Hair

Here are the before and afters, for Anna. I can't find an "after" of me with my eyes open. I can't find a "before" for Josh, but I know I've taken some. Interesting...

Anyway, here we are!!

Tooth

Night had a loose tooth.


After much whining, he let Josh pull it out. He is so adorable!


The new tooth is popping through already.





This is his third "lost" tooth. Actually, only one is lost...

His bottom two adult teeth, much like this most recent one, were coming in before the baby teeth were pulled. They were both loose around the same time. I distinctly remember the first one. We played tooth fairy and Josh put the tooth in his little treasure box.

As for the second tooth, I don't remember it coming out! Josh doesn't remember either. Night says that he does, but he is 5, what does he know?

We checked the treasure box--the second tooth is not there! He now has both adult teeth in the bottom, so it had to have come out some time, but I think the tooth fairy missed that one!

True Romance

Tonight, my husband bought me the book that was in my purse when it was stolen six months ago. He said he had been looking for the book ever since, and this was the first time he had seen it in the store. I had no idea! I didn't even remember the name of the book.

That book is one of the most romantic presents I've ever received.

I love my husband.

Meme

SuperRelish tagged me for a meme a while ago, and I'm finally taking the time to fill it out!

The rules of the meme are

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules
3. Share seven random or weird facts about yourself
4. Tag 7 random people at the end of the post with their links
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog


*Now that you know the rules, I'll tell ya'll that I'm breaking them--I'm not tagging anyone, but I'd love for someone to do the meme anyway!

1. When I was growing up, I used to love to climb trees. Because of this, me dad calls me MONKEY. He has always called me Monkey. I can remember the horrified feeling the first week of college when my dad called my dorm room and asked for MONKEY.
2. I don't like chocolate flavored things like ice cream and cake, but I love real chocolate like candy bars. I really like brownies, though.
3. We have four dogs and a cat-all of them are named after "famous" people or characters. Charlie is our fat black lab who never leaves the den (except to go outside). He is named after Charlie from LOST. Dash is our puppy. He is some kind of mutt. He is named after the author Dashiell Hammet (Maltese Falcon, Thin Man). Scully is our border collie/german shepherd/chow mix. She is named after Scully on The X Files. Skyla is an rhodesian ridgeback/lab. We actually didn't name her. Our cat Orson is a fluffy black guy. He is named after Orsen Wells. He had a sister Wanda, named after The Fairly Odd Parents, but she ran away. Our kids are named after people too. Night is named after the director M. Night Shyamalan. Keira is named after Keira Knightly.
4. If my kids touch me while I'm sitting down, I get sleepy.
5. I have no rhythm. I can't clap on beat. Ever.
6. I love to take photos. I have 6 lomography cameras, and we just bought a new Nikon DX. I have a huge tub of photo frames waiting to be filled and hung. I had to stop buying frames because I wasn't using them fast enough-but now we have ink in our printer again, so watch out!
7. Not a day goes by when I don't think/dream about coming back to Australia to visit. I'd LOVE to bring my family there to live. I think they'd love it.

Hmm.

I'm bored with my food blog (a fact you probably already noticed since I haven't updated it!). I really like the layout of it, and I love that I can take a photo from my cell phone and send it to the blog right away.

My food is boring! I never take time to prepare for it, so it is always the same stuff!

I just need a new subject. Any ideas? I'd like to continue the photo theme, and I can't write too much in each entry because only the part I write in my "subject line" on my phone shows up on the blog.

What do you think?

ps An idea I had and vetoed was taking a picture of myself before work every day. I leave the house before 6:30 every morning--I'm not always picture perfect!!

A New Experiment

I've started a blog on tumblr called FOOD. I'm planning on taking photos (with my camera phone-nothing too fancy) of what I eat everyday. It is just something fun, so if you want to check it out, here it is!

Perhaps the pictures will keep me honest in my quest for healthier eating. Maybe public shame will motivate me. Of course, I started the blog today, which was a day off, and it DID NOT follow my "diet" plan. Oh well, photos are fun!!

12/25/2008

Yep. Christmas day wasn't quite as calm...

12/23/08 A Night at Home

Josh is away working on a video. Here is what a quiet night at my house looks like!





The dogs are being themselves. The puppy Dash was just locked up, otherwise you'd be looking at completely different photos. He likes to play... a lot! Night is busy with his (my old) ds. Keira is playing with her little ponies (she made me do a reshoot because the ponies weren't ready in the first photo). And what am I doing during all of this? I'm getting dinner ready, of course!

I'm Jealous

of my three year old daughter's coat.

and boots.

