jennanddave.com

If you find yourself in dire need of chocolate chip cookies, brownies, or, in my case, granola, and you discover halfway through your recipe that you've run out of brown sugar, make your own! It's easy! You can tell it's easy because I'm using lots of exclamation points!

Just add one tablespoon of molasses to one cup of sugar, mix until molasses is fully assimilated (just like we hopefully will be when robots take over the world), and then carry on your merry little way. I swear, I'm never going to buy brown sugar again. The added benefit is that you get to immerse yourself in the redolent bouquet of the molasses, a scent that invokes gingerbread and autumn and always makes me sigh contentedly.

Posted by Jenn at 04:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few months ago, after seeing a few links pop up on facebook and other people's blogs, curiosity got the better of me and I finally signed up for pinterest. I'll go ahead and warn you, the transition from "What's the point?" to full-blown pinterest addict is swift and almost violent. I know; it happened to me. It's fun looking at all of the inspiring (or not) things people find on the internet.

Since you can repin other people's pins, some things take on a life of their own. One of the kid crafts that spread like wild-fire, hopping from board to board, were glitter jars. Their purported purpose was to be used as time-out jars: sit your kid in the corner, shake the jar, and tell them they can come off of time-out when all of the glitter has resettled to the bottom. The idea is watching the glitter settle is meditative, like watching fish swim, and when your ornery three-year old rejoins the fun, he/she will have a whole new outlook on life. Some people don't believe in time-out, but they do believe in the jars, so while these glitter jars have taken on less negative titles and names, the hoped-for end result is the same: calmer kids.

A couple of weeks ago, Dave left us for the weekend to fly down to the Fort Worth/Dallas area for a conference on leadership. (Poor Dave. It was, apparently, as boring as it sounds.) I had a whole weekend to fill, which was a fairly daunting prospect because once the weekend hits, I get to kick back a bit because I have a full-time partner in parenting crime by my side, which I totally appreciate and enjoy and look forward to. I remembered the glitter jar craft and thought Henry and Holly might get a kick out of it. They really enjoyed putting them together. (Here are the directions we used.) Holly put the blue food coloring in hers all by herself, which explains how dark it is, but which works really well with the different shades of blue glitter, and Henry's is entirely his own creation. It was inspired by tornadoes. Or volcanoes. Or maybe both.

Since then, they haven't play with them much. I, however, think they're awesome. I shake them all the time. They're on the shelf above our sink so I can watch them while I'm doing dishes. Actually, this might explain why Henry and Holly never play with them; I've moved them completely out of their reach. Hmmmm...

Posted by Jenn at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I have ennui. It's cloudly, as is the norm here in central PA this time of year, and sometimes the gloom manages to work itself into one's inner-being. One of Holly's playmates came over bright and early to spend the morning with us. When I say early, I mean before a little before eight. The first thing I saw when I looked out the window after getting out of bed was their car in our driveway so I threw on a sweatshirt, ran downstairs, and because I hadn't yet said anything to anyone, literally croaked out a greeting. Then I tried like mad to pry my eyes open. Finally, I sat down on one of our stools, apologized, croakingly, to the little one's daddy for subjecting both of them to seeing me like this, and then put my head on the counter. He was very gracious and said, between fits of laughter, "No judgements here". Thank goodness for that.

After the flurry of activity of getting Henry off to school and Dave off to work subsided, it quickly became clear that what we had was a house full of girls who were completely willing to fly off the emotional handle at a moment's notice. Everyone was yawning, and hitting or being hit, and crying or gleefully making the other cry. There was even hair pulling. It was madness. I figured out early on that I couldn't leave Holly and her friend alone because as soon as I was gone, all hell would break loose. In the end, we assuaged our troubled souls with snacks, breakfast, more snacks, and finally, after trying for a while to play nice with each other, settled on the couch for some Cat in the Hat. Then more snacks, more trying to play nicely, then back to the couch for Shaun the Sheep. There may have even been bowls full of whipped cream, eaten plain, with spoons.

I guess some days are just like that.

Posted by Jenn at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over the last few years I've almost completely lost my ability to focus. I don't know where it went. Actually, I suppose I do; it slipped down the drain somewhere between trying to keep Henry's school stuff straight, not to mention having to learn a new schedule for Dave every semester (something I manage to do just in time for the end of each session), as well as somehow managing to keep the house in some sort of order. Hectic is not my pace, but that seems to be the path we're on lately. The end result is I remember nothing about what I did during the day, I forget whole conversations, I can't remember any of the books I've read in the last few years, not to mention movies I've seen. When I'm doing things, even leisurely activities, I'm rushing through them so I can move on to the next thing. Everything has ended up being a "to-do" that needs to be checked off. Talk about taking the joy out of the fun stuff. I need to work on that.

The other morning I noticed (again) that, in an attempt to accomplish four different tasks, I was running from room to room doing a little of each but accomplishing nothing except getting a little sweaty and a lot crazed. I forced myself to slow down, pick one thing and stick with it until the end. I can't believe that I've gotten to the point where I have to make a conscious effort to not only take the laundry out of the dryer but to also then fold the clothes. Or to not get completely side-tracked from the living room by a quick jaunt to the kitchen to put something away. Plus, you know those jokes about going into a room to get something only to have forgotten what it was you went in for? I can take that one step further: I've gone into a room to get something, then forgotten that I went there with anything specific in mind, only to remember half an hour later. It's a bit of a frightening feeling.

So, I've decided that I'm going to relearn the skill of focusing by forcing myself to really be present and conscious with everything I'm doing and hopefully it will once again become second nature. I think I'm going to need a schedule.

Posted by Jenn at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So. I find myself stuck in a loop of writing brilliant (at least in my mind) posts that offer a recap of everything that's gone on since my last update, which happened way back in the year 2011 (a good year, that was). Unfortunately this post-writing happens at inopportune times, such as late at night when I'm falling asleep, or when I'm in the shower, or doing dishes. By the time I find myself with a few (or many) minutes to spare, I'm not thinking about the blog at all. With each passing day, the recap gets longer and more daunting and so I've since decided I'm not going to tackle it at all. Instead, I'm going to rededicate myself to posting anything, so I just now decided that February is going to be my NaBloPoMo, to get me back in the habit. I'm probably going to be the only blogger on the planet that's so behind I'll be doing Christmas present recaps in February. Speaking of Christmas presents, we haven't sent out Thank You notes yet. What's the protocol for Christmas present Thank You notes? Is it the same as wedding presents, where you have a whole year to get them out? We also still haven't sent out "We've moved! Here's our new address!" cards either. Gah. If I think about it, I start to panic just a little bit, so...here's to February!

Posted by Jenn at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Right now I should be:

packing
cleaning
wrapping

Three little words, and yet they're big, seemingly insurmountable jobs, especially when it's 10:11 at night and you're leaving first(ish) thing in the AM.

Today was a big day full of excitement and baking and oil changes and manic ends-weaving (which I still haven't finished). It was so much that my battery completely died at 5:30 (that metaphor was for you, Jocelyn) and while I crawled up the stairs and into bed to catch a second wind, Dave wrangled the kids into the car and took them out to eat. He even brought me dinner. I didn't think I slept but I missed two calls and three texts and my phone was right next to me on my nightstand.

Tomorrow morning we point the car in a southerly direction and head to Virginia for Christmas where I will probably be doing the above-mentioned wrapping. My dear friend's parents are going to make use of our house while we're gone, which is great. I often feel sad that we deck the house and the tree out for Christmas, but we've never actually had a chance to plug the lights in on the big day itself. It'll be nice to know our new pad won't be lonesome on the big day. Silly, isn't it?

Meanwhile, I hope you have a very cozy, and very Merry Christmas, wherever you are...

Posted by Jenn at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Henry's Thanksgiving break started last week on Wednesday. Tomorrow he heads back to school. The kids around these here parts get the Monday after Thanksgiving off because that's the first day of hunting season. I *always* forget that there's a specific reason for having today off, and then when someone reminds me why, it never fails to amaze me. It's been a nice break. Last year Henry got sick his first day off from school, threw up Thanksgiving night, and didn't truly feel better until the day before school started. This year he was operating at 100% health, as was Holly, which I'm very thankful for. Dave's parents came up for a few days and helped wear out the kids. Dave and I went on a double-date with good friends to see "Breaking Dawn", and also managed to sneak out another day to do some window shopping downtown. We all had a great time and Dave and I managed to pack on some pounds so you know the food was good.

Meanwhile, I've been wrestling with a cough for the last two weeks and finally decided to go see a doctor about it this morning. I left his office with a prescription for antibiotics. I later told Dave that once I had the validation that I am actually sick, I finally admitted to myself that for the past two weeks I really haven't been feeling all that great, that in fact, I've been maybe feeling sort of lousy but have been powering through it. Denial is my gift. I have a better understanding of what Dave does to survive the semester and why he gets sick as soon as classes end. Oh, and, he's crazy. I'm not though, I'm hopped up on antibiotics! Woohoo!

Would someone like to come over and give my dog a bath? She stinks.

Posted by Jenn at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's my birthday. I'm older than I was yesterday, but then that's true every day isn't it? The last couple of years, my birthday's been a bit sad. This year it was truly amazing. After making me breakfast, Dave had to leave for a day-long conference. My friend Katie and her daughter came over early this morning just as he was walking out the door and hung out through lunch, making what would have been a fairly long drawn out morning fly right by. Soon after they left my dear friend Jocelyn surprised me with the most amazing home-made pretzels. To say I was thrilled would be an understatement. Later on, Katie and family came back over and made dinner, around the start of which Dave got back home with a birthday cake to accompany the amazing birthday apple pies he made for me. Meanwhile, Henry's birthday present to me was giving me kisses and hugs whenever I asked for them, which was the best present a girl could ask for from a kid who loathes showing any kind of affection whatsoever unless he's asleep in which case he'll snuggle you right off the side of the bed. In summary, it's a glorious thing to sit back at the end of the day and feel very well taken care of, and today I do feel *very* well-taken care of, and loved. I'm looking forward to paying that feeling forward.

This week is an exciting week involving lots of packing and loading and eventually culminating in a big move to a new house on Friday (unless everything falls apart over the next five or so days which is always a worry because I'm a bit of a fatalist). As if that wasn't exciting enough, Friday also heralds in the arrival of a long-awaited addition to a good friend's family. To sum up, as far as days go, Friday is a big one, so while I can't wait for it to get here, I'm also planning on enjoying the anticipation as much as I can.

Posted by Jenn at 07:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

This has nothing to do with anything, really, but I just checked my junk comments folder for the first time in a few months and there are over 16000 of them. Sigh. Let the deleting begin.

Yesterday I baked bread again for the first time since the end of school last June. Summer quickly developed a rhythm all its own, and bread baking was not a part of it at all. Looking back (and down at my waistline) I can see that pie took its place. Pie is summer, bread is fall, winter, and spring.

My pulling out the container that holds our yeast packets was precipitated by a few things. The first is that we decided we really wanted to have grilled cheese for dinner last night and we didn't have a lot of bread left. The second is that it was three days before payday and we're even more broke than usual because in two and a half weeks we're moving to a new house. The endless flow of cash that occurs during the house-buying/selling process is not for the faint of heart, and Dave and I are very faint-hearted when it comes to cash. At least when it's flowing away from us. If it's coming *to* us, well, that's a different story. So out came the flour, and the salt, and the other bits and pieces that go into a good loaf of bread. The day had turned gloomy by the time the two loaves were in the oven and the scent was exactly what was needed to cheer up this cynical girl's heart.

Henry got off the bus, I pulled the loaves out of the oven and onto a cooling rack, then we headed off to have the young man's hair trimmed in preparation for school pictures on Friday. While we were there, a friend texted and invited us over for apple dumplings, which eventually turned into an invite to just come over for dinner. We ran home so I could grab a loaf of still-warm bread. It pleased me greatly that not only were we having an impromptu evening spent with friends, but that we could contribute something to the table as well. It's not often that everything comes together so easily, so I really appreciate it when it does.

I've probably posted a link to it before, but here's the bread recipe I use. It's a great sandwich bread and makes even better toast. Next time I make it, I'm going to try making cinnamon raisin bread with one of the loaves.

Posted by Jenn at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

- Hanging by the pool. At least for the first week of Henry's summer vacation. Then it got cold and sometimes rainy so we moved back inside.

- Strawberry picking, followed by strawberry jam making and canning, followed by strawberry-jam-on-toast eating.

- We went to Dave's parents' house for Father's Day. Dave made his dad a seafood boil. I dove into it like it was Mother's Day. My man's a seafood boil master.

- Henry and I got Dave a bulk box of Jiffy Pop popcorn because he loves it and it's mysteriously difficult to get in this here neck of the woods. I thought he'd either love it or laugh and set it aside. He was speechless with glee. Then he "stirred the pot". I was happy.

- As of the first official day of Henry's summer vacation, we got back to a slightly more civilized schedule: 8:30-9PM bedtime, followed by 8:30-9AM wakeup. Momma's happy. Daddy's late for work every day.

- Fabric shopping, thanks to the aforementioned cold/rainy weather, followed by sewing. The score so far: Holly: four dresses, one pair of Minnie Mouse summer jammies. Henry: two pairs of pants. Jenn: nothing. Dave: who's Dave?

- Eating raspberries from the bushes that Dave got me for Mother's Day two years ago. We planted them right next to our driveway which means every time we go anywhere in the car, Holly and I make a prolonged pitstop to fuel up both coming and going. Over the last three days I managed to gather enough to make a batch of raspberry preserves. They'll be a most welcome taste of summer when we're in the throes of winter.

- Hanging out with friends that we don't get to see as much of during the rest of the year.

- Losing a tooth. Henry lost his first tooth last Thursday while eating a hot dog. We didn't even know it was loose. When Henry spit it out Dave thought the tooth was pasta. Then he figured out what it was and flipped out. Pictures were taken. Four days later I noticed his other front tooth was loose. It came out last night. Henry now has neither of his front teeth. Saying it's super cute is a major understatement.

- Parades! Fireworks! Candy! Marshmallows! Fireflys! Music in the Park! Cicadas! Grilling! Bees!

- It's all good...

Posted by Jenn at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today is one of those days where I woke up, dressed myself in layers because our house was cold, made my way outside, felt the humidity, shed the layers, came back in and immediately wanted to turn on the AC. Ahhh, spring!

Holly and I came down with some sort of stomach bug Tuesday night. The worst was over by yesterday morning. Holly had bounced back by yesterday afternoon, whereas today I'm still shuffling around, tired and weak from the lack of food and the lingering horror of the whole experience. I had an egg and toast this morning. They were delicious. Speaking of this morning, Dave let me sleep in until 10. On a school day, no less. It felt as decadent as a candlelit lobster dinner on a private yacht in the Caribbean. The man loves me, perhaps almost as much as I love him.

Next week on Thursday I'm having my tonsils taken out. Between recovering from that and this latest bout with the stomach bug, I'm going to be 100% ready for swimsuit season.

Posted by Jenn at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We had a great weekend. It started off with a bang on Friday afternoon, making trips for bee supplies, shuttling our elderly neighbor off to her hair appointment when her ride pulled a no-show, hitting a coffee shop for coffee and also leaving with lots of donuts, eventually finding our way out to the bees. Saturday was much of the same, in terms of pace, and then it was Mother's Day. Ahhhhh, Mother's Day. Dave made me an amazing breakfast while Henry made sure my plate was well-stocked with bacon. Holly ate herself into a stupor and had to be put down for her afternoon nap at 10:00 in the morning. I went for a walk and called my mom while soaking up the sunshine and the momentary peace of being by myself. Shortly after, we hustled everybody in the car and went for a hike. Both kids did amazingly well. There's no question Holly was in her element and Henry was most pleased with the snacks we packed and which he carried with great importance in his backpack, frequently stopping to make sure no one was in need of any water or sustenance. We came home, I mowed the lawn (an activity I find extremely cathartic), Dave fed the kids, we put them to bed, then the adults had dinner featuring bbq'd chicken, stuffing, corn, and asparagus, followed by cake. We ate while watching a movie I got to pick out, then I zonked out. It was a glorious day.

This morning I woke up with the feeling that I had a ridiculous amount of housework/work I needed to catch up on, so I tried to get five things done all at once and, surprise surprise, discovered that an hour later I had still not accomplished anything. I forced myself to slow down and have spent the rest of the day semi-methodically checking things off of my list, with a little bit of playground fun and showing up unannounced at friends' houses thrown in just to keep me happy. Tomorrow it's more of the same. I've also spent the day trying to figure out how I got so behind in the first place. I'm still not sure. Magic?

Posted by Jenn at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To open the windows to let the fresh air in, or to close them to keep the pollen out.

I go in circles pondering that one.

Posted by Jenn at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Dave left for California a week ago Sunday. He was gone for the entire week, which was a daunting prospect for me, being left alone with two children. Well, one kid is easy, the other one is Holly, who gets into everything everywhere all at once. I don't know how she does it. Multi-tasking is clearly an innate skill in this girl. My parents graciously agreed to come down and help out. They got here the day before Dave left. Thus started a week of pure joy and happiness for all involved: me, because I love hanging out with my parents; Holly because she adores her Pa-pa; Henry because he adores his Grammy; and finally Dave, because he got to leave. We spent the nice days at the park having picnics, and the rainy days we spent playing and taking advantage of nap-time by getting some sewing and knitting done. At the beginning of the week, after the kids went to bed at night, we capped the day off with a movie, by mid-week it was tv shows, until eventually we reached the point of utter exhaustion that led us to go to bed by nine. (I will say this, my memory improved on the days following my early bed-times. I have since gone back to forgetting everything. I have not learned my lesson.) It's been a bit glum around here since they left. Fortunately, we have exciting adventures on the horizon, namely a trip to Virginia for Easter, followed by a trip to Massachusetts the following weekend.

This afternoon Dave installed his first hive of bees. He's been having anxiety dreams about it. In one of them, he got the bees and they instantly died. Poor guy. Despite his anxiousness, he's is very proud to know be able to officially call himself a beekeeper. If you see him, make sure you say hi to Beekeeper Dave.

Posted by Jenn at 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The weather here has been over-whelmingly gray, which greatly influences my desire to nap. I've been doing a lot of reading. I've temporarily thrown over the "Infinite Jest", partly because I feel the need to read something a bit less relentless, and partly because I want to have the satisfaction of finishing a book. Dave's parents give him a subscription to "American Scientist" every year for Christmas. I'm not sure how often he reads it (perhaps in part because they quickly get sequestered to my side of the bed), but surprisingly, I thoroughly enjoy it. There are book reviews in the back of each issue, and one of the books that recently caught my eye was "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", so when I decided to take a break from, as my dad put it the other day, the "Long Joke", *har-har*, that's the book I downloaded. That sounds so sci-fi, "downloaded", and yet, there it is.

I read it in three days. I couldn't put it down. As a general rule, I'm terrible at writing book reviews. I feel as though my saying "I couldn't put it down," sums my feelings about it up rather nicely. The purpose of the book was to reveal the little known history of Henrietta Lacks, the African-American woman from whom HeLa cells originated, cells which have proven to be invaluable in the world of science and medicine. Almost every drug and medical treatment that's out there most likely owes it's existence to research done with HeLa cells, from polio vaccines to in vitro fertilization. In fact, when I first read the review in "American Scientist", I mentioned it to Dave and he said "Oh, yeah, HeLa cells. They're everywhere." The rub is that neither Henrietta Lacks or her family knew that a sample of her cells were taken from a cancerous tumor, much less cultured and eventually shipped off to research labs all over the world, making lots of people lots of money, seemingly everyone but the Lacks family. Ms. Lacks passed away in the '50's and her family didn't find out about the existence of the cells until the '70's. The author, Rebecca Skloot, does a truly amazing job of weaving science and the question of tissue/genetic rights around the family's story. You should go read Jad Abumrad's review of the book on amazon. It's far better than anything I could come up with. Also, you should go read the book. It really will blow your mind.

The book I'm currently reading is "Townie: a Memoir" by Andre Dubus III. To be frank, I'm not generally a fan of non-fiction, much less biographies, but between this book and "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", I'm not sure I can say that with as much confidence anymore.

Posted by Jenn at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This morning Holly slept in until 9:45, I kid you not. I woke up at 9:30, not bothering to look at the clock because I assumed it was 7:30, the time we're always allowed to sleep in until on the weekends, much to our general consternation. In fact, on Friday night, Dave told Henry his only job in the morning was to not get up early because it's Saturday, and Saturday's are for sleeping in. I thought that was hilarious. Poor desperate Dave. Anyway, when I finally rolled over and peered at the clock this morning, it took a few seconds for it to hit me what time it really was, after which, I bolted out of bed and ran for the monitor to make sure I could hear Holly breathing because clearly the only explanation for her sleeping in to such a beautifully late hour would somehow involve doom and disaster. (Yes, I am a fatalist.) Halfway there, I heard one of those satisfying-sounding, heaving sighs that only little kids and dogs can muster. I detoured to the bathroom and marveled at our good luck. Henry had gotten up earlier but had managed to find Spongebob on the TV and was camped out on the couch. We had breakfast at 11. We went ice skating at 1, and, unbelievably, Holly took a nap around 3. Dave had to go up and wake her at 5:30. I'm worried that she's going to wake up a few days from now three inches taller. My baby!

Meanwhile, my doctor's appointment on Friday was horrifying. I had a nasal endoscopy, which I vehemently suggest you avoid, especially if you have allergies because it'll hurt and you'll cry and you'll feel like you need to sneeze. And your nose will run. A lot. And they'll have to pull out the scope so you can blow your nose and wipe your eyes and then they'll run it back in again anyway. So. At the end of May I'm going to have my tonsils removed. The doctor said I'll have a wicked sore throat for about a week, which, been there, done that three times so far this cold/flu season. Dave says I'll lose twenty pounds. I'm not looking forward to it. The doc also said I have sinus disease that's not related to my tonsils and suggested some things I could do for it, which, if they didn't work he could do surgery. I'm not convinced they're not related because the tonsil thing and the sinus thing all started up at the same time and flare up at the same times so my fingers are crossed that one thing will solve the other. In the meantime I'll do some of the things he suggested, such as humidify our bedroom, use a neti pot, etc.

