Jeremiah's first time playing in the leaves!
Hello, Jemiah!!! :-)
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Word to the wise...
When you're Christmas shopping this holiday season, and you get in on a Slickdeal, don't post in that thread that you bought it... ESPECIALLY when the person you're shopping for also shops on Slickdeals....
Yeah....
Sigh....
Post-placenta brain, strikes again!
Yeah....
Sigh....
Post-placenta brain, strikes again!
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
The Second Bi-Annual Season's First Christmas Party!
Finally have a chance to write down all the craziness that was our Christmas party, as Jeremiah is here with me in the van, taking a nap. Well, actually, he just woke up, so I may continue this from inside the house, but here we go!
Saturday night, we had our Christmas party, and boy what a crazy time! Total, we had 37 people attend, 11 of which were kids! We were supposed to start at 4:30, but that was delayed by a few minutes (because of our guests--everyone decided to be fashionably late, which was just fine with me! Those that were on time were such a great help in getting things all set up, so thank you to them!!) My parents had come over early to help with last minute things, and it's a good thing they did! About an hour before the party, Jeremy discovered that the keg he had bought was FLAT! So he had to take it back to Total Wine, which left me down a person to help. Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa were more than willing to help finish cooking and decorating.
Food wise, I went a little nuts, like I usually do, though everything on the menu was made in advance and needed little time to prepare on the day-of. For savory items, I made Scallion & Egg Pancakes (tasted like the scallion pancakes from the chinese restaurants--the egg was barely noticeable, which was what we were going for. After all, it was only to be a vessel to keep the scallions in place.), Chicken Quesadillas, Crudities with Hummus, Cheese & Crackers, Chickety-China the Chinese Chicken Wings, and my Mom made Stromboli. Mmmm.... Desserts, we had Magic Cookies (7-layer bars), "Fire-starter Bars" (Orange & Nut Bars), Peppermint Mocha Brownie Balls, double chocolate brownies, lime coconut snowballs, and my Mom made cranberry bars. I had spent all day worrying that we would run out of food, and at the end of the party, everyone was stuffed, and there was PLENTY left! We'll be eating scallion pancakes and quesadillas for a while.... Thankfully, we were able to give some desserts away, and Jeremy took a bunch to work, but there's still a lot left... I froze some, so we'll have those throughout the holiday season.
Here're a few highlights:
~We set up the spare room upstairs with all of Jeremiah's toys, and a couple of mattresses--by 5p.m., all the kids were up there, running back and forth on the mattresses as if they were a moon bounce! It was quite a sight to see!
~One of our guests came in, said, "Hi, Jess, how are you, thanks for inviting me, I just locked my keys in my car. Hopefully someone here has AAA." lol I thought he was kidding at first, but then he walked up with his cell phone an a AAA card, and asked if I would help give the guy directions.... Guess he was serious. :-) This same guest later went on to win a consolation prize for having his gift stolen the most during the Yankee Swap, and then proceeded to leave both his gift and prize here at the house. :-) We gave it back to him so if he was leaving it on purpose, HA HA! :-)
~We had a few gift cards going around the swap--two of them iTunes, one for $15 and one for $25. I think those two got stolen almost every turn--someone would steal the $25, and then that person would steal the $15, and then the next person would steal the $25 from the first person, and so on and so forth. Pretty funny stuff. I think most people left with something they were happy with, so that worked out well!
~Of course, video game madness ensued after the party was over. Jeremy was challenged to a Guitar Hero showdown, and while he played to the crowd pretty well, I think he missed the mark on scoring higher than his opponent. Stephin then stepped in for the GH pwn-age.
And that was that in a nut shell. Thanks to everyone who came, and extra thanks to those of you who brought us a bottle of wine, cookies, or other gifts! They're very much appreciated, and meant a lot, so thank you! And hopefully, we'll see you all at next year's Semi-bi-annual Seasons First Christmas Party--or whatever it'll be called. :-)
Saturday night, we had our Christmas party, and boy what a crazy time! Total, we had 37 people attend, 11 of which were kids! We were supposed to start at 4:30, but that was delayed by a few minutes (because of our guests--everyone decided to be fashionably late, which was just fine with me! Those that were on time were such a great help in getting things all set up, so thank you to them!!) My parents had come over early to help with last minute things, and it's a good thing they did! About an hour before the party, Jeremy discovered that the keg he had bought was FLAT! So he had to take it back to Total Wine, which left me down a person to help. Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa were more than willing to help finish cooking and decorating.
Food wise, I went a little nuts, like I usually do, though everything on the menu was made in advance and needed little time to prepare on the day-of. For savory items, I made Scallion & Egg Pancakes (tasted like the scallion pancakes from the chinese restaurants--the egg was barely noticeable, which was what we were going for. After all, it was only to be a vessel to keep the scallions in place.), Chicken Quesadillas, Crudities with Hummus, Cheese & Crackers, Chickety-China the Chinese Chicken Wings, and my Mom made Stromboli. Mmmm.... Desserts, we had Magic Cookies (7-layer bars), "Fire-starter Bars" (Orange & Nut Bars), Peppermint Mocha Brownie Balls, double chocolate brownies, lime coconut snowballs, and my Mom made cranberry bars. I had spent all day worrying that we would run out of food, and at the end of the party, everyone was stuffed, and there was PLENTY left! We'll be eating scallion pancakes and quesadillas for a while.... Thankfully, we were able to give some desserts away, and Jeremy took a bunch to work, but there's still a lot left... I froze some, so we'll have those throughout the holiday season.
Here're a few highlights:
~We set up the spare room upstairs with all of Jeremiah's toys, and a couple of mattresses--by 5p.m., all the kids were up there, running back and forth on the mattresses as if they were a moon bounce! It was quite a sight to see!
~One of our guests came in, said, "Hi, Jess, how are you, thanks for inviting me, I just locked my keys in my car. Hopefully someone here has AAA." lol I thought he was kidding at first, but then he walked up with his cell phone an a AAA card, and asked if I would help give the guy directions.... Guess he was serious. :-) This same guest later went on to win a consolation prize for having his gift stolen the most during the Yankee Swap, and then proceeded to leave both his gift and prize here at the house. :-) We gave it back to him so if he was leaving it on purpose, HA HA! :-)
~We had a few gift cards going around the swap--two of them iTunes, one for $15 and one for $25. I think those two got stolen almost every turn--someone would steal the $25, and then that person would steal the $15, and then the next person would steal the $25 from the first person, and so on and so forth. Pretty funny stuff. I think most people left with something they were happy with, so that worked out well!
~Of course, video game madness ensued after the party was over. Jeremy was challenged to a Guitar Hero showdown, and while he played to the crowd pretty well, I think he missed the mark on scoring higher than his opponent. Stephin then stepped in for the GH pwn-age.
And that was that in a nut shell. Thanks to everyone who came, and extra thanks to those of you who brought us a bottle of wine, cookies, or other gifts! They're very much appreciated, and meant a lot, so thank you! And hopefully, we'll see you all at next year's Semi-bi-annual Seasons First Christmas Party--or whatever it'll be called. :-)
Sunday, December 02, 2007
If only I had a placenta to blame this on....
As most of you are probably aware, we had a little bit of a shin-dig here in the ole abode last night (more on that coming soon...) In preparation for said event, I had much cooking and baking to do. "Magic cookies", brownies, peppermint mocha balls, key lime snowballs, quesadillas, pancakes, etc, etc, all needed to be cooked up and ready to go ahead of time.
One particular item, though, caused a bit of, uh, drama in our house this past week. For those of you who at an Orange & Nut Bar, perhaps you realized that there were toasted almonds along with a generous drizzle of chocolate on top. Note these two items require an application of heat in order to achieve the desired result.
Well, Thursday night, I crept into the kitchen to prepare these bars. I had made the cookie bottom ahead of time, so all I needed to do was spread the marmalade, sprinkle on some toasted nuts, and drizzle on some chocolate--done! I put a pan on the stove to toast the almonds, and went off to melt my chocolate. For some reason, though, I had the great idea to use a cheap plastic cup for the chocolate, instead of something a bit more heat resistant. Into the microwave it goes!
Back to my almonds. Put those in the pan, they started warming up nicely, but needed a stir. What do I do? I thought I'd practice my chef pan-tossing skills so I wouldn't have to dirty a spoon (and it would actually flip the almonds around, to ensure equal browning.) I actually did alright, save for a couple of strays that fell outta the pan.
Back to the chocolate. Whilst flipping my almonds, I started smelling a bit of smoke, so I opened the microwave to see what was going on. Out comes a huge plume of smoke (stinky smoke, too, not pleasant smelling smoke.... burnt plastic smelling smoke... and chocolate.... it's not a good combination.) Quickly, I slammed the door shut and tried to assess what was going on from the outside. Hmmm... nothing was on fire, so I gave it a minute to, uh, relax?
Next thing I know, smoke starts billowing out from underneath the frying pan on the stove! Apparently, almonds, with their high oil content, will ignite when applied to a heat source in excess of 500 degrees... Luckily, it was only a few slices, which I quickly moved off the heating element (had it been a gas stove, they would have been ashes before I even noticed they were there...) and all was well.
The chocolate, turns out, burned a hole in the cup it was in.... and was an interesting shade of black... Needless to say, that got chucked and I used a glass vessel for the working batch.
All this, in the span of maybe a minute? Two? Yeah... Jeremy just laughed at me.
At least I didn't leave eggs to hard boil on the stove before leaving the house for two hours, SANS placenta. I would have to say that's a completely legitimate "oops" to make when baby's sucking the brains outta ya. :-) Jeremiah musta gotten a little extra, though--he's just discovered his nostrils, and that his fingers fit within them..... yeah....
One particular item, though, caused a bit of, uh, drama in our house this past week. For those of you who at an Orange & Nut Bar, perhaps you realized that there were toasted almonds along with a generous drizzle of chocolate on top. Note these two items require an application of heat in order to achieve the desired result.
Well, Thursday night, I crept into the kitchen to prepare these bars. I had made the cookie bottom ahead of time, so all I needed to do was spread the marmalade, sprinkle on some toasted nuts, and drizzle on some chocolate--done! I put a pan on the stove to toast the almonds, and went off to melt my chocolate. For some reason, though, I had the great idea to use a cheap plastic cup for the chocolate, instead of something a bit more heat resistant. Into the microwave it goes!
Back to my almonds. Put those in the pan, they started warming up nicely, but needed a stir. What do I do? I thought I'd practice my chef pan-tossing skills so I wouldn't have to dirty a spoon (and it would actually flip the almonds around, to ensure equal browning.) I actually did alright, save for a couple of strays that fell outta the pan.
Back to the chocolate. Whilst flipping my almonds, I started smelling a bit of smoke, so I opened the microwave to see what was going on. Out comes a huge plume of smoke (stinky smoke, too, not pleasant smelling smoke.... burnt plastic smelling smoke... and chocolate.... it's not a good combination.) Quickly, I slammed the door shut and tried to assess what was going on from the outside. Hmmm... nothing was on fire, so I gave it a minute to, uh, relax?
Next thing I know, smoke starts billowing out from underneath the frying pan on the stove! Apparently, almonds, with their high oil content, will ignite when applied to a heat source in excess of 500 degrees... Luckily, it was only a few slices, which I quickly moved off the heating element (had it been a gas stove, they would have been ashes before I even noticed they were there...) and all was well.
The chocolate, turns out, burned a hole in the cup it was in.... and was an interesting shade of black... Needless to say, that got chucked and I used a glass vessel for the working batch.
All this, in the span of maybe a minute? Two? Yeah... Jeremy just laughed at me.
At least I didn't leave eggs to hard boil on the stove before leaving the house for two hours, SANS placenta. I would have to say that's a completely legitimate "oops" to make when baby's sucking the brains outta ya. :-) Jeremiah musta gotten a little extra, though--he's just discovered his nostrils, and that his fingers fit within them..... yeah....
New look.
I really dislike the templates that blogger allows you to choose from. But, it was time for a change (I know, big change, huh?) as I was getting sick of the old look. I've got a great template designed in my head, but until I get Photoshop back on my laptop, this will have to do (unless some tech savvy friends o' mine offer to help me... it'd be super simple to do, I just don't have the 'hardware' to pull it off.)
So for now, enjoy this and hopefully we'll see something fresh coming soon.
So for now, enjoy this and hopefully we'll see something fresh coming soon.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
A bit frustrating...
I don't know what's going on with him, but Jeremiah just refuses to take his naps now...
Once he actually falls asleep, he's good for at least an hour, usually 1.5. But it's getting to sleep that's been difficult....
He used to be a good boy and just fall asleep after drinking his bottle. But now that he can walk around his crib, as soon as I put him down, he pops right up. Occasionally, he'll let me rock him to sleep, but the past couple of days, not even that will work (and I will not sit there and rock him for an hour.... especially since he likes to push himself up, look around, then lay back down, then get up again, pull my hair, lay back down, get up, try to twist off my lap, then lay back down again, etc, etc...)
So I dunno what to do. He seems too young to go down to one nap.... I know he's tired because if we're out and about, he does the whole yawning thing, and blinks the whole way home... Usually, I'm shouting at him to keep him awake, "We're almost home, Jemiah! We'll be there soon, and then you can sleepy-time! Don't sleepy-time yet! Just a few more minutes, okay??? Okay?!?!" And even when he's just on the brink of sleep, as soon as I take him outta the van, he's wide awake.
I feel bad because usually I'll just leave him in his crib until he "plays himself to sleep". Sometimes, though, that can be hours.... Like right now. I put him in his crib at 3:30 (completely appropriate naptime for him, not too early, definitely not too late...) and he's still awake. I thought he'd been a good boy and gone right out, but nooooo.... he started playing. Went to check on him, check his diaper, all was well, put him back, and he sounds like he's drifting off.... But any second, I expect him to, "Ah-bah-bah-bah-bah.... Mah-mah-mah-mah...."
Don't know what to do!
