One Year Later...

In some ways this has been a busy year, but in most ways it hasn't. I'm not the kind of person who feels obligated to be busy, so I try to avoid it where possible. My kids keep getting older, though, so obligations keep creeping up on me. In the interest of keeping myself idle, we've decided to add another one to the bunch, but for variety's sake we've opted for a boy this time. 

Ada has been potty training for a while now. It has not gone as smoothly as it did with Izzy, but that may be because we introduced it months earlier, hoping to be finished before a new baby comes. Yesterday Ada looked at me and said, "Poopies," and then did a waddle-of-shame to the bathroom. We've still got time to get this all worked out.

"Let me explain. No, there is too much; let me sum up."

My Ada-baby is a year old and has three teeth. Today she said "Bop!" and poked me in the nose.

Izzy started preschool and wears a ginormous blue and orange shark backpack. She can also ride a pedal bike sans training wheels and read simple sentences. Basically she's a person now. Whaaaaat....

I have gotten better at the sewing machining! I have nearly finished my first quilt (just waiting on the binding) and I whipped out some odd little stuffed animals. Few of the things I do turn out well, but they do turn out, so I'ma keep trying.

That book I wrote a while back is now for sale and that is super awesome and also somewhat anticlimactic. I would like to buy loads of my own book and then just throw it at people until everyone has read it, but that seems less than feasible.

Life is sehr gut! Matt is handsome and I look good in my new glasses. Did I mention that I got glasses? I totally did and I wear them sometimes. I am a sexy beast.

New post, new baby

Wow, it's been ages, right? It's been so long since I last blogged that they changed the whole posting format and everything looks weird now.  I'll figure it out, though, and if I don't then this won't post and no one will ever know of my incompetence.  Except for my husband; I tell him everything and then he tells me he loves me.

The biggest difference in my life between now and then (then being the last time I bothered to write anything here) is the Ada lady.  She is our two month old bundle of baby and sometimes she has jowls.  Yay!  The short format of her birthing story goes like this:  They decided to induce me two weeks early due to some potential problems that never surfaced, labor went quickly but hurt a lot since I went natural, and Ada was born wearing the cord like a pink bandolier and crying.  The longer version includes things like I forgot to eat lunch before arriving at the hospital, so I was super hungry for most of labor.  When I stopped being upset that they wouldn't bring me a sandwich that's when I knew things were getting serious.  It's hard to be hungry while in enormous pain.

Life is good for us.  Ada is a sweet girl, Izzy is a good big sister, and I am figuring out how to do crafty and kitcheny things, like making bread and bows.  Maybe I will try and combine the two, and make a bow out of bread?  It would probably be delicious.

Globe trotting

It is possible that I am a terrible tourist.  It is not that I am impolite or do not wish to spend money, but more that I don't really care if I see anything or not.  Mostly I am concerned about food.  We spent the weekend in Paris and the only thing we saw was Notre Dame.  It was pretty neat, but the strawberries in Paris were to die for.  So sweet, so delicious; what is America doing so wrong that our strawberries only look like they will taste good?

Right now we are in Germany.  We plan to see a couple of actual tourist things later, but for now Izzy and I have just been out walking on a little path we found near the hotel.  It leads to a grocery store, a small bakery, and a playground.  And since the weather has been damp we have also seen several large snails.  How exciting!  When we haven't been outside, Izzy has been hopping around in what she calls her "wonderful, wonderful bed!"  Every little while she will freeze suddenly and ask alarmingly, "What's that noise, Mama?" and I will say, "It's a car outside" or "It's a bird" or "It's the heater."  

Izzy has been an interesting travel companion.  She has been surviving on boiled eggs, french fries, goldfish crackers, and treats for using the potty.  We had to revert back to a bribery system since the potty on the plane was so utterly terrifying that it made going to the bathroom a horrific experience.  Every potty for the next few days was a "scary potty."  We're back on track now, but I'm not really looking forward to the return flight. 