Gah.

Posted by Jenn at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yesterday it was cold and dreary, the perfect day for staying in and keeping cozy, for knitting, playing, watching a little tv, sitting by the fire, and napping. Today it's cold and dreary, the perfect day for dropping the car off for an oil change and being driven nuts by the inability to go anywhere or do anything, not that there's anything to do or anywhere to go. Still, a girl likes pretending she has options.

It's supposed to snow tonight. That's totally fine with me, as long as it all melts away quickly with the help of a sunshiny, 55 degree day.

On Friday morning I'm going to see an ear/nose/throat specialist about having my tonsils taken out. Ever since the really bad cold I got the spring I was pregnant with Holly, every time I get sick, just when I think I'm on the mend my tonsils get huge, my throat hurts, and I get a sinus infection. Every. Time. No matter how insignificant the cold is. The sore throat lasts for about five days, the sinus infection lasts weeks. It's worse in the fall and spring, I think because that's when my seasonal allergies are in full swing on top of everything else that's going on. I usually power through any winter bouts so I can take antibiotics with the fall and spring colds, otherwise I'd be on antibiotics with alarming frequency. Every time Henry comes home with the sniffles I cower in the corner with fright. Anyway, last February when I got sick, my tonsils got so big that I had trouble swallowing. I'm worried that at some point, they'll get so big I'll have trouble breathing. Lest you think I'm joking, the last two times I've gone in for antibiotics, they take a mandatory swab to test for strep, and every time I open my mouth, both the nurse and then the doctor reel back in terror. When they've composed themselves, they inform me they've never seen tonsils so huge before. I'd tell you about how I can make them touch each other when I get sick like that, but I don't want to gross you out. So on Friday I'll go get checked out. I'm a little nervous about the prospect of having them removed because it's a worse recovery process for adults, but I figure it's better than having to be on antibiotics so often. Also, this time around we're not planning any home improvement projects in the near future, so that ought to help. Wish me luck.

Posted by Jenn at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Holly and I just spent over two hours at the park where, through much trial and error, she mastered the slides, then promptly became a little afraid of them. Or she just got sick of them. The next trip will tell. It's stunningly beautiful out. I'm sure if I went on Facebook right now, there would be much chatter about the warm weather and windows being open and the morning spent at the park from everyone else who lives here. Because I can't just be satisfied with living in the moment, as soon as Holly went down for her nap, I went online to see about getting some swim gear for the upcoming pool season. Specifically, I need to get some sort of flotation device for Holly. I went on amazon and searched for "swim pda" and couldn't figure out why I kept getting hits from the electronics department. Then I realized my error, so I typed in "swim pdf" which caused amazon to throw up any random thing they sell that has the word "swim" in it. I was confused until I sounded out "personal flotation device" in my head, then realized my error, and typed in "swim pfd". That did it. Apparently getting the search string right was all I needed to accomplish because I immediately came on here to write about it and now I'm closing up shop and taking a nap.

Posted by Jenn at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last summer when I sliced my finger open, there was a period of a few weeks when I couldn't really get anything done around the house, at least not until the wound had healed up a bit. It was freeing, having the excuse to sit around and watch everything get messier and messier, but when it was all said and done and I was back to semi-normal, I picked up and cleaned and laundered like a mad woman until everything was back the way it was supposed to be. It was a bit eye-opening, the pleasure I get from having a neat house and I now consider it a necessity for my mental well-being. If you had asked me at the time, I would have been all "Whatevs, I'm easy breezy, baby!" Now, I am comfortable knowing that I can be a bit Type A about it all.

While I appreciate living in a relatively clean and put together house, I loathe cleaning and would like to do as little of it as possible. Since January, I've managed to cobble together a system that works for me:

Mondays: laundry and vacuuming/steam mopping. I've discovered that if I don't make my last load of laundry our bed sheets, then whatever is in the dryer last stays there for days, which leads to days-long avoidance, which leads to the feeling that I'm doing laundry day after day, even though I'm not. So I force myself to make our sheets the last load.
Tuesdays: baking bread for the week.
Wednesdays: nothing
Thursdays: dusting
Fridays: clean the bathroom

I generally do all of these things while Holly plays or helps, which is great because then while she's napping I can do other things, like stare at the backs of my eyelids. I couldn't have done this when Henry was her age because he really needed me to be his playmate, whereas Holly can entertain herself or wants to help. Also, I don't want her thinking the house gets clean via magic. You know, like Dave does. (I kid.)

Also, I pick up and clean the dishes right after every meal. Walking into a disaster of a kitchen first thing in the morning when I need to get Henry's lunch and snack together for school after I've slept in ten minutes longer than I should have (the sleeping in bit happens every day) makes me feel like I don't have my act together at all and sets a bad tone for the rest of the morning. I'm also obsessive about getting the toys put away after the kids are done playing with them. This is due, in part, to the fact that we don't have a playroom. We have toys secreted and not-so-secreted away in every room of the house, so we have to keep on top of it. I wouldn't mind having a separate room full of toys that I could just close the door on, but I've convinced myself that teaching them to put their stuff away also teaches them to respect it. Not that they do either, but gosh-darned if it doesn't make me feel better about our lack of space.

Could this post be more navel-gazing? I'm not sure why I even feel compelled to write this out, but I do. I think it's partly because lately I've been feeling like I've got a pretty nice rhythm going to our days which is great, because usually I feel like I'm floundering, trying to get everything done.

Posted by Jenn at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

On Saturday, Dave left the house at 6:15AM and came home just in time for dinner. He was a judge for our region's Odyssey of the Mind competition. It was a long but fun day for him. Meanwhile, I juggled both kids. It was a long but fun day for me as well, except with a healthy dollop of stir-crazy mixed in. It threatened rain all day so although the temps were decent, I didn't want to risk walking down to the park only to have to pack it in and run home. (We only have one car, and Dave took it. I know, we're so 1960's.) Naturally, it didn't start to rain until after the kids were in bed and I was out walking the dog.

After breakfast on Sunday, I put on my rain boots and jacket and headed out for a walk in the rain, that's how desperate I was for a little alone time. It was warm enough out and there was no wind to drive the rain so I parked myself on a bench next to the Mighty Susquehanna and watched the rain-and-snow-melt-filled river rush by. When I came home we got ourselves together and headed out for our weekly ice skating adventure. Holly and I hit the concession stand and wandered around the rink, alternately waving at Henry and Dave whenever they went by and running inside to thaw by the fire. When we packed it in and headed for the car, the temperature outside had dropped significantly. Within an hour or so, the rain changed over to sleet. I happened to have the good fortune to be looking out the window when it changed from sleet to snow. I couldn't believe I had started the day off with a nice walk in the rain and now it was snowing. Dave drove in to work after Henry and Holly were in bed and didn't get home until around 1AM. He told me he had left work for home around 12:15AM. It's a ten minute walk from our house to his office, so normally it's a three minute drive. Apparently he got stuck in the parking lot a couple of times, and then when he got home, our driveway had been plowed in and he had to shovel it out. Poor guy.

The next morning we woke up to this:

and this:

Don't the adirondack chairs look soft and cozy?

School was cancelled and Henry, Holly, and I spent another stir-crazy day at home. I had no idea the snow was coming, so I had no plan for the day. The three of us don't do well if there's no plan. By dinner Henry was going bananas, as was I, and Holly was tearing the house apart. In hindsight it was pretty funny, in practice it wasn't pretty.

I love snow, however, I'm also ready to see some leaves on the trees and flowers in the ground. Bring it on, Spring.

Posted by Jenn at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last December I signed on for a gig with a local organization. I officially started in January and have really enjoyed it. In theory I'm going to be getting paid, however, nothing's really come of anything to that end, and I have to confess, I don't particularly care. Dave's going to kick me in the butt for that last bit because he's still laboring under the misapprehension that I'm going to be the one who earns us millions of dollars by writing the Great American Novel*, whereas my attitude is: F. Scott Fitzgerald's already done it, so why bother? Meanwhile, it's nice to be using my brain for something other than remembering to wash diapers, or feed the kids, or get out of bed.

Although it's not a full-time job, there's enough backing and forthing through email about organization-related stuff, that I've found myself back in full-time work mode, where once five o'clock roles around, I'm done. In this case that means, I'm done checking email, because I don't want to know. Whatever happens after five will still be there tomorrow morning. This is a very good thing. I had previously gotten into the habit of not checking my email after nine or so, because once it's that late, there's really nothing to be done about anything that might come up, other than staying up late, losing sleep, and fretting. Five is an even better cut-off time. I generally think the problem with email is we're always at work, even when we're at home, so even though we think we're having some quality down-time, we're really not. There's a lot to be said for cutting that particular cord, because it's just not worth the anxiety. You should see Dave try to give up email when we go on vacation. It's pretty funny.

* Speaking of the Great American Novel, I've been reading "Infinite Jest" since Thanksgiving. I'm now about 30% of the way through. It's good. It's also very, very long. Some of the footnotes are like short stories. My dad takes great pleasure in asking me how it's going and then laughing when I tell him how much farther I've gotten. So although my Kindle list makes it look like I've stalled out on reading, I really haven't. My new goal is to finish this book before next Thanksgiving. I think I can do it. I think.

Posted by Jenn at 02:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Monday's are my busiest day of the week at home. In order to keep the house looking some semblance of clean, I have to maintain a schedule of things to do on a given day during the week. If I don't, everything goes to pot. Fast. So on Mondays I do all of the laundry, including the sheets, and I vacuum and mop. By "mop" I mean wet Swiffer. It's kind of a nightmare to get all of it done, but I don't like doing a load of laundry here or there because then I feel like I'm doing it all of the time, and if there's one thing I don't love, it's laundry. Actually, that's not true. I don't mind doing the laundry. I don't like folding the clothes and putting them away. Also, since I'm talking about it, I don't mind loading and running the dishwasher, but I hate putting the clean dishes away. I've been known to hand wash the dinner dishes in order to avoid emptying the dishwasher. Once I even did it without realizing Dave had already put everything away. Oh, the laughing. You know what makes killing yourself on a Monday to get the house looking decent for the week really satisfying? A five year old who takes great exception to being asked to put a random toy or two back up in his room. "Why do you make me do EVERYTHING?!?!" Hah! Yeah, right kid. Which is pretty much what I told him. I offered to let him vacuum, the novelty of which wore off many moons ago, for both of us. He declined.

Yesterday Henry told me he loves me as much as an electron. That's pretty small. Happily, it's better than the "not even a little bit" it used to be though, so, progress!

Posted by Jenn at 07:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

First of all, today's retronaut is brilliant. I was laughing out loud by the end.

It's gorgeous outside. After Henry was safely on the bus to school, Holly and I walked Dave to work. We took a long circuitous route home and while we were passing the playground, we saw another little girl there who, as it turns out, is two weeks younger than Holly, so we stopped and played for a while. Little kids this age are hilarious around each other. Lots of staring and following and playing next to each other. It was so nice to be outside and making new friends. We came home for a quick snack and change of muddy, wet clothes, then met some old friends at a different, far less wet park. Holly is very intrepid at the park. She knows what she's capable of and will do something over and over again until she's got it figured out. She spent a lot of time going back and forth over a wobbly bridge, then went up stairs and down a slide many times. She's totally different from Henry who was/is extremely cautious at the park and insists vehemently that he can't do any of it while gingerly trying anyway, sometimes carrying through, and sometimes giving up from fear of death and doom. They're going to be great balances for each other.

Right now Holly's upstairs sleeping off all of that adventure. I'm heading in that direction myself, I think. Thank goodness for the February warmup, no matter how brief it is.

Posted by Jenn at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's something about this time of year. Cabin fever sets in. The house starts to feel really small, as opposed to just its usual, unembellished "small". (Or "cozy", if I were a realtor.) Everywhere we look there's stuff, which in the summer doesn't weigh us down when we're spending most of our days outside, but which in the winter starts to crowd around us. So, inevitably, the purging begins.

Unfortunately for the kids, because life is super unfair, I'm starting with their rooms. The pile of junk that had amassed on top of Henry's dresser has been giving me eye tics whenever I've looked at it. Also, he clings to stuff that he hasn't ever really played with, so it's best to clear out his room and spirit his toys away to Goodwill when he's at school. Holly could care less, so she's easy.

I'm currently in the frame of mind where if we haven't used it in the past six months, it would probably serve someone else better. This is a good frame of mind for me to be in, as far as Dave's concerned. He's decided that we have traded hoarding tendencies, he being the reformed hoarder and me being the new bearer of that particular trait. I tend to disagree with him. I think a lot of our stale mates come down to the conundrum of "To yard sale or not to yard sale". I'm firmly in the camp of get it out of the house as fast as possible, but Dave would like to see some green for our purging efforts, so we often stop after we've filled one big box that languishes in the garage until Dave gets grumpy about it and then we talk about the whole yard sale issue again, as in "We *have* to have one," followed by "We will. Definitely. How about two weeks from now?"

We're both Libras. Sometime's it really shows.

Posted by Jenn at 02:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The current state of things, in the always inspiring list format (Featuring a colon! And dashes!):

- Last night Henry opted not to have a book read to him before bed. Instead he focused on very diligently writing out Valentine's for his classmates. The first one he wrote out was to his teacher. The second one was to a girl who, at the end of last school year, he said looks just like Tinkerbell. Take from that what you will.

- Whenever Holly sees a picture of a man with gray hair, she says "Paw-paw!". When she sees a boy with brown hair, she says "Hen-y!" When she sees a boy with light blond hair, she says "We-oh!"

- Last night while Henry was working on his Valentines, I worked on a sweater I'm making for myself. It's pretty bulky yarn so it works up fast. Later, around 10:30, I realized I had misread the pattern directions and had to rip out about five inches, leaving only the inch of ribbing I did for the neck (it's a top-down pattern). This was demoralizing. I'm six rows away from being back where I was, except this time with added paranoia!

- Henry is signed up for an after-school science class that doesn't get out until 4:45. I don't have a problem with this. Really. I'm fine.

My baby!

Posted by Jenn at 02:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We're having a snow day,
a freezing cold snow day,
the temperatures fallin',
the kid's are not bawlin',
it's not as bad as I thought it would be!

I'll be here all week...

There's a strong possibility that school will also be cancelled tomorrow. This morning we had an impromptu, necessarily-within-walking-distance playdate, after which we came home and had lunch, made a tissue-paper "stained glass" thingy (for lack of a better descriptive word) to hang in a window, then Dave took Henry off to the park for some sledding, which is where they are now. I'm thinking about trying to make some cinnamon buns. Or not. Maybe I'll sit and stare into space for a while. That can be a pretty rewarding activity. Meanwhile, I'm stockpiling things to fill up our time tomorrow in case school is cancelled and, worst case scenario, the power goes out due to all of the ice we're supposed to get hit with.

Despite the weather, I'm really glad it's February.

Posted by Jenn at 03:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The mail just came and nestled between a seed catalog and our credit card bill was a catalog from "H.R. Harmer, Global Philatelic Network". From what I've gathered, they're sellers of fine stamps. Philately is not my thing, it is, however, very much my dad's thing. The only reason I can come up with as to why I received this in the mail is that they've found out how amazing his french stamp collection is, and after unsuccessfully soliciting him directly, they're trying to get to him through his kid. During our last visit a couple of weekends ago, I was there when my mom found out how much one of the stamps she "got" my dad for Christmas a few years ago cost. Whoo boy! That was a good one to be around for! You know what stamp collecting is? Surprisingly expensive. I also think it's a bit dull, especially compared with a truly exciting hobby, like collecting Radio Orphan Annie paraphernalia, *ahem*, so my dad is holding out hope that either Henry or Holly will take up his collection someday. For now, though, they're not allowed anywhere near it.

Posted by Jenn at 01:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...because I haven't been writing much here, have I? I'd like to say there's a reason for that, but there really isn't. Habits are formed, and habits are broken.

Holly officially transitioned this week from two naps a day to one. We tried going down to one nap a few weeks ago, but she was clearly not ready for it. It's funny, Henry was such an even-keeled baby/toddler that there was never any indication that he needed a nap, so his naps were strictly by the clock: if it was 10AM, down he went; if it was 2PM, down he went again. Holly, on the other hand, makes it very clear she needs a nap because she starts running around, trying to get into as much trouble as possible as quickly as possible. When I find myself tearing out my hair trying to keep after her, that's usually an indication that she's totally tuckered and is running on pure mischief. If I hadn't gone back to two naps a day for those few weeks, I'm fairly certain our house wouldn't be standing anymore.

Since it hasn't been a particularly sunny January, by about four o'clock in the afternoon, I have a hard time convincing myself I'm warm, despite what the thermostat says. That's what comes from either being out in, or gazing out at, a snowy landscape. My favorite moment each day is, after getting the kids in bed, going downstairs and putting on two presents I received for Christmas. One is a pair of very pink, very fuzzy Hello Kitty pajama pants courtesy of Dave's parents, and the other is an equally pink, equally fuzzy Hello Kitty bathrobe that my Aunt got me. Does my family know me, or what? There's one thing you can't be when blanketed in fuzzy, pink Hello Kitty anything, and that's cold. It's almost as good as being snuggled under the covers. I'm a very cozy girl right now.

Posted by Jenn at 09:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had a great trip up to Boston, although we did leave our mark, as we usually do. Sunday night my mom came down with the stomach bug that we had had the weekend before. Whatever that bug is, it sure hangs around for a long time, laying in wait to jump on board the next unsuspecting victim. Fortunately, Saturday and Sunday were filled with lots of resting, relaxing, and eating.

Last week I knitted a pair of socks for Holly. Or maybe it was the week before. Time has no meaning. Anyway, while I was working on them, I asked Henry if he wanted me to make him a pair, to which he replied, rather adamantly, that no, he did not want a pair of socks. Then one day Holly was slipping and sliding all over the house in her new socks, when Henry pops up at my side and says he's changed his mind. I think he needed to see the finished product to make sure that they were indeed a pair of socks, and not just a lead-in to dreaded hugs and kisses or something along those lines. I'm only guessing; I have no idea what goes through that kid's mind. So I cast on a sock and diligently worked on it whenever I had a chance. It finally came off the needles on Saturday morning right after breakfast, and don't you know he whipped off his socks and put on the one that I had made him? He spent the rest of the day running around the house with only one sock on. It was very cute and sweet and gave me the warm fuzzies, until around 3 o'clock in the afternoon when he zipped up next to where I was zoning out watching TV, got right up next to my ear, and started chanting "Sock, sock, sock, sock, sock, sock, sock," etc., etc., ad infinitum until finally I asked him if he was suggesting that I get working on the other one. He said yes, he was hinting something along those lines, so I cast on the other sock. I didn't think I would finish it all that quickly, but there was a lot of down-time the rest of the afternoon, and after the kids were in bed, we watched "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", so I got a lot of knitting done. In fact, I got a whole sock's worth of knitting done. Let's hear it for sort-of thick yarn and little kiddo feet. The next morning Henry put both of his socks on and didn't take them off until last night. They were the most satisfying thing I've ever made, mostly because of how much they were immediately appreciated.

The rest of the time in Boston was spent covertly passing the stomach bug on to my mom, making pomander balls, cutting up paper snowflakes, eating chinese food, talking about making cookies, going for a walk, staying in pajamas all day, drinking hot chocolate, listening to music, drinking wine, making nachos, and keeping Holly out of trouble. The other big development is that Holly has christened my dad "Paw-paw". It's adorable.

Henry wasn't happy we were only there for two days. He thinks four would have been nicer. I do, too.

Posted by Jenn at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're packing up the car and heading off to the wilds of 81 and 84, where we'll slowly but surely be making our way up to Boston. Well, hopefully not too slowly. And not too wild. There's a two-day shindig being held in honor of Dave's old advisor at MIT, so while he spends tomorrow listening to various talks and having a nice dinner out, Henry, Holly, and I will be hanging out with my parents and most likely driving them nuts. I'd say something about our current state of health and how maybe this time we won't leave them with unwanted guests, but I don't want to tempt the Fates, so, infer from that what you will.

We're all very excited to hit the road, but I think Henry's excitement has us all beat. Yesterday evening and this morning he was actively contributing to the "Pile of Things To Bring To Grammy and Grandpa's". He wants to share everything with them. I know he was putting some things into the suitcase on his own, so I'll be curious to see what we unpack.

Meanwhile, I appear to be getting more laid back about the packing aspect, because usually at this point I'd be throwing toys into bags, hauling stuff out to the car, getting our vanity case ready, packing snacks, etc., but instead, I'm posting here and working on a pair of socks for Henry. Personal growth or irresponsibility? Maybe I'm just getting better at doing it all in a much shorter amount of time, so I'm putting it off for as long as possible, until real panic sets in.

Since Jocelyn was so kind as to ask after it, I've taken pictures of the rag doll Henry and I made for Holly. I just need to download and post them, which I will do first thing after we get back.

Posted by Jenn at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

You want some unsolicited advice? Don't read any version of those "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A/Some _______" books the day after you've had the stomach flu. It's not pleasant. Henry picked out "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves!" last night as his bedtime book and it was tough-going, especially since it came so quickly on the heels of my first real meal since Friday night. Clearly, the child hates me.

Last night Holly was hacking and coughing up a storm and had a runny nose, and this morning she woke up with more of the same. Poor girl. She's been too uncomfortable to nap today, so she's been whimpering and coughing and generally sounding sad.

Dave sent an email about forty minutes ago saying he's starting to feel funky and that he might be home a bit early today. Poor guy. I hope it's not what it most likely is.

Henry and I, thankfully, are feeling all right. We've been playing and running errands, making a doll for Holly, as well as baking up a batch of chocolate chip cookies. It's been a quiet day of convalescing. Or getting sicker. Depending on which one of the four of us you are.

Posted by Jenn at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We're almost two weeks into the new year, so I may as well fess up to my New Year's Resolution: I'm going to try not to shop at any major chain or "Big Box" stores for the year; instead I'm going to focus on local stores and making items we need myself.

