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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** This is my family updates blog. I'm sorry to say that it's moved to Facebook. If you would like to continue to read about my life, you need to be my Facebook friend.  |
| It snowed all day today. I don't think anyone expected that much snow, but it just kept coming. Everyone at work kept looking out the window, wondering if they should leave early to beat traffic which was bad everywhere. Maryland doesn't even bother plowing unless it's like 3 inches, and with us fools on the road that can make for some nasty messes. It looks like the weather finally stopped, and it appears to be more like 5 inches, a couple more than predicted. Jack was vastly interested in the snow. The last time he saw some was back in January I think, so he probably doesn't remember. He kept looking around, touching the ground, just checking it out. I'm not a big fan of snow in the middle of the week. It's cool on the weekend when I don't have to be places. It would be nice to have a snow day, but there's no such thing as a free snow day for me anymore. I have to take paid time off or find a way to work. The former sucks because my PTO is in the red due to sick kids and doctor's appts, and the latter is impossible if daycare is closed. Speaking of which daycare will be closed after noon on Friday because they have to have a holiday party. So that's more leave I don't have. *sigh* At least they are keeping me busy. Today I finished two tasks out of the several they have given me. Tomorrow I get to go to the other office I will be working with and meet the folks there. Fun times! So I have been feeling very productive. I even put up our Christmas decorations tonight and got some of my shopping done (Thank goodness for online shopping! LOL) On Monday night my cousin Karen swung through town after a brief visit in NYC. It was cool to see her again. I literally can't remember the last time we saw each other, let alone got a chance to just sit and chat. She is another one of those world travelers that I am jealous of. She's going to England for grad school. Lucky duck! All for now! Chubs! |
I know I haven't really been blogging much lately, but this week has been busy. On Tuesday I got a call saying they had found my badge. Apparently, the paperwork had been sitting around for months.  So I got that and started working within the Agency. At first I didn't think they had much for me to do. Of course, you have to wait to get your computer accounts set up, but even then my coworkers have such a different schedule than me. Everyone seems to get in to work late and stay later into the evening. This doesn't work for me who has babies that go to sleep at 7pm and wake up at 6am. They originally had me filing and collating stuff, which at first I didn't like, but it was good because I got to read and familiarize myself with all the company documents that I would be working with. Since people were moving to a different part of the building, I did quite a bit of packing and moving too. But then on Friday I got my computer account, and I actually got to start on my real job. So far this consists of writing a weekly report for one office. I am also going to be in charge of the personnel recall list, so starting that was fun because I got to play with MS Access. And finally, I am the tech-editor for one office and they already have a stack of documents that need to be formatted. The last should be interesting because the boss is allegedly OCD and very particular about how his documents look. On top of that Jack had another allergic reaction at day care on Wednesday. This time he was wheezing so they called the paramedics. I swear when they called me my heart stopped, but he turned out to be fine. By the time I got there, his hives had gone down. I was able to get him into the doctor right away, and she suggested seeing the allergist again and asking for an Epipen. As nervous as I am about daycare having the ability to give him a shot, I suppose if it was serious enough for them to call the paramedics they should probably have something. No one is sure why he is having these reactions. The doctor and I think he must have grabbed some other kid's milk instead of his own. The paramedics suggested that he was having an incidental reaction from some kid having peanuts or eggs at home. I think this is silly (and so does the doctor) because Chris and I have peanuts and eggs and milk all the time and he never has a major reaction at home. The only other thing that it could be is an unknown allergen that we haven't tested him for yet. And in my spare time, I have been noveling my heart out. I am proud to say that I made it to the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words in one months. I swear the last 400 words were the hardest because my brain was so fried. LOL My novel even has a beginning, middle, and end, although all the scenes are out of order. I need to go back and start arranging it the way it should be, but I really need a break. Today is the first day when I went about doing things other than writing. It amazes me how much I had been leaving undone. I finally unpacked the last hold-out boxes from the move. I have made it halfway through the ridiculous mounds of laundry that has been building up. I even started my Christmas shopping. I'm working on starting up my book blog, so look for that soon. So there you have it - November went by super-quick! |
