Swirlygig Challenge

Last week, I finished stitching Bent Creek's "Swirlygig" design for Anna's challenge. This only took me a few hours to stitch and usually I'm a very slow stitcher. Now I need to "finish finish" the design and send a picture to Anna. I won't be able to post a pic here until September when the challenge is over.

Brushing Off the Cobwebs

Well, it's been a long time. A lot has happened, but without going into everything, I've decided to make this more of a cross stitch/crafts blog, since I post most of my every day and family stuff over on Facebook. So look for the links on the right to change shortly and for some pics of projects in progress. There's an incredibly active cross stitch community out there and they are all very inspiring. Since I'm not working right now, I've had a lot more time to stitch and scrapbook and I'm actually getting a lot accomplished! So stay tuned...

2008 Reading List

Well, this list just gets more pathetic every year. I'm almost embarrassed to post it this year, but here goes. Less than 20!

2008 Reading List

1. Hard Row by Margaret Maron (M) (series) (library)
2. Beautiful Children by Charles Bock (F) (Powell’s) (free download)
3. Schuyler’s Monster by Robert Rummel-Hudson (NF) (new book from Amazon)
4. Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner (F) (library)
5. Savage Run by C.J. Box (CF) (series) (library)
6. Winterkill by C.J. Box (CF) (series) (library)
7. Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz (NF) (library)
8. In the Woods by Tana French (CF) (library)
9. Home to Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani (SF) (library)
10. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (F) (library)
11. The Likeness by Tana French (CF) (library)
12. Winter Study by Nevada Barr (CF) (series) (library)
13. Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs (CF) (series) (library)
14. Oral History by Lee Smith (F) (used PB)
15. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb (F) (used PB)
16. The Night of the Gun by David Carr (NF) (library)
17. Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons (F) (library)

Did I even post the list from 2007? I couldn't find it. Here is, plus a link to 2006.

2007 Reading List

1. Deception by Denise Mina (CF) (library)
2. The Rock Orchard by Paula Wall (F) (library)
3. Sea Glass by Anita Shreve (F) (used)
4. Amagansett by Mark Mills (F) (library)
5. Summer Reading by Hilda Wolitzer (F) (library)
6. The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp (CF) (library) (Powell’s)
7. Red River by Lalita Tademy (F) (library)
8. Bad Blood by Linda Fairstein (CF) (library)
9. Bloodthirsty by Marshall Karp (CF) (library)
10. The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos (CF) (library)
11. The Scold’s Bridle by Minette Walters (CF) (used paperback)
12. Dark Hollow by John Connolly (CF) (library)
13. The Woods by Harlan Coben (M) (library)
14. Winter’s Child by Margaret Maron (M) (library)
15. The Straw Men by Michael Marshall (CF) (library) (Powell’s)
16. Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty (YA) (library)
17. Sacred by Dennis Lehane (CF) (used)
18. Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z. by Debra Weinstein (F) (bookcloseouts)
19. Kill Chain by Meg Gardiner (CF) (library)
20. Mercy Falls by William Kent Krueger (CF) (library)

Happy 10th Anniversary

A surprise delivered to work this morning for my 10th wedding anniversary.

Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons

How did I not know this was coming out? How did I not know that this has been out for the past month? From one of my most favorite authors? Who hasn't had a new book out since 2005? I was randomly checking the NY Times best seller list today and there it was (#21). And I was just in Borders on Saturday. Good thing it's the end of the day. I'm off to the library on my way home!

Hannah Montana Fever

We were babysitter-less on Monday, and I was thinking about taking a day off anyway, so I took the girls to see the Hannah Montana tour bus, a promotion sponsored by Great Clips to promote the release of the Hannah Montana concert DVD and the "Camp Rock" movie.

It was actually less crowded than I thought it would be, but there was still a good turnout, considering how hot it was, baking in the blacktopped parking lot. The activities available were karaoke, "rock star" hair-dos by Great Clips, giveaways (trading cards, magnets, poster) and the main attraction, a chance to board Hannah Montana's tour bus.

Big H jumped right in and did the karaoke, which surprised me, because she can be shy sometimes. She sang very quietly, but she did it all by herself. Disney videotaped each song and gave it to you on a SD card, but unfortunately, ours didn't work when we got it home.



The wait to get on the tour bus was timed, so we went and got some lunch in the A/C before it was our turn. We were on the bus for all of three minutes, hardly worth the wait, but Big H thought it was cool to see an actual Hannah Montana guitar and wig and where she slept while on tour. It was worthwhile, since Big H enjoyed it - and it was free!

Real Live Teacher

My "Real Live Teacher" blog is defunct, but I incorporated the posts into this blog. Keeping two blogs was too much and there hasn't been much to update on the teaching front since Little H was born. I really need to get motivated and make some decisions about teaching. If you want to read any of the teaching posts, just click on the teaching tag.

Country Music Question

Can someone please explain to me why Brad Paisley's "Waiting on a Woman" single, which was originally on the "Time Well Wasted" album, was included on "5th Gear" as a bonus track (although not on the version I have - maybe only on versions sold at one specific store, i.e. Target) and is now his latest single? Because to me, having listened to "Time Well Wasted" a million times, it seems old and not really a new single. I would much rather have seen/heard "Better Than This" released as a single, since it's my favorite track on the album and a great summer song.

Worst Album Covers Ever

A long slideshow feature, but worth it. From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

1. Cody Matherson – Can I Borrow a Feelin’? … And Lazy Eye Therapy
2. Roger … He gets bonus points for using the word “facet”
3. Orion Reborn … I’m pretty sure that’s Lyle Waggoner in disguise
4. The Frivolous Five – Sour Cream and Other Delights … I think there’s a dirty joke about “sour cream” in there somewhere
5. Harry and Terry Live … I hate ventriloquist dummies
6. The Handless Organist … At least she’s smiling, or is that a grimace?
7. Have Harp, Can’t Travel … As if the harp isn’t already the most difficult instrument to transport, let’s make the little person carry it
8. Les Baxter – Space Escapade … Judging by everyone’s smiles, maybe it should be called “Space Sexcapade”
9. Bathroom Baritones, Bathing Beauties … I’m sure everyone had a record player in their bathroom in the 1950s
10. Merrill Womach … not just an organist, but an undertaker, too. And he has a MySpace page!
11. Truckers Dream … every girl’s dream
12. Skidrow Joe … I think the name says it all
13. The Braillettes – Our Hearts Keep Singing … Worst. Name. Ever. for a musical act
14. Weela Gallez … I hate monkeys even more than I hate ventriloquist dummies
15. Don & Seymour … I’d like to see more of Don
16. Manfred Sings Love Songs – With a New Accent … I think every artist should put out an album using a different accent at least once
17. Cajun Music – This one actually looks fake (apparently not – he’s the king of Louisiana rockabilly)
18. Little David Wilkins … If only Chris Farley was still alive, this a SNL sketch waiting to happen
19. Rick McKnight – Free Indeed! … from jail, I’m guessing
20. Organ and Firelight … I don’t want to see anyone’s organ by firelight
21. Chicken Coupe de Ville – this one looks fake, too (wrong again – thanks, MySpace!)
22. Music for Dreaming … Last night, I had this dream where I was a giant sleeping in the snow. Then I rolled over and crushed an Alpine village.
23. Wayne & Charlie – Rapping Dummy … I’d actually like to hear this one, but only if he says the word “dummy” in Fred Sanford’s voice
24. The Incomparable Steve Warren – Reflection … literally
25. The McKeithen’s … featuring The Great Gazoo
26. Slim Goodbody - The Inside Story … Hey, don’t mess with Slim Goodbody (the only artist I’ve actually heard of on this list)
27. “Happiness” with Ron Johnson … Because “Happiness’ should always be spelled in a creepy, bloody Halloween font
28. Drums and More Drums … I’m laughing too hard to think of an octopus joke.
29. OK, that made me stop laughing. I’m too frightened to even think of something funny to say.
30. Disco Tango – No thank you, Tommy Seebach
31. Joyce … I didn’t know Dorothy Michaels released an album under a pseudonym
32. ET – Best Friends … Rick James wannabe or lovable alien?
33. Ali and His Gang vs. Mr. Tooth Decay … I bet this was a big hit in its day (and only the second name I recognize)
34. The Electric Amish – A Hard Day’s Work … You’d think they would play acoustic guitar
35. Jonah Jones – I Dig Chicks … And I use the most literal imagery I can find for my album covers to hide my homosexuality
36. John Bult – Julie’s Sixteenth Birthday … Also known as the day John went to jail
37. Anchor’s Away … this one isn’t that bad, since pirates are back in style
38. Gary Dee Bradford … The record company didn’t want to spend any money on album artwork, so they just used his school picture
39. I couldn’t read the title of this one, something about rainbows, but it looks more like it should be about nightmares
40. Understand Your’e Swede – Even if you disregard the misplaced apostrophe, this title still doesn’t make sense
41. Thank You for the Dove … that just pooped in my hand
42. Superman – Every Night and Day … in bed
43. The Best of the Singing Postman … The Cryptkeeper Postman!
44. Country Church … They look like they would be fun to hang out with
45. All My Friends are Dead … In the category of morbid death story songs, this beats “Last Kiss” hands down
46. Happy Louie, Julgia and the Boys … Only Louis is happy because he’s the only one getting it on with Julgia
47. Mike Terry – Live at the Pavilion Theatre … pre sex change operation
48. Moscow Nights – no one ever had that much fun in Moscow
49. Foster Edwards’ Orch. … Who abbreviates orchestra on an album cover? (I’m avoiding the obvious elephant in the room joke.)
50. Ken – By Request Only … Steve Warren could have used this cover (see #24)

