Playdate with Cah-ine

Last week we had a fun playdate with cousin Caroline (or as Sawyer pronounces it "Cah-ine"). They spend a lot of time fighting over toys that neither one cares about when the other is n't around, but they have fun together nonetheless. This time, Sawyer decided to push Caroline around in his umbrella stroller. Caroline always enjoys it when Sawyer ("Yer-Yer") does her bidding.

Crafty People Gathering

Saturday's craft fair went fabulously. It was a long day: 8:30 to 5:30, and Sawyer was with us the whole time. He did great, and even took a nap in his stroller when he got tired (he's never done that before - he's an in-his-bed or carseat sleeper). There was a good turnout for the fair, although a lot of attendees seemed to be there just to look around, not to spend money. I gave out lots of business cards and was approached by a few organizers of other fairs asking me to participate, so that could lead to more sales in the future. Since I'm working on getting my business name out there, that would have made the event a success even if I hadn't sold anything. I did though - I made about 11 times my booth fee. So I'm glad I did it, despite all the stress and late nights of preparation. Thanks so much to all of you who came by to support us!

The fair took place around the historic Lanesville house. It was a really beautiful setting, with trees on one side, a pond on the other, and the house right in the middle. They had live music on the lawn and crafts for kids.


My booth.


Soap display.


Solid lotion, lip balms, and soy candles.


Pillow sprays and herbal balm.


Sawyer, my sunny boy.


A groundhog that lived in the tree behind our booth.

We love New York!

And we can say that for real now since we've been there! A few weeks ago Eric had a work assignment that required him to stay overnight in Manhattan. His company likes him so much that they paid for Sawyer and me to go too. We were there for less than 24 hours, so we didn't get even close to doing everything we wanted to (like visiting Andrea and Jeremy - we'll get you next time!) But we saw some sites, ate some terrific food, and stayed in a swanky hotel, so it was a great trip. Next time we'll go sans Sawyer! Here are some pictures. New York Trip

I'm It

Christie tagged me w/the Middle Name Game!

My middle name is Anne.

A - Anxiety prone. I worry about things too much, especially when it comes to decision making.
N - Nice. Sometimes too nice. But I believe in good old-fashioned courtesy.
N - Nymphomaniac (my husband wishes!)
E - Evolving. I try to continually improve my life and take on new challenges.

If you feel inclined to play, consider yourself tagged!

Where'd the kitchen go?

On the 15th (a week from this Saturday!) I'm selling at my first ever craft fair. The preparations have all but taken over our home, especially the kitchen. Thank goodness for an understanding husband and a child who is perfectly content to watch Dora the Explorer reruns all day.

Beveling and polishing station, plus some candles. The counter in the background has clothespin sachets, herbal balms and body sprays.


Kitchen table with soaps waiting to be beveled and/or wrapped and labeled.


Stove area set up for making candles.


And a finished product - Blackberry Sage soap.

Guess who picked out his own clothes today

Sawyer came to me this morning in just his diaper, pants in one hand and shirt in the other. "Pants? Shirt? Pants? Shirt?" I guess it felt like a colorful, stripey day. It takes a very creative mind to pair a button-down baby Gap shirt with pajama pants!



He's been carrying his stuffed monkey around with him - very uncharacteristically too, since he's never attached himself to a security blanket, binkie or bottle. But he seems to have adopted the monkey and has been talking to it, hugging it and giving it kisses all day. While he was watching Dora I saw him holding it up to his shoulder and patting its back like he was burping a baby. He'll make a great daddy someday...especially if he marries a monkey!

"Foux de Fa Fa"

If you haven't seen Flight of the Conchords yet, you really should. It is by far the best comedy on TV right now (at least, until The Office starts back up again in September - then I'll have a tough time deciding). If you don't have HBO, check it out on YouTube - although you'll have to hurry, because a lot of them are getting yanked for copyright infringement. Here's a thought-provoking song - "Issues: Think About It" which poses the very valid question, "Why we still payin' so much for sneakers when you got them made by little slave kids?"


Here's another of them performing on Letterman a couple of months ago. "You're definitely in the top three good looking girls on the street - depending on the street."


And one more - a French fantasy. Anyone who's taken French 1 will understand the whole thing.

C'est délicieux

It was a gorgeous cool, rainy day today. Such a refreshing break from all the humid heat we get here in August. I made my favorite soup for dinner and thought I'd share the recipe. It's one my mom used to make a lot and I tweaked it when I lived in Frace based on recipes I learned there. To me it is France in a bowl!

Chicken Mushroom Soup

1/4 c yellow onions, sliced
3 T butter
1 lb sliced mushrooms (I use half white button, half baby portabello)
1/3 c flour
4 c chicken stock
1 1/2 c half-and-half
1/2 c dry white wine
4 bone-in, skin on chicken breasts
3 T olive oil
1/4 t tarragon
1/4 t herbes de provence
ground red pepper flakes
salt
pepper

To roast chicken:
Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Put chicken on baking sheet, skin side up. Rub olive oil into skin, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes until cooked through. When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and slice chicken into bite-sized pieces.

For soup:
Sauté onions in 3 T butter in a heavy bottomed soup pot until translucent. Add mushrooms and flour; cook for 1 minute while stirring. Add chicken stock and wine. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add chicken and spices. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Just before serving add half-and-half. Serve with a crusty baguette.