So far I would have to say that there are two big differences between Europe and the US.  First off, back in the states everything is carpeted, even some folks' bathrooms.  The floors here are all hardwood or tile, which is okay except that Izzy is a super duper crumb machine.  After an hour or two we might as well be walking on sand.  The second big difference is space.  Things are BIG in America; you can turn around in the shower and the aisles in stores are wide enough for two grocery carts.  Stores have huge parking lots because it is expected that everyone drives, while here almost everyone walks or rides a bike.  Matt is a pretty big guy and I am pregnant, so I appreciate the roominess back home.  Izzy, on the other hand, has very short legs, so things even out. 

We only have a fish, so I guess we're not really farmers.

Most of this week has been so nice and pleasant that Izzy and I have been spending hours outside each day, working on our farmer's tans.  We have made excellent progress.  We spend most of our time in the following ways: stealing rocks from the neighbors, looking at and then running away from bugs (all of which are either "butterflies" or "spiders"), shouting "Help help!" before going down the slide, and chasing each other either with sticks or fingers ready for poking.  Basically we have the best life.

Some of our neighbors have dogs and therefore lots of dog poop.  I make sure to caution Izzy not to touch it and she has been very obedient.  Now when I help her on the potty she says to me, "Don't touch my poop, Mommy!"  Thankfully, I haven't had to for at least a month.  Boom!  Potty trained!

In my spare time I am on a city league basketball team with some other ladies from my neighborhood.  I did not play basketball in high school, or anywhere else for that matter.  We have been playing for a couple of weeks and I still barely know what I'm doing.  I always thought that basketball was supposed to be a no-contact sport but apparently I was wrong; the butt is very important and you push it at other people like crazy.  Anyway, so far I haven't made any baskets for our team, but I haven't made any for the wrong team either.  You win some, you lose some (in theory, anyway).

Goodness, it's January.

We are working on potty training these days, which basically means that Izzy and I sit in the bathroom for long periods of time singing songs and then when she's done she pees on the floor somewhere else.  Woo!  But there's been only one poop-tastrophe so far, and I guess that's good news.

In other good news, I am going to get fat this summer.  I am very much looking forward to it, especially since by the time I become decidedly rotund I will probably stop throwing up.

Celebrate with me!

So, as some of you may know, this week is my birthday.  I will be turning 25 years old on Wednesday, woo!  That night I'll probably have a little something something with family, but I want to invite everyone across the nation to participate in a little celebration on Thursday (mostly in your own homes, of course, because the whole nation wouldn't fit in mine).  Go all out!  Eat a lot food, have some extra pie, and think of me.  I'll be thinking of me, too.

Pie in the sky

It's coming up on that time of year where I think about making pie and then don't actually do it.  But maybe this year will be different, since I've been thinking about it a lot harder than usual.  Also I have some summer blackberries stashed in my freezer, can I get a what-what!  If I don't turn them into delicious pie, then nobody else will, because my mom doesn't live here.

Sorry if you've missed me, but I've been super busy, what with the city league volleyball and the secret Christmas things and the visiting folks.  Mostly the secret Christmas things, though, and if you know about them, then don't betray me here by commenting about them in a non hush-hush way.

Who am I kidding?  Nobody comments on this blog, and that's why I can get away with posting maybe once a month.  what-what.

I want one to live in my house.

Oh, how I wish this were a real thing:

http://www.petitelapgiraffe.com/about.php

Saturday Stream of Consciousness

So...I am really into playing Scrabble via facebook these days.  And winning at it, let's be honest.  I get sad when my letters don't play well together.

In honor of the fall season I am thinking about doing a pumpkin craft, but I haven't gotten around to it.  I like making things but I have to be really in the groove in order for it to happen.  Also I am afraid to go to the craft store to pick up the things I need because I always (always always) end up buying more than I planned and then I feel sheepish and ashamed.

