a rare experience, that's what. You are looking at photos of the Union Pacific Challenger locomotive. Currently, the largest operating steam locomotive. (No Big Boys are track-ready at this time.) For those of you who care it is a 4-6-6-4 configuration that has been converted to run on oil (no longer on coal). It was a bit dirty, and was stopping in Sidney for a grease-up before finishing its journey back to Cheyenne. It is housed in Cheyenne but was out for some special tour.

It was unseasonably cold, so we left Blanket in the car. After about 20 minutes of being alone he started to object, but it was so cold and windy I didn't dare take him too far from the car. We figured we might not get this chance again before the kids get a lot bigger, so we went. It was 2.5 hours or so to get there. Then I was asking directions to the train station and the girl at the gas station pulled out the phone book (all 30 pages of it) to look at the map. She was having trouble with the directions, but I looked at the map and figured it out.
After watching the train finish maintainence on-the-go we went to Cabela's for lunch. This is right next to Cabela's world headquarters. It isn't very big (as far as Cabela's go) but it does have a polar bear, and an elephant on display. It is also the nearest Cabela's until the open the one in Wheat Ridge (if that ever happens). Then we came home and got home about 4:30. Not a bad way to spend the day. Blanket did want to be held a bunch after we got back, but he had spent the entire day in the stroller or in his car seat. If that were me, I'd want to be held too.

More Definitions from the Dictionary

Here is the next installment of The Sunday Funnies Dictionary.

Mitigate:  To change the baby's diaper.  Usually after the baby has pooped.  E.G.: we are at a nice resturaunt with our friends and Blanket smells bad.  I say, "I need to go mitigate," and grab the baby and diaper bag.

The fan in our bedroom has 3 speeds:  Token, On, and Turbo.  I hate having the fan on when I go to sleep, and B.A.R. needs it 8 months of the year.  He wants Turbo, I want off.  I usually settle for Token (my token of compromise).  B.A.R. says that it isn't really on until On, and that Turbo is the only thing that really moves a lot of air.  That may be, but any amount of air movement is too much for me.

The other blog

I haven't posted for a while because I have one thought that I need to post about before the others can come out.  And while I am opinionated and don't really care what other people think about what I think, I didn't want to give people reasons to offend themselves here at this blog.  I have created another, separate blog, as an outlet for my opinions.  

You can still blurk or read and review here without fear of running into my opinions on politics, economy and other divisive issues.  If you want to step into that minefield follow me over here.  I will also place a link in The Checklist so you can go over there whenever you want.  

I do not promise that I will post over there often, but I do promise that I post opinions over there and not here in my Family Friendly blog.  

And for those of you who didn't figure it out, there aren't any pictures in the prom post.  NONE!!

Prom Pictures

See, Landee, I am going to do that great post you suggested about Prom photos.  So here are all my great prom photos:

Yep. That's all of them.  Look closely, you may even see that I half didn't care about going to prom.  I didn't have a boyfriend.  I didn't know any boys interested enough in going to the dance to even consider taking me.  Most of my friends weren't going. I didn't want to have to buy or make a dress (see my earlier post about me and finding dress clothes that I like).  I didn't have money for a new dress even if I made it.   I didn't have some anti-prom party like some of my friends did.  By the time my Senior Dinner Dance (our senior prom) I really had no desire to engage in all that headache for one night that didn't even promise to be really fun.  

In fact,  the only thing that I ever did for prom was get my friend a date.  She had never been asked to any school dances up to this point and this was going to be her last chance.  I knew she really wanted to go and liked this guy who liked me (that too, was not reciprocal) .  They were both seniors and I was a sophomore (and barely 16).   I convinced this guy to take my friend (and even helped him devise a way to ask her)  before he could even dream of asking me.  He didn't have a car or even a driver's license, so I had to find somebody else for them to go with.  At least when I asked this other guy to double with them,  I didn't have to find him a date!  

They all had a good time, and her parents and I explained ourselves (they were in on the secret) after the event was over.  

Watching the numbers change.

The numbers on the clock that is.  My night didn't  go so well.  I almost blogged about it earlier, but I was much more asleep than I am now.  Let's start with yesterday afternoon.  

1:00:  Both boys went down for naps

2:15:   Blanket woke up.  He was awake and crabby because he didn't sleep long enough

4:30:  I woke Tiger up so that he would actually go to bed before we did. 

