From Tracie

Update!!

2007-05-21T15:07:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the comments and checking in on my life! I finally figured out how to delete the crazy anonymous comment on that last post.

Right now Katarina and I are still in Arizona visiting my family. (I'm borrowing my cousin's computer right now to check in) The wedding was beautiful and she was just the cutest flower girl ever!! Since the wedding there has been a ton of family events that we have been able to attend which has been great and also Katarina has gotten to spend lots of time with her cousins, playing, and with her Nana, being spoiled!!

We will probably be returning to Florida in the next couple of weeks. There are still no definite decisions about a new job for my husband or if we will be moving to Arizona for sure or not. It is a little frustrating not knowing what is in our definite future, but I know that God has a plan for us and that we will be fine.

Until the next update, here is some pics for you:

Missing

2007-03-10T19:33:00.000-06:00

I doubt, seriously that anyone is lurking around here wondering where I have been since November....but just in case, here is the update of my world.

Job Changes: my husband had some major job changes, which made moving necessary since our housing was part of his previous employment. There was about a three month long period of time where our life was completely up in the air as to what was going to happen with his job situation--very high stress. But in November we found out that we would definitely need to be moving on.

That leads to Living Changes: We now live......in a motel. No kidding! As of a couple of weeks ago all of our stuff is in storage and we are staying in a motel. It might sound a little crazy (and some days it feels more than a little crazy) but right now we are in major transition....in about a week (hopefully) we will be going to a different city for a short-term job. We will stay there until we have to be in Arizona in mid-April for a wedding. At that time we will be making some more permanant life decisions.........Moving to Arizona might be in our future, but nothing is definite at this point. Basically the wedding will be a reason for us to make the trip out there and look into housing and job situations and see if it will be a feasible place to move or if we need to look into other places.

I haven't had any regular computer access since November, so that (and my personal stress level all this time) is why I have been missing for all this time. I really do miss the blogosphere. Hopefully in the next couple of months life will become normal again and I can be back to regular blogging and email interaction. (I am accepting all offers of free laptops to make my return sooner!!)

So, just in case anyone comes wondering by and wonders whatever happened to me.....there it is. I will be back........one day soon.

What Can You Say??

2006-11-01T00:51:00.000-06:00

I have a cousin........I have several cousins, and I wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but there is one who has always been my favorite. We live on opposit sides of the country and only get to see each other once a year. We don't talk much in between visits--but we know that we love each other.

So tonight my mom calls me and says that my favorite cousin had a mamogram with a spot on it so they had her come back and do another one-same spot. It isn't a lump that you can see or feel-just a cluster of cells. Yesterday she met with the surgeon that is going to do the biopsy-he said that on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being definately the C-word, she is a 4 right now. Then he explained to her what the next year is going to look like with chemo and the masectomy and the reconstructive surgery. Already he tells her all this. They don't even know for sure if it is something (but I guess he is feeling pretty sure).

The biopsy is next week and she will have results the day after. please pray for her, and for her husband and four children. Understandably, no one is taking this well.

And here is my selfish dilemma. What do I say to this cousin who I love so much but talk with so infrequently. My mom said that the whole family had been freaking out and crying and my cousin has been the strong one going around comforting everyone....I don't want her to feel responsible for making me feel allright about what is happening. I want to make her feel allright, but what do you say to someone in this position. The coward part of me just wants to pretend that I don't know and not contact her at all (isn't that horrible) but I know that I should, and I know that I am going to........I just don't know what I'm going to say.

Casting Call

2006-11-01T00:42:00.000-06:00

It is that time of the month again........no, not that time!! Casting Call time over at Wendy's Whimsies! Are you looking for some great new blogs to read? You might just find some at the casting call--are you looking to have wonderful poeple comment on your incredible writing? You will definately find that at the casting call.

So go give Wendy a visit. You never know who is going to make it onto her blogroll (but I am hoping that this month it will be me!!)

Shout Out!!

2006-10-30T17:36:00.000-06:00

This is a shout out to J-Dawg, who found the coolest video for me................*hint-Richard Belzer as a puppet on Sesame Street. You have got to see it!

Sex Offenders Belong in Jail...Not Skiing in Canada!

2006-10-29T00:46:00.000-05:00

I found out about this article on Joe's Blog........

OTTAWA (Reuters) - An American sex offender who was sentenced by a U.S. judge to three years "exile" in Canada was arrested by Canadian border guards on Thursday and faces deportation, the government said.

Federal ministers and legislators had expressed deep unhappiness after a New York state judge allowed former teacher Malcolm Watson -- convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old girl -- to live in Canada on probation rather than spending time in a U.S. jail.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said the government had officially requested that Watson be deemed inadmissible to Canada because of his conviction. Immigration officials will start examining the case at a hearing on Friday.

"We don't want to see Canada become a haven for pedophiles or any other person committing serious crime," Day told reporters.

"We don't want U.S. courts getting the notion that we just take people here that
they would have put in jail but they instead send to Canada."