MacBook Lament

In order to celebrate getting his CCIE (and to ease his own conscience about buying an Xbox Elite for himself) Eric bought me a MacBook. That was about a month ago, and in the last few weeks I've been thinking about doing an "Ode to my MacBook" post. Just when I was about to start writing it though, my MacBook let me down and crashed. So my ode has become a lament.

I was just about to go to bed last Thursday night and decided to double-check a soap recipe for the morning when my browser window froze. I tried to force quit - nothing. Finally I had no choice but to manually shut down my Mac and restart. There was an ominous clicking sound and when I turned it back on, all I got was a gray screen. No Apple logo, no startup page - just dreary, gray nothingness. I tried booting from the installation disk (which was still in my kitchen, since I just used it a few weeks ago) and even that didn't work. I knew this could not be good news.

In the morning I called tech support and after half an hour on the phone we had figured out that it was a big enough problem that it would require a genius to solve it. Good thing Apple has Geniuses in their stores! Shew! I made an appointment and on Saturday Eric and I showed up at the Genius Bar (complete with bar stools) in the Apple Store near us. Our Genius was wearing a red bandana, had three earrings and a pointy goatee. He figured out quickly that something had gone seriously wrong, and my hard drive wouldn't mount. My month old hard drive. There was nothing to be done but replace it completely, so I lost everything that was on it - which actually wasn't that much, since it was so new. All the pictures I had on it were backed up on Shutterfly, so I only ended up losing a couple of songs and the third season of The Office, which I had downloaded on iTunes and is on my iPod. If I'm careful not to automatically sync everything, I won't lose that. And if I do lose it, I'll have an excuse to buy the DVDs and get all the bonus features. So my old hard drive is gone, and the Genius installed a new one right there.

So I have learned to always back up - even if you're using a Mac, which you bought because they are supposed to be secure and safe and not prone to freak hard drive failures. I still love my MacBook, but it's going to take a while for me to trust it again - that has to be earned!

What Book Are You?

A great quiz from bluepyramid.org - this one answers the question "What book are you?"

You're Ulysses!

by James Joyce

Most people are convinced that you don't make any sense, but compared to what else you could say, what you're saying now makes tons of sense. What people do understand about you is your vulgarity, which has convinced people that you are at once brilliant and repugnant. Meanwhile you are content to wander around aimlessly, taking in the sights and sounds of the city. What you see is vast, almost limitless, and brings you additional fame. When no one is looking, you dream of being a Greek folk hero.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I got tagged

Becky tagged me, so I guess that means I'm IT!

Jobs I've had:
-stable hand (I took care of horses, although my hands are pretty stable too)
-music store employee
-book store employee
-secretary
-teaching assistant
-substitute teacher
-CEO (of my household)

Movies I never get sick of:
-Sense and Sensibility
-Meet the Parents
-Dumb and Dumber
I guess comedies are the ones that I tend to view repeatedly.

Places I've called home:
-Provo, UT (three different times)
-Baltimore, MD
-Charlottesville, VA
-Cleveland, OH
-Charlotte, NC
-Tours, Angers, and Bordeaux France
-northern VA (where I've spent most of my life)

Favorite TV shows:
-24
-Lost
-The Office

Favorite Vacation Spots:
-Outer Banks, NC
-anywhere exciting I haven't been yet

Favorite Websites:
-eBay, Venus Sisterhood, soapdishforum.com, blogs

Places I'd rather be:
-anywhere I don't have to cook or clean



Now I'm tagging....

-Michelle
-Sara
-Jeremy
-Tiburon
-Christie
You're it!

Not the Biggest Loser (But a Loser Nonetheless)

I just realized I never posted the results to the Biggest Loser competition I took part in. That's probably because I didn't win. I came in 6th out of 14, so not too bad. I lost 14 lbs in 13 weeks. Altogether, the whole group lost 150 lbs - a whole person! The Biggest Loser was Tiburon (who has a kickin' blog, by the way.)

So now we are three weeks into Biggest Loser 2 (tagline: "This time, they'll end up even LESS flabby!") The first week I was at the beach, so I did not get off to a great start. Between Uncle Billy's fried shrimp, Aunt Carrie's chocolate chip cookie pie, and the fact that the freezer was always stocked with at least a dozen different types of Klondike bars (that's not an exaggeration!) I pretty much threw all my restrictions out the window. So now I'm trying to make up for it and not doing too well. I really want to lose 15 more pounds - if I do that I'll be at the weight I was when I got married, which is just about right for me. Not too skinny, but definitely skinnier than I am now.

Deathly Hallows and Middlesex

WARNING: HARRY POTTER SPOILERS! Don't read this one if you haven't finished the last book yet.

I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows about 4 days into our beach week. I probably would have finished in a day if I had been able to read straight through, but being in a house with 20 of my relatives, some of whom I hadn't seen for two years, made it difficult to find good reading time. The first 200 pages or so I read out loud to Eric and Sawyer on the drive down, which was fun and distracted us from the fact that our normally 5 hour drive took us 11 hours (more on this in my previous post).