Update (Nov. 28th): Well, I'm hoping that by getting him back on schedule today, he'll be more inclined to keep that schedule even if we miss it by a few minutes. That being said, he just took a 2 hour nap! And he went down with little fuss--wouldn't let me rock him, so I put him in his crib, kissed him goodnight, he cried for maybe 2 minutes, and then he was out! Wow. I'm so proud of myself--he hasn't napped like that in a while! Thank you Jesus! :-)
Update (Nov. 29th): Nevermind... I knew it was too good to be true... Grumble grumble...
Once he actually falls asleep, he's good for at least an hour, usually 1.5. But it's getting to sleep that's been difficult....
He used to be a good boy and just fall asleep after drinking his bottle. But now that he can walk around his crib, as soon as I put him down, he pops right up. Occasionally, he'll let me rock him to sleep, but the past couple of days, not even that will work (and I will not sit there and rock him for an hour.... especially since he likes to push himself up, look around, then lay back down, then get up again, pull my hair, lay back down, get up, try to twist off my lap, then lay back down again, etc, etc...)
So I dunno what to do. He seems too young to go down to one nap.... I know he's tired because if we're out and about, he does the whole yawning thing, and blinks the whole way home... Usually, I'm shouting at him to keep him awake, "We're almost home, Jemiah! We'll be there soon, and then you can sleepy-time! Don't sleepy-time yet! Just a few more minutes, okay??? Okay?!?!" And even when he's just on the brink of sleep, as soon as I take him outta the van, he's wide awake.
I feel bad because usually I'll just leave him in his crib until he "plays himself to sleep". Sometimes, though, that can be hours.... Like right now. I put him in his crib at 3:30 (completely appropriate naptime for him, not too early, definitely not too late...) and he's still awake. I thought he'd been a good boy and gone right out, but nooooo.... he started playing. Went to check on him, check his diaper, all was well, put him back, and he sounds like he's drifting off.... But any second, I expect him to, "Ah-bah-bah-bah-bah.... Mah-mah-mah-mah...."
Don't know what to do!
Update (Nov. 28th): Well, I'm hoping that by getting him back on schedule today, he'll be more inclined to keep that schedule even if we miss it by a few minutes. That being said, he just took a 2 hour nap! And he went down with little fuss--wouldn't let me rock him, so I put him in his crib, kissed him goodnight, he cried for maybe 2 minutes, and then he was out! Wow. I'm so proud of myself--he hasn't napped like that in a while! Thank you Jesus! :-)
Update (Nov. 29th): Nevermind... I knew it was too good to be true... Grumble grumble...
Friday, November 23, 2007
All decked out!
Today, in post-Thanksgiving goodness, we padded our pad with all sorts of holiday cheer!
Instead of hosting Thanksgiving dinner, we offered to have everyone over today (Black Friday!) for a little bit of "Deck the halls!" And boy do we look good!
My Mom and I worked on the tree while Jeremy and my brothers (and Dad, briefly, before he joined us ladies where it was a bit warmer) put up lights on the front of the house. And I must say, I'm very impressed with the job they did.
Our tree came out "GREAT!" It wasn't easy getting to that point, though. We actually bought our tree on Wednesday, so it would have time to "drop" before decorating. Well, when we got home from dinner last night, we got a good look at it, and HATED IT! It looked great when it was leaning up against other trees, and even when someone is holding it upright. But once it was standing on it's own, all alone in the corner of the family room, well, it looked terrible... So we got up 'early' (not as early as we usually do, since Jeremiah stayed at Grandma's for the night,) packed it up, and took it back to Home Depot. Suprisingly, they didn't give us a hard time (I thought for sure they wouldn't let us take it back... and had a good story ready incase of difficulty...) Well, as soon as we wheeled it in there, the returns gal was already telling another associate, "Oh, wait, you've got something else to take. Got something else for ya." (or something...) She asked if anything was wrong with it, I said, "Nope, just didn't fit the space the way we liked," (true--ugly trees have no place in our room! hee hee...) and we were walking out with a returns receipt.
After that, we went to a different Home Depot, hoping for a better selection, and our tree was the first one we saw! It's like it was sitting there, waiting for us! Yay! It's a little fatter than I would have liked, but it's got a great shape, and boy does it look nice now.
I'll post some pictures after our party next week--don't wanna spoil it for those of you who are coming. :-)
And that is that for now. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!
Instead of hosting Thanksgiving dinner, we offered to have everyone over today (Black Friday!) for a little bit of "Deck the halls!" And boy do we look good!
My Mom and I worked on the tree while Jeremy and my brothers (and Dad, briefly, before he joined us ladies where it was a bit warmer) put up lights on the front of the house. And I must say, I'm very impressed with the job they did.
Our tree came out "GREAT!" It wasn't easy getting to that point, though. We actually bought our tree on Wednesday, so it would have time to "drop" before decorating. Well, when we got home from dinner last night, we got a good look at it, and HATED IT! It looked great when it was leaning up against other trees, and even when someone is holding it upright. But once it was standing on it's own, all alone in the corner of the family room, well, it looked terrible... So we got up 'early' (not as early as we usually do, since Jeremiah stayed at Grandma's for the night,) packed it up, and took it back to Home Depot. Suprisingly, they didn't give us a hard time (I thought for sure they wouldn't let us take it back... and had a good story ready incase of difficulty...) Well, as soon as we wheeled it in there, the returns gal was already telling another associate, "Oh, wait, you've got something else to take. Got something else for ya." (or something...) She asked if anything was wrong with it, I said, "Nope, just didn't fit the space the way we liked," (true--ugly trees have no place in our room! hee hee...) and we were walking out with a returns receipt.
After that, we went to a different Home Depot, hoping for a better selection, and our tree was the first one we saw! It's like it was sitting there, waiting for us! Yay! It's a little fatter than I would have liked, but it's got a great shape, and boy does it look nice now.
I'll post some pictures after our party next week--don't wanna spoil it for those of you who are coming. :-)
And that is that for now. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
A few things for which I'm thankful:
~I'm thankful for my husband, Jeremy, and the blessing he is to our little family--he works very hard so that we can have a roof over our head, food on our table, and Jeremiah can stay home with his Mommy. And after all that work, he comes home and helps put Jeremiah to bed!
~I'm thankful for Jeremiah, and what a blessing he's been to us these past 10 1/2 months! He's the most fun little boy I've ever known, super sweet, and loving, and even though he can drive Mommy up the wall sometimes (and keeps me worrying throughout the day) I wouldn't trade him for ANYTHING--I couldn't have asked for a better son.
~I'm thankful for our families, obviously... As crazy as they are, I can't imagine life without them (nor do I want to!)
~I'm thankful that God has blessed us with our home--another holiday season in our old apartment would have been too much! We now have a house with plenty of room for everything we would need (and then some!)
~I'm thankful that God has blessed Jeremy with a great job--I know it's tough sometimes, and people can be difficult to work with, but it's still wayyyyyy better than his old job!
~I'm thankful that God has blessed us with such great neighbors and a great neighborhood in which to raise our children.
~I'm thankful for all of our friends who have been part of our lives, challenged us, shared life with us, and supported us. I'm thankful that we have Christian couples there to help us out, should our marriage need a helping hand, and (now that we all have kids, pretty much) that our kids can grow up with.
~I'm thankful for our church, and the support it's provided to our relationship over the years, both with each other and our relationship with our Savior.
~I'm thankful for the country in which we live, and how wonderful it is! We're not perfect, but it's still the best place on earth--we're not persecuted for our beliefs, and we have so much more than most, even our poor have more than most of the world.
~I'm thankful for President Bush, and the leader he's been for this country (I'm sure there are many of you laughing at that, probably 75% or so, but this is my blog, and my opinion, and despite his mess ups, he's done a lot of good for this country that has been forgotten. I, too, will be glad come Jan. 09, but only because then it will be someone elses turn for people to find fault in. :-)
~Most of all, I'm thankful that our Lord Jesus Christ was born so many years ago, and then paid the ultimate price so that we can be with Him someday, so that we don't have to worry what will happen when we die, and that He's with us along the way, every day, helping us accomplish our dreams, live lift to the fullest and serve Him. There have been many times in my life where it would have been very difficult to get past what was going on, had it not been for God being there for me, comforting me, helping me... Sometimes faith is not enough... sometimes the peace that only God can give is what's really needed. And even though I've disappointed Him many times (haven't we all!) He's always there, forgiving, with His arms open wide, waiting for me to come back to Him (and how great that moment is!)
Happy Thanksgiving!! What are you thankful for?
~I'm thankful for my husband, Jeremy, and the blessing he is to our little family--he works very hard so that we can have a roof over our head, food on our table, and Jeremiah can stay home with his Mommy. And after all that work, he comes home and helps put Jeremiah to bed!
~I'm thankful for Jeremiah, and what a blessing he's been to us these past 10 1/2 months! He's the most fun little boy I've ever known, super sweet, and loving, and even though he can drive Mommy up the wall sometimes (and keeps me worrying throughout the day) I wouldn't trade him for ANYTHING--I couldn't have asked for a better son.
~I'm thankful for our families, obviously... As crazy as they are, I can't imagine life without them (nor do I want to!)
~I'm thankful that God has blessed us with our home--another holiday season in our old apartment would have been too much! We now have a house with plenty of room for everything we would need (and then some!)
~I'm thankful that God has blessed Jeremy with a great job--I know it's tough sometimes, and people can be difficult to work with, but it's still wayyyyyy better than his old job!
~I'm thankful that God has blessed us with such great neighbors and a great neighborhood in which to raise our children.
~I'm thankful for all of our friends who have been part of our lives, challenged us, shared life with us, and supported us. I'm thankful that we have Christian couples there to help us out, should our marriage need a helping hand, and (now that we all have kids, pretty much) that our kids can grow up with.
~I'm thankful for our church, and the support it's provided to our relationship over the years, both with each other and our relationship with our Savior.
~I'm thankful for the country in which we live, and how wonderful it is! We're not perfect, but it's still the best place on earth--we're not persecuted for our beliefs, and we have so much more than most, even our poor have more than most of the world.
~I'm thankful for President Bush, and the leader he's been for this country (I'm sure there are many of you laughing at that, probably 75% or so, but this is my blog, and my opinion, and despite his mess ups, he's done a lot of good for this country that has been forgotten. I, too, will be glad come Jan. 09, but only because then it will be someone elses turn for people to find fault in. :-)
~Most of all, I'm thankful that our Lord Jesus Christ was born so many years ago, and then paid the ultimate price so that we can be with Him someday, so that we don't have to worry what will happen when we die, and that He's with us along the way, every day, helping us accomplish our dreams, live lift to the fullest and serve Him. There have been many times in my life where it would have been very difficult to get past what was going on, had it not been for God being there for me, comforting me, helping me... Sometimes faith is not enough... sometimes the peace that only God can give is what's really needed. And even though I've disappointed Him many times (haven't we all!) He's always there, forgiving, with His arms open wide, waiting for me to come back to Him (and how great that moment is!)
Happy Thanksgiving!! What are you thankful for?
Monday, November 19, 2007
Congratulations, Aron & Layton!
They've got a beautiful baby girl!
Hadley Taylor (correct me if I'm wrong on the spelling of that...) was born shortly after 5 p.m. tonight! She weighed in at 7lbs, 15oz, and 19in long!
Mom sounds like she's doing great, so I'm going to assume everyone else is doing well.
Congratulations!! Can't wait to see some pictures! :-)
I know they'll be thanking God for quite a bit this Thanksgiving!
Hadley Taylor (correct me if I'm wrong on the spelling of that...) was born shortly after 5 p.m. tonight! She weighed in at 7lbs, 15oz, and 19in long!
Mom sounds like she's doing great, so I'm going to assume everyone else is doing well.
Congratulations!! Can't wait to see some pictures! :-)
I know they'll be thanking God for quite a bit this Thanksgiving!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
And by the way....
We got the charger in for the camera, so we're back in business!
More pics and videos coming soon! :-)
More pics and videos coming soon! :-)
I'm an idiot.
And apparently, I can't do math.
We ordered Chinese food tonight, mostly because our schedule got thrown off when the neighbors came over to invite Jeremy to go shooting. And Jay was here working on getting our TV up off the table that's been sitting in front of the fireplace. So we ordered Chinese.
Normally, I pay with a credit card, but I had cash today, so I did that instead. The whole time (well, not the whole time, but periodically throughout the time) before the delivery guy showed up, I was mentally calculating in my head how much to give him. Here's a sneak peak at how I do math (at least, this time...)
"Let's see... total is $54.xx (I know, that's a lot, but we got sushi, adds almost $20 right there.) I've got twenty's, so that means if I give him $60 (3 twenty's, right?), ask for $5 back, that'll leave him with a $10 tip."
Uh huh... It made sense in my mind....
Guy shows up, I hand him the $60, ask for $5 back, he gives me a look, I say, "Thank you!", he says 'yep." As soon as I close the door, I tell Jeremy, "Gee... Ya give the guy a $10 tip and all he can say is, "Yep." I can't believe that."
Are you laughing at me yet?
So that kinda bugged me the whole meal! At some point, though, a light bulb comes on, and I say, "Oh no... I didn't give him any tip!" Well, $.35... but that's really more insulting than anything else.
Now I'm even more bugged. I tried to justify it by saying, "Well, they did take an hour to get here..." but that didn't make me feel better. Jeremy says I'll be over it in the morning, and we'll never order from them again (we've ordered from them once before, but we usually order from this other place closer by...) I'm not worried about being blacklisted, or them doing who-knows-what to our food if we do order from them again (wouldn't you?? You'd think about it, you know you would... :-) I just feel terrible for not tippin' the poor guy... That's just wrong.
I think we're going to have to make a stop on the way home from church tomorrow... and then we'll have to stop at Old Navy, because when they rang me up for Jeremiah's outfit, they forgot to charge me for the hat... I noticed, and didn't say anything because I wasn't sure until I left.... And now, everytime I think about it, I hear Jim Supp in my head, saying, "You forgot to charge me for the cup of coffee. Could you add it to my bill?" (Those of you who are Union-ites will get that... Everyone, it's a long story, but basically they forgot to charge him for something [he has several of these to choose from] and he makes a point of going back to pay for it, because it's the right thing to do.) It is the right thing to do, and I've got a few I need to go back and do besides the hat (biggest one is a piece of lingerie from Lord & Taylor that I bought the day we got married... I had two pieces together, and she only scanned one.... But I'm pretty sure they don't sell that anymore, and I'm not sure how much it cost, but it was at least $70... 'Though I think she knew what she was doing, just wanted me to spend more money on makeup [I did.])