In the News

Designer of Pringles can is buried in his invention

After I read this headline, I imagined a giant Pringles can-shaped casket, but alas, his ashes were buried in an actual Pringles can. I’m kind of disappointed.

Disappearing act: Revue is robbed

Although this is a serious crime, any article that features the phrase ‘breakaway pants’ makes me laugh. It figures a male reporter was assigned to the story. You can practically hear him trying not to laugh out loud as he writes this story.

A Day Late and A Dollar Short

Of course, now they come out with this - Bindi Partyware. Where was it when I needed it back in September for Big H's birthday? I guess we were just ahead of our time.

Back in September, Big H had a Bindi-themed birthday party. We made our own invitations using graphics from the "Bindi the Jungle Girl" site on Discovery Kids. We went with a green theme for the plates, napkins, etc. and a general jungle animal theme for everything else. We had animal print balloons and all of the little girls received animal print tote bags with an animal print notepad, pen and stickers. Very cute, but I love those Bindi favor boxes. I might have to order a few, along with the stickers, for Big H.

Speaking of stickers, they would have come in handy on Halloween, when Big H dressed up as Bindi. I made stickers with my Xyron machine for her shirt, but those would have been perfect. Here's a pic of Big H on Halloween (the sticker is hidden under the snake but looks like it is embroidered on her shirt, just like Bindi's).

For the record, since I was MIA from updating in October, little H was a bumblebee.

2007 Reading List

Well, I thought last year's list was pathetic, but 2007's was even worse. I was able to sustain my reading rate even with less free time at home by reading over my lunch hour, but now I'm usually running errands or working over lunch, since I come in a half hour later now due to the bus schedule. I also blame "The Wire." Mark and I have been working our way through all four seasons of the series on DVD since August and it's all-consuming. I can't read and watch TV at the same time when it's on - you have to pay close attention! We finished the last disc of season 4 on New Year's Eve and just signed up for digital cable with free HBO for 60 days so we can watch Season 5 when it starts on Sunday. Anyway, I digress. Here's my 2007 reading list. As before, the abbreviations are: CF - crime fiction, M - mystery, F - fiction, SF - southern fiction, not scifi, YA - young adult and then in parens, where I got the book (usually from the library). Unofficial New Year's resolution - go back to reading more!

1. Deception by Denise Mina (CF) (library)
2. The Rock Orchard by Paula Wall (SF) (library)
3. Sea Glass by Anita Shreve (F) (used PB)
4. Amagansett by Mark Mills (F) (library)
5. Summer Reading by Hilda Wolitzer (F) (library)
6. The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp (CF) (library) (via Powell’s)
7. Red River by Lalita Tademy (F) (library)
8. Bad Blood by Linda Fairstein (CF) (library)
9. Bloodthirsty by Marshall Karp (CF) (library)
10. The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos (CF) (library)
11. The Scold’s Bridle by Minette Walters (CF) (used paperback)
12. Dark Hollow by John Connolly (CF) (library)
13. The Woods by Harlan Coben (M) (library)
14. Winter’s Child by Margaret Maron (M) (library)
15. The Straw Men by Michael Marshall (CF) (library) (Powell’s)
16. Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty (YA) (library)
17. Sacred by Dennis Lehane (CF) (used)
18. Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z. by Debra Weinstein (F) (bookcloseouts)
19. Kill Chain by Meg Gardiner (CF) (library)
20. Mercy Falls by William Kent Krueger (CF) (library)

Kidisms

#1 - While watching "Frosty the Snowman" the other night:

Big H: Why does Frosty have a hammer in his mouth?

Me: It's not a hammer, it's a pipe.

Big H: Then why doesn't it have smoke coming out of it?

In her defense, she's a Baltimore girl at heart and it does look like a crab mallet, which she uses when she does Play-Doh. And now that I think about it, I'm surprised "they" haven't revised Frosty to remove the pipe from all scenes.

#2 - When talking about getting a Christmas tree, Big H kept calling the Christmas Tree farm the "Christmas Tree Patch," like the pumpkin patch, which I think is adorable.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Let's just jump right in, no apologies for the cobwebs around here.

June

Ballet Recital

Pre-school Graduation



Swimming at Aunt J’s



She's a Baltimore girl in her inflatable crab.

Father’s Day breakfast

Surprise 60th Birthday Party for Mom



Sister J hosted and did most of the planning for a surprise 60th birthday party/Hawaiian luau for my mom. We had over 90 adults and about 10 or 15 kids show up. The weather was perfect and there was good food, live music, dancing and the highlight - a pig on a spit (even though it took a VERY long time to cook).



July

A baby shower for a friend

A trip to the Baltimore Zoo



I had the two days after the 4th of July off, so I took the girls to the Baltimore Zoo on Thursday. The day was overcast, but still really humid, but it was nice not to have the sun beating down on our heads all afternoon. Big H loved all of the animals, especially the polar bears.



I hadn’t been to the zoo in probably 15 years and for all of the problems they’ve had with money and closing some exhibits, it was very clean, we saw plenty of animals and even went to hear a talk about alligators. Little H slept in her stroller for awhile and hopefully absorbed something of the experience.

Dinner at "Cheeseburger in Paradise" with BFFs W. and Library Girl to catch up on the June birthdays




Local fireman's carnival




Summer Reading Club fair at Codorus State Park


The theme for this year’s SRC was “Get a Clue,” so the library system held a Mystery Faire outside at Codorus State Park. Each library in the county had a booth with a “clue”-related activity for the kids to complete. Big H and nieces K&K had a great time making spy binoculars and stamping. We were also there to check out “Bob the Critter Guy,” who I wanted to hire for Big H’s “Bindi” birthday party in September. All of the girls wanted to hold the snakes.