6:30:  I put Blanket to bed because he was so crazy tired.

7:15:   I put Tiger to bed concerned that he would not go to sleep, but hoping that he would.

7:45:  Tiger got up and watched the football game with us.

8:15: Tiger threw a fit about not getting to continue watching this locomotive website we found.  He went off to bed.

8:45: Tiger got back up and watched more football.

9:25: The game ended and Tiger was put to bed and locked in his room.

10:30: I checked on both boys, and they were sleeping. I went to bed.

12:30: I got up to use the bathroom and went right back to bed.

1ish: Tiger crawls in bed with us noiselessly (I was too asleep to object) and falls asleep in my arms.  More like ON my arms.  I woke up to reposition them and crawl away from him 3 or four times before

4:44:  Blanket wakes up shrieking.   No amount of comforting or clean diaper changed his desire for a bottle.   I gave him his bottle and went back toward my bedroom.  I contemplated my options:

A: Crawl back in my Tempurpedic with my husband and Tiger.

B: Put Tiger back in his own bed before retaking my own.

C: Get into Tiger's  bed and try to sleep. or 

D: None of the above.

I seriously considered C before choosing A-the path of least resistance.  A couple of minutes later Tiger started moaning. This is normal nighttime noise for him.  I am surprised this is the first time that I heard it considering how long he had been in our bed.  I fulfilled B.  I was hoping that I was going back to sleep when I learned my morning would be filled with D.

5:15: Blanket finishes his bottle, and is sure that he is ready to be awake.  He wanted to play, really.  I brought him downstairs and poked around on the computer for a few minutes.

5:30:  I put in a Harry Potter movie so that I can remain half awake while Blanket plays on the couch.  I watched for a few minutes.  I closed my eyes and listened for a few more.

6:47: Blanket declares his need to go back to bed.  Smiling, I went and put him back into his own bed.  I sought my own bed and sleep rapidly thereafter.

7:35: (15 minutes after B.A.R. wanted to be awoken)  He rolls over and asks me what all happened last night.  At least I had found some sleep.

7:45:   I went to check on Blanket and found him happily awake in his bed.  Knowing he wouldn't want to be left alone I put him in the bathroom because B.A.R. was still taking a shower and went back to bed.  I knew Tiger would be getting up soon, and I wanted anymore sleep I could get.

7:50:  Tiger came in and crawled on the bed.  We asked him why he got in our bed in the middle of the night.  "Were you cold?" "No." "Were you scared?" "Yes."  Mystery solved.  Now if I could just solve the mystery of sleeping while I clean my house, run my errands and make my phone calls I could have a very productive day.

The Land of Not

Tiger knows so much, in fact, he is mastering opposites and other negatives.  If you ask him, "What color is your shirt?"  you may get a response of, "It's red."  More often we are getting the response of, "It's not blue."  

Other typical conversations with Tiger:

"What kind of truck is that?"

"It's not a Ford truck."

"Is it a Dodge truck?"

"It's not a Dodge truck."

"What kind of truck is that?"

"It's a fake (Toyota) truck!"

"Is Baby Blanket small?"

"He is not big."

"Is he big?"

"He is not big. He is small."

"What kind of underwear do you have today?"

"It's not Thomas underwear."

"What kind is it?"

"It's Mater underwear."

I feel like I am living in the land of Not.  Every conversation is as much about what something isn't as much as it is about what something is.  I hope this is only a phase, and that it doesn't last very long.  I don't think I could handle NOT conversations forever.

In other Tiger notes, he finally got a "Tiger special light" for his room.  It's one of those nightlights that costs like 3 cents a year to operate.  He is truly afraid of the dark, and that is the best way to handle it.  Mind you, we kept him in an artificially dark room for his whole life so that he would sleep later, and go to bed earlier in the summer.  The nightlight doesn't really undo all my window covering work, and it makes him feel more secure.

Tiger Eats a Cupcake.

I find this funny because he must eat all the frosting before he can eat the cake. The same is true with frosted sugar cookies.

