Goodbye Twenties, Hello Minivan

Well, we finally did it. We broke down and bought a minivan this weekend. We had been thinking about it for a long time and decided on the Kia Sedona, and we thought we could get a good deal over the holiday weekend.



We ended up keeping the trusty Neon, since we were only going to get $1000 for it, so M. will just drive it for the gas mileage until it dies. I drove the new van down to my sister's yesterday and I love it - a smooth, quiet ride, plenty of room and finally, a CD player! I christened the CD player with Tracy Lawrence's new CD Strong.

Van shopping and buying took up most of the day on Saturday. M's mom was kind enough to watch H. while we were gone. We took her with us when we bought the new truck back in November and that was an ordeal, so this worked out well.

Yesterday, we went down to my sister's pool club, even though it was overcast and cool. There were actually some kids in the pool. I don't know how they do it - the water was like ice. I didn't even bring our swim clothes with us.

Today, it is rainy and cold. It's been in the '80s or '90s pretty much the entire month of May, but when we all have the day off of work, it's barely seventy degrees and raining. We did go outside for a little fresh air this afternoon. Since I had the digital camera out to take the picture of the van, here's a gratuitous photo of H. Enjoy what's left of the holiday weekend!

Random Weekend Thoughts

My strep throat lingered into the weekend (and into my right ear), but I felt much better by the time we went out Saturday night to the "Meet Me in Margaritaville" fundraiser event for the local library. It was the perfect night for an outdoor event. We were seated on the back deck with a view of the vineyards (I keep wanting to say orchards, which isn't right) and a lovely breeze blowing, which must have kept the bugs away, because it was a mosquito-free night. The only down side was that we were seated right next to a speaker, which made conversation a little difficult, but it was a great evening out with friends and family. And I cannot explain how wonderful it was to only have a five-minute drive home, when most of our outings involve a trip of about an hour.

We left H. with a new babysitter for the first time, a teenager who lives around the corner. Everything went smoothly and I only called home once, just to make sure she cooperated at bedtime, which she did. (The babysitter's mother called three times, since it was her first time sitting!) It will be great to have a sitter so close by and available - maybe M. and I can go out a little bit more by ourselves.

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I purchased this facial system from Avon, which I haven't used in years, in the endless hope of finding a cure for my dreadfully uneven, large-pored skin. Should I take before and after photos? Also, have you seen Avon's ad campaign for "Meet Mark?" Since my husband's name is Mark, these commercials have even more double meaning for me than intended. "I met Mark at a party." "I met Mark in the bathroom." I met Mark while working with his sister at the baseball stadium!

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I'm trying to recall if I watched any TV this weekend and I'm drawing a blank. I think I watched Dateline Friday night, but I watched it last night, too, and every episode runs together anyway. Is Keith Morrison the only reporter for the show nowadays? He reported both stories last night and I know he's done the last few I've paid any attention to lately. I also watched the first half of "Reversible Errors" last night, which was okay. I haven't read that book, but the dialog was very stilted and forced, especially in the opening scenes. Whether or not anything better comes up between now and Tuesday night will decide if I watch part two. And Monica Potter reminds me a bit of Julia Roberts, both her voice and her features, which I never noticed before last night.

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In unrelated news, I updated my gallery at Cyber Stitchers with a project I started back in March, but just finished last week. I've been more focused on reading than cross-stitching lately, but I finished up that last project and started on H's Christmas stocking, which I hope to finish before December (a work-in-progress photo at the gallery to come soon).

Is It Thursday Already?

The last week has been an illness-induced blur. First, I didn't get to watch any movies this weekend (except for a rerun of Mr. Holland's Opus on Saturday afternoon) because H. was running a fever Friday afternoon. I raced to pick her up and get her home without stopping at the video store. She was cranky and not herself all day Saturday and we finally came to the realization that she's getting her two-year molars. She hasn't drooled this much since she was three-months old. She slept horribly Saturday night and we overslept for meeting my friend Debi and her daughter to go outlet shopping in Lancaster, where we purchased oodles of adorable summer clothes for the little ones.

Tuesday was my turn to feel ill. I came home with a headache and by 10pm, was running a fever. Tuesday night, I had severe chills - I had never been so cold in my life. I woke up at 5:30am yesterday with a 104.1 fever and a sore throat. I called in sick to work, somehow drove H. to daycare, then called the doctor's office. My fever had dropped some by 8am, so they told me to wait it out for 24 hours to see if it stayed down or not. I barely moved at all yesterday, sleeping and getting to watch Dr. Phil and Oprah. By 9pm, I started to feel much better and my fever was gone this morning, even though my throat is still very sore. I only came into work because I have a meeting this afternoon with an outside client, or else I would have stayed home one more day. So I can't believe it's Thursday already. I hope I feel better by Saturday for the "Meet Me in Margaritaville" library fundraiser a bunch of us are going to. More to come...

