I had a very unsettling dream last night. I was at the hospital because I was bleeding, and no one was taking care of me. They were sort of lining people up (husband, "my" doctor, etc) because they knew it was bad news. But they hadn't done anything yet. I hate those dreams.

So at some point over the weekend, we were weeding and I guess I yanked some poison ivy and then touched my face. So now I have a lovely red splotchy complexion going on. I called the doctor and get to go in this afternoon since it's all around my eyes. She's going to flip when she sees my belly.

Also, it reminded me why I hate my doctor and need a new one. Not only is her bedside manner totally sucky (and that hasn't even been demonstrated today), but I called at 9:05 this morning (they open at 9) and got the answering service. At 9:10 when I called back I got the triage nurse's answering machine. I got a call back after 10. And an appointment at 2:15. My eyes are going to fall out or something! Not even any reassurance. Ugh.

Also, I'm freaking out about moving. If we move, it's going to suck. Any way. Even if we get a zillion dollars for our house and find the perfect situation, moving sucks. But in all likelihood, we'll have to scramble to find a decent place, and then will we move again in 3 years? Will we find a great spot with a dumpy house? No house? I'd love to build but then where will we live? Right now there are less than 1 decent options we've found. Where are all the great deals on foreclosures and estates and stuff?

Also, did you know there are real estate listings on ebay now?

So my neighbor is kind of an asshole. We know this and just deal. But he's also the coach of another baseball team in the same level as my boy. Last year, he was a coach, and chose many neighborhood kids to be on his team, but not my boy. In fact, all but my boy. But whatever, he's an asshole as I said, so no biggie. Not to mention that the kids are all a grade level older.

So today we played his team. And he had some issue with the way our team (a much younger, smaller team) was playing or something. So he says something to our coach, who then says "well you're pitching 5 strikes" (as the coaches pitch and tell the kids when they're out), and the ass guy starts to get into it. "We'll talk later" says our (awesome, if I do say so) coach. But then again, he's the one who's a middle school principal and the other is, as previously noted, just an asshole.

After the game the ass man tries to get into it, but the good guy just blows him off. Wtg coach.

Oh also, tonight marks the completion of one week TV free for the boy. This has been a great thing for all, more outdoor time, more violin practice, all that. Except for early mornings. I like saying "Oh hey transformers is on!!" at 7:30 saturday morning, and then staying in bed. I like that. Tomorrow, tv is back on, and transformers is on at 8. *Sigh of love*

These last two days have been a nightmare on my sinuses. Whatever is pollinating this week, I am not a fan. As I was out just now, hanging laundry on the line, I could see it floating through the air. It looked like inside when the dust is in the sun? The girl calls that "pixie dust" and makes it okay.

Speaking of, the house is super duper clean because some lady realtor called, said she had a couple looking for a house, and knows we didn't sell last year, can they come over? Tomorrow? So we scrambled, and fortunately, they loved the house. I don't know what to expect next though.

smile

smile
Originally uploaded by archimom

Here is the wee one! He's got a secret, can you tell?

I'm a hormonal mess. This morning I was ready to kill my husband for no good reason. I seriously mean that. Looking back I have no idea what the issue was, but I hid in the guest room for an hour and then gave him the silent treatment for another hour. The rest of the morning/afternoon was uneventful. Then, when at 4:30 an emergency calls him off to a client, I'm on the verge of tears that he's leaving. And even on days when I don't spend much of it hating him, this is good. I like renting movies and having happy meals with my kids. But today this was a big whoop.

I think it has something to do with the rhubarb cake I made. And by that I mean, the hormones made me make and eat most of that too.

Excedrin Migraine, I do love thee. Not only are you safe for the first 2 trimesters of pregnancy, but you really work (I'm looking at *you* extra strength tylenol). I'm sorry that you didn't kick in in time last night, but I'm pretty sure I still got 3/4 of a dose. I hope I don't need you after pregnancy, but I'm glad you were here for me.

Also, thanks Ikea for making a comfy bed so I can lay in it (even though it's a tish short) and "play" little people with the girl. That dragon is totally in the sky.

Yesterday I signed the girl up for a week of half day dance camp. I couldn't figure out how to do it online, so we showed up at the place. Mis.take. She has been wearing her leotard with attached tutu nonstop since then, and thinks that it starts *today*.

I'm also a little bit worried - the reality of momma leaving her for a few hours is hitting her. The way the studio is set up, you can't watch the kids in class, unless they open this curtain (which I guess they do sometimes at the end of class), and she realized all the mommas sitting out there weren't watching their kids. Hopefully by the time it rolls around, the excitement will win.

So, I'm researching birth options now. Yes, it's early, but I'm one who pretends to prepare early and still cram it all into the last second. So, I really loved having a midwife with G. Since I'm vbac-ing, they want me to be managed by a doctor. So I contacted a friend who's a doula, and it turns out she's now a homebirth midwife. Suddenly that option is on the table. In theory, I'd love to. In reality, someone would be expecting me to make them a sandwich 45 minutes after giving birth. So I'm gonna say no. However, having a doula will be huge. This way I can just stay at home as long as I want. And the fact that she's a midwife will be great - if an "accident" happens, I'm all set. I've fantasized a bit about that particular accident, I must say.

So we had this tax fiasco for 2007, which resulted in us paying about $42,000 in taxes to the IRS and state over the last 15 months. Just now, I wrote out my final check. The business reimbursed us, but it still sucks. Want to know why? Because our (personal) stimulus money, tax refund, anything, was applied toward that. Not only that, but that extra money bumped us into a higher tax bracket, so the taxes paid on "our" money were also taxed at the higher rate.

Paying bills is always a mixed feeling. I feel great - I know we have heat and hot water and internet acces (what? it's important, man!!) for 30 more days. However, the money goes in and just as quickly goes out. Yes, some goes into savings and some into 401k, but it's all gone. I mean seriously *gone*. I get maybe one trip to the atm where the receipt makes me look like a lottery winner, and the very next one makes me go "how long until next month?"

Living the American Dream, I tell ya.

The big boy is very, very excited about sharing his room with the little boy in 2-3 years. I hope that when that time comes, the excitement still holds. That or I'm more comfortable with having the biggest boy sleep on the lowest level.

I'm beginning to realize that this room will be a den of testosterone, right around the time the girl probably begins to care. Right now, her primary entrance is through his room, but I have a feeling that will shift to the hall door when there are two boys, double trucks, double legos, double stinky feet.

Here's my littlest son!!