Thanks a lot, Jim Supp! You've given my conscience a voice--your's! lol
Moral of the story: Tip your delivery guy, pay for things you buy (even if someone may get in trouble for it! I've gotten a few people in trouble because I've gone back to pay for things I wasn't charged for... I'm sorry!) and don't drink and drive! Yeah....
We ordered Chinese food tonight, mostly because our schedule got thrown off when the neighbors came over to invite Jeremy to go shooting. And Jay was here working on getting our TV up off the table that's been sitting in front of the fireplace. So we ordered Chinese.
Normally, I pay with a credit card, but I had cash today, so I did that instead. The whole time (well, not the whole time, but periodically throughout the time) before the delivery guy showed up, I was mentally calculating in my head how much to give him. Here's a sneak peak at how I do math (at least, this time...)
"Let's see... total is $54.xx (I know, that's a lot, but we got sushi, adds almost $20 right there.) I've got twenty's, so that means if I give him $60 (3 twenty's, right?), ask for $5 back, that'll leave him with a $10 tip."
Uh huh... It made sense in my mind....
Guy shows up, I hand him the $60, ask for $5 back, he gives me a look, I say, "Thank you!", he says 'yep." As soon as I close the door, I tell Jeremy, "Gee... Ya give the guy a $10 tip and all he can say is, "Yep." I can't believe that."
Are you laughing at me yet?
So that kinda bugged me the whole meal! At some point, though, a light bulb comes on, and I say, "Oh no... I didn't give him any tip!" Well, $.35... but that's really more insulting than anything else.
Now I'm even more bugged. I tried to justify it by saying, "Well, they did take an hour to get here..." but that didn't make me feel better. Jeremy says I'll be over it in the morning, and we'll never order from them again (we've ordered from them once before, but we usually order from this other place closer by...) I'm not worried about being blacklisted, or them doing who-knows-what to our food if we do order from them again (wouldn't you?? You'd think about it, you know you would... :-) I just feel terrible for not tippin' the poor guy... That's just wrong.
I think we're going to have to make a stop on the way home from church tomorrow... and then we'll have to stop at Old Navy, because when they rang me up for Jeremiah's outfit, they forgot to charge me for the hat... I noticed, and didn't say anything because I wasn't sure until I left.... And now, everytime I think about it, I hear Jim Supp in my head, saying, "You forgot to charge me for the cup of coffee. Could you add it to my bill?" (Those of you who are Union-ites will get that... Everyone, it's a long story, but basically they forgot to charge him for something [he has several of these to choose from] and he makes a point of going back to pay for it, because it's the right thing to do.) It is the right thing to do, and I've got a few I need to go back and do besides the hat (biggest one is a piece of lingerie from Lord & Taylor that I bought the day we got married... I had two pieces together, and she only scanned one.... But I'm pretty sure they don't sell that anymore, and I'm not sure how much it cost, but it was at least $70... 'Though I think she knew what she was doing, just wanted me to spend more money on makeup [I did.])
Thanks a lot, Jim Supp! You've given my conscience a voice--your's! lol
Moral of the story: Tip your delivery guy, pay for things you buy (even if someone may get in trouble for it! I've gotten a few people in trouble because I've gone back to pay for things I wasn't charged for... I'm sorry!) and don't drink and drive! Yeah....
Thank you, Allison!
She has answered my calls of frustration with a great little website for kid-safe toys.
From their website:
From their website:
A bit About Us: Hearing about recall after recall we decided we didn't want our children to be exposed to any toxic chemicals. We wanted to be guaranteed that the toys our little ones had were safe as can be. We figured other parents would want the same for their children and decided to launch OrganicToyBox.com. We are dedicated to making the world a safer place for our children.
I checked it out, and the wooden toys they have on there are so cute, and very reasonably priced! I love the Shape Sorter, the ABC Wagon, the Keys, the First Vehicles thing, all so cute! So if anyone was trying to come up with gift ideas for Jeremiah, this is the place to go!
Hmmm.... maybe I'll just place an order anyways.... ;-)
So.... freakin'.... cute....
While at the mall yesterday, trying to help my friend encourage her baby that it was time to be born, I found the CUTEST little outfit for Jeremiah to wear during the holidays.
I wasn't even really looking... I was just wandering around the baby section at Old Navy when I came across it--it's so cute, I may have to rethink getting his pictures done (I wasn't going to, since he'll have pics done again next months, but now....)
I wasn't even really looking... I was just wandering around the baby section at Old Navy when I came across it--it's so cute, I may have to rethink getting his pictures done (I wasn't going to, since he'll have pics done again next months, but now....)
Annnnnnnd, we got the matching socks, too. I mean, c'mon, it's so cute! The hat alone is adorable on him (and it fit, surprisingly!) Let's hope he doesn't grow anymore, because I bought it in the largest size available.... Jeremiah! No more growing until after Christmas! Okay? Okay.
The only thing that kinda bugs me about it is that I paid full price... I NEVER pay full price for clothes... There's gotta be a coupon floating around online somewhere....
I also found a BABY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS! outfit for him. This has been a pain in the neck, because most of the "Baby's First" stuff is for newborns. That makes sense... I mean, how many <1 year olds are the size of a two year old???
So.... cute!!I'd better call picture people before they get overbooked....
Update: Good ole' slickdeals, strikes again. Found a coupon code for free shipping, and orders over $50 get $10 off, so I got a good deal! Woot! :-)
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Ridiculous...
"Santas warned "ho ho ho" offensive to women"
This whole thing is getting a bit out of hand, don't you think? A Santa Claus in a mall, saying, "Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!" is not going to offend women!
If it does, it's the woman who's got a problem, not Santa.
Sheesh.
At least America is okay with Santa and his "ho ho ho"'s.
This whole thing is getting a bit out of hand, don't you think? A Santa Claus in a mall, saying, "Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!" is not going to offend women!
If it does, it's the woman who's got a problem, not Santa.
Sheesh.
At least America is okay with Santa and his "ho ho ho"'s.
I'm not paranoid.
In light of the many many recent toy recalls, I've vowed to be extra careful in my selection of Christmas/birthday gifts for Jeremiah this year. I check the ChinaFreeChristmas site regularly, and inspect everything I consider buying, to determine its country of origin. Good plan right? Shouldn't have to worry about anything Jeremiah gets from Santa this year, right??
Well, turns out, it's a pain in the neck to not buy from China. Most of the toys that are popular are made in China, and those that aren't are really really expensive.
This, for example, is something I thought about getting for Jeremiah.
It's cool, made of wood, and will help him learn his colors, as well as learn to stack things (I'm big on stacking or building--something that actually gets him thinking as opposed to just being amused.) Best part, it's from Poland! "You'll love the price!" CFC said. I clicked on the link to check it out on Amazon--$39! Okay, now, it's cool, but it's not that cool. So I ordered the cheap plastic version from BabyCenter for $5--and it's not made in China. I forget where, I think Italy, but I just remember it wasn't China.
Not that buying China-made toys will mean you're home free of recalls. But I do think twice when something is.
One toy I was interested in for him was the Maxi Modo Blocks by Chicco. They're giant legos, basically, and they were on sale at BabyCenter (tried to order a bunch of stuff to get the free shipping... yes, I will shop somewhere just because it's free shipping [if Amazon doesn't carry it, that is... You can't beat 2nd Day!]) Well, I looked and I couldn't find any info on where it was made. I checked their website, and they're an Italian based company, so I thought they'd be safe, but gave 'em a call anyways (I thought, "What the heck. It's quicker than email.") Customer service answers, and I kinda cringe as I ask, "I was wondering if any of your toys were made in China...?" You could almost hear the gal on the other end rolling her eyes and smiling as she said, "Yes, most of them are." I asked which toys weren't, she told me, and then added, "If it makes you feel any better, Italy has very high standards on what chemicals are used in the production of our toys, even higher than what we have here in the US, and in the time our company has been around, since the 40's, there's never been a recall." Yeah, that does make me feel better. And the blocks are so big, I don't think they'll be going in his mouth (he doesn't chew on the big stuff, just the little stuff.)
I will say this; I'm sure that woman has heard that question a thousand times by now, and lots of people are probably rude about it (she didn't say that, but she implied it.) But she was the nicest gal I've ever talked to at any Customer Service (well, besides Nordstrom. The chic that helped me out when the zipper on my bag was busted was really sweet, too.) So Chicco toys are okay with me!
Thomas the Tank, however.... buyer beware (too bad, too... was thinking about getting this for Jeremiah someday, but not if there are babies around... Maybe Brio's safe...)
Well, turns out, it's a pain in the neck to not buy from China. Most of the toys that are popular are made in China, and those that aren't are really really expensive.
This, for example, is something I thought about getting for Jeremiah.
It's cool, made of wood, and will help him learn his colors, as well as learn to stack things (I'm big on stacking or building--something that actually gets him thinking as opposed to just being amused.) Best part, it's from Poland! "You'll love the price!" CFC said. I clicked on the link to check it out on Amazon--$39! Okay, now, it's cool, but it's not that cool. So I ordered the cheap plastic version from BabyCenter for $5--and it's not made in China. I forget where, I think Italy, but I just remember it wasn't China.Not that buying China-made toys will mean you're home free of recalls. But I do think twice when something is.
One toy I was interested in for him was the Maxi Modo Blocks by Chicco. They're giant legos, basically, and they were on sale at BabyCenter (tried to order a bunch of stuff to get the free shipping... yes, I will shop somewhere just because it's free shipping [if Amazon doesn't carry it, that is... You can't beat 2nd Day!]) Well, I looked and I couldn't find any info on where it was made. I checked their website, and they're an Italian based company, so I thought they'd be safe, but gave 'em a call anyways (I thought, "What the heck. It's quicker than email.") Customer service answers, and I kinda cringe as I ask, "I was wondering if any of your toys were made in China...?" You could almost hear the gal on the other end rolling her eyes and smiling as she said, "Yes, most of them are." I asked which toys weren't, she told me, and then added, "If it makes you feel any better, Italy has very high standards on what chemicals are used in the production of our toys, even higher than what we have here in the US, and in the time our company has been around, since the 40's, there's never been a recall." Yeah, that does make me feel better. And the blocks are so big, I don't think they'll be going in his mouth (he doesn't chew on the big stuff, just the little stuff.)
I will say this; I'm sure that woman has heard that question a thousand times by now, and lots of people are probably rude about it (she didn't say that, but she implied it.) But she was the nicest gal I've ever talked to at any Customer Service (well, besides Nordstrom. The chic that helped me out when the zipper on my bag was busted was really sweet, too.) So Chicco toys are okay with me!
Thomas the Tank, however.... buyer beware (too bad, too... was thinking about getting this for Jeremiah someday, but not if there are babies around... Maybe Brio's safe...)
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Booo....
Jeremiah's been regularly taking a few steps at a time, here and there. I think the record, so far, is about 5. But lately, he's been having a blast trying! This afternoon, I sat on the floor with him, stood him up arms length away, and let him walk to me. He thought it was the absolute most fun, and giggled the whole way (even if he fell on his bottom... so cute!)
Y'know how most parents try to help their babies walk by holding their hands above their head?? Well, Jeremiah won't have any of that. We're allowed to give him one finger, and one finger only! Anymore, and he just gets mad... like we're holding him back, or something.
Things are about to get more complicated!
And hence the booo... All this action going on, and the battery on my camera is dead. We have a backup that we bought, specifically for this reason, but that's dead too. As for the charger, it's no where to be found... BOOO!
We have a real video camera somewhere around here...... Maybe that's not dead. Hopefully either that or the charger will show up soon. Don't walk anymore, Jeremiah! We need to find the camera first!
You think he'll wait???
Y'know how most parents try to help their babies walk by holding their hands above their head?? Well, Jeremiah won't have any of that. We're allowed to give him one finger, and one finger only! Anymore, and he just gets mad... like we're holding him back, or something.
Things are about to get more complicated!
And hence the booo... All this action going on, and the battery on my camera is dead. We have a backup that we bought, specifically for this reason, but that's dead too. As for the charger, it's no where to be found... BOOO!
We have a real video camera somewhere around here...... Maybe that's not dead. Hopefully either that or the charger will show up soon. Don't walk anymore, Jeremiah! We need to find the camera first!
You think he'll wait???
Friday, November 09, 2007
China Free Christmas
In light of all the recent toy recalls that have been happening lately, someone put together this site/blog that lists a bunch of resources for buying toys that are safe (as far as it is known) to buy for the holidays. There's also info about recalls, and manufacturers for which to watch out.
With the latest recall being Curious George dolls, I wonder if I should take away Jeremiah's Toy Story Woody doll, that he loves to chew on so much. Not that Woody is related to Curious George, but he does love to chew on it.... And it's not a "baby's toy", so they wouldn't have necessarily done lead testing on the paint. Hmm....
Anyways, here's the site.
http://www.chinafreechristmas.info/
It will be in the side bar, as well, should you need it later on.
With the latest recall being Curious George dolls, I wonder if I should take away Jeremiah's Toy Story Woody doll, that he loves to chew on so much. Not that Woody is related to Curious George, but he does love to chew on it.... And it's not a "baby's toy", so they wouldn't have necessarily done lead testing on the paint. Hmm....
Anyways, here's the site.
http://www.chinafreechristmas.info/
It will be in the side bar, as well, should you need it later on.
The countdown begins...
The lighting of the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center will take place on November 28th!
They just got the tree today (well, late last night), and are getting ready to hoist it on up! Woo-hoo! It's from Connecticut, and this year, the in the way of eco-friendliness, they cut it down with handsaws, and will be lighting it with LED lights vs. traditional incandescents.
Of course, our tree will be up long before that one will be. And it will be pretty.