U.S. authorities say Watson's relationship with the 15-year-old was consensual. The
age of consent in Canada is 14 but it rises to 18 if the sex takes place within a relationship of trust or dependency, such as between a teacher and student.

Watson, a U.S. citizen, lives in southern Ontario near the U.S. border with his wife and children. He had commuted to work at a girls' school in nearby Buffalo, New York.

The U.S. judge ruled that Watson could return to the United States only to report to his parole officer.

Even with Canada's ridiculously low age of consent, the fact that Watson was the girl's teacher would make his actions a crime even in Canada. How ridiculous that a judge thinks that we can just send our criminals to live freely in another country.

I can't even understand what the reason would be for this sentencing. It isn't as if the man cheated the IRS. Cheating the IRS is a crime, and it is wrong, but honestly if I was given the choice between having a "tax offender" living freely next door to me or a sex offender living freely next door to me, is it any secret which one I would pick. -In case someone with the IQ of a certain New York judge is reading, I will spell it out plainly for you.........I pick the tax offender. I pick the tax offender and I bring him a plate of brownies.

Malcolm Watson didn't cheat the government (that is the sort of thing that maybe you could consider a sentence of exile for).......he had sex with ~and let me be honest here, that means he raped~a fifteen year old girl. A girl who he was in a position of authority over.

Fall Back!

2006-10-28T16:21:00.000-05:00

This is your friendly reminder that your clocks need to "fall back" tonight if you are in an area that observes daylight savings time. If you aren't in one of those areas, I am sorry that you will miss out on that once a year extra hour of sleep. It is always great to be able to sleep in and still make it to church on time!

A Few Random Things...

2006-10-27T21:27:00.000-05:00

Tonight we watched The Lake House. I wasn't expecting much of a movie, but I was pleasently suprised at how much I liked it. I don't want to give anything away just in case there is anyone else who hasn't seen it and is going to watch it. I would recomend it if you are in the mood for a fluffy chick flick. It's a good one.

Tonight, when Katarina (who's three years old) didn't feel like putting up her play dough, she offered me this deal, "Mommy, if you put my play dough away for me, I will cook the tacos for dinner!" If only she was a little older, I could have taken her up on that.

[start overly fanatic television fan rant] On a Gilmore Girls note....this has been driving me crazy for about three weeks now, and it turns out I am right:
"Sherilyn Fenn played Sasha, the girlfriend of Jess's father, Jimmy (Rob Estes), in the 2003 episode "Here Comes the Son," which was largely set in California and was a backdoor pilot for a Jess-centric series (Windward Circle) that was not picked up. Beginning in 2006, Fenn played Anna Nardini, Luke's ex-girlfriend and mother of his daughter, April (Vanessa Marano)." (thanks Wikipedia)

I knew this was the same woman. Now, if you think about it, in that episode with Jess she had this daughter with brown hair and glasses that liked to hide in cabinets and under chairs and read books. Now every time I see April on the show I wonder if she misses California and how many times has she scared Lane at the dinner by sitting in the freezer and doing her homework.[end overly fanatic television fan rant]

What are you reading??

2006-10-27T15:28:00.000-05:00

This looked like fun. I saw it over at Pathological Indecisiveness.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions:
-Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick whatever book is closest to you right now!

So, here it goes:
Disordered Minds by Minette Walters
"Part of Kiszko's statement was a false admission that he had exposed himself some weeks earlier to two teenage girls who had named and identified him. Sixteen years later, when Kiszko was released by the Court of Appeal, these two girls, now grown women, admitted they had invented the story after seeing a taxi driver urinating behind a bush. More criminally, police withheld semen evidence at the trial which they knew would exculpate Kiszko."

This is the part where I am supposed to tag people.....so if you want to play along, consider yourself tagged! Let me know if you play and I will come visit!

Stop Online Sexual Abuse of Children!!

2006-10-26T18:36:00.000-05:00

The innocent victims of Internet child abuse cannot speak for themselves. But you can. With your help, we can eradicate this evil trade.

We do not need your money.

We need you to light a candle of support.

We're aiming to light at least One Million Candles by December 31, 2006.

This petition will be used to encourage governments, politicians, financial institutions, payment organisations, Internet service providers, technology companies and law enforcement agencies to eradicate the commercial viability of online child abuse.They have the power to work together. You have the power to get them to take action.

Please light your candle, it only takes a couple of minutes to sign this petition. Together, we can destroy the commercial viability of Internet child abuse sites that are destroying the lives of innocent children.

Thursday Thirteen #9

2006-10-25T12:20:00.000-05:00

Thirteen Things about Tracie

1. We went to the fair last night!! Katarina had so much fun-she rode every ride that they would let her on, even the little roller coasters. I was very proud of her. I will try to post some pictures this weekend.

