The Blizzard of Odd

Looking for a New Car?

2009-01-12T15:30:00.001-05:00

....may I recommend the Skoda Fabia?

The Food Critic: Hank Rates Rasberries A+

2009-01-06T17:57:00.003-05:00

Hank has gotten weird about food lately. He used to eat anything and everything - especially if it was from my plate or Baby Daddy's plate. But these days he's become kinda finicky and just wants to nurse a lot. I think that I might have stumbled on a good thing though: frozen raspberries. He loves them, and I think that they're a pretty good snack too. The little seed/segment thingies break apart pretty easily so he can't choke on them and they are great straight out of the bag or dropped into some yogurt or cottage cheese. Yum!

Ten Word Tuesday: Clothes Call

2009-01-06T16:11:00.004-05:00

While perusing the goods at Target the other night (let me just say that I adore the Dollar Spot when you walk in the door...) I was fairly surprised to see a man and a woman shopping together in hats, gloves and a down coat each. Their attire wasn't what surprised me though. The fact that it was about 35 degrees outside and all the other shoppers and I were dressed as they were seemed to have little affect on the garb of their baby who was definitely in the range of under a year old. This baby was clothed in a shirt and pants. That's it. No hat. No gloves. No jacket even. Barefoot. I understand that sometimes babies can have severe diaper blow-outs (ask me about the Cracker Barrel incident sometime...), and that mean he's wearing whatever happens to be in the diaper bag. But in this case, I know that it didn't get all over his hat and then down into his shoes by way of a decent coat. I just wanted to ask those people what the heck is wrong with you??

I was reading on the babycenter.com website and stumbled across a blog post where a woman basically takes issue with the same thing I do:

I can not understand, for the life of me, why I see parents outside, when it is cold, in a winter coat and gloves and their children in a shirt, NO COAT or gloves. Is there a scientific explanation behind this? I go to my daughter's daycare and mom and dad will come in to scoop up baby with a coat, gloves and a hat on, but, just throw baby in the carseat, with no hat or anything. For kids that are older, I don't want to hear "he didn't want to put his coat on..." make him!!!

If it's a toddler protesting your wardrobe choice, I would go a step further and ask is it because you are afraid to upset your child and have him/her think you're a mean old ogre? Well, Hank seems to think that I am a mean old ogre and his chance at a fun-filled life is over every time I close the baby gate on the stairs or when I strap him into his car seat and refuse to let him drive. He get's over it quickly though. His average is about 3.14159 seconds.

And so, in keeping with past tradition, I ask you to reply in exactly ten words, no more, and no less, do you feel that if you are bundled, your children should be as well? Or, are you a culprit of the above and explain why??

Example: My child is actually verging on being over-dressed normally. or Who is driving this bus? Spank him if you must.

Abbr. Update

2008-12-19T00:47:00.000-05:00

Since I last posted, we:

Packed up our place in Houston
Moved all our worldly possessions to Bay City
Lived with my mother-in-law for a month
We had our fourth wedding anniversary
Will got a job in Dallas
Will went to Dallas to start work while I stayed in BC with my MIL (since our new apartment wasn't ready yet and he stayed at my grandma's)
We bought a "new" car - and paid cash for it! Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman would be proud!
We drove to Louisiana for Thanksgiving to spend with the Harrisons
Hank had his first birthday
We moved all of our worldly possessions to Dallas
I had my ..... birthday
Will, Blake, and I hoisted a beastly heavy sofa over the porch railing to our second story living room since it wouldn't fit up the stairs - in 30 degree weather (where's the global warming when you need it? Oh, yeah: that's crap anyway...)
Hank has four molars now - they're coming through as I type...

I will try to post some pictures later and try to be better about updating this!

The Newest News

2008-10-15T23:57:00.002-04:00

Today Will got laid off. "Nothing personal, just business".

There aren't any posted listings for immigration attorneys here, so who knows what's next?

A Promise of More

2008-10-14T00:30:00.003-04:00

It has been an interesting several weeks. I don't even really know how many weeks it's been. I would have to look it up. Hold on a sec, I'm going to check - I'll be right back.................................Okay, thanks for waiting. I also went to get a drink while I was gone. Sorry to make you hold for so long.

So it's really only been just over a month, but it feels like a lot longer. So much has happened. I'm sure a lot has happened for you too and it's going to take me a while to read my blog roll. I'll probably have to set aside a few days for that. And some of you post everyday! I might not get to them all. So much to do.

I have been gone since my last post. I just got home yesterday. I'm not one of those people who really carry on with their life when I go out of town. Is that weird? Probably. When I'm gone, I'm gone. I barely check my voicemail, let alone my email, and forget about blogs! I have a hard enough time posting when I'm home. I am an unfaithful blogger. Or, to make it sound more poositive, I could just say that wherever I am, I am fully present there. Let's just leave it at that, shall we?

I got a new computer (yay!) and it's making me nuts (boo!) that the keys on the keyboard are just slightly off from what I'm used to. You know that feeling? It sucks. But, I love this new machine. We'll just have to get used to each other, that's all.

Also, the kitty-without-a-name has a name now. Drum roll please.......no, wait. This deserves it's own post. That way the winner feels extra special. And so I can take a picture of the prize that I will mail to said winner when I finally make it to the post office. So check back soon!

In other news, hurricanes really suck. Really. And you probably didn't even know that we had a major and majorly devastating one hit us just a few weeks ago, did you? Kinda weird since we're still hearing about Katrina all these years later, but not much about Ike which just hit us weeks ago. We were among the few fortunate ones who didn't have any damage except a severely stinking fridge that smelled like hot death due to the lack of power for about three weeks. Yes, weeks. We have friends who count themselves fortunate that all they have to do is replace a few windows and a backyard fence. I know people who lost everything - nothing left. Proximity-wise, Galveston is to Houston what Flour Bluff is to Corpus Christi and what the Bronx is to Manhattan; they practically blend together. And there's really nothing left in Galveston. You can't drive anywhere here in H-town without seeing the ubiquitous blue FEMA roofs, or the wrecked fences, or the downed awnings over the gas staions, or the massive tree trunks missing it's tree and the roots exposed where it's been pried from the earth.

That's enough depressing news. Thank God that we made it through unscaithed, and that we're moving out of this apartment in just a few weeks! I know, my NYC friends who a reading this probably think that I'm nuts. It seems that for the last few years moving has been my hobby. But this place is terrible in the summer time on the electric bills - we're talking over $650. That was not a type-o. You see, our 1900 square feet uses a lot of air, and our eight 70x70 inch windows (plus the back door and front door) are very poorly sealed and the management won't do anything about it. It's time to move out. The bonus is that the place we found is walking distance to Will's office, and by "walking distance" I mean one block. From doorstep to desk is 7 minutes, including waiting for the elevator. How awesome is that?!? And, I get to paint again. I'm super excited about that. I just realized that I haven't posted any pictures of this place, so I will take some and post them soon, and then post some pics of the new place in the much nicer complex. I'll also be glad to have a dishwasher that washes the dishes instead of coating them and baking on a kitty litter-like substance. That really thrills me. I'm rambling. It's so bed time. It's past mid night now. Ugh.

One Cool Cat

2008-09-09T08:12:00.000-04:00

Our cat, The Traveler, ironically enough, is usually the one to get left all alone when we go out of town. Now, if you've met him, you'll know him to be just about the most likeable, affectionate, and personable feline that you could ever hope to encounter. Whenever we get back from the store or from a weekend trip, he is waiting for us at the back door, follows us everywhere, and cries if we close the door to even go to the bathroom; not all the time, because that wouldn't be charming, it would be annoying. Only when we get home from a prolonged absence. So now you can kinda get the picture - we have an emotional eater. He gains weight when we go away. Poor guy.

We have been talking for a while about getting him a playmate, and I happened to catch an ad on the radio about the SPCA having an "Adoption Stimulous Package". That's a cute way of saying "take em, or they die". To make a long story shorter, we thought it was a good time to get a buddy for The Trav, and save $75 while at it.

Both of our cats are tuxedo cats, meaning that they have a black and white coat. But the new one is mixed with Siamese, so his markings are shaped kinda wierd, and his face is a little pinched looking. The Traveler has a really nice coat. His markings are very symetrical. Orderly. I like that. But our new kitty, eh, not so much. He's kind of scrappy looking. It's like we got The Trav at Neiman Marcus, and the new one came from the outlet, or maybe Big Lots. Don't get me wrong, I love Big Lots (sometimes), and I love our new kitty. He has tons of personality, and is super affectionate too. He must think he's a dog or maybe a really big cat because he follows me from room to room, sleeps at my feet, and lies in wait to attack The Trav like he's a lioness jumping a lone, disabled water buffalo calf.

So what to name him? I have a few ideas that I've been tossing around, but I haven't struck on one that really seems to fit him. We used to have a dog named Gringo (he had an impronounceable spanish name when we got him, and he was a welsh dog - not spanish, he's a gringo dog - "OH! How about Gringo?"), and I always thought that any subsequent pets that we might get should have similar caucasian racial epithetical names such as Honky or Cracker. Will doesn't think it's funny. I think Honky is a great name, especially since he's predominantly black. Oh, the irony. And names ending in "y" sound cute, too. Another name I was batting around is Vern. One sylable seems good for a cat. It's just there. The reason I picked Vern is because the guy who played Mini Me in Austin Powers is Verne Troyer, and the name Mini Me is way too obvious and unoriginal for a smaller cat that looks like the bigger one. Boring. Will likes the name The Vagabond since he was a homeless cat when we got him, and it continues the tradition of using an article to start the name. I don't really care for that name. It sounds like too much. We usually shorten the original cat's name to simply Trav (sounds like we might have struck on a name for Sarah Palin's next son...).

That's it. I'm out of ideas. So leave me a comment to cast your vote for the new cat's name. Or better yet, leave me a comment with an idea for a name, and if I chose that name for His Kittenness, you will recieve a prize. A surprise prize. It'll even be a surprise to me since I haven't decided what the prize will be.

So bring it.

Will, The Weekend Warrior

2008-09-08T14:42:00.000-04:00

Did I ever mention how great my husband is? I didn't? Well, here's a great example of his awesomeness:
Will gets up on the weekends with Hank, feeds him, dresses him, plays with and reads to him, and lets me sleep in till around dinner (kidding! I'm usually up by lunch...). That's awesome, huh? Well, that's not even the best part. One of the necessary evils of the morning is to change the diaper that Hank's been wearing since about 8:30 or 9pm the previous evening (no, I don't get up in the middle of the night to change diapers anymore). And on the weekends, that might not happen till they get up around 9ish. Uck. That's love, huh?

This past Sunday morning, as per the usual, I slept in, and it wasn't even until that night when we were putting Hank to bed that Will told me what had gone down that morning while I was enjoying the full pleasure that the blackout drapes in our bedroom provide. Wait, did I mention that we got a new kitten? No? Okay, well we did. More on that later - back to Sunday morning: Will was changing Hank's ample diaper (replete with #'s 1 & 2) when the fore mentioned kitty decided to come and see what offerings were brought to him via such a strangely shaped vessel. As the as-yet-unnamed-kitty was sniffing around, Will aptly decided it to be prudent to remove the juvenile feline from the situation. What is the easiest way to do so? Pick the little bugger up and toss him across the room of course! *In the most gentle and humane way possible* So he did. But the kitty-without-a-name wasn't done with his perusal; so his-kittenness sank his talons into the edges of the diaper just as he was taking flight. The thing that happened next, I have imagined to be in slow motion: the cat. The bulging. Wet. Dirty. Diaper. Are hurled across our living room. Spinning in mid-air. Things that I don't want to touch are dislodged and are sent flinging in all directions. His kittendom lands in it. And runs. Tracking it of course.

And Will let me sleep. And it wasn't even my birthday or anything!

Ten Word Thursday: Hats Off

2008-09-04T00:51:00.006-04:00

So I've been thinking lately that there are a number of reasons that hats should become popular again for ladies, or even just chicks/those of the female persuasion. First off, they really make an outfit. What would be so special about Eliza Doolittle's ensemble in the Ascot Gavotte without her hat?

Or what about Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's? It would have just been an ordinary little black dress without the awesome hat.

Or what about these gals? I have no idea who they are, but they make me want to go to the Kentucky Derby!

There's also the practical reason to bring hats back, it can save you upwards of 20 minutes a day on your hair! While we were in MFL a month or so ago, I really was digging the fact that I had to wear a hat in every scene. It didn't matter if it was the grundy Cockney hat, or that gi-normous feathers/sequins/tulle/bird taco-looking extravaganza for the Ascot, but my hair was a wreck underneath, and you wouldn't have been able to tell.

I was digging through my closet the other day and came across a few hats that I bought a while back. There were two of three winter hats that I bought for the cuteness and functionality while in NYC, but there was one that I bought on the street in Chinatown for about $4 that was a lighter, summer-type look. I have worn it a few times when I either didn't have time, or didn't want to melt while blow drying my hair (side note: don't you hate taking a shower, getting all clean, then blow dry your hair and sweat to death, thereby making the said shower useless?? I do.). Every time I have worn it, I get compliments. It got me to thinking. It's not that this is such an awesome hat or anything, it's just a novelty to see a girl in a hat anymore. I need the rest of you to join forces with me though, because I want to wear hats like this (and not look eccentric):

Disclaimer: If your hair is not long enough to be seen peaking out at least a couple of inches from the bottom of the hat, then you must not wear it. Otherwise you will look like a cancer patient, or a really butchy lesbian - unless that's the look you're going for. I'm not even kidding. That's why my hats have been in the back of my closet for so long; I forgot that I had them and that it is okay for me to wear them now since my hair is longer.

Also, since I brought it up: hats. Specifically hats on men. There should at no time -EVER- be a hat on a man's head when he is indoors (somehwere other than McDonald's or the like). It doesn't matter what kind of hat. It's NOT okay to wear a hat to a restaurant (again, fast food doesn't count), to someone's house, or to church - not even Sunday night church. It doesn't matter if it's your favorite Mets/Yankees/Astros/whatever hat/cap. It's just not done. You can wear it to the gym, the park, and the beach. Maybe to a backyard barbeque. And never let a girl wear a ball cap either (it goes along with the same reason not to wear a hat if you have short hair). And that goes for cowboy hats too. Even the nice ones. Here's a great example of how a hat should be worn by a man. It's a nice, casual fedora, at the park. Procured from a local, exclusive boutique (a.k.a. TJMaxx - $8!)

Tell me in ten words -*no more, no less*- what you think about hats. Maybe you think that they're great, maybe you think I'm nuts. Whatever you want, as long as it has to do with hats. So, hit me with you best shot. No cheating this time.

Example: I'm jerky and need help. I wear them at church.

Fashion Post Friday

2008-08-29T14:16:00.004-04:00

Fashion Post Friday is hopefully going to become a regular column around here. But, I had such a hard time getting these pictures, that I'm not so sure that it'll be more than a semi-regular situation.