| Thanksgiving was a good time. My Mom came up from down South, and so I had extra help in the kitchen. All I can say is WHY don't we cook sweet potatoes and marshmellows more often?!?! My recent sweet potato experience conjured up an odd food memory of Navy OCS. We were in training, so they never gave us dessert, and we craved sugar like no one's business. So whenever they served sweet potatoes I remember asking for a whole bunch. It was as good as ice cream! PB an J sandwiches were very popular for the same reason. Chris told me he would sometimes get fixings for two or three sandwiches. I feel a little sad now that I have found out they moved OCS from Pensacola up to Rhode Island. It was such an interesting time for me as a person. I was changing a lot, and the fact that no one will get to experience it like I did now, is a little sad. Besides, Pensacola has awesome beaches. Oh, and who doesn't want to be where the cute aviators are training too? And I would rather be training in summer in Florida than in January in Rhode Island. But maybe that's just me. I grew up in Georgia, so I don't mind the heat. While shopping for Thanksgiving, I discovered Dried Blueberries. They have now been added to my favorite foods list and perhaps my favorite things of all time list next to Leonardo DiCaprio, hydrangeas, and Heart of Darkness. They are awesome! Ok...anyway...My words in NaNoWriMo are almost to 42k, which is truly awesome! Just had to throw that in there. Although I took Thanksgiving off, I managed to get a whopping 4k on Saturday so it's all good. Link almost rolled over last night!! He's doing this side-to-side rocking, so he keeps getting SO close. He's also been trying to sit up, and will sit with support holding his head steady. He seems so strong for 2 months. Jack's big news is in how many words he's learning. You can actually understand some of what he is saying. It's so cool! We got our elliptical installed on Friday, and I have already lost 5 lbs since then. I love my new toy!! It's right in the living room, so it's so easy to just hop on for ten minutes while watching tv or while Jack is having a snack. On Saturday we went to a piano factory and picked out my next toy. It is supposed to arive within a week or so, and I can't wait. It was so cool to sit down and play it on Saturday. I went with a Yamaha that has a really crisp brilliant tone, which sounded better with Mozart than some of the softer ones. And it has a super light touch, which I prefer. I suppose the heavier keys are better for guys. Yea! Happy dance! |
| Finally updated my pictures. This website I found through Facebook is addictive: http://freerice.com/index.php |
| What surprises me the most about writing is that it doesn't matter what I'm writing, I still tend to enjoy the actual wordsmithing. This makes me decent at technical writing. This is also getting me through NaNo. I love my novel when I'm actually sitting down writing it, but when I put it down, I am pretty much convinced it's pure crap. Smutty and stupid and formulaic. I have maybe two characters that I think are truly interesting, but other than that I hate them all. It's your typical love-hate relationship. I remember poems and short stories that I have written like that, and to this day I'm amazed anyone reads them and sends positive reviews. I have yet to figure out why most of my stuff is 4 or 5 stars. Maybe my love of writing in and of itself is shining through. Lincoln had his two-month well-baby checkup yesterday. He was 13 lbs 14 oz, 85th percentile for weight, and he was 25.5 inches long, 97th percentile for height. There was really nothing else to say. He was a good baby and didn't fuss except for when they gave him the shots. After that he was officially having a bad day and screamed off and on until he fell asleep for the night at 7. He seemed to be back to his usual bubbly self this morning, so I'm guessing those shots just made him a bit tired. This weekend we finally bought some furniture. Yay! So on Dec 19th when it is all delivered we'll actually have a full-furnished house. Unfortunately, that means we'll have to do away with the box fort Jack and the kitty cats have been enjoying in the front living room. Jack seems to be going through a picky eater faze lately. He doesn't eat a lot of meat. A couple weeks ago my aunt sent us this ham and smoked turkey as a house warming gift which was awesome, and Jack loved both the ham and the turkey. But now it's gone and maybe nothing I make can quite match because he's gone vegetarian on us. We have been trying to sneak protein into his diet with beans, which he loves. But this last couple weeks it has been a struggle. It seems to work best when we're eating the same thing. At least we don't have a problem getting him to eat his veggies. |
| Yesterday it was raining. It was driving windy rain, the kind of weather that makes even the pious stay home on Sunday. Somehow gray cloudy makes the trees look more brilliant. Maryland has a pretty fall, at least the part where I live does. Where I grew up in Georgia there was a lot of pine forests, so I don't remember fall being quite this colorful. One thing about living in an older neighborhood is that there are full-grown trees, so the land feels lived in - lived in by things other than humans. I went to the write-in again and logged a whopping 3000 words, bringing me up to the halfway point with a respectable 26,000. yay! My life has mostly been all NaNo lately. I really can't think of much else. I feel so close to being able to win and do it this year. I have never been so focused or felt so good about it. Life at home has been great. Jack finally got used to the house and so we started closing his bedroom door again since we have to keep the humidifier on to alleviate this cough he's fighting. That and his eczema which has returned with the cold weather. (Although it's not as bad as it was last year so far.) Lincoln is going to bed at a reasonable hour and can sleep through the night on occasion. I have some updated pictures, but I have been so busy writing I haven't had a chance to update my blog lately. We're looking forward to having my Mom up for Thanksgiving this year. It seems like she was just here for Lincoln's birth and yet so much has happened with moving into the new house. And Link is definitely bigger. I must admit, it will be nice not to be traveling with two babies, so I'm glad she'll be able to make it. All for now. I stayed up late last night writing, so I need to get some rest. |