The girl has named our game alter egos Callida and Bellulah. I just love them, they're so close to real princessy names but just aren't. Bellulah. Collide-uh.

Mom you have hair too!! I see it!

(last week I was showing her the tiny hairs on her arms and legs so I assume, but we're in the pool)

In there mom! See? It's black!

My armpit. I guess I need to shave.

So here is where I tell you the saga of the late school bus. Last friday. So I go out to the bus, I'm 3 minutes early. It usually comes at 1:53 by my cellphone, but has been as late as 1:56. We had just bought a new sit n stand stroller so the girl was in that, testing it. Which turned out to be fortuitous.

At 2:08 I call my house, no call from school. That's 15 minutes late. Five minutes later, I call the school. No answer, and I ring through to the main office, no answer. I am freaking.out. at this point. Fortunately, the school bus stops at a house where I know the mom, and she was home. So I bang on her door, ask her to keep watch while I run home to make sure there's no caller id or message from school, or note from teacher letting me know of issue. Of course, there isn't, and as I'm walking back out the door, I see the bus and lovely Sheila greeting my kid. I also wave down the street (maybe 200 feet?) so the bus can see I'm okay with letting him off.

But how UNCOOL is them not answering, not calling, nothing, when he was 30 minutes late? I guess the bus was late getting there, there was horrid traffic somewhere, so he wasn't sitting on the bus, but was playing at school, but I was having a meltdown?!

And of course it was the day before vacation so no one's reachable now. Which might make it a little better for those who have to deal with me.

Oh also, we had plans to meet the husband in Boston, taking the train and having A Grand Adventure, with the new stroller. Which all worked out fine except for the travel to the train/parking/running up the platform with 30 minutes less than planned. I didn't get my camera, comfy shoes, or idle time before the train left the station, but it was fine.

I love having other little boys whose backyards touch ours. So I can send him off all independent to play, but sit here putting dishes away (or, um, planning to) and watching him play with his friend. It doesn't hurt that he loves orange so he has on a bright orange baseball cap which is super easy to follow during whatever they do there in the woods.

What do we think of this vehicle? What do we think of buying an American car for the first time ever for both myself and my husband (unless a toyota counts, which it kind of does, but a Ford?)?





Hubby's car has 100k miles on it, and mine has 55. We've had both the same amount of time, and mine started at 10k, whereas his started at 0. So we're considering having his company lease a new car and then he will drive the bigger one, and I'll drive the scion. It's in great shape and I would *love* to go to a manual transmission. And a smaller car day to day would be lovely. We're planning a pretty big road trip for this summer, and a new car sure would be fun for that. It seats 7, gets better mileage than our current van, and is 4wd. It's weird not having a vehicle that's 4wd, even though both of our fwd cars do well in the snow. The scion will be tight with 3, but I do like having the kids close - right now the girl sits in the 3rd row, just the best way it works out, and she's so darn far away. Not to mention that I only have a back door on one side and the rear windows are manual slides. It's a cool car but less and less practical.

We shall see. We've only ever looked at one from the outside, not been in one, not driven one, nothing. And I have no idea how good the lease terms are right now.

You know what word always looks misspelled? Affidavit. I don't know why, that I looks wrong. But affadavit doesn't quite look right either. Thank god that I'm someone who actually looks it up and doesn't write definately repeatedly. I passed sixth grade, thankyouverymuch.

Easter was lovely. We had it here, but everyone else brought most everything. We'll be eating leftovers for the next 90239023 days. I'm thinking pea soup tonight, but I'm not sure the kids will go for. Maybe one more day of ham sandwiches and potatoes au gratin.


Doesn't he look so big and grown up? Cry.

I think it's really mean that Cartoon Network has been advertising New full length!! Scooby Doo!! Movie!! Scooby Doo and the Samurai Sword!! for like a month, available this past tuesday, and I can't find it anywhere. Scooby Doo is the A#1 show in this household for moms and kids alike. Rrrg.

Completely blindsided by Good Friday being a public school holiday. I'm not sure why, because we always had it off growing up. Also, I thought I was fully prepped for all holidays, being that he went to this school for two years prior, but he never had school on Fridays. And growing up, generally it was the Friday before April Vacation, which sort of made sense. But that's not for another week, so I didn't really even consider.

Thankfully, they just moved pizza day up by a day, so he still gets that. Which to a six year old is a big deal. Now to finagle the music class teacher into allowing a big boy to come visit on Friday. He's been asking to come, and I'm sure it'll be fine, just this once. Right? :|

14wbelly

14wbelly
Originally uploaded by archimom

I took this at the end of last week. Maybe friday? I wear these fitted clothes and maybe I look more pregnant less fat. I still feel mostly fat. It's taking longer to show than it did with the girl, I think by 15 weeks with her I was clearly in maternity clothes. This time they fall off my behind. For good or bad. I'd love to wear something non-yoga pants though.

My daughter likes to write in her diary. Except she pronounces it die-uh-REE, so it sounds like messy bathroom illness missing a syllable. It cracks me up.

I had a checkup today, because 2 weeks ago my blood pressure was up. Today, at 9:30 am when I only had to wait five minutes, it was fine. And the little girl just loved to hear her "girl baby sister" on the doppler.

Okay, firstly, I'm creeped out. There seems to be a guy hovering near kids on the bike trail, saying "follow me" (this to our neighbor boy). Could be the same guy who did similar in the fall to kids getting off the bus across town. Could be the same guy arrested for taking photos of kids getting changed at the town lake last summer, right when we were there many times a week. So yuck. I am on high alert and have branded the photo of the guy from (at least) situation 3 in my head. However, it did prompt us to have the stranger danger talk again. Refresh it yourself if you don't mind.

Also, I realized just now, that my son's favorite movie for the last 3+ years has been Peter Pan. This makes me incredibly happy. It's animated, it's not too grown up (and the violence is, well, Captain Hook and pirates), and it's a blast. I just watch their faces as they watch it, and that's my entertainment. And it's only embarrassed me once - when the boy had to name "bad guys" at karate, he chose "indians". Oops.

We have this fabulous cowboy songs cd. We're particularly fond of Ghost Riders in the Sky, and Jingle-Jangle-Jingle. And maybe I tune out much of the rest of it. So today, in the car, the girl asks to hear "chasing the sun", and I don't even remember that line of a song or what song it may be from. Thankfully, the name of the song is in fact, "chasing the sun", and my ipod tells me so. Phew. Crisis averted.