2. Since we were at the fair, I missed Gilmore Girls and Law & Order SVU.......anyone have a quick recap??

3. Yes, I ate the Chillie Cheese Fries and the Funnel Cakes and the Fried Pickles. Yum.

4. Have you seen this Blingo button in my sidebar?? All you have to do is click on it and sign up.
Then you just use blingo whenever you are going to do a google search. You get the same search results you would be looking for anyway....and you just might win a prize (like $1,000, or movie tickets, or a plasma screen tv, or a car). You are going to google search anyway, so you might as well do it at Blingo where you could win something! And to be honest, if you sign up under me and win something, I win it to, so.....please!!!

5. Have you seen the commercials for that new show on abc, Day Break? Is it just me, or does Groundhog Day-comedy=Day Break ?

6. Mrs. Chicky has a Love Fest going on at her blog and you have until November 3rd to get in on it, so go check it out! She promises if you are particularly afraid of "love" you can just tell someone, "gee, I think that I really like you".

7. A special message to my local PBS station--no, Barney is not just as good as Mr. Rogers and randomly playing Barney during the Mr. Rogers time slot is not only unacceptable, it affects my entire day. I know that I already called you and complained (you will remember me as the woman with the loud three year old in the background shouting "no purple dinosaur-just Mr. Rogers!") but this is just a further reminder that if you do this to me again tomorrow, I will have to bring her to your station to let her complain to you in person!......and yes, that is a threat!!

8. In keeping with Mrs. Chicky's Love Fest, I have to direct you to go visit Hello Insomnia: The Devil Wears Target. I found her this week and have been feeling that "gee, I think that I really like you" feeling ever since.

9. Katarina just walked in the room and asked me what I am doing. I told her that I need to make a list of thirteen things, and asked her if she had a suggestion for one of my things. She said, "Yes, you need to tell say 25." So............25!

10. After spending six hours at the fair last night do I even need to say how sore my feet and back are?

11. There is this little girl at church that Katarina just loves. Let's give her the pretend name Sea. Sea is a few years older than Katarina and kind of spoiled and snobby. Sometimes she is super sweet to Katarina and plays with her and asks to come to our house.....but sometimes she is just not interested in Katarina at all. Like the other night when we ran into her and her family somewhere and Katarina ran up to her all excited to see her and Sea barely even looked at her and wouldn't talk to her. I just wanted to slap the kid!! The pattern seems to be that when no one else is around Sea will be her friend, but if we are in a public spot or around other kids, then she doesn't want anything to do with her. Thomas and I were talking to Katarina about it afterward and she said, "Sometimes when I see Sea, she won't talk to me and it hurts my feelings" I hate that at three years old she is already experiencing getting her feelings hurt like that.

12. I haven't watched soap operas in years, I did watch them when I was a kid. My mom was a big General Hospital-Luke and Laura fan. They left the show for years, and then when I was a kid they brought them back. My mom started taping the show and watching it again after that. Eventually I guess Laura left or got killed or in a coma or some other soap operaish means of eliminating a character. But all this week I have been seeing the commercials:
"This Thursday Genie Francis (Laura Spencer) returns to General Hospital".........It almost makes me want to watch, but I am going to be strong and resist the temptation. Now my mom on the other hand, she might just be pulling out the old VCR again!

13. Is it just me, or does Milena Govich the new female detective on Law and Order look suprisingly like Christy Romano from that old Disney show Even Stevens?

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

A New Love

2006-10-24T00:36:00.000-05:00

I have a new love in my life........

Boiled Peanuts

2006-10-22T22:08:00.000-05:00

My mom moved to Arizona about five years ago. There are lots of things that she doesn't miss about Florida (like the humidity!) But one thing that she does miss is the boiled peanuts; becuase in Arizona they don't even know that you can boil a peanut.

Well, mom came to visit us and on the day she was leaving, we passed a boiled peanut stand on the way to the airport. She decided to buy a couple of bags to take back home with her. When mom got home, she decided to be nice and share her boiled peanuts with her friend, Don. This was a big sacrifice for someone who hadn't had any boiled peanuts in years, but she just knew that he would love them, and it was so sad that he had never even heard of them. She had to share.