| Hit the 20k word mark which is awesome! I suddenly discovered how important this NaNo is for me. I really want to prove to myself I can still write novels like I used to in high school and college. It's worth all that stuff you give up to do it. No news otherwise. This weekend was rather quiet. Work remains the same. They're still trying to figure out how to get me an Agency badge. Today they told me that they aren't sure what happened to my paperwork.  I'm sorry but this made me LOL...literally. You have to laugh at this kind of incompetency. And it's unclear whether it's the government or my company or both.I know I should perhaps be moving mountains to get the whole thing resolved, but I am not in a huge rush. Why should I be? I got plenty to work on with my novel. I know how awful that sounds, but really who could blame me for taking advantage of a situation that is really out of my control? I just pretend that all this noveling will help my wordsmithing and formatting skills for the company...which actually isn't that far from the truth. It's been a while since I have spent all day writing, and as that will be most of my job, it probably isn't too early to start developing good writing habits.  |
| Last night I went to a Nanowrimo Write-in for the novelists in my area. It was cool to meet some of the other writers and hear what their stories are about. I had already made my word count for the day, so I wasn't too concerned about getting much done. But I managed to add another 2000 words to my count by being there. Part of that was the word wars we did. That's where you sit for fifteen minutes and do nothing but type - no talking or editing or anything but writing. Then you see who has the most words. I managed to get 590 the first time and 688 the second.  I had never tried this tactic before. It was pretty liberating because you have to do purely stream-of-conscious writing. Sure, it's not polished, but nothing in Nano is.The other thing I discovered was the wonderful magic of prompts. You can find prompts anywhere - certainly on this site, or if you just google writing prompts. Once you find one you find ways to work it into your story. This was really fun yesterday when I was getting tired of working in chronological order start to finish. I just started adding these prompt-inspired pieces to the bottom to be included later. I even used some of my brother's photography that he has up on Facebook as picture prompts. So now I'm at 12,000 which is so awesome! I'm ecstatic I have made it nearly a quarter of the way! I didn't think I would be doing this good at all. I feel like I'm already a success in many ways. That's the news from the frontlines of NaNo. Chris and I bought an elliptical machine. I was really looking forward to running again, but now it's so dark and cold in the morning.  Bummer! So we decided to get an elliptical for our house. I know some people buy workout equipment and never use it. Trust me...this is not us. We are not fairweather fitness folks. We are determined to be healthy and to maintain activity levels, even in the long cold winter. For now I have been going up and down the stairs at work at breaking points.Now that our Buddha baby Link has been sleeping through the night (for the most part - 8pm to 4am), Jack has started waking up in the middle of the night, and staying up crying.  We have been unsure why this is happening, except we figure it might be the new house. We decided last night that perhaps he was lonely or scared, so we left his bedroom door open that way he could see into our room. We explained to him that if he woke up, we would be right there in the room across the hall. This seemed to help. He woke up, but he went back to sleep immediately. Perhaps this is the answer.The other thing we considered was wheeling Lincoln's bassinet by the crib, and then he wouldn't feel like he was alone since his brother was right there. Might try this next if this peaceful night last night was just a fluke. We were dead certain we were going to keep the boys in separate rooms, but now it seems like they might actually be better sharing one. The only thing I'm concerned about is later when Link starts teething and/or gets the inevitable daycare crud. He might start waking up too and thus waking Jack up. Hmm...it's a dilemma. And no matter what Jack is going to have to learn a new sleep routine when we get him a toddler bed, which has to be soon because Lincoln is huge and the bassinet is getting too small for him fast. |
| After all the hemming and hawing, I did break down and decide to NaNo. (www.nanowrimo.org) I am only 5000 words into it, but it is the first week. And this weekend was a bust since Chris was gone. I'm slowly catching up to where I need to be. Since BAH hasn't given me anything official to do yet, I figure I'll spend that time by getting some extra scribbling sessions in. It's funny how obsessive you become after you decide to NaNo. I vaguely remembered this from a couple years ago, but now it's coming back in full force. I think about the novel constantly. I check my word count constantly even after only writing a paragraph. At every pause for thought, I seem to check the count and use it as motivation to write something...anything. I feel guilty for writing anything else (as I am now) because these could be words that I could be using for my novel. Because it's about quantity over quality, I am haunted by how much crap I'm writing. I'm told that this is part of the experience - embracing the crap!! Oh, how I love my crap!! I scrapped my romance novel and started over. Not completely from scratch because it's the same characters and the same premise, but I decided to work a different angle with it. None of this matters really because it's crap. And it's a romance so it's incredibly cheesy crap...with a jumbo side of corn. I'm realizing how much fun it is to write crap! Zuma! And then there are the nanoisms - moments where your brain is so tired, you don't even know what you're writing. My favorite so far: The sun was setting and palm tree silhouettes darkened against the hills already dark. A sinking feeling was coming over Oz as he watched the sky darkening. Did I mention that it was dark?? And yes...one of my main character's names is Oz.So like I said - CRAP! Lincoln has gotten all smiley all of a sudden. When he's well-rested and well-fed, he gets all bubbly and coos and smiles. It's so cute! Jack is finally getting used to his new toddler room. For the first time this morning he didn't scream when I dropped him off. Yay! Ok...I can't really focus...I have to go back to NaNo-ing. Here's my profile if you want to track my progress: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/253396 |