So I had this mixed salad that got frozeded. And I heard about this red cabbage gender test. If it turns red it's a boy, purple it's a girl. So I yanked out the red cabbage from the icy salad bag, chopped it and made the "tea" from it. I had this lovely pink liquid.

This morning I added my contribution to it. It turned exactly the color you'd expect of mixing yellowish clear with pink - light orangey. What? I think the change is supposed to be more clear if there's a girl, something about more uric acid from a girl, but I'm not running out to buy blue any time soon.

April 30 I will know if this bubs cooperates. Till then, I will follow the wives tales and boil more cabbage or whatever is asked of me. Just not the drano. I'm already smell sensitive enough, I don't need *actual* toxic fumes involved.

I made a mistake recently. I started lurking on a due date club and then started posting. And you see, I've spent some time on the interwebz and I know that I am pretty stuck in my ways. And I also know that these clubs are way more traditional than I. Lots of "of course I'm getting a (sic) epidural" or "if it's a boy he'll be Jayden because it's so original" but still I go there. And as it always does, the topic of circumcision comes up. When your arguments are "I have been with uncirc'ed men and ewww!" you lose all credibility to me. Also, uncircumcised is like saying unamputated arm. You have to remove your arm, else it's just the way you come. Not that I think it compares with amputation, just that it's such a double negative it makes me cringe.

So I (in a definitely self-conscious and definitely deliberately inflammatory way) said "I am not interested in cosmetic surgery for my newborn" and got all "why be judgemental!!" (again, sic, these people need spelling lessonz). But "uncirced is eww" is not judgmental?

So I need a breather and to talk to people who have left the midwest, ever. Oh that was so totally judgmental. Oh well.

This daughter of mine cracks me up. I think three is the apex of "make you die laughing" behavior. She says things like "mom I want you to make me a white dress with a white thing for my head for married". Or wants to play with brother's remote control tarantula but it scares her, so the whole time she's willing it not to walk toward her, because she doesn't really get the controls. Or saying "I'm tired", then leaning her head on a kitchen chair and falling asleep. Standing up. At 6:15 pm. Or wearing a crown, necklace, ring, sparkly cape, and sparkly shoes, 24/7.

I had a checkup yesterday. We were late. Which was good, because we *still* had to wait 45 minutes. The rest of my appointments for the rest of time will be in the morning. I forgot the whole afternoon snowball effect. So then my BP was up. They took it about nineteen times and it was still 140/92 or something crazy. This is me in pregnancy. The rest of the time I'm cool as a cucumber. I don't know. Maybe the 45 minute wait with the boy and his K-9 unit GIJoe, who had to blow up lots of things and the dog barking, added a teeny bit of stress. I don't know.

Things otherwise are fine. We got to hear the heartbeat with the regular doppler which was fun. The boy liked that muchly.

When I was 13, I was skiing with a friend and hit a tree. I had a concussion, broken nose, all sorts of things. I missed several weeks of school that year. I guess it's that combined with pregnancy hormones that has me a weepy mess over Natasha Richardson. That one photo that keeps popping up of her with her sons - that's the one that does me in. How often do you see 13 year old boys smiling with their mom, anyway? And now they lost her. :(

Of course, just as the husband is getting excited about properties all over the region, I am making new friends. Every Monday morning I go to a playgroup, which has always been more "regular" moms than me. I don't know what that means, but I never feel like I quite fit in. But this semester, there are like 6 new moms and it's a blast. I actually look forward to getting out the door Monday mornings and visiting with my pals, and we basically neglect our kids while we chitchat. Yesterday I learned that one new friend is due like a day after me, and she's moving to a house about 11 houses down from me. I don't want to move. Don't wanna!!

Today I feel exactly like I'm hung over. I'm guessing it's a migraine? I think I'm going to climb into bed.

So today we drove to check out a piece of property. The one we all totally fell in love with, sold. In like 3 weeks. Why we could not have that karma selling our own house, I do not know. We would have lived there in a heartbeat, happily, until our dying days. I'm quite certain.

Anyway, so driving up to this other house, which is a really cute house in the one photo, and the price is really, really right, and the last/only store, 6.1 miles away, is super walmart. So as we're driving there, I'm praying there's somewhere else to shop. Or even somewhere a bit further than walmart. But no.

The end result is, the town it's in is cute. The property is that price for a reason. A "no thank you" reason.

Apparently I do too much blog reading. Last night in my dream, I was at the pioneer woman's ranch, making cake balls. I was making a mess. Also, once I really *did* make the cake balls, and they're much too sweet for me and mine, so I wouldn't actually be making them. Maybe if I was at the ranch, I'd do whatever was asked of me.

Also, at the other end of the island, TPW was making dinner, which was chicken and lots and lots of shredded cheese. It's all good.

Inspired by Cheri, here is my life by the numbers.

10. Tulip bulbs planted in our yard last fall. Soon we shall know our success rate.
9. Weeks until I'm halfway through this pregnancy. And will know gender!
8. How many times Mary Poppins has been watched this week. We have to return it soon. And buy our own copy.
7. Number of months until I meet number 3!
6. Approximate number of hours I slept last night.
5. Junk food items bought at ill-timed midday lunch trip.
4. Number of females in the summer house situation, as opposed to my son's 1 male.
3. Pots of tomato seeds on the windowsill. They actually have half grape tomatoes in them. I'm not sure how that will work out.
2. Time at which little girl came into bed last night. Yawn.
1. Still, the number of operational side view mirrors on my car. Not.happy.

I'm really, really motivating to get to the noon spin class today. I have to drink my (decaf of course) coffee early so that it can be out of the system by then. I haven't been in about two months and it shows. I plan to just ease back in and not push too hard, but I really need to exercise.

A little freaked out today because a vbac board I lurk on, a lady went in to the hospital with some strange pains, as well as contractions, and came home having to plan a funeral for her baby. When she said "bad outcome", I was expecting a c-section after all her planning. I don't even know this lady, not even know in an internet way, but it's rocking my world.

The big boy has a pal at school. His Best Friend. This is really the first friend that he's chosen - I don't really know his mom, he doesn't live withing walking distance, they just are pals. And poor boy, his Best Friend is moving. To Austria. Try as I might to make the best of things (pen pal! we will write letters and learn all about Austria!), his buddy is still going to be thousands of miles away, and we're probably NEVER going to see him again. It makes us both rather sad.

Last week I smashed the mirror off my car. I went to the dealer. They needed to order it. So they checked all the numbers, asked me if it was motorized (yes) and ordered. They called and today! I went to have it replaced. $175 for the part, $90 for the labor, was the quoted price.