A few moments in the lives of my children

The other day we were eating lunch in the park after we had been at the Children's Museum all morning. Blanket had only gotten 20 minutes or so of sleep in the car on the way there, and was seriously needing a nap. I fed him his lunch, and was waiting for Tiger to finish his cupcake so that we could get in the car and go home. Blanket was grumbling, so I made him a bottle and gave it to him. He sat there drinking it, and I sat there wondering how long Tiger was going to spend eating his cupcake. About 2 oz into the bottle I saw Blanket wobble. He was almost asleep sitting up holding his bottle. I quickly packed up my bag and held him so that he could drift off to sleep without falling over. He slept 15 more minutes at the park and all the way home.

The other day I got a migraine around dinner time. I was laying on the couch with a blanket over my head waiting for the kids' bedtime. B.A.R. was supervising them, but I wanted to put them to bed. While I was just laying there Tiger came over and asked, "Are you OK, Mom?" and then added, "I so loves you," with a hug. He is so sweet, I just wish this part of his personality came out more than once or twice a week.

Hooray for new clothes.

In case you think that I haven't been doing anything these last few weeks, lookie here:

This is a new skirt that I made. Lots and lots of learning, consternation, frustration, and fabric later I have a skirt that I like.

If you think I am nuts or merely neurotic to make my own clothes, understand this: When I was growing up all my dresses were homemade or pre-owned. I always got the dresses and skirts that I wanted because my mom or other women made them for me. Call it being spoiled. As an adult, I have a very hard time going to the store and buying something off the rack because I never had to do it as a child. Occasionally I can find something I like, but this often comes after many moons and many stores and much frustration. When I shop for clothes (especially dress clothes) I am very picky. It is seriously easier for me to find fabric that I like and a pattern I like.

I have two more skirts in the works, and then maybe I will be brave enough to try shirts/vests or tops of some other kind to go with them.

Ta-Dah

Ok, so this post has been a long time coming. I keep writing about "my quilt" and its perpetual state of unfinishedness. Well, no longer. It's done. Really. I finished it about a month ago, but I was waiting until I applied a layer of Scotch-Gard until I called it done for real. It has even been moved to its permanant home on the bed.

I didn't make any crazy patterns, or anything because the focus of the quilt is the buckmark, and I really wanted that to draw your attention. The buckmark is thee logo for the Browning gun company. It matches our lamps.

The name of the quilt is The BuckMarks the Spot. The pictures are big enough to get great detail if you click on them. In case you are wondering, each square is 12 inches. It is backed in the fabric I dyed in coffee a few months back.
Each square is quilted with the buckmark, and then stitched in the ditch around the edges. The binding is pieced to match the leather lacing on our faux leather lampshades in our bedroom.
I designed this quilt about 2 years ago to match our lamps, ceiling fan, and log furniture. Now I just need to pick out a wall color to pull it all together. If you have ideas, or would like to come give suggestions, feel free!!! I need all the color help I can get.
Forgive the clothes dying to jump out of the closet to be photographed too.

Cloth update

That's the newest picture of cloth. Tiger doesn't usually take it to bed anymore, but I am not quite sure he is ready to give it up completely. The top portion really did used to be the sleeves and chest section of a shirt, though they don't resemble that anymore. I have to spend effort to find both sections these days because Tiger will bring them to our room, or downstairs and forget where he put them for days at a time.

I was thinking about what I was going to do with it when I took it away, or Tiger gave it up. I think I will seal it in a ziploc bag and keep it for him. When he is older he can decide what he wants to do with it. I think I should just have it disappear for a few decades until he understands the value of holding on to sentimental things.

Maybe I'll never take it away and it will just completely disintegrate and will never be kept for posterity. Thoughts?

The new penguin in my life.

Way back in 2001 before B.A.R. and I got married we bought an electric can opener as a wedding gift for some other friends of ours who were getting married a couple of months before we did. They, in turn, bought us the electric can opener that we wanted as a wedding gift.
This may look like an ordinary electric can opener, but it is the only one on the market that cuts the whole top off the can. It makes smooth tops with no sharp edges. It earned the nickname "The Penguin" for its shape. It has done great service in its life. We have used it to test electrical outlets for power during home improvement activities. I have used the knife sharpener on the back to keep my kitchen on the cutting edge (sorry, that one was bad). I have impressed many a visitor with my unique can opener. I have loved my dear little penguin.

He, alas, is giving up the ghost. He turns cans in fits and starts. He no longer makes clean cuts. Despite surgery his condition improved only for a few months. We decided that he needs to be repurposed (recycled?) as a target for B.A.R. at the shooting range.