I think Deathly Hallows is my favorite of the whole series. I was prepared to be let down after so much build-up, but Rowling really outdid herself and wrote a near perfect conclusion. I'm glad I was wrong about my Dumbledore theory, because the way she had him come back in Harry's vision right at the climax was spectacular. I also loved the way we got to see Snape's whole story - and I'm glad I was right about Snape! He is probably the most interesting character in the books, and as it turns out he was one of the biggest heroes too. The conclusive tone of the Epilogue was so satisfying. Harry has a normal life, a loving family, and cool kids with friends. So happy.

So once I was done with Harry Potter (and so sad that I'm done forever!) I moved on to Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. It's a first person narrative about a man who was raised as a girl. He was born with XY chromosomes, but with a genetic error that caused his external organs to develop in a way that they appeared female. This is more common than most people think - estimates are that 1 in 2000 babies are born with "ambiguous genitalia". When this happens a decision has to be made about how to raise the child. In the (fictional) case of the book, they don't discover the abnormality until he's 15 and has already been raised as a girl. It's a fascinating study of gender identity and the struggle between genetics and society, nature and nurture. I highly recommend it. And I'd love comments and ideas from anyone who's read it. Eric will not discuss this one with me because he finds the whole idea too disturbing. At least we have Harry Potter.

Back from the Beach

We're back from our yearly beach week with the Stells. It was wonderful to see everyone, especially after missing last year. The week got off to a really bad start with the drive down. We caravaned in three cars - Eric, Sawyer and I in one, Megan, Ryan and Caroline in the second, and Grandy, Erin and Rob in the third. We met at Megan and Ryan's house and set out around 10:00 Saturday morning, planning to stop for lunch around Williamsburg and arrive at the beach around 4:00; the rental office opened at 3:00 and the drive normally takes us 5 hours plus stopping time. Good plan, right? Well, it was not to be. Traffic on I95 was horrendous. After 2 hours, we were only as far as Stafford. And that was as far as we would go for a while, because at that point Erin noticed smoke pouring out from under Grandy's car. So we all waited for the tow truck, and then followed it to a repair shop where we waited until we could get a rental. Rob had been driving Grandy's car and was pretty shaken up by what had happened, mostly because the day before he had been in a car accident and he was worried that he was cursed in some way.

By the time we were ready to go again it was lunch time, so we found a place to eat and then set off again into the still terrible traffic. We didn't reach the bridge onto Southern Shores until 8:00. At that point we had all given up trying to caravan and had been separated for quite a while. Eric and I stopped in at Walmart to get another copy of Harry Potter so he could continue reading on his own (I had been reading aloud to him for the whole drive). When we got back in the car we got a call from Erin saying that they had been in a car accident in the rental car. Someone had rear-ended them in the stop-and-go traffic of the island road. Luckily no one was hurt and damage to the car was minimal, but Robbie was even more freaked out. What are the chances of that many car troubles happening to one person in one weekend?

Thankfully, the rest of the trip went uneventfully and we arrived in Corolla around 9:00, safe but thoroughly tired of being in the car.

After that bad start, our week could only get better, and it did. Nothing else bad happened to Robbie - unless you count the time he was in the pool and stuck his hand into the filter and pulled out a huge dead bird. We spent lots of time sitting on the beach and getting sunburned (I'm already peeling!), eating great food (Uncle Billy made his famous fried shrimp twice, and Aunt Carrie made a chocolate chip cookie pie that was to die for - YUM), and watching The Office in the evenings. I had brought the DVDs just in case we had a rainy day, and everyone liked it so much that we watched all three seasons. We were all quoting Michael and Dwight the whole week.

Now we're home and trying to get back into the groove of everyday life, cleaning and cooking and laundry. I wish I was still sitting on the beach.

Here are some pictures of our week: Beach Photos I can't wait for next year!

Harry Potter

In anticipation of the final book in the Harry Potter series coming out tomorrow night, I’ve been doing a lot of theorizing. Eric and I have debates about it almost every night. (I never claimed we weren’t huge nerds.) I’ve re-read all the previous books over the past 3 weeks or so. And I have no idea how I’m going to find time to eat and sleep once I have The Deathly Hallows in my hot, nerdy little hands.

We also went to see The Order of the Phoenix last week. I loved it; I think it’s the best of the movies so far. The actors have gotten better and better as they’ve grown up - Daniel Radcliffe started out as a cute kid who looked like Harry Potter and had passable acting skills; who knew he would become such a terrific, likeable actor? The climax of Phoenix (and all of its emotional suspense) hinges on the audience believing and caring about Harry’s inner struggle, and Radcliffe rose to the occasion brilliantly.

So here are my theories for the final book (which I will read sitting on the beach!) Here are the big ones: (Spoiler alert if you haven’t read books 1-6 yet!)

-Dumbledore isn’t really dead. Or at least, he’s not permanently dead. His chosen pet is a phoenix, which regularly dies in a flash of flame and then is reborn. At Dumbledore’s funeral, his body spontaneously goes up into flames and when the flames go away, the coffin is sealed up. My guess is, he’s not in there anymore. We saw Dumbledore disappear in Order of the Phoenix when Umbridge is trying to have him sent to Azkaban – he grabs Fawkes’ tail and vanishes in flames. So it’s possible he pulled off a similar disappearance this time.

