I have had a rough day, not feeling so great. I did manage to do some things this morning, but I spent most of this afternoon following the “sleep when the baby sleeps” philosophy.
No, Fuller isn’t a baby any more, but I needed a nap or a time out. I was cranky, and that is my excuse.
Anyway, I have been catching up on some computer type stuff and realized that there are some emails in my inbox that I haven’t replied to. If you are one of those senders, I am so sorry. I’ll get to it.
Also, if you have Coke Rewards points you want to send our way, please feel free to do so. We are still collecting them and soon Coke is going to be putting those points on all their products, not just Coke, Coke Zero, and Diet Coke.
This weekend is a Tennessee tax-free holiday. No sales tax on clothing and shoes and school supply type stuff. I decided to spend time doing a little shopping for myself and started looking for a dress to wear to the July wedding.
I’m exhausted from all the stores and crowds and my fussy two year old and have decided that it isn’t out there ready for me to purchase yet. I am making it a bit hard on myself because I want to crochet a wrap and it is a specific color. There are plenty of items with this color in it, but they aren’t all dresses or are the wrong size. For instance, there was a dress at Kohl’s that would have been perfect (great style, perfect colors), except it was in the girl’s department, where I haven’t shopped since I was 10.
I found a dress I liked at Kohl’s but the only size that fit me was currently being worn by a mannequin. I tried on the black version and it was stunning. But I was looking for brown and the mannequin looked great in it. I thought about and then chickened out from defrocking the plastic statue and left deciding that when I do find a dress, even if I have to pay sales, it won’t matter because it will be the dress.
Of course, all of this won’t matter if I keep telling myself I have to have a dress to match this wrap I am crocheting. Guess I better get busy.
Well, Mother’s Day is around the corner. I already have my coffee maker and my MIL already has her wireless router, so now I have to think of what to get my own mom.
When I was visiting her last week I was reminded of the times she would be ready at home, after school, with tea and cookies. I seems kind of quaint, but it was special. My mom also has a collection of teapots that she has nicely displayed in her kitchen.
So it seems natural that I think about something tea related as a gift for my mom. And that is where this great tea set comes in.
Full Bloom Tea is a really unique way to brew tea. The tea leaves start out hand tied in China into a specific shape, based on the type of tea bloom it will become. When you steep the bloom in hot water, the shape unfolds and expands into an amazing bouquet that looks like a flower.
When we were in Ohio, my mom gave Fuller a very old cell phone to play with. He likes to “talk” on it in our car and usually he calls Austina or Daddy.
The other day we were driving somewhere and FUller kept repeating, “Beep, beep, beep.” Then he started talking “Hi Nina!”
“Ok Nina!”
“gibbrly wah ju ju lee”
“Bye Nina!”
We decided that the “beep, beep, beep” was either Fuller dialing the phone or the phone ringing. It was Fuller’s first complete phone call.
Over at my Parenting Sites 411 blog I had to write a blurb for the about section. I was almost a month late getting it done because I just had a hard time with the wording. Then this morning I took a swig of coffee and my “about” spewed from my finger tips. I wish it was always that easy.
I also wonder about my topics over on that blog. Since I am the parent of a toddler, the “hot topics” of my blog are skewed toward the toddler crowd, but that isn’t the intent of my blog at all. I want it to be about all aspects of parenting, from infants to teenagers.
This afternoon Fuller and I stopped into a store to see if I could find a dress for an upcoming wedding. I found two distinct possibilities, but didn’t buy them because there is a certain accessory I want for this dress.
I want to make a lightweight shawl.
Seems a bit silly, but I haven’t had a lot of inspiration for crochet lately (other than baby hats, that I am behind on) and recently I saw this stash of lightweight yarn that I have had for a while. I thought a summer shawl/ wrap/ shrug would be perfect. And then I thought if I wore it to the wedding then I would have a deadline that I would have to meet in order to stay on task.
On my way home from the store I got a bit inspired on a pattern to create for this shawl and I knew I needed some help. See, the pattern is all in my head and requires some math and geometry, two subjects I am not too sure about.