Cuddle Night

Every Friday night at my house is cuddle night. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Don't be fooled. Don't get me wrong-it can be nice, but it isn't always nice...

Cuddle night started when Josh was working 3rd shift on Thursday nights. I would let Night sleep in my bed-we'd watch a movie through once then fall asleep to it the second time through. Okay, he'd watch a movie once then force himself to fall asleep the next time. I'd be out like a light within the first 5 minutes...

When I started teaching and Night went to school, we moved cuddle night to Fridays since he was staying up later than usual. Then, Keira wanted cuddle night. Good-bye to those romantic weekend nights with Josh. Night had me Friday. Keira had me Saturday. Then, Night decided to share cuddle night with Keira,

At least I have my Saturday nights back! The main problem with cuddle night is that these tiny little people I sleep with in my Queen size bed turn into giants with the longest (and meanest) legs and arms in the world! I wake up on Saturdays with bruises! Seriously.

Football

Today I got to supervise a football game between Advanced Band and Beginner Band. Advanced Band won. I guess the name says it all... Plus, they had the only tall player--over 5'5". Now THATs an advantage!

Bombay Potatoes

I love to try new things. I love to buy things that are cheap and/or on clearance. Imagine my excitement when I saw this:

Bombay Potatoes. Listed as chick peas, potatoes, and spices slow cooked in a tomato sauce. INDIAN. All natural, vegetarian. AND, it is marked down from $3.09 to $1.25. Of course I snatched it up. We love Indian food-and from looking at the box, it looked healthy. There were about 3 of them in the little sale basket, so I scooped them up.

And, it was easy to cook--either pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes or boil it on the stove for five. Being the gourmet that I am, I chose the microwave.

Imagine my surprise when I tore open the pouch and it was GREEN. The picture shows a redish color, so I thought that maybe it would turn after being cooked. (Serious doubt, though-how can 2 minutes in the microwave make that much of a difference?)

Well, this is how it turned out:

Those chunks you see? Not chick peas at all. Tofu. Definitely tofu. Definitely NOT chick peas. Well, I like tofu, so I decided to dig in anyway.




Keira asked what I was eating. I showed her and asked if she wanted some (in all honesty, it looks like baby poop). She looked. She said, "What kind of food is it?" I said, "Indian food." As I brought the spoon to her mouth, she said, "I don't like that kind of food," in a very panicky voice. "You haven't even tried it." "Oh." I put a tiny bit in her tiny mouth. "mmm." Then she ran away.

Night asked for seconds, though, so I guess it is a good sign. I have no idea what we ate, but I'm fairly sure it is healthy, and it tasted yummy. I dipped a tortilla in it and pretended my tortilla was buttered naan. Yum.


I just wonder what are in the other boxes. Something green with tofu or bombay potatoes...

A Morning Person

You would think that getting up BEFORE 6:00 EVERYDAY FOR over TWO YEARS would make me a morning person. It hasn't.

I used to be a night person--I could stay up past 2am every night. Getting up that early has ruined my owl-tendencies. But I'm not a morning person either. I'd be happy if I could sleep from 9:30pm to 9:30-noon every day...

Halloween Pics

Now that it is almost Thanksgiving, I guess it is time to post the Halloween pictures. I have more lomography ones that need to be scanned into the computer, but these are the ones from the digital camera.

Maple Roses

I tried making these. It didn't turn out very well, but Keira likes them! I didn't read about the needing thread part until I already started, and I can't find the thread. Yes, I'm quite the home-maker. I can't even FIND my thread... Cute idea, though!!

Slowing Down

The purpose of my blog originated as a place to SLOW DOWN and reflect. I felt like my life was passing by so quickly. I wanted to take the time to record what was happening so that I could relish this time in my life.

I haven't been taking the time to slow down lately! I'm going to try to write at least 5 times this week. There is my goal; it might be boring, but it is my story!

So, this morning, I went to work at the restaurant.

It was a busy day, so the pay was good, and the time went quickly enough. I really enjoy my job as a waitress.

Then I went to Kroger and bought groceries. We used to make oatmeal pancakes 2-3 times a week, and we haven't had them in over 2 months. Night has been requesting them, so I got all the ingredients.

Then, I came home. Josh took a nap, I wrote lesson plans. Keira played on the computer, Night played on the Nintendo 64. We really strive for family togetherness on the weekends...

