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.

Get it? Ok take a look at this:

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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.

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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.

To be continued…