Mom took a bag to his house. They were on the way to somewhere, so he put them in the refrigerator. She told him to just heat them up a little and they would be ready to eat. A couple of days later she was talking to him on the phone and asked him how he liked the boiled peanuts. He said something like "They were really interesting. Good." She was kind of disappointed that he wasn't more excited, so she tried to talk more about them, but he just changed the subject. She brought it up a few other times in the next few weeks, but he didn't have too much to say about the boiled peanuts. She dropped it.

~~~~~~Fast Forward a Few Months~~~~~~

Imagine with me. Mom and Don are at a dinner party. They are sitting near to each other, but are conversing with different people. Suddenly she overhears part of his conversation and can't help but react.

Don - speaking to random party guest: "She left these peanuts in my refrigerator...... They were boiled! Can you even imagine that........I kept putting off trying them...........rancid..........salty.........shells."

Mom realizes that she he is talking about her special boiled peanuts. The ones that she brought all the way across the country and was nice enough to share with him.

Immediately she interupted his conversation and started demanding answers.

This is the story he told her: He was't too sure about the idea of boiling peanuts, but when he got to his house, he got them out of the refrigerator and was going to give them a chance. He pulled one out of the bag noticed that the shell was kind of soft (becuase it had been boiled in water!! duh!) and decided that he just couldn't face trying them that night. He put the bag back in the fridge and planned on trying them the next day. But them he sort of ignored the bag. When she asked him about them he didn't want to hurt her feelings so he tried to act like he had eaten them. She kept asking, so about three weeks later he pulled the bag out again. They smelled a little rancid, but he figured that was just how boiled peanuts smelled, so he grabbed one and popped it into his mouth.

[for this next part I will quote him directly]

Don: "It was so gross, the shell was soft, but it was still kind of crunchy, and the nut part was soft and cold and slimy. And it really did taste kind of rancid"

Mom: "What do you mean cold....didn't you heat them up?"

Don: "No, was I supposed to?"

Mom: "Yes, I distinctly told you to heat them up, and-wait a minute! Did you say the shell was crunchy? Did you eat the shell!?!"

Don: "Well, yeah, it seemed kinda wierd, but so does the whole idea of boiling a peanut. Wasn't I supposed to eat the shell? You should have told me not to."

Mom: "Of course you don't eat the shell. When would you ever eat a peanut shell? I had no idea that you would need to be told not to eat a peanut shell."

Don: "Well, you boiled it in the shell. I mean, the shell was cooked, so I just figured that was part of the deal. But even without the shell, they still had a rancid taste. They just weren't very good."

Mom: "That is because you let them sit for three weeks before trying them. They probably were rancid you lunatic!........"

I will let you imagine the rest of the conversation. Eventually other people got involved and took sides -those who had eaten boiled peanuts (all of whom, except Don, loved them) and those who had never tried them. My mother vowed never to share boiled peanuts with him again, but instead to share with someone who would appreciate her sacrifice. Let this be a lesson to you-when you bring special food all the way across the country, no one will appreciate it like you do. And if someone decides to be nice to you and share their boiled peanuts; don't wait three weeks to eat them, and definately don't eat the shells!

Thursday Thirteen #8

2006-10-18T21:55:00.000-05:00

Thirteen Things about Tracie

1. Since it always says "thirteen things about Tracie", I thought that this week I would try to be overly literal and tell you at least a few things about "Tracie"-the name.

2.Think Baby Names says that "Tracie" means "warlike".

3.The New Parents Guide says that Tracie means "Brave; happy and content".

4. Several places say that Tracie (or Tracy) comes from the name Theresa. But this person disagrees.

5. When I took Spanish in high school, we all had to use a Spanish form of our names and my teacher made me go by Theresa.

6. In 1940, Katherine Hepburn was in the movie "Philadelphia Story" playing a character named "Tracy Lord". Apparently that really helped the name out, becuase between 1940 and 1950, the popularity of Tracy for a girl's name really went up. That trend continued until 1970. After 1970, the name lost popularity, and it has been going down ever since.

7. I have never had anyone even accidently spell my name correctly. They always want to use a "y" on the end or an "ey".

8. That is basically all that I have to say about Tracie........besides that whole spelling issue I have always liked my name. Here is a spot where you can read about some names that no one wants to have.

9. Now onto things totally unrelated to my name. My husband has a sort of strange issue with computers. He likes to play with all of the settings. He will go in and mess with the colors of things (not nessecarilly knowing what he is changing) and suddenly you won't be able to read the menus becuase he picked out non-compatable colors. It has been a while since he has done this, but I am always scared he will. Yesterday he said something about having changed stuff on the computer, but when I tried to ask him what the meant he changed the subject.

10. Today, I found out what he meant. All of the sudden, my cursor isn't black anymore, it is red. And when I highlight text, it turns yellow and the highlight is red. But worse than that-there is some strange font setting. It doesn't affect everything, but over half of the web sites that I have been to tonight suddenly have the same wierd, fancy font (it is the same strange font that he likes to use when he types stuff in word). For instance, when I was at IMDb earlier, all of the movie descriptions were written in thise strange font. I didn't realize it right away, but after I kept finding the same wierd font place after place it all came back to me. I remembered him doing this to me before. Now, it is driving me crazy!