I wait for 2 hours. And then another half an hour for good measure. And then! Steve from service comes in! And they have the wrong part! But I can order the right one, for $530, and then pay $145 to install it. And for your time and effort and *our* screwup, you get to wait in our room with chatty old ladies and crappy coffee for 2.5 hours. You're welcome!

I came home and did what I should have last week - called the VW mechanic we know. Sigh.

Again with the food. I've realized that although I get hungry (and the resultant psycho) really quickly, I'm craving halfway decent things and am really appreciative. Like right now, my belly full of steak salad wrap and oven fries, I'm just happy with it. I've really been into somewhat junky salads. Last weekend I needed, NEEDED, a buffalo chicken salad. I know it's not the most healthiest salad ever, but greens are still greens, and in the first trimester you can't really complain. I think by this point with the girly, I'd had about 3 dozen bagels and a gallon of cream cheese, and that's it.

9w3d

9w3d
Originally uploaded by archimom

We got to see the bub today! Fast heartrate of 170ish. Both of my kids were under 150 at this point, so I don't buy any of the wives tales. There was a little confusion about when I should pee and where, so I peed at the wrong time in the wrong place, having waited uncomfortably for no reason to. Oh well. Such is life at the ob office.

For five weeks I have been waiting for this date. March 2, it always seemed so far away!! But today, today I will get a peek of the baby and get to talk to the doctor about vbac and life will all be good!!

Did I mention that at 8 pm last night they called and cancelled? And now we have about 9" of snow and it's not stopping any time soon? Ugh.

Because I immortalized Perry Trotman here, I should share that the girl also has one of the best named critters ever. She has a soft little white bear named Flop. Flop is very special. Poor Flop had a booboo today that required six ice packs, a dozen cotton balls, and a hello kitty bandaid. He seems to be on the mend now.

So today at music class, one gal says to her friend "on monday, everyone I talked to was pregnant. like a week pregnant. are you?" and the friend, is not. And she says "seriously, xx told me she was due in late october, and she's just five weeks, and she already announced it on her *facebook*." And I realize, this is how life goes. I haven't yet made any facebook announcements, but it's not far off. Although I wouldn't want the worst to happen and some vague aquaintance who works at the flower shop to be asking questions. So till now, we're just here.

Ultrasound monday morning. I.can't.wait. I don't know how much to expect to sleep this weekend.

The other day, the girl and I were laying down in her bed and I took my coat off. The zipper whipped around and wacked her near her eye. So she got a nice little bruise, which today is a smallish black eye. The best part, she keeps saying "momma wacked me" when people ask what happened. Awesome!

FYI: I am a mall hater. But, my mom bought the boy some wonderful legos for christmas, and as a bonus got a little box to fill at the lego store. So, as it is vacation week, we decided to head to the mall and lego store, fill the little box, have lunch, make an adventure of it.

It was as good and bad as I expected.

The lego store is great! You can fit TONS into that little box, and the girl wanted a little box too, so we bought a marginally larger one for $8 and she filled it with pink and lime green random parts. All cool. Got to see all the legos and it was nice. But I mentioned it's vacation week right? So there were 2309203 kids there.

Then, being 11:45, we were getting peckish. There is a rainforest cafe in this mall, and hey! we're on an adventure! We put our name in and they tell us it'll be 40 minute to sit. Not okay. So we decide to blow some time, checking out the rain and all the junk they want you to buy. Then we decide we're too hungry and head to the food court. We are all cranky. Pizza is helping, and then the girl says "momma! Look at my pink rocks!!" See, they have a big bin of polished rocks at the cafe, that you fill a bag with, and pay like $7 for. So she stole two which, while only about $.34 worth, isn't great. Meh.

Then we go to the play area, to assemble the boy's new lego helicopter, which I"d promised him we'd start on, and the girl is just the right size for the play area. Worked for about 2/3 of the time we needed to build the helicopter. I barely made it to au bon pain for some sweets and water to bribe the kids into the car, and the ride home we all whined and ate cookies. I think we all drank a gallon of water as well.

Now we're having some quality time with various screens and seats. I've earned my good mom award right? Oh, except that I just reserved the zoo pass for tomorrow. When it's supposed to be 36 and rainy. I think that will earn me the Most Excellent Mom Award.

Today we stopped at Friendly's to redeem our valentine free cones. Excellent. Oh and I also realized that kid cones, which are just a single scoop but still *plenty* for kids and adults, are only $1 even when paying. This is the best/worst news I've heard in ages, particularly because Friendly's is just about walking distance. However, I got to only eat about a tablespoon of mine and it got snatched by a certain blondie. Oh well. I probably didn't need it, right?

So I'm a bit obsessed with food lately. In order to save money (ha!), I've been trying to cook at home. And cook things that are yummy and that we all want to eat. Tomorrow, for Valentine's Day, I'll be making steaks and french onion soup and salad and my parents are coming, with some sort of dessert and it doesn't really matter since I'm not making it. I even bought the crazy expensive cheese to go with it. And I know the kids won't eat it, but I'm growing a whole other person and I can eat a couple of bowls of that stuff. But that's why I invited the folks, because even though I can eat, not quite that much.

The other day I made a turkey breast and I've been happily eating turkey sandwiches all week. Same sandwich, different day. I have no issues with leftovers after thanksgiving whatsoever.

However, coffee is on its way out. I'm trying to decide if the joy of smelling it and beginning to drink it is enough to suffer the nausea caused by actually drinking it. I think it might be. Maybe I should go back to caffeinated. At least then I'd get true joy from the two ounces I can stomach.

I just took both kids to the dentist. Prices have gone up by like 200%, but we were getting a super sweet deal before. Anyway, kids are great, which I was worried about, because tooth brushing is pretty low on the girl's list, like below toenail clipping and hair brushing. Ugh.

But I did learn two things. Girly has two teeth that are slightly discolored - the second ones "out" on top, both of them, and I thought it was related to her brushaphobia. But they think it's just that she had a fever while those were forming, since it's so symmetrical and all. Cool to know how the body prioritizes. And since they're baby teeth, no one really cares. Also, we had no idea that the boy's big top two are loose. He's going to look so different without those guys, and especially when the huge ones grow in!

It's funny how your emotions can run the full gamut in a matter of seconds. So last spring/summer/fall, we were exploring our options for kindergarten and applied for a slot at the charter school. I wasn't 100% convinced it was the right fit, but I applied anyway. We were waitlisted at somewhere in the 22 range. Now the boy is happily halfway through his public school kindergarten experience, and that's all good, and we may move anyway, so who knows, we're just enjoying life. And I get a letter return-addressed from the charter school. What do I do? I don't want to switch him midway, but then we'll lose our slot! But if that many people dropped out since September, do I want this? My stomach was in turmoil.