I dyed my hair a vibrant red and so maybe I should be a matchstick for Halloween.  One that is on fire.  But then what would Matt be?  What goes with a flaming matchstick?  Maybe a marshmallow or something.

Izzy had a birthday (yay for being two!) and we got a Costco cake.  We have enough cake to last until Matt's birthday in January I think.  But since I love cake so much we'll probably get more anyway, and then we'll get fat.  I believe there is a correlation.

Bloopity bloo, blog for you!  That's my poem for the day.

It's cold outside.

I am very disappointed in the snowing that happened here this week.  Not because I dislike snow, but because I love the autumn.  I don't mind bundling up, I just prefer to actually be warm after I do so.  October, redeem thyself!

Anyway, the cold kind of caught me by surprise (because I rarely read the weather forecast) so I don't have a whole lot of indoor activities planned for the tiny one and me.  We go on short walks and then come inside to read books and be goofy.  Yesterday we watched a super cheesy Care Bears movie and ate popcorn, in the middle of the afternoon.  Later we watched youtube videos about phonics for an extended period of time.  Now I have songs stuck in my head like, "A a-a-apple, B b-b-ball," and so forth.  At least I know all the words.

Use those skills!

I have been super busy with basically two things: Webelos and Korean.  Strictly speaking, they have nothing in common with one another.

Matt and I are Webelos Den leaders now.  Pretty much I had no idea what that involved until I actually became one.  Now I'm all like, "I looked through everything and planned it all out so that the boys can earn 20 badges in 12 months.  We have to know all the things."  Maybe I'm a little crazy?  Whatever.  This month we're going to work on the Scientist badge which you KNOW will involve some awesome experiments and probably a rocket, and maybe I will FINALLY figure out how Bernoulli's Principle actually works.  And who doesn't love Sir Isaac Newton?  Motion, yeah!

As for the Korean, I was reading a friend's blog where she said she became obsessed with this show called "Playful Kiss" and so I had to check it out and then I became a little obsessed.  Matt totally served a mission in Korea, too, so he knows all about the language.  I have a textbook and Matt is helping me out a lot.  I've learned how to read the writing system (FINALLY my linguistics minor comes in handy) but the rest is still pretty overwhelming.  I can say a few words, though, like, "Hello!" and "Thank you," and "Stupid."  Oh, and "Why you gotta be like that?" and "Poop."  Just the important stuff so far.  We even learned how to make kimbap (Korean sushi).  Yum.  That's right.  Obsessed. 


I am having an excellent time.

My new best friend.

Izzy and I have a new bike.  She is beautiful (I'm guessing it is a she even though it is blue).  I don't have a name for her yet, but I'm thinking about it.  You can think about it too.

Izzy likes to bring me our helmets.  Matt says it is good that she associates helmets with bike riding, and I agree.  Brains are pretty important to our family.

We have gone out almost every day this week (sometimes twice).  It's really convenient to have Izzy up front with me, except for when I have to duck under trees or when she decides that she would rather steer.  So far no accidents, though.  It is her job to ring the bell.

We need a basket.

Pretty colors

As formerly promised, here are some poorly taken pictures of the newly painted rooms:

The color is called "Jamaican Aqua" and it really is quite lovely.  It's sort of a shame that the rooms have practically no furnishings.  But at least now they are not ugly, unfurnished rooms.

The next thing has to do with hair and requires before and after pictures, along with dramatic drum rolls (if you don't mind).

Before:

Those are my raptor eyes.

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and after:

It is some sort of red, a la Ariel or Strawberry Shortcake.  I can't tell.  Apparently when you dye your hair red you cannot always tell what the results will be.  Obviously this is true.

Blah blah blah, super cool.

Who needs transitions.

Man, August; what a lame blogging month.

I pulled out my old trumpet earlier this week and tootled around a bit.  My range is pretty much completely gone, but it still left my lips pleasantly tingly.  Nobody can kiss the way a trumpet can.