But my friend Heather, she is a math whiz. She loves math and having math in real life to challenge her. After describing to her what I want (think Olympic rings, but many more) she was able to get my vision and turn into the evil math genius that she is.
Turns out the answer to my pattern is the Pythagorean theorem. And to figure out what A is, I need Damon to measure my back.
I just realized that I apparently deleted an entire entry from yesterday. I didn’t ever publish it, didn’t save it in draft, but I know I wrote it.
It was all about Fuller and his lack of an indoor voice. He loves to hear himself talk, sing, yell, vocalize, and just make noise. Normally, it doesn’t bother me. But I have had to start cracking down on this behavior because there are places it bothers me.
Church is the first place. We had a really bad time in church in Sunday because Fuller just would not be quiet. And then there is the car where I can be driving along and suddenly a very loud “Haaaaah!” will make me jump.
I repeated the phrase “indoor voice” a lot yesterday and so far I seem to be doing it even more today, which is not what I wanted to do. But I know that like other things, this will click and suddenly he will be able to control his volume.
Or else the next kid better come with a mute button.
Maybe I could escape to Vegas hotels to get some quiet. But then again, Vegas isn’t very quiet either.
Being away these past two weeks has given me a glimpse into what television could be like if we actually had expanded cable- not much different.
In the evenings, after Fuller was in bed, I would sit in Mom’s basement and flip through the 100+ channels. At the lake, I would sit in my room and flip through the 90 channels. I love the HGTV, the TLC, and Bravo, but really most of my viewing was done on channels that I have at home.
I have been thinking more about my self portrait these days. I don’t want to just show my pretty mug, I want you to see me in a particular moment.
In this shot I wanted to show my cute kid and fun sister during one of the funnest days I have had in a long time. I think I could talk about the Columbus Zoo all day long. And seeing Fuller having so much fun was the icing on the cake.
Now Fuller and I are home, having had a wonderful day of rest. We all had lunch at Warner Park where Fuller got to run wild on the playground. And as part of our day of rest, we all took naps. If a Sunday goes by that I don’t get a nap, I get a bit cranky.
Starting tomorrow, I will be kicking into gear our routine, trying to put away all the clothes and restock the fridge. But right now, I want to remember the really good time I had these past two weeks. Traveling was fun, and now I love being home.
Don’t forget that anyone can participate in Self Portrait Sunday! Just upload a self portrait picture to your blog. You don’t even have to add words. Then go to DigiCass and leave a link to your entry. Cass rocks, and this project has really inspired me. It can inspire you too!
So back on March 15th, we decided to signup for the Blockbuster Online program. Basically, for $17.99/ month (after tax) we get to have 3 movies rented at one time. It’s basically just like netflix except that instead of mailing the DVD back yourself, you also have the option of taking the movie to the store and letting them mail it for you. As a way of saying thanks for letting them do more work for you, the local store then gives you a free immediate rental of any movie in the store (not limited to non-new-releases). The obvious way for this system to work (from the customer’s perspective) is to watch movies as fast as you can.
Recently, Alli’s been expressing her displeasure over how when a new movie arrives, there’s (at least on my part) a “drop-everything-and-watch-that-movie-right-now” mentality developing in our home (over the past 21 days, we’ve received 15 online movies and rented an additional 15 movies in-store).
Well, Blockbuster has sweetened the deal (literally).
You know how they always (at least, they’re supposed to) ask you if you want to purchase some snacks with rental? I’ve never said, “yes”… until today. Today I joined the “Snack Deal” program. For a mere $6.53/ month (after tax) I get a free snack worth $1.99 or less every time I rent a movie. HERE’S THE BEST PART: that free immediate in-store rental I just mentioned qualifies for the Snack Deal.
That means, at our current rate of 30 movies a/month (actually, we’ve been watching movies at a rate of 40/ month, but 30 is a good bench-mark), we’ll be able to get 15 two-liters of Coke. This means that each movie rental would cost $0.60/ movie and each two-liter would cost $0.44.
I have been thinking more about my self portrait these days. I don’t want to just show my pretty mug, I want you to see me in a particular moment.