| My horoscope for today: Persistence may be more important than anything else now. Just keep showing up, even if you are uncertain about what you're doing. And don't even worry if your efforts aren't appreciated now. Just do what you must to meet your obligations. If your work is good, then you'll be acknowledged eventually. I'm not usually a horoscope person, but this caught my eye when I logged into Google this morning. It seemed appropriate for the day I return to work. Since I'm a new employee returning from a long absence, I had to remind everyone I was here and I need to get my badge so I can start working. Working that red tape will definitely take persistence. LOL It broke my heart to leave my Panda Bear at daycare today.  Maybe it's the breastfeeding, but I feel a lot closer to Lincoln than I did to Jack when he was this small. It was so much harder to let go this time. I think both Link and I are equally clingy for each other. I wonder how this will affect his personality.Jack was pretty clingy this morning too. Maybe this is partly because Chris has been gone for the last couple days, but I think it's mostly because of the new toddler room. He is perfectly fine after I leave, but since he's started it's been a tearfest at the door with me. Since Nov 1st when he started he has been hanging onto his blankie and his binky at home more than usual. The binky he forgoes for the whole day at daycare now, and the result is you can't pry it out of his mouth at home - not without the mother of all fits. The sippy cup is a battle too. He has to use regular juice cups now in his new room, so he insists on sippy cups only at home. He even tried to steal a bottle I made up for Lincoln this morning, even though he hasn't had a bottle in a couple weeks. I'm sure he'll make it through though. Yesterday was crazy awful. I am in awe at how long and challenging it was. Daylight Savings Time is a cruel trick to play on anyone with babies or toddlers. My boys got up at 4:30, and then were cranky all morning because they were tired or hungry or both. It was a LONG morning. By the time I got both of them to nap at the normal naptime, I was ready for a siesta myself on the sofa, but the cat PEED ALL OVER IT. I was so mad I banished her from the house for the afternoon. So instead of napping like I wanted to, I had to strip the couch and clean everything. Grrr... The after-nap was spent outside, which was great for the boys and really it wasn't too bad. Dinner was a little crazy because I had to feed both of them at the same time, and trying to keep a toddler focused on dinner while breastfeeding isn't easy. The result was a lot of spaghetti on the floor. LOL So by the time I got them both asleep and in bed and mopped the floor, I was ready to eat my big bowl of spaghetti. Of course, in the process of clearing random toys and stuff off the table, I knock my bowl all over the floor. Spaghetti everywhere! At this point I am just giddy with exhaustion. I mop everything up again and finally eat. The last straw was going down to the basement to retrieve laundry. I slipped on the stairs and twisted my ankle. My toe looks kind of banged up too. *sigh* What a day! Thank god Chris is coming home today! LOL |
A while ago I got an email from an ex-boyfriend who had found and read my blog. Now I find that my ex-husband also tracked me down and read my port. I was curious to see what the number 68 after my handle meant. Apparently I referred 5 people to the site, and when I looked to see who it was I found one of them to be Kevin Mon  . *shivers* If you look at his items, he isn't half bad of a writer. The scary part is he might think all of it is true. He had a wonderful ability to create alternative realities for himself.I'm surprised he didn't try to hack my password and delete all my port items again. What a bastard! He did stuff like that that to this day make my blood boil, and yet a part of me - a real soft bleeding heart liberal part of me - hopes he is happy. Could he be as happy as I am now? Is that possible? He certainly must be happier than he was with me. There's no way he is looking back saying those were the good times. If he is, he's a fool. We drove each other crazy. Literally. Crazy in love...and then just crazy. I like to forget that I was every in love with him, but I was. Proof you can fall in love with anyone no matter how wrong they are for you. Go figure! Go away Kevin. If you're there, go away. There's nothing to see here. It's just me and you don't want anything to do with me. I'm going to bed now. The house feels darker and creepier without Chris here. He called me earlier and I felt incredibly homesick. Homesick for him. He is home, and home isn't complete without him. |