- Dumbledore knew that Malfoy was trying to kill him and that eventually it would come to a confrontation, either with him or other Death Eaters. So Dumbledore planned to appear to die so that Voldemort could be totally sure that Dumbledore was dead and gone. I don’t know how Dumbledore survived the Avada Kedavra curse or the fall from the tower, but I’m guessing that he has found another way to keep himself alive, possibly the good version of Voldemort’s horcruxes. Maybe a spell tied to Hogwarts, since Dumbledore says to Harry that he’ll never really be gone as long as there are those at the school who are loyal to him. (Or, maybe he never died in the first place; maybe he was able to wordlessly block the Killing Curse, fly over the side of the tower somehow and take the Draught of Living Death that we read about early in the book – the one Snape helped Harry make in Potions class as the Half-Blood Prince.) Dumbledore wouldn’t pursue immortality selfishly, but he would do it knowing that he is the only one who can help Harry finally kill Voldemort. And my next point follows logically (although Eric strongly disagrees with me on this one)…

- Snape is still on the good side. I believe that he has been working for Dumbledore all along and was in on the plan to stage the headmaster’s death, but he has to appear to be on Voldemort’s side in order to remain in his position as a spy. Killing Dumbledore would seal him forever in the Dark Lord’s good graces. So why didn’t Dumbledore tell Harry about his plan? Because Harry is a miserable failure at Occlumency, the ability to keep his thoughts hidden. This is Snape's parting shot to Harry as he is escaping the scene of Dumbledore's fall - that Harry can't defeat him in a duel until he learns to block others from his thoughts. Snape is extremely skilled in Occlumency and he can block memories of the plan from his mind to prevent Voldemort from seeing them. If Harry (or anyone else) knew about the plan, it would be far too easy for Voldemort to look into his mind and see that Dumbledore is still a threat.

The main reason I believe Snape is good is that as he leaves the scene of Dumbledore’s “death” he doesn’t harm a single person. If he had really just given up the pretense of being on the good side, wouldn’t he be firing curses at everyone willy-nilly the way the other Death Eaters did, trying to take out as many people as possible? And more to the point, why wouldn’t he take Harry with him and bring him directly to Voldemort now that Dumbledore is out of the way? Instead, he refuses to duel with Harry and simply deflects the curses Harry fires at him, then hits him out of the way in order to escape the duel and leave Harry safely behind.

-Dumbledore will show up in the final confrontation and show Harry how to defeat Voldemort. Snape will be instrumental too – now that Snape has Voldemort’s complete trust, he’ll be able to get the most crucial information of all: how to destroy him.
I can’t wait to see how Harry behaves now that he believes he is completely on his own. In Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince he blossoms into a leader. He accepts that his life will never be easy and decides that if he’s going to be killed by Voldemort, he’s going down fighting the way his parents, Sirius, and Dumbledore have done. Harry is going to kick some ass!

Sawyerisms

Sawyer is talking up a storm these days. He uses long, complicated sentences that are clearly full of complex and deep meaning. Unfortunately, he is the only one who understands what he's going on about. I feel like I did the first few months I was in France, when I could pick out individual words people were saying and get a general idea of the conversation, but the nuances were completely lost on me. We've managed to decipher a few key words.

"Giddy" - Get it (i.e., "please get it for me, Mother.")

"Kitties" - Not to be confused with "giddy". His favorite animal other than dogs - he doesn't say "dog" yet, he just signs it.

"Dee goo" - Thank you. He says this without being prompted now, which makes me so proud!

"Dum" - Some (as in, "may I have some please?") His normal usage: "DUM DUM DUM DUM!"

"Kah-ine" - Caroline, his favorite cousin

"Dad-Dad" - Grandad, who has been trying to no avail to get him to say "Judge Griffith."

"Bah-Bah" - Grandpa - I find this funny because his Grandpa's name is "Bob."

"Meh-mo" - Elmo, his favorite person ever (other than mom and dad of course!)

"Yish" - Yes

"Feetsh" - Fish

"Boomntz" - Balloons. This one sounds in no way like the English word. He makes a swallowing sound around the "m" that makes it sound like a strange dialect of German.

"Bah-boltz" - Bubbles


A typical conversation with Sawyer:

"A beesh blo sawt insha kitties."
"Oh really, did you see kitties?"
"Yish."
"What else did you see?"
"Huwty inpow blem blam sue Meh-mo."
"Oh, you saw Elmo?"
"Meh-mo binsh apol bah-boltz. Bah-boltz boomntz."

Congratulations, Eric!

My husband is a CCIE! After almost a year and a half of intense study (and very little time at home) he passed the lab portion of the CCIE exam yesterday. We got the results at 2:30 this morning and couldn't stop jumping up and down. I am so proud of him.

Here's a great article about the CCIE and how people react when they pass it and come out alive:
CCIE: Talk about a stress test
I think we're due for a BIG vacation soon!

Biggest Loser Update

I haven't updated on my weight loss in a while, but it's still going on! The contest officially ends a week from this Friday (although I plan to continue to lose more after it's over). I'm not likely to win at this point - I usually come in around 5th or 6th, right in the middle - but I'm fine with that. I've lost 11 pounds so far and I'm down a size. The best part though is how I feel - I have so much more energy than before and just about every part of me is tighter. I should be able to reach my goal by the end of the summer, and I should be in fairly good shape by the time we go to the beach at the end of July.