Then I opened the letter. It just informed me that we've moved up to #14, and that they will keep us apprised on how that translates to next fall. Phew. I don't have any decision making to do. Good thing, because I'm bad at that.

Last night on our way into the city I wanted to stop at Kelly's roast beef. But we didn't, and we ended up having a lovely dinner in the city with cloth napkins and everything, which was fine. But I still needed roast beef. So today I went and bought tons of cold cuts and ate myself into roast beef heaven. Although I'm considering another sandwich for a late dinner/snack.

When I was pregnant with the boy, I was all about the beef. Roast beef in paricular. Rare and with salt and pepper on my sandwich. Or salted chicken salad. The salt. And the beef. Now of course, I'm reading all sorts of things into this craving.

Could just be that roast beef is delicious though.

Tonight, we're going to a reception to celebrate the opening of the Shepard Fairey exhibit at the ica boston. Very excited, for many reasons, not the least of which is the babysitting/wine factor. Here's what he's famous for, recently:


Bonus points if you remember him for this:


So then I'm reading up on his work, and the whole nature of "derivative" vs. "plaigarism", and it got me to thinking about what the art is - is it the image, or is it the sticker placed 2093023 times on mailboxes and stop signs all over New England? And that caused a discussion with my husband about this and you know what the best part was? Thinking like a grownup and discussing something that had nothing to do with children *or* work.

If you'd like to read up on the plaigarism issue, here is the first article I read, and here's a good essay with comparative images.

Want to hear a cool story? I go to to a playgroup on monday mornings, there are about 10 families, it's pretty small. At a church. Today I show up and there are two new faces. One looks remarkably like a high school classmate, but I grew up like 40 miles away. But no! It's her! And she's not one of the ones I'd rather *not* ever see again! She has a daughter my daughter's age! And lives nearby! Hurrah!

I wish I had something to tell you that's exciting. Like more exciting than an afternoon at Chuck E Cheese, which ended with one red goopy eye and a sick day today. Then my itunes settings were off, so I couldn't sync the episodes of Scooby Doo I bought for the ipod entertainment during tot music class. It's all set now.

Oh and the raging virus my computer had/has, which I can't fully get rid of and don't want to rebuild my computer and lose some of my "timeshared" software.

Old navy is having a great sale right now. I got the girly a cute thermal top in orange (she needs more non-pink in her wardrobe, stat), and two little baby holiday onepieces, all for $6. I just hope that #3 is not a giant monster child, and will run true to size.

The eagles are back! I just saw one land in a tree in my backyard.

The girl is now tattooed again on her arms and legs. And today she got her face too!!

Last night we went out to dinner, where our server, Dorothy, put her name on a napkin. This week The Wizard of Oz is on heavy rotation here. So the girl knew exactly. And then I realized that what would complete the napkin would be to add the word Surrender before her name, with our provided crayons. She thought this was hysterical and hadn't seen that before (which was a surprise to me). She went to hang it up out back. And then told us that she "always makes it home just fine". I hope my husband tipped her well.

So a few weeks back, the husband made a snowman en route to the bus stop, his name was Snowbert. Snowbert died in a warm spell.

Recently, a new snowman was constructed, who they decided looks bunny-like, and therefore his name is Hoppy. But at one point we toyed with him being a robot named Ro-bert. Robot plus snowbert. So there's a song, that is "my name is Ro-bert, my friend was snowbert! He got tipped over(t)." and although this song is silly and ridiculous, it gets stuck in my head for days.

Oh it is so cold. Times like now, I half wish we hadn't done public school for the boy. You know, the bus was a big bonus to this plan, but waiting for the bus, especially tomorrow, isn't so fun. Especially when I have to suit up and drag out the babygirl.

Also, I'm doing the decaf transition. I really should do it in earnest, but what happens is, I do it over the course of a month, to where I have half decaf half regular in the morning, just one cup, and then when the hormones come a-crashing, I ramp back up again. It makes for a fun start to the cycle. But it's not that practical and becomes a lot of work over the next few weeks, again. So today, I have my half decaf cup in front of me with half and half in it. The least I can do is substitute a little fat for my caffeine.

I got close to no sleep last night. Let's just say it has to do with a piece of property and the internal strife of knowing it doesn't exactly work out for us right now. If it did, soon, that would be great, but you see we own a house in a bad market. That and hormones and I had the strangest dreams ever. I wish I had the option of taking a nap right now, I really do. Until then, the xl coffee will have to cut it.

Today we got an invitation to the inauguration! I would love to go. But 5 million people, outdoors, in January, in somewhere only slightly more temperate than here, isn't such a great idea. Maybe if we visit in June, we'll actually get to see the tall man. So we wrote him a letter about that, and drew a picture of an ice breaker/truck/sidewalk plow which the boy thinks will be very useful on the sidewalks of DC. Oh I love him.

Also, this morning, the girl said to me, "let's make cookies!" and you know, I was up for that. The pictures are really great. She is helpful when she knows she'll get to eat much dough. She called it cereal. I mean, yes, it's oatmeal based, but it differs rather substantially when done.

So, Deleria is writing every day. Go see her. Because I recognize that I can't write every day. My life isn't that interesting. Like today. Today is my first day without childcare on a Tuesday. So we're going to clean the guest room. Maybe go to Target as an activity. It's really great, my life. No, really, it really is.

Anyway, back to Deleria. The other thing she's giving me is a yen for latte. So I just googled how best to do this with my stovetop espresso maker (which, thanks google, isn't even espresso, it's moka) and I'm having the best latte my kitchen has ever seen.

So woohoo!

So I've decided to try the special K diet. Two meals, two snacks a day of special k products or fruit. Which isn't really that hard, I really like cereal. I went and bought varieties last night. I can do almost anything for two weeks, right?

Also, the stubborn girl is now 95% potty trained. It took a few weeks before I knew her schedule, but well over a month more before she told me that she needed to go. Now we don't even do overnight pullups anymore. The only accidents lately have been true accidents, not telling me in time. Thank heaven. I will have the better part of a year, at least, without diapers. Phew.

Oh it's been so long.