I think I've figured out the solution to the tree problem here... But I don't know how well it will work yet, so we'll let ya know how that works out after Thanksgiving. :-)
They just got the tree today (well, late last night), and are getting ready to hoist it on up! Woo-hoo! It's from Connecticut, and this year, the in the way of eco-friendliness, they cut it down with handsaws, and will be lighting it with LED lights vs. traditional incandescents.
Of course, our tree will be up long before that one will be. And it will be pretty.
I think I've figured out the solution to the tree problem here... But I don't know how well it will work yet, so we'll let ya know how that works out after Thanksgiving. :-)
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Spin Master Recalls Aqua Dots – Children Became Unconscious After Swallowing Beads
This is getting ridiculous--are no toys safe anymore?!?!?!
How is it not obvious by now that the Chinese are trying to kill our kids (in this case, Canada's in on it, too, as the toy's distributor. Does that really surprise anyone????) I mean, c'mon, everyday it's a new recall. What's a mom to do!!
Luckily Jeremiah doesn't really need toys yet. So we're safe.... for now....
How is it not obvious by now that the Chinese are trying to kill our kids (in this case, Canada's in on it, too, as the toy's distributor. Does that really surprise anyone????) I mean, c'mon, everyday it's a new recall. What's a mom to do!!
Luckily Jeremiah doesn't really need toys yet. So we're safe.... for now....
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Sunday, November 04, 2007
I was on TV again!
Yay! I super-famous. :-)
Okay, well, technically, I wasn't on TV (though I was.) What happened was that CNN Sunday Morning was doing a feature on Godtube, a Youtube-type site with a Christian message (Christianity 24/7, as their founder said.) During their entire show prior to the feature story, they kept showing clips of a certain video that my old church did way back when (Jeremy and my second date, to be exact! You can see the current edition, which does not feature me, I don't think, in my links section--Baby Got Book!)
Needless to say, I was a bit surprised, especially since I knew that they'd re-done the video with different "fly girls" 'cause we weren't "fly" enough, I guess. So when I saw that on TV, at 7:43 a.m. (after turnin' your clock back, that is...) I was pretty excited. :-)
Good to know, though, not to yell in excitement when Jeremiah's around.... He's very sensitive (started crying a couple times.... whoops...)
UPDATE: The Godtube version is the original with me in it... When Dan (a.k.a. Southpaw) says, "So ladies---" look for the gal with the white sweater on the left--that's me! In 2004, that is. :-)
:-)
Okay, well, technically, I wasn't on TV (though I was.) What happened was that CNN Sunday Morning was doing a feature on Godtube, a Youtube-type site with a Christian message (Christianity 24/7, as their founder said.) During their entire show prior to the feature story, they kept showing clips of a certain video that my old church did way back when (Jeremy and my second date, to be exact! You can see the current edition, which does not feature me, I don't think, in my links section--Baby Got Book!)
Needless to say, I was a bit surprised, especially since I knew that they'd re-done the video with different "fly girls" 'cause we weren't "fly" enough, I guess. So when I saw that on TV, at 7:43 a.m. (after turnin' your clock back, that is...) I was pretty excited. :-)
Good to know, though, not to yell in excitement when Jeremiah's around.... He's very sensitive (started crying a couple times.... whoops...)
UPDATE: The Godtube version is the original with me in it... When Dan (a.k.a. Southpaw) says, "So ladies---" look for the gal with the white sweater on the left--that's me! In 2004, that is. :-)
:-)
Friday, November 02, 2007
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Someone stole our gourd....
Now I'm pissed.
Sometime, between our last post and 10:30 p.m. last night, some stupid little punk (or maybe an even stupider BIG punk) took the butternut squash I had sitting with my pumpkins on the stoop. (You can see a brief shot of said gourd in the video from the previous post, right around the 38 sec. mark.)
This really bothers me... I've had this innate fear of having our house broken in to for a while, ever since we've been married. I don't know why (maybe it's the fact that we've never been at a place really long enough for me to feel safe?) The only thing I can think of that may have really contributed to this fear was from before my brother Stephin was born.
When I was a kid, maybe 10 or so, my bedroom window was right about the basement doors. We had those big metal hatch type doors, and they weren't easy to open, made lots of noise when they did. Well one night, my Mom and one of her brothers (I think he was staying with us at the time) were in our basement visiting, and just having a good time catching up. I was in bed trying to sleep when I heard the basement door open. Too scared to check it out myself, I just assumed (and hoped) that it was one of my parents and went to sleep.
The next morning, our neighbor called us to let us know that our car was in their yard... Well, that was a bit strange. How did it get there? Did the wind blow it? What we realized was that my Dad had left the keys in it because he'd been trying to fix it (hadn't run for a while at that point). So someone, thinking they scored a free car, turned the key, started it up, and drove it as far as they could--across the street, about 50 feet away.
Okay, that part is kinda funny. What was scary, though, is that when I told my parents I had heard the basement doors open, they said they never went over there, and so we assume Mr. Car Thief Extraordinare had been the one to open it. He probably sat on the steps, waiting for my parents/uncle(s) to go to bed, but they were up a while.... I don't know what their intentions were, and what they thought they would find, but I am thankful that my parents had decided to stay up doing who-knows-what down there (unfinished basements aren't exactly a comfortable to hang out in.)
ANYWAYS, never bothered me until living in "the big city", and then when we moved to Tyson's. Shortly after we moved in, Jeremy told me that when he was taking out the trash late one night, a bunch of teens walking by him said, "Hey, we don't live here, but we're inside the gates, do you feel safe???" I forget what Jeremy's response was, something like, "Yeah, I do, actually." Well, that's not the kind of story you should share with me!! From then on, every bump, creak, whatever I heard was associated with some stranger trying to break into the house....
And now, some idiot was ballsy enough to walk up the long driveway, in front of all our neighbors, and steal my gourd! FREAKING MORONS! Of course, they could have come in from the street, scaling our super defensive fence we've got (rolling eyes....)
I mean, come on... It was just a squash. Yeah, it was cool (one of the biggest squashes I'd ever seen, at least of the butternut variety,) but what're ya gonna do with it? It doesn't have the "smashability" factor like a pumpkin has.... I doubt they took it to eat it. Gosh darnit, I want my squash back!
Needless to say, I'm not happy. I'm hoping that it was some kid with good parents, and they'll knock on my door this afternoon to say, "Sorry, junior was an idiot and took this last night." But I'm not holding my breath. Oh well.
Sometime, between our last post and 10:30 p.m. last night, some stupid little punk (or maybe an even stupider BIG punk) took the butternut squash I had sitting with my pumpkins on the stoop. (You can see a brief shot of said gourd in the video from the previous post, right around the 38 sec. mark.)
This really bothers me... I've had this innate fear of having our house broken in to for a while, ever since we've been married. I don't know why (maybe it's the fact that we've never been at a place really long enough for me to feel safe?) The only thing I can think of that may have really contributed to this fear was from before my brother Stephin was born.
When I was a kid, maybe 10 or so, my bedroom window was right about the basement doors. We had those big metal hatch type doors, and they weren't easy to open, made lots of noise when they did. Well one night, my Mom and one of her brothers (I think he was staying with us at the time) were in our basement visiting, and just having a good time catching up. I was in bed trying to sleep when I heard the basement door open. Too scared to check it out myself, I just assumed (and hoped) that it was one of my parents and went to sleep.
The next morning, our neighbor called us to let us know that our car was in their yard... Well, that was a bit strange. How did it get there? Did the wind blow it? What we realized was that my Dad had left the keys in it because he'd been trying to fix it (hadn't run for a while at that point). So someone, thinking they scored a free car, turned the key, started it up, and drove it as far as they could--across the street, about 50 feet away.
Okay, that part is kinda funny. What was scary, though, is that when I told my parents I had heard the basement doors open, they said they never went over there, and so we assume Mr. Car Thief Extraordinare had been the one to open it. He probably sat on the steps, waiting for my parents/uncle(s) to go to bed, but they were up a while.... I don't know what their intentions were, and what they thought they would find, but I am thankful that my parents had decided to stay up doing who-knows-what down there (unfinished basements aren't exactly a comfortable to hang out in.)
ANYWAYS, never bothered me until living in "the big city", and then when we moved to Tyson's. Shortly after we moved in, Jeremy told me that when he was taking out the trash late one night, a bunch of teens walking by him said, "Hey, we don't live here, but we're inside the gates, do you feel safe???" I forget what Jeremy's response was, something like, "Yeah, I do, actually." Well, that's not the kind of story you should share with me!! From then on, every bump, creak, whatever I heard was associated with some stranger trying to break into the house....
And now, some idiot was ballsy enough to walk up the long driveway, in front of all our neighbors, and steal my gourd! FREAKING MORONS! Of course, they could have come in from the street, scaling our super defensive fence we've got (rolling eyes....)
I mean, come on... It was just a squash. Yeah, it was cool (one of the biggest squashes I'd ever seen, at least of the butternut variety,) but what're ya gonna do with it? It doesn't have the "smashability" factor like a pumpkin has.... I doubt they took it to eat it. Gosh darnit, I want my squash back!
Needless to say, I'm not happy. I'm hoping that it was some kid with good parents, and they'll knock on my door this afternoon to say, "Sorry, junior was an idiot and took this last night." But I'm not holding my breath. Oh well.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Well, that was anti-climatic...
Our first Halloween in our new house!
We expected oodles and oodles of trick-or-treaters this year. Previous years, we've had either one or none, so this year, we came prepared! Stocked up on Kit Kats, 3 Musketeers, Tootsie Rolls, Reese's Sticks, Twix bars, Snickers, etc, we were ready for the barrage of sugar-crazy kiddies.I must say, though, I was a bit nervous when we stopped by a neighbor's house, and they said they went through $50 worth of candy last year. If this year was anything like last year, they must have paid more than a dollar a piece, because we didn't get more than 20-30 kids. That's it! I know it's still a little early, but no one's knocked on the door in an hour....
Oh, and of those 20-30 T.O.T.-ers, at least half were teens, one adult, and one baby with NO costume on. It's one thing to take your baby trick or treating WITH a costume, but c'mon.... At least appear to be trying!
Had I known how few actual kids were coming our way, I would have loaded them up with handfuls of candy.... But by the time we decided to start giving out extras (my parents always run out, so I was being conservative...) the kiddies stopped coming.
Jeremiah had a great time, though. It started out kinda rough--at the neighbor's, he was crawling around, and their big ole dog barked. Jeremiah started screaming! So they gave him a tootsie pop, and boy did he love that! He sucked on that sucker all night, and had we been keeping count, he could have definitely told us how many licks it took to get to the center of a tootsie pop. Thankfully, his sugar high didn't last very long, and he crashed without putting up a fight.
FYI... Google video is being strange, and keeps coming up with errors for the videos I've posted. So, we'll try out Blogger's videos, and see how those do. So far, so good!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
I love it!
As much as I love the summertime, if I can't have the heat, I'll take the cold with a sprinkle of Christmas!
Christmas is probably my favorite time of year, despite the temperatures that it brings. I love decorating for the holidays, putting up the Christmas trees, shopping for 'that perfect gift' and then watching the recipient unwrap it (hopefully happily!) I love the food the holidays have as staples: roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing (Portuguese style, of course, no apples and raisins on our table!), apple pie, etc.... Yum yum yum... Of course, it's great to see all the family for the holidays, since most we don't see but once a year. And for some, once a year is more than enough. :-)
Some people get turkied out having the bird on Thanksgiving and then again on Christmas, so they'll do a ham, or "tur-duck-en" (chicken wrapped in stuffing and a duck wrapped in stuffing and a turkey. I hear it's good, but have never had the pleasure to actually try it...) or something different. Not me, though.... The holidays are the only time I'll cook a turkey, and I don't mind doing it twice! So good!
I'm very excited for this Christmas, especially, as it'll be Jeremiah's first! I can't wait to see his face as we set up the tree--probably only decorated from the mid-section on up, but that's okay. Target and Wal-mart have been putting up their Christmas stuff as the Halloween stuff sells out. As we make our way through the stores, we always go by these sections so that Jeremiah can see everything all lite up. He just peers up, with his mouth open, in awe, and doesn't move until something else catches his attention. So cute!
Next year's Christmas will probably be a bit more fun, since he'll 'get it' more than he will this year. But that's alright. I just hope he does what his Uncle James (and subsequently, Uncle Stephin) used to do with me--we'd put a pillow under the tree, and lay underneath it, looking up at all the lights. It was really cool. I don't see Jeremiah sitting still long enough, but maybe he'll surprise us.
Of course, logistically speaking, we're having a tough time figuring out where exactly to put the tree. We have the perfect spot in the family room for it, but I'm worried that Jeremiah may try to pull it down. I don't want to have to buy a gate to put around it (and that would really kinda kill the look,) but it really is the best spot.
Then I thought of putting it in the breakfast nook area, so you can see it from most of the first level of the house (it'll be in your line of sight when you walk in, and of course, you'll be able to see it from the family room and the kitchen, where we spend most of our time anyways.) Plus, there's a huge bay window there, so you'd be able to see it from outside on West Ox Rd (and, since it'd be pretty safe from Jeremiah, we could decorate it all the way instead of just half.) However, then we'd have to move the table and chairs, which means utilizing the dining room more. That's alright, but Jeremiah makes such a mess, I don't know if I want him to have his way in a carpeted room....
Finally there's always the living room. The only thing about putting it there would be that we'd rarely see it, since the living room is the most isolated room in the house. We really don't spend anytime in there. Eventually, it will be an office/sitting area room, but right now, it's just a room with stuff in it. So I really don't want to put it there, but it would be the least disruptive to our daily lives.