Meet the new penguin in my life:
This is actually a new model of the same can opener. It opens cans exactly the same way (and is still the only electric to do so). Disappointingly, it no longer has a knife sharpener in the back, but kitchen scissors instead. I thought I wouldn't like those scissors, but I must confess that I have used them three times in the week since it came home. It has new features like a new switch that actually locks the can in place. It takes less effort to operate, and pleases me just as much as my old one did. The white one matched my white appliances better, but this one may just encourage me to switch to stainless. And if you want to buy one for yourself check it out at Amazon. That is the best price unless you get $10 off at Bed Bath and Beyond (which is what I did).

Alamosa Trip--The play by play

We left Friday afternoon for Alamosa. I had spent most of the day packing up and getting ready to go. The only things I didn't pack were the electronics (computer and camera) and B.A.R.'s bag of stuff.

We drove south to Pueblo and stopped at Del Taco for dinner. Tiger got a quesadilla. I had put him in a pull-up so that we wouldn't have to stop in the middle of nowhere because he had to go. I then failed to make him go while we were in Pueblo. As we were heading up La Veta pass Tiger said he needed to go. We told him to wait, we would be there in an hour. Just then, Blanket poops and insists that he needs his diaper changed--no waiting! So, in a light sprinkle, half way down the other side of the pass we pulled off at a DOT area and changed Blanket's diaper. B.A.R. took Tiger behind the building to give him a chance to go, but he wouldn't. "Too cold," he said.

Tiger whined and cried, and I distracted, sang, counted oncoming cars, watched the sunset, and generally expended major effort to keep Tiger calm while we drove across the plateau to Alamosa. When we reached the hotel his pull-up was a little wet, and he peed for 30 seconds or so. I kept checking to see if he was done, and he was still going. I was so impressed with his capacity. It made me wonder why he is so lazy at home that he has accidents, or will just use his pull-up as an excuse not to go potty.

We got all set up for bed, and spent the night listening to the kids make all thier sleeping noises (and consequently, not sleeping). Blanket got up at 5 and I brought him to bed until 6. I actually got up with him and wandered around the lobby until 7:30 when the rest of the family got up and moving.

We then went down to the train station and prepared for the best part of our trip: the train ride.
We watched them get set up for the ride, and deal with a brake issue on the Antonito train.

We rode the San Luis and Rio Grande over La Veta pass. To book your own go here. Tiger didn't sit very still for the 3 hours we were on the train, but his favorite part of the ride was getting to flush the toilet with his foot.

When the train stopped in La Veta we had lunch at a little cantina. The mexican food tasted really good and Tiger had a quesadilla.



After lunch we went to this park next to the train station. I took Blanket to change his diaper. I went to the bathroom and noticed that I didn't have a clean diaper with me. I went back to a little general store we passed and bought 40 diapers so I could have the one I needed. Then I had to explain to my dear husband why I vanished from the park and it took me 30 minutes to change his diaper.

We spent the last few minutes before the train left to go back to Alamosa walking around the platform and taking pictures. The only way we could get Tiger to pose for the photo was to strap him the stroller and park him by the locomotive. You can't see Blanket in this picture because he passed out in the stroller shortly after the diaper disaster.



















Blanket stayed asleep until well into the return trip. Tiger started taking a nap (I have already blogged about that) about the time Blanket woke up. He is so much fun. I love getting to spend time with just him.

For dinner Tiger finished his quesadilla and we had a pizza.

We all slept more the next night, mostly out of exhaustion, I think. Though Blanket did get me up at 5:30 with a messy diaper and no desire to get back in the Pack 'n' Play. We began wandering the lobby around 6:15.

I thought we were in for a peaceful trip home. Somewhere on La Veta pass (about 45 minutes out of Alamosa) Tiger says he needs to go poop. I told him to poop in his pull-up and we would change it when we got to Walsenburg.

In Walsenburg I took him into a 7-11 and completed the impossible. I found no poop in his pull-up and managed to relieve him without the enema or warm bath I would have used at home. (This is #16 on the list of things I learned). I hope I never have to do that again.

For lunch we headed to Colorado Springs to have lunch at Texas Roadhouse. At home I spent the day recovering from a serious lack of sleep.