We painted two more rooms this morning, which leaves two left.  Sigh....  I cannot tell if that is a sigh of relief or a sigh of despair.  This project is taking FOREVER but it is entirely worth it.  I will post pictures Tuesdayish, after some furniture and whatnot gets moved around.

I am reading me some Diana Wynne Jones (Chronicles of Chrestomanci) and can I just say once again how sorry I am that she's dead?  This stuff is great.

In other news, I am doing something rather daring next week.  I am going to dye my hair for the first time.  Maybe this is a bad idea?  Maybe it is a good idea but I chose a bad color?  WHO KNOWS.  The good thing about hair is that for most people (particularly women my age) it grows back.  Anyway, you should be in complete suspense.  Also you should tell me what color you would like to see my head just in case it turns out terrible* and I need to change it ASAP but am too depressed to pick out anything for myself.  That is what friends are for.

*The English major inside me thinks that "terrible" should be in adverb form here but the normal person inside me is all, "NO.  People don't talk like that.  At least not Americans."  So as a compromise we are leaving a footnote, acknowledging the difference of opinion.

One of these things is not like the other

We just got back from going to Washington DC for a business trip of Matt's, and it is a lot different than Utah.  They have public transportation, humidity, and monuments while we have churches, mini vans, and vast stretches of nothing.  But I guess the biggest difference between here and there can be summed up in two words:  white babies.

I don't really know what's going on.

Today I am making chili and being upset at the post office.

Chili is pretty much just stew with beans in it, right?  Basically I don't know what I'm doing.  I got a whole bunch of chili peppers in my Winder Farms produce box, though, and I know even less about what else to do with them.  Whatever I'm making, there will be a LOT of it. If it is good, we will eat like kings!  If it is bad, we will eat like peasants!  Plenty of food, either way.

As you may have noticed, we were out of town for a week, so we had our mail put on hold.  It was supposed to resume on Wednesday, but it is now Friday.  I have yet to receive a single credit card offer, and I usually get about two of those a day.  >:(  SOMEBODY is being a lazy mail lady.  I don't know her name but I do know what kind of car she drives.  It is very boxy.

Also, I had a really cool dream last night that involved a battle (with swords and fire balls) followed by many different kinds of pie, all of them delicious.  I bet I'd make a pretty good pie-soldier.  Whatever that is.

Go-cation

We are in Washington today.  Also probably for the next couple of days.  That is how we do things.

There was some sprinkling this morning, followed by a bit of shy sun.  There's a rooster stalking around outside, a cow grazing in the back yard, and a dog the size of a small horse sticking his nose into everything.  I did some weeding in the garden and picked some peas, and there will be steak for dinner.  These are the good times, and they are rolling.

Izzy walked around all morning, pointing at Grandma's things and saying, "Wow!  Whoa!" When either of the dogs comes up to her, she sticks out her hand and says, "Sit." (This she learned from our next door neighbor, who has a dog that actually listens to commands.)  One of her cousins filled Izzy's hair with dirt and grass seeds, so that means a bath later tonight.  Pretty much Izzy is having a wonderful time.

Tomorrow we are going to pick blackberries.  They will be delicious, and some of them will probably end up as a pie.

Ha ha, woo!

Books in boxes.

Is there anything better than getting books in the mail?  Maybe.  But right now I am not going to think of what those things are because that would be counterproductive to my happiness.

Okay.  Maybe I'm thinking about cake just a leetle bit.

Summertime!

We have been busy.  Sometimes busy doing things, other times busy not doing things.  That is what summer is for, yes?

Painting our bedroom and bath:

Painting Izzy's room:

Painting thrift store treasures to go in Izzy's room:

(Before)

(After)

Fixing other thrifty finds:

(Before)

 (After)

Making hair pretty holders:

Painting the hall bathroom:

Doing summer things outside:

Doing summer things inside:

 And making messes:

Throw in a great deal of book reading, walk-going, and hot dog eating, and that's what we've been up to.