11. The Fair came to town today!! I think we are going to go next week and I am very excited. It is always a great excuse to eat lots of Chilli Cheese Fries and Corn Dogs and Cotton Candy and Funnel Cakes and other great tasting (but very bad for you) food.

12. Katarina is excited to go ride on the rides and see all of the animals.

13. ........hmmm.......number thirteen is always the hardest to think of.............so I will leave you with a verse. Hebrews 12:29 "For our God is a consuming fire". Have a great Thursday!

Bob Ross and the Rabbits!!

2006-10-16T21:25:00.000-05:00

Since I have already confessed my love of PBS, I feel that I can say this without shame. Monday is "Bob Ross Day" at my house. All three of us love it. Especially Katarina, she always asks if he is going to show pictures of his squirrel (who she immediately names Poncho or Lefty after these baby squirrels that we had taken care of for a while last year until they got old enough to live by themselves...wow, saying that made me feel very Bob Ross-like).

So, of course we were watching Bob today and he did this cool picture ("Snow Birch") and he even showed a short video of this baby owl that he had. Katarina thought it was great.

Then, he did what he always does while painting-he started to imagine the world he was making. It started out with the birch trees, he explained that one of them was growing kind of sideways because when it was a baby, a bear knocked it over. Katarina immediately says, "Is the bear going to be white? Where is the bear?". I finally convinced her that he wasn't actually going to paint the bear, and she just had to imagine it. And then I reminded her how cool the owl was. She was satisfied.

Then, a few minutes later he was painting the snow and said, "Right here is where some little baby rabbits live in a little hole, and they peek their heads out and look at the world" Katarina says "What color are the rabbits going to be mommy? I think they will be brown and white. What do you think? ............ Where are the rabbits?" And then I convinced her that he wasn't actually going to paint any rabbits. "But mommy," she said, "there are rabbits there. I think there are two rabbits, one, two. Two rabbits. And I think they are actually brown. Don't you think they should be brown? I think he is going to paint them now...........now.........[Bob says good-bye and the credits start]........Is it over? It can't be over!"

And then after the credits finished, I asked her how she liked the picture. She said, "I liked the bear, but I liked the rabbits best, they were cute even if he didn't paint them" I guess just watching other people paint can inspire creativity.

The "meme"anings of words

2006-10-15T00:13:00.000-05:00

I got this from Blond Girl, who got it from Geekwif, who got it from someone else, who got it from someone else, etc. This is a word meaning meme where I write what Blond Girl's words mean to me, and then come up with a new set of words that you can define (fun, right?) So, here we go!

Sunrise-"Sunrise....I'm gonna praise His Name. Sunset.....I'm gonna praise His Name"-it's a song, the first thing that came into my mind when I read this word, and now it is stuck in my head. Thanks Blond Girl!

Harmony-When everything is lined up just perfect with a nice sense of peace.

Affliction-Nothing exciting immediately came to mind, so I thought I would google search the word to get a little inspiration......and I saw that you can buy affliction on Ebay. Actually what comes up is mostly lots of clothes. Which makes sense, because I do have a clothes buying affliction.

Avocado-Yum!! Avocados are always great! And since we are here talking about them let me tell you a story. My husband and I have this little debate going on that started back before we were married. California or Florida. I say that California avocados are better, but he is determined that the ones from Florida are. What do you think?

Now it's your turn.....if you want. Leave me a comment if you play so that I can come see yours. Here are your words:

Bear
Purple
Light
Tomato

Thursday Thirteen #7

2006-10-11T21:27:00.000-05:00

Thirteen Things about Tracie

1. Have you seen the annoying commercial for "Head On"? The one where they basically just say "Head On-apply it directly to the forehead" about seventeen times. Well, yesterday I saw their new commercial where some guy pops up and complains at how annoying their commercial is, but how happy he is that the product works. All I have to say to them is this-the new commercial that is just the old one with some complaining added is even more annoying than the first one. Hire some better advertisers people!

2. Ahhhhhh Fall is in the air. And Halloween is quickly approaching. With the approach of Halloween comes a very important issue.....what huge, fun, and hopefully on sale bag of candy should I buy multiple packages of? Because even though I don't actually celebrate the holiday, there is no way that I can pass up on buying the candy! Especially those big bags with the different color tootsie rolls-those are the best!

3. Are you in the mood for some laughter? Mommy Off the Record and Izzy have the winners of the September ROFL Awards posted. Go check them out!

4. Last week a pen mysteriously appeared on my desk. No one knows were it came from or how it got there.....but you can't miss it, becuase it is the biggest pen in the history of the world! I keep trying to use it(becuase after all, it is purple and writes in blue ink which are wonderful qualities for a pen to have), but it is the akwardest pen to write with. So, in keeping with my photos of random things around my house, here is the big pen with a normal one beside it..........Can you believe this thing!?!

5. Today we went to McDonald's and let Katarina get a happy meal. They have been giving out little Polly Pocket dolls which are pretty cute and fully clothed. Today, they gave her this doll that kind of looked similar to a Polly Pocket, until you realized that it was wearing a tube top and low cut jeans. Needless to say we exchanged it for the baby toy (which was a cute Hello Kitty figurine that was actually wearing clothes) because my three year old does not need dolls that are wearing clothes she will not be allowed to wear! What are these people thinking?