Personally, one of my favorite holidays because of the chocolate and the fall weather and the kitschy decorations and costumes. Zuma! I took the Tiger Pal out trick-or-treating. We only did our street...well, half of it. He was a "jack"-o-lantern. Ha ha - how appropriate, huh?  He starts in his new toddler room tomorrow, and his new caregiver is so sweet. She's this young early childhood education grad. Daycare is such an interesting to place. You can tell by looking at a one-year-old that they are just a terror or at least a busybody. Jack isn't like that at all. By all accounts he is quiet, considerate, and takes his playing seriously. He even puts away toys when he's done playing with them. (Why doesn't he do that at home? )I also met with the folks in the room Link will be starting in on Monday. (Gosh, Monday - this leave went by quick! AH!) They were nice too, but mostly in that polite, I-dont-really-know-you-yet sort of way. They were much more organized than the room Jack was in, and I like that. I told them I was going to be extra vigilant about food allergies after going through such issues with Jack. I got the clean bill of health from my OB. It's the last time I get to see her. She got me through two pregnancies, and now it's good-bye. Even if I got pregnant again, I would have to see someone else because she's at the Naval hospital and I'm not active duty anymore. Oh well...it was sad. At the same time I have been loving the fact that I no longer have to schlep babies 30 mins (with no traffic) down to the Beltway to be seen by a Navy doctor. It's so easy to have all our doctors within ten minutes of where we work and live.Chris will be gone this weekend. His grandmother's funeral is on Saturday. He decided not to take Jack after all since he will only be gone for a couple days, and he has to take his work there since he doesn't want to use up any leave flying there and back. He kept saying he wasn't sure if he was going because he felt bad leaving me with two babies all weekend. I almost thought that maybe he just was saying that so he didn't have to go to the funeral...because ya know some people just don't do funerals although I didn't think my husband was like that. I finally told him that it was nonsense him not going. The pals and I will be fine. This made him feel better. He's still planning on setting up my blog for me, so I can write about the books I am reading. I was thinking it would be neat to have a discuss option in case people have comments about particular books. It would be cool to host something interactive like that...sort of like an online book club. Surely there are things out there already, but that doesn't stop me from carving out my own little cyberworld. I am still reading Karen Armstrong's nun story. It is one of those books you savor. Each chapter has given me a lot of food for thought. Oddly enough, I recognize a lot of the feelings she experienced when she was a novice. It sounds a lot like boot camp in the military - tearing down the self in order to be remade - except in the military you are remade as a soldier not a nun. Looks like Lincoln is asleep for good now, so I think I'll lay down as well. G'night! |
| While I was unpacking and everything, I actually got tagged twice - once by Texas Belle and once by Kendra . I guess this is sort of like a blogging chain letter. You get tagged, write 8 random things about yourself, and then tag 8 new bloggers and tell them to do the same thing. So here are my 8 random things: 1. I don't like condiments. I will have BBQ sauce in limited quantities...and maybe a little vinagrette. But I forgo most sauces. 2. I collect paper dolls. The first set I got was when I was five, and I played with them until they fell apart pretty much. The ones I buy now are uncut dolls form the 1900-1930s when they printed paper dolls in magazines. My husband is tired of me hanging them up all over the place. LOL 3. I have an octopus tattoo. I like the octopus. It's a very clever animal and has such an interesting shape. Very artistic looking animal. I collect octopi too. 4. I have a widow's peak. I have always thought it was a cool feature to have...except you can't really part your hair down the middle very easily. My hair naturally goes to a side part. Link has a widow's peak of cradle cap right now. Hehehe... 5. "Allison" by Elvis Costello is my favorite song of all time. Not even sure why. All other songs are judged in relation to it though. 6. For years I read aloud to myself because it helped me understand the material better. I think it was because I tried to read hard books to begin with. (I mean, come on...who attempts Ivanhoe in eighth grade?) I finally had to get out of the habit for good in law school. um...what else? 7. At this moment I am watching a deer in my backyard eat leaves out of the pile my husband raked yesterday. I love suburban wildlife! 8. I hate ants though. I can handle a lot of bugs, but ants creep me out. Stepped on a fire ant hill one too many times I guess. OK, that's my randomness. I haven't tagged anyone yet. Most of the people I can think to tag have already been tagged, and I haven't had a chance to sit down and look for new bloggers. |
| So I haven't returned any emails or done much of anything online lately. It's all been unpacking and house stuff. We are getting through the boxes slowly but surely. We have found all the essentials and gotten to the stuff we don't need, don't use, and often forgot we had. It's amazing how much crap we managed to stuff into a little two-bedroom apartment! As more and more things find their place in this new home, I can breathe a sigh of relief...and even justify sitting down and relaxing. *sigh*  The neighbors around here are really nice. A few of them have come over and introduced themselves to me. Two of them brought baked yumminess. The neighbor two doors down owns a dry cleaning business and offered to do our dry cleaning for free. Not a lot of kids on the block. The ones we have are older than ours. The next youngest is our next door neighbor's son Scott - he's three. Jack has been really loving the new house. There's more room to play. There's a backyard. Chris and Jack were outside last night for a good hour raking up leaves, and Jack was having a great time. (I would have gone out and taken pictures, but Lincoln was being very gassy (and thus very cranky), so I was trying to console him the best I could.) Jack loved the new kitchen because he can open most of the cupboards. I was smart and moved most of the breakable stuff higher up. Of course, as soon as you move into a house, something has to go wrong. This morning we found a puddle in our laundry room. Apparently, our heater is leaking a little bit. They're supposed to come out and check it tomorrow. I hope we don't have to replace the whole thing quite yet, but it is 19 years old so I wouldn't be too surprised it's on its last legs. I have managed to get a little bit of writing in. I'm competing in "15 for 15 Contest --- Closed"  . This is one of my favorite contests on this site. Since you are only supposed to write for 15 minutes on each prompt, it stresses creativity over perfection. I find that I can really let my inhibitions go, and let my mind go where it will. Interestingly, I tend to write prose for the prompts instead of poetry. Here's where I have been keeping all my entries: "Invalid Item" . |