Lately I've found myself completely overwhelmed by too many options whenever I go shopping. There's too much of everything to choose from. If I need socks I have to sift through package after package, type after type, and when it's all said and done, I feel like I've just wasted an enormous amount of time. Same goes for the grocery store. It takes forever to find something, and when you do, you've got fourteen different options for basically the same product, not to mention no matter how well I plan a trip out, I always end up walking the width of the store at least three times, backtracking to find an item they've moved to a different area. It makes me, quite literally*, crazy. Just before Christmas, I found great satisfaction in going to the local butcher and seeing chicken quarters instead of: chicken legs, chicken thighs, chicken legs and thighs, each produced by three different companies.

So I've decided to take that bit of nuttiness out of my life and turn it into something a bit more positive, which is frequenting local shops and getting creative with what we already have. The hardest part will be replacing clothes. I've got two giant bags full of clothes handed down to Holly from friends, so she's pretty well set, but the young man is also growing like a weed, so I'll have to come up with some sort of plan of action for him.

Other than the clothing issue, I'm not thinking too far ahead, and am going to roll with things as they come. Wish me luck!

*I completely lost my cool during both of the trips I made to the grocery store for Thanksgiving. In fact, I haven't really been back for a major shopping trip since.

Posted by Jenn at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

...has been surprisingly busy. At least this week has been, anyway. It's only half over and the rest of week's calendar is filled up. Talk about starting the year off with a bang, if "bang" means lots of appointments with a few playdates (both kid and adult) mixed in.

Meanwhile, we're a few good solid weeks into winter now and I'm still very patiently waiting for it to start snowing. A nice snow, one that's good for snowmen, snowballs, snow volcanoes, and best of all, hot chocolate enjoyed while snuggled under a blanket in the comfort of a chair that's next to a window. Sounds nice, doesn't it? I'm ready for it.

Posted by Jenn at 08:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

About twenty minutes ago Henry crossed over the threshold of good humor and stepped squarely into its negative counterpart. We were decorating Thank You cards when we hit an insurmountable wall of angst owing to not having enough room for both a cat and lizard stamp. After talking it out with him didn't help, he dejectedly trudged up to his room to rest for an hour. Or two.

We're spending a quiet day at home. Well, Henry and I are. Dave and Holly are currently braving the wilds of an apparently jam-packed grocery store, gathering provisions for this evening (fondue! mini hot dogs!) and I'm using the unexpected alone time to download the 284 pictures we took over Christmas. We had a great week in Boston. On Christmas Eve we decorated a special cookie for Santa and made him lemonade. On Christmas morning, the first thing Henry said was that "Santa had eaten the WHOLE COOKIE!" and that he'd left his empty plate and cup on top of some presents. He was thrilled that his cookie had been appreciated by the Big Guy himself. The day after Christmas a major snowstorm hit and we spent the next two days cozied up inside, being lazy, eating, making snow volcanos, and playing with our presents. Frankly, I can't believe it's over and we're back home. Time sure has a way of flying by.

Earlier this morning, Henry and I had a quiet moment at the dining room table while Dave and Holly napped. He worked very hard at making confetti for this evening while I made the deviled eggs for lunch that he had requested yesterday. It was a nice moment to have on the last day of the year.

Happy New Year everyone!

Posted by Jenn at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Did anyone else haul themselves out of bed early this morning to see the lunar eclipse? It was beautiful. I tried to take a picture, but I'm fairly inept with my camera and couldn't even get the moon to register on the screen, so I put it away and just enjoyed the moment. Then I went inside to get Dave. It took me more than an hour to get back to sleep, but it was worth it.

We got my parents two presents that are difficult to wrap. It happens every year, there's always the awkwardly shaped gift that results in bunched up paper, lots of tape, and oodles of bows to (mostly unsuccessfully) disguise the whole mess. My original plan was to send them ahead of us via UPS with a bunch of other presents, but there wasn't any room in the box once everything else was in there, so they're going to have to brave the seven hour trip to their house in our trunk. They're not showing it, but the presents are very afraid. Meanwhile I've been trying to decide if I should bring them unwrapped and sneak them into the house to wrap while I'm there, or risk their paper being shredded by the journey in the car.

Enter a Very Good Idea. Last week on soulemama, one of her posts was about how her family had, a few years ago, eschewed wrapping paper in favor of fabric. Brilliant! It's eco-friendly, produces much less Christmas-day trash, they can be used over and over again, and they handle awkwardly-shaped presents with great aplomb! On Friday Holly and I went out in search of fabric, and yesterday, after Henry came home from school, we set about making two gift bags for his Grammy and Grandpa's presents. (Henry works the sewing machine pedal like a champ!) They were so easy and satisfying to make, we made two more. The end result:

Aren't they cute? We tied them off with yarn. They look like loot bags to me, or money bags from cartoons; they should have big dollar signs appliqued on them. I'm thinking I might have to head out after Christmas to see what kind of deals I can score on holiday fabric to make more for next year.

Posted by Jenn at 09:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just vacuumed the house and then mopped the worst bits. These aren't very Saturday night-y activities, or at least they wouldn't be if I hadn't yanked the cork out of the wine bottle at 5 this afternoon. Everything's looking a bit rosy, even a little housework, especially housework that helps clear the way for other activities, such as sewing bean bags for the game we're making Henry for Christmas, which is what I had planned on doing after vacuuming but which I have officially put off until tomorrow night in favor of snuggling up to chips and dip and a little tv. Hey, I'm tired. I vacuumed. And mopped. A little.

Anyway, on to some firsts. Holly had her first hair cut today. She wasn't thrilled. She didn't fully grasp the idea of looking in the mirror to see what was going on, and so she kept turning her head around to try and get a glimpse of the scissor action. It didn't work out very well for her, other than she got a cute little haircut and a Christmas cookie to help her feel better. Hmmm, so I guess it did work out pretty well for her. We are now the proud owners of an envelope full of Holly's baby hair. My baby. Excuse me while I go have another little sip of wine.

The other first was we watched the San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker this evening. We started out watching it on PBS. Henry was pretty into it. He asked lots of questions about everything that was going on. When the first act ended, we watched a few ads, learned about the inspiration for the productions sets, and just as Kristi Yamaguchi was about to talk about the costumes, they cut to ads showcasing construction stuff, then aired an episode of "This Old House". Now I'm just as much a fan of Tom Silva as the next person, but that was very badly done, PBS. Fortunately, we were able to rent the same version on Amazon's Video-On-Demand. Act II is not to be missed. Henry's favorite was the russian dancers. 30 seconds into their dance he said "Now this is the Nutcracker." I grew up watching the 1977 Baryshnikov version, so I'll always be partial to that one, but it was a lot of fun to watch it with Henry.

Posted by Jenn at 08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few months ago I ordered six play silks (plus a free silk scarf since it was my first order from that particular store) thinking that Henry and I could dye them for Holly as his Christmas present to her. This past Monday night it was very clear that Henry was coming down with a cold. I heard him coughing a few times during the night, and when he woke up in the morning, he looked pretty done in, so we kept him home. The best way to describe how he was feeling would be: too sick to go to school, but not too sick to not drive me nuts". He was bouncing off the walls, so before Dave went to work later in the morning, I asked him to pick up the usual sick kid necessities at the store, plus three packs of every flavor of Kool-Aid that they had. While Holly was napping, we got to work.

The instructions I used were a combination of these at the Artful Parent and these at Make Baby Stuff. Henry and I soaked the playsilks in hot water with two cups of vinegar mixed in while we got our first two dye baths going. For the baths I used large white soup bowls because they were large enough to hold all of the liquid, but deep enough to keep the silk submerged. For each bath we mixed two cups of water with 1/2 cup of vinegar, then added either three packets of Kool-Aid, or food coloring, depending on which color we were going for.

Henry mushing the silk down into the blue bath.

Once the playsilk was fully submerged, I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and we microwaved them for two minutes. We uncovered them, mushed them around a bit, covered them back up, then microwaved them for another two minutes, after which most of the dye was taken up in the silk. We carefully poured the liquid out because it was really hot, then rinsed out the silk and hung it up to dry. Henry was enamoured with the green one:

It was the first one that came out of a dye bath and I think we were both amazed by how beautiful the color came out, and, at least on my part, that the whole process worked at all (I'm a fatalist, what can I say?).

What we used to get the colors: Cherry flavor for the red, food coloring for the orange*, Lemonade for yellow, Lemon Lime for green, Blue Raspberry for blue, food coloring for purple, and Pink Lemonade for pink. One set of the instructions I linked to above recommends you use gloves for this. I would second that notion. I didn't bother and I had some pretty scary looking fingers for a few days.

Henry took great pleasure in wrapping up his gift to his sister yesterday after school. Although I think she'll really like them, if Holly turns out to be disinterested in the playsilks, Henry will definitely put them to good use.

* Our store didn't have Orange or Grape flavored Kool-Aid so I used McCormack Neon food coloring. I used the amount of drops indicated on the back of the box for icing a whole cake.

Posted by Jenn at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

A couple of weeks ago I was perusing etsy's Waldorf toy section looking for inspiration for Holly for Christmas. There are so many tempting, beautiful toys. Holly's at an in-between age so it's hard to know what to get her. A lot of what I was drawn to were suited more to kids who are a year or two older than she is. I was tempted to get a few of the wooden animals or puzzles, but eventually I stumbled upon a peg/cup color matching set. Once I had found something I liked, I naturally hemmed and hawed and ultimately decided to sleep on it. A few days later I went back to etsy to look at it again and I couldn't find it anywhere. I was crushed. Holly loves putting things into other things, and this seemed like a toy she would have a lot of fun with. A few days of pouting later, it occurred to me that I could probably make it for her. I'd seen the wooden pieces at craft stores before, so it was really just a matter of painting them. Benjamin Franklin's had exactly what I needed, so yesterday I got the watercolors out and went to work:

I'm pretty happy with the result. I went with watercolors because it shows the grain of the wood. There was a minor moment of panic when I put the yellow guy into his yellow cup and realized he was too big for his "home". It was doom and gloom for a minute there until Dave pointed out I could just sand the opening a bit wider. Why didn't I think of that? Last evening I noticed the paint dusts off in your hands when you play with them, so I'm going to have to seal them before wrapping them up, but I think Holly's going to enjoy them.

Posted by Jenn at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The first few hours of the day were jam-packed. Things have slowed down since. It's currently snowing outside, so Holly and I are celebrating with some cinnamon toast.

Henry's Kindergarten class is decorating their gingerbread houses today. I was one of a few people who volunteered to make fresh icing for affixing candies, so that's what I was doing at 7:30AM. We ended up driving Henry in and you should have seen him clutching the bag with the tub of icing in it. It was clearly precious cargo. I hope they're allowed to bring the houses home today; I'm looking forward to seeing his.

Holly and I had an hour to kill before my chiropractic appointment so we went to the grocery store and picked up a couple of gingerbread kits for us to do at home this weekend with some friends. We also stopped by Michael's to pick up some supplies for a couple of presents I want to make for Holly and Henry, as well as a bag of old-fashioned clothespins with rounded heads. Dave was going to toss the giant tin that his popcorn came in but I felt like there was something I could do with it for Holly. I rescued it, cleaned it up, and pondered and thought and pondered some more but couldn't come up with anything, so I emailed a friend of mine who happens to be a Montessori-trained creative guru and asked her if she had any ideas. Naturally, she had tons. One of them was to line up clothespins around the edge. This would help Holly develop her motor skills with the added benefit of making a great noise when she drops them into the bottom of the can (not to mention being excellent drumsticks should the need arise). While Holly was napping I painted hair on the "heads" and drew on little faces.

They came out kind of cute! Holly's not quite dexterous enough to put them on the rim, but she'll get there. She does enjoy the noise they make when she drops them in the can. She also likes making them "run" around the edge.

It was a nice, quick, and fun project.

Posted by Jenn at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This morning, after making Henry's lunch and snack, getting breakfast on the table, and rushing the young man to the bus stop in time to catch the bus, I came home and made a double batch of my Grandmother's famous baked beans to bring to Dave's department's holiday party. Actually, this recipe is so good, I really need to capitalize that last bit to give it the proper dignity so: I made my Grandmother's Famous Baked Beans. After a quick shower, I headed out the door to a fellow Kindergartener's mom's house where, along with four or five other moms, we assembled 22 gingerbread houses over the course of an hour and a half, which the kids will be decorating on Friday. Henry's not the only one going through Kindergarten-related Rites of Passage. Right now I'm glad I don't have to transport the houses to the school because that's going to be one nerve-wracking drive. As soon as I came home, Dave and I gathered up Holly, the beans (sorry, The Beans), and rice krispie treats that Dave made while I was gone and headed for the luncheon. It was fun and low-key, as it is every year. Holly and I came home full and happy and played for a while before I put her down for a nap. Right now, I'm tired and my eyes are droopy. The sun shone in through the windows just before I sat down to write out this post and it really highlighted what a state of disarray the house is in, not to mention how desperately I need to vacuum, but I'm choosing to ignore it, for a little longer anyway.

I don't know if it's because of the spread that was proffered at the holiday party, but I sort of want appetizers for dinner tonight. I wonder if Dave would go for that...

Edited to add: It's official. I've eaten too many Beans. Take that however you'd like.

Posted by Jenn at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This afternoon, while Holly and I were enjoying a late lunch, it started to snow. A beautiful snow, with nice, big, fluffy flakes. It started off slow, then it started to grow. (The Grinch has been on the brain lately.) By the time we were done eating, we were in the throes of quite the little squall. I felt bad for the guys across the street who were doing some work up on a neighbors roof. Holly and I bundled up and went outside. Kids have so much more stamina for being outside when it's cold and snowy. I was ready to go in after about five minutes, but Holly was in it for the long haul. She transferred her love of climbing to various outdoor fixtures such as the back stoop, our swing, the patio, various chairs. Every once in a while she'd vehemently say "MILK!" over and over again, so we'd trudge inside, tracking mud everywhere, I'd take off my coat and shoes, enjoy the warmth, start to get Holly out of her coat only to have her start to cry and stumble back over to the back door. I'd rebundle myself up and out we'd go. That happened twice before I smartened up and just stayed in my coat while she drank. Once in a great while I can be a quick study. The last thing she did before we headed indoors for good was to climb up the hill of dirt around one of our trees and attempt to slide down it. She worked hard to get herself to the bottom, but I don't think it was the thrilling experience she was hoping for.

The snow petered out for an hour or so but returned full force when it was time for Henry to come home. It's been falling steadily ever since and now everything is covered. It's great. If it's going to be cold, it may as well be snowing to help ease the chill.

Posted by Jenn at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're experiencing torrential downpours in this here neck of the woods. Dave and I were a bit sluggish this morning so we ended up driving Henry to school, little realizing that every other parent was doing the same thing, although their reasons for doing so probably had something to do with the rain whereas ours was born of sheer laziness. Dare to be different. Anyway, some of the roads were starting to grow pretty significant puddles. Henry informed us with great certainty that there would indeed be flooding. I don't doubt he's wrong. All of this is a lead-in to the part of the story where I tell you that with all of the rain coming down outside, I felt a bit silly turning on our dishwasher. It seems like a waste, like I should throw all of the dishes outside, squirt some dishwashing soap on them, and let Mother Nature take over. I don't think I'll be doing any laundry today.

Posted by Jenn at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another NaBloPoMo has come and gone. Unlike last year, I actually managed to post every day this month, so, pats on the back for that. The other day I noticed that at the beginning of the November I was extra motivated and would post in the morning, but as the month wore on, my posts were hitting the blog later and later in the day. Sounds about right.

Dave did a pretty great job of posting as well. The last two days he's been strung out at work, coming home to have dinner, hang up some outdoor Christmas lights with Henry, and help out with bedtime, only to return to work and not come home again until sometime between 3 and 4 AM. Can you imagine? He's trying to get out a paper and a grant that are both due today. I imagine he's going to crash pretty hard this evening, or he's going to take a quick nap then start preparing for tomorrow's class, because that's how he rolls.

Henry's Thanksgiving break ended today. Technically, Thanksgiving break ended Sunday, but the kids got yesterday off because it was the first day of hunting season. I'll let that sink in for a bit before I continue... Are you back with me? Henry was not happy about having to go back to school, although he didn't openly complain about it. Yesterday was the first day he seemed to have been completely over his stomach bug. What timing, getting sick on your first day of a long vacation and staying that way for the duration. Fingers crossed that Christmas break goes a little better for him.

I feel like I've talked about everyone in this post but Holly, and that doesn't seem quite right. She's currently napping and having dreams fueled by her lunch of yogurt, bagel, and pumpkin pie. Aren't you jealous?

Also, my friend Mel did NaBloPoMo *and* NaNoWriMo, which means she wrote a book. A BOOK! Isn't that amazing? I'm amazed.

Posted by Jenn at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The weather has been weird today. I check the forecast last night and it was unambiguous in its assertions of blue skies and sun. Naturally when Holly and I woke up, it was snowing out. Then it stopped for a while, the sun peeked out, then it started snowing again. The whole day has been a repeat of that cycle. It makes me wish we could build an actual fire in our fireplace, maybe have some hot chocolate, get all cozy under a blanket. Alas.

Posted by Jenn at 02:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was just crawling under the covers with my Kindle when I remembered I hadn't posted yet today, so here I am. Wouldn't want to be like Dave, making all of these promises and then not following through. At least not until tomorrow, anyway.

Thanksgiving was nice. It was quiet. Henry and I watched the parade. He had his usual Thanksgiving breakfast in honor of the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special, a meal which consists of jelly beans, pretzels, toast, and popcorn, this year with the added twist of lemonade. Dave made popovers for the rest of us, which were amazing. One of Dave's grad students joined us for the Big Meal, and afterwards we retired to the couch and watched "Home For the Holidays", one of my favorite movies which I hadn't seen in a few years.

The only thing that would have made it an even better day would have been if Henry hadn't been sick. He caught a similar stomach bug to the one I had a few weeks ago so yesterday was kind of icky. After an epic episode around 11:30PM, he thankfully slept the rest of the night. Even so, by the time this morning rolled around I mentioned to Dave that I couldn't decide if I was feeling queasy because I was also getting sick or if I was just generally grossed out. Dave was apparently feeling similarly. Today Henry was clearly doing much better what with all of the bouncing off of the walls he did. Oh, to still have that youthful resilience. Although, I have in my old age perfected the art of wallowing, so there's that. Until tomorrow...

Posted by Jenn at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I love Thanksgiving. Food, family, love, the delicious smells, the frantic coming-together-at-the-last minute feel of the meal despite all the preparation. Sitting down around the table, ignoring the gigantic mess in the kitchen, talking, wondering how many hours it'll be after dinner before you finally have room for pie, and then having it sooner than you should anyway. We woke up to snow falling this morning. It felt perfect.

Hope you are having your perfect Thanksgiving wherever you happen to be!

Posted by Jenn at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...started off at the chiropractor's, followed by a quick stop at the grocery store for last-minute necessities (bananas and toilet paper), then, since I was there anyway, a quick stop into Starbucks for some decaf Via and a gingerbread latte (which was good initially but had a bad aftertaste). Upon returning home, I joined in on some fun and games, then baked a pumpkin pie, followed by pumpkin muffins. Dave made dough for his apple pies, then we settled around the table for lunch. After lunch, more playing, which moved outside briefly, and now Henry and his Grandma are settled on the couch under a blanket with "The Princess and the Frog" showing on the small screen, Holly's napping, I'm about to read until I fall asleep, Dave's working on a grant, and his dad is relaxing in the back room. Later on, Thai for dinner, finish up the apple pies, make the stuffing for tomorrow. Life is good.

Posted by Jenn at 03:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

20 minutes ago Dave came home with the Thanksgiving turkey. It was looking a little grim there for a while. In typical Jenn fashion, I decided this year we'd plunk down a nice chunk of change for an organic and, *bonus*, local turkey. Going that route would require that I pick up a phone, talk to someone about reserving a bird, maybe plan a little. So instead I randomly thought "I need to do something about that." over the course of the last four weeks which brings us up to yesterday when I thought "Too late, better head to the grocery store." So I went last night and before having a mild panic attack that had nothing to do whatsoever with the state of the turkey selection (I wish I was kidding), I discovered that of the nine turkeys they had, only one was even close to twenty pounds and it was injected with a who-knows-what's-in-it flavoring solution. I left the store with only half of my list crossed off, partly because I thought perhaps there'd be some shelf-stocking going on while everyone else was asleep, and partly because I just needed to get out of there.

This morning Holly and I headed back and what do you know, there were the same nine turkeys. I got the rest of the stuff that I could. (From what I could tell, they were completely sold out of butternut squash. And jelly beans. Wow.) I sent Dave an email half in a panic because not only did they not have a suitably sized turkey but they were out of the Jimmy Dean sausage I need to make my Mom and Dad's stuffing recipe, which is an all important, can't live without it, part of the meal as far as I'm concerned. So while I put the kids to bed this evening because by this point I'd be good gosh-darned if I was going to set foot in another grocery store (Did I mention how I knocked over a cookie display with my cart and unwittingly crashed the 15 items or less line with a lot more than 15 items? Granted it was a temporary express lane without the usual signage, but still. I'm now one of *those* people.), Dave headed out to the wilds of nine miles south of here and saved the day. He had to go to two places, but eventually he succeeded. Whew. Catastrophe avoided. The parade may go on as planned. Bring on the Rockettes.

Posted by Jenn at 08:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's day 21. Henry and I spent part of the morning coming up with our Thanksgiving grocery list. We're heading to the store when Holly gets up from her nap. About fifteen minutes ago I realized why I was having such a relaxing Sunday. I forgot to do the laundry, like I normally do. Apparently I'm already in holiday mode.

Henry has two days of school this week. As if life couldn't get any better, his grandparents are arriving Tuesday evening, which will be the perfect way to start his vacation.