Seen at H-E-B*:

There is so much going on here that I'm not even really sure where to begin. I wish that the photo quality was better, but you can only do so much with a camera phone. Henceforth, I will always be sure to keep my trusty Kodak EasyShare in my purse. My other problem is that I lack the guts to actually take a picture instead of pretending to be texting someone while in the produce department. I'm just going to have to get over that, or go places that lend itself to using a camera like the park, or the Galleria. I tried so very hard to get a good picture. I will do better next time.

But, back to the photo at hand. We'll start with the stripper shoes. The hot pink and white "saddle oxford" lace up with the five inch stiletto heel. For shopping with the hubby and kids at the grocery store, I have to say that it's not really my taste. Continuing up the photo, we come to the capri pants that have a lace-up, cinched look at the hem line. Then we have the blouse: a spaghetti strap little number with a neckline that plunged way below the limits of fashion-before-five-PM. But that's not the best part. Nor is the fact that it was tie-dyed. But the fact that the front of this piece, the icing on the cake that is this ensemble, was the lace-up (noticing a trend here?) corset front. Nice.

We won't even start on the husband's socks-with-sandals and fanny pack get up.

*The best grocery store in the world. Period.

Happy Nine-Month-iversary Baby!

2008-08-28T23:04:00.000-04:00

My photography is getting better, no?

Ten Word Thursday - All Aboard the USS Ship of Fools

2008-08-28T13:57:00.004-04:00

You couldn't get a job at McDonald's and become district manager after 143 days of experience.
You couldn't become chief of surgery after 143 days of experience of being a surgeon.
You couldn't get a job as a teacher and be the superintendent after 143 days of experience.
You couldn't join the military and become a colonel after a 143 days of experience.
You couldn't get a job as a reporter and become the nightly news anchor after 143 days of experience.

BUT....
'From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United State Senator, to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory committee, he logged 143 days of experience in the Senate. That's how many days the Senate was actually in session and working. After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World, and fill the shoes of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan. 143 days? We all have to start somewhere. The senate is a good start, but after 143 days, that's all it is - a start. AND, strangely, a large sector of the American public seems to feel comfortable with this and campaigning for him. We wouldn't accept this in our own line of work, yet some are OK with this for the President of the United States of America?

Come on folks, we are not voting for the next American Idol.

I don't want to really have a serious blog; I think there are too many of those already, but I want to start a new weekly addition called Ten Word Thursday. So now I ask you to post a reply stating in ten words - *no more, no less* - what you think of this post/the upcoming election/the political process/McCain's great taste in music/etc.

Example: "An Obama nation would be an abomination. God save America." or "Hope it is over soon. When does American Idol start?"

Blitz

2008-08-27T23:52:00.009-04:00

from Hank

Hey there loyal blog readers. I feel like life has slowed down a little bit in the last few days enough so that I can actually post something. Since it's been a while, this will be a little chaotic, a lot of pictures, and hopefully only a few words. Brace yourself.

Umm, excuse me. Thank goodness I had my ducky handy.

Mom just doesn't get it.

I sure hope these clothes are clean.

Notice how I have to strategically place my left hand.

My dad is the coolest. He can read. Not only that, but he can read upside-down.

My swing debut. It was awesome. (This is the only hat I will tolerate - the one Aunt Whitney calls a "zoo hat" - what's a zoo?)

I call this look "The Blue Steel".

Swinging is the best. Slides, not so much.

My new car seat is pretty cool. (Notice how I am smiling with my eyes in this photo. I learned how to do that while watching America's Next Top Model. Tyra taught me that.)

My first Astros game. Yes, I took my parents with me. I still live at home.

I thought the dude sitting in front of us with the cow bell was pretty awesome. Mom thought he was kinda weird. I ask you: what's wrong with changing your shirt and pants in an arena full of people? No, she didn't take a pictures. Ugh, moms. More cow bell!

My uncle on the coolest bike rack ever.

The scavenger hunt with my parents friends. We're all supposed to look angry. The big dude in the middle is a security guard. I don't get it either.

Us as grubby Cockneys in My Fair Lady.

My mom in her taco supreme hat.

Me and my girlfriend in the dressing room at MFL. I was really just using her for her fly Exersaucer.

No comment.

After the show dozing on Eliza Doolittle. That's Henry Higgins in the background demonstrating to our director how to do "the sprinkler" - I think.

So many chicks, so little time.

Say Hello to My Little Friend

2008-08-07T18:19:00.003-04:00

Check out those thunder thighs!

2008-08-07T18:17:00.002-04:00

Okay, so it's a bad photo of both of them, BUT you can see W4's teeth!

2008-08-07T18:13:00.002-04:00

It's a good thing my brother Ethan doesn't read my blog; he'd kill me for posting this.

Fun Summer Facts

2008-07-23T07:53:00.001-04:00

In honor of the fact that we're only half way through the Dog Days of Summer (officially July 3 through August 11), I thought I'd share some fun little facties with you.

The Dog Days of Summer are named after Sirius, the Dog Star, in the constellation Canis Major, which shines most brightly during this period. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed the star was responsible for the heat and blamed it for periods of drought, sickness, and discomfort, or as we know them, bad hair days.

Kangaroos lick their forearms to keep cool.

15 pounds of watermelon are eaten per person each year in the U.S.

Count the number of cricket chirps in 15 seconds, add 37 = air temperature (in Fahrenheit).

Cool fact: A typical iceberg weighs up to 200,000 tons and is the size of a 15-story building!

Corny facts: a) Each ear of corn has about 600 kernels, arranged in bands of 14 to 16. b) One bushel of corn contains a total of about 90,000 kernels. c) There is one strand of silk for every kernel.

808,897 is the US Patent number granted to inventor Willis Haviland Carrier in 1906 for his "Apparatus for Treating Air", a.k.a. the first air conditioner. Yay for Willis!

Aren't you glad you read this?!? Now YOU too can be the life of the party at your next gathering for cocktails and hors d'orves.

Oh, NO! Have You Heard?

2008-07-18T21:56:00.004-04:00

Starbucks has announced the closing of over 600 stores. Nine in Houston alone. Two of the four in Corpus Christi - one of which they bought the land, tore down a building, and built a brand new one just to tear it down mearly months later. Sad. Very sad. It's not just about the coffee (or coffee flavored beverage creations), it's that Starbucks is the American dream. Capitalism at it's finest.

You can go here to see if your location is on the chopping block.

My Fair Lady

2008-07-16T23:13:00.000-04:00

Will and I were in Beauty and the Beast with Fort Bend Theatre back in February. FBT has two big performances a year with a few smaller productions in between. We really enjoyed the oportunity to be in it, but decided not to try out for the summer production since it would require over two months commitment for rehearsals, and that's a lot of driving back and forth with gas at $4 a gallon.

Fast forward to two days ago when I got a frantic email from the director begging Will and I to jump in with just over two weeks before opening night and learn about ten dance routines, make a costume for myself for the Ascot scene (the horse race where Eliza Doolittle shouts for the horse to "move yer blinkin' arse!"), and bring W4 along for the ride.

Okay.

It feels pretty good for someone to want/need us so badly. I need to be needed.

Crimes (Fashion and Otherwise)

2008-07-14T22:58:00.000-04:00

Today I've gotten way more than my money's worth in blog worthy stories. At least in my own random mind. Okay, just two stories, but for a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) thats really good!

Story one:
When I went to the gym this afternoon to workout, I decided to change it up a little and swim. It was a good workout. But that's not the story. The story is about the little old asian woman in the threadbare bathing suit that nearly drowned me. I was swimming along, minding my own businesses, when I happen to look over and see said asian woman getting out of the hot tub in her bathing gear that was suffering from severe suit rot. It was totally see-through. She was like 85. I choked on water when I saw her and nearly drowned. I have made a mental note that when I'm that old, I will buy a new swim suit evey month whether I think I need one or not since I won't be able to tell and young people like my younger self don't have the guts to say something.

Story two:
This afternoon I went to Target for a little retail therapy. When I was just coming into the store I hear in a very deep, manly voice the command "Sir! Stop where you are!". So, naturally I stopped. A few moments later I realized that the security guard was not talking to me when I saw him dump tackle the guy who was trying to abscond with some kind of merchandise. I was coming in the "OUT" door (why? I don't know why...) and he was going out the "IN" door. I'm carrying a baby here, and this whole scene is blocking my way to the enter shopping area, so I head over towards the in-store Starbucks since I'm pretty sure that if thug man gets away he won't be ordering a venti, half-caf, double, sugar-free skinny hazlenut latte on his way out. I figured I shouldn't gawk at the awkward situation, but I thought better of politely asking them to roll out of my way when I heard the bad man screaming for the guard to "pull the knife out! It's killing me!". What?!? I'm kinda freaking out because I am in the store with a crazy person, and my baby, and scary dude is blocking the door. Then I hear "pull it out of my hand! Get off of me, your'e cutting off the circulation!!", which makes me feel a bit better because I just realized that I won't be caught on Action News at 6 without makeup on since nobody's actually going to die. Seriously, if he's worried about circulation, then knife in the hand can't be that bad. A few minutes later the cops show up and take the guy away, I get myself a grande caramel light frap and head over to the shoe department.

C'mon, what at Target is so valuable that warrents stealing it and then pulling a knife on the rent-a-cop?

I Dare You Not to Smile

2008-07-11T15:46:00.003-04:00

I came across this video on one of my all-time favorite blogs, MetroDad (there's a link on my sidebar if you're so inclined). I really enjoyed it, so I thought I would share:

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Oh right...

2008-07-10T15:39:00.002-04:00

...I've been meaning to tell you - those of you who have been asking. I can't put any pictures on here for a while because we have an ancient laptop (like four years old...) that is giving me a ration of dog poo everytime I try to upload pictures. So till we go out and get a new computer, you'll just have to look at the nice squirly patterns that the words make.

What, What?

2008-07-10T15:29:00.003-04:00

Will was reading my blog the other day, and when he go to the part of the potty post that says "Bob's your uncle", he became totally perplexed. I explained to him that in the UK they say that sometimes in lieu of something along the lines of "so there you have it". He disagreed with me, saying that he'd never heard that before, and it didn't matter that I could point out the parts in Mary Poppins, Atonement, etc. where they say it. I even Wikipedia-d it. So it's true.

Here's a little poll for you folks (please respond by adding a comment to this post):
Have you ever heard the expression before? Extra points if you already knew what it meant!

But, in all fairness, if you haven't ever heard "Bob's your uncle" I might have to restrict your blog reading privileges.

Early Potty Prompts

2008-07-07T14:28:00.004-04:00

W4 has this daily ritual that we call bare-bottom time. It gives him some time to chill in his favorite outfit and, well, hang out. I strip him down, lay out a couple of "just-in-case" towels on top of his blanket and set the timer. It may just be his favorite time of day. He also adores checking himself out on the mirror, so one day last week I had a great thought: put the two together for a really great time! I carried my nil adorned son to the bathroom and stood him on the sink so that he could really check himself out. He loved it! Then....wait, before I finish this somewhat strange story, let me interject a little soliloquy:

I have heard from numerous friends of the
woes of potty training, a task that I am not looking forward to. I know, I know,
I only have a seven month old. But heard in a class for pregnant ladies taught
by a british nanny that in the UK they normally start putting the babies on the
toilet when they're about six months old just to get them used to the idea of
it, and then they are potty trained somewhere around a year old. Sounds good to
me! Diapers are expensive. And changing them becomes a whole new monster when
they started on solid foods. Enough said. I have enough younger brothers who
I've seen potty trained, and I've babysat enough other kids to know that little
kids have a deathly fear of their bare tush hanging down into this bottomless
pit that would only take one little slip for their whole body to fall toppling
into. So I have combined the above facts and have decided that maybe getting a
jump on this potty training thing might not be such a bad idea afterall.
Whenever I change one of his diapers I always talk about how yucky it is, and
how much better the toilet is; how only babies use diapers,
all the
big boys use the toilet; he will get big boy underwear if he uses the toilet;
he'll get to flush the toilet, etc. Brainwashing at an early age?
Absolutely.

Okay, back to the naked baby on the bathroom sink: it was at that moment that I put the pieces together: I am holding a naked baby, he has been naked and not peed for half an hour, and I'm standing next to the toilet. What's a brilliant mom to do? Perch the kid on the edge of the receptical! I sat him down, spread his little legs, told him what a big boy he was to sit there, and quick as a wink, bob's your uncle, he peed in the toilet. Coincidence? Of course. Did I whoop and holler and praise him incessantly? Duh.

More of An "Upper" Than Yesterday Was

2008-06-20T17:10:00.002-04:00

As I briefly touched on yesterday, I joined a gym a few weeks ago. Since Will and I have really buckled down and started really budgeting, instead of just sorta-kinda-maybe-next-month-we-will-do-better, we didn't really have a place to fit in the monthly dues without changing our budget. But I realized that our monthly cable bill is about the same as a gym membership for two, and the cable television does nothing for my waistline, except maybe in crease it! What was I watching anyway? The Real Housewives of NYC? Dr. 90210? Court TV shows about unsolved murders (mostly husbands who kill their wives, which incidentally disturbed Will...)? Yes. Quality entertainment? No.

I have gone at least five days a week since joining! Since then, I've lost ten pounds - I know I already told you, but I just want to emphasize the fact!

I also think that it's good for W4 to go to the nursery and be away from me for an hour or so a day and be around other kids.

I like going to the classes that the gym offers because it's like positive peer pressure. It doesn't really make sense, since I don't know any of these people, but I am more charged to work out, and work out harder when there are other people "watching". I know, they're not really watching me, because if they're smart they'll be watching themselves in the mirror. But whereas I might get tired and get off a machine that I'm on by myself, I have too much pride to just get up and leave a class.

So far, the classes I've taken have been: shadow boxing, pilates, yoga, and bellydancing. Yes, belly dancing. It's quite motivating to have an instructor with Shakira's body up there telling you that this is the only thing she does to keep in shape. It was also fun because there were some ballet elements to it, and we go to use these gigantic scarves that floated behind/around us. The shadow boxing is a major workout! Will goes with me to that one, and he feels drained afterwards. And that is really saying something because Will is really in good shape. You should see him without a shirt! [Ha! You don't get to! :) ] The pilates class is really quite a muscle workout, and I have found that all the stretching that is involved with pilates and yoga has really helped my back. I used to see a chiropractor three days a week, then I found a really great one here and I was down to only once a week. Since pilates and yoga, I can go every two or three weeks. That is a big deal. My chiropractor is 25 miles away, and worth the drive. When you've been in as much pain as I have, you would easily drive that far to see someone good.

Well, I should go get changed into my workout clothes so I can be ready to go to the gym when Will gets home. I have some laundry and dishes to do first though. I lead such an exciting life.