| So here I am sitting in my kitchen which finally feels complete. I spent today finishing the unpacking in the kitchen and restocking all the pantries (that's right - I got 2 of them). I am starting to get used to this place...although it still needs a lot of work. Monday the movers came and packed all our stuff up. By 7pm they had all of it moved into the new house, and we were left to camp out among the boxes and randomly placed furniture. To be honest I was a little overwhelmed. The job of unpacking and setting up seemed so daunting at the time (and I was completely exhausted from the exertions of the day), that I just wanted to curl up in the corner and fall asleep. It was amazing to me that no one else felt the same way. Jack wanted to run around and check everything out. Lincoln was fascinated by the ceiling fans and wanted to stare at them. And Chris immediately starting unpacking things and setting stuff up. It was a bit much for me. I was tired, but a part of me was a bit depressed because I had been looking forward to moving into the new house for so long, and the fact that I wasn't enjoying it was a let down. Tuesday though, after I got a little sleep, I felt much better, and after dropping Jack off at his daycare, I was able to take stock and organize my list of things to do. And at some point Lincoln and I had stopped to nap a bit, and I woke up on the couch looking out my picture windows into the backyard where the fall leaves were floating down. I could get used to this. So we got a new flatscreen TV for the family room. Among the other things we are planning to get is a loveseat, a recliner, a dinette set, bookshelves, and a piano. I am really excited about getting a piano!! Also, Jack will need a toddler bed. I thought it would be cool to revamp one of the bedrooms for him and then reveal it to him on Christmas. That would give us two months to get it painted and furnished. This was a nice little break from the boxes, but there's still plenty to do. So I'll sign off here. |
| Man, so much going on this weekend. We ended up moving quite a bit of miscellaneous stuff today and yesterday. Already our apartment is feeling a little echoey. Tonight is the last night we spend here. We also have been going to furniture places looking for some pieces we will need to kind of round out the house. We found a couple things at a place that I think we'll end up getting. Today we tried to visit Ikea and found a decent dinette set which we bought. But the guy who was working the home delivery desk would not help us. I mean, he watched us sit there for 15 minutes and helped these other people and when Chris went to ask him for help, he told us to get back rudely. So we went to customer services and complained to the manager and returned what we bought. It wasn't that great of a dinette set. We'll just find something similar elsewhere. Ikea has pretty much lost our business forever (or for a good long while). Tomorrow the movers come, so it will be kind of crazy. We're hoping they will move us all in one day instead of packing tomorrow and unpacking Tuesday. There's really only the big pieces to move. Most of the smaller stuff is moved...or is easy stuff like pillows. The last few days our zen Buddha panda pal (Lincoln) has been falling asleep around 7:30 like Jack and sleeping all night with only one midnight snack in between. YAY!! Happy dance! This phenomenon didn't occur until Jack was 3 months old (if I remember correctly). If he keeps it up, Chris and I can officially take back the night (as they say LOL) and have evenings to ourselves again. Zuma!! I have been thinking about starting up a blog...like an official one. Chris said he would help me set up the website. And what would I write about? Well, that's easy. There's one thing that I know more about than anything else, and that is reading. I would blog about the books I am reading and my opinion of them. Actually, when I said "that's easy" I really meant that I agonized over the decision for a while. I mean, even though I love current events, I don't think I feel strongly enough about any particular position to write op-eds all the time. And I don't feel comfortable writing about writing since I am not "classically trained" or published in a significant fashion. There's not a lot of things that I love and know as much about as reading books. So anyway...we'll see if that gets off the ground. I also want to participate in this years NaNoWriMo. Chris's brother Colin is goading me about how I didn't do it last year. He says he has so many ideas for next month, he hasn't even decided what he wants to write about. *sigh* Well, he doesn't have a family to worry about. I would have to give up video games, all other writing, and probably reading books (there goes my blog). AND Lincoln would have to continue going to bed at 7pm. AND I'm still not sure it's possible for me without going back to coffee (and I mean the caffeinated kind). *sigh* I might still have to give it a try. Just because... Because every one says I should be a writer. One of these days it just might happen. Ya know, authorness, authorhood, authorship...something like that. |