Kids and Their Cell Phones

Sorry Mom, I need to take this.

Go.

What?!

Excuse me Mom, could I have some privacy?

Why I haven't been blogging much.

Now that Sawyer is two (as of May 5th), we've entered the magical age of picky eating, temper tantrums, and a quickly expanding vocabulary. He's definitely not a baby anymore. It really is a lot of fun to be able to interact with him in all these new ways, but sometimes he demands so much of my attention that I feel like I can't get anything else done.

One of the big projects I've been squeezing in to my spare moments is getting my soap business up and going. As of a couple of weeks ago, I'm officially open for business on eBay. (Check it out here.) Sales are really starting to pick up, to the point where I am running around all day trying to get things labeled, packaged, and mailed. Once I get a good system down it will be much easier but I'm trying to figure so many things out at once that I'm a little like a headless chicken at the moment. And then I turn around from working on the computer to find a whole new project waiting for me:

So now I'm not just a stay at home mom - I'm a work from home mom too. It has its own challenges, but I'm enjoying it so far.

Five Years

Five years ago yesterday Eric and I got married. I can't believe it's been that long already - and at the same time, I can't believe it's only been that long since I can barely remember what life was like before we were married.

The traditional gift for the five year anniversary is wood; we modified it slightly to steak and went out to dinner at Morton's. When we first got married we decided not to buy gifts for anniversaries, but to use the money to go somewhere special. Pre-Sawyer that meant a weekend trip, now it means an elaborate dinner and a babysitter (thanks Spencer and Samm!) It was a fun night. Happy anniversary to us!

"The Man Behind the Curtain"

With just a few weeks left in this season of Lost, I thought it would be fun to brainstorm some ideas I've had about the show. I have loved the past couple of months with a new episode every single week. I feel like it's given it the momentum it needs to really build suspense and keep us guessing about the story. And it's always a plus to be able to remember what happened in the previous episode when you're watching a new one.

(Spoiler alert! If you haven’t watched last night’s episode yet this will give stuff away!)

Last night's episode, "The Man Behind the Curtain" had some interesting Biblical references. We learned that Ben's mother died giving birth to him; in the Bible, Benjamin was the youngest son of Rachel, and she died when he was born. Benjamin's father was Jacob, so it's interesting that Jacob is the name of the invisible man who Ben insists is in charge on the island. Ben definitely needs a father figure, considering what a douche his own dad was - and the fact that he killed him.

I’m pretty sure that Jacob is a ghost. We know Ben can see dead people as he saw his mother as a boy, and we know that some people get this ability on the island and it’s considered a special gift. Maybe that’s why Ben was so upset that Locke was able to hear Jacob – it shows that Locke has some of that ability too and it is threatening to Ben’s position as leader. Ben was also threatened by Locke’s healing after the plane crash, and the fact that Ben isn’t healing so well after his surgery. He sees Locke as someone who could possibly depose him, and he knows there are many who would be glad to see that happen (Juliet especially.)

One thing is for sure – ghost or not, Jacob is real. Ben’s reaction to Locke having heard him is good enough evidence for that, but if you need more proof, here it is – several people at lost-forum.com have posted screencaps of the scene in Jacob’s house, and in one of the stills you can actually see him. (I thought I saw him out of the corner of my eye, but I was so freaked out by the scene that I wasn't sure if I had imagined it!)

So who is Jacob? Alvar Hanso? Desmond from another dimension? Locke's evil twin? Maybe it’s someone else from the Dharma Initiative who was killed in the purge. Horace Goodspeed? Or maybe it’s one of the “natives” who has been in charge for a long time. And about those natives; how did they get to the island? Are they immortal? From the time Ben firsts meets Richard to the present day, he doesn’t seem to have aged at all. Did they come on the Black Rock? Are they the Pirates of the Caribbean?

I thought this episode was excellent, and incredibly creepy. I watched it by myself after everyone went to bed and I was so scared afterwards I had to watch “Thank God You’re Here” before I went to bed just to calm myself down. I can’t remember the last time a television show had that kind of effect on me. That’s good TV.

A Bit of Musical Self-Indulgence

Here's that fun music survey where you put your mp3 player on shuffle and the songs are the answers to the questions.

I think the most revealing part of this survey is you get to see what kind of music everyone is listening to...and you just KNOW that your iPod is going to land on those NSync songs you just haven't ever brought yourself to delete!


So here goes...

How am I feeling today? Beth Orton "Worms"
“Worms don’t dance, they haven’t got the balls.” Couldn’t agree more.

Will I get far in life? Ryan Adams & The Cardinals "Sweet Illusions"
I’m noticing that yes/no questions don’t work well for this sort of survey…unless you happen to come across a song called “Yes” or “No”.

How do my friends see me? Hanson "Strong Enough to Break"
See, I told you it would be embarrassing!

When will I get married? Heather Nova "London Rain (Nothing Heals Me Like You Do)"
I guess this works since there’s no song I know of called “I already did 5 years ago.”