A Boring Blog

2008-06-19T15:41:00.003-04:00

I really feel like I have been super busy lately, hence the bloglessness, but for the life of me I cannot think of anything that has occupied my time besides just the usual day-to-day stuff. I am pretty much tired all the time, and I guess it's because my sleep scedule is erratic to say the least. W4 has started waking up every four hours or sooner to eat, and that means low quality sleep for me. He wants to nurse, and then he wants to play- not sleep like a normal person between the hours of 2am and 6am. He used to sleep for six to seven hours straight, and he started doing that at about three of four weeks old! I was so spoiled. Now, I am like a zombie until noon, and then I feel so sluggish the rest of the day until that fateful hour just before Will comes home and I run around like a crazy woman trying to do as many things as possible, mostly the really obvious ones, so that it looks like I've had a productive day. Yes, the dishes get washed (or at least stacked in the dishwasher to be washed), the baby is clean and fed (I am mostly clean and fed too), and the apartment is in variuos states of order (just don't look in the guest room/craft room - or as Will likes to call it: "the garage") . I have started working out almost every day, and I am eating healthier (down by 10 lbs!), and I take a multi-vitamin with enough B vitamins, but I still feel like I have no energy and am super unproductive. Is this just the normal stay-at-home-mom feeling? Or is this mostly to do with the fact that it's been raining every day for a week and the baby and I haven't been going to the pool everyday like we were? I think that I was feeling this way before that though. The problem is, I feel not just super unproductive, but also super unmotivated; or is it super tired? There is a play group that a friend from church put together that met this morning, but I couldn't drag my carcass to the closet to get dressed to go, and don't even think about makeup or hair! Leave the house looking like a human by 9am? Impossible!

I guess the easiest thing to do is to blame the baby; afterall, he can't stick up for himself.

My sleep= poor.
My energy= low.
My oportunities for enrichment= abundant.
My desire= high.
My willpower= low.

What is wrong with me? I don't feel mopey or sad, I just feel like my batteries are always low. Isn't exercise supposed to make you feel more energized?

That's all I guess.

It's Been a While...

2008-05-03T23:35:00.003-04:00

...since we've had a good, bad-hair post. Ahh, it feels good to be back!

*The best part is that it was so easy to get a picture; I didn't have to go all covert-ops on them. I just went up to them and asked if I could take a picture, and they were so thrilled to pose for me.

Loving Life

2008-05-03T23:18:00.005-04:00

Loving his new Exersaucer:

Loving his new bath tub:

Loving a nap in his carsear, wearing his Easter duds:

Loving a nap with his Daddy and cat:

Loving singing with his Daddy:

Loving his new sitter-chair:

Loving playing with his buddy Caleb:

Loving his pacifier:

Loving his new shades:

Meeting his first celebrity (Chelsea Handler - love her!):

The Tooth, The Whole Tooth, and Nothing But The Tooth

2008-04-22T23:16:00.000-04:00

The last several weeks W4 has thrown our peaceful routine totally out the window. He usually goes down each night a few hours before I do, and then is ready to get up around the time that I do with a couple of peaceful, slumbering chow fests in-between. Now: not so. His routine: none. This makes it very hard on me when he won't settle down until 2am, and then is ready to get up at 4:45. This is what happen the other night. From 4:45 till about 9 he cried, scratch that, he SCREAMED. Around 9 he settled down into a blissful sleep that I would have loved to join him in except that I had to leave the house by 9:45 to see the chiropractor. I didn't bother to change him (diaper or pajamas), lest I rouse the beast, but gingerly put him in his carseat and made a mad-dash for the car and got going so that he would stay in his slumbing state (he still likes car rides, at least). I arrived for my appointment on time, looking like death warmed over, and just as I was about to fill out my paperwork, he awoke. I was scared. I just knew that the shriekfest was about to begin in full swing. I had just warned the receptionist who was cooing oveer him what was about to ensue, when he let out the most adorable babble, and continued to be a delight during the entire appointment. I'm sure that they really believed my excuse for my sorry state of being.

Oh, right, I almost forgot to tell you: today, at not even five months of age, the explanation came in the form of a bright shiny new tooth. One down, nine to go.

In his new favorite seat.

The Straight Poop

2008-04-16T23:21:00.005-04:00

We've taken the plunge and have started using a new diaper. They're not disposable, and they're not cloth, they're a flushable hybrid. The best of both worlds, really. You get the lovely, soft outer "container" (pants), and you buy the liners that you flush when you're through with; or compost. The wonderful, the functional, the earth-loving, the biodegradable, the gDiaper. Why, you ask? Just watch the video below, and you'll get the idea. Plus, they're cute. But right now I need to go, I think that my child is having an enviromental movement. In his little "g".

A Model Child

2008-04-01T23:45:00.007-04:00

We just got home a little while ago from NYC. I have more stuff to post later, but for now I will leave you with a few pictures that my good friend, the great photographer, Whitney Sawyer took right before we left for the airport this afternoon. It should be noted that W4 was in not such a good mood, and these photos were very last minute, and they were done while he was sitting on her bed. She's just that good. You really ought to hire her for just about anything worth taking pictures of. Seriously.
More at http://www.sawyerphotostudio.com/williamhumble/

Top 'O The Evenin' To Ya!

2008-03-17T21:55:00.006-04:00

We celebrated St. Paddy's by making some yummy pub-grub, tossing back a black and tan, and chillin' in the hot tub. The last statement makes me smile because of the oxymoronincness of it.

Irish Smoked Salmon Hash with Fresh Dill Vinaigrette:

Dill Vinaigrette:

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon minced shallot 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Hash:

8 ounces center cut cold-smoked salmon fillet 1 red bell pepper, roasted and cut into 1/4-inch dice 12 ounces steamed Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch dice 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish, drained Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill 2 tablespoons pure olive oil 4 poached eggs 4 tablespoons salmon caviar* Fresh dill sprigs, for garnish

For the vinaigrette: place vinegar, lemon juice, shallot, dill, salt and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add the oil until emulsified. Transfer the vinaigrette to a bowl or squeeze bottle.

For the hash: Bring 4 cups of water to a simmer in a medium saute pan, add the salmon and poach until just cooked through, about 8 minutes. Remove the salmon, flake with a fork and transfer the mixture to medium bowl. Add the roasted pepper, potatoes, horseradish, salt and pepper and dill and gently mix until combined.
Heat the olive oil in a large, nonstick saute pan over high heat. Add the hash mixture and cook, stirring occasionally until golden brown and crisp all over. Divide the hash among 4 plates and top each with a poached egg and a tablespoon of salmon caviar. Drizzle with the dill vinaigrette. Garnish with fresh dill.

*I skipped the caviar. Expensive, and not exactly pub-ish.

Right Now

2008-03-14T23:05:00.001-04:00

I just decided to post these because they're so cute. The one with the cat is random, but he's a random cat. And I couldn't decide which facial expression was cuter, so I picked the top four (in the other ones his eyes were closed).

Just a Few More...

2008-03-04T23:36:00.000-05:00

...because he's just so darn cute!

My Three Month Old...

2008-03-04T23:26:00.001-05:00

...wearing 9 month old pj's.

He's a big fella.

Wow - It's Been A Month Already!

2008-03-04T22:56:00.000-05:00

We have been so busy lately! For the last month we've spent nearly
every night (from 6-10pm!) at rehearsals for Port Bend Theatre's production
of Beauty and the Beast. The show opened last Friday, and we also had a
Saturday and Sunday performance. It was a really good show! The
principal actors are professionals - Belle is even a working actor in NYC
(currently between gigs). Will and I were ensemble actors, and W4 even got
a part! "The Lady with the Babies" carried him on in the opening scene,
and I carried him out for the curtain call. The show was pretty much all
consuming for the entire month, and now that it's over, it kinda feels like
December 26.

W4 was so good at all the rehearsals, and backstage during the show he was
so good! Every one adored him, and loved his bio in the playbill:

William is 13 weeks old. This is his debut performance with
FBT - or anywhere really. William enjoys spending his days practicing
his freestyle sitting, long distance poodle punting, and of course, gondola
racing. His future plans include developing a sports drink for the
sedentary, and traveling through Minnesota on
a dollar a day.

It was so much fun!

W4 with "Gaston"

W4 with the feather duster from "Babette" (the french maid who turns into a feather duster)

The Dastardly Bug

2008-02-04T15:46:00.000-05:00

I hate being sick. But then, who doesn't? I can happily say that it very rarely happens to me, and I can say that without knocking on wood, because right now I am sick. It's sad because I have infected my sweet baby. :( We both are congested, and have a rattling breathing pattern and cough that, according to Will, rivals that of a Dementor from Azkaban. I just keep on making sure that Will is fortifying with Airborne - God bless that 2nd grade teacher! - while I get some extra vitamin c, zinc, garlic, and honey. Oh, and that nasty salt water rinse for the sore throat. Ugh!

Food, Glorious Food!

2008-02-04T14:26:00.000-05:00

Monday - Leftover Chicken Quesadilla Casserole
Tuesday - Breakfast for Dinner
Wednesday - Pizza out with our friends
Thursday - Grilled Salmon over Taboule, Lemony Asparagus with Pine Nuts
Friday - Chicken Pomedoro, Pear and Bleu Cheese Salad
Saturday - Tamales, Spanish Style Brown Rice, Beans
Sunday - Chicken Parmesan with Homemade Marinara over Whole Wheat Pasta, Baby Greens salad

My "breakfast for dinner" consists of buttered toast with jam or lemon curd (haven't had lemon curd?? Well, then you haven't lived...), and scrambled egg hash. You scramble the eggs, crumble some bacon, brown the leftover french fries from dinner the other night in the skillet, mix it all together, and sprinkle cheddar on top. Mmmmmm! So savory, so good. It's the perfect, cozy dinner to eat while watching a non-Titanic movie.

If you need a good marina recipe, I have one. And it's easy. I just have had a hard time lately trying to embed links - and most of these recipes are online. Does anyone have an easy shortcut? I feel so electronically illiterate.

Mixed Reviews

2008-02-03T22:14:00.000-05:00

We decided to have a date night - just the three of us - and I decided to write a review on it. Will get's 5 stars (he let me pick the restaurant and the movie!), and William get's 4.5 stars because he threw up on me a little.

The Movie: .5 stars - yes, point five

You know how everyone has that one (or more....) pop culture movie, that one that everyone else has seen, and you've never seen it?? You know what I'm talking about. My movie that falls in that categorie was Titanic. Now, I know the basic plot - the ship sinks - about how Jack and Rose fall in love, he dies, it's so tragic, yada-yada. I decided that it would be a good idea, to be an informed American, to know what's what pop-culturally speaking to finally break down and spend the three and a half hours to watch the whole thing. I'm not totally in the dark on this since I have started it about three times in the past and just fell asleep and never made it all the way through. Let me make this clear: it's CRAP! They don't love each other! They're just horny teenagers. There is no such thing as love at first sight, it's lust at first sight. What kind of crazy girl jumps out of the life boat (back onto the sinking ship) that all the other people are so desperate to get into, especially when she knows that there's not enough boats for everyone?? As if the water logged plot wasn't bad enough, then they show you all the frosty, blue-ish corpses floating in the water, looking like Helena Bonham Carter. And not just the dead adults - they show you the kids and the babies. It's sick and tragic. The sinking of the Titanic was the 9/11 of it's time, and they Hollywood-ized it and made it into a love story. It just seems so wrong, like turning United 93 or Schindler's List into a melodramatic love fest.

Yes, I know - I'm about ten years late writing this. But it really bothered me and Will is sick of hearing about it, and you're reading this because you want to. Ha!

The Restaurant: 4.5 stars
Pappa's Burger

Food (Taste, Temp, Presentation, Portion Siz) - 4 stars
Health Options - 4 stars
Bathroom (Changing Table - yes!) 5 stars
Cleanliness - 4.5 stars
Promptness - 4.5 stars
Noise level - 3 stars
Atmosphere - 5 stars

We split the Hickory Bacon Cheeseburger with the house fries, and added a side of their special Spicy Onion Rings. The food was quite good, albeit at tad cooled. It was a super busy Saturday night, and all things considered, we got our food quickly. The portions were big - we brought home leftovers even though we split it.
Will suggested that I add "Health Options" as part of the review to make it a review that would appeal a broader audience. In addition to the Greek Salad that the lady at the next table was eating (it looked good), they also offer large selection of lighter fare including Salad Nicoise. Who knew?
The bathroom was well stocked, had pop-up, prefolded napkins (I despise the "automatic" ones since they seem to despise me), and a delightful 1930's look about it. Black and white tiles (not in a cheesy diner sort of way), with large, worn brass fixtures everywhere. I also appreciate the generous stall sizes (Brother Jimmy's in NYC better be glad at I didn't review them with their despicably small stalls), and the nice, new changing table.
It was kinda noisy in there, which is normally a downer, but since I've got a two-month old in tow, it really works to my advantage since the buzz of a busy place seems to lull him to sleep.
The atmosphere was like Cracker Barrell meets ESPN Zone= country sports bar. Somehow it really works for them.

And if you go, you must try their Fresh Squeezed Lemonade! I dare say it's better than Chik-fil-A's.

Right Now.....

2008-02-01T13:28:00.000-05:00

....there is much rejoicing in our Humble home! My camera is BROKEN!

Let me explain....you see, for the last few days there has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth because I thought that over eight hundred photos were deleted by The-Brother-That-Must-Not-Be-Named. Over eight hundred photos that journal our experiences in Manhattan, Brooklyn, moving to Houston (who can forget the passed out, drunk moving guy??), Will's 30th birthday, our going away party, our last random NYC street fair, all of my baby bump pictures, moving in to our new place, painting our new place, W4 being born, his first Christmas, driving to Florida for Lindsay's wedding, THE FIRST TWO MONTHS OF HIS LIFE!!!

Yes, I DO realize that it is tempting fate to not upload my pictures, espcially so many photos of pivotal moments in our lives, but I was too busy taking them to upload them - that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

So, anyway, the camera is not registering that there is a memory card in it at all and the photos that got erased were just the ones on the internal memory - not a big deal. I can buy a new camera, but there's no way I could have gotten those photos back.

I'm off to upload!

Save on Gas!

2008-01-23T17:27:00.000-05:00

Will's grandpa sent this to me. Even if it wouldn't work it's still good for a smirky little smile.

The best way to stop using so much gas is to deport 11 million illegal immigrants! That would be 11 million less people using our gas. The price of gas would come down.....
Bring our troops home from Iraq to guard the Border....
When they catch an illegal immigrant crossing the border, hand him a canteen, rifle and some ammo and ship him to Iraq ...
Tell him if he wants to come to America then he must serve a tour in the military.... Give him a soldier's pay while he's there and tax him on it.....
After his tour, he will be allowed to become a citizen since he defended this country.....
He will also be registered to be taxed and be a legal patriot.....
This option will probably deter illegal immigration and provide a solution for the troops in Iraq and the aliens trying to make a better life for themselves.. ....
If they refuse to serve, ship them to Iraq anyway, without the canteen, rifle or ammo..... Problem solved.....

Menu Plan

2008-01-21T15:39:00.000-05:00

This seems to be a popular thing to post weekly, and it'll be a good way to keep me accountable for carrying through on one of my goals for this year. This year I want to eat at home more, and eat healthier - the latter usually happens naturally when preceded by the former. SO......