Meanwhile, I'm tuckered and dying to finish the third installment of the Millennium trilogy so I think I'll adjourn to my bedroom and spend the next hour or so reading instead of napping, all of which will surely be followed by minor regret for not having had the discipline to catch a little shuteye after all.

Posted by Jenn at 02:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

About three weeks ago, Henry started going through a hitting stage. Sometimes he has trouble finding the words to express his anger or his sadness, so he would ball up his fist and give us a thump on the arm or on our side instead. He didn't do it hard, and we understood where it was coming from, but we wanted to make sure that he got the point that this was not acceptable behavior. So, instead of time-outs, we told him we would take his drum set away for one whole day every time he hit one of us. The next we put the rule into effect and naturally, he didn't see that drum set for three days. He's a quick study though, and he got the point.

About a week later, Henry, Holly, and I were playing in the living room and something happened that resulted in me breaking one of our rules. Henry told me with great glee that I had been naughty and that I wasn't allowed to play my ukulele for one whole day. Then he looked at me expectantly, waiting for my reaction, but I told him he was right. He shot off the couch grabbed my case and while I was distracted by playing with Holly, he hid my ukulele.

Yet another week later I realized he had never given my uke back to me. I went searching high and low all over the house, on two separate occasions, and couldn't find it. I mentioned it to him when he came home from school and he informed me I could have it the next day. It once again slipped our minds until this evening when the three of us were in his room having "music lessons"*. I asked him where it was and he told me to wait there, that he would get it for me. Once again I was distracted by Holly, playing, dinner, bathtime, life in general, and it slipped my mind until I just sat down on the couch and noticed that it was back in its rightful position in the living room.

We live in a small house. There are only so many places he could have put it. Where was he hiding it? It's driving me a little nuts.

* "music lessons" consist of listening to the Monster Mash, Ghostbusters, Somebody's Watching Me, and This Is Halloween. I've now heard these four songs more times than I care to think about.

Posted by Jenn at 08:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

- I meant to google "cake pops" but instead typed in "cake poop". Hee!

- Finished The Girl Who Played With Fire this afternoon. Thinking about jumping right into the third installment.

- Looked into when Henry's spring break is and realized that although technically he has five days off, two of them are weekend days. What's up with that? What happened to a week off for spring break?

- Tomorrow is my Dad's birthday. Happy birthday Dad!

- Henry thinks it's "Donkin' Donuts". It never fails to make me laugh.

- My cold has turned into a mild-yet-annoying sinus infection. My tonsils are officially the size of golf balls. I think I need to have them removed. They're nothing but trouble anymore.

- Today is the halfway point for NaBloPoMo. I almost forgot to post on Saturday, hence the totally lame post. I have no excuse for the other totally lame posts.

Posted by Jenn at 08:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sometime over the summer I read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It's a pretty heavy story. It took me about a month to get past the first twenty or thirty pages. They set up the plot for everything that came after, but they were a bit dull. Once I got past them, I couldn't put the book down. It's not particularly an uplifting, light read and when I finished it I immediately set it aside and picked up some Archie comics and other light-hearted fare.

In the meantime, Dave and I rented the movie and it was good. So good that Dave is anxiously awaiting seeing the second in the series, which is already out on DVD. Unfortunately for him, I have a strict rule that states that I can't see a movie based on a book until I've read the book, no exceptions. Well, except for Gone With the Wind, but only because I didn't know it was a book until just after I finished watching the movie. So Dave's been putting on the pressure for me to read The Girl Who Played With Fire so he can pop some popcorn and enjoy a good thriller. Except I've been refusing to because the first one was so relentless and gloomy that I haven't been quite ready to cross that bridge.

Until Thursday when I finally started it. And it is relentless and gloomy. There was one part with a tornado/hurricane where I swear I didn't breathe until it was over. It's also got some plot devices that are a bit silly and don't really make any sense. But it's still a good read that I've enjoyed.

Looking forward to seeing the movie when I'm done.

Posted by Jenn at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

You guys. I made the best dinner last night: poached eggs in tomato sauce. I love poached eggs and had never thought about poaching them in tomato sauce. Not just tomato sauce, but tomato sauce spiced with, among other things, cayenne pepper. Delicious. There is a cafe downtown that, a few incarnations ago, used to have a spicy tomato bisque that would pop up on the menu every once in a while. I miss that soup. That's what the sauce reminded me of. Anyway, Dave and I sat down to dinner last night and with the first bite I was giggling away because it was just that good. Dave was amused until he also took a bite, and then he completely understood. I told my mom about it later and when I described the recipe she said "That sounds terrible". Ha!

Earlier in the day I was watching a rerun of Rachel Ray's $40 a Day or whatever that show was called. She was in Savannah having high tea, wrestling with the nerve-wracking decision of which pastries to sample. Her descriptive hemming and hawing combined with the extreme closeups of the shortbreads gave me quite the sweets craving, but we had run out of butter a few days earlier, so that severely limited what proactive steps I could take in the kitchen. Then I came across another Smitten Kitchen recipe for Pumpkin Muffins. No butter required, plus it allowed me to use the pumpkin that we had left over from Sunday's pumpkin pancake extravaganza. They were easy to make and incredibly delicious. Plus they'll leave your house smelling like heaven. At least what I imagine heaven smells like.

Posted by Jenn at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm not a person who is comfortable in social situations. Even worse, I tend to over-think everything, to the point where sometimes I convince myself I need professional help just to get myself out my own head. Certain social circumstances utterly confuse me. In particular, when Henry was born, I noticed that when he was a baby, obviously too young to talk, random people would ask him questions, such as what he was going to be doing for the rest of the day, how was he feeling, is that your favorite toy, etc. etc. Clearly they were directing these questions to him, but just as clearly he was incapable of answering them, and then they would pause as if waiting for an answer. I was always left in a quandary over figuring out if I was supposed to answer for him or if I should just let whoever it was finish whatever conversation they thought they were having and be on our way. This problem happily went away once Henry was able to answer for himself. However, once Holly was born it started happening all over again, much to my great consternation. So my question is, am I supposed to answer?

Posted by Jenn at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Things are looking up over here. On top of the cold I came down with over the weekend, yesterday a stomach bug reared its ugly head. Since I am nothing if not dramatic, by about 9AM I assumed I was going to die. Holly was either also not feeling particularly spectacular herself, or she's a highly compassionate savant who knew I was in dire straits because she not only took a three hour morning nap, but later in the day she slept for another two hours. Meanwhile as soon as Dave came home at 5:30 I completely checked out, which would indicate I was checked in at some point during the day, which I wasn't, but Dave's arrival made it truly official. He made dinner for the kids, put them to bed, took the dog for a walk, then went back to lab. I sat on the couch, watched some AFV with Henry, took a shower, and went to bed. Dave's a pretty good guy, wouldn't you say? I'm also grateful this all went down yesterday instead of today, because Tuesday's are rough enough as it is.

Today Holly and I are both feeling better, although we seem to once again have a shared desire to take to our respective beds. However, instead of filling yet another day with crummy homemade chicken noodle soup (Which, for best results, needs to be made before one is actually sick. Just sayin'.) and lots of Sesame Street, we've been playing and cleaning and trying to feel like contributing members of the household again. It's sort of working. I'd still rather take a nap.

Posted by Jenn at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

1. I'm sick. Frak.

2. I can't believe Dave is still hanging in there with NaBloPoMo. It's awesome. I love reading what he writes.

3. I got stuck on this song and video earlier this week. And maybe on the singer, just a little bit.

The boy's swell. I'm buying Dave a three piece suit, and that's flat.

Posted by Jenn at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Holly spent the last thirty minutes howling at me over: milk, wanting to go play outside, reading a book, the general misery of her life. So this morning, her nap time got moved up by about an hour. They have a way of letting you know when they need sleep, as unpleasant as their chosen mode of communication can sometimes be. Meanwhile, we've been waking up to temperatures in the 20's, which following on the heels of a week in the mid-60's to 70's has been a bit of a slap in the butt. I feel a bit like howling myself.

A few weeks ago Chasing Cheerios wrote a post about hotprints.com, an online photo printing service that allows you to order four free photo books every month. All you have to pay for is shipping. The company is able to do this by putting a few pages of adverts in the middle of the book; they are their own pages and can be easily removed. Last month I ordered three books with photos from our trip to Florida, one for us, one for my parents, and one for my Aunt and Uncle. They came out great. Our copy is well-loved by a certain Miss Holly who pulls it out from her bookshelf at least once a day. I'll be ordering a few more and thought I would put the word out for anyone who might be interested.

On a side note, Dave has unofficially taken up the NaBloPoMo challenge and is posting on his Cool Science page. Put the pressure on him to keep it up by checking it out!

Posted by Jenn at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today came, it saw, it kicked my butt. I'm wiped. Tuesdays are our rough days. Dave teaches at 8 and has lab at 1, and in the hours in between he barely has a chance to catch his breath. He usually picks the young man up at the bus stop in the afternoon because Henry gets home right in the middle of Holly's second nap, but on Tuesdays, Holly and I are on our own. The stretch after Holly's morning nap is the worst, because she's cranky after a few hours and by that point I feel like I've hit the bottom of my bag of tricks. To add insult to injury there's usually at least an hour and a half to go before we can leave for the bus stop.

Starting in middle school and continuing through the time when I worked a full-time job, about twice a year I'd be so overwhelmed by exhaustion I'd come home and go straight to bed. Sometimes I'd wake up and have a little dinner, but usually I slept through until morning. It cured what ailed me and freshened me right up. I'm feeling the need to do that today, but don't have the luxury of being able to do it. Fortunately Holly's still napping and Henry's indulging in his latest TV obsession, The Electric Company (He loves the guy who beat boxes. Of course.) so I'm sneaking in a little rest. Soon Dave'll be home, we'll go vote, then figure out what to do about dinner, walk the dog, and finally, blissfully, go to bed.

Posted by Jenn at 04:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday was my birthday. I spent the morning and early afternoon kicking around the house with my little girl. Then I spent the late afternoon kicking around the house with my little boy while the little girl napped. Then I got in the car and went to a chiropractor for the first time ever. When I was in labor with Holly, an unsuccessful attempt was made to give me an epidural. The anesthesiologist gave me a spinal which lasted an hour and a half, and after that point I was rolling with the punches on my own. She later came in and told me my spine had a twist in it and that I might want to have a chiropractor check it out. To add to that, I've been dealing with constant lower back pain since I threw out my back lifting Henry out of his crib when he was six months old. A few weeks ago I got a recommendation from a friend for a chiropractor who takes a more holistic, overall approach and that's who I went and saw on Friday. It was great. After she shifted everything back into place, I felt instant relief. As it turns out, one of my lower vertebra was twisted and kinked and that was the source for a lot of my pain. She adjusted my neck, which was frightening (she later apologized and said she doesn't normally do that on the first visit but I really needed it), adjusted my middle back, fixed my lower back, then asked me to come back tonight to see what course of long-term therapy she would recommend.

The biggest surprise was the emotional effect it had on me. Friday night I was riding high, but by Saturday afternoon I was an emotional mess. I have a feeling the chiropractor's adjustments released a pent-up emotional maelstrom that was waiting to be dealt with. I was headachy, weepy, and completely fatigued. I spent most of the weekend wanting to crawl into bed to cry and sleep. Fortunately, yesterday afternoon was better, and today I feel myself again. I'm curious to see how things look when I go this evening.

Posted by Jenn at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I seem to have taken a bit of a hiatus from the blog. It's probably my subconscious prepping me for next month's NaBloPoMo craziness. Purge my brain, clear my thoughts, assuming there was anything there to begin with.

When last I wrote, my parents were arriving within a few hours, and my mom had plans to surprise the young man at the bus stop. She did, and although it took him from the time he jumped from the last step of the bus onto the sidewalk to the time he got to me to realize I was not there alone, he was indeed very surprised. After a range of reactions which ultimately culminated in a resonant "THHBBBTTT!" for lack of any better way to express himself, he played it off like he knew all along. When we got home, he saw his Grandpa and said, as non-chalantly as a five year old can play it off, "Oh, you're here, too," and with that, the weekend was off with a bang.

Saturday was by far our busiest day. We had a leisurely breakfast, after which we headed out to a local Octoberfest. Dave has been dreaming every night of the Disney Biergarten beer and buffet since we got back home, so he was anxious to heft another stein, as was my dad. The beer was good, although it stands to reason it would have been better had it been accompanied by the sight of my uncle sporting lederhosen while playing the alp horn. There was a bounce house, a horse and buggy ride, apple crisp, and battered mushrooms, so the rest of us were equally happy. We returned home for a brief respite before heading over to the University's football game. Holly and I hung back for part of it so she could sleep off the morning a bit. We arrived just after half-time and celebrated the last two quarters with Twizzlers, popcorn, goldfish, a smoothie, and raucous waving of plastic hand-clackers. By the time the game ended, four of us were wrecked and staggered home, while my Dad and Dave headed over to the soccer game. Their energy was bewildering. There must have been some magic in that Octoberfest beer.

The rest of the visit we spent laying low. The weather turned to a chilly, drizzly mess Sunday night and stayed that way for the rest of the week. It forced us inside where it was cozy, and we spent Monday and Tuesday relaxing. Henry was thrilled both days to see his Grammy waiting for him at the bus stop when he came home. It was very sweet. I'm not even going to mention the amazing dinners they cooked while they were here, because it just makes me glum, especially knowing what we're going to have for dinner tonight. Needless to say, it was hard to see them off on Wednesday morning.

Posted by Jenn at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This morning Holly and I made a run for Target, but halfway there I looked in the back seat and Holly had her pre-nap, thoroughly dazed look going full blast so I turned the car around and we came home. We'll make another go for it after lunch. Ostensibly we're going so I can load up on some household stuff that they have on sale this week, but mostly it's an excuse to look at Halloween decorations. I'm a major sucker for Halloween stuff. Slap a pumpkin or a ghost on something and I'll be itching to buy it.

My parents are coming on Friday. Their plan is to arrive before Henry gets home from school so they can surprise him at the bus stop. Barring any major road construction, which unfortunately is something that Pennsylvania is known for when the weather is suitable, they usually manage to get here around one, so there shouldn't be any worries to that end. It's been exceedingly difficult not spilling the beans about their trip to the young man. In fact, on Thursday evening while driving around in the car, Dave and I had a whole conversation about all the fun things that are going on around here the Saturday they're going to be in town before we realized what we were doing. I nervously looked at Henry, but he was in such a daze from being sick that he wasn't paying any attention to us. I'm hoping that he's not currently processing everything that he heard over the two days he had a fever now that he's feeling better. It would be just like him to come home from school today having made the connection.

Posted by Jenn at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I haven't been testing my limits much lately beyond doing some knitting and reading, as well as making my usual efforts to make sure the house doesn't reach the stage of being condemned. Although I was sad to see the free-wheeling months of summer vacation come to an end, I have to confess I've welcomed the structure that Dave and Henry's school schedule brings to our lives. I don't like getting up at 6:30, but it's not terrible because we have to get off to a running start in order to get breakfast into the young man in a timely manner before heading out the door to catch the bus. Later in the day, dinner has to be ready at 5:30 or the evening bedtime schedule gets thrown out the window both for the kids and the adults, and that always results in a somewhat dazed morning. Since Dave gets home around 5:30, I've been making dinner far more often than I did in the summer, when it was easy to talk for an hour about making something then ultimately deciding to just eat out. Sometimes it's nice to let your schedule dictate how things have to be and to revel in not having to think, instead just having to do.

Posted by Jenn at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Thursday there were a few rumblings from Camp Henry that he didn't like having to be at school all day. Friday morning there were many tears at the bus stop, but he did get on the bus when it arrived with nary a protest. Yesterday he saved his tears for after he got on the bus. After he sat he looked out the window at me and his whole face crumpled. It broke my heart. It also broke the hearts of a couple of the other parents who saw it happen. Today he did the same thing, except it wasn't a complete crumple. Tomorrow hopefully he'll feel even better.

There's no question he doesn't like spending the whole day at school. We ask him if anything else is going on, and he says no, everything else is fine except for the fact that he has to be there ALL DAY! His favorite times are: snack time, music time, computer time, and quiet time. A sure sign he's not thrilled is that quiet time made it onto the list.

Watching him process his angst has caused me to delve into the past and rehash all of the things that I've had to buck up and work through that I hadn't particularly wanted to. Unfortunately, what could be a cathartic activity resulting in major personal growth has boiled down to me obsessing over every grudge I've managed to hold onto over the past 34 years of my life. I'm a big-time grudge holder, so I'm going back to things that happened in high school, and in one case, 8th grade. It's not something I'm particularly proud of, but it is what it is. The end result of sifting through all of the ways people, mostly passing strangers relative to my life, have said or done unthinking and hurtful things is I've been wandering around with an attitude that's got a slight bent towards anger. I've got to do something about that, but mostly I'm running with it, swimming around for a while, and when I come out on the other side, it'll all be roses. Until next time.

Posted by Jenn at 04:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We've been inundated with fruit flies the last several days. I set out a small bowl of apple cider vinegar spiked with dash of dish soap to take care of the problem. It's working beautifully. It's also making my entire house smell like feet. It's not nice.

Today is Henry's birthday. His party was on Saturday. His Grandparents waited until yesterday to give him his presents. Today he's getting ours, plus a few from his Aunts and Uncle, as well as his Grammy and Grandpa's. He'll also be getting another cake. That's three days of continuous celebration. It's making me seriously reconsider how I go about celebrating my own birthday.

Thursday morning the young man will climb aboard a bus and head off into the oblivion that is the local school system where he'll be knocking around for the next 13 years. We've been so busy with traveling and celebrating birthdays that I haven't yet had a chance to work myself up into a proper froth over it. Henry had to fill out a questionnaire for his teacher, which we brought with us to his open house last week. She was inquiring after preferred nicknames, interests, anxieties, etc. One of the questions was "This year I'd like to learn _______." Henry's response was "how to play the drums". I had a sneaking suspicion that was not the answer she was necessarily looking for (or maybe it was, who am I to say?), but it was so gosh-darned sincere, I didn't bait him into falsehoods. I looked at the other kids' sheets and they all said "how to read". Dare to be different, kiddo.

Posted by Jenn at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Dave's been hassling me about posting an entry but I haven't really been ready to. We've been getting back into the swing of things here on the home-front since coming back from Florida, the most pressing thing being prepping for Henry's birthday party, which mostly entails regaining control over our backyard which was taken over by pumpkin vines and cherry tomato plants while we were away. Naturally it's been raining a lot since we've come home, so we haven't been able to get as much done back there as we've wanted. It's been a blessing in disguise because I've been able to focus a lot of my energy on reading, knitting, and catching up on sleep. Henry's been laying low, too. Although he has made it very clear he would like to move to Orlando, he's a homebody like I am, so while he enjoys the spurts of craziness, he really likes the apres-crazy downtime as well.

My parents rolled into town early Friday afternoon. We kicked around the 'burg, then H², my Dad, and I went to the pool while Dave and my mom wrangled some food. The next morning they set off again, heading for Western MA to visit with my Grandma and Aunt. We were sad to see them go. Even though we were home for most of the week before they arrived, it still felt a bit like we were on vacation with their visit looming on the horizon. Their leaving sealed the lid on the proverbial coffin. Henry was a bit out of sorts all day, although he would never admit to missing anything other than Phineas and Ferb and his drumset.

Fortunately, the young man has set his sites a little further down the road to happier thoughts, such as his birthday, and then all too soon after that, his first day of kindergarten. I'm just going to sit here and continue stuffing my maw full of Smarties...

Posted by Jenn at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tonight for dinner we're having corn on the cob and salad. The salad is especially awesome because it contains homegrown: lettuce, cherry tomatoes, carrots, chives, and onions. I strongly dislike carrots, but I planted them anyway because I thought they'd be fun. Now I feel like I have some sort of responsibility to eat them. You know how everyone says they taste naturally sweet? They don't. They taste naturally like carrot. Blech, For dessert we have homemade peach ice cream. Probably we'll opt to nosh on peanut m&m's though, because that's how we roll. I always want to put a "g" in front of the word "nosh". Such an English major.

I asked Henry if he'd thought about what he'd like to get at Disney while we're there. He said there are three things he would like: a hat with mouse ears, a Disney t-shirt, and a Disney balloon. The end. Meanwhile, check out this video (if the sound is wonky, bump it up to HD). My Uncle's the one with the tuba. Henry's psyched about the tuba, because that's how he rolls.

Holly's looking forward to hitting the all-you-can-eat buffets.

Posted by Jenn at 07:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is this a photograph of a time traveler?

Posted by Jenn at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yesterday Holly and I headed out bright and early to drop the car off for a checkup. Dave and I talked briefly about what I should say and we agreed on: oil change, check the brakes because they chirp like a little birdie, general check-up to make sure everything's in good working condition. Nothing like giving a mechanic carte blanche to find something wrong with your car to make you nervous. We hadn't heard anything by 2PM, which we assumed was probably bad news. At 3, Dave called and told me it was ready to be picked up. They changed the oil, looked at the brakes, declared they're in excellent condition, and the rest of the car's not so bad either. So it cost us all of $40. We were expecting at least a $400 bill. I later asked Dave if he feels relieved that our car seems fine, or even more worried that they didn't find anything wrong. The answer: more worried. I totally get that.

Meanwhile, today was devoted to eyes, specifically mine and Henry's. I decided to go ahead and try contact lenses. I've been wanting to for many years, and that's about how long it takes me to get my act together to make something happen. This morning was my appointment to learn how to put them in. The right eye went great, the left eye was a bit tougher. Let me say, it was not a great day to wear mascara. Or eyeliner. It was very odd to be able to see clearly without the frames of my glasses delineating the start of the blur. In fact, when I got home and glanced in the mirror in my bedroom, I had a brief "THAT'S what I look like!" moment. I haven't seen myself clearly without glasses on from a distance greater than two feet in at least six years. It was a little weird. Meanwhile, Henry and I returned later in the afternoon so he could be fitted with reading glasses. His eye doctor said he has 20/20 vision, but his eyes have trouble shifting from far away to close-up. She had a feeling he'd outgrow it, but since he's going to school, it wouldn't be terrible for him to have some reading glasses to help ease the ocular transition. They're blue. With propellers. He's stunningly adorable in them. After all of that excitement, I got a call from Lenscrafters saying my new sunglasses had come in, so we headed to the mall to pick them up. They're great, mostly because unlike the pair that have miraculously lasted the last seven years, the coating isn't peeling off and I can actually see through them.