Movie Madness

I am woefully behind in my movie renting/watching. I just made a list of 40 movies that I want to see - 40! - and that's just movies that have been released on video since last fall. Somehow, M. and I got out of the habit of watching movies on Friday nights, maybe because we're usually asleep by 9:30 or 10:00pm. And because "Grounded for Life" is on Fridays at 9 and that's one of our favorite shows, falling right in the middle of movie time. The last two movies we have watched have been School of Rock and Pirates of the Caribbean, weeks apart. (Don't even ask what the last movie I saw in the movie theater was. Okay, with Mark is was Cast Away in December 2000, and with my girlfriends, it was Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood in the summer of 2002, just before H. was born. I'll be glad when H. is old enough to go to the movies; at least I'll get to see a few movies on the big screen.)

But this weekend, I'm going to rent two movies - one for us to watch together on Friday night (like Welcome to Mooseport or Runaway Jury), then one for me to watch on Saturday night while M. is racing, (maybe Mona Lisa Smile or Under the Tuscan Sun, something M. won't care if I watch without him). And with summer reruns set to kick in in the next few weeks, maybe I can sneak a few movies in during the week, too. That's my new mid-year resolution!

Yuck!

Is this not the ugliest thing you've ever seen? It looks like something you would find in prison, not a kid's room.

School Shooting

This story made the national news. Unfortunately, this incident happened at my alma mater.

Slacker Mom

I think I'm going to go out and buy this book now! I'm so in agreement with this. Professional babyproofer?

I Tumble for You

I was actually glad to come into work today, this weekend was so stressful and exhausting. Friday night, we drove up to mall so I could get my replacement camera. I pre-ordered online, so all I had to do was run in and pick it up and all went smoothly. Then I wanted to go to Boscov's to buy a shower gift I needed for next weekend (I'm trying to stay on the ball). This particular store doesn't keep any china in-stock - it all has to be ordered and it takes eight weeks. Eight weeks! So I immediately came home and ordered what I wanted from Barron's for delivery in 7-10 business days. I was a regular Barron's customer in my immediate post-college years when I was attending 4-6 weddings a year and they never let me down. There are dozens of other places where you could get china placesettings and accessories fairly quickly, so who would even bother waiting eight weeks?

Saturday was my niece K's First Holy Communion. We got to the church just as the children were proceeding into the church (late because M. had to cut his mother's grass that morning). It was hot and humid on Saturday and I didn't cool off until 7pm that night. The mass and ceremony were lovely. I cried both in the beginning when I first saw K. and at the end when the whole class sang together. It was all so sweet!

A party followed at my parents' house. Luckily, the predicted rain never came and the kids played outside the whole time. I gorged myself on my mom's homemade meatballs and potato salad. My cousin was there with her new baby, only a month old. She was so cute and so good, especially with all strangers around. There was a wonderful breeze blowing through the house, but again, I was sweating all day. We finally left a little after five. H. fell asleep in the car and when we got home, I put her in her crib to let her sleep a little longer and she ended up sleeping through the night! About 13 hours! She didn't even wake up early Sunday morning, just her regular time of about 6:15.

So I took a long shower and finally cooled off to enjoy a quiet evening at home. But my happiness was destroyed with the announcement that Brad Cotter was named the new Nashville Star. To paraphrase Amy, George Canyon was robbed! I was so disappointed - I really thought he had it all the way. I hope he still gets a recording contract out of all of this. I would certainly be more willing to buy an album of his than Brad's. I think it really hurt him that only people in the US could vote by phone.

Sunday turned out to be a not-so-great day. It was a good thing H. had all that sleep the night before. Late in the afternoon, I scrubbed down the patio furniture and we were all getting ready to go inside. I was holding H. when I fell - hard. It all happened so fast, I'm not really sure what happened. I think I tripped on the piece of wood that separates our patio from the grass, but all of the sudden, I was crashing to the ground. I landed on my knees on the concrete and H. pretty much landed on her head. I was stunned for a second, then H. started screaming. I thought for sure the whole front of her face was going to be bloody. I picked her up and she appeared to be fine, but then a scrape and swelling started to appear right in the center of her forehead. It took awhile to get her calmed down and cleaned up. I think I was more upset than she was, I felt so bad. She let me put a cold rag on her bump intermittently, but it was so red and purple. I was convinced she had a concussion. I looked up the symptoms in the baby book and kept an eye on her the rest of the night - she didn't vomit, her pupils were the same size and she was never disoriented.

In the end, she was fine. She ate both a snack and dinner as usual and even went back outside with M. for a little while. She went to bed a little bit earlier than usual, but who could blame her? I was up half the night checking on her, making sure she was still conscious and that she really was fine. She woke up regular time this morning, happy as can be, wanting her cuppy and Elmo.

I, on the other hand, was tempted to call in sick to work. I have major scrapes on both knees that are still oozing and my left ankle was swollen all night. When I woke up at 3am to check on H., I could barely walk. I took some Tylenol and by 6am, it felt much better. My whole left side is sore - the side I was holding H. on - even though I landed straight down on my knees when I fell. I feel like I'm back in elementary school, the tomboy who had scabby knees all summer long. I don't know how I'm going to swing wearing pants to work every day this week!