Monday - Breakfast for Dinner (scrambled eggs, skillet potaoes, whole wheat toast, and a sprinkling of cheese...mmm)
Tuesday - Potato Soup, Baby Greens Salad
Wednesday - King Ranch Chicken Casserole, Baby Greens Salad, and Brownies! - for our small group Bible study.
Thursday - Pad Thai, Creamed Spinach
Friday - Quiche-a-dilla Pie, Baby Greens Salad
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - Pancakes

What do you like to top your pancakes with?

Orlando, Florida

2008-01-17T20:43:00.000-05:00

The veritable carrot on front of the donkey for our first thousand miles was La Nouba, by Cirque Du Soleil. Ahhh-mazing! If you're ever in the Orlando area....no, make that the south-eastern US....you really ought to make the time to go. There are several Cirque shows (Las Vegas had like six or eight), and a few of them tour. I cannot vouch for the others, but this one is great!! Men, women, and kids would all love it. Our baby slept through most of it, and the few times he started to get fussy it was okay because it's loud enough to drown out the noise. This was my second time to see it, and it was just as breath-taking as the first time. Go!

Napping with Uncle Clayton - And On My Own

2008-01-17T07:40:00.000-05:00

New Years

2008-01-16T23:51:00.000-05:00

We spent New Years with my folks as well. It was a nice time watching movies and playing board games. I forgot to take pictures. But here's one of W4 napping in the grandparents bed on Jan 1st, and then later on in the afternoon downtown at Cole Park walking along the water, and riding in the double stroller with his Uncle Mitch.

Christmas: Take 3

2008-01-16T23:34:00.000-05:00

All bundled up and ready to go!

What a cute butt.

Totally worn out. I LOVE it!

Christmas: Take 2

2008-01-16T22:54:00.000-05:00

It's not easy opening presents.

All those gifts wore me out!

Time for a little R&R.

Sleeping on his Christmas quilt that was made just for him!

It looks like he's dancing - doncha think? Well, he's pooping.

Christmas Pics

2008-01-16T22:46:00.000-05:00

We spent Christmas with my folks.

In Summary: Good company. Good food. Good sleeping in. Good times.
Oh, and a LOT of presents.

Meeting Grandpa.

Snuggling with Daddy.

Being held by Uncle Mitch. Who is 3.

Not tolerating it so well this time.

Home!

2008-01-15T22:24:00.000-05:00

Today was what felt like my first official day home in nearly a month! We were in Corpus for Christmas, New Years, and the weekend after that for Will to go to a men's conference with my dad and brothers. I was there the whole time, and then still stayed on for a few days afterwards to help my dad out with a few things at his office. I arrived back to Houston last Wednesday in time to do a couple of loads of laundry and crash into bed before getting up the next day to pack and hit the road again. To where, you ask? A two thousand mile drive round-trip to Florida with a six-week old exclusively breast-fed infant, of course! Why? Because a good friend got married, and my pediatrician (actually it's the W4's pediatrician if you wanna get all technical) told me it is unwise to fly during the peak of the flu season. I'm pooped. And speaking of poop - well, no. I won't speak of the atrocities that happened to me at the hands of said baby. All over my hands. In the car.

Pictures to come!*

*Of the holidays - I wouldn't take pictures of that....

Star Performer

2007-12-12T13:36:00.000-05:00

I took my little sprout for his two-week check up. The doc said that normally babies lose weight in the first few days after birth, and by two weeks will gain most of it back. Well, this kid not only did that, but also gained a pound and three ounces! That's more than 10% of his body weight! He's in the 95 percentile for growth! --that means that he's bigger than 95% of American babies his age-- Not only did he gain weight, but he also is measuring an inch and a half taller. Who says babies that are exclusively breast-fed don't grow as fast as their Artificial Infant Food-fed counter parts??

Don't Be Jealous

2007-12-11T23:49:00.000-05:00

William's First Bath

He LOVES the water! Not even a single fuss!

Daddy Drying Him Off

Mama Snugging After Lotion - He just smells so good!

How Can You Resist???

Checking Out His Daddy

LOVE This Photo!

I can't hardly believe we managed to get so many with his eyes open!

One Week Old

2007-12-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

Yes, that IS what you think it is in the bag....

WHH IV's Firsts

2007-12-06T21:49:00.001-05:00

D-Day

2007-11-25T15:26:00.000-05:00

Here is the photo of me right before going to the hospital for the dreaded induction. I feel like a caricature of a person with as big as that belly is.

To be continued...

Chaos Theory

2007-11-24T20:41:00.000-05:00

Visiting The Fam and Friends in Corpus:

After Will and I came back to The Lone Star State I spent about a week and a half in Corpus Christi with my family whilst I waited for our wordly possessions to be delivered by the Movers from Hell - another story, for another time. Or never. (just don't ever hire Cross Country Van Lines) While in CC my good friend Melissa and I took my little brothers to bowl. It was so cute to see Mitchell pick up a ball that was a third of his body weight and hurl it down the lane. His aim was actually quite good, and he very nearly broke 100. I thought the pic was good since everyone was in a different solid colored shirt....

Quilt Show 2007/Robin's Visit:

My friends Robin and Tammy came to visit and go to the International Quilt Festival in early November.

Here's a few of my favorites from the quilt show:

This one I loooved.

This one shows our old stomping ground. You can practically see our old apartment!

Candy Land??

I like to call this one "Our Lady of The Quilt Show". It was about thirty feet tall.

This one is made from a single piece of black fabric, and the design is only from being quilted. Way cool.

Tammy's husband Pat's family lives in this area, so we got invited to dinner a couple of times including for Pat's birthday celebration. Good times.

Pat's mom lives in a gated community, and I think that all gated communities should have signs like this one:

Painting and Arranging/Lindsay's Visit:

My brothers Clayton and Austin came to visit/paint the apartment for me. Woo-hoo for free labor! While they were here another good friend was in town for work from New Hampshire and we got to catch up and she even threw on an old t-shirt and helped paint! Lindsay is super fun! (I will post more pics of the rest of the apartment later since several of you seem to be chomping at the bit- I have gotten many requests, I just haven't taken the time to take all the photos.....)

Before:

After:

New Church:

We have found a great church and great people who have already become friends. We were a little worried that it would be hard to get plugged in here after coming from such a great church in NYC with awesome friends, but FBC Houston has filled the bill. The very first Sunday we visited we were invited to go out to dinner afterwards with some of the other couples, and we even got a handwritten note in the mail a few days later from Pete and Cara welcoming us and telling us that they'd be praying for us during this tough transition period. We also have found a community group to go to every other Wednesday night and have really enjoyed getting to know all the couples there. Yay for new friends!

Our 3rd Anniversary:

For our anniversary Will and I went to The Melting Pot (fondue) for dinner. I could seriously live on their cheese fondue. So good. There was so much food, and it took about nearly three hours to make it through all the courses. Yum!

Thanksgiving:

Will's parents came to us for Thanksgiving since I couldn't really travel anywhere three days "past due". It was a nice, relaxed dinner. I made the turkey, rolls, cranberry relish, creamed spinach(in leu of green bean casserole), mashed potatoes, and pecan pie cookie bars. It was all so good!

Tree Decorating:

Will and I got a tree the day after Thanksgiving and continued our tradition of decorating it, eating Chinese food, and watching a Christmas movie (While You Were Sleeping). We decided on a small tree this year, and to not get out all the Christmas stuff since that would mean having to put it all away in a few weeks and I don't know if I'll feel like it. We got turquoise and green ornaments to decorate instead of our usual eclectic decor. I like it for this year, but next year I think we'll stick with the big tree and lots of different kinds of ornaments. I have to say that I really like the retro kind of look though, especially the bright blue icicle ornaments paired with the blue and green balls.

39 Weeks:

40Weeks:

Blog Tag

2007-11-10T19:25:00.000-05:00

I got tagged on Shawna's blog a few months ago, but I didn't re-post the item because I got busy and it made my brain hurt to try and think of eight different things. Now Amy has tagged me, and my excuses are running out. So here goes:

The Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their 8 things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Christian's 8 random habits/facts/confessions:

I lived in Iceland for three years while my dad was in the service.
I have eight, that's right, eight, brothers; and I can tell you their complete names and birthdays, including the year. But who has the time?
I was born at St. Luke's Hospital in Houston, my baby was intended to be born at St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital in NYC, but now he'll be born at the same hospital as me, and it's all a total coincidence.
I have lived in two states, four cities, five apartments, three NY burroughs, and had six jobs in the last three years. Thanks Will.
I have seen all the James Bond movies. In order.
I wear size 11 shoes (but my dad wears a men's 6.5!) - but I have nothing on my younger brother Clayton who has worn a 15 since he was 15.
I have visited more foreign countries than US states.
I am a fifth generation Texan.

I'm tagging Lindsay, Jayme, Lloyd, Misty, Ginger, Katy, Jon, and Jasmin.

Grocery List

2007-11-07T21:49:00.000-05:00

So, a friend of mine posted her top ten grocery items for the week, and why she buys them, and I thought that it was a fun idea. I didn't even know that some of the items even existed (i.e. Campbell's Mushroom Soup with Roasted Garlic - how did I not know of this??). I think it's a great way to tell people about some of your faves - how often to we discuss our grocery lists without feeling like a 1950's housewife?

Will and I have been trying to eat healthier since, after all, this is the only body that we get, and neither of us has the greatest genetic dispositions. Plus, it'll be nice to try and instill healthy habits in our kid. We're also trying to limit our dairy intake (not cut it out completely, just limit it), since milk is for baby cows, not humans....but that's for a whole other blog post.....

These are some of the items that I have bought in the last few weeks that I feel are worth mentioning:

Kashi Orchard Spice granola - Aaaaah-mazing! It has dried apple pieces, toasted pecans, raisins, FIBER, protein, and you can make it to lunch without having to have a snack at your desk (so I am told by Will - and that's saying something!)

Silk Very Vanilla soymilk - So much better than just regular vanilla; and it's fortified with extra calcium!

Fage Total yogurt, with cherries - A favorite dairy product that I cannot live without! It's the BEST greek yogurt that you can find anywhere (Whole Foods seems to be the only one that carries it here, but you can find it at any grocery or bodega in NYC), it's so rich and creamy, and as a fun aside, it is imported to Woodside Queens right around the corner from our old apartment.

Pomegranates - Hard to find here. While living in New York, they came to mean that it's fall to me. I got two at Kroger today after lamenting to Will that I cannot find them, he noticed his coworker eating one in the break room and she told him that Kroger has them on special. :)

Mixed baby greens - in the box, NOT in the bag. Bags of salad greens of any kind seem to go bad within a couple of days, and have less product in them than their nearly-same-priced plastic boxed counterparts.

Simply Lemonade - I add just a dash of it to my water every so often to make it more like a treat, since I am trying to train myself to drink more water. It's quite good.

Sweet Potatoes - Will's current obsession for lunch. I suggested to him that he add some yogurt to it to make it creamy, and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, and he eats it at least twice a week now.

Silk Alive! yogurt - It has live and active cultures (what you should be looking for in your yogurt), and it tastes like the real thing.

Gala Apples (or Honeycrisp) - The only kind of apples worth eating, for taste anyway.

Popcorn - Our friends, the Masons, showed us how to buy a 99 cent bag of popcorn that'll last you a dog's age, and put it in a pot with just enough oil to cover the bottom and pop it, add salt, and presto! You have yummy, waaay healthier, and fresher tasting popcorn than you've had in a long time. On the cheap. I'm all for that.

Attitude Adjustment

2007-11-05T18:00:00.000-05:00

It occurred to me earlier as I was thinking about blogging, that my blog has been a bit of a downer in the past few months. Looking back at some of my previous posts, I notice a trend; even when I am describing something good, I have found a way to twist it and compare it to something else that is unfortunate/uncomfortable/unlovely. What started out as an outlet for me to make light of some of the nightmare-ish situations that ultimately propelled us out of NYC, turned into an all-out bitchfest. And for that, dear readers, I am truly sorry.

The "Christmas season" (notice I said Christmas, not Holiday) lasts for nearly a month, but what about the Thanksgiving season? I think that now's the time to start getting into the Thanksgiving spirit, since we still have a few weeks yet before we need to start peeling yams and stuffing turkeys. For starters, to make up for being such a Debbie Downer for the last several months, I will list ten things I am thankful for:

1. Will. He is a dear, sweet, strong man whom I don't know how I ever lived without, and don't want to imagine ever having to.

2. Our baby-yet-to-be. It's so easy to get caught up in how crazy uncomfortable it is to be full-term pregnant and forget about what an enormous blessing it is. How many people are there out there, some who are friends and some who are strangers, who would love to be so ridiculously uncomfortable if it just meant that they would be having a new addition to their family?

3. Having a mother who rearranged her plans to make the eight hour drive, round-trip, to Houston to help me finish unpacking boxes. AND she arranged everything in my kitchen, and a lot of my closet.

4. My cat, The Traveler, who has an enormous personality, considers strangers to be friends that he has yet to meet, follows me from room-to-room (including the "necessary room"), loves to snuggle, and really doesn't shed much at at all.

5. Our Honda Odyssey. Living in NYC taught me a lot about being thankful for the things that I took for granted before I we made the move up there.

6. Our front-loading, nearly-new, fancy-schmancy washing machine and dryer that we got for a song on Craigslist, instead of having to go to the laundromat.

7. Central Air.

8. The maintenance guys who work for our complex who come out and fix things within a couple hours of being called, and are happy to help.

9. Free parking, and lots of it.

10. Mint M&Ms that just came out again this year at Target in anticipation of Christmas. (I really was tempted to put this as my number one, but I figured it was better to start with my husband - afterall, if he didn't work, I couldn't buy M&Ms) :)

The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.

-Eric Hoffer

What are you thankful for?

It's My Blog and I'll Vent If I Want To

2007-10-31T01:24:00.000-04:00

It is late - very late indeed. And I cannot sleep. I decided to blog since it has been entirely too long, and because I feel like venting and there's no one else up at this ungodly hour to listen to me. I am very tired, but cannot sleep; it's like a caffiene buzz or something.

My back hurts - all the time. My legs and feet cramp - continuously. My stomach hurts - unendingly. My allergies are insane - unrelentingly. My hips ache - ceaselessly. And this kid just won't settle down! Plus, our second-story bedroom window overlooks a parking garage, and apparently my neighbors (plural) who work the greaveyard shift and arrive home just as I am about to doze off at sometime between 3:30am and 5:45am do NOT know how to use their car alarms appropriately. Nor do their counterparts who leave for work between 7am and 8:30am when I am trying to get in a few more last winks before I haul my carcass out of bed.

I'm not due till the 19th, but I keep saying that I'd really like to be that pregnant woman that is the envy of all the others when she goes into labor three weeks early, naturally. I'm am tired of my beached-whale-ed-ness. This kid needs to seriously hurry up.

Our Music...

2007-10-06T19:57:00.000-04:00

...something I am quite content to leave behind.