Next week I get to head back to the eye doctor to let them know if the contacts are a go. If this morning is any indication, I'll now need one hour and a half hours of primping time before I leave the house: half an hour to shower and get myself cute, one hour to put the contacts in.

How was that for a navel-gazing post?

Posted by Jenn at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This past Sunday, we realized we're officially two weeks away from heading for the wilds of Florida. I looked at our calendar to get a sense of what's going on during that seemingly long, yet all too short span of time and darned near had a panic attack over what I saw. Then I almost had a second panic attack when I realized some things hadn't even made it on to the calendar yet. I have three appointments with various doctors. THREE! They're all pretty innocuous, but they still require me to drop everything and actually show up. Since we're driving down, we have to have the car checked out from top to bottom, although if we break down on the highway near a Kia dealership, Dave probably wouldn't be too broken up over riding off into the Everglades in a new Sorento. Next week Henry's back to his final week of summer camp. Once we're back in town in August, we're going to be staring down the barrel of the gun commonly referred to as Kindergarten, which I'm equally excited about and in denial over, so that's the last I'm going to say about any of that for a few weeks.

This afternoon I had the first of my three doctors appointments. It was to have my stitches removed and naturally when Henry caught wind of the purpose, he was very enthusiastic about coming along with me. You know, for moral support. We're sitting in the exam room, reading books, when the doctor walks in. She comes over to Henry, puts her hands on her knees, and very sweetly says "So! I hear you're here to have some stitches removed!" Henry looked at her like she was nuts, and I sheepishly told her that actually, I was the proud owner of the stitches, although I could see how she would make that mistake. She thought that was pretty funny. When I told her how it happened, she said she'd never had an avocado before, and what do you do with them anyway? What don't you do with an avocado? Holly and I split one every day. Life without avocado in it is unimaginable.

Tomorrow we're going to drop the car off, then Thursday I'm off to the eye doctor. At least I think it's Thursday. I don't really want to know.

Posted by Jenn at 07:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I went and had my stitches checked out this morning, per the ER doc's suggestion, just to make sure I was healing and not throwing a cocktail party for any infections. My doctor said it looked good, laughed when I told her how it happened, then laughed even more when I told her it was a serrated knife. She said because of the location and the resulting threat of the wound reopening (ewwwwwww) I get to continue to gross people out with my Sally impression for another week and a half. But! I got the okay to go ahead and get back to hanging out poolside, so all is not lost!

Meanwhile, Henry has caught himself a little summertime cold. Yesterday we went to the local amusement park to see these guys (the drummer's unbelievable), and by the time we left, Henry was a complete wreck. He shoved aside a little girl who was trying to help her baby brother into a boat ride. It was the last ride of the evening because we were fresh out of tickets, which really destroyed him when I hauled him off the ride before it even started and gave him quite the little talking too. The hardest lessons to get across to the four year old set are the ones that conflict with their general feeling that they are the center of the universe. His response to my talk with him, between gasping sobs, was "Why were they trying to get on the blue boat? That's the one *I* wanted to ride!" By the time we got home, his nose was running like a faucet and he was absolutely exhausted. On the walk from the car to the front door, Henry yelled "OH NO! *mumble mumble mumble* A BEE *mumble* ME!!!!" *SOB SOB SOB* Based on his reaction, I assumed he had been stung, and after some clarification, he hysterically informed us that a bee had bumped into him. I felt badly for him. Also? I was biting my lip, trying not to laugh. It was a rough evening for Henry. Today he's sick and grumpy and full of energy, yet needing to rest, which is always a frustrating combination. I'm counting the minutes until Dave gets home.

Posted by Jenn at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

This:

plus this:

equals: I need to seriously rethink how I take the pits out of avocados.

Yesterday we were supposed to go to an amusement park after Henry got out of circus camp for the day. (In the interest of full disclosure, "circus camp" does not mean doing trapeze tricks and trampoline stunts, it means eating blue sno-cones and popcorn while talking about camels and clowns. Bummer, right?) I was rushing around getting lunch together for Holly and me. We've been having avocado with lunch everyday, and every time I take the pit out I wonder if today is going to be the day I injure myself while doing so, and as it turns out, yesterday the answer was yes. It looked pretty bad, there was blood everywhere, I called Dave, who fortunately was really close to home having just picked up Henry, and told him we needed to go to the hospital RIGHT NOW. He tore into the house, grabbed Holly, and off we went, straight into a road construction-induced traffic jam. The hospital is two minutes from our house and naturally it took an agonizingly long time to get there. They checked me in (Did you know that, when they ask you how you cut yourself, "Cutting fruits and vegetables" is an official category in the system?), wrapped up my wound, then I sat for two hours in the waiting room with my finger up above my heart to keep the throbbing at bay. It was fine, the bleeding had let up, and since I sliced a nerve there wasn't much feeling on the side of my finger that I had cut. Henry, Holly, and Dave whiled away the time at the snack bar and the children's room while I texted back and forth with my mom. Finally they brought us back, the doctor numbed up my finger more, cleaned everything out, and gave me the good news that despite how deep the cut went, I didn't get all the way to the bone. Four stitches, two episodes of the "Penguins of Madagascar", and one take-out seafood sub later, we were back home. Dave spent an hour cleaning and bleaching the carnage in the kitchen, while I lounged in bed, scarfed the sub, and read the latest issue of "Betty and Veronica".

Although it wasn't bad, all things considered, I still would have preferred going to the amusement park.

Posted by Jenn at 09:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

We live in a small town and so we often find ourselves face to face with people that we wouldn't ever run into if we still lived in Boston. One of those people is my doctor. I always seem to see her at the grocery store. My knee-jerk reaction when I spot her from afar is to quickly scan my cart to make sure I don't have anything that's obviously unseemly nutrition-wise sitting on top of the pile. I wonder if she's self-conscious about people scoping out what's in her cart...

Posted by Jenn at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last year for Mother's Day, Dave and Henry got me two black raspberry plants. Raspberries are my absolutely favorite thing to eat in the summer, and I was thrilled at the prospect of growing our own. We thought very hard about where to plant them, decided on a sunny spot, and let them get settled in. Last year they didn't do much other than to produce a few canes, as well as make some half-hearted inroads into our rhododendron. By mid-April, it had become clear that this was going to be a very good year for raspberries around these here parts.

Last week, the very first raspberry ripened to a beautiful, glossy black. Henry plucked it off the plant and suggested we take it across the street to give to the elderly woman we often stop and visit with. So we did. Sometimes Henry blows me away with his thoughtfulness. The next one ripened and Henry decided it should go to daddy. I was graced with the third one, mainly because I ran outside and grabbed it before Henry could get his hands on it and bring it to any of our other neighbors. Sometimes I blow myself away with my selfishness.

It was delicious.

Posted by Jenn at 02:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The beach was excellent. We ate sno-balls, taffy, pizza, burgers, but most importantly, we ate lots of shellfish. I'll tell you a secret about Dave: he makes a wicked seafood boil. He's got the system down for when to add what and for how long so that everything comes out steamed to perfection. It's a beautiful thing. We walked on the beach, watched many a pod of dolphins, admired the pelicans (with our mouths closed, of course) as they coasted over our heads. Henry enjoyed playing in the sand, but refused to go near the surf, per usual. Holly was not impressed with the ocean the first day (I think it may have been a little loud) and was *really* not impressed with the sand, but we wore her down gradually, and she spent a good amount of time on the last day with her daddy, sitting in a beach chair down by the water. It was very sweet. I went online and saw that the next week wasn't booked, and Dave and I talked a little bit about me and Holly staying for another week, but it wouldn't have been the same without everyone else there.

Meanwhile, I'm in denial that we're back home. Usually I'm pretty happy to come home after being away, but this trip was definitely an exception. So to pull myself out of my funk, I threw myself into cleaning and tidying the house, the yard, the everything. By Friday I'd worked myself up into such a state that I was nursing a nausea-inducing headache by the time the kids were in bed. I went to bed myself at 8:30. The next night I went to bed at 9. Yesterday I decided to revel in my misery and started to think about breaking up the summer with a few more trips than are on our agenda. I need the change of scenery.

Posted by Jenn at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned I was making a couple of journals for the Write It Out Project? Well, there were prizes, and I was lucky enough to win this beautiful Patriotic Log Cabin Table Runner from KigraPatchwork's Etsy shop. Try not to be too jealous.

Posted by Jenn at 09:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

...in three days:

Wednesday: Holly, well-baby checkup, healthy!
Thursday: Henry, bronchitis, ear infection!
Friday: Jenn, sinus infection!

Meanwhile, Dave remains healthy...

Posted by Jenn at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last night I went ahead and made two more journals.

Subtle, aren't they?

While I was making the journals, we also cleaned the couch cushion covers (Better living through alliteration! Literally!) and hauled out the living room rug. I was sneezing throughout the entire process, so I'm pretty sure we're in much better shape now. Yesterday morning I took the vacuum upstairs and cleaned my little heart out up there. Hopefully Henry will show some signs of improvement.

On the ukulele front, I've been teaching myself two new songs. One is "Yellow Bird", the other is "Beyond the Sea". This uke version of "Beyond the Sea" is really good and very sweet. Something to aspire to. Here are The Mills Brothers singing "Yellow Bird". No ukes, but it's so good, I couldn't not link to it.

Holly had her nine month checkup this morning. She's beautifully, spectacularly average: 50th percentile straight across the board. A big difference from Henry whose stats were always either 90th percentile or ^95th percentile. Naturally she charmed everyone because she's just so charming with all of the charm she's got going on. Nary a tear was shed, not even for the dreaded ear exam, which she hated last time, and which Henry hates all the time. What's up with that anyway? It doesn't hurt. I don't get it. Kids, man.

Henry's going to a birthday party on Friday evening. We have to come up with his own superhero costume. He wants to be a whale. Whale Boy it is. But what are his superpowers? And what could his costume be besides this? A cape? With sea animals on it? I'm at a bit of a loss.

This is Henry's last full week of school. A summer full of vacations and summer camps stretches out before us...

Posted by Jenn at 01:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

One of my very motivated, creative, and selfless friends has been busy enlisting people to help out with the Write It Out Project whose purpose is to supply handmade journals to those who have lost their spouses to war. I read about the project last Thursday morning but decided I couldn't participate because I didn't think I'd have time. The goal is to send the journals in by May 31st, but we're leaving town on the 22nd and we have a huge laundry list of things to get done before then. I thought that adding a sewing project on top of it all would be adding a lot of stress, considering my general lack of comfort sitting behind a sewing machine. About an hour later, I saw my friend at playgroup and after talking about it I told her I'd do one. Yesterday I picked up some supplies, and today I got to work.

Supplies!

It took me a while, partly because I'm a slow sewer, and also partly because of all of the usual day-to-day stuff that goes on around here. I did it though!

Now that I've done one, others would go much quicker. I'm tempted to head back to the store for more supplies for a few more journals. It would be a nice way to pass the evening after the kids are in bed.

Posted by Jenn at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

True story: Mucinex ads make me a little queasy. Animated mucus = ick.

So. Every once in a while I get completely sick of picking up everyone's clothes and putting them in the laundry basket, washing the same dishes, picking up the same toys, cleaning off the same counters/tables, day in and day out. When that happens, for a few blissful days I park myself on the couch and completely indulge in doing whatever it is I want to do, regardless of the rapidly deteriorating condition of the house. Then one morning I'll get out of bed, look around with mild disgust, and then I'll spend the next few hours tidying up. Once everything's back to where it should be, I'll spend my days picking up everyone's dirty laundry, washing the same dishes, picking up the same toys, cleaning off the same counters/tables, day in and day out, until I get completely sick of it again.

Right now I'm in the throes of spending my evenings on the couch, alternately knitting, reading, and obsessing over a couple of new songs on the ukulele. The house is in a bit of a state. As of right now, I don't care.

Posted by Jenn at 08:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Dave got me a Topsy-Turvy for Mother's Day. When I unwrapped it, Henry was thrilled. He immediately asked me to pull it out of the box, and when I did, he unfolded it and peered inside, then he looked in the box, then he asked "Where are the tomato slicers that are supposed to come with it?" It was very funny. It also reminded me of the Bloom County strips that featured Opus buying all sorts of useless junk after watching hours of late-night infomercials.

Posted by Jenn at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last week Wednesday I was still trying to kick this insidious cold I managed to pick up from who knows where, and by the time Henry was happily crafting at pre-school and Holly was a-snooze in her crib, I climbed into my own bed and tried to catch a few z's myself. I have a hard time napping in the afternoon because my brain tends to run amok for the thirty or forty minutes I stay horizontal, until finally I just give up. There I was laying in bed when suddenly it occurred to me that I had completely forgotten to nurse Holly at lunchtime. Our general schedule is: Holly wakes up in the morning, I nurse her, we have breakfast, she takes a nap, she wakes up, I nurse her, we have lunch,she takes a nap, I nurse her, a few hours later we have dinner, I nurse her, she goes to bed for the night. Mondays and Wednesdays are a bit nuts because Henry goes to preschool in the morning, we have an hour for lunch, then he's off to his afternoon school, so on the one hand it's not surprising that nursing her before lunch fell through the cracks, especially since I usually do it before we pick Henry up. However since her nap went long, I grabbed her and ran out the door to pick up Henry, ran home, set us all up with lunch, then ran Henry off to pre-school.

Yesterday I went and did it again, except I have no excuse this time. There wasn't anything exciting going on, no dashing around town, just the three of us kicking around the house, and when it was finally time for lunch and Holly was devouring apples and blueberries at an alarming rate, I recall wondering about how hungry she seemed. Just before it was time to put her down for her nap, I realized what had happened.

Lest you think this is somehow indicative of how everything else has been going around here lately, let me assure you: it absolutely is.

Posted by Jenn at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've been watching the news about the oil spill along the Gulf Coast. It's incredibly depressing. When I was a kid, my mom and I, along with my Grandma and Grandpa, went for a drive down to the coast on one of our visits to Louisiana. We went to Avery Island, home of the world famous Tobasco Sauce, and along the way stopped for a walk on the beach. I splashed around in the shallow water for a while, my shorts pulled up as high as I could get them, and on the walk balk to the car noticed my feet were covered in tar. A lot of newspaper went down on the floor of the passenger side of the car before I got back in.

We sure can make a mess of things sometimes.

Posted by Jenn at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've been a little under the weather lately, so instead of posting I've been choosing to climb under the covers and read. What I thought was a minor cold started off with a few days of being completely wiped out, a small case of the sniffles, then when that cleared out, suddenly I had a sore throat and I lost my voice. It's now moved to my eyes and has morphed from a sore throat to one of those tickles that suddenly flares up, resulting in coughing fits and lots of water being gulped down. At least I'm staying hydrated!

This past weekend we made our annual trip to the Berkshires to celebrate my Grandma's birthday. It was very nice to get out of town, especially to such a beautiful part of Massachusetts, and it was even nicer to get to hang out with my family. My Grandma was feeling a little under the weather, but managed to somehow graciously put up with all of us. I greatly look forward to this trip every year. It's always so relaxing and fun. When we go to the big city there are a list of things that we like to go and do so we're always off and running, but when we visit my grandmother, the expectation is to play in the stream in her backyard, eat, bang on the piano, and sit around. That's my kind of pace.

Posted by Jenn at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It would be nice to lose about five pounds before heading to the beach next month, however, curling up in bed with a good book and a bowlful of Ginger Snap ice cream is even nicer.

Posted by Jenn at 09:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We went to Virginia for the weekend and when we came back home, our internet was kaput. We got back online yesterday evening. Then today it was in and out again. This is why I haven't been updating. Aside from the much needed change in scenery, not much has been going on anyway. If I were to say what's really on my mind at this particular moment in time, it would be that I shouldn't have eaten all of those chips while watching "Psych", and that I should take a Tums and go to bed. In fact, I think I'll do just that.

Posted by Jenn at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Every year I help balance out the cash boxes at the end of our local library's fancy-schmancy auction. Usually there are four of us, but this year two couldn't make it, so I recruited Megan (lucky girl). Usually I'm home by 11PM, however, this year the stars misaligned and we didn't get home until 12:30ish. That's 12:30 IN THE MORNING. Driving home I was thinking to myself how sad it was to be getting home so late without there having been the benefit of dancing, drinking, or general carousing, until I realized that even the prospect of those three things wouldn't be enough to convince me to stay out much past 9:30PM anymore. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I was never a fan of alcohol, so we can tighten that list up to just dancing and general carousing.

The whole point of this was to tell you how even though I was dead tired, I was so jazzed up from all of the thinking and math I had to do while balancing out the cash boxes that I didn't get to sleep until sometime between 2 and 3AM and how it has taken me two and a half days to get past feeling like I'm going to pass out at any given moment. If I didn't have two kids, I probably would've reveled in the woozy feeling, instead it was just annoying. Dave corralled the kids this morning so I could catch some extra shut-eye and if it weren't for that, I'd still be feeling off. Two and a half days! Sad.

I'm afraid to call Megan to ask how she's doing. She might yell at me.

Posted by Jenn at 03:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I have a lot of venom to spew into the universe about things that have gone on this week. Each one individually I was capable of dealing with, however earlier this afternoon the straw that broke the camel's back was plopped onto the pile and to top it all off, was entirely my own fault. It's sent me into quite the downward spiral of bad feelings, moodiness, and general fist-shaking. Now that the crisis has passed (somewhat) I'm mustering up what little positive energy I have left and focusing it on keeping my shoulders below ear level, relaxing my jaw, repeating a mantra of "Stuff happens" (except not actually using the word "stuff"), and looking ahead to the change of scenery and all of the relaxing we're going to do in Boston.

If only we could get in the car and go right now.

Dave just came in and told me he got my fortune by accident: "Share your happiness with others today." There you have it.

Posted by Jenn at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's 4:20 and I've already had my dinner. After picking Henry up from pre-school, we walked in the door, took off our shoes, and Henry said "I'm hungry." Then I realized I was, too. I eat lunch on his schedule, and since he has to be at school by 12:30, we have lunch at 11:30, which is way too early to get me through the afternoon. So at 4 I sat down to a big plate of chips and vegetarian chili. Oh, and sour cream. Hmmm, I think I'll go have some more.

This weekend we're escaping the 'burg for brighter horizons further East and North. A little big city action is just what the doctor ordered after a couple of weeks of colds. (I ended up catching the latest on Friday; Dave has escaped thus far, but is terrified nonetheless.) So far on the agenda: the piano staircase at the Science Museum; sesame buns from Chinatown; yarn shopping with my mom; riding the subway; stamp show in Andover; celebrating my mom's birthday; Clam Box if we do end up going to Andover. What we will probably end up accomplishing: celebrating my mom's birthday; riding the subway; lamenting about how we never get as much done as we think we will. So it goes.

Posted by Jenn at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow I'm getting in a car and driving an hour with a friend so we can attend a belly dance boot camp. Why we're going to anything that has the words "boot camp" tacked onto the end of it is beyond me. To prepare myself, this evening I'm going to drink lots of water for hydration and I'm going to eat lots of Ginger Snap Ice Cream to bolster my fortitude.

Posted by Jenn at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just got back from the first belly dance class I've been able to attend since before Holly was born. It felt really good to get back to something that's become so important to me. Thank goodness I signed up for that first class a few years ago. Not only did I accidentally stumble upon something I absolutely love to do, but I also met two women at that class who have since become close friends. As someone who's fairly awkward at the friend thing, that's something I'm very grateful for.

Speaking of bellies, amazingly those four boxes of Girl Scout cookies I bought on Sunday lasted until today. Unfortunately I ate ~ 90% of them. What do they put in those things?

Posted by Jenn at 09:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today I'm trying to catch up on everything I couldn't be bothered to do last week because I was both sick and lazy. Mostly picking up the house, which, technically, I did last night with Henry, and vacuuming.

This weekend was great because although we had no plan, which is usually bad for us, we did manage to get out of the house. We walked to the park and had a lot of fun running around, although Henry was a little bummed there were no other kids there. We headed to Lowe's where Dave and Henry picked out materials to make a big xylophone, which they immediately got cracking on when we got back home. I scored four boxes of Girl Scout Cookies, so you know I'm happy. Holly went with the flow with a smile on her face, per usual.

Since the weekend was a bit willy-nilly, we didn't get any bread baking done and we didn't roast the chicken I bought for last night's dinner, both of which are crucial elements for one of the other dinners I'm making this week, so I'm getting all of that done today. I'm trying out this honey wheat bread recipe. The Friday my parents were here I dropped off a meal for a friend who recently had a baby. They're vegetarians, so I made vegetable soup. I thought rolls would go nicely with it so I tried out this recipe for Cloverleaf Honey Wheat Rolls and thus a honey wheat obsession was born. Hopefully today's bread will be just as delicious as the rolls turned out to be.

Thus ends a pretty mundane post.

Posted by Jenn at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My parents came up for a visit this past weekend and between all of the things we got up to while they were here, as well as all of the coughing and sneezing and nose-blowing, I didn't have much chance to update. Actually, I didn't get online very much at all, which is always refreshing, considering the amount of time I spend aimlessly wandering the web, hoping against hope I'll come across something interesting, but generally always failing. Once upon a time (as in last Summer and Fall) I put into practice a "No internet after 8PM" rule because of all of the time-wasting that was going on. (This rule applied to exactly no one other than myself because Dave is a lost cause what with all of the facebooking failblogging youtubing work he has to do at night.)