So I think that pms is particularly bad if you're trying. I really feel for those people who aren't doing it for the first time. Or maybe it's worse because I am making up for 4 years of not cycling. Who knows. So I haven't exactly been myself lately. My poor husband. Also, he's making it worse by telling his entire family that we're trying. I don't really want themn to ask every time I see them. Sigh.

Christmas, however, was wonderful. I think everyone should experience it with a 3 and six year old. Much purple feathers, much lego building, much candy, and it's all good.

Licking 200 envelopes will make you feel sick.

Also, if you've added a new child to your family since your last card, the very least you can do is include her name on it.

Yesterday we got our tree. Then at playgroup this morning, we had a visit from santa, and had holiday treats and crafts. Then we picked up the boy from school, whereupon we visited Santa, and then went to target to get presents from the kids to the world.

I'm exhausted.

A few things I learned. 1. I am not a good judge of tree size in field. It's really cute. 2. The girl wants a barbie and the diamond castle thing that I didn't get for her. I have to hit target. Her auntie did get her that, but I think santa will get her the horse and a friend. 3. The kids didn't really appreciate the point of the gift buying, and instead I'm exhausted from an hour in target trying to keep them on task.

However, I got home and my backordered Sukie iron ons are here. So maybe we'll make gifts. I'm not sure what would be appropriate.

So today I went to target to do the major huge bulk of shopping. I spent $237 and have my kids and my two (younger) nieces primarily done. I still have to get the darn Hess truck of the year, and maybe some stocking stuffs, but done done done! I love that I did it all within the course of about 90 minutes, and didn't have to go to the mall. Period! I will still have to visit the mall soon, as that's where the Big Man with the White Beard is. Maybe after school tomorrow?

I think for my parents I'll do a donation thing again. NPR has some nice gifts right now.

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DSC00724
Originally uploaded by archimom

The game works like this: if you use Flickr, go to the sixth page of your photostream and pick the sixth picture there, then post it to your blog, and pass it on to six other people.

If you read this, you've been tagged.

So this weekend I saw the flyer for Family Dollar, which I don't generally frequent. And they had a dressup set, including tutu, wand, tiara, slippers and *wings* for $5. So of course I needed to go buy two. Today I pull into the parking lot of Dollar Tree. Doh.

I went inside and still spent $10, on things like markers and stickers. I'm not sure why, but among the checkout necessities, there are pregnancy tests. This cracks me up. Maybe it's just a high-theft item?

The checkout lady did alert me to the fact that there *is* a Family Dollar just 1/2 mile down the road, where I went and bought a pink *and* a purple dressup set. I'm going to have to go back the week before the Big Day and finish up. I wasn't really prepared.

Again with the sporadic note making.

More later, but first I need to tell you that the two horses pulling the old-fashioned firetruck are named Midnight and Snowy Moe. Snowy Moe!!

I've been a really bad blogger lately. I'm so tired but I'm staying up to see if the husband will bring home milk. See, because earlier he got us the cutest little whoopie pies. But I want milk with them.

Today, the reason I am tired, I visited GreenBuild. It was very cool. I spent five hours on the floor getting samples and stuff. So by 3:30, I had a super heavy bag on my shoulder and had eaten a cookie (that said Armstrong Flooring on it), mints (that said Armstrong ceilings on them, apparently Armstrong was the good loot provider), about six glasses of water, and a pepsi. I was in quite a state. Then, because it was 28!!!! degrees on the train platform, I got a coffee. Which I requested in decaf and I'm pretty sure wasn't. But I did sent lots of random text messages, mostly to my sister. Of course.

I sighted the guys from This Old House, Kevin and Steve. I had to tell someone!!

We had success with potty training. Much success over the last week. In fact, yesterday, she told me she had to go, *before* going. I was all encouraged. Then, this afternoon, she came home from the sitter's with a pullup on. Apparently she had a wet nap. But still! This is a step backwards, people. Sigh. My son took about 3 days to get on board, and he was much younger. This little lady is on day 10 or so of partial success.

I send my sister the most random text messages. I recently purged or there would be more better. Here are some examples:

Oldies 103 is already holiday music!
G just said I'm jealous of his penis.
G wants to meet barack.
I am on a cloud today.
Daylight savings has brought back the nap.
38 degrees now.
Saw an obama sign w/ "do not steal this sign" on it.
I just saw a guy with a handlebar mustache chse a g sized boy around a parking lot for five minutes. The kid couldve easily gotten to the road.
At grocery, balloon says "i'm sorry".

See, the things that strike me in my life, that aren't really worth a phone call, get a text to my sister. That way, my odd life is shared with others, without disrupting those others.

It was pretty well summed up this morning, when the boy was in our bed, and we said "you know what? Obama won!" and the boy got a giant grin and did the fist pump "YES!!"

Oh and also, he said "now will the soldiers get to come home?" We explained it will take a while but yes, the soldiers will get to come home.

Please vote tomorrow. And if you know what's good for you (ie, my friendship ;o) ), please vote for Obama. It's up to you. You especially, as compared with Massachusetts Me.

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DSC01425
Originally uploaded by archimom

I'm not sure why I've been so crafty lately (aka today). I just made these delicious cake balls (thanks pioneer woman). They're super sweet so make them small. I purposely made their "costumes" a bit short. I just thought they were so cute.

Earlier I made a set of placemats and napkins, and have started on dollhouse number two.

Okay, so I found this (I don't know why my link doesn't work, so here: http://uklassinus.blogspot.com/2008/08/fabric-dollhouse-tutorial.html) tutorial for a fabric dollhouse, and I was going to make the girl one for her birthday. Then yesterday, I was trying to distract her during an older kid get-her-out-of-here playdate, and we made it. It took all of 90 minutes, even with 3 year old help, so I highly recommend. Next time I'm going to leave less seam allowance and make it less floppy. Also get some cute buttons to hold it together and some premade embroidery thingies for the gardnen.

Anyhoo, here tis:

So then I was bummed that her christmas gift was spoiled. But I saw someone mention making a fairy house, and that seems really, incredibly cute. She's in love with tinkerbell (who is the cutest of the disney characters, and is blond and "spunky/stubborn" like mine). So maybe I'll make her a fairy themed one with woodsy things, and then get her some tiny tink dolls like so, but without all the stuff, maybe get some of her friends:

Then I will still make a handful of them for cousins/friends/brother. The big boy is really into zoo, has all the schleich animals and a Steve Irwin figurine, who happens to be the right size, and I'm thinking safari vet place. Somehow, all of his animals get badly hurt and/or separated from their parents. Tragic.