You see, in Bushwick there is no such thing as personal choice in what you have to listen to. There is no "my music" or "your music", it's all our music. It doesn't matter the time of day - or night, but every single car that goes past has the windows down, the seat reclined, and the amazingly clear stereo system cranked up to the nth degree. And in between the cars are ambulances, and fire trucks with their waling sirens. And on the sidewalks are neighbors shouting at each other. Notice I said "at" not "to each other". The difference is not as subtle as the words on this screen.

We've been staying at Will's parents house just south of Houston for the last few days enjoying the sounds of silence. It's so nice and peaceful here. No traffic - ever. People nod or smile at you when they make eye contact, and they might even - GASP - say hello. Yes, it's good to be back in God's country.

Complete Overhaul and Alignment

2007-09-11T23:01:00.000-04:00

Well dear friends, we have had a HUGE answer to prayer. As some of you know, life in The Big Apple is not what it’s cracked up to be; especially when you’re not getting paid anywhere near market value for someone of your experience and mad skills.

Yep, Will got a new job today. He’s been looking for one since he started at The-Office-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named. He is to start at the new place on October 8th. The problem (for our New York friends) happens to be the bright side for our Texas friends and family. The new job is in Houston. We’re moving in three weeks. This is such a mixed blessing. Yes, it seems crazy to move when you’re 33 weeks pregnant, but it would be even crazier to turn down this offer. To further solidify the decision, everything, I mean everything has fallen into place. We have been given a car, moving expenses, our first choice of where to live (right down to our first choice in floorplan), and my insurance transfers without a hitch.

I guess I should get to packing. Again.

Seven Month Photo

2007-09-11T22:43:00.000-04:00

I hate this one. Hopefully I'll appreciate in the future, and not cringe the way I do now.

Birthing Classes and 30th Birthdays

2007-09-09T23:10:00.000-04:00

Sunday September 9th ushered Will into adulthood, and to commemorate the occasion he got to see his first ever video-taped birth, a-la-1973. Ew.

The day before, we had a birthday gathering/picnic on the Great Lawn in Central Park. Never has there been such Ultimate Frisbee dominance. It helps having a player who is seven months pregnant. Nobody has very high expectations, and they sure as heck don't want to be the ones guarding said prego chick.

After too much fun and sun, we got cleaned up and made our way to Max Brenner's Chocolate By The Bald Man. Yes, that's really the name of the restaurant. And it is crazy good. Will started out with a Chocotini; it looked really yummy. The food there is excellent, but the draw is in the chocolate. Go figure. We had the chocolate fondue for dessert, and it was heavenly! You really cannot order anything off of their menu that disappoints.

Our birthing class started on Sunday and I think it went really well. We've decided to go with the Bradley Method for Natural Childbirth, and since I already read the book cover-to-cover before the class, I really felt like I had a head start. Will is quickly catching up. Since he works, he doesn't have the time to devote to reading the way I do. He's halfway through the book though. And I love how he reminds me every night that I need a massage to to keep things loosened up. If that doesn't sell you ladies on The Bradley Method, then I don't have anything else to say.

Dorcs

2007-09-07T14:28:00.000-04:00

I like this video, it sums up my sentiments. I believe that Crocs should only be worn by nurses, gardeners, and small children (but only because they can put them on by themselves).

Why Can't I Just Lead a Normal Life?

2007-09-07T13:31:00.000-04:00

After a couple of days living in chaos and squallor, it was time to head off to my parents house in Texas to attend the baby shower that my aunt was throwing for me. Yay! Presents!....I mean - Yay! A chance to catch up with family and dear friends! (Both really)

It was a good time overall. I got to spend a week relaxing and forgetting that I had just moved to the Dominican Republic. I got to do some shopping, swimming, sleeping in, lounging while everyone got their chance to feel him kick (a few quadruple salchows too), and I even got a massage! I do miss Texas.

I was to fly out on Wednesday afternoon, connect in Dallas to my flight to NY, and be home in bed before midnight. I sat in the airport for an hour and a half only to find out that the first leg of my flight had been so delayed that I wouldn't be able to make it in time for my connection; which was the last flight of the night to the east coast. No big deal. I have dealt with bigger issues than that. THIS, I can handle. So I politely asked them to put me on the noon flight the next day in order to give me a wider margin for delays. The gate attendant was very polite and even asked me if I preferred a window or aisle seat. He gave me my first choice, and told me the seat numbers. I got to the airport the next day and when I got to the gate the new agent told me that I was on standby for the flight. Standby? Then why the heck did I get a seat number the day before?? I didn't make it on that flight. Or the next one around 1:30. I was still on standby for the 2:30 flight, and managed to get on that one; when they loaded it at 3:45. We sat on the plane for 45 minutes waiting to take off (no air conditioning, in South Texas, in August, mind you). Then they unloaded the whole plane because they weren't sure if and when they would actually be taking off. As soon as all the had passengers deplaned, they told everyone to get back on the plane because now we were allowed to take off. Once everyone was seated, they told everyone to get back off the plane. We got off as they were making an annoucement that the 2:30 flight had been delayed until 8pm. No way. I called my mom to come and get me again, and as I got off the phone with her, they said everyone BACK on the plane. This time we managed to take off. When we got to Dallas everything was so congested that we had to circle the airport for nearly an hour. My connection was to depart at 7:05. We landed at 7:05. I practically ran off the plane. My connection had also been delayed by an hour and a half. Whew! I made it! I made my way to the assigned gate, and even though the monitors were still saying that gate, there were other flights scheduled at it for the rest of the evening. Someone asked, and they told us it had been moved. No announcement. Just moved. So the crowd surged through the airport to our next gate. And after a while the same thing happened. Gate change, no notice. Then again it happened. Count them, that's three gate changes without notice, and the monitors were still saying the original gate. My 7:05 flight didn't leave until about 10pm. That flight went okay until 15 minutes before landing when the pilot let us know that we weren't going to be landing at La Guardia, but instead at JFK. And that he knew this before we took off, but just decided to spring it on us at the last minute. What about all the people who were having someone meet them? A lot of New Yorkers don't have cars. Those airports aren't especially close to each other. It is a big deal. And I don't even know how to tell a cab driver how to get me from JFK to my new place in Brooklyn! Cab drivers only know their way around Manhattan, they don't know their way around the other buroughs.

We landed at 1:45 AM. Even though we were the only flight landing that late, it still took over an hour before the baggage carousel began to move. And fill up. Without my bags. Then another one on the other side of the baggage claim sprung to life. And fill up. Without my bags. Then the other one started again. Again, it filled up. Without my bags. It was like de ja vu. The crowd surging back and forth with no announcements being made. Count them, that was three moves again. By this time it is 3AM, and I have to go wait in line for baggage services behind about fifty other people who don't have bags, and there is only one guy behind the counter! I am about to pass out at this point from exaustion, starvation, and just pure bewilderment at the whole situation. To help wind this long story to a close, I woke up Will to have him go online and get me some driving directions to our place to give to the cab driver, and managed to get home by 5 AM.

One more detail: As I was waiting for my bags, a gypsy cab driver who was loitering around to get a fare (BTW- it's illegal to do so) was trying to help me with my bag so that I would take his cab. I explained that my bag hadn't arrived and that I wouldn't be needing his services. He followed me to baggage services and fended off the other gypsy cab drivers by telling them that I was his. I told him no. He kept trying to tell me that he was the best deal (for $35? please....), and that a yellow cab to Bushwick would be at least $45. Again, I told him no and that he needed to back off. Then I just ignored him. He hung around and waited the whole time I was at baggage services. He followed me outside to the taxi stand and was still trying to get me to go with him. I got into a yellow cab, and he didn't even walk away until we pulled away from the curb. And I paid the legitimate yellow cab driver $20 on the meter. I don't take crap from those guys. I know better. This is not my first time to the rodeo.

All this, and I am nearly seven months pregnant.

PS- I didn't get my bags for another two days.

The Saga Continues

2007-08-31T16:59:00.000-04:00

We catch up with our heroine in NYC after her last post in the Palmquist kitchen....

After a nice few days in Portland, getting to catch up with Rachelle (the one who introduced Will and I to Anna from across the US), and just have a few days to relax, it was back to the Big Apple. I took the Red Eye flight back since that is the only option that JetBlue has for the Portland to JFK flight. For a Red Eye, it wasn't too bad. The attendants were all super nice since they all know Anna and love her, and since I happen to be six months pregnant and homeless. They found it amusing. I am a high-rolling homeless person. Forget riding the bus or the subway all day; I fly JetBlue!

On Friday morning, once I got back, after a ridiculous cab ride home (what kind of cab driver exits the highway and stops so he can get a newspaper in the middle of a fare?!? And refuses to put the air conditioner on--but instead rolls the windows down for ventilation at highway speed?), I slept most of the day away. It was great. Will and I saw Becoming Jane that night, and I have to say that it wasn't exactly what I expected. Semi-spoiler= not a happy ending. I just want fluff! Is that too much to ask for?

Saturday evening Will and I were to babysit for some friends. He met me there a little later though because he was meeting with a family from Jersey who wanted to adopt our dog. **sniffs** It was really hard to come to the decision to give him up, but it is for the best. We would walk him at least two miles per day, and he still had more energy to expend. A one bedroom apartment is okay if you have the energy to get out and wear him out, but I just don't anymore. When I first got him I was training for a 60 mile walk for breast cancer, so he was thoroughly worn out daily. Two miles daily just wasn't cutting it for him. The girl that chose him picked him out online from a list of eligible doggies, and she loved him the best. She's about 10 years old, a dog fanatic, an only child, and has a backyard that is over an acre in size. When Will called me while I was babysitting Jackson to let me know that they were going to take him right then and there, and asked if I needed to say goodbye, I heard Gringo bark and I just started bawling. I told him no. It would just make it harder. I got off the phone and Jackson (who is nearly three years old) understood that I was upset, and gently asked me why. I explained it, he thought about it for a moment, and then with a sudden look of inspiration said "look at the bright side; I'm not sad!". Then he asked me if we should go around the block to get some fresh air since that would probably help me to feel better. He's so cute.

After Jackson went to bed, and Will arrived, we settled down to watch some people try to flip a house in HGTV, and it makes me very glad not to own anything. JoAnn, the landlady from hell, called in the middle to confirm that we would be coming by the next day to move into the apartment. Will had the speakerphone on so I heard all the details being confirmed. She and her husband were all moved in upstairs but for a few items that would make their way upstairs the next morning. Will told her that he was going to the storage unit with some friends to pick up our stuff, and would arrive in the early afternoon. They got all the details ironed out. Everything is going to work out fine - right??

Sunday morning Will got on the subway and rode an hour and a half to the Budget Rental truck place to get the truck that he had reserved for us a few days before. He got there about an hour after their posted opening time. Nobody was there. He called the national number and the customer service operator told him that is wasn't her fault he wasn't there. "Maybe he died. Maybe his mother died. It's not my job to make sure he gets to work on time!" Can you believe that? Then she informed Will that he would be charged a no-show fee for not picking up the truck. Yes, you read that correctly.

Will got a U-Haul truck and went to the unit to meet Jon and Lloyd to load 'er up, and move 'er out. While they were loading, JoAnn - remember her?? - called to let him know that we would indeed not be moving into her place since they still weren't moved out. Nothing, nada, had been moved upstairs, for the upstairs wasn't yet complete. So they unloaded what they had, grabbed a Village Voice, and proceeded to call some listings to see if there was anyone willing to rent to us the very same day; in the middle of the month, in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. Will found a guy willing to show him a place immediately, and even though the man was skeptical, he decided to exchange the keys for cash when Will told him our story. He kept saying that we're doing this backwards, no contract signed, no credit check, but he understood our dire situation. Bless him. So....back to the storage unit to load, onward to the new place, and it all got unloaded be 11pm Sunday night. A MILLION THANKS TO JON AND LLOYD! They were such troopers. And did I mention that they had just moved themselves the day before to a new apartment??

Just two days in the new place before I headed to Texas for a baby shower given by my aunt at my parents house in Corpus Christi. More on that next time. I need to go to the grocery store before it closes in a couple of hours. All I have in the cabinets is Goldfish, Tricuits, and cashews. The fridge has jelly, bread, milk, and eggs (although I haven't the slightest clue where any dishes, glasses, pots, pans, or silverware are). I think that tonight for dinner I will be serving my specialty - Lean Cuisine.

Westward Ho!

2007-08-15T02:12:00.000-04:00

SO.......Our apartment flooded. Will's co-worker JoAnn told him she had a place for us to move into. She and her husband had been living in the first floor of her three-family-home (one apt per floor). They had recently moved into the second floor apartment. They were trying to lease the one that they had moved out of. We saw it a while back when they were still in it. Nice place. Big apartment. Big backyard with a gazebo and grape vines on the fence. Cheap rent. No contract. No credit check fees. Nothing but first months rent. Perfect situation. She said on Tuesday that we could be in on Sunday. No problems. Will saw her at work everyday last week. He talked to her and confirmed these details. He confirmed them on Saturday night. We had friends come to our place on Sunday morning and help load the rental truck that cost us nearly $200. We started to make our way to Brooklyn. We were about a mile away. With all of our worldly pocessions in the truck with us. JoAnn called. She said that there was no way that we could move in today. The apartment wasn't ready. Not just unready. They were STILL LIVING IN IT! We couldn't even have our friends move all their crap upstairs. The place upstairs was having massive construction work done. No kitchen cabinets or appliances. No walls between some of the rooms. No floor in some of the rooms. Five layers of floors in the other rooms waiting to be ripped up. Hardwood waiting to go down after that. Crown molding needing replacing. Walls needing painting. Trash/rubble needing a dumpster to be hauled to. Unlivable. Unbelievable. Unacceptable.

She SAYS it'll be ready by next Sunday. Hmpf!

SO....We took all of our stuff to a storage unit and I pulled out what I could think of that I might possibly need for the rest of the week while we camp out. We spent the night with a friend who graciously told us that they would put us up until we figured out what we needed to do; even though they don't like dogs, and we've got a 35 pounder.

The next day as I was pondering what the heck I am going to for the rest of this week (and potentially the one after that since we've already established JoAnn's lack of credibility) when my friend Anna, the JetBlue flight attendant, called to see if I wanted to hang out with her while she was in town for a few hours. I explained that we're homeless, and I'm in Forest Hills, Queens. She said that she's going to visit her parents for a few days in Portland, Oregon, and asked if I wanted to come along. I said "YES!". I immediately packed my bags and headed to JFK. Got on a plane so quick I didn't even have time to grab dinner. I am now in her parent's kitchen typing away my saga on their laptop while Will is camping out with our pets in our old place (that's still ours for the rest of the month). Let's just pray that Manhattan isn't expecting rain this week. Our buckets and towels are in the storage unit in Brooklyn.

We're Moving to Siberia!

2007-08-10T12:59:00.000-04:00

....or we might as well be....