More swimming at Aunt J’s

Big H's BFFs 5th birthday party
(I didn't take any pictures because I was holding Little H the whole time and we left for a little while so she could take her nap.)

Hi-5 Concert



Big H and I drove down to the Meyerhoff (the day after Artscape, no less, when half of the streets around the symphony hall were still closed) to see Hi-5 in concert. I bought the tickets back in April and didn’t realize what great seats they were. We were in the fifth row! The show was very entertaining and Big H was standing in the aisle, singing and dancing (it was too dark out in the seats to get a good picture of her). Here she is with her $20 Hi-5 pillow/hand puppet.



Cooperstown



The highlight of the summer, since we didn’t take an official family vacation this year, was the bus trip M. and I took to Cooperstown for Cal Ripken’s Hall of Fame induction. It was not a relaxing weekend, since we were beholden to the bus schedule, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. The Hall of Fame itself was very impressive and the exhibits were very up to date – some records had been updated within the last week. We met up with Sister J. and T. on Sunday for the actual ceremony, which was extremely hot (we were sitting in a big field with no shade). I was glad to get home and see the girls after four nights away from them.



If Baldo wasn't in the way there, this would be a good picture of me signing the giant inflatable Cal Ripken jersey set up in the parking lot at Doubleday Field.

August

Visit to see Princess and the new baby princess



Summer officially ended on Aug. 28, when Big H started kindergarten. Coming up – Little H is mobile and Big H turns 5.

Updates

Scroll down for post-dated entries from June 4 and May 30. I finally got around to downloading pictures from my camera.

Mystery Solved!

This is going to make me sound like a big dork, but I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am. I have finally solved the mystery of the title of one of my most favorite books from childhood. My sketchy memory can recall everything about the book cover except the title. It was a hard cover with a picture of a girl with pigtails who had just fallen off her bike. The book takes place during one summer during the depression. The girl is learning how to ride a bike with big whitewall tires. She and other kids in the neighborhood read the secret language that hobos write on the telephone polls. That's about all I can remember.

Over the years, I have searched the Internet to try and find out the name of this book. Today, while browsing the groups at Library Thing, I found a group called "Name That Book." I never thought the answer to my mystery would be there. But there it was, a post entitled "2 books: learning to ride a bike and baking soda toothpaste." Thank you, missylc, for asking this question and getting it answered. I don't think it's a coincidence that missylc lives in Maryland. Maybe she checked it out of a Baltimore County library just like me?

The name of my mystery book is "I Would If I Could" by Betty Miles. The cover is exactly as I remembered it. (I think one of the reasons I liked this book so much is that I always thought I looked like the girl on the cover.) This has made my whole weekend. (I know. I said dorky, remember?)

Now I'm off to search the Internet again, this time for a used copy in good condition with the same cover I remember.

Let's Dance

Big H's first dance recital was on Sunday, the culmination of weekly lessons since September. It was almost too cute for words. Her class performed two dances - a tap routine to "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast and then a ballet routine to the "Beauty and the Beast" title theme. Big H looked beautiful in her costume, especially with her blue eyes. Too bad it started falling apart on Saturday after the dress rehearsal. All of the fur trim started to fall off. At first, it was just the piece that runs down the center. As I was holding it in my hands to try and sew it, the rest of it started to unravel. I called my mom in a panic on Saturday night at 9:30pm and she came over early before the recital to help repair it. And Big H's wasn't the only costume this happened to; I would expect more considering we paid $60 for it.

But we didn't let it ruin the day. Big H did an excellent job, considering this was her first recital and the large high school auditorium was packed with people she didn't know. She didn't seem nervous at all. Her cheering section was quite large - 11 of us in all. We showered her with flowers like a prima ballerina. I can't wait until the video we purchased comes so we can see the performance again. Big H is the second from the right in the photo (you can see the fur drooping from the skirt of her outfit).

Milestone Accomplished

Hannah rolled over today. She's been trying so hard for weeks and she finally got her roly-poly little body to do it. She goes from back to front, which, according to the baby book we use, is the more difficult way to go (she's a genius, of course). She's also already rolling to both her left and right sides, not just one side. Up next - sitting up unassisted!

I can't figure out how to load a video to Blogger yet without posting it on You Tube, which I don't want to do, so you'll have to settle for before and after pictures.

Swims Like a Fish

The first official cookout and swim on the first unofficial weekend of summer. We went to Aunt J's pool on Sunday to celebrate Memorial Day. The pool water was freezing, of course, but the kids never seem to mind. Big H was excited to go swimming and wanted to try and swim this year without her arm floaties. Well, I think she was swimming better than nieces K&K. She was diving under the water and swimming using her arms and her legs. I think she's a natural! I stayed out of the water, which meant Little H did, too. I think that cold water would have been a shock to her system. Maybe next time. And next time I have to remember Big H's new Shrek swim goggles. I have to get a picture of her in those!

What's With All the Joeys?

If I had any discretionary income right now, I would go all-out and sign up for the VIP package for what is surely a very entertaining night out.

Dancing With The Stars, ABC’s #1 rated unscripted show is hitting the road again and bringing its most popular team of stars and professional dancers from the show’s first four seasons to GIANT Center on Monday, July 2, at 7:30 PM.

The second cast of Dancing With The Stars –The Tour features an ensemble of the show’s most popular competitors including season four’s Joey Fatone and Kym Johnson; season two’s winning duo Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke; season three’s Joey Lawrence and Edyta Sliwinska; season one’s Joey McIntyre and Julianne Hough as well as professional dancers Alec Mazo and Louis Van Amstel.

The two-hour show will feature a larger-than-life recreation of the TV show’s actual stage with an intimate nightclub style table seating on the floor allowing fans unparalleled sightlines and access to all of the action. The tour has again teamed with “I Love All Access” to offer VIP ticket packages at every show. Packages include dance floor level table seating, private bar service and exclusive gifts.

Can't you just hear the announcer guy's voice in your head saying "Louis Van Amstel"?

Who's On First

This is an actual series of e-mails I had to deal with at work today:

I wrote first, to a general customer service e-mail address on a magazine's website, to try and stop receiving a copy of a magazine addressed to a person who no longer works at the company:

Please delete the following from the PFQ mailing list. This person is longer with the company.
Name
Company Name
Address
City, State, Zip

Here is the first response:
I have looked through our system & there is no one w/ this name or company name under the zip code given w/ an account. Thank you.

So I wrote back:
I just received the April/May issue in the mail today and that was the information on the mailing label. It may be a comp copy for advertising since there isn’t an account number on the label, but we are already receiving another issue under my name and don’t need to receive both.
Thank you.

Yet another response from the anonymous customer service e-mail:

Is the subscription in your name you want canceled, or in the name of [person no longer with the company]? Also, our comp subscriptions also have an account number. It would be above the name, about 5 or 6 numbers a dash & a digit behind it, it may even be along w/ the letters, PFQ. Thanks.

So I responded AGAIN and attached a .jpg of the actual mailing label:

Please cancel the one in the name of [person no longer with the company], who is no longer with the company. The only code on the mailing label is #BXNRMSL#. There is a blank space above the name. I have attached a .jpg of the mailing label for you to see for yourself how it is addressed.

Third response:
There are several accounts w/ this company name for many different subscribers, including you, that I can see in the whole entire zip code. However, there is no account for [person no longer with the company].