I finished Lolita finally. Yay! I can't tell you how happy I am to leave it behind me. I was planning on moving onto Reading Lolita in Tehran, but I need to have a rest from the whole thing. I decided to pick up Through the Narrow Gate instead. I heard about the author Karen Armstrong from reading Katya the Poet  's blog. This is a biographical book about Armstrong's decision to become a nun...and later how she changes her mind. Reading it feels about 1000 times more wholesome. Hehehe...It's actually been quite a busy week with getting stuff ready to move. Tomorrow is the closing when we actually get the keys. Yay! This weekend we are going shopping for essentials like a microwave and a couple pieces of furniture. We're also moving the breakables and various other sundries. Monday the movers come for the big stuff. I may have to handle much of the unpacking myself. Sad to say Chris's grandmother died last night. (I love how they say someone has weeks and really it is more like days. I remember thinking I would have longer with my Dad too.) Chris and Jack (possibly) will be going to Seattle for the funeral. I want to go too, but someone has to stay and get things set up here. Besides, it's only for two days, and as I will be tied to Lincoln the whole time, I probably wouldn't get much out of it. If all that action isn't enough for a 17-month-old, Jack will be moving to the toddler room at daycare November 1st. The caregivers seem really nice, and they already starting to transition him by taking him to the room a couple times a day. He is learning so much lately. He is very big into keys now - he walks around the house with my keys trying to unlock everything. He can open doors now, and likes to hide out in his room. His vocab is improving immensely. He has finally adopted the universal toddlerism of saying "no" all the time and often for no apparent reason. It's his second favorite word after "uh oh." The best change lately has been how sweet and loving he can be. He has started spontaneously running up and giving me or Chris big hugs. He likes to pat Link on the head (very gently) and give him binkies or blankets when he is crying. It's very cute. Lincoln continues to grow, and really there's not much more to say. He is a very alert baby during the day. He seems particularly attentive when Jack is around. He watches his brother avidly, studies his face and movements, and perks up when Jack is talking (or screaming). I didn't realize how early this sibling study would start. I did talk to the director this week at Jack's daycare, and it sounds like they will have an infant slot opening up there soon for Link. So perhaps we won't have to pay the exorbiant daycare prices elsewhere. That would be nice! Anyway...getting late (for me) so I must turn in. Chubs! |
| I have meant to write some in my blog every day this week, but Lincoln hasn't been napping as much during the day as he used to. He sleeps mostly at night and catnaps during the day. At night Chris and I have been playing a lot of video games - Halo 3, Puzzle Quest, Orange Box. I started a collage that I have been piecing together slowly but surely. The sad news this week is that Chris's grandmother who had been fighting cancer for the last couple of years is going off chemo. She is only expected to have a couple of weeks left. It makes me really glad we visited her in January when we found out her cancer was getting worse. At least she got to see Jack. I feel really bad for Chris because he was very close to her, and indeed she was a mother to him in so many ways.On Tuesday I had my polygraph, which was a little bit more nerve-wracking than I wanted it to be. I wasn't nervous going into it, but once they get you hooked up it's a different matter. The questions aren't hard - have you participated in espionage, do you support terrorist organizations, are you hiding the commission of a serious crime? I mean, really, those should be no-brainers, right? But they ask you these questions over and over, in different orders, and they throw in fake questions too like "is it 2008?" just to see if you are paying attention. So you really have to concentrate. It turns out more mentally exhausting than expected. I had problems with one questions. "Have you ever disclosed classified information to unauthorized persons?" I don't go out and sell secrets to the media or foreign powers or anything, but I talk to uncleared people all the time. Surely I have let slip something classified even though I'm really careful about what I say. The question isn't really talking about accidents like that, but because I kept over-analyzing it, it kept spiking on their little scan and my tester had to keep asking me. I guess she finally determined that I passed, but I won't know for sure until later. Yesterday, my brother called me which was a huge surprise. It was the middle of the night in Taiwan, so I didn't really expect it. And actually, it was the first time he called me from Taiwan. I figured we would be doing good with just emailing each other. So anyway, we got caught up on all the miscellaneous news we hadn't already heard about through Mom (because we both talk to her more than each other and she acts as a message relay). I am actually only 100 pages away from beasting Lolita. Yay! I now know that I would actually rather read about war or any number of other violent acts over sexual deviation and pedophilia. I wonder why I am sticking this out. There's really no shame in just throwing in the towel and saying "this isn't for me." But for some reason, I feel like I owe it to Nabokov to finish. The writing itself is very good. |