I have been on the verge of a nervous breakdown. At about 6am on Wednesday, after getting about three and a half hours of sleep, I got up to join Will who had been awakened a half hour before by rain pouring into our apartment. It was worse this time than the last few. We've contacted our landlord several times about the leakage that occurs when it rains, and he has yet to do anything about it. This time, we had NINE (count them: nine!) leaks. Just to clarify: when I say "leaks", I mean streams! None of that sissy dripping that you probably imagine; we're talking big, burly, man-streams of filthy water. This time they were also coming in through the ceiling and the plaster walls, so much so that you could see the walls starting to buckle. And they have progressed into the bathroom as well. One more like this and the ceiling and walls are gonna come down....In addition, the rain was coming in around the electrical outlet where we have our air conditioner plugged in (central air conditioning, oh how I miss thee!), and all over the electrical cords that we have to run from the kitchen to the bathroom to plug in razors and hairdryer/flat iron (no outlet in there), and the one that connects our microwave (it goes through the door and gets plugged in the bedroom). I have no idea what we're going to do. We threatened our landlord (throwing around that Will's an attorney seemed to light a tiny fire under him), called 311(City Services), and we're still nowhere. 311 connected us with 911 since it was so close to the electricity, but 911 basically said, "gee that's too bad. Welcome to New York"---after we had been on hold for over ten minutes--for 911!!!!!!! This is like living in some ridiculously expensive communist country--without the free health care! We pay nearly $2000 a month for what? He doesn't even make sure that we have a roof over our head! I am afraid that it's going to be leaking so bad that I when I get out of bed one morning after a good rain, I will step in a puddle and electrocute myself and the baby. Extremist attitude? I think not. Sooo....on Sunday our sweet friends have told us that they will drop their plans and help us move out to Brooklyn. I will have no life.

Floods and Infernos

2007-08-04T18:57:00.000-04:00

A couple of days ago I was boiling some pasta for dinner when all of a sudden flames leapt up from my belly to my face. I apparently have no concept of how much I’ve grown “out front” and had leaned a tad to close to our gas stove. I was wearing a light-weight cotton top that was quickly “engulfed”—and it was my favorite shirt no less! I quickly started slapping and rubbing my belly to put out the flames (not easy when you have to tilt your head back so as not to catch your hair or FACE on fire!). Pieces of flaming cotton were swirling in the air and fizzling out, and I managed to get the flames out rather quickly, and amazingly did not sustain any burns at all. The shirt is dead though. **sniffs** It lived a good life. What was once the part that covered my belly has now gone on to were all good shirts go.

Last night (Friday) around 11:30, just after taking the dog out for his nightly constitutional, we came back early because it had started to rain, and our poor puppy does NOT like to be out in the rain. We sat down to watch a little TV before turning in, and after a couple of minutes Will exclaimed “Gringo is peeing in the kitchen!”. Now, I knew that he wasn’t doing such a thing (and that he wouldn’t do such a thing) because he was laying next to me on the floor in the living room. Will hopped up from the sofa to find a leak in the ceiling between the kitchen and the bathroom. Not just a steady drip, but more like if someone had a water bottle with a spout and was squeezing it out hard. It was a STREAM coming down from the door jam. He quickly grabbed a bucket to put under it while I used a beach towel to attempt to soak up the pond we like to call our kitchen. As soon as Will put a bucket down, the stream turned into a three foot wide waterfall that spanned the width of the doorway. No jokes, no exaggeration. A waterfall. Then the ceiling in the middle of our kitchen started to leaking, and this waterfall was about two feet wide. We grabbed more towels. Then a THIRD stream (just another hard-squeezed-water-bottle-force stream, not another fall) started by the front door. I’m glad that I thought to grab the video camera because this is a lease breaker; in addition to the elevator lights being out for eight days last month, and it taking three months for our shattered glass back door to be fixed last year (that time we gave up and had it fixed and just took it out of our rent check after him telling us that he had someone coming out tomorrow—for three months). We are so out.

It has not been a good week.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

2007-08-04T13:37:00.000-04:00

Will got another opportunity to go to a city for a quick court date (but still get to stay overnight!) that I've never visited. His boss let him know that he had a court appearance to make with a client on Thursday morning, and that he could have Friday off if he wanted. Woohoo! Now, we've figured out how to "work the system". Will's car rental, gas, meals, and hotel are all paid for, so I can tag along and if we split meals, then it's all paid for by his boss!

So, at 4:30am last Thursday we headed off to Boston! It was really easy getting out of the city that early, and the highway was clear for most of the trip. Will did his work thing while I slept in the car, and then we had the rest of the day to explore. Hotels.com got us an AMAZINGly good deal for the Omni Parker House Hotel, which is the oldest constantly functioning hotel in the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ho Chi Minh (yes, THE Ho Chi Minh) both worked there as bus boys in the restaurant. It is also the birthplace of Boston Cream Pie (it was just okay). And if you've ever seen The Shining, the hallway that the kid rides the tricycle down is in this very hotel (The Parker House is Stephen King's favorite hotel in Boston...eww).

We took the walking 90 minute Ghost Tour, and I have to say that it is worth it! It wasn't spooky, so it's definately family-friendly, it just gives you more interesting details than the "normal" historical tours (the history books certainly don't tell you that the night that John Hancock died grave robbers came and dug him up, not for his whole body, just his hands....). The link that I embedded is for the original ghost tour. This guy did all the research and put it all together, and the other companies that offer similar tours just copied his; and this is the only one that actually goes inside the places instead of just standing on the sidewalk and telling you about it.

After the tour, Will and I went to the Cheers Bar for dinner and beer (for Will, not me). The food was actually really good, and so was their seasonal beer (apparently). The service was good too. That's something I haven't come to expect anymore.

On Friday, we slept in a little, and spent the rest of the day doing an abreviated version of the Freedom Trail, going around The Common (their version of Central Park), The Garden, Faneuil Hall (say it like Daniel with an "f"), and ate lunch at Durgin Park Restaurant which is over 130 years old. The food was just so-so, it's really just to say that you've eaten there. I DO NOT recommend the Indian Pudding, which is the house specialty. It's like molassas flavored grits, with lots of pumkin pie seasonings. And it's not air conditioned in there. Imagine sweat dripping from every part of you and eating that stuff. No thanks.

While we were at The Garden across from The Common, we went to see the swan boats on the pond, and the swans that are named Romeo and Juliet. It sounds so sweet until you find out that the city of Boston bought these swans only to find out after Juliette laid eggs and they were not fertilized, that they should be named Romea and Juliet. Yep, they're both girls. The eggs have been there for nearly a year now.

Outside Durgin Park there were some amazing gymnasts/contortionists/street performers. They were young, English siblings. Their act involved a ten foot tall unicycle, and lots of practice. I was thoroughly impressed. The break dancers in NYC have nothing on these guys (and gal).

We headed out shortly thereafter to make the trek back down the coast by way of WalMart in Quincy, MA. Now if you're a loyal reader you'll know how I feel about WalMart. If you're not, then that's just too bad. I'm not explaining it again.

The next day, back in NY, we still had use of the car for a few hours, so we took it out to Long Island and went to IKEA and Target (the next best cheap shopping after Walmart, but they have cooler stuff).

It was a good weekend.

There's a Teeny Weeny Peeny

2007-07-05T23:52:00.000-04:00

Yes, blog readers, it is a BOY! William Henry Humble IV! Due Thanksgiving. To make it a special event, we decided to have the doctor write it down so we could go to dinner and open it like a present. We went to Tavern on the Green, and it was really nice. We sat on the garden patio overlooking Central Park, under a canopy of elm trees with ornate lanterns hanging from them. From our table there was a good view of the outdoor dance floor, and the older folks who were struttin' their stuff. It was really cute!

We have a sonogram close up of his business, but you really have to know what you're looking at, so I will just post this one of his profile. He has a strong nose in this one. I hope it's a good one.

We're still going back and forth over an appropriate nickname for him though. Not that it matters, but what do you think? Feel free to hit the comment button provided at the end and tell me which option you prefer.
#1. Liam
#2. Hank
I originally thought that I wanted Liam (the last four letters of WilLIAM), but after noticing a few celebrities naming their children that (after I picked it out first!), I decided that it might become an "it" name, and that would just suck. Hank is a nickname for Henry, and I think that it is really cute for a kid, and he can carry it to adulthood. I also like that it is common enough to be recognizable, but not too common anymore. Will thinks it's too "country", but what about Hank Aaron? Or Hank Azaria?
We'll just overlook Hank Williams, Hank Williams Jr., and Hank Williams III, okay?

Let Freedom Rain

2007-07-04T22:28:00.000-04:00

...yes, rain; as in pour. But it can reign too.

Happy Independance Day! We celebrated by sleeping till noon (I think that it will be many years to come before I will be able to say that again!), and having some of our friends over for burgers before we headed one block over to the river to watch the Macy's fireworks. It was sprinkling on and off today, but it decided to come ON when we were just heading out to see the show. Fortunately, the fireworks weren't cancelled, but I should have thought better of wearing a white shirt......oops. Oh, well; I didn't give anyone a free show, but I had to make extra sure not to get dripped on by the sea of umbrellas. Another random tidbit for you: it is 67 degrees outside! In July! Global warming- my arse!

JR, Jud, Ginger, Steve, Becky, Megan, and the other Will.

Part of Becky , Megan and Will, and Me.

Just the three of us.

The show was good, but about halfway through, the smoke in the air was so thick that we only got to see about a quarter of the grand finale. That's a lot of smoke to obliterate some serious fireworks! Believe it or not, my camera has a fireworks setting, but this was the best photo I could get even though I was trying to keep as still as possible.

View of the fireworks over the 59th Street/Queensbourgh Bridge from the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Miami: A Sunny Place for Shady People

2007-06-19T22:57:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago Will won a particularly difficult case at work that his boss didn't really have high hopes for. Since Mr. Wilens was especially pleased, and in an unusually good and generous mood, he told Will that he could bring me with him on his next out of town trip, take an extra day or two for leisure, and my expenses would be paid as well. The next trip was to Miami! We went down last Wednesday morning, and came back on Saturday night. To sum up South Florida: I don't like it.

1. The beaches are comparable to the one that I grew up near in Corpus Christi, but Corpus beaches are actually nicer; and it's waaaay cheaper there. But The Florida beaches are sooo much better than NY beaches.

2. Every few minutes while driving you see about five cop cars surrounding some black guy and searching his truck, or pinning him to the sidewalk, or both. Racial profiling, anyone?? There doesn't seem to be a middle class, you're either dirt-poor or ridiculously wealthy.

3. Traffic is atrocious; congested, and when it's not, people tail-gate going 85 mph. Arg.

4. Since it is "tropical" it thunderstorms all the time. You will be driving down the road and see the line on the concrete where the rain starts, and it hits like a wall. Lots of thunder, lightning, and torrential downpour. One minute it's beautiful blue sky, and the next it is pitch black overhead:

Here is a photo of the drizzle on the way to the airport. This is just after the window was cleared by the wiper:

So here is the summary of our trip:

Wednesday: we left LGA in the late morning, and arrived at MIA late in the afternoon after many typical airport delays. We went on a date to Wal-Mart that evening. Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart; Oh, how I miss thee! I never thought I would utter those words, but there is just nothing like going to an oversized, American discount store after living in Manhattan and only shopping at stores no larger than the average 7 Eleven, and paying up to five times as much for the same darn thing!

Thursday: Will had to work for a few hours in the morning while I slept in and ordered room service (on the company bill!) while watching Dr. Phil. Once he got back, we spent the afternoon on the beach and then decided to head into Miami to check out a place that Mr. Big Boss recommended for the superior stone crab entree. Apparently, this place invented the stone crab concept (I had no idea what they were either, so don't feel stupid). Since we were actually staying at a resort up on Pompano Beach (about 25 miles north of Miami), we had to make the would-be short jaunt down Interstate 95. Half way between, we noticed the tell-tale thumpety-thump of a flat tire. Ugh. We pulled over, called Enterprise, and found out that the expected wait would be 90 minutes for someone to come change the spare for us, or we could just do it ourselves. So we did. Or at least tried to. The lug wrench that comes with the spare was stripped, so it just slid right around the lug nuts. A Florida Highway Ranger was driving along and pulled over to help us change it. Actually, he changed it while we watched. That might be the only nice thing about Florida besides the beaches. But I digress... The tire, as it turns out, looked older than I am when it finally came off. The treads were worn down to nothing in places, and we could see exactly where it had worn through to the cords which caused the flat. OUTRAGEOUS!! Florida is rainy alllllll the time! If we had needed to stop quickly, we would have just slid right on down the road! But wait! There's more! Once we pulled back into traffic to make our way to the rental place to get our replacement, going the maximum donut speed of 40 mph, with our hazard lights on, in the far right lane of all six lanes, there were people (or, rather: Floridians) running up on our tail, honking, and shaking their fists at us. Then it happened: A guy waited too long to swerve over, and he started a chain reaction of all the other drivers near him doing the same thing. Picture all this happening on a busy six lane interstate. The guy that was behind him was driving a minivan and he swerved at the same time. And then swerved again to not hit the first guy. So even more people started swerving. All this is playing out next to, or directly in front of us. The minivan starts fishtailing all over the place and going up on two wheels as it careens. At this point there are drivers going off into the grass at full speed to avoid the imminent catastrophe. Then the minivan driver whipped the steering wheel a little too forcefully and ended up rolling side over side down the highway facing oncoming traffic. The van landed on it's passenger side. We could hear all the tires in front, beside, and behind us screeching. My immediate thought is that minivans=babies, rollovers=babies die. I lost it. I was hysterical. We pulled over to see what we could do, but before we could think, the driver hopped out of the drivers window and looked around with a 'Damn. Now what?' expression on his face. He then tried to push the van back up, and a couple of other guys got out to help him. Bottom line: no one else was in the van, no one was hurt, the van got pushed to the side of the road by the men, no eighteen wheelers came crashing into the side of the van pushing it down the highway, nothing blew up, and no other cars were involved. But it was still the scariest thing I have ever seen, and I still had chest pains the next day. Once we got to Enterprise, and I weepily (and angrily at parts) told them the story of what happened because of their half-assed basic inspection, the nearly mass death and destruction, the manager told us she would comp our bill. Then she looked at it, realized it was for three whole days, and told us never mind, just one day off our bill. Wow. A whole $27 and change. She then told her employee to take us out and give us any replacement car on the lot that we wanted, then whispered to him "but not any luxury vehicles, or SUV's". Oh, goody. That leaves compact, or sub-compact! Gosh, I'm glad to see that they are remorseful for nearly killing a pregnant woman and 30-odd other people. Enterprise SUCKS. I am soooo writing to their corporate office and telling them exactly what I think of them.

After the fiasco, it was past 10 o'clock by the time we got back on the highway in our new vehicle. The crab place was already closed, so we drove around South Beach for about an hour looking for a place that was open. We ended up at Prima Pasta and I have to say, that is one great place. Nice, but low-key. We even asked to talk to the manager because the service was so good. The food was also outstanding. We will definitely go back there if we ever make it back to Miami.