I am *so* glad that the boy changed from Indiana Jones to Davy Crockett. I'm pretty sure every kindergartener out there is either Indy or Anakin Skywalker. He wanted to be Indy based on the Last Crusade, though, not the Crystal Skull. My rennaissance man.

Sometimes I laugh and laugh, then for good measure laugh some more.

The girl was jabberjaws (possibly related to earlier halloween candy) at bedtime. So she was telling me all about the guys at walmart who are skeletons, which means they have the bones on the outside. Some of them have green bones, and I don't like that, and that's disgusting. But one of them is a pumpkin who sings "Iiiiii want candeee!" just like that momma, and then there's a skeleton head who sings "Iii want candee!" And there's a song in Debbie's car, that is like that, momma, it says "Iiiii want candeee!" And also in Debbie's car, there's a song about Ghostbusters. Sometime momma can we watch a movie about Ghostbusters? There are ghosts in it but they're just pretend, just made up not real. And one of them has a red button, and when you press the red button, the ghost says (remember earlier tune here) "Iiiiii am spooookeeee!"

Laugh.my.tuckus.off.

Seriously cracked me up. I still giggle when I think of it!

We went to the diner for dinner. Much pancake, french toast, grilled cheese. They also have fab pie, but after the sweetish dinner, we weren't in the mood. Big boy wanted pie, though, so she was listing the 230923 varieties they have. He politely asks for cherry pie. I said just bring that, and four forks. Then the baby girl pipes in. "Um, I'll have chocolate cream". It was so hysterical, we got her chocolate cream pie. And of course, we all enjoyed it. She fancies herself "shy", except when there is chocolate pie involved, apparently.

I cut the girls hair. To match Ann Estelle, if you know that character. If you do not, it's a short bob with bangs. Ann Estelle has glasses, but she also has yellow hair, which is close enough for a 3 year old.

I decided that now that she's three, I need to make her look like she has real hair, even if it's by cutting it and forcing the issue. It's super cute. It is also nearly impossible to get a good photo of.

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Originally uploaded by archimom

Celebrating the girl turning 3 last night. Wednesday is the actual birthday. So fun and not too many obnoxious noisy toys!

In one week my daughter will be 3. She has requested pizza and a chocolate cake. Seeing as she and I are about half of the attendants who will enjoy an all chocolate cake, we're doing yellow with chocolate frosting. And pizza!

I bought her a $5 little pet shop set which her brother found and gave to her the other day. I'm not buying her more. She'll like the dress (and tights!! always tights!!) that I also got.

We haven't shown the house in 10 days. Which I love, not having to clean the house, but it doesn't feel great. We really can't drop the price any lower, especially since we expect someone to offer less than anything we're asking. Now I don't know what to do. I still want to apply for that state house, which I have to do by the end of the month, but without the sale of this one, there's a very limited budget (aka, free labor from us). That probably won't look great on paper. I need to figure out how to phrase that. I have mad architect skillz, yo.

I've also been so busy with paying work that I'm not sure where I'll find the 10 or so hours to put together the proposal for that house. I probably have to schedule it for myself. As well as exercise. I'm turning back into a slug and not really enjoying it.

Heard upstairs just now, the girl is singing herself to sleep: Come and sit by my side if you love me, do not hasten to bid me adieu!

The Death Match question was definitely my favorite. I think that actually ties into the Natural Selection question.

You are a Social Liberal (70% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (28% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness. loc: (74, -82) modscore: (17, 42) raw: (2139) Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Momma! I was at Debbie's house! I was eating ice cream, and I shared some with Moon, and Moon has a pink tongue. We went to the farm with a llama with OUT pajamas.

So today as I do on Mondays, I picked up the boy at school. His teacher was all "oh good I have to talk to you". I was so worried he had done something. But no, someone else had done something to him. He's fine. And I'm so glad that she told me, even though he wasn't traumatized and had nary a mark on his body.

Suddenly I have plenty of work and am feeling like a genuine Architect again. Well, plenty is maybe stretching and genuine, I'm not sure I've ever felt. But it feels good to be using up some of those business cards and doing something that requires my washing my hair. Which I need to do somewhat soon, actually.

The real reason I came here was to add this wonderful sketchbook to my link sidebar. But in case you don't know every detail of my blog and wouldn't notice that this is new, here she is: http://www.suzannebuchanan.blogspot.com/

Makes me want to carry my sketchbook and use it myself, instead of ripping out pages for kiddos while we're waiting for chicken strips.

Have I mentioned that I got a breadmaker? I haven't bought a loaf of bread in at least a month. Twice or so a week, I make a loaf of something, and have only had two miserable failures. Not bad. So I'm starting to get bold. I'm trying to figure out the texture thing now, getting that soft perfect for sandwiches storebought inside. I got close a few times and thought that was it. I'm also getting adventurous, by looking in the little window and adding oatmeal or water or honey or whatever, and keeping the texture the same as it usually is. It's very precise. So yesterday, I threw a bunch of things in there, and the texture was funny, so I threw some other things in there, and I was worried, frankly.

3 hours later, the best loaf of bread yet. All store bought texturey inside, the likes of which I hadn't had even *with* the online recipes claiming such. Which is good and bad, because it was obviously good, but unreproducable. I think I sort of know how I did it. Maybe.

Of course, now that I don't have childcare, work is picking up. I'm going to go with it and see how things proceed. I can get coverage for the meetings I have scheduled, and then . . . we'll see. Babygirl will go to school 2 mornings a week in just about a month, and those will be mine.

Two viewings of the house, not much interest. But the most recent interest has been from a friend/acquaintance who dropped the husband off last night, after a showing when the house was looking tiptop. Hooray! But, he has four kids, and to be honest, I'm not sure where he'll put them all.

If he figures it out and writes the check, I will not question. I think you could fit a bed in the wine cellar. ;o)

This weekend, we ate breakfast at Nancy's Airfield Cafe. Where Nancy, herself, was seating folks. And discussing the frogs and fish in the tanks with my boy.

The boy is really into the election and is always talking about Bush and McCain being on the same team, and how that's not the team we want to win, and how Obama is going to live in the White House.

He decided that Nancy, of the cafe, is John McCain's wife. I have no idea how. Isn't her name Cindy? I don't know who Nancy supports, but this is Massachusetts after all, it's probably not him.

Facebook is so confusing some times. I dont' know what to think. I was just friended by a HS classmate, who went on to the same college as I, and that was the last I'd really heard. She was sort of friends of other college friends, so I would hear reports that way. Come to find out, she married a guy we went to high school with. Who I don't think she dated in HS. But facebook cracks me up, and I like to see the reports.