So, I dunno. We have a few weeks to figure it out (we go tree shopping on Black Friday!) I'm sure we'll figure it out. In the meantime, I'm going to start shopping, since I HATE dealing with the people at the mall during this time of year (especially Tyson's.... that place is crazy...) Last year, I went shopping on Christmas Eve, only because I woke up and couldn't sleep any longer, and wanted to kick-start labor by walking 'round the mall. I was very disappointed, though, to be there at 7 a.m. only to find out the mall itself didn't open until 8.... I mean, c'mon! It's Christmas Eve! Oh well. Best Buy was open (and dead), Macy's was open (also pretty dead), but that was definitely the best time to be at the mall that day. May do that again this year, if I have last minute shopping. We'll see if Jeremiah's up for it. :-)
Christmas is probably my favorite time of year, despite the temperatures that it brings. I love decorating for the holidays, putting up the Christmas trees, shopping for 'that perfect gift' and then watching the recipient unwrap it (hopefully happily!) I love the food the holidays have as staples: roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing (Portuguese style, of course, no apples and raisins on our table!), apple pie, etc.... Yum yum yum... Of course, it's great to see all the family for the holidays, since most we don't see but once a year. And for some, once a year is more than enough. :-)
Some people get turkied out having the bird on Thanksgiving and then again on Christmas, so they'll do a ham, or "tur-duck-en" (chicken wrapped in stuffing and a duck wrapped in stuffing and a turkey. I hear it's good, but have never had the pleasure to actually try it...) or something different. Not me, though.... The holidays are the only time I'll cook a turkey, and I don't mind doing it twice! So good!
I'm very excited for this Christmas, especially, as it'll be Jeremiah's first! I can't wait to see his face as we set up the tree--probably only decorated from the mid-section on up, but that's okay. Target and Wal-mart have been putting up their Christmas stuff as the Halloween stuff sells out. As we make our way through the stores, we always go by these sections so that Jeremiah can see everything all lite up. He just peers up, with his mouth open, in awe, and doesn't move until something else catches his attention. So cute!
Next year's Christmas will probably be a bit more fun, since he'll 'get it' more than he will this year. But that's alright. I just hope he does what his Uncle James (and subsequently, Uncle Stephin) used to do with me--we'd put a pillow under the tree, and lay underneath it, looking up at all the lights. It was really cool. I don't see Jeremiah sitting still long enough, but maybe he'll surprise us.
Of course, logistically speaking, we're having a tough time figuring out where exactly to put the tree. We have the perfect spot in the family room for it, but I'm worried that Jeremiah may try to pull it down. I don't want to have to buy a gate to put around it (and that would really kinda kill the look,) but it really is the best spot.
Then I thought of putting it in the breakfast nook area, so you can see it from most of the first level of the house (it'll be in your line of sight when you walk in, and of course, you'll be able to see it from the family room and the kitchen, where we spend most of our time anyways.) Plus, there's a huge bay window there, so you'd be able to see it from outside on West Ox Rd (and, since it'd be pretty safe from Jeremiah, we could decorate it all the way instead of just half.) However, then we'd have to move the table and chairs, which means utilizing the dining room more. That's alright, but Jeremiah makes such a mess, I don't know if I want him to have his way in a carpeted room....
Finally there's always the living room. The only thing about putting it there would be that we'd rarely see it, since the living room is the most isolated room in the house. We really don't spend anytime in there. Eventually, it will be an office/sitting area room, but right now, it's just a room with stuff in it. So I really don't want to put it there, but it would be the least disruptive to our daily lives.
So, I dunno. We have a few weeks to figure it out (we go tree shopping on Black Friday!) I'm sure we'll figure it out. In the meantime, I'm going to start shopping, since I HATE dealing with the people at the mall during this time of year (especially Tyson's.... that place is crazy...) Last year, I went shopping on Christmas Eve, only because I woke up and couldn't sleep any longer, and wanted to kick-start labor by walking 'round the mall. I was very disappointed, though, to be there at 7 a.m. only to find out the mall itself didn't open until 8.... I mean, c'mon! It's Christmas Eve! Oh well. Best Buy was open (and dead), Macy's was open (also pretty dead), but that was definitely the best time to be at the mall that day. May do that again this year, if I have last minute shopping. We'll see if Jeremiah's up for it. :-)
Friday, October 26, 2007
Videos, videos, videos!
Here ya go!
Yeah, I forgot about the previous video when we made this one.... Oh well!
Yeah, I forgot about the previous video when we made this one.... Oh well!
"I'm a lion! Rrrrroar!"
Jeremiah 'decided' he wanted to be a lion for Halloween.... Of course, I can't really think of a good reason to buy a baby a costume, except for the cuteness factor. I mean, I just don't understand why parents would take their baby 'trick or treating'. I can see showing the baby off, especially when they've got older kids--that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is when baby is the only child, and Mom and Dad are holding out a bucket to fill. I cringe when I see perfect strangers walking up with their baby, and that's it. No siblings, just a baby and a sack.
[Word to the wise: if I don't know you, don't bring you baby by my house without an older brother or sister! May have to pull the whole athiest move, "We don't celebrate holidays," and slam the door. {There was a house in our neighborhood that did that, growing up... Needless to say, they got egged and TP'd a lot....}]
It's one thing to take 'em to people you know (like Grandma's.... we may go 'trick or treating' there, since Grandma always has a treat for her sweet, if ya know what I mean!) But parading your infant around to houses with people you don't know, and then asking for their candy, when there are lots of little kiddies out there waiting to collect (my Mom always runs out of candy, and has to turn kiddies away.... this is also due to the teens and college students, of course, but I digress...)
I mean, at least wait 'til the kid can walk on his own.... Gotta burn those calories some way, right? :-)
A few pics for ya.
Now that we've got my laptop up and running again....
Busy working hard on his laptop...
Making his "favorite face" for the camera(and squinting at the 'red eye light', as he always does.)
Going to the Pancake House instead of church (nursery was full, so we couldn't go to church, since would've just gotten red carded if we had taken him in.)
Whatta lil' gangsta, hip-hopping at Grandma's birthday party.
Oooo.... grass... The last nice day of the year (earlier this week.)Thursday, October 25, 2007
Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.... like, tomorrow.
Yup, definitely not feeling like summer anymore. It's been a bit rainy for the past couple of days, with temperatures in the 60's mostly, and it looks like the forecast will remain unchanged through part of the weekend. Although, if it's going to rain, it should RAIN, as in thunderstorms, and sheets of water falling! Instead, we've had a constant mist and light sprinkling... That's about it.
Now, I like rainy days, s'long as I don't have to venture out too much. Yesterday, we went to the grocery store, and Jeremiah was amazed by the umbrella. He thought it was the coolest thing, and kept trying to hold it. So cute.
Unfortunately, my little man has a bit of a cold, so our time outdoors has been limited. We were supposed to get together with some gals from the Mom's class I took at Mclean last fall, but I decided it was probably best for us to stay indoors, and make some soup. Mmm.... soup.....
That's one good thing about rainy days: good excuse to cook comfort food! Of course, soup was on the menu for today's dinner, anyways, but it's much more fun to make soup on a rainy, cool day than a sunny, hot day. Now I get to relax with a nice warm mug o' tea, and just....
....get Jeremiah up from his nap, because he's decided it's over now. :-( Well, I'll just have to drink my tea whilst keeping an eye on him.
Oh man... bread... I should make some bread... Hmmm..... Can't ya smell it already????? :-)
Now, I like rainy days, s'long as I don't have to venture out too much. Yesterday, we went to the grocery store, and Jeremiah was amazed by the umbrella. He thought it was the coolest thing, and kept trying to hold it. So cute.
Unfortunately, my little man has a bit of a cold, so our time outdoors has been limited. We were supposed to get together with some gals from the Mom's class I took at Mclean last fall, but I decided it was probably best for us to stay indoors, and make some soup. Mmm.... soup.....
That's one good thing about rainy days: good excuse to cook comfort food! Of course, soup was on the menu for today's dinner, anyways, but it's much more fun to make soup on a rainy, cool day than a sunny, hot day. Now I get to relax with a nice warm mug o' tea, and just....
....get Jeremiah up from his nap, because he's decided it's over now. :-( Well, I'll just have to drink my tea whilst keeping an eye on him.
Oh man... bread... I should make some bread... Hmmm..... Can't ya smell it already????? :-)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
NOW it's fall...
I think we're safe: the summer weather has finally left us!
For the past few weeks, fall has been unseasonably warm. I mean, c'mon, there's no reason for it to be 90 in the middle of October, now is there? I think not.
And last time I checked, we didn't live in FL, where one would expect to see Christmas decorations when it's hot outside. Nope, 'round here, we should be well into jacket weather before the first sighting of a plastic Santa is seen.
Finally, it's time to bundle up.
I know I'll regret saying that, as I do love me some warm weather... A week of bundling up and I'll be wishing for spring again. But y'know, it's kinda nice to not have to run the AC (I really dislike it... thankful for it in the summer, but it just doesn't seem right to need it IN OCTOBER!
Anyways. That's all I have to say. :-)
For the past few weeks, fall has been unseasonably warm. I mean, c'mon, there's no reason for it to be 90 in the middle of October, now is there? I think not.
And last time I checked, we didn't live in FL, where one would expect to see Christmas decorations when it's hot outside. Nope, 'round here, we should be well into jacket weather before the first sighting of a plastic Santa is seen.
Finally, it's time to bundle up.
I know I'll regret saying that, as I do love me some warm weather... A week of bundling up and I'll be wishing for spring again. But y'know, it's kinda nice to not have to run the AC (I really dislike it... thankful for it in the summer, but it just doesn't seem right to need it IN OCTOBER!
Anyways. That's all I have to say. :-)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
It's hard to get mad at a 9 month old...
....but not impossible.
Especially when said 9 month old is refusing to sit in his high chair, even though it's lunch time... Then, as if in utter defiance, this 9 month old decides to grab hold of the nearest thing, which happens to be a plate and coffee mug from breakfast (complete with crumbs and leftover chai tea...) Where does it end up??? On the floor, of course (so much for that mug... Glad it wasn't a favorite.)
Mom, at this point, decides she needs a minute before dealing with such a mess. So Mom retires, briefly, to the powder room. Upon returning to the kitchen, Mom finds this 9 month old looking over the back of his high chair, about to climb out! Now, Mom has to deal with getting him back in a seated position, and then strapped in (that is why there are straps on the high chair, I'm pretty sure...) Of course, 9 month olds don't like being forced to do ANYTHING, so now this 9 month old is crying...
Oi vey...
Mom gives said 9 month old some puffs to snack on while Mom prepares his lunch. Of course, he's pissed off, so he just sweeps them right off his tray and onto the floor (which Mom had just finished cleaning up from the first mess...)
Grumble grumble....
Thankfully, this 9 month old is now soundly asleep, and Mom is taking a "chill pill".
It's hard to get mad at a 9 month old, but not impossible. :-)
Especially when said 9 month old is refusing to sit in his high chair, even though it's lunch time... Then, as if in utter defiance, this 9 month old decides to grab hold of the nearest thing, which happens to be a plate and coffee mug from breakfast (complete with crumbs and leftover chai tea...) Where does it end up??? On the floor, of course (so much for that mug... Glad it wasn't a favorite.)
Mom, at this point, decides she needs a minute before dealing with such a mess. So Mom retires, briefly, to the powder room. Upon returning to the kitchen, Mom finds this 9 month old looking over the back of his high chair, about to climb out! Now, Mom has to deal with getting him back in a seated position, and then strapped in (that is why there are straps on the high chair, I'm pretty sure...) Of course, 9 month olds don't like being forced to do ANYTHING, so now this 9 month old is crying...
Oi vey...
Mom gives said 9 month old some puffs to snack on while Mom prepares his lunch. Of course, he's pissed off, so he just sweeps them right off his tray and onto the floor (which Mom had just finished cleaning up from the first mess...)
Grumble grumble....
Thankfully, this 9 month old is now soundly asleep, and Mom is taking a "chill pill".
It's hard to get mad at a 9 month old, but not impossible. :-)
Friday, October 19, 2007
First Step??
So today, I was minding my own business, typing up an email or two, when I looked up to see Jeremiah catching his balance, and then "what appeared to be" taking his first step! He then fell, as he tried to take the 2nd, but hey, gotta start somewhere, right?
Of course, none of this happened because Jeremy wasn't there to see it, and according to the rule...
"If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to see it, did it really happen?"
or in this case,
"If Jeremiah takes his first steps, and Jeremy's not there to see it (or no camera there to tape it), did it really happen?"
Obviously, the answer has to be "no". :-)
But I know better. ;-)
Of course, none of this happened because Jeremy wasn't there to see it, and according to the rule...
"If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to see it, did it really happen?"
or in this case,
"If Jeremiah takes his first steps, and Jeremy's not there to see it (or no camera there to tape it), did it really happen?"
Obviously, the answer has to be "no". :-)
But I know better. ;-)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Suri Cruise is going to have issues...
Okay, religious difference aside, this child is going to be super-spoiled, and in super-trouble if this is how they continue to raise her...
The full article is linked (well, what was given of it), but here's an excerpt:
Now, obviously, I want to please Jeremiah, and give him everything he wants, but y'know what? If I let him decide when he wanted to sleep, he would never nap, and stay up wayyyy too late, and be super grumpy, making all of us miserable. If I let him eat everything he wanted to eat, all he would eat would be his baby puffs, or animal crackers, etc...
The biggest offense in this article is the last line:
Uh.... I guess in Hollywood, but even less-than-good parents know better than to let their child do whatever they want.
But I digress...
The full article is linked (well, what was given of it), but here's an excerpt:
"It's all about being positive and supportive," says the couple's friend (Hubbard advised parents to "try to be the child's friend.") As for discipline, one former church member tells Us that Scientologists do not scold their children, but instead explain that bad behavior (like throwing a toy) is the "wrong action."
Cruise and Holmes, says their pal, are very lenient and do not like to give Suri too many rules: "Suri pretty much does whatever she wants, whenever she wants. If she fusses before bed, they let her stay up later. If they want her to go swimming and she cries, they'll take her out. If she whines about food, they'll ask her what else she wants to eat. They always want to please her."
Now, obviously, I want to please Jeremiah, and give him everything he wants, but y'know what? If I let him decide when he wanted to sleep, he would never nap, and stay up wayyyy too late, and be super grumpy, making all of us miserable. If I let him eat everything he wanted to eat, all he would eat would be his baby puffs, or animal crackers, etc...
The biggest offense in this article is the last line:
In other words, they're typical parents.
Uh.... I guess in Hollywood, but even less-than-good parents know better than to let their child do whatever they want.