Friday: we spent the day at the beach, and lounged by the pool. I guess "sweat-proof" and water proof are not one and the same when it comes to sunscreen. Or maybe it was sand exfoliation. Either way, we ended up with creative tans, err, burns. The beach behind the hotel had sea turtle nests, so that was pretty cool.

In the photo below our feet are at the high tide point. It was low tide at the time.

My hunky man.

Since we didn't make it to Joe's Stone Crabs the night before, we decided to try again. Don't let the name fool you. This is no Joe's Crab Shack. The matre 'd wears a tuxedo, and so do the waiters. The food is a la carte. And the prices reflect it. We ordered the stone crabs, of course, but they were just okay. I don't like having to work for my food, and also since they were already cracked for us, there were tiny shards of shell in the meat that you don't notice till you bite down and feel like you're breaking a tooth. The side dishes were excellent though. The crab cakes and dip, the grilled tomatoes, and the lyonnaise are what we ordered. And the portions were large. We didn't even finish half of our food. The service was acceptable considering how busy it was. PS- I look like a blimp in the photo below, but I'm not wearing black, just for you, SEM!

Saturday: we checked out, spent a few hours wasting time at Barnes and Noble, Michael's craft store, and Kmart. I picked up a present for Gringo at Kmart. He is enjoying it in the picture below. Not exactly a kitschy souvenir, but he loves it, and that's what counts. Oh, and that it's fourteen inches long. Yes, size does matter.

Celebrity Schmorgasbord

2007-06-11T22:54:00.000-04:00

Tonight we went to the world premiere of the major motion picture Evening. The movie stars Toni Collette (my favorite!), Claire Danes, Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Natasha Richardson, Patrick Wilson, Hugh Dancy, Mamie Gummer (Meryl Streep's daughter), and Eileen Atkins. They were all there except for Toni :(

Before the show started, we were milling about in the lobby (waiting for the stars to show up) , and as I was walking over to get a soda Ang Lee bumped into me! Ah! And when I went to the bathroom before the show, I peed in the stall next to his daughter. My friend Shawna got tickets too, and she managed to splash Mamie Gummer with water while she was washing her hands in the ladies room. And Will was at the urinal next to Patrick Wilson. As we were leaving, I was walking along next to Donna Karan (DKNY), it was body-to-body in there, and Bernadette Peters was right behind me. The rest of the people that I saw and recognized are listed in no particular order below. There were so many famous peope there that I am sure I'm leaving a lot of them out. Feel free to go to www.imdb.com to figure out who these people are.

Christie Turlington
Regis Philbin and his wife
Molly Shannon
Rachel Weisz
Andrew Keegan
Rosemary Harris
A guy from Law and Order

Flock of Seagulls

2007-06-06T22:45:00.000-04:00

I am starting to get really impressed with Will's descriptors when we're people watching. Okay, okay; people bashing....but I digress. Anyway, the other day he pointed out a girl's hair (discreetly I might add; he's come a long way in that department as well) and said that she looked like she was from Australia circa 1990. Think the "cool girls" in the film Muriel's Wedding. Sorry no photo.

But then the other night we were out to eat and he spotted a waiter that he described as having "Flock of Seagulls hair". Not only does that mean that his limited musical repertoire is expanding, but so are his pop culture descriptors. My baby is growing up!

Sorry the photo isn't better, but I was pretending to take a picture of my friends who were sitting across the table from me so that I could discreetly zoom in on him unawares.

Miscellaneous or The Longest Post EVER

2007-06-04T17:48:00.000-04:00

Here are a few random things that I have meant to blog about. Some for a couple of weeks, and some for just a day or two....

1. Our new mattress: We have been sleeping on a mostly comfortable mattress since we've been married. I got it as a teenager from my brother when he moved out. He had gotten it from my other brother. He had gotten it from my grandma who used it in her guest room, after she got a new bed when she got divorced circa 1985. It had been hers and her ex-husband's for a few years. I'm not sure where they got it. It has a rich history. But fast-forward to May 2007. We went to look at mattresses last month to get an idea of how much we would have to plunk down in exchange for a mattress that doesn't make me sneeze an average of four times when I get into bed because of inevitably stirring up whatever lived on/in it. We won't even discuss my lower, mid, and upper back, ahem, issues. We layed on just about every piece of merchandise in the Sleepy's Mattress store, and finally decided on a King's Down pillow top that would be a mere $1500...including delivery! But wait, there's more! The manager let us know that he really appreciated us, and would make us a special offer. He brought the price down to roughly a thousand if we promised to put down a fully refundable down payment. So we did. After all, who is going to turn down a full third off the original price? We are what you would call savvy shoppers. Since we weren't ready to put down the rest of the money yet (read: needed to save a little from the next couple of paychecks), we took it easy and went on with our life. In the weeks to come, the competitor, Rockaway Bedding decided to close it's doors for good, and drastically slash prices. So we went in, and to make a long story a tad shorter, we started a bidding war between the two. We ended up paying just over $500 for the mattress we picked out to begin with. Two thirds off the original price! Yep, yep, I know; savvy shoppers. One minor detail: You might have to make a running leap to get onto it though, or just use my new, handy-dandy bedside step ladder. The new mattress and box spring together are about eight inches taller than the old one; and the old one was tall to begin with since we have risers on the legs of the bed to increase storage space. Here's a picture of Will standing next to the bed naked (the bed, not him), and one of it made. I included the naked picture so that you could see that it's not just a super fluffy duvet or something.

And the fully covered picture:

2. Last year I planted some flower seeds in the flower boxes and pots on our balcony. I didn't bother to change out the soil that was already in them though. In retrospect, that might have been an error on my part. Allow me to explain: when we moved in, the pots and boxes were full of an assortment of cigarette butts, and probably the ash as well. We joked that we might have to get a carton of smokes and go out and light one and stick it in the soil every few hours so that the soil wouldn't go into withdrawal and kill our plants. Needless to say, they didn't exactly flourish. I am by no means a gardener. This whole buying dirt thing has always baffled me. Why do it; there should be enough to go around without having to buy it! It seems to make a little more sense now though. So I went out and spent real money on good, clean dirt. See, I decided that this year I was going to try and grow some small vegetables and herbs. I have been diligent to feed them and water them, and they are growing! I planted the seeds a few weeks ago, and already you can kind of tell what some of them are. I have spinach, lettuce, chives, oregano, green beans (these are super easy to grow), and little finger carrots. I am thinking about buy a tomato plant too. Here's some photos of my two week old spinach, lettuce, and green beans.

3. I have spent the last few weeks helping to plan a baby shower for my friend Shawna that we had on Saturday. She is having a little girl in just a few weeks! The shower really turned out great. Lots of people, lots of food, lots of fun conversations, and LOTS of presents!

4. After the shower I went home for a much needed nap (running on four hours of sleep, and three the night before), and then we went down to Pier 17 at the Fulton Street Seaport for dinner, and salsa dancing with friends. Our friend Jasmin (yahs-Meen) is going back to London later this week. :( The food was good, and the dancing looked fun, but there were a few sad tears towards the end of the evening.

5. On Sunday after church, and another sorely needed nap, we moseyed on over to the 2nd Ave street fair. In the summer in NYC each of the avenues have a street fare on a given Sunday. They include food (if you can call funnel cakes, hot dogs, crepes, and gyros food) for sale, raffles for all kinds of things (like Broadway tickets!!), usually really good squeezed fresh while you wait lemonade, and vendors of all sorts; everything from dollar store type goods, to homemade candles, to jewelry, to fresh fruits and veggies. We were only there for about 45 minutes before it got rained out. I took this photo as we were leaving. Too bad I didn't take one earlier, because the balloons made a nice big arch, but got beaten down by the rain.

Your Mother is a Hampster, and Your Father Smells of Elderberries

2007-05-28T22:07:00.001-04:00

Late Thursday night...oh, who am I kidding...Friday morning around 1am our good friend Lindsay came back to NYC for a visit (she moved to Florida last year), and brought her fiance Stephen. It was great to finally get to meet him, and see the ring. Gorgeous.

We spent some of the weekend going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, and fun places down in the West Village. We went to one of the last pizza parlors that uses coal burning ovens. Since they are such a fire hazard, there are less than ten in all of Manhattan, even though that's the best way to make a pizza (far better than "brick oven" and all that jazz). Heavenly. The front window was full of picutes of celebrities eating there. We got there early enough to be seated right away, but by 7pm the line to get in was wrapped around the block! Right next door is one of the most amazing gellato places ever. The service was amazingly fast, and the gellato was also, heavenly.

On Sunday afternoon we went to the box office for the Broadway show Spamalot and actaully got some really discounted tickets for great seats since it was the last minute. The show was awesome! For those of you not in the know, it is a take off on Monty Python and The Search for The Holy Grail. It also has a lot of original bits to keep you guessing, but still includes all the great parts from the film, and since it is a musical, and the movie wasn't, it has an original score of some really good songs.

After the show, we went to Little India (didn't even know that there was one, eh?) and had dinner at Panna II. The decor is, um, original. The interior walls are covered in metalic wrapping paper in all the colors of the rainbow, and the ceiling is draped in Christmas lights, chili pepper lights, disco lights (that turn on when it's time to sing the birthday song), and every imaginable sparkly Christmas tree decor ever. And then some. The food was good too.

We slept in this morning, Lindsay and Stephen left, we did laundry, and then got a couple of slices of pizza and heading to the park with the dog to sit by the river and enjoy the mild weather while it lasts. It was a good weekend.

And these are my three guys as I write this. They're all worn out too.

Updates

2007-05-14T22:17:00.000-04:00

I am a bad blogger. I have the desire to change, but I don't know if I ever will. In the meantime, you'll just have to check back regularly and hope that I post something......

As some of you know, we had planned to move to another apartment a few weeks ago when our lease was up here to find something cheaper. After much searching (and more than a few tears when we saw some of the neighborhoods [see below for an example*]), we decided not to. We really thought that we would though. We just saw that we would not save enough over the course of a year to make the up-front cost of moving worth it. But before we made the decision to stay, my brothers bought plane tickets from Texas to come and help us move, and then to have some fun. A week of work; a week of fun. They came anyway. Who's going to waste a couple of plane tickets? Especially to see me?!? I had a very tiring two weeks. We did a lot of fun things like the Bronx Zoo, Lion King on Broadway, Spiderman 3 on opening night, a quick trip to Pennsylvania, Chinatown (and Little Italy, and SoHo) with my chinese friend Ginger as our guide, and the baby's first sonogram! It was really cool to get to see the little munchkin. He/she was just kinda hangin' out, but when the doc started mashing a little harder, the little kumquat (that's how big it was then) went crazy wiggling! It was so neat, and a little disturbing; the child isn't even born yet and it already has tons of energy! I called my mom while we were looking at the kid, and my dad happened to be home for lunch at the time so he grabbed another phone, and they got to listen in when we first heard the heartbeat. Go ahead, say it...awww!

NOT a penis you see, it's the umbilical cord. Yes, I said the "p" word.

It has been busy around here lately. The boys left last week which means that I cannot just yell my breakfast order to them and wait until it's made to get up anymore. :( And it also means that I should be getting things done. A few days before the boys came up, I got fired from my job. Yes, fired. Why? That's what I'd like to know. I didn't get a stright answer, but it basically boils down to the fact that my boss, ahem, ex-boss is bi-polar. Not flippantly, he really is clinically bi-polar and doesn't treat it for religeous reasons. I just happened to walk into the line of fire, and got fired. It's nice not to have to walk on eggshells all the time though. I found out that he fired a few more people within the next few days.

Since I have had time off, I decided that it would be a good time to de-junk. I have reorganized and thrown out a lot of stuff. I wouldn't call it nesting, per se, but more like "where the heck am I gonna put all the baby stuff once it pours in?". Yes, you guessed it. We are still in a small, small one bedroom apartment. There isn't even room anywhere to put a crib. The kid will be 5 months old when our lease expires! We signed the lease for another year, and then found out two days later that baby makes three (five, counting the dog and cat). So, how do I politely tell people "gift cards please?".

*Okay, the apartments we considered for cheaper rent: more than a few of them had big, bold signs on the front doors in red type (in english and spanish) that said "No Loitering, No Soliciations, No Drug Deals". Um, No Thanks.

Flava Flav

2007-05-04T23:28:00.000-04:00

I was at Manhattan Mall last week, and whom should I run into at Express? I assume you might have guessed it. Yes, indeed it was Flava Flav. He was waiting outside a dressing room with a triple stroller with toddlers inside. I assume they were his.....Anyway, I asked for a photo, but he said not today little momma, but that the next time we meet (??) he will be sure to pose with me. His demeanor was just like on his show.

Long Time, No Blog

2007-04-09T15:09:00.000-04:00

I haven't blogged in nearly two months! How the time has flown. I haven't seen any celebrities lately. Or Drag Queens. I have just been too tired. Here's why:

How your baby's growing: Your baby is now 5/8 of an inch long, about the size of a kidney bean. She's constantly moving and shifting, although you won't be able to feel these womb wiggles for several weeks yet. Her embryonic tail is disappearing, and her eyelids practically cover her eyes. Still slightly webbed, her fingers and toes are growing longer. Her arms have lengthened, too, and her hands are now flexed at the wrist and meet over her heart. Her knee joints have formed, and her feet may be long enough to meet in front of her body. With her trunk straightening out, her head is more erect. Breathing tubes extend from her throat to the branches of her developing lungs. The nerve cells in her brain are also branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. Though you may be daydreaming about your baby as one gender or another, the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl*.

*(Even though the article refers to it as a girl)

More Stars!

2007-02-26T21:05:00.000-05:00

We went to go see The Vertical Hour Broadway play the other night starring the amazing Juliann Moore, and the magnificent Bill Nighy. The show was well written, thought provoking, and well done. One of the recurring themes is the war in Iraq, and it was interesting that Juliann Moore's character was pro-war on terror. In such a liberal nation, not to mention NYC, it was refreshing to see both sides. They made a lot of good points on both sides of the fence.

But to the most important part: I got to meet both of the stars and have a quick chat! When they came out of the stage door, I told Bill how great I thought the show was, and how great an actor he is. He autographed for me, and then I asked him if he thought it would be weird if I asked for a hug, and he said in his hoity-toity (but oh-so-cute) British accent, "of course not. You're American." Then Juliann Moore came around and I told her that I thought that she is absolutely stunning as an actress, and also incredibly beautiful. I immediately felt like a moron since she probably hears that from everyone. But I really mean it! So I quickly followed up with, "but I really mean it! I say that even when you're not around!". She threw her head back and laughed out loud and told me thanks. I love New York.

UCLA Study

2007-02-06T22:59:00.000-05:00

A study conducted by UCLA's Department of Psychiatry has revealed that the kind of face a woman finds attractive on a man can differ depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle.

For example, if she is ovulating, she is attracted to men with rugged and masculine features.

However, if she is menstruating or menopausal, she tends to be more attracted to a man with a spear lodged in his chest, and duct tape over his mouth while he is on fire.

No further studies are planned.