I guess that mailing label wasn't convincing enough. I didn't respond again. This is what I get for trying to save a few trees and this company some postage costs. What a complete waste of time!

"The O Usually Stays with the B"

I had to have an X-ray done today for the one-year follow up to my kidney stone from last year. I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to make sure a new one hasn't grown in the past year, but I needed to have the X-ray before our radiology co-pay through our health insurance increases tomorrow (from $25 to $50). (I'm trying to be frugal now that we're paying daycare for two.)

Anyway, at the imaging center, you go from the regular waiting room to the "gowned waiting room," where, you guessed it, you change into a gown and wait your turn. To change, you use a small three or four foot square dressing room. There are three lockers, so I assume up to three people can use the same room within a certain time span. I changed, waited less than five minutes for my name to be called and then had my X-ray, which also took maybe five minutes. When I returned to the dressing room to change, it reeked of B.O. I'm talking "rampant, mutant B.O." I can't believe someone could have such bad B.O. that their body stinks enough to skunk up a room in less than ten minutes. How could you not realize that? (I cannot imagine having to be an X-ray technician or anyone else in the medical field who has to deal with smelly people. That's why I work at a desk by myself.) I changed as fast as I possibly could, but I was still afraid the smell was going to follow me around all day.

Four-Month Check-Up

Hannah had her four-month check-up today. She weighs 17 lbs., 8 oz. (!) and is 24 1/2 inches long. Her weight is beyond the 100th percentile, but her length and head circumference are right on target. We can start introducing cereal anytime now. We've tried it a couple of times, but she never seemed very interested, but maybe we'll try again this weekend. All of her other skills were on target as well - grasping, laughing, cooing, etc. We're working on sitting up and she's trying really hard to roll over. She can also scoot backwards when she has something to push her feet against.

Let's Start at the Very Beginning

It’s a very good place to start. When we last left our plucky heroine, she had just given birth to Little H and almost had to spend Christmas in the hospital.

To summarize my 13 weeks of maternity leave – Christmas, bottles, diapers, waking up at 1am and 3am, New Year’s, bottles, diapers, waking up at 3am, turned 35, bottles, diapers, waking up at 5am, etc. I think you get the picture. Actually, I can’t complain much at all. Little H has been an excellent baby. She’s a good eater and a good sleeper – she’s been sleeping through the night since she was about 7 weeks old. Now, she’s 4 months old and working on sitting up and trying to roll over already. She’ll have her four-month check-up tomorrow – and I’ll already have something new to post about!

So, I went back to work on March 26th and everything since then has fallen under the category of “nothing is ever easy.” I woke up on the 25th with a fever, congestion, sore throat - the works. My fever broke later that day but I absolutely, positively had to go to work the next day. Luckily, my officemate and my boss were both out the whole week I returned, so I kind of took it easy, trying to get my feet wet again, but honestly, the whole first week is kind of a blur.

After I recuperated over the weekend, Big H got sick. She had just finished a bout of strep throat the week before and it sounded like it was back. So Monday morning, we dropped Little H off at the sitter’s and then I took Big H into work with me so I could bring home some work to do and explain everything to my boss. How mortifying! Big H went to the doctor and then to the back-up babysitter on that Tuesday, since she couldn’t return to preschool until we had the results of her strep test. Her strep hadn’t returned; it was just a regular sore throat and she went back to school on Wednesday and I managed to work the rest of the week (three days) without missing a day (which was a short week with the Good Friday holiday).

Week 3 was even shorter. I worked Monday and then went into the hospital on Tuesday for gall bladder surgery. This should probably be a separate post, but I’ll try to be succinct. On President’s Day, I went to the emergency room because I thought I was having a heart attack. (Good thing I wasn’t since I would have died in the waiting room, but that really is another story.) I ended up going to see my doctor the next day and she diagnosed it as a gall bladder attack (I had had a similar, but shorter and not as painful attack the previous Thursday). An ultrasound confirmed “multiple stones” and even though I pleaded my case with the surgeon at my consultation (I’ve already been off work for three months, I can’t be out again for a week; I have a small infant at home who needs to be cared for; I’ve used up all my medical leave for the year), he didn’t want to hear it and scheduled the surgery for April 10th. So I was off from work from April 10th through April 13th. After staying with us for two weeks after Little H was born, my mom returned again to take care of Little H again.

I returned to work (again) on April 16th and that week was uneventful. I worked a full five-day work week. And now I’m two days into what is technically week 5 of being back at work and decided to start blogging again. So I’ll make the usual promise to start updating again.

PS - Wow, I should have switched over to the new Blogger sooner and maybe I would have updated more. It’s so much faster and I love adding tags to things (it’s just like making lists).

New Addition

Little H was born on Friday, December 22 at 7:35 pm (a Capricorn by one day!). She weighed 10 lbs., 8 oz. and was 21 inches long. My ob/gyn sent me to Labor & Delivery at the hospital Friday morning after my last regular check-up because she didn't like the results of the non-stress test they did in the office that morning. After much back and forth, my c-section that was scheduled for Tuesday the 26th was moved to Friday night.

The surgery wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Mark was there the whole time and was even able to cut the cord again. My parents and Big H were waiting just outside. The only bad part of the whole hospital stay was being stuck there Christmas Eve.

But we all came home Christmas morning and moved the Christmas celebration from my parents' house to ours instead. It wasn't exactly what we had planned, but everyone is healthy and happy and we were still able to celebrate Christmas at home.

2006 Reading List

Unless I read a book while I'm in the hospital, I think I'm done for 2006. I don't think I'll be squeezing in any more reading in the next three weeks, so I might as well post this now. Here is my 2006 reading list. Much smaller than I had hoped - I didn't even average a book a week this year, which is rare for me. I read more young adult fiction than I have in a long time, which was a nice change of pace, and discovered new authors Megan McCafferty and Sarah Dessen. I categorized the list this year by genre (CF - crime fiction, M - mystery, F - fiction, SF - southern fiction, not scifi, YA - young adult) and by where I get my books. As you can see, most of my reading material comes from the library. I rarely buy new books. Past lists can be found here, here and here.

1. Last Lullaby by Denise Hamilton (CF) (bookcloseouts)
2. Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs (CF) (library)
3. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (F) (library)
4. Buried Diamonds by April Henry (M) (bookcloseouts)
5. Crosscut by Meg Gardiner (CF) (bookcloseouts)
6. The Rosary Girls by Richard Montanari (CF) (library)
7. Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty (YA) (library)
8. Butcher’s Hill by Laura Lippman (M) (library)
9. Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx (short stories) (library)
10. Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty (YA) (library)
11. Forests of the Night by James W. Hall (CF) (library)
12. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (F) (library book sale)
13. Trace by Patricia Cornwell (CF) (library)
14. Predator by Patricia Cornwell (CF) (library)
15. Blue Ridge by T.R. Pearson (F) (bookcloseouts)
16. Starting from Square Two by Caren Lissner (chick lit) (library)
17. Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen (YA) (library)
18. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (F) (library)
19. Cage’s Bend by Carter Coleman (F) (library)
20. Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen (YA) (library)
21. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen (YA) (library)
22. The Last Girls by Lee Smith (SF) (library)
23. A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl (YA) (library)
24. Crusader’s Cross by James Lee Burke (CF) (library)
25. That Summer by Sarah Dessen (YA) (bookcloseouts)
26. Cold Mountain (historical/SF) (borrowed from a friend)
27. The Skin Gods by Richard Montanari (CF) (library)
28. Dreamland by Sarah Dessen (YA) (bookcloseouts)
29. Stone Garden by Molly Moynahan (F) (bookcloseouts)
30. Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty (chick lit) (library)
31. Exile by Denise Mina (CF) (library)
32. The Cheer Leader by Jill McCorkle (SF) (bookcloseouts)
33. Death Dance by Linda Fairstein (CF) (library)
34. Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson (SF) (library)
35. Legacy of Masks by Sallie Bissell (CF) (library)
36. The Twelfth Card by Jeffrey Deaver (CF) (library)
37. The Delta Belles by Penelope J. Stokes (SF) (library)
38. The River House by Margaret Leroy (F) (library)
39. Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs (CF) (library)
40. The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King (SF) (library)
41. Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns (SF) (library book sale) (English class)
42. The Contender by Robert Lipsyte (YA) (English class)
43. The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper (F) (bookcloseouts)
44. Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh (F) (bookcloseouts)
45. A Rip in Heaven by Jeanine Cummins (true crime) (bookcloseouts)
46. The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson (F) (bookcloseouts)
47. Katie.com by Kathryn Tarbox (YA) (bookcloseouts)

A Christmas Miracle!