What's my theme song? Joshua Radin "Star Mile"
I don’t know if it fits, but holy frijoles, what a great song. “Life comes to those that’ll choose the regular news over playing the blues with the light on.” I am a Joshua Radin fiend as of late.

What is the story of my life? Paul Weller "Above the Clouds"
My husband would definitely agree.

How can I get ahead in life? They Might Be Giants "Space Suit"
Is it too late to go to Space Camp?

What is my best feature? Colin Hay "My Brilliant Feat"
Why yes, I am brilliant!

How is today going to be? Sublime "What I Got"
I don’t get angry when my mom smokes pot.

What is in store for this weekend? Tori Amos "Baker Baker"
I hope this means there are pastries involved!

What is my life like at the moment? Noah Paley "Moonlight Still"

What song describes my secrets? 10,000 Maniacs "Circle Dream"
I’m secretly kind of a pagan.

What is my current lover like? The Smiths "Bigmouth Strikes Again"
HAHAHA! (Eric, I swear I didn't do this on purpose!! Blame iTunes!)

What song will they play at my funeral? Rufus Wainwright "When, In Disgrace With Fortune and Men’s Eyes"
Actually that would be really cool.

How does the world see me? Duke Ellington "Night Creature"
Well, I do like to stay up late…to make soap.

Will I have a happy life? The Verve "Bitter Sweet Symphony"
Sounds about right.

What do my friends really think of me? Frank Sinatra "The Lady is a Tramp"
Oh man.

Do people secretly lust after me? Lit "Miserable"
“You make me complete…ly miserable”

Will I accomplish my goals in life? Caedmon’s Call "Bus Driver"
I need to set some new goals.

Will I find true love? Ryan Adams "Oh My Sweet Carolina"
Ryan again…makes sense since Ryan Adams songs make up at least ¼ of my entire library. Another one of my all-time favorite songs.

How do I treat others? Matthew Sweet "We're The Same"

Weigh-In Number Two

Today was weigh-in number two in the Biggest Loser challenge. I'm down another two pounds. I was hoping for more, but I guess it's not too bad considering that this week included Easter, and my lady's time is fast approaching. I'm going to step my exercise up a notch and see if I can catch up next week.

I am loving the diet I'm on. I'm following the plan from Dr. Oz's book You On A Diet. There's so much about it that's perfect for me. There's no counting calories, and no real deprivation. I eat whole wheat breads and cereals, lots of fruits and veggies, and fish or lean meats. All foods I love! I've also adopted a strategy from Body for Life where you are allowed to take one day a week off of the diet. Knowing that in a week or less I can eat whatever I want makes it so much easier to eat right the rest of the week, as opposed to feeling like I will NEVER have a hamburger again.

Something else that's made it easier to stick to is that I am working my butt off to get my handmade soap business up and running. I'm aiming for an opening date of June 1st, so I am making one or two batches of soap a day so that it will have time to cure and be ready to sell before then. I'm tweaking my recipes and trying new techniques that are really fun. With so much going on that I find interesting and stimulating, boredom eating isn't a problem anymore. Watch out skinny jeans, here I come!

Look More Closelier

My first Big Loser weigh-in was yesterday. I stepped on the scale with complete and utter trepidation, because I worked really hard all week and if I had nothing to show for it I would have been so discouraged. Luckily, I did have results! Down 4 lbs. Yay! I am even more motivated now to keep going.

On a different topic, I saw the funniest South Park the other day about the "true" origins of the Easter Bunny. If you've read/seen The DaVinci Code you'll love it. Here's a clip - so funny!

Why there's an Easter Bunny

Happy Easter!

I Want to be a Big Loser!

One of the ladies from my online fertility/moms group had a great idea. Since so many of us are trying to lose weight, she set up a Biggest Loser competition. We all put in $20 and at the end of the competition whoever has lost the highest percentage of weight gets the pot. It starts today. I am really excited to finally get the rest of this baby weight off of me (can I really still call it "baby weight" when my baby is almost two?) and be ready for bathing suit season. I'm following the You On a Diet plan - whole grains, nuts, fruits and veggies, and lean meats - and walking, rowing and doing yoga. I'll post my results when it's over at the end of the 12 weeks. NO before pictures though - no good can come from sending those out into the world!

About Time

Well, it's about time for an update. (Has it really been since Christmas since I posted? Sheesh...) The big news is that after 2 and a half years in Alexandria, we have moved. We're farther from DC, but much closer to Eric's work; we've cut his commute down by about 45 minutes. We also have a bigger place with more room for Sawyer's toys (and my toys too.) I really like our new neighborhood. The houses are all less than 2 years old and there are lots of young couples like us with little kids.

Sawyer is almost 23 months old now. I can't believe he's nearly two. Where has the time gone? He had a haircut recently and he looks so grown up to me. Here are some pictures.

Running errands with cousin Caroline.

The boy loves bananas!

All ready for church.
Funny story...15 minutes after I took this picture,
he puked all over the back of the car. No church that day!

When's the last time you were THIS excited about Christmas?