6. Did anyone watch Law and Order SVU last night? I was impressed at how well Jerry Lewis did. But it was hard to love the episode due to the new blonde chick--she has to go. And it isn't just my love for Mariska Hargitay talking here-this lady is crazy. She just doesn't know what she is doing and it is driving me crazy watching her.

7. Here is some fun "googlies"............. someone found my blog with this search "is there a place like heaven are there pictures of it"--Well, yes there is a place, it's called heaven, and it is described in the Bible. Also this, "button pusher game"--I have no idea what that is, but I do tend to push my husband's buttons when I ask him to tell me exactly what was said in a conversation. He can't ever remember and it drives him crazy, but I wouldn't suggest it as a game. And finally, "When to tell someone I have been in prision"--I don't know how this got them here, but I am wondering if I should be worried about this person thinking my blog is the place to get that advice.

8. Katarina is very into time these days. She asks me at least 20 times a day "what time is it?" and she is trying to learn how to use a watch. I think she still has a little way to go, though. She took a nap today and after a couple of hours I heard her talking in her room and went in there to get her. I asked her how long she had been awake and she answered, "Not too long, about 45 hours"

9. I have a strange problem....buying curtains. I didn't grow up in a curtain house-we always had blinds and maybe a valance-bu never curtains. My husband is a curtain person, and I think that I want to be one, but whenever I try to go curtain shopping, I just can't seem to pick out any. It is like there is some curtain buying/decorating block in my brain that prohibits me from being able to choose curtains, I can't decide how colorful, or how long, or how thick to get them and so I end up going home without any. And then there is those curtain-scarfy-things that drape over the top of curtains, they look pretty at other people's houses, but I never know how they go on the curtains right and what color to get. And where we live the living room walls are kind of a dark yellow-the color is growing on me, but what color curtains goes with yellow walls? Anyone out there want to pick out some curtians for me?

10. This is a test to see if my mom actually reads my blog like she says she does. Hey mom--call me! I love you!

11. You know what is great about fall? Starbucks sells the pumpkin spice lattes and frappuccinos as well as other great seasonal, wintery flavors. Yum!

12. You know what would go good with the pumpkin spice latte--one of those big boxes of Godiva chocolates that they have at Barnes & Noble...........okay, I think I know one place that I will be visiting tomorrow!

13. Number thirteen is always the hardest to come up with, so I will leave you with this announcement: right now, my hair is in a pony tail. I knew you needed to know that. Happy Thursday everyone!

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Play Dough Can Make You Feel Better!

2006-10-09T21:18:00.000-05:00

We woke up this morning and Katarina was sick, so we spent most of the day doing this:
She was pretty miserable all day and didn't really keep much down. I finally convinced her that sometimes toast makes you feel better and so she ate a little bit of that. She layed in bed for a while and rested this afternoon and around five o'clock she was a little perkier than she had been and I told her to try to eat and drink a little becuase it would help her feel better. By this point we had been telling her all day long to do this or that becuase it would help her to feel better.

I think that idea caught on, becuase a little later she came up to me and said "Mommy, may I please play with the play dough. I think that playing with play dough can always make people feel better when they are sick." Of course there is no arguing with that, so I not only let her play with the play dough, but I also let her mix the colors up becuase when you don't feel good it is okay to bend a few not-so-important rules (like the "keeping play dough colors seperated" rule that my husband thinks is crazy anyway). Here are some of her special play dough color-mix creations:

She still isn't 100% well yet, but I think that the bug or whatever it was is mostly out of her system and after a good nights sleep tonight she will be better in the morning.

Around My House

2006-10-08T22:24:00.000-05:00

These two pictures don't really have anything in common, except they are things that were in my living room this evening. The palm tree is off center (obviously) and usually that would drive me crazy, but for some reason it is working for me tonight.

Mermaids!

2006-10-08T00:13:00.000-05:00

Katarina has a new favorite movie! It is so exciting that I have already watched it twice with her and am still loving it........The Little Mermaid! I have been seeing the commercial for a couple of weeks and wanting it. Thomas bought it for me (I mean for Katarina-yeah, for Katarina, because she is the one who watches cartoons, not me!)

This was one of my favorite movies growing up. My parents taped it off the tv for me and I watched that tape at least every other weekend for years. It was back when Disney was a pay channel and every so often they would do those free preview weekends to make kids jealous of their friends who had it all the time. Does anyone remember that? My family would always spend part of the weekend at home watching the free Disney and taping shows. I remember my Little Mermaid had the phone number and info to call and subscribe taking up half the screen for about a third of the movie, and two or three times they did a comercial during the movie where you saw all of these operators (wearing mouse ears) talking to the people who were subscribing. But I still watched it over and over.

It is really nice to watch the movie now without all the interuptions. And to be able to turn on the subtitles, because when I was a kid it always drove me crazy that at the begining of the movie when Triton's daughters are doing the concert that Ariel didn't show up for, they all say their names and I never could understand what they were saying, and when I sang along with it I just had to kind of make up words that sounded close to what they were saying (hey, you know that you love to sing along with the songs in Disney movies just as much as I do!) but with the magic of subtitles now I know. Just thinking about it has that song going through my mind.