But I digress...
Gross...
It seemed like a good idea at the time...
Yesterday, Jeremiah and I went to the farmer's market that they hold across the street at the park. Just needed a few veggies that I couldn't find at Costco last week. Of course, the bread guy was there, and he had some really YUMMY raspberry bread. Mmmm... we ate the whole loaf in one day, it was so good! Basically, a more dense version of Portuguese sweet bread with a raspberry sauce running through it. SO GOOD!
Anyways, I got a bunch of veggies from the produce guy--huge box of sweet potatoes (they keep for 5-6 months!), squash, savoy cabbage (for some reason, ya don't see it in the stores around here very often...), tomatoes (I know, technically a fruit, but c'mon... who really thinks of it like a fruit?) a huge butternut squash and some corn.
Now, the corn, I wasn't going to get, but I tried it and it was really good corn! So, okay, fine, I'll get it, shuck it, and freeze it, and we'll have yummy fresh corn all winter, too.
So yeah, got a bushel of corn, for a good price, and hauled it all home (had to go back to get the car, no way it'd all fit in the stroller.) I figured I'd have a chance today to deal with the corn, so after Jeremiah's nap, I let him roam around the family room while I shucked corn husks into a box. At first, all good. But I noticed there were a lot of little holes in the husks, though most of them didn't go all the way through to the corn. So I kept on getting on, and then it happened--I pulled the husk off one ear, and a little gray worm squiggled away into the corn! EWWWWWW!
I dropped that ear the in box, and was done with that! A fluke, maybe, I thought, so I started again. More holes in this one, so I didn't bother, just threw it in the box. Went to grab the next ear, and there was a HUGE short, gray worm, just sittin' there. EWWWWWWW!!! By then, I was done, no more shucking for me.
Well, I got about 8 ears out of it... Unless someone wants to come over and brave the bugs to help me get the rest of my corn. Jeremy's too scared, too. I'm thinkin' of asking my brother, but he's a big wimp as well. What's wrong with all these men???? Scared of wittle bugs! I'm not "scared" of them, per se, just grossed out. But anyways... for now, it's all just gonna sit on the deck.
I hope my sweet potatoes are okay....
Yesterday, Jeremiah and I went to the farmer's market that they hold across the street at the park. Just needed a few veggies that I couldn't find at Costco last week. Of course, the bread guy was there, and he had some really YUMMY raspberry bread. Mmmm... we ate the whole loaf in one day, it was so good! Basically, a more dense version of Portuguese sweet bread with a raspberry sauce running through it. SO GOOD!
Anyways, I got a bunch of veggies from the produce guy--huge box of sweet potatoes (they keep for 5-6 months!), squash, savoy cabbage (for some reason, ya don't see it in the stores around here very often...), tomatoes (I know, technically a fruit, but c'mon... who really thinks of it like a fruit?) a huge butternut squash and some corn.
Now, the corn, I wasn't going to get, but I tried it and it was really good corn! So, okay, fine, I'll get it, shuck it, and freeze it, and we'll have yummy fresh corn all winter, too.
So yeah, got a bushel of corn, for a good price, and hauled it all home (had to go back to get the car, no way it'd all fit in the stroller.) I figured I'd have a chance today to deal with the corn, so after Jeremiah's nap, I let him roam around the family room while I shucked corn husks into a box. At first, all good. But I noticed there were a lot of little holes in the husks, though most of them didn't go all the way through to the corn. So I kept on getting on, and then it happened--I pulled the husk off one ear, and a little gray worm squiggled away into the corn! EWWWWWW!
I dropped that ear the in box, and was done with that! A fluke, maybe, I thought, so I started again. More holes in this one, so I didn't bother, just threw it in the box. Went to grab the next ear, and there was a HUGE short, gray worm, just sittin' there. EWWWWWWW!!! By then, I was done, no more shucking for me.
Well, I got about 8 ears out of it... Unless someone wants to come over and brave the bugs to help me get the rest of my corn. Jeremy's too scared, too. I'm thinkin' of asking my brother, but he's a big wimp as well. What's wrong with all these men???? Scared of wittle bugs! I'm not "scared" of them, per se, just grossed out. But anyways... for now, it's all just gonna sit on the deck.
I hope my sweet potatoes are okay....
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Make MY voice heard!
I recently emailed Starbucks about coming out with a Sugar-Free version of their Chai Tea Lattes. I LOVE Iced Chai's--it's my drink! I get it everytime! And while it's not the worst drink on the menu, it's basically a sugary syrup and milk, and that's it.
I knew they had no plans for a sugar free version, but I also know that Starbucks is one of those companies who listen to their customers, whether that feedback be good or bad. This is the email I received:
So I am asking you, faithful readers of the Wilcox blog, to email Starbucks, and let your voice be heard! If there's something you want to see, or if you had a pleasant/unpleasant experience, tell them! And while you're at it, if you could throw in there a request for Sugar Free Chai, I'd appreciate it. :-)
A link to their feedback page is included in the title. Thanks!
I knew they had no plans for a sugar free version, but I also know that Starbucks is one of those companies who listen to their customers, whether that feedback be good or bad. This is the email I received:
Hello Jessica,
Thanks so much for contacting us regarding our Chai Tea Lattes. Currently there are no plans of releasing a Sugar Free version in the near future. However, the more requests we recieve, the more likely it will happen.
Your feedback is very important to us, so we appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. I want to assure you that I've passed on your comments to the appropriate people in our company for their attention.
If you have any other questions or concerns, don't hesitate to call our Customer Relations department at (800) 23-LATTE. Or, email us from www.starbucks.com/customer/.
Thank you again for contacting Starbucks, we really appreciate it.
Best Regards,
Nicole P.
Customer Relations
Starbucks Coffee Company
So I am asking you, faithful readers of the Wilcox blog, to email Starbucks, and let your voice be heard! If there's something you want to see, or if you had a pleasant/unpleasant experience, tell them! And while you're at it, if you could throw in there a request for Sugar Free Chai, I'd appreciate it. :-)
A link to their feedback page is included in the title. Thanks!
Colbert launches presidential bid.
He's got my vote--and I thought I'd have a hard time deciding!
Of course, if he decides not to go for President, Mike Huckabee has asked him several times to be his VP running mate. Hmmm....
(Please note, this is not a political blog--if you have a comment about your preferred canidate, please save that for your own blog. I refuse to debate people here. Thank you. ;-)
Of course, if he decides not to go for President, Mike Huckabee has asked him several times to be his VP running mate. Hmmm....
(Please note, this is not a political blog--if you have a comment about your preferred canidate, please save that for your own blog. I refuse to debate people here. Thank you. ;-)
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Can someone explain how this was "fun"??
So Jeremiah had his 9 month appointment yesterday, and I am really trying to figure out for whom, exactly, it was fun. (So you know who said it would be fun, both babycenter and then our Dr. mentioned how this appointment was different, and more fun, from the normal appts thus far.)
It started out alright--we striped him down to his diaper, and he was laying on the table and did a nice, long stretch, which was perfect for measuring his length (29 7/8 in! Almost the big 3-0!) And then it was weight time, and now that he's a big boy, he got to sit up on the scale instead of laying down (24 lbs, 12 oz! He gained 4 lbs in less than 3 months!) which he was cool with, because he got to play with some nice vertical blinds. So, so far, so good.
Oh, and I guess they do a urinalisys at this appt, but you can't ask a 9 month old to pee in a cup, so they, uh, taped a bag around the, uh, appropriate area, and left it hanging outta his diaper. It was quite a sight to see, him crawlin' around with this "bag o' water" hanging outta his diaper... Reminded me of something from the "Jack-donkey" movies. Anyways.
So Dr. Atiyeh comes in, and is checking him out. Jeremiah's smiling at him, trying to grab his watch, it's all good. He put up a little bit of a fight when getting his ears checked, but that's it. All in all, he was a good boy.
Well, then it was flu shot time. We weren't going to get him the flu shot, instead planned on getting ourselves shot up, to spare him, but we figure if they're only going to offer it to their 6 month-2 year old patients, making those older wait until they know if there's extra, it was probably worth getting. So we did, and he handled that like a trooper. He cried while on the table, but as soon as I picked him up, he was fine.
Okay, so had the appointment ended here, it'da been okay. Of course, they needed to take some blood. *shudder* So down to the lab we go....
We were put in a room, and the nurse and I think a med student came in to "do the deed". She asked the guy, "Have you done this before?" "Nope." he replied. "Well, why don't you give it a shot." Baaaaaaaad idea. Parents, if your child is getting pricked, and they wanna let some med student try it, uh, say no.
Needless to say, this was a rough ride... Jeremiah was sitting on Jeremy's lap, this guy pricks his middle finger, and you see the startle and pain on Jeremiah's face. And then it begins--he's going to wail. In goes the breath---and in--and in--and in---BREATHE, JEREMIAH! By this point, his lips were turning blue, and I was getting worried. Finally, the scream. But, oh the tears, and wails, and crying, and there was nothing I could do. Meanwhile, Mr. Med Student was taking his time, getting most of Jeremiah's blood either on the floor, or Jeremy's hand. This went on for a good minute, and this guy had barely collected anything. FINALLY, the nurse stepped in, and within maybe 15 seconds, she had collected all they needed. They cleaned him up, and eventually, Jeremiah stopped crying (took a few minutes), and we were on our way.
Thankfully, no news is good news, so we're assuming all his tests came back negative, since we haven't heard anything. But man, what an ordeal. Poor Jeremiah. As soon as we got in the car, he was OUT! He probably would have slept for 2 hours, had we not waken him to grab lunch.
What a good sport, though. He doesn't hold it against me, I'm pretty sure. He still loves his Mommy. :-) Must be that sunny disposition of his.
It started out alright--we striped him down to his diaper, and he was laying on the table and did a nice, long stretch, which was perfect for measuring his length (29 7/8 in! Almost the big 3-0!) And then it was weight time, and now that he's a big boy, he got to sit up on the scale instead of laying down (24 lbs, 12 oz! He gained 4 lbs in less than 3 months!) which he was cool with, because he got to play with some nice vertical blinds. So, so far, so good.
Oh, and I guess they do a urinalisys at this appt, but you can't ask a 9 month old to pee in a cup, so they, uh, taped a bag around the, uh, appropriate area, and left it hanging outta his diaper. It was quite a sight to see, him crawlin' around with this "bag o' water" hanging outta his diaper... Reminded me of something from the "Jack-donkey" movies. Anyways.
So Dr. Atiyeh comes in, and is checking him out. Jeremiah's smiling at him, trying to grab his watch, it's all good. He put up a little bit of a fight when getting his ears checked, but that's it. All in all, he was a good boy.
Well, then it was flu shot time. We weren't going to get him the flu shot, instead planned on getting ourselves shot up, to spare him, but we figure if they're only going to offer it to their 6 month-2 year old patients, making those older wait until they know if there's extra, it was probably worth getting. So we did, and he handled that like a trooper. He cried while on the table, but as soon as I picked him up, he was fine.
Okay, so had the appointment ended here, it'da been okay. Of course, they needed to take some blood. *shudder* So down to the lab we go....
We were put in a room, and the nurse and I think a med student came in to "do the deed". She asked the guy, "Have you done this before?" "Nope." he replied. "Well, why don't you give it a shot." Baaaaaaaad idea. Parents, if your child is getting pricked, and they wanna let some med student try it, uh, say no.
Needless to say, this was a rough ride... Jeremiah was sitting on Jeremy's lap, this guy pricks his middle finger, and you see the startle and pain on Jeremiah's face. And then it begins--he's going to wail. In goes the breath---and in--and in--and in---BREATHE, JEREMIAH! By this point, his lips were turning blue, and I was getting worried. Finally, the scream. But, oh the tears, and wails, and crying, and there was nothing I could do. Meanwhile, Mr. Med Student was taking his time, getting most of Jeremiah's blood either on the floor, or Jeremy's hand. This went on for a good minute, and this guy had barely collected anything. FINALLY, the nurse stepped in, and within maybe 15 seconds, she had collected all they needed. They cleaned him up, and eventually, Jeremiah stopped crying (took a few minutes), and we were on our way.
Thankfully, no news is good news, so we're assuming all his tests came back negative, since we haven't heard anything. But man, what an ordeal. Poor Jeremiah. As soon as we got in the car, he was OUT! He probably would have slept for 2 hours, had we not waken him to grab lunch.
What a good sport, though. He doesn't hold it against me, I'm pretty sure. He still loves his Mommy. :-) Must be that sunny disposition of his.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Tired...
Last night was CRAZY!
Jeremy got a projector and screen (he sold his car for it!) to use in his "man cave." It's a really good projector (HD!) and I must say... Halo 3 looks CRAZY-GOOD! Master chief is practically life-size on a 120" screen, after all.
Anyways, to mark this momentous occasion, Jeremy's co-worker, Michael, and our neighbor's son (he's the same age as James) came over for some serious fragging! Even on 3-player split screen, each person still had the equivilent of a 60" screen. Except for Jeremy... he had the whole top half.
Eventually, Stephin and his "little friends" who were having a Halo party last night came on. They joined up with the "guys" and took on any unluckely foe who happened to come their way. [Although... it seemed like most of those playing were actually really good... many battles were lost, but the war was... well, there was no war... Minor technicality.] I had the most important role: team cheerleader! I got to laugh at the silliness of some of the matches, help with team strategies for those Assault missions, and groan when the enemy would get a cheap shot in. And of course, "HURRAY!" when we were doing well. Lots of fun.
But all good things must come to an end, and our's did--around 2:30 a.m. Whoops. Time flies when you're having fun, right?
Unfortunately, Jeremiah went to bed on time, and still needed to get up at his normal time. Somehow, I pulled the short stick. So here I am, half asleep, hoping Jeremiah's anxious to take a nap. Oh well.
At least they didn't drink all the Red Bull.
Jeremy got a projector and screen (he sold his car for it!) to use in his "man cave." It's a really good projector (HD!) and I must say... Halo 3 looks CRAZY-GOOD! Master chief is practically life-size on a 120" screen, after all.