As a fairly new parent, I'm discovering that having kids makes Christmas a lot of fun. Sawyer isn't old enough to really get it yet, but he definitely senses the excitement of the season. Every morning when we go downstairs he runs over to the Christmas tree and says "Tee! Tee!" and makes the sign for "tree". We're teaching him that Santa Claus says "Ho, ho, ho" and he'll repeat it in a deep voice with a serious look on his face. My parents and sisters are coming to visit from Utah on the 20th and my brother's coming up from Miami, so our whole family will be together for Christmas this year. I can't wait to see them all and to see Sawyer and Caroline on Christmas morning. I remember the first year that Christmas wasn't that exciting to me; that morning I realized that I would rather sleep in than go downstairs and open presents. Since then the season has become more spiritually significant to me and I enjoy the peace and togetherness that comes with it. But seeing it through Sawyer's eyes brings back some of that excitement it used to hold for me.

Thanksgiving

I'm behind in my blogging what with Christmas preparations and whatnot, but in November we did celebrate Thanksgiving. We went to Corolla, NC to spend the holiday weekend with Eric's family at their beach house. The day before we went there was a huge storm and all the roads were flooded. On the way there we thought we were going to have to get out of the car and kayak to the house. The picture is of their driveway and the road. When we arrived I joked with my mother-in-law that their house was probably more valuable now that it was waterfront property; that went over like a ton of bricks. I guess I wouldn't have a sense of humor about it either if it was my place that was close to being flooded. At any rate, we had a nice weekend just hanging out and eating lots of good food.

Halloween

I know a lot of you have already seen these, but I thought I'd post them anyway; pictures of our Halloween. I was a cat, Sawyer was a puppy, and Eric was a guy with a mullet. I have to admit that I've never been a huge fan of Halloween, but now that we have a kid it is so much more fun. Sawyer had a blast at our church's "trunk-or-treat" party - he ran all over the place, going up to people in costumes, touching them, screaming and then running away. A couple of times he ran right into the middle of the cakewalk and we had to dash after him to extract him. Crazy kid.

We Fockerized Him

I just re-watched "Meet the Fockers" the other day and realized two things. First, the baby on it reminds me SO much of Sawyer. He's about that age now, he has the same coloring, and he signs. (Thankfully though, Sawyer's first word was not "Ash-hooole.") Second, I hadn't noticed before that the characters in the movie have a conversation about the topic of my last post - attachment parenting vs. independence training. The Byrnes are using the Ferber method (cry it out) for baby Jack and the Fockers believe in attachment - as they put it, "We hugged and kissed our little prince like there was no tomorrow. We Fockerized him."

Independence, Shmindependence

I've been thinking about this post for a long time. And it's kind of a controversial topic, so if you are offended by it I'm sorry - but hey, it's my blog.

One of the funny things about becoming a parent is that everyone and their mom will share their parenting philosophy with you, whether or not you asked for it. I had a pretty good idea of what kind of mom I wanted to be, but no idea how different my own parenting style would be from the majority of people I know. I think the central difference hinges on the concept of independence. When it comes to babies, our culture is obsessed with encouraging independence. We wean them early, put them in cribs in their own rooms as soon as possible, and shudder at the thought of letting them use a pacifier past the age of 2. After having lots of conversations with other moms and reading many (Eric would say too many) parenting books, I've found that I believe in what the baby book writers call "attachment parenting". The basic concept is that babies should be allowed to be babies; that they come wired with the ability to tell us what they need, both physically and emotionally; and that the most important thing they learn in the first years of life is that they can trust (i.e. be attached to) their caregivers. To me this is just common sense, but it is amazing how many people believe exactly the opposite. I had a friend who was concerned that her 6 week old baby was "still" waking up at night to eat. Another of our acquaintances told her, "Wow, it sounds like she's learned how to manipulate you!" I was dumbfounded. A baby who's been out of the womb for a month and a half? Manipulative? Was she serious? Yep, she was. It turns out that she is a big believer in the idea of scheduling feedings and naptimes from an early age and showing your baby who's boss - that the family doesn't revolve around him. Babies who are "trained" in this way (that's actually what they call it) usually sleep through the night at a much earlier age than those whose parents respond to them at night.

I can see why this strategy might be attractive to some. Waking up at night to feed a baby is tough, especially in those early weeks when you are already exhausted. The solution according to my friend (and the book she bases her ideas on) is to let the baby "cry it out" in order to learn that night is for sleeping. This becomes a very emotional issue for me, because the thought of leaving my baby to cry by himself makes me physically ill. And a lot of women I know who have used this method of sleep training say they felt the same way initially, but that they eventually got over that feeling and learned to ignore the crying. They say that it's OK that the baby is left crying for long periods of time because they know "he's fine" - meaning they know he has eaten, has a dry diaper, and is safe. My problem with this is, the baby clearly doesn't know he's "fine". And is it really a good thing to distance yourself from your child to the point where their crying doesn't really bother you anymore? I don't think so.