| Chris calls this the Day of Christopher, a celebration for Christophers everywhere...not just Columbus. Chris still had to work. In fact, it is the day when daycare (being on a government installation) is closed, and I have both the pals. It has been a remarkably easy-going double-pal day. Jack has been cautious and quiet around Lincoln when I'm feeding him or when Link is fussy. With them both napping the apartment is eerily quiet. Over the weekend the topic of Apocalypse came up again. Unexpectedly, Chris brought up the subject of disaster preparedness, and I thought it an interesting coincidence that I had blogged about disaster a couple days before. He had already visited the FEMA website, and thought that as soon as we get moved into our house we should start gathering and storing items to be used in case of emergency. Because of the population density of where we live, it will be quite difficult to evacuate, and such things might come in handy. This is just like Chris - always thinking ahead. I can maybe see a few months in advance, but Chris talks about decades. He routinely uses the phrase "when we retire" seriously. Thinking that far ahead elicits nervous giggles from me. Who could possibly think about retiring? But then, I'm always very much in the moment - handling things day to day. Chris has retirement planned out. He's done the math and knows how early we can retire if we invest this much versus that much, if we sell our house for over the amount we are paying for it or not. I haven't even thought about selling our house yet...we haven't even moved in. LOL But this is good....it makes us compatible. Someone has to worry about those thing. I'll keep on deciding on what to make for dinner and whether we have the right kind of laundry detergent. Surprisingly, Chris suggested we think about purchasing a gun as part of our disaster preparedness kit. I was rather taken aback, even after he explained that it would be locked away and not really used. I never thought about owning a gun. I can't say I'm for or against the idea. It feels very self-sufficient and American to think about having a firearm to defend yourself with. "Do you know how to use a gun?" I ask...as if it was a toaster or some other random piece of modern machinery. "Of course," he says, "I used to shoot guns camping with my mom." "Oh," I reply, hoping he wasn't offended, "good because I know nothing about them." He didn't believe me. He pointed to the fact that the Marines taught me how to use a M16. This is true. I still can recall in my head how to disassemble one and that it weighs roughly 8 lbs. Among all sorts of useless knowledge in my head. I told him that if we bought one I would simply have to learn how to use the one we got - how to clean it, shoot it, store it. Otherwise there wouldn't be much point of having it, would there? A scene from The Patriot comes to mind...the one at the beginning where the Mel Gibson character gives his two little boys rifles and tell them to aim for the British officers first. LOL Yes, we would definitely need a gun to defend our farm against the British...or zombies. I went back to reading Lolita. I started it months ago, but only pick it up now and then. I'm determined to finish it. It's not a quick read, I think, because the subject-matter is rather distasteful. Old man falling in love with preteen. Yuck-o! As a girl you are warned of these characters, and to be inside the mind of one is rather chilling. That said, Nabakov is an amazing writer...one of my favorite prose artists. It is a bit disconcerting that as disturbing as the book is, it is also witty. *shivers* I need to just hurry up and read it. |
| Last night I had another dream about my Dad. He was in my living room, holding Lincoln. In my dream they looked a lot alike in a way I can't quite describe now. It's the third one I have had like that since Lincoln was born. It makes me miss him super bad. Seriously, it made me cry, which oddly made me feel better. (Crying always seems like a rare indulgence to me.) As sad as the dream made me feel, it was also a little comforting because it makes me feel like he's still around me in a way. I got a call from the daycare nurse about Jack and these random allergic reactions he keeps having. Sometimes for no particular reason his eyes will get puffy or the knuckles on his hands might swell. The nurse seemed to think he has a wheat allergy...which wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. I think it may be some kind of environmental or seasonal thing. I took him to the doctor yesterday for a check-up since he needed some more shots, and he said to go ahead and take him to the allergist. Until now they have been telling me to hold off since the allergist won't do any testing until 2 yrs...but in this case they might at least be able to give us some advice if not test him early. Poor guy!! I just feel so bad for him! Because Jack had a doctor's appt in the middle of the day, I kept him home from daycare yesterday. It seemed pretty ridiculous to take him, come home, and then go right back and get him. It was actually the first day I had all by myself with both of the boys, and it went better than expected...especially the morning. Jack and Link were both in a good mood early on, and we went to the park so Jack could stretch his legs a bit. Lunch time was a little hairy because everyone was tired and hungry. But by the time we got back from the doctor's office and everyone was fed and down for a nap, things got better. I was expecting much worse. I was still SO tired by the end of the day, I fell asleep before I even got Link in his bassinet. LOL I was reading to him in bed with him beside me, and we both just zonked out. I must say, Link is a little champ at night. He keeps getting better and better. He eats every two hours in the afternoon, but as soon as 8pm rolls around, he's down and we don't hear from him for four or five hours straight. And it's like that until 6 in the morning. He'll wake up, eat really quick, and fall asleep again. Which is nice because I'm pretty much ready to fall asleep too.  |
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But I am happy about those Cardinals! The same Cardinals that I'd written off as possibly the worst playoff contestant in history just three weeks ago. Now look at 'em! I'll be pulling for them in the Big Game!
Stupid Ravens.