Anyways, to mark this momentous occasion, Jeremy's co-worker, Michael, and our neighbor's son (he's the same age as James) came over for some serious fragging! Even on 3-player split screen, each person still had the equivilent of a 60" screen. Except for Jeremy... he had the whole top half.
Eventually, Stephin and his "little friends" who were having a Halo party last night came on. They joined up with the "guys" and took on any unluckely foe who happened to come their way. [Although... it seemed like most of those playing were actually really good... many battles were lost, but the war was... well, there was no war... Minor technicality.] I had the most important role: team cheerleader! I got to laugh at the silliness of some of the matches, help with team strategies for those Assault missions, and groan when the enemy would get a cheap shot in. And of course, "HURRAY!" when we were doing well. Lots of fun.
But all good things must come to an end, and our's did--around 2:30 a.m. Whoops. Time flies when you're having fun, right?
Unfortunately, Jeremiah went to bed on time, and still needed to get up at his normal time. Somehow, I pulled the short stick. So here I am, half asleep, hoping Jeremiah's anxious to take a nap. Oh well.
At least they didn't drink all the Red Bull.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Oh look! It's Jemiah!
So these pics'll hafta do for now (gotta love the camera phone!) I found the cord to transfer pics from the camera--just been without a laptop the past few days (my laptop is still dead, thanks to Mr. FIOS, and Jeremy killed his work laptop somehow, so he took the spare to work until they sent him a new one--which just happened.)
And here's a link to his last photo session at Picture People. Some of you have probably seen these already (they're 8 month pics), but for those who haven't, here ya go!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
So random, there is no title.
So often, I'll be moving about my day and think of great things to post about, only to put that aside "for later" and then forget what I was going to write. Actually, come to think of it, I do believe I've begun to "think" in blogging form. Everything I do becomes a future post, in my mind.
For example, yesterday I was driving to Target in Sterling when I noticed there's now a Costco there (wasn't before....) So what do I think? I think, "Huh, look at that, there's now a Costco in Sterling. I'll have to mention that in my next post." (I guess, technically, I just did, huh?)
Wait, wait, wait... That's not EXACTLY what I meant when I said, "thinking in blogging form". Here's a better example:
Hmm... I can't think of an example right now. It's not comin' to me.
Okay, well, how about an example that resembles an example? Okay!
OH WAIT! I thought of one. Here it is:
I love "Magic Erasers". If you don't know what they are, look for them in the cleaning supplies aisle. They're awesome! I'll be the first to admit I hate cleaning the bathroom.... Love having a clean one, but hate doing the work to get there. Really hated having glass doors on our last shower--the worst! This time, we've got a tub and curtain duet going on (with lil' duckies on the floor as a non-slip mat thingie.) Well, we were so excited (and so busy) about moving in that I never took the time to clean the tub/shower before we started using it. Now, before you start with the, "Ewww, gross..." just keep in mind that I knew it had been cleaned before the previous tennent moved out... Just so happens that was a year ago... So yeah, it was dirty, just not visible dirt--until ya started walkin' around in it, whilst trying to get clean.
Before we knew it, nasty, dirty soapscum had covered the tub, and that stuff is a pain to get out! Kaboom! didn't do it so well (not without elbow grease, at least...) so I needed to find something else.
Enter the "Magic Eraser!" This thing is awesome. It's basically just a piece of foam, I think with some polyeurathane (sp?) and it takes the stuff right off! Few minutes later, clean tub again! YAY!
End example.
Yes, this is actually pretty similar to my thoughts during the actual cleaning process. But, who really wants to read about stuff like that?? Is it anymore interesting than this current post, which, I've come to realize, is pretty much about nothing. Yeah.... Pullin' a Seinfeld.
Well, on with the nothingness!
So I've started getting up with Jeremiah, and actually leaving our bedroom in the mornings now. Usually, we'll just hang out in there, and he'll play on the floor, and I'll watch him from the warm, cozy bed. But he's pushing his naps back later, so that was getting old. Instead, we now come downstairs, and he plays in the family room while Mommy drinks her coffe and watches every morning show that's on between 7:45 and 9 a.m. Then Mr. "Jemiah" eats his breakfast (sometimes... he's become a bit finicky...) and then it's naptime around 10.
I must say, though, these morning shows actually have some pretty good information. Today, they were talking about stay-at-home-moms and finances (never occured to me that I should also be saving for retirement!), and they had the writer of this new book, "Deceptively Delicious" which has great recipes for sneaking "the good stuff" into food for your family (like adding sweet potatoes or pumpkin to pancakes, or avocado to chocolate pudding--who would think to do that? Apparently, though, ya can't even taste it, and it's so much better for ya.) I did order it off Amazon after that. :-) Yesterday, someone had J. Lo. performing. She really isn't that great of a singer... I mean, she's alright, her songs can be catchy, but I would have to say (and I know someone's going to cringe because of it) I'd rather listen to Britney Spears. She did have some killer boots on, though.... I watched just for those. :-)
In other news, looks like the weather is finally realizing, "Oh... it's October! Whoops... October, August, they sound so alike... I get confused." The next three days should have highs in the 60's (it's been almost 90 lately), which is more seasonal, to say the least. Hopefully, it stays that way (I'm sure the trees and birds are thinking, "WTF??" as in, "What the farm?!" lol) I, though, am completely unprepared for "cool". I'm good for "cold", but not "cool". Don't have any kind of "cool weather" jacket. Hmm.... Jemiah's all set! Scooped up a khaki and fleece jacket, and a heavier more coat like fleece (yup, bought 'em all on clearance, too!) Just need to figure out where all his socks are packed up (though they're probably too small by now...)
Have I mentioned lately how fast that kid is growing?? Today, I was putting away some of clothes from the move, and half of them I had to set aside to store, because they weren't going to fit him now! Sheesh. If it's not up to 18 months, forget it. Not gonna happen. I just hope he stays that way for at least a little while... I don't wanna hafta buy a whole other winter wardrobe in 24 months next (isn't that the same as 2t, because I see both on the shelf, even in the same item... weird.)
Other randomness:
Heroes is really beginning to disappoint. They're "hooking" everyone up with everyone, and it's just an hour long (actually, 43 minutes, if you take out the commercials) cheese fest. Seriously, if that West guy (kinda looks like Clark from Smallville, and guess what! He can fly. How original.) scoops Claire up again, and flies her around the city like freakin' Superman, ONE MORE TIME, I'm gonna hafta.... well, I don't know what I'd do, yet! But it won't be good.... maybe I'll blog about it or something... Yeah, that'll get 'em!
I miss you, Lost. Come back soon.
Oh yeah, speaking of Lost. I'm a regular reader on Jorge Garcia's blog (think I've mentioned that before). He plays Hurley on Lost, in case ya didn't know who I was talkin' about. Anyways, he was talking about some of the different foods they have on the service table on set, and mentioned Oreo Cakesters. Apparently, these are cake-like Oreos. No crunch (never cared for the crunch, my oreos always sogged up in some milk... mmmmm.... golden oreos.... anyways.) Well, while driving back from PA, we stopped at Sheetz and tried 'em. They are pretty good! And can you believe this: even worse for you, bite for bite, than the original! Amazing. :-)
Well, I could go on all night about random stuff I happen to be thinking of. Rather, "of which I happen to be thinking." Okay, that just doesn't sound right. I know it's proper, but who talks, err..., speaks properly anymore? Isn't language like Wikipedia, like eventually, the masses decide what's true and what's not? (While there's some good information on Wikipedia, it really is the majority's opinion, and not always true... but it does become "true", in a way....) I guess, maybe, it's 'acceptable' (don't remember any of my professors in college getting on my case over where I put my"of") but still technically not right?
Wow. I'm in a really random mood today (comes from being isolated with no outlet, i.e. laptop, for the past two days.)
Hmm... Jeremy just came up from the basement looking for the drill... This can't be good.
I'm done. :-)
For example, yesterday I was driving to Target in Sterling when I noticed there's now a Costco there (wasn't before....) So what do I think? I think, "Huh, look at that, there's now a Costco in Sterling. I'll have to mention that in my next post." (I guess, technically, I just did, huh?)
Wait, wait, wait... That's not EXACTLY what I meant when I said, "thinking in blogging form". Here's a better example:
Hmm... I can't think of an example right now. It's not comin' to me.
Okay, well, how about an example that resembles an example? Okay!
OH WAIT! I thought of one. Here it is:
I love "Magic Erasers". If you don't know what they are, look for them in the cleaning supplies aisle. They're awesome! I'll be the first to admit I hate cleaning the bathroom.... Love having a clean one, but hate doing the work to get there. Really hated having glass doors on our last shower--the worst! This time, we've got a tub and curtain duet going on (with lil' duckies on the floor as a non-slip mat thingie.) Well, we were so excited (and so busy) about moving in that I never took the time to clean the tub/shower before we started using it. Now, before you start with the, "Ewww, gross..." just keep in mind that I knew it had been cleaned before the previous tennent moved out... Just so happens that was a year ago... So yeah, it was dirty, just not visible dirt--until ya started walkin' around in it, whilst trying to get clean.
Before we knew it, nasty, dirty soapscum had covered the tub, and that stuff is a pain to get out! Kaboom! didn't do it so well (not without elbow grease, at least...) so I needed to find something else.
Enter the "Magic Eraser!" This thing is awesome. It's basically just a piece of foam, I think with some polyeurathane (sp?) and it takes the stuff right off! Few minutes later, clean tub again! YAY!
End example.
Yes, this is actually pretty similar to my thoughts during the actual cleaning process. But, who really wants to read about stuff like that?? Is it anymore interesting than this current post, which, I've come to realize, is pretty much about nothing. Yeah.... Pullin' a Seinfeld.
Well, on with the nothingness!
So I've started getting up with Jeremiah, and actually leaving our bedroom in the mornings now. Usually, we'll just hang out in there, and he'll play on the floor, and I'll watch him from the warm, cozy bed. But he's pushing his naps back later, so that was getting old. Instead, we now come downstairs, and he plays in the family room while Mommy drinks her coffe and watches every morning show that's on between 7:45 and 9 a.m. Then Mr. "Jemiah" eats his breakfast (sometimes... he's become a bit finicky...) and then it's naptime around 10.
I must say, though, these morning shows actually have some pretty good information. Today, they were talking about stay-at-home-moms and finances (never occured to me that I should also be saving for retirement!), and they had the writer of this new book, "Deceptively Delicious" which has great recipes for sneaking "the good stuff" into food for your family (like adding sweet potatoes or pumpkin to pancakes, or avocado to chocolate pudding--who would think to do that? Apparently, though, ya can't even taste it, and it's so much better for ya.) I did order it off Amazon after that. :-) Yesterday, someone had J. Lo. performing. She really isn't that great of a singer... I mean, she's alright, her songs can be catchy, but I would have to say (and I know someone's going to cringe because of it) I'd rather listen to Britney Spears. She did have some killer boots on, though.... I watched just for those. :-)
In other news, looks like the weather is finally realizing, "Oh... it's October! Whoops... October, August, they sound so alike... I get confused." The next three days should have highs in the 60's (it's been almost 90 lately), which is more seasonal, to say the least. Hopefully, it stays that way (I'm sure the trees and birds are thinking, "WTF??" as in, "What the farm?!" lol) I, though, am completely unprepared for "cool". I'm good for "cold", but not "cool". Don't have any kind of "cool weather" jacket. Hmm.... Jemiah's all set! Scooped up a khaki and fleece jacket, and a heavier more coat like fleece (yup, bought 'em all on clearance, too!) Just need to figure out where all his socks are packed up (though they're probably too small by now...)
Have I mentioned lately how fast that kid is growing?? Today, I was putting away some of clothes from the move, and half of them I had to set aside to store, because they weren't going to fit him now! Sheesh. If it's not up to 18 months, forget it. Not gonna happen. I just hope he stays that way for at least a little while... I don't wanna hafta buy a whole other winter wardrobe in 24 months next (isn't that the same as 2t, because I see both on the shelf, even in the same item... weird.)
Other randomness:
Heroes is really beginning to disappoint. They're "hooking" everyone up with everyone, and it's just an hour long (actually, 43 minutes, if you take out the commercials) cheese fest. Seriously, if that West guy (kinda looks like Clark from Smallville, and guess what! He can fly. How original.) scoops Claire up again, and flies her around the city like freakin' Superman, ONE MORE TIME, I'm gonna hafta.... well, I don't know what I'd do, yet! But it won't be good.... maybe I'll blog about it or something... Yeah, that'll get 'em!
I miss you, Lost. Come back soon.
Oh yeah, speaking of Lost. I'm a regular reader on Jorge Garcia's blog (think I've mentioned that before). He plays Hurley on Lost, in case ya didn't know who I was talkin' about. Anyways, he was talking about some of the different foods they have on the service table on set, and mentioned Oreo Cakesters. Apparently, these are cake-like Oreos. No crunch (never cared for the crunch, my oreos always sogged up in some milk... mmmmm.... golden oreos.... anyways.) Well, while driving back from PA, we stopped at Sheetz and tried 'em. They are pretty good! And can you believe this: even worse for you, bite for bite, than the original! Amazing. :-)
Well, I could go on all night about random stuff I happen to be thinking of. Rather, "of which I happen to be thinking." Okay, that just doesn't sound right. I know it's proper, but who talks, err..., speaks properly anymore? Isn't language like Wikipedia, like eventually, the masses decide what's true and what's not? (While there's some good information on Wikipedia, it really is the majority's opinion, and not always true... but it does become "true", in a way....) I guess, maybe, it's 'acceptable' (don't remember any of my professors in college getting on my case over where I put my"of") but still technically not right?
Wow. I'm in a really random mood today (comes from being isolated with no outlet, i.e. laptop, for the past two days.)
Hmm... Jeremy just came up from the basement looking for the drill... This can't be good.
I'm done. :-)
Monday, October 08, 2007
Oh yeah, forgot...
We had a bit of an interesting drive up to Pittsburgh.
Driving along the highway, nothing exciting happening, just putt putt puttering along. We had hit a bit of traffic, but it had thinned by the time it got dark.