Not really, but this is the first time Big H has sat on Santa's lap. I didn't think she would do it and we didn't really talk about it, but she walked right up to get her present and sat down to have her picture taken. This was at my work's children's Christmas party on Saturday, so maybe it wasn't as overwhelming as going to the mall.

Three Down, Four to Go

Class #3 is over. We handed in our final projects last week - the unit lesson plan on Cold Sassy Tree - so really all we had to do for the final class was pick them up and discuss them as a group a little bit. I got a 30/30 on the unit plan (and should have an A in the class). Only five people in the class received a perfect score, so that made me feel good, especially since some people in the class do this every day for a living.

I'm undecided about the spring semester. Classes don't start until the last week in January, so if I would take one night class, it would be while I'm on leave except for the last two weeks, which wouldn't be that bad. But we'll have to wait and see what kind of baby we have. If she's colicky like Hayley was, taking a class might not be possible. I know I don't want to take another two night a week summer class. That was just too much. Another possibility would be to take a condensed summer class. They offer a few that are a week long from 9-4pm, Monday-Friday and it's still worth the whole three credits. I might use a week's vacation and take one so I don't have to wait until next fall to take another class.

There's still time to decide. You can register right up until the last minute as long as there is still space in the class. I don't have to decide right now.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I love having four days off in a row! There should be more long weekends like this. I took a nap every day, even after sleeping until 8am on Saturday. Thanksgiving Day was fun and relaxing. Big H and I watched the parade together and then all three of us went to my parents' house for dinner. It wasn't too hectic or crazy and all the kids played well together.

On Friday, Big H's BFF came over for a little while in the morning to play since both of her parents had to work. Then I had a doctor's appointment at 11am and Big H went with me. She's been asking to go to the "baby doctor" all along, so I think it was a fun visit for her and she asked a lot of questions. In the afternoon, we wrapped presents. Big H was in charge of the tape, but she only lasted through three or four presents, then she lost interest. But I did accomplish my goal and wrap everything that I have so far.

Saturday and Sunday, we just stuck close to home and enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather. Big H played outside with Daddy, freeing me up to get a few more things done in the house, like putting all of the fall decorations away.

Tonight was dance class. We had to put down a deposit on the costumes for the recital that isn't until June. At least there's just one costume and not two separate ones for ballet and tap. I think they're dancing to a song from "Beauty and the Beast," so the costumes will be some sort of princess costume.

Next weekend is the second-to-last class for school and our final projects are due (the lesson unit plan on Cold Sassy Tree), so that will keep me busy this week. After class, I'm planning on stopping at a few places on the way home to finish up my shopping without dragging Big H along. I'm almost finished!

Christmas Shopping

Well, I didn't meet my unofficial goal of having all of my Christmas shopping done by Halloween, but I did check quite a few people off my list. I made a toy layaway for Big H back on October 11 and ordered a few other things for her from catalogs. I'm just waiting for the boxes to arrive. I need to get her one more toy from Walmart, but it was all the way up on the top shelf and, of course, there was no one around to help me with it. Of the 12 other kids we buy for, all but three are done and I atleast have one thing each for them. For the nieces and nephews we don't see very often, everyone is getting a board game this year. I also have presents for my dad, who is one of the hardest people on my list to buy for. I placed a catalog order today that takes care of the aunts, sisters-in-law and my younger sister. My next goal is to do all of my wrapping Thanksgiving weekend. I shouldn't have to go shopping by then!

Happy Halloween

Have a "wonder"ful Halloween everyone!

Big H, age 4, 2006




















And me, age 5, 1977

Inspiration

A great article from the Washington Post Magazine that could help inspire and motivate high school students.

1001 Books You Must Read

Some English teacher I'm supposed to be. I've only read 31 of the books (or 3%) on this list from the book "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die: A Comprehensive Reference Source, Chronicling the History of the Novel." And I haven't read any of the books from the 2000s. I'm not sure what that says about me.

Smooth Ride

Here's a shot of Big H riding her bike on our glorious new blacktopped road!

Dentist

Big H made her first trip to the dentist yesterday. I originally tried to schedule her to go with me the last few times I've gone down to Aunt J's office, but it never worked out and we needed to go, so I found a local dentist instead. Big H did an amazing job for her first trip there. She wasn't scared and cooperated with the hygentist through the entire cleaning and fluoride treatment. The hygientist was great, too. She explained everything she was doing and really took her time with Big H. The only bad part of the trip is that the damage to her weird front tooth is a cavity. The dentist thinks it will probably fall out sometime in the next year, especially if she bites into something hard like an apple, because it is very weak, but he recommended filling it anyway to make it stronger. The silver lining is that I think she finally understands she can't drink chocolate milk in the middle of the night any more. We had broken her of this habit and then M. was weak and started giving it to her again. Last night, I didn't hear a peep out of her. He also is going to recommend an oral surgeon to have the piece of skin that connects the lip to the gum cut (Hayley's comes all the way down in between her front teeth, which I think contributed to the cavity and her "perceived" speech problem), which I'll probably wait and do sometime while I'm on maternity leave.

M. had an appointment at the same time as Big H. He hadn't been to the dentist in a very long time (as someone who goes religiously every six months, I'm too embarrassed to say how long) and it showed in his appointment results. Needless to say, M. will be making a few more trips to the dentist between now and the end of the year.

Book Choice

I finished Cold Sassy Tree a few days ago (I think it took me three weeks to read, very unusual for me, but I'm hardly doing any reading at night because I'm too tired) and I'm glad this is the book I chose for class. In class on Saturday, we had to go around the room and say which book we chose. Three people picked The Giver and two chose To Kill a Mockingbird. No one else selected Cold Sassy Tree and everyone else chose a different book, so we should have lots of different lesson plans at the end. We were given some time in class to start on a couple of the elements of the final lesson plan project. The class continues to go well - everything is new to me, so I'm learning something new every week. And we continue to get out between 10:30 and 10:45, which is great.

Sleep

After only four hours of sleep Monday night, this was me trying to take a nap Tuesday after work from 5:30-6:15:

• After riding her bike for about 5 minutes, Big H comes into the room and wakes me up. Great babysitting, Dad.
• Our next door neighbors are mowing their lawn and they are completely inept about it. It is like this every time they mow. For some reason, they turn the mower on and off about every 10 minutes. And of course, our bedroom wall is the wall that faces their yard.
• The phone rings and the machine picks it up.
• Big H comes in and wakes me up again.
• M. decides to start the race car. And then he asks me why I'm up and cooking dinner when he comes in the house a few minutes later.