Anyway, over the weekend we: delivered a meal to a friend who recently had a baby; delivered birthday presents to the most angelic 3-year old you've ever seen; had hot dogs, chili fries, onion rings, and lots of root beer at A&W; went bowling; ate sticky buns from Mr. Sticky's; attended a Hafla; put together an amazing Valentine's dinner; stuffed ourselves with chocolate dipped strawberries courtesy of Dave; came down with colds; squeezed in a late-evening, girls-only trip to Target; played an addictive game of Solitaire that turned out to be a fun group game; spent a day at home watching the snow fall. Not bad for a three day visit.

On Friday, Holly was showing signs of having caught Henry's cold. By Monday it hit her sinuses and she was absolutely miserable. We brought her to the Dr's Monday morning for a quick checkup since Henry had been diagnosed with bronchitis the week before and she seemed to be working at having to breathe. The Doctor said it seemed like it was just a really, really bad cold, which was good news. Holly had a nice long nap when we came home, then was sort of in and out of it the rest of the day. We put her down around 7PM and she cried and cried and cried. I brought her downstairs and we spent some quality time on the couch watching the Olympics. It was very sweet having a cute little girl tucked under my chin. We had to wait until 8:30 to give her another dose of Tylenol after which I nursed her and put her back to bed. That seemed to do the trick. She woke up twice that night which surprised the heck out of me because she seemed pretty miserable; I was certain Dave and I would be switching off comforting her all night. She's feeling much better now. Tomorrow she has her 6-month checkup. Between well-baby visits, emergencies, and sickness, I feel like we're spending a ton of time at the Doctors. Ah well, soon it will be Spring.

Posted by Jenn at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My Hair. All I can say is: gah.

I haven't had it cut in a year and a half. When I found out I was pregnant with Holly, I decided to take advantage of the crazy hair growth that goes on. The idea was to have hair that was long enough to actually have hairstyle options beyond: short; shorter; really, really short. Now it's long. And I have no idea what to do with it. Except I've now invested all of this time into growing it, I don't want to make a mistake and get a hairstyle I don't like. So I'm paralyzed. Now I understand those women who have long hair but freak out at the mere mention of taking "just a few inches" off. Well, not entirely, but sort of; I have a feeling they actually like their hair, whereas I pretty much am not loving my hair at all right now. I'm thinking I should just go and get it cut really short again and be done with it.

Posted by Jenn at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last night I was SO TIRED! I did my pre-sleep yoga around 8:30 and by nine I was sitting on the edge of the bed reading a book. My face was scrubbed, my teeth brushed, and my eyes getting droopy. I decided to get up to say good-night to Dave and ended up spending the next two hours reading about the top 10 art accidents according to Time magazine as well as every single entry on failbooking.com. I crawled into bed around 11:30. I'm such a jerk. A really, really tired jerk.

Posted by Jenn at 02:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Holly officially has one bottom tooth. She seems relieved. I didn't have the heart to tell her about the rest of the teeth that would soon be following suit.

Holly has been able to go from her back to her tummy for months now. Today she demonstrated she officially knows how to go from her tummy to her back.

Henry made it official that although he wrote on his construction paper green eggs and ham craft that he would like "to eat them at Grandma and Grandpa's house", he doesn't actually want any green eggs or ham. Ever. Seriously. Blech. Stop talking about it.

Dave officially stopped a goal with his groin tonight at field hockey. He's very thankful for the invention of the protective cup.

I officially ate too many peanut M&M's this evening.

The word "official" officially has no meaning anymore because I've used it so many times it now just sounds weird.

Posted by Jenn at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's raining very hard here. It's also almost 60 degrees. I imagine the future flowers that are lying dormant in our flower bed are stretching their arms, feeling a bit groggy, and thinking "Wow, winter sure flew by." On the one hand, it would be nice if this was a sign of more to come, but for now I'm grateful to be able to open the windows and let a little fresh air in.

Posted by Jenn at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been very stressed and anxious lately which has led to the endearing quality of not being able to focus on anything or anyone. If someone's talking to me, I try really hard to listen and pay attention, but soon enough, I'm right back in my brain, obsessing and freaking out. Part of it is lack of quality sleep. Part of it is worry about things that have been going on. Lately, it's regularly crept up my shoulders and into my neck, and then taken on the form of headaches.

I know I don't take very good care of myself. I don't take any time out of my day to ground myself and refocus. Instead, I gradually get tenser and tenser until I crawl into bed and hope a night's sleep is enough to cure what ails me, but mostly it doesn't and I wake up exhausted.

The last two nights I've stretched out to a yoga dvd before going to bed. I've tried yoga before, but frankly, the sessions take too long. Generally I want lots of results in very little time, even when it comes to relaxation, and wouldn't you know it, therein lies the problem. After the very first session, I noticed a huge difference in how I felt physically. I'm going to try very hard to make that a regular part of my day.

Henry has to go to the doctor's bright and early tomorrow morning to have his two stitches removed. The reality of the fact that he actually has stitches hit him like a ton of bricks when I told him about his upcoming doctor's appointment and he completely fell apart. He was so distraught that when I pulled him onto my lap and hugged and held him while he cried, he didn't try to get away. I talked with him about it and told him all about the stitches I had when I was a kid. It helped subdue him temporarily, but once he started imagining how they're going to get the stitches out (I made the mistake of saying they might use scissors. Why did I think that would help?), a fresh batch of sobs would rear it's ugly head. I've noticed that it's much better to tell him these things a few hours before they happen, rather than spring them on him. This way he can cry, freak out, ask questions, digest what's coming, so that by the time he's faced with the reality of it, he usually handles things pretty well. Keep your fingers crossed for him tomorrow. And let's hope they don't actually use scissors. Let's hope they use magic.

Posted by Jenn at 08:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm a little sad to be packing up the Christmas decorations. The holiday's were so much fun this year. The other night I tried to pinpoint exactly why that was the case. Partly I think it was because of our amazing trip to my Grandmother's house early in December. She had already decked out her house in holiday finery and that, along with the view from our hotel room of Pittsfield's huge lit tree and Berkshire Bank's giant lit wreath, plus a snowstorm to make everyone feel cozy thrown in for good measure, was definitely enough to put a girl in the Christmas spirit. Also, I really stuck to my decision to not overdo the usual Holiday shenanigans. That's something I'm going to make an annual tradition. Nixing expectations, sitting back, relaxing, and enjoying the season. Who would have thought?

Today I'm going to start the taking-down process, although probably the tree will be up for another day or two. Let's be realistic shall we? I've never been a fan of the quick removal method when it comes to band-aids, so I'll just carry that notion into the de-holidayification of our house.

Posted by Jenn at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Goodbye "Girl's Next Door"...

Hello "Twilight"...

Let's see...new resolutions...hmmm. A list, shall we?

1. Actively making an effort to reduce the amount of chemicals we're being exposed to, particularly in our foods. I read this article in Mother Earth News, and it scared the living daylights out of me. Most of it I knew, but some of it I didn't (ie. canned foods have Bisphenol A in the lining. Argh.) Which brings me to number 2.

2. Amping up our garden. We had huge (and sometimes surprising) success with our potatoes, tomatoes, various herbs, peppers, summer squash, and onions last year. Most of what we got in the CSA we joined last summer were things we didn't particularly love, so we're going to go try and grow the things we did like, like Swiss Chard. Lots and lots of Swiss Chard.

3. Dave and I have a sweets obsession. So instead of making grand declarations about what we will and won't eat sweets-wise, I'd like to make more of our desserts at home, because store bought just isn't that satisfying. Also, I'd like to make our bread at home, too.

4. I'm pretty happy with my weight. I would, however, like to get my stomach muscles back. They disappeared sometime in February of '09, with good reason, but I kind of miss them. So does my lower back.

Posted by Jenn at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This year I'm taking the Holidays off. I'm still reeling from last year when we took Henry to what seemed like 40 Christmas-oriented things on top of all of the decorating, cookie-making, card writing, and tree-picking-outing. I think what made it seem so nuts at the time was the fact that I was struggling a bit with morning sickness. Nothing like middle-grade nausea to color one's world view.

Keeping last year's hectic-ness (hecticnocity?) in mind, this year I'm going easy on us. I'll make cookies if I'm in the mood. We'll pick out a tree when it feels right. The decorations are going up slowly. I couldn't even hack the thought of trying to keep up with a chocolate advent calendar, and only bought them for Dave and Henry. This morning Dave and I talked about sending out Christmas cards. I basically told him if he wants them to go out, it's on him, that I'll help, but I just don't want to think about it. It seems sort of selfish when I write it all out, but frankly, I know I'm really just giving myself the gift of just relaxing and enjoying the season.

Posted by Jenn at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The felt jackelope from this shop was featured on the etsy homepage today. I clicked through to see what other things the owner makes and the feltidermy cracked me up. Particularly the Loch Ness Monster. Very cute and clever.

Henry and I have been working on his writing skills the last few days. Believe it or not, he actually has writing skills. His teacher expressed concern that he wasn't holding crayons or pencils correctly and was very reluctant to heed her attempts to show him the proper way. So yesterday I sat down with him and told him he was going to learn how to write his name. He said "Okay." He grabbed a crayon, held it in his fist, when I asked him if he was holding it right he looked, said "No", corrected how he was doing it, drew an H, then an E, then asked me to remind him what an N, R, and Y looks like, then he drew those. It blew my mind. I had no idea. It was even pretty legible. So. There you have it. Today we worked on the word "big". Tomorrow we'll write "fish". On Thursday we'll put them all together: Henry Big Fish. Did I mention he graduated from "Henry Little Fish" to "Big Fish" about a month after he turned four? My fish is growing up.

Posted by Jenn at 08:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

...be taking a nap before Henry gets home, but I can't stop shopping for tall boots and cute skirts and black turtlenecks.

My new computer came. It's got a Magic Mouse. It's awesome. I feel very sci-fi when I use it.

This was on the fail blog last week. It's hilarious. Marijuana brownies!

Posted by Jenn at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

There's not much posting going on because I'm too busy eating. This afternoon I had a turkey/stuffing/cranberry/gravy wrap. Right now I'm having a post-dinner, pre-pie snack of leftover stuffing. I'd say something about my expanding waistline, but that's so cliché.

Posted by Jenn at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

...get the pumpkin pie going. I love Thanksgiving!

Posted by Jenn at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How glad am I that I didn't marry Nicolas Cage like I had planned when I was a teenager? (C'mon, he was totally adorable in Wild at Heart.) On the other hand, I'm pretty good at balancing checkbooks, so apparently it's his loss.

Speaking of money, I watched a little TV today while the kids were napping. 20,000 Christmas commercials later, I'm now officially offended by how money-grubbing corporations have become. I propose we all boycott corporate stores and just donate to charities.

Posted by Jenn at 08:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two weeks ago I bought a hair coloring kit because it was getting to be about that time, judging by the state of my roots. Plus, I was about to run out of the special conditioner that comes with the blondifying potions I purchase, which work the best at hydrating my lightened hair. The kit I bought is supposed to get you *really* blonde. I've picked up that kind before, from different brands, and they never really do what they say they're going to do so I figured this one would be the same. Then I read the instructions this morning, thinking I'd take care of hair business while Holly was napping. And? They scared me. The list of "DO NOT"'s was huge. So I stuffed everything back in the box and decided that unless you're really tall and can see the top of my head, my hair doesn't look too bad.

I'm thinking of challenging Mel to dying our hair pink because we've both said in the past that we really want to. Except there's a high probability she'd totally take me up on it, so I have to think about it very seriously. Plus, with my coloring, I should go with more of a plum or a lavender.

I guess this wasn't a very miscellaneous post after all. It was, however, a totally mindless post about hair. I'm going to change the title.

Posted by Jenn at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Dave and Henry are heading out for a "Men only" breakfast. They're going to stop by another cafe to bring me back Huevos Rancheros, one of my favorite meals ever, one which I haven't had since last December when I ate it while in the early stages of morning sickness. Now that I've gotten over associating it with feeling bad, I'm going to thoroughly enjoy it. I might even make little oinking sounds while I'm tossing it down.

Posted by Jenn at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The other night I had a dream that my mom, Henry, Holly, and I came home and discovered that our house had been broken into. Thieves had taken our washer, dryer, refrigerator, and had expressed interest in our TV but had decided to leave it behind because it was apparently too heavy. Just after we walked in, Dave came home from work. I told him what had happened and he said "Actually, they broke in last night while we were sleeping." Somehow we had managed to sleep through people stealing three major appliances. That's when I started to panic about them coming back for the TV. Meanwhile, my mom couldn't stop laughing over the fact that we were such sound sleepers.

I really hope no one takes our new washer. They can have the refrigerator, though.

Posted by Jenn at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

*SOB*

Meanwhile, we're trying to figure out what to get everyone for Christmas, which is always an interesting exercise. It was easier when we lived in Boston and were inspired while out and about. Dave and I usually hammer out a tentative list while driving back home from our annual Fall trip to my parents house, but this year we forgot. It's somehow very difficult for us to find a significant chunk of time where we're in the same place (and not sleeping) so we'll see how we handle it this year.

You know who's turned out to be a difficult person to buy for? Henry. Go figure. Half of the toys we've purchased for him over the last few years he doesn't play with at all. Right now, it's all about music. And stuffed animals. And sometimes bubbles and marbles. He likes bouncy houses, so we're thinking about getting him a Jumpolene. He'd be thrilled and it is Christmas. It'd sort of be the equivalent of a Red Ryder BB gun if he knew he could ask for one. I hope Holly's easier to please. I don't need double the gift angst.

Posted by Jenn at 08:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We spent the better part of yesterday and today sealing our new fence. I'm certain I lost a fair amount of brain cells inhaling those delicious fumes hour after hour. While we were doing it, I was cursing the fence. Now, I think it looks great. Next time, however, we're duping a bunch of friends into coming over so they can share in the fun.

Posted by Jenn at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I totally forgot to post yesterday. I remembered at 12:03AM this morning, so I didn't have a chance to post even a sad, one word post just to have something up there. So much for NaBloPoMo. I'll keep carrying on, even though I'm no longer legitimate.

While I was pregnant with Henry, I had fantasies of making sugar cookies with my kid, colored sugars flying and dough taking the shape of pumpkins, santa claus, and turkeys. The reality is, there are few things I enjoy less than messing with sugar cookie dough. It always sticks to the rolling pin and the table no matter how much flour I dust onto everything, and by the time I transport whatever shape we've decided on to the cookie sheet, it's somehow transformed into a shapeless blob. By the time I've got a sheet full of cookies, I'm ready to throw the rolling pin out the window. Nothing puts the love in like a long string of obscenities.

A couple of weeks ago Henry made sugar cookies at preschool. They were really good, so I asked for the recipe. His teacher told me it was great because everything goes into the bowl at once and the dough is really easy to work. Since my mom is here today to help alleviate the tension that always comes when I make sugar cookies, I decided to give them a shot. And they *were* really easy. Henry said they "rolled" the dough out at school by mashing it down with their hands so we quickly eschewed the rolling pin and I have to say, that is definitely the way to go. So! If you're looking for a good, easy sugar cookie recipe, I definitely recommend this one:Great Grams Sugar Cookies. I should tell you about how I turned my back for three seconds and when I turned back around, Henry had his tongue in the cup of orange colored sugar. When he came up his whole mouth was orange and he looked very happy. Until he got into big trouble over it. One of childhood's fleeting moments of joy.

Posted by Jenn at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

...he said I should write about whatever moves me. The thought of going to bed moves me. A hot bubble bath does, too. Today was a bit exhausting, which is ironic because around 4 o'clock I woke up from a nap, noted that both kids were still sleeping, and thought "Wow, this has been such a quiet afternoon." Sometimes it feels like I have to maintain a manic pace to keep from falling over, and that once I slow down, I just want to stop completely. I guess I've always been an all or nothing kind of girl. Just ask that empty box of Lorna Doone's over there.

Today there were gray skies and the threat of rain/snow showers. I was inspired to make some comfort food for dinner. Over the summer, we got a lot of swiss chard from the CSA we joined. I'm not a huge fan, but managed to work out a recipe that is so good, I actually bought some chard from the grocery store. I layer thin slices of uncooked potato (home grown, amazingly), season them with salt/pepper/garlic/pats of butter, add a layer of sliced tomatoes, a layer of sauteed swiss chard, a layer of burger, and finally a generous sprinkling of mozzarella. Then I do it all again. Cover and bake in the oven at 350 for about an hour, removing the lid for the last 15 minutes to brown the cheese. It's yummy. Unless you're Henry, in which case you'll treat each bite as if is killing you slowly and painfully.

Posted by Jenn at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

When I walked out our front door this morning I saw a big pile of leaves partly in the street and partly shoved up all over our sidewalk. I have no idea where they came from. Briefly I thought someone had taken pity on us and raked our front yard out of the goodness of their heart, but one glance at our leaf-covered yard killed that theory. Then, because, oddly enough, I noticed it looked like they'd been gathered with a snow plow, I thought maybe someone had plowed the leaves together from up the street, except the street in both directions was a mess of leaves, and also, who would do that? So it remains a mystery. It did motivate me to actually get out and do some raking in our oft neglected front yard. Since we generally go in and out through the kitchen door, sometimes we don't see the front for weeks, except for when we happen to drive by. It still looks messy, but at least now there are a lot fewer leaves.

Posted by Jenn at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I must be getting lazy. Why bother forming actual paragraphs anymore?

- On the drive home from Boston last Tuesday, I turned on FNX and heard a song I really liked. I said to Dave "I really like this song." and he said he did too. A few days later I bought the album. After listening to it in the car on Saturday, I said to Dave "I really like this album." and he said he did too. Dave and I started dating in 1999. It's taken 10 years, but we've finally found a group we both like. Have I mentioned how incompatible we are, musically speaking? If you're interested, here's a link to the song:

Also, "Dave and Jenn" now have a "Matt and Kim" clause in our marriage because they're so freaking cute.

- Henry has Cold Number Three of the season. He's handling it well.

- Holly's having trouble napping today due to an overstuffed nose thanks to an over-dry house thanks to the heat being on thanks to the unseasonably cold weather. Flash barking at the UPS guy didn't help.

- I'm eating homemade waffle cookies that Dave's mom sent to me for my birthday. I am very happy, despite the sick 4 year old and the non-napping baby.

Posted by Jenn at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

- I'm getting my seasonal flu shot in an hour. Having kids has hardened me against my dislike of needles because I was poked with them so many times over the course of both pregnancies. Having said that, I've realized that while I don't mind having blood taken out of my body, having stuff pumped in totally gives me the heebie-jeebies.

- Yesterday it snowed. I thought it was pretty awesome. To celebrate, I lit our fireplace candles and vacuumed. Sounds sort of pagan, doesn't it?

- We went to Boston this past weekend. For our birthdays, my parents sent us out to lunch with a fistful of cold hard cash. We went to the Summer Shack and shared: pumpkin/lobster bisque, king crab, lobster roll, and an apple tart. Then we died and went to heaven. The king crab was the most amazing thing I've ever had. Now I get what all the fuss is about.

- In a nod to tradition, we went apple picking in Stow. We arrived back in the 'burg late Tuesday, so we've been home approximately two and a half days. We're already halfway through a second batch of apple crisp. This morning while pulling out the box of mini-wheats (frosted, of course) from our cabinet, I found our bag of brown sugar cowering in a corner. It *should* be afraid.

- Not much planned for this weekend except for a birthday party, which is totally how one's calendar should look: empty except for the promise of cake in the near future.

Posted by Jenn at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I haven't updated lately mainly because I've had a tension headache since last Wednesday that just won't quit, so my eyes aren't particularly fond of the computer screen. Other than that, things have been great around here. Henry's in full-on Halloween mode and talks about it non-stop, Holly's busy doing her eat-sleep-poop thing, Dave hasn't been getting enough sleep, and I've been making pumpkin pies, birthday cakes, and these totally awesome pumpkin squares (also good with walnuts) because it keeps me sane and happy.

Saturday was one of those days that other days wish they could live up to. After getting Holly down for her mid-morning nap, Henry and I headed out into the wilds of the 'burg to burn off some of the Cocoa Puff's-induced energy that was coursing through a certain someone's four-year-old body. We spent about an hour and a half playing at the park with some friends we had the good fortune to run into, then we headed to the shopping district to first stop by the bank, and second stop by the toy shop, which, if your a kid, is definitely the ideal order for those two events to take place in. After a quick stop at the yarn shop, we headed for home and lunch. Since the weather was absolutely gorgeous, we decided to head out to the University's football game, the first one we've been to this season. (We really wanted to go last week because the Hawthorne Caballeros Alumni Corps was playing a pre-game and half-time show, but the timing didn't work out and the weather was lousy. We'll just have to wait until next year's Cavalcade of Champions to see them again. *sob*) A lot of popcorn and ice cream was consumed while we watched our team actually win. We stumbled home bleary-eyed but happy. After that, Dave grilled, we ate, got the kids in bed early, then we settled down on the couch with a DVD of The Big Bang Theory.

It was really nice to just go with the flow as opposed to rushing around, trying to get through a whole list of activities/chores. So nice, in fact, we did it again on Sunday. We need to make sure that we have more days like that. It's too easy to get mired down in trying to do things you think you need to do.

Posted by Jenn at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Before I get a reputation that I don't deserve regarding good laundry practices, I feel I should clarify that when I say "darks", I mean anything that has even a hint of color. This explains why the outfit Holly is sporting in this picture was one of the casualties. With the purchase of our new washer last May, I've managed to whittle down the number of loads of laundry I do each week to three: whites, darks, and towels/sheets. Thanks to my bad laundry habits, every time I throw stuff in the wash I assume that it's a gamble that things will come out looking the way they went in. Last Spring I picked up a set of totally awesome, ridiculously expensive, but finally on sale, Pottery Barn Kids dark blue tie-dyed sheets for Henry. Since I had to wash them before he used them, I put them in with our white sheets to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone. When I pulled everything out, our white sheets had a distinct blue sheen. Dave noticed it while we were making the bed and I launched into how they don't look blue, they really just look whiter thanks to the blue balancing out the yellow that was in the white. He totally bought it. Or at least pretended he did. And that is what makes our marriage work, lying and good acting.