Eric and I have taken a totally different approach, and at first glance, a harder one. From day one Sawyer has slept in our room and often in our bed. I've breastfed him whenever he asked to at night, and never let him cry for longer than it took me to wake up. The bad news? He woke up A LOT and he didn't start sleeping through the night until he was almost a year old. But the good news - it didn't bother us one bit. Co-sleeping makes handling night wakings so painless, especially while breastfeeding. By the time he was a couple of months old and I was getting the hang of nursing while lying down, I wouldn't even wake up all the way to feed him, I'd just roll over and whip it out and we'd both fall back asleep. Sleeping next to our baby has been one of the most wonderful parenting experiences we've shared. The same went for the daytime: if he cried, I picked him up; if he wanted to eat, I fed him. Until he learned to sit up on his own he spent most of every day in my arms or in a sling. (By the way, babywearing is the single greatest thing I discovered in the early months of being a new mom. It totally saved my arms, back and sanity.) As a sidenote, around the age of 7 months we discovered that Sawyer had an allergy to the cow's milk I was drinking - the protein passes into breastmilk and it was giving him stomach pains. If I had let him "cry it out," I would have been leaving him in pain. He had no way to tell me this other than crying. I am so glad I didn't ignore his cries. Once I cut milk out of my diet he slept peacefully all night.

Eric and I don't go around broadcasting the fact that we co-sleep. I think it goes back to the whole independence thing. In our culture we think that if we don't push babies into being independent, they will never learn to do things on their own. To me that's really silly. If you've ever been around a 2 year old you know that they don't need much encouragement to be independent; it is hardwired into their brains. ("I can do it MYSELF!") It's just that the stage where they develop this on their own is later than a lot of Americans are comfortable with.

Take breastfeeding. Toddlers will naturally lose interest in nursing and wean themselves, but not usually until sometime between the ages of 3 and 5. Women in our society who breastfeed their babies that long are basically seen as freaks of nature. One year seems to be the maximum age that is considered acceptable when it comes to nursing. (I'm pretty sure this is only the case in the US - I remember when I lived in France seeing many women nursing older toddlers, and in public at that. Of course, they go to the beach topless too, so I guess you could argue that they are a bit freer with their bodies that we are. Maybe it's all in our Puritanical roots and seeing breasts primarily as sexual objects.) At 17 months, I'm still breastfeeding Sawyer a few times a day, and I don't plan to stop for a while. I enjoy it, he enjoys it, it's healthy for him physically and emotionally, so I don't see why, just because he's past the arbitrary 1 year milestone, he shouldn't be allowed to breastfeed anymore. Even my doctor seems to think I am really weird to keep nursing him. So obviously I don't go around telling everyone I meet that I'm still breastfeeding. Once in a while I'll meet someone who breastfeeds her babies past one year and I always feel like embracing her and never letting go!

The irony of our culture's obsession with teaching babies independence is that so many young adults seem to have problems with being on their own. They even have a name: "Boomerang Kids", those who live with their parents after college and into their mid to late twenties. They say that needs that aren't met early on will need to be met later, so it makes me wonder if part of the problem is that kids are not allowed to be dependent on their parents at a young age, and so they stretch out their dependence into adulthood in order to feel safe and secure.

I also wonder how the concept of independence applies to our spiritual wellbeing. Being a Christian hinges on the idea that you need to rely on someone else. Our drive to do it all on our own can be very damaging when it comes to a relationship with God and with others in our families and our community of faith. Healthy interdependence is something that is difficult to achieve when we are so bombarded with the ideals of a do-it-yourself mentality.

This may just be a lot of fancy footwork to convince myself that it's OK to hug and nurse and cuddle my little boy. And if that's the case, oh well. We all get screwed over by our parents in some way. I guess I'll be OK with that if my mistake is loving my baby too much.

Celebrity Look-alikes

This is one of those things that is going around on myspace right now - you upload a picture of your face and it tells you what celebrities you look like. It's pretty fun, although sometimes it is way off - I had a couple say I looked like Evangeline Lilly and I pretty much look like the opposite of Evangeline Lilly. The funniest though was the one that said I look like Frankie Muniz! (Is that why Eric likes "Malcolm in the Middle"? ... Creepy.) You have to do several different pictures to get an accurate result. The one celebrity that came up for every one of the pictures I tried was Jenna Elfman. Anyway, here are my results.

Oh My Gosh....I Think I'm Crafty!

Since becoming a stay at home mom I have undergone a radical personality transformation. I realized it the other day when I was browsing the aisles at Michaels: I am crafty. I have never thought of myself as crafty before, in fact I was anti-crafty for many years. I've always been creative though, and I think that maybe running a household 24/7 plus creativity naturally leads to craftiness. Not that I'm into all crafts - I don't think I will ever like sewing or needlepoint. Mostly I like paper crafts; scrapbooking, card making, etc. And I love soap and candle making. I didn't really think of those individual pass times as "crafts", but when I consider them all together there is no denying it: I am crafty, and I need to accept that.

No Accounting for Taste

I took these a few weeks ago when Sawyer fished a lime wedge out of his dad's drink. (He also dumped out the ice cubes, as you can tell from the puddle on the coffee table.) We eagerly awaited a funny face when he tasted how sour it was, but he loved it! Now that I think about it I remember my mom telling me I used to like sucking on lemons and pickles when I was a toddler, so maybe he gets it from me.

Hot Fun in the Summertime

It has been a hot summer, so we've spent a lot of time huddled inside with the air conditioning on full blast. A few times though we've broken out the baby pool to let Sawyer splash around. He absolutely loves the water as you can tell by the pictures. He will play in it until his lips are turning blue and his fingers are shriveled like prunes and he'll still protest when it's time to take him out.