So at 9pm, after we put Big H to bed, I'm ready to collapse. But this is the moment the farmer who owns the field behind us decides to cut down the soybean crop. Who starts culling a field at 9 o'clock at night when it's pitch dark out? So I turn on the air conditioner to drown out any other background noise and finally fell asleep at 9:30.

Absence

Okay, so August and September were a wash. No excuses, really. This pregnancy has knocked me out in a way I wasn't expecting. I am supremely tired all the time. I've become an expert at finding a place to nap in the afternoons at work. Otherwise, the pregancy is going very smoothly. I'm currently in my third trimester and almost 28 weeks. Now that October is here, it hit me that this baby will be arriving before we know it. With the expectations of upcoming holidays and finishing my Saturday class, the time is flying. I can barely even read anymore, which upsets me to no end. I hardly make it through one or two chapters and my eyes droop and I'm out like a light. And keep in mind I do a lot of my reading while eating lunch at my desk at work!

I hope to go back and post-date some entries - our big family vacation in August, my ultrasound photos (it's a girl, by the way), etc., and if I do, I'll enter a new post with a link. Plus, there's always plenty going on - Big H started ballet and tap a few weeks ago, all of the fun fall craft shows are coming up and more. So, I'm sorry for the absence and I'll try to do better. Pinky swear.

You Know You Live in a Small Town...

...when you get way too excited about the fact that the township is paving your street.

Don't get me wrong, our street is paved, but in typical Pennsylvania fashion- some strange mix of rocks and concrete that is one step above a gravel road. Today it is being paved with real live blacktop! The reason I'm so excited is that we live on a cul-de-sac with only one other house, so there is no traffic. But the court area is usually so full of rocks, stones and debris, that it's hard for Big H to ride her scooter or her bike out there. So now it should be the perfect place to learn how to ride a bike and play basketball. It makes our location ten times better than it already was.

#3

The fall semester started on Saturday with class #3 in the program - the methods class for teaching English. I'm there from 8:30am-11:15am (meaning I leave the house at 7:30am and should be home by noon; we actually got out at 10:45am for the first class). Solely based on the first class and the syllabus, I think this is going to be a great class, on par with class #1. Since this is the methods class, everyone is teaching or will be teaching middle school or high school English. There are only 12 people in the class, with a mixture of already teaching and not teaching. Quite a few are first year teachers who just started teaching a couple of weeks ago when the new school year began. I'm not the oldest person in the class, probably somewhere in the middle. One of the first activities we had to do was "share in pairs" with a partner to talk about our best and worst experiences in school. For the best, I talked about my sixth grade class, which was 1983-84. The girl I was sharing with was born in 1983. There's also a girl from class #1 in this class, so there was one familiar face.

As a class, we'll be reading The Contender by Robert Lipsyte (which I've never read) and creating an entire unit on it. Then, on our own, we have to read one book from a predetermined list and we will be creating similar unit lessons for that book as the main project in the class. I can't decide if I should play it safe and choose a novel I've already read, such as To Kill a Mockingbird or The Great Gatsby, or stretch myself and pick a book I haven't read yet so I will get more out of the class and check off another book on my reading list. I'm leaning toward Olive Ann Burns' Cold Sassy Tree, which I have a used copy of that I found at the library book sale but haven't had time to read yet. I'd like to read a book I already have a copy of, so other potential titles include Lois Lowery's The Giver, Steinbeck's The Red Pony (which I only read once in sixth or seventh grade) and a couple of others I can't think of off the top of my head. Any suggestions? Everyone in the class has to make copies of the final lessons/unit to give to the rest of the class and I'm guessing very few would choose Cold Sassy Tree and half the class could end up choosing To Kill a Mockingbird.

PS - One thing on my list of useless things to worry about: the desks and chairs in the classroom. For class #1, we sat in all-in-one desk chairs. I was afraid that if we had them again, my ever-expanding belly wouldn't fit in the chair and I'd have to sit sideways the whole time. Luckily, we're seated at tables with very comfy adjustable, padded desk chairs.

Finally!

The day I've been waiting for, the last day of class. Last night was it and now I have a nice break until after Labor Day. I was almost weak when it came time to do the evaluation, but I stuck to my guns. Tuesday night's class was exactly the way all of the other classes should have been - the instructor taught for awhile and then we had lab time to work on projects that were due. If only the rest of the class had been that way, it would have been a much better class, even at the beginner level. Now I'm just waiting for my final grade, which should be available online sometime next week.

Mark Your Calendars

The season premiere of Grey's Anatomy is Thursday, Sept. 21 at 9pm (which is much better for me, personally, than Sundays at 10pm).

Fame is Fleeting...

...when you're an Oscar-nominated child star who drives a '95 Saturn.

Unbearable

That's the only word I can use to describe my second summer class. As good as the first one was, the second one is bad. First, I'm stuck in the beginner's class because of some bad advice from my advisor (the beginner and advanced classes are both held at the same time and are supposed to swap students on the first night regardless of which one you registered for, but both classes were so overbooked that there wasn't room to switch). And is some ways, it's even a pre-beginner's class. I knew I was in trouble on the first night when the instructor asked, "How do we maximize a window in Explorer?" And then a girl sitting behind me asked the instructor to define the word "telecommunications." Huh?

This week, we spent two hours on Tuesday and another hour last night on Word. Word! Even though the project due next Tuesday has to be in PowerPoint. But that's typical of the class as a whole. It's very unorganized and the syllabus is completely confusing in the way that it's written. What's more frustrating is that the people who don't know what they're doing don't listen and end up asking questions that the instructor just answered.

My mantra right now is, "Four more sessions, four more sessions." But the sad thing is that I'm paying for this class.

Car Trouble

All of our vehicles have been cursed as of late. We've spent a fortune on them in the past month or so. First off, the Neon died at the beginning of June. This is the car M. drives back and forth to work. We knew it was coming eventually and can't really complain. It was a '97 with over 200,000 miles on it, so we got our money's worth. So for two weeks, he drove the truck to work. The first week, he spent $170 on gas; the second week, $190. We had to stop the bleeding, so on Sat., June 24 we went and bought a Chevy Cobalt. We hadn't planned on buying a new car, but we got a really good deal on it and it won't be something we have to sink a lot of money into. And we specifically bought an American car because we haven't been that happy with the Kia.

June is also the month we have to renew our tags and get all of the vehicles inspected, not a cheap investment in PA. The van passed no problem, then we dropped off the truck for inspection and to replace the spare tire. It also passed, but when we went to pick it up, it wouldn't start. It wasn't the battery, it was the starter. Well, M's truck is a 2004 and surely that's covered under the warranty. The warranty to the truck is a measly 3 years/36,000 miles. Guess how many miles M. has on the truck? Guess! 36,433! Can you believe it?! No wonder people don't want to buy American cars anymore and so much for us going back to Chevy. $400 later, it's fixed. My dad thinks I should still call Chevy and see if I can work a deal with them to pay half or something.

In the meantime, the van has been acting kooky. Last Friday, I had to run into the doctor's office. When I came back out, the gas gauge was on E and the gas light was on. I knew I had atleast a half a tank of gas left and was only at 169 miles, when I usually get 300 out of a tank. But I went and filled it up anyway. I only put 12 gallons in to fill it and the light went off and the gauge went back to normal. Now I'm waiting to see if it does it again when I get back down to a half a tank. And to top it all off, on Saturday, as Big H and I were driving up to the mall, we got a flat tire. Yes, another flat tire. And of course, we were in a construction zone. If we had driven another 25 yards or so, there wouldn't have been any place to pull over and the shoulder we were on was already very narrow. I called AAA (my cell phone that I've had for 5+ years paid for itself just with that one phone call) and while we were waiting for them to come, a very nice man and his son stopped to help us. I told him he didn't have to change the tire because AAA was on the way, but he changed it anyway, which was incredibly nice. I tried to give him a twenty, but he wouldn't take it. I am extremely grateful!