It was a great weekend, but like any vacation with little kids it is nice to come home and recover from the stresses of vacation.

Helpless

In case you don't know, we have lived in 4 states and 6 addresses since being married 7 years ago.  We lived in the first state the longest, and still have many friends there.  This could prove important if we ever get transferred back there.   We aren't the kind of people who make lots of friends wherever we go, and it took most of the 3 years we lived in Michigan to make the kind of friends we have there.  

Yesterday B.A.R. called me to tell me that a friend of ours had been arrested.  ARRESTED?!?!?  I will save you (and them) the details.  I did get to talk to his wife last night and learn the story from the source. This has turned their life upside down (just imagine not going home so you don't have to talk to the media camped on your front lawn).  The ward there has been/is great.  They all have stepped in and helped out, but it doesn't make the whole situation go away.  

I want to be there to help.  These people were so good to me when I needed help.  These people did great things for me in good times and bad.  I am here and they are there, and I can't help them.  I can't run their errands.  I can't do their laundry.  I can't feed their kids.  I can't be a character witness.  I feel totally helpless.  

Yesterday neither of the adults at my house could think of anything else.  I spent all afternoon convincing myself it would be a bad thing to call them (and then they called me).  We spent the evening wondering what we could do to make this feeling go away.  This feeling is the feeling that the whole thing is wrong, and rubs me the wrong way.  I just can't get over it, and I can't distract myself from it by helping them.

A nap not in a bed

So how do you convince a two-year old that he should take a nap during the most exciting adventure of his whole life?  I am not completely sure (I was busy with the baby) but B.A.R. managed to get Tiger to fall asleep in his lap during the return portion of the trip.   After about an hour the train stopped and Tiger stirred.  B.A.R. tried to put him down to finish sleeping on his own, but he was not having that.  He was not done sleeping.  Tiger is a monster if he is woken before he is done sleeping.  So B.A.R. sacrificed the next hour and half or more to this position and the rest of Tiger's nap.  I felt badly because he wasn't getting to experience the train (this trip was for his birthday, after all) but his other option was totally entertaining a baby who was so done with sitting still on the train.  Tiger did wake up for the last hour or so of the ride, and did a fine job of keeping Blanket entertained while we packed up and got ready to disembark.

I had mixed feelings about this pose.  I know I need to train him to take naps when naps are needed and not just if they are convenient. However, I know that getting to hold him and enjoy him while he is still small enough to take a nap in your lap doesn't last forever.  This photo should be good for a few laughs in 10 years or so.

Blanket speaks words.

So my cute little (well, not so little) baby has been making talking noises for about 3 months now. The last couple of weeks he has been making lots of different sounds, but nothing that sounds like words I use everyday. I was beginning to wonder when he was going to start having "words." I have heard him repeat sounds a time or two. He said "noo dul" one day after I had a long discussion with Tiger about eating his noodles. But the greatest word breakthrough came about an hour before we finished our train excursion.
Tiger was asleep (see the post above), and I was looking for something to do with Blanket. I got out Tiger's favorite book: Freight Train by Donald Crews. Normally Blanket doesn't get to read this book for more than a second. Tiger is taking it away, hoarding it, or otherwise not sharing it. I opened up the book and to the first page and Blanket says,"wooooo." I laughed, and B.A.R. laughed too. Sure we heard him right, but thought this was a coincidence, I kept reading and turning pages. Each new page brought out another "wooooo" or "woooo, woooo." By the time the book ended I was sure that Blanket has words. His word for train is "wooooo." He said it again as we walked past the train. If you say "wooo" to him he smiles. He liked the train.
I now take the time to listen to his speaking noises. He says so much. I don't understand most of what he says, but he does use the same sounds in the same situations. I merely haven't learned his language yet.

Midnight

The other night, before we went out of town, Blanket woke me up at midnight. This is not normal, but I dealt with the problem and went back to bed. As I was laying there hoping to find sleep again I heard the cars on the nearby road. I heard them click-clack as they sped over the seams in the concrete. I thought about how midnight has changed.

When I was a kid midnight was a milestone. If you were allowed to stay up that late, it was great. If you made it to midnight, that was an accomplishment.

When I was a young teenager, midnight was late, and meant that I had lots of homework.

After 16, midnight was when your date was supposed to end, or when you started to think about going home.

At 19 it became the time that I often got off work. It was dinner time.