Goodbye!

2006-10-07T11:47:00.000-05:00

It is time to say goodbye to summer........becuase fall is finally here and the coldness is creeping in and soon it will be time to pull out the winter jackets and scarves and mittens. So here is a few great summer pictures to celebrate the end of the heat with.

Random!!

2006-09-22T22:16:00.000-05:00

I have been a crazy, lazy blogger recently (for the past 11 days or so to be exact!) Some of it was computer inaccessibility, and some of it was due to the situations surrounding my melancholy I posted about and "the project" (which I did do at least enough to get by....thanks for all the suggestions). And just to type a little more here without being able to actually say anything that will make sense to anyone but me, the project was pretty much done for nothing, and I may have to go through it all over again, and the melancholy is still here along with the sense of foreboding and the lack of knowledge about our immediate future and, let's just be honest, the stress and anxiety. Exciting, right??

On top of that I just haven't felt very inspired to write anything. So I thought that I would go look around at some of my regular reads (that I have neglected completely the last 11 days) and see if I could steal anything interesting from them. (yes, it has come to that) This prompts me to ask a question.....do you have a family whistle? We don't, and honestly, I have never been able to whistle loud enough for this to be overwhelmingly effective unless you are standing right next to me in the aisle - and that would just make the whistle needless anyway.

Love Bugs!! They are everywhere. When I open my front door it is like looking through a black haze......that is how many of them are flying around my house. And every time my daughter walks out the door we have to have the assuring conversation that they won't bite her. The other day one almost flew into my mouth. Ew! If you don't know what they are, here is a great explanation of them (because, like I said, today is a day for stealing other people's posts).

One thing that I haven't neglected doing is watching new tv!! Finally! I have been waiting for new tv for what seemed like forever.

In the spirit of unashamedly stealing other people's posts, I will refer you to Kailani for a wonderfully put together synopsis of Grey's Anatomy just in case you missed it, or you are one of ten people in America who isn't watching it yet. I have to admit.....I was a little disappointed-from all the previews I was expecting to have the panties on the bulletin board happen at the start instead of the end. The flashbacks were interesting and gave some incite, especially the one with McDreamy and Addison. The doc or the vet?? Still no answer. I think that it will pick back up next week and get back to it's usual groove.

Do you watch SVU? A very interesting season opener. Here is the info in case you missed it! I liked the return of "Star", it was very unexpected, and an interesting way to have Olivia gone (to be with the new baby I assume) for a while, but the show just isn't the same without Olivia and Elliot working together.

Here is a question....Does anyone watch 7th Heaven anymore? I watched it a long time ago with my mom, and then stopped. Last year was supposed to be the last year and so right there at the end I caught the last few episodes, there was just something nostalgic and important about having closure with the Camdens. Of course, as all shows, it had to have an outrageous ending-everyone is pregnant with twins. My first thought was, "wow, that will stink when they have to cast for a reunion show in ten years". All of the sudden though, the show isn't over anymore. When did this happen? I had been seeing the commercials talking about the new CW takeover and showing 7th Heaven, but I thought that it must just be reruns.....but now I realize that it will actually be new episodes. Will this show never end!?! All I can say is if you just recently had twins and you have show business aspirations for them, this will be a great time to get something set up with the CW, because they are going to need a lot of twins pretty soon. And I seem to be finding myself drawn to watching this show again......I can't explain why, but there is just something about it that draws you in and doesn't let go once it has a hold on you.

Okay, I am going to admit it here, publicly, for all to know. In the last couple of weeks, during commercial breaks, I have been watching Celebrity Duets. I can't help it. It just happens. Apparently it might be happening to Risible Girl too, because Marie Osmond is invading her dreams. Scary. As good of a reason as any to make this show go away, because honestly, I could have lived my entire life without seeing Cheech Martin sing, much less seeing Alfonso Ribeiro (who will always be "that short, annoying guy from Fresh Prince")

Okay, what is the consensus on Men In Trees, because I have to say that so far, I think I like it. I like Abraham Benrubi. I think this character is working well for him. Much better than his ER character. (Is he going to do both shows?) Which leads me to say that I did watch bits and pieces of ER Thursday, but found it really hard to get back into after it being off for so long......I had pretty much forgotten what was going on. They should have reaired the last episode from last year before the new one to get everyone caught back up......in fact, I found myself watching a lot more 6 Degrees than ER......... I think that I like 6 Degrees too. One strange thing, and it is probably just me, but when the Carlos' (Jay Hernandez) character talks, if I am not looking at the screen, something about the way he talks reminds me of George from Grey's Anatomy. Am I loosing my mind??

So there it is. What do you think you will be watching this season? Did I watch more tv in the last week than all of you combined, especially when you think about the fact that there is so much that I didn't type about?

I'm Obsessed!

2006-09-11T19:41:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's right, I'm ready to admit it........I'm obsessed with all things Goggle. I am going to share my two new google pastimes with you.