So now I'm hoping we can make it through this week without spending any money on our cars except on gas!

Various and Sundry Items

An excellent long 4th of July weekend! I started it off by going to bed at 9:30pm on Friday night (after an exhausting day of work, a doctor's appointment and entertaining the exterminator). Big H stayed up later than I did. But don't worry, it gets more exciting from there. I spent Saturday morning cleaning. That's right, cleaning all of the bathrooms! But then Big H and I left to go to my parents' house. She spent the day with them at a 4th of July cookout and watched fireworks for the first time while I went out to dinner with Na and Wendy for Na's birthday, where we had a very relaxing and enjoyable evening. I ate so much that I struggled to stay awake to watch the end of the NASCAR race, but did not make it. But those two nights of going to bed early gave me lots of energy for the rest of the weekend.

We went to Aunt J & T's marina on Sunday for a family 4th of July celebration. I spent most of the day in the pool with Big H, who is still a little fish when she's in the water. She did great with the water wings, so I might not have to worry about the other swimming inner tube that exploded and not being able to find another one since Walmart has all of the school supplies out already.

On Monday, we did a family togetherness thing, just the three of us. M., Big H and I went to the Hershey Gardens. I had never been there before and was very impressed. But then again, Hershey is like Disney - they usually know how to do things right. There is a children's garden area with a Butterfly House. Big H was much better behaved than she was at the butterfly house in Niagara Falls two summers ago when she was too rough with the butterflies. We also went to see the Big Bugs exhibit - giant bug sculptures made out of natural materials, which was very cool and Big H really seemed to enjoy it, since she loves all things bugs. The only downside was the weather. We went early to try and beat the heat, but by quarter to twelve, we had had enough and headed off to lunch at Applebees.

Tuesday was more cleaning and playing with Big H. We finally went to get her inflatable pool out of the shed, but alas, a mouse had taken up residence in it for the summer and it was unusable. She was devasted, but we promised to get her a new one this week. We finished the fun weekend with hamburgers on the grill and local fireworks.

Back to real life this week. School starts again on Thursday. Our Monday/Friday summer babysitter is on vacation, so we're using a back-up, but I think that will go smoothly. My doctor's appt. on Friday was fine. I gained two and a half pounds in June and my blood pressure is looking good. We made the appt. for our ultrasound on July 27, so hopefully we'll find out the sex then. Just in time for vacation and lots of shopping!

One Down, Six to Go

I finished my first class in the ACT program last night. Overall, I was very pleased with the entire class and with my grade of 98% - an A! The instructor was great - very honest about her experiences as a teacher and very knowledgeable about the subject.

Now I have a week off before the next class begins on the 6th. There are a couple of people from the first class taking this one, so I will actually know a few people on the first night. This class is a technology class and I'm afraid it's going to be utterly boring, not unlike other computer classes I've taken that cater to the less knowledgeable users and dumb down the class. A girl in the reading class has already taken the technology class and told us it's pretty much "Create a lesson plan in Word! Create a spreadsheet in Excel! Create a PowerPoint presentation!" The only saving grace may be that the first half of the class is instruction and then you can go work on your project either in the computer lab or at home. So maybe I won't get home at 10:30pm every night.

PS - Last night, we had to do a group activity to complete a chart. One girl was sharing her (handwritten, not typed) chart with a phrase that was supposed to read "a pencil and a piece of paper," except pencil was "pensil" and piece was "peice." Yes, her content area is math, but still, this is a girl who already has a bachelor's degree and those are elementary school vocabulary words. There's a big difference between typing and having a typo and having an error when something is handwritten.

Recitals, Vacations and Birthdays, Oh My!

Busy June continues. Saturday was a marathon ballet recital-Father's Day-birthday celebration. Big H and I left the house at 10am and didn't get home until 10:30pm. First stop was the card store, then we were off to my parents' house for the first ballet recital. Little K danced in the 12:00pm recital. She was in four groups - tap, jazz, ballet and modern. In two of them, she was the lead at the front of the group. She's really very good! Big H loved watching all of the performances, but she seemed to really like tap (probably because you get to stomp around and make noise). We might have to sign her up for tap in the fall instead of ballet. The finale was a medley from "Annie" and Big H was riveted, which is good, since I wanted to take her to a dinner theater performance of "Annie" that's coming later this summer. I definitely think she'll sit through it.

When the recital was over around 2:30, we went back to the house for a quick snack before Big K's 4:30pm recital. Big K was only in two performances - ballet and modern - but we had to sit through another two-hour recital. We finally made it back to the house again just after 6:30 and prepared for our Father's Day/Mom's Birthday cookout. After dinner and presents, we finally got to the big surprise of the evening, the one we had been waiting for since December. My sisters and I told my parents about the anniversary trip we have been planning for August. K&K & Big H came down the steps dressed in their Smoky Mountain t-shirts and read the following poem (written by moi, but in the tradition of the Block family, all of them master poets):

Honey and Pop Pop-

Come this November, you’ll be married 40 years,
Years full of laughter, joy and some tears.

To celebrate this special event,
A trip with all of us is our intent.

Three daughters, three sons-in-law and one stray Bubble,
Plus Big H, K & K – triple trouble!

We hope you’re free from August five through twelve
Any plans you’ve made you’ll have to shelve

In Gatlinburg, Tennessee, we’ve rented a chalet
For a week-long mountain get-away

Golf, shopping and Dollywood,
How can it not be good?

Forty years is big and we wanted to make a fuss,
And no need to worry, it’s all on us.
Happy Anniversary!

Of course, my mom cried. But they were both really surprised, which is a miracle because so many people in our family knew. Big H said the line, "Triple Trouble!" and was upset that she didn't have a bigger part, even though we explained it was because she couldn't read yet. Now I'm really excited for the trip to be here!

Sunday was more relaxing. We went swimming at my mother-in-law's after M. cut her grass. Even though it was extremely hot out, the water was still freezing cold, but it felt good. Next weekend is another family birthday party, and then it will be 4th of July weekend (a nice four-day weekend).

Class in Review

Class has begun and I'm actually halfway through already! It's been tough because I'm so tired during class (I had to have afternoon sickness instead of morning sickness), but the class is very interesting. The first session was overwhelming and there are so many terms I don't know, but I'm learning and that's what matters. The instructor is a high school English teacher (at my alma mater) and chair of the English department, so everything she teaches us is very practical and useful. The class is a mix of non-teachers and those already teaching, which made me feel a lot better. We handed in our first project last Tuesday, reviews of three journal articles, and I received a grade of 100%. What a relief! Project #2 is due tonight - three sample lesson plans that incorporate pre, during and post reading strategies. My very first lesson plans! All of mine focused on Truman Capotes's In Cold Blood, since it was fresh in my mind after reading it for the American Lit class I took last year.

I'm debating dropping the class I signed up for in July, only if I don't feel any better by the 4th. I'll hit week 13 of the pregnancy this Thursday, so I'm hoping the first trimester symptoms will pass and I'll feel more energetic. The July classes run until 9:30pm instead of 9pm and I just don't think I could make it, with not getting home until almost 10:30pm after working all day, the way I am feeling right now. We shall see!