I didn't see any of midnight on my mission. It was in the great "NO" zone.

After I got married, midnight became this place I rarely saw. I met it now and then with friends, or after a great movie. Midnight was no longer an accomplishment, now it was an unseen acquaintance.

Once the kids were born, midnight became a place I visited in a state of semi-conciousness. I only see it if cries awake me, or sleep escapes me.

Midnight is no longer when I get off work and start my evening. Midnight is not a signal to start winding down the fun. For me the fun happens all day, and midnight marks 6 hours until the fun begins again.

Am I old? mature? a fuddy-duddy? or just in a place where midnight should never be seen?

Things I learned on Vacation

We went out of town this weekend, and so the next few posts will be about our little adventure to Alamosa. We rode the San Luis & Rio Grande railroad over La Veta pass. We went because it is passenger rail service behind a steam engine. Oh, and Zephyr, you can be jealous, or you can come back and ride it!

We took pictures of much of the train activites, but some of the best things that happened we didn't get pictures of. Also, much of what I learned happened without a camera. This post is about that.

This is the 2nd time we have taken Blanket away from home overnight. This was his first hotel stay. Tiger went out of town with us many times his first year, and a few times his second year. This is the first time we took him out of town since he is in underwear full-time during the day.

Now for what I learned:

1. Despite being only 31 lbs, Tiger can hold 16 oz of fluid in his bladder.
2. Tiger cannot pee outside if it is less than 50 degrees, no matter how badly he needs to go.
3. Tiger can eat quesadillas for lunch and dinner every day if that's what we order for him.
   
4. Tiger can say long sentences that include prepositions and articles. For example, "Here, Baby Blanket, play with this tractor toy."
5. Blanket actually speaks words. More about this in a different post.
6. Tiger can sleep outside of a bed.
7. Families who do not all sleep in the same room at home should not sleep in the same hotel room!
8. On our last overnight excursion with Blanket, I underestimated his attachment to his "cloth."
9. I am thankful that Blanket is not yet mobile.
10. There is no good place to move the Tampa Bay Rays (except maybe Indianapolis).
    
11. Over the course of a season baseball has about 6 times as many tickets available as football.
12. Despite my best efforts to be prepared, I bring enough diapers on vacation, and regularly fail to bring them on an excursion and must buy 40 diapers just to get the one I need.
13. Tiger has never eaten at McDonald's nor does he know that there is a playland there (or at any other fast food restaraunt).
14. Always save one or two empty formula sample cans so that you can take some formula without taking the monster size can.
15. B.A.R. can be persuaded that a limo (read: double stroller) is not a bad thing.
16. When under duress (meaning the alternative is not an appealing option), moms can solve almost any problem with the available tools (or lack thereof); especially if this problem would be a lot easier to solve were the circumstances significantly different.

Each one of these has a whole story to go with them. Some of these I will post about. I will also take requests if you want to learn about a particular lesson.

Missing half the message.

For those of you who come and just view my most recent post (and I know that you are out there): take heed!  I often spend a few days coming up with post ideas (and time to post).  Then I spend my little time posting 2 or 3 posts at once.  If you only view the most recent,  you will probably miss half or more of what I post.  To avoid this problem, click on the name of the blog (instead of the name of the post) on your blog roll.  Or, after reading the most recent post, click on the "Home" link at the bottom of the page.  Or, even better, set up a following widgit on your dashboard.  It shows all the new posts on all the blogs you are following so you don't miss a thing.  I like it better than Google reader and so I use it.  Visit often, and make sure to catch all the news while you are here.

Flexibility

Because Blanket cannot crawl, his only efforts to reach things consist of bending over as far as he can while sitting.  Every time he does this  I can't help but think, "Don't you wish that you were that flexible?!" 

And then he turns his head from that position as if to mock my inflexibility even further.

The Energizer Bunny Stops.

I posted earlier about Tiger falling asleep with his hand in the Cheetos bag, and me not getting any pictures.  Sunday I got another chance.  He fell asleep eating lunch/dinner after church.  It was about 4 o'clock or so.  

That's a PBJ and he was almost done.  It just seems so weird to have a kid with that much energy just stop.  I tiptoed out of the room to get the camera, and B.A.R. took a look and giggled softly too.  I think the funniest part about the whole incident was the soft snoring right there at the table.