Seemed like all the Sunday drivers were out that night, as we kept getting stuck behind these slow pokes. Frustrated by the delay, we moved into the "passing lane" (also known as the "fast lane"). Next thing we know, the guy in front of us is swerving out the way. First thing we think is, "What is he, drunk?!" Then we see why: headlights, coming right at us. Jeremy swerved, missing the other car by a few feet, maybe (luckily, no one was in the "travelling lane", also known as the "slow lane".) I looked behind us to see the car continuing on it's path, as other cars swerved to get out of his way! From what I could see, they didn't slow down, or even try to get out of the lane.
Keep in mind, this was a split highway, with a grass median in between East and West-bound traffic. While I could understand losing control and jumping the median, I find it highly unlikely that a car would maintain speed, while driving straight on in the left lane, instead of speeding across both lanes, and landing on the other side. But, I'll probably never know.
We called 911, only to be told they had received numerous calls that night, already, for the same incident. Well, hopefully the police were able to make it there quickly, and no one was hurt.
Good times, huh?
Driving along the highway, nothing exciting happening, just putt putt puttering along. We had hit a bit of traffic, but it had thinned by the time it got dark.
Seemed like all the Sunday drivers were out that night, as we kept getting stuck behind these slow pokes. Frustrated by the delay, we moved into the "passing lane" (also known as the "fast lane"). Next thing we know, the guy in front of us is swerving out the way. First thing we think is, "What is he, drunk?!" Then we see why: headlights, coming right at us. Jeremy swerved, missing the other car by a few feet, maybe (luckily, no one was in the "travelling lane", also known as the "slow lane".) I looked behind us to see the car continuing on it's path, as other cars swerved to get out of his way! From what I could see, they didn't slow down, or even try to get out of the lane.
Keep in mind, this was a split highway, with a grass median in between East and West-bound traffic. While I could understand losing control and jumping the median, I find it highly unlikely that a car would maintain speed, while driving straight on in the left lane, instead of speeding across both lanes, and landing on the other side. But, I'll probably never know.
We called 911, only to be told they had received numerous calls that night, already, for the same incident. Well, hopefully the police were able to make it there quickly, and no one was hurt.
Good times, huh?
Return of the Daily Grind
And we're off!
Well, actually, we're not off anymore, and that is the problem. :-( Oh well. We had a relaxing vacation, overall, so can't really complain there!
Most of the week was spent here at home, just chillin', really. We did some shopping, ran some errands we'd been putting off, Jeremy beat Halo 3, took naps, watched tv, etc, etc...
Thursday, we went to Pittsburgh for a couple of days before heading to Williamsburg (PA, not VA) for a wedding. We stayed at a B&B run by a former professor at Geneva (where Jeremy went to college) and it was nice. Beds weren't very comfy, but we're spoiled by our Sterns & Foster Crowne Plaza bed, so there ya go.
Funny story: Friday we went down for breakfast (as is customary when staying at a bed & breakfast, in case ya didn't know. :-) and met the other guest that had also stayed there the night before. Apparently (small world) he lives in Silver Spring, and works for INOVA, managing the relationship between them and Geneva College (I guess a lot of med students at Geneva go work in INOVA hospitals, at least in the cardiology areas.) At some point, we mentioned the fact that Lon Solomon had a procedure done recently, to which he replied, "Oh, you go to Mclean? Me too!"
Interesting... but it gets better.
He went on to tell us that he attends the 12:30 service, and volunteers as head usher there. Jeremy said, "Oh yeah, you look familiar, I think I've seen you there before...."
"Probably." He responds.
"Wait a minute..." I said, "Did you give us a red card??"
To that, he smiled and said, "That was me."
Whoops!
Of course, we then went on to discuss that whole situation, and how much he hated that part of his job--he even told Lon (when he was in the hospital for his procedure over the summer, this guy hung out with him afterwards) how much he dislikes it (parents have even followed him out after church, yelling at him for insulting them, and who knows what else... we didn't go that far, thankfully!) Lon simply replied, "Duly noted." lol
Needless to say, that was a bit weird, but funny, especially since he knew exactly what I was talking about when I said, "Red card" vs. "cream" or "green" parent card. [If you have no idea what I'm talking about, see our post about it here.] Small world!
After that, Jeremy took us to Geneva so he could show us around campus, and see if he knew anyone still there. We got Jeremiah a new Geneva onsie (he had a t-shirt, but outgrew it pretty quickly...), had lunch with Jeremy's cousins (or 2nd cousins? I don't know how that works when it's your parent's cousins....), which was pretty good, considering it's college food (better than Ozark, at least!) Afterwards, we did some shopping, and grabbed some dinner at "Bowsers".
Now, Bowsers apparently serves their sandwiches "Pittsburgh Style". I didn't know there was a specific style for your sandwiches in Pittsburgh, but there is, and it's not the healtiest! Basically, you've got your meat, topped with cheese, coleslaw, and french fries. Yeah, the fries and coleslaw go on the sandwich. Maybe it has something to do with Pittsburgh industrial past--much easier (though that's arguable) to eat your entrees and sides on the go if they're in between two pieces of bread. It wasn't bad. Sorta reminded me of eating "poutin" but without the gravy... and it was on bread... with the coleslaw and meat... Well, look at that, I've learned of two new ways to eat french fries since marrying Jeremy. Hurray for me! :-)
Saturday was the wedding, so after a non-eventful breakfast at the B&B, we had a second breakfast (more like brunch) at Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe with an old mentor of Jeremy's. Side note: Now, maybe it's because I'm from "the north".... or actually, make that from anywhere but Pittsburgh, but I don't think of a hot dog place when I say, "Hmmm.... where should we go for breakfast?" I was teasing Jeremy all afternoon on Friday because he was taking us to a hot dog stand for breakfast. "It's not a 'hot dog stand', and the breakfast is pretty good." I guess it's just me then, because it still seems odd to have "hot dog" and "breakfast" in the same sentence. But it wasn't bad. Just don't ask for cheese on your eggs, because it comes from a can, and that stuff, unless it's on nachos or a cracker, is just NASTY. Yuck. But yeah, not that bad.
And then we were off! Three hours away, halfway across PA was our destination. Of course, even though we arrived at our hotel on time, we still got to the wedding late, but still got to see "the good stuff" (i.e. vows, rings, kiss, etc...) Oh, this was odd to me. Does no one clap at the kiss anymore? It seems kinda awkward to just sit there in silence and watch the bride and groom have their first kiss... I always remember applause for that! I don't remember if anyone clapped or not at our wedding... I think maybe no one did, but I don't know... That's a whole other story!
And this is getting really long, okay, yeah, so they kissed, we waited for pictures, went to the reception, had a nice dinner, back to the hotel by 8! Phew. Finally, by half-time during the Steelers game yesterday, we returned home, and were able to watch them whoop on the Seahawks, something like 21-zip. Not... too... shabby. (Sorry Seattle fans!)
That's about that.
Sorry for the long away, but we're back now. I'll try to be on here more frequently now that the move is DONE, vacation is DONE, and we can just be ourselves. It still feels kinda weird here, like we should be going back to Tysons to go home... We still drive that way, accidently. Did that coming home from my parents' house--got on 66, and drove to Tysons, before we realized what we'd done. Oops. But we're getting better. :-)
Jeremiah now has 5 teeth, with two more coming in. I think maybe I can stop giving a 'tooth-count', since they're just coming in all the time now! Sheesh. I think after the next two come in (three on bottom, two on top, next two coming in on top) he's got another coming in on the bottom. So more than likely, he'll have 8 teeth by his 1st birthday. Wow! His next appt is next Monday, so I'm sure we'll have more cool facts about how much he's grown then. He fits very well into 12-18 month clothes right now, with 24 month not bein' too large on him. Yikes! He's so much fun, though! Love to blah blah blah, and na na na.... He's started standing while holding things in his hands, like a toy, or his bottle. Doesn't seem to be in too much of a hurry to actually start walking yet, though. He could probably do it if he really wanted to, but he can crawl to where he wants to go pretty fast, so I guess he's content with that.
And that is that. :-)
Well, actually, we're not off anymore, and that is the problem. :-( Oh well. We had a relaxing vacation, overall, so can't really complain there!
Most of the week was spent here at home, just chillin', really. We did some shopping, ran some errands we'd been putting off, Jeremy beat Halo 3, took naps, watched tv, etc, etc...
Thursday, we went to Pittsburgh for a couple of days before heading to Williamsburg (PA, not VA) for a wedding. We stayed at a B&B run by a former professor at Geneva (where Jeremy went to college) and it was nice. Beds weren't very comfy, but we're spoiled by our Sterns & Foster Crowne Plaza bed, so there ya go.
Funny story: Friday we went down for breakfast (as is customary when staying at a bed & breakfast, in case ya didn't know. :-) and met the other guest that had also stayed there the night before. Apparently (small world) he lives in Silver Spring, and works for INOVA, managing the relationship between them and Geneva College (I guess a lot of med students at Geneva go work in INOVA hospitals, at least in the cardiology areas.) At some point, we mentioned the fact that Lon Solomon had a procedure done recently, to which he replied, "Oh, you go to Mclean? Me too!"
Interesting... but it gets better.
He went on to tell us that he attends the 12:30 service, and volunteers as head usher there. Jeremy said, "Oh yeah, you look familiar, I think I've seen you there before...."
"Probably." He responds.
"Wait a minute..." I said, "Did you give us a red card??"
To that, he smiled and said, "That was me."
Whoops!
Of course, we then went on to discuss that whole situation, and how much he hated that part of his job--he even told Lon (when he was in the hospital for his procedure over the summer, this guy hung out with him afterwards) how much he dislikes it (parents have even followed him out after church, yelling at him for insulting them, and who knows what else... we didn't go that far, thankfully!) Lon simply replied, "Duly noted." lol
Needless to say, that was a bit weird, but funny, especially since he knew exactly what I was talking about when I said, "Red card" vs. "cream" or "green" parent card. [If you have no idea what I'm talking about, see our post about it here.] Small world!
After that, Jeremy took us to Geneva so he could show us around campus, and see if he knew anyone still there. We got Jeremiah a new Geneva onsie (he had a t-shirt, but outgrew it pretty quickly...), had lunch with Jeremy's cousins (or 2nd cousins? I don't know how that works when it's your parent's cousins....), which was pretty good, considering it's college food (better than Ozark, at least!) Afterwards, we did some shopping, and grabbed some dinner at "Bowsers".
Now, Bowsers apparently serves their sandwiches "Pittsburgh Style". I didn't know there was a specific style for your sandwiches in Pittsburgh, but there is, and it's not the healtiest! Basically, you've got your meat, topped with cheese, coleslaw, and french fries. Yeah, the fries and coleslaw go on the sandwich. Maybe it has something to do with Pittsburgh industrial past--much easier (though that's arguable) to eat your entrees and sides on the go if they're in between two pieces of bread. It wasn't bad. Sorta reminded me of eating "poutin" but without the gravy... and it was on bread... with the coleslaw and meat... Well, look at that, I've learned of two new ways to eat french fries since marrying Jeremy. Hurray for me! :-)
Saturday was the wedding, so after a non-eventful breakfast at the B&B, we had a second breakfast (more like brunch) at Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe with an old mentor of Jeremy's. Side note: Now, maybe it's because I'm from "the north".... or actually, make that from anywhere but Pittsburgh, but I don't think of a hot dog place when I say, "Hmmm.... where should we go for breakfast?" I was teasing Jeremy all afternoon on Friday because he was taking us to a hot dog stand for breakfast. "It's not a 'hot dog stand', and the breakfast is pretty good." I guess it's just me then, because it still seems odd to have "hot dog" and "breakfast" in the same sentence. But it wasn't bad. Just don't ask for cheese on your eggs, because it comes from a can, and that stuff, unless it's on nachos or a cracker, is just NASTY. Yuck. But yeah, not that bad.
And then we were off! Three hours away, halfway across PA was our destination. Of course, even though we arrived at our hotel on time, we still got to the wedding late, but still got to see "the good stuff" (i.e. vows, rings, kiss, etc...) Oh, this was odd to me. Does no one clap at the kiss anymore? It seems kinda awkward to just sit there in silence and watch the bride and groom have their first kiss... I always remember applause for that! I don't remember if anyone clapped or not at our wedding... I think maybe no one did, but I don't know... That's a whole other story!
And this is getting really long, okay, yeah, so they kissed, we waited for pictures, went to the reception, had a nice dinner, back to the hotel by 8! Phew. Finally, by half-time during the Steelers game yesterday, we returned home, and were able to watch them whoop on the Seahawks, something like 21-zip. Not... too... shabby. (Sorry Seattle fans!)
That's about that.
Sorry for the long away, but we're back now. I'll try to be on here more frequently now that the move is DONE, vacation is DONE, and we can just be ourselves. It still feels kinda weird here, like we should be going back to Tysons to go home... We still drive that way, accidently. Did that coming home from my parents' house--got on 66, and drove to Tysons, before we realized what we'd done. Oops. But we're getting better. :-)
Jeremiah now has 5 teeth, with two more coming in. I think maybe I can stop giving a 'tooth-count', since they're just coming in all the time now! Sheesh. I think after the next two come in (three on bottom, two on top, next two coming in on top) he's got another coming in on the bottom. So more than likely, he'll have 8 teeth by his 1st birthday. Wow! His next appt is next Monday, so I'm sure we'll have more cool facts about how much he's grown then. He fits very well into 12-18 month clothes right now, with 24 month not bein' too large on him. Yikes! He's so much fun, though! Love to blah blah blah, and na na na.... He's started standing while holding things in his hands, like a toy, or his bottle. Doesn't seem to be in too much of a hurry to actually start walking yet, though. He could probably do it if he really wanted to, but he can crawl to where he wants to go pretty fast, so I guess he's content with that.
And that is that. :-)
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Bye for now.
Jeremy and I are on vacation. I don't want to be tied to the computer all week, so with a few exceptions, we will be unavailable via email and blog until next week. We have our phones, but not always on us, so if you need us, text us/leave a voicemail, and we'll get back to ya ASAP. :-)
Talk to you later!
Talk to you later!
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