The House that I am very, very, exceedingly interested in, has had a new development. The official rfp has come out, including an analysis of cost estimate, which is somewhere just under $2 million. Just to get it into good condition. And in 25 years, we will have nothing to show for it. I'm hoping that's a very fluffy estimate. By, say, like a power of ten.

It's amazing to me that several of the last few years, on this date, the weather is like this. Exactly (at least here) as it was in 2001. I can feel it all over again. That beautiful, "hooray for fall", crisp sunny day. It makes me want to go out and buy mums, and I usually do. Then I drive home, past my neighbors' house, and there are mums and candles and flag balloons.

I don't know if I mentioned that I'm losing childcare within the month. It was a really, incredibly slow summer, workwise, but those two days have been helpful for just household operations. But financially, not so hot. I was keeping the sitter on because searching for new is such a nightmare. Now, with kindergarten going, it seems silly to have a sitter. Not only do I pay for her to watch just the one kid, the same money, but the days when I'm with the girl, I can get tons of things done. I feel guilty and spendy sending the kids off on these 2 days. So as of October 1, I will be a stay at home mom, who can work as projects come and have family support. It won't be a problem for husband or mimi to watch a kid if I have a meeting, and life might be a little less nutty.

Sometimes I wish life were more like it were 40 years ago. In stupid, neighborly ways. Like, in the morning, I just open the door and let the dog out. We don't have a fence. So when the neighbor walks her two dogs by, Moon runs out front, and neighbor lets her dog off the leash. They have a little playdate and sometimes I look out the window to make sure there's no blood. For some reason, I feel like this practice would be frowned upon by many of the neighbors.

Or the whole "letting kids go to the bus stop alone" bit. I know mine is little, but I can't wait until I can kiss him when he walks out, and not have to be wearing a bra and conversational at 7:50.

Okay, so maybe "really well" was posted too soon. He's still having separation issues, particularly from me. Tomorrow he's riding the bus, I think. That may or may not make it easier. He loves school, his friends, all of it. He does not want to leave me, for some reason. Sigh.

Today my son went to kindergarten. How on earth are either of us old enough for this?

It went really well. This first day, you just meet the teachers, see the classroom, fill out forms. I filled out forms, he played with legos. That's right, there's an entire lego table there. He'll be just fine. The teacher was really cool about me worrying about bus riding (they ride for over 30 minutes with kids up to fifth grade), and I know it's going to be great. He only had a moment or two of uncertainty. We'll see when I have to leave him there.

So yesterday I bought a breadmaker. And last night made the first loaf of whole wheat oatmeal bread. I am about to go upstairs and figure out how to make zucchini bread in it, as this week's farm zucchini isn't going to eat itself. I'm hoping that I'll get really adept at this and be making all of our bread. I'm just not comfy with all of the preservatives and corn syrup in bread, and with having to pack a lunch, starting next week, we'll be going through a lot of it. Not to mention the grocery prices going through the roof.

Oh also, I am a slacker. Twice, maybe three times, I blew off Moon's training. Once I just forgot, twice I called to reschedule at the last second. At around 11 last night, I remembered I was to go at 8:30 today. With no childcare lined up. So this morning I did some scrambling, and didn't blow off the trainer a fourth time. Thank heaven for small miracles, I guess.

The realtor came in to take photos of the house today. And put up a sign. It's not official until the 1st, I don't think, but we're going back on the market for 60 days or so. Very short blast. One open house type thing, possibly not lowering the price. We'll see. The realtor said to my husband that the house looks great and a professional stager couldn't have made it look better. My dishpan hands thank you.

The upside is, we have a really clean house for the weekend. Oh and the boy is going for an overnight at my parents', so I will get a little downtime with the girl, not worrying about cleaning.

Second wiggly tooth disappeared overnight. Tonight we shall compose a note to the tooth fairy. I just hope he doesn't want to search for it upon exit.

This weekend, my husband and I started singing "rocky mountain high" to the kids. And while they are big fans of Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers, they didn't know the John Denver. So I was going to dig through the $5 bins for a cd. All on my mind, for sure.

Today I left the big tv on when we went out. It was PBS for kids shows. I came down to turn it on, and it's John Denver. Spooky!

My niece sort of ruined the whole tooth fairy magic. Not severely, but apparently her tooth fairy gives $5. The silver dollar was less exciting. Not to mention, the boy was pretty sure that it was the silver dollar he already had. I had to find said silver dollar and tell him the tooth fairy wasn't a crook.

The vacation was fun. Aquarium, family, friends, plane ride, all good.

This week, the boy is doing karate camp. I am not entirely sure why, but he's having trouble leaving me. Or specifically, me leaving him. He has fun the entire time, even when I'm there, but any talk of leaving makes his lip quiver. I don't exactly tell him to suck it up, but I do leave. I hate these decisions where I worry I'm harming his future self.

I've been tagged.

The Nitty Gritty details:
It’s a random tag, and here are the rules!
1. Link to the person who ‘tagged’ you!
2. Post the rules on your blog!
3. List 6 random facts about yourself!
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post!
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by commenting on their blog!
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog!

1. Candy
2. Done.
3. I'm making dinner right now, we're having wax beans (which I know not much about), I smell like the dog who got into my gym bag, the blinds I bought for the new room are too wide, I forgot to get an erasable calendar at target today, where they're on sale, and I'm going to get back into triathlon training.
4. How about I do it here? Mary, Martha, Ang, Jessica, Blair, and Amy.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by commenting on their blog!
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog!

Since I"m going away, here's some entertainment:

The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks
Cake Wrecks

At the gym today, free pomegranate peach passion white tea. Gross. Free is not always good and that makes me sad.

Wednesday we're going to Atlanta to visit the family. I haven't seen my sister or niece since May or June which isn't the longest we've gone, but it feels too long. We're staying at a vanilla chain suite hotel with pool and kitchenette and maid service and internet and cable. I couldn't be happier. Really, we could be staying in East Podunk and if it had those factors I'd be thrilled. I don't care if I ever see past the parking lot. Oh wait, except for a starbucks/ice cream/chocolate run. At some point, because my mom is going, I might eat a vegetable.

Oh, and I'm planning to bring running sneakers and a sportsbra. I will have no excuse. I should google earth the hotel and find a nice little running loop. Or an on site fitness center with treadmill or something. Or maybe just the aforementioned starbucks.

Oh! That (aforementioned) was our vocabulary word today. Thank you, They Might be Giants, and "can you find it".