Posted by Jenn at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The last two times I did a load of darks, I washed:

1. pants
2. shirts
3. socks
4. underwear
5. chapstick (cherry)
6. chapstick (cherry) (organic)
7. a Drumstick wrapper (empty)
8. Swiss Army USB drive
9. a blue pen

The blue pen was the one that would have made me cry if I actually got all that worked up over doing laundry. The only truly sad part was the day before, I *finally* had a chance to buy Holly an outfit. As soon as I got home I washed it so she could wear it the next day. She had it on for approximately two hours before she spit up all over it and it ended up in the laundry again, naturally landing in the wash with the blue pen. Maybe fate is telling me I have really bad taste in baby girl clothes. Maybe Holly is too. Or maybe I should actually check Dave's pockets before throwing his pants in the wash. My only defense is Dave buys pants that have 40,000 pockets and he seems to use every single one of them. Who has the time?

Posted by Jenn at 09:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

1. The following conversation I had with Henry Saturday evening:
henry: What's the story with the pancake situation?
me: What?
henry: The pancake situation...
me: As in the pancakes we had for breakfast?
henry: Yup.
me: We finished eating them. At breakfast. Hours ago.
henry: Oh. Good.

"Pancake situation"? The kid's talking more and more like his mom everyday. Scary.

2. Listening to Holly grunt and groan in the wee hours of the morning, trying to get some gas out. Every time she toots or poops I want to stand up and cheer because she's putting in such a man-sized effort.

3. The fact that, despite the wee-hours-in-the-morning grunting sessions, she's a pretty good sleeper. Granted, we've been working really hard at getting her to be a good sleeper, I think she also brings a certain laid-back attitude to the mix. I'm better rested now with an almost one-month-old than I was during my last month of pregnancy. Not shabby. And not at all like it was with Henry. I'm totally grateful over here. Now if only I could get Dave to go to bed at a decent hour...

4. We got a drawing in the mail on Saturday that features a little girl holding an umbrella. Holly's name is worked into the picture (ie. "Holly" is written in the shape of the umbrella, her middle name is the little girl's arm, and her last name makes up her dress), and it also has her birth date, weight, and height. It's absolutely adorable. We also have no idea who sent it to us. We don't recognize the name on the return address, nor do either of our sets of parents. Intrigue! So if it was you, tell us. Google was surprisingly unhelpful.

5. All of the meals we've been getting from people in our playgroup. It's such an enormous help. We're really feeling the love over here.

6. Dave put this up on his status bar on Facebook last Friday and as of yesterday I was still laughing about it: "Dave while sleep deprived and lecturing at 8am, said 'elephants' when he meant 'elements'." Actually, I can say that as of right now I'm still laughing about it.

Posted by Jenn at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

When I was a kid I had three constant literary companions:

Nancy Drew: I had them all and read them over and over. In particular I liked The Mystery at Lilac Inn and The Mystery of the 99 Steps. Man, did I want to be Nancy Drew: great hair, cute boyfriend, awesome car, totally smart. I wish I'd kept the books for Holly (or Henry) to read. However, when I outgrew them, they were passed on to someone else who hopefully enjoyed them as much as I did.

Sweet Valley High: Man, did I want to be Jessica Wakefield: blonde, blue-eyed, gorgeous, not to mention completely shallow, but, whatever, she got all sorts of cute boys so did it really matter?

Archie Comics: Man, did I want Veronica's hair. Still do, as a matter of fact. Her money wouldn't hurt either. This is the one that's still a constant literary presence in our house. Whenever things get to be a bit overwhelming, or I've read too many heavy books, I reach for a Pals and Gals double digest and enjoy the trials and tribulations of high school in Riverdale. The stories are all different, and yet they never really seem to change. It's like chicken soup for me.

Last weekend Dave's mom asked if I'd heard about Archie proposing to Veronica and naturally my world came to a brief halt. I hadn't heard anything about it, and may I just say "WHAT?!?" and "GAH!!!" It so should be Betty. Actually, it shouldn't be either of them. They're supposed to stay in high school forever! My bitterness didn't deter me from pre-ordering the 6-issue story arc, thereby financially supporting this travesty. I'll be kicking myself the whole time I'm reading them, I'm sure.

Getting back to the chicken soup thing, you know what else I enjoy (or at least use to before I started going to bed at 8:30)? The Wizards of Waverly Place. Dave can vouch for that. Embarrassing but true. Apparently my tastes in certain things stagnated at the age of 12. You know what else is embarrassing but true? Holly is hanging out in her Moses basket happily entertaining herself while enjoying the sounds of Terminator 2 playing on the tv. My dad would be so proud.

Posted by Jenn at 04:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

1. We had ourselves a baby. And she really *did* turn out to be a girl. Introducing Chocolat (aka. Holly):

2. Henry turned four on Sunday. FOUR!

3. This fair use video Dave sent me featuring Edward from Twilight and Buffy:

4. The trip my parents, Henry, Holly, and myself made to the mall yesterday. Events broken down as follows: my dad almost pulled one of his fingernails off trying to open Holly's stroller, Henry had a busted lip from tripping and running into my mom's knee, I needed to sit on an ice pack, we were all terrorized by a bat that was zipping through the mall, and Henry had blisters on both of his feet from his clogs. This was three hours in and we still hadn't gotten around to doing what we had gone for in the first place, which was looking for some 0-3 month clothes for a certain little girl. Our tuckus's were officially kicked by that particular outing.

My parents left bright and early this morning (SOB! COME BACK!). Right now Dave's getting Holly to sleep, Henry's watching some Thomas the Tank Engine, and the most I plan on accomplishing is getting some laundry done and perhaps sitting around a lot. It'll be a good day.

Posted by Jenn at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I just spent a small fortune on nursing bras and tanks and shirts. Fortunately I had some money left over on a gift card as well as a 20% off coupon, so I also saved a small fortune. Now that we've got the experience of one baby under our belts, we have a clearer idea of things we need and things we don't need. With Henry, nursing gear wasn't anywhere on my radar until after he was born and I was settled on our couch at home, ensconced within the confines of a Boppy pillow, fumbling with my shirts and tanks while still trying to maintain a modicum of grace. I ended up with a Walmart nursing bra that was nice in theory but miserable in practice, with a special ability to make a girl feel rather dumpy. I have vowed to myself that things to that end would be a lot more comfortable this time around. And, if at all possible, maybe a little more chic. Hence the small fortune. On the one hand it slightly kills me to spend money on that sort of thing when there are all sorts of other practical items out there calling my name, such as espadrilles, but on the other hand, we don't have much of anything else to buy because, with the exception of a stroller that actually strolls and size medium/large G-diaper inserts, we seem to have everything we need. It's nice to put that in writing. It makes me feel like perhaps we do have everything somewhat in order. Hah!

Posted by Jenn at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I think I should probably participate in NaBloPoMo just to get me back on track with my blogging, because obviously I've fallen off the wagon. I'd like to say we've been busy, but mostly I've been working very hard at trying to nap.

We spent last weekend in Virginia. Dave's parents hosted a family reunion. It was a lot of fun. I shudder to think what the scale is going to say at my next Doctor's appointment. Henry met a lot of family he didn't know he had. On Saturday night while I was putting him to bed he asked what "Grandma and Grandpa and all of his friends were doing upstairs". It was nice to be the only kid in attendance and therefore frequently the center of attention. By the time we had packed up the car to head home on Monday, Henry had worked himself up into quite the case of smitten-ness with one of Dave's Aunts. I sense a trip to Texas to visit with her will be taking place sometime in the near future.

On Tuesday the electricians showed up and spent the next two days installing the central A/C as well as our new heat pump. Henry and I hung around the homefront so that someone was here while they were working. Unfortunately it was rainy both days which meant we were stuck inside with not much to do, so by Wednesday night, although Henry seemed perfectly content, I was losing my mind. On one of those two days I recall asking Dave to take Henry out for dinner so I could have a little peace and quiet. I think I took a shower. I think it was maybe glorious. Meanwhile, everything has been installed and is running beautifully, but unfortunately we've hit a snag with getting our old oil tank out. We have no idea how they got it in, but it appears to be impossible to get out. Something about the height of the tank and the angle of our stairs combined with a wood beam in our basement, etc. etc. Our heating guy really wants it and despite giving it the old college try again on Thursday afternoon, he hasn't given up hope.

Right now Dave is eating leftovers we came home with last night from a birthday party we went to and frankly it smells so good I have no choice but to go and partake myself.

Posted by Jenn at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Henry and I hitched a ride with some friends yesterday and hightailed it out to RB Winter State Park where we spent the better part of the day splashing around in the water (Henry) and sitting in a chair, sipping water, and generally trying not to move too much (me). Despite the liberal application of SPF 5 bazillion on the usual susceptible locations, not to mention later reapplications, I still managed to get quite the sunburn in various awkward spots. I tried my best. Next time, I will not be wearing a halter swimsuit top because it sure hurts today, what with all of the wearing of non-halter-tops I'm doing right now. Henry had a swimmingly grand time. This afternoon we headed to Target to get him a fish shaped inflatable swimming tube so that next time we go I he can float.

A lot of bills for all of the various work and phone changes that have been going on around here have hit within the last five working days. I have only this to say: sheesh. It sure costs a boatload of money to save some money.

Posted by Jenn at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We got back on Tuesday after spending a week at the Outer Banks. Late May is a great time to go because everything's open for the season, but no one's really arrived yet. We had a pretty active week, although I don't remember much about the particulars other than: seafood boils, sno-balls, fudge, butter, crabs, and salt water taffy. Oh, and none of us will forget the sunburn my dad got on his feet that relegated him to the safety of the living room couch for one entire day. You could almost see his feet swell up before your eyes.

Henry is very much looking forward to enjoying the hot tub one day "when he's older". He spent about twenty minutes one afternoon forlornly splashing the water while his daddy stewed away in bubbly bliss. The prospect of doing it at some point in the future definitely perked him up, as did the fact that I wasn't allowed to go in either. Every once in a while we would hoist our legs up over the edge and dip our toes. It was very relaxing.

About a month ago I mentioned to my dad that I was thinking about getting a ukulele, and the day we arrived, what should emerge from out of their car but a brand-spanking new, gorgeous ukulele, complete with a beginner's book and a hawaiian uke song book. Perfect for the beach. My excitement was perhaps eclipsed only by Henry's. You should have seen his eyes boggle when I opened up the case. I'm currently working on learning Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and Weezer's "Island in the Sun". One day you'll find me in the backyard swinging in a hammock, wearing frayed cut-off jeans with a straw hat over my face, while strumming all sorts of crazy tunes.

Needless to say, I'm ready to pack everything up and head back down again. Henry would agree. Next summer is a long ways away.

Posted by Jenn at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

My friend Gabriella moved into action after reading last week's sad-sack second post over my pre-natal care anxiety. She emailed the woman who was her mid-wife, who happens to practice at the same place I've been going to, to ask if she'd talk to me because I wasn't having a very good experience there. On Saturday I sent this person an email with my two biggest complaints, namely the c-section discussion and the gestational diabetes conversation. On Sunday I anxiously checked my email for her response every thirty minutes. Monday morning, she gave me a call. We had a nice long chat during which I discovered two things:

1) the 38-week ultrasound is something they give everyone. I had high blood pressure the first few visits I was pregnant with Henry (because of a previous pregnancy that had gone wrong) and so I received all sorts of special attention such as twice a month visits right out of the gate, early non-stress tests, and assorted other things you all don't want to hear about. That included a 38-week ultrasound which was presented as something extra I was getting along with all of the other stuff. If the Dr. had said he was going to tack on taking a close look at Chocolat's weight onto the list of other things they look at during the routine 38-week ultrasound, my head wouldn't have gone spinning off into outer space.

2) She talked to me about the glucose test, what my actual options are. There were at least three from off the top of her head, and one of those three was declining to do any of them. Then she told me what my options were based on which of those options I might choose, and one of them always included declining to do anything. Which is always nice to hear and tends to make a girl feel a lot more in control of her own destiny.

She was extremely easy to talk to and listened to me and my concerns. It was a huge relief. I asked her if I could just see her from now on and she said yes, although she was up front about the fact that she might be traveling for a vacation around the time that I'm due. At this point, I would trust anyone she recommended to be present at Chocolat's birth.

Which brings me to why I'm up at the ungodly hour of any-time-before-9AM. I have to be at the hospital by 7 to start the three-hour glucose test. I didn't sleep well last night, but have a feeling I'll be fine once the test gets rolling. Yesterday I headed to the library for some light and hopefully engrossing reading, as well as the video store for a DVD to play on the laptop. Right now I'd say I'm more anxious about having to pass three-hours worth of time in a hospital waiting room than I am about the gross orange drink and four blood draws. Anyway, wish me luck.

Posted by Jenn at 06:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

First of all, have you seen Dave's recent post about trying to protect his beloved lettuce from the groundhog that's taken up residence under our neighbor's porch? You should go read it. Not only is it funny, but he openly mocks me in the title. Bless his heart.

A couple of weekends ago we drove straight from my grandma's house in MA to an end-of-semester bbq bash hosted by one of Dave's colleagues. There were scintillating baked beans, juicy grilled pork loins, mac and cheese, and a killer strawberry and spinach salad that was so good I know of at least three people who left the party clutching the recipe in their hot little hands. I was one of them. (You know it's a good salad when people are asking for the recipe, right?) I made it twice that same week, once for us, and once to bring to another bbq we went to the following weekend. Now that good strawberries are showing up in the grocery store, I thought I'd share the recipe. First, a picture:

Yum! Next, the ingredients:

Spinach and Strawberry Salad
Fresh spinach, sliced strawberries, and sliced sweet onion, however much of each you'd like. I usually use one large bag of spinach, one pound of strawberries, and one half of a sweet onion.

Poppy seed dressing
1/2 C vegetable oil
3T apple cider vinegar
2T sugar
1T lemon juice
1T poppy seeds
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground mustard

After mixing the dressing, I add about 2/3's of it to the salad, then toss it all together to coat the spinach, strawberries, and sweet onion. The first time I made it I put all of the dressing in and it was a little too much.

There you have it. If you try it, let me know!

Posted by Jenn at 03:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I thought a good night's sleep would help me gain a new perspective on what I talked about yesterday and I would feel less apprehensive today, but I still feel very unhappy about the situation we're in with the pre-natal care we're receiving. I've spent some time sifting through exactly what's making me unhappy and I've come up with at least two things, the first being it's not unreasonable to expect at least a phone call to talk about the screening test I failed and where we go from there. To clarify, I'm not upset about having to take the gestational diabetes test, I am upset with not being included in any discussion about it, at all. That instance alone is no big deal, but when coupled with the other experiences that have given me pause, it's become the proverbial straw that's broken the camel's back.

The second thing: Dave and I have agreed that we need to be very clear about what we do and don't want for the birth of this baby (keeping in mind that we're pretty flexible people), but it seems fruitless to do that because of the way the current practice we're using works. You meet with lots of different mid-wives and a couple of different doctors because you just don't know who will be on call when you go into labor. With Henry, we had a mid-wife we'd never even met before, so we can talk to people until we're blue in the face, but in the end there's a good chance whoever we end up having for the big show won't know us and vice versa. To that end I'd be happier if we were able to meet with the same person, to get to know them as well as their being able to get a better grasp of where we're coming from. Today I found a practice who has just one doctor and one nurse who also uses the same hospital we used for Henry, so I'm going to set up an appointment to talk with them (I tried calling today but I got they're answering service).

I'll also be calling to set up an appointment with a local mid-wife who has a birthing center and also does home births. I'm not certain if this is necessarily the route I want to go, but the pros in my head right now are out-weighing the cons, most of which admittedly have to do with my own inhibitions and hang-ups.

This is the last baby we're going to have and I feel very strongly that I need to look deep within myself to figure out how I feel, to talk a lot about the options with Dave, to decide what exactly is the best route for us to take, and for both of us to not have any doubt whatsoever after that decision is made. Some fear, maybe, but doubt, definitely not.

Thank you for your kind words and emails after yesterday's post. I love you guys! *sniff*

Posted by Jenn at 05:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

First the back story:

I failed my glucose test while pregnant with Henry with a score of 165. The cut-off is 140. No one told me, no follow-up testing was scheduled.

While I was busy giving birth to Henry, it became clear that he was just not interested in coming out. Two things didn't help this situation: 1. My kid had He-man-sized shoulders; and 2. I was rendered immobile on my back in bed because I was hopped up on pitocin (which resulted in excruciating back labor) and an epidural (to help with the aforementioned pain) so I couldn't change positions to allow gravity and my body to help make my pushes more productive. Dave and I both made it very clear that I did not want to have an episiotomy, to which the mid-wife looked at us like we were crazy and said "Well, I'll try not to, but we might have to anyway." So she performed an episiotomy, I had fourth degree tearing, lost a ton of blood, but had a healthy happy baby. I was also a little annoyed that our request was met with the reaction that it was, as if it was perfectly unreasonable.

Six weeks after all 9+ pounds of Henry was born, I had my post-natal checkup, not with the mid-wife that was present at my birth, but with another one whom I really liked. She expressed astonishment at Henry's size, congratulated me on having survived it, said if they had known he was so big they probably would have suggested a c-section, but since I had proven that I could give birth to such a big baby, they wouldn't really have to worry my being able to deliver naturally if I ever got pregnant again. That rubbed me the wrong way, because I shouldn't have to prove anything. I'm a woman. Giving birth is part of what we do.

The first few appointments with this pregnancy were great. I met with a mid-wife who was very positive. She saw my history of tearing, saw Henry's weight, and reassured me that there was no way I would tear as much this time, that it would most likely be an easier birth. I'm a firm believer in anything can happen, but it was nice to hear her say those things to me at multiple appointments. The last appointment I had I met with a doctor. He read in my history the bit about the fourth degree tears, closed my file and said "Right out of the gate we offer women who've had tearing like you had a c-section. Now let me tell you what that entails..." I stopped him and said I wasn't at all interested. Then he went on to talk about all of the complications associated with tearing, while in my mind I was thinking of all of the complications associated with surgery. There was no winning me over with that argument. He said we'd revisit the option a couple of weeks before my due date. I wasn't happy to hear this response. My answer will be the same at 38 weeks.

This afternoon I got a phone call from the receptionist at my ob-gyn's office saying she was calling to schedule my 3-hour glucose test. I said "What? Does this mean I failed this mornings test?" No one called to talk to me about it, no one called to explain what happens and what it could mean. I told her I wasn't interested in taking the 3-hour test and she said one of the mid-wives asked her to set it up. I said that was fine, that I'd like to talk with the mid-wife. So a few minutes later I got a phone call and after hearing my number (169, similar to when I was pregnant with Henry) I explained to her that I didn't want to take the three hour test because the number was basically the same as when I was pregnant with Henry, that pregnancy went fine, and on top of that, I have no risk factors associated with developing gestational diabetes. Then I got to hear about their policy about diabetes testing, that if I didn't do the three-hour test then I'd have to do regular blood sugar testing throughout the rest of my pregnancy plus a couple of extra ultra-sounds. I clarified with her that those were my only two options, at which point she got pretty pissy. I then found myself in the position of validating for her the fact that I understand they're trying to provide good health care, just to save the tone of the conversation. So, right now I'm a very pissed off pregnant lady who's having to take a three-hour gestational diabetes test next Thursday.

Here are the things that worry me:

1. Numbers that indicate pass/fail have become the be all and end all without any regard for actual risk factor's or the person's medical history.

2. I don't like being put in the position of having to deal with a medical professional who's getting openly defensive when I ask if a test is really necessary, especially if I have good reason to think it's not. Talk to me about it, don't get crabby.

3. The biggest worry I now have is that I no longer trust that once I walk into the hospital that I'm not going to get bullied into a c-section. They didn't listen to me about the episiotomy, and now that I've got a doctor who's going to revisit the c-section option at 38 weeks, I feel like there's already a predisposition I'm not going to be able to fight. Wait until they hear I don't even want a bag of pitocin to so much as swing in my direction when I get to the maternity ward. That ought to make people's heads explode. I don't mind advocating for myself; I don't like when advocating starts to feel like arguing and defending.

I told Dave that the tone of this afternoon's conversation with the mid-wife has made my anxiety level for August reach a fever pitch, that I now have this vision of getting up in the middle of labor and just walking out of the hospital because my faith that they're going to do the right thing as opposed to the convenient thing is completely shaken. Right now I'm wondering if the road we're currently traveling on to have this baby is the wrong one after all.

Posted by Jenn at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I'm off to the hospital's lab right now to do the gestational diabetes screening test. Those of you who have done this before are totally jealous right now. Don't deny it.

Posted by Jenn at 07:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When you're packing up for a short trip and you don't want to bring your huge bottle of Cetaphil because whenever you do it inevitably leaks, these kinds of bento sauce containers are perfect for holding travel-sized quantities of beauty potions thereby allowing you to maintain your own personal level of cute (both in your bag and on your person) wherever you go.

My grandma is turning 91 this weekend. We'll be celebrating with cake and presents and cake and probably a lot of rock-throwing in a stream and at Grandpa Andy by a certain grandson who happens to have impeccable aim when it comes to both water and heads. We're all looking forward to hitting the road!

Posted by Jenn at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm feeling a bit like Debbie Downer today. Yesterday after a week and a half of salt gargles and Fishermen's Friends, I finally kicked my cough-induced sore throat when lo and behold, by afternoon I realized I was glued to my tissue box, and it wasn't because of the spring time allergies I'd chalked it up to earlier in the day; I have yet another cold. Not much sleep last night, pregnant, emotional, sniffly, coughy, grumpy. That would be me. This was my morning to help out at Henry's pre-school and when a couple of kids actively ignored my requests for them to stay on one side of a stream until the rest of the group could catch up with us, it peeved me a lot more than it would have on any other day. When I mentioned it to one of the other teachers, I got misty-eyed about it, and have since felt like an idiot, because it's so not like me. Well, feeling like an idiot is like me, but getting misty-eyed about things is not.