MIA

Sorry for the silence around here lately. Life happens. Mostly, I just haven't had the energy or the attention span to focus on putting a comprehensive entry together. Why, you may ask? That's because all of my bodily functions are focused on growing a new little life form. Yes, baby #2 is on the way, due at the end of December, right around Christmas. I'm tired at work, I'm tired at home, so I just haven't been able to muster the energy to think about all of the things I need to think about right now.

But all of that should change soon, hopefully. Morning sickness (afternoon sickness for me) should be tapering off as the third trimester ends and school starts this week, so look for some updates over at the other blog. I promise I'll try not to turn this into a pregnancy blog, but will keep my few faithful readers updated on any news.

Nothing Like Waiting Until the Last Minute

I registered for summer classes this morning. I had to do it in person since I'm registering for the first time, so it was hard to fit in my schedule until today. The first class starts on Tuesday. The summer session is two four-week, eight-class sessions, so the first class is from June 6 - June 29 on Tuesday and Thursday nights, followed by a short break for Fourth of July, and then the second session is July 6 - July 27, also on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm taking "Teaching Reading and Writing in the Content Areas, Pt. 1" first, followed by "Technology for Instruction and Management" for the second session.

I'm afraid I'm biting off more than I can chew at this point, but I really want to get as many classes under my belt as possible right now. The second class should be fairly easy - it covers how to use the electronic portfolio that you will need for the rest of your classes, but the first class is a real live education class. Even though I took those online classes last year, I'll actually be back in the classroom now. I have visions of Elle Woods on her first day at Harvard Law. I'll be in class with my gel pen and spiral notebook and everyone around me will whip out their laptops and already have read and outlined the first five chapters in the textbook. Gulp!

Stand Up

Support free speech and the right to hold an opinion that may differ from someone else's without being publicly vilified for it by ignorant, intolerant people and country radio stations controlled by conservative corporate interests. Buy the Dixie Chicks' new CD, out today.

UPDATE 5/31: This is exactly what I hoped would happen!

Mother's Day Weekend

The weekend started early, since I took a vacation day for Friday, but it didn't start out very well. On the way home from work Thursday evening, I blew out a tire on the van. Luckily, I was near a little parking lot in a county park, so I could safely park the van. Of course, M. was going to be home late that night; any other night and he would have been home before I even left work. So I called our neighbor, trying to catch her before she picked up her daughter at the same daycare as H. I did get her and she was nice enough to come get me and then stop so we could pick up H, too. And of course, it was also tumbling class night. I would have skipped it except we missed last week when H banged up her knee, so we got home and left right away in the truck. I left M. a message, since he would see that both the truck and van were missing, and we made it to tumbling just in time.

After we got home, we called AAA, thinking they could tow the van, but if you have a spare, they will put the spare on instead of towing it. Since it was raining, we decided to let AAA put the spare on instead of M. doing it himself. I felt so bad though, because as soon as we got back to the parking lot, the rain turned into this giant thunderstorm. We asked the mechanic guy if he just wanted to come back in the morning and change it, but he didn't seem to mind doing it in the rain. Good thing we had him do it, too, because the spare was a monster to get off from underneath the back of the van. We would have been there all night if M. had to do it!

Luckily, the spare is a full-sized spare, so it didn't delay or cancel our trip to Ocean City for the weekend. First, I had the Mother's Day tea at H's preschool, which was absolutely adorable. They sang songs and served us iced tea and snacks and gave us flowers. We left for the ocean just after one and got down there right at 5pm. We had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant on the bay and watched the sunset in to the water.

On Saturday, we went to Assateague in the morning. The weather was absolutely perfect. H was more interested in getting her feet wet than building a sand castle. She loved playing just at the edge of the water, running when the water would come up to meet her. We stayed there for a couple of hours and even though we didn't see any ponies on the beach, we did see quite a few along the road in the wetlands area.

We went up on the boardwalk Saturday night and H got on a bunch of kiddie rides. She really wanted to get on some of the big-kid rides - she has no fear - but she's not nearly tall enough. We just had pizza for dinner after walking around and were back at the condo around 9pm. I crashed around 10:30, not even making it to the end of the NASCAR race.

Sunday morning was cold and overcast, so we had a terrific Mother's Day breakfast at some little hole-in-the-wall restaurant and headed back home. It was a very relaxing Mother's Day weekend, even though the usual laundry and cleaning chores were waiting once we returned home. The best present was getting to watch The West Wing finale Sunday night uninterrupted! (And how about the Grey's Anatomy episode Sunday night? I'm so glad it's on again tonight. I couldn't bear to wait for September!)

Interview

I had my admissions interview at NDM yesterday afternoon. It went very well and I’m in the program, with my official acceptance letter to come in the mail later this week. It was more of an information session than an interview, except for some questions at the end. The interviewer/adviser was very enthusiastic and ready to have me go to the registrar’s office right then and there to register for the summer session. But I need a few days for everything to sink in and to talk over the schedule with Mark, since he will have to take care of Hayley for two nights a week for eight weeks over the summer, beginning just after Memorial Day. So I’m going to enjoy our weekend at the beach and then come back and register and finally get started. Real forward progress at last!

Rough Week

H had a rough week this week. At school on Tuesday, she cut her finger with the scissors - not with the blades, but she pinched it between the plastic handles and had to have a band-aid for it. On Thursday at school she fell down outside on the asphalt and had a huge scrape on her knee and elbow. She still wanted to go to tumbling that night, even though her knee looked really sore and I didn't think she could participate fully, but we went anyway. Halfway there, she told me she didn't feel good and wanted to go home. I turned around and headed for home when she told me she had to "growl" (her word for throwing up). There was no place to pull over, so I handed her the little trash bag I keep in the car and she growled into it. What a trooper! And then, on Saturday, when the scrape was feeling better and starting to scab over, she managed to get stung by a bee inside the house. She had already had her bath and was in her pajamas and somehow a bee made it inside the house during the day and stung her on the foot. She was exhausted and slept until 8am Sunday morning, which she never does.

Warning, This Post is Kind of Whiny

Still can't post pictures to Blogger. Is it just me? I guess I need to try from home. Maybe my luck with posting pictures from work has run out, even though I tried it from two different types of computers (network and non-network).

A jumbly, emotional weekend, both good and bad. M. had to work late Friday night and didn't get home until 10pm and had to go back for a full day's work on Saturday, too. When he finally got home Friday night, he told me work had just let him know he had to go to Virginia starting Sunday until Thursday. This is the first time he's had to go out of town for work since H. was born.

So on Saturday, I was scrambling to at least get the laundry started before H. and I left for the mini-Etown reunion in West Chester. The phone rang just before 9am and it was my friend W's mom, who (a) never calls me and (b) probably would never call that early if she was calling me. Ws father-in-law had a sudden heart attack on Friday and passed away. Very terrible, sad news indeed. I volunteered to let N. and my parents know as well.

H. and I were late leaving, the weather was unbelievably crappy (buckets and buckets of rain) and we got lost when we were about 5 minutes from my friend D's house, so we ended up being about a half hour late. But the get-together was wonderful. D. had done quite a bit of remodeling on her house since the last time we were there, we had a great lunch and got to see her business, too, which is just a few minutes down the road. And H. and her daughter got to play together for awhile, which they hadn't done since they were both very little. The monsoon-like rains continued for the drive home, too.

Sunday was a blur of laundry, shopping and spending time with M. before he left. As of right now, H. seems to be handling his absence fairly well, although she was a little clingy when I dropped her off this morning. Tomorrow, I have my follow-up urologist's appointment, then H. is going to stay with my mom while N. and I go to the viewing for W's FIL. My third funeral in four weeks. I hope this is it for awhile - I don't think I can handle another one. We're driving back and forth to Ocean City all in the same day, so it's going to be a long day.