Don't Say I Didn't Warn Ya

2007-01-24T22:05:00.000-05:00

More Badness

2007-01-20T22:01:00.000-05:00

My how time flies! I haven't posted in over a month, and it's been even longer since I posted a bad hair picture. This photo is courtesy of my cell phone, and one unsuspecting client. I won't mention her name (client confidentiality oath and all), but she got highlights, and just a tiny trim. Eight inches. This girl is about six feet, and one inch tall. Her hair was skimming the back of her knees when she came into the salon. It was skimming mid-thigh when she left. Still ridiculous.

The Party

2006-12-07T23:03:00.000-05:00

The night before our trip to see Fame Becomes Me (the tickets were my present from Will), we had my party at the restaurant Lips in Greenwich Village (http://www.lipsnyc.com/). We had such a blast! It was mostly a clean show, and this will definately be a birthday to remember!

PS- If you go to the website, make sure you have your sound turned on.

Crystal and Polly (celebrating her 89th birthday!)

L to R- Jaime, Rajene (RAY-jean), and Me

Me and All Beef Patty

Ariel Sinclair and Jon

Jayme and Ariel Sinclair

Fame Becomes Me

2006-12-03T23:14:00.000-05:00

For my birthday this year (it was Dec 1st), I really wanted to go see the Martin Short one man show (well, there are 4 supporting actors, and one piano player [who wrote the musical HairSpray!]) on Broadway, called Fame Becomes Me. (http://www.martinshortthemusical.com) I read about it months ago, and got really excited because I saw that he was going to have a scene as Jiminy Glick. Now if you've ever seen the show Primetime Glick on Comedy Central, or have ever seen him as this character on Saturday Night Live, you would understand. Will got us tickets, and the show was absolutely amazing! Now those of you who know me, know that I normally don't laugh out loud that often, I just say "that's funny". I will tell you, I was laughing so hard that I cried several times. It was so fabulous.

After the show ended, we went outside and saw that there was a small blockade from the stage door to a waiting car service...in NYC that means only one thing. So we waited for the cast to come out, and got autographs from all of them. I have to say that they were all so gracious. Very friendly, and humble. I told Marc Shaiman (the guy who wrote the music for this, and wrote HairSpray) thank you, and he said No, Thank You.

The best part was when Martin came out and was signing autographs. When he got around to me I was the first one to ask him to take a picture, and he lit up, and said of course! I told him how much I enjoyed the show, and that it was the best birthday gift I had gotten. And again he said thank you and then he wished me a happy birthday! What a great guy.

PS- Before the show started I was going to the ladies room, and I bumped into Connie Chung and Maurie Povich. AFTER the show, I saw Julianne Moore across the street with the actor Bill Nighy from the movie Love Actually. It was quite the star-studded evening!

More Merriment

2006-11-27T23:27:00.000-05:00

Tonight after Will got off work we decided to start decorating since we only have a short time to enjoy the season, since we're going home to Texas (i.e. God's country) on the 22nd. This year we continued our tradition of decorating our digs and then eating Chinese food. We normally also watch a Christmas movie afterwards, but since Will got off work late, and has to go in extra early tomorrow, and because we had to walk about 20 blocks to the nearest tree stand, pick a tree and walk home with it, then realize that we don't have a base for the tree anymore, go back to the tree stand and get one after stopping at drugstores and other "everything" stores along the way, we didn't get around to watching the movie. But that's okay. It's a good story, and it's all up so we can sit back and enjoy it. Now let's see if it makes it through it's first day alone with a young dog, and his brother-from-another-mother (our cat, The Traveler).

The First Signs of Christmas at Our Place

2006-11-26T21:50:00.000-05:00

Tonight I decided to make a gingerbread house. But I felt like making one that was more southern, rather than New England cottage-y. We're going to get a tree tomorrow, hopefully, and I'll post some more photos then of our decorated apartment.

An Offer I Could Refuse

2006-11-21T08:59:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago at work we had a client come in who was on holiday to NYC from his home country of Italia. Apparently he is a fairly well known pop star there. I tried to Google him and of course it was all in Italian. Rats. But back to my story....

He got a color correction done because he had long, Fabio-esque hair (you know, long and thin). Except his is dark brown. It appears that Italian hair dressers don't really know how to color hair because when they were touching up his color every month or so, they pulled the color all the way through the ends, thereby depositing color upon deposit, upon deposit, upon deposit, etc. As you can probably imagine, his ends where waaay too dark in comparison to his new growth (i.e. the freshly colored stuff). He was really quite the character, it was really funny how he would burst into song about whatever we were talking about, thinking that he was hot stuff. But in a cute, unabashed, I'll-never-see-you-again sort of way. But that's not really the story either...

The story really starts when his new, good color was processing. He asked me why I moved to NYC, and I told him that it was for my husband's job. He nearly fell out of his chair when he heard that. He was appalled that I was married. He said 'but you are too young to be a wife". When I told him that I didn't think so, and that I had already been married for two years, he said that no one should marry before 40 at the earliest (I guess he's never heard of a biological clock). He then asked 'do you have a boy or a girl". I thought 'oh my gosh, he's asking me if I'm a lesbian; do I look like a lesbian?....OH, in his unperfected english he's asking if I have kids!' I told him that no, indeed I do not have any children. He immediately replied with, 'what! your husband cannot give you childrens? Let's us go downstairs and I will give you childrens now!' How is one to reply to that when one had just met the guy less than an hour before, and he's an international client who has the potential to be internationally famous? Take note ladies, if you are ever in this situation and need an easy way out, just say 'the father of my children cannot have longer hair than me'. It mostly worked, but then he said we could cut his hair off when I found out for sure that "it took", especially since he would need several times to make sure, but that it was okay since he was still here for several days yet. But then he conveniently remembered that his agent would drop him if he cut his long popstar hair. Whew! I can honestly say that that was the first time I got that offer this month.

Turkey Recipe

2006-11-18T21:57:00.000-05:00

Here's a new way to prepare your Thanksgiving bird.

1. Cut out aluminum foil in desired shapes.
2 Arrange the turkey in the roasting pan, position the foil carefully (See attached)
3. Roast according to your own recipe and serve.
4. Watch your guest's faces...

Let's Say I Break Into Your House

2006-11-07T22:53:00.000-05:00

Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the countryprotesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue ofillegal immigration. Certain people are angry that the US might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely. Let me see if I correctly understandthe thinking behind these protests.
Let's say I break into your house. Let's say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave. But I say, "I've made allthe beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors; I've done all the things you don't like to do I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house).
According to the protesters, not only must you let me stay, you must add me to your family's insurance plan, educate my kids, and provide other benefits to me and to my family (my husband will do your yard work because he, too, is hard-working and honest, except for that breaking in part).
If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my right to be there.
It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm hard-working and honest, um,except for well, you know.
And what a deal it is for me!! I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of selfishness, prejudice and being an anti-housebreaker. Oh! yeah, and I want you to learn my language so you can communicate with me.
Why can't people see how ridiculous this is?! Only in America .... if you agree, pass it on (in English). Share it if you see the value of it as a good simile. If not blow it off along with your future Social Security funds.

Your Chocolate Age

2006-11-07T22:43:00.000-05:00

It takes less than a minute .> Work this out as you read ...> Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!> This is not one of those waste of time things, it's fun.
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1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would> like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)
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2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)
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3. Add 5
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4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator
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5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1756 ....If> you haven't, add 1755.
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6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.
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You should have a three digit number
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The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you> want to have chocolate each week).
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The next two numbers are
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YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)
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THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2006) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS.

Well, It's About Time

2006-11-06T17:15:00.000-05:00

Saddam has been sentenced. Read all about it:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061105/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saddam_verdict

(And if anyone can tell me how to make the link part what I'm writing instead of putting the actual link, that would be much appreciated. I feel so techie-illiterate when I put the whole thing.)

More Flooding

2006-11-05T23:40:00.000-05:00

We've all seen the faces of those ravaged by the floods of Sri Lanka and New Orleans . This award-winning photograph of the recent flood waters rising in Ireland captures the horror and suffering of the victims. Keep these poor wretches in your thoughts and prayers.

That's Okay, I'll Pass

2006-10-16T23:00:00.000-04:00

Another noteworthy thing happened to me last week. I passed out. I was at the chiropractor and after traction when they were taking the straps off, I suddenly felt sick and it hit like a train. I went from okay to feeling freezing cold and burning hot at the same time, my legs went weak, and I felt that feeling right before you throw up, only I felt it times one hundred. Dr. Bart said he knew it was bad when he saw my face was sheet white and my lips were blue. Since he was expecting it after seeing my face, he knew what was going to happen, so he held me up until I was okay enough to move to a chair and sit to collect myself. They told me to go home and sleep for an hour so that my "nuerons had time to get back in order". All the rest of the day I had to move my head slowly, and turn slowly, otherwise I felt like I was going to pass out again. The funny thing is that the first thing Dr. Bart asked me was if I had eaten breakfast, and that was the first thing Dr. Cortes asked me when he escorted me up the stairs, and that was the first thing that the receptionist asked me when I got to the top of the stairs. Apparently, that's what usually happens when you're in a hurry and decide to just eat breakfast after you leave the office. Oops.

Black Wednesday

2006-10-16T22:44:00.000-04:00

Okay, here's the scoop for those of you who've asked:
I was at work on Wednesday the 11th when I heard a really loud crashing noise outside that startled me and my co-workers and wondered what it was. Shortly afterwards there were tons of sirens wailing, and rescue vehicles streaming down the street. I went outside and immediately my heart felt like it stopped and I thought oh no, it's happening again. The building was on fire, and people were freaking out. It was a very scary couple of hours until we found out that it was an accident, and not another terrorist attack. The UN building is just a few blocks south, so I thought perhaps it was an amatuer terrorist who missed. I was also worried because I have a friend that lives next door to that building, and I wasn't sure if it was theirs or not. Plus, I work two short blocks away, and live 10 short blocks away. Waaay to close for comfort. Bad times. I feel especially sad for the flight instructor that they never call by his own name in the papers, and his wife who is due to deliver their baby any day now. As I go to work everyday and see the blackened and damaged building I am reminded of just how short life really is, and how we ought to live everyday like it's our last.

Go(ne)tee

2006-10-10T23:01:00.000-04:00

Okay, for those of you who don't know, I see a chiropractor three days a week now, and have been doing so for the last several weeks. I have had back pain for a few years now, and neck pain as well. Over the last year or two it has progressively worsened. It could be due to the car accident in late December of '04 when I was hit by a big truck while driving my Honda Accord (two days before Christmas). Or, maybe it was when I fell down the stairs last summer right after we moved to Queens while I was carrying a huge load of laundry to the laundromat (laundromats= the bane of my existence), and came straight down on my tailbone (pretty sure it broke) and had a bruise on my lower back that was the size of a cantaloupe. OR, maybe it was back in the spring of this year when I fell down the steel stairs in the subway at the 86th Street stop, and all of my weight came down smack in the middle of my back before I had time to even realize I had fallen (yes, I WAS holding the hand rail, and yes it was polished, and yes it was wet from the pouring rain, and yes the gripping on the stairs was rubbed away to make the wet steps about as slippery as they could be)........Anyway, as you might have already pieced together, that pretty much equals my whole spine. Neck? Check. Lower back? Check. Middle back? Check.

My visits Monday, Wednesday, and Friday include visits to see Dr. Shockey (don't judge him by the name, he's great) for adjustments, and then down to the dungeon (err, basement) to see Dr. Bart (not really sure what his last name is other than unpronounceable) for traction. Traction is basically a fancy way of saying stretching my spine back to it's normal position after it's been loosened up by the adjustment. I stay in the machine for anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes. It's painless, really. There is another doctor who is around sometimes because I think he shares offices with Dr. Shockey. His name is Dr. Cortes, and he's a really funny guy. Shockey and Cortes are both bald. Shockey by choice, and Cortes by genetics. And Dr. Bart has a faux hawk. Cortes and Shockey were giving Bart a hard time about not fitting in with the code of baldness, and asked me if I agreed that he ought to shave his head. I told Cortes that he was fine (because he really has no choice), and since he asked I told Shockey that he ought to grow his hair back out since he has some, and shave off the gotee that ages him about 10 years. I then told Bart that he ought to let me clean up the outline of the haircut that his girlfriend did for him. I know, I was brutal. But they asked.

About 5 minutes later after Shockey play-sulked away, he came back looking 10 years younger (and mightily more handsome I might add). How, you ask? He went to the bathroom and shaved off the gotee that he had had for several years! [Don't read anything into that, he's gay] It was great. Good hair that had gone bad, and was brought around full circle. I feel like a hero to the unfashionable masses.

Steve Erwin, You Will Be Missed

2006-09-05T22:39:00.000-04:00

My heart goes out to his wife Terri, and two small kids, Bindi and Bob Erwin. The slightest comfort comes from the fact that he went quickly, and while doing what he loved and did best.

Check out the story here:
http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/crochunter/steve/pressrelease.html
or here:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/09/05/irwinvideo_hum.html?category=animals&guid=20060905110000&&clik=news_tkr
or here:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21811,20360989-662,00.html

Loving It!

2006-08-30T23:37:00.000-04:00

I have two of the greatest bosses that anyone could ask for. Marianna and Michael Schwarzer are married, and co-owners. They are some of the most down to earth, chill people. It has been really slow since Labor Day is this next weekend, and because of the weather being so rainy/windy/overcast. Nobody makes hair appointments when they have a 50% chance of getting soaked on the way out and messing up the perfect flat iron do that they had intended to make last for the next couple of days. And the ones that pre-booked, usually cancel. I did two blow outs today for one of the colorists who was super busy, and running behind because of late clients. One of them tipped me $20 just for styling her hair (which I was happy to do because I got to put down Rolling Stone/Domino/Vogue/Elle/etc, since I had nothing better to do), and the other one gave me $6. Pretty good, for very little work There's another cool thing: since they are so on top of getting things done, as soon as it's done, they are totally fine with me picking up a magazine and reading. I spent the morning addressing postcards and putting stamps on them to help out the front desk staff, and to have somethin productive to do, but the salon was slow enough that I got to just hang out some during the afternoon. Not very cool $$$-wise, but nice that they aren't the type of bosses that expect me to look busy once everything is done. All in all, I think that this is the perfect place for me to be. Very chill.
www.midoma.com

Future Retirement Plans

2006-08-20T16:30:00.000-04:00

I ran across the following article that appeals to me.

Working people frequently ask retired people what theydo to make their days interesting. Well for example, the other day I went into town and went into a shop. Iwas only in there for about 5minutes, when I came out there was a cop writing out aparking ticket. I went up to him and said, "Come onman, how about giving a senior citizen a break?" Heignored me and continued writing the ticket.

I called him a Nazi turd. He glared at me and startedwriting another ticket for having worn tires; so Icalled him a s---head. He finished the second ticketand put it on the windshield with the first. Then hestarted writing a third ticket. This went on for about20 minutes.

The more I said to him, the more tickets he wrote.

Personally, I didn't care. I came into town by bus.I try to have a little fun each day now that I'm retired. It's important at my age.