My only hope is that the last four weeks of being sick will have been the last hurrah of the cold season for us, at least until well after we've come back from our vacation in a few weeks. God, do I need that vacation.

Posted by Jenn at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

First of all, what's with all of the pirate activity lately? Can Disney be to blame somehow?

I took my last belly dance class last December, just as the waves of exhaustion and nausea were really starting to hit full force. I welcomed the break, welcomed the extra time I got to spend laying in bed being tired and miserable. Since those symptoms don't last forever I was fully expecting to head back to dance class when they started up again in January, February at the latest. Unfortunately, Dave's Spring semester schedule had other plans that resulted in me having to bow out until the end of his classes in May. At the time, I was a little disappointed, but what can you do? By mid-February I was losing my mind, stuck in the house, slightly depressed, with nowhere to go, and nothing to do. The exercise alone would have been great, because it's awfully easy for a pregnant woman to puff up to epic proportions, especially when it comes to pant size. Mostly, though, I missed hanging out with the women I've been taking these classes with since August of 2007. When you spend all of your days chasing after or entertaining a little kid, you really start to crave interactions with people that you know through avenues that have nothing to do with children, and that's what belly dance class has given me. I've always known that that's been part of the draw, but it really hit home during the dead of winter.

One of the sessions I missed focused on an Egyptian choreography that I really wanted to learn. I mentioned it to another friend of mine who's also in the class, and because of what her schedule was like in January and February, it turns out she missed all of the classes after the first one. We decided to take semi-private lessons to learn the choreography, the first of which was this morning. It was wonderful. I wish it hadn't taken me so long to find another way to get back into it, but now I know.

Posted by Jenn at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I went to Target today to find some new inexpensive luggage for an upcoming trip to Boston. Naturally I left with luggage and ten other random things. While I was raiding the $1.50 fruit snack sale on behalf of Henry, an elderly woman came up and asked me how exactly would a person go about getting the heck out of that store, and after I directed her towards the checkout lanes, I thought to myself "Why would anyone want to leave?"

A couple of weeks ago I went through Henry's shorts collection and cleaned a lot of things out. Most of his shorts were from the summer before last and were therefore very small. I managed to get a couple of pairs to fill out his wardrobe, plus a couple of shirts, one of which is a Ghostbusters t-shirt. I can't believe it didn't occur to me at the time to see if they had an adult sized version for Dave, since I got it mostly for him..."Back off man, I'm a scientist."

The real miracle is that I didn't walk out of there with any cute dresses or pink onesies or anything, especially since yesterday we found out we're having a girl.

Posted by Jenn at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I just got back home from helping out with our local library's annual fundraising auction. Since I didn't have too much dinner before heading out for the night, I'm a little peckish. Here's what I've eaten in the last fifteen minutes: one tiny square of cake, two small slices of pepperoni pizza, two glasses of milk, watermelon. And now I'm going to bed because it's 12:05AM. Who wants to bet I have absolutely funky dreams sleeping on that particular mix of food?

Posted by Jenn at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

4.5 billion years later God said "...and let there be dust!" The clouds parted, the suns rays lit up the inside of Jenn's house, and as far as the eye could see, there was dust. Lots of it. So Jenn did what any man would do in that situation: she sat on the couch and drank a beer. Actually, she didn't drink a beer, she ate watermelon. She's not allowed to drink beer because she and Dave will be doing this all over again in August.

Posted by Jenn at 03:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

For the past two weeks I've been waking up around 3AM pretty much every night with the exception of last night, when I woke up at 4:30. Sometimes I know what's waking me up. One night a cat was shrieking right outside our bedroom. Coming out of a deep sleep, the cat sounded like Henry crying so I stumbled into his room to see if he was all right. He was snoring away. So I walked into a few walls getting back to my bedroom, climbed into bed, and tossed and turned for a while. Another night I woke up from a crazy dream and promptly decided our house was haunted. So I very gingerly tossed and turned for an hour or so, not wanting to open my eyes or look in the general direction of the bedroom door. The last few nights the big toe on my left foot has been throbbing with an infection. You'd be surprised how much pain a person's big toe can generate at 3 in the morning. Most of the time though, I wake up for no apparent reason.

One of the things I do to try to get back to sleep is compose posts for this blog. Let me tell you, they're all absolutely brilliant. They're also always a million miles away by the time I get up in the morning. Someone needs to invent some sort of gadget that can translate thoughts and transfer them to your computer so some of this stuff can make it online. Or maybe I need to keep Dave's laptop next to my side of the bed so I can write some of what goes on in my brain in the wee hours of the morning down. Maybe that will be the new theme of jennanddave.com: 3AM Musings.

Posted by Jenn at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm updating this from the comfort of my bed. Many special thanks to Dave's laptop and our AirPort for making this possible. I'm probably going to doze off halfway through this post, lulled into unconsciousness by the low hum of the computer and my snoring kid in the next room. There are worse soundtracks to fall asleep to.

Dave and I went and checked out the house today. I went in expecting to love it and instead walked away not thrilled, whereas Dave went in with no expectations and liked it well enough. The problem we're running into is there aren't a lot of options in the price range we're looking at, which is ironic because we're looking within a range I really never thought I'd be in a situation to realistically afford. Sometimes even when you find yourself firmly established and living within some sort of definition of "adulthood" you still can't get past some of the ideas that formed apropos of nothing when you were fresh out of college. Anyway, when we got home from the showing I went onto realtor.com to see if maybe through some miracle ten or twenty absolutely adorable houses went on the market while we were asleep last night but, alas, I was greeted by the same gallery of rogues that has been showing up for the last three or four months. So no Raul. Not yet anyway.

Posted by Jenn at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

me: So Dave and I drove by this house today. I think we're going to make an appointment to go look at it. It's cute. It has three bedrooms like we want. It's got more than one bathroom which is always good. The only thing is it has a swimming pool. I'm not sure I want to deal with the hassle of maintaining one.
Megan: You can always hire a maintenance company to look after it for you.
me: That's true.
Megan: Orrrrrrr...you could hire a pool boy.
me: OH MY GOSH!!! A pool boy! Even better!
Megan: Yeah, you could get a high school kid to come in and clean it and everything.
me: Or I could hire a college kid, just to make sure everything stays nice and legal.
Megan: EVEN BETTER!!!
Megan's mom: I had a pool boy once.
Megan: Really? Did he walk around in a tiny swimsuit?
Megan's mom: No, but sometimes he took his shirt off...
me: Wow...
Megan: Wow...
Megan's stepdad: (to Megan's mom) What do you mean "had"?

Posted by Jenn at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

59 is what the temperature was today. That combined with the purchase of three very important female undergarments (we'll call them bras) has vastly improved my outlook on life. Right after I picked Henry up from pre-school we headed to the park "with the drums". It was a mob scene. We were there for 30 minutes before I was ready to go home, and as we were walking back to the car I overheard a woman saying to her kids "...but we have to go now, we've been here for two and a half hours already." I don't think I've ever hung in there that long at the park. After we got home I got us something to eat and we retired to the front stoop to munch and play with Henry's new bubble machine. It really was a much-needed, sunshiny (for the most part), and glorious day.

Here are a few links dedicated to my parents. The first is for my dad if he can stand 4+ minutes of the Beastie Boys (be forewarned, there is some profanity). The second is for my mom, from the brief heyday of V66.

Posted by Jenn at 06:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

After dropping Henry off at preschool on Monday I was blazing through the radio stations hoping to get lucky when I came across one that was playing "Parents Just Don't Understand" by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. I don't think I've heard that song since the late 80's, and definitely I haven't heard it on the radio since then. A couple of weeks ago my mom and I were talking about it and how I used to know all of the words. She asked if I still did and after hearing it on Monday I can now say with utter confidence that I do not. That knowledge was given the boot during the summer of 1992 when I listened to Check Your Head by the Beastie Boys approximately 5,472,637 times. There's an album I still know most of the words to. When Dave first started his job at Bucknell I used to ask him "Professor, what's another word for pirate treasure? Well, I think it's booty, booty, booty, that's what it is." I don't think he thought it was very funny. I, however, know that it was hilarious.

Now I have to go listen to it.

Posted by Jenn at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A couple of my friends have updated their blogs after having taken a brief absence and I guess I should probably do the same. Lately I've been wandering around in a bit of a daze. This has been a particularly hard winter. I've been trying hard not to indulge in my desire to sit on the couch in a stupor because that tends to make a person feel worse. Sometimes I do it anyway. Last week Henry and I hosted playgroup. This forced me to have to clean the house which felt pretty good. After our long bout with colds last December, it had been a while since I made much of an effort to make the place look presentable, something you can get away with in the winter when no one is really venturing out of their own house to visit. It was nice to have a bunch of kids running around and raising a ruckus. It helps make the house feel warm and cozy and loud instead of its usual quiet.

Dave's parents are coming for a visit later this week. It'll be nice to have a shakeup in the routine, plus it'll be nice for Henry to have a couple of non-duds to play with for a change. I've told him a few times that they're coming but he just says "No they're not." I don't think he believes anything we say anymore, despite the fact that we've never led him astray. He'll be very excited when he sees them in person standing in his living room.

Today I have a doctor's appointment. I asked Henry if he'd like to go with me and he said "NO!" When I clarified that it was a mommy doctor and not a Henry doctor, he looked at me warily for a few seconds then told me that yes, in fact, he would very much like to go. Nothing gets my kid more excited than watching other people suffer at the hands of a doctor.

Posted by Jenn at 09:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Henry and I are hosting playgroup this week and our house is such a disaster that I had to start cleaning today. What's sad is our house has only ~1200 square feet of living space. That gives you an idea of the magnitude of the mess.

Sometimes I think when we moved to this area we moved back in time to the turn of the 20th century. This feeling is mostly based on what comes up on the local news. This area is dealing with a huge drug-trafficking problem, enough that you hear about it pretty regularly on the news. What gets top-billing though is the arson problem. Central and Northeast PA seems to be lousy with firebugs. Arson feels like such an old-fashioned crime to me. Buildings are sent up in flames with such frequency that I'm surprised there are any left standing uncharred.

The other night news broke about a couple of corrupt judges in a nearby county who received oodles of money for placing juvenile offenders (is "delinquent" no longer politically correct?) in a specific detention facility. Often these kids didn't receive fair hearings. I'm not naive about the way some people operate in the world, but it's still frightening that this sort of thing happens, adults in power taking advantage of kids they should be helping. This particular news item struck me as being very Charles Dickens.

After watching the news story about the corrupt judges, which was, of course, followed by the latest incidents of arson, I couldn't shake the feeling that back in 2003 when we moved here we had somehow stepped through a time warp that had carried us back to the early 1900's.

Posted by Jenn at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last week I finished reading "The Watchmen", the graphic novel that will soon be a movie that, unless it has a happy Hollywood ending tacked onto it, will spread its message of bleakness to many more millions of people than have read the book. When I closed the back cover of "The Watchmen" I decided that whatever I read next would have to a bit, well, brighter. So I picked up "Tess of the d' Urbervilles". Oops.

In college I took a class that was called something along the lines of "The 19th Century Novel". One of the first books we read was a Jane Austen novel, and every class discussion involved some sort of swooning and face-fanning on the part of the professor. I ended up dropping the class because good grief, but one of the things she said has stuck with me to this day. She said that a reader can figure out pretty quickly how a Jane Austen novel is going to end, and that the joy of her novels are in the telling of the journey that the characters take to get to that end. I felt the same applied to "Tess of the d' Urbervilles", except you knew that there wasn't going to be happy ending and you wondered why you were torturing yourself with 400+ pages of misery. The upside was that Tess was one of the best characters I've ever encountered in a novel. The downside is what Thomas Hardy puts her through. Poor Tess.

Earlier this week I got two surprise packages in the mail. One was from Mel who sent along the first three volumes of "Sugar Sugar Rune". The other was from my parents who sent me volume 2 of the Complete Little Orphan Annie collection. The literary forecast in this house shows sunny weather in the near future thanks to my friends and family who have taken *very* good care of me this week.

Posted by Jenn at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Lately I've been having really vivid dreams. A couple of weeks ago I had a dream about spats that made such an impression that last night while watching a program on comedy on PBS which featured an old clip of a guy dancing and wearing spats, my eyes bugged out. I don't know why, especially since it wasn't a bad dream about spats, it was just vivid. Also, I should really go back and fix that second sentence, but, meh, who can be bothered?

Last night I dreamt it was late February and when I walked out to our front yard I noticed our tulips had bloomed. And then I noticed other flowers had bloomed. And our three trees had blossomed. I was extremely happy that it was finally spring (although a bit concerned by how early it was happening). Then I woke up and lo and behold it was ridiculously cold out and everything was still covered in snow. To make myself feel better I went to the grocery store after playgroup and bought some out-of-season and shipped-from-who-knows-where watermelon. It tastes like summer. I'm feeling environmentally irresponsible but very happy.

Posted by Jenn at 02:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I was tagged for a meme on Facebook and since, like this blog, it's all about me, I thought I'd be lazy and post it here as well. I'm such a cheater. Anyone else who wants to do it, go for it!

Ruth tagged me, so in accordance with the rules . . .

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

1. I was born in Louisiana.

2. Your guess as to my natural hair color is as good as mine. Haven't seen it since 1991.

3. The last 1/2 hour of "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind" never fails to make me sob like a little kid who has just lost her balloon.

4. I'm married to the Southern Gentleman.

5. I lived in the greatest little condo in the world in Salem, MA for three years, one house away from Salem Harbor.

6. I've had a weakness for vampire fiction since I was 15.

7. I decided I was going to marry Nicolas Cage after I saw him in "Wild at Heart".

8. Whenever I hear "Only Wanna Be With You" by Hootie and the Blowfish I turn up the volume and sing along really loudly, because I'm cool like that.

9. F. Scott Fitzgerald is my most favorite author ever.

10. I think the movie should be called "F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'"

11. I only read Hemingway novels so I know what I'm talking about when I tell people I think he's unbelievably overrated. Know it, don't blow it!

12. If we ever have another kid and she's a girl, we're naming her Annie after the main character in the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie".

13. My husband puts up with a lot.

14. When we first moved to this particular university town, people thought I was a college student.

15. No one makes that mistake anymore.

16. When I lived in New Orleans, my ex-boyfriend and I went to Lake Pontchartrain to get in a little sun-bathing. We got bored after 15 minutes and headed back to the dorm. 15 minutes at high noon that far south was just long enough for me to get one of the worst sunburns I’ve ever had. I was green with aloe and didn’t get out of bed until the next day.

17. I’m learning Italian via Rosetta Stone so that when I watch a Marcello Mastroianni movie I can concentrate on looking at him instead of the subtitles.

18. My 3-year old and I like to eat cheese and crackers while watching “Little House on the Prairie” reruns after his nap.

19. If we ever have another kid and he’s a boy, we’re naming him Oliver Warbucks after the character in the comic strip “Little Orphan Annie.” Not really. We’re naming him The Asp.

20. When I was in high school my post college plans were to move to France and teach English.

21. One of my French professors in college used to consistently show up to class drunk. He’d talk about French for five minutes, then ramble on about random stuff for the next 45.

22. I’ve never been drunk.

23. I’ve only had my license for four years.

24. I’m still sad “Gilmore Girls” is off the air. Somewhere in this list I quoted a line from “Gilmore Girls”. Bet your bottom dollar you can’t figure out which it is.

25. I have a strong affinity for Chinese sesame seed buns filled with sweet bean paste.

Posted by Jenn at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have some sort of stomach bug. And a fever. I've been in-taking and out-puting water and ginger ale all day. It's absolutely miserable. I just tried one of Henry's Pedialyte freezer pops. It was pretty decent and, happily, exquisitely cold. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it down long enough to get some of that lovely electrolyte action going in my favor. Maybe Dave, who has been chasing around Henry all day, would go to the store to get me some Gator-ade while the kiddo's napping. I feel bad asking him to do that during the one break he's gotten all day. I hope he doesn't get whatever this is.

Posted by Jenn at 02:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I just made the best salad:

Lots of lettuce, halved grape tomatoes, three slices of bacon (crumbled), shredded cheddar, crushed Red Hot Blues chips, ranch dressing.

Seriously good. Probably not extraordinarily healthy, but I also just ate more lettuce than I have in the last three months combined, so that counts for something. Go make yourself one.

I just remembered I have an avocado! That would have made it even better. Tomorrow...

Posted by Jenn at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I finally found the fourth book in the Twilight series on Wednesday at, of all places, the local bookstore downtown. It was the last copy. In fact, it was the last copy of any of the books in the series, so, as Megan just said on the phone, it was fate.

I was extremely excited to dive in, but by the time I got halfway into the Jacob section, my eyes were starting to glaze over. I find now that with every paragraph I think to myself "Okay, we get it." Plus, characters who were previously insightful are now portrayed as a bit dopey, seemingly for the sake of not moving the plot along in an effort to create tension. I'm a little disappointed, and unlike the first three, don't feel as compelled to pick it up. Perhaps it's just the particular section I'm reading and it will get better once the plot actually does move forward.

The other thing that's grating about this book, which is something that started picking at me during the third one, is the continuation of all of the emotional "I can barely bring myself to say this because I'm so afraid to hurt you" whispering that goes on. I hope I don't have to read ..."she/he/Jacob/Bella/Edward whispered," too many more times. Mumble, confide, murmur, mutter...

Posted by Jenn at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I finished the third book last night. It took me slightly longer to read it. I managed to stretch it out over five days. It was a little easier to put this book down for the night, unlike the first two, which I think is good because there's only one left and I'd hate to reach the end of the series wanting more, although I suppose that's still possible. Fortunately, the main character is starting to get a little ridiculous, so that should help make it easier to leave it behind. Anyway, I assumed that since I wasn't all fired up over it like I was with the first two, I'd be inclined to let a little more time pass between that one and the fourth in the series. I was wrong. While out on some business today, I snuck into Walmart to pick it up. They didn't have it. Then after dinner I packed the family up in the car and we went to Target, Giant, and Waldenbooks. All of them were sold out. I'm trying not to panic. Also, who are all of these people buying books? I mean, really now! And another thing, if they're gifts, are they really going to make the recipients wait until Christmas to open it, especially if they've already read the first three, because that's asking a lot of a person. Unless, of course, they're giving the whole series. That's a lot more civilized. I'm going to just pretend that's what's going on. La-la-la-la-laaaaaa!

Posted by Jenn at 09:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Today Henry, Dave, and his mom decided to see what Henry would think of watching a movie in an actual theater. Since he loved Madagascar, the sequel seemed like the best case scenario for piquing his interest. They all piled into the car and headed for the local mall/cineplex, while I looked ahead to four hours of time all to myself. Items on my list of things to do: shower, call my parents, read some of the 3rd installment of the Twilight series, make turkey hash, make turkey soup, work on my hat. I was really looking forward to the afternoon. After showering and talking to my parents, I grabbed the grocery list and headed out the door. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was forgetting something major. I shrugged off the feeling, only realizing what I'd forgotten as soon as I'd shut the door: my house keys. Sometimes the front door can be stubborn about closing, but it was shut up tight this time. I went to the back of the house to see if by some miracle the back door was unlocked. It wasn't. I tried our faulty bathroom window. Shut up tight. I couldn't call the people who have our spare set of keys because they're conveniently enjoying themselves up in New Hampshire. I popped by their house to see if I could find the spare key to their place, but it's not where it used to be. While I was wandering aimlessly around their barn, I saw their tool boxes. A plan started percolating in my brain and after mapping out how I envisioned it working, I made off with one of their tools and headed home. So, after a bit of finagling and prying and other verbs, I managed to break into my house using the ice scraper we keep in our car and one of those keys you use to take the lids off of paint cans. MacGyver's got nothing on me. If I wasn't so embarrassed about having locked myself out of the house, I'd be feeling pretty smug right now.

Three lessons I've learned today: 1) give spare keys out to more friends. 2) our dog is not a guard dog. She barked once or twice while all of this was going on, but never even bothered to get out of bed to investigate. 3) Henry hates movie theaters. They're scary.

Posted by Jenn at 06:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Two more days until the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Posted by Jenn at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today at school each of the kids made a Thanksgiving tree, and hanging from each tree were leaves upon which were written the things they were thankful for. I didn't expect any of Henry's leaves to have anything on them because I assumed he was a little too young to get the concept, but lo and behold, I was wrong. Written on one leaf was "I am thankful for fish, a little fish and a big fish." As soon as I read it I got a little teary. One of the teachers came over and asked if we have fish at home, and I said no, that "little fish" is what Henry calls himself, and "big fish" is what he calls his dad. Isn't that SO CUTE? Sigh.

Dave and I went and saw "Twilight" yesterday. He made me buy the tickets because he was too embarrassed to. I did buy them, but I also told the women working the ticket counter why I was buying them and not my husband. There was a quite a bit of cackling going on at his expense. The movie was okay. If I was 14, I would definitely still be actively swooning, but since I'm not, it was just okay. I think I would have liked it more if I hadn't read the book. This theory is supported by the fact that it appears Dave liked it more than I did. I can't decide if it's because I knew what had been cut and/or moved around, or if it's because reading a book is a more personal experience than watching a movie, so I was bound to not like someone else's visualization of things that I'd already mapped out for myself. One thing I will say, the characters were all very well cast. Let's see, what else? Bella had great hair. Oh, and the guy who played Jacob was adorable, so I hope he's recast in the next movie. Meanwhile, I haven't purchased the third book yet, but really, it's only a matter of time.

Posted by Jenn at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today I joined Curves. I want to start doing some strength training, but don't know enough about it to venture up to the University gym to try and figure things out myself. I thought Curves would be a good starting point. We'll see how that goes.

Meanwhile, I have great friends. One of them offers to make me cookies to keep in the freezer for emergencies, and another one drops off homemade beef stew because she knew I wasn't feeling well. Throw in a couple more who lend me cars or keep me laughing and occupied while I'm juggling a sore throat with a three-year-old all on my own, and you pretty much have the makings of someone who feels very lucky to have the people she has in her life. Thanks guys!

Posted by Jenn at 05:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)