The first one is Google Trends. My husband discovered this one first. You can type in anything you want and find out the search trends for that word or phrase.....what is even better, you can type in two (or more) things and compare the trends. You will get to see the top cities searching for this, the top regions and languages. You wouldn't believe the time my husband and I spent playing with this........and don't even start thinking we don't have a life until you check it out, it is one of the most entertaining time wasters that I have seen recently.
Until.........
I found the second thing, the Google Image Labeler. You get randomly paired with someone else who is online wasting time. You will both see the same image and give it as many labels as you want in 90 seconds. The goal is for you and your partner to match a label.......if you do you will get points and a new image to label. (See, this isn't just fun, but it is competitive-gotta love the competition!) It is supposed to help improve the quality of searches for images, but I think it is really all about the challenge, getting the points, and some quality time wasting. Becuase who doesn't love that!

If you are looking for something to do that isn't a time waster, you can click on the thumbnail on the right and visit my roomies' The Lost Girls to find out how their trip to Peru went.

Melancholy

2006-09-09T00:31:00.000-05:00

What good is a blog is you don't get to complain every once in a while, right? Melancholy. That is the word for today. Too much stuff going on. Too many unknowns. Too much other stuff. There are all these decisions running around in my head-some of which don't even need to be made for a whole year, but I think they are plaguing me becuase the ones that might need to be made soon are even further from being made than the future ones at this point. For a week now I have been staring at a project, knowing that it needs to be done by next week, but feeling overwhelmed by it, and depressed by it, and imposed upon by it.....and it is just a stupid project (one that I am even ashamed to admit what it is becuase you would all shake your heads and say "just get up and do it. that's not a big deal at all") projects shouldn't be able to have this effect on you. But it is more what the project represents for me that is bothering me (it doens't matter that I should have to do the project if the thing it represents was happening or not, my logical side just isn't working well this week, okay!) I am avoiding sleeping at night...and feeling tired all day (and that doesn't help me be more motivated to get up and do the project, now does it?) And really whatever happens is going to happen, so I really need to just give myself a good talking to and get up and do what needs to be done and stop thinking about it, overanalyzing it. (easy to say, not quite as easy to do).

Do you have any projects staring at you right now?

The Lost Girls gave themselves a project-to interview each other about Peru. You can find out what clothing item has been the most useful, what each girls biggest meltdown has been. Jen's biggest gross out moment has been people picking their noses, but trust me, that was tame compared to the other two. Just click on the thumbnail over to the right to get the whole scoop.

Thursday Thirteen #6

2006-09-06T23:41:00.000-05:00

**Please check out my roomie's for the week-The Lost Girls. Just click on that thumbnail to the right. You won't be disappointed!**
Thirteen Things I Like About Myself
1. I like the fact that I have never once plucked my eyebrows, but they are still cute.

2. I like that I am a good wife and mother. (that was hard to type--it sometimes feels like it is wrong to say that, like you are being conceited, but when I see my daughter exhibit some of my good qualities, or be kind to another child or try to figure out how to tell time, I feel good about the job I am doing-sure, I make mistakes, but I am still a good mom.)

3. I like my eclectic taste in movies and books.....I like that I am a reader. I am one of those people who will sit down and read a whole book in a day.

4. I like that I let my experiences-good and bad-teach me to be a better person. I like the fact that I have come to the point in life where I can look back on the sexual abuse in my childhood and no longer view myself as a victim, but as a survivor.

5. I like that I am opinionated and I try to do something with those opinions that will make changes. I regularly write letters to my governor and all of my other elected officials. I try not to let myself complain about something unless I am willing to try to do something about it. I don't gloss over the hard subjects, I stand up for what is right. I vote.

6. I like my feet, and I think they are kind of cool. I can move my toes sideways-I can "ball my toes up like a fist"-and I can pick stuff up with them. (anyone got a banana?)

7. I like that I am a good conversationalist and a great listener.

8. I like that I'm able to let other people be themselves. I have some really great friends and I have learned to be a good friend back to them even when we are completely different.

9. I like my photography. I take good pictures.

10. I like my hair.

11. I like that I am becoming artsy-for most of my life I was very critical of myself when I would try to create something or draw a picture, but I am starting to be more open to part of me and find myself drawing and creating and actually liking it. I am great at coloring!

12. I like that I have a good memory....I'm like an elephant-I never forget. It amazes my husband how I can tell you about conversation exactly word for word.

13. I like that I can fix things. When there is something that needs to be fixed around the house, I just do it. My husband will come home and I will tell him about it and that I fixed it and he will say "You fixed that!?!" or "How did you do that?!" (especially if it is a "guy thing") If I want the furniture rearranged, I just do it myself. I don't cook or clean, but I do fix stuff.

There is one more thing that isn't what you would call something I like about myself, but it is very important part of who I am and I just couldn't leave it out is that I am a born again Christian, a follower of Jesus. Lauren wrote a post this week that I had intended to link to and talk about before I knew that there was a challenge, but it was so great that I still have to point you too it -here- It really made me think.

Happy Thursday!
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