Josh woke up and started making the pancakes with the kids. I just finished my last lesson for the week (8th graders are learning negative exponents--tough) and sat down to play de Blob with Night while Josh finished up the pancakes. Then the blender broke. I ZOOMED to Target and bought a new one. I literally had 5 minutes to make my choice. I hate that! I walked out the door at 1 minute to closing. There were about 6 other customers after me, I didn't feel too guilty. I normally feel guilty for those kinds of things.

Then I came home. Josh finished making the pancakes. I'm waiting for mine.

That's my day.

I'm off to brush Keira's teeth (and probably get yelled at for something)!

I Shouldn't have Bought the Purse

Yesterday was a very weird day. So many weird things added up to what happened that I couldn't help but think of the book A Series of Unfortunate Events. It started off normal. I got up and went to work at the restaurant. We ended up being fairly slow, and one of the servers asked if I wanted to go home early. Now, I hardly ever give up a Sunday shift because they are quite profitable, so here lies event number one. I said, "Sure!" How nice to spend a weekend day with my family!
So, I went to MICHAELS and bought some fun Halloweeny type crafts to decorate the house, and I went home. Night and I had gone to the pumpkin patch on Friday with his school, so we had two pumpkins that needed baths. We then took our Mr. Potato Head parts and decorated the pumpkins for Halloween. As we were decorating, Night suggested that we all go to the YMCA. What a fantastic idea! (bad idea, event #2) Josh and I have been slacking in the exercise department, and this would be a perfect day to go. Since the Y's daycare closed soon, we decided to go to the Y then come back home and finish decorating.
The kids ran in and got their juice boxes while Josh and I got dressed to work out. We got in Betty (Ugly Betty is our Xterra). Night realized he left his juice box in the house, so I ran in to get it. I then remembered that we were out of dog food, so we should stop at Kroger on the way back; I grabbed my purse.
We had a fabulous work out at the Y, at least that is what we kept telling ourselves in between sets. My arms are killing me today, so I guess that is a sign of a good workout! We picked up the kids, about 2 minutes before the daycare closed, and walked out to Betty. Some stupid jerk had broken Betty's window and snatched my purse! We were only in the Y about an hour! We were parked in front of the windows where the cardio machines look out.
We filed a police report, and they took fingerprints. The Y pulled the video tapes; it seems the machines have been broken since Friday (did I mention a series of unfortunate events?). I am upset because my cash from the weekend was in the purse, but luckily I had taken all but our spending money out; I am annoyed because my cell phone (which I usually forget at home) was in my purse, but it was an old phone anyway; I am furious because two of my precious lomography cameras were in my purse and the photos from the pumpkin patch were on them. The bastard who stole my purse won't even know what to do with them! My phone wasn't worth much, so he (or she) is walking away with about $100, but it will cost us over $500 to recover. $500 is a lot of money right now!
We came home and finished decorating the house (after calling insurance etc). Josh is going to get me a phone today (btw, I don't have anyone's phone number, so if you have to call me so I'll have your number!), and they are coming to fix the window tomorrow. I guess everything will go back to normal then, but I can't help but wonder if I'd never bought the purse (Friday on clearance at Target for $11-it was big and green, so the thief probably saw it easier than my other purse)... or if I would have stayed at work... or if we would've gone for a walk instead of the Y... or if Night wouldn't have forgotten his juice... or if I would've gotten the dog food on the way home from work... or...

At least they didn't take this camera!

Keira Turns THREE

Who Needs Video Games?

We got a new FRONT LOADING washing machine. The kids love it. Today I tripped over Keira's juice cup that was lying beside the washing machine. Josh said she had her snack while she was watching the washing machine today...

OCD or Terrible Twos?

It seems that whenever I do...anything with Keira, she takes whatever I do, starts it over, and then does it all by herself. ("All myself" is how she pronounces it.)

Brushing teeth time? I open the drawer with the toothbrushes. She CLOSES the door and opens it herself. I pick up her toothbrush. She puts the toothbrush down and picks it back up. I turn the water on. She turns the water off then back on again. (you get the picture...)

It never changes. The thing is if I just wait for her to do it without my intervention, she argues and says she doesn't want to do it. (It being ANYTHING that I want her to do.) I just think she likes the process of being obstinate. You should see what she does if we skip the whole let her do it herself step. It gets pretty ugly.

So, tonight as I was watching Keira put the lid back on the vitamins so she could take it off, I began to wonder if this is how OCD starts? She gets so used to repeating everything that she does that it becomes habit then it becomes a need. Am I fostering OCD in my 2 year old because I don't want her to yell at me?

I'm hoping it is just the terrible twos. She turns three in a few weeks. It will all end then, right? We leave the terrible twos and go into the terrific threes, right? Her attitude changes completely, right???